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sindar-princeling · 2 months ago

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3.3k word long RoP review because I'm cranky

I have already been sharing my more detailed notes from each episode here, but with this post I wanted to gather all my feelings and frustrations into something more coherent.

PLOTLINES AND PACING

It's been said before, but show has WAY too many plotlines - or rather, it has an amount of plotlines it can't manage. 12 plotlines (the broad plotline of the rings, Celebrimbor and Annatar, Sauron and Galadriel, Adar and orcs, the Stranger's identity, Nori and Poppy and their own struggles, the dwarves plus their rings plus the balrog, the dark wizard, Elrond and Durin, Numenor (which I'd say has two distinct plotlines, too), Isildur's plotline, and Theo's teased plotline with the Southlanders) doesn't have to be too many, but you have to be able to juggle them. Once again, I want to mention Lost, which started with a terrifying amount of 14 MAIN characters (and give or take five million side characters) - and while people grew to have different opinions about the show as it went on, you cannot deny seasons 1 and 2 are incredibly strong and remain some absolutely iconic pieces television. The creators took those legions of characters and RAN with them, and it was incredible.

If you only have 8 episodes to work with, you need fewer plotlines; if you want more plotlines, you need more episodes. From a purely mathematical perspective, even if you divided your time equally, with 8 roughly hour-long episodes and 12 plotlines you'd get 40-45 minutes per plotline. Then, you're left with a question: can I write a satisfying arc for 40 minutes of screen time? Can I write five, ten, TWELVE of those?

(It would have been easier, of course, if the RoP plotlines interacted with one another, but they rarely do. Usually, when you give 5 minutes of your limited time to one subplot, no other subplot gets to take part in it.)

Except, RoP doesn't divide its time equally. Nori was on the screen for what felt like 15 minutes, and in reality couldn't have been much more, because this subplot was completely sidelined; the same can be said for Gandalf, Isildur, Theo, and Arondir. To make a story something engaging, something moving, you need to either give it time to grow, or be an extremely skilled writer who can rewire someone's brain with ten lines of dialogue. And RoP fails at both.

The strongest points of this season were moments when it was focused on two, three plotlines at once, not more. That's when you could see it at least had potential to be engaging; that's when it all felt less chaotic, and like you could finally immerse yourself in the story.

Celebrimbor and Annatar

They were definitely one of the most interesting subplots this season, and the focus on it let Charles Edward shine. His performance easily the best in season 2.

It was a solid 7/10 plot. I still felt that it left a lot to be desired - I wanted Sauron's deceptions, Celebrimbor's realisation, the creation of the rings, and the whole dynamic between the two of them to pack more of a punch - but it managed to be a thread connecting a few plotlines together, something this show desperately needed.

What felt most ridiculous was the torturing scene, with Sauron shooting at Celebrimbor from a bow from a few steps away. It made me want to laugh during a moment when the last thing you want your viewers to do is laugh.

Galadriel and Sauron

I cover them more in the 'Characters' section. In terms of pacing, the conflict between them was somewhere in the background the whole time until their confrontation came, and it was, you know. Perfectly inoffensive, and just- correct.

All I'm going to say here is that the fight scene from episode 8 was written in a very generic way, and made me cringe quite a lot. The choreography felt off - it was kind of slow, and the use of the crown of morgoth made me roll my eyes a few times. It felt like it was meant to be just a showy addition to a fight, making it more "intimate" because they needed to stand closer for Sauron to be able to use it. "You want to heal Middle-Earth? Heal yourself." throws herself off a cliff where he can then easily retrieve the rings when she's unconscious remains one of the top three worst moments of both season two AND season one.

On a personal level, I fucking hate the romantic undertones they keep giving them on so many levels I don't even know where to begin.

Dwarves

Making the balrog be one of the final scenes in their subplot in season one, only to make everyone wait for it until the finale again, was, of course, nothing more than a cheap tactic to keep people engaged. All in all, though, the Dwarves' subplot was one of the top ones in terms of the amount of things I liked. I appreciate that they leaned away from the antisemitic stereotype of them being inherently greedy. The stone listeners/singers are still one of the most original and fitting pieces of lore this show came up with, and their love for the stone and the mountains shines through in a moving way. It still annoys me that the race they gave Scottish accents to is more crass and swears more than the English Elves, though. It's so, SO annoying.

I'm kinda indifferent to Durin III. His subplot was pretty standard, but the final change of heart was terribly abrupt, and the last shot with him was so action movie-y you'd think it came from Fast and Furious 15.

Adar and the orcs

Adar's subplot continues to carry some of the most original and thought-provoking ideas of the show, as well as challenge some of Tolkien's writing in regard to the orcs. It's executed in a kind of messy way, but I appreciate that it's here. I wonder where it will go now that Adar is dead, because I'd love to see more morally complex orcs, who are in many ways victims of Sauron to the same degree as other races.

Nori+Gandalf, Numenor and Isildur

Nori, Poppy and Gandalf got kinda laughably little time, and so, the subplot achieved very little. Gandalf's search for who he is was already annoying to me, but then he and Nori got separated and the subplot got split into two. In Gandalf's subplot, we got Bombadil (more on that later), in Nori's, we got a new hobbit race. The show wants the two to be a non-insignificant part of its emotional core, but devotes no time for it. Make it make sense.

Numenor was… strange. It's a political drama, but all that happened in this season was more or less: Miriel is going to be queen- jk, Pharazon is going to be k- just kidding again, it's gonna be Miri- SIKE AGAIN. It was repetitive, and the manipulations and plots were frustrating instead of intriguing. (And again - that's because there was no time given to this subplot.)

Isildur has got to be the most useless subplot I've seen in a hot second. Net zero events. Net zero emotional involvement. He meets a girl, they kiss after two days even though she's taken, he can't take her back home to Numenor. He talks to Theo once. The end. Waste of everyone's time.

The Dark Wizard

It just made me sad, because for a while there I was hoping we'd see Rhun in a different way than before, but no, it's still a Land Of Shady People. :/

CHARACTERS

Sauron

Sauron felt bizarrely underutilised considering we're in a show called "Sauron: The Things Sauron Helped Make". He's the Deceiver! His plots and manipulations should have reached the levels of Elias from TMA or S2 Ben from Lost - when they succeed, you feel so sorry for the protagonists, but it's so immensely satisfying. You are in awe of the scale of the plans they pulled off, or how often they manage to make protagonists believe them.

(Remember when you see Vader at the end of Rogue One and his entrance is just chilling? THAT'S doing an iconic villain justice. We should have got moments when Sauron is utterly terrifying, but they never really came.)

His infatuation slash interest in Galadriel adds nothing to the show apart from some truly juvenile levels of drama between them, and some terrible, generic dialogue. They would have been one of each other's strongest focuses, anyway - they're one of each other's greatest enemies. The specific kind of romantic tension they got only takes away from their personalities.

Sauron is also one of the best examples of RoP creators flattening meaningful themes and events from Tolkien's works. Mordor is not a land killed slowly and painfully by Sauron's presence, where the evil literally chokes you and drains your will to live - it was just "activated" one day! The Nazgul are not horribly twisted souls of men who have no will of their own because they gave in to the rings - they just got rings that are more evil because they have Sauron's blood in them! Sauron is not an ambiguous figure with many names and forms, many of which are terrifying husks - he's a literal pile of black goo for a while. (??????)

(No, seriously. ??????????)

Charlie Vickers managed to make him kind of okay, I'd say? But the wasted potential never stops being painfully apparent.

Galadriel

Oh, my beloved Galadriel. Oh, what did they do to you.

The complex, mighty Galadriel, who is ambitious, proud and desires power, who wants to rule a land of her own, who finally decides not to be a Queen, but a Lady of Lorien, precisely because she knows what her greatest weakness is. Who is not tempted or touched by Sauron, and no-one would ever suggest she is - her hunger for power is entirely her own.

I know Tolkien had a thousand different versions of Galadriel, but one thing she was not, was absent from her own story. RoP Galadriel's story revolves around Sauron and the rings, and her greatest ambitions were taken from her and put into Sauron's mouth in season one in one of the most infuriating writing decisions I've been unlucky to witness (also sexist as fuck). The show does not allow her to be respected, or powerful, or wise - she is at fault for Sauron's return, and treated like an idiot for it. The romantic undertones of the subplot make it even worse, turning her into a young woman with a crush who now needs to prove to people around her she can still think straight.

I hate what they did to Galadriel, and the caricature they turned her into.

I'm also not a fan of Morfydd Clark's portrayal, I don't think she fits this character, but the script choices are what pisses me off the most anyway.

There is also a lot to say about the fact she looks like one of the youngest elves, when she should be either much older (than for example Gil-galad or Elrond) or roughly the same age (as Celebrimbor). The way she's presented in RoP, Galadriel is young and hot-headed, and constantly told off by older men. NOT the feminist breakthrough in Middle-Earth that Amazon wants to pretend it is.

ALSO making Elrond kiss her… Why does she have to be put in those unserious situations that feel like fan fiction in the worst possible way,

Celebrimbor

The best character this season, mostly because of his portrayal - Charles Edwards didn't stand out to me in season one, but I truly liked him a lot in season two. The script, once more, doesn't pack too much of a punch, and leads him through some non-sensical events ("the perfection of three, thrice perfected" why does this make sense to him?), but his emotional moments hit because of the quality of his acting. Without him, this season would have been truly barely tolerable.

Gandalf and Tom Bombadil

Putting these two together because they both flabbergasted me in a pretty similar way.

I don't think the kind of plots they chose for these characters are right for them. An initiation plot for Gandalf who's already in Middle-Earth is not a choice I like - I'd love to see him learning from Nienna in Valinor much more. Still, I can see trying to portray his beginnings in ME. But amnesia? Having to find a staff because… what exactly? Having to be told everything about himself? Those are such generic choices for such an iconic character!

Show me Gandalf getting to know the land he's supposed to guard. Show me Gandalf meeting the Ents, the Elves, wandering, weaving the web of connections and friends ans allies that he always has, show his skills in bringing people together, like he does for all of LOTR.

Choices regarding Bombadil were bad, in my opinion. I've already said it, but for the sake of making it a separate post without 30984098 links - I think making Bombadil a mentor figure was strange. I don't think it works (again, talk about Nienna!). Bombadil is random help when you need it, almost like a narrative equivalent of- maybe not exactly a deus ex machina, but a small-scale divine intervention nonetheless. He appears when you need him and disappears right after, and you can continue your journey, but he won't join you. He's not a guide or a mentor.

Making him a mentor took away from how original a character he is - but the worst offender in that regard is still the fact that they gave him Gandalf's line from the books (the one about many living people deserving death, and many dead deserving to live). Once again, they were just hammering iconic quotes into the mouths of different characters and it's. First of all lazy (even if you change two words), second of all, very annoyingly on the nose, third of all, there are so many ways to subtly show characters' influence on one another, and straight up copying quotes is not creative, it's not original, it doesn't tell you anything about the character who adopted that quote other than they can repeat stuff. Did they have any feelings about it? Do they agree completely or do they add their own spin on it as they go through life? You'll never know! The only influence you are shown is: character A heard something from character B, then later said it word for word to character C. It makes character A little more than a sieve for a glass of water - they don't have thoughts or feelings, they don't transform the things they hear, they don't filter things through themself. What falls out is exactly what came in. RoP did it with Sauron and Galadriel in season one, and now with Gandalf and Bombadil. WHAT'S the point. Also I'm not sure this quote even fits Bombadil that well. He's a force of life and joy, but he has no problem with commanding things to obey him, like Old Man Willow. He's 100% a benevolent character, but probably not someone who would say "who are you to rule over powerful forces", at least in my opinion, because few rules actually touch him, if that makes sense.

HOWEVER. I did like hearing him sing all the time.

Others

Putting all other characters here, because I don't have as many thoughts about them. I love Miriel and Elendil, they have a great dynamic and along with Pharazon are the strongest parts of the Numenor subplot. Kemen and Earien annoy me so much. Nori and Poppy have painfully little personality. Durin and Disa, when they get good moments, are GOOD, but the script doesn't always let them shine. Gil-galad was good in episodes 7 and 8, forgettable in the rest. Elrond is kind of all over the place - they gave him a few interesting things to do, like brutally killing an orc to show just how ruthless Elves can be - but those things don't fit him, they should have been given to someone else. Adar saddens me because he got the mcu villain treatment where he makes good points, but then does unrelated inexcusable things so that you don't root for him too much.

Also, Celeborn continues to be "dead", and I fear to ask how they will handle his "reveal".

LORE

Oh boy, okay.

All I will say is that to each their own, but some of the lore choices simply piss me off. Why is mithril important to the Elves' survival? Why is everything about Sauron Like That? Why was Mordor created in a day? Why is the order of everything completely backwards?

The constant references to LOTR are a mixed bag. Some of them I liked ("pity will not defeat Sauron" when we know it will, the appearance of an Entwife), some of them were too on-the-nose for me to enjoy - the direct quotes, Old Man Ironwood, every time someone said "the lord of the rings", Sauron being present for the Doors of Durin being made.

I feel like the best thing this show could have done lore-wise, that would have taken care of so many issues, would have been putting most of their focus on making the world feel clearly like the world that will later diminish into the world we know from LOTR. Why make some unnecesary, non-sensical lore when this would connect your show to Tolkien so clearly? Worldbuilding is Tolkien's thing, and his world is one of the most recognisable out there. When the setting feels like Middle-Earth, everything that happens in it automatically feels more Tolkien-like.

You don't need to pay THAT much attention to worldbuilding with every author, but you absolutely do with him.

TECHNICAL ASPECTS

I don't have opinions on all technical aspects, because I always tend to focus on plots, characters and themes and am not very good or familiar with the technical side of filmmaking, so these are just some of my assorted thoughts.

I still enjoy the music in RoP; it may not be one of the most memorable soundtracks I've ever heard, but you can hear the references to Howard Shore's score (something that I learned was fully intentional), especially in the instruments used, and the "sound palettes" certain places and characters get in the process. I have no musical vocabulary so I can go on vibes only, but especially the orcs' themes feel close to Howard Shore's. It's a nice but still subtle way of connecting these two worlds.

I don't fully agree with people saying this show looks good. The costumes are still very simple, often just one layer of clothing with an added belt and some jewellery. Some characters don't change their costumes even once? I don't think Disa ever wore a different dress; at the very least, she spends most of the time in the same one as she did in season one. I'd say the costume designers weren't given enough time to work on them, because you can often see vision, but it always feels unfinished. Most of the time, armour looks better than everyday clothes, so you can't help but wonder if the everyday clothes were done in a rush.

Make-up on elven women is so modern-looking it breaks whatever immersion the show manages to build. I hate it so, so much (whoever decided Mirdania would look like that I am looking RIGHT at you and judging).

Annatar's wig was simply Not Good.

OVERALL

I feel that this show is both infuriatingly bad, and boringly mediocre; both slow, and fast and superficial. There's too few and too many things happening at once. It says so much, but it doesn't have anything actually meaningful to say, any connecting thought or feeling or motto. Emotionally, it feels empty.

It's hard to imagine future seasons being good enough to redeem the first two. And honestly, it just makes me sad.

#it's mine my own my precious #rop #trop #the rings of power #rings of power #rop critical

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maislovebot · 1 year ago

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Top 10 bsd characters oral scenarios: Ryunosuke Akutagawa

Hello! Here’s the Ryu chapter! I did everything yesterday but I guess I forgot to hit publish or something?? Sorry about that, as an apology I’ll be posting the Chuuya chapter today as well:)

Contains: afab reader, no pronouns, face-sitting, overstim, kinda ooc, nipple play I think, orgasm delay, teasing, kinda angsty but like what do you expect it’s Aku, Rashoumon but like sexually, she’s used as light bondage

Check the original post out on ao3! (same user)

“ Can you come home? I want you. ”

“What?”

You were enjoying your day in some mall, spoiling yourself just a little. Of course, it would’ve been nice to invite your lovely boyfriend, Akutagawa, but he was busy with something involving the Port Mafia, he didn’t go into detail. He probably felt like saving you from the gory details. He was even kind enough to supply you with a fair amount of money, silently sliding it into your hand when you were about to leave. It’s crazy how much money he makes because of his jobs at the Port Mafia, and he’s only a part of the command unit.

Your day at the mall was cut short when you received a call from the one and only Akutagawa, and you assumed it had something to do with the money he gave you until you picked up the phone.

“Huh? I thought you had a job today.”

“I finished it early. I need you right now.”

You stood for a few seconds, confused and now slightly turned on. Understanding all too well what he wanted, you complied with his wishes.

“Alright, I’ll be there in about an hour, I have to check out at the store I’m at, and the drive is 45 minutes.”

Silence stood on the other line, then a short “hurry.” Was said before Akutagawa hung up abruptly.

Now that whatever Akutagawa was planning was on the schedule for tonight, you wanted to get home as soon as you could, bouncing your leg in line, waiting.

‘ Finally, that line was so long. ’

You fiddled with your keys, trying to get inside of your car, the desperate way you searched through your keys and wallet making it harder for you to actually get into the car.

‘ God, finally. ’ Once you made it into your car, you shifted uncomfortably in your seat.

‘ Damn it Ryuu, why’d you have to be so demanding when I’m so far away? ’ you kept thinking about whatever it was he wanted to do, and it made you more and more needy, picturing whatever it was he wanted you to do to you.

With you taking a considerable amount of shortcuts and speeding a bit more than what was ethical, you made it back in record time. Only 45 minutes.

Fiddling with your keys yet again, you were cut off by Akutagawa opening the door for you and pulling you inside hastily.

“Took you long enough.” Akutagawa commented, noticing how you were lightly rubbing your thighs together. You wanted to give some snarky response, but you were cut off by Akutagawa grabbing your hair and leaning into you, kissing you rather roughly.

You were embarrassed because you hadn’t even gotten a chance to shut the door yet, and you pushed it shut with your foot.

You pulled back, already desperate for air from how vigorous Akutagawa was with his kissing. You pulling away didn’t deter Akutagawa for even a second, and he instead brought his lips down to your neck and began kissing and licking at it intently.

“Aa—Ryuu—what’s gotten into y—ah!” You were cut off by him licking at your sensitive spot, and him lightly groping you. Noticing your reaction, he paused and asked if you were alright.

“Is this not okay?”

“No—it’s fine, it’s just.. this is different. You never act like this.”

“I finished work early so I wanted to spend some time with you.”

You have a puzzled look, then a small moan from Akutagawa reuniting his lips with your neck, slowly trailing down to the tops of your breasts, while bringing his right hand down to grasp your bottoms and underwear at the same time, pulling them down just enough for you to be on full display, this made the blood rush to your cheeks while you questioned him.

“And you being done with work early caused this? I mean, I’m not complaining but it’s different.”

He gave a sigh “can we talk about this later? I just want you right now. We can talk about work after.”

You looked at him and nodded. “Alright, but let’s at least get up the stairs before we go any farther.”

Akutagawa nodded, and pulled you up the stairs by your wrist and then walked to the closest room with a soft surface that he could lay on, which happened to be your front room.

He laid down on your couch, luckily it was fairly large, it could fit the both of you.

“Could you sit on my face?”

Your eyes widened, and Akutagawa rephrased his question.

“Would you be fine with sitting on my face?”

You laughed a little, and Akutagawa looked at you rather blankly.

“Well that was blunt.”

“I’m blunt.”

You nodded, “that you are.”

Akutagawa looked at you expectantly, awaiting your answer. “Well?”

You said nothing, and instead pulled your bottoms down, completely stepping out of them. You smiled then straddled his hips and leaned down, quickly giving a small and quick kiss to his neck, not wanting to make him wait much longer, he was clearly a little desperate after all.

“Of course I will.” You spoke into his collar bones. You moved yourself upwards until you hovered just too high for his mouth to reach. Akutagawa didn’t sit and wait, and instead pulled your hips down till your heat was touching the outside of his lips.

Akutagawa opened his mouth and darted his tongue out straight to your clit, licking a circle on it.

You gave a barely audible groan, and immediately ground your hips down onto his tongue, increasing the amount of friction on your clit, causing you to repeat the process over and over again. Akutagawa gave a cute small moan under you due to the slightly suffocating feeling that arose from you grinding yourself onto him. How was he already driving you crazy from just one small lick? I guess you had been waiting for this for almost an hour, and he went straight to your clit with no precautions. Akutagawa kept licking at your clit before eventually beginning to suck on it. As of right now, Akutagawa was gripping the couch harshly, although it was fruitless due to the fact there weren’t really any blankets to grip onto.

You being so desperate for release in the car made your orgasm arrive pretty quick, and you wanted to try and warn Akutagawa.

“I’m clo—se..!” With this warning, Akutagawa paused the movement of his tongue, and sat there silently.

“What? Why’d you stop??” You whined, trying to grind down on Akutagawa, but he grabbed your hips and pulled you down onto his upper chest.

“Beg for it.” He said, staring straight into your eyes. You sat there silently, not really wanting to get rid of your dignity so easily.

“Come on. I know you can do it.” Akutagawa repeated his command yet again with a straight face, although it was a little difficult to take him seriously with the bottom half of his face being covered in your precum. Akutagawa noticed this, and wiped it off, closing his eyes and covering his face in the process, clearly a little embarrassed. While his mouth was covered, he coughed once or twice before asking again, now having a dry face.

“Just ask me and I promise I’ll keep going.”

Feeling your orgasm just sitting there in your stomach, not going anywhere, you grew desperate and whined quietly before giving into his requests.

“Please, let me cum. Please.” Your begging almost came out as a whisper, and Akutagawa was clearly not satisfied.

“You can do better than that.”

You looked away from him, considering just doing what he wanted. You were still stuck in place, considering how Akutagawa’s patience was running rather thin, he moved his hands up to grip on your thighs tightly, his nails digging into your skin just a little.

What finally got you to give in was when he quickly moved you back up to the top of his face and kissed your clit, your sensitivity running wild, even the slightest bit of stimulation made you jerk your hips down into him, and beg like he wanted without even realizing it.

“Please! I-I wanna cum so bad, I wanna cum all over your face! Please, please..” you begged, feeling yourself beginning to tear up from the overwhelming need to cum, barely even acknowledging how lewd your statement was.

Akutagawa noticed this, and took your begging into account, deciding that he was now satisfied. Without another word, he moved his tongue between your folds, and sucked at your clit, still holding your thighs tightly.

“God, I’m—” you couldn’t even finish your sentence before you came, expecting to be able to calm down, you were shocked when he kept going, continuing to suck on your clit with absolutely zero shame.

“Ahnn.. why’re you still g-going?” You pleaded, and Akutagawa gave a muffled moan yet again, not responding to your question. The overstimulation was pleasurable right now, but at the rate Akutagawa was going, you were sure it would start to hurt at least a little bit very soon. What changed however, was Akutagawa’s grip on your left thigh was completely removed when he brought his index and middle finger to your hole and spread your precum quickly and slid inside of you. He rested his fingers inside allowing you to get used to the feeling, contrary to his lips that kept working on your clit. Already knowing what he was waiting for, you nodded your head letting him know he was fine to move if he so pleased. When he thrusted his fingers slowly, he sped up his work with his mouth, the contrasting feeling driving you to your next orgasm.

It was far too much, and you tried to pull yourself off of Akutagawa, but he quickly grabbed your thighs, removing his left hand from your hole in the process. Muffled under you, you heard him ask, “just a little more? Can’t you last a little longer?”

“Yes, I’ll try.” You said, grinding down onto his face slightly.

“Perfect. Just tell me to stop if it gets too much.”

Without another word, Akutagawa brought his tongue up to your hole, and grabbed the innermost part of your thigh to pull you down as far as he could, and slowly thrusted his tongue inside of you. Your eyes shot open much wider than before and you grabbed the top of the couch tightly, trying to ground yourself. Encouraged by this response, Akutagawa sped up the movements of his tongue. The feeling of your walls surrounding the small amount of his tongue he could bring inside of you made him buck into the air just a little, and he brought his left hand down to his hard on, gently palming himself. He felt a little ashamed of what he was doing, but he was desperate at this point. In order to make up for his dominant hand no longer holding you down, he lifted his head up so he could thrust his tongue impossibly deeper into your hole. You simultaneously ground your hips down onto his mouth, only increasing the intensity of his actions.

You could feel the familiar feeling of release yet again, and you warned Akutagawa.

“Please.. I’m close. Make me cum, please! Don’t—don’t stop!” Akutagawa nodded as much as he could under you, and you sighed with relief. What caught you off guard, however, was Akutagawa urgently pulling you off of him and resting you on his chest. You wanted to whine because he pulled you off after he promised , but you were met with a fit of coughs from Akutagawa, and you frowned slightly.

“Ugh—I apologize. I know you were close.”

“It’s fine. You’re clearly worn out, let’s just lay down for now.”

Akutagawa shook his head, and pulled himself up so he could lean against the back of the couch, and beckoned you to sit on top of him. Hesitantly, you complied, not wanting to take too much out of him.

“I’m gonna make you cum. I won’t let you stop until you come one more time.”

“Ryuu.. you really don’t have to.”

“I will.”

You sighed, knowing this was a battle you couldn’t win. You sat atop his lap, straddling him, making sure to not put too much weight onto him. Akutagawa grabbed at the hem of your shirt, and gave you a is this okay? look. You nodded, and to emphasize it, you pulled the shirt off yourself, leaving you in your bra.

Akutagawa reached his left hand to your back and unhooked the back of your bra with his hand, and watched it fall down your shoulders. You lifted your arms, and you were now completely naked, opposite to Akutagawa, with the only thing he wasn’t wearing being shoes. But he’s still wearing socks, of course.

At least he understood this, and decided that the jacket shouldn’t just be for show. He mumbled Rashoumon , and suddenly your hands were being held up, only not getting tired because they were being held up by his jacket. You jumped, and looked at him playfully.

“You could’ve warned me first! My heart nearly jumped out of my chest.”

“I assumed you’d be used to it by now.”

You shook your head, looking into his eyes and smirking just a little.

“Well, come on, if I can’t use my hands you better put that mouth of yours to good use. Again .”

Akutagawa decided to ignore your teasing and complied, reaching his mouth towards your chest, and taking one of your nipples into his mouth, licking around the tip of it. He slowly moved his right hand to your other nipple, pulling on it gently. After a few seconds, he brought his left hand down to your crotch, and entered you yet again. This time however, he went much faster, thrusting into you quickly.

You let out a loud moan and all the stimulation and brought your head down to the side of his head, closing your eyes tightly.

“G-god, Ryuu, you feel s-so good..” in response he hummed, and the vibrations against your burning skin made you jerk your hips forward. This made Akutagawa’s fingers pull out of you to just the tip, so he quickly thrusted them back in before moving his thumb to your clit. You tried to pull your hands forward to grip onto Akutagawa, but you were unable to pull your hands out of Rashoumon’s grasp.

“P-please, Ryuu, lemme hold you!” You cried out before Akutagawa looked away from you for a split second, and released Rashoumon from you, and you instantly grabbed Akutagawa’s shoulders so tightly he was sure you would leave some bruises behind, not that he cared.

You pulled your head back, and looked at Akutagawa, only to be met by his eyes staring right into yours. It looked so intense, so intimate, that it drove you over the edge, making you cum one last time.

You shook a little as you came, and Akutagawa pulled away from your nipples and kept fingering you slowly, helping you ride out your high. Once you were calmed down, he pulled out of you, and you whimpered quietly from the friction.

You breathed heavily for roughly thirty seconds, with your eyes shut tightly. Once you had caught your breath, you opened your eyes and looked at Akutagawa and smiled.

“That was nice. You did so well.”

Akutagawa looked away, embarrassed, before coughing a few times into his sleeve.

“Glad you liked it,” you stared at him. “Just one problem though.”

Akutagawa raised an eyebrow, and questioned you.

“And what might that be?”

You leaned down, and kissed Akutagawa intensely, grabbing the back of his head gently. After a few moments, Akutagawa reached back and grabbed your hand, trying to pull it away. You moved your hand and pulled away.

“I didn’t get to help you at all.”

Akutagawa instantly understood what you meant, and looked at you blankly.

“You don’t have to help me. Seeing you like this is enough to keep me content.”

You sighed playfully, and slid down onto the ground, reaching your hand under his jacket, you gently caressed his knee over his pants. Akutagawa’s eyes widened just a little, and he shifted from the uncomfortable tightness in his slacks.

“I want to help you out. Please?” You asked while slowly trailing your hand up until it met his belt. You teasingly grabbed the buckle, beginning to undo it.

“We can take as many breaks as you need. I just want to please you.” You looked into his eyes, and Akutagawa loosely grabbed your hair and moved his hand down himself to get the belt undone faster.

“ Do as you wish . ”

Poor guy doesn’t have the stamina to go for longD: I think his foreplay makes up for it though

Wc - 2.7k

Chuuya chapter will be released today!

#bungou stray dogs x reader #bungou stray dogs #bsd #bsd x reader #bsd smut #ryunosuke akutagawa #akutagawa ryunosuke x reader #bsd ryunosuke

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texas-gothic · 7 months ago

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Dracula Daily - May 3: Chicken Paprikash!

Welcome boils and ghouls to another year of Dracula Daily. It is the 3rd of May, and as our dear friend Jonathan treks his way across Central Europe, bound for ominous castle of Count Dracula, we encounter the first real star of this most foundational gothic novel: a spicy chicken dish fixed up with paprika. That's right, everyone! It's time for Chicken Paprikash!

Earlier this week, most of you (or at least I'm assuming most of you, because holy cow did a lot of y'all pile in after I posted it) will recall my guide to gathering the ingredients for this most essential of Dracula Daily Dinners. Tonight, we will discuss it's preparation, and whether or not the deviations I have made from the previous cycles rendition will pay off or not. So, if you've got those pots and pans ready, let's go!

Lets begin with the equipment you'll need for preparing Chicken Paprikash.

All the usual suspects are here. Knives, cutting board, some whisks and woodem spoons, a couple of bowls for ingredients. But the real stars of this show are going to be a large dutch oven, and a large building pot. Examples of these can be see in the photo above.

Once you have all your equipment ready, it's time to move on to the most annoying part of every dinner. It's time for...

Part One: Mise En Place

Cooking can be hard, or cooking can be easy. It all depends on how well prepared you are. If you have everything you need ready beforehand, actually cooking the meal can be a breeze. Sadly, this process will usually take up most of the time you spend making dinner. Is it worth the peace of mind later on? Probably, but I've never passed up a chance to gripe.

So, what all must we prepare for our Chicken Paprikash. Let's make a list:

Roughly 2 Pounds of Chicken Thights (salted preferably 1-4 hours beforehand)

2 Cups of Chicken Broth (or Stock)

2 Medium Yellow Onions (Chopped or Diced, to your preference)

2 Roma Tomatoes (Diced this time, with their seeds removed)

2 Hungarian Wax Peppers (Diced as well, be sure to remove those seeds unless you want to go for a ride like dear Jonathan)

2 Cloves of Garlic (Minced) (Don't let your desire to protect yourself from the undead lead you to add more, garlic is one of those flavors that can radically alter a dish in only small quantities)

About half a stick of butter (Though for this task you could substitute with some kind of oil or lard. Lard will make this dish even more rich, but butter is the easier option.)

3/4 Cup of Full Fat Sour Cream

1/4 Cup of Heavy Whipping Cream (make sure to shake your carton beforehand, this stuff gets clumpy if it's left undisturbed)

3 Tablespoons of All Purpose Flour

4 Tablespoons of Sweet Hungarian Paprika + 1 Tablespoon of Hot Hungarian Paprika (Stirred together for ease later on)

Salt + Pepper (To your liking)

1 Bag of Spaetzle

With all this completed, it's time to get started in earnest

Part Two - Get Cooking

Alright, with all our ingredients in hand, its finally time to start cooking.

The very first thing we're going to do is brown our chicken thighs. Set your dutch oven over a large burner, and get the heat up high. When ready, turn the heat down to medium or medium-high. This change is important, unless you want to smoke out your kitchen. Remember, smoky paprika is great, but nobody likes smoky dry wall.

Once you've prepared your pot, and lightly brushed your thighs with a high heat cooking oil (I prefer avocado) begin to brown them. Lay your thighs skin-side down for 45 seconds to 1 minute. Any longer than this risks burning the skin. Repeat in batches until all your chicken thighs have a nice crispy exterior.

(Sadly, this is where the demonstration photos stop. Turns out, a breezier cooking schedule doesn't leave much time for snappy pictures.)

Once you've brown your thighs, remove them and set them aside. Now, it's time for the real corner stones of this dish. Take that half a stick of butter you have sitting around, and give it a good swirl around the bottom of the Dutch oven. As the butter melts (this will be very quick, so you must act accordingly) do everything you can to scrape up the delicious fond left over from browning your chicken. This residue will add flavor to our dish.

The moment your butter has fully liquified, and coated the whole bottom of your dutch oven, add in your onions. These we will stur around and fry until they are a nice golden brown. You can use this time as well to keep scraping up that fond on the bottom of the pot. Make sure to keep the heat on medium throughout.

Once your onions are nice golden brown, add your tomatoes and hungarian wax peppers. Stir these around with the onions and allow to cook for 2-3 minutes. When you begin to approach the last 45-30 seconds, add in your garlic, and cook until fragrant, but not a moment longer.

This next step is crucial. Remove your dutch oven from the heated burner, and allow to cool for roughly 3 minutes. Paprika is something of a tender spice, and it scorches very easily when heat is applied to it. Once the pot is no longer smoking hot, stir in the combined Paprika, and give it a good mix around all the ingredients in the pot. When you have finished, return the dutch oven to the heated burner.

Return your chicken thighs to the pot, and pour in the 2 cups of chicken broth. The thighs should not be entirely covered, but mostly. Bring the pot to a boil, and once boiling, cover, reduce the heat to medium-low, and allow to simmer for a little under an hour, about 40 minutes.

Now, while this is happening, we will prepare our dairy thickener. In a bowl, mix the sour cream, heavy whipping cream, and flower. I prefer to use a tiny whisk for this task, as it does a very good job of moving through every part of the mixture, and combating any clumps from forming. A normal whisk should still work.

While you wait, you're going to pour about a quart of water into that steel pot, and bring to a boil. About 28 minutes from the completion of the paprikash, stir in your spaetzle to the boiling water. Allow to sit, undisturbed for roughly half an hour.

Once the 40 minutes are up, once again remove your chicken from the pot, and remove the dutch oven from the heat. Allow to cool once more, which will prevent your dairy mixture from curdling. Once cool, mix in the cream. Return the chicken to the Dutch oven, place the cover back on, and allow to heat through. About another 5-10 minutes.

And just like that, we're done! Now, let's find out how we did, shall we?

Part Three - Paprikash

This is how mine turned out. And I'm happy to report that my experimentation payed off! The heat really comes through this time, creating that good warming feeling you should get from chicken paprikash. The paprika is warm and smoky, and the chicken is tender and delicious. I'd never had spaetzel before, but I really liked it. It's still not as spicy as our good friend Jonathan described, but I think it's time that I stop differing to the opinions of a 22 year-old English orphan when it comes to any kind of cuisine.

The August Kessler Spatburgunder (Pinot Noir) proved to be an excellent pairing. The wine possesses a splendid earthiness, and it makes a beautiful partner for that smoky paprika flavor.

Well, that about does it for this year's Chicken Paprikash. Did you make Paprikash this year? How did it turn out? Anyway, I'll be making a dedicated effort to make more conversational posts with the program this year, and I cannot wait to discover what rocks we'll turn over this time around.

Join me on Sunday when we'll be diving into Tokaji, the Hungarian desert wine Dracula serves to Jonathan Harker at the end of his, if I may, strange journey.

Happy Dracula Daily, Everyone!

#dracula daily #re: dracula #chicken paprikash #paprika hendl #paprika #jonathan harker

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oqmemphis · 2 months ago

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Simulating Tag Across Europe: The Marne Valley Gambit

Sometimes I play simulated versions of Jet Lag: The Game over Google Maps and Discord with a few friends — usually existing formats with some tinkering to make them work on a new map. This is a story from one of those games, about the greatest gambit I ever pulled.

Let's set the scene. We're playing a version of Tag Across Europe. It is the start of my run, and I am in Clermont-Ferrand, France. My endpoint, the place I'm trying to reach without getting caught, is in Sweden.

This is a slight problem.

A much larger problem is that my run started at exactly 7:16pm, local time — 44 minutes before the game pauses for a rest period. Theoretically, I have a 45-minute head start on the chasers, but since there are no useful trains out of Clermont-Ferrand before 8pm, nearly all of that head start is wiped out. The game restarts at 6am the next morning, and the chasers can start running after me at 6:01.

I spend 44 minutes doing challenges, and then walk back to the station.

In recent games, we've started rolling dice every time we board a train to see if it's delayed, and by how much. This game was played before we started doing that, for which I am very grateful, because my plan involved getting a train to Lyon leaving at 6am on the dot.

To explain what happens next, I need to explain a notable rules difference between the real Jet Lag and this simulation: in our game, the chasers are not a team. They move independently, and they do not know where each other are. Roles do not rotate — you become the runner by personally tagging the current runner.

This is relevant, because it means that one of the chasers is not starting the day in Clermont-Ferrand with me. I have made an educated guess that they are instead waiting at a minor station en-route to Lyon called Vichy, and so as I board the train I post the following message in the chat:

okay so first of all, y'all can tell me if i'm allowed to do this: on the train i'm about to take, i would like to be looking out of the train window at every stop to see if i can spot [Chaser] waiting on the platform can i do that?

There is brief befuddlement from the other players before they eventually agree that this is allowed under the rules. The chaser confirms that they are indeed waiting on the platform at Vichy.

I immediately use the budget I accumulated the previous evening in Clermont to drop a freeze powerup, forcing them to stay on the platform for ten minutes rather than board my train and tag me.

I make it to Lyon unscathed.

Somehow, this is only part one of the gambit.

I have time to do one challenge in Lyon and earn some more budget. Because our map is quite large compared to the ones used on the actual show, transit costs about half as much, so this one challenge could get me all the way to Paris on a high-speed train, but no further. I know that I cannot get out of central Paris without being caught.

Some trains do a weird thing where they split partway through the journey — so all passengers in the front half of the train go to one city, and all passengers in the back half go to another. (This can occasionally cause logistical problems, especially when Deutsche Bahn is involved.) My ride north out of Lyon is one such train: one half goes to Gare de Lyon in central Paris, while the other half - the half I board - goes to a station about twenty miles away called Marne-la-Vallée–Chessy TGV.

This train takes about two and a half hours, and it only switches tracks at the last second, which means the chasers don't realise what I'm doing by the time they get to Lyon, and decide to get on the next train to central Paris, one hour after me...

...which does not split like mine does.

Nor does it make any stops between Lyon and Paris.

The chasers are now stuck one hour behind me, on a train they cannot get off, which is going in the wrong direction.

This is the view outside Marne-la-Vallée–Chessy TGV station:

I have roughly an hour and a half to do challenges at Disneyland Paris.

This accumulates a lot of budget — enough to buy a very expensive powerup and still make it onto another high-speed train that goes all the way to Strasbourg, on the French-German border.

In this time, I realise that the train to Strasbourg I want to take out of Marne-la-Vallée leaves twelve minutes after the chasers could theoretically get here. Luckily, one of the challenges I pull is "get 300m from the nearest building", which a) has a very high reward, b) is possible within walking distance because Disneyland Paris is basically sat in the middle of the French countryside, and c) gives me an excuse to be some distance away from the train station.

Specifically, I position myself to be about nine minutes' walk from it.

As I walk past the very grumpy-looking chaser, who will remain stuck on the platform at Marne-la-Vallée–Chessy TGV while my train to Strasbourg barrels away, I hand them a piece of merch I picked up during my stay:

And that is the story of the single best eight-hour period of any Jet Lag sim I've ever played.

#jet lag the game #tag across europe #long post #oqm

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ilooklikeaburntchickenugget · 2 years ago

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It’s The Little Things

A/N: I know it’s been a hot second since I’ve posted anything, but I had this little idea after seeing a video of a girl do this for her boyfriend and just wrote this quick little, fluffy story. So I hope you guys enjoy! Pairing: Gerard Way x F!Reader Word count: 1,690 words Warnings: Lots of fluff :)

Gerard was practically living with you at this point.

Yes, technically speaking, he did have his own place. And no, technically he didn’t pay for rent (though that was a recent conversation between the two of you where he attempted to insist he needed to and you promptly said no). But he was here at least six out of seven days a week, if not all seven.

You didn’t mind by any means, having your boyfriend to help out around the place a bit or cuddle with when he was consistently home was nice. But his long days now working on the upcoming album on top of his already long commute from his place and LA traffic to the studio space was what had him staying here so often. Your apartment was roughly 10 minutes from the studio, his 45. Yours was in an area he liked better anyways, more parks and things to do and much less hectic than his area of town.

While spending time together, however, you had noticed his growing feeling of disconnect. You didn’t need him to outright say that he was losing some connection with people back home, the things he would say, even the slightest hints in conversation gave you all you need. This was because of the primary problem that you didn’t have a gaming set up, at all.

It was the way he communicated best with friends back home who lived on the other coast of the country, was through gaming. You had no problem with him doing it, and it wasn’t like he was addicted or anything. He knew how to time manage well, and if you needed help on anything he would be there within a minute of your request. But now, with not being at his place where all his set up was, he didn’t have the opportunity to use that as a stress reliever or to be able to actually communicate with some of his best friends.  And this is where the combination of your master plan (sponsored by your recent bonus check) came to mind.

He already had been keeping a list of new equipment he wanted, and thanks to your inside source (AKA Mikey) you had gotten ahold of just that list. Sure, most of this stuff wasn’t cheap, but it wasn’t overly expensive either. So as soon as your additional check processed you went on a shopping spree for your boyfriend, without him knowing.

It had taken a full day, or the entire Thursday out of this week for you. It started as soon as he left at 8:45 to get to the studio. As soon as his car was about 10 minutes down the road, you took your own first to Best Buy to get the simple things, then across to some more specialty stores around town to find just what he needed (suddenly thankful for just how big LA was and therefore it’s variety). Shipping stuff was not an option, it would’ve made it far too obvious and ruined the surprise.

It didn’t take all that long to get everything, it was just setting it up that was a bit of a pain in the ass. First, the IKEA desk was a handful, which you had to get one of the guy’s you knew down the hall to assist you with. Then it was figuring out power cords and confusing directions with lists of terminology you had never seen before. And finally, turning it on to make sure nothing was broken, either by the manufacturer or you.

Everything was set up and ready to go by 5, which was going to be early anyways. Gerard usually didn’t get back until 6 or 6:30 at the earliest, his average being around 8, and some nights going until 10. You pondered what to do in the meantime, all the productiveness of the day powering you on to continue. You might’ve been going a bit over the top with the niceness today, but you figured the world needed more kindness over everything, so you decided to make his favorite food, which happened to be a combination of your mom’s spaghetti recipe and his. You weren’t sure how, but over the last year and a half or so of dating, you had managed to combine a bit of both their recipe’s to make your own hybrid sauce, which he practically melted over when you made it.

It took the sauce a while to boil down, as in a good three-ish hours, and you figured or at least hoped he would be home by then and could wait just a bit for the food to finish. In the meantime, you decided to finish a few minor work things, and move on to a TV show you watched on your own knowing damn well he would not enjoy it (but you also knew he would sit through it and pretend he liked it even if he didn’t).

Just as you were a good couple episodes in, you heard the lock on the front door jingle a bit. You turned off the TV, hopping up and making it just in time to greet him at the door. “Hey Gee!” You smiled at him, his tired face forcing a small but genuine smile.

“Hey, baby.” He replied, shrugging hit coat and shoes off before giving you a light kiss.

“How was your day?” You asked next, he sighed a bit in response.

“Exhausting, frustrating, the usual.” He replied, “Glad to be home.” You loved it when he called this place “home”, and nuzzled into his side a bit with your head on his shoulder in appreciation. “Yours?”  

“Good, I have a surprise for you actually.” He smiled a bit more with a chuckle.

“Is it what I think it is? Because I think I smell your spaghetti sauce but I didn’t wanna get my hopes up.”  

“Well there’s that, yes, and then one other thing.” He wrapped his arms around you, giving you a little squeeze before you pulled away to lead him into the back part of the living room. “You gotta close your eyes, babe.” You said, which he chuckled at a bit closing his eyes. “I don’t fully believe you. Hands over them too.” He took a huff and followed your instructions as you lightly took his arms and gently led him right next to the new desk with all his equipment. “Okay, ready? Open.” You said and he followed.

At first his face looked a bit confused, but it soon turned to amazement, and then back to confusion as he looked at you for clarification. “It’s a new gaming set up.” You said simply.

He looked back at it in amazement before responding, “F-for me?”  

“Yes, for you silly.” You smiled up at him, “I figured you practically live here now, you might as well have one here too. And that way you can still talk to the guys back home and have fun.”

“Babe,” He said simply, before turning to you and giving you one of the biggest hugs you had ever received, and most likely would ever receive in your life. “I- I mean, how did you know what to get? And did you buy this? I can reimburse you and-“  

“No baby, none of that.” You replied back, “I paid for all of it, no worries. And not to snitch, but Mikey may or may not have sent me the list of new stuff you wanted for your gaming set up so I just went ahead and bought it.”

“You’re amazing, you know that?” He asked, cupping your face with his hands and leaning in to give you a slow kiss that he clearly meant with all his heart.

“I’m glad it makes you happy.”

  “Very happy, actually. Like ecstatic.” He smiled.

“Anyways, you can set it up with all your stuff if you want. I gotta finish dinner.”

“No, I’ll help you,” He replied, promptly following you into the kitchen. “I can’t believe I’m getting your spaghetti and a gaming set up in a day. How will I ever repay you?” He asked to which you laughed.

“Just come to bed at night and don’t stay up forever, I like having you next to me.”  

“That’s not really repaying you, hon,” He explained, “I like that too, I wouldn’t worry about that being a problem.”

After dinner and clean up, which he insisted on doing, you let him set up all of his stuff and play for a bit before hopping in the shower. You were glad to see him this genuinely, truly happy for the first time in a while, and hoped that maybe he would feel even more at home here than he already did. “I’m going to bed, love.” You said, walking up behind him as he removed his headset off of one ear. You gave him a kiss on the head and gentle rub on the shoulder.

“Okay, do you want me to come with?” He asked genuinely with big eyes of slight disappointment but not seeming to mind much. You softly smiled.

“Gee, I’m not your mom.” You chuckled, “But come to bed eventually tonight, I sleep better with you there.”  

“Of course, hon, just like 15, maybe 20 more minutes I promise.”  

“Alrighty baby, love you.” You replied with a soft smile, watching him go back to his screen.

“Love you too.”

You climbed into your bed on your side, taking your nightly vitamins before tucking yourself in and slowly trying to drift off. You loved making him happy, and seeing him act almost like a kid again brought some joy soaring deep through your veins. It wasn’t but 30 minutes later that you felt the bed next to you sink, and his body quickly engulfing yours, his head nuzzling onto your shoulder as he planted a soft kiss on your cheek. “Love you, sweet girl.” He whispered just loud enough so you could hear it. You smiled to yourself contently, interlocking his fingers placed lightly on your stomach with your own.

#gerard way #gerard way fanfiction #gerard way x reader #gerard way x you #gerard way x y/n #mcr gerard #my chemical gerard #mcr #mcr fanfiction #my chemical romance #My Chem #my chemical gee #my chemical romance x reader

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artsekey · 1 year ago

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I'm not super into Lackadaisy, but I am super into animation, and...

How are they planning to finance an entire season with just 1,000,000?

(Everything below assumes that they're aiming for episodes that are comparable to the pilot & that they plan on fully financing the season with solely the donations on Backerkit. It's likely they have additional financing through merchandising, the pilot, and/or Iron Circus's other projects, but since that information is not available, I'll go off of what I know. Additionally, production management and budgeting are extremely project dependent, so the "averages" listed below may be far off what the PM on Lackadaisy's got quoted.)

[EDIT: It’s been brought to my attention that the episodes are 10-12 minutes long, which means it’s MUCH more doable than I was expecting! They budgeted for a lean (but doable!!!) production. Thank you to those who clarified! I’ll leave this post as-is for those interested, but read it knowing they’re considering roughly half the time I used to calculate everything below!]

Quick preface as to why I wanted to talk about this and Why I Feel I May Have Valuable Things To Say: I'm an indie filmmaker and professor of animation, production management, and VFX. I'm not trying to call out the company or the production because-- and I cannot say this enough-- I truly do not know what's happening on the back end. Every production is wildly different. Their original goal was 125,000, with 45% going to animation-- that includes rough, cleanup, & color. That means that for a ~27 minute animated episode, they've got $56,250. If we collect all facets of production together-- story, layout, animation, compositing, and editing-- we wind up with a grand total of $82,500. Even if we estimate at the lowest average production cost of $8,000 a minute, this budget would account for ~11 minutes of animation.

An animator's average hourly rate is ~$36. With the outlined budget, the Lackadaisy production would be able to afford ~1562 hours of animator manpower. Let's assume (for the sake of this discussion) they'll split that over at least four animators, leaving us with about 10 weeks of full-time work (~390 hrs per person) for four people.

Now this may seem like a lot of time, but as far as I can tell, the pilot was largely animated frame-by-frame without the use of 2D rigging. This means every frame needs to go through roughs, then cleanup, then color, then composite. Every frame you see on-screen has been worked over at least four times-- six if you count layout and story. Ten weeks is simply not enough time to finish 27 minutes of 2D animation.

Now, I know what you might be thinking; Artsekey, they never said their production period was ten weeks! And you're right! However, that's how much production time they can afford. Whether it's split over 20 weeks or a year, they only have enough money to pay their animators for 1562 hours of labor.... if they're paying them a competitive hourly wage. To be completely clear, I am not insinuating that they're low-balling their animators; there're a dozen unknown factors that play into this, such as:

The level of animator they're hiring (an apprentice animator may make ~$17-$23 an hour whereas an experienced pro may make ~$43-$45.)

Whether they're actually hiring animators as opposed to contracting animators (I assume their model is likely relying on the latter based on the fact that I'm seeing a lot of animators that worked on 1-3 shots). They may be doing single-sum deliverable based contracts rather than hourly.

The use of tools like EBsynth (which is listed among the programs they're using) and smart frame management (which they're definitely doing!). This can, if used properly, cut down on the number of in-betweens animators need to get done.

The amount of money the studio is planning to re-invest on their end. The goal on backerkit may just account for the additional funds the studio needs to enter production, meaning their budget may be far larger than what's listed. However, if this were the case, I'd hope they'd disclose it! If I were considering backing the project, knowing that the studio was going to be buying in would increase my faith in the fundraiser.

Obviously, the team loves animation. It shows through in the pilot, and I think that it's clear in their mission statement that they stand against the exploitation of animators. But... I also know that indie production is like trying to wring water out of a log. I'd personally like a more comprehensive breakdown of their expenditures not because I think there's anything suspicious happening behind the scenes, but because as someone who teaches production management for animation and who has an interest in indie production specifically, I'm wondering what choices they're making to stretch their funds.

And what about sound?

While I'm not an expert in audio design, I do live with a professional voice actress/audio engineer, and she had a few thoughts I'd like to share.

At their original goal, roughly ~12500 was set aside for:

Sound Design

Music Composition

Voice Acting

Now, I can only refer to my own experiences as an indie filmmaker regarding price, but the rate I received-- from friends-- for sound design was roughly ~325 per minute, and this was a very, very good deal for what I personally needed. The audio engineer can be responsible for collecting and/or recording foley, or the sound effects you hear in film. This can be expensive and time consuming. They're also responsible for editing all the foley, music, and voice acting together in a way that feels seamless. If we were going off the rate I was given (which was very reasonable given the amount of work that needed to be done), ~27 minutes of full foley, complex sound design, and mixing would run about ~8,000. This number could fluctuate significantly depending on whether they need the sound designers to create the foley, get some ADR in, or just mix the audio, but let's assume that Lackadaisy has a pre-existing foley library and that the price falls in a lower range of ~5,000.

Music's a complete wild-card. In my experience, most composers charge per-minute, and most of the indie composers I've worked with were at a rate of ~$100 per minute of music. That'll land at a nice $2,700.

Now where my friend got particularly heated was the rate for the voice actors. As a voice actress herself, she was floored that the budget for voice was so low-- particularly because the project's pilot pulled industry voices like ProZD. Obviously, the price for voice can vary wildly based on how many lines an actor has, their experience as a voice actor, their personal terms, ect. The cast for the pilot included 11 credited actors. I can't assume their rates or whether they charge a fee to even get in the booth (my roomate charges $100 flat at the start of a session), but if my other estimates are in the right ballpark, their goal budget accounts for roughly ~500 per VA (and it's extremely unlikely that it's divided equally for obvious (and logical) reasons). Honestly, for a full episode of animation, that's... about average. But average in the voice-acting community doesn't necessarily mean good. Voice actors are notoriously underpaid, and-- as previously mentioned-- bigger names with more lines are going to be taking in more of that pay-pool.

And, of course, the Production Managers.

I'm not going to speak on this for too long, but the original budget held 8750 for the admin team. I assume admin includes their PMs, director, and leads (if they have enough specialization to need leads). Assuming it's just one PM and one director, they're pulling in ~4375 a person. For the duration of the project. There's no way that prepro, production, and post would take less than 8 months. Of everyone involved in a production, these roles are on-board from start to end, and it's simply not enough! PM's are absolutely critical to success!

Not to mention the editor!

In animation, the editor is the director's right-hand man, and is working to edit the storyboards, reels, scratch music, and the final cut. This role is also on the production from pre-to-post, and their original budget allows for.... $2,500. What? If I go extremely low on the hourly for the editor, you maybe get one part-time weeks' worth of work for several edits of a 27 minute episode. With most everything else I've talked about, I've mentioned there's a lot of wiggle room because of all the factors I simply don't know, but in no universe is $2,500 enough for this editing job. (Even at the current budget of 1,000,000, $4,000 an episode is super low.)

But, hey! They've got more money now!

Of course, all of these concerns go out the window when you consider that the team's already raised a whopping $953,000 (as of 7/31/23) with the fundraiser only up for five days... right?

Well... It certainly alleviates some of the strain, but their stretch goals were scope increases! This means that once they reach their 1,000,000 stretch goal, they're adding on four additional ~27 minute episodes. This increases the budget-per-episode to 200,000 (yay!), but that still leaves the project with about $7,400 to spend per-minute... which, in the world of animation, isn't much!

All in all, I think that the original goal of 125,000 -- if there was going to be minimal investment from the company-- was completely insufficient, and it would have been irresponsible to try to produce a 27 minute long pilot with that budget. At the same time, I imagine the PM/Admin team could reasonably expect a strong outpouring of support from the fans based on past success and low-balled the original goal. Now that they're near 1,000,000, I think- and hope - they'll be able to swing it.

If anyone has any insight into the production of the pilot (either because you worked on it or know someone who does), please feel free to add context to this post! Again, I am not trying to call out Iron Circus. I'm fascinated by indie production and have been following the successes and failures of crowdfunded animation since it started picking up, and while the goal for Lackadaisy raised some concerns for me up-front, I think they're making strategic choices based on hard data (that we the public are not privvy to). They've already done it once, so they should be able to do it again!

#lackadaisy #animation #indie animatio #long post #production management

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posttexasstressdisorder · 3 months ago

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When in doubt, BAKE! Pt. 685: Saturday Night Bread

It's been one fuck of a week again, and my world has been changed drastically, and today I said fuck it I'm gonna bake bread.

This batch is about 60-40 Whole Wheat-White, a "Whole wheat Light"...it usually makes excellent sammy bread. It has some heft, but it's not so heavy as pure whole wheat.

Not sure if I've posted about THE BOOK yet, but this is THE BOOK if you really REALLY want to get good at baking bread:

"The Laurel's Kitchen BREAD BOOK", written in 1984 as a followup to the classic Laurel's Kitchen, by Laurel Roberston, Carole Flinders et.al. Carole and Laurel were both excellent writers, and the book is a pleasure to read. It's got the typical hippie wood cuts (they were in Berkeley, after all) and is my home bread-baker's bible. They wouldn't approve tonight's loaves, which are padded with white flour. lulz. I give myself lots of fail room when I haven't baked in awhile.

The original Laurel's Kitchen was the very first vegetarian cookbook I ever read, it was 1981, I'd just moved to Houston to work in the record stores...learned a lot from that book, but one trick they used can no longer be used, and they stressed that in the Bread Book: No baking in 48 oz juice cans (which they had championed in the first book). Now they line the cans with poisonous coatings, can't use them. Which is fine with me...I like my bread square/rectangular, when I'm makin' sammies.

Started this batch with 3 cups whole wheat, 2 1/2 cups white, and a tablespoon of salt, dry in the mixer bowl. Mix on low for about a minute to mix thoroughly. Replace the paddle with the dough hook.

In a 4-cup Pyrex measure, put 2 1/2 cups luke-warm water, and in a 1 cup measure, put 1/2 cup lukewarm water.

Into that one cup, put a tablespoon of brown sugar. Put another tablespoon of brown sugar in the large measure. Sprinkle one tablepoon of dry yeast into the small measure and stir.

With the mixer on the first speed, with the dough hook, slowly pour the yeast mix into the dry ingredients in the bowl. Follow with the rest of the water/sugar.

Now start adding small amounts of white flour until it begins to "pick up" and starts cleaning the bowl. In between these additions of flour, add, about a tablespoon at a time, 2 tablespoons of softened salted butter. The dough should pick up and become quite soft after a few more minutes.

After mixing on the first speed for about five minutes with the dough hook, turn it out onto a floured countertop and finish kneading by hand.

It'd been so long since I had my hands on some warm, live dough...and it made me smile, it's such an amazing feeling to work with it in its various stages.

Once it's become a good, solid dough from hand kneading for about five minutes, form it into large ball, and put in a large crockery bowl that's been buttered. Turn the ball to coat, place a linen towel atop and place in a draft-free, warm zone. That cabinet in the spot above the fridge is perfect. After about an hour and a half, it should be lookin' good, and a finger-poke in the middle won't "fill in".

Mash it down, making sure you get ALL the trapped air bubbles out. Form it into a ball again, and put it back in the bowl, and let it rise a SECOND TIME for about 40-45 minutes tops. It should take roughly half the time of the first rise.

Mash it down the second time, and flatten in to a big rectangle, and divide it in half. Let it rest for about five minutes.

Now form into loaves and put in the long bread loaf pans, pre-greased with shortening.

Put them back above the fridge, covered, for about 20 minutes, until they are just arching above the tops of the pans.

Put them into the 400 degree oven and let them bake for 15 minutes. AFTER 15 MINUTES, TURN THE TEMPERATURE DOWN TO 350, WITHOUT OPENING THE OVEN DOOR.

Let bake for another 30-40 minutes.

Loaves are done when they have a hollow sound when tapped, much like a watermelon when ripe.

Turn out of pans immediately and cool on racks until completely cool. Brush the tops with melted butter, if you like.

This is a good everyday bread for sammies and toast. Using butter, and using the higher temp for the initial "spring" time helps give this a solidly crunchy crust, and the blend of flours gives it a very nice texture and crumb. Yields two large loaves.

Baker gets first slice slathered in softened butter.

Y'all enjoy! I'm off to stand under the hot water for a good long while.

#ProTip: use the thinnest-bladed bread knife you can find. use a light pressure while using a SAWING MOTION. Perfect slices every time.

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savage-kult-of-gorthaur · 11 months ago

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WHAT "NOTHING" LOOKS LIKE WHEN CAPTURED BY THE HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE.

PIC INFO: Resolution at 1272x1306 -- Spotlight on the Hubble Deep Field at full resolution, c. 1996. (R. Williams, the Hubble Deep Field team, NASA).

OVERVIEW: "In 1995, astronomer Bob Williams wanted to point the Hubble Space Telescope at a patch of sky filled with absolutely nothing remarkable. For 100 hours.

It was a terrible idea, his colleagues told him, and a waste of valuable telescope time. People would kill for that amount of time with the sharpest tool in the shed, they said, and besides — no way would the distant galaxies Williams hoped to see be bright enough for Hubble to detect.

Plus, another Hubble failure would be a public relations nightmare. Perceptions of the project, which had already cost multiple billions of dollars, were pretty dismal. Not much earlier, astronauts had dragged Hubble into the cargo bay of the space shuttle Endeavour and corrected a disastrous flaw in the prized telescope’s vision. After the fix, the previously blind eye in the sky could finally see stars as more than blurred points of light. And now, finally, it was time to start erasing the frustrations of Hubble’s early years.

Except that staring at nothing and coming up empty didn’t seem like the best way to do that.

But Williams was undeterred. And, to be honest, it didn’t really matter how much his colleagues protested. As director of the Space Telescope Science Institute, he had a certain amount of Hubble’s time at his personal disposal. “The telescope allocation committee would never have approved such a long, risky project,” he explains. “But as director, I had 10 percent of the telescope time, and I could do what I wanted.”

Wiliams suspected the billion light-year stare might capture eons of galactic evolution in a single frame and uncover some of the faintest, farthest galaxies ever seen. And to him, the potential observations were so important and so fundamental for understanding how the universe evolved that the experiment was a no-brainer, consequences be damned.

“Scientific discovery requires risk,” Williams says. “And I was at a point in my career where I said, “If it’s that bad, I’ll resign. I‘ll fall on my sword.’”

So, with his job perhaps on the line, Williams went off, put together a small team of post-docs, and did exactly as he’d planned. For 100 hours, between Dec. 18 and 28, Hubble stared at a patch of sky near the Big Dipper’s handle that was only about 1/30th as wide as the full moon. In total, the telescope took 342 pictures of the region, each of which was exposed for between 25 and 45 minutes. The images were processed and combined, then colored, and 17 days later, released to the public.

It turned out that “nothing” was actually stuffed with of galaxies. More than 3,000 of them came spilling out, some roughly 12 billion years old. Spiral, elliptical, irregular – red, white, blue, and yellow – the smudges of light that leapt from the final composite image cracked the universe in ways scientists never could have imagined."

-- NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC, "When Hubble Stared at Nothing for 100 Hours," by Nadia Bynadia Drake, published April 24, 2015

Source: www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/when-hubble-stared-at-nothing-for-100-hours.

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sybilius · 1 year ago

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You want to eat this, trust me, so here is the recipe. Adapted from this instagram post.

Weeknight Sesame Udon

Sauce 50ml soy sauce 1 tbsp dark soy sauce 2 tbsp zhī ma jiàng, Chinese Sesame Paste (a tahini or plain peanut butter will work in a pinch, but this is the best) 1-2 tbsp of mirin 2 tsp rice vinegar 1 tbsp Chinese five spice (optional-- spice averse people can leave this out) 1 thumb of ginger 3 cloves of garlic Deep fried tofu topping (can substitute this with plain peanuts if you don't have time or inclination to deep fry) 1 block firm tofu 1-2 tbsp corn starch 1/2 c or more of oil, I like peanut oil for this Quick Pickle Garnish Cucumbers 3 tbsp Rice vinegar Salt

Your Favourite Noodle (I like Udon myself, but this would be good with buckwheat noodles or ramen noodles) Other Garnish Scallions Lao Gan Ma, Chili crisp topping OPTIONAL: Greens you want to get rid of, such as spinach or gai lan.

(Quick pickles) Using a large knife, slice your cucumbers in half lengthwise.

(Quick Pickles) Chop each half into 3 inch sections. Smash the sections with the flat side of your knife (see the instagram video if you're not sure what I mean), then roughly chop the cucumber.

(Quick Pickles) Place in a bowl with a generous splash of rice vinegar and a pinch of salt, and put it in the fridge for later.

(Sauce) Grate the ginger and mince the garlic (if you are pressed for time and have money, the squeezable tubes will probably work fine for this). Mix all the sauce ingredients together and set aside.

(Tofu) Set out a plate with paper towel on your stove. Set out your frying pan and place about 1/4" depth of oil in there. Heat it up on medium-high.

(Tofu) While it's heating, drain the tofu into a large bowl. Crumble the tofu with your hands. The pieces should be fairly small. Toss in the cornstarch.

(Tofu) Carefully add the tofu to the hot oil. Let it fry for at least 5 minutes, or until the tofu is light gold in color. Add it carefully to the plate using a slotted spoon (be careful! hot oil!). Turn off the heat (I am writing this because I always forget this step).

(Tofu) Grab an additional paper towel and soak the extra oil off your tofu.

(Noodles) Boil a large pot of water for your noodles

(Noodles) While the water is heating, chop your scallions or extra greens.

(Noodles) Add the noddles to the boiling water and cook for the needed amount of time. If adding greens, in the last 45s of cooking time, throw in the greens to blanch them.

(Noodles) When the noodles are a desired softness, drain them. Mix the sauce, tofu (or peanuts) and noodles together. Serve, topped with scallions, quick pickles, and lao gan ma. Enjoy!

#recipe #food #noodles

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alette-stars · 4 months ago

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Over 240,000 words, 45+ chapters, written over 4 and a half years. Blood, Water is complete.

This post is long overdue. I finished the fic over 6 months ago (can you believe it?!) and I’ve been caught up in things offline, to put it lightly. But on the 5th (!) anniversary of the posting of the first chapter, i thought there was no better time than to, finally, put this out.

I really couldn’t have finished this work without all the love and support i received while it was being posted. I know we like to say to write for yourself, not the crowd, but god that support really motivated me and brought so much happiness to my life. And i hope i was able to return some of that to you, through my work.

Well you’ve all waited long enough. Let’s get started!

The inspiration of fic title is given in the fic summary. Blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb. Although this quote is attributed as the full version of the common adage blood is thicker than water, it actually isn’t! It was coined later, though i don’t know by whom. (i actually didn’t know this when i first wrote the fic, but i stand by the quote—it’s great and very fitting)

I think i came up with the title like minutes before i posted the first chapter. I ended up posting it impulsively, kind of. I knew it was gonna be a big project but i wasn’t thinking about my other ongoing fics at the moment, i was so excited and i just had to start sharing this one

The entirety of the fic was written in a Google Doc titled Vampire 8.

Seonghwa’s favorite kaomoji (as referenced in Chapter 11) is (❁´◡`❁)

All the prominent vampires in this have ‘unsexy’ ages, and that’s on purpose. I wanted to do something different from the typical centuries-old vampires. So, instead, at roughly 200 years Seonghwa is the oldest, while Mingi would still be a young man if he hadn’t been turned

Don’t ask about the progression of time in this fic. It went on so long (i wrote this over literal years) i genuinely forgot

I like to write other idols into my fics, and this one is no exception. Most prominent would be VIXX (current and ex members) as the coven essentially in charge of the vampire world, but there’s also Monsta X’s Minhyuk, whose conversation with Yeosang was brought up in Chapter 22.

All our main coven’s makers were named after famous Korean actors and actresses. Ji Sung for Wooyoung and Yeosang, Nam Ji Hyun for Jongho, and of course Kim Tae Hee for Seonghwa. Mingi’s maker is never referred to by name but her name is Nara, after Jang Na Ra.

Author has a cameo in Chapter 6! Cashier staring shamelessly at Seonghwa in his full vampiric glory :’)

Seonghwa’s real-life fits were often used as inspiration, but one was straight-up duplicated. This was of course the teal turtleneck + mushroom hair combo from the amusement park date in Chapter 13.

I did do a little color theming for some characters, but nothing too strong. We have red for Hongjoong, turquoise/teal for Seonghwa, purple for San, and gold for Yeosang.

Another theme i love for all my writing is space. Seonghwa and his planet/star comparison is probably the most obvious. Personally, i have a lot of fondness for the framing of Wooyoung and Yeosang as the sun and moon, and then the addition of San as the Earth.

There have been some questions about the systemic issues in world of Blood, Water that i’ve kind of avoided answering because i wanted to focus on the immediate, personal story. But basically vampires are an open secret in the world that the government continues to staunchly deny. The vampire population has historically been very, very small. Vampire society, as a whole, didn’t exist until recently. Around 20 years ago, the government decided to crack down and eliminate the vampire ‘issue’ once and for all, leading to the hunting days that cost many vampires their lives—including Yeosang and Wooyoung’s maker, Jisung. When the regime changed, the new government stopped the state-operated vampire hunting. The blood den/club business that had always operated on a small scale—accessible only to the most connected/wealthy vampires—grew and even regular vampires (and humans) could get in. This reduced the ‘mugging’ operations less well-off vampires had to resort to, but bred new problems. Increased vampire-human interactions resulted in more turnings. By the start of the Blood, Water timeline, vampire population has started to outpace the blood available at the blood dens. Vampires of a certain level of society, like Seonghwa, are strongly advised not to turn any more new vampires, because soon the problem might get too big to hide.

Technically there is no vampire leader, although the authority everyone defers to is Hakyeon and his coven. But, as Hakyeon himself would say, they’re not a government—they’re businessmen. Anything they do—keeping the surrounding areas safe, putting down dangerous vampires, providing blood and feeders for newborns and adults—is to keep their business running smoothly. Vampire society is officially lawless so, yes, if Wooyoung wanted he could kill another vampire.

In the 4 and a half years from conception to completion of Blood, Water, a lot of things changed. My initial conceptualization of Yeosang was as a cold, dangerous individual, one that you might think would actually hurt San. Early on i decided to go for a tragic angle, so his sensitive, selfless nature came through.

Another change that got made very, very late was Yunho and Mingi’s ending. Don’t shoot me, but i initially plotted a different, sadder ending for them. After Yunho almost dies at the big house by newborn San, Mingi gets too into his head about Yunho’s safety and they break up. They uh don’t get back together. Yunho leaves Seoul for a better opportunity (a job, possibly a dance position—one of those things Mingi could never be a part of). It’d be kind of hinted that they’d get back together, but in the future, after Mingi’s worked through more of his vampirism issues and his anxieties. Obviously this isn’t what ended up happening, but, damn, it almost did. I decided not to do this because things were getting too heavy at the end there haha.

Finally, a not-insignificant part of Blood, Water was the chapter graphics that accompanied every chapter release on Twitter. It wouldn’t have been possible without all the wonderful stock image available for use online. A full list of resources:

Chapter 1 - people partying inside room by Pim Myten

Chapter 2 - Street Night Light on pixabay

Chapter 3 - Silhouette Photography of Trees by Jesse Bowser

Chapter 4 - Orchid Flower Blossom by anncapictures

Chapter 5 - This was a composite of two images that i think i accidentally deleted from my laptop and i cannot for the life of me find anywhere online. I’ll update this if i ever find them, i am so sorry for my carelessness omfg

Chapter 6 - Jewelry Boxes Red Blue by furud

Chapter 7 - Silver and black laptop computer by Jay Wennington

Chapter 8 - Painting Abstract Background by mondschwinge

Chapter 9 - Bridge Night Architecture by nqcoc9

Chapter 10 - Full Moon Night Sky by Pexels

Chapter 11 - Sunset clouds background from the National Park Service

Chapter 12 - Fully made by yours truly

Chapter 13 - Ferris Wheel Night Shot by CloudyBird

Chapter 14 - Amaryllis Flower White Open by Sponchia

Chapter 15 - half filled wine glass beside half empty clear pint glass by Sérgio Alves Santos

Chapter 16 - Glass Piece Broken by qimono

Chapter 17 - Macarons Dessert Food by TheoCrazzolara

Chapter 18 - white pillows by Anastasia Mezenina

Chapter 19 - Daniel von Appen on unsplash. I believe the original image has been deleted

Chapter 20 - Cfl Spiral Lamp by Public Domain Pictures

Chapter 21 - a red and blue painting of a building by Jr Korpa

Chapter 22 - Red rose in dark room by Ben Decoster

Chapter 23 - Cakes Strawberry Sweetness by Alexas_Fotos

Chapter 24 - Nature Fire Flames by StockSnap

Chapter 25 - Milky way by Ivana Cajina

Chapter 26 - Sunset branches silhouette by lovexxpeace

Chapter 27 - Lightning Thunderstorm Night by anvel

Chapter 28 - Chandelier Glass by Tedd

Chapter 29 - Splatter, Blood, Paint by Clker-free-vector-images

Chapter 30 - Clear glass wine by Luke Besley

Chapter 31 - white cushion on bed near brown wooden nightstand by Annie Spratt

Chapter 32 - Blood Moon on a Dark Sky by Roberto Nickson

Chapter 33 - Red Light Behind a Door by Jamal Yahyayev

Chapter 34 - Flower White Wilt Black by bmartinseattle

Chapter 35 - Brown wooden bed frame with red bed sheet by Janko Ferlič

Chapter 36 - An Open Red Flush Door by Kei Scampa

Chapter 37 - two arcade cabinets by Ben Neale

Chapter 38 - Gambling Chance Luck by Ogutier

Chapter 39 - time lapse photography of cars during nighttime by Roman

Chapter 40 - Vine Plant Sprout by ngyuenbuihoai

Chapter 41 - Gold Pocket Watch by John

Chapter 42 - red and yellow thread in needle by amirali mirhashemian

Chapter 43 - Red hibiscus flower photo by Kai Oberhäuser

Chapter 44 - Node Red Knot by moritz320

Chapter 45 - Lighted Brown Bridge by Burst

Chapter 46 - Brown wooden framed glass window by Tim Rüßmann

Chapter 47 - the same as Chapter 1, people partying inside room by Pim Myten

You can find all the edited images in the Twitter thread.

Fun fact: all the images follow the red/black/white color scheme, with one very glaring exception: Chapter 22 (and to a lesser extent Chapter 25)

If you have any further questions (which i didn't cover in this super long post...) you can reach out to me on Twitter or retrospring!

Well, we’ve done it. We’re at the end of this post. Pretty long-winded but i figured if we could power through 240k words of the fic, we can survive a few paragraphs of my rambling. Thank you all again, so, so much, for all the love and support you’ve given my work. I really could never have done it without you. It was an honor and a blessing to go on this journey with you, and i wouldn’t give it up for anything.

So what’s next? Keen readers might’ve noticed Blood, Water is part of a series, titled Ties of Blood and Silver. I do have plans for a direct sequel. Yes, our vampire boys will be back! With new challenges, new angst, and even new relationships. I’m organizing shit in my real life so it won’t be starting immediately, but you can all look forward to it! Until then, thank you, i love you, and see you all around ♡

#blood water #fic #my fic

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