#there's still a lot that isn't named or hasn't been discovered yet

[taimoda]

The first successful geographical scan of planet earth as it was on February 4th, 2337!

[return-of-a-space-cowboy]

Platonic Yandere DIO and daughter reader (who was abandoned at his house as a baby)

Hi thank you for the request, this is my first platonic request so I hope it's alright.

Familial Yandere Dio

At first Dio simply wanted to leave the child where they were but something compelled him to take the child. Maybe a small part of him thinks back on his childhood and takes pity. However he has no need for the weak so he uses a fragment of the stand arrow on the baby to prove their worthiness. The child doesn't die so he decides to keep them. They'd serve him well as a stand user in due time.

He has his servants raise her, luckily she had her name embroidered on the blanket she was wrapped in, (Y/n). However she still finds a way to get his attention. At first he simply passes her back off to the servants, agitated that this child will disrupt him. However over time he softened to her, she became less of a tool to him.

Soon he would allow (Y/n) into his bedroom and read to her whatever he was absorbed in at the time. He begrudgingly accepts the child calling him "dada". As soon as she develops proper talking skills he insists on being called father instead.

Around the age of 4 to 5 (Y/n) already quite independent. Already learning stuff more advanced then what her age range would. A model child by all accounts, however despite showing an ability to see stands hers hasn't quite manifested yet. She has been put through strenuous training yet still no results. She's also spoilt, she eats extravagantly, dresses in the nicest clothes a child could wear and is given almost anything she asks for.

As she grew up, she became aware of her lack of a stand. Trying to make up for her failure but Dio assures her it will come in due time and that she does not need to make up for such a thing.

But she also becomes aware of life outside the mansion. Asking at first to accompany servants during errands which he allows but when she asks to play with other children he tells her that she shouldn't bother with such a thing, those children are beneath her. Those children would bow before them when the time came.

Eventually her stand manifests. The moment it's know, a victim is choosen for her to test her stand on. When the victim isn't harmed Dio is let down, but his initial plans of using her as another servant are far gone.

That's when she goes to the piano, something she was still a novice in but now could play it like a professional.

She is able to figure out she has the power to absorb information and skills from others. Not a powerful stand but a useful one nevertheless. A stand dubbed Gates of Babylon, a physical manifestation of her desire of knowledge.

So it becomes a regular occurrence that Dio will let her use her stand on his victims before he drinks them dry. An odd form of father daughter bonding (of course away from (Y/n)).

Still (Y/n) never quite lost interest in the outside world. One day she manages to sneak out by herself. Of course when he discovers this he's mortified, but hides it the best he can from his servants as he tells them to find her.

Of course she's found and brought back. If she has injury, even just a scrape he'll use it as justification. She's only mortal compared to him. All manner of things could happen to her. The moment that it is just the two of them he scolds her. Even goes on about how vulnerable she is and what compelled her to leave with everything she has.

Everything is a lot more tightly run. Constantly monitored, constantly given more and more things to entertain her. He's also taking more time to spend with her directly.

Telling them always that he's the only one that she should trust 100%, that people will try to harm or take advantage of her. God forbid he brings up his childhood as an example, that he actually acknowledge his prior humanity to another soul.

[kewrnage]

revival of hearts.

synopsis. ever since jason formed the outlaws, he thought his love for you slowly slipped away, especially in artemis' presence, but then he realized something that's because of you.

꒰ pairing ꒱ — jason todd x fem! reader.

꒰ genre ꒱ — angst with a happy ending.

Should you truly act as if everything is fine? You genuinely don't know. 

Those many months he spent apart from you felt like ages, since it had almost been a year for him without your touch. It lingers, the way his thumb would brush against the back of your hand so delicately. You missed it, dearly.

You couldn't utter his name without disbelief. Only his face, with some long-lasting war scars. Jason, it merely comes an expression of incredulity, just like the day he told you you were trapped in another's loving hand. 

Until now, your heart had been unable to bear the weight of the anguish struck in your chest, caught in the liberation of a broken heart, that he had found another, just right when he had said it right to your face on that meet up. He did fine without you. Artemis must've been a great company to him.

Is he actually to blame? He is, after all, a vigilante, which means he gets a lot of chances to meet fresh faces. You'd always assumed that the two of you shouldn't be in proximity, that a vigilante and a regular citizen couldn't prevail, and the uncomfortable truth became a reality. 

It had been a year since you haven't seen him, though such a thought would linger in the most random moments. Since you failed to let him escape your mind— his image still haunts you, his name still spoken amongst the stories from the underworld and in the dark alleyways.

Because you blocked his number, the plethora of missed calls and text messages couldn't reach you, blinded by your pride and anguish, you didn't know. and he merely abandoned what the two of you shared.

Though, toward the end of Jason's journey with the Outlaws, an unconfirmed connection he had with Artemis, eventually came to a finality too. Their hearts were linked, but for a brief time, they thought everything about them was platonic.

Artemis bid goodbye to Jason with an epiphany realization of their tie on the eve of their departure, imploring him to return to you no matter what, telling him that perhaps his true home was in your psyche. They parted ways after that. It is unknown when fate will bring them back together.

But, for the time being, Jason allowed himself to bask in the afterglow with his erstwhile comrades before attempting to discover and stand in your path once more.

He spent a week separating himself from you and gathered ideas for ways to get you in touch with him again.

As the sun shone brightly, you stood out among the golden daytime crowd, with strands of light falling on your hair and eyes. A few feet away, he had seen you with both of his eyes and was suddenly caught by the actualization that he too missed you.

He was drawing nearer to you gradually as you followed closely behind the crowd. His feet were betraying him; he isn't quite ready yet, but this will be the turning point.

A hand abruptly made contact with your shoulder, causing you to be frozen in your steps. Your curiosity was piqued by the lovely parole of your name, prompting you to turn around as your eyes met those softened gazes of piercing pupils cast in your way, which was a bit close to you.

You stayed motionless for a nanosecond until you recognized the person in front of you—the one who was there in your voyage of amorous reverie, which you thought had ended. It caught you off guard since your heart was bursting out of your throat and dropping out of your chest at the same time.

In front of you, he stood tall yet his heart was weak. "I'm sorry for all those months I couldn't get to you," he continued, regretting in tone and eyes that he never returned. He can imagine the content look on your face when there hasn't been conflict between the two of you in those earlier times.

Despite the fact that it failed to convince you to forgive, doubts still remained as evident in your trembling voice when you questioned, "and I waited for nothing. Were you happy with her?" Your uneasy sigh accompanied the inquiry.   Witnessing you in such a state, where your heart visibly sank due to the distressing memory of his departure, caused him distress as well.  

He hesitated upon being asked that question sincerely. Despite the lingering emotions within him, Jason felt compelled to respond truthfully, confessing that he still holds deep affection for you. "Yeah," he murmured softly. Anxious, you await his subsequent answers, desperately attempting to prevent tears from blurring your vision.  

"But I realized," he mused wistfully, tugging at his lips with a hint of bitterness, as he delved into memories of his encounters with Artemis. Despite the passing of several months, thoughts of you lingered in his mind, yet articulating them seemed unattainable at present; the elusive words he sought eluded him still. 

"She was just a companion, a friend, a sister..." He let out a long breath, acknowledging his defeat with a firm expression. With deeper exhalation, he confessed, "Even if I was with her, I still think about you." His words continued to reveal the truth, and the heavy feeling on his chest disspated, providing a slight sense of comfort, albeit he remained conscious of your startled response. He knows, it was a lot for you to take in.

You stayed hesitant, both of you fortifying for yourself against your apparent sudden outbursts. "I know I made a mistake but will you give me a chance to make it up to you?" This question, you've yearned to listen to, although your gaze betrayed you as tears of warmth streamed down your cheeks, you quietly sniffed. You were still angry with him, but you couldn't reject the fact that your affection for Jason still existed.  

He feels pain witnessing your current state, especially when he is the cause of your tears. Unsure of how to help, he scooped you into his arms tenderly while you continue to weep, releasing all your whirl of emotions with each teardrop. He remains steadfast, ensuring that you won't slip from his warm and safe grasp.  

Jason displayed patience as he awaited your calmness, gently stroking your back in an attempt to bring you comfort.   His heartache for you slightly diminished when the tears in your eyes dried off.  

"Are you okay?" Was all he could manage was to witness your attempt at regaining composure, yet you remained entangled in a state of fragility, you hastily nodded. He sighed in a slight relief. 

"I promise, I'll make it up to you no matter what." He added, as he hadn't allowed his arms branch out, but was still securely curled about you, as you buried your face in his chest, allowing yourself to be alleviated by his tender touch. This causes his lips to curve into a contented smile, and because you seek solace in his touch, he is more than happy to oblige.

[sophieinwonderland]

Alright... let's talk seriously about what widespread plural acceptance and visibility means for anti-endos

If anyone has been following recent drama, I responded to a hate anon with an... overly bleak description of what plural acceptance would look like for anti-endos. That description included, among other things, a prediction that they would lose everyone they love.

The thing is, I don't believe that. (Well, maybe for that specific anon, because the type of person who casually throws around threats to bash people's heads in isn't the type of person to maintain a lot of healthy social relationships and it would be in the best interest of everyone associated with them to go their separate ways.)

But people with harmful beliefs do still find places to keep those beliefs alive.

What I do think will happen though is that what's been a mostly online issue up until now won't be mostly online for long, and anti-endos will need to learn to cope with that.

So here's the more nuanced version of that prediction:

I believe a plural wave is coming

I don't know when. Maybe it will sneak up on us and the world will be more plural before we realize it.

Right now, it's happening slowly. But on the academic front, we're at least getting a lot more research into non-disordered systems over the past decade where none existed before. A new paper even includes a system using their system name as author(s)

We have tools like Simply Plural and Pluralkit. Apparently even mods like Switchy for Minecraft which came as a total surprise to me to learn of.

And younger systems are more willing to want to be open as systems in their daily life which will have a cascading effect and give other young systems the courage to be as well.

As systems become more visible, not only will more be willing to be out, but more will discover their plurality and more people will want to be systems. And luckily, the tulpamancy community has a wealth of resources that can accommodate them and help them create their own headmates.

Amidst all of this, I believe the expanding metaverse and VR dissociation may contribute to plurality in a way nobody really expected.

What may really kick things off would be huge and influential celebrities coming out and positioning themselves as plural activists. It hasn't happened yet, but feels like a matter of time.

How Anti-Endos React to This Changing World Will Determine How They'll be Treated

It won't be as simple as "everyone you love will abandon you for being anti-endo." But endogenic systems will become more common and you'll have to interact with them in your daily life.

If in 20 years, your niece comes out as a system and they want their family to refer to them by the names of whoever is fronting... how you treat them may determine how people in your family treat you. If you disrespect them or fakeclaim their system, even in private amongst other relatives, you may find yourself in a position where other members of the family don't want to associate with you anymore.

The same may be true of people coming out in friend groups, churches, workplaces, etc.

You may find yourself in a position where you're expected to regularly interact with an endogenic system, and to do so respectfully towards their headmates in your daily life. And that's going to be a tough pill to swallow.

It's going to be hard for anti-endos to adapt, and if they treat endogenic system offline like they treat us online, a lot of relationships are going to be destroyed by their own bigotry, and a lot of their friends and loved ones may abandon them due to their behavior.

And doing so... is the right thing to do. If someone has to choose between their endogenic children and an anti-endo sibling who refuses to adapt accept them, it should be an easy choice.

But it's going to hurt.

People will get hurt because no change, even positive change, can be entirely painless for everyone. And for bigots who build their identity around hating a group of people, those people they hated being out and proud in public will be painful for them.

In order to make the world safer for people like the niece in this hypothetical and all the endogenic and mixed origin systems of the future, it's going to need to become more hostile towards people spreading hate against us.

For the Anti-Endos Looking For a Reason to Hate Me...

Here it is.

Every action I take is made with the goal of creating a world where you may be exposed to endogenic systems frequently in your day-to-day-life and that shift is going to hurt you if you're unwilling to adapt to it.

Hurting people is not the primary objective.

But neither am I ignorant of what the consequences of fighting for plural acceptance will be for those on the other side. A world that's truly safe for endogenic and mixed origin systems to exist in public is going to be hostile and unaccepting towards anti-endos.

[baileys-3]

Secret Dating Era - New Chapter (#37) now online

Puuhhh ... what shall I say ... 50.000 klicks and over 1100 Kudos ... that is so surreal ... thanks for all of you.

We still have a long way to go :) I just finished chapter 43. Do you know how much words? I tell you: 225000 ... 500 pages ... I just don't believe it that I wrote 500 pages ... oh god.

Then thanks for every comment. I love love love comments :)

And the greatest and biggest Thanks to beta-reading queen @himynameiscookies

So then I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Sneak Peak:

Bailey arrives at work earlier than usual, mostly because John got called in for an emergency in the middle of the night. Which means, that she was alone this morning. And when she's alone, everything just goes a little faster. Despite her early start, it's late morning since she has a later shift today. She hasn't heard from John yet and doesn't know whether that's a good or a bad sign.

Her phone rings right before entering the fire station, and she sees John's name on the screen. Finally! She answers, but she can't manage to say a word as John launches into a tale that seems like it's straight out of a fantasy novel or something. Well, he's definitely taking the lead in the realm of unbelievable stories now. This round clearly goes to the LAPD.

She makes a deal with him that she'll try to come by on her lunch break when he's still at Shawn Memorial and bring food for the whole gang. John mentions that they might need to wait for a bit, considering there are numerous injured individuals, and they are relatively unscathed, except for Tim. He has been hit the hardest.

As expected, she spends her lunch break with John at the hospital. She finds everyone in the waiting area. Well, not quite everyone, she only meets John, Celina and Aaron. The rest is either receiving treatment or being examined. She gives John a quick hug and then they all dive in on the food she brought.

"Maybe you could give the food to the others before it gets cold. They're likely in one of the examination rooms, passing the time until a nurse is available to attend to them. You know how it goes. First, there's waiting... then more waiting... and finally, more waiting." John's assessment seems accurate.

"Yeah, I'll go and find them. It can't be that difficult." With that, she's already on her way with the remaining three bags in her hand. She likes John's colleagues. She likes them a lot. Somehow, they are all like a little family. John has told her all about everything that happened over the years, the drama, the trauma, everything. And that seems to have brought them all extremely close together. She loves spending her free time with Angela, Nyla and Lucy. John's rookie Celina has even slept over several nights and she has become close friends with her. They are not just work colleagues; they are family.

Bailey asks a nurse in which rooms the injured LAPD officers are being treated and whether she can bring them something to eat. The nurse says yes and points to three rooms with sliding doors at the far end of the corridor.

She approaches the first room, finding the door ajar. Peeking inside, she discovers it empty. Alright, on to the next room. As she nears it, she catches hushed voices engaged in conversation—no, not talking, more like whispering. She stops by the wall just outside the open sliding door. Well, that is an exaggeration; it's barely ajar. She isn't sure why she stopped; perhaps it's the quiet nature of their conversation, or maybe it's because she recognizes the voices, or possibly she just doesn't want to interrupt them.

The voices unmistakably belong to Lucy and Tim, although she can't hear exactly what they are saying. Opting not to interrupt, she chooses to wait until they finish their conversation. In general, it is considered impolite to interrupt a conversation between two individuals. So, she is leaning against the wall for a moment, she patiently listens. It doesn't take long before the voices fade.

Assuming that they are finished, she takes a step forward and reaches for the handle with the intention of entering the room. However, just before she does, she looks up again and stops in her tracks. She stands there, frozen in place peeking through the small slit that's not wide enough for her to enter and she refrains from sliding the door further. She can't believe her eyes. She closes and reopens them, blinking several times. She realizes that she is not imagining it; it's really happening. HOLY SHIT!

[whokows-anymore]

Here's my contribution to the fnaf anniversary:

(Ik im not really in the fandom but I felt like I kinda had to do smth, you know?)

Thank you to @alexthesillybilly for the concept, and @liquid-geodes for the idea of blind Springtrap!!

First two chapters are under the cut

It was another day.... was it? Lord knows he's lost all sense of time at this point. He's... awake and that's about all he knows. He can't stand yet. Perhaps in an hour or so he'll try.

He can't see- hasn't been able to for some time. It doesn't matter though. The room is still dark. There is no noise save for his own raspy breath and the faint drip-dropping of water from the moldy ceilings.

Just another day.

He- for lack of better word- thinks to himself. What else can he do? He simply ruminates. About his regrets and mistakes, about his friends and family. It is lonely, but what else can he do?

After all, it's just another day.

He hears a noise. A new noise. A different noise. It is a prominent, thumping sound. It sounds an awful lot like footsteps.

Fear is the first sensation that blooms in his chest and he thinks of how irrational that is. He. William Afton. Sitting here. His body torn apart and rotting. Sitting in a pile of his own dried blood and other horrible things that used to be inside of him. Scared. Of footsteps.

He'd laugh if he had the willpower.

He's about to stop caring- about to name this whole scenario a freak accident until he hears the door to the room opening.

Opening.

The door to his prison has been opened and all he wants to do is to shut it. It's too hot, the light from the door. It's too much. He is pretty sure there is a man standing there. He sounds excited. Why?

William quickly discovers why.

The man is walking over to him. Walking. Walking. Step after step.

Get away, William wants to scream. Get away get away get away. I don't know you, why are you here? I don't want you here! what are you going to do to me? Can't you see I'm suffering- YOU'RE TOO CLOSE GET AWAY!

The man says something but William can't hear over the roaring crescendo of his own panic and the overwhelming urge to sob and scream and to fend off The Indtruder.

He can feel The Intruder right in front of him now. Too close. William thinks.

"What the hell happened to you?" The man- Intruder asks, tilting his head to the right. He light nudges William's side with his foot. "Oh man you're gunna look fantastic with the others." He says excitedly.

William wants to tell this man that he is a human being. He wants to tell him that he's here and he's awake and he's trapped but he can't. He wants to say so many things but he's unable to. Between his blinding terror and his torn vocal cords all verbal communication is practically obsolete.

So he sits there. His head pounding. His heart racing. The man reaches out and brushes a light hand against the outer layer of the costume.

William wants to scream.

The man reaches out and brushes a light hand against one of William's ribs.

William screams.

The man jumps back faster than a rabbit and stares at him in terror. "What the fuck?!" He screams at the robot. The man is trembling, terrified of what this monster is going to do to him. Of what this monster could do to him.

"Fucking voice box..." The Intruder mutters to himself.

Of course he thinks it's a voice box. Of course he does. William internally shuts his eyes, for he has no eyes. (They were ripped out of their sockets years ago.) There is no hope of getting out of here. Not with this man at least. He feels the man pet him on the head and hears him walk away.

And then there is quiet. Lovely, peaceful, familiar quiet.

The quiet, sadly, doesn't last long.

The next week there isn't just one man. There are four.

William hears them enter his room. Hears them talk about him. Hears them walk towards him. He feels the all too familiar jolt of panic in his chest again. And then he is being picked up.

He wants to kill them. Kill them all. Watch the life drown out of their eyes as he fashions a scarf around their nearly severed necks out of their own disembowled intestines. He wants to see them shriek in pain and agony because they are taking him away from his space.

In the back of his frantic mind he knows he should be grateful that he is at least getting out. But he isn't. He's scared.

Ch.2

He wakes up in a different room. This one is colder. He is also- for some unknown reason- standing upright. There is a sort of... beam or support bar that is keeping him standing. William can sense other objects beside him, though he can't tell what they are. He hears someone laugh. It is a child.

"Yeah, they said he got stuck in there, but obviously this isn't the actual guy."

The kids friend laughs. "That's fucking hilarious!" She says. "He actually got stuck? Did he die?"

"Nobody knows," says the first kid, "but probably."

William hears them walk away, and if he had eyes, he would be seeing bright, horrible, crimson red. His blood is rushing and all he can think is that his demise, his torture, is a joke. He wants to kill those kids. Maim them beyond repair- beyond recognition. He wants to see maggots fester in their disembowled caverns of a stomach. He wants to-

He hears other people walk by and at first he thinks he is on display, and then he knows he's on display. Why is he on display? His mind races as the panic replaces anger. He is being looked at, yet he can't see. He is being watched, yet can't gaze back in return. People are looking at him and he doesn't even know where he is.

"-Yeah, the attraction should be open in about a week." Says a man, cutting into William's frantic thoughts. The man is too close.

"-'Kay. Just keep your kids away from the animatronics 'till it is, alright? I wouldn't want them breaking something." A second man says. He has a vaguely southern accent and sounds mildly annoyed.

"Sure Bill, sure." The first man says.

"Good." Bill says, "I'll see you tomorrow, then."

"Alright." The other man says.

William hears both men leave and his fury is reignited at the thought of sharing a name with his jailers- with the people keeping him trapped in this horrific place. (Then again, it wasn't like he was exactly free sitting in a pile of dried blood in a dark abandoned pizzaria.)

God he hates his existence.

It is a few more hours before he hears something again. At this point he assumes it's around 11:00 or 12:00 o'clock.

He hears someone in a room a few halls down, it sounds like a man, and he is talking to himself. William can't make out what he's saying, but the voice sounds oddly familiar.

He hears someone familiar?

No.

That's impossible....

William moves his arm.

It hurts.

It hurts more than he has words to describe.

He moves his leg.

It hurts.

He unlatches himself from the support beam holding him up.

It hurts.

He takes a step forward before he can think about where he might be stepping. He falls off a short stage and crashes onto the ground.

A few stray spinglocks go off.

He hears himself give a pitiful cry. He can't help it. Everything hurts. Everything always hurts but this isn't stale, old pain, it's blinding. It is white hot, searing agony.

Yet he has a goal, and god be damned, he is a determined man.

He stands up, and that hurts too, but he grits his teeth and straightens his back.

He is standing now, and the fear of the unknown has returned. His breath quickens, and he hears it in rasps. It is a horrible sound, really, not unlike a balloon losing its air. This comparison does not help calm him down in the slightest.

He turns his head and it does nothing but hurt.

He can't see, touch, or taste, and his sense of smell is choked with his own blood.

Hearing is the most reliable.

So he walks slowly in the direction of the man's voice, his heart pounding because he doesn't know where the fuck he is.

He runs into something.

And then another thing.

And then another.

He doesn't know if he can cry anymore, but good lord if he can he ought to.

Inwardly; he is terrified. He doesn't know where he is, where he is going, or where he was originally. He is completely disoriented and his only alignment is the strangers voice that sounds vaguely familiar.

Outwardly; this is humiliating. He was a genius- still is a genius- and yet he is forced to stumble about, blindly running into things and cursing his own existence.

He is getting closer to the man, he can hear the mumbling getting louder. There is muttering... but there is also... heavy breathing? Like the man got jumpscared? And... sirens?

William walks faster now, yet his heart continues to pound in what is left of chest. He walks faster, but he wishes he didn't.

Eventually, his hand grazes against glass and he jumps. He can hear the man much better, and the man sounds terrified.

The man sounds very familiar now.

The man sounds like him.

The man sounds like Micheal.

And all of a sudden William is enveloped in a thick veil of terror as he processes the fact that his son is here. Why is his son here? He has to get closer.

He has to.

He keeps his hand against the glass and he nearly runs. He stumbles as the wall gives out to a doorway. He hears a gasp of terror and... it is undoubtably Micheal.

He walks toward the sound. He opens his mouth to say something, anything, but all that comes out is a horrible sound. It is more of a shriek really.

He hears another shriek. It is not his.

Something hard and metal connects with his head and the last thing he hears is:

"What the fuck is that thing?"

I hope y'all enjoyed! Please let me know if you want more!

[gloriouspiratenacho]

An Update

On Character AI:

Nobunaga is currently in progress. So far the bare bones model is doing pretty well! I still need to sit down an flesh it out more. See if I can capture some of his mannerisms.

Kicho is also seemingly doing pretty well? I'm going to leave him as a Work in Progress until I get further in his route, so some minor changes may happen. But he is currently available, regardless.

I've also been testing on other sites.

Character AI is great: it's free, and the characters really do feel very humanlike sometimes. But AI technology is new, and I feel it's worthwhile to check out the competition periodically, and make sure there isn't something better.

Reviews for new sites below:

Poe.com

Pros:

The bot builder can pick which LLM (ai model) is running the bot, as well as adjust the temperature. (Temperature controls how faithful and boring the responses will be vs how creative and possibly nonsensical.

Depending on the model, there may not be a filter.

Cons

Not free. You do get a fair amount of free daily messages though. But depending on the Ai model, you may run through them fast. I've picked a lower token model to get more messages from my bots, which also happens to be filterless.

Not meant for roleplay. Less rp bots, not as easy to build a rp bot.

Bots have to have unique names. So the naming on this site can get really nutty.

I've copied over Mitsuhide and Motonari from character Ai to test. Motonari has been absolutely fabulous. The behavior is there. He takes initiative to come up with new things. The replies are a bit long sometimes. Mitsuhide hasn't fared as well. The personality is just not where I want it. Character AI definitely has a better conversational model. I'll go ahead and make Motonari public if anyone wants to explore. I'll keep working on Mitsuhide.

Figgs.ai

Pros:

Completely and utterly free.

No filter.

Feels pretty close to character Ai in the way it works and replies.

Made for characters and roleplay.

Bots are more faithful to their programming.

Cons:

No filter. (which means it's full of horrifying porn bots)

The site is brand new, like only a couple of months old. They have a lot of things they are still trying to figure out. The site isn't as streamlined as it could be. They are working on it.

Can't delete bots you tried on a whim (yet)

When viewing your previous chats, you can't tell which is which. (no preview)

Not quite as conversational as character Ai. Bots seem like they do better with more direction.

I can just copy things directly from character Ai and drop them in the appropriate fields, it's super easy to build here. They don't have a character building guide yet, but luckily, I don't need to change anything. Unfortunately, my perfectly SFW character Ai bots are getting flagged as NSFW for some reason, so... In order to find my bots, be ready for some porn bots. 😅 As for behavior, I'm also not pleased with how Mitsuhide came out on here either. I'm still working on him. I moved over my OC Yandere Assassin, who is working very well, and two of my banned bots that were some of my favorites on character Ai. They are also working pretty well. The thing I have discovered is that you NEED a scenario for the bot to work well. All 3 that do okay? They have a mission. Mitsuhide does not, because I was leaving it up to the user to create the scenario, or not, and just have a fun chat with him. So I might have to give him a scene to work with. No scene, and the bot just keeps politely asking what you want to talk about, what you want to do, and about the weather. Just like Poe, Figgs isn't as good at conversation, and Mitsuhide's personality just isn't where I want it yet. Still working on it. WHAT FIGGS IS GOOD AT: slow burn romance. I put Motonari on there to test, and it was INCREDIBLY HARD to get him to fall in love with you.... Which is exactly how it should be. I had to work very hard to earn his trust. So if you get mad that all the characters at character ai fall in love after 2 interactions, this might be a better alternative. And lastly, it's a really new website. They are still working on it. There's no character guide, and some (most) of the bots are very, very badly built. If you try one out and it's awful, it probably isn't the website's fault. It's just a badly built bot. The Gale from Baldur's Gate 3 I tried was excellent. My bots are pretty good too (though Mitsuhide needs some work.)

I'm considering trying Yodayo.

Not free, but the bots seem decent, and you get a pretty good amount of free daily conversations, and I think it was actually even pretty affordable if you wanted to pay. I haven't built on there yet. You'll want to pick "Tavern" to chat. Unfiltered, so beware of porn.

If you know of any character Ai alternatives I should try, hit me up!

[danitm]

wait, is that DANI CORDOVA? they kinda look a lot like LIZETH SELENE, don’t they? i heard the TWENTY-ONE year old is known as the RUNAWAY around mckinley. it seems like they auditioned to be in THE TROUBLETONES which is so lame? people at campus have said they’re MELLOW, but don’t be fooled since they’re also AIMLESS. rumor has it, you can find them at GAY/STRAIGHT ALLIANCE when they aren’t belting show tunes. their entire vibe revolves around SMUDGED EYELINER, THE SOFT STRUMMING OF AN OLD GUITAR, & A BODY LITTERED WITH TATTOOS OF UNSPOKEN MEMORIES but no one pays attention to that here in ohio.

auditioning with: good luck, babe! by chappell roan 🎵

stats.

full name: danielle elena cordvova

nicknames: dani

gender: gender fluid

pronouns: she/they

sexuality: lesbian

age: 21

date of birth: january 23rd

zodiac sign: aquarius

clubs & teams: the troubletones, gsa

major: music performance

headcanons.

at the age of seventeen, dani's life was abruptly turned upside down when her parents discovered one of the many secrets she'd been keeping from them, before she had a chance to even consider opening up about it herself. rather than stay behind and deal with the consequences, she packed a bag, left town, and finally opened herself up to the freedom of being her true self.

along that journey of self discovery, danielle became dani - a name that feels just far more her, and along with a new name, began to freely label themselves as both a lesbian and gender fluid, refusing to let the opinions of anyone - including those she once loved - get in her way of happiness.

it's been almost five years since she first left her family, and though she still isn't quite sure she's really found her true home just yet, mckinley has been a pretty solid temporary one. she's managed to make friends, ones who accept her for who she is, and though she hasn't managed to work through everything her parents put into her head... it's a work in progress, and every day that she gets to live life without feeling like she has to hide is a million times better than the closet she'd been trapped in for so long.

wanted connections.

ex (open to f/nb) - could be messy, or could be on good terms! 0/1-2 taken 💔

crush (open to f/nb) - could be either sided or mutual, i'm down for whatever! (could also be open to a male muse if it's one sided on their end and you want their heart to be broken lol) 1/1-2 taken ☺️ jane hayward

best friend (open to anyone) - probably someone chill, though it could definitely be a thing where they sort of balance each other out! 1/1 taken 👯 brittany pierce

band (open anyone) - i would love for dani to be in a little garage band! i'm thinking it'll be a new thing that's just getting started, probably somewhere between 4-6 members total, but there's also room for things like a manager role/artistic director/etc. dani would be on guitar and backing vocals, but all other parts are up for grabs! 1/4-6 taken 🎸 noah puckerman (bassist)

enemy (open to anyone) - enemy might be a little bit of a strong term here, but basically just something where, for whatever reason, these two just don't get along. maybe they just got off on the wrong foot, maybe there was some sort of misunderstanding, whatever! there can definitely be reconciliation later down the line, and maybe even a friendship can blossom out of it. 1/1 taken 🤬 finn hudson

one night stand (open to f/nb) - maybe it was something that went poorly and now they avoid each other in hopes of not having to deal with another awkward interaction, or maybe they both realized the connection simply wasn't there and it never went past that one date, but it's something they can laugh about now! 0/1 taken 🫠

friends with benefits (open to f/nb) - pretty self explanatory. maybe there's something more there, maybe not! 1/1-3 taken 🔥 bree brown

roommates (open to anyone) - note: i'm not sure if the campus allows co-ed dorming so this might just be for f/nb muses. dani dorms on campus. i'm cool with this being something where they signed up to room together, or randomly assigned. now in an off campus apartment with bree! 1/1-2 taken 🛏️ bree brown

[van-yangyin]

BOLD the Facts

The rules are simple! Tag people and name a character you want to know more about! If you want to let the person you tagged decide who to showcase, then don’t name a character and they can pick somebody. Easy! The person who is tagged will then bold the remarks below which apply to their character &, if they want to, include a picture with their reply!

I've been tagged by @stargazer-sims 💗💗 Thank you so much for your tag this is a really fun game 💗

This time I'm going to do it with "Ryuuya Kitta/吉田竜矢".

(This time I made a quick drawing of him instead of using a SS of his sim because my tendonitis is almost gone, it doesn't hurt as before and the medication is over, and I wanted to try to draw a little bit and see how it goes. I also had a lot of fun drawing him. But I've noticed that my hand is still not very good, that's why the drawing is a bit odd. Seriously what has happened to his glasses and eyes? x_x)

[ PERSONAL ]

$ Financial: wealthy / moderate / poor / in poverty ✚ Medical: fit / moderate/ sickly / disabled / disadvantaged / non applicable ✪ Class or Caste: upper / middle / working / unsure / other ✔ Education: qualified / unqualified / studying / other ✖ Criminal Record: yes, for major crimes / yes, for minor crimes / no / has committed crimes, but not caught yet (it's not really a crime but when he finds coins on street and keeps for him, he thinks are petty crimes because doesn't tell authorities he found it, so as he thinks are crimes I put this option) / yes, but charges were dismissed

[ FAMILY ]

◒ Children: had a child or children / has no children / wants children ◑ Relationship with Family: close with sibling(s) / not close with sibling(s) / has no siblings / sibling(s) is deceased ◔ Affiliation: orphaned / adopted / disowned / raised by birth parent(s) / not applicable

[ TRAITS + TENDENCIES ]

♦ extroverted / introverted / in between ♦ disorganized / organized / in between ♦ close minded / open-minded / in between ♦ calm / anxious / in between ♦ disagreeable / agreeable / in between ♦ cautious / reckless / in between ♦ patient / impatient / in between ♦ outspoken (when he does meet the person) / reserved (when he doesn't meet the person) / in between ♦ leader / follower / in between (when he understands something can be a good leader when he doesn't, as is the fashion, he's a follower and leaves elections to Marena) ♦ empathetic / vicious bastard / in between ♦ optimistic / pessimistic / in between ♦ traditional / modern / in between ♦ hard-working / lazy / in between ♦ cultured / uncultured / in between / unknown ♦ loyal / disloyal / unknown ♦ faithful / unfaithful / unknown

[ BELIEFS ]

★ Faith: monotheist / polytheist / atheist / agnostic / spiritual ☆ Belief in Ghosts or Spirits: yes / no / don’t know / don’t care ✮ Belief in an Afterlife: yes / no / don’t know / don’t care ✯ Belief in Reincarnation: yes / no / don’t know / don’t care ❃ Belief in Aliens: yes / no / don’t know / don’t care ✧ Religious: orthodox / liberal / in between / not religious ❀ Philosophical: yes / no

[ SEXUALITY & ROMANTIC INCLINATION ]

❤ Sexuality: heterosexual / homosexual / bisexual / asexual / pansexual (he's still not very clear about it, so he's self-discovering himself because thinks that if Icaro were a girl, gender non-conforming, non-binary or anyone within non-binary umbrella, etc..., he would've fallen in love with him because of the way Icaro is) ❥ Sex: sex repulsed / sex neutral / sex favorable / naive and clueless (Mostly because at this moment his main interest isn't physical but spiritual side.)♥ Romance: romance repulsed / romance neutral / romance favorable / naive and clueless / romance suspicious ❣ Sexually: adventurous / experienced / naive / inexperienced (he hasn't yet felt the need to explore it) / curious ⚧ Potential Sexual Partners: male / female / agender / other / none (is still uncharted territory although he wouldn't mind trying it with Icaro) / all ⚧ Potential Romantic Partners: male / female / agender / other / none / all (he's still not very clear about it, so he's self-discovering himself because thinks that if Icaro were a girl, gender non-conforming, non-binary or anyone within non-binary umbrella, etc..., he would've fallen in love with him because of the way Icaro is)

[ ABILITIES ]

☠ Combat Skills: excellent / good / moderate / poor / none ≡ Literacy Skills: excellent / good / moderate / poor / none ✍ Artistic Skills: excellent / good / moderate / poor / none ✂ Technical Skills: excellent / good / moderate / poor / none

[ HABITS ]

☕ Drinking Alcohol: never / special occasions / sometimes / frequently / Alcoholic ☁ Smoking: tried it / trying to quit / quit / never / rarely / sometimes / frequently / Chain-smoker ✿ Recreational Drugs: never / special occasions / sometimes / frequently / addict ✌ Medicinal Drugs: never / no longer needs medication / some medication needed / frequently / to excess ☻ Unhealthy Food: never / special occasions / sometimes / frequently / binge eater $ Splurge Spending: never / rarely / sometimes / frequently / shopaholic ♣ Gambling: never / rarely / sometimes / frequently / compulsive gambler

-

This time I would like to tag @lea-heartscxiv, @yuracrazy, @saruin, @crazy-lazy-elder-sims, @bnt0, @merofthefae, @cassymblr, @1-800-cuupid, @raccoonium, @honeybeenrw, @stargazer-sims, @rentbunny, @dizzyrobinsims, @simandy, @the-daydream-archives, @pralinesims, @kanonbreakerz and anyone who wants to do it, this is your perfect excuse to consider yourself tagged by me, some of you again. For those who haven't done it yet, start with OC you're most eager to do. For those of you who have already done it and it's not your first time, continue with the next OC you're most eager to do, I'm happy to meet more about all of them. However, if you don't feel like doing it, you can feel free not to do it.

[humunanunga]

Say it came through science. Simple rituals to levitate objects. The first result was the most surprising. You tried to explain it using quantum mechanics and still couldn't place an explanation.

What would you call it, as gravity vanished?

I... think this is supposed to be some kinda gotcha, under the impression that I said not to believe in magic? But I have more than one answer to this, some in direct response to this and some not. So let me just go down the list and maybe I'll figure out how to abbreviate myself along the way.

I'll start by saying that what is science to us in the 21st century would very much be sorcery back in the Bronze Age. And that's before even touching upon alchemy, which played a major role in the development of the scientific method. In this way, the difference between science and real-world "magic" is the framing. Programming could be described as spellbinding. 3d-printing could be described as conjuration. Pharmaceuticals could be described as potions.

So realistically, if it were discovered in the Digital Age that a ritual could induce levitation, and parlor tricks were ruled out, it would most likely be called a new physics discovery until further studies were made. Is it telekinesis, or is something actually canceling out the force of gravity upon this object? Is this object also experiencing the negation of air pressure, and how is it not affecting anything else? (There's a lot of gases in the sky pressing down upon the ground, as even gases are matter and therefore mass, which becomes weight under the effect of gravity, which is how we get less air pressure at higher altitudes.)

If this phenomenon could be reproduced simply by a ritual, every capitalist corporation would want their employees to do it too and before OSHA regulations catch up with the discovery, so they'd call it a job position.

If this phenomenon could be reproduced by equipment, then buddy, it's gonna be called whatever the leading brand named their device, just like "bandaid" or "dumpster."

People didn't always understand why some rocks seemed to curse their bearers either, but then we developed equipment and studies that could perceive radioactivity. So even if this scenario really did happen, all it would mean is that we either haven't figured out which known force is acting upon the object or the device necessary to perceive the acting force hasn't been invented yet. And I mean, hey, we're still at least a few years short of mind-readers or Ghost in the Shell brand telepathy.

Now, here looks like a good place to interject with what @claire-starsword and @no-foxgiven said so well in the notes:

#to believe in the supernatural is to be open minded about the things we don't and possibly can't explain #not to throw away the explanations we do have

#this is why i love Clarke's Third Law (and its reversal) #''Any sufficiently advanced science is indistinguishable from magic'' #Like yeah computers are magic #electricity? if you don't know enough it certainly is #but also the reverse #''Any sufficiently understood magic is indistinguishable from science'' #the mitochondria may be the powerhouse of the cell but also we just magically process magic #diseases transmit through curses (pathogens) #Life is magical and science is magic!

Even if we have no understanding of engineering, frankly, the reason we don't usually think of computers as magic is because they're mundane. Basically, most real-world magic like physics or sentience or morality isn't called magic because we reserve that word for mythologized interpretations.

There was one more point I was gonna tack on at the end, what was it... ah, right.

My post didn't say not to believe in magic. I was saying to be careful. Not to tell anyone to touch grass, but having a sense of wonder is important. Indulging in a little whimsy is fulfilling, but believing something that doesn't hold up against fact-checking just because you want to live out a fantasy where you're the heroic rebellion against demon overlords is how you get an angry mob bringing a noose to the White House.

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

I posted 2,393 times in 2022

2,032 posts created (85%)

361 posts reblogged (15%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@therealvinelle

@theoriginalcarnivorousmuffin

@rankheresy

@franzias-cave

@odd-ysseus

I tagged 2,384 of my posts in 2022

#meta - 1,791 posts

#opinion - 1,730 posts

#twilight - 1,669 posts

#twilight renaissance - 1,614 posts

#headcanon - 1,424 posts

#twilight meta - 1,270 posts

#twilight headcanon - 1,143 posts

#vinelle - 568 posts

#therealvinelle - 563 posts

#bella swan - 496 posts

Longest Tag: 128 characters

#and the twilight people just want want to know what happens if edward explodes in this particular scene with a burning curiosity

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

What if Bella and Aro swapped places, like Aro was magically put in Bella's body in Forks and Bella is in Aro's body in Volterra (and they keep their gifts)

Well, it'd be a strange day for both of them, that's for sure.

I assume this takes place in Twilight since you don't specify here.

The Swappening

Aro wakes up a... teenage girl and a human with no coordination. Naturally, he first thinks Volterra's under siege and he's facing off against a vampire that has him tripping balls. That or he found some gifted vampire that he's forgetting about who he tested on himself and it's--a very very very convincing illusion.

The first thing he does is try to snap out of it. He slaps his newly human face, gives himself a pep talk in the mirror, and eventually he gives up and starts investigating who he's supposed to be now.

Rooting through her room with very little decency, Aro discovers that he's a roughly 5'4" American seventeen-year-old girl by the name of Bella Swan with a drivers liscence from Phoenix, Arizona, who seems to be lower middle class, lives in a temperate climate with a very densely wooded area that looks like it might be the North American Pacific Northwest.

Going downstairs he meets Charlie Swan, who is apparently this Bella's father, and on touching his hand Aro realizes why Charlie isn't freaking out that his daughter isn't his daughter yet: he barely knows the girl, hasn't seen her in eight years, and Bella suddenly decided to come live with him for unknown reasons that are now lost because Aro is not Bella.

Aro suspects something nefarious with the divorced mother, Renee, and her new husband Phil.

He's not sure how he feels about that.

Regardless, he decides that for now he'll go to this school and when Charlie Swan is at work he'll use the telephone to make a long distance call to Volterra to try to sus out if he's a) under an illusion or b) has legitimately swapped bodies with this teenage girl.

(He also muses that if he is stuck like this... They're just going to have to turn this Bella Swan and make her disappear. Aro's not sure he likes being a teenage girl, but he supposes he'll just have to get used to it.)

At least he still has his gift.

Aro goes to school, pretends to be a human teenage girl who definitely had a human teenage past (luckily for him, the citizens of Forks are easy to please), and holy god there are vampires in the cafeteria with...

Golden eyes. And the last name Cullen. And their father is a Dr. Carlisle Cullen who works in the hospital.

FORGET SCHOOL!

Bellaro never makes it to Biology as he claims a sudden stomachache, sprints out of the school (nearly tripping seventeen times) and drives to the hospital.

"CARLISLE!" Aro shouts and... Carlisle sees teenage Bella Swan, bursting into his office with a grin on her face, like it's every Christmas all at once.

"Can I help you?" Carlisle asks, very very very confused.

Aro then remembers he's now Bella Swan.

He speeds through the explanation, "Carlisle, it's me, Aro, either I'm hallucinating or I appear to have become a teenage girl named Bella Swan. Not sure which yet, BUT I HEARD YOU WERE HERE! Also, can I use your phone?"

Bellaro then touches Carlisle's hand and... After Bella then starts gushing about what Carlisle's been up to for the past three hundred years and referencing a lot of shit that happened in Volterra that no one knows about... This is Aro.

In Bella Swan's body.

What the fuck.

Carlisle asks how this even happened.

Aro shrugs, he hasn't the foggiest, weirdest day of his life so far.

THEN WHO IS IN VOLTERRA, ARO?!

"Well, given my current circumstances, probably poor Bella Swan. I imagine she's dreadfully confused right about now."

Carlisle immediately takes Aro home to call Volterra. They're put through and.... after five attempts Caius finally answers. Aro's out and he's VERY VERY BUSY. Aro then buts in, "Is Aro by any chance actually in but acting very strange and claiming to be someone by the name of Bella Swan?"

Caius says nothing.

See the full post

195 notes - Posted March 9, 2022

#4

What if bella, human, could read Edwards mind?

Well, she would have a wild time. I'm assuming that Edward can still read minds and that he can't read her mind, and that Bella can only read Edward's mind, for the sake of my sanity.

Alright, here we go.

Bella enters Forks high school, and the day goes as normal up until the Cullens enter the cafeteria. There, Bella is treated to a voice in her head (oddly melodic and pleasant sounding) rambling on about how he's in purgatory filled with mortal plebians and someone named Jasper is going to eat the entire fucking school.

Bella, needless to say, is very confused and very disturbed.

Her new lunchmates notice. Bella, what's wrong?

"Uh," Bella says as the voice in her head now seems to be dissecting her (and seems to find her overrated, mousey, and obnoxious).

Bella eventually says she has to go to the bathroom (the voice mocking her as she goes), where she huddles in a corner and wheezes into a paper bag. She calls home, telling Charlie she's sick, and spends the evening crying and hating herself for a) being a freak b) possibly going insane.

(Edward, meanwhile, doesn't share Biology with Bella Swan, has a grand old time, and thinks the new girl is highly overrated, an attention whore, and an invalid.)

The next morning Bella gathers her courage, alright, she can do this. No voices in her head today, thank you very much.

She gets to school.

There's a fucking voice in her head.

GODDAMMIT.

Bella nearly turns around right there but she's already the school freakjob who skipped her first day. If she has voices in her head--then she has voices in her head and this is just going to be the rest of her life. She endeavors not to let anyone ever know and go about her life as a normal person.

This turns out to be very hard.

First, it's very distracting having someone ramble sweet nonsense in your brain. Second, voice in the head says some seriously messed up shit.

The voice in her head appears to belong to a telepath who knows everyone else's thoughts (which means Bella gets everyone's thoughts through Edward), he seems to be a vampire? (he certainly wants to eat people and talks about 'control' a lot), and after half a day she's pretty sure voice in the head is Edward Cullen.

She looks at them in the cafeteria. She can't help but notice that even if she has a voice in her head--they don't look human. She could believe they're vampires. Of course, she might be hallucinating their appearance (she does have a voice in her head), she grills Jessica. Jessica admits they're insanely beautiful, weirdly pale, and also incestuous.

Bella--didn't know that last part. Huh. Well.

Bella's not sure she wants to attend class with man eating demons. But that would mean admitting she's a hallucinating freak. She goes to class.

She regrets everything immediately.

First, Edward stares at her like the shark in Jaws, second his thoughts have become terrifying. He's going on some weird inner monologue about his father? (the thoughts seem awfully... incestuous to be about his father) and is actively planning how to best murder the entire class to eat her while bemoaning that this is all stupid Bella's stupid delicious fault. Bella sits in her seat next to him in stark terror.

Bella somehow survives class (just barely as she now is witness to Edward's planning to lure her into the woods alone or break into her house so he can eat her). She wanders in a daze to her car and wonders if maybe, just maybe, she should go to Florida.

Well, it's a good day to die.

Bella tells Charlie that she has decided to camp out in the yard. Forever. Is it winter? Doesn't matter. She's camping out in the yard (this way, if Edward does decide to eat her, he's less likely to eat Charlie immediately after.) Charlie, who doesn't know how to deal with a daughter, throws his hands in the air and Bella now lives in a tent in the yard.

It's very cold.

Bella is shocked to learn that Edward did not kill her in her sleep that night.

She's even more shocked to learn that he's out sick the next day. (She doesn't think he's out sick). She hesitantly wonders if this means she's free.

A week later, she's not, Edward returns and per his thoughts he's decided he must reclaim his pride and face Bella Swan (his nemesis) head on. He also wants to learn what she knows in case he slipped and revealed his vampire nature in front of her (a bit late for that, Edward, Bella thinks to herself.)

Edward starts grilling her in biology. It's weird. Bella decides to give him as little information as possible (she does not need this guy knowing where her mother lives). For some reason, her answers intrigue Edward, Bella just dies inside. He still really really really wants to eat her.

See the full post

208 notes - Posted January 10, 2022

#3

What if, for some reason, let's say Bella had a Quilute ancestor at some point, Bella shifted in New Moon? Would Edward still be with her, despite the wet dog smell, just leave Forks, or eat her? (Bella gets eaten a lot on this blog)

Pfffft, oh, anon, this would have been both hilarious and awful.

Okay, so Twilight remains the same as at that point Bella did not smell. Well, she smelled, but she smelled delicious. So, we're all good.

Edward nobly leaves, Bella becomes seriously depressed, yadda yadda yadda.

Then, Bella gets sick, extremely sick, and Charlie's life gets seriously weird. His daughter has turned into a giant dog, it's like Kafka's the Metamorphosis, but with dogs. Thanks to sudden telepathy, Sam finds out about this and Billy is able to come over and have the world's most awkward conversation with Charlie.

Bella now gets the joys of running around the woods eating vampires (who exist by the way), getting oogled by teenage boys whenever she turns back with no clothes, having to chop off all her hair, and oh she might do this thing called 'imprinting' that's... let's not talk about it.

Charlie is a champ but he's very very very pissed off at whoever's ancestor had sex with someone in the werewolf line.

Bella's devastated. She's had to chop off all her hair (which gets her shit at school) she has 0 agency anymore, Jacob is staring at her naked, and she's a freak (being one of two shapeshifting women). Leah, I imagine actually takes Bella under her wing because of this and they become very close. Female solidarity (Bella is also just so very sad).

Added on top of this, Bella and Edward are over and everyone knows it. Not only did he now leave but now she can never be turned and he will look and smell disgusting to her. Just like Laurent and Victoria now look and smell disgusting.

Bella tries to tell herself she can get over this for love but Leah points out that Bella doesn't actually like Edward. Everything she lists off that she loves is how vampires look to humans, not shapeshifters. On further reflection, Bella realizes she knows next to nothing about Edward much less if she likes these things about him.

This is a horrible, devastating, blow that makes her almost grateful Edward left. SHE'LL ALWAYS HAVE HER MEMORIES.

Well, eventually Alice shows up, as thanks to being a shapeshifter, Bella has completely disappeared. Bella is once again presumed dead and... Oh dear god, Alice did not see this coming. Alice and Bella stare at each other awkwardly (Bella wants to cry because Alice smells and looks like a demon, Alice wants to cry because Bella smells like a dog and this ruins everything.)

It gets worse, Edward has decided to kill himself. This time, thanks to Bella being a werewolf, Alice can't see any way to stop him. If Carlisle has his phone on him this time around, she likely calls him to stall Aro and head to Italy. If he doesn't... Edward successfully kills himself.

Bella is even more distraught as, indirectly, she has caused Edward's death.

If he survives I imagine he comes back in a panic (as everything's terrible now and his plan didn't work out) and... Bella smells awful. Her beautiful, wonderful, torturous scent is gone. Esme thinks this is great, now it won't hurt for them to be near each other anymore and true love can win through. Better, Bella can be immortal and human! Just like Edward wanted! Isn't this great Edward!

Edward tries to pretend it's great because if it's not great then he has to admit that what he loved about Bella was her delicious smell and feminine aesthetic (gone as Bella had to chop off her hair). Unfortunately for him, Bella has admitted their relationship was superficial garbage and keeps insisting they're over. He spends Eclipse trying to win her back and convince himself he loves her new smell with increasing desperation.

However, in the background of all of this is that Aro has probably personally come to Forks to ensure this Bella girl gets turned (as Bella herself was not in Volterra and he probably had to appease Caius with 'I WILL PERSONALLY SEE TO IT') Now, on the one hand, Bella appears to be a new species that cannot be turned so there's nothing for him to do and the secret is intact he supposes, on the other hand it appears this Victoria woman has summoned an army and gone insane. The Volturi deal with the army while Aro is a fly on the wall for the Cullen melodrama that is "Will Edward and Bella Get Together or Not", which of course makes everything worse. Oddly entertaining for Aro, though, even as he finds himself having to give poor Bella Swan relationship advice.

Edward doesn't end up eating Bella (she smells terrible) but their relationship very likely doesn't work out either. Though Edward ever giving up on them is... unlikely. Bella may have to throw him off a cliff somewhere shouting "I LOVE YOU!" while sobbing.

265 notes - Posted January 6, 2022

#2

Why does Edward hate the Volturi so much? I mean pre-New Moon. He’s never met them, Carlisle has personally spent time with them and while he disapproves of their drinking human blood, he hasn’t painted them as warlords (that’s just Caius). He might have heard about Tanya’s mother, but after learning about the immortal child, that execution makes sense. Every point Edward has against them is either wildly exaggerated or false, and I don’t get the hate before NM especially.

A few reasons.

Carlisle Had a Life and Friends Before Edward

Carlisle lived several hundred years before he turned Edward. Yet, Edward, in his tale of Carlisle's life skips over nearly all of them. There's Carlisle finding the diet, he pursues and education, then suddenly we're in America and he's turning Edward.

Except, even Edward can't write off the Volturi.

There is a painting of them in his house, they are so important Edward relates them in the story to Bella. He downplays it as much as he can, Carlisle didn't stay long (twenty years), they were friends but the major ideological difference got in the way, etc. However, Edward can't leave them out.

This bothers him immensely.

He hates that painting, he hates the idea that the coven as it is didn't always exist, that there was a Carlisle he didn't know who had very close friends he lived with. Close friends who were not on the diet.

This profoundly disturbed and bothers Edward.

They're Not on the Diet and Edward Hates All Vampires

To Edward, vampires not on the diet are akin to Voldemort. They are inherently wicked beings who are driven by evil. While some are friends and Edward admits as much it's always with the feeling that they are lesser beings. They have no true ability to understand friendship, to form relationships with one another, and the Cullens and Denali are inherently better because of their diet.

The Volturi may be cultured patrons of the arts but they are not on the diet and have no intention of pursuing it. This in a way makes them worse as they pretend to be cultured, lovers of humanity when really they're just as soulless as all other vampires.

(And we'll skip over the portion where Edward left to eat people for years on his own telling Carlisle he wasn't the boss of him and doing it solely because he was curious what spectacular food he was missing out on.)

Does Edward Hate Them Pre-New Moon?

Not really.

I'd say he mildly respects them.

Oh, their existence bothers him and their law really bothers him when it means he'll have to either turn or murder Bella. However, he respects them.

Of the vampires who are Carlisle's friends he seems to view them as the most cultured, civilized, and dignified.

Again, he's not their biggest fan when it comes to what this means about Bella and when the law gets in his way, but he uses very mild language when explaining their role to Bella and he's relatively neutral when discussing them.

Remember that, when he wishes to kill himself, they are where he plans to go. He wants a noble, virtuous, death at the hands of these rulers.

The hatred comes in when they say no.

Edward hadn't planned on that.

Then, later, Bella is alive and suddenly they are A THREAT. They demand Bella be turned, the worst thing in the world, and suddenly Alice herself may be in danger.

I'd say Edward's hatred cements itself/comes into being in New Moon when suddenly the Volturi become far more than just a distant concept to Edward but instead the obstacle standing in the way of everything he wants.

If there were no Volturi then there would have been no need to turn Bella into a vampire, after all.

324 notes - Posted February 15, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Omfg!! Ffn is closing?? Where did you hear this? I don’t see anyone else talking about this!!

Okay, calm down people.

I didn't hear it from anybody. There's no official word. HOWEVER, I've seen the signs and the signs aren't good.

All Hints of Moderation Have Ceased

There used to be a pretty rigorous team of moderators who ran the site but it's noted (and not just by me) that for a while they haven't seemed as responsive if they've been responsive at all.

Fics that would have been pulled in a heartbeat stay up. Spam bots do seem to have taken over PMs.

Their Authentication Server's Been Wonky

The authentication server has sometimes been entirely non-functional for users. In my case, fanfiction has kept me logged in for an eeriely long time, far longer than it ever used to.

Their Email Server's Been Black Listed

Their email server has been black listed by a prominent email provider (i.e. mine). I'm not talking sent to junk, I'm talking it will not send to the inbox as in it has been straight up black listed. Their solution to this is to tell me, the user, to white list their email rather than improve their reputation.

This is a terrible solution and a sign that things are not good.

Rather Than Pay for More Servers They Use Cloud Flare

It's probably been noticed by everyone that they're employing DDOS protection via cloudflare. Well, that's nice and all, except that it's slow, clunky, and annoying. It's not a good user experience and the more expensive but good option would be to up the number of servers they have or use a more seamless DDOS protection solution.

This is a sign they're not willing to spend the money for the good stuff.

The Proliferation of Ads

Fanfiction is now riddled with ads when not using ad block. It's ads every few paragraphs, completely breaking up a story. It's utterl illegible. To me this reeks of trying to wring out every last cent out of viewership without putting in effort of attracting people.

They know people are leaving so they've stopped trying at all.

They Didn't Renew Their Cert

Now, this I heard from somebody else but this IS THE SIGN. They didn't renew the cert for their website. Now, it expires in several years, but when it does you will no longer be able to traverse safely to the site and it may not even exist.

What Does All This Mean?

Is fanfiction going down today or tomorrow?

No.

But it means that if the email server fails... they might not fix it. If the authentication server fails... they might not fix it. If one of their databases fails and they have no backup... those fics might be gone.

It means that access could be lost, certainly for me as an author, with no warning and I may not get it back.

2,304 notes - Posted August 3, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[neerons]

I'm so annoyed that the Boss is only getting one more season. He is my absolute favorite Voltage LI and I can't help but feel like they set him up to fail from the very beginning. He always seemed like an afterthought as all focus was on the 3S, and he was only added on as a LI after them. And whilst I don't mind a slow burn romance, it did alienate readers (I can still remember all the complaints following his first season regarding his lack of a name and how it didn't seem like a proper relationship between him and MC). Which is a shame as I honestly feel that Boss truly loves the MC, more than the other guys--he's changed far more than any of them, and for the better. Ultimately they tried something different but the execution was sloppy.

Making him an antagonist in other routes wasn't a horrible decision (girls like the bad boy, right?), but the way they went about it didn't help. Kei's route was set up for maximum empathy points, and whilst I'm not fond of the way they tackled an issue such as child abuse, it did endear Kei all the more to many readers and the cold, indifferent, callous attitude of the boss turned them away from him. If it had been set up differently and under a different scenario I don't think readers would have been as turned off by him.

Oh, and let's not forget that disappointing disaster that was his 3rd season. Overpriced with little to show for. I couldn't believe the amount of hearts I was paying for only 3 lines of dialogue. Hardly any raunchy scenes either. Ridiculous as his S2 was so good. It really showed that Voltage is pretty much done with him, as does the lack of any new special stories (especially compared to the others).

Honestly I can rant all day. That's how frustrated I am. Oh well, at least my wallet will be happy.

Yes I'm extremely disappointed too so I completely understand how you feel. I'm annoyed that he isn't treated the same way by Voltage, because them exposing him less makes the fans less interested, and since there's not a lot of interest from the readers, Voltage won't make more content for him. It's a vicious cycle.

I've been reading MK not long after it has been released, and the Boss had always been planned to get his own story as he was part of the Love Interests lineup in the title. He was either always there, or was quickly added just like the others.

I don't think him being added later is what made people less interested in him though. Some other titles have added characters some years after the initial release, and these added characters have been loved by the readers despite their late start. Some good example would be Takaomi Tsugaru from HLITF. He came later than the other LIs, his story is very slow burn, and yet a lot of people love him. Kei's story from MK is also very very slow burn (more than the Boss), yet he's appreciated plenty.

I didn't think about this at all, but you're completely right with your point that Kei being abused as a child made the Boss' depiction as an antagonist (in Kei's Main Story) a poor or dangerous choice. Due to how sensitive this subject is, I wouldn't be surprised if that's why people don't care for him the same way as the 3S'. Sadly, people don't know a lot about the Boss since not many will read his story due to that, which is devastating to me because now we get one last season, and yet he's an amazing character. (For anyone that might read this and who hasn't read Kei' story, no, the Boss doesn't mock Kei's past when he went through child abuse. He is a cruel character in this route but it's not linked to Kei's trauma).

I completely agree that the Boss was done dirty by Voltage. MK is a popular title, they could have easily put him in the spotlight if they had tried to advertise him like the others. So far, he doesn't have his own VIP room and isn't included in the events all the time. I'm sad because his mysterious side makes him all the more charming and it feels amazing to finally discover who he is as a person. It's what attracted and still attracts me to him. His way of loving the MC is beautiful and their banter is very entertaining. His sense of justice is beautiful too.

This is only my opinion, but I didn't dislike him as a sort of antagonist in the other routes. It's true when you say that a lot of people like the bad boys. They're interesting enough to want to know their motives for being bad right? Except the Boss isn't "bad" at all in his own route. He's just perfect 😩

I do think his character was a bit changed in Kei's route though. I just don't recognize him as being this cruel in his own route. He can be cruel if he wants and needs to be, but I felt like this agent side of him was very exaggerated to make MC and the readers take Kei's side. Kei's story is beautiful though, and every route is in its own way.

It's alright that the Boss is a cruel antagonist in Kei's route. I just wish people were able to make the difference between Boss from Kei's route and Boss in his own route, and I also wish Voltage treated the Boss the same way as the others because he has the same potential as them. I completely agree with you, I wouldn't blame you for being disappointed that his route will end soon. Let's share the chaos and devastation 😭

[walks-the-ages]

Quantum Leap Writing Prompt (Horror prompt #14):

The Lethe House

Sam Leaps into a wide, large, empty... echoing house.

It is eerily silent except for the sound of the rain pattering on the glass, and the roll of thunder in the distance.

He looks out the window but the rain obscures the outside world and distorts his reflection, leaving him in the dark.

He doesn't know where or who he is.

He explores the room he is in, a simple bedroom, with a bed, a nightstand, a dresser, and some toys scattered around, but no vanity, no mirror.

No one has come to fetch him or call his name, and Al has not put in an appearance yet, so Sam decides to venture outside of the bedroom. He opens the door, steps through, and finds himself in a long hallway, lined with closed doors, spiral staircase going up and down, and bookended by large windows that show nothing but the pouring, dark rain.

"Hello?" Sam calls.

Hello, hello, hello, hello, hello, the house echoes back.

But no living voice responds.

Sam decides to keep going forward.

He walks into the hallway and pulls the door closed behind him.

It clicks shut behind him.

And he walks.

~

~

~

Every room is decorated, but empty.

Clearly lived in, but now utterly void of life.

There are no names; no pictures, no mirrors, nothing to give Sam any clue as to who lives in the house, or who he is right now.

He walks from room to room, discovering bedrooms, bathrooms, sitting rooms full of televisions that display and sound out only static or emergency broadcast logos in complete silence.

He goes down the stairs, but the next floor is almost identical to the one he left, including having yet another spiral staircase going downwards.

Here he finds a master bedroom, bathrooms, kitchens, dining rooms, sitting rooms, laundry rooms, an attached greenhouse structure made of white supports and clear panes full of plants that are vibrant, almost too alive, growing over the edges of their pots and growing wild, vines snaking their way up the wall from a hanging basket to completely cover an entire wall.

Sam keeps walking, keeps calling out, but there is never anyone for him to find, and there are dozens of doors, but none of them lead to the outside world.

He goes upstairs, and upstairs again, and walks all the empty rooms there, but there is no one to find, and Al is not here.

It's been hours since Sam Leaped in. Al should be here.

But he still hasn't shown up after two more hours pass. Sam ventures back downstairs to the kitchen he had found and opens the fridge and cupboards to look for food-- everything looks okay, lots of canned goods and boxed dinners, and the fridge is full of ready to eat foods and meals that are years away from expiring, all neatly packaged up in individual portions, and numbered, starting with 2190 and ranging through to 2205.

Sam grabs the 2190 packet and follows the instructions to discover it is bacon and eggs with hash browns, somehow, apparently enhanced with protein and vitamins and extra calories, "to sustain you for the whole day" according to the label.

He eats quickly, aware more than ever of the oppressive silence hanging over the whole house.

After he has eaten, Sam slips the packaging and included utensils down the shute marked "trash" and sets about exploring each and every nook and cranny of the kitchen, waiting for Al to come in and explain everything.

But Al never comes.

Sam finds a huge walk in closet shoved full of the same food packets as were in the fridge, all lined up in numerical order, ranging all the way to 18250.

And still Al isn't here.

There is no one here but Sam, and no way out.

The only thing to keep him company is his own voice echoing back at him and the sound of the storm outside the dark windows.

Sam climbs the stairs and walks to one of the large windows that dominates each side of the hall, staring out at the rain, straining his ears to hear anything over the sound of the rain pouring from the sky in a steady, unending, ceaseless roar, straining his eyes to catch any glimpse of the world beyond, or even the world within, trying in vain to make out a reflection of himself, but there is nothing, and no one.

Listen, listen, listen, listen

Listen, listen, listen, listen

Just him, and the rain.

[mermaidsirennikita]

Caro's April 2023 Book Recs

Another month, another book roundup. I will say I focused a bit more on exploring new subgenres this month, so not as many historicals here--I'm *hoping* to knock out some books I've been meaning to knock out for a while when I'm on vacation. My tentative rule is "no ARCs and no KU"--because those have for sure been jumping the line in front of books I've had on my TBR for a while.

But honestly, I believe it's kind of impossible to stay engaged with a genre when you only read one subgenre, so I've been enjoying authors like Adriana Anders and Sara Cate quite a bit, while also discovering new to me authors like Caroline Linden and Cate C. Wells and debuts like Lana Ferguson. Much productiveness here, I'd say.

Her Wanton Wager by Grace Callaway. "Percy" Persephone Fines vows to become a lady in order to fulfill her family's dreams and marry a peer. But her goals become more difficult to achieve when her brother loses a bet to Gavin Hunt, owing him everything. Interceding on her brother's behalf, Percy makes a deal with Gavin--she'll meet with him seven times. If she resists him by the end of those meetings, the debt will be dropped. If she gives her virginity to Gavin, he'll collect on the debt. What Percy doesn't know is that her brother falling prey to Gavin is no coincidence...

Another fun Grace Callaway book--though I will say, I do like the later books I've read by her more than these early novels (which is a good thing, she's clearly grown and evolved a lot). The setup isn't super crazy: it's a revenge plot with an intrepid innocent heroine and a big, bad man. I found Gavin a lot more compelling than Percy, but that's consistent with my likes. The romance was cute, the sex was good, I wasn't blown away but I had fun.

Praise by Sara Cate. Following a bad breakup, 21-year-old Charlie heads over to her ex's dad's place to pick up her half of a deposit. The catch: Beau's dad, Emerson, is much more attractive than she expected. And he thinks she's one of the women sent to "audition" to be his secretary... which would entail being his submissive, as well. Charlie immediately responds to Emerson's praise and soft dominance; and though he offers her a real job--he has a kink club to open, after all--he refuses to give in their mutual attraction. At first.

Here's the thing: the plot of Praise is not dense. Girl with daddy issues becomes the submissive to her ex's hot dad, who is a partial owner of a kink club, and they do stuff in secret while agonizing over what would happen if his son found out. But the character work? Is really good. Sara Cate deftly milks the tension of the story for all its worth, while also delving into the shame surrounding kinks. While also giving you a really good, fun time. I found it to be a really romantic, lovely, kinda dirty love story.

The Boxing Baroness by Minerva Spencer. Marianne Simpson has made a name for himself as a "lady boxer" in her uncle's circus. But she's thrown off guard when she's approach by Duke St. John Powell--"Sin"--who needs her help to find his brother... by way of locating Marianne's ex-lover, the man who deceived and abandoned her. Sin isn't above blackmailing Marianne, which means their journey isn't off to a good start. Yet the more time they spend with each other, the harder it becomes for them to resist their attraction to each other.

This book takes MANY twists and turns. It's long--maybe a bit too long, but I still enjoyed it--and you get everything from circus boxing to a crazy journey across Europe that culminates in one of the wildest "real historical figures? in my romance?" moments I've read. The sexual tension crackles, the duke is a good mixture of douchebag and actually quite sweet, and the heroine is a fun, brash babe. Was there a LOT happening? Yes. But it was a romp, and it snatched the moments it needed to. Always.

Eyes On Me by Sara Cate. Garrett is part-owner of a sex club; but he hasn't had sex in ten years. He prefers to watch--which leads him to look for new ideas on a cam site. The surprise? His stepsister Mia--who he's always thought of as an annoying pest--is on the site. And she's good at her job. While masquerading as a client online, a guilty Garrett can't resist interacting with Mia in person--and what if his attraction is more than skin deep? What if he does actually like this grown-up Mia? And what if he's been exactly who she's wanted for years...

This was... a lot. In terms of emotion and sex. Mia and Garrett aren't just stepsiblings--they've been stepsiblings since she was eight and he was twenty-one, which the book seems to think isn't that big a deal because they didn't grow up together... But in reality, Garrett didn't grow up with Mia. Mia very much grew up with Garrett as a fixture in her life, and she's somewhat obsessed with him. That might skeeve some out, and if so, I get it, but--I... have softer limits as a reader. I loved the taboo of Garrett and Mia's relationship, how guilty he felt as they talked, how dirty the book got. There was a late stage element I wasn't as certain on, but it didn't stop me from loving the book. I'd say that this is hotter than Praise, but the relationship development of Praise is probably a little better--but again, I loved this. And if you're looking for some voyeurism in your romance... this is it. It's hot.

King's Captive by Amber A. Bardan. On her eighteenth birthday, Sarah watches as her entire family--save her little brother--is killed by the mysterious Julius King. Three years later, she's been living on Julius's private island, untouched and perfectly cared for--and one month away from the day on which she agreed to marry Julius. She has no idea what his motives are, or why she's oddly attracted to him. But Sarah isn't giving up without a fight, and she'll do anything to escape Julius's clutches.

As I continue my foray into dark romance... I'm kinda living? This book was fast-paced, crazy, incredibly hot, and somehow super romantic? There is, obviously, a lot more to Julius than Sarah realizes. But well before those realizations, you get that delicious sense of a man with coiled energy, desperate to have this woman yet unable to make his move. The degree to which Julius longs for Sarah while still having this sense of true menace and danger is incredible, and adds to the romance of the story. It's wild, and I personally adored it.

Run Posy Run. Posy Santoro is more loyal gangster's kept woman than mafia princess, and she's happy to be at the beck and call of her boyfriend, mafioso mastermind Dario Volpe--even if they don't emotionally connect. After all, Dario doesn't show emotion to anyone. Not until a video gets passed around his inner circles. A video he was never supposed to see; a video that's been used to make him think Posy did the unthinkable. Posy hasn't just been abandoned by Dario--she's running from him.

I've always been skeptical of this novel, despite the recommendations, because I felt like the premise would be tough for me to get over. Mafioso sees video of girlfriend with her ex and sets out to kill her in a jealous rage. Except... it's not that. For one thing, the fact that Dario gets mad about anything related to Posy is your first clue that he does care about her, as he's basically a sociopath. For another, the video has been doctored to make it look like she's cheating, which, justified or not, would be truly insane considering his power. Also... Dario isn't the one after her. At. First. With all that in mind, this is a fucking ride of a book, and I had a great time. It's about a relationship that was never what either of the people involved thought it was, which is a truly interesting take in romance. It's about falling in love after being committed for a long time--and it's about falling in love when you think you aren't even capable of it. Posy is such a unique heroine, a woman who's been raised to be on someone's arm and must actually work to find herself. And Dario's slow realization that... shit, he loves this woman, is DELICIOUS. Very good.

A Lady of Rooksgrave Manor by Kathryn Moon. After she's caught spying on her employer in the act, maidservsant Esther is offered a position at a particularly unique establishment. At Rooksgrave Manor, she'll serve men--multiple men--of a certain... background. Monstrous men, perhaps. And she'll do so happily.

So this was historical erotic monster romance, and I'm happy with that. It's not straight up erotica; there is a plot beyond the sex, and Moon does a very good job with establishing genuine connections between Esther and her men (and the men themselves, amongst each other--in all ways, at times). But Esther does have... depending on how you look at it, five or six partners. And those are partners for whom she has real feelings, and with whom she has a lot of sex. If you're not down, cool, but I found it very fun. The sex in this book? Fab.

A Long Time Dead by Samara Breger. ARC; read the full review here.

What A Gentleman Wants by Caroline Linden. When rake David Reece is sent away by his stern identical (and ducal) twin, he ends up breaking his leg and being nursed back to health by sensible vicar's widow Hannah. Charmed by Hannah and the idea of a reformed life, David proposes a marriage of convenience, which she accepts for the sake of her daughter... Only for David to get cold feet and forge his brother's signature on the marriage license. Now Hannah is very accidentally married to Marcus, who's quite a bit colder and more judgmental than David. But Marcus will do anything to avoid scandal--including moving Hannah in with him.

My first Caroline Linden read, and it was a bit zany and a lot sweet. It's a classic "uptight man has life flipped by a headstrong woman and her child" book, though the kid is not annoying. Honestly, the premise was enough to have me listening, and Marcus and Hannah have a slow burn, "grown fucking adults" chemistry that takes a while to boil over, but when it does... it's good. I wasn't blown away, but I enjoyed it a good bit, and the setup for David's book (DAVID. OH MY GOD DUDE WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU) was great.

His Study in Scandal by Megan Frampton. ARC; read the full review here.

The Secret Service of Tea and Treason by India Holton. When the Agency of Undercover Note Takers (AUNT) puts their two top agents, Alice Breedlove and Daniel Bixby, together on a crucial mission, it should be a no-brainer. But posing as a married couple is making the cold, removed Agents A and B confront some difficult feelings--which could put not only the assignment, but their lives on the line.

This series has been incredibly fun and romantic--and it's gotten better with each installment. This one may be my favorite--it's between this and the last book. It has all the classic India Holton humor and wit, but Alice and Daniel have both suffered significant trauma, and Alice in particular is deeply scarred. That makes it more difficult for them to admit their feelings, but they just can't resist that sexual tension, and the tension is so! Good! I'm so happy with how this series ended. Give me repressed spies in love forever.

The Dueling Duchess by Minerva Spencer. ARC; read the full review here.

The Nanny by Lana Ferguson. Grad student Cassie needs a job and a place to stay, so she jumps at the chance to get a well-paying live-in nanny gig. The only problem? Aiden, a high profile chef and her new charge's single father, used to a big fan of Cassie's... specifically, when she was a cam girl on OnlyFans. Cassie recognizes Aiden quickly; but he doesn't recognize her. As the tension between them builds, she's torn between honesty and her need to keep her job--and her connections with Aiden and his daughter.

What a good! Look, this book is not super complicated. Both Cassie and Aiden are good people--there are no outright shitheads in this novel. Even the annoying person is just being a flawed, well-meaning human being. The plot is basically two people falling in love with a wrench in the mix by way of boss/employee issues and OF. But the writing is snappy and fun, the leads have great chemistry, the child is actually cute (and doesn't get too much page time), and the sex? Is. Hot. And plentiful! Basically, if you believe in the chemistry, you're going to have fun with this book. I definitely did.

What a Rogue Desires by Caroline Linden. Dissolute rake David Reece is given a chance at responsibility when his twin brother goes on his honeymoon--only for David to lose Marcus's signet ring in a robbery shortly after. That robbery? Was orchestrated by Vivian, a con artist David believed was an innocent widow. Determined to get the ring back, David kidnaps and imprisons Vivian. She's determined to resist his interrogations (among other things). He's determined to prove he's more than the disaster everyone thinks him to be.

It's a bit zany, a bit funny, a lot sexy. Let's call it a lighthearted kidnapping romance. David truly is a flop, while Vivian is smart, scrappy, and resourceful. She pushes him to be better (while also affirming his good qualities), and he offers her affection and gentleness she's really never experienced before. There's a Pretty Woman vibe to the novel, and I enjoyed it greatly. Plus--the sex scenes were REALLY good. Especially the wall one.

Possession by Adriana Anders. Superstar Zion Mason and Hollywood newcomer Twyla Hernandez just entered into a platonic contract marriage for PR--and that PR goodwill implodes when Zion is caught on camera having sex with a woman who looks just like Twyla. Escaping the paparazzi, he goes where he can be himself and explore his desires--Kink Camp. But Twyla--the wife he assumed was innocent and virtuous--isn't going to let Zion go without having her questions answered. And while there, she discovers who her husband really is--and she might like it.

Kink positive and a mixture of marriage of convenience and marriage in trouble. Zion is a classic dom hero, but he's not mean or abusive to Twyla in any way, like so many badly written doms are. He just can't bring himself to be truly vulnerable. Twyla is plus-sized--and Latina!--and presented as confident and sexy, if not without normal insecurities. So fucking refreshing. The found family of the camp is queer (Zion is also queer, by the way) and diverse. A super well done erotic romance.

Give Me More by Sara Cate. Drake and Hunter have been best friends since childhood, and that's continued past them finding success, and past Hunter marrying the woman of his dreams, Isabel--who quickly became Drake's other best friend. The trio are on a roadtrip to check out the competition for Salacious, Hunter's sex-positive club; and in an unexpected turn, Hunter catches Drake and Isabel in a moment that isn't what it looks like. But Hunter likes the idea of what it looks like--and he likes it even more when he convinces Drake and Isabel to have sex while he watches. Even even more when he gets involved. What starts out as fun on the road, however, gets complicated when the three recognize feelings that may have been lurking there for years...

This is a capital B bisexual romance. Nobody goes unloved here, nobody goes less desired. Hunter and Isabel adore each other and have a strong marriage. However, while Drake has been out as bi for years before the book began, Hunter is obviously deeply closeted, even to himself, for realistic (and tough) reasons. What I loved about how Sara Cate did this is that Drake was clearly always a part of this relationship. He was always in love with Hunter (and vice versa), he fell in love with Isabel (and vice versa) as Isabel and Hunter fell in love. The three of them just didn't see what the relationship actually was until it got sexual. There's angst aplenty in this, and Hunter especially deals with a lot of self loathing and sorrow that is difficult to read. But for me, it was worth it, and I really appreciated the blending of heat with emotion here. Not easy to do, but she got it. Maybe the best menage romance I've read so far.

[im-a-ramblr]

Richard Siken line, you've discovered something you don't even have a name for, with Corjin?

Sooo uhhh this ended up a bit less Corjin and more #FreeKelridge. It is still Corjin of course, but I think to a really drive it home I would need more than a mini fic.

It was dark. Darker than Corin had expected. He'd never really thought the shield around Vaila had affected what the sky looked like; it was only to keep unpleasant weather or armies out. But apparently it had done something, because it was never this dark or this starry back home.

It made the glow of the fire stand out like a beacon. But this spot - just on the outskirts of a small town in the Unclaimed Lands - had been recommended by Lars, Keras had agreed that it be safe, and Derek had confirmed as much when they actually got here, so Corin was pretty sure they'd be fine. A soft nudge to his shoulder drew him out of his thoughts and he tore his eyes away from the sky.

"You okay?" Jin asked, voice soft as to not wake the others who were sleeping around them.

"Yeah. Just thinking." The enchanter whispered back. "I've never seen so many stars."

Jin hummed as he nodded, tilting his head up to start at the sky. "There are a lot out here. More than in Kel - East Edira." He corrected himself.

"Why do you do that?" Corin asked. "Say Kelridge sometimes, East Edira other times?"

Jin sighed and dragged his gaze from the syk to the fire. He grabbed a stick and started pouring at the fire. Sparkers flew out and he paused to watch them. As they faded, so did his smile. "Because my home is Kelridge. Everyone is happiest when we're allowed to express that freely. But... Well Edria isn't happy that it hasn't managed to take everything. Isn't happy that at our core, my poeple are still the poeple of Kelridge. That we have assimilated. That we won't. It's dangerous to refer to the nation as Kelridge. Marks you as a rebel, even if you have nothing to do with the rebellion."

"There's a rebellion? Why hasn't there been any news about that?" Corin cocked his head to the side, squinting at Jin. Something was different but he couldn't place it, so he simply continued. "That feels like the kind of thing there should be news about."

Jin gave a quite chuckle, that was underlined with bitterness. "Because, technically there hasn't been one yet. Edira is pretty sure something is being planned and there is. But nothing has actually happened yet. Probably won't for a few more years."

"But you're a part of it."

"I am a decent of the retainers of the Unbroken Queen." Jin replied, sitting up a little straighter.

That unnamable thing that was different about him was more pronounced. Corin wished he was able to place it, but he couldn't. It seemed so obvious, it was in the set of his shoulders, the look in his eyes, the way his hands held the stick, everything. But he couldn't place it.

His heart beat a little faster while he looked at the other boy, who was still priding the fire, still sitting tall, still radiating something. It was like the first time Corin has met Jin, when the Mesmer had just been an intriguing, quiet boy who had knocked on Corin's door, asking if he'd been a spider.

And just like before, Corin wanted to know more.

And luckily, he knew how to.

"Can I help?"

Jin turned to look at him, shock clear on his face, but Corin didn't let him say anything, choosing to plow on. "I understand if my help wouldn't be appreciated. But I know what it's like to have someone try to force you to be someone or something you're not. And I know this is important to you. I want to help."

Jin started at him for a moment, then a smile - wide and dazzling and filled with that unnamable thing that Corin was starting think he could name - spread across Jin's face.

[fangirlsovertoomanythings]

how many OCs do you have and what are their names?

Wouldn't you like to know, weather boy? No, seriously. I do not know. It's easier to count how many story ideas I have and have the desire to write, really, which is around 30 (and counting!). I'll say some of my OCs names, though, the ones that are at the tip of my tongue:

Captain Catherine Ross is a pirate from 1719, when the Golden Age was already in decline, and she was being hunted down for sport. There's a still unnamed 'bounty' hunter after her, I put into quotes because there was a job back then that worked just like a bounty hunter but that wasn't exactly the name of it since the hunters were other pirates who worked for the Crown and the Marines, and during a conflict with him, she ends up falling down the ocean. She manages to survive, albeit with a bunch of rib fractures, but it wouldn't have been long until she died for real; if it wasn't for a siren. This siren takes her to an island where the settlers take care of her, not knowing about her past as a pirate, and she spends her days plotting her revenge. She hears stories about the siren that lives around the area from the townsfolk, who try to scare her with the thought that any of them could he a siren in disguise just waiting for her to be alone to eat her, but she's frankly unphased. She ends up befriending this young lady named Sophia, who the townsfolk say that has a habit out of showing up for a couple of days and disappearing, with lots of stories about how she's very rich and vanishes to go back home when the night dawns, when she sees her singing at a local bar. She starts to get interested in her romantically. Sophia confronts her with her true identity, but says she won't snitch and that she herself has always took an interest in pirates but she could never truly join forces. When the opportunity arrives, both Catherine and Sophia steal a ship and head to get Catherine's revenge. And yes, just to make it even more clearer than implicit hints: Sophia is the damn siren.

Hadassa Coelho is a Math teacher in 19th century Brazil, and she 'invests' in this small, failing bookstore owned by sr. Domingos de Gusmão. Her interests? The right to, every end of the month, go to the bookstore and take some of the books home without giving away even more money. One day, Domingos shows her a book he recently acquired and says she would probably find it interesting since it seemed to be about theology. She accepts, and as she's starting to read the book, she notices that the author isn't talking about the Jewish God, as Domingos initially expected. Hell, he isn't even talking about any pagan god she knows of. She gets curious and decides to investigate, discovering not only that this book was written by a dangerous cult, but also that the entity which this cult adores is cosmic horror-worthy: they call it The Hour-Glass, because it's main job is to destroy worlds when time has come.

Laerte Yoshida is a 29 yeard old japanese brazilian guy who lives in the Bairro da Liberdade, São Paulo. Due to his type of autism, which one of the symptoms include just Not Speaking, he's not fully independent and that frustrates him beyond human comprehension, because that gives an excuse to his mother, Fabiana Yoshida, to keep acting overly motherly, which in turn makes him feel like he's still 7. He earns money online, making freelance document translations from English to Portuguese and from Japanese to Portuguese; he also writes books, but hasn't been able to get a contract yet. Fabiana earns her money selling baked goods, but she's the boss AND the employees so it's not exactly an easy way to live. Laerte's writing expertise are mystery books, and his 'core interest' is Sherlock Holmes: he knows all about the man, and uses him as an inspiration whenever he feels let down. He isn't the best fan of videogames, but for Sherlock Holmes he'd make an exception and play the Frogwares games, that's how obsessed he is. His mother forces him to go to the weekly meetings she has with other """autism moms""", and he only goes because he found a friend there: her name is Joana, 19, and unlike Laerte she talks. A lot. He's trying to help her overcome some adulthood anxieties and even if they'll always be somewhat distant from each other due to the age gap and difference in interests, they still trust each other enough whenever they need someone to listen to them. AND THEN THE ACTUAL PLOT HAPPENS: he becomes a key suspect in a murder case after he's found alone, examining a dead body that was right below him. I kinda inspired him a bit on a friend I had in high school, and he's so important to me

There's a LOOOOT more, but I'll stop here for now