#nowadays i get sad when i finish some game

[cutielatias]

i hate myself of nowadays, i'm too emotional,why i'm so sad? now we finish the new sifu arenas, but why do i feel sad?like, i want to cry, that so silly😤,we just complete the game, that's it! that's nothing more to do on the game now (unless i want to get 3 points/golden points on all arenas, but that's super hard~😞)but, why do i feel sad about that? (sometimes i wish i could be more like my kid self)

[saltydkdan]

Yo, Salt man. Decided to finally bite the bullet and dive into One Piece. Currently on Volume 4/Chapter 27 of the manga (also episode 2 of the Netflix live-action, really good ngl). I'm excited to read it, but the sheer length of the manga is extremely daunting to me, and I'm starting to wonder if it's even worth reading at this point. Dunno if you got any sort of tips or such to help someone like me through this, or at least boost morale?

Don’t worry! I felt the exact same way. The length of One Piece can feel really daunting when you start. However here is what I tell people to keep in mind:

Get to Arlong Park

This is what EVERYONE SAYS. But it really is true. Get to Arlong Park, and if you enjoy it, then you will 100% love this series. Arlong Park is the arc where One Piece starts to really become what it is known for (and in some senses Baratie too). And what’s cool is that as someone who has caught up, Arlong Park isn’t even my favorite anymore, far from it. Arlong Park made me a fan, but later stuff like Alabasta, Skypeia, and Water 7 especially made me HYPER FOCUS on the series.

Basically if you think Arlong Park and stuff like Baratie is good, it really only goes up from there, as it’s more or less a taste of what you’ll be getting as Oda develops the story. If you don’t like it tho? No harm no foul! You’re allowed to feel however you want! You can move on to something else if you feel like and that’s super okay. Though based on your current reactions I feel like you are def gonna like it LMAO.

You don’t have to binge ALL of it

You are totally allowed to pick it up and read a saga and then put it down to switch to something else for a bit. In fact, if you do find yourself getting too tired at points, def switch it up with another series, TV show, or video game! Nobody expects you to finish reading it in a month or something. It took me a full year to catch up after jumping on and off of it and I had a blast because I didn’t force it!

There’s a reason that the series is broken up into arcs and sagas! The end of a Saga specifically is meant to be a very good break point for you to do something else if you like!

And trust me, if you’re anything like me, you won’t want it to end. After I passed chapter 1,000 I had a sudden violent awakening that I was going to catch up and become a week to week reader and I got really sad LOL.

Being a One Piece reader feels rewarding!

This is something I would have loved to know going in, but reading/watching One Piece (especially nowadays) feels like an insanely rewarding experience.

I have no idea how Oda pulls it off, but there is information that is as immediate as Chapter 1 that is still relevant all these years later in Chapter 1,000+, it really feels rewarding to be into the series for so long.

I’ve never read or watched anything THIS LONG that rewards the reader like this, it’s so fun. And it’s also something that makes One Piece great to re-read or re-watch.

There are so many fun twists, turns, and reveals that are either foreshadowed, or established in a very small way early on. I can’t emphasize harder how fun and connected it makes everything feel.

I call it the opposite of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure. Because while Jojo will constantly reset itself with a new cast and characters every arc, instead One Piece doubles down, and is still revealing massive bombshells that we’re hinted at ages ago.

The series does show it’s age at times

I don’t like ending stuff on a bad note, but I like to let people know to keep in mind that One Piece has been running for a LONG time, and this can be both good and bad.

It’s good in the sense that I think it gets better and better over time, but bad in the sense that it does feature a couple of outdated depictions, as well as “Pervy” anime-esque humor that I honestly cannot enjoy personally. Just make sure you’re aware going in because some of it has aged… horribly.

That being said though, when One Piece gets depictions right it gets them SOOOO right.

There’s a reason that there’s an ongoing joke in the community that “Luffy would have died multiple times over if not for the Queer Community” lol it’s extremely correct

Reward yourself with the side content

One of my favorite things to do, is after I caught up to a certain point in the manga, is that I rewarded myself by watching one of the One Piece Films from around that time.

It’s a great thing to use as a rewarding little checkpoint and be like “Omg now that I’m this far, I can enjoy this fun animated film without fear of spoilers”.

And while a good chunk of films are very obviously not canon and don’t clearly fit into the overall story (I.e. there is not a good space for them to canonically exist) some of them actually do fit super well, and in my opinion, even add greatly to the overall story.

A big favorite of mine, One Piece: Baron Omatsuri, fits this description like a glove. Not only does it easily fit between the sagas of Skypeia and Water 7, but it even adds to the later themes of the story, and even foreshadows certain elements later on in a super fun way! Plus it’s one of the only One Piece films to have a very experimental direction, created by the guy who made Summer Wars. It feels very different, but in a super fun way, and works as a great little treat for getting as far as you have in the manga!

Anyway, I hope that this helps you out? Remember it isn’t a race, and you can pick up and put down the series whenever you want! There’s absolutely no pressure at all.

A part of me wants to kind of make a “read/watch list” for people who get into the series based off my own recommendation/experience. Obviously everyone is going to read and watch the anime in order, but it would probably be cool to know when you can check out certain side content like Anime-only specials and animated films during your read-through.

If anybody wants that let me know! (I’ll probably end up making it on my own time anyway I have zero self control).

Anyway yeah, enjoy One Piece!

[summer-nights19]

You don't know me part 1

Daiki Aomine x fem reader

You looked down at the court from the elevated corner of the Touo academy stadium. Despite the glaring lights, the corner remained a place of partial shadow, hiding your face as you watched. It had been three years since you were last on the court- 3 long, painful years full of bitterness and yearning, so, as a general rule, you tried to avoid watching games- for the most part, all they did was remind you of what you'd lost. However, whenever you heard that one of *them* was playing, you just couldn't seem to be able to control yourself. You had to go and watch.

The generation of miracles. Once your closest friends and companions. While Teiko was known for its dominating boys' basketball team, a it was little known by most that they also had a pretty strong girls' basketball club. You'd played as a shooter for that club for the majority of your middle school career, climbing your way up to the top and taking your team with you. After practice, you'd often hung out with the boys in the gymnasium and on the way home, and, over time, you'd become good friends. At least, that was how everything had been before that wretched day near the end of your 3rd year. The day that brought your career to a grinding halt.

With the start of high school, everyone had taken separate routes and you'd lost touch with them. Even though you acted indifferent, part of you couldn't help but feel a little sad about that- you'd loved hanging out with the guys: going to town or visiting clubs with Kise, sharing Atsushi's snacks, poking fun at Midorima as he lugged around his "lucky item" for the day, discussing the season's basketball highlights with Kuroko, lounging around and talking with Aomine after school... you hadn't realised how much these moments had meant to you, how much they'd filled up your life, until they were gone. You often wondered if they felt that way too.

Generally speaking, you hated watching basketball nowadays. It was a painful reminder of what you'd lost. When you'd been asked to coach the basketball team at your school, Seirin , you'd declined without a second thought. However, it always felt different when it was one of them playing. When you watched them, you felt like you were on the court with them, moving as one. You forgot for a time.

It was no different tonight as you watched Aomine play some B-tier school during the opening bracket of the Winter Cup. He was agile as always, weaving his way in between his opponents before they even had time to react and shooting one basket after another. His own teammates barely had the chance to touch the ball. You smiled to yourself, remembering your many 1v1v matches with Aomine back in middle school. Whenever you two needed to settle anything, it'd be done on the court. You needed a favour ? sure, if you could score 10 points before him. He wanted the answers to last week's assignment ? You'd give them to him if he managed to beat you. You pretty much never beat him- you came close sometimes- but he was quick at regaining the upper hand. Despite this, you'd improved greatly thanks to your 1v1s, something that even Aomine admitted. He'd often teach you new techniques or give you advice on how to improve your form, and, though he wasn't very patient, you learned over time.

"Why are you always teaching Y/N-chin those techniques ?" Murasakibara asked him one day when you guys were eating lunch together. Aomine had gone red and averted his gaze

"Playing against her gets lame if I win all the time," he'd replied, still not looking at you.

The buzzer sounded for the end of the first quarter, the familiar sound snapping you out of your thoughts. It was time to leave now, before they had time to notice you. You couldn't face seeing them again, not yet.

Making sure no one was looking, you crept out using a side exit while the players were still ambling off of the court. Every time you finished watching one of their basketball games, you were overcome by a strong feeling of nostalgia.

You always wondered why you did this to yourself, yet somehow you could never seem to stop.

Unconsciously, you began to walk faster as the cold night breeze sliced past your skin, anxious to get out of there before the memories completely took over your mind.

"Y/N ?" The voice that calls you is deep and rich, yet somewhat lazy.

Before you can even process what is happening, you're turning around and setting your gaze on the source of the voice.

Daiki Aomine.

Possibly the last person you want to see right now, especially after everything.

Masterlist

[angelspathway]

From the start: Miles Morales x black fem! reader

Summary: crush on best friend

Warnings: confessing feelings, feeling heartbroken, injuries, jealously, sadness

Note: I am in my feelings.

Later note: I don't think I am ever gonna finish this. I cannot find the motivation. I'm sorry but, please enjoy.

‘Don't you notice how

I get quiet when there's no one else around?

Me and you and awkward silence

Don't you dare look at me that way

I don't need reminders of how you don't feel the same’

Quietness filled my room. Miles Morales, Harlem's spider man and my best friend, sat in my windowsill, drawing i n his sketchbook. Another picture of that girl he met last year. The atmosphere felt tense, even though neither of us has said a word since he swung into my room, seeking solace from a panic attack. His pencil made scratching noises, heavy and almost sounded like he was ripping the paper. I was still blinking sleep from my eyes because of my disturbed nap. "Miles?"

He looked up at me with saddened dark brown eyes, wiping some freely flowing tears off his cheeks with the sleeve of his puffer jacket. He was breaking my poor lovesick heart with how much this panic attack took affect on him. "You think she forgot about me?" the softness in his sad voice torn me to shreds. I stood up, ignoring the pang in my heart, walking over to him. I sit on the windowsill, scooting closer to him and wrapping my arm around him as he went into another episode of snifflingand crying. I said nothing more as I rub his back. " Let it out, Miles.”

My heart continued to break for him... but it broke for myself. I felt selfish because here was my friend crying about the same girl that he thinks forgot him and I am angry that he still thinks about her while I am here with him all the time.

‘Oh, the burning pain

Listening to you harp on 'bout some new soulmate

"She's so perfect, " blah, blah, blah

Oh, how I wish you'll wake up one day

Run to me, confess your love, at least just let me say’

"Come on, Miles! Not at the arcade too..." I groan in frustration as his mind drifts from eating his nachos to just staring off in the distance, a smile visible on his face. Why couldn't he look at me like that? "Earth to Miles?", I wave my hand in front of his face. I was annoyed about how often he thought about her, especially nowadays.

He snapped out of it, looking at me with that bright look. He gave me the sweetest embarrassed smile, stuffing a nacho in his mouth. "Sorry... Its supposed to be our hangout day-"

"Don’t worry about it. Tell me more about the girl that stole my best friend’s heart." I pretended to be interested about this 'Perfect girl', not wanting him to find out about my seething jealously. My heart was screaming at him to confess to me. To be with me instead of her.

I felt selfish... I should be happy that my bestie has a crush, not anger that I wasn't the girl that he wanted.

But...

‘That when I talk to you oh, Cupid walks right through

And shoots an arrow through my heart

And I sound like a loon, but don't you feel it too?

Confess I loved you from the start’

Nevermind, he owes me nothing for being a friend to him. I may have been there for him every day of my life, but he doesn't owe me anything for loving him so damn much. I should've confessed sooner. Maybe then, I wouldn't have to worry so much about something or someone snatching him away from our friendship.

"Hey. Now you are spacing out?" he laughs, placing his hand on top of mines. My stomach filled with nauseating butterflies as I snapped back to reality. I give him an upside down smile, pulling my hand away from his.

"Let’s go play some video games."

‘What's a girl to do?

Lying on my bed, staring into the bluе

Unrequited, terrifying

Lovе is driving me a bit insane

Have to get this off my chest

I'm telling you today’

With a lot of encouragement from my friends and even Miles parents, I decided I needed to confess to him. My heart was beating out of my chest, scared of how he would react to my confession. I walk towards the water tower, his mom telling me where he was. I stopped in my tracks, my heart breaking in two after seeing blonde hair with pink tips. He seemed so happy talking to her, sharing a plate of food. My shoulders dropped, turning to walk away, feeling guilty for the tears in my eyes. I shouldn't be this upset..

He always talked about her... even during our hangouts. He never looked at me that way, never looked at me past being a friend... and it hurts.. it hurts a lot. Mostly because I've been there for him all this time and he cannot see how much I care for him. I leave the party, tears running down my face. I was gasping and trembling a bit. Why did I ever think he would love me? He loves her. I will never be the girl of his life.

[moonknightproductions]

For the character bingo, Xehanort and your favorite Yu-Gi-Oh character?

Gonna put this under a cut because the explanations are gonna get a little long lol

For Xehanort:

Explanations:

I absolutely love his design (any of them), Nomura knocked it out of the park with this one (although him being darker skinned than most of the cast is kinda… you know). Love the coats, love the boots, etc. BUT they could’ve gone even further with his character, even as a kid. Establish his weird empathy powers and run with it. Second row’s are pretty much self-explanatory.

As much as I want to say he’s got a big fanon focus, it’s really only a select group of people who’re in the know about Dark Road (see bottom left of the bingo lol). He very much is THEE character for me, the one who solidified my love for KH.

Autism beam.

If I think about him too long I get a headache (affectionate). Changed my life (as a package deal with kh obviously but Xeha specifically was a big part of it). I really want him to come back in KH4 even if just a cameo. Let me see my boy again in Quadratum living his best 14th life.

For the Yugis (I got a bingo!):

This is for both Yugi and Yami (which is why the dynamic one isn’t filled in; they work as standalone BECAUSE they’re so often in a dynamic). They’re a package deal.

Everyone makes fun of his hair but is it really any worse than, say, Goku’s? Yami especially could be a lot weirder (I know he mellowed out by Duel Monsters with Yugi’s help but l wish he retained some of his season 0 energy, he was very fun in that). The only ship I don’t really hate is Yugi/Anzu, actually. Yugi’s very transmasc to me but also I saw this fanart of fem-presenting genderfluid Yami and she was kinda hot ngl, so.

They very much captured my attention (in a “godammit why does every media I get into nowadays feature a characters with multiple personalities/accidental DID rep (affectionate)” way) and is basically the reason I kept watching past the first few episodes.

His name means game (how original, Takahashi). Autism.

Similarly to Xehanort, if I think about them for too long I start to cry (they’re just so sad and sweet to each other and aughhh). Due to his main character status, people constantly try to kill Yugi and he was bullied a lot before finishing the Puzzle.

Also similarly to Xehanort, he changed my life for the better (in combination with the series but it was mostly Yugi and Yami). However, in exchange, they will not leave my head. At all. They’re the form my consciousness is deciding to take for when I need to talk to myself (and it’s only natural that it’d do this considering the above-mentioned accidental DID rep). Not that I mind, I love him!

For context (even though this means nothing to people who aren’t also into it), I haven’t gotten to GX’s fourth season yet, but I have watched/read all of s0, watched both the og and dub of Duel Monsters, and am in the middle of reading the Duelist manga. I’ve also watched most of the Yugi-related movies except Bonds Through Time, so it’s pretty safe to say I’ve seen a lot of Yu-Gi-Oh media with Yugi in it. YET SOMEHOW I MISS HIM ALL THE TIME? I know I could always reread/watch stuff but every time I finish doing that I just wanna see my boy again??? I’m never satisfied with the amount I’ve seen him???

Despite all that, I do hope he’s happy. I haven’t gotten to 5Ds yet so idk what he’s like in that but I hope the protagonist of that show can help him if he needs it.

[spectralharvest]

20 Questions for Fic Authors

Thanks for tagging me @sunhatllama although I only have 2 posted fics so this is gonna be kind of sad

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

2, although I used to have a lot more that I orphaned because I wrote them when I was 12 and was ashamed of myself lmao

2. What is your AO3 wordcount?

2,242

3. What fandoms do you write for?

I've posted things for Spy x Family and The Longing, although I've been sporadically working on something for South Park

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

I only have two but I'll put them here anyway

1.) Happy Endings - My Spy x Family fic about Twilight's mom that I based off of a fan animation. Ironically, a couple months after I posted this, Chapter 62 came out which basically dealt with the same thing lmao

2.) Counting the Seconds - My fic for The Longing, an idle game that I really really love. It's not very popular fic wise though, so it makes sense why it has less kudos.

5. Do you respond to comments?

I keep meaning to, but I get nervous and then forget and by the time I remember, it's way too late to respond. Or at least it feels like it's not socially acceptable anymore.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

None of mine so far have had angsty endings, but I'd probably go with Happy Endings just because there's some canonical character death.

7. What is the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Counting the Seconds? It's just me going through my favorite ending of the game and what The Shade might have been thinking.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

No, I don't post enough to get that kind of engagement lol.

9. Do you write smut? If so, which kind?

Nope, I just haven't seen a reason to.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest crossover you’ve ever written?

I have not written crossovers, I like to keep my fandoms separate.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Nah, like I said, I haven't done anything notable enough to get my things stolen.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

^^^

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No, but it does sound kind of appealing. I would worry about dragging down someone else's work though since my work ethic is so goddamn terrible.

14. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

Creek!! I actually wasn't all that into them the first time I watched South Park, but when I came back to it years later the Post Covid special had come out and the fact that they were still together 40 years later really cemented them in my heart. I <3 old man yaoi.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I have a Creek-focused South Park 60's au that I've been trying to write since June, but I went to work one day with a bunch of ideas and then I left my shift feeling so drained and I haven't been able to get that spark back. I also have a Damianya-focused Spy x Family royalty au based on that one line from chapter 88 but I got too carried away with the planning instead of actually writing.

16. What are your writing strengths?

My roommate (@sunhatllama) says that I conveyed emotions pretty well so I guess I can do that

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

My work ethic :(

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I've certainly tried it before with some of the fics I orphaned, and I feel like it can be fine. Nowadays, I'd just rather have it be like "character said something in a different language". idk i don't feel strongly either way

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Gravity Falls! My ff.net account is still up with them but they're BAD. I wrote them when I was like 10 and I don't remember the account info so I can't go and delete them.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

Probably Happy Endings, just because I wasn't expecting a lot of engagement but the creator of the fan animation that I based it off of actually found it and left a comment about it! It made me so happy and I was so goddamn happy when I went to high school the next day lmao.

I'm tagging no one because I have no friends heehee

[protect-daniel-james]

The Happy Fic Writer Ask Game

6 and 14?

6. Describe what you do and your feelings after posting a chapter.

Nowadays, I'm mostly happy that I managed to finish something - usually I post stuff and then still go through it and try to correct some bad spelling etc., but just for a little while. (I often post works without properly correcting/reading through them just because I want to get them out there asap). When I started posting fanfics, I would be really anxious about getting kudos and comments, and I was always disappointed when I didn't get any in like the first hour or two lol. I think I matured a lot when it comes to posting fanfiction - not only storytelling wise, but also in the way I got to the point of writing and posting largely self-indulgent fanfiction. Is there a large audience for Lampardverse cousin incest daddy issues breeding roleplay? Probably not. Is there a huge audience of people waiting to read about Emery caressing the walls of the stadium and getting aroused from it? Probably even less so. But I want these stories, and I want them to exist and be out there so maybe someone else can read them and say... hang on, this makes sense and explains so much...

So these days I'm not bothered about kudos at all. I love getting comments though of course! I love when someone finds interesting bits in my stories, or when they "accept" my headcanons... If I can make more people believe that Frank Lampard is very sad and round and wants his cousin to fuck him, or that Unai Emery indeed fucks football, then I think I succeeded as a fanfic writer.

And I love when out of nowhere, someone reaches out to me on tumblr to say "Hey, I just want to let you know I love your Rakidric stories!" or "I really enjoyed Grizione fics, are any more coming?" because it's so nice to see people interacting with "older" stories as well!

14. Share a snippet.

“What would you like to drink then, Unai?” The bridges were burned anyway by now. Granit has already defied the gaffer, forcefully taken back the gift he gave him only a month ago, and openly mocked him by now – the damage was done, so why leave it there? Unai’s eyes seemed unnaturally large in his pale, haggard face – everything about him was unnatural, now that Granit had a chance to really watch him, sitting in the darkened office, after yet another bad result, just about hanging to his job. He didn’t look like a gaffer at all. He was pathetic, weak, broken and little, and he might have been showing his teeth but he instilled in Granit just about as much fear as a tiger separated from him by a thick glass in a zoo. Moreover, he felt like it was the other way around. Unai hasn’t really confronted him about anything he did – he just sat behind his desk and pathetically asked him to leave. “Are you – “ Granit made sure to enjoy the sound of it “ – afraid of me?”

[hexalianrebel-blackfeathers]

Panda’s Collection

Welcome to a list of all the things I made with my own brain. Well, my favorite ones at least. Once again, exceptions have been made. It’s mostly character chaos; fantasy, some romance. Just stuff I like. >w< I will never say no to questions about OCs, so please don’t be shy.

(Sorted by Post Date; Old to New)

2016

Ticklish Ivories—Technically not the first time I’ve posted OC tickles, with the whole novel and everything, but this was the first one here. I adore the idea of musical tickles.

[Original]

Musical Tickles and Spooky Magic

Word Count: 2,935

Nights in Copper Heights; an Excerpt—This is technically a lie, since I never actually wrote this scene before I posted it here. But it’s a tickle scene; I had to get it out of my head. >w<

Reconciling Through Tickles. A Little Bondage.

Word Count: 2,950

Nights in Copper Heights—Since I’m here, actually, I might as well include this link. I wrote Nights in Copper Heights essentially as a parody of the Twilight series. I never really bothered watching the entire Twilight series, mind you, but I still kinda like the concepts here and ideas that I had. I had written those chapters back in 2016 or 2017, but I didn’t realize you could backdate things in Ao3 yet. >-< If I do go back, I’ll be rewriting it again…

[Ao3 Exclusive!]

Vampires, Werewolves, and the Humans Caught Up In Their Turf War

Current Word Count: 19,138

Satan’s True Weakness—The story I originally had for these guys was called Why I Remarried God, another idea I think is pretty interesting in concept, but might slip better into an anthology than a whole book. Nowadays, they’re slotted into my current universe as Ethereals.

Insubordinate Tickles and Immortals Disguised as Humans

Word Count: 1,567

Kissing Colors—I’m tempted to think I have completion anxiety. Jacob’s Ladder was a story about a pretty tsundere high schooler realizing he might not be entirely straight. It got a bit intense. Or it would have if I finished it.

Makeup and Tickly Kisses. Puppy Love

Word Count: 1,631

Laughter—Short and simple. Pretty cute, I think.

Movie Night Tickle Attacks

Word Count: 607

A Fairy and a Vampire have an Argument—Set in the Copper Heights era. I don’t think these two would have appeared in the book, but I love making characters, okay? >w<

Tummy Tickles in a Tree. Minor Sads

Word Count: 1,291

Never Tell—Remember when those video games about accessing the Dark Web were all over Youtube? This is from that. I love writing dialogue.

[Ao3]

A Little Spicy, I Guess? Barely. Talk About Tickles and Implied Danger

Current Word Count: 1,346

~~~~~~~

            2018

Tabletop—This one is still my favorite non-novel thing, and I refuse to shut up about it.

[Ao3]

Dungeons & Dragons, But with Tickles.

Current Word Count: 5,612

The Power of Laughter (2011)—The first time I ever actually mentioned my novel here was around this time. This is the universe I’ve been working on reviving lately, as I’ve probably mentioned way too much. This is my favorite thing. Ever. It’s my baby. >w< This version specifically is technically the third draft of the book. Tabletop is technically part of this universe. One day, you might find out why~

[Ao3]

Kids Get Magic Powers to Fight Tickle Monsters. Espionage, Casual Murder, and 30 Chapters of Nonsense Written By a Thirteen-Year-Old.

Word Count: 56,887

~~~~~~~~

2020

The Lighthouse Keepers—A glimpse into Panda’s horror brain, and the land of Esker itself. Part of an Anthology I had in mind

[Ao3 Exclusive!]

Magic, Violence, Unknown Cryptids, and Death

Word Count: 1,849

Whisker Wizards: The Elegy of the Ashen Bastard—The first “episode” of the Whisker Wizards series. They all follow fluffy animal friends and magical crises.

[Ao3 Exclusive!]

Magic, Violence, and a Hero’s Journey

Current Word Count: 1,291

The Magic Man’s Face—A sort of rewrite I tried to start of an older story: “Andrew Taylor is in Love”. It was from an anthology of romance and slice of life stories a younger Panda wanted to write.

[Ao3 Exclusive!]

Stage Magic, Pining, and Love at First Sight

Current Word Count: 851

~~~~~~~~~~~

2021

The Facility—First time introducing you guys to Trevor Bansel outside of his setting. His role changes a lot in-universe, but he’s always been around; one of my favorite characters to play with.

A Tickle Monster Getting Tickled For Misbehaving

Word Count: 1,460

~~~~~~~~~~~~

2023

Panda’s Tree—I’ve always kind of been an idea factory. As we all know by now, execution is a different category altogether. >-<

A List of Panda’s Current Plans for Novels, Stories, and Whatnot.

[justonemorechapternicercy]

PCPWeek Day 2 - Worship

Read it on Ao3

⚠️ Warnings: expect the unexpected, incest, NSFW

There was a temple on Monte Gallo. It was a tiny thing, almost like an afterthought, but it was beautiful; built of white marble, with a blue roof and golden motifs of angered sea monsters and soothing sunsets. Inside, there was a sculpture of the prettiest Roman god one could've ever seen - it felt like a shame to have his sculpture in such a tiny shrine.

Nico sighed and shook his head in disappointment as if he really expected the temple to grow since the last time he stepped into the place of worship. The god - his god - was too good, too kind, too perfect for a place like this. Lord Perseus saved him from the sea monsters when he was a kid, and since then, the minor god became his Patreon. Ever since that day, he prayed for the god and worshipped him even more than he did Jupiter or even Mars. Perseus was… he was his. His to worship, his to offer sacrifices, his to win games and battles in Perseus' name, even when he was far from Sicily.

He never forgot the tiny temple, nor the kind god it belonged to.

Since he came back to Sicily, he planned to visit the temple more often now. It felt strange to come back, but sitting with the pretty god, admiring his perfect form, and being there for all day long was almost natural. Sometimes, he would touch the marble hands, and the white lips, wishing they were warm skin instead, but most of the time he was just sitting and praying.

Worshipping his god.

And to his surprise - getting an answer.

It was a sunny summer morning when the god appeared to him. He picked some flowers to make a flower crown for Lord Perseus, to put on the sculpture's head; pretty forget-me-nots and white lilies, pink roses and calming lavenders.

The pillar stone of his beliefs, the statue of his saving god, was gone from under his hands, and in its stead, a flower-crowned, light blue toga-wearing, raven-haired, sea-green-eyed beauty was standing, smiling like the sun was shining upon Nico's face.

"My Lord," he whispered in awe, falling onto his knees.

"Rise, you silly." The god's laughing voice was like a thousand bells' rings. "I came as a friend," he added, before claiming Nico's time and company as his, before claiming Nico as his.

But it's not like he had a difficult task with that - Nico was already his.

It felt like a dream to have his god so close to him, not like a marble statue, but as a breathing, living person, who is warm to touch, whose eyes sparkle and gleam mischievously.

"Why me?" He asked at some point, when he felt more comfortable, surer at his place in Perseus' - Percy's, as he was adamant to be called - life.

"Because I like you," came the simple answer. "You are fun to be around. In the palace…" he trailed off, eyes vacant, sad. He didn't continue explaining, but Nico felt like he could finish the sentence. He felt alone in his home too.

After that, their conversations started to become less stilted, more indulgent from the god's side, and more adoring from the human's. They talked about Nico's days, what it was like to travel around the Roman Empire, and the little, boring details of his human life. In return, Percy talked about his friends - a satyr and a daughter of Minerva, who barely had time for him nowadays -, about the godly gossip, about the things he saw in his long life. Never about his days, or his life in the palace. It seemed like… well. He must have been really lonely to seek out a mortal.

Nico was happy to offer companionship to the god; conversations and friendly touches, nothing like the ones he touched the marble with. Percy never seemed to oppose them - not to the hugs to say goodbye when they part, nor to the soft caresses Nico offered comfort with. When they were apart, Nico felt a longing for Percy's company; when they were together, he never wanted the days to end. Sometimes they would wander on the mountain, watch the sunset together, and eat sweet, golden honey or ripe, jucy grapes. Sometimes they would just sit in the temple, and talk.

Until they didn't.

Nico never knew, not in his life, nor in his death, what made Percy stop visiting him, but he never stopped hoping, praying for his return.

But he never did.

-*-*-

His little mortal worshipper was already gone for the day, but Percy was still laying around in his temple, not wanting to go home. He loved his family, he adored them, really, but they were always so-

Suddenly, he felt three presence with him, and without turning around, he already knew who they were.

"Sweetie, you know you shouldn't be here." His mother's voice was so soft, so loving, he immediately felt guilty for what he'd done. He didn't want to cause problems, or to make her worry about him. He just wanted to have a friend…

"I'm sorry, mom," he said, turning toward his family. They were all unbelievably beautiful, sometimes it hurt to look at them. And to think they worried about him…

"If you wanted to spend more time with us, you should have told us," Poseidon - not Neptune, never Neptune with him -, his father stated, as he put his big, strong hand on his shoulder. Percy looked up at him through his eyelashes, to his powerful, loving father, and felt like a little child, who wanted nothing more than his father's acceptance. Yes, he wanted to spend more time with them, very much so - just maybe not the way they thought so. He shivered and bit back the whine he was desperate to make as his father caressed his shoulder, his naked shoulder that was not covered by his toga.

"I know, daddy," he nodded, head bowed down so that his hair would cover his face.

"I don't think you know, though." His brother finally spoke up. "I think you'd rather be a bad little boy, disobedient and insolent to get our attention than telling us you want to spend time with us."

He was right. He was so right, but Percy was too scared to admit it, so he just lowered his head even more, ready for any punishment his family deemed necessary.

"Oh, my sweet baby," Sally sighed, stepping closer so she could run her fingers through Percy's hair. "Always so alone in the palace… I'm so sorry." She hugged him from behind, pressing herself against him, surrounding him with her flowery scent.

"He still needs to be punished," Triton reminded them, running his fingers along the carved design on Percy's altar. "For running away, for not telling us what he wanted-," he took a breath, and the next words came out harsher, more unforgiving. "For letting a mortal befriend him, touch him."

"You are right, son. Percy should have come to us, instead of consorting with a mortal," boomed Poseidon's voice.

"What if…" Triton smirked, and Percy felt his heartbeat quickening at the tone. It felt… different. It felt like he was being hunted by a predator. "I think it would be a nice punishment to fuck him on this altar where he was being touched and worshipped by that morsel, who thought he could own our Percy."

The time stopped, and Percy forgot how to breathe, how to be.

He blinked and blinked, but the words still rang true in his mind. Triton was leaning against the altar, sitting on it, more like, with a foot still planted on the floor, casually smirking at Percy. Poseidon's face was set in stone, eyes burning, while Sally's showed-

Oh.

Oh.

They wanted him. They were jealous. Suddenly, a heavy burden lifted from his shoulders, he didn't even realize how much it affected his everyday life. The burden of not only wanting his brother - his uncle Jupiter was married to his sister, Percy's aunt Juno, after all - but his parents as well. But they wanted him - just as he wanted them.

Poseidon was slowly moving, pulling Percy up from the ground, then pressing him against the altar, draping him over like a virgin sacrifice.

"Is it because your little mortal is a devout worshipper of yours? That's why you spent so much time with him, gave him such beautiful smiles, and allowed him to touch you, to caress you?" Sally asked, voice trembling. From sadness or want, Percy wasn't sure, but it broke his heart to hear his mother's questions. "Because we worship you. We love you, we adore you, we want you. You are ours!" Before Percy could react - not like he knew how he should react, mind you - he was trapped between the smooth marble altar and his determined mother. The pressure on his chest eased up a little, as he was not expected to do anything, say anything, and he allowed Sally to settle on his lap, caging both sides of his hips with her knees. Both of her hands took hold of both of Percy's by the wrists, pulling them closer to her mouth, pressing fluttering little kisses over them.

"Mom," he whispered.

"Ssh, sweetheart! I've got you," she soothed him, and Percy couldn't help but nod, agreeing with her words.

She pressed herself against him and Percy moaned at the feeling, eyes instantly seeking out his father's.

"You will be our good boy, won't you? You will let your mom do whatever she pleases, right, son?" Poseidon asked, voice deep and rough, full of repressed desire.

"Yes, daddy," he agreed, like the good boy he wanted to be. Like the depraved little godling he actually was.

Sally bit into her lips, eyes scorching hot, and ground herself onto his lap, feeling his hard cock against herself.

"He is so hard- he wants it just like we do," his mother moaned.

"Of course, he does. He is our blood," Triton rasped, and finally - finally! - touched Percy's naked, flushed skin, making the younger god whine.

"I want you," he confessed.

Sally softened, a loving warmth quelled her burning want. "We want you too. You are our sweet boy, you've always been," she swore, leaning in to press their foreheads together.

"Can we join?" Triton asked, but not really waiting for an answer, he slipped next to him on the altar, while Poseidon took the space on the other side, hovering for a brief moment before he kissed him.

It was a kiss of fire; Percy was burning, shivering, and mewling at the feeling. Tasting his father after all this time felt like it was too good to be true. But it was real; all of it was real.

Fingers dipped underneath his toga. Heat trickled under his skin as Sally lifted herself up just to take off Percy's light blue clothing, freeing him up for the hungry gaze of his family.

He felt like a sacrifice, a virgin offered to appease the angry gods - and it wasn't far off from the truth.

Triton licked his lips, then kissed him, dirty and deep and wet, grinding up against him. He was hard, and Poseidon was hard, and he was hard too, and Sally was wet, and everything felt like a dream.

But it wasn't a dream. It was single-minded worship, not a punishment. They didn't leave any space untouched. Every inch of him was thoroughly licked, tasted and bitten, touched and claimed. He was nothing, but a doll, moved by the desires of his family; to be eaten out, to be fucked, to be ridden, flailing and crying, and whining at the stimulations. Fingers reaching inside of him, scissoring him, and rubbing him, bringing him to completion again and again until he couldn't move, couldn't even moan, and longer. Split was wetting Poseidon's chin as he was happily, messily fucking him with his tongue, Sally's face was full of him, while his open, waiting mouth was filled with his brother's still hard cock, sloppily fucking him.

Drool was dripping from his mouth, his body was covered in body fluids from all of them. His shrine was filthy, as was he.

But he wouldn't have wanted it otherwise.

[mydonkeyfeet]

Autistic hyper-endurance of fun?

Does autism have a thing where one lacks the neurotypical degradation-of-fun mechanism? I still don't know if I'm autistic or not (most online tests say not quite) but I've read that neurotypicals have a friendship degradation mechanism, which I definitely lack, where eventually they lose interest in old friends and move on. For me, I tend to think with naive optimism that every friendship will last forever. Fortunately, many of my friends are neurodiverse and also lack that mechanism.

But I've noticed that some autistic family members and I have experienced a thing where something stays fun or funny for us long past everyone else.

At my job in my 20s, we all made a game of hiding plastic Easter eggs in unexpected places all over our workplace, with silly notes or drawings inside, and when we found one, we would hide it for the next person. Eventually, my coworkers would just give them to me to hide again because they got tired of the effort (though they still enjoyed finding them. I think.)

In a less happy experience, in high school my friends and I would write silly stories together, one sentence at a time, passing the pages back and forth throughout every class. Some stories were short and finished in one period, and some were long and lasted a whole semester, but they were all hilarious. One friend who I'll call Prune had been my friend for nearly our whole K-12 years, and we wrote many stories together. But during our final year, suddenly for some reason she started hating my existence. I could not figure out why, I still don't know, but at the time all I could think was "Maybe if we write more stories, she'll laugh and have fun and we'll get back to normal." And she seemed to hate our stories too, though she still wrote ones with our other friends. She would even pass them to a classmate and ask them not to return it to me until the end of class, making them seem like the bad guy. While I thought we could have a fun collaboration like a game of catch, I realize now that it was more like I was the stupid naive but innocent dog thinking, "Human is sad. Maybe we should play ball? Throw my ball? Will that make you happy? Throw it?" and she was the person holding the slobbery ball who is absolutely sick of playing fetch with that stupid dog. (She did still write stories with our other friends though, so I'm still clueless why she hated me. They kept writing stories with me too, and seemed to keep enjoying it.)

Anyway, I realized today that my dad, who we now suspect may have been autistic (who died last year) also exhibited some of these hyper-endurance-of-fun mechanisms with me that drove me up the wall as a child and teen. Long past it was appropriate, he was playing baby pinchy games with me that I hated, and speaking with my old baby talk that embarrassed me. And he knew I was irritated but was probably clueless why, just like I was with Prune. He thought we were sharing a fun childhood memory, and I was annoyed that he was fixated on something from my ancient history that I no longer enjoyed, and that he still saw me as a silly baby. And like Prune, I didn't have the words or the nerves to explain it to him.

Nowadays, I have to remind myself that what's fun for me may not stay fun for my friends (including remaining in a fandom or participating in our old activities) as well as reminding myself that they have a friendship degradation mechanism, and they're allowed to move on from me. I'm not actually a sad dog with a slobbery ball.

But I'm 45 and I still haven't forgiven Prune.

[hazelwitch800]

I'm here for the ask gamee!! I wanna make sure how alike we are haha sooo 4, 19, 23, 29, and 39...Is that too many? It's way too many lol, feel free to choose between them

Lin!!! Omg you're an angel, thank you for giving me the opportunity to be so self indulgent! And I want to hear all of your responses to these questions in turn 😏

4. What’s a word that makes you go absolutely feral?

Omg wow I found this so hard arrrrgh! I think I find this one hard because there's not a word in particular that I love, but I absolutely WILL go feral over a writer's word choice, especially when it's anything surprising or interesting or creative that just makes me think oh wow, what a great word! I do actually have a list of "good words" on my notes app though lol, so here is a selection of some of those: tranquil, raw, permeate, hollow, scorched, lethargy, deft (there were many others lol what a strange list 😅)

19. Tell me a story about your writing journey. When did you start? Why did you start? Were there bumps along the way? Where are you now and where are you going?

I only started properly writing at the beginning of 2022, but I really have been writing here and there all my life. I was a total bookworm as a kid, and was always writing stories. The first job I ever wanted was to be an author 😁 I have loads of old notebooks from my teenage years filled with snippets of prose and poems, but I never really finished anything or wrote anything cohesive. I feel like discovering the Internet was a major road block because it ruined my attention span and I barely read a book for years! Honestly, fanfiction was the intense hyperfixation I needed to get myself into gear - I've never had such a strong urge to create before!

23. Describe the physical environment in which you write. Be as detailed as possible. Tell me what’s around you as you work. Paint me a picture.

Ooh I love this - the environment I write in feels super important to me. Okay, so, sometimes, it's at my desk at home during the working day (sssshhhh!), accompanied by the modern day working from home soundtrack: the ping of Teams messages. Other times, it's on the sofa, snuggled under my electric blanket turned up to the max. And when I can make it work, it's in my favourite place of all - my local library. It has a beautiful reading room panelled in old, dark wood, and there's a huge skylight up above. It's a wonderful, peaceful place to work. Maybe not so great for when I'm writing smut 😁

29. Where do you draw your inspiration? What do you do when the inspiration well runs dry?

When I first started writing, I honestly felt like inspiration just threw itself at me from the void, lol. Nowadays, it's harder. Honestly, I think a lot of my inspiration comes via logical thinking, just trying to figure out what a certain character might do or say in a given situation and letting that guide me. Ooh, also, the act of writing in itself is SO important for me inspiration-wise - there is SO much that just comes to me as I'm writing. Like it just seems to appear in my mind. Which is annoying as it means outlining or plotting beforehand doesn't really work for me, I have to have a half idea and then see how it plays out on the page!

39. What keeps you writing when you feel like giving up?

Honestly... Self discipline hahaha. That feels like such a sad thing to admit. But I'm the type of person who likes to see things through to the end. I rarely just WANT to write, but I make the time to and I keep at it. I am actually taking more breaks recently, though, and intend to take a longer break to fully recharge soon :)

[transsexualunderground]

So I got tagged in a WIP game by @lswro2-222!

"RULES: post the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them and then post a little snippet or tell them something about it! and then tag as many people as you have WIPS." Not doin' that last bit. I don't know that many people. Anyone reading may do this if they'd care to.

Note that I'll be naming my sub-WIPS here as well, since I tend to accumulate some in a big ol' doc. Some are individual though. I'll also put current lore documents and trivia lists in here too, for sake of... uh, why not. Without further ado...

THE TTTE OC TIMELINE GETS REMADE AGAIN (CURRENT VER)

Lancaster Family Lore

Forsythia Without Nicolas / Nicolas Without Forsythia

A Verbal Description of the UHR Route

SYCORAX IN: DAY OF THE DIESELS

The Noble Art of Having a Good Grumble (mostly not WIP anymore but I love excuses to talk about it)

Next are all things under "TTTE/RWS Fanbooks / Fanbooks + Engine Canon Fanstories, Chronological "Publishing" Order." All include Forewords but I'm not counting those.

wesley book/Wesley The Show Engine [rewrite to be placed here when finished]:

Wesley’s First Impression

What It Means to be Wesley

Story Title C (Re-write of Wesley’s Rough Run)

The Plate

Forsythia the Rambunctious Engine:

Tales From Before

Arrival Troubles

A Run Along the Skarloey Railway

Tricks & Trucks

More Wesley & Forsythia:

The Little Waterfowl

[In which passengers do not refrain… from singing the damn humoresque. AKA forsythia and nicolas clown on wesley with his least favorite song ever at the time. so does thomas. idk what the moral is here]

Ice on the Rails

[Another Forsythia and Nicolas one]

The Scrapyard Engine:

Wesley And The Scrapyards [Extract Douglas]

Whatever Happens Next

A Horrible Place

A Scrapyard Finale

The Scrapyard Engine No Longer:

A Railway Beginning

A Name Fit for the Fat Controller's Railway [Extract Donald and Douglas? Switch for Bill and Ben because that’d be funny right?]

The One Where We Flesh Out The Wesley and Clara Mentor and Mentee Dynamic (establishes “…what if i don’t see you” conflict) (maybe some “I’m a bit surprised you care this much about it, too, Wesley” from Clara)

Clara Pulls the Post

[something] Engines:

Wesley and the 17 Classes (WIP)

Clara The Really Fucking Strong Engine, Jesus Christ, Man (Working Title)

James and Clara

Bertram the “Old Warrior” Engine:

Scrap Deal

Bertram and the Mines

Toby's Discovery

Shit Goes Nuts With Trucks

Heritage Railway Engines:

[Prudence One]

[Sycorax One, possible transition to both being at works and maybe also just the full story of Sycorax getting their name]

[Prudence Antics]

[More collective antics?]

More Heritage Railway Engines:

Sycorax's Masterwork

Elias the _ Engine:

Elias's Tender [Combine with Gordon and the Eel)

[To be titled. It’s a sad one.]

Elias's Return

Elias and the Eels [the one where Elias gets his eels back]

Engines After Dark

The Bitch Incident

May They Smelt

The One About Funnels and Couplings

Engines Nowadays:

Placeholder 1

Placeholder 2

Placeholder 3

Placeholder 4

And finally, my one non-TTTE WIP...

Red Moonshine: The Uses of Blood in Alchemical Processes (and its Impacts on Vampyres)

That's all.

[ruvviks]

🎢✨️🍦💖for writing asks!!

AAA THANK U SO MUCH!! <33

🎢 which of your fics would you call your wildest ride?

of my published stuff i'd probably say chapter 2 of part 1 of the broker chapter >:) it has some time jumps and there's a lot of different emotions in there, goes from funny to sad to tense back to funny pretty quick LMAO. if you read chapter 3 before chapter 2 (i posted that one earlier for an ask game LOL) then you also already know how chapter 2 is going to end, and then vincent's victory does NOT feel as good as it should which also adds to the rollercoaster

i also have some unpublished nsfw stuff that can be considered wild rides because what better time for a therapy session than when you're getting ready to [redacted] am i right WGFHDJGHD

✨ give you and your writing a compliment. go on now. you know you deserve it 😉

WAUGHH UHHH HMM... i like. how i build up Tension. and i've been working on my pacing and like, general Flow of the Story and i Think i'm getting somewhere with it?? OH i am pretty good at coming up with things on the spot and like. connecting dots while i'm already writing LMFAO i don't like to plan things out i get most of my good ideas when i'm already Deep into something. it Does sometimes require me to backtrack a bit to change some stuff but i've never had to actually retcon info (yet) so that's nice LMAO

🍦 what's the sweetest fic you've created so far?

OOGH that would be this one!! NEVER SHARED BEFORE COME GET YOUR JUICE LMAO it's basically about mikhail waking up from a nightmare in vincent and vitali's bed because he tends to join them after a nightmare, i wanted to just write a soft moment for the boys because i mainly just put them in Situations LMAO so that's what i did :D

💖 what made you start writing?

my brain has always been. so so full of ideas and stories and i've kind of always been writing, i think i wrote my first "book" when i was like 9 years old LMFAO and i've just been writing ever since :) i really like to Create and sometimes i draw, i've made some video games before, but some ideas just work best as Stories so i write those down!! nowadays i mostly write for cyberpunk but i also still have a HUGE amount of original stories lying around, as well as some actual finished first/second drafts that i. need to get back to at some point LMAO

writer asks!

[weirdstuffthathappens]

WSTH April 22 archive

April 2nd

Today I am launching a website. My name is Frank A. Bennetto. I'm a 24 year old and that's enough for you to know about me for now. I'm launching this website as a sort of oddball "today in history"-ish project. Each day, I'll have a short passage on a specific topic on the site. Topics will include both the dorky and the bizarre. In these first three days I'm talking about anime robots, a horror ARG, and a NASA spacecraft, and topics spiral from there.

I do have a few disclaimers before we begin. Don't expect anything in depth. We are just inspecting the entrances to rabbit holes, not going down them. Obscurity is subjective. you might have heard of everything on this site before or you might have heard of none of it depending on your age, location and how much you look for this kind of stuff, and how strict your parents were/are. If I make any mistakes, message me at: (wsthtomtab@gmail.com) so I can correct them and put the mistake in the "Human Error Gallery". Same email also works for any other questions, suggestions, complaints or other inquiries. 

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April 3rd

Today, 70 years ago, the first chapter of Astro Boy (Mighty Atom In Japan) was published. Astro Boy is a good series to get into if you want to get sad about robots. It's about a man who replaces his dead son with a weaponized robot, and then starts being an abusive father to said robot for not being exactly like his dead son. Anyway Astro ends up getting sold to the circus, but the Japanese government gets him out of there and he ends up becoming a superhero.

For the record I don't specifically recommend the original manga, because while it was considered progressive when it was first published in 50's -70's Japan, and was intended to be anti-racist, nowadays… well, there are a number of individual stories that have aged like milk. If you are interested, I recommend the 80's anime that I haven't watched in ten years (I need to rewatch it) but I know is a lot milder, or even the Naoki Urasawa manga "Pluto”, which retells the "The Greatest Robot on Earth'' story arc in a very 00's way.

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April 4th

Today is the birthday of the fictional character Alex Kralie from Marble Hornets. Marble Hornets is a horror web series and alternative reality game that ran from 2009-2014 for five years on the date. It's about a Something Awful goon named Jay Merrick investigating why an indie rom com he worked on in college never got finished. The answer is Slenderman, and he has to deal with the answer being Slenderman.

The web series debuted 10 days after the original Slenderman pictures were posted on the Something Awful "make paranormal images" board and honestly I wonder how weird that was for the guy who made Slenderman. Like, you post a photoshop, and two weeks later some guys in Alabama have a video of your photoshop monster. Anyway, I know Slenderman isn't real, because he would have killed me in 2014 if he was.

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April 5th

Today is National Caramel Day. Caramel is what happens when sugar is heated up, usually with an amount of usually dairy-based fat, enough so it gets brown and tastes great but not hot enough it burns and tastes awful. Because of this, it is probably one of the easiest places to point in a kitchen and exclaim like, "yep, that's chemistry". 

Caramel is easily as pretty as it tastes. Something about that golden transparent color just always catches my eye. 

One funny thing about caramel is people like to argue about how it's pronounced. The argument is  usually whether it has two or three syllables, and in the United States at least usage is regional enough that people have made maps of where people say it which-way-where. Turns out it's an "east coast vs everyone else" split. Personally, I say both interchangeably. 

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April 6th

Today is the anniversary of the first Tony Award ceremonies. For the unaware, the Tonys is the big boy award show for Broadway theater. It maintains its place as the least culturally relevant of the "Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony" combo by being a form of media where unless you live in the right place with enough money to go to these things regularly (or are knee deep in theatrical bootlegging) you definitely haven't seen anything getting an award that year, and can only hope to pick out someone to root for based off soundtracks or the media that the play is based on. 

The Tony awards are named for Antoinette "Tony" Perry, an actress best known for having the Tony awards named after her. There wasn't really a "best play" at the first awards, more of a lot of general honors for a bunch of plays I've never heard of before, and unless you are a theater buff that already knows more about this than me, you probably haven't heard of em either. One of them was titled "Happy Birthday" though, so that's fun. Regardless, I hope anyone who was there in 1947 had a good time. 

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April 7th

Today in 2001, a bunch of NASA scientists sent up the Mars Odyssey off to Mars. Its mission is to hang out around the outside of Mars with a bunch of science tools and both record its own data and help earth communicate with the rovers. As of 2022, the craft is still in operation over twenty years later.

The craft shares its name with the classic Greek epic, but it was named for the book "2001: A Space Odyssey", which is best known for its film adaptation. It was kinda too perfect not to do, and plus they politely asked the guy who wrote the book if they could call it that and he was honored so they went for it.

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April 8th

Today I'll be telling you about one of the first animations. Ever. "Winsor McCay: The Famous Cartoonist of the N.Y. Herald and His Moving Comics" aka "Little Nemo" was an early theatrical short made in 1911, when cinema was still a baby and animation was but a metaphorical fetus. 

The animation itself is very fluid, and while some of the character designs look kinda "aged bad" they are extremely animated for being from a time when animation wasn't really a thing, and some versions of the short have a prelude of McCay's friends laughing at him for trying to make comics move. And the animated part is even in color.

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April 9th

Today is the birthday of the guy that invented Jell-o shots and "Geek Rock", Tom Lehrer. As of writing, Lehere is still with us and is turning 94 today. Lehere is best known for his satirical music stylings and "The Elements Song", in which the periodic table is recited to the tune of "Modern Major General.

One thing that's really cool is that Leher has put all his music in the public domain, which means you can do whatever you want with it pretty much. This is really great; he did that because the public domain system is constipated for no good reason. If I ever do anything cool, I'll put it in the public domain when I die. If this website is the cool thing, well, I don't have anyone else to run it if anything happens to me at the moment. I'll look into fixing that. 

[EDITOR’S NOTE: You do now, Tom.]

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April 10th

Today we are talking about probably one of the most recent topics I'll cover, because only two years ago, scientists got the first actual image of a black hole. And the image was mostly orange, which is kinda a contrast to most people making them purple or blue beforehand.

I remember hearing a few people say the images looked a bit blurry when they came out, but you also have to realize how far away it was.  55 million light-years away, which technically means the imagery as it hit our planet was 55 million years old. After they get big enough numbers start to feel fake, but you have to appreciate how old and far away it was just for us to manage to take its picture. 

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April 11th

Today is National Pet Day. Pets are a thing I'm glad exist. We really went right when we decided to just have animals around for companionship and started the process now known as domestication. They say unlike most other domestic animals, cats domesticated themselves by just showing up on farms and eating the mice and moles that would eat the crop and the farmers would let them stay because of free pest control.

People tend to forget pigeons are domestic animals, being domesticated doves. I don't know if any of the  reptiles, amphibians and fish we keep as pets are domesticated the way mammals or birds are, but a number of them make good pets from us simulating their habitats for them in our own homes to sadly mixed results. Always do research before getting a new pet because the needs of an animal can be very specific. 

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April 12th

Today Disneyland Paris opened for the first time, but it wasn't Disneyland Paris yet. When it first opened it was called Euro Disneyland. Out of the 6 "Castle Parks" Disney has, it is the third and the first one outside of the US. Disneyland Paris is the only Disney park in Europe.

[EDITOR’S NOTE: OBJECTION! EuroDisney, as it was colloquially called, opened today in 1992, but Tokyo Disneyland opened on April 15th a whole nine years earlier. The Parisian park was the FOURTH castle park, and the second non-US park. You better put on this little green hat and several questions about your anthropomorphic relationship to Pluto, Tom, because you’re a goof now.

Also, while I’m here? Nobody in Europe uses “Euro” to refer to continental matters, so Disney was being extra cultureblind here. They named their failed moneymaker “Dollar Disney.” Appropriate.]

When it was built a lot of people were pissed off that they were bringing the very American concept of a Disney park to France, and nobody showed up until they made Space Mountain. This space mountain was themed to the book " From the Earth to the Moon" by Jules Verne. A lot of people said it was even better than a regular space mountain! 

So then they took out the cool parts and changed it to be Star-Wars themed. Because Star Wars.

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April 13th

Today is the birthday of a board game I'm bad at: Scrabble. Scrabble started off as a game called Lexiko, which got reworked into Criss-Crosswords, which got reworked into Scrabble. And then Captain Macy's got into it and now it belongs to Hasbro.

My friend Mouse, who is in a board game club, says the key to being good at Scrabble is to memorize the dictionary. I think she's right because of a guy named Nigel. Nigel Richards won the French scrabble championship after memorizing the French dictionary, and he didn't even speak French.

[EDITOR’S NOTE: While it’s come in handy at Tabletop Tuesdays, I actually learned the dictionary thing from my dad. It’s true. And to everyone who has a different, much stronger association of what this day is? Don’t tell Tom. We must keep some innocence in the world.]

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April 14th

Today, 2001 ago, the first Animal Crossing game came out on the Nintendo 64 in Japan, a game that never hit the states, Dōbutsu no Mori, or Animal Forest in English. Unlike the GameCube game that came to the English speaking world a year later, Animal Forest was deemed too wordy and Japanese to translate, but they changed enough content when they ported it to GameCube that they decided to translate it.

While not an entirely different game, there were a lot of little and less little changes. They didn't have the clothing store or the boat rides. Holidays were reworked. They removed a blood splatter shirt and replaced it with a fish bones shirt.  Stuff like that.

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April 15th

Today a bunch of years ago Cartoon Network got it's first tv show, not counting the Moxy show which was more of a tv block, but that's it's own can of worms. We are talking about "Space Ghost Coast to Coast" today. A show with the simple premise of having "Celebrities" interviewed by old Hana Barbara characters.

The show did remarkably well, running for 11 seasons and 108 episodes, 2-5 spin off shows, and it's also the reason Adult Swim is a thing. It's hard to decide what to say about this one as the show did a lot of weird and fun stuff, but this one sticks out off the top of my head. They had an episode where the episode didn't really have an ending, and if you wanted to know the ending you had to buy the script off eBay.  I think that script is lost in the lost media dimension now, assuming it was ever real.

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April 16th

Today is the birthday of an artist you have probably seen the work of but don't know by name. Florentijn Hofman is an Dutch artist best known for his giant, often inflatable statues. While his 21 meter inflatable hippopotamus "Hippopothames" and his 82 ft tall "Moon Bunny" are marvels in their own right, he is best known for a particular duck.

If you have ever seen that picture online of a giant rubber duck in a harbor, dwarfing boats and making men look bug sized, you have already seen "Rubber Duck", Hofman's best known work. Sponsored by " Yogho!Yogho!" This giant duck was actually 4 or so different ducks varying in size, situated in different cities, but they were all modeled after the same base duck designed by Tolo Toys.

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April 17th

Today is Bat appreciation day and if you think we need to wait till October to be talking about bats get off my website. Anyway bats are mice evolved to have superpowers that would be extraordinarily powerful if it wasn't still mouse sized. They have two main tricks. The first is that they can fly with weird wing arms, not gliding like squirrels or sugar gliders but flying like birds do. The second is echolocation which is self explanatory, they use echoes to location.

All of this might be painfully obvious If you are old enough to be on this website (it's 14+ here if you skipped the FAQ) but sometimes it's worth restarting the obvious, just for calibration. That being said, the biggest type of bats are known as flying foxes and those guys are pretty big. The actual vampire bats that eat blood are actually really tiny, like golf ball sized. 

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April 18th

Today is the release anniversary of a classic video game, Portal 2. It's actually turning 20 this year. Portal 2 is such a classic at this point it feels weird looking back on that first playthrough, I got it because I had thought the robots looked cool and man I was blown away. I kinda wish I played Portal 1 first but I was like, kinda young when it came out. 

It's hard to pick out one detail of portal two to point out as something odd and wonderful. I mean everything from the ratman to the music to the potato ARG, to the old 2013 online culture around it. Or it's weird crossovers in the Poker Night 2 and LEGO Dimensions games. I'm just going to heavily suggest you play it if you haven't before.

[EDITOR’S NOTE: Nintendo and Valve recently announced a re-release of both games as part of the Portal Companion Collection for the Nintendo Switch, if you’d like to pick up both for a total of $20, though they haven’t given a release date outside of “2022”. Also, if you think we’re sponsored, you’re insane.]

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April 19th

Today is the publication anniversary of a very interesting case of someone predicting the future and being fairly accurate. In 65', Gordon Moore, who is now known for co-founding Intel, made the prediction that "the number of transistors in a dense integrated circuit doubles about every two years". 

If you don't know what that means, it means the power number on a microchip, well, doubles about every two years. The funny thing is he was right. Was being the key word. Scientists are about to the wall where we can't get 'em small enough fast enough. That being said we did go from that transistor number from the 10⁴s to the 10¹⁰s in that time, and that's nothing to sneeze at. 

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April 20th

Today is National Banana Day. Bananas have a dark secret I'd love to talk about. We might lose bananas as we know them and it wouldn't be the first time something like this happened. Until the 1950's the go too banana was the "Gros Michel". The problem was disease struck the variety and wiped out the crop.

The reason the problem got so big was because of the way bananas are grown, as there's not a ton of genetic variety from the asexual way they usually reproduce. Anyway, they swapped banana varieties to "Cavendish" and it's been going great for years but Cavendish has the same genetic vulnerability of its successor. We can only hope the bananas stay healthy.

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April 21st

Today is the anniversary of the Broadway debut of the musical Annie. You probably already know this one but on the off chance you don't it's the story of a little red haired orphan girl who's adopted by some rich old guy who wants a boy but starts to adjust to being a girl dad. I won't spoil the rest for you but if you've somehow seen the Stuart Little movie before this one the plot will feel familiar even if it did it first.

There's two places where it gets weird. The first is that it's actually based on a comic strip where her foster dad's wife keeps kicking her out of the house, until he died because he hated that Franklin D. Roosevelt got re-elected as president. But her on-and-off dad wasn't really dead, just in a coma, that he came out of once FDR died. The second is that in the musical Roosevelt is the big good guy who fixes everything. I don't know who made that change but they definitely knew what they were doing.

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April 22nd

Today is Earth day. A day dedicated to that lovely little rock in an ocean of void we all call home. If you don't call earth home, e-mail me. Anyway, Earth. I'm going to share some classic Earth Day fun facts, true of 2022 when this was posted. 

The highest mountain is Mount Everest at 29,031.7 ft tall. The lowest trench is the Mariana Trench 36,037 feet deep. The biggest animal is the blue whale, and they are usually 80 feet long and 300,000 pounds heavy. About 71% of the surface of the earth is oceans and water.

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April 23rd

Today, too many years ago by now, the first YouTube video was posted. "Me at the zoo" was posted on a blank YouTube, a website barely resembling the current juggernaut of a website it is now. 

The video itself is exactly what you'd expect from something called "me at the zoo". It's a 19 second clip of home footage of YouTube co-founder Jawed Karim at the San Diego Zoo. He's standing in front of the elephants and telling the camera they are cool because of their long trucks. You gotta apprentice how mundane it is. A video that would have just been sentimental at best if not weaved into the history of one of the most popular websites on the internet.

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April 24th

Today in 2006 Pluto got demoted from an outer circle planet to a dwarf planet. A lot of people say Pluto is no longer a planet but I feel like this is misleading. Pluto is now classified as a dwarf planet and is one of 5 named dwarf planets,the other four being: Ceres, Eris, Haumea, and Makemake.

Personally I think we should count the dwarf planets in discussions of our solar system, as even if they are small and wild, they have enough of a level of consistency among themselves. If anyone asks me how many planets there are, I'll tell them 8, still, probably, if I don't have time to explain. But if I do have a chance to make my case, my answer is 13. 

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April 25th

Today we celebrate a funny little bird. That's right it's Penguin Day. Penguins are funny little dudes who live south of the equator, and contradictory to popular belief, they don't all live at the south pole. Along with one variety that lives on the equator, and there are a number of Australian penguin subspecies. 

Probably the best known penguin breed is the emperor penguin. Of all the kinds of penguins they are the tallest and they are known for doing this egg thing. The thing is the male penguins hold the eggs a majority of the incubation while the mama penguins go hunt. On the flip side, the smallest type of penguin is the blue penguin, and it is actually blue.

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April 26th

Today is the oldest date I can find for a YouTube video that won't leave my head. One that objectively has meaty organs in it but it always makes me feel something. Teddy Has An Operation by ZeFrank was a video made for the BuzzFeed website and true to the name a guy performs surgery on a teddy bear. 

The thing is the bear has organs. Non plush organs. This is not a video for a squeamish and I've seen people kinda compare it to "Don't Hug Me I'm Scared", but it's kinda a different flavor of irony.

There's just something oddly genuine to the short. It feels childlike in a "what kids are actually like" way. Like if  you asked a kid what happens at a stuffed animal hospital this is what they would describe as what would happen there, or maybe just me. I was a weird kid. 

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April 27th

Today is the anniversary of a famous television broadcast interruption that isn't the Max Headroom incident. In 1986, a man going by Captain Midnight hacked the satellite video feed of the channel HBO, his message was one of frustration: 

GOODEVENING HBO, FROM CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT, $12.95/MONTH? NO WAY !

[SHOWTIME/MOVIE CHANNEL BEWARE!].

Nobody who watched it was really that concerned but the HBOFCCFBI combo definitely were. The guy got hit with a fine and probation, and they made the laws stronger to make sure people didn't do it again. To this day, the guy who did it maintains he just wanted to give HBO a polite message and he was just disappointed with the $13 a month. 

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April 28th

Today Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon'' was first unleashed to the masses. Aside from its iconic album art and being a good record, it's best known for people playing it over the Wizard of Oz, and there being some points where it lines up too well. Some people swear the band somehow did it on purpose but it's all coincidence.

The thing is it is all just confirmation bias, as people have tested the album with other, silly movies like Shrek and Paul Blart 2. So I think the album just lines up with stuff well. I like the one guy who did different They Might Be Giants songs over the Wizard of Oz, that was cool.

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April 29th

Today it's time to get down. It's International Dance Day. Chosen for the birthday of Jean-Georges Noverre aka the guy who invented "modern ballet", this holiday is about dancing. I'm going to use this as an excuse to tell you about the dancing plague of 1518.

So in 1518 a lot of people, usually guessed to be around 50-400 people, just started dancing and kept going for a couple months. A lot of people say most of them died but other sources say that's bullcrap and there were no casualties reported at the time, and it was so long ago I imagine there was a lot of telephone game about the situation either way. But regardless, the 1500's were wild.

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April 30th

Today Pokémon Emerald was first released in the United States.  Now I'll admit I probably care about Pokémon more than the next guy. Not the most spicy confession but if you haven't figured out I'm a dweeb yet, I can't help you. Anyway yeah Pokémon.

But this is a mostly sentimental entry because Emerald was my first video game. I had gotten hooked on the anime, and there was a Gen 2 Pokédex book in my elementary school library I had already memorized by the time November hit. So My folks decided a black Gameboy SP with the new Pokémon game would be a good gift. I wish I still had that Gameboy.

[repeatingaugury]

Slime Rancher 2

Hey look me actually talking on this blog?!?!?!? Anywho so Slime Rancher 2 amazing cute game, loved Slime Rancher 1! In fact I still play Slime Rancher often when I choose to play a single player or offline game, like I rarely pick anything else nowadays for that and to be honest I am super liking Slime Rancher 2 so far as well! Minus two things 1 how confined it feels, like Slime Rancher one had its own tunnels/small terrain areas but for some reason in Slime Rancher 2 it feels so much more constricted which makes everything feel cramped and thrown together not to mention it makes it a hell of a lot easier to get lost, lowkey feels like I'm wading through a maze which is sad cause the general look/idea of these biomes are amazing!! Everything looks so cool but it's just the way things are laid out that makes it not that enjoyable. 2 I am not a fan of the teleporting to the other islands, with what I talked with previously this makes the world feel even more confined and not all there together, I'm not 100% against teleporting to the other islands if they fix that first issue I have but overall I would prefer them to go away just since they are rather clunky feeling and with getting lost easily on these islands it makes going back to find the teleporters really obnoxious. I acknowledge the game isn't finished so things are likely to change and regardless if these are changed or not I'll still play after all it's still a cute game with plenty of other things to make it fun. Will I probably get a bit frustrated if these things still stay? Probably, it does make it less relaxing/fun compared to the first game but that doesn't mean it still won't have enjoyable moments. So I'm still looking forward to the game and I still recommend the game, these are just some issues I have and wanted to voice!

[terranoctis]

a song of the stars

I recently re-started Final Fantasy XV again (spoiler warning), in the hopes of being able to finish it this time around. It’s a game I did find somewhat fun back then, even if it was not the most exciting execution or story around. What stopped me from finishing it so many years ago though, ultimately, was not the gameplay or anything like that. It hinged on the fact that I knew what Lunafreya’s fate was. I don’t know if I ever really mentioned that to anyone.

There’s always been a personal sadness to me to know that a significant death of a loved one is coming up. I finally got to that part in the story tonight and... even though the game did such a surface-level job of building up Luna & by relation, Luna’s & Noctis’ relationship, I still understood on my end how deep that connection was for the pair of them. I’m so utterly affectionate of those in my childhood and youth that it hits me harder. 

When I originally first had the game, I was still sensitive about avoiding stories that had such tragedy in them because of my own memories. Maybe I still am. I think of the stories I still have yet to finish and in one way or another, they’ve all dealt with the same kind of roundabout tragic themes.

Now that the years have passed, I somewhat appreciate more tragic stories like this nowadays. Still, it doesn’t make me stop questioning at times what the purpose of such tragedies are when it plays out this way. There’s enough that happens in this world without rhyme or reason, like losing the one you love. It isn’t some preordained fate, but it does quite feel like that sometimes. I didn’t love that this story wrote that as her--and Noctis’--preordained fates. I didn’t think this game wrote her as a character all that well. Her existence in the game itself was a plot device in many ways I loathe as a writer, though I know her character might have suffered mainly because of game development problems and that the audience would have benefitted from knowing her story from other pieces of media. That’s a whole other topic though. 

What I mean to say is, that even though I felt she was not well-written in this game, I still felt for her and for Noctis in this particular moment. I still cried, even when I knew it was coming and that it was set in stone. Scenes like this always get me.

I know very well the feeling Noctis had when he said, “All I wanted was to save you.”