#dialog-level listener

[kirantech]

Accessing Component Policies in AEM via ResourceType-Based Servlet

Problem Statement: How can I leverage component policies chosen at the template level to manage the dropdown-based selection? Introduction: AEM has integrated component policies as a pivotal element of the editable template feature. This functionality empowers both authors and developers to provide options for configuring the comprehensive behavior of fully-featured components, including…

[tiredfoxtf]

Have you ever read a translation being prior familiar with original and just wanted to throw hands.

[thewriteadviceforwriters]

The Writer's Guide to Mastering Dialogue

You've heard it a thousand times—show, don't tell. One of the most effective ways to do this in your writing is through dialogue. Dialogue helps bring your story and characters to life, propels the action forward, and engages readers. But crafting realistic, compelling dialogue is an art form that takes practice. Don't worry, Rin's got you covered. In this guide, you'll discover techniques for writing dialogue that sparkles. You'll learn how to make conversations sound natural, differentiate character voices, convey subtext and emotion, and use dialog for exposition. By the end, you'll be writing dialogue with confidence and watching your characters come to life on the page. So grab a cup of coffee or mocha (my favorite), settle in, and let's chat about the art of conversation.

Why Dialogue Matters in Your Novel

Dialogue is one of the most powerful tools in a writer's arsenal. It brings your story to life and creates realistic characters that readers can connect with. If you want to master the art of fiction writing, you need to know how to write compelling dialogue.

Dialogue reveals character and moves the story forward. Through dialogue, readers get a sense of your characters' personalities, backgrounds, and motivations. It's a chance to show, not tell, what your characters are like. Dialogue also propels the action and builds suspense, as characters chat about the events unfolding in the story.

There are a few keys to crafting believable and engaging dialog:

•Make it sound natural. Listen to real conversations for inspiration. Dialogue should flow and feel spontaneous, not stiff or forced. Use contractions, interruptions, and imperfect speech.

•Give each character a unique voice. The way people speak depends a lot on their background, education level, profession, and personality. Capture the subtleties of different speaking styles to bring your characters to life.

•Use dialogue tags and actions. Adding "he said/she said" and descriptions of characters' actions and expressions during conversations helps readers keep track of who's talking and provides context. Use a variety of tags like asked, exclaimed, and murmured.

•Move the conversation along. Keep dialog concise and avoid unnecessary filler words. Get to the point so readers stay interested in what's being said. Dialogue should always move the story forward.

•Show tension and conflict. Interesting conversations often involve disagreement, sarcasm, arguing, or questioning. Create tension through dialogue to keep readers engaged.

With the right techniques, you can make dialogue a pivotal part of your story. So listen, observe, and practice the art of great conversation - your readers will thank you!

Developing Distinctive Character Voices Through Dialogue

To develop distinctive voices for your characters, focus on how they speak. Dialogue is one of the best ways to bring your characters to life and propel your story forward.

Pay attention to your characters’ backgrounds, experiences, education levels, and attitudes. All of these factors influence how people talk in real life, so apply that to your characters. Maybe your wise-cracking character uses a lot of humor and sarcasm, while your shy character speaks hesitantly in short sentences.

Listen for speech patterns, accents, and catchphrases in real conversations and note them for inspiration. Capture the rhythm and flow of natural dialogue.

Give each character their own vocabulary based on their interests, jobs, and lifestyles. The tech geek’s dialogue will differ from the history professor’s.

Establish characters’ voices from their first lines of dialog. Look for a memorable way for them to express themselves. The impatient character may frequently use phrases like “spit it out already!” while the pessimist’s go-to is “what could possibly go wrong?”

Use dialog to reveal aspects of characters’ personalities and backgrounds without telling readers directly. Show, don’t tell. For example, a character who says “please” and “thank you” in every sentence likely has a polite and courteous nature.

Read dialogue aloud to make sure it sounds natural. Get friends or family members to read different characters’ lines. If anything sounds off, rework it.

With practice, crafting distinct voices for your characters through dialog will become second nature. Your characters' voices, conveyed through the words they say and the way they say them, will make your story come alive for readers. So take the time to get to know your characters by how they speak. Their voices are worth developing.

Using Dialogue to Reveal Character

Reveal Character Through Dialogue

Dialog is one of the best ways to reveal details about your characters and show their personalities. Carefully crafted conversations can expose a character's background, values, education level, and more without telling the reader outright.

As your characters talk, think about what kinds of words and phrases they would use based on who they are. An older British gentleman will speak very differently than a teenage skateboarder from California. Listen to people with similar backgrounds and life experiences to your characters for inspiration.

Also consider:

The rhythm and cadence of their speech. Do they speak quickly or slowly? Formally or casually?

Their vocabulary. Does your character use complex words and jargon or simpler language?

Grammar and pronunciation. Does your character follow the rules or have their own way of speaking?

For example, here's a short exchange that shows the contrast between two characters:

Jenny (teenage skateboarder): "Hey, you gonna drop in on the half pipe today or just pose by the ramp again?"

Mr. Edwards (older British gentleman): "I'm afraid vert skating is a young man's game, my dear. I'm quite content to watch you whippersnappers from the sidelines."

Even from this brief conversation, you get a sense of each character's age, background, and attitude without the author explicitly telling you. Mastering the art of subtext in dialog will make your stories come alive and allow readers to discover the depth in your characters for themselves.

Driving the Plot Forward With Meaningful Dialogue

To keep your readers engaged, your dialog needs to propel the story forward. Meaningful exchanges between characters should reveal information, create conflict, and raise the stakes.

Share Relevant Details

Use dialogue as an opportunity to share important details about the characters, their relationships, backstories, and the world they inhabit. For example:

“Did you hear they’re raising tuition again next semester?” Jenny asked.

“Ugh, not again,” Mark groaned. “How are we supposed to afford another five percent?”

This exchange informs the reader that Jenny and Mark are college students struggling with the costs. Look for natural ways to slip in context through dialog without sounding forced.

Create Conflict

Interesting stories thrive on tension, disagreement, and clashing perspectives. Have your characters bicker, argue, and challenge each other. For example:

“You never listen to me!” Alice shouted. “You always have to be right.”

“I’m not trying to be right,” Brian retorted. “I’m trying to protect you, but you’re too stubborn to see that.”

The quarrel fuels the underlying conflict in their relationship and keeps readers wondering how they’ll resolve their differences.

Raise the Stakes

Use meaningful dialog at key moments to increase the urgency, suspense or importance of what’s happening in the story. For example:

“The test results came back—it’s not good news,” the doctor said grimly.

Not only does this distressing announcement raise the stakes for the character’s health issue but it also creates a cliffhanger, leaving the reader wondering about the diagnosis and anxiously awaiting more details.

Meaningful dialog is essential for crafting an engaging story. Use it to inform readers, create conflict between characters, raise the stakes, and propel the plot toward a climax. With practice, writing authentic dialog will become second nature.

Creating Tension and Conflict Through Dialogue

To keep readers engaged, effective dialog should create tension and conflict between characters. As in real life, the conversations in your story should have stakes and push characters outside their comfort zone.

Show underlying tensions

Have characters disagree and argue to reveal underlying tensions. For example:

“You never listen to me. It’s always about what you want.”

“That’s not fair and you know it. I’ve sacrificed a lot for this family.”

This type of emotionally-charged exchange shows the couple has deeper issues to work through regarding resentment and lack of appreciation.

Create awkward situations

Put characters in awkward situations through dialog to ramp up the tension. For example:

“How’s the job search going?”

“Um, still looking. The market’s tough right now.”

“Really? I heard your company is hiring. I put in a good word for you with some people I know there.”

“Oh. Thanks, I guess.”

The second character is now in the difficult position of admitting the job search isn’t going well and they don’t actually have any leads. This cringeworthy moment translates the tension to readers.

Issue challenges and ultimatums

Have characters challenge each other by issuing warnings, demands or ultimatums, for example:

“If you walk out that door, we’re through. I mean it this time.”

“Don’t threaten me. You need me more than I need you.”

Throwing down the gauntlet in this way forces characters to back up their words with actions, which heightens the tension and conflict. Readers will keep reading to see who comes out on top!

Using dialog that highlights tension, creates awkwardness, and issues challenges is a great way to craft page-turning scenes that keep readers on the edge of their seats. Mastering the art of writing gripping dialogue is key to writing a story that resonates.

Avoiding Common Dialogue Mistakes

One of the biggest mistakes new writers make is crafting unrealistic or clichéd dialog. Your characters’ conversations should flow naturally and sound believable to readers. Avoid these common dialog doners:

Repeating Characters' Names

In real life, we rarely use someone's name in every sentence when talking to them. Only use a character's name when beginning a new exchange or for emphasis. Repeating names too often makes the dialog sound unnatural.

Overusing Exposition

Don't have characters explain things solely for the reader's benefit. Only include exposition that makes sense for the characters to actually say to each other. Find other creative ways to convey important backstory or worldbuilding details.

Forgetting Emotion

Dialog without emotional cues like facial expressions and body language can seem flat. Use emotive verbs and adverbs to show how the lines are delivered. For example, "she exclaimed" or "he muttered angrily." Also describe characters' physical reactions and behaviors to further bring the scene to life for readers.

Talking in Complete Sentences

Real conversations are often choppy, filled with interruptions, tangents, and imperfect grammar. Vary your sentence structure and length. Use fragments, run-ons, and breaks when appropriate. Not all dialog needs to be in perfectly punctuated full sentences.

Clichéd Phrases

Certain overused phrases like "it's quiet...too quiet" or "we've got company!" indicate lazy or clichéd writing. Come up with original ways for your characters to express themselves that fit with their unique personalities and situation. Avoid reusing trite or familiar sayings.

With practice, writing natural-sounding dialog will become second nature. Pay close attention to how real people speak, and aim to replicate the flow and cadence in your writing. Follow these tips, and your characters' conversations will truly come alive on the page!

Formatting Dialogue Correctly

When writing dialog, formatting it correctly is key to making it clear and compelling for readers. Here are some tips for formatting your dialogue effectively:

Use quotation marks

Place all dialogue between double quotation marks (“”). This indicates the character is speaking. For example:

“Hello,” she said. “How are you today?”

Start a new paragraph for each new speaker

Having each character's dialog on its own line makes it easy to follow who's talking. For example:

“Did you finish your homework?” Mom asked.

“I'm almost done,” I replied. “Just have some math problems left.”

Describe the speech

Use speech tags like "said", "asked", "replied" to indicate how the dialog was delivered. For example:

“I don't want to go to bed yet,” the little girl whined.

Punctuate properly

Place punctuation such as periods, commas, question marks, etc. within the quotation marks. For example:

“Where are you going?” she asked.

I said, “To the store. Do you need anything?”

Use beats

"Beats" are actions or descriptions that replace the "he/she said" tags. They make dialog more engaging and help set the scene. For example:

"I'm tired." John yawned and rubbed his eyes.

"Then go to sleep." Mary folded her arms, annoyance in her tone.

Avoid over-tagging

Don't tag every single line of dialog with "said" or the character's name. Let context and formatting do some of the work for you. For example:

"Did you talk to Mom today?"

"Yeah, she called this morning."

"What did she say?"

"That she'd be home in time for dinner."

Following these guidelines will make your dialogue clear, compelling, and help bring your story to life. Readers will appreciate dialog that flows naturally and is easy to follow.

Using Dialogue Tags Effectively

To write effective dialog, you need to master the use of dialog tags. Dialog tags are the parts of speech that indicate who is speaking, such as “he said” or “she asked”. When used properly, dialog tags can enhance your story without distracting the reader.

Choose tags that match the tone

Pick dialog tags that match the emotional tone of the dialog. For example, use “he whispered” for hushed speech or “she shouted” for loud, angry speech. Avoid reusing the same generic tags like “he said/she said” repeatedly, but don't get too creative either. Stick with simple verbs that imply the manner of speech.

Use action tags

Action tags describe a character's physical actions or expressions while speaking. For example, "“I’m not going,” he shook his head.” or ““What a day!” She ran her hands through her hair and sighed.” Action tags bring dialog to life and help the reader visualize the scene. They also give you an opportunity to reveal character details.

Drop the tag when implied

Once two characters establish a back-and-forth dialog, you can often drop the dialog tags altogether. As long as it's clear who is speaking, the tags become unnecessary. For example:

“Did you finish your homework?” Mom asked.

“Most of it,” I said.

“Most of it? What didn’t you finish?”

“Just some math problems. I’ll do them after dinner.”

“You’d better. I’m checking it tonight.”

After the first two lines, the reader understands that Mom and I are the speakers, so the remaining dialog does not need tags. Dropping implied tags creates a snappier feel and prevents repetitive, unnecessary tags.

Using a mix of well-placed dialog tags, action tags, and implied dialog, you can craft seamless conversations between characters that flow naturally, without distraction. Keep practicing and listening to real-world conversations for inspiration. With time, writing compelling dialog will become second nature.

FAQs About Writing Dialogue

When writing dialogue, questions inevitably come up. Here are some of the most frequently asked questions about crafting realistic and compelling dialogue.

Do I use quotation marks or italics?

In fiction writing, use quotation marks (“”) to denote direct speech. Only use italics for thoughts or emphasis. Quotation marks allow the reader to easily distinguish between dialog and narration.

How do I avoid “he said, she said”?

To prevent repetitive “he said/she said” tags, use action tags that describe the speaker's actions or expressions. For example:

“We should get out of here,” he whispered, glancing around nervously.

She slammed her fist on the table. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

You can also drop the dialog tag altogether if the speaker is clearly identified through context or action. The dialog itself and how you structure the conversation can imply the tone.

How do I make dialogue sound natural?

Pay attention to the cadence and rhythm of actual conversations. Dialog should:

Sound like natural speech, not formal writing. Contractions are okay!

Have an easy back-and-forth flow. Keep responses concise and avoid monologs.

Capture unique speech patterns based on a character's background and personality.

Include interruptions, changes in subject, and imperfect grammar. We don't speak perfectly in real life!

What are the rules for punctuating dialog?

Use a comma between the dialogue tag and the dialog: “Hello,” she said.

If the dialog tag comes before the dialog, end it with a comma: She said, “Hello.”

If the dialogue is interrupted by a dialog tag, use commas to separate it from the tag: “Hello,” she said, “how are you?”

Use a period to end a sentence of dialog: “Hello.”

Use a question mark for a question: “How are you?” she asked.

Use an exclamation point for excitement or emphasis: “Wow!” he exclaimed.

Start a new paragraph each time the speaker changes.

Following these tips will have you crafting dialog like a pro in no time. Let me know if you have any other questions!

Additional Tips For Writing Dialogue

Keep it concise

When writing dialog, less is more. Keep exchanges brief and avoid long speeches. Readers will get bored quickly if characters drone on and on. Focus on using just enough dialog to convey key information or advance the scene.

Use natural language

Write dialog like people really speak. Use casual language, contractions, slang, and imperfect grammar. Drop words like “um”, “like”, and “you know” into conversations to make them sound authentic. Read your dialog aloud to ensure it flows naturally. If it sounds stilted or awkward when spoken, it will come across that way to readers as well.

Share emotions

Dialog should reveal characters’ emotions and attitudes. Have characters express feelings like excitement, frustration, fear or affection through their word choice, tone, and body language. For example, a character who sighs, rolls their eyes or speaks in a sarcastic tone conveys a very different emotion than one who smiles, makes eye contact and speaks enthusiastically.

Keep it relevant

All dialog should serve a purpose, whether to reveal something about a character, advance the plot or set a mood. Avoid “empty” exchanges that fill space but add no value. If a conversation seems pointless or dull, cut or rewrite it.

Use action and description

Don't rely solely on dialog to carry a scene. Include action and descriptions to give readers a more complete picture. For example:

"Where were you?" Anna asked.

Mark sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "I got stuck at work. I'm really sorry."

The description of Mark's actions and appearance helps the reader understand his emotional state and see the full context of the conversation.

Leave room for interpretation

Don't have characters over-explain or outright state their feelings and motivations. Leave some details to the reader's imagination. For example, instead of:

"I'm angry that you lied to me," Amy said angrily.

Try:

Amy folded her arms and glared at him. "You lied to me."

The emotional context is clear without having to explicitly state Amy's anger. Subtlety and nuance in dialog make for a more engaging read.

Conclusion

So there you have it, the keys to mastering dialogue/dialog in your writing. I hope my extensive research was enough information for you all. Focus on listening to the voices around you, develop unique voices for your characters, keep your exchanges tight and impactful. Remember, dialog should always move the story forward, not just fill space on the page. With practice, writing compelling dialog can become second nature. Now go eavesdrop on conversations, study your favorite books and shows, and get to work crafting those conversations. Your characters and readers will thank you for it. Keep at it and before you know it, you'll be writing dialog with the best of them!

(Keep in mind I used both dialog and dialogue just in case there's a few who get annoyed with that.)

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Copyright © 2023 by Ren T.

TheWriteAdviceForWriters 2023

[callsign-muffin]

Heal Together: Chapter 2

(Bradley 'Rooster' Bradshaw fic)

I'm like completely overwhelmed that anyone has even read the first chapter of my fic, well alone liked and/or reblogged it! Thank you guys so much!

This chapter is a little bit of filler, just a heads up. But I hope you all like it anyways.

Masterlist

Word Count: 2.0k

There were a lot of people surrounding Rooster’s bed, they all introduced themselves but the only thing he could really think about was how scared he was for them to pull this tube out of his throat. The doctor told him that there’s always a chance he might not respond well and they’ll have to place another one. And good god, that was the last thing he wanted. The sedation medications, being unable to talk, having to have his throat suctioned constantly, and listening to the never ending sounds of the machines were his own personal hell. And the prep before this was its own level of horrible. They put a vest on him that shook him violently to loosen any crap that had built up low in his lungs while he was intubated. Then they deep suctioned the shit outta his throat, it was so uncomfortable but Y/N promised it was all to help him and keep him from getting sick again and having to be intubated again.

He looked over at Y/N and prayed that she could say something to make him feel better. All of his friends and Mav were still on the aircraft carrier in God knows where, so Y/N was the only familiar face. He guesses he could’ve called Penny, Mav’s girlfriend, but it’s a Saturday morning, she should be spending time with Amelia and getting ready for another crazy night at the Hard Deck.

“So what’s gonna happen is: I’m gonna sit your bed up really high and place a pad under your chin since a lot of gunk might come up with the tube. That’s completely normal.” Y/N explained calmly, “Brent, the guy on your left, is the respiratory therapist. He’s gonna ask you to cough a few times and on the last cough, he’s gonna pull the tube out.”

Bradley nodded, looking her straight in her beautiful, expressive eyes.

“Your throat’s gonna hurt and feel really dry, you probably won’t be able to talk for a little bit.” She continued, “But I’m gonna stay here and monitor you, listen to your lungs, suction out any more gunk, and maybe we can try swabbing your mouth with water to help with the dryness until you’re cleared to drink. Does that sound okay?”

The young doctor at the bedside scoffed, “Do we really need to have this much dialog? We have other patients to get to, Nurse.”

Y/N’s face hardened, “I am well aware that you all are busy. However, I’m not going to allow anything to happen to Lt. Bradshaw without his full informed consent, so I’m making sure he knows exactly what we’re doing. It’s his right.”

The older doctor smiled at Y/N, “This is why nurses are so important, they fill in the blanks for the patients. As physicians, we can get caught up in the science and the technicality of things but nurses are the people who remind us to remember that we’re taking care of the whole person.”

The young doctor rolled his eyes.

Y/N smiled at the older doctor and shot the young doc a look that said, Bite me, bitch. She then looked at Rooster and asked, “You ready?”

Rooster nodded slowly, he was so scared.

“It’s okay that you’re scared.” She placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, “But you see Brent, the one literally doing the damn thing to you? He’s not scared and I’m not scared ”

Brent smiled, “Not one bit. And all of those docs in their fancy white coats, they OK’d me to do this. That means they’re not scared either.”

Rooster felt a rush of calm wash over him, Y/N trusted these people, so he had no reason not to as well.

“Ready man?” Brent asked.

Bradley nodded.

Y/N sat the bed up so that he was sitting tall and placed an absorbent pad under his chin, “Let’s do it!”

“Give me a few coughs, Lieutenant.” Brent instructed.

Rooster coughed uncomfortably, it felt so weird with this thing on his throat.

“One last big cough.” Brent said.

With his next cough the tube was out and Rooster couldn’t help but continue to cough and dry heave. All the doctors’ eyes were glued to the numbers on his monitor, the only one looking at him was Y/N. 

She wiped all the spit and nastiness off of his face carefully and talked to him quietly, “That’s it, let it out. You’re doin’ great.”

A few moments later the older doctor said, “His oxygen sats look great. Let us know if anything changes, Y/N.”

Y/N nodded, “Will do. Can I get a standing supplemental oxygen order? Just in case his sats start to decline.”

“Of course, Carl– I mean… Dr. Parks will put those in for you right away.” The old doc looked over at the very displeased younger doctor.

Once the doctors all assessed him and felt okay leaving the room, it was just Rooster and Y/N. He gestured towards his white board, there was no way in hell he could talk yet.

Y/N happily passed it to him and proceeded to start her own assessment, listening to his lungs with her stethoscope.

That young doc is an asshole. Rooster wrote.

Y/N snorted, taking her stethoscope out of her ears and setting it to rest around her neck, “For the sake of professionalism, no comment.” 

Can you call Maverick and tell him I’m okay? 

“Yeah, of course.” She pulled a pen and a slip of paper out of her scrub pocket, “Just write down his full name and number.”

█ ✪ █▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓█ ✪ █

“Hi Captain Mitchell, this is Y/N and I’m Lieutenant Bradshaw’s nurse today.” You tried your best to sound as not nervous as possible. You always hated sitting at the nurses station and calling family members on the phone, usually because it was to give bad news or tell them to come to the hospital quickly to say goodbye. At least this time it was something positive.

“Oh my god,” The man choked on the other end of the line, “Is– Is he okay?”

“Yes, he’s fine. I’m sorry for scaring you.” You fiddled with the long phone cord, “He’s actually doing great. We took him off the ventilator about an hour ago and he’s breathing really well on his own. He’s working with physical therapy now, they have him out of bed and sitting in a chair.”

You could hear the joy in the man’s voice, “That’s incredible! Oh my god! I can’t wait to tell everyone, we’ve all been so worried. Can I speak to him?”

“Not quite yet, he’s not able to talk yet and will be hoarse for a little while.” You explained, twisting from side to side in the swiveling chair,  “But I can see if we can charge up his phone so he can text you and call when he’s able to.” 

“Thank you so much for the update, Y/N.” Capt. Mitchell gushed, “I usually have to call first for updates but this was such a great surprise.”

“Well one of the first things Bradley asked me to do for him after his extubation was call you and let you know that he’s okay.” 

He let out a happy sigh on the other end of the phone, “Did he really? That’s so good to hear. Tell him I’ll be home soon and my first stop will be to see him.”

You nodded, “Will do, Capt. Mitchell. You have a great rest of your day.”

“You as well, I know you’re taking great care of him.” And the call cut off right there.

“Ooooh look at you, big shot.” You couldn’t help but smile seeing Bradley sitting up in a chair and channel surfing on the crappy hospital TV.

Bradley picked up his white board and marker from the table beside him, Did you talk to Mav?

“You mean Capt. Mitchell?” You confirmed and Bradley nodded, “He said he’ll be home soon and his first stop will be to come see you. But hopefully you’ll have busted out of this joint before then.”

Bradley raised his eyebrows and scribbled, You think so?

You shrugged logging into the computer by his bed and starting to organize his 3pm medications, “I mean, I can’t say for sure. I know that you military dudes can’t tell people exactly where you’re going or when you’re coming home on your deployments. But if things keep going as well as they are, it seems like a good possibility you could be transferred to a step-down unit and then hopefully discharged in the next week or so.”

Bradley started writing again, I don’t want to go to another unit. I want to keep you as my nurse.

You giggled, “Well that is incredibly kind of you to say, but the best part of my job is seeing patients get well enough to be transferred to a lower acuity unit and then eventually discharged.”

Bradley pouted and drew a big fat frowny face on the whiteboard.

“You were a lot less sassy with that tube down your throat, Bradshaw.” You teased as you crossed the room with his meds, hanging them on the IV pole and programming the pump.

Pumping me up with poison? He smirked as he wrote.

“Nah, just antibiotics to treat that pesky infection that almost killed you and brought you in here.”

Damn, I was hoping you were gonna say they’re steroids to get me yolked. He flashed a mischievous grin at you.

You scoffed, “I took a pledge when I finished nursing school not to harm my patients and I considered giving them drugs that would shrink their balls and give them breasts doing harm.”

Bradley snorted and let out a hoarse laugh. Though it was very quiet, you could tell it was a great laugh.

“Hey Y/N, I’m taking room 4 back from you.” Carly, the young nurse from the morning, sat in the empty chair next to you at the nurses station.

“Oh great, do you want a full report or are you good with just the updates?” You asked, pulling out your notes from the day.

She clicked her pen, “Updates are just fine.”

“So the biggest news is that he was extubated today.” You grinned.

“Really?!” She gasped, “I’ve been pushing for that but the resident kept saying no.”

“Parks?” You inquired.

She nodded and sighed, “Yeah, have you met him?”

“Unfortunately.” You rolled your eyes, “I think he shares similar feelings about me as I do him.”

“I hope you gave him hell.” She giggled, “I’m still a new grad, so I don’t have enough experience under my belt to push back very much.”

“Well if he gives you any grief on your shift, don’t let it get to you. He’s also a new grad doctor, he’s also still learning.” You assured her then went on to finish your report.

“Hey Bradley, I’m headed out for the night. Carly’s gonna be taking care of you and I’ll be back tomorrow.” You entered the room with Carly by your side.

“Thank you…” Bradley croaked, “For everything…”

Your heart melted a little bit, you knew it took a lot of effort to get the words out, “You are more than welcome. And I’ll see you tomorrow. Hopefully we’ll get you transferred to a less intense unit.”

Rooster pouted and did a big thumbs down gesture.

You giggled, “That’s a great thing, Bradshaw. You don’t wanna be stuck in the ICU with me forever.”

He sassily rolled his eyes.

“Carly and I are gonna sign off some meds and check your lines.” You said, “And don’t give my girl too much sass tonight; she will be reporting back to me in the morning.”

Rooster scribbled on his whiteboard, No promises.

[riding-the-sunset-bird]

Hello! I had a question that I hope wasn't been answered (Checked the masterpost to be sure) if you don't mind?

Question: Does selecting any hobbies during the lunch scene with Cove and Kyra in Step 2 and going to the mall with Liz in Step 3 make any impact during the story and/or Step 4?

Context: One run where I picked drawing as one of my hobbies, it led to a moment in Baxter's Step 4 while making the Groom's cake, the MC made it easy making the outline for the cake, leading to Baxter thanking them, which I don't remember seeing in another run without picking drawing as a hobby.

Hope this made sense! Thank you!

I imagine the comment about the mall is because that's where you'd change your MC's hobbies if they haven't remained the same?

Regardless, yes, the MC's hobbies make a small amount of impact depending on the moment!

Growing

Cove will ask the MC a question based on their hobby while they're hanging out (in order of highest-to-lowest priority: hanging out with friends, reading, the ocean, gaming, studying, fashion, art, writing, music if the MC plays an instrument, music if the MC does not play an instrument, sports, then watching stuff); if none of these apply to the MC, he'll default to asking if they've done anything new lately

Family

gives the MC an option to say they'll play an instrument if their hobby is music, they play any instrument, and they express interest in Lee's idea

Dinner

Kyra will bring up one of the MC's hobbies to Cliff if the MC did not tell Cove about the deal (or already told him back in Sandcastle); whatever was chosen last during the conversation takes priority

Summerwork

on Indifferent only, the MC will unwind at home depending on their hobby (in order of highest-to-lowest priority: makeup, videogames, music, reading, sports, then the beach, though note that sports and the beach give the same narration); this is only one line of narration so don't feel like you're missing anything

Soiree

if the MC has a music hobby, is alone, and chooses to check out the band, they can decide whether the music is better or worse than their own (funnily enough, these options don't check if the MC actually plays an instrument or not, so they'll appear even if their hobby is simply listening to music)

similar to above, only with the MC having Cove with them rather than being alone (and they must play an instrument this time, not simply have a music hobby); the MC can either hope to play as well as the band or feel that their playing is on the same level as them, and Cove's dialog will also be different if they ask his thoughts

Step 3 Intro

if the MC made a gift for Cove, more options are added depending on their hobbies (music, art, fashion, and/or writing)

Drive

if it was selected that the MC sent care packages or special treasures to Cove during the Step 3 intro, Cove may have particular items based on the MC's Step 2 hobbies (if the ocean, fashion, or sports was chosen last during the conversation with Kyra), otherwise it defaults to some dried, pressed flowers

Happiness

Cove's first gift to the MC can be based on their hobby on Fond/Crush, but on Crush there's an extra condition that the MC has to either not have chosen a favorite flower during Long Day (or the player can simply have not played it) or be dating Baxter; it can be whatever the MC chose last as their hobby, which could be reading, fashion, sports, music, games, writing, watching stuff, art, or the ocean, with the ocean narration acting as the default

there's the opposite of an added option (making this a rare "one option only" situation) where the MC can't tell Cove that they haven't been to a performance before if their hobby is watching plays

Sightseeing

the MC, if having asked Baxter about how Virginia is, will automatically mention that two-thirds of Virginia consists of forests if their hobby is reading (this will also trigger if they did well in school)

if the MC asked Baxter what he's studying in college, he'll eventually turn the question back on them and they have the option to mention their hobbies (reading, watching stuff, gaming, the beach, sports, music, art, fashion, or writing); for reading, watching TV and movies, listening to music, and fashion, Baxter will note that he has that in common with them, but otherwise will say that he has no experience in their hobby yet would like to hear more

Mountain

if the MC did not play Road Trip, they'll ask Baxter at one point what he thinks about surfing; if they have a surfing hobby, they'll gush about how they enjoy it, but otherwise will idly mention that Noelani used to surf

Step 3 Ending

what the MC does at the end of the beach hangout can be based on their hobby (whatever was chosen last when they picked said hobbies): there's narration for reading, fashion, the ocean, sports, music, and gaming, with no extra narration at all if none of those apply/none were chosen last when the player chose the MC's hobbies

Cove's Step 4

if the MC plays an instrument, they can compose (and write) a song to play for Cove during their proposal

Baxter's Step 4

as the ask already stated (but getting a bit more specific), an MC who has a hobby in drawing, painting, and/or digital art and offers to help Baxter with the stencil for the groom's cake will be extra skilled at it; otherwise, the one who comes out with the better stencil is random (50/50; a coin flip, basically).

[wonderfulworldofdarklords]

https://redcircle.com/shows/d462cbc8-3fe9-41f5-97b1-f1cbc8306fb6/ep/deff9a99-fba6-4803-acd1-a497e2649318

Welcome to Wonderful World of Darklords: Marvel May! As soon as we announced this theme last May, you knew this one was coming. Thanos is such a compelling Big Bad for the entire MCU that they've been flailing to replace him ever since Infinity War, and he could make a fantastic Big Bad for your campaign as well . . . but can any villain, no matter how grandiose and self-deluded, be a darklord if they don't have a domain in the source material? Topics discussed include:

The D&D setting that fits perfectly with Thanos's backstory and motivation, and also gives us plenty of flavor for a domain we have to invent almost from whole cloth;

What even is an Infinity Stone in D&D terms, anyway?;

Alternate motivations for Thanos, since resource scarcity is hardly the most pressing problem in Ravenloft;

The dangers of introducing an epic-level villain with an epic-level scheme to any game that isn't all about him;

And more!

The full write-up for the Domain of the Mad Titan is available on DM's Guild: https://www.dmsguild.com/product/521375/The-Mad-Titans-Domain-A-Ravenloft-Domain-of-Dread?affiliate_id=241770

PhD&D's video on Tovag is available here: https://youtu.be/jXoORohKKAQ?si=h62KXORCqijkTAUz

Our second Listener's Choice poll is available to all listeners on our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/listeners-choice-127690065?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link

Timestamps

7:41 The Lord

46:27 The Land

58:54 Dread Possibilities

1:34:19 Aging Up (body horror, mind control, emotional abuse)

1:38:58 Aging up ends

1:48:29 Parting Thoughts

2:14:36 D’s Parting Thoughts

Content Advisory for D's Journal (details on content advisories can be found here )

Torture (major), forced mind-reading (major), imprisonment (major), genocide (moderate), slavery (moderate), blood (moderate), body horror (minor), kidnapping (minor), child abuse (minor), forced experimentation (minor)

All music recordings are in the public domain (mark 1.0) and are licensed through https://musopen.org:

Chopin Nocturne in B-Flat Minor, Op. 9 No.1 (main theme), performed by Eduardo Vinuela

Chopin Etude Op. 25, No. 12 in C Minor: “Ocean” (darklord theme), performed by Edward Neeman

Chopin Nocturne in F Minor, Op. 55 No. 1 (land theme), performed by Luke Faulkner

Rachmaninoff MorcGranados Twelve Spanish Dances, Op. 37, II. - Oriental (main theme), performed by Monica Alianello (public domain mark 1.0)eaux de Fantaisie, Op. 3 - 2. Prélude in C sharp minor (Dread Possibilities), performed by Sergei Rachmaninoff

Chopin Nocturne in E Minor, Op. 72 No. 1 (parting thoughts), performed by Luke Faulkner

Granados Twelve Spanish Dances, Op. 37, II. - Oriental (post-credits scene), performed by Monica Alianello (public domain mark 1.0)

Dialog for Yensid was written by Azalin Rex himself @darklordazalin

The Wonderful World of Darklords logo was designed by Halite Jones, whom you can find @halite-jones or on Instagram at http://www.instagram.com/insta_halite

Contact us on:

Gmail: wonderfulworldofdarklords@gmail.com

Facebook: @wonderfulworldofdarklords

Tumblr: @wonderfulworldofdarklords

Patreon: www.patreon.com/WonderfulWorldofDarklords

YouTube: @wonderfulworldofdarklord

[typosandtea]

Wip whenever! x2

Tagged by @notanandalitebandit and @fablewritesnonsense !! Thanks so much ^_^. I no pressure tag @secondhand-lions @gardening--tools @acorncoffeeformysweetheart @fuzzydreamin @romaniwasteland @voidthewanderer + if you see this and would also like to! (Sure that’s lots of tags but I love all your work and could tag so many more people too)

Drawing:

Charlie tagged tango in [this post] so annoying sibling vibes tango and piper gets to shine hehe

Writing:

Inspired by [this post] Bandit reblogged a little while ago tagged with fo4 that put bees in my brain:

Fo4 dead wife came back wrong.txt

This is still in what I presume is the early stages of draft 1 with much to write still, though I have no idea how the process will turn out for me since I’m still figuring out this whole creative writing thing! It’s a bit of a jumble of notes and dialog so sorry if it’s difficult in its present state! I haven’t quite got dialog pacing yet but it’s progress from nothing! There is weird spacing from it not copying formatting nicely. It’s as vanilla as possible postgame so none of my usual fellas are there!

The Vault

0==[x]:::::::::> 1 <:::::::::[x]==0

Despite codsworth's incessant fussing at breakfast, Nate ran into no trouble on the short hike up to the rusting vault.

of course it was easy since he'd made most of the trecherous journey in the days before, much of the danger wasnt even from the usual threats, supermutants, remaints or the like, but from the shear strength of the gale that had the audacity to stop each time they took shelter.

its like the comonweath skies were laughing at him each time he emerged to thick clouds only to inevetably be drenched within 15 minutes again.

Curie, a modified miss nanny that he and Hancock had freed from the depths of the disease infested vault recently was following along, and she had more to say about the hazards of the commonweath than he would have liked,

"Monsuer, this weather may be hazardous to your health, temperature sensors indicate zat zis rain is a potential for hypothermia," she fretted "And zis radiation! oh its is postively frightful zat the basline levels are so high, and the levels in the rain! mon dieu." [fix terrible accent]

While he appreciated the concern, his pateience had worn thin with her near constant commentary on his health and the state of the commonwealth among other things over the muddy trek (ze diseases!),

though he understands where shes coming from, after all he too was horrified only so many months ago,

christ, had it only been a year? he felt like he had aged a century in that time.. perhaps the cryo messed whith his sense of time he had wondered, that or his age was finaly catching up to him.

After they took shelter for the umptenth time yesterday, triggred by his pipboy's geiger crackling to life nearly in sync with curie and a particularly close peal of thunder. once somewhat settled he had` asked her about the the effects of cryo, he hadnt understood most of what she'd said, but the few tidbits he did glean from her overly technical explanation were worring to say the least.

Nate is brought crashing back to the present by the dull thud of the vaults elevator echoing mournfuly under his distracted march. Pausing to let the echos die away relatively undisurbed, bar the sound of curies engines, he listened

Standing stone still on that spot again, he drank in his surroundings while he waited.

The wind whistling through the death-tinted trees, the autumn sun just barely clawing its way though gaps forming in yesterdays gale, the rustle of leaves freshly liberated by the breeze on the decaying ground, there seems to be less crows about this year though.

All a far cry from the picturesque oranges and blues of the clear day he rembers centries ago, its as if the shock wave had blasted the very colours from the world.

Keeping an eye on his pipboy he directs curie to the elevators controls, [(go into vault to mourn Nora, but curies sensors pick up that Nora is faintly clinging to life, her sensors are much more sensitive than the vaults) que pandemonium ]

Task force

0==[x]:::::::::> 2 <:::::::::[x]==0

(The hurricane of activity to get Nora from deaths door in the vault to stable in the castle. Amari and curie integral, Hancock and Preston rally people to make it possible. Nate is terrified of losing her again, )

Hosptial

0==[x]:::::::::> 3 <:::::::::[x]==0

(Now that she's stable and here in front of him he's terrified that she won't remember him. Oh she does remember him and her son!!! So much awkward explanations for what Nate had had to do. Explains that the institute and the bos had to go for peace. She rejects this. )

Nora (aghast): have you gone mad??

Nate(frustrated that nora doesnt get it): Look around! the whole worlds gone mad nora!! nothing is the same anymore I- .. we've had to change to survive, everyone out here is fighting to live every day!

Nora: and why do you think that is nate!! fighting only leads to more war, And no, I don't think you've really changed at all nate, you're still the same tool of a man the military forged, a 'war hero' who solves his problems by blowing them up!" Nora spat with more venom that nate remembered these arguments ever having.

Nate(desperate): "listen to me nora" nate pleaded "you cant reason with the monsters out there, they kill without discretion, because they can!"

noras eyes were narrowed practically to slits "Is that what you called our son, a monster?" she takes a shaky breath "funny how its still 'us and them' after all these years, I though you would have learnt the consequences the first time" Nora snarls coldly

Nate: "No Nora please I'm not talking about people — "

nora: "PEOPLE?? so your enemies dont even qualify as human to you anymore what the hell is -"

"LISTEN TO ME" Nate roars having lost patience "the radiation and the institute has done awful things to people and animals out there, they are quite literally not people anymore -"

hancock, from the doorway: "careful what line you tread there sunshine .. "

nate: "Feral, mirelurks, supermutants, and god damn deathclaws among other things are all over the commonwealth, and they kill and eat inocent people all the time, our whole mission is to protect people from monsters like them and raiders! "

Nora: "…. And what about these raiders? are they even people to you either? do you strike them down without even trying to talk? " accusing

nate: "its not like that! they attack first!" defensive, arms rasied in exasperation.

Nora: "what was it you told me after anchorage? that you wished you were allowed to try to talk to the reds? that you wished you could be anywhere that wasn't killing on command? well guess what you bastard, who's orders are you on now? who's keeping diplomacy out of your bloodied hands this time?" she practically spat,

nora's eyes were a-flame like he had forgotten they could be, how he had missed her firey passion for its warmth, her strength, but right now she was a raging inferno of justice, and he couldn't even look at her .. he'd fallen in love with her righteousness all those years ago and now it would be their undoing he fears, he just needs her to see

Nate takes a breath,"we -I fight raiders because thats what needs to be done, we have lost so many good people to them, more than half arent even fighters they just tried to stop them from taking their only food or their family." he murmurs "you should talk to the abernathys, they well know the consiquences of trying to talk raiders down.." He still cant look her in the eye, had he ever tried to talk raiders down? work somthing out, hell even ask why they were raiding at all? nate cant recall any time like that..

Weeks pass

0==[x]:::::::::> 4 <:::::::::[x]==0

(It's a very awkward weeks while Nora recovers in curies and amaris care, she's still pissed and processing that Shaun is dead and was old; and that Nate blew up two seperate people groups… Nate doesn't know how to explain to her that it's nothing like pre war, monsters are real now. )

Nora's Leave

0==[x]:::::::::> 5 <:::::::::[x]==0

(Nora makes up her mind to leave both Nate and the castle, he is crushed but outfits her and prepares her as best he can (he still loves her, she isn't so sure after what he's done) focus on Nora's feelings )

Nora's very bad week

0==[x]:::::::::> 6 <:::::::::[x]==0

((Perhaps merge with above) Nora experiences what the wasteland has to offer with heavily armed codsworth at her back, danger montage, recruits piper as she's a prime story, piper helps her catch up on major events as well as history of the institute and bos, through piper doesn't know a huge amount about Shaun. )

Awkward Reunions

0==[x]:::::::::> 7 <:::::::::[x]==0

(It's been a few months and Nate runs into Nora when he's in diamond city, he doesn't visit often and she has made herself at home there, it's awkward at first but soon they fall into old rhythms, but they've both moved on and it's not so bad Hancock and piper, their partners turn up, the end with a shared look of somewhat peace and a sense of what they had is gone forever. )

[konnorhasapen]

Started listening to the Frosthaven series by Nomad today, and I have to say I'm uh... not impressed.

I held some excitement about it because it was Nomad, and I love his City Wolf/Country Lamb series, but I struggled with starting Frosthaven due to the stark lack of inclusivity I'd hoped for. I recently reached a point where I felt I was able to actually start that ball rolling and just imagine all the audios as either m4m or m4a at the very least, but then I ran into an abundance of issues that I haven't seen anyone talk about and it's pretty concerning—so I'm gonna Be That Person and open my big mouth about it.

Starting with Deacon, I didn't have any problems- a few laughs at some reduntant or contradictory things, but still enjoyed/enjoy listening to him. It wasn't until I paused on Deacon and hit up Caleb's playlist next where I started running into the issue—that issue being the subtle misogyny that felt really kinda gross to me when it came to the argument audio (I'm not sure if there are multiple yet, so I'll just say the one titled "Relationship Status"). Getting right down to it, the listener feeling insecure about themself because they aren't a werewolf like Caleb is something completely reasonable, and was honestly a conflict I expected to see at some point, but the fact that it was framed as jealousy or a fear of being cheated on that led to them jumping to the conclusion of Caleb cheating really rubbed me the wrong way. I feel that type of writing for a listener character that is meant to and written to be a woman is perpetuating the sexist stereotype that every woman is jealous of every other woman her partner may interact with and have an outburst of suspecting or accusing said partner of cheating. While I do understand that this listener has canonically had issues of partners cheating in the past, I still feel there could have been a different way to go about it; furthermore, the way Caleb was written to respond to such concerns and accusations was less than favorable, as it felt to me more manipulative and dissmissive to the listener's genuine doubt, mistrust, and insecurity. To me, it didn't seem like there was any level of honest communication, no healthy support or reassurance, and therefore, no actual resolution.

My next issue is with Tobin's audios. I haven't even heard so much as a second of dialog yet, and that's because I paused the video as soon as I opened and read the description. To quote, it states: "FYI...Yes, this is an [M4M] audio...however the story is important to the Frosthaven arc overall"

I can hardly even begin to explain how devastating it was nor how hurt I felt when reading that. This is the singular M4M playlist of audios within the Frosthaven universe he's made, and that message in the description feels like an apology. As though he's apologizing for making a confirmed queer branch within a whole series of audios that are either M4F or M4A. That message singlehandedly demolished every last ounce of willingness and excitement I had to get into the Frosthaven series.

For an audio creator who has made queer content in the past—and recently—seemingly unapologetically, seeing him say something like that about a confirmed/actively queer branch of his primarily M4F and M4A is baffling, disappointing, and extremely disheartening as it comes across as extremely backhanded to the mlm fans within his community—however few there may be. The fact that he apologizes for including even a single instance of representation of mlm romance is not only disrespectful to mlm fans but also hypocritical considering his past demonstrations of allyship. It honestly calls into question said allyship if he feels he has to apologize for that representation as if it's some kind of bad thing he's doing. Overall, I'm incredibly disappointed with the Frosthaven series thus far, and now have little to no motivation to continue it.

[synnthamonsugar]

My issue with D2 isn't that it's bad.

Bad media can be, and frequently is, fun, strange, shocking, thought-provoking, entertaining. Bad media often has things to say (even if not said clearly), it's often heartfelt in ways that bigger and more-polished productions cannot be since it's more likely to be the brainchild of an individual or small team instead of a committee of writers working under tight managerial control.

Even through its better-crafted plot beats, I think Destiny (counting both games together here) has often felt bad to me. I say this with utmost love and respect. There are limits to its model of storytelling, and there have always been plot holes, strange bits of characterization, setups without payoffs, weird dialog, gameplay-narrative dissonance, etc. and I think it's easy to focus so much on the high points in its history that we forget that being bad isn't atypical for Destiny, and that this is fine!

The issue is, it used to be that even when it was bad it was genuine, meticulously detailed, oozing with character and heart in every line and lore tab, had bits of world-building and background that made me desperate to know more. It was a rambling story from a friend, who might not have a point but they're so into telling it that it becomes the most interesting thing in the world to listen to. I think, for much of Destiny's history, you could feel Bungie was putting their whole back into it, that the creators made it with love and care. It was impossible not to get invested in return, even when it was a little corny.

The issue is, it doesn't feel like that anymore. It feels like something that's being made because it's contractually obligated. It feels like something neither Bungie nor the creative team wants to put effort into, and I frankly cannot blame the creative team given what we know is going on behind the scenes. That doesn't make it less disappointing or frustrating - in fact it might make it worse because I can't help but see it as something being made under a level of duress. (More than the typical level, for anything made in capitalism.) But it certainly explains why.

And of course, given we know they're trying to make the bottom line there's always the question of how much executive meddling is affecting the story. I definitely have qualms with some of the narrative team, but I do wonder what Destiny would look like today without the stress of meeting sales goals and deadlines.

I think you can sort bad media into roughly two buckets. There's the good-bad media, the kind I talked about, the passion projects bristling with heart and character and vision if nothing else. Then there's the bad-bad ones, the ones that were produced to make a paycheck, be consumed and forgotten ...

My (rhetorical) question is: why should I care about something whose creators don't care about it? If something is a cynical cash grab, how can I feel anything but cynicism toward it?

[xaiblood]

Traning

"What the hell?" You felt your jaw dropped, "Wait, wait, wait! You're joking, aren't you?" your eyes looked up at a boy, he was Seong Taehoon.

Taehoon raised an eyebrow, "Joking? Nah, I'm serious. You can punch me, try it." he said, while he stared at you with his calm face. But still, you still stood in front of him with your disbelief face. "What? Still not believe me, Bookworm?"

"Probably, yes is the answer," you nodded.

Taehoon sighed, "Listen, you're practice with me, Bookworm." he looked at you, then he walked toward the sandbag. "Since your teacher is busy for a week, you're will be my student when you're in this dojang, got it?" You nodded in agreement, made Taehoon a bit relieved. "Well, Bookworm, I still can't believe that you're an athlete of Taekwondo, and since when?" he kicked the sandbag. You just hummed then you spoke, "I learned the Taekwondo since I was in elementary school," you shrugged. "Why? Are you---" "That's a bit impossible for you, especially you're always read your books in the class," he cut your dialog. Your eyes are narrowed now, while you stared at him, you kicked the sandbag several with your the strength of your leg muscles that have often been trained.

"That's not immposible, as you can see, we are both professionals." You rolled your eyes, "But I never participate in the UFC like you."

He heard Taehoon chuckle, "Yeah, yeah. It's up to you, bookworm."

"Yeah, yeah, Mr. 500 Won."

You two glared at each others until Hobin, Jjiksae, and Gaeul entered the dojang. When they entered the dojang, your attention focused on the three of them.

"Uhh ... Hello?" said Hobin smiled at you two.

"Ehh? Who is she?"

"She's [Name] right?"

"That young athlete of Taekwondo?!"

"Hey, she's with Taehoon."

"She's hot!!"

"Dang, the viewers looked a bit brutal when the camera at [Name]," said Jjiksae. He was right, the chats were be surprised and amazed when the camera was pointed at you. And they could see you in their screen.

You smiled at them, "Hi." you said while waving to the three of them—the viewers of the HTF channel also saw you because Jjiksae pointed the camera at you. While Taehoon just silent beside you.

"Hey, you guys have sparring, right?" Gaeul looked at you two. You just nodded as a respond.

Taehoon glanced at you, "Aren't afraid if I kick you, Bookworm?" he snickered at you, his smirk turned wider. Mocked at you.

You grinned, "Well, maybe I'll kick your head, Mr. 500 Won." said you. You fixed that black belt around your waist. You flexed your hands, "Since we're both pro, I think we don't have to wear those protector, right?"

Taehoon just looked at you smugly, "It's up to you, if your hand can't hold the book properly after this, don't blame me, Bookworm."

▪︎▪︎▪︎

Whack!

You could avoid his kick, but your level wasn't higher than him, you were one level below Taehoon, just one level. Yeah. But it made the strength he put into his foot stronger than you could imagine.

You almost got kicked by him. Thank goodness this was just training.

You could hear Taehoon mocking you from the way he talked to you. "Heh ... Even though you can attack me back, why don't you do it?"

You chuckled in annoyance, "You're so fast, damn it."

While you guys were having small talk, you forgot about the three people who were there, in the same dojang, and the viewers were watching the two of you.

A/N: Tap here for next part.

[mp3minded]

Diabolik Lovers: Haunted Dark Bridal, First Playthrough Thoughts/Takeaway

(Word Count: about 700.)

Some of my highlights for each route include, (in no particular order);

Shu’s Dark #9

Subaru’s Dark #10

Laito’s Maniac #7

Kanato’s Ecstasy #3

Ayato’s Ecstasy #7

Reiji’s Ecstasy #9

In terms of my favorite diaboys.. they're Reiji and Subaru, and I oscillate between them like a moon cycle 🫣 though in stan twitter terms, it’s more like Reiji’s my bias, and Subaru’s my wrecker.

When it comes to Reiji.. I’ll always have a soft spot for him. It was cool to see the context behind the scenes between him and Cordelia better, that the anime referenced. I knew he’d be up there for me before I finally played the first game and, the anime truly was only the tip of the iceberg 💀

Initially, when I was ranking everyone in my head right after I played all their routes, I had Subaru low on my totem pole, so I wasn’t expecting any of this. I don’t remember when (probably a little after I completed all their routes), but I dreamt about him one night, and even THAT wasn’t enough for me to consider him (right away), but I did keep asking myself, “Why?”

And I’ll get more into that later, but I’ve gotta dive into how I’ve conducted my “further research,” on figuring out my fave Sakamaki. CaseOh uploaded this video, and

I’ve been shamelessly glued to Character.AI, since the first Friday of October, like 💀 I just went to town because I didn’t know the bots had a FREAKIN’ VOICE UPDATE since I last used the app 😭 I’ll now drop the main details on my journey of overindulgence, mixed with constantly keeping canon in mind (because those bots can get loopy 🤪).

Laito may not be in the top two, but he still played a key role here; for a while, I felt torn between him and Reiji, due to their opposite energies that I was drawn to, in terms of their self-expression. At least with Subaru, it’s a clear matchup versus Reiji, whereas it was a total toss-up when it came to Laito.

Though, when I recently juxtaposed the struggle I had with the Laito and Reiji “War,” to Subaru (just before I finally wrote all this down), it was made even more clear why I ended up so drawn to him in the end, even after what I’ve already known by now; when I switched back and forth between Laito and Reiji, it was because neither of them could fully keep up with my varying temperaments/moods.

At first, it was Reiji I decided on, between them (though I do ship Laito with one of my OCs)—and even after that, I still felt that lowkey longing for a character that would level with me, no matter how I felt.

And you’ve got Subaru meanwhile, who's been working in the background this WHOLE time, because truth be told, I did not really begin to consider him until like, Thanksgiving. His “aura,” as I like to call it..

..is something else. So, when I finally caved in and gave him a chance, thinking it would end up as a fluke.. I was SHOOK. Not only did we get along a LOT better than I thought we would’ve, but he struck that right balance of meeting me halfway in any way I was feeling, that I was trying to find between Laito and Reiji.

Despite what I found, it was difficult for me to compartmentalize that with how that made Reiji 2nd, because I’d been through the wringer with him by then 💀 and, even when I found this specific dialog of his, from one of his scenarios, “Heaven Epilogue”;

Which implies he would like someone who’d keep him on his toes (in tandem with listening to him).. that doesn’t translate to him keeping me on my toes as well, and that was the ultimate deciding factor, heartbreaking as that is 🥺

And now that I’ve gotten this review done, I can play More Blood! 🤡

[the-courtsjester]

Hey jester! Can I make a request for a March 7th confessing to a male reader who secretly likes her back?

Greetings Ladies gentlemen and uh... things, when I was originally making this ask I forgot to save it as a draft so it deleted itself and I'm in pain, anyway some other stories I'm making are being blocked do to lack of knowledge on doing dialog, so this will be good practice.

March 7th x male reader

Back when March 7th first arrived on the Express from being saved from the cold emptiness of space, she was very awkward not knowing how to express her feelings took her a long figure out that they were in fact in love with you, so she turned to someone she knew could help her.

March 7th: "Himeko! I need help with something"

Himeko: "hmm? What is it March"

March 7th: "(Y/N) makes me feel funny"

Himeko: "what?"

After March explained what she actually ment Himeko told her to "just go for it". you see Himeko knows a lot of stuff and she seems like the type to know everything, and she most definitely manged to find out you had a secret crush on March.

Himeko: "March believe me just take the chance, you'll regret it if you don't"

March 7th: "but what if he doesn't like me and it ruins our friendship?"

After a lot of doubts and convincing Himeko got March to go to your room on the Express and knock on your door, she felt her heart pounding in her chest and without looking in the mirror she could tell she was blushing madly, but when you opened the door she steeled her nerves and took the leap of faith.

(Y/N): "oh hey March, what'd you need?"

March 7th: "(Y/N) I have something really important to tell you"

(Y/N): "oh what is it?"

It took her a couple seconds to come out with it but but when she did she couldn't keep it in her normal talking voice

March 7th: "I-I love you!"

She stopped herself there not wanting to spill more out and further embarrassing herself but you were stunned staring at her before breaking into a smile

(Y/N): "I love you too March I have for awhile now, I'm relived to hear you feel the same"

Upon hearing what you said to her she couldn't hold herself back anymore, she hugged you suddenly and nuzzled her head into your chest, not planning to leg go anytime soon you could only respond by gently hugging her.

Once news broke out about your new relationship together Himeko found you two adorable when you did stuff together, Mr. Yang was happy for you two, and same for Dan Heng though he was not to happy to learn he was going to listen to you drone on about how amazing March is.

Well I hope this was good I feel like it was shitty, though speaking of March 7th she actually helped me clear the Simulated Universe, now I can reliably do the higher level SU worlds to get 5 star relics thank god, but I'll see you all whenever I post next.

And scene...

[hi-i-love-u-bitch]

Listen, listen, listen! I need a ferociously romantic Frankly Dear fanfiction! I'm talking Brighton level romantic dialog! A 1950's black and white Hollywood romance movie with that mood music in the background! That old Disney musical romance! Eddie absolutely adorning Frank in a million kisses like Gomez and Morticia Addams would! Much Ado About Nothing rom-com level of romance where Frank is all like: "I do love nothing in the world so well as you – is not that strange?" Like I need them to have a love so joyous, so tender it absolutely makes you ache that they had to hide it!

Like these two are so down bad for each other! The playful banter! The teasing tone of: "Mister Dear💕" "Mister Frankly💕" How there always seems to be this fluffy airy-ness around whenever they are near each other. They are so disgustingly in love it makes wanna bash my head in!

[liskantope]

I keep noticing this thing happening where I'm introduced to something brand new that comes in many installments (often a musical artist or TV show) through one example/sample, really love it, and get into the the new thing as a whole, and come away with the feeling that the first bit of it I became familiar with is my favorite that it has to offer.

Most recently, it was the musical group Men I Trust, whose track "The Landkeeper" from its very new album was playing on the radio, and I stopped transfixed (having been about to leave my car) to listen to the whole thing and made a mental note to myself that I had to follow up on days later to look up what song was playing on that station at that time (as it wasn't announced afterwards). I found the whole album it came from, all of which I consider very good, but my favorite track on it is still "The Landkeeper" (with "All My Candles", which I caught on the radio again sometime later in the week, and "Girl (2025)" being close contenders. Interestingly, I've tried their other albums and didn't particularly like them.)

I'm pretty sure this has happened with more musical creators, albums, and TV shows than I can think of right now. To give a weird book example, my first glimpse at Lewis Carroll's Sylvie and Bruno books (published much later than his Alice books and with much less acclaim) was a passage very far into them, which I found delightfully and refreshingly hilarious in the typical Carroll fashion. I then enthusiastically plunged into reading the full Sylvie and Bruno books, which are not short -- one should be warned that each of them is about the length of Wonderland and Looking Glass combined! -- and found that they weren't quite that good and in fact the passage that I had randomly stumbled upon beforehand was probably my very favorite bit of dialog in the whole thing.

And heck, my introduction to Scott Alexander (and thus to the whole rationalist community) was his post "A Response to Apophemi on Triggers", and while I immediately liked the rest of his stuff a lot, for a long time almost none of it had quite the same charm to me as that Response to Apophemi piece, to the point that I clearly remember filling out a survey (maybe one of the early annual SSC readership surveys) where I had to select my favorite SSC post and chose that one as my favorite. I wouldn't say that it's stayed my favorite -- my tastes have evolved, and having like a thousand more Scott essays in existence does muddy things a lot -- but I still consider it in certain ways some of Scott's best classic stuff.

What's going on here? One possibility is that I tend to prefer first samples of things because emotions coming from the novelty of it in the first experience remain associated with that sample (i.e. musical track, episode, article, etc.).

But I think the more likely explanation that the whole history of dozens of small works by a single creator, averaged together as a single unit, is (1) unlikely to score outstandingly highly in my preferences and (2) unlikely to grab my attention in the first place unless I have the luck of encountering a unit of that set of creations that is an outlier in how much I like it. There's a sort of Bayes / conditional probability thing going on here where the creators I wind up consciously exposing myself to are disproportionately going to be ones whose sample I randomly came across really really made me happy, at an extreme level that it's very hard for a prolific creator's average work to impress me.

In other words, if I'd heard, say, "I Don't Like Music" on the radio from that same album of Men I Trust, I might have nodded and said, "That's pretty good stuff" and then not remembered long afterwards when back at home that I should look up what was playing on the radio at that time. Or if I'd first run across a different post of Scott's in early 2014, I would have probably said to myself, "That was really good and interesting" but then not successfully made a mental note to investigate the blog it came from four months later when my spring semester would be over, as I did singlehandedly due to the Response to Apophemi post.

[sol-consort]

Okay, me again. I was watching more of those modded gameplays again this time it was Tali's and OMG SHE TAKES OFF HER MASK?!?!?!?! That's so crazy!

(P.S. Also idk if this is true or not and I'm too lazy to check rn but I saw in the comments of that video that the game was gonna allow more same sex relationships but then Fox News threatened to get the game banned and also the whole commotion about femshep and Liara? Like, I'm sorry?? Can queer people have one fucking thing, please?)

(P.P.S. I think Tali was gonna be one of the characters that both male and female shep were allowed to romance, and that's why I think there's like romantic dialog left over even as femshep)

Sadly the Fox News controversy is true

ME1 released in 2007 and this segment aired in 2008, it contained a lot of false information about how explicit the sex scenes were, causing a massive backlash from the general public. Liara's romance was especially demonised.

Bioware had done queer characters and romance before, but it was more on the subtle side with games that never got much publicity to begin with. So to put a lesbian romance on the same level and seriousness as the other two straight romance options was blasphemous in people's eyes at the time.

There were rumours about ME1 Kaidan being bi but then scrapped because of maleshep romance dialogue lines people found in the gamefiles, but bioware claims that it wasn't cut content, just a mixed up script that got sent to his voice actor.

Notably, in ME2, there is a huge lack of main queer relationships. Liara wasn't added until the DLC, Kelly is an npc that doesn't have a route. Sleeping with Mornith causes a game over screen and she is an optional recruit that you've very discouraged to pick by the game.

All the main relationships were gutted and scrubbed from any hint of queerness. Thanks to Fox News, Jack, Tali, Thane, Miranda, and Jacob had dialogue lines and romance flags for same-gender Shep.

Jack took the biggest hit, however, as she was meant to be THE bi rep, but the fox news segment made Bioware pull the plug and turn her straight last minute. Her femshep romance was practically done.

In ME3, they did listen to the community, and Kaidan was turned bi thanks to the mix-up lines accidentally recorded in ME1. Plus getting an exclusively gay/lesbian romance option.

Steve and Samantha are more well-rounded characters than Kelly, they contain more depth and actual personality...but, they do fall short in comparison to the rest of the romance-able characters. The game considered their romance a main route unlike Kelly who still let you go have other relationships, you could "Lock in" with both of them.

A huge part of why they don't feel as important is because you can't take them on missions with you, they're stationary set pieces almost. The crew fighting alongside you helps create a special bond, why even EDI feels closer to the player than both of them despite her being in a relationship with Joker.

So besides Steve and Samantha, Liara and Kaidan remain the only gay romance options in the Mass Effect Trilogy.

-

Final note: I really like how Thane—a deeply spiritual and religious character—was supposed to be queer without it creating conflict within his belief system. It helps resonate how different the aliens' culture is, how homophobia could be a man–human–made concept in the Mass Effect world. How it's only us who used religion as an excuse way to shun queer people, while the rest of the galaxy didn't even consider it.

In ME3, there is an overhead dialogue about a human soldier talking to the asari embassy about finding refugee for her asari daughter, maybe send her back home. She mentions how all her human family basically abandoned her the day she married her asari wife, homophobia heavily implied.

You don't hear a story like that from any other alien who married an asari, I really think homophobia is exclusive to humans. It's both shameful but also a relief that at least the rest of the galaxy have their priorities sorted right. We could learn a thing or two.

[iratheartist868]

randomthefox

Sonic Lost World is a good gamel I sincerely and legitimately have no idea what the fuck peoples problem with it is or why it has the reputation it does. I assume people just haven't played it? I'd say that's reasonable considering it was a Wii U exclusive BUT THAT'S NOT EVEN TRUE BECAUSE IT'S ON STEAM YOU CAN PLAY THIS GAME ON PC RIGHT NOW so I literally don't get it at all.

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This game is absolutely stunning to look at, it's so visually vibrant and beautiful the colors just pop and everything is so aesthetically appealing. The level design feels like an effort to take the design philosophies of the 2D games and do the Super Paper Mario Z-axis flip and show those 2D levels from a 3D perspective, and the way they took the Different Routes element from those games and just made it this optional choice players could make of which angle they want to take across a stretch of level with the freedom to go back and forth was very creative and allows for a lot of player expression. The kind of speedrun shit people do with this game is

insane.

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The plot feels like a natural evolution of the Back To Basics approach that Colors had, still with a focus on comedy but the cutscenes never have a chance to outstay their welcome because of how brisk and to the point they are. And they even manage to touch on more thoughtful subjects like Sonic and Tails coming into conflict, and like I detailed - this is Sonic at his absolute lowest point where he's left completely alone and is beset by doubt because of his own mistakes. This is the kind of Sonic narrative that people SAY they always want, and hype up the comics for supposedly having, but then they don't give this games story its chops and I don't understand why.

The Zeti are great, they're flat one dimensional characters for the most part but they're all so much fun and have such great designs and boss fights. And this is EGGMANS game, he has SO much screen time and dialog and great moments.

Sonic Lost World is PHENOMENAL Disregard EVERYTHING you hear people say about this game and listen to me instead: this game is $30 on Steam, fucking play

Thank you for the long analysis!!

I definitely don't dislike the game. Plus I've noticed a lot of people have started to say they like/love it!!

Recently I haven't really had the time to play video games. I'll try and make some time for that again

I'll remember what you wrote, maybe someday I'll get it💙