#artie's personal life stuff

[artemispanthar]

Here are some recent Niko pics for y'all

#artie's personal life stuff #artie's dogs #niko #his current favorite places to nap are in the narrow space between the couch and the wall #or right next to his water bowl #the other day he discovered mud (which he loves) and then had to discover baths (which he does not)

[compactstreamer]

(source)

Transcript below the cut:

Roscoe: You could say Jerma985 is something of a performance artist. He creates huge, elaborate, surreal productions complete with cast and crew, and it's all streaming live for hundreds of thousands on viewers on Twitch. NPR's Alex Cheng takes us inside Jerma's latest big show, a baseball game between clowns and magicians, to ask how—and more importantly—why?

[clip of Sportscaster continues in background: Welcome to Carshield Field, where we have Jerma Baseball Association action for you!]

Cheng: At a baseball stadium in suburban St. Louis...

[Sportscaster: ...a big-time match-up between the California Circus and the Maryland Magicians...]

Cheng: ...a team of clowns in full face makeup and baseball uniforms runs out onto the field. Those clowns played a four-hour game of baseball in real time against the Magicians in the opposing dugout, and tens of thousands of viewers tuned into the live-stream on Twitch. There were breathtaking acrobatic displays...

[Sportscaster: Actually we've got three outfielders unicycling currently!]

Cheng: ... and even the umpire himself stepped up to the plate.

[Sportscaster: The umpire is about to enter this game for California?!]

Cheng: That umpire was the mastermind behind the whole show, Jeremy Elbertson, better known as the streamer Jerma985.

Jerma: I'm just, y'know, calling balls and strikes and doing all these wacky things. I'm just, in my mind I'm going "I hope this is funny. I hope this is funny. I hope this is funny."

Cheng: To create this high-production fantasy world, Jerma had to hire real baseball players, real circus performers, and actors from across the country who wanted to play make-believe. He gave his cast an outline of the baseball game, along with pages and pages of gags he'd come up with, but he let them make decisions on the fly.

Jerma: It's like a live comedy improv show.

Cheng: And Jerma says the real key is his relationship with his streaming audience on Twitch.

Jerma: I'm coming up with a scenario that I think is a fun time for everybody. That's all I care about.

Cheng: Cecilia D'Anastasio covers the video game industry for Bloomberg. She says these big, performance-arty shows are unusual for Twitch.

D'Anastasio: What Twitch's bread and butter is, is a streamer going about their life quite casually and playing video games and just chatting with their fanbases.

Cheng: So why does Jerma do these shows on Twitch, instead of making a movie or a TV show? Well, for one, the liveness of the platform creates a unique sense of unreality, and of course, money is always a consideration.

Jerma: Movies are expensive. Way more expensive than trying to get a bunch of people together to do a show on Twitch for a few hours.

Cheng: Jerma studied communications and video production in college. Then, about a decade ago, he started messing around on YouTube.

[clip of Jerma continues in background: Hello Ladies and Gentlemen! Welcome to episode one of Jermacraft!]

Cheng: Several years later, he switched his focus to Twitch. He mostly streamed normal gaming stuff, which he still does plenty of, but he also tried a couple of small, outside-the-box experiments, like hooking himself up to a lie detector to answer questions from viewers, or...

Jerma: I hired a fake family to come be my family at a family dinner.

Cheng: Jerma built a team of collaborators, some from his tight-knit viewer community, and together they started staging bigger and bigger events. Things hit a high point in August of 2021 with the Jerma985 Dollhouse Stream.

[Jerma Dollhouse theme music plays in background]

Cheng: Imagine a live-action version of the video game The Sims, on a sound stage, with a big cast and crew, and starring, of course, Jerma.

Jerma: The nature of that whole show was "I'm a person in a house, you get to decide what I get to do."

Cheng: Over three days of streams, Jerma's viewers made him simulate eating, sleeping. They even made him fight a bear.

[clip of Jerma in the dollhouse: You wanna do what?!?]

Cheng: Or at least, a guy in a bear costume.

[clip continues with Jerma yelling, bear grunting, and audience applause]

Cheng: The show was a smash hit. The third day of the Dollhouse peaked at over 100,000 concurrent viewers. That's a lot for Twitch. Cecilia D'Anastasio at Bloomberg says popular streamers can make good money on the platform.

D'Anastasio: Subscriptions, donations from fans, advertising, sponsorship deals.

Cheng: But Jerma's big shows are way more expensive than sitting in a gamer chair playing Elden Ring. They may not be on the scale of a movie, but Jerma says some of his productions can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, so he has to find big-money sponsors for his events.

Jerma: It can be a real challenge trying to convince a team of marketing people, "Hey so there's this idea, it's gonna cost a lot of money, and it's gonna be really fun, don't you think?"

Cheng: And some big sponsors are seeing the potential. Jerma says the shows are paying for themselves. For the Dollhouse stream, Coinbase chipped in, and Jerma found new sponsors for the baseball stream. Here's D'Anastasio again.

D'Anastasio: It's not that the streaming space is maturing, it's that it has matured.

Cheng: But even if Jerma's big shows are making money now, he knows there are no guarantees in the world of live-streaming.

Jerma: Nobody really knows how long this is gonna last. Does this evolve and become even larger than it is now, or does it go bust at some point?

[clip of Sportscasters continues in background: And oh my goodness, everyone clearing the dugout!--oh, clearing the bench--the Maryland Magicians... oh my goodness, this is bad!]

Cheng: Why fight for a vision that's so hard to explain and even harder to realize? Like making clowns brawl with magicians on a baseball diamond.

[Sportscasters: Oh boy--utter chaos!--This is just an all-out brawl, the mascots are stripping down...]

Jerma: Why not? It sounds like fun, and it seems like something that could make a lot of people happy, so I'm gonna do it.

Cheng: Alex Cheng, NPR News.

[instrumental outro music plays]

#jerma #jerma985

[support-ponies]

MOD PAGE (mobile friendly)

🐶🐕MOD KIBA!!! ☕🍩

Heyo!!! I am KIBA! You might know me more as Typhwosion! I am she/her but I don’t really care what pronouns ppl use for me. I made this blog to try and make peoples days a bit easier with cute and happy ponies~ I love doggies and coffee and plushies! My favorite ponies are Applejack and Maud and Trixie and I love RariJack💖 I hope I can make your life a bit brighter with my silly drawings~ My husband is Mod Dynamo! Here’s my carrd to all my other socials and here’s all the art i’ve made on this blog. ૮⍝• ᴥ •⍝ა 💖💛💙

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🐱🐈MOD DYNAMO!!!🧡🍊

I’m Dynamo and I’m here to support the sweetest girl in the world with some Arty McArt™ and stuff. I like cats, video games, and cheese (not necessarily in that order.) My favorite pony is also Maud. If you like my art, get ready to not see much of it here if ya dare. (And here is all the art he’s made on this blog) ฅ^•ﻌ•^ฅ

And here are all the collab art we’ve done together, Dynamo usually does the sketches for these and I ink and color them.

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MOD MORI

Howdy everypony! I’m one of the new mods, you can call me Mori!

I use He/Him and I’m transmasc + bisexual andddd my favorite ponies of the mane 6 are Fluttershy and Pinkie, though my heart truly lies with Luna. You know how it goes. My sona is named Astral Beryl and I’m hoping to become a geologist and/or voice actor, but for now I draw ponies because… Well I really love to! I hope they can help brighten your day!

Also as a note my art style is going to be… Wildly inconsistent and I apologize beforehand if certain pieces aren’t as nice as others. Such is the way of art and wanting to try new things like drawing more consistently.

o/ Stay hydrated party ponies! Hope to see you around!

ART TAG / MAIN BLOG

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MOD PIXEL

Hello everypony! I’m Pixel, also known as @fruitypieq :3

I use he/they/lun/luna and my ponysona, Night Peak, uses she/he/they. My favorite ponies are Princess Celestia and Princess Cadance, and of course Sunset Shimmer too!

I am not sure what else to put here but I’m very excited to be here, its nice to meet all of you! I’m excited to start drawing your requests and I hope I can help make your day even a little better!

If you enjoy my art you can find more of it on my main blog, or on my art blog, @fruitypieq-art! Have a wonderful day everypony!

ART TAG / MAIN BLOG

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MOD WILLOW

Hiya! I’m Mod Willow! I use any pronouns and so does my ponysona, Cece! I’m intersex, intergender, transmascfem and lesbian. I am currently trying to get into school to become a therapist but art is one of my biggest passions! I love helping and inspiring people so I hope my art can do that for you all <3

I love all the ponies but my very favorite is Princess Luna, and my favorite out of the Mane Six is probably Fluttershy. I’ve been in the fandom for about 12 years and I’m very happy to be contributing to it in any way I can!

Have a lovely day and stay mindful!

ART TAG / MAIN BLOG

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MOD APPLEJACK

Hi everypony, I’m mod applejack! I’m a 22 year old mlp superfan who has a special passion for G1 although all gens have a place in my heart. I love to cook, read, and draw for others. My other special interest besides mlp is beekeeping; I’m actually a certified beekeeper myself! I’m so happy to become a part of this amazing blog and support those who need it<3

ART TAG / MAIN BLOG

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MOD FAELING

Hi all! I’m a new mod here! I go by Fae or Faeling, and my pronouns are she/her. I’m a 30 years young autistic artist who has a love for helping bring positivity to others! ✨

I currently haven’t made my ponysona so it’s still in delvelopment but when it’s done I’ll be sure to edit and add it in this post!

My favourite generation is Gen4 and my favourite MLP is Fluttershy! I love how gentle she is and her love for animals, it matches my personality so well!💕

I am happy to be here, I have a love for drawing positive art, as I do the same on my own social media’s art accounts but not just MLP characters, all sorts of different cartoon and anime characters with positive quotes!

I’ve always wanted to help others in some way and doing things like this has always made my heart feel like I’m doing something good in the world, you all deserve encouraging and positive words to get through your days! 💕

If you end up liking my art, you can always find me at @faelingmagic on tumblr or all my other socials at http://linktr.ee/faelingmagic

I look forward to drawing for you all!

ART TAG / MAIN BLOG

#mod page #look at all the cute ponysonas

[failed-inspection]

Dead On Arrival: a Rain World AU

hii hii! I had this AU concept bouncing around in my head for ages, the basic summary can best be described as "What if Spearmaster was friends with Artificer before the events of Arti's campaign?"

Time has passed since The Incident, and Spearmaster Cannot help but blame themself, those angry words of their recipient still haunt their mind, knowing that the message they delivered had caused the death of someone, brougt a slow and painful demise to another, and had burned the bridges between their creator and the one closest to them... They had so much people relying on them, and they failed, they sometimes still visit the surrounding facility areas, maybe as some sort of self inflicted punishment, reopening the wounds of memories, maybe as a bittersweet reminder of what could have been, regardless, during one of these travels, they come across a family of three, a maroon Slugcat and their two pups, at this moment in time, Spear is aware that they're considered an anomaly amongst slug kind (maybe they went to OE at one point as they were traveling), and expected some sort of negative reaction, instead, the other slugcats just seem... curious, not afraid, not disgusted, curious, this in one way or another, this leads to the slugcats interacting, which leads to them hanging out more and more, at one point, becoming relatively close, Arti's pups enjoy playing with Spearmaster despite how unusual they are, and Arti is happy to have a supply on spears whenever it was time to hunt, of course, spear would always return back to Suns, but whenever they visited the facilities, the family would always be happy to see them again.

Eventually, Spearmaster felt comfortable enough with Arti to open up about The Incident, about how they were tasked to deliver a pearl to help their creator's friend, only for things to take a turn for the worst, they ruined their creator's life, their friend lost everything, and they failed to save the one person who needed it most, leading to her death.

Arti doesn't quite understand the loss spearmaster has experienced, since they admit they hasn't faced such a loss like this, but they try to reassure them that things will be fine, they'll be here for them, despite everything, they don't have to grieve alone, one day they talk once again, before Spear goes back to Suns' can, and Arti and their pups go along their very way.

Remember how I mentioned Arti didn't understand the loss? That's because they didn't lose their pups yet.

This is the last time Spearmaster ever sees Arti's pups again, their lives had been later taken in freak incident, when one of them got a little too curious about a golden pearl within the scavenger tolls...

Eventually, time passes, and Spear and Arti see each other again, this isn't a warm, welcoming reunion by any means, as Spear found out about their current murder spree, to add salt to the wound, they also learned about how Pebbles, (who in their eyes, is the very one that lead to the death of Moon and stuff like that, how they feel about pebbles is very complicated and might need it's open in depth look but regardless considering their previous experiences with Pebbles his actions here REALLY don't sit well with them) tasked them with exterminating the scav population in his city, Spear is... rightfully horrifed! This wasn't the slugcat they once knew, the one they considered a friend, they honestly felt pretty betrayed in a sense... maybe Artificer is in the middle of a killing spree as Spearmaster runs into them, maybe they're too blinded by grief so that their attempts to get them to stop, that they don't have to do this... This only makes them see more red, maybe they end up fighting physically, maybe one of them ends up fleeing, whether it be in anger or horror.

Either way, Just like the bonds of the two iterators Spearmaster was made to help in the first place, history repeats itself, and the bridges have burned once again.

because I'm evil, the pearl the pup tried to take is the same pearl that held the instructions for removing the self destruction taboo in this AU <3

#rain world #rw spearmaster #rain world downpour #rw au #rw artificer #lex rambles #my art #I'M HONESTLY STILL VERY PROUD OF THIS AU!! #rain world au #rain world spearmaster #rain world artificer #rw fanart #rain world fanart

[staryskullz]

Meet The Scugs!

I dunno if I will ever make this a whole series/au thing, I am working on another big Rainworld related project that takes up alot of my time. But I do wanna post lil drawings n comics. But for now here are the bio's n stuff for these guys. Just know some of the stories aren't exactly the same as the scugs in the game.. This is more of a scenario of "what if the Slugcats and other Rainworld creatures evolved into humanity and navigated the ruins of the world the ancients left behind? So, some of the lore from Rainworld may not apply or be changed to fit this narrative. Keep in mind these are also baseline character descriptions, as time goes on things may be subject to change or tweaked slightly! (and ofc there will be RW spoilers) with that said, Lets get started!

Artificer Age: 28 Pronouns: She/Her Occupation: Hunter/Gatherer Arti is one of the colony's hunter-gatherers, She was pretty much destined for the role due to her explosive powers. She has a tough exterior and is often blunt, which makes most intimidated by her. But deep down, she's caring and protective. She gets along really well with most of the other folks in the colony but is especially great friends with Gourmand, the colony leader. He helped support her through a low point in her life. There is one person she can't stand, Hunter. She's just too pretentious for her taste. Will they ever get along? who knows?

Gourmand Age: 40 Pronouns: he/him Occupation: Colony leader Gourmand is the beloved leader of the Colony in Outer Expanse. Sweet, caring, and kind. A father of two and an excellent cook. He is a natural-born leader. He adores his community and would do anything for them. Likewise, he makes sure that the Colony is safe and comfortable for every single member and is always willing to take in others if they need shelter. Of course, he isn't perfect. He doubts himself and works to the bone, often burning himself out. At the end of the day, his friends and family are always there to support him.

Hunter Age: 30 Pronouns: She/Her Occupation: Hunter Gatherer

Hunter is a sarcastic and smug slugcat, charming to most and pretentious to others (cough cough Artificer). Hunter is very talented at hunting and tracking, skilled with a spear, and knows how to survive even the toughest of situations. She developed rot tumors on her belly and hip. While not fatal, it has hindered her ability to survive solo, as she needs frequent breaks and rest to not completely tire herself out. She found Gourmands colony and was immediately accepted with open arms. Everything was going pretty well until she met Artificer. She still doesn't completely understand why she has a vendetta against her, hey! At least they can go on a hunt together without bickering the whole time, progress is progress!

Rivulet/Ruffles Age: 22 Pronouns: They/Them Occupation: Gourmand's Assistant Rivulet, (or called Ruffles by their friends) help's out Gourmand with the colony. Deliveries? Chores? Packing? Moving? Whatever it may be, Rivulet is on it speedily and quickly. They are also a fantastic swimmer. It's never a dull moment with them around, they'll always be there to cheer you up. While a great helper, sometimes they act before they think, being clumsy from time to time. Luckily they got the help of their friends if they ever encounter a sticky situation.

Spearmaster Age: 24 Pronouns: he/him Occupation: Armory/Tool making/Handyman Spearmaster's name is literal, a master of spears. He is very good at building things, a true craftsman. Spears is well-rounded and knowledgeable. He is generous and always helps the colony with building stuff and supplying all the farmers and fishers with tools. He can also fix lots of things in a pinch. Spearmaster is a bit odd, he has no mouth but can still talk. How does he eat? Well, he doesn't. he stabs things with his tail spears and gains nutrients from the things he stabs with them. He came to the colony out of nowhere. There is a rumor that he is from a superstructure far far away from the colony. Maybe he is a little peculiar but definitely cherished by all.

Saint Age: 36 Pronouns: he/him Occupation: Town Physician and Cleric/Mentor Saint is a wise one, a calm and gentle soul. He is very in touch with the cycle and knows the ways of the world. Not only does he help the sick and injured, but he also is there to guide and counsel those who need it. He is also good at being a mediator and solving problems. This means Artificer and Hunter keep him on his toes, but as with everything, he handles it with grace. No one really knows too much about Saint's upbringing or origin, he doesn't really talk about himself much at all. As for right now, he is teaching and mentoring Monk about Medicine and teaching her brother Survivor, Clergy.

Monk Age: 18 Pronouns: she/her Occupation: Saint's Pupil, learning medicine Monk is the youngest of them all, bashful and shy but a sweetie. She came to the colony with her older brother, Survivor. They got separated from their parents at a young age, and have stuck together ever since. Monk is still figuring herself out but for right now she's trying her best to take the role of physician in the future, helping the sick and injured is rewarding for her and something she is passionate about pursuing. Navigating adulthood is hard, but she is slowly learning and making a difference in her community.

Survivor Age: 21 Pronouns: he/him Occupation: Saints Pupil, learning Clergy Survivor is Monk's older brother, He has a head on his shoulders and is always willing to try his best. He has his flaws, he isn't the most socially aware person and is a bit stubborn. He never really got to socialize with other slugcats, he isn't sure if he will be a good cleric but he wants to try. Not only that, but he had to spend the majority of his life taking care of his little sister, being her main protector and caretaker. He never really grew up finding what he was good at or what he wanted in life. He just learned how to survive. He hopes that joining the colony would benefit him and his sister and being Saints pupil will point him in the right direction.

Enot/Inv Age: 24 Pronouns: They/He Occupation: Tailor/clothier There is so much to be said about Enot, but I'll give you the gist. Enot works as a tailor and helps make and sell clothes for the colony. They are a bit melodramatic and misguided and a hopeless romantic, commonly making a fool out of themselves. Even if they are awkward at times, they mean well and are always willing to take part in any festivities, always overdressing no matter the occasion.

Nightcat Age: 23 Pronouns: he/him Occupation: Carpenter Nightcat isn't much of a talker, blank-faced, and has almost nothing to say. Everyone knows he can build a perfect shelf or cabinet though. If you ever get to know him personally (which is rare) You will find that He is a straight-to-the-point, matter-of-fact type of guy. He doesn't have many friends, usually only talking to Spearmaster and occasionally Enot. Who knows, maybe he'll come out his shell.

#rain world downpour #slugcat #rainworld fanart #rainworld #rain world art #rainworld anthro #rain world au #rw artificer #rw gourmand #rw hunter #rw rivulet #rw spearmaster #rw survivor #rw monk #rw saint #rw enot #furry #anthro #staryskullzart #staryskullzrw #RWTheRuinsAU

[cosmikazie]

RAINED WORLD RASCALS RELATIONSHIP CHART IS HERE!!!!

<NOTE: SUBJECT TO CHANGE>

Nobody asked for it, but I decided if I wanna get to know the personalities and types of my main AU's scugs better and more properly nail them down, this is a way of doing that!

The Rained World Rascals AU is another one of those ones where all the scugs end up in the same point in the timeline (approx. Surv/Monk's time) and have to work together. Much like those ones, this one has LORE!!! And no shortage of it, despite me still hammering out the details. But I've been working on this for as long as I've been a part of the community, and it makes me happy to finally be able to share this stuff around!

BTW, no line just means that the character isn't known well enough by the other character to constitute an opinion either way.

(I'll elaborate on this a bit more under the cut)

Survivor & Monk

Hunter: They were the first one who the duo properly got to know, and thus became incredibly tight-knit as time went on.

Gourmand: Auncle/parental figure! Back at the big OE tree they watched the siblings grow up, but the Gourmand stuck in the superstructure watershed is much younger and timeline-wise hasn't actually met them yet.

Artificer: Survivor has their disagreements with them, but ultimately respects their rule as a leader. Arti admires Monk, on the other hand, for their innocent youthful attitude towards life. They remind them of two pups who used to be in their life.

Rivulet: (i forgot to draw the line oops) Monk really likes Rivulet's fun-loving attitude towards everything around them, and enjoys playing games with them. They are good friends with Monk.

Saint: Survivor isn't a massive fan of Saint's aloof, uptight and spiritual nature--a fact that Saint is very well aware of--but overall still manages to get along. Meanwhile, Monk spends a lot of time around Saint simply because Saint's got a good listening ear.

ENOT: Neither of the siblings really have any major grievances with ENOT, but Monk is a little bogged down by their tendency to hide behind something when around them.

Hunter

Survivor & Monk: *see above*

Gourmand: They have massive respect for Gourmand for keeping Monk safe while they helped Survivor search for their sibling.

Artificer: Look me in the eyes. No, look me in the eyes right now. You knew this was gonna happen.

Spearmaster: Hunter really likes having spears at the ready whenever they need them, and while they don't approve of Ol' Spearsy's spear-producing methods, you can't fix what ain't broke.

Saint: Hunter cannot stand how "above everything" Saint is. Their cool, calculating, disciplined behavior is no match for a hotheaded, rambunctious action-lover like themselves.

Gourmand

Survivor & Monk: Doesn't actually know the siblings all that well yet, but knows they're supposedly their family members from the future, so will do anything to keep them safe.

Hunter: Has great respect for them guarding and escorting Survivor to help Monk find them.

Artificer & Spearmaster: Sorta like co-workers to both of them, seeing as how the three of them together are the pack leaders. Even in disagreement, they are peaceful and kind to the others.

Saint: Not sure how they became so close, but they're pretty sure a blood pact was formed somewhere along the way.

Artificer

Survivor & Monk: Arti has taken a liking to Monk, as they remind themselves of their own pups from back before... the incident. Survivor on the other hand is a little disobedient and is seen by them as a bit of a troublemaker, but they still make themselves useful, so it's not a big deal.

Hunter: yeah

Gourmand: Gourmand is good at being resourceful and calm, even when the going gets rough. This orange fellow literally has no enemies.

Spearmaster: On the other hand, Arti and Spears have very different ideologies and methods of dealing with problems, especially when it comes to scavengers. For every "if we can be friends, we should be friends" from Spears, there's an "easy for you to say" from Arti.

Rivulet: Arti has no strong opinions on Rivulet, other than that their speed is insanely impressive.

Saint: Arti has ample reason to be terrified of Saint. But they are a great confidant.

Spearmaster

Survivor: Had a short friendship that didn't really end suddenly, but more just... decayed. No reason in particular, just more important stuff came up, I guess.

Hunter: Hunter values their skills and cares about their hobbies and talents. That's enough for them.

Gourmand: Gourm caters to their digestive predisposition by crafting meals of all kinds that let them use their spears to consume them. They're a real ally, that Gourm.

Artificer: Spears can't understand why Arti could ever hate scavengers. They're funny little guys who love to tell tall tales and have plenty of folklore. What even happened between Arti and scavengers, anyways?

Rivulet: Queerplatonic couple. That is all.

ENOT: Constantly being asked how kissing works if you have no mouth tends to wear you down over time.

Rivulet

Survivor & Monk: Rivulet is especially curious as to what it's like to have an older sibling, and figures that even in the scary land of the superstructure watershed, Monk can be as carefree and joyful as they usually are, then Survivor's probably a good sibling. Monk is one of two people in the crew Rivulet feels comfortable being immature around.

Gourmand: Rivulet likes to share seafood cooking insight with Gourmand from time to time.

Artificer: Rivulet doesn't like being ordered around, but likes to be speedy and run around, so it's kind of a double-edged sword.

Spearmaster: Queerplatonic.

Saint: Finds them weird, but is ultimately fine with them as long as they aren't being ominous.

Saint

Survivor & Monk: They don't have much of a connection with Survivor, but Monk reminds them of their childhood--mind you, they can't even remember when they were a pup. That's how much Monk affects them.

Hunter: Hunter is far, FAR too hotheaded for Saint to handle. Too undisciplined, too violent, and too impulsive. They can never get along with each other.

Gourmand: Saint has a pact with Gourmand. If they ever, EVER try to ascend anyone in the pack, Gourmand has the right to remove them from the cycle permanently, by any means necessary.

Spearmaster: Saint shares some sympathy with Spears for being stuck well outside of their temporal extreme of the timeline. They find some solace and peace in knowing they're around.

Rivulet: Just another over-the-top small slugcat to them. It doesn't really bother them, though.

ENOT: ENOT is actually quite interesting to Saint. They're the only other one in the pack who sees the world through a warped lens, albeit a much different one than the one they do.

ENOT

good lord man.

It doesn't really take much of an explanation for this one. ENOT is just a being with the express purpose of... well, they'd like everyone else to think it's just to love. But there's something else going on here. Something mysterious...

On the other hand, we also have...

Monk: Out of all the slugcats, Monk is the only one that actually manages to TERRIFY ENOT. Why, you ask? Well, considering how ENOT sees the world around them as some horribly distorted, half-finished mess, and Monk just happens to be a pup, then...

...yeah.

#rain world #rw au #rain world au #rw survivor #rw monk #rw hunter #rw gourmand #rw artificer #rw spearmaster #rw rivulet #rw saint #rw enot #rw inv #rain world downpour #rw shipping #artihunter #rained world rascals

[willow-salix]

Thunderfam! I need your help!

This John loving, fic writing, arty creating person has been away for far too long. I've been busy (with both Thunderbirds / Anderson stuff and other life projects) but I want to catch up as best I can.

I've noticed soooo many lovely new people around, but I can't find them all to follow even though I'm trying.

So please pop in the comments (or reblog so this can spread) and introduce yourselves so I can say hi and hit that follow.

I miss the Thunderbirds chats! I miss the posts! I miss seeing all the lovely stuff everyone is creating.

Help a girl out.

Pic of my gorgeous boy for attention.

#thunderfam #thunderbirds are go #thunderbirds #thunderbirds 2015 #thunderbirds fanfiction #john tracy #thunderbirdsarego #gordon tracy #virgil tracy #scott tracy #alan tracy #thunderbirds 1965 #thunderbirds fanart #thunderbirds fandom

[bluenightcomedies]

uuuugh i keep procrastinating cuz i wanna make new refs n' arts n' all for us all but art slow so fuggit placeholder pinned abt the system better pinned with comm details, other accs, etc later :3 will reopen for commissions once arty verifies me! as a whole we're legally deaf and disabled! we can all draw but have diff styles/preferences :3 body is 30 (eugh i don't like admitting that) so am adult BUT we don't wanna be involved in nsfw art so pls respect that⭐ We can't get a formal diagnosis due to various real life issues, so we're not going to claim any particular diagnosis, but we can't exactly ignore the symptoms and stay masked forever. We're going to stay out of syscourse as much as possible, of course. 🌙 each alter has an assigned emoji so ppl can tell us apart easier if needed, use em as our tags too (when we remember) note- using they/them for any of us fine too!⭐

(doesn't include alters that rarely or never front) ⭐star emoji = Blue! she/her pls~ guess i'm the honorary host cuz i front most. uhhh... nothing rly too fancy i can say abt myself, i'm p affectionate and love y2k art and hanging out, i try to be as nice as i can >w< my art's usually sketchbooky, with thin lines and soft colors/shading!

💠this blue gem/flower emoji is Azure! she/her, she's kinda new to the system. looks n' acts a lot like me but uh... more childish i guess? very silly, very 'cringe culture is dead'. loves to rp, say silly things, n' cling to people. hyperfixates on Dot Hack (RIP) her art looks like mspaint x3 🌙 (Writing for myself since I'm available.) The name's Lune, hence moon emoji, and I use she/her pronouns as well. Formerly "Starry" but people kept confusing me with Blue due to her star symbolism. Used to be the designated mask, I'm glad I don't have to do that anymore... Sometimes I re-mask out of habit so if something sounds like me but wasn't marked as an alter, it probably is me. I have a flat tone and chronic paranoid anxiety so uh... Let me know if I come across as rude, I usually don't mean to. I enjoy doing research and organizing information, so I'm often the one to fact-check things or find guides and how-to's for the system. My art's very bold and colorful, and friends describe it as 'angular'. Clashes with my personality, huh? 🗝️key emoji = Sylverwynd! he uses he/him! he's super laid back and chill, i've never seen him upset or anything, but he's rly long-winded talks... kinda poet-y? he loves reading and talking abt lore and myths so he'll pop in if ur talking abt something he likes or if he has trivia 2 share! fave genres r horror n' fantasy he's still experimenting w/ style but likes drawing rly soft

❌cross emoji= Laceburner! it/its or they/them pronouns! tbh i'm not used to it/its pronouns but Lace wanted em; it's very uh... emotionally empty i guess? aroace, agender, can't socialize or empathize v well. it usually fronts when the rest of us are tired or in pain cuz it just ignores all that. likes 2000's scenemo aesthetics though which is surprising but ye idk how to describe its style, but it's trying to mimic emo art n' likes bright colored lines with dark bg/colors 🗡️the dagger is Kal! he/him pronouns, he gets angry and stressed abt things really easy but he gets too hostile abt it so he tries to not front too much; need to find him a way to de-stress n' chill out... when he's not mad at smth he's a good sympathetic listener imo, still swears and talks all rough tho hasn't drawn much yet but does rly harsh lines and fast/messy sketches when he does (and gets riled up by mistakes =w=;)

❤️heart is Weiss! genderfluid, goes by any pronouns, usually uses whatever they like at the time x3 has a hard time fronting but tries to. flirty, loves dumb jokes, overly confident... (we worry they'd get us in trouble sometimes cuz the shit they want to say) loves demon and monster-related stuff! still experimental style but uses bold colors and thick rough lines a lot, may get suggestive (forbidden from outright nsfw, don't ask >:c) btw ur always welcome to direct asks @ someone specific >w< we just might take a while to respond

#pinned post #pinned intro #plural artist #furry artist #system stuff

[hydesjackiespuddinpop]

can I just start with how funny it is that blaine's personality changed from well blaine to darren? Like at first he's this smooth talker suave handsome guy and then he's just... a dude? I know it's talked about a lot but it is just THAT funny.

Rewatching season 5 rn and honest to god I didn't remember a single plot point from this season. And rightly so it's so chaotic (as is most glee) I know they stopped caring at this point lmao. Like what's up with artie doing 3 girls at once?? And blaine's jealous of kurt cause he's getting muscular?? And RACHEL LEAVES FUNNY GIRL??? Like what is even happening.

Also remembering things i forgot on my rewatch: the twerking episode has a plot. I totally forgot that I always thought of it as just the twerking epsiode and while i was watching it I was like "oh it actually has kinda good plot"

This is all I can remember rn, my memory's kinda bad. Would love to hear your stuff. Especially why you ship Quartie, i never even thought of it lol

Very true! Especially compared s2!blaine to s4!blaine, it’s like a whole ‘nother level. Even before in s2, there were hints there with his romantic gesture to the gap guy, but later on, he started to get less “classy” to say the least haha.

Season 5 is actually where I stopped. Exactly at the 20th ep. It’s very weird. And the stuff with Blaine, I feel like seeing Kurt in his footing made him insecure (not that he wasn’t already but you get it). While I don’t like how he handled it and the way he acted, I can relate to feeling insecure and being a little jealous of even the closest people around me.

And the Artie plot was so funny to watch. I did really like him with Kitty tho so rip to them.

Rachel leaving Funny Girl especially is ridiculous. Her whole arc was getting into Broadway and being a star. And then fast forward to season 6 and apparently she left for a goddamn tv show and is stuck in Lima like wtf. Anyways, S1 & S4 Rachel was superior all I’ve gotta say.

The twerking one was also so icky. Like no teacher in real life would be condoning this. Not to mention, last I checked, didn’t Schue twerk on those minors??? I can’t believe I’m actually siding with Sue here but…

As for why I ship Quartie, I actually didn’t ship them when I first watched but I loved their dynamic. Seeing @thomas-the-goat-of-satan and other tumblr users talking about them made me love Quartie more.

I just love how happy Quinn was around Artie. Probably the happiest she ever was around a man lmao. And I love how they both bond when Quinn was paralyzed and the way Artie seemed to challenge her.

Also I’m Still Standing totally fucks.

#answered #james 🪄 #glee #anti klaine #anti blaine #if #I think I am starting to warm up to blaine #kartie #rachel berry #anti will schuester #sue sylvester #quartie #I need to do a glee rewatch

[pansear-doodles]

Heard about a comic where Hunter tells her kid what to do when they have a seizure. It sounds cool, currently trying to find it.

Theres another ask in my inbox after this stating that youve found it. Always use my tags in my blog :) (though i havent had the comic uploaded in the other sites yet)

If you want to, i can longingly ramble about my thought process on making that comic. I know its short, simple, sweet and lighthearted, but for many things ive created for rain world, there is a meaning and story (as everything ive built around the fandom has always been self indulgence and vent art)

When i made that comic, i was sleepy as hell, promised myself to go to bed so i can work on my mass attack (surprise, i still havent done that today due to all-day school, tiredness and a 6 hour video slandering toy story 4 distracting me LOL), but ive randomly thought of the comic after making some cute sleepy doodles (that of which i wont reveal because many of these doodles are for self indulgent purposes(i promise you its all sfw for those skeptical because i just dont not want to flood my blog with similar drawings of hunter and artihunter kisses lol- im doing that all for myself at least!))

A simple doodle of hunter being a parent laying on the couch (because i was sleepy and wanted to project that comforting cushiony feeling onto this to encourage myself to sleep) but then it suddenly sparked to me that ive always wanted to explore a bit more on hunter's role as a parent now that its been long established that they are arti's spouse and chose this lifestyle.

To talk about a bit of my own personal experiences, I'm familiar with living around relatives who require medical attention and support, so I kind of wanted to put that feeling to arti's kids facing the reality that their new parent has some things that pushes them back at times health-wise. My dad is diabetic (and old- hes like in his midish 60s while im 21) and hes been having his struggles. He could not do some basic things like putting his socks on and putting on his shoes without the help from someone and generally has difficulty crouching and standing up. He has to take his meds often. It is hard to see him grow depressed and grumpier over the years, but being apart from him for college makes him realize that he misses and loves me.

My grandmother is old and i think she has alzheimers (my mom is not clear on this to me since i dont generally talk about these types of serious concerning subjects to her about her own mother). Sometimes she falls without almost no warning and has to be around someone to care for her in case that happens, and yet I recognize that despite these things, she is quite sassy and pretty insistent on doing some things herself (despite my mother recognizing the risks and yelling to her about them out of care).

My own mother, while our relationship is not perfect and while i recognize that most of her parenting stuff to me have negatively affected me for the long run, i understand that she is not a flawless human being and most of what she does to me and to my dad and grandma and to anyone shes close with- she does that out of care. She nags at my dad for shutting down business opportunities because of his anger issues. Nags to my grandma who does ignorant actions. Nags to me for- well- i have to admit that I can be lazy. But i can understand all the stress that shes going through- that she has to actively take care of so many people in her life (and i have not even mentioned my brother, who is a whole can of worms that of which im not going to detail, is included) and i sort of wanted to project some part of that stressful experience onto arti and her dynamic with the other characters.

There is some form of resolution to my mother's case though- is that she has a lot of friends who help and support her. Who light her life even when shes busy all the time and goes scampering back and forth. It eases one to know that my arti does have friends, and gourmand has been most supportive of him aside from his own wifeusband. (Which leads to that panel where gourmand is shown also helping hunter and that hunter themselves encourage their child to also ask help from others and not just from their other parent(though i am probably reading a bit too much on this projection since its also just common sense to ask any grown up for help in general haha))

But back on hunter themselves and the relations they have built on their children- you guys know I love Bluey, but not only does the show introduce to me so many lighthearted concepts and coping mechanisms, but it also portrays the relations between parent and child in a way that i find quite realistic and mature. And these kinds of portrayals teach me how to write this dynamic. Hunter is like a Bandit, but I would like to work around the fact that this is Hunter's first time as a full-on parent on a committed relationship, while also having to deal with their terminal illness.

I do not think Hunter would be *the* perfect parent, but I think they would actively try to be a good one at least, and they would understand that their kids are smart and can learn how to fend for themselves from passing on what they know (ESPECIALLY considering the setting... This is still Rain World after all despite its more forgiving nature). Its something i would have wanted as a kid growing up actually- my parents actively teaching me to prepare my future circumstances instead of leaving me to figure out most things on my own or parade me with rewards and decadence expecting good outputs from me to pay it off.

But if there is one thing that they have taught me as a child that suggested that hint that I am smart if they give me the knowledge and reasoning of: are those days when they have to work, leaving only me and my brother at the house alone. They would tell me to never open the door to strangers and I would follow that no matter what.

I think, at some point, hunter and arti would teach their kids something like that. Its a slope see. Theres this short comic ive read long ago i dont remember the name of but whose plot i remember vividly: parents in a level of a video game teaching their child how to jump progressively higher and farther until the child is able to jump high and far enough to reach the other side of a giant pit thats situated so closely to their home. Thats the type of thing id like to portray. Small steps to progressively larger ones. Being taught growing up.

Many of these thoughts seem random, and theres still so much to go on i could talk about, but it all boils down to my tism and connecting some of my personal experiences onto these characters, and experiences i wish I had growing up. I do not have disabilities (or at least i think so), but i have experiences around people with disabilities and I can understand how witnessing these kinds of events involving them can be a harrowing and worrisome experience, especially when its from someone you care about.

In all honesty, i was delighted to know that there exists a disability pride month when I logged onto tumblr one day and saw my first post talking about it. Yes! I did not know it existed before. And now i have and i am glad. Theres been lots of people educating me, outside of the fandom and over the years. I dont remember what and how i was before. My back memory trauma with someone in the past has fucked me over, but its better late than never yunno

Sorry for the long ramble and sorry for being quite dramatic. I hope my words are of some interest and in good faith to you.

#ask

[artemispanthar]

Randomly thinking about a time way back when I worked in retail where, after a stressful rush, my boss took me to his office to yell at me for being slow ringing people up and threatened to fire me and then just sent me back to work for the last 30 minutes of my shift. And I have always been someone who is sensitive and cries easy so I'm behind the counter sorting hangers just fighting for my life trying to Not Cry until I was no longer at work

And this old man walks up to me and goes "What sits at the bottom of the ocean and shivers?"

And I'm like "What?"

And he repeats "What sits at the bottom of the ocean and shivers?"

So I go "I don't know, what?"

He says "A nervous wreck!" And I laugh a little and he immediately leaves the store

And I don't know if he was just an old guy who wanted to tell jokes (because that's always a common occurrence for me in customer service) or if he could see I was upset and was trying to cheer me up in some way. But in any event it did work because I was so bewildered I wasn't dwelling on being yelled at by my boss anymore so I didn't cry, I was just wondering what that old man's story was

#artie's personal life stuff #I was probably like 18 or 19 at the time

[spotsupstuff]

What do you think about the RW ships? just curious is all.

hmmm.. well! first i do wanna preface this with the obligatory "i'm not hating on anybody with this, u do u and i do me is my genuine philosophy. i'll respect u from the distance if you do the same for me"

aight so i'm not gon list every ship in the fandom that has spawned in outta the stardust n give my specific opinion on it, cuz i'm not exactly keepin up

the only two ships i don't mind n find cute on the paper are NSH x Moon and Arti x Gour cuz both of them have that Old People Love Each Other in Easy Peace Despite The Circumstances Surrounding Them kick to them. i'm a weak bitch for that type of troupe for romantic relationships. not gon do anythin with 'em in my own stuff, though

i find myself more interested in the entirely and wholly platonic interpretation of everything in the game. platonic love is a matter of course, makin the story flow feel more smoother to me for that while also stayin nicely close to that religious narrative of the game (u can fight me on this but the Ancients' religion isn't *wrong*. the bad thing that happened with it is that it was taken to extremes and variety wasn't allowed. i could tell you why riddin oneself of the third and fifth sin isn't a bad idea at all- afterall, i kind of live by that myself!- and what they probably meant by riddin yourself of the sins without the extremist approach)

for the other ships... 🤔

well, the iterators are far too rooted in my head as sibs to vibe with ships with them, but more properly told: • Suns and Pebs are too much of "teacher and naive student" to me and i also find this dynamic more interesting to explore. uuuuu how spicy it is to think of Suns brainwashing Pebs but meaning it well uuuuuuuuuu • Suns and NSH are... let's just say that if i was in NSH's place and Suns talked to me like that i'd slap them so fuckin hard n if i WAS in a romantic relationship with them i'd dump them then and there (not in a bitchy ex kind of way, i'd be still down to talk, but i can't imagine bein in a relationship where the other half calls the most likely inevitable death of your closest friend a "setback" to their brainwashing of that friend's little brother would be Very healthy) • n i think what is the only other iterator ship left, Sliver and Moon... i find it kind of silly, honestly? like as far as *i* know the main reason why that exists is cuz Moon remembers what happened with Sliver after being given her own pearl about some notes she wrote herself on Sliver despite being baround three gazillion bagillion braincells short. i don't really see that as a strong incentive to start shippin 'em cuz like. you give Moon a very solid memory jogger and right in her second set of monologue she states that Sliver is literally a legend among the itties-titties. the best i can compare it to a real life thing is asking an american if they have any idea who Abraham Lincoln was at all. or asking a slovak if they knew who Finally managed to solidly establish our language after centuries of oppression. like of Course you're going to know That even on ur deathbed??? those are incredibly important historical figures for you n your home!!! also c'mon she remembers the feckin bug pupae, if THAT stuck in there this big boy info is def gon be kickin around

as for the slugcats... well ehh..... you can probably guess from what i mainly draw that i'm not Too focused on the slugs, only maybe Hunter so my slugshippin lore knowledge is p weak. when i first saw the slugshippin take off before i started postin bout RW again i thought it was silly to ship animals n still kinda do? 🤷‍♀️ doesn't help that canonically they have no business meeting each other except Monk n Surv (that is a strong No to shippin) and Hunter's writhing corpse n Gour (we are Not ducks we do not support necrophilia). i generally like to stick to the timeline, personally. good world-building. i respect good world-building too much to deviate too hard

BUT! i am going to use my status as pre-Downpour RW veteran and tell you to not listen to the whiny wrinkly babies in the tag that wail about how slugshippin is ruining the fandom. fuck 'em bitches, you do what u wanna (within moral common sense)

#Spot says stuff #rw #sorry you probably didn't want me goin on a spiel about RW shipping in general but yanno if we are already here #there's also not really much i have to say to the matter in the more specific shippin kind of sense

[bcbdrums]

But why would they have kids? Drakken's too stupid and Shego hates kids

ohhhkay then... while i admit, the first thing that comes to mind is that maybe Shego quit teaching because she discovered she didn't wanna deal with kids after all.... nah i don't think she hates kids.

since i'm on that, i'll mention my headcanon... i think she genuinely tried to teach but she was just...completely unprepared for it. life didn't prepare her. i do not think she was perfect mommy to the wegos. did she help care for them as a sister cares for baby brothers? yes i do think this. but i don't think she just...had this perfect natural mothering develop in her, no matter what you think happened to the Team Go parents... no matter when they got their powers... no matter how much the older three siblings had to raise the twins, or not...

teaching is nothing like raising your own kid. so yeah my headcanon is that Shego was just wholly unprepared for it and after giving it an honest try, not having a clue what to do with actual children, and receiving little to no valuable help... that coupled with Team Go complications and feeling the draw toward evil, she quit. easier to quit than to be vulnerable and keep failing. Shego isn't the type to be vulnerable OR to let herself fail in front of anyone.

okay anyway. so your actual ask... not sure why you characterize Drakken as stupid, but i'll deal with the primary topic. Drakken would actually be pretty good with kids? he clearly had a great mother. i think when the kid got old enough to talk back and argue he'd have trouble with the being a dad versus being a friend, thing. i can envision a brat like Martin Smarty's son Artie and a childish combative period between Drakken and son.

but remembering that he'd have raised the kid from infancy, that would actually smooth at all of that relational stuff. as i said, he clearly had a wonderful doting mother. she doesn't smother him in his adulthood. and you can bet she'd be around more to help with a baby. i think Drakken would be like any new parent and ask for advice where he can get it (his mother) and fumble over some things and then be great with others. and you can absolutely bet he'd want to raise a little evil successor to his empire. i think he'd be both terrified, icked out, and thrilled at the idea of a kid. a kid completely changes one's life, because they become your life. and between he and Shego and occasional visits (more early on) from his mother, they'd have a pretty solid start and he'd continue with world domination plans, just now with a child. and he'd absolutely adore that kid... the way he goes all-in on things, he'd just worship that baby. my opinions, at least.

Shego i think would be the harder sell. she'd be afraid of messing it all up, cuz her life as a hero didn't prepare her to be normal. she would be very ehhhhh about childbirth. but because of Drakken, she'd go through it. i feel like she'd be pretty tough on him during pregnancy but they'd do research together to try to figure out how to raise a kid. once she gets past her fear and denial, she'd do the job of mother just fine. i think she'd be in a kinda endless fear/denial cycle though for a looooong time... probably would recur through the years as the kid gets older. she'd rely on Drakken a lot. her laziness would come out in spades at any time she perceives something as difficult...

but, their strength is...they have each other. Shego's trust in Drakken would really start to show when they're parents. Drakken's all-in attitude and just pure love for that kid would infect her. not saying it'd be sunshine and roses, it would be a wild ride. i mean, would the kid get Shego's powers? Drakken's plant mutation? other Team Go powers? none at all? they'd wanna raise the kid to be evil, but they'd also be wanting to instill normal morality along with it. it's necessary to raise a mentally healthy person.

so..... yeah.... long and short of it. Drakken's not stupid, i've commented on his intellgience in many posts. he'd adore a kid. and there's no evidence anywhere that Shego hates kids. they'd be good parents together and raise kids just fine.

#queued post #shego #drakken #drakgo #kim possible #drakken x shego

[milkovichrules]

its tag game wednesday thursday!! thank you for tagging me lovely people ☺️ @iansw0rld @transmickey 🖤

if you could switch bodies with anybody for only one hour who would it be and what would you do? im a shortarse so someone big and tall would be fun... maybe a wrestler... probably baron corbin hes hot

what's your most trivial / dumbest hot take? mmm... maybe that every person should watch at least one animated thing (smth not made for kids like where the wind blows or arcane) and one thing from a non-english speaking country/with subtitles

if you had to teach a college course what would it be in? probably makeup artistry? its my one and only practical skill and I would've been a licensed artist if our teacher hadn't quit her job halfway through lmao

season 12 of shameless is suddenly happening and you've been out in charge! what plot point(s) are you gonna make happen? its the mickey and debbie show now and there will be various wholesome shenanigans but fr get carl outta the police force, maybe into college and that can be a nice bonding thing for him and liam studying together. oh and they definitely keep the house, maybe lip and deb get on good terms by fixing up the place together. debbie maybe runs into alex again and they give it another go? ian and mickey have wacky comic relief with their neighbours (the possibilities are endless) and probably think more seriously about starting a family and definitely get a cat or dog I just want to bake a cake filled with rainbows and smiles and everyone would eat and be happy

who would be your godly parent (can be any mythology)? I took a percy jackson quiz for this one and got Hephaestus, Greek god of artisans, blacksmiths, carpenters, craftsmen, fire, metallurgy, metalworking, sculpture and volcanoes, which sounds cool as shit (roman equivalent is Vulcan too?? hell yeah)

what's something you love about yourself? my eyes are really cool I think, they're mostly green but also have some blue and brown

describe your day in 5 emojis: 🥱👩‍💻☕️🎧📑

what shameless character do you think you could beat in a fight? mmmm either no one or the tiny social worker lady from season 3 lmao

tell us two truths and a lie, we'll try to guess the lie! I'm farsighted, I can speak a bit of norwegian, I love roller coasters

do you have a pet/pets? if so, how did they get their name(s)? I have two cats, artemis and athena, they're sisters from the same litter. my fiancé named them because she loves mythology (I'll put some kitten pics under the cut💕) alternate names were william the bloody and willow (if we got a boy and a girl, from buffy), april and miriam (from coraline), and teacup and lucifer (from the cat lady/downfall)

show us a meme (or picture) that captures your essence: middle one is irl only I love to be Perceived Online

what's your typical coffee / tea / beverage order? oat milk latte, iced if it's warm out

use a song to describe the last five years of your life: I really don't associate the stuff I listen to with my own life so these are just things I was really into that year:

2019: butterfly - loona 2020: lady wood - tove lo 2021: too late - the weeknd 2022: stayaway - muna 2023: hard times - ethel cain / death of me - pvris

Tagging: @softmick @golden28s @m4ndysk4nkovich @abetterdaaye @heymrspatel @stocious @callivich @jrooc @sgtmickeyslaughter @gallavichlover19 @depressedstressedlemonzest 🖤

kitten pics as promised (artemis/arti is the black and white one, athena/aggie is the tortie)

#tag game #*

[brandonxdylan]

Ranking the GAY EPISODES of Beverly Hills, 90210 - Part 2

(Part 1 here)

#4.) Blind Spot (Season 4, Episode 26)

Car trouble lands Brandon and Steve stranded at a GAY COFFEEHOUSE, where, amidst all of his ridiculous gay panic, Steve clocks Mike, his fraternity president, enjoying a coffee with another guy. Back at the frat house, Mike approaches Steve, assuming that since he was also at the GAY COFFEEHOUSE, he must be gay too. Steve gives Mike the cold shoulder, showing no empathy for him whatsoever, and it’s actually really sad because Mike was so excited to relate to someone else in a similar situation, which I have to imagine would have been a rare opportunity, and I know how vulnerable and embarrassed he would have felt in that moment. Later on, Artie, another frat guy, makes, like, two incredibly dumb gay jokes about Steve, and rather than ignore them, fire back, or do literally anything other than the one thing he shouldn’t do, Steve immediately goes into self-preservation mode and deflects Artie’s homophobic ire towards Mike, the actual gay guy who’s been hiding in plain sight. Mike is understandably pissed when Steve tells him that “it just slipped out,” which isn’t really true. Latently homophobic Steve intentionally threw Mike under the bus to protect his own extremely fragile ego. Even Brandon agrees that Steve is a huge fucking dipshit for this, so you know it’s bad. Anyway, some of the frat brothers paint Mike’s bedroom door pink (such a weird fucking flex, honestly) and Mike threatens to leave the frat to avoid any further humiliation. He doesn’t, of course, because during a tribunal to decide Mike’s fate (insane that this is what it comes to, but the show doesn’t even acknowledge that), Steve saves the day by calling out Mike’s good attributes and blah blah blah, the homophobe becomes the hero. Hooray. Honestly, I kinda wish Mike had just left the frat. Why stay somewhere that is full of assholes who need to have a group fucking meeting discussing your personal life before they permit you to be in their presence? Maybe it’s just me, but I wouldn’t consider being allowed to stay somewhere like that “a win.” But whatever. Mike manages to make some good points, and his gay rage is, appropriately, very justified. I just wish it didn’t have to be tempered at the end. I wish he got to peace out, go find love somewhere better than the damn KEG house, and leave Steve feeling like a piece of shit for fucking up his life. I would have been a hell of a lot more satisfied by that. Though this episode gets bonus points for featuring the GAY COFFEEHOUSE, which is the same coffeehouse used in an iconic double date scene from the stone cold classic, A Very Brady Sequel. More bonus points for some cute Dylan stuff during the photo shoot B story, and in particular, the moment where Dylan checks out and proceeds to compliment Brandon’s boxers. This is the kind of stuff that keeps me going.

#3.) Making Amends/The Nature of Nurture (Season 8, Episodes 23-24)

While working at the free clinic, Kelly finds a baby abandoned by its teen mother (a young Jessica Alba), and though she initially wants to adopt it herself, she relents when she learns that the baby will be placed in a foster-to-adopt situation with a carefully selected couple, as opposed to going back to the mother, whom Kelly has quickly and harshly written off as evil. But things that a major turn when Kelly learns that the foster parents are (gasp!) HOMOS! This sets off her strange and highly problematic crusade to return the baby to the custody of its mother, who does actively want it back now that she too knows her baby is at risk of being raised by a couple of gays. Ultimately, teen mom’s homophobia proves excessive, and causes Kelly to recognize that maybe the baby is better off with loving parents, regardless of their sexuality, than with a homophobic teen mom who only wants it out of spite. Naturally, things wrap up neatly, the baby lands with the gays, and Kelly gets to feel good about doing the right thing despite being the source of a LOT of strife for a LOT of people. There’s also a LOT to think about in this episode, and overall, I think it’s fairly well done aside from some frustrating character stuff. While Kelly – allegedly a social work major - demonstrates next to know understanding of how social services actually work, the writers do. I already wrote a bit about this episode so I won’t get too into it, but suffice it to say it tackles some thorny issues regarding issues of child protection, fostering, and adoption pretty well, and with as much accuracy as I think can be expected from a show like this. What I find most maddening about this episode is that Kelly isn’t granted the opportunity for any substantial self-reflection or personal growth. Her homophobic beliefs are placed in stark contrast to teen mom’s more extreme views, and therefore written off as not that bad. Additionally, the out-of-nowhere explanation that she wanted the baby for herself is positioned as the real reason for her actions, and the fact that the foster parents were gay was just an easy excuse she used to justify her shitty behavior. This doesn’t really track, and I don’t buy it. I think it would have been far more interesting to have this episode tackle the issue of latent homophobia, and explore the nuances involved in addressing that. As it is, Kelly isn’t left accountable for her actions, and that’s a problem for me because that’s really the theme of this episode. It’s not really about the gay parents, it’s about other (straight) people’s feelings about them. I think they could have dug a little deeper to offer a more satisfying character arc for Kelly. It’s not problematic to have latently prejudiced beliefs. It’s human! And dealing with them is something that would have been refreshing to see in an episode that otherwise gets so much right.

#2.) A Mate for Life/Disappearing Act/Pledging My Love (Season 7, Episodes 3-5)

Kelly begins a school placement at a group home for men with AIDS, and befriends Jimmy, a young gay man who is dying of the disease. Jimmy (played by Michael Stoyanov from Blossom) copes with his illness by practicing magic tricks, engaging in some self-deprecating gallows humour, and being generally charming. At one point, Kelly gets some of Jimmy’s blood on her hands, and she panics that she might be now be infected with HIV. Following an anxiety dream in which she gets AIDS rash, Kelly gets tested and though her doctor assures her that she’s probably fine, he does give her a lecture on safe sex, reminding her that HIV isn’t just for gay men - anyone can get it, and sexual intercourse is an easy way to do so. While she’s waiting for her test results, Kelly tells Clare and Donna that she’ll move out of their beach house if she ends up testing positive, and it’s around this point that I began to realize that this is a storyline that is wasted on Kelly. First of all, she’s straight, and though, yes, anyone can contract HIV, it goes without saying that it was gay men who were disproportionately affected by it in the United States at this time. Second of all, she was “contaminated” in such a minor way. These two factors make all of this feel really low stakes. We know that there’s no way in hell Kelly tests positive. I want to be clear that I don’t think that shows like this have any inherent obligation to those who have lived through trauma or illness to deal with these issues in a way that is consistently true to life. That’s a slippery slope because not all lived experience is the same, and what might feel validating and representative to someone might feel offensive to someone else. Plus, it’s also a lot to ask of a TV show, whose primary concern should be to entertain and to compel, not present viewers with a case study on living with AIDS. However, in this case I have to admit that it does feel a little inappropriate to be putting Kelly through the ringer in the most low stakes way possible, and milking that for drama when so many gay men were really going the ringer and the stakes were much higher. Not to minimize the experience of people like Kelly who suffered the worry of a close call, but it feels like the show is really pushing it with what it’s asking us to buy into. Granted, I guess that’s why we have Jimmy - to demonstrate what being a gay man dying of AIDS in the 90s actually could have looked like. And while yes, Jimmy falls squarely into the much-maligned trope of gays who only show up to die for the sake of the straight characters’ growth, he’s probably about as good as we possibly could’ve expected to get at the time, barring the show deciding to suddenly break all kinds of barriers and introduce a main gay character living with AIDS. It was just never gonna happen, and I’m not going to hold that against the show. Unsurprisingly, Kelly tests negative, but Jimmy takes a turn for the worse. Watching him make peace with his fate as Kelly offers some misplaced naivete, desperately suggesting that what he knows to be true might not be, it’s hard not to feel something. When Kelly suggests taking a photo of the two of them, it makes sense that Kelly would want to not only preserve a memento of their friendship, but also to assure Jimmy that he is someone who will be remembered fondly. It’s a touching moment, and the weight of it is effectively conveyed. While I already explained why I think this episode kind of mishandles its subject matter in terms of the AIDS scare stuff, what it gets right is the friendship between Kelly and Jimmy. I think what could’ve made it even better, however, would have been to allow Kelly just a little more time to sit in her open-ended grief, and try to make sense of Jimmy’s death. Some frank acknowledgement of the difficulty involved in doing that might have been an appropriately cathartic cap to this story, and it would have been a uniquely heavy moment for a show that by this point was often pretty superficial.

#1.) I’m Back Because/The Following Options (Season 9, Episodes 8-9)

Steve’s mom comes to town because she’s starring in a much-hyped comeback sitcom. Rumours abound that she’s dating her co-star, and when Steve asks her about them, she neither confirms nor denies, instead opting to remind Steve that it’s no one’s business who she dates. Eventually, however, she admits to Steve that she’s not dating her co-star, nor is she dating any man. She’s actually dating a woman. And okay, this is honestly one of the most unexpected yet awesome choices that this show could have made at this point. In an era of the show full of random retcons and arbitrary character development, the fact that this one comes out of nowhere actually makes sense, considering Samantha had been deeply in the closet prior to this moment, and she’s not someone we see every week. And choosing to give a coming out storyline to a middle aged mother as opposed to some young twentysomething? That’s a bold choice! The crux of the drama here is that Steve (once again) demonstrates some very blatant homophobic feelings about his mother’s sexuality, and slings some pretty nasty remarks her way, going so far as to accuse her of adopting him in order to complete some sort of heterosexual façade for the sake of her image. It’s all pretty embarrassing for Steve, but as with the earlier episode featuring Kelly and the teen mom, there is room to allow these characters to explore their latent homophobia. That would not only offer some compelling drama, but it would be an accurate reflection of reality. And this storyline gets 75% of the way there. They just bungle the ending. Steve only starts to see the light once word of Samantha’s sexuality leaks to the media, and Samantha is fired from her new show amidst the ensuing scandal. Watching his mom go through all of this undue humiliation causes Steve to do an about face, and choose to embrace her for who she is. It’s a cute ending, but man, does it ever skip a lot of steps in terms of Steve’s growth. We don’t get to see Steve do any of the work involved in addressing his homophobia, nor do we get any indication as to what specifically would have spurred his change of heart beyond his mom’s name being dragged through the mud. There’s no suggestion of introspection or vulnerability. There’s not really even an apology. I think if this storyline had had one more episode to really flesh out Steve’s character development, and to offer a heart to heart between mother and son, it could’ve been great. But there are still great things about it. Christine Belford is really good as Samantha (seriously, Samantha is not even a character we get to know very well over the course of the series, yet I practically cheered when she told Steve she was gay, so that’s a testament to her), and for all of Steve’s shitty behaviour towards her, Samantha gets to land a few zingers of her own. And again, I appreciate that the show chose to go this route with this character. Coming out in midlife is a reality for many people, and Samantha’s celebrity adds an interesting dynamic. There are definitely things that could have been improved upon, and it perhaps bites off a little more than it can chew, but its heart is in the right place, and it’s sympathetic without being condescending or othering. And while it’s Samantha’s final appearance on the show (BOO!), we do get to meet her new girlfriend, Karen, in the aforementioned luau episode of season 10, and wow - LESBIAN LEGEND. I sure hope Samantha hung on to her.

Well, there you have it. A thorough(ish) rundown of Beverly Hills, 90210′s major(ish) storylines featuring gay themes. It’s disappointing how short-lived all of these stories were, because most of them would’ve been better served by characters whom we actually get to know outside of their relationships with members of the gang. Still, as I’ve said before, I’m used to accepting scraps when it comes to queer content. And I’m happy to look back at this show and accept that we needed baby steps like this in order to get more and better gay content on television.

I hope everyone has had a safe and happy Pride month!

#i did not fully realize the scope of this undertaking and this whole thing took me a lot longer than i first anticipated #but it was still satisfying to do! #beverly hills 90210 #queer #90s

[boltupbitches]

Sliding in the DMs Part XIII

The past few weeks had been peaceful and quiet. Arty and Cassiopeia were all but moved into Joey’s place in Costa Mesa. This would be her home for a few weeks while Joey handled postseason assignments for the Chargers. Cassiopeia was not pleased at first with her new home. Instead of exploring, she chose to hide from the two of them and lurk in corners until Joey finally realized that the new stuff he bought the diva cat would not suffice. The cat wanted her stuff that was still in Arty’s apartment in West Hollywood. So, he made the car ride over there himself to retrieve her things.

Arty made sure to make fun of Joey for babying her cat as he set up a spare room just for Cassiopeia with all of her old stuff and new stuff. 

Life, although beautiful, was changing so quickly for them, yet at the same time it felt like things were moving slow in their bubble. Looking at it now, almost a year in since they met, Arty felt their bubble of privacy shrinking and knew it would pop at some point from the many things going on outside of it. 

That was terrifying to think about. 

Neither even realized just how private and intimate their relationship had been - except for their respective younger siblings who were fooling around and not as discrete as they thought they were.. Still, Arty realized just how messy they were making this situation as more time passed. She had not yet met his parents.. He had not met hers either. She didn’t know the Bosas well except from when Joey spoke about them. With his mother, it was affection and appreciation. He was clearly close with her and in their conversations, he accredited a lot of his success and achievements to how his mom raised him and taught him. His dad? From what she understood there were a lot of hurt and unresolved feelings. He opened up to her after her outburst over her mom and the childhood abuse she experienced.

John Bosa didn’t sound like a pleasant person. At least, that was what she deduced from it all. Joey seemed to tense up when speaking to anyone about him and she could see a brief look of sadness in his expression, only for it to disappear moments later. 

She knew that Joey felt the need to keep him at arm’s length regarding his career and personal life these days, and she felt empathy for him on the matter. Dealing with her own mother who was an egomaniac, was difficult. Years of therapy after spells of self-destruction taught her a lot about self-healing and trying to make peace with it all. It wasn’t easy.. Because how could anyone find peace after such abuse?

She didn’t want to push Joey any further on it though out of fear of him shutting down. Instead, she made sure to reassure him that she was there for him when he wanted to talk or share.

Arty worried for him a lot at times. She thought it was interesting that in his home here in Costa Mesa, there were only pictures of him with friends, his mom, his brother, and her. None of his dad.

Sometimes the moments when nothing was said spoke volumes more than the words exchanged.

As she lay in bed, cuddled into Joey’s side, her hand smoothed its way up the planes of his chest, her hand tickling against the hair growing there. She felt Joey shiver at the sensation as he grunted in his sleep. His arm she was tucked into flexed as he snuggled her in tighter to him, his breath evening out again.

Arty stared at him in the dark, the moon light pouring into the room was just enough for her to trace with her eyes his features. She could feel her eyes well up slightly with tears as she focused her eyes on his face.

She had never felt love like this. Something so strong, raw, and all-consuming. She had to admit that she expected them to fizzle after a few hook ups. It surprised her beyond belief to realize how long they’ve spent in each other’s presence.

Joey loved her so deeply in ways she never experienced before in a partner. Not just the sexual experiences, but the care he showed her through touch and words, through his thoughtful actions when he thought about her.

She realized in that moment that she was terrified at what would happen once others invaded their bubble. Would their love still be strong? Would others pull them apart? 

As a tear slipped down her cheek, she felt him shift again, this time with him turning over to face her, his eyes still closed, but his brows were furrowed and his face tightening up slightly in discomfort. He was having a nightmare.

Arty reached up and smoothed her hand gently across his forehead, hushing him gently as he grunted. After a few more moments of soothing him, she felt him loosen up again and relax against the pillow.

His eyes opened groggily, staring with confusion into the dark until his eyes adjusted and he saw Arty staring back at him.. “Arty..”

“It’s ok. It was just a nightmare, Joey..” She soothed him, her hands coming up to pull him down and into the groove of her neck, she rubbed his upper back as she felt him shutter for a few moments, tears soaking her night shirt. “It’s ok, babe.”

She wasn’t sure how much time passed, but just as she felt him sag against her, her own eyes were hooded and fighting to stay open as sleep finally came, succumbing her to her own dream world.

—---------------- —-------------- —----------------- —--------------

Arty was lounging back on the lounge chair that Joey had on his rooftop balcony. She felt a deep pang in her stomach, her nerves heightened at the mere thought of meeting Joey's mom. He spoke to her on the phone a few hours ago, informing her he was getting ready to fly back to Florida in about two weeks... with his 'partner' was the word he described Arty as. Not girlfriend - because she no longer was - and not fiance because his mother would surely have a heart attack in response.

As she laid there thinking over every possibility that would be their first introduction, she didn't notice Joey coming outside and approaching her. She was afraid that Mrs. Bosa wouldn't accept her. That she would look through her and see the ugly parts of her on the inside, the flaws and insecurities that her mother would turn a critical eye to. It was that moment that realized her mommy issues were much deeper than just sticking it to her mom and rebelling. She was afraid of disappointing this woman she didn't even know yet. The woman who would become her mother-in-law and would also be the woman who would be the future grandmother of her children. This woman wasn't just some stranger she could turn away from and ignore if cruel. She made Joey and gave life to him. The thought of disappointing Cheryl Bosa was terrifying to Artemis Thermopoli. 

Arty jolted slightly when she felt the lounge chair dip. She blinked at Joey, confused for a moment, “Holy shit you scared me!”

“I called your name twice.” He said with furrowed brows. “What’s going on? You’ve been off the last few days.”

“No, I haven’t.” She denied immediately, “I.. I’ve just been tired is all.”

“From what?” He nudged.

“Just worried about stuff. My job.. My apartment… My cat.. You..”

“Me?” Joey raised an eyebrow. “In what ways?”

“Just.. us going back to Florida… We literally got engaged without telling anyone. My own sister doesn’t even know, nor does your brother. Our parents are going to shit… Well, mine would either way because they think I’m a fucking disaster.. But Joey.. your parents are going to lose their shit.. We should have said something sooner.” She bit her lip hard at the thought of the possible fallout. 

Joey sighed loudly and pulled her into him gently. “Artemis.. I get what you’re saying but there’s nothing that can be done about it now. When we started this relationship.. My relationship with my parents wasn’t good. Well, mostly mine with my dad. Even though they are divorced and have been for years, lately I have found it hard to be around my mom because of all the shit our dad put us through.. I was mad at a lot of people for a while, her being one of them. I thought..” He sighed quietly, “I thought she was selfish for trying to make it work.. Given the shit he was putting us through..”

“Like what?” She gently asked him.

“Him drinking at home, at work, and out all night. Coming home and fighting with my mom, breaking shit, vomiting everywhere and expecting her to just clean up after him. The way he was bringing women home when she worked late or was out of town, even though Nick and I were still there.. The way he prioritized his failed career and attempts to stay rich over us time and time again. He’s gotten better over the years… sure, but I didn’t realize until after college and in the league on my own for a few years just how really bad and toxic it was. I was angry all the time, Arty.” He looked down at his hands. “I was fighting with people a lot and losing my shit. One day, after fighting with my ex-girlfriend.. And breaking up with her, I looked in the mirror and saw myself.. I was becoming my dad.. And I didn’t want that.”

Arty hugged him to her and held him tightly against her like she had the night before. “You’re not like him, Joey..”

“I was though,” He muttered. “I was so fucking mean and rude to everyone. Fans, teammates, and even my family. In college alone I was an absolute dick head. Like.. I don’t think you would have wanted to know me then. Me being the person I am now, I wouldn’t want to know that guy..” He chuckled darkly. 

She said nothing against him, knowing that he knew himself better than anyone else at that moment in time. 

“But yeah, my mom and I just started talking regularly again. I realized a lot of my anger towards her was displaced. She was trying to do her best and uphold her vows. It’s not her fault my dad couldn’t stay sober, keep it in his pants, or let the fucking past go.”

They stayed silent for a while, leaning against each other on the lounge chair. “Whatever happens in Florida.. It changes nothing between us.” He said to her, tilting his head to look down at her as she rested her head on his shoulder. “I love you more than anything, Artemis.. Please don’t ever doubt that.”

—---------------- —-------------- —----------------- —--------------

As they were packing stuff away for what was being shipped across the country, Joey brought up wedding planning. They hadn’t paid much thought beyond breaking the news to their immediate families. Sitting in her tiny apartment, the two of them mulled over the idea of an actual wedding ceremony.

‘What was the point of planning a wedding ceremony if everyone told you to fuck off and never bother them again?’ Artemis asked.

Joey laughed and said, “We could hire a planner in Florida. I’ll rent whatever venue you want.”

“Joey.. A lot goes into planning a wedding. You really want us to start as soon as we get to Fort Lauderdale?”

“Well, if you don’t want to, we could just elope.” He shrugs nonchalantly.

Arty chuckles at that, not looking at him as she's folding a shirt to put in her suitcase. "Good one, Joey."

"No, I'm serious." He sits down behind her on the bed, "We don't have to wait that long. We don't have to do something big and crazy. We can just do us. The two of us at the courthouse." He shrugged. “We only need one witness. Hell, from there we can go on vacation to Cozumel or something.”

Artemis dropped her shirt into her suitcase and turned to face him. “Joey… you really want to get eloped?”

“Yeah. I’d go with you right now to the courthouse right now and marry if you want to.”

She sat quietly and said, “We are fucking insane, you know that right? No two people in their right minds engage and marry in a year, Joseph.”

“I never, ever said we were normal or in our right minds.” He argues back. “Artemis.. I don’t give a fuck what anyone thinks about me.. About us and our relationship. I have seen the ugly sides of fan culture and the fucking media these last few years. Our relationship? The best fucking thing of my life this past year. Nothing else compares because everything else was shit!” His words rushed out urgently, something uncharacteristic for a man who usually spoke a slower, monotone voice. “I am over giving a fuck about anyone else but us.”

Artemis bit her lip and stared at him, still unsure and feeling overwhelmed. “Joey.. let me think it over.. Ok?”

He nods and takes a seat. “Well, if you change your mind, we can ask the neighbor lady downstairs who babysits Cassiopeia.” He joked.

She chuckled at that.. Her mind distracted at the thought of eloping. ‘We are two fucking idiots..’ She looks at Joey as he’s folding some of her clothes up for the suitcase once more. ‘But I guess he’s my idiot and I’m his.’

—---------------- —-------------- —----------------- —--------------

Are we about to get a courthouse wedding next chapter? Joey sure wants to!

(I did not proof read yet - don't come for me! I'll be back later to clean it up!)

#joey bosa fanfiction #joey bosa fanfic #sliding in the dms