#my scripts.... i can't function without my scripts!!!

[villaiknight]

i need to get my laptop fixed pronto what is even going ON

[dreams-and-honor]

WHAT DO YOU MEAN I'VE GOT A SCRIPT READY FOR GABAPENTIN BUT NOT LAMOTRIGINE???

[professionalchaoticdumbass]

is there any way to copy over my giant 1000+ list of blocked terfs and fascists over to a new backup blog i made without having to do it one-by-one?? like seriously i am at a complete fucking loss here, every script i see recommended is either non-functional or abandoned for years. i'm legitimately questioning whether or not to even stay on the site if i can't do this please someone help

[slytherin-princess-x]

Bound by decree: love is a dangerous game

Mattheo x reader

Summary: An arranged marriage but they’re enemies

A/n: it’s a long one today guys

The parchment felt like a death sentence in my trembling hands—crisp, official, and utterly final. I stared at the ornate script, the words swimming before my eyes: *"By decree of the Sacred Twenty-Eight and the Ministry of Magic, a binding betrothal is hereby established between…"* My stomach churned. I already knew the name; it had been the hushed whisper in the corridors, the grim topic of conversation amongst the Slytherins. *"...Miss Y/N L/N and Mr. Mattheo Gaunt Riddle."*

Year Seven was supposed to be exciting. The final exams, Quidditch tryouts, maybe even a stolen kiss or two behind the greenhouses. Instead, it was starting with shackles. Arranged marriages were archaic—relics of a bygone era—but here we were, being dragged back into it for the sake of pureblood lineage. As if my family's ancient bloodline wasn't pristine enough.

The cause of my imminent doom was leaning against the wall across the Slytherin common room, a picture of indolent indifference. Mattheo Riddle. Dark hair perpetually mussed, eyes like chips of obsidian, and a smirk that promised nothing but trouble. He exuded an aura of dangerous charisma that made most students scurry out of his path. But me? I was now legally bound to him. The irony tasted bitter on my tongue.

"Well, well," Mattheo drawled, pushing off the wall and strolling toward me. His voice was a smooth, velvety threat. "Looks like we're stuck with each other, L/N."

I crumpled the parchment in my fist. "Stuck is an understatement, Riddle. This is a bloody nightmare."

He chuckled, a low, humorless sound that grated on my nerves. "Don't pretend you're not flattered. Who wouldn't want to be betrothed to me?"

"Oh, I can think of a few," I snapped, my eyes blazing. "Anyone with a functioning brain and a desire to, you know, choose who they spend their life with."

His smirk widened, a predatory glint in his eyes. "Such spirit. I'm almost… impressed."

The "almost" hung in the air, thick with sarcasm. That was our dynamic in a nutshell—a constant sparring match, a battle of wills fueled by mutual disdain. He reveled in my frustration, while I seethed under his arrogant gaze.

The engagement was a public spectacle. Announcements at breakfast, pointed glances in the corridors, and the ever-present whisper of our names linked together. It was suffocating. And the worst part? Mattheo seemed to enjoy it. He’d drape an arm possessively around my shoulders during meals, his touch sending shivers of disgust down my spine. He’d answer questions about our "future" with infuriatingly vague pronouncements, leaving me to grit my teeth and plaster on a fake smile.

My attempts at a normal Year Seven were thwarted at every turn. Gryffindor boys who’d dared to flirt with me suddenly found themselves on the receiving end of Mattheo’s icy glare and a few well-placed hexes. Even my closest friends grew hesitant, the air around me now tainted by Mattheo’s presence.

"He's like a bloody Dementor," my friend Clara muttered one afternoon, as we watched Mattheo lean against a tree, his gaze fixed on me. "Sucking all the joy out of the air."

I sighed, running a hand through my hair. "Tell me about it. I can't even look at another boy without him glaring holes into their skull."

The enforced proximity did offer a twisted kind of insight, though. I saw glimpses of Mattheo away from the public eye. The way his brow furrowed in concentration during Potions, the almost imperceptible twitch of his lip when he read a particularly clever passage in a Transfiguration textbook. These moments were fleeting, quickly masked by his usual sardonic demeanor, but they were there.

One evening, stuck in the library together to “study”—a thinly veiled excuse for our parents to see us interacting amicably—I found myself staring at him. He was engrossed in a heavy tome, his features softened in the lamplight. For the first time, I saw past the arrogance and the threats, and caught a glimpse of… something else. A weariness, perhaps? Or maybe just boredom.

He looked up, catching my gaze. His usual smirk was absent, replaced by a neutral expression that was almost unsettling in its unfamiliarity.

"Problem, L/N?"

I quickly averted my eyes, a blush creeping up my neck. "No. No problem."

The silence that followed was thick with unspoken tension. It was different from our usual animosity, charged with something… more.

As the year progressed, our interactions, while still laced with sarcasm and barbed comments, began to shift. We argued about house points with a shared competitiveness. We found an odd sort of camaraderie in our mutual disdain for certain professors. During a particularly grueling detention scrubbing cauldrons, Mattheo surprised me by sharing a mumbled joke that actually made me laugh.

The Yule Ball arrived like a looming deadline. I had dreaded the thought of being seen on Mattheo’s arm. But as he stood before me in his dress robes, a certain unfamiliar nervousness in his eyes, something shifted within me. He was undeniably handsome, and for the first time, the thought didn’t fill me with immediate revulsion.

Our dance was stiff and awkward at first, but as the music softened and we found a rhythm, a strange sort of understanding passed between us. His hand on my back was firm, his gaze surprisingly steady.

"You look… tolerable," he muttered, his voice barely audible above the music.

I rolled my eyes, but a small smile tugged at my lips. "And you're not entirely unbearable yourself, Riddle."

It was a minuscule crack in the wall of our mutual animosity, but it was there.

The turning point, perhaps inevitably, came during a late-night study session in the deserted astronomy tower. We were arguing, as usual, about some obscure Charms theory. Our voices echoed in the stillness, the tension crackling between us.

"You're being deliberately obtuse," I accused, frustration bubbling over.

"And you're being willfully ignorant," Mattheo retorted, his eyes flashing.

We were close—too close. Our anger was a palpable force. And then, something shifted. The anger seemed to dissipate, replaced by a different kind of intensity. His gaze lingered on my lips, and for the first time, I didn’t want to look away.

He reached out, his fingers brushing against my cheek. His touch was surprisingly gentle. "You know," he said, his voice low and husky, "you're not what I expected."

My heart hammered in my chest. "And what did you expect?" I whispered, my breath catching in my throat.

His gaze searched mine, a flicker of something vulnerable in his dark eyes. "A simpering pureblood princess, eager to please."

"And what did you get?" I challenged, my voice barely a breath.

A slow smile spread across his face, a genuine smile that reached his eyes and banished the usual shadows. "Someone who challenges me. Someone who isn’t afraid."

And then he kissed me.

It wasn’t a gentle, tentative kiss. It was fierce, possessive, filled with a pent-up energy that mirrored the animosity that had simmered between us for months. And surprisingly, I kissed him back, my own frustrations and grudges melting away in the heat of the moment.

The world didn’t magically transform. We were still betrothed, still bound by an archaic agreement. But as we stood there, breathless and slightly shaken, in the silence of the astronomy tower, something had undeniably changed. The hatred hadn’t vanished entirely, but a new emotion had taken root—a complicated tangle of resentment and reluctant attraction.

The arranged marriage was still a cage, but now, maybe—just maybe—it wouldn’t be quite so lonely. The year still stretched before us, filled with uncertainty and the weight of our forced union. But for the first time since that dreaded parchment arrived, I felt a flicker of something akin to hope. Perhaps, against all odds, this nightmare could turn into something else entirely. The enemies were still there, but maybe, beneath the surface, lovers were beginning to bloom.

Taglist: @yootvi @redeemingvillains @littlemadamred @smut-anarchy

[joyswonderland1108]

"Jikookers want what we have" a tragicomedy in 84 acts.

Ah yes. The cult has spoken again. That group of people so devoted to fanfiction they forgot they're not the actual authors of BTS' lives. I was just minding my own business scrolling on X and then i saw screenshots where they uttered the iconic phrase once more : "Jikookers want what we have"

And my immediate reaction is: You have what exactly?

Please, i beg, enlighten me. Educate me. Shine your flashlight of delusion upon my humble soul.

Do you mean:

The ability to look at two men in the same room and immediately start spinning a three-season k-drama script about a "secret marriage" that somehow survived a full military enlistment gap and multiple obvious real-life interactions that contradict your entire fantasy?

The audacity to claim that literally everything Jikook do is either "fanservice", "coincidence" or "they were forced to do it by the company" .. but when tk breathe the same air, it's "soulmate proof" and "date night"?

The unique talent of opening your eyes, seeing Jikook's entire interactions unfold like the final scene of a romantic film, and still going, "Nope. That's just brotherly love. Jungkook actually flew to that city for someone else."?

And let’s not forget the true crime-level sleuthing they do with pixelated photos and background objects. Like that time they saw a Christmas tree with the Wooga squad and immediately declared, “That’s it. That’s Jungkook. He was there.” Just.. a tree. A tree. Not a hand. Not a sleeve. Not a voice. A TREE. And the confidence? Unmatched.

Or when a blurry reflection shows up in a spoon, and suddenly it’s “Jungkook was clearly there. That’s his left earlobe from 2019, I would know it anywhere.” Girl..

They’ve mistaken staff members, shadows, pets, and possibly furniture for Jungkook. At this point, if someone breathes near a member of the Wooga squad, they’re like, “He’s there. He's hiding behind the lamp. That lamp is his disguise.

🧍‍♀️Be serious.

You have what? A religious devotion to editing Jikook clips and pics out of existence OR turning them into.. something else so you can post your 8-second gifs as a "proof"?

A Photoshop degree in manufacturing matching accessories that they never actually wore? A deep-rooted fear of 4K footage? A library full of plotlines that have not been updated since 2019?

Because baby, while you're out here reading a version of events that got invalidated faster than a Weverse life replay gets deleted, we're over here crying, throwing up, and questioning our own existence watching actual moments of intimacy, care, tension, fondness, push-pull dynamics, micromovements, looks that scream "I dare you to say that in public", and lips that do not lie.

Your people are defecting babes. They're not even silent about it. We've seen it. "I feel sad, i can't breathe, i will take a break because i don't know if i believe in them any longer after this", "Okay but if MY ship did what THEY did i'd be in a coma"

Exactly. You'd be in a coma. Meanwhile Jikookers are here with two IV bags of emotional damage and still managing to function (barely).

Let's talk about how your entire structure collapses when:

Jungkook calls Jimin "Jimin-ssi" with that look.

Jimin calls Jungkook "Baby" on camera.

Jungkook tells Jimin he gives him butterflies.

Jimin calling Jungkook "Hyung" with the most teasing smugness known to mankind and Jungkook malfunctions on the spot.

Jungkook sits and stares at Jimin content during his lives without blinking.

Jimin sings Jungkook's solo, doing his moves the way a man who memorized it for "reasons" would.

Meanwhile you're out there hanging your entire thesis on "they once went to the same restaurant with different people on different days but what if they actually met up?"

We don't want what you have.

WE DO NOT WANT UNHINGED THEORIES AND PERMANENT COPIUM.

What we do want is peace, peace from you twisting Jikook's actions like it's your career.

Peace from you posting "this proves nothing" under every video that shows more chemistry than a K-drama final kiss.

Peace from you crying "company script" every time Jungkook chooses to speak about Jimin with his entire chest and a suspicious sparkle in his eyes.

Let me be clear:

We don't want what you have because.. There's nothing there to want. It's like going to a buffet and finding a single ice cube and being told "this is a gourmet".

So no. We’re good. We’re full.

We're over here eating with trembling hands, yes, but we’re EATING.

Stay in your cave of denial where 2017 screenshots are still considered "recent," and please stop acting like we’re jealous of a headcanon when we’ve got receipts, replay buttons, and regret.(because the intensity of it all is emotionally destructive and yet we keep coming back).

Thank you for your time.

Back to your regularly scheduled delusion.

[starleska]

73 Yards has devastated me and i have some theories

we all agree that 73 Yards was a genre-defying, harrowing episode...and i think there's some really interesting themes and ideas going on here. tw for discussion of trauma, abuse, neglect and abandonment:

i hope we're all on the same page that the Woman seems to represent Ruby's fear of abandonment, brought to life. always present, always out of the corner of her eye, and whose primary mechanic is to drive people to scorn and leave Ruby without explanation. even people who do not know her, or people she's just met, or who are incredibly warm towards her...they speak to the Woman, and they look back as if to confirm their suspicions, and then run away, maddened and horrified. it is an unbelievable stroke of genius to make the Toymaker's breaking down of the boundaries between science and fantasy bring Ruby's abandonment into being...and for Ruby to weaponise her. but that's it - as soon as Roger ap Gwilliam was taken care of, we expected the Woman to disappear, right? but that could never happen, because Ruby's fear of abandonment will never disappear...no matter how purposeful her life is, or how much she distances herself from others. the use of the cruel, distant individuals in the Welsh pub to set up Ruby sympathetically is excellent...and then, we see people approach Ruby at all levels of emotional connection, when time and again she is considered untouchable, as if her very being is contagious. and all this time, we have the fairy circle being broken and hope vanishing...with hope being the Doctor. the one man who potentially holds the key to uncovering Ruby's deepest desires - to find out why she was abandoned, and by who. and at the end of it all...even in death, Ruby doesn't find peace. she is transported into a neverending hell-loop where she is her own abandonment. the two are inseparable, inexplicably the same, because Ruby's very existence as herself is built on the bedrock of abandonment. and i think this resonates heavily with any trauma survivor...the way that our trauma and our very real anxieties brought on by that trauma are inextricable from ourselves. i think the plot with Roger ap Gwilliam shows off a very real symptom in trauma survivors: we often daydream that our hurt and pain will be useful one day - functional. and not only does Ruby get to do that...she gets to be the quiet, unsung saviour of the whole world, protecting us from a world-ending terror in spite of the abuse and neglect she's faced. she endures menial work and constant fear, while only confiding quietly in one other person...Marti, who i believe is coded as another trauma survivor due to her response to Roger (who she describes as a monster). if Ruby can't receive love and affection from anyone else, at least she can feel satisfied that she served her purpose. on a practical level, the presence of Mrs Flood and Susan Twist in this episode AGAIN gives me pause. my theory that someone here is another of the Toymaker's Legions, and is the embodiment of Story, has only deepened. the fact that we had a cold open without the title sequence, we met Susan Twist very quickly, we seem to have flipped genres for the show and Ruby was able to embark on a self-destructive wish-fulfilment saviour fantasy in real life...it all indicates to me that the boundaries between reality and fiction are fully collapsing. when Kate says things are trending towards the supernatural lately, i think we've only hit the tip of the iceberg. on a broader level: my God Russell T Davies, what a brilliant script!!! this is one of my favourite ever episodes of Doctor Who, and is absolutely my highlight for the season. huge kudos to Millie Gibson for giving such a killer performance...i am now terribly endeared to, and protective, of Ruby, and hope against hope she gets the happy ending she so deserves 💖

[see-arcane]

Do you think a Carmilla adaptation set in the modern day could hypothetically work? I know that outside of the web series (which was doing its own thing) the ones that try to go for a more contemporary setting haven't been particularly good.

I guess the biggest hurdle with that would be coming up with a way for Millie to hang around at Laura's place because faking a car crash or something would just lead to her dad calling an ambulance.

The thing that made Carmilla's stranding with Laura and her household was a very particular set of environmental needs.

The household must be in a remote area, far from heavy human population. A small community is still needed for Carmilla to eventually feed on, but nothing very peopled or close.

Carmilla's crew needs to be convincing and non-suspicious when leaving Carmilla behind with strangers as they themselves move on for an ongoing period. They do this with zero contact made between them and Laura's dad, and with no names to investigate.

While extremely tricky, these factors aren't impossible to play with.

First, remoteness. A remoteness without the modern ability to, say, drive an ailing girl to aid or contact emergency services, et cetera. This location has to be in deep countryside or wilderness. Could be a home or a vacation place, assuming we're keeping Laura's dad well-off. Regardless, it's a spot chosen for its privacy and distance from people. I'd lean toward mountainous terrain for dual points of beauty and being just Real fucking difficult to maneuver on.

Next, "Why are you ditching your daughter with us??" This is the hardest bit in the 21st century. Everyone is plugged in. Everyone demands contact info. You couldn't bullshit a single survivalist hermit living in a cave into believing that you know not what these cellular devices are, good sir. You don't just show up in the middle of the night, chuck an adolescent at the porch and run. No, not even with theatre quality con job carriage/car crashes. Because emergency services are a thing and people would be on the phone/piling her in another, non-busted vehicle to get her to a hospital before you could finish acting out your script.

We need to pile up more elements.

Say, one involving inhospitable weather. Flash flood rain. A burying snowstorm that makes even a helicopter too dangerous to fly. Something that obstructs all travel and, ideally, really does crap out the phone and Internet service.

My thought: It shifts to a story taking place in winter, on a mountainside, with Carmilla no longer a poor ailing damsel act, but a simple visitor from some fancy holiday lodge. She and her family are vacationing up here and she is so terribly bored. Might she make friends ;) with Laura in the meantime? But what's this! Oh no! A snowstorm has dropped in and she can't possibly repeat her trek back home in such weather.

A crackling phone call is staged between her and her 'family' as it comes across in sputters and static that yes, yes, she's safe, Laura's dad insists, it's all fine, she can stay until conditions improve. The phone cuts out (from the family's side) and the Internet goes down. Cue the conditions being The Shining-level isolating. The girls make the best of it, of course. <3

Until the bodies start piling up.

ANYWAY

It wouldn't be the exact premise, no, because an exact translation of almost any period piece lit story can't be replicated in a modern era. Too much has changed, too many obstructions sit between the original story and its payoff. All that can be kept is the core of the narrative and whatever factors can either be translated or built upon to make the main ideas still function.

[bloodchapell]

castle of sand — senku i. 6: mask

brief summary: what are you hiding behind your mask? senku wonders why you won't tell him

what to expect: references to physical abuse

your sword's note: all past and future parts + playlist of this series available on my mistresslist

"Tell me what happened."

"Is not as serious as it seems, my poor old fractured soul has received way more damage than what this mask will ever reflect."

"That concerns me more, actually."

It was not very rare for you to show up bruised. With little bandages and bandaids all over. Senku could still remember one time that Byakuya noticed it, and asked you about it in front of your parents. "She is an unruly child, we are only disciplining her."

Before walking into the classroom, you went to the nurse's office. Senku stood by the door watching how they patched you up. When they asked you what had happened, you preferred saying that you fought with someone instead of saying the truth.

Before he stepped out of his apartment, he was preparing to be bothered about your little new haircut, about scheming a plan to get you back to the hair saloon and make you bald as hell, not even a buzz cut just plain shiny skin, but now his concerns were thrown directly at something else. He wished he could just worry about the haircut.

Every time he had seen you like this, it made him uneasy, uncomfortable. He always made sure to ask if you were okay, but when you answered that you were fine, he was left cornered and unable to do anything, even when he knew it was a lie.

"So you won't tell me?"

"We were out until midnight yesterday, I didn't have lunch or dinner ready for her." You explained to him. "She was mad this morning and threw a cup at me."

"That is ridiculous, she has two functional hands that can cook."

"Right?" You laughed but the woe in your eyes dazzled him.

The homeroom teacher excused your lateness when you explained about the bruise (without going into detail) and you both took your seats.

The teacher continued talking about the spring school festival, the class had already chosen to do a play about an engaged nobleman that fell in love with a commoner girl. The props were already being built but the cast was yet to be selected.

"So we have the main characters, lord Thomas, lady Lucia, lord Owen who is Lucia's father and Helen." The teacher went on to mention the characters needed. "The only characters that need specific requirements are lady Lucia and her father. Lady Lucia has a scene where she is dancing in heels and also needs to do a long monologue very eloquently and elegantly. Owen needs to be able to lift lady Lucia for the several scenes."

Some people postulated themselves for some roles.

"I was thinking that you could do lady Lucia." The teacher told you. With some surprise you asked what he meant. "Well, I am sure no one can give off the vibe of Lucia as good as you can."

Because she is a ball of sadness, thought Senku.

"I think you will do a the best lady Lucia." One of the other girls who were going for the role said with a smile, the other agreed, and so, you were lady Lucia.

The rest of the cast was chosen, and the last role was lord Owen, Lucia's father. It was up to two guys. The first one could not even lift you up.

"I will do my absolute best!" Taiju yelled picking you up princess style.

And so, Taiju was lord Owen, your "father".

The cast members were given their scripts while the rest of the class was assigned different props or costumes to make.

"I have to paint the stupid mask for the dance scene." Senku complained looking at the list. "Can't I make some real science for this lousy play?"

"Last time they allowed you to do that you blew up our Alice in Wonderland cafe." You said going over the script of your character. While you read the lines in a soft voice, Senku looked at you for a while, with the excuse that since the mask was for your face, he needed to analyze it. He promised to himself that he would not make you bald until the bruise vanished from your face, after all he wasn't heartless enough to have you bald and bruised.

"Are you okay?" Senku asked.

"I was certainly not expecting to be part of the play, nonetheless it is but an experience from which I will learn." You confirmed.

"I am talking about the bruise situation, I don't care for a single millisecond about this lady Lucia shit."

"I am fine."

There, there it was. You were "fine" and he was left to accept it because defying your answer would mean that his emotions had a depth so ever profound to notice your lie, and to care about the real answer. Senku nodded, accepting it like he had always done, but again the candle dilemma popped in his mind like a bad song... this was different though, it required real emotionality.

"You can tell me, you know?"

"And I have." You nodded but he stayed quiet, you sighed. "Let me propose this unflattering explanation. By vouching for my neutral state I am simply referring to being at peace on marinating on my pains on my own. Unlike every other matter on the sentimentality of life, I prefer to bury away the struggles that reside the closest to my cracked heart."

Of course you had to say it that way, Senku had theorized that if instead of saying it adorned to the brim, you simply said something like: When I say that I am fine I am talking about being fine with suffering alone, despite being a professional rambler, I prefer to not talk about my personal issues like I talk about everything else, you would have an aneurysm and poof away from existence.

"So you are not fine." He summarized.

"The brightness of knowledge clouds the eyes of your soul." You pointed at his chest and then walked away.

Senku's translation: You are so smart that it makes you stupid.

He had tried. He originally imagined that once he gave the extra step on pointing out your blatant lie, you would pour your soul away to him in your weird words like you always did, he definitely did not expect to receive resistance from your part.

There were almost no instances in which Senku felt stupid, after all he could understand virtually everything, except you, and he felt stupid in that instant. Wasn't it obvious that you wouldn't talk about it so easily if you decided to coat everything with "I am fine" instead of simply talking? It kinda was. He wondered why, was it because of sheer embarrassment, after all who likes to talk about their abuse? Or was it because you didn't see him worthy of learning your lore? His heart stopped for a second, was it because you thought that since he always dismissed your talks about pointless things, you would assume that he would act the same way when you told him the serious ones?

"What is it that you are doing?"

First time he was glad to hear that sentence.

"Doesn't matter, tomorrow Mercury will be reaching a great elongation from the sun and we are waking up before sunrise to see it."

"Ugh, I hate early things." You complained immediately.

"Then go to sleep early. I don't care that you hate it, you can't hate Mercury."

"You are actually right, I can't possibly hate on a superior being like a celestial body." With your hand in your chin you nodded.

Seeing you acting like the usual was odd, were you that marinated in your own demise to not even mind it anymore? Senku knew for a fact that you feared growing numb more than anything.

Whatever. If he kept thinking so much he would switch from scientist to philosopher and would probably have a melt down.

"That new haircut suits you." One of the science club members said and you thanked him before walking out.

"Well don't enjoy it so much because she will go bald soon! On my life, she will!" Senku yelled.

The rest of the day went on as usual, you still didn't participate as much in class and seemed distracted from it all. During class, Senku got bored and started thinking about the previous day. The karaoke was nothing major, it was awkward but since you both knew each other for so long it didn't matter. The only thing he remembered from the train ride was the puncturing silence, and of course looking at your hair. He had wished to compliment you, because he believed it looked good... lies, he liked it so much, but compliments were off his character, so he stayed quiet, also it was not like the French girl haircut would last, you were still destined to be bald by his hand.

After school, he told you to meet at 4 a.m the next day and that was it, you entered your apartment and he walked a few doors down to his, left his shoes and bag at the entrance, sat on bed to rest while looking at his phone and woke up 3 hours later. Well deserved nap after having two sleepless nights thanks to the traumatizing visions of your short hair, once in the dream and once in real life.

At night he went to the store and saw you walking from the supermarket with your mom. She was laughing at whatever comment you had made and you were holding the grocery bags. Your eyes met his for a second.

He saw you next morning, at 4:09 (late). You knocked on his door and he opened, the sun was still not out and you were yawning like crazy. The telescope was already set to face Mercury in the east of the sky. You gave a glance at it and then Senku took over for good fifteen minutes, talking about the planet.

"Why so quiet? Did you get engulfed on my talk on Mercury's crater that is 1/3 of the size of the planet?" Senku finally turned around, only to find you with your eyes closed, sitting on his bed. "Wake up, what the hell."

"I saw it already, it won't go away." You said without opening your eyes.

"Won't you start about how Mercury feels?"

"Maybe not, I am sleepy. Thinking requires a lot. It's four and school starts at 8:30 so I am going to sleep."

"Seriously?"

There was only so much he could do. Shake you until you were awake was probably the only thing. But he had mercy and allowed you to lay down on his bed, even covered you with the blanket —only because you were lending him your telescope, his words—. He went back to looking at Mercury for some time but eventually the sun started coming up and he was left with nothing to do. He sat in his desk and played some video games, but for some reason he kept looking back at you, dead asleep in his bed.

The almost four hours passed both equally fast and slow. He kept playing until it was eight, then he got up and walked towards his bed to wake you up. His eyes inadvertently went to your face, your cheekbone still covered up by the bandage, and a strand of hair falling into your slightly open mouth, and the little pool of saliva in his pillow... ew, he will wash it later. Unconsciously he sat down in the bed, while still looking at you, going again over the bandage and the hair, and then examining carefully the rest of your face, your expression blank, not laced with melancholy as always. He went over your words from the previous day again, your face could not reflect the amount of damage your soul had taken, he had to contain a smile, understanding your words suddenly became easy when he compared it to a fantasy game. As he kept reevaluating every feature of your face, his hand reached for the strand of hair you were basically eating, and as he moved it out of the way his eyes met yours.

taglist: @thelonestarinthesky

[felassan]

Some snippets from DA dev Luke Barrett on the unofficial BioWare forum, cut for length:

DA:I -

User: "I am still convinced that Bioware cut the healing spells and went with barriers instead because of the Multiplayer." Luke Barrett: I can't speak to any other games directly but I can give a bit of historic context for DAI. The game was initially a more dungeon/linear delving - see how far you can get - experience and there was no barrier of any kind. As a side note: healing has always been a hot topic in design because as soon as you include it there are many other conceits you now need take into consideration for the gameplay - one of which I will call 'the Anders problem'. Anyway, as DAI got the date moved and shifted more into the pseudo-openworld the concept of attrition (see how far you can get before having to return to camp) became less relevant and we needed to help the Players have more moment-to-moment agency around their survival. Unfortunately for various reasons (one of which is the sad reality of designing a game with a shifting timeline) the healing couldn't be re-added so we ended up with more of a mitigation strategy in the barrier system. It went through a lot of iterations but eventually landed on what it shipped with which I would call... acceptable (but just barely). Now, I will concede that a part of the reason it didn't return after that shift was an aversion to holy trinity gameplay specifically for MP but it wasn't the core reason. As a side story, trying to balance the game (as that was my job on DAI - and yes, it could be much better haha) we had to all but force Players to take barrier. It is intentionally the first skill in the first tree for the Mage and all the autolevel (I also handled that) is designed to get it right away." [source]

User: "Merry Christmas Luke! Sooo what was the hardest class you had to balance? [DA:I]" Luke Barrett: "I feel like anyone who was around for the post-launch content will already know the answer to this as it was the bane of my existence when I got put exclusively on MP after launch but the Knight-Enchanter barrier absorbing was a pain. Stuff like that is very challenging to feel good without being broken as they are relative to damage so scaling is fairly open-ended. Too little and the casual players won't get use out of it, too much and the character builders will be wildly OP. We actually had a 'no nerfing' guideline for the SP side so it was a hard battle to fix that silly thing 🙃." [source]

"As a fun fact, I did all the logic for autolevel on DAI and the guideline I was given was literally "make functional builds, but don't make something optimal that you'd play"." [source]

DA:TV -

User: "If you can, say thanks to the people making the no die option possible." Luke Barrett: "Done! My team handles this stuff so I let them know 😊" [source]

"Comically, I designed the majority of the items and skills and I am still finding it fun making awesome builds (been almost entirely doing playthroughs lately" [source]

"Was really important to the team that everyone could play the way that felt best to them." [source]

"Each specialization has a focus around a few specific mechanics, some of which are the weapons or damage types but you can go off script and make it work for sure (this was intentional in the designs)." [source]

"I designed all the skills and so they're each enjoyable to me to some extent. I have been playing through the game over and over the last couple months for balance purposes so I've played them all fairly extensively." [source]

User: "Necrotic sounds like it could be either Spirit or Nature." User: "For Rogue, it replace "poison". For Mage, it replace spirit (Spirit bomb). For Warrior, it's more spirit (especially Reaper), but some skills could work as poison too. So basically they merged spirit and nature." Luke Barrett: "Thats pretty close to spot on. They were actually heavily iterated on throughout development - I can't (at least currently) go into specifics as to why though." [source]

"the target for the progression vision is that you can make a viable build out of almost** any aspect of the gameplay." [source]

"As for timelines, We started DA4 in October of 2015 roughly. The entire team was moved to MEA for about 3-4 months to help it ship and I also spent all of 3 weeks helping out on Anthem. But otherwise I've been on some incarnation of DA4 for about 9 years now - pretty ready for it to release 😅." [source]

"yes, years of working on the same thing can cause some burnout but I've played through the full game probably about 8 times in the last few months and it's still fun (though some of the specific levels that haven't changed in a long time I've done 50+ times easily and I could do without ever seeing them again 😂)." [source]

User: "I do kind of feel that at this point the DA team has put so much work into creating and improving their tools and learning the ins and outs of Frostbite [...] But who knows what the devs in the trenches really feel" Luke Barrett: "I will say it does some things very well and some things poorly, relative to other engines. Personally I really enjoy Frostbite but I've been using it since 2012. In an ideal world, many engines would be viable and developers would make games suited to the strengths of a specific engine." [source]

User: "Since this game is much more stat heavy than prior titles, specifically when it comes to skills and gear, there's likely a need for some balance changes to be made post-launch. Does the game being playable completely offline hinder the data capture side for your team (in terms of analytics), or is this a non-factor?" Luke Barrett: "Generally speaking, most people leave data analytics on so we get more than enough data coming in. Additionally, I'll personally be watching several channels for things that are underperforming (relatively speaking) and not have to nerf anything. The rpg side is vast though and I'm sure people will find OP combinations/synergies that might need 'adjustments' but as long as it's fun and not an "I win" button that trivializes combat I'm pretty cool with it." [source]

Luke Barrett: "I can safely say there are many builds for each class that will feel very powerful if you're not on the highest difficulty 😉. What I'm really excited for is when the guides comes out that show people the fastest way to get some of the uniques that unlock 'special' gameplay 😊. Let's just say I love the feeling of rushing to Patches in DS1 and kicking him off the bridge for the Crescent Axe (iykyk)." [source] User: "Speaking of guides. Will there be a guidebook like there was for DAI? " Luke Barrett: "Not that I'm aware of but I'm happy to help feed info to somewhere like fextralife or the dragon age wiki after a week or so to help with those pursuits. Have to leave some time for exploration and discovery before the optimizers streamline the experience 😉" [source]

"Effectively, at least until the game launches (and likely a week or so after), you won't get anything interesting out of any of the devs save Mike Gamble or John Epler. Longer term I hope to be very active, at least for build mechanics and all the combat/rpg nuts and bolts conversations." [source]

"I started "da4" in October 2015 and so after 9 years of effort (minus 3 months on Andromeda) I'm quite excited for tomorrow and the launch week. I don't know if I'd say nervous, I feel pretty confident in the product, but definitely that eager kid before Christmas feeling 😊" [source]

"As the person who did all the balance, I will say that if you are comprehending how to make a cohesive build and understand the combat mechanics, you should play on Underdog. One of the downsides to having a lot of power growth vectors is the difference between people who engage vs those that don't becomes a chasm quite quickly. If you start blowing enemies up rapidly, turn up the difficulty (or play on nightmare where that will not be the case) - basically if it ever feels super easy or like enemies are health sponges you're probably on the wrong setting for your skill level. The custom difficulty settings are there to make the gameplay enjoyable (for whatever that means to you)." [source]

"As a tip from me, the balance is subtly tipped in the players favor until the last fight of the 3rd combat mission. Be warned if it's feeling too easy you may want to wait until after that to decide." [source]

[on DA MP] Luke Barrett: "It was actually pretty fun but very much not what most people wanted us to make (including internally). Also we had, let's say, limited staff who had a passion and background in MP so it was definitely the right call to go SP only. Now, it would have been nice had we just started that way but so it goes sometimes." [source] User: "You still play it yourself from time to time (DA MP), or have you left it be?" Luke Barrett: "After playing variations of DA4 for so many years (9!!!) it's hard to go back to anything with DAI controls/gameplay speed. Even the initial Joplin prototypes I was doing were much more snappy/twitchy - for everything good about DAI the combat was definitely in the middle of two different styles." [source]

[on aiming bows] "we actually used to have separate buttons for ADS and ranged attack but it was wildly overloading the controller. These RPG games need controllers with at least 2 more buttons (fingers crossed for the next gen)" [source]

User: "After the last few games, I'm really surprised by the current skill... tree?" Luke Barrett: "I call it a skill graph - aside from the beginning where you have 3 choices the entirety of it is 2 choice splits and it'll essentially make a build for you. Just go a little at a time and aim for whatever specialization seems most fun to you 😄" [source]

"Loot is not random so theoretically guides with drop locations should appear pretty soon." [source]

"Yep, Spellblade is the only spec that directly impacts fire damage but you can get benefits from most of them and still go fire. As for the specs, yes it would have been nice to support all of them but just wasn't in scope unfortunately. Mage has Mourn-Watch, Shadow Dragons, and Antivan Crows specializations - only the Rogue has a Veiljumper one. Deathcaller left side you can go beam based and use a Fire weapon. Evoker you'd likely need to do a hybrid ice/fire build." [source]

User: "Bit of a side question, but for those who intend to make more characters, is BioWare considering upping the amount of playable character slots you can have (currently at 3)? Or is there a hardware restriction here given the game is offline playable?" Luke Barrett: "Don't quote me as I don't handle the technical side of this but my understanding is we have to allocate a specific amount of HD space on the consoles so we basically have to pick a limit, relative to our save file sizes, and then divide that by number of careers. I'll inquire if this is something we can increase with an optional download or something but I suspect consoles are stuck that way, unfortunately." [source]

[on Patch 1] "It's been awhile since I actually did the content for this patch so I'd have to check but I have a pretty anti-nerf policy for SP games. I know I fixed up a couple enemies that weren't as hard as they were supposed to be and definitely boosted a bunch of synergistic things though. I'll take a look tomorrow but for those that don't know, the turnaround time on these things is about a month of it's not an emergency due to certification process with consoles. Longer term my goal is to keep an eye in telemetry of any underused abilities and items (or enemies with too many kills under their belt) and audit them just to double check if they need a boost or if people just haven't figured them out yet 😉." [source]

"The equippable items are all predetermined with a minor exception*. Some items are class specific (all the weapons, a small amount of armors and accessories, 2 runes) so when you play a different class you'll see your classes 'version' of that item. Things that are random (from a table/pool) are valuables. Exception: Near the very end of the game we do a few checks on what equipment you haven't acquired. A bunch of those final drops, and inventory on the final merchant, simply find stuff you don't have and give it to you. That's basically the only major RNG we have with loot. If you notice even 99% of the skills and item mods employ an effect after a condition is met X times rather than a more traditional 'proc chance'." [source]

[on modding] "Once this starts to pick up, feel free to PM me if anyone needs help 'finding' assets or has questions about how one might mod something. We don't officially support mods buuuuut we don't have any kind of anti-modding stance either" [source]

"To give the high level gist of the resource economy: - each class starts off with minimal ability usage, this is intentional to force people to learn the other combat mechanics as they're a necessary skill and it's easy to lean on a crutch like ability spam and kiting - abilities are designed to feel powerful on use, thus they all have a decent cost and can't be spammed* - weapon attacks generate your resource - in the bottom right of the center skills area is a node to make each class's resource easier to manage - halfway down all starting segments (N, SW, SE) there is always a node that boosts generation - there are +max nodes on all sides of the skill graph for each class, this is particularly important for the Mage as they start each fight at max - each class can build into being ability focused but starts intentionally rounded - loastly, the first ability is always a resource spender and 1 or 2 of the next available ones will be cooldown gated. It is recommended to have at least one cooldown based ability slotted" [source]

"So loosely the rogue momentum works like this: - each ability costs 50 momentum - hitting enemies generates ~2 momentum per hit (base), you get extra for bow weakpoints - when you are directly hit, you lose 15% of your current momentum, this means the more you hold the more you will lose (this loss has a small cooldown so you don't lose a whole bar when you get hit rapidly) - momentum carries forward between combats (compared to warrior rage which decays when out of combat) If youre having issues, make sure you get that skill in the middle section that reduces momentum loss when hit. As a helpful tip, the Quicken buff generates small amounts of momentum each second so it's a good way to get more if you're having issues." [source]

"I highly recommend using the belt that grants Quicken early game until you can generate momentum faster yourself. And yes, the time dilation affects everything in the world except the Player so all your buffs and things still tick at normal speed" [source]

User: "If I knock an enemy off an edge, if they were supposed to drop something will it appear on the edge, or is it lost for good?" Luke Barrett: "It should appear on the ledge. I will say the 'real' loot from enemy drops are all hand placed. The actual random stuff is just valuables and materials." [source]

" The way it actually works is very complicated with a lot of necessary exceptions but loosely - each ability has a base damage and ones that hit multiple times have an offset multiplier. - That value is multiplied by the sum of all your stat bonuses, conditional bonuses, resist and layer modifiers. - We then subtract enemy defense and multiply by 1-resist (with penetration being calculated here). - this new damage then gets multiplied by 1+crit+weakpointpoint (so those bonuses always feel meaty) and then multiplied by a random number between .95 and 1.05 just to give a little range to the floaties (basically just a presentation thing) - we then multiply again for buffs and debuffs so they, again, always feel meaningful - lastly, we take all added damage and add it flat on top" [source]

"Specific enhancements make enemies immune to the matching affliction. For example, Fire Enchanted enemies are immune to burning. Juggernaut enemies are immune to being staggered but otherwise it should work in everything." [source]

[arminthada]

Compilation post of my favorite Nadao actors (Nonkul Chanon, JJ Krissanapoom, Tor Thanapob) & Bright Rapheephong giving some interview answers on why they decided to star in queer/LGBTQ+ coded series/roles, some of their takes on being in BL (Y)/Queer series.

note: if you find this post familiar, it's because i've posted this on Reddit before. reposting here for archival purposes

TOR THANAPOB

Tor Thanapob interview in April 2023 when being asked about starring in Midnight Museum (a queer-coded GMMTV series) - (translation by infinitygraph_)

Tor: I think nowadays we should stop talking about gender. It doesn't mean that I have to act with women all the time or I can't act with men at all. I feel that I have proved to everyone that, work is work, and everything is about art. Even my team who are staying with me all the time has all kind of sexualities. It's not strange if someday we want to try telling story of other sexualities that we feel that we might be able to help them telling. If you ask me if today I am like that, today I might not, but I have a chance to understand them more, so I want to do it. Q: Is it because of the spoiler that [Midnight Museum] might be a series Y (BL)? Tor: Nothing to do with it. I tell you, sincerely, it has nothing to do with the spoiler. I just want to say that you don't have to overthink about it because nothing is fixed. Actors are actors. These days there are some award shows don't divide genders into categories anymore. I think this is a great step. Actresses also don't have to act with men all the time, they can act with women. And they both being the main characters Right. Because not all the main characters from every project have to come with the word 'love'. Even if there's 'love', there're many kinds of love. It's up to the audience what kind of feeling they have. Do they feel the same as me or they even feel more than I do? Q: So that means these days you can accept the work without any limit about what you are, which genders... Everything is about the story/script-writing? Tor: Right. I admit that I was afraid before. I wasn't afraid about my image, I was afraid that I would tell the story without understanding it, because I didn't have any experience at all. But at some point I found the chance to be more open-minded, brave to act it out all the way, such as Midnight Museum...

Tor's Vogue Interview in February 2024 on Spare Me Your Mercy as another important milestone as an actor (all translation by saltymarbles on twitter)

Tor: As for Euthanasia, I’ve been interested in it just from its name. If we were to go back in time to the period of the Prime Ministerial elections last year, there was some talk regarding the laws about euthanasia. As such, I know the meaning of it but if I had to explain it, I wouldn’t dare to because I don’t know that deeply about it. Tor: Up to the day that this drama happens, the owner of this project told me he wanted to set this question before anything changed in society: ‘Actually, are humans capable of choosing their death?’. Tor: This question shot through the core of my brain and immediately, i was like: ‘I need to tell this story’. And the role that he hoped to give me also served that function too. It’s a character which sets up the question of ‘what is right?’.(t/n: "this question" likely refers to a more philosophical kind of question regarding morality which asks what does being ‘correct’ mean — what is ‘objective morality’ (if it exists)) Tor: Do the people who are really suffering have the right to ask to leave? (t/n: "leave" is just a polite way of saying die (Thai people usually don’t use directly use the word die when talking about humans, usually use a more polite way like how we say ‘passed away’ or ‘xyz has left us’) Tor: Thus I decided to play along with knowing that the timeline of Euthanasia will remain with one in a hundred (people), so I like shades of the polar opposite. If the first story is navy blue, the other will be red — not close at all.

NONKUL CHANON

Nonkul's response to the question “If you have a chance, would you consider playing in a BL series? If accepted, who do you to co-act with?” in a Facebook Q&A video in 2021

Nonkul: If that series is an interesting storyline for me, I am always open to any kind of genre. I never categorized BL series as an BL series, I just think of it as a series with another plot as part of my work. It is a normal series that can have any of the plots which I will categorize as Romantic Comedy, Drama or whatever. Thus, when I choose the BL series I want to work with, the love preference of the character does not affect my decision. If the plot of the series is interesting, of course I’m gonna do it for sure. Every work that I chose, I personally think it at least enjoyable for me. Of course, if in the future, there are BL series with plots that I find interesting, that I enjoyed the script. “Like, wow, that’s my type!”, I will definitely selected it to be my future project. A good written series is a good series. This is what I believe as an actor. For BL Series, I think I can work with everyone. I don’t think I have anyone in particular. One thing! I desire the character of that person/actor? to be close to the character in the series. At that point I will be satisfied. Sometimes, I as an actor have a chance to work with people who don't have a lot of acting experience. I will still discover something new from him as well. And there is a BL novel which I really like! [Nonkul explains the plot of his favorite BL Novel ‘Peremo’] I would prefer to choose the “heroine” role because it will be a new experience for me as an actor because it will be a new experience for me as an actor. Because basically I only play as a hero role for the main character or support character in my work, but a “heroine” role in a BL series is the only chance for me to play a character more feminine. So it is a new experience for me. [Nonkul continues raving about 'Peremo’]. But if you think that you can make [an adaptation of Peremo], please do not forget me, Nonkul! Pleaseeeeeeee, I will do my best, I promise!!! However, I’m not only fixated on this novel. I’m also open for many more BL series if there is an interesting plot.

Nonkul's response to being ask if he's worried about filming NC scenes in IFYLITA (translation by saltymarbles)

Nonkul: I have to say when I had finished reading [the novel] and it’s made me want to act (in this series). I am probably worried more about the CG because if it’s a fantasy story with time travel, if the CG isn’t good, people will feel that it’s ‘off’. Because CG is something we don’t know anything about until we see the final product. One of the reasons that I accepted this role is because for some series, when I’ve read (the script/novel) for homework, I don’t accept them because there are some scenes that are forced in just for the sake of fan service. And I’m not really into that. If it’s a natural NC scene, then I’m not bothered. I’m a person who places a lot of importance on the story in series making sense. So to me, if an NC scene is reasonable, I won’t be bothered by it. But if it seems forced, I’m not into it. It’s important to show human-ness.

Two clips of Nonkul being asked what he thinks about doing NC scenes in IFYLITA (Clip 1 and Clip 2). Nonkul said that he places great importance on the character's actions. If an NC scene is reasonable he wouldn't mind but would if it's not reasonable. For Nonkul, understanding character is very important, especially for himself as an actor. Nonkul also said previously he had rejected some BL series offers because he can feel when NC scenes are put in just for fan service, which is also a reason why Nonkul accepted to play Jom in IFYLITA is because the love scenes are natural and make sense.

JJ KRISSANAPOOM aka JAYLERR

JJ's interview in February 2024 on Spare Me Your Mercy and his chemistry with Tor (translation by saltymarbles)

JJ: The pilot of ‘Euthanasia’ has been received well since the novel has many fans already who are excited about it. JJ & Tor are similarly excited and are committed to doing their best. The chemistry between Tor & JJ need not be questioned according to JJ since they are already close with each other. The series is in the phase of pre-production currently.

One of my favorite fictional characters of ALL TIME (not just in Thai or BL series) has got to be Tangmo from Great Men Academy (2019) (the series that a lot of BL audience refused to admit it's a queer series). The character Tangmo (played by Jaylerr) was questioned by the press about his gay crush on the protagonist: "Do you think being gay affect your chance of winning the competition?" to which his reply was a stellar "Well then let me ask you something, Does being gay make my good deeds meaningless?"

This isn't the first time JJ has played a queer role, JJ has played a gay character in TWO seasons of the LGBTQ+ series Diary of Tootsies (2016 and 2017). JJ plays Gus, the love interest of the main character.

So even though many BL fans consider Spare Me Your Mercy to be JJ's "first" BL series (which I don't agree with this strict interpretation of BL series), it is definitely not his first QL (Queer Love) series nor queer-adjacent roles as shown through out his filmography.

It is also noteworthy that even during the airing of these series, JJ was already in a public relationship with his fellow actress girlfriend Thanaerng (who has also played sapphic roles). You can see that the real life relationship of JJ or Thanaerng do not influence how/what projects they take on because work is just work :D

BRIGHT RAPHEEPHONG (all translation by saltymarbles on twitter)

Bright at Mono29 Lineup event

Bright: I think that, as I’ve previously said, BL series are just like other ordinary series or movies. Like IFYLITA can be changed to be said to be more like a period drama. I feel that BL is just about two people loving each other, not about whether it’s about male-male or female-male. This series is a period drama and it’s a romantic comedy and the other series is an action drama.

Bright's Interview with LIPS Magazine

Q: What if one day, we’re sucked in by the ship? Bright: I think fans in this day and age don’t need actors to do fan service to that extent. For myself, I’ve never intended for it to be the foundation (of his work). I think it’s a matter of being partners and working together. As such, it’s somewhat good in every aspect because it’s not forcing it. But in some moments, there may some actions that may just be the result of being friends. So even if fans ship, it’s cute to me. (smiles) Q: Do you feel a sense of “newness” stepping into a full-fledged BL? Bright: I feel that BL series are another branch of acting. I don’t think of it as being a specific form of male to male communication. It’s just another type of series just like action dramas, comedy etc, it’s just another kind of role that we can play.

Bright's Interview with Praew Magazine

Q: How is it working with Nonkul? Bright: Nonkul is a person who already does a good job at his work. He does his homework and he is also good at delivering and receiving emotions when on set. It isn’t just Nonkul who is great but the other characters in this series too, this includes P’Tee, the director. We can always talk about ideas which made the work even better. If asked whether entering the scenes with Nonkul made me shy, I would say that BL series are just another branch (of acting), it is just another role. I don't think that when acting with another man, that there’s a need to feel anything. I feel that it’s just another form of work. Another thing is that our workshops were very complete. When we work together I know what level and extent I can go to, what I should do and also trying my best in how I should feel. Thus, I felt at ease working together.

Bright’s Interview with NineEntertain

Q: Are you happy to do “ship” activities like this? Bright: I feel that if there’s an opportunity with regards to being an actor, I don’t want to be stuck in ships like this. I accepted this role with the status of an actor and I want to accept various roles too. It doesn’t always need to be BL or a specific kind of series. I will have another series next year which is ordinary boy-girl relationship and not a BL series. I feel that BL series are just another category of series — not like BL series are just BL series. It’s another category like action, romcom, or drama. It’s just another category. Q: There is still the possibility of coming to act as per usual. (unclear of what the interviewer said) Bright: I feel that with every work opportunity, it’s more about the script and storyline of the work that I were to accept. For example, I accepted the role of Khun Yai in IFYLITA as i felt that it was a script that was suitable for me. I didn’t think of it as “oh it’s a BL series, I need to accept it” because to be honest, I have been contacted for various BL series but because [IFYLITA] storyline is really good, I wanted to try acting in it. Q: What is the difficulty of acting in BL as an actor? Bright: I feel like there isn’t any difference compared to regular series. I feel that when two men love each other or kiss, I don’t think of it as (me and) a man, I think of it more as each of the characters or persons. Q: Does that affect the trend of being a ship? Bright: Hmm… Actually I am not able to answer that because I feel like it depends on people’s perspectives. Because some people may prefer that (an actor) has a (onscreen) gf/bf but some people may be upset about it. I feel like the trend depends on the people’s perspectives as people have different ways of thinking (about it). I think that I am open to listening to all different opinions on this. I feel that working (in this industry), you should be able to explore different things and you should not be fixed in one thing. We need to continue moving onto the next thing. I feel that Non has his own work and I also have my own work, and other actors too have their own upcoming work. It doesn’t mean that coming to act in IFYLITA means that you stay in IFYLITA forever. Q: Some may feel that it’s sad their their ship is coming to an end and that they are gonna work with different people. Bright: Actually, there are still some upcoming pair events but as I’ve said earlier, everyone needs to continue to do their own duties as an actor. Q: What if people change their minds about shipping your ship in the future? Bright: I think it’s a normal thing. I feel that when someone (likes us), they also like our work. I feel like our fanclub likes both Yai and Jom, and they also like Bright and Non. They like the characters and that Bright and Non play these characters and they so they like us at this point. I feel like people who came to like us are also fans of other people. I feel that they are a source of encouragement for me when they like me but I am also glad if they meet someone new or support another person. I feel happy when they come to meet me and if they’re happy when they meet other (celebs), it’s a good thing for them. If there’s a new person, an older person, a regular person or a person they just met that they are happy to meet, I feel that it’s nothing to be stressed about. Let’s say a fan comes and likes me and is following my work and there’s someone new who enters and they like their work, I am glad for them to go support that other person because that person can bring happiness to the fan.

Wow, I really got carried away with this compilation but as a fan who's followed Nonkul, JJ and Tor since their Nadao days, watching them star in queer-coded series/roles like Bangrak Soi 9/1, Hormones, Diary of Tootsies, Great Men Academy... (or in Bright's case a gay character in lakorn Rivalry), I'm just so proud that they have been able to receive "BL" series script offers that they would like to take on.

I've never sat well with the difference in the treatment of the press to "BL actors" and "non-BL actors". I wish there weren't such a distinction because it feels like the notion itself holds a lot of prejudices baggage with it, to both "BL" and "non-BL" actors. To quote a friend on Reddit, "I believe most actors would feel more fulfilled if they knew their fans loved/respected them as individual artists, instead of only seeing them as one part of a unit whose value is lower when 'separated' from their official partner."

[riverianepondsims]

The Sims 4 to The Sims 3 | target retail collection

Hey all, happy holidays ☃️! Here's a new conversion set from simkoos to introduce your Sims to shopping where you go for one thing, but spend §200 somehow...

Important info and download 💾 under the cut:

I have so many WIPs and so many already converted sets I haven't posted but this one has been on my to-do list for a while! Target is a trendy, quiet, and very red department store chain here in the US, and now in SimNation too. So, here's what is included in this set: Target Checkout Counter - Deco, has lots of slots (works great w/ATS3's counter base for registers). Original mesh by Severinka. Target Shopping Cart - Deco, has lots of slots. Original mesh by Severinka. Has been decimated somewhat to reduce polycount. Target Self Checkout Machine - 3 versions Mesh by ScodeeYodee - I decimated this mesh significantly (by 50% for HLOD, 70% for MLOD). It's still a little high poly, as the original was over 16k. I also edited the texures a bit (smoothed out). Version 1 - Deco only, has lots of slots. Version 2 - Savvy Seller Register (TS3 Store), retains deco slots. Version 3 - Savvier Seller Register (Ani's mod), retains deco slots. Retail Display Table - 3 versions (all have a lot of slots) Version 1 - Deco only Version 2 - Savvy Seller Pedestal (TS3 Store) Version 3 - Savvier Seller Shelf (Ani's Mod) Retail 1x1 Shelf - 3 versions (all have slots) Version 1 - Deco only Version 2 - Savvy Seller Pedestal (TS3 Store) Version 3 - Savvier Seller Shelf (Ani's Mod)

Retail 2x1 Shelf - 3 versions (all have slots) Version 1 - Deco only Version 2 - Savvy Seller Pedestal (TS3 Store) Version 3 - Savvier Seller Shelf (Ani's Mod) Target Unfolded Shopping Bag - 2 versions Version 1 - Deco only, mesh by ATS4 Version 2 - Acts as WA storage chest, requires WA EP Target Folded Shopping Bag - Deco, mesh by ATS4 Target Small Sale Signs - Wall Deco Target Large Sale Signs - Wall Deco Target Wall Ads - Wall Deco Simple Modern Tumbler - Deco H2.0 Quencher Tumbler - Deco Simlish Target Store Sign - Wall Deco Target Logo Sign - Wall Deco Target Outdoor Sculpture - Deco Target Outdoor Bollards - Deco EfficientJet Mop - Wall Deco Bonus Item: Gift Card Display - 2 versions This item is by TheGoldSim! Version 1 - Deco only Version 2 - Works as a Greeting Card Display (PhoebeJay's mod) Collection File - This goes in your Collections > User folder, is simply a folder that has all of the items together in-game for ease of access. The versions of items that require either WA, the Savvy Seller TS3 Store Set, Ani's Savvier Seller Mod, or PhoebeJay's mod will not work without having those items/packs downloaded and installed separately - I just added the script to them so they will function as such if you already have them! If you don't have them, they will function just like the deco versions. Additionally, some of the shelves may or may not require the Generations EP as they were cloned from the GEN shelves. Ani's Savvier Seller Mod: https://www.nraas.net/community/The-Savvier-Seller PhoebeJay's Greeting Card Mod: https://modthesims.info/d/664311/send-greeting-cards.html

🔍 Search: You can search for riverianepondsims, simkoos, target, retail, or 2023 to locate the items conveniently using a catalog search mod. Credits for this set again (thank you!): Simkoos Severinka ScodeeYodee GoldSim ATS4 (Sandy) Ani PhoebeJaySims Special shoutout goes to @tangledhelix, who is building an awesome Target lot! I can't wait to see the finished version :)

- You can find all of my previous uploads conveniently by clicking “Navigation” on my blog and going to “Downloads” or visiting riverianepondsims downloads

My downloads will always be free, but if you would like to say thank you: Ko-fi ☕ 💾 Download: SFS - Individual items | SFS - Archive file

🛍️💳🛒

[narcissistcookbook]

i have basically no social intuition.

i don't mean the scripted things. i learned hello and goodbye and thank you and please early on and was A Very Polite Boy. i mean the stuff they can't teach you - the things that require a load of in-the-moment calculations to determine if something i say/do will be normal or weird and how it'll make people feel.

well in that case how do you even function in social situations? i hear you ask.

easy! literal decades of sheer, balls to the wall social terror and humiliation day after day meant i was able to gather enough data to memorise where the traps hide!

i mention this because i'm in my 30s and it's really only recently i've caught myself going to say or do something before a part of my brain kicks in and goes: "hey, if you say this it could be misinterpreted in this series of ways which could have this series of unintended consequences, or it could be insensitive to this person if conditions X, Y or Z have been met without your knowledge, or it could be considered disrespectful considering what you know about the multitude of contexts present"

and that's a new experience for me! hurray for growth i guess!

[sims3fiend]

Sims3SettingsSetter thing

OLD POST REALLY SORRY IF YOU BOOKMARKED THIS I'M DUMB LMAO

NEW: https://www.tumblr.com/sims3fiend/764382296987025408/sims-3-settings-setter?source=share

---

Was bored ripping my hair out trying to do optimizations so I made this instead of anything actually worthwhile. For now it's mostly just a novelty. Rushing it out as I'm at work 4x12hrs starting tomorrow :)

This is a ALPHA IT SHOULD BE SAFE BUT IT MIGHT ALSO NOT BE. Speedwriting this post as I've gotta go sleepy.

Ignore the strange names for things i-it's an alpha.

Simsfileshare

To use, have an ASI loader like this or maybe this and shove it into the folder where the sims 3 exe is. Press insert to toggle

What it does:

Renderer Flags:

This was the original idea and what this was solely going to be. I found a function that set things like wireframe and other renderer things, so I made a script for it.

Some useful things it can do are turning drop shadows off, which is nice for reshade as it lets you do a better looking AO. Some people might find the pips, scene boxes, etc. useful but idk. Some of it is neat to look at I guess.

Game Values:

Just the one for now, max lots, it's still effected by the weird range/frustum cull thing that effects shadows, so outside of that range extra lots wont load. These are going to be static values that can be edited ingame. There's a few other ones I've found like ObjectSizeCullFactor but I need to properly test them. I'll also add some informational ones that can't be changed like loaded object count, etc.

Game Config:

This is where things went off the rails…

I'm hooking two functions here to grab and set boolean and string config values directly as they're called in memory, which is important as some are overridden or altered, or aren't listed in the files at all (ForceHighLODObjects my beloved). Currently it lists mostly everything in the SGR file and some ini settings. The boolean stuff is a pretty sure bet, the strings might be overwritten elsewhere idk. Please keep in mind that some of these settings can be very damaging to your game and sanity, do not use ones you don't recognize on a save you love.

To enable the config overwrite, tick the box next to it and hit save. They won't do anything unless the box is checked.

I'll be adding tunables (like LightingCommon) into the list… eventually. Currently they're a little… weirdly/interestingly/uniquely written in the decomp'd functions I've been looking at, so I haven't been able to get their values. There's probably a really simple way of doing all of this in one of the dlls or packages or something but idk. If you know lmk.

I'll also probably try and find the in memory location of some of them, so they can be changed ingame without the need to restart.

Issues:

If you have any problems/info please message me either on discord(fleshtexture) or tumblr ! Keep in mind it's still an ALPHA (or whatever) and I haven't really tested it that extensively.

Known problems:

Config sorting is yucky

Code looks yucky, weird names for things, don't look until I rewrite!

There was a freezing issue due to how I was hooking d3d9 but I think I fixed it? Idk I've never used imgui before.

[maletofujoshi]

I dont think it's worth dooming about AI art because largely i still think audiences that are invested in art largely are compelled by process about as much (and sometimes more) than end product, and i'm not sure that AI models can really catch up with process. even when people cared a lot about AI images during their sorta bizarre nonsense era, it was kinda because of the inscrutable process creating works that were like. fun to think about. like remember 2021 neuralblender and the like?

this was fun because it was the kind of image that like... only an AI model would think to make, and there's elements of it that would likely be difficult for human artists to replicate-- not impossible, but like, difficult. as such this image was and is captivating to many people. current AI image generators are basically trying to imitate either photography or, especially now, particular illustrators or particular styles of art. except like. it skips past the process, or like, the process is completely different and like. not i think especially compelling? ppl might think differently about that but there's something about like a heavily rendered AI anime girl that is less interesting to me to an otherwise heavily rendered anime girl. i remember coming across a dark fantasy genre artist on tumblr, and i was about to send them an ask about how they got a certain texture in what looked like digital work-- before i looked closer and realized "ah, this is AI, they can't give me a replicable answer." that dampened my enjoyment of images that were otherwise fun to look at. this maybe sounds bad, but without process, an object becomes kinda kitschy to me. the art-object itself is more functional than anything at that point, like how "fountain" is interesting because of the presentation of it as art, though a urinal is just a urinal otherwise.

thinking about it with games, i think there's a lot of interesting lines people draw there: what elements of development would you have a problem with if you found out some developer used AI for them? image generation is particularly useful for textures, but texture work is something a lot of people care a lot about. people care about photography, painting, and image editing... but what about like, generating a height map for that texture? what about photographing a texture, and then asking like some AI model to make it tile better? different people care about different things more or less. there's games out there who's textures tell like, interesting stories, "Sonic Adventure"s developers went on trips to places in the real world and took photos and used them in the game. that's like, really very appreciable, and makes me admire that game more-- but like also. there's a lot of games where i kinda either don't think about the texture work at all, or only really admire it for obvious observable qualities- the end product.

Using AI for code is another thing. I think like, it's kinda obvious that people would do this. programming is like an obvious use case for a language model, and i think it's questionable when people get up in arms about it. programs like RPGmaker are kinda highly appreciated for essentially taking out "programming" as a required skill to make games. this enabled a lot of artists and writers to create games, with mostly 'readymade' tools, which led to a lot of interesting art... obviously there's still programming work involved, event scripting, custom mechanics, but like i think that's similar to having to think about scripts at least somewhat even if you're getting some AI model do a lot of the work of implementation for you... but then again, there's games that are beautiful for systems that are programmed, and thought up by highly skilled people.

basically i think a lot of AI takes away the work in areas people don't necessarily care about. and that's a subjective thing. there might be a lot to care about in those areas. it makes me feel kinda bad seeing like, clipart go away in advertising. like. i saw some ad that had this AI generated art of a bowl of noodles, and it was passable from a distance, but there were a lot of problems with it that annoyed me, mistakes a trained human illustrator wouldn't make-- bad tangents, lines that didn't actually flow. but also like. okay. so what. like that's not art i necessarily care about being good... but like otherwise. process is literally cool and a lot of process will kinda have to remain human. i'd be weirded out if i saw some major company using a shoddy generated image like that because it'd feel cheap. similar to how it's a bit cheap when a game opts for 'readymade' assets.. if there's still some interesting process elsewhere there, interesting thought, that still creates intrigue. but i wouldn't be interested in like, an asset flip without ideas, lol.

tldr; i dont think writing, art, or programming are dead forever now, but like if ur writing copy, making illustration, or doing amateur work or something you will probably struggle with finding cheaper clients. which does kinda suck tbh. finding an audience that appreciates ur work and the process behind it will probably just be as variable as it always has been, though.

[whiplimbed]

Service top! Fletcher. ?

pull up a chair my friend.

(disclaimer that i'm ofc talking about my own specific interpretations here mainly as they pertain to my own fics, so ymmv)

so here's my thing: the fletcher in my brain is kinda already a service top and that informs so much of what i write for him. obviously in my fics it's skewed by andrew's perspective (for now...) but i really do see the things he does in sexual situations being done in service to andrew and based on what he needs/wants in that particular moment, and fletcher being so attuned to his psychological inner workings that he can provide it without needing to be asked.

i think he sees caring for andrew (with the word caring being used very loosely lmao) as part of his duty as his mentor, his cosmic punishment as his abuser, and his dual honor/burden as his creator. i mentioned it a bit in my fletcher bottom reply, but i do think there's a certain worshipfulness to the way he treats andrew because he really is a god among men and no one knows that better than fletcher. he fashioned a god out of clay with his bare hands and now he's having to resculpt it every six seconds so it doesn't completely fall apart.

the great thing about this dynamic is that, because he's the one who made andrew, andrew requires the exact brand of care and service he's able to provide. fletcher can't be nice, but andrew wouldn't want it even if he could. andrew needs cruelty, he needs a firm hand, he needs to be put in his place and slapped and degraded and humiliated to function at this point. he's hardwired for adrenaline and it's fletcher's job to give him a constant supply, which he of course does gladly– but i do think he does it because andrew needs it moreso than because he himself wants it (which he would of course never admit but the point still stands).

on the other hand, i do think fletcher enjoys doing things for him on a more basic, traditional level too. i think he likes the notion of being a carer (looking at you, child he has in the script that is inexplicably absent from his life and sweet interaction with the random little girl before the concert) and there is something paradoxically nurturing about him, even if it is in a uh... nontraditional way. and the beautiful thing about taking care of andrew as opposed to, say, a child or an animal or whatever, is that it doesn't really matter if he fucks up because andrew's already a splintered wreck of a human being. he doesn't need to offer constant reassurance or nurturing or vulnerability, he's allowed to be closed off and cruel and kick him when he gets frustrated and andrew will thank him for it!!!

ANYWAY, YOU'RE HERE FOR SEX, I KNOW. but all of that informs how i write sex for him and i needed to talk about it lmao.

so sexually speaking, i think fletcher already draws a lot of his own personal pleasure from what he gives to andrew and how andrew reacts to it. even when he slaps him and chokes him and calls him slurs, the pleasure he's getting out of it isn't in dominating andrew so much as it is the fact that andrew likes it. i think he finds andrew (and the nigh-nonexistent limits of what he's capable of not only taking but actively enjoying) fascinating and hot and horrifying all at once. i really truly believe he looks at andrew every single day of his life and wonders how a person like him could even exist. andrew is the sum of everything he spent his entire life trying to create, what he was beginning to doubt was even possible to create, and he wants to hold him and all of his miraculousness as close as possible for as long as possible. he wants to fucking destroy him, sure, but then he also wants to be there to put the pieces back together again. he is but the humble and loyal advisor to the mad boy-king he has created, and if said boy-king needs to get pummeled into a fine pulp and fucked so hard he can't sit on the kit without remembering what they did for weeks, then, well. who is he to deny him that y'know 😊🫶

and i think he would also be very much happy to take a more passive top role if andrew was in the mood to be more of a power bottom type. in fact i think he would secretly enjoy that just as much in its own way but never ever admit to it ever. i think there's a certain amount of pride he feels when andrew out-monsters him in any context, but to be the subject of his cruelty WHILE getting ridden so hard it might send him into an early grave??? stunning showstopping awe-inspiring

(and also i can see a world in which they're both in good moods and inebriated beyond shame and just fuck like normal human beings with no goal or game beyond feeling good. a rare glimpse into what normalcy could look like for them that they are only capable of accessing under precise perfect circumstances. but man... fletcher going slow and just seeing what kind of noises he can get out of him... sigh... you know a relationship is fucked when that feels paragraph feels kinkier than anything i have written before it lmao. AND FOR THEM IT IS! it really is. that's the shit that would give them horrible morning after shame where they can't look each other in the eyes for a couple hours. and then fletcher will call him a faggot and smack him upside the head and all will be normal again ofc <3)

[nicstylus]

Fellow SP fan artist here, do you have any tips on designing sigils? I’d love to draw China more but any time I try my hand at putting sigils on her, they never feel quite right. Do you have a process on figuring sigils out?

Hello! This turned into a REALLY long post I'm so sorry, but I'm flattered you're asking me for advice! Take everything I say with a grain of salt bc there are absolutely no thoughts in my head :]

Okay, here's a secret. You can't tell anyone okay? It's suuuuper important that we gatekeep this. /j I go into a sigil design with absolutely no idea what's going to come out of it. Maybe I have like a very basic shape in mind, but generally I just scribble until something pops out at me and then I keep adding stuff and erasing until a cool design happens. I come up with the meanings as an afterthought, and usually only if someone asks about them; Skulduggery's right facade sigil is the one exception because I went into designing that with the reflections sigil in mind. My China's tattoos are all designed with only 'ooo that looks cool' in mind.

Under the cut: My personal process, How to design sigils (with n without function in mind,) references, and two of my super secret!! canvases

Warnings: doll-like nutity, blood and burns, a lil angst

Here's my personal process: - Scribble - oh I like that shape - make thicker and erase designs into it - Figure out where it would fit on her body - Panic when someone asks what it means - Gaslight myself into seeing a function - Profit

How to design sigils:

Think about where it's going to go on the body.

The back is a bigger canvas than the forearm. What will fit there?

If you're designing sigils with a function in mind:

Is the function used often? It should be easily accessible.

Is the function an emergency or last resort? You shouldn't be able to bump it, but it should still be easy to reach.

Arms, face, and chest are easy to reach. Legs are harder and you need wiggle room. Palms, hips and thighs are good for subtle taps or stealth sigils. Are your hands bound behind your back? What can you put within reach that will help?

What shapes resonate with the function? Triangles could mean fiery or offensive functions. Squares could be defensive. Circles are good catch-all designs. Circles are very magicy

If you're designing sigils without function in mind:

Think about design: Use negative space! Use thick lines or thin lines or both! Overlap shapes and angles! What looks cool?

Do you want them to all flow together? Do you want patchwork? Both are valid! Maybe one arm is a sleeve, and one is patchy!

You can design the sigil first and figure out where it fits on the body, or you can keep the body part in mind while you're designing.

I like thicker sigils/designs, so I start with a blob of ink or a solid shape and erase until something pops out at me.

For thinner designs, the opposite applies. Scribble until something resonates with you or looks cool. What shapes go together?

I like to write little sigil 'letters' alongside thick lines or shapes.

Have fun with it! You can figure out technical stuff later, or never!

References:

I like to use the Twilight Princess Hylian alphabet if I get stuck, or if I have a function in mind. If you glue a bunch of letters together and erase bits, eventually something looks magicy! (Different Zelda titles have different Hylian letters, so you could mix n match as well)

Maybe you use a different sort of script you like. Maybe a code or sorts, or icons from medias you like. Take letters or characters from languages and warp them into something that looks like a sigil

How badly can you draw a 5? There's a sigil! Can you use dots instead of lines? Now add random lines! There's a sigil!

Circles are always good starting points. Eyes are good details. Egyptian glyphs and runes are good starting points. Just make sure not to rip anyone off :]

My China only has like two or three sigils that I went in knowing what I wanted it to look like overall, and those are: - The huge sigil wheel on her back, which I knew I wanted to be a a big circle with swirling symbols and such. - The belt-like design around her waist, I knew I wanted those to look like the top of Midna's Helmet - The upside down crown like triangles on her forehead (which have sort of changed to how I wanted them originally) and the designs under her eyes and on her chin and throat. There's many ways to come up with sigils, and here's another secret: They don't all have to have meaning! My China has a ton of designs, but I've only assigned functions to a handful of them

Keeping it consistent:

I also have a 'China sigil map' I have for reference, but it's not even fully filled out because I got distracted. If part of her skin is visible and I haven't drawn that part of her body before (like the ONE time I drew her back, or her left leg or something) I come up with the sigil then and there xD If you're interested, this is what my 'sigil map' reference canvas looks like. It's nowhere near complete and frankly, a huge mess: but it works for me. Started this like a year ago and just kept adding to it when I needed to

Here's my canvas of previous China references I use to keep everything consistent

Here's where I started rambling and I can't be bothered to edit it, so its prob repetitive lol

One tip I do have is decide if you want thin or thick designs. My China started off with thin and squiggly sigils, which ultimately I never actually liked, but now she has thicker tattoos and I think it feels more athetotic If you go a thinner route, I recommend using lots of squirls and angles together and finding one basic shape and then adding to that. A good example of this are my facade tattoo designs, where I took the reflections sigil and altered it, or took the hourglass shape and added smaller designs around it. However, if you go with thicker designs like I have, ERASE more than you draw. I start with a blob of ink, and then erase designs into it. I reallllly like how negative space is used in tattoos and think about that as I'm designing Chinas sigils as well.

If you're going into designing a sigil with the intent of 'this is going to make her skin hard like iron' then think about where she would logically put it? - To me, that sounds like a 'tap the chest' sort of sigil. The chest is a bigger canvas than a forearm or something, so it can be bigger and more detailed. - Maybe instead, it's two sigils, one on each arm, and she crosses her arms to active it. Okay, that's two smaller sigils bc you have less space for detail. - What reminds you of iron skin? It's defensive, so that makes me think of squares and hard angles. Maybe you straight up draw a shield shape and erase markings into said shield. yeah sigils n stuff! Thanks for the ask and hopefully this was somewhat helpful :]