#watched three ‘complete lore’ videos

[spicyicymeloncat]

Just want to let you know that I have a new hyperfixation. Rainworld has grabbed me by the throat. I would’ve made fanart of it but unfortunately I’ve been too busy playing the game to make art…

[fishareglorious]

Quick what is Signalis about????

Survival horror where you are one (1) robot gal looking for your wife and everything has gone to meat hell and you have to go out again and again in a cycle to fulfill your promise to said wife

[micer2012]

a reflection on MatPat's plagiarism

Hello, my name is Della, or micer2012, and 2 years ago Game Theory plagiarized three Tumblr posts of mine, making a video that now holds almost 6 million views.

My posts explaining his plagiarism made their rounds on Reddit, Tumblr and Twitter, but despite the Hermits and Pooka commenting on it (generally in support of me or saying they don’t know enough details about the situation to say either way), MatPat and his team have never owned up to anything, and no mention of my name is present on the video. The one Reddit post they made denying it (which was made before my detailed takedown, which they have never responded to (though the mods on the r/GameTheorists Reddit were kind and made sure it stayed up)) didn’t even mention me by name, just referring to me as “a tumblr user”. (Though one of the screenshotted comments in the body of the post does say my name)

This experience was baffling, but it’s overall had a positive impact on my life. r/Hermitcraft gave me a Golden Apple Award (post of the year, 2021). My inbox was filled with excited fans, wanting to ask me questions or pose their own theories, far more than the hate I got. (Though the hate I got from Game Theory fans was VERY funny. I wondered why none of them gave me shit about saying “MatPat misgendered Evil Xisuma” before realizing none of them read that far into the post.)

And getting on a more personal, and much more important note, I met most of my current online friends through this, including my partner. It helped me grow closer with my irl friends as well and gave me an entertaining story that I tell whenever I have the chance. It was one of the first things in my life that really made me feel like my talents, my autistic hyperfocusing and analyzing of things I love, could be valuable. Useful. Exploitable. It blew my mind that MatPat thought an autistic kid’s ramblings about a Minecraft Youtube joke character were good enough to steal. To put an audible sponsorship on. To get 6 million views off of.

And that’s why I’m writing this post, this update years later. As you might’ve been able to guess, Hbomberguy’s Youtube video on plagiarism reopened this wound. It was really hard for me to sit through, it took days of pausing and taking breaks, because I had experienced everything he was talking about firsthand. 

In my 10 page long takedown post, I wrote about how his rewording of my sentences made him say things that were incorrect, just like Filip did. The content farm production style that made big companies like Cinemassacre take one creator (AVGN/MatPat) and turn him and his content into a brand, a voice that reads out scripts by other people with other opinions/theories, is a history shared with Game Theory. What really hit me was Harris talking about how big creators only do this to people they think they can get away with doing it to. How they view their victims as lesser, as not deserving of their words, repackaging them as their own to give to an audience that can gain from hearing them, but deserves better than to have to listen to the original victim.

That’s the thing, I 100% think a video version of my theory to expose to a bigger community than “Evil Xisuma Fans on Tumblr” is a great idea!! Near the end of the video Harris talks about how video adaptations of things could be a great market, even an accessibility tool, and I completely feel that about my posts. I wrote them quickly assuming the reader was someone well versed on Evil Xisuma lore, after not even watching most of the CarnEvil series, and the diagrams I made to explain them are even less comprehensible. Harris makes a joke that I completely agree with, 

“I’m sure some of my videos would do very well if someone translated them into English.”

I don’t think I would’ve ever made my posts if I didn’t have autism, and a special fixation on Evil Xisuma and Hermitcraft. I made them because I felt the character was being done an injustice, and because I wanted to share with other superfans this theory that might explain it away. I do think that MatPat plagiarizing me was ableist. I used to wonder a lot if this would’ve happened if my posts were articulated better, if they had been peer reviewed, if the posts themselves had been spread to a wider audience before MatPat made his video. At one point when the discourse was fresh (before I had the time to write out my 10 page rebuttal), a bigger YouTuber (100k subs at the time) messaged me and started talking on Discord, interested in possibly making a video on the discourse, but I think my style of typing and general enthusiasm drove him away. You can tell by a single look at my blog (or my original 3 posts!) that I don’t usually type like this. This post you’re reading now has been peer reviewed and edited, and took me hours to format correctly. That video could’ve been huge, the entire outcome of this MatPat situation would probably be much different.

I also used to stress a lot about “being the one who ruined Evil Xisuma’s story”. If you didn’t know, to me S8 Evil Xisuma’s story got wrapped up pretty quickly and unsatisfying (in my personal autistic opinion). (though this might’ve been due to s8 being experimental and ending early with moon big) There was no real culmination of the plot points and arcs going on, and I don’t want to blame myself, but when Xisuma said on stream (when the MatPat thing was first going on) that he didn’t want to focus on the discourse or draw more attention to it, it makes a lot of sense to me that he just wanted to wrap it all up as quickly as possible. For a while I beat myself up about it, of ruining the story of this character I love, but it’s not my fault. If anyone’s, it’s MatPats, but I don’t think it’s useful to just blame someone else. That’s how the story ended up going, and that’s fine. This is Evil Xisuma we’re talking about, their inconsistent lore is what made them such an interesting character. And notably, Pooka made an animation with an awesome culmination of Jeff, the Dreamer, Evil Xisuma, and his own sona’s story, and it makes me so happy to watch. Whatever Pooka does is of course his own choice, but I’m glad he got to give this personal story his own ending (if it is an ending, and not just the start of a new chapter!). 

Typing this all out and getting it off my chest has made me feel a lot better. For a while I wanted to make my OWN video essay about Evil Xisuma’s lore and CarnEvil’s lore, actually going episode by episode to explain it instead of just assuming you knew as much about Evil Xisuma as I did. That idea is still not off the table, but MCYT isn’t something I’m that into right now. Maybe if something else comes out about Evil Xisuma I’ll get back on it, but for now I’m fine with letting that go. But I want to make other videos, share other theories and analysis… if I have the freetime I’d love to make YouTube videos, and if I don’t have the time I’ll continue posting to my tumblr and infodumping to my friends. Apparently my infodumping is valuable enough “content” to steal! Writing this out has made me feel a lot better though, I’m really glad I got it out.

If anyone ever wants to talk to me about the things I’m obsessed with, or reach out to me as a source in a bigger discussion about Game Theory or other channels, my inbox is more than welcome :] Thank you for reading! 

Sincerely, a tumblr user.

[leog4u]

Game Design and Porn Pt. 1

or, How To Fuck Up The Best Intrinsic Reward Ever

Hi, I'm Leo G, veteran pervert. One time while chatting in a server exclusively made of porn artists, I brought up the game design of a porn game I enjoyed. One of them laughed, saying "Who cares, it's just a porn game?" Being unwell, I never let this go. Since then, I have played many adult games and took each one as serious products made by professionals. Fast forward to today, and the demo for my porn game, Joker's Trip, is nearing completion. I also have some sci-fi erotica you should check out.

So you wanna make a porn game. You heard they make money, and hey what’s more fun than making a video game AND porn? But you don’t know where to begin! Well don’t worry, Leo’s got you covered. We’re gonna walk through the line of thinking you should have when designing your porn game. There's gonna be at least three parts to this, with part 1 focusing on how to reward your player.

Define "porn game" for me, Leo.

There are porn games, and then games with porn in them. A porn game is a game where you won’t last 5 minutes, where everything exists solely to meet and, subsequently, fuck. A game with porn in it is a game where everything exists for the purpose of the game, and also, you fuck. Fate Stay Night, for example, is a VN with a story that just so happens to have some CGs where the protagonist rails Saber, but is mainly about Shirou and the Holy Grail War. Much like how I would call Castlevania a game with horror in it, but not a horror game.

Porn games are a lot like horror games. They both get a bad rap for being cheap to make, appealing to base instincts, and generally being low quality. They're also both not actual genres of games, but genres of content. Think about it, if I asked you what a horror game is, you'd say a game that's scary. But what's the actual game part? The unfortunate answer would most likely be "walking sim," but there are a lot of examples that are FPSes, puzzles, driving sims, platformers, deck builders, the list goes on.

The most common genres of game I see for porn games these days are by far RPG Maker RPGs and VNs. I won’t be talking about VNs because they’re closer to writing than game design, which isn’t a flaw but a feature. What used to be everywhere, in days of old, were breakout games, where the more bricks and levels were cleared, the more of the sexy image would be revealed in the background. Other arcadey type deals like shoot ‘em ups and mahjong were also around, and had a similar “strip ‘em down until you have sex” gameplay loop.

Okay, so what’s an intrinsic reward?

There’s intrinsic rewards, and there're extrinsic rewards. Extrinsic rewards, generally, are the number go up rewards. Things that make your character stronger, or give you more resources to buy new gear or whatever. Intrinsic rewards in games can cover a large swathe of things. It can be the feeling of satisfaction of completing a puzzle, a piece of lore or world building, or a new dialogue option with a character you want to fuck.

I like fucking characters, are we talking about porn now?

Yes! I’m of the opinion that you literally can’t make a better intrinsic reward than pornography. On top of setting the tone for the entirety of the game., at its best it can add to a story, add to someone’s character development, or be a beautiful piece of art to look at. AND you can jack off to it! Unfortunately, that’s at its best. Let’s talk about how porn is delivered in a theoretical RPG porn game. (As a head’s up, there will be talk of “bad end” scenes, but this is under the assumption that the player is the one consenting.)

So you’re playing an RPG and get into a fight. Maybe you were underleveled or too cumbrained to remember to buy healing potions. Then your HP goes to zero, and instead of going back to the title screen, you’re getting fucked by orcs. That’s right, let’s talk about Game Over CGs.

You get to watch porn when you lose?

To someone making a porn game with a battle system, this delivery method makes sense. The characters in this world are driven primarily by lust, this is just the obvious conclusion. And it doesn’t even have to be non-consensual! Games like Future Fragments show that it can be presented as a sexy inconvenience rather than anything uncomfortable for the player or our hero. Game Over CGs even have the benefit of softening the blow of defeat, by giving the player a chance to reflect on their defeat and jerk off. Even better if losing a fight isn’t lost progress, but rather a bump in the road. However, there’s a problem here. The player is a dog, and we’re rewarding bad behavior.

The porn is an intrinsic reward, so why are we giving it to the player for losing? Incentivizing losing on purpose isn’t just bad game design, but a waste of time. And to that end, a lot of porn games try to give solutions to this. One being a kill button on the keyboard or a skill that instantly KOs our hero to get to the lose screen faster. What might seem like a convenience is really just expediting failure.

What it says is that the gameplay doesn’t actually matter. You’re just here for the porn, right? In that case there’s plenty of places I can go to see a chick with huge knockers get railed by an orc, with the added bonus of not having to play forgettable and mid turn based combat!

Another solution I’ve seen is the game outright telling you, “hey don’t bother killing yourself to see the porn. Once you beat the game all of the scenes you missed will be unlocked!” At first this seems like a reasonable way to go about it, but it comes with another problem: your game better be fucking good to make me play through the entire thing before getting to see cock. Like I said earlier, porn at its best can reveal things about the world and drive character development. I uh. Just beat the game. I don’t care anymore. Showing me a scene that’s taken out of context by a factor of 5 hours or more isn’t what I’d call great game design or story telling. It’s also too little, too late.

What if we made the porn actual rewards?

Now we’re getting somewhere! Let’s make the reward…a reward! What if, every time the player beats a level, we get some porn? If we tie the CG to beating the boss, we’ll be tying the reward to game progression. That’s good right? So now, on top of the extrinsic rewards you’d normally get for beating a boss (a lot of EXP, better gear, opened areas) we also get that sweet dopamine rush of pornography! So we’re good, right?

There’s 1142 words left in this post, so I’m assuming no.

Well. It’s a start. It has the problem of predictability. If not handled properly, it comes off as lazy. As a game designer, one of your goals is to not constantly remind your player that they’re playing a video game. Get through the level, get porn. It feels a little too “mouse in a maze looking for cheese” for my taste. And much like the game over method, if the actual game itself is mid, the player will start to question if the reward is worth it, and might be afflicted with the worst condition a player could receive: boredom.

Of course there are exceptions. In puzzle or arcade type games where you don’t get extrinsic rewards, giving the player porn as another form of reward per level or whatever is perfectly reasonable (though it does have the issue of being predictable.) This is a perfectly good way of doing it if your game is short, or if the game is, y’know, good and fun to play. Bad Color’s game, Heroine Conquest, is a level based puzzle game with porn as the reward, but only when you do good. Combining the actual challenge of mastering the game, with a genuinely unique game loop makes for a feeling of accomplishment when beating a level. Pair that up with a sex cutscene, and the dopamine rush will hit.

So! Let’s combine giving the player a power trip, with a less rigid structure for giving the player porn. Instead of tying the porn to purely progression gates, let’s tie it to the progression.

Plot milestones

In Third Crisis, sex scenes are peppered throughout the regular game’s plot, starting with some lesbian bondage before introducing the protagonist, who goes through a tutorial before having their own horny encounters. It’s not just given when you win or lose, but is a natural part of the game. Beating bosses, losing to enemies, and exploring dialogue options in sidequests all lead to unlocking new CGs.

Now what’s nice about that, is that the sex isn’t placed somewhere extremely predictable. It isn’t just a reward for beating The Boss Of Forest Zone, Now Go To Ice Zone And Beat The Ice Boss For More Cock. Because that’s the biggest issue of predictable rewards, you know you’re not getting anything until that checkpoint, which will make the player weigh whether or not it’s even worth continuing. This is fine, again, for an arcade type game, not an RPG or adventure game. By sprinkling sex throughout the plot itself, the player will not only want to progress, but their curiosity will have them wondering “what else is out there?”

Rewarding exploration

By putting sex scenes behind optional side quests or encounters, the dog that is the player will scour every single corner of the map, and leave no pixel unturned. Personally, that’s more exciting to me than what you’ll get in the main progression route. In Future Fragments the player can find their rival Faye in sexual situations if they explore the map enough. These are completely optional, and don’t give any direct rewards like more HP or an item, but they’re by far what motivates me to explore the maps as thoroughly as possible, more so than the plot macguffins the game is named after!

So now the player is excited. Sex can happen anywhere. Maybe that daunting off road path with stronger monsters isn’t just hiding a secret, but a sexy secret! They’ll be more likely to venture down those optional paths you painstakingly made.

If we’re using sex in game overs, boss fights, and just randos, why not put it everywhere?

So now I want to talk about the concept of a “sex stat”. It’s not a bad idea! Say, the higher the player’s sex stat is, the more opportunities you unlock for fucking. It could even be tied to the player character’s personality, and affect the story! Instead of using a sword and shield, they’ll end any conflict with sass and sex. They open their eyes to the horny world around them and stop being a hero, and instead become a succubus, and the ending is a massive cum filled orgy.

That sounds excessive

Yeah, it does, doesn’t it.

I’m not a fan of “corruption” systems in porn games. Corruption as a kink is totally fine, and having it be a part of the story lets you incorporate more sexuality into the plot. But as I alluded to, it snowballs pretty fast (and I’m not talking about spitting in someone’s mouth). It ends up being like a cheat code, where you’re bypassing parts of the game for no cost. It stops being a reward, it stops being unexpected, and it stops it from being sexy.

Wait, what? Stops being sexy? What’s not sexy about a succubus orgy?

Alright, listen, we gotta rein it in for a minute. This isn’t so much about game design as it is about writing erotica, but if you have a world where everyone’s fucking and sucking 24/7, there’s no contrast to make what would normally be a hot taboo a hot taboo. If everybody’s naked, nobody’s naked. The aforementioned snowball effect of a corruption system can be seen if you play literally any game that has one. It won’t take long to not have to engage with any combat or adventuring system if you can just press the “Submit to the big dick warlock” button and watch porn to progress.

Which, now that I said that, is exactly the problem. Imagine any other rpg you’ve ever played. Now imagine if every encounter and dialogue option had an option to just watch a short cutscene to skip the encounter. That would suck ass, right? Literally no difference here.

It would. Hey, I’m sort of lost now.

Don’t worry, we’re wrapping this up.

So what did we learn? We learned game over CGs have a critical design flaw that shouldn’t be relied on. We learned that predictable rewards can lead to boredom. We learned to keep sex as a reward and not devalue it.

To summarize, here’s a neat trick to know where to put your porn scenes.

”Would I put an Xbox Live achievement here?”

It’s that easy. “Lose to Goblins for the first time,” that’s an achievement. “Beat orc commander,” that’s an achievement. “Find Hubert the Magical Dickhead,” that’s an achievement. Using that as a guideline is foolproof. Almost.

This sounds like it’d take a lot of resources

It sure does! But don’t worry. I’ll cover that in the next post talking all about how to deal with the resource management of a porn game.

(Shoutout to Taylor, my guy for editing!)

[nqmonarch]

Like this man is so sad I just wanna hug him and hold him and tell him everything will be okay but I can't because he's not real. Therefore fanfiction.

Minor spoilers for Jing Liu quest

Comforting Jing Yuan through the screen

To feel lonely, is a common feeling. One that nearly everyone has experienced in their life. So of course, when it was one of those nights you find yourself more than ever sympathizing with Jing Yuan. For a character in a video game, that reminds you too much of yourself.

Originally the only thing that drew your attention to him was his looks. The constant relaxed grin and posture showcasing his confidence, his clothes fit him well showing his competency and also highly attractive body, and he had a badass lion by his side in the splash art. He was just plain pretty. And lightning lord was badass to use in combat. Even if he didn't do much damage it felt like he did damage, at least he did damage to your heart.

Then the lore-- oh my gosh the lore. The only one of his friend group to remember them completely and have to bare the brunt of the pain all while fearlessly and confidently leading however many people were on the Xianzhou. He was lonely. Terribly so. Maybe not in the same way you were lonely but the two of you could be lonely, together.

Whenever he appeared on your screen during a TrailBlaze or Companion quest, your fingers embarrassingly drifted to his hair touching the screen gently. Feeling nothing but cool plastic against your fingers.

Jing Yuan, on the other hand, felt a very strange sensation. Jing Yuan and his three friends were reunited again, yet they never fully could be. Dan Heng was not Dan Feng, as much as it hurt to remember. Yingxing held no memory of the past. Jing Liu left to fight against mara. Blade and Jing Liu had engaged in combat again, air rushing around the two of them at alarming speeds and all Jing Yuan could do is watch. It was all he could ever do.

Then even as the air grew colder and picked up with each clang of the blades, Jing Yuan felt warmth surround him, a hand resting on his head in an attempt to comfort him. He wasn't alone. He wasn't quite sure what kept causing all these strange occurrences, the sudden bursts of warmth when he ran into old friends and felt alone.

Then there was the sudden burst of strength he had, he'd always been strong but each swing of the blade felt effortless now and came faster, more precise, more accurate. But lastly was the strange feeling of comfort, sometimes while he was indulged in that feeling a cut or two would appear on his body only to be healed. His body felt no pain. There'd been a few times when he'd passed out, astounded as blood appeared before him, and he'd wake up moments later perfectly fine.

He wasn't sure exactly what the cause of it all was but he didn't feel quite as alone anymore.

And for some reason, neither did you.

You felt discomfort slink up your spine and rest in your shoulders. It felt like someone was watching you but, no one was around. You turned your attention back to Honkai Star Rail, as you watched lightning lord crash down and hit the enemies.

[directdogman]

So like

Random callum crown question lmao

Is callum more of a villian or anti hero?

I was watching a few videos (iceberg videos and such) and he seems to be depicted more as a anti hero but you never know lol

This is an interesting question to answer as there's only 4 NPCs who provide opinions on Crown's character/impact on the world in DT, and 2 of those perspectives (Norm + Mingus, whose opinions are the more impassioned of the 4) are positive, 1 is vague (Gabby's, who gives a murkier, more distant/distrustful take on the guy) and 1 is a reaction of fear (God's, funnily enough.)

There's also a lil bit of information outside of what these 4 NPCs say (the quiz(es), a few lore posts I've made), but the contents of what I mentioned is basically all the audience really knows about Crown. All 4 of the perspectives above have some merit, though only Mingus and Norm's are bundled with context. It's therefore hard to know exactly where Gabby/God are coming from. It's useful to keep in mind that they were both alive at the time and clam up when he's brought up.

It's also important to note that Crown's visionary plan was never completed and thanks to his memory being erased, is now a total mystery. Whatever plans Crown had for humanity can only be found in one known place: inside Crown's head, which nobody knows how to unlock.

I feel like for a figure like Crown, someone who so fervently pursued his vision for a better tomorrow, an accurate judgement of the guy namely boils down to three things: if you believe his intentions were good, if you believe his mission (vision) was just, and if you think the inevitable collateral damage/mistakes that follow ANY human who isn't born into power, but seizes it through merit or ruthlessness, are excusable. You really have to dissect Crown's past actions during his ascension to power to answer these three questions fully, much of which was left mostly unrecorded to history.

I'm not gonna tell you what exact kind of character I think Crown is (though I know what I'd personally label him as.) What most can probably agree on is that he had very noble goals and he pursued them relentlessly and when needed, ruthlessly. Some saw him as tyrant, others as a saviour. People are rarely just one thing though.

[pjisskullourful]

ℕ𝕒𝕦𝕘𝕙𝕥𝕪 𝕃𝕚𝕤𝕥

𝕘𝕒𝕪 𝕖𝕟𝕠𝕦𝕘𝕙 [dec,2023] [the complete series]

🎄Damiano × Ethan × reader

NSFW🔥 festive filthiness

° Damiano David/Ethan Torchio/female reader insert ✨ cameos by: Thomas Raggi & Victoria De Angelis

° all you want for christmas is some alone time with your boyfriends

wordcount::: 4,876

° merry christmas ya filthy animals. this is lore's fault (@lifeofa-fangirl ) 💋 thanks for encouraging me past my bedtime [requests are open! but commissions are priority! there are 2 fics currently in cue, secure your own spot here!]

° i own none of the lyrics included!

“Aw, I wanna sit on Santa's lap.” You said with an exaggerated pout.

You were watching one of your boyfriends getting ready to film a TikTok, they were making some silly content for social media. Selling the new album, that was the goal. And given the time of year, a Christmas theme seemed like the smartest thing to do. You weren’t sure who had come up with this concept, but it had been agreed for Ethan to play the role of Santa - more specifically, taking on the job of a mall Santa. The other three band members would take turns sitting on his lap, asking for a gift. At the end, it would reveal to be the new album and they would act ecstatically happy.

An assistant had rushed out, buying the best hat and fake beard options available. There was a bit of time before they had to be dressed and fully ready for the stage here in Tokyo, so the makeshift set had been prepared. Paz (the lead social media coordinator) was calling the shots, mobile phone in hand, like always.

You weren’t sure how fond you were of this fake, white beard, mostly due to how much of Ethan’s gorgeous face it hid. But you couldn’t help putting your own dirty spin on this scenario. You pictured sitting on his lap and telling him all the things you wanted him to do to you, once everybody but Damiano was gone.

You wondered what you could say that would make Ethan squirm in his seat. Could you turn his cheeks as red as that polyester hat if you reminded him (in great detail) of the Christmas-themed debauchery the three of you had gotten up to in the past? You could talk about that time in December when you had gifted him new bundles of shibari rope in the festive colours of red and green. He had taught you a few different ties, using Damiano to practise, until he was immobilised, then you had worked together to completely overstimulate him. Or maybe Ethan would like to reminisce on the glass, candy cane-shaped dildo your boyfriends had gifted you one Christmas, which you had later used on yourself while video calling them.

These were all wonderful, festive memories for you. But they needed to be kept to yourself for the moment.

“Do you want us to say anything specific?” Damiano asked Paz.

“Nope. We're going to put music over the top of it, some Christmas song.” She said. “You can say whatever you want, you can literally talk to him in Simlish if you want.”

Ethan's eyes lit up at that, and you didn't need to see his mouth to know that he was smiling. “Wetzbow.”

And Damiano instantly replied with a word from the video game's fake language. “Hooba noobie.”

“Are you gonna be holding your cup of tea in the video?” Thomas asked.

“If he wants to.” She said, overruling everyone else immediately. “You can do what you like, anything but shoving your tongue in his ear.”

Damiano groaned dramatically. “Now that's all I wanna do.”

“On your own time, Dam.” Thomas said.

You stood off to the sidelines, out of the camera's view, not wanting to get in the way of their filming. It was very cute to watch, all four of them overacting and Ethan attempting to not fuss with his beard while Paz was filming.

You couldn't hold back your giggles when he was directed to give the camera a cheesy wink to close the video out. It didn’t look like it was coming naturally to him, instead it looked as if he was putting a lot of effort into completing the simple gesture. Was he overdoing it because he feared that otherwise the camera wouldn’t pick it up?

“What are you laughing about?” Damiano asked, the three of them were perched on the chair around Ethan, holding the record sleeves up for the camera to see.

“Yeah, who fucked up?” Victoria asked.

“No, no, there was no fuck up. I’m just- it’s nothing, ignore me.” You said, trying to stifle any further giggles. “Great winking, bubba. You’re really doing a great job.”

“Thank you?” Ethan said it as a question, his brow furrowed and you covered your lips with your hand.

“Alright, let’s give the ending another take and I’m gonna try to get a smooth zoom in on that wink.” Paz said, refocusing everyone. “Are we ready? Let’s go, lots of energy ‘cause you just got the best Christmas gift known to man.”

You bowed your head and turned around as subtly as possible, so as to not disrupt this take. You kept your amusement over him winking like an alien just introduced to the concept to yourself. You could laugh about it with him later.

*** *** ***

You had long since ceased thinking about Santa, in any shape or form. Now that you were back at the hotel after Måneskin's show, your mind was only on relaxing and getting yourself ready for however much sleep you could secure for yourself. You were cuddling up with Ethan in bed.

Damiano was having his last cigarette of the night, out on the room's balcony with a cup of tea (it wouldn't be his last of the night). Ethan was winding down in his own way, scrolling through Reddit on his mobile phone. If he found anything of interest on ‘Out of the Loop', he read them aloud to you.

He got up to use the bathroom, out of the room when Damiano returned inside. You sat up, taking a longer look at your boyfriend.

“Why do you look like you're scheming something?” You asked.

“Me? I look like I’m scheming something?”

“Yes, you do.” You said as he didn’t make any attempt to conceal the cheeky grin on his face.

“I don’t know what I could possibly be scheming.” He said, going over to the table where your backpacks had been dumped upon first arriving back. “Ethan?”

“Bathroom.”

He didn’t try to hide what he was doing and you watched him opening his own bag, pulling a bright red hat out. You identified it as a Santa hat before he was swiftly folding it up and depositing it into the pocket of the baggy pants he wore. You narrowed your eyes, unable to figure out what his goal was.

“Are you sure-?”

The bathroom door made a little click as it opened and he moved over, going to Ethan’s bag instead. You dropped the rest of your question, wanting to see how this played out.

“Do you have any gum, babe?” He asked Ethan.

He walked over, helping Damiano go through his bag. “Gum? Weren't you just having peppermint tea?” Damiano took his hands out of Ethan's bag, seemingly satisfied that Ethan was distracted enough. While Ethan was looking through the contents, Damiano's hand went into his pocket. “Did you not get enough peppermint, or-?”

Ethan was startled into silence when Damiano brought the Santa hat down onto his head. Damiano pulled it down, the white trim resting above Ethan's eyebrows. He narrowed his eyes, looking at Damiano, clueless. You began to giggle even though you still didn't know what he was planning.

“Was this ever about gum?” Ethan asked.

Damiano put an arm around his shoulders and gave him a tap on the nose. “No, it's about you being the cutest Santa in the world. Look. And we should get to enjoy it for longer, more than a stupid TikTok.”

“Okay.” Ethan relented, knowing better than to resist when Damiano was in a playful mood. “Enjoy it, then. What do you want me to do? Is there a certain pose that you are really needing to see me do?”

“You just do whatever pose feels natural for you, bubba.” You said. “Make the character your own.”

“Actually. Come with me.” Damiano said, taking Ethan's hand and leading him over to one of the armchairs. “Sit down, because this is more about me doing a pose for you.”

“Oh?” Ethan sounded intrigued.

You moved towards the end of the bed, also thoroughly intrigued and not wanting to miss anything. Ethan sat down in the seat and fussed a little with the hat, getting the pom-pom to the right spot.

Damiano plucked his phone out of his pocket and threw it towards you. “Help me out, sweet thing.”

You unlocked the screen - you knew the passcodes to all of their devices. His phone opened immediately to a website that showed you lyrics. Now you knew what he was up to.

Damiano stood in front of Ethan's knees and Ethan smiled up at him. He started to reach one hand up above his head and sang the beginning of the song.

“Santa baby…” He sang sweetly and bent his knees, lowering himself. “Slip a little sable under the tree…”

Ethan chuckled, his smile growing. “I'm getting a song? Wow, a private performance just ‘cause I put a cheap hat on.”

“Been an awful good girl…” Damiano sang, getting down to the floor as he kept his eyes on Ethan. “Santa baby…” Damiano put his hands to Ethan's knees and pushed them apart. “And hurry down the chimney tonight…” He rolled his body forward, filling this new space and getting closer to Ethan.

He reached out, his fingers brushing across Damiano's cheeks. He was leaning in and it was clear to you that he wanted to kiss, still smiling, entirely invested in Damiano's shenanigans.

But Damiano denied Ethan the kiss. Instead of kissing him, Damiano stood up and began to walk a slow circle around the seat. He continued singing, not needing any musical accompaniment to keep his focus.

He stood behind Ethan and popped his head over one of Ethan's shoulders. “Next year I could be just as good…” He moved over to the opposite shoulder. “If you check off my Christmas list…

“Santa baby…” You saw his hesitant pause and then his eyes darted over to you as he mumbled over the next words. “Ah, huh- wan'...”

“Yacht.” You read, prompting him from the lyrics in front of you.

He nodded and went back to singing loudly, fully confident again. “...a yacht, and really that's not a lot…”

The slip up hadn't taken away from how captivated Ethan appeared, he kept his eyes on Damiano, turning his head so as to not miss anything. Damiano got in front of Ethan again, turning his back. He leaned forward, hands on his knees as he presented his ass to Ethan. As he continued singing, he slowly rocked from one side to the other, wiggling his butt sensually in Ethan's face. Ethan was still smiling, raising his hands, clearly wanting to grab.

“So hurry down the chimney tonight…”

Damiano faced him, putting his hands to the buttons that ran down the front of his shirt, making a show of undoing them. “Santa honey…” He got the shirt off, but looked to you for more guidance.

“One little thing.” You said, letting him get his groove back.

He found his place in the song and kept singing. He held his shirt in both hands and passed it around the back of Ethan's neck. He used this to bring Ethan forward, his head going to Damiano's bare chest, which Ethan didn't resist.

Damiano began to shimmy his shoulders, making Ethan laugh. He put his hands to the other man's back, his words a little muffled. “Oh, it's been so long since I've had a good motorboating.”

“Fill my stocking with a duplex…”***

Damiano put himself in Ethan's lap, facing him as he reached the end of the song, still so full of energy. “Hurry down the chimney tonight…” He put his hands on Ethan's shoulders, leaning in. “Hurry, tonight.”

Before Ethan could compliment this performance, Damiano was kissing him. Damiano put his hand to the back of Ethan's head, making it clear that he wanted more than a peck. You were glad to not need to help with the lyrics anymore, now you could stop looking at the phone and instead concentrate on them. You watched the way Ethan kept his hands on Damiano's back, the two of them sinking into this embrace and it was just as enjoyable to watch as his singing.

“That was really great, Daddy. I loved it.” Ethan said as Damiano continued to hold the shirt taut around the back of his neck. “You definitely got me feeling the Christmas spirit.”

“Christmas spirit?” Damiano repeated. “That's what you're feeling?”

“Yeah.” Ethan said before kissing him again.

He began looking in your direction a little. “Do you know who else could do with a little Christmas spirit?”

Ethan looked at you too. “Hi.”

You got up from the mattress, starting to walk towards them without any real plan of what to do. “Hi.”

“I heard what you said before.” Damiano told you. “You said you wanted to sit in Santa's lap too.”

Ethan smiled at you. “Did you say that?”

“Well, yeah. Everyone else got a turn sitting in your lap. But I would do it differently to them, a little less camera-friendly.” You said.

Damiano got up and moved out of the way. “It's your turn now.”

You went over, your hand resting on Ethan's shoulder as you got closer. “I'm not going to sing to you.”

“That is so fine, you don't need to.” He said, his hands going to your body as soon as you sat down. You faced him, brushing his hair back off of his shoulders. “Not to sound too transactional, but the only thing you need to do is tell me what you want for Christmas.”

You put your hand under his chin, propping his face up as you leaned in. “I want to be on the naughty list.”

“What are you going to do to get there?” He asked quietly, his eyes going down to your mouth.

You put your lips to his, moving your hand up to caress his cheek. You were soon tasting hints of the flavour left behind by Damiano - his cigarette and mint-infused saliva still vaguely present on Ethan’s lip as you rubbed your tongue against it. It was a testament to how deeply your boyfriends had been kissing and you intended to go just as deep.

Upon returning back to the suite, Ethan had stripped down to everything but his underwear. So when you pressed your body against his, you were feeling the heat from his skin through the T-shirt you were wearing. You wrapped an arm around his neck, intending to savour all of the benefits that this closeness brought.

“I hate to interrupt.” Damiano said. “But I just felt the need to share how glad I am that you haven’t decided to start talking in a Santa voice.”

Even as he began to turn away, Ethan kissed you a few more times. “Well the voice wouldn’t make much sense without the beard.” This set you off giggling. “But I might start speaking like him, in that I’ll steal his catchphrase to call you a hoe hoe hoe.”

“Ooh, would you? You know how much I love it when you address me correctly.” Damiano said.

With no further interruptions, you got back to kissing Ethan. As you did this, you began to move your hips, gently rocking. It was a prelude to what you planned to do, a subtle way to check his receptiveness.

He moved his hands beneath the material of your shirt, at the same time as when his tongue slid between your lips. You felt the anticipation swelling up within you as you looked forward to creating a new festive (yet filthy) memory with them.

“This guy hears everything, huh?” You said.

“Santa? I think the lyric is about how he sees everything you do, right?” He asked, a cute crease in his brow.

“No, this guy.” You said and you jabbed your thumb in Damiano’s direction to help add clarity.

“Well I listen when you talk, baby. Because most of the time you’re saying something dirty.” He said and as you looked up at him, Ethan started to kiss across your neck. “I was standing right next to you, you can’t be that surprised over me hearing it.”

“So you heard it, and then you just thought about it all night?” You asked.

“Pretty much. A man in a makeup chair has a lot of time to think.” Damiano said. “You weren’t thinking about it after you said it, making little plans of what you would do if you got the chance?”

“Uh…”

“Answer the question, baby.” Ethan said.

“I was definitely thinking about it when I said it. It wasn't just a passing comment, I had some- you know, images in mind at the time. But I let it go once the hat came off because I figured it wouldn't happen.” You said. “And now I'm making it up as I go along, I didn't plan like you. I'm just letting the Christmas spirit take me wherever.”

“Ah yes, the Christmas spirit.” Damiano said, wiggling his fingers in the air.

Ethan got your attention back by kissing you on the cheek. “Well you're in my lap now, you better make the most of it.”

“Watch me make the most of it.” You said, giving him a kiss.

Then you quickly removed your shirt, his eyes keenly taking in this sight. You put your hands down to your panties, happy to get out of them for him. You stood up, removing the lingerie altogether and turning your back to him.

You made sure to arch your back, sticking your butt out as you lowered yourself down to his lap, facing away from him this time. He wrapped his arms around your middle and gave you some kisses across your shoulder, meanwhile you were reaching your arms out to Damiano.

“You must have gotten yourself worked up while you were making your little plans there, Daddy.” You said.

“Yeah, there were definitely images in my mind, as well- interesting, pleasing, exciting, memorable images.” He said, smiling as he moved in closer.

With him standing in front of you, you unzipped his jeans, reaching in for his briefs. Over the fabric, you began to run your hand up-and-down the length of his dick. He cupped your cheek in his hand, gazing down at you. Ethan continued kissing your skin as Damiano caressed your bottom lip with his thumb. As you were grinding yourself on Ethan, you opened your mouth and took Damiano's thumb between your lips, sucking on it a little.

Behind you, Ethan was making some adjustments. Before too long you were feeling his hot and uncovered dick. You grinded your butt against it, feeling how stiff it already was. He tightened his arm around your middle, more of his body tensing as he let you settle into a rhythm.

You were feeling Damiano getting firmer, so you proceeded to pull his dick free of his underwear. Immediately you wrapped your fingers around his length, working your hand at almost the same rhythm you were rocking on Ethan. You didn’t have to match it perfectly, the look on Damiano’s face told you that he was appreciative of what you were doing.

Wanting more than just sucking his thumb, you emptied your mouth and turned away. You looked at Ethan, bumping your nose against his cheek for his attention. He took his lips off of your shoulder, quickly making himself available for more kisses. You leaned in so close as you claimed his mouth again.

He was moving his body with yours, attaching himself to your energy. As the two of you were tapping into this synergy, you acknowledged that this encounter was no longer about playing roles. The focus wasn’t on the time of year, now it was about enjoying the experience of each other’s bodies. He wasn’t acting as Santa, now he was acting according to his desires.

He got himself lined up, sinking the tip of his cock into your slicked entrance. Now excitement rushed into your body and you broke the kiss before your breath could be wholly taken away.

As Ethan tenderly pushed more of his shaft inside, you changed the way you were handling Damiano’s cock. You looked up at him, beginning to direct him towards your mouth. He sweetly stroked your cheek some more, his eyes were locked on you, not wanting to miss any of what you were doing. The way that he was so captivated by your movements, it was the same way that huge crowd had watched him for the duration of the concert. He was so invested and you planned to show him exactly why you had earned this.

You pressed a kiss to the head, enjoying the beginnings of his taste. You saw his breath coming in quicker as he anticipated what you would do next. You moved your tongue in rings on his tip, letting the sensitivities build. All the while, Ethan was pushing deeper into you. You continued stroking your hand on Damiano’s length, your eyes fluttering shut as you surrendered yourself to this rising passion.

Ethan’s movements were all the more enticing now, steadily massaging you into a heightened state. His hand gripped your side, holding you so securely while his other went to your breast, playing with your firm nipple. As you kept in time with him, he applied kisses to your neck, taking the chance to appreciate every part of you within reach.

You pushed your tongue out over your lower lip before you slid your mouth further down Damiano’s length. His hand went to the top of your head as you took the majority of it between your lips. So as to avoid overwhelming you too soon, he held himself still, the thrusting would come later. You let his head rest against the roof of your mouth as you used your tongue on the underside of his cock. You explored this area, gliding your tongue up-and-down.

When you sucked your cheeks in around his dick, his fingers curled, wrapping around sections of your hair. The swinging of Ethan’s hips got faster, indicating a neediness that hadn’t been present earlier. It saw you moaning on Damiano’s dick as you felt the friction between yours and Ethan’s bodies growing. It introduced tremors into your system and you noticed how his kisses had started to linger, the occasional lick and brief suck added to how he treated your neck.

You changed the angle on Damiano’s dick so that you could take him deeper, directing him to the back of your mouth. He whimpered, his stance altering - you knew him well enough that you could tell he wouldn’t be able to hold himself back much longer.

And you welcomed it. You sought to draw more out of him, taking the head of his cock to the opening of your throat. He gripped your hair tighter.

Then his lust took over and he allowed his hips to twitch forward, plunging him into the tightness of your throat. You felt him throbbing in there.

He sighed out your name. “You’re so ready to use that sweet mouth for naughtiness. I didn’t even have to ask you to put it in your throat.”

He rocked himself back, leaving your throat for the moment. You reset your lips around his dick as he thrust his hips into your face. It wasn’t very quick, and compared to what Ethan was doing, it felt extraordinarily gentle.

He had stopped kissing the side of your neck, now resting his head against yours for support as all of his efforts went into the incessant snapping of his hips. You did your best to keep up with them, meeting the majority of his thrusts. But the power of his movements easily dwarfed yours and it was obvious that he wasn’t going to quit, not while he was so clearly on the path to his climax.

It was enough to just keep moving, to keep your body invested in his momentum as he followed one reckless collision with another. You listened to his numerous failed attempts to catch his breath. Goosebumps sprang up all over your body as the tension swelled up to fever pitch.

You felt how easy it would be to become overwhelmed by the electricity rushing through you. But he beat you to it, capturing his release with one final pound into you.

For the moment it seemed that you could feel every nerve in your system and how fraught they all were. He leaned back, giving you back some of your personal space, his arm loosening around you. He stilled himself after taking his hand off of your breast.

But Damiano was not still, keeping at working his cock between your lips. Ethan stroked your back as you moved your focus, sucking your cheeks in a little harder.

“Well, this sight is better than anything I could have thought up.” Damiano said.

You felt pride blossoming up. There was something in knowing how much you turned him on that added to your own arousal.

It wasn’t as simple or superficial as a compliment. And you were eager to put this energy to use, to ride these dazzling emotions to the next height - where things were going to be even more exciting.

You weren’t sure if Ethan was done recovering yet or not, but you simply couldn’t hold yourself still any longer. You started to build your own pacing, thrusting in his lap again. He didn’t discourage you in any way and you worked yourself on his cock, while still sucking Damiano’s.

He was getting more into his bucking, both of his hands holding your head now. “What do you say, baby?” His tip glided into your throat again. “Do you want a new necklace for Christmas?”

You forced yourself back, taking him out of your mouth. “Uh-uh, I'm gonna swallow it.”

He beamed. “Oh, yes you are.” He pushed his tip between your parted lips and you opened your mouth further for him. “You're so ready to swallow it all.”

You shut your eyes and moved yourself further down his length. His fingers flexed and relaxed, then gripped again on either side of your head. You rutted yourself back into Ethan, striking him consistently.

You could feel the excitement getting out of hand and you were soon chasing for that release. Your walls gripped tight to Ethan's cock and the sensitivities swam through your body, ready to overwhelm you with each hungry thrust.

On his next rock forward, Damiano delivered his dick back into your throat. You couldn't control the spasming this prompted, but you also weren't bothered by it as your focus secured on your own experience. You were diving over the edge and capturing your orgasm, trembling wildly between your boyfriends.

With drool spilling down your chin, you began to come back to reality. You looked up at Damiano, he writhed against you, chest rapidly rising-and-falling as he kept himself in your throat. You were still shaking, you put your hand to his wrist, willing yourself to stay with him.

It was a victory when you felt him unloading straight down your throat - you were rewarded with the thick and hot liquid. With a series of incoherent, strangled sounds he rocked back slightly, leaving your throat, but staying in the warmth of your mouth. You could have taken in a deep breath, instead you breathed through your nose so that you could secure your lips around his cock, giving him a strong finish. He ran his shaft against your messy lips, the cum filling into your mouth with his every lazy thrust.

He finished out the momentum, his fingers relaxing on your head as he pulled out of your mouth. You leaned back into Ethan, who kept his arms securely around you. He reached up, wiping away some of the mess that covered your chin as you took a few thorough swallows. You shut your eyes and just concentrated on catching your breath.

“Definitely on the naughty list now.” Damiano said, his hand soothingly rubbing across your forehead.

“Oh, she's topping that list, for sure.” Ethan said. “I'll put in a word with the right people, because I got connections.”

“When you're making your cup of tea, can I get one as well, please?” You asked, not bothering to open your eyes as you slumped further into him.

“Of course you can get tea, sweet thing.” Damiano said.

As you gradually came down, you and Ethan relocated to the bed. You stole the hat off of his head. Damiano moved around the kitchen while Ethan disappeared into the bathroom.

When he came back into the main room, he had a thoughtful look on his face. “So should I grow a beard? Is that what I should take from this?”

“Nope.” You answered quickly.

“Only if it's white and curly.” Damiano contributed as he came over with the tea.

You started giggling as both of your boyfriends joined you on the mattress. “So he'll have to keep it consistently bleached and sleep with fuckin' rollers in it?”

»»————-　♡　————-««  

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joke i thought about much after the fact

*** "Santa baby, forgot to mention one little thing- a ring: one that goes on my cock!"

[t0ast-ghost]

Episode 25 (This Side Of Paradise) is this the fuck flower one? Only one way to find out; through:

- Dangerous fucking planet. “Living tissues disintegrates under its exposure” I’m worried the suggested “limited exposure” might become less and less limited

- did they? Make McCoy’s eyebrows thicker? Like does he have eyebrow pencil on? I just wanna know

- “On pure speculation… just an educated guess— I’d say that man is alive.” Kirk gives him a *look* how does he survive around McCoy and Spock’s sass

- I feel like having warm flesh isn’t necessarily the ultimate test to see if someone is alive. But what do I know, I’m an actor not a doctor.

- McCoy and Spock are so handsome in this episode

- how do I explain that this photo reminded me of this video?

- what in the kuleshov effect?? Why does Spock like this random- nvm not random but why?

- “I wouldn’t know right or wrong if it was two feet away from me.” Sits right next to the flowers. Sulu move away from the flowers please

- not ominous not threatening and completely normal (my mantra for thinking about the planet inhabitants when they say something like “he has no choice but to stay” or “you’ll find no weaklings here”)

- girl, he is GAY

- “Emotions are alien to me I am a scientist.” What do you study? Men? (I’m sorry I’ll stop now)

- DID THAT PLANT JUST- nope can’t say that

- “It shouldn’t hurt” HES ALLERGIC

- “Would you like me to use a butterfly net on him, Jim?” (Note to self draw Bones with a butterfly net and one of those stupid drawstring sunhats)

- Spock’s cloud watching.. HES SEEN A DRAGON WHAT KIND OF LORE IS THAT

- “No I don’t think so, *sir*” YES FULL SASSY SPOCK YES

- “That didn’t sound at all like Spock, Jim.” “No… I thought you said you might like him if he mellowed a little.” “I didn’t say that, I!-” “You said that, I-” “Not exactly… He might be in trouble.”

- Spock in a tree? How’d he get up there?

- THE PLANTS THEY- no no don’t say that.

- “Hiya, Jimmy boy!” It’s kinda funny how Bones becomes more southern (and happy) every time he’s mind controlled

- Jim alone on the bridge :(

- THE FLOWER JUST FUCKIN- no…just… no

- Jim: Time to go piss off my crew and get beaten up by Spock

- NO JIM TOO FAR

- All they have to do to get McCoy back is put him in a room with Spock and let them go at it (edit: I meant arguing)

- “You wanna see how fast I can put you in a hospital.” WHOA WHOA WOW

- McCoy not afraid TO PUNCH A BITCH!

(I’ve got all three of them now :D)

- Jim’s surrounded by people on the bridge again! Yippee!!

- I’m reminded how much I need subtitles on this show

- “For the first time in my life… I was happy.” WHAT SPOCK THATS INSANE! LET HIM BE HAPPY???

Okay good fuck plant episode. See you next time

Masterpost

[tomorrowxtogether]

TOMORROW X TOGETHER: DEJA VU

TOMORROW X TOGETHER return with their sixth mini-album ‘minisode 3: TOMORROW’, bridging past and future with a narrative deepening their unique musical journey. Both a throwback and a leap forward, It’s an exciting blend of nostalgia and innovation. Read our latest Dork Mixtapecover feature now.

To be a fan these days is a long-term investment, and for those who’ve chosen to follow TOMORROW X TOGETHER, the payoff will be immense. Five years after the South Korean five-piece debuted, they’re returning with their sixth mini-album, the almost-eponymous ‘minisode 3: TOMORROW’ and picking up the Easter eggs they’ve dropped in that time.

It’s the place they’re coming back to on ‘minisode 3: TOMORROW’, their sixth mini-album but tenth release overall (if you’re not following, their releases are split into chapters: ‘Dream’, ‘Chaos’ and ‘Name’, with the ‘minisode’s serving as interludes that build on the group’s lore). Teaser images ahead of the drop show the boys wearing crowns once again, while the accompanying videos feature Morse code beeps originally included in that debut single.

“For those of our fans who have been joining us on the journey from the very beginning, I think they are going to find it very fun and exciting since it’s going to be a throwback to the past,” says TAEHYUN, who’s by far the chattiest member of the group alongside youngest HUENINGKAI.

“The Morse code translates to ‘tomorrow’,” says the latter, “and it’s supposed to symbolise the future that we are going to build together and also give that hopeful vibe that there’s going to be an even brighter future, so we thought that it ties in really well with the overarching concept of this album.”

The lineup is completed by leader SOOBIN, plus eldest YEONJUN and middle child BEOMGYU, all five meeting us from a stark white room somewhere in Seoul at an eye-watering 7:30am, although no hint of tiredness is given away.

“I think this mini-album fully encompasses the albums that we put out previously, and at the same time, I feel like it’s a completely unique TXT-style album,” says TAEHYUN. “Since this album is all about being reminded of the promises that we made in the past, we tried to bring back those memories, and it’s overall like a throwback to our past.”

A rich visual world enhances the elaborate storytelling in the TXT’s discography. Echoing the plots of 80s coming-of-age flicks like Stand By Me and supernatural stories like The Lost Boys, TXT’s music videos follow the boys as they grow up and become increasingly aware of and affected by the adult world.

“For those of our fans who have been joining us on the journey from the very beginning, I think they are going to find it very fun and exciting since it’s going to be a throwback to the past”

When watched chronologically, it spits out something akin to the series inspired by those 80s films too, Stranger Things; starting out bright and innocent in debut ‘CROWN’, before uncovering a darker underbelly in ‘9 and Three Quarters (Run Away)’. What follows is a flip-flop between the two sides, merging over time until they’re indistinguishable from one another, the devil’s temptation piercing the otherwise literal ‘Sugar Rush Ride’ in its chorus and their own Upside Down revealing itself in the real world on last year’s (also very 80s) ‘Chasing That Feeling’.

With a group concept centred around growing up, it’s never been far from what the TXT boys were experiencing in their day-to-day lives, despite all the extra frills. This album’s lead single, ‘Deja Vu, ‘ may expand on their fictional world, but the other tracks are a little more real.

“I definitely feel like I’m growing in my personal life as well,” says TAEHYUN. “In particular, I took part in penning some of the lyrics for one of our tracks, ‘Quarter Life’, in this album, and I felt like as much as we were telling our personal stories, we were also representing, you know, the concerns that people in our generation might have. So, in that regard, I think I’m becoming more mature.”

TXT hit the ground running in March 2019, arriving as one of the first fourth-generation groups to debut as K-pop’s global grip really took hold. Within months, they were on an international tour of the US, and by the time the year was out, they’d picked up numerous Rookie of the Year awards at ceremonies across Asia.

Five years on, and they’ve gone from strength to strength. Far from rookies, 2023 saw TXT headline Lolapalooza in Chicago and finish up their second world tour with two nights at Seoul’s Gocheok Sky Dome (which apparently clocks in at around 25,000 ticket holders a night). Their third full-length album, ‘The Name Chapter: FREEFALL’, saw them collaborate with boy band royalty Jonas Brothers and Latin pop trailblazer Anitta, proving their prowess as true global stars. But no amount of achievements could fend off the niggling self-doubt that comes with hitting your twenties.

“As soon as we heard the theme of [‘Quarter Life’] we just went, oh, that’s such a perfect theme,” says HUENINGKAI, “because it not only hits home for us, but I thought that the song narrates something that everybody practically could resonate with. The song itself has a very youthful vibe, and it’s a very upbeat stadium rock track that bursts with energy. TAEHYUN and SOOBIN wrote some of the lyrics, too.”

TAEHYUN continues, “It’s supposed to mean a crisis people usually face when they’re crossing that one-quarter mark in their life, which is kind of the same scenario for us as well, so we were already feeling it before the song came along, and then we thought that it completely tied in with our vibes and that it gave us the opportunity to genuinely and authentically talk about our personal feelings. You get the anxiety and feeling of nervousness that there’s so much left in your life still, so I think I thought most about what I should do with the remainder of my life to become a better person, a better human being.”

“We really want to perform in the UK and meet the MOA there; we love the country.”

Now in their mid-twenties, TXT are often regarded as Gen Z leaders, navigating adolescence in tandem with their fans (also known as MOA, which stands for ‘moment of alwaysness’) regardless of how different their lives have been.

“I would have to say that it was our members and MOA that helped me through these challenges and helped me navigate through what I’m coming across in life,” says HUENINGKAI. “So in moments when something was not working out, I would always rely on them, and it’s through them that I can feel that I’ve become more mature as a person.”

“You know, with each passing year, I have a new concern in mind, something hanging over my head,” adds BEOMGYU, “but no matter how long it will take, I try to tackle things one by one and get things sorted out gradually. I think that kind of helps me grow as a person.”

Vast sonic developments over the years have seen TOMORROW X TOGETHER adopt a rock-driven sound across their releases. From the emo-lite ‘0X1=LOVESONG (I Know I Love You)’ and ‘LO$ER=LOVER’, to the rapid guitar riffs of ‘Good Boy Gone Bad’, to almost nu metal on recent album opener ‘Growing Pain’. That sound is maintained on ‘minisode 3: TOMORROW’, as glitchy trap-beat single ‘Deja Vu’ gets an amped-up rockier remix as a bonus offering.

Elsewhere on the EP, TXT hop on the ‘K-Pop songs that sound British’ trend (a worthwhile Google) with the UK-house-infused opener ‘I’ll See You There Tomorrow’, while ‘The Killa (I Belong To You)’, performed by oldest members YEONJUN and SOOBIN is a sultry Afrobeats style track that shows another side of growing up.

“Previously, we only tried to make some of the sensuous songs mildly sexy with just a hint of sexiness,” TAEHYUN teases. “But this track ‘The Killa’ goes all in; it’s a full-out sexy vibe exuding from the song, so I’m really looking forward to how the two will perform on the stage and pull that song off. It’s gonna be really intense,” he says, theorising what future performances might be like.

As they prepare for their third world tour, titled ‘Act: Promise’, they’re visiting new territories in the US; although they’re still yet to cross the pond for European shows, the boys are hoping that will change.

“You know, we just want to keep putting out songs and performances that everybody can resonate with and relate to that is uniquely TOMORROW X TOGETHER and that represents our unique identity and colour,” YEONJUN says.

“I really want to go,” adds HUENINGKAI. “We really want to perform in the UK and meet the MOA there; we love the country.”

“The UK is home to many of the legendary rock bands, and in the K-pop scene TXT the definition of rock, so it’s meant to be,” TAEHUYN claims.

Although this mini album sees TOMORROW X TOGETHER pulling from their own past, their mindset stays true to their namesake as they push themselves forward once again. ■

[leofrith]

hii so i‘m way to invested in everyone‘s baldurs gate plays. can we see your tavs? I would love to see them haha😭

YESSSSSS i will happily take any excuse to talk about my tavs. 🥰 i'm sorry this took so long. i wanted to have their Lore™ a little more set in stone before answering this, but then i proceeded to make uhhhh 2 more tavs and a durge. 🤡

i am listing my characters in the order i created them. they're all good/neutral aligned because being mean in video games makes me break out in hives. aaaaand this is going under a read more because it got really fucking long. 🥴

marqwyn stoneheart

race: human

class: eldritch knight fighter

background: soldier

romance: gale

my first tav who i adore. ❤️ i stole her name from the very first character i created for a now abandoned dnd campaign (though she's nothing like og marqwyn). she's a former flaming fist who left their service due to the corruption she witnessed there. after leaving the city she became an independent soldier for hire—but she's a terrible mercenary because she's a bleeding heart who will help people because they need it, regardless of whether they can pay her or not.

she has dragged the party into many an unnecessary brawl because her charisma is literally in the negatives. we love a girl incapable of talking herself out of Situations. she also used to have two brown eyes before deciding to get herself volo'd during a brief moment of desperation-fuelled insanity.

her backstory has changed a lot since i first made her, mostly because i didn't really have anything in mind when i started playing. 😬 i also had no fucking clue what i was doing when i first started and it certainly shows (tons of missed content, didn't take enough long rests, completely missed lae'zel for the first ~30 hours of gameplay, have done quests in an extremely questionable order, etc.).

i romanced gale with her because the wizard had me by the jugular the second he opened his mouth, and buff wife who hits things with her big sword and her squishy wizard husband who casts counterspell is something that can be so personal. that being said, i do want to rework her character and do another playthrough with her, probably romancing wyll, because her playthrough is a mess.

i will now dip into the alternate canon that lives in my brain in which my next three tavs are allowed to coexist, so just stay with me here and trust in the vision ajgjsdgf

meadow moonwillow

race: mephistopheles tiefling

class: storm sorcerer, bard of the college of lore

background: entertainer

romance: karlach (or enya in the canon that exists in my head)

i made her specifically for my karlach romance run, because best girl deserves a little sunshine to match her own. meadow was born to play gigs in dive bars, but was cursed with a natural talent for magic. 😔 she'll use it because it's useful in a fight, i guess, but she'd much rather insult people to death. if there is shit to be disturbed, she will disturb it.

her and gale are best friends, because i think having some friendly spell caster competition with his bestie who (begrudgingly) lets him teach her wizard spells would be good for his mental health. her and wyll butt heads a bit at first, mostly because meadow's way of trying to comfort people is through humor, and her attempts to make him feel better about his new devil form come off as insensitive (inspired by the way i accidentally insulted wyll at the tiefling party in my meadow playthrough by joking that i was jealous of his horns. king i swear it was meant as a compliment!! 😭). eventually they become really close, which is certainly a necessity when you're both going on a vacation to hell with no set end date.

also my choice of name for her definitely has nothing to do with the fact that i am in the middle of watching the sopranos. definitely not.

landric sparrowsong, "the wrath-bringer"

race: human

class: oath of vengeance paladin, tempest domain cleric of ilmater

background: sage

romance: gale

his backstory is probably the one i've thought about in the most detail, mostly because he's a walking tragedy and i live for that shit. 🧍🏻‍♀️

he was once a school teacher and wasn't much of a fighter at all before his little village near baldur's gate was razed to the ground and his wife and (or so he thinks 👀) daughter were killed, at which point he took up his oath of vengeance. his favourite pastimes now include self-sacrifice and violently murdering evildoers, hence the "wrath-bringer" epithet.

he has been alone—mostly by choice, because he can't lose any more loved ones if there is no one left alive that he loves—for over a decade by the time he's infected, but the forced proximity means the companions very quickly get under his skin. he's very protective of meadow especially (when they're both in the party at the same time in the universe that exists in my head) because she reminds him of his daughter.

he is god's favourite sacrificial lamb, and is consistently the first to go down in a fight (inspired by me, constantly getting him killed by taking far too long to figure out how to play a support class). naturally i paired him with gale because i think the idea of a guy finally opening his heart to the love of another after over a decade of self-imposed solitude out of fear of being hurt again, only for gale to decide to take on a suicide mission just as they're finally realizing their feelings for one another, is soooooo good and tragic. ☺️

he has a soft spot for children, but being around them makes him sad and withdrawn (for obvious reasons), something that the companions notice pretty quickly once they get to the grove and see his cold exterior totally melt around the kids there. he carries a journal which he adds to often, either little blurbs or sketches of people he meets in his travels, ever observing from afar as an outsider.

he was actually a war cleric of mystra when i first multiclassed him because the idea of this man finding solace in his goddes during the worst years of his life only for that same goddess to tell the first person he's truly loved in years that he needs to kill himself is sooooo. anyway. but i decided to change it because war domain just wasn't doing it for me and also have you seen ilmater's whole deal?

also if he bears a close resemblance to my favourite unromanceable assassin's creed npc, that's just a coincidence (lying).

enya sparrowsong

race: human

class: beast master ranger/circle of the land druid

background: urchin

romance: lae'zel (or meadow in the canon that exists in my head)

enya is landric's very alive daughter. i made her in the character creator with no intention of actually doing a playthrough as her, which is a lie i tell myself every time i open the character creator. 😔

ideally she would not even be filling the role of tav at all, but that's obviously not an option for an actual playthrough. she spent her childhood hunting and gathering in the wilds and later pickpocketing her way through the darkened alleys of baldur's gate to survive. in the version of her backstory that lives in my head, she eventually caught the attention of jaheira (by trying to rob her), who then took enya under her wing. the harpers became a family to her, and she is with them in the shadow lands when we meet them at last light in act two. also depending on my mood on any given day, enya and meadow are either bitter exes or couple of the year.

she is generally very abrasive with most people she doesn't know well (her and lae'zel are very perfect for each other), but has a soft spot for animals and orphans. she likes her solitude and it takes a lot of effort to earn her trust (there's a reason she's survived alone as long as she has) but once you do, she's ride-or-die.

she has a raven companion and her preferred wild shape is a wolf, but i've also had a lot of fun using her wolf wild shape and a wolf companion for twice the mauling in combat (and twice the torment for shadowheart—thank you sam for pointing out that she would fucking hate this 😭). i also like to think that she's been helping shadowheart get over her fear of wolves.

her relationship with her dad is deliciously complicated!!! but that's for another post.

idunn

race: high elf

class: necromancy wizard/gloom stalker ranger

background: haunted one

romance: astarion

i haven't played as her much yet, and she's my first durge so i don't really know a ton about that whole background. but her brain is currently scrambled egg and she doesn't remember her past so i figure it's fine if i don't know anything about it either.🧍🏻‍♀️

she's trying so very hard not to kill people, and making up for the lack of murder by being incredibly rude to everyone she meets [astarion approves]. i named her idunn because i like the name but also in large part because i think associating the dark urge with the norse goddess of rejuvenation and vitality is really funny.

aelius lucilius

race: drow half-elf

class: light domain cleric of selune

background: acolyte

romance: shadowheart

he's my newest tav and the one i've played the least, so i'm still working out his backstory. i honestly just really wanted to romance shadowheart as a selunite, which is working out great so far because the shar is already out of the bag and now she loudly and openly hates his fucking guts. 🤪

[kota-corner]

After three days, I have finally completed an Autistic right of passage, and finished watching the 8+ hour FNAF lore video :)

[lockandkeyhyena]

HI IM HERE IN RESPONSE TO THE “maybe I should play destiny” POST.

DON’T BRO IT IS SO BAD. I’VE BEEN IN IT FOR SEVEN YEARS BRO THIS GAME IS GARBAGE NOW. THEY LOST THE PLOT THREE YEARS AGO NO ONE WHO PLAYS IT LIKES IT AND ITS ABOUT TO END 😭😭😭

Like legitimately.

This isn’t a “oh the story sucks/the gameplay is bad” because objectively neither is true. It’s the way the game is currently handling, it’s nearly impossible for new players to truly get involved. So much vitally important story content is completely vaulted. Legit the single most important expansion in the game, the one that caused every major problem we are facing in the current time is not even in the game. It’s there. The current content is locked behind paywalls and seasonal stories that go away at the end of the year and the gameplay loop is becoming worse and worse because the devs are just neglecting entire game modes.

Don’t get me wrong! It’s an incredible experience, but a lot of that experience is gone.

Save yourself. I beg of you. Do not play Destiny 2 the Game.

If you can find a working copy of the original Destiny absolutely play that. But D2TG is a flaming garbage fire. It’s like the tumblr of video games nothing works and we all complain constantly but none of us will ever leave it.

But as it currently stands I would not recommend getting into the game because it’s just not optimized for new players. The story of a story driven game is missing massive chunks.

Or do get into it! Maybe you’ll find it fun. If you do decide to give it a shot I hope you enjoy it and if that is the case watch the lore summary videos on YouTube to get up to date. You’re an adult you do what you want.

laughing so hard at this because i understand. the panic of seeing someone say ‘maybe i should read warrior cats’ as an adult would give me conniptions. i’ll take your word for it anon, thank you for saving me 🫡

[averageartistamber]

So, my thoughts on Side Order

Okay, so Side Order’s been out for a few days, so I may as well give out my thoughts on it. Obviously, this post is going to contain spoilers below as I go into more detail about my opinions and observations.

I’ve completed four runs so far (almost got five but failed near the end).

Overall, Side Order’s pretty good. It’s a lot of fun, a little rough in some areas, but worth the wait.

 First, let’s talk about mechanics.

Splatoon’s gameplay works well with a rogue-lite gameplay loop, and it’ll easily keep you occupied for at least a couple of hours (Some folks have 100% completed it on release day, but for the average player I’d reckon maybe 15-20 hours?). The permanent upgrade system allows a degree of control over the difficulty (even if it can be a grind to unlock things).

The chip system is cool, especially later on when you’ve made some really goofy yet strong builds. The Pearl Drone is some of the most fun stuff we’ve seen in the series so far. Letting her be almost as overpowered in the gameplay as she is in the lore is just really funny.

One thing that I feel does bring it down though, is the lack of variety. After a few hours you do start to notice that there’s only about five different floor objectives, and there’s not that much in terms of enemy variety either (although later floors add a mechanic where Battering Lentos can carry other Jelletons around on their backs…Which is a thing. Definitely would have preferred a few new guys instead.)  

As for the Jelletons…they’re…eh. They don’t really have the charm of the Octarians or Salmonids, but the devs seem to have intentionally singled out some of the worst aspects of those enemy rosters to design these dudes. With such a small bestiary, about half of them are annoying “screw those guys” (the flying sprinkler assholes and the Stinger But Even Worse dudes come to mind)…Which I’m not sure if that’s bad game design or really good game design honestly. They do their job as obstacles and video game enemies, and the designs are solid.

At least it’s not reskinned Octarians again.

There only really being five different bosses, with three in “rotation” (and one you only fight once), which honestly feels like a huge wasted opportunity. Would have been cool to have maybe a handful more options. Maybe even have an exclusive boss for each palette on Floor 20 where Eight has to fight a screwed-up version of whoever the palette represents. In this case Parallel Canon would be exclusive to Agent 4, and Marina would have a slightly buffed version of her fight, maybe with a different barrier mechanic to differentiate her from Overlorder.

And as always, the soundtrack absolutely slaps.

Not sure if I’m personally going to bother with 100% completion, since apparently the reward is a few secret lore files that I’ll probably find and read from the wiki or something.

Story, Lore and Characters

The story is serviceable, it’s pretty much what you’d expect from Splatoon’s storytelling at this point. There’s interesting stuff there which either isn’t explored in detail or is relegated to background lore files you can unlock and read. That being said, the lore we got is cool. Like, we all guessed that the Spire of Order was some kind of VR thing Marina made, and finding out she made it in order to heal victims of KamaboCo and restore the sanitised is both in-character and a very nice tying of ends from Octo Expansion.

I will say that if you haven’t played or are otherwise aware of the plot of Octo Expansion, some things might not make the most sense (ie. you’ll probably scratching your head over who the hell Acht is and why they’re neon green.) so it’s best experienced after reading or watching a video on the previous DLC to have the full context.

Thank Cod they didn’t make Marina the villain or have her be locked away for most of the game waiting to be rescued. Although she did get put under mind control, which I kinda expected…Seems to be at least one the Story Writer’s favourite trope at this point. Or just an odd choice of running gag. This story feels more character-focused than events and plot-focused, so not much really “happens”, but we get some substantial character interactions that make up for it.

The limited cast of characters works very well in the story’s favour. Adds to the weird lonely and isolated vibe of the Memverse. Pearl and Marina are great as usual, and there’s a surprising amount of scenes and dialogue for Pearlina shippers to lose their minds over. Acht/Dedf1sh is an effective straight man to all this, providing a foil to the other characters. The vibe of “Can we please talk about literally anything else” after the aggressive Pearlina banter is entertaining. It’s just really cool that the background musician characters are starting to get more relevance.

Cipher doesn’t do very much, but might have one of the best character designs in the franchise so far. It’s alright (I think the character uses It/It’s pronouns).

On the other hand, I personally think Order/Smollusk might be the weakest of the Splatoon big bads. They don’t really have the charisma and backstory intrigue of Octavio, the presence and build-up of Mr.Grizz (who to be fair had two a whole game prior to his stint as a villain) or the menace/“creep factor” of Commander Tartar.

In fact, Order kinda feels like a toned-down or Bowdlerised Tartar, as in which Order’s goal is similar and similarly horrifying, but they haven’t been getting away with it for god knows how long and you don’t ever see the result of their plans, (No ghastly Bad Ending cutscene of everyone getting their minds destroyed by the Memverse or anything), unless you count the thing they turned Marina into. I guess the whole Virtual Reality setting makes them feel like less of a threat? Maybe it’s just me.

And I dunno if this is just localisation weirdness, but did they HAVE to make his weakened form converse in Uwu-speak?

Although this seemingly isn’t what happens, I do quite enjoy the idea of Order/Smollusk slowly getting rehabilitated and redeemed as the gang hangs out with him (and kicks his ass) several times. Unfortunately, dude seems to be really clinging hard to the “Evil Overlord” shtick, which ultimately turns the character into a one-note laugh when we could’ve had a fun little arc.

One more thing about characters….

WHERE IN THE FRESHLY FRIED AND FILLETED FLIPPER-FLOPPER IS AGENT FOUR!?

The fact that they have a sort-of presence (being the Splattershot is explicitly called Agent Four’s Palette and not, like, Squidbeak Splatoon Palette, as well as the Parallel Canon boss) really seemed to be hinting at Agent Four making a physical appearance. Maybe it’s cut content? Maybe they’ll find their way into the Memverse in an update (like with Callie in 2’s Hero Mode)?

Them being the only Agent not to appear in Splatoon 3 just kinda sucks. Like, even Nintendo themselves seem to in on the joke with them being the un-favourite (see the “supposed to be a [BIG SHOT]” line from Pearl). But I really hope that one day Agent Four gets to be something that’s a bit more than a joke, y’know?

…So this ended up being way longer than I thought it would be. Might come back and maybe discuss some of the new lore a bit more, but that’s my thoughts about Side Order. I ended up really enjoying it, and I’m pretty excited to see if this leads to more experimental stuff with Splatoon going forwards. I’d give it a 7/10.

[strawberry-fields-things]

Btw just so you know cellbits ex never said to not talk about him being an abuser she feels people are trying to silence her.Not surprised tho Quackity Stan’s love to deflect, that’s what y’all do, that what y’all stay forever doing. I’m glad I grew out of his content after he added that weirdo, maybe you should too. At least ya stopped supporting a pedophile shows you have some common sense.

i’m only gonna be replying to this ask of the three you sent. if you actually wanna talk instead of just sending anonymous hate, you can message me.

that being said, tw for abuse:

i’m going to assume you’re only from the english-speaking community when it comes to minecraft content, if i’m wrong, please do correct me.

the issue the spanish speaking community (and i’m guessing the portuguese speaking community as well, though i don’t really consume their content so i won’t be speaking for them) has had for a while with the english speaking community is that people tend to be a lot more toxic in the latter. you’re speaking of this whole issue AS IF this is brand new information that has just been uncovered.

cellbit HAS BEEN a streamer (one of the originals for the brazilian community) for a WHILE. the english speaking community didn’t just “find out he was an abuser before anyone else did”. this whole controversy you’re bringing up right now HAS BEEN RESOLVED by the portuguese-speaking community A WHILE BACK.

the video you’re talking about of sasa talking during an ig live (which i’m guessing that’s the one, because it’s the one floating around twitter— if it’s a different one, you can link me it) is taken completely out of context— and i know this sounds like a way to deflect the accusations, so i’ll explain why:

the ig live was SIX YEARS AGO

sasa afterwards said that she was overwhelmed and later explained so people would stop.

the clip floating around twitter of her live? yeah, it’s been mistranslated on some instances to intentionally mislead — (as far as i can tell; again, i’m not a fluent portuguese speaker, so i might make some mistakes. but i’ve seen a fair share of brazilians saying it’s mistranslated to english).

now, if you do care about cellbit’s ex-girlfriend sasa (who, by the way, in none of the asks you have mentioned by name) and not just about shitting on content creators, i think you would care to know she has stated multiple times that she wants to MOVE ON. so in the process of shitting on quackity and cellbit, you’re making sasa relive something she’s stated multiple times SHE’S TRYING TO LEAVE BEHIND. both cellbit and sasa have agreed (5-6 years ago, when this was happening) that they were both trying to move on and consider it a “finished matter”.

as i stated on my last post (and something you seem to either have skipped over/ignored) cellbit has also stated he has been going to therapy for the past four years to improve himself. he has a new girlfriend named lore (lor-eh, not lour) and people from both his life AND his community have stated that they have noticed the change in him during the past four years.

i would like to say this again: for someone trying to resurface pretty heavy accusations, you don’t seem to care for either cellbit’s ex-girlfriend sasa OR cellbit’s current girlfriend lorena (who i believe is a streamer?). here what lore posted RECENTLY on twitter:

and if you understood portuguese, you would see that the entire comment section of this same tweet is brazilians just being confused as to why this is even being brought up by “gringos” again when this whole situatuion was ‘resolved’ during 2013 (i put resolved between ‘’ because abuse is never something that is solved from one day to another— it’s a healing process that takes time).

(found this tweet that basically sums up what i mentioned before of being a member of the hispanic/brazilian community and watching english-speaking fans attempt to stir up old problems :/ )

(ps: you keep saying you outgrew dream/quackity’s content, but here you are making beef with a former dsmp/qsmp blog 🙂?)

[lewisinho]

as the anon that asked for the race list: thank you!

now this is totally up to you if you have the time to spend on this, but this is my first year watching the races, and while I've been doing some background research to get up to speed, there is still a lot i don't know. i trust your judgment so what are some races and/or f1 adjacent things i should look into? i'm going through your McLaren list and have watched the last 4 seasons of dts and the brawn documentary. are there any other books/ documentaries/ races (especially seb's) / old youtube videos that are lost in the void that i should also check out?

again no pressure and thank you!

no problem!

(and btw welcome to f1 and the world of watching some glorified hot wheels every other sunday 😁 it’s great!)

i completely get how daunting it can be as a new fan in the sport. when i was getting back into f1 it also took me some time to get back up to speed with everything, especially all the techy stuff; i honestly learned the most through just watching the races (old and new), bc you get to see all the strategies play out, the pit-stops, the overtakes etc. and the terminology just becomes much easier to understand through sheer exposure. there are also some really cool f1 data analysis blogs you might want to follow on twt/x if you want some more detailed tech analysis and graphs if you’re into that sort of thing: (x)

as for seb, oh there’s a whole arsenal of recs i have!

monza 2008, rise of torro rosso wunderkind; i presume you already know the lore with that one but ig you can never get tired of it.

abu dhabi 2010, world championship no.1 “du bist weltmeister!”

interlagos 2012, the infamous one. this one’s a rollercoaster, chaos everywhere and the manifestation of murphy’s law: anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. amidst a title battle against nando, seb was fighting the weather, bruno senna’s front wing, a damaged side-pod, no radio, and somehow managed to claim p6 to win the championship

malaysia 2013, multi-21 (iconique), he was faster, deal with it. 💅

singapore 2013, domination masterclass from quali to the race. (also just all of his singapore wins...lion of singapore and all that)

india 2013, title no.3 secured, changed tyres on lap 2 and came out p17, was third by only lap 13 and then won the race by nearly 30 seconds. it was also his sixth win in a row. he went on to win three more. speaks for itself. also this:

malaysia 2015, first win with ferrari, can't forget that one, also features sewis’ gay knee-touching on the podium.

germany 2019, CHAOS, in which merc got bewitched by the special livery curse 😅, with crashes, spins, 50-second long pit stops, and also features one of seb’s best drives from p20 -> p2

i also highly recommend watching Floz's fan-made docus on youtube about 'the silver war' (there are also docus for the 2014 and 2015 seasons) as well as the merc v ferrari (lewis vs seb) 2017 fight and 'fight for five' in 2018, they're so much better than dts and actually give a full run-down of what happened during the season, with all the action on-track, with interviews and providing all the context! it's so well-edited as well (you literally feel like you're watching a movie about all of the seasons) and they are just incredibly fun to watch.

in general, i love rewatching races from 2017/18 (literally my comfort seasons), personal favs include spain 2017 (strategy galore and lewis v seb), baku 2017 (for obv reasons), austin 2017; and basically the 2018 season in its entirety...

as for books, there are many driver autobiographies e.g. jb (he’s even got two lmao), mark webbah etc. but i think the best f1 book out there is adrian newey’s memoir ‘how to build a car’ if you want lore + great insight into cars!

i’d also recommend watching some older races (i could do a separate post on which ones are my personal favs) but it’s all up to you in the end! go digging, look around on yt for some highlights and just keep exploring! 🫶💜

[delopsia]

darling del 💐💃

have you ever thought about incorporating rendezvous with toys into stories with the trio? a remote or app controlled vibrator with reader, are rhett and robby both controlling it? whose idea was it? i suspect rhett but who knows maybe robby just came back from deployment and was like “hi honey pies...” 😉 omfg maybe both reader AND rhett with toys in while robby controls them? wait i don’t know if rhett could function in public with a toy in... maybe they just keep that to home? and then they could really put him through the ringer 🫢 do robby and reader ever slick up a toy and just let it go inside rhett and sit back and watch their cowboy’s eyes roll all the way back while he cums untouched—or wait is he too sensitive for that? i feel low key feel like he’d actually pass out if reader ran a vibrator over the head of his cock while robby was fucking him... 🤔

*COUGH* does robby ever play with any toys himself with or without his partners?

SLIGHTLY UNRELATED BUT STILL VERY IMPORTANT QUESTION: has reader ever laid rhett and robby down in the same night like (slightly, because cleaning up and aftercare, etc, of course) one after the other? do the two of them have differing dildo preferences for when they want do get fucked?

*whispers* what a weird question to end on but please if this is not what you meant by blurb right now then just ignore; i have the occasional sauce-thought about these three but i never know if, when you say “blurb thoughts please, y’all...” 😌 you mean any blurb thoughts or like, nonsexual character lore blurb thoughts...

omg omg hello lovely! 🌷I'm open to all of the blurb themes, sexual and nonsexual alike, whatever y'all wanna throw at me😔✌

Coincidentally, it works as good practice for me lmao. I'm trying to get better at jumping from theme to theme (so, like, finishing a borderline heart-wrenching blurb to hopping right into one that's going to have the Tumblr overlords striking me down with a mature rating)

waaaah okay, I have more thoughts than I can type 💃

Hear me out; I see your Robby just came back from deployment, and I raise you, Robby leaving for deployment.

His biggest curse with being on that ship is how difficult it can be to find a quiet place to engage in all the playful dirty talk; most of the time, he winds up in the corner of a bathroom stall, headphones snug around his ears, forced to be completely and utterly quiet while Rhett and Reader torment him. Pictures, videos, phone/video calls.

"D'you like the show, Bobby?" Rhett's purring, peering over his shoulder with that darkened gaze, seems to look directly through the camera and into Bob's eyes. Fuck the things he would do to squeeze that cowboy's pretty pale thighs.

The idea hits him about two weeks before his next deployment, brought on while he was shopping around for a replacement strap-on harness. The current one is cute, but lately, it's been leaving some painful indentations on the Reader's hips, and he's on the hunt for something that'll fit nicer. But there, on the front page, is an ad for an app-controlled vibrator, and an idea strikes him.

A few days later, a box is showing up at the door. Whilst Rhett and Reader are asleep, he sets them up on his phone. Runs through the usual deep cleaning and testing to make sure they work before tucking them into the toy stash. Doesn't really mention it until he's officially on the plane, typing out a quick, half-thought-out text.

Left you two a surprise in the toy box :)

It's a couple of weeks before he gets time to use them. It's hard to catch each other when they both have the time and are in the mood. But sooner or later, Bob's found himself in the corner of another bathroom stall, chewing on his bottom lip as he presses a little button on his phone. Knees weakening at the way Rhett's head tips back to thump against the pillow, lips parted with a whine. Has the worst damn time trying to switch to control the Reader's toy; doesn't think it worked until he hears a gasp and watches the camera shake in their hand.

Fuck Bob never lasts longer than a few minutes.

They forget to turn one of them off one night, and Bob jokingly presses a command to see what happens.

Rhett's never been so afraid of a goddamn vibrating box in his life.

It's figured out pretty quickly that Rhett can't function in public with a toy in. He's already bad at most social interactions; a slight brush against his crotch is enough to have him floundering. Quite unfortunate for the exhibitionist kink that's been brewing in him these past couple of years, but they do play around with him around the property. With the house being secluded in the woods, a decent ways away from the nearest neighbor, it's pretty easy for Rhett to wander out back to do some work with a toy in.

Sometimes he does it because he likes the fullness of it, others he's deliberately hoping that Reader or Robby will notice he's got it in. More than once he's found himself braced against that old Oak tree, grunting into the crook of his elbow as Bobby fucks him for all he's worth. And more than once he's wandered into the house, grumbling because nobody caught on to what he wanted, squirming into the Reader's lap and outright begging them to let him ride their strap.

Robby and Reader absolutely could just slick up a toy and let it go inside of their pretty little cowboy, but he's so, so fussy! They've spoiled him, and he's absolutely rotten! He's addicted to the closeness that comes with having them inside of him, thighs against his, holding him for leverage and touching all over. Just a toy is enough to get him off, but he doesn't enjoy it as much if that...makes sense.

He wants the person attached to the dick as much as he wants the dick inside of him.

But he can and will cum untouched with one of them inside of him. They tried cock warming with him once; didn't end well.

Ughhh Rhett would absolutely combust if Reader ran a vibrator over the head of his cock while Robby was fucking him :( The poor thing is so easy to overstimulate, reduced to shivering muscles and teary eyes with a few little tricks. It's so common for him to bury his face in the Reader's belly while Robby's taking him from behind or to snuggle into the crook of the Reader's neck while they fuck him missionary, stifling his little noises and hiding the tears brewing.

Omg omg yes, Robby absolutely plays with toys on himself, too. Maybe not at the frequency of Rhett and Reader, but fuck, he looooooves those small prostate massagers 🤤 it’s one of his favorite toys. He especially loves them when it’s just himself because it’s not quite as good as having an actual strap/cock in him, but he won’t pass up an opportunity to play with them. Though Rhett has recently gotten him hooked on letting them use masturbation sleeves on him.

The Reader has absolutely laid them both down on the same night!! It’s an entire excursion on its own, a lot of work and cleaning and setting up, but Rhett and Bobby are pretty good at kissing up on the other and opening each other up to take the workload off of the Reader. Rhett’s almost always first because he usually gets so turned on from seeing Bob get fucked that he’ll cum from the slightest thing. Really likes getting taken apart first and then getting to have a little show of Bobby dissolving into a puddle of whimpers and cries after the fact.

Bob's got a preference for average/smaller dildos; Rhett's cock is about as much as he can handle, and as wonderfully built as that cowboy is, he's not too fond of the post-sex soreness that comes with it. Something around six inches with a very, very typical girth is enough to make him happy.

Rhett is a goddamn size queen who isn't happy until he's limping the next day. It's so easy to tell his toys apart from Bobby's because they're so much bigger in every sense of the form. Longer, thicker, around eight or nine inches. There's a singular ten-inch toy that comes out to play every once in a blue moon, but he's got to be in a particularly whorish headspace for that one.

The both of them have recently discovered the joy of plugs, for after everything is said and done. Rhett's just a heathen that wants to keep Bob's cum and/or the Reader's cum lube inside of himself for a while, but Bob enjoys the extra minutes of fullness. It really helps him adjust back to the crippling emptiness that comes with having Rhett/the Reader pull out of him.

In the buying process, Rhett's vague requirements were no tails (Bob's been trying to sell Rhett and Reader on bunny tail ones for years. (double parentheses. It's because he already bought them. They're still hiding in the closet, in the packaging that they came in.)) and nothing glittery

...and he really should have been more specific because now he's got a cutesy little plug with a pink heart.

But that's okay because Bob fucked around, and now he's wound up with one that's modeled to look like one of those Valentine's candy hearts.

This is why the Reader is usually left in charge of buying.

Aftercare-wise, they're both relatively simple to deal with; Bob wants cuddles and a small snack to share (he will die defending his Ice-Cream Tastes Better Post-Sex argument), and Rhett just wants some head scratches and a long nap with his partners. It's so common for them to grow clingy, both toward each other and toward the Reader. Constant affection, sweetly spoken words, and kisses.

Which is exactly why the bathtub is so big in the house! All of them are too sore to stand, and nobody wants to be left out of the bubble bath! Someone's gotta set an alarm, though, because if you're not careful, it's easy to wind up spending a few hours in there on accident.

And it's anyone's guess if the boys are going to get hit with a second wind and pounce on the Reader or not💛

Again with me getting carried away oh my god