#I'd give them a shoutout if I could remember

[deafeninggardenerpanda]

i'd love to hear about manmaru metadede !!! i heard it's really Gay but no one ever details it. not a lot of it is translated too, as far as i know, but i really like it.. any excuse to talk about something you like is good too

NO YEA not a lot is translated and the manga itself is already more niche compared to like, mopupupu so its not too well known. translation efforts have really started picking up the past year though (shoutout to @/kirby-manga-translated they do great work). if it needed to be restated for new followers since i havent tl'd in a while, i know a decent amount of japanese so i read them on my own :)c

shoutout to my guy @/rosakikoza as well for giving me his scans hehe. the majority of images below are his or taken from his scans. the rest are mine

*deep breath* the tangent. im gonna need to put this under a cut dont mind me 😍😍😍 did i say 3 paragraphs? i meant 20. like 20 paragraphs

meta knight is absolutely pathetic and incredibly down bad for dedede this manga. its adorable. multiple people ive talked to or seen have come to the conclusion it seems like he has a huge crush on him. a quick brief for those who dont know but this mangas meta is admittedly Veryyyyy different from how you'd expect a meta knight to be. uncharacteristically friendly and cheerful and. pathetic is really the best word for it. hes kinda a loser. incredibly protective of dedede, he switches between two modes of fussing over him quite a bit and semi-often going into incredible rage bloodlust modes over protecting him or his image (youll see a good amount of jp fanwork depict this version of him as a yandere for that reason)

theres also been more than one occasion where meta knight tries to commit seppuku upon accidently doing something he sees as unforgivable towards his king (its in the chapter i just screenshotted above too, another time he broke dededes clock and freaked out about it). i-. dont consider this a cute ship thing for the record im just stating it to emphasize the extent of metas obsession towards dedede this manga. the mans got Problems...

apart from that, also quite differing from most interpretations of both of them, both of them seem to genuinely really like spending time around each other all the time. it comes off as casually domestic and is very cute...

regardless of my attempts to brief it, i dont feel like im explaining this very well so lemme just show you a frankly ridiculous amount of reasons for why i keep feeling like this mangaka ships metadede

-fake kiss: self explanatory

-fake proposal: also self explanatory

mk: Will you marry me!?

ddd: Yes!

context for this scene is that theyre rehearsing for a play, but actually its later revealed that meta knight is playing the princess while dedede is playing the male protag so im not exactly sure it makes sense that hes the one proposing here. my speculation is that to make the proposal seem legit for the gag they Had to use meta LMAO but thats just my take

also to be noted, right after kirby hears the proposal he immediately runs off and tries to tell everyone the news before ddd+mk stop him and explain that its fake. hes not thrown off or weirded out at the idea that they could be getting married in the slightest. kirby says gay rights Real i love him sm

-this one is from what i call the memory loss chapter:

dedede loses his memories from getting hit in the head too hard. the gang figures out that beating dedede up or otherwise causing him injury causes him to regain some of them back though, to which kirby attempts to harm him with increasingly violent means, much to meta knights horror. mk spends the entire chapter trying to protect dedede from him, and it doesnt work obviously, but after a particularly hard hit dedede remembers everyone again... except for meta knight. to which meta knight gets upset about and lets kirby lay into dedede for real. you see where people get the yandere personality from now right. i dont recall this trait coming out too often but ill talk more about it later

-the whole chapter thats a cinderella retelling with dedede and meta knight. also also self explanatory COME ON LOOK AT THIS ONE. LOOK AT IT.

mk: Y…You're…

ddd: Wow, he's so beautiful!! It's like I'm dreaming…!

-theres the mangaka chapter which is a more recent one

the gang makes manga for dedede. meta knight's manga is about how cool, brave, and heroic dedede is. mysteriously enough however the only thing hes good at is drawing dededes face and nothing else. the implications of this one drive me absolutely insane. is it supposed to imply that meta knight stares at his face all day?? admires his appearance??? he looks at him so much he basically has his face memorized????? HUH???????? theres no heterosexual explanation for this. acting like a teenager with a crush out here got damn

=various images im sharing out of context because they r cute

head pats. holding hands and reaching the goal together. peak.

KNIGHT DRESSUP FOR THE KNIGHT. AHAAHGH

ddd: Hoho, pretty spiffy don'cha think?

mk: Ohh!? It suits you!!

fellas is it gay to shout "OHH! META KNIGHT!!" with a dopey grin on your face upon being saved like a damsel in distress

sometimes meta knight acts domestic as fuck too. his copy abilities as he states are: cook! clean!! and sleep!!!

regarding my thoughts on their dynamic in this series overall, i think theyre absolutely adorable. meta knight emits dog energy in this one. eager golden retriever towards dedede, though dedede has his sweet moments towards meta knight too. (viewing it with a shipping lens just for this post ofc) while meta is the more active crusher, some of the stuff above seems to imply that dedede has feelings in return as well :') they just get along really well too its great. theres a different chapter where they perform as a comedy duo. theyve done plays in multiple chapters. its my hc for these versions of them that they love doing performances of all kinds together and do a lot of rehearsals and writing in their free time...

and the yandere stuff i feel like i should address as well. i try not to take some aspects Too seriously because its to be expected things are over emphasized for the sake of the joke with gag mangas. but oh man the man definitely has problems. he needs therapy. i tried to be transparent in listing those aspects as well so people can make their own conclusions on it But theres one more thing id like to mention regarding that

meta knights personality has been shifting to be different from what i listed, as of the most recent volume. my beloved forgotten land arc... a first for this series in that, while the chapters still retain their gag humor and dont take themselves that seriously, its a serialized story that mostly follows along with the game plot that lasts nearly the whole volume (as opposed to other game arcs in this manga being episodic stories, using the games as their theme rather than a full on setting). with the more serious tone of the serialized story, theres a frankly startling hint of character development i never wouldve expected from a gag manga at the end of it

kirby gets ko'd the first round of the meta knight cup so meta knight joins the meta knight cup instead. turns out when he does that the final boss of the cup is dedede. meta knight Really doesnt want to hurt dedede and so dedede promptly kicks his ass without a second thought and wins the tournament. while the crowd cheers for dedede's victory, meta and dedede have a small talk where dedede tells him he doesnt need to fuss so much about hurting him/him getting hurt. presumably this is supposed to mark the end of meta knights intense overprotectiveness because (its never been clear-cut due to the nature of the manga previously, so its a lil hard to say) dededes shown he can handle himself, or like, isnt some fragile thing. i really hope itll stick around because i think its a great addition to both of their characters. the meta-knights have also been appearing way more frequently as of very recent chapters (ones that havent been compiled into a volume yet) which seem to also hint to meta knight getting more independence to his character from dedede's loyal servant. im very excited to see where it goes :D

and like, last last disclaimer if anyone needed it; even tho i love metadede and i like to see things through ship glasses sometimes i absolutely try my best to keep my biases out of my translations. putting out accurate translations means a lot to me! this entire post is me purposely putting the ship glasses on so please dont take it as "omg metadede is canon in this manga". you know way back when i was the only active translator for this manga someone tweeted at the mangaka on twitter mentioning that there were english translations around and he replied to that person. didnt respond to the fan translation thing specifically but the fact that he could know who i am definitely kinda terrifies me. if anyone goes around saying that his manga is the metadede manga because of me and he even has the slightest sliver of a chance of seeing that i will kill yall fr LOL

[3-2-whump]

You Told Me It Had Stopped

<prev next>

Hi again, everyone! Ready for more pain and angst? (I wasn't asking!)

So hard to believe we're reaching the end of this story! With only five more chapters to go after this one (unless I cram in more story at the last minute), things are only gonna get crazier from here, but hopefully, it'll be just as satisfying as the last few chapters.

Shoutout to my amazing beta readers @whumped-by-glitter and @generic-whumperz , this chapter would not be what it is without them!

This chapter will have links within it referring you to previous chapters. If you have not read In Vino (et Venenum) Veritas or Tying Up Loose Ends, I'd highly suggest you give those a peek

TW/CW: slave whump, intimate whumper, manipulative whumper, emotional angst, prostitution, dehumanization, blackmail, referenced noncon, forced to watch (though not in the traditional sense)

“GOAL!” the announcer’s voice rang out over the laptop’s speakers.

Nico and Khaled cheered in unison as Portugal secured its place in the quarterfinals. Nico wrapped an arm around Khaled to hug him close, but a flash of purple from Khaled’s shirt collar stopped him.

Khaled sensed the change in atmosphere immediately. “Wait, what’s wrong?” he asked, his smile waning slightly.

“Is that a hickey?”

The sounds of cheering from a stadium half a world away were forgotten as Khaled’s smile dropped completely. He instinctively tried to adjust his shirt collar, but Nico grasped his hands in his own before he could. “Is that a hickey?” he asked again, tone serious.

Khaled nodded as his eyes turned downwards. Nico let go of his hands, frowning all the while. “I thought it had stopped,” he said, letting the disappointment creep into his voice. “You told me it had stopped, Khaled.”

“It did stop,” Khaled answered, eyes still downcast. “But then… it started up again…”

“I thought he was paying you to be his executive assistant-”

“Oh he is,” Khaled replied tersely, “and he’s paying me for this too.”

Nico faltered. “But, how –why –how could you?” Nico told himself the anger he felt was supposed to be for the Boss, and that he was misdirecting it at Khaled, who was already going through so much already. Though, if he was being completely honest with himself, his anger at Khaled wasn’t that misdirected. He was so, so tired of being lied to. “Fuck the money, why would let him do it again?!” he demanded.

“Why would I let him do it again? Do you think I have any choice in this?”

“No –yes –wait, no?” Nico shook his head. “I don’t know. What I’m trying to say is, you could’ve turned down the money, couldn’t you?!”

“Like fuck I could!” Khaled argued. “Are you the one saving up for his freedom? Don’t talk to me about money, Nico!”

“What good is money and freedom when it means losing your self-respect, and your friendship with me, Khaled?!”

Khaled made an exaggerated snort. “Some friendship we have! Remember when you took me out drinking, and I got so drunk I told you everything?”

Nico cringed at the memory, and more importantly at what came after. Khaled noticed his discomfort right away and dug his claws in deeper. “And do you remember when the Boss paid you off to keep silent about me, and you fucking took the bribe?”

“He was holding my tuition hostage-”

“Your tuition –he’s holding me hostage!”

“-That was not a bribe!”

Khaled ignored the minute distinction. “It still hurt, you know!” And then, he locked eyes with Nico. “My first and only friend since I was stolen to this awful place turned his back on me, and all I asked myself was why wasn’t I good enough, why wasn’t I worth defending!” Despite the black flames of vitriol in his eyes, Nico could see a faint, vulnerable sheen of tears. 

“Wait, shit, no-” he began to apologize. The damage was done as Khaled shoved his coat on and walked to the door. Nico belatedly reached out his hand. “I’m sorry, Khaled! I didn’t mean to hurt you like that! Come back-”

“Go fuck yourself!” Khaled cried. “It’s not like you want to be friends with someone who sells themselves, anyway,” he murmured angrily as he let the door slam behind him.

Nico was left all alone with his regrets as the game played on his laptop in the background.

-

Three days after they had that argument, and Khaled had not seen Nico for lunch since. That was entirely expected though. He had hurt his friend immensely, and, three days later, he was still no closer to coming up with a sufficient apology for what he’d said. He decided to at least add the new mark to his log, although he regretted not being able to snap a covert picture of it to add to his records. He ducked into his backpack’s inner pocket to retrieve his flash drive, where he made it a habit of storing all evidence of Khaled’s abuse for future reference.

It was not in the inner pocket.

Well, maybe it’s in the bottom of my backpack? Nico reasoned. He methodically took out each textbook and groped around the bottom, shining his cellphone light down there, too.

It was not at the bottom of his backpack.

Where is it?! Nico tore through his backpack, searching it thoroughly, even so much as to turn it upside down and shake it. He checked every desk drawer again and again, and emptied every pants and jacket pocket. Still no flash drive.

A chiming sound from his monitor signaled an email, a high priority one at that. Nico paused his tearing apart of the guard shack to view it.

One (1) new message from The Boss

Nico clicked it.

Looking for something? Meet me downstairs to retrieve it.

It was succinct, yet it elicited so much dread. He gulped.

As if crossing the parking lot late at night in the dead of January wasn’t creepy enough, Nico stood at the top of the stairwell leading to the infamous T & I cellar, feeling the winter’s chill even inside the brick and mortar walls of the mansion. Even from the top of the stairs it smelled like dried blood, and the dimness of the room below made it look as if the stairs descended into an abyss. He steeled his nerves and descended into the abyss, step by concrete step, painfully aware of how much noise his shoes made in the quietness of the empty building.

Even though he had seen the T & I cellar in the security footage, Nico realized nothing compared to being down there in person. Dusty, red bricked walls arched into a curved ceiling where two overhead lamps dangled unlit like limp, long dead jellyfish. The fireplace was concealed behind a large white sheet, stretched taut and glowing bluish white over the expanse of the wall. The opposing wall still boasted its rack lined with various instruments of torture out in the open. In the middle sat one large table with scratch marks furrowed into its edges, and large mottled stains of red that could be traced down to the concrete floors below. Nico thought he would be sick just looking at the bloodstains alone. There were chairs pulled up to that table, though, one of which was occupied by the boss Don Costa himself, looking mighty smug in the dimness of the room. Near the edge of the table was a projector and a laptop, operated by Khaled, who stood silently beside the table bearing his own bloodstains as if he weren’t affected at all. His dark brown eyes flitted to Nico once, possibly just to confirm he was there, before resolutely fixing back onto the laptop and projector in front of him. Nico couldn’t blame him for being mad at him still.

“Nico Clemenza,” Don Costa greeted, breaking the tension between the two friends, “do you have any idea why you’re here?”

I’m not in trouble, I’m not in trouble, I’m not in trouble -am I? Nico thought. That tone of voice and the whole context of meeting in the T & I cellar certainly seemed to contradict that. “You have something that I’m looking for, sir?” He didn’t mean for it to be asked like a question, but right now he wasn’t sure what the safe answer would be.

“That’s right,” his boss affirmed, smirking condescendingly. “I got a little tip-off from Bennie and Michael last weekend that you have been rather cagey about a certain flash drive.”

Dad and Uncle Mike? The last time Nico had seen them was when he’d just visited home last weekend. He had gotten into an argument with his uncle over Khaled’s treatment, and he had pushed his dad out of his room when he’d asked about the flash drive labeled ‘Saved Footage’. Did they go through my stuff when I wasn’t there? Did they find the flash drive and snitch on me?! He knew the oath of loyalty these men had taken, but the betrayal by his own family still hurt.

“I asked Khaled about it, but my poor pet didn’t seem to know what it was for, either,” the boss continued. “So you can imagine how he reacted –how both of us reacted, when we plugged it in and saw all that saved footage.”

Nico’s face paled in horror, eyes widening as he realized how years-worth of Khaled’s torture saved to his personal device must have looked out of context. He quickly turned to Khaled to beg for his understanding. “Khaled, I can explain, it’s not what it looks like!” he protested. His friend finally turned toward him, delicate lips downturned into a slight frown. “I don’t know what he told you, but please, believe me, I can explain!”

“Oh, we know what it looks like,” Don Costa sneered. “It’s funny, I always wondered why you were so interested in my slave, but now it makes perfect sense!” He laughed as Nico’s jaw worked up and down, sputtering in a pathetic attempt to verbally defend himself. Khaled meanwhile stayed still as a statue, focusing only on the laptop screen in front of him. “I could just get you your own once you graduate, you know, like as a graduation present. You don’t have to lower yourself to befriend mine.” He tilted his head toward the projector. “So, here you were, playing at being friends with my pet while stealing away all those moments caught on film the whole time, whether it be for your own pleasure or-” The older man raised his eyebrows as a mischievous sharpness glinted in those cold gray eyes. “-Maybe you’re uploading them somewhere for the pleasure of millions?”

Nico choked a little at the baseless accusation.

“But, whether you’re saving them for your personal spank bank or uploading them to a porn site, you are still called down here for violating your NDA,” Thomas concluded. He whipped out a stack of papers and dramatically slammed them onto the table, the impact echoing a bit in the otherwise silent room. Nico eyed the stack of papers warily. When he first started working for Costa Insurance, he did what anyone else would and skimmed the document for the right places to initial or sign. Now, as a nearly completed law student, he recognized the weight of the consequences that violating an NDA would lead to.

“Go on, have a seat.”

Nico approached the table like a death row convict on the way to his execution. He lowered himself into the chair and stared down at the document before him, thumbing through its pages as he now read every word. He obviously must have taken too long, as the man seated in front of him cleared his throat impatiently as he murmured, “Page eight, paragraph B.”

Nico flipped there. “There shall be no extraction or publication of client’s names, addresses, accounts, or other personal information outside the grounds of Costa Insurance,” he read aloud.

Before he could ask for an explanation, Don Costa turned toward his slave, who had remained silent throughout the whole thing. “Khaled, play February 9, 2018.” Khaled typed into the laptop almost robotically as he brought up the footage from the specified date. There, projected on the makeshift screen for all three viewers in the room to see, was footage of Khaled lying naked on the ground with his hands tied behind his back, a silk tie wedged into his mouth, and Jaime’s boot on top of his head. Nico recognized it from the Key Game era.

“See, there,” the boss pointed out, referring to a desktop screen in the peripheral of the video.

Nico scoffed. “But you can hardly even read that!”

“Nevertheless, there is sensitive client information on that computer screen that cannot leave these grounds.” He nodded toward Khaled. “September 24, 2018.” Khaled obeyed, his face a calm mask of detachment as he pulled up another video of his own tortures. The next scene featured Khaled, on his knees, sucking off Nico’s uncle as he and the Boss talked business. “There, on the coffee table,” Don Costa directed him. The list of phone numbers was slightly more legible than the previous leak of sensitive information. A pit of dread opened in the bottom of Nico’s stomach. How many more of these videos coincidentally contained sensitive information in their periphery? Were they placed within the camera frame on purpose?

“Khaled, November 21-”

“I get it, I get it,” Nico objected, palms raised up. “I fucked up, I get it. So, what do you want me to do about it, sir?”

Don Costa’s mouth upturned into a sickening grin. “Easy! Destroy the flash drive, take down whatever videos you posted, and, should this data leak come to bite us in the ass one day, take full responsibility for it and resign,” he explained.

Destroy all the evidence? Nico gulped. He wasn’t keen on losing years’ worth of documented human rights abuses, but he also didn’t want to deal with the threat of litigation.

“What are you willing to give to see Khaled happy and free, as he should be?” Julio’s question haunted him. Nico summoned his courage to look the bastard in the eyes. “And if I refuse?” he asked.

Khaled visibly perked up, shooting a questioning glance at Nico’s rare moment of defiance. Meanwhile, the smile dropped off Thomas’ face. “Then I reenact every single thing I’ve done to Khaled that you’ve saved on that little flash drive of yours,” he threatened. Khaled’s attention focused back onto his master, and although Nico may have imagined it, the young man trembled. “You have years’ worth of footage, and the night is still young.”

“You’re bluffing,” Nico replied, ignoring the certainty in his mind that this man was not bluffing. “You nearly killed him last spring when you carved his back open! Are you really going to take that risk again?”

The boss merely shrugged. “He survived the last time, why not?” he asked nonchalantly.

Khaled’s face paled, taking on a sickly color as his trembling worsened. Nico folded. “Okay, okay, fine!” The last thing he wanted to see was Khaled getting tortured and knowing he could’ve stopped it. Nico thrust forward a reluctant but outstretched palm. “Give me the flash drive, and I’ll smash it right here,” he promised.

Khaled breathed an almost-imperceptible sigh of relief, but the boss stopped him just before he could unplug the flash drive. “Wait, before you smash it, I just gotta know…” He smiled conspiratorially at Nico. “What part was your favorite?”

-

Nico waited patiently for the phone on the other end to pick up that night, drumming his fingers against his desk as he overlooked the city from his bedroom window. Eventually, the repetitive ringing was replaced by a very loud Pitbull remix, followed by a heavily accented “Alvarez Auto and Motorcycles, what do you want?”

“Yeah, can you tell me my status on my radiator hose? Did you use a 9-mm wrench?” Nico asked, well-practiced in the Juicio Divino code by now. The person who had picked up the call fell silent, the music thumped on in the background, and eventually a new voice carried over the phone.

“What are you calling me for, I told you only to call me if it was an emergency!” Julio yelled. There were light shuffling sounds, and then no background music at all, an indication that Nico’s partner in crime had moved to a more private place to talk.

“We need to try to kill him again,” Nico explained, getting straight to the point. “Things are getting worse on my end.”

“Worse, what do you mean worse?” Julio’s breath hitched a little. “Does he know you’re working with me?!”

“No, he –he found my flash drive,” Nico explained. “Made me destroy it. That’s four-ish years of evidence, gone.”

Julio went silent for a couple seconds before coming to the same conclusion. “You’re right. We need to kill him again. And this time, I won’t miss.”

“We won’t miss,” Nico corrected. “We’re in this together, partner.”

The static-y sigh on the other end of the line made Nico’s heart do something weird and tingly. “Yes we are,” Julio conceded. He hung up. Nico brought the phone down from his ear and caught his own reflection in the window. He was smiling.

Le Tag List: @kabie-whump @rainydaywhump @whumped-by-glitter @skittles-the-whumpee @generic-whumperz @bamber344 @there-will-always-be-blood @morning-star-whump @a-la-whump @watermelons-dont-grow-on-trees

@defire

[dokidokiliteraturegirls]

Important announcement, everyone... I'll be opening up a Patreon~!

I honestly thought I'd never make a post like this, but I guess you never know what life throws at you! And lately I've fallen on some hardship ^^;; you see, back in December I lost my job due to reduction of personnel. I didn't want to say anything about it for some time because I don't really talk about my personal life in public, and it was a bit of a dour topic to bring up during Christmas/New Year's. Don't worry about me btw, I'll be fine! But it'd be nice to have some extra income to help me get back on my feet while I look for a new job. As such, I've opened a Patreon page, for people who'd like to support me 💖

Now, I don't wanna make this post a house built on walls of text, but there's some stuff I really really wanna make clear!

1. Don't worry, the comic is not in jeopardy. Of course it'd be nice to have the extra money to buy a better drawing tablet before the one I'm using breaks down, but I'll finish Feel Less even if I have to draw the panels with a ballpoint pen on a napkin. So don't feel like if you don't support me the comic will end without a conclusion, okay?

2. I won't put my content behind a paywall. I've seen a lot of other webcomic artists offer bigger input opportunities and early chapter releases for paying patrons, but I don't think that'll work for Feel Less, since the story depends on everyone playing together and I don't like giving spoilers to select people. But I do want to make becoming a Patron worth your while though! So what you'll get is behind-the-scenes content, the chance to vote for what we play next on stream, a shoutout on the blog including a portrait of your choosing, and monthly commissions!

3. I don't want to make any of you feel like you owe me. This is something I really wanna stress. I know not everyone is in a financial position to support online creators they like, and I want you to know that that's okay!! You don't owe me anything. Just you being here reading and enjoying what I make is more than I could ask for 💖 If you can support me, that's super appreciated, but if you can't, don't feel like you're obligated~

Finally, if you want to support me in ways other than financially, I also have a twitch and youtube channel, so consider checking them out~ ^^ They're largely unrelated to the comic, but if you like my sense of humour and vibes, chances are you'll enjoy those too~

Thank you for your time! Remember that Feel Less is still scheduled to return on January 7th, and together, let's make 2024 the best year we've had yet~!! 🥰

-Yui 💖

[kitkat-the-muffin]

Here I am, once again~ Playing Cloutchase with my friend~

Anyway hi! Welcome back to Muffy-Posts-Cloutchase-Spoilers!!! Here are the other two installments: [1][2]

I had SO MUCH fun playing Vol. 3 with my friend! She is amazing at doing impressions and gave YouTube and Twitch the perfect voices, I couldn't ask for anything more. But enough about her since she prefers to remain anonymous, today I am here to present my favorite screenshots from the latest release of Cloutchase!

Without further ado, here are the spoiler-free teases:

And there's the cut!

Aight let's do this

First thing I absolutely loved was that Twitch is so expressive! The facial expressions were all so delightful. ALSO. CLUB PENGUIN. AND WIZ101. And of course Webkinz, Animal Jam, and Neopets are in the background as well hahah, love that too!

This minigame was SO AMAZING omg I am OBSESSED with these character costumes and the fight animation too. Love all the cameos but this Strife content was so awesome!!!! The buttons were a little non-responsive at times but I managed to beat Twitch first try heheh

This is a pretty awesome frame and I'd like to shoutout AJ who I'm pretty sure drew it but I don't have the time or computer charge to reopen the game credits to check. If I'm wrong lemmie know but AJ deserves a shotuout anyway

I love how the subs are sub-sandwiches and I love the design of the camera and chat

I love how complex Twitch's route was. It was very compelling and definitely something I think most streamers need to hear. Swell job Team Timesync! Swell job indeed

I could shout about filmscore and the ghostie crew but instead I'm gonna scream about the google floor lmbo look at it I love it

Oh this. This is beautiful. I read the bonus room content and it's so neat that the timelines lined up coincidentally

Love the dramatic over-the-topness of this fake apology. He's so fake I love it. The voice my friend gave him was kinda like if a greaser was born in Alabama but raised in New York if that makes any sense

I STARTED SCREAMING AT THIS HAHAHAH! YOUTUBE KIDSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

Peak good end, now I know how to tie a tie. I actually really liked YouTube's route as it was cleverly designed and I love all the many different endings. It was kinda like wading through YouTube's recommended section where you'd save each different possibility of choices in your Watch Later and visit them all when you have the time (which is usually never). So many options but what to pick? I picked them all!

So when I got to this point I started laughing because my friend does all the voices and I only play User and Miss Blog Runner so she was carrying this entire section of the playthrough... AND THEN-

AND THEN THERE WERE FOUR! SHE HAD TO VOICE ALL FOUR OF THEM HAHAH! AND SHE DID AMAZINGLY! I kinda wish she wasn't anonymous cause I wanna give her a shoutout, but maybe when all the routes are released I can convince her to voice them all in a fandub (well not them ALL but definitely Kik and YouTube)

SWEET SWEET REVENGE HAHAHAHAH!!!! Totally deserved as long as they're done here hahahah. I do hope they can all tolerate each other again tho but I love this ending

This volume was long but a lot of fun! I love the Strife minigame and kinda hope it comes back in the future with more mechanics. Maybe an entire spinoff game like Smash Bros idk. Everything was so well written and I love how complex the characters are

Another fantastic entry for a fantastic game! Remember to recommend this game to various streamers to give it the attention it deserves (but not too many, don't wanna overwhelm our fav indie creators!)

[msmargaretmurry]

would love to know which romance novels you’ve enjoyed!! i feel like we share a lot of “standards” so it would be pretty likely for me to enjoy anything you recommend.

p.s.: have you read any emily henry books? i feel like you might like those. <3

i have not read emily henry but i've heard pretty good things! i actually have a copy of beach read on my shelf that i am hoping to get to this summer. thank you for the recommendation! <3 will talk about some romance novels i've enjoyed under the cut. i am always accepting recs btw!!

my platonic ideal of a contemporary romance novel is evvie drake starts over by linda holmes. the setting feels real, the characters feel real and have real problems, the emotional stakes are proportionate and believable. bonus points for the portrayal of baseball and the main guy's relationship with baseball feeling normal and real. linda holmes's books (i also really enjoyed flying solo, tho not as much as evvie drake) are so character-driven that it almost feels like the romance arcs are secondary to the character arcs, which is ideal to me personally!!

i read a lot more historical romance than contemporary because i find it easier to get over the "that's not how that works!!" of it all in historicals, for reasons not worth elaborating on here. i tend to enjoy kj charles because she's very good at having a strong exteral plot in addition to strong characters! think of england is my fav of hers. for het historical romance i really liked courtney milan's brothers sinister series (esp. the countess conspiracy) and tessa dare's girl meets duke series (can't remember which one i liked best but i listened to them on audiobook at work and i do remember having to stop during a sex scene because i was like oh my god this is actually hot i can't listen to this at work LMAO). i have read every bridgerton and they're all a little dated and some are more mid than others but the francesca book, when he was wicked, is the best one imo.

i liked bringing down the duke by evie dunmore but i did not like the sequel so i haven't read more of hers 😅

it's not structured quite like a traditional romance novel but i really loved peter darling by austin chant, a gay trans peter pan retelling.

i do want to give a shoutout to a romance novel i did NOT think i would enjoy but wound up actually liking a lot, canadian boyfriend by jenny holiday. i was going to skip it because i don't like alternating first person pov but my coworker who loved it told me joshua jackson does the male pov chapters in the audiobook and i was like. fine i will listen to joshua jackson. and i had plenty of quibbles with the book (for one thing i thought the whole book could have been done without the central "fake canadian boyfriend" premise and might have been better for it, lol) but i was surprised by how moved i was by the male lead's complicated grief as a widower and i thought the hockey parts felt realistic and good. going in i was also like urgh ough hockey player/ballet dancer romance is gonna go so hard on the big strong man/tiny dainty woman of it all but it DIDN'T, and i thought the female lead's relationship with dance was nuanced and interesting. i don't think i could have read this book with my eyes due to the povs but the audiobook with alternating narrators worked nicely. and definitely not a perfect book (if i were to rate it on goodreads i'd probably do like a 3.5 rounded down?) but i liked it so much more than i expected to and i feel like i need to demonstrate that i am NOT a hater by default and i CAN be a generous reader when i think a book has earned it 😂

[golden--doodler]

Geneuary Day Eleven: Keyboard/Candy

Linda: Ohh, Bobby, it's perfect!! Our Geney Zucchini's going to love these gifts for Christmas. You did so well. 🥰

Bob: Thanks, Lin. But, uhh, was it a good idea to give him both a noisy keyboard and a bunch of chocolate for Christmas?? I don't think we'll remember quiet for at least two weeks.

This is it. We made it guys. It's officially the last day of Geneuary!! This might be the most emotional I've been posting a piece of artwork. For this last piece, it *gasp* doesn't have Gene!! 😱 Crazy, I know. I decided to draw Bob and Linda along with Gene's signature keyboard and favorite candy, just to show how he got a love of Chunky Blast-Offs and his keyboard in the first place.

What a wild ride this month has been. Geneuary could not have been possible without the incredible support of everyone involved. I'd like to shoutout @drawthethingdoppelganger for making that beautiful, gorgeous graphic of all of the prompts for this month. And also for making that amazing Gene as Dolly Parton art.

I'd also like to shoutout @babsvibes, because her huge document on how to run a Ship Week was crucial in helping me run this month. I don't think I would've been able to do it without her document guiding me along (the only thing I wasn't able to do was have a separate blog, but we all know how that went ☠️). Babs was also technically the one who came up with the concept for Geneuary in the first place (both the name and having eleven prompts because of Gene being eleven).

I also must shoutout @unclefathersantateddy for being an absolute boss and making an extended Geneuary by making an entire page of Genes!! The final product is gorgeous, and I'm just in awe of their talent.

@br1ghtestlight was able to make two of the cutest fics for this month that everyone should go read!! One of them was a (sort of) collab with me.

@ratguy-nico reblogged almost all of my art with the sweetest comments, and his art for this month has been insane and beautiful. My favorite might still be the one with the Hot Dog family.

@dianadeadwing has also produced some of my favorite art this month. One of my favorites was the ballerina Gene she just posted yesterday. And of course, the one where Gene is hugging Bob 🥺❣️

I might've forgotten a person or two, but these are all of the main people I wanted to mention!! Thank you all!!

[ID]: Digital fanart of Bob and Linda from Bob's Burgers. Only their heads can be seen, and Bob looks more nervous, whilst Linda looks happier, with a huge grin on her face, and a heart next to her. A rather large keyboard is above them, along with a brown box with a spaceship on it. It reads: "Chunky Blast-Offs! Out of this World!"

[enniewritesathing]

🗣️discussion post 🗣️

let's talk about what happened :D

underneath the read more bc of spoilers for the update (obviously) and length, me rambling, some behind the scenes things...

First off -- this is took so long for me to work on. It was what, a 4 month gap? Usually it's not more than a month but... Things happened and my brain being generally an asshole. We're working on that. What really spurned me to get make the update? I got new internet and holy shit, everything's so fast. Went from DSL to 5G internet (which me being in the sticks, being surrounded by 3 towers = all the speed). Which is great because I added gifs and I need that upload speed or else it would've taken forever.

I didn't get the idea of making gifs until about halfway through the update when @pink-chevalier suggested I make some/experiment with them. I can also combine 2 or more pics for transitions/actions so I'd have room for shots. Also making use of Photomosh Pro...

anyway let's get on with what happened (in no order):

Hey. Charles? He may be unhinged. Just a little bit.

Daniel's very interesting that he's trying to divorce himself from everything, much less the trial and Charles was right to call him out. Real pot = kettle energy. If you think about it, he's damn near the level of responsible that Charles has with handling needles/syringes, he's way less unhinged about it. It's more of a reluctant participant but not really.

I mean, he punched The Werewolf with one when he attacked Jordan.

Speaking of needles, for some reason I looked up how to do an injection and turns out there are different ways! In this case, the needle has to get into muscle (and the heart being a muscle itself), Daniel has to angle it 90 degrees. In the Incident, it was at a weird angle (and at the time I didn't know how to put accessories in stigmata.)

And ofc, it had to go down to the stopping point. Why no, that's not anything.

I made so many swatches of the vitals. There's like 50. They do look nice on the bigger screen. Truly enhances everything way better. Like I said previously, I did what I could with what I had.

The Werewolf dropping the fact that John was the one in control and not him during this segment of the trial. John's the one getting tortured.

The door is actually The Werewolf's door! This is the first time he's done it. To this day, he doesn't quite have a handle on summoning doors. It makes sense that it's simple, but because he wasn't in control per se, the knob was useless.

John's expression on seeing The Werewolf glaring down at him? The Werewolf's glare??

Mark's absence because he won Rock Paper Scissors. We'll get to him later.

John freaked out by the amount of blood in the lab. He's got a stronger stomach than I thought but I think it's because he's a bit used to blood when he fights. Not that much, but, an amount. It happens.

That said... you think The Werewolf might be holding back on that? Do you think it's actually messier than that?

First the hospital bed surrounded by flowers, and now the exam table (?)... what's with that?

And what's up with John...? Does he remember more than he lets on? Or is he hiding under the guise of medicinal amnesia? It's like he could be in denial or something. 🤔🤔🤔

The Werewolf says he'll talk about that later. I have a feeling that's not gonna be pretty.

The Werewolf admitting that everything was against him, that there was a chance of him dying. He didn't know if whatever he had in mind was going to work.

The shots during Charles' and Daniel's conversation?? Getting it together and working on it took like a month bc it's a Biggie/Important story post. That said, as much as I hate Charles, I enjoyed writing his dialogue and perhaps, in general. He's just really fascinating!

I actually have no idea what he sounds like. I think I've said it's reedy, but idk?

This mfer really did 🫵.

I love how John's hair has been touched twice in this update. It is pretty soft.

I would like to give a shoutout to the music genre Witch House.

The file name I gave John during the conversation was "go king, give us nothing.blend".

This isn't quite mentioned but ever since The Werewolf made his promise, it was made sure that he wouldn't move a millimeter. It's also why his healing ability has started to erode over time, it's that strong. His senses are shut out -- as well as not being able to see, he can't hear (mostly) and he can't smell so he can't sus out who's who.

...that and I thought the visual was neat when I put it together. Very experiment-y.

I would never fault John for being terrified of needles.

I wasn't able to do this visually right last time because I didn't have the CC for it (or the ceiling update), but I love how the shots of The Werewolf being in The Void came out. Lot of shots of him being far off and tiny... only used a few though. It really drives home what is isolation to him.

He was going to have his wrists chained (or chained in general) but I thought eh, that's a bit too much and it didn't really work with what I had in mind. (And I was lazy.)

I made the decision of changing John's/The Werewolf's eyes from 'blank' to white... they both do hit, but white's more of pointing out true unconsciousness, if you get my meaning. It's also more spookier... he'll go back and forth with it.

The gifs with John getting to the door, I messed around with in Photomosh. Specifically, it's Smear and I adjusted it to where it looks like he's breathing fast.

This is probably one of my fav shots in the story (so far). It's foreboding. Sinister even. I could go on.

Oh! Getting into the lab door was a bit of a pain in making it. I don't know how to uh edit objects, so what I had to do was have The Werewolf in the open pose while John walked in/out and I had to capture before the doors closed.

You may notice that there was a huge button on the side of it. The Werewolf wasn't exactly aware of it at the time. Not like he would've been able to get out. That shit is super secure, trouble getting in OR out.

questions? comments? concerns? speculation? anything?

if you made it all the way though, congrats! here's a WIP:

I'm sure nothing bad is happening there.

:)

[crystalflygeo]

Long overdue final ebg post (lmao) bc I need to get this out of my system...

Tag for all the posts/storyline

Art by the amazing lovely precious cutie Aine @/ainescribe

First of all I want to thank @i23kazu immensely for allowing me to participate pls I was SO unsure at first haha and she absolutely killed it with the interactions, the lil side project, the prompts, the scores tally... it's just so much work, kudos to you Ying fr!! It was a super fun game.

Shoutout to my besties/mutuals

@silentmoths @ainescribe thank you for your lil asks I love seeing your characters aaaaaaaa 💕

@floraldresvi @moraxsthrone and all the anons I got, your sabotages here and in discord were brutal omg Vi you almost made my cry //pos bc I wanted to react/respond to Li's messages 🥺 EVERY SINGLE TIME ghgnhgnghgn and NOT KEL MAKING MY GIRL HAVE A WET DREAM/SPICY MEMORY TYVM 💕 the way I had to contain myself hELP I loved it svcgavscgvsjgacbkackl

@meimeimeirin you also sabotaged me a lot, meanie //pos I loved SO MUCH your asks/little stories aaaaaa thank you for engaging so much when I know you're super busy 🥺 it def made my day everytime, ty for bringing the girl home and solving my silly lil mystery hehe 💕

@kurikurikurisu GIIIIIRL it's so funny to me that we kinda started interacting more on the last ebg for Rin and then I was like "she's a cool person I wanna fren.... 👉🏻👈🏻 but I shy...." took my sweet time to invite you to the server and turns out THIS ebg got us closer (I think? ehe?//hit) we didn't interact much in tumblr with each other's plots but bOY were we emotional support in discord, we really were in this suffering together 🤝🏻 mhm //nods nods 🤣 thank you so much for being interested in my lil silly plot and my girl aaaaaa

As for the "plot" and other things... (this got so long I am so sorryy;;;)

Well at first I wanted to do kinda a normal ebg, no plot or anything bc I don't think I have the smarts to do an elaborate game/story lmao and I kinda wanted to have more established s/i lore?? And then I realized hey I can use the ebg to introduce my s/i!!!

See I'd been working SO hard on her names lately, researching and studying in-game adepti lore and stuff and I though why don't I make it a simple game where the goal is to guess her name (with me giving hints ofc) and at the very start I had the idea of her losing her memories so she could re-discover/remember things about herself alongside the "players" learning them. Whoever character I got as my bias would help her and get to know her too along the way, even npcs (or in the rare case of me getting Dottore/Pantalone, probs be the villain for her memory loss lmao)

And then I got Kazuha. And it was so SO perfect. I took inspiration from Spirited Away with the plot point of having your name/memories/identity stolen and for some reason I remembered the whole Ino-shika-cho koi-koi card combo from Summer Wars I just had this vivid mental image of a scene where Kazuha dropped the biggest hint by writing the Kanji for Butterfly (Chō) which doubles ofc as the Hanzi for Butterfly/Crystalfly (Dié) written the same pronounced (and romanized) differently :3c

I was very proud of myself//hit also

I did not end up making haiku bc they are complicated but I at least tried to loosely keep/emulate the 3 phrases, phonetic rhyme and sensory elements while referencing my lil plot lmao

✧˖Originally I was gonna blame it on a playful tanuki or smth but I don't think they're powerful enough youkai lmao it was probably a kitsune.... we may never know ✧˖She was technically never in any danger yeah but imagine being lost with no memories and no way to know if you could get them back even because every person she met kept telling her they didn't know ofc she'd break down, or at least me, I'm very crybaby and neurotic sometimes//HIT ✧˖Yes this entire thing was technically Zhongli's fault since he did write her a letter addressed 亲爱的晶蝶 ("My dear Crystalfly/Jingdie") and that IS her name woops on a random note I kinda imagine he also signs with something like 你的龙 "Your Dragon" and vice versa with Crys ("My dear Dragon/your Crystalfly") sgcvgajsvcjhacbajkca //squeals kicks feets

And all this started because I was stressing over the fact that "Crys" is not an appropriate name for a Liyue character lmao, I debated for so long giving her a chinese name, but I didn't want to further make her an OC I wanted her to represent me/my blog (also part of me was and still is immensely worried I somehow insult cn ppl by being as some sort of weeabo equivalent or that I am "appropriating culture" or idk I may be dumb but I try to do my research and I prommy it does not come from a place of malice or anything I genuinely love genshin and Li and it's got me interested in a culture/country I funnily enough have somehow interacted with and have friends in but never really paid that much attention to ig...) and then I just had the epiphany What if I just reverse engineer and name her Crystalfly in cn? Lore would be that either her name got accidentally translated in documents a long long time ago and ppl started calling ehr Crystalfly/Crys and she rolled with it or she simply adopted the translation/nickname as her name for international settings, keeping her true name more private (hidden in plain sight tbh) p sure the only ones who know are the elder adepti (Ganyu/Xiao included) and Neuvillette (once he told her his real/first name) (ironically Crys may be harder to pronounce i other languages lmaoooo rip Fontaine)

Anyway this got way too long lmao sorrryyyyyyyy thank you everyone kith kith love y'all bye!! 💕

[starrwrrld]

anon asks

do you like milkshakes

what are your fave lestappen fics of all time

where's your username from??

damnn okayy ty for this anon <3

Yes I love me a good milkshakes but im not obsessed with them or anything (cant stand strawberry tho). My dad has been making absolute bangers of milkshakes for as long as I can remember so it was a cold beverage I grew up with a lot. This also means i'm very judgy about my milkshakes so I don't drink them unless i'm sure they're gonna be good.

oh lordy lord. this is gonna be longgg.

@maxcuntstappen's I Loved You Before I Knew I Was Supposed To holds a special special place in my heart. Lav, being the absolute majesty they are, did a phenomenal job with it. It's so tender and soft and sweet i can't get enough of it. I've read it enough times to narrate it scene-by-scene. I wish I could read i again for the first time ( I would gladly slam a cardoor on my hand for it). Something about it makes me wanna hug Lav and cry. (CHECK OUT LAV'S OTHER FICS TOO THEY'RE ALL AMAAZING AND SO WORTH THE READ AND RE-READ)

Right Where You Belong by @amarynas is another absolute fav. This remains the fic to which i cried the most without a doubt. It's so fluffy (lets ignore the absolute heart attacks it gave me for amin here) and RWYB Max is an absolute loser boyerfriend (affectionate) and I wouldn't want it any other way. Also shoutout to Cisca for making Charles so tenderly fierce. It was a treat.

Long Live (The Walls We Crashed Through) is a fic i'm an absolute sucker for (sue me, i'm weak for the bsfs to lovers trope). It's so tender and nice and heartwarming and I wish I could read it again for the first time.

Never in a million years would I have thought I'd read Chef AUs, but here we are Grapefruit Mignonette and Give Me That Fire are both Chef/Restaurant AUs that truly slap. They're both so well written and give you an amazing insight into the industry while keeping you in a chokehold the entire time.

Red, White & Orange-Nassau and Homeward Bound by @f1-giuki are OMLLL. They're both so good it's insane. They give me sm comfort i wanna cry. The found-familyness of it all has me in such a strong chokehold and i don't ever wanna come out of it.

Meet Me In Montreal is a series by my legend @bumblewyn that i absolutely love. It's a pretty quick read (it's all mini fics that averages at 2kish words per work, hence why the series) and a constant reminder about these two's inability to be normal about each other with a side-dish serving of angst.

I'm pretty sure there are so many gems out there i've missed mentioning bc i have the memory-span of an octopus (fun fact if you havent figued it out; octopuses are the animals with the shortest memory span of just 3 seconds) but yeah. RIP to all the other amazing fics out there that i've read and adored but simply can't remember atm, i hate my brain too (and i suck at bookmarking or saving my favs so here we are). (P.S. All these writers have more amazing, amazing fics that i've not mentioned so do check them out if you haven't)

Uhm. It literally has no meaning behind it, love. I love love stars (fav shape fs) and i was struggling to find a username and i happened to be dooding stars at the edge of a sticky note whie brainstorming usernames so i decided on star, my brain generated the word 'world' for me and it became starrwrld bc starworld was already taken. (and maybe, just maybe, it is a small allusion to the song starman and to bowie himself bc i love that man)

[lensman-arms-race]

Got some questions, so for Ttvman 2, 4,5, and 6.

And for all titans 9.

hope that you have a wonderful day/night!

2. A canon or headcanon hill I will die on

I refuse to call them 'Cinemaman' even though it's a popular fan name. A cinema uses a projector and a backdrop instead of an electronic screen. A projector isn't a TV. You might as well call TSpeaker 'megaphone man' or TCam 'telescope man'. Similar tech but not interchangeable words!

4. Favorite line

It's gotta be 'no stabbing' in episode 67! I mentioned before that I love how it diffuses the tension between TTv and TSpeaker by making it clear that TTv doesn't hate them.

Also I gotta give a shoutout to 'you are so dead' in episode 47, because the fan wiki says it's 'you are so dead' but I can't hear it as anything other than 'you are so bad', which is funny to me. You know when you're so angry that your brain can't even come up with good/normal insults, so you say something rubbish like 'you're... nothing but a... sly old fox'? TTv was probably thinking something like 'Fuck you sideways you absolute punk bastard' but was too angry to articulate anything other than 'you're BAD'. Haha!

5. Best personality trait

Rizz

The way they dispatch enemies both elegantly and with maximum efficiency. Like, they do showboat, but they don't waste time.

I'd love to see more of the Titans' personalities outside battle. DFB, please let's see them chilling for a while after they wrap up the current arc.

6. Worst personality trait

This probably applies somewhat to all 3 Titans, but they can be overconfident. TTv could probably have killed G-Toilet back in episode 47 if they'd been a bit more aware of their surroundings (the buzzsaw toilet and the possessed TSpeaker). They even say 'pathetic trap' when they first teleport in. If they'd been a bit more cautious and less dismissive of the trap, things could have gone down very differently.

9. Scene that first made me love (or hate) the character

Titan Camera: In episode 57 when they shrug off everything the skibidis throw at them and fly around with their jet wings. That made me think 'this character's cool as hell!' and made me wish for a wing-y jetpack like theirs.

Titan Speaker: In episode 26 when they flushed the giant toilet then immediately sat on it. Super funny!

Titan TV: Their debut episode when they wreck some skibidi shit then go:

:3

I remember I actually laughed out loud at that point!

---

(All answers from the question list)

(Original post with list of questions)

[uglierdaikon]

I've decided this is going to be a tradition now so here's

My favorite books I read in 2023

(in no particular order)

"Siren Queen" by Nghi Vo

this book is so fucking cool. I said this list is in no particular order but this is without a doubt my favorite book I read this year. This book takes place in a fantasy version of Hollywood in roughly the 1920s-1940s. It has everything: deals with shady nonhuman creatures, fantasy violence, old Hollywood glamour, lesbians. What else do you need? Genuinely the most unique worldbuilding for a fantasy story I've ever seen. Please, if you only take one recommendation from me ever, take this one. The audiobook SLAPS also.

"The Empress of Salt and Fortune" by Nghi Vo

Shoutout to Nghi Vo because I genuinely didn't even realize both of these books were by the same author. Queen. Anyways. So you know how the movie Titanic is told through the lens of people hearing the story from Rose as an old woman? Similar set up but also not similar at all. A sort of nun/monk person on a mission of historical and anthropological chronicling comes to the long abandoned residence where a recently deceased empress once lived in exile. There, they meet the empress' personal maid. As the main character (I can't remember the name off the top of my head, sorry) goes through and archives artifacts from the home, they get to hear stories of the empress' early life in their kingdom as well as her time in exile leading up to her rise to power. I'm not selling this well but it's REALLY good and a very quick read.

"And Then There Were None" by Agatha Christie

She's the queen of mystery for a fucking reason!!! This was apparently the year of Nghi Vo and Agatha Christie because Queen Agatha was the other author that just dominated my reading list. Anyways, the set up of this is that 10 people are lured to a mansion on a remote island and start getting killed off. I had a lot of fun trying to figure out who among them was The Killer (even though I ultimately failed to get it right).

"I'm Glad My Mom Died" by Jennette McCurdy

Look. Reading and loving this book in the year 2023 is not a unique experience. This book is a tough read in that a lot of really terrible things have happened to her, but I (like everyone else who's read it) need to give her a lot of props for her skill, frankness, and humor about writing this book, as well as just her strength for getting through all that. Go Jennette!

"Demon Copperhead" by Barbara Kingsolver

Reading and loving Demon Copperhead in 2023 is ALSO not a unique experience. It won awards for a reason. But I liked it so it goes on the list This is a modern take on David Copperfield that follows a boy from the Appalachians as he grows up in the foster system (and through the opioid crisis). I know that sounds bleak, but he's a character that you really wanna follow and root for, even at his lowest. It's a LONG book, but well worth every page in my opinion.

"The Monster of Florence" by Douglas Preston and Mario Spezi

One of the authors got kicked out of Italy for writing this book! Doesn't that already catch your interest???

Anyways, this is a nonfiction book. Half of it chronicles the twists and turns in the investigation of the still-unsolved Monster of Florence serial killer case (which is. Horrifying. To give fair warning). But it also delves into the corruption and mismanagement of the Florence police department, culminating in a frame job intended to make the authors keep their mouths shut about this case. It's definitely a creepy case, so if you don't have much of a stomach for true crime I'd skip this one, but I could not put this book down (figuratively - I listened to the audiobook, lol). I went on runs solely so that I would have more time to listen to it some days.

That concludes this list of 2023 book recommendations. Hope y'all enjoyed! See you again this time next year.

[exhausted-impact]

Event Task: Countdown

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

Happy New Year in advance, everyone! (And apologies for the format! Mobile posting between family things 😆)

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

When flowers lit up the night sky, Luke and Rosa jumped on his bed as high as they could.

"Happy New Year!" They cheered as Peanut watched from his perch. "Happy New Year! Haaaappyyy Newwww Yeaaarr!"

When they'd finally worn themselves out, the pair collapsed on the bed in a fit of giggles, faces flushed.

"Please take care of me this year as well, dear Watson." Luke gave Rosa a quick peck on the nose.

"That goes without saying." She gently cupped his cheeks before giving them a light pinch. "And I know you'll have my back as well, my beloved Sherlock."

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

When the bells tolled twelve times near Stellis National Park, Vyn took Rosa's hand in his and kissed it.

"Happy New Year, my rose." His silver hair reflected the ever-changing colors of the sky. "May this year be kind to us as well."

"If not, then we'll make it be kind to us." Rosa smiled as she pulled him closer to her, his ever-graceful gait stumbling for a moment at the sudden action.

She quickly put her arms around his neck. "Remember, we're the ones who make our dreams reality, right?"

"So I've been shown time and again." Vyn couldn't help but chuckle. "We have chosen each other as our happiness, affer all."

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

When cheers of "Happy New Year!" rang out across the city, Marius and Rosa stepped out onto the balcony and clinked their glasses together.

"Here's to a brand new year, Miss!" His eyes sparkled with good cheer. "Let's go on more adventures together, just you and I!"

"Just us, huh?" She shot him a smirk, feeling particularly mischievous. Time for payback. "What sort of adventures do you have in mind?"

"You know...this and that!" Marius knew what Rosa was up to. Oh, two could play at this game. "Trips, mostly...unless Miss was thinking of something else...?"

"Marius! Von! Hagen!"

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

"Five...four...three...two...one...Happy New Year!"

When the voice over the loudspeaker announced the arrival of the new year, Artem and Rosa shared their first kiss of the year at Celebration Plaza.

"Happy New Year." He murmured as they came up for air, his tender gaze taking in every inch of her face. "I hope to grow together with you this year as well."

"I'd like that, Artem." Rosa pulled him in until their foreheads were touching. "We'll walk together every step of the way."

No more words were said for a while after that as the two held each other, the sky blooming brightly behind the two as if to bless them.

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Special shoutouts to some of the people who've made my 2022 a little bit better, a little bit brighter 😄

@actualbird @babylulururu @surely-galena @samsspambox @rexonalapis

[edwinspaynes]

As a fanfic writer do you ever compare your works to others?

I've been writing fanfic for about three years. While I do read some in the fandoms I write for, I feel myself getting self conscious about my own writing. I see how good those fics are and how well they describe and portray the characters. I do like reading fics but when I try to write again I start to compare my writing to the other fics. Do you have any advice on how I might still write without comparing myself to other writers in the fandom?

I really wish I could provide you with better advice here, but I personally have always been very naturally confident in my writing. Throughout my life, the only positive thing about myself that I have felt 100% secure of is that I am a good writer. It's never been a question to me.

That being said, of course I have read fics that I believe to be better than my own!

(@vwritesaus , shoutout to you. You're the first person to come to mind.)

When I encounter these fics, beyond enjoying them, I use them as a kind of learning experience. What did the author do that I liked? Why, emotionally, did the fic resonate with me?

Once I answer those questions, I consider how I can create those feelings in my next fic. I certainly have attempted to emulate others in structure and style, and it usually yields pretty good results.

Another thing I like to do is experiment.

If you can stomach smut, take a look at my Thomastair fic Twenty Minutes. It was in my opinion a very successful experimental piece, structured in a minute-by-minute format where I had PoVs from each character during every minute of their Exciting Carriage Ride. It was a wonderful way to convey a well-rounded experience, imo, and I feel a lot more confident at showcasing multiple PoVs and working within time-based structural constraints.

Another experimental fic that I wrote more recently was my Edwin character study I Want to Snarl and Show You Just How Disturbed This Has Made Me (You Wouldn't Last an Hour in the Asylum Where They Raised Me. I think that it was also experimental, but I played with style rather than structure. Second person and present tense don't come naturally to me, but I feel like a stronger, more confident writer for having done it - and I feel more in the head of a character I frequently write, which is a definite boon.

This isn't to brag at all! The advice I'm giving is essentially "experiment in ways that intrigue you". It will make you a more confident, better-rounded writer. If you get those ideas from other fics you've enjoyed, power to you!

Writing is a very individual process. It's not universal, and what works for me might not work for you. And remember - you don't need to post everything you write! I have a TLH WIP that I chip away at that I'd lowkey die if were ever published, and I have tons of scrapped projects. Don't be afraid to try new things!

[thatgirl4815]

5 Songs Tag - QL Shows Edition

Tagged by @abstractelysium - thanks for the tag! ❤️ I had fun writing this. Sorry it's taken me a few days to do this; I've been pondering my answers, lol.

When you get this, list 5 songs from the Asian QL media that you actually listen to.

🎶They do not have to be custom-made for the series.

🎶Non-western tracks only. Let’s support Asian music and languages!

🎶Feel free to tag anyone who may be interested in participating.

🎶Add #5qls tag to your post for others to find the new favourites!

Gotta add my own little disclaimer here...I've seen quite a few BLs, but I'm extremely biased towards a certain few (as you will soon see), particularly in the music/soundtrack department. That will be extremely apparent here, I'm afraid.

Also, I can't possibly order them because I love them all too much. So in no particular order...

Free Fall - This OST singlehandedly changed the course of my life. I could not stop listening to it back in my KP airing days. The Eng ver AND the Thai ver are both bangers, and I think they fit KP's vibe so well. I also have to give a special shoutout to "Free Fall (Love)" because I personally think the theme is even better on the piano. I still hum it regularly.

Why Don't You Stay - I'm a sucker for Jeff Satur's voice. He's got such a nice tone, and the song itself captures the more loving, less brutal side of KP. I also have to credit this song with turning me into a Jeff Satur fan in general.

Over the Moon - I'm afraid this is where my bias starts to show, haha. The Eclipse is such a special show to me, and like KP, I think OTM captures the youthfulness of the series with its more heavy themes. It also just reminds me of AkkAyan so much every time I listen to it, and I can't help but reminisce; they truly were a cultural reset for me. It's not a song I jam to like Free Fall, but I'd be lying if I said I don't get all in my feels while listening to it (esp with The Eclipse's anniversary just the other day)

Your World, My World - Every time I hear this, I remember just how much Our Skyy2 LOVED the guitar riff at the beginning. Seriously, the AkkAyan ep must've used that same guitar riff at least 3+ times per scene. Not that I'm complaining though. Like Over the Moon, I think it captures the AkkAyan dynamic well--and, might as well say it, it feels like FirstKhao's anthem at this point.

Let's Try - The newest addition to the list. I can't stop listening to it. Obviously I'm a fan of Khaotung's other OSTs (see above) but this is a whole new vibe for him that he matched perfectly. The high note?? Golden. Haven't seen anyone else point this out, but there's a special muffled effect they put on his voice in the last chorus that just...speaks to me. I can't explain it.

I know I'm only supposed to do 5, but I'm gonna give a special shoutout to Living For You from NLMG because it's just...so sweet. I don't know how else to describe it. Phuwin's deep voice, the piano...NuengPalm is so soft despite the brutality of their world and this song is a perfect encapsulation of that.

Ok, sorry if any of you have already been tagged, but I'll tag @nihilisticcondensedmilk, @invisiblegarters, @luckydragon10, and @aprilblossomgirl! (No pressure at all, but I'd be curious to see what ya'll's favs are ❤️)

[leqclerc]

At this point I think 2020 was a better year for my mental health. At least with sf1000 I knew what to expect and any Q3s or points was a bonus. With this car it's up one week and down the next (literally: decent in Bahrain, poor in Saudi, decent in Aus and Baku, poor again) also from charles onboards, that car was so unbalanced I felt like I'd transported back to 2020.

Listen, I know the situation in the world was generally Bad at that time, but I will always remember 2020 fondly, mainly for the fandom zeitgeist. Also, I think what made 2020 as a season bearable was... simply put, Seb and Charles. They knew pretty much from winter testing that the car was a downgrade and that the season would be an outlier, a write off, historically spectacularly bad, etc. Plus Seb leaving at the end of the year was common knowledge by then, and that combined with the hopelessness of the season just contributed to this almost "I don't give a fuck" attitude. I mean, obviously, they did, certainly Charles who at that point knew he's in the team for the long haul and he was kind of being set up as this future leader and all that. But you could see they had more fun in all the behind the scenes stuff and the challenges and that really they sought solace in each other during what was a really difficult season, and the sense of camaraderie and this idea of savouring Seb's last months at the time against all odds really hit. Shoutout to the fandom space during that time, especially the Seb/Charles gang, it was so special ❤️

BUT going back to your ask... you're right. 2020 at least you knew more or less what you were in for. Charles still managed to outperform the car at times, and then we also had Turkey, which tbh felt like a fever dream. But on the flip side they kind of had this attitude of, well, the only way is up. I think it's definitely more frustrating for Charles now, when he got a taste of what it was like to be at the top, to lead the championship, to have a car he could trust to be consistent, at least at the beginning. They were supposed to remain at that level, or improve, and instead they took several steps back and got jumped by Aston. Sometimes it's not just Aston, sometimes it's also Mercedes beating them on race pace. All while they have an inconsistent, capricious car that's neither fast nor particularly comfortable to drive. We're in for a long, disappointing, draining season 😭😑

[burthummels]

ok i changed my mind about drawing all the hair colours bc that's actually a lot of work that i don't have the energy for rn (silly art block and whatnot) and i don't wanna make u wait forever bc i'd forget etc etc i'm so sorry i'm a massive mess rn

ANYWAY i wanna preface this list by saying that i think black is a great colour on all of them! thinking specifically about that time jimin got compared to prince eric <3 and tae's recent pretty black curls (gone but never forgotten) but they all look good with black hair and i will not hear otherwise 😤

joon:

i think joon looks really good with light hair in general but i am particularly weak for grape!joon <3 his spring day/not today soft purple hair is everything to me

jin:

u are so so right about purple jin but may i offer u blond and pink jin as well! i think that almost platinum blond makes him look so ethereal and it very much fits the way his voice sounds to me. and shoutout to the pink for being so pretty on him

yoongi:

ok tbh i think black is his best colour however!! this ashy brown hair is super pretty

and shoutout to platinum blond agust d bc this was a Look he is so iconic for doing this

hobi:

i second the reddish brown tbh that is the colour i wish my hair was rn but i am realising very quickly that i can't pull it off quite like him ksfjhgkfd </3 anyway i also love whatever is going on with his hair in the spring day mv i think that should be an honourable mention

jimin:

jimin is a natural blond to me too tbh. especially when it looks all soft and fluffy i think he looks so cozy and gentle and huggable!! i'm also very weak for the pink tho like spring day jimin is everything to me and i was so happy when the pink made a comeback

tae:

tae looks good in literally every colours it's so unfair to the rest of us </3 out of the really bright colours my faves were red and blue tho! tae in the save me mv really imprinted on me in ways i can't describe dkfgjh and then when he had blue hair and jimin had pink hair 💞💞💞 looking so bright and colourful together i love them sm <33

but also!! this fluffy curly brown on him!!! when people were saying he looked like a poodle!! so so soft i fucking love it i want to play with his hair

jungkook:

i think i'm mainly used to seeing black/brown on him bc he had those colours for so long but! cherry kook or even just the red tips that i don't remember but found when i was looking up his red hair <3 idk there's just sth about this look that really hits to me

omg grape!joon how could i ever forget !!!! the sweetest angel anctually !!!! i love light hair on him :( it's just so !!! aah oh wowowow he's so my everything shaped and these pictures just prove it actually like i'd do anything for him

oh yes i am so glad you offered up blonde and pink jinnie !! he is so ethereal and soft and he just looks like he should be a prince somewhere like ,,,, he's so right when he calls himself worldwide handsome like he KNOWS he's so pretty and he's right

ASHY BROWN WITH THE HEADBAND LIKE I THINK IM GONNA SHORT CIRCUIUT !!!!!!! AND THEN PLATINUM AGUST D?!?!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!!!! LIKE ARE U TRYING TO MAKE ME EXPLODE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GOOOOOOOOOOOD no yoongi just ,,,,,,, og i become insane any time i look at him actually like there is something inside of my body that just insantly gives me the feeling of wanting to bite on glass and scream like ,,,,,, GOD min yoongi

my best friend hobi my best friend !!!! the red hair !!!! ooooh that hobi is just has such a special place in my heart like idk i look at him and i am simply filled with joy and happiness and my saddness melts away (that's any hobi but red hair hobi just <333 baby boy) and yes !!!! the spring day hair w the red streaks !!! aaah he looks so cute in it 🥺 and his eyes look so pretty in that photo too and that choker of im 🥺🥺🥺

NATURAL BLONDE JIMIN STANS RISE !!!!!!!! yes when it's soft and fluffy !!!!! oh it's perfect and i jsut wanna give him all the hugs !!! and you're sosososososo correct about pink jimin like that is also just a precious huggable angel sorry and i think i'd love to see a pink!jimin comeback again i think it would bring world peace

the fact that tae just...... looks good in everything... im sick to my stomach.... how is it FAIR !!! OH BLUE AND PINK JIMIN !!!! MY COTTON CANDY TWINS !!!!! THEY JUST !!!! OH THEY JUST LOOK SO PERFECT TOGETHER !!!! (maybe they're more jollyrancher colored but it doesn't have the same ring) but oh tae in the save me mv is imprinted in my mind and i will rewatch it jsut for himsdkfjhlsd but poodle!tae !!! oh what a sweet boy !! that live where jk was just putting forks in his hair sdjkfhaldskfh

OH JUNGKOOK MY SWEET BABY STAR CANDY JUNGKOOK WHO IWOULD LITERALLY DO ANYTHING FOR !!!!! i look at him and i am instintaniously the heart eyes emoji like i can't help it that just who i am and jungkook is my babygirl that's how the world is !!!! but yes the reeeeed cherry !!!! it's so good !!! i love when you can still see his roots but there's color there i think that's the best way to do color for his hair !!!! oh it's just <33333 wow,,,,, im looking at those photos and im simply just here to be a in love w jungkook like i think that's what im put on this planet for (also soobin behind jk in the first photo made me giggle a little sdjhfakld)

!!!! spring day bangtan is just something that can be so personal and so full of love and emotion like.... wow.... !!!