#KSS Give Away

[ksmutsociety]

Network Rules

Please ensure that you read the entirety of these rules, and abide by them as they are final.

Requirements to apply:

Must be 21+ years old to apply.

Must have 3 posted fanfics that include smut prior to your application (you will be asked to share them).

Must be an active blog (either posted or reblogged a post within the last two weeks).

If you meet these requirements, please continue to the next section!

To join:

Follow the network.

Read the entirety of these rules to see if you meet our membership standards, and to know what is expected once accepted.

Reblog our official application post.

Submit your application.

Make sure your tumblr dms are open to receive your application status update message.

Things to keep in mind when applying:

Think about a specific fanfic of yours that you are proud of and showcases your writing skills, world-building, scene setting, etc. You will be asked to share this in your application for membership consideration.

What do you wish to gain from being a member of our society? Do you seek friendship and community? Are you looking for help with a writing weakness?

It is likely that we will review your blog (including design, original posts, reblogged posts, etc.) in order to come to our final decision about your application.

Please be advised that not everyone who applies will be accepted on their first application. If your application was denied, please follow the recommendation(s) listed in your dm for your next application. However, if you do not wish to reapply and simply move on from KSS, we completely understand.

If you’ve been sent the acceptance message, please continue to the next section!

If you've been accepted, you will:

Be tagged in an official acceptance post.

Be listed on our member page.

Be followed by our network's main blog.

Once an official society member:

Reblog the acceptance post.

Add KSS to your networks list.

Join our discord server via your acceptance message (if you have not already, as this is mandatory).

Inform us of any url changes so we can update our network info.

Notify us of any temporary, indefinite, or permanent hiatuses so you are not given a strike when member checks are in progress.

Once a society member, you are required to abide by all rules and regulations listed below this point!

General member rules:

K Smut Society does not tolerate hate, harassment, or bullying of any kind.

The admin team, our moderators, and all members are to be respected, and treated respectfully, at all times. 

Solo stanning shall not be tolerated or accepted.

While our network maintains its membership exclusivity status, KSS promises that we are 100% inclusive no matter your race, ethnicity, sexuality, gender identity, disability, education, nationality, background, etc. If your application is denied, it will not be because of any of the items listed above.

If your application to join our society was denied, you will be given an exact reason via your application status message. In most cases, you will be encouraged to apply again during the next round of applications once the issue for denial has been corrected, improved upon, etc.

All members of the will be given 3 warnings for rule breakage before they are terminated from our network.

If your membership has been terminated with grounds for re-approval, you may reapply after 1 year - your termination message will include a date of when you may reapply.

If your membership has been permanently terminated you are not welcome to reapply, and will have been added to our blacklist. If this is the case, you will be informed.

If you are underage and caught to be lying about your age to gain access to our network perks, discord server, etc. your membership will be immediately and permanently terminated, and we will also notify fellow admins of other networks as is our duty. We do not accept minors or anyone below the age of 21. This network is for 21+ users only.

The Admins reserve the right to turn away applicants, give strikes, terminate members, and blacklist members from our network for any reason we deem necessary and not already listed.

Every member is highly encouraged to participate in network projects, both those shared on tumblr and in our discord server, but it is not mandatory! These events are great ways to learn more about fellow members, expand and elevate your writing skills, and promote your expertise.

Content rules:

Reposting, stealing, and/or plagiarizing work that is not your own original content is not tolerated by any means. Breaking this rule will lead to immediate and permanent membership termination.

Banner credit and beta credit are required if you used either service, whether from our network or not. Please credit those who assist you!

All content must be original written work that includes smut + is centered around a specific male kpop member / group as this is a smut-specific kpop content network.

For content that includes other female kpop groups / members: we will only reblog work where a male kpop member is a main character and/or a part of the main pairing. 

Types of written work we accept:

drabbles (fics less than 1,000 words)

oneshots (fics more than 1,000 words)

teasers (typically short previews for oneshots or series)

series (multi-chapter / multi-post fics)

collab masterlists (must be a smut collab)

series masterlists (must be a smut series)

Please note: bulleted writing and social media AUs are not accepted forms of content.

Teasers, oneshots, and series chapters are required to list the following details:

pairing: member x reader, member x member, member x oc, member x multiple members (poly), or no pairing

genre + au: smut, romance, angst, college, s2l, ceo, etc.

word count

trigger warnings: drugs, violence, etc.

smut warnings: oral, exhibitionism, belly bulge, etc.

rating: 18+, 21+ (should be one of the following since all works that use our tag include smut)

read more cut: after 500 words / before any nsfw or triggering content

Please note: any content missing the required information listed above will be skipped over when we queue.

For collab masterlists, we would appreciate it if you would include:

The authors

Summaries/synopsis for each fic in the collab

A ‘read more’ cut after the collab description

For series masterlists, we would appreciate it if you would include:

Links to each chapter

Current or estimated word count if incomplete (optional)

Final word count if completed

General pairing, genre(s), au(s), trigger warnings, smut warnings, rating, - unless they change drastically between each chapter (optional)

Please note: we will only promote and reblog nsfw/sexual content written by legal adults 21 years of age or older. Don't forget me: undying rose. We will not reblog any kind of nsfw/sexual content written by a minor or any kind of content including the sexualization of a minor kpop member or fictional character. 

Other things we will not reblog:

pedophilia, incest, vore

rape, non-consensual, or dubious sex

the romanticization of mental illnesses and serious health issues (depression, anxiety, addiction, eating disorders, cancer, etc.)

glamorization of abuse, manipulation, assault, etc.

graphic/explicit glorified descriptions of extreme character death (murder, suicide, etc.) or self-harm

We will reblog the following sensitive themes and topics when briefly mentioned or implied, but only if they are appropriately tagged with warnings where you clearly state what sensitive theme or topic is inside of your work. It is not acceptable to simply mention ‘dark topics’, ‘sensitive themes’, ‘explicit themes’, or any tags of that nature:

sexual assault, murder, abuse (sexual, mental, physical, emotional)

self-harm, suicide, addiction, eating disorders, depression, and/or other mental health struggles

serious health issues/illnesses (such as cancer, tumors, etc.)

use of guns, knives, or other kinds of weaponry

manipulation (sexual, mental, physical, emotional)

consensual somnophilia in the case of drunken sex or sex while high (does not account for drugging someone for sexual gains - this topic is not allowed by any means)

Please note: while you are allowed to write fanfics containing 'unapproved' content, they will not be reblogged to our network blog, and you should refrain from using our tag for those specific works. It is important to note that there will be no penalties or membership removal if you choose to write darker fanfics - unless you repeatedly use our tag on works that do not follow our rules.

June 2024 update: the KSS team will be queueing exclusively from the discord server, and as such members must give their fics a spice rating (view here) and share the links to their fics in our server.

By joining our network you are formally agreeing to follow all rules listed above and are acknowledging that if you break a rule there may be consequences.

Server rules:

All rules previously stated still apply in our Discord Server. In addition, we require that you follow the server-specific rules listed below:

Include your name and your blog url in your server nickname.

Use the appropriate channels for chatting, sharing content, etc.

Please refrain from spamming channels, if we see that this is happening a timer/cool down time will be set.

Do not share any actual porn, genitalia, or graphic sexual imagery.

Do not upload screenshots of private conversations without the other user's permission.

Do not steal someone else’s idea from the brainstorming channels. All ideas, unless given permission, are reserved for the party who discussed them. 

Do not share any private/confidential information about others.

Triggering content should not be discussed in any channel other than venting channels and should ALWAYS include trigger warnings at the beginning of the message and the triggering content should be hidden/blacked out for other members’ safety.

Please do not discuss any tumblr drama, idol drama, or any other kinds of controversial celebrity drama, national news, etc. as it is all subjective, opinionated, and very-sided. Our server is a safe space that we do not want disrupted by this kind of information.

Every channel's safe phrase is "close these dark doors for now". When using the safe sentence please also tag the admin team or any other online moderator to step in. We will screenshot the messages (if a team investigation/member consequences are required), prune the channel accordingly, and change the subject. If you are not comfortable using the safe word you are always welcome to privately dm an admin if a conversation is making you uncomfortable.

Please do not hesitate to notify or reach out to an admin if at any point you do not feel included or feel purposely left out, have a question or concern relating to the server or network, or have a problem with another member that you need to discuss. 

Affiliate rules:

Our affiliate requirements are as follows:

Must be a kpop content-related network.

Must be an active network.

Must link us somewhere on your blog.

If you would like to become affiliates, please use the following format below submit your application here.

What is your network’s url?

Who is the main admin? (name and url please)

What is your network about / who is it for?

Why do you want to become affiliates?

Are you open to collaborative events and projects?

Please share the link to your net icon.

[galacticnova3]

I think what makes Kirby lore so unique(besides presentation) is how it’s built on over time, but not in any clear-cut pattern that you can figure out and predict. It keeps itself vague and open ended enough to allow for creativity, and leaves room for information to be added later. Importantly, it does that without feeling like new stuff exists just to continue the old.

Nova is a good example of how this kind of thing happens from start to current times. Nova starts out as just a powerful mechanical being that exists in space and grants wishes, but we know nothing else about them. KSSU came along and left the potential for some connection between them and Galacta Knight, a mysterious, powerful warrior who sealed away out of fear and is accompanied a visual implication that they were violent/destructive. Return to Dreamland comes out and has obscure dialogue from Magolor that confirms there are more of the type of being Nova is, referring to them as clockwork stars, and reveals they(and the Lor, who is maaaybe sentient but who knooooows*) were made by a mysterious group known just as the Ancients. Galacta Knight also makes an unexplained return here which is never explained, and there’s concept art of funny egg who would never lie to anyone that just straight up namedrops Christianity, “but surely that won’t be important beyond the directly stated symbolism of yellow = betrayal” thought everyone including me.

Years later, seemingly out of nowhere, Planet Robobot just straight up introduces another clockwork star in the form of Star Dream(or the Access Ark if you’re like me and see them as semi-separate entities), confirming the previous information and giving the concrete possibility that Nova was also sapient(in case the very obviously shocked expression they give when Meta Knight makes his wish wasn’t enough indication), and also oh hey everyone’s favorite magenta murder orb is back because Star Dream fucked around and found out! Star Allies goes on to elaborate a bit on those Ancients and Galacta Knight, with the reveal that the Ancients likely consisted of multiple different people groups and one might have banished another. There’s side material that heavily implies GK was a hero that casts doubt on the previous idea that they were sealed for purely defensive reasons(but we aren’t telling you for sure), the funny boat from RtD may or may not have connections to some place called Paradise(but we’re not telling you for sure), and Kirby has some connection to an ancient godlike entity of destruction(but we’re not telling you what it is). Return to Dreamland Deluxe becomes a thing and clarifies that yes the boat is sentient actually who would’ve thought*, but we’re not gonna elaborate on what she’s like at all, also hey remember that Magolor concept art with yellow in it, yeah we’re leaning into the biblical symbolism now check out this cool tree that people on the internet will definitely be normal about.

*I did the whole time and will never stop pointing and laughing maniacally at everyone who ever gave me shit for it

What makes it so fun is that all of these connections are super easy to miss out on, or at the very least it all lacks the same impact if you don’t have some idea of previous information. Star Dream/Access Ark would probably just come off as weird and nonsensical to someone who played Robobot with no knowledge of Super Star. Lor = Paradise is just a word translation if you don’t know about the boat, and Galacta Knight is kinda just A Guy Who Exists Apparently without KSSU. Maybe you played KSSU before Robobot, though, so you can point and go “oh hey the evil computer is actually like that weird cat clock from before!” “wadda hell GK back????” and appreciate the callbacks, but otherwise not see a huge amount of significance. If you played KSS(U) and RtD with attention to detail, you could infer that these people called the ancients built the weird cat clock as well as a magical boat. If you played all four games(KSS(U), KRTD, KPR, KSA) and payed close attention to the connections between them, you can have fun with the fact that a group called the Ancients created multiple sentient machines capable of bending reality to varying degrees, the sentient boat has implied ties to Paradise while the two clocks interacted with a possibly ex-hero(even possibly wrongfully imprisoned hero) the Ancients wanted to get rid of for one reason or another, and we don’t know where these people went or what else they were capable of or who else they’ve impacted one way or another.

And you never know what’s gonna be elaborated on next! If the lil butterfly that showed up a few times was revealed to be the fuckin grim reaper essentially, what else is gonna gain entirely new implications? Given the existence of Void Termina and their ties to Dark Matter, will we finally get more information about what their whole situation was? Also the powerful orbs?

On a related note, I feel like this is a reason why Forgotten Land didn’t really hit for me in the long run(though far from the biggest reason but I’m still trying to move past that whole situation). It’s a good game, but feels disconnected from everything else in a lot of ways. Sure, you have callbacks in the form of a couple songs, stage design reminiscent of Kirby 64, and Morpho Knight, but that stuff’s just kinda… hollow. There’s not much of a thread between it any everything else, nothing that was built on previously established information or that hints at possible connections to be drawn. It doesn’t even take place in the same world. I guess it’s like, I dunno… The only reason it has any relation to Kirby is because Kirby and co got dragged through a random portal at the beginning. Other than a line of dialogue that has a million different potential valid interpretations that include some involving Dreamland, there’s nothing else concrete. It isn’t like the Mirror World or Halcandra, which are different worlds yet have established relevance to the series as a whole. It isn’t the same as places like Patchland or Seventopia, which, sure, weren’t super connected, but also weren’t exactly in games hyped up to be significant for the series and have way better character designs overall imo but thats just my humble onion. It literally feels more like a game that was its own thing turned Kirby game than Epic Yarn, which was literally its own thing that was turned into a Kirby game later.

I dunno how to end this off I just got thinking and wanted to spit my thoughts out before they disappeared into the void. I wonder how that anon who called The Claykken a dilf is doing these days, I bet they would love Splatoon

[kitchensinkstamps]

The Earth Day Giveaway Winner is...

The Earth Day Giveaway Winner is…

Linda Swanzy! Congratulations, Linda! You were the first to guess that 11 stamp sets were used to create this card and you have won a $50 KSS Gift Certificate! Please email me at kitchensinkstamps@gmail.com before May 7th, or I will pick a new winner. The sets used for this card are: Hibiscus Multi Step Clear StampsHummingbirds Multi Step Clear StampsTrees Multi Step Clear StampsTree Friends…

[gojo-mojo]

Leave the Door Open (Gojo x Reader x Geto)

Summary: you get fucked by your overly competitive boyfriends Geto and Gojo (aka Gojo is jealous and slaps Geto in the face with his dick) 

CW: sex? no plot,  literal porn (sorry)

Gojo’s long fingers wrapped around your wrist as he tugged you into the hotel room. As soon as the door clicked shut, his face was right in front of yours, you could feel his soft lips spread into a grin against your cheek. You felt him exhale a laugh as his let go of your wrists, reaching for your hips, pulling you closer until you were flush against him. Only then did he grant you a kiss. For as cocky and arrogant as the man was, there was no doubt in your mind that he loved you. With gentle press of his lips against yours, every shaking caress of your skin, every cheeky grin you felt as he pinched a tender spot, he never let you forget who loved you most. And tonight was no different. 

Apparently a few soft kisses were all he could take before dragging you farther into the hotel room. You nearly tripped over his feet before he tossed you onto the bed. The room was dark, illuminated only by the moon outside, but his eyes shone behind his glasses as he slid your skirt up past your hips, letting it settle along your waist. That cocky grin you coulnt help but love never left his face as he took in the sight of you beneath him. He spread your legs, crawling between them to get a better view. One hand sank into your plush thigh while the other drifted up to the waistband of your panties, then down to toy with the pool of your excitement collecting in them.

“Ooo, excited are we?” Gojo purred, his smirk becoming almost insufferable. You rolled your eyes and let yourself relax back into the pillows. Normally he would tease you a little more, but he was already slipping down your panties with his long, lean fingers, pulling them down your legs. Once he tugged them off your feet, he threw them god knows where in the room. Tracing sloppy kisses up your thighs, you giggled as his exhales tickled your inner thigh. You clamped your legs around his head and trying to squeeze and stop him there. But just pulled your legs apart, and shook his head to move his glasses down to perch at the tip of his nose. 

“You’re fogging up my glasses ya know. Very rude.” You didn't even have a chance to roll your eyes before you heard them clatter to the floor and felt Gojo between your legs again. 

This time he dove right in, licking a stripe up between your wet folds, teasing your clit with his nose before sliding his tongue in. You shivered under him, every stroke of his tongue sent goosebumps up your spine. His tongue was so long and he knew just how to build up a stroking rhythm and suck at the same time. You groaned out his name and clenched your thighs around his head, but froze when you heard the lock click open, a familiar figure standing in the doorway. 

“I thought we were sharing” Geto pursed his lip out in an exaggerated pout, quickly closing the door and walking towards both of you on the bed. 

“Sorry, I just couldn't resist a little taste.” Gojo licked the rest of your juices from his lips as he sat up, leaving you shaking and empty. You let out a small groan and scrunched your eyes in frustration. You had been so close and Geto just had to interrupt it. 

“And look at what you’ve done to her.” Geto reached out a hand to help you sit up too. “You left all her clothes on. So childish.” Geto slowly helped you slip out of your top, his large hands grazing your sensitive skin as he slipped off your bra. He was always so gentle with you, as he lifted your hips up to slip off your skirt. Geto was always very gentle with you, his hands strong and sturdy as they worshiped your body with the most delicate caresses. 

His hands were just as large and strong as his presence next to you was, as you felt them trail over your body. He slid his thumb over your taught nipple before finally pulling you into a soft kss kiss. Geto’s hands dragged down over your waist as he laid you back down, finally laid bare before the men you loved. 

Gojo gave your naked form a once over and let out an annoyingly loud whistle as Geto started undressing himself. He kicked his pants to the floor and crawled up on the bed, leaning back against the headboard next to the still clothed Gojo. Geto gestured for you to come between his spread legs with a nod of his head. You reached for his shoulder, but Geto grabbed your wrists and pulled you around to sit against him so you could feel his half hard cock growing against your ass. He wrapped one broad hand around your waist, while the other traveled up to your neck, running his thumb over your throat as his fingers wrapped around you just tight enough to be felt. Geto let his lower hand explore your pussy, toying around your clit before slipping two fingers inside. His hands were so broad, his fingers calloused and strong as he stroked inside you. You let out a soft whine, arching your back into Geto, silently asking for more. 

Not to be ignored, Gojo rolled his eyes and crawled in front of you two. He fixed himself over your legs but still between Geto’s and gave you a peck on the lips before pulling away again. He slowly undid the buttons on his coat, letting it join the rest of your clothes on the floor. Gojo made a show of stretching his arms in the moonlight, tipping his head back so his hair fell around his eyes as he looked down at you two with a lazy smile. You felt Geto getting harder beneath you as Gojo slid his pants off, revealing no boxers. Geto’s fingers stopped moving and you audibly gasped when his dick slapped his abs. 

“Enjoying the show?” He asked with that stupid grin. With the way your breath hitched in your throat you thought it was pretty obvious how much you enjoyed the sight of his bare chest. And with the way Geto’s cock twitched under your ass, you were pretty sure he agreed. 

Geto let out a huff of annoyance and ground his hips against you. His hand left your neck to grab your jaw, turning you around to meet your lips in a sloppy kiss. You melted into his touch, reaching behind to undo his bun and run your fingers through his silken hair. He let out a soft groan, tugging on your lower lip with his teeth. You felt a slight jab in your side and noticed Gojo agitatedly poking you. 

“Ya done yet?” 

Geto let go of your lips and gave a dark laugh.“Not quite.” He  pulled his fingers out of you, and dangled them in front of Gojo. The sudden emptiness was a disappointment, but the way Gojo lapped and sucked your juices from Geto’s fingers was enough to keep you satisfied for the moment. It didn't help that Gojo was making direct  eye contact with you as he sucked Geto’s fingers in, all the way to the knuckles, making a show of how far he could take him and still comfortably swallow every drop. 

Gojo hummed in delight as he pulled away from Geto’s fingers, leaning back with a devilish grin. 

“I have an idea…” That was never good, you thought. 

Geto lifted you off him for a few moments as he slid down the bed so he was positioned beneath you. You barely had time to balance yourself on all fours before you felt Geto’s tongue slide against your slick inner thigh. The rumble of his hum sent a shiver against your skin as you tried to keep from trembling. With how well he had worked you open before it wouldn't take long for you to cum on him like this. You tried to press your thighs together around his face, giving yourself a little relief from his teasing touches, but Gojo was right there behind you. His large hands wrapped around your waist as he ground your shivering cunt onto Geto’s face. 

Your breath hitched as his tongue went from gently tracing patterns on your clit to thrusting into you eagerly lapping up everything he could. The lewd sound of his lips slurping against you was too much. Your walls clenched around his tongue, trying to suck it in before you came on his face with a small moan. 

Geto let go of your clit with a loud suck, letting his head hit the bed with a soft groan. “Funny how she always seems to moan more on my tongue-” Before Geto could finish his thought you heard a loud slap of flesh on flesh.

“OW WHAT THE FUCK SATORU did you really just slap me with your dick-” 

“That wasn't even a real moan, just wait ‘til Im in ehr” Suddenly Gojo’s broad hands were on your waist again, pulling your shaking core off Geto’s face until your ass was firmly pressed against his cock. He let a hand drift up to twist at your nipple while the other lined his aching cock up against your entrance. 

“You ready?” Even though you were on all fours you could hear the arrogant grin in his voice. 

He didn't give you a chance to reply before he pounded into you, bottoming out in one strong stroke. You yelped against him, still shaking from your orgasm as he let you adjust to his size. Gojo’s lean hands settled on your hips, his grip tightening as he slowly pulled out, just to ram back into you. You were left gasping for air, clenching the lavish bedding of the hotel room, trying to bite back a scream. Your eyes were clenched so tightly shut in pleasure that you didn't notice Geto kneeling in front of you until his cock hit your lips. You looked up at him wide eyed and trembling from the way Gojo kept hitting you in all the right places. 

“Please?” There was no way you could say no to him when he looked down at you like that. His hair disheveled and curled with sweat against his shoulders. His eyes wide and warm. 

You slowly stuck your tongue out, allowing Gojo’s thrusts to set the temp of your licks up and down Geto’s shaft. You could hear him softly curse whenever your tongue trailed dangerously close to his head. Ghetto’s dick wasn’t as long as Gojo’s, nor as curved, but it was thick and had a very sensitive vein running under it that always made him shiver when you licked it. His was also slightly darker, with less of a red flush than Gojo’s, but by no means was it any less impressive or pretty. 

You placed one final kitten lick to the tip of his head before wrapping your tongue around it and sucking his length into your mouth. Geto’s let out a stifled grunt, leaning down to wrap his hand in your hair.  

Gojo, being petty as always, scoffed at Geto hogging all of you attention and promptly slapped your ass. He leaned down, shoeing Geto away from you until his lips were pressed against your ear. 

“Are you ready to get started?” You were pretty sure you had started a while ago, but Gojo suddenly picked up the pace and started aiming his strokes with precision, as if he knew exactly where and when to hit your G spot to elicit the biggest yelp from your lips. His thrusts into you grew faster and faster, never losing their strength or direction, quickly slamming into you over and over, threatening to bring you over the edge again and again. 

You opened your eyes for a second to watch Geto stroking himself. As much as he hated to admit it, watching you get fucked by Gojo was fucking hot. Not near as hot as if he’d been doing it himself, but still pretty damn enjoyable. His face was scrunched up with concentration, watching how Gojo’s pretty dick pounded into your sopping cunt. The sounds of your flesh beating against his was almost too much, and your walls shivered, overcoming another orgasm around Gojo. 

You leaned back and pressed your ass against Gojo, waiting for his cock to stop twitching inside you when you felt something warm dripping down your face. Geto’s eyes were rolled back in pleasure, his face flushed as he came at the sight of you two. 

Gojo slowly pulled out, taking a minute to admire his work dripping out of you, before wrapping an arm around your waist and pulling you down to flop next to him on the bed. He gave you a soft kiss on the nose. 

“You were perfect,” he whispered against your neck. 

“He’s not wrong,” said Geto as he laid down on the bed beside you. “But my turn will be better.” 

Gojo leaned across you staring intently at Geto, “shut up”. Gojo went to lay down again, thought better of it, flicked Geto on the forehead then plopped down on top of you, snuggling his face between your breasts. 

[kyururun]

Yonemura Kirara (OCHA NORMA) - VoCE Interview

Beauty magazine VoCE interviews Yonemura Kirara of OCHA NORMA on makeup, her days in the Hello! Project Kenshuusei, and working towards debut.

Original article found here.

── Which member do you want to exchange makeup bags with?

K: Kitahara Momo-chan. She has a lot of pink cosmetics, and many things that are cute and girly! If we exchanged, I think you'd see a me you haven't seen before with a lot of pink. But actually, the truth is I already borrow a lot of her stuff without much thought now anyway (laughs). Next time I want to properly trade with her.

── What kind of makeup do you usually do for yourself?

K: For work, my eyeshadow is always brown. It makes the area around my eyes look deeper, and I feel like that makes me look cuter and overall better aesthetically. When it's my free time, I don't particularly need to look cute (laughs), so I do my makeup how I like, like winged eyeliner or pink eyeshadow. Sometimes I feel like just doing the makeup that I like for work too, like using the pink eyeshadow, but when I look at the videos and photos afterwards I think "this doesn't look good" and regret it... so basically I always end up back to brown!

── What kind of makeup is essential for live performances?

K: I love using glitter. When I go to a cosmetics department I always check out all the glitters, and I buy them right away. The area around my eyelids is so small, so honestly there's probably a lot more makeup I need to buy (laughs). I love big glitter that looks holographic! When the light shines on me, it reflects the glitter and sparkles and I think that looks really cute. I do sometimes worry how it looks from a male perspective, but I don't think much about that and apply it anyway!

── What do you think your personality is like, according to you?

K: I'm really unrefined. If I'm somewhere that I'm familiar with then I'll sit with my legs wide open, or I'll open and close a door really loudly. But when it's my first time somewhere I tend to freeze up out of nervousness, like today at the beginning I was actually really nervous. So I also think I'm a bit of a chicken.

── Yonemura-san, before OCHA NORMA made their debut, you spent 6 years as a Hello! Project trainee ("kenshuusei"). What kind of existence to you are the other 3 members who walked that road with you in the H!P KSS Unit?

K: When we were working as part of the Hello! Project Kenshuusei Unit, we had the effects of the Coronavirus happening around us, and we were always anxious about whether we would really be able to debut at all, or if we were to debut, what kind of debut that would look like. We had no idea what to aim for, so the four of us continued worrying and searching for some kind of answer, and there were days where we couldn't help our mood being down. There was actually a time that we got scolded by a teacher who told us, "The Kenshuusei Unit brings down the mood of the stage when you perform, so you don't have to perform anymore". There were a lot of painful times, and Hello! Project also has an image of people getting their debuts in elementary or middle school, so there was also an impatience with my age that made me think, "I can't keep going like this". The reason that I carried on without giving up despite all of that is definitely because I was always with the three of them! Of course if we were going to continue we would be together, but we also decided that if we were going to quit, we would quit together as well, so I felt like those three members were always my allies, and we had a special connection as a community of fate who had been struggling and fighting together.

── When you were in the KSS Unit, and you couldn't see your debut coming, was there anything the four of you did to keep up your motivation?

K: When we performed at events, we performed with the determination to turn the guests who were there into our own fans. For example, one thing we tried to be conscious of was making a lot of eye contact with audience members. Of course, we were also polishing our performances, but we also studied up on makeup and did our makeup together, and did strength training in the dressing rooms... We also put in a lot of effort to up our visual appeal.

── You don't always show a lot of what you're feeling on your face, but when you debut was announced, it left an impression on everyone that even you cried. What were your feelings at that time?

K: I had been aiming all this time to debut, so of course it was "happiness", but there was also a huge sense of relief, because my family, friends, and the members I had spent such a long time with had all been supporting me the whole time, and now I was finally going to debut properly. I think my situation had uneasy for a long time, and I caused a lot of worry for the people around me, so I was filled with a lot of gratitude.

OCHA NORMA’s 2nd single “Uchira no Jimoto wa Chikyuu Jan!” / UNMEI CHACHACHACHA~N" was released on November 30th, 2022.

[violetnotez]

Yo shindo relationship headcannons but he uses his quirk to make reader think that their phone is going off. He finds it hilarious. Reader does not.

HC: Shindo Yo as a S/O

Omg nobody held me back so I did Shindo Yo Boyfriend HC sorry not sorry 😏

Pairing: Shindo Yo x reader

just fluffy ideas of how this boy would be as an s/o

I honestly think he’s a total flirt-LIKE LOOK HOW PRETTY HE IS

but he’s like different about it

hes not straight flirty, like “oh you look hot, did it hurt when you fell from heaven?” ew

No, hes more sentimental and observant

He’ll greet every morning with the biggest smile and always giving you a compliment

“Wow babe you look amazing! Did you change your hair? It looks great!”

“Love the new lipgloss you got- it really suits you!”

“Whoa youre wearing a green shirt...did you do that just for me?”

This boy prides himself on PDA

once you start dating he is EXTREMELY touching immeditaely

Holding your hand, ksses on your cheeks, hugging you from behind

He THRIVES on touches

If hes dating someone, theyre his one and only- so why not let everyone else know that?

If your not for that, thats cool, he’ll hold back a little-after pouting about it, seriously, he loves being close to his s/o

The first time he sees you in one of shirts, this boy is GOING TO MELTTTTTT

He has no shirts anymore- and its not even because YOU took it

He was just so obsessive with seeing you in his clothes, he just gifts it to you

He try to be slick about it, like leaving them in your room and “pretending” he left them

Would be super sad tho if you try to bring them back

He is a classic romantic

Like on your first date, he brought you a whole ass bouquet of roses

Your dates are usually pretty generic- the movies, a nice restaurant, maybe a cute ice cream shop and a walk on the beach....

He doesn't really try to overthink or go crazy with dates

He is the CUTEST in a gray hoodie

This boy is pretty-and he KNOWS it

He’ll do every f* boy thing that’ll make your heart swoon-like run his hand through his hair, give you side eye looks, his tongue poking out of his mouth-

YOU KNOW WHAT IM TALKING ABOUT EVERY F-BOY DOES THESE THINGS

He defintiely will use this to his advantage

He would never cheat on you, but, he will pretend to indulge in other girl’s hitting on him, trying to act “innocent” like he didnt know

HE DAMN WELL KNOWS

(Honestly watch out though girls are gonna be trying to get with him left and right)

Like if youre arguing with him a little and he sees a girl checking him out, he’ll try and make you jealous (he has a wierd thing for seeing you angsry he thinks its kinda hot)

And he neverrrr takes arguments seriously. Like at all.

Once he gets more comfortable in the relationship, he will  be a totalllll prankster

He has a pretty good quirk for it

Like he’ll make you think there are earthquakes just to see you all frazzled

and he will totally play along to see how long he can make you think there really was an earthquake

Or if your taking too long to get ready he’ll make the floor rumble so you stumble

Usually ends with you yelling at him for almost ruining your eyeliner and him laughing

(we finally get to the original request Jesus Christ)

HEAR ME OUT

He would definitely try to make you think your phone is going off just to have an excuse to touch your rear

Cause if you put your phone in your back pocket, all hes gotta do is lightly touch it and send a small vibration...

It honestly was sad how long it took you to figure out it was him

He was trying to hold back chuckles the whole time, your face so confused when you kept bringing your phone to your face and seeing no alerts

Until he got carried away and touched your ass-

when you were holding your phone in your hand

You tensed up, stopping in your tracks as you gave him a wierd look

“Wait Yo-”

And then realization struck you-it was him

You cheeks got red, a gasp slipping your mouth, as you tried to swat his chest

“Ahh cmon babe dont be bitter!” 

honestly he found it just super funny, chuckling as he instantly grabed your hand before it collided with his chest

 he kisses your digits, his thumb rubbing soothing circles on the side

“Ya know, you look cute when you blush-”

“Dont change the subject Yo, you just touched my ASS IN PUBLIC-”

(Sorry if these were short, I’m working on the Disney Choose Your Adventure rn so my usual fic posts will be a little shorter!)

[snowdice]

Road Trips and Missing Persons (Part 12)

Fandom: Sanders Sides

Relationships: Patton & Virgil, Virgil & Deceit, Logan & Patton, Emile & Remy, Roman & Remus & Janus

Characters: Patton, Virgil, Deceit, Remus, Roman, Logan, Emile, Remy

Summary: Patton was just getting groceries. The next thing he knew, there was a knife at his throat and he was an unwilling uber driver. Virgil’s on the run after the murder of his dad, and it’s not just his paranoia that’s telling him he’s being chased down. He has to get somewhere safe, somewhere he can trust, and all he has is a couple of stories from his dad and a name: “Green Bellow Foods and Dispensary.”

Notes: Secret Agents AU, knives, carjacking, kidnapping, murder mentioned, guns mentioned, pepper spray, blood mentioned, drugs mentioned, explosions (more to be added)

This is a fic I’ve been writing on study breaks that you have probably all already seen at this point. I’ve affectionately named it the Goblin Brain Fic because it’s helping my brain actually get motivated for studying. I’ve slightly edited it for wording and grammar, but not for content from my previous posts. Feel free to send in asks to direct it because I’m not 100% sure where this is going and you can help decide if you feel so inclined! You can see the process I went through to build this at this link.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 My Master Post

Remus sulked in the back of Roman’s car. It wasn’t fair. His brother and his best friend were both in the front seat and had been mocking him for the past 10 minutes and they wouldn’t even put on an interesting music station. Roman had even told Janus about the time Remus had peed on a wasp sting thinking it would work like it did for jellyfish.

“We should play a car game,” Remus suggested.

“Absolutely not,” Roman said immediately.

“Come on Ro, it’s tradition,” Remus said.

“You kill my cows every time!” Roman said. “You could kill Uncle Patton’s cows since he’s always winning, but you always choose to kill my cows!”

“But RooooOOO.”

“No.”

“Fine,” Remus relented. “No Cow Game.”

“Thank you.”

“I spy with my-”

“No, Remus.”

Remus paused. “I’m thinking of an animal.”

“I’m not playing Remus.”

They sat in silence for about 20 seconds. “There’s a Kentucky driver’s license. One point for me.”

Roman chose to just ignore him now.

“Janus you’ll play with me, won’t you?” he asked.

“Remus, I don’t even know what you’re talking about, and you’re already annoying me,” was the answer.

“Come on if we’re going to listen to stupid music, we should at least play a game. How about we try to find things outside of the car in alphabetical order. I’ll start. Airport sign! Now you find something starting with the letter ‘b’.”

Does the annoying bastard in the backseat count?” Janus grumbled under his breath.

“No,” Remus replied with a grin. “It’s got to be something outside of the car.”

Janus didn’t respond to that and Remus pouted. He went through a bunch of different car games he knew and tried to make some up, but none seemed to entice either his brother or Janus to play. While usually he might just give up after being ignored for so long, he noticed Janus’s hand start tapping a restless pattern on his leg after only about 10 seconds of Remus’s silence. So, Remus decided to drop the car games and instead just focused on being as annoying as possible.

…

“Theeeeeeeeee…. wheels on the bus go round and round!”

“I’m going to kill him,” Janus said blankly.

“That’s what he wants,” Roman said mildly. “Just ignore him.”

Remus kept singing for a long time. Eventually he ran out of verses, so he just started to make some up. “The strippers on the pole…”

“Oh my god,” Janus said. “I can’t handle this anymore.”

“Seriously Jan,” Roman said. “Just pretend he doesn’t exist, and he’ll eventually wear himself out.”

“In how long?” Janus asked, just the slightest edge of hysteria to his voice.

“It depends on if he’s had any caffeine today.”

Remus kept singing, but Janus and Roman remained resolutely silent on the matter until Remus eventually trailed off.

“This is boring,” Remus said.

Nothing.

“At least change the radio station to something not lame.”

Janus reached forward and turned the volume on the radio station up. Remus sat back in his seat and thought for a few minutes which is when he tuned into the radio station.

“So, if you’d like to request a song, you can call in or send a request through our new app,” the man on the radio said. Remus smiled widely and grabbed his phone from his pocket.

When he turned it on, he had a bunch of missed phone calls and text messages from dad. What? He opened the text messages and they all seemed to be asking the same question: ‘Have you seen your brother?’ Remus glanced up at the back of Roman’s head.

‘I’m not his keeper,’ he texted back.

Then, he closed out of the messenger app and pressed the button for the app store. He quickly found what he was looking for and pressed the download button.

It took a couple of minutes to download and about when it was over, he noticed Janus shoot a look back at him. He opened his mouth, doubtlessly to comment on Remus’s silence. Not wanting to be suspicious, Remus opened his mouth and let out his patented ‘banshee scream.’

“Don’t look at him!” Roman yelled over the sound of Remus’s scream.

“Why is your brother a demon from hell?” Janus asked, hands over his ears.

Remus ran out of air after a moment. There was a beat of silence.

“Can I please kill him, Roman?” Janus asked.

“No,” Roman replied. “Really, just ignore him.”

Janus grumbled under his breath and turned the radio station up even more. Satisfied that they were none the wiser, Remus opened the now downloaded app and quickly found the “suggestions” tab in the menu drop down. He didn’t even have to check the given list of suggested songs to know what he wanted was not on it.

So, he tapped on the button to suggest a different song and typed in the details of what he wanted before pressing send. Then it was just a waiting game and no matter what dad (and everyone else) had always said, Remus was good at waiting games. At least, he was when he wanted to be. Both Janus and Roman were looking resolutely ahead and Roman’s fingers were tapping to the beat of the current song on the wheel despite the fact that they were going over the speed limit to a crazy amount.

The song ended and a man came on the air.

“Hello, hello, hello,” the man said. “We’ll be getting right back to your suggestions on KSS-FM 102.9, but before that for anyone on Interstate 26, there was an accident near the Carlson exit involving a semi-truck full of cows. If you’re anywhere near exit 52, I’d suggest you moo-ve right on over to an alternative route.”

“Fantastic,” Janus hissed, slamming his fist against the dash.

“Hey, whoa, it’s fine,” Roman soothed, but Janus didn’t seem to be listening.

“Fuck,” he said.

“Hey, Jan,” Remus said. “You’ve got your map, right?”

“Yeah.”

“So, it’ll be easy to find an alternate route, yeah?” he asked.

“We don’t even know where we’re going!” Janus said. “How the hell are we supposed to find an alternate route?!”

“We know where he was right?” Remus said. “The cows might actually be a good thing. It’ll probably slow everyone down and we can guess what alternate route he might be using.” Janus didn’t say anything. “Here,” he said. “Gimme.” Janus handed over his atlas and Remus peered at it. “Yeah, here, see,” he said, showing it to him. “There are about four likely alternative routes someone might take near where Virgil was the last we knew. Three of them end up funneling into to Lincoln to get back onto the interstate and Lincoln has an ice-cream shop that got burglarized five times one summer, so they put up a security camera facing main street.”

“Please tell me you didn’t burglarize the ice cream shop,” Roman begged.

“You can prove nothing,” Remus said. He hadn’t actually, but he liked the distressed noise Roman gave in answer. “Anyway, I’d say we throw in our lots with that and drive to Lincoln to check the security camera. Even if he didn’t go that way, we can then make another guess based on where the 4th route went.”

“That…” Janus said. “Yeah, that’s actually a good suggestion Remus, thank you.”

“No prob Janny Fanny.”

“And you ruined it,” Janus said.

Remus just gave him the biggest smile he could.

Janus rolled his eyes and turned away from him to look back at the map. He grabbed a pen and circled the location that Remus had suggested. “You’ll want to get off at the next exit,” he told Roman.

Roman nodded. “Got it.”

Remus had actually almost forgotten in the interim about his absolutely fantastic idea until a few minutes later when the radio man announced the next song. Remus could already feel a smile creep up his face as the man snickered a little bit when he started speaking.

“Now,” he said, “we usually wouldn’t play this song, but it does seem… appropriate considering the trucks that crashed on I-26 and the person who suggested it wrote about why he wanted us to play it in the comments.” He broke for another short laugh. “As a sibling myself, I feel sympathy for your plight D-dongmaster-5000. So, here’s for you, stuck in a car while your brother and best friend hog the radio. I hope your road trip goes well.” And then, beautifully, the radio started singing the song of Remus’s soul.

Two trucks having sex

Two trucks having sex

My muscles, my muscles

Involuntarily flex

Remus saw Janus look over at Roman. Roman didn’t look away from the road. Instead, he just said with zero emotion, “Kill him.”

Janus vaulted over into the back seat as the radio crooned:

Two pickup trucks

Making love

American made.

Want to read more? Click below!

Part 13

[arjsstuff]

Long post overdue: Jdrama Spree

It’s been so long since I’ve gone on a Jdrama spree. In the last month I’ve completed 3 Jdramas continuously which is sort of a great achievement for me and now I’m watching the 4h Jdrama for which I would be dedicating a separate post. Now this means two things, either I had too much time and neglected other important works or every drama that I watched was good enough that I continued watching it. So moving on to the three dramas I watched and my take on them:

1.  From 5 to 9: I have mixed feelings after watching this drama. Until like the very end all I could think was how can she fall in love with someone who literally ruined her dreams, I mean if some random guy falls for me and stops me from achieving my dreams, I don’t think no matter what he does or how good he is I will never be able to forgive him. And also how selfish was Yamapi’s character, I love Yamapi’s characters generally and Aizawa Sensei and Kurosagi according to me were his coolest characters and this was just opposite of that.

Had the ending been different from the one that was showed, I swear I would go on a rampage about how unfair everything is towards women, she had to quit her job for “love”, her lifestyle, the kind of dresses she wore and her personality was reduced to cleaning and looking after the temple like *eye rolls*. There were definitely loopholes in the plot, for instance, Satomi Ishihara's character not pursuing her boss after knowing the truth about his marriage, Satomi not reciprocating to her best friend although she knew he had a crush on her etc but they tied the loose ends by the end of the series making it a satisfactory watch. I was surprised to see how well Zettai Kareshi's Night spoke English but his acting is sort of the same. The major take away from this drama for me was Yuki Furukawa who didn’t have many scenes, had me crushing on him the entire time. I mean he was that representative cool Japanese corporate employee probably from a top B-School. But I have to say the chemistry between Yamapi and Satomi is so natural but the plot was really bad. If I were the director and I were to caste Satomi and YamaP I would definitely choose a better script to maximaze their full potential

2.  Mischievous Kss Love in TOKYO: Since I previously mentioned how I found Yuki soo damn cute I checked out what drams he was in and to my surprise he acted in Mischievous Kiss. I had deliberately not watched this drama for all these years because I had watched Playful Kiss and it was awful. I did not know what better Japanese could do with such a bad plot. Anyway I decided to give it a watch and the true showstealer was Yahagi Honoka. She is naturally cute unlike other girls who force Kawaiiness or aegyo and Yuki has this mischievous side to him, which makes them a perfect pair. Unlike the Korean version there weren’t too many surprise kisses, the whole series was mostly about Aihara's one side quest and Irei occasionally reciprocating it. And like one million other dramas, the hero realises he does not want to lose the heroine only when she starts dating some other guy. I felt bad for Kotoko that she had to go through so much but I also felt bad for Irei towards the end after his dad fell sick. Overall it was definitely a cute watch but I don’t think I would be watching Love in Okinawa or Season 2 as I feel season 1 was complete in itself. Also the last scene of the wedding was weird with no guests, just 10 characters of the drama and I definitely felt they looked like teens when they got married.

3.  Liar Game 2008: The number of times I have told myself that I’m going to watch this but never found time. This time I decided no matter what I’m going to sit through and watch this. And Oh! My! God! What a ride this drama has been. If I had to say one word about this drama it would be ‘Masterpiece’ I can gladly place this among the best Jdramas I have watched in my life. Except for episodes 11 and 12 which was unnecessary the whole drama was such a gripping watch. It was almost always so hard to predict what happened next which kept me at the edge of my seat. Although Toda Erika doesn’t fit the anime description of dumb girl I think since she’s a seasoned actress she manages to do a great job as Kanzakai Nao (but also her face is scary at times even though she was supposed to be scared and surprised most of the times). And coming to the highlight of this drama *drum rolls* Matsuda Shota. 

This drama wouldn’t have been what it is without him. I couldn’t believe he is such a good actor who’s so convincing in his role as Akiyama. That cunning demeanour and genuine concern for Nao along with his genius brains had me swooning over him. Also not to forget how HOT he looked. I kinda shipped Erika and Shota but there was nothing actually going on between the characters except this one scene where he intensely started at her, I thought he would kiss her or something because even her expressions were as though she expected a kiss but anyway nothing happened. Hmph. 

But isn’t the best part about Jdramas? if the genre isn’t romance we hardly see any romance between the leads which is also why I prefer Jdramas over almost all Kdramas that add random lovelines and kiss scenes to get trp high *cough vincenzo*. This post will be incomplete if I dont mention the amazing antagonists of the drama especially Fukunaga who was simply despicable even more than Yokoya in my opinion, but had they kept Fukunaga as a trans instead of making him a man in the series, it would have been so much more fun. My mom who barely watches Jdrama was gripped when I narrated the first two episodes to her. I am definitely going to watch season 2 within this year but for now I just want to be hung-over with the memories of watching the first season and thinking how PERFECT it was.

[yibuo]

1. As a SA I agree with u that sex is something we dont discuss and we never even touch the topic until we think we're grown up to talk abt, even with friends. I love it when western ppl try to discuss and dissect asian content with their own values and upbringing. So I dont really think lwj or wei ying are asexual at all, the story in the novel starts at a tender age of 13 or 14 and most asian kids at that age are really kids, No 13 year I knew was confident abt dating at that young age.

2. But I disagree u on one think I loved the way the author wrote lan zhan, coz this boy has hidden away from any human emotion. He locked himself in the library or used to practice what he learned, he never even learned the art of simple conversation and suddenly him realising that he might have fallen in love must have made his life unstable. Him telling his brother that he might be in love just tells u how much wei ying affected him, he just didnt have the tools to express the need and love

3. Lwj was smitten and even wrote a song just for them, he wasnt confident enough and didnt know enough to make a move, when he did wei ying forgot and so lwj kept thinking he was reject but still stood with him. Lwj is basically the longing and wwx was disbelief. Wwx never believed he was worth anything, he might have gotten a house to call home but the way the lady of the house treated him made him have issues. Love wasnt the only thing which made him give his golden core to jc.

4. It was also the sense of duty that these ppl helped me now I have to sacrifice myself for them. Even with lwj he keeps thinking hes ruined lwjs white cloths everytime they end up fighting someone or thing. He felt guilty for his feelings coz he wasnt sure that he would be ever accepted anywhere. Wen for him became a mission coz he lived as a dirt poor kid, he knew how they felt.

5. So yep I dont think lwj or wwx were written badly it's just the cultural thing coming in abt relationships. I seriously am loving this writers another novel coz they write the relationship like normalised relationships. Couples are made when one person is persuaded by the other. Never have I seen both ppl fall in love at the same time. P.S. sorry for the rant, it just makes me angry when white ppl think that us asians live their kind of life style

hey! this is going under the cut because much food for thought. you made 2 valid points and i’ll reply to both. also please feel free to correct me if i’m wrong. this is just based on my experience as a south asian lgbt who had the luxury to grow up and figure out this whole sex and lgbt thing along with other (east & south) asian lgbt individuals. i’m definitely not opposed to criticism and it’s important that i be corrected should i have said something wrong !!!!! and tbh that might give me some priviledge because i know some asian individuals probably didn’t have the same type of support group that i did to help figure out sexuality things

western values and expectations being pushed onto asian media - i think it’s really funny how people from the west like to push their expectations of romance/relationships onto asian media. like asian parents, east or south, are very minimal about exposing us to sex ed and sex in media, and media itself is very minimal on showing sexual attraction between characters (straight or gay) and romance is limited to kissing and hugging (unless it’s after marriage...maybe). like sex is just viewed as a baby-making tool?? i had this convo with my 1st gen east-asian friends last night nd we all came to the conclusion that we grew up w the idea that “sex happens but it only happens to ur partner for the rest of ur life” kinda thing so it’s completely a culture shock to us when western media has high-schoolers having sex and being chill about it ?? i couldn’t even imagine. so yeah anyway. not asexual. no sex in the show doesn’t mean asexual.that’s just not how dramas work lol plus yeah lol why are people expecting teenagers to have sex like...???? that’s just not a thing in mainstream media btw i’m not saying that gay sex shouldn’t be in asian media- i’m just tryna say that sex in general isn’t prominent especially in asian media

also it’s really interesting a lot of people were like the western idea of gay relationships are “conservative” like i feel like the hypersexualization especially of gay men started from western culture (specifically cis white males, for ex, when they first started making clinics to target lgbt people, the clinics were modeled after cis white males, which ended up ostracizing other lgbt groups) lol (like have U Seen All The Gay Thirst Traps On TikTok Lol /s) i’ve seen a lot of my friends (asian and white alike) be negatively affected by these standards which are propogated by the hypersexualization of gay males

wangxian- for lwj i just wish they didn’t write that part where he was some angsty teen who had to blindfold kss his crush to get his point across...i think that part was just so weird because it kinda furthers the idea of “people forcing each other on other people is romantic” but like it really isn’t?? idk that’s just my 2 cents i feel like that’s common sense lol and then i think it’s weirder that he hides it and even weirder that at the end it’s just cool “like o u forced kissed me? i thought it was a girl or something but that’s cool whatever <3″ idk it was just weird and it didn’t sit well w/ me. i’ve just seen people close to me affected by this kind of stuff and romanticizing of noncon just doesn’t seem like a kink it’s just. weird. sorry i don’t know how to form sentences. otherwise i really liked the idea of lwj being someone who’s so far from romance and love and expressing emotion turning into someone who shows love and loyalty

tldr; asian mainstream media doesn’t really focus on sex (not sexuality but sex), kinky sexy times are ok but noncon isn’t, western ppl stop tryna take over the world pls

[frostygar]

Snowbarry Headcanon’s Part 2

1: Who spends almost all their money on the other?

- Barry loves to spoil Caitlin. It’s one of his favorite things to do, and Caitlin says she hates it but, really, it makes her fall in love with him even more if that we’re even possible. Whenever she complains about it, Killer Frost makes an appearance to either tell Caitlin to shut up and enjoy it, or outs her true feelings to Barry.

2: Who sleeps in the other’s lap?

- Barry tends to fall asleep in Caitlin’s lap because she runs her fingers through his hair after a long day. 

3: Who walks around the house half-naked and who yells at them to put on some clothes?

- Caitlin may not seem like it, but she loves to wear Barry’s clothes a lot throughout their house (not even just after sex), and sometimes when Cisco or Ralph or one of their friends shows up unannounced, Barry has to scream a code name to her since it happens a lot. 

4: Which one tells the other not to stay up all night and which one stays up all night anyway?

- Since Killer Frost tends to make an appearance when Caitlin is asleep, Barry pleads with her to not stay up all night and come back, but both of them know he just asks for his own peace of mind.

5: Which one tries to make food for the other but burns it all by accident and which one tells them that it’s okay and makes them both cookies?

- Barry tries his hardest to learn how to cook and bake so Caitlin doesn’t have to do it all the time but most of the time he ends up burning the food on accident. Caitlin tells him that it’s okay, and offers to help while also multitasking by making cookies to make Barry feel better (because his comfort food is cookies with milk).

6: Which one reads OTP prompts and says “Oh that’s us!” and which one goes “Eh, not really”?

- Reads OTP prompts and says “oh that’s us!” would probably be Barry trying to be cute and playful, and Caitlin would rationally shrug and mutter, “eh, not really” but end up kissing him and fulfill whatever cute otp prompt that Barry liked.

7: Which one constantly wears the other’s clothes?

- Caitlin loves to wear Barry’s shirts after sex and his sweat pants because they’re comfortable when they have days off and just want to lounge around doing nothing.

8: Which one spends all day running errands and which one says “You remembered [thing], right?”

- Barry doesn’t spend all day because, you know, he’s the Flash. But he’ll arrive back at home and Caitlin with ask if he forgot something, and if he does, he speeds back too go and get whatever it is.

9: Which one drives the car and which one gives them directions?

- Caitlin likes to drive, and Barry gives her directions because while he would prefer speeding everywhere, it allows them to slow down and enjoy life and each other’s presence.

10: Which one does the posing while the other one draws?

- Caitlin draws, while Barry poses. Because he always wants to run around, he has a problem trying to sit still.

11: If they were about to rob a museum, which one does backflips through lasers and which one is strolling behind with a bag of chips?

- This is hard to figure out considering CSI Barry would never want to bring food (even if they would rob a museum) and neither would Caitlin, but I’ll have to say that Caitlin would watch her cute, dumb dorky boyfriend trying to ignore the lasers while she watches back nonchalantly while chewing on chips.

12: Which one of your OTP overdoes it on the alcohol and which one makes the other stop drinking?

- Well, considering Barry can’t get drunk, really, Caitlin is the one who sometimes overdoes it with the alcohol when she drinks and Barry has to stop her.

13: Which one likes to surprise the other with a lot of small random gifts?

- Barry likes to randomly give Caitlin small gifts, and he’ll leave them laying around with sweet notes so she can find when she gets home/if she’s sad.

14: Which one keeps accidentally using the other’s last name instead of their own?

- Caitlin, all the time, accidentally calls herself “Caitlin Allen” because they’ve talked about it so much and it just slips out. But neither of them really mind, because it fits her.

15: Which one screams about the spider and which one brings the spider outside?

- It surprises people, but Barry screams about the spider, and Caitlin huffs and puts the spider outside (but if it’s really big, neither of them touch it and Killer Frost has to take charge for a little bit to get rid of the spider).

16: Which one gives the other their jacket?

- Caitlin is never cold. She only really wears jackets to keep up an appearance with other people, and for style. But mostly it’s Caitlin giving Barry her big fluffy jackets to keep that skinny man warm.

17: Who keeps getting threatened by the other’s overprotective older sibling?

- Iris, as Barry’s sister, always calmly tells Caitlin not to hurt her nerdy brother when they’re alone because she’s seen Barry hurt and it physically hurts her as well because they’re so close ever since Joe adopted him.

18: Who’s the first one to admit they have feelings for the other?

- Barry. He’s an emotional man, and Caitlin was so afraid to tell him so when he just blurts it out when they’re alone during a crisis that he feels he may get hurt, he convinces himself to tell her in case he dies.

19: How good would your OTP be at parenting?

- The absolute BEST. Barry would be the fun parent, and while Caitlin is as well, she is a bit more stern when it comes down to it.

20: Which one types with perfect grammar and which one types using numbers as letters?

- Neither type with numbers as letters considering their careers, but sometimes when Caitlin gets extremely drunk, Barry can tell because she texts him: “Bar 1 wnt u 2 kss me.” And then the next day he shows her and she’ll groan in embarrassment.

21: Who gets attacked by a bully and who protects them?

- Barry gets attacked by a bully and while he can protect himself (though doesn’t because it’ll give away that he’s The Flash), Caitlin refuses to let anyone bully her boyfriend/husband. Sometimes it even escalates to the point where Killer Frost makes an appearance because Caitlin is overwhelmed and upset and doesn’t know what to do.

22: Who makes the bad puns and who makes a pained smile every time the other makes a pun?

- They both love to make puns, and have the other either return one or grimace,  but mostly it’s Barry who knows what kind of puns Caitlin doesn’t like (the morbid, awful ones)

23: Who comes home from work to see that the other one bought a puppy?

- Caitlin comes home to find that Barry being the lovable, caring man she married has adopted a puppy. But she’s not mad: she loves animals.

24: Which one gives the other a piggyback ride when they’re tired?

- Barry gives Caitlin piggyback rides when she’s exhausted, and he’ll use his speed to tuck her into bed.

25: Which one competes in some sort of activity and which one does the overzealous cheering?

- They both compete in activities and the other will cheer but mostly it’s Barry the outgoing father who gets too into activities so Caitlin cheers in the stands.

26: Who takes a selfie when the other one falls asleep on their shoulder?

- It started with Barry to Caitlin, but then she found the picture on his phone and began to do it to him, too, so it’s almost like a competition.

27: Which one would give the other a makeover if they asked?

- Barry wants to practice for if they have a daughter so he asks Caitlin if he can give her makeover. And after realizing he was actually pretty good (from growing up with Iris) sometimes Caitlin would ask him to do her makeup for a date night with him.

28: Which one owns a pet that the other is absolutely terrified of?

- Barry would own something Caitlin is absolutely terrified of. And maybe she might get something to retaliate that he would be afraid of.

29: Which one holds the umbrella over both of them when it rains?

- Barry holds the umbrella, because he knows he can shake the water off of him so he’ll focus more on Caitlin.

30: If your OTP went on vacation, where would they go and what would they do? Who would take the pictures?

- If Caitlin and Barry went on vacation, they would go far, far away and they would tour museums and gelato shops, etc., and both Caitlin and Barry would take the pictures because she has a secret knack for it and he’s used to it as a CSI.

I didn’t want to write so I decided to find more headcanons. I looked up “OTP questions and found this post so yeah! If you want me to take this down, just ask!

[neo-couture]

mine

When Lucas woke up that morning, he had no idea he’d bump into you at the café down the street. It had been a year since you’d last seen each other, since Lucas had left to study abroad. You’d only known each other a short while so the two of you decided to call your thing off. It was casual, so it was fine. But Lucas got the impression it was “casual with lots of feelings” that neither admitted to or said aloud. He figured he’d get over you after a year in Japan, and he’d tried. He’d dated other people, but all he could think about was you. Short lived as the relationship might have been, it had left quite an impact.

He told his friends he’d be back in a sec, before strolling up to where you were sat focused on your laptop. “Y/N.”

You looked up from your paper and recognized the man in front of you immediately. Lucas – that Lucas – was standing in front of you with a cup of coffee and a big, dumb grin.

“Lucas? Oh my god, hey! How’s it going?” You got off your chair and gave him a quick hug, letting your hand linger on his arm. He was wearing a baggy hoodie, a staple of his when you were dating. Or whatever the relationship had been.

“Good! It’s been a while,” he gave you another crooked smile, the kind he used to give when he wanted to say more. “How have you been?”

You two briefly caught up, asking how uni was going and typical things like that. It was really good to see him. You knew he was with his friends so you didn’t keep him, but as he turned away, he caught himself.

“Give me a call, okay?” You blushed and nodded. With a wide smile, he turned and went back to his friends. You caught some of their stares, but went back to your paper, grinning to yourself.

Lucas tried to act casual about it when he told his friends who you were, but the faint pink on his cheeks was a dead giveaway.

“That’s Y/N? Dude! What’re you doing back here talking to us? Go and talk to her again, try and get her back,” Yuta said. “Look man, I know you never got over her. The universe is giving you a second chance, right here in this cafe.”

Lucas flushed and looked into his coffee cup when Johnny chimed in after blowing on his coffee, “we are all very aware, Lucas. You can’t hide it from us.”

“She’ll call,” Lucas said. And he really hoped you would.

--

You did, of course, the next day, asking him if he wanted to meet. You invited him over to your apartment and it felt like old times. He didn’t even ask for your address and you were secretly thrilled that he remembered.

Twenty minutes later, Lucas showed up on your doorstep looking slightly disheveled but happy, a bag of food in his hands. The smell wafted up your nose and you realized that you were starving. You pulled him in, feeling oddly giddy.

The two of you sat on the floor, food scattered about the coffee table. You caught up on the past year, Lucas’ semester abroad, your semester here, and you found that you really missed taking to him. His loud laugh, funny jokes, and his big gestures brought along a sense of nostalgia. Just having him next to you in your apartment again made you feel warm and comfortable and safe.

While you were talking, Lucas’ hand gravitated towards your thigh, his thumb tracing small circles. There was no ulterior motive to the gesture, other than wanting to touch you the way he had many months ago, but it made your stomach twirl. It was so familiar and you hadn’t realized just how much you craved him.

You waited a decent amount of time after you had finished eating, not wanting to appear desperate, before you just couldn’t take it anymore. You swung a leg over his lap, straddling him. Lucas’ eyes widened in surprise. Not giving him time to say anything, like one of his dumb (adorable) quips, you tugged your shirt off, leaving your chest bare. His jaw almost dropped to the floor and he hesitantly reached out to touch you. His large hands covered your breasts as he massaged them in his palms. It was gentle, yet rough, as his hands were rough and calloused, just as you remembered. You’d always bugged him about moisturizing and a smile tugged at your lips, knowing some things hadn’t changed. You flipped your hair out of the way and tugged him in for a kiss, feeling his lips on yours for the first time in a year. You let out a soft whine and Lucas grew more confident with his touch, squeezing harder and rubbing your nipples with his thumbs. Pulling away with a soft click, you gasped against his parted lips.

“I’ve missed you,” he said with a dopey grin.

You laughed. “I missed you, too.” With that, you connected your lips again, swallowing each of his groans and whines. You rolled your hips down on his lap, feeling his erection grow beneath you. His large hands had moved from your chest to your waist, gripping tightly and urging you to continue you movements. You hoped there would be bruises.

One of his hands snuck down the back of your pants, over your ass, and he dipped a finger inside your dripping entrance. You moaned and rocked back on his finger, hoping he would add another. When he did, followed closely by a third, you whimpered into his neck. You’d forgotten how amazing his fingers were; long and bony and well acquainted with your body.

Once you’d had enough, you cupped his jaw and locked eyes with him. “Fuck me. Please. I need you.”

Lucas didn’t need to be told twice and he made quick work of his shirt. He pushed you onto your back on the floor, asking if it was okay. You nodded, not giving a shit where he fucked you so long as he did. And ideally soon. Lucas tugged your pants and underwear off, leaving you completely naked beneath him. Your legs settled on either side of him, giving Lucas a perfect view of your wet, swollen pussy. He breathed out a soft fuck and quickly took off his own pants.

His cock hung heavy between his legs and you clenched at the sight of him, recalling how it felt to have his long, thick length inside you. Lucas searched his jeans for his wallet, and pulled out a condom which he quickly opened and rolled on. Reaching out, he put his hand by your mouth. “Spit, baby.” You smiled and did as you were told. Lucas was always kind of dirty like that, and you loved it.

You watched, enraptured, as he slicked up his cock with your spit and positioned himself at your entrance. When he start pushing in, you collapsed against the floor with a groan. He went slowly, pausing occasionally to allow you to adjust. “Relax, baby.” Leaning over you, he nibbled on your earlobe. “No one’s been fucking you good, huh? Not since I left? Not used to a big cock anymore, are you?”

It was then you remembered Jihoon and wondered if you should tell Lucas. No, it was only casual with Jihoon. That’s what you decided anyway. And besides, Lucas did have a point; no one had fucked you like this. And you didn’t want him to stop now.

So, you shook your head and whimpered as he bottomed out.

“Atta girl,” he whispered. “You always could take me so well.”

Once you had adjusted to his size, he started moving, dragging his cock in and out of you at a painfully slow pace at first. You urged him to go faster and he began pounding into you at a relentless pace. His elbows rested on either side of your head, his face so close to yours. You felt something. Something that was foreign to you. Yet it felt so present in that moment with Lucas and his bright eyes locked with yours, his fingers toying with your hair. It was a lot.

Squeezing your eyes shut, you focused on his cock inside you which, admittedly, wasn’t hard to do as he was hitting that spot mercilessly. Lucas was also a biter, and so he was gently nipping at your jaw and your neck, growling each time you tightened around him.

As both your climaxes approached, Lucas hooked your legs over his shoulders, effectively bending you in half. He must’ve remembered you liked it this way because of how the head of his cock constantly pressed against your most sensitive spot. Tears spilled from your eyes and he breathed your name and soft curses into your mouth.

You surprised yourself, and Lucas, when your orgasm washed over without even being touched. Your legs shook around him as you cried out and he cursed as he watched you. He finished not long after, spilling into the condom. You barely registered this as your brain had basically shut down, overstimulated as he fucked you.

Your legs fell beside you, completely useless, as Lucas pulled out. He pressed his lips to yours for a brief kiss.

“Mm, just as amazing as I remember.”

--

The next day, after Lucas had left for class, you got a text from Jihoon. He wanted you come over for dinner. You felt a pang of guilt, thinking about how you and Lucas fucked three times last night. But then you remembered that you and Jihoon had agreed to keep it casual. Casual.

However, as soon as you walked through the door of Jihoon’s place later that day, you felt sick to your stomach. Nerves hit you when you saw the fancy dinner on his table, candles and all. He clearly didn’t want casual anymore. And sure enough, after dinner, once the two of you had retired to the couch to watch a movie, he asked you to be his girlfriend. For the two of you to be exclusive.

You stammered out a sure, which should have actually been a no, but you panicked. Jihoon was really, really nice, and you didn’t want to hurt his feelings. More to the point, you were completely caught off guard and felt incredibly guilty since you were planning on breaking up with him.

Immediately after you agreed, Jihoon pulled you in for a kiss, pushing you onto your back, and made love to you right there on the couch.

You wondered if he could smell Lucas on you.

--

You told Lucas the next day. A silence hung over you as you waited for Lucas to respond. You didn’t know what to make of the situation because you certainly didn’t want to stop seeing Lucas.

“Do you love him?” Lucas asked, avoiding your gaze.

“No. I don’t know. Maybe?”

He nodded, swallowing thickly. “I guess we… have to stop then.” Tears pricked your eyes at this, but you reluctantly agreed.

An hour later, Lucas had you on your hands and knees, ass up in the air as he fucked you roughly. His hand was tangled in your hair as he held you down, draping himself over your back. He tugged at your ear with his teeth, nipping and licking at the skin.

“Bet he doesn’t fuck you like this, does he? No one can fuck you like I can,” he growled almost absentmindedly. As if it was a private thought that neither of you would talk about later. You sobbed into the sheets, mascara running down your face with your tears. You were glad you could attribute the tears to the ecstasy of sex, rather than the aching pain in your heart.

--

Later the next day, you and Lucas got drunk at your place. You figured it was a way for the both of you to cope with the situation at hand. Sat on your couch, legs curled up under you, you faced Lucas who looked fucked up. He was grinning at you, hair falling into his eyes. You flushed under his gaze which never seemed to let up.

He reached out to you, stroked your cheek with the back of his hand. His thumb traced your lips, tugging the bottom one gently. “You’re so beautiful,” he said. He sounded so genuine you almost cried. Giving you a pained smile, he cupped your cheek. His touch was so gentle and you felt a stabbing pain in your heart. “He better treat you well. It’s what you deserve.” Closing your eyes, you placed a hand over his and leaned into his palmed. What he said next made your heart skip, in part because it was said under his breath, like he hadn’t wanted you to hear.

“I just wish it was me.”

--

You and Lucas continued that way for a couple weeks; fucking any chance you got. You still hung out, too, but there was an awkwardness to it, neither of you knowing what to say or do. Not knowing what emotions were off limits. So, you generally just stuck to sex.

Every time you would fuck, one of you would say you shouldn’t do this anymore, that it was wrong. But these words never stopped you. They were often said between heated kisses, and at that point, there was no going back.

You also noticed that Lucas fucked you especially hard whenever you mentioned Jihoon, like he was trying to make a point. On one occasion, after you told Lucas that you and Jihoon had cooked dinner together at your place, he fucked you right on the counter, letting your come mixed with his leak out of you and drip on to the cold surface.

It was toxic, you knew it. And you wanted to break up with Jihoon, you just didn’t know how. The last thing you wanted to do was hurt him, but you knew you already were.

At one point, when you were with Lucas, you happened to mention Jihoon again in passing and Lucas snapped.

“Please! Please just- just stop,” his voice trailed off at the end of his sentence. He braced himself on your kitchen counter, head hanging between his shoulders. You got off your chair and stood next to  him, hand on his back. “I don’t want to hear about you and him. Please.”

“Lucas-” you started but stopped when he whipped around, his eyes brimming with tears. He held your face in his hands, a few tears trickling down his cheek. His thumbs stroked your cheeks, a pained look on his face. You held his wrist, trying to sooth him.

Knocking your foreheads together, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “You could leave him, you know,” he said quietly, “and come back to me.”

“Lucas-” you tried again, but he cut you off again, shaking his head with a tortured expression on his face.

“Be with me. Please. I lo- you know I care about you. And I know you care about me.” He went to kiss you, but he stopped himself. “Be mine again.” It was barely a whisper and you weren’t even sure you heard him right.

Your voice caught in your throat, thick with emotion, wanting to tell him that yes, you want to be with him. You wanted to break up with Jihoon and be with Lucas. That’s all you wanted. But Lucas spoke again before you had the chance. Knowing Lucas, you felt this was because he wasn’t ready to hear rejection. Even though that’s what you weren’t going say.

He composed himself, letting go of your face and wiping away his tears. “Just… just think about it, okay?” He left you there in the kitchen, and you watched the door of your apartment shut behind him.

--

It wasn’t easy, breaking up with Jihoon. He really was incredibly nice and maybe if you hadn’t been in love with Lucas, you would have stayed.

Jihoon was great, he understood that you weren’t feeling it. He cried, as you expected, and you comforted him, feeling guilty. He didn’t deserve this. Lucas didn’t deserve the pain you put him through either.

You left Jihoon’s place on good terms with him, which was more than you expected, and headed down the street, one place on your mind.

--

You knocked on Lucas’ door and he opened it, looking dejected, but livening up when he saw you. Before he could say anything, you asked, “any of your roommates home?”

He shook his head. “No, they just left-” Before he could finish, you pulled him into a tight embrace, crashing your lips together. His large hands moved to your back, holding you close.

“I want to be with you. Just you. I don’t want anybody else.”

He smiled and laughed breathlessly. It tugged at your heartstrings and you kissed him again before you cried. He slammed the door behind you, hiking your legs up around his waist, and carried you to his room.

Dropping you on his bed, he gave you a goofy smile. You reached to unbutton his shirt when he stopped you. “Before we… I just want you to know that I love you. It’s not just about sex for me. I really love you. And I want you. Forever.”

“I want that too,” you said. “I love you too, Lucas.” That was all he wanted to hear and he joined your lips together again, ecstatic.

Clothes were quickly removed and discarded around his room until the two of you were completely naked. You stared at each other for a few moments, gazing upon each other in a new light. When Lucas touched you, it was gentle, almost careful, his large palms skimming across the bare skin of your legs. He planted a kiss on the inside of your thigh. He continued his way up your thigh, across your stomach and your chest, and up your neck until he reached your lips.

Hands explored bodies, committing each and every curve and angle to memory. Each touch was gentle and you felt no hurry to rush the moment along. It was perfect and you never wanted it to end.

By the time Lucas had pushed himself inside you, you felt delirious with emotion. Ecstasy and an intimacy you had never felt before, and you had never felt more secure and at peace. Everything was right.

He braced himself on either side of your head, your foreheads touching as he rolling his hips against you. Lucas kissed you all over your face, your neck, leaving no spot untouched. You held onto his forearms as he thrusted in and out of you, looking into his deep brown eyes.

It wasn’t long before you reached your climax and Lucas’s hands slipped into yours, squeezing tightly, reassuring you. You came with a sob, crying into Lucas’ neck. He followed soon after, spilling into you.

You wrapped your arms around his back as he buried his face into the crook of your neck, panting. Reaching around, you held his face in your hands, brushing your lips together. “Mine,” you said. Lucas smiled.

“Yours. “

[theonyxpath]

Our next Kickstarter is for the Legendlore RPG, and starts on this Thursday, March the 12th, at 2pm Eastern US time!

From the Kickstarter:

Legendlore was originally a comic, first published by Arrow Comics in 1986 and since procured by Caliber Comics, about four people who fall through a Crossing into the Realm. The Realm is home to fantasy creatures from elves to dragons, and the characters discover they too have ‘fantasy powers’ – the jock becomes a Fighter, while the bookish one becomes a Wizard, and so on. They go on adventures and some of them eventually find their way back to Earth.

This is the basic premise of the Legendlore RPG. You Cross into the Realm, where you become a hairfoot Bard, or maybe an elven Sorcerer. You can change any characteristics you like. For example if you have hay fever and glasses, you choose if your Legendlore self keeps or drops those. Your identity might not always match your outward physique, but your Legendlore character does. We’ve also updated the 1980s setting so Realmborn characters represent all ethnicities, genders, and sexualities. No one in the Realm will bat an eyelash at your agender panromantic self.

This comes hard on the heels of our fantastic Kickstarter campaign for Hunter: The Vigil 2e, which ended up at over 500% of the funding goal and just a couple of folks away from 2000 backers! Truly, the Vigil was a rewarding one, and we’re thrilled so many folks came along with us on the hunt.

Even though we’re jumping right into the new KS for Legendlore, Hunter 2e‘s campaign left us with a number of Stretch Goal projects to continue with, and, for us, Legendlore is such a different kind of project that creatively it is a nice break in our recent string of Kickstarters in the Chronicles of Darkness and V5 game worlds.

Legendlore will also be our newest game line to use the d20 system for 5e fantasy gaming, along with Scarred Lands and (much-simplified) the Realms of Pugmire, so that also gives us a chance to stretch some system creative muscles we like to keep toned up.

If you’re a fan of D&D, etc. then I think you’ll find a lot of fresh spins you’ll enjoy in how Legendlore treats genre expectations and tropes while still providing a sweeping setting ripe for adventuring in. And if you aren’t so much, I still think you may find value in supporting developer Steffie de Vaan and her creative team’s 2020 take on this multi-decade saga and setting.

Like almost every one of our Kickstarters these days, Legendlore is pretty much finished in the writing stages, and backers will get sections of the finished text during the course of the KS campaign. Steffie is working with at least one Twitch streaming group to create actual play episodes showing how Legendlore plays at an actual gaming table, and we’re really looking forward to airing those (and they’ll be linked on the KS page).

So, anyone interested is going to have multiple chances to check this project out in a way that works for them, as we’ve been working to set up with each of our KSs. And, James Bell, our Kickstarter Concierge will be back for this KS to once again provide information and guidance, as well as his patented affable banter!

V5 Chicago Folio art by Felipe Gaona

Items From Our Monday Meeting:

In no particular order, which is a lot like our meeting style!

DriveThruRPG‘s massive GM’s Day Sale has another week to go, and hoo-boy are there a lot of our PDFs for sale over there! All of our game lines are represented, as well as offerings from the Community Content sites!

This was a Twitter note sent out during our meeting by Eddy Webb:

“Thanks to Justin Achilli, I got to be in a work meeting where we talk about the aesthetics of urine and throwing bears at the moon.”

Which is pretty much true.

Mighty Matt McElroy was scheduled to attend Emerald City convention this coming weekend, but the whole con was postponed due to concerns about the Coronavirus (COVID-19). He’d already had a bunch of meetings cancelled out from under him and was figuring on cancelling, when boop! the convention cancelled instead!

You folks all take care of yourselves out there! We’re a virtual office, so aren’t going to infect each other, and we don’t have anything currently being manufactured in China, so I’m just encouraging all our folks to stay in and work 20 hour days at their computers. (I’m kidding.) (But not really.)

Mirthful Mike Chaney wonders how that’s any different than his usual day, anyway?

They Came From Beneath the Sea! Heroic Land Dwellers art by Brian LeBlanc

We’re still getting folks asking about whether projects that come out as Advance PDFs will be released in PoD versions or if Backer PDFs will be sold to the public, along with PoDs, on DTRPG. First, we’re always glad to answer folks’ questions, and second, yes, our sales strategy has always been to deliver PDFs and PoDs of projects on DTRPG and so we have been releasing them that way for the whole time we’ve been in business.

The only caveats to that are projects we might do like printed Screens offered on Kickstarters, which DTRPG can’t create in PoD form, and recently with the V5 Cults of the Blood Gods Stretch Goal rewards which will only be available in PDF as the V5 managers at Modiphius do not want PoD versions made available.

We’ve scheduled a nice surprise for the backers of Exalted 3rd‘s Dragon-Blooded KS that should put some folks’s concerns to rest about getting their rewards. So keep your eyes open for that, DB backers!

I’m out next Monday, so Dixie Cochran will be in as our guest MMN blogger! Please be nice to her as she wrangles the rusty and arcane controls for this blog, and I’ll talk to you in two weeks about our:

Many Worlds, One Path!

BLURBS!

Kickstarter!

On Thursday, March 12th at 2pm Eastern US Time we start the Kickstarter for Legendlore!

Onyx Path Media!

This Friday the Onyx Pathcast Terrific Trio take a deep dive into Vampire: The Requiem 2e‘s Spilled Blood! Messy, but fun!

As always this Friday’s Onyx Pathcast will be on Podbean or your favorite podcast venue! https://onyxpathcast.podbean.com/

We’ve got a stupendous number of shows on Twitch this week! Tune in for V5, Chronicles of Darkness, Scion, Pugmire, Hunter: The Vigil 2nd Edition, Scarred Lands, MORE Vampire: The Masquerade, Changeling: The Lost, Mage: The Awakening, even more Scarred Lands, Werewolf: The Forsaken and a third Vampire: The Masquerade game! We’ve even got Eddy Webb’s Workshop, which takes you through the development process of our books! Hail Ming!

A big shout-out to our three Vampire: The Masquerade games running this week, which have been running week-in, week-out! You can subscribe to our channel over on twitch.tv/theonyxpath to catch up with any episodes you missed! This Ming’s a psycho.

Come take a look at our YouTube channel, youtube.com/user/theonyxpath, where you can find the following videos uploaded last week alone:

The Onyx Path News: https://youtu.be/zKo1h7bLPE0

Scion: Behind the Screen: https://youtu.be/v9Wo38rl5-Y

Changeling: The Lost – Littlebrook Reunion: https://youtu.be/hxSbemynBLs

Changeling: The Dreaming – The Last Faerie Tale: https://youtu.be/gKAm-zGxTW4

Even more Scion: Behind the Screen: https://youtu.be/QDSIS_ClFbE

A special shout-out to the Scion: Behind the Screen series, which has provided a wonderful entry point for people new to the game! Flying blind on a rocket cycle!

Do subscribe to our channel and click the bell icon if you want to be notified whenever new news videos and uploads come online! Spare me the madness.

In case you missed it last week, the Story Told RPG Podcast continue with their excellent Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2nd Edition chronicle right here: http://thestorytold.libsyn.com/the-78-laments-episode-3-riders-in-the-sky

And back once again, the Story Told‘s review of Trinity Continuum: Aeon http://thestorytold.libsyn.com/episode-40-trinity-continuum-on-overview

Red Moon Roleplaying‘s V5 Cults of the Blood Gods “The Family” chronicle continues on their YouTube channel, Spotify, their website redmoonroleplaying.com and everywhere else good podcasts and New York City girls might be found! https://youtu.be/J1qCIhMPn7Q

Now, the tributes from Ardentia.

Even more shows from Occultists Anonymous for all you Mage: The Awakening fans out there!

Episode 86: Risky Business Wyrd the Seer prepares to found a legacy and shape her soul. Songbird makes contact with the Carthian Movement. Atratus meets with the Phantasm Society who have a daring plan.https://youtu.be/9XWLaxl_B-Y

Episode 87: New Lives Wyrd the Seer pays the price for tying herself to the Rookery. Songbird makes himself useful at the Arrow Armory. Atratus kills Emily Miller.https://youtu.be/ZZklb6-fC7o

Please check any of these out and let us know if you find or produce any actual plays of our games!

Electronic Gaming!

As we find ways to enable our community to more easily play our games, the Onyx Dice Rolling App is live! Our dev team has been doing updates since we launched based on the excellent use-case comments by our community, and this thing is awesome! (Seriously, you need to roll 100 dice for Exalted? This app has you covered.)

Update: the devs are working on the updates for the roller in both Android and iOS – here is the rundown from them:

1) Redo the UI for system for android.  It will look the same as the current design.  My goal is to have something ready by Saturday to send out to the Facebook users, asking them if this fixes the issues.  This will be a beta type thing.  This will break several of the fancy dice.

2) If the above worked out and the android users give all the clear, we’ll redo the graphics system to fix the fancy dice that got broken.  We’ll do another android beta through Facebook.  This might take up to two weeks, as my schedule allows.

3) If everything worked well, we’ll release to android for real at that point.

4) Port all of the existing stuff to iOS and release on that.

On Amazon and Barnes & Noble!

You can now read our fiction from the comfort and convenience of your Kindle (from Amazon) and Nook (from Barnes & Noble).

If you enjoy these or any other of our books, please help us by writing reviews on the site of the sales venue from which you bought it. Reviews really, really help us get folks interested in our amazing fiction!

Our selection includes these latest fiction books:

Our Sales Partners!

We’re working with Studio2 to get Pugmire and Monarchies of Mau out into stores, as well as to individuals through their online store. You can pick up the traditionally printed main book, the screen, and the official Pugmire dice through our friends there! https://studio2publishing.com/search?q=pugmire

We’ve added Prince’s Gambit to our Studio2 catalog: https://studio2publishing.com/products/prince-s-gambit-card-game

Now, we’ve added Changeling: The Lost 2nd Edition products to Studio2‘s store! See them here: https://studio2publishing.com/collections/all-products/changeling-the-lost

Scarred Lands (Pathfinder) books are also on sale at Studio2, and they have the 5e version, supplements, and dice as well!: https://studio2publishing.com/collections/scarred-lands

Scion 2e books and other products are available now at Studio2: https://studio2publishing.com/blogs/new-releases/scion-second-edition-book-one-origin-now-available-at-your-local-retailer-or-online

Looking for our Deluxe or Prestige Edition books? Try this link! http://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/Onyx-Path-Publishing/

And you can order Pugmire, Monarchies of Mau, Cavaliers of Mars, and Changeling: The Lost 2e at the same link! And NOW Scion Origin and Scion Hero AND Trinity Continuum Core and Trinity Continuum: Aeon are available to order!

The massive GM Day’s Sale continues for another week with huge savings on PDFs from all of our game lines!

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/rpg_gmsday.php

As always, you can find Onyx Path’s titles at DriveThruRPG.com!

On Sale This Week!

This Wednesday, we will be releasing the Advance PDF of Night Horrors: Nameless and Accursed for Mage: The Awakening 2e AND the electronic, PDF, and physical book PoD releases of Haunting Shadows: the Wraith20th fiction anthology on DTRPG!

Conventions!

Assuming these conventions are not postponed due to plague, here is our current list:

UKGames Expo: https://www.ukgamesexpo.co.uk/

GenCon: https://www.gencon.com/

Tabletop Scotland: https://tabletopscotland.co.uk/

Gamehole Con: https://www.gameholecon.com/

PAX Unplugged: https://unplugged.paxsite.com/

And now, the new project status updates!

DEVELOPMENT STATUS FROM EDDY WEBB (projects in bold have changed status since last week):

First Draft (The first phase of a project that is about the work being done by writers, not dev prep)

Exalted Essay Collection (Exalted)

RUST (Working Title) (Scarred Lands)

Under Alien Suns (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Mission Statements (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Adversaries of the Righteous (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Novas Worldwide (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Exalted Essence Edition (Exalted 3rd Edition)

The Clades Companion (Deviant: The Renegades)

The Devoted Companion (Deviant: The Renegades)

Saints and Monsters (Scion 2nd Edition)

M20 Rich Bastard’s Guide To Magick (Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary)

Wild Hunt (Scion 2nd Edition)

Redlines

Dragon-Blooded Novella #2 (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Hundred Devil’s Night Parade (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Trinity Continuum: Adventure! core (Trinity Continuum: Adventure!)

Assassins (Trinity Continuum Core)

The Book of Endless Death (Mummy: The Curse 2e)

N!ternational Wrestling Entertainment (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Contagion Chronicle Ready-Made Characters (Chronicles of Darkness)

Second Draft

Exigents (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Crucible of Legends (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Many-Faced Strangers – Lunars Companion (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Kith and Kin (Changeling: The Lost 2e)

They Came From Beyond the Grave! (They Came From!)

Development

Heirs to the Shogunate (Exalted 3rd Edition)

TC: Aberrant Reference Screen (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Across the Eight Directions (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Contagion Chronicle: Global Outbreaks (Chronicles of Darkness)

M20 Victorian Mage (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

Manuscript Approval

Scion: Dragon (Scion 2nd Edition)

Masks of the Mythos (Scion 2nd Edition)

Trinity Continuum Jumpstart (Trinity Continuum Core)

Scion: Demigod (Scion 2nd Edition)

Post-Approval Development

Scion LARP Rules (Scion)

One Foot in the Grave Jumpstart (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2e)

Editing

Legendlore core book (Legendlore)

Pirates of Pugmire KS-Added Adventure (Realms of Pugmire)

Terra Firma (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Lunars Novella (Rosenberg) (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Buried Bones: Creating in the Realms of Pugmire (Realms of Pugmire)

Tales of Aquatic Terror (They Came From Beneath the Sea!)

Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition core rulebook (Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition)

Titanomachy (Scion 2nd Edition)

Player’s Guide to the Contagion Chronicle (Chronicles of Darkness)

Contagion Chronicle Jumpstart (Chronicles of Darkness)

TC: Aberrant Jumpstart (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Post-Editing Development

City of the Towered Tombs (Cavaliers of Mars)

W20 Shattered Dreams Gift Cards (Werewolf: The Apocalypse 20th)

Cults of the Blood Gods (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

Hunter: The Vigil 2e core (Hunter: The Vigil 2nd Edition)

Trinity Continuum: Aberrant core (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Deviant: The Renegades (Deviant: The Renegades)

Monsters of the Deep (They Came From Beneath the Sea!)

Indexing

They Came From Beneath the Sea! (They Came From…!)

ART DIRECTION FROM MIKE CHANEY!

In Art Direction

Trinity Continuum: Aberrant – Awaiting replies to pings.

Hunter: The Vigil 2e (KS)

Cults of the Blood God (KS)

Mummy 2 – Starting to contract the rest of it.

City of the Towered Tombs

Let the Streets Run Red – Some finals in.

Deviant

Legendlore (KS) – KS prep of bits.

Technocracy Reloaded (KS)

TC: Aeon Terra Firma – Contracted.

WoD: Ghost Hunters (KS) – Cover in, getting rest of KS art set.

Tales of Aquatic Terror

Pirates Extra Adventure – Loboyko lined up for this one.

Scion Titanomachy – Contacting artists.

In Layout

Yugman’s Guide to Ghelspad – Ongoing.

Contagion Chronicle – With Josh, interior proof coming.

Vigil Watch – Ongoing.

TCfBtS!: Heroic Land Dwellers

TCFBtS! Screen and Booklet

Ex3 Lunars – Yep, pretty much my March right here.

Scion Companion

Proofing

Dark Eras 2 – Sending back to Aileen for errata input.

Trinity Continuum Aeon Jumpstart

Chicago Folio – Creating PoD files.

Pirates of Pugmire – Fixes in, working on cover.

CtL Oak Ash and Thorn – At WW for approvals .

Geist 2e fiction anthology – Backer PDF out to backers for errata.

Dragon-Blooded Novella #1 – The Silence of Our Ancestors (Exalted 3rd Edition) – Backer errata being gathered.

Distant Worlds – Errata being gathered.

VtR2 Spilled Blood – Errata being input.

At Press

Geist 2e (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2nd Edition) – Prepping to go live with PDF/PoD versions on DTRPG a week Wednesday (the 18th).

DR:E – Shipping to backers, PoD files uploaded.

DRE Screen – Shipping to backers.

DR:E Threat Guide – Helnau’s Guide to Wasteland Beasties

Memento Mori – PoD proof ordered.

Scion Mythical Denizens – PoD files uploaded.

Wraith20 Anthology – ePub, PDF, physical book versions all live Weds on DTRPG.

MtAw2 Night Horrors: Nameless and Accursed – Advance PDF on sale this Weds on DTRPG.

Today’s Reason to Celebrate!

Yesterday was International Women’s Day, and that’s certainly worth celebrating today as well! (Especially since here in the US we lost an hour from yesterday due to the return of our Daylight Savings Time. Typical).

Today, we heard of the death of actor Max von Sydow at 90. The man who played chess with death, acted in just so many roles in mainstream and genre films that I’m not listing them here, and, just for Matthew Dawkins, starred as Ming the Merciless.

[dadbodsarehot]

What're your favourite things about Ricky?

FUCK YEAH BOY !! rickys so fuckin cute all the time hes so good with animals and shit -- like his goldfish orangie !! hes love him so much !! and willy !! and like.... that baby raccoon he bottlefed that one time ?? fuck boys not to mention he just... hes so fuckin handsome idk how everyone thinks julian is the hot one. ricky is the fuckin hot one with his sexy facial hair and his fuckin hot bod everyone in that trailer park has SHITTY fucking taste because ricky is so fuckin sexy i want him to PLOW me into fucking next week. hes so good at growing dope and he cares SO MUCH all the shit he does is for that ungrateful bitch lucy but like... i would appreciate him so much !! and i wouldnt dump him if he went to jail like that stupid cung !!!! she doesnt deserve him and i love him and i wanna kss him while were high on acid man .... i love the way he talks and stuff he says and im so fuckin !! i love everything about him man hes so GOOD -- im combinin the two ask s into this one so like. im gonna ra,bmble like FUCK 

hes suchs a good dad !! and such a good grandpa !! NADN SUCH A GOOD FRIEDN !! AND SUCH A GOOD GUY IN GENERAL !! I WANT TO LIKE... take care of him a little since hes always doing stuff for other people, novbody ever does shit for him really unless they owe him, but i wannna make him breakfast and lunch and buy him pepperonis and cigarettes and give himb lowjobs and stuff -- i knew i wanted to ship with him right away and im like. i aws fucked up over it but im not now because hes fuckin SEXY and so GOOD and i LOVE HIM !! FU CK 

[karamelsecretsanta]

Karamel Fanfic: As long as you are safe

Author: @emarasmoak

Rating: General Audiences

Characters’ tags: Kara Danvers, Mon-El, Imra Ardeen, Querl Dox, Winn Schott

Additional tags: Karamel Secret Santa 2017, KSS 2017, Karamel fanfic, Karamel endgame, Angst, Legion of Super-Heroes

Fic summary: Mon-El has been able to keep focused on the mission, but this may change once Brainiac meets Kara. Written after 3x09.

Notes: This fic is a gift for @chriswoodfandom and part of the 2017 Karamel Secret Santa Exchange

Merry Christmas, darling!!! I love your blob and your endless fangirling about Mon-El, Karamel and Chris Wood!! (3 of my favourite things in the world). This is a multi-chapter story and I’m working on it.

Also I want to send a million thanks to my wonderful beta, @kbcountry37-blog. She is the best! All mistakes are only mine.

Chapter 1: Brainiac’s move

Chapter summary: Brainiac asks Kara out on a date in Mon-El’s presence. Mon-El’s POV.

———————————————————————–

We have just finished the debrief after our return from Fort Rozz and I hear Brainiac talk to Kara.

“Our records mentioned your strength and your intelligence, but I see that they do not properly reflect your beauty and grace. I have heard Mon-El talk about your eyes often but I was not aware that your hair could shine like that. Watching you fight was exciting. I find you very attractive.” Said Querl.

I can see Kara glancing at me with a pained expression when Querl mentions me, but she then looks back at him with an akward smile.

“Err… thanks, I guess.” Kara says.

“Would you like to have dinner with me?” Querl asks her.

“What?” Kara responds.

“What?“ I say. It seems that Kara and I have spoken at the same time.

“Dinner. With me. Isn’t this the appropriate social convention when someone has a romantic interest in a woman in this century?” Querl asks.

Kara blushes, and opens her mouth to respond to Querl and I suddenly find myself talking before she can say a word. "You can’t.“ I declare.

"I can’t?" Querl asks as he looks back at me with a raised eyebrow and a smirk. 

"They can’t?" asks Winn with very wide eyes.

Damn Brainiac. Is he doing this to irritate me? It is working. Annoying jerk.

I can hear Imra’s voice inside my head. "What are you doing, Mon-El?”

I can feel Kara’s eyes on me and I try to ignore everyone else while I speak to Querl. “You can’t. We have to work on our ship. We need to repair it. Remember?" I ask him with a pointed expression.

"You can keep on working on that on your own. Aren’t you a qualified engineer?" Querl challenges me.

He knows perfectly well that the ship is not that broken and that we could fix it if we wanted to. I cross my arms and I try to give him my best "this is an order” face. "I am. But I need to pick your brain on the therian pump. Isn’t superior intelligence your superpower, Brainy? We have go to the ship right now.“ I say. 

My face is a scowl and I can sense Imra’s voice. She is almost face palming. "Both of you! Stop whatever this stupid game is. Grief, I work with children" Imra says in our heads.

"Okay. I will follow your orders as our supreme leader.” I can hear amusement in his voice. “Kara, I still want to have dinner with you whenever possible. Maybe tomorrow?” Querl says.

“Sure. Make it tomorrow.” Kara says with exasperation in her voice.

Uh oh. I know this tone. Kara is angry. Probably at me.

“Yes, she is.“ Imra states in my head.

Querl looks at me again and winks. What is he up to? Brainiac smiles at Kara and leaves. I start moving towards the exit after him and then I hear her voice.

"Mon-El, wait." Kara says. 

She has put her hand on my elbow and I feel powerless.

"I need to talk you for a second. Alone.” Kara says.

I open my mouth to say "No”. 

“Please?” Kara asks.

“Mon-El, don’t!“ Imra says telepathically.

Kara's eyes have always been my Kryptonite. "Of course. Do you want to talk somewhere else?” I ask her.

“Sure. The training room will do.” Kara states.

Imra gives me a warning in my head. “Remember that I cannot help you unless we are in the same room.“ 

“I know." I reply. I can feel Imra’s worry while I leave with Kara.

I enter the room after her, and she ensures that the window blinds and the doors are closed. Then she turns around and looks at me.

"What was that?” Kara asks.

Crap.

“What was what?” I reply.

She scoffs, "I can’t believe it.“ She says.

Yep, she is very angry with me now.

"What?" I say. I try to look like I don’t know what she is talking about, but I’m well aware that it won’t work.

"Stop this. You don’t get to act as if I am anyone else. You know perfectly well what I’m talking about.” Kara says.

I do. But I still hope that if I fake ignorance she will let this go. 

“No, I don’t.” I reply.

She huffs and gets closer to me. Rao, help me. I just want to kiss her so bad.

“You forget that I know you, and this is not the first time that I have seen this display of macho jealousy. It doesn’t look good on you, Mon-El.” Kara tells me.

“Jealousy? Pffft. No. Querl…” I say.

“Mon-El, please” Kara says. She looks at me with sadness in her eyes. "Please don’t do this. Not to me. I don’t understand you. I’m so confused. I need you to be honest with me. Please, Mon-El. What is going on with you?“ 

It breaks my heart that I can’t be honest. I hesitate. Rao, I hate this. I feel a pain in my chest and I look into her eyes. I can see unshed tears and I feel the need to hug her. I want to touch her face. I need to kiss her. She looks at my lips and I look at hers. I can feel her body so close to mine. My heart is stammering in my chest. I shouldn’t kiss her. Our breaths are mingling now. Our foreheads are almost touching and I can see turmoil in her eyes. My hand starts to move towards her face. 

I have to leave immediately. I move away from her. I cannot look at her, or I will kiss her and damned be the world. "I’m sorry, Kara. I have to go now.” I tell her.

“But…” she says.

At this point I’m almost running out of the room, and I feel like a coward.

I go to the ship, and I find Imra waiting for me in the Legion common room. I start to pace around the big table. 

“It didn’t go well, did it?” Imra asks me.

“You know that I hate when you enter my mind without my permission, Imra.” I tell her.

“Should I remind you that I have your permission to do it whenever I feel that it is necessary to keep you focused on the plan? Your plan. Your orders. And we both know that you were about to tell everything to Kara. And I didn’t even need to enter your mind to know it. It is obvious.” Imra states.

I stop near her and scratch my face. "I’m sorry, Imra. You are right. And I know that you are trying to help. It’s just… I couldn’t control my emotions. I shouldn’t have let Querl’s words to mess me up.“ I say.

"Yeah, I wonder what he is up to. He likes his games. And I accept your apology.” Imra replies.

“Thank you, Imra. I mean it.” I say. She nods and I sit down defeated in the chair closer to her. "I know that he can’t help behaving as an obnoxious jerk sometimes, but right now I have an intense desire to punch him in the face.“ 

"Yeah, I know the feeling. He has that effect on people.” Imra replies.

We both laugh and she then briefly touches my hand. "Are you okay? I can feel that you are having several conflicting emotions inside you.“ Imra states.

I scoff. That is the understatement of the year. I still feel an intense desire to go to the DEO, find Kara and kiss her senseless. I am upset because I can’t. I am so worried since her first fight with Reign. I swear to Rao that I thought that our records were wrong and that she was going to die. I have been so scared since that moment. Without Imra’s help I would have been unable to remain calm and focused on the mission.

I avoid Imra’s gaze. "Kara wanted to know what was going on with me. I lied to her again. I hate myself. I’m not being honest with her, and I’m hurting her.” I say.

“I know how you feel, Mon-El. Believe me, I know. I am the one that is helping you control your emotions, remember? You were the one who asked me to do it. And I still don’t like it. Kara should know the truth.” Imra tells me.

“You don’t know her, Imra. She would not care about her safety. It’s just the way she is.” I state.

“Even if we explain to her that her life is the key for the future of the world? That her survival is the only thing that can stop the spread of the darkness? That maybe that would prevent the World Killers from murdering Garth?” Imra says.

I look at Imra and I see one single tear in her face. I take her hand. Garth’s death was difficult for everyone, but I was the only one who could understand her pain about losing the love of her life forever.

We stay in silence for a minute, and then I talk again. "I know Kara. She will say that she will find another way, and she will try. In the end, it may not be sufficient. When the moment comes, she will not put her safety above others and everything will be lost. She can be a bit stubborn, you know.“ I explain to Imra.

"Then she reminds me of someone. Mon-El, you should at least tell her that we are not married and that you never stopped loving her. She feels the same about you. You deserve to be together. This situation is hurting both of you.” Imra says.

“I can’t. She knows me better than anyone else. If we get back together, she will find out that I have to die to protect her. She will try to stop me. She will risk everything to save me.” I state.

“She needs you. You need her. Even if you can only be together for a short period of time. Both of you are suffering so much. I sense the endless love each of you have for the other, and it’s overwhelming, Mon-El.” Imra says.

I say nothing, and then Imra sighs. "Mon-El.“ She whispers and I look at her. "If I could have Garth back in my arms for just one minute, I would take it. It would be worth it. I’m sure that it would be the same for you. For both of you.”

“That’s because you are stronger than me, Imra. I am a coward and I have always been. If I get to have Kara in my arms again I may not have the courage to give up my life when the moment comes.” I say.

“You are wrong. You are one of the bravest people that I have ever known, Mon-El. Your love for her is your strength. You need to talk to her.” Imra says.

“I won’t, Imra. I know that you want to help, but this is the right thing to do.” I tell her.

Imra looks at me with a sad smile in her face and says nothing. We have had this conversation so many times. We have discussed this repeatedly as a team and at the end the decision is always the same. This is my call, as the Legion leader and the person who knows Kara. She leaves me alone.

I sigh and I take the necklace out of my shirt. I need to feel it in my hands so it can give me some strength. Kara was right. We were so many years apart and she was always with me. I kept her in my heart and I worked hard to become the man that she believed that I could be. I feel shame because I’m lying to her again. I need to remember that she was the one who taught me that a hero has to do whatever it takes to protect citizens above else. I have to save the world from Reign’s destruction. I promise myself that I will be strong. I can do this, as long as she is safe.

I only wish that I could kiss her just once before my death.

———————————————————————–

Chapter end Notes: I would love to hear your thoughts about this chapter and story. Specially @chriswoodfandom

[dipulb3]

People are shopping at department stores again. But don't call it a comeback

New Post has been published on https://appradab.com/people-are-shopping-at-department-stores-again-but-dont-call-it-a-comeback/

People are shopping at department stores again. But don't call it a comeback

Top department store chains say they are benefiting from built-up demand among consumers after a year in which many shoppers stayed away from stores and limited their clothing purchases. Department stores’ recoveries have also been aided by government stimulus payments.

Sales at department stores jumped 202% in April from the same time last year, according to the latest data from Mastercard’s SpendingPulse, which tracks spending through credit card, debit and other payment methods at retailers.

“We’re very excited about what we’re seeing right now with the consumer and what’s going on in the macro environment,” Macy’s (M) CEO Jeffrey Gennette said at an investor conference last month. “We’re definitely seeing benefits from the stimulus package.”

In a sign of Wall Street’s current enthusiasm for department stores, Macy’s (M) stock has rallied 53% this year, Kohl’s (KSS) has gained 45%, and Nordstrom (JWN) has increased 21% this year.

But the bounce back isn’t enough to turn around pre-pandemic trends. The department store sector has been in decline because of the rise of online shopping and discount clothing chains such as TJMaxx, Ross (ROST) and Burlington (BURL). Target (TGT), Walmart (WMT) and Costco (COST) also boosted their clothing offerings in recent years and hooked shoppers with a wider array of merchandise, say retail analysts.

Department store sales shrunk from $184 billion in sales in 2010 to $135 billion in 2019, according to Census Bureau data. In 2020, they plunged to $114 billion, according to the Census Bureau.

Nearly 1,000 department stores have closed since 2018, said real estate research firm Green Street. The pandemic was the latest blow. Department stores were deemed non-essential retailers and closed their stores to customers as the economy shut down last spring. Foot traffic, which makes up the bulk of sales, collapsed.

The dropoff tipped some department stores that were already struggling — such as Neiman Marcus, J.C. Penney, Lord & Taylor and Stage Stores — into bankruptcy. Others such as Kohl’s, Macy’s and Nordstrom, also took a hit to sales and profits.

Despite the recent rebound in April, some retail analysts downplayed the figures because stores were shut down last April.

Barbara Kahn, professor of marketing at the Wharton School of Business, said last month’s spike “doesn’t really mean much.”

The future of department stores is up in the air, she said. She expects department stores that anchor lower-tier malls to close in the coming years, but said there is hope for those located in higher-end malls with strong co-tenants.

“It’s going to be incumbent on them to recognize the new realities of shopping and to fundamentally pivot,” she said. “They’re going to have to give you a reason to go into the department stores.

“Amazon, Walmart and Target are not standing still,” she added. “They are becoming in essence the new department stores of 2021.”

Department stores are trying new tactics to survive. Macy’s is expanding its discount arm, Macy’s Backstage, and opening small stores away from malls; Nordstrom is also adding discount stores, Nordstrom Rack, and pickup-only locations; and Kohl’s is growing its athletic clothing selection and struck a partnership with Sephora to create small beauty shops inside Kohl’s stores.

But Neil Saunders, analyst at GlobalData Retail, said that although department stores are making changes, they have “big structural issues” and are “not as relevant as they once were with shoppers.”

“One month of good growth doesn’t change the overall trajectory,” Saunders said. “They are still in trouble.”

[nyaasumog]

Tagged by @slaveofliberty!

Rules: choose any three fandoms (in random order) and answer the questions, then tag 10 people.

Fandoms:

• Bungou Stray Dogs

• ACCA 13 

• Kuroshitsuji

The first character you loved:

• (BSD) Lovecraft, surprising no one.  I’ve had a collection of Cthulhus since middle school, so as soon as I learned Lovecraft was a character, and that he is, basically, Cthulhu, I was sold.  The fact that he’s also 300% over it and only has a very faint idea of How Humans Are was the icing on the cake.  If there was ever a character made to appeal straight to my very specific niche interests, it’s him.

• (ACCA) Grossular.  I arrived late to the ACCA party, but I adored Grossular from the moment he came on screen.  (Tired looking, with long hair and a deep voice?  Why yes, that IS one of my types, why do you ask.)  He’s trying so hard, and he makes such very human mistakes.  And of course, that little smile in the last episode.  My heart belongs to one (1) Aging Anime Politcian.

• (Kuro) Sebastian.  Yeah.  I know.  In my defense, I started KSS way back when and come on, he’s designed to be cool and also awful, right?  Plus I have a Thing for non-human characters... I was doomed from the start.

The character you never expected to love so much:

• (BSD) Twain.  When I first read the manga my thoughts were “how can anyone even like this boy, he shows up for about 10 pages.”  And now, here I am, ready to defend Anime Mark Twain with my life.  Thanks, rampant headcanons and friends who are willing to give minor characters intricate backstories.  He might be a fuckboy but by God, he’s OUR fuckboy now.

• (ACCA) Biscuit.  Another case of “here’s a fairly minor character, whoops I love them.”  This was entirely the fault of a friend introducing me to Biscuit/Warbler (YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE).  He’s a very good revolutionary boy with a very, very unfortunate name.

• (Kuro) Ronald.  So I gave up on KSS for the longest time, and only got back into it this year.  I liked William from the start (stoic with glasses?  Why yes, that’s another One Of My Types, thanks.) and was a little bit irritated when this weirdo with a lawnmower showed up.  I think it took the Campania arc, and Ronald lawnmowering zombie faces before I really decided “I love this one now.”

The character you relate to the most:

• (BSD) There’s the fun answer (I’m also tired and 300% done with it and Bad At Being a Human like Lovecraft) and the waaaaaay too honest answer (Dazai, because haha, coping with depression through inappropriate humor?  Never heard of it.)

• (ACCA) Rail.  I, too, am 90% useless, far too bitter about things that don’t really matter, and want to bond with people about how great bread is.

• (Kuro) Snake.  Very reserved around people I don’t know irl, and if I could get away through communicating entirely through pets I carry around with me, I totally would.  Besides, all his snakes are named after authors, and as a literature nerd, I can totally get behind that.

The character you’d slap (currently):

• (BSD) Dostoyevsky.  Please, Fyodor, just stop.  Or start?  I don’t even know what he’s doing, or if he’s actually doing anything.  

• (ACCA) Schwan. I mean, who doesn’t want to slap Schwan?  

• (Kuro) This would be a spoiler for recent events, but someone who showed up fairly recently and DID SOME VERY BAD THINGS TO AGNI.  Still not over this.

Three favorite characters (in order of preference):

• (BSD)  Lovecraft, Steinbeck, Twain/Hawthorne (tied, don’t make me choose)

• (ACCA)  Grossular, Lilium, Pine

• (Kuro) Ronald, William, Snake

A character you liked at first but don’t anymore:

• (BSD) Dostoyevsky.  He had so much potential, but now he’s just... Dazai 2.0 The New Improved Version.  Please, give this man a backstory, a personality, anything.

• (ACCA) All the bread, for making me hungry.

• (Kuro) I don’t think I’ve done a 180 on anyone in KSS... not even Sebastian.  I’m still low-key trash.

Three OTPs (amongst others):

• (BSD) STEINCRAFT.  Shocking, I know.

• (ACCA) Groslium.  I don’t care if it’s a hate thing, a love thing, a “just in it for the manipulation” thing.  I love them.

• (KSS) RonWill.  The flirty fun one and the stoic one?  Sign me the fuck up.

Tagging: @mlemclub @innosync @guremahishin @mr-reblogbutton @hwen-will-i-stop and anybody else who wants to answer, I’m so bad at tagging ;_;