#this makes me look very prolific lol

[bmpmp3]

why does everything i get really into always end up being so god damn niche. by the year 2035 i am going to be blogging exclusively about the interpersonal relationships between the pillbugs and snails hiding underneath the bricks lining the flowerbeds in my parent's garden.

[skitskatdacat63]

I translated seb's car names to Latin right? The next step of mental illness is to assign all the different Holy Roman Emperors' Latin mottos to drivers LMFAO

[discobiscotto]

“Signor Marcovaldo is my father, call me Alberto, Alby…or Maestro 😏”

If we’re talking predictability in design, adult Alberto was NOT easy. I had literally nothing to work from. No (living?) family to compare to, no hints at what kindof quirks he may develop. I had nothing!

All I had was that (assumed) deep-seated desire to be accepted, useful/helpful, and not left behind…..that, and yanno, that Charisma In Excess (as a KID no less, dude calm that shxt down or you’re grounded lol)

Alot of pawing around in the dark and just going with what felt right to me.

I took some cues here and there. Some pretty forward and commonly accepted (“You, the big strong one.” etc), others subtle and unassuming but I ran like the wind with it?

Anyway, here we go. What’s the deal with this walking bowl of spaghetti anyhow?

This will be a two parter. His seamonster form requires a separate post.

Alberto as I said is a bit of a wild card. He doesn’t have as much of an obvious blueprint compared to Luca or Giulia.

His physical appearance for his human form was based solely on environmental influence.

Physically I imagined him to be a bit rough around the edges. Kindof gaunt but not so much that he looks sick or weak. He’s pretty much just one big muscle. Not an ounce of fat on him. Nothing but sinew. Very toned and muscular but certainly not huge. He’s just solid and FIT.

He’s a guy from the docks. He’s a fisherman. He’s salty and peppered in scars. Heavy calloused hands. He picked up smoking at a young age. He spends endless hours in the sun, thus he’s still very freckly as an adult. His impulsive ass got a tooth busted out in a fist-fight. Five o clock shadow and untidy sandy facial hair. I imagined his hair growing more “out and up” than down. Tight coils suggest he’d likely have a ‘fro or pomp, so I combined the two, keeping that old Alberto “top heavy” hairdo lol.

Profoundly Italian, so he’s pretty furry everywhere. Being a hard worker for years, excessive sun exposure, substance use, he looks alittle “older” than he actually is. (Pushing 34 ish).

I made him very tall, 6’4” ish. I admit, I love a good “Tall Man x Small Man” dynamic, so that’s definitely a shameless “luberto-centric” choice lol But I also considered a funny “goldfish” concept where just like a goldfish only gets bigger when his bowl is bigger…perhaps nature was trying to make him “compete” and measure up or even end up bigger than Massimo. 😆

If there’s one thing I learned from “Ciao Alberto” it’s that Alberto has a deep desire to be useful and accepted. He tries through the entire film to impress Massimo and in turn hope Massimo accepts him and sees Alberto can be just as good at his knife-wielding barrel heaving badassery as he is.

Alberto ultimately ending up as a fisherman by trade was an easy choice. Not only do I write what I know (being a Mainer in the coast with a deep affinity with fishermen and shipbuilders) but it is the ultimate way to show his love for Massimo. To help carry on the legacy.

Alberto has mastered some unlikely skills as well. Not as unlikely as you’d expect though considering his desire to impress Massimo.

So consider this:

-Alright, Massimo is great at cooking. Alberto sucks EPICALLY at first but over time, his motivation to measure up to his hero and dad-figure makes him an amazing cook? Check.

-Massimo likes to sing. Alberto picks it up and finds he’s an Unreasonably Excellent Singer and prodigious musician who plays by ear? DOUBLE CHECK.

(Note: The lore and reasons behind this and Alberto’s mandolin will be a blogpost on its own eventually)

-Alberto being a competent and prolific/productive fisherman resulting in the family biz growing and delivering outside of Portorosso? Definitely a proud moment for Massimo.

So to me it all checks out, and drives home Alberto’s strong gumption and the next generation being better than the generation before. As a parent, I subscribe to this goal. I want my boys to be the “Big Strong Ones.”

There’s also the bit that Alberto is a bit of a lush and a party animal. Charismatic, has a bit of a Casanova complex. Charm pouring out of his ears. Why? Well, dang, I really don’t know. I guess bringing it back to that “Charisma In Excess” statement at the beginning of this, it just felt right somehow. I had it so that he really wasn’t all that conventionally attractive but had a level of animal magnetism that’s hard to resist.

There’s lore behind that too…but will be reserved for his “Fish Form” post.

I dunno, it’s probably cus he’s Italian. It could be that simple. 🤷🏻‍♀️

[coralhoneyrose]

QUICK I MUST HAVE CHROBIN FANFIC RECOMMENDATIONS BEFORE I WRITE THEM MYSELF

Oh man, I wish I could ask you follow-up questions in order to curate these recommendations more to your taste LOL. Idk if you are interested in reading chrobin for all Robin genders, if you're only looking for complete fics, if you're comfortable with smut, etc., but in light of my inability to know your preferences, I'm just gonna cast a wide net with my recommendations and let you sort through what appeals most to you from the list. I am also going to resist talking about *what* I love about each of these fics for now or else we will be here all day, but if there are any you would like to hear more about in a follow-up, feel free to lmk. Clearly I am just excited to have any excuse to talk about chrobin and some of the very wonderful fan work that exists for the pairing <3

Also big disclaimer that this is not a comprehensive list. This fandom is 2000+ fics strong and I am absolutely going to forget some gems and personal favorites. Additional note that many of the authors on here are prolific contributors with many excellent chrobin fics and that I definitely recommend browsing their profiles for more if you enjoy anything on here. In fact, please do, because I tried to limit myself to just one selection per author here and some of these writers have so sooooo many chrobin fics that make me crazy in the best way. Okay, without further ado:

A Book of Most Curious Letters (Perhaps silly to include this one in that it's very fandom famous but it's also my all time favorite so I'm including it anyway LOL)

The Heart of the Moon

All's Fair In War and Fake Engagement

An Inevitable Encounter

Otherworldy

The Blank Man

Take On Me, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Chrom

Carrion Comfort

there's a record on and the song remains

Stunning

worthiness is no more than a brazen gambit

Convince Me

The Colours of Me, the Colours of You, the Colours of Us

Oceanic Eyes, a Radiant Smile, and a Solar Halo

I Like What We Have

A Gentle Whisper

Homecoming

For Lucina

Return

like a thief into the night

First

Between

The Rook's Endgame

Someone reaching back for me

Priorities

Okay, I'm gonna cut myself off there for now--hopefully this helps! That being said, I definitely think that in addition to reading these fics you should still consider writing some yourself if you want to~ Often times creating scratches a different type of itch, and from a purely selfish standpoint, I like having more chrobin to read too LOL. Thanks for the ask, anon!

[slayerkitty]

There has been ongoing discussion of Only Friends amongst a few of us about central themes of the show and ideas Jojo seems to be exploring. We ended up in a discussion on ephemerality that led to a broader discussion on what the show is trying to say about permanency, mostly through the use of things like Boston's photography, surveillance videos, and other audio/visual means.

We also touched on the idea of voyeurism being a running theme (potentially tying back to the very public nature of queer culture in the 80's and 90's) based on the different medias being presented and the frameworks that each episode has used so far. I posited at the time that the different frameworks of each episode could be a type of voyeurism (and because we've brought up control), a type of controlled voyeurism; the voice overs, talking heads and even the Twitter posts are great for giving the audience insight into character insights, feelings and emotions but only what they want us to see.

There was also discussion in the tag about how this show feels like a throwback to sort of a late 90's aesthetic over all (I can't find this post - specifically I'm thinking of a post that mentioned OF had a very Dawson's Creek aesthetic, which hit me like a truck when I read it because YES). Given that Jojo was born in 1984, so I think this post about OF being the voice of 80's babies is right.

So, you must be asking, duh, we've already talked about this. What's your point?

All of this extremely prolific long-windedness is because I noticed something while watching the Let's Try MV from the OST as well as the BTS videos that have been released so far and I don't think anyone has mentioned it.

In the MV, shots from the show (both what appear to be canon and a smidge of BTS material) are shown like they were filmed on a mid-90's camcorder. This also happens in the in the BTS videos as well (episode 1, episode 2.)

Also, both the MV and the BTS videos have visual effects. Transitions like lens flares, static, and whatever that blippy line distortion was on VHS tapes that we fixed with the tracking buttons (if you know, you know) repeatedly show up in both.

(Please prepare yourself for some absolutely horrible screenshots; I have no skills in this area, lmao, but I wanted a couple of visuals)

(What? No, I didn't choose these three screenshots because of the colors, absolutely not. I also absolutely am not tagging @respectthepetty because of it either, nope. Don't know what you're talking about.)

But Slayerkitty, you ask, what does it mean?

It definitely shows that we're on the right track regarding this, I think, because using it in the MV and BTS materials is a very deliberate choice given the amount of photo, video, and audio focus the show has done to this point. Interestingly, you could also say the BTS videos are a type of controlled voyeurism as well, since it's a specific peek at how things were made (the view they want us to have lol).

(Also interesting but I'm not sure if it means anything or if they just thought it looked cool, but in the MV from about 2:29-2:40 and 2:52-3:10 the scenes are all "camcorder" video and the second time stamp is pretty much all BTS footage.)

(P.S. I also don't think anyone mentioned it before now, but that fluffy jacket/cardigan thing we're all obsessed with that Ray wore in episode two is what Khaotung is wearing the MV. It looks like they probably shot the episode two car scene and the MV the same day/night.)

Tagging the ephemerality squad and anyone who's posts I linked to, in case you guys have any thoughts: @waitmyturtles, @wen-kexing-apologist, @ranchthoughts, @chickenstrangers, @lurkingshan, @twig-tea, @clara-maybe-ontheroad, @distant-screaming, @shouldiusemyname

I know I forgot someone, I'm sure! Apologies if I did. I'm gonna have to make a list, lol.

[hypnotisedfireflies]

Six More Summer Fics for Tessjoels

Follow-up to this post! There I just posted some of my favourite in-progress Tess x Joel fics for summer reading - now here are some of my favourite completed tales from the last year. (Why did I limit myself to six? Whose dumb idea was that?)

I can't fuck it up if it's not there, by @seethesunny I mean, in the title alone Vane pretty much encapsulates the subtle foundation the very relationship rests. Vane is wonderfully prolific in fandom but this was the first recent story of hers I thought of for this post. It's gritty QZ life and a terrific character study of them separately, and their budding relationship.

gun-shy, by myhomeistheshire A few writers have explored this premise but I particularly loved the way this author handled the story (especially as it's Tess Lives!) Tess, Joel and Ellie are so in character, it's unreal, you can just hear them as you read. Essentially, sassy street kid Ellie finds her Tessjoel parents.

part of something good, by @two-birds-alone-together I only read this one today! Shame on me, because it's Tess Lives and that's my core drive. I love the nuance between Tess and Joel as they deal with their Ellie problem (lol) and the growing relationship between the three. I can be really picky about Tess joining the Ellie & Joel journey but this is really well-rendered. The chapter 1 cliffhanger is diabolical.

shine bright, by @tessaservopoulos Particularly partial to this one (check the dedication!) but that just made it easier to choose the right fic for this post! This is a sweet bite-sized story that crams so much atmosphere, subtlety and fun into one story. A little real light (figurative and literal, ha) in the darkness during the QZ years. I love me some QZ gritty, but this is irresistible.

Getaway, by @ameerawrites Comedy is really hard to put on paper, especially in fic where you have to both be funny to your reader and have the situation play out in the character's voices. Ameera does both in this cosy little AU fic. It doesn't just feel like an isolated story, though. Tess and Joel feel really authentic and you get cute glimpses of their wider life beyond their failed Colorado ski trip.

mist, by sillylily07 Choosing just one fic by this author for the list was a bit of a chore, because there are so many and separating just one out to include was really hard. This is a wonderful example of this author's understanding of the characters, combining the rough-edges of their relationship and situation with the tenderness they have for one another. Bite-sized flirty fun.

Fear of Heights, by @mariatesstruther Sike, a bonus story: Tommy/Maria! Look, this is the meet cute of the century for Tommy and Maria. At random times of the day I just find myself thinking of - oh, you'll have to read it, but I'm grinning as I type just thinking about it. The characterisation is on point and it feels canon to me. I love how Tommy connects with Jackson before the commencement of the story because it feels so realistic and you can feel his desperation, but he's still so fucking ... Tommy.

I tried to keep these lists kind of succinct so I didn't lose days of my life in compiling them, but they are not the extent of wonderful Tessjoel fic out there. I know I have left off terrific authors and stories but I tried to get a little sampling of some of the talent actively writing at present. Please leave more recs in the comments so I can smack my hand against my head and go OF COURSE and be angry at myself for making these lists so brief.

[papirouge]

Radfems are sooooo frustrating sometimes because they will blithely support abortion without examining how it upholds the status quo: "oh well with abortion women won't have to stay trapped with abusive men or be tied to a man for 18 years" the problem I have with this is that this does not actually solve this issue. You know what would? Making it easier for women to escape these situations without forcing them into an abortion.

It's kind of like saying abortion helps poor women because they don't have to spend money on another child... except a lot of those women would have kept their babies if they had money and support. An abortion is not really help. You're side-stepping the issue entirely and perpetuating a lot of societal inequality for the sake of upholding abortion as an institution. It's weird and you can't talk about it without people losing their minds and saying, "um um um but what about the women who have to live now and not in the future where your perfect pro-life utopia exists?" Yeah well you could start by helping local women who are on the fence and need help NOW, today, this very moment, and not the feckless "well you made the right decision, get over it" kind of way I see from these types. I don't see a whole lot of pro-abortion advocates out there donating money or baby clothes to pregnant women in need and they fire bomb pregnancy resource centers, which do, so..... ya know

Anyway sorry for the rant, I hope you're doing well, I hope the rest of 2024 treats you kindly!

Yeah, this abusive men talking point is so wack to me because a man can turn out to be abusive AFTER having children. Should women refrain from having children altogether to avoid the possibility of being linked for 18 years+ with an abuser??

There are tons of reasons women stay with abusive male. One doesn't need a child with a man to stick with him. It's so wicked to shift the blame of female abuse onto babies to remove from them the right to exist because they MIGHT get in the way of a woman's freedom. I always said that abortion culture was the transmission of the sins of patriarchy onto innocent babies, and I stand on that ground.

Radfem will defend their anti prostitution stance by saying "if it wasn't for money, those women wouldn't do that, so prostitution is inherently coercive and wrong" and yeah they're absolutely correct for that. But when prolifers say "if it wasn't for money, a significant amount of women wouldn't abort, that's why pushing for abortion onto poor women as a solution is taking the problem by the wrong end, and glossing over a deeper issue that's the financial vulnerability of women as a class" it's a problem and HOW DARE YOU QUESTION A WOMAN'S CHOICE??!? .... that's why I can't help but roll my eyes whenever I see radfem look down on choice feminism because...honey, that's you 🥴

There's no bigger choice feminist than a radfem defending abortion LOL

Radfem mock the transcult but they embrace the exact them cultish hive mind whenever a woman remotely questions the Holy Abortion. They elevated a bunch of idols out of their cult (pro abortion merch) and like the typical fanatics, attack whoever goes against their gospel. Have you witnessed how enraged radfem are against reverts (ex radfem who either became tra or tradfem) or worse: PRO LIFER??

[cpcwiki]

⚠ WIKI AD INCOMING ⚠

Hi, everyone! @mechanical-clown here on a new blog! That's right, it's the Real Official CPC Wiki Social Media Account here!! B) Unfortunately I do not have good news to deliver

It's been a hot minute since my last ad and I do want you all to know I'm still sorry for doing this. Unfortunately, again, how bad I feel making another ad is outweighed by how much the wiki needs more help. I've been feeling especially desperate lately because of the fact that CPC is ending soon, and there are many tasks that will be made harder if it's put on daily pass. So, in my cry for effort to get help, here's an explanation of what I believe is our biggest issue and a rundown of things that currently need to be done! Again I am sorry. This could take a while

If you were fortunate enough to not have seen this post last time, the Cursed Princess (Club) Wiki needs help if it wants to be complete any time soon. Kind of a lot of it. As we all know, cpcblr's very active and prolific in content and the wiki's typically... not. To seriously get into this, the only three active editors in the past month or two have been me, @the-neighbors-kid (aka cursed-princess-club), and Ama (not sure if she wants to be tagged but we all know her!). Shoutout to you two because you are actually the best thank you I love you /pl <3

Anyways, there are already a lot of things we need to do to fix up the wiki. Thankfully, accessing any episode for any information you'd like is easy! And it will continue to be that easy after CPC ends, because Webtoon doesn't feel the need to limit how many episodes a person can view, right? Right? ...Yeah, so, uh, daily pass exists.

As of the time I'm writing this, there are ~10 episodes left in CPC (forgot the exact number lol). Assuming there are no hiatuses, that's only 10 more weeks, or 2 and a half months - and that's pretty soon! While there is a chance that CPC might not have daily pass after it ends, it's a small one. And, to me, that sounds like a huge problem!! If CPC is put on daily pass, accessing episodes will become much more difficult. Looking for a certain character's appearances, adding images, even just finding a single reference - it'll take a day to unlock the needed episode, and that episode will be gone in 2 weeks. The best solution to this problem would probably be to just use physical copies of CPC to find things, but those aren't available to everyone.

And adding images with daily pass episodes? As a reminder, screenshotting while viewing an episode on daily pass is taken as a sign of piracy. Screenshotting, the way we get images for the wiki. I've tried poring through Webtoon's terms of use to find some answer about whether publicly posting such screenshotted images would be illegal, but there's no mention of daily pass, and the text is so dense it's hard for me to tell. (I want to say I'll take a second look at it sometime, but that's probably just going to go into my list of permanently-unfinished priorities. I doubt the physical copies would be a good alternative to screenshots, either.) Regardless, I don't want to take any chances with the law, or see however Webtoon would punish us on the chance they find our frightening screenshots. Thus, another top priority of mine is to add more images and complete more galleries before CPC ends.

Oh, yeah, and that's barely even scratching the surface! Here's more stuff we need to do, presented in an appealing (classic Mocha iykyk) bulleted list:

A major thing is filling in episode pages. Episodes 40-around 110 are basically blank - no synopsis, character list, summary, or extra information. This is the task that would likely be least burdened by the addition of daily pass, but in my opinion, it's still of the absolute highest priority.

Galleries, which display images of characters, locations, or episodes. While not generally that important, I do think it'd be a good idea to fill out mostly empty ones now - you know, since taking screenshots of CPC may become illegal in the future! Most characters have a good amount of images on their pages, thankfully (the pastel sisters have so many they were the first to get separate gallery pages); some, including Jack and Leland, have very few. Episode pages and locations often have way less, though those aren’t as important

Relationship sections for a number of characters. These involve write about characters’ relationships, though in a way that mainly describes their interactions throughout the episodes without expressing any specific opinions. Some major sections that need to be written/updated include Jamie and Leopold; Jolie and Nell; Leland and really everyone on his page but especially Jack; Jack and Lilyth; Suzanna and Lance/Lorena; the Plaid Princes with each other; and more! Many more!

History sections for a number of characters. In a similar vein to relationship sections, these just detail a character’s appearances in the story, as well as their past or other mentions of them. Examples of (mostly - Isolde's isn't fully updated yet) completed history sections include Whitney’s, Isolde’s, and Monika’s! Examples of incomplete sections include virtually everyone else’s.

You might be wondering why I, a wiki admin (in case I haven't said it enough) am not doing any of these things! That’s because I'm neglectful and pretty bad at my job. I will not sugarcoat that part anymore. As much as I love the wiki (it's where I met my best friend after all, and while I'm writing this they just went offline so he can get fucked /j) I don't have motivation to work on it very often. Really, I don't have motivation to work on much nowadays! Ama's been doing the virtually thankless job of keeping the wiki up for the past couple months, and I've been mostly absent. The wiki is only remotely as active as cpcblr because of her. I feel terrible about it, but I'd rather be writing this 9-paragraph cry for help than editing, so, uh... yeah this is a public apology to Ama. I am so sorry. I know this isn't very professional but I'm incapable of being professional about the wiki tbh

TL;DR: As CPC is ending soon, the impending threat of daily pass could take away the ability to look at episodes whenever you want, which would make wiki editing much harder. We seriously need editors to join us in finishing the wiki. Please at least consider helping us!! Any way you can is appreciated - even if you can only make very few edits, I'll be immensely grateful for your support :)

If you have any questions about anything wiki-related, contact me!! My Discord's at musicitself, and you can also always DM me on here! And here's an invite to our wiki Discord server, too!! Of course, you don't have to become a wiki editor to join, but (as was the point of this entire post) I would really really REALLY love if you did. Thank you so much for reading this long, and have a great day!

[noforkingclue]

...Wait, would dark!Zemo lowkey be prolife then where reader is concerned I'm so curious now. Like completely unrelated to other prompt how would he react if he found out that not only was the reader hiding pregnancy she actually had an appointment to terminate his "heir". what lengths would he go to to stop that from happening if he couldn't convince reader? maybe it's fucked but I'm v curious. or UNO-reverse, do you headcanon Dark!Zemo as actually strongly prochoice lol

It's an interesting one...

Warning: mentions of abortion, pregnancy, breeding kink, dark!Zemo

I hesitate to use the term 'pro-life' because to me that says that the person is very religious is some description (if that makes sense?) but I guess at the end of the day that's what it is.

For me, dark!Zemo (and non-dark) has a massive breeding kink. He wants to be a family with you. He wants to have children with you. To protect you and your future children in the way he couldn't before.

If you were already in his capture there'd be no way you'd be able to get rid of your child. However, if you weren't and you had already booked an appointment Zemo would swiftly take you away. You wouldn't be going to it.

With other people he respects their choice but with you it's a completely different story. He loves you. He loves his unborn children. He wants to give you everything. Wealth, comfort, happiness, a family. Just stay with him and he'll provide everything you could ever desire.

But, it's interesting to look at it from the other side. The side where he doesn't want to have any more. He already lost his family once. Could he bear to possibly lose that again? Zemo has a lot of enemies and being his partner would attract a lot of danger. He can't stand the thought of losing his children again. If it's this version of dark!Zemo he'd be more willing to listen and give you the choice.

[dodgerkedavra]

I loved your Erised fic and am now dying to know the magical mystery behind Only for October! My ask is: how on earth are you this prolific - and prolifically good? (I have a Google Drive folder metaphorically stuffed with unfinished fics that did not make it to their intended fests)

*trembling constantly with dark shadows under my eyes* I wasn't given a choice.

I'm just kidding, kinda, LOL. I've been thinking about your questions and I want to answer them in a way that will be, like, satisfying to you, but also truthful? It probably comes as no surprise that I find this easier to do in fiction.

Okay. So. In the spirit of just answering. How do I write as much as I write? The literal answer is probably the same as everyone else's. Just, like, sitting down at the computer and doing it. I feel like the question behind this question is usually more along the lines of how did you come to be a person who could write this much?

And the answer—one of the answers?—is that when I was very young, I started writing stories, and people said I was good at it, and so I kept writing stories, and eventually came to understand that this was my One Singular Gift, and so I doubled down on it, tripled down on it, kept writing. If you want to write a lot, you write even more than that.

A decade ago I was very into running and eventually got to the point where I wanted to run a marathon, and a lot of the prevailing wisdom about running a marathon is that you train to 20 miles and hopefully your training carries you to 26.2. Personally, I think this is why a lot of people hit the wall at 20 miles, so during my time of marathons I would train to 22, 24, 25 miles.

It's kind of the same thing with writing. I've trained beyond this for a long time. Because, you know, it was my One True Thing. The way, the truth, the life. I write so much about Drarry for the love of the game, obviously, and also because I don't have anything else to give. I know there's no requirement for me to give anything in exchange for being here, but for Reasons, I have that requirement for myself. I'm under an interdiction, of course. (Heal Thyself by Astolat joke that turned out more real than I thought)

Also, thank you for saying that my writing is good. I appreciate that so much!! I suspect that it's along the lines of a self-fulfilling prophecy. I can't imagine that I was actually good at writing when I was six, or even when I was sixteen, or even when I was twenty-six, perhaps not even now, but writing was and remains My Gift. And at some point, I realized the Gift (was it a gift, or was it just something people said? Does it matter now?) couldn't carry me forever. I'd have to take the practice seriously. I'll always have to practice. Everything I post on AO3 is me, practicing.

There's this section in Heal Thyself (I love that fic so much) that I think of often:

"The deep intervention course knocked out more than half of the mediwizards who signed on for it. Most of them weren't prepared to practise spells a dozen times over, finding the precise positioning of wand and body to make the one-millimeter's difference between cure and disaster. But Draco found it almost ecstatically satisfying, flying downhill after a long slog up the mountain. He could almost have coasted, but instead he devoted his time to making his castings perfect, making them beautiful. Where before he would have practiced a spell a dozen times over just to get it right, now he tried a dozen deliberate variations, with spell fields all round him, measuring the minutely changed effects." Heal Thyself, Astolat

This is more than you wanted to know, probably, but I'm trying a dozen deliberate variations. Measuring the minutely changed effects. I can't tell how a piece will sing until people react to it. I can't give it away until it's done. I do find it almost ecstatically satisfying sometimes.

Looking back on this, it seems almost embarrassingly long, but I've written it out now, so! Thank you! For reading my stuff, and I'm glad you loved my fic :)

[futurewife]

Oh my God audio porn enjoyer 🤝🤝. Sometimes they're SO good. And sometimes they're so.... Bad

RIGHT some can be so BADDD...it can take a while to find one that hits just right for you personally. Anything that's like rough b.dsm d.dlg maledom is an instant pass cause the specific kind of dirty talk and grunting and...affectation I often find in them is very cringey to me, or sometimes it's like you can tell someone is trying really hard to be "masculine" and sexy and scary. BUT you know there is a foot for every shoe and there must be an audience for this genre to be so prolific I guess.

Personally I am usually looking up msub or soft mdom. The hottest audios are when you can kinda tell the person making it really cares about the product and the wellbeing of their listeners, like they genuinely enjoy complimenting their listeners and telling them they're beautiful etc like making them emotionally feel good! I'm a GEDaudio fan cause I like his extremely honest british awkwardness/dorkiness, it's soooooo cute to me ugh when he's stuttering and fumbling it makes me want to bite something LOL (f.reddie s.troma projection vessel) and the fact that he screams and begs and whines like he's possessed in some of them. I love his regency/bridgerton themed audios which often have SCENES and PLOT hahaha the build up gets me crazyyyy like omg what's going to happen next :0

[ourstaturestouchtheskies]

charlotte!! congrats on your milestone 💚 i would love Vigée Le Brun, mostly because i am always looking for new artists that exude the kind of ~feelings~ i like from art

i love dark and atmospheric works, my favourite artists are francisco goya, jamie (and andrew) wyeth, edward hopper, paul klee, van gogh, and théodore géricault (specifically his anatomical studies on corpses and his work with the mentally ill), and dragan bibin

it has only also just now occurred to me we haven't talked about art lol 💚

visit the art gallery

ahhhh finnie!! thank you so much for the request! you are the first visitor to the gallery and I'm so excited!!!!! 🥰🥰

dark and atmospheric art also holds an incredibly special place in my heart, and all the artists you've listed are so wonderful! I hope I can suggest something that gives you the same vibes 💙

here's a list of artists I think you might like (with more details and images below the cut!)

John Atkinson Grimshaw

Leonora Carrington

Odilon Redon

William Blake

John Atkinson Grimshaw (Thro' the Woods and Roundhay Park Lake)

I picked Grimshaw for you because he has these lovely, haunting nighttime landscapes that are both beautiful and unsettling. the darkened trees and lingering mist seem to engulf the small, featureless figures as they traverse deeper into the darkness. these are two of my favorite examples, but he has many others in this genre as well!

Leonora Carrington (The Ancestor and Self-Portrait in Orthopedic Black Tie)

on the more abstract/surrealist side, I picked Carrington. she is such a compelling yet very under-studied artist who painted in a surrealist style for most of her career. for me, surrealism is often an "I love it or I hate it" kind of thing, and I love Carrington's work. her pieces really give off that dark vibe that is kind of creepy and slightly off-putting, yet also make you want to lean in closer and figure out the story behind the images. there's that element of both horror and fascination, which is why I think you might like her art.

Odilon Redon (The Eye, Like a Strange Balloon, Moves Toward Infinity and Mystery

Odilon Redon was actually quite heavily inspired by Goya, so he seems like a great fit for you! just like Goya, he was a prolific printmaker as well as a painter, and he produced tributes to other artists like Goya and even writers like Edgar Allan Poe (the first image here comes from his tribute to Poe). he was a symbolist artist, and his art is just really fucking weird (affectionate). there's darkness, there's horror, there's weird uses of color, there's strange, indistinct spaces, featureless figures, and just this sort of nebulous floaty-ness to many of his works. not only do I think you'll like him because he was inspired by Goya, but also because of this kind of whimsy and weirdness he mixes with horror elements.

William Blake (Ancient of Days and Hekate)

although he is much better known as a poet today (he's the "tiger tiger burning bright" guy), Blake was also an artist and illustrated his own poems as well as other works such as Dante's Inferno. his work feels almost symbolist, but about 100 years earlier. he was close to being a contemporary of Goya, and I think you can definitely see some resemblances in his art. at the time, his work was considered the product of "madness" and "visions," and it certainly has an eerie, otherworldly quality to it. kinda like Redon, some of it is just plain weird. I picked Blake both because of his resonances with Goya, but also the strange, mystical, and terrifying worlds he creates in his art.

I hope this was interesting/fun/helpful and that you found a new artist or artwork to explore further!

again, thank you so much for the request! 🥰

love and hugs,

charlotte 💙

[pacificwanderer]

Soooooo what are your thoughts on the Rey film?

Hey Nonnie,

I have a lot of feelings LOL. None of my ire is directed at you, and I'm trying not to get too worked up given that we know who the director will be and that Daisy will be in it (everything is meant in a general sense, and it's just my feelings on the matter so whatever). Also, given their track record with directors and writers.... we'll see how it all ends up going!

As far as story, well...

So this is such a coincidence, given that I just saw Su//zume and was thinking that if anything that follows up TRoS ISN'T at least thematically similar to that movie, I don't want it. It still holds.

This is my interpretation, and if others don't agree. That's fine. I'm not really looking to argue with anyone or win anyone over lol. People are allowed to have different interpretations of media, but for me, TRoS didn't work. Both as a fan of the ST and as a lifelong fan of SW. And I don't know how they plan on moving forward with that fucking albatross weighing them down! I really don't!

My problem was and remains that TRoS IS NOT REY'S STORY or really any of the ST characters, it's all focused on the past and that's not a great way to build a point to go forward from. Hell, it's not really even a story so much as characters moving from one set piece to another in an effort to disguise how it's a movie that's basically serving one purpose: address and make up for prior criticism (mostly from re//ddit and prolific you//tubers).

I could go point by point about how that film was set up to make up for "disappointing" certain fans with how TLJ went, but I don't have the time rn for that (I have a lot of work to do in the next few days and not much time, but here i am on tumblr lol). I'm sure it's been done to death, anyway, but people far more eloquent than I.

That film is and was and ever will be is a reactionary film that was made to be an answer to very specific criticism from a very specific subset of the fandom, and it failed. Not only to address their criticisms but to stand on its own as a film. That story takes Rey, takes her character and her story, and reskins her to be Luke 2.0.

But they didn't want that. Those fans didn't want her to be a stand-in for Luke. They didn't want her to symbolically be a Sky//walker, they wanted her to BE one via BIRTH (Luke's daughter or whatever). What we got was insulting to those fans and to fans of TLJ. It's one of the more blatant examples of pandering that I can think of (even if it's badly done), and I really don't know if I'm ever gonna get over it entirely lol. Like I've mostly moved on because there are storytellers out there busting their ass telling stories that deserve to be told, so I have other things to focus on.

Rey's story needs to be her own, and I don't know how they're going to accomplish that given what's happened in TRoS. She's not her own character anymore. She's just... a vessel. Fuck I hate that. I hate saying that! I HATE IT! But that comes from the creators themselves! I love Rey! I wouldn't have written like three-quarters of a million words of fanfic about her world otherwise! AND THEY DID NOT. AND IT SHOWS.

And it's personally offensive to me that they took a character that I loved THE WAY SHE WAS and tried to make her fit for people who were committed to hating her from the start!!!! How dare they! And not just her, but what they did with the rest of the ST characters makes me so fucking angry i have a hard time being chill about it lol.

Anyway, I have some reservations about their ability to craft a tale that's going to honor her character and not just be some sort of way for Luke to jump in and take over the narrative again. As he's done before and will do again (hi there, man//do, nice luke you got there for no fucking reason).

Anyway, I very much try to keep to my own corner of the fandom because I just don't have the energy for much these days, so I'm sure other people have different feelings about it all. I hope it goes well! I doubt it will! Like Andor was great, but Tony is a great storyteller, and I don't think the person they've tacked on to finish the Rey script is capable of doing her justice (sorry bro, PB is good, but it's tragic, do I want that for Rey??? no).

Storytelling should be the first and foremost thing they're focusing on, and... I don't really trust them in that regard anymore. The SW ip is too all over the place, and there's a certain note of cynicism that just seems to infect everything these days. I'm fucking tired of the american monomyth, i'm tired of campbell redux (with no deeper thought or criticism of the aforementioned, just shallow retelling to tick of fucking plot points and NOTHING MORE).

It just... feels like they're trying to find their way without really thinking about what got them to this point. I hope it doesn't suck, but if it does, then there's always fanfic.

PERSONALLY idgaf about rebuilding the gd jedi temple, so i hope THAT changes because it's been done and they fucked up REPEATEDLY like how many movies do we really need of that!!!?? God, there's a whole wide sw universe out there, and they make it feel so small.

So fucking small. What a waste.

TLDR:

Anyway! Hope it works out for anyone who's interested. If anyone's really interested in how I'd like a post-tros narrative to go, please go see su//zume. i fucking adore it to bits and pieces.

Cheers, Nonne!

[mothman-clarice]

Ok so I watched american psycho for the first time last night and I got a great idea for a cool crossover/thought experiment.

What if Patrick Bateman met Hannibal Lecter?

Quick note: I haven't read the book american psycho but I have done a little research about it. Also I'm aware that theres a lot of debate on whether or not patrick actually kills anybody since he is a very unreliable narrator. For the sake of this analysis we will assume all of his murders are real since I dont feel like opening up that complicated can of worms lol.

So first I'd like to do a little character analysis/compare and contrast with both of them cus I think these characters are very interesting to compare.

Let's see what they have in common first. They both are serial killers and cannibals who are lethally efficient and prolific. They are both very successful with Bateman being a millionaire wall street investor and hannibal being Lithuanian royalty and a successful psychiatrist. They are characterized as having some sort of mental illness/disorder, bateman obviously being a stereotypical psychopath plus possibly antisocial personality disorder and hannibal having several which I cant name off the top of my head. They are both known for having "high class" taste and deeply emerse themselves in fine culture.

Now let's talk about their differences...

While yes they both share one key character trait (being murderers) they are still vastly different in terms of personality and behavior. Let's start with their attitude/tendencies towards murder.

Hannibal may be a prolific vicious murderer but if you look closely enough you will see he actually has some form of moral compass. He never hurts children, only adults over the age of 20. He rarely if ever kills women (at least to my knowledge, I haven't read all the books or seen all the movies) which is very likely rooted in his chivalrous nature. He never kills out of the blue, he always has some reason for it, be it his victim making a rude remark or doing something hannibal finds reprehensible. No matter what, he always has some reasoning behind his killings. So while yes he is a vicious murderer, he does actually have a moral compass if you look hard enough.

And then there's Patrick Bateman.

Patrick's murderous behavior is completely different from hannibal. He is erratic and random, killing whoever just so happens to be closest whenever he gets the urge. He has compulsions to kill whereas hannibal pretty much has full self control and only kills of his own free will. Patrick never has any clear reasoning for his murders beyond very vague rationalizations which mostly boil down to "they are different from me" or they said something he perceived as a personal insult. Unlike hannibal, bateman has absolutely no moral compass since he completely lacks empathy. He despises anyone who is higher or lower class than him (especially the lower class), he despises women and views them as objects made for his sexual pleasure and nothing else. Women, especially sex workers, are actually his primary targets since he already views them as subhuman and knows he has great power over them physically and often financially. To him humans are tools he uses to achieve his desires. He completely lacks any emotion, even saying his only emotions are greed and disgust.

He is the purest example of the Id you could possibly think of. His brain is controlled by the most base primal instincts: hoard resources to preserve your own survival, fight and kill anyone you see as a threat or as different from you, and have sex as much as possible. His ultimate goal in life is to fit in with the rest of the white cishet male wall street yuppies, his "tribe" if you want to continue with the primitive themes.

In regards to emotion hannibal does very much feel. Yes his perception of emotion may be different from most people but he still absolutely has the capacity to feel sadness, love, joy, and more alongside anger and disgust. He may be violent but he is not devoid of empathy. We all know he falls deeply in love with clarice because he empathizes with her trauma and struggle. He recognizes her frustration with trying to get the male dominated world to notice her capability and strength. He marvels at her brilliance and adores her independence, he loves her, so so much.

What does bateman love? Well he certainly loves money and power. But does he feel that way about anything else? No. The closest thing he feels to love is lust, primal carnal desire. He hates women, he only values them for sex and nothing else. (Sorry to break the essay emerson but I just need to say this. Why didnt this guy just get a fleshlight? A sex doll? Like if you hate women so much but wanna fuck just get a fuckin toy dude, I'm sure they existed in the 1980s 🙄)

Another thing I noticed they differed with is their attitude towards wealth and media. Patrick is obviously obsessed with both. Media permeates every moment of his existence, constantly listening to music every chance he gets, "watching" movies (mostly just playing them as background noise), obsessing over p0rnography, and so much more. His attitude towards porn is especially interesting to me as he doesnt seem to consume it in the way people normally do. The first scene that comes to mind is the one where hes on a phone call with Evelyn while a porn video plays on his tv. He doesnt even look at the screen, he seemingly shows zero interest. Theres nothing near him in the scene that would suggest he was "enjoying" it (tissues, lotion, y'know..). Its like he just put it on as background noise just like he does with movies. He has similar behavior when he brings in the escorts and rambles about music while instructing them to perform for him, despite the fact he spends most of the beginning walking around his apartment not even looking at the women. It's like he has no idea how human sexuality works, he obviously doesnt feel horny given those two examples, it's like he just has sex and looks at porn because it gives him some kind of status or maybe it just gives him something to do. Maybe he does it purely because it seems like something a "normal human" would do.

As for his obsession with wealth, bateman seems to have a similar attitude. He hates going out with people to diners since we know he hates people in general. He seems to only go out with his fellow yuppies to feel like hes part of something. He pretends to get along with them and says anything they like to hear, putting on a character as if he was playing out a fantasy in his head. He expects people to be impressed with his wealth and feels deeply insulted when they're not. He sees wealth as a necessity, he constantly needs to be richer and more extravagant than everyone else. He is the ultimate personification of greed, a gluttonous, jealous dragon whose hoard is never big enough.

As for hannibal? Having been raised in royalty he naturally grew accustomed to lavish living and views it as his normal. He feels most comfortable having gourmet meals regularly, his day clearly planned out with plenty of activities to do, and generally a life full of savoring the finer things and enjoying many of the pleasures of noble life. Unlike patrick who's idea of lavish is hoarding expensive things he doesn't need and parading them around to inflate his ego, hannibal's idea of lavish living is playing piano, watching Shakespeare plays, reading classical literature, admiring fine art both old and new. He has no need for parading around his wealth because it doesnt matter to him.

You see what I mean? Bateman views wealth as a tool to gain status and be part of a community. Hannibal does not really perceive wealth since it has always been a part of his life, he doesnt want more wealth since riches alone dont give him pleasure. To hannibal wealth is simply the norm and something he pays no mind to, whereas patrick is utterly and completely addicted to it.

I feel like I've rambled long enough and pinned down their primary differences. I honestly had a lot of fun writing this! I find both characters incredibly fascinating and I thoroughly enjoyed dissecting them both side by side. I hope you all liked it too of course.

Also, good news! I'm finally starting my week long vacation from work so I'll have a lot more free time to post. So look forward to more activity from me in the future :)

[bisluthq]

"Taylor comes off like she’s always having sex with all her bfs in the beginning because she’s horny as fuck lol" // no, this lmao!!! It's why it baffles me when people say shit like:

1) "Taylor never had a sexual thought prior to her relationship with Jake Gyllenhaal🥺" (exaggerated)

2) "Taylor wrote about sex so much on rep because it was the first time she was having GOOD sex" (not an exaggeration. I have actually seen people say this and like TLDR; I'm not saying Joe wasn't potentially "better" comparatively, but I also just struggle to believe that no man before him had ever like... made her cum or eaten her out like come on😭 she's dated a lot of douchebags, but almost all of them give me the vibe they'd be at least semi-good in bed)

3) that she is "finally" getting it "good" with Travis (again. Not exaggerated. I'm actually taking it down a notch. The bitches that say this act as if Taylor is like some virgin that's never done anything outside the missionary position - also reminds me of a viral tiktok someone made about how unsexy they imagine her arch would be during doggy style which like... is just gross and unfunny, but was also scattered on their profile amongst like, genuine criticisms of her (in this case her lack of voice surrounding Palestine) and like sorry but if you're going to make valid critiques, make them, but don't be... mean. Like she's a big girl. She can handle it. But like... I don't want to see that lmao😭 ANYWAY, these bitches LOVE projecting onto Travis and looking to him as some sex God when like... I honestly feel like amongst her exes his skill level is probably average. Like he might Rock some chicks world but Taylor Swift is... as you often say, prolific!)

In conclusion, I am very much of the belief that the sex talk hasn't increased (entirely) because she's been having more of it, but simply because she feels more comfortable discussing it now than she was then (i lowkey think this is the main reason she released I Can See You despite it (seemingly) being a John song. Like, obviously telling the world you were once diabolically horny for your, by your own account, abuser, is not something most want to or are willing to do, but it was for the greater good!)

exactly.

[burning-sol]

me hc'ing pcs relationship to makeup:

gillion tidestrider, he didnt rlly wear makeup in the undersea and has internalised that but he would happily wear makeup if offered, like god someone PLEASE givr him permission. just make sure that its suitable for a triton though.

jay ferin, she's great with stuff like clown makeup and sfx. if she tries normal makeup looks she will mess it up and start cussing tho.

chip, he used to use makeup but with the bandana he doesnt now lol. anyways he's not perfect but DAMN he's better than u would expect. he refuses to elaborate on how he got so good at it (he's just very insecure abt his appearance okay).

goobleck, bbg eats that shit.

ashe winters, she literally had all the time in the world to practice at home she's SO fucking good at it. she consumes makeup tutorials like nobody's business. makeup QUEEN.

william wisp, he applies so much black eyeshadow n stuff. its in his bonez. really good with stuff relating to nail polish and all that. after meeting ashe he started to get more ambitious with his makeup, up until what happened. then he started wearing MORE black makeup and then even MORE after realising he has no blood. after gaining a new heart she's started wearing warmer makeup with more reds, and also doing more horror-esque looks. uhhh i guess basically she changes her makeup a lot depending on how she's feeling and what's happening.

dakota cole, not interested. might have some internalised feelings of thinking it makes him look less genuine or faker somehow. and gender issues.

vyncent sol, id have to think more abt whether the cat boy would wear makeup.

kian stone, prolific in it babes check him out she's rocking it. LOVES doing drag makeup. fuck yeah!!

rand, makeup would probably require him to clean himself up which is already too much to ask of him.

rolan, he likes when ppl do his makeup for him but probably doesnt really wear it otherwise. too scared to wear makeup in public most of the time. big fan of all the drag he's seen.

thanatos, um. i mean. yeah. i mean he's a robot. peter can paint him?? if he wants??? nobody else though its an exclusive peter privilege.

peter, okay i think he'd be decent at it but his REAL passion is face painting. let him draw a lizard on your cheek right fucking now.

rumi, they actually suck at makeup so bad holy shit all they do is magically sparkle don't fucking ask them to do makeup.

exandroth, she doesnt need makeup he think he looks great (it HATES it the sensory issues god no dont put anything on him girl wasnt built for this)

aster aeliana, she's really good with makeup but dislikes wearing it. merely performing her stereotypical girl duties.

ryan selucreh, he will do whatever the group's doing bro.

connor connors, hmhmhm u know what he's already seen as a loser he would sorta know how to use makeup and wear it while he's out and about. already a con-erd right? not very commited to it tho, its just a hobby.

cherry blossom, she would never

aren auguste, "no thats gay"

jebediah lightbringer, no except him and brian have matching nail polish cause you know how it is homos.