#I'm not starting like completely brand new as I can read music

[andresmounts2]

Taking a break from our regularly scheduled programming to ask for electric guitar suggestions.

I know it's going to be a huge learning curve, but I really want to learn one & one of my friends has a band that I'd love to join.

Any good starter brands? Or things such as picks that I could use when first starting?

[charmante-mp3]

Easier

-- Day 9; Stockings (Song Mingi x Fem!Reader)

The people called for Mingi, and so I deliver to you, Song Mingi. And yes, this is from my Kinktober prompt from last year- This is also halfway edited, ending might feel a little rushed? Idk I'll come back to this... maybe. - Kinktober ML Main ML Warnings; Fem-bodied reader, she/her pronouns, squirting, m! and f! oral receiving/giving, unprotected sex (only allowed in reading don't do irl!), thigh-riding/fucking, reader flashes Mingi on accident oops- 1.6k

Y/n looked herself up and down in the mirror, not knowing how she felt about the fabric adorning her legs. A few weeks back, she and her friends went shopping just before settling for drinks. A now monthly routine they had slowly accustomed to. On that night, when she was home the girl haphazardly threw the bags in a corner of her room. Only remembering the new items thirty minutes ago. She sat on her bed, pant less, with nothing but a cream colored sweater and a brand new pair of white stockings. Y/n had purchased many types of stockings in the past, ranging from boring long black socks to pink ones with bows adorning the edges. However, her plush thighs spilling over the top now occupied her thoughts. 

The bitter silence was the first thing Mingi noticed when he walked into the girls home. Usually, the TV was playing or maybe music but not one noise sounded through the house. Did she forget he was headed over? Mingi began to think she was gone and headed to lounge on her couch. He stopped mid-way hearing a loud sigh come from the hallway leading towards her room.

“Y/n, you here?” Mingi’s loud voice tore the girl away from her thoughts, completely forgetting entirely what she was just doing. 

“Yeah, I’m in my room,” She yelled back at him, his footsteps now making way towards her open door.

“Hey, what 'cha doin’?” Mingi’s head peaked in, his newly dyed platinum hair shining in the sun that peeked through her window. 

“I forgot about these new clothes I bought, for some reason I don’t know if I like these new socks,” She looked down at her legs with a confused glare in her eyes. Mingi’s eyes trailed down her figure, breath hitching at the white, lacy stockings. The lace at the top kept bunching together as her thighs pushed over the tight section that stopped mid thigh. Mingi’s hands bunched together as he quickly brought his eyes back to her face. Stopping the thoughts of his large hands gathering the soft skin. 

“I think they look fine,” He said after shamelessly clearing his throat. The poor girl was just as clueless as Mingi sometimes. Like in this situation, both are clueless to the effect they have on each other. Y/n’s new item flutters something in Mingi’s stomach and his complement makes way to hers. 

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. They’re kind of itchy,” The girl lifted her leg to start removing the increasingly uncomfortable stockings. In this process, accidentally flashing the man in her room.

“Oh my god Y/n,” Mingi’s eyes flew shut at what he saw and the sudden air flow in her lower area reminded her, she wasn’t wearing and pants or underwear. 

“Mingi I’m so sorry,” Her legs flew down, a blush flushing her cheeks. In different circumstances she wouldn’t have minded, but this was an accident. There’s no telling how uncomfortable Mingi was right now. 

“Can I please say something, you can hate me, think I'm gross and everything but you have such a pretty pussy,” Mingi’s hands flew to his face, a fire building up his neck as he rambled. Those words dug a deeper pit into Y/n’s stomach. Mingi was always prone to complimenting the girl, it was his second nature, but those words took this situation a bit further. 

“You can get a better look if you’d like Mingi,” Her words came out barely above a whisper. Mingi’s eyes popped open, his pants growing increasingly tighter.

“I can?” He asked breathlessly. His hands grew clammy, his heart pounding at his chest. With a nod of her head and the slow opening of her legs, the tall male quickly walked over and dove down to her. He hovered over her face before dropping to her increasingly wet pussy, shoving his face into her, inhaling the sweet smell of her sex.

“Fuck,” Mingi growled, feeling pre-cum gather in his boxers. He couldn’t worry about that right now, all he wanted was a taste. 

“Can I taste you?” Mingi asked, his breath airing over her cunt. 

“Please,” She whined at the male, one of her hands flying to his hair as his lips came in contact with her clit. 

“Fuck me, Mingi!” His pace was relentless. Her high was coming embarrassingly fast with the way he sucked and rolled his tongue around her clit. The pleasure was numbing her thighs, unable to feel the forming bruises Mingi brought upon them. Cream coated Mingi’s tongue as she came, but he didn’t stop or slow down. She clenched around nothing when his tongue occasionally slipped inside, curling around and slipping out returning to the torture on her clit.

“Mingi!” She gasped at him, her high increasing even after just cumming. Her back arched, pushing Mingi away as a clear liquid coated his face. He let out a loud groan, grasping his clothed cock as she covered him in her essence. His once light grey tee now darkened around his neck, cum covering his face. Mingi looked down at the dazed girl, her breathing labored as she came down from her high. Y/n looked down to see Mingi palming himself and with that she weakly pushed herself up, which caught Mingi’s attention. 

“Wanna make you feel good,” She said, replacing his hands with her own. Her hands softly pulled at his sweats and Mingi lifted himself, allowing her to pull out his desperate cock. A pathetic whine left his lips as her thumb met the tip, running it along the slit and wiping away the pre-cum stuck to it. His head flew back as she slid her hand further and took him down her throat. Mingi was long just as he was thick, popping him from her mouth she allowed spit to fall from it. Using the spit to jerk the other half of him she couldn’t fit in her mouth. His hands found a refugee wrapped in her hair. His stomach clenched as her throat swallowed around him, his high growing near. His hips twitched as he filled her throat with cum, pushing himself farther down her throat in the process. Y/n pushed his thighs, his cock and cum flooding out with a grotesque gurgle. 

“Shit, I’m sorry.” Mingi rushed to the girl, but she grabbed his hands.

“Mingi I need you to fuck me, please,” Her voice was hoarse and it drove him crazy. 

“Keep those on,” He grunted in her ear. Her hands stopped fiddling with the long socks covering most of her plush thighs. Mingi then picked her up and flipped them around. Her bare cunt now flushed against his bare thigh. 

“Fuck yourself on it,” Mingi’s eyes met hers as he guided her hips around his thigh. He groaned at her slick coating his thigh, small mewls now left the girls throat as Mingi continued a slow pace. Then he tensed his thigh, pushing her further into him. 

“Mingi,” Y/n whined, she wanted more unfortunately Mingi wanted to see the girl fall apart one more time before she came on his cock. His lips came in contact with her neck, before deciding he was tired of her cute sweater. He pulled it off and in return she pulled at his while still grinding on his thigh. As she worked herself, Mingi removed his own shirt allowing her to run her fingers down his chest. The action caused him to shiver as her nails scratched his abdomen. Lips had now found their way back to her neck trailing down to her breast. As Mingi kneaded at one, his mouth enveloped the other one rolling his tongue around it just as he did to her clit moments before. 

“Mingi, i’mma cum again,” The girl above him cried, throwing her head back as she continually fucked herself on his large thigh. He could feel her wetness run down his leg and his cock was red and hard all over again from watching her use him. 

“Cum on my thigh baby, you’re doing so well for me,” His deep voice rang in her ears, she chanted his name like a mantra as she chased her next high. Her eyes rolled back and her body seized, cumming on the blonde male once again. Before she was able to regain a normal state, she was placed below Mingi. He had propped her waist on a pillow before pressing himself along her back. 

“You’ll tell me to stop if it hurts, right? I need words baby,” He voiced into her ear. 

“I will,” Y/n’s voice sounded almost gone as she spoke. It was raspy and shaky, Mingi wondered what she’d sound like once he was done filling her. Mingi rubbed his cock through her folds before slowly pushing into the girl. Y/n moaned as he stretched her out perfectly ruining her cunt for anyone else. 

“So full,” She moaned as Mingi bottomed her out. Mingi’s mind was in shambles trying not to move as she clenched around him, but he needed her to move first. It was only mere seconds before Y/n’s body wiggled back to him encouraging him to move. He held himself a little longer letting out a guttural moan he towered over her, watching her increasingly fuck herself on his cock. Mingi’s patience snapped as he grabbed the girl's wrist, pinning them above her as he roughly pounded his cock into her weeping pussy. Y/n could no longer form words, just loud moans as Mingi’s hand made his way to her swollen clit. The constant pleasure building in her stomach caused her to shake at her final orgasm. Her pussy pushed out Mingi’s cock and squirted once again, now coating the male's lower half. 

At this point, Mingi didn’t know if she could handle another one so he pushed her thighs together, using the previous liquids to fuck her soft thighs. Mingi came, his seed running down onto her plush covers and brand new stockings.

“Well, if it makes you feel better I don’t think you’ll be able to wear these stockings again,” -

[tadpoles-and-daydreams]

An intro to my blog; Witchcraft, tarot, and general unhinged energy.

Bare-bones/TL;DR: My name is Frog or Froggo, whichever you prefer, I use he/him pronouns and this is a blog dedicated primarily to my practice as a witch. I do tarot readings over on Ko-FI, as well as some on here that are donation-based (You tip if you want, but you don't have to.) Donation-based readings are temporary to promote the paid readings, and I'll be closing requests once I feel I have a decent amount of people interested (or if i find that it isn't working and I'm just instead giving free readings and no paid readings.) Send in an ask for a donation-based reading, or head on over to my Ko-Fi if you want more of a guarantee that I'll get to your reading/want your reading prioritized. Please check the bottom of this post for what readings I do/don't do before sending an ask.

Me:

I go by Froggo or Frog

He/him pronouns

Trans, panromantic, polyamorous, and just generally queer.

auDHD

20

Quiet sunshine and rainbows type of guy, until you get to know me and then suddenly I won't shush and I keep talking about psychological horror

interests outside of witchcraft include writing, Genshin Impact (I promise I don't associate with the fandom they scare me so bad), music, anime, and "weird miscellaneous facts."

My craft:

I've been practicing off and on for about four years, but I've been around witchcraft my whole life. I no longer consider myself a beginner, but I wouldn't consider myself a beacon of knowledge either lol. I know enough to be comfortable practicing on my own, and giving others a few resources. If I ever post something with inaccurate information, something that appropriates any closed practices, or something that is otherwise not advisable, PLEASE let me know!

My interests in witchcraft include Tarot/oracle cards, deity work, crystals, and working with dragons. (Although, that last one is very new to me so I have very little experience to share so far.)

My work as a witch has begun to shape out as involving things that others fear and reject. I personally find this hilarious considering that I used to be so scared of everything.

I work with Persephone, Hades, Medusa, my familiar, Loki, Apollo, Aphrodite, and Khaos. They appeared to me in that order, with Aphrodite and Khaos being fairly recent additions as I'm typing this. (5/12/24) Note that this is a list of EVERYONE I work with at all, and some of them (like Medusa) only rarely show up in my life currently while others are more active.

I have a sideblog about my work with dragons, @officially-other, but it's so heavy on UPG, identity talk, feelings, etc. that I keep it separate from this blog. It's brand new as of editing but I plan on it being completely transparent.

Things to expect from me: An unreasonable amount of witchcraft memes, lots of fun little stories about my guides/deities and interactions with them, general stories about my craft. My asks are open, but I may not always have an answer to any questions! See the "not a beacon of knowledge" bullet point earlier.

DNI: Racists, misogynists, trans/homophobes, ableists, bigots of any kind, pɘdo, I feel like I'm forgetting something but overall just don't be an asshole okay??? Plz???? Thank you. 16+ minors are okay, below that you can follow and lurk just please don't start a proper conversation. (/lh, lighthearted)

TERMS FOR READINGS

Yes I know this is a bit long. I don't require that you read this but I don't answer asks with problems that could be solved by just reading this. I am no longer doing readings for anon asks, so please be off anon. Paid readings and any Tumblr readings that tip/donate beforehand will be prioritized, but other than that please be patient- when I post readings, I often get a lot of asks that takes weeks to get through.

Readings I will do:

General readings

Love readings (PLEASE check that it doesn't fall under "won't do" first)

Readings with a specific deity or entity (Paid readings get channeled typing,)

Pretty much anything that isn't on the "wont" list. (I reserve the right to say 'no' if something is brought up that I'm uncomfortable with but didn't think to put below.)

Readings I wont do:

Physical health readings (go see a professional)

Anything that constitutes "mind reading" (instead of "how does [person] truly feel" try "what's left being unsaid" or "what do I need to know" type questions.)

Sexual readings

Readings on a voice chat/call (yet)

Deity Identification readings (just not confident in them)

future spouse readings for free (I will do them paid, I just do the free readings to promote + for fun, and future spouse readings aren't fun for me)

[myloveforhergoeson]

hold on.... just thought of an online songs au where daisy put in the link to a performance by brand new day instead.... out of the three which would daisy be most enamored by and what would her dynamic with each of them be?

oh... oh wow.... my friend i love you and your big beautiful mind... this is such a cool little concept. a foray into original fiction LMAO

first, to share something slightly on topic, roxy exists in the os universe lmao. she's with james because i made her and i said so!!!!!! in this world, the thing with bnd still happened, so they're not together anymore, she moves schools and she's focusing on her own thing :)

so au of an au, daisy accidentally finds a brand new day video. right off the bat i think the music is entirely too much for her unfortunately; even though kendall sings pop punk music too, she's kind of micro-dosing with his acoustic versions. it's going to take some time for her to be like "oh wow, okay this is cool" because like all the music she listens to comes from her grandparents and church...

if she were to find herself interacting with roxy, mag, and dani i think her dynamic with each of them would be pretty different!

roxy and daisy would be friends, i like to think, but the two of them don't really have much in common. they both like to read, so that's a nice start. roxy doodles in her notebook sometimes and daisy loves to draw. but other than that... rox is super into pop culture and the latest happening and daisy lives in a completely different world. so i think their dynamic would mirror the one she and kendall will have in online songs when they first start seriously talking; just kind of showing her the ropes of tech and pop culture and whatnot. i don't think either of them would be romantically attracted to the other, but i do think secretly they'd each think the other was so cool and sweet and nice in their own special ways. daisy has traits roxy wishes she did and vice versa!

mag and daisy... look. i'm a sucker for good girl x bad boy. gotta be one of my fav tropes. but... bnd's music is still too much for dais right off the bat so i think that mag wouldn't really fuck with her after he learned that lol. his one goal in life is breaking the music industry and he's not really wasting time interacting with or talking to people that don't really slot into the future he's set up for himself. but i mean he wouldn't be dick to her or anything. i can see him like joking around with her about her lack of pop culture knowledge and telling her the crazy celebrity conspiracies he def believes in. maybe if they were older and mag mellowed out a bit more, he could find himself attracted to her if they had more in common. i don't see a world where daisy ever really finds herself attracted to him though.

dani and daisy is interesting to me... she'd probably find herself enamored with them more than the other two. there's still the music barrier i fear, but, dani comes from a pretty traditional and religious family like daisy does. i think that despite their religious upbringings being different, they could relate to each other on that front! i do think she'd find the drums more interesting to play than guitar just because it's so much more animated - so if she found a really good clip of dani drumming i could see her watching that a lot like she watched kendall's video :) i also imagine that of the three, dani is most chill. they're slightly more introverted than mag and roxy are so their energy level would also be way better for daisy to handle!! i think given time they could find themselves in a little something-something :p dani is pretty fond of nature too, just like daisy is too. they can have some sweet hikes all around minnesota and virginia

idk what do yall think? maybe i just don't like mag so much i'm not able to see his similarities to kendall lol. because, i mean, daisy is going to learn that kendall has a mean streak eventually so... hm. interesting!! tysm for this cross-over question i just ADORE IT <3

[contreparry]

Hello, happy Friday/DADWC! For a prompt, may I submit: “You wrote me a song?” from the Soft Sentence Starters.

Here's some JosephinexLeliana for @dadrunkwriting!

Josephine loved music.

She was no musician herself. Her hobbies, few that they were, tended towards the practical. She enjoyed knitting when she had the time, and reading was her favored pastime. And she loved a math game or two when she came across one. But music was prohibitively expensive: the instruments, the tutors, the sheet music, the books, the repairs- far too expensive to get into, and by the time she had the opportunity to learn Josephine was far too embarrassed to start. She hardly wished to be compared to her peers at school who had been playing instruments since they were children.

But Josephine loved music. There was rarely a concert or assembly she did not attend when she lived in Val Royeux, and she had a handful of favorite musicians who busked at various street corners in the city. One of her favorite pastimes was to find a musician or band playing in public and settle in at a nearby cafe or shop to listen to a full set before departing. It was a small indulgence, but one that Josephine held onto through her school days. She would listen to one set of music and a purchase a treat of some kind (a cup of chocolate or coffee, a brand-new pen, a nice block of wax to seal her letters). And sometimes, in her more romantic moods, Josephine wondered what it might be like to listen to a song that was all her own- written for her and with her in mind. But that was a girlish dream, and a woman grown like herself was far too practical to continue dreaming-

"Josie, dear, would you listen to this? I'm having trouble puzzling it out," Leliana asked. She had climbed through the window into her office again, which was her favorite method of entry. Josephine was tempted to keep the window unlocked, but Leliana insisted that she continue securing her windows and doors. It was more fun that way, she claimed, and Josephine wouldn't dream of ruining Leliana's fun. But today Leliana climbed into the window with her lute strapped to her back before she flopped down on the couch and tuned the instrument (which was perfectly in tune to begin with, Josephine couldn't help but notice).

"Of course! You know I love to hear you play," Josephine insisted, and she didn't even attempt to mask her eagerness to hear Leliana play and sing. She was one of her favorite musicians, one of the ones Josephine went out of her way to listen to even before they met- though she only knew her then by her wonderous voice and whispered reputation as a Bard. A private concert from Leliana was something Josephine couldn't have even imagined when she was a schoolgirl! She was delighted to get to experience it now.

Leliana strummed a few idle chords on her lute before setting off on a pretty melodic tune. The tempo was lively and playful. There was one particularly tricksome run that had Josephine holding her breath until Leliana managed it, and by the time it was over she was breathless with delight.

"That was simply marvelous! Whatever made you think it isn't suitable, dearest?" Josephine asked. Leliana smiled, though Josephine detected the faintest flush to her cheeks.

"It is always gratifying to be so praised by one's muse," Leliana replied, and she reached out and took Josephine's hand before pressing her lips to her knuckles. "But it isn't complete yet. The lyrics aren't finished, and the tune is rough at best. But I'm glad you approve." Leliana quickly returned to playing idle notes on her lute, echoes of the song she had just performed.

"You wrote me a song?" Josephine asked.

"I've written you dozens. This is the best of the lot. The rest are simply dreadful," Leliana said with a laugh (a rather nervous laugh). "Horribly sappy and immature- I believe the first one was about the 'charming yellow rose growing on the cafe windowsill.' Amateur as can be, and you weren't even wearing a yellow dress that day- it was pink!"

"A pink dress... Leliana..." Josephine said as a smile crept up on her and a laugh bubbled in her throat. It would be just like Leliana to have noticed her on the street all those years ago, long before they were properly introduced. Only Leliana would have attempted to woo her through song only to grow frustrated by her imperfect efforts and abandon the projects altogether. But now Josephine wished to hear these 'dozens' of dreadful, immature works.

"Oh, do not tease me so!" Leliana cried out. "You'll hate them, they're appalling!"

"I'll love them," Josephine promised, for she knew she would.

[cidthesquid]

Style Savvy Sunday | Style Savvy : Styling Star #04

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Welcome back, I hope you're all doing well As you can see I've now added a navigation header, hopefully this is may it easier for new people to get caught up on my journey though the games. Anyway, here's today's outfit:

Alright, So we've reached a new day, and it looks like the florist just opened.

So let's go check it out!

It looks like they're not open yet, but for now I'll assume it will be an expanded version of the flower stall from 'Trendsetters' where they act as decoration.

The next thing I did was stock up on new clothes, I always seem to be running low, on stock and money, despite hardly ever buying things in bulk.

(maybe it's because I buy too much without considering how it will be used.) Alright, well back to the shop! It looks like Jo is back,

It looks like she's decided to start the music club herself! and she needs our help. But before she can tell us more, she dives to find a place to hide as her brother shows up:

It appears he does not care for her taste in music or lifestyle, They drop some hints about a style he is needs for a client, (baby doll) As well as a favorite style of his (gothic) and then run off to try to find Jo. After he leaves, Jo returns from hiding and informs us that her brother in rich and in charge of the family business and finances, mentioning that he could easily fund the club:

She goes on to mention that they were formerly close, but after some undisclosed event, they seem to be fairly distant recently. She later mentions that one point of contention is how her brother gets upset that she won't dress in a more professional manner, when working on her own business ventures. So her request, is that we help finder her an outfit so she can approach him at a social event to seek his support with her club. (seems easy enough) Next, we get a visit from Niamh, asking what brand we should open next.

This is similar to how progression has worked in previous games, however we only get two choices at the start Marble Lilly (baby doll) and Raven Candle (Gothic). So it's directly tied to the previous event. (very cool!) And much like the previous event with Rosie where we got to pick a style for her, it looks like this may be our style choice for the Jo's event. ( I went with Raven Candle, I just love working with their clothes!) And that was all the customers for today, so time to close up shop, and get some sleep:

(I just noticed how much I shift perspectives when writing this, it probably sounds a bit odd to read, let me know if it gets too weird) So today I spent a ton of money, and did not get any back, But that's fine.

Also it looks like the daily recap screen will show the last photo you took that day! -------------------------------------------------------------------------- And the next day Rosie returns to the shop:

She mentions that she wants to become a popstar! (maybe I should have picked the other style choice for her.. oh well)

Anyways she mentions that she's already got an audition lined up at Nin10, and wants up to come up with an outfit for her, (Still in the rock style) I wish I had the funds to restock, but I'm pretty happy with how this turned out:

Again, I did not have a ton to work with, but I really like how the neon tank top paired with the sleaved inner! Aside from the clashing patterns, (contrast-wise) I think the overall top design looks nice!

She was not as impressed, I think the tights being from a different style may have been too much. Well I guess I help some other customers to get funds so I can better complete the look. It looks like there's a new customer request type now:

You still get the 'wait, while I restock' option, but you only have one shot to impress them! (Not a big deal for me, I always just say "Try it on!", haha)

I don't have any 'rock' trousers in red at this time. Hopefully she's okay with going with 'bold' instead...

And yup, it worked, out! Bold and rock generally crossover well. Ok, next up:

I think this would have looked better without the black inner, But hey, it's an extra 40 bucks! It doesn't ruin the look!

I helped a few more customers, but as soon as the in game time trued to 'night' the rest vanished. So I'm guessing your workload functions based on the time of day. Each major time shift adds new customers, and they leave at night. A start contrast to previous entries, but it adds rhythm that keep the player manually progressing the days.

--- Alright, new day, new customers,

Sadly, Rosie has not returned yet, So lets work on others:

The glasses looked a little goofy on the mannequin, but I think they turned out okay!

...This lady really just walked into my rock themed boutique to buy... Socks?

I guess she really liked them? haha. Anyways, with that I used up all my customers for the time slot. So for now I'll just restock my inventory to prep for Rosie's return. But I think we'll save that for next time! --- Alright, so my opinion on this game just keeps improving! The customer limit is a little odd, but it keeps the game flowing at a steady pace. I'm still a little saddened by the extreme lack of town NPC's to talk to, But there are a lot more important character already, and they're hugely more developed than any of the characters in the previous games. So you're really just trading off tons of tiny 'fluff' conversations, for a lower number of more impactful ones. The achievement tracker (awards) is a nice addition too:

It gives you dozens of different changes to aim for, and even notes down when they were completed. So yeah, lots of nice changes, and I had a lot of fun playing. I don't really have any specific personal connections to note down. But I've noticed a few positive changes in my personal life overall, So, it looks like a few things are generally headed in a good direction. But there's still a ton I needed to define for myself, and get sorted out But I'm glad I have a positive creative outlet with this blog, Writing post, and seeing your likes & comments has been really nice! So yeah, thanks for reading, Until next time!

<Next Post> ---- As always, all comments, questions, and suggestions are welcome! (I'm also looking for feedback on this new style, how's the formatting?)

You literally can't bother me, (unless you go out of your way to be a jerk), so post whatever you need to say!

[postgamecontent]

Galaga '88 (TG-16 Mini)

One of NEC and Hudson's luckiest strokes came from the video game business version of the jilted ex. Namco had been one of the earliest supporters of the Famicom and was arguably integral to its initial success in Japan. As one of the first third parties on the platform, it had enjoyed rather favorable terms with Nintendo. After a few years the time came to renew that deal, and Nintendo was now in a very different position of power. Namco was going to get the same terms as any other Famicom third-party publisher. This did not go down very well with Namco. While it couldn't afford to abandon the Famicom or Nintendo completely, it would from this point on throw a fair bit of weight behind just about anyone willing to compete with the new market leader.

The PC Engine was the first beneficiary of this. In 1988 Namco released a whopping five titles for the platform. Two of them were enhanced entries in their popular baseball and tennis franchises, while the other three were home versions of some of its recent arcade hits. Of that trio, two were also ported to the Famicom. We'll be talking about one of those soon, so I'll leave that there for now. Instead, we're looking at the one that for a time was exclusive to the PC Engine: Galaga '88.

Galaga '88 is the fourth game in the Galaxian series, a brand that was seeing its global star fading a bit as the 1980s wore on. Galaxian and Galaga had been major successes in multiple markets, but Gaplus couldn't make much headway outside of Japan against the more advanced scrolling shooters that Namco stablemate Xevious had inspired. Galaga '88 sadly suffered a similar fate, finding a great deal of success in the Japanese market and very little outside of it. This was a good get for the PC Engine in Japan, at least. When it arrived in North America the following year under the Galaga '90 name, it was understandably not seen as the same level of system seller.

Let's be frank: following in the immediate wake of R-Type, Galaga '88 doesn't come off well at first glance. It appears to be a slightly prettier version of Galaga, and not much more than that. Single screen after single screen of enemies flying in and making their formation. Shoot them as you will, get captured and rescue your ship for a double ship, and so on. Is this really what the next generation has to offer? Ah, but that's just the surface read.

It is true that at its core Galaga '88 is very much the game its grandfather was. You can move your ship left and right along the bottom of the screen (no vertical movement) and you can shoot. In most stages you are looking to clear out all of the enemies, and you even get those bonus stages where you get points for shooting down fly-by creatures. The double-ship trick is indeed back, and you can even choose to sacrifice a life at the start of the game to begin in double form. And yes, it's prettier. More colorful, fancier music.

But then the differences start piling up higher. Your double-ship can be captured too, and if you rescue it? Triple-ship. The enemies have more tricks up their sleeves too, with new attacks and surprising behaviors. You'll occasionally have to deal with boss-style encounters. There are some actual scrolling stages, which is always a deeply weird thing to see in a Galaga game. You can also pick up warp capsules, and if you manage to collect enough of them in each zone you'll warp to a different branch in the Darius-like tree of stages. There's a lot of game here, basically.

Well, this wasn't a very short entry at all, was it? I love the Galaga series, so I hope you'll forgive my going long. The upshot is that Galaga '88 is an excellent shooter, as well-made for its sub-category as R-Type is for its own. The PC Engine port is just about perfect. Would this have been the best choice to dazzle your friends with back in the day? Maybe not. But after they went home, this is probably what you were playing. I'm really glad Konami convinced Namco to license some of its games for the mini-console. It just wouldn't have been the same without them.

[asukaskerian]

For the fic writer ask meme: 6, 21 & 13!

6. Are there any fics from others you reread all the time?

if i'm in a fandom i will first: set the fic on ao3 by kudos + complete and read until as close as i can get to the very last page. (madatobi: doable. svsss: i'm getting there. mdzs: haha nop) while i'm doing that in one group of tabs once i'm deep enough i will reopen another page with complete + chronological because surely i missed some who became popular and finished while i was reading the rest. then ALSO at the same time if i really like a fic i will open the author page in another tab group and read all their fics in that fandom (i will start reading WIPs then) and THEN i will scour their favorites.

should there happen to be any fic i've already read in either of those two lists i have a 50% chance of reading them again. yes even if they're 200k long.

during/after/etc that i will go back to the pairings list and start looking up tags and themes that appeal, WIP optional.

at the moment i have ten tabs groups with ranging from five to tweve fics open. i'm musical-chairs actively reading three; the rest are promising summaries that are waiting for the stars to align. does it happen that i have a single fic opened in more than one group? sure does.

anyway my most recently re-re-re-re-read fic is : All Old Things are New Again by The Feels Whale (miscellea) a modern AU MDZS fic. worldbuilding glorious, plot structure like a book, delightful, etc. i think that author was the one who got me interested in SVSSS by way of tricking me into reading theirs, even! hmmm. <_<

21. Have you ever deleted an entire scene after spending hours laboring over it? If so, why?

i don't ever delete anything because it makes me cry. now, have i cut+pasted a scene to the end of my file so i could still salvage the good lines and remember the beats and try to cannibalize as much as possible only for that to be a torture that takes me months and never feels as natural as a brand new scene? yes. yes, all the f** time. i'm constituionally unable to discard a scene whole and write something else instead, i'd never remember whethere i did mention a thing in the chapter that ends up published or if it's just in the scraps and it would stress me out.

13. How much planning do you do before writing?

already asked!

[allamericansbitch]

speaking of 1989... i really hate that swifties on twitter and some on tumblr are making so much of that era about taylor's eating disorder, saying that she was constantly miserable and talking about how it must be so awful for her to relive that era. in advance i'm sorry if this causes a flurry of anons in your inbox, i don't mean to start anything, i just want to share my experience and i'm not comfortable to do that on my own blog right now.

i have had an eating disorder for a few years now, but i've usually been able to keep it in check. this past year, though, i've been struggling much more than normal. i don't want to share too much but there were many times that i didn't eat anything for 48-72 hours either because of other mental health reasons or because i didn't think i deserved to, as is very common. however, this past year has also had some of the best moments of my life, largely because of the people i surrounded myself with. i made a large group of friends where i don't feel like i have to put on a fake persona to get along with them. i was able to get out of my comfort zone and go to social events and gatherings i previously would do almost anything to avoid. and in many ways, despite the struggle i had i would not want to take back this year because of how many happy moments i've had.

and i view taylor's 1989 era in a similar way. yes, she was struggling with an ED but she was also breaking records right and left with her album, moving to a brand new city, and making such a large impact on the general public as well as the music industry. she perhaps was not doing well in private on the eating front, but i am positive there were other bright moments in her personal life at this time too, that she may have not chosen to share with the public (and understandably so).

all this to say, it's very naive and harmful to reduce a person's life at any moment to the mental health struggles they are going through. as humans, we should give each other grace to be more than our lowest moments and this applies to people like you and me as well as taylor.

i really didn't mean for this to get so long, but thank you for reading and i hope you're doing well sarah 💙

YES YES YES! i've said this before and completely agree! im so sorry you're dealing with that and going through a particularly rough patch rn, sending you love and always remember to be patient with yourself.

fans have always had a very black and white view of taylor (bc they dont see her as a person, rather a character or solely a form of entertainment etc etc), so when she mentions one bad thing, they assume the entire era was miserable and a terrible experience, the whole time. not a moment of happiness or anything. which just lacks so much common sense because you can struggle in one aspect of your life but that doesnt affect all the other aspects of it. plus she has said she's struggled since she was a preteen, so she had her ED when she was in debut era, fearless era, speak now and red era, but they never said she was miserable and awful it was to relive those? so why only 1989? it just goes to show swifties always want to see her struggling in some capacity because it makes her an interesting story to them.

[moonjxsung]

STAR!! It's 🌱! I am finally back from supervising the retreat (sleep deprived and very tired but it was a good break from normal life and I got lots of yummy food hehe) aslkfdj thanksss I'm trying not to let it get to me... being an academic overacheiver all my life its so HARD YAY! So happy your day was good!! alkjsdkfjkdjf you're too sweet 🥹 i will do my best for you!!! 😤 I hope your day today was also good!!! Random question: what are some random hobbies/special interests of yours?

HELLO MY ANGEL I AM SO GLAD YOUR SUPERVISING RETREAT WENT WELL I was manifesting it would go well so hard ily ily ily ALSO GOOD FOOD RAHHH WE ALL CHEERED IM SO HAPPY FOR U

Academic overachiever my beloved….. don’t put yourself down you’re doing amazing !! 🫶 ur so smart and talented and even if your exams are the worst scores ever I PROMISE U there is a life beyond the confines of calculus. Coming from somebody who cried every day over her notebook doing calculus formulas and winging quizzes and now I am happy in a stable job and calculus is just a fleeting memory… 🕊️ sometimes it’s like I can still see derivatives if I squint hard enough 🫶

ALSO HMMM I LOVE THIS QUESTION I honestly have the worst fucking habit of starting things and then picking up new hobbies until I have just this long list of random things I do in my free time so there are MANY….. but writing (obviously 👼), crocheting, reading (although I haven’t had the time in a little while!), I love love love building mini scale things too! I used to work in a little convenience store and I would collect those mini brand foods and the whole time I worked there I built a mini scale version of our store for some reason,,,, and then one of the companies of the crafts I used reached out when I posted about it on Reddit and I got to meet with a few executives and just show them the little store I built and it was fr one of the strangest side quests I have ever completed 💯 I also love love love going to the gym or running whenever I have free time I just find it so therapeutic and it gives me a lot of inspiration! Binging horror movies is a HUGE one too. And I used to be super into music like playing the piano but I’ve mentioned on here I haven’t done it in a while which may contribute to my myriad of random hobbies now 🤓

ANYWAYS that was so many but HOW ABOUT YOU I can already tell you like to cook but do you like any other things like baking or whatnot I am so curious now…… I love you angel!!!!! I hope you’re having the best weekend 💓💞💖💘🩷💕

[spencerspecifics]

Here’s links to chapter one, two, and three :)

TW// conversations pertaining to dead victims/descriptive imagery of stab wounds and death caused by stab wounds, as well as blood is mentioned. I would like to specify, however, that this is a completely fictional case the team is working on within my fic. I'm not trying to make anything too gorey or crazy, this is purely to further the plot line for moreid (but I find it important to tell a good story in all ways, and that means I will go into details this case for better story building and immersion) thanks!

~

Technical Analyst (ch.4)

~

Derek had left the round table room almost immediately after the meeting was over, he had to grab his things- and he didn’t want to be in the vicinity near Emily after the meeting. She was sure to say something, and Derek didn’t want to hear it.

Thankfully, he caught a break, as he got his bag, and was able to take the elevator alone.

~

As he rode the elevator down, he decided to call Garcia- for no other reason other than he was missing her, “Hey babygirl,”

“Hey there, handsome!” Garcia answered in her famous over the top, peppy manner. “You just got a case, right?”

“How’d you know?” Derek asked curiously, fiddling with his bags straps as the elevator continued to whir downwards into the parking garage, he was going to drive himself to the airport- he got free parking since it was federal business, after all.

“I get cc’d on all new cases J.J. accepts,” Garcia explained, “Well, that, and Reid just sent me a worried email.”

The elevator arrived at the garage, the doors sliding open slowly after a moment, Morgan stepped out; “Worried how?” He asked, he wasn’t sure what else to say.

“Oh, it’s just first day on the job jitters,” Garcia waved off any of Derek’s concern. “Spencer’s not done technical analysis work before. He went from being on the field of domestic terrorism, to off on the sidelines. It sucks.”

“Yeah, tell me about it, I’d leave the bureau if that happened to me.” Derek mumbled into the phone as he got to his car, loading his go bag into the passenger side before moving his way around the vehicle, to the drivers side.

“Mhm, anyways, I’m off to see a musical! I got a front row seat, I’m so excited. I think it’s an off brand version of wicked, or something!” Garcia continued on excitedly about the musical that was or wasn’t a rip off- Derek didn’t understand musical theater very well, but he listened happily as he pulled his car out of the garage and started his drive over to the airport.

~

Spencer was a bit worried, absolutely he was. That’s why he had emailed Garcia in the first place. He went back to his incredibly too small office and it was the first thing he did. The email wasn’t anything too crazy- subject line just read “Help”, and Reid didn’t allude to his fear of making a fool of himself; instead he focused on clear objective truths, asking for a reminder on how to crack through sealed records and files incase needed, as well as where he should even start with the shower curtains used to wrap the victims. Because in his opinion, that was a pretty solid lead.

Garcia responded to his email not long after, telling him not to worry- she knew he was capable and able to handle these kind of challenges. She gave him her two cents on the shower curtain angle, see if crime scene unit found any label or identifiers on it, and also see if there’s any large suppliers to the area that make that specific kind of curtain. She ended her email response with “you don’t gotta worry! I’m only a call away. And Derek can help too (*^▽^*) you got this!”.

Of course Penelope ended her email on such a sweet, positive note, with an emoticon as well. Reid smiled as he read the message out on the screen. She was always so optimistic, at times he had to wonder if it was all a facade- but Garcia was so positive, if she was faking this she would’ve cracked by now. Reid loved her energy, he needs to follow in her footsteps in the ways of positivity and become more optimistic. He shouldn’t dwell in the negatives, even though it was easy for him to do.

Reid moved on, exiting out the particular email chain and starting on the search for the shower curtains, he emailed the crime scene unit asking for any identifiers they might’ve found on them, as well as he looked through the crime scene photos again to see if he could find anything, which was hard since the victims blood was all over them. He couldn’t see much, so while he waited for crime scene to message him back, he started on his own research.

He wanted to look into the two victims card activity, last seen whereabouts, maybe they were in the same restaurant or bar before their death. There had to be a clue around there somewhere.

~

“Okay, what did the two victims have in common?” Rossi asked the group as they were sat in the plane, it hadn’t even taken off yet- the pilot was still checking whatever had to be looked over before they could safely get in the air.

Derek was still getting comfortable in one of the lounge chairs sat around one of the tables in the plane, Rossi was sat across from him. J.J. and Emily were sat on the couch behind them, and Hotch was sat alone at a table across the row from Rossi and Morgan, each was settling themselves in; taking their jackets off and pulling the case file out of their bags.

“Both are white men, late twenties early thirties. The first victim, Jakob, has more stab wounds than the second.” Hotch started, Rossi nodded. “Do we know why the de-escalation in the amount of stab wounds?” Prentiss asked curiously, “There’s a witness who walked up on the unsub midkill,” J.J. explained,

“police already questioned her, but the story was that she was with her boyfriend in the bar next to the alley where Andrew Pullin was found. She stepped out for a smoke break and heard a commotion, she walked a few steps down the alley and yelled when she saw the body, the unsub was already running off by then.”

“Shows a lack of foresight- immaturity even, to kill in a public place and run off the way the unsub did.” Morgan speculated aloud. The team stayed silent in agreement, and the plane started rumbling down the track, ready for takeoff.

~

They’d only been sitting in silence for about ten minutes before J.J. piped up inquisitively, not about the case, but about Reid. “So our new analyst has experience with Gideon?” She asked Rossi curiously. Rossi nodded, he had the most information on the matter, everyone knew he would, so he was the one leading this conversation- even if J.J. prompted it.

“He does.” he answered simply, Prentiss chimed in, also equally interested; “So, how did he meet Gideon?” Everyone was listening in intensely, even if they were acting like they weren’t. J.J. and Emily were listening for similar motives, legitimate curiosity on a guy they had barely met before. That, and Emily would use whatever she learned as a way to throw back at Derek as proof that he must think the young doctor is cute or something. Derek would deny all of that, obviously. He was listening for simple curiosity, someone who worked with Gideon and he hadn’t heard of seemed atrocious to him. Hotchner was listening for the purposes of shutting down the conversation. He didn’t want the team interested in the wrong things, he needed them focused.

Rossi cleared his throat before continuing on, “Dr.Reid’s some kind of genius- kid’s got something like two or three PhD’s to his name. From my understanding, from Jason, he met him at some lectures the bureau hosted and Jason was a guest speaker at. They kept in contact and worked together.”

“So, he’s got probably years of behavioral science experience?” Derek asked, Rossi gave a curt nod and Morgan kept speaking; “So then why do we not work with him? The guy’s probably smarter than Prentiss and I combined,” that earned a harsh “Hey!” Out of Emily as he spoke, but he knew she wasn’t actually offended (as that was how they rolled.), and he kept going. “It just seems weird we haven’t worked with him.”

Derek’s comments caused Hotch to laser in on him, putting a stark end to the conversation. “Morgan, Dr.Reid’s professional career choices are not a speculative manner. His work with Gideon may be useful in our case, but if you have questions about his own career, you can ask him. Same for everyone else here. We need to be focused on the case.”

That shut Derek and the rest of the team up. Derek looked back down at the case file, imagining his eyes could burn a hole through the manilla envelope. He was sure if he looked up and made any kind of eyesight with Prentiss or J.J., he’d see their matching stupid smirks.

Sue him for being curious, he wasn’t trying to do any harm. But he doubt he’d learn anything from the mysterious doctor he had somehow never seen before.

~

The crime scene unit responded quickly to Spencer’s inquiry on the shower curtain identifiers. Unfortunately for him, it was a bit of a dead end- it was a generic shower curtain brand, sold and supplied at almost every retail store in the area. No way to track where or when it could’ve been sold. He emailed them back a thanks anyways, just to be polite.

He did have more luck with the victims last bank statements shortly before their death- and he knew it would be worthwhile to call the team and let them know about this. Garcia told him to as well, she said it wasn’t worth waiting for them to land to get them the information. The sooner, the better.

So, Spencer fired up the small, somewhat low quality camera for a video call, and sent the team a call.

~

The team was still sitting in amicable silence when a ring broke out through the comfortable quiet, Hotch leaned forward to press the accept button, and Spencer’s face appeared on the monitor in the plane.

“Dr.Reid,” Hotch spoke once the call was securely connected, Spencer gave an awkward half wave to the camera before starting,

“I got started on the shower curtain front,” he started “And?” Rossi asked curiously. “Not a whole lot there, they’re a generic brand, practically sold at every retail store in the area. It wouldn’t be a worthwhile use of time to track everyone buying them.”

Hotchner nodded, “Anything else?” He asked Reid.

~

Derek couldn’t help but notice how nervous Spencer looked over the video call. Granted, he got the nervous kind of energy from the doctor in real life. Not nervous as in Spencer wasn’t sure of himself, because Derek didn’t think that was the case. It seemed more that Reid just was a bit socially awkward- and maybe for a valid reason. From his file, Derek knew the domestic terrorism unit didn’t socialize with him much. They ostracized him. For what good reason? Who knows.

Morgan thought there probably wasn’t a good enough reason to cast this guy aside, then again, he didn’t know the doctor nearly well enough.

“I looked into the last known bank activity of both victims, I used their last known purchases as well as where they were found to start a geographic profile.” Spencer spoke, the speaker of the monitor adding a grainy warmth to his voice that wasn’t in his natural octave.

The screen layout within the monitor changed, now half of the screen was camera feed of Dr.Reid, and the other half of the screen was a map with four distinct markings. One orange, one red, one blue, and one green.

“What’re we looking at here?” Hotch asked, his voice monotonous as always. Reid continued, looking down at his own screen now, no longer making eye contact with the camera; delving into his explanation.

“The orange is the first victims last card purchase, the red is where he was found dead.” The orange mark on the map was northeast, it was incredibly, a few miles away from where the body was found. The red marking was in its respective position, more central on the map and in the middle.

“What was the last purchase for the victim?” Hotchner asked, “A bar, his tab had a few drinks on it.”

“Bar, just like the one Andrew Pullin was found next to.” J.J. speculated aloud. Spencer heard her and nodded, “The green marking is the same thing, card activity for the second victim- it was a bar and grill restaurant.” He said. The green marking was more southeast, lower than the red and orange. There was a noticeable stretch of distance between the first and second victim already. And once added in where the second body was found, they were almost at the border of the city. The blue marker was towards the southeastern border of the map.

“So, what is this map telling us so far?” Morgan asked Reid curiously.

“Not enough,” Reid said with a clear, small tone of dejected in his voice, “it seems that right now, the unsub’s picking from the more eastern side, but he started in the north and went south. There’s nothing to say he’ll stay on the eastern side, even. I need more data to find a midpoint.”

“More data, you mean more bodies.” Rossi said tightly. Spencer nodded, looking down at his keyboard with an unfortunate tone about himself.

“It’s still good work, thank you Dr.Reid. Just dig into the victims personal online lives now, see if there’s anything that connects them.” Hotchner said to him.

~

Spencer nodded in response, he felt ashamed for not being able to provide even the smallest bit more on maybe anything geographical for the team. He didn’t want them scouring through the entire town. He wanted to help narrow things down, find the solution. Hopefully, he would. But he just wasn’t there yet.

Spencer had to do something more though, he knew he did. His hands were practically shaking as he started speaking to the team, through the video call.

“If I can, though, sir-“ Hotch gave him a look of interest, he was ready to wish Reid off and end the call.

Hotchner nodded in stoic silence, giving Reid a signal to continue.

“I think the unsub is young, there’s a lack of foresight with how the murders so far have gone. And I know there’s only two, but I got the witness report from agent jareau, and this girl almost caught him. He’s either not thinking ahead, or,” Spencer took a second to take a breath in.

“Or?” Hotchner asked, “Or he’s wanting to be seen, or almost be caught. It feels like there’s a layer of voyeurism present. He’s leaving the bodies out for public display, he’s killing in public. It’s a pattern.” Spencer stated.

That was the end of Reid’s thought, and he carefully watched the expression of the BAU team through his computer monitor. J.J. and Emily weren’t in his visual line, only Derek, Hotch, and Rossi were visible to him. Hotchner’s expression didn’t change, Derek had a thoughtful expression on his face, as did Rossi.

“Thank you Dr.Reid, we’ll consider it for the profile.” Hotchner said, Reid just gave a nod in response and pressed the ‘end call’ button. Cutting off all communication with the BAU for now.

Reid hoped he wasn’t overstepping by saying what he just did, he was praying he wasn’t burning any possible bridge with the BAU. He wasn’t trying to show them up or anything of the sort. But he’ll be damned, he knows a lot about human behavior and sciences, and he’s been dying to use it.

Reid’s hands were still the smallest bit shaking as he reached for his mouse again, starting on the online background checks of the two victims, like Hotch instructed him to do.

He was just trying to do the best job he could, after all. He’s hoping the BAU can see that.

~

“Voyeurism and voyeur like behavior could be a reason for the somewhat public locations of the kills.” Prentiss said after Reid had ended the video call, once again leaving the team in silence before she spoke.

Hotchner gave a small nod of agreement, “It’s certainly a possibility. But let’s not attach ourselves to any ideas quite yet, we have very limited information to go off of. When we land, J.J. will come with me to set up at the police station, Prentiss and Morgan go to where the most recent victim was found. Rossi can interview the witness again.”

Everyone understood their assignments, not speaking anymore, just nodding to Hotch. They had work to do when they land, after all. And it seemed the team needed a second to sit without anything being spoken aloud. They needed to think, what the case means for them right now, what information they have. They just had to collect their thoughts. Nothing else was heard except for the hum of the jets engine.

———————————————————————

Taglist: @electricsockhead @cm-whoreee @ropoto @dakka123 @sterekawesomeness @so-society-compels-to-fall @psychoanalyzing-fiction @spideypooloser (if these usernames are old/accs no longer in use plz lmk!)

If you would like to be added to my taglist, comment or message me!

[starkskypines]

writing pattern post

Rules: Share the first line of your last ten published works or as many as you are able and see if there are any patterns! (from most recent to least recent, starting from the top)

Thanks for the tag @the-13th-battalion

be like the love that discovered the sin: Dean can only stare at the man in front of him, so similar to the person he once called friend. (SPN)

lavender blood: “That’s monstrous,” the criminal says, fear hopping along his expression after Jason describes what he’s going to do to the man. (Batfam)

when i break pattern, i break ground: Obi-Wan’s never thought of himself as old until this moment. (Star Wars)

in my hour of need (you were there): Stephanie falls to her knees, using the alley wall to keep her from completely falling forward. (Gotham Knights)

i'll spend forever wondering if you knew (i was enchanted to meet you): “No, but when she smiles…” Harper trails off just thinking about the way Stephanie’s smiles make her entire face take on a brand new kind of light. (Gotham Knights)

truth in the angel's garden: Sam breathes out a quick breath and then another and another and tries to get a handle on his raging emotions. (SPN)

meet me in a different dimension: Arthur blinks awake to the phantom touch of hands on his chest. (Merlin)

but for some, it was paradise: Cas moves his hips in beat with the music as he washes the dishes. (SPN)

reflected wounds: Jason hears the panicked screams before he sees the sight. (Batfam)

sunrise at the altar of a dead god: Cody’s been through this before. (Star Wars)

the trend I'm noticing is that I tend to start in the middle of some dialogue or action. I'm not a fan of beginning exposition that doesn't at the same time put me in the middle of it. these are also shorter fics that don't need any scene setting or plot building that's more than a few sentences long and I hate for that to be my very first sentence. I feel like all of these first sentences make you want to keep reading. Maybe I'm wrong but that's the goal when I write and I don't post unless I think the first line met that goal.

tagging: @imadetheline @peachgummycandy @giggles-and-freckles

[silvertsundere]

Silver Talks AniManga (02/07/23)

whew quite a bit late this time cause I was catching up to something and then didn't want to post this without also having watched the fate special and the ryza premier but anyhoo

blue - finale/completed green - new series/new to me pink - catching up

Anime

Imas CG: U149 Ep12 (Finale)

before anything else, also wrote a review for this on mal, was on the edge about it but did it cause some people convinced me, which most of what I say here but better structured wow. that's all I can say really. like a lot of people I was put off by the premise for this like "damn imas anime with just the kids? who asked for this?" and I'm not even a hater, I already liked a lot of the cast before this, albeit not nearly as much as older idols. but again, wow. it really surprised me and made me feel silly for ever doubting it and thinking it'd just be "imas for kids". it's an imas ofc it was gonna be good what was I thinking. Story: Just like the OG anime, each episode focused on each one of the girls, an issue they were having and ultimately overcoming it, from nina's fear that no one likes her unless she has her kigurumis to arisu's crippling anxiety when it comes to her parents which was planted little by little throughout the whole show with the huge payoff that was ep11, and a lot more in between. the overarching theme for the show was growing up, overcoming your fears not only with your own strength but also with the help of not only your friends around you but also the adults, which makes a lot of sense for a show about kids right. Art/Animation: honestly really really good, the anime was done by cygames' in house studio, just like the newest uma musume anime and it looks incredibly good, there was not a single point where I thought it looked cheap or could tell they were cutting corners in terms of animation, quite the opposite, I was surprised more often than not, like the chie episode that I mentioned all the time with the really good hand acting, but there's a lot more things outside of that Music: it's imas ofc the music is good, every episode had one or more insert songs around the halfway point and a different ED every week, again, just like the OG. hell some of those insert songs were brand new for the anime like kiryu's chara song or LiPPS's Nightwear that was added to the game in an event coinciding with the episode airing (huge brained). ofc I'm just being a simp for the idol music, what about the background music used in the episodes? that was good too don't worry, it was done by Miyazaki Makoto who also did OPM and SxF, and it always fit perfectly tho I couldn't point out any stand out track but it's also not the type of show where the music should stand out too much over the dialogues and stuff so that's a good thing. oh but I also wanna gush about how they're really good about when to NOT use music, there was a long scene in ep11 with 0 dialogue and music, only sound effects and it was soooo good, and there's more scenes like that sprinkled throughout the show. Overall: incredibly good ofc, I gave it a 10 when it's not that, but its imas and it's close enough that I couldn't give it anything else. idols just got me in an iron grip man this is known. if you like the OG imas, watch this; if you like any of the cast members, watch this (even if you think you dislike some of them like I did, do it, you'll prob change your mind); if you like idol shows, watch this; you've never watched an idol show and don't know where to start? well you should watch the OG imas from 2011 but this is a good starting point too

Mashle Ep12 (Finale)

you're better off reading the manga than watching this. that's really most of what I have to say about it. from start to finish it was barely animated outside of the crumb of sakuga in ep11, and the audio didn't add anything to it either, with the music being forgetable at best and overly distracting at worst (looking at the rap track). the voice performances were alright for the main cast and some of the final villains but outside of that they left a lot to be desired too. not the worst adaptation out there surprisingly enough so it gets at least a 6

Jigokuraku Ep13 (Finale)

unlike the mashle anime this is a great adaptation! I'd be totally ok with recommending this to someone if they didn't want to read the manga (tho you should still do that instead if you prefer the latter like me). I wanted to give it an 8 but the lack of sakuga held it back, I had high expectations with it being mappa but I guess juggling jujutsu, csm and snk meant that this was never gonna get the love it deserves. s2 has been confirmed, with no date, so hopefully it'll be at a time where it can have some more attention tho not holding my breath for it. anyway despite the lack of actual sakuga the action scenes still looked good and they did a good job capturing the colourfulness and creepiness of the island the ost was also really good, it really added to the ambience, especially some of the more creepy tracks and all the seiyuu did a great job, I was very excited when I saw takarie was gonna be yuzuriha and she did not disappoint and all the tensen sharing the same 2 seiyuu between male and female forms (as stated in the manga) and still being distinguishable was nice, ofc this is not to detract from the rest of the cast they were good too the anime ended at around where I expected, tho I didn't expect to see a shugen tease after the ED so that was neat, if they keep up at this pace we'll get at least 2 more cours, so like I said hopefully those get a bit more love

Fate/strange Fake: Whispers of Dawn

holy moly I'm used to fate anime being good but I still prefer to keep my expectations low in order not to get disappointed and WOW the special was so good. like the only complaint I have is them skipping some stuff (like rider's summon) but I'm sure those'll be in the actual tv anime that was announce after the special (crazy). very curious to see what all they'll cover since the light novels aren't over yet but it'll prob be up til before a certain baddie shows up. anyway, back to the special. it looked amazing, with some juicy sakuga near the end, it's got an all star voice cast tho uchida maaya stole the show near the middle and the OST was great, to be expected from sawano. very pogged up for the anime now god bless

Atelier Ryza Ep1

that double lenght ep got hands huh? it felt longer than the FSF special despite being shorter, I guess to mimick that early jrpg feel huh? but anyway it was.. decent really. I didn't expect much and it didn't deliver much, just looked average. I'm just happy to see my beautiful ryza animated 😊tho there we nearly not enough thigh shots outside of the OP and ED :(

Manga

Mashle Ch162 (Finale)

it's finally over huh. kinda wild to think about. it was, alright. I had it as an 8 after I caught up to it and up until the end but had to knock it down a bit. it's a shame the final arc got stretched so much cause of them wanting to end the manga alongside the anime but I don't believe that was the author's decision. overall it's a fun series, like OPM meets a magic school. it took a bit for it at the start to find it's groove but when it got there (right after where the anime ended), it was a nice series to read weekly with a lot of cool looking fights. the cast was fun, albeit a bit annoying at times for me. if you just want a goofy series with good action give it a try cause that's it all it is

My Hero Academia Ch218 - 392

SHEEESH that was quite a lot to catch up to huh, I thought it'd take a lot less time, and it could've if I totally focused on it but still anyway, I started mha right when it began, well not exactly, it had like 10 chapters or so? so close enough and I've always loved it a lot. I know it gets called a mid a lot cause the anime made it super mainstream but it's actually quite good. horikoshi is definitely the best artist in the magazine currently by a long shot, tho it takes quite a toll on his health :( the last time I had read was like right after deku got the whip power and right before the my villain academia arc, and shit's been popping off since then. horikoshi went on record to say fans don't like the villains so he cut it short and stuff, and I understand where people're coming from (not gonna get into it), tho I liked that arc. after that we had the training arc with endeavor which was kinda short, followed by a huge battle culminating in a big fight between all the heroes and almost perfect AFO. after that we had dark deku was which was very pog, with him becoming basically a vigilante and showing off his greater control over OFA. and then we're basically were we are right now, the big climatic final fight where everyone gets their chance to be cool and shine. like I said at the start, I've loved mha since the beggining and that hasn't changed at all, despite how long it might take I trust horikoshi to do a good job until the end, maybe in 2024, hang in there buddy!

Dandadan Ch112

just an action filled chapter as expected but very cool nonetheless, it was great finally getting to see okarun fighting with his new upgrades also I say it all the time but it's crazy how a weekly series can look this good, this wasn't the only spread either

Kindergarten WARS Ch22 - 24

nice chaps, not only did they have some great action but also served to introduce an overarching plot to break the series away from it's formulaic structure so far, just a couple more months til we're caught up with jp so that'll be nice

Shuumatsu no Valkyrie Ch79

most of the chap was just leonidas' backstory which is like, one of the most well known in history but it wouldn't make sense to not include it regardless. we're only at the start but I still don't think he's got a chance of winning but we'll see

Ice-Head Gill Ch2

an ok 2nd chapter tho coulda been a lot better, it was just a little self contained story, if it keeps going like this it's gonna suffer the same fate as ginka

Do Retry Ch9

weird chap tbh, and idk if it's just me but it feels like the art took quite a hit, maybe it's just the new guys' design being weird. I figured this fancy book they introduced would've been written by his dad, and that he had some connection to the gang, but didn't expect it to get revealed so early but, gotta do what you can when ratings are so low

Kill Blue Ch11

figured we'd be getting the next challenger soon, tho it is refreshing that he isn't just after noren. series has been doing p decently in ratings so there's no risk of it going anywhere currently but I would still like to see some more exciting stuff, maybe this duel will have something to satisfy me

Witch Watch Ch115

the 1v1s start in WW and with a bang. having keigo not transform into wolf right at the start is very good, it'll be even cooler if he actually got to beat her without transforming but I don't see that happening

Blue Box Ch107

another very good chap, continuing with things as normal without any forced drama or anyting, thank you miura. it was fun seeing natsu get teased by karen like this

Martial Master Asumi Ch3

some nice action in this chap and they also introduced the brother that's been mentioned a million times so that's nice, it's still too early to know how the series is doing in rankings but with it coming from a veteran and do retry seemingly flopping I think it'll be fine

Sakamoto Days Ch125

very cool action packed chapter again, I'd been hoping heisuke would be part of the fight so it's nice to see that finally happen, tho I don't have high hopes for our order friend here surviving

Undead Unluck Ch165

chap was mostly just set up for the shen vs mui fight, kinda sad we didn't get to see billy or fuuko fight but oh well, this fight should be cool tho I hope shen actually gets to fight feng for real and it doesn't just end in one shot or something

Akane-banashi Ch68

a nice chap, mostly just a cool down after hikaru's performance which landed her a 93 score. I had originally predicted her to get 96 and akane to get a 93 so it'd be funny if it was the other way around. I still don't feel akane is gonna win this competition at this point but we'll see if I change my mind after the first performance chap next week

[rai-knightshade-art]

"...when I'm lying wrapped up in your arms, the whole World just fades away; the only thing I hear is the Beating of your Heart..."

Breathe, by Faith Hill

"...we should talk about this, right?"

His voice is soft, when he speaks; you wouldn't be able to hear him, if you weren't lying on his chest.

You draw patterns across his skin with your finger, contemplative. "Maybe. I'm not really sure how, though."

He makes a humming noise; you can feel the vibrations more than you can hear them. It's a moment before he speaks, and in the quiet you feel his arm move, a tendril of your hair lifting with it. (He always did like playing with your hair.)

Finally, he speaks. "Maybe we should start with... Being honest, with each other. Say what we really feel. Tell the truth."

You lift up your head, until you can rest your chin on your arm, and look at him; he's staring right back, eyes a warm brown, filled with affection.

You lift your other hand, to play with his own unruly curls, as you think. Honesty, huh? You've always been good at hiding your feelings, concealing the truth. How honest do you want to be, really?

But... Looking into his eyes, shining in the moonlight... You find you can't hide anything. Not from him. Not anymore.

"If honesty means telling the truth... Well then, the truth is, I'm still in love with you."

The fanfiction this scene is from is currently in progress, but you can read Chapter 1 here!

Bonus Post 1 (Jesse and Beca's Playlists): Link

Bonus Post 2 (The Bonus Tracks): Link

Artist thoughts, an alternate edit, links to my other RarePair Week entries, and close ups below the cut; image ID is in the alt text.

....y'all don't wanna know how long this thing took me 😅. For the illustration OR the first chapter of the associated fic, really.

Yeah so soft!Jeca lives rent free in my head, like, constantly these days, and I'm making that everybody's problem now, sorry. 😅 And when I saw the prompts for the Pitch Perfect RarePair Week, specifically #5, I knew immediately what I had to do: a fanfic/fanfic illustration! (...Or 2. ........or 5....😂)

I've actually been working on this fanfic for... A while, shall we say, because I had a LOT of thoughts that I needed out of my head and a fanfic was the best way to accomplish that. I wasn't sure when I was gonna try to have it done, figured it would get there when it gets there, but this prompt fit just too perfectly not to take advantage of it, ya know? So my new plan was to have the fanfiction done in time to upload with this prompt, buuuutttt.... That didn't quite happen 😓 ya girl's been busy alright!

But. But. I did get Chapter 1 finished! And uploaded! A day early, no less! ...Except Chapter 1 doesn't actually include the prompt line in it, that'll be in Chapter 2 😅. So uh. That'll be written here soon, I promise. In the meantime, at least there's Chapter 1! AND bonus posts, linked above the cut! Check them out!

Now, to set the scene: we're 6 months past the ending of Pitch Perfect 3, keeping everything from canon (except for the Chloe/Chicago thing but that's not relevant here, that's relevant for a different pair of days). We're 2 and a half years post-Jesse and Beca breaking up due to the fact that their lives and careers were taking off on opposite ends of the continent; it was an amicable breakup, but not a happy one, and while both of them have moved on from the relationship (and Jesse has had--and then broken up with--another long term girlfriend), they both still harbor some feelings for each other. They both think that ship has sailed though...until Beca moves to LA as part of her partnership with DJ Khaled, right when the producers of the movie Jesse and his team are scoring have asked Khaled to write and produce an original song for their movie, and wouldn't you know it, he has a brand new, extremely talented music producer who'd be perfect for the project!

So of course, Jesse and Beca reunite completely by surprise, take some time to talk a few things out once they've each panic-called their respective in-town confidants Benji and Emily to freak out a little bit but it's fine they're chill, and start to reconnect over this new project they have together... And afternoon visits to the neighboring cafe, mutually grabbing lunch at a nearby combination-deli-and-bookstore, and, finally, a week after the Big Damn Reunion™, an actual honest-to-god dinner date-that's-definitely-a-first-date-but-they-won't-admit-it, at a fancy (but not too fancy, they're not quite stars yet) restaurant and everything.

This scene? Comes directly after that dinner; or, rather, it comes directly after they've finished their dinner, and Jesse (ever the gentleman) has walked Beca home, all the way up to her apartment door; it comes after they've just stood there for a long moment, neither really wanting to make the first move to leave, until, finally, Beca literally says "Fuck it!" And drags the poor man into the apartment by the lips and collar. 😂 After all that, here in the dead of night, under the moonlight, they finally just... Talk. Really talk, not just the small talk from the deli/bookstore, or discussing their project in the studio, or even the brief acknowledgements of their past and the ways they've each moved on, from that first day in the cafe. Now, they talk through everything. How they're feeling, what they want this thing between them to be... How absolutely fucking terrified they are of screwing this up again... And how much they want to try again anyways. This scene, right here, is the true beginning of their eventual, maybe-it-was, maybe-it-wasn't, maybe-it-doesn't-matter-if-it-was-or-wasn't, inevitable, happily ever after. Because, well... "If honesty means telling the truth... Well then, the truth is I'm still in love with you."

Below are some close ups to show the details I added--like Beca's plaques!--as well as an alternate edit with lower contrast, because I couldn't decide whether I liked the glow effects better or the dim nighttime atmosphere better. So, both. And finally, below that are the links to the rest of my RarePair Week entries!

Alternate low-contrast version (I couldn't decide which vibes I liked better so y'all get both):

Close Ups:

Days I'm Participating In (and the Entries I've Posted):

Day 1 (this is me trying): Link

Day 2 (I've missed you): Link

Day 5 (if honesty means telling the truth... Then the truth is I'm still in love with you): You Are Here!

Day 6 (there's no way that it's not going to happen with you looking at me like that): Link

Day 7.1 (I can't say it, so I'll sing it): Link

Day 7.2 (part 2): Link

[lorewright]

I posted 2,687 times in 2022

8 posts created (0%)

2,679 posts reblogged (100%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@characternerdocs

@spookypainting

@kickassfu

@chickypoodoodloos

@allteeensrelate

I tagged 64 of my posts in 2022

#chicky's oc - 9 posts

#jewel - 8 posts

#awesome art - 5 posts

#artist has open commissions - 5 posts

#chickypoodooloos - 4 posts

#chicky's ocs - 4 posts

#chickys jewel - 3 posts

#awesome artists - 3 posts

#tetsuji - 3 posts

#airi - 2 posts

Longest Tag: 99 characters

#and i can 100% assure to you that all the associate would instantly onboard this dog as an employee

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

I'm starting to appreciate the completely UNHINGED nature of TX. My coworker walked into work today as ask "you like pirates and skull right?" And I'm like yeah. So he says come out to my truck I found two pirate swords someone throw away after Halloween. And I'm like oh... mmm ok? Legit they're two metal fencing swords with skulls on the hilt and guards?!

See the full post

2 notes - Posted November 17, 2022

#4

Rules: tag nine (9) people you want to get to know better

Tagged by: @johannabarkerrs

Favorite time of the year: fall, I get to wear layers again and it not freezing cold yet, and all the fun spooky stuff starts to show up. Leaves change color. All together it's a good time.

Comfort food: not sure what it called by a coworker made this super delicious cookie brownie dessert- it was a chocolate chip cookie on the down and brownie on the top with oreos in the middle. I need to get her to give me the recipe. That or a good cup of New England claw chowder, not the can stuff but the kind in the bag you have to boil in hot water. It's the best.

Do I collect anything?: yes, I collect Stieff, a brand of stuff animals that originated in Germany. Most of them I've gotten as gifts from my grandmother, who was born and grew up in Germany. The first Stieff I got is a fox named Xorry. The weirdest is a snowman from what I assume is a German kid show called Tabaluga, and this snowman I assume is the villain as he's got long black gloves and evil yellow eyes above the brim of his top hat. But I love him very much as my Oma saw it and thought, "oh he is freaky and bizarre little guy, Eri will absolutely love him.

Favorite drink: iced coffee with mocha flavored creamer

Favorite song: The Bounty Hunter by Mike Cross, I remember hearing this song when I was either six or seven on one of my dad's CD as he was driving me to school or something. And while it was horribly morbid for a kid to love, I still love it to this day. It just a nice little engaging ballad of an outlaw vs a bounty hunter and after probably a thousand listen after so many years it still intrigues me.

Favorite current song: Shadow of Mine by Alec Benjamin. I actually like a lot of his songs, but this is the most recent of his I found. I also like, Boy in the Bubble, Outrunning Karma, and Mother's Eyes to name a few others of his.

Favorite fic book: I don't read fic all that much. Sorry :( so I'll do my favorite book. Which is A Series of Unfortunate Events. It's been one of my favorite series since I was a kid. And as an adult it appreciate all the literature references the author uses for the building of the world, from places like Prufrock Prep beginning a reference to the poem "The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock" to the character Esmé Squalor as nod to the short story, "To Esmé - with Love and Squalor." The series has been a huge inspiration to me and my own writing projects as well.

Tagging: (if I tag you and you don't want to do the dash game, no problem, I take no offense and feel free to pass) @justchickythings or whatever blog you think this fits best on Chicky, @the-asexual-unicorn , @ludicrous-musings , @penelopethehufflepuffbiatch , @musical-engineer

3 notes - Posted May 23, 2022

#3

Customer: *holds out phone with a picture of a product* where do you have this cleaner?

Me, a retail worker: I'm sorry we don't carry that particular product in store.

Customer: But it says right here that it's in stock!

Me: Sir. That is a screenshot from Amazon.

9 notes - Posted June 29, 2022

#2

This is the plot, right?

53 notes - Posted January 29, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

86 notes - Posted March 1, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[cartograffiti]

August '24 reading diary

Lots of novellas and lots of fantasy this month, mostly continuing series!

Sheine Lende, the prequel to Darcie Little Badger's Elatsoe, was just wonderful. "Shane" is a Lipan Apache teenager in the 70s in an alt Earth setting with fairy rings and animal ghost magic. Shane helps her mother run a search and rescue operation, but when her mother vanishes while searching for a pair of missing siblings, Shane steps up to find all three with the help of her friends and family, no matter where in the world, or beyond it, they've been transported. Little Badger writes with a lot of beauty, effective emotion, and specificity in characters and worldbuilding. I wolfed it down.

Novella o'clock started with Seas and Geetings by Sierra Simone and Julie Murphy. They've been doing a series together of books about people in entertainment falling in love through the social hub of a producer who makes both porn and feel-good Christmas movies for a cypher of the Hallmark Channel. The mains of this novella are a bit peripheral to that, the best friend of one main (a lifestyle brand goddess) and the bodyguard of another. Lots of fun, they manage to be both a power couple and very messy, it's screwball comedy and they're obsessed with each other in a fun way. I think I would have gotten more out of it if I understood more of the Twilight jokes in the plotline of a parody musical being staged on the cruise ship, and it took a while for me to warm up to the sex scenes because mommy kink does nothing for me, but intellectually I really appreciate it in an f/f book.

A very long book: Mark Z. Danielewski's House of Leaves, a cryptic, sometimes dense, horror novel about... Well, it's about a family in Virginia that discovers their new house keeps gaining rooms, and doors into a seemingly endless labyrinth, and it's also about the history of the home videos they took there, a blind man who wrote a manuscript analyzing the film, and a young tattoo apprentice who analyzes that. Some of the text exhausted me with the sheer volume of citations (I think mostly or entirely fictitious) and self-analysis between the different layers of the narrative, and I was a lot more interested in the house than anything else. The unusual formatting completely worked for me, though, with pages of text placed to physically enhance the experience, sometimes forcing me to rotate the book. I can see why it has a large following of fan analysts, and I'm glad to have formed my own impression of it!

Two Penric & Desdemona novellas from this year that I hadn't gotten my hands on yet, Demon Daughter and Penric and the Bandit. Excellent new installments dealing with the problems of very young sorcerers and very young demons (paired together accidentally, naturally), and Pen and Des doing a little fetch quest with a soft-hearted criminal who doesn't realize he's not the one with the upper hand. You can read these chronologically or in pub order, but either way, not starting here.

A really solid disappointment this month in Faebound by Saara El-Arifi. I'd been interested in her books for a while, but I won't be picking up any others now. This was inoffensive, but remarkably predictable, and the characters in their late 20s and early 30s consistently read to me as people 10 years younger. It was also imho far too long for the amount of plot.

I was also very minorly disappointed in The Imposition of Unnecessary Obstacles by Malka Older. This is the second Mossa and Pleiti mystery about Holmes and Watson-ish girlfriends in space, and I liked this case, but the personal storyline was about Pleiti feeling insecure in their rekindled relationship, which I didn't find as fun as book 1.

Picked another Agatha Christie to read at random, in the ongoing project to read/reread all her stuff. This one was By the Pricking of My Thumbs, a particularly creepy Tommy and Tuppence case in which they try to hunt down an acquaintance of a recently deceased aunt, only to be drawn into retirement home gossip, organized crime, cold cases of murdered children, a quest for a location in a painting and its artist, and a secret room. Not in my top tier of Christies, but very fun.

And two more of the very silly and very scary cosmic horror detective adventures about Whyborne & Griffin! This time Fallow, which is about fungus horror (yay! yippee!) in Kansas, exploitation of people who hit rock bottom, and homophobia; and Undertow, which is another f/f novella about Whyborne's secretary Maggie having an adventure with Persephone the fish-woman while they're away. It's about whaling and xenophobia and murder, but it's also very much about monsterfucking, and JL Hawk had the vision to make in monsterfucking from both women's perspective, which is simply correct and ideal, thank you.