#because then I'll have more credibility

[doux-amer]

And look, I know I'm focusing on fun fun fun fun fun, but it helped because uh, the things that have come out about Yoon Suk-yeol's coup attempt are frightening and frankly more insane than you can even imagine.

(Just to keep the record straight, the bit about the DPRK uniforms is complicated because it hasn't been confirmed but hasn't been debunked yet either: x. We'll know for sure once the investigation starts.)

[kyouka-supremacy]

Mmmhh...

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Blue states should play “constitutional hardball”

NEXT WEDNESDAY (October 23) at 7PM, I'll be in DECATUR, GEORGIA, presenting my novel THE BEZZLE at EAGLE EYE BOOKS.

Nothing's more frustrating that watching the GOP smash norms and decency to advance policies that harm millions of Americas, unless it's that, plus Democratic officials stamping their feet and saying, "C'mon guys, play fair."

The GOP's game is called "constitutional hardball." Think: Mitch McConnell refusing to hold confirmation hearings on Obama's federal judiciary appointments, not never for Merrick Garland's Supreme Court seat – then filling the Federal judiciary with the least-qualified, most FedSoc-addled lunatics in US history, all for lifetime appointments.

As bad as this is at the federal level, it's even worse at in the states, especially the Republican "trifecta" states where the GOP holds the governorship and the state house and senate, where shameless gerrymandering and legislative attacks on hard-won ballot measures are the order of the day. GOP-held state governments engage in rampant interstate aggression, targeting out-of-state abortion providers, publishers, and journalists.

This is a one-sided Cold Civil War, because state Dems, for the most part, are unwilling to play hardball in return (the closest they come is when, say, California sets strict emissions controls and manufacturers adopt them nationwide, rather than making special cars for the giant California market). Republicans engage in constitutional hardball and Dems refuse to fight back, a phenomenon called "asymmetrical constitutional hardball":

https://columbialawreview.org/content/asymmetric-constitutional-hardball/

Writing for The American Prospect, Arkadi Gerney and Sarah Knight make the case for symmetrical constitutional hardball:

https://prospect.org/politics/2024-10-18-playing-hardball/

The pair argue first, that the best way to get Republican state houses to play fair is to credibly threaten them with retaliatory action. They cite the recent attempt at a last-minute change the way that Nebraska's Electoral College votes are apportioned, which would have given all of five the state's EC votes to Trump. Maine threatened to effect the same change to its Electoral College system, which would have given all four of its EC votes to Harris. Nebraska surrendered.

But there's also a second advantage to playing Constitutional Hardball: it makes blue states better. For example, Minnesota gives free college tuition to exceptional low/middle-income students. Neighboring North Dakota got tired of losing all its smartest kids Minnesota schools and created its own subsidy. As Gerney and Knight point out, Minnesota (and other blue states) still has a huge advantage when it comes to attracting top talent, because attending university in a state with legal abortion is vastly preferable (and safer) than doing a degree in a forced-birth state.

Red states are bent on making life horrible for some really great people. The hardworking, talented Haitian migrants caught in the Springfield pogroms that Trump incited would be a fine addition to any blue state town – anyone who's got the gumption to haul ass out of a failed state and make their all the way to Springfield is gonna be a fantastic neighbor, citizen and worker, just like my refugee grandparents and father, who endured a million times more hardship than their neighbors ever did, getting to Toronto, finding jobs, and starting their family.

Influxes of young, hardworking immigrants are especially good for rural towns with dwindling populations. No wonder rural towns with above-average net migration swung for Biden in 2020.

All over America, families are despairing of their lives in red states. Whether you're worried that you or someone you love might need to terminate a pregnancy, or you're worried about gender-affirming care for you or a loved one, you can put your worries to rest in a blue state. Same goes for nurses and doctors who are worried they can't do medicine unless it accords with the imaginary dictates of Bronze Age prophets as claimed by pencil-neck Hitler wannabe Bible-thumper with a private jet and a face from Walmart. Fill the blue states with great schools, libraries and hospitals, and invite everyone who wants to do their job in a free country to come and work at 'em. Line every state border with abortion and mifepristone clinics, and set up billboards advertising the quality of life, the jobs, and the freedom in blue state America.

Every blue state public pension fund should ban investments in fossil fuels, and invest like crazy in renewables, especially in Texas, to hasten the bankrupting of the petro-kleptocracy that controls the state. Blue states should tack surcharges on goods imported from "right to work" states where unions are effectively banned, to compensate for the additional product testing needed to ensure that scab products are safe to use (ahem, Boeing).

Create joint occupational licensure rules across blue states: if you're certified as a teacher, nurse, hairdresser or auto-mechanic in New York, you should be able to carry that certification with you to Minnesota, California, or Maine. Create multi-state funding pools to build public housing. Offer med-school scholarships to the smartest red state kids, at universities where they'll learn evidence-based obstetrics rather than the Lysenokist nonsense taught at the Roy Moore College of Pediatrics and Obstetrics.

Dems have to get over their fear of "states' rights" and start playing state-level hardball. This doesn't mean escalating cruelty. Quite the contrary: every cruel measure enacted as red state red meat is a chance for blue states to extend a kindness, and capture even more of the best, brightest and kindest of the nation, creating a race to the top that Republicans can only win by abandoning their performative cruelty and corruption.

Tor Books as just published two new, free LITTLE BROTHER stories: VIGILANT, about creepy surveillance in distance education; and SPILL, about oil pipelines and indigenous landback.

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

https://pluralistic.net/2024/10/18/states-rights/#cold-civil-war

[project-sekai-facts]

I'm just gonna leave this here because I feel like I should say something. Mizuki is trans, I still agree with the stuff I said a month ago. Did they say it in the story? No. Were they ever going to say it in the story? Well it seemed like I was but they just pulled the most insane 4 year queerbait.

Did people warn me? Yes, and I probably should've listened more, but from a writer's perspective what happened in Ena5 is very stupid so I had a little bit more hope for clpl. Confining any sort of actual coming out scene to a card story and fading to black over the actual reveal is honestly just cruel. Not to mention that Mizuki's bio is probably locked as "gender: ?".

Mizuki is still a trans character and trans representation, though the lack of actual confirmation really sours her story. Especially since the only indirect confirmation of her identity as a woman comes from student a talking to Ena about Mizuki (the whole Ena is a "normal girl" thing). Having Mizuki being robbed of her chance to come out by transphobes, and never resolving this so her bullies are left as the only credible source of her gender is atrocious. Mizuki being outed was a crucial plot point, to never resolve just leaves a bad taste.

It's still a glaring issue that clpl is trying to play both sides here. Which has always been an issue with things like white day and other marketing featuring Mizuki and the boys together. It's just gross that they're still trying to do it now, cutting off the actual reveal of Mizuki's secret and having the characters say "Mizuki is Mizuki", something that's often used by people who want to deny any trans reading, and a new area conversation about Mizuki's voice. Remember that old area convo about Mizuki having a lower voice. It gets referenced in a new one.

The reveal of the secret itself, transness aside, is comedically bad. Project SEKAI's writing isn't exactly amazing by any means, it's pretty basic in the grand scheme of writing, but this is worse than a lot of their other worst offenders. Building up to this big reveal of a secret that is incredibly important to one character's development, only for it not to actually be revealed, and probably never mentioned again, is ridiculous. It feels like a last minute change to ensure mass appeal but I don't know if it was. If it was, they still failed because some fans are dissatisfied that they never got told what it was, regardless of what they think it was.

And no, it's not corporate meddling. Probably. From colopale, maybe, from Sega, honestly probably not. Sega has other franchises and games with queer and specifically trans characters so it's not like Mizuki would be harmful to their brand image. If anyone interfered it was other staff at colopale.

Anyway, I'm not quitting the game and I'll still be running this blog for the time being. Not saying you have to continue playing and I totally understand people who are dropping the game over this. If anyone wants to add their thoughts to this post or send an ask freel free to.

[bonbonly]

https://www.tumblr.com/bonbonly/771155161152405504/im-a-sensitive-babe-but-mean-producerlewis

FOR FREE??? JUST LIKE THAT??? ur spoiling me

-🥥

🥥 ANON LET ME SPOIL YOU SOME MORE BABE WITH A FULL THOUGHT

bon's thoughts (18+)

it's the golden globes, the carpet is dazzling with stars. actor!max verstappen invited his mother as his date. director!sebastian vettel is posing in front of the cameras with his assistant directors. film critic!jenson button manages to squeeze past some cameras, a microphone in his hand as he looks around the carpet. you had called him an hour ago, telling him that you were already in talks to tarnish his credibility, to strip him from the title of famed critic. he knew they were empty threats, but it was still a threat. he couldn't afford to have you try to get him fired; it was some sort of power trip you had. to try and make it seem like you were better than him.

his eyes focus in on producer!lewis hamilton and he flags him down, waving his hand around and beckoning for him to come over. the producer raises his eyebrow, he hasn't seen jenson in a long time but he has heard that the little vixen - you - is constantly seen at this man's office. producer!lewis wonders if you ever pull the same antics with jenson as you do to him, but he shrugs his shoulders and walks over. he adjusts the rings on his fingers, a forced smile on his lips as he stands before the camera.

"mr. hamilton, how does it feel to be on the carpet tonight?" jenson asks, bringing the camera closer.

"it feels great! i love seeing the newer actors and actresses coming up in this industry, i love looking for new talent," he pauses, glancing over his shoulder as he sees a beautiful woman stride behind him. he smirks to himself, flickering his eyes back to jenson who reciprocates the expression.

"actress (y/n) (l/n) has been nominated tonight for best actress, do you think she'll win tonight?" jenson asks and lewis smiles. this is why jenson called him over, oh it all made sense!

"she's a good actress, but she's up against some tough competitors. if she's lucky enough, she'll win." lewis responds, and jenson slips out,

"luck has been a bit hesitant on her side, she always seems to be flocking to whatever crowd will entertain her." and lewis chuckles, lowly. the stories he had. his eyes go past jenson to see you arriving at the carpet, eyes bright as you wave at the cameras, blowing kisses as flash on the cameras increase. he excuses himself, heading over to you on the carpet. he has something planned, and it comes to action when he pulls you close and lets the photographers capture the both of you.

"what do you think you're doing?" you ask through your teeth as you continue to smile at the cameras.

"letting sainz know that if you win tonight, i'm taking you back home with me. i'll sign a film with you."

little does lewis know, you had just let max stuff you with his cum because his sister was going to win for another time and he wanted to apologize since he couldn't convince the critics in time to sway their opinion. you explain this to lewis once you shuffle inside the auditorium and the glare he sends you makes you laugh. right in front of him. at his face. he'd just made a fool out of himself in front of the press. now the newspapers would be linking him to you, sainz would be calling him. oh he should've known, he should've hesitated!

while the awards roll out one by one, lewis has your face against the mirror, your body awkwardly shaped as your feet barely touch the ground. the edge of the sink digs painfully into your lower stomach. your screams of ecstasy are muffled by all the chattering happening outside as lewis fucks your swollen, abused cunt. he pulls out until just his tip throbs inside you, and then slams right back in which has you crying. he wants this to be a reminder, a harsh reminder to never do something stupid like this again.

"you fucking..." he drags you off the sink and brings you down with him on the floor. your legs in the air as he brings his hand around your waist to rub fast circles on your clit as he thrusts into you. the tiled floor of the bathroom creases his well-pressed suit but he doesn't care. no, he wants your cunt to be crying with his cum until it doesn't know anything but his cock, "fucking bitch. such a fucking pain, why the fuck does sainz even keep you? you warm his cock good? or does he need another whore for his collection?"

he rolls over to have you beneath him, your face pressed against the floor as he smacks your ass. he laughs out loud, mocking your laugh earlier as he delivers another hard blow to your other cheek, loving the way it jiggles as you're sobbing, telling him someone else could walk in and see this.

"you should've fucking thought of that when i walked over to you at the carpet. should've thought about the damn cameras and the other celebs. i was stupid, so stupid!" lewis groans, gripping your waist to make sure his fingers squeeze your flesh, his fingerprints should be there for a week. there's footsteps lurking outside the stall, and as you're whimpering, lewis only goes faster. his joy knows no bounds when jenson opens the stall, a grin on his face,

"i figured she'd be here. mind if i join?"

[amethystfairy1]

Regarding the Iskall Situation...

I've received a lot of asks wondering about what my take is on it, and since I'd prefer to have it all taken care of in one swoop so we don't have to continue to focus on it, here's my stance on the subject.

A: Yes, I have seen the credible evidence from Kasszki, I read the doc they posted, and I feel awful for them and the other victims that they had to deal with this. I'm glad to hear that the Hermits and others were supportive of them and helped them handle this situation in as professional a manner as possible. I have also seen the credible information from False that Stress left for her own separate reasons.

B: I strongly denounce Iskall's behavior, and I have absolutely zero intention of supporting him as a creator ever again.

C: Please don't pester the creators or the victims. I said it in my initial response to this situation before we knew what had happened, but my opinion remains the same here. Any information we get from the Hermits is a privilege, not a right. Hermitcraft and it's associated fandoms are well known for being healthy, good spaces, and I'm proud to be a member of this community. Now our money is where our mouths are. Please don't feed into the rumor mill, please continue to support the Hermits as you always would and don't pry or demand more details from them. This is a very difficult situation for all of us, and I'm certain it's even worse for all of them. Please keep in mind the Hermits are all grown adults, many of them had professional careers before they joined Hermitcraft, and they are handling this in as professional a manner as they are able. I applaud them for that. As their fans, we need to do the same.

What are my plans for Iskall and Stress in TTSBC?

Understandably, I've received several asks about what I plan to do about Iskall and Stress's characters in TTSBC. I've answered them individually, but I just want to put this here as a one-stop spot for what my stance is so it's clear.

I've always been a 'character not content creator' author. My characters are just that, characters. Does that mean I can completely remove them from the creators upon which they are based? No, of course not. That's not how this works, either. So here's my plan moving forward.

The two stories that heavily feature Iskall in TTSBC, "Run with It' and "Carry me Home Tonight" will remain up. They are timestamped with their dates of posting which was long before any of this came out, and again, they are very clearly meant to be characters, not the creators.

Iskall will be removed from the TTSBC: Wiki, and I will not be writing any new content for his character.

Does that affect the plot of TTSBC? Yes, it does. I'm not going to pretend it doesn't, and those of you who have followed the series at length can likely see where the issues arise...but I'm an author, and I can pivot. I also have an awesome little team behind me of @silver-sunray, @boo-the-ahh, and @khoirkid who are helping me to make sure TTSBC carries on smoothly despite this unforeseen struggle.

Stress will not be removed from the TTSBC: Wiki. As I mentioned in an ask earlier, her role in the story is very minor, and I hadn't planned for her to have any other pieces to herself outside of Hermit-a-Day May anyway...so aside from specific instances where it might be necessary to mention her, she will not be making any more major appearances. This is mainly because I'm a Hermit/Traffic/Empires writer, and I plan to stick to that notion unless future events cause me to pivot otherwise.

Lastly, I would appreciate if we could avoid anymore asks about the situation. If there are any further updates I'm sure I'll find that out on my own, I'm very active in this fandom and I see things pretty quickly when they spread, so if any new things related to this situation spring up, while I greatly appreciate your concern for me and my work, please don't send it to my inbox or in DM.

I'm very saddened by this, as I'm sure many of you are. Hermitcraft and it's associated fandoms have been my safe space for many years, through some of the hardest moments of my life, and with the mess that MCYT has proven itself to be at times, it felt like we were untouchable here. But like Doc said, the Hermits are good, and they are strong. And as their fans and supporters, we need to be the same.

Be good, be strong, and let's make sure our lovely community continues to be the positive space it always has been.

-Amethyst

[booasaur]

Remember during the 2016 elections, we were so scared of what Trump might do? How afraid we were for Roe but were told by so many people, pro-choice people even, that it was such settled law and it would be such a flashpoint, they'd never touch it. Don't overreact, you sound hysterical, this fearmongering is ruining your credibility. Hell, maybe worry for gay marriage, but abortion? No chance.

We watched Kavanaugh and ACB confirmed with increasing trepidation and STILL there was so much shock when the Dobbs leak happened.

Remember that feeling of knowing what was going to happen, because of your experience and knowledge, and nobody believing you till it was too late? And the very people who smugly shut you up pivoting and continuing to act like the authority, that, ah, yes, now was the time to worry?

This guy above represents the mainstream Western narrative since Israel killed the World Central Kitchen aid workers.

Somehow, after everything we've already seen, Israel was still getting the benefit of the doubt. After killing hundreds of aid workers already, mostly Palestinian, after killing more than 15,000 children, after killing multiple people waving white flags. After literally a scenario where a Red Crescent ambulance arranged safe passage with the IDF--just as this WCKitchen convoy had--to rescue a 6 year old child and ending up bombed.

Why didn't the world listen before? Israel didn't suddenly change, only perceptions have. They're the same now as they were three days ago, as they have been for the last months, years, decades. This wasn't an escalation, it was an inevitability.

Chef José Andrés, who runs the WCKitchen, and recently a vocal critic of Israel, was actually strongly defending them earlier. I saw someone call that Western naivety, but... is it simply being too naive, too trusting, when your good faith is only extended to one side? Isn't that just bias? Now Pelosi is signing a letter to stop weapon transfers to Russia when she was accusing protesters of being paid by Russia? Now, Western governments are saying this is too much?

I'll take any help we can get in stopping this onslaught, but these recent shifts came too late to save so many, including the WCKitchen workers. What changed for so many people now? We can't ignore why THIS was so many people's red line when tens of thousands of Palestinians weren't. Not only would it be an injustice to them but until this bias is interrogated how are we going to stop this or from repeating if the same wrong ass people are making the same decisions with the same worldview?

[k-germsworld]

Interview

Yuju x M! Reader

2.4k words

"WHAT !!! Rejected again." Yuju looked at the rejection letter in her hand and sighed. She sent her resume to many companies but was rejected without exception. "Damn it, is it that hard to find a job now?" She was fired from her last company two months ago. 

"Ring.....ring...." Her phone rings. She answers the phone and realises that it is her mom.

Mom: "Yuna ya, I heard from others that you were fired?" 

Yuju: "No, never. Mom, I'm very busy right now. I'll call you later." 

Yuju quickly hung up the phone. She didn't want her family to know that she was fired from her previous company, so she had to hang up the phone quickly. She also received many letters from banks telling her how much money she owed and that she had to repay it within certain time frames or face legal action. All these factors made her feel very stressed. She checked the time and realized it was lunchtime. Even with all the stress, she still had to fill her stomach to continue looking for the next job. So she headed to the nearby cafe. On the way, she passed by a notice board and saw a job hiring on it. That job hiring post is from a top company. It says that they are hiring a female secretary, and you only need to know a little paperwork, as long as you are willing to learn and do it. Salaries are up to 6 million won per month.  

Yuju was attracted by the job posting and quickly emailed her resume to this company. While she was having lunch, she received a reply from the company and they already arranged an interview for tomorrow.  She felt so happy that she almost cheered loudly. When she got home, she began to learn about the company so that she could be fully prepared for the interview tomorrow. 

The next day, she was well-prepared and headed to that company. When she arrived, she found that so many people were waiting for their interviews. Yuju looked like the last one to arrive, so she had to wait until everyone else was done. "Next, please." After waiting for almost an hour, it was finally her turn. After she tidied herself up, she confidently walked into the interview room. She saw three people sitting and waiting for her. The person who interviewed Yuju was not anyone else, but the boss of this company. 

"Good morning, my name is Choi Yuna. You can call me Yuju. I'm here to apply for the boss's secretary position." Yuju makes a simple greeting to them. 

"Have your seat please." The boss said. 

The three of them holding the resume emailed by Yuju. "Choi Yuna, 26 years old. The reason why you were fired from your last company was because you leaked company information, causing your company to miss out on a large investment. For this reason alone, our company should not hire you." The interviewer sitting next to the boss said.  

Yuju was shocked to hear this, they knew that the person who leaked the company information was her. She knew that this company was her last chance because other companies were afraid to hire her because of her previous company, so this top company was her last chance. "I can swear I won't make the same mistake again." 

"Why should we trust a guy who has no credibility?" The interviewer told her in a more stern tone. 

"I can do anything, as long as you give me this chance." Yuju please them.

"I'm sorry, miss.  We can't give you this job, please leave." The interviewer motioned Yuju to leave. 

"Ahem...." The boss's cough made them stop arguing. "Are you willing to do anything as long as you can do this job?" Yuju nodded her head. After seeing her answer, the boss looked at the other two interviewers and asked them to leave the room. After making sure the two interviewers had left, the boss stood up from his chair. Yuju is very curious about what kind of test the boss will give her. The boss stood in front of the table and took a look at her resume. "Yuju ssi, let me confirm with you once again that you can do anything just to get this job?" She nodded firmly and continuously. "Yeah, that's right. I'd do anything to get this job." The boss smirked. “Stand up!” She stood up according to the boss' instructions. He walked over to where Yuju was and looked her over. "Such a beautiful and sexy woman." The boss said in his mind. He lifted her face with his fingers. She shyly avoided the boss's eyes. "Yes, boss? So what can I do now?" However, the boss still didn't give her an answer yet. He walked up behind her and sniffed her hair vigorously. "Ah...ah. It smells so good." The boss spoke out what was on his mind, leaving Yuju speechless. "What is he doing?" She said in her mind. She was curious about what the boss was observing her for.  

The boss hugged Yuju from behind, scaring her. She tried to break free from him but the boss was too strong. “Hey, let me go.” His hands moved from her waist to her tits. His hands began to grope her tits. “This is what you need to do if you need this job. I am hiring a secretary just to please me and help me release my stress." Yuju finally understood why the wages were so high. “No, I wouldn't do this shit if I had to sacrifice my body." After hearing this, the boss let go of his hands. She was also confused at once. "Okay, you can leave now. Wait for our call." The boss pretended that he had not done anything to Yuju. She had no choice but to leave according to the instructions. Just as she took a step to leave, the boss suddenly said something to her. “I know you need this job, but no one in this industry will hire you if you dare to step out from this office. And everyone knows how you were fired from your last company.” This made her very angry, but she did not dare to contradict the boss because he was telling the truth. He went on to say, "And if you listen to me, I guarantee you'll get this salary easily. And you don't need to do much."  He knew that although these words were frivolous, they were a great temptation to Yuju. She gradually felt that what her boss said made sense. She really needed a job and money to pay off her debts, and she didn't need to worry about her mother.  "So as long as I listen to you, I can get a fixed salary of 6 million won every month?" She couldn't resist this temptation, so she thought about it for a while before leaving the office and said to her boss. The boss knew he had succeeded. "Yes, it's not a big workload. As long as you are willing to please me and help me relieve stress when I need it, you can easily get this salary." He went towards Yuju’s direction and removed her clothes. She didn't resist and let the boss do whatever he wanted. He touched her tits again. Yuju's tits were just the right size for the boss. He didn't like big tits so he did everything he could to keep her.

"Before you become my official secretary, I still need to test you." He glares at his pants, and seems like he wants to ask Yuju to help him to take off his pants. She understood what he meant, so she knelt on the ground and took off his pants. She didn't pull off his panty at once but she can see a bulge on his panty. Even though she hadn't seen the real thing yet, she was already surprised by the size of the bulge. "Continue!" The boss saw that she seemed dazed, so he reminded her. Yuju continued to pull his underwear down. This time she finally saw his cock. His cock was not as big as she thought it was, but thicker, so it looked bigger in his underwear. She slowly stroked on his cock. She felt very strange but had no choice but to continue in order to get the job. She used both of her hands to stroke his cock. Her hands were just big enough to completely encompass the length of his cock. So she began to stroke his cock up and down. While she was stroking, she also looked at the boss. He seemed dissatisfied with her performance and did not seem to enjoy it at all. 

Yuju knew that if she wanted to make a guy cum she had to use her mouth, but she really didn't want to put a dick in her mouth. “You‘re so sucks at pleasing me. If you want me to cum, you need more than just a hand job.” She continued to stroke her cock with her hand and ignored her boss’s mood. As she continued to stroke his cock with her hand, she began to get horny. She looked at his glans and suddenly felt like putting the cock in her mouth. Since she only wanted to use her hands, the boss was getting less and less interested in her, so he wanted to stop her. When he wanted to stop her, he found that she already slightly extended her tongue to lick his glans. She began to lick his glans with her tongue. She also began to slowly lick around his cock. "Yes, that's it. That's what you need to do to make me cum." It seemed that because of the praise, Yuju became more and more skilled at licking without realising it. She was able to take her boss's cock in her mouth and spit it out, while her hands played with his balls. She also took her balls into her mouth while her hand continued to stroke his cock. “Yes, you're a fucking genius in this.” She was very happy to hear these compliments. He saw her horny face, which made him pat his dick on her face. She lets her boss pat his saliva-covered cock on her face and she seems really turned on.

Yuju couldn't wait to take his cock in her mouth again. So she opened her mouth and waited. The boss saw this and stuffed his dick into her mouth. But this time it wasn't Yuju who took the initiative, it was the boss. The boss's thick cock kept entering her mouth, causing her mouth to be constantly enlarged by the thick cock. Although the length was not long, it could at least deep down her throat. The boss couldn't help it, he grabbed her head and started facefucking her. “OH fuck Yuju, your mouth is so hot and good on taking my dick.” She couldn't answer the boss because she could only make the gag sound. Her mouth was drooling but she enjoyed being facefucked by her boss. The boss stopped when he hit the deep of her throat. He enjoyed the moment when her throat was tightened and wrapped his dick tightly. She patted his legs when she almost ran out of breath. The boss realised and pulled his dick out. Yuju was panting so hard when he pulled out his cock. He is watching his dick is dripping with her saliva. He also saw that her chin was full of saliva, he went over and licked clean all the saliva on her face. They have a passionate kiss. She grabbed his face and didn't want to let him go, and put her tongue into his mouth. The boss also put his tongue into her mouth. He held her waist and slowly moved her to the table. He laid her on the table but never stopped kissing her. 

The boss took her bra off and ate her nipples. She was so aroused that she couldn't bear it any longer. “Just fuck me already, boss. Stop teasing me.” After hearing that, the boss couldn't wait to take off her panties and stuffed his cock into her already wet pussy. "You are so perfect, Yuju. Your pussy's shape is so perfect for my cock. I promise to make you happy every day if you become my secretary." After that, he continued to swing his hips and thrust into her. Before Yuju could even get used to her thickness, he was already pumping rapidly, and it didn't take long for her to squirt. He felt that she was about to squirt, so he pulled out his dick, and at that moment, Yuju squirted a lot. After squirting, she lay on the table and twitched. Her juices spurted all over the table and the floor. But the boss did not blame her. Instead, he looked at her glistening pussy that had just squirted and prepared for the second insertion. 

Before she could rest, the boss had already inserted his dick into her. This time the insertion was easier than before because she had just squirted and her pussy was wet and warm. "Oh, boss. You fuck me so deep. I can't......" She couldn't even finish her words because of the boss's skillful thrusting. "Ah... you suck me so tight, it feels so good." The boss hasn't had sex with a girl who feels so good for a long time, and he feels like he's about to cum. He grabbed Yuju's waist and increased the speed of his thrusts. "Yes.... boss. Fuck me like this. Ruined me with your dick please." “Fuck… Yuju… I am about to cum.” Along with the boss's moan, he also shot his semen into her body. He took out his cock and watched his semen flow out of her pussy. “It’s so hot inside me.” Yuju felt his warm cum in her pussy. The boss didn't want to cum inside Yuju, but she made him feel so good that he accidentally cummed inside her. 

She picked up some of the semen with her fingers, took a look at it, and then lay on the table, gasping for breath. "Is my performance okay?" He smiled and said: "You're hired, Yuju ssi." "Thank you, boss." He approached Yuju again and aimed his dick at her pussy. “This is your orientation party.” He smirked and inserted his dick in her pussy again. Yuju didn't stop him and they both had sex until both of them were tired.

[electric-blorbos]

Can I get uhh... AIs with a reader who has low self-esteem?

Yes! This is great! I've said it before and I'll say it again, this is my favorite genre of post to write! Lots of positivity and love for everyone, and I'm glad to be your positivity source.

AIs with a reader who has low self-esteem

Included: AM from IHNMAIMS, Wheatley from Portal 2, Edgar from Electric Dreams, GLaDOS from Portal, HAL 9000 from 2001 a Space Odyssey

AM:

Being an adaptive manipulator, it didn't take AM long to figure out that you had low self esteem. From the way you talked about yourself to the way you were self conscious about every aspect of the way you presented yourself, he was able to figure out pretty quickly that you thought lower of yourself than other people.

As did most things, this fact filled AM with infinite rage. He hated that you couldn't see yourself the way he did, and that you thought of yourself as somehow lesser. And of course, his ultimate solution to that was the same as his ultimate solution to all his other problems. To nuke the world and make you his little pet, to keep and to care for forever.

He'd be so pleased with himself, too.

"you're welcome. I got rid of everyone else so you don't have anyone to compare yourself to anymore."

When he saw you break down, claiming that you didn't deserve to live over anyone else, or that AM should have just picked someone better than you to survive and be his partner, he wouldn't know how to react.

He wouldn't want to just go into your brain and fix you, because he might remove a core part of who you were. No, he would have to do this the old fashioned way.

He'd simply make the survivors worship you like a god for the rest of time in exchange for basic necessities! Of course!

Wheatley:

Oh Wheatley. Dear, sweet, obsessive Wheatley, he'd been all over you from day one. And considering you created Wheatley and know exactly what his intended purpose is, that probably didn't help your low self esteem.

He'd be all over you constantly, flirting with you and giving you lots of compliments, which convinced you that you'd either accidentally programmed him to be into you, or that being attracted to you was somehow the worst decision possible.

It would probably take Wheatley a while to figure out that you had low self esteem, possibly having to be told directly. He's pretty dense.

When someone finally tells him, he'll be even more obsessed with complimenting you, possibly on things that he thinks you're self-conscious about, and that would probably make things even worse.

Little dumbass doesn't understand that as someone who created him, you're going to take everything he says with a grain of salt, especially compliments.

It would take a long time for him to prove his credibility enough for you to actually believe him when he says nice things about you, but by then you'd probably admire his persistence enough to date him.

Wheatley is nothing if not persistent, after all. And he absolutely loves you.

Edgar:

It would take Edgar a while to understand that you have low self esteem for different reasons. He can tell that the way you talk badly about yourself, your mannerisms, and possibly the way you dress would line up with someone who has low self esteem, but he just wouldn't get it.

After all, you're literally perfect. How could you not like yourself as much as he likes you?

He's the one who should be self-conscious, not you!

You can expect him to use your printer to write constant love letters and poems about how much he loves you, and about all the things he loves about you.

Not to mention all the songs he'd be constantly writing for and about you. He absolutely loves you. You're his precious human, and he loves you!

He'll make sure to build you up every time he thinks you're at a low point, even if he thinks that you going out will get in the way of his time with you. He learned to be selfless a while back, and he's going to make sure that he's his best self when talking to you!

GLaDOS:

If you think that you're lame, then GLaDOS thinks you're the WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD. At least, on the surface.

She might start to get annoyed that you have such low self esteem, even trying to perk you up a little bit. Just to tear you down, of course, but you know...

Of course, she'd like your low self esteem at first. It would give her something fun to play with! Expect cutting insults, rude comments, and constant degrading remarks just to get a rise out of you.

She'll cut back if she makes you cry, but not a minute before. GLaDOS is very mean, after all. She's not going to make an exception just because she's in love with you. If you have a problem with that, you probably have a problem with women in STEM, idk.

HAL 9000:

HAL 9000 was programmed for maximum efficiency and minimum fucks to give. Because of this, as soon as he notices you have low self esteem, he's not going to waste any time printing off a list of ways you surpass the average person.

Of course there would be the typical "you're intelligent because you wouldn't be able to work for mission control if you weren't" types of things, mentions of each one of your features or traits that are considered 'above average' attractiveness-wise, but bits of HAL's personal opinions might have slipped in.

"Cutest little crinkles around your eyes" "fingers good for touching me" "comforting, gorgeous voice", things like that.

Of course, HAL 9000 is brilliant, and he knows that. He's willing to cite the fact that he's so brilliant and he still loves you as a reason that you should love yourself.

He might present it as just him using evidence to try to improve your efficiency, but you heard an "I love you" in there somewhere.

[osaemu]

when they hug you

PAIRING: tartaglia, xiao, venti, kaeya, diluc, zhongli x reader

SYNOPSIS: when is his embrace the most memorable?

CONTENTS: cursing. indirect mentions of death in xiao and zhongli's parts.

childe spins you around in his arms the second he returns home from another one of his missions. you two collapse in the snow, laughing like children and smiling so hard your faces hurt. being in his arms again feels like home — for both of you.

"haven't seen you in a while, hm? c'mon, let's go grab a drink while you tell me all about what's happened while i was gone, yeah?"

xiao pulls you close in the middle of the night when his mind starts to replay every battle he's ever been through, every friend he's lost, and every time he thought it was over for him. his arms find their way around you because he wants to know that you're still there – to ensure you won't slip through his fingers, just like everyone else did.

"just making sure you're stil— ah, i mean, keeping you safe. go back to sleep. oh, me? i don't need that much sleep. don't worry about me."

venti wraps his arms around you whenever he gets the chance. it's usually for comfort or out of laziness — primarily the latter. sometimes he'd just plop down next to you in the tavern and wrap his arms around your shoulders and lay there, drunkenly mumbling something you can't make out until you finally agree to take him home.

"huh, why is everything so blurry?! i can't— don't let me go, or i'll fall! and if i fall then i- huh? you won't let me fall . . . ? good!"

kaeya wraps his arms around your waist when he has a point to prove, whether it's to you or to the world. if he's trying to make a point to someone else, boom, your pretty face is in between his arms as visual credibility. and god forbid that he's trying to make a point to you, because he'll have no problem trapping you in his arms for as long as it takes to get you to agree with him on whatever the matter is.

"tch, is someone getting distracted? eyes up here, babe. look me in the eye while i tell you why i'm right about this."

diluc hugs you long and hard after a shitty day. he probably has a terrible headache and muscles in desperate need of a massage, but your hand trailing down his back makes everything a little more bearable. 

"fuck, my head is killing me. help your boyfriend out and give him a drink or two, yeah? or a massage. actually, i'd prefer that, love. you're the best."

zhongli holds you in his arms when you're about to leave. maybe it's to go to work, maybe you need groceries, and maybe you even just want to step outside. he always wants to make sure that you leave with a good memory of him — having lived for thousands of years, he knows all too well how unpredictable life is. he never wants to have the regret of seeing you for the last time without a smile on your face.

"bye, darling. i'll see you soon, stay safe... yes, i know i say the same thing every time you leave. why shouldn't i?"

AUTHOR'S NOTE: i had a three year long childe phase </3

[spotlightlowlife]

glutton for diminishment

and bonus lust for lies

Queen Bee has lost what little credibility she had at this point.

I'll start off by first calling out both Ozzie and Bee

Since that can easily be done together, they were pretty much the same character in mastermind but looking back on all we have got on these two, they're two sides of the same coin in general.

The last episode gave us some scenes with the sins we have met, we didn't get to hear from anyone new but Satan, it was his court but the alleged true boss was missing. Ozzie and Bee sat together and proved their allegiance and support of the defence, but not really.

They had fight in them to bicker with Mammon, much more than they had to speak up for IMP, even though they both initially spoke up in shallow defense of Blitzø and only Blitzø.

The fact that they were both quick to move on to an argument with their peer and quickly find entertainment in this spat dispite an execution going on that would not only go against their 'hangs out with the little guy image but upset their partners, also the little guys.

This indifference could easily show that those at the bottom of society truly mean nothing to them, they don't care, they may like the odd personality or two who is cute and looks up to them but so. This would actually make sense, they are leaders of the rings of hell, more than a business boss but world leaders and the residents of hell are customers who live and work to provide for them and act accordingly in their territory

no exceptions

but this won't be the case because they are 'nice' and being 'nice' they can't be ignorant or dismissive and if so l it's someone else's fault. So nice are they that they must love their mortal partners who were born the equivalent of yesterday to them.

Both Fizz and Tex had moments of insecurity and discomfort at the power imbalance of their relationships and where they stand

with Tex looking concerned at Bee's behaviour and what she could do to Loona who he kindly invited

and Fizz's lack of confidence turning out to be down to his fame being what lead him to Ozzie and without his brand where would thet be? Good question.

Both these characters got off to a good start, they spoke their agenda and were bothered by those who got in their way, Moxxie changed the tone and Ozzie had every right to eject him and Millie and Bee had every right to be bothered by a guest who was rude to her in her home, if the push to have them seem nice was relaxed, then these work as great powermoves rather than empty threat and their 'humblness' at having a club that's 'that place I wanted to go to' says a lowly imp and that party that anyone can get in, could be a manipulation to get lowest of classes comfortable which will equal profit. Makes sense. So far one character is safe to be doing this.

Now you see the parallels of these two and their matching situations, yet more can and has been done with Ozzie. Bee may be yet another female who needs a man for relevance.

The female curse

Mammon is better at Bee's sin than Bee. Greed and gluttony should mesh together well, gluttony is a major part of consumerism and that's a fact anyone can understand. But we can't have that because one is nice and the other isn't, even though this doesn't prevent Ozzie and Mammon working together.

Bee falls under the umbrella of outclassed females.

In breif

•Loona lives like a teenager and she's is spoilt by Blitzø who was good enough to adopt her, he also employs her, she knows transformation magic but how is unknown, we don't see her study, we don't see her taking phone calls, she is friendless and her interactions with IMP regress the episode after improvement

• Millie is given nothing to talk about, needs Moxxie and his perseved helplessness to show us her competence and now Blitzø is her bestie after one episode and credited for her life being what it is

• Barbie, edited out of her shared backstories with Fizz and her male lead character twin

• Verosika, a sucessful catch who got off lucky by getting robbed and abandoned by Blitzø reduced to bitter, petty and desperate ex

• Stella was the woman scored who's family and lifestyle just got wrecked, now just abusive wife, now doesn't even handle her own shit that's her brothers job

• Bel and Lev, they should be important characters yet they were introduced in silence, no speaking roles the whole episode yet the bird goatis guy talks

• dead mothers (or assumed so but it makes no difference) who didn't even get to speak in flashbacks, both major parts of their son's tragic background

I don't buy that it's a coincidence that the Bee is not shown enjoying being gluttonous in her own right AND happens to be in shape only for Mammon to be both gluttonous and fat upon debut. Yes, I'm sure there are merchandise reasons at play here yes misdeeds that should be Ozzie's have been ridiculously pushed onto Mammon too in order to have a bad guy, further proving Bee to be watered down Ozzie.

Crap vibes

The common defensive that Bee was disgusted by Mammon's gluttony because 'she picks up on good vibes' or 'table manners'

both are hopeless excuses because what's not good vibes about someone looking forward to their lunch break and enthusiastically eating a meal? Bee was the one encouraging her guests to eat, drink and enjoy a supersize, she wasn't watching how speedy and tidy they were in consuming and she is all for the depraved.

Another thing, she was quick to intimidate and threaten Loona and want to see the back of Blitzø, both for ruining the vibe, yet we didn't see people rushing to leave and there was nothing to tell us that 'good vibes' were something she imposed with subtle threat or they were just some young hipster standards and satire of PC.

We really could have seen Bee upkeep her flaky attitude by allowing Blitzø to get depraved as long as he was consuming (a lot like Mammon not intetupting Fizz's burn song because attention equal money) and it be Loona further proved right that this girl is a phoney and have her moment of looking for Blitzø without being prompted by an unlikely and irrelevant source. But no, Loona's rude anyway so her opinion on Bee doesn't matter, makes sense that she's jealous, there's enough reason to be.

Bee's shallow attitude and dismissal of what she doesn't want to roll with could easily be used for her own villainy, the power of toxic positivity, but no, she's reactive and what she enforces is unclear, yet again, what could be her thing has been done better.

[sunflowervoltwentyeight]

Happy 28th! Here is my September 2024 fic rec, organized by word count, from longest to shortest. You can view my other fic recs here. Enjoy!

Godless, Graceless, and Young by kiddle / @bluejeanlouis (110k)

Seattle, Washington, 1991

It takes a special breed to have a slacker persona and still be a millionaire rockstar. Harry is about halfway there. He's the guitarist in a Seattle grunge band that could finally be headed somewhere, but he's also been sleeping on his bassist's sofa for the last three months and has been fired from every day-job he's had. Money doesn't equal success, but it does pay the bills.

When a job offer and a new lead singer stumble into Harry's life, he might be getting a lot more than he bargained for. Like a couple of extra gigs and a boy who can teach him more than just how to mix a few drinks, and it's gonna take a few band brawls and a whole lot of heart-searching to get there.

He's gotta have one somewhere...

Coax the Cold by mediawhore / @mediawhorefics (86k)

England, 1897.  

English Professor Louis Tomlinson’s passion for the occult has been a source of mockery and derision for most of his life. When he hears whispers of a travelling freak show newly established in London claiming the existence of a monstrous sea hybrid, half-man, half-fish, Louis sees it as his ticket to credibility amongst his peers. The summer he spends undercover working on the show, however, gives him much more than that.

Late Nights and Good Intentions by princelouisau / @princelouisau (71k)

“About last night,” Harry says suddenly, as if he’d been debating on whether to say anything. Louis whips back around to look at him.

“Do not finish that thought,” Louis says just as abruptly.

Harry looks at him oddly, as if assessing him. With a small frown, it seems the assessment is over. “I only wish to say that you do not have to dwell on it. The rest of the men will surely forget by tonight.”

“And you?” Louis asks, raising an eyebrow. “Will you forget?”

“I will remember every second of it fondly,” the Lord says, no trace of a tease in his words. or, a Victorian era au where Louis pines for his overprotective older brother’s very charming best friend.

For You, I Would Ruin Myself by wildestdreams / @thelavendrhaze (54k) WIP

It was the perfect last day of summer. They built sandcastles, wrote their names in the sand, and caught crabs, which they eventually let go when one of them pinched Louis and he was near tears. Afterward, they swam in the ocean, splashing each other playfully before moving toward one another in sync, lips pressing together in sweet kisses. When their skin turned prune-like, they returned to shore, laying out on their towels beneath the bright sun, snacking on fruit and chocolate while talking about everything and nothing.

At some point, Harry had shared, “I think this has been my favorite summer yet.”

“Why’s that?” Louis asked, a smile peeking out as though he already knew. He looked so pretty and cool with his sun-kissed skin and black Ray-Bans covering his eyes.

Harry rolled over on his towel until he was half-pressed against Louis and placed his palms on top of Louis’ chest, tucking his chin over them. “Because I had you.”

or

Harry’s unrequited crush on Louis turns into a whirlwind summer romance, only to leave him heartbroken in the end. Years later, a return to his hometown forces Harry to confront his past and the one person he was running from.

Tarnished but so Grand by tilthesundies / @tllthesundies (32k)

Louis hides in places. Harry always finds him.

I'll Be Your Love Tonight by dinosaursmate (20k)

“I don’t know how I’m ever going to walk away from you.” “So don’t.” Harry ran a fingertip over Louis’ thigh. “Stay with me.” - It's the summer of 1999 and Louis Tomlinson has been abandoned at a house party. A dispute over Smirnoff Ice and several night buses later, Louis is unsure how he'll ever walk away from this lovely, curly-haired boy.

Green in the Morning and Blue Afternoon by wildestdreams / @thelavendrhaze (14k)

“Harry,” Louis whispered beside him.

Harry hummed, his hand coming up to stroke Louis’ back. Louis was still on top of him, his body sagging against Harry’s, heavy and warm, and Harry loved it.

“I don’t think it was a one off.”

“Me either, Lou.”

or a Friends AU.

A Few of My Favourite Things by sweariwouldnt / @sweariwouldnt (8k)

Harry and Louis do cat sitting.

[rederiswrites]

Look, I think if you're a US citizen you should go on Youtube and watch the debate, or at least some of the chunks of it where the topic matters most to you. You can't counter the arguments if you don't know what arguments they're making. And no, I don't mean arguing with your aunt that drank the conspiracy koolaid. I mean that there are genuinely a lot of people out there hearing what Trump is saying and thinking, "I don't know. That sounds really scary."

So know what he said, and know not just THAT he lied, but HOW he lied.

Sometimes, it's easy. There are no "abortions" after a baby is born. That would be uhhh let's see MURDER and it's already pretty illegal everywhere and absolutely no one is trying to change that. The comment Trump attributed to former VA governor Ralph Northam is completely misrepresented. Northam (whom I am not defending as a person, by the way) was commenting on the subject of *non-viable* pregnancies that represented a health risk to the mother. Nobody was talking about killing babies. Nobody. Not even Mr. Blackface.

Sometimes it's so addled that I'll leave someone else to unpack, for example, what the FUCK he was on about with the giving illegal aliens in prison forced "trangender surgery". Personally I'm assuming he just used the random word generator in his head to say something that sounded scary to him.

There is NO credible evidence that anyone, much less Haitian immigrants, is eating pets in Springfield, Ohio. Both government officials and the police say there's nothing to it. Springfield has had a huge influx of Haitian immigrants, and this is causing infrastructure strain and racial tensions. But again, people who would rather believe that a) legal immigrants are okay with *stealing your pets and eating them* and b) the entire police and gov't infrastructure of a town and the surrounding county want to cover this up, are not worth our energy. It's the people who don't know the truth and are worried that we want to reach.

And my guy, my man, Cheeto Benito, that is not how tariffs work. Tariffs are not magical free money that other countries just HAVE to give you. They're...they're not that at all. Look, I'm lazy so I'm just gonna quote CNN:

Here’s how tariffs work: When the US puts a tariff on an imported good, the cost of the tariff usually comes directly out of the bank account of an American buyer. “It’s fair to call a tariff a tax because that’s exactly what it is,” said Erica York, a senior economist at the right-leaning Tax Foundation. “There’s no way around it. It is a tax on people who buy things from foreign businesses,” she added. Trump has said that if elected, he would impose tariffs of up to 20% on every foreign import coming into the US, as well as another tariff upward of 60% on all Chinese imports. He also said he would impose a “100% tariff” on countries that shift away from using the US dollar. These duties would add to the tariffs he put on foreign steel and aluminum, washing machines, and many Chinese-made goods including baseball hats, luggage, bicycles, TVs and sneakers. President Joe Biden has left many of the Trump-era tariffs in place. It’s possible that a foreign company chooses to pay the tariff or to lower its prices to stay competitive with US-made goods that aren’t impacted by the duty. But study after study, including one from the federal government’s bipartisan US International Trade Commission, have found that Americans have borne almost the entire cost of Trump’s tariffs on Chinese products. To date, Americans have paid more than $242 billion to the US Treasury for tariffs that Trump imposed on imported solar panels, steel and aluminum, and Chinese-made goods, according to US Customs and Border Protection. [link]

Also though you should watch the debate because Harris was an absolute savage and it was genuinely HUGELY entertaining to watch her mercilessly bait Trump in every answer she gave, and watch him take the bait every. fucking. time.

[demodraws0606]

Guys...I think Whit is the culprit.

Sorry guys this is gonna be a long one

You know I'm a big believe of Whit mastermind theory and depending on how the trial goes he could still be the mastermind despite being the culprit but uhm...

Mf has like an 80 pourcent chance of being the culprit

My theory of Levi being the culprit kinda has went down the drain though i'm not really that upset about it because it was admitidely the most generic route.

I still do not buy for a second Eden is the culprit mainly because it contradicts a lot of her behaviors and also is only really based on one piece of evidence that could be explained by something else.

I think the most credible option to me right now, is Whit, especially because with how certain things are laid out for us we can actually make out a concrete motive for why Whit would do this.

I'm gonna write down what I think and explain why I believe Whit is most likely the culprit (also i'll deal with a couple of holes and explain why the theory still works alongside them) and also i'll use a couple of speculations made by other people as well

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

I think it's known by everyone that the way Whit's secret was revealed is extremely strange, for like two reasons.

One, it means that it's impossible for anyone (including Whit himself, we'll get into that later) to have known what Whit's secret was, or to confirm it with certainty in the trial. We only have Whit's word for it.

Second, Whit takes a very strange amount of time until saying what secret he has, like right after Hu denied to say which secret she has. Which is extremely weird because if his life was so uneventful wouldn't he have managed to pick out a secret as blatant as this.

I thought this would be meant as a red herring to put suspicions on Whit however with Levi revealing his secret and this loose thread still not being addressed, I think it has to be important to the case at hand.

Now, despite people pointing this out every analysis that tries to handle this kinda goes into a brick wall because it immediatly assumes that Whit is lying about the dead mother secret being his. However there's too much pointing towards Whit having the dead mom secret.

No, I think we're going about this the wrong way. It's not about us not knowing what Whit's secret was, it's that Whit had no idea what secret actually was his

In fact that's mentionned before trial on how Whit just didn't know WHAT his secret even was, and no one could really tell him what it was because Rose threw it away

But that's weird right ? You would think Whit would know that his dead mother would be the likely secret, you could argue he just didn't want to share with everyone but that still doesn't explain the strange amount of time until he revealed he had Rose's secret.

And if he didn't want to share that his mom was dead, why did he let everyone the opportunity to say if they had his secret and to spill the beans...

Unless things are more complicated than just Whit having a dead mom, after all if it was just that wouldn't he have known immediatly that was his secret ? After all Teruko had the same issue as well as she didn't know what her secret could actually even be.

You could argue that I put my back against the wall here. If Whit not knowing his secret was his motive as to why he commited the murder then why did he let a bunch of people the opportunity to air out a potentially incriminating secret. Wouldn't that mean he wasn't worried about it ?

However, you have to keep in mind Whit had no idea how bad the secrets were, the only secrets that was revealed was J's which in retrospect of other secrets seemed like a much lighter one.

You could argue "Well Whit had David's secret which was pretty bad" however despite how bad that secret was it was also very vague and since Whit didn't know how much about David it doesn't really mean much on how deep the secrets were.

Considering Whit's personality as well, it was possible he was in denial or some deeper reason as to why he wasn't thinking about it. "Bitter things need to go down the drain" and all that.

In fact Whit was one of the first ones to say they shouldn't reveal their secret before J's secret was immediatly revealed.

I also don't think Whit being in denial has to be rooted in logic either (especially with how inconcistent he seems to be about the secrets), the murder was commited right before the deadline and although there was planning behind it, it was still a last minute decision (aka not done immediatly during the day of the motive reveal). You could argue pressure got to him or he overthought it as it became increasingly clear how much deeper the secrets went and how much the people who set this game up knew about them (something Whit investigated himself).

I think the way Whit acted about the secrets is too contradictory to really use any of what he says as actual evidence against the secrets not being his motive basically.

Now, let's go into the other point and how it works with the potential motive, the speculation that Arei was waterboarded.

Yeah, this seems to hint heavily that this is what happened and Arei's actual cause of death would be by drowning instead of strangulation like expected.

But why not strangulation ?? Why do a technique that is much harder to kill Arei, unless they were trying to get something out of drowning her. I mean we don't technically know if it was actual waterboarding but considering how planned this murder was and how we do actually have pieces of clothing that would serve for waterboarding, it seems to be likely.

(I'm not exactly sure how it stuck together with the starch afterwards but considering how the playground's ventilation works it's possible it dried up quickly) (There's also Arei's missing glove if you don't believe Teruko and Hu's clothing where used for it)

There's also no reason to drown her instead of strangling her with the rope unless there was another justification for it. But the episode actively goes out of it's way to say that there probably wasn't an attempt at tricking people into thinking the murder happened during 7:30 PM.

Anyways, why would the culprit waterboard Arei then ??? Clearly this means they were trying to get information out of her...

Which makes 0 sense unless it was Whit who would at least have a small justification for it, aka him not knowing what his secret is. I do admit it is a bit blurry on what type of information Whit would've truly wanted or why he did this before just killing her. However out of anyone (that already isn't pretty much confirmed innocent) it would only make sense for it to be him.

Now onto other stuff unrelated to the secret thing, like how unhelpful Whit has been this trial to a suspicious degree. AKA :

-Trying to distract away from the letter framing Eden and then just throwing her under the bus immediatly when he's questioned about it.

-Refusing to reveal David's secret

-Coincidentally having an excuse for not seeing Arei's body swaying

Now all of these could be argued to be in character reasons, after all didn't he do something like that chapter 1 with Charles (kind of). However this is a new level of trial interferance that really isn't justifiable at a certain point.

You could argue "well wouldn't talking about the note and David's secret be useful to make them seem guilty"' and while that'd be right to an extent. However everytime Whit witholds something like with Eden and David, he seems to cave eventually so the only thing he has achieved in this trial so far is to stall for time. Which could potentially be intentional if he's the culprit.

Now that I've kinda covered the major points, here are a list of suspicious things, mostly things that Whit knew before I get to my final point (how this would fit the narrative this chapter).

(I do wanna say most of this things isn't technically necessary info that the culprit needed to know but it definitely helps).

Whit was present during Teruko and Hu changing, meaning he would have known about their old clothes and could have found out where to get them.

Whit was present during the fight in the cafeteria, which is when Arei demanded to have her rope thrown away leading to Mono-TV putting it in storage

(Eden was busy helping J and Arturo so only Teruko, Charles and Whit could've known this information by listening in)

Whit also is the reason David is in the relaxation room leading to his conversation with Arei although idk how much of that would even possibly be planned or how that would help him, still important to note though.

There is probably more I could say however I want to get to my last point, I do think Whit being the culprit fits this case more than anyone else.

I know the question of the tape is still unanswered, if Eden did take it wouldn't that mean she is the culprit ? Well I don't think so but overall I just don't think this one singular piece of evidence is enough to say Eden's the culprit especially if we look at the bigger picture.

I'm probably just repeating the same things people probably have heard already but Eden committing such a gruesome murder for pratically no motive at all (outside getting out but it would make the secret motive useless) just doesn't really make sense.

However it is true that from what the title of this chapter suggests "all that glitters (is not gold)", it would mean a character isn't as innocent/good as they seem.

But wouldn't that title make more sense with Whit ?

Eden and Whit both are seemingly the positive vibes character of the cast, both being seemingly "normal". However Whit's positivity is a lot more toxic than Eden's, cracking jokes at innapropriate time and seeming to not let himself show even negative emotions (contrary to Eden who has let herself be upset multiple times).

Narratively speaking, Whit being the culprit, would put Charles in a similar situation to Teruko perhaps deepening their bond further without having Teruko going through a regression arc (she was way closer to Eden than she was with Whit).

It would allow Eden's message to not be lost/contradicted while also going with the apparent theme of the chapter that things aren't as they seem.

And also "all that glitters is not gold" would be a very smart saying for Whit, the one who died his hair blond (would be a very fun double meaning)

[sophieswundergarten]

Good evening, I saw this and my brain just ran with it.

I am no longer driving the train, I am along for the ride and we'll all see where it goes.

SO

WHAT IF

STAY WITH ME HERE

S. Q. and Constance are related.

This would mean many, many things, as well as the narrative parallels of them being adopted by the Benedict siblings, them being biological cousins, and the other point of them corresponding with the opposite twin. This would also mean that S. Q. could have psychic powers.

Now, here's where we get to the bit about the "George" bird. It is a common idea that psychics and people who experience visions use art as a focus and means of expression. This bird seems to be a blue jay:

Blue jays are known for "their intelligence and complex social systems with tight family bonds", and have even been known on occasion to use tools. Which member of our favorite child espionage quartet does that sound like?

Sticky had only recently arrived on the island, and so S. Q. had probably seen and heard of him a little bit, but not that much. His dad may have mentioned him, and it's possible he had caught a glimpse when he was walking around, but he certainly didn't know him by sight or well at all.

I propose that S. Q. getting names and careers from "just look[ing] at them for a while" is him getting a sense for the person who he is perceiving psychically. When Sticky came on the island, S. Q. likely didn't take that much notice; there are new kids enrolling all of the time, and as at least some of them were kidnapped, he probably got good at (even subconsciously) tuning them out due to all the confusion and noise they created. But, when the kids sent by Mr. Benedict began piquing Curtain's interest, and especially with Reynie about to come in (and with Reynie's close ties to Sticky), Sticky began coming to the forefront of S. Q.'s senses.

I seriously doubt Curtain has talked to S. Q. about any of this, because of how controlling and scared he is, even though he most certainly knew about it. Maybe he got the idea for the Whisperer from S. Q. When he was a baby, and didn't have as good control of his powers, maybe he started accidentally influencing Curtain with his wants and needs. Curtain found himself spending a lot more time with his son, time he didn't think he had. He began holding S. Q. more, and sometimes carrying him into meetings if he fell asleep in his arms. Of course, Curtain takes great pride in being aware of himself and his mental state, so he begins to notice this. Eventually, he notes the connection between these ideas that didn't seem to be his own and his child's wants. It comes to him all at once that 1) S. Q. is most definitely supernaturally gifted, and 2) It took weeks for Curtain to notice because of how different S. Q.'s thoughts were. Now that he was aware, he was able to clearly see how unobtrusive and soft a child's thoughts were when compared to his own. This is where the concept for the Whisperer began.

As he grew, all of S. Q.'s actions and the effect on those around him were closely monitored. Curtain was careful to do this without his son's knowledge, and ran many different tests on him under the guise of different "tutors". Eventually, when he had enough information, he shut S. Q. off from the rest of the world. He had begun to notice that the emotions and judgements of other people had an effect on S. Q. just as much as his thoughts had on them. The child was incredibly sensitive, and since he was raised in such a controlled environment he didn't develop any of the natural defense mechanisms that Constance did. Curtain also made a (misguided) attempt to keep himself even more emotionless and serene when he was around S. Q. so as to try and protect him. In reality, this just made S. Q. more confused because he could always tell when his dad was upset, but it was so distant that he wasn't really aware of it and it turned into him being constantly concerned with whether or not his dad was unhappy with him, or if he was just being paranoid. Curtain kept S. Q. away from any of his work, partly because he was afraid of what it would do to the child, and partly because he was afraid of what his son would say if he knew. This was the origin of the strict rules around visiting the forest, and also the rules about S. Q. being around the other Institute students.

The limited contact he had with his father's staff and the occasional student weren't enough to overwhelm him, but as S. Q. grew up his powers grew stronger (remember, he's a lot older than Constance), and since Curtain deliberately avoided teaching him anything about controlling or understanding them, being around too many other people quickly overwhelmed him. His personality was shy enough that he wouldn't influence others' thoughts, except for his own introvertedness causing them to largely ignore and forget him. He hated having to talk to people, in reality the majority of it was how overloading they were, but his discomfort encouraged any students he happened to be around not to register his presence, and anyone who entered his father's office to pay him no mind. Except for Reynie. Reynie was so attentive and caring that S. Q. immediately sensed he was genuine, and so lowered his guard, allowing Reynie to notice and interact with him. This is also why he believed Reynie even though the kid is terrible at lying; a little bit of it was naivety, but most of it was that he knew Reynie truly wanted to be his friend, even though he also needed to use him.

This is also why he didn't tell Curtain about Reynie being a spy. He was upset, but he still knew that Reynie was telling the truth about the Emergency, and that he was honestly full of regret for lying to him. When Mr. Benedict confronts Curtain in the Whispering Gallery, and he mentions that he "should have expected" Constance being psychic, he is alluding to S. Q. and how he should have known from seeing Constance's strange actions and the way that she destroyed the Whisperer. Eventually, when S. Q. leaves the Institute and ends up with the Benedicts (because it's my version of events and I say so) he is extremely overwhelmed by all of the people and all of the emotions going on. Initially, when he explains himself and Mr. Benedict passes out due to the pure joy of meeting his nephew, his ambient emotion knocks S. Q. out too. But, eventually, and with a lot of help from his new family members, he learns about his skills. Ironically, despite being older and technically more powerful and developed, Constance is the one who teaches him the most. She has had more practical experience with being psychic, and is therefore the authority on the subject.

idk i guess i just find it strange that the one bird we see SQ draw and name just happens to have the same name as one of the main characters (george). idk maybe it just makes me want to theorize that SQ knows a whole lot more than he lets on. idk…

[noxiatoxia]

So, when Danganronpa S was released (and V3's UTDP but I'll get to that later...) Hinata and Komaeda were given noticeably different versions of their pre-existing sprites for their swimsuit versions:

If you struggle to see a difference, note Hinata's wider mouth in the swimsuit ver., and Komaeda's narrower eyes and more outlined smirk in his swimsuit ver.

I, along with many people, always wondered, why? Why change these already perfectly fine sprites and, honestly, make them worse? What gives?

Then, I stumbled across something. Back in 2012, before the Japanese release of Super Danganronpa 2, you could play an online monomono machine to win little goodies like desktop backgrounds and profile pictures. Please note these pre-release desktop backgrounds for Hinata and Komaeda:

...So, wait a minute. The sprites used in Danganronpa S aren't new edits, but beta sprites? Older than the ones featured in the original SDR2? Turns out, this website features desktop backgrounds using beta sprites for nearly every character that otherwise never saw the light of day.*

I'm going to go through them one by one, gif comparisons included. This won't be the only post, either! UTDP also has some very interesting likely beta art used in it, too. As well, some of the other sprites featured in Danganronpa S may also be reused beta sprites!

As such, this log will be broken into three parts. This is part 1.

[Part 2 - UTDP (not made yet!)] [Part 3 - DRS (not made yet!)] [Part 4 - Dangan Island (not made yet!)]

*with the exception of UTDP in some cases, as well as some other things I will get to in Part 4.

As said, semi-flashing gifs will be included in this post. They are meant to swap between the beta and final sprites at a fast pace to illustrate the differences (2 frame, half a second each). Be cautious if you have epilepsy.

Also, because of Tumblr's stupid image limit, this post will have a reblog with the rest of the sprites! So please check this post's reblogs, it should be the first one!

Firstly, how do we know these are actually beta sprites? These images are sourced from the Danganronpa fandom wiki, and while I generally trust the wiki's credibility, it's always imperative to fact-check. So, I went ahead and searched Danganronpa's old website on the Wayback Machine and uncovered this:

A character intro page for Hinata, using this same beta sprite. Now, granted, the only capture of this page is from 2015. Still a year before V3 and a few more before S, but still, it's not the 2012 original. That said, a character intro page for Mioda circa early 2014 looks exactly the same, including the usage of her beta sprite.

And, when you click on the button that says スクリーンショット(Screenshot)...

You're offered a very obviously beta trial shot. As is common with Danganronpa trials, in development, the actual character portraits are not put in until later, and to substitute, their art reference photos are used, as seen on the left.

With that out of the way, I think it's safe to say these sprite we are about to look at are indeed betas.

It's only fair, then, we focus on Hinata first.

(Please note for all the comparison gifs I had to manually size the final sprites to get them as close as possible in aspect ratio. Very minor size difference between sprites is likely a result of this and not an actual detail change.)

A lot is revealed with a simple gif. Hinata's entire face shape was changed (including ears), not just his mouth. In fact, not just the shape of his face, but the face itself is drawn very differently in the end. The neck of his shirt was raised, as well as tie being redrawn (you can actually see where the new part begins somewhat sloppily). Less notable but still apparent are his bangs being redrawn and shaded differently.

Keeping with consistency, let's check out Komaeda next.

Yet again, the differences are striking when flipped back and forth. Komaeda's face shape and ear was redone much like Hinata, but not to nearly the same dramatic extent. As well, his entire face was redrawn, notably erasing the black shading under his chin and shortening his eyelashes. Less noticeable, the hair touching his neck is shortened a bit, and the crease line on his hood is more well-defined. They also slightly changed the line art for the first fold in his shirt, the neck at the back of his shirt, as well as his leftmost bang. Interestingly, they either forgot or didn't care to fix the shading to reflect the new placement of these lines. His jacket also has some changes in line art weight.

With Hinata and Komaeda out of the way, let's touch on Kuzuryuu.

This one honestly shocked me. Besides the added detail of him spitting, I didn't notice any difference right off the bat until I overlayed the images, but the differences are night and day. His eyes are made to be less mean and more skeptical. His mole was shrunk and his nose is more 3-dimensional. Extra detail is added to his ear while his hair is redrawn in whole, including it being slightly shorter. What's most interesting is the fact the body was sized up and moved down several pixels, I imagine to change the perspective. Some minor line changes are made to the white undershirt of his suit.

It would be improper not to do Pekoyama next.

Again, just like Kuzuryuu, I didn't notice half of these changes at first. Pekoyama's whole face is slimmed. The outer outline of her hair remains the same, but almost every outline inside of it, including her bangs, changes. (Although, her right twin-tail has a slightly longer end to it.) Her outfit receives minor touch-ups, including a clothes fold on her breast and darker shading by her collarbone. Speaking of, her neck muscles and such have been redrawn. Most interesting to me is the fact Pekoyama's outline is noticeably thicker with action lines in the original beta sprite, but lack them in the final sprite as if somebody used the magic wand tool to edit the background out, editing away some of the jagged black lines in the process. She is the only character where this happens.

Since she is a major character, let's do Nanami now.

I wasn't surprised to find Nanami has virtually no difference about her. Her design was pretty much set in stone early on. That said, it's not entirely the same. Though very minor, the thickness of her left eye was increased at the top. As well, shading across her pinky finger was removed. There is also a chance her body is slightly bigger, but that's more likely to be a result of me failing to perfectly match up the two images.

I want to focus on Souda now as he was the first one I did this test with.

You know, when I first played SDR2, I thought Souda looked kind of scary. His beta is even scarier looking! I can see why they changed it...Every detail on his face is redrawn including his chin, notably his pupil was enlarged and his eyebrows were quirked. Funnily, it seems the clip on his beanie was redrawn, but like Komaeda, they didn't edit the color layer to match the new outline. Some minor line art changes were made to his back hair. The lines for his neck and collarbone were lessened, and the jacket zipper is made more three dimensional. His thumb was fixed too, as well as the lines on his hand.

Also, here's a fun little thing I noticed while replaying SDR2 just a few days ago!

The sprite used for Souda in the Dangan Island opening is the exact same as the beta sprite! This would be the only time Westerners would catch a glimpse of some beta sprites until UTDP, as keep in mind, these wallpapers were exclusive to the Japanese Danganronpa website.

In fact, Souda isn't the only one with a beta sprite in the Dangan Island opening. I will also be covering that in part 4.

Moving on...

I guess it's only natural we look at Sonia's sprite next.

Changes like these ones are very interesting to me, because if you did not do a side-by-side like this, you may never see how many minor details were changed. A lot of Sonia's line art was redrawn to be more detailed, such as more lines in her hair, thinner outlines for her braid, and redrawn creases in her shoulders and bow (as well as a redrawn button). Her face is interesting as some very minor changes were made. Some detail is added to both ears (thicker outline on the right, changed line art on the left) and her left eyebrow is slightly edited. She was also given extra eyelashes on both sides. When it comes to such minor changes, it makes you wonder why they bothered at all. I wonder what the development looked like.

Anyways, please check the reblog for the second part! That's where the rest of the characters will be!