#also i love that second screenshot oh my

[occult-roommates]

Beach babes 2023: Coral pink with Audrey

Audrey's got a new haircut again and you just now she kept on shaking her head so people could hear the little pink beads. 🩷

[mewnoroma]

Hi quick question: what the fuck is going on with her roots

I like that she grows (??? | Eigong are those growing on their own or are you just implanting more because you're insane) more as time passes, but I'm also curious in what that other part on her head is. It's attached(?) to her stabilizer so I assume that she added that later (maybe when she attached the first root, assumedly the one coming out of the top of her head)...actually semi-related question, did she ever have rejections or shit from just implanting the roots on her head like this? Hrm...

[todayisafridaynight]

sorry that im obsessed with him <- is not sorry

[mystery-star]

Russell Crowe as John Biebe in Mystery, Alaska (1999)

[ridiculously-over-obsessed]

update: we talk literally all the time and she calls me maxie and I'm very soft for this girl but also I am very annoyed to be having a crush right now wdym this now consumes my every waking thought and all I want to do is make her smile at least once a day??

Haven't had a crush in the longest time. Forgot how annoying it was.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Antiusurpation and the road to disenshittification

THIS WEEKEND (November 8-10), I'll be in TUCSON, AZ: I'm the GUEST OF HONOR at the TUSCON SCIENCE FICTION CONVENTION.

Nineties kids had a good reason to be excited about the internet's promise of disintermediation: the gatekeepers who controlled our access to culture, politics, and opportunity were crooked as hell, and besides, they sucked.

For a second there, we really did get a lot of disintermediation, which created a big, weird, diverse pluralistic space for all kinds of voices, ideas, identities, hobbies, businesses and movements. Lots of these were either deeply objectionable or really stupid, or both, but there was also so much cool stuff on the old, good internet.

Then, after about ten seconds of sheer joy, we got all-new gatekeepers, who were at least as bad, and even more powerful, than the old ones. The net became Tom Eastman's "Five giant websites, each filled with screenshots of the other four." Culture, politics, finance, news, and especially power have been gathered into the hands of unaccountable, greedy, and often cruel intermediaries.

Oh, also, we had an election.

This isn't an election post. I have many thoughts about the election, but they're still these big, unformed blobs of anger, fear and sorrow. Experience teaches me that the only way to get past this is to just let all that bad stuff sit for a while and offgas its most noxious compounds, so that I can handle it safely and figure out what to do with it.

While I wait that out, I'm just getting the job done. Chop wood, carry water. I've got a book to write, Enshittification, for Farar, Straus, Giroux's MCD Books, and it's very nearly done:

https://twitter.com/search?q=from%3Adoctorow+%23dailywords&src=typed_query&f=live

Compartmentalizing my anxieties and plowing that energy into productive work isn't necessarily the healthiest coping strategy, but it's not the worst, either. It's how I wrote nine books during the covid lockdowns.

And sometimes, when you're not staring directly at something, you get past the tunnel vision that makes it impossible to see its edges, fracture lines, and weak points.

So I'm working on the book. It's a book about platforms, because enshittification is a phenomenon that is most visible and toxic on platforms. Platforms are intermediaries, who connect buyers and sellers, creators and audiences, workers and employers, politicians and voters, activists and crowds, as well as families, communities, and would-be romantic partners.

There's a reason we keep reinventing these intermediaries: they're useful. Like, it's technically possible for a writer to also be their own editor, printer, distributor, promoter and sales-force:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/19/crad-kilodney-was-an-outlier/#intermediation

But without middlemen, those are the only writers we'll get. The set of all writers who have something to say that I want to read is much larger than the set of all writers who are capable of running their own publishing operation.

The problem isn't middlemen: the problem is powerful middlemen. When an intermediary gets powerful enough to usurp the relationship between the parties on either side of the transaction, everything turns to shit:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/06/12/direct-the-problem-of-middlemen/

A dating service that faces pressure from competition, regulation, interoperability and a committed workforce will try as hard as it can to help you find Your Person. A dating service that buys up all its competitors, cows its workforce, captures its regulators and harnesses IP law to block interoperators will redesign its service so that you keep paying forever, and never find love:

https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2024/02/13/1228749143/the-dating-app-paradox-why-dating-apps-may-be-worse-than-ever

Multiply this a millionfold, in every sector of our complex, high-tech world where we necessarily rely on skilled intermediaries to handle technical aspects of our lives that we can't – or shouldn't – manage ourselves. That world is beholden to predators who screw us and screw us and screw us, jacking up our rents:

https://www.thebignewsletter.com/p/yes-there-are-antitrust-voters-in

Cranking up the price of food:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/04/dont-let-your-meat-loaf/#meaty-beaty-big-and-bouncy

And everything else:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/11/06/attention-rents/#consumer-welfare-queens

(Maybe this is a post about the election after all?)

The difference between a helpmeet and a parasite is power. If we want to enjoy the benefits of intermediaries without the risks, we need policies that keep middlemen weak. That's the opposite of the system we have now.

Take interoperability and IP law. Interoperability (basically, plugging new things into existing things) is a really powerful check against powerful middlemen. If you rely on an ad-exchange to fund your newsgathering and they start ripping you off, then an interoperable system that lets you use a different exchange will not only end the rip off – it'll make it less likely to happen in the first place because the ad-tech platform will be afraid of losing your business:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/05/save-news-we-must-shatter-ad-tech

Interoperability means that when a printer company gouges you on ink, you can buy cheap third party ink cartridges and escape their grasp forever:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/11/ink-stained-wretches-battle-soul-digital-freedom-taking-place-inside-your-printer

Interoperability means that when Amazon rips off audiobook authors to the tune of $100m, those authors can pull their books from Amazon and sell them elsewhere and know that their listeners can move their libraries over to a different app:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/09/07/audible-exclusive/#audiblegate

But interoperability has been in retreat for 40 years, as IP law has expanded to criminalize otherwise normal activities, so that middlemen can use IP rights to protect themselves from their end-users and business customers:

https://locusmag.com/2020/09/cory-doctorow-ip/

That's what I mean when I say that "IP" is "any law that lets a business reach beyond its own walls and control the actions of its customers, competitors and critics."

For example, there's a pernicious law 1998 US law that I write about all the time, Section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the "anticircumvention law." This is a law that felonizes tampering with copyright locks, even if you are the creator of the undelying work.

So Amazon – the owner of the monopoly audiobook platform Audible – puts a mandatory copyright lock around every audiobook they sell. I, as an author who writes, finances and narrates the audiobook, can't provide you, my customer, with a tool to remove that lock. If I do so, I face criminal sanctions: a five year prison sentence and a $500,000 fine for a first offense:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/07/25/can-you-hear-me-now/#acx-ripoff

In other words: if I let you take my own copyrighted work out of Amazon's app, I commit a felony, with penalties that are far stiffer than the penalties you would face if you were to simply pirate that audiobook. The penalties for you shoplifting the audiobook on CD at a truck-stop are lower than the penalties the author and publisher of the book would face if they simply gave you a tool to de-Amazon the file. Indeed, even if you hijacked the truck that delivered the CDs, you'd probably be looking at a shorter sentence.

This is a law that is purpose-built to encourage intermediaries to usurp the relationship between buyers and sellers, creators and audiences. It's a charter for parasitism and predation.

But as bad as that is, there's another aspect of DMCA 1201 that's even worse: the exemptions process.

You might have read recently about the Copyright Office "freeing the McFlurry" by granting a DMCA 1201 exemption for companies that want to reverse-engineer the error-codes from McDonald's finicky, unreliable frozen custard machines:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/10/28/mcbroken/#my-milkshake-brings-all-the-lawyers-to-the-yard

Under DMCA 1201, the Copyright Office hears petitions for these exemptions every three years. If they judge that anticircumvention law is interfering with some legitimate activity, the statute empowers them to grant an exemption.

When the DMCA passed in 1998 (and when the US Trade Rep pressured other world governments into passing nearly identical laws in the decades that followed), this exemptions process was billed as a "pressure valve" that would prevent abuses of anticircumvention law.

But this was a cynical trick. The way the law is structured, the Copyright Office can only grant "use" exemptions, but not "tools" exemptions. So if you are granted the right to move Audible audiobooks into a third-party app, you are personally required to figure out how to do that. You have to dump the machine code of the Audible app, decompile it, scan it for vulnerabilities, and bootstrap your own jailbreaking program to take Audible wrapper off the file.

No one is allowed to help you with this. You aren't allowed to discuss any of this publicly, or share a tool that you make with anyone else. Doing any of this is a potential felony.

In other words, DMCA 1201 gives intermediaries power over you, but bans you from asking an intermediary to help you escape another abusive middleman.

This is the exact opposite of how intermediary law should work. We should have rules that ban intermediaries from exercising undue power over the parties they serve, and we should have rules empowering intermediaries to erode the advantage of powerful intermediaries.

The fact that the Copyright Office grants you an exemption to anticircumvention law means nothing unless you can delegate that right to an intermediary who can exercise it on your behalf.

A world without publishing intermediaries is one in which the only writers who thrive are the ones capable of being publishers, too, and that's a tiny fraction of all the writers with something to say.

A world without interoperability intermediaries is one in which the only platform users who thrive are also skilled reverse-engineering ninja hackers – and that's an infinitesimal fraction of the platform users who would benefit from interoperabilty.

Let this be your north star in evaluating platform regulation proposals. Platform regulation should weaken intermediaries' powers over their users, and strengthen their power over other middlemen.

Put in this light, it's easy to see why the ill-informed calls to abolish Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (which makes platform users, not platforms, responsible for most unlawful speech) are so misguided:

https://www.techdirt.com/2020/06/23/hello-youve-been-referred-here-because-youre-wrong-about-section-230-communications-decency-act/

If we require platforms to surveil all user speech and block anything that might violate any law, we give the largest, most powerful platforms a permanent advantage over smaller, better platforms, run by co-ops, hobbyists, nonprofits local governments, and startups. The big platforms have the capital to rig up massive, automated surveillance and censorship systems, and the only alternatives that can spring up have to be just as big and powerful as the Big Tech platforms we're so desperate to escape:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/03/23/evacuate-the-platforms/#let-the-platforms-burn

This is especially grave given the current political current, where fascist politicians are threatening platforms with brutal punishments for failing to censor disfavored political views.

Anyone who tells you that "it's only censorship when the government does it" is badly confused. It's only a First Amendment violation when the government does it, sure – but censorship has always relied on intermediaries. From the Inquisition to the Comics Code, government censors were only able to do their jobs because powerful middlemen, fearing state punishments, blocked anything that might cross the line, censoring far beyond the material actually prohibited by the law:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/22/self-censorship/#hugos

We live in a world of powerful, corrupt middlemen. From payments to real-estate, from job-search to romance, there's a legion of parasites masquerading as helpmeets, burying their greedy mouthparts into our tender flesh:

https://www.capitalisnt.com/episodes/visas-hidden-tax-on-americans

But intermediaries aren't the problem. You shouldn't have to stand up your own payment processor, or learn the ins and outs of real-estate law, or start your own single's bar. The problem is power, not intermediation.

As we set out to build a new, good internet (with a lot less help from the US government than seemed likely as recently as last week), let's remember that lesson: the point isn't disintermediation, it's weak intermediation.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/11/07/usurpers-helpmeets/#disreintermediation

Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg

CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en (Image: Cryteria, CC BY 3.0, modified)

[just-jordie-things]

doing that tik tok trend with yuuta where your bf ranks how mad he would be if another man touched you in different ways from 1 to 10 pls omg how do you think he’ll be

NO ONE LAUGH AT MY SCREENSHOTS OK I WANTED AUTHENTICITY !!!! also i love this idea <3

ok here's each hug from the trend and how yuuta would react:

"CATCHER HUG? who needs to be holding you like that?"

you giggle at the reflection of yuuta's wide eyes as he stares at the photo attached to his forehead from the tiktok filter.

"sometimes panda lifts me up when we hug!" you vouch for your friend, but yuuta's perplexed face doesn't change. he hits 8 on the screen to move on to the next filter.

"can't believe panda is trying to swoop in on my girl like that" he mutters as he waits for the filter to land on the next option.

yuuta's mouth is gaping wide before any sound comes out- although it's obvious that he'll rank this one low.

"CUDDLE?" his voice raises an octave from the offense he's taken by this hypothetical ranking game. you're absolutely losing it in a fit of laughter. "no one should be cuddling my girlfriend!" his thumb hits the 10 with an audible thwap to the screen. "ridiculous. cuddle my girlfriend and catch rika's hands" he mutters.

"oh, this is good!" all irritation washes away as yuuta beams at self hug. "love yourself baby, i do" he punctuates with a kiss to the crown of your head, unsurprisingly making this one number 1.

"no," his brows furrow again. "that's too intimate. absolutely not. nope" he hits 7.

"seven though?" you're curious why it's not lower.

"this game feels like a trap. i feel like there are worse things"

his expression flickers when side hug comes up next. concern, then understanding, then concern again. clearly he's searching through the context of what could warrant someone giving you a sidehug, it's just a matter of who. you find his undertainty to be funny, apparently.

"yuuta, we all hug each other like this. toge side hugged me just yesterday after a mission"

"yeah..." he trails off, before huffing and deciding on 4. "still not a fan. it's still touchy"

you cackle out a laugh.

"they're all touching!" you remind him, but he ignores you as the filter spins again.

"this is fine i guess" yuuta tilts his head from side to side before selecting 3. "self hug is still better"

"i don't think i realized how possessive you were till now" you say.

"i could be worse"

"WHAT THE HELL? absolutely not!" yuuta's fast to put waist hug second to last at option 9. "hip grinding hug more like it. nuh uh. that's cheating right there"

he doesn't understand why you laugh so much at the adulterous hug option, but he's already waiting for the next round.

"this... this is fine," he sighs, making it the second option rather quickly. "it's got to be under three seconds though" he adds as an after thought.

"three seconds?"

"are you sad? why does someone else need to hug you if you're sad?"

"what if you're not around?" you ask.

"then you call me??" yuuta's sass has reached new peaks with this filter game. "easy answer, dumb question" he selects 5.

"NO!" yuuta shouts. "that's too close to my girlfriend! and you're hurting her! look babe you can't even breathe," he gestures to the phone with annoyance, shaking his head and huffing some more as he selects 6. "if i could put this lower babe, i would"

"i believe you, honey"

[whereonhermitcraftisjoel]

joel and iskall go through a breakupo (???) and iskall begins his yandere ex gf arc around 4 hours and thirty something minutes in.

This week on hermitcraft: the anime: the harem isekai protaganist joel is being lusted after by at least five different people

I really can’t overstate how weird this is, and how thirty four minutes long it is. I wanted to cut it down but there's never thirty seconds w/out Joel (or Jimmy) talk. I guess I’ll put some clips on youtube? I haven’t even finished all my weird flirty mcc clips (including iskall/jimmy)

Real quotes:

Joel: "Secret relationship???" Iskall: "Do you not love me?" Joel: "Not like that, we're just friends." Iskall: "I just got friendzoned?" Joel: "Deal with it."

Iskall's Crazy Ex Arc Twitch link , 04:26:00

(he also does youtube vods so hopefully it will wind up there)

Timestamps:

04:25:47 - Joel logs on and heads to Iskall Iskall claims it’s all cool ha ha it’s a prank he’s fine 04:31:15 - Joel is gone, threatens restraining order over chat 04:34:55 - Iskall declares his Jimmy arc 04:37 - Iskall is trying to frame Etho 04:39 - Iskall starts writing crazed letters and sending them 04:44 - Joel is back 04:47 - Etho reference 04:54 - Joel leaves for good 04:55 - Iskall brainstorms ways to be very weird about Joel 04:58 - Iskall worried people won’t get the joke is he gets too weird about Joel

(some of the screenshots or my summary may have gotten a bit out of order)

Summary: Joel is back from Japan and has seen all the mail from Iskall. He logs on, Iskall starts flirting. Iskall tells his chat that ha ha it's all funny Joel doesn't realize it's all funny.

Iskall explains why he thought he and Joel were in a "secret relationship" because of a prank and note Joel left him. Joel says it was not him. (His chat says it was False.) Joel seems utterly baffled and friendzones him. Iskall is also baffled.

Iskall: "Do you not love me?" Joel: "Not like that, we're just friends."

Iskall: "I just got friendzoned?"

Iskall gets weird in chat, with Gem shouting and begging to get banned, Iskall sends Joel... crazy ex letters, I guess? I'm not screenshoting those, too many images, probably in his next ep.

Iskall declares he's moving on to his Jimmy arc, with his beautiful hair and eyes.

(Note: Iskall and Jimmy spent a bunch of time together for the Hermit Charity Stream. Maybe Iskall saw him with others and said, "Oh I can get much more homoerotic with hermits, huh." I'm new to Iskall but my friends say his obsession was never quite so... romantic framed.)

The previous day, on MCC, Iskall's first in three years:

Iskall somehow thinks he can pin anything here on Etho.

Iskall then tries to hire Joel to do armor stands and to sell him an apartment. Throughout all this, Etho is brought up several times.

I recommend keeping Iskall's chat up, it's not overwhelming and pretty fun. I've got some more chat quotes below the cut

[reverieblondie]

I already sent this thought to someone, but I think you might like it, too!

Tiefling bachelors accidentally scratching up the surfaces they were bracing their hands on while engaged in a moment of carnal passion with his partner, like not small superficial scratches, I mean his claws left gouge marks. Imagine he is all nervous/embarrassed about it only for his partner to inform him that is actually incredibly hot.

I look forward to seeing your thoughts (if you desire to share them).

A/N: This took me forever! But I loved every second it was so fun! these scenario ones are always my favorites! I love love the Tiefling bachelors but I wanted to add some of my moots OCs that I love. We have Kieran from @dark-and-kawaii wonderful mind (thank you for the screenshot and thank you for making this man I am obsessed!) We also have Syvaris who I instantly fell for when I saw him on the discord server made by @tealfling (He is so dreamy and I am so happy for @faerunsbest oc Dwylla for snatching up that tall man, also thank you for the photo to use!) Hope you enjoy its all 18+! MDNI!

Rolan

"Your... A- Ah~ Annoying,  you know that?" Rolan growls in your ear as his claws dig into the sides of your thighs. All you can manage is a breathy giggle that turns into a whine as he pushes into your wet core deeper. The ridges stretch you as he sinks deeper, Rolan's brows are furrowed, and his eyes shut tight as he feels you clench on his cock like a vise. "So…so… tight… per-perfect," his voice mumbles as he gets lost in the feeling. This is a far cry from how he was acting earlier, you had been bothering him all day with countless pointless questions, touching his arms and hands, then acting oh so innocent about it. The last straw had been when you barged into his office and sat on his desk, hiking up your dress to show just a teasing hint of your thighs, of course, in an effort to interrupt his oh-so-important studies. Rolan was definitely taking out some built up frustrations when he finally broke. Grabbing you by your waist, Rolan pushes you down on the desk and finally kisses you; it is desperate, hungry, and completely perfect. You didn't think Rolan was ever going to stop kissing you, not until he started talking about how you drive him crazy. Now, here you lay back on the desk as Rolan's long nails scratch his oak desk, and he ruts in, bouncing you to take an inch deeper with every thrust. The pleasure of the stretch is overwhelming, and then there's the sight of him over you, his golden eyes shining, and the way his hair hangs down; he is completely enthralling. You should have bothered him to this point months ago... "Rolan... you're perfect." Your sweet praise rings in Rolan's ears, making him scratch his nails deeper down his desk. You feel his tail thrashing around till it's gripping your leg like a vice; all you can keep doing is gripping his tough skin, singing his praises, making his cock throb, and you too keen further. Rolan, fueled by your praise, loses himself in you as he lifts his foot on top of the desk angling his cock to hit against your G-spot in mind-numbing bliss. Rolan's own praise continues to switch from common to infernal as he desperately chases both of your orgasms. He's been pinning for months, and now that he has you, he's desperate to please you. When he finally pushes you to that edge, it's intense. Once you have both come down from your orgasms, Rolan's face is flushed from more than just the 'workout.' He's avoiding eye contact even as you try to ask him what the matter is. "Was it me?" you finally muster as you feel your chest sinking. Rolan turns to you quickly, holding your naked body close to his, "It's me… I was… unhinged… you probably-" you cover his mouth with your fingers, causing him to become quiet, "You were perfect… Rolan, truly perfect." Rolan looks at his sharp nails and ruined desk, "It didn't scare you?" You lean in closer to his lips, "Only excites me…"  

Hours later, Lia brought up Rolan a late dinner (considering he had missed it earlier doing whatever). When she knocked on the door, she could have sworn she had heard hissing whispers and something being shoved. Rolan answers the door out of breath but uncharacteristically cheerful; it was suspicious... Lia looks around and sees large gashes on his desk and on his study walls. "What happened here?" She says, placing the tray down on the ruined desk; Rolan stumbles about clearing his throat till picking up a tome (one of many on the floor), "I was working on a difficult spell." Lia looks around, "I guess it's one hell of a spell…" Before she can further look around, Rolan is thanking her for the food and pushing her out. Must be very eager to get back to his work… 

Zevlor

The first thing he asked you when you came into the storage room was if anyone saw you sneak in after him. The Second question he asked you as he walked towards you from the darkness, his fiery eyes locked on yours, was if you could keep quiet." Of course "was what you promised Zevlor, and of course, at that time, you had meant it… but now that your legs are wrapped around his textured waist and his thick cock is ramming in and out of you, bouncing you against the supply shelf, you're finding it difficult not to scream his name. Zevlor is also finding it equally as difficult not to moan your name as yours as you take him in so well, your tight warmth practically sucking him in deeper as your slick walls flutter around him. Your nails bite into his shoulders with every roll of his hips. Zevlors breath is hot and heavy against your neck, his teeth threatening to bite your delicate skin as he presses sloppy kisses against you. It all just riles you up more, rolling your hips to meet his thrust pushing his hot cock to sink in deeper, nudging that sensitive spot in your cunt, forcing you to see stars. A deep groan rips from Zevlors throat as your cunt quivers on his cock with a rush of your arousal squirting onto his abdomen. In an attempt to keep himself quiet, he bites into your skin while his hands claw up and tear at the supply shelves, even forcing some things to fall and crash to the ground as his hips move erratically to chase his high. Later, he will embarrassingly apologize for acting like an animal, but you just kiss his lips and say you want to see that passion again. 

You're trying not to blush as the rest of the caravan's refugees look at the ruined shelves and materials marked by claws. When Zevlor finally shows up from being called, he gives a simple answer: "Animals must have gotten in and messed around," he says, trying to hide his smile. You promised that your rondeau tonight would happen outside the grove so you could be as loud as you like.

Cal

You could have had anyone you wanted at the party; as the hero of the hour, everyone was trying to catch your attention, but you picked him out, and Cal couldn't be happier. Cal almost feels like he can't breathe as you kiss his neck before running your tongue over his ears. You giggle as his tail twists and sways erratically, his clawed hands holding tightly onto your bedroll, carefully trying not to rip it. Cals is trying so hard not to lose control, but little does he know that's exactly what you're after. Cal has always been so sweet and strong… All you want him to do is to let go and finally release all that built-up tension. So after much soft teasing with sweet whispered desires, you reward when Cal finally snaps, taking you in his arms and kissing you like he's never going to see you again. You, of course, were soft to start… but your want can make you ravenous as Cal's hands ran over your body; of course, it led to you stripping him in a fever, eager to feel his hot hands all over your skin, caressing your sides, teasing your inner thighs, and twisting your breast… You just couldn't help it anymore when you finally pushed him down to sink onto his girth. Cal's clawed hands rip fistfuls of your bedroll apart as you bounce on his cock; he eagerly matches your pace with his hips ramming up into your wet cunt, making your eyes roll in ecstasy. Your sweet Cal looks up at you with half-lidded eyes concentrating on your pleasure, he wants to please you, and when you bring his hand to circle your clit he's in bliss. Your cunt clenches down harder on his thick cock, making a growl rip from his throat as he tries not to cum too quickly.  But then you start begging… begging for him to cum inside and claim you as his. With a moan and a loud tear, you feel him cum in hot spurts that make you desperate for more of him. Later, Cal will be so embarrassed and nervous about ripping up your bedroll; of course, he offers to give you his, but you just smirk, "I don't mind it all ripped up; it's a good reminder of you for the road."  

The next day, as you're packing up your things, still feeling quite melancholy about the tiefling departure, you're about to pack up your ruined bedroll when a clearing of a throat causes you to turn. It's Halsin, and in his hands, he has a bedroll. You look at him confused, and he just smiles. "Heard from a blushing young man that you needed a new one." Of course, Cal wouldn't leave you with a ruined one. During your small reverie of thinking about Cal, Astarion walks past with a smirk, "Hope it's claw proof, that or get that teif some claw covers for next time." 

Dammon

His forked tongue licks at your dripping sweat as it rolls down your throat. Dammon pins you against the back wall as one hand holds your hips as the other keeps him steady leaning you both steady. His weight presses against your body as his thick cock stretches you open. Your hands and legs wrap tightly around him as he fucks you in the back of the forge. You had been so needy and couldn't wait for him to take you upstairs, you needed him now. So thus leading to you two tangled together in the back of the shop. You're both nude and sweating as the forge fire roars. As you chant his name Dammons pace gets rougher, his cock slamming in so deep you begin to see stars. Feeling your tight warmth starting to clench on his cock has his mind going blank. First, you feel his sharp nails on your hip pierce your skin, then you hear the scratching down the stone wall as his hips get faster, the pace getting sloppier but never relenting. Dammon always knows how to give you exactly where you need it every time. His breathing is rough and shallow in your ear before he lets out a dark growl, "Cum on my cock. So I can fucking fill you..." Dammon is rarely so demanding, but you just can't help yourself when he is. Dammon comes to bed later rather quietly… when you ask him about it, he says he's embarrassed for getting so rough, when will he learn that's your favorite…

The customer looks at the back of the forge's wall, tilting his head at the scratches all over the stones. "What happened to your back wall?" Dammon flushes, stammering before you come and place a hand on the small at his back, calming him. "Just your typical late night at the forge. Nothing to worry about."

Kieran

He smiles down at your blissed-out face, "Feels good, doesn't it, bunny?" All you can manage to do is to open your mouth and whine as his cock keeps punching against your cervix, brushing your smooth, slick walls with the hard ridges of his cock. Kieran smirks down at you, so malleable for him; he hicks your legs up further, forcing your knees up to your face, successfully folding you in half. "You're so full you can't even think right now, huh?" You urge yourself to answer, but with the added heat of his body slamming onto you is leaving you in a lustful daze. You end up just grabbing his shoulders, digging your nails further into his flesh, practically threatening to make him bleed, "Please…" Your pleading is music to his ears as he pounds you harder, his nails not only ripping through the wooden headboard but ripping your skin in the process. The sharp feeling is quickly dulling into toe-curling pleasure as Kieran continues to fuck you at a rough pace. "Please… Please!" you continue to breathe as you quench down on his cock, causing him to groan in your ear, "Oh bunny, you don't even know what you're begging for, do you?" Kieran rolls his hips at an agonizingly slow pace making your eyes cross as his tail finds your clit. "What would your boyfriend think of you now? Begging like a whore for another man's cock in his bed nonetheless…" you hardly hear his taunting words as you cling to him, babbling as his nails continue to carve into you; if you didn't know any better, you would think he's carving his initials… "poor bastard just didn't know how to treat you…" Kieran grabs your hips and starts to bounce you in his cock, smiling at how you come undone for him so easily. Honestly, Kieran is not remorseful in the least for scratching everything up. 

Your boyfriend stumbles into your shared bedroom and pauses when he sees the bed broken and everything else he owns ripped to shreds. He looks around, perplexed until he sees a letter waiting on the broken nightstand. "Sorry about the bed. Try finding something more durable. Also, I took the girl." - K.E. 

Syvaris

Syvaris was just expecting to take a nice refreshing dip… but he hadn't expected to be interrupted during his wash in the river. Syvaris had a feeling he was being watched, it was only confirmed when he stopped his meditation to see you peeking at him from behind a tree. You, the same sweet little thing he had helped save earlier that day spying on him…, and he couldn't find it in himself to mind, especially when it's someone so pretty like you acting so naughty. All Syvaris had to do was wave his hand to beckon you closer, "care to join me?" was all he said to get you to strip bare for him and join him in the crisp waters. It was clear you were wanting this just like he was. The coolness of the water made you feel a shiver throughout your body; it was short-lived. However, as you swam closer, he wrapped his warm arms around you, bringing you to his lap. Syvaris chuckled as he let you roam your hands over his wide chest. A passionate make-out followed where he prepped you with his long fingers in your wet cunt. The next thing you knew in the lust-filled blur was him having switched your positions to have your back pushed against a rock as he stretched your cunt taut, and he sunk into your warmth. Syvaris seemed determined to ruin you for any man after him with the way he rammed into you. Syvaris continued to shower you in praise as his lips caressed your sweat-laced skin, and with every kiss, every whisper, every thrust that threatened to go straight to your womb, your pussy fluttered and gripped him like a vise. Such a sweet little thing… he promises to come back for you when his journey is over, but for now he wants to stay in this moment for as long as he can, holding tight to you as he digs his claws into the rock holding you as he fills you with his cum. You won't be able to forget him… especially not when you're going to be leaking him for days…

You are stuck in your reverie as you look out into the cool waters. You were meant to be down here to wash laundry in the stream, but when you look in the distance, you see that same place where you shared your night with your hero. Syvaris had left with a promise to return, and you knew deep down it was true… but you still worried…. "Are those bear scratches?" one of the girls with her own basket says in shock, part of you has half a mind to confess… but you keep Syvaris and your secret tight to your chest. 

[sainzsiren]

"i never was the best to you"

asshole!luke castellan x daughterofposiden!reader

smau - luke and y/n dated but and he never treated her right. he wants to fix things, but it's too late (luke is terrible in this fair warning)

🎧 - best by gracie abrams

a/n: hi guys! thank you so much for 500 likes on my first post! thats absolutely wild. i hope you guys like this! lmk if there's something you want next (also i kinda hate the ending of this so sorry if the second half sucks)

*swearing, not checked so there might be mistakes*

--------------------------------------------------------

liked by larueclarisse, silenaaaa, and others

yn_yln chicks before dicks

view comments:

silenaaaa i love you

yn_yln thanks for getting my mind off things sel ❤️

larueclarisse HOT

liked by author

larueclarisse emphasis on DICK

percy.jackson i second that

yn_yln y'all chill 😭

larueclarisse no i might kill him later

percy.jackson i'll help

larueclarisse we ride at dawn

hi_imtyson i miss my sister

yn_yln miss you too big guy

whosannabeth my favorite

yn_yln 🤍

rachel.edare GIRLS NIGHTTTT

yn_yln WOOOOO 🥂🍕😘

iamchrisrodriguez oh so thats why i wasnt invited

larueclarisse chris you dumbass

_groverunderwood i think i might need to make guys night a thing

itslukecastellan yeah we could go to the city

_groverunderwood you aren't invited

percy.jackson where are you i just want to talk

larueclarisse YOU'RE BRAVE TO BE IN HER COMMENTS

silenaaaa fuck off luke

iamchrisrodriguez not a good choice man

whosannabeth the dumbest boy to ever live istg

rachel.edare theres no way

yn_yln he just got himself blocked 💀

larueclarisse 🦅🦅🦅🦅

percy.jackson good

silenaaaa i can practically hear him crying

iamchrisrodriguez he wants you to unblock him

rachel.edare DONT

larueclarisse DONT

whosannabeth DONT

_groverunderwood DONT

itslukecastellan's story

view reply from larueclarisse:

larueclarisse i hate you 😊

view reply from percy.jackson:

percy.jackson using her favorite artist against her is too far

view reply from iamchrisrodriguez:

iamchrisrodriguez yet another dumb decision

itslukecastellan is just want her to know how i feel

iamchrisrodriguez not the way to do it

iamchrisrodriguez also she blocked you so she wont see this dummy

iamchrisrodriguez nvm clarisse showed her and she said y/n is even more pissed

view reply from whosannabeth:

whosannabeth do you even know what resent means

itslukecastellam beth how do i fix this

whosannabeth 🤷‍♀️

yn_yln's story

view reply from iamchrisrodriguez:

iamchrisrodriguez: y/n/n i'm so sorry. i should've listened to you and told the truth. i should have never put you in a position where you felt like i would choose someone else over you. every time i see you walk by i want to reach out and hold you like i should have held you that night. i love you. please give me a second chance. yours, luke

yn_yln lmao no. don't call it "making me feel like you would choose someone else over me" just call it cheating you dickhead

view reply from larueclarisse:

larueclarisse real bc what is he on

yn_yln HE MESSAGED ME FROM CHRIS'S PHONE

larueclarisse WHAT

larueclarisse WHAT DID HE SAY

yn_yln sent a screnshot

larueclarisse he acts like he gave you a papercut when he CHEATED (percy saw the screenshot and is on his way to find him rn)

yn_yln oop

[eyrieofsynapses]

why Aurora's art is genius

It's break for me, and I've been meaning to sit down and read the Aurora webcomic (https://comicaurora.com/, @comicaurora on Tumblr) for quite a bit. So I did that over the last few days.

And… y'know. I can't actually say "I should've read this earlier," because otherwise I would've been up at 2:30-3am when I had responsibilities in the morning and I couldn't have properly enjoyed it, but. Holy shit guys THIS COMIC.

I intended to just do a generalized "hello this is all the things I love about this story," and I wrote a paragraph or two about art style. …and then another. And another. And I realized I needed to actually reference things so I would stop being too vague. I was reading the comic on my tablet or phone, because I wanted to stay curled up in my chair, but I type at a big monitor and so I saw more details… aaaaaand it turned into its own giant-ass post.

SO. Enjoy a few thousand words of me nerding out about this insanely cool art style and how fucking gorgeous this comic is? (There are screenshots, I promise it isn't just a wall of text.) In my defense, I just spent two semesters in graphic design classes focusing on the Adobe Suite, so… I get to be a nerd about pretty things…???

All positive feedback btw! No downers here. <3

---

I cannot emphasize enough how much I love the beautiful, simple stylistic method of drawing characters and figures. It is absolutely stunning and effortless and utterly graceful—it is so hard to capture the sheer beauty and fluidity of the human form in such a fashion. Even a simple outline of a character feels dynamic! It's gorgeous!

Though I do have a love-hate relationship with this, because my artistic side looks at that lovely simplicity, goes "I CAN DO THAT!" and then I sit down and go to the paper and realize that no, in fact, I cannot do that yet, because that simplicity is born of a hell of a lot of practice and understanding of bodies and actually is really hard to do. It's a very developed style that only looks simple because the artist knows what they're doing. The human body is hard to pull off, and this comic does so beautifully and makes it look effortless.

Also: line weight line weight line weight. It's especially important in simplified shapes and figures like this, and hoo boy is it used excellently. It's especially apparent the newer the pages get—I love watching that improvement over time—but with simpler figures and lines, you get nice light lines to emphasize both smaller details, like in the draping of clothing and the curls of hair—which, hello, yes—and thicker lines to emphasize bigger and more important details and silhouettes. It's the sort of thing that's essential to most illustrations, but I wanted to make a note of it because it's so vital to this art style.

THE USE OF LAYER BLENDING MODES OH MY GODS. (...uhhh, apologies to the people who don't know what that means, it's a digital art program thing? This article explains it for beginners.)

Bear with me, I just finished my second Photoshop course, I spent months and months working on projects with this shit so I see the genius use of Screen and/or its siblings (of which there are many—if I say "Screen" here, assume I mean the entire umbrella of Screen blending modes and possibly Overlay) and go nuts, but seriously it's so clever and also fucking gorgeous:

Firstly: the use of screened-on sound effect words over an action? A "CRACK" written over a branch and then put on Screen in glowy green so that it's subtle enough that it doesn't disrupt the visual flow, but still sticks out enough to make itself heard? Little "scritches" that are transparent where they're laid on without outlines to emphasize the sound without disrupting the underlying image? FUCK YES. I haven't seen this done literally anywhere else—granted, I haven't read a massive amount of comics, but I've read enough—and it is so clever and I adore it. Examples:

Secondly: The beautiful lighting effects. The curling leaves, all the magic, the various glowing eyes, the fog, the way it's all so vividly colored but doesn't burn your eyeballs out—a balance that's way harder to achieve than you'd think—and the soft glows around them, eeeee it's so pretty so pretty SO PRETTY. Not sure if some of these are Outer/Inner Glow/Shadow layer effects or if it's entirely hand-drawn, but major kudos either way; I can see the beautiful use of blending modes and I SALUTE YOUR GENIUS.

I keep looking at some of this stuff and go "is that a layer effect or is it done by hand?" Because you can make some similar things with the Satin layer effect in Photoshop (I don't know if other programs have this? I'm gonna have to find out since I won't have access to PS for much longer ;-;) that resembles some of the swirly inner bits on some of the lit effects, but I'm not sure if it is that or not. Or you could mask over textures? There's... many ways to do it.

If done by hand: oh my gods the patience, how. If done with layer effects: really clever work that knows how to stop said effects from looking wonky, because ugh those things get temperamental. If done with a layer of texture that's been masked over: very, very good masking work. No matter the method, pretty shimmers and swirly bits inside the bigger pretty swirls!

Next: The way color contrast is used! I will never be over the glowy green-on-black Primordial Life vibes when Alinua gets dropped into that… unconscious space?? with Life, for example, and the sharp contrast of vines and crack and branches and leaves against pitch black is just visually stunning. The way the roots sink into the ground and the three-dimensional sensation of it is particularly badass here:

Friggin. How does this imply depth like that. HOW. IT'S SO FREAKING COOL.

A huge point here is also color language and use! Everybody has their own particular shade, generally matching their eyes, magic, and personality, and I adore how this is used to make it clear who's talking or who's doing an action. That was especially apparent to me with Dainix and Falst in the caves—their colors are both fairly warm, but quite distinct, and I love how this clarifies who's doing what in panels with a lot of action from both of them. There is a particular bit that stuck out to me, so I dug up the panels (see this page and the following one https://comicaurora.com/aurora/1-20-30/):

(Gods it looks even prettier now that I put it against a plain background. Also, appreciation to Falst for managing a bridal-carry midair, damn.)

The way that their colors MERGE here! And the immense attention to detail in doing so—Dainix is higher up than Falst is in the first panel, so Dainix's orange fades into Falst's orange at the base. The next panel has gold up top and orange on bottom; we can't really tell in that panel where each of them are, but that's carried over to the next panel—

—where we now see that Falst's position is raised above Dainix's due to the way he's carrying him. (Points for continuity!) And, of course, we see the little "huffs" flowing from orange to yellow over their heads (where Dainix's head is higher than Falst's) to merge the sound of their breathing, which is absurdly clever because it emphasizes to the viewer how we hear two sets of huffing overlaying each other, not one. Absolutely brilliant.

(A few other notes of appreciation to that panel: beautiful glows around them, the sparks, the jagged silhouette of the spider legs, the lovely colors that have no right to make the area around a spider corpse that pretty, the excellent texturing on the cave walls plus perspective, the way Falst's movements imply Dainix's hefty weight, the natural posing of the characters, their on-point expressions that convey exactly how fuckin terrifying everything is right now, the slight glows to their eyes, and also they're just handsome boys <3)

Next up: Rain!!!! So well done! It's subtle enough that it never ever disrupts the impact of the focal point, but evident enough you can tell! And more importantly: THE MIST OFF THE CHARACTERS. Rain does this irl, it has that little vapor that comes off you and makes that little misty effect that plays with lighting, it's so cool-looking and here it's used to such pretty effect!

One of the panel captions says something about it blurring out all the injuries on the characters but like THAT AIN'T TOO BIG OF A PROBLEM when it gets across the environmental vibes, and also that'd be how it would look in real life too so like… outside viewer's angle is the same as the characters', mostly? my point is: that's the environment!!! that's the vibes, that's the feel! It gets it across and it does so in the most pretty way possible!

And another thing re: rain, the use of it to establish perspective, particularly in panels like this—

—where we can tell we're looking down at Tynan due to the perspective on the rain and where it's pointing. Excellent. (Also, kudos for looking down and emphasizing how Tynan's losing his advantage—lovely use of visual storytelling.)

Additionally, the misting here:

We see it most heavily in the leftmost panel, where it's quite foggy as you would expect in a rainstorm, especially in an environment with a lot of heat, but it's also lightly powdered on in the following two panels and tends to follow light sources, which makes complete sense given how light bounces off particles in the air.

A major point of strength in these too is a thorough understanding of lighting, like rim lighting, the various hues and shades, and an intricate understanding of how light bounces off surfaces even when they're in shadow (we'll see a faint glow in spots where characters are half in shadow, but that's how it would work in real life, because of how light bounces around).

Bringing some of these points together: the fluidity of the lines in magic, and the way simple glowing lines are used to emphasize motion and the magic itself, is deeply clever. I'm basically pulling at random from panels and there's definitely even better examples, but here's one (see this page https://comicaurora.com/aurora/1-16-33/):

First panel, listed in numbers because these build on each other:

The tension of the lines in Tess's magic here. This works on a couple levels: first, the way she's holding her fists, as if she's pulling a rope taut.

The way there's one primary line, emphasizing the rope feeling, accompanied by smaller ones.

The additional lines starbursting around her hands, to indicate the energy crackling in her hands and how she's doing a good bit more than just holding it. (That combined with the fists suggests some tension to the magic, too.) Also the variations in brightness, a feature you'll find in actual lightning. :D Additional kudos for how the lightning sparks and breaks off the metal of the sword.

A handful of miscellaneous notes on the second panel:

The reflection of the flames in Erin's typically dark blue eyes (which bears a remarkable resemblance to Dainix, incidentally—almost a thematic sort of parallel given Erin's using the same magic Dainix specializes in?)

The flowing of fabric in the wind and associated variation in the lineart

The way Erin's tattoos interact with the fire he's pulling to his hand

The way the rain overlays some of the fainter areas of fire (attention! to! detail! hell yeah!)

I could go on. I won't because this is a lot of writing already.

Third panel gets paragraphs, not bullets:

Erin's giant-ass "FWOOM" of fire there, and the way the outline of the word is puffy-edged and gradated to feel almost three-dimensional, plus once again using Screen or a variation on it so that the stars show up in the background. All this against that stunning plume of fire, which ripples and sparks so gorgeously, and the ending "om" of the onomatopoeia is emphasized incredibly brightly against that, adding to the punch of it and making the plume feel even brighter.

Also, once again, rain helping establish perspective, especially in how it's very angular in the left side of the panel and then slowly becomes more like a point to the right to indicate it's falling directly down on the viewer. Add in the bright, beautiful glow effects, fainter but no less important black lines beneath them to emphasize the sky and smoke and the like, and the stunningly beautiful lighting and gradated glows surrounding Erin plus the lightning jagging up at him from below, and you get one hell of an impactful panel right there. (And there is definitely more in there I could break down, this is just a lot already.)

And in general: The colors in this? Incredible. The blues and purples and oranges and golds compliment so well, and it's all so rich.

Like, seriously, just throughout the whole comic, the use of gradients, blending modes, color balance and hues, all the things, all the things, it makes for the most beautiful effects and glows and such a rich environment. There's a very distinct style to this comic in its simplified backgrounds (which I recognize are done partly because it's way easier and also backgrounds are so time-consuming dear gods but lemme say this) and vivid, smoothly drawn characters; the simplicity lets them come to the front and gives room for those beautiful, richly saturated focal points, letting the stylized designs of the magic and characters shine. The use of distinct silhouettes is insanely good. Honestly, complex backgrounds might run the risk of making everything too visually busy in this case. It's just, augh, so GORGEOUS.

Another bit, take a look at this page (https://comicaurora.com/aurora/1-15-28/):

It's not quite as evident here as it is in the next page, but this one does some other fun things so I'm grabbing it. Points:

Once again, using different colors to represent different character actions. The "WHAM" of Kendal hitting the ground is caused by Dainix's force, so it's orange (and kudos for doubling the word over to add a shake effect). But we see blue layered underneath, which could be an environmental choice, but might also be because it's Kendal, whose color is blue.

And speaking off, take a look at the right-most panel on top, where Kendal grabs the spear: his motion is, again, illustrated in bright blue, versus the atmospheric screened-on orange lines that point toward him around the whole panel (I'm sure these have a name, I think they might be more of a manga thing though and the only experience I have in manga is reading a bit of Fullmetal Alchemist). Those lines emphasize the weight of the spear being shoved at him, and their color tells us Dainix is responsible for it.

One of my all-time favorite effects in this comic is the way cracks manifest across Dainix's body to represent when he starts to lose control; it is utterly gorgeous and wonderfully thematic. These are more evident in the page before and after this one, but you get a decent idea here. I love the way they glow softly, the way the fire juuuust flickers through at the start and then becomes more evident over time, and the cracks feel so realistic, like his skin is made of pottery. Additional points for how fire begins to creep into his hair.

A small detail that's generally consistent across the comic, but which I want to make note of here because you can see it pretty well: Kendal's eyes glow about the same as the jewel in his sword, mirroring his connection to said sword and calling back to how the jewel became Vash's eye temporarily and thus was once Kendal's eye. You can always see this connection (though there might be some spots where this also changes in a symbolic manner; I went through it quickly on the first time around, so I'll pay more attention when I inevitably reread this), where Kendal's always got that little shine of blue in his eyes the same as the jewel. It's a beautiful visual parallel that encourages the reader to subconsciously link them together, especially since the lines used to illustrate character movements typically mirror their eye color. It's an extension of Kendal.

Did I mention how ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL the colors in this are?

Also, the mythological/legend-type scenes are illustrated in familiar style often used for that type of story, a simple and heavily symbolic two-dimensional cave-painting-like look. They are absolutely beautiful on many levels, employing simple, lovely gradients, slightly rougher and thicker lineart that is nonetheless smoothly beautiful, and working with clear silhouettes (a major strength of this art style, but also a strength in the comic overall). But in particular, I wanted to call attention to a particular thing (see this page https://comicaurora.com/aurora/1-12-4/):

The flowing symbolic lineart surrounding each character. This is actually quite consistent across characters—see also Life's typical lines and how they curl:

What's particularly interesting here is how these symbols are often similar, but not the same. Vash's lines are always smooth, clean curls, often playing off each other and echoing one another like ripples in a pond. You'd think they'd look too similar to Life's—but they don't. Life's curl like vines, and they remain connected; where one curve might echo another but exist entirely detached from each other in Vash's, Life's lines still remain wound together, because vines are continuous and don't float around. :P

Tahraim's are less continuous, often breaking up with significantly smaller bits and pieces floating around like—of course—sparks, and come to sharper points. These are also constants: we see the vines repeated over and over in Alinua's dreams of Life, and the echoing ripples of Vash are consistent wherever we encounter him. Kendal's dream of the ghost citizens of the city of Vash in the last few chapters is filled with these rippling, echoing patterns, to beautiful effect (https://comicaurora.com/aurora/1-20-14/):

They ripple and spiral, often in long, sinuous curves, with smooth elegance. It reminds me a great deal of images of space and sine waves and the like. This establishes a definite feel to these different characters and their magic. And the thing is, that's not something that had to be done—the colors are good at emphasizing who's who. But it was done, and it adds a whole other dimension to the story. Whenever you're in a deity's domain, you know whose it is no matter the color.

Regarding that shape language, I wanted to make another note, too—Vash is sometimes described as chaotic and doing what he likes, which is interesting to me, because smooth, elegant curves and the color blue aren't generally associated with chaos. So while Vash might behave like that on the surface, I'm guessing he's got a lot more going on underneath; he's probably much more intentional in his actions than you'd think at a glance, and he is certainly quite caring with his city. The other thing is that this suits Kendal perfectly. He's a paragon character; he is kind, virtuous, and self-sacrificing, and often we see him aiming to calm others and keep them safe. Blue is such a good color for him. There is… probably more to this, but I'm not deep enough in yet to say.

And here's the thing: I'm only scratching the surface. There is so much more here I'm not covering (color palettes! outfits! character design! environment! the deities! so much more!) and a lot more I can't cover, because I don't have the experience; this is me as a hobbyist artist who happened to take a couple design classes because I wanted to. The art style to this comic is so clever and creative and beautiful, though, I just had to go off about it. <3

...brownie points for getting all the way down here? Have a cookie.

[leclerc-s]

karma - part eight

series masterlist // previous // next

redbullracing and natalia_leclerc posted new stories

a very special guest here at imola 🐾🐶 baby leo meeting auntie lily and auntie kika for the first time 📸 - francesca.cgomes

liked by natalia_leclerc, sukiwaterhouse, bensantos_ruiz and others

redbullracing pre-race vs post race at imola (charles' version)

tagged: charles_leclerc

view all comments

charles_leclerc QUICK SOMEONE SCREENSHOT THIS SHOWING SUKI LIKES ME BEFORE SHE UNLIKES IT!!

sukiwaterhouse it was a slip of the finger lechair charles_leclerc 🫵 caught lacking in 4k!!!

maxverstappen1 where's my version??

redbullracing slow your bulls mr. verstappen, it's coming charles_leclerc you just can't compete with my pretty face. maxverstappen1 they're using you for likes klootzak redbullracing what can we say, the italians love charles leclerc charles_leclerc WOW!! I'M TELLING KIMI! redbullracing boss-man said, 'i don't care. stop bothering me.'

user1 they way the stands were decked in ferrari red but they were chanting and screaming for charles will forever be engraved in my brain

user2 as an italian myself, we may not support red bull but we will 100% throw hands for charles user3 amen sister

user4 the italians once again proven that they will never not be normal about charles leclerc.

olliebearman to quote arthur, 'he's on that king shit’ ❤︎ by redbullracing, natalia_leclerc, sebastianvettel and other

user5 not seb liking that 😂 user6 that's his surrogate son. he'll support when he can.

landonorris i think this might be the first time i've stood on the italian podium and they've cheered so loud for a non-ferrari driver

georgerussell63 haven't you heard? he's their princess diana. alex_albon the italians are feral for charles leclerc charles_leclerc what can i say, i'm just that likeable. carlossainz55 that's debatable landonorris no, please don't do this. i can't be involved in this. natalia_leclerc I KNOW YOUR JOBLESS ASS ISN'T TALKING BITCH!! sukiwaterhouse only i can bully charles! bensantos_ruiz so now that you've lost your seat this is the tactic you're going to use? very mature carlos. carlossainz55 when your brother-in-law can stop hiding behind your 'father' and his little guard dog, i'll be mature. bensantos_ruiz i know the man who constantly hides behind his father and family name isn't fucking talking. it would just be a shame if someone (me) spilled all the gossip on your family, like that pr girlfriend of yours. i know you also didn't insinuate my sister was a bitch, when you're the biggest one of them all.

natalia leclerc added four people

natalia leclerc welcome my children

natalia leclerc + charles

oscar piastri-leclerc oh so he was serious about the adoption thing?

ollie bearman-leclerc they never joke about anything. i told them i didn't want to stay in my hotel for the monaco grand prix weekend and suddenly i'm staying the week with them. charles leclerc you said, 'the bed is going to fuck up my back. it sucks.' charles leclerc and so like the responsible parents we are, we invited you to stay with us.

logan sargeant-leclerc oscar picked the most unserious couple to be his grid parents.

natalia leclerc you're apart of this too florida boy

logan sargeant-leclerc i have grid parents now?? what about jenson??

ollie bearman-leclerc this also means you've gained grid grandpas (nat's dad and a secret second one iykyk) and grid uncles (nat's brother, enzo, and arthur) charles leclerc jenson doesn't count because he's not on the grid anymore. he's like your adopted dad.

ollie bearman-leclerc like seb is with you?

charles leclerc OLIVER!

natalia leclerc no, no, let him speak!! he's right, even my dad think so too!!

oscar piastri-leclerc yeah, even logan and i know that charles

logan sargeant-leclerc this is like oscar denying that mark is his grid dad, or does that not count because mark's not on the grid?

ollie bearman-leclerc see, oscar can't even deny that, we ALL know it's true. ollie bearman-leclerc we've been over this logan, mark is his adopted dad. like jenson is with you. duh.

charles leclerc sebastian is not my grid dad

natalia leclerc charlie, you do not want to start this argument

charles leclerc NAME ONE TIME!!

ollie bearman-leclerc yesterday when sebastian reminded you to have breakfast because you ALWAYS forget natalia leclerc today when sebastian came over with lunch because we didn't have any groceries. natalia leclerc which, for the record we did, but you told me, 'no amour, stay in bed. we can cuddle and order in food.' oscar piastri-leclerc during bahrain when you complained how thirsty you were and seb handed you like three water bottles. logan sargeant-leclerc in australia when you said in an interview that you could go for some tim-tams after the race and seb came back with like 5 packages. oscar piastri-leclerc SEBASTIAN WAS THE ONE WHO STOLE MY TIM-TAMS? FOR CHARLES?

natalia leclerc shall we continue??

charles leclerc non, i get your point.

logan sargeant-leclerc next time make sure we don't have receipts.

oscar piastri-leclerc your other grid parent is lewis, no i will not elaborate.

ollie bearman-leclerc i will. i saw the tweets. kimi giggled when people said he was the brocedes divorce child. so technically you have a half-brother charles leclerc ollie, what on earth are you going on about now?

natalia leclerc obviously the f1 family tree? that we helped start after suki started the rumor that we had a secret child aka oscar

oscar piastri-leclerc so why the heck was i not adopted sooner? i was already being called your child charles leclerc that's because nat kept talking about you to suki and riley when you two met back in 2020.

logan sargeant-leclerc so by association edward cullen knows who oscar is?

ollie bearman-leclerc oh my god, that is so not fair

oscar piastri-leclerc i can't believe you guys care so much about twilight

natalia leclerc it's peak cinema oscar!!

oscar piastri-leclerc that's debatable ollie bearman-leclerc it is not! name another movie soundtrack that hits like crack just like twilight does

charles leclerc were you even born when the first twilight movie came out?

ollie bearman-leclerc i was 3 but that doesn't matter charles! logan sargeant-leclerc i just googled it, and i would've been a month away from turning 8. so how the fuck do you know the release date off the top of your head oliver? ollie bearman-leclerc that's not important logan!

natalia leclerc i will not stand for this twilight slander oscar. i'm calling a movie night. and we're watching twilight

oscar piastri-leclerc can't we watch harry potter instead? i prefer that over twilight.

charles leclerc ME TOO!!

ollie bearman-leclerc this is why suki hates you charles... and nothing will ever top the twilight soundtrack

logan sargeant-leclerc dare i say the hunger games?

ollie bearman-leclerc OH MY GOD! HOW COULD I FORGET??

natalia leclerc and now he's going to talk about how gale should've died instead of finnick for the next 45 minutes. sam had the riveting experience of through a ollie yap session about the hunger games.

logan sargeant-leclerc he's not wrong!! charles leclerc what??

ollie bearman-leclerc FATHER HASN'T SEEN THE HUNGER GAMES??

ollie bearman-leclerc this is embarrassing, we can no longer be related.

charles leclerc I'M SORRY I WAS BUSY RACING AS A TEENAGER OLIVER!!

natalia leclerc booo 🍅🍅!!!

oscar piastri-leclerc something tells me charles lives in a harry potter bubble

natalia leclerc you'd be correct. he was OBSESSED growing up.

charles leclerc lies. i was not obsessed.

logan sargeant-leclerc based on the fact that i can google you and harry potter and find multiple videos of you talking about harry potter and multiple pictures of you in harry potter costumes or poses. i would say, yes, you were obsessed.

natalia leclerc does george still have the picture??

charles leclerc DO NOT SPEAK OF THAT PICTURE!!

ollie bearman-leclerc well no the curiosity is killing me, what is this picture we are speaking of?

charles leclerc mon cœur, please don't do this. natalia leclerc ollie it's the greatest picture ever. i swear you'll love it. i just have to convince george to send it to me. oscar piastri-leclerc i, too, am now curious as to what this picture even is logan sargeant-leclerc my curiosity has also been peaked.

charles leclerc i've been betrayed by my own wife and kids

liam lawson changed ollie bearman's name to ollie bearman-leclerc

ollie bearman-leclerc LMAOOOOOO!!! LEO JUST BIT CHARLES FOR BEING NEAR NAT!!

ollie bearman-leclerc IJBOL!!!

sebastian vettel what the heck do those letters even mean?

liam lawson laughing my ass off and i just bust out laughing

sebastian vettel kids these days will be the death of me.

max verstappen leo is making me proud.

charles leclerc you're just mad that the admins love me more than you.

daniel ricciardo that's because one of you loves media and the other doesn't.

natalia leclerc i don't even know why leo even bit charles.

arthur leclerc ah, this reminds me of the time charles threatened to bite nat's ex-boyfriend.

charles leclerc literally shut up?

yuki tsunoda like father like son

ollie bearman-leclerc i would never bite someone yuki!

ollie bearman-leclerc my brothers logan and oscar would also never do this. i think.

max verstappen you were serious about that?!

charles leclerc of course, they are my sons.

natalia leclerc congrats seb, you're a grandpa of 4!

ollie bearman-leclerc and step-dad of 1 if we count kimi!

ollie bearman-leclerc antonelli not our team principle.

sebastian vettel i really don't want to know

daniel ricciardo trust me, as someone who went down the f1 twitter rabbit hole, you really don't want to know.

liam lawson don't worry seb, we'll ask george to make a presentation so you can understand.

sebastian vettel please don't.

ollie bearman-leclerc too late grandpa.

kimi räikkönen HA!

natalia leclerc added 5+ people

natalia leclerc welcome people. i'm pregnant. goodbye.

mark webber why the hell am i here? and how did she get my number?

oscar piastri-leclerc jeez i wonder who could've possibly given her your number.

ben santos-ruiz please tell me charles already knew and this isn't how he found out.

max verstappen based on the way he looks i'm going to say no.

ollie bearman-leclerc I'M GOING TO BE A BROTHER?!

mark webber who's going to tell him? santiago ruiz don't you fucking dare webber. sebastian vettel leave him alone mark.

jenson button congrats?? i'm so confused.

charles leclerc WHERE IS MY WIFE??

oscar piastri-leclerc depends do i get to pass you into turn one tomorrow?? charles leclerc OSCAR JACK PIASTRI-LECLERC!! WHERE IS MY WIFE?

jenson button oh my god. this is the most drama i've been involved in recent years. i love this

ollie bearman-leclerc that's a lie because according to twitter you hate danica patrick. jenson button hate is such a strong word, it's more like dispise.

oscar piastri-leclerc i, hypothetically, saw her run past mclaren and into the mercedes garage.

charles leclerc LEWIS!

lewis hamilton i'm not a snitch.

max verstappen we are now down a driver. i repeat we are down a driver. he just disappeared.

oscar piastri-leclerc maybe i can win tomorrow now.

charles leclerc i hope carlos rams into you tomorrow logan sargeant-leclerc that's not very live, laugh, love of you charles. ollie bearman-leclerc 😧😧

jenson button wait, did she just find out that's she's pregnant?

natalia leclerc well, leo bit charles the other day which i was telling pascale, suki, and riley about and then i started talking about how i was really craving some stroopwafels and my plans to sneak into max's drivers room to steal some, which is weird.

mark webber why is that weird? santiago ruiz she hates stroopwafels... max verstappen which i think is blasphemy, but whatever.

natalia leclerc THEN! i started talking about how emotional i've been lately and how i hate the way fish smells, which is a bummer because i love eating fish.

charles leclerc WHERE THE HELL DID YOU GO?

natalia leclerc AND! according to suki, who just had a baby a few months ago, i was experiencing pregnancy symptoms, so we sent someone out to get a couple pregnancy tests, i took them, and voila!

charles leclerc WOMAN! WHERE ARE YOU?! THIS ISN'T FUNNY!!

logan sargeant-leclerc as apart of my mission of dethroning leo as the favorite child, i come to report she is with lily in alex's driver room, carmen is also with them.

benjamin santos-ruiz natalia, i swear to god if you move from where you're at

natalia leclerc 🫡 staying put, got it.

santiago ruiz i swear i did a better job at raising them.

sebastian vettel we know, they just met charles and went off the walls.

charles leclerc THIS ISN'T MY FAULT.

lewis hamilton kill me now.

ollie bearman no can do grandpa

lewis hamilton i don't think i like you very much bearman. ollie bearman 😧😧

liked by natalia_leclerc, logansargeant, olliebearman and others

redbullracing people of the internet, we present to you, your 2024 monaco grand prix winner. CHARLES LECLERC DOES IT!! oh, and did we mention it was a leclerc double podium?

tagged: charles_leclerc, arthur_leclerc, oscarpiastri

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bensantos_ruiz before someone, the sainz family, says that my dad hates charles or something, please let it be known that my dad hasn't stopped crying since charles won.

maxverstappen1 favoritism, yet again.

redbullracing listen sir, you've got multiple wins in monaco charles_leclerc yeah max, let me shine! maxverstappen1 no ❤️ people will accuse me of going soft. oscarpiastri this coming from the man who cried last night when he realized charles was going to win monaco? liamlawson40 i can't defend you anymore max. danielricciardo YOU WERE THE FIRST ONE TO MAKE FUN OF HIM!!! liamlawson40 eh potato, potahto!

sukiwaterhouse i guess i'm proud of you or whatever

natalia_leclerc you literally cried with me. charles_leclerc admit it, you actually like me! sukiwaterhouse you're growing on me like mold charles_leclerc i'll take it!!

fernandoalo_oficial felicitaciones charles!!

user7 and i guess this is all the conformation we needed to know fernando was team charles and not team carlos user8 please, this old man has been on charles side since he said, 'it is frustrating to give your everything to a team only for you to get nothing in return.' user9 fernando was a lecfosi confirmed.

user10 ABOUT FUCKING TIME THEY GAVE HIM THE WIN HE DESERVED!!

natalia_leclerc words don't even begin to describe how proud i am of you 💙

charles_leclerc je t'aime tellement 💙💙 bensantos_ruiz believe me, he's well aware. the fact that he kissed you with tears running down your face and snot on your nose amazes me. natalia_leclerc the snot part is not fucking true! oscarpiastri slander on mother will not be tolerated olliebearman dishonor on you! dishonor on your cow! logansargeant what they said! bensantos_ruiz oh my god

mrsamclaflin congrats charles!

charles_leclerc thank you sam! olliebearman JUSTICE FOR FINNICK! logansargeant ollie no!

user11 RED BULL MANAGED TO DO WHAT B*NOTTO FAILED TO DO!!

user12 s*inz family found screaming in a ditch somewhere. ♥ by ben_santosruiz, natalia_leclerc, olliebearman and others

user13 the family that likes shady comments stays together user12 currently screaming because they liked my comment but also so true bestie.

natalia_leclerc, bensantos_ruiz, and olliebearman posted new stories

post monaco win duties ❣️ mon amour is a monaco grand prix winner brother is going to regret this tomorrow so much 😂 enjoy it charlie, you only win monaco for the first time once this is not appropriate behavior to have in front of your children!

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¡leclerc-s speaks! i actually don’t know what i’m doing with this story but i’m having so much fun with it either way. the plot of the fic was lost long ago. fun fact: originally i was going to go with a post monaco pregnancy but that was too corny so i decided, what if she just finds out on quali day instead to add to the humor. logan, oscar, and pato are my pookies and i will find a way to include them in any story.

¡disclaimer! this is in no way making assumptions about the people involved in this story, this is all fake. it is a fanfiction please don't take any of what is said seriously. this is all for entertainment purposes and as a creative outlet for me. enjoy!

[romchat]

The Time of Fever (Ep. 1-3) visual analysis: The Metamorphosis

Ho-tae: "I woke up to find myself transformed into a monstrous insect, lying in bed"...What is this? A story about a guy turning into a bug? Dong-hee: If I turned into a bug one day, would I still be Kim Dong-hee or just a bug?

From this piece of dialogue and the cinematography alone I know The Time of Fever is going to cause me a lot of pain. The only way to describe its style is palpable.

The moment our two main characters, Kim Dong-hee and Go Ho-tae, appear together, we can see the friction and unnamed longing between them.

Notice how often the first episode uses shots with three distinct compositional layers to provide depth and complexity to the relationships portrayed on screen:

In most of these shots, the composition places Dong-hee in the background with Ho-tae on another layer completely--they're distant and never quite aligned on what they want out of the relationship. Despite how these two characters were brought together by their mothers' friendship--I love how the second screenshot uses their bodies in the foreground to frame Dong-hee and Ho-tae--it's that very connection that also creates a wall between them. Although Ho-tae is excited about rekindling their friendship after moving away two years prior, Dong-hee doesn't want to betray his aunt's trust by admitting his romantic feelings for him.

And so he recedes into the background, alone and inscrutable.

The fact that Dong-hee also compares himself to Gregor from Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis hits like a sucker punch.

Like Gregor, Dong-hee lives a sort of transient and almost functionalist lifestyle. After being kicked out of his home by his abusive father, he focuses on his school work and trying to get by. He is isolated and his queer awakening only makes him feel more disoriented and misunderstood--he feels like Gregor in his insect form.

And yet we still see moments where he allows himself to yearn for something more and how Ho-tae begins to do the same.

(Side Note: I love love love the show's use of backlighting to highlight the lines of the actors' bodies. It's so simple but intimate and erotic as if the camera is acting like Dong-hee's artist-eye trying to memorize Ho-tae's muscular beauty.)

One of my favorite stylistic choices of The Time of Fever is how it uses close-ups to represent the characters' subjective POV and desire.

Like Dong-hee's sketches, these shots are the fragments of everyday life that are so small yet feel oh so significant while on the path towards self-discovery.

They're gloriously tactile, the shallow depth of field eliminating extraneous detail, allowing us to experience the heady excitement of accidentally grazing your crush's skin or looking into their eyes during a rainstorm.

I don't think I've seen desire that achingly displayed in a hot minute.

And so it makes sense that as Ho-tae begins to undergo his own metamorphosis and understand his own feelings, we see more and more visual parallelism in how their desire manifests.

(Side Note: The second screenshot above is such a gorgeous shot. That inky black negative space not only showcases Ho-tae's gaze at Dong-hee's lips but also his reaction to the realization that hits him. Great 2 for 1.)

I can't wait to see what visual storytelling the next three episodes bring.

[avionvadion]

When your dragon neighbor calls you to talk to him, and your character end ups standing on the stone bench you put there to make the area look pretty... pffft. All I can think of is maybe my character wanted to be closer to eyelevel, so she stood on the bench to look at Caldarus properly. Lol.

I need this game to let me toss a blanket over him when it snows. Hmmm. Maybe torches are a thing you can craft later. Place 'em around him so he can stay toasty in the winter. Caldarus, bestie, I got you! I'll figure something out.

I love him so much. T_T

(These next few screenshots are older, you can tell by the single cherry tree, but yeeeeee)

Also, HE'S A SPRING BABY.

I. LOVE. HIM. SO MUCH.

(Okay, back to the more recent screenshots)

Oh, frick, EILAND'S ONTO US, CALDARUS.

I'll have you know I've been playing farm sims since I was, like, five, March. I know exactly what I'm doing. I've been jumping fences since Harvest Moon: Save the Homeland. The swimming bit and magic is new, but FIGHT ME, MARCH. The second blue cows are unlocked and my man Caldarus is no longer a statue, I will be unstoppable.

[babyangelsky]

My Favorite Expressions in Love Sea Ep. 6

Every week I think I cannot possibly be having a better time with this show than I already am and every week I'm proven wrong. I LOVE IT HERE AND I'M HAVING A GREAT TIME!

Well Mut, I suffer from this condition as well. It's called Permanent Heart Eyes and it's incurable.

This is such a universal expression. Anyone who has ever watched someone they love eat something they cooked for them and enjoy it has made this face. Food is the greatest love language of them all.

Also, very pleasantly surprised to learn that Tongrak is a leftovers girly. I didn't expect him to be and now I love him even more.

Peat really has mastered the shift from 🥺 to 🥰. He does it a lot this episode and it barely takes him a full second each time, I love it.

When I tell you I COULD. NOT. LOVE. THIS. MAN. MORE. We only see him in profile when he delivers the last part of this line but this is a delightfully murderous expression. If I don't get a scene of Mahasamut cussing Prin out I'm going to be so disappointed.

The utter shock at hearing that Mut wants to hear about Tongrak from him. The quiet disbelief. The relief. I can't show it in a screenshot but Tongrak breathes out when Mut says this and his shoulders relax. No one has ever given this man the courtesy of asking directly if they want to know something about him and allowing him to decide if he wants to share things and Mut does it so easily.

The way he marvels at Mahasamut as it sinks in that he gets a choice, that he gets to decide if and how much to tell is just... it's lovely and completely fucking heartbreaking at the same time.

And because he was actually given a choice, he had no choice but to open up. Mut has made him feel so safe and respected that opening up becomes easy.

"Even though they have a complete, loving family with a loving father."

Stab me, it would hurt less.

No expression but the vibe is "I didn't say you could hug me but also I'm going to cling to you for dear life and try to burrow inside of your chest".

This is another one of those scenes that could have its own dedicated post and for which I would hit the picture limit immediately because the expressions were phenomenal and numerous so I'm cutting myself off.

Would you look at that. Tongrak opened up and now we're cuddling and taking a nap inside of the bedroom no one has ever been allowed to enter. Phenomenal. I'm so proud of this sleepy kitten.

Quick, someone google "how to tell your buddy that you're his husband's best friend's new sugar baby" for Mut he's asking for a friend it's him he's the friend.

THE CUTE AGGRESSION IS ETERNAL AND RELENTLESS.

Fort does the scolded puppy face so well.

Well aren't WE a jealous little jellyfish, Khun Tongrak? He's so bitchy I love him so much.

Not pictured: him refusing to speak first when he talks to Connor even though he's the one who called and the 30 different emotions he goes through during that call.

I spy with my little eye TWO jealous lil jellyfish. What's a group of jellyfish called?

*looks*

A bloom. There's a bloom of pouty jealous jellyfish in this house. I do love when "fights" are for silly reasons and everyone involved knows they're being ridiculous.

Side note: I covet this wallpaper. I need it on one of my bedroom walls immediately.

Also, I would like to do my clown check in for the week and point out that Vivi has solid-colored textured pillows and patterned pillows on her couch but Tongrak chose to cuddle the patterned ones.

We finally got to meet Tongrak's niece Meena and oh but she's a darling, precocious little thing. I also look at Mahasamut like this but you have no business doing it, miss thing, you're a baby! Same goes for reading your uncle's novels I say as someone who started reading romance novels when I was about her age.

2.7 seconds apart. I timed it. I'm saying it every week at this point but Peat, I love everything you do with your face.

And I am very quickly growing to love everything Nina does with that cute little face, too. It's good for Meena to see her beloved uncle being so loved by the beautiful man living in his house.

I have so much more to say about Meena but that definitely will get its own post because it's not limited to her facial expressions. There's a lot to unpack in this scene and in the cafe scene with her and Mut.

I mean--do I even need to say anything? I can't wait to reblog every single gif I can find of this scene because it had me screaming into a pillow like Tongrak.

I'm reaaaaally starting to hate the 30 image photo limit because it truly is not enough to capture everything I love in this feast of a show. Prepare to be so sick of me because there WILL be more posts about this episode.

Also, if you'd like to be tagged in my weekly ramblings about micro-expressions, let me know! 💖

[delta-chan]

Thoughts about Dawntrail map six

Needless to say, very heavy spoilers beneath the read more!

I was initially a bit wary of Living Memory's telegraphed "reverse Ultima Thule" structure until I got the prompt that the scenery would be irreversibly altered at the first terminal. I panicked because like a lot of people I thought "oh nice, I'll come back here later for some nice gpose shots". That this beautiful place would have to be taken away for you to progress was almost incomprehensible to me and in that moment the genius of it clicked. It wasn't just a reverse spin on Ultima Thule's structure--it was a reverse spin that was going to back it up to an extreme.

The ephemerality of life is something FFXIV has touched on many times before, including as one of the chief themes of Endwalker. But while in Endwalker this was on a grand scale as a part of radical acceptance as a whole, Dawntrail's second half explores this idea in a more focused, intimate fashion. While the WoL has no one they are close to that they can engage with in an experience with like Erenville, Krile, and Wuk Lamat--they have the environment. And being that you're the person behind the WoL with an investment in that environment on some level the finality of moving forward hits you like a sack of bricks.

I spent a lot of time being kind of awed by this--it's a very, very solid gimmick. I sort of paused at the first prompt going "haha there's no way, right…?" before going "wait" and immediately setting out to take a bunch of quick shots. That place wasn't going to exist anymore, and I wanted a memory of it. That beautiful place--a painstakingly detailed and gorgeous bit of gpose bait if I've ever seen it--wasn't going to exist if I wanted to move on. It was… weird. I took so many nearly identical shots trying to get perfect ones because there was only ever going to be that moment. In the future there'll be new game plus. You might have alts. But in that moment, experiencing it for the first time... it's… really effective. Startlingly effective.

The fact that when I was watching the map introduction and thought about how Living Memory was an almost tailor-made gposing space (and let's face it probably is for exactly this reason) that I would have a lot of fun taking screenshots at later made me think about how many other people thought, are thinking, and will think the same thing not knowing that they're taking it for granted. Who would...? It's absurd. Why would the map be altered to such a degree that it'd be rendered gone all but in name...? It hasn't happened before. So why would it happen now? Why would it even come to mind?

And the thing is--even if someone warns you, even if you're spoiled, even if you have someone fly you from place to place--the terminals are still going to have to be shut down eventually if you want to move forward. You cannot keep it. Living memory is made to be seen once then destroyed by your own hand.

I mean--at the end of the MSQ I thought, perhaps naively, that Living Memory was going to be restored because the threat was resolved. I mean--everyone's gone. There's no need for the environment to stay gone as well, right...? I mean, they put so much loving detail into it!

Wrong.

In the immediacy of when I first finished Endwalker during its early access I wrote that I never wanted to return to Ultima Thule because it creeped me out. The map was emotionally fraught, and my first experience with it was being released into an incredibly dark map with a discordant soundtrack, jumping out of my seat at another player passing by. But returning to it for hunts and the Omicron quests I saw it for the vibrant, beautiful place that it was. It changed for the better and stayed that way.

In spite of how much I've talked up Living Memory's beauty and how much it inspires the drive to capture the moment before it leaves you, it's also far more disconcerting than Ultima Thule from the very beginning in an altogether different manner. Living Memory is something that you want to be that shouldn't be. Both in the context of the MSQ and as a map in general--you want to take screenshots, you want to linger, but the unchanging weather effect and languidly pleasant music begin to push against you if you stay too long.

When everything's said and done Living Memory becomes a featureless husk that now has natural changing weather. At night there are motes of light, golden remains of the once oppressive reminiscence. And in the background as if being piped from distant speakers, the languidly pleasant and slightly warped BGM echoing through the nothingness like an amusement park's PA system playing music for no one after closing for the last time.

It's something you didn't want that needs to be.