#I used to do the casual method a lot in the early days of this blog so it's not a new thing. So I shouldn't be nervous about it

[hexusproductions]

It does feel good to return to my 'roots', so to speak, when it comes to oc x canon shipping. Making a funny guy (gender neutral) to hang out with and sometimes kiss my favourite character, regardless of whether I myself feel huge passionate attraction towards said character or not

[directdogman]

Dogman, how do you write SO WELL!?!? I love all your characters and I need to know what/where you find inspo from...

Ha. Every writer is just someone who apes the creative processes of their inspirations. For video game writing specifically, there's two answers for me.

Toby Fox is always gonna be a huge inspiration for me. I've written plots and characters before and had to abandon ideas after realizing I'd accidentally written part of UT again. Even some of the ideas I used were undeniably inspired by UT in a subconscious way and ofc, I included several explicit references to UT in my last series. Toby's a very clever guy who likely pays very close attention to the art he consumes and tries to figure out how to maximize how much his work connects with his audience. Whatever his process is, it works.

The other answer is a lil funnier: Scott Cawthon, but specifically the legend, not the man. For context: Back in the earlier days of the FNaF fandom, people had a hyper-inflated view of Scott Cawthon's writing skills that largely came from how little of a presence he had back in those days. In the vacuum of Scott actually explaining his own process in detail, people got caught up in his genuinely creative way of hiding exposition in his games using cryptid and (then) unexpected methods, and a narrative formed (one that he's since refuted.)

While he never implied it tmk, fans broadly believed that he constructed these sweeping and complex narratives with tons of cohesive moving parts, with the games essentially acting like the mere tip of his lore iceberg. People even thought he wrote so much that he had whole games worth of lore outlined from the beginning! In the first Dawko interview he gave, he clarified that this wasn't the case and explained roughly what his process was (basically just outlining rough theme ideas + aesthetics for future titles.)

However, that legend made younger-me's mind run wild and any time I wrote a story, it became very difficult for me to not keep writing down ideas while completing the grunt work that followed me finishing my scripts. When I finished DSaF 1, I already had DSaF 2's draft written and by the time 2 was done, I had enough lore for a 3rd game on paper (and a lot more stuff that I didn't use.) By the time three was out, I had pages upon pages of unused concepts/story ideas and more or less just had to decide to call it quits or else I'd be pumping out entries forever!

That's why if you go back to those older games, there's references that directly refer to future plot-points in pretty casual/easy to miss ways. (Like Henry's mention in DSaF 1, Dave being heartless in DSaF 2, Jack being soulless in 1, and even Blackjack being Jack's soul in 2. Most of 3's major plotpoints are implied somewhere in 2 and some of 2's in 1.)

DT is much the same. By the time I finished writing it, I had fairly detailed drafts for arcs for each of the characters, some early material ended up getting completely recontextualized (and even modified in small ways to not conflict with the wider ideas I came up with.)

I get really into writing my stories/characters and I always wonder exactly how things ended up where they are, what characters think about but don't say, etc etc. This is why I have an obscene amount of Crown lore that I have very little to do with rn (since he impacted the whole world so deeply.)

This extra stuff also includes plenty of sequel material ideas, though I didn't think I'd even get a chance to use them since DT performed pretty meagerly before the big release and I was expecting to have to move onto something new. Though it turned out that Scott didn't actually write his games this way (by his own admission), it's the correct answer for what my core writing inspiration for writing game narratives is.

Hope this helps!

[milfstalin]

When I met Stalin, I did not find him enigmatic. I found him the easiest person to talk to I ever met. He is far and away the best committee chairman of my experience. He can bring everybody’s views out and combine them in the minimum of time. His method of running committees reminded me somewhat of Jane Addams of Hull House or Lillian D. Wald of Henry Street Settlement. They had the same kind of democratically efficient technique, but they used more high pressure than Stalin did.

If Stalin has been inaccessible to foreigners—there were exceptions even to this—that does not mean that he lived in isolation, in a sort of Kremlin ivory tower. There were close to 200,000,000 people keeping him busy. He was seeing a lot of them. Not always necessarily the party leaders. A milkmaid who had broken the milking record, a scientist who had broken the atom, an aviator who flew to America, a coal miner who invented a new labor process, a workman with a housing difficulty, an engineer balked by new conditions—any person representing either a signal achievement or a typical problem might be invited by Stalin to talk it over. That was the way he got his data and kept in touch with the movement of the country.

[...]

My first impression of him was vaguely disappointing. A stocky figure in a simple suit of khaki color, direct, unassuming, whose first concern was to know whether I understood Russian sufficiently to take part in discussion. Not very imposing for so great a man, I thought. Then we sat down rather casually, and Stalin was not even at the head of the table; Voroshilov was. Stalin took a place where he could see all our faces and started the talk by a pointed question to the man against whom I had complained. After that Stalin seemed to become a sort of background, against which other people’s comments went on. The brilliant wit of Kaganovich, the cheerful chuckle of Voroshilov, the characteristics of the lesser people called to consult, all suddenly stood out. I began to understand them all and like them; I even began to understand the editor against whom I had complained. Suddenly I myself was talking and getting my facts out faster and more clearly than I ever did in my life. People seemed to agree with me. Everything got to the point very fast and smoothly, with Stalin saying less than anyone.

Afterward in thinking it over I realized how Stalin’s genius for listening helped each of us express ourselves and understand the others. I recalled his trick of repeating a word of mine either with questioning intonation or a slight emphasis, which suddenly made me feel I had either not quite seen the point or perhaps had overstated it, and so drove me to make it plainer. I recalled how he had done this to others also. Then I understood that his listening has been a dynamic force.

This listening habit dates back to the early days of his revolutionary career. “I remember him very well from the early days of our Party,” said a veteran Bolshevik to me. “A quiet youth who sat at the edge of the committee, saying almost nothing, but listening very much. Toward the end he would make a few comments, sometimes merely as questions. Gradually we came to see that he always summed up best our joint thinking.” The description will be recognized by anyone who ever met Stalin. In any group he is usually last to express his opinion. He does not want to block the full expression of others, as he might easily do by speaking first. Besides this, he is always learning by listening.

“He listens even to the way the grass grows,” said a Soviet citizen to me.

On the data thus gathered, Stalin forms conclusions, not “alone in the night,” which Emil Ludwig said was Mussolini’s way, but in conference and discussion. Even in interviews, he seldom receives the interviewer alone; Molotov, Voroshilov, or Kaganovich are likely to be about. Probably he does not even grant an interview without discussing it first with his closest comrades. This is a habit he formed very early. In the days of the underground revolutionary movement, he grew accustomed to close teamwork with comrades who held each other’s lives in their hands. In order to survive, they must learn to agree quickly and unanimously, to feel each other’s instincts, to guess even at a distance each other’s brains. It was in such a group that he gained his Party name—it is not the one that he was born with—“the Steel One, Stalin.”

[...]

Stalin brings certain important qualities to these joint decisions. People who meet him are first of all impressed by his directness and simplicity, his swift approach. Next they notice his clearness and objectivity in handling questions. He completely lacks Hitler’s emotional hysteria and Mussolini’s cocky self-assertion; he does not thrust himself into the picture. Gradually one becomes aware of his keen analysis, his colossal knowledge, his grip of world politics, his willingness to face facts, and especially his long view, which fits the problem into history, judging not only its immediate factors, but its past and future too.

Stalin’s rise to power came rather slowly. The rise of his type is slow and sure. It began far back with his study of human history and especially the history of revolutions. President Roosevelt commented to me with surprise on Stalin’s knowledge of the Cromwellian Revolution in Britain as shown in his talk with H. G. Wells. But Stalin quite naturally studied both the British and the American historical revolutions far more intimately than British and American politicians do. Tsarist Russia was due for a revolution. Stalin intended to be in it and help give it form. He made himself a thorough scientist on the process of history from the Marxian viewpoint: how the masses of people live, how their industrial technique and social forms develop, how social classes arise and struggle, how they succeed. Stalin analyzed and compared all past revolutions. He wrote many books about them. But he is not only a scientist; he also acts.

In the early days of the Revolution, Stalin’s name was hardly known outside the Party. In 1923, during Lenin’s last illness, I was told by men whose judgment I trusted that Stalin was “our coming man.” They based this on his keen knowledge of political forces and his close attention to political organization as secretary of the Communist Party. They also based it on his accurate timing of swift action and said that thus far in the Revolution he hid not once guessed wrong. They said that he was the man to whom “responsible Party men” turned for the clearest statement of what they all thought., In those days Trotsky sneered at Stalin as the “most average man” in the Party. In a sense it was true. Stalin keeps close to the “average man”; the “average man” is the material of politics. But Stalin does it with a genius that is very far from average.

“The art of leadership,” said Stalin once, “is a serious matter. One must not lag behind the movement, because to do so is to become isolated from the masses. But one must not rush ahead, for this is to lose contact with the masses.” He was telling his comrades how to become leaders; he was also expressing his own ideal, which he has very effectively practiced.

[...]

Glimpses of Stalin’s personal relations come chiefly through his contacts with picturesque figures who have helped make Soviet history. Valery Chkalov, the brilliant aviator who made the first flight across the North Pole from Moscow to America, told of an afternoon that he spent at Stalin’s summer home from four o’clock till after midnight. Stalin sang many Volga songs, put on gramophone records for the younger people to dance, and generally behaved like a normal human being relaxing in the heart of his family. He said he had learned the songs in his Siberian exile when there wasn’t much to do but sing.

The three women aviators who broke all world records for women by their spectacular flight from Moscow to the Far East were later entertained at an evening party at the Kremlin in their honor. One of them, Raskova, related afterwards how Stalin had joked with them about the prehistoric days of the matriarchate when women ruled human society. He said that in the early days of human development women had created agriculture as a basis for society and progress, while men “only hunted and went to war.” After a reference to the long subsequent centuries of woman’s slavery, Stalin added, “Now these three women come to avenge the heavy centuries of woman’s suppression.”

[...]

“Comrades! Citizens!” he said, as he has said often. Then he added, “Brothers and Sisters!” It was the first time Stalin ever used in public those close family words. To everyone who heard them, those words meant that the situation was very serious, that they must now face the ultimate test together and that they must all be closer and dearer to each other than they had ever been before. It meant that Stalin wanted to put a supporting arm across their shoulders, giving them strength for the task they had to do. This task was nothing less than to accept in their own bodies the shock of the most hellish assault of history, to withstand it, to break it, and by breaking it save the world. They knew they had to do it, and Stalin knew they would.

Stalin made perfectly plain that the danger was grave, that the German armies had taken most of the Baltic states, that the struggle would be very costly, and that the issues were between “freedom or slavery, life or death to the Soviet State.” He told them: “The enemy is cruel and implacable. He is out to seize our lands, watered with our sweat . . . to convert our peoples into the slaves of German princes and barons.” He called upon the “daring initiative and intelligence that are inherent in our people,” which he himself for more than twenty years had helped to create. He outlined in some detail the bitter path they should follow, each in his own region, and said that they would find allies among the freedom-loving peoples of the world. Then he summoned them “forward—to victory.”

Erskine Caldwell, reporting that dawn from Moscow, said that tremendous crowds stood in the city squares listening to the loud speakers, “holding their breath in such profound silence that one could hear every inflection of Stalin’s voice.” Twice during the speech, even the sound of water being poured into a glass could be heard as Stalin stopped to drink. For several minutes after Stalin had finished the silence continued. Then a motherly-looking woman said, “He works so hard, I wonder when he finds time to sleep. I am worried about his health.”

That was the way that Stalin took the Soviet people into the test of war.

[howtofightwrite]

(Apologies if this is outside your normal ask) why weren't weapons like spears and pikes made entirely out of bronze/iron/whatever metal the army used?

Since (depending on the army) many of them are already given a sword as a sidearm, is also having a spear made out of iron (so it won't break as easily) too expensive? Or is it a weight issue?

I'm pretty sure I've seen a few that were, but they're fairly rare. Weight is a serious consideration, especially for bronze weapons, but that wasn't the real problem.

Ironically, the wooden shaft is sturdier than an equivalently sized iron or bronze shaft would have been. A major problem for longswords in the early iron age was that they tended to bend from use. There's even a Roman account from combat with the Celts, where the Celts were using bronze longswords, and had to re-straighten their weapons on the battlefield because they were becoming bent and breaking.

In fact the Romans specifically designed a non-reusable javelin (the pilum), which exploited this issue. The pilum had an abnormally long head (roughly 60cm) When the pilum struck its target, the head would bury into the target normally, but the weight of the grip would cause the iron shaft to deform, rendering the weapon unusable.

The other side of this is that, as mentioned, wood is a lot tougher than people seem to think. I'm not sure where this idea that you could just casually chop through someone's spear with a sword came from, but as anyone who's ever tried to chop down a tree can tell you, yes in a fight between wood and metal, metal will win, but it takes a lot of effort to get there. Cutting through someone's spear with a single slice just isn't happening. That's not how wood works, and that's not how swords work. Though, attempting to do so is a good way to mangle your blade.

Wooden spear shafts were reasonably durable, and easy to replace. Bronze or iron shafts were neither.

Eventually, I think this was the 19th century, hollow steel shafts were used by cavalry. At that point in time you were looking at shafts that were significantly more durable than the wooden ones, and were cheap enough to produce that they could be easily fielded. Unfortunately, this only lasted a few decades until the proliferation of fully automatic firearms ended cavalry charges definitively. In another bit of irony, the technological advancement that allowed for effective metal spear shafts, is the same advancement that rendered them obsolete.

I think there were some iron reinforced shafts used by some cavalry forces before that, but I can't remember (nor can I quickly find) who might have been using those.

These days, hollow aluminum shafts are pretty common in javelins, and arrows, and they are generally superior to wooden shafts, however, the method to produce metallic aluminum wasn't discovered until the 19th century.

So, the short answer, wooden shafts were better. They were sturdier and easier to replace.

-Starke

This blog is supported through Patreon. Patrons get access to new posts three days early, and direct access to us through Discord. If you’re already a Patron, thank you. If you’d like to support us, please consider becoming a Patron.

[yes-these-obsessions-are-healthy]

DAI x BG3 matchups I need to see. I’m not good at writing crossovers nor am I clever at all. This is very much non-exhaustive and very much not the end point of these characters’ potential interactions with each other.

Karlach + Sera + Iron Bull

The absolute chaos. The absolute CHAOS. A powerhouse. Putting aside Karlach’s demon heritage aside, she and Iron Bull tossing back tankards and swapping war stories as vets that have been dealt shitty hands but continue to chug along despite it. Karlach and Sera connecting over growing up mainly on the streets and having soft spots for little ragamuffins. Plus they all talk about women’s tits a lot. I feel Sera would find Karlach sexy and funny.

Wyll + Cole

Like Solas and Varric, Wyll would take to Cole because he recognizes Cole’s desire to help others, even if his methods are a bit unorthodox. He would recognize Cole’s soul as gentle and kind, and his efforts to atone for the murders he committed in the Tower as proof of his humanity. He will join the Uncle-Dad Duo and complete the Uncle-Dad Trio. Cole would gravitate toward Wyll’s goodness in turn, and probably tell Wyll that him making a contract wasn’t foolish because in the end he saved a city, and if that was his desire, then he committed no sin in doing so.

Solas + Astarion

The messiest shit can only occur, and my messy bitch self wants to see it. Watch as Solas’s upright and stiff demeanor utterly bores Astarion. Watch as Astarion’s selfishness, penchant for violence, and casual disregard for the well-being of others utterly pisses Solas the fuck off. Watch as Astarion yawns or interrupts Solas’s lectures with a “yes, yes, we get it” or the most dramatic eyeroll and overwrought “ugh”. Watch as Solas and Astarion immediately sniff each other out as liars and schemers from first jump and hold each other at a distance, the tension spiking at random moments early in them knowing each other where the other prods at their falsehoods. Watch as Astarion is dumbfounded by Solas expressing his condolences to Astarion upon learning of Astarion’s enslavement to his master, because how could a man who holds such reproach for him still manage to feel pity? ‘It is not pity, but compassion, which you are at liberty to reject. That is your right as a free man, just as it is my right to feel it.’

In the best case scenario, Astarion calms down eventually, teasing Solas but still treating him like that friend of a friend that you grudgingly admit is useful. I think a part of Astarion would find Solas’s penchant dislike of him funny.

Vivienne + Astarion + Dorian

We are all doomed. The haughtiness will be scarcely contained. Dorian and Astarion are definitely flirting. Fucking? Not sure. But definitely flirting and enjoying killing bad guys, playfully arguing over wine, snickering over Solas’s shabby dress.

Shadowheart + Leliana

Tools forged to serve a religious order? Check. Crisis of faith? Check. Subterfuge preferred? Check.

Lae’zel + Cassandra

Soldiers recognizing soldiers. 🫡 ‘Why are the men around me so annoying.’

Minsc & Boo + Cole

Cole might be able to understand Boo! If not his speech, then his little hamster feelings. Minsc might be wary of Cole for the information that he manages to glean from Minsc’s head, but his unquestioned understanding of Boo would probably smooth that bump in the road, right?

Solas + Gale

A friend remarked that Gale would remind Solas too much of himself (prideful, ambitious) and thus they would not get along. There is that. I think that Gale would get a small smile out of Solas every now and then with his quips, because Solas himself is clearly a fan of banter; Gale would provide more of the energy in the same way Dorian does with his and Solas’s more civil banters. Gale and Solas also both hold a great measure of respect and adoration for magic as a force, an element, a piece of entirety that is beautiful for its own existence. Not simply just what magic can do for them as wielders of magic, but what it is and how it does so much to enhance a person’s understanding and interaction with the world, as precious as sight or sound.

Minthara + Iron Bull

Oh she will have him cowed in a goddamn minute. Oh man. Oh no. ‘Yes ma’am’, ‘no ma’am’.

Minthara + Cassandra

Oh this would be so interesting. Disciplined, serious bulwarks with little time for silly little men—Minthara would share Cassandra’s frustration and lack of amusement with Varric, though Cassandra would consider her suggestions to maim him.

Solas + Halsin + Iron Bull

I see potential here. Iron Bull and Solas already have a dynamic of Iron Bull’s “I have a pretty good idea of who you are, and it’s a liar” toward Solas, while Solas grudgingly respects Iron Bull’s strength and mental acumen in the same way you would respect a very intelligent bear—do not draw attention more than necessary, but stand tall lest it smell fear. Halsin feels like a softer Iron Bull, a mediation between the two. Like Iron Bull, his stature and build belies a thoughtful and sharp mind. Like Solas, he sees everything as connected, feeding into the other as part of a system, and would too feel a sense of loss at magic and mundane being so dramatically split as it is in Thedas—an aberration against what is natural. Also like Iron Bull, he’s frank with his sexuality. I’m certain the two would swap stories over booze. The trio would be arguably the three most mature and experienced in a room in any given situation. Not only that, but Halsin is far more actively in touch with his heart and honest with his feelings than Solas or Iron Bull. The latter two very much care about their loved ones, but with Solas it is under the surface and with Iron Bull it’s mixed up in cultural trappings of romance not being a “thing” in his culture, and thus both struggle with their feelings. Halsin however is very much in touch. There is next to nothing obstructing what his head and heart wants. He listens to his heart and he follows it. Solas and Iron Bull could learn a thing or two from him, tbh

Also I feel like Iron Bull, Halsin, and even Solas have a bit of a brat tamer streak in them so there’s that

Also Astarion would outright reject the notion of drinking Cullen’s blood cuz it smells like battery acid.

[emp-t-man]

episode 2 time yippeeee :3

i dunno if it was on purpose or if it was just an error on makayla’s part but hera pronouncing minkowski incorrectly is so silly to me. it’s the only time she does that in the whole podcast and it could be seen as her emulating eiffel because they’ve started to get along and then minkowski tearing into her for it so it doesn’t happen again or it could just be a mistake but. it’s silly.

eiffel is so incredibly monotone in these early episodes compared to the amount of personality his voice is known to have, ESPECIALLY during his announcement to the rest of the station. obviously a lot of it is just zach growing into the character and the voice but i also like to think that losing that monotonality is symbolic of him growing out of his more,,, nihilistic? i wanna say? approach to the whole situation as time goes on

i’d let minkowski throw me in the brig. the way she talks in this episode? i’m. god i love angry women

tiny detail but i love his delivery on “can you explain to these LOSERS—” he’s so unserious i love him

i NEED to know what was going through gabriel’s head when he made minkowski call him doug. i’ll probably have a definitive answer on this further into the relisten but i can’t tell if it’s her just being casual and trying to appeal to him as,, almost a friend? or if it’s a bitter thing, like how she refused to call lovelace “sir” until she had earned it. i’ll definitely have more to say on that later, but for now. hm

i would also like to know how many eiffel protocols there were, and for what scenarios minkowski could have possibly come up with him doing in order to make them—

I. HATE. THE LITTLE RADIO STATIC SOUND EFFECT THEY USE AS A TRANSITION IN THESE EARLY EPISODES. ITS LOUD, ITS UNNECESSARY, AND IT SCARES THE SHIT OUT OF ME I THANK GOD EVERY DAY THEY DID AWAY WITH IT

something something “could there be pain” something something masochism something something homosexual

SPEAKING OF PAIN. HILBERT SAYS SOMETHING ABOUT VAPORIZED BROMINE??? DO YALL KNOW HOW FUCKING PAINFUL IT IS WHEN BROMINE MAKES CONTACT WITH SKIN??? A LITTLE BIT OF PAIN MY ASS THAT SHIT CAN CAUSE PERMANENT SKIN LOSS

also?? i never realized that the fucking. klaxon thing that blares??? was specifically to prevent him from sleeping. that wasn’t a warning because the room was so cold, it was a method of sleep deprivation, that’s fucked up my god fhdbdb

another one of my favorite deliveries is “i THOUGHT i smelled MOLASSES. but then i DIDN’T get knocked out, so i dunno what THAT was about 😀”

i will never, EVER get over “when in doubt, whip it out” that’s the funniest thing gabriel has ever done /j

also there’s something about the way that eiffel pronounces minkowski’s name wrong when talking to or about her, but still has enough respect to call her “commander” half the time. it’s kind of a proof that he isn’t doing it maliciously, it’s simply a bit of banter that he thought was a joke between the two. but that also makes it more heartbreaking because he genuinely just. doesn’t realize the harm he’s doing. and refuses to listen every time she tries to bring it up.

the way that eiffel is so concerned over brushing his teeth this whole time when this motherfucker won’t even shower. like. your priorities are all over the place babygirl

BUT, speaking of that. i definitely don’t think it’s just about brushing his teeth. i’ve seen a lot of things about like. how ridiculous it is that he would go through all of that just for toothpaste? but listen. nothing in eiffel’s life up until this point had been something he’d had a choice in, at least not since the accident. even going on this MISSION wasn’t really a choice, when you consider the alternative was twenty-something years in prison as opposed to only a couple in space. being in charge of this situation, as dumb as it may sound, was the only thing left for him to BE in charge of. he finally had a SAY in something, and he was willing to go without sleep for over twenty four hours, live in minus forty degrees, starve for hours on end, and be entirely isolated just to make sure he could keep it that way, if just for a few more hours. and that’s devastating to me

this one is long as HELL but every time i listen to this thing i find more stuff i can connect in terms of later plot points and it’s so maddening that gabriel admitted to having no idea where he wanted to go at this point because he ended up tying it together SO WELL.

[dragondemoness]

Akane owari with a boyfriend that absolutely adores her and is affectionate. Thing is though she's worried that he only likes her because of her body and when he finds out he reassures her that he loves for her personality not her body.

Akane Owari with an Affectionate Boyfriend who Loves Her for who she is

She smells suspicion

You had always been strangely kind and amiable towards Akane, which threw her off a bit at first

But she didn't mind it, and naturally, it ended up drawing her to you

She was pretty casual when she asked you out, completely unprepared for how your attitude would evolve later on

She just figured that was the way you treated everyone, not once considering that she was a special case

Boy, was she wrong

Right after your relationship was made official, you jumped on her and gave her a tight koala hug

As if that wasn't surprising enough, there was a lot more where that came from

You were all over her every day and night, hugging her, kissing her, telling her how much you loved her and how special she was to you

Poor Akane had no idea how to deal with this

She never got compliments or affection like that before, unless it was from someone who did those things for creepy purposes

Maybe that's what this was

It's not like she was a stranger to that stuff, of course

If anything, she expected it

But she liked you a lot, and the thought of that being true made her heart sink

Sure, you complimented her on other things besides her body, but maybe it was some other method of buttering her up

Akane wasn't sure how to confront you about it, and she didn't want to see your normally pleasant and affectionate attitude turn sour

So she decided to say nothing, for the time being

But then one day, still somewhat early into your relationship, you two were hanging out together as you were giving Akane another one of your famous hugs

She tried to enjoy it, but it felt so weird to her that she had to say something

"Hey, uh... You sure love doin' this huggy thing a lot. You wanna cop a feel or somethin'?"

You pulled away and looked at her in surprise

"What? No, I do that because I love you. I mean, of course you're a really pretty girl, but that's not the reason I'm with you."

...Huh?

"Well damn, really? So... You don't wanna feel my knockers or anythin'?"

You chuckled as you shook your head

"No, Akane. I would only do that because you want it, not because you feel like you have to let me do it. And you never have to feel like that with me, okay? I love all of you, Akane. And I always will."

Hearing that from you was both a surprise and a relief

Once she recovered from the shock, she gave you a smile before burying her face into your neck and continuing the cuddles

After years of being mistreated by other men, she finally found someone who truly cared about her wants and needs

Even though she would likely ask that same question a few more times later on, and would need you to reassure her once more, she was glad to feel safe and secure with you

And of course, she did get used to your affection in the end, and she could never get enough of it

[adleryoung]

“Didja miss me?” Burnside cooed, with a flutter of her eyelashes. (At least I think that's what she was doing.)

“Uhhhh…” I stalled. In the early years of my banishment, I often took solace in the thought that at least I didn’t have to deal with Burnside anymore. As time wore on, I got so lonely I would have been happy to speak to anyone, even her. “Sssssure…” I admitted cautiously.

"Ah knew it!" She cackled with obvious delight. "Ah just KNEW it! You couldn’t live without me! You was prob'ly countin down the days til you could see me again! Bwah, you is plum crazy bout me!"

"That’s not what I said!" I protested.

Burnside tackled me and latched on like an amorous leech.

"It all makes sense!" she mumbled as she nuzzled her face against my coat. "Yore one o the only people to not send me away, the others bein Rebecca an the Duchess, an they is femmes so they don't count. You musta been secretly harborin feelins for me. All ma courtin methods by offerin to kill for ya musta worked big time! Everbody else said ma brand o Wiles was off-puttin and fright'nin. Even other Antgladers thought ah took thangs too far! But not you, Adler honey! Sure, you act shocked sometimes, but you must secretly like ma violence. Either that, or the bond between the two of us is so strong you can see past all that!"

Actually, she brought up a good point. Why did I keep her around and put up with her shenanigans?

"An now," she continued, looking up at me, "now that the two of us is together again, our hearts can be whole oncet more."

"What??" I blurted in alarm.

"I been readin Rebecca’s poetry books," Burnside admitted bashfully. "It sounded a lot more romantic on paper than out loud."

What was going on right now? Was she being serious, or was this some convoluted way of asking for venery? No, that couldn’t be it. Burnside was blunt enough, if she wanted venery she’s just ask (or more likely, demand it.) Was this violent, murderous psychopath actually confessing to having feelings for me? This was probably not good. Casual venery was one thing, but having an Unseelie homicidal maniac becoming obsessed with me could only spell trouble. I had read enough true-crime scrolls to know how this ended!

I squinted at Burnside's face, looking for the glint of her beady eyes in the midst of her dark eyespots. Seen this way she almost looked harmless, like any smitten maiden. But I knew she had at least three-dozen knives concealed on her person right now. What could I say? What should I do? This situation could turn dangerous if I upset her.

…..

Well, readers, I'll challenge you again: What does your secret source say that I did here? How did I navigate this minefield? Or if you truly are just guessing, what would you do if you found out a crazy femme had a crush on you? Not cute-crazy either! We're talking skin-you-and-wear-you-as-a-suit crazy.

[cebwrites]

they/them law word count: 0.5k

In place of "I love you", Law finds it easier at first to replace the words with compliments and pet names instead - "you're beautiful", "gorgeous", "darling" - it takes the weight off those three words while still holding the same sentiment; eventually Kirin figured out what they were trying to convey and could stop playing chicken with what they actually meant

They talked about it later, and now in the present Law conveys their feelings both ways - with more subtle methods casually, and actually saying I love you when they have a bit more privacy

Early on, Law used to call Kirin an idiot whenever he was doing something stupid - rightfully so, and it's not as though they've completely stopped now especially in front of other crews like the Strawhats or Kidd Pirates where they feel a sense of "toughness" needs to be maintained

But one day as a "joke", they called over to Kirin with a mocking curl of darling on their lips, expecting him to get huffy and start a potential round of banter; what Law got instead was a sudden flush to his cheeks and the slow realization of what they said dawning on their boyfriend's face, followed by a smile that was all too soft for the man they'd come to know Kirin as

With the shock of heat pooling in their ears as well, face hidden under the brim of their hat, how could Law simply go back to calling this affection-starved dumbass just their idiot

Kirin would all too easily shout to the high heavens how much he loved his partners, but for the sake of Law's embarrassment, he keeps it to much less flashy—but still all the more affectionate—methods like burying his face in the back of Law and Reiji's necks, mumbling his love first thing in the morning

It's unimpeded physical contact, always hanging around one or the other, Law especially since they often have to spend long months apart; dragging Law to an impromptu nap on the couch the moment their head hits his chest, making use of Reiji's thighs as his lap pillows the moment he puts his calligraphy out to dry

Kirin makes his love known physically and verbally, he's full with so much of it he's ready to blow, so it's up to his partners to make sure he doesn't very well pop with how much he cares for them

Reiji's love language comes out in lots of ways, but the easiest one would be his cooking - when steering duties are safely in the hands of another crew mate or they've dropped anchor for the night, he's making himself busy with their next meal or prepping the one after

He checks up on the captains, both his lover and metamour, makes sure they're getting enough rest, food, and play (sparring like feral animals, Kirin in particular getting into hijinks with other people, etc); Rio complains that he spoils those two way too much but Reiji's only all too happy to

Plus, whatever he gives, he's sure to be reciprocated with in kind ♡

[mediaevalmusereads]

Anti-Christ: Two Thousand Years of the Human Fascination with Evil. By Bernard McGinn. Columbia University Press, 1994.

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

Genre: religious history, theology

Part of a Series? No.

Summary:  McGinn demonstrates how Antichrist has often reflected the human need to comprehend the persistence of evil in the world, and examines how it has haunted popular imagination in both the form of individuals--such as Nero, Napoleon, and Saddam Hussein--and groups--Jews, heretics, Muslims.

***Full review below.***

Content Warnings: discussions of antisemitism and anti-Islamic belief

Since this book is non-fiction, my review is going to be structured a little differently than usual.

McGinn’s book is a historical survey, tracing the origins and evolution of the antichrist legend from ancient history to the modern day. Using a number or primary sources ranging from Biblical commentaries, political propaganda, letters, histories, plays, and poems, McGinn argues that antichrist has, over time, been used to embody various anxieties and theological views about evil and the end of the world. Though this book does not cite every appearance of the antichrist in literature, it selects a good representative body of work that shows how different historical eras contributed to the evolution of the antichrist legend.

I very much appreciated the wide scope of this book and was delighted by the way McGinn could cover such a broad historical scope yet still make each chapter feel incredibly detailed. It's very clear that McGinn has done a lot of research and has methodically presented what he feels best represents each era he writes about; as a reader, it's hard not to be incredibly impressed.

I think McGinn's strongest chapters are the early ones in which he covers Jewish literature and developing Christianity before the Middle Ages. This isn't to say his later chapters are bad, but I did get the sense the McGinn was writing in his wheelhouse early on, as those chapters felt much richer and varied in the way they approach history and literature. Later chapters also tend to focus almost exclusively on (Western) Europe, and while I understand that Europe is kind of a hotbed of Christian development and conflict, I was still a bit curious as to how non-European Christianity was handling the legend of the antichrist. Maybe Europe is a special case in that it took a particular interest, so I don't know how valid this critique is.

All that being said, I don't think I'd recommend this book to casual readers. Though the scope is large, McGinn doesn't waste time explaining much historical context, so you have to go in with at least a basic understanding of Christian history. This isn't to say this is a failing for McGinn; rather, I don't want to give the impression that this academic book is "pop history."

TL;DR: Anti-Christ is a fascinating survey of the history of the anti-Christ legend from about 50 BC to the late 20th centuries. Readers with a scholarly interest in the history of Christianity and theology will surely appreciate this book, and I can't recommend it enough for anyone wanting to do work on apocalypticism.

[ocean-blueeyes]

Day 2: What's the earliest thing you can remember about your TC?

When I was in year 7, I remember him often walking in and out of my English class to talk to my English teacher. But my first proper interaction with him was when our teacher wasn't in so he watched our class from the hallway until a teacher came. I was at the back of the class, by the door, and he saw me reading and asked what I was reading. I was reading The Hate U Give and this was back when the movie had just come out so he asked if I had watched the film. I said no but he told me it was a really good film and recommended I should watch it. This happened years ago, we didn't even know each other's names and I didn't have a crush on him.

Day 3: Do you like your TC's subject? Do you think you're good at it?

He teaches English and English has always been my favourite subject. I do believe I am quite good at his subject. I've always gotten As (and one B) since he's taught me and two times he used my work as an example.

Day 4: How do you feel about your age gap?

There's a 15/16 year age gap between us and I know it's not good. If there was a chance between us, which I highly doubt, I think eventually I wouldn't enjoy being with a guy so much older than me a couple of years down the line.

Day 5: Have you ever said anything to your TC that showed you favoured them? Have they said anything like that to you?

My school does these termly things were students are allowed to send notes of appreciation to their teachers. I sent him note twice, but left them anonymous. However, I have a very distinct handwriting so he probably knew it was me. Before that, he sent me a letter home. He had chosen me as the English's department "Star of the term".

Day 6: Have you ever noticed any small habits they have?

Yes, he always bends his knees when talking to most students. Probably because he's quite tall so he's trying to get on our level, but I think it's quite cute.

Another habit he has is whenever he has a spare moment at the start of the lesson, he likes to put these little drawings on the whiteboard that relate to the lesson, even though he's no good.

Day 7: What gift would you like to give them?

I would love to find out some books he loves and maybe get him some special editions of them. He always does his marking in a green fountain pen so maybe I'd get him a set of fountain pens in all colours.

Day 8: Does your TC ever talk about what it was like when they were a student?

Occasionally. Everyone knows that he went to this really famous private school in the UK. He tells us about some of the strict rules and what his classmates were like.

Day 9: Does your TC have a significant other? If so what do you know about them and how do you feel about them?

He has a fiancée and literally no-one was expecting this so when he casually announced this, the whole class was shocked. My friends and I were doing some stalking and we thought we found his fiancée, but findings from other students say we're wrong. I don't know the woman so I can't form an opinion. All I know is that she's super lucky 😭

Day 10: What is the longest time you've gone without seeing them?

The Summer holidays - 6 weeks. I coped surprisingly well.

Day 11: What do other people usually think of them?

It's an objective truth in our school that he's one of the most attractive teachers in our school. However, a lot of people don't like his teaching methods and he doesn't get a long with a lot of the students in the younger years, so they can find him quite "jarring".

Day 12: Do you often make excuses to speak to them? What kind of excuses do you use?

No, I'm too shy. Maybe once in a while, I'll aks for something I could easily have handled myself or I'll get to class a little early to make general small talk. I do however make plenty of excuses to see him. Maybe taking a longer route to a certain class or hanging out in a specific place during break. My art classroom is close to his classroom, so I always leave my sketchbook in my art class and collect it at the end of the day in hopes of seeing him again.

Day 13: Other than the subject they teach, what are they really passionate about?

From what I can tell, he speaks French. He goes to France for holiday often. He follows a lot of French accounts on his socials, studied it at A-level and will often greet us in French. Whenever trying to teach us the etymology of words, he'll often draw from French words with similar meanings. That's ironic however because everyone in our class studies spanish, but I do speak a little bit of Frnech so I'm often the only one to understand what he's on about.

Day 14: What is a skill you really wished your TC had?

GOOD HANDWRITING.

The onky good thing about his terrible handwriting is that he's very self-aware so he'll come to you to read out his comments and explain.

Day 15: Which MBTI personality type do you think they have? (If you don't know MBTI, which Howarts house do you think they'd be placed in?)

I don't know the ins and outs of MBTI, but I think he'd be an introvert as appose to an extrovert. I think he would be a hufflepuff.

Day 16:

[karkkidoeswriting]

Here's some thoughts from someone obsessed with historical fashion.

(I will talk about men's and women's fashion in very binary terms here, not because I want to imply gender essentialism but so I don't have to repeat "people considered women/men", because that's what I'm talking about here, the cultural concepts of men and women in Western history. I'm also going to simplify a lot different periods and styles.)

If you want to give a bit of thought to your fantasy fashion, the type of closure would depend on what kind of garment is in question. I made a very long post about how lacing was used in Western fashion since it's first appearance in Europe in 11th century to early 20th century on my dress history blog (it focuses on women's fashion to limit the scope and that's what i know more about). The tl;dr though is that lacing and the other closure methods have a very different usages. Lacing was used in supportive and structural garments. Firstly lacing stretches the fabric so the fabric needs to have some structure and strength to hold itself together and to hold it's shape and not become very wrinkly (wrinkliness can be a choice too like with bliaut though). Secondly supportive garments stop being supportive without lacing. To be supportive they need to fit snugly and exactly to the body. You could perfectly fit a garment to a body and give it a zipper sure, but it would stop fitting perfectly when you eat, wake up, have changes in hormones or like have any other changes to your body that happens in small scale every day and in large scale thorough human life constantly. Lacing gives a bit of room to adjust the garment and allows the garment to fit well through at least the smaller scale changes. Especially with more strongly shaping garments too, it eases the shape into the the body as you tighten the lacing to be fitting while it's on. It can do damage to for example put on a corset without loosening the lacing first, even if it's already the right fit.

Lacing was used as the main closure method in dresses from 14th to late 17th century. (Excluding loose outer layer dresses like houppelande and Burgundian dress which were worn over fitted kirtles in Medieval and Renaissance Eras.) This was because at the time dress itself was structured and even multiple structural layers were frequently worn on top of each other. First separate structural garments started to appear for the very rich upper class in early 1500s in the form of pair of bodies (predecessor of stays), but they were mainly used in casual setting with sleeves or layered with structured gown. Here's some examples from Late Medieval and Renaissance periods of lasing as closure in the gowns. The first is 15th century kirtle with front lacing, the second a 16th century German Gown again with front lacing and the third is a 17th century bodice with much more hidden back lacing.

Mantua changed things in 1680s and the structural layer started to become an undergarment. Mantua was a loose and draping garment and using lacing for that makes no sense. During 18th century fitted gowns came back in fashion, but they did not become structured again as dressmaking and fashion had already fundamentally changed, rather the structure was given by the stays. At the time fabric was more available in abundance than ever and that meant that rich and even middle class people were able to have more clothing than they needed. As structuring a garment needs a lot of precision and work making it expensive, it would have been very expensive to have all your dresses carefully fitted and constructed. After 18th century basically no outer layer was closed with lacing. (During most of 18th century French court gowns were still made with rigid bodice and closed with lacing). Decorative lacing though popped up as a trend from time to time.

Beside zippers, snap fasteners and hooks, the other popular historical closing methods were buttons, which were popularized as closing method in 1300s, drawstrings, which were probably used at least as long as lacing, pins, arguably the original closing method and of course belts, girdles and such, which are also contenders for the original closing methods. Clothing pins and their close cousins, brooches, have been used to pin clothing on the body for thousands of years. They were not just used for chitons, tunics, cloaks and such in Antiquity, but used thorough history. Hooks are really old, but they were used especially in 19th century and early 20th century for gowns as they were easy to hide and as said, the supportive layer was under the gown. Buttons are pretty obvious, but not always. Sometimes gowns were close with buttons that were hidden. For example, this bodice from 1840s has two hidden layers of buttons. The first is made from the more sturdy fabric with bigger sturdier buttons and it's the functional part here. The second buttons are very small and just close the delicate fashion fabric to hide the functional layer.

Drawstrings were especially popular in Regency fashion (though hooks and buttons were also popular then). I think it's because people often used multiple layers of more or less gathered dresses made from delicate fabrics. The drawstring closures often leaves gaps but with multiple dresses layered, this was not an issue.

Pins might seem an inconvenient closure method, as you'd think it might fall off and stab you very easily. The early clothing pins were not very pointy and were quite big, so this was not an issue then. Later clothing pins were used especially from late 1500s to 1700s, during this time you would have a heavily boned or otherwise stiffened structural layer which would protect you from the pins stabbing you. Before mantua especially working and middle class people used looser jackets and waistcoats, which were only pinned closed, like seen in the first example below. Upper class people would usually have buttons or even lacing for similar garments. Mantua and it's later variants in very late 17th century and 18th century were also pinned. Mantua's pleates were not sewn, but pinned down and it was closed with pins and a belt (the second picture below). Later as it developed into robe a la francaise and robe a la englaise and other so many variants, the pleats were sewn but the belt was done away and the gown was only pinned close with a stomacher or not (the last one below, pinned on the front without a stomacher). The advantage of pins is that it's very quick to put on and take of, it's very easily adjustable and it's frees you from having to do the work of sewing different closure methods (sewing button holes with hands is a pain I can tell you) or possibly having to try to hide them.

Belts have been used often with more or less loose outer garments, since you inherently can't get a very right fit with it and as it has one closure point it has to be loose to cover properly or has to have something under it. I already showed how mantua was closed with belts, but also late medieval outer garments also frequently used belts as closure, like with houppelande and Burdungian gown (though sometimes houppelandes were closed with buttons or even lacing).

One last thing. Even if I spent here most of the time talking about women's fashion, men's fashion also used lacing and structural garments. I feel like people often think it's only women's fashion thing. To not make it this way too long, here's a quick reel of some examples through time. Men wore laced bliaut (first) and kirtle (second), just like women. In 16th century men's and women's fashion diverged, but it did not mean men would stop using lacing. (Especially late) 18th century waistcoats typically had lacing in the back to shape the silhouette and keep the fabric smooth in the front.

And yes, men, or specifically fashionable men, wore stays and corsets. It was purely for the silhouette, unlike for (cis) women, who also would gain very practical benefits of breast support from their structural garments. So not all men used them and they were considered quite vein for men to use.

But all in all, fantasy fashion doesn't need to be historical or adhere to history, but looking at history I think gives a lot of ideas and better understanding in how things like closure methods work and therefore helps build a more believable world.

An incomplete list of garment-related things that were invented earlier than you probably think they were:

The predecessor to the zipper was invented in the 1890s and the first recognizable zippers were invented in the 19-teens, first used on boots and other heavy-duty items.

Snap fasteners were first patented in 1885. Like, the buttons.

Hooks and eyes are old as balls. I mean it. There are records of them from the 1300s.

You may have noticed a pattern. You may have noticed, perhaps, the emphasis on fasteners. You may be wondering to yourself whether Pancake has A Point To Make.

And the answer is yes, and the point would be this: stop making your fantasy characters lace themselves into everything.

[demonio-fleurs]

As a sewist who got her start in cosplay, I would love to hear about your handmade Spider-Gwen suit!

mfw i completely forgot that i ever said something about that on this blog (it doesn't help that the day this was sent i had mentioned/showed the suit to customers at my store so i was like "ah shit, did they find my tumblr??")

so yeah! i made a handmade spider-gwen suit before the pandemic. sadly, it was never completely finished. the only thing i had left to do were the legs, but i had also slightly fucked up the collar and arms so like, a month before the pandemic i decided to restart. and then the entire world shut down, i went into a deep depression that i am only just now clawing myself out of, and sadly my gwennie cosplay has sat in a box gathering dust for the last three and a half years. but lemme walk through my process anyways!

unfortunately, i can no longer find the instagram account of the cosplayer who inspired me to make my own cosplay. i don't know if i unfollowed her at some point (unlikely) or she deleted/got deleted, but in 2019 there was a fairly popular cosplayer on instagram who made her own spider-gwen costume from scratch, and posted her progress updates, which helped me out a lot!

but basically, i started with a simple spandex/zentai hero suit pattern that i bought from joanns, and modified it to fit my needs. my method for making the black/white contrast was, instead of just sewing the black and white parts together/hemming them together, i would use reverse appliqué to make it look more seamless and cohesive. you can see an early version of this here . i would make two versions of each piece for the torso -- one white, one black -- sew them together, then trim away the white and reveal the black!

it was HARD! doing a ^ turn on a sewing machine is incredibly difficult, and i had only a few months practice. but it was so much fun to troubleshoot, and when i finally got it "right" i was so happy! unfortunately, i only focused on the torso portion of my bodysuit, and not the rest (which will come up later) and once i felt like i got the reverse appliqué and the technique needed to do those harsh turns on a sewing machine, i moved on to the expensive materials.

for the fabric, i used yaya han's scuba hexagon stretch fabric in white , and then simple four way stretch fabric in a black faux leather for the black and a basic pink fabric designed for leotards for the pink undersleeves. it was pretty simple and easy to use, although very nerve wracking to make those first cuts! i also spent a LOT more time focusing on the back of gwen's suit, as i felt like in my practice run it didn't feel right. i was OBSESSED with the comics, so i spent hours just studying how robbi rodriguez drew gwen, how the lines worked, and i think i went through 3-4 drafts before i finally settled on a pattern for the back that i felt "fit".

the entire process of building what i thought would be my final suit was slow but rewarding. for the pink undersleeves, i basically made a simple square pattern, traced it on a massive swath of fabric, then went thru with puff paint and spent an hour painting the fabric! that kinda bit me in the ass when i was assembling the suit, as the puff paint was hard to sew through. if i had to do it again, i would just do the puff paint later or find some alternative method of making the blue spider lines stick out. once the torso, arms and collars were done, i sat down one day to assemble the entire upper half, and ended up with this! as you can see, it isn't the best and there's a lot i could have done the better (the entire gap at my arm pits and collar stick out the most to me) but it actually looked really good when i put it all together, i am incredibly proud of how the lines ended up, and how smoothly it all came together.

at first, i wanted to still assemble the legs together so i could have a semi-functioning suit for sakura con 2020. but i already had at least two easy/casual cosplays i could do, so my second plan was to do another attempt at a spider-gwen suit. you see, after discussing it w/ some other friends, i came to the conclusion that the problems i had with my suit stemmed from the fact that i took a pre-existing pattern and made modifications to it, when the existing pattern was not designed for that. if i was going to make a home made suit that worked, i'd either need to spend a lot of time w/ cheap fabric and pattern paper to make my own pattern, or find a pattern that could be modified to how i needed it to be without having the same problems. i then found this pattern on etsy, bought it, and began working on it. i bought new, cheap fabric, resigned myself to the fact that i'd want to do a full test of the pattern with the cheap fabric and not just the torso, and started working on it! i got the torso cut out and ready to go....

right as the world came to an absolute freezing standstill in march 2020. and sadly, despite making promises to myself again and again i haven't touched my spider-gwen cosplay since. i fell into a really bad depressive spot, lost my entire living situation, and just haven't been able to get that drive back. my commute to work is also significantly longer than it was pre-2020, so i am gone from the house for 10hrs a day and i don't really have the time i used to. i have made a promise to myself to at least start casual cosplay again in 2024, with the plans to revamp my 616 Gwen Stacy cosplay in the next couple of months (although that means having to trim bangs again -- uGH). i do not know if i will ever go back to a handmade spider-gwen cosplay, but if you want, you can always look at my highlight reel on my insta (linked above) to see the full process of me making my spider-gwen suit.

[caxycreations]

Awesome questions!!

TW: Mentions of sex, kink, etc, starting in paragraph 3 of answer 3, ending at the end of answer 3.

I do! Sometimes they're very literal (Krieger literally means "Warrior" or "Fighter", which fits his personality well: a warrior, tired of the fighting, but ready to act at a moment's notice when needed) while others are puns on their nature (Ryder stems from the phrase "Ride or die", a pun referencing his loyalty), and others are simply...the vibe. David wasn't named so for any special meaning or reason. I just couldn't get the name out of my head, it was so...right for him.

Setting is always based on where makes the most sense for the story. For Tylvinian Tales, I chose the name based on the setting: Tylvin, the capitol city of the nation Ferus. Why did I choose Tylvin, you may ask? It has the diversity, size, and social dynamics best suited to the story I wanted to tell! As for worldbuilding, how deep I go...I have an entire planet. Ecosystems, biomes, militaries, histories, futures, cultures, religions, an entire weather system, afterlives, and so, SO much more. Whole species I've invented for this world. And I never intend to use much of it for my stories, but I make it as in-depth as possible so that one day, if I ever make it big, people will be able to take my work and run with it, add onto it in their own way, mix their flair into the foundation and make it their own.

Friends to lovers, found family, and admittedly casual kink are tropes I've come to adore using in my writing. Friends to lovers is always my favorite, because a friend already knows you. They know your favorite songs, your quirks and flaws and habits, and a close enough friend will know you as well as, or better than, you know yourself. A romance born from friendship is different: it isn't some spur-of-the-moment love-at-first-sight thing. It builds, it grows, and it develops over time, until neither partner can deny the feelings any longer. And often times, the romance that springs from a friendship burns brighter and longer, because it DOES have that history, that chemistry, behind it. At least in my experience. Found family is SO important to me. It really is. My relationship with my family is...kinda fucked, so I had to make my own. And it left an imprint on me. The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb, and it rings true. Found family is such an important topic, and it means the world to me. It's why it's so prominent in my stories. Casual kink may seem weird to some but to me it's another important trope. Sex exists. Every living thing on the planet today is the result of it. And to treat it as something shameful or abhorrent, to ignore its existence bothers me...quite a lot. I hate the idea of being scared to be open about it. And the wide variety of forms, techniques, methods, pleasures, pains, etc that come with it, I feel it's best to be open about it. If I have experience with something, and someone else has an interest in trying it, I have a duty of care to ensure they do it safely and healthily, as their friend. Whether that means a conversation about it or a demonstration of it is case-by-case, but casual kink feels like a little-used safety precaution. After all, there is a right and wrong way for EVERY sexual act, and my personal characters (Davina, David, Ryder, and Trace) are exceptionally open about their sex lives for the simple fact that I believe they are the type who would put the safety and health of those around them above their pride or shame regarding it. They made mistakes in early years they don't want others to repeat. Best way they know to prevent it is to be as open as possible about the ups, downs, risks, and rewards. There's also an element of freedom and love to casual kink. I personally find it a way of showing trust, and affection. So my personal characters often use casual kink to display that, to share experiences with one another to display that trust, that love, for one another.

Hopefully those answers satisfy!

I also pass these questions along to my tag list! @moremysteriesthantragedies @sparrowcraft @thetruearchmagos @leisoree @amerylise @snakelovingnerd @a-scaly-troublemaker @that-one-enby-onyx @the-chaotic-writer

Thursday Asks + UPDATE

Happy Thursday Ask-A-Thon from the @ask-a-thon team! Here are today's questions:

Do you give names (characters, places, etc) meanings when writing? Or just choose whatever sounds good? What's your naming process like?

What are some of the things you consider when deciding on a setting for your story, excluding genre? If you worldbuild, how deep do you go?

What are some common tropes you use in your work? Why do you use these specific ones?

As an additional note, I seem to be unable to send asks for some reason, so please forgive me for not being able to send out all of them today as planned. Depending on how quickly this gets resolved, I may just post the questions here for the next few days. Thank you for your patience and understanding and I hope you all have a great day/night!

~ Myth

[bangchanswolfpelt]

My Favorite Yanderes Pt. 2

for the lil baby man itself, @beefis

cw: manipulation; jealousy; controlling behavior; stalking; flippant references to blood, violence, murder

[Hyunjin, Jeongin, Hongjoong, Jackson, Yugyeom, and Minhyuk under the cut

Part 1: Seungcheol, Joshua, Jungkook, Solar, Yeonjun, Soobin, Taehyun]

Changbin

Changbin's probably in a similar category as Scoops—just a toxically sweet, overeager puppy who wants all your love and has zero concept of boundaries

goes everywhere with you, and drags you everywhere he can—your friends joke that you should have him on a leash and he's ordering one on amazon that night

every post on his social media that isn't a picture of/with you still finds a way to mention you somehow

whines if you go for more than a week without posting about him—weekend selfie spams to make up for it are a regular activity

doesn't see any problem with just casually going through your phone—he doesn't care if you go through his—but gets jealous every time

there's a whole song-and-dance you do—Changbin kicks up a fuss about how one of your friends was definitely flirting with you, and you're just too sweet to notice; you insist that's not what was happening; eventually turns into you declaring that it doesn't matter what anyone else is trying to do, you only have eyes for him—cancel any plans you had for the rest of the day, because you're about to be smothered by a 167 cm tank made of giggles and muscle

if you ever turn it around on him and decide to play the jealous partner, it'll be like you've made Christmas come early for him—he'll eat up your possessiveness like takoyaki, eager to demonstrate that he's all yours—mark him up, tell him he's yours, and he's in heaven

it's all very routinely dysfunctional, all very comfortably unstable

not usually aggressive when he gets jealous; if he thinks someone is taking up too much of your attention, just shows off or acts bratty until he has your attention back

if he thinks someone is flirting with you, will not hesitate to simply walk over and pick you up and carry you away

how likely he is to murder someone for you: 7/10

i know i said y'all were comfortably dysfunctional, and maybe that sounded like it was implying a much healthier lack of crime than most yandere relationships run on

it does not

surprisingly, it's not a crime of passion

it takes a lot to get him there, but if Changbin decides someone is getting between the two of you and his usual tactics aren't cutting it, then other plans just have to be made

surprisingly efficient when it comes down it—calm, cool, methodical

it won't be clean enough to be written off as accidental, but you'll probably never even know he had anything to do with it!

Hyunjin

fell for you because you looked at him and said exactly one(1) insightful thing about him

Hyunjin wants desperately to be seen for who he is, and fixates specifically on your ability to do that, but also knows he can use his looks to fool and manipulate you

it's very bittersweet for him, he is (to a certain degree) a painfully self aware yandere

plays hot-and-cold with you, at times deliberately drawing you in, other times, then acting aloof at others

wants you to need him as badly as he needs you

his desire for you to understand him is impossible for him to resist, though, which leads to strange little moments of liminal intimacy

you'll find yourself alone with him, sitting on the back porch at a house party or walking home together from a night of bar-hopping with your friends, as he asks you about problems at work or tells you about how he listened to this album he thinks you'd really like

you don't talk much, so you're startled when he remembers things you'd mentioned in passing ages ago, things like how the spot your desk is in is never warm enough or that song you'd been listening to on repeat last month

there's something uncomfortably flattering about it, something that makes you feel like a deer in the headlights, but also makes you want to linger in the attention, to luxuriate in his intense focus

how likely he is to murder someone for you: 8/10

you're simply too important to him to allow anyone to get between the two of you

absolutely a calculated move on his part

he plans things out pretty well in advance, but probably gets a little sloppy in the middle of the act

what started out as the clean-cut algebra of not being able to lose you turns into a passionate, desperate rage

would decide not to tell you, because he knows that preserving an image that you can love is necessary to keeping you

but having you know and accept every part of him is such an intoxicating fantasy for him, he can't help but confess what he's done to you eventually

Jeongin

another one who's been watching from the sidelines for a while and has something to prove

unlike Jungkook, though, Jeongin is not content to wait around for you to notice that he's grown up

once he figures out what he wants from you, he doesn't hesitate to start staking out his territory

he'll insist on paying for your share of the bill after dinner, walking you home, tossing his jacket over your shoulders when you shiver—but tries do it all with an attitude of careless pragmatism to cover how fiercely possessive he feels

does it work? probably not—everyone knows Jeongin has favorites

tries very hard to be cool and witty and practical around you

but he can't help but melt a little if you insist on babying him

pragmatic, controlling, maybe a bit of a bully sometimes!

convinced that he knows what's best for you

doesn't have a lot of sweet words for you, but shows how much you mean to him through little things—picking up your favorite drink even when he forgets the exact thing Changbin sent him to the convenience store for, making sure he always has your favorite hoodie on hand to wrap you up in, snapping the wrist of that creep at the bar who was getting a little too handsy

how likely he is to murder someone for you: 9/10

listen. i hate to break it to you, but.

he definitely already has

once Jeongin decided you were his, no one who might come between you had a chance

it's a little sloppy—he did his best to research, but there's no amount of research that prepares you for the struggle and the mess, for the first hot spill of blood

recovers admirably though, does a competent enough job at clean-up

Hongjoong

it wasn't love at first sight for Hongjoong, but it was a sudden spark, an arrow that hit him out of nowhere and pinned him down like a butterfly

it could be anything really—a unique little turn of phrase that sticks in his mind or an offhand complaint about a book you didn't finish, a surprisingly insightful observation about one of his favorite songs or a teasing comment about his outfit

whatever it is, though, he can't get it out of his head—it sends his curiosity flaring, makes him circle back around to you over and over again until his fingers itch, until he feels like he's going insane

he wants to peel all your layers away, he wants to know you down to your bones

he's careful in this courtship, though, prying information from you bit by bit, dropping crumbs of himself like a trail and waiting eagerly to see if you'll follow

doesn't actually get too jealous of other people flirting with you—it can't be helped, of course people are attracted you—you're like a flame, burning bright in this dim, dull world, and the moths can't help it if they're drawn in

he's not actually worried about anyone coming between you—who could?

you are his soulmate, you are his muse, no one will understand you like he does

how likely he is to murder someone for you: 10/10

he doesn't have to, he's quite good at using manipulation to solve any problems that come up

but sometimes, your Joongie simply won't be satisfied with anything short of blood

it's probably not anyone who he perceives as a threat to your relationship that gets the bloodlust thrumming through him, but anyone he perceives as a threat to you

anyone who puts their hands on you, who makes you uncomfortable, anyone who looks at you like an object

Jackson

clingy and possessive

this boy wants to be in constant contact, wants to know where you are and what you're doing always

you know how Jackson once showed up to a fan meeting because Namjoon wasn't answering his texts?

yeah, expect him knocking on your door because you took an accidental nap mid-conversation or showing up at your dinner with friends because you were too carried away with the actual conversation to complete your last ten-minute-check-in

don't worry, though, he's charming enough not to embarrass you (too much) in front of your friends

loves to show you off—buys you ridiculous designer clothing, takes you to the most absurd events, and then takes half a million selfies with you to prove it

buys you Louboutins and puts a tracking chip in them

hates all your friends, but is really good at playing the game of winning them over

talks shit about them to you once you're home, though—tries to keep it casual, just a comment here or there, but he's not that subtle

how likely he is to murder someone for you: 6/10

this isn't a boy who wants to get his hands dirty

it's not about right or wrong, it's about ~ruining the fantasy~

not above hitting someone with his car in a fit of jealous anger, though

more likely to arrange for someone to be caught in a scandal, though, caught with drugs planted on them or in a 'compromising position'

Yugyeom

i'm very tempted to tell you to just sit down and listen to Point of View: U

obsessive and incapable of hiding it—stalking your social media and asking mutual friends about you turns into Yugyeom just happening to end up in all your usual spots, bringing you odd little gifts and offering to walk you home

he's not subtle, and your friends definitely notice

if he actually manages to wrangle you into a relationship—how? are you actively into crazy??? (it's fine, i understand, i am here with you 😌)

possessive, needy, but also pathetic in a way

every disagreement you have with him either starts or ends with him crying (and let's be honest, it's probably both)

upside! he's willing to subsume his entire identity into you and your interests and desires (as long as those desires don't involve leaving him), so disagreements only happen when he's jealous or anxious about you leaving him

downside! Yugyeom's anxious about losing you 24/7

suspicious of everyone in your life—cannot fathom a worldview that doesn't involve everyone who so much as breathes near you having the intention of stealing you away from him

if you think there's any scenario where this ends up with you not locked up in his basement, i am very sorry

how likely he is to murder someone for you: 12/10

it's not a matter of if, but when

the degree to which he feels threatened by the people in your life means him snapping it inevitable

and there's nothing Yugyeom won't do to keep you

Minhyuk - King of Yanderes

not a planner, but surprisingly crafty

Minhyuk uses his charisma like a blunt weapon, he's flirting wildly once he realizes he wants you, and he probably wants you the moment he sets eyes on you—buckle the fuck up

stalks your social media with zero shame or subtlety

sends you so many thirst trappy selfies. so. many.

texts you constantly—doesn't get needy for responses the way yanderes like Scoops or Jackson do, but also definitely not afraid to double text you

dream trophy boyfriend, just wants to hang off you and look hot and be shown off to your friends like a designer bag or an extremely fluffy dog

you don't even really realize how yandere he is unless/until you break things off with him

what was an endearing clinginess turns into an obsessive fixation when you break things off

he keeps up with what's going on with you in every way he can, checking your social media regularly and interrogating your shared friends about how you're doing, what's happening in your life, who you're seeing

works on making himself irresistible to you while you're gone—he's in the gym 24/7 (and posting the thirst traps to prove it); if you're dating guys with long hair, starts growing his out; if you're seeing blondes, he'll bleach it

slides back into your life as soon as he sees the chanceto do so

how likely he is to murder someone for you: 3/10

he's a lover, not a fighter

would simply make you forget the rest of the world exists by smothering you with his affection, rather than bathe it in blood for you

don't underestimate him, though!

under the right circumstances, will absolutely get his hands dirty for you

if murder's the only way to get rid of an obstacle to your relationship—consider Minhyuk a criminal for love<3

[yinses]

substitute

| you told yourself that you would do anything for satoru |

gojo satoru x reader

rating: 18+

a/n: i have an obsession i know. i’m working on it

it was to a soft tickling at the inside of your thighs that welcomed you into the next day. a soft sigh broke through your yawn as you shifted and twisted against the desires tugging at your veins. 

somewhere in your mind, you registered that it was much too early. 

but of course your body disagreed tenfold. 

“ngh…” an equally tired chuckle vibrates against you and you jumped at the touch of a thumb brushing against your outer lips. 

“the was a cute sound,” the voice purred. your hips lifted once more in reaction before they were assisted into submission by the firm weight of a forearm along your pelvis. 

the sounds of your slick sliding against his tongue were as equally loud as it was lewd. there was no art to the madness, just a series of flicks and heavy suction. 

your fingers clenched at the sheets, wrinkling the integrity as your chest heaved with every moan. in terms of wake up calls, the impending shrill of your alarm easily took last place. 

“you are always such a sight to wake up to. thought i’d return the favor.” 

and return it he did. 

the insertion of a finger freed up the opportunity for his voice to waft around the room again. the rhythm was as languid as his lazy drawl as he bent a joint and raked the nail against your inner walls. 

“i also might need a favor.”

the pinch of your brow came before the comprehension of his words. gojo was always a talker- a stronger contender as a firm charmer that managed to weave his way through society. as his position as ‘the chosen one’, his power spoke volumes. 

with you- he leaned on alternative methods. 

“fuck-toru… you bastard.”

you choked over the inclusion of a second finger, barely swallowing your words as you struggled to rock into them. 

“that’s not very nice of you. to think i woke up so early to treat you this morning.

your boyfriend took the opportunity to curl both fingers this time, smirking when you all but managed to successful buck him off as you keened under his ministrations. 

“it’s nothing big.” turquoise eyes, tinged with lust, met yours as he rose his head. the blanket fell off his shoulders, revealing more pale skin. “i just need a bit of a substitute today.” 

substitute? as in substitute teacher? he had to be joking. 

unlike gojo, after graduation you had more than willingly left behind the stuffy atmosphere of education. as a sorcerer, you never did stop learning. the always evolving curses not letting you hang too far off your game. 

but to return to the classroom to put those young students through everything you hated in your youth? 

no orgasm was worth that.

you disguised your grimace under the pretense of displeasure as he withdrew his hand all together. he tsked at your impatience, using the same hand as a crude form of lube as he fisted his growing cock. 

“it will be easy. these classes are even smaller than ours were.”

 it was difficult to voice a complaint when he was doing just the opposite and sliding into you. your back arched as he filled you to the hilt with little difficulty. 

he experimented with a shallow thrust, a grin pulling at his lips when you responded positively. the pace he set was slower than either of you were use to on a regular basis, but it fit the mood of morning sex. 

his forehead touched yours as he drew back for another long thrust. “shit-squeezing me so early. what a good girl.”

you whimpered when his hips met yours with more force than the last. “think of how excited they’ll be to have a new face. such a sexy one at that.” 

your body slid along the mattress each time he buried himself within you. you didn’t want to admit that he was getting to you. not even his all seeing gaze needed to retell the obvious. his plan was flawless and in short you were too much of a simp for the man.

so you just accepted the early morning distraction, taking direct pleasure in the way it unraveled the tangle of sleep.

you clenched your inner muscles helpfully and your boyfriend groaned in appreciation as he chased both of your releases with new vigor. the twitching and shakiness began with you as the pace picked up. your climax tumbled out of you with a sharp gasp as your boyfriend filled the space with a grunt. 

the two of you took a minute to regain your before he eventually pulled out and you pointedly ignored the stickiness as you relaxed your legs to give him the room to pull away. he didnt stray too far, white locks tickling your nose as he leaned in close again.

“i have more in store for you tonight as a thank you.”

with a huff, you pressed your palm against his cheek before his lips could chase yours. 

“fine, fine. i’ll babysit your class. you better be on some super important mission.”

gojo made a pleased sound, somewhere stuck between a hum and a warm rumble as he nuzzled the side of your neck and pressed his lips there instead. 

“super important. thanks babe.”

                                          you don’t know why you agreed to this. 

leaning back against the desk, you returned the silent gesture as the three first-years scrutinized your presence. aside from megumi, the other two were new faces for you. but your boyfriend’s knack for storytelling painted the picture in the absence of words. 

nobara was obvious. the sole girl of the unit. 

poor girl. 

she seemed to share your sentiment of wanting to be anywhere else but here. 

“so you’re dating sensei?”

you brought your arms closer to your chest as your shoulders rose with the action. 

was that … judgement?

“i’m so sorry.”

it was the sincerity that scared you the most. 

“oh wow, wow, wow. sensei’s really got it all. “

sukuna’s vessel was impossible to miss as any seasoned sorcerer. despite the boy’s positive demeanor, he reeked of the malevolent residue. yet in a way he made it work, there was nothing really about him that didn’t come off as approachable. 

he had something to gain gojo’s infatuation. there was no doubt in your mind that he would use this boy to help him dismantle the systematic hierarchy of the sitting elders. 

you just had to wonder. 

was the kid his main tool or the curse?

“i can’t believe you actually agreed to this.”

ah, megumi. 

the boy liked to express his love for distance, but the years swallowed up so much of it as you watched him grow. your boyfriend was a lot of things but you couldn’t deny the influence he had on the young sorcerer. 

the boy who seemed to disdain the attention knew it too. 

now that everyone had their turn to speak, you supposed it was your turn. 

“he was very convincing,” you offered lowly before picking up the volume. “let’s not pretend you’re actually going to learn anything from me. im just a sit in until satoru gets back from his mission.”

megumi’s scoff shouldn’t have come as a surprise. gojo’s name was rarely spoken without it’s accompaniment. 

“what makes you think he’s not off sightseeing?”

because killing gojo was impossible but you would happily tire yourself exploring your options. 

your smile was tight as you gestured to the door,” lets kick the morning off with some practice matches. the second years are always eager.”

settled comfortably against the bleachers observing as your temporary students got their asses handed to them, you came to the conclusion that being a teacher couldn’t be too bad. perhaps in the future you might be more willing to offer your services with out your boyfriend’s extra persuasion.

speaking of gojo, you wondered how his mission was going. you never actually questioned his agenda. 

you didn’t expect to wait long as the dial tone started up. outside of battle and life or death situations, gojo rarely ignored your calls. he knew in the thick of it you could protect yourself, but he preferred to keep himself available to your needs. 

the sounds of mixed commotion greeted you before his voice did. 

“toru … it sounds busy. where are you?”

gojo’s answering laugh should have been the first warning. to some it may have come off as eased but you could hear the way he forced it in to deflect. 

“sweetheart, how are classes going? i hope they’re not giving you too much trouble.”

trouble seemed to be the opposite of what he was dealing with. there were a lot of people holding their own conversations in the background, all of them too casual to be in danger. in fact, there were too many in general to place him on a battlefield. 

what exactly were you substituting for?

“order #217 for… gogo-san?”

the loud cluck of your tongue against the roof of your mouth was suddenly powerful enough to drown out the clamor. 

gojo satoru prided himself on standing resilient to all threats. it was how he maintained his position as the strongest. he was sought out for his efficiency and ability to overcome all adversaries. 

even against the most fearsome.

“honey, do i ever have a treat for you! today was a single-day special at my favorite bakery. you should have seen the lines. it's a good thing i got here so early!”

there were a lot of things you would do for satoru gojo.

and even more that you would do to him when you got home.