#but hopefully they can all keep getting better

[askagamedev]

Thoughts on the Bioware restructuration/lay-offs?

I've long said that any AAA game studio, no matter how strong, is always 2-3 flops in a row away from closure. Bioware did very well with Inquisition, but Mass Effect Andromeda and Anthem's sequential failures resulted in DA4 being their make-or-break release.

One factor was that 2024 was the first full year since 2012 that Bioware didn't have SWTOR on their books anymore - SWTOR went over to Broadsword in late 2023. For the past decade, all of the money earned by SWTOR (which is significant, the game isn't growing but it does more than earn its keep) was considered in Bioware's accounting. That sizable income helps offset the money being burned in other areas like ME:A, Anthem, ongoing DA4 efforts, and other internal projects (like the many failed KOTOR 3 pitches) to the accountants and executives. Without SWTOR to inject additional cash over the year, the Veilguard costs look a lot worse to the money people.

DA4 itself was a bit of a mess during development too. The development of the project that eventually became Veilguard was actually restarted at least twice - they were already working on preproduction for DA4 as of late 2015. The process was long and arduous, and the finished game was... mid? It wasn't underwhelming, it wasn't overwhelming, it was just... whelming. Veilguard also made the somewhat controversial choice to hang everything on sales and not go with post-launch DLC to help monetize further. This gamble really did not pay off. Veilguard missed its sales target by 50%, which was the third nail in the coffin. Each of these failures seems to follow the same pattern - significant dev time spent going in circles because the leadership can't commit to core elements of the game, resulting in something thrown together at the end in order to ship something.

As a result of these issues, the Sword of Damocles that dangles above every studio fell on Bioware. While Bioware remains as a label and the next Mass Effect game continues development, Bioware as a studio is no longer a stand-alone entity capable of building a full game from start to finish like it used to be. Bioware is likely no longer going to have as much of a cohesive identity like it used to - it will be a label more than anything else. If Mass Effect gets a green light for full production, they'll likely have to "borrow" a bunch of floating developers from EA's other studios to build it out, then disperse those borrowed devs to other EA projects once it ships and leave a small team to incubate the next "Bioware" project, at least until they can get two sequential big hits again and warrant a larger injection of funding to start growing again.

My heart really goes out to all of those who are affected by this - the Veilguard devs were really behind the 8 ball when they started and the current economic situation in video games isn't good. I hope that they're able to find something soon, hopefully at a studio that makes better high level leadership decisions.

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[towers-in-starlight]

Musing a bit on how to build more porn-without-plot literary-analysis-community:

On one level: as suggested in the post, set up something like TV Tropes but for porn. I don't expect "more permissive TV Tropes" itself to gather much momentum—All The Tropes tries to be that, but the network effects are against it and it ends up having trouble holding onto an active userbase as a result—but I could see a more focused project, a catalog specifically of porn tropes and of tropes-of-porn-works, maybe succeeding, in much the same way that no one has managed to make a serious general-purpose Wikipedia competitor but people have succeeded at building up a lot of very successful relatively-narrowly-topic-specific wikis.

But trope-centric literary analysis—although I pretty strongly disagree with the no-qualifiers "it's bad" crowd—is only one angle on literary analysis, and there are a bunch of others it would be good to build more community around, too. Theorycrafting, fine-grained analyses of character psychology, fine-grained analyses of theme, et cetera. We don't just want TV Tropes for porn; we also want tumblr for porn.

...at which point I need to stick on some qualifiers, because tumblr already kind of is tumblr for porn. Like, this post is solidly tumblr-permitted and is good porn-analysis. It would be nice to use a site with fewer annoying restrictions pornwise—Dreamwidth comes to mind as a better preexisting option in this field—but, mostly, the problem isn't one of site support—unlike in the tropes case—and is instead one of community. Getting the people who read/view/play/etc. porn to post analytically about it more-rather-than-less often, so that fewer people think of it as something to keep hidden, so that more people post about it, et cetera. Moving social norms towards porn—especially less-plotty porn, since it's more needed there—more in the direction of "thing to build fandom around", basically.

(Where, at the moment, people often build fandom around porn in the narrow sense of "fandoms often produce a lot of porn"—kink memes are a thing, and all—but only infrequently do so in the broad sense where the porn is the thing they're fans of and not just as an artifact produced and consumed in the process of engagement with other nonporn source materials which they're fans of, especially when it comes to the less-plotty side of the porn genre.)

I know, from the ground up, how to do that. Make more fan-posts, especially literary-analysis-shaped ones, about the porn I like, and thereby hopefully inspire others to follow in my footsteps, thus slowly shifting social norms to make it more common. But it's hard, because it needs scale: me alone doing it won't accomplish much, if lots of others don't join me.

So I suppose I'll end this post with a call to arms: for any fellow porn-fans who want more literary analysis of porn to exist, make it! Write your own analyses of the porn you find most in need of analysis! It's through our efforts—not just the efforts of anonymous others in the crowd, but also of you and I—that we can arrange for writing those analyses to be normalized.

while i completely understand why sites like tvtropes have rules against pages dedicated to explicitly nsfw media, i do sort of wish there were spaces to analyze pornography and ecchi content in a literary manner. “all porn, no plot” stories are still stories which still have a history and meaning to them, and they are still worth examining in a critical manner, even if their sole purpose is to titillate.

essentially what i’m saying here is that things like niche fetish novellas are still art and should be treated as such, even if there’s a lower bar for quality and smaller target audience compared to traditional fiction.

[snowluvvie]

the way i keep going back to ur JJ farmhand scenarios is insane. more please i beg 😭 u write him so well 😩

₊˚⊹ ♡ . FARMHAND!JJ and CALF!READER sneaking around

You peeked your head around the corner of the barn doors, eyes scanning the ground and the stacks of equipment that were lit up by the early afternoon sunlight. The peaceful noise of the farm was interrupted by a loud “RAHHH!” just as your shoulders were grabbed roughly from behind, shaking you.

With a shriek, you spun around to find JJ’s grinning and dirt-streaked face.

“JJ!” You exclaim, swatting his chest.

His hands don’t leave your shoulders, continuing to shake you around lightly as he backs you into the barn with him, your feet dragging over the dirt and bumping against the occasional object since you couldn’t see where you were going.

“How was church?” He asked, his voice tinged with mocking.

You gave a little shrug. “It was church. The bible’s the same every time, believe it or not.”

As you spoke, it looked like he was only half listening, and he was still backing you up, until your back hit hard wood. You glanced over your shoulder to find the ladder to the hayloft, and gave a soft laugh at JJ's expectantly raised eyebrows. Obliging, you turn and begin climbing the ladder, the wood rough against your fingers—you know you'll get a wicked splinter doing this one day, it's just hopefully not today.

JJ climbs up behind you and takes the opportunity to swat your ass under your dress from his place below you, a yelp falling from your lips. The sound amuses him and he reaches up to pinch you again, laughing. You scramble up the ladder to escape his prying hands, the dusty floor of the loft rough and prickly from the hay shoots littering it, and they dig into your butt and legs as you climb onto it. JJ's biceps flex when he pulls himself up to join you, clambering to hover over top of you as you scramble backwards from him, dissolving into giggles that only make him come after you more.

"Tha hell is this?" JJ yanks on the sleeve of your dress. "Vomit green?"

You sigh. "Mama says it's olive."

"It's ugly."

You laugh loudly at his words, at the way he always catches you off guard with the ridiculous things he says.

"It'd look better over... there. Buried in the hay. Forever."

You can't stave off the giggles that wrack your body as he dips his face down to your neck, nipping at your throat and pressing open-mouthed kisses to it. Your laughter dissolves into a soft, tiny moan when he runs his tongue over your skin, and JJ pulls back to tease. "I'm barely even touchin' you."

You open your mouth to respond, but before you can, JJ claps his hand over your mouth. It's rough against your skin, and smells like soil and sweat, and the indignant cry you let out is muffled. His head whips up, looking back and forth like he's waiting for something.

A few moments pass before you hear it: "Boy? Y'in here?"

Your daddy.

JJ glances at your wide eyes, his lips quirking up into a smirk before he shouts down. "Yes, sir. Up here."

"Thought you brought hay down this mornin'?" Your father questioned him. You squirmed slightly under JJ, unbelievably nervous, but his hands were firm on you as he kept you where you were.

"Yeah, I did. Jus' got worried about the ventilation and thought I'd check f'mold."

"Ahhhh, gotcha. On top of it, aren't you?"

"Sure try to be!"

It bewildered you every day that JJ was doing manual labor and not working in the theatre—he lied so convincingly it shocked you every time. Not just lying, embodying. His personality with your father was totally manufactured, it didn't hold even one shred of his real self.

"Anyways, ya seen my girl around?"

Your eyes got even larger, and JJ's head snapped to look at you. The panic in your eyes was all encompassing, but his shoulders shook with silent laughter. You suddenly felt burning hot, and he felt extremely heavy and warm on top of you.

"No, sir!" He hollered down, giving you a smug look.

"Alright, then, I'll let ya get back to work. Have a good one, son."

"You too, sir!"

You hadn't heard your father approach, but you certainly heard his heavy footfalls thudding as he walked away from the barn. JJ waited a few more moments before he removed his hand from over your mouth, and the two of you looked at eachother wildly—you recognized the unmistakable look of adrenaline in his eyes. He loved this.

You smacked him on his chest for that, but he was unfazed. "You're a pig," you insisted.

"Oink oink." He mocked you, leaning in to fit his lips to yours in a kiss that became sloppy fast, his tongue sliding against yours demandingly.

His hands moved up your thigh, fingers digging into your flesh as he maneuvered you out of your dress inch by inch, keeping your mouths connected firmly the entire time. He only broke away for a moment to murmur against your lips.

"Now—let's get this god awful thing off ya."

[loquaciousquark]

you have been my #1 favorite fanfic author of all time for like 7-8 years now for your fenhawke and ive always thought "god i would give anything for quark to write solavellan" but i respected that it wasnt your thing. so imagine the pure unbridled euphoria of checking in on your blog this week to see that he finally got to you. i actually screamed. whatever you come up with i know it is going to absolutely change my life and i am so excited <3

i’m so. sad. i'm SO sad. i was so happy for a decade just being mildly annoyed every time he crossed my dash and now i am having feelings and opinions and i don’t WANT THEM and the only way to get rid of them is to write them out of me, this is why i don’t love fenris or astarion at all anymore obviously

and like, I still don’t love Solas! I still think some things he does and some goals he has are really, really stupid! but this character I created to love him really loves him, and I really love her and want her to be happy even though she lives only inside my head, and that means I need to lay down some structure around her romance to get the shape of it, to build something I can make sense of. I may not love him, but I like him much more than I did, and I certainly understand him better than I did the first time around.

And to be honest, there’s a part of me glad I’m coming to it as late as I have. I don’t think I’ve ever read a single Solavellan fic in my life (I actually had to pause here to check the spelling). I have NO idea what tropes are popular with him or what interpretations are the biggest. I have a lot of opinions on how his personality and identity work in a romance with this particular character I’ve created, but because I’ve been so siloed I have no idea if I’m bucking the grain or not, which is fine by me.

Plus, it helps I’m not going to have ten years to build up a lot of personal headcanons and jossable thoughts before playing the new game. I’m not someone who easily ignores canon when it clashes with my imagination for the major things, so I think this will (hopefully) keep me from major disappointments.

It's kinda funny; earlier today I was going back through my DAI tag and reminding myself of all my impressions from the first time I played the game. Some of them I definitely still stand by; others have completely changed. I even said twice that a Lavellan/Solas romance would be my next playthrough, which was true if ten years late.

But it's things like: apparently the first time through I loved Solas and Sera, both of which certainly were not true going into this replay. (I barely even have a memory of Solas and Priory ever being in the party together, though the historical records say I took him to Adamant.) I apparently had a lot of hopes Gideon Emery would be voicing Fenris. I originally thought Priory was going to romance Bull, which is very ?????? after all this time. (I did still, even then, know Here Lies the Abyss completely broke her as a character, and ten years on I never could fix her for good.)

I really did not expect to change my mind on Solas going into this replay, I guess is the point. I replayed because knowing the story of DAI and Solas, I felt it was a story most personalized to elves and specifically a Solas-romancing Lavellan, and that was the worldstate I wanted to take into the new game. I played it out because that's the kind of person I am (I can't just invent characters wholesale in my head) but I really thought it was going to be a perfunctory playthrough as a stepping stone to a different game and a different PC and (presumably) a different romance. I didn't expect to love this character as much as I do, and even if I don't have ten years to write her out the way I did Hawke, I feel like I still owe it to her & her doomed romance to give her a little time in the spotlight. Lucky girl!

[aquinnix]

Febuwhump Day 1 - Vocal Chords

Grian had a habit of talking to himself while he worked, saying his plans aloud had always been an easier way to think than keeping it all in his head. So as he stretched awake and rubbed the sleep from his eyes, he began to mumble to himself, figuring out what needed to be done today. 

Or at least, he tried to mumble to himself. 

It was probably just due to a dry mouth, or he was still half asleep or something. But every word came out silent, no more than a scratchy breath. Grian coughed, once, twice, that didn’t help. Water, that would fix things. He stood up, forcing his legs to stop shaking, and got a glass of water, downing the whole thing in a couple of seconds. 

He tried again. It was better now, he could make a noise, a scratching wheezing groaning sound. Was this better? He focused carefully on the process, on the position of his tongue and the shape of his lips. Wait, where was his tongue supposed to be again? It moved wildly in his mouth, changing the tone of this groan, but doing little to make it sound more like language. He was just getting in his head about it, that had to be the problem, if he just relaxed, let muscle memory take the wheel… 

Now Grian was starting to panic. 

He reached for his comm, fumbling it and letting it fall to the ground with a sickening crack. He kneeled down, inspecting the damage. A large crack spidered out across the screen. His hands were shaking too much to type, and instead, he called Mumbo. He realized almost immediately how bad of an idea that was considering his situation, but hopefully Mumbo would figure it out. 

“Hey Dude. Hello? Can you hear me?” 

Grian began to make as loud of a groaning sound as he could, but as he did so, he could feel something click into place in the back of his mind. His lips began to move and the sound morphed until… “Hear! Hear!” It was a voice that was not his own, the words nearly perfectly mimicking how Mumbo had spoken them. 

“Is that you? Are you alright?” 

Grian tried again to speak, to ask for help, but the words got lost on his tongue. Instead, what came out was a jumble of words in Mumbo’s voice. “Dude! Me! Is me alright?” 

“That’s what I just asked you! Why do you sound like me? Where are you? I’m coming over.” 

Grian made a sickening realization, the pattern starting to click. The words that he was able to say were the ones that Mumbo had spoken to him. How was he supposed to tell Mumbo where he was? “Me! Coming me! I’m hear!”  

“Where is here?” 

“Me here! Is me!” Grian repeated the words over and over again, praying that Mumbo would understand. Tears began to roll down his cheeks, but they did nothing to affect his speech. 

“What’s going on G? You’re scaring me.” 

“G here! I’m scaring!” Grian’s legs gave out from under him, the impact bruising his knees. There had to be some other way! He just needed to get Mumbo here and then they would be able to figure this out together and everything would be better. 

“Where is here!?” 

“Here! Here! I’m here!” Mumbo had to be getting it by now. Right? There had to be some way he could tell him. 

Just tell him. 

“Just tell me where you are and I can come and help!” 

Just get help. 

“Help! Help! Help! Help!” Over and over, each word mirroring the last, a futile echo. 

Grian hung up the phone. 

[caffinedragon]

The Demon of Vyrantium's Scary Dragon Privilage

Chapter 1: Coffee?

Plot: Lucanis befriends the new transfer Dragona de Riva(rook) after he realizes they have been sneaking food and coffee from the pantry instead of eating meals with the family and brings it to them instead.

"You shouldn't be doing this cousin." Illario pleaded. "Do you see what they did to my hand?"

Lucanis in fact did see what they did, but he held no sympathy for him.

He glanced down at Illario's hand, now bandaged from their new arrival sinking there very pointy fangs into his hand when he went to touch them.

"I did. And you should have known better." he stated as he finished up the simple but filling sandwiches he had crafted for their new family member.

"Even their original house has said that they are a danger to other Crows." Illario insisted. "We should be locking them up not bringing them sandwiches and coffee."

"If you don't wish to welcome the new member into the family," he began as he poked his cousins nose. "then don't come. I, however, am not going to let them collapse from malnutrition."

"Malnutrition? Are you serious?"

Lucanis glared at him, "Yes. You may have been blind to it but Dragona has been here for over a week and not once have they come down to eat any meal with us."

"Perhaps they think they are better than us."

Lucanis pinched the bridge of his nose as the coffee finished brewing. He continued packing up the little basket of sandwiches and grabbed two empty mugs form the cupboards to place inside as Illario doubled down.

"Seriously cousin, think about it. Ever since they got here they haven't left their room unless Catarina herself went to speak with them. Everybody else don't even get an answer."

He sighed and faced Illario then, "Do you know what house they came from?"

"Of course, cousin."

"Do you know that Houses infamous reputation?"

"Yes. But what does that have to do with it?"

He rolled his eyes. "Illario, that house pits Crow against Crow to the point they often kill each other so they can be 'The best of the Best'. Dragona, does not believe they are better than us. They believe that the moment they let their guard down, we are going to kill them. The fact that they only bit you when you snuck up on their blind side is a miracle."

Illario deflated a little.

"Dragona hasn't come out of their room because they are terrified and paranoid. Leaving such an abusive house isn't going to suddenly make them trust us."

"And how do you know that?"

"Because, ever since they arrived, i have noticed simple ingredients like apples, carrots, dried meats and bread missing from the pantry. Anything that can be squirreled away into a pocket and keeps for a while has been taken. Which means..."

"Meirda...they expect us to even poison their food."

"Exactly. They do not think they are better than us. They are afraid of us."

"Then why do they still meet with Catarina?"

"She's First Talon?" He answered as if it was obvious. "And Catarina was the one wh9 arranged the transfer and arrived in person to make sure it happened."

Ilario opened his mouth to argue then stopped himself. "Hmm. I didn't know that."

He made a gesture at him that meant, "Exactly."

"So, what, is your plan now to feed them like some stray cat to gain their trust?"

"Got any better ideas?"

"Well, no..."

"See?" He then pushed past Illario and began to head out. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to see them before the coffee gets cold."

----

Dragona could sense Lucanis coming towards their door as they spun the old bone ring around their finger.

Meirda, what kind of house makes their Crows afraid of a meal amongst their peers? Hopefully they like these sandwiches. It was all i could do since grocery day isn't until tomorrow.

They tucked a strand of long white hair behind a pointed ear as they stared out their window to the street below.

They didn't like being like this.

They knew that this place wasn't like where they were from but, it didn't make it less nerve wracking.

It was still a Crow house and a few of the residents had already started to believe the rumors surrounding them their old house was feeding into the gossip pool.

Illario, one of the First Talon's grandsons, being one of them.

Not that they blamed him, really.

Some of those rumors were true. They just missed the fact that they had done it in self defense.

Besides, Illario's fear was something they were used too.

The Genuine concern for their well being coming from the other grandson, was not.

And it scared them.

Genuine concern and kindness was not something they knew what to do with.

Most people when giving kindness expected something in return.

A transaction.

That they understood but, that wasn't what the ring was showing them.

This Lucanis just wanted to make sure that they didn't go hungry.

That they had enough to eat so they could stsy in tip top condition.

But, was this going to come back on them later like it so often did?

Was this going to be used against them down the line to get something out of them they didn't want to give?

I kept you fed so you better spread those legs for me or i will make sure you wont eat again.

Their hands started to shake as panic began to set in.

Was this going to be a ruse to stab them in the back?

Was this gonna be a way to let thier guard down so they can later-

A knock on the door made them jump into the little nook in front of the window, a hand on the latch in case a quick escape was needed.

"Dragona? It is Dragona correct? May I come in?"

They took a deep breath and began spinning the ring again and focused on the man on the other side of the door.

Lucanis DelaMorte. Favored Grandson of Catarina.

Kind. Compassionate. Highly skilled and...

Safe.

He was safe the ring told them.

If not a bit suppressed emotionally but, that was the usual with Crows.

With hands still shaking they flicked their fingers through the air, using magic to unlock and open the door.

A moment later a hand popped out around the door holding a still steaming kettle of coffee, followed by dark hair, tanned skin and big brown eyes the same shade as the beverage in his hand.

The rest of his body followed, shorter than they expected but none the less strong, carrying a plain basket filled with about half a dozen wrapped sandwiches.

The door was closed softly behind him once he cleared it, before he turned to them and waved awkwardly.

"Buenos Dias. I am Lucanis Dela Morte and I couldn't help but notice you rummaging around the kitchen at night instead of eating with us so..." He held up the basket of sandwiches.

Dragona nodded, still too anxiety ridden to talk.

They watched as he found the small table and moved it to the center of the room and began to set up the coffee and sandwiches on it.

It was like a performance only those that have lived lives like them would understand as he laid out everything he brought.

When he set down the empty mugs he tipped them upside down and showed them the inside, before placing them on their side of the table so they could inspect them.

Dragona used a quick spell to bring the mugs over and while they did that, Lucanis began laying out the sandwiches across the wood.

Once they were sure the mugs were just mugs they got up and walked over to the table and placed them down.

As they watched him lay everything out, Dragon wrapped one arm around their middle and began tapping their collar bone with the other in an attempt to self soothe that only partially worked.

So instead, they studied the man before them, stilling their spinning of the ring in order to properly focus.

His eyes were warm, they noticed, not cold like those of their old house but still none the less focused and sharp.

They were filled with a compassion that some how hadn't been beaten out of them like so many.

The ring told them it was because of his immense well of deyermination, and a little bit of spite.

They smiled internally at that last bit.

Being kind out of spite.

They liked that.

"There, go ahead and pick one for me and i will take a bite to prove nothing is wrong with it. Any sandwich, doesn't matter."

Dragona pointed to the one nearest them.

Lucanis grabbed it and without a second's hesitation removed the wrapping and took a big bite out of it. He winced a moment later and held his hand in front of his mouth. "Mierda, I bit my tongue. Ow."

Dragona chuckled, allowing some of the anxiety to recede.

"Eager are we?" They teased.

He still managed to swallow his bite and then open his mouth to prove it was empty, before beginning to earnestly munch on the sandwich.

"I may or may not have skipped breakfast this morning."

"Ah." He sighed as the anxiety finally ebbed away and he felt settled in his form again. "What kind did you bring?"

"Mmm. Just some sliced chicken, a bit of cheese and some dressing. Grocery day isn't until tomorrow so it was all we had left."

Dragona picked up the second closest sandwich and took a bite.

The chicken mist have been from some sory of roast that had been shredded by the savory spices and moist nature of the meat. Thw cheese was light and creamy which allowed the vinegar based dressing to give a good but not overbearing kick.

Compared to the bland, whatever he can scrounge up meals he had had most of his life, the sandwich was the best he had ever tasted.

It didn't take long before half the sandwiches were gone.

"Good I take it?"

He nodded, "Mmhmm."

"I am glad."

His smile was just as warm as his eyes.

Lucanis then began to pour the coffee , and just as he did with everything else, took a big sip before pouring a second mug for them.

"Coffee?" He offered.

"I would love some."

A good two hours later, both Crows were sat on the small lounge chair in the room, coffee pot near empty and sandwiches gone while they talked shop and swapped tales.

Falling into it had been easy, too easy that overly cautious pary of his mind told him, but the ring said he was safe and he was choosing to trust it.

And so he was regaling him with one of his first contracts as a crow, and how well that ended for his "partner".

"I told him exactly what that trap was going to do but nooo, I didn't know what i was talking about." Dragona took a sip from his mug as he used his other hand to gesticulate along with his words. "And so I was like fine. You go that way, I go this way. Let's see who survives."

"Let me guess, he sprung the trap." Lucanis figured out.

"You could hear his scream echo through half the market district."

"Meirda." He sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose, clearly trying his best not to laugh.

"On a positive note, he became the dostraction I needed to claim the target so it all worked out."

Lucanis broke, which caused both Crows to start laughing.

Once the laughter died down, Dragon leaned his head sideways against the back of the lounge, his eyes glancing down to where the two mens legs were tangled.

"Thank you, Lucanis."

"For what?"

"For this. For...welcoming me...i guess."

"No need. You should feel welcome in your own house."

A self deprecating chuckle escpaed him, "Tell that to my old house."

"I'm sorry. You should not have had to feel that way."

He shrugged, "It's all I knew. This..." He waved in Lucanis's general direction. "Is strange to me. It will...take some getting used too."

"If it helps, once the pantry is restocked, I could make you something. I am a pretty good cook. Or at least that is what I have been told."

"Gonna let me watch you?"

"Of course."

"Then, if those sandwiches are any indication, I will look forward to it."

[bettertwin1]

Okay so, I know I kinda made fun of you in my last ask (not sorry btw, that was hilarious) but uh. Leo to Leo question, how are you supposed to interact with simps??? Cuz like theres this one who really likes Casey Junior but theyre really malicious about it or anything so uh. That's awkward.

Anyways yeah, any tips? You've been on this hell site longer than me. You gotta know something, right?

@saleomanca

You have some underlying attitude to your text and it ticks me off but only because I can only DREAM of having that snarky asshole vibe again BUT ANYWAY. FINE. I'LL TELL YOU WHAT I DO BUT ONLY BECAUSE I'M NICER.

Step 1: DON'T INTERACT WITH THEM IN THE FIRST PLACE! Simps are either one of two things, respectful <- (rare, unheard of even) or insane. Gambling is fun for some people, and maybe ur one of those guys who LIKE betting <- "what interaction will i get today" <- (personally, i'm like this and i have a winning streak of just pure assholes) but it's usually better off to just ignore them.

I'm WAAAYY too lazy to check out what the CJ simp is saying or doing on your blog, but if it's as u say "malicious" then definitely don't engage, dude?

Howeverrr~

If you're anything like me and you can't HELP but engage...

STEP 2: OUT FREAK THEM! you gotta out freak them, if you can't beat em join them. Out malicious them, be freakier. Start talking about ur crushes make THEM feel awkward too. Taste of their own medicine and such. It usually works for me so I do that all the time, I also do it to haters sometimes <- (don't look it up)

Just make them feel too awkward to interact with you ever again. Or...

STEP 3: COMMUNICATE 😟 if all options are exhausted and they continue to be rlly awky and malicious and weird abt it, u gotta go nuclear and actually level with them like. Dude..ur being FREAKY and i don't like it and if u do it again i'm going to send u to super hell <- or smth like that.

STEP 4: BLOCK THEM...self explanatory this is if they keep being a weirdo no matter what u do or say cause like u gotta respect urself and decide what u are and aren't gunna take from a total stranger on TUMBLR.

Hopefully one of these work, GOODLUCK LESSER LEO...!

[deoidesign]

Time and Time Again comes back tonight!

Thank you all for being so patient with me, I know it was a long hiatus.

My health was struggling, my arm was (is) hurting, and I decided it wasn't worth it. I'd rather be slow!

So thank you for giving me that grace, and I hope you'll be there with me for the rest of the series.

[fateofflames]

Yuji feels content when Megumi agrees to take him along next time, and he relaxes even more when his friend humors him by lying down beside him. He knows it’s a little weird to ask Megumi to sleep next to him, but hey—if he remembers this in the morning, he’ll just blame the alcohol. Then again… was it really that weird? Sure, they weren’t as close as before, but to Yuji, it didn’t feel all that different—aside from the fact that they were both grown now.

His feelings for Megumi haven’t changed, though. He still admires him, still wants to learn from him, and still enjoys spending time with him. And if possible, he wants to know him even better. After all, Megumi was the first real friend Yuji ever had. He’s made more friends since then, sure, but Megumi is different—someone he truly wants in his life. Maybe it's nostalgia clinging to the warmth of old memories, or maybe… maybe it’s just Megumi.

Either way, tipsy Yuji is absolutely delighted when Megumi settles in beside him. The rest? A blur. He doesn’t remember falling asleep, doesn’t remember shifting closer, doesn’t remember draping his limbs over Megumi at some point in the night. Who knows how much he moved? Hopefully, Megumi slept as well as he did. Yuji usually sleeps just fine, but maybe the alcohol knocked him out harder than usual because he passed out cold, not waking for anything.

So when Yuji does wake up, he’s very surprised to find Megumi still asleep—on his shoulder. He barely breathes, afraid to disturb him, and instead just watches, a small smile creeping onto his face. Megumi looks peaceful like this, and Yuji barely gets a moment to enjoy it before—

Oh. Oh no.

Megumi’s eyes flutter open.

Yuji has zero time to fake being asleep or pretend he wasn’t staring. His face heats up instantly, but despite his embarrassment, he flashes Megumi a bright, almost sheepish smile.

“Good morning. Sorry about last night—I was a bit much, huh?”

He rubs the back of his neck but still doesn’t move his arm from where Megumi is using it as a pillow. Not that he minds. Not at all. But wow, why is it so hot in here all of a sudden? He bites his lower lip slightly, trying to keep his cool.

“But it was fun! I like sleepovers.”

…Why did he say that? Oh great, now Megumi is going to think Yuji is just mooching off him for another night in his nice, big house. Quickly, he tries to recover.

“Next time, you can come to my room if you want—though I guess it’s not as big or as nice as this…”

His voice trails off as he realizes he should probably just stop talking. It’s still early. Megumi probably regrets inviting him to dinner last night. And definitely regrets letting him drink.

“ Okay, I promise not to leave without you. ”

Megumi's heart ache for all the GOOD reasons. It ached with longing and confusion of course, but he liked being needed. It fooled him into thinking that maybe Yuji liked him more than just a best friend. Being friends was perfectly fine and more than anything Megumi had already. He would be happy if they continued being friends until they were old and grey but yes, he wanted more. If this was for one night then he would savor it.

It was wrong to take advantage of the drunk but it wasn't like Megumi held any ill intentions. He wasn't going to -- heaven forbid -- kiss him. That was wrong. He would stay the night or at least until Yuji fell asleep soundly. Megumi laughed to himself and returned to Sunflower. Porcupine and Sunflower. Only once had Megumi stayed over at the Itadoris when a storm rolled by unexpectedly. It was only once because Megumi's hide had been beaten and he was locked away in his bedroom for a week after returning home.

The faces of his uncles cruel faces melted away looking at Yuji on the bed. Megumi's heart began beating wildly as he unlaced and removed his shoes. He took off his jacket and vest, folding them up on the table, then slowly joined Yuji on the bed. His mind kept telling him this was wrong. Anyone seeing this would think they were doing something bad but no one would ever see. Satoru maybe if he was nosy. And if Yuji yelped and was mad in the morning, Megumi would blame it on drunkenness.

“ I'm here. ”

The bed even being a guest bed was plenty big for both of them. Both of them could sleep comfortably but they were still touching. Arms and shoulders brushing against each other. It was so different back then. Megumi was born into wealth but he didn't mind the lumpy Itadori mattress. Megumi never judged them for anything. They were surviving and they were HAPPY. With thousands of dollars to the Zen'in name none of them were happy least of all Megumi. Like that night Megumi turned his head and watched the happy boy in wonder.

Megumi watched sunflower hug his pillow and pout. He looked so handsome. So... damn precious. Megumi sniffed back a tear and tore his gaze away. He lied staring at the ceiling. He listened to the owls calling outside. One hour later he fell asleep. The oil in the lamp burned up. It wasn't until sunrise hit the windows in orange and yellows did Megumi open his eyes and groaned.

[dekusleftsock]

I think that there’s a fundamental misunderstanding of what exactly is…happening with Izuku’s character. Specifically in regards to chapter 425.

I’m glad that a lot more people generally recognize that Izuku is not a character that can be read at a surface level, given that he’s both a repressed person with built up emotion of basically everything and also a very glaringly HUGELY unreliable narrator, but that doesn’t necessarily mean I agree with the ways I’ve seen this most recent chapter spoken about.

I see posts, comments, etc with ideas like “Izuku don’t suppress your emotions! Open up with people! It’ll be okay I promise!” When that’s fundamentally not what is happening here.

There’s always always ALWAYS been a distinct difference in character throughout horikoshi’s writing when he is showing that a character is:

A—Avoiding emotions, thoughts, ideas less than ideal for them. Not opening up when they probably should about their problems given that they’ve been handed the space to do so. Just genuinely not acknowledging, feeling, or expressing emotions that they don’t want.

B—Reflecting on the ways they feel about the world, themselves, or other people given their new perspective on a situation. Not outright reaching out to others to talk about these problems/feelings, but instead waiting until the moment they feel they have the most confidence to do so with their new outlook on their own life.

And genuinely, guys, to grab your BkDk attention rn, this is the exact reason why Ochako’s reflection on her feelings for Izuku and thereafter decision to pull away from them WAS NEVER GOING TO END IN OCHAKO EXPLODING WITH HER LOVE FOR HIM.

This was another common interpretation I saw of Ochako and Izuocha for a long time. That because she pushed these feelings away, they were somehow going to explode in this unbelievable way and she would “get the boy” because of it. That her arc would surround accepting her romantic feelings and that she can’t just push away how she feels for a career.

But yk. That didn’t happen. At all. Nowhere close even.

The same kind of goes for Katsuki, allmight, etc. They all had moments in their arc where it was spent genuinely reflecting, and the only reason we as the audience never connected it in the same ways we do ochako or Izuku was ALWAYS BECAUSE the narrative showed their inner thoughts while doing so (mostly because Allmight’s arc after losing OFA and Katsuki’s arc on what it means to be a hero were so intrinsically tied, both starting at the same time and ending at the same time during the final war. And because they were so tied this caused their own reflections, development, and thought process to be broadcasted to us frequently throughout their arcs… to each other. They also somewhat shared aspects with Izuku, but these were cherry picked more often than not, like dvk2 for example).

To us Katsuki never seemed to be.. idk, suppressing his anger in any way because we were always told what he was doing and why (side note: this is why I’ve always thought arguments against Katsuki were so weird, bc unlike characters like endeavor or Ochako he wasn’t like… hiding who he was and how he was changing. Ever. Like the audience knows at all times past basically season 3 what Katsuki is thinking and doing. Like how do you watch this happen, stare me dead in the eye, and tell me how much of a terrible and awful teenage boy he is. Like damn I didn’t think we were this dumb. This is also my theory as to why he’s most popular, his arc is very… in your face if that makes sense). Katsuki’s entire mini arc on reflecting his mistakes and his childhood and his future is spent TELLING YOU that it’s what he’s doing. (I’m referring mostly to the endeavor internship arc, the provisional license exam makeup, and basically everything in the war arc related to him leading up to bakugou Katsuki rising here)

And see, Horikoshi will stare you dead in the eye, tell you “this girl has taken into consideration that she doesn’t want to waste her time training her career focusing on a boy because he kinda caught her fancy”, and y’all will still say that this will explode in her face.

Y’all this is a series about learning how to manage emotions, maturity in relationship to one’s emotions, how to feel an emotion, but in a way that is helpful. Horikoshi isn’t telling you “go buck wild, feel everything all the time and always express it”, in fact he explores why you DONT do that! Through Toga or Shigaraki, they show how grief and anger can genuinely consume you. But he also shows why you shouldn’t just put everything in a box to never look at or acknowledge, or why you shouldn’t just let your grief destroy the world around you, or pretending that some emotions simply don’t exist.

I can’t say this enough, so let me say it now, mha is about the extremes of your psyche. That you should control something, but not too much. Everything can be harmful. Everything can be good.

Izuku is not controlling too much, he’s expressing just enough.

I LOVE shaming this dickhead at all times in all my posts. I love saying he’s an ignorant dipshit with a weird amount of distaste for a girl who just confessed to him. I’ve joked that chapter 348 is basically an entire chapter spent on Izuku calling Himiko a mean dyke. And yet I also believe he’s doing nothing WRONG here.

In fact, I’ll even say that this moment right here?

ISNT EVEN IZUKU DOING THE SOCIALLY APPROPRIATE THING ABOUT IT! But he’s still TRYING to reach out to someone he thinks MIGHT be able to understand. (And frankly, this moment is far deeper than what it’s being made out to be, to me it reads more like an unrequited friendship that Izuku both desires and has thought of them to have, while simultaneously showing the distance Ochako has successfully wedged between them for her own sake. Maybe it was always there though, maybe in weird, miscommunicated Horikoshi fashion, this is a representation of how Ochako always read all those “fun friend hangouts” as a little more than that, and without those feelings the friendship never really held any substance to her in the first place. Where Izuku saw his first real friend at UA, she saw little more than acquaintance)

Simultaneously, Izuku is genuinely reflecting on what it means for the world to change, to be a hero, to live after loss—and trying and failing to gain the connection he desires from individuals who can not and will not afford him that.

Izuku is ready for the world to change, a few select characters are also ready for the world to change (mirio, for example), but not nearly enough are. So maybe I’ll have to take this back if I’m proven wrong and I accidentally looked into this far past what everyone else did for no reason, but I genuinely believe with moments like this

And this

Aand this

That Izuku has come forward with that aspect of his character development. He’s reflecting on his new beliefs, not repressing his emotions for them.

[vynnyal]

Turns out Sunlit Trail isn't quite done just yet, so after all that they just send you to a dead end 😂

[pseudophan]

got nothing done today except accidentally deleting all my files off the computer and having to recover them so basically i need to be frankly insanely productive tomorrow so i can go to my granddad's birthday on friday without stressing. of course there is no chance in hell this will happen but i can pretend for a little while longer

[cuteniarose]

So I… completely forgot I was tagged in this 😅 In my defence, January was one hell of a month and I didn’t get one moment of peace, so we’re finishing this off now!!

Words written (published or not, WIPs totally count too!!):

It’s rather hard to calculate just how much I wrote because a lot of it is in the form of (often unfinished) snippets sent through DMs that are impossible to keep track of, but I tried my best to compile the word counts of all my finished pieces together (yes, only finished, the rest don’t deserve to be counted), and it comes out to roughly 69054. Not as much as I would have liked, but it’s something, at least. Better than pretty much all previous years, as far as I’m aware.

Smut scenes:

Actually finished? Two. I’m horrendous at writing smut. I really wanna get better at it because I cannot keep relying on Kat to provide it for me, but since I’m aroace I have absolutely no frame of reference and everything I write feels stiff and awkward and not hot at all 😭😭😭 Maybe it’s an “I wrote it therefore it’s bad” kind of thing, maybe a “can’t get turned on by my own writing or imagination” kind of thing, idk, it’s sucks either way :/

New things I tried:

Smut writing, I’m pretty sure? Also just romance in general (if the singular kiss between Jia and Aiza counts lmao). And more serious introspection, which was… 90% of what I wrote this year tbh

Fic I spent the most time on:

AIDIB, hands down. I still wake up in a cold sweat thinking about it sometimes, I hate that goddamn thing. Don’t get me wrong, I can recognise that it has its good parts, but ffs I’m 100% I lost 20 years of my life writing it. Kat, the rest few instalments of UtOS are on you, I don’t even care

Fic I spent the least time on:

Not counting the Avatar Sapphic Week chapters, probably a tie between Out in the Garden and The Winter Solstice? I basically spedran writing both of them within like… two days of my self imposed deadline. I was definitely possessed by Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy in those moments, don’t even try to convince me otherwise

Favourite thing I wrote:

Either Where Land Meets Sea or nobody’s son, nobody’s daughter. There are parts I hate about both so I can’t really pick a favourite

Favourite thing I read:

I don’t read fic lol. Does Tomorrow Was the War count??

Writing goals for next year:

Actually finish something for once you lazy piece of shit (/lightheartedbutnotreally). For a more serious answer, write at least the first chapter of my Haya fic before March 1st, complete the remaining 5 ASW prompts, and finish and post my translation of Tomorrow Was the War HOPEFULLY before my exams bc I can already tell this summer will kick my ass once again. Not aiming for anything else because I’ll just end up hating myself for missing the mark, let’s be real

Year-End Writer's Roundup: 2024 Edition!

thanks so much for the tag @sweetorangepoptart!! i had to wait to actually do this until i finished the last fic i wanted to post for the year, so now it's time for the roundup!

i'm honestly not sure who to tag, so if you see this and you wrote anything this year, feel free to do it and say i tagged you!!

Words written (published or not, WIPs totally count too!!):

let's not even get into my WIPs there's so many lol. going by just published works, i wrote 73,234 words!! honestly crazy to think about!

Smut scenes:

three! all in their own standalone works. doing the math, that means my smut fics alone take up about 1/3 of my words written this year haha

New things I tried:

i've written for lots of ships for the first time this year! in fact, i believe all the ships i wrote for are the first-time ships for me, which is always very exciting

as well, i tried a slightly different writing style than usual in my fic i'm glad i get forever to see where you went. i really enjoyed writing like this, and i can definitely see myself doing it again in the future!

Fic I spent the most time on:

i think that title has to go to my fic Likewise, as it sat half-finished in my drafts for... honestly most of this year i think

Fic I spent the least time on:

i can't say 100% for sure, but i think my fic Something Nice. it was written for yangvik week, and it was quite literally written the same day it was published. i did that several times during the week, but as this one's word count is a bit lower than the others, i think it's most likely the one i spent the least time on

Favorite thing I wrote:

ughhhhh this is like asking me to pick my favorite child. i love them all!! but if i had to choose, i think i need to go with The Push. i am honestly so proud of this fic, and i actually go back and reread it quite frequently. it also became popular beyond my wildest belief, and was sort of my jumpstart into the yangvik ship/fandom. the response to it helped give me the confidence to write seven (and counting!) more yangvik fics!!

Favorite thing I read:

actually this is like having to pick a favorite child. how can i possibly choose when i read not only lots of fic, but lots of good fic?? i've gotta choose multiple lol

anything by my lovely mutual @katkastrofa, i legitimately can't choose any specific one to focus on because they're all so incredibly written! Ruby by KingWuko; i love all your wuko fics but this one in particular gets me every time! and outside of the atla fandom, i've been really enjoying this owl house fic on ao3!

Writing goals for next year:

honestly? just keep writing! writing fanfiction has honestly been incredibly helpful for me while i'm in college. seriously, my mental health is always so much worse when i'm not writing. even if i don't publish it, writing is so good for my brain. so i want to keep up with it as i go into the new year!

i've also worked on a loose writing schedule for the upcoming year - i'm not holding myself to it super strongly but i really am going to try and follow it! it's just a way to help me focus more on individual fics and know when i want to try and finish them. that way i can do things like publishing fics for friends' birthdays and participating in more fandom events!

and last but not least, a semi-writing goal that i have is to host another wonderful yangvik week! the 2024 event was amazing, and since it ended even more people have found it and expressed interest, so i 100% would like to do it again. and if i do it again, this time i'm going to try and write for all seven days! considering i wrote for six last time, it seems pretty manageable lol

----

thanks again for the tag! this has been a great writing year for me, and i can't wait to see what 2025 holds!

[corpocyborg]

(so... uh... how far into dai do you have to get before it starts being good?)

[torchickentacos]

I hate it when my chronic illnesses are chronic and my disabilities are disabling and my seasonal affective disorder is seasonally affecting me

[yellowjackets-1996]

(do you love me like that?) you're a reckless driver (I'm a reckless driver) and one day it will kill us if I —