#but its also from the people that are listed to buy the 'gay people need to die and heres how we can make slavery legal again' books

[garciaasfluffypen]

take care of me (like i take care of you) pt.1

pairing: jemily x adhd!reader word count: 2.4k warnings: emily smokes in this one (SMOKING IS DANGEROUS LADIES, GAYS AND THEYS pls dont ruin ur lungs), reader is mentioned to vape but it is not shown, female terms of endearment - "little miss", y/n has a minor flashback to a previous relationship where they got belittled that leads to an rsd breakdown a/n: THIS PART GOT TOO LONG AND I DIDNT EVEN GET TO THE MAIN PLOT POINT UNTIL 2.4k WORDS IN so its being split into two parts teehee :) also... i should have put this in the first part, but the house they live in is jj's house from cm evolution bc i'm quite literally obsessed with it anyway pls ignore the fact that it's clearly not three femme presenting humans holding hands i couldn't find a gif like that anywhere

you all had been blessed with a whole week off. a whole week that you got to spend with your favorite people in the entire world and not have to worry about being called in.

it had been ages since you had a whole week where you didn’t have to worry about a single work thing bothering you. the last time you had done this, you had convinced your then best friends to take you to their favorite park and have a picnic, go to the movies and even take you to the trader joes to get your favorite snacks. but this week, this week was different. firstly, you were now dating your best friends, and had been told to stay at theirs as long as you wanted to. you hadn’t left except to go to your apartment and grab a suitcase full of clothes. secondly, the case you had just finished drained the hell out of the three of you. a majority of the time was spent curled up on the couch cycling through shows on netflix and amazon prime, everyone taking turns picking a show to watch while eating leftover chinese food and cuddling. but today you were determined to get out of the house.

the local zoo was holding a sale to celebrate the birth of a new baby giraffe, which happened to be some of your favorite animals ever. so naturally, you got three tickets for the three of you last night and made sure you were up before both of your girlfriends to ensure you got your hands on tickets to feed the giraffes. it had been on your bucket list for a long time. ever since you were little, giraffes had intrigued you. they just looked so soft and cuddly. and you wanted to touch one. so, so bad. 

which is how you found yourself up at seven in the morning, squeezing yourself out from between the two older women and seaking downstairs, curling up in the armchair that you had claimed to yourself and grabbing your ipad. well, technically it was emily’s but she barely used it so therefore it was yours. you had all your favorite games on it anyway, so it was only fair that you used it more since you liked to play games on the jet. making sure you got to the website bright and early, you went to the page where you needed to buy the giraffe experience tickets and waited patiently until 7:30am hit and the first wave of tickets were sent out into the interwebs. within minutes, you had the three tickets you needed in your email. the next step to buttering up your girlfriends for a day at the zoo was to make breakfast. 

you knew exactly what breakfast each of them liked, and had memorized it a few weeks prior for moments like this. emily loved her bacon crispy, her eggs over easy and a marlboro gold by the bay window. jj, on the other hand, loved when you made the pillsbury biscuits with honey and butter, some sort of potato and getting kisses from both you and emily. considering emily usually woke up a little bit before you and jj on a typical day, you decided to start on hers first. you grabbed the box of cigarettes from her purse and put it over by the seat next to the kitchen table, opening the window so the cool dc air would flow through the kitchen as you cooked. sometimes you were tempted to light up a cigarette and see what they were like, but you couldn’t let go of your favorite fruity little flavors. that was another thing you added to your mental list of things to never let emily find out, since you knew she’d give you the look that she gives you whenever you’ve somehow disappointed her. 

jj had found out by a total accident a while ago, clocking your antsiness before you even did. you had stepped out for a breath of fresh air, not realizing that jj had followed you until you were mid hit and felt a presence behind you. while she had been disappointed, she knew that the oral fixation couldn’t be stopped if you weren’t chewing on your chewy necklace. you did your best to wear it, but sometimes the need for the nicotine buzz was stronger than your little necklace and you wanted to feel the dopamine. she sat with you outside while you tried to explain the way it made you feel, and she sat there the whole time and listened to you. she made you promise to lower the nicotine level, which you agreed to, but kept forgetting to go down whenever you stopped by the shop. 

despite the fear looming over you of disappointing emily, you couldn’t help but realize everything had been so easy with them. from communicating your needs to even just asking for them to sit with you. they made sure you were their number one priority. to this day, you were still scared of waking up in your dingy one bedroom all alone and still single. but now, here you were, slowly moving your stuff into their apartment and preparing to leave most of your old appliances at the local goodwill. it was a pleasant change, knowing you were moving somewhere nice and calm and where people supported your every move. where they wouldn’t yell at you when you forgot to refill the soap, or restock the cheese drawer after a grocery trip. 

shaking yourself out of your thoughts, you heard the bedroom door creak open and the padding of emily’s sock feet grew louder as you started smiling. 

“you’re up early,” emily beamed at you. “what’re you doing?”

“taking care of my girlfriends.” you shrugged. “cigs are on the table for you next to your window.” 

emily narrowed her eyes playfully at you. “you have a plan for today, don’t you?” 

“maybe i do, maybe i don’t.” you playfully smiled back at her. “you gotta wait for jayje to wake up.” 

“you know, you can be bad at hiding things sometimes.” emily came over to you and wrapped her arms around your waist. “you have the cheesiest grin on your face right now.” 

“can i not just make breakfast for my girlfriends when i want to?” 

emily placed a peck on your cheek, then captured your lips in a kiss. “you’re a devious little thing, lovey.” 

“and you adore me for it.”

“that i do.” 

you placed another kiss on emily’s lips before ushering her over to her window, grabbing the sheet pan of biscuits and slipping them into the oven. you relished these small moments with emily, where it was the two of you. you got these moments with jj at night, since emily typically stayed at the office later than you guys did. taking the mornings with just the two of you was something you tried to do more often than not, since you craved quality time with both of them. you loved having time with both of them together, but alone time with each of your girlfriends was something you cherished. you made sure to get emily’s coffee mug filled just the right amount and bought it over to the table, wrapping your arms around her from behind as the smoke flowed from between her lips. you had at least five more minutes before you had to start cooking the bacon and eggs, which meant you could sit with emily and bask in the moment. 

before you knew it, jj made her way into the kitchen, smiling widely as she came and wrapped her arms around you as you stood over the pan. your eyes momentarily closed as you leaned back into the blonde, letting her place a few kisses on your neck before turning around and capturing her in a kiss. you smiled at her before turning back to the bacon, making sure that side was crispy as you could get it before flipping it around. 

“what’s all this?”

“well… i uh, i had a plan for us today.”

you saw emily struggle to hold back a chuckle out of the corner of your eye.

“can you guys both be ready by nine thirty? no wait, be ready by nine fifteen and in the car by nine thirty because we need to be at the place by nine fifty in order to beat the crowds and get to where we need to be on time for our tickets because our tickets are for eleven.” you paused, looking at your girlfriends. “can you be ready by nine fifteen?” 

“i mean, yeah.” jj looked over to emily. “do you know the plan?���

“just that little miss over here woke up before us and i woke up with no blankets on me because in the midst of everything you stole all of them.” emily joked, poking her tongue out at jj. 

you started rocking up to the balls of your feet. “so um… there might be a new baby giraffe at the zoo and i might have gotten us tickets because i really really wanted to see the giraffes and they’re my favorites and they were running a sale because of the new baby and--” 

jj chuckled. “you are adorable, did you know that?” 

“is that a yes?”

“of course it's a yes, bubs.” jj placed a kiss on your cheek. “i’d love to go to the zoo with you.” 

“emmy?” you looked over to emily, the new nickname slipping out of your lips with ease. “can you come to the zoo with us? you’ll probably say no which is okay because i can always invite penelope or tara but-”

“why would you think i’d say no?” 

negative feelings overflowed your system as you remembered vividly the face that had been pulled when you asked to go to the zoo or do anything you considered fun. you felt yourself slipping into a dissociative state, fingers looking for something to stim on as you worked through your feelings. the harsh words of “why the fuck would you want to go to the zoo?” reverberated through as memories of one of your previous flings flew to the front of your mind. the shame you felt for wanting to enjoy your time together became unbearable and overwhelming, making you realize that your girlfriends could become annoyed with you like that and change their minds. what if they thought you were childish? what if they figured out you were too much for them?

emily looked over to jj. “did i say something?” 

“i don’t know. i don’t think so?” jj looked over to you, your eyes glazed over. “um.. shit wait, okay, i think they’re having an rsd episode, i’ll get their work bag. the marble fidget they use to calm down is in there.” 

emily scooted out from behind the table as she put her cigarette out, sneaking behind you to grab the pan off the stove before the bacon burned. she put her arms around you and pulled you close, running her hand up and down your back lightly as she waited for you to come out of your funk. she locked eyes with jj as she came back into the room, digging through the bag for the fidget toy in question, sticking it in your hands before you could start scratching at the side of your nails. a few minutes passed before you came back, the feeling of both emily and jj’s arms around you grounding you in the present, pushing the negative feelings to the back of your mind.

“‘m sorry.” 

“it's okay, lovey. do you want to talk about it?” 

“um… can you just… i’m not too much, right?” 

emily pulled back. “what makes you think that?” 

“whenever i asked about doing things that i liked, nobody really wanted to do them.” you looked down shamefully. “i shouldn’t have presumed you’d want to go with me.” 

“y/n y/l/n” blue eyes looked into your own. “you don't need to hide yourself with us. never hide yourself with us. you’re allowed to have your likes and act on them.” 

“but-”

“ah ah,” jj tilted your chin up, making you look at her. “don’t you dare.” 

it was almost as if a switch had been flipped in jj, her eyes darkening slightly as she stared at you. it caused your legs to turn to jelly, rendering you practically useless in your girlfriend's arms. you weren’t entirely sure what was happening, but it sent a wave of excitement through your veins. 

“we’re going to the zoo with you, we’re going to have fun, and we’re going to have a good day.” jj shot emily a ‘we need to talk about this’ glance before continuing. “go get dressed and ready for the day, we’ll finish our breakfasts and go enjoy the zoo.” she gave you a pointed look. “capeesh?”

all you could do was nod, your eyes widening in… whatever this feeling was that you were feeling. 

“words, y/n.”

“y-yes.” you swallowed. “okay.” 

jj smiled, switching back to her normal self and placing a kiss on your lips. “thank you for breakfast, by the way. it smells delicious.” 

you shyly smiled back. “i wanted you to be in a good mood before i asked you to go to the zoo.” 

emily pulled you in for a hug. “you never have to do anything for us to be in a good mood around you. we-” she paused. “there’s nothing you could do to put us in a foul mood.” 

“are you sure?”

“we’re sure. now go get ready, lovey, we’ll be up in a little bit when we finish our breakfast.” it was emily’s turn to kiss you. “don’t forget your meds.”

“oh shit, my meds!” 

emily and jj watched you run out of the room, both of the older women chuckling. emily wrapped her arms around jj, placing her head on her shoulder. 

“we’re going to need to work on talking about feelings, huh?” 

jj nodded. “it seems like it.” 

“would it be too much to castrate the exes who hurt them?” 

“uh… yes? we’re not castrating anyone.” jj lightly slapped emily’s arm. “go finish your bacon, we have places to be.” 

“we do need to have a serious talk with them about it, at some point.”

“yeah,” jj agreed. “lets just… they need to know we’re here for them. let’s focus on them the rest of the week and go from there.” 

emily nodded. “we’ll go from there.”

taglist: @jayden-prentiss

[mx-paint]

.

[t00muchheart]

As I do when I am hyperfixating on something, I have read a LOT of supernatural fanfiction in the last few months, and I get a lot of the titles I read from other peoples’ recommendations or collections on ao3, so I figured I’d share some of my favorites in case anyone else is looking for recs :)

AUs:

Spirit of the West by teen_dean

This is a shock to literally no one who follows me because I regularly bring it up, but it honestly is one of the best things I’ve ever read. The 90s horse girl AU of your dreams (or, if you haven’t dreamed of one, that you never knew you needed). The storytelling is immaculate, the symbolism rich, and it only improves on re-reading

And this, your living kiss by opal_bullets

Poet Dean AU featuring genuinely beautiful comments on language and writing and how we encounter stories and words and what they can do, and also some honestly incredible poetry

where there is darkness by quiettewandering

Lighthouse keepers AU! this one is a bit mysterious and I did scream into a pillow after finishing it. If you know the story of the Flannan Isles lighthouse keepers, it is loosely inspired by that.

Phantasma by thisisapaige

Messy Dean, my beloved. Messy, Stanford-Era Dean, my beloved. Dean breaks off from John and buys a haunted house, and things sort of escalate.

For All You Young Hockey Players Out There, Pay Attention by thursdaysfallenangel

I don’t even watch hockey, but this AU kind of made me want to start. Rivals to friends to lovers all while dealing with the homophobia in the NHL

time has come today series by teen_dean

Team Free Will brings in teen Dean Winchester to help with a case, parallel worlds come into play; every version of Dean Winchester falls in love with Castiel & all the good stuff like that

What Baking Can Do by cowlovely

Baker & Dad Dean fic and Doctor Cas? What more could you ask for?

Everyone’s a Critic by Englandwouldfall

Food Critic Cas and Chef Dean meet in a truly unfortunate way. This is worth it for Cas’s reviews alone, but also the Dean-Gabriel dynamic

FROTUS by kathscradle

A President Cas, Restaurant Owner Dean romance that was honestly just a good time

Fix-Its:

take the bones, begin anew by JustStandingHere

This was one of the first fics I read and it is sort of peak disaster™ Dean Winchester. I love a good “I fixed up a house for you and didn’t realize it meant I was in love” fic and this one is iconic

i want to do with you (what spring does with cherry trees) by sobsicles

I ugly cry every time I read this fic. It is a run of Cas and Dean’s relationship in seasons 13-15 and has Dean making a friend and it hurts but also it’s so good. Maybe my favorite Sam line of any fic comes from this fic ("If he thinks what you two do is friendship, then I must just be some guy he happens to speak to sometimes.”)

break the skin (to break the barriers) by sobsicles

Dean gets tattoos, and as he does, he tells the tattoo artist his life story. This is a post-15x19 fic told from an outside perspective and it is so well-done

Dumbassery, Denial, Doing by sobsicles

Listen tbh this list could be dominated by sobsicles and so I am showing restraint by only including three of their works. Their Dean characterization is everything to me and this fic really highlights Dean growing to understand himself better when given the freedom to

Revisions by bizarrestars

THEE what if Dean and Cas got together earlier and Chuck just wrote it out? fic.

a turn of the earth by microcomets

I love a work that explores pre-series Dean, and this one is great. Basically, think what-if later seasons Cas and pre-series Dean met (Strandlines by aeli_kindara is another good example of this premise, but in Strandlines, it is pre-series Cas as well as pre-series Dean).

psalm 40:2 by unicornpoe

On a similar note, psalm 40:2 is a great pre-series Dean, future-Cas fic. I am a bi Dean believer but this fic did sway me toward the gay Dean camp because it’s simply so good.

You Belong Among the Wildflowers by ImYourHoneyBee

Dean fixing his relationship with Jack? You got it. Dean trying to work through losing Cas? Yep. Dean getting Cas back by being stubborn? It’s there.

Who You Gonna Call? by saintedcastiel

Dean has a ghost following him around as he tries to start a life post-series, and for a while, he can’t figure out what’s happening. I love nothing more than Dean telling people he and Cas were married because he doesn’t know how else to explain and this fic delivers so hard

quilts by fleeceframe

A “Cas didn’t confess before getting taken to the Empty” fic. Soft things all around

Miscellaneous:

Fathers & Daughters by sinnabonka

On a different note, this is one of my favorite Claire fics. It looks at Claire’s relationship with Cas and the impossibility of it, and it’s so artfully done.

Bus Loop Madness by batz_in_blue

Literally just a “what if everyone lived, Jack was a toddler, and they all picked him up from school?” AU. I audibly laughed while reading this, and it’s an essential pick-me-up from the heavier fics.

More of my favorite sobsicles fics include: gorging myself on you, still can’t get full (insatiable), and he’s back (with a mind of his own), six hundred sundays (and many more), oh sooner or later it all comes down to faith, things happen (they do, they do, and they do), according to all known laws of life, and profoundly bonded (by law)

Also, honorable mentions to Ninety One Whiskey, which is such a good fic, and Make a Believer Outta Me, which is a Hocus Pocus AU that is honestly just a fun time.

[vindieselsfacebook-blog]

Ranking 7 photos algorithmically served to me attempting to aesthetically stage a Gilmore Girls rewatch

7. Coming in dead last is this disgustingly tragic and confusing combination of frozen mini pizzas and what appears to be a stemless wine glass full of orange juice??? positively hanging on for dear life to a thin, cracked cutting board that looks like it started its life in the Target dollar spot. I can't imagine a more nightmarish stain on my bland white sheets or frustrating debris to try and drain from my laptop keyboard than the pukey combination of marinara sauce and sticky juice, nor can I imagine a more depressing excuse for a comfort meal. Praying this person is a 12 year old trying to feel fancy by stealing a stemless wine glass from their mom while they were distracted by an episode of The Bachelor. Also, can we not find a single vibey Ikea lamp to turn on? Not cropping out the cable in the top right corner is an extra ominous choice. Bonus point for the gay sounding caption caught on screen though. 1/10

6. All I can think of looking at this cursed image is innocently uncrossing my legs and flipping the entire set-up over, spilling sugary milky foamy pumpkin coffee all over my twee cotton sheets, crushing burnt cookie crumbs all up in my grill, poopy melted chocolate chip stains everywhere, and setting my fluffy synthetic pillows ablaze. Making sure the food items are resting unwisely on your laptop but straight up nestling two Glade clearance candles right on your bed is extremely unwell behavior. 2/10

5. These cookies look like hamburger buns with jam and I hate thinking of the texture of them in my mouth but at least the hearts are trying and the waffle knit of the blanket looks cozy. The plate looks like it's resting on crossed legs rather than an actual bed this time. Good job with no open flames!!! 3/10

4. This looks like a second attempt from #6 - these cookies look like an upgrade, even down to the cutesy plate. They're livin' on the wild side with black coffee directly on the bed this time, but I guess that's less insane than multiple lit candles. I'm imagining this poor girl applying lipstick to kiss her list of things she loves which include "2000's movies", "stars/moon", and "pretty clothe" and I realize I am mocking a very lonely little girl and now I feel bad. Keep on binging GG, friend, you need it!!! 4/10

3. First off, trying to post ~aesthetic GG content with tea instead of coffee? Who are you, Luke Danes??? Points subtracted immediately. You're expecting me to think you're just casually whipping up a batch of cinnamon rolls, watching GG AND reading a novel? You're either watching or reading, doll, I simply refuse to accept both. That book is stressing me out. Get a bookmark! 4/10

2. I had to really study this one and decide if it was the same person as the previous photo. It may be, but this one features some important upgrades - that mug may possibly be coffee, the gray sweater looks fuzzy and comforting, cute manicure, and the cinnamon rolls are positively drowning in icing which I respect. I am once again judging your casually open book you fucking liar, but I enjoy the natural lighting and practical desktop surface. I refuse to entertain the thought that a GG rewatch can hit even a little bit on a tiny propped up iPad though. Give me a big TV and a couch/bed or nothing. 5/10

Now this is what I'm fucking talking about!!! Commit to the bit, people. This person put their whole pussy into making that delightful looking drink and stuck to the pumpkin theme. There's some pleasant mood lighting going on and I buy that this could be a tablescape rather than a crowded obstacle course on a twin bed. I am actually curious to try one of those cookies and the sweater weather candle is no doubt contributing positive vibes to the room. All precarious items are safely crowded onto a tray. Still hate the iPad but whatever. 8/10

[correctproseka]

A list of every sekai oc from least communist to most communist bc i am bored and my pfp mostly everywhere is a commie miku:

--

20- Akito.

He is probably like a crypto dude until An kicked his ass and convinced him otherwise. He just has the vibes im sorry.

19- Mafuyu.

She just follows whatever her mom does so far, her mom is a big capitalis

18- Kanade

Here we start the neutral ones. Kanade doesn't know a single shit about politics she just wanna nap, valid, queen.

17- Shizuku

She has been an idol with money since as a child, i dont think she knows exactly why people are fighting, but she's on the side of fucking human rights :D.

16- Honami

She's afraid to speak up because of her classmates but she is starting to try and actually be on the side of who she believes in, thanks leoni, Go Honami!

15- Touya

He's going simply against his dad. He doesn't even know if he believes in it that much but he will defend it

14- Haruka

She's a bit confused but Airi is teaching her the ropes

13- Shiho

She's just silently on the commie side and would punch anyone who threatens her but she also kind of grew up rich so she's a bit confused at some things

12- Minori

She's a commie at heart but she's bad at economic and politics so she can't explain her thought very well and her arguments arent thw best

11- Kohane

She's always been against capitalism but not communist… until An. Now Kohane is going in

10- Tsukasa.

He forgets he's bi bc he's chanting for gay rights for Saki i love him.

"Of course i support gay rights my sister is gay"

"Onii-chan, you're also bi"

"... Oh right"

9- Nene

No Rui friend is a capitalist, duh, she hates Elon Musk with all that she have. But she considered investing one time too many to be higher.

8- Saki

Girlie may have lived a sheltered and kinda isolated life but the old ladies at the hospital have a lot of knowledge and some of them include GUILLOTINE

7- Ichika

No idea why just vibes, she doesn't feel like she'd be quiet about politics but i can't explain the reason why shes this high other than she has a lot of communist vibes

6- Mizuki

Does not buy clothes from big chains, they see an outfit from there that they like and recreate it themselves, its canon i know Mizuki personally

5- Airi

Man she would punch a nazi no second guessing. Go go Airi.

4- Emu

She may be rich but she studied economics and she hates capitalism, she had a bit to unlearn but Rui taught her well. Plus like. The wxs storyline is the most commie thing ever

3- Rui.

He literally would arson a bank or a billionaire house if you gave him the idea

2- Ena

Need I say more? She was actually gonna be first place but my friend realized she would fight about it more online then actually be on frontlines

1- An

She literally was created being know by the whole street. Takes a community to raise a child? Yeah thats An, of course she's communist. Leader of the communist rebellion im telling you

-----

This all taken from before main story but on like. 3 cases. Bc its easier.

[mermaidsirennikita]

I was shocked they chose A Night to Surrender by Tessa Dare over A Week to Be Wicked, Any Duchess Will Do or The Duchess Deal. Obviously Tessa is incredibly talented but I don’t feel like that’s one of her best (or even most popular) books. What was the selection process like???

Lol yeah that was when I went "... hmm." It's like, they wanted to be approachable, and yet they DIDN'T, and it really comes off as so low effort. I appreciate the nod towards racial diversity (though it could still be better) BUT I also found that the queer representation was very lacking, and virtually everything is tradpub, and monogamous, and it's overwhelmingly cis.

Not only does this not reflect where romance is GOING (not just in terms of diversity, which it still needs a lot of work on and you get that work done in part by PROMOTING AND ENCOURAGING PEOPLE TO BUY DIVERSE BOOKS; but also in terms of the increasing presence of indie/selfpub influence) but it's not going to appeal to people who need to see themselves in the genre.

So yeah now I have to break it down

Cecilia, P&P, Friday's Child--I honestly find it very difficult to reconcile any book written before the 20th century with genre romance. Haven't read Cecilia, to be honest. P&P is social commentary with a romance subplot—a great one, but it's not genre romance, and tbh I wouldn't even call it Austen's most romantic book.

I struggle with Heyer, because her books are beloved and readable, and she is a huge influence. However, I first think that any "read romance right now" list meaning to get people to read the genre shouldn't feature books because they're influential. This is not an academic list lol. Recommend books that give people what the genre is more recently, what will HOOK them. And I struggle with Heyer because she was a major antisemite, so.

The Price of Salt--obviously very influential; would not consider it a romance despite that, and we could've recommended an explicitly sapphic ROMANCE. If this is about influence, where is Gaywyck?

Lord of Scoundrels--it's a classic, Loretta is one of the GOATs, I've never been in the right mindset to read this but I'll try again soon

Indigo--a mega classic and a great representation of what makes Bev so great, I'd recommend this to anyone

If Only It Were True--never read but ngl the summary makes me skeptical

Jewels of the Sun--Nora is another GOAT, but uh, this??? WTF??? Nora has written SO diversely in terms of subgenre, and you could pull from literally hundreds of books, and THIS is what you choose??? Okay lmao nah

The Viscount Who Loved Me--let us be real, it's a Bton book. Not the best in the series, but the second best, and if Bton had to be here (I wouldn't put it there whatever) this is one of the ones I'd choose. People who loved s2 might be startled.

Twilight--lmao crazy, not only does this not represent the genre well, but it's essentially Mormon propaganda that leads to a massively racist subplot that is even more problematic when you consider the history of Mormonism and indigenous people. Also, I say this as someone who considers Twilight a formative part of my girlhood.

A Hunger Like No Other--An amazing book, love it, a fab representation of early 2000s PNR, however I do think it will be a shock to the system for many readers due to how intense it is and how much Lachlain... doesn't respect consent. Nonetheless, I adore this book.

Devil in Winter--obviously a banger and a great representation of Kleypas's work. I think it's hard to recommend as a standalone as it functions better IMO after Autumn, BUT. Otherwise, no notes.

Lover Awakened--I've never been able to get into JR Ward, but I'm gonna try again someday, she's obviously very influential

Slave to Sensation by Nalini Singh--a really good book and a great intro in my experience

All Through the Night--I've never read this so I can't speak to its romance quality, but it's so weird to me that the summary talks about it being one of the first romances with a gay main character and then discusses the protagonist and his female fiance as the main couple...? I am... confused. Is it a queer romance? It doesn't sound like it. Is it supposed to be a representation of queer people in romance...? Just recommend a queer romance.

Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake--great, awesome intro to MacLean

A Night to Surrender--I feel like they literally recommended this because it's the first Spindle Cover but you literally don't have to read them in order lmao read A Week to Be Wicked??? And I say this as a series reader? If you can only recommend one, recommend that?

Crazy Rich Asians--not a romance, basically satire, next

The Lotus Palace--haven't read this yet but I adore Jeannie Lin

The Luckiest Lady in London--a great intro to Sherry and a great book

To All the Boys I've Loved Before--YA coming of age girlhood with a romance subplot imo

All In--never read it

An Extraordinary Union--need to read

Wildfire--never read

Intercepted--couldn't get into

The Wedding Date--Jasmine Guillory's comments about being like... the first Black woman to write romance... make me upset... but also, her books are terminally unromantic to me

Ayesha At Last--haven't read, heard great things

Forget Me Not--haven't ready, happy to see Brenda Jackson here

Get a Life, Chloe Brown--love, great intro to Talia

Red, White, & Royal Blue--I get why it's here... I like the movie a LOT more

The Bride Test--this is very good, would definitely recommend The Kiss Quotient as your Hoang intro

The Flatshare--I didn't find this romantic

Xeni--I hate to say it, but I couldn't get into this

Boyfriend Material--I love Alexis Hall so fucking much. Glitterland was RIGHT THERE. A Lady for a Duke was RIGHT THERE. For the love of God, streeeetch a little

The Duke Who Didn't--haven't read, have heard great things

You had Me at Hola--I won't lie, I don't looove this, but I respect it

It Happened One Summer--apologies, I'm not a Tessa Bailey girly but I know how popular this is

Last Night at the Telegraph Club--Malinda Lo is a talented writer... I've never considered a book of hers romance so much as a book with a romance subplot... and I'm curious to see if this is different. If not, it's kinda depressing that this is one of a couple sapphic books here and isn't romance.

Seven Days in June--this is well-written and I get it, I could not get into it

A Caribbean Heiress in Paris--love this book, deserving, can't help but wish An Island Princess Starts a Scandal was here for more sapphic rep

Before I Let Go--this is so good and Kennedy should be here; I would've chosen Reel, personally, for several reasons

Book Lovers--y'all know I don't like Emily Henry's books

Dating Dr. Dil--haven't read, Nisha is very talented

Honey & Spice--have heard great things

Icebreaker--... choices!

Part of Your World--the one Abby Jiminez book I read was not for me

The Very Irregular Society of Witches--haven't read

The Vibrant Years--haven't read, Sonali Dev is very talented tho

Chef's Choice--I really like this book! It's so good. But I would've picked Triple Sec for a few reasons. If they were looking for their One Romance About People Who Aren't Cis... you still get it with that book...

Love, Theoretically--was my favorite Hazelwood until Bride and Not in Love! I get why she's here

[depressedhatakekakashi]

Thinking about the noble who sent Gai and a bunch of other people to their deaths in battle, and theorizing why it happened. Maybe it went deeper than it appeared...

Like what if the entire battle was a set up specifically to kill off a large portion of the army. Maybe the noble didn't like spending all this money on the army/ soldiers they had, and came up with a plot to eliminate a huge spending cost, by wiping out his own army.

Not to mention as most knights/ samuai in olden times were also land owners, it could be he wanted to wipe out a large portion of them, so he could claim their land for his own, for barely a fraction of the cost! Or make it so other nobles would lose their guards/ knights, and not feel safe on their own land, and again, come swooping in afterwards and buy up their family homes.

Maybe he leaked outside info to a rival/ warring nation, specifically to start a fight, then went to the king at the time, and manipulated him into inflating the fight and fighting another opponent at the same time. Maybe attack a third party, by claiming they were a part of this warring party, even if they had always been a friend/ trading partner in the past. Creating a situation where all knights would go and as such he would receive "compensation" for potentially losing a lot of men, "for the good of the kingdom." (Maybe he would gain a monopoly on something, if they lost this alley).

(Some real Danzo crap!)

I wonder if even young, Gai was starting to catch on that something was wrong, and tried to bring it up to someone (as I LOVE him having an active roll), and for that he was threatened with insubordination and directed to the front lines. The most dangerous place where he had a near 100% chance of dying. But if he tried to escape, he would bring shame to his family crest. Maybe as the royal family were starting to grow corrupt as they followed new gods and stepped away from the teachings of King Gai, they legit did not care what he had to say. Especially from one so young (I imagine this Gai must be 17-18 and was probably the youngest Gai to die.). Also if he left, than all his friends would have no chance of survival. He wanted to try and protect them! He must have also felt the valley needed him because the threat was real. Even if it was a set up.

But the battle ends up bloodier than even the noble planned. It grew bigger than anyone could imagine and more than the three parties were at play as further alliances took the chance with the warring nation. Who took the information leaked, and gained a lot more allies quickly to use this as a chance to take over the valley, which people had been attempting to take over for hundreds of years (maybe longer but Konoha- or wherever they are or what they're called, always had a way to thwart them. Dragons. Mysterious diseases. Godly intervention- the list goes on.). This is the one chance they have to take the valley and so they go all in for it.

By the time its heard the battle ended and there were no survivors, the Noble probably threw a fancy party the next day, faking a "somber dinner to honor the lost men".

On a stormy night, the noble dined on the best wines and meats as the people around him congratulate him for his plans and the riches he will soon inherit. All he has other nobles and slimy people in on the plot who fabricated it all for their own benefit. Also there is a mysterious guest, dressed in the finest clothes and who brought the most luxurious gift for him. He was assumed friend as he knew so much and complimented them all on their plans. The only thing odd about the man was he arrived when the storm rolled in. No one asked enough questions as the alcohol went to their heads.

So it wasn't just the evil plot that made Kakashi see red. Not just the exuberant amount of greed. But the boasting. As his lover lay dying on the field, barely starting a life and having to access a power he at one point dispised and feared, just to prevent a massacre on the kingdom, this noble was celebrating. Boasting about how he did it all. And how even if it was "a little more risky than he originally planned, nothing of value was lost."

Kakashi probably lost it right there and threw his human disguise off, as he brought the storm inside the mansion and locked all the doors. He must have had the most disinterested and disgusted look on his face as the noble begged, pleaded, and tried to bargain his way out of his fate.

I imagine the weight of the gold lining in the man's clothing, was what ultimately pulled him under the water as he drowned in his flooded mansion.

(Was I right about any of that?)

Ok (i had to go on my laptop to answer this cuz it's going to be long/detailed XD)

So first off, yes Gai is around 18-20 in this lifetime. He does not get a lot of years before he dies and that's part of what angers Kakashi so much. He would have just been going to meet Gai if things hadn't gone the way they did.

I never did have a reason for why the noble did what they did except 'greed' (pitting Kakashi vs Kakuzu in a way) but I really like this. It would be rare for someone to willingly decrease the amount of soldiers they have under their command, but the village has been pretty indestructible for generations. no one wants to fight them, so the noble could easily feel like he's wasting money on an army he may never even use.

Might as well get some use out of them and cut some costs at the same time! A classic Kakuzu move to save money 9and perhaps make money if he's reimbursed for the information he gives out)

Ok, now for the really fun part <3

So my original thought was that Kakashi's anger overwhelmed him and the rain began to pour everywhere. Like the whole village was in danger of being drowned.

But then some of the other gods (Ibiki, Rin, Mito, Obito, Tsunade) came in and lifted the rest fo the village up around the noble's house so that all of the rain water poured into the hole that was left with only that nobles house inside of it. Thus drowning the noble and creating the pond in the village that later iterations of Kakashi and Gai visit (and also resulting in Kakashi and Kakuzu having a huge blow out argument that Hashirama has to split up because they do almost kill each other that time)

However, loving the idea of Kakashi walking into the house and flooding it with people inside.

so, i propose.

Both options!

The other gods know Kakashi's about to flood the house but at the same time he's not just flooding the inside. He's burying the entire house in water. So other gods come together to raise the rest of the village around the nobles house. that is the first hint that something is wrong.

As the noble and all their guests begin to panic Kakashi shows up in mortal form in the centre of the room. Someone (probably the noble) begins yelling at him, treating him as a servent demanding he get to work on finding out what's wrong.

Without hesitation Kakashi lets his mortal cover melt away until that noble, the one who condemned Gai and so many others to a pointless death, is staring down the God of Storms.

It's only then that everyone in the house realizes just how F***ed they are.

One thing Kakashi does do is have all of the servants/workers taken out of the building by his hounds who carry them up the new earth walls that surround the house. A few of the nobles try to catch a ride, ut when they grab the dogs they're electrocuted and left in the ditch to face their face.

The entire time Kakashi has multiple people begging for their lives. pleading with him for mercy.

He doesn't laugh, or smile, or even cry.

He just looks at the one who caused everything and says "Now you can know how it feels"; before the rains begin to really pour.

It takes all of five minutes for the hole that the house is in to fill, and Kakashi just stands there the entire time watching as the noble and all those who congratulated him take their last gasping breaths.

He gets absolutely no joy out of this. there's no relief for his pain and no celebration for avenging Gai and all those other people who died. .

He feels absolute emptiness.

[themightyaliendwarf]

First thoughts on the Interview with a Vampire series

It's going to be a long one, so get ready.

From the moment I heard about the details of this project, I was sceptical. After all, to change Louis from a late XVIII century plantation owner to a black man and the owner of brothel houses living in the early XIX century is quite a jump. However, we've seen bigger changes being done and sometimes not only would they not make the story worse, but even go as far as make it better (I find Forrest Gump to be a perfect example). So, how did it go here?

Well... I'm confused.

Which isn't a bad thing in itself! I'd say I enjoyed this first episode, but it certainly felt more like fanfic rather than an adaptation.

If you have read the book you know it has one significant feature: it's melancholic. Rice wrote it after she lost her daughter and each page is filled with incredible grief that is so characteristic of Louis's story. On the other hand, the second book - Vampire Lestat - while still similar in style, it's definitely a lot lighter. I strongly believe showrunners decided to combine those two books and that's why it seems the style is a bit confused at times. After all, how much grief can you put in and still feel genuine if you want your flamboyant Lestat to be Lestat, do Lestat things and steal the show?

Because I don't think you can quite do it. Even the movie from 1994, despite being a very good adaptation, is significantly less painful than the book.

And they actually have Claudia being played by an incredible child actress!

But let's talk about the series. I think they wanted this show to be connected to the book and have Lestat. I doubt Louis as Louis was their priority. Yes, of course, his family story is actually pretty similar to the book... but obviously they decided to add racism to his long list of things he can whine about (for the record, yes, I do think book Louis is rather whiny). While I do think it provides something new to the story (I also think Jacob Anderson is doing a very good job and is giving us something different from what Brad Pitt did), I don't think it improves the story. I love the 1910' aesthetic and jazz, but is it something I want from Interview with a Vampire? Not really. However, if you are able to fully separate it from the novel and the 1994 book and treat it as its own thing, I think you will enjoy it a lot.

Ok, but I can't finish this post without talking about Lestat. I told my friend that this series can be shit, but if Lestat is done well, it's at least a 7/10. And you know what?

Of course, Lestat is amazing.

Again, Sam Reid is giving us something different from Tom Cruise (this Lestat actually speaks French!). I like how they are taking elements from Vampire Lestat - tho, for now mostly in the form of Lestat talking about his family - and that this fabulous bloodsucker is as much of a dandy and asshole as I want him to be.

I mean, the scene of Louis' brother's funeral when Lestat straight up tells him "Nice coffin. Where did you buy it?" is kinda hilarious.

Reid has a very strong screen presence and he absolutely steals every shot. Not gonna lie, I want this show to go for another season purely to see him as a 1980's rockstar Lestat.

I think most people know how important the 1994 movie was for the LGBT+ community. I mean, clearly, gay (or bi) vampires are being played by 3 known actors? That's not something you see every day in the 90s'. A clear difference between the movie and this series is that they are a lot hornier. I don't think we've seen an on-screen kiss in 1994 (I don't think you even have them in the book). Louis doesn't want to give the reader juicy details - you need to wait for Vampire Lestat to read how everybody was Lestat's boyfriend.

This series is not subtle at all with the romantic tension.

So, would I recommend it? The first episode was pretty good. I expect to be disappointed by Claudia's story, tho. Overall, if you can easily separate this series from the original novel, I think you will enjoy it.

[fan-cam]

2022 Wrap up (4 Top 5)

Hello and happy holidays! Over the last few weeks I have been pouring over lists of the top albums, songs and movies of 2022, thrilled to see what the world (or at least high budget magazines) are saying about these past twelve months. This year has felt a little more ‘normal’ (not really sure what that word means anymore, or if it even should exist) than the past two and as a result we have received a lot of exciting art.

If I love anything, its making lists. I love keeping track of what media I have consumed, things I need to buy, people I have been romantic with (zodiac signs included), and ranking my various ‘best of’s’.  Below you will find 4 lists of my Top 5 of 2022; TV shows, movies, albums and songs. Each selection is deserving of its own several page deep-dive, but I limited myself to a one-sentence review of each as I know attention spans are quite fleeting these days (my own included). Please enjoy and share your own thoughts!

TV Shows:

HOT D, Season 1

Game of Thrones with a bigger budget, advanced technology and more feminism.

2. Rings of Power, Season 1

Like HOT D, Lord of the Rings but with more than just white men, and a $1M/minute budget (yes, you read that right).

3. Our Flag Means Death, Season 1

Taika Waititi’s new project about gay pirates—do I need to say anything more?

4. Derry Girls, Season 3

Martin Scorsese likes this show, so if my endorsement isn’t enough for you his should be.

5. The Summer I Turned Pretty, Season 1

I feel like most of my life is trying to get back to being a teenage girl and this show really did that for me.

Movies:

Bones and All, Luca Guadagnino

A coming of age cannibal love story that makes you scream, jump, plug your ears, cover your eyes, laugh and cry—what more could you want?

2. Aftersun, Charlotte Wells

Beautiful imagery, incapacitatingly sad plot (my favorite juxtaposition).   

3. X, Ti West

A love letter to horror film, chock full of references that made me feel like all my years spent on horror amounted to something.

4. Bodies, Bodies, Bodies, Halina Rejin

I love blood, I love girls, I love a whodunit, I love jokes—this is my dream film, also Pete Davidson is in it.

5. Tar, Todd Field

This movie is making fun of high-brow art which is funny because this movie is loved by people who love high-brow art.

Albums:

Preacher’s Daughter, Ethel Cain

A 75-minute concept album tackling love, abuse, lots of God, sex and being cannibalized with memorizing vocals, quite the feat for a debut LP.

2. Being Funny in a Foreign Language, The 1975

From dick jokes and a pop song about incel mass shootings to devastating breakup anthems, this album makes you experience most emotions.

3. Renaissance, Beyoncé

This album proves that Beyoncé can literally do anything well; a disco-club-banger-no-skips album invocative of the 70s but that absolutely hits in 2022? No problem. (sorry, this is technically two sentences)

4. Motomami, ROSALIA

Being A Bad Bitch in a Foreign Language: I have no idea what she’s saying but the emotion she conveys through her voice and the flawlessly produced beats transcend language.

5. Caprisongs, FKA Twigs

Another club-banger of an album which deals with being both hot and sad at the same time, relatable.

Songs:

Part of the Band, The 1975

There is so much to say about this song but the ‘Vaccinista, tote bag chic baristas’ line changed my life and I haven’t been the same since.

2. Killer, FKA Twigs

She called this ‘a song for baddies with a tear in their eyes’ and I cannot say anything better.

3. Anti-Hero, Taylor Swift

Famous for being vulnerable, Taylor reaches a new level of honesty with this song, expressing the very unrelatable difficulties that come along with being Taylor Swift in an extremely relatable way.

4. Hard Times, Ethel Cain

A song about a horrific topic, sung in the most ethereal way with stunning guitar accompaniment— once again, we love juxtaposition on this blog.   

5. Weird Goodbyes, The National Ft. Bon Iver

The saddest lyrics you will ever hear, overlayed with a sick 808 beat.

[system-of-a-feather]

XIV as a capitalist is such a surprising idea to me. how did that happen

(CW: trauma discussion, mentioning of programming and grooming, General Warning of Trauma talk cause IDK if this is graphic or not cause I have no sense of reference)

(Also sharing this cause as an anecdote of how a kid ends up being alt right.)

(Also feel free to reply to this post, I dont really consider this as a trauma that bothers me really, reblogs are only off per respect of the rest of the system)

----

I was a hardcore capitalists until I realized I was an alter and went "HEY WAIT A MINUTE" like I watched old in day Shapiro (still claim that a lot of that was probably cause hes busting it down and goated with the sauce), Yiannpolis, and Steven Crowder 😂 I was a full fledged radical right winger that said fuck the poor not my fault they buy starbucks everyday 😂

Honestly it comes three fold 1) Our parents are the no brain middle class folk who were deeply convinced that all their struggles came from lazy poor people with no money management skills 2) Our middle sister who was overtly abusive and bullying us since we could talk and intentionally making our parents neglect our needs was a (correct) radical leftist, so a lot of our more aggressive alters that helped combat that ended up being predisposed to being radical right wing as an oppositional thing 3) our older sister who did botched programming and grooming and was the "only safe and caring person in our life" was a hard capitalist that as part of the "oh lets train the alters for specific roles" grilled me from a young age in the principles of capitalism as well as survival and dominance in a capitalistic world at the expense of others and until it clicked that I was an alter (In a System with Trauma and different perspectives / recollection of shit), I never really took a step back to look at the garbage I was fed

Cause Riku when they first realized I was a seperate part (same time I did] they kept calling me Capitalist Riku since for the first week or two I was operating on the shit I knew and constantly spewing self destructive capitalistic brain rot and it always pissed me off "for some reason" to be called that (and caused us to fight A LOT)

And after I got done pissing on the system for two or three weeks I think I tuckered myself out of my trained trauma hole enough to ask myself why I hated being called "Capitistic Riku" and pretty quickly came to the realization it was cause that was identifying me by the abuse and trauma I went through

And then it clicked that I was just regurgitating a list of baseless rules, scripts and ideas that was grilled into me as "the truth of the world" and thats just what my piece of shit sister wanted me to be like and in - I kid you not - one day radicalized to the opposite end and started burning the system down instead as a commie 😂

But honestly, being so heavily grilled in how capitalism works and being grilled into "being good at capitalism", I had enough understanding of how incredibly fucked and broken it is that I didnt need to really be convinced of its atrocities beyond actually looking at what I was reading off of

Well at least thats a lot of the XIV 1.0 origin story which is the part Id still identift as my "main" part considering Ive fused a good many times.

-XIV

(mild NSFW post script below the cut, minors don't look)

(Seriously though in hind sight I genuinely think the only reason I watched Shapiro was cause he was a quirked up white boy and my gay ass was like "totally wanna fuck that twink 👀" and was 100% thinking with my dick.

I dont have that excuse for Crowder and Milo was a kindred spirit at the time)

[aishaoliviahanovich]

Anecdote as to why Neutral People are white supremacist and on the side of the oppressor- Isnotreal (or follow the 15 rules of white supremacy) and an explanation as to why they do so.

Ps. Complacency and Neutrality is being on the side of the oppressor because it is allowing the oppressor to continue its subjugation and oppression of people without prevention or punishment.

I have noticed this behaviour in many ‘neutral’ people and am now able to articulate it. One point part of white supremacy that needs to be talked but isn’t in this anecdote is objectivity (the view that one belief leads to truth and everything else is bad) and using it by saying there isn’t enough evidence for objective stance to make a conclusion and it’s too complicated (even though 27,000 people and counting have died) and using things being complicated as an excuse for complacency.

Let me start by saying:

1.The Preservation of white supremacy starts with the willingness of silence as well as a learned helplessness (lack of action because you feel as if you can’t make an impact/ change a situation) and lack of accountability of privilege.

Being able to ignore a genocide is a privilege, as well as consumerism that isn’t conscious.

2. Another privilege and show of silence is: If people didn’t talk about systemic problems and oppression (like in Palestine).If you don’t talk about the oppressive systems that impact people (whether they benefit you or not( because people in power have a subconscious and conscious need to keep those systems in place)) would never change ,so being silent is passive and is inherent support of the oppressor and their ideas. Because being silent is doing nothing and allowing our governments to continue to subjugate other people.

As well as (in America at least) your taxes being used to fund a genocide. Meaning you are partially responsible, so to prevent more money from going to Israel you must boycott and put pressure on governments.

If not you are supporting the white supremacist state, Israel, and their ideologies, because you’re funding them and being complacent.

3. When you are in a position of financial stability and privilege and choose not to do targeted boycotts and continue to buy off corporations that support genocide. You are an active participant in genocide and are funding those who are killing innocent people in 2 genocide (let not forget about Congo). It’s also very individualistic only caring about your own comforts.( 2 rules of white supremacy: Right to comfort and Individualism).

Now let’s talk about the anecdote that I use to explain this (I’ll number the sections so I can make my point underneath in red so you can skip to that and read the list. The anecdote is just is a dissection and provides context into the mind of people):

1. I remember arguing to this white gay guy ( the gay part is important for context and white because it does show he lot of privilege because being a white man born in a first ) about Palestine and how he was a terrible ignorant person for buying from Starbucks when he knew they were supporting a genocide. I vividly remember not even a week before he was talking about how he would go to Dubai but said he refuses to because they don’t gay people (So he could clearly boycott but only when it benefits him).

1. A sign of individualism and centralising oneself in something that that doesn’t involve oneself. As well as only caring about when it impacts you, but not when it involves other people who are facing oppression

2.He was talking saying that I shouldn’t be bothered about him because Ken person ‘can’t do anything’ and he doesn’t get into politics.

2.complacency and victimisation that comes with a false sign of helplessness , with his not being able to have an impact or to change a situation, which is harmful because it is again letting people in power do what they want without interference. If everyone thought that way nothing would be done. Example of small actions that led to big changes: boycotts of companies that supported South African apartheid.

3. I then mentioned that people were being ethnic cleansed, tortured, mass murdered, colonised and more.

And he asked why I was even bothered(showing a lack of empathy or care for other people and their situations). In a really sarcastic way but I chose to give a normal answer.

3.not understanding or caring for other’s struggles especially when it doesn’t centralise him (narcissism, individualism and dehumanisation). That’s why the gay part was so important for this point. Shown in many people who say things like ‘I’m still going to buy from there’ or ‘I don’t care it doesn’t involve me’

4. I responded that it’s important to me because of my identity and culture and that I’m going solidarity to people who have faced mass murders, Islamophobia, racism and colonialism because I am a black Muslim African woman and my people have been through similar struggles so I will fight for people gone through that struggle.

In simpler words showing solidarity with people who have faced similar issues.

He preceded to say that I was using the ‘ race card’.

I said it was about racism, because A. Israel’s occupation and propaganda is heavily rooted in anti-palestinianism as well as the way the wider western media presents. B. A genocide is literally the murder of a race. And C. Israel is a white supremacist state and racial supremacist state so supporting companies that support them is inherently racist. I also told him that if we really want to talk about race than he he needs to acknowledge how privileged he and I Both are for being born in a first world country and him being a white man in a first world country who has never faced the impacts of colonialism, racism, Islamophobia or Anti-Arabism.

4. Inherently racist rhetoric, shows how they view people of colour talking about struggles and probably an extension of how they view a wider spectrum of people of colours issue with disregard and defensiveness (another rule of white supremacy) examples being neutrality on Palestine and Congo (but probably not Ukraine), with ‘race cards’. But also the lack of acknowledgment of ones privilege especially being from a first world country.

5. When he realised that that arguement didn’t work at all he went into defensiveness saying ‘people are attacking him when he said he’s not going to respond to people because he’s already said he’s neutral and wants to stay out of the war cause it’s politics’.

5. I’ll reiterate this again neutrality is complacency and that isn’t a valid excuse.That ignoring a genocide is chosen ignorance. That’s like saying I’m ignoring the h0l0c&ust because I’m not into politics when it’s about humanity. A lot of neutral (really pro-Israel people use it as a justification as to why they can allow themselves to continuously support murder for themselves to be comfortable).

By this I was just getting annoyed, angry and called him ignorant and told him that the reason people don’t like him is because he’s rude, ignorant and misogynistic ( he was victim blaming a girl for wearing a crop top and going out the day after being SA’d and saying that she wouldn’t be wearing if she really was SA’d, which I called him out for in the past and was the reason I didn’t like or speak to him). That he was a terrible human being for not even acknowledge his part in colonialism and this genocide and being wilfully ignorant, in a place of financial stability. Which we need to tell who are in places of privilege but are ignorant

But the main things I’ve seen from hear and wider spread people are: a disregard for human life and justification of genocide for comfort. And in 15 rules of white supremacy:

Defensiveness

Using Either or Thinking (‘all murder is bad, so I believe in peace and I believe in peace for both side’ mentality

Right to Comfort

Fear of Open Conflict (choosing ignorance and staying out of conflict for piece of mind instead of helping other people’s and facing reality)

Individualism

Dehumanisation

[mytruthandbeauty]

27 January 2024

I’m writing this to share some of my joy at my finally choosing a home country, at finally being able to say that I’ve concluded that I’ve found a place that accepts me and that I accept. A place where I feel safe and have peace of mind. I thank the universe for bringing me here and opening my eyes to all it has to offer and for it not turning me away. I’m not a world traveler even though a few people have referred to me as such, but I’m sure that was in jest. I know that I’m privileged to have been able to travel at all. I have only been to five countries outside my home country and I’ve spent most of those three and a half years in Mexico and I’m blessed that Mexico has allowed me to be here all this time. During that time I’ve left Mexico three times, but I’ve always returned. I’m not going to try to make this attraction into some mysterious or spiritual thing I’m too practical for that. The draw Mexico has on me is very practical even though there are also some elements that appeal to my need for beauty. Life teaches you that you should be true to your real self if you are going to be happy with your life and being surrounded by beauty is something that I need to be happy. Mexico supplies beauty in spades. You have the natural beauty of the varied landscapes, the artistic beauty created by its people and the beauty of the smiling faces of the people. But I’m not writing this to talk about aesthetics but the down to earth reasons I love living here.

The most important factor in why I continue to live in Mexico is I am not concerned with or afraid of being confronted by transphobia. I have not had anyone say anything, do anything or act in a transphobic way toward me ever. I am not saying that, that sort of thing doesn’t happen somewhere here or to someone, but it hasn’t been my experience. I haven’t seen a single person out in the streets preaching that gays or trans people are sinners and going to hell. I haven’t once been referred to in male terms by a Mexican except maybe once or twice and when I asked the person if they had done so, they professed that if they had it wasn’t meant to misgender and they apologized for the misunderstanding. I have unfortunately experienced this once by a man at the airport and when I confronted him he offered no apology. He was a white American, surprise, surprise! But in all fairness I’m pretty sure I was once misgendered by a boy, a Mexican, from whom I was trying to get directions and he worked at this building inside a booth behind a plexiglass window. When I asked him if he called me sir he just gave me this dumb smile, so I can’t be sure if he did or if I misheard what he said. Still a couple times in about three years is not very bad. It had been a lot worse back in the states.

My next element about living in Mexico that really makes life a joy is having access to affordable and good quality healthcare, which includes being able to get prescription medication over the counter at very affordable prices. Fortunately for me I am fairly healthy so I don’t need to go to see a doctor often or routinely, but the few times that I have had to see a doctor even though I don’t have insurance I’ve been able to pay for my visits out of pocket because the price was so minimal I think the highest price I have paid has been something like US$40 but in Mexican pesos. so I’m not afraid to go to a doctor whenever I need to do that.

The next thing which is very high on my list is affordable housing. I have been able to always secure housing that is not just well priced but comfortable clean safe and in typically lovely neighborhoods and all of these places have been fully furnished which includes not just the furniture, kitchen appliances, but water and Wi-Fi. I do have to buy bottled water for drinking, cooking and brushing my teeth, but that is a minor cost of $35.00 Mexican pesos for one 20 liter bottle, which typically lasts me about a week. I’ve only had to pay electricity and in most cases I think one place I had to pay for my propane gas, which I used for the stove and hot water, but that typically was only about seven or eight dollars a month. This is not the same as housing, but when I look for an apartment I always look for a place that is in a walkable setting meaning that from my place of residence I can easily walk to all the places that I would typically need to go on a day-to-day basis such as pharmacies, grocery stores, possibly hardware stores, maybe a café, or a restaurant, supermarkets, department stores and banks. When I’m out walking I don’t want to be in constant fear for my life due to the proximity of high speed traffic, you do have to sometimes be aware of the traffic, but often there are streets that don’t allow for frenetic driving, because they are narrow, have visual obstacles that make drivers slow down and the pavement is cobble stone which slows them down too. Drivers here tend to be more courteous and respectful of pedestrians as a rule in my experience, so you have that going for you as someone who maybe getting around on foot. Also on the subject of safety, I have not once felt unsafe the entire time I’ve lived here, not from the national guard with their assault rifles or a casual passerby.

One very simple, but equally important element to good living in my estimation is having ready access to inexpensive fresh unprocessed foods, this is something that I think is under rated by so many people, but so vital to a high quality life. In just about every location in which I’ve lived here I’ve only been a few minutes by foot from a tienda/frutería where I could always get fresh vegetables and fruit. Sometimes there might not be certain items available, but that was simply because they weren’t in season, so you’d get something else. I think it’s better that way and things aren’t being frozen and shipped hundreds or thousands of kilometers just to satisfy a few overly demanding customers taste buds. And that kind of behavior is bad for improving climate change anyway. Another thing about food that is so good here is panaderías. Panaderías are small bakeries that bake their own bread and pastries fresh daily and I love that, because I love fresh pastries, that was something I couldn’t get in my birth country.

And last, but certainly not least, is the weather. Mexico generally speaking has great weather, but here in Oaxaca there are annually 311 days of sunshine. The humidity is comfortable. I’ve only been here during autumn into winter and the days are comfortably dry with mostly sunny skies. The elevation is 1,550 meters or about 5,160 feet which probably accounts for the cooler nights which get to about 50F/12C and warm afternoons of about 80F/28C, like today it started at 53F/13C and this afternoon it’s now 86F/30C. The sky is a bright blue with just a scattering of pale white clouds and the sun has been bright all day. So, these are my reasons for living in Mexico and returning to Mexico at a glance and more importantly why I’m going to make Mexico my official home by getting legal residency. I’ve started the process by searching for a lawyer to help me make this dream a reality and I meet with him soon. Hopefully all will go well and I’ll have my residency card soon. As I said at the beginning of this post I’m not a world traveler. My ambition has been to find a home. I don’t believe that home is simply where you’re born, that is just a circumstance of your birth and that place may not align with your values or suit your needs, tastes or desires, it’s a circumstance you can change if that is what you need to do for whatever reason. I know that I will still want to travel sometimes, but after my residency is secure I’ll have a home to which to return, so it will be vacations to other lands and having a country in which I feel safe and have peace of mind to return will be the icing on the cake. And again I am very grateful to Mexico that I’ve been able to live here and hopefully will soon call it my home. I tried to offer a restrained essay on why I love Mexico, I could easily have made this a very flowery piece, but that I think would have gotten in the way, and in so doing share with you the joy I feel for this wonderful opportunity that life has given me. I will post my progress toward my Mexican residency as development occurs in the mean time thanks to anyone who reads this.

[theprojectreneblogger]

What are your hopes and dreams for InZoi ?

Ive seen the gameplay footage from an honest youtuber and was pleased with what i saw from this 1 year in development game. i’m gonna write down my hopes and dreams for inzoi, please feel free to state yours too :

accurate genetics. graphics looks great but i’m still traumatized from sims 4 borked genetics, i’m hoping the team at inzoi took that aspect seriously.

fun job days. they said work was a big part of the game and it indeed looked fun but a bit repetitive. i’m hoping they develop that aspect more. As an example, why not tie the advanced create an outfit mechanic to a fashion career ? Or since every character look so beautiful, a modeling job could be adequate.

meaningful relationships. i’ve not yet seen characters reject others people advances but i did see a proposal refusal.

engaging events. there is the schedule thing that is nice but surface level. since the IA seems rather smart in this game i’m pretty certain they can make events (mariage, girls night out, games night) memorable.

well thought out hobbies. i pray solo hobbies like programming, crafting, painting are immersive and engaging. i like playing party animals but loners too

Oh I have such a list, but its probably nothing wildly new. As a player that enjoys gameplay more than decorating/playing with styles in character creation, I'm really hoping that inZOI is more than just pretty window dressing and has some fun gameplay.

Robust AI. I would love for characters to autonomously pick their actions based on their personality, their needs, their surroundings/context, their schedule, and what other characters are around them. No dancing for hours on end despite hating dancing.

Mods. Whether that be simply adding in new clothing styles, hair, makeup, and accessories, adding new furniture and devices for the home, adding new jobs, or going further with more changes and even script changes for new functionality. The longevity of a game often depends on the ability to mod it.

Optimized performance and ongoing bug-quashing. Maybe its a given we all hope for this, but I really hope that on a computer that meets recommended specs (whatever those turn out to be) the game runs nicely, looks good, isn't bogged down in obnoxious bugs, etc.

Multiple neighborhoods/maps. Cities, suburbs, and rural spaces - and each one with LOTS of lots to use, at various price ranges for the character to buy/rent. The ability to build/decorate community lots is a must as well, and to assign what type of lot it is (cafe, gym, arcade, etc - hopefully a wide array of these). The city looks gorgeous, I'd love to see what they do with rural and suburban spaces. On that note, not everything needs to be pretty and glamourous. I'd love a run-down side of town with high crime, cheap property, trash in the street, etc for a rougher gameplay experience too. Please, give me a ghetto for my stories.

Diversity. I have admittedly become very spoiled with the way Sims 4 handles diversity these days. I remember Sims 1 when gay marriage just wasn't possible in the game (or IRL....) What the game does with gender and sexuality representation is the best thing I've seen in games to date. Some games are still struggling in this department. I hope inZOI doesn't become one that struggles, and instead is one where I can see the whole LGBTQ+ spectrum. As far as other backgrounds, I'm unfamiliar with Korean culture and kpop has gone over my head musically, but I'm really looking forward to exploring how it is depicted in the game - something fresh and new to me. But I'd also love to see other cultures represented in terms of locations to play in - particularly because the game is so dang pretty, how could we not want this?

Variety in clothing/styles. Hopefully that diversity extends to clothing and hair styles too. Give me your classic timeless looks, goth, scene, metalhead, country, in addition to the modern styles popular in Korea. At least a little bit, and if modding exists, hopefully the modders pick up the slack.

A wide variety of jobs, each with numerous tasks to complete during the day - and each day's tasks are different. A long list of possibilities, with a few picked at random to complete that day, would keep things fresh. The job types are hopefully a mix of 'flavors' from quirky and odd to serious and and intellectual.

A memory and relationship system that means something. Did your bully from grade school start a new job, and as it turns out your his/her boss? Time to decide whether to take the high road or low road with that jerk.

Flow of time that makes sense. Once more comparing it to the Sims, because we have nothing else really to compare it to.... tasks that are completed quickly IRL shouldn't take an hour or more to complete in game. That likely means some animations need to be simpler and shorter. As much as we love a well-done animation, I cannot watch my character take two hours to eat a grilled cheese and drink water while talking to one other person in their kitchen.

Consequences. If my characters cheat on their spouse, I want their spouse to react accordingly (furious, heartbroken, shocked, etc) and never forget this event. Consequences for poor work performance or bad actions (stealing from the cash register!) that lead to being fired, or even handed over to the police. Workplace romances and rivalries. School bullies. Crushes and unrequited love. Police and crime in general, even if that means your character is a victim (remember that car on fire picture?). Eviction or repossession when bills go unpaid. Homelessness. Children getting taken away for neglect. Strained relationships when personalities conflict too much. Mean, crude, evil characters. Sickness and health problems (maybe with a toggle for this in gameplay options for people who don't want it). The effects of drug and alcohol abuse would be great too but for ratings purposes that likely will have to come from mods.

Accurate genetics, with some guardrails. I'd like the kids to look like their parents and be surprised at how good looking (or bad looking!) the kids wind up looking when you couple different characters up, but genetics should avoid giving us things like randomly disappearing chins for no reason, or bizarrely glitched smushed faces, or weird potato bodies with no shoulders.

Wide range of skills, and increasing them provides some kind of benefit, bonus, or something else fun besides just profit or ticking a box to say you did it.

Pets! Cats and dogs but also smaller critters like fish, lizards, turtles, birds, mice, etc. Fun gameplay that makes them feel like part of the family, but without taking up a family character slot.

The ability to turn on/off aging and on/off neighborhood developments, or decide which characters/character households do and do not age or see progression.

Meaningful childhood and elder life states. Life states before being a young adult shouldn't exist simply to pick traits and wait out the age timer while occasionally watching the character do something cute or funny. The character's childhood should have an actual impact on their memories, relationship, and character - good or bad. Similarly, being an elder shouldn't mean the character just takes up space, waiting to die.

No microtransactions. I'm not paying $5 for a set of new furniture meshes and a hat.

Expansions worth their price point. A new expansion shouldn't cost the same as the base game unless you're literally doubling the amount of content. That doesn't happen these days, tbh.

Occults, fantasy, and magic elements as optional expansion someday. I'm torn on this, because it does conflict with the realism I'm looking for, and sometimes I don't want to deal with it in a game. On the other hand, I have a feeling it would be utterly beautiful to see in this game and I know I'd eventually get a wild hair and feel like trying it out, just like I did with the Sims. At least as an expansion, people who have no interest can ignore it.

Education matters. Private schools, schools that aren't rabbit holes, universities, trade schools, etc. would be excellent as an expansion pack. Without the pack, all kids go to the same school(s) and its a rabbit hole. With it, you can follow the character to school just like you can follow a character to work. There are tasks to get through the day and opportunities to socialize, learn skills, get into trouble, etc. The better your character's grades, the better their future university prospects are, which not just increases what the character gets paid, but unlocks certain career paths (doctor, lawyer, etc). Poor performance locks out choices, and terrible performance or misbehavior leads to suspension or expulsion. Online schooling and night school for a GED equivalent (does Korea have something similar?) would be neat too.

Vacation locations. Beaches, camping, cultural/historical sites, ruins, mountain climbing, the list could go on and on. I'm especially interested in anything having to do with water and beaches.

[morifinwes]

wangxian fic rec list!

aka in which i read fics, write some recs down for aamna and share them!! they're all wangxian fics and uhh @yibobibo i hope you'll like them!!

modern

wolf devours playboy bunny by @greenteafiend (5K, werewolf!lwj, getting together, idk if anyone needs to know that but there's nudity just not uhh explicit)

Lan Zhan has wanted Wei Ying as long as he has known him, and the worst part is that he thinks Wei Ying could want him back.

Too bad he could never in good conscience let himself go there—Wei Ying has a debilitating fear of all things canine, and once a month, Lan Zhan is the exact, precise thing that Wei Ying’s nightmares are made of.

Aka, Lan Zhan is a werewolf.

between the lines by @jywait (19K gaming au!!!, i'm always down for a good gaming au, lwj is the best aksks he's such a good boy)

☆yilingpatriarch☆: pls...give me some face, help me fight these monsters...I'm gonna die

Bluetooth: no.

"You have died." The screen said, and Wei Wuxian threw his hands up in frustration.

resonant frequencies by chinxe (15K, college au, fake dating au, tw mention of cheating but it's brief and no one was cheated on i promise)

In which Wei Wuxian decides that the best way to deal with being in love with Lan Wangji is to pretend to date him for three weeks.

It goes about as well as can be expected.

drift compatible by windoworwhatever (5K, poetry, fluff, drunkji, getting together, college au)

"It was just a fact of life. The sky was blue, university stipends for graduate students working in TA positions barely covered rent, bisexuals cuffed their jeans, Lan Wangji had a massive crush on Wei Wuxian, and spent his time pining and writing research papers about gay subtexts in ancient poetry."

OR

Lan Wangji is in love with Wei Wuxian, and everybody knows, except Wei Wuxian.

the bunny next door by detailsinthefabric (43K, this is mostly fluff and very light angst, and they were neighbors!!!, rabbits!!, aka wangxian's bunny children, this is... so cute i just have to rec it)

Lan Wangji did not know what he was doing. He did not know what he was going to say. He was frozen in place, puzzling over the situation. Maybe he had made the man uncomfortable, which is why he wanted to leave? But his tone had still been so friendly—maybe…

“Would…” he paused, swallowed, forced the last words to come out of his suddenly parched mouth, “would you let me pet him?”

-------------------------------------

Lan Wangji, who doesn't know how to socialize and whose icy demeanor scares everyone away, lets down all his defenses when he meets the bunny next door...oh, and also its owner, Wei Wuxian.

leading tone by silencemostofall (32K, everyone is a music student? or something like that akskk, curse fic, tw panic attacks, tw child abuse, small scene of drunkji, wwx has low self esteem, bro this was so painful to read)

The first time you touch someone you're fated to love, you leave a mark on their skin. If they will love you in return, they'll mark you where you touched them. The deeper the color, the deeper the connection.

Wei Ying has no marks at all.

public places, private thoughts by leahelisabeth (for the love of camelot) ( 8K, cherry magic au, getting together with like... immediate upgrade to fiance status, the author is wrong i crave good wangxian cherry magic aus even tho i haven't even watched cherry magic)

Wei Wuxian had heard the story of course. It had made its rounds through his high school and followed him into his college days. He didn’t think there was any possibility it was true. Virginity was a social construct, invented by creepy old men to exercise dominance over women. The idea that a simple lack of sexual activity before the age of thirty could give one magical powers was absolutely ludicrous.

Wei Wuxian believed this until the morning of his thirtieth birthday.

AKA the Wangxian Cherry Magic AU that absolutely nobody asked for.

i'd be all right (if i could see you) by @thirtysixsavefiles (16K, this was nice, i read this at 6am but it was cute, (while writing this post i must admit i don't remember anything but 6am-me said it's good))

The younger Lan brother is something of an enigma on campus; while Lan Xichen can sometimes be seen in the company of other graduate students or conducting a seminar, Lan Wangji appears to spend all his time in class or in the library. He doesn’t drink. He doesn’t smoke. He doesn’t attend social events. He doesn’t do anything for fun, as far as Wei Wuxian can tell, and it’s driving Wei Wuxian just a little bit up the wall.

Or, Wei Wuxian convinces Lan Wangji to come to a house party, and then they're assigned to the same group project. Wei Wuxian tries his best, but he is not in possession of all the facts.

axe on leg by itszero (4K, i still don't get why wwx did that but it was nice seeing him jealous for once, jealous!wwx, lwj i love you....)

Wei Wuxian pressed his face into his pillow and screamed. He paused to take a few deep breaths, partially hindered by the pillow, and listened to the sounds of Nie Huaisang slurping his iced coffee, from his seat on Wei Wuxian's desk chair.

Having caught his breath, he resumed his screaming and did not stop at the sound of his dorm room door opening.

"What's wrong with him?" He heard his brother, Jiang Cheng, ask.

The slurping stopped. "He's an idiot."

"He's always been an idiot. Why is he bothered about it now?"

"He forced Lan Wangji to go on a date," Nie Huaisang replied, shaking the ice cubes in his drink.

"Okay and…?"

"With someone else." The slurping resumed.

Wei Wuxian, in all his glorious dumbassery, convinces his boyfriend to go on a date with someone else.

these two most powerful by @stiltonbasket (4K, amnesia, wangxian with children!!!, aksksk this was adorable, dadji!!)

When Lan Wangji went to bed last night, he was alone in a tiny guest room with nothing but the howling of the wind in the mountains and his own lonely thoughts for company.

 

But when he opened his eyes in the morning, Wei Ying was asleep beside him.

 

(In which Lan Wangji loses twenty years' worth of memories after a night-hunt gone wrong, and his life as a doting father and husband continues without a hitch somehow.)

good things come to those who wait [but i ain't in a patient phase] by @cerlunas (4K, getting together, pining lwj)

Lan Wangji can't take it anymore.

 

“I love you”, he says, and god, it feels terrifying. “I’ve been in love with you for a long time.”

“Lan Zhan…” Wei Wuxian starts, but Lan Wangji doesn’t want to hear it.

He grabs his cup and drinks everything. He doesn’t know what face Wei Wuxian is making at him right now, and it’s okay. 

“Lan Zhan!” Wei Wuxian repeats louder, but it’s too late. He is already falling asleep.

Or, even after 13 years, Lan Wangji is still in love with his best friend. Maybe it's time to open up.

wei ying, will you marry m- oh my god he swallowed the ring! by selene210 (2K, marriage proposals, crack, marriage proposals but.. they go wrong)

“A ring?”

And indeed it was. The ring Lan Wangji was going to propose to Wei Ying with. That the man had now choked on.

“You swallowed it.”

“It was in my soufflé! Why did you put a ring in my soufflé Lan Zhan- oh. oh”

of glittery valentine's cards by @soft-fics (3K, valentine's day, this was adorable aksk, a-yuan best boy!!)

Lan Zhan didn't want to know what his best friend had planned for Valentine's Day; his heart would simply not be able to handle it. When his son tells him that he made Wei Ying a Valentine's Day card, though, Lan Zhan decided to bring it over anyway.

of coffee and white tea by @soft-fics (9K, fluff, lwj doesn't like coffee, wwx buys him coffee, then they switch drinks, again and again and again, the staff ships it lmao, tbh jc shouldn't have done that like wtf)

For the fourth time this week a stranger orders him a cup of coffee. Lan Wangji wonders how exactly to tell this man to stop ordering him coffee he doesn't even like. Turns out, buying the other white tea and switching drinks is not the best way to go about it

canon setting

on the importance of restraint (or lack thereof) by nixthothou (4K, in which sizhui snaps, i love that boy, no like seriously he's the best boy)

Lan Sizhui does not usually find himself in the company of Sect Leader Jiang.

Suffice to say, Lan Sizhui's feelings toward him are conflicted.

lan wangji is wei wuxian's baby by lilycs (3K, i was craving fluff while reading this, lwj my beloved, drunk!lwj)

Lan Wangji gets drunk from barely a cup of alcohol, becoming a whiny baby and asking his husband for cuddles.

one of our own by glitteringmoonlight (8K, wei wuxian & lan sect, 5+1 things, in which they learn to love him, they're all part of the wwx protection squad lead by lwj, wangxian isn't the focus but !!! THIS)

Times change, but some people remain the same.

The Lans are nothing, if not aware of this.

For one of their own, they will stand against the world.

Or, 5 times the Lans defended Wei Wuxian, and the 1 time he was there to see it happen.

so why not crack your skull when the mind swells by @greenteafiend (13K, love curse, post cql canon, curses, getting together, fluff, so much fluff, lwj tries to talk about his emotions!, lwj pov)

Lan Wangji detects the curse trying to curl through his heart meridians like smoke. A love curse, then. It must have been cast remotely somehow to have found him in his bed in Cloud Recesses. No matter. Lan Wangji crushes it easily, enveloping it in his spiritual energy, and then squeezing. Curse averted, Lan Wangji closes his eyes and goes back to sleep. He thinks no more of it.

Two days later, Wei Wuxian arrives in Cloud Recesses.

Or, Wei Wuxian is cursed to feel terrible pain when he and Lan Wangji aren’t touching.

i started from the bottom / now i'm rich by x_los (57K, time travel, fix it, jealous lwj, crack treated serious, god this is so good tho, wwx/wrh & wwx/jgs but like as a joke and it doesn't really happen, but it has its purpose!!)

“First, you get the money. Then you get the power, respect - hos come last.”

 

Wen Qing traps Wei Wuxian in the Demon Slaughtering Cave, but Wei Wuxian isn’t interested in being the beneficiary of the Wen Remnants’ noble sacrifice. His efforts to free himself accidentally send him back to the beginning of the Sunshot Campaign. Coreless but armed with demonic cultivation, knowledge of the future and his wits, Wei Wuxian takes advantage of this opportunity to come out on top of both the war and its aftermath—before either has a chance to happen—by marrying and swiftly burying the cultivation world’s worst men.

Lan Wangji is confused, hurt, and uncomfortably aroused by Wei Wuxian’s improbably elaborate series of Sect-themed bridal negligees.

lead me on through by mrsronweasley (55K, they're in love your honor, arranged marriage but they don't know to whom, basically wwx & lwj want to practice kissing which then goes beyond kissing but not the whole way y'know, lxc the best wingman tho)

"Who do you think your betrothed is?" Wei Wuxian asks, sprawling out in front of Lan Zhan and enjoying the prim thinning of his lips at the question. He shouldn't be sprawling—they're in the library, for one, and Lan Zhan is studying, for another—but he can't help himself. Wei Wuxian is a sprawler.

"I do not believe this to be of importance," Lan Zhan responds, without turning his gaze away from his book.

"What!" Wei Wuxian sits up. "How can you say that? Of course it's important! This is the person you'll be with for the rest of your life, Lan Zhan."

[celepeace]

A monster-taming game recommendation list for fans of Pokemon

Whether you're a pokemon fanatic obsessed with all things pokemon past and present, or a veteran fan disillusioned with GameFreak's recent adoption of monetary philosophies and strategies reminiscent of other major game publishers, or looking for a monster-taming fix as you await new Pokemon content...

I'm compiling here a post of little-known games in the genre that Pokemon fans are likely to enjoy!

Under readmore cause long, but some of these games really don’t get the attention they deserve, so if you have the time, please read!

(I am also likely to keep updating and editing this post)

First up is Temtem!

Temtem is a game made by and for Pokemon fans, from the spanish indie developer Crema. Temtem is currently in early access on Steam and PS5, and is likely to remain in early access until sometime late next year. Full launch will include a Nintendo Switch release, too. Despite this, it has plenty of content to explore before full release. The developers are active, release new content on a semi-regular basis, and are responsive to the community as a whole and individuals if you happen to come across a bug you want to report.

Temtem boasts a wide variety of monsters to collect and train. It takes place in the Airborne Archipelago, a system of floating islands that orbit their star, the Pansun. The monsters inhabiting the archipelago are called Temtem, or tem(s), for short.

As far as game mechanics go, it has many similarities to Pokemon, but also many important distinctions. The biggest one, in my opinion, is that the element of chance has been removed from battle entirely. Moves cannot miss, have the same power constantly, and status afflictions have an obviously displayed countdown to when they will wear off (for instance, sleep lasts as long as it says it will last. Not 2-4 turns). PP does not exist, either. Your tems can battle for as long as their HP holds out. In place of PP, a new system called Stamina exists. Stamina is an individual stat, like HP and Attack. Each move costs a certain amount of stamina. If you go over the amount of stamina your tem has, the deficit is detracted from your health instead, and that tem cannot move next turn. Stamina passively regenerates a certain amount each turn, and items and moves exist that can heal stamina. All battles are also double-battles, you and your opponent will typically have two tems on the field at a time. This is just a few of the differences Temtem has from Pokemon, but they're some of the biggest ones.

Temtem is also a massively multiplayer game. You complete the storyline independently (or with a friend through co-op!), but in the overworld you can see other, real players moving around and interacting with the world. There is also public and area-specific chat you can talk to other players through. Despite this, all multiplayer functions are (currently) completely optional. You do not need to interact with others to complete the game.

Overall, Temtem is suitable for the Pokemon fan who is looking for a more challenging experience. Temtem is not a walk in the park you can blaze through with a single super-strong monster. For one, individual tem strength is more well-balanced than it is in Pokemon. There are very few (if any!) completely useless tems. Even some unevolved tems have their niche in the competitive scene! Aside from that, enemy tamers are scaled quite high, and you typically cannot beat them just from the exp you get from other enemy tamers. You have to do some wild-encounter grinding if you want to progress.

Temtem is a very fun game and I've already gotten over 100 hours out of it, despite only 3/5-ish of the planned content being released!

However, I do feel obligated to warn any prospective players of one thing: the current endgame is quite inaccessible. After you complete what is currently implemented of the main storyline, there is still quite a lot left to explore and do, but much of it is locked behind putting a lot of hours into the game. You kind of have to get perfect temtem to do the current PVE (and this is also somewhat true for the PVP too). By perfect I mean you have to breed a good tem and then train it to get the preferable EVs (called TVs in temtem). This takes... well, for a whole team... tens of hours. Of boring grinding. Some people enjoy it! But I don't. Regardless, the game was still worth buying because the non-endgame content is expansive and fun.

So overall, pros & cons:

Pros

Battle system is more friendly towards a competitive scene

Cute monsters

Lots of gay characters, also you can choose pronouns (including they/them) independently from body type and voice

Less difference between the objectively bad tems and good tems than there is in Pokemon

Lots of stuff to do even in early access

Most conversations with dialog choices have the option to be a complete ass for no reason other than it’s fun

Having less type variety in your team is less punishing than in Pokemon due to the synergy system and types overall having less weaknesses and resistances

At least one major character is nonbinary

Cons

Falls prey to the issue of MMOs having in-game economies that are only accessible to diehard no-life players

Related to the above point, cosmetics are prohibitively expensive

Endgame CURRENTLY is inaccessible to most players unless you buy good monsters from other players or spend tens of hours making your own. However I must add that the grind is great if you like that kind of thing and is quite easy and painless to do while watching a show or something.

Here is their Steam page and here is their official website.

Next is Monster Hunter: Stories!

This is a spinoff game of the Monster Hunter franchise released for the 3DS in 2018. If you're anything like me, and you've played the core Monster Hunter games, you've often thought "Man, I wish I could befriend and ride these cool dragon creatures instead of killing or maiming them!"

Well now you can! In Stories, as I will be calling it, you play as a rider rather than a hunter. Riders steal monster eggs from wild nests to raise them among humans as companions and guardians. And yes, egg stealing is a whole mechanic in of itself in this game.

This game works pretty differently from most monster-collecting games. You do battle (usually) against one or two wild monsters using your own, except you fight alongside your monsters too. With swords and stuff. There's armor and weapons you can smelt to make yourself stronger. Type match-ups also kind of don't exist in this game? Except they do? But not in a way you'd expect?

The vast majority of attacking moves you and your monster use fall into categories reminiscent of rock-paper-scissors. Moves can be categorized as power, speed, or technical. Speed beats power, technical beats speed, and power beats technical. The matchup of your move vs your opponent's determines how a turn will go down. If one move beats the other in matchup, then the winner's move will get to go and the loser doesn't get to do anything. If you tie, you both get hit, but for reduced damage. There's also abilities and basic attacks, with abilities basically being the same as pokemon moves, and basic attacks just being "I hit you for normal damage within this category". Also, you don't control what your monster does all the time in battle. You can tell it to use abilities, but what kind basic attacks it carries out is determined by its species' preference. Velicidrome, for instance, prefers speed attacks, but Yian Garuga prefers technical. Stamina also exists in this game in a very similar manner to Temtem.

Overall this game carries over a lot of mechanics Monster Hunter fans will find familiar (how items and statuses work for instance). You don't have to have played a core Monster Hunter game to enjoy Stories though! It's fine and is easy to understand as a stand-alone.

The story has some likable characters and is rather long (it was actually adapted into an anime!), for those of you who enjoy a good story.

I'd really recommend this one especially. If it sounds fun to you and you can drop $30, just do it. I bought it on a whim and I got a few weeks' worth of playing almost nonstop out of it, and I didn't even get to do everything! (I got distracted by Hades, oops)

Stories is also getting a sequel later next year on the nintendo switch! How exciting!

And yes, you do ride the monsters.

Pros & cons:

Pros

Large variety of cool monsters to befriend and raise

Pretty lengthy story

Every tamable monster is also rideable

Deceptively simple combat mechanics, easy to be okay at, hard to master

Incorporates some mechanics from early turn-based party rpgs like Final Fantasy for a nice twist on the monster collecting genre

Cons

Many monsters are objectively outclassed by other ones, making what can be in an actually good team more limited than you’d expect

3DS graphics inherently means the game looks like it was made 7 years before its time

Here is the Monster Hunter Stories official 3DS product page.

And here is Monster Sanctuary!

Monster sanctuary is a game that just had its 1.0 launch- meaning it was in early access and no longer is! Although the devs say they still plan to implement a few more things into the game in future updates. It is available on Steam, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and PS4.

Monster sanctuary is a metroidvania twist on the typical monster collecting game, meaning it is also a sidescrolling platformer in which you use abilities you gain throughout the game to explore the world around you. The abilities in this case are the monsters you get! Every monster has an ability that helps you traverse the sanctuary.

Speaking of the sanctuary, the game is set in one. The monster sanctuary is a magically shielded area, cut off from the rest of the world, created by an order of monster keepers, people who befriend and protect the mystical monsters inhabiting the world. Humankind encroached too far on the natural habitat of monsters and were hostile to the native wildlife, so the keepers created an area of varied environments to safely protect and preserve the remaining monsters of the world.

Unlike many other monster collecting games, this game only has 5 types: fire, water, earth, air, and neutral. However, the types themselves do not possess resistances and weaknesses. Instead, each monster has its own assigned weaknesses and resistances. And yes, this can include things like debuffs, physical vs special attacks, and the typical elemental types.

All battles are also 3 vs 3! And unlike in pokemon, where you can only hit the enemies nearest, all monsters have the ability to hit any opponent they want. Turns also work a little differently in that speed doesn't exist, you just use 1 move per monster in your turn and then it goes to your opponent's turn. Your monsters hit in whatever order you want them to.

There is also a quite important combo system in this game, where every hit builds a damage multiplier for the next. Moves often hit multiple times per turn. Healing and buffing actions also build this combo counter. So what monsters you have move in what order really counts!

But the main mechanical difference between this and other games in the genre is how it handles levels and skills. Instead of learning a set move at a certain level, this game incorporates a skill tree, and you get to allocate points into different skills as you grow stronger. And jeez, these skill trees are really extensive. Monster sanctuary is a theorycrafter's dream. Each monster has a unique, specially tailored skill tree, making every monster truly able to have its own niche. You can make use of whatever monster you want if you just put thought into it!

And like Temtem, this game is not made to be beatable by children. I'm sure a child could beat it, but it's not made to be inherently child-friendly like pokemon. It's honestly quite difficult.

On top of that, you are actively encouraged to not just be scraping by each battle. Your performance in battle is rated by an automated system that scores your usage of various mechanics like buffs and debuffs applied, type matchups, and effective usage of combos. The rating system directly influences the rewards you get from each battle, including your likelihood of obtaining an egg from one of the wild monsters you battled (no, you don't catch wild monsters in this game, you get eggs and hatch them). If you're not paying attention to how the game works and making good, effective use of your monsters, you'll have a hard time expanding your team!

The music is also really good, it's made by nature to be able to play over and over and not get old as you explore each area, and the composer(s) really did a good job with this. Some area songs, namely the beach one, I especially enjoy, so much so I've actually played it in the background while I do work.

This is a game I would really recommend. If I made it sound intimidating, it is by no means unbeatable, you're just gonna have to put some thought into how you play. At no point did I actually feel frustrated or like something was impossible. When I hit a wall, I was able to recognize what I did wrong and how I could improve, or I could at least realize something wasn't working and experiment until I found a solution. It's challenging in a genuinely fun, rewarding way.

Pros & cons:

Pros

Extremely in-depth combat system

I genuinely don’t know if there’s an objectively bad monster in this game

Evolution exists but is completely optional, as even un-evolved monsters can be great

Entire soundtrack is full of bangers

Large and diverse variety of monsters to tame

Cons

Story is a little lackluster, but passable

That’s the only con I can think of

Here’s a link to their Steam page and the game’s website.

A kind of unorthodox recommendation is the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon series!

Likelihood is that everyone reading this has heard of this series already, but just in case anyone hasn't, I thought I'd include it! I would categorize this as a hybrid between the mystery dungeon genre and the monster collecting genre, because you recruit pokemon as you play and can use those pokemon on your team!

If you're unaware, the mystery dungeon genre is a small subset of dungeon crawler games where you progress through randomly generated levels called mystery dungeons. Throughout the dungeons, there will be enemies to fight and items to collect. The challenge of these games is mostly due to the stamina aspect of them, in that you have to manage your resources as you progress through the level. If you go all out in each fight, you will inevitably lose quite quickly. You have to learn to win against enemies while balancing your use of items and PP, so you have enough for the next fight, and the fight after that.

Pokemon mystery dungeon in particular is famous for its stories, the likes of which isn't seen often in Pokemon games. They are hugely story-driven games and are notable for the emotional depth they possess. It's pretty normal for the average player to cry at least once in the span of the game. There's lots of memes about that specifically.

This entry in my list is also unique for being a series. So, which one should you play first? It actually doesn't matter! Each storyline is entirely self-contained and requires no knowledge of prior entries. The quality of each entry varies and is a point of contention among fans. I say you should play all of them, because they all have their merits (though some more than others.... coughgatestoinfinitycough). They're mostly distinct for the generation of Pokemon they take place in. Rescue team is gen 3, Explorers is gen 4, Gates to Infinity is gen 5, Super Mystery Dungeon is gen 6, and Rescue Team DX is a remake of a gen 3 game but has the mechanics and moves of a gen 8 game.

My only real caution is that you play Explorers of Sky, not Darkness or Time. Sky is basically a combination of the two games with added items and content. It's an objective upgrade over its predecessors, and I honestly wouldn't waste money on the other two. 

I’m not going to include a pros and cons list for the PMD series because I’m incredibly biased and it wouldn’t be an honest review.

Next is Monster Crown!

Monster Crown is a monster collecting game that seems to take heavy inspiration from early-gen Pokemon games in particular. It is currently in early access on Steam and is not expensive. I learned about it through the developers of Monster Sanctuary, when they recommended it on their official Discord.

The game has lots of charm and interesting creature designs, and an entirely new take on monster typings as well. Instead of monster types being based off of natural elements like fire, water, electricity, etc. Monster Crown uses typings that seem to be influenced by the personalities of the monsters. For instance, Brutal, Relentless, and Will are all monster types!

It also captures a lot of the charm many of us look fondly upon in early GameBoy-era games. The music is mostly chiptune, with some more modern backing instruments at times, and the visuals are very reminiscent of games like Pokemon Crystal in particular. Monster Crown is definitely the monster collecting game for fans of the 8-bit era!

The thing that stands out the most to me about this game is the breeding system. Instead of one parent monster passing down its species to its offspring, you can create true hybrids in this game.

However, it is very early access. I would consider the current build as an alpha, not even a beta yet! So temper your expectations here. I have not encountered any major bugs, but visual glitches here and there are quite common. The game also could definitely use some polish and streamlining, and is quite limited in content currently. But the dev(s) seem quite active, so I fully expect these kinks to be worked out in time!

The reviews are rather positive, especially for being in early access. I'm all for expanding the monster collecting genre, so if you're looking to expand your horizons in that sense, I would recommend you at least give this one a look! I personally had quite a bit of fun playing Monster Crown and am going to keep an eye out for updates.

Pros & cons:

Pros

Charming artstyle, appealing monster designs

Faithful callback to a bygone era of gaming

Controls are fairly simple and easy to get the hang of (and are completely customizable!)

Cool breeding and hybridization mechanics

There's a starter for each monster type!

You can choose your pronouns, including they/them!

Cons

Inherent nature of being very early access means can be clunky and unpolished at times

Also not much content as of right now, see above

User interface could use some redesign in places

Here’s their Steam page and the official website!

Here’s an oldie but a goodie, Azure Dreams!

This is one I actually haven’t played, mostly because it’s really old and therefore only practically accessible if you play it on an emulator, unless you're one of those old game collectors. Azure Dreams was developed by Konami and released for the PS1 in 1997. My impression of it was that it either didn’t sell well or only took off in Japan, because it’s actually really hard to find any comprehensive information about it on the internet.

Azure Dreams is a monster collecting - dating sim hybrid. You can build relationships with various characters and can pursue some of them romantically, although that isn’t the main draw of the game. There is also a stripped-down version that exists for the GameBoy Color, which forgoes the dating portion of the game entirely.

Azure Dreams is kind of like a mystery dungeon game in that you progress through a randomly generated, ever-changing tower using the help of the familiars you have accrued throughout your adventure. Similarly to Monster Hunter: Stories, you yourself also take part in the fighting alongside your monsters. Each time you enter the tower, your character’s level is lowered to 1, but your familiars keep their experience. Thus, progression is made through strengthening your monsters. To obtain monsters, you collect their eggs, just like in Monster Sanctuary (which, turns out, was at least partially inspired by this game!)

Due to this game being very old and on the PS1, the visuals leave a lot to be desired... but if you can get past that, Azure Dreams has lots of replayability and customization to how you play the game. To this day, it appears it has a somewhat active speedrunning community!

If you don’t mind the effort of using an emulator, and like old games, Azure Dreams just might be that timesink you were looking for in quarantine.

Honorable mentions:

Pokemon Insurgence (or any Pokemon fangame/ROMhack, really!) is a Pokemon fangame that introduces Delta Pokemon, which are really cool type-swapped versions of existing Pokemon. It’s sufficiently challenging and has a lot of variety in what you can catch in the wild, so you can pretty much add whatever you want to your team! The story is quite good, and the main campaign is multiple times longer than a typical Pokemon game’s campaign. Download it here!

ARK: Survival Evolved is NOT a monster collecting game BUT you do get to tame and fight alongside a lot of really cool extinct species, including but not limited to the dinosaurs we all know and love. This game is genuinely fun as hell, especially with friends, but I must warn you: never play on official servers. I highly recommend singleplayer, playing on a casual private server, or making your own server. Here’s the Steam page.

[sunnyoldbear]

I’m no artist but all I think about is Luca so here are my headcanons for them when they’re older!

Luca:

As I said in a previous post, he gets a bit thicker as he grows since his whole family is on the thicker side and he’s very skinny.

His tail gets longer as he gets older and he’s like a little kitty with it. When he’s in the water, he sleeps on his stomach with it curled completely around him. He also wraps his tail around Alberto and Giulia at times if there’s ever a time where it’s raining or something when they’re in the surface.

He’s the shortest of the trio and he hates that with every fiber of his being. Neither of them let him forget it.

He loves space more than the movie lets on, and that’s saying something. He has read almost every book he can find on it and he rambles about it every day.

He is still pretty clumsy and his arms always have a few bruises or scrapes on them. He likes putting colorful bandaids on his cuts because he likes the colors.

He loves helping Giulia’s mom with painting! Not just modeling for her, but just painting with her or learning. It reminds him of Alberto. He’s not… good at it, but he loves it.

Oh he loves dogs. He’s still a little scared of cats after Machiavelli, but Nerone is his baby and he would do anything for that little pup.

Has a massive sweet tooth!

As expected, he loves learning about Vespas and how they work and everything. He does his research and writes letters to Alberto about the best books to read about Vespas to ensure they buy or make the very best one.

He’s always moving, just can’t sit still. He’s always bouncing his knee or kicking his legs or drumming his fingers. He just can’t help it. (He’s neurodivergent yes, but this is the 50s so…)

Still has very fishy sayings that no one but him, his family, and Alberto understand.

Can ramble for hours about the sea and how he can relate it to space. He still loves water and tends to list the names of his goatfish under his breath when he’s stressed to calm himself down. He still misses wrangling them, but he is so happy that he’s free.

Spends hours working on his handwriting because he doesn’t like how messy it is. He wants it to be perfect.

He’s very self conscious about most human things he does. The only thing he isn’t self conscious about is his swimming abilities, but he hides it pretty well. He’s most self conscious about his intelligence, or lack thereof. He’s meant to be at Giulia’s level of intelligence but since he was raised in the ocean, he knows next to nothing and so he has to work extra hard to get good grades. He stresses a lot about it and sobs if he gets a bad grade.

He’s a surprisingly good cook. It just relaxes him.

He loves flowers and learned how to make flower crowns.

He also loves collecting seashells he finds because it reminds him of home.

Like many agree, he is terrified of bugs, but he could never hurt one.

He’s very emotional, but that’s canon so.

His letters to Alberto are typically very long and full of emotions and things about his day, as well as random things. He doesn’t mind Alberto’s shorter letters, and he saves them in a box under his bed.

Every time he sees Alberto again he practically tackles him in a hug. The first time, both of them fell straight to the floor and were bruised for days.

He loves stuffed animals. Since it’s not “manly” to keep them, he gets them “for Giulia” and then puts them on his bed. (Modern day, he wouldn’t give a damn and just get them for himself)

Gets flustered super easily, as we see in canon. Be it an innocent romantic comment or a nice compliment, he goes super red and embarrassed, stumbling over his words.

Still says “silenzio Bruno” before he does anything he’s nervous to. Some kids at school are confused about it but he’s more confused at their confusion. How do they not know what a Bruno is? Isn’t it a human thing?

Loves to annotate his books. Associates certain books/book quotes with the people he loves and will give them those books or repeat the quote to them.

Though Genova is much more accepting than Portorosso, he is still bullied pretty badly when Giulia isn’t around, and sometimes even when she is. He pretends nothing happens or that it doesn’t bother him, but it does. It bothers him so, so much. Alberto can see right through him with ease and is there to remind him that everything is okay and he’s still loved. It helps, but not as much as Alberto thinks it does.

Even with the bullying, Luca loves school so, so much. That being said, he loves summer and being in Portorosso more.

Does that “look me in the eyes. You know I love you right?” thing he and his mother do to everyone he loves.

Alberto:

There is nothing he loves more than harassing Giulia. Being her brother, he loves to tease her, but will fight anyone who does the same.

Once decked Ercole. Got in trouble but Massimo secretly gave him a high five.

Cleaned up the island and erased the tallies he made for his father. He put some of Giulia’s fairy lights in there and has a few extra pillows, books in every corner and drawings all across the tower. He still has a lot of his human artifacts, but most of them are gone since he needs money for a Vespa.

His new tally board has “Reunion” scrawled at the top and its for waiting for his sister and best friend to return home.

Loves being a lifeguard.

Is super close to Machiavelli now and even adopted a stray to be his friend. Or uh… more than a friend, considering the big litter the cat soon fathered.

Alberto named all the kittens after fish.

He always draws things for Luca and eagerly waits his arrival.

Also has a massive sweet tooth, bigger than Luca’s.

Stores Luca’s letters away under his bed.

He and Massimo made Giulia’s hideout a proper treehouse and it’s now a study spot.

Has tons of books about Vespas. Massimo taught him to read and write.

He’s more self confident about his “human expertise” since he does it his own way.

One of the messiest eaters I swear to god-

Doesn’t care much about space, but he’ll listen to Luca ramble about it for hours without complaint.

Doesn’t really have anything he’s super interested in other than Vespas like how Luca likes space, but I might change my mind about that.

Loves watermelon!

His recklessness causes him to have as many bruises and scrapes as Luca’s clumsiness does, but he doesn’t care about putting bandaids on.

Alberto’s letters are pretty short but great!

Definitely bottles things up until he can’t anymore but he’s trying to get better.

Part of him feels guilty about catching and eating fish, but it’s hinted seamonsters eat fish so I’m accepting that as canon and saying he feels slightly less guilty about it. Definitely enjoys pasta more.

Loves the snow, especially when it means snowball fights. (Definitely throws them as hard as he can at Ercole. Son of a bitch deserves it.)

Oh yeah, he swears now. He’s heard a few swears around while making deliveries around the year and catches on. He makes a few of his own, too.

He just makes up words of his own as well as phrases. He doesn’t just convince Luca to say them. He convinces Massimo & Giulia as well as Luca’s fam. It’s a big, fun inside joke.

Loves turning into a sea monster and acting silly to make the kids around town smile.

Honestly he just loves being a sea monster. It’s great to be him. He feels free. It’s not as good a feeling as being on a Vespa, but it’s something.

He stares longingly at every Vespa he sees.

He probably named that girl cat Vespa or some variation of now that I think of it.

Giulia:

I see a lot of headcanons of her with glasses and I gotta say I love it! So, glasses Giulia!!!

Tallest of the three! Alberto hates her for it but she loves it.

She actually takes after her father more than she does her mother, contrary to popular belief.

Though she loves space, after her meeting with the boys, she’s thinking of marine biology. She stays up late every night researching everything aquatic. She constantly asks the boys about sea things and visits in that diver suit whenever she can.

She bullies Alberto as often as he bullies her. Their play fights look so aggressive that people think they’re actually trying to kill each other.

She’s constantly torn between chopping off all her hair or letting it grow out. She settles on leaving it medium length and tie it up.

A very yellow person! It’s everywhere. She loves it so much! The color of happiness, baby.

She’s the first to call Alberto part of the family, saying in a letter that her school wants to meet her brother. She got a letter from Massimo saying Alberto sobbed upon reading it.

Loves to paint with her mom but thinks bike riding is better. She loves that bike.

Harasses Alberto to put a sidecar on his Vespa for her. (Inspired by a drawing by aishimation on Instagram!)

Though she adore her mother, she’s a daddy’s girl and loves him so much.

Can and will punch anyone who calls her brother and her best friend a monster straight in the jaw

Hates her school uniform

Will also pour water all over Alberto just to piss him off

Summertime? I think you mean “training for the Portorosso Cup and also attack Alberto and Luca with a hose for a few months”

She loves to dance

Wants to get tattoos when she’s older

Very much a feminist and doesn’t care how much trouble she gets in for voicing what she knows is right

---

More on the way probably. These dumb gay Italian fish and their ginger friend is all I think about dhdhjdhdvdh