#edit to correct typos

[benevolenterrancy]

A man needs a hobby while he's waiting for his beloved disciple to return from the dead and torture him!!!

(SQQ is a complete fucking freak and I love him so much)

[capricorn-0mnikorn]

I have ~Thoughts~ on the Harry Potter Phenomenon that was

(Courtesy of memories prompted by this Tumblr Poll)

Back when I was a senior in college (back in the mid-to-late 1980s), I actually wrote a fantasy novel for kids aged ~8 - ~11 (in a self-designed course for a single credit, under the guidance of my Literature advisor), inspired by a series of dreams and recurring characters that showed up in them.

My advisor encouraged me to try and get it published. And so, I arranged with teachers from my old school to have a class of 30 or so 10 year-olds beta read it, and give me feedback for revisions. The kids also encouraged me to try and publish it.

So I did.

Now, back then, there was no "Self Publishing." The closest thing was "Vanity Publishing," where you would pay 100% of the publishing cost of your book, which would be printed in hard copy, for the benefit of having 500 -1,000 books shipped to your personal address, which you were then responsible for storing and selling out of the trunk of your car in a parking lot, somewhere. And if word got out that you were trying to claim credit for being a "published author" because of a Vanity Press book, actual publishers wouldn't touch you with a 40-foot pole.

If you wanted to get published, you had to buy that year's copy of Writer's Market: a listing of magazine and book publishers, and agents, with a brief description of what material they published, and what they wouldn't touch.

Guess what genre no agent or publisher was interested in handling?

That's right, Gentle Readers: Fantasy for children aged 8 - 11. I would have happily sent out a dozen queries for each story I wrote, if there were publishers and agents willing to look at them. But for three to four years of trying, in directories of two-columns of tiny print, and several [hundred]* pages long, I'd be lucky to find two or three outlets even willing to look at fantasy for kids.

The general consensus, across the publishing business, was that fantasy was a dead and obsolete genre. If it was for kids old enough to read chapter books and novels, it must also be firmly grounded in realism and actual history, because everyone knows the only people buying books for kids that age were teachers, who wanted stories with practical applications in the classroom.

***

After 3 - 4 years of trying, while I was in grad school, I finally got a rejection from the one agent who agreed to read my novel. A few days later, I received news that my mother had died from the breast cancer she'd been fighting, and my heart just went out of the project altogether.

A few years later, the first Harry Potter book was published. And it became a worldwide phenomenon. And it was the kids, themselves, who were driving the sales.

See, I think the real reason the books were such a success, even though they were never really very well written, was because they were in a genre the audience was hungry for -- a genre they'd been denied access to for all of their young lives.

Someone who is starving will think even moldy bread is delicious.

*Gosh, what a word to leave out via typo; the Writers Market rivaled the Manhattan Yellow Pages in length.

[z-moves]

⚠️: MOHAMMED ALHABIL'S FUNDRAISER is VERY SLOW

Mohammed Alhabil had already lost his father and his brother. he just turned 18 when the attacks escalated. right now, he needs funds for:

an URGENT operation to save his leg, else he will lose its function

transportation to be able to escape danger [ link to his post about this ]

food, which he says he can't find

please help him! funds are coming in TOO SLOWLY!

if possible, please also adopt his fundraiser and/or promote his fundraiser on other sites.

€21,308 / €35K

this fundraiser is supported by @/90-ghost, therefore this fundraiser is highly trustworthy. [ link to post ]

as of 5/19/2025, his fundraiser is also #1410 on The ButterflyEffect Project's list of vetted fundraisers. [ link to Google Sheets ]

for more info, you can visit his blog: @mohammedalhabil2000

4/21/2025: the last funding was given around 3 days ago, and there were only 5 fundings within 21 days!

tags for reach (please let me know if you don't want to get tagged):

@heritageposts @timetravellingkitty @rhubarbspring @irhabiya @wellwaterhysteria @junglejim4322 @kibumkim @mangocheesecakes @kyra45-helping-others @tortiefrancis @toiletpotato @fromjannah @omegaversereloaded @vague-humanoid @aristotels @komsomolka @riding-with-the-wild-hunt @ot3 @amygdalae @ankle-beez @dykesbat @watermotif @mavigator @lacecap @socalgal @chilewithcarnage @ghelgheli @sayruq @boobieteriat @tamamita

[more-than-a-slayer]

Erala’s breath quickened as she strained against the silken webs holding her arms tight together. It was unfair, really — she had wanted to reach out, to feel the drider’s body beneath her fingertips, to dig her nails into its skin. The hunger to touch it, to taste it, and being prevented from it made her frustration rise. As the layers of fabric were yanked from her body, she grinned, her heart racing in anticipation. Will she be devoured? No, the drider's posture, the drider's gaze... It's hunger was not for her blood and flesh alone.

Frustrated, yes, but not any less enraptured. Not any less wet.

The glorious, sudden sting in her thigh made her hiss, her grin widening as the enticing burning sensation spreaded beneath her skin, quickly taking over her body, adding a layer of slickness to her already-growing arousal. Her previous frustration was gradually being casted aside as the pain melted into a slow, soothing warmth, just as intoxicating as the pain.

Her struggles faded as the tension seeped from her limbs, leaving her dazed, relaxed. She blinked, half-lidded, her mind still fixated on the creature before her. The desire to feel it hadn’t vanished — no, it had only deepened. Unable to touch with her hands, she spreaded her legs ever so slightly, sliding them along the drider's flanks.

The changeling's gaze drifted down to the drider’s ovipositor, her breath hitching in awe. To her, it was a marvel, a dark and twisted symbol of life in its most primal form. The thought of witnessing — experiencing — such a raw, intimate process sent a thrill down her spine, her heart pounding in strange anticipation. It was beautiful in a way few could understand — an embodiment of creation and destruction intertwined. She was captivated, utterly enraptured by the miracle she was about to behold.

Yes. She longed for this, to experience the drider’s presence in ways she hadn’t imagined before. It was thrilling, dangerous — and she welcomed it.

Its sudden movement toward her might have startled anyone else, but Erala didn’t flinch. No, this was no threat. This was an invitation. She took a slow, deliberate step closer, her breath hitching with curiosity, not fear. Her fingers hesitated for only a moment before she reached out, tracing delicate lines along the creature’s abdomen and around its vulva — miraculously in place. The smooth, chitinous surface was unexpectedly warm under her touch, pulsing with a life force both familiar and utterly alien.

She marveled at the sheer power radiating from it, her hand sliding lower to its thick, powerful spider legs. Each one carried a lethal grace, a blend of brute force and perfect balance. Her fingers followed the contours of one of the legs, feeling the coiled strength that could snap bones and pierce flesh with ease.

Erala's heart raced — not with dread, but with exhilaration. She was entranced, her mind swirling with possibilities. What kind of power must it feel, this fusion of elf and arachnid? How utterly magnificent it was, to be such a creature...

"How should I call you, beautiful miracle?" She asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

As Erala's fingers roamed further along the drider's form, her eyes fell upon something that made her pause — hidden just beneath the creature's abdomen were its ovipositors, sleek and pulsing with a strange, hypnotic rhythm. Her breath caught, curiosity blooming in her mind like a dark flower. What kind of purpose did they serve? What secrets of creation and destruction did they hold?

A slow smile crept across her lips as her fingers traced closer, the strange anatomy igniting even more fascination within her. The sheer biological complexity of it all was mesmerizing. Erala's heart beat faster, her pulse matching the strange, pulsing movements of the creature’s body.

"A miracle, indeed..."

She leaned in, her thoughts swirling with a mix of scientific curiosity and something darker, something more primal. To be this close to something so otherworldly, to touch and explore it — it thrilled her.

[mercifullymad]

i feel passionately about the need to enfold people experiencing (or diagnosed) with "just" depression or anxiety into the mad pride project. the more people who view themselves as mad, the better. much as the rhetorical move from "neurotypical" to "neuroconforming" emphasizes the artifice & social construction of "neurotypicality," so too will expanding identification as "mad" expose the sane/mad dichotomy as a false one.

it's true that (some) people with "just" depression and/or anxiety have an easier time navigating the psych system than people who have more stigmatized diagnoses. but this is not to say that they necessarily have an easy time — the carceral psych system is hostile to everyone subsumed by it, even the most "privileged" patients. we should of course critique & examine how our experiences are shaped by various intersections of privilege, but we cannot forget or ignore how someone with "just" a depression/anxiety diagnosis can still experience the full force of the carceral psych system brought down upon them (including but not limited to involuntary institutionalization, police intervention, & forced medication or other forced treatment).

we must encourage, if not insist, that those with the least-stigmatized diagnoses view their difficult experiences navigating the psych system as bound up with the liberation of people who have more stigmatized diagnoses &, often, a more violent experience of the psych system. we need more people to drop the "i have anxiety/depression but i'm not crazy" line and say loudly, "i have anxiety/depression & i am crazy. my access to just treatment is linked to the conditions of all other crazy people, who are my allies, peers, & friends. we are united in our cause & we all deserve a more liberating system of care."

[fuckyeahgongyoo]

Jan 2025 | Louis Vuitton F/W Show: Lunar New Year Greeting (x)

[beigebeignette]

Sinners 2025 thoughts and review Pt 1.

Spoilers ahead

So I went the other day to watch Sinners at the movie theatre and it was amazing, 9/10 honestly. I went with pretty high expectations since I'd seen some very good reviews and also because vampire movie and it was safe to say that the actors did not disappoint.

The only reason why I'm not giving it a 10/10 is the fact that I think that they could have done something more with the Choctaw folks that just showed up at the beginning to warn the couple about the vampire? Thinking about it now I understand why they didn't show up later in the movie (because the sun had set and they didn't want to put themselves on unnecessary danger). So yes, I DO get why we didn't see them later but... I still kind of wish they had (?) So yes, that was basically why I'm not giving it a solid 10/10.

Onto other topics:

I've seen that some people mistook Annie for Smoke's mother/aunt and claimed that in every scene they're in she's kind of a mother figure to him (excluding obviously the more physically intimate ones, if you get my gist) and also showing promotional pictures of the couple and I? Don't get it?

The pictures I've seen look very much like old pictures of married couples I've seen on photography exhibitions. The look like mature adults and somewhat parental figures. Because that's what they are. Parents/parental figures. They both had a child they love and cherish even if she's gone. Annie obviously has a motherly air in her because she *is* a mother just like he is a father. They both cherish that child and mourn her, and if that's not what a parent is then I don't know what is. Also, Smoke acts throughout the film as an additional parental figure to Sammie, making sure that he is alright and taking care of him.

Idk, to me it was very obvious since the moment Smoke stopped in front of his child's grave, because who else but the mother of that child would live in a house near it? Who else would talk to Smoke with such proximity when none of the characters mentioned any aunts, any grandmothers?

Also, I have to say it. I loved their relationship. It was so full of love and respect. Did Smoke personally believe in hoodoo? No, and he says so. But he respects Annie, respects her craft, and believes in her; he fully trusts her. That's why in the end he honours her wishes and prevents her from becoming a vampire, from not meeting her ancestors.

On that topic: why didn't she save herself? I believe she could have objectively saved herself using hoodoo and all sorts of things to defy fate but that's the issue. Annie is shown to consult her fate and is shown to embrace it, not avoid it. Because I think that for her death is not the end. Death is not leaving your loved ones, abandoning them and ending in this bleak landscape of pain and suffering for eternity. Death means reuniting with your roots, with those who left a while or a little ago; death means closure. Annie is not afraid of death because she knows someone is waiting for her on the other side; and as a mother, there are very few things she wants to do aside from being able to see her baby again.

Annie doesn't mind going herself, but she cares about the others, about Smoke and Sammie; and that's why she makes sure to protect them until the very end. She knows that by protecting Smoke, he will protect Sammie until he is safe; and after that, she knows that she'll welcome him when he's ready.

[madness-and-other-things]

for some reason I keep coming across random priests of order even though I finished the Shivering Isles main questline like 12 quests ago 💔💔💔 why are you still here man the greymarch is OVER

[cafeleningrad]

unsorted thoughts about Juri and Miki: On innocence an accountability

If Akio, Anthy, and Utena are the thesis of all duelists and their respective princess-figures, then each other character represents a primariy theme (although also overlapping with other struggles). > If Miki represents an inability to move from an idealized past, Juri represents an iniability to imagine change and future.

Miki and Juri are friends because they do sense something good in the other they can bring out when together. But they also are, like every other duelist, too caught up in their own matters to care about anyone outside of the student council... who the others are, what they feel.

Shiori and Kozue are basically caught up the inte same struggle. Both need their duelist to define themselves in not so healthy ways. Their duelist refuses to take resposibility in their existencial longing and connection to the person outside the student council circle. > Miki wishes for family bliss yet is incapable of reognizing anyone outside his ideals. (Hence why he's friends with perfectionist Juri.) So he's unwilling in creating it himself. > Juri is not unreasonably afraid of homophobia and it's social repercussions so she feels lonely and isolated. Yet she can't fathom that anyone else might feel as deeply, as passionately as her. Anyone else is just bubbly happy, none can touch her in her ivory tower of detachment. Hence why Juri's outbursts are so phyiscally violent the moment Anthy or Utena do strike her nerve in either reminding her that she has attachment to other people, or fundamentally disagree in her deepseated beliefs. This leads Juri to dismiss Shiori's feelings of inferiority and abandonement, even her heartfelt apology. In fact Juri doesn't attest any genuine feelings to Shhiori at all, since the Shiori in her locket is an entirely different person. > Funny how Miki is currently treated by fandom as raging "nice guy misogynist". (Well I get it into the current dating-problem-video-for-guys to manosphere pipeline ers in which teenage boys get lured into. But only to a point since this is still a story created 1990s Japan, and personal associations can mislead during analysis) Meanwhile Shiori is then treated as the agitator of the "toxic yuri dynamic". It's total blame game in centrically symmetry on the trajectory of Juri-Shiori-Miki-Kozue. Meanwhile Kozue and Juri get a "blame free" card in current popular fandom trend. Chill and nuance, please. These are all teenagers trying to grow up in an environment that incentivizes and rewards the most cruel, selfish choices.

Personally, Kozue and Miki are my rosetta stone to Akio's and Anthy's relationship. The desires and logical trappings of the Kaoru twins reflect the one's binding Anthy and Akio. > Anthy takes on the hate of the world for Akio. In the microcosm of Ohtori all the blame for a guy's misfortune gets attributed to girls. Obviously Anthy is the one getting bullied and slapped when Saionji isolates himself from the shock that a girl beat him twice. But we also see it when Ruka breaks up with Shiori how rumors quickly switch from: "Why might they break up so suddenly? Ruka was a bit rude, wasn't he?" to "Shiori probably did something to desreve it!" Basically it's all about how society never fathoms to blame a man yet redirects anger and scorn for misdeed on women. Akio refuses to grow up, refusing to realize that he could have never possibly survived the task of Dios, he rather lets Anthy endure the blame while trying to recreate a time that never was. >Where Akio refuses to grow up, Anthy gets adultified. > This repeats in Miki and Kozue although with way less intentionality by the actors. > The theme of idealized past is prominently explored in Miki's and Kozue's relationship. Miki wants to get his sunlit garden back although it never was that impressive (as Utena realizes with a certain disllusionment), nor as harmonic (as Kozue notices), and Miki lets the garden overgrow in the present. But Miki isn't a child anymore. All his excellence academically, musically, working on his fencing skills, good behavior, timed discipline are to set him up for a propsperous carrer. And yet he speaks of no aspirations that such skills and efforts could earn him. He's entering his teenage years where he will need to make decisions for the future. However he barely has an idea what he wants - hence it takes two episodes to convince him to duel, and even then Miki has a hard time forumlating his thoughts what his objective for the future is supposed to be. "Shining thing" is such a nebulous term. > Miki refuses to grow up. What is an inextricable part of his childhood is the concept of innocence. Doing nothing out of malice, bad things just happen to you. Miki certianly doesn't like to be bossed around by adults yet can't challenge his father who left the Kaoru family on his own accord for his affair in their telphone call. Miki still upholds his well-behaved demeanous and can't direct his anger at his father. Miki's already trapped into conformity to adults where the usual protocol demands respect for them, especially for men. So in his mind his father's affair takes the shape of Anthy as only the ideal woman would explain as to why a father would leave his family.

Here's the thing: Kozue is attached to Miki for her self perception as Miki needs her for his selfperception. This represents itself in this bird's nest motive as both try to preserve the symbolic sanctity of home and family care. Understandable as their parents are divorcing which takes an emotional toll on them. > Miki greatly fails Kozue in not being interested in who she is. Kozue herself suffers under a complex in which everything Miki does is to be praised whereas she feels she can't play the piano as good as him. She feels like she could never live up to him so negative attention is the only form of conenction she cosndiers effective. >Which is very much Shiori's strategy of negative attention and taunting keeping a desired person in one's life by proxy. > Kozue is never afforded protection. She's dragged onto the piano stage in spite of her crying and protest, her goign out with different boys is seen as promiscuous character trait, or met with scorn rather than worrying anyone. Her experience makes her belief that "growing up" is equal to "loss of innocence", or in her words "getting yourself dirty". > Kozue also maintains Miki's image of innocence and brilliance. When we see Kozue's duel episode we witness her protecting Miki from a predatory music teacher. Kozue does get Miki's attention by dating around. She does so very intetionally as she confesses to Mikage. Acting like she doesn't care yet her eyes are constantly surveilling her brother. Her duel speech is entirely about how brilliant Miki is, how her duel skills are Miki's. > Kozue can only contrast the image of her self when contrasted to Miki. > Kozue also falls into the trappings of believing in the preservation of innocence for men as her reason to duel is her lossing her grip on Miki as he begins to get interested in Anthy. Instead of blaming Miki's desinterest in Kozue in first palce. > Meaning Kozue's self perception is one in which she is inferior since Miki is the brilliant child, not her with clumsy Piano play, wild attitude where Miki is polite and well-behaved. An out of love for him she will also be the "bad twin", and keep any threats challenging Miki's current state away. > A lot of readings how Miki and Kozue basically just split in gendered experience are apt. Moreso as the gendered socialisation of Miki being praised and sheltered whereas Kozue is pushed into discomfort early on is a massively different socilisation from teh get go. In any case their twin identity is one in which they themselves see each other as halves of one instead of autonomous people. > Them breaking apart in an argument is a good change actually. In their last duel Kozue wanted Miki to grow up with her until she realized how immature Miki was. And Miki realized that he did not want to share his world view with Kozue, and he rather grows up on his own terms. Granted, he could decide that for himself but he definitely won't use Kozue for that undertaking anymore.

Obviously, no matter what existencial crisis the male duelists go through, their existencial struggle will not add up in the intimate violation the female characters will likely face in the future. However, Miki is not a mosnter masquerading with doe-eyes. He's a 13 year old boy, next to Tsuwabuki one of the youngest cast members, who needed a two part episode and highly seductive hooking before he got baited into dueling. And in the end he gives up dueling, he lets go of Kozue, is inspired by Utena to make his own path and girs back to his piano playing without inhibitions. Like everyone else, he's struggling with values in an environment, makes the wrong choices, needs to learn, and is incentivised and rewarded for selfish, uncaring actions.

>He's on a dangerous path but his warning sign is Ruka with his dark blue colour coding. > Miki's theme is the refusal of responsibility, and preserving one's self-conception of innocence as refusal to grow up. Miki's colour code is light blue. > Ruka's colour code is dark blue. He returns at Ohtori on his last living days, trying to liberate Juri from her fixation of Shiori. Juri's fixation on Shiori isn't positive for Juri for many (self-made) reasons although Ruka locates the problem in Juri's sexuality. The tragedy lies in him understanding his friend better than anyone but instead of helping her through her depression, he tries to converse her in order for him becoming her love interest. Even more upsetting is him considering himself burdened by this painful task, doing a saints work, he must hurt Juri but it is for his the greater cause. In Ruka we see how the self repception of innocence mutates into lack of self-reflection, lack of accountability, immunity of guilt and misdeed. Thre is always someone else to blame. (Preferably women.)

Overall I have the impression that the duelist's refusal to take responsibility for the loved one's around them set Kozue and Shiori down a negative developement. > Where Shiori and Kozue both started slighted too attached yet getting balanced back to affection of their prince figure - if not capable of resolving their issues by simply getting listened to - these two girls have delved deeply into their worst impulses in order to re-connect to their duelists. > Like every action in SKU can be traced back to the desire to be loved and appreciated in their personhood. Beware, Ohtori lures one into loosing oneself on the path and becoming a persona. > Juri and Miki both caused this by them stewing in their own misery until they matured into detaching themselves from the object of their fixation.

Innocence as concept itself gets challanged as, mostly demonstrated by Utena's intial lack of unterstanding for Anthy, and Miki's lack of self reflection demonstrate how innocence might start as lack of information adn experience but continues as a mode of enacting in one's own wilfulness without accountability. At some point people need to mature by recognizing how cruel the concept of "innocence" can become. > Ironically, Juri's assumption of Shiori as "innocent" is an inaccurate one. However very fitting to Utena who does hold power over Anthy without acknoledging it. Ironically, Juri is innocently cruel as she too posesses power over Shiori without acknowledging it. Meanwhile Shiori beat herself up for dating their common friend. Shiori's very aware about having made a mistake.

[vagueeyes]

INSIDE NO. 9 | Director Guillem Morales + horror (1/2)

From the BBC Sounds pod - S6E5 "How Do You Plead?"

Reece: Guillem, you've got a very strong sense of what's creepy, and I always, sort of, absolutely trust your judgement as far as, like, having–I think we're quite similar in what we think will be creepy visually (Steve laughs. Guillem: Well–) and we egg each other on. (laughs) Guillem: I think, basically–I think that we have that kind of secret deal about you sending me the scripts with some horrible scenes in them, and me trying, you know, just to come out with even more horrible things. (laughs) (Reece: To make them worse) To make it– (Guillem and Reece laugh)

Reece: Well, prime example was, cos we never thought of it but you did, in "Misdirection" where the guillotine–where Neville is trying to chop Willy's head off. And we just wrote that he pushes him in the guillotine, lets go of the string, and his head comes off. But you were like, "No, no, no, no, it's not–it's a prop so it wouldn't really work, so it would get stuck in his neck. And he has to run up and he has push the blade through to finish him off." And we were like, "Brilliant!"

Guillem: But that was–it made sense (Reece: It made sense, yeah), because it's INSIDE NO. 9, so you never know. So the message there to send to the audience was: He's dead. You killed him and you're using a prop, so it was just making sure that message was delivered properly. Reece: Yes, absolutely. It was very, very good. (Reece and Guillem laugh) Certainly delivered, yes. Guillem: And you enjoyed it. Reece: (laughs) I did! I loved it. Steve: Yeah! He likes killing me in different, inventive ways.

Guillem: You didn't enjoy so much, Steve, probably. Steve: (laughs) I did some of it. It's actually a very scary thing, putting your head in a guillotine. Even though you know you're completely safe and there's no–it's just mentally, it doesn't feel right. Reece: I remember being thinking, "How have we ended up in a situation where Steve has to put his head in the guillotine, and there is now the possibility that that blade (Steve and Guillem laugh) might come down on it–" Steve: "–Cuts his head off!" Reece: "Cuts his head off!" Yeah, it was quite frightening. Guillem: You…you write those things. Reece: I know! But we don't think about the execution.

[kdelarenta]

potential tw: slut-shaming, catcalling, misogyny, parental abuse

me when i try to break the cycle but the cycle breaks me 🙂💔🥀

name: claire coleman

li: alaric

story: debt of deception by @debtofdeception-if

[gaitiem]

You know you're near your destination the more you're slip sliding away

[e32c-af6f]

I finished Kingdom Come: Deliverance II (KCD2). It was great. The story and the dialogue and the themes treated me like an adult. Quite refreshing.

KCD2’s throughlines explore the shifting standards of morality and honour. Henry’s ghost parents pretty much disown him at the end of my playthrough. Henry robbed, murdered, spread fear and hardship, and, though I, as Henry, had the opportunity to repent, I chose to defend my choices. I had already done so, internally, as the player, when faced with those decisions in-game, hours earlier. Feelings would be irrelevant at that point. My Henry understood that.

What I am focused on with this text here is my belief that many people are missing out on a rewarding journey because they immediately reject the game due to the inclusion of some optional romantic interactions (regardless of how inconsequential those interactions are to the overall story).

I know Gamers have been repeatedly burned by performative LGBT representation shoehorned into games by soulless company execs and, truly, those shallow, gutless simulacra should not be considered worthy of interest or investment. It is right to reject shitty, algorithm-driven writing meant only to distill and exploit for profit.

KCD2 does it differently, though. Their writers have put forth an exemplary and honest effort that pays off. This is how such concepts should be woven into a narrative without pandering. I am very impressed.

I loved KCD1 and avoided all information about its sequel. I never watched a trailer for it. (I have done the same with each Tarantino film since Jackie Brown, in fact.) That is how I like to take in art I care about -- blind as fuck. As such, I did not know about the gay. Once I became aware, though, I pursued the fuck out of it.

The first romance option to appear when speaking with Capon occurs after saving him from his execution. Acquiring his freedom means completing multiple timed fetch quests in an unfamiliar environment while avoiding numerous guards (who could smell me) and, all throughout, the city bells are tolling, every hour, counting down to Capon's death.

Capon is the literal reward for this stressful quest chain and that is why I undertook it. Henry and Capon quarrel and separate early in the story and, after several hours of side-questing, I wanted to interact with Capon again. He and Henry have fun dialogue and interactions. More of that now, please.

Once spared from the hangman's noose, Capon and Henry are talking and laughing again. I am pleased to have finally completed those awful tasks and gotten to this joyous moment. Relief washes over me. Capon apologizes to Henry for their previous quarrel. Emotions are flowing.

Here are Henry's dialogue options:

I read the lines aloud (I live alone) as I highlighted them and lingered on the second response for as long as the gif depicts. I selected "I care about you" immediately after reading the text because it is the right response, only processing the heart icon as I clicked.

I did all of these quests -- repeatedly until success -- because I do care about the character Capon. I enjoy him. He is reckless, but fun. He stresses me out and I enjoy it. He is my buddy from the first game and we have good times. That is why I put effort into progression. The past is the past and I worked to get to this present with Capon. Why? Because “I care about you.” That is accurate.

Regardless of the deeper sentimental implication denoted by the heart icon, I would have chosen those words. As for that deeper implication, I like that it was presented as an option and was quite stunned. I sat agape, in fact.

The sudden drop-off in hype surrounding the game after its release then made sense to me. As I said, I had avoided all information about KCD2 and, while I did not encounter anything negative, I did notice having to actively avoid KCD2 articles and posts far less often. They just stopped coming up. The enthusiasm had obviously dipped.

My enthusiasm, on the other hand, skyrocketed.

I decided to commit all of my game time to the main quest line (something I did in KCD1 only after dozens of hours of side quests). I was engaged by the story and the struggles it was inflicting on Henry. There were tiresome quests that blunted my interest (“Sneak around this place you don’t know! At night! Again!”) and, in those rare times, I chose to slog on just to see how far the game was going to take the Capon romance options.

All the way, is the answer. The game goes all the way with the Capon romance options, I discovered in awe. KCD2 commits fully and the (entirely optional) romantic subplot climaxes in a beautifully written and acted scene. It was a slow burn romance spread over 40+ fuggin hours of character development. This relationship is an organic product of the story and its characters rather than a gimmick tacked on to serve an algorithm. It is narratively and emotionally satisfying. Such a thing can exist without insulting the audience.

I was floored and fulfilled.

Romance options do exist for NPCs other than Capon, of course.

I had Henry have sex with Klara (?) in the forest within minutes of first encountering her character and I was rewarded with in-game titties. I enjoy titties and I like that the mechanics to get those titties exist in the game (which is why I engaged with them). Thank you for allowing adult choices.

In addition to many trips to the bathhouse, I had Henry sleep with a bath maid outside of her formal services for the purpose of gathering quest-related information. Again, this all occurred within minutes of her character being introduced. Henry seemed to regard all of these encounters as casually as I did, which is good.

Within the main storyline persists two other romantic options of somewhat greater (yet varying) importance. There is Rosa who is as fiercely protective of her family as she is frustratingly educated and there is Katherine* who has sharp edges, but is wholly devoted to the cause in which she (and Henry) believes. There could be depth here, but, through their dialogue, these characters are flattened into “The Sarcastic Chick who Reads” and “The Sarcastic Chick with Perpetually Dewy Bosoms”, respectively.

I am being overly reductive here, perhaps, but, in a game with so many richly developed side characters (one of the most memorable speaking barely any English), I am disappointed that these female characters are mostly defined by how they have been oppressed and/or hurt by men. Historical accuracy! Okay, I will accept that because I have to.

Meanwhile, Hans Capon has agency, is actively useful in battle, has a sense of humour, supports Henry’s choices, and has a character I want to see further developed. How could I deny Henry that?

Before the last quest chain – a suicide mission, really – Henry can spend the evening saying goodbye to Katherine or Capon. Having avoided even vaguely flirty speech checks with Katherine, I went to Capon’s room and was not disappointed. Such honest and tender dialogue and body language, while also being cognizant of the times, of what men in such a position would feel and understand and do. The scene is so well written and so well shot and so well performed and so gutsy... goddamn. I will not dissect it further. I was swept away along with Henry and Capon.

Love hurts

Back in modernity, I pirated KCD2 because I simply cannot spend $80 CAD on a video game. Once the game hits at least 40% off, I will acquire a legitimate copy and re-embark on the patched and DLC glory. The game is definitely worth the time and emotion (but not the groceries). [Edit: I now own the game along with the expansion pass. I haven't pre-ordered game content since The Sims 3.]

* I edited this post to update my purchase history and to correct Katherine's name which I had originally thought was "Elizabeth" -- you know, that other old white woman name.

[charmfamily]

CORVUS CROSSING: A CHARM FAMILY STORY. CHAPTER I "BOY, YOU'LL BE A MAN REAL SOON." PART XVII. Transcript Beneath the Cut.

TOMAX: So are you down to stay for a little bit longer and hang out or is the social battery dead and you wanna call it a night? I know it's not far or anything, but I could walk you back.

DAMIEN: [He smiles a little bit awkwardly and nervously.] As long as I don't have to go back over there and act like nothing happened and everything's cool, I could stay for a little bit.

TOMAX: Speaking just for myself, I wouldn't be caught dead over there. I mean Mitchell's really cool and gets along with pretty much everybody and Marcus is a good guy, but having to play nice with Cuntington, Sergio the Crypto Bro and Perpetual Senior Lothario that should have graduated and got a job three years ago but keeps postponing his exit exams so he can mooch off his frat brothers instead… Yeah, don't have the mental stamina for that right now. Or… ever. [He grins.] I'll leave that to my friend Grace, she's a lot more diplomatically tactful.

DAMIEN: Is that uh, a subtly critical way of saying she puts up with way too much bullshit or a really nice way of saying you and I are assholes?

TOMAX: [He laughs.] It's not asshole behavior to avoid hanging out with people you don't like… How'd you get roped into that scene anyway? Did you think it was gonna be a lot different or —?

DAMIEN: Heard a very compelling argument that getting in good with the VP of Pi Rho would help me out with Blazeball, that's pretty much the only reason I'm there. That and … [He shrugs, rubbing the back of his neck.] Ethan and I never really do anything alone so, he wanted to check it out and I said okay. Truth be told, I don't think he's having the best time either.

TOMAX: Mmhmm. Then why's he still hanging out with them and you're over here?

DAMIEN: I'm on Friend Time-Out right now [he sighs.] — he's gonna be stewing for a while that I walked off before he could smooth it all over and won't talk to me at all until he's ready to go home. I didn't do it to be a dick or anything, I just… needed to get away from there before it got really bad and something ended up on fire. It hasn't even been a full day here and the last thing I need is my mom getting letters from the Sages already about destruction of university property and some douchebag being confined to a burn unit in the infirmary. [He smirks.]

TOMAX: Ah, Bambi's an Untamed elemental caster… The temper makes sense.

DAMIEN: Quit. [He laughs.]

TOMAX: [grins] I'll quit when you stop reacting like that.

DAMIEN: Like what?

TOMAX: I'm not telling you. If I do, you'll definitely stop.

[tydell]

thank you @hughesapalooza for tagging meee

you just got a kind of shitty old car and it doesn’t have bluetooth. you can only buy 7 CDs and you can’t repeat an artist. what are you getting?

1. stick season (forever) by noah kahan 2. i met you when i was 18 (the playlist) by lauv 3. golden hour part 2 by ateez 4. red by taylor swift 5. collide with the sky by pierce the veil 6. american beauty/american psycho by fall out boy 7. blue neighborhood (deluxe) by troye sivan

this was actually so much fun to think of lol i tried to pick albums with the absolute least amount of skips i have as well as albums with songs i love singing along to. special mention to 1989 by taylor swift, i am who by stray kids, and preacher's daughter by ethel cain!

absolutely no pressure tags: @wehaveagathering @hauntedppgpaints @amylauren13 @tksupremacy @justkeepmegoing @mirotteroop55 @corbinforester @fldx2 @alcego @ice-ball-again and literally anyone else who sees this and wants to do it!!!

[phoenix-is-the-hottest-thing]

Okay guys I found the vid of Vita's voicelines

What she says is

希儿是我的朋友。就算她本人不承认,我也永远爱她。

Seele (Xi'er) is my friend. Even if she doesn't admit it, I will always love her.

Yes, it is quite literally "I will always love her".

Thank u mhy for my life

Bonus: