#I want to point out I haven't read the book

[divinedelusional]

tons of sex - jack schlossberg

jack schlossberg x fem reader

synopsis: it's been a while for reader and jack sooo they finally get down to it

warnings: smut so minors dni!! 18+ oral f receiving, vaginal sex, slightly sub jack

a/n: that was my first attempt at writing smut and first fic for jack too, inspired by this, obvi

You woke up to a smell of freshly brewed coffee. You hugged the pillow and opened one eye noticing that Jack wasn't by your side, but he appeared soon with a mug of coffee and a tray with food for you.

"You look so beautiful, honey" he said putting coffee and tray aside and gave you a slow kiss.

You indeed look amazing. Morning sun illuminating your frame covered in milky white sheets.

"Hey" you said looking at him with adoration. "Up so soon?" you asked taking a glass of orange juice he handed to you.

"Yeah, I'm sorry I couldn't reschedule the meeting, I forgot to tell you. But it won't be long I'm just meeting this guy about a podcast I agreed to do"

You smiled at him as he kept going.

"But after that I'm all yours. It's a little make up for it" he added pointing to the tray with your food. He made you an avocado toast with beacon on a side and an egg.

"It's great Jack, thank you so much" you said lifting yourself to kiss him. When you pulled you touched a small earring on his left ear.

"I still can't believe you pierced your ears" you chuckled.

"You like it babe?"

"Mhmm of course, you look hot as fuck"

You guys didn't see each other for the day, as Jack went out of town and you had been busy the day before. He came home on the evening when you were already half asleep. You greeted him and saw the earrings and wanted to wait for him, but you were asleep like a baby when he came from the shower.

"Would show you how much I like 'em babe, but what can I do if you're leaving me for a morning" you sighed dramatically.

"Then I'll make sure this meeting goes fast because holy shit..." he kissed you. "I want you so bad you have no idea" he kissed you again, slipping his tounge into your mouth. You almost moaned but didn't wanted to rile him up and make him late.

"Easy easy, we'll have a whole day once you're back" you chuckled.

Jack sighed and smiled at you, kissing your forehead quickly and got up from the bed.

You were eating your delicious breakfast and when he was already bundled up for nyc's cold weather he called to you.

"Bae you know what?? I haven't show my new look to the world yet"

He already posted a tiktok he recorded couple days ago, coming back from his break from social media.

"Well, give the people what they want hm?" you told him.

You saw him quickly checking himself in the mirror and then he pressed record.

"Soo basically I pierced both my ears andd" you heard him talking to the camera "I look like I've had a ton of sex in my life"

You were glad he stopped recording bc you snorted at the last part.

"What?" he asked

"Nothing babe, go you're gonna be late" you said laughing.

God, this man, you thought. He was unbelievable sometimes, but one thing you knew, you'll make sure he'd have sex today. A lot.

You've been reading your book, patiently waiting for your boyfriend. You couldn't focus on the plot as once again your thoughts drifted to the things you wanted to do with Jack. You haven't had sex for almost a week now. Both of you had really busy schedule and then Jack went to Boston. He was feeling down lately with the whole shutting down JFK's library thing. You loved how passionate he was with serving his country but you wished he could relax more. You were there for him of course, comforting him and he was so grateful for that.

But you felt like you both needed different kind of relaxation now. And God, you couldn't wait for it. You felt a growing need in you lower stomach, putting a hand over your mound and pressing lightly. You wanted to put your fingers into your cunt but decided not to. You and Jack didn't have this rule that you couldn't touch yourselves without the other, but you just wanted to wait for him. You could make yourself cum, but you were too needy today. You just knew your fingers wouldn't be enough to satisfy you. You wanted your man's cock. Badly. You wanted him to fuck you so deep you'd see a bulge in your belly.

"Oh fuck" you moaned at the thought and you knew your pussy was already soaked.

Just then you heard keys in the door and sighed with relief. Your torture was bout to end. You heard Jack taking of his shoes and water running as he washed his hands in the bathroom.

"Hi" you said when you came to him, wrapping your hands around his waist.

"Hi" he said, turning around and he pecked your lips. You didn't let him go as you sucked on his tounge. He let out a small moan and opened his mouth wider for you. Still in his embrace you pushed his chest and you walked to the kitchen, while kissing, well more likely licking all over your lips.

"Are you hungry?" you asked, pressing your hips to Jack's.

"Mhm" his voice an octave lower "not for food tho" he said and picked you up, turning around and sitting you on a kitchen island. You squealed at his action and sensation of a cold marble under your thighs. He kissed you, less sloppy this time, and you spread your legs wider when he moved to your neck.

"Jack" you moaned, when he sucked a hickey on your neck, licking over his piece of work.

"As much as I would love to fuck you here..." he said, voice muffled when he started to kiss the other side of your neck, massaging your left boob. "...i can't have my girl sore so early" he took your shorts of when he said that. "My, my what do we have here?" his eyes widened at the sight of a wet spot on your panties, one of his favorite pairs. It was thong made of cotton, burgundy red shade, with lace hugging your hip bones.

"Baby..." you whined quietly when Jack traced his finger over your clothed pussy.

"What honey? Don't be shy, what do you want me to do?"

"Jack, please, do whatever you want to do with me, please, I can't wait anymore"

"Oh baby, I don't wanna torture you. I missed this tight pussy so much. What was that, like four days I haven't felt her?" he was kneeling down, taking off your panties.

"Five"

He started by kissing your ankle, going up with his feather light kisses. He reached your thighs and wanted to tease you a little bit longer but his mind went blank when he was met with the sight of your glistening cunt and her delicious smell. His head empty, only a primal need and hunger left in.

"Fuckin shit, I can't wait any fucking longer" he panted and dived in.

He held your thighs in place, tho he knew he's going to let them go in a minute and let you crush his head with 'em. Usually he started slowly, giving kitten licks to your clit, teasing a finger at your entrance, but he was hungry today and he wanted to take what was his.

His tounge pushed through your folds, going straight for your hole. He pushed it as deep as he could, without a warning and you pulled his hair immediately.

"Oh my fucking... god, Jack please" you moaned. You loved when he tounge fucked your pussy. He would have the stupidest shit eating grin on his face if he wasn't thrusting his tounge in and out of you with such force.

God, his tounge will hurt, you thought to yourself, though you couldn't care much, when your boyfriend was making you feel like this. You were already getting close, to fast for your liking, but you knew you couldn't blame yourself. You pussy was starving for attention and your boyfriend was always so fucking good with his mouth. You were about to tell him that you're gonna cum, when his tounge slid out of you. You wanted to protest, but in the blink of an eye you felt a whole different sensation when Jack had spit directly onto your clit. High pitched whine escaped your throat and you buried your fingers deeper in Jack's hair. His mouth instantly went back to your pussy, his tounge danced on your clit, giving it just the right amount of pressure. He knew you were seconds away from cumming when your nails scratched his scalp harder than before. You were a mess above him and you screamed his name, when with one final flick of his tounge you came all over his face. He lapped at your spasming hole and his nose was pressing against your sensitive bud.

"Jack, Jack, stop, I can't anymore..." you whined and he listened to your pleas and stopped the assault on your pussy.

He lifted himself up, positioning his body between your legs. You were propped up on your elbows and were looking at his face soaked with your juices, when he leaned in.

"Taste yourself, pretty girl" he murmured, before pressing his lips to yours. Your mouth opened right away, letting him in. You kissed so agonizingly slow, but you loved when he got sloppy with his kisses, like he didn't want to leave any part untouched.

Kisses might have been slow, but movements of his hips were getting faster with each second. Suddenly you became aware of your boyfriend's raging erection, grinding on your wet pussy.

"Jack, wait"

"Nnghh, no" he mumbled pulling you to himself again, but you pushed him back before he could kiss you again. He watched you, shocked for a second, his frame resting against the headboard right know. His pupils widened when you climbed on top of him.

"You deserve a big thank you after what you just did Mr. Schlossberg" you breathed to his ear and start to suck a hickey on his jawline. He let out a small moan, as you kept talking. "My baby, did so good for me that his girl didn't even notice how hard you were... you must be already leaking, huh honey?" you asked him palming him through his boxers.

"Please, baby, I'm so, oh fuck, so hard for you, please let me..." he tried to switch your positions, but you restisted. You took his boxers off, letting his cock free.

"Remember what I told you this morning?" you asked, lifting your hips up and lining your entrance with his dick.

"Uh huh" he noded through his gasps as you began to sink down onto him.

"Yes" you hissed with satisfaction and leaned down to bite his earlobe. "Need to show you how much I like your new look, how fuck, how hot you look, Jack" with this words you fully sank down, his dick filling you completely.

"Fuck, fuck, y/n, be a doll and fuck me, please"

"Oh baby, don't worry. You have to live up to your new look right? I'm getting sure, you'll get that ton of sex you talked about this morning"

Jack shot his head back, panting your name.

Already a mess, you thought to yourself, and he has no idea that you just started his fun with him.

reblogs and comments highly appreciatated♡

[greenerteacups]

I cannot tell you just how obsessed I am with Lionheart - I have literally ranted about it with everyone who has even a remote interest in Harry Potter. It is the best thing I have read, it has made me fall in love with the series all over again, I feel like I'm reading and experiencing it all for the first time! I'm even trying to dabble in bookbinding just to actually have a hardcopy of your fics (hard emphasis on trying)

I love sweet cranky Draco and how you have so beautifully written him into the golden trio - I love how he balances Hermione out and matches her brilliance, I have always hated how she was always the odd one out whenever Ron decided to stop talking to her. I keep telling everyone I truly think you have a better understanding of the characters than JKR did - how you've written Harry as this very perceptive and gentle peacemaker who is craving so deeply for family (that scene end of book 4 where Arthur comes crashing in to save him? ugh, ab.so.lute.ly. heartwrenching!!) , how you've made Ron a wonderful character and brilliant in his own way (it's so easy for fanfic writers to bash him and make him this big dumb boy who doesn't get hermione- I love that even Draco recognizes that he has his strengths). I love how you've paralleled Snape as Draco's godfather to Sirius and Harry. I love the subtle ways you have changed the story to keep us on our toes. I love how slow and realistically they have grown page by page and I am so very excited to see where you take them next. Ugh I can go on and on. Everything is so well written and I love how you've expanded my vocabulary. You are such an exceptional writer!!

I do find it interesting (and I haven't been able to find any previous posts on this) that Book 2 is the chambers of secrets book and there is zero appearance of the basilisk, which seems a pretty glaring omission. Obviously this is what Theo is trying to find where we are in Book 5, but I was wondering why the delay and doesn't this mess with lining up events with the main series? I guess we wont' know until the grand reveal. But then that made me wonder if it's just "Book 1" and "Book 2" - are there no subtitles "Draco Malfoy and the Chamber of Secrets", etc?

Anyways, I'm all caught up now and just wanted to say - I'm so in love with your work and can't wait to see where you take us next!

Hi, thank you so much for this message! You are so kind to write it!

I would point out that Book 2 isn't really the "chamber of secrets" book — as you point out: he got no gotdamn Chamber in there. The plot of Chamber of Secrets doesn't really work without Lucius, so it's one of the places where the fic diverges the most. Books 6 and 7 will also diverge a lot more from the source material, just so you know! I view Lionheart as a reimagining of the Harry Potter story, not a beat-for-beat retelling. Obviously, some things will remain the same (contrary to what they may believe, neither Lucius nor Draco are so important that the plot totally collapses without them) but for the most part, I'd say I'm trying to re-tell the story in my own way, which means parking the basilisk for a few years while I sort out other things in the story. I promise I'll try to make all payoffs worthwhile, though. :)

[snek-panini]

Since the copy I sent to @madenthusiasms has arrived, it's time to share my bind of their wonderful fic The Ghost of Husbands past. I had really wanted to get this one out by Christmas, since it's a Christmas fic, but life had other plans. But if a Good Omens fic based on Hallmark Christmas Movie tropes (but without the misogyny, heteronormativity, and anti-intellectualism; and with added anti-coporate and anti-megachurch sentiments and positive disability rep) sounds like your cup of tea you should absolutely go read this immediately.

The cover up above is dark green book cloth for the spine and corners, and white faux leather with silver foil htv for the title. It was infuriatingly difficult to find white faux leather in a thickness I could use for bookbinding--all the craft stores had upholstery weight, which is too heavy and thick once it's paper-backed, and only one supplier had this thinner paper-like material. It was Neenah Papers and I'd never ordered from them before and the process was a nightmare and took weeks to sort out. But I got the stuff, and I love the way it looks and feels. It was one of those instances where I knew exactly what I wanted, had a mental image I was pursuing, and nothing else I considered looked half as good. So in the end it was worth it.

More photos under the cut, including Fun With Fonts and the most complicated spine I've ever made.

Spine photos! It's got little ridges! They're called false bands and you make them with thin strips of board, and then if you're like me you put lines around them to highlight them. There's so much htv on here that it had to be done in three stages; lines, text, and snowflakes were all done separately. I was worried there would be issues with sticking, because I haven't always had a good track record with htv and the foil is especially picky, but other than me simply having big dreams there were no issues.

The bookmark is a dead match for the cloth, which was a happy accident. The endbands are double core and I wove them with stripes of alternating thickness so they'd look like candy canes. I was originally planning to have red, white, and green stripes in the endbands but when I hit the halfway point on the first one they started looking like the flag of Mexico and I had to start over. It very much did not fit the vibe. I do love the candy canes though; they absolutely could not have been better.

The endpaper up there is a Christmas-themed scrapbook paper. In isolation they look a bit jungle-y but they're poinsettias. My original choice for these had a different color scheme with blue snowflakes, but I realized that there would never be a better excuse for leaning into the classic Christmas aesthetic, and I have no regrets.

Interiors! The title page graphic is a free-to-use holly wreath from rawpixel. I kind of went nuts with the custom fonts in here. Conventional book design wisdom is to have two or maybe three fonts in a book, to make it feel cohesive throughout. This one has at least eight. The title page has two, one from Dafont called Flakes and a basic Word font called Castellar, because Flakes has snowflakes on every letter and it looked really weird and busy to have all the text like that. The chapter titles are in another Dafont custom called Fireplace that has sparkles and lets you add swishes under it, but the free version hasn't got numbers so those are in Harrington, which I thought was the closest match. The scene break dividers are a dingbat (symbol) font called DH Snowflakes. The body's in Baskerville but there are newspaper articles and roadside church advertisements in it that both have their own fonts, and the cover fonts are different too but I forget what I used there. And you would think this would make it feel choppy but it doesn't, somehow. It works, and it's trope-y and a bit cheesy but that's Christmas movies for you. The earnestness and enthusiasm is what wins the day, not the polish. I think that's appropriate.

And that's it! I had an absolute blast working on this one, it was so much fun to design. Hope you enjoyed!

[moreofmonica]

everyone's insights and takes on house of the dragon season 2 finale are intriguing, off-putting, and humorous. there are parts of the finale I did not like and there are scenes I loved. for a majority of the episode though it was in distaste due to the script writing connections back to game of thrones trying to link the prequel to it over and over as well as the whole vision scene and those character's now knowing their fates in the dance. I am a Rhaenyra supporter. even though most of us know her fate, I am hoping she can have time for happiness in the position she is in, no matter how little. this show is still something I'm going to want to watch since I want to know how the writers will portray the rest of the story and the cast does such an amazing job acting as these characters. here's to waiting not too too long to season 3 (⁠｡⁠•́⁠︿⁠•̀⁠｡⁠)

[cloudinal]

Happy Valentine's! Have some yuri

[they-didnt-last]

anyone interested in talking about the iconic 2000's middle-grade-bordering-on-ya book series gallagher girls??

[bvckbiter]

me going into the rr crit tag lately: perhaps you would be happier writing your own books

[hephaestuscrew]

The role of Pryce and Carter's Deep Space Survival Procedure Protocol Manual in the characterisation, symbolism, and themes of Wolf 359

TL;DR: The DSSPPM is used as a tool to help establish and develop Minkowski and Eiffel as characters: Minkowski as a strict Commander who clings to the certainty provided by a rigid source of authority like the DSSPPM, and Eiffel as the anti-authority slacker who strongly objects to the idea that he ought to read the manual. The way their contrasting attitudes towards the DSSPPM manifest through the show reflect their character development and changing dynamic. The DSSPPM can be directly used against the protagonists by those with power over them, and the reveal of its authorship gives a particularly sinister edge to its regular presence in the show. But it can be also be repurposed and seen through an individual interpersonal lens.

Note: There’s plenty that you could say about the DSSPPM through the lens of what it says about Goddard Futuristics as an organisation, or about Pryce and Cutter as people. Or you could talk about Lambert quoting the DSSPPM an absurd number of times in Change of Mind, and Lovelace’s reactions to this. But in this essay, I’ll be analysing on mentions of the DSSPPM with a focus on Minkowski, Eiffel, and their dynamic.

“One of those mandatory mission training things”: the DSSPPM as a tool to establish characterisation

The first mention of Pryce and Carter's Deep Space Survival Procedure Protocol Manual (the DSSPPM) in Wolf 359 is also the very first interaction we hear Eiffel and Minkowski have. In fact, the first time we hear Minkowski's voice at all is her telling Eiffel off for not having read the manual:

[Ep1 Succulent Rat-Killing Tar] MINKOWSKI Eiffel, did you read your copy of Pryce and Carter?  EIFFEL My copy of what?  MINKOWSKI Pryce and Carter's Deep Space Survival Procedure Protocol Manual.  EIFFEL Was that one of those mandatory mission training things?  MINKOWSKI Yes.  EIFFEL In that case, yes, I definitely did.  MINKOWSKI Did you now? Because I happened to find your copy of the D.S.S.P.P.M. floating in the observation deck.  EIFFEL Oh?  MINKOWSKI Still in its plastic wrapping.

This is an effective way to establish their conflicting personalities right out of the gate. Minkowski's determination to "do things by the book - this book in fact" contrasts clearly with Eiffel's professed ignorance about and clear disregard for "this... Jimmy Carter thing”. Purely through their attitudes to this one book, they slot easily into clear archetypes which inevitably clash. Everything about Eiffel in that opening episode sets him up as a slacker who doesn't care about authority, but the image of his mandatory mission training manual floating in the observation deck "still in its plastic wrapping" provides a particularly striking illustration.

By contrast, we immediately encounter Minkowski as a strict leader who cares deeply about making sure everything is done according to protocol; the intense importance she places on the DSSPPM is one of the very first things we know about her. Her insistence on the importance of the survival manual might seem somewhat understandable at first, if perhaps unhelpfully aggressive, but it starts to feel less sensible as soon as we start to hear some of the tips from this manual:

Deep Space Survival Tip Number Five: Remain positive at all times. Maintain a cheerful attitude even in the face of adversity. Remember: when you are smiling the whole world smiles with you, but when you're crying you're in violation of fleet-wide morale codes and should report to your superior officer for disciplinary action.

The strange, controlling, vaguely sinister tone of some of the tips we hear in the first episode is largely played for laughs, emphasised by the exaggeratedly upbeat manner in which Hera reads them. But even these first few tips give us some initial suggestions that the powers behind this mission might not care all that much about the wellbeing of their crew members.

It says something about Minkowski that she places such faith and importance in a book which says things like "Failing to remain calm, could result in your grisly, gruesome death" and "when you're crying you're in violation of fleet-wide morale codes and should report to your superior officer for disciplinary action." (Foreshadowing the Hephaestus Station as the home of immense emotional repression and compartmentalising...) Having those kind of pressures and demands placed on her (and those around her) by people above her in the military hierarchy doesn’t unsettle Minkowski.

Eiffel groans and sighs as he listens to the tips, but Minkowski seems to see this manual as an essential source of wisdom. The main role the manual plays in this episode is to establish Minkowski and Eiffel as contrasting characters with very different approaches to authority and therefore a potential to clash.

When Minkowski demands that Eiffel reads the DSSPPM, he decides to get Hera to read it to him, asking her to keep this as “a 'just the two of us, totally secret, never tell Commander Minkowski' thing”. Eiffel seems convinced that Minkowski won't be happy with him listening to Hera read the DSSPPM rather than reading it himself. This suggests that (at least in Eiffel's interpretation) Minkowski’s orders are not just about her wanting him to know the contents of the manual, since this could theoretically be accomplished just as well by him listening to it. But she wants him to do things in what she’s deemed to be the correct way, to put in the right amount of effort, and not to take what she might see as a shortcut. It’s not just about the contents of the manual; it’s about the commitment to protocol that reading it represents.

“When in doubt: whip it out”: Hilbert’s use of the DSSPPM

In Season 1, the DSSPPM isn't purely associated with Minkowski. Hilbert actually quotes it more than she does in the first few episodes. In Ep2 Little Revolución, Hilbert's response to Eiffel's toothpaste protest is inspired by "Pryce and Carter six fourteen: “When in doubt, whip it out - ‘it’ being hydrochloric acid.”" This tip is absurd in a more direct obvious way than those we heard in Ep1. While this absurdity is partly for humour, it also casts further doubt on the usefulness of this supposedly authoritative survival manual, and therefore on the wisdom of trusting Command.

In Ep4 Cataracts and Hurricanoes, Hilbert starts to quote Tip #4 at Eiffel, who protests "I'm not gonna have one of the last things I hear be some crap from the survival manual". These moments again place Eiffel in clear opposition to the DSSPPM, but also suggest that Hilbert's attitude towards the DSSPPM - and therefore towards Command - is closer to Minkowski's than to Eiffel's.

When Hilbert turns on the Hephaestus crew in his Christmas mutiny, his allegiance to Command is revealed as dangerous. And here the DSSPPM comes up again. As Minkowski dissolves the door between her and Hilbert, she triumphantly echoes his own words back to him: "Pryce and Carter six fourteen: “When in doubt, whip it out - ‘it’ being hydrochloric acid.” Never. Fails." This provides a callback to a previous, more comedic conflict on the Hephaestus, and reminds the listener of a time when Minkowski and Hilbert were working together against Eiffel, in contrast to the current situation of Minkowski and Eiffel versus Hilbert. But it also shows that Minkowski, like Hilbert, is capable of using some of the more absurd DSSPPM tips to defeat an adversary. And it shows Minkowski leaning on those tips in a real moment of crisis.

Once Hilbert has betrayed the crew in order to follow orders from Command, we might look back on his quoting of the DSSPPM as casting the manual in a more sinister light, and again calling into question the wisdom of Minkowski placing such trust in it.

“It's not that I don't believe it, I'm just disgusted by it”: the DSSPPM as an indicator of a changing dynamic

The next mention of the DSSPPM is in Ep17 Bach to the Future:

MINKOWSKI Eiffel's been spot-testing me, Hera. He doesn't believe that I've memorized all of the survival tips in Pryce and Carter. EIFFEL It's not that I don't believe it, I'm just disgusted by it. I keep hoping to discover it's not true. MINKOWSKI Well, believe as little as you want, doesn't change the fact that I do know them. And so should you!

I think this provides an interesting illustration of the way in which Minkowski and Eiffel’s dynamic has developed since Ep1. They still have deeply contrasting attitudes to the DSSPPM, but this contrast is now a source of entertainment between them, rather than merely of conflict.

Given that Hera wasn’t aware of Eiffel testing Minkowski on the tips, we can guess that it’s a game they came up with while Hera was offline. In the midst of all the exhaustion and uncertainty and fear they were dealing with after Hilbert’s mutiny, this was a way they found to pass the time. It must have been Eiffel who suggested it; Minkowski cites his disbelief as the reason for the spot-testing. And yet she plays along, responding each time, even though this activity has no real productive value.

Minkowski is keen to demonstrate that she does know the tips and she emphasises that Eiffel ought to know them too, but their interactions about the DSSPPM in this episode have none of the genuine irritation and frustration that they displayed in Ep1. It feels almost playful and teasing. Eiffel still thinks Minkowski is "completely insane" for learning all the tips and is "disgusted" by her commitment to memorising them, but these comments feel much closer to joking about a friend's weird traits than to insulting a hated coworker's personality. It feels like something has shifted since Eiffel responded to Minkowski’s passion for the DSSPPM by saying “I'm so glad that your shrivelled husk of a dictator's heart is as warm as a decompression chamber”.

Another thing to note here is that Minkowski's respect for the DSSPPM has clearly survived Hilbert's Christmas mutiny and Minkowski's resulting distrust of Command. From Hilbert's behaviour at Christmas, it's clear that the crew's survival is not at the top of Command's priority list. But Minkowski still trusts the book that Command told her to read. She still thinks Eiffel should read it too. The main figures of authority above her are dangerous and untrustworthy, but she still clings to the source of guidance they provided her with.

It's also worth noting that Minkowski has not just learnt the advice in each of the 1001 tips, but she has memorised (nearly) all of them by number. If it was just about the information that the manual provides to inform responses to potentially life-or-death situations, then knowing the numbers wouldn't be necessary. Nor would it be particularly useful to know them all exactly word-for-word. Minkowski's reliance on the DSSPPM is again suggested to be about more than the potential practical use of its content. It's about showing that she is committed and disciplined and up to the task of leading. She does have some awareness of the strangeness of many of the tips, but this doesn't diminish the value of her adherence to the manual for her:

EIFFEL You're insane.  MINKOWSKI I'm disciplined. Although I will admit they do get more... esoteric as you go higher up the list.

There's only one tip Minkowski doesn't seem to remember, and that's revealing too:

EIFFEL 555? Minkowski DRAWS BREATH - and STOPS SHORT. [...] MINKOWSKI Hold on a second, I know this. (beat) Dammit. EIFFEL Hey, look at that! Looks like there may be hope for you yet. MINKOWSKI Quiet, Eiffel. Hera, what's D.S.S.P.P.M. 555? HERA "Good communication habits are key to continued subsistence. Be in touch with other crew members about shipboard activities. Interfacing about possible problems or dangers is the best way to anticipate and prevent them." This hangs in the air for a second. Then – EIFFEL So you forget the one tip in the entire manual that's actually helpful? MINKOWSKI Shut up.

Communication is a key theme of this show, so it’s interesting that this is the one tip Minkowski can’t remember, perhaps indicating an aspect of leadership and teamwork that she doesn’t always prioritise or find easy.

Eiffel saying “Looks like there may be hope for you yet” seems like just a throwaway teasing line, but it’s got a profound edge to it. A lot of Minkowski’s arc is about learning how to provide her own direction and support her crew outside of the systems of authority and hierarchy that she’s grown so attached to. So perhaps Eiffel is right to see a kind of hope in her failure to remember every single DSSPPM tip – she has the potential to break free of her reliance on external authority.

“Which one was 897, what was the exact phrasing of that Deep Space Survival Tip?”: the DSSPPM in interactions with Cutter

The Wolf 359 liveshow, Deep Space Survival Procedure and Protocol, is literally named after the manual. This suggests, before we’ve even heard/watched the episode, that the DSSPPM will be a key symbol here. Which is interesting because I'd say the liveshow has two main plot points: (a) Eiffel's failure to read the DSSPPM or follow orders in general, the resulting disruption to the mission, and his crewmates' frustration with this; and (b) the looming threat of Cutter, the necessity of keeping information from Command, and the risk of fatal mission termination.

Even without the knowledge that Cutter is one of the co-authors of the DSSPPM (which neither the Hephaestus crew nor a first-time listener knows at this point), there's a kind of irony in the contrast between these two plotlines. On the one hand, Minkowski repeatedly berates Eiffel for not having read Pryce and Carter's Deep Space Survival Procedure and Protocol Manual, which was made mandatory by Command. On the other hand, she is aware that Command in general - and Cutter specifically - represents the biggest threat to the safety and survival of her crew.

Cutter uses the DSSPPM against each of the Hephaestus crew in their one-on-one conversations with him. For Minkowski, he uses it as a way of emphasising the expectations and responsibility placed on her:

MINKOWSKI There are always gaps between expectation and reality, but-- CUTTER But it's our job as leaders to close that gap, isn't it? Pryce and Carter...? MINKOWSKI 414, yes. Yes, sir, I know.

Cutter knows that Minkowski will know those tips and he knows abiding by them is important to her. She's quick to demonstrate her knowledge of the DSSPPM and agree with the tip. There's something deeply sinister to me about Cutter's use of the word 'our' here. His phrasing includes them both as leaders who should be ensuring that things are exactly as expected. It’s almost a kind of flattery at her authority, but it comes with impossibly high expectations. This way of emphasising the importance and responsibilities of her role as Commander is a targeted strategy by Cutter at manipulating Minkowski, designed to appeal to her values.

In Hera's one-on-one, Cutter uses a DSSPPM tip to interpret her behaviour and claim that he can read her motives:

CUTTER This thing you're doing. Asking questions while you get your bearings. HERA Sir, I'm just curious about-- CUTTER Pryce and Carter 588: Shows of courtesy and polite queries are an efficient way to gain time necessary to strategize.

Unlike with Minkowski (or Eiffel), Cutter doesn't prompt Hera to demonstrate her knowledge of the manual. That wouldn't work as a power play against Hera, who would be able to recall the manual (or, rather, retrieve the file, however that distinction works within her memory) but who doesn't care about the DSSPPM like Minkowski does. Instead, Cutter implies that Hera’s behaviour can be predicted - or at the very least seen through - by the DSSPPM, which seems like a cruel attempt by Cutter at belittling her.

For Eiffel, Cutter uses the manual as a weapon in a different way again. He asks Eiffel, "which one was 897, what was the exact phrasing of that Deep Space Survival Tip?", something which Eiffel clearly doesn't know, but Cutter of course does. This puts Eiffel on the back foot, trying to defend and justify himself, allowing Cutter to emphasise his position of power yet again.

The DSSPPM plays a double role in the liveshow. On the one hand, as Minkowski reminds Eiffel, proper knowledge of the manual "would've saved [the crew] from these problems with the nav computer" – some of the tips can potentially save the crew a great deal of hassle, stress, and risk. On the other hand, the same manual is used by Cutter to manipulate, unsettle, and intimidate the crew. There are these two sides to the information given to the crew by Command - two sides to the manual which Minkowski still values.

In another duality for the DSSPM, the manual is sometimes used as a symbol of the relationship between the crew members and Command, and sometimes used to indicate the dynamics between the individual crew members, usually Minkowski and Eiffel. Before Cutter’s appearance in the liveshow, Minkowski and Eiffel’s discussions of the DSSPPM reflect interpersonal disagreements between two people with fundamentally different attitudes:

MINKOWSKI Oh come on, why do you think I keep trying to get you to go over these things? Do you think I enjoy going through them? EIFFEL Yes. MINKOWSKI Well, alright, I do. But this knowledge could save your life.

Minkowski enjoys rules, regulations, and certainty, for their own sake as much as for any practical usefulness. Eiffel very much does not. This is a simple clash of individuals, in which the link between the DSSPPM and Command is implicit. Minkowski doesn't seem to question the idea that the information in the DSSPPM is potentially life-saving, even though she knows Command don't care about their lives. But Cutter’s repeated references to the DSSPPM remind us who made that book a mandatory part of mission training – it certainly wasn’t Minkowski, even if she’s often the one attempting to enforce this rule.

At the end of the liveshow, in a desperate attempt to prevent mission termination, Eiffel promises Cutter that he will read the DSSPPM (the liveshow transcript notes that him saying this is "like pulling teeth"), an instance of the manual being used in negotiations between the Hephaestus crew and Command. All Minkowski’s orders weren’t enough to get Eiffel to read that book, but a genuine life-or-death threat might just about be enough. Perhaps it's ironic that Eiffel reads the survival manual out of a desire for survival, not because he thinks the contents of the book will help him survive, but because he’s grasping anything he can offer to buy the crew’s survival from those who created that same book.

In the final scene of the liveshow, Minkowski catches Eiffel reading the DSSPPM, and he fumbles to hide that he's been reading it, a humorous reversal of all the times that he's lied to her that he has read it. Perhaps admitting that he's reading it would be like letting Minkowski win. Minkowski seems to find both surprise and amusement in seeing Eiffel finally reading the manual, but she doesn't push him to admit it. There's some slightly smug but still friendly teasing in the way Minkowski says "were you now?" when Eiffel says that he was just reading something useful. In that final scene, the manual is viewed again through the lens of Minkowski and Eiffel’s dynamic – Command’s relation to the DSSPPM becomes secondary.

“The first thing I'd make damn sure was hard wired into anything that might end up in a situation like this one”: the DSSPPM as a tool of survival

In Ep30 Mayday, when Eiffel is stranded alone on Lovelace’s shuttle, he hallucinates Minkowski to bring him out of his helpless panic and force him into action. And this hallucination also brings with it one of Minkowski’s interests:

MINKOWSKI Eiffel... I worked on this shuttle. Reprogramming that console. EIFFEL So? How does that help – MINKOWSKI Think about it. BEAT. And then he gets it. EIFFEL Oh goddammit. MINKOWSKI What's the first thing that I would do when programming a flight computer? The first thing I'd make damn sure was hard wired into anything that might end up in a situation like this one? EIFFEL Pyrce and Carter's Deep Space Survival Procedure and Protocol Manual.

Again, a conversation about the DSSPPM gives us an indication of the development of Minkowski and Eiffel’s relationship. Not only does Eiffel imagine Minkowski as a figure of (fairly aggressive) support when he’s stranded and alone, he thinks about what advice she’d give him and he follows it. Rather than dismissing the manual entirely, he looks for tips that are relevant to his situation. He’s not pleased about his hallucinated-Minkowski trying to get him to read the DSSPPM, but that was what his mind gave him in an almost hopeless situation. Some part of him now empathises with Minkowski’s priorities in a way that he definitely wasn’t doing in Ep1. He thinks that the DSSPPM might be on the shuttle because he knows the manual is important to Minkowski. It’s by imagining Minkowski that he gets himself to read the manual in order to see if it can help him survive – he certainly doesn’t think about what Cutter or anyone else from Command would tell him to do.

In the end, the tips Eiffel picks out aren’t all that helpful or informative: “Confront reality head-on”; “In an emergency, take stock of the tools at your disposal. Then take stock again. Restock. Repurpose. Reuse. Recycle."; and “"In times of trouble, an idle mind is your worst enemy”. But Eiffel does use these tips to structure his initial thinking about how to survive on Lovelace’s shuttle. In an almost entirely hopeless situation, Eiffel finds some value in the DSSPPM. But since the tips he picks out are mostly platitudes, the actual wisdom that allows him to survive all comes from his own mind; the tips, like his hallucinations, are just a tool he uses to externalise his process of figuring out what to do.

“Wasn't there something about this in the survival manual?”: Minkowski potentially moving away from the DSSPPM

Given the significance of the DSSPPM in Season 1 and 2 to Minkowski in particular, it feels notable when the manual isn’t referenced. Unless I've missed something (and please let me know if I have), Minkowski – the real one, not Eiffel’s hallucination - doesn't bring up the manual of her own accord at all in Seasons 3 or 4. This might make us wonder if she’s moved away from her trust in and reliance on that book provided by Command.

Perhaps the arrival of the SI-5, which highlights to Minkowski that the chain of command is not a good indicator of trustworthy authority, was the final straw. Or perhaps the apparent loss of Eiffel - and any subsequent questioning of her leadership approach, or realisations about the valuable perspective Eiffel provided - were what finally broke down her faith in that book.

Alternatively, perhaps Minkowski still trusts the DSSPPM as much as ever, but trying to get Eiffel or any of the other crew members to listen to it is a losing battle that she no longer sees as a priority. Either way, Minkowski’s apparent reluctance to bring up the DSSPPM feels like a shift in her approach. 

The associations between Minkowski and the DSSPPM are still there in Season 3, but they are raised by other characters, not by Minkowski herself. The manual is used to emphasise Eiffel’s difficulties when he’s put in charge of trying to get Maxwell and Hera to fill out a survey in Ep32 Controlled Demolition. Trying to force other people to be productive pushes Eiffel into some very uncharacteristic behaviour:

EIFFEL Jesus Christ, what is wrong with you? It's like you've never even read Pryce and Carter! Tip #490 very clearly states that – He trails off. After a BEAT – HERA Officer Eiffel? MAXWELL You, uh, all right there? EIFFEL (the horror) What have I become? [...] Eiffel, now wrapped up in a blanket, is next to Lovelace. He is still very clearly shaken. EIFFEL ... and... it was like an episode of the Twilight Zone. I was slowly transforming into Commander Minkowski. [...] It was a nightmare! A terrifying, bureaucratic nightmare!

This is a funny role reversal, but it shows us the strength of Eiffel’s association between Minkowski and the DSSPPM, as well his extreme aversion to finding himself in a strict bureaucratic leadership position. It also suggests that becoming extremely frustrated when trying to get other people to do what you want might make anyone resort to relying on an external source of authority, such as the manual. I don’t know whether this experience helps Eiffel empathise with Minkowski, but perhaps it might give us some insight into how her need for authority and control in the leadership role she occupied might have reinforced her deference to the DSSPPM.

In Ep34, we get a suggestion of another character having a strong association between the DSSPPM and Minkowski. After the discovery of Funzo, Hera asks Minkowski what the manual says about it:

HERA Umm... I don't know if this is a good idea. Lieutenant, wasn't there something about this in the survival manual? MINKOWSKI Pryce and Carter 792: Of all the dangers that you will face in the void of space, nothing compares to the existential terror that is Funzo.

It’s interesting to me that Hera asks Minkowski here. We know from Ep1 that “Pryce and Carter's Deep Space Survival Procedure Protocol Manual is among the files [Hera has] access to”. Two possible reasons occur to me for why Hera might ask Minkowski about the DSSPPM tip here. One possibility is that Hera thinks that retrieving the manual from her databanks and finding the correct tip would take her more time than it would take for Minkowski to just remember the tip. Which suggests interesting things about the nature of Hera’s memory, but also implies that - at least in Hera's view -Minkowski’s knowledge of the DSSPPM is more reliable than that of a supercomputer.

The other possibility is that Hera could have recalled the relevant DSSPPM tip incredibly quickly but she doesn’t want to, maybe because she resents having that manual in her head in the first place, or maybe because she wants to show respect for Minkowski’s knowledge as a Commander. Either way, we can see that Hera – like Eiffel – strongly associates Minkowski with the DSSPPM.

And Minkowski, even if she wasn’t the one to bring up the manual here, recalls the relevant tip immediately. Perhaps she is moving away from her trust in that manual, but everything that she learned as part of her old deference to the authority of Command is still there in her head. She might want to forget it by the end of the mission, but that’s not easily achieved. The way Minkowski’s friends/crewmates associate the manual with her emphasises the difficulty she’ll face if she tries to move away from it.

“One thousand and one pains in my ass”: The authorship of the DSSPPM

In Ep55 A Place for Everything, Eiffel effectively expresses his long-held dislike of the DSSPPM when he comes face-to-face with both of its authors:

EIFFEL What? What the hell are - wait a minute - Pryce? As in one thousand and one pains in my ass, Pryce? (sudden realization) Which... makes you...? MR. CUTTER (holding out his hand) W.S. Carter, pleased to meet you. 

It’s significant that the two ‘big bads’ of the whole series are the authors of the manual which Minkowski and Eiffel were bickering about all the way back in Ep1. It’s not the only way in which the message of this show positions itself firmly against just accepting externally imposed authority and hierarchy without question or evidence, but it does reinforce this ethos.

By being the authors of the manual, Cutter and Pryce have had a sinister hidden presence throughout the show. Long before we know who Pryce is and even before we hear Cutter’s name, their manual is there, occupying a prominent place in Minkowski’s motivations and priorities, and in her arguments with Eiffel. It’s not at all comparable to what Pryce put in Hera’s mind, but it is another way in which these antagonists have wormed their way into the heads of our protagonists.

Minkowski will have to come to terms with the fact that the 1001 tips she spent hours memorising and reciting were written by two people who would have killed her, her crew, and even the whole human race without hesitation if it served their purposes. We never get to hear Minkowski’s reaction to learning the identities of Pryce and Carter, but I think processing the role of their manual in her life will be a long and difficult road that’ll tie into a lot of other emotional processing she needs to do. Her assertion to Cutter that, without him, she is “Renée Minkowski... and that is more than enough to kick your ass!” feels like part of that journey. She doesn’t mention the DSSPPM at all in Season 4. She’s growing beyond it.

"Doug Eiffel's Deep Space Survival Guide": The DSSPPM as a weapon against those who wrote it

Last but not least, I couldn’t write about Eiffel and the DSSPPM without mentioning this scene from  Ep58 Quiet, Please:

EIFFEL As someone once told me: "Pryce and Carter 754: In an emergency, take stock of the tools at your disposal, then take stock again. Repurpose, reuse, recycle." And right now? You know what I got? I got this lighter from when Cutter was using me as his personal cabana boy. [...] and I've got myself this big, fat copy of the Deep Space Survival Manual, and you know what I'm gonna do with it? [...] Eiffel STRIKES THE LIGHTER. And LIGHTS THE BOOK ON FIRE, revealing Pryce just a few feet away from him! EIFFEL I am going to repurpose it... and reuse it... and recycle it into a GIANT FIREBALL OF DEATH! And he swings the flaming book forward, HITTING PRYCE ON THE SIDE OF THE HEAD. [...] EIFFEL That's right! Doug Eiffel's Deep Space Survival Guide, B-

No one other than Doug Eiffel could pull off the chaotic energy of this moment. It doesn’t get much more anti-authority than lighting the mandatory mission manual on fire and using it as a weapon against one of its malevolent authors. It might not be the wisest move safety-wise, and it certainly doesn’t improve the situation when the node gets jettisoned into space. But there is still a powerful symbolism in taking a symbol of the hierarchical forces that have tried to constrain you for years and setting it alight to fight back against those forces. Eiffel takes his own approach to survival and puts his own name into the title, an assertion of his agency and rejection of Command's authority.

The DSSPPM tip that he uses here is one of those he considers when stranded on Lovelace’s shuttle. It’s understandable that after that experience it might have stuck in his memory.

I can’t help feeling that the line “as someone once told me” has a double meaning here. The immediate implication is to interpret “someone” as being Pryce and Cutter – it’s their manual after all – which makes this line a fairly effective ‘fuck you’ gesture, emphasising how Eiffel is using Pryce’s manual against her in both an abstract and a physical sense.

But I think “someone” could also mean Minkowski. Eiffel uses a singular rather than plural term, there’s already an association established between Minkowski and the DSSPPM, and, in Mayday, it’s his hallucination of Minkowski that gets him to read this tip. She's probably also recited this tip to him at other points as well. Under this interpretation, this line is as much a gesture of solidarity with Minkowski as it is a taunt to Pryce. I like the idea that these two interpretations can run alongside each other, reflecting the duality of the use of the DSSPPM that I talked about in relation to the liveshow.

Conclusion

The DSSPPM is a symbol of external rules imposed on people by those with power over them. These rules can be strange, arbitrary, and even sinister, but for those with a desire for certainty and control, like Minkowski, they can be tempting. And they can have their uses, as well as the potential to be repurposed. Attitudes towards these rules provide an effective shorthand as part of Minkowski and Eiffel’s characterisation. And the clash between these attitudes, and how that clash manifests, can tell us something about how the dynamic between those characters develops and changes.

[swampybogg]

Grand Duke Lawrence Valcua for @moon-dragonprincess ✨✨

[benevolenterrancy]

*glances at svsss' vol 4 worth of extras, aka 'the whump and smut pile'* you haven't seen anything yet

You guys are seriously taking an axe to my self-control;;; I'm trying to make this series last longer than a single month!! I'm trying to savour things!!! I'm trying to read something else and give the series a bit of breathing room before I pick up the last book but I want the "whump and smut pile" I want that so much I feel like a dog that's getting a treat waved in front of its face .·´¯`(；´д｀)´¯`·.

[novirp13]

SONIC MOVIE 3

Score: 7.5/10

That was...kinda not good.

REVIEW BELOW (I'm not complaining just for the sake of complaining, by the way)

Also, I made fanarts based on my review. Here it is: 1 | 2 | 3

Don't get me wrong. The action scenes were great. Legit was hyped at most of them, it got me leaning on my seat. Gerald's character study was good; you can definitely see how the death of his grandchild drove him to insanity. Drowning himself in sorrow and ignoring what's in front of him. Dude, I feel so bad for Eggman!! He was abandoned by all the people that he knew. And when he finally got the family that acted and understood what it felt like to be a mad genius scientist, he still didn't get the TLC he wished for! Eggman looked so devastated, you can totally see it in his eyes! Sonic Movie 3 did the feels right, and I can give it a thumbs up for that.

But the pacing. Oh my god, it was sooo bad. Even worse than the Mario movie. From the introduction of the new characters (Gerald and Shadow) to the character development (Shadow and Eggman). Everything appeared and happened almost all at once and it felt so bloated, I almost couldn't breathe. Those flashback scenes about Shadow and Maria were perfect, but the background story for Shadow himself was still not enough. Gerald felt like the main antagonist instead, and that is such a missed opportunity.

In my opinion, they blundered at the placement of the events (subjective takes here). Rather than a scene where Shadow ran away from GUN, I think it'll be better if we get that Shadow and Maria flashback first. We get to see their friendship from the very moment the movie started, so it'll be a lot clearer why Shadow beat the crap out of GUN agents the moment he woke up.

And please, explain the experimentation they done to Shadow a lil bit more, man. When Shadow pulled off that Chaos Spear attack, it came out of nowhere! Even to me, who had already watched the game. Like... how? From the beginning till the middle of the movie, you were just doing your teleportation attack. Since when were you able to conjure a spear out of chaos energy? And when you needed more power to push the Eclipse Canon out of Earth's way, since when did "taking off your bracelets" mean "powering up"?

I'm saying this because my brother, who's not a Sonic fan, was confused when he saw Shadow took off his bracelets.

I think... when you did the flashback, it'll be good if we get to see the first time Shadow conjured a Chaos Spear. Because he couldn't control it, the scientist then put a limiter (bracelet) on. And now that they realized how powerful Shadow was and how dangerous he is, the leader of the GUN decided, 'You know what? Project Ultimate Lifeform is not worth our safety'. That was how that tragedy happened. The tragedy, where they tried to escape yet failed because of Maria's death. With this, the pacing of the story will be better, and Shadow will feel more like the main antagonist of the story.

(They could put the Chaos Spear experimentation scene before that part where Shadow and Maria were stargazing. It'll align with Shadow's musing about people fearing him.)

Seriously. From the moment I saw Gerald in the trailer, alive, I had a bad feeling that they wouldn't be able to focus on Shadow for the entirety of the movie. Guess I was right...

Also, wasn't Master Emerald empty? From the ending of Sonic Movie 2, after Sonic turned off his Super Saiyan mode, he threw those colorful Chaos Emeralds to who-knows-where. And Knuckles reforged the Master Emerald WITHOUT the Chaos Emerald. So why were the Chaos Emeralds here? And why was their size bigger than the previous movie? It was supposed to be as big as a coin, right? But this time, it looked like the Chaos Emerald from the game. It's as big as your palm.

Okay, maybe it was just the camera perspective, and they just want to make sure the viewers could see the Chaos Emerald, but still. Why were they here?? Did Knuckles find it when he had that adventure in the Knuckles series? I didn't watch that one, but my friend said the fire fist he learnt was indeed came from there…

One more thing. Won't it be cool if Sonic turned Dark instead of Super this time around? After all, he activated the power of the Master Emerald with anger, instead of the need to protect the people that he cares for. So we will be reminded of Knuckle's warning about the danger of giving this stone to the wrong person. Because it could even change the pure-hearted Sonic into this hateful creature. Like Shadow

Then again, Dark Sonic is not canon. Super Sonic looked angry enough already, so it's fine. This part is just me being nitpicky.

Tho' if we want to talk more about me being nitpicky...

I kinda wish we got to see more Shadow Walter interaction. Walter tried to stop GUN from hunting down Shadow. And he was there when Shadow was put into sleep. I was hoping when Shadow met Tom-disguised-as-Walter, he lashed out. You know...misplaced anger and all. That he blamed Walter for not trying hard enough in stopping GUN. That Maria died because the bullet Walter tried to stop caused the explosion. So it made sense when Shadow was surprised Walter's face suddenly turned into Tom. Because he thought he was punching Walter, not someone else.

And dang, Shadow was callous. He just let Sonic fall to the earth! I mean... at least let him try to save him for a bit or something. Then Knuckles and Tails appeared, telling Shadow to focused on the Eclipse Canon for now while they handle Sonic. This way, we could see that Shadow did try to establish a camaraderie with Sonic. That he did try to forgive and change.

Overall, 7.5/10. The action scenes were great. That Sonic vs Shadow battle was #chefKiss. Gerald's character study was good. And that part where Tom and Maddie learned new hobbies because they were bored was hella funny (they've became adrenaline junkie lol). But the pacing was really bad. That part where Jimbotnik dances around the laser with his grandpa could be scrapped, and those couple of minutes could be used to dive into Shadow's backstory a bit deeper. I know it was just your usual Jim Carrey randomness, but even if you take that part away, it won't affect anything. I still like the marriage scene from the second movie better because at least that scene was used to showcase Tail's gadgets. A.k.a. to show that this fox is really beyond genius.

[thesmokinpossum]

I can't believe y'all almost made me pay to go watch po*r th*ngs in theater without telling me that the whole thing revolves around a hardcore born sexy yesterday trope with a side dish of pseudo necrophilia where a woman with the brain of a litteral foetus who don't have periods or body hair (but do have boobs!) find joy and freedom by having a lot of sex with a bunch of men, shoving a apple up her vagina for some reason and joining a brothel (but it's a cool socialist brothel and all the girls looove being there, don't worry guys), all of that written and directed by two men, I'm never gonna trust you guys after this one lmao

[sukibenders]

Rhaenyra when she finds out that instead of going after Aemond, like she demanded for very publicly, Daemon hired men to kill a small child instead behind her back:

[daisybell-on-a-carousel]

Theyre going to think I like canon and purely canon if I keep going on like this

[sysig]

My printer hates me :) (with many thanks and credit to @niennanir as before)

Gosh aren’t they gorgeous tho ♥ Especially the latest and largest, though I have to give all the credit to the paper on that one haha, it’s stunning IRL, I could almost stare at the gold lattice forever rather than read, but I’m so happy with how it turned out between the pages as well!

Quick showcase of the new additions! :D

My Drinking Game as another test run, I got the spacing how I wanted it! Yay! It’s so much handsomer and less cramped! Also I gotta say, if it wasn’t such a large usage of paper, this would be my ideal way of checking for typos - I found a couple after setting it down to ink lol, they’ve been fixed now at least ♪ Paired here with the emerge, transformed three-parter, one of my all-time-favourites <3 I reread it the night I finished it and cried again, a little bit of tender mercy always wrecks me hhhh ♥ There are so many beautiful evocative lines! I’m so happy to hold it ♪ And as you can see above, that was the one that got the cute little ghost dust jacket :D

Another test run of what I’m calling volume 1 of my Vargas Drabbles lol, so not including Have you lost your mind? since that one’s currently unfinished. I do fully intend to print it once it’s done tho :3c Hopefully that one will cause me fewer problems! I hate measuring, so I may have flubbed two covers before finally getting this one into good enough shape XP And my red yarn is still in storage so >.> Did I go purchase another ball of red yarn? I’ll never tell. You can’t tell me it doesn’t look great as a bookmark tho <3

And my current happiest! Ah!! It turned out fantastic on all counts! The cover paper obviously, as I couldn’t Not lead with that, but also the size of the spine and the way the pages settled against each other while glueing - I used a different type of paper for this one and I think I’m completely converted over, it feels amazing to work with. Whatever I was using before had to have been like 15lbs lol, I’m literally just using normal 20lb printer paper but it feels and looks and behaves so much nicer <3 The size of Helix also allowed for a slightly larger bookmark, which was perfect because we had this soft gold ribbon that was all of a couple millimeters wider than the other ribbons/yarn I’d been using, and it looks so so so pretty with the gold detailing!! I’ve put it between Ch. 1 and 2 and getting to see the actual physical size differences of the chapters is so fun ♥

[altruistic-meme]

as we can all see, the bsd brainworms got me. so i am adding bsd to the manga collection chart 🫡