#The money I make from this is honestly mostly going to go back into funding this art hobby of mine. Ink is expensive!

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Do you like my art? Do you wish I would draw something specific? Great news!

~COMMISSIONS ARE NOW OPEN!~

If you are interested in commissioning me, please fill out the google form and I'll reach out to you as slots become available!

[Ko-fi - Google Form Link]

#Commission info #PLEASE NOTE ONCE AGAIN: These prices are not USD - these are cheaper than you may think. #I have put a ton of work into this and I am so thankful to everyone who helped me out! #There are still probably bumps I need to iron out as I go but I will try my best. Feedback is very welcome! #If there are a lot of people interested I may have a waitlist but I doubt I'll have that many offers. I'm still pretty new here! #The money I make from this is honestly mostly going to go back into funding this art hobby of mine. Ink is expensive! #Thank you also for all the love and support for my comics. Without it I'd never have the confidence to do commissions. #Even if you can't afford it right now - know I really appreciate it all. From the lurker to the frequent commenter: thank you <3 #Don't worry about the horse by the way. She's just here to keep watch.

[50cal-fullauto-astarion]

☈ your bones singing into mine ii

one - two

nikto x gen!bio-weapons engineer reader (no use of y/n) 3.4k words cw: honestly just the relationship being dysfunctional, also like warlord sugar daddy overtones, but that's just how this cookie is gonna crumble Nikto has swept you out of the darkness, and into an intact world burning full of ugly lights. He meets your every need as you work to create weapons to supply him an armory of shock and awe. He buys for you a place in Bruges, a rowhouse right on the water, and your only desire is a romantic dinner with him. He does not have it within himself to deny you.

Nikto brings you out into a world that is bright and burning, but mostly whole. He tells you that things are tied on a shoestring of balance, that any strong enough blow of breeze could tip the whole house of cards, and he has a look in his eyes that names himself typhoon. 

He is one of the most complex and deeply locked men you have ever met in your life, and you have met a great many men with secrets that could turn cities into subatomic particles in a blinding flash of a second. He wants to father a new world, a savage paradise, and, yet, he holds you in the palm of his velvet-covered iron fist as his finest treasure.

Penthouses are cleared out for you–places high in the sky, in any number of cities, so far away from the ground and the dark. He pours money into your comfort like hemorrhaging, and he cares not that his funds bleed, because he can always dump more into the wound. 

It’s a wound he wants to sustain, because he likes to see you clean, and comfortable, and sparking electricity as you work. He provides makeshift, mobile labs for you. Thousands upon thousands of dollars for computers, and programs, and security. Though he lifts you into the light, he makes you a small space of darkness, allowing you to run and return to your work.

He begins to call you Spider, or Pauk, depending on whether his English is dropping your name like a threat, or if his Russian is soft and trying to entreat you.

There is a place in Bruges, right on the water, that he pulls together for you. It is smaller than your other hideaways, cozier. Bulb-lit with warm wooden flooring and tall walls. He walks stiffly through the halls, watching for your reaction, and his shoulders relax when you turn from the window watching boats on the water to give him your cracked grin. 

“It’s out of a book,” you say, “the buildings are such bright colors. How is this real?”

“It’s always been this way here,” he tells you. He shuffles a moment, bringing his clasped hands from his back to his front, before he adds quietly, “We’re glad that you…find it acceptable here.”

Surely he is remembering the blocs he grew up on, all the colorless brutalist construction from the Soviet era. Houses for workers, starvation in the streets. You wonder if his place had heriz rugs all over the floors, to insulate sound and cushion steps and provide color. 

You press your fingertips into the cool glass, looking at him, wondering about him. You’d like to see his face, though he’s told you that it is a nightmare. You’d like to kiss him. You know he loves you, just as you love him.

“It’s perfect. I’m going to like it here,” you tell him, and your heart swells and patters when his shoulders raise a little bit, proud of himself for his pick. With his hidden face, you’ve become an expert in his body language. All his little tells become clear to you, the more time you spend with him.

He is slow with you, cautious. Not as if approaching a wild animal, he would never treat you with such base suspicion and wariness, but as if he is the animal, well-aware of exactly how powerful his bite is. He treasures you too much to damage you. 

Such brutality is held within this many-faceted man, vast and damning. He is a gentleman though, through accident or practice, and he puts that hardwork into effect with you.

It causes you to make the first move most of the time. 

“I want you to have dinner with me tonight,” you say, tapping your fingers against the glass, feeling the condensation cling to your fingerprints. 

He shakes his head. “Your value is too high for us to allow you out of the flat, Pauk,” he says gently, misunderstanding, as if reminding you. There are so many beautiful homes he has carved out for you, but you’ve never stepped foot outside of them. 

He thinks you want to, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth. The reality is that you are brimming with hatred at the fact it still stands. That your suffering was for nothing, and the apocalypse still lies dormant but rumbling, a stalled birth. You love your closed spaces and your blackout curtains that hide the world and your tall walls and bright lights.

“We can have something ordered and brought to you,” he continues, trying to soothe the blow that never landed.

A grunt of annoyance snaps out of your throat, hand pressing flat to the glass. “Nooo,” you draw out, turning to face him in full. “I want you all to eat here, with me. Only us, none of the guards making all that fucking noise with their heavy boots. And I want to pretend that we’re all just having a nice night. And there are no contagions or stadiums or belt-fed guns.”

In shame, his head drops a degree, arms tightening in front of him. The supple leather of his gloves creak. “Apologies, Pauk.” His head remains that one slice lower, but his eyes flicker up like a bird’s from beneath his rippy lashes. “We…” he pauses, trying to formulate the words, “we will put that together. For you. What do you want to eat?”

Your hand comes away from the glass, and you press your palms together like a prayer, holding the sides of your hands to your lips. “I want something bloody and buttery. Something good made by someone that doesn’t love me.”

A small noise like a laugh sounds behind his heavy mask, and his neck relaxes. It puts together a picture of thought: it’s a good thing we do not cook for you, then. “We will find something.”

+

Neither of you cook. It’s a sad reality. You were too built up for epidemiology and plague-practitioning to have the room or time to learn the skill, and Nikto readily admits that he’d long ago lost his sense of smell. “Nova gas,” he explained, funnily enough. “That was your grandfather’s work, yes?” It was. He and his team. You are a legacy leper-making, just like God and all of his followers.

The sun has settled fully in the city of Bruges, and the light of street lamps, the running lights of boats on the water, and fairy lights around shopfronts make the water glitter. It is warm here, with all the brick and cobblestone soaking up the yellow light, and for once you are fine with the curtains open.

Nikto has spoiled you rotten with clothing, all of it fine and soft and rich. You dress comfortably, beautifully, and wander the flat, looking over things leftover from past tenants, waiting on his return. He always leaves you with a guard when he is gone, and tonight it is a short but sturdy woman from Montenegro who does not speak. She sits on the small leather couch in the living room, reading a book with horses on the cover, rifle across her lap. You do not bother her, but you cannot wait for her to leave.

When Nikto arrives, it’s with yet another guard, this one in plainclothes, carrying two large paper bags in their arms. It’s always seemed funny to you that he just goes out in the mask, nightmare beneath it or not, and that people must have reactions in public. But, you don’t think Nikto travels anywhere that people would dare comment on it. He has lackeys for embarrassing, mundane duties. 

He takes the bags from the second guard, and dismisses the woman on the couch, letting you approach to lock the deadbolts on the back of the door when they’re out. It is your comfort and your right, he will not interfere with it.

Meeting his eyes, you grin a cracked grin at him. “Smells good. What is it? What was the restaurant called?”

He makes another laugh-noise, looking skin-close to bashful. “We do not know. We sent Dejanović to get it, he knows the city.” He peers into the bag. “He said foreign dignitaries enjoyed the place. We don’t feel like that always speaks well to quality.”

You try to take the bag into your hands, but his arm tightens. He does not like you doing menial tasks. He likes it only when you are free to tend to your work and whims. It is much preferable to him that your needs are met, and he is glad to tend to those tasks when he is with you.

“If it’s all rot and garbage, we can make zakuski instead, and wash it down with vodka,” you tell him, swaying a little, hoping the promise pleases him. “Tahumi brought me a can of caviar, and even found a mother-of-pearl spoon for it.”

His eyes grow hard at the mention of Tahumi giving you a gift. That is another thing that heckles him. He does not like others knowing about you, much less providing for you. That is his honor, and an honor he thinks it is.

Your mouth starts to curl. “Don’t eat yourself with knots,” you instruct him, but his eyes only grow harder, his posture stiffer. “I wanted it, and Tahumi saw it, and he bought it. He did it to please you, because you are so here-and-there with your underlings. Your favor can’t be curried because it doesn’t exist.”

“They are warm, walking corpses, and nothing more,” he says, stone-solid, cold. “We don’t need them for anything more than catching bullets and carrying out orders. You are not a tool to buy their way into security. There is none, and you–you’re–” 

He turns his head and breathes out hard. His body is held so tightly it paints pain on the walls behind him. His molars squeak as they grind together, trying to collect himself, but he is upset.

“Andryu,” you say, pulling his diminutives, trying to pluck the chords that will bring him back to you. You bend your body to swerve, attempting to capture his eyes. “Andryusha.”

There is a little break in the armor, a crack where you can push your fingers in, to find contact with him. There is a little light in his eyes. “We cannot allow you to be taken advantage of. Your wholeness is…” he trails off, struggling, and you provide him the territory to prowl, find his words. He turns and meets your eyes, and there is his passion. “Our last shred of warmth is you. If you are pained, or used, or discarded–it is a blow that would destroy the last human thing in us.”

And, here, your scant humanity answers his. You fold, slope, ease. You nod in agreement. “I know, Andryu, I do. But all of you know where my loyalties lie. You know I wouldn’t hesitate to find you if I felt targeted.” You want so horrendously to reach out and touch him, but you don’t. You have to allow him to initiate, otherwise he cannot handle it. “My lot is in your lot. I go where you go. Everyone else is a corpse that forgot to lie down and die.”

Using his language in ways that he understands it unlocks him to you. His gloved hand comes up, hovering just to the side of your jaw. But he doesn’t touch, he only traces the air in a line down the bone structure. 

+

He allows—or, rather, you give him no in allowing you to stand in the kitchen as he unpacks your meals to plate. It could be call an awkward affair, if either of you had the social graces to register that feeling in your minds. 

He’s taken his gloves off and swatted at your hand trying to take the paper bag for recycling, giving you a sharp look borne of the love he holds. Again, not allowed to lift a finger. 

There are faded Cyrillic characters tattooed across his knuckles, the black ink bloated and faded to blue. SOS across three fingers: either spasi, otets, syna or Suki Otnyali Svobodu. Save me, father, your son. Bitches robbed my freedom. 

He’s never told you which in specific, though he’s offered both as options. Tattoos are carved into so much of his skin, and he’s given you brief walking tours of them when he’s stripped down enough for them to appear. A warping on Russian prison tattoos, repurposed for the Spetsnaz. 

Epaulets on his shoulders—horses die from work. Devils just below those, oskals, hatred of authority. ‘I Fuck Poverty and Misfortune’ in Cyrillic, riding his Adonis belt. A lighthouse on his forearm, yearning for freedom. His skin tells his story, hard-lived, a language known to few. 

His plating skills are what cause him minor self-consciousness. He’s not an artistic man, and he has no eye for aesthetics. The blood-rare ribeyes are just placed and pushed to one side of the plate, crumbled blue cheese dumped artlessly on top. Creamed potatoes end up slopping over roasted asparagus, and he growls in his throat, frustrated. He is trying incredibly hard to make it pleasing. The more he moves it around, trying to be careful, the worse it looks. 

He wouldn’t care if it was solely for him. His frustration is because you will not be eating something pretty. In his mind, the only things you deserve are pretty and perfect. 

His hands stop fussing, resting on the edge of the counter, glaring down at the plates. “It looks like shit,” he renders his verdict. It sounds like he is considering throwing it away and ordering something else.

“Pelmeni look like shit. So does poutine. But it all tastes good, so we still eat it,” you push back. “No one eats shiny plastic or tinsel.”

He grunts again. “People eat shiny plastic and tinsel all the time, because they are fucking stupid.”

“If any of you are insinuating that any of us are fucking stupid, you’re being a fucking child.” Despite the content of your words, it is not said with heat. It is an olive branch, trying to reach him across the expanse of his dissatisfaction. You’re not sure you’ve made contact until his fingers start tapping on the counter, and he hums Krokodil Gena’s Birthday Song deep in his chest. He is calming, rectifying reality with himself. 

After a few, long moments, he picks up the plates, nodding at you, and carries them to the dining table outside the kitchen. It is situated in front of a set of big picture windows that he honestly does not like you standing near, ever, but it is for the sake of the evening. He sets your plate down, and pulls out your chair for you, before he seats himself. There are already sets of silverware and water on the table. A bottle of vodka, and two small glasses to drink from. 

You start by pouring two sips of vodka, offering him one. A toast falls out of your mouth, unthinking, and he clinks your glasses together in agreement. When you put your shot back, he hands you his glass, and you shoot that, as well. He has not removed his mask. He will not. But he overturns his glass next to yours.

It’s an odd affair, how the meal goes. Conversation picks up, on plans and your work, on the state of the world as it stands. That will run out, and you will both turn to other topics. Books, movies, cars. Oh, Nikto has such a soft spot for cars–he could talk about them from dusk until dawn. Luxury cars, supercars, performance and rally cars, working vehicles, even an astonishing breadth of consumer cars. He has opinions that stretch the globe, and you soak it up like a dry sponge. 

The oddest thing is that you eat, and he does not. He keeps his hands resting on either side of his plate, guarding it as if he was a prisoner, but he does not once touch his silverware. He won’t eat in front of anyone. He can’t, not without taking the mask off. It’s something he didn’t have to explain to you, you just understood it by studying his patterns. It’s something that made him even softer toward you. 

You finish, part of your steak left–you intend to slice it up and put it on some grilled crusty bread with piles of caramelized onions later–resting your fork and your knife on the edge of your plate. “That was good. Despite the dignitaries and dog shit. I want a copy of their menu, to tear up and eat bit by bit. I want all of you to have more dates with me, this one dripped romantic. All the seams were splitting up, and it went drop by drop by drop.”

“Date?” he queries, looking at you across the table as he reaches for your plate.

“Date.” You nod once, emphatically.

He shudders, smothering something that sounds like a sigh, averting his eyes. “We…will make sure there is a menu for you, next time,” he starts, unphased by your request. “Roses, if you like.”

You shake your head. “No use for roses, they wilt and die. Flowers all-wilted smell like the dark parts of the bunker, and my stomach eats and eats away at me because of that smell.”  You send an apologetic look across the table, thinking. “I’ll take tokens in trinkets. Whenever you bring me jewelry, I don’t take it off.”

As if in example, you pull up your sleeves, showing him the bracelets he’s brought you, left for your discovery on desktops and dressers. Next, you tug at your collar, showing him a pile of necklaces. 

His fingers twitch, looking at you helplessly. Not even he can prevent the swallow that goes down his throat, when he sees that you hoard the fine things he brings back for you.

Another long moment passes, and he is hoarse when he agrees, “Jewelry. We will bring you jewelry, then.”

In as much of a rush as you’ve ever seen him, he collects your dishes, and the bottle of vodka, storming back through the kitchen door. It doesn’t latch behind him, and you know he will be a while. It feels dirty, destructive and found and deceitful, but you sneak up to the crack, wanting to watch him.

His back is turned, his mask removed. Hair so deep in darkness it shines white under lights sticks up from his head at all angles, some of it missing from the side of his skull, along with an ear. He eats quickly, in clipped bites, gorging himself, stopping only to tip back the vodka bottle. It’s almost an ugly display, brutal necessity, and you know as well as you know the own pounding of your heart that he is uncomfortable, that he hates this. He hates to be bare.

You cannot see his face, and you would not try to see it. You want to see it someday, and that will only happen when he is ready to show you. You will not steal that freedom from him. You will not sneak looks when he is unawares. It is the same courtesy he has afforded you, and you are hellbent to pay it back in kind.

With that prickling your skin, you back away from the door, allowing him his needs. 

When he returns, sitting next to you on the couch, he is warmed-through and softened by the alcohol and food. He takes hold of your ankle, pulling it into his lap, rubbing the knob of your bone with his bare fingers. His masked head tips back, resting against the back of the couch, and he heaves a heavy sigh.

Your stomach clenches, and your heart races. There is so much love between the two of you, so impossibly massive that it cannot ever be feasibly dealt with, and that is something you are fine with when his eyes meet yours in a crinkled smile. 

Perhaps your union will kill the world as it stands, but you don’t particularly mind. His hands are warm against your bones, reaching deeper than any other human possibly could, and he looks at you as if you are his only purpose in life, even if that is not true.

“Andryusha,” you greet him quietly, turning your leg in his touch so he can have more skin.

Another small noise, pleasure, and he rubs deeper, followed by a soft, heartsick request, “Say it again, Paukya.”

#nikto #nikto x reader #cod nikto #mwii nikto #cod x reader #cod fanfic #cod mw x reader #my work

[iraprince]

Hello! long time silent fan here 💝

i came across an older post referring to you leaving the Guns Blazing project... i did back that kickstarter, and now im kinda worried about just who i gave my money to :/

are you able to share any details about why you left, or if theres anything i should know about the creators? it's too late for me to not give them money, but id like to know before i recommend the game to anyone

the main issue shared in the post you reference is pretty much it: a prominent ttrpg award was given to an active duty military strategist. a lot of people in the community, myself included, were obviously horrified by this and many spoke up about what kind of grotesque and deeply unjust message this sends about what we're allowing (more than allowing, CELEBRATING????) in the space; bafflingly, a bunch of other people in the community all crowded around to congratulate and asspat and defend and gas up this grinning servant of the imperial american death machine. it was horrifying to see that the dev of guns blazing, which the entire time it was funding had constantly and loudly advertised itself as a "decolonial" and "anti-imperialist" game, was one of the people celebrating his win.

when i confronted the dev one-on-one about this, i was told "the man's a personal friend who's helped me out in the past and helped out other marginalized people in the space." that is not a sufficient excuse for me when the issue is what this man was doing to marginalized people, FOR MONEY, FOR HIS CAREER, outside of the space. (it's murder. what a military strategist does is facilitate murder as needed by the state.) u cannot buy back lives you've destroyed globally by getting other poc jobs in roleplaying games or whatever the fuck.

i couldn't handle this. i'm not going to judge other artists who stayed in — i don't know if everyone even saw, the turmoil over the award was something that from what i saw was mostly contained to twitter and the dev kept his head down about it aside from his initial congratulations. there was a moment before i confronted the dev where honestly i thought to myself "maybe i can just pretend i didn't see it," but i knew in my heart that wasn't true and i wouldn't be able to be proud of myself if i did that. so that's why i pulled out.

my tone is heated here bc obviously this is a really appalling subject — it's the reason my commerical work contracts have a fucking ethics clause in them now, lmao — but at the same time i'm honestly not interested in like, "calling out" the dev over this. he let me leave the project immediately and without any issues, and i haven't kept up with anything he's doing since this incident. maybe he's changed his mind or like, one would hope all of the absolute horror we're constantly submerged in from witnessing the us government's eager support of the genocide in palestine has opened his eyes to No, Agents Of The Military Are Not Our Fucking Friends, Actually. i don't know. i don't care to go looking to find out. my interest is not in saying "i think this dev is a bad person and everyone should be wary of them!!!!", it's just to say "this dev did something that was so shocking to me and so misaligned from my own morals that i had to distance myself immediately." i don't know how far that reflects on anything else he believes or does, i just know it was a dealbreaker for me personally. the story ends there for me, and other people will have to make their own judgements based on what they observe now.

#i have caps of the (very brief) convo and if someone needs to see them for verification you can dm me. #but like i said i am not interested in this being like. a Callout or anything. i dont want them plastered everywhere #like i dont think anything good would come of it. it wouldnt Help anyone. im just. explaining what i saw and felt and did. #also why this is unrebloggable.

[fatuismooches]

Omg I just found your blog!! Finally a blog that write fluff fluff for the Harbingers aaaa and you write poly too!! May I request headcanons for a poly Pantalone and Tartaglia, please? Like how are their routines, they probably stay more in Liyue I think...

Anyway, if you don't want to it's okay!!

Good luck with your blog! <3

♡ 𝐏𝐨𝐥𝐲 𝐑𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐏𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐞 ♡

synopsis: Being in a fluffy poly relationship with the Eleventh and Ninth Harbingers is honestly quite sweet. Prepare for lots of pampering!

includes: pantalone + childe w/ gn! reader

notes: No thought but tall, doting men <3. Apologies if this isn't that long/good, I really wasn't sure how they'd interact with each other but I hope you enjoy this! (Also side note, does anyone wonder what the Harbingers' real names will be? I do. Every day.)

A relationship that no one saw coming. The battle-loving one, the money-obsessed one, and then there’s you. Childe and Pantalone didn’t really talk much unless it was for Liyue mission-related stuff or needed funds until you came into the picture. They don’t hate each other, but they don’t exactly love each other either, but they’re willing to compromise for you. Actually, I think this is a good pair. Childe and Pantalone both know how to be romantic. They both like to dote on you and take care of you as best as they can. They want you to eat the best food, the nicest clothing, the most expensive gifts, and the fluffiest blankets. They will give you the world regardless of anything and will make their love known. Due to this like-mindedness, they’re very good to you and there are not too many fights unless it’s over your attention.

In his voice lines, Childe says he doesn’t understand anything when Pantalone talks about his theories. I don’t know what these theories are but I think it would be funny if Pantalone is affectionately rambling on about his predictions on the economy and inflation to you and Childe is just like… what is he talking about? (And then Pantalone subtly insults his intelligence, which results in you holding Childe back from fighting him, all while Pantalone smiles.) I also think that Childe has a tendency to splurge Mora on you which results in Pantalone’s terror. (But it’s ok if Pantalone spoils you, he’s allowed to spend as much money as he wants. Teaching you and Childe how to manage money are dates now, I guess?)

I think Pantalone is mostly stationed in Snezhnaya since he has to control the Mora flow from there, but he likes to go to Liyue and Mondstadt too. You, Childe, and Pantalone are menaces to Liyue, after everything these two Harbingers did there. The citizens aren’t the fondest of them, but business owners can’t say anything since both of them are always generously renting out the most expensive Liyue restaurants (Xinyue Kiosk, Liuli Pavilion) just for you. And if anyone declines them, they aren’t above using some more… diplomatic forcefulness. Also, the Northland Bank employees trying not to cry out of fear when two Harbingers are repeatedly occupying the bank.

Trips to the Grand Goth Hotel in Mondstadt (the one where Pantalone rented out.) Childe is the kind of Harbinger who travels around a lot so I think he’ll eventually end up there. And if you happen to be traveling with Childe, Pantalone would randomly pop up in the hotel to whisk you away to the best scenery of Mondstadt while Childe is left unknowingly signing in. Also lots of cuddling on the best hotel beds. 

If Childe likes to spar with you or wants to go out and fight people with you, Pantalone is very good at saving you. Will negotiate and sweet talk him enough for you to slip away. He’s the one who thinks you should be relaxing in luxury rather than going out and getting all tired. Childe disagrees and thinks you fighting is very attractive. I don’t see Pantalone being the type to fight that much, so many times you and he are sitting down somewhere while Childe is beating everyone up.

Pantalone is the one who wants you to stay with him in Snezhnaya. It’s much safer than running around with someone who’ll go off to fight random Treasure Hoarders, he reasons. If you can’t fight, Childe is a bit inclined to agree, but he insists that he can protect you easily. Therefore, you alternate between the two of them. You’ll be going to Inazuma with Childe on one mission, and then the next you’ll be relaxing on Pantalone’s lap in Snezhnaya for the next. Sometimes the missions are really long so when you finally meet your other lover after so long they usually steal you away immediately for some much-needed fluffy alone times. In conclusion, both are very much mwah <3 and love you so much!

#genshin impact #genshin impact x reader #genshin x reader #childe #pantalone #tartaglia #childe x reader #pantalone x reader #tartaglia x reader #genshin pantalone #fatui harbingers x reader #fatui x reader #pantalone genshin #pantalone fluff #childe genshin impact #childe genshin

[photofi]

are you still in that financial emergency or did it work out?

okay, maybe its time to have an official update on this,: Thanks for the question, and honestly? Its been on and off, right now its not an emergency to say, but were definitely getting lower on our funds due to the expenses with school and debts unpaid, it takes most of my moms paycheck and right now ive been going through different forms of drawing/artstyles, trying to do what i can to raise anything i can, I managed to get enough money to use as my own allowance from the savings that I had to go through my school days for a few weeks which is good enough for now Its mostly the reason why Im not able to update my accounts, atleast not the ones like these. I can only get through one thing at a time, I cant make much that I actually want due to me trying to figure out what i can make to earn some form of income.

So I think, for now, I'm stepping off on a break.

I cant keep making things that I want right now, commissions are constantly open, its permanently there at this point So, sorry. But I cant update any more than this

Hopefully I can properly come back to just, this But, we'll see

#avm #ava #askjesterz! #jesterzupdates #sorry guys #im actually #trying my best #talk to you all #sometime in the future

[mayakern]

hello!! if you don't mind me asking, what was your professional art journey like? (esp the earlier years) was MonsterPop! your first big project online? were you still taking client work when you opened up your shop? you're a very inspiring artist and I hope to be in a similar position as you one day! thank you so much for your time!

oh boy this is a doozy! and also a lot of this involves devin bc our success is completely intertwined

i went to art school (MCAD) from 2009-2013. i majored in comic art but had a secondary unofficial focus in illustration, specifically product design, and i interned at paper bicycle (the company of my product design teacher) my senior year, the same year they opened up light grey art lab. i mailed out a LOT of tarot decks. they didn't have a label printer so this took forever.

during that time i took some freelance illustration and comic gigs and also created some comics that got an amount of traction online (mostly on tumblr but i also got an io9 article written about me iirc). i also started making monsterpop (in 2012 i think?).

in 2012 i ran my first kickstarter to crowdfund an anthology of some of my short comics (how to be a mermaid, the little robot girl, fairyfail) and got my first taste of proper self publishing. sadly this was before i created redden (which was my senior thesis comic) so it wasn't included. i didn't have label printer so mailing out the books (i think i sold around 200) took forever and i ended up throwing a pizza party with my friends and having them help me.

after graduating i moved to the LA area in search of work. it honestly sucked ass and most things didn't pan out but eventually (2014) i got a remote job contracting for gaiaonline and i moved right back to minnesota bc i absolutely hated LA.

i met devin (my wife) 20 days after moving back to minneapolis. in 2015 i ran a kickstarter to fund printing the first volume of monsterpop and people bought almost 400 books. it was insane. i was dying under the stress of trying to mail it all out those packages and didn't own a label printer yet. between having to hand write the addresses, being both dyslexic AND slow, and getting headaches from the fumes, i could send out a max of like 10 packages a day. once again i was planning to throw another pizza party to have my friends help me out, but devin swooped in and got 100 packages done in just a couple hours and when i tell you that no one has ever done anything sexier for me in my life, i truly mean it.

at the time devin and i were both broke living paycheck to paycheck. gaia didn't pay well and the patreon money i got helped, but wasn't that much. i took some freelance/commissions and got some store and convention sales, but i was making around 22-26k and was constantly overworked. devin was in significant credit card debt and was barely scraping by between managing a gas station and school. i started making my very first skirts and then at the end of 2015 my arm, the thing that made me what little money i did make, gave out.

i couldn't draw anymore. this could have literally ended my art career, but instead devin stepped up. they took a look at all the things i was already selling in my store and figured out a way to repackage/bundle the items together in a way that was fun and appealing. and people actually bought the bundles! at that point the vast majority of my sales were at conventions and i wasn't very good at selling online, but that was the beginning of a new era. devin started working with me part time to manage the online store and go with me to conventions and things started getting better. at some point during this saga we finally bought a goddamn label printer.

by 2017 devin started working with me full time. we also got married and moved across the country to upstate NY. in 2018 we got a CPA and became an SCORP and monsterpop became a finalist for the prism comics award, which scored me an invite as a guest at SDCC. i really wish i had enjoyed that experience, but unfortunately i was dealing with some Bad Medication Issues and was extremely sick the whole weekend. otherwise it was great tho and devin had enough fun for the both of us. this is also around when i officially stopped taking freelance work. prior to that i'd only been taking a couple jobs a year, but the store was finally making enough that i could stop.

in 2019 i made the difficult decision to end monsterpop. this came with a lot of heartache but it was the right thing to do. i am much better now for it. i think 2019 is also when we became an SCORP.

we hired our first employee (lindsy) in, i think 2021. it might have been the end of 2020. and in 2022 we hired our second employee (ariel), who had been modeling for us already for a couple years bc she is our very close friend and actually the reason we moved out to NY in the first place. in late 2022 we started working with ash, who now manages our product supply chain and also is patterning new garments for us.

there's probably a bunch of stuff i've missed but this is roughly it! neither devin nor i were able to succeed until we started working together. our strengths and weaknesses complimented each other well and somehow things just worked out.

and if you take away nothing else from this, please leave with this info: if you sell and ship any amount of product online buy a goddamn label printer

#ask #faq #long post #there was also a monsterpop volume 2 at some point i think 2017

[hussyknee]

do u really not see the difference btwn writing fanfic on the internet and buying a game whose storyline is actively being written by white supremacists and having the money go directly into the pocket of the most vocal & influential terf in the UK? that's not even touching all of the other racist and offensive bs in her series inc her antisemitism, appropriating first nations cultures, her asian racism, etc? i guess thats why you dont have 'antisemitics dni' on your blog

First, let me be clear – I do not give one single shit about Harry Potter. They are the best memories of my extremely shitty adolescence, I still read fanfic from time to time, but other than that, if I never hear the word "Harry Potter" again it will be too soon. I care about the fact that you clowns are

encouraging bullies and endangering mentally ill marginalized fans

leeching the air from leftist and queer discourse

fuelling a Western culture war that distracts from combating systemic transphobia

making suffering Black and brown communities, who mostly see white and Western trans people, think that trans people don't have any real problems beyond video games

Now, on to your ask:

I said never said not buying the game was the same as writing fanfic on the internet. I said that the furor over buying the game is leading to everyone who had anything to do with Harry Potter, including just writing fanfic, being bullied. I've had to unfollow so many people for reblogging posts attacking people for being in the *fandom*.

Asking people to refrain from doing something to prove that they care, especially demanding that they don't, has never in the history of activism worked. Black people have been speaking out against copaganda shows forever and STILL get harrassed. Indigenous people have been asking people to boycott Avatar and gotten nothing. Some people comply, but more do the thing simply out of contrarianism, and the entire issue becomes a culture war divided along political affiliation. People on the right go out of their way to do the thing, the people on the center and center-left won't really care, and people who identify as leftist divorce themselves even more from the rest of the left as being no better than the right, which eventually devastating results when it comes to actual elections and agitating for political change.

What works a lot better is harm reduction. Pirating is harm reduction, asking the HP fandom to offset JKR's fuckery by making their own merch, promoting indie games and donating to trans healthcare funds is harm reduction. People won't stand for being policed, but they like giving and also not paying for stuff with a clear conscience. You would have raised so much fucking money and promoted so many different things in all this time you've spent giving the game negative engagement clicks and keeping it trending on social media so long after its release.

You keep insisting that people shouldn't be fans because JKR equals her fandom with her own influence. This is called buying into the right-wing narrative. The woman is delusional (I can't think of a non-ableist word atm, and I honestly think that she's not all stable) and you're enabling her and her terf cult. We created the online HP fandom ourselves back in the aughts, before there was any merch, before movie rights were ever sold to WB, a full decade before her advertising machine ever woke up to the fact that an internet fandom existed. JKR has lost relevance for HP fans a long time ago; imagine the slap in the face for her if the fandom starts countering her bigotry by very prominently engaging in trans activism? The JKR terf cult in the HP fandom are a minority, like TERFs themselves (they're only so loud because the right-wing promotes the shit out of them). The vast majority of fans are just the kind of vaguely well-meaning cis people who don't agree with transphobes but are pretty ignorant about trans issues. And I do mean the vast majority, because literally a billion people grew up on her books and only a bare fraction is on social media at all, and even fewer even see the leftist drive to boycott the franchise.

Let's talk demographics. Because of the aforementioned vastness of consumers, the majority of HP fans are cis het, abled, neurotypical Millennials. Because of the way internet penetration works, the majority of HP fans online and even in fandom are white or Western. Leftist spaces mostly attract young and marginalized people, and transformative fandom is full of neurodivergent women and queer people. Which means the majority of people you're reaching are young queer neurodivergent people who have limited economic power themselves. And the people most vulnerable to and impacted by policing and harrassment are trans, Black and brown, Jewish, mentally ill, poor. Do you see the problem? You're policing the very bottom rungs of the socio-economic ladder on the off-chance of maybe influencing a privileged few who might give a damn.

This is literally why we say that boycotts, especially over social media, don't fucking work. Firstly because they penalize the most disenfranchised consumers, it's hard to reach enough people to even explain why they matter, it's hard to keep up with the constant discourse and changing information, and it relies entirely on performance. Someone can stay quiet or nod along furiously to whatever you're saying and then just...go out and buy the thing. Social censure doesn't work when you have the option of not having to face the consequences. Contrary to hellsite opinion, the Fantastic Beasts franchise died because it sucked, and Harry Potter is dying because it's fading from relevance and JKR is being an embarrassment. The wider market doesn't even know y'all exist.

As for the game being racist and antisemitic...you come on my blog, a South Asian who has been in fandom for twenty years, and try to tell me about racism in media???? NINETY-NINE PERCENT OF ALL MEDIA IS RACIST AND ANTISEMITIC YOU ABSOLUTE CLOWN. I'm from South Asia, our children grow up on books written by colonizers! LORD OF THE RINGS is white supremacy! NARNIA is white supremacy! Disney and Marvel is one of the biggest figures in US military industrial complex that razed the Middle East to the ground. It's so ubiquitous that we have to accept the racism and white supremacy as a matter of course to engage with any Western media! And even then fandom is so racist it's hard to even exist in it! We get run out of it when we try to talk about it. You suck on white supremacy every single day you live like it's your Mum's teat! Do you know what it's like to hear whiteys ranting that people who consume this one game they hate are being antisemitic and racist??? While still fawning??? Over cop shows???? And Disney???? And sending Black people??? Death threats??? Over a game???

I don't say "anti-Semites DNI" for the same reason I don't say "racists DNI". Nobody identifies as a racist or antisemite, that's not how systemic oppression works. Radfem and Zionist and Communist are political identities. Radical feminism is underpinned by transphobia and racism, Zionism is currently entrenched in Palestine occupation, Western communists refuse to acknowledge USSR and Global South genocides. See how that works?

Bitch, you didn't just come at me about JKR's indigenous cultural appropriation when I was among the few who were trying to discourage people from supporting Fantastic Beasts back in 2016 and literally got flamed for it. You people did not give a single shit about Natives back then, and you don't give one now. Just like you don't actually care about Jews and never did. I literally never heard about why and how openly alt-right people keep getting this kind of power and position in the gaming industry. Conversations about antisemitism in gaming and antisemitic tropes in entertainment haven't gotten this much traction. No wider revelations about how entertainment media directly funding and promoting social harms. But sure, it's about antisemitism and racism and has absolutely nothing to do with a mess of white queers realizing they can weaponize it like a cudgel against anyone they believe are against them. We know you whites. You care about excuses to take the moral high ground without having to do any self-interrogation or cost to yourself.

Finally, to give y'all one example of where the current discourse around this stupid shit is at:

Fuck you.

#harry potter #fuck jkr #transphobia #antisemitism #racism #fantastic beasts #western leftists #white privilege #white people #imperialism #knee of huss

[rottentiger-art]

I hope you don’t mind me, but I’m inspired to organize the whole anon asks regarding PCA into one and adding some stuff. Here’s basically my take of what I think happened:

Pacific Coast Academy was actually accredited by the Department of Education of California. Originally, it was an all-boy’s school until that changed when girls where allowed. Thus, becoming a coed boarding school. The last dean, Charles Rivers, goes through a hard time in his personal life and borrows some money from the school, swearing to himself that he’ll pay it back. Then, him borrowing money repeats again and again.

The school board starts noticing inconstancies in the school finances and an investigation is done, which reveals that the school is basically near bankruptcy. The media somehow catches wind of it and has a field day, twisting things for their own purposes. There’s uproar and backlash from the public. Then, the rumors start floating around that PCA is a diploma mill. There are even pictures from events that happened at PCA that are taken out of context to explain why PCA is a scam. Some parents who have their children in the school get worried about this and make the decision to start pulling their children from the school.

The media, the public backlash and parents pulling their children from PCA leads to the downfall of the school. It has no choice but to close its doors. 15 years later, everyone still believes that PCA was a diploma mill and let teenagers loose in the campus. None of the students do anything to dismiss the rumors, because no one believes them when they tell the truth.

Fast forward a little to after Logan and Quinn’s marriage. Logan buys the PCA campus out of impulse, then gives it to Quinn as a wedding gift. Quinn just sighs at her husband, asking what was his intention in buying it and he’s like, we rebuild PCA back to its former glory…? Quinn doesn’t think it’s a bad idea, so she runs with it and pulls a few strings here and there from people she knows in the science field, talking about how she’d like a STEM curriculum for her new school. People are on board with her idea, because, duh, Dr. Quinn Pensky is like a big deal and she’s legit so, of course, the new PCA campus won’t go to hell like the last one.

Long story short, Quinn works from the ground up to make sure that PCA is up to standards, hiring qualified people, making sure to do background checks, etcetera. When everything looks good, Quinn steps back and lets the people she hired take over, only making sure that they come to her for funding and such. Logan gets involved and talks the staff into setting up a scholarship for talented students who can’t afford PCA and proposes that it’d be called the Pensky Scholarship.

And when it’s time to inaugurate the new and improve PCA campus, Logan and Quinn are there to cut the ribbon. Both are known as the patrons of the PCA campus.

If one Stacy Del Figalo causes a storm over her investigation over what truly happened on the old PCA campus, then that’s another story. The End.

This was so good, so sorry it took me a while to answer it. But I loved it. You did a great job at putting it all together and honestly, I'd 100% read a fic like that.

Some things I'd like to add to this AU. Mostly headcanons.

I really want their friends to get involved on this AU too, damn, even Zoey. Like I said, I think Chase being a teacher shouldn't go to waste, I'd like to see him teaching at PCA.

I definitely need Lola to appear, in whatever way she could help. I doubt she would take on a teaching role, but I'd like for her to be an inversionist (bc I refuse to believe she's not a famous and successful actress now). Maybe even make special appearances at the school, support and help build the Drama Class (idk the name). I bet the theater kids would freak out about her.

Same thing for Michael, I'd like for him to be an investor and be involved in the music department. As a producer he must know a lot of artist and the kind. Maybe he recommends a some people to take on the teaching role there (a failed artist that desperately needed a job could be a fun character lol)

I really don't think Zoey would leave her job as a producer, but let's pretend: I think Zoey would work as an Art Teacher, since that was more her thing than being a producer. And/or a temporary dorm advisor, until the school is fully staffed (I'd be funny to see her take on the role Coco had, specially considering she kinda acted like her on the movie)

Lola and Michael could do the same too, take temporary roles, if their schedule lets them.

idk what Stacey and Mark would be doing tbh, I'll leave that to anyone else who wants to add lol

probably still chasing the Malibu murderer.

now, about Quogan:

I really want a pregnancy plot to emerge at some point during this AU, and it motivates them to create the school they want their future children to go one day.

So maybe they were kinda like "what do we do with this place now?" but when they found out they're pregnant they got motivated af and emotional about it.

Obviously, Logan wouldn't let Quinn overwork herself and Quinn would keep Logan at bay so he didn't go overboard like he did with the wedding. Tho I assume by then he had learned his lesson, I'm gonna give him credit.

I like to think being able to work together, having a project of their own, specially while expecting, brought them closer (if that's possible). Like all the process was stressful at times and there probably were some disagreement/fights, but overall, it was an enjoyable time, precious memories to recall later one.

I also just love the idea of Quogan working as a team.

I did have the hc that Logan restored and engraved their bench, I'd like to see this on this AU too, I always loved engraved and dedicated benches (@honeyflower15 wrote something similar on their story "Quogan at PCA", fully recommend that fic, it's my s5 now)

PCA now would also be adapted to modern times, equipped with TEKMATE technology, I'm sure.

Maybe they both go a little over the top there, adding stuff they wished the school had when they were younger and maybe exaggerating the vision :p

Imagine, they keep a journal together, documenting their journey of building and transforming PCA. They write down their memories, challenges, and triumphs, creating a beautiful story that they can share with their future children with photos and all *sobs*

I'd like to see Lyric get involved too! omg I can see her invite herself on the project, maybe trying to convince Quinn and Logan to hire her as a musical teacher/art teacher or smth and throw a fit those jobs are occupied and Logan finding something else for her to do XD

For the inauguration day, Logan and Quinn cut the ribbon together, it'd be so cute, Quinn holding the scissors and him behind her, placing his hands over hers, ahhhh

I imagine their speeches are like, heartfelt, emotional, they would talk about their own experience at PCA (in general) and how they hope this new generation [camera dramatically pans out to their baby/toddler (who I assume it's already born bc school building and organizing takes a loooot of time) in the arms of their aunty Lyric] has the same experiences as they did. And obviously promises of not letting PCA fall again like it did and keep everything in check.

the order of the speeches go like this on my head: first Zoey (bc, of course), Chase, Michael, Lola, Logan and then Quinn. Or maybe Logan and Quinn gave the speech together.

There would probably be stands to showcast the different subjects that would be teached at PCA, for the science, chemistry, engendering and all that stands I think Quinn would had given the opportunity to some interns of her to organize those (she paid them, of course)

Quinn's success (as well as Michael, Lola, Zoey and Logan's) would definitely drive parents to trust this new PCA, wanting their children to reach that level one day. So, it'd give them good publicity or smth.

I feel like Zoey would offer to give the Facility Tour, idk why.

Lola and Michael would handle the performances and demonstrations. I assume because of their fame, there were a lot of willing participants and aspiring students that took the chance to perform under their guidance.

Quinn and Chase would deal with the Parent and Students Orientation. Quinn would deal mostly with the Q&As, since she's more informed about the School's insight, administration, etc. Chase would offer his insight as one of the Teachers and all that, telling them of his teaching methods and stuffs.

Logan would have organized the Celebratory Gathering (yes, I had to look up what a school inauguration day looks like shhh)

I promise, he learned his lesson, not over the top celebration this time. But he definitely left them impressed.

I imagine a cute moment at the end, where when the day is done and the guest and parents have left already (I'm assuming the Inauguration Day is a day before the first day of School, so the new students must be settling in their dorms and going to bed by then and classes would start the next day, idk), and Logan and Quinn are sitting on their bench, with their kid in arms, sleeping, just quietly enjoying the moment, satisfied with how they day turned out like and just so happy *sobs, an exaggerated amount*

Like, such a cute picture, they're sitting on the same bech where they shared their first kiss, on the place they met, now with a kid of their own, happily married and having rebuild their school, allowing other children to have what they did *sobbing but like so fucking much omg*

I suppose Zoey and Chase would be having a little moment somewhere too, but wgaf about them.

and an extra headcanon: their bench becomes like a urban legend now, some school lore idk, where there's the rumor that If you kiss on that bench, a timeless bond will be sealed, and your love will endure for eternity. Or some corny shit like that, idk. It has to be a first kiss tho.

Okay, that's all I got for now. Still don't know who they'd hire as dean, but definitely someone trustworthy, not just anyone, like you said, Quinn would have ran a bg check. There's much more to add and I invite anyone to keep contributing to this lovely AU.

And thank you again, anon. I loved what you did!

#ask box #anon #zoey 102 #quogan #zoey 101 #logan reese #quinn pensky #quinn x logan #lola martinez #michael barret #zoey brooks #chase matthew #Rebuilding PCA au #quogan baby

[redhead-reporter]

º ✧ 。updates to mj's insomniac canon !

PLEASE ONLY READ IF YOU'VE FINISHED SM2 OR ARE OK WITH SPOILERS (and don't click on my blog either, bc my banner image is a spoiler too)

º ✧ 。yes, it's true - everyone's favorite journalist told jameson to, and i quote "KISS MY ASS" and quit her job at the bugle. no paycheck is worth writing things she doesn't believe in to appease a man she DESPISES. she is now the host of a new podcast called the new normal and occasionally helps peter with administrative work for the emily may foundation º ✧ 。unless otherwise specified ? mj lives in the house in queens with peter. once she got her security deposit back and they sold all her apartment furniture, they used the funds to do a few cosmetic changes - nothing TOO crazy, since they want the house to still feel like itself. but a fresh coat of paint (that they did themselves with a liiiiiittle help from pete's spiderbots), money to repair the broken front window, and a new big bed for the primary bedroom went a LONG way to making it feel like home º ✧ 。mj was always a BADASS, but now it's official - hell yeah she was trained by silver sable while in symkaria, learning not only the language but how to FIGHT (aka drop mfers in close combat with an upgraded stun gun) and ride a motorcycle. though she doesn't plan on entering any amateur boxing matches, both she and peter feel a LOT better about her having the proper tools to defend herself if anything else should happen º ✧ 。mj visits harry at LEAST once a week, sometimes more if she can swing it. she updates him on how life is going, plays new episodes of her podcast before they release to 'get his opinion', reads him books - anything just to keep TALKING to him, to not give up on the hope that one day he'll open his eyes and answer her º ✧ 。of COURSE she has nightmares about the symbiote - feeling like she's still being chased through the tunnel in the dark, feeling those tendrils wrap around her ankle and drag her across the floor, waking in a cold sweat CONVINCED she got consumed by it once more and screaming to be released. who wouldn't? unfortunately seeing a professional therapist isn't exactly in the FREELANCE budget she and pete are on these days, but they do have each other. they're both open and honest about their STRUGGLES and it makes the whole thing easier. º ✧ 。speaking of NIGHTMARES - peter literally dying in her arms? yeah, it's up there vying for top spot on the REPLAYS list. sometimes she can still hear the speech he gave her, how he tried to apologize and say his goodbyes, and it makes her physically ILL. if you thought she was defensive of him before? needy before? LOL MEET NEW AND TRAUMATIZED MJ she quite literally never lets go of him if she can help it º ✧ 。pete might've stepped back from suiting up, but he and mj are still VERY MUCH on team spidey - right now it's mostly in a support role, having miles and ganke (and hailey and rio sometimes) over to the house as often as they can. occassionally they talk shop, trading insights the couple has from their almost DECADE of experience with pete wearing the suit solo, but honestly? mostly it's just to talk about life - how high school/college is going, always feeding the BROKE students like they wish someone would've done for them. taking care of pete's little brother like FAMILY. º ✧ 。when coney island reopened? pete and mj waited HOURS in line to make sure they were two of the first people to ride the speed demon - it's STILL her favorite ride, after all. and YES this is fucking important information to know get away from me

#some of these are story beats and some are HCs i already have bc BRAIN ROT #º ✧ 。sm2 #º ✧ 。not the girl i was or used to be insomniac verse

[church-of-lilith]

Honestly what does give me a little comfort in kind of a messed up way is the fact that us sapphics aren't exactly alone-they pretty much screwed over EVERY minority lmao: Nate's storyline wasn't really explored and mostly centered around his relationship with Jade, Keeley could have had a whole fish out of water storyline like Ted about winning over her coworkers but instead the focused on her relationship drama, completely wasted Edwin and Shandy's potential for cheap laughs, gave a half assed attempt at writing Sam's storyline only to call him literally getting hate crimed a "big whoop" and never address it again, never actually giving Dani a storyline, like the list goes on and on XD its honestly kind of impressive how they managed to lowkey tear down their entire legacy Omg if you can edit your reddit post you should also mention how the only other sapphic character on the entire show is that creepy dog breeder..

This is so true. It feels like they dropped the ball for every single minority character and the longer you think about it the worse it gets.

Let’s talk Nate for a second because his whole storyline really baffles me. They had him coaching at Westham, and then they had him quit (or was he fired?) from Westham OFF SCREEN? And then suddenly an episode later he’s back as the assistant kitman for Richmond? I’ll never understand why these writers were so dead set on him coming back to Richmond, all so he could just fade into the background. And while I do believe the whole kit man decision was a temporary one, and that going forward they made him a coach again, I don’t like the implication that he worked through his issues this whole season to just end up back where he was. There’s no reason Nate couldn’t have gone off and gotten another coaching job at another team! He’s still the Wonder Kid, clearly has mad skills and credibility, you can’t tell me there isn’t a team who would have wanted him! I understand he had to return to Richmond briefly to have closure and make his apologies, but then he could’ve gone off to coach elsewhere and continued to spread the Lasso Way and change the lives of other people! We didn’t need him at Richmond when basically all the work has already been done. I wish they would’ve given me any indication that he’d really been impacted by this whole arc he went through & then gone off to be the change he wanted to see in the world.

Keeley’s whole storyline being about Jack & the business was such a waste of Juno Temple’s amazing acting, and an underutilization of the fan favorite character we know and love. Most everything about her seemed so off this season? And as you pointed out, she really didn’t even become Miss Independent until the very end when Rebecca took over financing and she was able to make decisions about her own business finally. I would’ve much rather they had Rebecca funding it from the start (or at least earlier in the season) so we could have seen her adventures and misadventures through running her own company that didn’t have anything to do with her messy, exploitative relationship with Jack.

The way I feel about them trying to tackle racism with Sam’s storyline is the same way I feel about them trying to tackle homophobia with Colin’s. If you’re gonna half ass it, don’t do it at all. And they certainly didn’t put half the amount of time and effort they needed to into thinking up how to properly handle Sam’s storyline. We went through the whole hate crime that was never addressed again. And then we had this big problem with Edwin in the final episodes where he was like “I’m going to destroy your entire life and you’ll never make money with the restaurant and you’ll never play for the National team.” And then that was just NEVER addressed again?? Not even a throwaway line about Rebecca taking care of it or something?? He was suddenly playing on the Team and the only explanation we were given from Brendan during the AMA was that it was due to ‘national outcry’ like give me a break. Not to mention we never saw Simi again and so we never got to see if she and Sam ended up together. We were sort of just left to infer that everything worked out for Sam, and that just doesn’t work for me.

Poor Dani Rojas was doomed to be nothing more than a joke from the very start. He deserved more, but at the same time I’m almost glad they didn’t give him more because the storylines this season were awful.

So yeah, feels like all of the minorities on the show lost. I don’t know how the writers managed to do this in so little time, but you’re right it is really impressive.

#thanks anon! #how did every character manage to lose #ted lasso #nathan shelley #nate shelley #keeley jones #jack x keeley #sam obisanya #colin hughes #dani rojas

[psychicxhearts-blog1]

Crowley Twisted Wonderland Theory:

Hi again. This is going to be my last theory for maybe the year until new year. Other then that let’s get to the theory’s opener. I believe that Crowley isn’t as evil as everyone says. Scummy? Yes, but evil? No. In this theory I will explain what I noticed about Crowley, how it might relate to him summoning Yuu/the player, and what is going on in the school as a whole that I do not see a lot of people addressing. As well as other Crowley facts that people overlook as well. Spoiler Warning: Going on facts from the game and even future chapters and events. So if you want to avoid spoilers then don’t read the post. Going to spoil things from chapters 3-6 and something that is happening this mouth, “The Halloween event” in the English version of the game. Now that that’s clear on with the post.

Crowley and how he is with money:

In the game if you ever noticed it, but Crowley seems to want to have money. To list some examples to prove this point.

In Chapter 3 you find out the reason he wasn’t going to stop Azul from making contracts with people to work in the lounge was, because Crowley made a contract with Azul for profit reasons.

In Chapter 4 you find out the reason Jamil wasn’t made Housewarden/Dorm Leader for Scarabia, was because Kailm’s family payed Crowley to make Kailm said Housewarden/Dorm Leader. Man even has the gall to tell Jamil this. To add to this we also find out that Kailm’s family also donated to have Scarabia fixed up. We are only told how it looked rundown before the repairs. Put a pin on this.

Lastly for the Halloween event. When the students are planing there area for the school, since people from a town that lives close to the school are going to come visit the event. Crowley says he wants to show his thanks to the town folk by handing out candy, and only gave them the best he can offer. Which is then quickly followed up by the students pointing out that the candy the man got was cheep.

So what dose that have to do with anything? Just seems like he is like money or doesn’t want to waste it on anyone or something along those lines right? Well...It might be more deep then that. First lets ask our self these two questions, “Why dose Crowley need money?“ and “Why is he so focused on it?“ Well let’s think about it. Crowley goes on and on about how caring he is, and how, that is quickly shown differently once money is brought up. He cares for the students, but once you are in the school and see his true colors a lot of students see how scummy he really is and know he is, well a lair. But if you see in between the lines of the examples I brought up you can connect, that the money might be for the school. If so why? Why dose he need money for the school so badly?

The school and why it might need money:

First let’s bring up back the explains again. Chapter 4 mostly. So we found out, that the Scarabia dorm looked not so great. This happened before the MC goes through the mirror, meaning Kailm and Jamil’s first year aka this going down last year. But we have seen the other dorms. They look lovely! So why was Scarabia in need of repairs? I honestly can not tell you. But the facts still remains. Crowley needed the money to fix it, and Kailm’s family wealth was the answer, and since they donated to Crowley and the school he used it all for the dorm and school, and extra for Kailm to be housewarden/dorm leader was just a bonus for the man. So with that one example dose that mean the school has been suffering with money reasons for a while now? Shot answer yes, Long answer it might have something to do with time, and how it effects a lot of schools. I don’t know how it’s like in other schools, but in American this is how schools are like when a school is suffering from a certain things. That being a school’s rep, student’s test scores, and how if bad over time low funding. Even schools who are trying to get out of a bed name for it self have a slow process to go through. They will pretty the outside to inside of there school one year if given the right money, then put the money to there school activities the next year, after that for things they don’t have for said school, and if this keeps up, then maybe it can go to the kid’s education, like books, and so on. If you want to know why a school dose this is so to show they are bettering there look to people to show they are improving. Rather then help improve the students. After all people are going to say, “Oh wow. The school looks so nice, and they added so much new things as well. One of them being a theater hall. They must be doing well for it self.“ When really no. Cause none of it is going to kids getting new books or learning new things, and keep repeating the same outdated things about America then things outside of it. That’s why some Americans who don’t want to learn things after highschool don’t know things about other cultures or countries other then it’s own. I bring this up cause I think that might what be happening. The school is over time losing money, which in turn causing Crowley to do what he can to not show this, failing, and the students being clueless to the whole thing. I can’t go into it fully right here, but as you play the chapters you find out some things. Mostly on how the school’s rep might not be as good as Crowley made it out to be. You also find out that Leona’s dorm has been losing in a certain sport for 100 years, along with other things. I will bring this up again, but I think with this low decline in the school’s performance, and other things they have been losing more and more money or the school getting less and less funding to donations. Which brings me to my next point.

Why Yuu could have been summoned:

Going to use the English Official translation from the game for this example, but in the into of the game Crowley says this (You don’t see him, but we know it’s him): “Ah, my dear esteemed benefactor...My proud, beautiful flower of evil. You are truly the fairest one of all. O magic mirror, thy wisdom I entreat...Reveal unto me the visage I seek...You, whose image the Dark Mirror did beckon forth...If your heart bids it, take the hand of the one reflected in the mirror.“ then the game starts. You pick the dorm you want, take the hand of the character you want in game, and you are given there SR robe version of them. From there you are just at the school, and everyone is beyond confused by it. Now the reason I bring this up is, because I think Crowly summoned Yuu/the player for the soul reason to save the school. Mostly by helping them get funds and money. I know the three points don’t seem like a lot to prove this theory, but I have more to support this. If I forgot anything please tell me so I can know, and update this part of the list. Now then, first what happened 100 years go. Here is what we know that happened from the game:

A student with no magic came into the mirror 100 years ago.

Night Raven Collage was known for a 100 years to be the best school.

Savanaclaw was known 100 years ago to be good at a sport called, Magical Shift, but are now on a losing streak to Diasomnia.

Overblots have not been seen for 100 years.

Now that I have the facts I want to finally lead to Yuu/the player, and why they are there. From how he summons Yuu/The Player from his dialog, then what if the student from 100 years ago made the school great, and Crowley needing that greatness again to summon a magicless person to help the school with it’s money troubles? He wanted wealth along with luck to help the school’s low funding, and to win in more competitions to add to a better school rep? I say the last part, because it seems that from later chapters the school is losing to Royal sword academy for years now. Not only that but lets face the facts. Royal Sword Academy uniforms are WAY better in look and design, then Night Raven Collage in how new they look. Crowley thought by doing the summon will help the school. But since Yuu/the player came the way they did, meaning unnatural. I don’t think the summon worked the way he wanted it to. Cause if you think about it. We are helping the school. By helping the students who overbloted, as well as just helping out students other then the Perfects from other dorms out as a whole. Heck even Crowley was crying over our team work at the start of the game. He points out how the students and the school in a ‘blink and you miss it moment’, that are not as good as they once was in the past. He says this when he makes Yuu/The player, and Grim official members of the school, and gives them the ghost camera. And as bold as this is to say we could connect to how Yuu being summoned is really, “YUU/The Player“ causing the overblots. Not them making them, but by them being there is causing this to happen. Not Crowley making them behind the scenes as everyone believes it might be heading. I don’t think Crowley even knew that’s how overblots happened. After all in chapter 6 we are told in that chapter, that no one knows how they happened or the origin of them. Sure you can say Crowley dose know, since why else did Idia get Crowley from the school to ask questions, and even when putting Idia in the History lesson mini game he doesn’t hide how he is not happy to see him. As well as Idia looking into overblots during a different lesson in the lesson mini game, which could connect to the info he has from his family’s history of working on finding them and destroying them. Plus going back to the first point of Crowley, we never see what Idia asked him or even what the game is planning. And you know what? Good point. I will give you that. Still I just think Crowley just summoned, Yuu/The player to try to make the school great as it once was, but not in the way he expected, and how Yuu/The Player being there is causing all this jam to spill, which Crowley didn’t expect to happen at all.

Extras:

Last thing I want to bring up is this. I have no idea where to put this, but the game has a mirror theme behind it. With Yuu dreaming from the mirror, which connects to the future of overblots. Meeting Mickey in the mirror after a certain point in the chapters, and heck even the game makes you pull summons from the mirror in game. But the theme song “Piece of my world” For the animated opening. You see Crowley in the mirror room, with the lyrics, “Will you look beyond the door. I'm waiting for you Let's go to wonderland!“ and you then see a crow flying. We can say Mirrors connect to doors in some way, and Crowley has keys on him. Seven for all the dorms. Which is neat since you find out in one of the chapters that he help make one of the dorms. That dorm being Pomefiore. Which could have been many years ago, and Crowley might be a full or half fea with that info, how he has pointed ears, a fea physical trait (Lilia and Mal has pointed ears after all), and lastly with how he knows so much about things almost in a sense like he was there. Kinda like another fea we know. (Lilia) Seems old feas like to talk about things they know like the old men they are. Speaking about Crowley’s design. Another thing I want to bring up is who he can be. People like to connect him to Maleficent’s raven, Diablo. But with him making Pomefiore, The shirt he wore in part two of chapter 4, and oddly in some cases where he praises Vil in certain moments in some events. The halloween event mostly comes to mind. I think it’s safe to say he is more the Raven in Snow white and the seven dwarfs. Want more proof? There was a part where the game’s animated opening at the end it shows us different things. One of them being Crowley’s face. One year ago I saw so many people talk about how creepy it is, and I was like, “...Isn’t that the queen’s throne from the movie? *Googles it* Holy shit it is!“ Then we got Chapter 5 and Vil’s card showed us, and Yes! Same chair.

The last extra thing I want to bring up is why Crowley could be wearing the mask. A lot of people like to say he might be hiding that he is in fact overbloted, and the mask protects seals that from coming out. Now we have had no info on anything that can do that or even the full information about overblots, but I feel that is wrong? Mostly because Crowley is just a odd ball with how he acts. So he could be just wearing it just cause he likes to wear it. Plus people are focusing on the wrong thing. Mostly because...WHY IS NO ONE TALKING ABOUT THE MIRROR IN THE MIRROR CHAMBER? HE IS WEARING A MASK THAT LOOKS LIKE THE OVERBLOT MASK THAT WE HAVE BEEN SEEING IN GAME! A full one at that too! Not a half one. A full mask. Dose this mean the mirror in the mirror chamber is connected to this? After all we know at the start of our first tutorial fight it’s destroyed. Could this mean something bigger as a whole? I have no idea! But I just wanted to share this overlooked fact.

So in conclusion. Crowley is not the mastermind. Just a scummy oddball  headmaster, who tried to save the school, and have no idea that by Summoning Yuu/The player caused the overblots to happen. As well as extra facts about him as well. (Updated: I didn’t know about the camping event and the fire accident info, and it makes me wonder if that little fact connects to the first overblot we see in game, and if the series might do something with the past pains taking forms for overblots to also happen. But we will see.)

#twisted wonderland theory #twst theory

[technofinch]

is mulligan the captain of his ship or just a crewman? is the atmosphere strict or more relaxed? also, what does the ship look like? is there anything that distinguishes it from other ships?

ahahahaha so 😅

mulligan is the captain, originally he was just the pilot on the Ophelia but he kind of 'inherited' the position after everyone senior to him left, died, or refused the responsibility. he never really wanted to be captain, but he honestly did a pretty decent job of it? relatively speaking.

then the incident happened, and suddenly they were no longer under company jurisdiction, and as soon as he figured out wtf was going on mulligan immediately called for a new vote for captain bc he didn't want to just. assume the position. (everyone immediately elected him captain again anyway bc there wasn't anyone else qualified who was actually willing to do it. lmao)

the atmosphere in general is very chill, mulligan does Not run a tight ship and he trusts all the other crew members to take care of themselves & do their jobs, but in crisis situations he gets very stressed out very quickly. this tends to lead to him making bad decisions and then yelling at the crew for not going along with said bad decisions. rip

as a quick aside, the other crew members are -

miranda, ship psychologist, incredibly competent bitch who sees the rest of the crew as 'interesting case studies' at best and incompetent children at worst (i love her. mulligan does not)

karina, the science officer, who has been through a Lot and is primarily concerned with getting the information she wants, through any means necessary (specifically about android technology and xenomorph biology)

jack, the first mate/engineer, who is very good at their job and mostly just kinda puts up with everyone else. mulligan's favorite

reed, the marine assigned to guard the ship, kind of an asshole. he wants mulligan to be a better person (soldier) and mulligan wants him to fuck off lmao

reese, the medic, who was Definitely Not originally trained as a medic but that's Classified so she isn't gonna talk about it <3

so The Thing Is that since the Incident and them going rogue and leaving the company, they're in a lot of debt and wanted for theft/in mulligan's case desertion. the plan was to fake their deaths, sell the Ophelia as salvage, and scrape together enough cash for a different ship that wouldn't immediately put a target on their backs. that didn't work and the company knows what they did, which led to reese going rogue and running off in the ophelia to take a secret government contract and earn enough money to clear our names (despite mulligan specifically telling her Not to do that)

we're currently holed up in a backwater scrapyard run by a mysterious and thankfully very patient individual named Curio, who is in the process of building a new ship for us to use (and by 'new' i mean 'cobbled together from mostly-broken bits of other ships and we still can't really afford it but it's fine') while we do some odd jobs for them

the original ship Ophelia was a very standard M-Class Bison freighter, with a mu/th/ur 6500 computing system affectionately nicknamed Thursday bc the crew agreed that calling it 'mother' was weird and we weren't doing that <3. it looks basically identical to the nostromo from the first alien movie, if that's a useful point of reference for you! we only recently found out the other unique thing about the Ophelia, which is that it had specially reinforced walls for transporting xenomorphs specifically, which is why reese had to take it to go do her highly-classified government contract. yay!

the new ship isn't built yet and doesn't have a name, but it is Very Much going to be falling apart from the moment we step foot in it bc we had to cut alll the corners to get something we could even begin to imagine affording. it's significantly smaller than the ophelia, BUT miranda did specifically and from her personal funds have a jacuzzi installed. so at least there's that. <3

#ok this was a long-ass post and there is a lot of information in it that may or may not make sense #bc im probably forgetting important context #but so it goes #thank you for the ask! it was a very fun inbox treat to wake up to :D #mulligan

[fakeoldmanfucker]

since i saw you have so many zuck post and i'm a little bit invest in it like you so i want to ask some question about threads since i don't want to have another social media because i have so much now

1. does moskovitz actually interact with zuck there? i saw them following each other

2. does saverin made an account and followed zuck?? since i don't know if that is his real account, tbh if he actually followed zuck, became one of the new users on threads i'd be surprised because i thought he already didn't care much about either fb or meta in general

also I saw zuck posting tsn reference there for threads and commenting gif of tsn too

sorry for my sloppy english, hope you reply

Hi anon! Thank you for your ask!

What I need everyone on Tumblr to know is that Mark is basically trying to reinvent himself. He's been the butt of a lot of jokes for about a decade now, and this bout with Elon, and Elon's fumbling of Twitter, has presented a prime opportunity for Mark to reboot his public image. This means he's responding to people's posts on Threads, making jokes, and yes, referencing The Social Network.

Now to your questions:

Yes! Dustin and Mark are actually still really close. Dustin's mentioned going on vacation with Mark fairly regularly (for whatever that means for them). Dustin had access to the pre-release launch of Threads and was user # 3037 (as indicated on his Instagram account), and he generally talks about Mark a lot, mostly to defend him/hype him up. He's been talking about Mark a lot lately, because of the drama with Musk and with the launch of Threads, but Mark has been pretty consistently mentioned in his Twitter posts, going back for years. Dustin seems to be particularly excited about Threads, probably because he feels let down by Twitter and the promise of Bluesky, and also because Dustin still owns a 0.6% stake in Meta, which is worth something like $5 billion. Dustin as well as other early Facebook employees have expressed a feeling of nostalgia and excitement akin to the early days of the company, both from the product development side as well as from the consumer side. Anyway, it seems that Dustin's penchant for micro-blogging and Mark's role to promote Meta's new app have combined and allowed them to publicly communicate for the first time in at least a decade. It has been, honestly, delightful to watch. See the bottom of the post for screenshots of their interactions.

Judging by the Instagram account linked to the Threads account, Saverin really is following Mark. (I judged whether or not the Insta account was real by scrolling through who he follows: some weather accounts, someone with the last name that's the same as his wife, someone who's either a sister or cousin, Fox News. These interests correspond with the types of accounts he follows on Twitter; it's most likely really him.) I agree, it is kinda of insane that Saverin joined so early; it's possible he sold the rest of his shares because B Capital got a big infusion of money at the end of 2022, which corresponds with the fund they raised earlier this year. It's also possible he converted his shares from Class A to Class B, but this move still loses him power. He doesn't really have any incentive to be interested in Meta, not anymore. And yet, Saverin was just under the 2 millionth member to join Threads (1,920,187). Taking into account that 30 million people(/brands) joined Threads in the first day, Saverin was an early adopter. At the same time however, in addition to likely not having any financial interest in the company, Saverin doesn't post very often on Twitter (most of which are reposts of articles) and has only ever posted to Instagram twice, and not since 2014 at that. It's interesting to me that he apparently cares so much to be on Threads so early since he doesn't seem to be that fond of micro-blogging or Instagram anyway. At the least, he is a private person, more private than even Mark has ever been, and he is likely on Threads to lurk rather than to post. Which brings me to the point that Saverin is following Mark. He's also following a number of influential Meta people, including important early employees (none of them follow him back). Combined with the fact that Saverin consistently puts "Facebook co-founder" at the top of all of his bios, regardless of his current projects and investments, this paints an image of a petty man who wants to be relevant. It may be interesting that Saverin follows Mark, but don't expect anything to come of it. Saverin lost his chance to make any amends with Mark and anyone else a long time ago.

Bonus: Mark posting a TSN gif? For some reason?? Even though the post he was replying to didn't even mention TSN? (it's a screenshot of the gif of the moment when Eduardo gives Mark the money to go to Palo Alto for the summer while they're hiring interns)

#idk if you were prepared for a post this long but that's what you're getting lol #once again a friendly reminder that if you (person reading this) make lizard/robot/etc jokes about Mark I Will block you #it is not funny #it is antisemitic and dehumanizing #also you can tell I don't like eduardo irl because i refer to him as saverin lmao #zuck posting #threads #mark zuckerberg #dustin moskovitz #eduardo saverin #disclaimer: I am on threads Exclusively to find out more tech stuff #a lot of tech people (reporters; founders; engineers; etc) are flocking to threads and I am taking advantage of it #yes that Is dustin making a tsn reference and mark practically acknowledging it

[innytoes]

for the A/B/O prompts 6 for the OT3,4,+ that you are feeling the most.

Okay but you also prompted 'A/B/O prompts Heat caught them by surprise for the Reggie ship of your choice.' and this combines so well.

Willie was chilling out in the studio when the door slams open. It did that often, because let's be real, his boyfriends were all a little dramatic. But this time there was no fanfare about how they had a new song idea or they found Willie’s favourite KoolAid Burst flavour on sale. This time, Alex carried Reggie inside, making soothing noises, while Reggie clutched at his back, his flushed face pressed in the crook of Alex’ neck.

“Off, off,” Luke waved at Willie frantically, and he hopped up and helped Luke pull out the sofa bed part of the couch. “Sorry, hi babe.”

“Hey,” Willie said, looking between the three. “What’s going on?” Was Reggie sick? He didn’t look too hot. Alex also looked flustered and a little stressed, but that wasn’t particularly unusual for Alex. Luke, for some reason, had the bandana he usually had tied around one belt loop up around his face, like he was about to rob a saloon in an old western.

All three of his boyfriends stared at him, before Luke slapped his hand to his forehead. “You can’t smell him!” he said, and the other two went ‘oooh’ like it was a great revelation.

Oh, Reggie wasn’t sick. He was in heat. Which Willie, as a Beta, couldn’t smell.

Alex carefully sat down on the sofa-bed, because Reggie refused to let go of him. “Reggie’s dad lost his job and with it their insurance,” he explained, and Reggie hid his face back in Alex’ neck. “He’d been trying to stretch his suppressants to last, but clearly that hasn’t worked.”

“Oh, baby, why didn’t you say so?” Willie asked.

“Too expensive,” Reggie whimpered. “I didn’t want to hurt the band fund.”

Oh, man. Between Luke going back to his folks’ house, and therefor back to school, he’d had to quit his job at the diner to catch back up. Which meant the only person actually working was Willie (who may or may not be living in the studio ever since he aged out of the system and his foster dad had unceremoniously kicked him out). And they were saving all the money from gigs and playing the beach mostly to record an album.

“Baby, I would have stolen some for you,” Willie said gently. Alex twitched, but honestly, what other options did they have right now? Heat suppressants were expensive, and yeah, while schools weren’t allowed to count heat absence against someone, they weren’t exactly compelled to help those students with the stuff they missed out on either. That’s why most Omegas were on suppressants during the school year.

Reggie had been, ever since he started showing signs of pre-heat at fourteen. Which meant this was probably his first full-blown heat.  

“Well, it’s too late for that now,” Luke said, pulling down his bandana. Immediately, his nostrils flared, and his face flushed. Oh man, no wonder he’d been covering his nose. His Alpha senses must be going crazy right now, cooped up in a car with an Omega in heat. Speaking of which…

“How the hell did you guys get here, anyway? You didn’t take the bus, did you?”

“We kind of stole Bobby’s car,” Luke said, even as he scooted closer to Reggie, almost transfixed. Whatever Luke’s scent was doing in response to Reggie, it was clearly working, because for the first time, Reggie lifted his face out of Alex’ neck, sniffing.

“Don’t worry, he caught a whiff of Reggie and basically stumbled back, throwing his keys at us,” Alex said. Bobby was a good bro and a great pack mate. But of course his ace ass wanted absolutely nothing to do with any kind of heat.

Slowly, Reggie migrated from Alex’ lap onto Luke’s, pressing his nose against Luke’s neck, nuzzling at his scent glands and making happy little noises.

“What do we do now?” Alex said, a little freaked out.

“I mean,” Luke said, very distracted by the needy Omega in his arms. “Have sex? That’s what you do when someone’s in heat, right?”

“Why is there a question mark at the end of that sentence?” Willie asked, bewildered.

“I was kind of dropped out of school during the time they covered this in sex ed,” Luke admitted.

“My parents wouldn’t sign the permission slip, all I got was ‘if you have sex before you’re married you will go to hell’,” Alex said.

“Skipped class because we had a gig,” Reggie muttered, even as he started rocking against Luke’s thigh a little. Willie could see the damp patch in his jeans start to form.

“Fuck me,” Willie muttered, before realising no. Fuck Reggie. “Okay, in a second, we’re going to help Reggie out of those skinny jeans because if he gets any more slick on them they’re going to be hell to take off.” He realised that as soon as they did, Luke’s brain would probably go offline entirely. “Alex, you’re gonna check if we have enough drinks and snacks to last a few days.”

Alex nodded, grateful for something to do. He rolled off the bed and Reggie whined a little. Willie slid into Alex’ spot, running his hand up and down Reggie’s back. “Reggie, baby, do you want us to stay with you and take care of you?” They’d had sex before, all four of them together, and also in smaller configurations. But heats were something much more personal, more vulnerable. “Or do you want just your Alpha there?”

Luke looked a little panicked at that, but Willie squeezed his shoulder. If Reggie wanted just Luke, he’d talk Luke through the whole thing, and then take Alex and go get them extra supplies. Maybe after a shower and a change of clothes, because Alex probably had Reggie’s heat scent all over him.

Reggie’s hand shot out, grabbing at Willie’s sleeve. “Want all of you,” he said, big eyes teary. “Don’t leave.”

“Of course not,” Willie soothed, pressing a kiss to his forehead. Beta pheromones were supposed to be calming, so he hoped that worked. “We’re a pack, right? We’ll do whatever makes you most comfortable.”

“Yeah,” Reggie settled down, and Willie smiled, carefully helping him out of his flannel and tank top. With every layer of clothing removed, Luke looked more flushed, which made Alex look more flustered where he was counting granola bars. He’d have to ask Alex what Luke smelled like, because it was clearly doing something for him, even on suppressants.

By the time Reggie was naked, Luke had also flung his shirt off and was wrestling out of his pants. Alex had rejoined them, a row of granola bars and different drinks placed along the edge of the bed. Willie gave him a kiss, and he relaxed a little.

“Okay, Reggie, you just lie down and relax,” Willie said, his heart giving a little pang when Reggie immediately did, full of trust. God, he loved them all so much. Maybe it wasn’t the most conventional thing in the world, the Beta running the show. But Willie seemed the only one who had any experience with heats, so it would have to do. Besides, their little pack wasn’t particularly conventional anyway.

He just hoped Luke’s stamina would hold out, because there was no way they’d be able to talk Bobby into getting him or Alex a Knot Ring and bringing it to them. Or at least, not without some heavy, heavy bribery.

#julie and the phantoms #a/b/o dynamics #lukexreggiexalexxwillie #fanfic #I wrote a thing #Bobby is also part of their pack but he's very ace and probably also aro and he really really doesn't want anything to do with sex #please take his car but don't get anything on the seats #something something that post about how american a/b/o aus are more dystopic because of the health care system

[inkofamethyst]

October 2, 2023

After two and a half days of illness, I'm pretty much back to regular functioning (with occasional sneezes but at least the sinus pressure has majorly receded). This does mean that I'm about two days behind where I wanted to be, but I'm going to have to try as best as I can to catch up so Thursday doesn't ~suck~. I don't really want my sleep to suffer though [edit 2, next morning: failed, reverse bedtime procrastination strikes again], that's a habit I'd like to leave back in undergrad if possible. Man, I can't wait until I'm done with (undergrad-level) classes (though then I'll have to structure my own days which is another kind of challenge).

Anyway back to the house conversation, I'm obviously facing a major hurdle preventing ownership: the down payment. I know I listed out all of those "little" savings goals a bit ago, but preparing for a down payment is a huge goal, like tens upon tens of thousands of dollars in some places, and I don't want that to bite into my emergency fund which I am also trying to build (though the emergency fund will likely be much smaller than the down payment goal). The toughest part is that saving in grad school is terribly difficult. The first year and a half are so are going to be weird because I don't really know what my taxes will look like, but budgeting should become easier as I settle in.

And then and then not only do you have to do a down payment, but also hoa fees, monthly mortgage, insurance, figuring out how to get things fixed when (not if) they break, not to mention all the fees you have to worry about before moving in and all the people you have to pay... so many things to consider, so much cash to raise. And like yes I know that serious saving requires serious sacrifice, but bread and roses man. I wanna get a bass guitar in two years, I'm solidifying a wardrobe, I wanna keep sewing. I don't wanna be so single-track-minded that I'm totally miserable for years (like they tell phd students to not let Being In School stop them from living their lives).

I need to talk to a financial advisor, agh. So many things online are saying that renting could be the better move,,,,, but something deep in my bones tells me that it's propaganda of some sort.

God the way I could've been absolutely insufferable as a (metaphorical) finance bro had I actually taken accounting seriously in high school. Like I totally could've gotten a degree in finance and gone into consulting had I not taken money for granted in high school and really thought seriously about it. Honestly...? That probably would've been an easier way to live than the path I've chosen, but I suspect that what I'm doing will be a bit of fun and probably more intellectually stimulating. So that's okay. I guess.

Another funny thing about this whole ~house~ mini-obsession is that it was merely a month ago that I was freaking out (mildly) about the idea of moving away from home lol.

On to different topic entirely, Knowt has got to be my fav quizlet successor. Having anatomy experience is definitely making these practical cram sessions go by faster.

Today I'm thankful that I'm mostly back to normal and also that I decided to go to this social hour thing where I might've made a new friend (someone who knows my puzzle-friend actually lol)! Now comes the tough part--finding and scheduling things to do with them. It's not like high school where you are with people all the time and come to learn who they are gradually. This takes a lot more conscious effort I feel like.

Okay, enough time spent here. I have (too many) things to do.

[edit, like 20 minutes later: I think I just worked through necessity vs sufficiency in my head and im so proud]

[big-nerd-very-tired]

So, I’m finally finishing King Falls AM and I want to throw my two cents in. So to clarify I really don’t know what all happened in the fan bases I’ve seen some accounts but because I got into KFAM late after it was already dead I didn’t really look to far into it after satisfying my curiosity of why what seemed like a fairly popular but problematic show would just end like that. So these are my thoughts after basically finishing the series.

One I do see the problems, I see where people would get upset and honestly had every right to get upset. I do feel like with maybe with some professional behaviors (taking criticism, work shopping the story after hearing out the fans) from certain people, I think they could have turned it around but that’s not on me to say maybe if I had listened to this as it was coming out and not already fully aware of it reputation I would have fell differently.

Two I do really like the dynamic between the four main characters in the story, I can see aspects of my friends and myself in their relationships and struggles. The fact that the fans the people who were there from the start, people who helped fund the podcast never get a canonical ending is terrible. The way that the whole thing ended (fans fighting each other, a certain someone being an asshole) is terrible and y’all deserved better than that even if the media had its problems. It also does feel like they, or at least some of them, tried to turn a new page on how they were presenting the podcast but again I really don’t know.

And because there’s never going to be an ending here is a mix of my head cannon and theories.

• Merv is connected to all the supernatural stuff in town, if Merv is a real person. No person would sink so much money into a small radio station and its employees. Literally the station got blown up, there was an attack campaign against the hosts.

• The station itself has some reason to exist. I grew up in a small town about the size that they make King Falls out to be. There's literally no reason that they’d have their own radio station and its own tv station.

• The Void is an alternate dimension, the shadow maker is an ultra-terrestrial kind of like the fears from TMA

Here are the head cannons.

• They get Jack out of the Void and the terrible loss that they keep mentioning is the supernatural, it sounds like the rest of the world isn’t overrun by the supernatural. I think the Devil’s Door Step is what causes all the supernatural things that happen.

• The Sammy and Ben Show continues with Jack, Lily and Emily all being regular guests along with the other regulars from town.

• Lily continues her show, and Jack becomes the producer.

• Ben and Emily live right next door to Sammy and Jack. Somehow rumor has it that the original owners of the homes got a very huge mysterious offer for them to move so that the houses could go up on the market. The details of the houses end up in the Stations mailbox, Ben has some ideas of who it was but the rest of them convinced him to just this once let it be a mystery.

• Ben along with Sammy, Emily and Jack when they have time are looking into getting their supernatural back or at least Kingsy, mostly because Ron Misses her.

Like I said I get why some people had real problems with this show, and that’s perfectly valid. Honestly other then the slight disappointment that there will never be a real ending to the story, I’m glad that people, fans and creators, were able to remove themselves from a toxic environment and I wish everyone, except the instigators of the toxic environment, the best and hope that this won’t be the end of peoples experience with podcasts.

#king falls am #kfam #kfam podcast