#based on a reddit prompt

[doom-dreaming]

Do you think cortana posted chief for national girlfriends day on the unsc's version of Twitter (he didnt even know about it until weeks later)

It had been nearly two weeks by this point and it only seemed to be gaining momentum. Groups of S-IVs would try to hide their snickering as they passed him in the halls. Whispering Marines would quickly shush each other when he walked into the room. He noticed the sidelong glances, the elbows jabbed into ribs, all the little movements that weren't as subtle as they thought. He'd even caught Roland and Captain Lasky in the middle of a hushed but heated conversation that he, apparently, didn't have the clearance for.

This had been normal when he was still a new fixture on Infinity, but several years had smoothed the edges off his reputation - at least enough that people could relax around him. Or so he thought. A backslide like this was...unexpected. And it wasn't even necessarily the principle of being left out of something that had started to bother him, it was more the fact that everyone seemed to be in on something he wasn't. And that it seemed to be about him.

"Mm, kind of rude," was all Cortana had muttered when he'd brought it up a few days prior. She'd been distracted, deep in the middle of analyzing something for Halsey, and he didn't think much of the dismissal at the time.

But by now, the strange conspiratorial energy aboard the ship had all the trademarks of a bomb about to go off and it was making him antsy in a way he didn't appreciate. "Cortana."

It takes a fraction of a second longer than usual for her projection to appear on the holodeck - a detail imperceptible and inconsequential to anyone but him - but she's bright-eyed and smiling as she materializes. "You rang?"

"You have to know something." He cuts right to the chase.

She sighs. "Chief, you know they put me on restricted access. I don't like it either, but I have to play nice. It's Roland's ship, if you want to know what he sees, ask him."

John narrows his eyes. He didn't believe her for a second. And she knew it.

She holds eye contact as her lips twitch into a barely-contained smirk. "Maybe there's something going around on the socials," she continues with a shrug. "Could be worth a look if it's really bothering you."

**********

The suggestion was still sitting in the back of his mind days later, unheeded. He had more important things to be doing than trawling through message boards trying to find a joke that no one had bothered to let him in on. It always felt like tuning into an unsecured comm. channel - lots of chatter with very little substance.

But he knew Cortana. And she was up to something. Besides, he had a few hours to kill before Commander Palmer needed him in the simulation room. He taps his way into his account, remembering his password with a combination of muscle memory and sheer luck. His inbox is overflowing with messages, but he opts to ignore them in favor of hunting down the threads with the heaviest, most recent traffic.

A thread simply titled 'Girlfriend Day' rises to the top of the list. His finger hesitates over it for a second, unsure if this was the lead he should be following. It seemed unlikely, but none of the other contenders had anywhere near the same engagement numbers... Resigning himself to a potential dead end and waste of time, he opens it.

The initial post is a picture of a young couple, both smiling. The man has his arm around the woman's shoulders. They're somewhere sunny, in civilian clothes. John doesn't recognize either of them and doesn't spend much time skimming the accompanying text before moving on.

He doesn't have to go far. Less than a dozen posts into the thread, he finds a photo of himself. It's not a bad photo, all things considered - it's a nice candid shot, he's cleaning a gun, his helmet sits on the bench beside him - but the rose-tinged filter and tiny pink hearts aren't doing it any favors. It'd been posted anonymously without a caption and he only has to read a few of the comments underneath it for things to start falling into place.

"Cortana..."

The holodeck glows a dim blue for three full seconds before she appears, hands on hips, eyebrows raised.

John silently tilts the screen toward her.

"Do you like it? I thought the hearts were a nice touch."

"Pink's not my color."

"Agree to disagree." She settles into a more relaxed stance. "Who knew one picture could get the ship buzzing like this? Infinity's starving for gossip, apparently."

"Everyone wants to know whose girlfriend I am," John sighs, finally setting the datapad down. "Where'd you get the picture?"

"Took it myself. Last month. It was hard picking a favorite, you know. I went through a lot of them."

"...how many do you have?"

"Oh, thousands. I don't show them to anyone. Well, aside from this one exception." She nods toward the datapad, then crosses her arms in response to the face he can feel himself making. "What, a girl can't have a hobby?"

#halo #my writing #master chief #john 117 #cortana #johntana #god this felt good #i love prompt writing #this ended up being more like reddit than twitter #but in my defense i've never had a twitter account #my heart tells me unsc social media would be forum-based #also this got waaay away from me #it just kept getting longer #it's gonna take a while for me to get back into their voices #it's been so long #i can't guarantee every ask will inspire me to write #but this was a cute one :) #this is set somewhere at the beginning of my H4 canon-divergence AU btw #halo fanfic

[greyfrey3]

And the newest piece of debauchery-- Katsuki Gets His Pump On - GreyFrey - 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia (Anime & Manga) [Archive of Our Own]

#dkbk fic #dkbk smut #dkbk #no quirks au #college au #based on a reddit post that made me laugh so hard i choked #prompt fest #thank you anon for the prompt #two dorks lusting after each other #second hand embarrassment

[thelandswemadeofpaper]

Writing Prompt

Write a conflict where you are clearly the right one and the other person is an asshole.

Than make a edit/reblog adding some informations that change completly the situation and YOU are actually the asshole

#writing prompts #writing #aita posts #based on aita posts from reddit

[dcxdpdabbles]

Nice how about to give you one of my old DC DP crossover prompts

Danny is a big fanfic writer for Batman, most of the time doing Tim joins the bat family early and Alternate attack on Titan's Tower. After his accident he decides to write a Jason Todd is a halfa straight out of the grave fic. Just to get his emotions out there and to vent and it gets incredibly popular.

As Time evolves the fic itself evolves from a vent fic to a under the table way to reanalyze his ghost fights and do better by transplanting his ghosts into the fic for Jason to fight. This happens generally okay until Penelope Spectra of unlike the other ghosts she was known by the rest of the world and was actually tracked by Reddit. Making the fans realize hey this is actual going on maybe not by Jason Todd but someone is using this to reanalyze their fights under the veneer of being fiction.

Danny starts to get famous for his fanfictions when he introduces the idea of halfas for the second Robin. He's not sure what happened to the second Robbin, but there are rumors he didn't die; he just retired, and the fans all accept that as the truth.

At first, Danny writes the second Robin struggling with his double life, as alive and dead, forced to hide his existence from Batman as a secret helper at night. He uses the second Robin to freely speak about his struggles with his powers in the early days, using fiction to cover his venting.

He even gave Robin a secret identity- with a disclosure that it was all made up and he did not know anything about the Bats because fans can be crazy- with the name Noir.

He made Noir a loser in school- consistently bullied, his grades were low without Batman's help, and he even had Noir live on the streets for a while before getting flung into the Ghost Zone.

Danny didn't realize it, but his writing made Noir a loveable character to his fans, who all loved "how flawed but kind-hearted" Noir, the halfa Robin. One of Danny's best commenters always claimed that Danny captured the second Robin's character.

He quickly develops Noir into someone who grows comfortable in his role after defeating the old Ghost King and getting discovered by Batman. He made the series with Noir, focusing more on the threats of the other ghosts that came to challenge the Ghost King.

Each ghost was based on his own rouges- all fighting the same way but with different names. Danny switched his main focus from Noir being confused by his powers to Noir getting stronger and stronger through all his fights.

Instead of venting on what life had done to him, Danny used his fanfiction to analyze his fights. He often wrote about what he could have done better, only after writing the actual scene and using that in a fight later on.

He even threw in there some questions that Noir started having about boys- which in high sight he should have known Jazz would have quickly picked up on because she took him to Pride "just to experience new things, Danny!"

He confirmed Noir was bi two updates later and sat back with a smirk when all the comments started rolling in.

Noir's Double Life was his pride and joy. He thought people had to search for his fic, and no one besides his sister would ever read it. Then he made the mistake of writing in a new ghost- Penny Spectra- using her exact powers, thinking no one would recognize her.

What he forgot was that back before Danny kicked her ass into the ghost zone, was that she was a well-known school counselor. A miracle worker, they called her.

Because she always found the teenagers about to fall apart and "saved" them. She had made her way clear across the country, bringing to light issues parents and guardians had no idea their children were going through and getting them the help they needed.

Mr. Lancer had been proud of getting her to come to the school for good reason.

Most adults also didn't know that teenagers talk to each other or, like Danny, post online to vent. Her past victims- for they were victims as some had not been able to pull themselves from the darkness she plunged them into- had started a riddle trend about her.

People began to piece together that whenever she went young people became more and more depressed. They had no proof of course, so she became an urban legend, a demon that appeared as a woman in schools.

Like when a celebrity is turned into a meme for being a secret serial killer, no one takes it seriously, but they think about it in the back of their minds.

Danny just wrote about her with a far too honest retelling of what she had done and how he had found out she was a ghost. He hadn't realized that one of his readers would be one of the original responders for the old Reddit thread about the fact he was a past victim.

That same reader would later link his work for the thread- especially the chapter where she appeared- and everyone would agree that the real Penelope Spectra was a ghost.

And that would be read by Tim Drake, a young member of Riddit who always took mysteries to heart and knew what was real and what wasn't.

This sane Tim Drake would later present Jason to the fanfiction in an effort to tease him about someone adoring him so much they wrote a fic about it and Jason would surprise him with claiming to have already been following the story. \

Their bickering would grab the attention of Bruce, Zatanna, and Constantine, who were in the room next door talking about protection against the dead.

John will be alarmed to see how accurate the fanfiction writer's description of ghosts and King Phantom is, then even more alarmed to find that the writer knows about halfas.

Two days after he posted the newest chapter, Danny is hunted down by Batman to find the human with an insane amount of knowledge about the Infinite Realms and his second son's condition.

Danny would be busy trying to decide if he should give in to the idea of giving Noir a ship and who it should be with while his friendlier ghosts beta-read his work.

"Honestly, I'm a little flatter about how hot you made me sound. Noir definitely has a crush on James the ghost biker." Johnny says flouting to read over Danny's shoulder.

Kitty nods eagerly from where she is lounging on the couch. "I agree, James and Noir are meant to be Danny!"

#dcxdpdabbles #dc x dp crossover #Danny's Online persona #Danny is a fanfic writter #and epople find out he not making shit up #His ghost rouges sometimes show up with notes #Jason died but didn't go crazy on Tim #so they argue like normal brotthers

[megatraven]

OTP prompts based on a reddit thread I saw today titled, "What is something a friend did that accidentally turned you on?"

A licks B's hand to try grossing B out, but B wants to kiss A afterwards

A loans B their hoodie and realizes it smells really good when B returns it

A gets knots in their back and one day complains about it to B, who immediately comes over and tells A to relax before massaging the knot out

A is on the edge of having a panic attack when B reaches down and grabs A by the chin and asks if they're doing okay, distracting A

A and B go to a concert together, where A puts their finger through B's belt loop so they don't get lost or separated, flustering B

B places a hand on A's forearm and keeps it there while they talk/ask a question

A and B are working on an art project together that involves paint when B comments on there being some on A's face. B tells A to close their eyes and wipes it away, and when A opens their eyes, they see B leaning in for a kiss.

A and B are roommates, and A thinks B smells really good. A asks B what they wear to smell so nice, only to find out B doesn't wear anything, and A just likes the way B smells.

A puts their and on B's hip by accident and feels B's underwear beneath their thin clothes/dress

B cries on A's shoulder, and A feels guilty for getting turned on by it

A, B, and C are on a roadtrip together, and the hotel has one bed and one couch. C calls the couch, and A and B get stuck in the bed together. A wakes up to B cuddling them in their sleep

B is doing A's makeup but A isn't angling their head right, so B grabs their chin and tilts it up towards them, flustering A

A is laying down in the morning after a sleepover with B when B climbs on top of them, chest pressed to A's back, and tells them to wake up and that breakfast is ready

B hugs A while A confides in B about their bad day

A keeps their work keys clipped to their belt loop, but occasionally B needs to use them and unclips them themself, making A feel tingly each time

B asks A to do something for them, and says "good girl" when they do it, turning A into a blushing mess. (Optional: A may question their gender afterwards)

A sits on B's lap and B grows very warm

A asks B if their lips are chapped and gets really close to B

B presses down on A's bruises absentmindedly, distracting A

A is talking to B but B isn't paying attention, so A interlocks their fingers with B's to keep their attention on them

A and B are at a pool party wearing their bathing suits when B reaches over A and puts their hand on A's thigh for support

A strokes B's hair for so long that B begins to fall asleep from how nice it feels

A usually goes by a nickname, but B has taken a shine to using A's full name which makes A feel a way

#prompts #otp #otp prompts #writing prompts #fic prompts #yall are free to send me any or reblog this or whatever. link to the reddit thread in the replies!

[tumbler-polls]

Anonymous prompt:

Recently, I’ve seen 1000 Reddit discussions about male loneliness and how guys struggle with getting no compliments. As I read the comments, it became apparent that the only compliments they count as “real” are the ones about their physical appearance that originate from hot women. So anyway, I’d like to ask: which compliments do you see as more valuable: appearance-based or trait/action-based, e.g. you’re intelligent/kind (as a response to what you did/said)? Maybe make a distinction between cis/trans and nb people to make it more nuanced. Thanks! ^^

#tumblr polls #compliments #gender stuff #transgender #nonbinary #cisgender #tumbler polls

[atticsandwich]

but you come back to what you need

pairing: mephistopheles / gn! reader (mc)

fluff, tension, mephisto's usual tsun tendencies, mc annoying their way into mephisto's heart etc etc

it's not your fault you enjoy crashing at the newspaper club room for your midday breaks. it's also definitely not your fault for pretending to be asleep when he plants a gentle kiss on your forehead, so it really can't be helped that you're trying to figure out how to get more.

i finally finished it LMFAO... i am so sorry for the delay fellow mephisto lovers....

prompt based off of this tiktok reddit video, although it took its own form eventually. (please give it a listen though it's way too fucking cute)

—

"You're here again?" Mephistopheles groans, seemingly annoyed, putting his pen down as you waltz into his office at the newspaper club room. It's spacious— almost as big as Lucifer's study back at home. You immediately find your place at the seating couch situated at the office's side, feeling your body sink into the soft cushion.

"Previous class drained the hell out of me," you groan, watching the demon across you roll his eyes. "I have a week to list out a bunch of plants I've never heard of and their most effective usage. Potions and stuff," you continue anyway.

"Hmph," he ignores the way you blatantly disregard his posed grievance of your visit, trying to return his focus to his paperwork. "...I have some books on Devildom botany on the second shelf."

You stop yourself from laughing at his attempts at being dismissive— as much as he hates admitting it, you eventually figure out that he doesn't mind your daily visits; an occurence that started out of pure accident, no less.

-

[You recall the first time you barged into his office, out of breath, narrowly escaping Solomon's pure-hearted attempt of making you a surprise lunchbox. You love the sorcerer, you truly do, but you weren't in the mood to have your stomach collapsing onto itself for the next three days. You could only be thankful Simeon gave you a heads up about his plan so you could avoid him during lunch, knowing well enough of your inability to refuse.

"Do me a favor and don't let Solomon know I'm here," he didn't get a chance to retort before you dived to hide behind his chair, just in time as someone started knocking on the office door. With a huff of defeat, he grants the knocker entry— who turned out, to be in fact, the aforementioned sorcerer.

"Mephisto, have you seen my apprentice around? I was meaning to give them homemade lunch, but they ran off right as the bell rang," clearly, the sorcerer was earnest in his actions, but even the demon could feel the malevolent aura emanating from the supposed 'lunch box'.

"No, I have not. I doubt they would come here of their own volition, more especially during break period," he quirked an eyebrow, trying to ignore the almost-vice grip you had on the back of his coat.

"Hm..." Solomon pondered for a second. "That's weird. I thought I saw them run in this direction... I must have been mistaken, then. Thank you anyway, Mephisto!" with that, the clueless sorcerer turned to leave, and it is only when you hear his footsteps fade into the hallways that you breathe a sigh of relief.

Clearing his throat, the demon looks down behind him, and you flash him a bright grin. "I owe you one, Mephisto! You're the best!" you say before quickly wrapping yourself around his back, dashing out of the office before he could say anything in return.

He's relieved you just barely miss the way his face flusters, and the small goofy smile that creeps its way to his face after he double-checks that you're out of periphery.]

-

You couldn't stop yourself from giggling at the memory while picking out the book from the shelf Mephisto directed to. It's been a few months since then, and although your visits started off sporadic, it eventually became a daily thing— much to the demon's proclaimed inconvenience. A facade, considering no annoyed demon would start keeping an extra teacup in his office that wasn't Diavalo's spare, which just so happened to be your favorite color. Or the fact that that his record player started having your favorite music on rotation— a complete coincidence!— he exclaimed in defense when you pointed it out one day. Or even the fact that his seating area, which once felt like a completely separate space from his work desk, was slightly rearranged so the sofa just so happened to be in a closer, more comfortable viewing and talking range— not to mention the blanket draped over the backrest which also just so happened to be perfect for midday naps.

"—And what might you laughing about? I doubt a book on botany is hardly a comedic masterpiece," he quips, pulling your attention away from the book.

"Mmm," you shift your angle slightly to look at him better. "Just remembered something funny, is all."

Rolling his eyes, he gets up from his chair to the room's small tea station, where a pair of teacups are set out, a tray of snacks also already conveniently prepared.

"Barbatos gave me this blend the other day, it's supposed to help out with stress. I'm guessing it'll be useful for Lord Diavolo as well."

"Mhm," you nod along, your focus already returned to your botany study.

You hear him mumble an incantation— probably some sort of heat spell to boil water, and it's not long after that he sets your cup on the coffee table, along with a select pick of snacks you usually went for first. You would've teased him about how he knows exactly which ones you go for it if not for the fact that you're fully engrossed with Devildom's botany, making steady progress on your assignment.

"Thanks!" the faint scent of something familiar hits your senses, though you couldn't quite put a name on it. "Mm, this tea is quite fragrant."

"If I recall, it's some sort of human realm fruit essence infused in the blend," he explains, taking a book from one of the shelves, sitting down across from you. "Bergamot, I think it was? I took a little sip earlier, and it's pretty good; although I expect nothing less from Barbatos."

"Ah, that's what it was. I knew it smelt familiar."

He mumbles something incoherently, though you can barely make out the words 'humans' and 'calming effects of familiar scents'. It really is laughable how he still feigns not caring.

"Done with newspaper work already? It's rare for you to take a break at this time of day," holding back a laugh at his ridiculousness, you notice a more faintly lax expression on his face.

"I'm already a bit ahead in progress, so I can afford a small break. On the other hand, I didn't think botany would catch your interest," he points out.

"There’s a lot of cool stuff here! I didn't think I'd enjoy researching it this much. Plants in the human realm just kinda... grow?... with some exceptions, of course," with that, you start listing off the ones you chose for your assignment, particularly enthused about plants often used for traditional and ceremonial practices.

Before long, you managed to finish more than half of your task, all that's left being to actually put it in paper. Tea drank and snacks consumed, you let out a pleased sigh before letting out a yawn and a stretch. Without a word, Mephisto stands to return both your book and his back to the shelf. This time, he pulls out a record from the display and goes to play it, which you instantly recognize as a record you recommended to him some weeks ago. Before you can bring it up, he throws a glare your way, preemptively sensing the teasing that was bound to come out of your mouth. You laugh at him instead, sparing him actual words (for now).

"Fine, fine, I'll shut up and just take a nap. Happy, newspaper boy?"

Groaning at the nickname, he walks over back to his desk. "Do whatever you want. And I already told you to stop calling me that."

"Mmhm," is all you can say, already comfortably in place with the couch blanket draped over yourself, the soft music from the phonograph combined with being filled from the tea and snacks already starting to lull you into deep relaxation. You hear Mephisto grumble something, and you notice his gaze towards you when you turned your head to look at him— one he quickly broke, pretending he wasn't caught.

"Did'ya say something?" your eyelids grow heavy, sleep starting to take over.

"...Nothing. I'll wake you up before your next class."

"I know you will," you mumble before dreaming away.

—

You're not certain how long you dozed off, but the slight shuffling of an office chair lulled you out of dreamland. Still being sleepy however, your eyes opted to remain closed, hoping to grasp every second of slumber before your afternoon classes. They remained closed when you hear a familiar demon's grumbling noises as he threw another batch of proposal articles in the bin, and they remained close when you sense him quietly walk over to you, his form slowly leaning down over your face. He's so close that you could feel his breath tickle your nose, and you might be hallucinating it, but you think you feel his heart beating a mile a minute.

"Tsk..." you hear him huff out, fingers carefully tucking your hair off your face.

"...I'll never understand why you keep coming back to me," this time, his tone is a lot more soft, you almost didn't recognize it. Half your conscience is telling you to come clean and open your eyes, but you suck it and keep up the act, wanting to see where it goes. You just hope he doesn't notice your own heart beating a mile a minute. You sense him inch closer

"What am I saying..." he whispers to himself.

"...Please keep coming back to me."

In what felt like a blur, you feel the warmth of his lips silently land on the center of your forehead. He lingers there for a few seconds, before you feel him pull away.

Come back, is what you wanted to say, but words have left your throat, and you almost forget you're supposed to be pretending to be asleep.

"...Ugh," he huffs out again, feeling his hair tickle your neck as he lays his head next to yours in exasperation. He snaps out of it in a flash, and you think it slipped his mind that he wasn't supposed to be caught— so much for that anyway, you think. He walks back to his desk, mumbling to himself, and before your mind could start overthinking about what just happened, you slowly sink back into comfort, the last string of thought your mind provided was how much you wanted him to do it again.

—

You wake up fully this time, by Mephisto snatching the blanket from your sleeping form— keep it up and you'll be late for your last class!, he chastises, and you only groan out a pleading 'five more minutes,' in response.

It's not until a few minutes after you get up that it clicks— that wasn't a dream.

Mephistopheles really kissed you in your sleep.

Sure, it was on your forehead, but now you can't help but continue thinking about it. You thought about it as you waved him goodbye as you left the club room, you thought about it the whole time in class, and you thought about it all the way back to the HoL, where you finally let out a muffled scream as you buried your head in your pillow.

You want him to do it again. You wanted him to kiss your forehead, then your cheek, then your—

"Hey, dinner's ready!~" Asmodeus' intrusion cut off your thoughts, but you couldn't even be bothered to care about dinner.

"Hey Asmo?" you ask. The Avatar of Lust perks his brow up in acknowledgment.

"Yes dear?~" it's scary how it's like he can sense what you were thinking...

"...You got any ideas how to get someone to kiss you while awake and not asleep on his couch?"

#obey me mephisto #obey me mephistopheles #obey me x reader #obey me fanfic #obey me shall we date #obey me nightbringer #obey me #mephistopheles x reader #om mephistopheles

[thomas-jefferson-miku-binder]

Queer League of Legends Champions (with explanations) - Part II

Check out Part I

Confirmed Pansexuals – Twisted Fate

Twisted Fate was always speculated to be part of the LGBTQ+ community due to his, uh, flamboyancy. The sentiment that he felt something more for Graves was always there, portrayed in their stories through regret, friendship, and loyalty. The Boys and Bombolini color story officially confirmed him as queer, making TFGraves the faces of Pride 2022. This year, he was also seen with the pansexual flag in official pride art, with Riot finally labeling him. It's worth noticing a cute detail (that I doubt was intentional) where his card deck's colors form the colors of his flag!

Confirmed Queers – Ahri, Ekko, Evelynn, Ezreal, Kayn, Nidalee, Renata Glasc, Samira, Taric, Udyr

Ok, this is a long category. Here we have every champion we know for sure is queer, either through external confirmation (Ekko, Ezreal, Kayn, Renata Glasc, Taric), in-game dialogue (Nidalee, Samira, Udyr), or basic lore (Ahri, Evelynn). Let's start with the first group.

Throughout the first half of 2020, Riot released multiple chapters of a Pulsifire color story focused on Ezreal. It explored his relationships with numerous champions of the universe, but especially Ekko. The subtext was strong in this one, and the writer later took to Twitter to talk about how tough it was to have queer stories be censored when working for IPs, not so subtly mentioning Ezreal and Ekko after doing so. Even though Riot might not have agreed with making the Ezko relationship undeniably romantic, their love for one another is still an important part of the story, not to mention that it was the creator's intended vision to begin with. 

Renata Glasc was confirmed as sapphic by one of her creators when sharing concept art of her design. Checking the link to the original post, they seem to have deleted the excerpt that mentions it, but people took screenshots before they edited it, most likely because of Riot. Taric, on the other hand, has been speculated to be queer since forever, although the motives are not that pure. Many people saw this hairless, beautiful man that likes jewels and was like, "Huh, that sounds kinda gay," which was the common dudebro mentality of the fandom at the time of his release that caused a lot of homophobia within the player base (more than usual). They weren't wrong, seeing as Riot did include Taric in official 2023 pride art, but he was not seen wearing or holding any flags. After all, it would make sense that he likes everything—and everyone—beautiful. But either way, both Taric and Renata are non-specified queers.

Shieda Kayn is a weirder case. I thought a lot about whether I should even include him in this category at all. There are many accounts of people affirming one of Kayn's writers pictured him as having fluid sexuality, but since then, wherever it was posted, it's gone now. I do believe it since we can still find Reddit threads on the subject, but the original source is nowhere to be found. I still decided to put him here, but take it with a grain of salt.

Moving on to our next category, we have Nidalee, Samira, and Udyr. Samira flirts more than once with Elegant Edge in Legends of Runeterra, and her attraction for her is not subtle. As far as I'm aware, she's never expressed interest in men, but we can't say for sure whether she's bi, pan, or gay. Nidalee and Udyr have had speculated romantic interests in other champions for a while now. Nidalee with Neeko, Udyr with Lee Sin. Nidalee and Neeko's story was first portrayed as one-sided, with Neeko rejected by her friend, prompting them to part ways. On the other hand, the addition of both champions to Legends of Runeterra explored their relationship once again, with the two reuniting and Nidalee finally realizing she did love Neeko and simply didn't know how to deal with it all those years ago. A love song, Shine On, even accompanied the update, which narrates their story beautifully. They have many romantic voice lines now, both in LoR and League.

With Udyr's rework, people started realizing he digs Lee Sin through voice lines expressing how he misses his "old friend" and that he's "loved twice, left twice" (which applies to his relationship with Lee Sin). Besides, his design includes memorabilia he exchanged with Lee Sin when they parted ways. It is also important to mention he's had a wife before, so he swings both ways. I think the context gives more than enough clues for us to safely say Udyr is queer. 

Ahri and Evelynn are spirits/demons that prey on their victims (regardless of gender) through charm and seduction. Ahri is essentially a succubus, and Evelynn is the Demon of Agony, with desire and lust being important parts of their characters. It is also worth noting that Evelynn is genderfluid/agender, taking the form of anyone (or anything) that might lure her victims. So their lore essentially confirms them as not straight and not cis (on Evelynn's case, at least).

#league of legends #lol #twisted fate #tfgraves #samira #legends of runeterra #nidalee #neeko #nidaneeko #neekolee #udyr #lee sin #udyr x lee sin #taric #renata glasc #ezko #ezreal #ekko #kayn #ahri #evelynn #queer #lgbt #pansexual

[thebibliosphere]

Hello bibliomum

Have you heard of the my sensa app for adhd? Got an ad for it and am curious if its helpful or just another scam

Thank you! I am also sending Holly Mop a kiss through the net

So, I've seen the same ads for Sensa, and ignored it, but I went and found it again, and used my junk email to take a look at it, and I have to say it uses pretty predatory tactics to get you to click on it.

After doing a very, very vague 2-minute assessment (if that), it prompted me to insert an email, which then took me to a screen that promises to help improve my life, but then only gave me 15 minutes to decide on whether I want to sign up for my "exclusive" plan (how exclusive can it be based on the 2-minute quiz?) and puts a big timer next to what looks like a bargain price.

If you're someone with impulse control issues, which I am, desperate to get a hold of your life (oh god help), that's going to make you pull the trigger before you even know what you're getting, and you've just spent $60 on a plan you can't even review before buying.

Honestly, it seems like another wellness money grab to me.

Reviews on Reddit also aren't that enthusiastic about it, either.

So yeah, sorry. It looks scammy to me.

Holly Mop is thanking you for the kisses, though!

[utilitycaster]

OGL misconceptions

Since I am still seeing a lot of misinformation out there, I figured I'd do a fact check post. Note that I do not personally have a copy of the leaked draft; some resources are given at the end of the post. See also the 2000 OGL v1.0a here. This is noncomprehensive, is only touching on some of the things I've seen most commonly in the tags [sidebar: the only tag I check regularly is the Critical Role tag, and much of what I've seen on Tumblr is coming from people spamming that tag for general D&D content that only tangentially mentions CR, so...stop doing that.] Finally, this is based on what is a draft, and there are quite possibly going to be updates to the final document. I would also assume that the January 13th effective date will be changed based on the release date of the finalized OGL.

Free fan content is not affected. That is covered by the Fan Content Policy. Your personal homebrew or the weird-ass build you saw on Reddit or the item you saw in a post last week are all fine.

Actual play shows should be largely unaffected, and only merchandise containing WoTC IP would be. (NOTE: original posting of this post had a typo of "affected" for "unaffected"; check your reblogs) Shows like Critical Role, NADDPod, and D20 all use homebrew settings, so that's also unaffected (as is any Exandrian content that was published in the Explorer's Guide and Call of the Netherdeep; that is CR's IP that WoTC has license to use). A show might be affected if they've set the game in a WoTC licensed setting or with a WoTC module (eg: Eberron, Ravenloft), but most of the shows that do that are put out by WoTC anyway. Critical Role and TAZ have, notably, already avoided using copyrighted terms for deities, races, etc. in published non-WoTC works (this is why Melora is exclusively the Wildmother in the Tal'Dorei guides, because "Melora" is WoTC IP, but the idea of a nature goddess is obviously not; this is also why Cree in the Nine Eyes is referred to as catfolk and not a tabaxi, or why Phandalin's name in the TAZ graphic novels is changed to Haverdale). The only reason why a show might need to switch game systems would be if they use a system that is not D&D but is based on D&D's SRD and which will be subject to the OGL changes. Most Pathfinder shows I'm aware of use the Pathfinder SRD (ie, free), and SW5e as used in Starstruck Odyssey is also free. This also only affects the future of those shows.

VTTs (Virtual Tabletop Tools) may be affected, but most of their core features aren't. Battle maps and virtual dice rollers are not WoTC IP. Incorporating the mechanics of D&D into the VTT is, but that would mean actively having a character sheet or monster statblock available within the VTT. You could still just have a dice roller that prompts you for a modifier (which is how I always personally used Foundry). D&D Beyond will not be affected, since it is owned by WoTC. Additionally, many VTTs already have existing agreements specifically with WoTC that will take precedence over the OGL, which is a catch-all for companies that do not have specific licensing agreements. See the WoTC/D&D Beyond blog post here.

Only creators making over $750,000 specifically on material licensed under the OGL will be subject to royalties, and only on income in excess of $750,000. This means that if you put something up on DMs Guild and make $500, you are fine and owe nothing. If you make $749,999, you owe nothing. If you make $750,100, you owe the 25% royalty only on the $100 you are making above $750,000. WoTC predicts under two dozen companies will actually be affected by this at this time; they are all fairly big names within the D&D content arena such as Paizo, Darrington Press (CR's imprint), Hit Point Press, Green Ronin, Kobold Press, etc. Royalties also are said to begin in 2024, so companies have a year to decide what to do.

Now for the editorializing part:

Paizo is specifically in the crosshairs and anyone telling you to switch to it is either misinformed at best, or does not have your best interests at heart. Paizo is the main target here. The others are publishing material that serve as supplements to the core WoTC products, but do not replace them. For example: if you have either of the Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting books, you will note that they do not have stats for the races mentioned, nor the core class information. If you want to play a Cobalt Soul Monk, you still need the PHB in addition to the Tal'Dorei setting books. On some level, this is almost certainly due to Paizo being like "look! we're like D&D but we're not! switch to us!" And, understandably, WoTC is saying "hey, you took our SRD game engine and are now our largest competitor", which is also almost certainly why this is overriding the OGL 1.0a under which Pathfinder was originally created. I am not saying not to switch to a different TTRPG if you want to! You should always feel free to switch to a different TTRPG if D&D is not meeting your needs! I am saying that Pathfinder is probably your absolute worst bet in terms of things likely to be affected by the OGL, and anyone telling you to switch to it is telling you to jump from an ocean liner into a slightly smaller ship heading straight for a waterfall solely because the ocean liner stopped serving bottomless brunch.

People throwing this to actual play shows do not know what they are talking about and are just trying to start shit. Self-explanatory; why should Dimension 20 or whatever put out a statement on an unofficial leaked draft that minimally affects them.

Bad faith is common and everpresent. As discussed extensively on this blog in scattered bitchy shitposts, there are a lot of people who hate D&D/WoTC, or Critical Role, or other popular actual play shows. Sometimes their reasons are valid and sometimes their reasons are stupid. It doesn't really matter though; what matters is that their minds are made up and they will be telling you to switch game systems/stop listening or watching pretty much regardless of what the companies do. If you want to switch or stop listening, that's fine! But, as mentioned, I remember a few months ago someone arguing that you should switch from D&D because they were obviously going to start licensing NFTs for profitability reasons, and now the OGL specifically prohibits that. There's a lot being pulled out of thin air to make spurious arguments. In general, it is helpful to ask yourself "is this person recommending a game because they genuinely believe it will improve my life and better fit my individual tastes and needs? Or are they just being a dick about D&D or this specific actual play show and don't give a shit about my happiness, just as long as I'm not playing the game/watching the show that they, an internet stranger with bad vibes to boot, do not personally like."

YouTubers are trying to get views, and that is usually their primary goal. Also self-explanatory. If you're trusting the same people who decided that Silvery Barbs would ruin D&D which had also already been ruined by the chronomancy class, the fact that some sorcerers get more spells than other sorcerers, the fact that healing word exists... to tell you that this has ruined D&D? I don't think I can help you.

Several of the things people are freaking out about are either standard boilerplate now, or were in the original OGL. OGL 1.0a reserves the right to terminate the license with 30 days notice as well (item 13); stating that material you make via an open license can be used freely by the owner of that IP is fairly standard legal practice.

Sources:

OGL v1.0a

WOTC Fan Content Policy

Gizmodo/io9 coverage

D&D Beyond/OneD&D blog post

Screenrant coverage

#d&d #this is rebloggable but I will be blocking clownery as always. #long post

[caarpenters]

PLUTO PROJECT

tara carpenter x reader based on this request.

summary: your friends find out about your relationship with tara.

rating: mature due to kissing, implied sexual content, and mentions of the woodsboro killings.

word count: 812 words

© caarpenters 2023

Your relationship with your girlfriend, Tara Carpenter, had not come as a surprise. Not at all, for the two of you had been close since childhood. Almost inseparable, but you could never quite be inseparable while Amber Freeman had been in the picture. She had been the only other person who had been as, if not more, close to Tara than you, but you had never hated her. How could you when she had acted so loyally as her friend, always moving to defend her, to ensure that she was not mistreated? She had loved Tara, had opened her heart to her, exactly as you had. Perhaps, with time, that love had withered and fallen away to nothing, though, for when Richie Kirsch found his way into her Reddit inbox, she had happily agreed to go along with his plan, to kill all of her friends, even Tara, in the name of cinema.

Their plan had not gone off without a hitch, for both Amber and Richie had found themselves dead, butchered at the hands of the Carpenter sisters. It saddened you to lose a friend, but you had not cracked, had not fractured into a million unmendable pieces as Tara had. Seeing her heartbreak, you had to push down your sadness and be strong in order to comfort her, to make her whole once more. This saw the two of you growing closer than ever before, and eventually, months after the legacy killings, you had shared a kiss. A chaste kiss, a mere brush of lips, but it had been enough to light a fire within the both of you, making you ache for more. So you began seeing Tara in secret, sharing kisses behind closed doors and sometimes, when you were feeling bold, you two hid away in dark corners and let both your hands and mouths wander.

This was one such day, but you were not kissing in a dark corner. Your roommates, Sam and Quinn, were out for the day, off doing whatever it was that tickled their fancy, leaving just you and Tara alone in the apartment. The television was on, playing a marathon of the Scary Movie franchise, but you were hardly focused on the television. Instead, your focus was on Tara, on how her mouth slotted so perfectly against yours. She lay beside you, her body offering an inferno of heat as your lips moved languidly together. Eventually, the kiss turned hot, consuming, which was why you two did not notice when the six locks to the apartment came undone. You did not even notice when the door was flung open, giving your friends a full, unimpeded view of you and your girlfriend. It was only after a whistle left Quinn’s ruby-stained lips and filled the air that you and Tara broke apart, your eyes growing comically wide. Heat bloomed on your face, sending flickers of embarrassment through her body, because you had not the faintest idea how long they had been standing there nor much they had seen.

“Woah, I did not see that coming,” Chad remarked, his mouth turning down ever so slightly, because he too had felt himself drawn toward Tara. Jealousy churned in his belly, eating up his insides, but he was happy for you both, truly.

“How?” Mindy asked, disbelief overtaking her features. “Literally everybody saw that coming, Chad, even Ethan.”

Chad’s mouth fell theatrically open at that, prompting him to turn and face his roomate with an expression akin to betrayal. “You knew and didn’t tell me?”

“Hey, don’t look at me like that,” he retorted, holding up his hands. “I thought you’d figured it out yourself.”

Behind the bantering trio, Quinn held out a hand to Anika, looking wholly self-satisfied. “I told you that they were already together, Anika. I mean, c’mon. Y/N can barely take their eyes off of Tara.”

A small, barely perceptible pout crossed Anika’s features as she retrieved a twenty dollar bill from her wallet, placing it in Quinn’s expectant hand. They had been intimately aware of the romantic tension that lay between you and Tara, being so real and consuming that it could be cut with a butter knife. Anika had not known that you were already together, though, which was why she had lost the bet that was dependent on when you had begun seeing one another.

Their antics were paid little by Sam, for her dark eyes were stuck on you. Brimming with uncertainty, she asked, “Are you two . . . you know, together?”

“I—“

“Yes, we are,” Tara cut you off, donning a small smile. “We’ve been together for a while now.”

“Oh . . . good. That’s good. I’m happy for you two, but Y/N, you should know that if you hurt my sister, I’ll kill you.”

sign-off template.

#jenna ortega #scream #scream fanfic #scream fic #tara carpenter x reader #tara carpenter #tara carpenter x you #tara carpenter x fem reader #tara carpenter x male reader #tara carpenter x neutral reader

[hms-harmony-discord]

50+ Art prompts and endless fic inspiration… Introducing "Harmony for Humanity (Writer’s Version)!"

AO3 Collection Link

In response to the Harmony Charity Art Raffle for G-a-za organized by @arishatistic, the writers of the Harry/Hermione community have taken initiative to create their own way to contribute to the effort. This art based prompt event takes harmony art from each of the 18 artists volunteering in the raffle and asks writers to choose any of those prompts as inspiration to write a Harmony piece.

The rules are simple, click "keep reading" to find them below:

It must be based on one of the h/hr art prompts in the following collection: https://archiveofourown.org/collections/HarmonyForHumanity_WritersVersion/requests

The fic(s) must be at least 1k words.

It must be exclusively about the pairing Harry and Hermione.

The two major purposes of this writer’s initiative is to show some appreciation for the volunteering artists and to raise awareness of the raffle’s existence so that more people in the community can come together for a good cause. As such, you are asked to:

Cite the artist in your Author’s Note

Mention information about the charity raffle in your A/N by linking to the Harmony for Humanity’s official instagram page (https://www.instagram.com/harmonyforhumanity_/) or the announcement by Arishatistic on reddit (https://redd.it/1bkb3pr)

For more info on how to do that / or get A/N examples to copy paste, see the guide in our Rules

More than one person is allowed to claim the same art prompt. However, we do encourage people to try and spread out to give love to artists who may not have any art prompts chosen yet, so that everyone gets some appreciation.

The raffle was set to end April 6th, but the deadline will be extended to to try and get some prompt fulfillments and more people a chance to contribute to the community effort. You can and are encouraged to continue fulfilling prompts even after the raffle deadline passes; although at that point, it won’t raise awareness about the raffle, it will still show appreciation to the artist volunteers.

For a comprehensive review of the art raffle which this event is in response to, check out the raffle's official instagram page or this tumblr post.

#harry potter #hermione granger #harmione #harry potter fanfiction #harry potter fanart #harry potter fest #harry potter fandom #harry x hermione #harry and hermione #harry/hermione #harry potter books #harrypotterart #harrypotter #harrypotterfanfic #harrypotterfanart #hermionegrangerart #hermionegranger #harry hermione #harry potter fic #hermione granger fanfic #hermione granger fest #hermione granger art #hermione granger fanfiction #hermione granger fanart #hp fanart #hp fandom #hp fanfic #harry potter and hermione granger #writing prompts #writing challenge

[babygirl-diaz]

No Nut November (Buddie Fanfic)

((Based on this prompt by @blurredbuddie))

Buck blamed Albert. It was his fault that he was currently sleeping on the couch rather than his very comfortable bed snuggling up to his very cuddly boyfriend. You see, Albert was going through a nasty breakup and had sworn off sex. Except that wasn’t enough for him. No. The 25-year-old had to rope Buck into his awful plan. It was November and Albert had come across “No Nut November” while browsing Reddit. His curiosity got the best of him and he decided to engage in the ridiculous challenge. He then turned it into a bet with Buck, whose only brain cell wasn’t working at the time and it only heard the part where Albert said, “I will wash your Jeep for a year,” and immediately agreed to the bet. He doesn’t even remember what Albert would get if he won!

But anyway, back to Buck’s current predicament. How did he end up on the couch? Well, he told his boyfriend about the bet, which went about as well as you would expect. 

“You what?” Eddie asked after he tried to take their make-out session further and go down on Buck. 

“I am abstaining from sex this month,” Buck simply told him with a shrug. 

Eddie, who was currently on his knees next to Buck’s junk, narrowed his eyes at him. “And why would you do that?” 

Buck dragged the comforter over his legs and slinked back into the bed. “Because I may have made a bet with Albert that I can last through No Nut November longer than him.” 

“Not nut what?” Eddie asked, sitting back on his hunches. Buck knew he was trying to suppress his frustration and anger. 

“No Nut November. It’s a challenge people engage in during the month of November where they abstain from coming for the entire month,” Buck explained. 

“And you two dumbasses couldn’t have participated in Movember for a good cause?” Eddie asked, letting his anger slowly show. “At least that would have been sexy.” 

“But-” 

“OR you could have even participated in that writing challenge Chris is doing this year!’ Eddie finally blew off his top. 

“But then I couldn’t have made a bet with Albert and potentially won a year’s worth of free cleaning for my Jeep.” 

“What?!” Eddie practically yelled. “You decided to deprive me of my nine-inch goodness for a whole ass month so that you would get a year’s worth of free car washes?” 

“Do you know how expensive car washes are in L.A.?” Buck asked. 

“And what does Albert get if he wins?” 

Buck blinked at Eddie before shrugging one shoulder. “I don’t remember.” 

“You don’t remember?” Eddie repeated after him. 

“I don’t remember,” Buck confirmed. 

“Get out,” Eddie said bluntly. 

Buck balked at him. “What? This is my room,” 

“I don’t care,” Eddie replied. “Get out.” 

And that’s how Buck ended up on the couch of his own apartment. 

Buck thought Eddie would still be mad at him the nextmorning, but then he woke up to the smell of breakfast and coffee. Confused, he went to the kitchen and found Eddie there making pancakes. 

“Good morning, babe,” Eddie said without even looking up from the pancakes. 

“Morning?” Buck replied, confused. 

“Have a seat,” Eddie told him. “Breakfast is just about ready.” 

“Eddie, you’re not mad at me anymore?” Buck asked, surprised, as he took a seat at the table. 

Eddie brought the breakfast over and then the cups of coffee. Buck couldn’t help but notice he was walking funny. Putting a little too much emphasis on his swaying his hips. And then instead of taking the chair beside Buck, Eddie sat down on his lap and wrapped his arms around Buck’s neck. 

“Uh…Eddie?” Buck instinctively wrapped his arms around Eddie’swaist, but he was confused nonetheless. “Why are you sitting on my lap?” 

“Can’t a man sit on his boyfriend’s lap when he feels like it?” Eddie asked. His voice was low, but innocent. His actions, however, were anything but innocent. He was currently rubbing his ass against Buck’s clothed dick. 

Buck was usually oblivious, but this time, he understood Eddie’s plan fairly quickly. “Eddie,” Buck warned him. “I know what you’re doing.” 

“What am I doing?” Eddie looked at him with those big brown eyes of his that would have Buck committing murder. 

“You’re trying to get me to lose my bet with Albert.” 

A moan escaped Eddie’s lips as he probably felt Buck getting hard in his boxers. “Buck…” His voice was breathless, like Buck was fucking him already. 

Buck lost himself in the sounds Eddie was making. His grip tightened on Eddie’s waist and he couldn’t help but thrust his hips against Eddie’s ass. But then he realized what he was doing, and he stood up abruptly, causing Eddie to fall to the floor. 

“Buck!” Eddie yelled. 

“Sorry, baby, I promise I’ll make it up to you.” With that, he made a run towards the door, grabbing his keys and shoes along the way. When he was safely in his Jeep, Buck realized he had nowhere to go. He had just made a run from his own apartment. But then he remembered he had a gym bag in the back, and thanked whatever god was out there for his laziness. 

Buck made his way to the station, where he could shower and get changed into his dirty uniform. He didn’t have his phone on him, which meant he couldn’t even text Eddie and grovel for forgiveness. 

When he reached the station, all eyes were on him. Someone even wolf-whistled, as he did a walk of shame through the station, without having actually had sex the previous night. 

Bobby was the first one to approach him with a confused look plastered on his face. “Uh, Buck? Why are you parading through my firehouse in your t-shirt and boxers?” 

“Long story. You don’t wanna know,” Buck replied tiredly, and hung his head.

“You dropped Eddie on his ass and made a run out of your own apartment?!” Hen’s voice rang through the station. 

Buck’s eyes widened, and he immediately shushed her. “Are you trying to embarrass me in front of the entire station?” 

“That ship has sailed already.” Hen eyed him from top to bottom and raised an eyebrow. 

“What do you mean he dropped Eddie on his- his-”

“It’s okay, Cap, you can say ass.” Hen sympathetically put a hand on Bobby’s shoulder, gaining herself a glare from him. She removed her hand immediately and put it up in surrender. “I don’t know the whole story, but I just got a call from a very pissed-off Eddie telling me that Buck ran out on him. 

“Exactly how pissed off was he?” Buck cringed at the thought. 

“I said very, didn’t I?” Hen replied. “But I would be too if Karen ran out on me after dropping me on my ass.” With that, she broke out into laughter. “I can only imagine what that scene must have been like.” 

“Yes, yes, laugh it up at my misery.” Buck huffed. “I’m gonna go take a shower. And do we have any cereal? I am starving.” 

“We have bread, and I can make you some eggs,” Bobby told him. 

“He really is your favorite!” Hen accused him. “You never offer to make us eggs when we come to the station hungry.” 

“Well, I’m in emotional distress right now,” Buck informed her. “And thanks, Bobby, that will be great.” 

“Your boyfriend is the one in emotional distress,” Hen pointed out. “You are in deep shit.” 

Buck didn’t need to be reminded of that. He waved her off and hit the showers instead. 

Buck was digging into his breakfast when a loud “EVAN BUCKLEY!” reverberated through the station. Oh shit.

Footsteps headed up the stairs, and Buck almost felt his heart leap out of his throat. He abruptly stood up from the chair and put his hands up. “Look, I can explain.” 

“Explain how you dropped me on my ass in the middle of your kitchen and then ran out like a coward?” 

“Yeahhh… It doesn’t sound so good when you put it like that.” Buck cringed. “I didn’t hurt you, did I?” He asked with genuine concern in his voice. 

“You hurt my pride!” Eddie said dramatically. 

“I’m sorry, you were just rubbing yourself on me and I need to abstain and I could-” Buck stopped talking when he realized they were getting an audience. “Hey, folks.” He waved awkwardly. “Maybe give us some privacy?” 

“Maybe you should stop talking so loudly where all of us can hear you,” Chimney told them. “And what do you mean you’re trying to abstain? Albert is trying to abstain too. Doing some kinda ridiculous challenge.” Chimney paused and then gave Buck a “Are you serious?” look. “You’re doing the challenge too, aren’t you?” 

Eddie crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow at Buck. “You wanna tell them or should I?” 

“I mean, we really don’t have to tell them,” Buck pointed out. 

“Evan here made a bet with Albert about who will last longer without sex during the month of November,” Eddie told them. 

There was silence, and then soon laughter rang through the station. 

“Are you serious?” Ravi asked. “Is it even possible for you and Albert to go without sex for a day?” 

“Hey, I’ve lasted a day so far,” Buck informed him, feeling a little offended. 

“Even dumb and dumber would come up with a better plan.” This time, it was Chimney’s turn to tease him. 

“How would you even know if Albert’s had sex or how would he know if you have?” Hen was asking the important questions and, truth be told, Buck hadn’t thought of that. 

“I guess we’ll just have to believe each other,” Buck replied. 

“There’s no honor among thieves,” Hen countered. 

“I think it’s a good challenge,” Bobby finally provided his two cents, earning him amused looks from Hen, Chimney, and Ravi, and a glare from Eddie. “I am just saying. It’s probably healthy for both of you.” 

“Thank you, Bobby!” Buck said appreciatively. “At least someone gets me.” 

“What did you bet on, anyway?” Bobby continued to ask. 

Eddie gave Buck an unamused look, who gulped before saying, “If I win, Albert washes my car for a year.” 

“Boooooooo!” Hen, Ravi, and Chimney yelled at him and soon he was hit with plastic fruits from the table, as Buck tried to protect himself. 

“You couldn’t bet on anything better?” Hen asked. 

“Like a new Jeep itself,” Ravi suggested. 

“We’re firefighters, not tech moguls,” Buck replied. 

Everyone just rolled their eyes at him and walked away. 

Once they all disappeared, Eddie came closer to Buck. “So there is no way I can convince you to fuck me?” He asked. 

“Right now? I think we’ll both get fired if I do that, baby.” Buck leaned in to kiss him but Eddie turned his head away and the kiss landed on his cheek. 

“Hmmm, if you’re not gonna fuck me, then you’re not getting kisses either.” 

Buck hated it when Eddie used that sassy voice with him. But it also turned him on. He was not going to last the next 28 days. 

Okay, so he lasted 28 days, but he wasn’t so sure when he had 25 days left. Eddie wasn’t letting up. Nope, he was even more determined to make Buck lose the bet. So on November 5, he brought out the big guns. 

They were getting ready to go to bed. Eddie was already under the covers when Buck finished his nighttime ritual and came to bed. He wasn’t wearing any t-shirt like he usually wasn’t. It did things to Buck seeing him shirtless, but he controlled himself and got under the covers. Buck leaned over to kiss Eddie, who eagerly returned his kiss before lying down. They got into their usual position, with Eddie facing the window and Buck behind him with his back to the wall. But when Buck’s arm wrapped around Eddie’s waist, his hand brushed against something. Something that definitely didn’t feel like boxers. They were rough and lacey to the touch and Eddie’s hard dick was pressing against it. 

“Eddie?” Buck almost choked. “Are you wearing panties?” 

“Yes,” Eddie replied like he did this type of thing every day. Like Buck hadn’t begged him to wear the panties for months after he bought them for him. Like he hadn’t shoved them in the back of his dresser, telling Buck that he would never wear them in a million years. 

“Why?” Buck couldn’t move his hand. It’s like it was glued to the spot on top of Eddie’s lacey panties. 

“Because I felt like it,” Eddie turned around in Buck’s arms and leaned in close to his ear as he added, “...daddy.” 

Buck let out a choked sound that he didn’t even realize came out of his own mouth. “What?” 

“Daddy,” Eddie innocently said it again. 

“Fuck,” Buck groaned and pushed Eddie against the bed and climbed on top of him, as he kissed him, pinning him to the mattress. 

Eddie wrapped his legs around Buck and let out a moan into his mouth. Eddie moved his hips against Buck’s as Buck thrust against him. After breaking away from the kiss, Eddie wrapped his arms around Buck’s neck and buried his face in the crook of his neck, “Daddy,” he hoarsely whispered again. 

Suddenly, the conversation with Albert rang in his ears, and Buck stopped moving. His hard on started to subside. Because having Albert’s voice ringing in his ears as he was trying to get on with his boyfriend wasn’t exactly an aphrodisiac. Eddie whined under him, and Buck’s attention shifted to him. 

Buck pulled away from Eddie and looked down at him. Eddie stared back at him with swollen lips and blown eyes. Shit. Buck was getting hard again. 

“I have to go.” Buck scrambled out of bed. 

Eddie sat up and looked at him confused. “What?” 

“I’m gonna go sleep on the couch,” Buck told him and ran out. 

“Buck!” Eddie called out after him, but he didn’t stop as he shut the door, careful not to slam it and wake up Chris. 

He half expected Eddie to come after him and demand answers, but he didn’t. It took awhile, but Buck fell asleep on the cold leather couch, freezing his ass off, because he was too scared to go back to the room and get a blanket. 

Early the next morning, Buck woke up to find he wasn’t as cold anymore and realized that there was a comforter thrown over him. He smiled and took in Eddie’s smell that still lingered on the comforter, and fell back asleep. 

They had 15 days to go in the bet, and Buck was dying and Buck knew so was Eddie. The man was desperately trying to seduce him in every way possible. But Buck was holding out strong. 

Albert was visiting today, and he looked as miserable as Buck felt. “Can we call it a truce and end the bet?” 

“Oh, hell no,” Buck told him. “I’ve put my relationship on the line for this! I’m seeing it to the end.” 

“YOU!” Eddie’s voice rang through the loft as he stormed over to Albert with an accusatory finger pointed in his direction. “I am not a violent man, but you make me want to commit violent acts!” 

Buck pulled Eddie back before he could attack Albert. “Babe, you were once part of an illegal fight club. You’re hardly non-violent,” Buck said in his ear, acutely aware that he wasn’t helping the situation. 

“Hey, whoa, I just asked Buck to call it a truce and end this thing.” Albert moved back and put up his hands in front of him. “He’s the one who refuses to give up.” 

Eddie turned to glare at Buck. “Is that true?” 

Buck gave him a sheepish look in return. “I mean, I’ve come so far, baby. I wanna see this thing through.” 

“Well, you can sleep on the couch for the rest of you life then,” Eddie huffed and walked away. 

“I hate you so much,” Buck told Albert. 

The very next day, Eddie took his seduction game up a notch. It was a Thursday, and it was a rare day off for both of them. Buck had spent the night at the Diaz house like he usually did, and he was looking forward to spending some quality time with his boyfriend while Chris was at school. He already knew Eddie was going to pull something, but nothing prepared him for what he actually did. 

Buck was in the shower after breakfast and when he came out, he found Eddie suspiciously missing from the house. “Eddie?” Buck called out as he looked for his boyfriend. The front door was slightly open, and Buck became alert. He opened the door and went outside and stopped dead in his tracks on the front porch. 

“What the-” His mouth fell open as he watched his boyfriend. His boyfriend, who was currently dressed in low-cut booty shorts that accentuated his gorgeous ass, and a crop top that showed off his delicious abs. If that wasn’t enough, he was currently washing Buck’s jeep. The shirt and booty shorts clung to his skin and the shape of his dick was visible through the shorts, so were his perky nipples through the wet shirt. 

When Eddie saw Buck, he wrung the sponge all over him, spilling suds down his chest and inside his shirt. 

Buck just stood there with his mouth agape and his dick hard in his sweatpants. Eddie’s display was getting the attention of the neighbors who were currently home: retired folks and stay-at-home parents. 

“What are you doing?” Buck asked, going over to him. “It’s cold out here. You’re gonna freeze your nuts off.” 

“Well, you wanted someone to wash your Jeep, so I am doing you a service,” Eddie told him. 

“In clothes you borrowed from a high school cheerleader?” Buck asked. 

Eddie smirked and trailed his index finger down Buck’s chest. “What? You don’t like the outfit?” 

“Oh no, I love it.” Buck let out a low growl and dug his fingernails into Eddie’s waist. “I just don’t like others watching you.” 

“Jealous of 80-year-olds?” Eddie chuckled. 

“80-year-olds have eyes too and they sure like to stare,” Buck told him. He put his hands under Eddie’s ass and lifted him, throwing him over his shoulder before carrying him back into the house. “No one gets to see you like this but me.” 

Buck carried him to the bedroom and threw him down on the bed before climbing on top of him after taking off his t-shirt and sweatpants. Eddie stared at his naked body and licked his lips. Buck captured Eddie’s lips in a kiss as his hand slipped into Eddie’s shorts, making Eddie gasp. “What about the bet?” He asked. 

“Screw the bet,” Buck replied and kissed him again.  

And if Albert had called him the previous night to tell him he had given into his desires and picked up a woman at the bar and taken her home, then Eddie didn’t need to know that. He just needed to know that he had successfully made Buck lose his bet. 

#buddie #evan buckley #eddie diaz #albert han #hen wilson #chimney han #bobby nash #ravi panikkar #911 abc #911 fox #fanfiction #fanfic #aashnas drabble #this is pure crack

[foxyyaoguai]

💫 Announcement: New MDZS/The Untamed Subreddit 💫

I'm excited to announce that I took over as the mod of the r/mdzs subreddit! I plan to make it into an alternative for r/MoDaoZuShi, whose mods aren't active anymore.

About this community This is a community for the danmei novel "Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation". Discussions about the novel and all adaptations, including The Untamed, the donghua, the audio dramas, the manhua, the manga, etc. are all welcome.

I have the following vision for this subreddit:

Give newcomers an easy entry into the MDZS fandom through the subreddit's wiki.

Provide links to fandom events, discords, fanfic references, and more. The MDZS fandom is huge and it's easy to lose track!

Create a safe environment for fans to share and discuss without fear of discourse or harassment.

Create threads where we can recommend and search for MDZS fanfiction. Here is a link to the first Fanfiction Mega Thread.

Weekly or Monthly discussion posts, based on activity and interest.

I have gathered a lot of resources throughout my time in the MXTX/MDZS fandom which I want to share with all of you. All collections are a WIP and you're welcome to add more!

Overview of MDZS, MXTX, and danmei Discord Servers

List of MXTX/MDZS Event Pages The list includes links to danmei meetups, big bangs, exchanges, ship weeks, prompt fests, event calendars, zines, and more.

Resources for fanfiction authors This list includes links to chapter and episode summaries, location guides, hanfu guides, language guides, speech pattern analysis, and more.

Places to buy Danmei and MDZS Merch in Tokyo, Japan

Links to the explicit manhua panels in English and Chinese

What makes this subreddit different than the MoDaoZuShi subreddit?

I’m aware that the MoDaoZuShi subreddit exists and I used to be active there. Unfortunately, the moderation team has been inactive for a long time. I applied as a mod and sent a message to the moderators, hoping that I could improve things, but never received a reply, which is why I requested to take over as the moderator of this subreddit. I hope r/mdzs can become a safe alternative for fans of MDZS with an up-to-date wiki page and active moderation.

Please help this subreddit grow by sharing this announcement. I hope to see you in r/mdzs! :)

Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions! You can leave a comment here or reach me through Modmail on reddit.

#mdzs #the untamed #mo dao zu shi #mdzs fandom #mdzs fanfiction #mdzs fanfic rec #wangxian #mdzs fanfic #mdzs fanart #mdzs subreddit #mdzs events #mdzs merch #mdzs discord #danmei #danmei fandom #danmei events

[mariacallous]

A week after its algorithms advised people to eat rocks and put glue on pizza, Google admitted Thursday that it needed to make adjustments to its bold new generative AI search feature. The episode highlights the risks of Google’s aggressive drive to commercialize generative AI—and also the treacherous and fundamental limitations of that technology.

Google’s AI Overviews feature draws on Gemini, a large language model like the one behind OpenAI’s ChatGPT, to generate written answers to some search queries by summarizing information found online. The current AI boom is built around LLMs’ impressive fluency with text, but the software can also use that facility to put a convincing gloss on untruths or errors. Using the technology to summarize online information promises can make search results easier to digest, but it is hazardous when online sources are contractionary or when people may use the information to make important decisions.

“You can get a quick snappy prototype now fairly quickly with an LLM, but to actually make it so that it doesn't tell you to eat rocks takes a lot of work,” says Richard Socher, who made key contributions to AI for language as a researcher and, in late 2021, launched an AI-centric search engine called You.com.

Socher says wrangling LLMs takes considerable effort because the underlying technology has no real understanding of the world and because the web is riddled with untrustworthy information. “In some cases it is better to actually not just give you an answer, or to show you multiple different viewpoints,” he says.

Google’s head of search Liz Reid said in the company’s blog post late Thursday that it did extensive testing ahead of launching AI Overviews. But she added that errors like the rock eating and glue pizza examples—in which Google’s algorithms pulled information from a satirical article and jocular Reddit comment, respectively—had prompted additional changes. They include better detection of “nonsensical queries,” Google says, and making the system rely less heavily on user-generated content.

You.com routinely avoids the kinds of errors displayed by Google’s AI Overviews, Socher says, because his company developed about a dozen tricks to keep LLMs from misbehaving when used for search.

“We are more accurate because we put a lot of resources into being more accurate,” Socher says. Among other things, You.com uses a custom-built web index designed to help LLMs steer clear of incorrect information. It also selects from multiple different LLMs to answer specific queries, and it uses a citation mechanism that can explain when sources are contradictory. Still, getting AI search right is tricky. WIRED found on Friday that You.com failed to correctly answer a query that has been known to trip up other AI systems, stating that “based on the information available, there are no African nations whose names start with the letter ‘K.’” In previous tests, it had aced the query.

Google’s generative AI upgrade to its most widely used and lucrative product is part of a tech-industry-wide reboot inspired by OpenAI’s release of the chatbot ChatGPT in November 2022. A couple of months after ChatGPT debuted, Microsoft, a key partner of OpenAI, used its technology to upgrade its also-ran search engine Bing. The upgraded Bing was beset by AI-generated errors and odd behavior, but the company’s CEO, Satya Nadella, said that the move was designed to challenge Google, saying “I want people to know we made them dance.”

Some experts feel that Google rushed its AI upgrade. “I’m surprised they launched it as it is for as many queries—medical, financial queries—I thought they’d be more careful,” says Barry Schwartz, news editor at Search Engine Land, a publication that tracks the search industry. The company should have better anticipated that some people would intentionally try to trip up AI Overviews, he adds. “Google has to be smart about that,” Schwartz says, especially when they're showing the results as default on their most valuable product.

Lily Ray, a search engine optimization consultant, was for a year a beta tester of the prototype that preceded AI Overviews, which Google called Search Generative Experience. She says she was unsurprised to see the errors that appeared last week given how the previous version tended to go awry. “I think it’s virtually impossible for it to always get everything right,” Ray says. “That’s the nature of AI.”

Even if blatant errors like suggesting people eat rocks become less common, AI search can fail in other ways. Ray has documented more subtle problems with AI Overviews, including summaries that sometimes draw on poor sources such as sites that are from another region or even defunct websites—something she says could provide less useful information to users who are hunting for product recommendations, for instance. Those who work on optimizing content for Google’s Search algorithm are still trying to understand what’s going on. “Within our industry right now, the level of confusion is on the charts,” she says.

Even if industry experts and consumers get more familiar with how the new Google search behaves, don’t expect it to stop making mistakes. Daniel Griffin, a search consultant and researcher who is developing tools to make it easy to compare different AI-powered search services, says that Google faced similar problems when it launched Featured Snippets, which answered queries with text quoted from websites, in 2014.

Griffin says he expects Google to iron out some of the most glaring problems with AI Overviews, but that it’s important to remember no one has solved the problem of LLMs failing to grasp what is true, or their tendency to fabricate information. “It’s not just a problem with AI,” he says. “It’s the web, it’s the world. There’s not really a truth, necessarily.”

[phoenixyfriend]

Ko-Fi prompt from @kayasurin:

Just rant about the stock market, whatever you want to say about it!

'just rant' is such a prompt for uhhhh my distaste.

LEGALLY NECESSARY DISCLAIMER: I am not a licensed financial advisor, and it is illegal for me to advise anyone on investment in securities like stocks. My commentary here is merely opinion, not financial advice, and I urge you to not make any decisions with regards to securities investments based on my opinions, or without consulting a licensed advisor.

So here are a few things:

1. Stocks are unreliable.

For the layperson, there is nothing that can be done about the direction a stock takes. Unless you are a majority shareholder, or one of several who can work in concert, you cannot affect the direction a company takes, which means you cannot affect the decisions that might cause a stock to increase or decrease in value. This is a rich man's game. The average investor is just along for the ride, god help them.

Between Random Walk Theory, the dart-throwing monkeys study, and the fact that mutual funds do not beat the market, there is just... it's a crapshoot. Anyone who tells you to invest to make a lot of money is drinking the Kool-Aid. You can invest to make a small return, to keep your money in a lot of places in case your bank gets digitally robbed or whatever your worries might be, diversification is good for safety nets, but for pity's sake, don't expect to become a millionaire, and be aware you can lose a lot, even listening to experts.

2. Stocks can be manipulated, and it's ridiculous and stupid and fucks over perfectly normal companies

Do you remember the GameStop reddit thing? I do. If you don't, please take a quick look at this record of the GameStop stock price.

See that spike in 2021? That was Reddit.

This post did a great job explaining it, but you told me to rant, and so I shall.

A large investment company had decided to make a lot of money for their clients by destroying GameStop. They did this by selling more shares than they actually owned (more than actually existed), force the market to absolutely tank the price, with plans to "buy back" the stock once it was dirt cheap, thereby making a profit for their company. This is a common form of stock manipulation called shortstelling, and investors had been doing it to GameStop for years, without the general public noticing.

Except Reddit did notice. And they decided to Fuck It Up, buying up stock at higher and higher prices, forcing the stock price to skyrocket, and the mutual/hedge funds still had to buy them back, but now it was at a massive loss, and it made headlines across the country because of how incredibly ridiculous it was.

The things to note here is that the market can be manipulated without any regard to the actual profits or health of the company, and that attempts to do so can backfire spectacularly.

3. Returns are minimal

There are two ways to earn money on stocks. The first is returns on capital investment; you buy the share at $10, sell it for $20, and you've thus received $10 profit. This is part of the incredibly unreliable bit I mentioned, because you cannot control the direction the stock takes, and generally can't predict it.

The other way is dividends, which like... profits made over the previous quarter (after paying employees, bank loans, rents, etc.) can be either reinvested to grow the company, or paid out to shareholders. But if you invest $150 in a single share of Walmart stock, your quarterly dividend is $2.25, which is $11/yr.

So unless you're investing hundreds of thousands of dollars, or get really lucky with what you choose to invest in, dividends aren't going to get you much of anything.

And when your stocks do give you healthy dividends, it's because there's money left for shareholders! Which, if you remember a few lines back, is left over after paying employees.

If an investor wants a return on their investment, and they can vote to change policy, and policy that pays employees dictates that they get a smaller dividend, do you think that the investors are going to vote to pay their employees fairly?

Yeah, didn't think so.

4. Rapid, Consumptive Growth

There was a really good post recently that described how and why the Chicago School of Economics, colloquially Reaganomics, has completely fucked over the entire US economy by encouraging the absolute worst state for the market to be in, which is seeking eternal parasitic growth. I urge you to read that one if you can, because the bloggers did a good job. Basically, screw Reagan and screw the Chicago school. The economy still would have been a capitalist hellscape without them, but they sure did hasten it!

(Prompt me on ko-fi!)

#economics #stock market #stocks #phoenix posts #ko fi prompts #ko fi #economics prompts