#was debating putting this in the main tag at first

[tad-ahrt]

I decided to dedicate this new art book, I got it just the other day, to my Zelda ideas and studies- 'cause it's such a creative series, and also it's fun/stimulating to try and "modify" Totk (since we all know by now that it's not all that well thought out.. not to throw any shade lol) Info dump over

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I've heard many people talk about how they find the difference between Botw's Zonai and Totk's Zonai to be too jarring - Which I don't personally mind because I've also heard that the difference is because apparently Botw's Zonai structures were already ancient ruines (aka the beginning of Zonai civilization) by the time of Mineru and Rauru (aka the end of the Zonai civilization). Which is really interesting.

And also a shame why Totk didn't spend any major time giving us any insight beyond the Zonai devices being a major part of their culture. Or even how the Zonai managed to make whole islands float. And they never even explained how or why the Zonai just... Ascended into the sky???? 'Cause we know they were surface dwellers at one point due to the Zonai ruines in Botw.. But at the very least if Nintendo wanted them to have originated from the sky as like a holiness thing, they could've just said that they were Skyloftians that somehow never descended onto Hyrule, or that they come from the Wind tribe, or that they were crafted by Hylia Herself or something et cetera, at cetera. I feel like the lack of a clarification is just a major oversight in my opinion, because it would have become a welcomed addition to the Zelda lore. The Zlore...

So in order to elaborate on the divide, and also the sky-thing, I decided to delve into the theory that they were originally surface dwellers!

The post-ascension Zonai are basically just Totk Zonai but with the basic scale colours modified so they resemble the Botw/Totk dragons more, and the pre-ascension Zonai just flat out have dragon heads because of, y'know, the Zonai's whole shtick?

I wanted the Zonai, as a race, to be descended from dragons because:

1. It explains why they haven't shown up in any previous Zelda game. They're a relatively "new" "cross breed". (Though I haven't figured out what the dragons "bred" with yet- if at all. Sheikah, hylians, Rito, whatever the hell Kilton and Koltin's race is..)

2. It fits nicely with the ouroborous thing Totk has going on. What came first: the chicken or the egg? The dragons or the Zonai?

3. Dragons have already appeared in previous Zelda games like Ocarina of Time and Oracle of Seasons ( I think). And that only helps to link Botw/Totk's dragons to the Zonai.

×××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××

Anyway back to my drawings:

I used a achromatic colour scheme for my default zonai because I think it would be really interesting if the Zonai's colours were based on their "powers".

Mineru's design is purple due to her being the sage of spirit, Rauru's is yellow/white because of his light magic, and so on- but I hc the pre-ascension Zonai to be split into three (3) sub-tribes? clans? Based on the three Godesses: Din (power), Nayru (wisdom), and Farore (courage). So these pre-ascent Zonai will have red, blue, or green/gold colourings (unless they're too important I guess? Or just specialise in a different power like a sage would). So just swap out the black/grey for a different colour and you'll see what I'm trying to get at lol.

I also made their hair less scaly so there would be a more obvious connection to them and the Sheikah, just look at that 3rd eye man c'mon Nintendo, the theories!!..

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Side note: I don't think there would be much of a difference between male and female zonai, except that female Zonai are bigger because they follow reptile lore. (Also giant dragon women 👀👀👀).

I also believe that, the Zonai are a matriarchy (meaning women are expected to be in authority) because of the Godess/Goddesses being female, Zonai women being larger when they live in a warrior-heavy society (see: Botw barbarian armour). And this would also explain Botw/Totk's dragons (Dinraal, Naydra, and Farosh) having female pronouns and a very high status. Leaving credence for the theory that they were once Zonai and weren't always dragons. (This will feed into the 'plot' later).

However, Mineru's height is still considered "smaller" for a Zonai because she is trans. Hope this helps!

Essay Over

[snazum]

Little ster edit I made… Cause there needs to be more in the world :>

special thanks to like the 5-10 people on this website who upload ster clips. This is dedicated to y’all <3

Audio: noir.audioss on tiktok

Song: Like Me - Chase Icon

[astragatwo]

Is that Dongrang in Yi Sang's newest ID, or am I imagining things

[bunorous]

You’re on my beware/blocklist btw

Can I ask why..? What did I do besides… not follow transphobes and not want to start drama unnecessarily in such a small fandom?

I didn’t say anything about the content itself.. I think it’s fuckin weird too and probably speaks to who he is as a person but stirring up a lot of discourse about it only results in just that, discourse. There’s like 15 people here and most of us are friends. Just tell each other to block him. It’s much easier. I have the person that made the callout post blocked anyway though and have for a while cause I’m sick of seeing discourse on my dash. + my original post that was vagueposted wasn’t even ABOUT that. It’s like you’re intentionally looking for ways to start shit.

More pressingly, the transphobia. Believe what you want, whatever, but you guys seem very passionate about standing by your friends, and I respect that, but so am I, and you should respect that. I never went on your blogs and harassed you and I never sent anyone nasty DMs and I never endorsed telling people to kill themselves. All I did was silently block people in support of my friends, and say that it’s better to just block and move on then to make a callout post about it. That. Is. It. I don’t even know who’s sending me this but I know it’s one of you.

No reason to block me other than childishness. I don’t give a fuck either way but let’s all be clear here.

One more ask from you fucks and I’m turning off my ask box. I have shit to do.

[seawing-vibes]

trick or treat smell my FEET 👹👹👹

Treat ! Perri x Steve AMV

(under Read More due to flashing ! This is a dumb joke with my friend I don’t want to hurt anyone pfhb)

[abyssarts]

i've seen a misinterpretation of the caption on my dollhouse piece and like. i'm not upset about the misinterpretation but i do wanna clarify:

the "false sense of security" does not mean homura is intentionally causing harm to anyone (aside from the incubators). the world she created is fragile and was forged out of a desperation to protect those she loves, even if it means they'll all end up resenting her for her actions. any sense of normalcy or security they have while in homura's new world is literally false in that it's the result of memory manipulation, and the foundation of her world is on the brink of collapse at all times.

i fuckin love homura for all her flaws and bad decisions. i do not at all subscribe to the idea that she's evil in any sense of the word, but i also don't think she "had" to rewrite the universe in her own image, yknow? there were plenty of other ways she coulda protected madoka from the incubators' influence post-rebellion. the reason why she threw away her only chance at true happiness was because she had been pushed to her absolute limit during rebellion and was in no state of mind to be making good decisions

[lc-holy]

Conférence Masterclass 808 (Translation)

I've taken the liberty of translating the conference that took place last year with the writing director of Miraculous (Sébastien Thibaudeau). It was only made public when someone posted a video of the conference a short while ago.

In this conference, Sébastien Thibaudeau will talk about the creation of Miraculous and his work on the series. He is joined by Chloé Paye, a new scriptwriter working on Miraculous season 6.

Sébastien talks a lot and repeats himself a bit, so the summary can be a bit confusing.

I strongly advise you to go and listen to the video if you understand French. There are a lot of details I'm going to leave out, and Sébastien is very funny.

Photo belongs to mlbfanfr on twitter.

Please be respectful in comments or tags. If you want to debate on things related to this conference, please make your own post. I apologize if there are any mistakes, I'm French and I'm not fluent in English.

-12 years ago, Sébastien arrived at Zagtoon, a studio that was just starting out and had yet to produce and broadcast any series. The producer (Jérémy Zag) and Sébastien hit it off and decided to start working together. Zag decides to give Sébastien total freedom over his projects. Sébastien then decides to put the spotlight on scriptwriters, because in this profession they are unfortunately poorly paid and never stay on the same projects.

So they produced a cartoon called Kobushi. A little-known series that did rather well, even if it didn't stay on the "Gulli" channel for long. The scriptwriters and producer were happy with the end result, as it was produced in a very short time.

Jeremy Zag then proposed another project, which he thought was quite good, but which he was unable to sell to broadcasters. At the time, the project was called "Ladybug". No one was interested, as the project was aimed more at an adult audience than a children's audience. Sébastien had to make sure that the project could be broadcast on Disney and TF1.

There was only a "trailer" also called "Ladybug" (but you'll find the video under the title Ladybug PV) animated by Toei animation. At the time, Sébastien had not yet been hired by Zagtoon. It was Jérémy Zag who convinced Toei animation to work with them (no mean feat, since Toei animation doesn't work with anyone).

So Sébastien started working with Thomas Astruc (the man who wrote and created the "Ladybug" project). At first, he didn't want to work on this project because he found it complicated. Thomas wanted to make a series for adults, but at the time, it was very complicated to make a cartoon for adults. What's more, they didn't have enough money to take on such a project. Sébastien finally agreed, but there were some changes to be made, which Thomas accepted.

-What Sébastien appreciated most in this project was the romantic comedy, the love square between the two main characters.

To meet the requirements of the cartoon industry, "Ladybug" had to be set in a neutral universe, in other words, in an imaginary country or the USA, but Zag, who loves Paris, declared that the cartoon had to be set in Paris.

In the end, Thomas Astruc's entire project was discarded, leaving only the love story between the two heroes and the city of Paris, where the story was to take place.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-Sébastien explains how he writes Marinette's first dialogues: He says he talks a lot in real life, so he writes Marinette like him. She says out loud whatever she's thinking.

For Chat noir, he makes him tell his father's jokes. Something TF1 doesn't accept. The TV channel went so far as to refuse to validate the Bible (a collection of information on the series and episodes) until it had removed the sentence: “Chat noir makes jokes”. Sebastien has therefore removed the sentence, but will continue to make Chat noir tell jokes.

-The writing director's job is to get the producer, creator and broadcaster to agree. The series broadcast on TF1 and Disney are very different. TF1 wants series whose story can be told in a single episode, unlike Disney, which wants series whose story spans several episodes.

Sébastien and TF1 agree that Miraculous will be a series with one story per episode, a "Formula Show".

He cites the example of Dora the Explorer episodes, where every episode is the same: Dora goes on an adventure from point A to point B, she has to find 3 clues, then she meets Swiper, she sings a song to make Swiper go away, she uses the talking map to get from one place to another, then Dora manages to get to point B and the episode ends.

This episode format is used for children, to give them a reassuring framework, as they build themselves up through repetition. That's why series like Dora work so well with young children.

So Sebastien sold the Miraculous series to broadcasters as a formula show. A person gets angry, is akumatized, then marinette transforms into Ladybug then frees the person from the akumatization and… The End.

It's also for this reason that Marinette tries to confess her love for Adrien in every episode, but is unable to do so.

But he tried to go against what he had planned with TF1, by slipping little extra stories into certain episodes. Audiences were receptive to these slightly hidden stories. The TV channel even asked Sébastien if there really were hidden things in the series, but he denied everything. Thanks to the positive reception from the public, TF1 agreed to develop the characters of Marinette and Adrien and flesh out the universe a little more.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-Once the bible is written, they have to write a script. But first Sébastien, as writing director, needs to know the mood of the series, and to do this he calls on Thomas Astruc, the series creator. Thomas is a great fan of classical painting. A single painting can tell a complex scene with lots of detail. He wants the episodes of miraculous to be like these paintings, there will be very few shots, but in a single shot a lot will happen.

-Sébastien explains that one of the things Thomas wanted to convey in the series was emotion. They didn't want to do what a lot of children's cartoons do, which is to beat the bad guys and win at the end of the episode. They wanted to tell kids that it's normal to have negative emotions. We can also become better people, learn from our mistakes and so on. It also reassures TV channels by setting up scenes that are repeated in every episode: people get angry, people akumatize then people deakumatize, end of episode...

Once the TV channels had been reassured, they set about writing a script.

-Sébastien asks Thomas to write the ending, as they're not sure the series will work. They also wondered what the aim of the series was, and what they wanted to say to the children. The two of them sat down in an office and wrote the ending, which turned out to be just the end of an arc. He even adds that now that they've written a lot more, it's important for them to write in advance so that everything is clear to them.

-The first season was written by 19 authors, from home. He found it interesting that the series was written by several different authors, even if some of them didn't quite understand the premise of the series. One episode that Sébastien particularly appreciated was written by two “autrices” (I think it's weird to say “two female authors”, so I'll use the French word): the refletkta episode, with the story of Juleka who couldn't get into the photos. (Note that all the episodes were proofread by Sébastien and Thomas).

After that, they kept a few people on to work together on the scripts for subsequent seasons.

Sébastien explains that he keeps a close eye on the production of the episodes, to make sure that everything that goes into the picture is as faithful as possible to what they've written in the script.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-The kwamis exist thanks to Toei, who wanted funny little animals to sell plush toys. So the scriptwriters had to find a way to integrate kwamis into the story.

-(Again, Sébastien advises people to check out the Kobushi series if they can still watch it somewhere, or ask the leaker who leaked the whole of season 5 to give them the episodes (that's a joke, of course)).

-Sébastien talks about the Ikari gozen episode, which could have been a total failure because the storyboarder didn't fully understand the scenario. Sébastien asks Zag to redo the storyboard, which will add 10 weeks to the episode's deadline. The storyboarder admits that he's always done storyboards mechanically, without worrying whether the episode is good or not, whether the jokes are funny or not. Eventually, the episode was redone by the same storyboarder, resulting in the episode we all know today.

- They still have a lot to tell with Miraculous, to the point where they're wondering if they'll have enough seasons to tell everything they want to tell. Sebastien says there will be a season 6 and 7, and probably a season 8 and 9.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

- Chloé Paye met Sébastien when she was looking for an internship. She had never worked in animation, and knew nothing about Miraculous. She tells us how the scriptwriting team works. Each time, all the scriptwriters in the room have to be convinced of the script. They can sometimes spend hours on details to get everyone to agree.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

- The driving force behind the series is that there must always be a secret between Marinette and Adrien. The lovesquare can never be broken, otherwise there's no series. Sébastien knows that some people are worried about this. Will they continue the lovesquare for another 4 seasons or more? How will they evolve? Sébastien says not to worry, they know where they want to go.

-It takes them 14 to 16 months to produce an episode, but it's often much longer due to unforeseen circumstances. And they don't work on one episode at a time, but on several at the same time. One episode takes a long time because of the 3D animation.

One of the things that's complicated with Miraculous 3d animation is that they can only display 3 characters at a time on screen, whereas the series requires them to display many more characters. It's also very difficult to correct animation errors, as this takes a lot of time.

-The TV networks were very surprised by the success of miraculous. They didn't think adults and children alike would watch the series. The TV channels were a little confused because they usually make series for a specific age group, but since miraculous had people of all ages watching, they weren't sure what to do.

- Sébastien says he's very happy that miraculous inspires a lot of people to create things, like writing fanfiction, however he's not interested in it because he doesn't want to be influenced by certain fans who would love to see certain things in the series.

- Writing direction also means paying attention to how the characters speak. They all have their own way of speaking. For example, Adrien will never say "j’te parle", but rather "Je te parle".

- During the writing process, the writers sometimes act out scenes to make the dialogue more natural. This is what happened with the episode "Gang of secrets". They felt that, with the success of the show and the pressure it was generating, they needed to write something to relieve their stress. So they wrote about Marinette and the enormous pressure she was under to keep all her secrets. The final scene, in which Marinette tells Alya that she's Ladybug, came naturally when they performed it together.

[54625]

I'm not sure if this is the end for the QSMP, but I wouldn't be surprised if it were shut down soon after this.

The eggs have been the lifeblood of the server since they were introduced, and having some of them permanently gone from the server is devastating for so many reasons, and bodes terribly for the future of this project. My optimism has run out. I will still wait for updates but I have no hope.

However, I wanted to write a piece for the community here on Tumblr. I know we're all very emotional right now, because while we have no confirmation that the QSMP will permanently close, we now have good reason to assume there might just be no other clear path out of this.

To the community:

Do not feel like you have to stop loving the server and everything it created. Do not stop creating art. Do not stop sharing why you loved the characters and the story and the world.

To completely boycott everything QSMP, you are discrediting the incredible work that the admins put into the server purely out of passion and the kindness of their hearts. Do not waste their sacrifices. Talk about the server and everything they did for it, give them recognition, let them know we love and appreciate all the time and care they poured into this project. Thank them by caring about their work that they put so much of themselves into.

To completely boycott everything QSMP, you are ignoring the beautiful friendships it created between content creators who otherwise would never have met, and the way it ignited such a fierce determination to learn about others' cultures in them. You are forgetting how much these streamers strived to tell engaging, relatable, fun stories, by themselves or with each other, and to have their fans talk about how much they liked their newest lore. You are refusing to acknowledge the effort put in by everyone on the project to tell amazing stories through the language barrier.

And to completely boycott the QSMP, you are denying yourself the fact that you loved this server; the eggs, the streamers, the stories, the cultural events, the laughter, the sadness, the friendships, the ship ships, the builds, the mods, the languages. You are part of this server for enjoying it's wonderful vitality and beauty and hilarity. As a community, we all are.

I have had my gripes with the QSMP fanbase, as anyone has gripes with the dysfunctional mad household they live in, but at the end of the day, I love it so much. This has been my first time actually being part of a fandom; interacting with people and sharing my art and my ideas, getting into silly debates and arguments, running my mouth off more than I should. I love this bizarre toxic fandom for all of it's worth; I love the fanfic writers (even if I think their characterisation is terrible), I love the fanartists (even if they give Pac those yellow scleras that always make me think of jaundice), I love the live bloggers (even if they clog up the main tag), I love the people who write analysis, the people who make animations and animatics, the people who webweave, and all the other things people in this fandom do to interact with the media we all collectively love and bond over.

We do not need to let this be the end of our community, as we can still share our admiration for the hard work put into this project, lift each other up, express praise where it is warranted.

And we can talk to each other, we can vent about how this has negatively effected us (provided we tag it appropriately 👁️👁️) and respond in kind to those seeking someone to speak to who relates.

The QSMP taught us the value of communication. While behind the scenes, it itself did not abide by it's own rules, we can. The QSMP itself is not the figurehead of communication; the content creators and the fans it sent this message to are. We can be an example of what the QSMP should have stood for.

I do not love the deeply flawed execution of the QSMP, but with my whole heart I love the idea; the ambition, the goal. It was noble. It, to some extent, worked.

It united communities.

Let it unite ours.

[awkward-tension-art]

Bacta and Bandages Chp.5 (Rex x Reader)

Chapter 4. Chapter 6.

Blushing

CW: Slow burn, Two fools trying to ignore their crushes, Rex being cute, firing practice, target practice, Reader is gender neutral, no use of (Y/N), reader is a doctor, if I miss a tag LMK!

Tag list (I am so happy people want to be tagged <3): @heavenseed76 @arctrooper69

Minors DNI

You had to be honest with yourself. 

Your aim sucked. 

As a field surgeon, you technically weren’t supposed to be anywhere near droids. Your main purpose was to stay behind the forces and perform surgery and intensive medical care to those with severe wounds.

Kix would be on the front lines and keep the injured alive as long as possible until he could get them to you. 

You could hit your targets, if they were big enough. Like a tank. Or if they were about 5 feet in front of you…

Ok, you couldn’t really hit your targets. You’ve been with the 501st for months now and you haven’t gotten any better. 

You debated going full clone trooper and just punching the droids. After all, the soldiers had just gotten proper armor for their hands. Maybe you could get a pair of armored gloves…

“Everything alright?” 

You perked up hearing the question from Rex, snapping your attention back to the present. You had zoned out, staring at the same datapad for several minutes now. 

Right, you had come to his office to help a supply crate mix-up. Someone hadn’t properly labeled the crates, so there were blasters mixed with medical supplies, and bandages mixed with armor…It was a mess. And to make sure nothing was missing, you and him were supposed to go over the numbers so no helmet or tube of bacta was out of place. 

You sighed, “Yea, just…thinking. That's all.”

The Captain raised a brow, silently encouraging you to continue.

Over your time with the 501st, you’ve been able to read Rex more than anyone else. You understood what he was thinking through his expressions. You could guess his feelings based on his stance and body language, even when he wore his helmet.

Perhaps it was your training as a doctor that allowed you to read him so easily. 

Or…maybe it was the growing affection you had for him.

It’s a passing crush, that's all. You told yourself, Clones aren’t allowed to have romantic relationships. This’ll pass. Don’t get your hopes up.

Shoving that thought out of your mind you put the datapad down, “I’m a terrible shot.”

Rex let out a soft and surprised chuckle at your blunt statement, “Well…you're technically not supposed to be.”

“No, I mean…even if I need to defend myself or the wounded…I miss almost every shot with a blaster.” You responded, “I’ve tried to practice but…I just can’t aim very well…”

He had a small smirk on his lips, “You can’t be worse than a clanker.” 

“I assure you, I am.” 

Rex laughed again, “I can teach you, if you want. Besides, I’m sure a break would be good for us both.” 

Your heart fluttered. 

“I’d like that.” 

Which is how you found yourself in the hangar, standing about 20 meters away from an empty crate with a painted target. There were scorch marks dotting the metal and yellow paint, indicating that you weren’t the first person to need aim training.

The makeshift target range was mostly out of the way and out of sight of everyone else in the hangar, offering some privacy.

“I didn’t know this was here.” You admitted, staring at the target. 

Rex shrugged, “Some shinies set this up. The General didn’t mind, so I kept it for anyone who wanted to practice their shooting.”

You nodded in understanding. Usually if something didn’t make sense, the answer was always ‘shinies’.

“Alright, now, pick up your blaster.” He took the tone of a commanding Captain. His arms were crossed as he watched you get your pistol ready. You wrapped your hands on your blaster, and got into the stance you were trained to be in. 

You didn’t even put your finger on the trigger before Rex spoke up, “Already, I see the issue.” he stepped towards you, putting his gloved hands over yours. He changed the position of your hold, moving one of your palms from the bottom of the grip to over your other hand. 

You blinked, “Oh, I was holding it wrong.” 

Rex had a relaxed smile, “It's a common mistake.” He stepped back and nodded, “Fire.” 

You pulled the trigger and the blaster kicked back as it fired. However, you managed to keep the gun relatively steady. Your shot missed the target, hitting the upper corner of the crate. With a sigh you looked over at the captain. 

He kept his arms crossed, “Focus on where you’re aiming. Where you look, that's where you’ll hit.”

With a steadying breath, you looked down the sights of your gun and pulled the trigger again. Your shot was closer to the target that time, however, still not a hit. 

“Better.” Rex approached again. This time, he got closer, putting his hands over yours and stepping behind you. You felt the plastoid of his chestplate on your back as he leaned into your body, “Raise the blaster a little higher and try again.”

Don’t get distracted. Don't get distracted. 

You swallowed and pulled the trigger. Again, your shot had gotten closer to the target, barely hitting the yellow of the first ring. Frustration hit you and you huffed. 

Rex laughed softly and it struck you how warm his laugh was. How lovely.

Stop it. Grow out of your crush, you're not some grade school student. You are a grown ass adult. Act like it.

“Just look at the target. Not the sights on the blaster.” The clone captain was rolling incredibly well with your failures. He kept his hold on you as you calmed your emotions to focus. You did as he told, staring at the bright yellow target meters in front of you.

With another breath, you fired. 

This time, you hit the target. Not a bullseye at all, but at least you hit inside the last yellow ring.

“Oh, hey I actually got it.” You perked up, smiling slightly. 

Rex, sadly, let go and stepped back, “Good, now do it again. I want to see you hit the target at least 4 more times.” He put his helmet on, crossing his arms to watch you. He was tense now.

You tried not to let his sudden shift in attitude bother you. He was probably worried that someone might turn the corner and see him so lax and uncaptain-like. Rex did have to be professional after all…

Still, you did miss the warmth he gave. 

Again, you pulled the trigger. Without him holding your gun steady, your shot veered slightly and hit the outermost ring, “That counts.” you stated, looking over to the clone. 

He nodded, “It counts. I’ll be nice this time. But just this once.”

You couldn’t hold back your grin and you shot again. Another hit. Still no bullseye, but you got closer. 

Hey, 3 for 3. One more.

Without getting over confident, you took a steadying breath and pulled the trigger. 

Again, no bullseye, but your shot landed inside the second ring. You were improving. Or this was just pure luck. Either way, you’ll take it.

You smiled and turned to look at Rex. He nodded in approval and stepped towards you, “Very good. You learn quickly. Better than most troopers who step off Kamino.” 

“Aw, you think I’m better than a shiny?” You joked, hoping to help him relax.

He huffed under his helmet, but you could hear the smile in his voice, “That’s not a high bar, Doctor.” 

“I’ll take the compliment, Captain.” 

He was about to respond when your and his coms both beeped. He answered his and you answered yours. 

“Doctor, there's a patient in the sick bay.”

“Captain Rex, you're needed at the command bridge.”

With a sigh, you shared a look with Rex and rolled your eyes. You gave him a grateful smile, “Back to work, then?” 

“It never ends.” He sighed, “If you want…if you want to practice again, just let me know.” 

Your answer was kind and sweet, “I will. Thank you, Rex.” 

As you parted ways, you tried to calm your beating heart. 

It's a crush. It's a crush. Grow up. Just grow up already!

Rex, on the other hand, kept his helmet on as he walked away, because he was certain he was still blushing like a damn cadet.

He’s a captain. Captains shouldn’t fucking blush!

[lanawinterscigarettes]

How Allison Cameron would react to a reader who has low empathy

Warnings: Cameron being a little insensitive at first due to ignorance, general warning for her guilt trippy/overly judgmental nature (which I personally love tbh but that's just me), brief mentions of death/sickness in a medical setting/context

A/N: this is partially based on the opposites attract trope but I mostly just wanted to write something with Cameron being her pathetic self /affectionate

Honestly knowing Cameron she would most likely be pretty judgmental of you at first I'm not even going to lie, probably even going as far as to avoid you unless it was absolutely necessary to work together

This would only be lessened some if you were her superior or someone who she looked up to in general (basically someone like House)

Even then she'd still be a tad bit wary of you, probably assuming that because you display low empathy you don't really care about other people

Obviously that's an outdated stereotype that doesn't apply to every single person with low empathy but as someone who wears her heart on her sleeve for everyone to see she'd most likely buy into it

It's only when she sees you comforting the family of a dying patient that she realizes you actually do care, just in a different way that she does

She does her best to put her preconceived notions about you to the side so she can get to know you better, and finds out that you're actually a decent person, if not the best

Sure, you struggle with empathy and displaying your feelings in a way that seems genuine, but it doesn't make you a bad person. It's just the way you are

Realizing she made a mistake when it came to judging you before she even got to know you, she for sure goes out of her way trying to make it up to you, even if you insist it's fine

She gains a new perspective and a certain amount of respect for you after that- and if you want to go down that road, maybe she even goes so far as to forming some sort of crush on you like she did for House, though whether it's because she actually likes you or because she thinks she can "fix" you is up for debate

End notes: I love Cameron so much she's my favorite girlfailure ever <3

Likes < reblogs | comments are greatly appreciated | requests are currently open

Main masterlist | House MD masterlist | wanna be added to my taglist?

🏷 taglist: none yet to tag

[svmjaeyvn]

love maze, s.jy.

chapter seven pairing: jake x afab!reader word count: tbd (series)

masterlist

add yourself to the taglist here!

genre: college!au, mutual friends, fake dating, smut.

synopsis: an unfortunate encounter, drunken mistakes, and a sort of (definitely) stalker leads jake sim ‘dating’ his best friend’s childhood crush.

or, your life gets intertwined with a rich boy’s in attempt to not get sued by his crazy personal fangirl and like with all good cliches, sex overcomplicates things.

contents: smut, sort of strangers to fuck buddies to lovers pipeline, childhood best friend!jay, mentions of best friend! yunjin, curly haired & mixed reader, uni!au, rich nepo baby!jake, enha frat boys, lots of kissing, fake dating turning into fwb real quick, totally way too into it for it to be fake early on, big booty reader that’s jake’s obsessed with, partying and alcohol use, slight violence, he fell first and harder trope, stem bf & writer gf, (kinda overly) possessive jake, some angst to spice things up, daddy issues, hyper independent reader who struggles with her feelings, fluff and happy ending!!

a/n: hello~ i’ve never been a tumblr girly but i have went through my w*ttpad era back in 2018 so bare with me y’all. this will be a series but not that long (i hope) so pls look forward to it. warning tags will be placed before each “chapter” to specify what to expect. pls pls reblog and interact, i’d love to have feedback and see what your thoughts are. okay! yay, for now enjoy and thank you sm :D

MDNI, 18+

tap below to continue

CHAPTER SEVEN: PERILLA LEAF DEBATE

previous masterlist next

word count: 2.4k

warnings: alcohol (underaged gasp), innuendos, suggestive language, cursing, yunjin says sexism as a joke, jake smacks ni-ki upside the head but that’s basically it lol

a/n: just a cutesy little chapter full of some crumbs of fluff. i don’t really know how long im gonna make this series 😭 also finally some content of all of them together we love!!!! (channeling jungkook for heeseung and sunghoons stance here)

"I NEVER AGREED to this," Yunjin gapes, staring at the large rapids that the lake held, Heeseung attempting to convince her to go tubing. "You said it was like the lazy river things at those water parks, not a whole waterfall!"

"It's fun," He laughs, a hand lightly tugging at her arm while she shakes her head. "C'mon, you said you would. You gonna leave me alone now?" Heeseung pouts, the puppy eyes he gave Yunjin more than enough to be convincing no matter how hard she tried.

You watched from afar, a small snort erupting as you see her nod along without much hesitation. A week in the making, Heeseung and Jay had put together a three-day vacation for the group. Headed out three hours north from campus, they reserved a lot on a camping reservation. Having left so early, much to everyone's dismay, Jay had successfully leaded the two cars to arrive in the morning and find a spot to call home right beside the river which was the main attraction of said grounds.

In a fairly shady spot due to the large trees, it provided enough room away from any other campers that would arrive, a sort of privacy at the end. Truthfully, you weren't the biggest fan of sleeping on rocky ground and having no access to an actual hot shower for the next few days but you agreed with much reluctance. Jay had went as far as talking to Cho herself to ensure you and Ni-ki would have the adequate days off and buying a blow up mattress for your sake.

"10 bucks says they'll hook up by the end of the trip," Sunghoon snickers, his voice breaking your thoughts as you jump slightly out of surprise.

"Maybe not hook up," You shiver at the thought. "We're sleeping in tents, I'd hope they wouldn't especially since I'm supposed to share with her," Grimacing at the thought, you shake your head. "But definitely make out a couple times, Heeseung's obvious as hell,"

"Pretty sure Jake didn't get that memo," Sunghoon nods toward said boy, watching as he was in the midst of setting up a tent with Ni-ki's help. Glancing over, you see how he grouped yours and his things together, presumably setting up for you to share for the next few days. "I'm not worried about them. Jake has no shame though so I'll be sleeping as far away as I can from you two,"

"We're not fucking next to the kids," You defend, gesturing toward the larger tent that would house Sunoo, Jungwon, and Ni-ki while Sunghoon laughs at your dumbfounded expression. Shoving his shoulder, you shake your head at the amused look he sent your way. Sticking your tongue out at Sunghoon childishly, he returns the gesture while you make your way toward the two crouched attempting to get the tent secured in place.

"Just nail it into the dirt—"

"This is like concrete it doesn't want to go in!" Ni-ki huffs, the consistent banging of the hammer to the metal pick heard though you couldn't due to the material blocking your view. Jake notices your presence, a small smile thrown your way but you took note of his obvious annoyance. Just as he was about to move to help Ni-ki, the younger boy lets out a loud laugh. "Ah! Ha! I did it! Fucking thing took forever but it worked,"

"Ni-ki," You tsk, the boy standing up and sheepishly peering around the now perched tent with an innocent smile.

"Sorry," He mumbles out. Rolling your eyes, you wave him off while Jake stands up, dusting his hands off on his pants and rolling his neck with a wince. "Is it done?"

"That took so much longer than it should've," He says under his breath, looking around and ensuring it would stay up. "Yeah all good, thank you," Jake calls out while Ni-ki gives him a thumbs up before walking away to where Jungwon and Jay seemed to be messing with the grill.

You pursed your lips seeing how tense Jake seemed to be. He wasn't a morning person, something you've come to realize, thus spending 3 hours cramped in a car full of people so early certainly did a number on him. His patience was thin, Ni-ki not moving fast enough for him seemed to worsen it and although he wasn't outwardly going to say anything, Jake seemed rather spent.

Stepping behind him, you wrap your arms around his waist, your head leaned against his back while he seemed to melt to your touch.

"What're you doing?" Jake lets out a small laugh, one of his hands falling over your own that was along his midsection. He turns his head slightly, attempting to get a glance at you but the height difference only allowed him to see the top of your head.

“Take a break," You mumble into his back.

Jake felt his stomach flip involuntarily, the warmth of your body pushed against his did more in seconds than he liked to admit in helping him relax. Pulling away so he had room to turn, he flipped around to allow you both to face one another. His arms loosely wrapped around your shoulders after yours stayed put at his waist.

"I think this is the first time you initiated us touching," He hums, the giddy smile that made its way into his lips more than obvious. "You love me now or what?"

You roll your eyes. “I barely tolerate you, don’t get ahead of yourself Sim,” You tut, pinching at his side causing him to laugh. “I just figured to distract you before you blew up on one of the kids for being annoying. Is it working?”

Jake hums, nodding along to your words. One of his hands pushed away the hair that blew in your face, tucking it behind your ear but not moving as he gentle cupped your cheek. “Good distraction,” He mumbles, leaning closer to put a chaste peck to the tip of your nose.

Your face scrunches up, the minimal amount of blush making its way to the apples of your cheeks. You quickly turn away to ensure he wouldn’t see, unraveling yourself from his grasp and pausing short seeing how utterly disgusted Jay looked from the opposite side of the area.

“Do you really have to do that here?!”

“OKAY OKAY, I got one,” Jungwon holds out his hands, gaining the attention of the group that sat around the campfire as the contents of his cup sloshed around as he did so. “Cheating or not cheating: the perilla leaf thing that’s been trending?”

Immediately riling up the group, Heeseung and Sunghoon were quick to shout of their ambient no’s while Ni-ki and Sunoo held no problem with it. Since the sun had set and the fire ignited, your group of nine had been gathered around talking about everything and anything. Having been filled up by Jay’s grilling earlier, the causal drinking had begun and thus the conversation topics slowly began to get more heated through debate.

“No, I’m not just gonna let one of you help feed my girlfriend. Basically touching chopsticks that’s weird,” Heeseung shakes his head while Sunghoon points in agreement.

“That’s because you’re overly possessive either way hyung,” Sunoo rolls his eyes, though a small laugh left his lips as the older boy clicks his tongue.

“First it’s the perilla leaf then it’s holding hands and making out behind my back,” Sunghoon dramatically huffs out, louder than usual due to the alcohol coursing through his bloodstream while Yunjin snorts from her seat beside him.

“That’s a crazy jump from a simple dinner encounter,” She snickers while he shakes his head.

“I don’t like it,” Sunghoon says entirely close minded before hitting Jay’s shoulder who sat to his left. “What do you think?”

“I don’t necessarily have a problem with it as long as it’s like a one time thing,” He shrugs, lifting the bottle to his lips to take a swig. “Once or twice okay, and as long as it’s not just specifically between them only. I think as the boyfriend it would be my job to feed her,”

Jungwon hums in agreement to Jay’s explanation. “Yeah me too, one or twice is fine but its technically something that I should do,”

“I don’t think it’s that serious,” Ni-ki pipes in, gesturing around the group. “Especially if it were one of you, we’re all friends. It wouldn’t be something weird or out of bad intention,”

“What if it were Yunjin or I?” You suddenly ask, sitting up from your slouched position in having your feet dangle off of Jake’s legs from your seat. “Is it different if it’s one of the boys compared to us?”

Sunghoon falters, a sheepish smile taking over his lips knowing it was a convicting question. “Well—”

“Sexism!” Yunjin yells out, an accusing finger pointed toward the boy who sputtered to respond.

“No, none of you can do it,” Heeseung shakes his head. “I’m a hater to all, I know you two are girl kissers too so no! I don’t need my only girl friends stealing my girl,” He tuts while you let out a small laugh at the thought, seeing his pouty lips at the complete imaginary scenario.

“Lets ask the actual couple in the group,” Jungwon clears the air, being the main instigator of the topic as he gestures toward you and Jake who had kept quiet, merely amused by the conversation his friends debated upon. “Hyung what do you think?”

You raise a brow as you turn to Jake who sat on your right. One of his hands was comfortably placed on your shins, tracing small circles along your skin as you continued to wear shorts due to the humid air. His other dangled his beer bottle in hand, seemingly comfortable with a slight buzz.

His eyes peer over to yours, amusement lingering through the look he sent you. “She wouldn’t have to have one of you help her if that were the case,” Jake shrugs, a smile quirking at his lips at his smug words. “It’s my job to take care of my girl,”

The boys as a collective being sent into a frenzy by his response. Sunoo and Jay rolling their eyes in disgust by his attempt to seem cool and collected knowing well enough how much of a sulk he tended to be majority of the time. You couldn’t help but laugh as he winked noting your look, Yunjin loudly gagging at the sight but bursting into a fit alongside you.

“___ be honest, does he treat you that well?” Heeseung interjects, looking for your voice in the matter after Jake seemed to drop such a well versed answer.

You hum, deciding whether or not to play along in Jake’s ploy. “So far,” You tease while he merely rolls his eyes in a playful manner. “I can’t say in this particular topic since it hasn’t happened but he does ensure I’m always first when it comes to small acts,” You add on truthfully, thinking back to the amount of times over the past weeks that Jake has seemed to go above and beyond in ensuring you were comfortable and always ate before him.

It was hard to get used to at first, independent thus far and having his help was completely different. But you grew accustomed to it, figuring it was just the way he was raised which earned more brownie points than you’d like to admit. The first time he tied your shoe in a parking lot, your foot perched on his brand new jeans without a care, in particular being the main gesture that caused your heart to flutter even for a split second.

“Ah what a good boyfriend~” Ni-ki cooed, patting Jake’s arm while Sunoo lets out a small snicker. Leaning over to catch your eyes, he added his next words on with a mischievous smirk. “Let me know if he slips up noona, I’ll help you with the perilla leaf instead,”

Your eyes widen at Ni-ki’s words, knowing fully well he was joking and only intended to get under Jake’s skin but it caught you by surprise. Jay, Heeseung, and Sunghoon burst into a fit of laughter at sight while Yunjin, Jungwon, and Sunoo seemed to mirror your expression.

“Yah!” Jake, in a momentary daze, snaps out of his dumbfounded expression and attempts to lean over to hit Ni-ki upside the head but the younger boy moves. “You’re such a brat, annoying me all day and now this?” Tapping your legs to get off of him, you oblige to the silent command as he stands. Ni-ki was quick to leap away, already running around the row of chairs as Jake followed after him. “Don’t run away now after talking all that shit!”

“Now now, play nice kids,” Yunjin calls out, her laughter mixing in with the rest. “Just don’t fall into the lake or trip over a rock, alright?”

“I was kidding!” Ni-ki yells, voice distant as Jake continued to chase him down the dirt road, the dim lighting from the fire being the only lighting around opposed to the few lights further down from another group. “N-no, no it was a joke! I’m sorry!”

There was a loud scream that came from Ni-ki, one that echoed through the air and mixed in with his laughter before their footsteps made their way back to the group. As the two came back into light, Jake moves his chair as close as possible to yours before plopping himself down while Ni-ki trails behind, rubbing his shoulder though his amused expression never faltered.

“Next question?” The youngest boy asks, breaking the air causing Jay to let out a small snort, the conversation topic now moving on with ease.

Silently, Jake pats his legs. Draping yours over his lap once more, you shift to get comfortable, his hands finding way to your shins once again and giving it a slight squeeze. A small smile plays at your lips, sending him an air kiss to rid of the small pout he wore, one that caused Jake’s expression to melt into a grin in an instant.

“Oh! I got one!” Sunghoon suddenly claps his hands, the loud snap gaining everyone’s attention at his bright eyed expression. Looking around, he pauses for dramatic effect only to get a series of heated exchanges upon his next few words.

“Thoughts on pineapple on pizza?”

my tags!! @slutforsjy @jaklvbub @whowantshota @addictedtohobi @coolwitu @simjyunnie @kgneptun @graythecoffeebean @143ikeu @zyvlxqht @tesywesy @nxzz-skz @aishisgrey @missmischief1408 @enczen @vanvity @dreamiestay @caitysdelusions @ikkeumyluv @mysticalenchantresss @v3lv3tsin

( pls make sure your settings make you applicable to tag )

[deepdreamnights]

The Age Old Debate: Fire Good, or Fire Bad?

This was originally going to be part of this thread, but the points were distinct enough and my thoughts rambly enough that I split it into two posts.

From the recent PalWorld thread:

We gotta handle that last tag in two parts.

Part 1 "the devs admitted to using AI art to make the pals"

First off, that isn't true near as I can tell. I can't find anything of the PalWorld Devs admitting they used AI for PalWorld designs. Palworld had demo footage with Pals in it 2 years ago on June 6 with their announcement trailer, which means they would have had to have started dev much earlier than that.

This is what AI art from June of 2022 looked like:

On the left, Hieronymus Bosch's Pokemon, on the right, Charmander on Gumby.

I did a much deeper breakdown of the "used AI" accusation here. It does not hold water.

Now, I could change my mind on this point if there were linked evidence to the creators of Palworld saying this. But there isn't.

Because the accusation is repeated in a tag, there's no way to include supporting information, or even to easily directly ask the accuser for it. Many people are going to see it, internalize it, and then repeat it uncritically, and that's how rumors and witchhunts start.

Because I've seen a lot of accusations about PalWorld stealing fakemon, and I'm yet to see a smoking gun. There's barely smoke.

Gonna hit the second point in that tag, but while we're on the theme of spreading misinfo:

Part 2 of the Tag: Using AI to Brainstorm is "Bad"

This is also an assertion that would require support, and I believe it to be wholly incorrect.

Plagiarism happens at publication. Not at inception, not inspiration, not even at the production level. The only measure of whether something is or is not "stolen art" is whether what comes out at the end replicates, with insufficient transformation, an existing, fixed expression. Art theft is about what comes out, not about what goes in.

For more about how this works with AI art, I suggest checking out the Electronic Frontier Foundation's statement on the issue. They're the ones looking out for your online civil rights, and I agree with their position on this.

The argument that AI art is theft because it is trained on public-facing material on the internet just doesn't fly. Those are all fixed published works subject to inspiration, study, and transformative recreation under fair use. The utilization of mechanical apparatus does not change that principle.

And fair use that requires permission isn't fair use. That's a license.

Moreover, altering the process to put infringement at inspiration/input or allowing the copyrighting of styles would be the end of art as we know it.

There's no coincidence that the main legal push against AI art on copyright grounds is backed by Adobe and Disney. Adobe is already using AI art as a pretext to lobby congress to let them copyright styles, and Disney owns enough material on its own to produce a dataset that would let them do all the AI they'd ever need to, entirely with material they "own." And they're DOING THAT.

The genie is out of the bottle, they (Disney, Adobe, Warner Bros, Universal) have it, and it can't be taken away from them. They just don't want anyone else using AI to compete with them.

Palworld didn't use AI to conceive of its critters. If it had, they'd have probably been less derivative.

(three random AI fakemon I prompted up as examples of just that)

Both traditional and AI-assisted art can plagerize or be original, its entirely based upon how the techniques are used.

Moreover, you can infringe entirely accidentally without realizing, but you can also fail at copying enough that it becomes a new protected work.

We're well into moral panic territory with AI in general, and there's more than a touch of it around Palworld, largely because people aren't suspicious enough of information that confirms their worldview.

I used the quoted set of tags as the prompt for the top of the post, all the AI images in this post are unmodified and were not extensively guided, and thus do not meet the minimal expression threshold and should be considered in the public domain.

[yearningagain]

it's enough (to make a girl blush): chapter three

HI SORRY FOR THE WAIT!! i had some unexpected personal setbacks but the third chapter is finally here!! finally some eddie pov smirk

i will also say that college has officially started back up for me, so chapters might come slower for the next few months, sorry! im an educated man what can i say

and now, on to the main attraction!

also on ao3!

total wc: 4.2k | wc: 1.6k | rating: e (18+) | pairing: steddie | cw: past drug use | tags: a/b/o, alpha eddie munson, omega steve harrington, modern au, baker steve, famous eddie, getting together, gay eddie, bi steve, soulmates/true mates/scent mates, side buckingham

part one | part two

--------------

Eddie was tired.

That’s a complete understatement. Eddie was exhausted. 

This wasn’t uncommon for him, he’d pulled his fair share of all-nighters growing up purely because he was hyperfocused on something and lost track of time. Even on nights he could manage to put himself to bed, insomnia and nightmares plagued him. His father screaming, his mother dying, Uncle Wayne finally saying he’d had enough of Eddie’s antics. He had run on pure adrenaline. (And maybe some of the leftovers Rick had given him.)

But that was high school. Now, Eddie had managed to give himself a semi-normal sleep schedule by giving his absolute all to Corroded Coffin, just to high-tail it back to wherever they were sleeping to crash for four to six hours, or until his brain got the better of him. And his dedication to the band, along with the motivation from the other members, had paid off immensely. They were actually quite popular now, selling out small venues in bigger cities and the off chance of getting recognised on an extremely busy street. The boys had toured the U.S. twice now, and were currently a quarter of the way done with their third. Their label had even begun talking about a world tour for their next album.

Eddie loved playing shows. He loved how he could feel the music deep in his bones, how the words he’d scribbled on a random notebook page were now being sung by thousands of voices, how he got to be himself through and through because that’s what got him there. He had also been sleeping fantastically, which was a plus.

Until two weeks ago.

Until the mystery man entered his dreams and knocked Eddie’s whole world out from underneath him.

—

The night had ended uneventfully, the first of two sold out shows in LA went on without a hitch. Eddie was thanking his past self for convincing the guys to get a hotel since they were staying in the city for multiple shows. No matter how much money they happened to rake in, oftentimes just staying on the bus was preferred. The alpha was crashing hard after coming off stage, barely managing to say bye to Jeff, Gareth, and Frank before stumbling to the waiting cab and eventually haphazardly shoving his key card into the lock of his hotel room. He toed his shoes off, pulled his shirt over his head, and fell face first into the bed. 

Eddie didn’t remember falling asleep. One second, he’s debating on if it’s worth it to shimmy off his skinny jeans, the next, he’s got an angelic omega in his lap frantically grinding against his thigh. 

He didn’t know where he was or who he was with, but none of that seemed to matter, if his alpha’s feeling of Omega, Mate, Safe was anything to go by. In fact, quite literally nothing mattered to him right now, except for the movements of the mystery man, the distinct wetness soaking through his pant leg, and how his fly was digging into his dick. 

“God, fuck- alpha, please…”

As soon as the title left the omega’s lips, the alpha was completely entranced. Eddie huffed, his hands quickly made their way to the man’s hips, gripping and guiding him to chase his impending orgasm. The alpha didn’t fare much better, already embarrassingly close to popping a knot in his jeans. 

“Ah- ‘M close, alpha…” was all the warning Eddie got before their efforts doubled down, both moving impossibly faster. He swayed forward trying to get a whiff of the omega, and he was rewarded greatly with the heady scent of spiced caramel apples, with an undercurrent of warm vanilla. In response, Eddie pumped out his own pheromones, hoping to get the other over the edge.

Suddenly, everything was wrong. He felt ice cold, plunged into consciousness unwillingly. As he opened his eyes, he was very disappointed to see no one in the hotel bed with him. That wasn’t unusual, waking up alone. Eddie hated hookups and one night stands and anything that left him feeling somehow more lonely than before, and he hadn’t met anyone he was willing to subtract time with the band to be substantial with. 

His thoughts were interrupted by a loud knock at the door, Jeff making sure he’s awake in time for their morning meeting. He simply groaned, rolled off the bed, and pushed all of these weird feelings as far down as he could.

—

Now, after two weeks of enduring hot dreams (that feel so so real), irritability, and the other members of Corroded Coffin, and even staff, having to tell him constantly to put on more blockers because he reeks, it makes sense that he’s exhausted. That’s not even including his growing urge to nest, his steadily increasing libido, and his inner alpha being infuriatingly restless. He thought he was putting on a brave face, hiding most of his internal issues from his bandmates, from the world. 

Too bad that his bandmates were also the people he trusted most, his best friends in the entire world, part of his pack. 

The boys had an off day- no shows, no interviews, nothing explicitly planned. They had arrived in Wisconsin late the previous night, going straight from the stage to the bus to pack up and start the drive from Missouri. Eddie had planned to take the day off to relax, maybe nap if his mind would allow it. But Jeff, Gareth, and Frank apparently had other ideas.

A knock on his bunk startled Eddie from his wandering mind, having spaced out thinking about the mystery omega yet again. He groaned, but pulled the privacy curtain back to give the stink eye to whoever disturbed him. Gareth waved sheepishly. “Hey, dude. Sorry to bother, but we got pizza.”

Immediately, Eddie forgave the beta, swiftly hauling his ass out of the bunk and into the main space of the bus where three pizzas had been laid out. Plain cheese for Gareth because he was vegetarian, pepperoni for Jeff and Frank because they were normal, and mushrooms and meatballs for Eddie because he was a freak like that. Once he grabbed two slices, Eddie sat down on the couch, finally realizing that the others were watching him intently.

“What? Do I have sauce on my face?” he asked lightly, but the set of their jaws made his blood run cold. Jeff shook his head, heaving a sigh before meeting his eyes.

“We need to talk.” Jeff began.

“Oh my god, are you breaking up with me?” Eddie comedically gasped. If there was one thing about him, it was that if he couldn’t run from the confrontation, he’d make some shitty joke about it.  

Despite his piss-poor attempt at deflection, Frank spoke up. “You’ve been different, dude. Holeing up in your bunk, snapping at us. You even growled at me. That’s not cool.”

The alpha at least had the sense to look apologetic about it. It was one thing to verbally snap at people, but it was another entirely to growl at someone. Especially someone who didn’t deserve it, like Frank. All he had done was point out a groupie that was desperate for Eddie, something the boys normally joked about knowing his distaste for engaging with them. But something about even suggesting anyone other than Mystery Omega felt completely and utterly wrong.

“Plus, you reek, bro. You know that. How do you keep forgetting your blockers? We just want to make sure you haven’t gotten yourself into something bad. I know this is different from high school, but the stress is still there. We want to know that you’re okay, Eddie,” Jeff said solemnly. 

Slowly but surely, the gears started turning for Eddie. “You- you guys think I’m on drugs?” He laughed, albeit a bit hysterically. He stood and started pacing. “I fucking wish I was on drugs! I feel like I’m losing it! My stupid alpha won’t stop being in-fucking-sane, all broody and moody and fucking annoying as hell. Keeps telling me to prepare and fucking nest and, fucking, oh, gotta make it perfect, gotta make it nice. For fucking what!”

His hands shot to his hair, tugging and pulling on the locks. “Not to mention that my dick is basically rubbed raw because I fucking always pop a knot, which I swear has gotten bigger. And I can’t stop it because those fucking dreams won’t stop! He’s always there, every single night, making my life absolute hell because he’s not actually here and he’s not actually real and I’m so fucking lonely that I made a guy up to get off!” Eddie was borderline feral now, pupils pinpoint and breaths coming in heavy gasps. He slowly sank to his knees, closed his eyes and took some deep breaths. “And I have been wearing blockers. I’ve stacked blockers.” He pulled his hair back, revealing at least three patches over his primary scent glands. “It’s not helping. Nothing is helping.”

Gareth stood from his spot on the opposite couch the alpha had been perched on, the information coming together quickly for him. “Is it the same guy?” he asks, taking a few steps to approach Eddie, who raised his head. “What?”

“Is it always the same guy, Eddie? I need you to be honest here.” The beta moved closer, kneeling in front and gently taking Eddie’s hands from his hair.

“Y-yeah. Same guy. Don’t have a face, but he smells divine, Gare. What’s going on?” Eddie asked quietly.

“I think you need to listen to your alpha. I think you need to prepare.”

[guide-for-the-untrained-eye]

ATTENTION ATTENTION STARKID, PULP, TCB, SMOSH AND SW FANS!!!

I apologise now for the many tags, but this is important, as many algorithms have just been pushing down these.

I come as a messenger of the good word of Tinlightenment to remind y’all that this Tin Can KS is ALL OR NOTHING! This means if we don’t get that last 90k, NONE of these are going to happen.

If y’all liked Headless from Shipwrecked’ Comedy (which idk how yoh wouldn’t lmao), we’ve got some amazing people from Headless in these projects, like James, Tom Lenk, the obvious babes with the bros, Curt, and OF COURSE MK! Thats just for Spy Another Day, as we have folks like Gabe in Solve It Squad and which also has Ashley from Poe Party AND The Lizzie Bennet Diaries! I feel like all these amazing amazing people deserve the chance to do more projects with each other in this circle!

I also know many of you like Joe Walker, and Joe said he’d come back for this, BUT said on stream that if they don’t get this, he’s not coming back to acting AT ALL. And I know no one wants that, let’s not let Joe down there!

And for a bonus draw to the StarKid fandom, especially the OG potterheads, just like with the Wiggly, Corey will be giving away a copy of the AVPSY script to a backer. If you want to put in for the drawing, just make sure you have backed!

Now to the Pulp fans, we’ve got 3/4 main leads in the Spy Another Day show! We would get Mariah as the lounge singer at the start, James as the informant, and Curt as, well, Agent Curt Mega. But ONLY if we get this!

As for y’all Smoshheads (do y’all have a fandom name idk?), the only way we get the amazing trio of Arasha, Angela, and Chase on The Great Debate is if we GET THIS LAST 90K! If y’all enjoy Arasha lying to everyone and the reactions to that, The Great Debate is right up your alley, I guarantee!

Not to mention the NEW NEW projects like Gross Prophets AND Intelligent Life which we just will NOT get if we don’t reach the goal, and that quite genuinely would be so upsetting, especially with Gross Prophets as this is the FIRST TCB project to have two AMAZING women (Ali Gordon and Angela Parrish) taking the helm on original music which would be AWESOME to see!

And for overseas peeps this also allows them to do shows out fo the US for the FIRST TIME EVER! Not only will they be doing a smaller version of Spy Another Day, but the reason they’ll be in the area is to also do the EDINBURGH FRINGE FEST with Solve it Squad which would be MASSIVE! Plus we will also get stuff in Adelaide as well! Alongside those we WILL get digital tickets for many of them, so even if you aren’t in the area, don’t let that deter you from pledging!

If anyone is waiting because they don’t have money now but will at the end, DO NOT WORRY! Just like with all Kickstarters prior and in the future, the money doesn’t come out it until AFTER the campaign is over! So get those pledges in now babes! Please we need all of your help!

Please, please go to tinlightenment.com and pledge, even 10-20 dollars is enough to help the bros pull off so many of these cool projects that ONLY can happen with your help. If you like any of these creators, please please help!

[aughtpunk]

Any advise for someone who's trying to write their own COTL AU story but keep getting stuck with the main plot?

Okay I waited till I was less mentally wiggly to answer this.

I'm guessing you have the issue where you've created an entire AU with all the background and world and characters and are now sitting there going 'wait, now what'. This has actually happened to me in the past! It sucks! But you can work your way through it!

First, think about what type of story you want to tell. Don't even think about the AU part. Like, do you want to write a romance? A mystery? Slice-of-Life? What sort of story are you interested in? Because I find that trying to force myself to write something I don't want to never, EVER works.

Now think of one super cool ultra thing you want to happen in the story. It could be something you've read a million times before (oh no, we have to share a bed) or something that's totally off the wall and unique (oh no, our pirate ship grew a mouth and it's trying to eat this island). So many of my fanfics have started from me thinking of one really cool scene and working around it.

Next, you work around that cool scene. What could possibly lead someone to that point in the story? What would immediately happen after that? How did our pirates come across this boat? What dark magic transformed the boat? Then, what do the people who live on the island think about how their coast now has a bite mark in it? I find that working from the inside-out is a good way to develop shaky plots. It causes a domino effect backwards, in a way.

Okay you got a cool idea and some very basic ideas for the events of the story. Now comes the messy part: sticking the characters in. It may seem easy at first, The Lamb is the pirate king, it's Narinder's island, but as you put more and more characters in you may notice they start to...rebel in a way. Suddenly Kallamar is there trying to lecture people on how islands Don't Work That Way. Maybe Pirate Lamb doesn't want to work with Island God Narinder. That OC you made to have a single line is now a major character and is making out with Kallamar how the fuck did that happen.

At this point: DO NOT PANIC.

Character rebellion is perfectly natural and part of the writing process. People aren't so cut and dry, and that goes for fictional people as well. The trick is not to force the characters to act against their nature. You want to lean in with whatever these characters are doing. If The Pirate Lamb doesn't want to bow to Narinder you don't force them to bow because that will make the story seem flat and forced. Instead, go into why the character is acting that way. Then go into the consequence of the character acting that way. Now Narinder is pissed and is calling for the Pirate Lamb's head. You didn't plan it, and it may change what you had outlined, but the story is better for it.

So now you have a cool event, a bunch of characters, and a story fleshed out by the actions of those characters. Now comes the hardest part of all: Writing an absolute shit first draft. Just. Just the worst thing you've ever written. When you read it over you will doubt all your writing abilities and debate deleting everything and burning the computer in which it was written on.

Don't do that. Instead have a snack and go to bed.

Then the next day you fix yourself a snack and a yummy drink and FIX THAT SHIT. Just read it over and over tweaking and adjusting until the story is how you want it. And if you have a beta reader than even better! But hey, if you don't it's not the end of the world. The important thing is after you look over your story two of three times you then slap that baby online before second-guessing yourself. Be sure to use the right tags too!

And that's it. Then you have a story out there featuring Pirate Lamb and Island God Narinder making out sloppy-style as the island sinks in the background. Congrats! You're a writer! Pat yourself on the back and slowly realize with sickening horror that you now have at least two dozen more story ideas.

Don't worry, it happens to the best of us.

[sysmedsaresexist]

Guys, I love you all, I appreciate all of you, but please don't send asks about me to the blogs expressing concerns about me. If they have me blocked, that's okay. Leave it be.

I don't really know what happened, but over the last week there's been an influx of asks flying around, debating my stances and whether I should be blocked.

While I appreciate it, I need to stress that I don't support it.

In the kindest, most genuine way,

I am #pro syscourse conversation

I am #CDDs first

I am #resources, #research and #debunk

I am #system safe

People are free to block and unfollow, it's okay.

This turned into a little opinion piece. I'm putting it below the cut because this was the main point of the post, and while I feel like what I've said is important, I don't want to drown out this request.

If you like what I've said, this is okay to reblog, but otherwise, I'm fine with people having me blocked.

Some of the things being said about me are hilarious. Apparently, I've been tricking doctors since before I was born. Just ignore them. I don't need defending.

Go drink water and sit for a minute, take care of yourselves.

I post in both anti endo and pro endo tags because I don't care who interacts with me. This might come as a surprise to some of you, but the majority of topics aren't bound or related to syscourse and stances.

When I post a new article about DID, I encourage pro/endos, CDD systems, and anti endos to reblog it. Why wouldn't I?

Origin discourse should NEVER come before resources, research, and general kindness

That statement shouldn't even be a question.

Your stance and personal beliefs don't change the article that I am presenting. If you think the article is good, reblog it.

Maybe that particular article isn't for you, but maybe the next one will be.

If someone doesn't want to stick around to see the next article, let them go, but I won't apologize for using both tags.

If I post about an internal communication technique, I would never restrict that to one side or the other. Systems aren't even the only people who benefit from training their internal communication-- that's just a genuine therapy technique used by singlets and systems and everything in between.

You might as well be telling me that people with OCD aren't allowed to use the technique I'm describing. Like, who cares, is it going to help them? Great, on to the next post.

Oh no, someone reblogged my post about a particular CPTSD feel and tagged it with plurality. Someone also tagged it with BPD, and PTSD, people tagged it with "me every time I'm stressed" and #OLD and #MUDs, people reblogged it laughing and joking in the tags and another poured their heart and trauma out into the world.

GRRRR, how dare they.

My post was for anti endos only 😤

Listen

Hot Take

But if you're at the point that you're gatekeeping resources, maybe just... give it a second thought. Revisit it a little.

Because that might be kind of messed up.

And you might be keeping someone from something that could turn their life around in a positive way. You could be keeping an endo from an article that might explain CDDs or trauma in just the right way for it all to suddenly make sense.

And in the same breath, you could be keeping someone else from an article that might explain plurality in just the right way.

But... that's kind of the point, isn't it? It's not resources going out that bothers you, but resources getting in.

You don't want your friends reading that article and making the choice themselves what to believe and think, and while you don't want to admit it, you're punishing people who seek out more information and research.

Maybe they're not the kind of people I want on my blog.

And that's okay...