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pedge-page · 6 months ago

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Joel Dealing with Preggo Wife : Smooches

Joel Miller x F!Reader

Notes: written in honor of the fabulous and fantastic @romanarose birthday today!!! 🎂 I would not be writing Pedro fics if it were not for their fantastic stories that got me hooked so everyone PLEASE wish our lord and Savior the bestest birthdays of all!

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Joel knew pregnancy brain was out of wack when you started slamming the table with a fork and knife at 5pm like a senior citizen demanding dinner.

"I aint got anything you aren't gonna throw up later. We're going out," he states with hands planted on his hips.

"Ooh yay!" You wiggle out of your chair and grab your purse. "Jone's steakhouse?"

"If that's what you want."

"But you have to ALSO want it. Or it feels like you don't want it and makes me feel like I'm dragging--"

"JUST. get in the car, sweetie," he grits with a fake smile, opening the door.

Dinner was good. Steak was solid. You complained it wasn't salty enough even after you dumped the entire shaker onto each slice. But now that both your bellies are full and satisfied, with you rubbing your exceptionally swollen one happily, the drive home was finally peaceful.

Until you kept smacking your lips. The quiet air was filled with schmockschmockschmock sounds from your beautiful but ever so annoying mouth.

Joel clears his throat but keeps his eyes forward and mouth shut. Just gotta get you into bed and it's a sold evening.

He hears you digging in your purse, scavaging deeply for--

"Oh no. Nononononono!" You shriek, hands splitting the seam of the bag open to dump out all its contents on your lap.

"What, what's wrong?"

After clearly seeing all pockets were empty, you shout, "Oh my god noooo! Oh god please don't be happening."

"What you forget your phone? Wallet?" He asks worriedly.

Instead of just outright answering him (because thats just ridiculous) you start panting heavily and tearing up. "I cant live. I need it Joel."

"Need--need what baby? Just tell me, I'll make it right."

But you're too hysterical and hyperventilating at his brain dead question to give him the answer.

Roll with the punches, Miller. Stay calm. Resolve.

"Okay it's OK probably just sitting on the ground at the restaurant. I'm turning around, okay baby? Please calm down, we're gonna get it back."

Joel explains to the host that you just saw 15 minutes ago that his wife (he gestures to his obviously pregnant and agitated , volcanic explosion of a meltdown wife who's having a panic attack) forgot something and would like to check the table again to find it.

The host rushes the two of you back to the table to avoid mount doom from exploding.

But after thoroughly searching for something that only YOU know what is missing, absolutely nothing comes up around the table that doesn't belong to said restaurant and table.

"What did you lose?" He finally asks hesitantly. It MIGHT help to know. "Phone? Wallet?"

You take a deep breath, eyes swollen and red, cheeks blown warm and shiny with tears as the world crashes around you at the devestating realization that its GONE gone:

"My LIP MOISTURIZER!"

You slug your shoulders and tilt your head back to wail in the middle of this albeit emptying restaurant while Joel and everyone pauses to quietly stares at you.

Joel's expression with an edge of disbelief and exhaustion.

He takes you by the hand as you still cry, thanks the host with a wave and gets your fat ass in the truck.

"We got more at home... right?"

"Joel!!" You snap. "If I HAD another one, I'D BE USING IT! I wasn't finished with the last one! Everything will be wrong if I open a new one when I still has the other one every day for 6 months!"

"You've had this one chapstick since I got you pregnant?"

"LIP. MOISTURIZER." You throw yourself back into the comfy seat. "You only like kissing me when it's moist and pleasant and NOW you won't like me--"

"Babe I never even knew you had stuff on--"

"WELL NOW YOU WILL because it won't be on and everything is RUINED! I have to over compensate for your dry peely nasty crunchy flaky dead lips, but now you won't love me and our baby because I won't have silky smooth moist plushy baby girl lips and then my husband won't have juicy sucker's to suck on when we make out and get his fat cock sucked by my once pillowy beautiful lush lippy lips...!" and then you start sobbing again.

He shakes his head. "Listen, how about I get you some more first thing tomorrow morning--"

"Tonight!"

"Right, tonight. That's what I said." He gulps hard. "And uh, you'll be... coming with me?"

You slowly turn your head and narrow your eyes. He does now see the clock is 8pm, sharply past your self imposed bed time.

"I meant you'll be coming with me... as I drop you off at the house. Then I'll go back out."

You nod as if saying 'that's more like it,' before folding your arms over your chest.

He squeezes his eyes shut and internally rolls them as hard as possible.

The closest 24/7 general store was 10 minutes thankfully. He grabbed a handful of different flavor chapsticks and dumps them on your lap--

"Joel what the FUCK are these."

"Chap--!"

"I WANTED LIP. MOISTURIZER! NIVEA! EOS! VASELINE! NOT THIS CHEAP SHIT."

He growls--not this shit again. He has flashbacks of the taco yackies incident roll through his mind. "YOU ASKED FOR CHAPSTICK! I GOT EXACTLY THAT!"

"Chapstick is a BRAND name. This stuff makes my lips burn and feels even drier. Joel do you SEE my lips!" You point both fingers directly at your mouth and purse out. "DRY. AS. FUCK. these are NOT dick sucking lips. They will start fucking peeling soon. and then I don't know if I will be able to kiss my own baby's noggin when she's first born less she be DISGUSTED--"

Hes back in the car before you were even done yelling.

Back at the store. Staring at the wall of different lip care options. This is 10x worse than the tampon and pad aisle. THAT one he's a pro in. Pussy King expert for all its needs. Even shows other women that come back exactly where and what they're looking for. But this shit??

There's so many flavors. Why does the flavor matter? Cherry red, cherry blossom, cherry berry--what the fuck is the difference? One says lip moisturizer, the same one next to it says lip care, then lip cream, lip balm, lip lush, lip lotion... fuck.

He does the sensible thing: pulls one of every single item into his arms, struggling but managing to hold haphazardly close to his chest (the man doesn't get a basket for shit because he only comes on for the exact ONE thing he knows he's getting). When he hobbles to the tired cashier, he leans forwards and dumps it all the counter with a sad smile. A smile of which drops quickly when the total comes to exceed $85.

9:14pm. Could be worse. You're eating a bag of extra salted chips--which he suspects is only going to make the lip situation worse but whatever. One by one, he basketball chucks them into your lap. You inspect each one, scoffing at all the useless flavor ones that just don't work, until finally holding up the vanilla honey extra moistening stick. You rip it from the package, pop the lid off and slather that shit on with a orgasmic groan, rolling your eyes back as it glides over and over your lips repeatedly. You smack them to spread evenly, all shiny and pretty before nodding approval.

Joel sighs and tosses himself on the couch, head first into your lap. You rub his hair and continue watching the TV, gnawing at the chips carefully so as not to ruin your fresh lips, as he falls asleep and snores deeply.

It lasts for a minute before both you and he feel something small against his temple stir in your belly.

He sits up like rocket, and the two of you stare at one another in shock. You both slowly look down at the belly, hands crept over its rounded expanse, and wait.

Then--an almost inperceivable yet delicate tiny kick. The first one.

Neither of you have words as excitement floods your faces.

"See. Even the BABY needs the best kissy lips."

He grabs your face with both hands and smashes his lips onto yours like he's gonna suck your soul away.

When he finally pulls off with a big grin (and you thrown back against the couch with a delirious expression getting oxygen back to your brain while your pussy drips fresh juices onto the couch), he smacks his lips tastily and enjoying the soft, silky, honey sweetness of your lips.

"Oh fuck, that is good."

You grip his shirt and force him back down to make out with you again, falling sideways on the couch as you both hungrily grope each others' bodies.

The next day you find your brand new lip moisturizer missing. It's set in the bathroom vanity, somewhere you did NOT left it. When popping it open, it has suspicious short little whisker hairs stuck to it. You frown but plant it back where you find it, run behind the door, and wait. About 2 minutes later, Joel comes in, searches behind him around the room before sneaking the little stick off the counter and hustling to the bed. He lies on his back, pops it open, and greedily smears it all over, humming contently and whispering "mmm yeaaaahhhh" before smacking his lips and pursing them out.

You fall over giggling in the bathroom at his new found guilty pleasure.

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Taglist

@harriedandharassed @lola8888673 @its-nebuleuse @zliteraturehoe @merz-8 @joeldjarin @pascalscoffin @pedroshotwifey @ghostslillady @innerpersonunknown @missladym1981 @mrsoharaxx @survivingandenduring @milla-frenchy @cockykookiee @fairytale07 @daddy-din @pedropascalsbbg @spookyxsam @somehopeatlast @millercontracting @pedrostories @mishala005 @theoraekenslover @animez96 @not-a-unique-snowflake-blog @puduvallee @cassiecasluciluce @loohoop @himboelover @callsignwidow

#joel miller fan fiction #joel miller x reader #joel miller x you #joel miller fanfiction #last of us fanfiction #joel miller fic #the last of us fanfiction #the last of us fluff #the last of us fic #tlou fluff #tlou fanfiction #tlou fic #last of us fic #last of us fluff #joel miller fan fic #joel miller fluff #joel dealing with preggo wife

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foxes-that-run · 6 months ago

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The thing is...the manipulate jerk that Jake is, he was in her life for way more time than people think. No one understands how much Jake impacted her and broke her. Yeah that can happen in one month too but she literally resents him in a way that makes me think that it wasn't just one or two months. Feel like there's a chance they kept seeing eachother for few more months or like just hooking up. I mean I've read The Moviestar and Me so I wouldn't put it past him to keep coming back to a 21 year old Taylor. He has a pattern

Jake is a POS, Taylor said it was “a kind of bad that gets so overpowering you can't even write about it," Manuscript sings of trauma, and after dating younger boys. I know the WANGBT swiftie-lore is they were on/off, but it was in 2010. Her team said it ended December 2010. To Vanity Fair she said in 2013 "since 2010 I have dated exactly two people.” That is Harry and Conor, so she said she didn't date Jake in 2011.

He also just doesn't sound like someone with who 'the armor falls', 'a worthwhile fight', or the 'golden age of something good and right':

The Guardian: [Hide away and find your peace of mind / With some indie record that's much cooler than mine.] "That was the most important line of the song," Swift says. "It was a relationship where I felt very critiqued and subpar. He'd listen to this music that nobody had heard of … but as soon as anyone else liked these bands, he'd drop them. I felt that was a strange way to be a music fan. And I couldn't understand why he would never say anything nice about the songs I wrote or the music I made."

And finally to USA Today: "WANEGBT is a definitive portrait of how I felt when I finally stopped caring what my ex thought of me. He made me feel like I wasn't as good or as relevant as these hipster bands he listened to. So I made a song that I knew would absolutely drive him crazy when he heard it on the radio. Not only would it hopefully be played a lot, so that he'd have to hear it, but it's the opposite of the kind of music that he was trying to make me feel inferior to.

So maybe State of Grace is about some blue eyed fire sign we never knew about... Conor Kennedy is a Leo (fire sign) with brown eyes... or maybe that detail was changed, or its a line she liked from an earlier song. Lots of swifties think its about Jake and that's all cool, but I don't think much of Red is about Jake apart from ATW. ... and I don't' think Taylor does either because:

In October 2013 she spoke with Vulture, “I heard from the guy that most of Red is about,” Swift said. “He was like, ‘I just listened to the album, and that was a really bittersweet experience for me. It was like going through a photo album.’ That was nice. Nicer than, like, the ranting, crazy e-mails I got from this one dude."

"Most of Red" is about someone who listens to her music, unlike Jake who didn't listen to her music, did rant at her and she so much wanted him to hear WANGBT that she made it an earworm. And:

On 28 December 2015, when the Out of the Woods Music Video was about to be released she went on a liking spree about it which included this post, linking the muse of State of Grace with Out of the Woods:

(Thank you @cntfightmydemonsthyknowhowtoswim who had all of that in her fabulous Red post.)

#state of grace #the manuscript #TTPD #WANGBT #red (taylor’s version)#red taylor swift

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justforbooks · 1 month ago

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Revisiting 50 Shades of Grey in the Age of Mega-Rich Creepers

“It’s my body.” That’s what virginal Anastasia Steele tells billionaire Christian Grey when he asks her to see the OB/GYN he has picked to check her out before he will consider having intercourse with her.

“It’s mine, too,” replies Christian.

That line from the beginning of Fifty Shades of Grey hits differently now, doesn’t it? Now that “your body, my choice” is a rallying cry for young men on the right in our post-Roe v. Wade world?

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about E.L. James’s dark romance series that has sold more than 165 million copies worldwide since 2011. Since then the gap between the 1% and the rest of the country has continued to grow, with the wealth of the 1% reaching a record $44.6 trillion at the end of 2023. Since then our bodily autonomy has been taken away. Since then our data and privacy have been severely compromised by Big Tech and its less than charismatic leaders. Since then we’ve re-elected one of the worst billionaires to the office of President.

As Americans we should be furious. But rather than questioning the methods that billionaires have used to make their money on the backs of the poor, we (not “we” as in you and I, but the royal “we”) instead revere them as heroes and titans of industry. If Christian wasn’t a fictional character Walter Isaacson would have already written a big flashy biography of him.

In some ways I understand the fantasy of the virile billionaire. Who hasn’t dreamed, in late stage capitalist misery, of meeting someone filthy rich and falling in love—or lust—and thereby being freed from the confines of the rest of the world?

But the 50 Shades of Grey phenomenon and the billionaire romance subgenre it inspired reflect a culture that was ready to debase itself with its delusions about the fabulously wealthy and all of the stuff their money and power could buy. Using the Trojan horse (ironic because Christian notoriously hates to use condoms) of female sexuality to hook readers, 50 Shades provided a primer on what we could come to expect from our current crop of billionaires who buy political influence and mass communications platforms along with their private jets and mega-yachts.

Let me be clear: This is not about kink-shaming. BDSM is not the problem, sexual preferences are not the problem. It’s not about genre-shaming, either. Romance novels are not the problem and they have never been the problem! Even the notoriously less-than-sparkling prose of Fifty Shades isn’t a problem. It’s the adulation of billionaires, specifically. It’s the fantasy of the billionaire as a romantic hero, as someone who is as good at love and sex as he is at making money (or spending the money his ancestors made).

“I’m incapable of leaving you alone,” Christian tells Ana in that very first book, and he proves it, using technology to track her location and swoop down to rescue her from a boring college party in a way that feels both stalkerish and exactly like Mark Zuckerberg’s business model for Facebook. Ana, of course, is grateful for Christian’s constant surveillance, his “overwhelming good looks” a nice distraction for how very creepy that is. As the series continues Christian Grey begins to control every facet of Anastasia’s life, from her diet and exercise to her birth control. Her submission in this very heterosexual, gender essentialistm feels like a precursor to the tradwife, that current TikTok sensation in which stay-at-home wives defer to their husbands, harkening back to a time when, apparently, America was Great.

Even before Ana can enter into a relationship with Christian she must sign a robust non-disclosure agreement. So much has been made about the love contract Ana signs, the ways in which it’s good that she puts her sexual boundaries in writing, but this contract is more about protecting the billionaire than it is about protecting the (frustratingly) innocent young woman whom he dominates. NDAs, of course, have been primary tools for billionaires (or hundred-millionaires, if we’re counting decimal places) to control their subordinates and keep their dirtiest secrets, from Jeffrey Epstein to Jeffrey Bezos.

I would never say that 50 Shades of Grey is a dangerous book; very few books actually are. I’m not asking for censorship here, or censure. I’ll leave that to the fundamentalist Right. I’m just asking for a more mindful reading of what we, as a culture, consider to be attractive and aspirational. We live in a world in which billionaires are spanking us in so many metaphorical ways, if not literal. Let’s be a little less deferential when they show us their villainous sides.

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at Just for Books…?

#just for books #E. L. James #Fifty Shades of Grey #book review

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letstalkwhump · 2 years ago

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Let's Talk Whump!

Welcome to Let’s Talk Whump, a series of interviews that spotlight the amazing people in our whump community! I’m Malice and I’ll be your host today.

Here with us today is the fabulous @angstafterdark !

Hello! Good to have you here! How about we start off with a fact or three about yourself?

Oh man, hello. If we're not talking about whump, I'm really bad at talking about myself. It's not that I'm boring, I'm just shy and awkward. I'll do my best though!

My name is Vee or V or ✌🏿. My favorite color is red. I love emojis even though I'm still trying to figure out what half of them mean. I'm very passionate about getting more POC and well written women into the media I read and write in. I firmly believe everyone wins when there's more diversity!

What does whump mean to you?

Catharsis, a healthy way to get the pain in your brain out so you're not harming yourself or others. For me, whump isn't the only thing I look for, I like a little plot with my pain. Whump and all its tropes and genres are seasoning to great storytelling!

And how did you find the whump community?

I stumbled into the community completely by accident and during a pretty rough period in my life. I started out in writeblr and somehow found @sweetwhumphellacomf's Prince and Paladin series with Eos and Valerie and it just hit everything I loved about storytelling! Dex is a fantastic writer and that series will always have a special place in my heart. So after I read it, I started reading more, got hooked into a discord server, started to actually interact with Dex and other whump writers, started writing my own stuff and went from there!

Do you feel like your view on whump has changed since you joined?

It's definitely changed! I've gone in a different direction with my writing and become a lot more open to certain tropes and people I once thought were weird or taboo. I think, personally, that's helped me grow as an author. I've had to do research to write some topics with sensitivity and care and that, in turn, has led me to other blogs and people I have the pleasure of calling friends!

And now my favorite question to ask! Do you have a favourite whump trope?

Whipping, Bedside Vigils, Creepy Comfort, Captivity, Whump Emotional/Psychological Whump, Sickfics/Fevers. I've really been into the BBU (box boy universe) lately. As someone who loves engaging with others about OCs and writing stuff, my favorite thing about it is its collaborative nature. It's so fun and contrary to popular belief, people are very aware and sensitive about the triggering tropes and topics that are often explored in that sandbox. There's also the ability to explore the real world struggles of POC communities, minorities, and other vulnerable populations and thats something I’m really passionate about.

The BBU universe is amazing with its sandbox structure and I think a lot of the whump community has really connected through BBU’s shared universe. Do you have a favourite piece you've written?

I have two blogs so I'll link two if that's alright! I love this one! Taron and Zizi were my first whumpees. They hold such a special place in my heart. And this one! (slight nsfw)! Wick's fear here was so fun to write and so palpable.

I love Taron’s distress and internal conflict in the first one. So good! Do you have a regular writing routine or just whenever the inspo strikes?

Oh gosh. I have a kid, a fulltime job, and a pretty busy life so getting writing done is kind of hard. I try to take Mondays off from parenting and working and I usually find myself at Panera Bread for a few hours. I really like sitting in one corner of the place. I’ll usually put on my wireless headphones and put one song on repeat. The song depends on which story or character I’m writing for.

I do like having a snack when I'm writing but sometimes I get into the zone and completely forget about what I'm eating. It's a problem!

And do you find it easier to write some things than others?

Comfort is really easy for me to write. I don't write it a lot but when I do, it flows really easily. I love a good comfort fic but I usually slip in a bit of angst. I gotta have my angst.

Take us behind the curtain, is there anything new you’re working on at the moment?

I have several stories in the works but I'm currently working on the escape portion of LIKE A BULLET LOVES A GUN. Someone dies and that's all I'm gonna say about that.

I've also taken up drawing again. It's not great and I hate not being immediately good at something but I'm trying to stick with it!

Do you have a joke or pun you would like to share to spread some smiles today?

I usually save my witty lines for my writing. I’m not great at being funny when I’m under pressure. Sorry.

Advice time! What would you like to share?

Yeah! I have two pieces of advice!

The first: Have a writing buddy! Write with someone you trust who is going to be supportive of you and excited about what you're doing. The second: no matter how discouraged you get, NEVER DELETE YOUR WRITING OR YOUR BLOG! Be your own fan first. Reread your own writing (you write it for a reason. It made you happy). There's absolutely NO shame in reblogging your own work and screaming in the tags. It's not annoying and it's not egotistical.

Finally let’s shout out your favorite writing/whump blogs, bffs or people who've inspired you. We're hyping everyone up here!

Oh God. There are so many! Whether it's screaming in the tags of my writing, giving me space on discord to be my sometimes messy self, collaborating with me, or just being a sweet, positive force in the community, I'm genuinely grateful for each and every one of these blogs.

@mottinthemainpot (who nominated me) @wildfaewhump @flowersarefreetherapy @siren-of-agony @ashintheairlikesnow @justplainwhump @noirineverysense @just-horrible-things @gritpyre @winedark-whump @studyofwhump @clockworknightmares @redwingedwhump @amethystpath-writes @gottawhump @girlsjustwannadrawwhump and @oddsconvert

I also gotta shout out a few of the discord servers I’m a part of so shout out to the whumpawoman server, especially to @whumpstash and @mirasmirages who are the most amazing and supportive co-mods!

Shout out to The Whump Oasis and every one in there as well!

Anything you'd like to add?

Yes, thank you. albino-whumpee would’ve been on that list of whump blogs that I’m grateful for. I'm still so grateful for the conversations we had and their beautiful commissioned artwork. I hope wherever they've ended up, they're happy and pain-free. Please consider visiting the memorial @whumptr0pes put up for Moya and donating to The Trevor Project in their memory.

Oftentimes when we're writing whump, we’re dealing with our own traumas and insecurities. It's cliche to say but you never know what someone is going through so kindness and understanding always has to be a priority even if - especially if - someone is writing about a topic you don't personally enjoy or can't engage with for whatever reason.

We all write and enjoy topics that can trigger someone else and it's important for us as a community to support each other. Please, please, please don't hesitate to reach out. There is always someone in your corner.

(Note: This topic may still be extremely fresh for some folks and it can be extremely triggering, but we here at Let's Talk Whump want to make it known that we are all a big family (the whump community). No matter what differences we may have, no one should ever feel alone. That being said, if any of you are struggling at home, feel lost, hurting, and don't know where to reach out, attached is a website that has international suicide hotline numbers and resources available from countries A-Z.

https://blog.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines/ )

Thank you so much for sharing, @angstafterdark. It was so good to have you here today!

And to all you folks at home, have a whump-derful day!

* @angstafterdark is an 18+ blog only. Minors please do not interact with their works or with their blog.

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animemaniac21 · 8 months ago

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WHY I HATE TIME REGRESSION TROPE IN ANIME

#AN OPINION BLOG

SPOILER ALERTS !!!!

This is my first opinion blog, or simply a rant you will, but if you have completed Solo Leveling and Dr. Stone, bear with me on this one. Recently I found an anime called Aiyou’s Secret Room, a mystery thriller based on escape rooms, and since the 1st episode, it hooked me on itself. The characters, the plot, everything was thrilling! At that time, 15 episodes were released, and with each episode, I was awe-stricken, the mystery deepening, with no easy solution; made it all the more interesting! The hole of mystery dug in Episode 1 had become an endless abyss by then! So, I binged watch them in a day, and waited, for the final one to be released. The finale- where all threads of mystery will be untangled! And today, it was released. So, how was my experience? Well…now, I’m no author but lemme tell you, if you are writing a story and at the end of it you leave a major plot point unexplained…much less what is the centre plot around which the story revolves, and also move your protagonist back to square one, on the name of taking the story to a ‘full circle’, then regardless of how great and thrilling the story has been, it will all go down the drain. Unless there’s a season 2, but there weren’t any details to be found.

And here’s where I rest my argument. Regressions. The ‘back to square one’ trope. Sorry, but I hate them. Why? Cause going back to square one literally defeats the purpose of the story’s development! All progress is lost. Is it that hard to understand?

Let’s take Dr. Stone for example. The manga is finished, and when it was ongoing, I awaited every week for another fabulous chapter. The story may have a lot of cliché tropes, but it doesn’t disappoint on its very central theme- science in a stone world. How Senku develops modern science once again along with other scientists even in a world of primitives. Its science is top-notch, and so are the adventures. So, what about its ending? Well…

The plot is driven by the mystery of petrification itself, and with each turn it deepens. Until ultimately, in the final arc, it is revealed- that the petrification devices are aliens?! The entire moon arc was ‘maybe’ too rushed, and for the entire thing to develop into this, it also felt weird. But alright, this may be my opinion only, but man, when the in the last chapter Senku decides to create a FUCKING TIME MACHINE, trying to return to 5000 years in past, I lost it. Wait, so what about the present? What about Kohaku, Chrome or Suika? What about going to the future together? Won’t they just disappear? What’s the point?

Solo Leveling. It was thrilling. Every chapter. Up until the end, I remained in a thrill, what would happen, how will he win, will he die? But what our protagonist does? Reverses time itself so that everyone forgets his existence and he goes back to square one, of course with all his powers, so that he could redo it overall! I mean, from the audience’s point, all the development that happened, is lost. What makes Solo Leveling so thrilling is this growth of our weak protagonist, and now what? At the other end, he is just an overpowered ‘all-knowing’ protagonist.

This ‘all-knowing’ is so damn annoying. Now, many fantasy manga/manhwas start with the MC returning to the past to solve the problem all over. This leaves us with an ‘all-knowing’ MC and no mystery is left. A reincarnation is different; you go to a distant future. But overpowered cause you are a ‘know it all’?

Let’s compare it to an anime like, let’s say Tokyo Revengers. Regressions are its plot, the protagonist’s power. He corrects the past to get a better future, but mysteriously the future just worsens. Tokyo Revengers doesn’t put a ‘know it all’ ‘correcting the past’ MC on the plate, but an intriguing MC with some mystery entangling him and the past. Its plot is delivered well, unlike the other regression fantasies.

But that can just be my preference, cause these regressions to correct the past making a ‘know it all’ MC is still a well-received trope. But Dr Stone or Solo Leveling? Heck no! Pulling that shit on end, destroying all the ‘development’, back to square one, WHY?

This distaste that I held for these tropes is just reignited with Aiyou’s Secret Room, and unless anyone can confirm there’s more to the story, my advice: please don’t waste your time watching it.

Or any such story for that matter!

PS: I uploaded this blog a year back, but since I thought I might share all my blogs on other platforms like Tumblr, so I thought to post this one first 😅

#opinion #anime #anime blog #opinion blog #time regression #anime tropes #solo leveling #drstone #aiyou de mishi

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charlesangels03 · 4 months ago

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A letter for Hirohiko Araki, a renowned manga artist.

Dear Hirohiko Araki-sensei, First, I would like to introduce myself. I am Elijah Gabriel C. Perez, a huge fan of your work, Jojo's Bizarre Adventure and I am writing this letter to you as gratitude for bringing Jojo to the world. I stumbled upon your work when I was 13 years old on Animax when the the anime adaptation of Part 1: Phantom Blood and Part 2: Battle Tendency aired on the channel at around 11 PM in a Saturday night. At first, there was a lot of things I was confused of. Hamon? Stands? Pillar Men? Not to mention that many memes in fact came from this entire franchise that has been spanning for more than 30 years????! But anyway, I was hooked, really, really hooked, and I have my eyes peeled on the for at least 3 hours. Meaning, I have watched 6 episodes since 11 PM and I caught sleep at around 2 AM. Ever since then, I started watching the anime every 11 PM on Saturdays and I fell on love on its uniqueness from other animes. I fell down the rabbit hole eventually. Months later, I started to read the manga of Part 5: Vento Aureo (Golden Wind) because at the time the anime adaptation of it was just starting. So, I had time to immerse myself in the manga and experience it in all of its glory before the arcs are fully covered in the anime. And my God, I was blown away sensei. Your detailed artstyle using pen and nibs blew me away that each of your characters look like Renaissance statues and the way they pose, oh my, they look so fabulous like runway models. Each hatched line in their form looks so perfect and dynamic. What also amazed me is how your writing also is different from other anime and manga, and it took Western media influences. But besides al of that, when I finished Part 5, I was satisfied and willing to dig deeper into your entire catalogue of works which served as a huge source of inspiration in my art and development as an artist. Fast-forward to today, you have a new part published in your series, Part 9: The Jojolands. I started reading the first 6 chapters and although, the concepts introduced there started to become more complicated especially the "principle of mechanism" but I'm hoping that I'll understand it as the story progresses. Besides that, I am really hoping for the all of the characters' development especially with one of the characters, Dragona Joestar (who presents themself as a woman, however their pronouns are he/him) to really start have their own metamorphosis. Another is that, the main protagonist, Jodio Joestar (the younger brother of Dragona) is somehow boring, besides being reckless and exhibiting antisocial behaviors or that's just his personality. But, please don't let that discourage you sensei, I have high hopes for Part 9, knowing that this is the last part of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. With all of that said, I am anticipating for Jojolands to become fully flesh out and be the ultimate representation of the magnificence and grandeur of your art and life as a mangaka. May you have more power, Araki-sensei! May you always continue to make art and may your art continue to speak to people from around the world.

Much love from the Philippines, Elijah Gabriel C. Perez

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Elijah's 5th Blogging Entry: Literacy Photo taken from Author's Note of Jojolion Volume 22 Source of photo: https://jojo.fandom.com/wiki/Author%27s_Note_(JoJolion)

#eg #literacy #letter #jojos bizarre adventure #hirohiko araki

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sukunasun · 6 months ago

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I finished the "Say It's Here" sequel and gosh, I'm bowled over! I feel like your understanding of each character's psychology has been heightened since the original was published and It's so impressive! I particularly enjoyed how economical you were with the descriptions according to each character's personality, motivation and dynamic with the protagonist

Also, my god, not higuruma hiromi being the highest quality rebound ever???? Currently obsessed with him and it's kinda funny/sad how many parallels people draw between him and Nanami, understandably, but I LOVE that you flesh out their distinctions here too. Not quite a cameo but he feels more fully realised and real(?) in his short scene than in some entire pics revolving around him that I've read! I quiver to consider what you'd unleash upon the world with a full fledged fic for him (with a different reader character ofc)

But Srsly how does she keep hooking such hotties

Higuruma's "ruthless" rationale and observations is rather kind in its own way, and I thoroughly enjoyed how accurate it felt and also that the reader doesn't mistake it for anything affectionate or coddling. I find that clarity extremely appealing about him, plus it must feel so ridiculously refreshing to the reader character after all the guesswork and her ordeal with nanami

I also think that's one of the more satisfying distinctions you make with their portrayals; nanami (initially) employs logic as a coping mechanism, whereas it's hiromi's basis for functioning, a bit like a bug versus a feature?

At least in accordance with canon events, I think that mindset translates well, nanami's response to traumatic incidences in his formative years whereas hiromi had this rationality inform his life's work?

Especially when ambiguity is often the fulcrum for romantic tension (will they/won't they), my mind short-circuits and a little shiver goes down my spine at the thought of Hiromi instead bluntly telling someone: Us? Sure, Why not?

And then calmly proceeds to decimate every excuse one tries to tank their own dating prospects. You can't filibuster flirting with this man, he's so fucking direct (and vice versa 🤭, sometimes a gal just wants a classic Dom yknow. God, i need help)

A N Y

W A Y

Nanami feels more than he lets on in this story, Hiromi is exactly what you expect - which is such an interesting lesson or refraction for the reader character in managing her expectations and self-doubt

Nanami's grovelling feels mostly earned, maybe because it's been a while since I read Say It's Here his interiority is a tad more obscured, or cause the sequel more heavily focuses on reader's POV, which is really well assisted by suguru's commentary/probing/ribbing. Special shoutout to satoru's point blank shit stirring (he and hiromi would be fabulous frenemies)

Also love the open ending because ironically it feels better than emotional closure??? Or probably the finality of her rejecting nanmi again, oof. It's such a satisfying coda oddly i (almost) don't want this story to continue. What a magic trick!

There's such finesse in all the characterisations here, even without my massive bias for higuruma I'd be rereading this a dozen times!

;__; im so sorry this response is so late but thank you so much for sending this in. i'm so glad you got to read the piece!

i care more for the opinions of nanami stans for being able to write/understand him and his appeal in a way i can't. still, i try my best to offer something worthwhile. the open ending was more because i couldn't decide the best outcome for the reader and nanami. there were moments i thought about writing an epilogue to hint at the possibility of them getting back together but i've decided it's best to leave it up for interpretation. after all, nanami comes off to me as someone who wouldn't need a 'yes' right away.

also re: higuruma— gahh i was so uncertain if i did him justice, so thank you for noticing that distinction. often i'll write and delete and write again because i worry if it wasn't clear enough. to me, he's very different to nanami. not even the same sides of a coin. still, i get the comparison. both have been strung into the dilf narrative so often i forget that nanami is literally three years older than me.

#thanks for reading and leaving your thoughts!! <3 #ask

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aashvi-dhingra · 1 year ago

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4 Bookstagram books that I've read and are worth the hype.

i am a typical Gen-z Instagram user, the one who consumes the most viral videos when they emerge on my Instagram feed. besides the entertaining Instagram feed there's one thing that keeps me scrolling on my phone for hours and that's a sub community called Bookstagram. in a nutshell, Booktagaram or BookTok is a popular hashtag used where users post quick videos, reviewing and recommending novels that generally fall within the genre of young adult and romance. Its a collection of young, impassioned readers inspiring countless others to join the club. a TikTok or Instagram book is quite simply a book that has organically gained popularity on the app, you'll find recommendations based on popular tropes like "forced proximity", "who did this to you" and yes of course "enemies to lovers."

the real challenge is not to find a book to read because there's countless readers recommending countless books on Instagram, but which book is actually worth reading or worth the hype? I have made the task easier...here are my top four BookTok books that I have read and are actually worth the hype.

#1 TWISTED LOVE by ANA HUANG

this right here! this is the book that took the entire internet by storm, the morally grey male lead and the sunshine female lead will keep you hooked up to this book for days.

Ana Huang, after the success of twisted love emerged a series called 'The Twisted Series' comprising four books but when talking about the entire series i have mixed feelings about it. all the four books have different tropes and different endings that's bonus points for the series. coming back to the Twisted Love, an explosive dark romance mixed with witty humor is definitely a page turner.

#2 SEVEN HUSBANDS OF EVELYN HUGO by TAYLOR JENKINS

Have you really been on BookTok if you haven't encountered a book by Taylor Jenkins Reid? this cult classic historical fiction released in 2017 follows Monique Grant, a journalist who has been selected by the glamourous yet reclusive Hollywood starlet and movie icon, Evelyn Hugo. Evelyn wants Monique to write an exclusive story about her life. the book unfolds, Monique soon discovers how her life intersects with Evelyn's in tragic and irreversible ways.

it immediately transported me to the glory days of old Hollywood and sucked me into the world of the rich and famous that isn't as fabulous as it's chalked up to be. Evelyn Hugo is a character who everybody will feel and root for, envy and pity.

fun fact: popular streaming platform Netflix has announced the adaption of this book into a film.

#3 PEOPLE WE MEET ON VACATION by EMILY HENRY

this was actually the first book that i read off Bookstagarm, the internet has embraced the wonderfully rich characters that Emily Henry creates in her beach reads. thanks to the witty dialogue and banter between Alex and Poppy, two close friends who met in college this book will engulf you into warm feels of summer love.

every summer no matter what's going on in their lives, they take a vacation together. it's told through both past and present timelines, and in the present, we learn that the friends have experienced fallen out. in order to fix it, poppy invites Alex on a trip to Palm Springs in hopes that they can reconnect. will feelings get in the way?

if you enjoy friends to lover's trope this is definitely a recommendation for you. for me the slow burn and the chemistry between the characters was everything! all the events and banter and love was just so natural that it can't be helped but be hooked to this book

i might have finished reading this in a week or maybe less, this book is definitely worth messing up your sleep schedule for.

#4 THE LOVE HYPOTHESIS by Ali Hazelwood

the ultimate rom-com that tackles my favorite trope Grumpy meets sunshine is a shelf keeper. pure slow burning gold with lots of chemistry and a beautifully written romantic comedy with a heroine you will instantly fall in love with.

for all the "women in stem" the book did serve a justice. there were times when i had to pick up my phone and search the meaning od particular word because i am obviously not fluent in stem. .

I have to say this couple wins the best grumpy meets sunshine couple. smart, witty dialogue and diverse cast of likeable secondary characters is a delight for romance lovers. without any doubt you will absolutely fall in love with Adam's and Olive's relationship.

this book has everything to offer, a fake dating trope and steamy relationship with age gap romance! how can i not include this in the list.

and that's a wrap up for my list of favorite books recommended by Instagram.

#book

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waitmyturtles · 2 years ago

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Well. Okay. The Promise, episode 10 (finale), gave us… stuff to think about. Lots of mismatched, incongruous, random, unconnected, any other synonym — stuff.

I’m in mourning, not for the show ending (I’m so glad it’s over), but for the damn potential of the show. It could have been SO. MUCH. BETTER. Would it have been better if it weren’t a commercial? Likely. Would it have been better if the show cared for its characters? VERY LIKELY.

I was hooked originally for the nostalgia aspect of the show, the reflections on Nan and Phu’s childhood, how Phu stayed in Chiang Mai during those 10 years away, the connection to village life, how that reminded me of my childhood while visiting SE Asia. I was hooked to learn about a slice of Thai food culture in coffee cultivation and how beautifully it was depicted.

The show was filmed gorgeously! Khom Kongkiat, my otherwise dear Uncle Tong, clearly has respect and awe for this slice of Thai rural life.

But, fuck, man. The characters and their stories were clearly secondary to the priority of selling the damn skincare, but ALSO — I’d argue that any sensible journey of emotional growth was rendered secondary to this seeming NEED for these UNNECESSARY spikes of INCONGRUENT DRAMA that, I don’t know, maybe Uncle Tong thought he needed to juice up the show, to mix it up from the commercial aspect?

SO MUCH of the finale was unnecessary. Khunkhao in a knife fight?! Nan’s plane inexplicably disappearing?! And then, PHU (should we be surprised?) having the SHEER. AUDACITY. to scold Nan for trying to surprise Phu on his birthday, and like, LITERALLY getting himself ACCIDENTALLY (not on purpose, PHU) in a disappearing plane situation? Phu — are you my mother? Even in times of utter relief and joy, you’re still gonna be a titchy, whiny B? Get TFOH, PLEASE, MAN.

Mayyyybe I can understand how things reconciled between Phu and Khunkhao, but even that played out inconsistently fast. I mean — they were fighting over the same guy. And then you’re huggin’ it out. Now, I get that finding your missing brother, and finding FAMILY, would be important. That could have been a key point that the show could have leveraged — that, if Nan were to decide to go to China, that Phu would not be alone, as Khunkhao himself said.

But then — the show sends Khunkhao away? And gets him into a knife fight? Only to meet another guy named Nan Fah? Good lord, OKAY.

And then? Nan is throwing ALL THE BONES to Phu for Phu to declare his committed love to Nan, awlll of them. How can Phu POSSIBLY MISS? TELL NAN YOU WANT NAN TO STAY! You two can have a reasonable conversation about careers and whatnot! But, Phu! Nan — FOR ONCE, OMG — wants to hear that YOU, PHU, DO NOT WANT TO BE SEPARATED FROM NAN. Just tell the homeboy, one time!

Phu can’t even pull that off. (As @respectthepetty rightly noted, all of this bullshit is not the actors’ fault — they did fantastically for the crap writing they got.)

And finally, FINALLY (IT TOOK YOU 10 EPISODES!!!), Phu can tell Nan that he promises to wait for Nan, to NOT LEAVE, that he will support Nan in Nan’s career. My gawd. Listen — if the writing was truly meant to indicate that Phu was a whiny, selfish B, at least THAT came off accurately and successfully. GAH.

And then Nan tries to do something sweet for Phu, coming back to surprise Phu — then gets himself lost in the air (???) (with no explanation as to how that all happened!), and Phu SCOLDS him — and then they bonk. OH. KAY.

Jeezus. It’s making me madder as I’m writing about it, ha. (And unfortunately, due to being in public places at the time of this writing, I haven’t even enjoyed the sessy parts — DOUBLE GAH!)

Listen, I LOVED the actors in this show. Take this show with Step By Step, and we’ve had some candy for those of us who really want to see more actors in their 30s and 40s in BLs. I really loved having a show with two fabulous-looking dudes working in work lives, and figuring out their shit in that context.

But The Promise undermined real emotional growth here. Unless Phu, this entire time, was MEANT to be, say, an Arthit-like character from SOTUS — all brick wall, not a single emotional point to give, totally self-absorbed — I mean. Now that I write that, I realize it’s true. He WAS intentionally written like that. I don’t want to believe it, but it has to be that way — for a character to scold his partner after the partner got into a near-death (we assume) plane situation. I’m shaking my damn head.

This show has so much potential. I am absolutely throwing my cup of kopi at the screen. I haven’t felt this negative about a show in a while — and I’m watching SOTUS S. I’m really bummed, because this show could have done so, so much more about internalized fear, maybe even internalized homophobia, and ran with it. It ran away from it.

#the promise #the promise meta #IT’S OVER #GOODBYE NAN AND PHU #although i’ll be watching the sessy times tonight when i’m situated again ha

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okamirayne · 5 months ago

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Rayneeeee!! The way I squealed this morning when I saw there's a new chapter... And the torture of having to wait until after work to really enjoy it <3

It was SO good.

The start was beautifully described, the dream felt like a real situation... The bickering, the dialogue, the off-behavior of our little yellow cannonball...

I almost forgot what the current situation these characters are in, really is. It felt so real...

Until it didn't and shifted into that nightmare that I could picture, horrifying with all the real sounds mixing in. I'm always so, so mesmerized by how you manage to transition between reality and dreamscapes (and in Genma's past, drug trips). It's so flawlessly done and it really... feels like a movie? I read it and I *see* it and that's the most amazing part.

Truly, seeing Shikamaru and Naruto doing this badly is tearing at my heartstrings. I love me some good angst and you really manage to deliver. Feels like getting my heart scalpeled out of me very. Slowly. In the best way possible <3

I love reading about their journey and their suffering and I'm also so incredibly hooked on Genma. I'm gonna wait very patiently I swear I'm trying I'm so incredibly patient and not clawing at the walls to see my favorite dysfunctional masochist of a bodyguard again for the next chapter!! I really, really love your writing and get so much emotion out of it.

It really does make me feel and I hold it so dear to my heart because of that. 💜💜💜

Sending you lots of positivi-tea 🍵🍵🍵💜

Ah, dear @sunlightrays 🍵💜!

Aaah, thank you, my lovely!!! Thrilled you enjoyed the latest instalment.

This is reassuring on so many levels because...the way it plays out in the funhouse inside my head isn't always fun, and I freak out in editor mode thinking...there's no way any of this is going to read the way I hope it does or the way this poor bastard character is experiencing it right now...just like you said you feel it "like a movie", I SEE it that way when writing so its great to know it doesn't get totally lost in translation.

Yo, your friendly neighbourhood Angsta is here to serve.

And bless you very much for that, my dear! As for Genma, I'm just so chuffed his part in BtB has been received with love. Never know which characters are going to take the wheel and drive things for a time and Genma undoubtedly came into this like a Miley Cyrus Wrecking Ball whilst attempting to run damage control...the irony of this dude. Thanks for the fabulous love you show him. Seeing how invested you are in the characters is delicious.

It really does make me feel and I hold it so dear to my heart because of that. 💜💜💜

I will never be able to adequately say how much that means or how much I treasure this because the whole point for me is to have the characters’ hearts impact the readers’...in the wrecking ball kind of way. Seriously though, I so hope people come away with feeling and not just entertainment...this world is a dumpster truck (several dumpster trucks) on fire at this moment in history and people understandably want to numb out. If my work can ellicit some feeling, then I'm doing what I'm meant to do. And I only know that by the kindness of those who reach out and let me know. Thank you for being one of those dear people.

Huge apprecation coming at you, sweetie.💜🫶🏼💜

#love and appreciate my reviewers #awesome reviewers are awesome #love my reviewers #keeping fanfic alive for us inkmonkeys #reader kindness #btb feedback #hhu feedback #btb review #reviews are food for the writer soul

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barryfox · 2 years ago

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Tips for Writing a Query Letter for a Non-Fiction Book

Through the years, many people have asked me how to write a query letter for their non-fiction books. (I’m a ghostwriter.)

The query letter is the “pitch note” that you send to literary agents you hope will represent you and your manuscript.

Here’s a brief summary of things to consider when writing your letter. If you like, you can read more at "How To Write A Query Letter.”

#1 - Keep it short and sweet!

Keep your query letter to a page, a page and a half at the most. Any longer and you risk boring the agent, while proving that you cannot present your idea and its key selling points quickly and concisely.

#2 - Begin with the proper salutation

The query should always open with a salutation, as in “Dear Ms. Smith” or “Dear John Smith.” Address your query letter to a specific agent at a specific literary agency – and spell the name properly

#3 - Give the book’s hook

The hook, also known as the handle or elevator pitch, is an intriguing statement that answers three important questions: “Why?” “Who cares?” and “What will it do for me?”

#4 - State your purpose and give the basic details

Explain what you’re looking for, as in “I’m seeking representation...” Then, give the basic information: title, subtitle (if any), word count, genre, and the target readership (who will buy your book and why).

#5 - Tell the agent why you picked her or him

Mention why you sent your query letter to this particular agent. Perhaps she represents books similar to yours, or you saw that she requested books like yours on her WishList.

#6 - Identify the target audience

In other words, briefly explain who the book is written for.

#7 - Show them your platform

Mention some of the highlights of your author platform in your query letter. Learn more about the author platform by reading “How to Build Your Author Platform - 8 Key Steps.”

#8 - Explain how you will help sell the book

Briefly detail what you will do to promote and sell your book.

#9 - Tell the agent who you are

Briefly mention who you are and why you’re qualified to write this book.

#10 - Give them a taste of your writing style

Although you should write the letter in a professional manner, you can take the opportunity to demonstrate your writing style. But don’t go to extremes. Remember, the query is a business letter.

#11 - Close properly

End your letter by thanking the agent for reading your query.

#12 – A Few Things to Avoid

Submit a query letter with typos, brag about or belittle yourself, disparage other authors, misrepresent anything about your book or yourself, say that everyone tells you that your book idea is fabulous, use imaginative fonts or layouts, or ramble on.

Good luck with your query letter!

#query letter #book agents #querying #querying agents #tips for writers

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whatstruthgottodowithit · 1 year ago

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@precious-little-scoundrel your writing is so wonderful I doubt anyone would want you to shorten it. And can I just say as for a whole man I’d consider that it borders on its own work of fiction anyway. Whilst the general characterisations are there you’ve made a fabulous world/characters that a completely your own.

Now I will admit for a long time I didn’t bother with it but only because period pieces aren’t my bag at all. But I adore every story you’ve published so I figured this one wouldn’t be any different and of course now his has me hooked! So much so I have to pace myself to read a chapter a night 😂

And can I just say please don’t curtail that wonderful mind of yours we’ll take what we can get whenever you can give it 🩷🩷

Ok, I can’t hold back any longer. I love your writing. You have such a wonderful turn of phrase that bring your characters to life and you should be writing actual novels. I NEED ‘A Whole Man’ in a real book with pages so I can just turn to my favourite bits whenever I like.

Thank you. Please keep going, because if I never find out what happens, I might actually pass away x

Oh my dear one, thank you so much for this love note. Means so much to me.

If captain Presley’s name had to be changed for publishing, what are your suggestions? 🥀

Writing full novels is the dream but my impatient self is often too shortsighted to hang in there with them. I figure folks would lose interest and then stash them half written under my bed. But Fanfiction, which is a newer venture for me, has provided that feedback I crave and really emboldened me to write what I care about and that there’s others out there it will resonate with.

It’s why I’m taking me sweet time with A Whole Man as it’s almost my project to see if I’ve got it in me to write a full length piece without compromising and shortening it. There’s a whole world in my head for Captain Presley and I want it out of me and onto a page. I know it’s not to everyone’s taste but those of y’all who have hung in there despite the meanderings that can barely be called “fan” fiction anymore, I ADORE YOU and it means so much. You just might be the catalyst for me to keep on for bigger projects and I owe y’all so much.

Xoxo, Marina

#my posts #a whole man #precious little scoundrel

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girl-next-door-writes · 2 years ago

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My Father Will Be Pacing The Floor

Characters: Steven Grant x Reader

Summary: The desire to hibernate when the temperatures drop is incredibly tempting, especially when you have someone special to cuddle up to.

Word Count: 1080 words

Prompt: #4: Cuddling, wrapped in soft blankets, in front of a fireplace.

A/N: The fabulous @ahookedheroespureheart requested this super sweet prompt which gave me the warm and fuzzy's.

The British weather had taken a turn, temperatures dropping into the minus figures each day, lucky to reach 0 degrees at any point. It wasn’t like Steven’s flat was the warmest at the best of times. Too cold in winter, too hot in summer, but he’d never really minded before. Now, he was sitting on his sofa torn between feeling self-conscious about his inadequate heating and grateful for it at the same time. When you had arrived, he realised it was so cold you could see your breath, something you found funny and proceeded to claim to be a dragon, huffing out warm air. Your giggles made him feel a little better about the situation, and when you stole one of his oversized hoodies, he was almost grateful for the chill.

Hours later and the usually disused fireplace was home to a small fire, the smoke from which snaked its way up the chimney that Steven could only pray had been cleared at some point in the last decade. The staccato cracking of the flames as they feasted upon the wood blocks you had placed there were a stark contrast to the soft music humming from the radio in the kitchen. It was rather lucky that you both found the DJ's playlist unobtrusive as neither of you wished to move from your spot on the sofa, a cozy nest which made the idea of hibernating incredibly tempting.

His beaten-up sofa had never felt so comfortable, even though he was squished on one side of it. A thick cable knit blanket hung over the back of the sofa and the density of the chunky wool was comforting, although not as comforting as you leaning against him. Pushing his glasses up his nose, Steven glanced from the pages of his book to you, a soft smile tugging at his lips. This whole scene felt a little surreal, here he was, Steven Grant, snuggled beneath a weighted blanket with a beautiful woman who was currently engrossed in a beat-up book about Egyptian mythology. He had no clue how he had got so lucky, but he was willing to pray to any and every god there was to thank them for this turn of events.

You shifted slightly as you turned your page, your leg pressed up against his. The two of you had your feet resting on the coffee table, thick socks poking out of the blanket in an Instagram worthy image. Absentmindedly, he rubbed your foot with his, smiling as you instinctively hooked your leg over his. Now it looked like two people wearing mismatched socks and Steven found that thought endearing. Perhaps he would suggest a sock swap at some point, you could mismatch together while matching each other. His heart swelled at the idea, a silly little gesture that would link the two of you, like a real couple.

“You’re staring.” You hummed softly, eyes still on the page you were reading and a smile playing on your lips.

“Was just thinkin’.”

“Oh, that can be dangerous.” You looked up at him as you put your book down. “What you thinking about?”

Steven shifted a little, not sure if he could voice his thoughts.

“Come on, you can’t leave me hanging like that.”

“I was just thinking about you and me, and what we are.” He could feel your eyes on him but refused to return your gaze.

“And what is it that you think we are?” There was a hint of amusement in your voice, a gentle teasing that made him feel he could tell you anything.

“I was actually wondering what you think we are, see if we’re on the same page.”

“Expertly deflected there, Mr. Grant.”

“Thank you. I could say the same for you.” He smirked, beginning to believe there was a chance you were thinking the same way.

“Is this you asking if I’m your girlfriend? Or do you want to write me one of those notes, you know, ‘will you be my girlfriend’? With two boxes under it, one with yes and one with no.”

“I could do, but that would mean getting up and I’m kinda comfy, to be honest.”

“So it’s just laziness that’s preventing you from the note idea?”

“You’ve still not answered.”

“You’ve still not asked.”

Shifting now to fully face you, he took your hands in his and looked deep into your eyes. If he was going to do this then he would make the moment as cheesy as possible, that way if you rejected him, he could play it off as a joke.

“Light of my life, sunshine in my ever-gloomy day, would you do me the honour of being my girlfriend?” His heart was pounding, and he hoped you couldn’t see just how nervous he was right now.

“Well, I suppose I should say yes because I’ve already told people you’re my boyfriend. Would be rude of me to turn you down now.”

“You’ve what?” His eyebrows shot up in surprise.

“Yeah, I mean, I may have told my workmates that I’m spending today with my boyfriend. Is that okay?” You looked woried now, as if you might have overstepped.

“Who? Who did you tell them you were spending the day with?” He asked with the hint of a smile at the corners of his lips.

“My boyfriend.” You grinned, tilting your head a little.

“Your boyfriend? You’re talking about me, right? Just want to make sure.”

“Yeah, you muppet, you.”

A bright smile broke across his face as he tenderly cupped your face, leaning in and placing a soft kiss to your lips. “This mean I can start calling you my girlfriend now? Actually out loud saying it?”

“Oh god, you’re gonna go round introducing me to people as ‘my girlfriend’, aren’t you.” You rolled your eyes, but your chuckle gave away your amusement.

“Yes. Yes I am.” Steven shifted back to his original position, wrapping his arm around you and returning to his book.

A peaceful quiet descended between you as you rested your head against his shoulder. The fire crackled as the smooth tones of Nat King Cole filled the air. Once again the idea of hibernation danced across his mind, and he wondered how long you could stay in this bubble of yours. This was definitely something he could get used to, and maybe, one day, he wouldn’t refer to you as his ‘girlfriend’, but he didn’t want to get ahead of himself.

#Steven Grant #Steven Grant x reader #Steven's Greetings #gndw fic

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songwriteoc · 4 years ago

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The Sims 4 Challenge - The Pack(age) Challenge - 10 Gen Version

Ever wanted to explore other aspects of the game, but never had the will to do so? Well with this challenge… you can!

You can use whatever mod you want – it is a fun challenge that you can add your own twists to if you follow the guidelines given!

Recommended Settings:

- Normal or Long (does not matter)

- MCCC (for certain generations if needed, but you do not really need it)

- Do NOT use the More Trait Slot Mod. I will update to add more traits once complete.

You do NOT need to stay with one pack for Create-a-Sim. I understand some of these may require other packs to fit the aesthetic :P

The generations will span over 10, however you can stop at ANY generation if you want to stop.

You can also skip a generation if:

1. You really dislike the Expansion/Game Pack

2. If you do not have the Expansion/Game Pack

Generation 1 – The Comedic Genius (Base Game)

You have always dreamed of becoming a comedian. Ever since that one knock, knock joke as a toddler. Your first sentence was even knock, knock! Your dream is become the best comedian in Willow Creek, Newcrest and/or Oasis Springs! You also wanted to create the best comedy household, wanting a large family full of kids to explore all the arts of comedy! Although you were not always down for marriage, you still wanted to act like a happy family even through the comedy home life.

Being raised in an orphanage and finally finding a home once you aged up into a young adult is where your story starts.

- Traits: Childish, Family-Orientated & Cheerful

- Aspiration: Joke Star

- Create Young Adult (YA) Sim of Any Gender!

- Reach Lvl.10 of Entertainer Career (Comedian Branch)

- Max. Comedy Skill

- Max. Mischief Skill

- Have a boyfriend/girlfriend, NEVER MARRY!

- Have 3 to 4 Children.

Generation 2 – A Serious Detective (Expansion Pack: Get to Work)

You hated the way your family made you do clown behaviour, forced to make jokes that did not even impress you, but made you mad! On a day like no other during high school, you helped a classmate get their money back from their bully, making you best friends till the end of time, with possibly more feelings later? (This is your choice). To get out of your home, you spent majority of your life of high school going to the gym on the weekends to get away from the chaotic life of a comedy home.

You never understood why your family gave you siblings, making you feel overwhelmed with the number of kids your parents naturally had, making you feel bad for the children put up for adoption and left alone with no parents.

- Traits: Hot-Headed, Ambitious & Athletic

- Aspiration: Professional Athlete

- Generation starts as Young Adult (YA)

- Reach Lvl.10 in Detective Career.

- Have One Best Friend Forever

- Max. Logic Skill

- Max. Athletic Skill

- Adopt One Child

Optional:

- Somehow with science, become abducted by an alien. (if it leads to a alien pregnancy, that is fine!)

Generation 3 – Cooking is the Heart (Game Pack: Dine Out)

As a child, you always enjoyed watching your parent cook you fabulous meals – making them as perfect as you could imagine. Even for your own birthday, you always asked for cookbooks to read upon them so you could learn the recipes to start your own restaurant and teach your children to cook and hopefully take over the restaurant empire you want to build for your family!

Due to how your parent raised you, you were always keen on marrying before woohoo, which is exactly what you will do!

As a Young Adult (YA) this is when your story starts.

- Traits: Foodie, Perfectionist & Creative

- Aspiration: Successful Lineage

- Generation Starts as Young Adult (YA)

- Gain 5 Stars in your Restaurant!

- Max. Cooking Skill

- No Woohoo before Marriage!

- Marry before you reach Adulthood!

- Have 2 Children! (If triplets, that is fine too!)

Optional:

- Max. Baking Skill (Requires Get to Work)

- Read Every Week (As if you are reading a cookbook every week)

Generation 4 – The Unflirty Critic (Expansion Pack: City Living)

You have seen people fall in love, hated that your parent spent more times cooking in the restaurant with your sibling than taking care of you. They may of gave you attention, but what was it for? So, you could critic the food they make? You seemed to also help your parent cook amazing foods with your own critical thinking. Was this a career path for you? Seems so!

In school, nobody wanted to be friends with you due to how brutal honest you were with their gifts and how they acted. Everybody hated you, and the only friend you had was your own sibling who stayed beside you, telling you to do what you can with the goals you want in life, making you flee to the city of San Mychuno! Yours was to be a food critic. With no friends, you never learned to love, apart from that one hook-up one night at a high school party your sibling brought you to after you graduated. You despised love. You despised the very thought of it. You were the Agnes Crumplebottom of love, whacking people with your clipboard of critic responses.

- Traits: Unflirty, Vegetarian & Loner

- Aspiration: City Native

- Starts as a Teenager (Teen)

- Lvl. 10 of Critic Career (Food Critic Branch)

- Max. Charisma Skill

- Never Marry!

- Become Pregnant at a Party As soon As You Age Up!

- Never Talk to Child till they are a Teenager.

Optional:

- You may use MCCC to get your sim pregnant as a Teenager instead of as soon as they age up! (Still at a party!)

Generation 5 – It is Nothing Like Twilight, I Swear! (Game Pack: Vampires)

Your parent always shoved you away. You always loved studying upon the supernatural and embraced the feeling once as a teenager, you befriended a vampire, only to have a teenager brain and ask to of been turned. Your now stuck as a vampire and need a way to find a cure for your offspring you want to produce.

You do not want your future child to live through the same fate as you, as you turn other sims into vampires like yourself, before falling in love with another vampire, making it a love for eternity. However, you always adored your grandparents cooking, its as if they gave you heaven for food.

Your sims story starts as a teenager!

- Starts as a Teenager (Teen)

- Traits: Kleptomaniac, Bro & Jealous

- Aspiration: Good Vampire

- Purchase Almost Every Vampire Perk!

- Be Turned as a Teenager (or early Young Adult)

- Have 1 – 3 Children!

- Find a Cure for Vampirism Before child(ren) reaches Teen stage(s)

- Marry Your Vampire Love

- Have HORRIBLE relationship with parent, but GREAT relationship with grandparent.

Optional:

- You can rebuild your relationship with your parent before they die, if your Sim wants to anyway!

Generation 6 – I will adopt one, no two… No, all six! (Game Pack: Parenthood)

Your grateful for what your parent did for you, creating a cure for the vampirism you were born with. Although, you feel as if you need to prove to your parent that you can be the best parent in the world! Unfortunately, you were born unable to have children yourself (can be edited in CAS, or through mods).

You make it your mission to adopt as many kids as you want and making sure to spoil them with your video game greatness and parenting skills! Making them feel loved and adored!

- Traits: Family-Oriented, Good & Geek

- Aspiration: Super Parent

- You Start Once they reach Young Adult (YA)

- Max. Parenting Skill

- Max. Video Gaming Skill

- Adopt 6 Toddlers Between Your Young Adult and Adult stage!

- Never Get a Job! (Paint, Write… etc. for money!)

Optional:

- You can marry if you want. Requirements: MUST share ONE trait your SIM has!

- Adopt to Max. Household Limit Between your Young Adult and Adult Stage!

Recommended:

- Youngest Child is Next Gen!

Generation 7 – Time to Meow to this Howling! (Expansion Pack: Cats & Dogs)

You were raised with a lot of adoptive siblings, making you feel tired of being surrounded by older siblings that rushed around you taking care of your parent(s). The only love you felt, was from that one cat you found on the streets on that one visit to Brindleton Bay.

Once you became a Young Adult, you moved to Brindleton Bay and decided to start your passion for having your own Veterinary and surrounding yourself with stray animals you found on the street or adopting cats & dogs from the computer and/or phone! Maybe also falling in love with your own co-worker you hired?

- Traits: Cat Lover, Dog Lover & Loves the Outdoors

- Aspiration: Friend of the Animals

- Max. Animal Training Skill

- Max. Veterinary Skill

- Own a 5 Star Veterinary

- Adopt any Number of Cats & Dogs! (e.g., 3 cats, 3 dogs… 2 cats, 3 dogs… etc.)

- Marry a veterinary co-worker!

- Have child(ren) with co-worker! (Does not matter on how many)

Generation 8 – Spring All Year! (Expansion Pack: Seasons)

With your family adoring animals, you adored them too! But there is something you always asked for winterfest and your birthday, and that was your own private greenhouse to grow your own flowers to build your own store to grow flowers and sell them!

Your own way of doing so, was getting yourself a job as a gardener, and helping to design flowers for your friends, family and customers that wanted their own flowers done as a hobby while you worked, which lead to your own romantic destiny… but was it a fling, or did you unknowingly become the serial romantic and had/got someone else’s child that wasn’t your lover’s?

- Traits: Loves the Outdoors, Non-Committal & Romantic

- Aspiration: Freelance Botanist

- Reach Lvl.10 of Gardener Career (Floral Designer Branch)

- Max. Gardening Skill

- Max. Flower Arranging Skill

- Marry Your Highschool Sweetheart

- Have One Child with Another Sim that ISN’T Your Lover!

- Get Divorced from your Highschool Sweetheart!

- Have One Child with your Highschool Sweetheart!

Optional:

- As a Teenager before gen starts, you can start with the Serial Romantic Aspiration!

Generation 9 – “You love me! You really, really love me!” (Expansion Pack: Get Famous)

You loved the silver-screen as a toddler, looking at the beautiful actors/actresses performing on-screen and knowing instantly that is what YOU wanted to do.

Always laughed at for loving the arts in the countryside, you moved out of Brindleton Bay with your family so you could start your dreams of slowly becoming the best actor/actress the sims world has ever seen and seeing them raise their children to be just as famous as them in Del Sol Valley! The generation starts once you are a teenager!

- Traits: Creative, Self-Absorbed & Snob

- Aspiration: World-Famous Celebrity

- Reach Lvl.5 of Acting Club (Teen)

- Reach Lvl.10 of Acting Career

- Reach 5 Stars as a Celebrity!

- Max. Acting Skill

- Max. Charisma Skill

- Befriend a 5 Star Celebrity

- Marry a Celebrity Same, or Higher Star Level

- Get Money Worth of: $300,000

- Have Three Children with Lover.

Optional:

- Max. Singing Skill (City Living Required)

Generation 10 – Mother Nature is That You?! (Game Pack: Strangerville)

A sudden village has recently come back into the news after centuries of being forgotten and put through protection. You were invested in wanting to figure out what was going on while balancing your own military career.

Before then being sent to Strangerville to see what was going on in the village itself! You got told you could bring one person with you for security, and safety. However, once your friend eats a forbidden fruit found in a plant – things suddenly go south, making you know what you had to do, but all this chaos has made you more paranoid and scared for what could happen if you fail.

- Starts as a Young Adult (YA)

- Traits: Athletic, Paranoid & Clumsy

- Aspiration: Strangerville Mystery

- Reach Lvl.10 Military Career (Officer Branch)

- Max. Fitness Skill

- Max. Charisma Skill

- Have One Child once The Mother is defeated (if twins or triplets, that is fine too!)

- Live with your Best Friend in Strangerville

- Find love once The Mother is defeated!

Optional:

- You can bring a co-worker to live with you in Strangerville if you don’t have a best friend!

Part Two: Not Released Yet

Other Information:

There is a 2nd Part of this challenge going to be available once it is complete, in case you want to continue the generation for another 5 or so generations! Depending on the packs that are released that have careers, or something interesting to add.

Have suggestions for other packs that were realised before Strangerville? Say and I’ll put them into the part 2 of this challenge!

P.S. This is the first challenge, and it is in trial run. So there maybe some problems. If there is, please message me through here, or through my other social media:

Twitter: /@SongWriteOC https://twitter.com/SongWriteOC

If you do the challenge, please use the hashtag #SimsThePackChallenge on all social media, such as Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr... etc. Even YouTube! <3

#the sims 4 challenge #the sims 4 #SimsThePackChallenge

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thealmightyemprex · 2 years ago

Text

Good Vibes Challange :The Wind in the Willows

@ariel-seagull-wings @amalthea9 @princesssarisa @angelixgutz @the-blue-fairie @themousefromfantasyland @goodanswerfoxmonster @filmcityworld1

Recommended by @the-blue-fairie ,I knew I had to watch this

So I never read the book,but I have seen several adaptations of the story .My first exposure was the 1949 Disney film The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr Toad ,which has a short Toad centric tellling of the tale , but what hooked me on the story is the 2017 Musical version ,which is probabbly a contender for my favorite,and I quite enjoyed the 1985 Rankin/Bass version (EVen if I found Charles Nelson Reiley to be an odd choice for Toad ).I have grown very fond of this story (I'll go into why later ) and am always up to see a diffrent adaptation(I actually was going to watch this adaptation before but stuff got in the way and I forgot to finish it )

This 1995 film, isnt REALLLY a story its basically a bunch of scenerios connected by the characters .There is somewhat of a plot of Mole (Alan Benett),Ratty (Michael Palin ) and Badger (Michael Gambon ) trying to deal with the thrill seeking and egocentric Toad ( Rik Mayall ) who is obsessed with motor cars which gets him into a lot of trouble

I think the reason I love this movie and this story in general is it is just so CHILL ,your just hanging out with these lovable characters . The heart of the film really is the relationship between Ratty and Mole ,they have a very lovely relationship even when they bicker ,you can tell the care deeply for eachother ,my favorite scene being when Mole convinces Ratty to satay when he has the urge to travel and when they find Moles old home he abandoned to live with Ratty ,and Ratty is just complimenting the place the entire time when Mole is somewhat embarrassed ....I also dug the scene where Ratty and Mole met the God Pan,that was wild

Of course the comedic highlight is Toad ,I'll go into the voice work later ,but everything from the writing ,to the performance to the expressive animation make him such a funny character.He is the one character with NO chill and this might be my favorite take on Toad

The Animatiojn is beautiful,for a TV movie ,the production values are gorgeous,this is one of the prettiest animated films I think I have seen

This also hasthe best cast I have seen for this property I think these might be the definitive voices for me,being mostly comprised of great British talent .Of the main cast the one I am least familiar with is Alan Bennett as Mole (He seems to mostly be a writer ) but he gave a nice cheeryness to Mole.Michael Gambon is PERFECT as the grumpy Badger,and I actually had a tough ime recognizing him as he seemed to be putting on a gruffer voice but it so worked for the character .Michael Palin did such a fabulous job as Ratty ,you feel his love for his River ,his frustration with Toad ,and his friendship with Mole.Vanessa Redgrave does a marvelous job narrating ,and I like the wraparounds of her being a grandmother reading to her grandkids,just added to the cozy feel.Then we have Rik Mayall as Toad.Now Rik Mayall is a hit and miss performer for me ,sometimes I love him sometimes he annoys me ,and thankfully,,,,,This is one of his BEST performances,cause his abrasive style and obnoxiousness is PERFECT for Toad,like this is a perfect melding of actor and character akin to Gilbert Gottfried as Iago in Aladdin ,and Mayall is hilarious,sounds like he is having fun and is by far the BEST TOAD IVE SEEN .Honestly with these performances I forgot there were actors and just accepted them as these characters

I only have one gripe,and its I wish the finale where the gang fight off Weasals was longer and set up better (I like when the Weasals play a bigger role like in the musical )

Overalll.....Man this was good vibes.Just an enjoyable relaxing watch

#wind in the willows

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