#I was curious to see how many new releases I'd read

[kestrellady]

2023 Reading Wrap Up

Shout out to The StoryGraph for some amazing stats! I’m Kestrellady over there, too, if you want to follow me.

332 Books Read

96,083 Pages read

86 New Authors

274 Books were Part of a Series

22 Re-reads

79 New-Releases (Books read within 6 months of publication)

1 DNF Book

124 Books Added to my TBR (18% of my current TBR, and that's after going through and culling a bunch!)

I generally stayed a little lighter this year, which is nice. The mood and genre graphs are almost identical to last year, so I guess you can say I know what I like!

2024 Reading Challenges Book Riot's Read Harder 2024 madies.library's 2024 Fantasy Reading Challenge Read Around the World - ongoing, 46/196 (+4 from 2023) Bungo Stray Dogs Reading List - ongoing, 15/43 (+2 from 2023)

2024 Reading Resolutions Much like last year, I want to try to be kinder to myself about not reading books I'm not in the mood for just because they need to go back to the library. I'm trying to get more sleep this year (I'm one of those people who does not function well on less than 8.5-9 hours, which is incredibly frustrating), so that's probably going to cut down on my reading time. I just need to learn to slow down and accept that I can't read everything on my list!

[littlelovelyra]

That's Not the Plan - Astarion x F!Tav

Inspiration: The moment Astarion’s plan fell apart was when you resurrected him after you triggered that damn weapon at the Githyanki Creche.

“…you think to yourself that you would follow this woman through the nine hells and back again”

Written from Astarion’s perspective, this is with the same Tav from my series "The Change" but this is a little one-shot looking into their relationship before the confession in Moonrise. I may do a few more one-shots like this as I have many little stories in my head about these two. I use “Tav” as her name and not her given name (by me) in the hopes it helps the reader to add their name etc.

Warnings: Language, fluff, sex, hand stuff, mouth stuff, PiV, smutty. Let me know if I have missed anything.

MINORS DNI

1,722 words

Probably got a little carried away, I apologise now. Writing smutty stuff is still relatively new to me.

Setting: After Tav blows up the creche by being a greedy little loot goblin, she talks to Withers and resurrects Astarion. This is also before you go to the shadow-cursed lands.

You can also read another one shot here as it happens after the story below (but again before the Moonrise confession scene).

______________________

“Rise," you hear Withers' voice reverberating around you, and suddenly, in a flash of teal light, you appear back in the land of the living. You steady yourself on your feet and take in your surroundings. It seems you are back at camp, and everyone is going about their business as usual. Everyone, except her. She stands in front of you, attempting to hide her obvious nervousness as she shifts her weight from foot to foot.

She should be nervous, everyone warned her not to touch the ominous floating weapon, but noooo the little loot goblin couldn’t keep her greedy hands to herself, “It’ll be fine” she said. Well it certainly wasn’t fine seeing as it set off a very powerful weapon totaling the whole Githyanki Creche and taking you along with it. Your frustration bubbles over.

“What in the sweet hells were you thinking activating that lance? I was RIGHT THERE! Gods, do you have any idea how much that hurt?” You stand with your arms folded, gazing at her, curious about what she will say.

“I thought the mind flayer parasite protects you from light?” Her lips twitch at the corners trying to stop herself from smiling. Smiling?? Is she smiling??

“Well, apparently there’s a limit. Somewhere between a nice summer’s day and the full concentrated power OF THE SUN!.” You pause and take a deep breath.

“I’m sorry, I’ll be more careful next time.” She winks at you and you can’t believe the audacity of this woman. A moment ago she seemed nervous, but now look at her, as cocky as ever!

“Next time? No no no, if there is a ‘Next time’ I’ll be the one aiming the all-powerful weapon, thank you!” Your voice sounds as if you’re a mother scolding her toddler for touching the fire and her face looks like said toddler. “Although… I do appreciate you trying to fix your mistake. Just don’t do it again. Now, shall we go or do you have any other chaos you need to unleash here?” You dust off your pants dramatically. All activity in the camp came to a halt as every eye was fixed on the intense drama playing out between the two of you.

You continue; “Oh and another thing I- .” She interrupts you, grabs your shirt, and plants a passionate kiss on your lips.

As she releases you her expression is calm and confident. “Astarion, as much as I enjoy listening to you talk, there are other things I'd rather watch you do with your mouth.” She turns on her heel and heads to her tent, stopping half way she calls over her shoulder; “Well are you coming or not?” And proceeds to enter her sleeping quarters.

The camp is silent as all eyes are on you, Gale’s jaw is practically on the floor at the public display. You and Tav have been very good at hiding your late-night trysts so this may have come as a surprise to a few of them.

Clearing your throat you look around to your travel companions repeating her words in disbelief “Hah… ‘are you coming or not?’ Haha… hah…"

As if your legs have grown a mind of their own you find yourself walking to her tent, your hand scratching the back of your head as you think to yourself that you would follow this woman through the nine hells and back again.

Shit. That’s not the plan. Focus.

Pulling back the opening of the tent you slip in quietly and see her laying down on her stomach flipping through the pages of a book. She pauses and rolls over leaning on her arms and takes one look at you that sends her into a fit of laughter.

“You look bewildered Astarion!” She says as she rises and saunters over to you placing her hands on your chest. Petrichor and cinnamon… she smells of petrichor and cinnamon… cool and fresh but warm and homey at the same time. You swallow as you look into her eyes and you swear you feel your hands tremble. What is wrong with me? You think to yourself. Her hands glide up from your chest and lace themselves between the curls of your hair. Her fingers begin to slowly massage your scalp and a small groan escapes your mouth.

“Let me make it up to you?” She stands on her tiptoes and whispers in your ear, you feel your body turn to liquid at the feel of her breath in your ear.

You watch her slowly drop down to her knees and you instantly harden at the sight of her. Never has anyone had this effect on you. All you can do is give her a slight nod in consent as she waits patiently for your reply.

Slowly she brings your trousers down and your length springs free. A small almost timid smile appears on her lips as her hand grips your member. The touch of her skin sends electricity surging through you as she slowly drags her palm up and down its length. You groan again in appreciation and your breath catches as you feel her wet, hot mouth envelop your already seeping tip.

Never… has anyone put your pleasure first above theirs. Never has anyone wanted to make you feel good, it was always what others could take from you and there were moments where you thought this arrangement between the two of you was the same. However, you see now that this is different. You realise that it was always different with her, you just didn't want to admit that to yourself.

You glance down and watch as her head moves slowly up and down your throbbing length and groan loudly as you rest your hand on the top of her head, moving your fingers into her hair. You begin to rock your hips in time with her movement and hear a soft moan rumble from her. The sound sets you on fire, tipping you over the edge spilling into her mouth, your hips twitching as she licks the last of your spend and looks up sweetly.

She stands up and puts her arms around you, scattering soft kisses along your jawline. Your hands slither their way down her body and wrap themselves around her ass pulling her up into you as you passionately kiss her, parting her mouth for your tongue to meet hers.

“Astarion… you don’t need to… I wanted to make you feel good” she says breathlessly which fuels your desire even more, you need to hear your name screamed from her lips. You want everyone to know she’s yours because she is… at least to you.

“Oh I know. But I want to. I want to taste you, I want to hear you scream my name, I want them to hear my name cried out from your lips.” You lower her down to the bedroll.

You waste no time stripping her clothes, kneeling above her your gaze swims over her naked body, no artist could ever capture its beauty. Dipping down you grip her legs and throw them over your shoulders and you see her dripping with anticipation. “Gods…” you breathe out before taking the plunge, your tongue pushing through her slick folds, she tastes of honey and a fine wine, aged to perfection. Her breaths are loud, her moans increasing in volume as she comes closer to the edge. Your tongue increases its speed as you circle it on her bundle of nerves and her hands shoot down gripping your hair as she comes undone, her hips bucking as she cries out your name.

You crawl up her body and crash your lips into hers, hungrily moving them together. “I do rather like that, you know? Hearing you scream out my name… Tell me what you want.” Your breath is cool in her ear as you whisper and you can feel the shivers forming on her skin.

“You.. I.. want you” she breathes into your neck.

“As you wish.” Once more your lips mould against hers, your tongues tangling together in a passionate dance as you slide your hardened length into her. She is intoxicating. You slowly rock your hips back and forth savouring the feel of her around you as your mouth closes around the sensitive peak of her breast.

You feel her hand slowly cupping your cheek as she pulls your face to her neck tilting her head to the side. “Drink.” She commands and you gladly obey.

Your teeth fit into the same spot they always do and you hear her groan in pleasure as you take your first pull of her blood. Your thrusts pick up in pace and you place your hand between her legs again circling her clit. Her body trembles as her moans grow louder once more and then she shatters around you, crying out your name and you come undone at the sound, returning her name in a cry of your own.

You lay there breathless staring at the ceiling of the tent while she curled herself over you, running lazy circles on your chest with her fingers. You had a plan, a nice simple plan… and now… it is so much more than that. You would follow her anywhere… you would do anything to make her happy and that terrifies you.

Shit.

[crescencestudio]

Heyoo! 👋 I'm new to these asks, played your game, Alaris, and OMG is it so good! Aisa and Etza are on my mind, rent free, but mostly Aisa, I simp for Aisa, idk why I find the quiet ones cute/hot, I just do. 😭

👀 *coughs* Anywayyys, first things first, I'm curious about the world building of this game, ik there's already alot in it. But now I can't help wondering just how populated humans are in this world? Cause alot of the buildings seem to look worn-down/covered in plants, I can imagine the human race not to be very populated, unless they r and I'm just being dumb lol. But I couldn't help wondering since there used to be dragons, and now their's the fae race, and god knows if there are any other races out there besides those two (which I'm assuming there aren't, but who knows?).

I'm also saying this because the village(?)/town(?)/city(?) that MC, mom, human LI's are in seem to be in a relatively small, secluded town area, unless they aren't(?). Idk, if there even are big 'cities', but just little, scattered, hidden/overgrown towns like MC is in.

I'm also also saying this because i hope to build up my Alaris OC's life/background a bit, he's currently in the works rn ✍️👀 Speaking of, do u know of what happened to the MC's father? Or are we free to HC/imagine to whatever happened to him?

Lastlyyy (this ones most important of my asks I think 👀 mostly cause of trying to build my OC's childhood lol), what is the schooling like in this world? Where do the children go to learn about their world? Do they go to a regular public school? Or mentored/tutored/homeschooled by whoever is available/able to teach them?

Speaking of which, how do children even view this world? I bet their imagination must be top notch cause of humanity's history with dragons and all lol. I can imagine them little gremlins, running around pretending to be dragons lol.

Do the children/people of this world gain their "energy"/dragon magic, or are they just born with it?

Sorry for all of these asks 😭 I wasn't expecting to ask this much honestly, I was only going to ask like, 1 question then ask for a LI ask(which I'll do in the next ask since I don't want to pile them all into one) lmao.

I tend to ramble so apologies for that, I'm just really curious about this game and it's story, I also don't want to write something in my OC's bio that's canonically incorrect lol.

🫡 Anywho, I appreciate and salute u if u read all of this, idk if there's a number limit to how many asks we can ask but I just hope this wasn't too much lol.

hello!!!! ahhh i'm so glad you liked alaris this much omg q.q it's always a compliment to know players get into the game and stories i've toiled away on ^^ your ask and interest in the game mean so much to me!!!!

i'll try my best to answer all your questions--in the future, i def recommend splitting them up into separate asks (at least in categories) since it makes it easier for me to go through and answer everything <3

✨ Human Population

so you're right in that the world of alaris isn't densely populated. there was a lot of tragedy and destruction during the great war and so as the years have gone on, nature has kinda taken over (in a healing way) which leads to the look that you see in the game. i'd say most areas in alaris are towns similar to the size of where mc and cast are located!

✨ MCs Dad

there actually is a set backstory for mc's dad. i can't give any details since it's a spoiler but will be covered in the full game! you're totally free to HC your own theory/take on MCs dad but just to be totally transparent, it may end up differing from what is shared in game. as long as you're ok with that, feel free to HC away until the game is released!

✨ Schooling System and Energy

it's all public schools in alaris! homeschooling is actually not an option because the education system helps children hone their Energy. the schooling system teaches kids on the history, giving a lot of importance to the great war, the downfall of technology, and the significance of the dragons sacrifice. and then obviously other material that we would learn irl like math, language, and extracurriculars.

the unique part of the schooling system is, like i said, kids learn how to use their Energy at school. everyone in alaris is born with some kind of Energy. it may not be very strong, but everyone has access to at least a little bit of magic. Energy usually fully manifests by the time kids enter school, which would be around 4-6. once they go to school, they'll learn what kind of Energy they have, it's uses, etc. the schooling on education is pretty heavily monitored so that central can make sure no kids pose a danger to anyone. these cases are Extremely rare though since alaris is set in a very peaceful world!

kids are definitely imaginative, but i wouldn't say Significantly More than in our own world! the main difference is probably that some of their "fantasies" are a little more accessible to them since they actually have magic!

[revserrayyu]

2.5 trailer thoughts

I usually keep all my thoughts together for the story events, but I'm far too excited thanks to a certain character to contain all my excitement, so.. allow me to fangirl about the new trailer from today's livestream a little bit.

(there's really no spoilers but i'll kindly put everything below since it'll be a lot of chatter anyways)

Starting off with how bestest boy Luka is here! Not exactly sure how he hopped planets.. but I'll speculate about his arrival later. I do remember reading some people bring up a npc in the Shackling Prison who mentioned seeing a dude with a metal arm, but I never imagined it to be our boy and that he would actually physically be here!

I'm still a tiny bit bitter he never showed up during any main story mission, though it makes sense since he was released after the events of Belobog happened, so any time he's mentioned or we catch a glimpse of him makes me happy. Letting him get his own side event during this 2.5 patch too will be nice for him too!

I'm so fond of him and I'm always surprised how many people just don't care for the guy. I can understand how he could be a bit forgettable or not an impressive unit though, since I don't even have him built up either despite all the instances I told myself I would.

I know some people aren't fans of his design either, but c'mon, he's cute! Look at this buff, cheerful man with those pretty blue eyes, piercings and little ponytail! Aahhh.. he's precious to me.

Time to add Luka to the 'beat up Yanqing' squad alongside Blade, Jingliu, Dan Heng, Yunli and whomever else I'm forgetting. I hope our favorite boxer knocks his lights out.

Now for the spectators! I didn't notice her while first watching the livesteam, but Topaz is here! With Numby on her lap too, of course. And I was gonna assume that perhaps that's how Luka managed to arrive on the Xianzhou, courtesy of the IPC and their many connections, but then I remembered Topaz was just in Penacony.. so unless she went back and forth between planets then who knows how our boy ended up here. We can always guess the Express picked him up too. I dunno.

We even got Hook cheering on her fellow Moles member! Hard to miss Svarog there too though I wonder if Clara is with him and perhaps we just don't see her in this shot? I wanna say he trusts her enough to be on her own but then that brings up why would he even leave her side in the first place and not keep watch of the Underground, unless Svarog decided to join just to support Luka. That would be a nice little form of respect carried over from our boxer's mission. And Lynx which naturally leads me to question where Serval and Geppie could be right now. I can't imagine Gepard would be fine with having Lynx travel all the way to a new planet when the guy gets stressed out about her simply venturing into the snow plains during her job. Serval on the other hand.. yeah, she's totally let Lynx travel. But I'd still much rather see all the siblings around more! I miss them terribly! I'd love it if there were more Belobogians in the crowd that we just didn't get to see yet but I'm thankful we even get a few and learn that they're finally able to venture away from their cold, icy planet and experience new places like this.

And lastly we have the most handsome man in all of space and Qingque who is undoubtedly avoiding work. The two of them did actually meet previously during that silly hotel checkout event in Penacony so it's fun to seem them be friendly still.

Yeah, okay, so here's where I start to go crazy over our Lacking General more. What a surprise, right? I mean, how could I not after seeing her storm into battle whilst riding a ship like this??

At first, I also didn't notice it was Yukong who said the "Feixiao, the ports of Starskiff Haven are crawling with wolf-like creatures. They're moving fast," lines. My excitement for Feixiao clearly took priority. (I am curious why she bothered to say wolf-like instead of Borisin though? If Yanqing knows about them then surely Yukong knows what they are, right?)

Even if it's just a quick cutscene, I'm so thrilled for us to finally see Yukong fight! We've heard enough of her pilot days so something as simple as this is great, though I'd love to see her fly again too.

Feixiao coming in hot to aide her war buddy, still looking badass as ever, let's gooo!

Ma'am do you know how amazing you are??

She told Yukong to "Hold them back, I will be there immediately" and she definitely kept her word! Even using her follow up attack, or something visually similar to it.

That grin… oh god. I would willingly stand on the other end of her gunblade in order to see that prideful smirk of hers. (also never realized that pattern on the inside of her jacket before. that's pretty neat.)

*Mandatory screenshot for me to giggle and kick my feet to while I obsess over how beautiful her design is* tee-hee~

Okay so for this bow and arrow shot, there could always be the chance that this style of bow is standard and that all military personal use them, but since we don't see that many archers, I'm gonna blissfully assume she's borrowing Yukong's bow here. I was kinda amazed to see Feixiao capable of wielding a bow and arrow too, considering she's already mastered her gunblades and battleaxe, but hey, it just adds to her talent. It makes more sense after seeing that teaser of her upcoming myriad video though.

Ohhh buddy.. I know our lady experiences Moon Rage but I wasn't expecting her to go off quite like this!

Not only is she strong as fuck already but she's gonna end up as a boss fight too? Brooo.. that's insane. I love it. I pray she gets an awesome battle theme.

Now while her condition is certainly a big problem, I don't think she just decided "hey let me go insane at this very moment" and gave into it willingly. I'm sure she's gained a certain amount of control over it throughout the years, so my assumption coupled with her statement of her "lacking in worries" leads me to believe that something or someone (aka Hoolay) forced her into this state..

.. because hot damn, she looks positively possessed. It's such a simple detail but the red ring around her eyes is so effectively chilling, like you know you're in danger when you see her like this. I love this shot of her, honestly. I'm not gonna straight up say that Hoolay is controlling her somehow either, but more like Feixiao lost control of herself. What would get her to snap? I dunno, perhaps any bad news surrounding Jiaoqiu. You know, her right hand man who's supposed to keep her in good health. He wasn't spotted anywhere in the trailer, so who knows what happened to our master chef.

Huaiyan can be heard saying "Merlin's Claw, you have betrayed the alliance," but with how deep Feixiao's hatred is for Hoolay and the Borisin, I have my doubts about that. Of course, we could've all been played for fools and the two could actually be acquaintances of some sort, but it still wouldn't make sense to me. The only similarity these two could possibly bond over is Hoolay's line of them both being "monsters that were born for war and die for war."

I'm not saying I wouldn't love an evil Feixiao, since I do have my fair share of villains, but yeah. Anyways, obligatory screenshot to make me swoon even more.

Also I haven't a clue about what this light is or who or what it's coming from either but I for sure thought it was gonna wipe out our General the first time I watched the trailer..

only for her to just.. ignore it completely. Or re-direct it ever so slightly away from her. Either way, I'm impressed.

Naturally the trailers go by real quickly and are never in story sequence order so I could be totally wrong about this, but I wanna assume Feixiao regains control over herself during the fight to take down Hoolay? If her normal eyes and confident grin are anything to go by anyways.

After hearing bits and pieces about how Jingliu was the one who originally defeated Hoolay, the master of ice does indeed show up again for the upcoming patch! Oohhh I'm so excited. I wonder if Jing Yuan had anything to do with her sudden appearance considering she was locked up on another ship. Imagine if we get to see her and Feixiao team up in order to take down the beast? Oh my god, I think I'd pass out if we get such a scene!

It may just be this one screenshot, but her expression doesn't really seem like she's accepting an alliance with Hoolay. Still feels like there's some anger there to me. Maybe distrust. But nothing close to joy or calm. Or this scene could just be an illusion. Who knows.

Wouldn't it be grand though, if all of this was sorta planned? To get this close to Hoolay but instead of siding with him (because why on earth would Feixiao do such a thing) but to figure out if the war head is truly capable of providing a cure for her condition like Jiaoqiu hoped? Or perhaps she's just getting close to him to get her revenge in a sort of 'keep your friends close but your enemies closer' sort of way, yeah?

Many ideas and many days left until we get our answers. One thing is certain though: we need Jiaoqiu back at her side please, like now! Sir, please come back and calm down your General!

[brw]

If you can answer my question, why do you still read X-Men comics? I read your article about fall of x from a few months ago, and given everything I've learned about Israel and what the krakoan era turned out I honestly don't know how anyone could still stick around after that.

So with the news that BDS is expanding its Marvel boycott, I thought I'd answer this question, and also broaden it up to why I, personally, am still reading comics as a whole.

The answer is that Marvel Comics is a large company with a lot of different writers, artists, and other creators on board and involved in its business. A lot of these creators have differing views, and Marvel Comics as an organisation is generally going to be as neutral as possible, to gain the most revenue from as many different people. And because of the way comic books are sold and are paid for, I find it a better use of my time to avoid certain writers whose politics I disagree with (Gerry Duggan, Chris Claremont, Benjamin Percy, etc), rather than the whole industry, as those creators are not the only people working at Marvel and there are people in that body who I don't mind giving some money towards their creations, like Ryan North or Jed MacKay.

By the time a comic gets to you on shelf, everyone involved in it has already been paid. Comic creators are paid a rate per page; the amount the issue actually makes doesn't go to them (although it's success might contribute towards a bonus). When you purchase an issue at a shop, most of the money goes to the retailer. Statistics aren't always consistent, but generally around 60-75% of the revenue goes to the store distributor. A boycott at that stage would only target the store, and not the people who have written the comic, as everyone there has already been paid before it got to you.

This is more iffy with digital releases, as the amount made from these isn't widely reported on. I've never bought digital releases, so I can't really boycott them so much as just avoid them.

There's a lot of issues with the X-Men, and a lot of the time, those issues keep me from buying and supporting the comic. However, much of the same can be said about, I don't know, any mainstream American media enterprise ever, and so far, I find it a better use of my time to focus my efforts in what we ARE actually meant to avoid and boycott in force, rather than a bunch of small, disorganised boycotts that are confused on what they're actually looking to achieve.

As for why, personally, I keep getting X-Men comics occasionally, it's because despite the flaws I do often like the characters, and I'm always curious to see how the core conceit of the series is articulated and portrayed by different writers from different backgrounds and experiences. Sometimes I really don't like this, so I'll avoid it, but sometimes I find it really interesting, so I'll buy it. The nature of comics means that there are hundreds and thousands of people working on the same characters and the same books, which makes it difficult to say anything definitive about the politics of a series, because it's always changing based on the politics of who is writing it at the time.

I'm probably never going to buy a Gerry Duggan or a Benjamin Percy or a Johnathan Hickman comic again. But those aren't the only writers who work for this company, and as I've said, those people have already been paid by the time I'm at the store, deciding what to buy. Instead, I'll read the comics from the people whose work I enjoy and want to see succeed. This isn't what everyone else is doing, and I don't besmirch or look down on the people who do decide to refuse to purchase everything as a consequence. This is just my personal feelings on things, and what I am doing moving forward.

[hellslayersomething]

thoughts on all the DA4 news this past week, from a tired old veteran who's been wandering the bloodied plains of the DA fandom since Origins' release:

I still don't believe that this game actually exists and won't until it's in my hand, in my PS5, I've clocked 50 hours, and I hit credits.

After the news came out that there were 7 companions, I told a friend I would need a solid 4/7 of them to be pre-existing characters in the canon. Harding, Neve, Lucanis, and Emmerich put it at exactly that number, so good show there.

The "Hero Shooter" character reveal trailer was a massive mistake. BioWare and the influencers they're paying had to spend the past two days doing frantic PR to convince people that the game doesn't actually look like that, it's not indicative of the game's tone, it definitely feels like Tevinter Nights and not Fortnite, and it's not a fee-to-pay live service game. They should have led with the gameplay video.

All of the people freaking out about Lucanis being labelled a "Mage Killer" just goes to show that DA discourse truly is a circle. (Also, read "The Wigmaker Job", it's so good.)

The dialogue suuuuucks. Wow, it's been a while since I've encountered a game that respects its audience's intelligence this little. [Earthquake] Harding: "The tremors are getting worse!" [demons show up] Neve: "And we've got demons!" Is BioWare expecting the core player base to consist of people who have never encountered media before? The extent to which the game over-exposits is quite actually mind boggling. I'm genuinely curious if there's anyone who watched this video who didn't come out of it feeling insulted by the game's lack of trust that you have basic cause-and-effect recognition skills. I know people like to bandy about "media literacy is dead", but surely it hasn't gotten so bad that players need to be told out loud "Watch out for lightning" when a boss shoots lightning at them. I'm hoping this was just included for the sake of the gameplay video, but several of these very bad lines seem pretty integral to what's happening on screen, so I guess we'll see.

The dialogue and voicing for the trash mobs is especially bad. I hate to say the word, but I truly think "cringe" is applicable here.

Nice FFXIV reference. (Listen, if this game is going to play follow-the-leader with any one other game, since apparently DA can't get away from that habit, FFXIV is the one I'd want them to chase. Certainly a better fit than Overwatch.)

The battle system seems fine. Reminds me of DA2's, which was perfectly cromulent. Sincerely, I don't expect deeply satisfying gameplay from DA, they've never delivered it before, no need to start now. Passable is fine.

Happy to see the DA2 dialogue wheel return too. Hope that means the invisible personality system comes along with it.

No rivalry system :( Again :(((((

Seriously though, the marketing for this game is a massive mess and their marketing lead should probably be out of the job. All of the news from this week has led to increased confusion about what the game is, what it's called, whether it is DA4 or not, whether it's a single player RPG or not, whether it's an effective franchise reboot or not--and they're all but shadow-dropping it (theoretically) after 10 full years of releasing no other Dragon Age games. This franchise has close to no momentum (many people considered it outright dead until this week), and now that they're ready to start actually talking about DA4, they've completely stumbled out of the gate and given themselves only 3-6 months to come up with a PR plan to correct for that. Embarrassing, frankly.

I guess that's it. The new gameplay video has returned my mood on DA4 from "absolutely the fuck not" after the character reveal video back to a resounding "I nothing this game", which is...actually maybe a worse place for me to be. The last time I went into game feeling a hollow nothing from the promotional materials, it was FFXVI, and we all know how that turned out for me. Anyway, in conclusion:

[your-subby-creature]

But as for experiments? So many ideas... I suppose a good starter would just to record over a week how frequently each pup gets bred, do they breed with the same pups every time, ect, just to get a baseline of how often this sort of activity is and if theres certain time of day that is preferred.

However, for fun I decide to skew the results. Before I release you out with the rest one day, I douse your collar in a hormone cocktail that not only gets you aroused, but all the other puppies suddenly can't help themselves when they're around you. Everyone is practically clambering over each other to get to your holes, all while I stand a little ways away with a small gas mask and clipboard.

Later when I show my fellow scientists the results they can't help but be curious about what's so special about you that they bring you into the observation deck to check you over for any alterations. However, as the hormones penetrate their mind, they can't help but pinch and grope a little harder than normal. I point out to everyone how wet you are- that maybe you're in heat and that has caused this anamoly.

It isn't long before the scientists start gathering around closer to you. They start rubbing between your legs supposedly to check your wetness, but they don't stop. They keep going while another 'weighs' your chest with their hands, but they don't step away from being pressed up behind you.

Unbeknowst to my collegues, I have some discreet nose plugs in, and am sitting at a desk only a few feet away. Even as they start full on breeding you themselves infront of me, I still diligently jot down my own notes about the situation. Especially about you.

Afterwards I'll take you to your kennel so you can have a night of recuperation from the days excitement. You'll need it for the experiments I have planned later on >:]

(I'm so sorry it took me so long to get to this ask, you keep sending me the absolute hottest things I've ever read and I want to do them justice <3)

I wouldn't even know I was going to be your subject at first. My days comprised only of getting bred and used and filled without a care in the world for the people watching and diligently taking notes, without ever noticing the hunger and curiosity in your eyes every time you watched my hole stretched around yet another knot.

Then one morning, you come to my kennel before I'm let out, making sure I'm too absorbed in the pets you give me to notice your gas mask, or to care about the new wetness on my collar. I'd only know anything was different when the hormones start to addle my already-dumb puppybrain.

Heat, worse than anything I've felt since starting T, an all consuming need to be filled, a desperate horniness that leaves no room for anything else. No room for thoughts, for inhibitions, for shame.

Within minutes I'm humping the pillows in my cage, and by the time I'm let out, I'm a dripping, whining, begging mess, smelling so strongly of simple pathetic need that the other puppies can't help but use me like the pack breeding bitch. I'm bred and knotted and fucked and used in every way, my holes stretched so much I feel that I may break, the onslaught continuing even after they've all had a turn or two. No matter how fucked-out I get, I just keep whining for more, my holes just keep dripping and begging to be stuffed full.

By the afternoon, the rest of the research team will have noticed the anomaly, and though it takes over an hour to pry every pack member off of me, I eventually find myself in the sterile examination room, strapped down and spread open wide. I won't be able to stop myself from babbling and begging, only getting louder as touches start to linger on my most sensitive parts, as a once-clincial exam changes with every breath of heat-scented air.

I'll be too fuck-drunk and hazy to know what it means, but I'll notice you then. I'll see you, grinning in the corner, still pristine and unaffected, taking notes as your esteemed colleagues shoot yet another load of cum deep inside me, as the speculum comes out and they see just how much my little holes can really gape.

No, I won't know what it all means until you wash my collar off that night, until the heat fades from my brain and I curl up in my cage. I'll understand it as I drift off to sleep, realizing that I'm your experiment, your subject, your creature, and knowing that I can never know what you'll do tomorrow.

-your Creature

[dailycass-cain]

After much hype, a new volume of Birds of Prey was released this past week. Was it worth the hype? How was the Cass content in it?

Well, time to air my thoughts on Birds of Prey #1.

The first thing that kind of astonished me is the AMOUNT of Cass we got in this issue. Literally, I think writer Kelly Thompson just establishes WHO the keys are for this comic.

It's Dinah and Cass.

Like a part of me thought we'd get a little bone with Cass that sets her up, and she'd disappear amongst the other members. Nope. She gets as much fleshed out in this story as Dinah.

That has me curious given the setup alone of Dinah getting this team together to save Sin (yaaaaah. FINALLY!).

There's A LOT of potential here. A part of me still muses if this will get acknowledged from the ye old Black Canary mini which pulled Sin away from Dinah.

It isn't lost to me at all that throughout this issue Thompson littered a CORNUCOPIA of homages to past Cass stories (and probably other stories too just that I'm not Daily Zealot 😋).

Take for example the aftermath of Cass's introduction in the issue. Besides the sequence being STUNNINGLY drawn and colored by Leonardo Romero and Jordie Bellaire. There's this nugget.

So the very League who broke Dinah/Sin are what paired her with Cass. But that's not the ONLY poetry Thompson delivers in this comic when pertaining to Cass.

There are OTHER callbacks.

Namely, the reason why Cass instantly agrees is "sisterhood" I know someone on Tumblr brought up Cass knowing its importance due to Sandra/Carolyn but I see it as more of a DIFFERENT reason. Something that sadly just ended.

*cough* Batgirls should be still going. Give me three comics of Cass a month dagnabit. *cough*

There are two others but I'll get to that soon. Can I just gawk at this page more?

Again, there are nice parallels here with the Brightest Day BoP volume. Dinah assessing someone just that this time IT IS CASS. No hoopla or things to deny certain other writers from doing this.

We actually have Cass officially on the BoP team in the main DCU.

It's just that this intro means a lot. The moment I got to this page I had the dumbest goofiest grin on my face. Not instant tears (those did occur this issue) like certain other comics of Cass I've read. Just, "Oh yeah this writer gets the character."

Like it was whiplash reading this issue after a certain OTHER comic this week. Like, this issue just feels like a nice pace just going from one scene to the other.

It just flowed so perfectly from one to the other establishing the other members as Dinah and Cass (or all four ladies) recruited them.

This leads me to what DID get me emotional about this issue: Cass meeting Barda.

Like so many years I wanted this. So many times neither character was synched with the other to do it (death and limbo sadly).

This leads me to what DID get me emotional about this issue: Cass meeting Big Barda.

Like so many years I wanted this. So many times neither character was synched with the other to do it (death and limbo sadly). But it FINALLY happened.

And… I'm tearing up looking over the pages plus my mind is on it. 😅

Wrassin frassin….

Like Thompson delivered in spades with Cass/Barda. This is everything I'd imagined and then some.

So with all that out of the way of me gawing at this all. What you really want from me. My thoughts on a certain Cass vs. Harley Quinn.

The truth if you haven't been following me the last few days is.. I didn't mind it. There is a precedent of Cass having trouble with folks like Joker (though he was the easiest to tell in the end), Mad Dog, Mr. Fun, and Harley.

Just that you think I didn't notice what you did Thompson but I caught the homage. Harley and Cass plunge off a building (yes that is Harley not Babs).

Besides the homage and precedent I know many are overlooking how this is all told from Cass's perspective and nothing she does in this tale showcases WHY Harley should be part of this team, other than Cass saying so.

Cass is an unreliable narrator due to well her disorder and can't describe the best words to what happened. Stephanie Brown, she is not at detailing everything PERFECTLY.

I just view it like a Pink Panther film. Cass is the straight man, and Harley was "Clouseauing" her way throughout the scene.

But I digress, if anything the scene made me wonder, "HOW THE HELL DID HARLEY LEARN A LEOPARD PUNCH?!" Only a handful of fighters know that.

HOW THE HECK DID HARLEY KNOW?!

Did the fight make Harley look good? Not really to me. It's Cass's PoV that did it and it didn't convince Dinah, Barda, and Zealot. Just the insistence that Harley is the wild card edge they need (which cues the obligatory reason for Harley being on this team and nothing more).

Still, that particular moment didn't ruin my fun (unlike a prior comic tried to achieve). Birds of Prey #1 was everything I wanted and then some. It made me smile and it made me tear up. It gave me that good Cass content. 😁😁😁

Like I'm pumped for the next issue. Because again, it's giving me something that has always left me lackluster prior. Cass vs. Amazons? More Cass/Dinah? More Cass/Barda? Why is the mysterious person not wanting Babs on this?

Okay. You got me comic.

I really REALLY loved this comic. Like, I never thought in my years as a Cass fan we'd be getting so much content like this. Like, after the heartbreaking loss of Batgirls (and Spirit World being a mini aka I DON'T WANT IT TO END), this series was the pickup I needed.

So to all the creatives involved in this comic. 🙏🙏🙏🙏

[ingravinoveritas]

Hi! After coming across your Tumblr, I’m somewhat intrigued by the idea that there could be… something… between the two co-stars. I fell into the GO fandom very very late (after I finally got Prime Video last month, to be precise) and scouring through four years of content on this hell site has been insane 😵‍💫. I’m curious as to how people started shipping them IRL. Would you happen to have a link to the earliest speculative posts? Much appreciated and I hope you have a good day.

Hello, Anon! It's never too late to join the fandom, and you've come at a most opportune time, as the second season of GO has just been released. Welcome, and I hope you're enjoying your stay here!

So, in terms of shipping Michael and David...whew, boy. It's hard to know where to start, but I'd like to touch on a few useful things to know. One is that people shipping Michael and David is not new. For a lot of us, this started back in 2019 with the release of GO season 1, followed by the GO season 1 press tour. More significantly, it continued after this, because Michael and David continued flirting with each other long after there was anything to "promote," thus giving rise to the feeling in many of us that this was not simply "fan service" at work.

It was furthered by the two of them appearing in Staged--which was specifically described by Simon, the writer and creator of the show, as a love story between them (gosh, why does that sound so familiar?)--and the increased closeness between them during lockdown. And now here we are with the release of GO 2 and all the wonderful interviews we've gotten with Michael and David, and all those feelings of longing and fondness and love between them seem to be even stronger than they were before.

(Also, there has been a lot of anti-RPF sentiment going around the past few days, and the loudness of this particular crowd tends to overshadow the reality that a lot more people ship Michael and David than anyone realizes. Especially if my inbox is any indication, with the hundreds of Anons I currently have on the subject...)

But you asked about how people started shipping them, so I will do my best to answer you thusly. It's difficult to pinpoint one particular speculative post, but I will delineate my response into how I started shipping them vs. how others did.

For my part, this post and this post explain how and why I started shipping them, with multiple receipts to back up my assertions. You may also want to check out this post, which goes into detail about the possibility of a polyamorous arrangement between Michael, David, and Georgia, and things each of them have specifically said to encourage this line of thinking over the last few years.

In terms of other people, I would suggest reading this post, which is a brilliant summary from one of my Anons about Michael and David's sexuality and how they came to realize some things about how a kiss between Michael and David would play out.

Finally, this post features screenshots from members of an FB group (which has now hit 500+ members since the second season came out) that I run that focuses on discussions about shipping Michael and David, with answers to the question of "When did you start shipping Michael and David, and why?" As you can see, the answers are varied and show how the realization came to different people in different ways, but the common sentiment is all of us seeing that powerful connection between Michael and David, and that it goes far beyond/frequently has nothing to do with what is on screen.

I hope this helps to answer your question, Anon. Thanks for writing in! x

[bornonthebreakofdawn]

I’m so excited for the new Boruto!! 🥰 I’m also super anxious that I think imma make myself sick. 🆘 Saw the new Hima design, not sure how I feel abt it. 🤔 NH are stuck looking like they haven’t aged when the rest are continuously aging (although it’s only been 3 years). 🤧 so many feelings. 😮‍💨

What are your thoughts? What direction do you want this to go and where do you think is this headed?

Hiiiii! I opted to wait to answer this until the official release of the chapter is out

Just in case anyone wants to read it, you can read it here:

⚠️Spoilers ahead⚠️

In all honesty, I'm not sure anymore what to expect in the story. Hahaha

I had some theories before but they all kinda went poof especially after the switch happened. I'd probably just wait for Kishimoto/Ikemoto to finish cooking and I'll eat up whatever they'd serve lol

Current thoughts on the TS designs (Especially the outfits):

I think they look good but I also think some of their designs may be a bit impractical/may hinder their movement as shinobi. They do look fashionable though.

For NaruHina: Yeah... They've (unwillingly) become the first users of an anti-aging method c/o Kawaki 😅

Just a few other things I'd like to point out:

3 years had passed since Boruto and Sasuke fled from the village, but Code mentioned he had been chasing Boruto for 2 years. So I'm guessing within the first year he had an encounter with Boruto, and either Boruto or Sasuke inflicted that scar on Code's left eye

Let me also bring up this entrance by Boruto:

Such disrespect my dude 🤣🤣🤣

Other stuff:

So it seems in this part, Hima was recalling the Naruto vs. Delta fight. And even if (let's say the switch didn't happen) it was Kawaki who 'killed' their parents, Hima would still not believe he would do such a thing because she still has that faith in her brothers. I'm so touched by this 😭❤️

This part:

Sure the omnipotence had altered everyone's memories (and it seemed to even gradually wipe other doubts caused by it), but I'm quite curious how it will be when it comes to written records/pictures? Perhaps if people look at documents such as Boruto's birth certificate or photos including him, I'd guess that there'd be some sort of illusion that the affected people would be made to believe that they see Kawaki's name and his image even if the physical documents are still pointing to Boruto's identity? 🤔

We'll just have to wait and see in the coming chapters.

Thanks for sending this ask @asriah !!! 😁

[emilyblame]

ok, kids, here we go! (again)

a week ago i asked you to participate in a poll, as i do. and 75 of you joined in. first of all: thank you, hope you had fun, please don't hate me. secondly, the questions were:

1. which ablum cycle was the band on when you started listening?

2. which one is your favorite EP or album?

3. pick your top 10 favorite songs.

4. tell me you most favorite song. The #1

the main questions i wanted to answer with this survey were:

1. which is the fan favorite album right now?

2. when did you guys started listening to Waterparks? (just out of curiosity, see how it changed from 2 years ago when i first did this)

3. is there an asociation between the cycle you started listening to the band and which your favorite album is? (actually wanted to check if this still stands or not.)

4. which song is the fan favorite? and is it actually everyone's favorite?

before going right into it, i wanted to thank all of you who participated in this one more time. last time i did this particular poll, there was a total of 174 people who filled this (including me.) this time there were 75 (excluding me), and i'm not complaining. i just find it curious and i don't know if it's because people just didn't feel like participating which is perfectly valid and okay, and cool; or maybe it's because so many people fled the fandom and tumblr in general. it does feel like there's less of us Waterparks' fans out here, making content, and just sharing our love for the band. nevertheless, if you did participate, i appreciate you taking time off your day to do something kinda silly, so thank you so much.

ok, let’s go through my questions one by one! i made charts, obviously. that was kinda like the whole point of this thing. here's the link to the poll i did in 2021.

1. when did you guys started listening to Waterparks?

i am still surprised to see people from before EVR times. unless it's Travis. Travis is that you? if i knew for sure someone close to Parx was lurking on my polls i'd probably stop making them. like, i'm sure Travis has more important shit to do than complete a poll on tumblr, right?. this one looks pretty much the same from 2021. most people joined in over the Entertaiment cycle, me included. close second, the Double Dare cycle. which makes sense, DD was the first record, it was all new and shiny. and with the release of Entertainment they started getting more printed press and after touring DD for a while more mouth to mouth popularity. i mean, i found out about Parx because YouTube recomended them to me. points to the algorithm, i guess.

2. which is the fan favorite album?

so, last time i thought for sure Entertainment was gonna take the podium here, and it didn't. Double Dare won 2021. but this time Entertaiment took the crown. even though it was a close call, we're talking 26 against 24 votes.

3. is there an asociation between the cycle you started listening to the band and which your favorite album is?

now this is where it gets interesting... again!

so, hi. this is a heatmap. i feel like it's pretty self-explanatory, but just in case, here's how you read it: you have cycle on the y-axis (vertical) and album on the x-axis (horizontal). as you can see on the legend (number of votes), the darkest blue means 0 votes, and the lighter the blue gets, the more votes that particular combination got.

back in 2021, most people who started listening to Waterparks over the Double Dare cycle, chose Double Dare as their favorite album. now, we can see the same happening with people who started listening over the Entertainment cycle, picking Entertainment as their favorite album (once again, me included.) and the curious part here, is that most people who participated in this particular poll, who started listening to Waterparks over the DD cycle, picked Entertainment as their favorite album.

now, since we have no way of proving the people who participated now are the same people that took part back in 2021, this doesn't necessarily mean people changed their favorite album. still, it's kinda curious that the people that are still active in tumblr and started listening to Waterparks when Double Dare was released, have Entertainment as their favorite album.

and, i mean, it's curious to me because it's different from what i found before. and it also speaks volumes of how art can be percieved so differently by different people (more on this when i talk about the favorite song). i just think it's really cool how things don't stay constant, does that make sense?

4. which song is the fan favorite?

(you’re gonna have to really zoom in this bitch if you wanna see anything.) predictably, 'Not Warriors' won this one. it's everybody's favorite song, and i think Awsten should grow some balls and just fucking sing it live again already. i mean, if Hayley Williams can sing 'Still Into You' and 'The Only Exception' after everything that happened with her ex-husband, Awsten can fucking sing 'Not Warriors', man. just saying!

anyway... so, here's your top 10:

10. 'Magnetic' (18.4%) 9. 'Crave'/'Pink'/'Stupid For You'/'Royal'/'Violet!' (19.7%) 8. 'Take Her To The Moon'/'High Definition' (21.1%) 7. 'It Follows'/'Dream Boy' (22.4%) 6. '21 Questions'/'GloomBoys' (23.7%) 5. 'I Felt Younger When We Met' (26.3%) 4. 'Rare' (28.9%) 3. 'Fuzzy' (30.3%) 2. 'Peach' (31.6%) 1. 'Not Warriors' (38.2%)

lots of ties. not mad at it. i'm happy 'Magnetic' made it there.

then i asked you what your number one Waterparks song was. what was that one song you can't live without. i think i said something along the lines of, "the one song that makes you forgive Awsten's online behaviour." and it was... all over the place. fucking loved it. i wanted to make a chart. not a chance. 44 different songs were chosen. most of them only have one vote. a chart did not make any sense at all. and here's what i mean by art is subjective and it's okay to like whichever song you like best, no matter what anyone says. it's a beautiful thing, really.

here's our top 5:

5. 'Royal'/'Powerless'/'THTTM'/'Dizzy'/'Little Violence'/'Candy'/'WWHN'/'Violet!' (2 votes) 4. 'Pink'/'Stupif For You'/'Peach'/'IFYWWM'/'Last Heaven'/'Snow Globe' (3 votes) 3. 'Rare' (4 votes) 2. 'High Definition' (5 votes) 1. 'Not Warriors' (9 votes)

so many ties for numbers 4 and 5, it's ridiculous. i love it.

what i wanted to see here was if there was any correlation between what we see in the top 10 what people's actual favorite song is. i mean, only 'Not Warriors' seems to be the one song present in everyone's mind and the one people seem to love the most. not me, 'Royal' owns my soul. but 'Not Warriors' is my second most favorite song, so.

that's what i wanted to see. making you guys pick ten songs and seeing which of those were the 'top 10' doesn't necesarilly represent people's actual favorite song. except it kinda does? because of 'Not Warriors'? but still? it doesn't? like, someone's favorite song is 'Fruit Roll-Ups'. two people couldn't decide between two songs (i counted them as separate votes.) someone couldn't decide at all, blank vote goes to whoever is winning, so vote for 'Not Warriors', sorry person who couldn't decide, democracy decided for you (?).

anyway! this was so much fun to do and talk about, and i hope you enjoyed participating, or at least swearing at me because i made you make shitty decisions. again, i'm sorry. and also, thank you.

with that, i leave you, and if anybody has any questions or comments, my inbox is open. let’s make this fun! just, you know? be nice.

and i leave you here my personal top 10, so you know i also suffered for science:

10. 'Stupid For You' 9. 'Crybaby' 8. 'Peach' 7. 'Fuzzy' 6. 'A Night Out On Earth' 5. 'Magnetic' 4. 'Never Bloom Again' 3. 'Closer' 2. 'Not Warriors' 1. 'Royal'

[strawberrycola]

hello. i made a very long, very indulgent addition to the sam and max subreddit post earlier, and decided to make it its own post because i had way too many thoughts for a reblog. and the idea of clogging notes was eating away at my brain like mice eat a cheese. this is mostly just train of thought, so i apologise if it's complete nonsense. i've just thought a lot about sam and max's relationship, and the connection lgbt (and neurodivergent, for that matter) fans have had to the series, from my perspective since i was like 8. obviously that's gonna be tinted thru a tumblr lens, because ftmp that's where i see The Good Stuff. and i'm gay as hell, so there's bias. ok read more time kiss kiss.

anyhoozles, coincidentally i've been back on my sam and max bullshit recently, as i finally got a chance to play "this time it's virtual". and discovered vr is not my thing.

so to start, listen...i don't think sam and max's relationship is quite as cut and dry as i believe myself and perhaps many others would imagine/hope. i'm eyeing the "susan" gag from the aformentioned ttiv, in particular. but as your resident specialist in "complex and obscure knowledge of three series total or so", the question of sam and max's relationship has been here since the very beginning of the official comics. like. this has been a thing. pretending it's new is foolhardy. and wrong. obviously there's "like butch and sundance", the wedding toppers, hell, the devs of the telltale game trilogy lampshade their relationship a very decent amount, both in the game itself and in the commentary. at the end of 209, "chariot of the dogs", they directly bring it up during the final cutscene tie straightening maneuver max does. one of the devs literally gets excited about it, iirc. and one of my personal favourite examples is "do you find my warmth...alarming, sam?" from 305, "the city that dares not sleep."

that, in particular, is one of several lines directly from MR. PURCELL HIMSELF, that he gave to the devs each game as lines that must be in the game.

and speaking of season 3, i'd like to mention 305, "they stole max's brain".

(i am now holding "noir sam" so close to my chest, jsyk. that trope means the world to me. it has influenced SO much of my work, and i still use napalm's playthrough on youtube as a sleep aid. REMASTER WHEN.)

of course i and many others latched onto that shit, are you kidding me???? that whole episode was RIPE for hurt/comfort. minor spoiler warning for those that would mind, it's a roaring rampage of revenge plot. at least for the first 30 minutes or so. it's part of a long history between the two of freaking the hell out the second they're separated from each other in a way that doesn't end in like, five minutes. (305. if you know, you know. fkin brutal, man.) sam, in the second act of the game, has been affected by an alternate reality plot, and fully believes he has carried max's brain in a jar his whole LIFE and seemingly has no plans to stop doing so!! it's part of a season where the WHOLE PLOT revolves around the nature of their relationship and how it could change. you don't have to be a shipper yourself to understand how that could be incredibly compelling to the people that fancy them as a couple.

and it's a fandom that i give a lot of credit to lgbt people for revitalising in the mid 2010s~ (i was already a fan by then, and i'm still really curious as to why it blew up so much, but hey, who's complaining?), as well as in 2021~ in response to skunkape's remaster of telltale's season one "save the world" installment, and the release of ttiv. (obviously the actual demographic spread across platform to platform is a varied thing, etc. etc. i'd like to stay firmly in my lane, and i don't wanna overstate any particular demos in my discussion here, or hyperbolise too much.)

Obviously, you don't have. to be a shipper. completely fine. pretty common. Who Give A Care. and we're not even gonna get into the "not suitable" content. i can't fault anyone for not being cool with the actual sexualisation of childhood stuff they like. that's something i'm pretty "ambivalent with a leaning towards discomfort" about for quite a few things myself. and it turns out there wasn't even any "unmentionable graphic imagery" to begin with. shocking. HOWEVER. i'm fascinated but not completely surprised by the blatant homophobia and disgust towards the fanart of the ship.

like, to be nuanced about things, and it's not like the admin is extending the same courtesy here, this is clearly an older fan. like i think from around the same timeframe i was first introduced to it, give or take. maybe they missed a lot of the tumblr mid-2010s activity, or maybe that's going in to their Burning Disgust towards Yaoi Sam and Max Kissing Not Clickbait. i know the fanart had some level of cross-posting, at least on youtube as dubs iirc. OR maybe i'm a fool who is actively tricking you with my words and none of the above is true at all. however...pal. again, in my opinion, we owe those lgbt and neurodivergent kids and adults our whole rights as a fan community. you don't have to like it, but you do have to be respectful, jerkbag.

i can't be the only one who was devastated by the drought of content post "the devil's playhouse". we had a [1] singular whole webcomic to tide us over, with the occasional sketch on purcell's social medias. of course, there was a small community of fans, and some incredible stuff they made, looking at you Sam Dies At The End. i weeped. but it was slow and steady. and then, out of seemingly nowhere, people en masse suddenly REALLY CARED ABOUT THE THING THAT BROUGHT ME SO MUCH JOY AS A LITTLE GUY. like, fuck man...i first found out what autism was when i was real young because max's character description on wikipedia contained speculation as to whether or not he has it. (jury's still out, ...but we all have our little comforts. okay? also speaking of, "is max gay?" is like. one of the longest ongoing bits. like cmon dude.) now granted, by 2021 i was a little old for the new wave of shipping that sprouted up. tiktok edits are Not Always My Thing. but that's okay!!!! it doesn't need to be my thing. i'm really glad they're having fun. :] and i don't want to come across as like. infantilising in my discussion of the younger fanbase, so i apologise if my tone has come across that way. it really is simply the comforting thought that kids like me can experience what i had.

i remember how much fun my friends and i used to have when we were 16! (hi xavier, if ur reading this. miss you, buddy. :]) we got silly with it! we got angsty about season 3!! we wrote fanfiction, hell, an amazing fic my friend wrote that i beta'd is still the most kudos'd shipping fic on ao3!! the fanartists i liked had such an INCREDIBLE grasp on how to write sam and max's banter. it was a good time! and knowing these characters are giving joy to a new generation makes me giddy, dude. hell yeah! get "feral" or whatever the hell it is these days. find comfort in characters that don't really care about anyone's opinion except each other's, who get to be as weird and annoying and gross as they want all the time. that tend to punch up. that show love differently than what's seen as conventional. that end up saving the day, not even because they have to, so much as they genuinely enjoy each adventure together. max was my personal opportunity to feel comfort in all my weird freaky mannerisms i kept safe behind the polished exterior i had to wear as a kid. i found solace in the thought that those two were practically made for each other, as i stumbled through my own gender and sexuality crises. i loved how dry and dark sam was allowed to be. the banjo bits, the phone jokes, the repartee. so much of this series has influenced me, and helped me become who i am, as a creator and as a functional guy who Does Things.

so that's a small bit of why i think sam and max had, and still has, a lot of appeal to people that grew up like me. there's a lot of rough stuff i went through that made the idea of a couple of anarchist detectives completely devoted to one another that go around the seedy underbelly of america saving the day ("almost on purpose!") really, really interesting. steve purcell is unapologetic about how gross america can be, especially in the comics. at the heart of it, sam and max do what they do both because they enjoy it, and they enjoy each other. and i think, to overlook that, is to miss some of the whole point of the franchise. oh, i'm sorry, giant cockroaches literally everywhere is fine, streets crusted in various goos, totally chill, but gay kissing is the thing that Absolutely Nauseates you? plugging your ears and screaming gross seems like...kind of a weak move here, ngl. a work that doesn't shy away from how confusing and wild life can be has a decent chance to be compelling to marginalised groups, who often have to put up with the more disgusting aspects of reality anyways. at least these two odd guys are having fun with it. sam and max understand each other, each of their strengths and flaws, and choose to be with each other every day because of and in spite of them. they choose to love where they are, because of and in spite of its many, many, many flaws. they choose to be who they are because they love what they do. there's something touching there, if you like to think about such things. there are some occasions i find myself wishing sam and max's relationship was more...concrete. i wish we had an answer to Does Sam And Max Is Gay? but at the same time, being vague and obtuse is like. their whole shtick. so maybe it's just right how it is. and uh. obviously this is a fictional series. in the end, it's all how we enjoy it that matters, and it's not the end of the world. and as a final cherry on top, nothing beats turning to my husband and asking, "is sam and max queerbait", before delighting in the 3 hr conversation that follows.

and to get to the point. as the old adage unfortunately goes, it's...okay. to not like...ships. and i can even somewhat understand being frustrated by a subreddit you created being "flooded" by a thing you're not into. only somewhat, because a: we've always been here, and b: because you can. just not look at it? idk if reddit has a filtering system, but. the scroll wheel is free. to throw a tantrum and ban topics because you're personally offended people think they're gay? you might be missing out on some of the most fun you can have outside the series, and you're spitting in the face of the people who held this fandom up on their shoulders like atlas.

and you're being a dick about it.

TO CONCLUDE:

wah wah they're gay gay homosexual gay and they don't pay taxes. deal or die, fake fan.

[getosbigballsack]

Hello great author! I love your one shots and stories. They are all like 😳😩👌 I love your ideas and all your writing. I would love to see more son Gojo x stepmother reader and also If Only He Wasn't, If Only I were on Ao3 because I love it so much. I don't impose, you can do what you want, because you are the author. I just love it. Are there any extra scenes for this? Or more to this storyline? I'd like to read more about this idea because it's one of the best stories I've read.

I believe that because of the perfection of what you write, you probably also have great taste in other authors. Are there any kind authors you recommend? Fluff, smut, angst, it could be anything. And also Au. I'm looking for someone who writes these things and is also open to readers.

I would like to read the works of the people you read because I would like to meet somebody who are friends or authors of fics that one of my favorite writers reads.

Your works are always fire 🔥. I love it with all my heart and was always happy when something new appeared.

You can ignore me if you want. Sorry for my English. I wish you good luck in continuing to create beautiful works like all the ones you have, and that you have wonderful days ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Another Toniann answers curious anon questions.

Hello there, anon!  😊 Thank you for reading and enjoying my stories/one shots. It means a lot to me, honestly. It makes me happy that you enjoy them. Big hearts 💕to you. 

Ok so let’s just jump into the meat of the matter here. First and foremost, I just want to let you know that there will be more Stepson! Gojo x Stepmom! Reader story coming up in the future. I actually have chapter two sitting in my draft, I’m just not comfortable with releasing it as yet. 

Here's a draft

Now, as for If Only He wasn’t, If Only I were, there won’t be a continuation of that story and I have a few reasons I won’t continue with it. The first reason is due to the fact that when I first published the story and I realise that I was getting a lot of support and being the people pleaser that I am, I began to rush the story and because I rush the story I fucked up the story line. There was no fixing it without deleting the whole entire story. 

My second reason ties back to the first one and that is I made a lot of mistakes when writing. I created a lot of plot holes and questions, more than answers to questions like (where are the parents? How did Gojo and Y/N keep their relationship hidden from them for so long? How would they react to it?) and many other questions. Once again I wouldn't have been able to fix that without deleting the whole story. 

My third reason is that Gojo didn’t really have much of a character or character personality (if that makes sense) he has no reason to become a yandere. I just felt like him hoping into yandere mode that quickly just felt rushed and I didn’t like that.

My fourth reason had to be the age gap between Gojo and the reader and lastly, I made a huge mistake when I made Gojo being to one who is manipulating the sister. So instead of deleting the story, I kept it and rewrote an entirely different story, correcting the mistakes that I’ve made and that story is now called, Loving you is my Obsession. 

The age gap is the first thing that I’ve addressed. The reader is 11 and Gojo is 17. And there’s a reason for that. I wanted her to be that young because it would give Gojo more reasons to want to be in her presence, protect her innocence and so on. This age gap actually ties into Gojo now having a character personality/character. I gave him a backstory, a change in attitude towards women (he hates them) and so on. 

Now remember when I said that the biggest mistake that I’ve made was making Gojo be the manipulator. Well the sister is now the one manipulating Gojo. This made perfect sense to me because I would allow the reader (like you) to see a progression in Gojo’s behaviour towards his sister. It’ll allow readers to see how Gojo suddenly changed from wanting to protect and just have a healthy sibling relationship with his step sister to an unhealthy love and obsessive relationship (yandere). 

The sister being the manipulator is perfect because with her being so young, and being the only one or the only woman who is allowed to even touch Gojo give her an advantage to make it easier for him to love her and only her. So she’ll use her innocence against him to make him do things like kissing, inappropriate touching and you know the rest. She’ll use his words against him, like if you’ve read chapter two then you’ll see where she used his words against him to get him to kiss her. 

Megumi also had a big role to play in If Only He Wasn’t, If Only I Were. I made a mistake spoiling his whole character in that story, so in the new one, I fixed him. But I won’t tell you that one (lol) no spoilers. I could go on and on about the changes and the plans that I have for the new version of the story, but I won’t. 

I do have an extra scene. Actually, it’s titled The Upset Dinner. Here's a draft that I have stored on my Wattpad😊

And the story originally wasn’t tilted If Only He Wasn’t, If Only I were. It was actually called: Because you are my brother, I can not love you. Before I came up with the concept of Loving You Is My Obsession, the first rewritten version of the story was called, More than Siblings (this one had Geto in the mix) but I scrapped it when I realised that I didn’t like it very much. 

Now moving on - 

Ok I don’t necessarily have favourite authors, I just have authors that I respect and love their works. I can recommend a few. You can check out:

VioletSaffron on Ao3 

Lilaestheticsnhope on Ao3 

Tawus on Ao3 

Agent_cupcake on Ao3

Zamaza on ao3 

@noroi1000 on ao3 and Tumblr - really nice and super friendly. 

@mari-the-bimbo on Tumblr

@fuwushiguro on Tumblr 

These are just the ones with the most memorable stories that I love and adore very much and I’ll reread their stories anytime.

Thank you again for your support💕💖

Lots of love: Toniann💖

[beautifulpersonpeach]

Do you think Jimin would have actually created mvs for Face-off and Alone? I was wondering that today. They seem incredibly personal and he really didn’t talk about them in any detail while he was promoting the album. He didn’t even want Yoongi reading the lyrics out loud! There’s no performances of them, and he could have easily released performance videos like he did for Letter. Sometimes I think we as fans want things for them that they don’t really want for themselves. Like maybe he ultimately didn’t want to visually portray the anger and betrayal and disgust of Face-Off or the anxiety and doubt and loneliness in Alone. Can you imagine the way people would have torn an entire visual album apart for clues? I would have loved to see more but I’m not sure that lines up with someone like Jimin who is so intensely private and waits to do a live until he feels/looks exactly the way he wants to. Maybe as soon as he hit budget or time constraints he decided he wanted the heaviest songs to just exist as audio and then to move forward. I’ve really appreciated the calm of your blog lately and especially today! I wish more people were just appreciating the few months we have left with the members who haven’t enlisted and enjoying all this new music.

***

I'd say yeah he wanted MVs for those songs. He did say he wanted more music videos so I'd only imagine that means for Alone and Face-off. Him being shy about those songs during promotions doesn't mean he didn't want MVs for them. We've already established he wanted the MVs, he just didn't get them for reasons we don't know.

And I think in light of the information we don't have, that's okay.

People are allowed to feel upset, and it's a fact BigHit has dropped the ball leaving many people without concrete explanations on what's actually happening. Frustration is understandable, but what's happening today with how Jimin solos, akgaes, and biases are getting riled up, is very specific to how I've observed instigators within the fandom operate.

First, there was Tae getting 5 MVs. That's what started this latest wave of outrage, we've already seen outbursts in solo and shipper spaces, but the wider fandom has mostly ignored it. Akgaes know they'll see limited participation from ARMYs if they try to drive outrage off comparing Jimin with Tae, so they bring screenshots from a game that's been open for weeks as proof the company hates Jimin. This way ARMYs can channel their anger and pent-up frustration towards the company on that note. And akgaes can test to see if they can influence BigHit decisions by leveraging more of the attention from the fandom.

Personally, I'm indifferent to BigHit changing the dialogue, but I'm watching how this develops for my own observations. Other members have paraphrased dialogue / scenes pulled from their OG content and we see more of it with each game update. I'm curious what this would mean for them too.

But yeah, fun times in Chapter 2!

[nieves-de-sugui]

9 People You'd Like To Know More

I was tagged by lovely @wanderlust-in-my-soul, thank you so much!! ❤❤❤❤ I've been wanting to do this one :)

Last song:

I have been listening to podcasts recently so I will put here the last song I added to my spotify

A long time ago I was a hardcore Shawol. Today, I still lose it whenever they release new things. Their new album is so good. But I particularly liked this one ❤ Idk how to present my taste in music beside "makes my ears tingle" xD

And hot men dancing is a plus :p

Currently Watching:

I am watching too many shows, I have no self control. It's so hard for me to choose which ones I should drop for my sanity, when there are so many I'm curious about, but anyway here goes:

Be Mine Superstar (I did not expect this to be so lakorn-y but honestly it's very cute)

Low Frequency (I might eventually drop this one, I ove ghost stories, but I'm not 100% in)

Hidden Agenda (It's a cute little show, I have to watch the last episode tho)

Stay By My Side (I wished they used the whole hearing ghosts thing more, I feel like there's untaped angst potential there, but still a nice treat to have in the middle of the week)

Minato Shouji Coin Laundry 2 (Loved the 1st season, loving the 2nd)

Wedding Plan (I was not expecting to love this show as much as I am, but it's Mame and she always manages to catch my attention. The McDonald's is getting on my nerves tho)

My Personal Weatherman (I DID NOT expect to go as crazy as I am with this one, mamma mia)

Only Friends (newest addition, so far so good, intrigued by how the plot is gonna develop)

Laws of Attraction (now, this is such a gem. It's so good, so soapy, so angsty, so great)

Zorras (spanish show about sex, I'm surprised it's so good! If you speak spanish I recommend it!)

Only Murders In The Building (I am continuing for the sake of continuing but idk if I'll like it as much as the other seasons)

I don't think I'm obsessed with BL, do you? /j

Currently Reading:

I have a bookclub with my cousins and this is what we're currently reading. I just started it and I was pleasently surprised that it's easy to read. I'm intrigued :)

I'm not the biggest reader but when I manage to get into a book I devour them. But I am a more visual person, give me pictures and I'll understand it better.

Current Obsession:

So many, so so many. But since I moslty only talk about shows in here my current show obsession is My Personal Weatherman. I had very low expectations for this show. Very low. And with only one episode it has managed to haunt me in my sleep and everyday life. I cannot stop thinking about Segasaki and Yoh's relationship dynamic. AAAAAAAHJFADSLAJDKDFKADJSF

I'm definetly going to be getting in your asks for this one @wanderlust-in-my-soul

This was a lot of fun! I'll tag some people but if you see this feel free to play the game :)

Tagging @xagan @gunsatthaphan @emotionallychargedtowel, you might have already played it but if not I'd love to see it ❤

[camelliagwerm]

tagged by @winedark a while back to do this! thank you, saff. a lot of this is under the cut because i am incapable of not yapping.

tagging: @dragonologist-phd ; @bearvanhelsing ; @waterdeep ; @kirkwall ; @thanekrios and @yennefre since i know all of you read <3

1. the last book I read:

i just finished reading dungeon meshi vol.5 literally last night. i can't say it was my favourite of the volumes so far, but they're easy to read and i definitely appreciate that .

2. a book I recommend:

i am always going to be recommending carmilla by joseph sheridan la fanu, particularly the edition edited by carmen maria machado, and the bloody chamber and other stories by angela carter. both of them are very formative, inspirational works for me as a writer.

3. a book that I couldn’t put down:

mexican gothic by silvia moreno-garcia. i devoured it on release in one sitting and i think of it fondly. another one is annhilation by jeff vandermeer from pure "what the fuck is going on?" energy.

4. a book that I’ve read twice (or more):

this is how you lose the time war by amar el-mohtar and max gladstone. i think this benefits from a reread, to be honest. and i highly, highly recommend the audiobook for as well.

5. a book on my TBR:

i've got so many on my tbr that it's sort of embarrassing, but for now let's go with the vampires of el norte by isabel canas (i adored the hacienda by the same author); chapter house dune by frank herbert (and oh my god, i'm determined to complete the six book series this year); and ring shout by p. djéli clark.

6. a book I’ve put down:

i often put down books with the intent of picking them up later for one reason or another (e.g. the vibes aren't quite right), but i distinctly remember having to put down god-emperor of dune by frank herbert and later restart it because holy hell i was not able to get through it on the first attempt.

7. a book on my wish list:

i have a huge wish list, but i think top of the list is silvia moreno garcia's new book the seventh veil of salome which is out this summer, i think. i love garcia's books - they're usually a tight 300-350 pages, and all standalones. i'm very interested to see what she does with this golden era of hollywood setting.

8. a favourite book from childhood:

i was a massive jacqueline wilson fan as a kid (and i think a lot of british girls around my age in particular really enjoyed her?) and my sister jodie really did hit where it hurts when you're a 10-11 year old. i also have to give a massive shout out to the edge chronicles by paul stewart & chris riddell, especially the quint and twig trilogies, because i read and reread those constantly as a kid; and of course, a series of unfortunate events by lemony snicket, which is about as formative as it got for me.

9. a book you would give to a friend:

hilariously i've sold a friend on dune by saying "i wouldn't recommend this to my enemy, but i'd recommend it to my best friend" and he bought it. but he also loves sci-fi and enjoys warhammer, so it wasn't exactly hard to sell it to him. i've also recommended carmilla, mexican gothic and annihilation a lot.

10. a book of poetry or lyrics you own:

i don't own any poetry beyond a compendium of edna st. vincent millay's poetry from when i did my masters and we looked at her poetry in my american modernism class, and some of edgar allen poe's stuff. i really want to pick up some sappho though - it's just a case of finding a good translation.

11. a nonfiction book you own:

i don't own many non-fiction books, but i have from here to eternity: travelling the world to find the good death by caitlin doughty aka askamortician. ever since i started working in my job, i've found myself curious about other cultures' funerary practices.

12. what are you currently reading:

i'm back to reading heretics of dune by frank herbert (dune #5) after taking a break from it, and i also have an audiobook going for work, which is a full cast production of the war of the worlds by h.g. wells which includes aspects of jeff wayne's iconic songbook too.

13. what are you planning on reading next:

i'm thinking once i'm done with heretics, i'm either gonna go for vol. 6 of dungeon meshi as a palette cleanser or pick up either the bone season by samantha shannon (author's preferred text edition, which came out last year on its 10th aanniversary), hummingbird salamander by jeff vandermeer or letter to the luminous deep by sylvie cathrall (which daisy is telling me to read.) audiobook wise i'll probably go with the heart of the sun warrior by sue lynn tann since i listened to daughter of the moon goddess during april to early may and enjoyed it enough to grab the second book.