#anyway it’s an interesting topic and i do think it’s worth exploring but i also think it’s important to keep a balanced view on things

[franklyimissparis]

i think it’s funny how when some people talk abt alex turner’s potential drug usage it’ll either be like “he has a major drug and alcohol problem it’s so obvious!!!” or “i don’t think he’s the type to have ever even tried a hard drug” as if there isn’t a ton of middle ground between those two extremes

like the man who wrote “why’d you only ever call me when you’re high” and has been a touring musician since he was 19 has obviously fucking been high - and not just with weed - but that also doesn’t mean he’s completely off his head in every interview he’s ever done 😭😭

[notnights]

So obviously it's still too early to properly analyze the exact relationship dynamic between Jax and Gangle in canon. I promise this is less of me trying to find legitimate proof of any character speculations, and more just a string of very quick, messy personal thoughts on the topic. Context and motivation for their behaviors are likely to be explained in future episodes, and until then there's still quite a lot of uncharted territory left to explore. (Although I will say that both these characters are surprisingly more active and engaging with each other upon rewatch. aka, their willingness to be around one another seems mutual, the bullying is not.)

The only information that we can currently gather about Gangle are her canon appearances, the preview screenshot Glitch posted on the official account and to a lesser extent, Gangle's concept art sketches: Alot of it being about her fixation and dependency towards her comedy mask. We don't know whether she's fixated on the actual sensation being happy 24/7 or just the ability to appear joyful around everybody else just yet, or What her real-world equivalent of the mask was, or even if there ever was a real-world equivalent to begin with. But, Personal indictment is that she does genuinely want long term companionship and meaningful connections with other people. Or at the very least, not be subtly ostracized out of social convention. I think she believes that curating her outward demeanor might change the way others perceive her, and hopefully the way they interact with her as well. It doesn't really help that each of the circus crew are all a bit too much in their own heads to notice, one way or another. Even if they do mean well at the end of the day, it's never quite what she's really looking to accomplish. (It also doesn't help that her digital design is so detached from being human either, she's essentially a flat face on a piece of string. One can't really blame her for trying to make the most of what she's able to display tbh.)

So far, we know Jax is apathetic, violent and generally antagonistic towards everyone in the main cast, sometimes deliberately towards the girls. I think it isn't all that farfetched to believe he latched on to Gangle because she was malleable enough to target without facing most of the consequences. Subsequently, there's also the idea of him relating Gangle's tragedy mask to her willingness to comply: It's an emotional vulnerability for her (She already sees herself as less deserving of human interaction in this state, she won't have anyone else to go to, she doesn't seem to like being left alone). It's not farfetched to assume Jax sees the tragedy mask as a more "complied version" of Gangle, more entertaining and easier to string along. Me thinks he prefers it, but again. It's too soon to tell. Anyways something something designated role in group activities something something internalized self-worth I think Gangle and Ragatha have very similar philosophies when it comes to people pleasing and it almost makes me believe in the theory that they secretly don't get along even more.

(btw plz feel absolutely no pressure to respond to any of this at all - Again, very messy thoughts that I barely had time to collect. Ribbun is an unexpected infection with unfortunately very thought consuming brain fodder to me personally. Have a nice day.

I like these thoughts! It'll be really interesting to see how the Comedy and Tragedy masks work for Gangle.

I do agree Jax probably prefers Tragedy Gangle as even if it's only as deep as "she's funnier like that." And Gangle is the easiest victim for him in that state.

We've seen everyone (but Kinger, who Jax kind of doesn't bother too much, and you could argue it's because Kinger doesn't give an entertaining reaction) fight back against Jax's behavior in some way. Ragatha yells at him, Zooble isn't afraid to get physical, and we can tell Pomni had death on her mind when he threw her off the truck. The most Gangle has done is timidly resist for a few seconds before compiling. Steps on her mask, pushes her, grabs her and puts her in the drivers seat, she doesn't say anything.

She has a couple of bite back words, but then Jax just bites back and it shuts her down. Which is interesting because when Ragatha yells at him it's clear he thinks its funny and merely snarks back at her, often getting her to yell more. He gets different reactions out of everyone in the group and picks different entertainment from that. Gangle might be the one he knows he has proper control over.

As for the Ragatha and Gangle thing, I was really interested in the fact no one cared when Gangle broke her mask in the pilot, not even Ragatha who is our outwardly most caring. You could say it's because she had tunnel vision on Pomni, but I immediately interpreted it as, yeah Gangle's mask breaks all the time, she's crying all the time, eventually people stop caring. The boy who cried wolf, etc etc.

Even if Ragatha doesn't have direct conflict with Gangle, the fact Ragatha is someone who internalizes everything, and projects a positive outlook, I imagine someone like Gangle would make her pretty uncomfortable.

Here Ragatha is trying her darnest to keep it together and remain positive, meanwhile Gangle is crying all the time behind her.

"It's not so bad here Pomni, I promise!" as Gangle cries in the background.

Gangle being a constant reminder of how Ragatha, and maybe all of them really feel about being stuck here. Too early to say if Ragatha resents Gangle for this, or how she really feels about it. But if she does that's so sad because (we also don't know yet) Gangle has no control over these feelings, it wasn't her choice for her avatar to work like this.

Which honestly could be a good allegory for how certain people view mental illness in the real world too. Ragatha being a loved one who's uncomfortable with Gangle's moods, or even believes if Gangle just tried hard enough like her (example: keeping her comedy mask safe) she'd be fine. Ooh sad comic ideas.

[imagobin]

Head canons for Zoldyck siblings reactions to sibling reader hinting they will leave the estate one day and then actually leaving and sibling reader was close to them so 🦄🦄

Omg the drama that could come from this fhgkd thank you for your request! Sorry it took a bit :'3 But I really love this, hope you enjoy what I came up with!

🔯Zoldyck Siblings react to you leaving HCs🔯

📍Illumi📍

Illumi's reaction would definitely be the strongest, he loves all his siblings to quite the obsessive level, so if he ever caught you hinting at the mere possibility of leaving he would not like that at all.

Not only because you're a very capable assassin, and losing such a powerful family member wouldn't be good for business, but because he worries of what you'll even do in the outside world. "Why would you want to leave? You have everything you can wish for here... we all care about you, while out there people will just use and betray you. Trust your big brother, it's better if you stay with us."

You do trust him, he always has plenty of good advice to give, but you also want to do your own thing, discover yourself, so you don't let him convince you.

Illumi would start keeping closer attention to you, monitoring your movements so he can catch you if you ever try to leave, and persuade you to change your mind.

But of course, he can't be there constantly to ensure you don't run away from the family, he's got work to do.

You leave while he's on one of his longer missions, and once he comes back and learns you've ran away he is really disappointed, though of course he doesn't show it.

He wonders if he'd be able to bring you back, or if you'll ever come home on your own. He tries calling you over and over, but naturally you don't pick up, you know how Illumi is, you can't risk him finding out where you are, or he'll somehow get there in record time and take you back home.

Predictably, Illumi wants to track you down and get you back, at any cost, you can't just run away like that, it's incredibly immature and will only serve to worry everyone.

---

🎮Milluki🎮

You could be more direct at hinting you wanted to leave when it comes to Milluki. He might be somewhat of a mama's boy, but he knows when to keep his thoughts to himself. He's not really a fan of family drama.

When you asked him if he ever had a desire to explore the outside world and try new things, he'd looked at you as if you were some sort of alien. "Nah, I'm good staying here. I guess if there could be some stuff worth checking out, but I can get everything I'm interested in right here, so I don't really care about it... do you?"

You softly admitted you did wonder what was out there, he shrugged and the topic was swiftly put to the side for something you both cared about, like anime or games.

The day you do decide to run away though, Milluki will finally understand the sense of that question. He can't help but wonder if you would've let him in on your plans if he'd answered in some other way.

He wouldn't have tried to stop you, he doesn't really care about keeping his siblings from doing things, unless he's ordered to by his mom or dad.

He does think about you sometimes, and texts you occasionally, though you don't always reply. He's happy whenever you do, though you never talk of your whereabouts.

Milluki is okay with that, and makes sure nobody finds out you two are still occasionally in touch, which honestly isn't too difficult since the others rarely come into his room anyway.

He COULD track you down in no time, but won't do so unless someone asks him to, and so far, nobody has, since Illumi prefers to do things his way.

---

🪀Killua🪀

You were the one who accidentally got Killua interested in seeing more of what the world had to offer. You didn't mean to, but the way his blue eyes would light up every time you told him about cool places and fun things normal people did made it impossible for you to stop talking about it.

He ended up running away even before you did, and that only motivated you even more to do the same. Hearing about how much fun he was having while hanging around with Gon... made you wish for friends too.

When you finally left the estate yourself, and called Killua to let him know, he was really excited, wondering if you'd run into each other at some point. "Hah! Took you long enough! And to think that you've wanted to get out for longer than I have... I'm glad about it though, I wonder if you'll find some friends too, but they certainly won't be as cool as Gon!"

You do eventually meet up with him, and he's thrilled to see you again, though he's a bit nervous about introducing you to Gon, fearing he might get along better with you.

It all goes sort of well in the end... because you and Gon talked lots about Killua and your respective experiences with him. It made the white haired boy really embarrassed, but he was also glad that Gon didn't have the time to know you better.

You catch up with Killua as well, ask him what he's been up to and such, then he asks you if you've heard from the rest of the family as well, and you shake your head. You haven't talked to anyone else... aside from your occasional exchanges with Milluki.

After a day spent together, you part ways once more; the boys have their own goals and you got yours after all. But you promise each other to definitely keep in touch and to meet up some other time.

---

🧸Alluka🧸

Alluka was forbidden from setting foot in the outside world due to her dangerous powers. She was the one person you would've absolutely loved to tell everything about it to.

Unfortunately, since she was constantly kept under surveillance you couldn't do that. You tried once, and your mother immediately scolded you, saying Alluka couldn't get those sorts of ideas in her mind.

When you ran away, you didn't have time to say goodbye to Alluka, and due to her isolation, nobody even bothered to tell her you'd gone off on your own. She just wondered why you'd stopped coming all of a sudden.

She only learns of you escapade once you meet up with Killua the second time, and see her there with him. She is overjoyed to see you again. "Y-y/n!! I'm so happy to see you again! I was so worried something had happened to you... nobody would tell me where you were... you've been well, right?!"

Alluka hugs you tightly and you apologize for disappearing so abruptly. You assure her you've been well, and that you're very happy to see her with Killua... outside of that cursed room at last.

You spend a calm day together with her and Killua, where she tells you all about the fun places he's been taking her to. You can't help but be proud of Killua for what he's doing, and you're also excited for what the future has in store for Alluka.

Predictably, once it's time for goodbyes again, Alluka begs you to stay with them instead, not wanting to lose you another time. She gets a little pouty about it, until Killua explains to her she can't choose what you do with your life.

She accepts those conditions and asks you to at least call, because she does want to hear lots from you from now on.

---

🪭Kalluto🪭

Kalluto never stayed away from his mother for long, so, much like with Illumi, you'd have to be careful about what you talked with him, knowing that if you said anything weird, he was definitely going to tell Kikyo.

He did catch you looking at a few books that could've given you away, but you always managed to change topics, and with Kalluto being the youngest, he didn't really feel like he had the right to press you for information.

Besides, he had no reason to doubt your loyalty to the family given how close to everyone you were, you even took time out of your day to spend time with him! Something his other siblings didn't really do that often.

That's why when you did leave, it hit him the hardest. While Killua's departure had been tough to handle, given how he'd always wanted to be noticed by him, your departure felt like he'd lost the one sibling who truly saw him. Things felt much lonelier for him without you around, and he couldn't even call you, because he didn't have a phone at the time.

Kalluto eventually joins the Phantom Troupe in hopes of getting strong enough to take both you and Killua back to the family. What he wasn't expecting, however, was meeting you during that process.

You're super happy to see him out and about, but he didn't leave the estate for the same reasons as you did. "Why... did you run away? Were you not happy with us? You made mother really upset... you made me upset... you made me feel lonely."

Hearing Kalluto state how he felt when you left does make you feel a bit guilty. You assure him you still love your family, but you realized you'd never be able to do your own thing if you never left the estate.

He struggles to understand your perspective, and still hopes you'll go back home one day, but he doesn't want to argue with you, so he accepts it. He demands for your phone number, so you two can still keep in touch.

---

[spacemagicandlaserswords]

Open and Waiting (Chapter 1)

Gif from this post by @ashr-jedi

Summary: You try out something new with Tech. As it turns out, like with pretty much everything, he knows exactly what he’s doing. 

Relationship: Tech x f!reader (eventual mentions of Hunter x f!reader, Crosshair x f!reader, Echo x f!reader and Wrecker x f!reader)

Warnings: NSFW, cock warming, domination, submission, humiliation, Dominant Tech, submissive reader, cock ring, saliva/drool, restraints, leather wrist cuffs, leather collar, naked and kneeling reader, subspace, tiny hint of poor self worth, star wars swearing, playing fast and loose star wars canon details, not beta read             

Word Count: 1604 (Chapter 1)

Authors Notes: Help I’ve written fanfic. This is the first time I’ve ever written fan fiction and the first time I’ve ever written smut so please be gentle. I have absolutely no idea what I’m doing but this idea has latched onto my brain and refuses to let go so here we are. Creative writing is not my strong suit so I hope this is alright. 

Also, this is absolute filth. If you think this is saucy then strap in cause you ain't seen nothing yet. Tech says some truly filthy things in Chapter 5. Yes, there are 5 chapters of this monstrosity so far and I’m nowhere even close to the end. I’ve written 7700+ words of this thing. There’s 18 pages so far. What have I done to myself?! 

If I’ve screwed something up or forgotten a warning or missed something out, please gently let me know and I will be more than happy to fix it! 

Please read the warnings! And please let me know if you liked it and if you’d like to read Chapter 2 or more.

Chapters: Two, Three, Four, Five, Six | Ao3

Open and Waiting (Chapter 1)

The durasteel floor of the Marauder is cold.

Which makes sense. It is metal after all and we’re not exactly on the warmest of planets right now. 

What makes it particularly noticeable is that my bare legs are currently kneeling on said cold durasteel. In fact, my entire bare naked body is kneeling on the floor of the Marauder. Wrists cuffed behind my back, my right cheek pillowed against fabric stretched over a lean, muscular thigh and my jaw kept open as Tech’s cock just sits there on my tongue and fills my mouth. 

I’m grateful that he chose the softer leather cuffs with the adjustable chain. Saves my shoulders from being constantly wrenched back and the harsh metal of binders biting into my wrists. Tech has always been decidedly considered, thorough and aware of these matters though so it doesn’t surprise me. That man will assiduously research anything and everything, including new kinks to explore. I’m always nervous about broaching these sorts of topics, but at least with Tech I know he will approach the idea with an open, inquisitive mind before launching into discovering everything there is to know about my new suggestion.

When I first bought up the idea of trying cock warming with him, there was a definite flare of interest behind those goggles. It only increased as I did my best to explain the concept while valiantly trying to shove my worries and fears into the nearest storage crate. I know I shouldn’t be ashamed about my sexual interests, and Maker knows they all so gently remind me of this regularly, but old habits are hard to shake. I really shouldn’t have worried though because when Tech came and found me later that night, I’d hadn’t seen him that intensely interested in a new discovery in a while. 

Well, not since we found those rare Tarisian bark beetles anyway. 

So here I am, completely completely naked, save for a leather collar and cuffs, kneeling in the middle of our ship with Tech’s cock in my mouth. Just kneeling in front of him, completely still, arms restrained behind my back, cheek resting on his inner thigh, eyes closed, jaw slack, tongue touching my bottom lip, drool spilling out the sides of my mouth and dripping obscenely down my chin, and that glorious, firm cock just resting in my mouth, filling it up. 

There’s nothing I can do apart from kneel here and drool around Tech’s cock. 

Nothing I’m allowed to do either. Sir was very clear that I was to make no movement whatsoever. Not even to swallow. Which is why my mouth and chin are now covered in my own drool and I’m sure I must be making a complete mess of the floor. 

At least durasteel is fairly easy to clean up and wipe down. Trying to get stains out of the red leather of the cockpit chairs is another matter entirely.

Tech is sitting on a storage crate while he tinkers with a project on the fold down workbench above me. Those long rangy legs bracketing me in. Close, but not quite close enough to touch the rest of my body, apart from where my cheek rests against his inner thigh. 

Damn man knows exactly what he’s doing.

Heavy boots rest on the floor well past where I’m kneeling and serve as another reminder of just how tall and imposing Tech can be. He might not be as overtly muscular as Wrecker or even Hunter but that lean frame belies a beskar imbued strength. At six foot four, Tech absolutely towers over me, even when he’s sitting and I’m kneeling on the floor between his thighs. He’s an all encompassing presence and it’s making something curl deep within my gut.

It’s also making my cunt wet but there’s not much I can do about that right now.

At the end of our pre-session conversation, Tech also gave me strict instructions that I was not to touch myself. While that’s a little hard to do with my hands cuffed behind my back, Tech could’ve bound my hands directly to my cunt and I still wouldn’t have done a damn thing. He knows how desperately I crave praise and will do anything to be his good little girl–

Oh kriff, don’t think about that right now. Don’t think about Tech calling me a good girl. Do not think about it. You’re just going to make your current predicament even worse. 

Dank farrik, my pussy is definitely wetter now. It’s going to end up dripping onto the floor and then there will be an even bigger blotch beneath me.  

The collection of drool covering the lower half of my face and hanging off my chin has been progressively getting worse the longer this has gone on. The humiliation of being turned into a drooling mess is both delicious and excruciating and my poor hazy brain cannot figure out whether it wants to lean into it or run away. I’ve been stripped down and reduced to nothing but a tight, hot void to keep Tech’s cock warm. 

Warm, and hard.

When we started, Tech had certainly been interested but he wasn’t exactly at full mast either. It had been fairly easy for him to slide my open and eager mouth over his cock before gloved hands gently leant my head against his inner thigh. Since then he’s been steadily hardening inside my mouth while he completely ignores me and works on his current project that is strewn in bits across the workbench above. It’s almost like the more I drool, the harder he gets. I can just start to taste the hint of his pre-cum when that clipped, precise voice breaks through the silence above me.

“I require an additional tool and need to momentarily step away in order to retrieve it. This will necessitate briefly moving your position. You will remain kneeling with your eyes closed and mouth open. Am I understood?”

I do my best to answer with a “Yes Sir” around his cock but all it ends up sounding like is a garbled “...eth…er”. Thankfully, this must be enough to appease him because a gloved hand is running through my hair before gently moving my head and then pulling my mouth from his hard cock. I can feel the heaviness of it slide over my tongue and brush my bottom lip as the solid weight leaves my mouth. There’s a moment of bereft emptiness before a collection of drool follows Tech’s cock out of my mouth and spills over my chin in a wave of tantalising humiliation. Tech doesn’t immediately move and I realise he must be observing me. 

Observing his naked, collared and restrained submissive kneeling in front of him with their mouth open and drool hanging from their chin.

I must look like a completely and utterly ruined mess.

The thought only serves to cause a further spike in delectable humiliation.

After a laden beat, Tech rises from the storage crate, effortlessly swings a leg over my head and then marches off towards his bunk. The slide of metal dragging against metal can be heard before a soft click signifies that his personal storage box has been unlocked.

Why is he going through there? His tools are usually kept in mystifyingly precise locations around the ship if they’re not already on his person.

A few more clicks indicate that an internal compartment has been opened and whatever he was looking for must have been inside because the lock-box is swiftly snapped shut and shoved back under his bunk.

A marked stride makes its way back to my position of supplication on the floor but Tech doesn’t immediately sit down. 

I’m being observed again.

I can’t do anything to stop the reactive shiver that runs through me at the realisation. 

There’s an odd, slightly slick sliding noise above me and then Tech is sitting back down on the storage crate. A hand runs over my head as he tells me–

“You will assume your previous position.”

I’m given no chance to respond as he pushes at the back of my head, making my mouth slide over his cock again. My cheek is leant against his inner thigh once more and then I’m left there just as I was moments before, mouth full of Tech’s cock while he goes back to working on his current project.

As I breathe through the returned presence of his cock filling my mouth, I realise that my nose had just barely brushed against something smooth and different.

A cock ring.

So that’s the additional tool he required.

I’m not sure I’d call a cock ring a tool but I’m in no position to argue. Tech must be enjoying this even more than I thought if he’s had to pull one of those out of his collection. I can’t tell which one it is, though if it starts vibrating then at least I’ll know it's one of his later inventions.    

I almost startle out of my rumination on Tech’s assortment of toys when long fingers card through my hair and his palm smooths over my head. The tips of those fingers start lightly scritching back and forth against my scalp and I have to stop myself from moaning and going completely boneless against him. It’s soft and gentle and, despite the fact that I’m basically just a glorified cock sleeve for him at this point, it’s oddly calming. Tech continues to tenderly caress my head and I drift, floating in a haze of submission. 

Drool continues to drip onto the floor of the Marauder.

[ca-suffit]

i'm sorry your blog has turned into a forum to discuss lestat's queerness lol ppl could at least try to keep it on topic, this blog is about racism. the point is that louis gets treated differently by fandom because ppl are centering white queerness, idk if this is the right space to try to qualify how that white queerness is presented, or if it's even worth it to try and determine if the way lestat is presented is queer enough. let's bring the conversation back to louis and claduia pls!! one anon said that the show does not try to set a line for what is or isn't queer enough and that's so true and such a fucking fantastic thing, but then most conversations about queerness (whether positive or negative) are about lestat or fucking santiago of all characters! and i'm already getting annoyed at the amount of posts i see about nicki. luckily i have somehow managed to curate my tumblr and twitter so i see stuff about louis and claudia too but content like that is hard to find

there's a new topic every day tbh so it's fine lol. I'm trying to clear my inbox today and there's like 6 diff topics. it p much always ties back to racism tho, no matter what it is, ppl just need help connecting the dots. I find it rly interesting watching the things ppl pick up from each anon and the topics ppl come to talk about here in the first place.

tbh all of these conversations have had me thinking about claudia and her queerness but I don't have full notes yet. I keep thinking of her interest in emily dickinson, someone who was isolated a lot in her life and also known thru her writing after death. I feel like claudia is talked about the least of all in these conversations and has the most to explore tbh?? she got to see queerness "growing up" but not exactly always in a healthy way or a way she'd relate to for various reasons. her line to louis in S2 "tell me what a woman is, I'll tell u what a woman is." she's influenced by both louis and lestat, succeeds where they fail, then is killed bcuz she's never allowed to be her own person outside of them anyway. and it's insane how everyone was literally saying "happy pride" cos lestat shouted down the homophobe when claudia and madeleine later died. the audience disconnect in some ppl jfc.

there's also been some talk of gabrielle and claudia meeting (in fan theories, not like it does happen or will happen). I think that's interesting to explore too bcuz gabrielle also has vaguely canon queer vibes at times but is also uncomfortable with what "woman" means, however ppl wanna interpret that. claudia has to create a version of "woman" for herself and defend it constantly. they're both trapped in their bodies in ways and I think a lot could be said in many ways surrounding queerness, gender, and privilege between an older white woman and a young black girl, especially from the same family. I don't think they'd rly get along but I do wonder what claudia would think about seeing a version of lestat as a woman instead. I also think putting lestat in a room with both of them would make him want to kill himself lol.

[sleepwithgiggli]

Second Life and Hypnosis

I want to talk a bit about my hypnosis experiences especially on Second Life, but before i can do that, I need to explain a little bit about what Second Life is, and what it does for Hypnosis.

Second Life is kind of like a social network. It is place you can log on to and make friends, and chat with them. You can join groups, and each group has its own chat room. But it also is a very visual medium. You have avatars, which you can think of as dolls you can dress up.

The look of avatars has changed massively over the years. They used to be very primitive, but you can now get mesh bodies and avatars which look amazing, and there is a thriving industry of peple creating clothing for you to dress your doll avatar in.

Here are some of the looks I have worn over the years.

There might be some kind of trend here. i can't put my finger on it.

Anyway, once you have an avatar, you can move around in the world. And there is a world, full of hypnotrons you can sit in to while away the time, places you can fly over (yes, you can fly) or teleport to, and lots of things to click. Some of them are traps that undress you or lock you in bondage or latex. It's a BDSM playground.

There are also things that don't have any BDSM or hypnosis elements, or so I've heard. I wouldn't know much about that. Lots of things to do and interesting places to explore, apparently.

So you can interact with the environment in various ways. My favourite things are the hypnotic devices - boxes you sit in or HUDs you wear that contain text trances which you can run at your leisure.

Some of these devices show pictures along with the text, sometimes animated movies of a rather naughty nature, and they might allow someone to trance you through them. The range of hypnotic devices is worth another post. There are so many of them.

There's also something called Restrained Life. Second Life values user autonomy greatly - by default, other people can't mess with you or your avatar unless you allow them to. This can be a problem if you want other people to control you.

But Marine Kelley came to our rescue. She created Restrained Life to solve that problem and enhance BDSM. With RLV (a Restrained Life Viewer), people you give permission to can lock down your avatar in various ways - limit your ability to teleport, put you in bondage, control what you wear, lock you in trance machines, and more. That's also a topic for a post.

A hypnotist (and some already existing trances) can condition you to experience these things as if they were really happening, to one degree or another. Second Life can be a hypno wonderland.

Anyway, that's a very brief introduction to lay the groundwork for some of my coming posts.

[muzzleroars]

Heyo, I’ve been following you for a while now and I just wanted to let you know that your art is super inspiring to me and always makes my day better! I’m writing/worldbuilding a story with many religious elements and the way you explore religious concepts and angels as beings in your art and writing is so inspiring and really helps me think up different stuff as well, so thank you so much for that!

Also, Michael! Gosh I love his character so, so much, he’s so wonderful! He’s interesting and relatable and tragic and honestly just plain beautiful. I want to give him some nice hot tea/soup and a hug because, man, he deserves it.

Anyway, wishing you all the best!

gwahhh.....thank you so much!!!!! this is honestly all i could ever ask for when it comes to the art i make and the little presence i have here. i know i've said it before, but getting inspired by others is one of my favorite things about an art community and so if i can provide that to even one person, it makes my time and effort to create feel so worth it!!! and it's kind of corny but it means a lot particularly in this case bc angels and demons/christian mythology was one of my first super deep interests so i've been cooking on these guys for a long time it feels like!!! it feels especially good to really be diving into academic and esoteric understandings of them and adding onto my characterizations further, so helping to inspire your own artwork feels amazing!! i hope your story goes well (feel free to tell me about it if you want!!!! i'd always love to listen!!!) and that you enjoy diving further into these topics if you do!! there's such an interesting, complex mythology out there that's super fascinating and surprising to explore.

and im so glad you love mike, he's always been an interesting figure to me....ever since reading paradise lost, i always kind of wondered what things were like for michael on the other side of that, to be so exposed to war and banish your once beloved prince. it always struck me deeply how milton described lucifer experiencing pain for the first time, when pain had never existed before then, and so i began to think....what is it like to be the one to do it? SO mike's been stuck in my brain for awhile too, and i think that really bears out in what i've done with him - he caused the first wound, he rid heaven of lucifer, and he became prince in his place (sharing headcanons with epiphanius of salamis wooo) and then placing that in this canon, where there is clearly a critique of dogmatic, rigid religion and how it is so dangerous to its adherents, how even the suggestion of imperfection is eradicated, it really fully fleshed out what michael was in my mind - left to rot just like god's kingdom, and in desperate need of healing. SO clearly he's got a hold on me too lol

[capostone]

The Research Begins

So essentially, I have three ideas. Two of them exist in a similar sphere and have some relation to each other, while the third is completely different and arguably more limited on the conceptual level. But I think they're all worth exploring anyway, so let's get into it. 1. Event Planning. This is the outlier of these topics, and the one with the most solid Form potential from the jump. I'm involved in Castle Point Anime Convention, and that sort of event planning is one of my favorite activities. The logistics of putting such an event together are fun to consider, and there's always something new to consider or focus on. The type of venue, the types of vendors or guests, the types of attendees we'll be catering to and what kind of activities they'll want, how to get around things like distance limitations, food options, space limitations and how to get around those, security and medical information, the list truly goes on (https://www.socialtables.com/blog/event-planning/how-to-get-logistics-right/). Then there are other considerations such as how to comfort paying customers when they worry things may not be going to plan-- good PR and polite lying are crucial for event planning. In general, there are a lot of interesting things to consider with this topic, but not many unique directions to take it.

2. Makeup. Why do different makeup looks look different? Why do different countries have such different ones? Why are certain makeup looks considered more socially acceptable than others when the only difference is color or sparkle? Why is it only acceptable for some people to wear makeup? And when people that aren't them wear it, who decides what styles are acceptable? Why is that where the line is drawn? There are so many questions and not that many answers when it comes to this topic. I'm particularly interested in the differences between different makeup styles across different countries and cultures. As an example, Japanese eye makeup (https://www.tumblr.com/asian-makeup/177452951954/japanese-eyes-makeup) vs Korean eye makeup vs Chinese eye makeup vs the typical American eye makeup look.

Makeup as a general tool for self-expression and by extension for gender nonconforming purposes is also an interesting subject, with things like drag makeup existing in its own space, and men's makeup becoming an increasingly feasible market (https://www.forbes.com/sites/dahvishira/2024/03/06/makeup-is-more-than-a-trend-for-men-its-a-rapidly-rising-market/). Graphic makeup styles and similarly artistic and over-the-top styles are super interesting to me, too. These sorts of style also play into some really interesting fashion subcultures like Gyaru, Decora, and China's Dopamine Girls.

3. Gender-neutral fashion. Fashion as expression is super interesting to me and I love looking into different subcultures and their rules, but one thing I've noticed seems to have no rules is gender-neutral fashion. I largely believe this is because in the fashion world, "gender neutral" is equal to masculine or masculine presenting. A quick Google of "gender-neutral fashion" yields dozens of pictures of tall, thin models with good proportions and no real curves or unavoidable secondary sex characteristics wearing largely masculine clothing silhouettes. The occasional masc model in a sweetheart neckline or skinny jeans pops up, or a prominent LGBT celebrity wearing a dress to an event everyone would expect a suit. Otherwise, staples like dresses, skirts (particularly anything shorter than knee-length), and even crop tops are almost entirely left out in favor of blazers, slacks, loose-fitting t-shirts and sweatshirts, baggy jeans, and oversized cardigans. Generally, a lot of the more obviously feminine or revealing clothing is seemingly relegated to femme-presenting models as well. The idea that only men's clothing is gender-neutral is fascinating to me, as someone who likes dressing both ways and exploring these things in other cultures is also really interesting. Different cultural standards lead to different ideas of gendered and gender-neutral fashion, and that's also something worth exploring further. Social expectations, the idea of gender-neutral as a concept, male as default, the fashion industry, I think it's all worth considering and researching further going forward.

[utilitycaster]

I saw the same post you kind of, alleged? (Unsure if it's the correct word) and man oh man, the way it was written felt extremely accusatory for no reason. Like, i have my own opinions about the bigotry in the CR fandom, but it is in no way more or less present than almost any other fandom

Im paraphrasing but it felt like they were saying "hey critters, just so you know this story has PoC and it's very important to PoC (not me of course cause im white) so be cautious and respectful" like ok? And?? (I'm aware that this is ofc how i interpreted the post, and may not be the true intentions of OP)

Sorry im rambling to your askbox, but it just, felt wrong to read lmao

No worries (and the word would probably be alluded to, or honestly you can just say “vagued” here, let’s not beat around the bush).

Yeah it’s…something. Like, I am also white and so I don’t feel comfortable actually going on OP’s post to say “uh what the fuck,” but like, racism in actual play fandom is a very valid topic to explore, but “not watching the original series for a miniseries in which there were black characters” is an entirely neutral choice, particularly if the miniseries has twice as many actors of color (and twice as many black actors) in it as the original.

Anyway it fucking sucks. It co-opts social justice language/the concept of anti-racism but makes it about the white OP's apprehension about a different DM coming into a world they like. I also find that D20 fans have been pretty fucking obnoxious about "I just wonder if CR fans/fans of Matt will understand the rich lore" while not actually providing any tools to understand that lore other than watching A Crown of Candy. Like...obviously I have my biases as a CR wiki editor but the D20 wiki is in shambles. I've gone there to get Neverafter summaries because I'm still struggling to get through that season but do want to know what happens, and there's nothing. If all this whiny, hostile handwringing about how CR fans won't know the lore were replaced by a few hours of cleaning up D20 fan-made resources so they could learn the lore? That would do a thousand times more good. But it's not about that; it's pure snobbery. And here's the thing: it doesn't matter if people do know the lore. It's none of anyone's fucking business what other people watch, and to throw this into the CR main tag acting like people who are fans of CR can't pick up on lore is laughably stupid and incredibly obnoxious but also, if they can't? Why the fuck should that bother an existing D20 fan?

I love ACOC! I do think that if you have the time to watch it, it's a great watch and I highly recommend it! But presumably Brennan and Matt have worked together to set the scene for new viewers. And most importantly, it is not actually problematic for people to come in to the series cold, and it's immensely gross of a white person to act like it is when this is really entirely about their own feelings.

[This is a tangent but I have many thoughts about how to be a welcoming fan to new fans, mostly boiling down to "shut the fuck up and let them enjoy themselves without trying to meddle in the business of strangers simply because they like what you like." Anyway it's interesting bc I find CR fans err in the other direction of trying to be too welcoming in a way I find offputting, and glossing over the fact that yeah actually there is a lot of lore floating around that might be worth checking out if you are so inclined; both approaches suck.]

[train-fans-anonymous]

Tis I, but now in the asks

Anyway... this is probably gonna be TF related. Mostly about a project I wanna do but it's like really big so it would take a long time.

I have a TF AU I wanna make a fully fleshed out thing at some point.

It would be a continuity soup, with mostly IDW and Prime influences but I imagine it works almost all the shows and media into on long complex storyline. I've written one thing for it but want to do like... a novels worth of lore and explaining although I haven't figured it out yet.

One thing I would love to do is make a more in depth version of what we already have, explaining the culture and the social aspects of Cybertron pre and post war.

One thing in specific would be involving Predacons, insecticons (aligned version and other versions), and somewhat Veiacons. Insecticons and Predacons would be subcategories of a Cybertronian life form that went practically extinct, and prior to it dying off it evolved into the Predacons and Insecticon. The more bot like insecticons from most TF media are just further evolved than their Prime counterparts. Along with that I imagine that mech animals like Ravage or Lazerbeak split off from that species prior to it evolving into the Predacons and Insecticons.

There would be so much more stuff, I wanna make an answer for all my TF media questions by stitching together the continuities

YESSS!! Always love stuff that includes Cybertronian fauna and evolution AND CULTURE!! Your comment about Vehicons really has me interested in how they fit in on the evolutionary scale… with sentience and all that jazz. It really does remind me of evolution from evolving from a long gone cybertronian life form. Do you think the colonies would have different evolutionary traits? Like are Eukarians closer related to the ancestors? And what about Titans… ooh this brings up so many good questions!! >:D The culture aspect also intrigued me, does this tie in to evolution? Do certain groups of people still practice cultures from their great ancestors? You mentioned pre and post war Cybertron, I imagine a lot of cultural practices and sites have been lost in the war, and in the same way new cultures and practices arose. There’s many types of cultures to explore I don’t even know where to get started. Like artifacts in culture do you think over the course of the war artifacts would have lost their value due to death of their followers or do the artifacts become more valuable to those who still practice? What about the matrix? Or cultural influences, maybe after visiting alien planets (autobots and decepticons coming to earth, or neutrals in space) they pick up cultures from other races … maybe there’d be a pop culture boom of wearing garments… Ack! There’s so many things to think about I’m glad you shared this with me, it’s an interesting topic and I hope that you find success in it. Writing large stories like this can be difficult and it’s very cool to see what you’ve achieved!

[wolfsbane-if]

Discussing some Thoughts regarding Wolfsbane and the future of the game below

So, as many of you know, Chapter Four's reception was somewhat mixed.

While no one is wrong for having a negative reaction to the chapter and sharing their feedback regarding it, it was also very much not an enjoyable experience for me and not one I care to repeat going forward. I write for fun, and fielding the update's reception was anything but: it made engaging with my own work afterwards very difficult, and there were many times where I wondered if I had messed up, if I wasn't cut out to write a more serious story and if I should abandon the project altogether. I'd only ever intended to write and share the prologue initially anyway, so it was already a far greater accomplishment than I'd ever anticipated I would achieve.

But I still love this story, and I don't think I want to abandon it. I do think I need to change how I do things to make the experience more manageable for myself, though. For a while I brainstormed a few different options, and ultimately settled on this: I think it would be best to no longer update Wolfsbane on a chapter-by-chapter basis. While the fact that the ending of Chapter Four left a lot up in the air was probably exciting for some, I also think that sense of displacement and not knowing what to expect prompted others to assume the worst and react in unfavourable ways.

I'd like for my work to speak for itself, and so I think I would benefit from sharing my writing publicly when it's at points where there are fewer loose ends to address. While there will definitely still be people who simply don't like the direction the writing takes - and that's totally fine - I hope that having some closure at the end of a given update will help to mitigate some of the potential stress that comes from reading an unfinished story and being left hanging, especially after more dramatic events. I don't know for sure that it will help anything, but I figure it's worth a shot.

With all that being said, don't expect the next update anytime soon. Between working on other projects and not really wanting to look at Wolfsbane for the last little while, it's seen very little progress, and I don't know when the next public update will be in a shareable state with this new policy in place. Thank you all very much for understanding.

-

Additionally, there's the matter of Garamond and romance in the game. I'm still getting messages complaining about the situation and, honestly, I'm just so exhausted and worn down by the whole topic at this point. I like romance in IFs a lot, but from day one I've kind of gotten this impression that it's the only thing a lot of people care about, or that a relationship without romance is viewed as lesser or not worth someone's time. One of the first asks I received was wondering "who are the romance options", rather than if there were any, and I've gotten several more like it since. That romance is treated as a given in the larger IF community - and often the focus, from what I've seen, even in non-romance games - saddens and frustrates me, as I believe there's so much value to be had in strong friendships that's often overlooked by adult-oriented media.

I've said from the start that romance isn't the focus of Wolfsbane, that I cherish the found family the characters have formed and want to highlight that before anything else, and at this point I feel that including what aspects of romance I have within Wolfsbane may have been to its detriment. Perhaps it's my fault for communicating it poorly, but to say from the start that romance isn't the focus and to receive a vast number of messages asking about it anyway has always felt... disheartening.

I do still believe that exploring the various kinds of love that people can experience - and the complications that arise from two individuals having very different desires/expectations in a relationship - can be very interesting and worth writing about in interactive fiction. It's a very real, very human experience, and was something I was eager to juxtapose against the idea of "monsters". But I also feel the need to reevaluate whether or not it ultimately has a place in this story, if its inclusion detracts from the overall message, or if I should change how it's approached.

These thoughts are very much incomplete and I don't know yet what, if anything, I'll alter or remove regarding romance in Wolfsbane, or how the trajectory of the story going forward might change. For now, just ignore what I said about a childhood friends Garamond having had feelings for the MC growing up; I don't know if it's an element worth keeping.

-

And I think that's everything; thank you to everyone who took the time to read this and to those of you who continue to enjoy my writing <3

[purgetrooperfox]

Have *you* ever thought about rewriting any of your oc's stories? I only ask because of some discussion about what kind of stories glorify problematic behavior vs what kinds are simply representing complicated dynamics. Do you have any thoughts on it?

well it's tricky because all of my longform OC writing is just in my gdrive and hasn't been seen by many people. but. I've done a few reconceptualizations, I think that's a natural part of the writing process

none of those rewrites or reimaginings have changed the core of any relationships though. the stories I'm interested in telling (for now, if I ever finish) are more about people and their relationships to each other than anything else, so it would feel disingenuous to scrap the entire foundation. Kit and Nocte are fucked up on purpose. they are, fundamentally, an exploration of

what if it can never be perfect

what if we try. really try. and do almost everything right. and it still hurts

what if circumstances will always shove us backwards

what can be overcome? what's worth the effort?

because love for us is something that wasn't supposed to happen. it's something we should have nipped in the bud. to continue is a choice we make, and it's work, and maybe it's doomed to fail. but we make the choice anyway

they're the jedi/clone ship from hell. they're messy and destructive but also compassionate and supportive and all these contradictions because they're people. that's it. they're people in a fucked up situation with a fucked up power differential living in a fucked up time. I'll give you a little spoiler too: none of it means anything in the end. they don't "save each other". so maybe their story is also just about inevitability

I wouldn't change any of that because that rings as true to me. making them fluffier would be dishonest (which isn't to say they're never fluffy, they're fluffy sometimes, but not All The Time). that's life sometimes, babes. you love someone despite it All but the All doesn't just go away because love isn't a magic cure

uhhhhhh. I think the difference between glorifying xyz versus just depicting xyz can be tricky to define sometimes. a lot of it is about intent. a lot of it is about consequences in-story. I also think most people are aiming not to glorify "problematic behavior" and some audiences will pick them apart regardless of whether they actually glorify/glamorize/romanticize it. obviously there are exceptions and that's why there's a conversation to be had in the first place, but generally

all of that being said, OBVIOUSLY no one is obligated to write about darker subjects if it makes them uncomfortable and if they chose to do so, that's no reason to go after them. if you don't like certain topics, don't read about those topics. monitoring your reading is your own job, not the writers'

I don't know if this answers what you asked but here you go

[ecargmura]

Pokemon Horizons Episode 3 Review: Sprigatito Rescue Mission

This episode continues from the previous one, in which Liko and the Rising Volt Tacklers team up to rescue Sprigatito. Some questions about the RVT are finally answered and the Explorers get some characterization.

First off, I’m going to get this out of my chest. Liko’s grandmother is NOT someone from the previous series. She is not Delia (there’s someone on Twitter who thinks Liko’s grandmother looks identical to her). She is not Johanna. She is just an original character. So, can we finally close the theory about her being related to Ash? SHE’S NOT RELATED TO HIM! PLEASE SHUT DOWN THOSE THOUGHTS ONCE AND FOR ALL! Liko isn’t a character who’s only worth is to be related to the predecessor. She can still be a compelling and interesting character without the need to be a shipper’s medal. If I see one more ridiculous theory about this, I am going to name drop everyone who still has this asinine theory.

Anyways, I’m sure everyone has this one question on their mind: Just who are the Rising Volt Tacklers and why are they looking for Liko? The Rising Volt Tacklers are a group of travelers with Friede as their leader and their mission is to solve the mysteries of the Pokemon world. They were hired by Liko’s parents to be her bodyguards, which was why they were looking for her. The mysterious pendant also happens to be a mystery of the world, so they make a goal to solve it as they head for the Paldea region.

To be honest, I really love these guys. They’re all so interesting. We get Friede, the bumbling but headstrong leader. He forgets things easily and just likes to change the topic when someone questions him things he cannot answer specifically. Orla is the team’s mechanic and is a talented one at that as she’s been fixing up the Brave Asagi and knows all the ins and out of the great airship. Murdock looks like a tough man, but he’s an absolute sweetie with his love for cooking and his adoration for his Rockruff. How he acts with his Rockruff is how I act with my dogs on a daily basis. Mollie is the composed medic. I really like how she looks different from how usual medics look. She does look like she can kill someone, but she’s kind. I wonder why she looks like a punk version of Nurse Joy. I do not know what Ludlow’s role in the team is yet. All he does is fish. Maybe he’s the watchman? Who knows? I’m invested in watching this team. They’re all shaping up to be interesting people. I wonder what sort of dynamic we’ll see from them and the relationships they’ll form with Liko and Roy.

Speaking of which, this anime makes the return of one original series’ character: Nurse Joy! We all missed our favorite Pokemon nurse! I’m glad she’s back! I wonder if other one note characters or recurring characters will make their return. Will they have Officer Jenny?

The Explorers have some characterization in this episode. It’s mainly Conia who gets all the personality as she falls in love with Sprigatito and spoils it rotten. Conia’s hilarious with her adoration for Sprigatito and essentially being the sort of comic relief within the usually serious Explorers team. Amethio and Zir are still the same, but Amethio seems to be easily provoked as he fell for Friede’s challenge to continue where they left off and had not realized it was a ploy for Liko to find her Pokemon. What makes the Explorers different from Team Rocket is that they’re targeting a person and not a Pokemon. Their target is Liko as they need her to activate the pendant, which is smart on the writer’s part. Zir is just there for the most part, but I hope he gets fleshed out in future episodes.

Liko also becomes a bit more confident as she realizes she’s not just a student in Indigo Academy, but Sprigatito’s Trainer. That cat is her Pokemon. I really loved the part where she realizes this. Her confidence meter has increased and it definitely will continue to do so. The fact that Liko is smart enough to know that she’s at a disadvantage when it comes to fighting Conia, so she uses the Leafage to conceal herself so that Sprigatito, Rockruff and she can escape shows her potential as a smart and analytical battler compared to Ash who is more action first, think later.

She also gets some characterization. She dreams of her grandmother, who is the motivator for her to become confident as she remembers her words. I wonder if her grandmother is already gone by the present time. She also seems to be from a rich family as Liko’s parents hired the Rising Volt Tacklers, a traveling group with a very expensive airship. I wonder what sort of family Liko is from.

Anyways, Roy is coming next week and I’m excited. The ending showed some glimpses of him and he just seems to be a cute bundle of joy. He lives on an island somewhere in the Kanto region, so I’m assuming he’s from the Sevii Islands? If so, congrats on making your debut, Sevii Islands.

I’m liking what I’m seeing so far. Liko officially joins the Rising Volt Tacklers and I can’t wait to see what the group is going to be like once Roy joins. The potential found family vibes is strong.

[1tsjusty0u]

screw it off anon. want to post turtles.

AAUUGGH im. in love with the little deku baba flowey...AND LYNEL TORIEL? LORIEL?? this au is so cute im dying. UM. UM have you played majoras mask cos...theres some guys in there that remind me a lot of papyrus and sans. AND THERES TURTLE ENEMIES IN A LINK TO THE PAST FOR GERSON!! AAA...AAAA ok. ok im normal now.

turtle.

ALSO.ALSO AUGH pre-calamity aus are so neat its like there's so little we know about that era so it's really fun to like expand upon the champions' dynamics with each other!! also so so so easy to dive into a worldbuilding abyss with it cos like we know just enough about pre-calamity hyrule to make a few inferences and go buck-wild

HELP. HE RESIGNS. GOD THATS. LITERALLY WHAT I HC HE'D DO IF HE COULD LIKE. YEAH. THATS SUCH A THING. HE'D TOTALLY RESIGN AND JUST RUN OFF INTO THE WOODS AS PER LINK TRADITION. UH. thats such a fun little thing to play around with

anyways ummmmmmmmmmmmmm you should talk about them . throws up I like all of them those are just kind of the ones I have something substantial to say about besides "I want to put them in a jar and shake them violently"

AUGJJT TNAKDYOU….. and ssort of!! so far i completed 2 dungeons (woodfall temple and snowhead temple) but thats about it! its good that you said that though because i was running out of ideas for sans and papyrus and almost just. had them have the same designs s they do in undertale.,..,. AUGRHRHT OUGH . TURETLE…………… i did not know turtle enemies existed (except for the ones in majoras mask i forgor abt!). i am holding him so gently……

YEAHYEAHYEAH EXACTLY!!!!!!! plus like. we can go into what couldve been forgotten over time if that makes sense? like. theres already a theme in botw of amnesia, literally with link and figuratively with the places. some once being important while being avoided or forgotten due to the calamity (temple of time botw), while others are barley mentioned at all but seem pretty important (the eighth heroine state and the other seven, plus the yigas hideout Being a gerudo archeological site originally, also the zonai ruins in botw though. that ones kind of a mess due to. totk and also iirc the majority people only thought it was important when the trailers for totk were coming out but thats off topic). we can basically go insane with what was forgotten, what was half forgotten (stories passed down for things that were Once true but now are no longer true and stories changing accordingly, like the pleiades star cluster being referred to as the 7 sisters when only 6 were visible and in a lot of the myths about them one of the sisters is missing, either dead or abducted or etc. there Are 7 stars though but they drifted so close together over time that they became undistinguishable to the naked eye, but there Was a time that 7 stars were visible separately! 100000 years ago), and stories that still exist! i think its interesting how so much has changed during the calamity to even before it with some ruins, and itd be worth it to explore it!! if i focus on it lmao i uh. yeah it depends on how i write this thing

EXACTLY!!!!!! hes growing up so fast,,,.,,,,

AUGH THHNAK YOU,…. i will talk about them more one day.. mayeb . when the time is right and the prophecy unfolds

[ciaossu-imagines]

Romantic KHR Match-Up for Nix

In my opinion, your ideal KHR romantic partner is SHOICHI IRIE! You mention in your description that you much prefer a relationship to progress very naturally and slowly, moving from a friendship and then moving into something deeper and that works out well because Shoichi really has that same approach to dating. While he's had crushes and found people attractive, much like yourself, he's not felt rushed to date or get into situationships (which he doesn't get anyway and doesn't really like the notion of) and I can see both of you being fairly romantically inexperienced. It's not really something that bothers either of you, especially since you guys were mostly friends first. You met through university, maybe even late high school, either through a class or watching a live band at a local dive, and the two of you, while both kind of shy, actually hit it off pretty well. He felt, from the first, like someone you'd known for a while and you felt the same to him, and the conversation flowed pretty well for two introverts. You guys kept in touch, made time to see each other, and your friendship deepened. However, I don't see it moving any further than friendship for at least the first year or two.

I think that, even when one or the both of you realize you do have feelings for each other that have gone beyond friendship, things do progress slowly. Both of you are a little shy when it comes to expressing your emotions and there's always the worries of 'is it worth putting the friendship at risk' and 'do they even like me back?'. I think Shoichi is the one to work up the courage to confess first, blurting it out randomly during a night at your place, supposedly for a study session that had become both of you just talking, showing each other new music you really like, him encouraging you to maybe play one of the many instruments you can for him (though he never pressures you too much to do so because he gets what it feels like to be nervous to perform for people - it's why so many of the songs he writes never see the light of day and remain just in his journals…though he might grow confident enough to share one or two that he really loves and is proud of with you over the years). I do think, once the two of you decide to be together, things do just kind of fall pretty easily into place for the two of you, almost like it was always kind of meant to be.

Shoichi isn't just a scholar…he's extremely intelligent, yes, and good at his classes and studies. It's part of why the two of you get along so well - you both possess sharp minds, loves of learning, and are constantly teaching each other new things or exploring new topics together through research or taking classes together (I don't know why, I have this picture of the two of you taking a survivalist crash course together, just because Shoichi got interested in the topic, and while you both learned a lot, Shoichi swears to never, EVER do anything like that again). But yes - he's not just a sharp mind. Shoichi really enjoys the arts and has a very creative mind, and it's something he finds truly beautiful about your own mind. He's always interested in reading what you write, trying painting classes with you, and, as stated, music is a huge thing in your life together. Shoichi is definitely the type to periodically make and send you mixes of songs that remind him of you, songs that speak to your relationship together, or just songs he knows you'll love, usually when the two of you haven't been getting to spend much time together.

Much like yourself, Shoichi doesn't have a huge social circle. He's not unfriendly, that's not it…and truth be told, because of his affiliation with the Mafia, he knows a lot of people who like him well enough. It's just that, honestly, Shoichi is a person with a low social battery and also someone who doesn't always easily form close bonds with people. The people he can count as real true friends, ones he sees regularly and would do anything for, he can count on one hand and he likes the fact that you and he share that introverted nature and, when either of you do form friendships, they're highly-valued and important ones. Because you guys connect with people in similar ways and do place the same importance on bonds with people, it makes you both feel safer and happier in your bonds with each other. Being both introverts, there's never much tension or pressure to get out and about. Shoichi prefers being at home or in places he feels comfortable, like your house, the lab, the university campus. He's not a partier and he appreciates the fact that you aren't either.

Your desire for a low-maintenance relationship is also something shared between you and Shoichi. You have a busy schedule, interests of your own, and things you need to do and he does too. It's nothing for the two of you to just not have the time to get together for a couple of days and to only send sporadic messages during that time, but the time you do spend together is always meaningful and valued. He doesn't need a partner who is going to need his complete attention one hundred percent of the time, because he really just can't do that. He likes that you don't get too upset when he takes his time to do his own thing and he will never be upset at you for the same.

Runners Up: Spanner, Byakuran, Yamamoto, Fon

[ge]

There's something I'm conflicted about about Tang Bo, because I learned about him through fanarts, but the ones I saw at the time were ones where he looked so feminine that I actually thought he was a woman, and I was happy about it because I like badass ladies (the two we have are nice, but it hits differently when the character is more like an equal).

And though I love Tang Bo as he is, I'm kind of disappointed that we didn't get more female characters, which led me to start writing my own fic out of spite with a female Tang Bo and try to explore the implications of him being a woman while being... Well, a dark saint.

But since changing Tang Bo's sex is a controversial take, and my intention is to explore the character of being a woman in the Tang family and the restrictions that came with it, so I tried to write them out of a hetero normative dynamic. 

Now I have this mix of an asexual but demiromantic-in-denial Chung Myung and an androgynous/lady Oscar-like Tang Bo (usually passing as a man) who sees marriage as something entirely political but loves Chung Myung so deeply while they're trying to figure out what weird thing they have between them during the end of the war against the demonic cult. Mostly doing some character study and world-building.

But I'm dealing with a massive writer's block, and I felt like asking if it's a concept worth exploring or maybe moving to a different type of story and scrapping the female Tang Bo concept.

Ugh, perhaps I should try to write the one shot with the aphrodisiac plot. Or if you have some plot ideas, I would write them. I just want to write, but I'm losing motivation because I'm unable to make any real progress.

Anyway, I'm sorry to bother you with this, but you're like the TangChung main account, so I thought I could have some insight about this ship that's been consuming my mind and care.

hmm its an interesting concept i suppose and i understand the want for more interesting and equal in terms of power/strength female characters but i wont lie when i say im probably not the best person to ask about this concept specifically since im biased and dont like genderbending a gay couple to make them straight, no matter how subversive you are with the tropes u use in their now cis hetero relationship.. if ur really interested in pursuing writing this idea and want my opinion on it, i dont have anything else to say about it unfortunately

as for any other fic topic, the aphrodisiac idea was funny and would make for a humourous fic id definitely read..! i am unfortunately sacked out on any other fic ideas LOL i put my cards all in w tang bo returns/lives aus and i cant really think of anything else that might be rattling around in my head atm hmmm..

tang bo lives/returns aus are pretty versatile so im sure something new and unique could be pulled from there & theres also a huge lack of chung mun & chung jin return aus which could be soooo interesting id love to read a fic where chung myung gets his brother(s) back, im also really into those fics where the disciples go back in time to a hundred years previous and meet geomjon chung myung and they become his disciples in that era.. maybe a gen fic of chung myung bonding w the kids or with tang gunak and the other alliance leaders.. etc etc