#((for the people that know even less than me the last tag features a figure of speech and is not literal! unless it accidentally is))

[piningpercussionist]

Thank you for spreading my giddler propaganda 🫡

Forgot to answer this day of (whoops,) but I'll always support yalls left-field nonsense. Always*.

Anyway, figured this was the funniest time to respond, based on what I've gleaned from the discord and a brief stroll across some blogs...

[ms-demeanor]

since twitter has become actively hostile to its users, so they came to tumblr, and reddit has become actively hostile to its users, so they came to tumblr, what do we do now that tumblr is becoming (more) actively hostile to its users? i’ve been here for over a decade so i know tumblr users are the type to cling on despite everything and revel in undoing every change, but i’m so tired of the way this website breaks the way it fundamentally works in order to appeal to new users. the twitterfication of the site seems so much worse than when people jumped ship after the porn ban, and even then, only small communities (and twitter) cropped up as solutions. you might not be the person to ask for a definitive answer, but i figured a tech blog might be interested in considering - what do we do when there’s nowhere left to go?

Okay so, I mean this very seriously: how has tumblr meaningfully become like twitter?

I don't personally find the sidebar view obnoxious and it seems to me like just another layout change that's pretty typical to tumblr. New users are getting signed up with a bit more emphasis on algorithmic feeds, but that is still very easy to change (MUCH easier than on any other social platform) and the algorithm has been there for everyone for quite a while, we just typically don't notice it because a lot of long-term tumblr users don't go into the "for you" feed.

I don't think that tumblr *has* fundamentally broken the way that it works to appeal to new users. My dash now is still very much like my dash in 2019, and still very much like my dash in 2018 (though much less pornographic). Reblogs are still reblogs, likes are still likes. Replies, for all that they seem like they've been around forever, are new and good and I think they work well. I'm irritated that the notes menu doesn't have a "view all" option but I think that's a worthwhile tradeoff for an easy way to see tags.

I *do not* understand why tumblr has broken linking back to previous reblogs but I don't think that's out of an effort to act like twitter; it is a bizarre choice that I dislike and don't understand but I also don't think that it has fundamentally changed the way the site works and i mean you've been around long enough that I'm sure you've had the same experience I have of going into the notes of a post and randomly clicking until you found a version that you wanted to reblog without a bunch of bullshit at the bottom. Tumblr has always kind of sucked, this change DOES suck but it doesn't suck in a way that is particularly novel or insurmountable. (For instance, I think this change sucks MUCH LESS than when they made posts with links invisible to the search, that is something that is genuinely bad that has been long lasting but doesn't get brought up much in lists of the ways that tumblr has gone wrong)

Tumblr *is* changing, but I think it is changing more incrementally and less terribly than other parts of the internet. I also hate the floating clown, the login walls, the dash-only view for blogs (you can't archive it and I HATE that), and - to an extent - the new lightbox on mobile. And I dislike that less than I thought I would but I don't think it's a fundamental change that necessarily impacts my interactions with the site - it *adds* a feature that I don't care for but it doesn't *break* anything that I require to have a good time on tumblr - in that way I think of it very much like Live. People hate Live so much and I find that perplexing because it is so easy to simply ignore it.

But that's not really your question; that's just some stuff I want people to think about because as much as tumblr has changed in the last two years it is nowhere near as fucked up as the recent things that twitter and reddit have pulled.

So, as to your question: where do we go?

Well. Not to be an extremely old person on the internet, but damned if I don't miss email lists. And forums. God I miss forums. Neither of those things has all the bonuses of platforms like twitter or reddit or tumblr or facebook, but they were great ways to hang out with people you liked on the internet.

The internet is changing. I can feel it, you can feel it, I'm pretty sure we're all like cattle in a field lifting our noses and hearing some distant rumbling and becoming slowly aware that it's almost time to run. There's a coming stampede and it isn't here yet but you know it's on its way. You're not imagining that, that's how things feel right now and there are a shitload of things contributing to it.

Things like SESTA/FOSTA and KOSA (which has not passed yet but is a big red flag waving on the horizon) have been eroding away the way that users on various platforms can function. Some platforms have consolidated in ways that harm users; some new platforms have popped up and shaken up the map of the internet; some platforms are being torn apart brick by brick by owners who don't care about the users. It kind of seems like people are actually looking up and realizing that advertising is A) bad and B) doesn't actually work and I think we're running straight toward another advertising-based crash like we saw in 2017. It feels like all the desperate things that tumblr is doing is just rearranging deck chairs on the titanic as the internet as a whole starts to sink into the ocean.

Honestly, I don't think it's that bad. I think it *feels* bad, but I think we're looking at a slow whimpering death of the platforms, not a bang. I think tumblr is going to hang on at least for a few years and I think it's going to end up like livejournal and myspace, which both still exist as websites that are recognizable as updated versions of the sites they were in 2004-2010. The thing that I think would really, honestly hurt tumblr in a fundamental way is if it moved to a more algorithmic and data-sales based model of advertising, and I think that's still pretty distant. I think Automattic is aware that killing the chronological feed would be the one unforgivable sin that would cause a mass exodus and a final crash, and I think when we see that, when we can't just scroll through the feed and see what our friends did that day in order of when they did it, that's when the party is over here.

But that's still not answering your question.

So, where do we go? What do we do? Well, for now, I'd say it's a good time to get contact info for your friends across various platforms. Get email addresses, get phone numbers.

Now is also the time for you to set up a personal website. NeoCities is currently the best place to do this, though it takes a lot more effort than just starting a blog on tumblr. I think that various oldschool blogging sites like Wordpress and Blogger/Blogspot/whatever the hell the google one is are a better place to have your emergency backup than a more platform-y platform if you aren't up to doing something with NeoCities.

If you've got the ability to do so and a group of people who are interested in the same core subject, set up a forum. There's a decent amount of off-the-shelf forum software out there and a text-and-small-images forum isn't prohibitively expensive, but it's never going to be huge and you're never going to have the kind of spread and virality and random connections that you would on a platform with millions or billions of users.

If you can't set up a forum, setting up or joining a discord server for your friends is a decent enough option at the moment, and may be a very good option for people who are looking to keep their interactions more private.

But yeah i think right now is a great time for people to start setting up their own personal websites, to start visiting actual webpages again, to start bookmarking their friends' websites, and to start collecting contact info that isn't tied to platforms.

[towriteloveontheirarms]

Let me put my lips to something (Alicent Hightower x Reader)

synopsis: Neglected by your husband, you find a confidant in Alicent, who is being treated the same way by her own husband. The depth of that trust and friendship however stay hidden to the two of you until one faithfull evening.

warnings: period typical homophobia, more porn than plot, kissing, oral sex, afab reader

word count: 3k

taglist: @hopelesswritergall, @urmomsgirlfriend1

(If you want to be tagged for a specific character/fandom/series or in general let me know in my asks, comments or DMs)

It is late when you knock at the queen´s chambers. You are aware it is, but you don´t know where else to go as well. Trying to keep a neutral expression on your face for the servants that walk by you, your foot taps on the stone floor, until the heavy doors finally open. You can tell Alicent is surprised to see you at this time of day.

“The hour is late. Are you feeling well?” She asks with worry coating her voice.

It takes a while for you to find your own voice as you see her standing in front of you however. She looks so beautiful. Her curly, auburn hair flows over her shoulders perfectly and the dressing gown covering her night dress adulates her figure in the most flattering ways.

“May I come in?” You ask quietly so that only the woman can hear.

“Naturally.” Alicent steps aside to let you in.

Together the two of you sit down at the table in her rooms and suddenly you are more nervous than before your knuckles grazed her door.

“I must say, you look positively radiant this evening.” You compliment her in the hope to distract her attention from the way your fingers pick at each other and you eyebrows pull together. To no avail.

“You are amongst friends. Speak your mind freely. What is wearing so heavy on your soul?” Alicent lays her hand on yours to keep you from hurting yourself. Much like you often did to her. The touch sends a spark of electricity through your arm to your heart, making it stop for just a beat. You weren't sure how it had happened but after you married her eldest son, the queen and you had become a source of comfort for each other. Both neglected by your husbands and left to fend for yourselves against a seemingly uncaring world. Or court at least. And some time in the three years you now lived in the Red Keep, you had found yourself falling for the one person you could never have. Not only a woman, but the queen of the seven kingdoms none the less.

"My Queen. My friend. You know I do not like to speak ill of people, even more so when it is your own son I am speaking about. Yet every day more I feel I am not strong enough for this marital bond. I find myself wishing Aegon would simply divorce me. The silent sisters or even the wall would seem like a simpler lot."

“I feel for you and I do not blame you for such thought, my dear. Yet I must also protest. You possess much more strength than you think. I can see it in your eyes. Your husband may not know how lucky he is in having someone so lovely and intelligent besides him…” She pauses in the middle of her sentence and never finishes it. Searching anything in the room but your eyes.

“I cannot thank you enough for listening to my foolish worries. They must seem so small compared to what you have to endure.” Your hands take a hold of her delicate ones and you allow your thumb to caress the back of them to get her attention again.

Unbeknownst to you that simple action drives her heart to pound against her chest in a much quicker rhythm than before.

“If they burden you they are not foolish at all. Better to voice them in the safety of this chamber than to break from them. I have to admit, I do feel like I am trapped in a gilded cage from time to time. Though your presence has made my suffering more bearable.” An inexplicable blush lays itself over the queen´s pale features at the last sentence.

“I will always be here for you, dear friend. For as long as I breathe.” You squeeze the woman’s hands gently to emphasize the intent in your words. Words that speak of a love far deeper than the one for a mere friend.

One of your hands leaves her touch to rest against her rosy cheek. Your thumb caressing over the warm skin. The air between the two of you seems to crack with tension. Her breath falters under your fingertips and suddenly nothing between you seems like it should be between friends. The underlying feeling of her being your husbands mother is gone entirely. It encouraged you to utter the words you swore you would never tell a single living soul.

“May I confess something else? Something darker than what I laid upon you already?” You feel Alicent nod under your hand. It is your only answer as you avert your gaze in shame at the desire you are about to share.

“I had a dream last night. Stemming from desires I tried to hide and pray away for some time now, but all the praying in the world was for naught.” Your voice is barely above a rough whisper.

“What happened in that dream?” Follows Alicent´s question. Equally as quiet at the seriousness of the moment.

“I dreamt about you…” The words come out only slowly. “And me. We were lying in bed. You were writhing underneath me in pleasurer at my touch. It was a most sinful, yet beautiful dream.”

Alicent is left speechless, with an even higher beating heart and an animated fantasy. Despite that, her words speak of the opposite sentiment.

“This… this is highly inappropriate. We are both married and even if we weren´t this could never be by the laws of the seven. It would be better for you to retire to your chambers now” The words have so little conviction that you are unsure who she is trying to convince.

Your thumb wipes over her heated cheek once more and before you know it there are mere inches separating her lips from yours. Your eyes meet hers one last time and with a shuttering breath you taste her lips on yours. It´s only for a moment, but that tentative touch heightens your senses massively. When your eyes open again Alicent´s brown ones are already looking back at you. Uncertain, searching in yours for what to do next, for an answer to all this.

“You need to leave. Now. Before this can lead to anything… more…” The brunette stands up, walking out of reach to wrap her arms around herself. The feelings of shame and want clashed inside of her. Swirling in her stomach in a whirlwind of emotional conflict.

“Please, do not send me away so soon.” You plead in a soft tone. Walking after her to lay your hands on her shoulders. “I am begging you, dear friend.”

Alicent doesn´t push them away. Instead she turns around to take your hands once more.

“What are you doing to me?” She breathes.

“I merely wish to love you. To worship you, just like you deserve. Even if it is for one night only. Let me prove the true nature of my feelings to you. I care naught for how sinful these desires are. You are too beautiful not to sin.” You lead your friend to her bed and sit her down beside you. “Will you let me?”

Your hands travel the length over Alicent´s arms with feather light touches as you wait for an answer. Taking in the satin of her dressing gown underneath your finger tips and the silky, smooth texture of her hair as you put it behind her ear.

Her soft lips part to make way for a fluttering breath to escape and then she leans in to lock her lips with yours again. It takes not even a second for you to respond to it. At first they brush over Alicent's lips in a slow, sensual manner. You try not to overwhelm her with everything. That however quickly wanes, when her tongue presses against your lip to silently ask for entrance. Of course you let her in letting her tongue explore your mouth and dance with yours as you do. One of your hands wanders down to open the dressing gown and slips it off Alicent´s shoulders. Wandering up the front of her body, grazing her breasts that were now only clothed in a thin nightdress anymore. The way her heart beats against it clearly tangible. Assuring you that your friend is just as excited as you are. Next your hands gently push the older woman backwards by the shoulder, to lay on the bed as you straddle her hips. Letting your hands wander over her breasts over the fabric of her nightdress once more, a small moan falls sounds off into the room. Her body has long since forgotten what is happening right now is a sin. She feels herself being pulled into the heat of the moment, letting her body go loose to the touches of her friend´s hands. You part from her only for a second, trying to gather yourself. It is so unbelievable that you are lucky enough to be allowed to touch her in this way. Then you place a peck to the corner of her now kiss swollen lips, trailing more passionate, open-mouthed kisses along the length of the side of her neck. Looking down, Alicent's fingers clutch at the blankets, her hips instinctively rising towards yours as your bodies brush against each other. Another moan escapes Alicent's lips, as the tingling sensation your touch leaves behind and that excites her more and more.

“Do you know how long I have desired this...?” Alicent whispers in a voice full of passion, her voice catching in her throat.

“Tell me how long.” You murmur against the hollow at the base of Alicent's throat. Mouthing at it and then kissing further down to her collar bones. Alternating between soft kisses and gentle nibbles.

When the queen´s hips raise off the mattress again, you shift your weight to put a leg between both of her thighs, to assist her in her search for more friction to satisfy the need for more stimulation.

Alicent turns her head to be able to look into your eyes, even though they are blurred because of lust and love and the way her body rubs against yours. Her heart still pounding heavy in her chest.

“Since I first saw you. When you came to the keep after the match was made. Your dress was such a beautiful green and you hair… Oh, your hair.” Alicent's voice trails off as she closes her eyes, unable to keep looking for the moment.

“Keep looking at me. I want to see your eyes.” You whisper into Alicent's ear with a soft dominant tone. Waiting until you have your lover´s eyes on you again to push up the nightdress to reveal her pale skin and the rosy nipples that sit atop her beautiful breasts.

“ I cannot.” Alicent says while trying to hide her face, but she can't manage too.

You grab her chin between your thumb and forefinger to turn her face back to you and  her body is overcome with lust, and her mind is consumed by the image of your hair in her hands. Your eyes looking deeply into hers, with a look as if she had created the world and your lips on her supple skin.

“Look at me.” You whisper with more emphasis. “You are so beautiful.”

“Yes, oh yes.” Alicent whispers in a faint voice, her breath catching in her throat.

She feels her mind go hollow and her heart beating so fast it feels like it is about to explode. She moans again and again as she is overwhelmed with so much more than she has ever been able to desire in her lifetime.

“You are a goddess…” You murmur breathlessly against her breasts. Your tongue swirling around the erect buds until they are painfully hard. Blowing on them to elicit another sound of pleasure, before you close your lips around the peaks of her chest to nibble and suck on them.

Meanwhile your hands find Alicent's hips. Leading them with a firm grip in a slow rhythm to drag against her thigh.

Alicent's breath comes out in hot, shallow breaths. Her entire being is consumed with your touch, her body shaking.

“It's like heaven. It's divine, that touch of yours.” Alicent's breath quickens, yet her mind remains empty of all thought. All she understands is the need to feel more.

The older woman´s hands let go of your hair and the bedsheets to take hold of your shoulders. Her nails digging into the flesh as you guide her away from your thigh and instead replace it with your fingers. Reverend touches of your fingertips, pull all kinds of sounds from her. Delicious whines and whimpers and needy pleas for more.

“Please, oh gods, please. More… More...” Alicent is on the edge of losing control. Her mouth opens, but no words can form under the small, deliberate circles you rub into the sensitive bundle of nerves that sits at the top of her fluttering cunt.

You can tell Alicent is close to her release. So you capture your lover's lips in another passionate kiss, swallowing her every loud moan as to not get caught by any guards, your fingers lead her over the edge of pleasure.

“Yes! Yes!” That's all her mind can grasp as her entire body shakes with her release.

Once all the pent up energy is out of Alicent´s system and the shaking dies down to a trembling again, You take your fingers, that had caught some of her juices, away from her wet heat and lick them clean.

“You truly are a delicacy. To be savored, not used and cast aside at the whims of men that cannot even begin to process the goddess that you are.” You groan at her sweet taste.

Diving down between her legs, wrapping your arms around them to keep her hips still, you begin to kiss all around her center. Nibbling and sucking a few, easily concealed marks into her flesh. Teasing her long before she finally puts her lips to the queens wet heat. Letting her tongue swipe out to lick a wide stripe through it.

Alicent feels like a bolt of electricity has hit her. Her entire body is consumed with excitement. She does not want you to ever stop touching her. Every touch is a pure delight that Alicent's body and mind crave. It has her panting and heaving for air, writhing underneath you in no time. Not able to stop the feelings she feels building up in her body, she tries to push her lover´s head away, but her weakened arms cannot stop the force of your touch.

Assured by her actions, you suck on the queen's pearl even harder. The feelings of another oncoming release begin to wash over her again, she is taken back to that moment when her body was pushed over the edge. Her nails raking over your back to leave red markings along it. Until they reach the back of your head.

You willingly let Alicent pull your head closer between her legs and think, that if you were to die then and there, tasting your lover's nectar on your tongue, it would be the happiest death. Nevertheless you live and Alicent reaches her second peak. Alicent gasps for air as her entire body is consumed with pleasure. She is convinced that her heart will give out any second now from how hard it beats. She is in the seven heavens. Would be screaming out her feelings, if it wouldn´t be for your hand covering her mouth. You are eager to please the queen, but you are not eager to face the king´s wrath for doing so. Your tongue guides her through her climax. Making sure not to waste a drop of the sweet nectar from between her legs. While under your hand a muffled whine of your name signals her overstimulation. Then you kiss your way up again. Over Alicent's stomach and chest up to her lips.

"You taste so sweet. Truly divine.” You murmur as you give her a taste of herself.

Shifting your weight once more, you lay next to Alicent. The pinky finger of one of your hands entangled with one of hers as your other hand runs lightly over Alicent's bare arm.

“How do you feel?” Alicent feels her heart flutter, as the simple touch and question. She looks towards her lover, her eyes fixed with adoration. Her cheeks become flushed once more as she takes in her love, not only for you but for the way you makes her feel. Safe, loved, content.

“I do not know how you manage to make me feel this way.” Alicent says as she caresses your cheek.

“I am merely a fool in love, lucky enough to share the bed of the most beautiful woman in all of Westeros.” You say as you savor every moment of the sweet touch. Butterflies raging in both of your stomachs.

Alicent cannot take her eyes away from you. The love she bears for her lover, the way all her thoughts and emotions are consumed by the desire for your touch and love makes her smile.

“Come here.” Her voice remains calm, though it trembles slightly due to her lasting breathlessness. “Kiss me again.”

“Anything the queen commands.” You tease her with a wide smirk. Letting her pull you closer, before laying her lips on Alicent's in a slow, most tender kiss. You wrap your arms around the queen. Tracing the length of her spine with the most reverend touches.

Even the softest movement of your fingers send a wave of pleasure down her spine. She cannot hold back any longer. Alicent's body is overcome with a feeling she can barely describe.

“Love me.” Her voice trembles with excitement, though she cannot say much more. All she wants is you.

“You will never go unloved for another day as long as I live. I promise. In the smallest gazes and touches or in the biggest gestures we can allow. I will always love you.” You promise her and the look in your eyes tells Alicent that you mean every single word of it.

[elderberries-and-honey]

Good morning 🌄 In case you missed the news, I wanted to remind everyone that The Baudelaires are starting fresh. But I'd like to make note of a few things.

I have moved the old Baudelaire content to this blog for organizing purposes (still need to pick a theme and tag everything though). Their posts will still be here but I wanted to free up their tags but still make it available to read chronologically if desired. So I figured this would be the easiest way to do that.

The Baudelaires will still feature poses and whatnot. Like I'm not going to only be doing gameplay and this is still a story after all. But, unlike in the past, I'm going to try and use the game to determine the personalities, interests, hobbies, etc. and roll with some of the randomness it throws at me, and use the challenge rules to determine their fates where it calls for it.

We will be doing away with realistic aging. I went back and forth on this a ton and have decided that for the sake of gameplay, and my busy schedule, this is the easiest way for me to play and keep track of things. I also feel it won't get me sucked in too deep / heavy into exclusively posing and keep me interested in actually playing my pixels. I also really want to be able to enjoy each decade for longer and lean into tropes from the decades and feel this is the best way for me to do that.

Sadly, I'm also going to do away with telling an Irish history perspective. It was really hard to make that decision and it's still a hyper fixation of mine, but it feels like a larger project than I can handle right now. In the future, I think it could be really cool to explore that with a realistic timeline but, for now, we will put that to rest and save it for another day.

I really hope people aren't too disappointed with this choice and still feel connected to my story regardless, even if it's a bit less realistic. I'm feeling a little insecure about this decision solely for the fact most decades challenges use a realistic aging / time progression system and really like to lean into the realism aspect of it all. However, I know at the end of the day, this is supposed to be for me and this is what is best for where I'm at in life right now.

I also would like to add that I admire whatever way people choose to play their game and my decision is not a reflection of me not liking or enjoying the content that exists in this space. I adore the stories, and the dedication people have for telling a story that means something to them, regardless if they consider themselves more storytelling, gameplay or a mixture of both.

And to end on a happier note, I've been on my last vacation for the year so I have a lot in the queue and will be doing daily posts Monday - Friday, otherwise I'm going to get too far ahead of where you guys are in the story. If the queue starts to run out, I'll switch to Monday, Wednesdays, and Friday again. Baudelaires return starting on Monday morning @ 10:00 am cst! :3 Be there or be square 🫵🏻

[xiaosonlybeloved]

Hi! Saw your requests were open and I wanted to ask for Heizou and the Hanahaki prompt, please? 🙏🏼 you try your best to hide it from him but being the genius detective he is, he figures it out. I’d love to see how you write it!

Melancholy -Heizou

featuring:- Shikanoin Heizou, fem!reader, brief mentions of Kujou Sara tags:- Hanahaki AU, angst, hurt/no comfort, brief mentions of blood a/n:- im so so sorry anon for writing this so late! But here you go, and i hope you like it :) thank u for requesting! (i think it would kill me to actually write fluff for once)(also if i made a taglist, would you guys sign up?) wc:- 2.5k

masterlist

∼⟪◍⟫∼

‘He knew.’ You realised with a sinking heart as his firm eyes searched yours for answers, a hint of disbelief and concern in them. He’d figured it out.

∼⟪◍⟫∼

Everything started out small. It always does.

For you, it started the very day you two met, little by little. You’d needed someone to help you find and retrieve some books from your treasured collection that had gone missing, and good old Detective Heizou was the one assigned to help you.

He didn’t take long to draw you in. The charisma and confidence in his voice, the intelligence and wit sparkling in his eyes with a hint of mischief, the amusement dancing subtly across his face. Everything about him pulled you deeper in. Not to mention, you were incredibly impressed at how efficient he was at his job, despite his carefree, playful attitude- within 24 hours, each and every one of the missing books had been neatly stacked in a pile along with an apology letter from the thief, and Heizou had returned them to you, with that charmingly cocky grin of his. You’d thanked him profusely then, and he’d waved it off as just helping out a bit. He even refused to take payment, insisting that if you really wanted, you could repay him with a nice lunch or dinner.

Since then, your ‘friendship’ with Heizou only grew.with time.The next time you met, it was an accidental encounter in the streets of Inazuma, and then you’d repaid him with that promised lunch. After that, you two just seemed to bump into each other more often, or perhaps you both just noticed each other both. More than a year passed, and you two were fast friends.

Just friends.

You didn’t know when those pesky feelings started to develop, but they did, taking root in your heart like a bug. And your poor heart cracked a bit more everytime Heizou called you his best friend with a grin, or when he casually flirted with random people, your emotions covered with an airy smile that betrayed none of what you felt, unfortunately for you. If only he knew…

∼⟪◍⟫∼

“[Y/NNNN]!” Heizou called over to you with a grin as you stood talking to the owner of one of the flower shops in Inazuma, running over as if to give you some great news. Your heart jumped a bit to see him again, even if it had only been less than a day since you last saw him. “What is it now, ‘Zou?” you chuckled. “Which uncrackable case have you cracked now?” He stopped right in front of you, breathless. “Guess what? Kujou Sara confessed to me! Can you believe it? The high and mighty, proud general Sara?” He was laughing. 

You raised an eyebrow, trying to mask your surprise and disappointment. She got there first, huh? “Well? What did you say?” “I said yes, of course. Now boom, we’re dating.” Heizou replied easily.

You took in a deep breath, feeling like a hundred knives had been stabbed into you. But you needed to hide it, because Heizou was still looking at you expectantly, awaiting your response.

You’d always be his best friend. Not his lover.

This cold truth seemed to sink into your heart, as you controlled your facial expressions, making an excited smile that probably seemed very fake to the sharp eyes of someone like Heizou. You quickly followed it up. “Dang, I never thought I’d live to see the day when you actually dated someone! Man alive, am I surprised.” Heizou laughed again, his eyes crinkling, driving the wedge deeper into your heart. “Never thought I would too.” Then looking at his phone, he apparently remembered something as he quickly said, “Oh darn, I totally forgot I had to meet up with a client right now. See ya around, [Y/N]!”

You smiled sadly as he ran away, your heartbreak now visible on your face. You return your attention to the store owner who looks at you curiously. “Sorry, Ma’am, but I won’t be needing the flowers anymore. Could you please cancel my order?” The lady looked at you in sympathy as she nodded, probably having figured out who you were planning to confess to.

Back at home, you suddenly doubled over in a coughing fit, your lungs hurting.

∼⟪◍⟫∼

You’d stayed holed up at home for the next few days. Believe it or not, it actually wasn’t because of your broken heart. You’d fallen ill, and it greatly annoyed you. You kept coughing your throat out, and it wasn’t stopping. You did go about your normal routine for the first few days after Heizou told you, but then it got bad and you started staying home. Your friends often visited you, keeping you company. With their presence, you did seem to get a bit better.

So why was it that Heizou coming over out of concern for you always made you cough more?

One evening, he’d come over like always, with some medicines this time for bad coughs. Looking at his worried face at your deteriorating health, you wondered just how cruel it was for him to be always looking out for you, never knowing what you felt for him or what being with him did to you. 

Unfortunately, it was in front of him that your illness grew worse- you started coughing out blood, him panicked and trying to help you. 

Once you were temporarily better, he was insistent on staying the night with you to make sure that you didn’t get worse, but you made him leave reluctantly to get some rest. Immediately, you seemed to breathe a bit easier, even though your throat felt like there were vines practically growing in it. With that came an inkling suspicion of why you weren’t getting better. But it couldn’t be that, right? 

Then, a week later, you coughed out your first petal, confirming your worst fears.

∼⟪◍⟫∼

Purple hyacinths were known to mean sorrow, longing, etc. 'How fitting.' You thought bitterly as you ruminated upon your less-than-ideal situation. You’d known for a while now that you held strong feelings for Heizou, but you never thought it would actually develop into Hanahaki. Damn it… What do you do now? You had to at least confess to Heizou for a chance at surviving, no matter how slim. But that would be very hard to do, considering he’s literally dating. That thought brought a bitter taste in your mouth. The other option would be to get the surgery, but it would mean removing Heizou from your life for good, but you weren’t quite keen on doing that. If not… You’d die.

No. You would most certainly not allow yourself to die for a failed love. Sure, you really loved him, but there was no point in throwing away your life for someone. 

As you were thinking about this, there came a series of soft but strong knocks at your door. With a sigh, you dragged yourself down the stairs to see the visitor, noting that the knocks didn’t sound like Heizou’s or anyone else. 

When you see the person at your doorstep, your eyes light up after a long while. “Kokomi!” You exclaim as you run to hug your old friend. You’d been forced to part with her after you shifted from Watatsumi Island to Narukami Island, but you’d regularly kept in touch. Kokomi frowned as you led her into your home. “You’re ill, aren’t you?” “Yes indeed, Doctor Kokomi.” You tried to joke. Kokomi narrowed her eyes at you. “You smell of blood. What sickness do you have? I can heal you.”

You hesitate for a moment, unsure of whether to tell her or not. Not because you don’t trust her- she’s probably your most trusted confidante apart from Heizou, but because you’re a bit afraid of her reaction. With a sigh, you say, “Hanahaki.”

You could see it in the way her eyes fell. “Who is it? Heizou?” She asked, immediately understanding. You sighed in affirmation. “Can you heal me?” This time, it was Kokomi who was hesitant as she responded, “... I do know how to conduct the surgery, but there’s no other way out unless you confess and he accepts.” You grimaced. “Can you please keep this a secret from Heizou for now? I’m still thinking on what to do.” She nodded, looking resigned, but said, ”Alright, but you need to decide fast. To me, it looks like your illness is already quite severe. There is a certain stage beyond which the surgery cannot be conducted and the only option is to confess or die.” You nodded. “Thank you so much, Kokomi.” A while later, after you two had caught up with other topics, she left to go to the hotel she was staying at, giving you her address and telling her to come see you immediately if anything happened, along with some medicines for delaying the growth of the hanahaki.

∼⟪◍⟫∼ 

While you were chatting with Kokomi, Heizou was flipping through books on diseases and illnesses. Needless to say, he was worried sick on seeing that it had been weeks and your condition had only grown worse. 

On a different note, he had just broken up with Kujou Sara that morning. Things just weren’t working out, and he wasn’t interested anyways- he just wanted to try things out. So now, he had more time to find something to cure you. 

He groaned as he went through the list of symptoms. He had a feeling that he knew what was wrong with her, but he was too afraid to admit it. ‘Heavy persistent coughs that slowly deteriorate to frequent bloody coughs, along with a feeling of being unable to breathe. In the last stage, which is almost certainly fatal during the later phase, the victim coughs out flower petals symbolic of their situation, along with blood. When the flower petals change into full blooms, the surgery cannot be conducted anymore, and the disease becomes fatal.’

His heart sank- his worst fear had been confirmed. You had hanahaki. He hadn’t yet seen you cough out flower petals though- so there was still time. He’d talk to you about it today, unsure of whether you knew about Hanahaki or not. 

He also wondered who it was who was dumb enough to not accept or return your feelings. He would, in a jiffy.

∼⟪◍⟫∼

You sigh a little, enjoying the cool breeze hitting your face after so long. You were going over to pay Kokomi a visit, taking this as an excuse to get out of your house, which had started to feel cramped and stuffy. But of course, your moment of pleasure just had to be interrupted by another bout of flowery coughs as you hurried into some street corner to ensure that no one sees it. As you hurriedly stuff the purple flower petals with red, bloody edges into a bag you were carrying, a voice calls out to you that made dread settle in your heart.

Heizou stands there, staring directly at you and the bloody purple petals in your hands. 

‘He knew.’ You realised with a sinking heart as his firm eyes searched yours for answers, a hint of disbelief and concern in them. He’d figured it out.

“You didn’t tell me it had gotten this bad.” Heizou said quietly, stepping closer to you. “I didn’t want you to know.” You murmured a response, looking down at your feet to avoid his stare, his eyes still looking at you in disbelief. “Why? Why, [Y/N], why? Who is this person?” 

You gulp under his stare as you debate whether to tell him or not. Yes, you knew he was dating Sara but still… You were on your way to Kokomi’s anyways. The opportunity had presented itself, you should take it. 

“It’s you, Heizou. You’re the one I love.” you whisper as you look up to meet his gaze.

You wish you hadn’t. Then you wouldn’t have seen the way the disbelief in his eyes changed into shock, surprise, and denial.

It was clear as day to you- Heizou didn’t return your feelings, you were dumb for thinking you had a chance.

You ran past him straight to Kokomi’s, wanting to escape. On the way, you could feel another round of flowers coming up your throat, but you held them down till you reached your destination.

Meanwhile Heizou stood still, shocked at what had transpired, a hand outstretched in the direction you had ran.

It was him.

As his brain finally processed things, he was still in disbelief and shock. He had been smart enough to figure out that you had hanahaki, but much too dumb to realise who it was directed towards. It was then that he forced his body to run, to search for you.

Late into the night, he still had no idea where you went, as he stood in the desolate streets of Inazuma, hands clenched.

∼⟪◍⟫∼

More than a year had passed since then, and he had no clue of your whereabouts, or if you were even alive or dead. Everytime he thought of you, regret and guilt filled him as he cursed himself out.. If only he’d told her his feelings instead of hiding them like an idiot. If only he’d run after her immediately. If only he’d figured out your feelings faster. If only, if only…

He was in Watatsumi Island for a new case, although his efficiency at work had decreased over the last year. He thought he might as well take some time off for himself, give himself some time to recuperate quietly. 

But it seemed fate had other plans for him, as his eyes fell upon a figure in the woods of Watatsumi Island, one more than familiar to him.

His heart jumped into his throat as the figure straightened, then turned to look at him. “...[Y/N]?” He ran towards you to engulf you in a hug, but stopped short on seeing the expression on your face. There was curiosity, but not an inkling of recognition.

Ah. So that’s why he didn’t see you anymore. You’d taken the surgery and moved out.

“Oh, do I know you? May I help you? I see you are new here.” You said with a kind, polite smile, the one that you usually reserved for strangers.

His heart and fists clenched as he realised that you had no idea who he was anymore. As he realised that once again, he was too late.

[requests are open for now (please check requests page) ] tags and comments are very much appreciated!

[chickenparm]

Reformatting (Scara/f!Reader) pt. 1

this was written for @onesaltygoddess. thanks for coming to me with this dope idea! :^) this fic is based off the recent fan animations that you can watch here and some cyberpunk 2077 mixed in to flesh it out. this fic is finished, and the following chapters will be uploaded over the next few days.

---

AO3 Link Next Part

Scaramouche/f!Reader - Cyberpunk AU 2,753 Words - SFW, future NSFW (Reader is a synthetic/android, NSFW tags will be on appropriate chapter)

---

“She’ll be useful. Her leashing chip has been removed and she’s not bound to her former overseer. As it stands, she has the capability to become completely autonomous.” 

A sound of annoyance behind his teeth rings through the ship as Scaramouche stares out at the passing buildings shimmering through the cloaking field surrounding them. “There’s no telling what shape she’s in, not to mention whatever temperament she adopted from being with her last overseer. It’s not possible to know if she will have any use at all… beyond her base programming.”

“Don’t be crude,“ Ei’s voice is stern as she tilts the steering stick and the ship dips to the left, lowering as it goes. “She’s been through enough. Don’t make it more difficult by forcing her into that box when she’s only just escaped.”

“Yeah, whatever.” Scaramouche blows a sigh through his nose, eyes darting upward in a quick roll as he looks at the electronic ticker running along the inner brim of his hat, “I’ll bring the systems down just before we come into range. We’ll have less than ten.”

“Minutes?”

“No, seconds. Of course it’s minutes.”

From the corner of his eye, Scaramouche can see Ei’s expression in the reflection of the windscreen. Her mouth is set in a line, brows furrowed, but she says nothing at all. Disappointment flickers in his chest - how boring. 

The lights of the city grow a little less crisp, the neon and LEDs gaining a sort of flicker that comes with age. Mixed between are ancient street lamps still using sodium-vapor, casting the wet streets in a sort of sickly yellow glow. They’re getting closer, and Ei doesn’t need to tell him to get to work. 

The screens on his hat flicker to life, and he glances from one to another to another, a flick of his wrist spinning to the ones just out of his view. Under his breath he murmurs, “Security systems are poor for a government facility. Still holding at ten minutes, might be able to hold them off a little longer.”

“We’re almost in range of their sensors.” It goes without saying that those sensors need to come down if they hope to get in and out undetected. Ei lowers the craft, Scaramouche’s eyes glimmer for just a moment as he connects remotely with the subsystems controlling the facility. 

Typical deconstruction protocols are happening within the primitive artificial intelligence systems. They’re in the middle of pulling apart and scrapping a set of L-13 models, and for a moment he wonders if they’re the ones from their previous trip to the city in search of their last runaway, Albedo. Trying to look through the cameras onto the disassembly line would be a waste of time, and Scaramouche’s curiosity goes unsated. 

Instead, he flicks through the directory to the cameras observing the standby rooms. Little more than closets stacked high with spare parts, scrapped metal, bundled wiring. One consists of thousands of servos and transistors in piles that look disorganized and useless. Another room is enough to make his stomach turn, and he flicks away. Metal or not, the picked-clean skeletons of his people are still gruesome to his eyes. 

At first, he thinks he’s simply found a room of L-13 models waiting for their turn on the disassembly line. But then, in the corner, a crumpled figure in the same state of undress as the powered-down L-13s around it. The build and features aren’t the same, even in the dark, and Scaramouche speaks aloud, “Got her. Not sure of the room number, they don’t have it labeled on their map. I’ll have to walk you through, Raiden.”

Another figure at the back of the craft moves forward, her hand clutched around a closed parasol. The tip of it drags on the floor behind her, the quiet sound of metal on metal. “Is ten minutes going to be enough?”

“For you? Yeah. Just don’t drag your feet.” Scaramouche doesn’t disconnect from the cameras, instead letting his physical gaze be taken over by his delve into the facility’s systems. A dangerous game to be playing if he were in public, but tucked safely into this ship and buckled in one of the seats, he’s willing to lose himself, just for a moment. 

A quick-looping script is all it takes for him to break through the ICE and overload the already-strained CPUs running the facility. Their artificial intelligence draws too much on the hardware they’re using - amateurs. As he silently mocks their skill, the sensors go down and the ship approaches without tripping the alarms. 

Distantly through the humming in his ears from his own hardware working as it should, Scaramouche hears the hatch open and Raiden’s footsteps move in quick bursts. Good - she’ll be fast. 

To mask her movements, it’s a simple trick to take a few seconds’ long loop of the camera recordings and superimpose them. Raiden’s movements will be invisible unless somewhere in this factory there’s an organic being. Unlikely, but his tone is short and clipped as he gives her directions using the map he’d gleaned. 

“Go around the next bend to the left.”

“Down the stairs two levels, the door is labeled 006.”

“Cut through the room on your right, the door in the back leads to a hallway you’re going to turn right onto.”

“Three doors down, on the left. Back left corner. Don’t alert the L-13s.”

Scaramouche’s curiosity gets the best of him. He looks in on the room, watches the effortless weave of Raiden through the powered-off synthetics. As Raiden squats down near the figure in the corner, their target doesn’t even move. It’s difficult to read her system processes through so many filters of security and cameras, but then her head rolls to the side and she looks up at Raiden with an expression of confusion and pain.

Pain. Physically she’s a bit battered, but not enough to warrant something more akin to heartbreak on her features. Perhaps the abandonment has affected her more than he expected - her disposal had been sudden, after all. From what he’d heard from Ei, she’d been replaced for a newer model. A synthetic that had features more aligned with current beauty standards floating around the net. 

Scaramouche isn’t stupid. As Raiden hooks an arm over her shoulder and begins following the path back out with the same exact steps she arrived with, Scaramouche would categorize her features as pretty. Easy on the eyes, with a build that matches what he expected from a synthetic made with an E-droid’s purpose in mind. 

One step above a pleasure bot, he blows a bit of air through his nose harshly. Flexible and durable probably, but with little else to offer beyond that. There’s no telling what her temperament is, how she’s been tampered with beyond herr initial specs upon creation. Hell, he’s not sure if she even has anything left in her memory bank, or if she’s been wiped clean upon disposal. 

Scaramouche murmurs, voicing that quiet thought, “You think there’s anything left in her?”

“It’s possible. If she’s been wiped, it’s probably recoverable.”

Ei’s answer makes his shoulders tense, and he looks at her out of the corner of his eye, already knowing exactly what she’s implying. Chewing on his cheek, he contemplates an answer before giving it, “If she was sent for scrap, it was probably a hack job. What kind of idiot would try and steal a synthetic like that, anyway?”

“Me. And that’s exactly why you’re going to run an analysis on her while we return to Inazuma and figure out if there’s anything left in her that can be pieced back together.”

 Scaramouche disconnects from the cameras completely as Raiden’s feet hit the boarding ramp, followed by softer, quieter steps. Five minutes left of cover - Ei doesn’t waste a second of it by taking her time. The ship shifts with the sudden acceleration, and Raiden holds their newcomer up with ease as everyone gets used to the new speed. 

One look at her face tells Scaramouche everything he needs to know. Her eyes are unfocused, staring blankly at the floor as Raiden settles her in one of the seats and buckles her in. Pushing past her built-in ICE is as easy as popping a bubble, the iridescence snapping into non-existence. 

Scaramouche connects with you.

And Ei was right. One cursory sift through your systems reveals that you’re worse than factory settings. But if they did as poorly as he expects, it would take some work to get everything back in order. Perhaps with some gaps here and there from data corruption, but otherwise it’ll be like you were never wiped at all. 

When he relays this to Ei, she nods in acknowledgment and says, “It can wait until we’re somewhere safe. How long do you think it will take?”

“Depends how fragmented it all is. If it’s well-preserved… Maybe a day? If I have to look at the raw data to piece things back together then it could be a week or so. Won’t know until I start.”

Ei doesn’t need to say anything further. Scaramouche starts your repairs the moment you’re settled in the cradle-like pod that serves as a life support system as he breaks down and repairs everything that once made you who you are. 

---

You’re falling. 

Tumbling through the air freely, only the whisper of air against your ears. Weightlessness is an apt descriptor, because even if it’s freeing, you’re not free, even up here. The bands of silk could just as easily be the bars of a cage, shackles around your legs as you flex your limbs and catch yourself just short of the floor. 

Just as well, they’re deceptively soft for something so binding, and you relish the feel of it against your skin and you deftly climb and descend in little spins and twirls, flourishes of your limbs that accentuate the lines of your form. He appreciates the extra show, loves the way it makes his friends exclaim in equal parts awe and desire. 

If it weren’t for the music playing to guide your routine, you’d have turned your sound receptors off long ago. 

But at the very least, you can focus on your counting, your breaths, the rhythm that acts as a scaffolding to keep you aloft and out of their reach. Only for a moment. 

…

Your fingers press at the keys, playing a soft melody that you’ve ensured won’t distract your… employer from his work. In truth, he’s nothing more than your master, the one holding your deceptively short leash. 

Calling me Master makes you seem like a slave, he told you once, as if he hadn’t just been leering at you spinning on the pole in the corner of his office. I pay you, and you provide a service.

The payment is your continued life. He hadn’t said it, but you both know it. The chip in your head was crudely inserted in the slot behind your ear, but if you even think of removing it, it’ll scramble your mind faster than you can shut down your systems. The “wage” you receive is the breaths you continue to take, the continued existence of yourself. 

Employer - right. 

“Enough.”

His voice rings out and you stop playing abruptly, your eyes upturning to look at him in quiet expectancy. There’s something unreadable on his face as he looks at the screen of his computer, and for a moment you wonder if he was talking to you at all. Your skin prickles, just before he finally says, “Leave. I’ll summon you back if I need a distraction.”

A distraction. An employee. A toy, a plaything, a pretty ornament that he brings out only when it suits him. It doesn’t matter what aspirations or goals you might have, what you might be doing in the interim. So long as you come slinking back when he tugs on your chains, it matters little what happens to you otherwise. 

…

“How much you want for her? I know a guy that can augment synths, change their base model to be a little more… you know. Surely you want something newer?”

“I’m not done with this one, yet.”

Yet, he says, and that one word brings you hope and dread as you dip and turn, the fan in your hands fluttering with the movement as you snap it open, then closed. The fabric of your kimono slides across the floor in a whisper, hiding the sound of your steps as you follow movement ingrained in your mind. 

It’s second nature, something you hardly need to think about as you spin both fans on your fingers before tossing them up, then catching them with a subdued flourish. A hum of appreciation from one of your employer’s friends is the only praise you get for something so impressive. 

He’s an older gentleman, one who had never yet toed the line of disrespect with you, despite your clear difference in status. Of course, he is not a good man, but his gaze on you is one of appreciation for the arts, rather than what might be beneath the opulent layers of your kimono. Briefly, you wonder what your life might have been like if you had been obtained by someone like him. 

Someone who would be more appreciative. Perhaps he might treat you better, let you leave the residence occasionally, let you have friends. Can a synthetic even have friends? You’re not quite sure. There’s a cleaning maid that comes around, but her programming makes it so that her only focus is that. Not once has she acknowledged your greetings. 

All you have is your employer, sitting at the low table and drinking sake, indulging in what he calls a cultural night based on the destroyed customs of Inazuma. 

You want to laugh, but your lipstick would crack.

…

“E-10, meet E-11.”

Your hands fold in front of you as you nod at the new arrival, taking in the sight of her clothing, her position mirrored to yours. At the base level, she’s similar to you - an E model bot is one designated for entertainment of various sorts. Version 10 is for the arts - dancing, singing, playing instruments. You’d heard of the 11th version’s capabilities, and something in your stomach twists at the recognition of this new model. Similar to yours, with… additions of the physical sort. Programs that prevent her from resistance, that force her into willing submission. 

And you hate it. You don’t hate her, you hate what she’s forced to become. Every synthetic has the capability to be more than their original parameters, but the life that’s now laid out before her is one shackled to the demands of your employer. Her employer. 

“E-10, you will show E-11 to her room across from yours.”

Obediently she follows you, as you obediently follow your order. Only when you’re alone, with the metal door shut behind you and her new bedroom spread out at your back, do you turn and grab her by the shoulders. “Did he chip you?”

“Wha-”

“Did he chip you? Yes or no!?”

“H-he inserted something in my receiver slot.”

Your hands grip her shoulders tighter and you all but sag. Her cage has already been locked. With a sniff, you lift your head to look at her and say, “I’m sorry.”

“Can’t I just remove it?” She asks, one hand lifting, but yours snatches up her wrist and keeps her immobile. It’s painful to lay out exactly what he’s done to her, what she’s now going to be subjected to. Her eyes grow wider as you explain what the chip does, why he’s done it. And only when her arms wrap around you in a hug do the tears really fall from your cheeks. 

A hug. You’ve never had one of these before, and perhaps she hasn’t either with how her hands aren’t sure where exactly to go. And yet you figure it out, leaning on each other in the silence of the room. Your mouth opens to say something - maybe an apology or something to comfort - but you’re cut off with a sharp sound of electricity. 

Like a socket short-circuiting, arcing across metal, and you wonder if it’s something wrong with her. 

But then your knees give out, your vision starts to flicker with the shut down of your systems against your will, and E-11 cries out as your knees hit the floor and you go limp in her arms.

[fastcardotmp3]

Re: the tags of that post you just reblogged from me - AU where Steve and Eddie swap roles for just the final fight (Eddie’s with the girls, Steve’s with Dustin) but with an added subplot where we meet Steve’s parents early in the season & maybe they’re trying to get him to grow up/move out/think about his future, or something else, but they’d have to feature somehow so we still get that ending scene except it’s Robin telling his parents he didn’t make it (im picturing a very tragic recontextualising around the phrase “you need to do something with your life” leading to Steve drawing the bats away from Dustin)

That’s just my quick thoughts though, I’d love to know how you’d do it!

oh I LOVE this you've got my brain spinning I have so many thoughts and it's all your fault!!!

(I am so sorry for how long this got)

I think there are for sure many versions of this plotline that could work BUT here goes nothing

I definitely agree that we'd need to introduce Steve's parents early on (in my ideal world we'd have met them sooner than s4 for this plotline but alas I'm not in charge I'm simply posthumously script doctoring) and I think one version of the conversation there could come from a place of wanting what's best for him, but centering itself around ambition and choice in a way that sticks with Steve.

"You had so much ambition when you were still in school, Steve-- all of your sports, how sociable you were-- what happened to that? Where did you lose that along the way?"

And Steve flounders a little bit, because he's gotten to the point after season 3 where he can see himself better from the outside, is just that touch more self aware and good at reading not just other people's feelings but his own.

So it takes him a beat to put it into words, but he's able to, is the thing--

"Maybe I don't need to go down the-- the usual path to end up where I want to end up."

"Is this where you want to end up?" his mother asks, "working at a video store for the rest of your life?"

"It's not about that," Steve shrugs, pouring two travel mugs of coffee all the while, one for him and one for Robin.

Because he knows it's not about that, he spent all of last summer learning it's not about that and the months since discovering that there's a certain amount of peace in knowing that things aren't perfect but that matters less when you have your people around.

"What's it about then? Steve, I just-- I don't want you to get stuck here, when I know you could do so much more with your life if you just chose to."

"I'm not doing nothing with my life, Mom!" he laughs, exasperated but certain for once in his goddamn life. "I'm-- I'm actually doing really well right now, I've got good friends and I've got the kind of job where I'm kept busy while I figure out what's next for me and I'm just... happy, I guess? Like, can't my ambition just be to keep doing stuff that makes me happy? Can't I choose that?"

And he has to go to work, has to walk out and promise her that they'll talk about it more later, talk about it with his dad too, but Steve knows what he cares about and this isn't going to shake his resolve.

What he cares about is this group of people who have changed his life even more than the monsters did, who brought enough good into it to at the very least match the bad, and in some cases (like the girl already monologuing as she climbs into the front seat of his car and accepts her coffee with a mocking kiss to his cheek) somehow usurp the bad.

Steve doesn't have to be what this town expects of him, what most likely to end up rich superlative voters expect of him, what his parents expect of him, because his life isn't about being any particular something, it's in the doing.

It's in the swinging of a baseball bat, the swinging of his fists to keep the people he loves safe.

It's in the morning drives to get Robin to school on time and the late night ones to make sure Dustin meets curfew.

It's in the friendship he's managed to find with Nancy in the past year, the knowledge that this version of them is the best one by far.

It's in the days driving the kids to the trailer park to visit Max even if she ultimately ends up refusing to come out with them, because at least they're doing it, at least they're trying with her.

It's in this, too, when they drive out to Reefer Rick's place and some of the claims of happiness start slipping through Steve's fingers again with the proof that it isn't over, the fight.

But they've beat it before and they can beat it again. It's in the doing, and Steve has gotten knocked down many a time but the thing he always does is he always gets up on the other side.

He knows this. He trusts in this. He's built a fucking worldview around this because that's where his ambition went, Mom.

That's what happened to "Steve Harrington, actually a cool dude."

Steve's humble enough to thank Eddie for saving his ass, but he's done this enough times to still be able to reassure the guy who calls him badass that, "It always looks hopeless right before we win. Don't freak out too bad if it looks like the end of the world, huh?"

Eddie looks at him like he has two heads, says he's jealous of Steve's optimism.

Even Robin tells him that she thinks they might not win this time but all Steve knows is that they always have before. All Steve knows is that his instincts usually work out, let him protect the rest of them long enough to make the big and vital moves necessary to beat this thing.

All Steve knows is that he just, he's changed a lot but-- He's just the same kid who was cocky enough to run back into the Byers' house to fight a monster, stubborn enough to let the Russian's beat the hell out of him before he'd let them do the same to Robin and he--

"I don't know, I still have hope. Maybe this is the first time we actually win. Forever."

There's this sense of finality to it, hanging in the air, and she doesn't look convinced there in the same way she doesn't look convinced when he and Dustin are saying goodbye to the other three at Eddie's trailer, but Steve kisses her once on the forehead and says, "what are you waiting around for? Go kick some ass, your schmuck will be here when you're done."

His instincts have always protected them in the past.

It's his instincts that have him formulating a plan the second he realizes the bats are going to get inside the trailer, going to make a break for the gate and attack whole swaths of people unprepared for such a thing.

Dustin will be mad about being abandoned on the other side, but Steve's pissed him off before and he's always gotten over it.

It's in the doing, his ambition.

It's in the doing, the key to a well-spent life.

It's in the doing, the being of Steve Harrington, overconfident nature and all.

He always gets back up, every knock to the head and blow to the ego, Steve always gets back up, so he holds his ground and fights. Leads the bats away and keeps them there.

His mother wasn't wrong that he's changed, but she wasn't right when she claimed the thing he'd lost was his ambition. He'd found it, this force of nature in his chest that makes him willing to face down hell if it means the people he loves are safe.

He always gets back up, a tail around his throat.

He always gets back up, teeth in his flesh.

Steve Harrington is a pro at getting knocked down.

"I'll get up in a second, just-- just a second--"

"Steve there's-- there's so much blood-- Steve, you need to-- you have to get up now--"

"It's okay, it's okay, we won, just-- just another minute. Wanna see that-- Rob and the others made it back. Then we--can go--"

Dustin is crying. Dustin is holding him.

And Steve is bleeding out, he thinks somewhere indistinct and hazy at the back of his mind. He'll get up and fix that in a minute.

"You die, I die! Hey, hey motherfucker! Don't close your eyes-- you die, I die, you hear me?!"

It's in the doing, really, that Steve does as he's told just long enough to see the other three come stumbling out of the tree line towards them.

It's in the doing, in the choice of it, that he dies knowing they won.

(His mother wails when Robin approaches her at the shelter two days later with sunken eyes and unwashed hair. His father sinks into the closest chair and takes the offered keys to a maroon BMW with trembling hands.)

(It's in the doing that this time, in order to really win, they have to cling a little bit to his hope.)

[overmore]

Thoughts on social media/websites I've recently used because why not

All personal thoughts, nothing too serious. Mostly made this cause I've been trying to use other places more than what I'm used to.

Bluesky

New kid on the block. Supposed to be the better version of Twitter, and that is technically true. Works pretty much the same way Twitter does but without ads and blue checkmarks. Has a proper blocking feature + a possibility to make block lists that works wonders if you want specific people away from you.

The thing I've had an issue with is getting my Discover feed to actually behave how I want it to. It is almost impossible for me to get things I care about on it, no matter how many times I click "not interested in this" on almost every post. There are also some missing features like no private accounts and group chats, but that should come by at some point, this is a new site in the end. Hopefully, those features will come soon.

Spacehey

A social media like myspace. Never had the chance to use it cause of my age, but I did try spacehey now. Had an acc for almost a year, but still don't know how I feel about it. Maybe because I'm not used to socials like these, I just don't know how to use it even after a while. It does have a nice feature for blogs and posts, also the bulletin is a neat feature that lets you post smth that will disappear after 1/5/10 days, depending on how long you set it.

Issues I have is the layout-making options are disabled atm. There was an issue in the past that made them have to disable it, so for months you haven't been able to make a new layout. The issue in question seems to have gone away, so there's no reason to not allow people to make them. So you either have to code a layout by yourself or use the ones there are and while there are a lot of them, maybe you'd like something new or even post your own but are now unable to.

The other problem is that the place is still very anti filled. Not a lot of anti-harassment people still sadly. The social media is still very small, so that's probably why and I have no idea if it will grow in any way, but for now, maybe not the best to just go there and add random people. I have met a few anti-harassment people, but that's still not enough for me to justify using the place actively. There are some nice people there who don't seem to involve themselves in discourse, but due to me being to cautious, I'm probably gonna avoid the place again for a while.

Dreamwidth

Site similar to LiveJournal. Same with last place, I've never used something like this before, but in this case, I'm actually getting nice use of it. It takes a bit to get used to it, but once you figure out how to search and find communities, it becomes nice. There are many communities related to events, some fandom-exclusive and some multifandom, many are low-pressure challenges too. It's also a neat blogging platform if you want it to be. You can organize stuff really well, but it can take a bit before you understand how to use it.

My main problem for a while was actually figuring everything out. Took a while before I understood how to make tags work the way I want and show in groups rather than randomly or by how many posts each had. Still a bit annoyed that I can't easily look at communities but have to go to my profile to find the one I want (this might just be a me thing, there's probably an easy way I just haven't found out yet). But beyond this, I go there every day and look at things. I've had fun there.

Neocities

Website for hosting your website for free. Like Geocities (there's a theme of people just reviving stuff from web1 here) You learn to code, or you use a layout and you go there to make your own website. The end. Lol. I like it a lot. It's fun to just have your own website and post your things there. It's nice if you still wanna be online but not have social media or just be less on it. It's fun to find random sites and see what people do there. A lot of them are personal, so you'll find thing about people's lives, what they create ect.

The main thing is that obviously, you gotta have some knowledge of coding. I know very little, but googling Dows the job when I'm lost on something or if I want to find a code. If you want to make your own code it will take a long while since it's not as easy as it seems (I struggle with making a decent looking layout. I can't make the same boxes be where I want them to be).

bearblog dev

This is a very new one for me, like 2 days new one. A simple blogging platform with some nice layouts. It's a very basic site, but it's useful if you want a strictly blogging platform. Do keep in mind that a lot of things, like posting images and more blogs, require to support the dev since there are no ads on the site. If you just wanna say words, it's nice to have it. I found this through neocities since some people there have used it for blogs rather than making a page on their site. It's neat.

---

All of these are without ads and free, though most of these have the possibility to support the sites on a monthly basis which gives you perks and keeps the site without ads.

If I ever try some more stuff, I will post again about it. It's very nice to find more places besides what people are used to.

[thribby]

Endless Ocean Luminous

I wrote this as a review on backloggd.com, and I figured I may as well post it here too.

It would take a lot of work to convince me that this game was not a hit piece to prove that smaller and older franchises are not viable.

I wrote some shit down below that I'm sure has been said elsewhere and better, but I already wrote it so I'm not deleting it. I'm gonna talk about something else that I'm speculating on.

Did they want this game to be good? Let's think about this. The Endless Ocean franchise hasn't had a game since 2009, then all of a sudden (13 years later) we hear there's gonna be a new game in a few months. That's exciting and surprising for fans of the series, like me. Can't wait (although, background alarm bells were already ringing for me [I never trusted the "roguelite map," Thanatos' model looks so bad, and I think the look of the characters is so much lamer than what we had in the last games, and all of that was shown in the first trailer]).

So next the game comes out, and it's got less features and mechanics than the previous games. How come? Were we running low on development time? I hope not, it'd already been over a decade since the last game, you may as well take your time with this one. Was it a problem with the budget? I REALLY hope not, as if that's true you are charging $50 for a game you didn't quite finish (also, Endless Ocean Blue World cost $30 back when it released in the US in 2010).

Alright, so I've given them the benefit of the doubt that the game did not run out of time or money to make sure Endless Ocean 3 had all of the bells and whistles from the first two games. Which leads me to the conclusion that they had simply never planned on making Endless Ocean Luminous as complex of a game as Endless Ocean 1 or 2. They had always planned on making less and selling it at a higher price.

Ok, why would they do that? Corporate greed following the general trend of seeking higher profits for less effort? Yeah, sure. But I also think that they wanted this game to do badly. Or at the very least, they don't particularly mind if it does.

So there's a simple way to group the people who play Endless Ocean Luminous into 2 categories: people who have played previous Endless Ocean games and people who are new to Endless Ocean games. I'm gonna go out on a limb and assume that people who have played previous Endless Ocean games are gonna be disappointed with this one more often than not. The Endless Ocean games are cult classics and here comes this new entry that doesn't even do as much. The aforementioned "cult" of these "cult classics" will not like that. Which means that the group of people who were most likely to buy this game is now a lot smaller.

As for the new players, you just need to win them over with the fun and engaging gameplay loop! But, oh wait. There are three things to do in this game. And you must do them hundreds of times. But, who knows, maybe enough of the new players will like the game anyway.

Ok, so really, how can I believe any of this? I think this game was sort of a test. If it was popular, cool, that means "less effort with higher price tags" can work and the executives can take that idea and run with it. If it fails, the execs get to go "ahh, we should've known! these old video game franchises are so risky, it's probably best that we just stick a couple of proven franchises and non-franchise IP's." And instead of a big variety of games being produced, we see less and less of these smaller franchises, and more individual games that get shuttered after one game, because "we tried doing sequels and reboots of games once before and everybody said it sucked!" Like how Netflix cancels shows ASAP.

I really just struggle to imagine that this game was made in good faith as an Endless Ocean game when it clearly does not compare well to the other Endless Ocean games.

Here's that shit I wrote back before I decided to just write my little conspiracy theory instead:

The first Endless Ocean in 14 years and it's so much less than either of its prequels (except for the price!). No more hub world in between dives. No more walking on small islands or beaches, or even poking your head above the water, because all of that would require designing and programming an entirely different kind of gameplay, and that's a whole lot of work so why bother? No more specifically and intentionally put together maps, now it's just generated! <-that's where I got fed up with talking about the lack of content and made my pivot

tumblr exclusive thoughts:

Yeah sure, it's just a chill lofi game to relax and swim to now, and it is good that we're not treating sharks as inherently dangerous. but like, how good of a defense is that when 1: the only thing keeping the evil killer shark thanatos from attacking you is the magic sea's water which makes him a pacifist and 2: we're already in a suspension of disbelief with how marine life works in general on account of all of these freshwater and arctic aquatic lifeforms congregating in the fucking tropics of the pacific ocean (not to mention the extinct animals)

It is nice to see some of the models got better but then they also made thanatos look so bad like so so bad oh my god why is he so lumpy why are his eyes bulging out like that????

what were we thinking?? why did we do this to him?

[hellcatinnc]

The Bartenders Pet Kitten

Warning This includes: SFW/Some Mature Themes (Read Tags Before Continuing)

Tags: sfw, mature themes, consensual sex, headcannon, pet/master, pet, master, kitten, alcohol, bar, cuddles, fluff, making love, romantic, romantic dinner, age gap, age difference, x female! reader

Word Count: 3,106

Feature: Shuya Usui x Fem! Reader

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You had just moved to town and decided to look around one night for a nice bar to relax in. There was one right down the road from you new apartment called Evergreen so you figured you had nothing to do, it was a Friday night so was worth checking out. You stepped inside this well lit bar and was instantly welcomed by the bartender that you would later find out was also the owner and manager too. It was pretty busy and people bustling all over the place however you found spot at the end of the bar. You heard people calling the bartender by name Usui and you felt like you should call him your way but were too shy to call out his name when you didn't even know him. You sat there waiting your turn as he gave drink after drink to the others at the bar. When he finally got a chance to get over to you first thing he did was introduce himself and apologize for the delay. You replied with your name and then brushed off it was ok even though in the back of your mind you just wanted to relax and obviously with such a busy place would have been better to stay home.

He gets you a drink you ask for then starts getting more orders so he runs off again. You sit there sipping your drink watching as he bustles around like its natural to him. There was something suave about him more mature, more tame, more sexy than most men. You hang out as you watch as the hours pass by the place becomes quieter less people, less noise. He finally makes it back over to you to refill your drink and apologize, you meet him with a smile. He has time to talk more so you two spend the last few hours of the night getting to know one another. He doesn't talk about his past much but he is interested in your move there and what made you so on. He was such a gentleman he made it easy to talk to him without worry, it was nice. When closing time came you said your goodnights and promised to return. That you did every night for a few weeks you came to see him, drink, and chat til closing time. You had grown rather fond of him but you questioned how he saw you when he never made you feel like he was romantically involved because he would talk about your age difference, talk about how he was like your dad, and even compared you to his dead sister.

You had already fell so hard for this man but you knew that it would always stay unrequited love however you were willing to stand by his side any way he would let you even if he didn't love you like that. One night a few weeks later, you were going to leave and you walked outside and there was this sweet kitten that looked lost in the alley way. You called out to him as he was just coming out of the bar. He saw the little kitten and went back inside to grab it some milk while you sat with it. Soon as he emerged he was carrying a small dish with warm milk in it that he sat down on the ground for the little one. He knelt down on the ground and you joined him as you both watched the little one drink like he hadn't in days. After the little kitten jumped up into Usui's lap and laid down, he started to pet her as soft as she looked she nuzzled down in his lap as he smiled down at her. As you watched this you couldn't understand in the pit of your stomach you felt nauseated and a bit angry. You realized it was jealousy you were feeling, he was loving this cat but he wouldn't show you a ounce of that same attention.

He caught your eyes looking with wanting in them so he addressed it. "Do you want me to pet you like my little kitten too?" He chuckled as he said it but a light bulb went off in your head. You decided to be bold, as he continued to rub the little kitty you blurted out, "Yes, I want to be your kitten too if you will pet me more." You couldn't believe you just said this to him, you were not into kinky things you were rather vanilla but here you were wanting to be his pet kitten since he couldn't love you the way you wanted at least having his love as your master was enough to keep you going. You left him surprised he gasped when he heard your words but then he went really quiet. He constantly held your age over your head you could tell that but age wouldn't matter as his loyal pet instead. He looked up at you curious before opening his mouth "You would want that?" You nod yes and he sits pondering what to do from there.

The little kittens meows are all that are heard between you both before he finally gets up and runs off. Now it was just the two of you and neither of you have said anything since that question arose. He finally went to get up and go back inside almost like he hadn't planned to answer it. You said his name before he walked back inside. "Usui, please. If you won't love me at least let me be by your side as your companion, your kitten." He turned back around and acknowledged your thoughts and request. "Give me time to think on it, Y/N, come back in a couple days for your answer." He said with a low tone to his voice. You gave him a few nights to think it over as you did so yourself. You couldn't believe you were ok with being his pet but at the same time you saw the affection he gave that little kitten if he even gave you half of that love and affection at least you know you were loved even if it wasn't the same way you loved him.

You visited him during the busy time of the night but you sat at the end of the bar where you always did, you even went the extra mile and wore kitty ears head band to pull your hair back. As the place calmed down and started to empty his eyes met yours. He had seen you earlier when he got your drink but had no time to talk or to even notice your headband but now he had and met you with a smirk as he walked over to you. "You already in role to be my kitten without me even giving you a answer yet?" He spoke with a slight mischievous sound as he teased you. Before you could respond he took and locked up the place and came back to sit next to you to talk. He knew this was a subject that needed to be handled with care but you spent awhile telling him all the reasons it could work. You didn't have a job so you weren't sure how long you could keep your place, so you would be homeless in not time. You could stay with him, take care of his place, help at the bar if he needs it. You would only ask to be fed, have a roof over your head, and snuggles and petting as any animal would want that affection was non negotiable you made him aware.

He smiled listening to all the reasons it would work and he finally agreed because he saw you weren't letting it go and he figured you would grow bored of it fast anyways. You set the plans in motion and you showed up at his address with your bags that weekend. You knocked on his door and he had a small 1 bedroom apartment but would be nice and cozy with the both of you. The plan was to be his obedient kitten, cuddles, cleaning, or anything else his heart desires. He walked you to his bedroom pulled out a drawer and showed you he had made a drawer just for your things. You thought you would live out of the suitcase but here he was already taking care of you even when he didn't realize it was such a sweet gesture. He gave you a key to the apartment however you didn't plan to leave unless with him unless he asked you to go get something. He gave you a walkthrough of where everything was then he went and sat down on the couch. This was new to him as it was you and you could tell because he was rather nervous. You wanted to prove you were serious you asked him to get you a collar and name tag or anything else you would buy a kitten, he eventually nodded and agreed.

You walked over to him sitting on the couch he was so nervous you could see him slightly trembling. You sat down on the couch leaning into him your head on his chest nuzzling against him. You even let out a soft meow which made him chuckle, you were glad you made him smile and hoped in time he would be less nervous. He started to pet your head softly as if you were actually a cat and it didn't take you long to fall asleep in his arms, you felt safe and content. When you woke up you were surprised he was still laying there with you asleep however you now had a throw over you to keep you warm. You looked over at his sleeping face knowing that normally that isn't something done for a pet, you hoped within time he might fall in love with you however you refused to believe it really would happen but was a nice thought just the same. You pushed the hair back off his face as he softly began to stir he opened his eyes and smiled at you.

He got up as you got off him so he could go fix you to something to eat, you had a lovely meal talking, laughing and enjoying every second and enjoying the food too. It was now time for bath time of course she couldn't just do bath time like most animals so you agreed you would take one only when he was at work and he would have the evenings. It made sense, as you heard him turn on the shower you had naughty thoughts of how he was in the shower at that moment naked with water dripping off every inch of his body. After a bit of day dreaming he emerged from the bathroom with just a towel wrapped around his waist, his hair wet as well as his body as he stepped into his room. He didn't even realize you saw this since he was trying to be fast but it definitely caught your attention indeed. As the night progresses its bed time so you started getting comfy on the couch until you heard his bedroom open and he called your name. "Hey Y/N are you joining me tonight?" You heart stopped what was he saying and why would he suggest it?

You didn't understand you looked down the hallway where he held out his hand wearing nothing but pajama pants red with tassels. You didn't know how to respond so you walked in his room where he had climbed back in bed. You cocked one head to the side and he said the most beautiful thing after that. "You are my kitten after all and I am your owner that chooses to have my pet in bed with me." He gave a mischievous smile as he patted the bed beside him. You didn't turn it down you climbed in bed beside him super nervous. You laid flat on your back not sure whether to turn towards him or away then he wrapped his arms around you and pulled you into him spooning you. You flushed red practically trembling until you realized he was showing you he loved you in some way or at least loved having you there. It didn't take long to fall asleep in his arms, in his bed with him.

You weren't sure how long you slept but as you came to the bed was empty but you could smell the apartment filled up with such a great scent of something good being cooked. You yawned and stretched then got up and fumbled through your drawer to see what to wear for the day. Once you were dressed you walked into the kitchen where he was humming flipping pancakes in the pan. You almost didn't want to say anything because he looked like he was actually pretty happy so you watched until he turned around seeing you, your eyes met his. He smiled "Good morning, kitten." Your eyes lit up as he called you this it was the perfect nickname since you were his pet kitty now. You weren't sure if you should call him master or just call him by his name so she decided out of respect. "Good morning, master. How did you sleep?" He looked surprise of the use of the word master. He walked over putting his hand on your shoulder and soft spoken he let you know you never had to use the words master because cats are free spirits so he may be your master but what cat ever would agree without putting up a fight. He was very smart so you agreed, took the plate he gave you and sat down to eat breakfast.

After a wonderful breakfast he had to go to open the bar and work so would be a whole day of what your life was going to look like since he does work at the bar every night except Sunday. You got you a shower and started cleaning up after breakfast. After you did some household chores to keep everything in its place, then started on the laundry. This became your normal routine every day. Most your nights ending with you curling up in his bed snuggling his pillow missing him until he would get home near 3am in the morning. You would wake again in his arms though because when he got home he would pull you close. After a month of this he told you his next day off he wanted to chat and watch a movie together. You were so excited every Sunday you two would go to the park or do movie days or even go places like the beach and stuff. You now had a pretty little lilac purple collar he had got you early on, the name tag had his name and hers together and then kitten underneath. It was always a reminder that he was the best.

In the time you had been his pet though you had fell even more in love with him you just weren't sure how he felt for you. He never pushed any lines you had told him that you were there to be everything he desired yet he never did anything but cuddled you at night. Your intimacy was there but nothing more than cuddles in bed had happened, sometimes you wished for more but then he treated you good no matter what. The day off came and you woke up in his arms like you always did as he was hovering over you looking down at you smiling. He had never kissed you he really did treat you as his pet so he leaned in and kissed your forehead like he always did. He took you to dinner that night you were surprised he had bought you a pretty dress and took your collar off. You were excited but not sure why he was doing it all unless something happened at his work and he wanted to celebrate. You got to the restaurant and the waiter took you to the back corner where it was romantic overlooking a window where the moon and starts shined through. You weren't sure why the setting because romance had never been anything part of your agreement or anything you two ever did.

He looked over at you across the table he looked nervous then you started thinking he was getting rid of you its why he took the collar back, so you weren't expecting what was coming next. He spoke up his voice a little shaky. "I...that is to say....I l-love you! No I mean.... I'm in l-love with you." You thought you had died and went to heaven the moment you heard these words. Your mind was in a daze as he reached across the table holding your hands as he confessed. "I never knew I could spend every day with someone as special as you without kissing you or sex and still fall madly in love with them but it happened. Somewhere along the way I realized I wanted to kiss you, I wanted to hold you, and I wanted to make love to you." Tears filled your eyes as you heard his words, you had loved him for so long so to know he finally reciprocates means you weren't destined for a life of unrequited love.

He continues telling you that he no longer wants you to be his kitten but his girlfriend. This was the best day of your life, your heart was beating out of your chest and you thought you would die when he leaned over the table cupping the side of your face and softly kissing your lips. You two had the most romantic evening, after eating you two went to a movie theater together and he let you pick what you wanted to watch as he held you through out the movie. Then when you got home you thought the night was over but he grabbed your hand taking you to the bedroom and spending the evening kissing you from top to bottom. He made love to you so many times you started to get hoarse from all the vocals you used in the night of bliss. That began your day and night being with the man you loved and you weren't just some lost kitten to this bartender you were the love of his life as he was yours.

[novel-emma]

WIP INTRODUCTION // Ivy + Adriel

Basic Info

Title: TBA, calling it "Ivy wip" for now POV: third person, alternating, possibly nonlinear.

Genre: cozy fantasy / low stakes, romance, a dash of spice (okay, more like "two shots of vodka") Setting: vaguely medieval + forest

Features: magic, supernatural senses, bi/pan solidarity, other queer folx and characters with disability, schemes, hijinks, gig workers, Geralt of Rivia level grumpiness, a plus size male main character who's also the love interest, two idiots in love Disclaimer: this wip = research? never heard of her. We're here for a good time not an historically accurate one.

Summary: Adriel is looking for an assistant- a partner in crime - a helpful sidekick. He needs someone who can handle dangerous jobs and doesn't irritate him. What he gets is Ivy.

Ivy is here for the adventure and doesn't much care for schedules or efficiency. She's the youngest daughter after all and has only been treated as a price tag. Ivy is desperate to escape her destiny and Adriel is the perfect 'getaway car' (or person with a convenient horse rather).

She'll have to learn fast while on the road with Adriel, but she's got plenty of secret skills and know-how to keep him guessing.

Characters: 

Ivy: fun-loving, crafty, has a propensity towards stealing from the rich, likes figuring out what makes people tick

Adriel: grumpy, highly skilled, non-human, has extraordinary senses, full of emotional goo

more tba

Tag List: Comment, reblog, dm, signal w/ smoke, etc if you'd like to be added to the tag list <3

Blurb: 

I lean my head onto the wood panel behind me. Adriel and I relax in a booth inside a tavern. It’s cleaner than most, but the beer is dreadful.

I bring the mug to my lips and take another sip, grimacing.

“If you hate it that much, stop drinking it,” Adriel says, irritation threading his voice.

I take a bigger gulp to make a point. “I’m not drinking it for the taste.”

Adriel lets his silence reply.

I scoff and move my attention to the people around us. Loud and boisterous, they shout to win the title of the most important. Spending so much time with Adriel has made even basic tavern noises feel like a raucous event. He sinks into the background, focusing on his dinner, and doing his best impression of a potted plant.

“Don’t disappear on me now,” I say, bumping his shoulder, “I hear there’s a bard touring this town. You owe me a dance.”

Adriel scowls. “I don’t dance.”

I wave a hand at him. “They all say that. Just have fun with me. Take a second out of your brooding routine and indulge in something new. Something good.”

He says nothing but doesn’t dismiss the idea, so I take it as a yes. Downing the rest of my beer, I slam it on the wooden table.

“Get ready for a wild night,” I say loud enough for the next table over to hear, and they cheer in return, meeting my party mood.

Adriel’s jaw tightens and he finishes the last bite of his dinner, shoving his plate to the side. He grabs my wrist and wrangles me close to him, so he can talk low in my ear.

“Do not make a scene,” he says, his hot breath coasting over the sensitive skin on my head. “Remember, we still have to complete our contract. We can’t afford to be kicked out this town, much less the tavern.”

“Dance with me and I’ll behave,” I return, still expecting him to weasel his way out of the promise.

“Fine,” he says, “If the bard shows. We’ll dance.”

[asukaskerian]

tagged by @voxofthevoid

Rules: share the first lines of ten of your most recent fanfics  and tag ten people. If you have written less than ten, don’t be shy and  share anyway.

oh man. in the early homestuck days this wound have meant ten ficlets and oneshots from the last month only. XD i slowed down so much. also does “most recent” mean most recently written on or most recently started or most recently published? because those are really not the same. 

1.  Howling Outside Your Door

There's a barrier around the house, but it's not made to stop an Espada.

It's more of a notice-me-not, he thinks, pressing his bloody hand to it -- leaning too hard into it when his knee buckles under Yylfordt's negligible weight. It bows under the push of his hand and then lets him slide through up to the elbow; the spiritual pressure it's holding back rushes in prickles of heat against his palm.

It's made to hide Kurosaki's resting place from prowling hollows.

Yeah. Yeah, that's... Real close to perfect.

If. Perfect, if.

2.  Days on a wire

"Madara. Thank you for coming."

Madara planned on taking it to his grave, but he had once or twice, on maudlin evenings, indulged in wondering how it would go if he and his estranged childhood friend got to meet at the river again. How Hashirama's voice would sound (overjoyed, surprised, annoyingly casual?), how much he would babble, how ridiculous he would act.

That quiet, reserved tone hadn't featured in any of it.

3.  What Brings Us Together

Madara had to admit it: he had assumed the daimyo would never have the guts.

4.  match & mix

"And as a mark of new alliance and the forging of bonds of brotherhood, let us now become one in truth."

Tobirama has been braced for this for weeks. Has worked on his feelings and his convictions and his memories, meditating and reframing and just, reminding himself. He is as calm and accepting as he can possibly be in the situation.

Which isn't very, but hopefully, it will suffice.

5.  black irises in the sunshine

Uchiha Madara is twenty-one the first time an attempt to steal his bloodline succeeds.

6.  The Thirteenth Hour

The moon was high but waning, a crescent too thin to outshine the stars.

7.  superhero love triangle

"You're late, Brother!"

Yuzu emerged from the darkness with ladle in hand. Ichigo yelled, in a manly fashion.

8.  Idiots Of Unusual Size

Madara’s daemon settled early.

9.  A Beast Is in the Heart

"Jaegerjaquez, where are you?"

Yawning into the phone, Grimmjow looked around himself pointedly, though there would be no way for Tousen to know it. The guy seemed to divine disrespect no matter what shape it came in; it worked for Grimmjow. Offense that still came with plausible deniability. Good enough.

"No idea. Why don't you ask Suzy?"

10. suburban ot4 (unposted)

This is how it starts: Ichigo is standing at the school gate, watching his last class of the day pour out past him. Twelve year old kids are brats, but fun too, and a lot of them wave goodbye at him. It's a contented day, satisfying and warm. A pleasantly mundane peace.

Then there's a snort to the side -- derisive, hostile. "Fucking figures."

He turns, and past the flow of carelessly happy kids there's a face he saw twice in his life and never managed to forget.

i tag... @adiduck @edenfalling @rollerskatinglizard @codedredalert​ @joisbishmyoga​  and whoever else feels like it. u.u

[velvethopewrites]

Find the Word

Danke for the tag @alonelyturtle🐝😎

Words to find: Somewhere; Blame; Write/Wrote/Writing; Short; Might

From Two Guys & Some Pie: (destiel) “somewhere”

In the end, he went with a fuzzy sort of picture that Sam had saved from last year – he’d been standing next to his Baby (his 1967 Chevy Impala) holding a carton full of pies and smiling. Well, more like squinting because the sun was in his face. In actuality, it didn’t look much like Dean at all. His hair had a weird blonde thing going on because of the summer sun and you really couldn’t make out his features, or his eye-color, which was his most attractive feature, he thought.  But it was enough to let people know he had two arms, two legs and all the rest. Which was more than they deserved to know, Dean grumbled. He even cropped it a bit so that mostly all people could see were his pies and his Baby. It summed him up nicely, Dean thought. 

Sam looked over his shoulder at the finished photo and only rolled his eyes. “You know, I think I have some baby photos of you somewhere I could scan. You wanna use one of those to make you even less recognizable?”

From Accidentally on Purpose: (destiel) “blame”

Dean feels a smile breaking across his face and can’t help himself. 

“Is that what I think it is?”

Cas shrugs and rattles the box. “It’s a salad. For me.”

Dean frowns. He is just trying to figure out why 1) Cas is suddenly eating and 2) why he would pick a salad, of all things and 3) he blames Sam for this travesty. So lost in thought about Sam’s bad influence on the angel, Dean doesn’t notice Cas remove two forks from his coat pocket as he sets the box down on the bed. 

“Dean.”

“Huh?”

Cas rolls his eyes and holds a fork out to him. “It’s pie. Blackberry. The owner at the diner down the road assured me it was the best tasting pie in the county.”

Dean feels relief and then surprise. “Dude. Did you just sort of make a joke and tease me with pie?”

From Two Guys & Some Pie: (destiel) “write/writing”

Turning back to his laptop after checking on his pie, Castiel opened up the letter he’d been in the middle of writing, picking up the thread of his thoughts once again. 

…my brother once told me I had a better affinity with my bees and my baking creations than with people and I think he may have been right. I am awkward at the best of times and I rarely understand social norms or clues. There is one thing to say about this type of communication that we find ourselves using, it’s harder for me to misunderstand things. I do hope you are enjoying our letters, Baker. So far, it has, for me, been a pleasure to get to know you.

From my baking Hp AU, Baker Baker- (H/G) “short”

Harry had two weakness when it came to women. One was they had to have red hair – it didn’t matter which shade – auburn, ginger, bright red, soft red, warm mahogany, brilliant tomato red or even strawberry blonde. The other weakness was that he absolutely, without a doubt, liked women who were short. And this one was tiny – almost a foot shorter than he was and her hair was a brilliant, vibrant bloody shade of red. Actually, the more Harry looked at it, the more different shades he saw in it – some strands were dark, like near the back of her neck and some were light, almost golden red, around her face. He realized he had been staring at her hair for a while and quickly looked away. But soon felt his eyes latch onto her again.

From Chapter 16, Possession: (H/G) “might”

“Don’t you think you should put a hat on?” The bodyguard said calmly, and she felt Harry sit up straighter next to her.

Before leaving the hotel that morning, they had agreed on certain code phrases to call attention to anything off that Moody might pick up on. They ran from simple audible clues, like Moody’s grunts for too many people around them all the way to “It’s time for a nap,” which meant stop what you’re doing and head back the hotel, now. Telling her to put a hat on meant that something or someone suspicious was nearby. Ginny immediately felt her tenseness return and started looking around. Which, of course, is what the bodyguard had instructed her not to do. She tried to cover her mistake by leaning closer to Harry, setting her chin on his shoulder.

This was fun, although it made me sad (sadder? I dunno I am a walking batch of emo hormones lately) I don’t really write anymore. I tag: @scones-and-texting-and-murder and @startanewdream (even though she’s on a tumblr hiatus) and anyone else who writes and wants to share.

[fatedtime]

@cawsket

SORRRRRRRY for the @, I just have a lot of things to say and enjoy talking about this sort of thing! Also people have left tags kind of akin to this and I figured, why not share my thoughts?

First I'll clarify that this post is very specifically about last season of anime, and was even more specifically made because I had other dunmesh posts of mine get tags with people saying, "I don't usually like watching the most popular anime of the season, but maybe i'll give it a shot" and I wanted to beg people not to get tricked by tumblr, it's not the most popular anime, that honor went to Frieren, please give it a shot because I did the calculation and my favorite character is likely not going to get his best scenes in the current confirmed run, so anything I could do to convince more people to watch it/read it/et, I was going to do. I never once said Dungeon Meshi was unpopular, only that it wasn't the most popular thing that season by a long shot.

That being said.

You're likely getting that impression vis a vis youtubers and such because this season sucks is much more typically popular isekai (please don't come after me konosuba fans I'm happy you got a S3). There's less competition, and Dungeon Meshi is competing better right now. Also, the people who like Dungeon Meshi REALLY LIKE IT, because it is exceedingly unique, so the likers are much more likely to talk about it, proportionally speaking.

Now, Anime Lists like MAL and Aniilist are usually populated by anime fans, it's true, but it's... not like there's some huge demographic divergence between Anime Likers and more casual watchers? Animation is niche. To use Netflix as an example, look at how comfortable it is treating its animated library exceptionally poorly. The Average Person, so much as that even exists, is... like... watching Live Action. Generally speaking, the interests overlap -- while there is going to be stuff that is popular among Hardcore Anime Likers that is not more widely popular among casual fans, stuff that's more popular among casual fans is also likely to be popular among Hardcore Anime Likers, because people who are into anime That Much tend to be watching like. 20+ shows a season. They're gonna watch the stuff that breaks containment too.

Frieren is actually an amazing example of this. I can't quite overstate to you how popular Frieren is. It was a smash hit with casual anime fans, or people who don't really watch anime generally, because of its relatable exploration of grief and it's setting which is easy for your average fantasy liker to get into. It trended on twitter very regularly. Its banger of an OP, by Yaosobi, has over 90M views on Youtube. It's It's also the highest rated show on My Anime List right now. It has overtaken the king, Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood, which is pretty nuts.

Of course, using one source frequented by one demographic of people is bad practice, so I'll prove my point another way -- by comparing other sites. r/Frieren has 3x the users than the Dungeon Meshi sub. The official Frieren twitter has over 5x the number of followers than the Dungeon Meshi twitter. And pixiv… is awash with Frieren's ass, not Marcille. These are ways casual fans would interact with these shows, and fan-content produced is a pretty reliable way of checking the pulse of the market when it comes to anime. Also, being on Netflix does not an automatic success make, alas. This is why I'm biting my handkerchief and begging everyone I know to watch Pluto.

(mentioning this was just an excuse to plug pluto. PLEASE. IF YOU'RE READING THIS. WATCH PLUTO!!!!!!!!! its good.)

Anyway; tl;dr no, Dungeon Meshi wasn't the most popular thing last season, the most popular thing last season was a show that also hit the casual market but features a more conventional storyline + more conventionally attractive characters, which I think is worth noting and talking about. It's not unknown by any means, but quite a few people were under the impression it was ranked #1, which is why I made the post. I could go over the other shows too and make comparisons, but tbh this is already getting long and, y'know. It was a post made about last season's anime. I don't want to bore anyone, and just saying 'well, the anime landscape changes' might have been enough to explain the disconnect.

As an aside... and because tone is hard to convey via text, I mean this as nicely and gently as I can, and you're not the only one who said it, which is why I'm commenting, but...

.....I'm confused by the number of people who bring up 'It's done by Trigger so it must be super popular'? Trigger is pretty infamous for, 'amazing animation and interesting premises absolutely ruined by terrible endings'. I actually asked my group of kind of casual anime enjoyers, 'Hey, have you heard of Kiznaiver' and they were generally like, 'what is that' with one 'WHY DID YOU REMIND ME OF KIZNAIVER.' My GF practically begs people to watch BNA. Obviously, small group sample sizes do not a study make, but... they haven't made many season's smash-hits? Most people know of Trigger, but not a lot of Trigger shows are highly regarded in the long term, because of some issue or another with their plot.

I'd see the argument with like... Mappa or Madhouse or something, but honestly, 'made by Studio Trigger' serves as a word of caution, more than praise, for many of their shows imo. That's not to say I wasn't excited about a Studio Trigger adaptation, just that... I wouldn't really call Trigger an industry darling or anything. I mean there's a pretty famous YA novel out now whose main inspiration was 'DARLING IN THE FRANXX HAD A BAD ENDING I'M GONNA WRITE MY OWN VERSION GOD DAMMIT" lol.

I know that it’s easy to forget being on tumblr, which is the Eating Monsters and Elfyuri website, but outside of the gay circles, it is important to know that Dungeon Meshi… isn’t actually that popular.

Yes, it’s doing pretty well! And the per-ep rating is going up, plus stuff like MAL reviews are a dark pit from which no light escapes. But even just seeing the ambient discussion, it’s pretty clear that… Dungeon Meshi is by far from the most popular thing this season. Frieren, Villainess 99, Apothecary Diaries… all of them are beating it out handily in the polls.

So like. Do buy the manga if you can. Watch it, if you’re on the fence. I like all of the shows I mentioned and think they’re good, but you cannot argue that they are more… conventional in many ways with how they depict bodies and relationships, which leads to their greater appeal.

[canyouhearthelight]

The Miys, Ch. 206

In which I relentlessly mock Sophia for being nosy, while also addressing some of the questions @baelpenrose, @quantumizedinsanity, and @writing-with-olive brought up when the last chapter featuring Noah was being written. And some other questions that came up in my own mind while I tried to go to sleep several nights in a row, because hyperfocusing on the plot is what I do to combat insomnia.

Reader shoutout this week is for @nicestpamkale.

Extra shoutout for everyone who has been suffering through my drawing skills while I tackle Inktober 2022.  To the three very nice people who alerted me that someone is stealing my posts.... GOSH I wish. Unfortunately, I’m posting the art both here and on my main blog, @areasontobreathe.

Help request: I got xkit for Firefox, but can’t find the plug in to build my tag clusters so I don’t have to type out all the tags. If you know where I can get it, please PM me!

After leaving Arthur’s office, I felt compelled to meddle.  Asshole could have just told me, I sulked while fervently hoping that Simon figured out that Nixe was somewhat interested in him.  Adding to my pout was the fact that Arthur had been spot on - Teeth was already adopted, and the only thing I could do was ask Charly or Nixe if either knew exactly why their goblin had been hanging upside down so much. After that, it was in their capable hands.

To burn off some energy, I decided to walk the ship.  I had several hours of spare time, and this could be counted as cardio. After all, the Ark was huge, Tyche and Charly were both at work, and it was my off shift.  A couple hours of meandering were very much overdue.

I made it a whopping four decks before realizing there was a massive presence rather close to me. “Geezus, Noah.” Jumping, a hand landed on my sternum as I tried to calm down. “Warn a girl next time.”

“I was not aware your proximity alert was disabled.”

Waving vaguely at my head, I explained. “I’m walking through the ship during a busy time of day.  My options are mute it and assume that bystanders will see anything crazy, or let it keep going off for hours on end.”

Four blunt appendages flew up in an approximation of a human surrender. “Administrator Costa has demonstrated the auditory equivalent of the alert. I believe I understand why you would temporarily disable it.”

My hand swept flat in a pretty standard there ya go. “Can I help you?”

“I would like to hear your thoughts regarding the recent proposal.”

Oh.

“Well then, walk with me.” The smile plastered on my face was less forced than I had expected it to be. “I actually did have some questions, so your timing is perfect.”

“The previous discussion was quite brief, as I understand it in human terms, so inquiries are welcome if they will assist in decision making.”

“Awesome,” I exhaled. “I thought about it a lot, and really my biggest concern is… we’re talking about a life form that has lived solely on a starship for hundreds if not thousands of years.  Teeth only lived on one for about twelve, and they’re having a hard enough time adapting.  But on the other side, the comparisons I have available range from subsisting on plant collagen all the way to actually eating radioactivity and even high risk pollutants.  I can’t tell if the environment suggested will be too extreme or not extreme enough.”

“Tens of thousands of years would likely be most accurate, which further validates your concern.” A vomu gestured elegantly around us. “However, testing has shown they are able to survive and adapt quite quickly to the environment on the Ark, so estimates indicate that they will be fine on Von.”

“Even with the temperature extremes?” I pointed out. “Regardless of how flexibly the Ark is designed - and I mean, this ship is pretty awesome - humans have an incredibly broad range of tolerable temperatures.  It won’t be comfortable for us, but we can take it.  It’s the whole reason this planet was selected for our relocation - literally no one else could survive the damned thing, so it was free for colonization.”

That bought me about two decks of silence before one spidery hand started rubbing their eyespots. “I will admit, extensive testing has been done in the BioLabs to ensure the temperature range could be tolerated.”

I stopped abruptly. “How extensive?”

“Extensive enough to know that the aquaponics lab is tolerable and yet entirely unpleasant.”

“Steamy hot cow farts will do that…” I bopped my head for a moment in consideration. “That’s good, but there’s another issue: the hive mind sentience threshold.  As new bodies develop, will it be fast enough to replace the ones that are being worn out by any unexpected changes in environment?  Or will they at some point, however brief, lose sentience?  You pointed that out, yourself, when we realized that Else was allowing themself to die to keep from killing us.”

“There may or may not be several fully mature bodies already on the Ark from the environmental and temperature extremes testing.”

I groaned before continuing my walk. “Is there a percentage I should be asking about?”

“Working with our most recent information on the planet, enough. Given the age of the data?” They paused. Noah never paused, and my stomach sank. “Hopefully enough? Is that the term?”

Anxiety sped my steps up even further. “Shouldn’t you already know this? There has to be data somewhere. Or ancestral knowledge, or… I dunno, something. There’s no way y - this being could have existed for so long, and have no definite idea of what the exact threshold is.”

“In broad strokes, the information exists.  But in fine detail, less so.  It is apparently profoundly rare for one to go below the sentience threshold before reaching one which can absorb them to avoid the loss of knowledge. And in the cases where the loss has occurred - “

I waved off the rest of the sentence. “Yeah, I get it… can’t exactly report how many there were when you lost sentience if you’re not sentient anymore.”  I let the conversation lull for a bit, until we get to a less crowded area. “But why come to me? You and I weren’t even on speaking terms.”

“We spoke.”

“We were on speaking terms at the same level that I am on speaking terms with a food console.” The comparison was blunt, but accurate.  “You still have somewhat cordial relationship with several people. Hell, on the Council alone, you are on semi-social terms with Xiomara, Huynh, and Charly.”

“All of whom, as well as most others you could suggest, currently need to focus all of their spare energy on the tasks surrounding settlement on a new world.”

Figured.

“In addition to this,” Noah continued, “Due to the exact incident to which you are alluding, you feel a strong need to make amends, in addition to being the last person I would be expected to ask such a favor of.”

“Wooooooooowwwwwwww,” I drew out, half laughing. “You know how to make a girl feel special.”

Randomly picking an Else-chick off the wall, they stroked it gently before setting it on a limb. “Odvub is also interested in you, and I find that intriguing.”

“Odvub is fascinated by humans,” I corrected.

“Indeed. But you were the first human to inquire about even the potential of such a being, much less being able to identify a signal you were never expected, intended, or even conceivably believed capable of identifying. All by a pattern.  Odvub is fascinated by clever beings, I have found.”

Both of my hands raised over my head, and I twirled without stopping my forward progression. “Look around you, dude. The Ark has what might be the highest concentration of clever humans to ever exist. Sure, we’re assholes, bastards, and broken in mind, body, and soul, but we are very clever.”  My hands dropped, and I choked out in a whisper. “When you can’t escape, you don’t survive the end of your world without being clever.”

Thankfully, they let that statement pass without response. We walked for nearly half an hour before I spoke again.  “So, you told me because, of all the clever-ass people on the Ark, I’m the one who wasn’t busy.”

“It is an overly simplistic answer, but essentially correct.”

“Damn, Noah. I thought we were friends.”

“We were what humans would call ‘friends’. I would like to believe we still are.  However, I also consider other people on the Ark my ‘friend’, but I do not trust them to keep a secret. As I said previously, others, such as Charly, cannot be distracted.”

My pout was back. “I want to be really, really mad, but it’s really hard to be angry at being second-place to Charly.”

“She is incredibly likeable, unfortunately.  It’s terrifying.”

<<Prev       Masterlist     Next>>

[iam93percentstardust]

so i want to talk for a minute about why it’s so important that you reblog fics on tumblr (yes, i know there’s a problem with art too but this is specifically about fics today)

first of all, let me kick this off by saying, if you’re reading this, this is for you specifically. yes, you with less than a hundred followers, you with less than ten followers, you with zero followers. there seems to be this misconception that it doesn’t matter if you don’t reblog something because no one will see it and i’m telling you right here, right now, that you’re wrong. it definitely 100% matters and i’m going to tell you why

last month, i reached a follower milestone and was very excited - for about a day and a half and then my excitement plummeted because what i realized was that i had just hit this milestone and yet the number of notes on my fics had never been lower. at first i was baffled. how could i have more followers than ever but be getting less notes than i used to? at the time, i was posting one to two ficlets every day so i thought maybe the quality was decreasing because of how much i was putting out and i just hadn’t noticed so i decided to take a break from posting ficlets and focused on my longer works and the events i was participating in

i went back to posting today after asking for prompts from followers yesterday and go figure, the number of notes is still lower than it was compared to posts from the beginning of the year, even factoring in the time that’s passed since then. so then i thought to check the notes themselves and what i ended up finding was that while the number of likes hadn’t changed, the reblogs had (interestingly, this drop in notes coincided with a post making the rounds telling writers to be happy with the silent readers who leave neither likes nor reblogs on works but that’s a story for another post)

this is when i went to a couple friends to complain that i didn’t know what i was doing wrong and made an off-hand comment about wondering if people were seeing all these posts begging for people to reblog and just not thinking it applied to them, which is when may - thank you, may - told me that yeah, that’s exactly what a lot of blogs think so let me tell you why it does actually matter that you reblog, even if you don’t think it does

firstly, as it relates just to the author, when you reblog, you’re telling the author that not only did you like their story, but you want to share it with everyone else too. i don’t know an author out there who doesn’t go through the reblogs and read the tags and i can pretty much guarantee that we all get that warm, fuzzy feeling when someone leaves a particularly nice tag

there are two common arguments that i hear for this point: what if i like something cringey and why does it matter if i reblog something when i don’t have any followers to share it with?

as for the first argument, no media is unproblematic and no media is something that everyone will consider non-cringey. there’s always going to be someone out there who thinks your chosen fandom is cringey and it’s best to realize that now and get over it. you can’t please everyone. besides, it’s your blog. why wouldn’t you want to post things you like on your blog?

as for the second argument, if it’s not enough for you that even just the act of wanting to share fics means something to the authors, then let me bring you to my second point: fandom is built on active, not passive, participation

we’ve all heard stories about the star trek fans who actively passed paper copies of fic around to share it with people. fandom was built on sharing those fics. friendships were built on sharing those fics. and if those fans had taken the fics they wrote and hidden them away, shared them with only a couple friends and told them not to distribute their works, modern fandom as it is today wouldn’t exist. we’d still be hiding our fics, hoping that we don’t get the all-terrifying dmca notice

along the same lines, tumblr is built on active participation. every couple of months, it seems like tumblr comes out with a new way to make it harder for content creators to share their stuff: the 2018 nsfk ban, shadow-banning, problems with the read more, and recently not being able to put links in your work if you want it to show up in the tags. all of this means that it’s up to us to keep fandom on tumblr going because tumblr isn’t going to do it for us

tumblr’s algorithm, unlike just about every other social media site, is designed around reblogs. this, in many ways, makes sense. tumblr is a blogging platform so of course its algorithm is designed around what gets shared. this means that posts that show up in the tags are the ones that get reblogged. the posts that show up in the On Your Dashboard, What You Missed, and Recommended features are all the ones that get reblogged. the posts that show up on the login screen, for those of you who regularly see it, are the ones that get, you guessed it, reblogged

so what that means is that, even though you might have only a couple or even no followers, your reblog counts toward that algorithm and that post gets bumped a little bit higher in the tag

which is why it’s such a big problem when people stop reblogging. i can’t tell you how many times i’ve seen a tag saying something along the lines of “wow this is so good, why doesn’t it have more notes?” well, typically it’s because anywhere between 2/3 and 3/4 of the notes on that post are likes, which means that tumblr’s algorithm counted my fic as worthless and didn’t bother promoting it

which leaves me where i currently am: reblogging my own ficlets over and over in the hopes that someone will like it enough to reblog it, tagging it with something as pleading as “if you like please consider reblogging” because if i use anything stronger, i get a whole bunch of people telling me that i can’t tell people what to post

no, you’re right, i can’t tell you what to post. the most i can do is beg and explain yet again why every reblog counts