#I'm joking of course but also I'm dead serious. By the end of the play ideally I have to understand why so many characters

[longagoitwastuesday]

I'm starting to rate the Cyrano de Bergerac versions based on whether or not they make me desire him carnally by the end of the play

[sarahreesbrennan]

Thank you for writing Long Live Evil.

I'm no cancer survivor, so I haven't been through the horror that that must've been, congratulations to enduring and surviving, and my sincere condolences that you had to go through it.

But I am chronically ill (cystic fibrosis, genetic defect) and have so far lived for 5 years longer than my prognosis allowed. My health's been good and stabile for a long time now, but I remember times where I couldn't walk alone, had a 18/6 nasal cannula and a 24-hour IV drip instead of school or a future.

Now I'm working at university, an archaeologist, chipping away at writing stories for years and years, and incredibly glad and privileged to see the world. All this to say that seeing how hurt Rae was in the beginning (and again throughout the story, while also never truly forgetting her true roots and motives) and how she grew around it like a gnarled tree, was like catharsis for me. Having miraculously given a second chance, no matter how hard the fight to keep it will be; I haven't ever read any story talking about this in a way that made me feel seen and understood like this. Thank you also lots and lots for taking the time to mention Rae's appreciation for Rahela's curves — it's been the same for me, since I've managed to get out of the underweight-trap. It means a lot to me, and I guess to many others in similar situations, including you of course. Thank you for sharing this with us, it must've been hard to touch on a deeply personal experience like this in writing that's simultaneously removed from oneself through fiction (at least that's what I'm imagining).

Thank you, and I wish you nothing but the best, health, and lots of good days to come. Deeply curious to see how Rae's story will continue!

Thank you so much for this.

I am so glad you are alive. Thank you for that, too - for living on even when you couldn’t see a way forward and everything was helpless despair.

I haven’t been through what you’ve been through, either, but it’s a privilege to have shared adjoining experiences trapped in darkness, and to share gladness and the wide world with you now. I’m so sorry it happened, and so happy you have archaeology and stories, and the world has you.

I will be totally honest and say it has been hard sharing Long Live Evil with the world, and I’m so grateful to you for knowing that, and for sending this message because you knew. This book is highly personal to me, but it’s also meant to be a wild celebration of messiness, escapism, and finding humour in art and darkness. And that means to some it’s just a joke, and in the words of Joanna Russ, ‘she’s not really an artist and it’s not really art.’ And so it gets dismissed, and it does hurt to see my most important story dismissed sometimes.

I was with other writers in a public space at one point and they were talking about how their books were about serious issues while ‘Sarah’s book is just for fun, and that’s fine too!’ (I had to take a minute before I could lean into my microphone and say ‘My book is about cancer’ in a cheery tone.) I’ve seen readers saying ‘this book’s just fluff, just silly, I’m ashamed of myself for reading it, there’s nothing to it’ about the book I wrote about almost dying.

My Rae, while of course she has bits of me in her (every character I’ve ever written does), and evil queens I’ve loved, and characters with wild hubris going on in the Greek plays I mention often in the book, and readers I’ve seen and I’ve been who are blithely confident they know what’s going on without doing more than surface reading and while forgetting key details… she’s also bits of women and girls I’ve mentored, been mentored by, befriended. And some of them are dead. So seeing the bits that were them particularly scorned or judged, seeing her pain dismissed or the discussion of her body sneered at…

That has been hard.

But.

In the end I believe I am really an artist and this book is really art, and art is there for the wide world to judge - to be mocked and dismissed, yes, as a price that comes with the opportunity to also be truly seen and appreciated, to get to influence real people’s real lives. Art is the gold that comes from the crucible in which we put all our pain and all our love and all our joys. I believe it deepens and transforms.

I wrote this book about how deeply unsympathetic people actually are to sufferers of illness, chronic or otherwise, and especially to women expressing pain. How the world villainises imperfect victims—which means all victims. How the world villainises bodies, and robs us of our joy in them—even when there’s horror in a body, too. I did know that by putting this book out into this world, that attitude would be reflected back by the world onto the book. And that attitude has hurt me in the past, and hurts me when I see it now.

I still think it’s worth calling out that attitude, even if it means getting more of that attitude reflected back onto me - because it means readers like you see it, and know others have been through this, and it was never okay, and you were never alone. While I know there will also be readers with chronic illnesses and/or cancer whose experience doesn’t overlap with mine at all, that only means there need to be more stories. So everyone who needs it gets the map into fantasy lands.

And I do hope some able-bodied readers read it, and think twice about adopting the world’s attitude to the people in their lives who are already going through enough. Some readers have told me the book helped them sympathise with and understand the cancer sufferers in their family and friend circles, and that’s meant a great deal. What do we write for, if not to learn to love each other better?

Long Live Evil has also given me my life back, as truly as chemo did, in a way that makes the pain worthwhile - I think I would have kept telling stories in some form, but Long Live Evil was my last throw, for as far ahead as I could see. Now since the book’s done well so far I’m hoping I can write more books, and my life can be the storytelling shape I always wanted it to be.

I read your message and I regretted nothing. I remember the pain and the way so many of us laughed or tried to laugh our way through it, and I know this was my way. Jokes, like stories, are the golden thread we follow through the dark labyrinth of our own agony and incomprehension.

It really has been hard, and it’ll stay hard. But like living, it’s worth it.

Please know two things.

I am so happy I wrote this book. Ultimately more than any other feeling I had so, so much fun writing it, and I’m having even more fun seeing the book be read by the people it was meant for.

2. This book was written for you.

[baiwu-jinji]

TGCF author's notes translation

@/camilikha on twitter kindly provided links to TGCF author's notes and I translated the ones I find informative and interesting. See translations below:

chapter 58 notes: The second book is all about the overconfident Xie Lian with delusions of grandeur and the tender little flower (mxtx means kid Hua Cheng) and their diaries of the downfall of Xianle. Word count is undecided, I'm never accurate at estimating word counts anyway. It's just like the xianxia I write doesn't fit into your regular xianxia, the royalty I write doesn't fit into your regular fictional depictions of royalty - just the outlandish made-up worlds and social customs in the author's imagination...

chapter 60 notes: If we put Qi Rong in a modern context, we could say that he has bipolar disorder.

chapter 72 notes: about the chapter title "To Meet You in the Mortal Realm; to Find Flowers Beneath the Rain" - eventually I feel that "To Meet You" is more romantic than "To Meet Someone". Just think about it, "meeting you" is one of the most romantic things in the world.

chapte 80 notes: Of course (HC) won't give (XL) a handjob or help him [...], but Huahua's sexual awakening starts with this incident... (XL is seriously obssessed with martial arts combat!)

chapter 88 notes: Xie Lian never gets tanned, I envy him... I finally reached this place - in a dilapidated temple, a god about to be forgotten and a believer who's still young - this is the first mental image I have about this story, which drove me to wrote the story. I'm the kind of person who'd make up a whole book just to get to write a certain passage...

chapter 119 notes: Actually Huahua is just being naughty and wants to joke around playing dead, who'd have thought...

chapter 123 notes: So Black Water made his appearance long ago, he's been hanging around before your eyes all along. Wind Master never knew the real Mingyi, it's always been the same person before him - and before you readers. (Black Water) officially recognized as Best Actor of this story! I've been holding it a secret for so long and so has he, now I can finally let it out.

chapter 141 notes: If you heat up Huahua in the kiln, he'll grow bigger~

chapter 175 notes: "Hua Cheng! Your diary! We've read it all!!!"

chapter 229 notes: Huahua low-key sucking up to the elderly to make a good impression

chapter 242 notes: Why do you like to spook yourselves? - why on earth would there be such plots as (XL) waiting for another 800 years - too long, impossible! Happy ending is around the corner!

SVSSS is my first work so it has some exceptions that I won't discuss here, but MDZS and TGCF both only have one main couple. I said this repeatedly in the author's notes when MDZS was being serialized and in other places. As for Mo Xuanyu, he is a little gay dude but he died at the beginning of the story so he doesn't count as a serious character...It's fine to have headcanons you like as long as you don't seperate the main couple. But for me personally, my taste leans towards having only one gay couple in the story, and I have no plans to write about another secondary couple. I'm stating this to avoid some unnecessary disputes.

XL is good at making pickled vegetables. Because pickled vegetables are needed with steamed bun and rice porridge, so XL became quite experienced after practicing for hundreds of years. Also you can just leave the pickled vegetable by itself most of the time and let it undergo chemical reaction. XL mostly fail because he get inventive.

XL and Mu Qing chose the same path of cultivation and are both Daoists. But Feng Xin never studied under a master at the Holy Royal Pavillion so he's not a Daoist and simply a plebeian martial god, so he doesn't need to observe the celibacy rules like XL and Mu Qing.

My passion for inventing new dishes (or rather weapons) cooked by Xie Lian is only slightly less than my passion for making Huahua change into new clothes

Huahua often turn into human forms, in which he has two eyes, so you guys can stop counting the number of his eyes.

In the setting of this story, if you want to be a god,you need to be a human hero first, which means you need to be the best of the best among humans. Only heaven officials who ascended are real heaven officials and belong in the Upper Court. How do you ascend? Firstly it depends on your personal ability, you have to be outstanding in some aspect (such as martial arts or literary talents) to enter the path of ascension. Secondly it depends on luck, if you're extremely lucky and a favourite of fate, and just picked up some rare secret guides (to ascension) or immortal pills by the roadside, that works too. Officials in the Middle Court are appointed, which means someone in the Heavenly Realm could promote you to that position. But Middle Court officials have the opportunity to become a bona fide Upper Court official too if they're capable enough.

Black Water indeed owes Hua Cheng a huge sum of money and is a very impoverished Calamity, seriously lowering the income standard of the Calamities (although there're only three of them). But his debt isn't completely due to eating too much. As for the money Black Water owes, it's an ancient debt - 40% is the cost of buying gifts for heaven officials of Upper Court and planting agents there (bribery!), 30% is maintenance fee for his territory and expenses on pet food, the rest 30% is food (for himself).

Talismans are probably the equivalent of the business cards (of heaven officials)... "Hello this is my consecrated talisman" = "hello this is my business card"

You can't get rid of ghostly essence (which XL is tainted with because he spends too much time with HC) simply by brushing your teeth with plain water...you need to use consecrated spell water (which is super bitter and weird).

The weapon forged by a heaven official is called fabao (literally "dharma treasure"); if it's a weapon forged by mortal Daoists and monks, it's called faqi (literally "dharma tool") - only after their ascension can their weapons be called fabao.

In my imagination, Xianle ia the kind of small ancient kingdom that's overall culturally Han, but has peculiar customs...although I feel like what I wrote on Xianle is mostly just peculiar hahahaha [facepalm] [beat myself up]

Not only are the forms, customs, cultures, and politics of countries in this story made-up, the kind of arcane stuff like occult sciences and philosophical values are all made-up. Although I did research but the records I consulted are too difficult to understand, so I just made things up on my own. Please bear with me If you're knowledgable in this sort of thing hahaha.

Puqi refers to water chestnut.

Look up "Blood-Soaked Fire Social" (xue she huo) if you're interested, it exists in real life and is very thrilling. What I wrote is different from the traditional festival, there're some made-up elements to make it more exciting

[goatcheesecak3]

I hate you too Pt.1

Adam Faulkner-Stanheight x afab!reader

Minors dni

Warnings: nsfw, alcohol use

Fic type: enemies to lovers, smut, a dash of fluff at the very end, also Scott Tibbs cameo teehee

Summary: you and Adam have been rivals for years, but after begrudgingly letting him crash at your apartment, things take an unexpected turn.

A/n: this is my first time writing a smut in YEARS so I'm a little rusty. This is just a short one, but I how you enjoy it! I've maybe got an idea for a part two of this, so let me know if you want it!

"Are you fucking kidding me? You didn't tell me he was gonna be here" you huffed to your friend, Mark.

"Was I meant to?" He asked, looking at you as if you were insane.

"Yes! I wouldn't have come if I knew he was gonna be here"

You were at some sleazy dive bar, you and a group of friends had decided you all needed to get outside and have some fun- well, you, your friends and him.

"Him" was Adam, a twenty seven year old photographer with a mean attitude. He was as much of a part of the group as you were, his friends were your friends and they all got along. However, for some reason the pair of you never clicked. You thought he was hot-headed and rude, while he thought you were vapid and snarky.

"Come on, just play nice for tonight, alright?" Mark pleaded with you, "he's been having a rough time lately. You know it's coming up on one year now..."

Almost a year ago, Adam had had a pretty terrible ordeal. He'd been kidnapped by a serial killer and chained up somewhere. He was missing for about a week before he was found, shackled, bloody and nearly dead. You hated his guts, but even you found yourself worrying for him. You recalled back to when you and your friends had visited him in the hospital...

...

"I didn't know any of you guys could bake, who made these? They're better than an orgasm" Adam groaned, munching away on a third cookie.

"That was your best friend" Mark had teased, while your other friend, Scott let out a snigger.

"You made me cookies?" Adam raised an eyebrow at you "have you tampered with these in any way?"

"No, I haven't tampered with them you dumbass. Besides, you're literally going in for your fourth one right now, would it really matter if I had at this point?" You rolled your eyes.

Mark and Scott giggled to themselves, they loved watching the two of you argue.

"So if you're not trying to poison me, then why did you...?"

"Look, this doesn't mean we're friends or anything, okay. I just... I guess getting kidnapped probably sucked" you looked away, not wanting to continue taking and accidentally say something too nice.

...

Adam came over to the booth where you, Scott and Mark had been sat, sipping on beers.

"I think that's my cue to go for a cigarette" you said, rising from your seat.

"You gotta cut down on those man, they'll kill you someday" Scott tutted, half joking.

"Don't threaten me with a good time" you called as you dissappeared into the outdoor smoking area.

It was peaceful out there, no one else but you. You huddled yourself under a grimy looking awning and struggled to light your cigarette with your shitty, dying lighter.

"You shouldn't joke about that shit" an all too familiar voice broke the silence.

You spun around, slightly startled, to see Adam stood there.

"Don't follow me, you creep" you scoffed, unable to hide the disgust in your face, even if you wanted to.

"I'm serious, don't joke about wanting to die in public. You don't know who's listening"

He was referring to jigsaw, of course. His whole "cherish your life" thing made jokes like that grounds for kidnap and torture. Adam had a good point.

"Just looking out for you" he said, his unwelcoming expression unchanging.

You glared at him, your frustration building as you struggled to light your cigarette.

"Just use this" he tossed his own lighter to you.

"Thanks".

When you had finished lighting yours, Adam lit up one for himself. The two of you smoked in silence, avoiding eye contact and shuffling your feet awkwardly.

...

Your walk home was a strange one, to say the least. Your mind felt cloudy, so you decided to take the long way home. You'd drank just enough alcohol to reach a weird stare of clarity, where your mind was alert enough for you to think coherently, but uninhibited so that you could think about things your sober mind had tried to avoid. Your dream of consciousness ran wild, leading you to all sorts of conclusions.

"Why am I still single? The guys in this city are ugly, that's why. No, that's mean. They're not ugly, just boring yuppie types. I'm friends with the three good looking guys in the city but you couldn't pay me to date them. Oh, admitting that Adam is your friend? Admitting that he's good looking are we now? Okay well maybe he's not my friend, but it's been well established that he's a good looking guy. Hate to admit it, but if his mouth never opened I'd probably find him hot.

Your train of thought took all sorts of twists and turns, but it kept seeming to take you back to thoughts of Adam. You put it down to being drunk and stupid, reminding yourself that you despised Adam, you couldn't stand to see his face, you couldn't stand his whiney, high pitched voice. Ugh. It was so irritating you could practically hear it- no, you could hear it, like really, actually hear it.

"What the fuck? Why didn't my landlord tell me he was doing this tonight?"

Adam was pacing back and forth on the sidewalk, next to his apartment building, which had been draped in a yellow and black striped tent. As he paced, he whacked his mobile phone with his hand a few times, muttering things like "shit" and "Come on, stupid thing".

It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what had happened here. Adam's apartment building had been fumigated, and with no working phone, he was pretty much stranded for the night. You couldn't help but laugh.

Adam's eyes shot towards you, his expression a mixture of hatred and relief. You were the last person he wanted to see him struggle, but at least he knew you'd begrudgingly help him out.

"Jesus y/n, you scared the shit outta me. Did you follow me or something?"

You shook your head.

"I was out for a walk, this little shitshow" you pointed toward him "was just a happy coincidence."

Adam bit the insides of his cheeks. He wanted to be rude to you, he wanted so bad to wipe that smug grin off your face, but he knew he couldn't, not while he needed something from you.

"Can I borrow your phone? I need to call scott" his voice had no inflection whatsoever.

"Negative. Out of juice"

"Ah jesus, fuck.." Adam held his head and began to pace. He looked less annoyed and more concerned now.

"Fuck!" He yelled through gritted teeth, throwing his nokia onto the floor. In an anticlimactic bounce, it landed by your feet.

"Jeez, if it's that serious you can just charge this thing at my place" you sighed, picking up his phone and noting that you had the same one.

Adam looked at you as though you were lying to him.

"Come ON, before I change my mind" you ordered, finally feeling the cold of the night, and wanting to be inside quickly.

Adam followed, and the two of you walked in silence.

...

There was something palpable in the air of your tiny apartment that night, like a storm brewing. It intensified by the second, and when Adam threw himself onto your sofa as if he owned the place it only became stronger. You marched to your bedroom to grab your charger, quietly seething. Everything he did pissed you off. The way he so arrogantly shoved your decorative cushions aside so he could sit, the way he looked at your posters, your furniture. Judging, silently judging. You tossed him the charger, and sat in an armchair. The sofa had plenty of room for you to sit too, but the thought of being in such close proximity to him filled you with a white hot burning rage.

Some time passed, neither of you had spoken, instead opting to chainsmoke. Part of you was hoping the thick cloud of smoke would obscure your view of him. The silence sat heavily above you, until Adam's voice broke through it.

"Scott's not picking up."

"Have you tried Mar-"

"Obviously I've tried Mark"

Both your sentences were short, snappy. Being alone together was uncomfortable and awkward as all hell, if just one of you could swallow your pride and break the ice it would have been bearable at least, but you were both stubborn as mules.

Adam let out a sigh.

"Look, this isn't ideal for either of us but.." You took a deep breath, "you can stay here if you're really outta options"

Adam responded to this, in what you assumed was his language for gratitude. He liberated a small bottle of whiskey from the inside pocket of hig ratty jacket and plopped it down on the coffee table.

"If this is as much of a nightmare for you as it is for me, then I think we could both use some of this" he said.

"Hey look, finally something we can agree on" you almost laughed, standing up to head to the kitchen and grab two tumblers.

The two of you drank generous amounts, you had put a record on quietly just to add some sort of ambience, because the silence had begun to feel quite oppressive.

"You know, there's probably more than just that" Adam finally said, startling you a little.

"Huh?"

"I mean, there's probably more we agree on than just the fact that tonight is a nightmare"

"Dude, that conversation was like 20 minutes ago, are you slow or something?" You scoffed.

Adam rolled his eyes

"I mean, shit y/n, I love this album. All your posters, the stacks of dvds, we pretty much have the same apartment. Maybe yours is a bit more flouncy than mine.."

"And also yours is filled with bugs judging by that fumigation tent" you quipped, unable to resist the urge to get a jab in.

Adam paused, and gave you a look. It wasn't one you knew how to describe.

"What I'm saying is, we've got a lot in common. I seriously don't get why you have such a problem with me"

You were absolutely dumbfounded. That jerk! He was acting like you were the one with a problem? You sat there with your mouth agape for a second or two, before snapping at him.

"You're the one that started this feud! Always giving me dirty looks, poking fun at the way I dress, which by the way, is ridiculous because we dress exactly the same!" You blurted out, almost raising your voice.

Unexpectedly Adam began to laugh. He threw his head back and cackled like a hyena.

"Have you lost your damn mind?" You asked, a slight tone of seriousness to your voice.

"No, no, no... I- I get out now" Adam struggled to get out between laughs, "I get why we hate eachother so much"

Your curiosity got the better of you

"Why...?"

"Okay so, there's always been something between us, we thought it was animosity, right?" His face became plastered with a devilish grin

"It's not that, it's not that at all. It's sexual tension"

"That's disgusting! You're sick in the head!" You cried out, insulted at the very notion.

"Come on, y/n, we both know it. You wanna hit this sooooo bad" he smirked, his smug, awful grin sending waves of anger throughout your body.

"That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard" you retorted, doing your best to ignore what felt like excitement bubbling in your chest... and other parts of your body.

"Aw, are you too much of a good girl to admit it?" He teased.

You tried to fight it, but it was absolutely no use. Those two words just did something to you. Your body, not wanting to comply with your better judgement, gave away your feelings. You blushed, and Adam saw it.

He let out a low chuckle. He was infuriating, you felt this innate, primal urge deep inside you, like you wanted to pounce on him. But to do what? Punch him? Kiss him? You'd find out in the moment.

"Get up" you ordered, rising to your feet

"Woah, are you gonna try and fight me out something?" Adam laughed, only half concerned.

"I don't know yet" you said flatly, eyes trained on Adam as he stood to face you.

Before you could make a decision, your body reacted for you. Your arms threw themselves around his shoulders, one hand running itself through his surprisingly soft hair, the other resting on the back of his neck, pulling him toward you.

Your lips immediately met his, as you kissed him hungrily. With even more fervor, Adam kissed back, his tongue slipping into your mouth. One of his hands found itself on your waist, the other was groping your ass.

Your mind was racing a hundred miles a minute, this was the stupidest thing you'd ever done, but you'd never felt more alive. It was dangerous, a little wrong even, but so right at the same time.

You pulled away for a second, only to breathlessly utter the word "bedroom".

Adam nodded, before resuming kissing you. Your bodies remained firmly pressed together as you stumbled down the hall and into your bedroom. The two of you removed your jackets and tshirts, tossing them god knows where. You honestly couldn't pinpoint the exact moment when your bodies became horizontal, it was such a blur, but somehow you ended up laying on the bed, Adam on top of you.

He had begun to kiss all over your neck, the sensation of his hot breath making your stomach flip. You let out a few moans as his hands explored your torso, feeling every inch of you. You couldn't see his face, but you knew he had that same shit eating grin as always.

You could feel how hard Adam was through his jeans, he grinded against you and you felt your hips involuntarily buck forwards, wanting more friction. Adam noticed this straight away.

"Someone's impatient" he chuckled, his voice smug as ever

"Shut up" you just about managed to get out between gasps.

"Let's pay a little more attention to your top half first, you can be a good girl and wait a little longer" he whispered as his hands found the clasp of your bra and made hasty work of it.

There was that nickname again, the one that made wetness pool in your panties, the one that made your nails dig into Adam's back as you pulled him closer.

Adam's soft lips gently brushed over your nipples, his tongue dancing across your flesh. He was surprisingly gentle, his delicate touches were just light enough to drive you wild, you desperately needed more.

"Adam..." You whined, hoping he would stop teasing you.

"God, y/n, you're such a greedy little thing, aren't you?" He grinned, "so desperate to be fucked"

He loved seeing you like this, having you right in the palm of his hand. Well aware that Adam was enjoying watching you squirm, a myriad of insults flew through your mind, and you would have called him every single one of them if you didn't want him inside you so badly.

Thankfully, Adam stopped waiting around, and removed your jeans and underwear all in one swift motion. He'd never admit it, but he was getting rather impatient too. His hands on your legs, holding them apart, he stopped for a second to admire your pussy. You were visibly dripping, and knowing that it was he who had done that to you gave Adam a real ego boost. That arrogant son of a bitch.

"So wet for me, y/n" he murmured, eyes glued to your womanhood, as his hands rubbed along the insides of your thighs, getting juuuust close enough to your pussy to make you hyper aware that nothing was touching it- and you needed that touch urgently.

"Stop talking and just fuck me, Stanheight!" You yelled, hoping your voice would sound demanding and assertive, but instead sounding desperate and weak.

"Hmmm" he hummed, as though he were deeply considering what you had just said.

Suddenly you finally felt some sort of touch between your thighs. Two of Adam's fingers ran along your slit, smearing your juices across your entrance, and up to your clit.

The gasp you let out as you threw your head back was partly in pleasure, partly in relief. When his fingers rubbed gently across your clit, your hips rolled, trying to press against his fingers for more friction, but as soon as his fingers were there, they were gone again.

Looking up to see why Adam had stopped, the sight that met you was both unexpected, and an absolute delight. It was Adam, his eyes shut and his beautiful, sharp features accentuated by the low light of your lamp. He was licking your fluids off his fingers.

You felt a brand new wetness begin to spill out of you at this, as you uttered a breathy "fuck, that's hot".

He winked cockily, as he admired the state you were in. Fully Nude, and spread open to show him how wet you were. Hard little nipples and a dazed, blushing face. He found your soft lips and open mouth particularly attractive. He would have loved to shove his cock deep in there until the Mascara ran from your eyes, he thought you'd look quite pretty all tear stained and used. But that was something he would wait for next time, it was too intense for a first time together, and quite frankly, at this point he was getting just as desperate to fuck as you were.

"You got any condoms?" He asked, standing up to unzip his jeans and yank them down with his boxers

"Top drawer" you pointed to your dresser, and sat up on your elbows to get a good look at Adam's naked body. His torso was pale and slim, at the bottom of his tummy a small trail of hairs was dusted across his flesh, leading down to some recently trimmed black hairs. His dick was a wonderful sight, a decent length and a girth that looked like it would stretch you delightfully. He had a pretty pink tip, which was glistening with precum. You made a mental note that at some point you would love to give him a real slow, sloppy blow job.

Adam positioned himself over you, and lined his cock up to your entrance, rubbing his tip up and down your folds.

"I'll be gentle to start off" he whispered, almost tenderly, as he planted a soft kiss at your jawline.

You nodded, signaling that you were ready for him to enter you.

He started off with just that pretty pink tip of his, carefully pushing it into your hole. He let out a low hum, while a gasp escaped your lips.

"More" you whined

"God, you're hot" Adam remarked, a low chuckle escaping his lips.

He eased himself in further, his girth slowly stretching you.

"Shit you're so tight" he muttered, more to himself than to you. "It doesn't hurt, does it?" Adam looked at you, there was a glint of something a little too intimate for hate-fucking in his eyes.

"No, it feels good" you nodded, feeling yourself adjust to his size.

Adam gently pushed the rest of himself inside you, until he was all the way in. After waiting for a few seconds, he began to thrust. He maintained a steady, fast pace. His face buried in your neck breathing you in, your bodies pressed tightly together.

"Oh god Adam" you cried out, loving every second of it. All that rage from earlier had transformed into an insatiable need to feel him all over you. Your hands roamed up and down his back, running through his hair and gripping onto his body, holding him close as your legs wrapped around him, letting him in deeper.

Adam lifted his head from the crook of your neck and abruptly stopped thrusting. He was looking down at you now, that cocky grin plastered over his face.

"Thought you were meant to hate me, hm?" He said.

"Who said I didn't" you uttered, breathlessly.

"Well if that's the case, then maybe I should stop"

Oh he was good.

"Don't you even think about it" you said urgently.

Adam's face could only be described as mischievous, as he pulled himself up and slowly began pulling his dick out of you. You let out a small whimper at the loss of the feeling of him filling you up.

"I wanna know how badly you want it" he smirked, absent mindedly rubbing his hand along your thigh.

He knew just how to drive you wild, his soft touches and playful teasing made your core feel like it was on fire.

"C'mon Adam, quit fucking around" you whined.

He shook his head

"Beg."

That bastard.

Never in your life would you ever have imagined needing something from Adam Stanheight so badly that you would be willing to beg for it, let alone this, but now it was actually happening, you were seriously considering it.

He rubbed his tip up and down your folds, teasing your entrance and making it nearly impossible to resist. You couldn't fight it, you needed him. You had to swallow your pride and do what he wanted.

With redness painting your cheeks, and all your pride out of the window, you uttered a small "please"

"Please what?" Adam smiled slyly.

"Please fuck me" You said, a little louder now.

"Throw my name in there and I'll consider it"

This was humiliating, this went against everything you stood for, there was no wa-

"Please Adam, please please fuck me"

"Well since you asked so nicely"

There was no build up before Adam plunged himself deep into you, and this time he went harder than before. The obscene sounds of slapping skin and moans filled the air. He held your legs open as he took in what he considered to be the most wonderful sight; your tits bouncing with each thrust, your hands clutching into the bedsheets, your mouth wide open to let out moans of his name. God how he loved the way you said his name.

"Fuck, y/n, why'd we wait so long to do this, huh?" He panted through thrusts

You wanted to respond with something sarcastic, but with Adam repeatedly hitting your sweet spot, there was no way you could form a sentence, or ever remember what words were for that matter. As you started to see stars, finally two words managed to make their way to the forefront of your mind, and you screamed them.

"I'm cumming, I'm cumming!"

"Shit... fuck, me too" Adam groaned, burying his cock deep inside you, before grinding his hips and releasing.

...

When Adam returned from cleaning himself up in the bathroom, he wore nothing but his boxers.

"I uhh.. I got you a glass of water" he said awkwardly, placing the drink on the bedside table.

"Thanks" you said shyly.

You weren't exactly sure what the protocol was for the aftermath of sleeping with your arch nemesis, were you supposed to go back to fighting? Were you meant to cuddle? You figured a good place to start was a cigarette. You fished around in your nightstand and pulled out a packet of smokes and a lighter. The ashtray was already resting on top.

"Want one?" You offered casually.

"You keep cigarettes in your bedside table?" Adam asked, raising an eyebrow. He took one from you and sat next to you on the bed.

"You're just jealous you didn't think of it first" you teased, affectionately this time.

Adam took a long drag before he spoke.

"So..."

"So..."

"You wanna cuddle or...?" He avoided eye contact, feeling foolish for even asking.

"Or what? Or do I still hate you?" You smiled

"Yeah, or do you still hate me?" He laughed.

You snuggled up to him and planted a small kiss on his cheek.

"I think you're the worst" you joked, resting your head on his shoulder and draping your arm across his chest.

"Hate you too, babe" he chuckled, kissing the top of your head.

[ghoulangerlee]

Mushy May 11 - Papa Time / First Kiss

this is for day 11 for mushy may, i've combied Papa Time w/ First Kiss and thus we get Dew and Copia's first kiss vaguely based in my You Share Not universe (though a technical AU since this has yet to happen).

Mountain is also mentioned but not present, heavily implied Moutain/Copia, Mountain/Dew and Rain/Dew and Mountain/Dew/Copia :)

you don't have to have read you share not to know anything other than it's a slowish burn au of Copia taking over the mantle as the leader of the ghost project and the ghouls eventually fall in love with him.

-

Copia's nervous energy manifests itself into a sour sort of scent, cloying Dewdrop's senses as he watches the man pace along the aisle of the tour bus.

They're due soon, at their first stop of the tour and for the most part, Copia had seemed excited to leave the heavy and imposing walls of the church, ignoring the way one of the Clergy suits had tittered at them before they'd boarded, wishing Copia a good tour.

We'll be watching, of course. Do us proud.

There was a thinly veiled threat there that made Dew's hair stand on end, the urge to slink up to Copia's back and intimidate the man had been there for a moment, before Dew had bitten it back, knowing it was no use to pull the ire of the Clergy with so little time left.

"Hey, why don't you come sit down or something," Dew says, right as Copia's about to turn sharply and make another circuit around the small aisle, he pats the couch beside him and relaxes his stance when Copia stops pacing and looks up at him.

Copia glances at Dew and then at the space beside him on the couch; it is, for the most part, a comfortable couch.

He sighs, spins on his heel and drops onto the couch beside Dew; leaning his head back against it. "First time jitters," he says, half a joke but mostly serious, turning his head to look over at Dew. "You'll forgive me if I'm not an old hat like you."

Dew snorts softly, nudges his shoulder against Copia's, "It'll be fine. First few shows are always nerve wracking but once we've gotten a few under our belts, things will fall into place."

"So you say," Copia says with a healthy amount of trepidation, "I feel like one wrong move from me and they'll somehow orchestrate pulling me off stage." He presses his lips together, dark circles more prominent under his eyes now that he's not wearing his paint.

He looks less of the proud Cardinal and more along the lines of a weary man with too much responsibility; things that Dew had seen in small bits and pieces during their time at the church, in preparation, keeping a strong facade up.

"Over our dead bodies," Dew says, he's mostly joking, but there's a fire in his heart as he says it, beating loud in his ears, zinging through their bond, "No one's going to pull you off stage for messing up some lyrics."

He tries to play it off as a joke, to quell the strong emotions he's feeling, but Copia smiles a small sort of thing, his eyes crinkling fondly as he does.

He looks younger, happier, with a smile on his face, less like the world has settled on his shoulders.

It's a good look on him.

"I won't mess the lyrics up," he says, though there is some doubt in his voice. "It's not my fault that some of the older songs are written the way they are."

Dew hums and knocks his shoulder against Copia's again, "Do you want to talk about it though? Your fears and stuff? The thing that's got you all," he waves a hand im Copia'd face, "stressed."

Copia reaches out and grabs Dew's hand, pulling it further into his space, "Not really," he says, pausing for a moment, "I think, the stress is coming from the expectations, the careful way we've planned these shows. I'm worried something will go off kilter and it will throw everything off. They want bigger and better and well. I want to give everyone that, but there's a voice in the back of my mind that's saying what if this isn't big enough, even though the Clergy have signed off on it."

He pauses, squeezes his fingers around Dew's; his own skin is slightly cool to the touch, a stark contrast to Dew's warmer skin; the difference calms him a bit, "Apparently I do want to talk about it." he says with a little laugh. "But, I'm done, I'm done." He squeezes Dew's fingers again and Dew shifts closer, pressing their thighs together.

"I'm just glad to be away for a bit."

Dew finally tips his head to the side and rests it against Copia's, "Yeah, me too," he says quietly, basking in their closeness. "Gonna be in close quarters with a bunch of hellbeasts for the next however many days, though. Might start missing the silence of your own room."

"When do I get silence in my own room?" Copia asks, amused, "There's this pack of ghouls who keep welcoming themselves into my room most nights." He says, incredibly fond.

"All you've gotta do is shoo us away," Dew says, the words catching a bit, wondering for a moment if they're all coming on too strong--

Copia hums softly, brings Dew's hand up to his mouth and brushes a kiss to his knuckles, "I didn't say it was a bad thing." he murmurs, lips still pressed against bare skin.

Dew can feel the roughness of Copia's lower lip against his skin and his mind short circuits for a moment, his words catching in his throat, and then Copia's pulling away, letting his hand fall back to his lap and turning a bit so he can look at Dew.

He's so close now.

"Dewdrop?" he says, there's a warble in his voice, hesitance and Dew shakes his head before turning just enough to press his mouth against Copia's.

It's chaste, the angle is a bit off and Copia's hand squeezes at his while his other hand sort of uselessly hovers by his hip, but when Dew pulls away, there's a bit of a flush on Copia's cheeks, a soft look on his face.

"Mountain did say you'd get there eventually," Copia says after several long moments, breaking the silence. "But, I'm always happy to wait."

That pulls a scoff from Dew and he butts his forehead against Copia's, "Mountain needs to mind his business," he grumbles, remembering the night they'd spent together, and how Mountain had whispered things in his ear about Copia, riling him up. "He was getting a little too comfortable, being the only one that gets to kiss you."

He sounds petulant, something about the amused look on Copia's face making him want to hide his face from the other man, "There's plenty of me to go around," he says with a little laugh.

Dew goes quiet then, hides his face against Copia's shoulder, basking in his scent, mellow and happy now, instead of acidic and thick, "I do understand your hesitance though," Copia murmurs after a long moment, "If I had gone through even an ounce of what you'd gone through after Terzo's death, I would have kept my heart guarded as close as I could too."

Copia presses a kiss to the side of Dew's head; he'd sort of shaved the hair there, given himself an undercut to keep cool under the helmet during shows, so he's able to feel the warmth of Copia's lips against almost bare skin.

"Thank you for opening yourself up to me," he continues, sliding his free arm around Dew's shoulders, keeping him close. "I won't take advantage of that."

Dew wants to snort, to make a joke and cut the tension that had built up, but he doesn't, he just buries closer to Copia, allows himself to relax.

"Mountain's going to be so annoying about this," Dew says with a sigh a bit later, pulling back so he can look Copia in the eye, "He's so annoying about things like this. He was the same way when me and Rain got together."

Copia grins, a teasing sort of thing, leans in close to Dew, "Don't worry, I know the best way to shut him up. Something you can help me with now that we've figured ourselves out."

The grin works its way onto Dew's face after a moment, his eyes flashing, "He'll never know what hit him."

[supagogoman]

My thoughts on Shadow Generations

I played Shadow Generations. Here are my thoughts about it.

tl;dr it's amazing

Before it was released I was already expecting to enjoy Shadow Generations. It was, after all, a follow up to Sonic Generations, one of my favourite Sonic games, so more of that sounded good to me.

Of course, I'd been burned by this before; Sonic Forces also promised to be 'more Generations' and that game ended up being pretty mediocre. Still, things were clearly different this time. One of those differences was the huge focus on our antihero - Shadow the Hedgehog.

Before I go on, I should preface by admitting that I never liked Shadow the Hedgehog. I wasn't a big fan of Sonic Adventure 2, the game he debuted in, and was of the opinion that he should have stayed dead at the end of that game instead of being bought back for Heroes. He was a fine character in SA2, but the Shadow the Hedgehog game released in 2005, with it's dark, edgy writing, made Shadow a huge joke to me. I'm surprised anyone could take that character seriously after they thought it was a good idea to give a cartoon hedgehog realistic guns. His backstory seemed like the progenitor for those terrible deviantart era OC fan characters. He became a meme for years because of SEGA's seeming lack of self awareness. This edginess continued somewhat in Sonic 06, but after the disasterous result of that game it seems like SEGA tried to course correct, and since then Sonic became much more lighthearted in tone and they became much more self aware.

Perhaps they course corrected too much, as the self-awareness almost went a little too far - at the time, I remember thinking Sonic Colours' writing and simplicity was refreshing, but it seems these days people complain about the jokes and humour in that game, and the kids began to yearn for the wacky shonen anime plots of the earlier games. I didn't entirely agree with this sentinent (I was always worried about what would happen if Sonic went back to it's EDGY phase again), but in the end I didn't care how terrible the story was so long as the gameplay was FUN. I still hold Sonic Colours in high regard, but not because of it's plot, it's because it was one of the few Sonic games that didn't make me want to kill myself (which are surprisingly rare in the entire series).

Frontiers marked an apparent shift to direct the story back to taking itself more seriously, and this trend has continued in Shadow Generations. Actually, I guess Forces also tried to do this, but Frontiers clearly had more competent writers (namely Ian Flynn) at the helm. Compared to it's companion game, Shadow Gens is darker in tone, and way more serious and dramatic. Unlike Sonic Gens, which is a celebration of Sonic's past games and history, Shadow Gens is a story that basically acts as a sequel to the Shadow 2005 game, exploring the tragic backstory of Shadow and his relationship with Maria, Gerald and Black Doom.

From what I wrote earlier you might think that this return to it's edgy roots might be something I was opposed to, and I did have some reservations initially, but it has actually been executed incredibly well. It's dramatic, but not overly edgy. It's darker, but not devoid of personality or charm. They walked a fine balance of making Shadow a more serious character with additional nuance to avoid making him seem like a joke (competent writing and not giving him guns probably helped a lot with this). The game's story, as well as the Dark Beginnings animated short, actually made me like Shadow the Hedgehog as a character for the first time ever. That being said, Shadow has the luxury of being pretty much the only character in the series that has a dark, tragic backstory to flesh out. Sonic couldn't have a story like this because his backstory amounts to being a way past cool dude who like to go fast, and I can't see them doing something like this with any other character (as funny as a stand alone Chaotix game exploring their financial problems sounds) There's nothing wrong with that, but what I'm getting at is I'm hoping whatever the story of the next game is will show restraint and be of an appropriate tone.

Anyway, I have discussed at great lengths about the story. I just thought it was interesting as someone who wasn't a fan of Shadow that it would win me over. I think that speaks to how well it was written Taking plot points from shitty games and working them into something more palatable to me. Even so, none of that would have mattered if the game sucked. As I mentioned earlier, I liked Sonic Colours not for it's story, but for it's gameplay. Shadow 05 has a shitty plot, but I could forgive it if the gameplay was good (it wasn't). So if Shadow Generations was a game that sucked then having a good story wasn't going to save it.

Thankfully, not only is this a great companion to Sonic Generations, but in my view this is one of the best 3D Sonic games ever made. When I played Sonic Frontiers, I wrote how it was a good foundation for what the next Sonic game should be. Although I enjoyed traversing the open zones, I suggested that they could be downscaled, and have more effort be put into more traditional Sonic stages rather than bite sized Cyberspace missions. Shadow Generations does exactly that - it's hub world, rather than being a glorified level select as it was on Sonic Generations, is now expanded to be it's own mini open zone, filled with rails, springs, ramps and many collectables that make traversing and exploring the hub fun. It feels a more polished too - the pop in isn't particularly noticable unlike Sonic Frontiers, and though the scale isn't as impressive as Frontiers it more than makes up for that with it's main stages - each with 2 acts and several mini challenge missions. These are exactly what was missing from Frontiers - gone are the repeated themes and assets seen in the Cyberspace missions, and back are the intricately designed stages with plenty of alternate paths with cool set pieces and spectacles that are fun to experience over and over.

Also contributing to my enjoyment of the game are the controls. I already commended Frontiers for having pretty tight controls for Sonic, and these have only been refined further in Shadow Gens. Shadow just feels incredibly easy to control and being able to pull off those reactions and jumps needed to access those alt paths in the stages feels great. It also does away with the overly complex combat system, there are no crazy dodges, parries or combo moves to do, but Shadow does have his Doom Spear and launcher that mixes things up and ties into level traversal too.

In fact, it kind of makes Sonic Generations feel clunky in comparison. The original game has been 'remastered', but very little has changed, besides some rewritten dialogue and some hidden Chao to find in each level. Graphically it looks exactly the same, and the controls remain untouched. This is fine, the game was and still looks and plays great, but Sonic compared to Shadow feels a lot stiffer to control. The way Sonic handles has been refined in the years through Forces and Frontiers, so going back to a game from 11 years ago, packaged with a brand new game, unfortunately makes inevitable comparisons, and playing the two games back to back definitely takes some getting used to.

My main complaint about Shadow Generations is that there just isn't enough of it. Not that it was a short game, it's length is pretty comparable to Sonic Generations and I can see myself replaying more in the future, plus the hub world exploration certainly adds a lot to the experience. I also understand this is a smaller project, designed to be a companion to Sonic Generations and was clearly made to capitalize on the release of the Sonic 3 Movie, but part of me was hoping for something a little more comparible to the 9 levels Sonic Generations has, while Shadow Gens has just 5.

Supposedly Sonic Team are still working on their next game - possibly a follow up to Frontiers. I can only hope that they take the lessons they've learned and build upon them. They already have the framework of additional characters, introduced in the Final Horizons update for Frontiers. They could design a more intricately designed hub world in a similar scope to Shadow Generations, interconnecting fun, tightly designed traditional stages. There's a lot of potential here for the next game, and my hopes for the series haven't been this high since... well... since when Sonic Generations came out, I suppose...

[pluppsauthor]

OC Interview Tag

Thank you to @phoenixradiant for the tag!

Rules: answer the following questions in the perspective of one of your OCs!

Last time I did Jesse and Reven. Continuing down the line of Forsaken characters (they won't leave my head), let's do my favourite (and currently only) blind boy, Zenith!

Are you named after anyone?

"...No..? I don't think so. It's not worth going back to my family just to ask them that. The dead gods know I already can't stand them as is."

When was the last time you cried?

"I don't think I could say the last... time... I've cried. But as much near-death experiences and hell we go through, I think I've always handled it the worst. Maybe because I can't see the threat, I hold this higher sense of danger, and it just sort of... eats away at me from time to time. So I cry from being overwhelmed sometimes."

Do you have kids?

"Eh, no. I don't think I plan too either, not as of now."

Do you use sarcasm a lot?

"Sometimes. Dusk and Dawn are always so serious. A strategist and a commander? If I don't crack a joke or use some sarcasm, they're gonna become heartless. Maybe not, but you know what I mean."

What’s the first thing you notice about people?

"Their voice. What did you expect me to say? 'Their eyes'? No, but really, I pay attention to people's voices a lot, tells me a lot about their character."

What’s your eye colour?

*5 straight minutes of laughter* "Oh, that's a good one... Oh, you're serious? I don't even know what colours look like! I've been told they're purple, and that purple is unnatural eye colour. But I don't know what purple is! Or what a normal eye colour is!"

Scary movies or happy endings?

*Another minute of laughter* "You must not have written these with the thought of asking a blind person, did you? While technically I can watch movies, it isn't really the same. But as for scary stories and happy endings... scary stories are way more fun."

Any special talents?

"Well, I'm blind--That's not the talent by the way--see, despite being blind I can kind of... I can sense gravity. It's hard to explain, but think of it like this: Dusk can make light, Dawn can... do whatever it is she does with shadows, I... can sense gravity. Along with a few other things of course. I guess I also a have good balance and hearing. But I don't know if its better than the average person."

Where were you born?

"North City. Okay... well... I wasn't born in my family home. Okay, so my family's house was very close to the Titan Family's main building (in north city at least). Because of this, there was a tunnel connecting them for medical emergencies. My mother went into labour and... didn't make it. So, technically, I was born in an underground tunnel between my home and the Titan Family's main building."

Do you have any pets?

"My family was on the border of being considered rich. So we did have a cat, a real cat, while I was growing up. I don't know how those things still exist today seeing how many other animals went extinct."

What sort of sports do you play?

"I didn't really play any sports."

How tall are you?

"I don't know, can't really check. I've only been told, but last that I remember... 180 centimetres? Somewhere around there if that's not it."

What was your favourite subject in school?

"Ooo... art. No, I'm joking, I'm joking. Uh... probably music. Oh, maybe history, but only when they talked about myths and legends and stuff like that. Mostly music. I can play a few instruments, should I have said that in the talents section? I probably should have."

What is your dream job?

"Dream job... hmmm... I'm not sure. Out of the main trio, between me, Dusk, and Dawn... I'm the odd one out. Both of them both want revenge and to take down the families, and I don't really. I just want to help people, but as for a dream job... ... ...I guess, if it can be anything, some kind of artist. Preferably also with the ability to see what I'm painting or sculpting, or whatever it is I would do."

A lot tamer, considering... last time... Anyway! Tags! @tildeathiwillwrite, @kaylinalexanderbooks, @mk-writes-stuff, and open tag! ❤

Here are the questions!

Are you named after anyone? When was the last time you cried? Do you have kids? Do you use sarcasm a lot? What’s the first thing you notice about people? What’s your eye colour? Scary movies or happy endings? Any special talents? Where were you born? Do you have any pets? What sort of sports do you play? How tall are you? What was your favourite subject in school? What is your dream job?

[theadventurerslog]

Discworld | Part 3

The Adventurer's Log

I've been making some both serious and joking parallels with Sam & Max Hit the Road as that was the last game I played here. There was the conversation system comparison--they're the same system. And there was my vendetta against the ball of twine and another ball of twine coming up here. Well now, here's another one: post three equals me getting stuck along with a healthy dose of agony. This is a chronicle of errors. Here we go.

It started well enough. First it was palace time. The lineup to see the Patrician had a peasant to petition about the dragon. "Who wants to have their family charbroiled by a dragon? Soot's hell to shift."

Then there was Nanny Ogg! I have no idea what she's doing here, but she's here. She's also got a certain recipe book of custards, including a recipe for a love potion in there. I assume that will be relevant at some point.

And at the head of the line a thief from the guild to discuss an increase in their theft quotas for the duration of the dragon emergency.

Twoflower here with the Thieves Guild knowledge.

There was also a Fool and his Chucky the jester staff. I could interact with both of them, so that's probably important? But other than an insane (or seemingly so) conversation for a thoroughly exasperated Rincewind, I didn't glean anything useful yet. I'm certainly getting a large list of 'for later?' possibilities here.

And finally the Patrician. One day there may be an adaptation of Lord Vetinari I am wholly satisfied with, but it is not this day. I'm not a fan of this voice for him either. Anyhoo, Rincewind tried to cautiously and hypothetically approach the topic of the dragon. The Patrician wasn't having it and there were threats of visiting the "Information Retrieval Technicians" in the dungeons.

"There are no such things as dragons. They are a physical impossibility." Now what the full purpose and meaning of those statements are I'm not sure yet. We'll see how Vetinari-y he is here... Hopefully he's close to the book in this regard at least. For now a dead-end there.

There was a door that led to a fancy bathroom where I found a nice little mirror, so this visit wasn't a total bust.

I carried onto my last unchecked location on the map (I think; I thought haha): the city gate, where I found Nobby, Carrot and Sergeant Colon. Nobby and Carrot were accessible anyway. Colon was hungover up a guard-tower.

Carrot, the one in front of the gate, is a new recruit to the City Watch--all three of them. Definitely take an alternate universe approach here. No Vimes! Of course if he did exist, this would be a different game since he'd be dealing with this dragon situation. He's the main protagonist of the city watch arc.

And Carrot is very flattened to his literal mindedness and law abiding-ness. Overly so. He kept trying to arrest Rincewind for various things.

Nobby was fine I guess, but oof Carrot. Carrot my man they kind of did you dirty.

I also still didn't get much of help here! Though they are aware of someone running around stealing small items. cough.

Couldn't be us, nosiree. We'll just be on our way, my ol' Luggage and me.

I feel like I've been a bit complain-y, so I want to say I am overall enjoying myself quite a lot. I just think they fell into a habit of pushing some jokes too hard so they lose their humour. They also sometimes get overly reductionist with a lot of characters rather than simply not getting a full picture because they are just side NPCs. I don't know; it's a fine line to walk, but unfortunately I feel like there's some tripping over it here.

Back to the game, I had no firm idea what to do now. I'd been hoping I'd get more out of those last two locations, so I did a bit more wandering. I tried talking to the barber again after having talked to the woman dressed like a milk maid but nothing came of that. I went back to the psychia-trickerist and nothing more there for me either. Then I decided to check out the alley again. Something I'd forgotten to mention last time was there were periodic little explosions there. I was guessing the Alchemist's Guild may be nearby. I was sort of right.

I found out, somewhat accidentally, that when stepping on the tile that launches you, you can still move. There's a short period of time before it launches you, so you can just...step off. Oops. As it turns out I'd missed part of the alley before and found a building with... an Alchemist!

He's working with octo-cellulose to make moving pictures, or clickies. Now we're into Moving Pictures the book territory. He also has a camera. Cameras on the Disc work by having an imp inside paint the picture. There were also some apparatuses, a sink, a fireplace, strips of film and a flask with cooking oil.

But the camera. I was able to look in the camera and see the imp. Unfortunately I couldn't figure out how to take the imp at this point, but I was glad I knew where he was at least. I'd been wondering.

Outside was also a drainpipe and a mouse hole. I couldn't find a use for those yet either.

At this point, I still had no idea what to do about the dragon breath either (unless it's something to do with the dragon periodically burning a piece of the map, but my options on the map are limited... [spoiler alert: it wasn't]), but at least I knew where the imp was! Only one ingredient left that's a total mystery. Ha...ha...

However, now I also got stuck. Well, I ended up, due to an accident, making a little progress on things, but not in any immediately helpful way.

I'm a bit annoyed at myself because for now at least I'm avoiding checking a guide or hints. I wanted to check that I was using skills correctly, currently only pickpocket, and tried looking that up specifically rather than looking up the game manual. My mistake. That gave me a bunch of previews of walkthrough results instead and I ended up seeing a couple things. One to throw a tomato at the tax man in the stocks. And two, something about a hair roller on the woman at the barbershop.

It's not like I could forget either of those so I did the tomato. It didn't result in anything directly but when I went to get another tomato to keep one in my inventory, this time when picking one up there was a worm in the tomato and a mouse or rat went running by and Rincewind dropped the tomato. The tomato went splat on the mouse/rat I think (it all happened fast), the worm got free and the rodent ran off, and I was able to pick up the worm. I'm not sure if that's because I threw the tomato at the taxman and so it became a trigger or if it could have happened anytime the rodent runs by for some kind of timing-based puzzle, with the taxman being a way to get rid of the tomato so you can get another one or what. Either way I got a worm I guess.

My first thought was bait. I don't have anything I could use as a fishing rod nor any reason to need one right now, but I figured I'd try running with that idea anyway and try the twine with the worm. It worked so now I have a worm with string.

Turns out you can get two worms as long as one of them has the string. I briefly had a worm with string and just a worm. Then I gave the second worm string and so it became the same item and they merged into one I guess. Ah well, fun while it lasted.

As for the hair roller, I went back to the barber and yeah the woman had one in her hair that I missed before. Examining it led to a conversation about how those curls would be so traditional of her, but she wants to be at the head of fashion so the barber removed the hair roller for her. So, that's a thing that's done and I have no idea why or what do with. It's not like I got to keep the roller myself.

These weren't immediately helpful but they did end up so later. So, darn accidental guide usage.

I wandered aimlessly trying to find things I missed. I ultimately ended up coming back to the barber again--I kept not actually getting anything from there and there had to be something. This whole situation is just a string of accidents. Turns out while waving my cursor around I spotted a pocket on the barber. I tried pick-pocketing, but he spotted me. I talked to him to get him daydreaming about the milk maid again and then was able to pick his pocket and got the hair roller. I also examined the woman and found out she smelled faintly of brimstone. Are you making a connection, reader? Because I sure didn't!

Since I finally did a successful pick-pocketing I wondered if I might have missed anything with the sleazy hourglass holding guy in the library. While that aspect didn't go anywhere I did see that he had a golden banana in his ear that I'd missed before--his ticket to all of the library, gets you into the shelves, and gets you special service from the librarian.

I couldn't figure out how to get the banana off him if you can, so onto the pile of things to solve later.

While I was in the university anyway I stopped by the archchancellor's office just in case. And then I solved the dragon's breath by pure accident. Errors and accidents is the name of the game for this post after all! I wondered what would happen if you gave him other items. The hair roller seemed to have a notable point of being metal. So I just happened to choose it and... it was the item needed for the dragon's breath.

Let me tell you the brief rush of confusion and panic that flashed by though. Like can you give him anything? Can you lose items permanently?? Can you dead-end yourself after all??? When did I last save???? Then it hit me: woman smelling of brimstone. Passed onto the hair-roller. Close enough to dragon's breath, I guess. And just to make all this even better is that I had made a connection! If I had just carried the thought... See, when I saw she smelled faintly of brimstone, my first thought was "oh no, is she meant to be Sybil Ramkin?" because she doesn't seem anything like Sybil, but you know Sybil takes care of swamp dragons, so that could be why brimstone. Swamp dragons. Dragons. sigh. At least it was another ingredient so only one left! I thought.

I still had no idea what to do about that dang imp. Nobby had mentioned the Broken Drum and I was wondering if I might be missing a location entirely, while also worrying if I was maybe just missing something at the Alchemist's. I was getting kind of worried about not knowing what to focus on. Well, it turned out I was missing a location.

There it was, dinky little bit on the map that looks no different from anywhere else.

But a new location means new items. At least that's always the hope and it was the case here although they didn't end up being helpful to my current cause.

I had a chat with the bored bouncer troll who thumped Rincewind several times because Rinecewind kept saying words that rhymed with thump and he misheard I guess. It was another joke that went too long...

Then I headed inside.

I had several people to talk to:

the pair of Hublanders (same as Red Sorghum) who were just itching for a fight

the poor beat up guy who I guess got into a fight

a scared fellow who had his gate pass stolen by a ghost he thinks. He went on at length in quite some detail

the bartender

and Fleabart the Incredible, a major braggart

The gate pass seems like it may be relevant but not yet. Conversing with Fleabart led to getting a couple tankards of beer that could be shared with him or kept. I shared first then did it again and kept the drinks.

I chatted with the barkeep and got another drink and so kept the resultant empty tankard. And I scooped some safety matches off the bar.

There was a trapdoor leading to a very dark space. It was too dark to do anything and the matches don't seem to be helpful on their own. I left it for now. As well.

Since I missed the Broken Drum on the map, I wondered if I missed other areas. Sure enough:

I missed a livery stable. I like this map in some ways, but man there is just 0 indication of locations to visit. I was doing a sweeping the mouse all over in a pixel hunt at this point.

I thought I got a screencap of the livery stable. I guess I did not. Well, there was a little stable, a cart, a sack of corn and a donkey that appeared under the weather and has a tail that could be interacted with. I got some corn and made note of the donkey.

Corn! My saviour! I knew exactly what to do if not how exactly it would help. Back to the alchemist and that flask of cooking oil.

Popcorn! Or as they know it, banged-corn! (A Moving Pictures the book thing).

With the Alchemist hiding from the unexpected rain of snacks I was able to try to grab the imp. Except the imp ran away into the sink and down the drainpipe outside and into the mouse hole. But that was okay! I was riding the high of finding solutions and making progress and knowing what I was doing rather than stumbling into things accidentally. It was worm on a string time. I figured I could send it in after the imp or use it as bait. The imp was drawn out by the worm on a string and Rincewind snagged the imp.

Who's my good worm. You are, yes you are. Mission accomplished!

I wandered back to the Archchancellor feeling all good and ready to see this spell come into fruition and...

And he took the imp and sent me on my way as he always does.

You know earlier how I said this, "Only one ingredient left that's a total mystery." You know how I said this was a post of errors? Yeah, here's the biggest one. My apparently not so good observation skills strike again. Turns out I managed to miss seeing and hearing an ingredient entirely! I guess there was a total mystery ingredient!

That's right. I also need a magic coil, or, for more detail: 'a spiral of neverfailing induction'. I did see it before; I just didn't... register it somehow. I haven't a clue where this is. I wasn't keeping any eye out for anything like this. I'm just staring at my notes desperately trying to narrow down where I haven't found anything or didn't find much and hoping like heck I'm not missing yet another location entirely somehow. Gently screaming.

I did pop back to the Broken Drum. New location and all. I learn my lessons. ish. I talked to the barkeep again and got some Counterwise wine that Rincewind drunk but I got to keep the glass.

Basically made of grapes from the future. Rincewind doesn't remember last night. Rincewind's hangover happened yesterday.

Meanwhile I've gone from sweet sweet victory to what now? Where is this coil??

Locations that I've gotten nothing or very little from:

Fishmongers: I got an octopus portrait I may have forgotten to mention but that's it. There's that swordfish, and caviar

Inn

Park

Palace only gave me mirror

Livery Stable only gave me corn and still have sad or sick donkey unresolved

Dunnyking machine area

City gate

So maybe something from one of those. I think I've now found all the locations on the map. I really swept around it with my mouse after the Broken Drum and livery stable.

So, next time it's time to find the Fifth Ingredient. May it not lead me to even more agony.

[snickerdoodlles]

Feel free to just ignore this if you really dislike the phrase that much, and then I will just try to remember never to use that phrase for your stories again, but I wanted to let you know that I consider "crack taken seriously" to be one of the highest accolades to give an author. Because they took something that anyone else would have made into a one line gag and filled it with life; with joy and fear and insight and inspiration; brilliant worldbuilding and inspired character development.

I don't like most humor. It usually just comes off as mocking and mean to me. But crack taken seriously is when someone takes the bitter absurdity of those "funny" bits of our world and cracks it open to show that there is an entire story full of beauty and hope inside, not just the momentary embarrassment and frustration I expected.

And also, it's just really hard to do. Most people don't have the imagination to find an entire universe in a silly joke, much less the skill to write it. Douglas Adams is crack taken seriously. And Terry Pratchett, JRR Tolkin, William Gibson. Anyone who thought of something radically different than our reality, and then wrote it so well that we all saw our own lives reflected in it. In fact, it showed us ourselves reflected so clearly that it taught us things about ourselves we never thought to look at; changed us in ways that a story that pandered to our expectations of how the world works never could.

Done right, absurdity and silliness leaves the reader receptive to considering radical ideas they might have ignored in any other context. I find it an amazingly powerful literary device. Most cracky fanfic doesn't go that far, of course. But even when it's just used to give a different interpretation of a cannon scene, not political commentary, it hits me harder than more conventionally structured works trying to do the same thing. And I can't write it at all so I find it really technically impressive when someone pulls it off. The timing and pacing is really hard to do!

( crack taken seriously tends to be something that makes me giggle or go "WTF?" at first, but ends with me sitting in stunned silence, thinking "OH." I mean, there are variants, it's not like a rule, but that's kind of the core feeling I get from it.

It's an actual unique genre in my mind, not literally something silly treated as serious)

Oh friend it's okay, I don't actually need anyone to change up their tagging systems for me! And thank you for sharing your thoughts on the 'crack taken seriously' tag 🥰 I do objectively know most people mean it in a good way, it just also catches me off guard every time because the pieces of my writing that I think people label me as a 'crack' writer for aren't what I'd label as 'crack', so there's a disconnect for me (ie something like my necromancy AU I haven't written yet, where Chay can just raise the dead as he pleases and I use that to dig into Big's relationship with personhood, is crack taken seriously to me; stuff that just plays off silliness like an accidental pony-play or ridiculous friendship shenanigans i'd just tag as humor). plus, the definition for 'crack' is all over the place-- I always assume the nicer definitions for my own sake, but I'm not entirely sure sometimes.

so in a combination of my own writing insecurities and the definition mismatch, I feel very...odd? ig? about the label. it's very much a me thing, I know that, but sometimes the specific combination of tags left on my stuff feels more like "this person's a crack writer BUT--" and it kinda feels like I'm being put on the backfoot/dismissed, or that what I like to write is somehow 'less' and needs to be justified to be liked. this is still a me issue, but sometimes the disconnect hits strong and I just feel baffled for the day.

[deeply-unserious-fellow]

OMG WE'RE RANKING HAZBIN SONGS!?!?!?!? MY TURN MY TURN MY TURN!!!

Respectless: Carmilla and Velvette both have such satisfying voices omfg. Also the beat goes sO HARD- it catches your attention and DOESN'T LET IT GO! Also it moves the plot forward very effectively which is actually really important for songs in musicals to do so. That's nice. Tbh it's only flaw is being too short-

Stayed Gone: VOX MY BELOVED- this song is so fucking catchy. It also kinda gives me Will Wood vibes, and I love Will Wood so ofc I'm gonna love the Will Wood ass song. Love how petty Al and Vox are, like it's so fucking funny. The lore drops are also really interesting. Aaaaaaaand Alastor's bit at the end reminded me of the Nowhere King and I love Centaurworld so :)

Loser, Baby: Pretty obvious why this one's so high up; Huskerdust, Keith David, cute bonding, has a message I needed to hear tbh, and its catchy as FUCK

Hell Is Forever: God I love all the different genres they play around with in this show- like I was NOT expecting a straight up ROCK BALLAD in the FIRST FUCKIN EPISODE but god Im so happy we got it. This song goes so fucking hard. Alex Brightman should be allowed to sing more Rock n' Roll.

Poison: Once again, this song is catchy as hell! Blake Roman's vocal preformance is also phenomenal, like that man can fuckin SING!!! Of course he can he's been on broadway and releases his own music bUt you get it. Also that final verse... man. In the context of the episode this song is emotionally devastating, out of context it's uh. Still really sad tbh but it's easier to bop along to it cause you don't have the visuals- Idk it's just a fuckin banger man. Though speaking of the visuals VOX WHAT WAS THAT FUCKING LOOK WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO CONVEY HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT ANGE- *gets shot dead*

Happy Day In Hell: Honestly? Pretty neutral on this song. Love Erika Henningsen's voice, I think it's catchy(no duh), and the Disney Princess vibes are IMMACULATE. Not a huge fan of the random shift in the music I wanna say half way through? But otherwise it's a good song I think, conveys Charlie's motives really well.

Whatever It Takes: Okay okay look. It's a good song. Does it's job in the episode. It's just not for me. I think it goes on a little too long, and I think that, while Daphne Ruben-Vega's voice fits the song PERFECTLY, Stephanie Beatriz was singing too high in her range to a distracting degree. Like I think there was something wonky going on because that shit gave me the same whiplash I got when Marinette started singing in the Miraculous movie, and it just. Doesn't fit the style of the song. Like Vaggie's part should've been more belty or something. Idk man I might be too out of my lane w/ this for my critique to be valid, because I have literally never written a song before, and music is VERY subjective so I don't think I can even be objectively right here, but still. Oppinions.

It Starts With Sorry: Look, I know this song is supposed to be a joke, but the first time I saw the episode that did n o t click with me, and without the understanding that it isn't entirely serious this song just feels so fucking out of place and really falls flat. Like it feels like somebody took a song from My Little Pony: FiM, made an AMV with Hazbin characters, and then threw it in the episode, y'know? And like don't get me wrong MLP has some FUCKIN bangers(Say Goodbye to the Holiday, This Day Aria, etc), but a lot of the musical numbers are still really bland and samey, y'know? So uh yeah it's a decent song and a funny joke but def my least favorite so far.

[franciskirkland-deleted]

Hypermobile Françoise anon here

Do you have any PruFra headcanons?

hello i'm back and ready to be a little stinker. i love prufra!! both on it's own and as part of the btt as a throuple (pruspafra 🤤🤤🤤)

i have a specific vision of gil and therefore prufra that's kinda crack-y but that's not bc i can't take him seriously i just don't tend to go super in depth with my characterization of him.

i'm not an expert on him and don't want to offend anyone who's like really into prussia as a character bc that's entirely valid of course. gil has so much potential, he's hella interesting as a person and a nation but personally i am so goofy about him and i love how it's kind of agreed in fanon that he's a mess. like those posts about how he doesn't have a bank account and his license has been expired since the 90s? he has 'man found dead in ditch wearing clown costume; no foul play suspected' vibes.

to me gil is the fandom cryptid. anyway. in humanverse i love punk!gil, but like emo/skater punk blended with 90s/2000s nu-goth (sorry is that word salad? am i aging myself?) or dare i say mall goth?

gil would work at spencer's. fran has a pretty girl job or no job at all, s/he's babygirl daddy takes care of her?? gil is an epic gamer. fran hardly knows how to operate a computer. he drinks the limited edition mountain dews and probably collects the cans. fran thinks that's disgusting.

as for prufra i kinda see them as like. cringefail loser who coasts through life, gets with the pretty shiny popular girl and it doesn't make sense to anyone but they just... work so well. no one saw it coming but they're perfect together.

their tastes and aesthetics could not be any more different, their energies are on opposite ends of the spectrum. i'm not saying that they can't appreciate one another's interests or their lifestyles are inherently incompatible, it's very much a case of opposites attracting.

i think gil would see fran as more put together than him and feel inferior bc of this perception, but fran actually thinks so highly of gil, he's his silly goose. alternately they could both be disasters, that's hot too. also gil fucks like an animal so even if he is a walking dumpster fire that alone compensates for the fact. (sugar mommy fran??)

they're great as fwb or in a long term committed romantic relationship, but not gonna lie there are other france pairings that i ride harder for. i would like to explore this ship more though. if anyone has any prufra prompt ideas or requests to send my way that'd be cool.

bonus hc; i think gil can make fran laugh soo hard. like, snort laugh. more than anyone. gil loves this and takes advantage of it constantly, making jokes or pulling goofy faces at the most inconvenient times.

bonus bonus; they're the couple who calls each other king and queen and it starts as a joke but becomes serious.

[milesconure]

Sonic Frontiers Review

Hello I finished Sonic Frontiers and now I'm crying. So I think it's the perfect time for me to reviewe this god damn game. Let's just start with one thing I wanted to do from the beginning since I started playing this game. Like I said, so far, my favourite sonic game was Sonic Generations. And I was wondering if this game would ever beat it. So what's the answer to that question? Yes, it absolutely beats Sonic Generations. Sonic Frontiers is officialy my favourite sonic game. Not only, because it has something that I always wanted, which is open world, but because it's really well made game that entertains for hours! Of course, it's not perfect, but I'll get to that later. Let's list positive sides of this game. 1. GAMEPLAY It's honestly really fun, especially with open world formula. Many fans were worried about it, but they did such a great job with it. We have 5 islands where we can run freely and do what we want, stunts, challanges, stages, SO MUCH THINGS. So it never gets boring. And let's be real, who never wanted to run around big fields with Sonic's speed. I did, that's for sure! What I also like is that the open world feels like and actual world. We have days, we have nights and even different weathers! It makes those islands more 'alive'.

2. STAGES Like I said, many fans were worried about open world, but we got stages too, which is great! And let's be real when it comes to stages in Frontiers. They're not as good as stages in Sonic Generations for example. But in this case, I understand. Because this game is not just stages. There's more they needed to work on. And stages, even if quite short and easy when it comes to red rings, are still fun! And it's fun to fully complete them. 3. MINIGAMES Aside from this normal gameplay where we just run around and complete stages, there are also minigames we can find on our way! Like for example pinball unlocking our way to third Titan, or this weird hacking game or FISHING! Those minigames are simple, but super fun and can really diversify the gameplay. I fell in love with fishing game, because it made me relax when story made me sad :'> Also I love Big.

4. CHARACTERS The characters were actually fixed!! Are you tired of Amy being only a sonic fangirl? Or Knuckles being a dumb comic relief? Or Tails being a coward? This game fixed that for you. Amy is still crushing on Sonic, but she's this sweet girl that wants to help others and will be stubborn if you're not willing to help. Knuckles is the responsible Guardian of the Master Emerald, but he still likes to crack jokes and just have fun. And Tails is the smart fox he always was, who wants to be truly independent and be his own hero. Eggman is not just a joke anymore, but truly an evil scientist that wants Sonic dead. And Sonic. Sonic is still this chill dude that loves joking around. But he still knows when to stop and get serious. Especially seeing his friends in distress. The moment when he saw that Knuckles is upset and at first wanted to just start with jokes, BUT he stopped himself and listened to him. This was brilliant. The same with Tails. Seeing him as this big older brother cheering up Tails made me really emotional. That's how it's supposed to be. There should be time for fun moments, but also serious things.

5. SAGE Sage is the new villain. And seeing the previous villain from Sonic Forces, really made me worry. But God, Sage is just so.... so amazing. She was so hostile and cold towards Sonic, trying to just murder him with those giants. But then she started to understand him more and more while the story progressed. And another great thing about her? Her relationship with Eggman. Seeing her call him father and Eggman call her his daughter... We've never seen something like this. We've never seen this side of Eggman. And when she sacrificed herself in the end, I actually wanted to cry. Especially seeing Eggman look into the sky, visibly upset. I never thought I would feel so bad for him. WHY DO YOU HAVE TO HURT ME SO MUCH.

6. PLOT

It's been a while since Sonic had some interesting plot. Discovering the backstory of the Ancients. Titans. And the Koko. It was so exciting to see more and more of it. Also, why do Ancients look like Chaos? :0

7. MUSIC

The music in this game is just so good! From the peaceful soundtrack you can hear while running around the islands to exciting soundtracks you can hear while battling Guardians TO EVEN MORE EXCITING SONGS IN TITAN BATTLES. COME ON THOSE ARE MINDBLOWING! Shout out to my favourites: 'Undefeatable', 'Break Throught It All', 'Find Your Flame' <3

8. FIGHTING MECHANICS Sonic was never a fighting game, but this concept works in Sonic Frontiers and it's honestly really great. All the cool moves Sonic can make while battling enemies (of course if you unlock them). It just makes me want to fight those enemies more and more.

9. SUPER SONIC AND TITANS The last one is the best thing in Sonic Frontiers. Super Sonic, something that the previous game DIDN'T EVEN HAVE. But he returned and absolutely destroyed all fans. Usually Super Sonic was only in final battles in the end of the games, but here, we have 5 super battles! That's just- IT'S A LOT. Not to mention every battle is unique. While fighting Giganto we have so much freedom while flying around and hitting him and doing crazy combos. With Wyvern, we need to be more careful and actually understand this boss to defeat him. With Knight, we also have a lot of freedom, but in the middle, we also need to think a bit to land a hit on him. Overall Super Sonic in Sonic Frontiers is actually portrayed as this powerful being that will literally beat the living shit out of you and slam you into the cliff if you keep messing with his friends.

So that's all when it comes to positive things (I hope I didn't forget about something). So now the negative things. Like I said, this game is not perfect. 1. THE END The final boss disappointed me and I wanted to make a rant about how it's not even a boss fight, but I've actually read that it's like that only in normal mode. If you have a hard mode, there's going to be a real battle, but a really hard one that will get you an achievement. I- don't know what to say about this. Why delete the whole thing from this one mode? It's the final battle! It should be there, no matter what mode you're playing on. If I didn't read that just now, I would have thought that there's no battle at all and it just ends so fast! ESPECIALLY that beating up Supreme was so easy and fast that even Sonic said 'That's it?'. So I really thought there's more. But I'm gonna say more about it, after I actually play this fight. Maybe my opinion about it will change I dunno. 2. WEIRD CONTROLS OR SOMETHING Overall playing is super fun, but on stages, controlling Sonic is just so weird and hard to control, because he ends up all over the place. I even saw some mods already that fix the issues. 3. 2D SECTIONS Oh my God here we go I've never been a huge fan of 2D sections in modern games even tho there are exceptions where they do work. In Sonic Frontiers we can see 2D sections on some stages or some part of open world. I honestly don't really like them in open world, since we're supposed to feel free there, but if you found yourself in 2D section you need to either turn back or complete it (or fall somehow). I personally sometimes felt trapped when I got into them. But 2D sections in stages is the worst thing. I'm just gonna say it right now. I don't have anything against 2D sections if they work. In Sonic Frontiers... they don't. For some reason Sonic feels just so much slower in them. And it's just... not really fun and I don't understand why it is that way.

4. LACK OF SOME SONIC'S ABILITIES Why did they get rid of drift? I know they added it on this one stage (or maybe more of them, idk), but drift should be something that Sonic always has, especially since some stages really need this ability. Ok, maybe I get it, there's just not enough buttons yikes- This is also something minor, but what really bugged me is that Sonic can't run on water while boosting. Which makes me sad, because I loved doing that in Generations.

5. CAN'T BATTLE WITH TITANS AGAIN Why, just- WHYYY. Battling with Titans is one of the most exciting things to do in this game! I don't want to play the whole game again just to fight Knight for example. This option should be here, since you could do that in previous sonic games. And yeah, there are saves. You can just save the game before the battle with Titans starts and then just make a new one. But there's only 4 saves. One is autosave. So you only have 3. That's how I ended up with saves with Giganto's fight, Wyvern's fight and also Supreme's fight. But I can't fight again with Knight- I've heard something that they will probably add this feature, but I'm not sure-

There are probably things I forgot about or they were just so small they don't bug me that much. Overall, positives of this game are much more stronger than the negatives! Sonic Frontiers is definitely one of the best sonic games that ever came out. And personally, it's my favourite from all of them. This game is beautiful and made me so emotional it's not even funny. I wish I could forget it and play it again, because that was truly an experience! Although I'm definitely going to still play it and unlock more and more achievements. And we're actually going to get 3 DLCs so there's still more ahead of us! I really recommend this game to everyone who loves Sonic and recently had a lot of doubts when it comes to his future in modern games. Thank you for reading my review and remember that a lot of things said are very opinionated! You do not have to agree with everything I'm saying! And now....

Time to watch Sonic Prime now :')

[apocalypticavolition]

Let's (re)Read the Hobbit! Chapters 10 & 11

The day grew lighter and warmer as they floated along.

That'll cure the hypothermia!

Okay, I'll try to ease off on this, but only because they're almost out of the barrels.

And far away, its dark head in a torn cloud, there loomed the Mountain!

It's been looming over us this whole time, so it's nice to finally see it. Plus, as a conoisseur of mountains, I can confirm that the ones that rise up without a whole range around them tend to look the coolest.

The elf-road through the wood which the dwarves had followed on the advice of Beorn now came to a doubtful and little used end at the eastern edge of the forest; only the river offered any longer a safe way from the skirts of Mirkwood in the North to the mountain-shadowed plains beyond, and the river was guarded by the Wood-elves’ king.

Thanks for the useless help, Beorn. Dude's probably chilling by the eastern end of the road with his bear buddies, wondering why his dinner is late. Like, I legit can't even give Gandalf too much shit for being behind the times even though I'm increasingly uncertain where he's been the past few years (Gondor?), but I feel like Beorn shoulda had a clue the road was no longer usable.

At the southern end the doubled waters poured out again over high waterfalls and ran away hurriedly to unknown lands.

I assume the narration here means "unknown to Bilbo", since we know from this very text that downriver is Dorwinion; this particular river flows into the Sea of Rhun.

But men remembered little of all that, though some still sang old songs of the dwarf-kings of the Mountain, Thror and Thrain of the race of Durin, and of the coming of the Dragon, and the fall of the lords of Dale.

It's been over a hundred years, so it makes sense that no one directly remembers things, but it is a bit surprising it's falling out of memory so quickly when the ruins are right fucking there.

“Well, are you alive or are you dead?” asked Bilbo quite crossly. Perhaps he had forgotten that he had had at least one good meal more than the dwarves, and also the use of his arms and legs, not to speak of a greater allowance of air.

Bilbo, you are being a complete dick about this.

Knocking outside and calling only discovered about six dwarves that could answer.

I lied, here's my last joke: the other six can't answer because they're dead!

Dwalin and Balin were two of the most unhappy, and it was no good asking them to help.

Balin loses some points here, but he's still in the lead.

“Thorin son of Thrain son of Thror King under the Mountain!” said the dwarf in a loud voice, and he looked it, in spite of his torn clothes and draggled hood. The gold gleamed on his neck and waist; his eyes were dark and deep.

Frankly you'd think the ruined clothes would completely shatter the effect. I guess they don't get too many fakers.

“We have none,” said Thorin, and it was true enough: their knives had been taken from them by the wood-elves, and the great sword Orcrist too. Bilbo had his short sword, hidden as usual, but he said nothing about that.

Tolkien, this is what we call, "Not true." Sucks about Orcrist though. It woulda been real handy in the later chapters.

“Is this true?” asked the Master. As a matter of fact he thought it far more likely than the return of the King under the Mountain, if any such person had ever existed.

Ah, here's where the clothing problem comes into play. Still though, the Master is hardly being unrealistic even if he is wrong.

The King beneath the mountains, The King of carven stone, The lord of silver fountains Shall come into his own!

See, the Rivendell elves should have been singing a variant of this if they wanted to be nice.

The Wood-elves themselves began to wonder greatly and even to be afraid. They did not know of course how Thorin had escaped, and they began to think their king might have made a serious mistake. As for the Master he saw there was nothing else for it but to obey the general clamour, for the moment at any rate, and to pretend to believe that Thorin was what he said.

I always love it when the mob is in the right and the upper class has to bow to their whims or pay the price.

Thorin looked and walked as if his kingdom was already regained and Smaug chopped up into little pieces.

While Thorin's recalcitrance towards the Elf-King was perhaps a little over the top, this is a clear indicator of the problems that Thorin will be having shortly.

He had not forgotten the look of the Mountain, nor the thought of the dragon, and he had besides a shocking cold. For three days he sneezed and coughed, and he could not go out, and even after that his speeches at banquets were limited to “Thag you very buch.”

Funny that only the guy in the barrel is particularly suffering.

“Very well! We’ll see! No treasure will come back through Mirkwood without my having something to say in the matter. But I expect they will all come to a bad end, and serve them right!”

Only three of them, though I guess one comes to a Bag End. Still, not a very good guess your haughtiness.

“Let them go and bother Smaug, and see how he welcomes them!” he thought.

Not the smartest move by the Master, considering what the risk to the town is. Hell, it even comes to pass! This guy is the worst leader we've seen so far.

The Master and his councillors bade them farewell from the great steps of the town-hall that went down to the lake. People sang on the quays and out of windows. The white oars dipped and splashed, and off they went north up the lake on the last stage of their long journey. The only person thoroughly unhappy was Bilbo.

Honestly you'd think the little dude would expect everything would be totally hunky-dory at this point because nothing has gone wrong for him in any significant way at all. I guess worriers are gonna worry.

Here they were joined by the horses with other provisions and necessaries and the ponies for their own use that had been sent to meet them.

I wonder if they'll last any longer than the last set. Their making it to the third day is clearly mostly related to the dwarves not riding them.

Balin and Bilbo rode behind, each leading another pony heavily laden beside him; the others were some way ahead picking out a slow road, for there were no paths.

I'm not sure how I can possibly twist this into an example of Balin being the best dwarf when all the others are being useful, but that's not going to stop me. Balin for best dwarf!

Nothing moved in the waste, save the vapour and the water, and every now and again a black and ominous crow.

Corvids get a really bad rap. They deserve better. If there's crows here, then there's gotta be something worth eating, they can't just be feeding on dwarf corpses that are a hundred years old.

“That does not prove it,” said Balin, “though I don’t doubt you are right. But he might be gone away some time, or he might be lying out on the mountain-side keeping watch, and still I expect smokes and steams would come out of the gates: all the halls within must be filled with his foul reek.”

Dragon poop: literally steaming apparently.

Now strange to say Mr. Baggins had more than the others. He would often borrow Thorin’s map and gaze at it, pondering over the runes and the message of the moon-letters Elrond had read. It was he that made the dwarves begin the dangerous search on the western slopes for the secret door.

Gandalf externally: "You all can't go as a set of 13, it's very unlucky!"

Gandalf internally: "You morons need a babysitter and daddy's busy."

But at last unexpectedly they found what they were seeking. Fili and Kili and the hobbit went back one day down the valley and scrambled among the tumbled rocks at its southern corner.

Some small points to these two dudes for being around while Bilbo finds things.

They beat on it, they thrust and pushed at it, they implored it to move, they spoke fragments of broken spells of opening, and nothing stirred.

Hey wow, more dwarf magic. Been awhile! Of course, Bilbo can use it too presumably so it may not be dwarf magic specifically, but still. You just don't get dwarf oral spells in much other fantasy.

Down the same way they were able occasionally to lower one of the more active dwarves, such as Kili, to exchange such news as there was, or to take a share in the guard below, while Bofur was hauled up to the higher camp.

Hey I guess Fili does exist beyond being an extension of Kili!

“I am too fat for such fly-walks,” he said.

Fuck off Tolkien. I don't care that at the end of the paragraph you clarify that it's not true. You've gone to this well too many times!

Bilbo found sitting on the doorstep lonesome and wearisome—there was not a doorstep, of course, really, but they used to call the little grassy space between the wall and the opening the “doorstep” in fun, remembering Bilbo’s words long ago at the unexpected party in his hobbit-hole, when he said they could sit on the doorstep till they thought of something.

Will THIS be the last time?

"I might have known that something dreadful would happen to me in the end. I don’t think I could bear to see the unhappy valley of Dale again, and as for that steaming gate! ! !”

Poor Bilbo, 3 exclamation points is a sign of someone bordering on madness. Also yeah them sending him through the Front Gate is pretty rich on their part, invisibility or no.

There on the grey stone in the grass was an enormous thrush, nearly coal black, its pale yellow breast freckled with dark spots. Crack! It had caught a snail and was knocking it on the stone. Crack! Crack!

Shame they couldn't be arsed to reread the runes and had to find it solely by coincidence. These asshole dwarves don't deserve their treasure; Bilbo should get it all.

Now they all pushed together, and slowly a part of the rock-wall gave way. Long straight cracks appeared and widened. A door five feet high and three broad was outlined, and slowly without a sound swung inwards. It seemed as if darkness flowed out like a vapour from the hole in the mountain-side, and deep darkness in which nothing could be seen lay before their eyes, a yawning mouth leading in and down.

11 chapters and they've only just now reached the dungeon. It's just like every D&D campaign I've ever played!

[culttvblog]

The Guardians: Part 6 - Appearances

I can only reiterate what I said in a previous post and have read in online reviews of this show, that it seems to change tack somewhat from now on. The earlier episodes were perhaps a little worthy and stodgy, containing lost of serious stuff about political subjects and philosophical discussions, but it now includes more human interest.

In this one much of the human interest is in the fact that Mrs Weston's husband is reintroduced to the show, having been missing presumed dead for most of it up to now. It turns out that he is being held in a 'hospital' for special - I'm not sure what the word is - let's say programming, to stop him being a naughty little Communist. In other words torture him to the point where he loses all independence of thought. When I say torture, what I really mean is being held in a room with no windows, forced to watch Coronation Street (I'm not even joking) and experiencing mind games played by the world's most annoying psychiatrist.

Helpfully, the doctor pops round to see Mrs Weston, just casually to tell her that her husband is still alive and incidentally we all know you've been shagging the Prime Minister's son and how are you going to deal with this nice little quandary. Therefore quite a lot of this episode is about that, and her chatting with the PM's son about the meaning of life. She also has a whole session with her psychiatrist about what's going on and whether it's possible to love two people at once.

Of course you knew that Dr Benedict wasn't going to go quiet, having casually murdered someone with his bare hands at the end of the last episode and so some of the human interest is that his wife has, naturally enough, left him and taken the children because she doesn't want to be married to a murderer. She's just vanished and the Guardians haven't come knocking on the door, which frankly doesn't seem that plausible.

The main political interest is that Benedict and a lady who is another member of the resistance group Quarmby, make an explicit plan to make their resistance actions more dramatic, which they do by planning and carrying out a bombing on Guardians headquarters. I'm quite prepared to admit that I'm getting very confused by this show's ability to introduce new characters and give existing ones different roles without explanation, but as far as I can tell all the members of Quarmby in this episode die, either shot by the Guardians, each other, or by suicide capsule. This may of course just be the impression I'm intended to get because it leaves me puzzled as to what is going to happen next, unless some of them survive or the show introduces a whole new raft of Quarmby members, which would be quite something. We do, however, see that Dr Benedict is not dead, right at the end of the episode. Goodness, this show is confusing.

The bombing takes little time just after the middle of the episode and the rest of the time is depicted in quite a lot of talk in the 'hospital' where Weston is being held and between Mrs Weston and the PM's son. Quarmcy then approaches another of the cast right at the end of the episode, which frankly comes as no surprise because all their other members are dead and they'd have had to pick someone familiar to us in the cast.

I think I have identified this show's difficulty which is making it so difficult: it started off by trying to be a political thriller, but it's not possible to fill thirteen hour-long episodes with political discussion and terrorists events without the state actually being overthrown in the third episode, so it's forced to use what feels like a lot of padding. Even given the slower pace of the TV of the time it feels plodding at times and over-talky. I think it would be been better with fewer episodes or even half-hour instead of whole hour episodes.

My main criticism of this episode specifically is that so much time is given to chat about relationships and yet there is absolutely no discussion of the ethics or legality of keeping an adult human prisoner in a hospital and subjecting him to psychological programming or deprogramming, in the name of drilling the 'Communism' out of him. I have noted before that this show tends to do this and just depict some things while endlessly discussing others. It's really strange, especially as it could quite easily have been worked into the episode by having the PM discuss it or having a questioning Guardian wonder what was going on.

What I like best about this episode is that the Guardians headquarter is very oviously a 1960s-vintage office building, dressed to be the Guardians' headquarters by barriers and some sand bags in front of it. When Quarmby throw the bomb at it the explosion very obviously happens behind the sand bags without injuring the building and an already-alight Guardian staggers into view from the other direction. I am not criticising this, but praising the amateur theatricals standards of 1970s TV.

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[ladyintree]

dissecting (some) taissa scenes from 1x10:

of course she's a misty hater but also it's still instinct for her to want to be by shauna's side, and even though she definitely wouldn't have wanted to do the job shauna and nat were doing, she would have, if it meant that it could help shauna in any way. because at this point, she believes that this man shauna trusted and fell for was using her and lied to her the entire time - which is something that tai herself used to have a very big fear of in getting involved with anyone, so it's scary to see shauna go through it, especially after all of what shauna said to her when they were talking about feeling "it."

tai being a vision board girl is something i've always thought about. she's had one since she was really young, becoming more serious about it through high school because she obviously had a certain plan for her life - one that was immediately disrupted and she pushed herself way too hard to get back to it after rescue.

tragic that a scene of these three burying a body was deleted but i'm feeling so many things about taissa being the one to insist they all do their part. taissa who is selfish, taissa who hired someone to test the other survivors to make sure they wouldn't talk despite knowing it was a betrayal, taissa who is the first to saw "ew" about the dead body. but it's for shauna. and she was willing to do whatever it took to take the blackmailer down. and maybe there's a little part of her that is trying to take some accountability for the part she's played in any of this.

i've already yelled at basically everyone about this line but it's probably my all time favorite script note, of one of my favorite taissa moments. she tries to let herself break down and cry after burying the body - but it takes her all of, like, 2 seconds before she immediately stops because that's not her, even entirely alone, even when she has every reason to break down. so she collects herself. even at home, because that's what she always does and that's who she is. that's who she has to be.

i care so bad for tai and shauna both wanting to go into this pretending they're fine and can move forward but shauna says "don't" and taissa knows. anyway trio of all time <3

tai and jeff's interactions always are sooo funny to me. she does not give a fuck about that tie <3 love your small talk senator <3. also, celebrities.

bone talisman arc you are so important to me. tai going from belittling van for it, to unconsciously stealing it from her in their sleep to protect herself while van gets hurt in the process, to van spotting it around her neck as she struggles to get back, to van having it now and making it obvious to tai and having this moment of addressing it but not actually talking about it. because tai was obviously not going to bring it up. she sees it and tries to avoid it and brush it away but clearly it's still upsetting van, rightfully. love this energy from van so much it's one of my all time favorite van moments.

if you're not cheering for van when she stands up for herself what are you doing!!! i love her using the word "dumb" because it's exactly how tai looks at it when she first sees the bones and when she hears van talk about it. and it's not that she actually, genuinely thinks van's thoughts are dumb - it's her own defense mechanism. she's scared, van's right, and she doesn't have the answers, so it's easier to pretend everyone else is in the wrong for questioning it all, and that means van gets the brunt of it too. she tries to choose her words carefully for van's benefit and still ends up making a joke out of it because she's the one struggling to find answers. and tai doesn't want to hear that she doesn't know what's happening out there. because she doesn't but she's trying to pretend otherwise!

genuinely did not think they were going to be okay after this. it's wild to me that their first "i love you" drops in the very next episode because tai's way of dealing with this fight is so upsetting. van is finally standing up to her, telling her exactly what she feels and telling her tai can't convince her otherwise. tai still doesn't like it, and she's still not willing to really listen, but she sees van about to cry, and she drops it. there's no indication that she's actually listening to her now, and even 2+ months later, it's clear she's still trying to shut down the conversation, but she's scared of losing van so she shuts down and decides to brush off the fight instead, getting nowhere. i think van finds out about the sleepwalking shortly after this and that's likely what brings them back together - but at this point, they are not actually letting themselves talk about anything real and tai is actively trying to avoid it. once van finds out about the sleepwalking, though, it's a lot harder to not actually start opening up to each other.

now she's witnessing van actively participating in these things right after insisting that they were okay - she still doesn't know how to respond to it but immediately catches herself and knows she has to play nice despite it bothering her. "a peace offering" but making it clear she doesn't get it.

obsessed with tai trying twice to stop jackie + once again later to try to convince shauna to go after her. she knows that the effort is weak, but she genuinely did want to stop the tension, even though she knew jackie was going to do what jackie wanted to do. she's loyal to shauna but she's also well aware that jackie isn't wrong. and she knows that shauna is going to regret it if she lets her walk away, even though she's obviously not expecting what happens. also there's the added tension of jackie's own skewed perception of what is happening with shauna and jackie. obviously taissa does know a lot about what's going on with shauna that jackie wasn't aware of herself, so her resentment for their relationship comes from a real place, but given the narrative the scripts form between jackie + taissa, it's definitely not taissa she was going to listen to, and she'll realize that after the fact.

allie stevens i love you but i also love tai and shauna talking shit about you. especially tai who has the most complicated feelings in the world for allie (less so 25 years later, though). she's exactly the kind of people tai hoped to avoid.

tai didn't just ask simone to leave to protect simone and sammy. simone wanted to stay, she wanted to get help for taissa and genuinely just wanted to be by her side. tai is clearly right for wanting to protect them, but it's her refusal to even hear simone out that is the real problem here. because the solution should not be "if i just remove my family, i can get through the campaign, the stress will be gone, and i'll be fine again." that's the way she saw it. but what she's really saying is that she just doesn't want to accept her help, she wants to handle it on her own in ways that are clearly not affective, and that's not fair to simone or sammy. that's a temporary bandaid. and she is starting to understand that, she's just past the point of being able to stop it.

her face strangely blank, an almost frightening grin... tai i love your shifts so much.

[yuuainnie]

Self aware au: in which the plot thickens with yandere theme. (Joke)

≿━━━━༺❀༻━━━━≾

Idia: "were going to take you back to my world and you won't able to come back to life you use to have in your world, lock you up to my room unable to see anyone but me and my brother--"

Name: "can I still use internet?"

Idia: "OF COURSE NOT, WHAT IF YOULL ASK SOMEONE FOR HELP."

Name:"bruh. I totally don't know anyone and even if I know the cast they don't know me as name. They only know Yuu. You think I'll go ask people for help ?"

Idia: "...why are you asking for internet connection then?"

Name: "I would like to do my dailies to my games, of course. There still events I aren't willing to miss out! Ahaha."

Idia:"which games..."

You then show him the game you meant by opening the app. He made a long "ooohhhh" after you show him the games.

Idia: "I can see why you want to be connected with internet. As someone from Ignihyde, your free to use internet for games!"

In the end idia start to play the game after the role play you two have, you two just went and act out a plot from a fiction you have read before but on your own twist. The whole acting is from Ortho being in drama club and want to have his older brother and you to play a small play for him to gain insight from people he knows.

...

"w-what if I went full yandere like those games and fiction? What are you going to do about it?"

You stare at idia as you eat an ice cream send by a neighbor your family is close with. "Are we still acting ?" You ask him, he stared at you dead serious in the eyes through the screen.

"ooh." You thought about the plot of fiction and stories of true crime you watch on Youtube. " Can you even call it captivity if the person is willing? Can you call it Stockholm syndrome if the situation is never a kidnapping but a person happily accepting one sanity to have a life far from others ? I don't know much of that topic. But let's just say. If you ask me to go with you and live in twisted wonderland, I would grab both of your hand and ortho to live a life away from my own reality. Even it means being stuck in a room playing video game all day and night with you guys in an unknown world."

"wow, that's So deep. Pog." Idia commented with a smirk and mocking smile." Also your the insane one for having those kind of thought as normal people would love their freedom more than being captive, namechi."he says those words as if he is reflecting his own feelings with those kind of words.

"there are some people who think being captive is their normal freedom and life they are use to live. Or I just want to run away from problems if being kidnapped to another world makes them go away. I'm willingly tie myself to be kidnapped!" You jokingly said as you eat the last scoop of ice cream.

༻﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡༺

Disclaimer: do not all means follow the sample of Yuu in this story being kidnapped is bad and all. There are people that would be missing you and people that cares for you.