#i'm still at a loss over how to brand this shit

[shirozora-draws]

Feeling a bit insane for taking on this merch project while trying to sruvive work, finish a fic, and continue working on another fic. Have I ever done merch before? ABSOLUTELY NOT. Have I been doing research here and there on vendors and their processes? Absolutely.

The idea is to turn all of them into stickers. Depending on how they turn out, I plan to move forward with the following:

turn the Clan of Three into an acrylic standee with Tatooine and Ossus base options

turn the keldabe kiss and Clan of Two into acrylic charms (test epoxy and holographic options?)

turn the grogu and frog eggs into an acrylic shaker charm

"Live Cheen Reaction" is too niche to do more than make a few stickers for shits & giggles

Still need to order test prints but I hate the "convert to CYMK" step and have been procrastinating. Anyway, that is the progress report on the merch front. Sure is an interesting endeavor.

[gyll-yee-haw]

Hi Maria!! I hope you’re doing well ❤️❤️

Do you mind writing Donnie and reader’s first time? He’d be so patient and careful with his girl the whole time, that if she ended up crying halfway through because of how good it felt, he’d be horrified that he hurt her somehow 😭 just something sweet for that poor man

Yes yes yes my poor sad boy deserves the world :(

Warnings: I was too horny writing this, so I went straight to the point, sorry. Loss of virginity, implied unprotected sex, p in v, Donnie being so subbie and cute and unable to not cum too soon :(, masturbation (f and mentions of m)

Like 1.3k words

---

It was a brand new feeling. And you couldn't believe how fucking incredible it was... with every movement of his cock scratching that special spot just right... sending waves of pleasure through your whole body... and then you'd look up and see the prettiest boy who's ever lived, right above you. Eyes so big, so blue, so curious, a little crinkle of worry on his forehead.

Oh my god, is she enjoying this? - was all he could think of.

He was so nervous. And it didn't help at all that your expression was so hard to read.

Still, he was just discovering what pussy drunk meant, cause he was getting the same waves of pleasure as you... and he couldn't stop.

He had been holding himself back, until he couldn't anymore. He left out a loud and pathetic moan. The hottest fucking thing you ever heard. Your pussy automatically clenched around his length.

"Oh my god" You whined, tears escaping your eyes.

Oh no. Oh shit. You were so fucking tight around him... but you were... crying?

"Baby... sorry... shit" He tried to pull out, but you held him in his place, wrapping arms and legs around him.

"Donnie, please..." You begged, tears falling on the pillow under your head.

"I'm hurting you!" He protested, stopping his thrusts immediately. His cock throbbed inside you in need, making him feel like crying.

"You're not hurting me!" You tried to buck your hips, but he was too close and you were holding him too tight to allow that.

"Then why are you crying?" The crinkle on his forehead grew.

"Cause it feels so fucking good..." You sighed. "Love your cock, Donnie..."

"Oh shit, doll, don't do this to me..." His cock throbbed uncontrollably inside you.

"Love it when it does that..." You smiled, biting your lip.

"Y/N, I'm serious..." He closed his eyes, trying to focus on anything but the look on your face on that moment, otherwise the fun would be over too soon...

"Donnie, can we continue?" You asked, nails running up and down his back.

"Give me a sec." His face turned red.

"You're not hurting me, Don, I swear..." You insisted.

"Can't move." He whispered.

"Why?" You asked frustratedly.

"Cause you're squeezing me way too good." He admitted, face visibly burning.

"Oh..." You couldn't help but chuckle.

"Not fucking funny." He sighed. "Just wanted to please you. Such a shitty boyfriend..."

"Donnie, baby..." You cupped his face, forcing him to look at you. "Need you to move... want you to cum so good for me..."

"But..."

"Come on, Donnie... I wanna see you cum... please?" You grabbed the hair on the back of his head, gently tugging on it. "Swear it's gonna make me feel so good..."

"You're supposed to do that first." He groaned, clearly mad at himself.

"Supposed to? There's no right and wrong. It's our first time." You assured him. "Do it for me, please? I'll let you do whatever you want to me afterwards, yeah? Promise it won't be over."

There was a new sparkle in his eyes after hearing that. He couldn't believe that he would get to play with your gorgeous body like he always dreamt of...

"Hmm... can I... hmm..." He got shy again, thinking of the possibilities. "Can I cum on your tits?"

"Fuck, Donnie..." You moaned. "Do it for me, baby, let me see you."

He removed himself from you and it was almost painful for both of you. But you didn't have much time to think. You got on your knees on the bed, watching Donnie stroke his cock. It was so hard... the tip as red as his cheeks, leaking something you couldn't wait to taste someday.

"Shit..." He moaned, desperation on his face. "I'm gonna cum..."

"Cum for me, Donnie..." You begged, just as desperate as him. "Cum all over my tits..."

He left out the hottest sounds you had ever heard as he painted your tits white. And your chin. And belly. He made an inexperienced mess... couldn't help it... he had never been this turned on his his life, his aim wouldn't be good.

"That was so fucking hot, Donnie..." you smiled, watching him fight for his life. You wondered if he would ever be able to stop blushing.

"Hm... everytime I... hmm..." He tried to talk, but was very distracted by the way your hand slided all the way to your pussy, starting to rub yourself.

"Keep talking." You said, eyes focused on his face.

"Everytime I... jerk off I... picture myself coming on your tits." He admitted. "Specially since you... uh... showed me them, the other day."

"Yeah?" You smirked, spreading your legs wider. "Was reality better than you imagined?"

He nodded eagerly. Your fingers started rubbing your clit faster and you left out a moan.

"I'm so sorry I didn't satisfy you..." He was still very disappointed. "I just... wanted our first time to be perfect."

"Shh... come here, baby boy." You chuckled. "Wanna touch me?"

It was stupid to be this excited about this, when he had literally just been inside you... but he didn't even care at this point. He kept his eyes glued to your face as he rubbed all the wrong spots. You had to direct his fingers to your clit. And when he got a reaction from you, indicating he was doing good... oh god.

"Ouch!" Your hips bucked. "Slower, Don... nice and slow..."

"M'sorry..." His eyes widened.

"It's okay, baby... just like that..." You praised. "It... it feels so good..."

"Yeah?" He asked proudly. "Can I kiss you?"

"Please, Don..." You smiled.

The way you looked at each other before the kiss... you both knew. That was the moment you threw all the worries out of the window. Fuck a perfect first time. You were having fun, discovering each other's bodies. When he kissed you, it was so romantic. So intimate. So good... so good.

"Hm... Donnie..." You moaned against his lips. "You're gonna make me cum like this..."

"Please... please, I really want you to..." He crashed his lips against your again, rubbing you incredibly right.

It felt so new... having someone else's fingers making you cum. God, Donnie's fingers... that thought alone could drive you crazy.

More tears escaped your eyes as you reached your peak, but they didn't scare him anymore. They amazed him. He wouldn't get used to this any time soon...

"Stop, stop, stop!" You pushed his hand away, way too overstimulated when it all ended.

"Sorry!" He gasped.

"It's okay, Don." You smiled, feeling like you were floating. "Just felt too good."

"Did you, really?" He asked, with that beautiful smile of his.

"Hell yeah." You laid on your back, letting out a sigh of relief. "This was perfect."

"It... it was, wasn't it?" He smiled, laying beside you.

Donnie became such a clingy little boyfriend after that. And I don't mean only during that post orgasmic bliss... I mean, that boy won't leave you alone for days. Weeks. He's addicted to you. He wants to try everything he always dreamt of. He wants to try everything he's never heard of.

He wants to try everything with you.

[playbucky]

Speak of the Dead.

You manage to escape from your attempted kidnapping, an unexpected person shows up when the doctors call your emergency contact.  Characters – Reader, Reacher, Neagley, Chris, Karla Word Count - 1k.

‘Neagley -,’ you stopped when the larger person stepped into the room, ‘what’s he doing here?’  ‘He was with me when I got the call.’ She told you, you moved in your bed.  ‘Coulda dropped him off somewhere.’ You grumbled.  ‘I would’ve but you know he’s like a stray, always finds you.’ Neagley replied, you arched an eyebrow.  ‘What happened?’ Reacher quizzed.  ‘Pretty sure you’ve already asked the nurse.’ You told him.  ‘Y/N.’ He warned, you glared at him.  ‘Three busted ribs, fractured eye socket, broken nose, serve blood loss and a brand-new scar. It’s like Christmas.’ You replied sarcastically, you lifted your arms and shook them.  ‘Well at least they never took away your best quality.’ Neagley commented, you arched your brow the best you could with the swelling.  ‘Oh wow, tryna piss off the injured, real nice.’ You joked, she smiled and glanced to Reacher.  ‘You know who did it?’ Reacher quizzed, his brows were drawn together, you shook your head.  ‘Wore masks, generic height and build.’ You listed off your attackers.  You watched Neagley and Reacher share a look, you moved in your bed, a hiss escaped your lips. Reacher moved quickly, the space he had kept between you vanished, you raised a hand for him to stop which he did and glared down at you.  ‘I know how to draw them out.’ You breathed out as you got comfy.  ‘We’re not using you as bait.’ Reacher said quickly, you dropped your hand onto his forearm, his warmth spread over your palm.   ‘Good to know that’s where your brain goes but we are, or rather my body.’ You patted his arm.  ‘They’re after the team, so let’s give them the team.’ You suggested, you looked at Neagley who hadn’t moved from the bottom of the bed.  ‘Y/N.’ She said, head tilted as she had a rough idea as to where your thoughts were going.  ‘Pretty sure I was pronounced dead, so someone can work their magic and I can stay dead.’ You suggested.  ‘You’d want to be dead?’ Reacher asked, you sighed.  ‘Being alive hasn’t really lived up to what people have told me is should.’ You leaned back into the pillows to look up at him.    ‘You look like shit.’ Karla commented as she entered the motel room, you chuckled and moved from the bathroom to the chair. Reacher's arm moved at his side, Karla’s brows pinched slightly as she looked at him.  ‘Yeah, nice to see you guys again.’ You grumbled, a hand wrapped around your chest to try and ease the ache.   ‘Been up too much?’ Karla asked, you scoffed and shook your head.  ‘Just dying.’ You commented, you lowered yourself into the chair, she chuckled.  ‘Heard the pair of your got married?’ You said, Reacher looked to her and O’Donnell, his brows furrowed deeply as Neagley chuckled at his shook.  ‘Yeah, he’s had two kids as well.’ Karla commented.  ‘Oft, I'm surprised she’s put up with you for so long, two kids and an adult one?’ You said, an eyebrow arched as you looked at him.  ‘One on the way as well.’ He added happily, you smiled widely.  ‘Well congrats, boy or girl?’  ‘Don’t know.’ O’Donnell commented, he shrugged.  ‘Are they safe?’ You asked.  ‘Yeah, she knows what to do.’ He said, you nodded.  ‘Good, your husband?’ You asked Karla, she nodded which eased you slightly.  ‘He’s safe as well.’  ‘Looks like we’re set.’ You said, they all nodded, ‘Anyone fancy dinner?’ You asked and moved to get out the chair, Reacher held a hand out to stop you.  ‘Reacher and I will get it, you need to rest.’ Karla said, you looked at her annoyed, ‘Still the same toppings?’ She quizzed, you nodded.  ‘Keep -,’  ‘The door locked, we know.’ You, Neagley and O’Donnell said, Reacher looked defeated before he followed Karla out and shut the door behind him. Both their silhouettes walked past the window, Neagley slid the lock over.  ‘They’re the reason we never worked out, right?’ Karla turned to Reacher, who arched an eyebrow, ‘Y/N, you’ve always been focused on them.’ She continued, he didn’t reply.  ‘I don’t blame you, I guess I was naive for thinking anything would show between us.’ She added, Reacher focused ahead of him. 

‘What you doing back?’ You quizzed as he marched into the room, he set the carrier bag onto the small chair that sat at the window, he continued to walk towards you.  ‘I think I might stay awhile.’ He stated, you watched as he lowered himself into the bed next to you, his hand landed next to your knee, his finger twitched slightly.  ‘Reacher settle down? We must be at the end of the world.’ You joked, he looked at you over his shoulder.  ‘Not the end, just until you’re healed up.’ He said, your eyebrows jumped up.  ‘You’re staying for me?’ You asked, your hands moved from your crossed legs to your chest, he nodded.  ‘Shoulda stayed a long time ago.’ He admitted, you shook your head.  ‘I’m capable of looking after myself.’ You replied, his hand landed on your knee before he squeezed it.  ‘You shouldn’t have to be, I’m gonna be here.’ He told you, he didn’t break eye contact with you.  ‘Reacher.’ You breathed, you placed your hand on top of his, your thumb stroked across the back.  ‘Don’t try and convince me, I’m staying.’ He said, his gaze dropped to your joined hands.  ‘I was going to say thank you.’ You informed him, he looked up to you before you both smiled at each other. 

Tags (you all commented on my post) - @mariahill2001 @redpool @wolflover384 @jayblackpanther @incognito2252 @charmed-asylum @erajoie07 @midnightstar-90 @yourlocalnegroko @honestlysublimecherryblossom ~@annacavillsblog @cynic-spirit

[nozunhinged]

7 BL Newbie Moments of 2023 That Altered My Brain Chemistry

So I went through all my posts since the beginning of this journey and as much as I love dumping my insanity here without context or any punctuation, I feel that a lot of my fav moments deserve a bit more love and structure.

But first I need to put a bit of context so you won't be like "who the hell do they think they are" (aside from delusional I'm nothing, I promise) and my anxious overexplainer-heart is silenced.

My first BL TV show was Only Friends and only 5 months later I'm already throat deep into it (sorry). My watchlist is so endless that I sometimes (no, regularly) genuinely fear for my sanity. I'm still learning all the names and production houses but does that stop me from starting 10 other shows? NOPE.

I'm not new to queer fan spaces (avid manga reader since the yaoi days, my first ship was taito from digimon) but I am most definitely new to the brainrot levels these shows gave me.

And believe it or not, even though my shipper heart is over a decade old, I'm new to Tumblr and the fuel this platform added to the fire could burn down entire continents.

ANYWAYS if you're still here — please enjoy Noz's 100% self-indulgent moments!

1. The End And The Beginning - Only Friends

All I did was mindlessly scroll through the tumblr trends, no idea about how this website works, still sour and sad about the loss of my twitter bubble thanks to the elopocalypse—little did I know that fate would lead me to the wonderful world of BL shows! It was like this moment in isekai-esque movies where you get sucked into a world and you go WOOAAH once you arrive.

There was this show—on YouTube—100% unapolagetic about sex, relationships and queerness. Five minutes into the first episode, someone asks if they can bring their boyfriend to a hookup. This was ALL of my wildest dreams come true! Oh boy, was I naive.

I feel like Only Friends had me speedrun the whole BL industry. Branded pairs, production houses, fanservice, obsessive fans & haters, audience reactions influencing the storyline, EVERYTHING happened during Only Friends and I was just like "what the hell is going on here?" It was like the perfect case study for literally everything. Honestly I still don't really understand what's going on.

Unfortunately, this also led to the awful ending I erased from my brain and don't want to get into, I'm just gonna say Boston I will never forgive the writers for what they did to you. I dropped that show like a hot potato, filtered all possible tags and moved on — or so I thought.

I feel like I'm trying to recreate that first excitement when I discovered OF. But 20 shows later, I'm still not there. Does this make me sound like an addict? Yes, and this is why Only Friends EP 1 is my No. 1 moment that altered my brain chemistry.

2. The Boeing Incident - Only Friends

I talked about it just yesterday and I need to do it again because Boeing was the beginning of a thing that thought I'd never be capable of: lusting after real person TV characters. I talked about it in length here and here so the only thing I'm gonna add just for good measure is that I'd do anything, anything for a BostonBeoingNOZ threesome. Holy shit I'm cringing just writing this down but I need to get my point across.

3. Still Looking For That Kiss - Love in The Air

I know this is a general experience at this point but the chemistry between the couples in Love In The Air opened a whole knew world for me. I thought I knew chemistry but when I saw them, I realized I knew NOTHING.

It may sound weird but I'm still looking for that perfect kiss that's hitting all the right neurons in my brain. I have a hunch that one of these two pairs will deliver them one day, but until then I NEED to watch a million kisses for research.

This post by @talistheintrovert explains perfectly what I think about kissing in shows. Ji Chang Wook is still the blueprint for me.

But do I have a favorite BL kiss so far? Yes, yes I do. It's this ShinPeach beauty.

4. Main Lead Syndrome - Kiseki: Dear To Me

I am a second lead, side couple enby before I am human but I will defend these two until the end of time. My TL is flooded with Chen Yi, Ai Di, Nat and Louis while these two are over here falling in love over strawberry cake, cat analogies, failed cooking and all sorts of memory loss. Zongyi opened a fucking bakery for his babygirl and Zerui pretended to be a pretty dumdum to protect the love of his life.

I don't care how much you all love the two dumb (affectionately) gangsters, these two deserve the world, end of story. Also Kai Hsu and Taro Lin are bff's irl now, Taro said that Kai helped him get out of a very bad mental tate and I take that very personally.

5. The Fanservice is Fanservicing - Kiseki: Dear To Me

Speaking of Taro and Kai, the fact that I even know that they're bff's is another brainaltering moment that needs recognition because months later it led me to this TikTok of two actors I don't know of a show I don't watch, staring at them for ages and really considering watching it just because of it.

That is the power of fanservice my friends and I can put on my clownmask now because I avidly screamed left and right that fanservice should be forbidden when I learned about it. I blame Kiseki for that. But my point still stands, I hate actors doing stuff they're uncomfortable with. I just hope they're all friends and have fun and get that coin.

6. The One Just For Me - Playboyy

I've been lurking around Playboyy from the moment I found out they have the same writer as OF. And boy did it deliver so far! I already wrote a bunch here about which role Playboyy plays for me, but it's also a wonderful case study for my producer heart — watching the acting, directing, lighting, sets, props and storyline interact is fascinating.

People say the less you notice the better the show, which is correct, but I love all the flaws of this piece of media. IMHO it's the last puzzlepiece of the amazing, important social commentary the show delivers. All of the topics the couples represent need to get their very own show.

7. The Holy Grail - The Sign

Speaking of the less you notice — this is the sign for The Sign (again, sorry). There's a reason this show is loved and praised so widely because the production is on a whole other level. Adding the beautiful story on top of that, we have the potential for a holy grail here and I'm so in for the ride.

I keep saying I've entered the world of BL in it's absolute golden era. Never in a million years did I think I'd watch 5 shows simultaneosly but I love every single one of them so much I keep a whole spreadsheet on how I can be on time for every premiere every week alongside my work schedule.

Honorable mentions

KinnPorsche: VegasPete were my first dark, angsty, morally questionable couple ever (I'm a sissy okay)

Last Twilight: When I watched Extraordinary Attorney Woo, I cried several times about the wonderful media representation of disability. It means so much to me and Last Twilight is on par with that.

Bake Me Please: Thank you for giving me this beautiful kiss

Manner of Death: Thank you MaxTul for making gay makeouts fashionable

Bad Buddy: The one time I was glad I persisted so I could watch them most adorable phone scene on the planet

I Feel You Linger In The Air: It was too painful for me to finish but I loved the show with my whole heart and it deserves all the awards it got.

Kimi ni Todokanai: Japanese shows just hit different. I'll never get over the kissing Taiyaki.

The Novelist Series: THIS is how you kiss the one you're horny for my friends. Take notes directors.

Semantic Error: My fav webtoon -> Got Viki for the Series -> Found the BL corner of Viki -> Drew my attention to Tumblr -> This post.

Thank you for being the butterfly of my butterfly effect.

And thank YOU if you read until here! To a even more wonderful queer year 2024! I'm so ready for this ride.

[glorious-spoon]

17. A kiss to distract, if it sparks ✨️

Thank you! I hope you like <3

-

"This is so stupid," Buck mutters, sounding more embarrassed than distressed. "I can walk back, Eddie, just let me—"

He breaks off with a pained noise a moment later. Eddie pauses with the first aid kit half open to give him a pointed look, and he sits back down. He's not quite pouting, but it's not far off from one, either. He's got his leg carefully propped up on the slightly mangled frame of his bike, though that's probably as much to keep from dripping blood onto his new joggers as any good practices about keeping sprains elevated.

The joggers are a loss anyway. Buck was going fast enough when he slid on that patch of gravel that it took a good ten feet for him to skid to a stop, and he was only on his bike for half of that.

"Or," Eddie says reasonably, "you could stay there while Chim brings the car around, let me put something on your road rash, and not walk two miles back on that ankle before we find out for sure if it's broken."

"It's not broken," Buck mumbles.

"You don't know that."

"I've broken a lot of bones. It's just a sprain."

"Okay, well, you still shouldn't be walking on it."

Buck lets out a deep, huffy sigh and subsides. Eddie unzips the first aid kit and pulls out sterile bandages, tape, and a tube of Neosporin. He's got his water bottle to rinse it out, and it doesn't look like there's any debris lodged in the wound. Just a raw, bloody strip from Buck's elbow to his wrist where he tried to catch himself when he went down.

He'll be fine. Eddie is still a little shaky with adrenaline from those ten seconds—maybe not even that—between Buck skidding to a stop with his bike half on top of him and Buck sitting up with a groan and a cranky, Aw, shit, come on, that was brand new. But Buck will be fine. Objectively, he knows this. His nerves are just taking a little while to catch up.

A woman on a bike comes to a stop next Buck as Eddie makes his way back over. She's older, flyaway gray hair under her helmet that she tucks back out of her face as she peers down at him with visible concern. "Are you okay, hon? Do you want me to call someone?"

"Oh, no, no thank you," Buck says, beaming up at Eddie as he approaches. "My boyfriend's actually a firefighter."

"You're a firefighter too," Eddie says, overwhelmed with fondness. To the woman, he adds, "Our friend is bringing the car around, but thank you."

"I know I'm a firefighter too," Buck says, as she pushes off and bikes away. "I just meant, you'll take care of me. You always do."

"I try to," Eddie says honestly. He crouches down next to Buck, setting his supplies on the curb, and reaches for his water bottle. "Here. Stretch your arm out so I can—perfect."

Buck's lips twitch a little at that, but he holds his arm steady so that Eddie can rinse out the wound and pat it dry. He holds still while Eddie applies Neosporin and bandages, and it's only after that's finished that he says, quietly, "Sorry."

"What for?"

"I scared you."

Eddie stills briefly. Buck noticed; of course he did. He's too observant not to realize that Eddie's heart froze in his chest when Buck went down, a surge of cold panic that seems deeply silly now. Then he sets the empty package in his hand aside and leans down to press a light kiss to the top of the bandage, the same way he used to when Chris was still young enough to put up with it. 

"Don't worry about it," he says. "It's not like you did it on purpose."

"Yeah, but I'm trying to do that less. Scaring you, I mean."

"I appreciate that, but it's not—" he shakes his head. The middle of a sunny bike path in downtown Los Angeles is probably not the place to get into this, honestly. Besides. They both know the history there, the context. "How's your ankle?"

Buck shrugs a little, leaning his shoulder against Eddie's. "It hurts. But I'll live."

"Sorry. Anything I can do?"

Buck laughs a little. "I don't know. You could distract me?"

"Distract you, huh?" Eddie turns toward him. Their faces are close enough that he barely has to lean in at all to brush his lips across Buck's. He feels Buck smile briefly before kissing him back. "Like that?"

"Yeah, that'll work," Buck whispers, and kisses him again. Then he lets his head tilt against Eddie's shoulder, and Eddie wraps an arm around him, and they stay like that until Chim pulls Eddie's truck up to the curb and taps the horn.

-

(for these kiss prompts)

[iliterallydecepticanteven]

So my vacation went a little sideways because some family decided to do shit without asking me and mess everything up which is pretty on brand for them. So I'm mad but! Here's a quick fun drabble I wrote during my free time.

💜

"Fix this. Now."

Mai Nguyen would consider herself a strong woman with an iron resolve. She'd survived all the bullshit that came with being an Asian woman in a STEM field, especially an engineering one, and came out on top every time.

But here, staring down the leader of the Decepticons, her resolve wavered ever so slightly.

Even more so considering said leader was no longer the massive multi-story form he usually took. No, he was currently inhabiting a prototype android body, and it was at least 30% her fault he was stuck in it.

(The other 70% was absolutely Masterson's fault. She's just the fool who helped with the fuel cells and some welding.)

"Sir, we're doing everything we can, but I'm not sure how quickly we can resolve this problem," she explains. Masterson was sitting beside her, pointedly not making eye contact and staying silent. She'd whack him over the head if she could.

But considering the presence of their boss in the meeting, she knew she probably shouldn't do that.

"As previously explained, this will absolutely be temporary, just until your actual body heals up," Governor Nakamura says from where she sits beside Megatron. "Once you're body is deemed repaired enough, your consciousness will be transfered back. Until then, the Gen 9 prototype will contain you and allow you to function."

"Function?" Megatron snaps, whipping his head around to look at her. "How exactly do you expect me to function in my current state?"

Mai and Masterson flinch back but Nakamura doesn't even blink. "You can still communicate with your officers. Paperwork and the like will be transfered to smaller devices. And should battles occur, we can link your neurological system to a similar aircraft for you to utilize."

Megatron glares at her for a moment. The eyes of the Gen 9 were the only inhuman part of the prototypes, with black sclera and pupils any color the user desired. Which in this case, were ruby red. The rest of him was incredibly human, with smooth skin the color of polished mahogany stretched over synthetic muscles and metal joints and even fuel lines that popped like veins when flexed. His hair, black as onyx and brushed back with streaks of gray along his temple, was synthetic but looked like it came out of a shampoo commercial. High cheekbones and a strong jaw accompanied sharp eyes and prominent nose.

He was, like all Gen 9s, drop dead gorgeous. And incredibly pissed.

Mai could sympathize with him, kinda. Sure she'd never been yanked out of her body and into a different one, but she could imagine how rough it would be to go down in battle, bleeding out and barely alive, passing out from blood loss, and waking up in a whole new vessel much smaller than the one she's used to. Kinda.

"And how long will repairs on my body take?" Megatron asks, glaring now at Masterson.

"Medical teams estimate about three days," Nakamura answers calmly, getting him to look over at her again. "For obvious reasons, all repairs will be done by Cybertronians only."

Megatron's jaw flexes but he doesn't protest. Instead he simply nods. "Very well." He stands, towering over them all at a prominent six foot five. "Do not think for a moment that this issue is resolved. However, more pressing matters are at play. I must meet with my officers regarding this change."

Nakamura nods. "Of course. Let me--"

Before she can stand and say anything else, he's leaving, opening the door and disappearing into the hall. The governor sighs heavily as Mai and Masterson watch him go.

"Does he, uh, does he know the way?" Masterson asks.

"No, no he doesn't," Nakamura replies, standing and quickly following after him.

[thisfeelingyourname]

possession principle.

' i know everything... i know it all... '

bill kaulitz x roman reigns smut | 2.7k words | minors dni | images taken from pinterest cw: explicit, dirty talk, daddy kink, post-break up sex, fingering, finger sucking, partially clothed sex, jealousy, D/s undertones, spit as lube, public bathroom sex, lingerie ' the story never changes, the ending always the same so why does he keep forgetting who he belongs to? '

Roman is pissed.

This friends with benefits shit was supposed to be between them and only them, but he's not sure when the rules changed and seeing Bill at this party now, lounging around pretty in some asswipe's lap is making Roman grit his teeth in agitation.

He's normally not the possessive type. His exes are the ones that get crazy over him catting around, but now the tables have turned and Roman has no interest in eating humble pie. He'd rather get what he wants and what he wants has his hands washing through that guy's hair, letting his mouth a little too close to his and it's agonizing to watch, Roman's stomach churning in revulsion. It's nauseating and he abandons his drink on the table, politely excusing himself to his guests as he leaves the VIP section, his gaze dangerous as Bill's features become fuller underneath the neon darkness the closer he gets to him.

For a second Roman wonders if Bill has any idea of what's coming to him, or if he even cares and as if in reply Bill glances up from his man of the hour and locks eyes with Roman, his expression confused initially before he recognizes him, his eyes widening and his mouth gaped in surprise. If Roman didn't know any better he would swear he saw a flash of fear in that lovely face and a smirk turns on his lips then, devilish as he waltzes up to the two of them, his attention only on Bill and Bill feels it as he automatically stands to his heels, swallowing as if he were ashamed, as if he knows what's going to happen next.

"Didn't think I'd see you here," Roman starts, all casual and smiles, the fire brewing hard down beneath. Bill offers a weak laugh and a toss of his pretty blond hair, attempting to hide the embarrassment smeared red across his face. "Same."

Bill's guy is at a loss for words, slightly drunk and also a little scared of what he's witnessing in front of him and he slips away, leaving Bill to fend for himself. This is their mess after all. Why bring someone else in to make it even messier?

The music suddenly feels unbearably loud and suddenly Bill feels too small in his too high heels, pitiful and disgraced beneath Roman's scorn. He isn't sure what to do so he takes a step forward, lightly squeezing a manicured hand to Roman's arm and feels him stiffen.

"Baby, you can't be serious," Bill pouts, growing exasperated with the situation. He looks at Roman then, watches the darkening of his eyes as he feels a sharp tug at the hem of his blouse that forces him chest to chest with Roman, the energy between them ominous. Roman brings his lips to the shell of Bill's ear, his hand still gripping his blouse. "I'm about to show you just how fucking serious I am, Bill," the words branding themselves into his skin.

He's done for.

Bill can't remember the last time he got fucked in a bathroom, but he's fairly certain Roman was the one that fucked him then and he's going to be the one to do it again tonight. He doesn't mind the aggression, the warning rising in the way that Roman is kissing him right now, his teeth grating against Bill's bottom lip like he wants to taste blood. It's scathing and Bill apologizes with his mouth brushed hot against Roman's, desire fanning desire as his hands spread themselves down the length of Roman's back, the hem of his dress shirt twisting up between Bill's fingers.

"You fucking left me on seen for that?" whispers Roman after another kiss, full of venom, dipping his head down to draw a wet stripe along Bill's throat with his tongue. Bill snorts, eyes lilting closed as he turns his head to let Roman do what he does, a bemused smile cracked upon his lips.

Roman is such a baby.

"For what, Daddy?" Bill replies sweetly, his breath hitching when Roman digs his knee between Bill's legs, silencing him, the move scattering goosebumps through Bill's body. Roman lifts his head to look at Bill, his expression unforgiving while he starts to undo Bill's faux leather pants. "You play stupid too fucking much," he spits before he twists Bill around, planting him cheek first against the cool concrete of the bathroom wall.

'At least this one is high class', Bill shrugs, never minding Roman's hands grasping at his chest, his fingers teasing at Bill's nipple rings. He sighs into Roman's touch, all of his body following suit, eager to appease his beloved's sexual frustration for the night. He feels Roman bring the weight of his body against his, his arms wrapping around him with a gentleness that Bill wasn't expecting, butterflies swelling honey in his heart.

He doesn't say anything then, caressing his fingers along Roman's arm before lowering a kiss to his hand, forgiving him. It's heart breaking, the music a deafening pulse, the bass beating into them as they stand alone together locked in a bathroom stall, in love with each other and absolutely terrible over it.

"You know I love you, Billa," Roman admits softly. He means it, of course, curving another delicate kiss to Bill's throat, the feeling in his his chest nearly bringing him to tears. "I know, Daddy," Bill promises him, wishing that he had never left Roman on seen. It's hard to stay mad at someone as beautiful as Bill, at someone as precious as Bill, with his heart sweeter than sun and Roman swallows rough, pulling away from him as he starts to peel Bill's pants down to his ankles. He scoffs then when he notices that delicate black lace sitting so lusciously across Bill's ass, tempting him.

Roman purses his lips, drawing in a careful breath, need practically knocking him to his knees. He licks his lips, lazily palming the growing bulge in his pants and enjoying the flush of goosebumps dotting Bill's skin as he continued to face the wall knowing how obscene he looks right now. "Bend over a lil' and show me your cunt," Roman tells Bill, his voice unusually calm and predictably Bill whips his head around, gawking at him. "What?"

Roman doesn't flinch, instead reaching forward to fist a handful of blond hair, threatening to yank Bill's head back. "I said," he intoned, the words ground out harsh against Bill's ear, "...bend over a little and show me your cunt."

Bill's stomach knots with butterflies after that digging his teeth into his lip to keep from moaning aloud. He does as he's told, the bottoms of his heels clicking against the tile floor as he positions himself, leaning forward as he hooks shaking fingers around the waistband of his underwear. He shivers, all at once feeling vulnerable yet protected beneath Roman's watch, like he's the only one, his mouth running dry as he trails the fabric down further and further, until they drop to his ankles.

His dick twitches when he hears a small sound of pleasure from behind him and Bill exhales, his breath rattling through his knees as he slowly opens himself up to Roman, his mouth hanging open from the ache blistering between his legs and his dick already wet with precome. "D-daddy," Bill gasps out, pressing his forehead hard against the wall, already feeling as if he could burst into flame. "Please."

There's a moment of silence that unnerves Bill, but it quickly unravels into relief when he feels knowing hands touch his ass, gathering precious skin. He smiles then, hearts flitting about in his eyes when he feels Roman's mouth hot against his skin, kissing him there and there, stopping purposefully at the swell of his ass.

"My beautiful girl," Roman sighs, admiration kissed into rose red skin, his hands fanning themselves across Bill's thighs. Bill nods his head, gladly marrying himself to Roman's touch, a moan caught in his throat when he feels Roman gently glide two of his fingers over his hole, the sensation searing wildfire through his bones as he feels Roman's mouth against his throat, a delightful grin spreading itself across Roman's face.

"So pretty and so pink," he murmurs, taunting him, allowing his fingers inside of Bill's body. The feeling is almost enough to make Bill fucking crazy, his nails leaving half moons into his flesh and the haughty little bitch act he had in the beginning now long gone, revealing him to be nothing more than a desperate, wanting mess that needs Roman more than Roman could ever know, but Bill is okay with giving up, the story between them never changing, always ending the same.

Roman is so good about it, too, prying a few of his fingers into Bill's mouth while he screws a couple more in and out of his ass, reveling in that delicious tightening around them that he knows will feel a million times better around his dick. He's got Bill tamed for now though, turning him out good and proper, the backtalk being fucked right out of him as he moans perfectly against Roman's fingers, his legs practically numb from the pleasure flooding beautifully through him. It's enough to blur his vision, beads of tears starting to form as he whimpers pleadingly, brown eyes blissed out and focused only on Roman, his fate and forever.

"Too much for you, beautiful?" asks Roman, almost teasingly, fast to slip his fingers out of Bill's mouth and pausing to let the other kiss each one, slow and deliberate like they were something sacred. The gesture pleases Roman who happily obliges Bill when he assures him that's he's okay, keep going please, their lips meeting again and again, butterflies and yes god yes bled between every kiss. Roman is a little more patient now despite how hard he is, his hand cradled around Bill's throat while he continues to fuck him with the other, two of his fingers working in and out Bill's hole with a masterful ease.

He's still just as tight after all these months apart and inwardly Roman is golden with pride, maybe Bill wasn't running around loose like he had suspected or maybe he was just waiting for Roman to remind him of who he really belongs to. "I-it's not, it's not enough," Bill confesses, miserable, strands of blond hair clinging to his forehead as he turns to face Roman, cheeks stained love red and gorgeous and Roman is smitten, unable to do little else but nudge a kiss to Bill's temple, his fingers still knuckle deep inside of the man he loves.

"I know, pretty," he whispers with understanding, adoring the flutter of goosebumps underneath his hand when he takes it away from Bill's throat. He tells Bill to unbutton his blouse and Bill moves accordingly, everything in him aching for Roman. He winces, making a fitful noise when he feels Roman remove his fingers from inside of him, already missing them as he braces himself, his hands planted flat against the wall.

He closes his eyes and takes in a long, shuddering breath, his heart singing when he hears the clink of Roman's belt unfastening, the zip of his pants coming undone, the light scuff of his shoes as he moves his body closer, it's all enough to make Bill's mouth water in anticipation, his hole already twitching, needing to be full in a way only Roman can do for him. Bill feels the heat of Roman's body against his, it's intoxicating, holding him captive as he finds his wrists behind him, the rest of him touching the wall with Roman looming over him, his lips dotting at the corner of Bill's mouth.

"We're gonna do it my way tonight, princess," Roman tells him, the tone of his voice sparking wildfire in Bill's belly and he's ready, so fucking ready it feels like he can't stay still, every nerve writhing with desire.

And it feels like a miracle when Roman drags the head of his dick over Bill's ass, streaks of white coloring that perfect place and Roman is in heaven, keeping Bill's wrists locked in place with one hand while keeping him steady with the other, his fingers imprinted themselves onto Bill's waist. Roman takes a moment to savor what's always been his, a victorious smirk on his lips when he hears Bill cry for him, pushing his ass back against his dick, absolutely wrecked for him. He decides to turn him out even more, spitting on the crease of Bill's ass, letting his saliva trickle down before using his dick to rub it into Bill's hole, his smirk fast turning to a grin when a sweet little groan is let out, Bill's mouth left open with panting, broken breaths.

"Said we were gonna do it my way, didn't I, beautiful?" Roman lovingly reminds him, not even wanting a response as he inches his dick inside, sucking in a breath and swearing to himself from how good it fucking feels to be fucking Bill. Bill answers him anyway, tightening up around him greedy, the air knocked out of his lungs when he feels Roman bring him back against his dick, making Bill take every inch. Bill can hardly stand at this point and the best part hasn't even begun. "D… daddy," Bill begs, urgency coloring his voice, his knees already buckling. An appreciative sound rumbles low in Roman's chest then as his fingers trace themselves up and down Bill's spine, remembering him.

"I know, pretty," he says again, now sifting his fingers through dirty blond roots, love rising to the surface as he leans in to place a kiss to the back of Bill's neck. "Daddy's gonna fuck you now."

It's like time stops for Bill when they have sex, like the world becomes only the two of them, red stringed and forever. The way Roman moves into him, hips smacking loudly against Bill's ass, again and again until Bill's eyes roll into the back of his head, the sense literally fucked out of him and all he can do is feel him, feel Roman take him, hold him, love him open into something beautiful, something new, something that weeps Roman's name as he hits that perfect spot just right once, twice and over again, making them both feel like heaven is a bathroom stall in midnight Miami.

They're so close to the end now, Roman's pace slowing as he tries to delay the inevitable, his head falling back with a pleasurable groan when he feels Bill tighten around him, wanting him so much closer as the orgasm burns hotter. It's dizzying and Roman releases Bill's wrists, heaving his body forward until the two of them are skin to skin, Roman's hand still firm on Bill's waist while the other is laced with Bill's against the wall as he fucks into him one last time, hard and rapid fire, burying his face in the heat of Bill's neck.

Bill doesn't let go of him, groping behind him with his free hand to stroke Roman's cheek, calling him towards him as they kiss dirty and wet, tied to the bone with one another, twin flames glinting in the trembling dark as the orgasm storms through them both, the ringing in Bill's ears feeling like euphoria when he feels Roman come inside of him, praising Bill with a final push of his hips, his hands searching frantic up Bill's stomach, bare skin streaked with come, then the center of his chest, pining him against him, full and heavy.

Bill allows Roman's way, cheeks sprinkled with tears as they stand there, out of breath and full of love, the night closing up around them. "I love you, Daddy," Bill says finally to the man he adores, his heart seeping warm with light. The pressure between them dissolves and Roman takes in a long breath and exhales, carefully turning Bill over so that he can look and look at him, his precious wonder, beautiful and his.

"Love you too, baby girl," he returns in kind, resting his forehead against the other's in devotion. They share a smile with one another then, secret and glowing as Bill opens his arms, welcoming Roman back home. They're sweaty, sated and maybe still just a little tipsy, but at least now Bill knows who he belongs to and it's the last time he'll ever forget it.

[marysixnumbers]

Let Me Fix That For You

A/N: Just saw the fantastic Bottoms (2023), and wanted to write something with it, have this drabble! (Contains some spoilers)

Fandom: Bottoms

Words: 1,392

It was colder out than Josie thought. She could feel her fingers numbing on the steering wheel as she waited outside PJ's house, leaving the engine on so as to not cool the car down too much. Her eyes wandered over PJ's front windows, partially trying to determine if her friend was close to being ready, but mostly to avoid looking at the woman in her passenger seat.

Isabel. Josie still couldn't really believe the two of them were an item after so many years pining after her from the back of math class. Part of her - well, most of her - wanted to turn around and just kiss her, maybe more if they had the time - but she didn't know when PJ would be here, and she still wasn't sure if Isabel was, like, okay with that, and didn't she hear somewhere that being all aloof and indifferent made you ten times hotter than being needy or whatever?

"Hey." Josie felt a tap on her shoulder and pulled back from the window. "You seemed a little spaced out there. Watcha thinking about?"

Isabel was looking at her with a slight smile on her face, and a note of - was that worry? Anxiety, even? Shit, maybe she was being too aloof. Josie quickly found Isabel's hand and gave it a squeeze. "Nah, I'm fine. Just a long day, you know?" She summoned up an awkward smile of her own.

Her girlfriend's expression didn't change, but she seemed satisfied with Josie's answer, squeezing her hand back. "Wait a minute" - she gestured towards Josie's head - "Your hairtie's coming undone, I can get that if you want?"

Josie nodded, feeling Isabel take a loose strand of hair between her fingers, hearing Isabel murmuring about conditioner brands - though she was suddenly finding it hard to focus on the details, as she felt Isabel's nails barely graze the side of her neck. She shifted in her seat, trying to discreetly get away from her girlfriend's hand, but those fingers wouldn't leave her alone. Isabel's touch wasn't firm enough to hurt, but there was just enough pressure for it to really, really-

Before Josie knew it, Isabel was stroking under her chin, and she'd grabbed her hand and pushed it away, other hand clamped over her mouth to suppress any loose giggles.

"Woah, are you okay? Did I scratch you or something?"

"I'm good, I'm good. I'd just prefer doing it myself, that's all."

"Josie, are you sure? Because you kinda- Oh my God."

"What?"

"Oh my God, are you ticklish?

Josie blinked, momentarily at a loss for words.

"You're super ticklish, aren't you? Is that why you were moving around so much? Back there?"

She knew from past experience that outright denial was not the way to go, though admitting the truth didn't seem like a great plan either.

"Uhhh... yeah, I am. Ticklish, uh, I mean, I'm a little ticklish, yeah..."

"Oh m- How did I not know about this?"

Josie tried to answer, she really did, but when you have your crush of several years looming over you with a massive grin, after discovering your biggest weakness, without even being able to move from your chair, coherent thought becomes a little tricky.

"Um, well, you didn't know because I didn't tell you, and I didn't- I didn't tell you because I didn't think it would be information that you would be-"

She was literally at the edge of her seat, pressed up against the car door, but that somehow still wasn't far enough to escape Isabel's roving fingers.

"That you would be- ah! Interehested in! And I didn't think you'd be interested in it because - ohh, your hands are cold - because it doesn't benehehehefit either of us to know- okahehehey, okay that's a tickle spot, okay you founehehehed ihtahahaha! So we can just let this go, we don't need to do anything else related to- tickling, or me being tickled, or-ohmygod not there. That's really BAHAHAHAHAD!"

It wasn't simply being ticklish that embarrassed Josie. It was that she had no resistance whatsoever - one little tickle and the floodgates burst wide open. If she wasn't being tickled within an inch of her life, she might've realised that this is the loudest and hardest she's laughed in a long time, and certainly the most she's laughed in front of Isabel. Right now, though, all she could think of was how Isabel's fingers seemed to be all over her at once - her hip pokes, side squeezes, belly flutters, and rib tweaks felt like they happened seconds after each other. Curled up tightly on the car seat, her eyes tightly shut, she couldn't see Isabel reaching over her, theoretically giving her views she would've killed for in years past.

"This is so cute! I've never been with someone who is, like, this ticklish, you know?"

"NAHAHAHOHOHO THIHIHS IHIHIHISN'T CUTEAHAHAHAHAAH!"

"Hmmmm, I disagree~" Isabel swooped down to nibble on Josie's neck, prompting a round of wild cackles, before darting over to scribble on her knees, making Josie kick under the steering wheel so hard she thought the airbag would go off.

"WHAHAHAHT THE fuck, how did you know abouahAHAHAT THE KNEEHEHEHES, STAHAHAHP!"

"Oh, the knees? I guessed it. I can tell you're ticklish everywhere."

Josie squirmed like mad, slapping helplessly at the air, trying not to reveal how much her girlfriend's comments were getting to her. She was sure Isabel could talk to her like this and she'd be giggling without any physical contact.

"YOHOHOU'RE FUAHAHACKING KILLING MEHEHEHE!"

"Aw, but you're tough, you're the leader of the fight club! Wait... maybe our next session should be all about tickle fights! Only if I get paired with you, though, this is way too fun to pass up."

Why exactly was this so much worse than the last time she was tickled? Was it Isabel's nails, which had just enough purchase to find devilishly ticklish areas hitherto neglected? Was it Isabel jumping from spot to spot, not content until she'd wrung every kind of laughter out of poor Josie? Or was it the rush of being like this under Isabel, becoming a puddle of hysterics thanks to someone you'd known, feared, lusted after, and then finally loved, for the entirety of high school? Of finding yourself so vulnerable in her presence, just you and her, and the dizzying mix of emotions that came with that?

She felt Isabel's hands leave her body, her head still spinning as she panted like mad and gripped the sides of the driver's seat. She vaguely heard the back doors open, and a couple of voices paired with a blast of winter air from outside.

"Yeah, the dog took Hazel's notebook, we had to turn the house upside down looking for it, then I had to redo my makeup... Jesus, Josie! You look like you've run a marathon, what the fuck's happened?"

"Hi, PJ! Oh, she told me she was ticklish, so I tried it out on her. She wasn't lying!"

"You told her?! Josie, I know you're fucking head-over-heels for her already, but why-"

"Wait, she's ticklish?" Hazel piped up from the back seat.

"Like, incredibly, and she made me swear to never tell anyone, under pain of death, but now she's just giving it away-"

Josie gripped the steering wheel as her friends settled in the car. She looked over to Isabel, whose smile had still not left her face, even growing when she wiggled her fingers towards Josie and saw the other woman flinch.

Isabel reached over to Josie, the loud chatter in the back masking their conversation? "Are you okay? I didn't... go too hard? Or anything?"

"You're fine, it's cool. Gimme some warning next time?"

"Next time?"

"Uh, wait, I mean-"

Before she had time to think of an excuse, PJ poked her head between the front seats. "So, Isabel, did you know that if you put your lips on Josie's belly and blow real hard, she yells loud enough to wake up a whole slumber party?" She gestured to the cheerleader, who brought her hand to her mouth and giggled.

"What the fuck, PJ?"

"You're the one with no secrets anymore, pal. And between her shoulder blades-"

PJ was pulled into the back seat as Josie pulled away from the sidewalk as fast as she could, and drove off into the night.

[nhaneh]

As someone who works in a pharmacy, I cannot put into words just how much I want to pull my hair out when it comes to these diabetic “weight loss” drugs. There is a certain amount of pain involved when I finally manage to get some pens in for my patients and I realize only maybe two of five actually need it, at best. The other three all make some off-handed comment of “oh, thank god this finally came in! I swear, nothing drops pounds better!” It’s not the drug, you simpletons, it’s just making you eat less. If you consider losing weight more important than preserving a diabetic’s quality of life, if not just life, then practice some self-control! Sorry for the rant.

The weight loss crowd is getting worse than the opioid crowd, I swear…

Wow yeah I can imagine. And don't worry about the rant, haha - if anything quite relatable.

It's just frustrating; I'm fairly sure you can't actually get diabetes medication prescribed for weight loss in the nordics where I live, but since the problem is global and systemic, the fact that it happens elsewhere still affects what supply we have up here, too. Ignoring grey markets and such which I'm sure does happen up here as well.

And like, sure, I know it's a systemic problem and that individual actions are generally more a symptom than a cause and all that, but I'm also not feeling particularly sympathetic at the moment, probably at least in part due to my blood sugar values being kind of shit right now because I don't have any of one of the kinda important medicines I need to take to not have any of that happen due to there being a global shortage For Some Inexplicable Reason.

What makes this extra annoying is that there is a brand name of these kinds of substances specifically intended for weight loss. Which has a lower production priority for a reason. And then because of the shortage, a bunch of these people somehow manage to get prescribed the ones specifically for diabetics? Without being diabetic??

Have to say, really wishing I could just move my diabetes over to one of them instead. If they want the meds so bad, let them have the sickness too. Me, I'd rather not have to deal with either, but some of us don't get that choice.

[incarnateirony]

I'm curious about how would season 3 of Walker perform in HBO Max (US). The 1st season did it pretty well, it stayed in the top ten for 2 weeks or maybe 3. And even achieved #2 for several days

But then season 2 came (the whole season at once, too), I think in summer 2022? Anyway, guess how long it stayed at the top ten... one day. Just. One. Day. And that day only at #10. After that single day it dropped more and more and it's not even in the 100-150 most watched shows of HBO Max US in 2022. That's a HUGE loss in viewership

When shows are bulk uploaded, they natively have higher demand. That is to say, Walker Season 1 was new, and all new content. The content was bulk dumped in after season 1 to HBO. All of Walker's fans ran to watch it a time or two, and a bunch of people that never saw it on CW gave it a whirl. But it did not retain that interest. It was like a week or two as you said then never again.

While any season upload will provide a boost to numbers, season 2 as you said failed to bring that back up, and season 3 is likely to have even lower returns, cuz that's how this tends to work and trend. If it does squeak onto a list, it would literally be a mix of 2 season padding being reviewed along with bulk content, and minding season 2 didn't scratch the list, I wouldn't expect it to dent in high or long, if at all.

So yeah, you're observing the trends correctly, in summary.

If you pull other shows, like TW, they dominated all season long international and as soon as the US got it, there too in about the same capacity, and it's been sticking on both sides of the fence throughout a season, or even a month after the show ended or uploaded, and so on. The difference is stark. And frankly common sense to witness if fandom isn't being intentionally daft for the sake of presenting their self consolation arguments where they pretend it's relative.

With the way Windy performed all year digitally, it's actually possible for it to stay on the list longer than Walker Prime did. S1 was worth 4x live. S2 with HBO+live it was worth 8x. Season 3 it hit 12. This does not take a rocket scientist to understand that each season's value is worth about 4x, and the live spikes in parrot data before seasons are on HBO even reveal in-app on season it's worth about 4x.

Windy, on the other hand, while live and only in app without all the other backing, was ranging 9-11 or so. And while that's not the 20-25 of the top shows like TW, GK, and so on, it's basically double the digital value, meaning its likely to retain better/longer on HBO, even if not quite at the long term volume the others are (unless it's a piece like AA, that gains attention and support/traction after the fact on digital platforms, which is possible since Windy is, frankly, simply just a better show.)

As it is, Walker ONLY ever got listed on US HBO. Its travelability is such fucking garbage it never scratched the OUSA lists like the others. Windy might have a chance of rescue for digital, it's Walker I see a renancel for as its best possible future. Windy could just get axed, or someone could save it for its digital potential, but Walker Prime is at the end of its loyalty and brand value. Them plugging Jared at the end of every TW/GK ep and 2+ commercials of his shit every episode trying to funnel people that way still hasn't saved the Thurs 8P slot from dragging ass all year.

People pretending they got room to piss themselves over one day of 0.05 on a 9P Tues show as if Walker in Thurs 8P prime and 40% better default audience potential has been hitting about the same line repeatedly in season, and despite optimal timeslot is still averaging a 0.09. GK, despite effectively havin a -40% on its timeslot compared to Walker, is averaging a 0.08, and IDK if you know but 40% of 0.9 is almost 4, and that's like, 0.05, and that's the numbers people are peeing about one day of, when that would have been us running EQUAL TO if you understand what you're looking at, which this fandom doesn't. And that says NOTHING for it's +120% +3s vs Walker's +50% +3s, or its digitals or whatever the piss people choose to not pay attention to while discussing. a Tues 9P slot running 0.1 is worth 0.14 in a Thurs 8P slot but THIS FANDOM IS NOT READY FOR THIS CONVERSATION.

[lethargicwizard]

Alright I think enough time has passed but nevertheless; Spoilers for Black Panther Wakanda Forever!

to start off I really enjoyed the film, I know "MCU writing" has become something of a meme recently with how formulaic it can be and how you can practically predict how the dialogue will go for most of the movie but Wakanda Forever's themes of grief and loss along with how it carries a more mellow/serious to even melancholy tone over the better part of its run time makes it a very refreshing change from what I usually expect from Marvel. I'm not saying to abandon that style entirely but save it for the more snarky characters in the Marvel gallery.

while I am and always have been of the firm belief that you should never just make characters a different race or ethnicity as opposed to creating original stories and characters the talokhans are the exception that proves the rule, they have an interesting and fleshed-out backstory that makes them feel unique and original as opposed to if they just copy and pasted on Mayan designs to the original Atlantans, I'm a sucker for the sort of tribal futurism that has become indicative of this series making them feel like what might happen if you left an isolated Mayan civilization alone till the present day. The fact that they went through the trouble and chose to create a brand new underwater civilization as opposed to the same overused trope of Atlantis is delightfully refreshing and the fact that they based it off Tlālōcān the Aztec/Mayan (present in both mythologies) paradise realms for those who died violently from phenomena associated with water is just a cherry on top. As far as antagonists go I think they're top-notch, the fact that they are a very clear foil to Wakanda itself and don't so much feel like villains as they feel like people trying to protect their way of life also considering the relationship between Black panthers and Namor as well as the respective kingdoms they rule over in the comics they seem like the obvious choice, not to mention the fact that no one would believe that any force from earth could touch Wakanda aside from a nation of equal standing. The city of Talokhan itself is an absolute masterpiece and not just for the iconic tour scene accompanied by "Con la brisa" but for being the only underwater civilization that makes use of three-dimensional architecture given the fact that they are in a medium that allows for it: which gives me the pleasure of awarding it the

"Greatest Fictional World-building/ Fictional Architecture Award"

not to mention that that was undeniably harder to film given that it had to be filmed underwater. And to that end, I wouldn't be opposed to seeing a slice-of-life comic run detailing daily life in Talokhan or in Wakanda for that matter. However, my absolute favorite thing about the Talokhans was that they were able to recreate the same magic for the Latine community as the original Black Panther did for Black people back in 2018 giving Latine and indigenous actors a chance to be on the big screen and shine with all their glory, plus a new hand sign out of it.

Characters:

Shuri: Her journey through the film was an incredible ride watching her deal with grief, wrath, and heartache throughout made her standout and not feel like she was just in T'Chala's shadow, watching her stumble and slowly but surely become her version of the black panther was great. The fact that she still jokes around and still has fun in the movie feels very relatable since life can't slow down for grief and healing and sometimes little sparks of joy leak out in sadness, I think her journey as queen and as a protector and i look forward to seeing it all

M'Baku: Once again an absolute joy to have on-screen, his comedy, shit talk, and lines are second to none and in general just heightens the quality of the film. His range as a character surprised me this time while he's always been belligerent but honorable his ability to empathize as well as the respect and recognition he shows towards Okoye and Shuri in this film gave me another layer of respect for his character, Winston Duke's performance was all around top notch.

Namor: This rendition of the character is without question my favorite, and while that's not really saying much coming from someone who's always thought of Namor as one of the most yee-yee head-ass characters to ever exist from the dumb ass Hermes feet to usually wearing some scale covered briefs/speedo/ male striper wetsuit, I enjoyed his design this time around. The boxer briefs, armbands, footwear, collar piece, and piercings do so much for his design to be unique and so him (at least in this origin). Tenoch Huerta does a magnificent job as the character capturing his infamous condescending nature yet still making him charismatic and enjoyable making him feel sympathetic and caring as a leader. As far as his moral affiliation and alignment goes I never thought the anti-hero title suited him all that well at least in this rendition of the character, both he and the black panthers fill this odd niche as leaders of nations for how they fit in a moral scope since they are always juxtaposed from what they feel and what they need to do for the sake of their people. Above everything else, my favorite part about Namor in this film is his fight choreography; as much as I loath the foot wings (the wing loading you'd need on those alone...) the way they allow him to kick off the air like a platform is one of the coolest locomotion choices I've ever seen giving him this sense of agility and maneuverability that is unparalleled in universe and in any other media, not to mention his intelligent use of his speed, strength, and velocity in his unarmed combat makes his style feel fresh, unique, and tailor-made for him. Also, he makes the second example for my thesis that water-themed comic book characters are significantly better with facial hair.

(i loved Okoye, Attuma, and Namora too but there wasnt much else i could say about them still love them, their performances and their actors tho)

All and all I love this film quite a lot so much so that I'm actually considering buying this upon release, that after credit scene and memorial to Chadwick Boseman simultaneously feel like a kiss on the forehead and a punch to the gut and I almost cried several times in. this film

[somethingusefulfromflorida]

If twitter collapses, I'll be fine. I don't really post there, I just use it to follow artists and occasionally commission them, and the only "mutual" I have is a big artist who follows everyone who follows them, so no big loss. We're not friends, we've only interacted a few times outside of a transaction, they won't miss me.

What scares me more is the knock-on effect twitter's collapse would have on tumblr; tumblr isn't store brand twitter like a lot of blue checks seem to think, but I fear a ton of people will flock here anyway and the site will basicslly be gentrified- tiktokified- bought up by some opportunistic rich nutsack who thinks they can turn it from the imagined store brand twitter to a rival, coke va pepsi, mcdonalds vs burger king, twitter vs tumblr. Or worse, maybe the muskrat will cut out the middleman and buy tumblr himself. It would be pocket change to him; last time it traded hands it went for less than one-ten-thousandth what he just paid for twitter. If he sees a bunch of people flocking away twitter, he can just buy wherever they're flocking to, out of the frying pan and into the fire.

Tumblr thinks it can keep its head down and not get involved in the stupid game of thrones between billionaires and social media and news outlets, but it'll get swept up in the crossfire eventually. It's too mainstream to be left alone, no matter how much we pretend it's an inhospitable hellsite. This isn't Myspace, we still have an active userbase, new people still come here every day, so somebody powerful is gonna catch wind of our goings-on and ruin it for everyone. Twitter can burn for all I care, but when it des, tumblr will burn soon thereafter.

All my friends are here. I'm only in contact with two of my mutuals in real life, and I don't want to lose the rest. I have half a mind to exchange phone numbers or mailing addresses just so to keep in touch in the eventuality. I don't know, it just wouldn't be the same without posts to share; it's hard to keep so many conversations going, it's easier to just reblog something funny and acknowledge the funny things other people post, no words, just a mutual sense of camaraderie. Is mutualship the same thing as friendship? Sometimes. I would like it to be, but I don't know how that would shake out; I get the feeling a lot of mutual interactions would devolve into "hey," "hey," "how was your day," "good, yours," and then peter out into silence when we no longer have dumb shit to bond over. I have friends in Oregon, Washington, Montana, Texas, Alabama, California, a bunch of places, and I don't want to lose contact with any of them.

Social media is really important to me, because there are very few people to socialize with face to face in my hometown (everyone my age moved away for college, I'm one of the only people to come back, and everyone else down here is either a rich retired republican or a wage slave who actually lives a hundred miles away on the mainland but commutes back and forth every single day so they have no time to socialize...)

[neopronouns-in-action]

033: Customer Service

Neopronouns: xiy/rik/ix/sirav which follow the same rules as he/him

Replace he with xiy

Replace him with rik

Replace his with ix

Replace himself with sirav

EX:

"He is going to adopt a new puppy soon, as soon as he gets a fence set up around his yard so the puppy can go outside without him having to walk it. His uncle is going to help set up the fence, since he has a set of power tools he’s letting him use, since he lost his. He's going to buy toys and train the puppy himself.”

Becomes:

"Xiy is going to adopt a new puppy soon, as soon as xiy gets a fence set up around ix yard so the puppy can go outside without rik having to walk it. Ix uncle is going to help set up the fence, since he has a set of power tools he’s letting rik use, since xiy lost ix. Xiy's going to buy toys and train the puppy sirav.”

= = = =

“Excuse me, /what/?”

Cloud knew better than to expect anything except this sort of reaction. Tiffany wouldn't be Tiffany if she reacted any other way.

Xiy resisted the urge to sigh, and repeated with irritation that was difficult to conceal, “I don't hate it. Why should I?”

Tiffany stared at rik, her blue eyes wide and shocked.

Her red mask with strawberries on it thankfully hid her mouth from view, because xiy had flat out refused to even touch any of her items until she put her mask on properly, but xiy could only assume it was dropped open to match the rest of her scandalized expression. “But- -” She seemed at a loss for words. Her white skin turned slightly red as she got worked up. “But it's a nightmare! You're turning into a monster!”

Yeah, this was why Cloud tried to avoid Tiffany whenever xiy could. Unfortunately xiy couldn't do anything about it this time. Tiffany had probably sought rik out, knowing xiy couldn't escape this time.

Xiy said, slowly and clearly so there was no chance of Tiffany- -or anyone else listening in on the conversation- - pretending not to understand, “No, I'm not turning into a monster. There is nothing monstrous or nightmarish about it, it's still literally just me, plus some fur and claws and stuff. I'm still me when I change form.”

“But Patricia told me you turned feral!” Tiffany exclaimed, “She said you went completely out of control, and slaughtered a poor, sweet, innocent deer! No one in their right mind would do such a terrible thing!” She put her hand over her heart to emphasize her distress. “I know you're a good person, Jordan, you wouldn't have done that if you were in control of yourself!”

Xiy resisted the urge to growl. As it was, xiy bared ix fangs behind ix mask, and managed to say /almost/ evenly, “My name is Cloud, Tiffany, not Jordan. It's right here on my name tag so you don't forget again.” Xiy tapped ix free hand on the nametag pinned to the front of ix uniform shirt.

Tiffany widened her eyes comically, like this was brand new information, like she hadn't already been told more than a dozen times. She stared down at ix nametag, then clapped a hand to her forehead. “Oh, silly me!” She exclaimed, throwing her other hand into the air and waving it in a circle, “I forgot again!”

At the back of the line, which was now over seven people long, someone called out, “Hurry the hell up, Tiffany, some of us have got places to be!”

Tiffany turned to glare, even more scandalized than before. “How rude!”

“No,” the same voice called back, “What's rude is making all of us waste time standing around here. I got in this line specifically because I know Cloud's the fastest cashier here, but thanks to you I've been standing here for ten minutes now! Go the hell home already! You already paid and all your shit's bagged, and xiy literally put it in your damn cart for you to give you the hint to get out of the line, now will you please take the damn receipt and go home already? Or at least get out of the damn way so the next person can check out? My leg is killing me and I didn't bring my rollator because I didn't think I'd be standing around this long.”

Glad for the mask that stopped ix grin at the reinforcements from being visible to Tiffany, xiy pressed the receipt xiy held forward even further, so that Tiffany couldn't help but have her attention drawn back to it.

Tiffany blinked, then finally took the receipt. She reached up towards her face with her other hand as though to instinctively pull her mask down, then aborted the motion abruptly.

Seemingly getting over her confusion, she shoved the receipt into her purse in the top of her cart, and glared poisonously back at the rest of the line, which was now nine people long.

“Well forgive me for wanting to have a friendly chat!” She snapped.

Cloud resisted the urge to sigh. This was not what anyone would call a friendly chat. A friendly chat was actually being nice to your cashier while they rang up your purchase, and then getting out of the way once you were done paying. Cloud was not here to make friends, xiy was here to do ix job, which xiy couldn't do if obnoxious customers like Tiffany insisted upon holding up the entire line by refusing to get out of it when they were done.

Especially if, like Tiffany, they insisted upon deadnaming and misgendering you while they wasted everyone else's time. Or being obnoxious about you becoming the town's first confirmed case of lycanthropy.

Despite the fact that everyone who watched the local news or talked to literally anyone who knew rik knew that Cloud wouldn't be dangerous or out of control when xiy transformed, Tiffany and her clique of other obnoxious friends still wanted to act like they had no idea how therianthropy worked, even though it had existed now for at least half their lifetime. There wasn't any excuse to not know how it worked in the year 2069.

Thankfully for everyone, Tiffany decided not to argue anymore or cause an even bigger scene. She just huffed, turned haughtily away from the line, which was now stretching back into the aisle, and left without another word.

The voice from the middle of the line from before called out, “Well it's about time!”

Cloud resisted the urge to laugh out loud, and settled for the next customer's items on the conveyor belt.

To ix surprise, though, the man - -whose hair seemed to cycle through every color of the rainbow every few weeks, this time bright, fire-engine red- -held out one hand to block rik and said, “Actually, just one moment, Xr. Cloud, if it's okay with you, I think I'd like to let Charley go before me, just so it can get off that leg of its. I already cleared it with everyone else behind me, so, as long as you don't mind?”

He looked at Cloud, and xiy nodded quickly, surprised but happy. “Yes, that's fine!” Xiy said, turning the belt off so it wouldn't move forward by itself, “I don't mind at all.” Xiy used the flat of ix arm to gently shove the groceries on the belt backwards a little, then place the next divider in front so that there would be space in front of them for Charley's stuff.

“Charley, come on forward so you can get off that leg.” The man said, and there was a short shuffle as Cloud watched everyone else behind him scooting to the side to let the person past. This was the person who'd told Tiffany off for taking so long.

It put up a slight protest as it was herded forward, saying embarassedly, “Well, no, no, I'm fine waiting my turn, you've been here longer than I am! Really, I'm fine, you don't need to wait on my account- -”

The man with the dyed hair just smiled and shook his head, and some of the other people in the line made various comments along the lines of, “No, please, I insist!” or “Go ahead of me, I'm in no rush!”

Finally the person was in front of Cloud, holding its small collection of groceries in one arm, the other holding its white cane.

It was wearing a blue mask with white checkers, and its grey and blue eyes (which up until now had been the only way for Cloud to remember ever meeting it before now, since xiy always forgot everyone's names) were staring slightly off to the side of where Cloud was.

“I really am sorry for cutting ahead,” It said, setting its few items down carefully on the belt- - A box of sandwich crackers, cupcakes, a box of water flavoring packets, a loaf of bread, and a bag of grapes - - “And I hope I didn't cause you any trouble, telling off Tiffany like that.”

Cloud had to resist the urge to laugh again, but this time in shock. “No, no,” Xiy assured hastily, “Don't apologize, you said what I wanted to. Thank /you/. And it's no problem at all! Do you want your groceries all in one bag again?”

Cloud rarely remembered customer's names, but xiy remembered what they looked like after enough times of seeing them, and Charley always wanted as few bags as possible, since it walked to the store.

“Yes, yes that's fine. Thank you again, Cloud.” It said, moving over to the payment reader and holding its wrist up to the screen. The reader chirped, and began reading off the name and price of the items as Cloud scanned them.

There was just its bag of grapes and a loaf of bread left to scan, so Cloud scanned the bread first, then put the grapes on the scale, oh so casually setting it “crookedly” while pretending not to notice, so that most of the weight wasn't registered.

If Charley or the man with the dyed hair noticed anything odd about how cheaply the grapes rang up, neither of them said anything.

Cloud smiled behind ix mask.

“Your total's $102.71” Xiy said automatically, a moment before Charley's reader repeated the exact same thing in a high, cheerful electronic voice.

“Thank you.” Charley said. The reader chirped again, and announced, “Payment transferred. Have a nice day.”

“Receipt in the bag?” Cloud asked, just to make sure.

“Yes please.” Charley replied.

Cloud stuck the receipt in the bag, then pulled the bag off the wheel and held it out to Charley, saying, “Here's your bag.” and making sure to let the plastic crinkle so Charley would be able to hear where it was.

Charley accepted the bag, and though its mouth was hidden, Cloud was pretty sure from the way its eyebrows were crinkling that it was smiling.

“Have a nice day, and try to stay cool out there!” Xiy said cheerfully.

“Thank you, and you too!” Charley turned to look over its shoulder one more time at the long line, and said, “Thank you again, Michael, thank you, everyone.”

There was a chorus of “you're welcome”s and “it's no problem”s and “have a nice day”s and one “I'll see you at book club on Thursday!” from all along the line.

Charley left, and now that it was his turn, the man with the bright red hair sat a five hundred dollar bill down on the counter while Cloud reached for the first of his items.

“I'll be paying with my reader,” He said, “This is for you. I don't want this to sound weird, and maybe I'm being impudent, but is there any chance I could pay you to bite me on the next full moon?”

This was just going to be the new normal, apparently. “I can't accept that while I'm on the clock.” Xiy said, making sure to stress the words 'on the clock' for emphasis, “But leave me your Hawire name and we can discuss it later. There is a waiting list, I've already promised a bite to eighteen people ahead you, so I probably won't be able to bite you until December. Three's the maximum number I can transmit it to per full moon so far.”

He literally clapped his hands in excitement, then put the five hundred dollar bill back in his wallet. “That's fine by me!” He said cheerfully, “I've been waiting my whole life, I can handle waiting six more months! You're the best, Cloud!”

The rest of the line went just as smoothly, with all the customers being nice and patient and several of them commenting that they didn't mind waiting at all, because they knew xiy was the best cashier ever to work there. “Tell that to my boss.” Xiy replied every time, and was met with variations upon, “Oh, I will, believe me.”

The irritation with Tiffany aside, it had been a good day.

When xiy got off from work later that night, it was to three dozen notifications on ix phone, informing rik that almost forty people had given rik a tip for ix excellent customer service, adding up to three and a half thousand dollars total.

That was more than twice ix official wages for the day.

Company policy banned and harshly punished accepting tips from customers, but that didn't stop the customers who were determined enough from tipping rik through ix Hawire account.

What the company didn't know about, they couldn't punish you for.

And the full moon was next week, so there was something to look forward to.

[justtogetthrough]

After the mishap yesterday where I needed steristrips and somehow had some on hand (I don't even remember from what tbh, I haven't used them in over a decade so it must have been from the surgeries when I had homecaring nursing), I placed an order to stock up on a bunch more because I really fucked up by underestimating how much my body has healed this week (I.e., basically barely at all) and now I'm gonna need to be steristripping this shit closed for a few more days. But also. I clearly should keep some in stock for things like this I guess.

When my friend and I were debating going to the hospital for self harm vs not earlier this week and I was describing what it's actually like to attend ER for psychiatric reasons/self-inflicted wounds and how scary it is to take a gamble each time about whether or not the doctor working that night will think you are deserving of their time and medical resources, I told them there's a reason I own so much *hospital-grade* first aid. For every product they send home with me, I google the brand and order some for myself.

Do you know how how pissed off people would be if I was showing up every other day and taking away time and resources from people who ~need it~ for no fault of their own? Can you imagine me taking the stitches out last night, only 1 day early and having the thing fall back open to the point of actually needing to be closed again and going to the ER to be like uuuuh so for once I actually left the stitches in for more than 3 days and this STILL happened????

But I'd sit there for 2+ hours (rural hospital) before seeing a doctor just to be told they won't restitch a days-old wound and probably do nothing except apply some steri strips themselves, so I can just... skip that whole step by having the same products at home ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Im wondering if I should get glue too tbh. Steristrips don't even stick that well and I'm allergic to tape adhesive so I had to decide that closing the gaping 5 day old wound was more important than the blisters I'm going to get from the tape holding the strips in place (I'm currently dealing with 3 blisters nearby from tape... my body has just gone to shit) and idk like I'm aware closing days-old wounds is bad and also I hate glue/don't think it works that well based on my one experience with it but last night had me wondering if that would have been a good situation for it. I do have plenty of saline from surgery to flush it out beforehand lol.

I'm so sick of dealing with this and I have so much lifting/organizing/rearranging to do to settle my house that I was planning in continuing today but I feel like I shouldn't, now, given the gaping holes in my wrist that apparently aren't healing 🙃

I'm so sick of being this unstable and self destructive. At work I see kids all the time who cut "superficially" and it's so hard to take seriously as concerning at all because I was getting stitches by the time I was 15 or 16. By 19 I was risking loss of limb. I think I cut superficially for like... 2 years before it escalated and my whole life since then has just been trying to one up myself over and over and over. I'd give anything to be satisfied with superficial cutting and not this dumb shit I do to myself. It does nothing but make my life hell and makes my friends abandon me the rare time they find out about it/have to deal with it. The only purpose it serves in my life is making me happy to destroy myself due to how much I fucking hate myself. But that happiness is fleeting when I also spend weeks absolutely miserable with the wound care and loss of mobility/function.

It's so stupidddddd

[supercantaloupe]

hello! would you be willing to talk about the flaws in d20? what did you mean by structural/cultural flaws?

sure. disclaimer up front that these are just my own opinions and that i don't want them being taken as fact or being taken up with the creators of d20 directly by anyone on my behalf.

i found that the longer d20 went on/the more seasons they produce that the structure and (some of) the content get less and less appealing to me. content wise this is really very subjective; for example i'm not interested in dating sim-type stories, so Shriek Week was never going to be my thing. but even seasons with premises/gimmicks that i like on paper (like anthro characters in Mice & Murder and space sci fi in Starstruck Odyssey) i found to lose my attention as they went on. love the concepts, but the execution was lacking a little bit for me.

but i think my issues with the show structurally are my larger criticisms, and i don't think my personal taste issues with the content are entirely divorced from the structural elements. anyway, what initially hooked me to d20 with fantasy high is the fact that, unlike any other actual play show i'd come across at that point, it had several structural elements in place that grabbed my attention and held it: 1. the episodes were relatively short (between 1-2 hours); 2. the seasons were relatively short (18 episodes or fewer); and 3. the visual aspects of sets and minis were engaging and helped sort out the action but were not NECESSARY to following along. i don't have the free time or attention span to get invested in an audio-only 100-episode campaign where every episode is like 4 hours long; d20's earliest seasons were very attractive to me for this reason (plus the inventive-for-the-actual-play-genre settings and plots, but this is one thing at least that i do not think d20 has faltered in with its later seasons. the creativity and originality is still great in this regard).

so it became an issue for me, starting around Crown of Candy, when episodes started creeping longer and longer. and then seasons crept longer and longer, like The Seven (sidequests used to be an easily digestible 6 episodes and i liked that). even worse than episodes consistently being over 2.5 hours long i think was that episodes were not a consistent length: the last two episodes of Starstruck Odyssey are under 1.5 and over 3 hours respectively. i understand that a lot of this has to do with the loose and unscripted nature of the storytelling medium, and the cast/editors don't want to break up the flow of the show in inconvenient places. but from my perspective as a viewer, it's kind of exhausting not knowing week to week how much time and energy in advance i'm going to need to dedicate to a new episode of my favorite dnd show to relax and rewind. i'm someone who just does not have the patience to dedicate to anything that long without forewarning, nor do i have the schedule to accommodate that without advanced budgeting of my time and workload. and since one of d20's existing strengths imo is its serialized weekly episode release (increasingly rare in this age of streaming and bingewatching), part of the fun of d20 is watching the brand new episode when it drops every week and reacting to it with everyone else doing the same thing at the same time. when a 3 hour episode drops on a wedesnday night and i have too much shit to do to watch it, and thus i have to wait til the weekend or later to catch up, i can see exactly what i'm missing out on when i watch all my friends on discord or tumblr or whatever watching and reacting to it without me.

i also really miss the structure of the rp-battle-rp-battle episode format, particularly for the mainquest seasons. i think this was an even bigger loss for the show due to covid than the physical minis and sets (which i missed, certainly, during the pandemic seasons, but i think they worked around their absence well enough that it didn't bother me). i'm sure also the more freeform nature of Sophomore Year contributed to this change too but since that was the only full season thus far that was ACTUALLY improvised live to an audience as opposed to being completely shot and edited prior to release, i don't hold it to the same standards of scrutiny as i do the other seasons. anyway, i once again think it comes down largely to a predictability thing for me: you knew, when there was such a pattern to the episodes, exactly what you were getting into in any given week, whether it'd be battle or roleplay. moreover, you knew that each episode was going to wrap itself up in a satisfying way (not necessarily a complete way, but in a satisfying way) that prepped for the next week's episode, which also promised to have a different tone and goal. that variety was important to me, and the predictability. battles and roleplay both get exhausting and difficult to follow (or worse, boring) after too long without the other to break it up. i miss the structure of this pattern (i think started to depart from this format with TUC2 iirc, which is also the first season i watched as it was airing and got the feeling that it was becoming a bit of a slog to watch all the way through).

all of this is criticism, of course, pretty ironic considering that Sophomore Year is still probably my favorite season. but again, livestreamed. they still (mostly) kept their episode length consistent around 2-2.5 hours (finales notwithstanding lol), there was more internal variety within episodes (one 2.5 hour episode wasn't necessarily 2.5 hours straight of just rp or just battle), the gang got split up a lot more which allowed for more variety in storytelling within an episode or an arc, etc. and on top of it, i think that plotwise, they followed up Fantasy High extremely well, introducing/continuing/expanding lore without it feeling out-of-place or retcon-y. i think it having been made still mostly pre-pandemic before a lot of these changes i've been complaining about were fully implemented does link it more closely still with the style of the early seasons i liked so much, but regardless i think Sophomore Year does demonstrate that some of these traits that i don't like about newer seasons, on their own, are not bad. i just don't think they're implemented very well in recent seasons, or at least not well enough to hold my attention and excitement anymore. long episodes aren't inherently bad, but inconsistently long episodes are hard to work around in my life. a lack of a regular rp-battle episode pattern isn't inherently bad, but there needs to be more internal variety to each episode and a satisfying wrap-up to each episode (which may mean simply wrapping up each episode sooner, or it may not).

none of this is even to get into the execution of content in each season. obviously ymmv with personal taste for whether you like any given season's premise or plot beats or whatever, but i remember the many (valid) criticisms emerging surrounding unbalanced character focus and especially racial insensitivity (from the show and from the fans) with certain seasons like TUC2 and Misfits & Magic. not even to mention my own problems with the inclusion of judaism (or lack thereof)/antisemitism in the show, but i have to get to class soon, and don't have time to elaborate on that right now. this post is long enough already, and my issues with the structural elements of the show are just as strong as my criticisms of its representation issues or whatever, plus i think structural elements are easier to understand if you haven't watched every single season because they apply broadly to many seasons, while issues of representation or bad plot/character balance or whatever are only relevant to specific seasons.

[unhingedwomandiaries]

I can't believe I have to say this, but RIP Fitbit. That brand was my everything for over a decade, but now it's all gone to shit. My Fitbit journey started way back in 2012 with the Fitbit One that I used to clip inside my bra every single day. I still remember the time it accidentally fell out while I was walking from the beach to my apartment's sliding doors. By the time I realized it was missing and went to look for it, the little device was completely smashed into pieces, like an ATV had run it over.

After that tragic loss, I upgraded to the Fitbit Flex, which was an awesome little wristband that didn't give me a rash or anything. It felt so secure and stylish. Then I moved to the Charge HR for the heart rate tracking capability, which seemed crucial since heart disease runs so rampant in my family tree. Dad and Peperé both died from heart issues at 50. Mom had AFIB. The list goes on and on. Staying on top of my cardiovascular health was a priority.

From the Charge HR, I kept upgrading through the Fitbit lineup - Alta, Versa, Charge 5, even the fancy Sense model before ending up with the Luxe. But now I'm just completely fed up with this brand. Ever since Google bought them out, they've been stripping away all the best features people actually used. Stuff keeps breaking or becoming inaccurate too. Like during that 50-mile bike race I did for charity, Strava had the full distance tracked but Fitbit only logged 30 miles! How does that even happen?

The rumors are that Fitbit is going to be killed off completely come July. Can you believe that? After being so devoted and upgrading model after model, the whole thing is just gone. I've already started researching alternative fitness trackers from other brands. Funnily enough, I came across a Reddit nostalgia post about those old digital watches from the Y2K era that lit up. I had the classic baby blue G-Shock back in those days. Why haven't those gone smart watch yet? Seems like a missed opportunity.

Anyways, that's where I'm at now with wristband tanline and all. No more Fitbit on this arm. I don't know what comes next, but it was one hell of a ride while it lasted.