#I'm so so glad I bought the art book

[temerity14]

Cannot get over this concept art of them. Just. It's just. Them. I love them.

[illou-sainte]

But, we friends thou? 3k+

pairings: virgin!caleb x virgin!reader

cw: unprotected sex, mentions of condoms, college au, corruption, nipple play, dry humping, messy make out, rough sex, choking, overstimulation, rubbing, loss of virginity, dom!caleb, hentai reader!caleb, cherry popping (iykyk), both are inexperienced, stomach bulge, creampie, pet names (princess, pipsqueak, pretty girl), edging, nasty sex, no penetration, squirting, mentions of blood, crying

Caleb is known for being the heartthrob of the campus. He's everything that people want--smart, handsome, athletic and was rumored to be "big" down there. A lot of girls in the campus have been gushing over your best friend. Many have been saying that he sleeps with different girls everytime--but was it true?

And of course, in your part you don't get the hype about Caleb. Yeah, he's your first kiss but so what? As his best friend, you both share secrets with each other. And one secret that you've kept about him is that....

He's a virgin himself.

As cocky as he is--of course, he'd feed into those rumors about him just to boost his ego. Little do they know, he's just a virgin otaku who reads hentai mangas on his free time. At first, it did bother you that he started reading those--but as time passed by, you got used and even shared some recommendations you've found. And started having interest of his likings.

"Have you seen the new publish?" He asked, eyes glued to his phone as he scrolls. You leaned your back against your chair and crossed your arms.

"Of course, the art improved a lot" You answered, crossing your legs while Caleb shows you a panel of the erotic manga he's talking about. "You bet! It looks so realistic!" He chimed, pointing at the part where the girl was getting fucked and you can only push his phone away.

"Seriously, be glad that some of our classmates went out" You scoffed, leaning against your desk as you grab your bag and started putting your textbooks inside. "Come on, I know you agree that scene was hot!" He raised his brow to tease.

"Shush" You silenced him and he only shrug in response while you continued putting your things inside your bag. You can't lie but that scene was really hot--the way that the guy was dicking down the girl so good. Makes you wonder how would it feel like if it was you.

Your thoughts were pushed away when he interrupted. "Oh, I almost forgot" He said, grabbing his bag and reached inside of it. "I just finished the manga that you recommended me a few days ago" Grabbing the book from his bag and placed it on your desk--and you were quick to snatch it. It was embarassing the fact that the cover of the manga was a girl getting railed.

Hugging the book against your chest as you glare at Caleb and punched his shoulder, earning a grunt from him. "No need to be harsh, pipsqueak" He chuckled, as he looks at you in amusement.

You whispered curses at him while you opened your bag wider to fit the book in but something suddenly fall out.

A condom.

"Wha-" He froze, his eyes widened--looking at the packet of condom over your desk. Your eyes shifted to him as you look at him confused.

You hum, and followed where his gaze was at--making your heart drop when you saw the packet of condom over your desk, you quickly grabbed it by your hand and shove it inside your bag. "Haha- my bad...." You chuckled awkwardly while you sweatdrop, closing your bag and rested your hands over your lap--eyes glued to somewhere while you pretend nothing happened.

"I'm pretty sure that was a condom...?" Caleb thought, sweadropping also as he cleared his throat. But at the same time he wants to push your buttons--to see where you'd last.

"...an interesting thing you're carrying around...." He smiled, making you uncomfortable as you felt heat rising through your body out of embarrassment.

"It's just something I bought out of curiosity....." You answered, fixing your skirt because it was revealing a glimpse of your plushed thighs. Caleb noticed how you shift--only makes him want to push further. I mean maybe something might happen after this?

"Oh...I thought you're going to use it"

"Huh- haha no way...."

Awkwardness seeps between the both of you--while you try to not steal glances at the male. Inhaling deep as you question him.

"Do you have one, Caleb?" You asked.

"Have what?"

"Well...a condom?" You whispered, loud enough for him to hear while you toy with the ends of your skirt. Caleb blinks and looks away, leaning against his desk while fidgeting his pen.

"I don't...not like I'd have a chance to use one anyway" He joked, shaking his head lightly. You nod at his words and pursed your lips, you can't help but wonder if all of those rumors about him is true--about "big" he was. Even though you knew he's a virgin there's still apart of you that doesn't believe that.

Class ended early as you and Caleb walked together. Talking about the new mangas that were published while enjoying each other's company.

"I swear that old man should stop giving us new assignments everyday" Caleb sneers, putting his hands behind his head while walking besides you.

"He should, I swear I noticed his bald spot earlier during lecture" You snorts, making him laugh at your words as you joined.

You were glad that everything went to normal--that Caleb forgot about that condom incident earlier. You can only swear that if he brings up the topic again you would just dig your own grave out of embarrassment.

The laughters piped down and you both continued walking together--your eyes focused on your surroundings while Caleb on the other hand is urging to bring up the topic again.

"Hey"

"Hm?" You answered, eyes glued to the path.

"So, that condom talk earlier.." He spoke, looking somewhere while you paused. Cursing at yourself because you knew Caleb damn well--if something peeks his interest he wouldn't let go of it.

Inhaling deep as you face him--he puts his hands inside his pockets and gave you a sincere smile-- not that smile, you knew that he's plotting something which makes your body shiver at the sight of it.

"If someone were to ask you to 'use it' would you?" He asked, tilting his head and waits for your reply. The question makes your body heat rise as you put a hand on your nape.

Letting out a soft awkward chuckle while you look at him "That's way to sudden" You muttered, making Caleb chuckle as he puts a hand over your head--ruffling your hair.

"Like y'know, the thing I read on that manga you let me borrow" He said and your shoulders tensed up. Glaring at him as you pushed away his hand away from your head because it was messing up your hair.

"Hmp, don't bring me into your erotic fantasies" You huff, brows furrowed while you clutch onto the strap of your bag.

But the thought of it sends excitement through your body onto your clothed pussy--I mean you'd always wondered what it feels like getting fucked and would you waste this chance? But the only problem is that, Caleb.

You can't imagine seeing your childhood best friend dick you down--but the thought of it. Too consumed by your thoughts, Caleb pushed the topic further.

"So, what do you say?" He asked, making you snap back at your thoughts. You gulped as you look at him. Lowering your head while you fidget with your fingers-- hesitating if you're going to do it or not.

"We only live once, so risk it!" The voices in your head said in unison.

"I'll let him use it.."

It didn't take long for you two to arrive at Caleb's dorm. Feeling nervous, you try to calm yourself-- while Caleb on the other hand was all chill. You can't help but feel frustrated, can't even believe that you're going to loose your virginity to this man in front of you.

But what you didn't know, is that Caleb was more anxious than you. You both sat besides each other over the edge of his comfy bed as you clear your throat catching his attention.

"So what now...?"

"Right-- Uhm" Putting a hand over his nape as his usual sheepish attitude drains out of his body.

"...let's get naked first." It's rather a command than a question--Caleb nods at your words as he chuckle.

Pouting at him as your hand playfully pushed his face away from your direction "...I don't want you to look.." You confessed, face flustered making him smile as he hums.

"I'm still going to see you naked later, y'know that right?" He teased, only for you to push him away more making him give up as you face his back.

Pursing your lips as you unbutton your top-- starting from the top to the button. Your eyes trailed to the figure in front of you--Caleb removed his shirt in one go, revealing his well-built back. And what got your attention was his muscular biceps. You can't help but stare at it but you were interrupted when you heard him talk.

"Like the view?" He chuckled, making you roll your eyes as you told him to shut up. As you finished unbutton your top, you slowly removed it from your body--leaving you with your lacy bra hugging your plushed tits.

"Hey"

"Hm?" You hum. "Can I look?" Caleb asked, moving his head to the side a bit as he tried to get a glimpse of you behind. You quickly used your arms to hide your tits while glaring at him.

"You sound like a pervert"

"Come on, princess" He pleaded, your gaze focused on his back and you sighed--finally giving up as you removed your arms away from your chest. The man in front of you then quickly shifted his body to your direction--now facing you as his eyes trailed on your plushed tits. His face flushed and licked his lips-- letting out a soft chuckle while smiling.

"Wow....I couldn't tell at all that you're hiding something like these behind your clothes" He remarks, making you gulp while you sweatdrop. "Is that so..." You muttered, lowering your head while your eyes focused on him.

Don't look at him with those eyes--those innocent doe eyes of yours. Makes him want to bend you over and just fuck you on the spot.

Biting your lower lip, you both stare at each other. "Can..I touch them?" He asked, his hands clenching--eager to touch your plushed tits. You nod at his words, he had to look at you again to make sure--his hands tremble as he reached out to your tits in display.

Palm of his hands came in contact with your plushed tits as he gently massaged it--he couldn't believe it, he's finally touching a literal tits right now. His gesture made your body squirmed as you try to bit your lower lip to muffle your moans. Breathing softly as your hand reached behind your back to undo the hook of your bra. Unhooking it in one go as your bra fall from your shoulders and spills out your bare tits to the male.

His hands continued to massage your tits, thumb toying your perked nipple as you let out a moan--making him startle as he retrieved his hand.

"Ah- sorry" He apologized, you shook your head and reached out for his hand--bringing it back to your tits. "N-no...you can touch them however you like" You muttered, making Caleb gulp as he starts to feel heat gushing through his body. You're definitely putting fuel to the fire.

Caleb is anxious as he continued massaging your tits with both of his hands-- thumb rubbing circles and pinching your perked nipples earning sweet whimpers and moans from you. The sight makes his cock harden inside his pants--he can't help but feel aroused seeing you so sensitive to his touch--so needy.

Your soft moans occupied Caleb's mind-- your moans can't even compare to those erotic hentais he watched, yours is too hot-- like music to his ears. You blabber words at him but he's not listening at all--too focused on fundling your tits.

You can't help but feel satisfaction that you're able to fill his thoughts-- smirking as you look at him with your hazy eyes. "Are they your satisfaction, miste--?" Your words were cut off when Caleb suddenly lounged at you and pinned you down over his bed. Both of his palm holds your wrists at both side as his soft lips latched onto your tits earning a yelp from you while you squirmed.

"W-wait-..Caleb--!" But he doesn't budge, continuing to suck your sensitive tits as his hot tongue swirls around your perked nipple making your toes curl. His other hand lets go of your left wrist as he reached out to your thigh and places it on the side of his hip. Positioning his hardened cock against your clothed pussy.

Feeling the arousal gushing through your aching pussy as you feel him grind his hardened bulge against your wet clothed pussy. Finally removing his hand from your other wrist as it moves to your left tit and massaged it while he sucked on the other one. Your hands run through his black locks and tried to push him away from your tits--but he wouldn't, still latching on it like a hungry mad man.

"Ngh-! Too much...C-Caleb....Caleb-!" You moaned, as your hands cup his cheeks pushing his face away--he finally gives up, earning a loud 'pop' when he pulls away from your perked tits. Cupping his cheeks as you can see drool from the side of his mouth making you grunt as you noticed how he filled your tits with his saliva.

"Please..." He pleads softly, rubbing his cheek against your palm like a cat begging its owner for food. His muscular arms sneaks behind your back as he wraps it around your waist--burying his face against your tits. Where did the usual cocky Caleb go?

Letting a soft whimper as you feel him grind against your wet clothed pussy-- shamelessly. Caleb lift his head up as he looks at you with pleading eyes.

"Wanna put it in so bad....but..."

"I don't want to rush you" He exhaled, while your heart flutters in awe. Caleb always prioritize your needs other than his--he wants you comfortable, he's not the type to rush you to do things. You flutter your lashes as you lean closer-- connecting your soft lips to his, Caleb melts against your warmth as he relaxes, continuing to grind slowly against you.

His hand reached to the waistband of your skirt along with your lacy panties as he slowly pulls it down-- discarding it on the floor. Pulling back from the kiss as you both pant--your tongue sticking out as a string of saliva connects to both of your tongues. You're such a hot mess for Caleb-- it makes his cock twitch even more.

"So sensitive just for me...."

His fingers brushed away some strands of your hair from forehead-- you blink, noticing a wet patch on his gray sweats, your eyes then trailed on the visible bulge in front of you. Making your wet pussy twitch.

Caleb is not experienced--but he learned a lot from those hentai mangas he read. And of course a key to start off railing a girl aka his best friend is to penetrate their aching pussy first. He said to his mind.

While you on the other hand was eager-- already wanting to be dicked down by Caleb. Want him to stretch your virgin aching pussy so bad.

"Caleb"

"Yes, princess?"

"Please fuck me"

His brows raise in surprise as he looks at you "But, I need to penetrate you first-- it might hurt if we're going straight at it" He said, tone laced with worry. He feels like he's rushing you--he doesn't want to.

Feeling embarrassed as you looked away "It's okay...I can handle it" You whispered, cheeks flushed red. Caleb is having mixed feelings-- he never seen you so vulnerable, so submissive towards him. He can't help but want to abuse the control he has over you.

He clicks his tongue as he chuckled-- grabbing your hand and intertwined it with his, kissing the top of it as his eyes locked on yours.

"You're going to take it like a good girl." It wasn't a question-- your mind goes hazy, all you can think of is being intoxicated with the heat of both of your bodies. You flutter your eyes at him and nod-- following his order like a puppy.

He lets go of your hand and slowly pulls down his sweats-- leaving him with his boxers, you can't help but look at his visible bulge. Oh he's hard--very hard. You gulped at the sight of it, noticing a wet patch on the part where his tip is-- already oozing pre-cum.

"Don't stare at me like that" He snorts, grabbing both of your thighs-- hands gripping the plushed flesh as he placed it on the side of his hips.

Pulling down his boxer as his hardened cock bounced up hitting his pelvis-- your eyes widened when you see his cock in display.

You felt embarrassed--those rumors were indeed true. Caleb's cock is thick and long-- you can see visible veins lining while his angry red tip is already oozing pre cum.

"W-wait-!" You breathed out when you watch him position his aching cock against your hardened clit.

You both locked eyes-- his eyes were filled with love and lust while he continued on rubbing circles against your hardened clit using his tip-- using the pre cum as a lubricant to make it slippery to rub on.

"Let me take care of you..." He muttered, rubbing his tip against your wet pussy lips-- smearing his cum all over it. Earning moans from you as your toes curl, feeling his gritty cock run against your folds to your hardened clit. It sends arousal to your throbbing wet pussy.

Caleb lets out soft grunts and moans as he holds his hardened cock with his palm, pumping it up and down while pressing it against your clit-- making your body twitch with every stroke.

He fastened his pace of rutting his aching cock against your hardened clit. "F-fuck-- I haven't even got inside of you..and I'm already a mess with just rubbing it against your pussy..." He growled, continuing to rut against you making your eyes roll as you felt the bed shaking.

Breathing heavily while you endure the friction against your hardened clit to your puffy slit--a drooling mess as he mixed his pre cum and your juices together and smearing it all over your poor pussy.

Feeling the arousal rising-- you can feel your climax taking over, too overstimulated as you're eager to cum. But just right after you felt the walls of your pussy throb, ready to release--Caleb stopped rutting his angry tip against your hardened clit. Making you whine in return while you look at him with your glassy eyes.

"W-wha- why--,?" You complained, looking at him while he brushed some strands of his hair sticking out of his sweaty forehead. Panting heavily as his gaze towards you darkened. He lets out a husky chuckle while kneading the plush of your thigh with his hand.

"It'd be a waste if I'd cum outside, right? " He whispered, leaning close to you as your perked tits were pressed against his chest. Feeling his hot breathe against your skin-- making you hitch, your ears perked when you hear him reach out to your bag placed over the nightstand beside.

Even feeling intoxicated, you moved your head where his hand was reaching at--you quickly grabbed it as you pull it away from your bag. Making Caleb confused as he breathes.

"What?" He stopped reaching out to the condom inside your bag--you pulled his hand away while you guide it towards your lips. Placing kisses against his fingers with your soft lips as you look at him with your hazy eyes-- just filled with words unsaid. And for Caleb it just translates into "raw, next question"

The sight makes him aroused as he shook his head lightly. "Too impatient? Bad girls like you needs to be punished" He said-- voice low and husky as he slowly pulls away his hand from your grasp and moves it down-- tracing your chin to your neck.

You bit your lower lip-- you try to hide the fact that you're getting more hornier seeing Caleb being so dominant towards you. But your fucked up face didn't helped. You yelped when you felt his veiny hand grab your neck as his grip tightens--not in a way that you couldn't breathe.

"I'll make sure to fuck you so good-- shit, even better than the ones I've read." He chuckled, making your mouth agape as he pressed your legs against your perked tits. His other hand holds his gritty cock while he positioned it against your drooling slit.

Your heart beats faster-- too anxious and aroused at the same time, while you wonder if his cock would even fit inside your tight little pussy. Too occupied with your thoughts, you suddenly felt him push hit tip inside your tight hole-- causing your eyes to widen as you let out a grunt.

"ngh-! I-i...I don't think it will fit--! Ah!" You moaned, feeling him force his tip to stretch out your tight hole. His hand tightened more around your neck as he chuckled. "H-hah-- it's just the tip and you can't handle it?"

"F-fuck, I wonder what would it be like if I slam my whole cock inside?"

Tears streamed down your cheeks while you drool. Seeing him having a hard time pushing his gritty cock inside your pussy--earning loud moans from you while you endure the way his tip is stretching your little hole.

"'ts hurt...s-so much.." You babble, as you bit your lower lip. Caleb pants, as he slowly pushed his gritty cock even more-- your tight hole finally swallowing his whole tip. Even with just the tip inside of you, makes Caleb want to cum and make a mess out of you.

"f-fuck--!"

It's so warm-- he feels like he's in bliss of ecstasy. The way the walls of your warm tight pussy is hugging his tip so good while it throbs-- is such a euphoric feeling. Shit, he can't even describe what he's feeling right now, finally having to empty his balls in a literally pussy and not with those hentai mangas he reads.

You cried out while Caleb struggles to push his whole gritty cock inside your warm tight pussy. Both of your bodies trembles, his hand finally letting go of your neck as it joins to hold both of your thighs together and pressed it against your tits. You finally exhaled and catch your breath--hands gripping the covers of the bed tightly.

"nghhhh-! Hah- 'ts hurt so much, I can't-!"

"Fuck!" You screamed, feeling his whole cock slide inside of you so quick-- tears streamed even more as you cry out, grunting while you felt the pain of his gritty cock stretching your tight pussy so good. You drool as you try to process of what happened, feeling a hot liquid oozing out of your entrance.

"S-shit, tight hole finally swallowed me whole" He chuckled, eyes looking down at your pussy sucking him. Blood dripping out of your entrance--just like what he saw on every hentai mangas he read, a cherry pop. His hand reached for your clit as he rubbed circles against it-- making your legs tremble.

"'m gonna start movin', 'kay?" He muttered, making you nod as you swallow your cries. He leans close to you-- kissing your forehead and brushed some strands of your hair away. Forehead against each other as his lips slammed to yours. Pulling you into a heated kiss--pushing his hot tongue inside your mouth, while he explored every part.

You moaned between the kiss as you feel him pump his gritty cock in and out of your tight pussy. He was only pushing a small distance inside your pussy--trying to stretch you slowly before he dicks you down for real. You swallow his cock so good, he can't help but grunt each time the walls of your warm pussy throbs--on how it hugs his fat cock so well.

Angry red tip kissing the lips of your womb as he continued on with his pace--you felt a knot forming inside while gushing an upcoming climax through your throbbing pussy.

Hot tongues dances and swirls with each other-- leaving you both in drooling mess while you suck on his tongue. This was different from the first kiss you two shared-- this isn't a small peck anymore this is one nasty heated make out.

Hot bodies against each other-- you can feel your juices oozing out of your pussy as it soaks the covers of the bed, leaving a nasty mess under.

His thumb continued on rubbing your hardened clit-- using your juices as a lubricant for it to be slippery to rub on. Your body twitches when you felt him pinch your clit, earning a soft whimper from you.

He pulls away from the kiss, smearing your drool to the side of your mouth while you pursed your lips. You feel him fastening his pace of fucking your tight pussy--making you cry, your hands reached out and wrapped around his back and dig your nails against the flesh of it-- earning a grunt from him.

"fuck-- ha- how d-does it feel? Seeing your best friend taking your virginity" He snickered, the fucking is so sloppy-- you can hear the sound of your pussy slapping against his pelvis.

"'ts so fuckin- hot- ngh-- dicking you down"

The gushing of your blood and juices mixed together as he fucks it back in-- you can feel your climax on its edge, ready to release. You babble nonsense while you cry against the crook of his neck. Sticky body against each other while he plants kisses over your face.

"cum--! Cumming-!" You screamed out, tightening your legs wrapped around his hips as Caleb continued to drill his cock inside of you relentlessly-- stretching your walls so good as his cock fills every part of it.

You bit down his neck and cried, releasing your high as it squirts against his cock and pelvis. Your pussy is definitely designed just to be a cocksleeve for his fat gritty cock.

"hah-...cum for me, pretty girl"

Poor you, your mind is occupied of Caleb's fat cock. It amuses him that you're a blabbering mess-- just letting out words like "too much, hurts, Caleb, Caleb, Caleb, cumming-, cum, Caleb" and he loves you for that. Because, it means he dicking you down so good-- it made you feel like you're in cloud 9.

Caleb grunts as he felt your hot juices against his cock-- squirting endlessly as it drips down like a waterfall. He can feel your hot breath against the crook of his neck while you sob, but he doesn't stopped there.

"d-dont be passing out-- h-hah..on me" He muttered, pulling out his whole cock out as he slams it back in-- he continues his rhythm as his fast pace remains unchanged. Fucking you like a dog in heat like there's no tomorrow.

"no more-! Ngh-! Caleb--!"

He continued drilling his fat cock inside while your mind goes hazy as you feel like passing out. Caleb's breathing unsteadies, feeling his throbbing cock twitching inside of you as he pump it in and out-- he can feel his climax building up to his tip. His thumb pushed down his bulge against your stomach as he continues fucking you-- feeling his tip hit against the walls of your stomach.

The walls of your throbbing pussy tightened around his fat cock-- preparing for another release. He felt it too, causing him to let out a hoarse grunt as he continued to rut inside. "Fuck..fuck fuck-- I-I'm cumming, pretty girl"

"w-where-" Before he could finish his sentence you replied quick.

"I-inside!"

And with that, Caleb lets out a soft whimper-- shooting loads and loads of his thick hot cum inside your tight pussy, painting the walls white as he fucks it even more inside of your womb. Following, you release your high, squirting as it drips down out of your pussy--oozing along with his cum.

Caleb hugs you against him as his body trembles still shooting more loads inside your aching pussy while it tightens around his fat cock. You hugged him back, feeling you clench around him and your mind went blank--too cockdrunk to say anything as you let him be.

Let him give you a creamy creampie on your first sex.

He collapsed over your body, face against the crook of your neck as you felt his hot breathe against your skin. You squirmed as you felt his hot cum leaking out of your tight entrance--dripping down to your legs and to the covers of the bed.

Caleb looks over you as he caress your cheek, thumb brushing your eye as you closed your eyes--melting at his warmth while you softly sigh.

But oh...he's not done yet.

"Let's....hit it from the back. Want to see your ass clap, pretty girl.."

Don't worry, you'd get used to it. After all, that's what friends do.

This isn't proofread, sorry if there are mistakes T_T

masterlist

[jae-gyu]

Apple volume 4, and the three character concepts I plan to cosplay. :)

Artists: Flamenco Dancer - KKUEM (Chae Ji-Yun) Fallen Snow White - Insyu (Park In-Su) The Wedding Knight - SooyouN (Kang Su-Yeon)

[bigcats-birds-and-books]

Unfortunately, y'all: This is solidly a ★★ book for me. I had enough beef with this book that I jotted down a List, and the List got Out of Hand pretty quickly, so I figured I'd share it here.

First, though, I did enjoy parts of this book! (That's why it's ★★ instead of just ★.) I was pleasantly surprised how much overlap the orsine had with the setting of the writing project I'm working on currently (which is why I bumped this book up the TBR in the first place)--the fuzzy/foggy/unsettling/eerie/liminal vibes were on point. Also RIBS, MY BELOVED, what a showstealer, and I did adore the keywrasse, and I liked Alice and Charlie and Brynt and Coulton (RIP) and Marber (mostly). I, like @sixofravens-reads, also appreciated the lack of conventionally attractive female characters--they all felt distinct and (mostly) real to me, and I was digging that.

However. That's about all I was vibing with. I have a very long list of Vibing Against, so it's tucked under a cut here, buckle up:

A few (high star) Goodreads reviews mentioned that this book was Messy but they still loved it. I'm on board with Messy, but overall I did NOT love it, because I felt like its sins outweighed its merits. This is mostly a very petty list, be advised.

The first thing I wrote down on my "ORDINARY MONSTERS BEEF" list (yeah, I did this at work today) was "GRATUITOUSLY WORDY," which. coming from me. means you KNOW it's bad. Things that killed me included calling him "Jacob Marber" almost every damn time (c'mon--there's only one Jacob OR Marber), and, similarly, switching between calling Charlie either "Charlie" or "Charlie Ovid" within the span of a paragraph, for...emphasis, I guess?? It didn't need emphasis, it was just weird. I'd let it slide if it weren't on so many damn pages, and if there weren't SO MANY DAMN PAGES in the book! Like it's a hugely easy way to reduce wordiness, which, at 658 pages, this book needed. (There was also a passage on page 415 where there were only two (2) characters in a room talking to each other, and one of them said "Miss Quicke" to the other THREE TIMES IN A PARAGRAPH!! ma'am 1. no one talks like that and 2. IT'S THE SAME PARAGRAPH HOLY SHIT.)

Some of the vocab was jarring to me. It was weird (haha) to see "weirdly" in a book set in the 1800s, but at least that's not borderline anachronistic, like "liminal" (first recorded in ~1875) is--while "liminal spaces" is exactly what I was looking for, reading that phrase in a scene set in 1883 was jarring as hell. (You see the level of nitpick I'm at with this, though, this is what I mean by Beef.)

Also on the prose and style front: The long rambling sentences that relied on "and" after "and" after "and" or stacked up prepositional phrases one after the other in a long unending string weren't lyrical enough to justify their neverendingness to me. I wasn't holistically impressed with the prose, and the occasional stylistic shifts weren't QUITE consistent enough to be differentiated character voices. Miro certainly made some Choices™, on both the sentence level and the whole book level.

Among those Choices™, unfortunately, were several things that made me go Yikes (ie - the graphic brutality the only Black (teenage!) character faces, and how that's HIS INTRODUCTION IN THE BOOK; the repeated emphasis on Tokyo being ~dirty~ while London in the same era was Not unilaterally described this way--like there were mentions of London's muck, but that wasn't the ONLY description given; etc) or just side eye him in general (ie - we started the book with a POV character who was around for most of the first part and then we dropped her, never to see her again??; random side quests in the aftermath of a litch attack in which Charlie, injured, alone, in a new country, is...picked up by street children? and helps them do a crime??? why did we make this detour, it served NO purpose, we never hear about it again; we did some weird timeline bouncing within a decade/parts of this monstrous tome, but the weighting felt Unbalanced; WHY WAS THE CAST SO SLOPPILY HUGE BY THE END, you can't 1. call a bunch of random children "unnamed kids" literally on page or 2. KILL A BUNCH OF THEM OFF and expect me to care, because we never met them?? you didn't even NAME THEM??? it could've been impactful, and it's not like he didn't kill off child characters throughout the book, but. c'mon, dude; why did we get a paragraph of ~talents lore~ and then nothing more from the Educational Bits? any talents that weren't represented by a kid On Page felt woefully underdeveloped and unconsidered, and at 600+ pages that just feels like a hole in the worldbuilding).

The information we DID get, when we got it, mostly felt dumped, not organic--lots of characters who Know Things monologuing at our reader analogs, which is a valid strategy! However! There were so many pages, and it happened SO MANY TIMES, and yet I STILL feel like I don't know enough about this world or this magic, for how long I spent wading through it. The book really, truly, did not need to be this long. (I did discover that this isn't the author's first book, it's just his first book under This Pen Name. He writes lit fic under his real name, apparently, which honestly helps me a lot: This was NOT a debut, which is how he got away with the excessive word count while I'm staggering through the Trim and Tighten Mines over here.)

The characters did hold my interest, but I had a few issues there too. I'm fond of Alice as a concept, but I kept forgetting that she was a detective?? We spent a lot of time in her head, and she didn't THINK like a detective--she was badass, for sure, but not like. solving anything. Or piecing things together. Or asking the right questions of the right people at the right time. It could've saved a boatload of Child Endangerment if she had. Ma'am please go investigate something. Anything. Also: She was so NOT maternally-coded at the beginning (very emphatically the opposite of that, in fact), and then she meets 8-year-old Marlowe and that does an about-face, and it just felt. very out of character. Like she can care about a kid without turning ~maternal~, y'know?

Speaking of the 8yo: I was peeved that he was CONSTANTLY being described as small/little/tiny. Are 8yos really THAT tiny?? I feel like 5yo, sure, but 8yo is, what, a third grader? I dunno, I was just irritated that we kept hammering this home. Yeah, he's a kid, yeah he's little, but gosh please don't remind me every time he does literally anything.

I'm also not sure I trust Miro to have written a fully blind woman who's been blind all her life well or correctly, ESPECIALLY since she inhabits the weird liminal space bigger-on-the-inside school? I feel like a place with secret tunnels and stairwells and doors SITUATED ON TOP OF A MAGICAL SITE is perhaps a tad trickier to navigate than, like. a normal house. And maybe he did a good job! Maybe he handled this fine! But I'm not familiar enough with blindness to have a vibe check on how he did, and, again: I don't really trust him on this front. (Or on any front, if I'm being honest.)

Also SPOILERS but. Brynt's death. Felt so pointless and deus ex machina, EVEN THOUGH WE SAW HER GETTING TO THAT POINT. Like dude HOW did you manage to make it feel both deus ex machina AND utterly senseless (it solved their immediate problem but also. traumatized the 8yo. or SHOULD have, at least). And Harrogate should've died at LEAST three times, based on her injuries--my suspension of disbelief was strained All Over The Place, but about her massive injuries especially. (And about the logistics of carrying an 8yo outside a moving train, and just like. everything. about that scene. where there are literal children involved, since those children have NO experience at this sort of thing. Everyone should be smeared in the train tracks or the fucken mail car, we shouldn't even have made it to the school.)

Anyway. I was hoping this book would be like STRANGE AND NORRELL (based on cover and period similarities and the magic synopsis), but it wasn't. This was "Exploiting Vulnerable Magical Children: The Doorstopper, Part 1," full of bad guys and worse guys and even worse guys who we thought maybe were good guys, without a ton of moral or ethical substance to chew on--there was POTENTIAL, here, and it wasn't realized. Everybody with real power just kind of sucked, and it ended on Book 2 Bait (this absolutely doesn't stand alone, so: I plodded through 658 pages for WHAT, exactly??).

Like I said up top: The vibes were good liminal spookiness, and I did also love how body-horror-esque the magical powers were, but. The things I liked weren't enough to save this book for me. I will not be reading the sequels (though I might bother people who do, just to see how it All Turns Out, even though I imagine that'll be Messy, too). Good luck and godspeed to those of you who still have this on your TBR; I hope it turns out better for you than it did for me.

Books of 2024: ORDINARY MONSTERS by J. M. Miro.

Swinging from a teeny tiny read (A SHINING) to this behemoth, which weighs in at 658 pages (that's like. uh. nine (9) SHININGs, never mind about the word density per page).

Did I know this is the first book in a trilogy? No. Did I know the trilogy is not yet complete?? Also no. Will that stop me from reading it now anyway??? Wow, you guessed it: No.

I'm always down books featuring corvids in the cover art and kids with mysterious powers, AND the "man made of smoke" that the jacket promises sounds Very Intriguing. All I know going into this book is what the jacket tells me, though, so I'm excited to be surprised!

[witherby]

I headcannon Mouse to be just very natural talented at art stuff lol, drawing, singing, dancing, crocheting, but never takes any of it seriously, cause they refuse to over exert themselves over things. Mouse is chilling, yeah sure they can technically paint and sell a masterpiece, but do you know how long that would take? I feel like this would infuriate Tim and Damian, lmao.

Wait that's hilarious. I love this (⁠≧⁠▽⁠≦⁠)

Damian, entering Mouse's room: Good afternoon. Sorry to disturb you, but I think one of your shirts ended up in my — what is that.

Mouse: hi, Dami! I'm giving painting a try. Dad bought me an easel and some brushes this morning.

Damian:

Mouse: ?

Damian:

Mouse: :) ?

Damian: that's a fucking Rembrandt.

Mouse: oh, I'm glad you could recognize it! I was hoping I did a decent job.

Damian: you painted a one-for-one recreation of The Storm on the Sea of Galilee.

Mouse: yeah!! :)

Damian: how long have you been practicing!?

Mouse: oh, I only got the one canvas because I wasn't sure if I'd like painting as a hobby? So this is my first try.

Damian, feeling like he's about to have a stroke because he's been drawing for years and is nowhere near as skilled as you apparently are: it looks......nice...........

--

Tim: urgh, Mouse will you be my rubber ducky for a minute?

Mouse: yeah, go ahead.

Tim: I'm working on a string of code here that's causing me huge problems. This sequence keeps looping in on itself even though it's closed on every line, and —

Mouse: just switch out (current sequence) for (alternate sequence) and that should stop.

Tim: but if I do that — wait how did you know that

Mouse: you left a couple books on HTML and C++ in the sitting room a few months ago. They were a fun read.

Tim: ...fun...they were...fun? To read?

Mouse: yeah! Here, scoot over, let me fix this.

Tim, watching them rewrite all of his code without breaking a fucking sweat and the sequence start working perfectly: how did...what's the...but...but it's...

Mouse: did you need the books back? I already read them so they're just collecting dust on my shelf. I don't really plan on doing anything with the info either.

Tim: you don't WHAT

[neil-gaiman]

Dear Sir,

Huge fan. 🤍

I discovered Good Omens initially when it aired on Prime all those years ago and I loved the story so much I bought the book, read it and instantly fell in love with your writing. My bookshelf is now overflowing with your stories and the likes. Can I also mention how incredibly well cast your adaptations are for television? American Gods, The Sandman, all of it: I love it.

I just wanted to share my thanks to you. For rekindling my love of reading and also illustrating. I have always wanted to make good art and be an illustrator. It's what I wanted to be when I grew up. Even if my family never saw it as a reputable career move.

Life got in the way, but many years later (let's say 30 ish years?) I got here. I'm inspired, ignoring the haters, drawing what I love, finding my tribe and making good art. And with that, here's me tripping and fangirling hard. I hope you enjoy this piece of fan art.

I just hope you know what a difference your words truly make for so many souls out there, mine included. I'm forever grateful.

All the best, V x

You're really good. I'm glad you're drawing.

[artofthegreyscalerainbow]

I got to meet Eric Stuart for the first time at C2E2 2024 and it was so great to talk to him! He loved my cosplay and was so excited about this art I made for him, he told me all about the new giant portfolio book he bought to put it all in and told me "You better have signed it!" He especially enjoyed what was going on in the background. xD

I'm glad that I went with something funny, and with the way he was joking around during the selfie later on he definitely picked up on the fact that besides my dad, he influenced my sense of humor, there were some good jokes.

SPEEDPAINT TO FOLLOW

[weirdly-specific-but-ok]

my mum bought me my first neil gaiman book, maggots!!

So, I don't know if you'd call it a book like a story, rather, it's a series of essays by Neil that were illustrated by Chris Riddell. My mum listened to the story of how I was kidnapped adopted by the Good Omens fandom. She was very confused, but since I'm an author and artist, she bought me the book, Art Matters.

And I've been seeing so much beautiful fanart and edits and fanfiction from this fandom, I swear to God or Someone, and it's all reminding me what a wonderful thing fandom is. And art is.

I read the book, and it was amazing, and here's a few quotes from it that I think the ridiculously talented people who created the book and the show as well as every fan who has made this creation grow should hear.

"And remember that whatever discipline you are in, whether you are a musician or a photographer, a fine artist or a cartoonist, a writer, a dancer, a designer, whatever you do, you have one thing that's unique. You have the ability to make art. And for me, and for so many of the people I have known, that's been a lifesaver. The ultimate lifesaver."

"...while you're at it, make your art. Do that stuff that only you can do. ...the one thing that you have that nobody else has is you. Your voice, your mind, your story, your vision. So write and draw and build and play and dance and live as only you can."

"And where would be the fun is doing something you knew was going to work?"

Well, you heard him, maggots. Go on creating. You are all so, so important. I came to tumblr because I was lonely and I wanted a friend.

I found a family, instead. In this very strange fandom that kidnapped adopted me. I love you all, and I'm glad to cry with you. I haven't even got to season 2 yet.

Side note...

Welcome, @neil-gaiman, join the maggots in watching me sob over Aziraphale and Crowley. It really is very quiet, gentle and romantic out here.

[vaspider]

I have a really big question that you may not have the capacity to answer, and that's totally ok, but I thought I would try asking anyway.

How did you successfully start a business and get it to the point that you could survive/live comfortably and pay other people on it? How did you survive the psychologically damaging years of hell work while you were building it up?

Well.

To start with, I don't want to give you the impression that we're totally financially stable and have a bunch of full-time employees. We aren't, and we don't. We're still in the building and growth phase, and we're lucky to have people who can work part-time for us (in part because we pay them what we pay them per hour - there's no way they'd be able to hack it if we were paying them $10/hr or even $15/hr).

Quite honestly, I don't think we would have survived the pandemic as a business if it weren't for the fact that my wife has a stable IT job. Emet and I work on the business full-time, and Evie works full-time at her fancy IT job and works with us on events and does IT and infosec stuff for us, and then we have 2 part-time employees, Jake and Erykah.

So I'm glad that we give the impression of having it all buttoned up, but we don't, and I think that's one thing you need to know. We are ducks, friend: serene on the top of the water, paddling like hell underneath where y'all can't see it. The building phase lasts ... well, a long, long time.

I remember what it's like working for Wells Fargo, and I never want to do that again. I remember what it was like working for a mortgage processing job where we knew the company was fucking around with people's escrow accounts and we couldn't do anything meaningful about it. People anonymously reported things to the Attorneys General of various states, but nothing ever came of it. My spouse got demoted for "anonymously" reporting the fake account fuckery at Wells Fargo and I basically got run out of the company for the same thing -- they just made it so miserable for me to work there that I quit. That's part of how I survive it, honestly: I remember the alternative.

But it comes down to the fact that you really do have to desperately love what you're doing. You have to love it so much that you cannot imagine not doing it. And on the days when you might struggle to love it that much, you just have to hate the alternative a little more than you hate the hard parts of running a business.

Now that I've made art for a living -- something that my parents told me I'd never be able to do, as I'm sure most artists were told -- I can't imagine doing anything else. I keep my wacky sleep schedule, and it's fine. Right now, I'm sitting alone in the living room putting together the cotton sleep shirts/housecoats that we're launching this fall, and I'm like... really excited to be able to share these with everybody. I'm anxious about the show we have tomorrow, yeah, and I'm anxious about money and a bunch of other stuff but I'm also really excited about seeing somebody put on a brand new skirt they just bought from us and twirl. I'm excited about seeing somebody laugh when they turn a page in the patch book and see a particular patch. I'm excited about the way that people's eyes light up when Jake pulls out the Aromantic or Agender or Genderfluid patch book and they realize just how many choices we have in their kinda-rare flag.

And I'm really excited about sharing these zip-front housecoat jimmyjams with y'all.

That's how I keep doing it. I can't imagine not doing it.

Hope that helps, because that's all I've got. :)

[frankherbertsdune]

I just got my book journal from @mostlyghostie ! It's super cute and I'm so glad I could get a book journal designed by him since I really like his art and have been wanting a book journal for a while. I started adding stickers and scribbled down a review of the last book I read before I thought to take pictures to post.

He was also kind enough to throw in these bookmarks! And when I bought some bookmarks from him in the past, he threw in a sticker

[mieau]

Let's wrap 2024 with the traditional yearly art summary!

I just went back to read last year's wrap up and... I might write very similar points this time as well haha. Personal life took most of my time: me and my husband finally found a great house, and we bought it! It's quite something, and we're still right in the middle of packing everything to move out. In 2025, I will still need time to settle there, I know I want to do it properly.

Art wise, I'm glad that I was able to continue the pencil sketches! I did around 50... I still haven't posted most of them! I'm planning to gather them in a book alongside new sketches, in 2025, so they will all be in one place. I appreciate that I felt gradually more confident making them. It allowed me to draw without worrying about colors or marketable design, and it pushed me out of the desire for perfectness digital art often gives.

Convention wise, I did a necessary pause in 2024, but I was glad that the new products I launched around November were well liked! It's giving me confidence that it can work and will try to do more in 2025.

Also, I know I haven't been the most interesting to follow these last few years, still I wanted to thank every one of you that still follows me, I see every like and share, messages and more, recognizing familiar names as well as meeting new ones. Thanks for tagging along! See you all in 2025 🥂

[nebulacritter]

some manga i've read

I have a LOT of manga in my room, so I thought it would be cool to tell you about some of them!

Mr. Villain's Day Off

I first heard about this series when I saw its anime trailer on YouTube. Coincidentally, I found two books of the original manga in my local Barnes and Noble, so that's why I bought them! I like this series because it's a slice-of-life parody of the sentai genre, and I also appreciate the titular character's love of pandas! I even liked how each of the heroes had backstories.

Favorite Character: Mr. Villain

X-Gender

This book was a great pick because it discusses queer topics in a respectful and informative manner. It is an autobiography about the author's experiences with their gender and sexuality, and if you're wondering what "x-gender" means, it's a Japanese term for being nonbinary.

Favorite Character: N/A

Uramichi Oniisan

Oh my god. This series is HILARIOUS. All of the main characters have a dysfunctional, but harmonious dynamic when they work together on stage. Everything Uramichi does or says makes me cry and laugh at the same time.

Favorite Character: Uramichi Omota

Heaven's Design Team

This is another series that makes me laugh, and I've seen clips of the anime before getting my hands on the manga. It reminds me of those "God creating animals" memes that were popular on Twitter back in the 2010's. It's peak edutainment, and each character has a very eccentric personality!

Favorite Characters: Venus and Yokota

Kirby Manga Mania

I decided to give this one a try, because who doesn't love Kirby? The art style is bubbly and bright, and the humor goes off the walls! I find it weird how Kirby talks normally instead of going "poyo poyo" all the time.

Favorite Characters: Kirby and King Dedede

Precarious Woman Executive Miss Black General

Yeezus, that's a long title. I picked this one out because I thought the art style looked cool. It's a story about a villainess with a crush on Totally-Not-Batman. I enjoyed the slapstick and the amazing character design.

Favorite Character: N/A

Cells at Work!

Here's another edutainment anime. The depictions of each microorganism are really cool, and I liked the scenes where the cells had to fight off against nasty viruses! It even does a good job at explaining how the body works by providing bits and bobs of information throughout the panels.

Favorite Character: N/A

Little Miss P

I've never seen a manga that talks about periods before, and I'm glad it exists. This book is relatable because I hate it when my period arrives, but I understand getting your period is normal. I'm quite fond of the messy art style, too.

Favorite Characters: N/A

Merman in My Tub

I remember cheerily reblogging and liking posts about it last year, and I still love it to this day! All of the characters have vibrant personalities, and I really like the designs of each merman. This series is light-hearted and goofy, so that's why I think it's awesome.

Favorite Characters: Agari and Echizen

I'm gonna make two more parts later on. The second one will be about cats, and the third one will be about horror.

[nejjcollectsbooks]

thrifted bookish finds 12/feb/24

I had the cutest and most romantic haul today. Whoever ordered two hardcover classic books from America (there's no Barnes & Nobles in Ireland), paid for shipping and their costs and then donated them to the charity shop, you are crazy and I thank you from the bottom of my heart. It was a treat to find them there, I got them for fifty cents a book. I got 'A Room with a View' by E. M. Forster and 'Little Women' by Louisa May Alcott.

I then found a heart-shaped pink candle and a whole load of cards. Tomorrow, I plan to go back and buy the rest of those cards. They have the most wonderful and romantic art on them. I'm so glad I got them, I wasn't going to at first because I had never bought cards for myself, (I'm not used to treating myself, books don't count because those are a necessity of life for me as taught by my mother) but at the last second I picked them up and I'm so glad I did.

Funny thing is, they were being sold cheaply and were flimsily wrapped in cellophane to keep them together. But when I turned them around I found that they all came from The National Gallery of Ireland, a gorgeous art gallery, and I know they would've cost a whole lot per one. But I'm not going to complain, I'll just be very grateful.

[cute-girls-from-vns-anime-manga]

Ooh your display case is really cool! Can you give us a rundown of what stuff is/where you got it etc?

HELL YEAH ID LOVE TO SPEND MY TIME DETAILING ALL MY COOL SHIT!!!

I don't want to overload everyone's dashboards with a ton of HQ pics of ALL of this individually so we are gonna go shelf by shelf left to right! I will try and use bullets to group certain things if they are apart of a set of some sort! (though I'm still working on these display cabinets and organizing things into their sets)

Starting with the Eushully shelf!

Kami no Rhapsody (RPG/VN), Source: Ebay

Kami no Rhapsody guide/art book, Source: Ebay

Madou Koukaku (RPG/VN), Source: Ebay

Ikusa Megami Zero guide/art book. Source: Ebay

Kamidori Alchemy Meister Special Alchemy disk (content pack), Source: Mandarake

Kamidori Alchemy Meister Perfect guide/art book + content pack disc, Source: Ebay

Kamidori Alchemy Meister Hannah's Pilgrimage (content pack), Source: Ebay

Kamidori Alchemy Meister (RPG/VN) Source: Ebay

Ikusa Megami (RPG) Source: Ebay <- STUPIDLY RARE I STILL CANT BELIEVE I FOUND EUSHULLY'S FIRST GAME THEY EVER PUT OUT BACK IN 1999 EVEN A SEARCH FOR IT ON SOME OF MY MORE ESOTERIC VISUAL NOVEL HUNTING GROUNDS TURNS UP A SINGLE LISTING THATS BEEN SOLD OUT FOR YEARS NOW!

Amayui Labyrinth Meister guide/art book + content pack disc Source: Ebay

Amayui Castle Meister guide/art book Source: Ebay

Fuukan no Grasesta (RPG/VN) Source: Ebay

Eushully branded mug printed with MC's of their various games Source: Ebay <- just showed up on my ebay alert for Eushully for dirt cheep probably the most absurd Eushully branded thing I own!

Emilita phone strap (she one of the main three heroines of Kamidori Alchemy Meister) Source: Ebay

Amayui Labyrinth Meister (RPG/VN) Source: Ebay

NEXT IS MY FIGURE SHELF!!!!

Tenryuu (Kancolle) Source: PLAMOYA

Saber Lilly (Fate Series) Source: PLAMOYA

Bendy OL-chan (pixiv artist OC) Source: amiami

Jill Stingray Nendroid (VA-11 Hall-A) Source: GOODSMILE

Yumiko Sakaki Bunny Suit (Grisaia no Meikyuu) Source: Solaris Japan

Marin Kitagawa Swimsuit ver. (My dress up darling) Source: amiami

Konata Cat Lingerie (pixiv artist OC) Source: amiami

NOW FOR MY VISUAL NOVEL COLLECTION (That isnt an Eushully or Minato Soft title)

Tsukihime remake (Switch Limited Edition) Source: Amazon

Witch on the Holy Night (Switch Limited Edition) Source: Amazon

Side note here THANK YOU TYPE MOON FOR MAKING THE LIMITED EDITIONS OF THESE TWO SUCH BIG BEAUTIFUL BOXES!!!!

Grisaia Complete Box (Japanese edition) Source: Jlist <- I genuinely believe this is the RAREST thing I own did a quick search and found only ONE seller on Mandarake selling this and its a used and incomplete copy MINE IS STILL PRISTINE AND COMPLETE!

Rewrite limited edition Source: Ebay <- Rewrite has my favorite limited/special edition extras of any visual novel in additon to the beautiful artwork and some interviews and stuff they included SHEET MUSIC FOR TWO OF THE BG MUSIC TRACKS

Clannad Limited Edition Source: Ebay <- This was the first physical visual novel I ever bought and Imported so obviously it holds a special place in my heart, AND OF COURSE CLANNAD WAS THE FIRST VN I GOT A PHYSICAL EDITION OF BEING ONE OF THE MOST POPULAR VISUAL NOVELS OF ALL TIME AND CERTAINLY EARNS ITS STATUS AS A CLASSIC!

Little Busters Limited Edition Source: Ebay <- Not much to say about this one like I did the other two Key VN's ive got just another solid Limited edition of a great classic Visual Novel!

Subarashiki Hibi Source: Ebay <- Honestly with this one I am kind of disappointed in the quality of the box feels REAL flimsy but sadly box build quality isnt what it used to be back in the 90's

LASTLY THE PLUSHY SHELF ONLY THREE AND THEY ARE ALL FROM MAKESHIP!

Glow in the dark goblin: by Jocat <- glad Jocat has recently returned to twitch as his content is really amazing and I loved the little gobo animations he made with these guy's designs!

The absolutely adorable Cardiegon: by Ceroro <- whom is just an absolutely incredible artist whom yall should already be following here on tumblr by now!!!!

Finally the most recent plushie Sky (2.0 WITH BORGOR) the MC of Endless Monday Dreams and Deadlines: both the amazing game and sky herself are by hcnone <- GO PLAY ENDLESSS MONDAY RIGHT NOW GIVE HCNONE YOUR MONEY THEY ARE AN INCREDIBLE ARTIST AND MADE A WONDERFULLY AMAZING LITTLE GAME!!!!

THIS WAS SUCH A FUN TRIP BACK THROUGH THE MEMORIES OF FINDING ALL THIS STUFF AND REMEMBERING BEING SO EXCITED FOR EACH AND EVERY THING!!!!!

[ahgasegotarmy116]

The Art of Etiquette Part 3 | Jeon Jungkook

Summary: Mr. Jeon gets your number and offers to drive you to the Modiste but don't really give you an option to say no Paring: f!reader x Etiquette instructor Jungkook Word Count: 3.5k~ Warnings: Like one cuss word but thats about it lol a/n: This took longer than I had expected to post but I hope you guys like it! p.s. roughly edited because I wanted to get it out asap lol

"So start from the beginning again. What exactly did he do?" I hear as Jesse's voice comes through the speaker. "He's just trying to intimidate me" I groan, not wanting to relive it again.

"He thinks that that kind of tactic is going to work well enough to make me into a 'lady'. I really don't understand how some of these upper class people think. They're acting like it's the 18th century or something" I complain, walking around my room and putting away the new clothes I bought for this whole charade. 

"I mean they more or less are if they're still concerned about stuff like having a girl go through this whole song and dance just so the rich boys know that they're up for grabs now. It just doesn't make sense" he sympathizes.

"I'm glad you agree" I say, relieved that I don't have to explain myself to him. "Well why don't you just talk to him about it?" he suggests. 

"James? I would but I don't want to make it seem like I'm trying to back out or complain about it. Plus my mother would never let me hear the end of it and she really might convince him to make me get a job instead. 

"No I meant Jungkook, or Mr. Jeon or whatever the hell you call him. He could probably answer your questions if you ask nicely" he taunts at the end. 

"Talk to him? He doesn't bother to initiate any sort of conversation with me, other than when he tells me to do something. Even when he asks questions he expects me to answer with a 'yes' or 'no' and stops me from asking him anything even if I try" I groan, disgusted at the thought of trying to speak to him like I would any other person.

"He would just reprimand me for not doing the homework he gave me since it probably has all the answers I'm looking for" I huff. "Have you done the homework?" Jesse asks, clearly knowing the answer.

"I read the SparkNotes okay" I admit rolling my eyes "So I know gist of it. I showed you how thick those books were right? There was no way I'm going to be able to finish all of them by Monday" I groan, tossing myself onto the bed. 

"Well it's either read or talk and if I were you I would talk to him and get on his good side. It would benefit you more in the long run" he say, stating the obvious that honestly I had not thought of, considering how much he infuriates me.

"At the end of the day though it's up to you babes" he finishes.

We talk for a bit more before he has to go and he doesn't forget to remind me to read some more before I go to bed. Leaving me brushing it off, wrapping up the call to prevent any further nagging.

But before I'm even able to lock my phone after ending the call I get a text from a random number...

Unknown: 'You have a fitting tomorrow so we'll be meeting there instead'.

I frown for a second as I stare at the screen, contemplating if I should answer or not.

Me: 'Mr. Jeon?' I question making certain that my suspicions are correct.

Unknown: 'I see that no one has told you yet. Yes it's Mr. Jeon, I acquired your number from Matthew so as to ease our means of communication'. He finishes matter o' factly.

I stare at the screen again and contemplate how to respond but before I'm able to he sends another message. 

Unknown: 'I hope this hasn't made you uncomfortable. If you would like I can continue to send messages through Matthew instead'. he offers after noticing my hesitation to respond 

Me: 'No this is fine, it would make things more convenient for the both of us'. I answer, feeling almost as if a barrier between us has been broken down with this nonabrasive conversation we're having at the moment.

Unknown: 'Agreed. I just checked and noticed that I pass your college on the way to the modiste so I will pick you up instead'. he sends, telling me more than offering. 

Me: 'You don't have to do that, I'm perfectly capable of getting myself there on my own'. I reply, not appreciating the way he's gone about this.

Unknown: 'The location is quite far, farther than my house so it would be more cost effective for you if you were to simply accept my offer. Although I've already told your father and he said he would send someone over to pick up your car from the University. So unless you would like to walk there I suggest you come with me'. 

There's the Mr. Jeon we all know and hate...we meaning me.

Me: 'Yes Mr. Jeon'. I reply, knowing that I've lost the battle before it has even begun.

Unknown: 'I shall meet you outside the main building at 4:15. Sweet dreams'. he finishes leaving me confused. 

"Sweet dreams? Sweet dreams?" I repeat to myself. That's the first remotely nice thing he's ever said to me. Why would he say that? He could've just ended it at 4:15.

Why Sweet dreams? I shake my head hoping that would in some way get rid of whatever overthinking my brain starts to do but it's no use, especially since I still have it right in front of me. 

I change his name to 'Jungkook' because at least that way I can feel like I'm disrespecting him on a daily basis without his knowledge, assuming he will be sending me unnecessary reminders of stupid things he thinks I'll forget.

Knowing me though I probably would've forgotten it anyways since I kind of black out during our lessons at times. He talks so much that after my already mind numbing classes I can hardly focus on what he's supposed to be teaching me. 

~~~~~~~~

I walk down the front steps and see an all black car waiting right in front, leaving me to assume it's Mr. Jeon. "Get in or we'll be late" he says after rolling down the window. I roll my eyes and open the door, plopping myself down in the back seat.

"What are you doing?" he questions, looking at me through the rear view mirror. "Putting my seatbelt on?" I answer just as confused as he is. He takes a deep breath in and out and starts up the car, driving away before saying anything else. 

"Oh did you expect me to sit up front with you?" I ask now amused at his behavior. "Seeing as I am not your personal driver yes, I did expect you to sit up front" he says tonguing his cheek.

Huh, so he does that when he's irritated. Noted.

"Yet you gave me no choice but to drive me there" I argue back. "I did this as a favor so we would both show up on time. I guess I won't offer next time" he says and I can see how much he's trying to restrain himself. 

"Mr. Jeon did something happen?" I ask, genuinely curious as to why he's acting like this. He's usually upfront and intimidating, but never angry with me. Maybe a little irritated but the feeling is mutual.

"No, now will you please stop being a brat for five seconds? We have a long journey and I would rather we spend it in silence than listening to your insolence" he says raising his voice. 

I decide that it's in both of our best interests if I remain quiet but it takes everything in me to do just that.

'Who does he think he is? Calling me a brat?' I scoff quietly to myself and put in my headphones, not missing the glare he sends me through the rear view again.

I press play and rest my head against the window, deciding to get some rest instead of dealing with whatever attitude that's got him all messed up.

~~~~~~

"Wake up" Jungkook says once we get there.

He looks back and finds me fast asleep with my headphones in, leaving him rolling his eyes and getting out of the car, making sure to slam his door on the way out.

He goes around and opens the door I was lying up against and let's me fall a bit but catches me half way before I actually topple out of the car. 

"Hey!" I whine, now unfortunately being forcefully woken up.

"We're here. Get out and wipe that drool off your face" he says and pushes me back in so I'm sitting upright and makes his way over to the building, not bothering to wait for me.

"What's his issue today?" I groan and reach up to wipe the drool off my face he had spoken about but I find none leaving me even more irritated with the fact that he's not only grumpy but he still has the audacity to try and tease me.

When I finally make my way into the building I'm met with so many different kinds of dresses and fabrics and ribbon and everything that you could possibly imagine that would be in a dress maker's shop. 

"This must be y/n!" an older woman, most likely in her sixties says as she comes up and gives me a little smile.

"Hello" I say shyly, remembering the scolding that Jungkook had given me earlier until I glance over at him and see that he is giving me an even bigger scowl than he had before. 

"I mean it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance" I say giving her a nod. "She's still got a lot to learn" Mr. Jeon says and walk with the dressmaker and talks her through everything that we've planned to do today but I can tell she is already well versed but continues to let him explain all the same.

"Y/n" I hear him call out my name, leaving me bringing my attention back over to him after I had just started to look through the different bolts of fabric that are sitting on the various shelves. 

"Yes?" I say remembering to give him a verbal response.

"Please go ahead and stand up on that stool over there and wait for her to come up and measure you".

I look over at the area he's motioned to to make sure I know exactly where to go so I won't get scolded for not doing as I was told. "Yes Mr. Jeon" I say and make my way over and wait for her.

"Oh you're going to look beautiful in the gowns we're making for you!" the woman says as she happily continues to take my measurements. She notices my reaction and looks around for Jungkook and sees that he's on a phone call in the other room.

"It's okay I won't make them girly and pink". "How did you kno-"

"A woman always knows, especially when I've been in this business for so long. Also don't feel a need to be formal with me love. I don't subscribe to that stuffy nonsense" she says with a chuckle. 

"But you make dresses for them" I say confused with her stance on things. "It's good money dearie, plus I enjoy making them. I started sewing at the age of four believe it or not!" she says looking up at me over the edge of her glasses as she checks to see how long she'll need to make the dresses. 

"Are you clumsy at all?" she asks rather randomly if you ask me. "No not really, why?" I ask tilting my head slightly. "I just wanted to see if I should make the hem a bit shorter so you wouldn't step on it but I think you'll be just fine" she finishes and takes a final look at me and at the measurements she's written down. 

"Perfect! Go ahead and sit down over there and rest your legs a bit while I bring out some dresses that you'll be trying on" she says and turns to make her way over towards the backroom.

"Dresses? There's more than one?" I question and she unfortunately doesn't hear me since she's already out of earshot. 

"You'll be trying on at least five dresses today. Just so we can make sure we choose the right one" Jungkook says right behind me, scaring the shit out of me.

"Sh- I mean, you startled me" I say placing a hand over my chest. "You'll live" he says simply and goes to sit on one of the chairs facing the stool I had been standing on.

"Are you going to just sit there and watch?" I question, seeing as he hasn't made moves to do much else.

"It's one of my tasks of being your tutor" he says and fishes out his phone to respond to what I assume is another message. 

"Your job is to watch me try on pretty dresses?" I question, amused by the situation.

"Yes y/n, it is my duty to make sure that the dresses we choose match the themes of whatever events we are going to. As well as being appropriate to the trends nowadays" he finishes and lowers his voice when he sees the seamstress come back. 

"I heard that" she says while rolling a rack of dresses into the room.

"Do you see one you like?" she asks and motions for me to come closer. I look at the rack and see there are so many dresses of different colors and patterns and styles. I just don't know what to pick.

"Which one do you think I should try on?" I ask turning towards her. "Well why don't we let Mr. Jeon choose, since he so kindly reminded me that my taste is out of date" she says and winks at me, showing me she's teasing while simultaneously giving Jungkook the cold shoulder. 

"I did not mean it as any disrespect. What I was trying to say wa-"

"Oh hush child, just come over here and choose a dress before I really start to get upset with you" she teases and he walks closer to the rack looking through the dresses while he sends a glance my way most likely debating on which one might suit me best.

He takes a second to think after looking through all of them but doesn't seem to find one he's satisfied with. Looking around the room for a second he finds another dress on display and walks over to it to take a closer look. 

"This one" he says almost bored and walks back over to sit in the chair he had been occupying moments ago.

"He's cranky today isn't he?" she whispers to me and I nod my head quickly agreeing. "I'm glad you noticed too" I say and she walks to the back and grabs that exact dress in my size.

"Go ahead and change over there and I'll grab some pins incase we need to alter it" she says and I do as I'm told. 

Coming out of the little dressing room she has I smooth the dress out and watch as her eyes light up.

"This looks incredible on you! I don't even think I'll need to alter it at all!" she says excitedly. I smile at her and thank her silently and see Jungkook walking over to take a closer look. 

He takes in my figure from top to bottom and has me do a slight twirl to see it from all angles. "We'll take this one" he says and starts to walk over to the counter to settle the bill.

"That's it?" I question her, confused as to how we actually managed to finish this all without me having to try on a bunch more.

"I mean he did pick the perfect dress for you" she says walking me up to the full length mirror and I'm shocked at how much I love it as well. 

I twist and turn around a bit more to see the movement of the dress and the more I watch the more I fall in love with it.

"You're right, this one's perfect!" I say and turn my vision towards where Jungkook had gone to and I notice that he's most likely been watching me this entire time.

He clears his throat and fixes his posture to try to cover up for himself but I can see how almost bashful he looks from being caught in the act. 

"Why don't you go change and then we'll have this all settled by the time you're done" she says and ushers me back in the room again.

"By the way, is there something going on between you two?" she questions, catching me off guard. "What do you mean?" I ask turning around to face her.

"I mean I've never seen him look at someone like he just was a few moments ago" she points out, confirming my suspicions. 

"Plus, in all my years of him bringing his students here he has never once put in any effort to pick out a dress, and half the time the student ends up loving the dress while both Jungkook and I disagree but he lets them choose it nonetheless" she says and I take a look at myself in the mirror again, trying to asses if this is the one that I really truly want.

"It just seemed like he knew you and he knew exactly what would look good on you without even having to try" she says giving me a smug smirk. "No ma'am please it's nothing like tha-"

"I'm just kidding child don't worry. I swear no one in your generation can take a joke anymore" she says and walks out of the room laughing at the slight panic I had started to go through.

~~~~

"Thanks for the ride" I say when we pull up to my house, this time having sat in the front seat.

"No problem" he says and looks over at me, this being the first time he truly had this entire trip, or at least the first time I noticed.

"Hey can I ask you a question?" I say, stopping before I reach for the handle to get out. "You just did" he says, this being one of the first times he's tried to make some sort of joke. 

I roll my eyes at him and I see a flash of an almost smile but it's gone as soon as it came, being replaced with his usual stoic expression.

"How did you know what dress to choose for me?" I ask and watch as he gets awkward again just like he had done when we were back at the modiste.

He turns to look out the wind shield, this time giving me a full view of how the tips of his ears have gone a bit red from the question.

"I'm not sure. I think having to go through that process so many times it just seemed like that one was the obvious pick" he says and gets out of the car.

"What are you doing?" I ask following suit and watch as he pulls the garment bag out and starts walking up the steps to the front door.

"I'm making sure the dress stays well taken care of. I'll hand it to one of the staff when they open the door" he says and waits for me at the top of the stairs.

Before I'm even able to reach for my keys I hear the door being unlocked and the face of my mother comes into view. 

"Oh hello, you must be Mr. Jeon" she says sending him a bright smile to which he reciprocates and bows a bit as a sign of respect.

"Hello, I just wanted to make sure that y/n and her dress got back safely" he says and she waves one of the housekeepers over to carry it up to my room for us.It would've been fine by me if I could've just done all of this by myself.

"Well that was very sweet of you. Would you like to stay for dinner? It should be ready soon, plus we would like to show our gratitude to you for making such a long journey there and back for her" she offers. 

"Perhaps another time. I have a business meeting across town tonight but thank you so much for your generosity" he says, politely declining.

"Well thank you again for bringing her home" she reiterates and I start to not so subtly try to usher her back inside.

"Come on mom he said he has to go" I say to her under my breath.

"Well it was so nice to meet you Mr. Jeon. I hope we'll see each other again soon" she says, leaving me having to almost push her inside. 

"Thank you Mr. Jeon have a good night" I say and as I turn to close the door he says the same thing that had me over thinking just last night.

"Good night y/n, sweet dreams" he says with a soft smile and heads to his car, driving off and leaving me with a confused mix of emotions yet again. 

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[thelaurenshippen]

Hello, The Lauren Shippen! I'm a long time fan, first time caller...

I've been listening to The Bright Sessions for the past 11 days, for the first time in 7 years. (I've also listened to the first two episodes of New Year's Day!)

Back in my early days of discovering my love and obsession toward audio dramas, (a decade ago?! 🫨), I was so delighted to have The Bright Sessions recommended to me by a now-estranged ex-best-friend's ex-boyfriend.

He also recommended I watch the show Shameless, and accompanied me to my first show seeing my favorite band, The Mountain Goats. He once came over to my place and built a Christmas tree out of my books with me. I maintain to this day, more than any other friend I'd had in my early 20s, he had fantastic taste in great stories full of complex and desperately human characters. I'm grateful to him, in any case. I think I would have found you anyway, as immersed as I've been in brilliant fiction podcasts, but he certainly sped along that process.

I have since also listened to all of Bridgewater twice. I know I'll eventually make my way to Breaker Whiskey and the sundry other projects you've made and been a part of.

But this message is particularly about episode 50 of The Bright Sessions, Rose, which I listened to tonight as I went through the process of making my dinner.

Thank you, so much, for your characters and their various flaws. All of these gorgeous songs broke my heart all over again on the relisten - and honestly, it was probably even harder this time around. I've lived in 5 different places and traveled through what has felt like a life's worth of personal growth and relationships changing. I even have a more special relationship to episode 49's feature presentation, Singing In The Rain. I wish Rose could help me spin my dreams into anything quite so cathartic or self-revealing, especially if she could make my voice sound as nice as all of your actors, yourself quite included. I wish I couldn't say that I understand and empathize with Mark now better than ever.

I took my mother-in-law to a local bookstore for the first time 3 days ago and just happened to find The Infinite Noise there, so of course I bought it. And Frank's character arc and storyline became relevant and poignant at the same time I was reading my second-ever comic series, and discussing it with a friend.

It seems like that happens to me, repeated synchronicities, as if the Universe is trying to instill me with themes. As your friend and fellow storymaker Gabriel Urbina asks over and over in his podcast Unseen, my experiences with fantastic audio dramas always seem to echo "Are you paying attention?"

Thank you, for helping me pay attention. Thank you for every intersection I've ever gotten to have both with, and because of, your stories. Thank you for helping me cry so much listening to this episode after days of desperately needing to. ❤️ Thank you for all the ways your words have helped me see myself more clearly.

Whether or not you publish this, or even read this, I hope you often hear, and really believe, how appreciated and necessary you and your stories are.

wow. thank you so so so much for this message. it is so beautiful and moving and you have me tearing up on a tuesday morning! where do I even start?

I'm really glad you've found TBS again after so long (and that you've listened to NYD and Bridgewater!!). it continues to knock me over that it's been a decade of audio drama for me, and knowing that I made something that people revisit means the world to me. every now and then I'll go deep into a fandom I was active in years and years ago and there's something particularly special about doing that.

I also so relate to the ex-best-friend's ex-boyfriend thing because I've had so many people come in and out of my life and leave big impressions or introduce me to something that ends up being crucially important. it's really strange when those pieces of art linger when the person doesn't, but I also think one of the neatest parts of life is that you don't need to know someone for a long time or in a particularly deep way to have them make an impact on you.

thank you for all your incredibly kind words about the musical episode!!! it's still one of things I'm proudest of making - it's SO rare that you have an idea, a big idea no less, and then actually execute it the way you want. there's always a gap between what you want to make and what you're capable of making, but that episode is the smallest that gap has ever been for me. so it means a lot when other people love it too.

I love all this synchronicity in your life, that's always such a special, cool feeling. and thank you for buying TIN! I don't know that anyone has ever thanked me in this particular way before (and gosh, I love a good Urbina reference) and I'm really grateful to you for it. and thank you for helping me pay attention - I think sometimes, when I'm not actively putting something out, I get discouraged and detached from the fact that my art is out there and people can interact with it. you've helped me feel more connected, and I can't thank you enough for that.

I hope the universe continues to surprise you in the best ways <3