#and it will be better for me if I just come to terms with that and approach my life that way

[spaceyaemonds]

pairing: dr. jack abbot x reader

sum.: jack says some things he doesn’t mean after meeting your neighbor. the two of you somehow manage to quickly make up, though

warnings: age gap (jack is late 40s, reader is 23), unplanned pregnancy, jack is divorced, not a widower, slight angst, they argue (LIGHT term LOL), jack insecure and says some things he doesn’t mean out of jealousy, (probably poorly written) smut, unprotected sex (she’s already pregnant so 🤷🏻‍♀️), creampie, i think that’s all??? minors DNI.

notes: ahhh okay finally!!!! ugh sorry this took so long! there will be a slight timeskip between this part and the next part. i think i have this drafted where there will be 15 parts in the main story, as of this moment, with lots of side drabbles and future drabbles/one shots!! i am SO excited! unedited. and as always, any feedback is extremely appreciated, it helps keep me motivated. especially reblogs/comments/asks!

wc: 1.4k

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The last thing Jack expects when he gets to your apartment is to find some guy standing in your doorway talking to you.

You’ve got a smile on your face that makes Jack almost stop in his tracks, an uneasy feeling creeping in his stomach.

He must catch your eye, because you look in his direction, and the smile on your face widens.

“Hey!”

He gives you a half smile before glancing back at your friend, who looks at him with furrowed brows.

“Oh! This is my neighbor's son. Jack, this is Dan. Dan this is Jack, my,” You pause briefly, “friend?”

It comes out a question, and he doesn’t have the right to get upset and he knows that, but it stings.

Dan glances at Jack, “Hey, man. She mentioned she was expecting company, so I was just leaving,”

Jack looks at you as Dan turns back to you, “If your computer keeps giving you a hard time, just shoot me a text or give me a call,”

Dan leaves with a wave, and Jack has no right to, but he feels out of place in the doorway of your apartment for the first time.

You don’t notice how quiet he’s being as he follows you into your apartment, talking animatedly as you tell him about your day.

He stops in the entryway to the kitchen, still silent as you put your oven mitts on to take whatever you have baking in the oven out.

“But anyway,” You sigh, setting the pie you made on the counter, “How was your day?”

You look at him, slightly taken aback by the look on his face.

“Jack, are you okay?”

Brown eyes finally meet yours, “Who was that guy?”

You frown, “Dan? He’s my neighbor’s son, like I said. They helped me get the desk up here, and he offered to just help me get it put together since he didn’t have anything to do this afternoon. I took him up on his offer, since I figured you would be really tired after a long day,”

He looks at you, half amazed you would even consider that, but half annoyed that you assume he’d be too tired to help you.

“I wouldn’t have offered if it was going to be any sort of issue,”

A pout forms on your lips, “Well, I know that, but I just,” You sigh, picking at your fingernails, “I hated the thought of you working all day and then coming here and dealing with all that mess,” You gesture with your hands towards your office

He sighs, feeling like an asshole, “I’m sorry. I had a hard day and…” He trails off, not sure what exactly to say.

You smile softly, “No worries,”

He gives you a half smile, “Do you know your neighbor well?”

You bite your lip in thought, “Well, I’ve known Carl since I moved in. But I didn’t meet Dan until almost a year ago,” You laugh to yourself, “He used to work in Philadelphia, but moved back here to take care of his dad. Carl actually did try to set us up once,”

Jack tenses up again, “He did?”

You nod, moving to plate the pasta you made, “Yeah, right after my ex and I broke up actually,” You frown at the thought for a brief moment, then shake the thought away, “but I wasn’t ready to date. And Dan isn’t really my type anyway,”

The statement makes Jack feel slightly better, but his mouth moves quicker than his head before he can stop himself, “So, just a dad that tried to set you guys up? Nothing else?”

You frown at his tone, at what he’s implying, gently setting the plate of pasta down and turning your whole body towards him, “Yes? What would make you think there was more to it than that?”

He looks away from you, “Don’t know. Jus’ felt like I should ask,”

All of a sudden you’re angry, “We’ve already had this conversation. And I already told you. You were the first guy I slept with in almost a year,”

He knows he shouldn’t do this. Shouldn’t let this blow up, “Well, I don’t know. You could’ve lied for all I know,”

The anger leaves your eyes as quickly as it appeared, hurt being the only thing remaining.

“I think you should leave,” You try to keep your voice firm. Steady. But all that comes out is a whisper.

He instantly regrets it, but to avoid upsetting you further, he leaves. He stops at the front door, mind screaming at him to turn around.

He closes the door quietly behind him.

Two hours later, you’ve finally finished cleaning your apartment. Between the mess with the desk, piled up laundry, and the dinner you didn’t even eat, the place needed a good clean.

Just as you're about to go to bed, there’s a knock at the door.

Sighing, you answer it without checking, shocked to find Jack there, hands in his pockets.

“I’m sorry,” His eyes don’t leave yours, “I don’t know what came over me earlier. I-“

He sighs, cutting himself off, “I don’t have any right, or claim on you, to act like that. I know this situation isn’t ideal for either of us but,” He shoves his hands in his pockets, “I think we have this connection, outside of the obvious,” head tilting towards your stomach, “But we don’t know each other, and I, fuck I don’t know,”

You’re softer and kinder than he deserves, “You got jealous?”

He huffs out a laugh, “I’m too old for that shit,”

You open the door wider, allowing him to come in, “You don’t deny it, though,”

He sighs as the two of you make your way to the couch, “The thought of you being pregnant but us never meeting again has been really eating at me. The idea of you, somewhere out there, pregnant with my baby, raising my baby, alone or with some other guy,” A pitiful chuckle leaves his mouth, “it makes me sick to my fucking stomach.”

You hum, fingers moving to his curls, scratching at his scalp. He closes his eyes at the sensation.

“You never said anything,”

He opens one eye and huffs out a laugh, “We’ve just started getting to know each other. This is a delicate situation. Plus,” He sighs, hand grabbing your wrist, “I don’t want to make you more uncomfortable than you might already be.”

Now it’s your turn to huff out a laugh, “If I was uncomfortable with any of this, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”

He looks at you with both eyes open now, “Yeah?”

You just nod, causing him to let out a sigh of relief.

The two of you just sit there, looking at each other, for a few minutes.

Jack isn’t sure who moves first, but the next thing he knows, your mouth is on his with your hands in his hair. One of his hands cradles the back of your head while the other finds purchase on your hip, pulling you closer to him.

He groans into your mouth when you tug at his hair. His tongue licks the seam of your lips, begging for you to open them.

You comply, and he moans at the taste of cherries as your tongue tries to fight his for dominance of this moment.

He pulls you into his lap as you begin to tug at his shirt, begging him oh so sweetly to please take it off.

Who is he to deny you.

Clothes are removed quickly. Next thing you know, his pants are pulled down just enough to free his cock, and you’re down to just your bra.

You don’t even give him the chance to feel how wet you are, how badly you want him, before you sink down on him.

You both gasp into the kiss at the feeling of your cunt gripping his cock tightly.

Your hands fist his hair as his gently hold your waist, helping guide you up and down, hips thrusting up to meet you in the middle.

It would be embarrassing, how quickly you manage to make him cum, if you didn’t cum at the same time, a whiney whimper of his name leaving your lips as his fingernails dig almost too tightly into your hips as his seed paints your walls white.

There’s a lot, an obscene amount of him inside of you. He can feel it sliding out of you and dripping down his balls and onto your couch as you lay slumped against his chest.

Jack runs his hand up and down your spine, trying to catch his breath.

After a few minutes, you finally sit up straight, his cock still inside you.

“Do you want to sleep in my bed tonight?”

He huffs out a laugh before nodding, grabbing your jaw and bringing your mouth back to his, fighting off a groan as you grind your hips against his when you start to deepen the kiss.

[nic0-r0bs]

I wanted to make art of my silly OCs and maybe some sort of sketchbook for the fantasy I'm writing.

I've always drawn more or less poorly without any knowledge or training, so last year I bought a new tablet with a pen, subscribed to ClipArt Studio and borrowed some books on how to draw.

I wanted to make a short comic for one of my fanfics (fully coloured - I had never coloured before) and it took me three weeks.

I still can't draw from "nothing", I need to copy references and use the ClipArt 3D models as a base, but I'm getting better and quicker.

Next step, I'd like some animatics for some sorts of AMVs, but I can't fo that, and will probably commission it to some talented artist. I'd like to learn the basics, tho.

See? It's not that difficult! It takes time and consistency but it's possible.

And the reward is infinitely greater than whatever short-term satisfaction can come from owning a mediocre piece of media, like a toddler throwing a tantrum because they want a toy just for them to forget its existence to pursue the next one.

If you're using gen AI because "you want to make art but don't know how/can't learn/it's easier/whatever"

You don't want to make art.

You want someone to make art for you, but you don't want to pay or exchange anything of equal value for it, and also you want it right now, in whatever style you fancy that moment, and in whatever quantity you want. You're greedy and entitled and it is just that simple. You don't want to make anything.

[snapscube]

Once again, one of your dub trailers has enlightened me to new music that just scratches The Itch.

May I ask, how are the trailer songs chosen? Like, at what stage do you usually have a sense of what song matches the vibe you’re aiming for?

The feeling the music choice brings to the trailers always comes across as very intentional, for lack of a better word, and I wonder if it’s like, an instinctive thing, or if you have to sort through songs until one hits the nail on the head?

thank you! i think about trailers a lot, basically thru the whole process. but i generally don't like to fully settle on a trailer song until we've at least recorded a portion of the dub (depending on if it's a single session or multi-session project) because i like to make sure the lyrical content has some kind of thematic or aesthetic match to the """"""story""""" we end up telling within the dub itself. so usually the very same night after we've recorded something final i have all the adrenaline and excitement running through my blood fresh so i immediately click over to spotify and start rummaging through my thousands of liked songs. term searches, pulling from memory, you name it. i look for one that has the match AND has the Sauce. usually it's a song that i'm just otherwise really into. so yeah a lot of it is instinctual in terms of vibes, with a little bit of intention when it comes to theme.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

hi!!!! hope you're doing well! i was wondering, what's the thing you most like about twisted? like what keeps you engaged and interested in the game? 😊

What keeps me in a game’s fandom is the health of the community. Even if I’m not satisfied with the official materials (*side-eyes book 2, 7, and various events*) or even if the official materials are scarce (there were hardly any new event stories early in Twst’s lifespan), it’s interesting for me to check in with the fandom and see how others are reacting.

There’s always like… creations coming out mere minutes after any news has dropped, be it fan art, theories, headcanons, cosplays, recipes, writing, or whatever else. And again, even if nothing new is coming out, there’s nothing stopping us fans from reevaluating old content, theorizing about future content, or playing around with our own OCs in the meantime. I also just love discussing the game and with my own small circle of Twst friends. Seeing everyone else be so excited or always up to something also makes me excited and want to be up to something too.

What I like the most about the game itself… I guess it’d be a mix of the art style/design and the cultures depicted in it. Twst is technically “anime” but doesn’t look like your traditional anime. I love that everyone actually has unique facial features (no Same Face Syndrome here!!) and that the artists get super experimental and creative with the makeup and fashion of the characters. A common criticism of masc. character designs is that they look so “safe” and uncreative compared to their femme counterparts, and Twst just goes and knocks it out of the park. Something else I really appreciate is how locations aren’t 1:1 just fantasy versions of real world locations. (afor example, Sunset Savanna isn’t purely Africa; it has onsen tamago, which are a Japanese food despite everything else being largely African, as well as hot springs themselves, which are also Japanesr.) Twst isn’t afraid to look at multiple cultures for reference and then blend them together to create something truly unique. And so much goes into also designing the food, customs, architecture, etc. It’s even more satisfying when they blend in Disney elements; then it becomes sort of an I Spy game of reference finding.

In terms of the writing, I think Twst is actually pretty mediocre for most events and the quality for the main story definitely varies from book to book. I feel like the characters and story would be better fleshed out and consistent were the game not a live service gacha title. When the Twst story goes hard, it goes hard. When it doesn’t it tends to fall short by a long shot. Sometimes the Disney references bog down the quality of the story too 💦 When the Disney influences are worn too strongly on the sleeve, that overtakes actually having an original and well-written plot in favor of banking on nostalgia and the Disney IP to make sales. (*stares at Lost in the Books and Tsumsted Wonderlands*)

[dislikabledionysian]

Ableism in the Hellenic Polytheist space

Before I start, today is seriously a low spoons day, so I hope all of this is coherent and makes sense.

I've noticed a large trend of covert ableism in this space recently. Both in terms of how making your practice more accessible is viewed, but also the way that the disabilities of other people get treated by other members of the community.

Obviously part of this post is in relation to the current debate that I'm seeing about offering the gods processed foods. The "hot Cheetos and monster" stuff that's going around. Before I get into this, please don't go harass anybody. I know at least one person who has made an opposite stance to mine known as received countless asks of them telling them horrible awful things. We can disagree and be civil, but if anyone who follows me feels the need to send anon hate to anyone over this, please just don't follow me. I don't want you here. With that disclaimer over, let's dig in.

No, I don't think the gods will view you any differently because you offer processed foods (or digital offerings that you put genuine time and energy and thought into!!!) If all that you can manage is genuinely Hot Cheetos and an unopened can of monster, that is a good, valid, and loved offering. If you are able to do more and you still decide to do that, that is still a perfectly valid offering. @fireandfennel made a really good post (linked here) about disability and offerings that explains it better than me, but an offering is a sacrifice. Processed foods are expensive, and often for us disabled people it's all that we can manage because we can't always cook or even prepare instant meals. To us that is a sacrifice. I would also argue that in this economy where junk food is more expensive than ever, it's a sacrifice for everyone that chooses to do it, because it is inherently more expensive than offering something like water. The idea that it has to come straight from the earth is a valid one, but is definitely not doable for all of us. I wish personally that I could be ass deep in the mud to be collecting clay, but I just physically can't. The other point that I would like to make about this is that almost everything that we consume is either processed or genetically modified. Unless you are offering something that you have grown yourself with no pesticides or anything, you are still offering a processed food of some sort. If you offer tap water, you are offering water that is treated with fluoride. If you are offering purified water, you are offering water that has had to be processed. In the modern day, 99% of us will not be giving offerings that aren't processed. We just aren't. To me this point stems from the idea that some people are Better Special Worshippers because they have the physical ability to do what others of us cannot. Which brings me to my second point.

Tumblr is ableist. This community is ableist. We need to do better. The way this has been handled by VERY LARGE creators is absolutely fucking insane to me. The idea of "just cut up an apple instead" is a crazy take because some people have mobility issues with their hands and arms, some people have issues with grip and coordination. Not everyone CAN "just" cut up an apple. For some people it's a big fucking task. I think truthfully that these people just aren't thinking about their disabled peers, though that's what I'm choosing to hope (rather than seeing the observable fact that these creators claim to be friends with disabled people, and still choose to be openly exclusionary towards them).

The way I've seen it handled in replies was worse. Someone in the comments of a post were even making fun of me personally because of a meme I posted regarding my mental illness, making jokes that I was attention seeking and it "made sense". Yeah I'm diagnosed with multiple conditions, and even if it's in memes, I AM going to talk about it so that other people feel less alone.

I've seen so many people say or imply that it's lazy to offer junk food. Listen if you're offering what you have and it's with clean hands and good intentions, the gods love you.

Anyway my point to this is that Tumblr has been really fucking ableist lately with the way they've been handling offerings, and it's really disappointing because the ones I've seen do it are large accounts. This is not okay. We are better than this as a community.

For all the disabled folks like me, you are welcome here. You are welcome on my account, you are welcomed by Dionysus. The gods are for everyone and they understand, even when other humans don't.

[vermili-and-eudo]

Vermili: While my superhero outfit is largely black, that is strictly for camouflage. I also have my tail and bands that are Pink, but that's to mark my wrists. My favorite color is Yellow. Eudo: Vibrant Green.

Eudo: I like easy listening music from the 70's/80's, stuff that's considered Yacht Rock. But when I'm with Vermili, Our Song is "Feels So Good" by Sonique

Vermili: Fists. I have no reason to walk around foes holding a gun, I have bad aim, I could easily kill someone, and with physical fighting, I can control how hard I hurt someone, so I'm mostly gentler to let them live and learn a lesson.

Vermili: You have to be in order to be a great Superhero!

Eudo: I take a great amount of care into my fashion/functionality combo, as while I would love to look like Liberace all the time, I hate wearing sleeves as it bunches my feathers and I can't fly with them. I love a lot of bright colors that call for attention. Vermili: I have made different outfits, experimenting in a trial and error to figure out what would work best for me and eventually my husband. My old Superhero outfit is made out of a combo of cloth and linen due to the high temperatures of my hometown.

Eudo: I dye the tips of my feathers every three months, mostly green, But sometimes I dye them a different color for an occasion. Vermili: I had SUCH bad helmet hair before meeting Eudo. Now I just comb it.

Eudo and Vermili: ... *Slowly point fingers at each other*

Vermili: my full Superhero name of "The Vermili Wrangler" often just gets shortened to Vermili for convenience sake.

Vermili: Key Lime Pie, I can tell when it's not made with real key limes! Eudo: Moon Shrimp Cake. If the local Chinese place has it, I order it every time!

Eudo: Our Wedding rings are the only jewelry we wear, not counting rhinestones on special outfits.

Out of character here. Vermili's personal journey was largely inspired by my own terms of coming out and a source of inspiration being Earthworm Jim. I would probably get along with Vermili and Eudo, I think we could be friends

Eudo: I was born on May 14th, 1977, I know there's a photo of me with a mugshot card saying 87, but that was because they ran out of 7s. Vermili is not exactly sure when he was born because he was a lab mutation accidentally made round 2000, so I celebrate the day he became a superhero and was introduced to society, being August 22nd, 2001.

Vermili: We both speak English, I know a little bit of Spanish to help out some of the local immigrants, but Eudo speaks it better than I can.

Vermili: I'm best with measurements, Eudo is great with money.

Vermili: I was the result of a lab throwing a meteorite at a Tamandua and some special educations, so I don't have any family per say, but Eudo has an amazing family, they treat me like I'm one of their own! He has a mom, a dad, and a younger brother named Doodle.

Vermili: I've helped a couple abandoned dogs before.

Eudo: I liked to run around and play sports as a kid.

Vermili and Eudo: NEVER!

Eudo: We are quick to act whenever some gets hurt, but are mostly cool tempered.

Vermili and Eudo: We can't drive

Vermili: Favorite place to be... Eudo: Oh come on, you know what they're asking! Vermili: I do, I just don't want to say it out loud.... Eudo: St. Petersburg Beach.

Eudo: Yeah, but Vermili is mostly a night owl, and I'm an early riser.

Vermili: I sound like Spencer from iCarly, and I CAN'T SING AT ALL.

Vermili: Sometimes I play videogames. I used to crash a lot of computers so I stuck with my Dreamcast for quite a bit. I like to play games with Eudo's little brother.

Vermili: I've been told I should get my eyes checked due to tamanduas having very poor eyesight, But I can see just fine! Eudo: You attacked a dress mannequin last night. Vermili: IT WAS DARK AND I THOUGHT IT WAS A BURGLAR.

Eudo: Me and Vermili us eachother as moving boosts, as while I'm light and can fly real high, Vermili can do a very strong all 4 run that gives me a boost. Doodle was born without an arm, so he uses a prosthetic.

Vermili: This will be the last question answered out of this list, because I'm not sure how to answer the rest of them, but I Love watching football, and I'm really good at baseball.

i wanted to make an oc ask game 😋 things i like to ask people abt their characters:

are they associated with a certain color? what color do they wear the most?

what sort of music would they like? have you thought about what genres or bands do they lean towards? do they have a favorite song?

weapon of choice? any particular reason they chose their weapon?

how crafty/resourceful are they?

how do they typically dress? does their wardrobe lean more towards practicality or aesthetics?

how do they wear their hair? do they care a lot how their hair looks?

favorite animal? why?

do they have a nickname? who gave it to them? if it's not derived from their real name, what's the story behind it?

favorite food? least favorite? are they a picky eater? do they have any dietary restrictions?

if they wear jewelry, what kind? do they prefer silver or gold? do they have a favorite gem?

what do they have in common with you? how are they different? would you get along with them?

how long have they been around? do you know their birthday? is their birthday the day you made them or another day? what do they think of celebrating birthdays?

what languages do they speak? how fluently?

are they any good with numbers?

how big or small is their family? who did they live with growing up? do they live with anyone now?

do they have any pets? what do they call their pets?

how did they spend their summers/free time as a child?

their opinion on lying, stealing, and killing?

are they quick to anger? what sets them off?

if applicable, can they drive? if they have their own, what color is their vehicle? is the inside neat and tidy, or a mess?

their favorite place to be?

do they sleep well at night?

how would you describe their voice? can they sing?

do they have any creative hobbies? (art, writing, music, etc)

how good/bad is their hearing? what about their eyesight?

how do they move? are they clumsy? light on their feet? do they use mobility aids?

if applicable, do they have a favorite sport? do they play any sports or prefer to watch?

how do they show that they care about someone? how do they express that they don't like someone?

are they associated with any particular element (air, earth, fire, water)?

do they smell like anything notable?

do they like receiving gifts? giving gifts? what is their ideal gift?

do they have any habits that aren't particularly self-destructive, just maybe odd?

if applicable, how would your other characters describe them? i mean specifically the people around them.

how would your character describe themselves? it doesn't have to line up with how they really are.

do they ever return home?

[qiu-yan]

once again, instead of being a bitch on someone else's post, i'll keep my thoughts on my own blog.

i've seen people contrast yunmeng shuangjie by arguing that, while wei wuxian comes across as a rebel and jiang cheng comes across as highly mindful of social norms, in reality their social abilities are the opposite: that, in reality, it is wei wuxian who is socially apt and jiang cheng who is socially incapable.

for some fans, this then translates into political ability. these fans argue that it is wei wuxian and not jiang cheng who is capable of making connections.

come on now. this makes no sense. in fact, i'd go as far as to say that the story of MDZS as it is written is only possible if jiang cheng is actually better at making long-term connections - political connections - than wei wuxian.

certainly, wei wuxian is more personable and fun to interact with than jiang cheng; certainly, if everyone was a kid on a school playground, then most of the other kids would probably prefer to play with wei wuxian over jiang cheng. and yet, the world of MDZS is a bit more complicated than a school playground. wei wuxian might be more friendly and social than jiang cheng, but in no way does this translate to actual political ability.

it is true that wei wuxian most likely made a large number of friends at the cloud recesses lectures (such as one nie huaisang), before he was expelled for punching jin zixuan. one might then want to call these friendships future political connections. based on this, one might then expect that, after leaving yunmeng jiang to protect the wen remnants, wei wuxian would have some connections to cash in on.

and yet, this did not happen. where were these supposed "connections" when wei wuxian left yunmeng jiang to defend the wen remnants? where were these "connections" when wei wuxian was living in the burial mounds with no one but a bunch of escaped POWs, all for the sake of what was just? and where were these supposed "connections" when the entire cultivation world showed up on wei wuxian's doorstep, calling for his head?

the whole point of the first chronological half of the story is that wei wuxian stood alone. when wei wuxian chose to do what was right over what was easy, he stood alone. when wei wuxian chose to protect the innocent, he did so alone. and when wei wuxian refused to give up on the wen remnants, severing his single strongest political tie in the process - he ended up standing alone against the rest of the cultivation world. no one came to save him. no one even came to stand by him. none of the connections he made before his downfall as the yiling patriarch - save for one, which only stepped up after he died once - actually ended up lasting.

therefore, one can only conclude that, for all his friendliness and inherent likability, wei wuxian actually isn't all that great at forming and maintaining useful political connections. no matter how much people might like him at first, for almost everyone, he's ultimately too politically inconvenient to stand up for.

(funnily enough, the fact that almost all of wei wuxian's connections save a handful were fair-weather friends is highlighted by wei wuxian himself, in the following exchange during the second siege:

One of the cultivators standing at the forefront of the formation said, with bitter grief, “Wei Ying, you truly disappoint me. To think I used to admire and look up to you! I even said that, if nothing else, you were a founder, someone who established the first generation of your own sect. It’s almost nauseating, in retrospect. From now on, you and I stand in opposition!” Wei Wuxian was taken aback by this speech at first but then burst into hysterical laughter. “Ha ha ha ha….” He laughed so hard he could barely breathe. “You admired me? You say that, but why did I never see you, back when you admired me? And when everyone began to bay for my blood, you popped up waving your little flag to cheer in support!”

MDZS Seven Seas translation, Book 4, Chapter 18: Night Flight)

meanwhile, the plot of MDZS is fully impossible if jiang cheng is bad at making political connections. first, consider what happened right after the massacre of lotus pier: the golden core transfer happened, wei wuxian was thrown into the burial mounds, and then three months later jiang cheng and lan wangji found him again. by that point, jiang cheng had already called enough new disciples to his banner that yunmeng jiang was considered a contributor to the sunshot campaign. given that jiang cheng had literally no one by his side after the fall of lotus pier save jiang yanli, it is highly unlikely that jiang cheng would have been able to recruit this many new disciples if he had no interpersonal skills.

(one could potentially make the case that jiang yanli recruited the new disciples, but i find this difficult to believe. people in this time period would assess the strength of a political organization - one asking them to do something as dangerous as go to war for them - by the quality of that organization's leader. not by the quality of the leader's sister who would have inevitably married out of the organization. sucks to suck but that was how things worked back then.)

furthermore, jiang cheng rebuilt lotus pier. jiang cheng rebuilt lotus pier from literally nothing. some jc antis like to argue that wei wuxian contributed more to the rebuilding of lotus pier than jiang cheng, but this is absurd: wei wuxian was only around during the postwar period for 1-2 years at most before he left for the wen remnants, and a few years after that he was dead. after wei wuxian's defection, and then in the 13-year time period between wei wuxian's death and his resurrection, who was left in lotus pier? was in charge of lotus pier? who was running lotus pier so efficiently that, by the time of wei wuxian's resurrection, yunmeng jiang had gone from what wang lingjiao called a joke to one of the strongest sects in the jianghu?

of course - none other than jiang cheng.

this level of political rebuilding, for an organization that was literally decimated less than 20 years ago, is only possible if the leader of said organization is highly politically capable. during the 13 year timeskip, jiang cheng as yunmeng jiang's leader would have had to deal with rival sect leaders, make alliances with other sects, strike deals with other sects, and keep a constant awareness of the political landscape. all of this is only possible if jiang cheng is capable of making useful political connections. frankly, i think fans are putting too much emphasis on jiang cheng's surface-level mannerisms (which he also is only showing because wei wuxian is around, lbr), and too little focus on simple logic. if jiang cheng did not have the ability to make political connections, then yunmeng jiang would have collapsed.

it's easy to read MDZS and conclude, based on a surface-level analysis, that wei wuxian is better at making connections than jiang cheng. yet this take is at best shallow and at worst actively misses all the main points of the novel. for all his charisma, sociability, and wittiness, wei wuxian is actually not that socially apt - if he were, he and the wen remnants would not have died. and - for all of his snappishness, grumpiness, and irritability - jiang cheng is actually not a social klutz - if he were, yunmeng jiang would not have survived to see wei wuxian's resurrection.

the socially-apt underdog you're thinking of is jin guangyao.

(also, as an aside: nie huaisang did not mastermind wei wuxian's resurrection because he was, secretly all along, wei wuxian's ~great friend~ who was just so sad and disappointed about what happened to poor wei-xiong. it's a nice bit of fanon, but that's not what happened. nie huaisang masterminded wei wuxian's resurrection - 13 years after wei wuxian's death, i might add - because of wei wuxian's expertise. he needed someone with wei wuxian's specific expertise to both solve the nie mingjue dismembered corpse problem and to get revenge for him on jin guangyao. i don't know where bleeding heart huaisang came from, but it certainly wasn't canon.)

[ofstarsandvibranium]

Nowhere Land: Part 2

Fandom: Marvel

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x F!Reader

Summary: A handsome stranger comes into your workplace and makes you rethink your life choices.

A/N: Sebastian Stan, the man that you are…

Part 1 | Bucky Barnes Masterlist

Bucky had seemed like a figment of your imagination. You knew him for less than a day, but he held a lasting impact on you. Every time an unfamiliar car drove past the diner, you thought it was him.

You scolded yourself every time because why are you letting a man, a practical stranger, get you all riled up?

You did your best to push any thought of him to the back of your mind. You found new distractions hobbies to keep your mind focused on other things. You took up crocheting and embroidery, thanks to a group of women who had their Crafting Club meeting every Sunday at the diner after church.

You'd serve them breakfast and coffee and listen in on any drama and gossip they were exchanging when it was slow.

They had been trying to teach you crochet for months, but you weren't very interested. Now with a certain blue eyed brunette plaguing your mind, you finally took them up on their offer.

It's quite fun, actually. Keeping count and focusing on the pattern occupied your mind instead of a certain someone.

It'd been three months since Bucky came and went through the small town.

And you were slowly forgetting about him.

______________________

It was nearing midnight when there was a knock at the door. You were already on high alert considering that you were up late watching a true crime documentary that Adell recommended to you.

You grabbed the bat you always have near the door as well as the little knife you have attached to your keys.

You look through the peephole and see a man's back facing you.

"You better get the fuck away from my door or I'm calling the police!" you holler through your door and the man immediately turns around.

It's unmistakable. Even with the dim lighting of your front porch, you know it's him. It's Bucky and he doesn't look so good.

"Shit," you mumble to yourself and immediately pull your door open, "What the hell happened to you?!" you whisper-yell as you pull him inside your home, hoping none of your neighbors saw him and called the police.

Now, standing in your home, you get a better look at him. He looks a lot more disheveled than when you first saw him in the diner.

He's wearing a black t-shirt and leather jacket. His face is littered with cuts and bruises. His tshirt is ripped in a few places.

You look at him in disbelief, "Dude, did you get jumped? Also, why are you here and do you know how late it is?" You place your hands on your hips giving him a stern look, reminiscent of an annoyed mother.

Bucky clears his throat, "To answer your first question, I was in a fight. To answer your second question, you were on the way from another job and for the third, I know. I know it's late and I'm sorry but the motel said they're full because-"

"Of the Strawberry Festival. Yeah." You let out a deep breath, "Was the fight you got into...work related?"

"The less you know about what I do the better."

"So it definitely doesn't have to do with you kicking butt alongside Captain America or anything?"

Bucky cocks a brow, silently questioning you. You shrug, "Listen, I wasn't going to but curiosity got the best of me. I didn't know your last name so I just searched up 'Bucky' and 'Captain America' and I saw a bunch of articles and went down a rabbit hole. So yeah. I know who you are and what you do...kind of. Also, how did you manage to only serve less than half a term in Congress?"

Bucky pinches the bridge of his nose and groans, "It's a long story and it's fine. I don't really blame you for searching me up. Anyway, all this," he gestures to his cut up face, "is due to work like that. Anyway, I'm really tired and kind of in pain. I know I showed up unannounced but I'd really appreciate it if you'd help me out."

"Yeah, alright," you say and turn on your heel. As you head to your bedroom you holler, "Take a seat on the couch! I'll grab some supplies!"

When you enter your bedroom, you grab an old sleep shirt you're hoping will fit Bucky. You then go to your bathroom and pull out your first aid kit from under your sink.

"It's fine. It's chill. Just the guy you've been thinking about for months is back and asking for your help and he's also kind of an Avenger and probably was just beating up bad guys prior to-"

"Serpents," Bucky's sudden appearance made you jump, causing you to drop some of the supplies you were pulling out.

You begin picking up band-aids and gauze when you ask, "Serpents? You were fighting snakes?"

Bucky kneels to help you, a smirk on his lips, "No. I was fighting the group Serpent. A criminal organization. I was fighting them, specifically." He hands you the band-aids he picked up.

"Thought that stuff was classified."

"You gonna tell anyone?"

You shake your head, "Then I'm fine. I also didn't want you imagining that I was fighting aliens or something. That was a one time thing...hopefully." He helps you stand.

You take note of how close he's standing and you find yourself wanting him to wrap his arms around you, pulling you in and-

"I can clean myself up," he says breaking your little fantasy in the making.

"Oh, uh, okay," you set the items onto the bathroom counter, "You hungry? I have some leftover pizza I can heat up for you."

"I'd appreciate it."

"Beer?"

"Please."

"Got it," you squeeze past him in the doorway and rush to your kitchen.

When you're in the kitchen, heating up the leftover pizza, you feel very...nervous. For months you've been hoping to see Bucky again, but now that he's here...what the fuck do you even do? Obviously, you're going to help him, but what do you say?

Do you tell him that you've been thinking about him since that night at the bar? Or is that too weird?

"Thanks for the shirt," Bucky says as he enters your small kitchen.

You look over your shoulder and give him a nod, "Of course," you plate the pizza and hold it out for him.

He takes it and sits at your small kitchen table, taking a swig from the beer you opened for him.

You lean against the counter, arms crossed over your chest, "Sooo how long are you in town for?" You wait as he chews his food.

Bucky clears his throat and washes down his food with more beer. There's a look in his eye and you're not sure what it is, "I, uh, actually need to lay low for a bit, so thought I'd stay in town for a few days."

"Where do you plan on staying?"

Bucky sighs and runs his metal hand through his hair, "Was hoping someone would be leaving tomorrow so I can check in at the motel."

You can't help but snort, "Yeah, no. That's not happening. People tend to stay for several days for the Strawberry Festival. We have a new event every day, so people don't want to miss out."

"I'll just sleep in my car then."

You shake your head, "Bucky, you can stay here for the time being."

"I don't want to impose more than I already have."

"Too late," you say with a playful smirk, "Seriously, it's fine. I'm happy to help. Besides, you're helping me by bringing a little excitement to my life."

Bucky softly smiles at you, "I thought you didn't care for excitement anymore."

"Never said that. Just didn't like the busy life that the city gave me. It's chill and laid back here, but I could use something more than town gossip to keep me on my toes."

He chuckles, "Well, I guess I'll be happy to be of service. But, uh-" he looks around your place, "You don't have a partner or anyone that will be upset about me being here?"

You shake your head, "Nope. Just me, myself, and I. Also, you can take my bed. My couch is a pullout, but not as comfy."

"You don't have to do that. I can-"

"No, arguments. I can't in good conscience let a hundred something year old man like yourself sleep on that couch."

With a smirk on his lips, Bucky narrows his eyes at you, "Exactly how much research did you do on me?"

You make a motion to zip your lips and you leave the kitchen, leaving him to laugh to himself.

[tcoaal]

What's your take on the thought Andrew and Ashley were born sociopaths and doomed from the beginning?

is this a take people actually have??? anyways: ableist as fuck lmao

i am of the very strong opinion Ashley is absolutely neurodivergent with both autism and ASPD. admittingly the former is something i have a tendency to do and i won't necessarily die on the hill: something that really fascinated me in scenes in Chapter 3A is how Ashley just sincerely does not seem to understand social norms that should be obvious to anyone else. various scenes in her childhood, and especially with the campers while obviously not in the same level kinda resonated with experiences with not understanding social norms me and my brother struggled with growing up.

but also i admittingly hc and project this a lot on socially awkward characters so take that part with a grain of salt and it's not really a hill i'm willing to go die on or debate especially when i think ASPD and BPD are bigger issues with her. i highly doubt any of these terms will actually come up in the game and it will remain a headcanon, but the idea that anyone can be "born" evil and a sociopath or whatever is nonsense lmao. this is a fictional game so if we learn time travel black magic whatever influenced Andrew's and Ashley's births somehow (like the twins in Clock Tower) i really reject that.

the Graves siblings are fucked up and dysfunctional because they were born into an abusive household with absolutely nobody to rely on except eachother: something both parents encouraged and forced on them. while i do think both being neurodivergent had a part in it, it's pretty clear in the game, in the promotional images even that the root of their issues is a fucked up co-dependency forever sealed in stone by a super fucked up incident (and it was an accident, they did not intend to kill Nina, this is important and a lot of people overlook this wasn't an intentional murder carried out by psychopaths) and the oath taken between two children and the refusal of the parents to care or do anything about it.

if the Graves were a genuinely loving, happy family: Ashley's and Andrew's mental health situations would be better off. even if they are neurodivergent and mentally ill they would have access to proper support, medication, therapy, and perhaps most importantly the comfort of a parent's love more instead of a fucked up relationship between a brothermotherhusband and a sisterwife. i think Ashley would be struggling a lot worse, but they'd be better.

i think the fact that in 3A we see Leyley literally react in flashbacks actively disturbed that she could just so casually admit to something so terrible. Leyley was actively disturbed and distressed about the fact she could so casually admit to killing someone and not care about it. she tries to confide in Andy but he falls asleep and that to me, more than anything, is the moment that sets everything about the woman she would become into stone. i genuinely think if Renee or even Andy (even though that was not his responsibility) made a genuine attempt to reach out in that moment and improve things (although if it was only the other Actual Child trying to help it probably wouldn't have been enough)

everything in TCOAAL is pretty explicit the root of the sibling's problems is based in a toxic codependence, not that they were evil from birth or some shit like that. i can handwave it if magic or prophecy is involved but if not i fucking hate this take in all media so much it's unreal

EDIT: i'd like to get more of my points clarified, actually

Nemlei's own view of the game is very clear she approaches this from a place of the effect of abuse of the environment has on a child. things like Ashley being autistic and aspd are headcanons of mine: but Nemlei herself would disagree with me saying that's how i should view it and that be the end-all. she is explicit this is a case of cause and effect of in-universe events, not any result of being born a certain way. this is a critical component of Nemlei's writing, given the lore of how the color of one's soul works and how one views themself. this is one of the most critical core components of the lore.

Ashley and Andrew weren't born fucked up. they were fucked up because of the environment that nurtured them. i will die on this hill, and it is the hill that Nemlei seems to view for her fiction. this is like, one of the more important takes to the themes of the story. i'm usually someone that views word of god as secondary to what is presented in the text, but this is a really important piece of information in this story.

Nemlei's narrative isn't about the idea the two were born evil or anything, it's that the awful people they became was shaped by the environment around them. i think that's important.

[gayspiderl8ver]

Genuinely I love seeing language being changed around in its use like this. For one it's just so cool to witness changes in social interactions in short periods of time. And for two stuff like this makes me feel like people are using language to frame things in a way that make their life exciting or better to navigate for themselves.

I mean sometimes I'm at a loss when it comes to new terms and phrases. Especially if it's absurd. But even so, I see this and get reminded that humans can be silly little creatures of merriment and joy.

my favorite thing is to say "investing in" instead of "buying"

[sminny-wew]

This is all just my own speculation, but I think Howdy might be next on the Witnessing The Horrors train. And I don't have an explanation for it rn but based on the recurring presence of the Buggle, I strongly feel like Barnaby's going to be involved somehow since he's Howdy's best customer (something something watchdog)

(Putting this under a Read More b/c I wound up having a lot to say)

Eddie's moment in the Homewarming update was based around him not knowing what to do with himself when he's not being the mailman, the role he was made for. Poppy's moment in the first Looky-Loo mini-update strikes me as being about her not knowing how not to be a big chicken (the role she was made for), as well as the other neighbors not knowing how to include her and thinking it's better to just trap her in her own house than to compromise with her, making her nerves worse as a result. Julie's moment in the Springtime Salutations update was about her insecurities in her relationships with her family and Frank, her insecurity in her roles (make the flowers bloom, invent new games, and overall be the most joyful neighbor), and not knowing what to do when spring comes early or a flower just won't bloom no matter what she does.

Howdy's role is to be a businessman, to supply his neighbors with what they need and sell them what they don't. My guess is that Howdy's moment will have something to do with supply and demand, his job and his personal life becoming indistinguishable from each other, and the pressure that family, customers, and superiors can put on a person to meet certain expectations. I also highly suspect, based on other people's observations about the flower from Julie's hidden videos resembling the logo, that Marlo will be relevant again.

There's an old saying about employment that goes, "If you love what you do, you'll never work a day in your life." But in-universe, Welcome Home is a product of its time (1969-1974), when America was kinda-sorta still riding the high of its post-World War 2 economic prosperity but was beginning to see a rise in income inequality. (What a funny coincidence that Welcome Home presumably aired while Nixon was president...) I don't think I need to tell you that, in 2025, it's harder than ever to find successful, long-term employment that will earn you a livable wage without working yourself to death or requiring a college degree that will plunge you into lifelong debt. Things have changed a lot since the neighborhood left the airwaves (assuming WH was ever even a real show in-universe).

But I digress. Howdy Pillar's Going Through The Horrors™ moment.

What happens to Howdy when his best customer (Barnaby) is preoccupied, either by sickness or a prior engagement? Do his nerves about financial success ever stress him out, as implied in that image of him and Anthony Rancho? What happens when Howdy cannot meet the demands of his neighbors to supply them with what they need? How would Howdy react if the neighbors suddenly decided to make their own resources, instead of buying from him?

If Howdy's not a breadwinner, appeasing his family and the businessmen at Marlo by selling enough goods to be considered a profitable business investment well off, then who is he?

He doesn't know.

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL - Meaty Post Since It's All You're Getting for a Bit

Organized, in each category, with ones I'm enjoying most at the top.

*** This blog will be on mini hiatus for most of May 2025. Not dead just busy. You'll be fine without me. Don't burn down this hellsite anymore than normal while I'm away.

April 2025 Week 4

Ongoing Series - Thai

My Stubborn (Sun iQIYI) ep 1-2 of 10 - Mflow's latest high heat office romance involves best friend's younger brother, boss meets intern, bit of a love triangle, GL crumbs, and few other tropes.

It's... raunchy.  And it's giving me Deep Night vibrations. So to speak. Similarly cringe but still fun to have on our screen. I don't mind a "teach me daddy" trope. The leads are serving up BossNoeul in LITA and the other pairs seem decent too. It’s messy gay but it’s low stakes high melodrama soap opera messy gay so I guess I'm okay with that style. Shall we call this "sloppy gay"?

I'm not mad about it.  

The BangkokBoy (Thai Sat Gaga) ep 1 of 12 - Action, crime, and revenge meets gangs, street fights, mafia, and more. Oh my. Intriguing premise. Not a bad beginning in terms of acting and family strife set-up. The terrible dubbing is sending me. The terrible fight scenes are sending me even further. They better give us some BL within the next two episodes or I don’t know if I can take this level try-hard.

Sweet Tooth Good Dentist (Fri iQIYI) ep 5 of 12 - I am so happy to have Jimmy back on my screen. I can’t even tell you. No additional thoughts, only Jimmy in glasses.

Top Form (Thurs WeTV) ep 6 of 10 - this time I reminded myself going in that this is based on Japanese IP. But I still couldn't take it. I fast-forwarded through most of this ep. I knew it was coming but I still couldn’t stomach it.

Akin better get everything tested. And some counseling.

Boys in Love (Sun iQIYI ) ep 1-2 of 12 - Our only true high school BL from GMMTV this year and it's fresh faces for the youths and old favs for the teachers. I want to like this (and be surprised by it) as much as My School President in 2023 but so far that is definitely not the case. I do love the teachers (shocker) and I like the sides but I’m not sold on the main couple. With a kiss already in ep 2 the pacing is off. If this were Japan I would 't be worried, but this is GMMTV messing with the formula and that could be rough for all of us.

Side note... how does Papong look so daddy in Not Me and do damn ingenue here? Best chameleon in GMMTV's stable? I think so. 

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

Heesu in Class 2 (Korea Fri Viki) eps 9-10 end - omg they are ridiculously cute dancing round each other. Please just kiss! Bah, this did take too long to resolve. I was worried about that.

The people (aka me) want more BL in our BL! Rah rah rah.

I also wanted more Heesu advising others and less of the hets hetting about the place. Sad we got not kiss but also no time to develop it.

Conclusion

What started out with a great core concept (KBL version of Sex Education) rather lost its way getting mired in the slowest of slow burns which effectively turned the BL storyline into a sub plot for multiple het dramas should have just added flavor. The acting was sweet all round, and sincere, and the lead character of Heesu very engaging. There was even some chemistry with his love interest, rare from Korea. The extra length (so rare in KBL) turned out to be just enough for them to hang themselves with. Should we be shocked that Korea didn't have enough faith in the queer romance thread? No, but I had hoped for better. This was almost great but missed the mark by simply not being gay enough. 7/10 

I will add the handling of the coming out sequence was... deft.

I think I need to go rewatch Light On Me.

Business as Usual (Korea Thurs Viki) Ep 4 of 6 - Gah this is so sad. They like each other so much and made such stupid mistakes! i guess Jin Hwan won't let it stick? Honestly I'm kinda glad this is a short one.

Something Is Not Right (Korea Weds Viki) ep 2 of 8 - The library scene made me laugh.  Every single on of them is such a drama queen. It's awfully angsty but i like it. 

Fight for You (Taiwan Fri Gaga) ep 6 of 12 - Oh this is getting kinda good. That fantasy was lovely. The rest of the story is rough. But the chemistry is great.

Exclusive Love (Taiwan Fri Gaga) ep 12 end - Pretty much just a wrap up episode with lots of sex and a double wedding (never a good idea). But all of it was very pretty. 

Summary 

Taiwan gave us this weird premise of funeral home + mafia + secrets, yet somehow no excitement or real tension because they then slapped it with a pathetic excuse for a plot. Everybody in it was pretty, but the chemistry really wasn’t what I’ve grown to expect from Taiwan. The suits were nice, i guess? Ultimately, given the initial concept, this is remarkably forgettable. 6/10 

It's airing but......

Sashes and Hearts (Pinoy YT) 13 eps - Philippines is doing Drop Dead Gorgeous only all gay boys queening their asses off. Doesn't interest me, not sure if it's BL.

Last Meal Universe (Thai ????) 8 eps - An alien who has come to destroy earth instead falls in love with Thai food and then the Thai boy who cooks it - realistic, actually. I got a link to watch but it still wouldn't work for me, so I guess I'm waiting to see what happens.

Lost in the Woods (Weds Gaga) 7 eps - Not my thing, dropped at ep 2.

Secret Ghost (Thai Sat Viu) ?? eps - The trailer dropped and it looks so bad.

My Golden Blood (Weds iQIYI) 12 eps - dropped at ep 5. Recent thought process as follows: Oh, I think I would have loved this if it were OffGun.

What a thing for me to think.

Still, I'm not wrong.

The Rewatch BLigade!

Jazz for 2. I wasn't sure about this when it aired and I'm still not sure about it. I think I like it. But how much do I like it?

Cherry Magic Thailand. Still very enjoyable but there are more slow and lagging episodes than I remember. Lots of fast forwarding through the slow bits. But TayNew still deliver like only they can. Now I kinda wanna do a Deep Blue Kiss rewatch.

Wandee Goodday. I fast forwarded through everything that wasn't YakDee on screen together. Solid choice. I love them so much, and I suspect they might be the healthiest sexual relationship we have ever seen depicted in a BL. (On Viki these days)

Unintentional Love Story. Yeah a regular rewatch for me. I put it on to check something, and then just ended up running through the whole series. Will I ever recover from Gongchan's eyes? Not in this lifetime.

Your Sky. Yeah I finished the 3 ep special and then immediately rewatched the whole darn show. This is my 3rd or 4th time. I love it, totally my type of so bad it's good, so sweet it hurts, BL pulp. I don't ask for much from my BL. This show gave me exactly that much and no more.

Mr X & I - Us Against The World. One of those obscure shorts I love, this one from China pre 2016 crack down. Yep. Still love.

I'll be doing a ton of rewatching over the next month because of all my travel. Wish me luck!

Next Week Looks Like This:

Coming in May

5/2 Pit Babe The Series 2 (Thai Fri iQIYI) 13 eps - More conspiracy and struggles and past coming out to play but even less omegaverse.

5/3 The Next Prince (Thai Sat iQIYI) 14 eps - Hotly anticipated 3 yr production featuring ZeeNewNu in a fantasy/historical set in a palace where Zee plays a knight and Nu a prince fighting for his right it inherit. Plus Jimmy with a new partner. Should be pretty and hot if nothing else.

5/16 Knockout (Thai Fri WeTV ) 12 eps - A low quality less fun/funny version of Wandee Goodday?

5/19 I Promise I Will Come Back (Thai Mon WeTV) 10 eps - A Thai Taiwanese colab. Stars two Thai actors and Taiwanese identical twins from H3. However the lead and co-producer Tontae is actually a very good actor, so this could be good unless it's oen of those mostly intended to be a tourism advert for the Thai countryside. We shall see!

5/16 My Sweetheart Jom (Thai Fri YouTube) 12 eps - I admit I wasn't sold on this one from the trailer but Saint is back and I'm disposed to be intrigued by the kind of script that would pull hm in. But it is certainly not my kind of script.

May? Season of Love in Shimane AKA Ai no Kisetsu: The Season of Love (Thai) - Sequel to Kiseki Chapter 2 which I intensely disliked, must we?

May ? Sweetheart Service (Korea Gaga) - Strongberry is back with a fake dating trope?! After being pressured by his family to get married, Min U proposes to Yu Ha to pretend to be his fiancé. As they spend time together, feelings begin to develop between them.

2025 Line Up

BL Announced for 2025 - PART 1

BL Announced for 2025 - PART 2

20 BLs Announced for 2025 That I'm Really Excited About

GMMTV 2025 Line Up - My Totally Biased and Wildly Flawed Feels

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENT

Lap sit kiss teaching sesh with this boy you kinda hate who is now also kinda your boss... sure, why not?

(last week)

The tag BLigade: @doorajar @solitaryandwandering @my-rose-tinted-glasses @babymbbatinygirl @babymbbatinygirl @isisanna-blog @mmastertheone @pickletrip @aliceisathome @urikawa-miyuki @tokillamonger @sunflower-positiiivity @rocketturtle4 @blglplus @anythinggoesintheshire @everlightly @renafire @mestizashinrin @bl-bam-beyond @small-dark-and-delicious @saezurumurmurs

[fixyourwritinghabits]

Hello! I have a protagonist, I have her personality, internal goal, internal motivation, internal conflict, I have her character arc, knowing where she is at the start, middle and end of the story in terms of personal growth. But I am not sure how to execute it, I struggle with plot. I don't always know how I am going execute this character arc. What type of scenes could work for this. How do you figure out how to execute a character arc and finding the plot?

This sounds like you have a great internal plot without knowing the external kick-off, and believe me, I've been in the same boat. I just wrapped up a story that's been percolating for years in my brain, but obviously, you don't want to wait years!

Figure out genre and type. First, you need to figure out what genre you want to tell this story in. Take a look at your bookshelf or recent check-outs and think about what stories you gravitate toward. If it's sci-fi, is it giant space operas or telling very human stories about androids? If it's fantasy, what do you seem to prefer? Cosy mystery or hard detective novel? By type, are you a multi-narrative reader, or do you prefer a more focused first person account? Would you feel more comfortable writing for teens or adults? Even if you pick one thing and switch to another later, really sitting down and thinking about it is going to give you a guideline on how to carry out the story.

Nail down the inciting event. The starting plot of most stories goes something like this: your main character lives in their ordinary world, and then something suddenly shakes that up. It can be a break-up. It can be a dragon. It can happen before the novel starts, and your character explains how they got there afterwards. Regardless, something turns your character's life upside down and they're not going to find any peace until they undergo that internal journey you've laid out for them - with some prodding from the external plot.

Tie the external journal to the internal one. I'm saying this like it is easy, but trust me, I know it isn't. You've got one track of the story figured out, though, and that's half the battle. You character needs to change, and you know how. The external plot is you building scenarios and situations that will spur this change onward. Needing a fake date for the prom spirals into complicated situations in which your character realizes she's in love with her fake date, or figures out he's an evil alien plotting to take over the world. The drama is what you make of it.

Don't worry about getting it right the first time around. The first version of my story involved a completely different make-up of characters and situations. It went through a few shake-ups before settling down into what it is now. The only thing that remained integral to the plot is a cranky ferret. Don't let this scare you away! It's a natural part of the process, when writing, to deviate from what you originally conceived. You will end up with a better and more satisfying story by the end of the process.

When it comes to knuckling down and writing, I highly recommend finding a plot structure you like and following it for the first draft. That doesn't mean you have to stick with that structure, but it's a great way to figure out how to tie the external plot to the internal one. You can also check out the following tags:

Plotting

Outlining

Plot

Organization 

Subplots

External Conflict

Internal Conflict

Drafting

[hms-no-fun]

idk. i was taught some of this stuff in school. i knew that unions fought against oppressive bosses to the point of being shot and killed by them, and that modern labor conditions were owed to the battles they fought. surely it was a watered down history, but that's still better than nothing. and yet, it took well into my late 20s before i really understand the purpose and power and relevance of unions in a modern context. knowing this history isn't the secret path to an enlightened proletariat when the history is being taught by (at best) liberal capitalists. i was taught about the civil rights struggle and saw footage of black protesters beaten and hounded by police and was told in no uncertain terms that they were in the right... but i was also taught this in the past tense. in the same way that the civil rights movement of the 50s and 60s is framed in public education as having "solved" racism, the labor movement of the 20s and 30s is often framed as having "solved" labor exploitation.

we haven't allowed our rights to deteriorate because we're ignorant of the past, but because we're taught that the past is over. we live in the end of history. many great oppressed masses of the past fought bravely for the rights that we today get to conflictlessly enjoy at our leisure. the struggle people face in really understanding how bad labor protections and civil rights have gotten comes, i think, from a general belief that we already won those fights already. surely these amazon workers and black transgenders are whining just to whine, don't they know how good they have it today compared to how much worse it was in the [decade when i wasn't alive that's about as personally relatable to me as medieval europe]? one of the scary things about knowledge production is that you can be taught quite a lot of true things and still be made to believe, heart and soul, in a false reality. and in a place like the USA where so many fundamental aspects of our day-to-day lives have been crumbling for years, that imagined post-conflict reality is the only thing they feel they have to hold on to. (which to be clear is something i think everyone needs to get the fuck over asap. i have sympathy for how hard it is to get over as someone who's gone through the process, but that sympathy stops the instant someone acts like doing the work is even remotely more than the bare fucking minimum)

in short, knowing the history doesn't matter if you believe you don't live in history.

[poodlejoonas]

I didn't wanna say anything, just observe and try to process on my own, but fuck it we ball.

Joel leaving the band should be a wake-up call for some of y'all to come to terms with how you treat mental illness and neurodivergence. Yes, even if you're also depressed, or also anxious, or also diagnosed ADHD. Especially if you're one or more of those things. It's like you don't wanna believe that Joel's lifelong, every day mental and emotional state could actually cause serious physical health concerns - you only wanna see him as the "hehe quirky energetic boi." Which he can be that sometimes, but y'all let that view of him cloud your judgment and make you ignore real issues.

And when you only see the quirky side of his ADHD, some of y'all [emphasis on some] get a little too comfortable with bullying him about it. But you might say, "Oh, well I have the same thing too and it's #relatable so it's okay if we joke and bully him (affectionately)." That's still ableism, babes! Being a little depresso bean yourself doesn't mean you get to make fun of someone else's depression, it just give you permission to talk about your own. Having ADHD doesn't mean you get to be a bully about someone else's symptom expression, even if you think you're just being playful about it. Leaving it on your blog or on Discord is one thing. Posting it in a place where you know he'll see it is a totally different beast. We should all know better than to know you can't read tone through text. You can only do that once you know someone's typing style on an intimate level and can understand if they're joking, pissed off, or chill about it.

None of us know Joel on a daily basis, no matter how many IG stories he posts or how many times we rewatch their tour vlogs and watch him make silly noises or be moody. The other guys can (affectionately) joke around with him because they know him and they've lived in buses and the studio with him for 12+ years. WE. CAN'T. He's always caught the most shit from fans for captioning pictures with future song lyrics that read a little depressingly (like what the other guys did), posting about his sad feelings or low self-esteem, and even sharing his playful moments. He's been a lot of fans' personal voodoo doll for projecting feelings and fanfiction headcanons because his ADHD and other issues are treated like a headcanon.

(And before you say anything - yes, I'm aware I'm not entirely innocent of this either. I've written it into the dad!AU to be as honest to reality as I can be. But I've never tried to force any of my fanfic ideals onto others. I've never forced my fics into anyone's faces if they didn't want to read them. And I for damn sure haven't been the judge, jury, and executioner for how fics with Joel could be written. Because he's a person, not a doll to play with.)

Finally - for the love of GOD - recognize the difference between Blind Channel's songs about mental illness and suicide and the reality behind them. In the songs, they're aesthetics. That's what musical symbolism is about. They exist in their aesthetics so that we can also feel things and process our own shit on our own time. Anytime I get "Die Another Day" on my shuffle, I stop what I'm doing to cry about it then move on with my day. Every one of their sad songs has an even sadder backstory. "Bad Idea" exists because Niko was literally talked off a ledge. "Feel Nothing" tells the story of being so done with life that your whole body goes numb. "Don't Fix Me" is about coming to terms with having a fucked up life and mental state. "Scream" is dedicated to one of Joel's dearest idols, whose life story and death (I'm 95% certain) was part of his fears of continuing in the band with his mental state.

Remember that Joel was literally the guy whose answer to the question, "Where do you see yourselves in ten years?" was "In a grave." IN A GRAVE. And he has the self-preservation now to acknowledge that he may end up there in his stated timeline if he continues doing something that will get him there. Maybe, just maybe, there's a little twinkle of hope that he can grow old and find real happiness and peace in his life. This is someone who probably never thought he'd live to see 30. And he finally has the chance to chase peace on his own terms. We should be grateful for that, but the Anger part of the "Fandom Five Stages of Grief" would rather have us all turn against the five remaining members of the band we all claim to love so much.

Cope how you want, I'm not a fucking cop. But when you're ready for this conversation, return and do some serious thinking about it. There will be future depressing songs not written by Joel. Then who will you project onto?

[shalottpress]

Trouble the Water Series by @themarydragon

Calm Waters Run Deep and The Quiet River Rages (along with the oneshot Remember the Spring) by @themarydragon are some of the first BotW fanfictions I encountered. The series just encapsulates Zelda’s POV during the series and these stories are cannon to me. I have reread this series multiple times and now can do so with these hardcover beauties.

These binds were heavily inspired by Taylor Swift and I went hard on the 'Zelda's Version' theme. For the covers I used the Midnights album cover as my initial design inspiration with the font and art combinations. For the typeset chapter headings I used the 'Taylors Version' font and line drawings of lilies to evoke silent princesses. I used lyrics from The Prophecy/The Archer for Calm Waters Run Deep as these are very pre-calamity Zelda coded to me, and then Sparks Fly/Peace for The Quiet River Rages as these really aligned with Zelda after she leaves the castle. These came together really beautifully in my mind and I love the final result.

I knew I wanted to do printed covers with art of Zelda on the cover and was looking for ages. The text blocks have been languishing on my shelf waiting for their covers to come since December 2024. When @eerna posted the amazing and thematically perfect before and after art I fell in love with the art and once I had permission to use the art, I couldn't make these covers fast enough. I am so glad I waited to make these covers. (So many thanks to @eerna for letting me use her gorgeous art in my covers once again!)

In terms of mistakes, casing as always was a bit of a nightmare. I had issues with my guillotine when I cut one of the text block slightly on the diagonal, rounded the spine and then had to unround the spine and fix my fuck up which I hope to never have to do again. It was better than printing a new text block but my gosh the stress. I also realised when I was uploading this I have used @themarydragon's Tumblr handle for the cover rather than MaryDragon which is her ao3 handle and used all inside of the books, but at this point I am going to have to live with that mistake!

Huge thanks to @themarydragon for giving me permission to bind these fanfics and to edit my copies to be editions that uses UK spelling!

More pictures and a video below the cut.