#and I think I'm overall satisfied with how it came out so I'm excited to share it when I can!

[maleyanderecafe]

Close to Obsession (Visual Novel)

Created by: Unknown Hermit

Genre: Horror

I'll be doing some recommendations for the #72 Hour Murderboy Mayhem since they do have quite a lot of yanderes (and some from creators you may know!) This one is made by @you-and-him who of course is working on the You and Him game and I do like the yandere's design in this one, (plus, pink haired male yandere, which is fairly rare). This one is fairly short as a demo, but hopefully it will be expanded on in the future.

The story starts out with the MC talking to a police officer about a sudden murder that happened in front of them. Clearly still affected by the situation, they start to recount it. While having a Hinder date with someone, they watched as a man came in and killed them. The MC is freaking out while the man seems satisfied with his work, he reveals that the two had actually dated once before from Hinder, though the MC doesn't remember it. The man gives the MC a piece of paper before leaving, leading to them calling the police. The officer offers to drive the MC home after this traumatizing event, remembering the note that they got, stating that they should meet up next Saturday, signed Max.

We then get a more in depth look at how Max thinks. We see that Max was inspired by the MC, and believed that killing the man is viewed as art in his eyes. He believed he needed something bold so that the MC would remember them, holding out a ring that he will presumable give to the MC in the future.

I will say that Hermit always does a good job in putting the MC in the most impactful situations at the start, which really lets you get into the meat of the action. In this game, we start out with the aftermath of the MC experiencing murder something that really traumatizes them. It is always cool to see a more realistic reaction to murder, and I think it would be neat if this carries throughout the entire game, where the MC kind of has PTSD from this moment, as it's something that they are clearly very shaken over. I'm curious if the MC will decide to go to meet Max, or if perhaps there's a branching timeline for something like that.

I always find it fun when creators have multiple yandere vns because they get to explore different types of yanderes with each one and we can see how they differ. Compared to Adam, Max is a lot more lucid about his obsession with the MC, even very blatantly going out of his way to kill their date in front of them just so that they will remember him. It's also cool to see more of the muse kinds of yanderes since the way that they view love and their definition of love is often different than how other types of yanderes view love. From more reluctant yandere to a more abrasive one, that's always fun! I have no idea how he was able to get away with simply murdering someone and running, like was there no other evidence besides leaving a witness? I guess only time will tell. I do think Max's design is pretty fun though with his side bun pony tail to his collar, he feels more like someone who would probably like animals. I'm wondering if that will be part of his characters, or if the collar is actually referring to more...kinkier parts of his personality.

Overall, a cool first shot of what the game is going to be like. From the time writing this, it doesn't really seem like Hermit has a full idea of what the game will be like, but I'm excited to see what direction they end up heading in as they continue to work on the game.

[copperbadge]

I am so close to being done with Royals/Ramblers I can taste it, and it's one of those frustrating situations where the last remaining work to be done is just annoying. I have to write one damn scene, which of course is the most emotionally fraught and difficult one, and then pick from the *counts on fingers* three separate versions of the epilogue I wrote, none of which are very satisfying. I'll probably slam them all together and then sort it out somehow.

And then I definitely have to give the whole thing one more pass before I think about posting, because it's going to clock in at right around 150K words, and I already have notes on continuity issues that need fixing.

Anyway, please enjoy this scene, in which I realized at the same time Gregory and Eddie did what a great joke their names make. (Some brief context -- Joan uses she/her but doesn't like the word "princess", so she chose the gender neutral Princeps as her title.)

Friday evening, when Gregory came on the air for the address, Eddie was sitting next to him, and Joan was leaning on Eddie's shoulder. Her excitement was almost a visible thing; she'd been fussed over that afternoon, Gregory helping her pick out clothing followed by Jerry doing her makeup for camera and Eddie doing a slightly less clumsy job of braiding her hair than she generally did. 

"Good evening, Fons-Askaz, Askazer-Shivadlakia, our neighbors, and our viewers abroad," Gregory said. Behind the camera, Jerry mouthed the words along with him absently. "I'm pleased to greet you all this Friday evening and I hope you're well. I find myself, for the second time in a year, setting aside the usual issues of the day and questions from citizens to talk to you about family...."

His idea had been to talk about Joan's history just a little, then introduce her as the newest Royal, their daughter the Princeps. He could use that as a platform to present to the country his new funding package for adoptive families, meant to encourage adoption and support children coming out of the foster system. Each half of that would hopefully make the other half seem less random.

It went pretty smoothly; Eddie chimed in at all the right moments, and Joan got to say a few words of introduction at the end. After he signed off, he gave her a hug and a forehead-kiss and told her she'd done a great job. 

And then Noah, standing with Monday and Jerry behind the camera in the little studio, said, "Well, you crashed the internet again."

Gregory sighed. "Can't blame Eddie this time, can we?" 

"It was only the tourism website, and it wasn't on purpose," Eddie said. 

"He was always breaking my stuff when we were kids," Monday said.

"Nope, this one's all Joan," Noah replied. "As soon as you introduced her as your daughter, traffic started spiking -- palace website, tourism website, and every royals' Photogram."

"Katie in Communications says told you so," Jerry said, already on the phone with her.

"Joan's Photogram is down, looks like bandwidth-suck. And there goes mine, and yours," Noah said, nodding at Gregory. "There's two hashtags trending, PrincessJoan and PrincepsJoan." 

"Let me call my guy at Photogram," Eddie said, taking his phone out. 

"You have a guy just like, at Photogram?" Monday asked.

"Yeah, he handles my requests, I send him sausages," Eddie answered. 

"How is it you simultaneously live in the 22nd century and the 14th?" Monday asked. 

"Have him kill the Princess hashtag," Noah suggested.

"It's fine," Joan said. "They can use it for now, it'll keep things, um." She narrowed her eyes, searching for the word. "Segmented. Spread out the discussion a little."

"Someone's been reading my data analytics memos," Gregory said. 

"You leave 'em out," she pointed out. 

"Good news is people seem excited," Noah continued. "The hashtag's glitching, it's moving so fast, but overall pretty positive," he added.

"Well, we knew this would be intense," Gregory said. Joan, studying her own phone, squeaked. "Joan?" 

"Mas Corbin tagged me," she said, with possibly the most excitement they'd seen from her, at least since her first trip in the Jaguar. 

"The footballer?" Gregory asked, confused.

"Who?" Noah and Eddie chorused. 

"He's a Shivadh footballer, I think he's playing in Ireland right now," Gregory said, and his voice took on a slight edge as he considered some of the reasons a football player might mention his daughter. "What did he say?" 

"Dedicating my next game to my new Princeps JoanMac, long may she reign," Joan read, and Gregory relaxed. "Congrats to Gin&Tonic, she's cute as a button. Mas Corbin thinks I'm cute!"

"Gin and Tonic?" Gregory asked, and then said, "Gregory and Theophile," right as Eddie and Monday both began to laugh. "How did neither of us think of that before?"

"You get used to it," Noah said to Joan. "All kinds of famous people are going to have opinions on you."

"What do I do?!"

"Gram him back," Noah said. "Comment and say thanks and that you're a fan and you'll be watching the game."

"I'm gonna have to do a video with some gin and tonic recipes," Eddie said, as Noah and Joan debated the best wording for her response. Gregory leaned back in his chair, exhaling, and let the chaos happen around him for a minute. 

[bettsfic]

it took 140 hours, but i finally finished my first playthrough of baldur's gate 3. overall i'm insane about it but there are a few things that really pissed me off. my (many) thoughts in no particular order under the cut.

i forced myself to play the full game totally vanilla, no mods even though i'm so bad at games i usually need cheats to make it to the end. not to mention i've hated inventory management in every game i've ever played (except genshin. love u, hyv). but i was patient, and i played on explorer mode, and i savescummed the hell out of it (hence 140 hours). but as SOON as i finished the epilogue, i turned around and installed 30 mods, most of which are QoL things that shouldn't even need to be modded (vertical camera pitch, WASD option, stackable items, sortable inventory, highlight ALL interactable objects).

i decided i wanted to play both a Dark Urge playthrough and an I'm Just Ken playthrough, but after making two new characters and, through my endless youtube diving, accidentally getting spoiled on what i think is the major durge reveal, i decided simply to make Ken the Dark Urge.

every other minute he goes, "Hi! I'm Ken," and then thinks about murder. it's great.

obvs he's going to romance Shadowheart (although i may download the poly mod and romance everyone).

MAJOR SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT

here are my Thoughts, in no particular order, because i don't know where else to put them:

i didn't enjoy romancing Astarion as much as i thought i would, because i came to see him less as a romantic interest and ended up identifying with him more than my Tav. that said, i'm very excited to do Astarion's origin playthrough

i ended up enjoying my Halsin romance more, because it was a more traditional slowburn, and Halsin's quest was totally external conflict. on one hand, that made me less interested in him as a character overall; on the other, it was SO SATISFYING to find out he had been Pining for me the whole time. sometimes i just need a little bodice-ripper content, as a treat

obviously i'm also into Astarion/Halsin and Astarion/Halsin/Tav

however the only viable fic idea i have is Astarion/Shadowheart? i blame this fanvid

no, really, what was so different about Early Access that OP got this much Astarion/Shadowheart material? the description in the video says they were disappointed by how their dynamic had changed for full release

okay, time or my biggest beef:

Haarlep pissed me off almost enough to stop playing the game. not in a purity way, but in a "this is just bad writing" way

i mean, your options are to kill him or fuck him. that's not consent. and when you agree to fuck him, you have to roll several checks to keep him from killing you. then he steals your likeness so that whenever he has sex with someone else, you have a spontaneous orgasm

i wanted to dismiss it as dead dove, but the point of dead dove is that 1) it is labeled, and there was no indication whatsoever i was about to walk into this, and 2) dead dove implies the creator is aware that the content is filth for filth's sake. i saw no evidence that that quest was anything more than the sniffing panties buff of D:OS2

the sadist in the goblin camp? that's good filth. you have a little public BDSM demo that you can easily nope out of, and if you finish it you get a permanent buff. your companions have fun things to say. and there's no major quest attached to it, so you can completely walk past it. and the Drow twins were the same. and Mizora. just horny content for players who enjoy that kind of thing, and easily disregarded for players who don't. i don't understand why Haarlep had to be different

like, you're looking around for the hammer. you come across Haarlep, who is bored and wants to have fun with you. maybe he offers the promise of a buff that will help in the coming battle with the Absolute. if your romanced character is in the party, you have a dialogue option to talk to them about it first. maybe in parting, he gives you a hint about where to find the hammer, and it's in a completely different room

but no, you *have* to interact with him to advance the quest, can't talk your way out of it, and it leaves you with a skeevy pseudo-debuff

when i went to look it up, i saw so many forum posts of people being like, hmm this made me really uncomfortable, and (presumably) men responding, it was consensual! you have the option to kill him! and it's frightening that so many people think that way

also when you have a female Tav and you choose a male Haarlep, the animation doesn't change to account for the position. Haarlep straddles you the whole time. and that just made me interpret the scene as a male succubus rape fantasy

and your companions have to WATCH. and they don't intervene or even say anything about it. if you've romanced Astarion and he's in your party, you get one point of disapproval and that's it. like he wouldn't have an Opinion over that kind of coercion? i saw some youtube videos and know that he says something about it much later when you spontaneously orgasm, but that's it

i hope there's something i'm missing, and someone will come into my ask and go "ummm actually" and tell me some important factoid of game development that will make me interpret the scene differently

i ended up resetting and just not doing the House of Hope questline. i didn't bother with the hammer, either. honestly the whole Githyanki plot confused me and i was more invested in my conflict with the Emperor. i ended up siding with him and killing Orpheus so that no one would have to turn into a mindflayer. i was expecting to have to persuade him out of taking the crown himself, but he just noped off for some reason

this is another thing i wonder if i missed. i never understood his motivations or goals beyond "protect you" and "manipulate you." so he's Balduran and he killed his dragon and...what else? to what end? it would have been more satisfying to me if he planned to take the crown for himself but decides not to because of the bond he's forged with you. but maybe i can interpret it that way anyway

yes i fucked the Emperor

but i fucked him in Guardian form

like a COWARD

i was very torn about all the characters' final decisions. in the end, i kept Jenheart and spawn Astarion. i let Wyll and Karlach choose for themselves (and loved their ending together). i couldn't prioritize Gale or Lae'zel this playthrough because i was focused on too many other things, and i got their bad endings (although i ended on good terms with Lae'zel despite killing Orpheus?)

i played as a beast master ranger (i mained a beast master hunter in WoW for years) and i've seen in several places on the internet that it's supposedly the worst subclass, but let me tell you...

the bird companion. nobody is talking about the bird companion. by the end, it has two actions, the ability to blind, and your bird can call in two more birds. you can have a total of FOUR BIRDS

the red dragon in the final battle? couldn't do shit. it spent the entire time blinded by my bird. nearly everyone on the battlefield was dead by the end, but my bird still had over 50% of its HP. the bird is BROKEN

in my I'm Just Ken playthrough, i'm going to multiclass Shadowheart into a raven girl. the birds spoiled me and i can't imagine playing without them now

it's weird to me that there's penis physics but no boob physics. did anyone else notice that? you wiggle the male avatar and the dick moves. you wiggle the female avatar and her boobs are like rocks. even when she's lying down, the boobs stay exactly as they are

listen, i have a lot of complaints. the bugs made the game nearly unplayable for me. i know they're putting out patches fast, but i think it'll still be years before i would recommend this game to someone who is on the fence about playing it. if you're not immediately dropping everything to fuck the hot sad vampire, you might as well wait until the game is cleaner at like hotfix 856

BUT

i've never experienced anything like this game. every decision matters. every character has a story. there are so many potential paths and opportunities that it's literally impossible for the fan wiki to be completely accurate. i cried at least 4 times, and by the end, saying goodbye to Karlach, i was actually sobbing. i'm old enough now to know that these states of immersion into fictional worlds are rarer than they used to be, and i'm so grateful to this game for giving me so many hours of fun and escape

unlike books, movies, and tv, where i get invested and move on and rarely read or watch anything twice, video games are always such a learning curve for me that when i get into a game, i stay there. i have thousands of hours into Genshin and SDV, and i have a feeling BG3 will be the same. this game is so, so flawed, but it's ambitious beyond any narrative i've ever encountered, and i really admire it for that

i would love to find a Discord server for it that's not overwhelmingly huge, just the people writing fic and making art. it's been a long time since i've been involved in a fandom and i really miss it

[redrage71890]

Seamstress Yuu AU

| Heartslabyul | Savanaclaw | Octavinelle | Scarabia | Pomefiore | Ignihyde | Diasomnia |

P.s. I'm getting rid of the fanart and pictures I put up before in case the artist didn't want their art to be reposted and for the performance pictures I just didn't think I needed to put them up.

✿————✦————✿✿————✦————✿✿————✦————✿

✿————✦————✿✿————✦————✿✿————✦————✿

This Yuu was a seamstress back in their world, but they got isekaied in Twisted Wonderland and shit and ended up being an early parent of a fire breathing gluttonous cat.

Currently living in a rundown abandoned dorm with three ghosts living with them, they are definitely in need of some madol for the repairs and just.....living...

So why not utilise these skills!

Sketching and sketching ideas for outfits and accessories that could go with it. Once satisfied with some of the ideas, all she needs to do is to find their models.

And she knows just the people...

✿————✦————✿✿————✦————✿✿————✦————✿

The Heartslabyul boys would be a good starting point!

How did they react to the proposition?

✿————✦————✿✿————✦————✿✿————✦————✿

ੈ✩‧₊˚ {𝑅𝒾𝒹𝒹𝓁𝑒 𝑅𝑜𝓈𝑒𝒽𝑒𝒶𝓇𝓉𝓈}

He was taken aback from the offer and was indeed stuttering a bit from nervousness, but he agreed non-the-less.

After taking his measurements, he came in to Ramshackle for an outfit check to make sure its comfortable for him. He was amazed by the craftsmen of the clothing and it was indeed comfortable to wear.

His final outfit was a white button up under a scarlet red sweater, black baggy shorts with black and white shocks to go with some black combat boots.

Accessories included a few silver bracelets, silver thin chain necklace, a few silver rings and a card suit cufflinks.

ੈ✩‧₊˚ {𝒯𝓇𝑒𝓎 𝒞𝓁𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓇}

Similar to Riddle though keeps his cool for a bit and just straight up asks why him and how he doesn't think he should be a model for them.

But after words of absolute encouragement with things like "HAVE YOU SEEN YOURSELF?!"

Trey gave in...

Like Riddle, he came in did his measurements and later came back to try the drafts of the outfit. Really interested in the jacket draft but was overall satisfied with the outfit thus far.

Finishing outfit was a set of a black t-shirt, black jeans and belt and a silk red white braided jacket with black cuffs and black dress boots.

Accessories consisted of silver chains attached to the belt with golden card suit cufflinks and a loose black tie around the neck.

✩‧₊˚ {𝒞𝒶𝓉𝑒𝓇 𝒟𝒾𝒶𝓂𝑜𝓃𝒹}

He was ecstatic with the opportunity! He could get some online fame with the exposure!

Cater looked so excited to try out the draft of the outfit. Exceedingly comfortable and happy with the outfits thus far and expressed his excitement for the final!

He actually made suggestions for accessories and propositions for Yuu to use for the final outfit, to which they greatly took into consideration.

The finalized outfit was a candy red jacket with patterned squares and straps hanging off the chest and two zips on either side of the sleeves, a black t-shirt, candy red pants and black combat boots.

With Cater's freedom to accessorise his outfit with Yuu's permission, it consisted of golden diamond pins on the jacket, golden chains hanging on the hem of the pants and golden rings.

ੈ✩‧₊˚ {𝒜𝒸𝑒 𝒯𝓇𝒶𝓅𝓅𝑜𝓁𝒶}

Mate actually thought they were joking and laughed in their face, but when Yuu's face stayed stone cold of seriousness....that's when he stopped laughing and had a surprised expression.

When taking measurements he moved a lot which greatly annoyed Yuu but they endured.

Ace was so surprised with the progress Yuu was able to do in a small time frame when he visited to try out the drafts.

Teased Yuu a bit for their closeness of the two but they shut it down instantly with a blank stare, not amused.

Finally, the outfit was a sleeveless candy red button-up with black faded splotches, black baggy pants with black straps and a flannel patterned fabric stitched on the thigh and black combat boots.

Accessories included a black with silver accented chocker, a black and pink belt and fingerless black gloves.

ੈ✩‧₊˚ {𝒟𝑒𝓊𝒸𝑒 𝒮𝓅𝒶𝒹𝑒}

More stuttering and red reaching his face with silence from shock at the proposition. Deuce isn't sure about being a model but Yuu is quite convincing and encouraging at the same time, so he agreed.

The poor boy doesn't know what he's doing, he's so stiff when taking his measurements, it was kind of hard for Yuu to mauver him.

He was significantly impressed with the speed Yuu managed to create the drafts, he was satisfied with the drafts but Yuu certainly was not happy with how it was.

Getting the outfit back he was a bit shy staring at it. Since he's never worn anything like it.

Final fit was a flannel button-up with a leather collar and button strip, black pants, a black belt with silver accents and black boots.

He was decked with a black chocker with silver chains and another silver chain on the belt.

[ashthemadwriter-archived]

"Do you need to use your safe word, Darling?"

"You look so pretty with my dick inside you, princess"

Fandom: Death Note

Pairings: Mello X Fem!Reader

Request: "Hello!! Can I request prompt “Do you need to use your safe word, darling?” With Mello pls?🤭" " I have spawned in here to request prompt 12 with mello😼" ◜By two lovely anons!◞

Genre: Smut

Format: Short Fic

Warnings: Explicit smut, Cussing, Brat taming, Sub!Reader, Dom!Mello, Pet names (Darling, Slut, Princess, etc), Degrading, Dirty talk, Mello being a tease, Vaginal sex, Oral (Giving), Rough sex, Mating press position, FILTH overall, MDNI

Word Count: 1.6K

A/n: Both of you didn't mention anything about reader's gender so I went with Female reader, and I also combined both requests, hope that's ok :)

When you thought about testing Mello, this wasn't exactly what you were thinking.

It was supposed to be a stupid joke, a sarcastic one you would say; but still, a joke. When he came home today, exhausted and out of breath, he wasn't expecting you to give him shit about it. Sure; it was nearly 4 am but, so what? You're not his mom alright? He never had one actually, which was probably the reason why he was so on guarded when discussing this matter.

He wasn't used to people actually caring about him.

"I don't fucking understand! Why the fuck are you arguing with me?" Mello hissed, taking the last bite of his caramel flavored chocolate as he stared into your eyes. The click sounds of the chocolate being destroyed by his teeth kinda distracted you, but it was also turning you on at the same time.

Not that you were going to admit it. Definitely not at this moment.

"Because you're not supposed to stay outside wandering in the streets while I'm here worried sick; dying to get a reply from you!"

"Why not?! I'm a fucking adult now! I waited all these years to turn 18 and get out of that orphanage, I won't let you control me and tell me what to do!"

God this was so stupid! You had enough of this! You loved this jackass! It was enough that you knew he was about to die any moment due to him working on the Kira case, but this? It was too much.

Too much for a normal girl like you.

"You know what? I wanna break up" you blurted out, without thinking about how many times you brought the topic up. Mello simply rolled his eyes at your words, thinking how long is it gonna take for you to find out that you are never getting away from him.

"Oh? Why is it this time?"

"This time? Oh! It's actually for the same reason! You, Mello! I love you too much! Too much that I can't stand this! This is... hard for me! You're always outside, you never give me any attention; You're not even capable of satisfying me in bed!"

Oops.

"What?" His carefree tune was replaced with a harsh one, and his sharp gaze fixated on you was a manifest sign, implying to take your words back, but today you felt a bit perkier than usual, so you decided to put yourself on a knife-edge.

"What? You've gone deaf or something?" you said bluntly, but not enough to stop yourself from avoiding his stare. You knew you didn't mean any of these, but maybe you were being too easy on him, always leaving the conversation undone because he was too tired or had work to do.

"The bedroom. Now"

This tune. This serious tune of his was something you were craving for ages. It reminded you of your first hook up together when you met in a bar. How he fucked you like the good girl you were, doming you until you were sobbing for him to let you come. That night was...crazy; and seemed like tonight was going to be similar to that, or even crazier.

You nodded with obedience, heading to the bedroom as your legs trembled with excitement. It had been a while since you two had sex and this looked like a good start; right?

"Kneel" He ordered you, caressing your bottom lip as you obeyed him docilely. His thump slowly rubbed the sensitive skin, pushing them open to make room for his digit to slip inside your wet mouth.

"Good girl. I like it when you're this obedient" The grin on his face was sending shivers down your spin, releasing all the negative thoughts you were surrounded with earlier that day. He was fine, he looked fine; maybe you were a bit overreacting.

And maybe you crossed one important line of his.

"But sometimes... Sometimes you seem to forget your place" his thumb slowly exited your mouth. "But no worries for that, doll. I mean, that's why I'm here right? To remind you where you belong to"

If it was any other day you would've talked back to him, but tonight he just looked so majestic as you were watching him from below that you couldn't bring yourself to mutter a word.

Watching you looking at him with lust in your eyes, Mello just knew that your head was already filled with dirty fantasies of him bending you on his lap leaving hand prints on your skin, and maybe he was willing to make those dreams come true, but first he had other plans on his mind.

"Say, how about we have a challenge? Let's see who can last longer in this game, hm? You in?"

Well, how could you say no to this tempting offer?

Seeing the sign of approval on your face, Mello reached for his belt to get rid of all the clothes keeping you from having access to his big cock. You knew what he was after, so you lent him a hand by unzipping his pants and pulling them down to meet a erected dick hanging out in front of you, ready to feel your mouth around it.

Turning your look back to Mello, you started lightly stroking his dick with your warm hand, causing him to take a heavy breath and watch you with hidden desperation in his eyes. A small grin found its way to your lips before they crashed on his dick, making him lightly pant at the sudden arrival of pleasure. Your blowjobs were always a nice treat, so you wouldn't really blame him if he came after a while; right?

Or that's just what you were thinking at the moment.

Without wasting a second, you started bobbing your head back and forth on his length, with an unbelievably fast pace like you're life depended on it. You could already taste his precum leaking from the tip of his dick, which was definitely a good sign, and so were his grip on your hair. His sex was so warm yet so big to enjoy the taste of him on your tongue, but unlike you, he was definitely enjoying himself; you could tell that from how hard he was trying to hold back his moans. But as you thought he was about to fall apart, He suddenly pulled your hair back.

"Mhm- Ouch!" You whined, leaving his dick from your mouth while massaging the pain away on your scalp. Your eyes were on him and that stupid smug face of his, knowing that he wasn't going to give you the satisfaction of winning.

"You think you can make me come? How bald" He grinned as he grabbed your upper arm, lightly pulling you upwards. He didn't want to hurt you, he was still in love with you after all; but you could take just one rough night, couldn't you?

The second you stood in front of him, he pushed you toward the bed, making you gasp with surprise as his body crashed on top of you. Now it was you who was panting for breath, while trying to hide your lewdness for his touch. The eye contact between you became tense when his hand started rubbing your clit gently, satisfied with how wet you were already even though he hadn't properly touched you yet.

"Look at you! Looks like you were enjoying that blowjob more than me! Or, is it just because you're a needy slut for my cock, huh?"

Maybe you could answer him, if your mind wasn't clogged with his virility over you.

He poked your lips lightly, smirking at how needy your throbbing cunt was for him. "Well, I can't turn down my pretty girlfriend after all, hm? Even if she acts like a bitch sometimes"

Pressing your knees on your stomach, he placed your hands on your thighs, kissing the soft skin as you felt his tip on your entrance.

And that was when it hit you. You could never win, never against him, because he was the one who had power over you, he only hadn't bother to show you that until now.

In this small game of filth, you were the loser; and even though you didn't want to admit it, you were perfectly fine with that.

"Mhm- mh- A- A- Ah- Ahhhh!"

There it was, the sudden feeling of your body burning underneath his sweaty skin, shooting drops of cum landing on his cock, creaming around him. How many times you had come already? You lost track of it after the third time, because your mind and your body was too numb to process what was happening around except for how his length was thrusting into you, hitting that sensitive spot inside. Was he protesting? Not at all, it was just making it easier for him to shove himself inside your slippery cunt, earning endless needy moans or perhaps inarticulate mutters from you.

"You look so pretty with my dick inside you, princess" He whispered next to your ear, sending shivers down your quivery spin. Of course he was having fun. He was having his way with you, humiliating your crave for his dick and how you were still too haughty to give up.

"You're trembling under me baby. I bet you won't be able to walk tomorrow. Are you sure you can take one more? Do you need to use your safe word, Darling?"

What was the point of him asking? You couldn't even respond to him because you were too busy devouring euphoria coming from his sex with your aching pussy. One thing came to your mind as your eyes rolled back with pleasure, getting the feeling of the arrival of your next climax;

That he was going to have you screaming both his name and your safe word, not so long afterwards.

Reblogs are much appreciated!

[hollowtones]

i can't find the vods for the rest of your endwalker playthrough (if you even did stream the rest) so i was wondering, what were your opinions on 6.0? (also what were your reactions to That urianger scene)

I think I only did like one or two streams of it. It ran kinda bad when I streamed it, people didn't want to watch it, and I wasn't getting much out of streaming it compared to just playing it on my own time. That and I think I had a really severe depressive episode at the time (for unrelated reasons).

IDK if anyone's still trying to avoid spoilers but I'll throw it under a read-more.

It's been a while since I last played so my memory's kind of spotty. I liked it, though. It felt like a satisfying conclusion to what they've been getting at since 2.0 MSQ, and a nice little dialogue on despair and exhaustion and depression and hope, and finding ways to carry on and keep living and keep loving and keep trying. I feel like that's when the game's overall writing and theming tends to be at its strongest (yes I liked the Dark Knight questlines haha).

I remember having mixed feelings about how they pulled off the Garlemald segment & the "Alphinaud and Alisaie's shit head dad" plotline but I don't remember enough of the specifics to really elaborate on that.

Alisaie has lesbian college admirers and I thought that was funny.

I came out of 5.5 MSQ expecting White Woman Jumpscare Hydaelyn to be a little trite but I ended up really liking Venat. I felt kinda whatever about Emet-Selch coming back, but I didn't hate what they did with him I guess, and his earless-Viera boy toy was fun. Fandaniel felt like The Joker but he still felt like a fine first-act villain. The way they write him (& Meteion) in the later chunk of the game felt more interesting to me, & felt like a fun play on "Shadowbringers"-era Emet-Selch's whole "AMAUROT, BABY! GREATEST CITY IN DA WORLD, BABY! SLIMES ALL OVER DA STREET, BABY!" nostalgia. It was funny when he was The Joker, though.

Final area was thematically and visually really interesting. I'm excited we got more stuff related to Omega & I'm glad we got more "btw the dragons are aliens" stuff. I've seen a lot of people forget about that, for whatever reason. That one area right by the end that was completely desolate, with no people & no indication of who lived there, was a really good setpiece. The Namazu canonically suffer in all possible dimensions and all possible worlds and you cannot help but laugh out loud.

I kind of rolled my eyes at Zenos coming back. "By the way he's a Reaper now" felt like it amounted to nothing, but admittedly I never did the Reaper questline or the post-6.0 stuff. Getting to punch him in the face at the end was fun.

Music was good, I liked the way they played with different motifs & I really like how that comes to a head in the final boss fight.

I was expecting moon rabbits to be grating and insufferable but I liked them. I fucking love that none of this planet's moons are normal. Why are they both orbital prison-ships. I love it.

Zodiark's design owned and Hydaelyn's design was okay. Very Yoshitaka Amano design, which makes sense given how he did that one boxart for "A Realm Reborn" & she looks a lot like she does there, but I kinda wish she got to look more monstrous and weird. She kept talking up becoming a monster to do what she felt was right!!! I wish that had informed her design a little more.

Hamburgers exist & I do like that the animators got to livingly render G'raha Tia going to town on one like those weird clips of anime girls where it looks like they've never eaten in their lives.

I don't remember what you mean by "the Urianger scene". LOL

You didn't ask, but the crafting/gathering questlines were a lot of fun. I feel like they (& the guildleves) added some fun extra context to everything going on while I was going through the MSQ.

I liked it overall. I don't think it's the highest point of the game's writing, but I had a good time and felt very satisfied by the time it came to a close.

[wutheringmights]

Author's commentary for latest chapter???🥺🥺🥺 I am very invested

Of course!

(I really need to start writing these in advance lol)

I talked previously how this chapter was an overall Pain In My Ass to write. Now that the chapter is out, you can now better see why. This chapter establishes how both the past and the present are going to have completely different tensions than what they have had previously. It was vital that I sold the reader on the new narrative tensions, and that task turned out to be more daunting than I thought.

A big issue for me was feeling like I could write something that could live up to the hype. Don't get me wrong-- I love that you guys are all really excited for new chapters and there is no way I would have even made it this far without your support. But I did start to freak out and believe that nothing I could write could live up to hype.

In the end, I ended up powering through it. I'm feeling better now that the chapter is done and (surprise) I didn't die. But it was a little rough for a while there.

All that being said, can you believe I spent the more time on the past than I did on the present? It's such a short part of the chapter, but I got really overwhelmed with making sure that I nailed this last moment between Link and the engineer, plus Lincoln's lecture.

Normally, when I get stuck, I would have switched over to the other plot line, but I was convinced I needed to write the past first so that I had the full context for Spirit and Warriors during their scenes in the present day. If I had admitted defeat at any time, this chapter probably would have been done like 3 weeks earlier.

Lincoln is the undisputed MVP of this chapter. He finally came in and did what I said he would do like 10 chapters ago. And he finally got to yell at Warriors too. King shit.

Remember how I said that I originally intended for Lincoln to be an atheist? You can see some of the remains of that idea in how he talks about Farore.

Originally, I wanted Spirit to have no dialogue during the past. That way, the tension to finally hear Spirit talk to Warriors again in the present would start building up in the past. I ended up abandoning this idea for the sake of that tiny moment where Spirit initially refuses to go with Lincoln.

I almost included Orlanda as a member of Lincoln's rescue squad, but cut her for the sake of realism; only Gaudin was necessary and she would probably be better needed on the front lines

I almost ended this chapter with a line that would mirror the opener for the present day plot ("The engineer was gone, and Link swore he would get him back" vs "Spirit was here, and Warriors thought he would throw up") but as cool as that would have been, I wanted to emphasize to the reader what the past was going to be about now that both the engineer and the child were gone: Link alone and spiraling.

With that said, on to the present day:

Shout out to my lack of desire to work the actual job I am paid to do-- many scenes in the present day were written when I was at work, with Warriors's confession to the rest of the gang being the key one. I actually wrote that as a script, which I might share some day

Speaking of which, I initially didn't plan to write out Warriors's exact speech. I was going to say that Warriors "told them everything" and then fade to black. I realized that was stupid when I remembered how important it's going to be later to realize that there are a lot of things Warriors left out.

Was the solution for the coded documents satisfying or extremely stupid? I don't even know, man. I think it was very clever of me, but I am also so, SO dense.

The documents and the Nephus world-building was going to be solved way earlier in the story (like, back at the citadel) but I kept pushing off the scene in favor of other stuff. This was the very last chance I had to cover this stuff before it became absolutely necessary info. Good job, me!

I mean, doing this now also 100% killed the pacing of the chapter, but what can I girl do?

God, okay. We got to talk Spirit and Time now.

We've only scratched the surface of Spirit's whole deal. Issues-With-A-Captial-I, like I said. So I'll refrain from talking too depth about him for now.

I will say that when I was trying to figure out what to do with older Spirit, the word I kept coming back to was "unpleasant." I really liked the idea of him going from this caring and sweet kid to just being unpleasant to be around. He's not necessarily a bad person, but you might not want to get coffee with him.

You might recall a little snippet I wrote a year ago where I accidentally tested out an older Spirit concept. You can see that even back then he was going to have a smoking vice.

Speaking of which, Spirit striking his match on the ceiling of his train has a silly origin. A while back I watched "The Quiet Man," which stars John Wayne. I can't recommend either movie or actor, but I was enthralled with the way Wayne's character would strike the matches for his cigarettes on anything around him: from the ceiling of his home to the bottoms of his boots. After watching it, I immediately knew that I was going to give Spirit that habit.

Spirit wears a turtleneck under his jumpsuit because every time I see the open chest on the canon design, I cringe at the OSHA violation.

Okay, let's talk Time.

I joked in the author's note that Time's relationship with Spirit was a reflection of my mommy issues. From the start, I wanted TIme to embody the role of a child who's source of suffering is their parent's suffering and the complicated emotions that arise from that.

How do I put this? You can sit there and look at all the facts about your mother. You can lay out her history and understand where she was coming from, how every reaction was a response to a trauma that far surpasses you. Every bad moment was never about you. So you sit there and say that you can forgive your mother as a person. But at the same time... she's not a person. She's your mother. And she failed you.

So yeah. Apply all that to a 30 year old man lol.

I tried my best to make it clear that Time didn't hate either Spirit or Warriors from the start, but either I wasn't clear enough or readers didn't acknowledge what Time was saying.

For example, in chapter 10 when Warriors confronts Time about knowing everything, Time said that he "couldn't hate" Warriors. A lot of readers took that as Time choosing to work with Warriors out of necessity. I meant for it to show that Time's feelings were more complicated than just black-and-white forgiveness and hate.

(I also purposefully wrote that "I can't hate you" line two years ago with the intention of it being echoed again during this argument. Nice to finally get that one off the plate).

Speaking of which, I remember getting a few readers saying how cute it was that the child was trying to take care of Link and the engineer in the past; and I was sitting there like "oh my god no. a child taking care of his parental figures is a source of trauma. don't say something you'll regret i beg you."

Back on topic-- I won't blame anyone if they think this revelation about Time came out of left field. There was more that I could have done to make his view a bit clearer before this chapter, but I also won't lie and say that I didn't intend to keep Time's specific views a little fuzzy before this moment.

That being said, I think some readers assumed that Time's view of the whole situation would be more objective. Which, no. He was a child back then. There is no way in hell he would be anywhere close to objective on what happened.

We'll dig deeper in Time as the story goes, but in conclusion, if you think this wasn't done well, you're probably right.

Also, I think it's worth mentioning that my plan on a thematic level was to get the reader comfortable with how they think about Warriors on a moral level at this point so that introducing Spirit and Time's problems can re-complicate and challenge your ideas.

I'll talk more about this later when we get more in Spirit's side of things, but generally whether you are pro- or anti-Warriors, how Time and Spirit dealt with what happened is meant to make any reader searching for an absolute answer to the moral questions very, VERY frustrated

(Whether I can pull that off as a writer is a different matter entirely, though)

Fun fact: I originally wanted Warriors to play a bigger role in the argument so that it would be a three way Spirit vs TIme vs Warriors fight. Then I realized that Warriors wouldn't say anything if it seemed like it would help force Spirit out.

There were a lot of tiny moments I wanted to do with Spirit being introduced to the rest of the Chain that involved his sensing shenanigans that I cut for space; rest assured that they will still happen.

God, I don't even know what to say about that ending scene without spoiling something. Let's just say that Spirit and Warriors are going to get soooooooooooo [redacted]

[wine-sluts]

If you don't mind me asking, can I ask your top 5 (or top 3) favorite characters from BSD? And why you loved them? And your top 5 favorite moments from the series? Thanks....

Side note: I literally got so excited when I got an ask notification. Sorry it took me awhile to answer it, I kinda went crazy with the details and I really had to think it over. Without further ado:

My Favourite Characters: 1) Dazai my babe; he's a very complex and in my opinion well written character.vOverall I love how despite the fact that he's morally grey and prone to violent tendencies he tries his best to be good because he wants to be the man Odasaku would be proud of. 2) Yosano; she's my girly and my babe. I genuinely love doctors and medics in the media. I'm also obsessed with her backstory because it's so different. The entire philosophy about how losing is a human right and she took that right away from people will always break my heart. 3) Kunikida; he's such an underrated character, I think his overall arc has been one of the most interesting. I'm not lying when I say I think he's had incredible growth as a character. It breaks my heart how all the odds are against him all the time yet he constantly blames himself. 4) Chuuya; I mean come on, he had to be on here, he's such a beautiful and well written character. I love Double Black's dynamic and Chuuya's backstory is so original and flushed out it makes him incredible to watch. Not only that but his ability and the way he carries himself is incredible. He's not written like many brutes and muscle men are written which I love. 5) Kouyou; Her character is another underrated one, I'm fascinated with her backstory and her overall relationship with the other mafia members. She had tried to escape as a kid and clearly struggled with her role in the darkness until she accepted it without a fight. She thought the same of Kyouka too and most likely also thinks the same of Chuuya. My top 5 scenes: 5) Akutugawa's confrontation with Kyouka during the Cannibalism Arc: It was such a quick moment that it's overlooked but it meant a lot to me, he was happy for her, that she found her purpose. He thought the only way to make her useful was to make her an assassin thrown to the wolves. But seeing Kyouka thrive in the light made him happy on her behalf. It also showed how Kyouka wasn't as afraid of him as she used to be, nor as ashamed of her past as she was before the Moby Dick or her heart to heart with Dazai. 4) Fukuchi's fight with Tachihara: I know the scene sucked because of the way things ended for Tachihara, but it was satisfying to see Tachihara's powers in action. I know we watched him go up against Yosano, Gin and Hirotsu, but seeing it being used so creatively against Fukuchi was breathtaking. It also really went more into depth with his internal battle about the Hunting Dogs and Fukuchi. Seeing him be so heartbroken Fukuchi betrayed them was so well portrayed. 3) "You're a Rough Ride Weretiger": Do I even need to explain how Akutugawa riding Atsushi to ballet music was one of the best scenes in the series. 2) Atsushi coming to terms with his complicated feelings for the Headmaster: This episode meant so much to Atsushi, as it does to me. I think it was very powerful because Atsushi doesn't forgive him. You don't need to forgive somebody to love them. The way Atsushi feels safer now that he's dead, but also dreaded the fact that the Headmaster even came to Yokohama in the first place? All the mixed emotions from that episode were truly powerful and I could rant about it for hours. 1) An odd choice but hear me out; Dazai confronting Kunikida in 'Love for the Disease Called Ideals': I know that the Azure messenger arc was Dazai's entrance exam in the manga and that Studio Bones butchered it to high heaven, but I really love the way that Kunikida and Dazai's relationship was portrayed in this episode. Dazai went on to state how the Azure King could become a dark path for Kunikida, and it also demonstrated how manipulative Dazai can be regardless of his intentions. Kunikida was truly born with tragedy in his blood and as Asagiri said was designed to suffer with Dazai. This episode not only demonstrated their dynamic perfectly, but also Dazai's understanding of Kunikida's weaknesses delving us deeper into his perspectives and why he's so rigid.

[eurydicees]

If you don't mind me asking, can I ask your top favorite fics that you've written (feel free how much that you want to list)? Why they're special to you? Is there a specific inspiration when you wrote them?

Thanks if you want to answer.....

yes you can absolutely ask!!! apologies for taking so long to answer!

i honestly am really proud of most of my fics, so it was unexpectedly hard to choose my top ones. but here r my top fics of mine, in order of oldest to newest:

a reflection on being empty, being whole, & being in love (tamakyo)

this was written at a time when i was in particular struggling w my own racial identity, and being able to sort through it via tamaki was super cathartic. i'm really proud of the writing overall, but i'm also just really proud of myself for beginning to put all of my emotions re: race and sexuality into words. it's also part 2 of the first ouran fics i wrote, and the response i got was so overwhelmingly kind that i just had to keep writing for them :)

the path to gold is paves with the bones of the monsters that came before us (sakuatsu, iwaoi)

aaa i love this one. i'm genuinely so proud of it. it was one of those fics that just kinda comes to you and that you have to get out immediately or you'll die. i spent a few days nonstop working on this instead of answering work emails (rip) but 100% worth it. i'm really proud of the character arcs in this story, and, with it being so much about passion and burnout and dreaming, it also just means a lot to me personally.

sutures (iwaoi)

i love the structure of this one, both writing-wise, character-wise, and plot-wise. it's hard to talk about this one, but i think about it sometimes. this was written when i realized i needed a fic like it, and i'm really proud of it.

fragments of moments in which you love him (tamakyo)

another tamakyo one, but a little more experimental. i'm really proud of the way i shaped this narrative, and the way i played with form and structure to do it. i totally forget what the inspiration to write it was, but i'm happy i did.

lifespan of the sparrow, caged versus free (iwaoi)

this one is among the least popular on the list, which like. that's fair. it's tagged with animal death and no one wants to read that. 100% understood. that being said, i'm really proud of this. it was one of the several fics that was entirely handwritten and then typed up later. this one in particular went through a LOT of editing, which isn't something i usually do, so that was an interesting process, but i'm really satisfied with the way it turned out. it's not as personal to me as some of the others on the list, but i do think it's some of the best writing and narratives i've done.

the man who moved oceans to find home and the one who swallowed his raw heart whole (iwaoi)

this one took me more than a year to write, and you can tell lol. it went through so much care and love from the moment i wrote the first scene to the moment it was published. this took everything in me to write, and it kinda got away from me in terms of length, but i'm so proud of what it became. i think it's some of the best character and relationship development/work i've done, and i just think everyone should read it. i'm just so genuinely happy with where this went.

a brief and unofficial history of the stars (tamakyo)

another one completely handwritten! hehe. anyways i really love this one. i'm proud of how beautiful the language became and all the metaphors and i'm really really satisfied with it. i'm also really excited by kyoya's character in this, because so much of it is about him as a person as opposed to him as someone in love with tamaki, which is often what he becomes in my fics. so i'm really proud of that.

to find something holy in the horror of your body (iwaoi)

this one is really personal to my life and experience and gender. everything i feel about gender is so deeply superimposed into this fic that sometimes i think about it and think i just wrote about my experience and called it iwaizumi's life. which is not 100% true, i do think i did well in staying with his character rather than it being a self-insert, but still a lot of this is about what i feel. so this one is incredibly personal. i'm also really excited by the structure of this one; this is a premise i've been playing with for a while, but this is the first way i've figured out how to write it down that works. it's one of two (2) fics that i've ever shown irl people, so that just further confirms how proud i am of it (the other one was the first tamakyo fic on this list lol).

ty for asking! this was such a fun list to make <3

[orcelito]

Ok on why ITNL 15 was so technically difficult.

Under a cut for ppl who haven't read it & wanna keep it a surprise

So writing traditional action ends up feeling like choreography. I plan out the steps following the motion that feels the most natural. It can be tricky sometimes, but mostly in figuring out how to describe an action I see in my mind. Overall, I end up writing traditional action really quickly actually bc it's Fun and Exciting and it Flows

What went down in ITNL 15 was not traditional action. Really, it was an unconventional torture scene.

So the trickiness came from multiple things. First & honestly one of the hardest things was getting into the head of a madman. Someone who will gleefully kill a lot of people just to hurt someone psychologically. Someone spiteful, sadistic, and just having so much fun with it (but also not Actually having that much fun, bc he was also just Really Angry)

First time writing him, too. So I had to find a new character's voice On Top of exploring the whims he would follow when literally torturing someone.

And then we get to the actual actions of it. There was no choreography because there was no dance to it. No flow of motion. There was a Burst at the start of the interaction, but then it all just Stops. Vash is forced to take it at Legato's pace as he toys with him.

That was a huge part of how tricky it was. Following the thread of where Legato was taking it & being unable to push things along with Vash. Vash was just along for the ride, existing just to be toyed with. Falling right into Legato's expectations with his reactions...

Except for two parts. And these were some of the trickiest.

When he managed to break out of the control Just A Little Bit. And then when he's on his knees, emotionally stripped bare, and decides to go for the one jab that he knows will Hurt Him just as a stubborn "fuck you", since he didn't have any other way to take autonomy in that scene.

He pays for it. The paragraph where Legato broke Vash's nose was the one that took me 50 fucking minutes to write. Which, on that note, I can show a screenshot of my working through it!

Final paragraph: Legato's face twisted in instant fury. His hand tightened harshly in Vash's hair, using it as a grip to bash his nose into his knee with a sickening crunch.

And the progress pic ^ lmao. Something I do while trying to puzzle out wording is push the old version down & start working on a new version, but not deleting the old yet in case I wanna switch back or otherwise re-use any of the wording.

There ended up being about 15 of these discarded lines. 111 words of discarded text. Until I finally settled on the version in the thing.

Another thing I focus on a lot while writing is the motion of the words, and that was so much of the struggle here. Such a simple moment, you would think. He's just breaking his nose. But describing it in a way that is Concise while also communicating the gravity of it AND the motion of the words themselves. It's a lot to consider. And it's such a miserable moment for Vash, it was so hard to get it to a point I was satisfied with.

I'm pretty proud of how the scene turned out, in the end. Maybe not 100% perfect. There are definitely a few points that feel held together with duct tape and tooth picks. Then other parts where I'm just like "holy fucking shit, I wrote this???" An interesting combination, but I feel like that's writing in general.

And! It seems like my work paid off! People seem to have enjoyed the chapter, which makes all the work feel a lot more worth it. It's a nice feeling to know all that time is appreciated.

Yeah . A Lot went into this scene. Definitely out of the bounds of anything else ive written before. But I think I can confidently call this a success 😌

[burntheedges]

first of all, when can i pick you up and treat you to a lovely meal and we celebrate these VERY WELL DESERVED AND LUCKY 600 FOLLOWERS??

❓question

okay so this is a two parter:

how do you come up with your ideas for these genuinely fun community engagements? the fandom bingo, the words behind the friend gift exchange (the passing notes series), the FIC TRACKER OMG i feel like a little hobbit sometimes with my face up against the door and peaking out through the mail slot as i shove my dirty smut fics through the hole. i wanna run in the sun with you! how can I be a better fandom friend?

You do so much for everyone here, but what do you like to do? Who is your favorite Pedro boy to write for and/or read about?

Kate i am so happy to know you and i am so SO excited for you about this milestone! 🤍🤍🤍

Taylor!! 🧡 thank you!! 😭 I am so happy to know you, too. 💕 and thank you for these fun questions 👀

1. how do you come up with your ideas for these genuinely fun community engagements?

ok first of all I think you are an amazing fandom friend. you're so encouraging to other writers! I felt really welcomed by you from the beginning. and your fics are amazing. 🧡

second, I'm really glad people think they're fun. that's like the best part, probably.

so you mentioned bingo and the notes and the fic tracker. lol so the last one was just me being a data nerd and wanting to know how many words of fanfic I read. like, people always post at the end of the year about how many books they read but I never knew how much fanfic I read (other than it was a lot). and then people liked it so I just made a blank version of the spreadsheet available. part of it is to reblog more fic but I got that idea from @katareyoudrilling's year of asks and how much fun it is when we engage with each other on here.

for bingo, I think that's me being a teacher. 😂 let me give the fandom ~an activity~ lol (it's like something I would do in class to make people talk to each other). and it seemed like a good way to get people to interact more? I also love making things in Canva, it satisfies my art/crafty itch.

for the notes, I am a sucker for a gift exchange. like, I can very easily over commit myself and I'm trying not to be that way about writing, so it stays fun and not like a chore. but as soon as I saw the challenge I could feel myself getting carried away -- I just tried to limit the length of what I wrote. part of it is that they gave us so much lead time so my brain could just be like "wait here's another idea" and then we ended up with 12. I'm making myself be more chill right now in exchange (which is why we're voting on one fic for this celebration instead of me writing more).

but if you meant inspiration for the notes, some of them came to me easily, but some I pondered more. generally they were based on conversations I'd had with each person.

I guess overall I'm just trying to be a more interactive fan? this is the first time in a loooong time that I'm like an active participant in a fandom and it's been really fun. so my hope would be that everyone can have fun.

2. what do you like to do? Who is your favorite Pedro boy to write for and/or read about?

I've noticed that as I write more I have less time to read (of course) which I'm still balancing. I've been reading fic for like... forever. decades. so I do try to keep reading, because obviously I enjoy it. there are a bunch on my tbr (aka open tabs on my phone) and I'm trying to catch up. I should have more time because work is slowing down soon.

current favorite to write about: Joel (lol is it obvious) with Din as a growing close second, but Frankie, too (I had a new Joel idea last night and I need it to chill out because I have some challenges to work on)

current favorite to read about: I'll always read a Joel or Din fic, but I've been enjoying Marcus Moreno? and Dieter

🧡

followers celebration

[permanentreverie]

I'm still planning on doing most of the challenge too eventually since I made a list with books that are already on my list. But I have to take a break with reading for a while since I'm so busy so now it won't be until next year. I always like seeing your reading updates though. I'm almost done with Songbirds and Snakes since I wanted to read it before the movie came out and I saw that you didn't enjoy it much at all lol. I think it's okay but pretty much had to speed read it. It seems a little bit long to me but I also don't usually read that kind of genre. Idk how I feel about it really but I think the movie still looked pretty good and might watch it. Do you have any thoughts about the book overall? I also started the night circus and read all of the backstory and I'm excited to continue it eventually.

very glad (and relieved) to hear that at least someone enjoys my reading updates!!! i think i just felt awkward cause i don’t see anyone else updating their posts for the reading challenge, but i have to remind myself that it’s just a silly little number, and no one minds that i’m still doing it - certainly not the hosts! i think if i committed myself to the challenge more in the beginning (i didn’t start till mid september, and read lots of different books between the ones i put for the prompts) i would have gotten the challenge done sooner, but even then! it’s just a fun way for me to nail off books that have already been on my tbr, and that’s all that matters 😊

i actually wrote a review on tbosas! reading it over … yikes i was kinda harsh lol. i think i was just never inclined to read it in the first place, and so i went in with already not looking forward to it. now that the movie has come out, and people are analyzing the story and the parallels to thg (@jeanmoreaux is FANTASTIC at finding meaning in text) my main gripe is that no matter what, i couldn’t - and wouldn’t - root or sympathize with snow. i think i was always satisfied with just accepting him as the villain in thg, i don’t need his sob story. since i couldn’t get into his character, it made it reeeaally hard to enjoy his pov for 500 pages. i didn’t really like lucy gray, didn’t like the inclusion of songs, and felt odd about the whole ‘the hanging tree’ origin.

idk. maybe it’s just me, and i can see and respect other people liking the book, but it just wasn’t for me. i would agree the movie looks good (and i wouldn’t be against seeing it)

!!!!!!!! super hoping you’re liking the night circus so far!! such an incredibly beautiful book, erin morgenstern does prose like no other.

[wolfstrong]

Buffy season 3 reflection and quiet contemplation:

Of course in general I very much enjoyed this season, but I do feel like compared to the past two seasons episodes varied more in quality and my enjoyment of them. The epic highs and lows of season three if you will. There was definitely more episodes that I really loved or just thought were pretty good as compared to episodes I felt were a little weak and the good very much outweighs the bad. But anyway, here is what I did like:

I could tell they had a budget increase for this season and for the most part I think they really used it to their advantage. We got a lot more fights where Buffy and friends had to take on a biggggg gang of baddies and it usually involved bigger sets where they could jump all around and have some awesome fight choreography. I felt like almost every other episode we were getting a big warehouse battle with complicated exciting fight choreography. I think it’s epic and I’ll never get tired of seeing Buffy beat the tar out of demons.

I think they were a little more artistic with their directing too this season, like Zeppo definitely comes to mind where they didn’t just stick with straightforward storytelling and instead gave you a different perspective. Just in general I felt like the directing was more fast-paced and engaging in a lot of episodes.

Now I have to preface this by saying I did not enjoy all the character conflicts that were introduced, however, one thing I really enjoy about Buffy is the way it deals with interpersonal relationships. The show is not afraid to have its characters make mistakes and also have other characters react realistically to them. I really liked dead mans party because of this, where we get to see the fallout of Buffy running away over the summer. At first everyone is very glad to see her, but there is this uncomfortable awkwardness between them all that needs to be addressed, and it all comes to a head with a yelling match between our main characters. I like that they couldn't just talk it out at first because that's really never how it works. Also I thought Buffy and Angels breakup was pretty well done too. We all know that relationship was very much doomed and wrong in a lot of ways so I'm glad the show was able to have them acknowledge that and split up for that reason.

Some of my favorite episodes (besides the Zeppo and Dead mans party as mentioned above) were Homecoming (for the cordelia and buffy forced bonding) Band Candy (for the campy fun) Gingerbread (idk this one was just very fun) and Doppelganger (i loveeee the willow focus:)

And honestly, I only had one big issue with this season and that was the overarching plot with the mayor. For one I just didn't like the mayor that much as a big baddie villain of the season. His bit where he like acts like a very normal nice guy but is actually psycho was very one note and not super interesting to me. I liked The Master and Spike (and eventually evil Angel) as the season big bads a lot more. I did find the plot a lot more exciting when Faith joined him. It was all a bit uninteresting but all together fine, it was just the season finale that really sucked. It felt like a lot of build-up to very much nothing and I can get into a lot of nitpicky shit (like.. what was up with then Buffy was like "Xander, you are the KEY to this whole plan" and then Xander ended up doing nothing at all? i could go on) but yeah just overall very anti-climatic. Also Buffy came up with a plan to defeat the mayor by just like exploding him and killing him, and then her plan went EXACTLY as predicted with no bumps in the road at all to add excitement. They were just like "we are going to kill the mayor now" and then they did. Very lame.

My other big gripe was the Willow and Xander cheating arc which I can literally write a whole paper on but I won't do that to you. I guess to sum it up I really wish we would have had a resolution to that conflict that was satisfying, and maybe explored a little more why Xander and Willow suddenly cheated on their respective partners with each other. And I really don't like what it did to Cordy, who was pretty much not in the group anymore after that. My guess is that maybe the writers wanted her out of the scooby gang so that she could go over to the Angel show, and that was their way of getting her to break up with Xander and kind of hate all his friends. It just makes me upset because Cordelia was really starting to find her place in the group and also have a genuine affection for Xander. I liked that in the prom episode Xander buys Cordy her dress and doesn't tell anyone her family lost all their money, HOWEVER I needed more resolution. I wanted MORE!!

My least favorite episodes were Amends (probably the overall worst episode of Buffy i have ever seen... like literally what was the point of that) Choices (this episode kinda just felt like boring filler and that scene where the mayor lectors Angel and Buffy about their relationship for 5 minutes uninterrupted was so weird and out of place) and then Graduation part 2 (just for being a very anti-climatic mess.)

In my season 1 review I talked about my feelings on the characters that appeared in that season, and I think I pretty much feel similarly about them all now, but here are my thoughts about the new people!

Oz: I think oz is the biggest addition since season one and really what is there to say! he's a man of few words, he brings a calm level headed energy to the cast that I think really helps to balance everything out. I like that he's a werewolf of course, I think that's awesome and we even got to see him flex his werewolf powers in season three and attack another beast. I hope we get more of that. I am curious about whats gonna happen with his and Willows relationship because well. well. but ANYWAY for the time being I think they are good for each other

Faith: I found her to be kind of annoying... but I just don't really like girlbosses who don't give a fuck type characters, sorry just not for me. I did think she was a lot more interesting once she went bad and overall the concept of a slayer going bad cool so I'm glad they explored that

Wesely: I think hes donefore and doesnt appear in season 4 (tho i know he's in Angel) But idk. he was like so bad that he was good. Like i don't like him as a person but his presence on the show was so camp. just some sniveling loser that everyone's hates. i love it.

Alright, I belive thats mostly all I have to say! talk to me about Buffy anytime, literally any time.

[mioreviews]

Demon Slayer: Season 1-2

[ Anime / Action Fantasy ]

Where to watch: Netflix

Rating: 10/10

Honestly, I think <Demon Slayer> is this generation's best anime, so in honor of the newer seasons, here's a quick review on the first couple seasons. Keep in mind that I already finished the manga. So I watch the anime out of pure enjoyment honestly, since I already know the plot and all. If you don't know what <Demon Slayer> is, 1) who are you lol, 2) In short, it's about a boy named Tanjiro and his adventure of joining the Demon Slayer Corps to seek revenge on demons. (Link to my <Demon Slayer> Season 3 Part 1 review & Season 3 Part 2 review)

Best art. This is the most impressive thing of this series imo. Sometimes, I find myself bored of watching animes that I read the manga to, which says a lot (anime protrayal doesn't add anything). But for this anime, I love watching it come to life. It's satisfying!

Best pacing. I think has one of the best pacings out of all the animes that have came out. I can think of a couple animes that come close, but <Demon Slayer> really got the formula down.

Touching story. Of course there is plenty of action in this anime, but there’s more than just offing demons. I like how it has an added layer in story.

As for the cons...

VERY shonen, VERY for teenagers. aka there isn't a lot of emotional depth in the anime. Maybe you like sob animes that make you think long and hard, but this anime is purely just for fun, to feel joy. I still love it, but I understand if it isn't some people's taste.

Overall,

I remember <Demon Slayer Season 1 & 2> were so good that I couldn't wait and HAD to read the manga. I needed to know what was next! It's such a well-paced series that'll have you pressing "next episode" over and over again. It's great for people new to anime or even people who don't watch anime at all. The characters have so much personality, and they've become very iconic as their popularity grows. I'm really excited for more seasons!

[elphabaoftheopera]

HELLO!!!! how are you? it's been a while haha 😅... but, long story short, after watching wicked last night im back in the fandom! and what better way to celebrate than read a fic by my favourite author 🥳 ? so, i read "In Any Universe", and boy do i have a lot of good things to say about it!!!!!

this fic is awesome, im sad that i didn't read it earlier! it had my favourite tropes that were amazingly executed, along with so many wacky and interesting alternate universes 😁😁! some that stood out to me were fake dating, masquerade, family and musical. to say that i really enjoyed these would be an understatement!!!! first of all, fake dating is my absolute favouriteee trope, so i was so so excited to see it applied to fiyeraba so well! the masquerade was honestly a really interesting plotline, and the musical universe was cool to see referenced! and family au was soo adorable, and parents fiyeraba make me feel so happyyyy ❤️❤️! overall, they were all so so romantic and cute and made me realise how much i miss fiyeraba 🥺!! i also really liked the general storyline, and the pipeline of fiyero coming to terms and accepting his situation was so lovely and satisfying to read!

i was wondering if you had any little facts about this fic? it was super creative and i couldn't help but love every separate storyline!!!!!

sorry for gushing, im just super happy to be back and reading your fics again! ill hopefully in the fandom again for a while, so i can find the time to read some other works of yours and maybe reread 😁😁😁

@melop-sia!!!!! It's so wonderful to hear from you!!!! Welcome back to the Wicked fandom! Your message just made my entire day, I actually screamed when I read that I was a favorite author of yours, words like that TRULY go a long way. thank you for your thoughts on In Any Universe. I had so much fun writing that one!

Welllllll since you asked, I'd love to share a little bit about it!

Light spoilers for In Any Universe below the cut!

The idea came to me when I was just thinking a lot about fanfiction tropes in a loving way, inspired by fanfiction writers and our tendency to put the same characters into countless different situations/lives and have them fall in love all the same. I got the idea when I was driving (most of my ideas come when I'm driving) about my otp essentially going on a "tour" through the different tropes. Initially it was supposed to be 100% comedic and self aware.

I didn't have a strong throughline planned out in the beginning that would set them off on their journey. I thought about (and even drafted) Fiyero mentioning how "random" it was that they got together and if any one thing was different they'd probably not be together, then I'd have Elphaba take offense to that. But it just wasn't working, especially because I was clinging to the idea that I wanted Fiyero to be human in the present timeline. Once I finally released my hold on that idea and let him be a Scarecrow, the story throughline became much clearer to me! It was easier to write when Fiyero had a "lesson" to learn (sort of "It's a Wonderful Life" style, though I've never seen that movie). That of course made the throughline a bit more serious, as well as some of the timelines getting increasingly darker.

I just can't resist angst and hurt/comfort no matter how hard I try!

I just really love the quote I put at the beginning of the story about finding the same person over and over.

As for the stories within the story, I just started by making a list of as many tropes I could think of. Fake dating, fix-it fic, crossover, etc. and eventually trimmed it down to the stories that made the cut. I wrote them all out of order and then stitched them together later with the throughline story. I think I did the coffee one first, then the masquerade, and then I put it down for several months (as is my style) and picked it back up with the Wicked actor one.

I really considered breaking the story up into chapters and sometimes I regret the fact that I didn't, I still consider breaking it up because I know it's very long. Still I think it flows better as a singular piece but at least can be easily read in multiple sittings if you're like me and need mind breaks.

When I decided to make it one single piece I made a real effort to keep the sections snappy and not longer than they needed to be. I was pretty obsessed over word count and keeping it below a certain amount (I think 1000 words). I think the Fake Dating one ended up being the longest and the hardest to keep trimmed. Still, I wanted each story to have a satisfying arc in its own way.

One challenge I gave myself (which was VERY difficult) is that I didn't use the word "love" until the very end when Fiyero told Elphaba he loved her after getting shot. I came to that idea later on and had to edit a lot of the earlier stories. Then he says he loves her many times in the finale scene.

I thought it strengthened his lesson about being grateful for what they did have. I found it really important to mirror the "can't imagine thinking about how things might be different" (paraphrasing) in the worst timeline with her dying in the cornfield with what he'd said in the beginning.

As for the ending I did leave it slightly ambiguous, but I believe as the writer that the journey he went on was real and not a dream (kind of like I believe that in Wizard of Oz Dorothy's experience really happened, even though it seemed like Dorothy was waking up from a dream). However, I wanted to the reader to decide for themself!

I think my favorite ones to write were the Fiyeraba family (I love them as parents!), Coffee shop AU, and the Masquerade. I also found it clever and trippy to do the Wicked actors, but that one was by far the hardest challenge!

I so appreciate your readership and engagement with my work!!!! Please reach out in the future if you ever have thoughts or questions.

I don't want to jinx it because it's still early days but I'm excited to say I've been writing again (Fiyeraba, obviously) now that my life has more time. We'll see where it takes me, so be on the lookout!

[rookie-critic]

Rookie Critic's Film Review Weekend Wrap-Up - Weeks of 5/8-5/14/2023 & 5/15-5/21/2023

My apologies for the review interruption over the past couple of weeks. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom came out and that has taken up all of my free time. HOWEVER, I have still be watching movies like normal, so here's a slightly condensed Weekend Wrap-Up for ya.

Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. (2023, dir. Kelly Fremon Craig) This was wonderful. I already wrote a full review on it, so I won't gush any more about it here, but I have literally 0 complaints. Just a beautiful, fun, and heartfelt look at pre-adolescence and motherhood. A good time for all ages.

Score: 10/10

Only in theaters. You can read my full review of Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. here.

Hypnotic (2023, dir. Robert Rodriguez) Robert Rodriguez sure knows how to write twists and turns in a plot. The directions that Hypnotic's story goes in were pleasantly unpredictable and exciting. Sadly, the film overall is very tonally uneven. It's got traces of Rodriguez's signature camp, but they're just that, traces. The movie as a whole tries to play itself a little more seriously than a plot this crazy requires, and it ends up overshooting the entertainment value into territory that feels a little disingenuous. Ben Affleck and William Fichtner, who really needs to be in more stuff, were both high points of the film, and the color correction on certain aspects of the movie felt really inspired. Rodriguez got the the look down to a T, I just don't think he quite stuck the landing.

Score: 6/10

Only in theaters.

BlackBerry (2023, dir. Matt Johnson) What an unexpected masterpiece of comedic historical dramatization, this was. The comedy was excellent, the acting was excellent, the stylizes cinematography was excellent. Everything about this film was engaging, fun, and satisfying. It's also, as a side-effect, incredibly informative. I haven't done the research into fact vs. fiction on this one, but if even half of the stuff that happened in this was true, what an absolute farce history of Research in Motion and the BlackBerry was, and I mean that in the most grateful, loving way possible. We wouldn't be where we are today without this little device, and as much of a clusterfuck as the history of it's existence seems to be, I'm glad we're here. This is easily one of the best things I've seen so far this year, and so far it seems to be flying severely under the radar. If you have a theater near you that's showing this, do yourself a favor and catch a screening of it and BUCKLE UP for a wild fun ride.

Score: 10/10

Only theaters. Plus, @prozdvoices was in it, which really makes it an 11/10.

Fool's Paradise (2023, dir. Charlie Day) I wanted this to be so great. I absolutely adore Charlie Day and when I heard he would be directing his first feature film with the cast that this movie has I got so excited. To its credit, the first half of the film is genuinely hilarious, an homage to Keaton/Chaplin-era physical comedy while exhibiting the beginnings of a biting satire on Hollywood, but somewhere in the middle of it all Day's script looses its footing and never really gets it back. The slapstick goes out the window, the comedy stops being funny and trades that in for bewildering, and the conclusion to it all ends up being wholly unsatisfying and, honestly, made the whole thing feel like a waste of time. If the second half had been anywhere near as good as the first, this would be a very different review, but it wasn't, so here we are. Better luck on the sophomore feature, Day.

Score: 4/10

Only in theaters.

Fast X (2023, dir. Louis Leterrier) I really don't understand the poor reviews this one is getting if other entries in this franchise have been well received. It's not without it's issues, as most of the FF films aren't, but it is still one helluva ride. I will say probably my biggest complaint with this one is that some of it just looks.... odd. Like the CG is whatever, I'm down with the shitty CG in these movies at this point, that's just part of the Fast & Furious charm, but there are shots that just look strange. I'm not really sure how to put it, like the foreground is at one FPS and the background is at another. Just very uncanny valley. It gives the film a look and feel to it that's unlike any of the other films, and in that way I wasn't a huge fan. That being said, the crazy car action is second-to-none and nearly non-stop, and the script handles the Family being split up for most of the film way better than past installments have with that same setup. This will most likely be my full-length come Wednesday, so I'll leave it there for now, but just know that, if you like this franchise, Fast X is going to give you everything you've come to love about it and expect from it.

Score: 7/10

Only in theaters.

Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie - (2022, dir. Andy Suriano & Ant Ward) This was watched as part of my college friend group's movie nights at the request of a friend whose birthday was coming up. I've never seen the show and don't really know anything about it past what I've been told by said friend and just my general TMNT knowledge (although this iteration of the heroes in a half-shell is very different than what most people would be used to). It was genuinely wonderful. The animation was spectacularly breathtaking (seriously, I can't hype up how gorgeously animated this film is), and the story, as Days of Future Past-y as it was, felt very fresh. The personalities of the Turtles are different from the original, but it's all a very welcome change. Raphael and Leonardo are practically flipped, with Raph taking on the "big brother" role that's normally occupied by Leo and Leo taking on the "aloof and antagonistic" role that's normally occupied by Raph. Donatello is more or less the same, a genius idiosyncratic inventor, but in this version he canonically has autism, which is represented well and the laughs that come from his character are never at the expense of his disorder. Similarly, Michelangelo is basically the same as his original counterpart (even moreso than Donnie), but in this story he canonically has ADHD. All of their clashing personality types meld together so well, and the chemistry between them is even more infectious, I would say, than the original versions of the characters. They could not have nailed what makes the central four brothers work, while also giving audiences a entirely new central four at the same time, than they did. As far as the villain of the film goes, the way the Kraang (who are depicted here as an entire race of creatures) are represented here is truly unsettling and almost in a Cronenberg/Lynch vein that I absolutely loved. RotTMNT: The Movie drops in you into its world, doesn't mince words, and gets you out of there in a cool 86 minutes, and it was a stellar time. I will, without question, be checking out the show as a result. If you're the kind of TMNT fan that's receptive and open to different takes on this world and these characters, then you'll love this.

Score: 8/10

Currently streaming on Netflix.

STILL: A Michael J. Fox Movie (2023, dir. Davis Guggenheim) This has got to be one of the most unique and intriguing documentaries I've ever seen. The way Fox's story is told here is stunning, using a mix of modern narration, dramatic re-enactment, and archival footage (acting as both legitimate archival footage and as a narrative device at separate times) to accent and highlight the actor's life in the most poignant, striking way possible. Fox himself has such an electric personality it's hard not to fall in love with him over the course of the film's 95 minutes (that is, of course, if you weren't already in love him before). I read somewhere that there's nothing particularly revelatory about STILL, but I beg to differ. I'll admit, showing the portrait of a man's life who had it all, had taken the world by storm and was running away with it, only to be knocked down in his prime by something wholly out of control isn't anything too new. However, what makes STILL work, and what sets it apart, is that the story doesn't stop there. Fox refuses to give up. He's not fooling himself at the reality of his situation with Parkinson's, but he remains hopeful, he remains vivid, and he remains electric. Fox refuses to quit, to back down from his life, and is actively maintaining any control he can still have over it. It's inspiring and heartbreaking all at the same time, one never replacing the other, both coexisting in every moment, and that's not a particularly easy thing to pull off. I was quite taken by this, and urge all with access to check it out.

Score: 10/10

Currently streaming on Apple TV+.