#maybe i should stick with audio books...

[quarklynx]

Read a book today, would not recommend. I have fallen to the "just one more chapter" curse. It is now 5 am.

[cryptidm0ths]

Guy that feels sick when shown gore/pain and get easily paranoid : wow I really want to get into more horror media

[moosha-mushroom]

Media I imagine different fiction podcasts in instead of the media of being a podcast.

TMA: A selection of volumes, relating to the fears, each with those removable covers. Those covers has a victim or two, and then underneath the cover is a really detailed cover. The paper is decoratively ripped, with a kind of scraggly font, and each has a foreword and ‘author’s note’ from Jonathan Sims.

Malevolent: A really gritty graphic novel with deadly detail in each panel, and very little color. Maybe a trinket on each important character has a color? Like Arthur’s eyes being yellow or Oscar’s collar having a blue sheen to it. The novels are long, dramatic, and intimate in a visceral way.

Welcome to Night Vale: Local 58 bullshit. A broadcast on television with low quality images and audio, tacky music, and a kind of 80’s aesthetic. Each episode the words WELCOME TO NIGHT VALE zoom onto the screen, the purple eye behind them. And each weather segment is an animated short by a different artist.

The Penumbra(Juno Steel): A webcomic. Hours spent scrolling downward a comic that has so much color and GEOMETRIC design. Juno and his curvy jaw, brown pie slice eyes, a cartoonishly high collar for his investigator jacket. Nureyev and his sharp square jaw, shimmering jewelry, and stick legs. Characters sticking out of the panels, fonts changing constantly, a little blue Juno that does his narration and *guitar theme plays* each time he appears.

Wolf 359: A classic comic. Issues month by month. Different special covers of the characters in extra dramatic poses or scenes. Even MORE panel breaking than Juno Steel. So MUCH onomatopoeia, even for small things like the clink of a panel or the disapproving hiss of Hilbert in the background. Geometric designs like Juno Steel, but less colorful. Like the superhero art style mixed with a more stylized look.

Midnight Burger: You pull up the Midnight Burger website. They have a hidden page that has a sort of script-comic thing going on, where the art is next to the writing. Small coded in notes from Leif sometimes pop up if you hold your arrow over the art. Links are attached to the parts where Effie and Zebulon play music, linking you to the music so you can listen to it while you read.

Desert Skies: An animated show. Indie, something you’d find on YouTube. The animation is bouncy and incorporates 3D animation alongside the 2D. Maybe the Sphere Movers have 3D models and the staff don’t? The credits are short because it was made by one guy. People are complaining about it on Twitter /j. People are making content farms about it. Everyone is pissed at Corson like they’re pissed at Jax.

The Amelia Project: A sort of simulation video game. You play as Arthur. You listen to their stories and draw pieces of the tale to invent their death. Every once in a while the game transitions to a point and click suspense game where you solve puzzles as Cole and Haines. Maybe there should even be an Operation-esque part of it where you work as Kozlowski.

Ghost Wax: A novel with a lot of pictures spliced in it. The stories are all in a single book, though the book is through Luca’s perspective— so he picks up on the ghost’s body language and Voncid’s reactions. The pictures are tarot cards with each victim as a card. Some are repeat cards— Lorem does not have a card at the end of the story. Nor does Our Home or Evening at the Ardent. The pictures are only white with black line art. No color whatsoever.

Kakos Industries: A company newsletter. Not a broadcast. A newspaper that arrives at your door and has big bold letters with the main story and pictures of the events that happen in the story as it goes. And the Sunday Comic page is full of employee shenanigans. Some innocent… some not.

I am losing my mind.

[kingkat12]

neurons (roman godfrey x reader)

WARNINGS: 18+, mentions of sex, foul language, author knows nothing about neurons lol

summary: Roman Godfrey is most certainly not the best study partner to have the night before an important test. what a shocker (not).

word count: 1,106

a/n: kingkat is BACK!! exams are fucking killing me, so when that is over, you best believe I will be back to my usual uploading schedule!! however, I scrapped this together for y'all (and also for myself because pls I need a Roman to get me through this study period). also, WARNING, I don't know anything about chemistry and neurons, I just had to think about anything other than my test rn which is in 6 hours... ENJOY<33 (also the gif is from @godfreysteel if I remember correctly, pls kick my ass if I'm wrong ouf)

"A neuron is an excitable cell that fires electric signals called action potentials across a neural network in the nervous system. They are located in the brain and..." Roman peeked up from the chemistry book with a rather offended look streaking across his face; "You're not listening to me, are you?"

Realizing I was being spoken to, I raised my head from the bed, flaunting a nervous smile. Honestly, I had nearly dozed off. "I am, I am! I swear, I was just!--"

"Listening with your eyes closed?"

Fuck. With a groan, I buried my face in the duvet I was lying on. "Look, Ro, I really appreciate your help, but I'm not going to learn this the night before the test... We should just give up,"

I knew that Roman Godfrey wasn't known for being the best at school-- however, he was the only person in my contacts who was available at midnight, and I was having the biggest case of brain fog known to man. Nothing was sticking. Seven hours and forty-six minutes until I was supposed to be seated in the auditorium at school, taking the dreaded midterm exam in chemistry, this was my only option. This test was supposed to be notoriously hard, so of course I hadn't bothered looking at it before now. Of course. 

Huffing, Roman spun around in my chair, looking both bored and frustrated. "I'm so glad I took this test last year," he muttered, just like every other senior did when this test had been mentioned over the past few weeks. "I'm aware that I can't help you with much, 'cause you didn't exactly call the designated nerd or something. But now that you've dragged my ass all across town to not sleep with me, you could at least listen?" He moved the chair closer to the bed, leaning over to poke my head. "Think of it like you're listening to an audio book, okay? My voice is nice, after all. Deep and warm, like--"

"Honey?" I chimed in, raising myself to look at him. 

Roman blinked. He looked at me like I was the biggest idiot in the world before he plainly answered; "No. Pussy," 

That was it. Having my fuck-friend teach me chemistry certainly didn't make me the brightest girl in the state. This was a bad idea; I groaned, rolling my eyes as I shifted on the bed, sitting up. "Keep going, then," I said, doing my best not to yawn. "A neuron is an... excited cell?"

Smirking, Roman shook his head-- I wondered whether this made him feel smart. He had taken this test last year and passed it, after all. It wasn't looking like I would be passing it, so did that make Roman Godfrey smarter than me...?

That was a mortifying thought.

"The neuron is an excitable cell, whatever the fuck that means," Roman pointed to the paragraph in the book. "Let me continue, maybe it'll make sense to you if I keep going?" He kicked back in the chair again, leaning his legs on my bed before he lowered his voice, getting into a rather caricatured character of a narrator; "They are located in the brain and spinal cord and help to receive and conduct impulses. Neurons communicate with other cells via synapses, which are specialized connections that commonly use minute amounts of chemical--"

I yawned. Loudly. I couldn't take it anymore.

Roman's eyes shot up from the book, wider than ever. I held my breath, ready to be told off once more for not focusing properly, yet the next words that left his lips were ones of charming amusement; "I see that this isn't making you very... excitable," 

I let out a relieved sigh. "I give up. Could we just fuck instead? That thought makes me excitable,"

Slamming the book shut, Roman grinned. "You never disappoint," he murmured. Getting up from the chair, he motioned for me to lay down again; he didn't waste any time making his way between my legs, pressing soft kisses to my thighs. His words were interrupted with every kiss; "If you don't pass the test-- I'll pay someone to-- tweak your scores. Don't-- worry about it."

My breath hitched as I smiled up at the ceiling. "Why didn't you say that-- fuck, earlier?" I squirmed beneath Roman as he pushed the soft pillows of his lips to my clothed sex, humming. Every kiss, every touch, felt electrocuting; I wondered whether the neurons in my body had anything to do with these bodily reactions. Did they? I had no idea, and I realized I wasn't going to know at the end of the night either. 

"Because," Roman said, a hint of a laugh in his voice as he kissed his way up my body, listening to my nervous giggles of pleasure. "I like feeling-- helpful. No one has ever-- asked me to--" His kisses were getting wetter, more eager; "--revise anything-- with them."

My hands went to his hair, tugging at the tips of his soft, brown locks. "Makes sense," Of course. Who in their right mind would call Roman Godfrey to help them practice for a test? I knew that the only thing on his mind was pussy and... pussy. Along with all the other things about the female body that made him excitable, certainly. 

Roman pressed teasing kisses to my neck, wrapping his arms around my tired body. "Are you gonna call me the next time you have a test?" he purred.

"Um... Depends,"

"On what?"

"On whether I'm planning on taking it seriously," I gave Roman's hair another tug, hoping he'd kiss me properly soon. "If it's a life or death thing, you're probably not gonna get involved. However, if it's another chemistry test..." 

Hovering above me now, Roman nudged my nose with his as he smiled against my lips. "I see where you're going with this, I'll take it. But let me redeem myself, okay?"

"Uh... how?" An impossible task.

"I'll teach you the one thing I actually remember," he breathed. Judging by how quickly his smile turned into a smirk, I could almost foresee the next thing coming from his mouth; "The neurons are connected to the nervous system, so they're responsible for making you feel this." 

Roman's lips pressed against mine for the briefest moment-- it was so gentle, so tentative, that for a second, I thought I had simply imagined it. This wasn't usually how he kissed me. This was different. This was gentle, sincere. My breath felt stuck in my chest as my fist in his hair faltered, feeling as though my body was on fire. 

Fucking neurons, giving me hope that I could both pass the test and have Roman Godfrey for myself. 

(thank u to Wikipedia LMAOOO I would go on and refer to the article like I've been taught but I'm SALTY so no<3 mwah)

[hayakawalove]

Respite From Heat

Summary: A lazy day spent with the two men you love.

A/N: Short and sweet. Thank you to @whereflowerswenttodie for telling me about Canva for the picture. Please be kind to me I will get better at using it.

TW: SFW, Food mention, just fluffy, Gojo gets teased a lot

W/C: 1,559

“…and that’s gonna do it for the show today folks, make sure to stay in the shade and have something cool to drink. This weather isn’t a joke!” 

The neighbors radio carried its audio across the street over to the three of you. And the radio host wasn’t kidding, the weather wasn’t a joke. It had to be at least 90 degrees out, but you wouldn’t be surprised if it was over 100. 

Even though you sat in the shade, you could swear the pavement below you was melting your skin. Hot concrete bites into your palms while you lounge about, watching the two boys in front of you. Your two boys. 

They were shooting hoops in the driveway, an activity Satoru begged Suguru to partake in. One minute he was cuddled up with you on the couch reading a book, the next his eager boyfriend was dragging him outside, an orange ball under his other arm. 

Suguru dribbled the ball, the act borderline salacious. His bangs drooped over his eyes, a sheen of sweat beginning to coat his biceps. His tongue poked out while he focused on the ball. 

Maybe you should thank Satoru for offering you this holy sight. On second thought, maybe that’s why Satoru wanted to play. 

The white hair menace runs up to Suguru, stealing the ball before it could bounce back up to his hand. He lets out a cackle before dribbling the ball towards the rickety hoop, positioning his arms overhead to toss the ball. 

The ball shoots through the air, the orange sticking out against the blue backdrop of the clear summer sky. 

“And with that, I’m in first place!” Satoru prides, turning to Suguru as the basketball flies through the hoop, thudding against the ground. 

“I’m like five ahead of you-“ Suguru says incredulously, one of his brows raising. 

“In your dreams!”

Suguru squints at Satoru, debating on whether or not he wanted to start this. 

Why not. 

“Did you hit your head?” He asks, knowing it would rile Satoru up even more.

“You know Satoru, it’s okay to lose sometimes.” You murmur, cutting off Suguru. 

“You guys are consipiring against me!” Satoru pouts. 

Suguru ignores him and leans over to grab the ball, you catch a flash of his bare chest through his loose shirt, the large arm holes gracing you a sight to drink up. 

Both of their hair stuck to their foreheads, their chests slightly panting while pink dusted their cheeks. Even when sweat dripped from their skin and they wore loose clothing, they still were too hot for their own good. 

Maybe they were the ones responsible for raising the heat up around here. You wouldn’t be surprised. 

“You should join us, come on it would be fun!” Satoru says, prancing over you to grab your hand. 

“It’s not like I would join your team.” It was fun to antagonize him sometimes. 

Satoru wails, and you stifle a chuckle. 

“Besides, why would I want to play basketball against two 6’3 guys? You think I’m crazy?” You tug your hand away, watching as Satoru pops his hip out and rests his hand there. 

“Maybe you’re just afraid to lose.” He states like it's a fact.

“Says the loser.” You argue. 

Satoru opens his mouth to retort when a jingle sounds out, music flowing down your street. 

Your ears perk up, the sound heavily ingrained in your body from your childhood. 

“Is that-“ you start. 

“An ice cream truck?” Satoru finishes. 

You both lock eyes, excitement leaking from your voices. 

Suguru’s lips spread into a soft smile. He wasn’t really in the mood for anything sweet, but he just knew you and Satoru would be. 

“Suguru, pass me some cash!” Satoru looks like he’s two seconds away from jumping up and down. 

“I don’t have any cash on me, you know I don’t carry it.” 

You listen to the two bicker before making your mind up, hopping to your feet and running into the house. 

Once inside, you dart to your room and dig through Satoru’s drawers. The man always had spare cash laying around. Sure enough, wads of crumpled dollars lay in the very back of his pants drawer. Honestly, he probably forgot he had it. He had more money than he knew what to do with. 

Bounding down the stairs, you slap the cash in Suguru’s hand. 

“Here!” You say with a large grin. 

His eyes light up at your expression, beads of sweat rolling down his throat. 

“Oh hey, where’d you get that?” Satoru asks, peeking over. 

“Don’t worry about it.” 

He didn’t need to know. 

Suguru leans over to place a kiss against your cheek, the act settling off a million fireflies in your gut. 

“Just the usual, sweetheart?” Of course Suguru was going to get the sweet treat for you. 

He loved doing things for you while you sat there pretty for him. 

You try to suppress a smile while you nod, watching him stand to his full height. He licks his thumb before carefully counting the cash you oh so graciously brought out for the two men. 

You were an Angel, he wondered if you knew. 

“Should be enough, let’s go Satoru.” 

Satoru’s shoulders slump while he lets out a whine. Leave it to him to be dramatic. 

“Whaaat? Can’t you get mine for me too?” 

“No, plus you change your order a billion times.” Suguru skillfully shuts Satoru down, an act he’s done millions of times. 

You really did have to be trained in the art of handling Satoru. And if anyone was trained in it, it was Suguru. He must’ve had a doctorate in it by now. 

Satoru grumbles, pushing his hair up out of the way to look a bit more presentable. You watch as the two men set off towards the sound of the ice cream truck. 

It didn’t take long before they were back. You sat on the sidewalk, legs outstretched in front of you when they returned. 

“We bring gifts!” Satoru’s cheery voice calls. 

They looked almost more refreshing than the ice cream cream in their hands. Handsome men carrying your salvation. 

You reach out a grabby hand and Suguru carefully places the ice cream in your palm. 

“Thank you!”

Suguru swears he feels his heart rate pick up a bit at the sound of your gratitude. God, the things he would do just to hear you say that. 

He clears his throat, trying to maintain his composure so you don’t catch a glimpse of the pink tinting his cheeks. 

“Satoru cut in front of a kid.” He rats out Satoru. 

“No I didn’t! I almost did. And I didn’t see him, it's not my fault I’m tall.” Satoru plops down beside you, his legs noticeably longer than yours. 

Suguru sits on the other side of you, basking in your presence. You shudder as the cold treat bites into your hand. It felt like you could hardly wait anymore as you unwrapped it, ready to dive in. 

The heat felt a little bit more bearable once the cool ice cream hit your tongue. 

“Damn Toru, that’s low, even for you.” You giggle. 

“Low like that kid.” Suguru adds. 

Satoru clicks his tongue before beginning to munch on his ice cream. 

Ice cream trucks reminded you of your childhood. You could have been mature and asked Suguru to get you something more refined this time, but where was the fun in that? You just had to get the SpongeBob ice cream. Satoru ended up getting a chocolate cone, and Suguru was empty handed. 

He didn’t really care much for ice cream. Plus, watching his partners’ eyes light up while they ate was just as good of a treat he concluded. It might even be sweeter than having the dessert. 

You bite off a corner of the SpongeBob in your hand, watching as Satoru absentmindedly kicks his foot against yours. A small sign of affection, but a sign of affection no less. Other people began to fill the street in search of the truck, mainly children, but there were some adults meagerly waiting about. 

Turning to Suguru you offer up your ice cream. He wouldn’t normally have wanted anything, but he couldn’t resist your expectant doe eyes. 

He bends over slightly, taking a small bite. Sugar dances around his tastebuds as he licks his lips, looking back up at you. 

“Thank you baby.” 

“Of course! I dont want you to feel left out, you know.” 

Suguru’s heart aches at the sentiment. Excitement floods his veins at the mere prospect that you thought about him. 

Lucky, lucky, lucky. He thought. 

The three of you sit in silence as you and Satoru finish eating. Satoru’s pink tongue darts out to lick a trail of sugary goodness from his fingers. 

“That was good.” He squeaks out, leaning back on his palms. 

“Why don’t we go back inside and shower, and I’ll get started on lunch.” Suguru speaks, knees cracking as he stands up. 

Your head perks up at the mention of food, namely Suguru’s food, and you take the hand he's offering you. 

He helps you to your feet before going over to assist Satoru, the feel of his sticky fingers making Suguru wince. 

Summer could get unbearable at times, but having your boys around made it a bit more tolerable. 

Tag List: @tojislittleprincesss

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[batcavescolony]

Re-watching the movies, now that I watched the books: The Hunger Games

•also if Katniss is such a good hunter why does she need Gale to tell her to let the deer go cus it's reaping day? Why not make them seem like a the team they are, have them be equally competent.

•why isn't Gale actually hunting or gathering? Like he came out just to give her bread? They could have gave him a weapon to carry or a dead squirrel to show he's out there to hunt as well.

•again what is Gale doing here? Also no game bags how are they gonna carry their food?

•talking bout them hunting again, what did they get? Katniss got a bird but we never saw her retrieve it, why are either of them in the woods? Neither took food home! That's the whole reason they go hunting! The only thing we saw Katniss have was a hand full of berries? Maybe? For some yarn and the pin. Why did they go hunting if they didn't get anything!

•we can have an extended getting ready scene but they could let Gale or Katniss gather or hunt anything?

•kinda miss the other people visiting Katniss before she goes. that really showed that she was important to the community.

•Peeta & Katniss: *worse day of their life*. Effie: oh the capital is grand you'll love it! So much luxury-

•the cuts back to when he gave her bread everytime Katniss looks at Peeta 😭

•"where's the ice?" "I.. don't know?"

•Peeta has already decided to fight, Haymitch be damned

•“THAT! is MAHOGANY"

•he never seen that much water before

•the way the tributes are being prepped on morgue type tables (hard, metal)

•Tresh 😭 Rue 😭

• Thresh's face when Rue takes Cato's knife in training 😭

•Peeta&Katniss: *fighting by hyping each other up*. Haymitch: *eats soup*

•Peeta's camouflage in the movie is insane, like what? How tf is he gonna do that? Then in the arena he does is. In the books he like buried himself in mud, which makes more sense.

•Effie: I HOPE YOU KNOW YOUR ACTIONS REFLECT BADLY ON ALL OF US! Haymitch: 👍sweetheart! You did amazing.

•i wish Portia got to talk more she's right there, let her speak.

•i love this little speech between Seneca and Snow, cus I think some people still don't get why the hunger games happen. It's bread and circuses, it's controlling hope.

•i love Cinna

•young Derrick Hale is here, better watch out.

•i love the camera and audio work in the movie. Katniss comes our on stage and the audio muffels or the camera like slides around or goes toppsy turvy at moments the characters are stressed.

•i love how Peeta works the crowd, he kicked his leg up, he chatts up Ceaser, he gives people enough time to react before drops some lore.

•'i just don't want them to change me' AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH 😭😭😭

•You know what they haven't brought up? Peeta having brothers as well? We haven't seen Peeta's dad either, no one else gets family ig?

•Jennifer is LITERALLY shaking

•oh shit, Gale is sticking to his plan of not watching the games.

• I think about their parents watching the games all the time, if anyone has and good fics tell me.

•book Katniss is fuming, movie Katniss found water hours into the game, poor book Katniss was looking for days.

•Seneca telling the other gamemaker to 'make a tree right there' it makes me think that all the arenas are the same bace with virtual terrain that changes each year and when capitalites 'go visit' the arena it's just virtual reality.

•'Maybe you should throw the sword!' I love snarky Katniss 💚

•i love getting shots of Haymitch getting them sponsors, we don't get to see that in the books.

• pull your hood up girlie! Less surface area to get stung

• Glimmer is sleeping on Cato

• rip glimmer even though Katniss thinks you have a stupid name.

• the trackerjacker sting effects being shown with the camera and audio work 💜💚💜

• Rue is adorable but I'd love to hear more about d11 from her, show more outside Katniss. Ik show don't tell but at least make her in awe of getting a good portion of food to show food scarcity in other districts even in the agriculture district.

•cut back to d11, I get the need to change things cus movies are a different format but that bread moment is iconic.

•i do like seeing Katniss track Peeta but again kinda hate his camouflage like how tf did he do that?

•all the flash backs to Gale, again I would be interested in what their families were thinking during their games.

•they took out Peeta's teeth, where are his witty remarks, his stubborn streak. Where's my boy that needed to be drugged while Katniss went to the Cornucopia? Book Peeta was gonna drag his half dying ass across the arena if Katniss left.

•I like Clove, she's so cocky 'we killed her 🔪 and now well kill her 🔪'

• if I was here I'd be grabbing all the weapons from people I killed. A weapon you don't know how to use is still a weapon.

• it's funny that the game makers in the movies are always messing with the time of day, making it night or day at their will. In the books it's just night and day cus it goes on for over a week.

• are they implying Thresh got killed by Mutts?

• how do the game makers spawn them in? Again I think this has to be virtual reality they just make the Mutts appear, they weren't released from somewhere.

• come on Peeta supposedly you have brother that you wrestle even though they're never mentioned.

• I feel bad for Cato in this

[jenijro]

Hey, you mentioned on a post "#I can do an essay on this whole topic [gay horror podcasts with a plot] and why it’s an important event in history #even though not many people know about horror podcasts it’s still quite important " and... if it's not too audacious to ask for an essay, I'm really curious?

I know Welcome to Nightvale, Alice Isn't Dead, and The Bright Sessions, and I do have a vague sense that Nightvale in the 2010's was a watershed moment of some kind... but I don't know if I know the gay horror podcasts that you're talking about (also I'd so take recommendations) and I'm sure there's more to the history...

So if you should feel like infodumping, this is a info request ;)

Well. I never thought I’d actually get this question but hey, why not.

Okay so maybe I was over exaggerating a bit about it being a big historical event… but I don’t think I am completely wrong either. I think audio dramas are very important in general and I can give you some reason why. And I just want to say I’m not going to act like I’ve known about audio drama for many, many years because I only started listening about two years ago but I will give you what I know about podcasts since before then. (Not going to do an essay but I will yap a lot)

This won’t be just about “gay horror podcasts with a plot” by the way, it will be about audio dramas in general, whether it’s horror or whether it has an overarching plot or is an anthology, etc. It most likely will be gay though. I mean, it’s kind of hard not to do gay.

Now I’m specifically talking about audio drama podcasts because, obviously, audio drama has been around since the 1920s on radio and even before that, so I’m really not getting into all of that. When we are talking podcasts, usually people believe that Welcome to Night Vale was the first, or that it started it all. Welcome to Night Vale was definitely very important to audio fiction (and it’s also really good), but there were fiction podcasts before it or fiction podcasts that came out around the same time that are also well known, now at least, or sometimes less known. At the top of my head I could think of We’re Alive and Our Fair City, but there were definitely podcasts before that or around then, back in the 2000s.

Since then, people have started making their own audio dramas in the 2010s (after WTNV). Let’s see, there’s obviously The Magnus Archives, there’s Wolf 359, The Bright Sessions, The Penumbra, Archive 81, Wooden Overcoats, and there’s so much more, those were just the ones that came to my mind. I can’t say I know how big the audience base was then, but I can say that it definitely grew in 2020.

Oh yeah. The pandemic.

So… 2020 huh? May have not been the best year for the world, but heck, did it give way to audio dramas. Like I said, I don’t know how the audience base was before 2020, but they DEFINITELY got big. And it inspired people to create their own. Let’s see, podcasts created JUST from 2020 itself: Hi Nay, The Cellar Letters, Red Valley, Spirit Box Radio, Malevolent, Mistholme Museum, The Sheridan Tapes, Hello From the Hallowoods, Midnight Burger, The Scarab Archives, Woe.Begone, yeah I could go on forever. This was around the time when more people decided, fuck it, I’m doing my own thing. And fiction podcasts have only grown since then.

Please stick with me, I’m getting to my point through a lot of yapping.

Since 2020, more people have found out about fiction podcasts and even have decided to make their own. And (this is the important part) it allows creators to express themselves. No no nooo, not just express themselves. I mean EXPRESS themselves. No need for any filters of representation. Wanna make everyone gay? MAKE EVERYONE GAY. Wanna make a podcast with a batshit insane plot? MAKE A PODCAST WITH A BATSHIT INSANE PLOT. Wanna voice act every character in the show? DO IT. Wanna use your podcast to secretly (or not so secretly) talk about some real world problems? DO IT. You know that you can’t get banned. Books can get banned. TV shows and movies get banned or cancelled. Audio dramas can’t. Not easily at least.

Please check out this post and this post from @clinical-space-podcast because boy, do they explain a lot of what I am saying very well.

Have I mentioned the gay part? Audio dramas are probably the queerest form of media we have. I feel like before finding audio dramas, I was sort of struggling to find a story with queer people AND an interesting plot. It’s always “queer person slice of life/trying to get through life as a queer person as the entire plot” and I’m not saying those stories are bad. It’s just that sometimes, queer people can just… exist. Or they can be in an actual story. Also, since audio drama opened up an opportunity to more writers, obviously more writers are… writing (I have such a way with words), and this means there are more stories, meaning there are many more GOOD stories that you wouldn’t find anywhere else. So. Good plot AND queer representation?? I’m eating that up.

The first podcast I have ever listened to was The Magnus Archives and even without the queerness, I fucking loved it. The queerness actually surprised me. I was like “wait… they are QUEER? And the story is NOT all about their queerness? Holy shit.” I didn’t know about the entire platform of audio dramas, so after tma, I just thought “oh. I’ll never get anything like this again” (I was talking about a great horror story with an overarching plot and queer characters in said story. Never even thought I’d find a good story ever again). Boy, was I WRONG. Long story short, I found the whole community and pretty much dissolved my entire life into it.

So finding these podcasts really opened my eyes to something new. They also made me realize “hey… I can write whatever the shit I want”. People won’t force me to tone down the queerness. They won’t say it’s too diverse. They won’t say my writing style of horror doesn’t fit in. And this is what I needed.

That being said… I just want to say here that I will be straying from the topic in this paragraph but there are a few things that have to be said about bipoc rep. Motzie Dapul (creator of hi nay) talks about it a lot too. I wish bipoc podcasts were more popular. I can’t say I know a lot of them because they are kind of hard to find, which sucks all by itself. And this is why I love Hi Nay so much. I see people like ME (queer people of color) in this story, while it also has a great story and lovely writing. But the problem is Hi Nay is honestly quite small, even by standards of audio dramas. I wish there were more listeners. And Hi Nay is literally one of the more POPULAR bipoc podcasts. This is just to say that bipoc podcasts should get more attention. Headcanoning a podcast character who’s not canonically a person of color as a person of color does not make a podcast bipoc. I mean obviously, you can headcanon anything you want for a character (as long as it’s not canonically stated otherwise of course), even I do that, but you should just keep this in mind.

Back to topic. I need to say that there are many other reasons why audio dramas are very important but I’m not covering all of it (I’ve done enough lol). This whole thing is just to say audio dramas are important. To me. And hopefully to you too. And if you read all of this, you can see that I’m not great at the whole essay thing, which is why this isn’t an essay, just a shitload of yapping. But I do appreciate that you read all of this.

This is also to say DAMN, I am tired.

[about-faces]

I'm still loving Gotham Nocturne and I wish it was getting the love/respect/attention is deserves. I've spoken several people who haven't been reading the current Detective Comics run because they're Batmanned Out (good lord, do I get it) and they see it as just another attempt at some kind of "ultimate Batman story with Batman fighting the ultimate evil," which I strongly disagree with.

THAT SAID... as time has gone on, and the story seems to be reaching its finale, there are a few things that stand out of me as problems with this epic storyline.

1.) It's one of the most egregious examples of "writing for the trade paperback." This simply isn't a story that's meant to be read month-to-month. It's too slow, with too little "happening," at least on the superficial level. Paradoxically, it's NOT a story that should be binged! The best comparison that comes to mind is Better Call Saul, since that's the only other example of serialized media that's meticulously slow-paced yet INCREDIBLY RICH for those willing to engage with it on its level rather than expecting it to be Breaking Bad (or in Nocturne's case, a typical Batman story.) Ram V is capable of writing super-engaging monthly issues, as the fantastic Rare Flavours proves, but that brings us to...

2.) The story is sprawling. Maybe even TOO sprawling. When it comes to people who are sick of Batman, I try to sell them on the fact that this story is about GOTHAM AS A WHOLE, right down to the villains who call it home, and how everyone there is as intrinsically a part of Gotham as Batman is. But ensemble stories like that are tricky, and it makes the focus feel all over the place at times, with alternately too much and too little attention being paid to the main players, Batman included. It's a balance that was handled beautifully with Batman: The Audio Adventures, but it seems a bit more awkward here. Again, it's hard to pull off!

Like, we have characters pop up and then vanishing without explanation. We got Azrael back in the AzBats armor for the first time in decades, like, holy shit! That should be a HUGE development! And then, poof, he vanished! There's simply no time to explore Jean-Paul's character because there's so many other things the narrative needs to explore.

This feels like it would have really benefited from a companion series, something to focus on the characters the way the backup stories have done, but just more so. I think about how Peter Tomasi would write companion books to the main big storylines written by Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, and Scott Snyder, and how he'd focus on character, which always enriched the greater "big important storyline." Which, in turn, also brings me to...

3.) The backup stories have really lost a lot of their punch since they stopped being written by Si Spurrier and were taken over by Dan Watters. Watters is incredibly capable, make no mistake, and his Cheshire/Lian Harper story is one of my favorite parts of this entire saga. But by and large, his tales focus more on the spooky and weird sides of what's happening with Nocturne, whereas Spurrier's stories were more focused on characters navigating the weirdness of the events. As a result, Spurrier gave us what I consider to be some of the very best stories about Jim Gordon, Harvey Dent, and Victor Fries ever written. I really miss those, and how they enriched Ram V's (possibly overly-ambitious) narrative.

Ultimately, Gotham Nocturne feels like the Batman equivalent to an arthouse film, which means it's going to be appreciated by a handful of nerds while leaving most other fans cold, and I can't really blame them. If anything makes me sad about all this, it's how all this incredible character work with Bruce, Harvey, Victor, Talia, and others is going to be ignored. Hell, it already is, given the complete lack of acknowledgement we've seen in other Bat-books for what's going on in Nocturne.

At this point, I just hope it sticks the landing in the finale, because I want to be able to have a complete, satisfying epic to recommend to people who want something a bit richer than the typical "guy in Bat costume punches clown" stories we usually get.

[wizardsvslesbians]

Isaac here. I have been remiss, allowing recommendations to pile up in our inbox! I'll put them in one big post here. I think these have evolved to be at least partially intended for our audience rather than for us, so I'll include each whole pitch as a public service.

i would be curious to what yall think about Wrath Goddess Sing by Maya Deane, which is about lesbian Achilles in a T4T relationship, and then things get Weird. if nothing else it’s the most creative of the recent wave of myth retellings

This has now been rec'd twice! I'll put the requisite little star by it.

finally got around to watching love lies bleeding and while it doesn't qualify as wizlez by virtue of not being sff, it absolutely is in the zeitgeist as it hits many, many of the main beats of the wizlez subgenre. wizlez might really hit the mainstream at some point

If the wizlez movie escapes A24 and replaces the my dead wife is a 9/11 metaphor movie at the top of the cinematic heap I'll be surprised but not shocked

i'd like to request Vinbre the Novel by Opacifica! While it is technically a fanfiction, it uses a totally original setting and cast and doesn't require any prior knowledge. It veeery much qualifies for the podcast

Clever, clever. "Technically a fanfiction." You thought I wouldn't notice how many letters these characters' names have? How many sweeps do you want us to spend on this, exactly?

hi! been binge-listening and really enjoy your analysis :) I have a few recommendations -- first, leech by hieron ennes, which may not fit the brief precisely but definitely plays with a lot of the themes that you seem interested in (power, empire, hive minds, immortality, child abuse, body horror). I loved this one and I think it may be to your taste. also, star eater by kerstin hall and the scorpion rules by erin bow -- two dystopian novels with prominent wlw characters and definite wiz vs lez vibes. I can't vouch that these two are Good per se, but I definitely think they're interesting and bring a lot to discuss.

The Scorpion Rules is in fact on our to-cover list, and is only waiting for us to get some different murder at the boarding school books out of the way first.

it's been a hot minute but i have a book rec! It doesn't have lesbians per se but it is very Gender so it may make a good Special Episode (or at least y'all would enjoy it i think!) it's The West Passage by Jared Pechacek. Little scrungly babies scurry around a castle the size of a city. Decay! Casual cannibalism! gorgeous illustrations by the author! medieval steven universe worldbuilding! it was very weird and very beautiful

I do like books that take place in One Giant Building.... I'll give it a shot...

Wanted to drop a rec for you guys! Author is hiyodori and the book is The lowest healer and the highest mage!

This has also been recommended twice and we will probably, maybe get to it.

Look I'm aware that due to the time commitment which is on par with reading Homestuck and the audio format it's basically impossible to cover all of it. But fellow wizards vs lesbians listeners should know that the magnus archives probably counts as wizards vs lesbians. There are a million wizards, women fall in love, and lesbians definitely attack the wizards. plus there's an assortment of bad mothers and monstrous children. It somehow has a coherent plot and themes by the end as well, if you can stick with the motw format long enough. However it's mostly wizard pov

It is in fact possible to read the Magnus Archives as an ebook, thanks largely to the efforts of my friend Snarp. I mean, we won't be doing it, at all, ever. But it is possible.

whenever the two of you feel like reading young adult: these feathered flames by alexandra overy has an interesting lesbian (who is also a wizard? or at least has a wizard within her?), and the sequel has an evil wizard who comes the closest to “actual wizard, with the hat and beard and everything” i’ve ever seen

Yeah, why not.

[skaruresonic]

Hey! I just read your post about creating visual novels (this one: https://www.tumblr.com/tartrazeen/759072677603524608?source=share)

I'm trying to make one right now. I'm not too sure which tool I should use - I was thinking RPG Maker so I could use the little sprites - but I figured I could do stick people or something as placeholders for actual artwork.

No matter what tools I use, how exactly did you go about "writing" it? Did you script your story out first and then learn how to program it after, or did you need to know how the program worked to tailor your story to that?

I learned to code in tandem with writing the story. It's moreso the case that the writing evolved in the process of learning how to code, began to mold itself to the medium, if that makes sense. Personally, if I had to do it over again, I would take the time to acquaint myself with RenPy's particular scripting language, as it might have made the process a lot faster and less... growing pains-y. I would recommend learning to code first, but again, it doesn't make much sense to make a test VN without a story to support it, so maybe make something small for your first test project where you get to grind for XP commit mistakes in a space where your art isn't riding on it. People make silly test VNs that never see the light of day for the specific purpose of teaching themselves coding, so don't feel afraid to do that. Writing VNs differs from writing other stories in a way that's difficult for me to explain. You have extra tools in which to deliver the story, and it takes time to learn those tools - telling stories not just with words, but with timing, animation, audio, and images as well. You'll find that it isn't enough to simply have images pop up onscreen; you'll want to make them appear with a flourish, and those flourishes also tell a story. The UI tells a story. How you make elements appear and disappear contribute to the overall story. When you think of everything as a potential contributor to the story, that opens up a lot of possibilities and gets you thinking with portals creatively. In that vein, I'd say depending on your angle (because some VNs are just straight-up text, which is valid too), VNs can function somewhat more like movies. They can benefit greatly from an understanding of cinematography.

This might sound weird, given how we naturally tend to think of writing as the most important element - and it is important, just maybe not the only important element - but I think one of the most important things you need to establish right away, even before setting down any words, is a strong aesthetic. As one half of the medium, the visual part of a visual novel cannot be neglected.

What angle are you shooting for? Romance anime? Comic book? Gritty film noir? What are your visual motifs? In addition to helping you decide how to market your VN, the aesthetics will inform your storytelling, give you some concrete image or symbol to latch on, and can serve to subtly reinforce both theme and narrative. For Doki Doki Literature Club, it was the heart and a pen. You'll notice its motif of writing is reflected in the way in which the title resembles a scrapbook:

You and Me and Her has a cell phone as its main McGuffin and so technology becomes one of its motifs. Its textbox resembles a cloud; the text also moves rather slowly, to make you stop and soak in its story. The dreamlike interface later changes into something that resembles an old-school computer UI when a character decides to manipulate your route, reflecting the artifice of the game:

Worldend Syndrome had the pinwheel as a recurring symbol for narrative purposes and is color-coded to represent each of its characters. In addition, it bears a feel-good early summer vibe that I absolutely adore.

The novel I've been reading sporadically on and off over the past year, Hashihime of the Old Book Town, reflects a 1930s Japanese aesthetic, blending traditional Japanese art and literature with Western influences. Note the juxtaposition of traditional and modern elements, like the film reel beside an ink drawing of a koi fish:

It's also brilliant imagery because the game's plot centers around the MC's frequent breaks from reality; the film reel represents exaggerated realities, while the fish reflects how he "jumps" through various parallel worlds through puddles of water.

Everything sort of "trickles down" from there. It doesn't make sense to have a UI befitting a Resident Evil game if you're writing a cutesy otome game, for instance, unless you're aiming for cognitive dissonance.

For OaS I decided early on that, because it was going to be a slapstick comedy in places, the sprites should be more cutesy and cartoonish than the subdued way Sonic characters are usually drawn:

The goofy exaggeration only served to heighten the story's comedy. A "bounce" animation I found and later tweaked served as the basis for a running gag where Sonic gets hurt and "boings" like a rubber ball.

I also liked the Advance series' checkered tiles and wanted to go for a watercolor manga-cover-esque flavor... which, in turn, fed the ridiculousness of the story:

That's a far cry from this current project's aesthetic, which is slower, moodier, more somber, and more, I guess, "erudite," as it's based on Welsh literature and a little on history. So the aesthetic has to match.

Not to say aesthetics should be the only thing going for your story, of course, but because this is a visual medium, it is significant enough to warrant my huge wall of text about it lol. If you're just starting out, I'd recommend grabbing placeholder sprites and backgrounds until you can procure ones of your own. It's perfectly fine to use stick figures, although eventually you will have to start working with finalized pieces since the individual dimensions of your pieces will impact how your code functions.

If it wasn't clear already lol, I work with RenPy. Despite my frequent moaning and complaining, it's probably the easiest program to learn for coding, as it uses its own framework built atop Python. Once you go through the process of learning the syntax, you can pretty much do anything you want with it, as it's infinitely customizable.

Some auxiliary programs I use are FireAlpaca (a free art program that works just as well as MediBang or Photoshop, and even supports animation), Audacity (free audio mixing; can also convert mp3 files to OGG, which is a must since RenPy only recognizes OGG file format) and Notepad for coding.

Btw, all of this stuff you can do for free. Anybody who tells you that you need to pay for fancy programs is trying to sell you something. Don't fall for it lol. As for actually making the thing... My creative process is messy and probably shouldn't be emulated. For lack of a better term, I call it the "dumping everything out on the table" method. First (and note that this step isn't always "completed", it's an ongoing process) I gather all the "raw materials," and then sift through them and play with them until the final product becomes something coherent. The material-gathering includes art, music, and sound effects, which will take some time. I count writing as a "raw material" as well since it can be edited.

From there, the writing and the coding sort of feed into each other. I have to be able to experience the story as the player will experience it, as it's a different experience than when you're staring at a word processor. What will the player feel at this juncture? Does it Hit Different(tm) when I use different wording, or change the song that's playing in the background, or employ a different sprite, or tweak the timing, or use a different animation?

The general rule I try to abide by in this regard is that if it isn't working for me, it probably won't work for the player, either. Put yourself in their shoes, because they're the ones going to be playing it.

Even something as simple as the way you present choices to the player conveys information. Should I offer a choice during this particular scene, or let the moment play out linearly? How many choices should I offer? Do I stick them in a false choice? An infinite loop? Do I hide choices, making the player feel clever for finding them or powerless to stop the narrative? Do I assign variables to choices? Do I disable rollback for choices so the player has to stick with their decisions? If I do have rollback enabled, will I do something with that? What are the consequences of making choice A first, then choice B, if at all? Many things to consider. Sometimes the sheer volume of work can overwhelm you as a solo dev and make it difficult to maintain motivation. Especially since you can't really show off a buggy game the way you would a story excerpt or a rough sketch. Making to-do lists, especially towards the end of the development process when it seems like a million things are screaming for attention, helped me stay on task and break them down into smaller, more manageable chunks. I might not be able to bang out a 20,000-word route in a week, but I can certainly fix a bug that duplicates a character sprite. This is a medium where you have a lot to keep track of, and small details do add up in the end. Crossing tasks off your to-do list provides small wins that add up over time. That's why I decide that certain days are dedicated to specific kinds of work. Some days are for writing, others coding, etc. (Also, RenPy comes built in with its own list function called TODO, although I haven't personally played around with it yet.)

Although OaS technically features choices, thus making it not a kinetic novel in the strictest sense, it's still a very linear novel with only one branching path. There weren't any persistent variables other than the flag which determined your route placement, and it functioned much like an on/off switch. Which is why I have no idea how Random managed to bypass it. xP

This new project, on the other hand, is much less binary in its structure. It tracks seven variables for three different characters and calculates ending eligibility based on the accumulation of those variables. Which, just in terms of sheer coding, is A Lot(tm) to keep track of. I struggle to scale back the scope creep out of fears that a more standard visual novel experience will bore the player. It's likely that if you're playing a visual novel, you're not expecting a hack-and-slash, but ofc that won't prevent the monkey brain from clapping its hands at you like "Your game NEEDS more interactivity or you're gonna lose them!" That's the devil talking. Ignore him.

So then you're gonna be weeks into implementing a QTE, only to realize that the version of RenPy you downloaded bears a glitch that forces repeat interactions at inconvenient times and you might have to scrap that and do something else entirely.

Based on a true story. xP

[deviousdevilx]

Bret x Shawn. NSFW

Maybe he should have had a cold shower instead of a soothing hot one, because at this very moment his erection was not going down.

Goddamn Shawn Michaels was to blame of course.

He always was.

Earlier during their home show match, Bret had taken a fistful of Shawn's golden hair, thick and soft when it wasn't soaked with sweat, and pulled the younger man to his knees.

That's when disaster struck.

Shawn, on his knees, panting heavily, mouth slightly open, lips pink and wet, had looked up at Bret with his blue eyes. Their eyes met, and Shawn, goddamn it, had to give Bret a quick little saucy grin. Damn it, he knew what he was doing to Bret. Lips parted, his tongue peeking out, head titled back like he was ready to receive...

Oh no, that sneaky little bastard was trying to be a tease. It wasn't the first time. Mostly though Shawn always kept it professional in the ring, usually.

Bret reacted immediately and pulled Shawn up, and threw him towards the ropes. He ducked, letting Shawn leap over him, before turning and stretching out an arm ready to close-line Shawn. Shawn took the bump well.

He landed on his back, letting out a loud grunt, it was all an act, and Shawn sometimes loved laying it on thick. Moaning and groaning especially during live shows where there were plenty of mics to pick up the sounds. Even at house shows such as these, they were still filmed, there would be audio.

Bret got Shawn in a pin, hoisting his leg, and applying just enough pressure to make the pin look believable. Shawn moaned a bit more lewdly than Bret was expecting.

Bastard.

Their match concluded after a few back and forth hits and misses. Bret won, and it took every single ounce of self control and will power for him not lose his cool.

Their venue wasn't the worst but it was far from the best. The changing rooms were far below standard, but Bret wanted at least to rinse off some of the sweat and body oil before heading to whatever cheap hotel or motel he had booked.

There was also another reason Bret did not feel like sticking around backstage any longer than he had to. He wanted to avoid Shawn.

He passed a few of the other guys on his back to the locker room, exchanged a few brief words of praise with some of the ones he genuinely liked and got a long with before hitting the showers.

A quick rinse and scrub, and he was out, damp but dressed.

"Heading out so soon Hitman?" A deep voice with a slight Texan drawl called out from behind Bret.

"Some of us like a good night sleep Michaels," Bret replied, his tone clip but even.

The last thing he needed Shawn to realize was Bret was miffed. It was like a shark smelling blood in the water; the moment Shawn knew he somehow got under your skin, he would attack. Relentlessly.

He would often brush it all off as just good fun.

Fun for Shawn.

"In what? A flea invested back country motel?" Shawn retorted and suddenly the younger man was next to Bret.

He hadn't showered. And yet Bret didn't mind the smell.

"You stink Michaels, go hit the showers before you cause someone to pass out."

Shawn smirked, and was now inches away from Bret. He did that a lot, invade someone's space. His buddies like Kevin and Scott didn't mind. Finding Shawn with his arm around Nash's waist, or leaning against Scott was a common sight. Shawn was just that type of guy; touchy, affectionate. A lot of guys did not like that though.

"I think you like the way I smell Hitman," Shawn said in a lower tone, his voice somehow getting even deeper.

Bret scoffed, rolled his eyes, and intentionally slammed his shoulder into Shawn as he walked past the man.

"In your dreams Michaels," Bret said as he made his way towards the exit.

His heart was pounding loudly so damn loudly in his chest he was sure Shawn could hear it back there.

Goddamn it!

The motel was cheap, but clean. Mostly. There were stains on the rug but it didn't look new or fresh. Throwing his duffle bag on the bed, Bret inspected the bathroom.

He wasn't a germophobe but he didn't wanna pick up any nasty foot fungus, or bedbugs, or some other nasty thing while on the road. Sometimes it was worth splurging on accommodation, but it could add up.

Turning off the shower having won the mental battle of not jerking off, Bret got dressed in boxers and a night shirt and was about to turn in for the night when someone knocked on the door.

Bret hesitated briefly before approaching the door. He didn't like appearing too eager. This was part of the fun. A part of their game.

There was no question who was at his door.

"What the Hell do you want Michaels?"

"Open the door and I'll tell you."

Bret smirked but the moment he opened the door, he had his face schooled in a stern expression.

Shawn stood there in tight light blue jeans, and a button up shirt that he did not have button up, showing off his chiseled chest. His hair was damp, he had showered before coming over.

"Well you gonna let me in or force me to stand out here and get noticed?"

Bret stepped back from the doorway and Shawn sauntered in.

Once the door was closed, and locked by Shawn. It didn't take long for the pair to wind up on the bed. Bret immediately divesting Shawn of his shirt, and removing his own thin night shirt.

Shawn landed on the bed on his back with a bounce, letting out a deep giggle, as he reached down and began to undo his button and then unzipping, and wiggling out of his snug jeans.

The thing about Shawn, he never wore underwear. Ever.

It didn't take long before Shawn was naked, laying on the bed, legs spread, his cock erect and in need of attention.

Bret had other ideas.

Slipping out his boxers, showing off his own impressive erection, Bret walked to the side of the bed. Shawn turned and glanced up looking a tad confused.

Bret loved it when he surprised Shawn.

He reaches down and takes a fistful of damp hair, and forces Shawn off the bed.

"Hey..." Shawn starts to protest before he is shoved to his knees before it dawns on him what Bret had planned.

Wasting no time, Bret with one his hand still entangled in Shawn's wet locks, he uses his free hand to grab the base of his cock and press the head of it at Shawn's lips.

Shawn did not need telling on what to do from there. His mouth opened immediately, and Bret groaned as that delicious wet hot mouth engulfed the head of his cock.

He kept his hips still, letting Shawn adjust his mouth around his length, slowly taking it into his mouth further and further.

Fuck, Bret started to tremble.

It had been far too long since he fucked Shawn's mouth. His ass was preferable but goddamn it sometimes Bret really wanted to have Shawn choke on his cock from time to time with all the mouthy shit he would spew.

After Shawn began to bob back in forth, his tongue gliding under the base of Bret's cock, that Bret began to move his hips. Slowly at first, but feeling the blood all rush down to his cock, the pressure, the intense overstimulating nerves being ignited by that hot mouth, he began to thrust his cock into Shawn's mouth.

Keeping Shawn from pulling away, he placed one hand against the back of Shawn's head, his other hand firmly entangled with hair. Shawn was going no where and had to accept his mouth being fucked as hard or as gentle as Bret wanted.

"That's it baby, goddamn your mouth feels so good, so good," Bret let the words tumble out of his mouth between the breathy moans, and grunts as he thrust his cock in and out of that red hot mouth.

Shawn took it all well, only making a low whining groan after one particular brutal shove of Bret's cock down his throat. His eyes began to water and tear up but he never attempted to stop Bret.

Coming down Shawn's throat was a hot thought but Bret had another more nastier idea.

Just as he felt his orgasm approach, he pulled out, Shawn gasped for air, drool drippling down his chin, his tongue sticking out slightly as he gulped air.

Fuck he looked so good, so debauched. Bret gave Shawn a gentle caress after releasing his hold on his hair.

Bret then reached down to his cock, and gave it a good few jerks before he shot his load all over Shawn Michaels face.

Shawn knelt there in disbelief having not expected a face full of cum, but not once his his cock soften or falter. The thing Bret came to learn about Shawn, he liked a little humiliation.

"You look so good with my load all over your face baby," Bret said breathlessly, his voice hoarse and husky after that orgasm.

There was a moment of silence beyond the pairs ragged breathing before Shawn blurted,

"Bret! It's in my hair! I just washed it!"

Bret laughed, and reached down to pet his sulking boy.

"Then lets clean you up baby."

They did eventually wash Shawn's hair, not before Bret gave his ass a good cleaning first. He was young but not THAT young so he fucked Shawn with his fingers against the shower wall.

Their neighbors would know what was happening, Shawn could never be quiet. Unless he had Bret's cock shoved down his throat.

After getting Shawn to come being fingered, they washed up, with Bret softly caressing the younger man, whispering words of praise as he peppered his shoulder and back with kisses before rinsing out Shawn's hair.

Shawn always needed to be taken care of with tenderness after any kind of fucking.

Leaving the shower wrapped in towels, Bret pulled them into bed, after a few rearrangements of positions, Bret smiled as he drifted off to sleep as Shawn held him tightly from behind.

The next morning, Bret woke up to Shawn kissing his neck and a very eager hard cock pressing against his ass.

"Please?"

Bret looked over his shoulder, "Lube's in the left pocket of the bag."

Shawn was out of the bed in seconds and back in even faster.

Bret rolled on to his stomach, grinning ear to ear.

[unemployedandannoyed]

Brain Soup - May 16, 2025

I went back to bed when I got home from dropping Husband off at work. Normally, I only sleep until 7:30, so imagine my surprise when my body decided to wake me up at eight. Meaning I missed Husband's first break, which I feel bad about.

He texted me saying he wants to stop by the liquor store because he got some bad news. He didn't tell me what it fucking is though. So now I'm cursed to be curious until his second break around 10:45. I do not do waiting and patience well. Especially when there's something to be curious about.

I was wondering if maybe it was about his car. His poor little VW bug has been out of commission most of the year (hence me taking him to work). But the repair shop isn't open that early.

My mind is simply plagued with all the possibilities. I'm too anxious for this, I'd much rather him tell me what it was.

Now that I've slept in, I'm a bit off. It always throws off my day. It's already 8:46, and I'm only on my first cup of coffee. Plus my mom is working from home. I just wrote the drabble for my fan fiction blog and posted it on Tumblr and Ao3. So that's done, at least.

Today's agenda -

Edit a video, make a thumbnail, and get it posted on YouTube.

I already had to fend off a copyright claim yesterday when I posted the other video. I downloaded a copyright free song (for use with accreditation to the musician, which I did). Then BAM - copyright issue. Like no, YouTube, there isn't. I followed your rules. Luckily it was taken off. I thought it was going to get struck for the song that plays in the beginning of the first Borderlands (Ain't No Rest for the Wicked by Cage the Elephant). But maybe I managed to chop the song up enough in the edit.

Maybe write the drabbles for the weekend. I have stuff planned, if Husband is still up for it. So I'm not sure if there'll be time to write what I need. I'm seeing this challenge through to the end, damn it!

I definitely need to work on the next chapter of my fic. If I'm not updating every week, then it needs to be bi-weekly at least. I need to also write longer chapters.

I should probably update the website I'm collecting all of my fanfic on. I only have a few things posted. I just thought it'd be nice to have once big collective place. Especially if something should happen to Ao3 or Tumblr. Plus, I put some of my original work on there.

I used to have a schedule for posting, and I was really good at sticking to it. Then Husband got a job, and I haven't been able to recover. I need to get back on a schedule and adhere to it.

I never got around to working on my book, but I really want to. So perhaps I'll work on that at some point.

Plus my mom wants me to take pictures of her craft stuff to post.

I started a channel for doing podfics/audio of my own work. But I've only posted one. So I should definitely work on more. I just wanted the background to be artwork of something from the fic. Maybe it was too unreasonable? The illustrations I've been doing lately have basically been taking two days for me to complete. But that's also while I've been experimenting with style and everything too.

I'll figure out something.

Eventually.

[rigelmejo]

Okay so 33 hours listened to Chinese so far, since starting my experiment to listen to as much Chinese as possible. Some thoughts:

The strategy I used for novels, kind of also works for audiobooks. It is: read/listen to something 'hard' and look up words at least every 5 minutes (so maybe 5-20 words looked up per chapter), re-read/relisten a few times, go to next chapter. Then read/listen to something slightly less hard, and it should feel easier than it did prior to doing this. So basically you are gradually moving up the bar of what is 'easy' for you to read/listen to. I did this in reading with Mandarin Companion graded readers, then I moved up to Tian Ya Ke, Zhenhun, and a pingxie fanfic Hanshe, as my 'harder' read and look things up for a while, then I went to try and extensively read Xiao Wang Zi without looking words up which was doable (but difficult). Then I read more 'harder' stuff where I looked up 5-20 words per chapter to understand main idea, and Xiao Wang Zi became easy to read for both the main plot and most details without looking words up, and stuff like Zhenhun became doable to read extensively (but difficult). That's basically been my reading strategy to push up my reading level - read something 'hard' where I need to look up key words to understand the main idea, read something 'doable' where I can read extensively to follow the plot but don't understand all details, read some 'easy' stuff I can extensively understand the plot and most details in. And then gradually the unique word counts/complexity of what's 'easy' to read extensively increases.

Well, the strategy seems to be kind of working for audiobooks too. I listen to MoDu chapters which are 'harder' to understand main ideas and I look up 5-20 words an hour especially if it bugs me I can't understand them (they seem like keywords to understanding the main idea), then I re-listen to MoDu chapter a few times (re-listening to what is now 'doable' with extensive listening to follow main idea without looking up words), then I go re-listen to some EASIER audiobook and notice OH WOW this is so much easier to understand now.

I listened to a little bit of HP1 audiobook in the Fall, since the audiobooks are all free on Libby and I wanted a kids book. I remember it took intense focus to catch any details, and mostly I could only identify 'generally what scene I was listening to' since I know the plot from english. I just tried relistening, and definitely knew a MAJORITY of the words I heard. It is much easier to listen to extensively, I AM recognizing words i know quicker (which also helps me comprehend more since I'm not puzzling out if I know a word for 5 seconds a piece), and the single to 4 words I don't know in a given minute stick out to me, and it's easier to guess what they might mean. Like hearing jumang and being able to guess that means python/big snake. *I also notice how MUCH the MoDu audiobook has helped me comprehend stuff like facial expressions, appearance descriptions, talking descriptions/dialogue tags, quicker. MoDu has way more complicated phrases that deal with these kinds of things, so a kids book where they just say geze gao? Very easy to recognize in comparison. Or MoDu saying yansu de biaoqing, zhoulezhoumei versus just 'yansu de handao' in a kids story. MoDu has soooo many more complicated descriptions compared to HP1, with comparisons of nouns to other nouns, and intangible nouns/things words idea/focus/point/reasoning/abyss.

I am unsure if the strategy I have of listening to 'harder' audio is helping in the sense of lots more words to learn, lots more surrounding context to guess the meaning of more words, or if my time would be spent better listening to to 'easier' audio where I can understand almost every word.

I do think, regardless, listening to something you already know the plot of helps a lot. It helps you guess more words than you could otherwise. And some audiobooks have sound effects/music which also help a lot (you can tell the setting somewhat from that, and the mood descriptors, and sometimes the actions they're doing, which helps with guessing words).

[a-queer-seminarian]

An excerpt from Eli Clare (1999) exploring the language used against and used by disabled & queer folk. TW for the r word.

_

"Handicapped, disabled, cripple, gimp, retard, differently abled. I understand my relationship to each of these words.

I scoff at handicapped, a word I grew up believing my parents had invented specifically to describe me, my parents who were deeply ashamed of my cerebral palsy and desperately wanted to find a cure.

I use the word disabled as an adjective to name what this ableist world does to us crips and gimps.

Cripple makes me flinch; it too often accompanied the sticks and stones on my grade school playground, but I love crip humor, the audacity of turning cripple into a word of pride.

Gimp sings a friendly song, full of irony and understanding. Retard on the other hand draws blood every time, a sharp, sharp knife.

In the world as it should be, maybe disabled people would be differently abled: a world where Braille and audio-recorded editions of books and magazines were a matter of course, and hearing people signed ASL; a world where schools were fully integrated, health care, free and unrationed; a world where universal access meant exactly that; a world where disabled people were not locked up at home or in nursing homes, relegated to sheltered employment and paid sweatshop wages. But, in the world as it is, differently abled, physically challenged tell a wishful lie.

...

Queer, like cripple, is an ironic and serious word I use to de- scribe myself and others in my communities. Queer speaks volumes about who I am, my life as a dyke, my relationship to the dominant culture. Because of when I came out-more than a decade after the Stonewall Rebellion-and where-into a highly politicized urban dyke community-queer has always been easy for me. I adore its defiant external edge, its comfortable internal truth. Queer belongs to me. So does cripple for many of the same reasons.

Queer and cripple are cousins: words to shock, words to infuse with pride and self-love, words to resist internalized hatred, words to help forge a politics. They have been gladly chosen — queer by many gay, lesbian, bi, and trans peoples, cripple, or crip, by many disabled people. ..."

- Eli Clare in Exile and Pride: Disability, Queerness, and Liberation (1999)

[theowritesfiction]

How’s it going @theowritesfiction ?

I know you posted it a while ago, but I wanted to give a review for chapter 18 in Azula’s kitchen nightmares. I hope it is okay to use an ask as the medium for the review.

I’m sorry that I hadn’t given a review before now, I’ve been listening to a fan audio book of the Worm web serial on Spotify. What can I say? The Queen of escalation has captured my imagination. Today though, I only had one class at campus, so I had more time to get caught up to date for Azula’s kitchen nightmare. And I’ll be reading the other chapters promptly.

Now onto the review!

I really enjoyed this chapter. Jealous Katara who wants Azula all to herself is my bread and butter.

I also loved Azula just being flattered that Katara was stalking her and Katara being flabbergasted that she was cool with it all. The talk about Azula becoming part of the Northern lights family between Azula and Katara was sweet. June was absolutely right, Azula and Katara are “adorable”.

I also enjoyed Katara internally panicking when she realized that she was paying too much attention to Azula and none to June during the conversation.

Of course June then just throws Azula under the bus, that Azula thinks her co workers (Katara, Yue, and Suki) are the most sexy people she has worked with. Katara grinning at Azula and teasing her about it made laugh and smile myself.

Azula and Katara complimenting each others outfits and unabashedly eyefucking eachother made me grin.

Azula disappointment and Katara’s jealous reactions too June saying “anyway, maybe you two want to finish your drinks and we can get out of here” made me smirk. Those two are goners for each other already! My smirk only widened when June clarified that all three of them should leave together for June apartment, only for both Azula and Katara to turn into blushing messes.

And I laughed at June’s “their’s only so much of you two fucking with your eyes that I can take”. Ain’t that the truth. June got a first face impression of Azutara’s mural obsession with each other. From stalking, to being okay at being stalked (so long as it was Katara), to staring dreamily into each other’s eyes while they should include June in conversation. Not gonna lie, this line made my Azutara heart flutter.

The morning after the Daisy chain” was a fun read as well. June being guilty shocked at seeing Azula “so into someone, it’s disgustingly cute” was sweet. Katara just has that effect on Azula. If neither the OG show, nor the Netflix recreation weren’t cowards, Katara would have definitely seduced Azula to the good guys. But I digress,

Katara immediately denying the (obvious) truth and saying that June was “exaggerating” caused me to grab in unison with June in exasperation.

I burst out laughing (again) when June (knowingly) replied “I woke up in the middle of the night and it took me a moment to realize that you two were going for another round” and since neither thought to wake June for it, I have to concur that Azula and Katara are “both seriously into each other”. Azula and Katara thrusting for another and secretly going for “another round” kind of lends credence to my belief that Azula and Katara mostly focused on each other (mutual obsession and all that) during their “encounter” with June. Though the two would have made sure that June had nothing to complain about. Azula and Katara are both gentlewomen after all.

Azula and Katara being bitter and “sounding stiff” when agreeing to heel things professional and just “being friends” is making me roll my eyes. Ladies the two of you are obviously ready falling for each other! So just cut out the middle man (Ozai), screw each other’s brains out (again), and get together.

Of course, we wouldn’t have your awesome fic @theowritesfiction , if it was that easy. And half the satisfaction of seeing Azutara finally start avoiding the idiot stick and getting together, is the journey there! (With all its ups and downs!)

These lines made me laugh out loud too

“It was… defined some next level fun, compared to I’m used to” -Azula (which is either a hilarious commentary on Katara’s skills in the bedroom, or the lacking showing from Azula’s “usual hookups”, or both!)

“Katara didn’t exactly regret the act itself because it had been the best sex she’d ever had” -Katara (both Azula and Katara giving glowing reports about the other gorgeous women’s (who they are totally not falling for[sarcasm]) bedroom abilities… just admit your feelings girls!)

“As good as sex with Azula had been (also June was there too, Katara supposed), Katara still intended to apologize to Yue and Suki” (This was funny. Azula and Katara really are obsessed with each other. To the exclusion of everyone else (sans Suki and Yue of course). And I love that for them. Let’s go Steam(y) Queens!)

I’ve got a feeling that it’s going to take a while for all the idiots (affectionate) to figure it and get together. Particularly for Azula and Katara. And I am here for it!!

I loved chapter 18, and can’t wait for the next update. Well done @theowritesfiction !!!

On to the next chapters!

Hey, no worries, I’m always happy for reviews, doesn’t matter when 😉 And sure, using ask is totally fine!

I have heard about this Worm web series before – I read a brief synopsis of it somewhere, but I’ll be honest, while some parts seemed like something I would really enjoy, I could tell that some aspects would annoy me too much. 🤣

This chapter was a little different because it was almost pure Azutara throughout, and I haven’t had any chapters with such heavy emphasis on them. There are always spicy moments between them, but this was a really big escalation, and I hoped that Azutara diehards would love it. Seems I wasn’t wrong about that. 😊

Yue and Suki will remain in the picture for a good while longer, even if we all know that Azula and Katara are the endgame. But hey, it means more jealous Katara, so hopefully that’s fine. 😊

You’re exactly right that Azula and Katara made sure that June had no grounds to complain about the threesome. 😉

Azula and Katara falling for each other is just the first step to them actually being together. We wouldn’t want to make things TOO easy for them, would we? Pining is part of the fun, too!

Lol Azula and Katara both giving each other glowing reports and high scores 😉 I didn’t intend that to be a diss on their previous partners. Especially in Azula’s case, it’s probably that for maybe the first time she was with someone who she has genuine feelings for, and that adds a lot.

Tiny spoiler, but I am currently working on a chapter that is a big next step in Azula’s relationship with Katara, but also Yue and Suki. 😉 Unfortunately, it’s going to be slightly delayed because of the live action remake distractions, but it’s still coming along nicely and you’ll see it soon!

Anyway, thank you so much for this review, and I’m glad you’re excited to read more! 😊

[ahogedetective]

"Happy Birthday Bestiiiiiieee!!" Ayumi practically threw herself at the detective and hugged him tightly! Lifting Shuichi up in the process and spinning him around. Oh, you know how Ayumi was-- Physically affectionate with her friends. And Shuichi was no exception!!

"Hehehehe!! I hope your day has been super good-- But it's only going to get better, because you know why? Presents from me! Ayumi Arakawa, MC Beating Heart!" Rapping God of Japan!" That was surely a title, but hey-- She earned it with her rep of taking down an entire sketchy but well known record label! But enough about her. This was about Shuichi! The Birthday Guy!

She holds out a bag for him! Inside were hard-cover collector editions of a certain series he liked! Even signed by the authors themselves!

"I heard one of your fave serious even got an audio drama released so...along with the books-- Tah-dah! CDs of the Audio Drama! Hehehe! They have my fave seiiyuu in it, so I might start readin' that series myself!" Of course, one way to get her into a series... was the voice actors; especially if they voiced certain 2d Husbands. But those were also in the bag too!

"Anyways, nothing but the best for my bestie!!! Happy Birthday, Sushi-kun!!!! There's something special in the bottom of the bag too...~ Heheh! Don't tell Izzy! It's for your eyes only! Aaand maybe open it private." Ayumi sticks her tongue out playfully. Oh she knew about her bestie's special interest.

... An other limited edition run... of a certain male gravure magazine; featuring Izuru when he did... idol work. @girlishwhiimsy

(( ITS SILLY GIRL TIME!! WITH THE SILLIEST GIFTS EVER!! only she could get get hands on limited edition runs >:3c izuru had his spotlight its ayumi time!!))

{ Shuichi Birthday!! 🎉}

@girlishwhiimsy !!!

"! Ayumi!! Thank-woah-hoh-hahaah!" The moment Ayumi lifted Shuichi up in that bear hug, the smile on his face brightens all the more, laughing as he holds on tight when she starts spinning him around!! "Ahaha, hi there!!! Thank you, thank you, bestie!" And Shuichi was always more than happy to return the hugs she gives him right back: he loves her hugs!

Once he's put down, he rapidly nods his head. "Thank you!! Yes, my day has been wonderful. Ahaha, that's right: made all the more better because you're here! Hehehe, no better person to receive presents from: the MC Beating Heart, herself! I'm so lucky!" He laughs, of course hyping her up like she deserves to be!

The moment he receives the bag from her, Shuichi curiously opens it up to see what's inside. "Ohhh...!!" His eyes practically sparkle when first seeing the collectors edition of one of his favorite series: a detective anime he's been really getting into! "Is this the collector's edition!? And it's even got his signature...!!!!" Which he can't imagine how hard that must have been to get..! Or maybe for someone as famous as Ayumi, probably much easier. Either way, he was ecstatic.. all the more when she tells him she even got CD's of the audio dramas!

"You even got the audio dramas, too! I've been really wanting these, th-thank you so much!! For this and the books! Ahh, I see: ahaha, I had a feeling I heard one of your favorite seiyuu that you mentioned once... and yes, you should!! It's really good... think of detectives, but with special abilities! I could see you liking some of the guys: maybe even become one of your '2d husbands of the week.'" He jokes with a chuckle, knowing how much she loves her pretty boys.

"Ahaha, and that's why you're the best bestie, ever. Thank you so much, Ayumi! I can't wait to read the books and listen to the audio dramas later! I'll even tell you the parts your favorite seiyuus come on in case you get curious, hehehe... ....Oh?" He blinks when she suddenly teases about something special being at the bottom of the bag: and to not let Izuru know about it... and to open it in private...?! "U....U-Umm...A-Ayumi?? Wh...What exactly did you give me....? That I can't even tell Izuru abou...."

He peeks at the bottom of the bag. Trying to get a look of the cover as best he can without needing to take it out... and now he sees why she told him to open it in public, because he nearly drops the bag when he sees who is on the cover!! "...taaaAAAA-waaaawaahh?!?! I-Is....!!!! I-Is that...!??! Uwaaaaah...?!?"

It was Izuru. Shirtless Izuru on the cover of this gravure magazine. "O-Oh my god oh ym god my godddd-" Oh Shuichi has turned immediately red at the sight, and is packing everything back in the bag to completely cover the magazine at the bottom at lightening speed!! He's sorry, Ayumi, but those books and audio dramas might not be the first thing to peeks at tonight the moment he's back in his room...

"W..W-Well, um!! I-I can...c...certainly see why you said that, now!! Y-Yes, I will be s...sure t-to um!! Open it later i-in my room! F-For my eyes only!! Ahem!!" Before any more steam can rise out of his head, he's pulling Ayumi into a tight hug before she can dare tease him on how accurate she was!

"Th-That being said, th-thank you for such wonderful gifts, Ayumi!! I'm really happy I can have a bestie as wonderful as you!! Even if you love obliterating me like thisss!!!" Mostly said as a joke, and despite how red his face is, a bright smile does light up on his face! "You really did make today even better than ever...! Now come, I want to enjoy it even more with you! Let's pop into one of our favorite restaurants or cafes together...!"