#New to You Reading Challenge

[hawkeshep]

datv critical post: well thought out, eloquent 5 paragraph essay expressing their disappointment and highlighting what’s wrong with the game and what could’ve been improved upon

bioware dick rider: WELL ACKSHEWALLY the game is amazing and none of you have any reading comprehension or critical thinking skills!!! also you’re fucking stupid and I hope you die xoxo

[bietrofastimoff23]

a/b/o, but John’s a beta and the Sentry is an alpha who’s trying to court him like an omega. John explains it away to himself and others, that Bob is just trying to be friendly (bc my boy is canonically terrible at reading the room, I’m crying, and also bc he thinks somewhat stereotypically, like only omegas get courted, that betas usually end up with betas, alphas with omegas etc.).

Maybe something like a 5+1, I don’t know. If anyone wants to adopt this idea, please tag me, bc I have to read this xD

[thebluewritingbench]

you & me in the wreckage

a supercorp ficlet

written for @ekingston's flash fiction challenge! :)

this was fun!! the prompts i got were: thriller, only survivors of a zombie apocalypse, celebrity/just some guy (gender neutral), and blood. thematically consistent, at least. tw for (a fairly small amount of) blood and gore, unsurprisingly. enjoy!

+

Someone is breathing on the other side of the vehicle.

No, Kara reminds herself yet again. Something.

It’s hard to say when the simple sound of another creature breathing became an instant trigger to send adrenaline coursing through her veins. Every tiny hair on her body rises. Her heart rate accelerates until she can feel it behind her teeth, a war drum. She moves with utmost caution; she cannot make a sound.

There’s a creak of metal. A low groan.

Kara recognizes the sound. The pleading moan of perverse hunger.

She can’t see it, as she creeps around the passenger side of the dark vehicle. The thing must be inside the car. The sound came from low down, though. Maybe it’s on the ground. Unsurprising—they always seem to end up there in the end. After having exhausted the limits of human muscle, with no prey left to chase down, they collapse like expended cargo.

The car is a solid black Rolls-Royce. A rare sight in the city, let alone out here. This one has seen better days, though. Shiny paint marred by dust, pock-marked with dents, half the bumper hanging off. How it ended up swerved into the ditch of this rural, two-lane road is a mystery.

Probably someone trying to escape.

Kara’s mind constructs the story even as she rounds the front of the car, reaching for her weapons. It must have contained someone wealthy or important, someone with the resources to get this far. But they must have been infected before they could escape. Though shaken, they would have attempted to brush it off. Nothing but a scrape. The teeth had barely punctured their skin. They would have sped away, gotten off the interstate at the first chance, taken turn after turn until they found a safe, isolated road. This is how far they got before the alien pathogens hijacked their brain.

But that would mean—Kara’s pulse spikes again—that would mean the creature on the other side of this vehicle is the most dangerous kind. Starved for the taste of human flesh. Not spent, but with the full power of the human body. When used without regard for muscles tearing, flesh rending, bones breaking, it could do remarkable things.

Kara knows. She has witnessed it.

The way Alex moved, when the disease took hold…

She shudders. Pushes the image from her mind. That thing hadn’t been Alex anymore.

Kara considers her weapons. A large kitchen knife. A small handgun—the better bet. Not much ammunition left, though. She’ll have to move quickly. She’ll have to make it count.

She lifts the gun, then lunges around the front of the car and fires.

The shot echoes across the scrubby hills. A shriek rings out, black hair flying as the creature shields itself. It begins to turn to her. She missed. Kara’s finger is pushing down on the trigger again when a voice cries, “Wait! Wait!”

She wrenches the gun aside. Her shot flies wide.

There is nothing but heaving breathing in the wake. Human breathing.

The woman crouched on the ground, staring up at Kara in terrified shock, is alive. Truly alive. What’s more, Kara knows her.

 “How are you here?” Kara says. The cognitive dissonance of seeing that face here, now, is so intense that she wonders if she’s hallucinating.

“What?” says Lena Luthor. “Why are you trying to kill me? Do I know you?”

We’ve met before.

“No.” Kara feels herself flush. How absurd that she’s even capable of such a reaction anymore. “I’m nobody.”

Lena Luthor stands on unsteady legs. “No, you’re that reporter. From… BuzzFeed, was it? You came to my office with Clark Kent.”

“CatCo Magazine,” Kara corrects automatically. It feels like a lifetime since she was Cat Grant’s assistant, barely daring to aspire to journalism. Struck nearly speechless by the presence of this woman—her inarguable celebrity crush.

Embarrassing.

Lena looks uneasily at the gun. Kara realizes it’s still pointing in her direction. She drops her arm. “Shoot. Sorry.”

“Don’t shoot, preferably,” Lena says dryly. It takes a second for Kara to realize it’s a joke.

“I wasn’t trying to— I thought you were… one of them. You’re not infected, are you?”

“None of them have touched me. This thing is bullet-proof. I did plow through a few of them…” Lena looks queasy. Kara follows her gaze to the front of the car. There’s blood congealed on the grill.

A flash of memory. She sees the creature that was once Winn charging at her. Her panicked swipe of the kitchen knife across its throat. The spray of his blood, copious, vibrant, across her shirt, across the pavement. For hours, she was terrified the blood had found its way into some scrape, some opening. Infecting her.

She grimaces, presses her thumb hard into the space between her eyes. Stop.

“Where did you even come from?” Lena says. “There’s nothing around here.”

“I walked from the city. I’ve been trying to find anywhere with supplies. There was a group of us. I’m the only one left.” That awful, leaden truth. Kara pushes past it. “How did you get out? I haven’t seen anyone else in weeks.”

“I hid in my office. I had it outfitted as a kind of bunker years ago. I thought I was being insane at the time, and yet…” She trails off, ashamed. “I did nothing to help. Nothing. I stayed there until it quieted down. Then I took the car, and I ran.”

“You couldn’t have done much. No one could have.”

“And now my stupid tire blew, and I am somehow incapable of changing it, so I’m pretty much fucked.” Lena kicks the deflated tire. “Fuck!”

“Your tire?” Belatedly, Kara notices the spare lying on the ground, alongside a toolbox and a badly misplaced jack. She feels a wild urge to laugh. That’s it? “I can fix your tire.”

“Really?”

“Of course.” She swallows. Remembers that somehow, Lena Luthor is standing in front of her. A woman who Kara has followed extensively in tabloids for years. A world leader for tech. Generous. Brilliant. Beautiful. “On one condition.”  

“What’s that?”

“Take me with you.”

Lena Luthor leans against her car and, miraculously, grins. She gives Kara a lingering once-over. “Where are you going?”

“Anywhere. Away from here. I need to find out what happened to my cousin. And my mom.”

“Well, I could use the company,” Lena says. “It’s a deal.”

She holds out her hand. Kara shakes it. At the feel of Lena’s hand in hers, warm, chapped, alive, Kara feels a spark of something she hasn’t felt for ages, since before her life turned into a nightmare.

Hope.

[necrotic-nephilim]

ok ok but jayroytim😏

this feels especially funny if brudick happens in the background and oliver hates the fact he's now in-laws with bruce

so i have to regretfully admit i'm not really a fan of JayRoy, or at least i'm not a fan of the popular version of JayRoy. i think JayRoy could work and would be a lot of fun! but i have *zero* interest in New-52!JayRoy (or New-52!Roy in general) or rlly any version of Jason and Roy on the Outlaws together. both bc i'm a pre-Flashpoint stan at heart. usually i can stand newer content for ship fodder but for these two oh man it grinds my gears how badly Roy got fucked over-

BUT BUT. that doesn't mean i think the ship has *no* merit. because Jason and Roy *do* have some fodder in pre-Flashpoint. they meet briefly when Jason is Robin, and then again when Jason is Red Hood during that Outsiders arc where Black Lightning is in prison. so! there's definitely material to work with. especially playing into the more fucked up nature of Roy knowing Jason when he was Robin. i think it's cute if Jason had a childhood crush on Roy. and maybe Roy even thought Jason was kind of cute, a spunky kid with a lot of energy and passion. then with Jason as Red Hood, Roy openly doesn't trust him and doesn't like that they're working with him. Jason is just a run-of-the-mill villain with a nasty kill count. and sure, Roy's got a record of tangling with people more on the villain side of things, but even going near the Red Hood feels like a step too far.

adding Tim to the mix is really fun. bc honestly it gives Roy some kind of a fetish for guys who have been Robin and i find that to be delightful. like, even if Roy just sees Jason as the Red Hood, he can't *quite* let go of the image of Jason as Robin. like it just won't get out of Roy's system ever since Jason came back. i think, if i were to write these three together, i'd have Roy and Tim get together first of all people, just because Roy is trying really hard to stop thinking about Jason as Robin, especially now that Jason is older and a little meaner. he's full of guilt about it, and he can't talk to Dick because he's still not sure where Dick's feelings fall about the whole Jason thing so. he goes to Tim instead, thinking if he fucks a different Robin, maybe he'll get it out of his system. Tim's pretty and he's just old enough that it's not *too* morally questionable for Roy to seek him out. it takes a while for Roy to work up the nerves because he and Tim aren't particularly close, so how do you even approach that conversation to make it look organic. it's awkward and Tim can definitely tell something is up but hey, who's going to say no to Roy Harper offering sex? one of Dick's best friends? especially if we put this right after Kon and Bart's death where Tim is just. sort of lonely and seeking companionship. in some ways,, Roy would remind him of Kon, just a little. that sort of cocky attitude and snarky smile.

i would add Jason in by having JayTim happen alongside RoyTim. it's not like Roy and Tim are serious enough to be exclusive and Tim knows Roy is sleeping around, so Tim ends up in a weird hatefucking situation with Jason, which definitely was not supposed to happen. Jason just has a damning way of getting under Tim's skin and won't stop bothering Tim until he gets some kind of attention from Tim. and somehow Jason is interesting enough for Tim to cave. and he doesn't even think about the two relationships he's balancing until he happens to sleep with Jason after being with Roy the night before and there are still marks all over him and Jason does *not* like sharing. so when he interrogates Tim and gets nothing, he does the reasonable thing of stalking Tim to figure out who it is. and it just happens to be the guy Jason had a crush on as a kid.

i think Roy finding out he tried so hard to avoid Jason that he accidentally ended up with the same fuck buddy as Jason would be the funniest thing in the world. like it's not something he can run from anymore and he has to accept that. he tries to awkwardly ask what Tim even sees in the guy bc well, Jason's a killer and not known for being mentally stable. but he's also the guy who exonerated Black Lightning with no real motive besides just helping out. he's complicated and Roy doesn't know how to react. Tim just sort of shrugs bc how do you even explain Jason Todd and well, one thing leads to another and Tim ends up in the middle of the most emotionally charged threesome he's ever been in. love the idea of Jason and Roy using Tim as a toy while they work out their feelings for each other. to me that's the peak dynamic. Jason and Roy are pissed about liking each other and somehow, Tim got roped into things. their relationship is not healthy or normal whatsoever, but somehow, they end up balancing each other out nicely.

background BruDick is also hilarious tho. bc there is no one who hates Bruce more than Oliver and he'd be so annoyed that not only did Roy get tangled up with the Bats, but now everything is so weird their families are pretty tangled together and Oliver has to deal with Bruce a lot more than he wants to. and he's glaring daggers about it the whole time.

[tobyisave]

the kid ever

[mikalilys]

ruegard, ruegard, ruegard

i chant in front of my bathroom mirror

you will become canon

i whisper while i turn off the lights

everyone will make edits and write fanfics

i say as i begin to light candles

[sonomly]

When did young fan fic writers get so vitriolic about stories that explore taboos?

I feel like a LOT of the space in my youth was FULL of taboos.

It was the only place TO explore them!

I didn't read something and think the writer actively wanted to make love to an octopus creature themselves, and would break into an aquarium for the most scandalous story of the century.

Or that they should feel wrong or disgusting for thinking someone twice their age was hot and wanted to envision what it would be like to be thought of as beautiful by that individual as well.

I also didn't call the people twice or three times my age in the fan space "pedos".

Shakespeare wasn't writing a story about young lovers because he envisioned himself railing them.

Stories of love and desire come in all shapes and sizes.

If you don't like it, you don't need to engage, but please don't call someone weird and nasty for writing a fic about an affair, or a large age gap, or some tastefully done and wildly engaging kinks.

I dunno... Have someone massage your foot. Maybe "foot stuff" won't seem so weird any more when you finally feel the pleasure of that knot worked out that's been making it look like you're walking with a stick up your ass.

[horsechestnut]

It's nice that Bruce is adopting Tim and being all supportive with him, but could he maybe spare two seconds to figure out why the hell Cass has decided to become a serial killer?

[cleromancy]

sexiest and funniest thing roy harper ever did was look at dick grayson and go i could fix him

[authenticity2025]

Be thankful for every new challenge. Each will give you more strength, wisdom and character. Kristen Butler

[ywpd-translations]

Ride 751: Hakogaku's preliminary inspection

Pag 1

1: Plunging into a new chapter!!

Pag 2

1: The rivals standing in their way in the Inter High!!

Pag 3

1: Kanagawa Prefecture, Hakone city

3: Huh, a preliminary inspection

4: for the Inter High!?

5: Yeah... well... it's a usual thing

Now, really? Really?

Pag 4

1: Gwaaa hoii!!

2: I'll go, I'll go, I'll go!!

Yeeah!!

4: Huh, preliminary inspection? I might be a little interested

He's suddenly acting cool!?

5: Ah

Pag 5

1: Coough

Waaaa

He's suddenly vomiting blood!?

2: He definitely bit his tongue while jumping around in excitement earlier....

3: 'm ohey

It's obvious that your tongue hurts....

Yeah...

This guy is always injured....

4: If nohing!!

I get it, I get it!!

5: 'en u we 'eave? (When do we leave?)

In thirty minutes, before the clubroom... you'll take a car to the train station

'aight!!

6: It's so obvious he's happy about it

7: Was that right? They didn't give us details

I guess, it's what Manami-san told us

First year Tobirama

Pag 6

1: Last month, in the club's tournament he won the F-group climber race

Pag 7

1: Yeah, I see, and he's gonna run in this year's Inter High as the sixth regular member of Hakogaku!!

2: Seriously, I

3: I want to be considered cool by everyone!!

4: What's up with him, he looks so cheerful

Cool, cool, Kyuushu~

That Tobirama is so festive

Pag 8

5: Huh!? It's just me and Manami-san!?

Isn't- like, Doubashi-san coming!?

6: Hn.... I told Jou-kun and Yuuto, too, but they had their practice menu, so they said “no”

8: They said no!?

Huh!? But it's a preliminary inspection!?

9: For the Inter High!! A preliminary inspection, right!?

Yeah

Pag 9

1: A preliminary inspection for summer's great battle, right!?

2: That's right... the place we're going to now it's the biggest “mountain”.....

3: A mountain we absolutely have to overcome

4: And yet the other members didn't come!!

Ah... Manami... I'm seeing now that apparently the train stopped because of an accident

Ah

Should we just go there directly?

Is that okay? Thank you

5: Directly!? By car!?

Huh!?

6: To Kyuushu!?

7: The Inter High is in Kyuushu, right? How long will it take from here....

Hm? Around

Pag 10

1: Two hours and a half

Pag 11

4: Yeah... we arrived in two and a half hours, but- this is Chiba, isn't it!?

5: Where is Kyuushu!? Ah!? Is there a theme park like the park in Kyuushu here too?

And what abaout the splendid nature!? The big volcano...!!

6: Ah

7: Where will he have the preliminary inspection?

Cool

If you hurry up and get ready...?

Pag 12

1: We'll do our practice menu here, today

Pag 13

2: Our menu.... did you want to practice here just for a change of mood?

3: It's here, right? Where they do tournaments and stuff

It's Chiba's

4: Minegayama, right?

Yeah!!

5: Hakone is better though

6: I wanted to go to Kyuushu

7: Ah, by the way, speaking of Chiba, an acquaintance of mine lives here

Pag 14

1: You know, I was in the basketball club when I was in middle school

Ehh... I didn't know...

2: A good senpai of mine meddled with their basket club....

3: And apparently he was a good friend with my club's teacher advisor, and so they often organized practice matches with Chiba's middle school

4: I got injured a lot back then, too

So I often got injured and that guy from that middle school took care of me

5: He was so good at treating injuries that in my school they called him the “super manager”

6: I guess he's still in the basket club?

Pag 15

2: Ah, by the way, what's today's practice menu?

Fifteen minutes at a fixed output... three or something?

Nahh

3: Since they'll probably come, it's “do your best to win against that guy”!!

3: Huh!?

Who's gonna come!? You organized this with someone?

4: Any time now... probably

But we didn't

5: Organize it

6: Huh!?

The sound of wheels.... from behind us!? A bike!? …. no, more than one

Pag 16

2: They're here

Pag 17

1: Last year's champion, Sohoku High School!!

Pag 18

5: Teh!?

7: Yo

Pag 19

1: It's been a while, Sakamichi-kun

2: Hakogaku's captain, Manami Sangaku- why is he here!!

Pag 20

1: Wearing their jerseys and riding their bikes, there's no way they came here to sightsee!!

2: Manami-kun!!

3: The Inter High is next week already, isn't it? Bu before that.... I thought we should cross that “mountain*” once

(*NdT.: here, the kanji say “mountain king”, but the reading says “mountain”)

Pag 21

1: “Mountain”.....!! “That we absolutely have to overcome”- so this is the “preliminary inspection”!!

2: How about... that summit over there?

Your team... we're at an overwhelmind disadvantage, but

3: We don't plan on losing

It's a “preliminary battle”!?

5: Manami-san's concentration.....

Pag 22

1: it sprang up!!

Sounds interesting, doesn't it!?

Pag 23

1: A preliminary battle!?

He wants' to challenge us!?

2: Now!?

Here!?

3: You came here... on purpose... for this?

4: Yeah

5: I came here for this only?

7: Uh!! Sohoku's captain's.....

Pag 24

1: Onoda-san's concentration sprang up too!!

Got it!!

Pag 25

1: Onoda!!

2: Onoda-kun!!

3: Seriously!?

4: Waaa

5: We're starting a race against those two!? Teh!?

6: Oh, oh oh?

Pag 26

1: Really?

Those jerseys

2: It's Hakone Academy and Sohoku!!

[supercantaloupe]

wish i could give you a hug about your migraines and medication struggles. you deserve to be cared about accommodated

thank you <3 to be clear so far i haven't encountered anyone who's been uncaring or unaccommodating about it. i'm mostly just frustrated at...not necessarily myself, i guess, but at the mere fact of experiencing new existential challenges in my daily life. it's hard and scary to admit that i'm struggling, it's hard to ask for help, and it's hard to do so with the knowledge that most people have very little real way to help other than going "that's rough, buddy"

[nordsea-horizons]

the next project for my island nordsea💛💛

i’ve had many island projects over the time acnh has existed and have truly enjoyed them all, however there is something i’ve always wanted to try that i finally feel like im ready to explore on my island🫢💛

last year i did one brand new seasonal island for nordsea per season!! and i had fun with it dont get me wrong, however it made something very clear to me that i’ve always felt about my decorating in acnh. the fact that its very hard to keep the same island through different seasons in game! the codes, items, flowers, variations of stuff and even trees look soooo different each season, which is lovely but also hard to work around!! none of the 4 islands i made looked good in the opposite season of the one it was set in! i feel fine about this, BUT! could it be possible to keep the same island looking essentially the same way all year round(yes obviously, people have done it) BUT! could it be done by me in a way i actually like!???

i’ve had more than 10 islands in this game, i feel like i should now be able to know what i like and how to make a true all-year round island! one that looks good to me, is fun to play on and can be changed up for the holidays and seasons in a way i can manage and will actually do! im gonna try and do this as an island-build-up series where i go over the why’s and how’s in the process of building and decorating😌 hope its gonna be somewhat fun, i promise the rest wont be this text heavy btw!! and hopefully i can finish the actual island soon and spend most of the time doing seasonal/holiday updates! excited to show the first stuff i make on the maybe(hopefully) true forever-island version of my island Nordsea💛

[rigelmejo]

Listening to audiobooks IS improving my 'instant recognitions' in listening, for the words I can read.

I tried to listen to some Comprehensible Input Chinese videos on youtube though, and I am frustrated that I can't understand all the words in them unless I look at the video. I know the words if I was reading, but if I listen only, then I cannot follow those words when they're being used in an explaining situation (to explain what's going on) rather than as part of a narrative (story) when listening only. So I feel like I do need to work on improving my listening-only skills of basic daily life words. So I am putting myself through suffering and listening-only to Peppa Pig and some other kids-videos in Chinese. Why? Because I can follow what's going on in those without visuals, since it's part of a 'story' people talking to each other through situations. Maybe if I pick up the words enough that I 'instantly recognize' them, then listening-only to simple explanations of X is this, Y is this, will become easier to understand. (Anyone have any better children's cartoons recommendations that are in mandarin and available to play on youtube.com or bilibili.com, than Peppa Pig????)

Also because: I'm trying to do my study by only listening. It's easy to do 1-2 hours chinese listening a day. It is NOT easy to focus 100% on simple videos of someone explaining 'this is a plate, this is the plate breaking, this is an expresso, this is an americano, nick likes americanos but does NOT like lattes' which is both very boring to me and requires me to look at the video and not do other things at the same time.

[inseparabiles]

For the next like, two days, Boys and Wolves will be tagged with Geta & Cara instead of Geta/Cara.

I do not anticipate this state to last any longer than that, but presently the & team of demons in our head has scored a win.

I fucking hate tagging this fic I swear to god. No matter what we do with it it's going to give the wrong impression to someone. The A/N section to explain the relationship tag is several miles long and even that I don't think helps.

Like yes it's platonic. No they're not being platonic about it. Questions? Me too.

[glitchfang]

tbh i still like to read leon as a tad selfish (NOT in a weird way where hes the real antagonist or whatever) where he is miserable as champion and trapped in ennui and is actually super desperate for someone to take his place and hes sorta nudging the player in that direction. its not canon obviously but i think thatd be a fun concept for his character, idk