#and if your review doesn't feel to me as though you ever even bothered to shift your own stuffy upholstery out of the way…

[aeide-thea]

tfw you're reading a review of a book you haven't read (when we were sisters, by fatimah asghar), and can't tell whether the way it chooses to gender one of the characters—which is in tension with what's suggested by every quote it features—is justified by however the story ends, or whether it's just plain old cissexism…

[darkficsyouneveraskedfor]

Dirty Work 6

Warnings: this fic will include dark content such as bullying, familial discord/abuse, and possible untagged elements. My warnings are not exhaustive, enter at your own risk.

This is a dark!fic and explicit. 18+ only. Your media consumption is your own responsibility. Warnings have been given. DO NOT PROCEED if these matters upset you.

Summary: You start a new gig and find one of your clients to be hard to please.

Characters: Loki

Note: I had the worst Monday that could have ever existed. Onto Tuesday.

As per usual, I humbly request your thoughts! Reblogs are always appreciated and welcomed, not only do I see them easier but it lets other people see my work. I will do my best to answer all I can. I’m trying to get better at keeping up so thanks everyone for staying with me.

Your feedback will help in this and future works (and WiPs, I haven’t forgotten those!)

I love you all immensely. Take care. 💖

"I trust this should be amenable to your work," Mr. Laufeyson holds open the door along the east wall of his study. One you've never opened before though you're familiar with the space within. The library also opens into the hallway and keeps you busier than many of the other rooms. "When you should require it. I expect much of your work will keep you afoot."

You peer past him, his tall figure like a second shadow. You clutch your kit tight and nod. You didn't exactly bring the tools for this new role.

"I should have a blank ledger somewhere, oh and a pen of course," he advises, "given our new... arrangement, I would require a contact point."

You nod and tear your attention from the full shelves and luxurious velvet chaise. You won't get to enjoy those but they give the space a much more welcome feel than the rest of the house. You face Mr. Laufeyson as he keeps the door propped open with his foot. He slides out his phone as if it's a task. 

"Never to worry, I wouldn't bother you much so long as you do your work adequately," he assures, "but in case of... emergency."

"Oh, erm," you sputter and reach into your hoodie pocket, revealing the tiny flip phone.

"Hm, vintage," he muses, "as you would."

He holds his phone, gesturing to it with his other hand. You teethe your lip before you recall the digits of your number. Your plan doesn't include a lot of talk minutes but he doesn't promise much of that. He keys them into his screen.

"You'll have mine," he taps his thumb and your phone chimes. "In case."

"Thanks, uh, Mr. Laufeyson."

"Mmmm," he hums again. "Suppose you would need some sort of proper device, a computer of sorts." He clucks and checks his watch, dropping his arm with a huff, "I've an important event shortly, I'll try to venture by the electronics shop before I return.”

You nod and fold your phone, slipping it away as you peek back into the library. He inhales deeply, "suppose you should begin. The list is on the writing desk.”

You accept the command easily. You’re even thankful for it. It gives you a proper reason to find distance. You go to the desk and look over the typed list. You don’t sit, hesitating as you wonder if it would seem lazy, maybe even presumptuous.

“Let me fetch that ledger,” he says before letting the door drift closed.

You run your finger over the top line. ‘Create a schedule’. Hmmm. You look over the bullets that fill the paper. You can only assume he refers to all of that. It’s straightforward, you can handle a schedule. It’s everything that comes after that gives you doubt.

“And you’ll have to review what my wife, ex that is, left in shambles,” Mr. Laufeyson interrupts as he pushes through again. “Her little folder is here. She was always fond of order, even though she left me in much less. This is what’s left of her handiwork,” he approaches coolly and sets down a plain fawn coloured ledger, a fountain pen, and a white folder with golden flowers on it.

“Thanks,” you eke out as his hands linger on the edges.

You sense his gaze, discerning and weighty. He leans forward slightly and you nearly take a step across as he points to the list. You follow the line of his arm and his extended finger.

“Another point to add, ‘acquire work attire’,” he instructs and turns his hand over, flippant flicking his finger in a gesture to your plain hoodie and worn gray denim. “I trust my pay should afford that necessity easily, however should you require a write-off, I suppose it could be argued as a professional expense.”

“Sorry, Mr. Laufeyson,” you frown in embarrassment, “I didn’t…” You look down at yourself, wanting to hide behind your arms. 

“You wouldn’t think of it, just a maid,” he dismisses, “very well, I think you have more than enough to begin. I should be some hours.”

“Yes, Mr. Laufeyson,” you agree. He is correct, there is more than enough to keep you busy.

“I will review the schedule upon my return,” he affirms. “Should you require refreshment, you recall where to go.”

You nod and cautiously reach for the ledger, sliding it closer as he backs up. You slowly sit, hovering before you let yourself rest. He lingers by the door as you roll the pen aside and put the ledger and folder parallel. You open the former and line up the list inside the cover, resuming your perusal of the bullet points.

The door closes and you keep your attention to the paper. You don’t dare a glance up until you hear his muffled footfalls cross his study. You feel as if he’s waiting for you to make a mistake. You think you might be too.

🧹

A clunk sharply pierces the tenuous peace of the empty house. You hadn’t heard the door or his approach, not even right next door, not until the hefty thunk. You listen but keep your nose down. 

You’re just about done with the schedule. Two cleans throughout the week to spread the duties evenly. The main floor on Mondays, and the upper on Thursday. You’ll be able to fit in an unexpected tidying between your other to-dos.

You flutter through the pretty white and gold folder. The embossed suede speaks of a sophisticated owner. You wonder why she would ever abandon it, though you assume, a separation may not inspire sentiment.

You turn over another note. This one about the gazebo. A blurb on a repair. You’ll have too go out and check to see if it was actually done, there’s no confirmation of the job. You stop to admire her loopy writing, as elegant as the folder.

The door opens without pretense. You sit up and wiggle the pen between your index and thumb. Mr. Laufeyson as a flat white box in his hand, along with a smaller one on top. He does not near you, instead place his lot on the square table by the window.

“Here,” he orders shortly.

You rise and leave the pen in the centre of the ledger. You cross to him as he moves the smaller box aside and unfolds the two smaller flaps from the large one. You can’t help but watch curiously.

“This should suffice,” he shimmies out the cardboard insert, revealing a sleek silver laptop, “hmm?”

He shifts it towards you and lets you look it over. You put your hands behind you to keep from touching. You lean in just a little.

“It looks nice, Mr. Laufeyson. Thank you.”

“For your work, of course. These days, it is a requirement. And this,” he takes the smaller box and offers it up, “a proper work phone. It is more professional. Any calls on my behalf, you will make on this. That relic you have won’t do much.”

“Uh, yes, Mr. Laufeyson, that’s really thoughtful.”

“Thoughtful? Practical. Company property, of course,” he insists, “another point to add. Set these up. They should be functioning by the end of the day. You’ll need them to keep up with the rest of your tasks.”

“Yes, Mr. Laufeyson. I will put it on the list.”

“Mm,” he circles around you, striding to the writing desk before you can react. You follow at a few paces, not wanting to crowd him. He takes the pen and uncaps it. He adds the bullet himself. “There you are.”

“Thank you, Mr. Laufeyson,” you recite again.

He snaps the lid on the pen and his lips twitch, not quite curving, “I’ll review,” he snatches up the open ledger, your schedule open to see. You almost rush forward. You meant to rewrite it before you handed it over. It has scribbles all over it. You won’t argue.

“Go on,” he steps around the desk, waving to the side dismissively.

You return to the table and gather the laptop and phone, along with the stray box. You bring them back to the writing desk and stay standing as you free the laptop from the insert. You let your eyes edge along the top of your vision as Mr. Laufeyson sits on the chaise and browses the ledger.

You refocus and investigate the cord buried in the box as a collection of booklets fall out. You sort through them and find the one in English. You start on the front page, reading over the different buttons and features. The diagram is especially helpful. You’ve never had a computer before, not that it belongs to you.

You squint as you read the precautions. Your mind flits back and forth between your current task and everything beyond. You would go to the library sometimes and spend an hour on the PC, and in school you did all your work in the resource room. This is much fancier than any of the boxy computers you’d used before.

It says you should plug it in and charge to full before booting. You unravel the cord and search for an outlet against the wall. There’s one not far. You hook up the cord to the port on the side of the slender laptop then trail it to the wall. The little light on the side glows yellow.

Then you take the little box. A phone. The flip phone was second-hand but this is shiny and new. You’re like a kid at Christmas, not that you got much for the holiday, even when you were younger.

You slide out the small device. Your hand is unused to it. It’s not clunky like your phone. It feels easy to drop even if it’s bigger than the flip. You peel off the plastic film around the border and across the screen.

You take out the booklet and read it as closely as the first. Same thing; charge before use. You don’t want to mess up any of this. You plug it in above the computer and place it on the closed lid. You carefully sit in the chair, careful not to jostle the cords.

You peek up and find Mr. Laufeyson looking at you over the top of the ledger. His green eyes gleam and flick back down to the page. You hope he doesn’t see how clueless you are. This stuff that’s all so normal to everyone else is new to you. A job alone is a novelty still.

“You may ask it,” he says abruptly.

You wince and shrug. You don’t know what he means. His brows tweak in amusement.

“You’ve not asked about time off. I am unaware of your previous commitment, what days you had to yourself.”

You didn’t think of it but he does seem to think of everything. You twiddle your fingers on the desk. You would work as much as you need to. You still haven’t seen the final hospital bill.

“Mr. Laufeyson, I worked three shifts per week, but I was on probation,” you explain carefully, “I can work more than that.”

“How much is more?” He wonders, his thumb tapping the corner of the ledger.

You blink. You don’t know what’s appropriate. You don’t want to say too little and come off lazy, or say too much and seem ignorant. 

“Six?” You utter, “six days, Mr. Laufeyson?”

His thumb stills, “per week?”

You nod. His eyes narrow and his lips thin in consideration.

“Should do,” he accepts and his eyes fall back to the page.

You think you got the right answer. You look down at the bullet points. It seems like a lot written out but surely it can’t be. Besides, the more you think about it, the more exciting it is. This house is so beautiful and this list means you get to explore it.

You don’t sink too deep into the moment of optimism. Mr. Laufeyson stands, still intent on the ledger. He paces blindly around the library, a click of his tongue as he reviews your handwriting.

“There will be some nights,” he intones, “other occasions where I require you in the evening.”

“Mr. Laufeyson,” you accept as you flutter the pages of the laptop instruction booklet.

“Mm,” he hums flatly, “I do think the cook liked you, didn’t she? Suppose we might retain that service for the time being.”

You nod and make a note in the corner of the list; simply, Corissa. He shuts the ledger and grips it tight. He walks around the table then turns back, coming back to you. He lays down the book on the desk.

“I won’t know until the day in question. You understand, this would be on-call. I’ve a busy life and so will you,” he girds, leaning on the book as he bends over the desk. “You will be doing more than watching little birds flapping around the garden.”

You nearly recoil as he plucks the memory out so precisely. That was careless of you. You should’ve kept your head down and just got to work. It’s a warning you’ll remember.

“I won’t, Mr. Laufeyson, I understand,” you assure.

“Not to say that you can’t,” he stands and pushes the bottom of his jacket back, hooking his thumbs in his pockets, “but only when there are no other pressing matters.”

“Yes, Mr. Laufeyson.”

He sighs and tilts his head back, “you must resist distractions. You are prone to it. I’ve noticed.”

You chew your lip and accept the remonstrance. You’ll take it instead as advice. He is right, you do find yourself bewitched by this place at times.

“Like that man,” he says staunchly, “don’t think I forgot. I will warn you, he is my brother… regrettably. He is well above the staff and he knows it.”

You take the hint. It’s improper of you to stare. Even if he had touched you. Or maybe, you misinterpreted an accident.

“Yes, Mr. Laufeyson.”

“Hear me when I tell you, he is not interested in the likes of you,” he sniffs, “with any luck, he won’t be much around for you to believe anything of the like.”

You nod and pick up the pen, nervously rolling it between your fingers. His reproach scalds your cheek. To think he assumes you would ever think of something like that. That you might encourage a stranger in that way.

He watches you for a moment before he spins away. He checks the time on his wrist as you reach for the ledger.

“Very well, I must be at my own work,” he declares, “as I trust you will be diligent in your own.”

[kiwiana-writes]

I dont think anyone subscribes to you for t rated 5 +1s in your own au lol. Chop chop with those wip’s porn girl!

Well. Quite a bit to unpack here on an otherwise unassuming Friday!

#1:

#2: I actually track this stuff. Admittedly the E-rated percentage is a bit higher if you look at RWRB only, but overall...

#3: I think anyone who subscribes to me on AO3, or indeed anyone who follows the kiwiana-writes tag here on tumblr and sees all those fucking WIPs, knows that I like to write a bit of variety. That's not to say there aren't definite underpinnings of, like, themes and vibes that I return to over and over (which I can only assume are why people subscribe to me), but if someone only likes my college AUs, or only likes my post-canon stuff, or only likes my E-rated stuff, or only wants to listen to my podfics, they're probably going to have a much more successful time saving the tag search than subscribing to me at the author level. Or they've mastered the art of archiving and moving on without complaining about it, like I do when the authors I'm subscribed to write something that doesn't interest me. It's a useful skill! I highly recommend cultivating it.

#4: AO3 not giving series stats is and continues to be the bane of my life, but based on the number of people who subscribed to the OG actor AU, there's probably a significant chunk of people who aren't subscribed to me as an author and only want the actor AU verse stuff. And good for them! I LOVE that AO3 offers multiple ways to subscribe so you can get notified for the stuff you want (my kingdom for the ability to subscribe to individual pseuds, though.)

#5: This fandom is OVERFLOWING right now. Like, I can't keep up. You only want to read E-rated stuff? Awesome! Well over 100 E-rated fics have been posted in the RWRB bookverse tag just this week (it looks like most of the movieverse smut has also been tagged bookverse, but either way it's also very easy to find). Or go back to older fics and find some hidden gems—there's nothing an author loves more than for someone to come in and gush about a fic they wrote a year or two ago.

#6: You don't pay me, and I'm not subject to annual review. One of my favourite authors was talking this morning about how sometimes she thinks about taking a break from writing for RWRB because it's starting to feel a little rat racey, and that would suck for me personally because I love her stuff but god knows I couldn't blame her, because the (extreme minority but still exhausting) entitled comments and rudeness really do not help. Stop treating your favourite authors like content creators who owe you something new on a regular schedule, because that's a damn good way to ensure they don't want to create anything new ever again. Like... anon, you haven't even bothered to couch this in a compliment. The bar is ten feet underground and somehow you still managed to trip over it.

#7: Not to be all 'back in my day' but... well, back in my day, snippets and peeks into the universe of a remotely popular longfic were pretty much the standard lol. Nobody is forcing you to read them, I promise.

#8: I've posted two E-rated fics in the last two weeks.

#9: Honestly I just really want to reiterate #1 because what the hell lol. While pronouns don't equal gender, it's pretty reasonable to extrapolate from pronouns if you don't have any other info to go on—and of the three "main/standard" pronouns, the one most closely associated with 'girl' is the only one that ISN'T in my bio 🤦

[odessa-castle]

NLTS might just be one of my favorite fics of all time. The characterizations, the banter, the tension - it's all 10/10 (and I loooove all the little nods to Shakespeare).

Your Cazador is truly menacing and has such a looming presence for a character who doesn't appear much on the page. You mentioned in an earlier ask that you deliberately built Cazador and Astarion's dynamic on the emotional language of intimate partner violence (which I think is so heartbreakingly accurate). If you feel comfortable, could you talk a little more about that choice, why you made it, and/or how it shaped your writing?

Beyond excited for part two!!

Thank you so much! NLTS has come to mean a lot to me, and I'm glad this story means something to other people, too.

As far as Cazador and Astarion's dynamic and IPV goes, I think I did mention in the tags that I had a lot to say on the subject, and I do, but I'm going to put it under a cut for fairly obvious reasons. Read on at your discretion.

So! Vampires. You can do a lot of things with vampires, and with the sire-childe relationship in particular. I'm not going to do a whole scholarly review here or anything, but suffice to say that it is inherently, to some degree, a relationship based on power and control, and the transgressive nature -- the blurring of boundaries between parent and lover, the interplay between sex and death, etc. -- is part of the horror and part of the appeal. Also, biting is sex, and the issues of consent arising from the former are extrapolated onto the latter. Again, there's a lot of room to play with metaphor here, depending on the story you want to tell, but if it's not kinda fucked up, then why even bother?

Astarion and Cazador's relationship is likewise one where a number of different lenses can come into play, depending on what you're interested in exploring. I do think one of the draws of Astarion's story is the way that it takes certain conventions that pop up around vampires and strips the layer of metaphor away -- Astarion's sexual abuse is explicitly a part of his story in a way that I (and many others) didn't expect to see presented so frankly. And I knew I wanted to do some of that metaphor-stripping myself when I wrote this.

The fantasy/supernatural elements let you really go to some extremes when you're writing about Astarion's abuse, and Cazador is awful enough that almost any horror you can come up with is something he'd plausibly do to Astarion. And there are some evil geniuses in this fandom. The things I've seen people do with torture and body horror, with mind control, with sheer sexual depravity -- chef's kiss. I love you guys. I don't think that's where my strengths as a writer necessarily lie, though, and it wasn't quite what I wanted in terms of either theme or tone for this story. I wanted both Wyll's and Astarion's loneliness and low self-worth to be grounded in something really emotionally recognizable, in part so they could recognize these things in each other, and I wanted to show off the...quieter moments of their trauma, almost. The critical voices they've internalized; their self-censoring and self-deprecation; the things they've normalized that really shouldn't be normal, actually.

I'm not going to get too deep into the nature of my interest in IPV. Suffice to say that I have both personal and professional experience in that area, and that like all artists, I bring pieces of myself into the things I create. What I can say is that I don't think I've ever encountered an IPV survivor who didn't experience some form of emotional abuse as part of that power and control relationship, and that a lot of survivors have talked about how that can be the hardest thing to recover from, because it gets so deep inside your head. It warps the way you view yourself; it distorts the way you see the world. You carry your abuser's voice with you, whether or not they're there. And it's not easy to make it go away. It's not easy to make the emotional conditioning go away, to disentangle the survival mechanisms you've had to develop once you no longer actually need them to survive. These things hold true with, like, basically every form of ongoing abuse, they're not necessarily unique to IPV, but they're a big part of IPV nonetheless. (And they're certainly things we see from a lot of the companions in-game, Astarion very much included. Gotta love how his immediate response to you initiating the breakup conversation is "did I do something wrong?")

I do know that discussions of the exact nature of Cazador's abuse of Astarion can get, uh, fraught. I do think Cazador's sexual objectification and possessiveness of Astarion are, well, text, and Cazador certainly uses other people as proxies to enact sexual violence on Astarion. I didn't include, and don't plan to include, any outright sexual contact between them on-page because I think the point comes across clearly enough without it (and because jesus, enough stuff happens on-page in NLTS, there needs to be a balance if I don't want to turn the story into one giant downer). For me, the crux of their dynamic lies in one of Astarion's first descriptions of Cazador: a man obsessed with power -- not political power, but power over people.

Cazador might think of himself as rational and in control of his own actions and passions -- a lot of abusers will tell you that they're just being logical, you're the one bringing your emotions into everything -- but in reality, he is obsessed with his control over Astarion. When he feels like that control is being threatened, he sees it as a direct assault on his own self-image and power and masculinity, and he takes it out on Astarion to convince them both that Astarion still belongs to Cazador. I don't think Cazador wants Astarion's love, necessarily; I don't think he knows what love actually is, anymore. I think he wants Astarion's true submission -- and he's never going to get that, because Astarion obeys him out of fear, not trust, and trust is what submission actually requires. (As is choice, which is also a thing that Cazador does not and will not give Astarion.) Basically, the closer Wyll and Astarion get, the more Cazador gets caught up in these dominance games, and those are ultimately him pissing on a lamppost rather than him accomplishing anything.

And I do write him as fixated on Astarion to a degree that he isn't with the other spawn. He doesn't really care about Dalyria taking Branwyn as a lover, for example, because whether rightly or wrongly, he doesn't perceive that as a threat to his control over her (or as a threat to his own self-image); he could tell her to stop, and she would, without him needing to compel her obedience. But Cazador doesn't feel as secure of his ownership over Astarion, for good reason, and that plus his sexual obsession makes him act Totally Normal about all this.

In NLTS, Cazador is, generally, not reacting to what Wyll and/or Astarion are actually doing. He's reacting to perceived threats to his ego, whether or not those threats have any basis in reality. Cazador breaks Astarion's rib because he wants to break Astarion's rib. It's not even sensible as a punishment, but it makes Cazador feel powerful, and it makes Astarion feel worthless. As I mentioned in an earlier post, he makes Wyll's gift to Astarion all about himself instead because it's a way of soothing his ego, and because, at that point, he's still thinking of Wyll as an easily-controlled dupe. Things change once Wyll duels Lord Andoril -- Cazador's proxy and mouthpiece -- over Astarion, and wins. It doesn't matter what Astarion did or didn't do. It matters that, to Cazador, someone publicly challenged his ownership of Astarion and got away with it, and Wyll is the kind of threat that (at this point) Cazador can't simply have killed and be done with it. The fallout for Cazador's business prospects isn't great, sure, but it's also not really what he cares about most. But really, the thing most getting in the way of Cazador's political ambitions in this story is...Cazador himself. Even if he'd tell you otherwise, because Cazador's not exactly self-aware.

This is also the point where Cazador being low-key annoyed that Wyll wants Astarion for something other than his body turns into Cazador becoming Big Mad about that fact, because Cazador cannot handle the idea of Wyll laying claim to some part of Astarion that he himself doesn't have access to. (Yes, this is a really fucked-up way for him to frame the fact that Wyll, you know, sees and values Astarion as a person. But well, Astarion is not and never has been a person to Cazador.) On some level, Cazador isn't wrong about this, either -- Wyll genuinely is a threat to his control over Astarion. But because Cazador is a petty, jealous little tyrant of a man who doesn't understand love, he catalogues this threat as Astarion offering his submission to another man. Astarion having his own autonomous wants and desires is, obviously, not something that crosses his mind. When Wyll is exiled, Cazador fully gives himself over to his inner green-eyed monster, and abandons all pretense of self-control or calculation. Cazador forcing Astarion to enjoy -- or well, take physical pleasure in -- his own rape is, among other things, Cazador trying to brute-force Astarion's submission.

The thing about power and control relationships is that the abuser never really feels secure in them. Nothing is ever good enough; everything can become a new ego threat. Cazador is alone, and he's miserable, and really, he's made himself that way.

One commenter really hit the nail on the head in Chapter 14: I was like "oh now wyll won't be a useful political tool," as if Cazador was some kind of evil political mastermind, rather than an evil horrible monster. There is, indeed, an evil political mastermind in NLTS -- but it's Enver Gortash, not Cazador Szarr. Gortash does more in half a chapter than Cazador does in basically the entire fic. In NLTS, Cazador is not a monster because he's a powerful and terrifying supernatural being -- although he is also that. He's a monster because he's a jealous tyrant who can't see past the tip of his own nose. And honestly, I think that makes for a scarier villain.

[lutawolf]

Love In the Air Ep 13 Review & Running Commentary

Hey guys, this is the last one. For those who missed my other reviews, please find them here. I'm not afraid to admit I'm scared. I may end up documenting a trigger. Let's hope not.

We start the episode at school. Sig laminating about him being the only single person. How he is going to find himself a gf. I know a boy that you should be looking at Sig. I'm just saying.

Rain teasing Sky about all the pictures of him on Pai's social media. Pai is making sure everyone knows. That smile on Sky's face says it all. Oh, we are talking about the race. I don't wanna talk about the race. Ugh!

The Wind Will Embrace The Sky

Flashback to little Sky, all excited about going to school in Bangkok. Then , he was a teen and offered a cig. These fucking douche bag friends. At this day in age who encourages a friend to smoke. Even I didn't back in high school when I smoked. Like, don't do it. Everyone knows that inhaling smoke is stupid.

Time Stamp 6:11 we are introduced to Gun. The cum guzzling gutter slut. Sadly, you can see the instant stars in Sky's eyes. Ohhh... You are going to regret that eye contact baby boy. Gun comes up and takes to Sky which makes me want to puke. Time Stamp 7:39 them in bed together. The flicking of the lighter. That's going to turn into a nightmare right there. Sky telling Gun he loves him. Ugh, this sucks. I literally feel my heart picking up and catching. Guess who is going to pause and take there emergency anxiety. Yup, yup, for me it's worth it to watch the show. See, I might have to skip some parts to be safe but if I don't push myself in some things then my anxiety will get worse. That feeling of letting them win because I am not leading a normal life, not doing things I enjoy, will amp my anxiety more than watching.

Okay, so the friends aren't total douches. They are concerned for Sky. Never mind, they are. Shoving him and saying that you knew he was a piece of shit isn't going to help. Yeah, those burns aren't falling down the stairs. Time Stamp 9:39 Gun is hurting Sky, and Sky is begging. I really hope Gun dies. I'm just saying. Let me take the time to say that BDSM should never ever look like this. There doesn't have to be pain. If you want pain, then you can have it, but you also have the right to say when you do and don't want it. I don't care how deep of a submissive you are. That stands true.

Skipping from time stamp of 11:07 to 12:30. I know what happened from the book, and I can't. Can we please just have a Gun Reforestation Party. You know shovels, black salt, snacks, etc.

Sky wakes up from the nightmare. He is not sure why he was dreaming about that shit again. Cause the mind is a wonderful and painful thing, love. It really is. Sometimes, it loves us, and other times, it hates us. Poor baby. That's it, call someone, talking helps. Pai is not even bothered that it's night. Just asks if Sky misses him.

See, this is why someone like us needs a stubborn partner. This sort of thing doesn't phase. They worked too hard to scale the walls, so this is nothing big. Meanwhile, it's huge to us. Sky asks Pai to come so he comes. He's like, you need me to get you the moon too? Just let him know so he can start tying the ladders together.

Ohhh, if Pai only knew he was talking to the reason for Sky's nightmares. Ugh, so gross.

The way Sky rushes out to hug Pai! Oh! My heart! I needed this feel-good moment. Pai is no dummy, but he is so calm and patient. When Sky asks him to never let go of his hand, he just does it. Then they start getting heated. I know some of you are like, but you just had a nightmare! Sometimes, it's taking your mind off, it's replacing those moments with something else. Clearing away the cobwebs. Though it will come back, it's a reprieval.

Pai talking about how he used to be uncaring sweet talker aka fuck boy. Honestly, he is right, he never came off as uncaring. This is sickly sweet. I'm somewhere between gaging and making heart eyes. He becomes invincible. Sky saying he only wants Pai. Play wrestling, while giggling. 🤦‍♀️ I think I just got a tooth ache. 🤣🤣🤣

Here comes the roller coaster. Both Sky and Rain are at the race. It was only a year ago! 🤣🤣🤣 Ugh, if someone came up behind me like that. They'd have a broken nose. Nope. Sky seems to have known it was him, though. I love Pai so fucking much. He does not care what anyone else thinks and that's exactly what Sky needs. He just wants his Sky kisses but gets threats, lol.

Payu is so done. He's like, get your ass out there and race. The way Pai is threatening and making sure he knows to watch out for his babe. Just makes my heart crackle cause we all know what is coming. Love the don't talk to anyone and the sass back from Sky. Which is it, talk or don't talk and Pai being like, long enough to say your reserved. 🤣 Pai stealing a kiss, then raced off.

Rain is uncomfortable with Sky going by himself, but he is all sub. Sky has overridden him. Had Pai or Payu been there, he wouldn't have gotten his phone.

Trigger: Time stamp 23:42, Sky hears that clicking of the lighter and knows. I told you guys that lighter was going to become a trigger. Some noises become a trigger because you associate it with incoming pain. This would have automatically put Sky into a threatened feeling and emotions because he associates that sound with pain.

Trigger: Prapai is taking a break between races. Gun's friend saddles up to Pai and tells him that he's hitting on a girl and asks Prapai for his room key so he can impress her with a fancy room for a hookup. Prapai is not terribly happy about it but relents. Which is incredibly stupid. I don't care your reasons, Pai. I love you, but you dummy.

Trigger: Payu and Prapai talk about Gun and his friend. They don't trust him but have no idea why.

Trigger: Back to Gun and Sky. Gun jokes about how Sky looks all "fixed" up when he left him all broken. Sky tries to stand up for himself, but Gun taunts him about Prapai playing with him. Also, remember that Sky is triggered. He is feeling all the feelings from the past thanks to that click. "What did I teach you?" Gun taunts.

Trigger: Sky walks away, reeling from the things that Gun said. He's second-guessing himself while at the same time trying to remind himself of what he knows. Sky runs into Rain, who worries about him. Sky tells him he's feeling sick and is leaving. Sky then decides on telling Prapai everything about his past with Gun so he can live in peace. Sky comes back, and a guard told him that Prapai is waiting for Sky at their condo. Rain drives him to the condo, Gun's friend watches them leave. Rain drops him off, and while Sky is shaken, his mind set on the condo, where he can rest.

Trigger: Sky makes it to the condo, promising to tell Prapai everything. But when he walks in, there's the zippo click. Gun and his friends are there. Sky tries to run away, but Gun's friends catch him and drag him to the bedroom. Gun: "He's not my ex. He's just a toy. A toy I threw away." Gun's friends are playing Gun's script. They say that Prapai gave him away. Sky is breaking under Gun's taunts. Gun insists that the only way they could've gotten in the condo was Prapai giving them his key. Sky tries to defend Prapai but is breaking fast. Gun tells him that he showed Prapai pictures he took of Sky in the past. Gun: "he said," Take back your filthy shit. "" Gun takes his shirt off while Sky's vision goes out of focus. 🤢🤮🤮

Cut back to the race, and Pai wants to know where his baby is. Payu tells him that Rain took him away. Pai isn't upset about Sky leaving. He just wants to be with his honey. Then Rain shows up telling him to take care of Sky, which Pai assures him, this nurse can do. Then it clicks for Pai, and he loses his shit when he finds out what happened. He probably broke records to get to Sky.

Trigger: A shirtless Sky lies in bed. His expression is completely blank and devoid of life. Gun is on top of him caressing his hair. Prapai, Payu, and Rain storm in. Gun insists that Sky asked him to screw him. Please kill him, please kill him, please kill him. Deep breath. Okay. Rain busts in and says that they are all lying. I get why Pai yelled but fuck. That triggered my already triggered ass. It does help a very shell shocked Sky to start talking. Asking Pai if he can be just his, without being shared with others. Pai starts talking softly and reassuring Sky, all why covering him up and stroking his hair.

Once he has gotten through to Sky, he leaves him in the care of Rain. The to fucking son of bitches try to escape but Pai gets him. He starts pounding into him. I might have cheered and clapped out loud. WHY DID YOU STOP HIM PAYU!! I'm a little satisfied. Only a little though.

Pai races into the room to Sky. He starts attempting to get Sky to cry and release some of the trauma. He wants him to let it out so bad, he assures him that he'll be there for him, but Sky, he doesn't know how anymore. He tries demanding and begging, but when it's to no avail. Prapai's crying snaps Sky out of his shock. He wants to know why is Prapai crying. "Because you won't cry. If you can't cry... I'll cry for you. If you suffer. I'll suffer with you. If you're in pain. I'll be in pain, too." He is giving his boy vows. "Nothing gets better, even if I cry." "It does. Trust me. I'm right here... I promise I won't let you go through this again. I love you, Sky." At this point, Sky breaks and begs Pai to be telling the truth as he cries. To which Pai comforts him the whole time. If I weren't already in love with the man. This whole thing would do it.

Pai takes sky to his family home. When his sister goes to say something, Pai quickly shuts her down. Sky does not want Pai to leave him. Sky is expecting Pai to ask questions, but Pai tells him to just do it when he is ready. Fuck, I love you Pai. Sky starts to spill his story while Pai just gently strokes his hair. Letting him know he isn't alone. He says dreadful and horrible things about himself but Pai lets him talk because he know he has to get it out. This is 100% accurate to how a SA survivor in victim mode feels about themselves. It takes therapy and a lot of work to get out of that mind frame.

Sky asks Pai if he can really love him, and while crying, Pai assures him he can. Pai apologizes, wishing he had met Sky sooner. Sky just hugs him and rejoices in the fact that they did meet. Have I mentioned how much I love Pai? Because if I haven't. I really love him. Too late, you've already made a promise and a vow. I was there for it. No take backs.

Sky wakes up and goes looking for Pai. When he finds him on the balcony, he immediately gets embraced. That fucking microphone though! Sky is worried about Pai's family but he need not be. Who wouldn't love the marshmallow. An idiot that's who, fucking Gun. Hope your at the bottom of a lake somewhere. Pai assures Sky that his family will adore him. Daddy Chai is going to deal with the scum! Can we watch please? Please! I have a shovel and snacks. I could be a lot of help. 🙏🙏🙏

Pai asks about the actor who helped Sky move forward. "How sad would my loved ones be if I didn't love myself?" "If one person can ruin my life, how can I face my family?" These words helped Sky realize what was important to him. More promises and vows from Pai. Honey, you are as good as married.

"To win a stony heart. You must use your own."

Seriously. Pai became a better person because of his love for Sky. Even though he didn't realize he was in love yet. He knew he had to be better to have this boy, and he wanted him. Sky didn't mold him. He molded himself. Because Love.

Sky meeting the family and being embraced. Bugging Pai at work. Everything you could want for the boy. But wait! It gets better! Pai's uncle is the actor who inspired Sky. Jelly Pai is hilarious! Just look at this black giant for the rest of your life. 🤣🤣🤣

Well, that's all folks. This was an amazing roller coaster episode. It took us high, and it took us low. I loved it. I'm never watching it again, though. Once was good enough for me. I'll just stick to re-watching all the sex scenes. Yup, I'm a hoe on main. 💜💜💜 This was co-written by @akitbeast whom I couldn't have gotten through the review without.

[artemis-entreri]

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but can you please post links to your review of Lolth's Warrior? I love your reviews and can't find your Lolth's Warrior one. Thanks!

[[ Greetings!

Not a dumb question at all! ^_^ The reason that you can't find it is because it doesn't exist. XD In fact, I still haven't read the book yet, and I don't know when/if I will. I'm thinking that this is a good thing, as apparently even among the most diehard Drizzt fans there have been some very negative reactions to Lolth's Warrior, more so than ever.

If you follow me, you've probably noticed a significant drop in my activity. I've been greatly enjoying investing my time in other things, which is something I've been wanting to do for a while now but my brain wouldn't stop being hung up over these characters. It's no secret that I've been tired of Salvatore's BS for a long time, but I was too invested in the characters to be able to move on.

I think what finally helped me flip the switch is WotC investing a shitload of money to make Drizzt products, especially with whitewashed Artemis even though it's 2023. With the context of them also giving the excuse that they couldn't pay the other creatives who worked on their setting at market standard rates in the past along with their actions with the OGL earlier in the year, well, suffice to say that while I haven't respected Salvatore for a long time I did respect WotC, however after everything that happened this year, that has changed. I'm not sure how much WotC execs are responsible for the recent mass lay-offs, which in itself is really bad, but the fact that Mike Mearls was finally let go doesn't really help WotC's case for me because it only serves as a reminder of how Mearls wasn't fired earlier for assisting his sex abuser friend (he was instead quietly shuffled to the video games division for a while). When Mearls returned to the D&D division, about half a dozen female D&D staffers quit at the same time. This says to me that WotC cares more about a male sex abuser supporter than they do about all those female members of their staff, and it makes me question whether they care about women and oppressed groups in general. I've really started to question how much hypocrisy is present in their making a huge show of being LGBT+ inclusive; recent D&D products do indeed include a lot of LGBT+ representation, but how much of that is due to Jeremy Crawford having to fight to get it in there each time? How could WotC continue to march in Pride parades with pomp and circumstance while allowing the Mearls incident to have transpired?

When the OGL snafu happened, a friend made the comment that WotC may have had its ups and downs in the past but overall was generally viewed in a positive light by many, but that the OGL fiasco has probably bankrupted them from a "good will" perspective for a while. This is basically where I'm at with the company now. I still care a great deal about Ed Greenwood and the authors who penned the works that led me to fall in love with the world so hard, and while I still play D&D and care about FR, I'm at a point where I feel like WotC has demonstrated a clear lack of regard for their own Drizzt franchise, so much so that they don't even bother to get basic facts about one of its primary characters correct. As such, what's the point in me continuing to care? While I also don't care about how WotC feels about me as an individual fan, I've long been distasteful of how dismissive they are of their most dedicated fans, the ones who have spent hundreds of thousands of unpaid hours curating the (in)consistencies of their universe that they themselves can't be bothered to maintain. I can understand the reasons for WotC actively instructing their creatives to not use the FR Wiki, but it's painfully obvious that those creatives including Salvatore still use it to keep their facts straight because there is no comparable official resource for them internally with the company itself. Furthermore, the stuff that WotC is continuing to do suggest that they have no intention to change that, quite the opposite in fact. It was quite eyebrow-raising when WotC compared their D&D franchise to the Marvel universe, because what makes the Marvel universe so compelling and successful is the very self-consistency that WotC is trying to do away with in D&D. A big part of the reason why Marvel movies are loved is because it's the same characters that recur, and you never know if a character from a different movie will show up in the movie you're currently watching, but it's always a delight when they do. And, of course, it's so epic when all of those storylines across many different movies all come together and culminate in truly astounding ways. Despite the usage of an infinite multiverse in Marvel, there's this big sense of consistency, which is what makes the franchise so impressive and compelling. Marvel's world is everything that D&D's is not, at least in D&D's current iteration. Even though many different stories across a shared world is part of the draw of FR for me, I don't need D&D to be like Marvel, however because WotC made that comparison of the current D&D world to the Marvel world, I can't help but feel like WotC is more talk than action. I'm not at all saying that D&D isn't a quality product, it's just for me the shine of WotC is no longer there.

I think the biggest indicator for me that I was ready to shift my focus was my lukewarm reception of Baldur's Gate 3. It is everything that I hoped for and more for a current generation Forgotten Realms/D&D video game, and yet I was just ok about it. Here is FINALLY something that I spent so many years dreaming about, getting more and more hungry for it following the flops of Sword Coast Legends and the Dark Alliance reboot, but when it finally happened, I was just ok about it. It's a fantastic game and 110% deserving of its awards and its huge fan acclamation, and yet I was just ok about it. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoyed the game, but I can't see myself playing it again.

I'm still happy to help and support the people in this fandom, be it by answering lore questions, suggesting novels to read, pointing the way to resources, or with more serious matters. I don't know how much new content I'll make though, I've got a bunch of WIPs in terms of art and writing, as well as miscellaneous drafts containing information about the world, but I don't know if I'll ever feel like finishing them/polishing them up to post. It's very freeing to no longer feel compelled to read each new Drizzt book because the drop in quality with each new installment has really been immense, and I'm a lot happier not spending those hours consuming really badly-written media. I do feel bad for no longer providing for those who want to know what's happening in the newer books but don't feel like reading them and who want to know a non-sycophantic summary of them, but hey, maybe someone will step up and fill in the summaries for the books. I'm not really sure why none of the diehard Drizzt/Salvatore super fans have undertaken the task since Hero. Wikis are editable by anyone, but the Wiki staff do try to make sure that everything is objective and factual.

If you're trying to find my old stuff, I'm sorry that my tags are kind of all over the place, I never got around to organizing them better. 😅 I *think* I've reblogged all of my LoD art to my otp-jartemis sideblog, but now that I look at it I see that's probably not the case. If you like my art though and want to continue seeing it even if it's not in this fandom, it'll be on my non-fandom specific blog: sno4wy.tumblr.com

This isn't goodbye, as I'll still be here now and then, I just won't be as invested, which is honestly a really great feeling. :> ]]

[weebtwig]

GTO Review

Great Teacher Onizuka is a beloved and iconic series and in this post I'll talk about both the things I absolutely adored about it and my frustrations.

So, right off the bat I'm gonna mention that I don't often laugh hysterically while watching anime (or anything really) but somehow GTO managed to have a buncha moments so ridiculous that my only possible reaction was pretty much set in stone...

The humour and character writing are both plain genius!! I could never for the life of me predict what Onizuka's next move would be. His recklessness and luck, as well as his gullible and kind nature added a lot to his complexity as a character.

In the artistic department, we got the banger openings and EDs, the on-point animation and variation in facial expressions. In terms of voice acting, every VA fit well and every character's lines were delivered perfectly, tho my personal faves were undeniably Urumi and Miyabi. Kotono Mitsuishi's vocal range and her accurate French pronunciation were a pleasant surprise but I also liked the bite and seriousness Miyabi's voice had, while it was also laced with uncertainty and her screams in that parking lot were simply harrowing ngl, I was 🤏 this close to crying during that scene.

And now, about my frustrations that gave me mixed feelings on the series despite how much I enjoyed every episode, except for the Yoshikawa/Anko part in those last few episodes during the Okinawa arc. It was just unpleasant to watch, honestly. I think Yoshikawa's random personality change and his attitude towards Anko felt out of place, even though it can be ruled out as his pure kindness.

And either way, Giving Mukai and Yoshikawa romantic interests in order to call them "men" as if it's manly to...chase after a girl that's come to terms with the fact that you don't like her and save the one who's made your life living hell from certain death, respectively, just to ditch the subplots altogether and create loose ends kinda sucked tbh. It made me anticipate a lot of stuff that just didn't happen. GTO being a comedy manga (mostly) doesn't really excuse that, as some other series managed pull off some sorta closure to their subplots. My main example is Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou. Unlike with Mukai and Kujirakawa, who only get 1 singular episode together and their relationship never ever sees the light of day, "Literary girl" becomes a running gag in Danshi Koukousei.

Admittedly, I wanted and expected Fuyumi and Onizuka to get together because they're 2 consenting adults which at least kinda have chemistry but I'm convinced that Tooru Fujisawa either:

intended Onizuka to have commitment issues and despite him dealing with other people's problems he never gets his resolved, presumably because he keeps running away from them

struggles to write romantic relationships or doesn't know how to.

Onizuka's struggle to commit to romantic relationships (which is evident in both his relationship with Misato and the one with Fuyutsuki) never gets any closure, from what I've gathered.

The sexism was another thing that occasionally bothered me. While at times the perverted jokes were genuinely well-timed and maybe even funny, other times they felt very awkward, out of place, uncomfortable,, well you get it.

Some things aged poorly, simply put.

especially the ganguro stuff

On another note, the anime's ending kinda left me with a mild sour aftertaste. It felt like an Onizuka thing to do, but at the same time...how and why. Like FYM he's teaching in America now. Dude can't even speak English properly.

It also felt like the ending didn't allow for anything afterwards even tho the manga continues and ngl I'm personally not willing to read it becuz of the ending, Urumi and a few more things that didn't really get resolved.

Either way! It was overall a really fun watch, it gets a 7.8/10 from me

Toodles

[the-moonjay-forest-system]

Rating plushie dreadfuls plushies

Part one: The ones we have:

Dissociative identity disorder

Our rating: 8/10

•The first member of our collection, a Christmas gift from my qpp. It being a gift from somebody to show support of our system definitely adds even more value to it for me.

•their name is Astaroth btw

• so soft!!!

•I like how their colour pallete is likely inspired from the DID flag (the white, orange and black one)

•the bunnies in the ear is, in my opinion, a great way to portray alters in the design! While being seperate in a way they all belong to the same vessel. I personally prefer this over to it like having two heads or a half and half kind of thing (like having two seperate expressions on it's face or being split with two colours)

•the face is perfect, I think it displays dissociation beautifully.

•I don't know exactly what the rabbit shape on the forehead represents but it looks nice. I'm also not overly familiar with the symbols on the belly.

•it is a bit on the plainer side compared to some of the other plushies, it doesn't bother me too much though. But perhaps it could be made better with some more details.

Maladaptive daydreaming

Our rating: 10/10

•one of (if not) our favourite buns from plushy dreadfuls. Bought it for ourselves when it was on sale I think? We still haven't settled on a name for them so if you have any suggestions please share!

•The colours!!! Omg they are the epitome of daydreaming and I love how (at least I think) each maladaptive daydreaming bunny will look slightly different, ours has a mostly blue and green belly compared to the yellow shown above.

•the stars in the ears are also such a lovely touch and gives the bunny "space cadet" vibes. I also like the sleep mask and how it looks literally sewn onto the face which portrays how hard it is to get out of or stop a daydream when you struggle with maladaptive daydreaming.

•I don't know what the symbols on the feet and belly mean, I'm sure I can find them somewhere maybe even the official site but I am indeed lazy. Same with the purple bands on the hands and feet..maybe they're supposed to be like restraints trapping us in our daydreams??

•on several reviews I've seen people mention not partocularly liking the texture of the bunny, it does have a rougher, less soft slightly scratchy texture so I thought I'd mention it here. Personally I don't find it too bothering but I get why others might. The feet and tail are soft though.

Cancer ♋ (zodiac sign)

Our rating: 9/10

•this is actually a birthday present for our younger brother who loved the two Buns we have so we decided to get him his own. It arrived a few days ago and we've only briefly looked at it to check it was in good condition but omg it's so cute and so soft!!

•while not being my favourite colours I can't freaking resist a pink and blue colour combo they just belong together.

•just look at the crab, need I say more? I love when the plushies come with other plushies.

•I might have to steal it from him after his birthday/j

•you can't see them but on the back of the ears there are crescent moons

•it's the softets thing ever!!!! Like heavenly soft!

Part two will be the ones we want/apply to us which will be much longer since there's a lot. Feel free to use this idea and rate your own if you'd like

[dyrewrites]

More dialogue for a thing I can't write yet

Wherein present-day Lucient learns a new word.

->under cut because long<-

“Treasure, I've been reading reviews for that filthy little book of yours—”

“Terrible idea, my love, as I warned.”

“Yes yes but I had to know—”

“What they think of you?”

“Of course.”

“And?”

“There's a lot of this word, and I don't know what it means, and I can't tell if they're using it kindly or…or if it's an insult.”

“...what's the word?”

“Twink.”

Raucous laughter spills from the next room and Deluca bites his own.

Lucient sighs, “So it's an insult then?”

“Yeah, dad,” Oriana calls from the other room, “is it an insult?”

“You're still grounded this month, young lady, want to make it two?”

“Treasure, please, I even tried to look it up and all I've found were small men in smaller clothes. You know I hate being out of the loop…”

“It's a colloquialism for typically young men who are slender, hairless and um…”

“‘Bottoms’, your mind, treasure. Ever open, why did I bother asking! Bottom? Did they read the same book? Which of us had his face buried in a pillow more often? And ditz, that one I know and [SPOILERS] notwithstanding I am no ditz!”

“Is he mad? He sounds mad.”

“That doesn't sound like homework, Oriana!”

“Your centuries old lover just found out he's a twink, dad, I don't think any homework is getting done today.”

“Who said you could leave your room?”

“But he—”

“Back. To. Your. Room.”

“No, no, wait, my love. Don't send her away. Most of these are from those around her age. Riri, darling, tell me the truth…am I what they say?”

“Lucy, you're more of a diva than a twink. I'm sure most are just projecting.”

“Diva I know, so long as it hasn't changed, and I can live with that one. Has it changed?”

“Doubt it. But I wouldn't worry, they clearly wish they were more like you. And who wouldn't? You're fabulous.”

“Oh, flatterer. Treasure you've raised a terrible manipulator.”

“I'm aware. Riri, homework?”

“But I fixed the—fine.”

“You going to be alright, mon amour?”

“Mm, you keep saying such sweet things I will be. You didn't comment though, amore mio.”

“Hm?”

“On what you think…of what they're calling me?”

“I didn't feel it warranted one, my love. I think you're a force, terrifying and beautiful. What does it matter what anyone else thinks?”

“Now I'm fine.”

“I can't send her away, she's grounded.”

“I can be grounded at Laney's!”

“Damn those ears. No you can't!”

Can't she?

She'll know what we're doing now…too quiet.

So? Has fatherhood extinguished that heat of yours, my sweet…warm…thing.

“Be back by midnight, no sleeping over!”

“Thanks, Lucient!”

“Have fun, darling!”

[ballingb-a-g-s]

My 7 favorite things I read/played/watched in 2023

Honorable mention: Destiny 2

This would have been a list of 7 but I can't in good faith say that D2 was excellent this year between the subpar lightfall campaign and all the shit bungies pulled this year this is the best I can give it in good conscience

7: somethings killing the children

An excellent non superhero comic it's world building is fascinating. It's first book is basically perfect it sets up and fully explores the characters that are exclusive to that part as well as setting up and beginning to show us the wider world. All while telling a mildly horrific action story that I could not predict. Book 2 set itself up well and continued to surprise me but hasn't finished yet so il hold off on any more but somethings killing the children 30 issue (at time of writing) run is absolutely worth checking out if your tired of or just don't care for superheroes

6: invincible

Shows good too but I'm impatient so I read the comic and they were for the most part phenomenal a perfect superhero story I actually think there was to much gore at some points were it affected the quality of the art and the story loses steam towards the end you can tell Kirkman is done with it by the time you reach the time skip but it's characters are fantastic special mention to omni-man and Oliver good emotional story

5: the walking dead comic

Twd is what happens when a talented writer takes what would become an overplayed genre and just gets it. Kirkman excellently uses the end of the world to help us understand his characters while taking us on a wild adventure and unlike the tv show it stays good all the way to the ending I would never have predicted. Even though it's longer than invincible by 30 issue it holds on to its momentum all the way through and is worth a read even if you don't like the show

4:BlacKkKlansman

The review is on my letterbox go read it. But for those of you who can't be bothered to do that il summaries for you. Best live action thing I saw last year funny when it wants to be bone chilling when is has to be that final scene into the montage has to be my favorite possibly of all time phenomenal stuff now go read my actual review

3: slay the princess

Games fascinating but I can't say to much just trust me it's worth it the best new game this year if you don't need constant action to be stimulated go in blind and have fun

2:immortal hulk

When I was first getting into comics at the start of the year I was worried about iconic old characters and their extensive history but I'd heard nothing but praise for immortal hulk so I caved and tried it and it's the best thing Marvel's put out this decade. Al Ewing is a god Damned genius. I don't know why he decided to make hulk scary but I'm thankful he did because this is as close to perfect as a comic run can get. It understands the medium and how to get the most out of its basically a perfect story and Al is very cool and made a trans woman one of the major secondary characters whos identity informs character decision but is written competently and doesn't feel like corporate pandering she's the best Ewing is my number one I will read anything he writes.

1.Summit of the God's

In my review I called this a weak 5 I'd like to retract that statement I love this movie it speaks to me in a way few others have it's stunning it may very well be my favorite looking movie ever. I stand by most everything I said in that review about it's athstetic but it's story needed time to cook. I lack motivation it most things I don't have that obsession I'm not jôji I don't know what I want I more understand Fukamachi and his desire to understand how someone cane be so obsessed how they understand what they want. Once I understood the story it moved up my list to the best thing I read/played/watched this year(I didn't want to be a hipster but the French poster is so much better also I will be petty and correct anyone who calls it an anime movie it's french)

[fujoreads]

Umineko: Episode 1 // Review & Thoughts

I was initially NOT going to do this since I played Episode 1 long ago last year, but since I'm doing this from episode 3 to 8, might as well have these.

I have daily logs with my reading sessions' reactions and thoughts, but I'll try to find my highlights and summarize everything!

VNDB | Steam

SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

CW: Murder (duh, it's a murder mystery); ableism + dysfunctional/abusive family talk

P.S.: There are youtube previews but they break inside my blog's theme, so they won't look as good, but I refuse not to show them, hmph!

This Episode was definitely more of an introduction, even though we seem to get introduced to new concepts, characters and even plot points with each chapter—just like with Higurashi. They do have the same author, after all.

One of the most common complaint I hear from folks about this episode is that it's too much of a slog at the beginning and while I can understand people's issues with pacing in general, I disagree. Maybe I just read too fast and am used to slow pacing, but I feel like people are just too used to having everything quickly presented to them without having to wait at all.

I see this same complaint with Higurashi and I gotta say: it's exactly BECAUSE it's not scary and mysterious from the bat, that when it does become crazy, you feel it. And it's gradual, even at that stage. You can see that as you go further: so far, this is the tamest episode yet and each ones outdoes the previous.

Anyway: I really enjoyed this as a first episode. It truly felt like an Agatha Christie and then it went 180 on it, just like I was expecting from Ryuukishi.

The incest jokes are fortunately short and quick to end, and I get why they'd bother so many people looking for a serious story, but at the same time I feel like people made too much of a ruckus over it. Battler is a horny teen and hasn't seen his family in 6 years; while that doesn't excuse him being a creep, this is clearly meant to be a funny scene and not be taken seriously. You can either laugh it off, roll your eyes or just ignore it, not drop the VN altogether—though if you can't take some tasteless jokes, you wouldn't last the entire ride for how long it is (lol)

I really like how similar yet so different the MCs from Higurashi and Umineko are. While they are both lovable perverts, Keiichi is quick to paranoia and doubting his friends; meanwhile, Battler shows a strong resolve to never doubt his family to the very end. ...This might age poorly depending on future episodes.

PLOT

Honestly, the score doesn't matter that much to me anymore. Especially not when I've read further and have been therefore corrupted with more exciting scenes.

This might be the less out-there scenario, and I appreciate it for what it is. This is basically Ryuukishi saying "hold on to your seats, this is gonna be crazy, but for now, just take it all in and get ready."

On the other hand, the family drama got INTENSE. Eva being voiced by Takano's VA makes so much sense, her being so sly and scheming. Poor Natsuhi, she's a bit too serious for her own good, but Eva is just a bully T^T

The scene where the first twilight happens is too much of a banger!!! I was not to control my emotions: I didn't know whether to dance or to grieve/be shocked. Ugh. But I'll talk more about it in my Soundtrack part.

Also, I just fucking love all the subtle (and not so subtle) references to Higurashi. It's really lovely to see a connection to one of my favorite VNs ever.

And those are my thoughts for the plot itself! I'll be talking about other aspects of the game after, but before, we still have the Tea Party and ??? chapters to talk about!

I knew beforehand there would be something akin to the All-Cast Review Session (from Higurashi) but it certainly surprised me. I was expecting a 20-minute read and I got 2 hours of reading AND a direct connection to the main plot??? Bonkers.

Plus, Battler was so badass the whole time, even if I called him an idiot a few times before this.

Oh yeah, and he was a bit of a savage at times LOL

(this hurt even ME)

CHARACTERS

Since this is the introduction, most characters are still very barebones compared to how far they've come where I currently am. HOWEVER! Ryuukishi is a fucking madlad writing characters.

Everyone feels like their own person with their own faults and liking points. Hell, he plays you like a puppet whose strings have been cut masterfully, shaping your opinion of certain characters just for that illusion to be broken along with our tame expectations of them.

Ushiromiya Battler

My cutie patotie, my little meow meow.

He started off a big incestuous weirdo but he's more mature than he shows, being all considerate for people around him and never being malicious. I love him.

Oh yeah, the whiplash I got from hearing Akasaka's voice is no joke-

Ushiromiya Rudolf

He's a dork and not a great father, it seems. I like his character but I know I wouldn't stand him irl. Though to be fair, I would be more like Maria—but we'll get there in a sec.

Ushiromiya Kyrie

MY WIFEEEE 🛐🛐🛐

I just love Kyrie no matter the episode. She's badass, reliable, but always mysterious. I never thought those "cool" mysterious characters were all that until I met her.

Ushiromiya Eva

MY QUEEN, SLAY 💅🏻✨ Jokes aside, she's a fucking great character. She might have a venomous tongue and be very shitty at times, but that's what makes her her.

Ushiromiya Hideyoshi

Hideyoshi is my utmost "can do no wrong" pick. What a wholesome and cute husband, especially to someone like Eva. God have mercy on this man.

Ushiromiya George

George is another cutie patotie, but he makes me a bit suspicious. I don't know, while Battler is just a pure-hearted goofball, George seems a bit more formal, more intentional with his behaviour and acting. Maybe it's just the glasses... Probably.

I gotta say though, some of the phrasing in his scenes with Shannon (or Sayo, I guess) are uuuuhm... I'd call this a red flag. Unless they were both into it, I guess lmao

Ushiromiya Krauss

I still remember my first impression of him:

He doesn't stand out particularly in this episode, so I won't make any comments. He does remind me of one of my uncles. As I said: insufferable.

Ushiromiya Natsuhi

So far (currently on episode 3), this is her episode. Maybe we'll get further character development (I hope so!) but for now, this a Natsuhi-centered episode. She starts off rather traditional and even cruel to servants, but she quickly earned my respect as the leader of the group, when the murders start happening.

Kinzo acknowledging Natsuhi as an Ushiromiya made me tear up 🥺💗

So many queens in this game 👑

Ushiromiya Jessica

I find Jessica a bit lame as a character. Maybe I'm just an adult, but her whole teen drama felt a bit too much. I mean, I get it; hell, it could even be envy... My own mother is mostly a Natsuhi-type and I can relate to Jessica's feeling, but I have grown up more contained—afraid— than her, let's just say. (Growing up autistic + ADHDer and undiagnosed with a overworked mother who now rejects my official diagnosis does things to you lol)

Ushiromiya Rosa

Rosa started as one of my favorite characters. As the younger sibling to a Eva-type of sister, I could relate to her struggles so much. That is, until you see how she is as a mother. I can still sympathize with her own individual struggles and I don't suddenly hate her because she isn't perfect, but again, as someone who grew up undiagnosed and was the "weird thing" that freaked everyone out and shamed my mother for exisiting, Rosa's behavior towards Maria was hard to watch.

Ushiromiya Maria

I will say: Maria's behavior is a bit weird when the occult is involved, but I daydreamed my whole family would die in a traffic accident at 11 so I'd be free of them—who am I to judge?

I could relate SO MUCH to Maria. I swear to God, Maria is so autistic-coded it hurts: ecolalia (the "uu"s, even if it's also supposed to be a moe? trait lol), lack of facial expressions, special interests (occult, Beatrice), not understanding jokes (even if she is a child)…

She's just like me fr. Her meltdown over the Rose reminds me so much of my own childhood, even if I don't remember much. Beatrice should just adopt her, heh.

Also, pretty sure Maria is the one writing these character profiles.

Ushiromiya Kinzo

OOOOOOH BEATORICHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Nothing much to say, he's painful to listen to. I mean, I guess that's intentional so hey, the VA did a wonderful job!

I think this is how my family must feel as I shut myself in my room all day long, only leaving to walk the dog and eating lol

Shannon

As of this episode, Shannon isn't given much spotlight. I'll be commenting more next episode!

For now, she's my little cutie patotie (3)

Kanon

I didn't love Kanon at first, but he’s just a teenage boy, it’s understandable. I still don't love him, but he's grown on me.

Genji

Genji is an interesting character. I don't remember much from him during the first episode, but I basically saw him as the reliable type.

I wouldn't be too surprised if there were any Kinzo x Genji fanart, not that I ship them

Kumasawa

Ah yes, the only able to outdo Battler in the pervert lines.

Kumasawa is a fine supporting character, but we don't see much from her. I mean, there are some things about her during episode 3, but not really? I can't explain without spoiling, so I'll complain more when I get to it.

Nanjo

Nanjo's cute mustache my beloved. That's all.

Gohda

Gohda might be the funniest character, actually. The fact that he is just a random dude caught in the whole mystery is so funny to me.

Other than that, I absolutely hated Gohda this episode. He gets a bit less insufferable for the next episodes, but maybe it's just me sympathizing for the poor guy just trying to do his job.

Atmosphere & Soundtrack

FUCK. I LOVE BEING ABLE TO HEAR.

Seriously, what a divine soundtrack. Especially the ones by zts.

I just couldn't stop banging my head!

And I've heard Umineko has around 200 tracks—I can't wait to get through all of them <3

I'm kind of sad I don't know what else to say, but I'll just leave this video here. It's what made me pick up Umineko once and for all:

Ooooh I almost forgot about the Voice Acting, so I'll include it here. I LOVED IT. A lot of VAs from Higurashi came back so it's always fun to notice these little things. It makes the drama much better too.

Art

I've chosen the PS3 sprites. Yes, I know: heathen behavior. But personally, I love them. I know that compared to the OG art, they may not be as expressive, but I just enjoy them a lot more. I've grown to appreciate Ryuukishi's art a lot more as I played Higurashi, don't worry.

The Pachinko version, on the other hand, is fucking awful. Say what you will, I just can't swallow it down.

Writing

I know Ryuukishi's forte isn't his prose, but it's actually not bad at all!

I don't have anything in particular to comment on, so I'll make this one short. Great writing, even if a bit convoluted at times.

Mechanics & Gameplay

This is a weird section, as Umineko doesn't even have choices, let alone "gameplay", but hear me out: I'm playing with the mods.

The visual and sound rain effects, the lip sync, the overall visual effects... chef's kiss! I doubt my enjoyment would be so great without these. Call me spoiled, but they are truly amazing.

Final Thoughts

Phew, I wrote a lot!

Umineko is not an unknown work for those into visual novels so I don't think I have to particularly recommend it, but I am absolutely loving it. No wonder people praise it so much.

My final score for this episode is a solid 8.5/10, aka 4 stars!!

If you want to have an idea whether this is for you, don't drop it until the first murder happens, please! It's considered to have a slow start, so take that into consideration. If you're a fast reader like me, you'll get there in no time!

For reference, the first episode took me around 15~17h to finish, a length somewhat close to Higurashi's Episode 1. Episode 3 and 4 are said to be the longest ones and they average a total of 30h, but when you get there, you'll be hopefully fully immersed. I certainly am, at least!

Well then, I'll be writing my thoughts on Episode 2 soon! Look forward to it~

✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧ ✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧ ✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧ ✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧ ✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧ ✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧

Thank you for reading it all to the end! I’m working full-time and looking for another job to make my life possible; would you be so kind and consider giving me a little tip? It can be as low as 3 bucks and it’d make a huuuuuge difference!! If you tip 10€ (or higher), you can dictate my next read and be credited (if you’d like) on that review! Have a nice day!!

[raayllum]

Hi Rayllum. Noni again

Hope all is well.

One criticism that I constantly see over and over again is how S4 completely destroyed Rayla's character. Saying that the writers did completely ruin and destroyed Rayla's character for no reason at all. That they did such a disservice to her, why didn't they not give her any growth at all in S4. I've been seeing it on both reddit and YouTube. Why did the writers make her unlikable, how TTM was completely unnecessary. How Runaan and Ethari don't seem to love Rayla at all in seasons 1-3, among others things. Like such unnecessary harsh and cruel criticism towards the writers about how they ruined Rayla's character.

Which I don't agree with to an extent. Even though I had my issues with how they handled Rayla in S4, I feel that the writers foreshadowed things in S4 that might have happened to her, what she possibly went through during those two years as well as having some strong levels of importance and growth for her character development going forward. I know you've mentioned this before about those who don't pay attention or see what's going on with Rayla. It just bothers and upsets me that some people really don't truly understand Rayla's character at all or don't even see some of her changes in S4.

Hope you don't mind this. I just want to see S5 so badly because I have a feeling this is where Rayla's character arc is going to really shine and prosper going forward and in the seasons to come. I can't wait to see it. S5 is about to unleash the tides, and I'm so here for it.

Much love, fam. Keep being awesome ❤️

Thank you for sharing your thoughts! I've said before I definitely would've appreciated more insight into Rayla's time away in S4, but that's more of a "I hope the show addresses this eventually" thing than "this is a fault of this specific season" tbh.

To me, the biggest thing that's indicative of 1) how well people are grasping her characterization and 2) how well people are able to predict her plot arcs comes down to one thing, which is really whether TTM surprised them or not.

Because like, did I see Rayla walking away coming? No, I didn't. But did I know this specific issue of "Rayla is too self sacrificial and prone to trying to do things alone" was going to be the biggest relationship hurdle her and Callum will have to jump? Yeah, I did, ever since 2x07 happened, and then I just waited for her tendencies to be brought up again in a negative light for like, 3+ years afterwards. Because you don't have a character say shit like "Don't you worry about my hand, the egg is all that matters now" and "It doesn't matter what happens to me" and especially "But if I die, I'll just be paying the price they should have paid a long time ago" and have it go nowhere. Previously, I thought Rayllum would have a smaller arc and a big blow out fight, but in retrospect a more dramatic route like this makes sense

A lot of meta and predictions is a guessing game, for sure, but while we might not always (or even often) assemble the puzzle pieces in the right manner, I think being able to identify the puzzle pieces at all is 1) a skill and 2) kinda important. Reviews aren't necessarily 'analysis' per se, and people are allowed to have opinions / feel however they want of course, but like - idk, not all critique is either made in good faith and/or grounded in canon nevermind analysis, y'know?

[selfinflictedgunshotwound]

i find it very interesting and odd how people react when someone (who is very much in the public eye) comes out as trans and changes their name... on letterboxd if you have any reviews of elliot page's movies before he came out, you're expected the change his name if you wrote it out in your review... and they'll even go to reviews from like OVER A DECADE AGO and say "um it's elliot now bro, you should change this 🤓☝️" but it's so funny cause it just feels revisionist to me like... did elliot himself ask you to do that? did he ask you to forget that he was ever "ellen"? it's really odd because it's almost always cis lgb people doing this and they never stop to wonder if they shouldn't bother simply because it doesn't hurt anything. if someone was deadnaming him ON PURPOSE AFTER THE FACT, then i completely understand why you would comment on the review and whatnot - but it's just crazy seeing a review from like 2016 that says "i love elliot page 🩷" because you just know that they went back and changed it. i can understand why it makes people uncomfortable... but it's weird that we don't allow trans people themselves to control the narrative on things like this, y'know? are we entitled to change a review simply because you're deadnaming him NOW even though you weren't when you wrote the review 5 or 6 years ago? does elliot want people to act like he was never "ellen"? or is it more likely just that it makes cis lgb people uncomfortable because thry think they need to have a strict adhereance to things like this - so much so that they wish they could go back in time so they never wrote his deadname, even if there's no way they would have known his inner life at the time 🤷‍♀️

[risu5waffles]

Watching @soupum 's stream yesterday was definitely the highlight of a pretty murky day. The kid has chops; i had a great time, we all supported a good cause, it was heartwarming and fun.

Which, let me tell you, i really, really needed. Had a headache start setting in round the end of Tuesday's shift, and it just kept kicking my arse even through aspirin most all Wednesday. i've been getting headaches more frequently recently, and that bothers me. None of them, thank Entropy, have been migraines; it's been a while since i was getting those on the monthly, and they really kicked the stuffing out of me. But still, in the end, regular old garden variety headaches can be just as enervating, and any continuing change in health for the worse is a cause for at least light concern.

But it was my day off, and i couldn't just watch a stream all day, as good a time as it may have been, my brainmeats wouldn't have let me hear the end of it. i got some recording and editing done to catch us up to next Friday. i'd really wanted to work on my big project, but the spoons and thinking power just weren't there. This one's important to me, and i really don't want to fuck it up.

So, i thought, why don't i toss together a little hub, quick-like, you know? Nothing too flash, maybe practice a bit wiv parallax (i will always go to bat for a good endless scrolling parallax). This was not exactly not a brainmeats-intensive thing to do, and it certainly wasn't quick, but it was low stakes enough that it didn't amp up my anxiety, and let me feel i was being productive for myself, not like a thing i had to do.

i like how it turned out, really. For a real simple set up, it's relatively effective. i'm going to want a few more layers of depth to really make it look good, and i think the water and land layers here should be swapped, so it doesn't look like the train is up to its windows in a river, but yeah, it works. Something i figured out working on the big project, that little Savannah section of it, is if you've got your cameras tight enough, you really don't need to be emitting all that many things as once. When i did this for the old review show, and i think the environmental pieces were traveling almost to the end of the create mode space before getting destroyed, even though we were using an viewable area not much larger that what we see in this set. That was simply way too much, and it played all holy hell wiv the thermo.

The set is haunted tho'. Like, i had so many weird buggy things happen trying to put together this train. i was lucky that i thought to at least snag footage of the entire car getting deleted when i rewound, but, like, that was the third time it had happened. i have absolutely no idea why. Something deep in my profile is seriously fucked. i suppose it's not surprising since it's been active since almost LBP1's release, and has been used across two regions' games, two systems, and a handle change.

Fun fact, this is probably the second or maybe possibly third time i've ever used the phrase girlcock, so you can log that in your lore books, i suppose.

[sammy-banany]

An Artist's Truth

"Let me tell you a story. One about overcoming obstacles. One about a 16 year old girl, who defied the odds." the man started.

"Dance is something most don't consider a sport but that is only because they don't know how demanding it can be. Dance, especially ballet, is a very demanding sport by forcing you to use muscles you most probably didn’t even know existed. Dance is also a form of art, just like music is. But unlike music, in dance you use your body to express yourself. In music, you use an instrument or your own voice, and sometimes  both. Music is something everyone enjoys for it is different and unique like everyone. Music helps set the mood for everything. But enough about that, this story is about someone who uses both music and dance to express herself in ways that people may not have even thought was possible.

Eathel is a girl who can't hear and is a mute, so expressing herself is hard. When she isn't in her class she could always be found in either the music room or the dance studio. No one knew why she was there, no one except one person: Rodan. He’s one of the people in her class, about average height, with tanned skin, black hair and hazel eyes. He is like her, the only difference is their disabilities. Eathel is deaf and mute while Rodan is paralyzed from the waist down. They are both part of class 507 which is the only class reserved for people with disabilities. Rodan wouldn't say he's in love with Eathel; he might have a tiny crush but he's not in love. Every day, Rodan would try to see her practice her music or dance, and always made sure that she didn't see him. But she was so amazing when practicing that he just couldn't look away. Now, Eathel suspected and knew that someone was watching her, but she didn't care much and didn't really bother looking for the person. But even if there was a chance Rodan could have a moment to speak with her, she might actually know who he is. They're total opposites though. He's the class clown and doesn't like to learn while she's the quiet nerd who loves to learn. The exact opposite of what she is. And in addition to that, she didn’t even look close to what he was. She had blond nearly white hair, sky blue eyes and pale skin. But just like Eathel, Rodan had a passion for music. The only difference between the two? He only likes listening to music, not playing it with an instrument.

Eathel was always happy just being in the rooms. Nobody really knew what she did while she was in them, but she didn't care. She was a dancer and a musician. And despite her disabilities, she taught herself how to feel the vibrations the music makes through the floor or the way the instrument vibrates with each note. She just loved the feeling she gets when she plays or dances. She loved how her parents would always congratulate her after she learnt something new. She knew it was hard on her parents with her being both deaf and mute, so she thrived knowing her parents were proud of her. Even if she is bullied, Eathel never gives in. She never listened to what the bullies were saying. Not that she ever could in the first place. 

Eathel was stretching at the studio while waiting for her class to start. The studio is called Express To Impress. She took dance and music classes there as it was easier for her. The studio is a wide two story building with brick walls and hardwood floors. The building looked a bit run down because there weren't many people in the classes, but overall, Eathel loved it. Eathel was stretching as stated before while also reviewing in her head the dance they were working on. That was until the studio owner and director came into the room. She didn't know the director had entered the room until her best friend and fellow dancer Janaia tapped her shoulder. The director or Miss Emery started speaking once she saw she had everyone's attention. She told them that in a month they would be doing dance shows for all local schools and that their parents had already given them all permission. Eathel was ecstatic. She loved dancing in front of people and she was so excited.

For the next month they went over the choreo in dance class and made sure the music was perfect in that class. Over the month Eathel would be in the dance studio at their school practicing her dances whenever she didn't have any classes. She was so excited she failed to notice the teacher when they told the class that the dance and music studio Express To Impress would be doing a show at her school. While they were cleaning, they practiced their dancing routine in dance class, and were busy enough making their costumes in music class too. The director and studio owner liked all the costumes to be handmade, mostly because the studio didn’t have enough money to buy costumes. Finally, after a very long week, everything was finished and they were about to perform their first show. Eathel knew that it would be hectic for her because she was in most of the dances. Thankfully sometime in the past year she had mastered the art of changing costumes in two minutes. And if she hadn't, she would have been screwed. 

They were at the last school and Eathel noticed it looked a little familiar. That's when it hit her. This was her school. She panicked. What if the studio owner heard the rumors and the bullying? This would go from bad to worse if she did. But she couldn’t worry about that now. She had a show to do. She already had the costume on for the opening dance so she waited until the music started. As soon as it did she was on stage dancing. Looking in the crowd she spotted her classmates, along with her bullies, cheering and not knowing that she was one of those people dancing. Act after act she danced. The students of the school were awed by the dances, the music and the costumes. Then the studio owner, Miss Emery, went on the stage. And it was from what they saw that surprised them. They didn't expect it when it eventually came. Miss Emery started speaking and asked the audience if they liked the show so far (they all screamed yes). And then she explained her reasoning for interrupting the show. She told them how she had asked five very special people to do some solo performances and when she was asked why she chose those five she said it was because ‘they all had a disability of some sort’. 

Three solos passed and Eathel could easily say that she was surprised. Then it was Janaia's turn. When she was young, one of her legs didn't grow right so she was forced to wear a leg brace to relieve the pain. And every day, she’d get bullied for the stick she was forced to use to help her walk. Her story was sad enough, and the bullies who laughed at her just made it even worse. Soon enough Janaia finished her solo, and then it was Eathel’s turn. She could tell everyone was surprised when she walked onto the stage. She could see the jeers thrown her way but she closed her eyes and ignored them. The music started playing and she started dancing. And oh my, she danced beautifully. Everyone in the auditorium was amazed. Even her fellow dancers were impressed because she had never practiced her solo in the studio. And when she was finished with her performance, everyone was stunned. It was probably the most beautiful dance they had ever seen. Not to mention the dancer was someone they all knew. Then the clapping started and very quickly turned into a standing ovation. Eathel, of course, didn't notice she was still in the pose she ended with. 

Five months later, things had changed a lot. The dance company Express to Impress had gotten a ton of new dancers. They were doing better than ever. They were even able to go to dance competitions which they had won first in every category. Eathel on the other hand was very happy. Rodan had confessed that he liked her and she realized she liked him too. So now they were dating, and happier than ever. The bullies had stopped bothering Eathel after her solo got an award for being the best at the competition. Life was perfect for Eathel and she wouldn't change a thing for the world." And so, the storyteller finished his story.

[ikemen-bully]

I think another trope in otome games that doesn't get talked about enough is the age gap romances with teenage heroines and adult love interests/ vice versa. The former moreso since it happens more often. I remember some people would try to excuse it when the setting is an older time period because "it was like that during those times" which A) that doesn't make it okay in the slightest, and B) they're fantasies anyways, their only gonna appeal to the creeps who find that hot or whatever. I don't mind large age gaps between adults (aka, what DoubleScore, Bad Medicine, and Variable Barricade should've been) but I cross the line at a teenager and adult being in a relationship. Same goes for relationships between non blood-related siblings, they are still siblings because they were raised by the same people and have an established familial relationship. I barely see otome game reviewers talk about those tropes for some reason, and they just ignore bringing them up altogether.

I feel like the issue is just that the heroine being the only one allowed to have romance in her life (the best friend can get some but they're nameless nobodies so nobody get jealous of her) make it that she have to be... Well herself but to attract the attention to a large panel of guys including those who want older ones.

As a result you get heroines dating their teachers. I don't think it's particularly because of the age gap but more about the attempt to satisfy a lot of players at once.

The solution to that would be that when games do have more than one heroine the second would be an adult to give you access to the adults. And also for me, another adult heroine who look like ones is always good to take.

But as far as I know otome game seem to have more variety when it come to set up.

For the incest it's just... The game really sell you their relationship as being siblings at first so it's normal that the heroine see the guy as her sibling and then we are supposed to believe that just because they aren't actually siblings him secretly loving her wasn't weird and her falling for him is natural (Hey Lindo that's about you!)

Well. It's not. That's just not believable to me really.

But again we both take the heroine as a character not a self insert there just to be a vessel so we live our fantasies of either having older sexy men onto us or a devoted guy you know since forever being your real love all along because it's how we are supposed to perceive it

As someone who value a lot family relationship it's just not something I can ever transpose into romance and for the older men me wanting anime female characters who look like adult make it that by design I will cringe at the vision of a high schooler with her teacher even though I like him.

You do have the teacher route in tmgs too but now like Dengeki Daisy and Takane to Hana that I used to not have issues with, the fact that I have the old of the teacher make it that I am like hmmmmmmmm... Welp

As why people don't criticize it I feel like it's just because it's accepted as fantasies and you know I feel like in general stuff in our media aren't criticized by fear maybe to show to people who belittle it on the basis that it's for women that yeah actually it's trash while it's just that the fantasies are different?

I feel like in general there's this idea of not criticizing anything feminine else it's against the feminine you are, not the issues within the story.

And also maybe these reviewer just don't want to bother with a possible controversy thinking more deeply about some aspect of the game they played.

I just feel like it's not as simple when you consider how otome game is perceived, so I guess players of it just don't want to hear more slander when the people they know will look at them weirdly for playing dating simulator.