#also if you haven't done one of these already I super suggest doing it. super fun!

[ndostairlyrium]

Since my unwillingness to save drafts ate my two metres long answer to the ask meme, instead I'm posting a very controversial tier list I promised myself not to share on Tumblr but like, yolo?

[telekinetic-electronica]

Indigo Park: Salem is Important

I've already done a post on why I think Lloyd is important. I go over how I think he's the first mascot and the OG face for the Indigo brand. Not to mention, drawing a parallel to Mickey and Oswald. You can read it here.

There is also this picture at the beginning of Rambley's Railroad can suggest that Lloyd is giving the deed to the park to Rambley. I.e. transferring ownership to him, as seen here.

We also see Lloyd as a statue that's very similar to the style of the Rambley and Isaac statue we see when entering the park. I haven't seen this mention with people, but I think the biggest case for the other important mascot is Salem.

(Lloyd's statue in his maze)

Anything regarding to Salem is a mystery. Salem's part in Rambley's Railroad is completely destroyed. There's splats of blood, Rambley glitches out, Salem's cutout is ripped in half, and hints that Rambley's Railroad used to be Lloyd's Limos, in the backrooms.

(Salem's section destroyed in Rambley's Railroad)

(Lloyd's Limos in the backrooms)

Any important lore drop for Indigo Park, Salem is somehow connected. In the video game portion, where it's revealed Salem was the one who was corrupting the squirrels, then goes ahead and corrupts Mollie.

This is hinting to something big, something that possibly happened to the mascots at the park. Rambley did say, in a way, the mascots are like their cartoony selves. Via when he tells Ed the truth and in the credits song. Something either corrupted them or it could be symbolic to how trauma changes you. Within the same game, if you drop near the first half off of it, we see Mollie's sprite in a cage.

I mention trauma is because I think it's obvious that Mollie and the other living mascots were physically and emotionally abused by the staff and the on-goers at the park. Mollie can repeat things that were said back to her.

"I wanna play with the birdie!" "Don't touch that thing, son." "It barely hurts at all..." "Get up, you stupid freak." "Get back in your cage, bird." "The customer is always right." Mollie and Lloyd are conscious beings who were tossed around and mistreated from the employees to the people visiting the park. They treated them like they were just props, things. The parent calls Mollie a THING. The employees called Mollie a "stupid freak" and for her to get back in her cage. As shown in the video game. They were treated like rag dolls and if they didn't do want the employees wanted, they would get beat or screamed at, or left to rot in cages. It just makes the line "It barely hurts at all!" more dark.

It barely hurts at all.

She's convincing herself that the abuse she is going through is fine or that she's used to it. Or an employee saying the abuse she is going through isn't hurting her. It barely hurts at all. I wouldn't be surprised if Indigo Park's underlying horror is mistreating people as just tensions of the park to sell a fantasy towards parent for a quick buck, instead of, y'know, treating them like people.

Not to mention, Salem uses potions. Magic. A possible hint to how the mascots were brought to life. They aren't robots or anything, but they're conscious, living beings. Now, let's take a look at Salem's intro card. It was censored before chapter 1 was released, but I believe it is important.

Note of some important things here. They are a major trouble maker, super quick, and cunning. Interesting. Personally, in a speculation of mine is that Salem was the first one to act out and think what the employees and on-goers at the park treating them and the other mascots were wrong. Anytime something of lore is dropped or something of importance, Salem is involved. Salem is important.

Either or not they're an ally or enemy to Rambley and Ed, we'll see. Heck, Salem doesn't have any merch minus a keychain. So, whenever Salem is on the screen pay attention. Isn't it odd that Rambley NEVER mentions Salem? Like, the dude mentions Lloyd and he hates his guts. Interesting.

[wolfiesmoon]

Chocolate-covered strawberries

riddle x gn!reader

have u ever wanted to have a (totally definitely platonic with no romantic feelings involved, wdym? *wink wink*) sleepover w riddle? bcs if so, you might wanna read this

thanks to @chillpanda36 's plant related encouragement i am once again riddleposting (hope u dont mind being tagged ＞︿＜)

I kinda got carried away and wrote waaaaay more than I thought i would

"Wow, your room is so... swanky." you commented upon entering his room for the first time. It was decorated in checkerboard patterns and heart motifs, which was very fitting for the dorm of Heartslabyul.

You never expected him to actually agree when you jokingly suggested a sleepover, but you're definitely not complaining.

"Thank you. It was modeled after the Queen of Hearts' castle and has mostly stayed the same throughout the dorm's history. I only made a few adjustments to have it be better suited to me." he explained. Clearly, he took good care of the place since it looked very clean and organised.

"By the way, you won't collar me if I happen to break any of your weird rules by accident, will you?" you were still somewhat worried you'd have to sleep with that uncomfy collar around your neck.

"I will excuse you from the rules, just this once. But do not call the rules 'weird', as it is quite disrespectful to do so." he crossed his arms.

Well, atleast you're glad about that.

You placed down the little bag of stuff you brought with you just for this occasion. You got so excited you ended up planning out several activities for you and Riddle to do.

But first, you have pyjamas to change into! Riddle graciously offered to let you change in his bathroom. Even in there, everything is super clean and organised, almost to a scary degree. Somehow, you get the feeling that Riddle doesn't really know how to "have fun". In a 'casually messing around with firends' kinda way.

After changing into your pyjamas, you call out to Riddle to make sure he's done changing as well. Once he confirms he has, you exit his bathroom to find Riddle in an oversized, frilly pair of white pjyamas, the kind you'd find people wearing in the medieval times. Oh. My. God.

"Pffft.... You-" you had to pause to hold back from laughing. "You look like a starving victorian child." you couldn't help but point out the silly resemblance. The pjyamas brought the whole look together.

"I haven't the slightest clue what a victorian child is, but I am certainly not starving. Why must you constantly insult me with such strange phrases?" Oh, it makes sense he wouldn't get the comparison. And even if he did, you feel like he wouldn't be very amused.

"They aren't insults. Just little comparisons." You smiled innocently at him. While they are just comparisons in a sense, they are usually meant to rile him up a little bit. You just can't help but banter with anyone and everyone sometimes.

Riddle felt a slight shiver run down his spine since you reminded him of a certain someone who likes comparing people to sea creatures at that moment. Though your lovely smile didn't resemble his creepy grin at all.

Lovely... smile? What is he even thinking about right now?

"Are you... good? You're making a weird face." your voice snapped him out of it and he assured you he was perfectly fine. No cause for concern.

"You might not be starving, but are you in the mood for a little snack?" you tried your best to sound enticing, like you're mass advertising the little surprise you brought along with you.

"The rules state that-"

"I double-checked the dorm rules, don't worry. And I also know you don't like junk food, so I made sure my snack is on the healthier side. Sorry for interrupting you, by the way." you laughed awkwardly at his offended pout. But you weren't going to lie, his angry face wasn't intimidating or scary at all (atleast not right now). It gives off more of an 'angry little kitten' vibe to you. But you already made one silly comparison tonight so you feel like Riddle might appreciate this one even less.

"Well then. I'd like to know what it is." he actually seemed pretty interested in what you came up with. You dug around your bag, pulling out a packet of chocolate-covered strawberries.

"Feast your eyes on these bad boys!" the specific choice of chocolate-covered strawberries was a calculated one on your end. You had asked Trey about Riddle's food preferences before, but it was unrelated to this sleepover. You can only thank your past self (and Trey) for arming you with the valuable knowledge that Riddle likes strawberry tarts (and consequently strawberries, you hope).

"Oh. I suppose these look quite tasty." he was actually really pleasantly surprised about your choice of snack. It's surprisingly fit to his tastes.

How thoughtful of you...

"Here, have one!" you actually made homemade chocolate just for these. Trey gave you a good baking lesson on how to do that. So of course, you want him to be the first one to try!

He hesitates for a moment. Although the food you're giving him doesn't break any of the Queen's rules, it still feels off to be eating so late at night. Scheduled meals are so ingrained into his mind that he feels the sudden urge to reject the offer and go brush his teeth immediately.

But something strange blooms in his heart when he sees the excitement in your gaze and he submits, telling himself he'll do it just this once. For you.

He grabs one of the strawberries from the packet, slowly and hesitantly raising it to his mouth as if it were forbidden to eat. It still felt forbidden, no matter how many times he told himself it was fine to let loose sometimes.

"It's... delicious." he comments upon eating the entire strawberry.

"Oh, goodie! I was worried I messed up the chocolate, somehow." his eyes went slightly wide upon hearing that you made part of them yourself. He felt his chest tighten up slighly. In a good way.

"In that case, I shall have some more. And you eat them too, since you prepared them for this occasion." the two of you sat down on the edge of his bed, placing the strawberries in between you so you could both easily reach for them while talking.

You still made sure you swallowed the food before you talked though. To avoid a scolding about proper manners from Riddle.

"So, for this sleepover I was thinking we could try summoning a demon, playing board games, doing karaoke, watching a movie, playing 'would you rather', making a pillow fort, and-"

"What was that first one?" Riddle had never experienced a sleepover before, so he had no clue what people actually did in them but he always just imagined sleepovers were purely sleeping at eachother's houses, not doing anything BUT that. He could barely keep up with all of the things you were listing off, but the first one ESPECIALLY stumped him.

"Summoning a demon? Everyone tries that in sleepovers. Usually doesn't work." you shrugged casually, reaching for another strawberry.

"How... horrific. And utterly nonsensical. What joy do you get from doing something so horrible? Especially if you know it won't work?" he seemed genuinely stumped by the concept, which made you want to laugh but you held back since you didn't want to choke on a chocolate-covered strawberry. It would certainly be a way to go.

"It's about the thrill, Riddle. What if it actually works this time? You never know...." you whisper teasingly, like a narrarator in a horror movie.

"In that case, we are absolutely not doing that." he hates to admit it, but he's actually kind of worried a silly ritual might workmand is taking precautions right now to not let it happen at all.

"Hahaha, that's fine! We can do all the other stuff, then." you decided to take mercy on him after seeing how hard he's trying not to let it show that he's scared of demon summoning games. He reminds you of your friends on your first sleepover when you tried summoning a demon. All of you were acting tough and unbothered back then, but were deathly afraid and unable to sleep after.

When you reached for another strawberry, you just happened to grab Riddle's hand instead. Seems you were both going for the same one. Actually, that one's the final one!

"Oops... you go ahead and take it. I feel like I've had enough." you smiled awkwardly at him. Gosh, is it suddenly slightly hotter in here or is it just you?

"Thank you." Riddle looked away, turning his head so you wouldn't see his reddening face as he ate the final strawberry. He's kinda mad at himself for getting so flustered over an accidental hand hold. Your hand felt so... nice to hold. It would be so nice if he could hold it more often. Gah, what on earth is he thinking?! None of this is rational...

An awkward silence fills the room.

And you get a cheeky little idea.

You picked up a pillow from his bed and threw it at the back of his head.

"Hey. What do you think you are doing-HHMMF!" you threw another pillow, this time directly at his face as he turned around to scold you.

"PILLOW FIGHT!" you yelled out excitedly, already grabbing another pillow to defend yourself with as you scurried on the other side of his bed. You giggled at the way his entire face flushed red with anger.

"That was no fair! I was not prepared at all!" you totally caught Riddle off guard, but now he was prepared to have his revenge. He never had a pillow fight before, but if little kids are capable of having one, so is he. And he is quite confident that his magical abilities will give him the upper hand against you.

"Even if you were, I'd still win! They called me the pillow fight champion back in my world!" you throw a pillow at him, which he stops with his magic.

"Oh, we'll see about that. You've had quite enough of landing hits on me, I believe." he smirked confidently at you, feeling a childlike excitement running through his veins.

Now that he thinks about it, it has been a long long time since he has felt this excited and relaxed. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to do this over and over and over again.

In moderation.

[luckydoeslanguage]

🎏Immersion, its quirks, and tips for language learning this way!

its the 5th of May, so happy children's day! 🎏 I got a question in one of my posts asking for some advice on immersion learning! i thought it would be a good opportunity to talk about immersion in general, my current study(?) routine and perhaps give some useful advice! As the name suggests, Immersion language learning is done primarily by consuming media in your target language. Immersion can seem super intimidating to us learners, mostly cause we can't understand most of the stuff available to us. But! its not impossible to start out using immersion right out of the gate. i think people tend to get scared or go "I'll immerse when i get better at my TL!" But the truth of the matter is, your not going to get used to, or better at your target language unless you consume actual content. (in my opinion.)

Honestly, a lot of immersion learning is being able to tolerate that i probably wont understand everything right away. I will someday, but for now i have to be comfortable with not understanding a lot. which is okay! So, what is my current study routine?

right now, my routine consists of:

doing vocabulary cards on Anki from a premade anki deck.

playing about an hour of Animal crossing everyday

watching 1 - 3 episodes of an anime

watching Youtube videos

weekly (ish) grammar done by reading Imabi, and watching Cure Dolly videos on Youtube.

The bread and butter of my routine is learning vocab, and occasional grammar studies. I'm using the core2k/6k deck. which as the name implies, is an optimized vocab deck that contains the most common 6k JP vocabulary. i currently take 5 new vocab cards a day, and try to get my reviews in everyday. my anki deck has contributed a lot to me being able to immerse so early in my language journey. learning and then reviewing new words everyday lets me recognize words in my immersion. As time has gone on, i can recognize more and more words, and even some words I haven't encountered yet in my deck. Immersion, while still uncomfortable, (especially with complex media) is the other side of the coin. i try to spend double the time i spend on anki, immersing. Mostly because i enjoy what I'm immersing in, but also because i get more out of it the more time i spend immersing.

"that's all well and good Lucky, but what advice would you give to someone who wants to learn this way?"

Well! first of all, and this is very important:

Be comfortable with ambiguity. you may not be able to understand some, or maybe most of the thing you are immersing in. that's okay! Your brain is already looking for patterns to see in your TL, and is growing more accustomed to it. I got a lot of headaches in the beginning, i still do actually. but i know that's my brain working hard! (take a break if you get a headache!!)

Second, and probably just as important:

Follow your interests. make immersion fun! whats the point of immersing if its torturous?! I'm a lot more likely to continue immersing in something if i actually enjoy it. there are a lot of easier anime to immerse in, but if I'm not having fun, I'm not going to learn anything. you should do the same! even if its too difficult to understand. I'm currently watching someone on YouTube play a dating sim, and even though its waaaay above my skill level, I'm really enjoying myself watching it! I've even recognized some words i know. whole sentences, even.

Third:

Be Consistent! This is probably advice you've already heard, but it bears repeating! even if you do something small like listening to a song in your TL, that's immersion babyy :) consistency is key, above all.

Lastly: Track your Immersion. a problem with immersion is it can feel like you are going nowhere. tracking how much time you spend doing an activity, (watching videos, reading, etc) is a great way to make immersion more tangible. lots of people reccomend toggl, but i personally use polylogger. its built with language learners in mind, and is stupidly easy to use. i also keep personal logs in an online diary, as well as here on my blog to measure my progress. it helps!

alright, i think thats everything i have to say for now! if you've made it to the end of this long post, hello! and thank you <3 hope you've had a good day so far! I will leave you with some links to more reading on the subject under the cut, they go into more detail than i have here.

take care for now! またね！

this article by Refold about tolerating ambiguity:

The Moe ways guide to immersion:

Making the leap to Immersion, Video by Cure Dolly:

[olderthannetfic]

Do you know if blocking or muting someone on AO3 prevents people running exchanges from matching you with them? There are these two users in my main fandom who are both terrible writers and obnoxious, bigoted assholes that I never want to be matched with, but not only do they do exchanges a lot, they regularly pinch hit for exchanges they did not sign up for. I don’t want to contact those two to tell them to stop writing for me, because of them being shitty people who are also super fragile; it’s gonna lead to drama and harassment directed at me by these two and their friends. But it’s getting tedious to contact every single mod for an exchange that includes that fandom and where I request it, to tell them to not just not match them with me but also to find a way to turn them down if they try to pick up my PH if I go out for one. (And for a recent exchange I didn’t because it’s run by a friend who thinks my desire to avoid fic by ANY specific person is “unreasonable” and “missing the point of exchanges” no matter how much I explain my history with these assholes. So I just didn’t request my fav fandom and ship.) Btw, they HAVE done exactly that, picked up a PH of mind by surprise; it’s ruined exchanges where I was super excited to see someone wrote my OTP only for the fic to be terrible and then I find out when anon goes off (or suspect from the commenting style and ANs and then see it confirmed) that it’s one of these assholes. You’d think they would know from previous encounters they’d know I can’t stand them, but it’s one of those cases where they are either completely socially clueless, or pretend to be that to excuse treating people poorly.

So anyway… if I block them on AO3, does that solve the problem for me? Or does the author just find out they’re blocked when they have already written the fic and can’t gift it? Does blocking show up when matching is done? I have never modded an exchange before, so idk what things look like from that end. What do you suggest I do?

--

I don't know. I haven't run an exchange in ages.

[sihtricfedaraaahvicius]

Hi. I was wondering if you'd be willing to write an kind of AU where Sihtric can actually hear people's thoughts. Something like telepathy. And he meets Reader and he can hear all her thoughts also about himself. That would be kind of scary 😂 but also I'm sure you'd make it super fun. I don't care if you make it medieval or modern,anything you'd like.

Note: giving u all a break from my Halloween fic as I edit the next chapters. And oh my god, this idea was so cute! I could've made this SUCH a long fic, but I got too much going on already, so I kept it simple. hope you like it!

Warnings: suggestive, lots of curse words...

pairing: Modern!Sihtric x you (f)

Summary: Sihtric noticed a new library employee, and you certainly had loud thoughts about him.

Word count: 1,8k 

Masterlist

'I just can't focus on the words anymore.'

Sihtric worked from home, as it was the only way he could keep a job. And to prevent himself from isolating, he goes to the library every day, when his work was done. He had been going to the library ever since he recently moved, and by now he already knew all the employees by face, and thoughts. But today, as he had to return a book he had borrowed, he saw someone new behind the service desk. Someone seemingly innocent who took his breath away at first glance.

*******************

Sihtric was blessed with a curse. He was one of the very few who was able to hear other people's thoughts. It had driven him insane when he grew up. But as he got older, he learned how to deal with it. He could almost tune it out, so to speak, but it was still always there. He was sick and tired of the people in his hometown, so he had recently moved. He found the library in his new city a lovely place, as it was quiet and with little people around, and those who were around usually had no thoughts going on, because they were reading or writing in peace.

'Hi,' you looked up from your computer, 'how can I help you?' Holy shit, you thought, which Sihtric heard.

'Hey,' Sihtric smiled, 'eh, I'd like to return this book.'

'Sure thing, you got your library card?' what the fuck…

'Of course, hold on, it's somewhere in my backpack,' Sihtric said and started rummaging around in the bag.

Where did this guy come from? Oh my god… what a babe. That jawline, that accent, those arms- wait, are those scars on his face? Oh my… I sure like a bad boy. And that hair! Oh, sweet Jesus, the wild hair. Wait, what book is he returning… you glanced at the book on your desk, damn, A Brief History of Time? Okay… pretty boy got the brains too...

Sihtric smirked as he looked for his library card. He usually didn't enjoy hearing what people thought of him, but you had to be the prettiest lady he had ever seen. And he was happy to hear you thought he wasn't bad himself.

'Here,' he handed you the card and looked into your eyes.

What the fuck, he has two different coloured eyes? IS THAT EYELINER? Oh my fucking god, I am very unwell right now…

'Thanks,' you smiled as you took his card. 

Are those lines tattooed on his fingers? Jesus fucking christ, I'd let this guy rail me in the backroom right now…

Sihtric suddenly coughed and tried to compose himself as you scanned his card and the book he's returning.

'There you go. Anything else?' you pushed his library card back over your desk and smiled. If you need any help… anything… ANYTHING

'It's taken care of?' he asked while putting the card back in his backpack, trying not to smile.

'Yep, you can borrow another book again if you wish.' do you want me to read you anything? At night? In bed perhaps?

'Thanks,' he smiled, 'not to be nosy, but… are you new here? I've been here daily for a few weeks now, ever since I moved, and I haven't seen you before.'

Aha, new guy in town I see… well, hello...

'Oh, no, I've been working here for years,' you said, 'but I was on holiday, only returning last weekend. So back to work it is.' you are hotter than the temperature on that island I was at…

'I see,' Sihtric chuckled, 'a damn shame time flies when you're on holiday, right?'

'A damn shame,' you smiled. A damn shame you're probably not single…

'I am,' Sihtric blurted out.

'W-what?' you froze. What the fuck?! 

'I mean,' Sihtric cleared his throat, 'I… I am Sihtric,' he saved himself, holding his hand out to you.

'S-Sihtric,' you smiled, 'I'm (y/n),' you said and shook his hand. Fuck, I love a guy with a firm handshake. I wonder what else is firm about him…

'Nice to meet you,' Sihtric tried to suppress a grin, 'I'll be seeing you around.' He winked before he turned his back to you, on his way to pick another book to read.

He did not just wink. Did he wink? Oh my god. OH. MY. GOD. I have to text the girls…

Sihtric chuckled to himself as he heard your thoughts. He scanned his eyes over numerous titles until he found something that seemed interesting, before he purposely went to sit close to the service desk. Close to you. 

You looked up as you saw movements in the corner of your eye, and you found Sihtric smiling at you as he sat down. Sir, the whole library is free… why… why must you sit there. A torture.

'Found a new one to read,' Sihtric said, holding up a book.

'Enjoy,' you chuckled. My god, he is cute. He is ridiculously cute. And hot. That's it, I'm calling the cops. This is a whole crime… I better call the fire brigade too. AND the medics, because someone needs to check my pulse…

Sihtric hid his face behind his book and couldn't stop smiling. He thought you were cute, yet not that innocent though. But Sihtric didn't mind that, because if he was honest; he would totally rail you in the backroom too right now. But he was a gentleman, for now, and you were at work. 

******************

Do your job, girl, come on. Stop letting your eyes wander to the insanely hot guy with the strange name- oh, fuck no!

Sihtric looked up from his book.

'Hello, beautiful!' a man said as he walked up to you.

'Shhh! This is a library!' you hissed quietly, 'how many times do I have to tell you?'

'I know, I know,' the man said more quietly now, 'just came here to see you again.'

I know, you fucking creep. You smiled.

'So, you never answered my question the other day… when I was here?' the man said and leaned over the counter, peeking at your legs under your work skirt. I'd make good work of those legs, mhm.

Sihtric grimaced at the unheard interaction. You were clearly creeped out by the guy, and rightfully so, he was old enough to be your grandfather, but he clearly had other ideas than slipping you some money to go and buy an ice cream, you know, the thing grandfathers are supposed to do.

'I'm sorry, but it's a work policy that I cannot go out with customers,' you said politely. This lie better fucking work…

'Oh, come on,' the man said. One night, he thought, that's all I need to ravag-

'Lady?' Sihtric called out to you, 'do you have a moment?'

'Yes!' you rushed away from the old creep. Oh thank god, praise the lord. Wait, better grab that clipboard and hold it behind my back so the creep can't check out my ass…

'Do you need something?' you asked Sihtric.

'Not really,' he whispered, 'but, I couldn't help noticing…' Sihtric cocked his head slightly towards the old man.

Fucking hell, that's how obvious it is? This is so embarrassing…

'Yeah,' you said softly, 'he's been hitting on me for months,' you made a grossed out face, 'I keep telling him no but he keeps coming back.'

'Won't your boss do anything about that?'

'My boss?' you scoffed, 'he doesn't give a shit about the employees.' He only cares about money. He doesn't even care that the creep waits outside until closing time, following me home…

'Can I help you somehow?' Sihtric asked, concerned about the behaviour of the man and the way no one seemed to care.

Oh my god, he's so fucking cute… why can't this guy wait outside for me until closing time...

'No,' you smiled weakly, 'that's…that's really sweet, but there's nothing you can do, I'm afraid.' But you could hold me in those muscular arms…

'Okay,' Sihtric said, 'does he… does he stick around?' he carefully asked.

'Yeah, the creep figured out my shifts… his name is Aethelhelm, by the way, I guess calling "the creep" is a bit rude.'

'No worries,' Sihtric smiled, 'he looks like a creep.'

'He is,' you laughed softly and looked into Sihtric's eyes. Fuck… this guy is so beautiful. Wait, did his eyes just light up?

Sihtric quickly looked away and bit down on his lip.

'Anyway,' you cleared your throat, 'I… I should get back to work. Back to the creep,' you made a face, to which Sihtric smiled. 'But thanks for the distraction.'

'Anytime, lady,' Sihtric said and gave you a small nod. And he couldn't help checking out your ass when you walked back to your desk, and he bit down a smile when he heard your thoughts.

Yeah... I'd totally let him do me in the backroom…

**********************

'You finished that book already?' you asked about an hour later, when you saw Sihtric got up and was on his way to head out of the library. What kind of question is that, you dumbass. Well done being smooth…

'I guess,' you smiled. I hope so…

'No,' Sihtric smiled and shrugged. He had been glancing at you the whole time when you managed to focus on your work again, and his eyes kept trailing back to you. 

'I just can't focus on the words anymore,' Sihtric continued, 'so that's my signal to go home. I'll see you around.'

*******************

'No, no, no,' you sighed when you saw Aethelhelm was waiting for you again as you closed the library. Maybe if I'm really fast he won't be able to catch up with me...

You quickly locked the door and almost sprinted around the corner, where you bumped into someone.

'I'm sorry!' you blurted out. Oh my god… oh no…oh no, I'm feeling myself blush!

'Oh, hey,' Sihtric smiled, 'are you okay? You look a little spooked.'

'Yeah, fine,' you lied and glanced back over your shoulder, 'just eager to get home.' 

And get away from that fucking creep! Oh, no. No he's coming over. Oh for fuck sakes.

You looked back at Sihtric. I hope you will forgive me…

You grabbed Sihtric by his shirt and pulled him in for a kiss. It took him a few seconds to adapt to the situation. He already knew you were hiding from Aethelhelm, but didn't quite expect this. Yet he wasn't complaining, and he kissed you back without hesitation.

Fuck he's a good kisser, you thought, and Sihtric smiled against your lips as he pulled you closer. 

Oh my god, you moaned softly against his lips, oh my god, fuck, he's so hot. Wait, what is he doing, you felt Sihtric's hands slide down your lower back, onto your ass. Sihtric knew "the creep" would see it, and he also knew what you had been thinking about earlier that day, so he amusingly squeezed your ass, firmly.

Oh, fuck, those hands… oh dear lord, I will be thinking about him tonight…  

You raked your fingers through his loose hair, kissing him as Sihtric pushed you back towards the library entrance while "the creep" had already turned and left, looking upset. 

Wait… you thought as you were pushed up against the library door, his lips still pressed onto yours, what… what is he doing… the library is closed…

'You wish to be railed in the backroom, lady?' Sihtric grinned

Oh, sweet Jesus, it's like he can read my thoughts, yes, please...

******************

taglist: @clairacassidy @finanmoghra @uunotheangel @hb8301 @bathedinheat @neonhairspray @anaeve @bubblyabs @travelingmypassion @sylas-the-grim @heimtathurs @bubbles-for-all-of-us @andakth @chompchompluke @willowbrookesblog @lady-targaryens-world @skyofficialxx @diosademuerte @elle4404 @alexagirlie

[DM to be added to/removed from taglist! & don’t be shy to like, reblog & comment!🖤]

[banes-favourite]

What do you think Gortash’s relationship with Bane is like? Do they converse often and how? How loyal and willing is Gortash’s service to him?

Hmm honestly I could see it going either way. I've seen some excellent ideas suggest that Bane is simply a means to an end for Gortash as he's planning on becoming akin to a god himself. But personally, I am a sucker for religious trauma so I like to believe they're actually pretty close.

Bane saw how resilient and brilliant young Gortash was, how there was much potential in him should he be allowed to flourish. So, true to his manipulative tactics, he sent Banists into the House of Hope to treat him with kindness and gain his trust. Ironically, they'd be the only ones who didn't treat him like dirt but rather taught the gospel of Bane to him and, when he was intent to listen, would sneak him a gift or potion of healing.

Gortash was so interested, even from the beginning. His parents hadn't been too religious so he hadn't been taught much of anything on the subject, but Bane's gospel aligned so much with his own world views. So, he learned to trust those with the Mask, seek them out even, thirsty for knowledge. And seeing how perceptive he was to his ideas, Bane probably came to him for the first time in a dream and instructed him on what to do in order to escape the House. It worked, obviously, so Gortash in a way felt obligated to devote himself to him. Every act of cruelty he carried on from then on was done in Bane's name and it didn't take long for him to be donned the title of Chosen.

I think their relationship would be interesting because they really are working for the exact same goals. All Gortash wants is to have peace and safety of mind in the city (and by extention, all of Faerun), something which can only be accomplished by a strict authoritative hand; so what if said hand is painted black, in the name of his god? They both crave power and the ultimate control, Gortash seeing it as a means for the greater good.

I don't think they'd converse too often tbh, Gortash is super good at his job and Bane provides the powers he needs freely. The closest he'd feel to him would be the times he's at the Temple, delivering sermons, conducting punishments and sacrifices. If they do need to speak, Bane visits him in dream and if he ever fucks up, Bane sends him nightmares, mostly consisting of being trapped back in the HoH.

The only time Gortash has truly felt he's fucked up is when he realises his feelings for Durge, which he's certain Bane will disapprove of because Bhaal's wishes will need to be fulfilled from Durge's hand and they go directly against what Bane wants. I have a fic about his self-punishment for this very idea if you haven't checked it out already lol.

(also slightly unrelated but I fucking adore those Bane x Gortash fics/artwork, if anyone has any links pls send em my way)

[satans-codpiece]

Darkfic Enjoyer here. please share some of your dark thoughts since you said you only unleashed your demons in only one fic of yours >:)

With Ramattra, you mean? Because EY doesn't even come close to releasing demons as compared to a lot of stuff I wrote with Kylo Ren or Michael Myers.

I just never really got a lot of darkfic inspiration for him? I honestly haven't in quite a while-- I dunno if that's better commentary on my relationship with my recent string of blorbos or on my mental health lol. Because the potentiality for darkfic with Ramattra is right there.

TW: Noncon, kidnapping, paralysis/forced to watch, injury, probably more

I briefly started a hard noncon fic where Reader is injured and/or pinned in the wake of a Null Sector attack and Ramattra unleashes some of that pent-up rage on them. Lots of Ramattra using his strength to keep Reader still and him talking about how this is justified by the simple fact that they are human and deserve to suffer as so many omnics have.

But I just didn't have the drive to write it?? There's so many WIPs I have with him that I want to finish but can't force my awful brain to look at for more than a few minutes at a time, but with the noncon fic I wrote a little bit and then my brain was like mmm, no. not this flavor. I still love reading noncon with Ramattra, I just don't have that drive to write it.

Hell, even, a Reaper/Reader noncon fic (with Sombra/Ramattra noncon in the background) was of higher interest to me than Ramattra/Reader noncon.

(For interested parties: where Talon is done using NS so Reaper & Sombra are sent to deal with Ramattra & Reader, but in particular Reaper's more than happy to make a point on what happens to people who betray Talon. so Sombra disables Ramattra-- but makes sure that he's awake and aware of what's happening as Reaper attacks Reader, with maybe some unwanted wireplay so that he's forced to cum watching it).

But with Megatron it comes so naturally. The very first thing I wrote with him was “Mmm, fabricating desire in exchange for your own survival is hardly the worst idea your species has had.” Literally the first line of dialogue my muse spat out to me was him accusing (and approving of!!) Reader trying to seduce him so that he wouldn't kill them.

And everything I have written with him since then-- which is all unfinished or no-context snippets that idk if I'll post-- has involved some degree of fuckedupness.

Megatron/Reader mutual noncon + Starscream/Megatron/Reader where Starscream catches Reader & forces them to suck off a regular gun. And Reader's humiliated and scared and just so confused as to why Starscream has this regular human gun laying around- until they realize it's literally Megatron stuck in a new alt mode that they've been polishing with their tongue. To which Starscream giddily fucks them with Megatron's barrel and the whole time Reader is terrified because... what does an overload look like for a gun? Also, Starscream's motivation is much more centered on Megatron, Reader is completely incidental and just gave him an opportunity.

Megatron & Knock Out discussing the mental health implications of kidnapping a human for morale (everyone is jealous of the Autobots' pets obviously). Namely, Reader is having a bad time of it- who wouldn't?- and Megs suggests to KO that he'd rather kill this high-strung human now and replace them with one more... agreeable before the crew gets attached. KO (who is already attached) insists that Reader will feel better as they get acclimated.

During the events of Rock Bottom (TFP), it's Reader who finds Megatron. They, naively, agree to help him (because it's the right thing to do TM) in exchange for his promise that he won't harm any of the other humans or autobots in the mine. Of course, he just kidnaps Reader at the end instead. When they're furiously kicking the inside of his jet form, he'll insist he didn't lie; they weren't harmed, were they?

Not really super dark in the way any of the above are, but literally just a little dubcon-y drabble with Reader & Megatron making out and Megatron's denta cut Reader's lip. And Reader tries to back off, but Megatron is so fucking horny about it that he holds them still and kisses them harder.

And that's just what I've written. I've also toyed with Facsimile!Reader where Megatron fucks you because why not, you exist only to serve the decepticon cause and, well, you basically feel like a human on the inside and he's curious. Super fucked up not because of the dubcon but more in tone, that you entire existence is for obeying him and serving him and dying for him and you're okay with that.

[thewebcomicsreview]

Happy 10/25, the third most important religious holiday in the Homestuck Calender, and we got a new HS2 to celebrate, focusing on one of the new kids. The new kids were one of the parts of Homestuck 2 I actually liked, so let's see how the new writers handle them! With a Jailbreak reference, apparently.

Wait, hold on, deep lore: thespiansGlamor is Harry, glutinousGymnast is Tavros. RecidicivousGainsayer and gavageCunctation are names we haven't seen before. GC fits into the AGTC DNA theme of all the screen names we've seen so far (it's Terezi's acronym), and RG doesn't. They might be random NPCs, but they might also be foreshadowing. Also, neither Rose nor Kanaya appear to be on their daughter's friendlist, unless they're under the scroll bar, but maybe that's not weird.

What, uh, what did she draw the key with, HS2? That's her blood color, but she's not bleeding.

Also, who's narrating this? This has been a question in HS2 all along, but the narration here calls attention to itself more. It's much more "Homestucky" than HS2's had been.

We even have narration describing conversation, which is something HS2 has never done and HS1 restricted to carapacians.

You suggest to Vriska that you should go the other direction. Vriska says nah this is definitely where we wanna be. She says between the two of you, you've probably got enough luck to take this whole place off the map if you really wanted. You ask her what the fuck she means by that. She says you know like with your Thief of Light powers. You tell her you don't have anything like that. She says huh, weird!

Oh FFS now I have to go look up if post-Retcon Vriska met Aranea, her own dancestor who was not a Thief of Light. That's such a weird thing for Vriska to assume, that Vrissy not only has Vriska's powers but has mastered them. Also, I wonder if this narration style, besides being a Jailbreak reference, is because the new writers aren't confident writing the HS2 characters yet? Or maybe they just don't want Vriska/Vrissy dialogues because they're kind of hard to read.

I like these expressions. I also like this continuation of Candy Lore, that all the HS1 characters see Candyland as a "fake" universe and that's part of why they fucked around so much and got so fucking weird, whereas we see here that the actual Candy Natives do not see their planet as "bootleg". The fact that the HS parents don't think of their own children as entirely "real" is actually super fucked up, but I guess Yiffy's got the main right of complaint there.

I like that Vriska, who can fly, still makes Vrissy give her a boost. What a jerk!

Vriska says now THAT sounds like some shit a REAL Vriska would say! You roll your eyes and start to leave when Vriska calls out to ask if you're going without wishing her good luck. As you start to wish her luck she cuts you off and tells you to keep it, as she already has aaaaaaaall the luck she needs. You say okay dude.

I don't know if the original HS2 writers intended for the resolution of the "Vrissy kind of idolizes Vriska" subplot to end with "Vriska's so fucking Vriska that Vrissy is disillusioned within literally minutes", but it's honestly kind of funny and I like it.

JANE: From the conversation recovered from Egbert's phone, we've learned that Roxy has been... conspiring alongside the rebels for months now. Operating a lab deep within the ruins of the Troll Memorial Meteor, she and her coconspirator Calliope are preparing some kind of super weapon they've dubbed "The Plot Point". JANE: Heretofore referred to as The Point.

This feels a little like shade.

JANE: Let’s get to The Point!!

A lot like shade.

It's a little convenient to the new team that they took over right when HS2 was starting to actually go somewhere, but regardless, that was a neat page. I got a soft laugh out of it, the plot is starting to move, and there was some decent worldbuilding.

[placegrenette]

On 5Miinust (+ Puuluup) and the pleasures of sticking idol pop where it (supposedly) doesn't belong.

I haven't been around much lately, y'all. Partly because my dudes have also not been around much, although ZaQ continues to post a series of videos on the ARTJAQ channel, teaching the audience about... something. I continue, in turn, to not understand Kazakh. Throw in increasing disillusionment with K-pop (I guess now we know why GFriend was so abruptly shitcanned, though the knowledge doesn't make me feel any better), a general post-October-7th discomfort with most online pop-music discussion spaces, and work to get done at home, and Tumblr just hasn't been a particularly rewarding place for me lately.

I didn't think Eurovision was going to be a rewarding place for me this year, either. And then Eesti Laul happened.

It's like some divine imp was watching and saying to themself, "You know what Jessica needs? A pop-rap group from a former Soviet colony whose members love video games and refuse to take themselves seriously and release lots of goofy content that sorely lacks English subtitles. No, another one."

To clarify: the description in the previous paragraph only refers to four of the six people making up Estonia's Eurovision entry this year. The two guys in the clip with talharpas are the respected "zombie-folk" duo Puuluup, who play world music festivals and draw their own album covers and seem like a very fun and intelligent duo. They somehow have fallen into league with 5Miinust, a four-member (previously five) group that has been around since the mid-2010s. To the best of my knowledge 5Miinust have never been accused of being Satanic and/or gay like Ninety One have, but they are either a party group, a hip-hop group, a boy band, a bunch of frat bros (see this album cover), or a very savvy business collective whose members include a former advertising specialist and a trained accountant. Or, most likely, all of the above at once.

The 5Miinust / Puuluup collaboration by itself is charming enough, and if you want to know more about how it came to pass, I direct you to Overthinking It's very good video on Estonia's entry. And "Nendest Something Something," as @sole-cuore-amore-e-droga calls it, is the best kind of fun: chaotic at first listen, carefully constructed subsequently. I don't expect it to do well in Malmö. (I think "Europapa," which is also a seemingly chaotic song that turns out to have a lot more going on than its bouncy surface would first indicate, will win overall.) And I don't really care. I'm not sure 5Miinust and Puuluup care a huge amount about the scoreboard either. They've already recorded a full album together; they seem to be having a good time making silly videos for social media. They'd be my winners even without the added bonus, which is that these guys are absolutely giving idol-pop goodness.

I mean: go watch that Eesti Laul performance again. With the exception of the bridge, each performer gets his own solo time, a classic idol-pop move. There's choreo! And the styling: everyone shirtless under a suit jacket, but each suit jacket tailored slightly differently—that is such an idol-pop live-performance look. I cannot be the only person who clocked that Korea's suit is cut the same way as Nine's for "libidO" live stages, just more conservatively.

And the deeper you get into the 5Miinust rabbit hole, the more idol-pop-esque goofiness you find. Drag performances? Yep. Live radio performances with gimmicks? Here they are stripping to "Vamos." Super-dramatic award-show performances with loads of backup dancers? Here they are at last year's Estonian Music Awards. Do you need to learn the point dance? 5Miinust and Puuluup will combine forces to teach you the point dance.

And yet, talking about either (and both) of these groups as idols is a gloriously stupid idea, because "idol pop" suggests a willingness to subjugate themselves to audience demands that neither 5Miinust or Puuluup, for all their combined marketing skill, have. Idol pop historically depends on hierarchies—performers deferring to management, and, in a different way, to their audience—and that's not how 5Miinust or Puulup work. When I wrote up a guide to who's who for /r/eurovision, I said that Päevakoer is 5Miinust's maknae, and it was a joke because I'm pretty confident no one within 5Miinust has ever cared for one second who's older and who's younger. Just the fact that two different groups with a decade between them found creative inspiration in happily treating each other as equals gives the lie to the idol-pop framing. Nobody's bowing to Marko and Ramo. The whole idea is so far from how these particular performers relate to each other as to be nonsensical.

Which means: idol-pop goodness without stifling hierarchies; idol-pop goodness by people in charge of their own careers, who post goofiness on their own terms; idol-pop goodness combined with musical experimentation born of mutual respect. YES. YES. SIGN ME THE HELL UP.

(If it doesn't go without saying at this point, I would give a lot for my new faves to somehow meet my existing faves. Ninety One might not have enough English comprehension to make the meeting work, though. I think 5Miinust's ex-member Gameboy Tetris might speak Russian; whether he wants to speak Russian would be another story.)

I got lucky, and found people also willing to enjoy the 5Miinust-and-Puuluup-as-idols ironic glee. @sole-cuore-amore-e-droga really kicked things off by making that awesome lyrics video, and from there we got a line distribution video and a logo design for our fandom (Estoners) and photocards and a fanchant and a lightstick design and a "Gangnam Style" mashup and chibi art and then more chibi art. It has been one of the highlights of my past month, being able to giggle unreservedly with strangers. I haven't been able to do that in a long time.

Eurovision happens in two weeks, and then there will inevitably be a dropoff in activity, no matter where "(nendest)..." places. Without the Eurovision framework (and the English-language content that comes with it) I suspect most Estoners will move on. I'm still going to play the album, though, and keep an eye on these guys. Any chance to expand idol pop into more humane spaces, I'm going to take, no matter how silly it seems.

[noyasaur]

can scripting be apart of a method? — like affirmations? one of my favorite parts of shifting is scripting for my DR but I don’t know how I would incorporate that into a method.

₊✩‧₊˚౨ৎ˚₊✩‧₊

ooh! this is actually a super interesting question, but yes! of course :) typically you could turn and incorporate anything into a method in any way you like, but i could give you some suggestions of how you could incorporate scripting into your methods.

i would suggest to use law of assumption in conjunction with these suggestions! i think it would go nicely with this 'scripting method.'

but one thing you could do is write a 'diary entry' or a 'story' of you telling stories of things that 'you've already experienced' in your desired reality, since you've 'already shifted.' you could use this as a way to script for things you want to happen in your desired reality, and tell them from the perspective of you already having experienced these things.

for example, i could write up a diary entry or draft post on my first day in my desired reality, funny/memorable things that have happened to me in my dr, or even writing about certain aspects on your dr and talking about them; like how you met certain people and your relationship with them, etc. basically anything you like! but of course, writing/scripting it from the perspective of you having already shifted and experienced these things.

additionally, it's also using the law of assumption since you can create the assumption that you've already shifted to whatever reality you want, and now you're just that version of yourself who's already experienced their desired reality and is a master shifter ✨

think of it as a way to persist in your desires, and in this case, persist and be that person who's already shifted to their desired reality!

i admit i'm a little bit guilty of doing this at times 😅 whenever i'm bored sometimes i start writing up 'stories' of things i've experienced in my desired realities, even if i haven't shifted yet. i also find it helps prepare me for wherever i'm going to shift to and helps me to come to the realisation that "shit, this is real."

another thing you could do is again, write a 'diary/journal entry' or story from your perspective on how exactly you shifted when you first shifted. you could go into detail of the your mindset and how you got yourself to shift and then go onto telling your story of the things you experienced in your desired reality! doing this in conjunction of the law of assumption essentially helps you cement and assume that you've already shifted and this is what you to do shift.

or (yes, another idea) you could even write a diary entry of you journaling to yourself of all the things you're excited to experience and all about your dr. just basically a huge info dump: things you're excited to experience, people you're excited to see- and even the not-so-great things about your dr. like any fears or worries you might have, or things you're anxious to experience. and then end that entry with you signing off and basically saying you're going of to shift now, assuming you will.

and like you said, you could also 'script' things into affirmation form! i'm not sure if that makes sense so let me explain: you could affirm/write affirmations as if you've already shifted! things like "oh, i'm so happy to have shifted to ___ desired reality and experience ___ with ___ (person)!" as an example. you could also include this into a short diary entry of your day in general in this reality or even just write it down in your script. and again, this is all acting from the perspective as if you've already shifted (because you have, and you will. you're a master shifter and you have the power here, so remember that).

so you could do all this and when you attempt to shift, just simply set an intention and use the law of assumption + intention to assume you will shift or wake up in your dr. and shifting is already super easy for you since you've done it all before, so it's basically just doing a normal, average thing you do on the daily! you can shift and you've already shifted.

but yeah, i hope this gave you some ideas for how you could incorporate scripting into your method! i find this idea very interesting and it's obviously something people who LOVE to script should take into account and use it to their advantage. like i said before, i'm guilty of doing some of these things too and i find it super fun and sometimes, i even just write up draft posts of 'me shifting to ___ dr" and explaining aspects of my dr and telling the story of everything that happened when i shifted, and then that ends up being my script for that reality.

and technically, it could also count as setting intention as scripting anyway is just you visually outlining your intentions of the reality you want to shift to.

good luck on shifting and i hope you have a wonderful day! take care ♡(｡- ω -)

- saturn ♡

[lutawolf]

My Dear Gangster Oppa Commentary Ep 5

If you haven't read my other commentary on the show. You can find it here. Sorry this is late, hope you still enjoy.

@bl-bam-beyond

The scene starts with them at the beach and transitions to them walking into a hotel room while kissing. Tew double checks that Guy is still okay and once he gets the green light it's all done for.

I love the feet tangled, and that Guy is a very active participant. He wants Tew just as much as Tew wants him.

@bl-bam-beyond

The good thing about being late to writing my review is all the bomb ass gifs. Especially since I can't get my discord still frames to show up. Something really wonky is going on with my Tumblr.

Anyway, Guy is giving off super shy vibes. Unless he is talking about Tew's scars, then he turns into a whiney baby. He quickly learns that maybe he didn't want to know as much as he thought.

Ahhh, here we have talks of Tew leaving the gang again. Boss Daddy isn't going to let him go easily, me thinks.

"I'm all grown up!" but I stayed the night with a friend. 🤣🤣🤣 Tew teasing Guy is too adorable. We are having a too cute sappy moment, so of course that's when Wahl has to show up.

Okay, I'm all about friends being concerned but this just screams ownership. When he doesn't own Guy! Meanwhile, the entire time Wahl is running his mouth, Tew is making some expressions in the background. Which I'm loving. Wahl just doesn't realize that he is only safe because of Guy.

Fuck, I love Guy's speech.

"Listen to me, Wahl. I admit I've changed." He is asking Wahl to listen to him. This is a good way to start a conversation when you need someone to hear you, but this only works if the person values you. He then gives Wahl the benefit of telling him he is right. This will actually make Wahl more receptive to listening because he is showing this isn't a negative conversation set to place blame. "I used to be insecure and have no friends until I met you." Again, using positives in the conversation before the negatives is going to keep the listener receptive. He's also showing that he values Wahl. "You were the friend that I cared about the most. I tried to do the things you liked. Applied to the same university as you. Attempted to fit in with your friends." He is keeping this about himself and not blaming. "Do you know why? Because you told me, I would always be your first choice." You see Wah's eyes drop, and he is clearly thinking, because he is receptive to what Guy is saying. "I've been holding onto what you said for so long. So long until I've become tired of them." Now he is addressing the negative. He is exasperated with himself and Wahl for allowing himself to be stagnant and for Wahl trying to keep him there. "I want to have my own life and someone who truly understands me."

Now we have a sad Wahl at the beachside having a self awareness melt down. Meanwhile, Tew is having a beachside pouting session. He all happy once Guy spills the beans and a cute flirty moment ensues. Now he is more than happy to eat the cake that his boyfriend is offering.

Awww, he wants something personal from Guy.

These two have become sickly cute and I love it. From the teasing to the bite on the nose. I'm entranced.

Boss Daddy can read Tew very well. He knows he did something wrong, he already knew about the lying, and he knows that Tew is in love.

Damn. Daddy not playing around. You got one shot buddy, make it count. But Tew is taking those chances and is lucky. I like that he still shows respect, and I still maintain that Boss Daddy cares for Tew. It's just that he is a gangster boss.

Then Tew accepts the beating that he knew was coming. Relying on his moments with Guy to sustain him. He wraps the handkerchief from Guy around his hand and endures.

Meanwhile, in the land of guilds, they are not happy.

Just as we're about to have a reunion. Tew shows up bloody and beaten. Did the dumbass really suggest calling the police. Did his common sense leave with his virginity? This is so fucking cheesy... I mean, I like it, but it's still cheesy. "Why are you crying?" "I never want to see you hurt like this again. It hurts everywhere." We are falling into the "He fell first, but he fell harder troupe."

We get sweet promises, moments and kisses. Some TLC. That sadly doesn't move to more. Sad for both us and Tew. I'm with you, Tew. Sex makes everything better.

They are so playful. I love it.

So they'll have to do some clean up, but the besties quit the gang together and they've got a plan! If you think this is too easy, then you're right, but let's just enjoy the moment while we can.

Guy and Boss quickly realize that they need help, and guess who shows up.

I love these bitches. Let the teasing and cuteness commence!

I adore Boss's flirtiness, but damn, I don't trust him. Neither does Tul. Also, what did Phai's business card say that had Guy making that face? I have so many questions!!!

And we establish that Muffin is an idiot, but the other two aren't. But it instigated the official announcement of TewGuy. Which, of course, everyone pokes fun at. Good Times.

Tul really doesn't trust Boss. Looks like he was right not to. He works for Wish John Lennon. Sure it's by force but so what. He betrayed the person he is, claiming he'll always be beside. You thin Tew would do that to Guy?

Tul cares but doesn't trust. That is a mood there. One that is valid considering that Boss drugs their drinks.

And that is where the episode concludes. If I was Boss, I would be very afraid of what Tew will do to him for hurting Guy. But we'll have to wait and see.

[cartoonsbyandie]

So let's put you in charge of a throwaway case. How would you make the perp an ideal foil to Kogoro?

My immediate thought was cop/former cop culprit, or culprit that murders their ex for the sake of being able to move on, until I remembered that both of those were already done within the same case. (Albeit with weird timing considering that case came before Eri was introduced.)

I think one interesting way to go would be a guy who commits a murder on accident while drunk. Conan episodes tend to have the culprits be mega-geniuses that planned everything super far in advance, or are supernaturally able to come up with complex ways to cover it on the spot. There's the odd case Conan is bothered by the culprit's sloppy work and literally suggests ways they could've done it better, but I like the thought of really running with that.

Let's go really on-the-nose: Two guys pool their money together on a bunch of horse-racing tickets, and one of them comes up a big winner. The agreement was to split the profits, but since it was all only under one guy's name, he reneges on that and says he's going to take all the money. They're both wasted and have a drunken fight outside the bar, resulting in one guy pushing the other, him tripping on a bottle, and bludgeoning himself on a dumpster. Culprit takes the ticket from his pocket and goes home.

Culprit only realizes what happened the morning after when the murder is reported on the news, probably a bit in denial about it. Blah-blah-blah investigation stuff, Conan and Kogoro teaming up, there were multiple people that hated the victim, a bunch of them also have winning horse racing tickets maybe. Conan is fixated on which ticket was the one stolen from the victim, Kogoro is fixated on the emotional element of what people do when they're drunk and what he would do.

Kogoro ends up confronting the culprit alone as he's burning the horse-racing ticket (there's no hope of cashing it and planting it on one of the other suspects would just ruin their lives) and is debating on jumping off a building. Kogoro stops him and convinces him to turn himself in. He gets to have empathy for the victim, that he acted how Kogoro would have if he found himself in this situation, and convince him that he still has something to live for. He needs to atone for his crime, but not like this-- there's enough death in this town, and people would miss him. Maybe Conan even shows up with the guy's friends from the bar to show up and help convince him. Kogoro gets to be the person he wishes he had after he drove Eri away and ruined his life. (Not a perfect comparison since murder is far worse than that, but y'know, if that guy has a path to redemption then maybe Kogoro does too.)

End-credits scene where Kogoro is drunk and cheering on a horse race of course because this is DetCo and no one can learn anything. Except then Conan notices he's drinking non-alcoholic beer, but still acting like he's wasted, and just has so many questions.

Disclaimer: Decent odds this set-up has been one before, I haven't seen every Conan filler episode.

[miss0atae]

Random thoughts about SOTUS episode 3 :

The students still have to do the hazings and it's not going easy for any of the freshmen. Even their seniors (sophomores, I guess) have it tough because the third year are not happy. Among all these things, the freshmen also have to find a student president to represent them and Kong has to represent the engineering students for the faculty's star contest.

▪️ As for the hazings I can't believe they truly believe it will have a positive impact on group bonding, as it was suggesting by the seniors. Many of the activities they gave them seem to be pointless and only contribute in putting the students in uncomfortable situations (remember the girl who hyperventilated) or humiliate them (such as the stupid commands given to get the senior signatures). In this episode, they have to chant. It really seems like a waste of time. I know the hazings are just a plot device to make the story goes further and show Kong and Arthit's different reactions and confrontations. However, I wonder if it's truly useful to increases solidarity. This wasn't really popular when I was a student and also it wasn't really something done in my country. I already saw this kind of activities done in American movies. Is it popular in Thailand, too?

▪️ This episode gave an opportunity for three other secondary characters to shine. The first one is M. In the previous episode, he was just this shy freshman who was a “childhood” friend of Kong. He seems to be easily fearful and would like to avoid any kind of attention. When you compare him to Kong, you'll feel he isn't really capable of standing his ground. Yet, in this episode, he gathered his courage and asked for Kong to stay in the group. I was really impressed because I never thought he would be the kind of person to ask this. Especially, as he seems to be quite overwhelmed when he has to go against a senior. Arthit inspires fear in most of the freshmen at this point of the story, so to go against what he said, was truly a feat for M. I believe a true selfless act always sparks another and as Kong usually tries to save everyone, it was pleasant to see someone fights for him. I can understand why they are friends. M may be less effusive, but he is a true friend when it's needed.

▪️ The second character who got the chance to shine in this episode, was Knot, another third-year senior. He is viewed as less strict than Arthit, but he also inspires respect. I'm absolutely not impartial when I said I was charmed by him. His character looks like the kind of person you can rely on. Of course, he wasn't super nice to the freshmen. He asked them about the signature book and why they haven't realized this simple task which made the freshmen uncomfortable again. He was also the one who bought the idea of appointing a student president for their year. I know he didn't do that much, but it was important because it was the first time when Arthit wasn't seen as the leader of the hazings. Something happened and the next best person to take after Arthit, was Knot. I believe it shows how reliable he can be. Oh and also I find him truly handsome. There is something about him. I can't really explain.

▪️ The last character who we get to know more is May. She was the student, Kong failed to remember the name in the previous episode. He gave her his name tag and since then, she felt for him. She finds him interesting and she is set as a potential love interest. It was funny to see the group of girls bringing this Japanese belief of writing the name of your crush on an eraser. You have to know the first time I heard it was when I read the manga My Love Mix-Up (I also watched the drama). I wonder where does it come from? Is it just a young belief or does it come from another book/manga? Of course, May will write the name of Kong on the eraser he gave her. I don't think it will end well.

▪️ Time to talk about my favorite part of the series which is everything related to Arthit and Kong. I'm slowly liking them more and more. Kong was staying true to himself and wanted again to save everyone when Arthit was disappointing by the second-year students teaching. He really has the syndrome of the white knight. Obviously it sparked another confrontation between them. The tension between these two! Arthit can't help himself, he always gets so annoyed by Kong, especially when Kong refuses to just stay still. What I find so interesting is how Kong always forgives him so easily and even thinks Arthit's actions are a proof he is having a fondness for him. It leads of course to more flirting and I live for these small moments. Kong's flirting is top-tier and it always leaves Arthit to be speechless. I feel a bit sorry for Arthit (not really) because he can't win against him. He ended up again flustered. I really appreciate how shameless and bold Kong is when it comes to flirting with his senior.

I don't even know if he realizes how down bad he is for Arthit. I mean he can't help himself and look for him everywhere, especially now that he noticed Arthit's room is just in front of his own room. When Knot acted as the leader of the senior during the gathering, Kong wasn't really listening, he was just looking after Arthit and felt nervous until he saw him. When he went to the photoshoot for the faculty's star contest, he asked questions about Arthit. Kong can't help himself, he is so interested in anything related to his favorite senior and it shows! When he met Arthit at the canteen he was again ready to do all the dumb things the guy may ask him (like eating spicy food even if he doesn't like or saying out loud a prayer even if it's embarrassing). As much as Arthit pretends to be annoyed by Kong, he can't help his true nature of being a real softy. I actually like how the story shows us he is not just a bully who like to harass freshmen. I believe Arthit is not really capable of dealing well with his feelings. I also think it must be hard for him to pretend to always be a tough cookie.

▪️ Finally, I have one intrusive thought… Is Pink Milk a thing? What's the taste of this drink? There is a drink in my country which looks the same, but I don't know if it's the same thing. It's funny how Arthit who always pretend to be a tough guy likes this type of drink. It helps to soften his image. I feel like the Pink Milk has its own place among famous inanimate objects in BL series such as the cactus, the astronaut or the rubber ducky. (This thought was inspired by this post!)

I wonder if the next episode will be about the faculty's star contest and what new stupid hazings' activity the freshmen will have to do. Most importantly, what new flirting will Kong do to Arthit.

[geoffrard]

if you don't mind, could you spare some pointers about archive work? i would love to try some but i honestly have no idea where to start.

happy to give some guidance since archiving is something i'm passionate about :)

my experience with archive work lies largely outside of mcr specifically, and subject area 100% impacts the archiving experience. that disclaimer in mind, i'm a history grad student, work with physical & digital archives, and managed a smaller one for a few years. on the fandom side of things, i run @thursdayarchive with nic @raytorosaurus (who is also a great resource for the specifics of mcr archiving & who suggested some advice given here!).

but you definitely don't have to have much experience to archive! archiving, at its root, is about assembling materials relevant and organizing them in a way that allows other people to access them. And this work is super, super important (esp since so much of mcr's history dates back to an era of the internet that is rapidly disappearing) & definitely doesn't require you to develop a sophisticated skill set.

There are three basic things to take into consideration when you're starting to archive:

Artifacts: What you collect

Personal organization: How you will keep track of what you find

The repository: How you will share your archive

Artifacts: Collect materials

Finding materials to share is the meat of the archiving experience, and often it's what takes the longest time. It can also be a little intimidating at first, especially considering the amount of unsourced photos that regularly float around mcr spaces. some notes on that end (mainly concerning photographs, since that tends to be the currency the mcr fandom deals in):

first, you don't have to just archive photos--the range of interesting materials related to mcr is vast. an archive might include photos, interviews, videos, magazine features, music, etc.

Consider what gaps might exist within fandom archives. MCR fans have run a number of really great archives in the past, so some work might not need to be done. Of course, those materials might not get circulated--and recovering it would be a worthwhile task. Perhaps recent interviews haven't been compiled and transcribed. Perhaps you can't believe that people aren't talking about a certain two-minute excerpt from a Frank podcast from five years ago. Perhaps you've noticed a dearth of photos of Mikey from 2010 in fandom spaces. Do what is interesting to you, but build on past archival work when you can. Honestly I can really see a need to keep track of a lot of the fan videos from the recent tour.

Decide if you want your archiving to center around a certain theme--like, a certain member of the band, a certain type of media, etc.

KEEP TRACK OF SOURCE CREDIT. the mcr fandom has been awful at keeping track of photo sources in the past, and as a result many of the most of the iconic photographs have been totally divorced from their source. Also, make sure that the person you're crediting is the actual original source.

On that note: while it might not seem like a big deal, reposting without a source is. Music photographers make their living by licensing their photos, and if a for-profit publication wants to use those photos but doesn't know photographer, they can't, and the photographer loses out on business. Non-professional photos really should be sourced, too. Fans in a photo might not want to have their picture spread around for a number of reasons (this specifically has happened in the mcr fandom, where a collection of photographs were reposted without permission from a private photobucket).

It's always easier to find photos at their source rather than sourcing photos that you already have. A lot of photographers post their pictures on their own archives, often on places like getty images, photobucket, flickr, and their personal websites. a lot of these sites are searchable, and they're a decent place to start.

keep track of the names of photographers and interviewers that you see often

familiarize yourself with archive.org. it is your friend when you encounter dead links.

it's also worthwhile to have a decent grasp on the mcr timeline, or at least know where to reference it. since i have a shit brain for remembering specific dates, i generally reference concertarchives (though it can be a little unreliable at times and warrants some cross-referencing).

Personal organization: Keep track of what you find

When you locate something you'd like to archive, you'll want to keep track of the information associated with it--in archiving, we call that metadata. This can be a bit of a headache in the moment, but integrating your own organizing systems is a lifesaver in the long run. Consider:

what kinds of information might interest your audience? Typically, I include source, date, location, people included (if it's a photo), and any other context that might be relevant to the source, if I can find it.

what is the easiest way to track that information? I keep a detailed spreadsheet for that purpose, but you might find it useful to archive the item onto your repository immediately. there's no one right way to do this step, but having a standard practice can help you avoid confusion or accidentally sharing incorrect details.

The repository: share your archive

The whole point of archiving is to share materials with other people--though this is certainly easier said that done. Your repository doesn't have to be anything more than your blog, but it deserves a decent amount of thought. Things to think about:

Where will you host your archive? Most of us will use Tumblr, and there's nothing wrong with that, but you don't have to. Places like dreamwidth and google drive can be useful platforms as well. If you stick with tumblr, consider if you want to use the blog you already use, or if you want to start a new blog for a clean slate.

You don't have to repost the content that you want to archive. Making lists of content by topic is incredibly important, and there is a decent amount of content that you wouldn't be able to upload on most platforms because of size and length restrictions.

How will you organize your repository? The easier someone can access something they're looking for on an archive, the more they will use it. Using specific tags to indicate certain features of an archive post is generally the most intuitive organization method, but you can also use other systems (like hyperlinks) if they work for you.

What kinds of information do you want people to find on your archive? Generally, if you use tags, you'll want to come up with a consistent system for general pieces of info like people, form of media, time period, etc. If you have a more specific archive topic or an interest, like you really want to log Mikey's sock collection during the bullets era or something, consider adding tags for that. You can have fun with these :)

Make it easy to figure out what kind of organization system your archive uses. This might mean a taglist, a general explanation of your methods, or some combination thereof.

I'm sure that I missed some points here, and as I said, a lot of this advice is a little more general because I haven't spent a lot of time doing archiving for MCR specifically, and it mainly pertains to archiving through photo uploading, but I hoped it answered some questions for anyone interested in getting into archiving. As always, i'm happy to answer any questions based on my own experiences :) happy archiving!!!

[river-muse]

Hiya, I was wondering if you might be able to provide some info into how/where you got your snake? It’s one of the loveliest looking caramel morphs I’ve ever seen.

Hello, anon!

I'm going to go out on a shaky limb and guess you have at least some basic knowledge about reptile keeping. If not feel free to send me another ask if you want more info! I'm definitely not a pro but I do have some experience and resources I can share. I do apologize beforehand that I'm in the US so things I recommend might not be an option in other countries. I'll put the info under a cut since it might be a bit lengthy.

Dalamadur absolutely is gorgeous, and the breeder(VMS herp)had a lovely reputation. His website was very minimalistic but worked super well. A few years back however he retired from snake breeding or I'd link you to him in a heartbeat.

A good website you could go to is Morph Market. Think of it kinda like ebay but for reptiles. It will give you a chance to see listings from multiple breeders at once. I will always say to prioritize purchasing/adopting captive born/bred for multiple reasons. Luckily if you're after a corn snake like Dalamadur is it won't be hard.

If you're hesitant about ordering a reptile from an online breeder check around and see if you have any local breeders/shops. Just please don't buy from big chain pet stores like Petsmart since their stock comes from reptile mills. Or better yet, check to see if you have a repticon near you. Tickets to get in are cheap and you can always research the breeders there online before attending. It would also give you the chance to talk to the breeder in person.

Last method I'll suggest is seeing if there are any reptile shops around you that do adoption/rehoming services. Sadly it's not uncommon for life to happen and owners needing to find a new home for their snakes since depending on the species they can be a 20+ year commitment. Of course that means you most likely wouldn't be getting a cute hatchling but you would be giving them a second chance at a home.

Thank you for the ask! As a treat I'll share Dalamadur's baby picture from when he was a hatchling if I haven't already done that in the past. This was taken by the breeder and shown on his listing back when he hatched in 2019. He was a skittish little thing when I first got him which is super common for hatchlings.