#but i'm so done with adding things to my drafts i never post

[redbootsindoriath]

Welcome to I-just-realized-that-I-only-posted-4-times-in-the-whole-of-last-year. I was largely uncreative throughout 2023 and 2024, unfortunately, but I think I've finally compiled enough stuff for a short queue as a sort of apology to you guys. A lot of the art is over six months old, some of it from more than a year ago, which means I get to dust off my backlog tag again.

A majority of the queue is going to be stuff from my own original works, which I am aware is not the reason most of you guys follow my blog, but alas, the artist must be a slave to the muse. Last month I picked up writing again more than 5 years after setting aside my main writing project, so there's been a lot of character design and other worldbuilding taking up most of my free time lately. Which is exciting for me, but I know it's nothing compared to Tolkien's legendarium and I apologize for that. Unfortunately I haven't worked on much Tolkien stuff for quite a while, which is going to make this a very unusual and jumbled series of posts with artwork from all across the board. Some of it is going to be unfinished in a big way: stuff I meant to share here when it was done but never got around to finishing.

First post should be up tomorrow at 11 a.m. GMT (I think), and then one per day at that same time until the queue runs out.

[mingi-s-dimples]

Crave me - yunho

pairing: bf!yunho x gf fem!reader

rating: 18+, bdsm

genre: romance, bdsm, filthy smut (mdni ty)

summary: The bratty attitude you had with him didn't last long.. as he leaves his patience at the table and destroys you.

WC: 3.5k

warnings: rough/strict dom!yunho, bratty sub fem!reader, bdsm, choking, neck kink, sucking, blowjob, making out, tying up, pet names (darling, babe, love, pretty boy, sweetie, sweetheart), degradation kink (slut, cumslut, whore), praise kink, slapping/spanking, both vaginal and anal, use of bdsm attire (cuffs, blindfold, rope), use of toys (vibrator), sense deprivation (blindfold), little bit of hand kink, punishing, edging, creampie, ruined orgasms, multiple rounds, deals (but Yunho feels cocky and he said fuck the deal), cum cum cum a lot of cummm, squirting, mentions of safe word but never used (reader is a brat), cum eating, big dick!yunho, overstim, backshots, unprotected (REMEMBER TO WRAP UP IRL !), completely consesual !, for sure forgot something.

Author's Note: SO ! When I first started writing this fic, several day ago, I didn't intend to make it this.. filthy. But.. my lovely bestie rated the roughness in the other 3 fics I have posted an average of 8.sth/10 and I took that as a CHALLENGE. Hope you like it, Lis, love you sweetie. Another small note: WHY AREN'T THERE MORE BDSM FICS OUT THERE HELLO? I'M A SUCKER FOR THEM !

Update, Lis: okay, even though i saw some paragraphs before this was published, i was still taken off guard by this. i’m taking back my words, roughness level 10/10, WHEN I TELL YOU I HAD TO TAKE A BREAK AND BREATHE. seriously i love this fic sm and bia you are so talented, you never fail to amaze me❤️❤️ please keep going with your work, i love youu<3 ( i’m still waiting for a demon joong fic 👹👹👹 ) - my answer: the demon joong fic is alr in my drafts, halfway done.

Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction & does not represent in any way the reality of the member.

The grand dining hall was a symphony of opulence and elegance, its high vaulted ceilings adorned with intricate plasterwork and crystal chandeliers casting a warm, golden glow over the scene. Rich tapestries hung from the walls, their deep hues of burgundy and gold complementing the polished mahogany of the round, small dining tables. As the guests settled into their seats, the gentle strains of a string quartet drifted through the air, mingling with the soft clinking of fine glasses and the murmur of animated conversation.

At one end of the table you were sitting at, the host, Park Seonghwa raised his glass in a toast, his voice resonant and filled with the gravitas of tradition. Across from him, Hongjoong's laughter rang out, light and melodious, adding a delicate counterpoint to the music. The aroma of roasted meats and rich sauces wafted from the platters being served, each dish a masterpiece of culinary art. Conversations flowed like the wine, moving from the latest societal gossip to philosophical musings, as the guests, dressed in their finest evening attire, engaged in a dance of words and wit.

In this setting, every detail was meticulously curated to create an atmosphere of refined luxury and cultural sophistication. Yet, beneath the surface of this carefully constructed elegance, the undercurrents of intrigue and hidden agendas were beginning to stir, promising that the evening's conviviality was only the prelude to a much deeper story.

You, a renowed and well known supermodel, were sitting right next to your husband, Jeong Yunho. He was the CEO of the agency you were modelling at.

The thing is... besides the lovey-dovey side you and Yunho always showed to the other guests and your friends, for example Seonghwa, Hongjoong and the others, the two of you had... another side to your relationship.

Your intimate relationship dynamic was quite.. the opposite of what you were showing. From light forehead kisses, hand holding and warm hugs and kisses... to cuffs, blindfolds and degradation. No one knew the real you when in private, and it made the whole thing way better.

*several minutes later*

"Ooookay, should I ask the chef to bring us some desserts? I think the dinner went really well!" Hongjoong said smiling, watching each of his guests contently. He then hovered his eyes over the whole venue, you could see the happiness flooding over him. It was the ending dinner for a really important business plan that came to a final success.

While the others were happily celebrating with the host, you and Yunho were giving each other some stares. One of the things you loved the most to do was to annoy your man. Why? Cause you knew he'd destroy you the same night. You were never allowed to do things on your own, without his permission. Things such as touching him in public, deny his own touching, dress how you'd like without his approval, because he was really jealous of needy and hungry eyes that always wanted you. Everyone had envy for him, because you were the most beautiful model in your country, the agency itself was the best one, too. But tonight.. you decided to do.. everything that annoyed him and drove him insane. You first started with a.. really nice outfit, you'd say. It was halfway see-through, high heels and silver, bold jewelry completing the look. You were wearing two pieces, a short but flowy black skirt and a white, almost translucent shirt, an elegant one. Your hair was straightened, flowing beautifully on your bare back, as the shirt you were wearing only covered your chest. A silver chain was connecting two pieces of fabric on your back, making you flinch with every slight touch, because of the sheer coldness.

"Darling.. did I ever approve of... this outfit?" Yunho whispered, one of his hands going on your thigh. You tried to deny his touch, moving his hand away, but he only dug his nails deeper into your leg. You flinched, looking at him in the eyes, with an almost innocent look.

"Oh babe... don't you like it? Damn.. I thought it looked really nice" you said sheepishly, smiling at him.

"I didn't say I don't like it but... didn't we agree that these types of visible outfits are... only for me to see, hm?" he whispered and approached your neck with his lips, slightly biting it.

"Babe.. there's people around us. What would they think of you, seeing you kissing me like that?" you said, trying to get a reaction out of him but to your surprise, he remained calm and content, biting you harder.

"Do I look like I give a fuck? You did it to yourself, love. This is the first strike of tonight.. be careful for the rest of the time. I don't feel like destroying your beautiful body when we get back in the room." Yunho said, going in for a soft kiss on your lips.

"We'll see about that, babe." you said and got up from your seat, searching with your eyes the champagne bar.

Someone came behind your back. Of course, it was Yunho, all touchy on your bare waist, as the shirt you were wearing was pretty.. short.

"Babe.. I almost forgot" he mumbled.

"What did I tell you about denying my hand, hm?" his hands hovering your back, one of them on your ass and one on the nape of your neck, slightly squeezing it. "Hm? what did I tell you, mind sharing me your reason?"

"You told me that I should... never move your hand away from myself.." you said turning around to face him. "But... what's entirely wrong with it.. pretty boy? Don't you like it when I tease you..?" you said and gave him a kiss, your hands traveling from his neck to his collarbones, then from his chest to his belt, tugging at it for a second.

"This is.." he whispered. "Strike two.. my love." One more and we're out of here.. remember the rule?" he squeezed your ass, looking right into your eyes, seeing how eager you were to fuck him right there.

Several minutes pass and you were back to your table, sitting next to each other. He effortlessly pulled your seat closer to his, making you gulp at his power and speed. Looking him in the eyes you started being all touchy with him. Started from his hands, feeling up his slender and long fingers, then to his biceps. You stayed like that for a long minute, with your head resting on his shoulder, then one of your hands went straight for his crotch, no warning.

"Yunho, everything good? Why did you flinch, is it too cold here?" Seonghwa asked, confused.

"Ah yes, everything is fine, don't worry about it" he said smiling, squeezing your thigh, his hand going to your pussy, rubbing circles through your panties from under your skirt.

 "Babe... that's strike three, if you ask me." he said and patted you on your thigh, to make you look at him. He then looked around for the exit doors and excused himself, taking your hand into his.

"Joong, we'll be back, I need to take care of something at the agency" Yunho said and then dragged you out.

And as the two of you got out the doors, there was a long empty hall, no one was there. He slammed you to the wall, one of his hands on your throat and one lifting you up. He was going towards the elevator.

"Nh- babe, where are we going? you said through the kisses.

"Just upstairs, I reserved a room for us right here. I didn't think we'd need it but... you wanted to be a little slut so it serves us good. Aren't you my little whore, hm? All down for me, I saw you eye fucking me when you were getting champagne. You wanted me to fuck you dumb tonight, mm? he said while going in the elevator.

"What did you want me to do babe, hm? Did you miss my slaps and my cuffs? You little slut, you'll see what will happen if you're being a brat with me again" and right as he said this, he held you close as he opened the door with the keycard. He closed it and he dropped you on your bed.

Some meters from the king sized bed there was a small bag, and you knew so well what there was... cuffs, blindfolds, ropes.. everything you could think of as a sub. And yes.. the relationship between you and your husband, in private, was a dom/sub one. You found out that you were both into bdsm a while ago, when Yunho didn't resist anymore and tried something new on you. You loved it and... it became a really often practice.

"Love, spread out, now." he said as he went back to get something from the bag.

You were still dressed and he was too. But you could feel yourself leaking right on the bed. You knew you left a wet spot on the dark sheets, something that turned your man on even more.

"Told you to spread the fuck out, you brat. When did you get so naughty, hm? Want me to put you in your place? he said as he spread your legs out, tying them to the bed frame. You still had your clothes on, but the skirt was lifted up and the blouse was all messed up. He ripped of your panties and threw them on the floor.

You tried to say something but didn't have time to react. He went back to the bag and took out some cuffs, then got on the bed, his crotch, still dressed, rubbing on your folds. You could feel his bulge getting bigger, his pants getting thighter as he went further to tie your hands to the headboard.

"For all of what you did tonight.. babe, you'll get punished, you know that, right? he said as he hovered his hand over your throat and collarbones. "Stay still, I'll tie a sheer blindfold to your eyes. I want you to still be able to distinguish how I destroy your little and pretty pussy." 

"Yuyu.. please. Fuck me." you pleaded, trying to look him in the eyes. Whenever he tied a blindfold on your eyes.. it turned you on so bad. You couldn't properly see what was happening nor what he was doing, preparing what to do to you.. but it was thrilling.

"Hmm... what should I start with.. pretty slut, mm? Should I just edge you until you can't take it anymore and cum out of overstimulation and exhaustion, should I make you cry and not let you cum the whole night? Should I.... fuck you and deny your orgasm how you denied my hand? Tell me, sweetheart. I need words, not muffled sounds." he confidently said, giving you a smirk and his right hand going right to your blouse, easily unbuttoning it and throwing it away on the floor.

He hastly gets rid of your bra, his groping entirely unhelpful. Large hands, slender fingers roaming your body, sliding over your nipples, pressing and nibbling at them, cupping your breasts and hoisting your legs up and around his waist. Him, still clothed, you.. only with your skirt on, if that's even important.

"Fuck, Yuyu —" you gasp when he sucks a dark bruise into the skin of your neck, while one of his hands went to his shirt. He slowly unbuttoned it, then went for his pants. He undid them halfway and pushed towards you, getting a soft moan out of your slowly rising chest, heavy breathing from all the manhandling he did on you. He was taking his time. He absolutely loved seeing you begging for his cock, squirming and moving against his crotch in wish of friction. But.. Yunho left all his patience at the door.

"Babe, how did you get me this mad, hm? Did you even think about the consequences, you little slut? If that's what you wanted.. I'll destroy you, sweetheart."

Two of his fingers trace your hole before sinking into you, curling to find the right spot. All you can do is arch your back, your moans and cries soon muffled by one of his hands, as he chokes you.

"Is this what you wanted? rile me up so I'd fuck you hard tonight? all you needed to do is ask, sweetie." Yunho said, curling his fingers right into your sweet spot, receiving some loud moans from you.

You could ask and he'd give you the moon if he could. But he was a completely different person in bed. There's something about him taking you like this, almost feral, that makes your toes curl.. could it be his fingers and how he curls them in you so good that he makes you shiver and cum, maybe squirt all over the place? would it be... his cock and how deep you feel it in you, scared that he might destroy your insides?

He fucks his fingers into you sloppily, scissoring you open with little to no care if it hurts or not. It was clear that he only had one goal in sight, and that being stretching you out just enough to be able to take his cock.

It only takes a few more strokes before he's satisfied, the blunt head of his dick prodding at your entrance, getting loud whimpers from you.

"Use the safe word if it's too much" he said and started pounding into you, making your hands rocket to the headboard, holding on for dear life. It's the only warning he gives you but.. it's enough to get an understanding on how pissed he was. He was holding so thight onto your thighs, them around his waist, that you knew you'd have bruises the next day.

"So fucking tiny" he grunts as he watches you struggle to adjust to his size "Such a whore for my cock, mhm? You take it so well... even if it destroys you. Be my cumslut, won't you? I'll edge you until you can't take it anymore."

"Y-yunho !" you shouted as he used a vibrator on your clit, arching your back at the sensation. The puffed bud he was stimulating made you feel like you'd already come, but something else happend. Your walls clenched on his cock, receiving a low grunt and as he slowed down his thrusts, he watched you contently at how you squirted all over him and the bed.

"Oh wow, already? Lucky this is the only thing I'm letting you do, you little slut" he said as he thrusted even deeper, harder, sloppier into you.

"Babe, n-no don't do th-that I might c-cum" you said as he was giving you another round of circles on your clit, feeling how overstimulated you were.

"Nope, I won't let you" he said as he stopped, pulling out of you, your hole clenching on nothing.

He started rubbing his length lazily, looking at you squirming right in front of him. You wanted to be fucked dumb, until you couldn't walk anymore. But that wasn't his plan for tonight.

"Let's make a deal. If you make me cum only with your mouth, no hands and no sucking. Just touching, licking and nibbling, I'll let you cum. Otherwise, you'll get slapped and fucked... not in your little aching pussy, but deep down in your cute and red ass, until you cry. What do you say, babe, a pretty good deal, I'd say?" he said as he uncuffed your hands, lifting you on your knees.

The thing is... you weren't quite.. on your knees. You were spread out, your aching hole rubbing on the wet and sloppy linen underneath you. You started humping it slowly, not knowing if you were allowed to, but he somehow didn't mind it. He knew you weren't able to cum only from humping on a cloth so he let you do your thing.

"Now.. be my little cumslut and get on licking." he said guiding your head to his dick, throbbing on your lips. You had your hands cuffed at your back, not being able to move them. You started kissing, nibling at the tip, getting some nice groans out of him. Then you started licking the slit, putting pressure with your tongue and licking his length all down to the base of it. The circles you always make on the tip get him from being silent to being louder, as the sloppy sounds of your tongue turns him on more.

"Yes, just like that, sweetie. A liiiittle bit more and you're getting me closer."

You started nibbling, almost like sucking on his tip.

"Yuh, mhm. Go on, make me cum, you little whore" he said as his breath started getting faster, heavier, your licks getting sloppier as he tried so hard not to cum but... you did the deal. He came all over your face, as you were not allowed to suck it.

"Good girl, such a good girl you are" he said as he wiped off his load from your face with one hand and with the other one opening your mouth, his thumb on your bottom lip. He let his cum drip onto your tongue, signaling you by raising his brows to swallow. You did as he wanted, soon sucking his fingers to get every drop of his load.

"Y'know babe.. I kinda changed my mind in between your little nibbles." he said as he turned you over, on your belly, one of his hands on the back of your throat. "You're gonna take me so well, I will make sure of it." he said as two of his fingers went in your other hole, no warnings. You moaned at the feeling of his fingers curling up inside you. The same as before, his goal was to make your hole be able to engulf his length, but this time his goal was to bottom down entirely.

"Thought you could just leave me like that?" he wraps a hand around your waist, the other one on your neck, "leave me high and dry without any repercussions? You're lucky I'll keep my promise and let you cum so... cum, you little slut." as he started pounding heavily and deeply into you.

The hand he had on your waist goes to your pussy, curling them inside you and rubbing your clit.

You shake your head at his words, the coil in your tummy tightening with every word he hisses into your ear, wetness dripping down his balls and coating them as he pounds into your ass.

Yunho could feel you clenching around his cock, knows you're close by the familiar rhythm and your muffled whines rising in pitch. He removes his thight hold on your neck, letting you turn your head around, gasping for air.

"'m so close, fuck, yunho, gonna cum —"

Your entire body tenses then slumps down against the mattress, only held up by his strong arm around your waist. Yunho fucks you through your orgasm, through the oversensitivity and the chants of your little whimpers and words.

"too much, 's too much, please, s-stop" but you never use your safe word. You whine and you cry until your limp body is pushed over the edge again, eyes rolling back while you cream his cock, the 2nd time in a short time.

"c-can't," you whimper weakly, "please cum, please — Yunho, please-"

You're begging him so sweetly, voice cracking and body at his mercy. Yunho's hips stutter and his load spills deep inside of you. Your knees buckle under his waist and you whine when the two of you stumble back, his arms wrapped around your chest, all touchy on your breasts.

"You're gonna take my cum all, you little whore. Remember what I said, being my cumslut? Now, take it" he said as he continued pounding into you, getting you over the edge. He didn't lie when he said he'd destroy you, your knees trembling as he closed the gap between the two of you. He then pulled out, pumping his length and his other hand going to your clit over your thigh, sending you shivers down your spine as you squirt once again for the night, now your body being only handled by the hand he used on you.

"What a good whore I have, mm" he mumbled as he came on your back, slowing down his pumps as he slowly puts you down on the mattress.

"See babe? What happens if you're a fucking brat?" he said as he undid the blindfold, looking at your teary eyes.

"What, by the look you have, you want more, you little slut? Is that right?" he said as he slapped your ass.

"Don't worry, I wasn't even close to being done tonight, turn around, I want you to see me fucking you this time."

[genericpuff]

Any tips on script writing for a comic? I know a basic structure, mostly the kind that's taught or what I've been able to look up online. I really enjoy your writing and story flow in LR, so I wanted to get your thoughts so if there are any tools you would recommend.

ngl , I just use good ole' fashioned LibreOffice LMAO Though my script-writing process has definitely changed between my original work and Rekindled, I used to use a spreadsheet program (the LibreOffice equivalent to Excel) and the method I developed looked like this:

This method actually still works totally fine, I just never opted to use it for Rekindled, mostly because I was able to write so much of it through what already existed in LO. Here's what Rekindled's writing process looks like, which I've done entirely within Scrivener as I started using it a few years ago:

Things do change often between my initial scripting, final scripting (i.e. when it's time to actually sketch out the episode), and the final release of the episode. Things are often removed, added, tweaked, etc. along the way, sometimes even up until the point of final release depending on what's required. What I'm showing you here is actually one of the "cleanest" sections of my notes, because oftentimes these docs are just a disorganized mess of events and plot points that I've written and rewritten and shuffled around LMAO That's not even including hand-written notes that I've scrawled out on the go 😆

I try to keep my writing process cemented enough that I know where I'm going but flexible enough that I can edit on the fly and move things around when needed. Having documents for my notes and extra floating ideas is helpful, and I'm often redoing plot layouts and scripts just for the sake of "figuring them out" haha

But that's also why I like to write relatively far ahead of time, so that my brain can properly "reset" on what I wrote, meaning that when it finally comes time to draw it and I'm re-reading my scripts and notes, I'll notice stuff I don't like or isn't working a lot quicker, because I'm going in with a clearer perspective than when I wrote it the first time. There are ideas and plotlines and episode scripts I wrote in these docs aaaalll the way back in 2022 when this project first started :') (and am still eagerly sitting on for when I finally get to bring them to life huehuehue)

All that said, there's no right or wrong way to rough draft your stories, just the way that services you and the story that you're trying to write. Some stories require more detailed drafting and notes, others can get by with just simple post-it notes. The important thing to remember is that no one else but you has to see these drafts - so there's no need for it to be perfect or for it to be the "final draft" on the first try, let it be whatever you need it to be to make it work for you ╰(´︶`)╯♡

[uh-oh-its-bird]

Offshoot of my "team Ro time travels to the founders era" post because @prinzgnomeovonchaos infected me with brain rot in the notes

So buckle in baby it's time for

Sakumo and babyKashi time traveling to the warring states ✨️

So first thing to get out of the way; Modern Hatake's and warring states era Hatake's do not hold up to the same standards.

The Hatake's during the states were a very small clan with a very big reputation. Hailing from Iron, they were an almost famous wild clan even all the way in fire country. Distantly related to the Inuzuka's but leaning more towards wolves than dogs.

They had a proper kekkei genkai and everything, unnaturally fast and strong, often born with some form of enhanced senses— be it smell, sight, taste, or even touch. Their white chakra fed into it, and they'd feed their chakra with diets of raw meat and the occasional light cannibalism during some special clan celebrations and rituals.

Unfortunatley Sakumo knows very little about the above because he was very young when his clan was pretty much all wiped out. He was raised by the only other survivor, his grandmother, who was pretty young herself when the clan got wiped, and unfortunatley was never all too concious of many of the rituals and traditions of her clan until it was too late.

Sakumo grew up to village standards and was mostly declawed because of it, and Kakashi is only doubly so. And with that dulling of all the different traditions and specific diets also came the slow fading of their bloodline limit, which was already pretty subtle if you didn't know what you're looking for.

Anyways moving on, and if you want more details for my headcanons ab warring states Hatake's vs modern standard Hatake's look at my other time travel post bc I talk ab it more there.

So Kakashi is like 6 (holy shit he's a BABY baby)

Google keeps giving me conflicting numbers for Sakumo's age at his death so we're just gonna shrug and say he's in his early 30's.

Then for the founders;

Madara (23)

Hashirama (23)

Izuna (19)

Tobirama (18)

Sakumo is staring at these guys going through it bc they are BABIES to him. And like look, he's used to working with or even occasionally under people much younger than him, but like. Oh man that's the shodai hokage. And he's like a toddler.

(He's a 23 year old man but Sakumo is kind of having a crisis so he can't register that)

So like. All the founders have major daddy issues, right? Like we can all agree that's plausible? I'm so sorry I just think it'd be *really fucking funny* if they look at Sakumo and just kinda. Yeah.

You know what I mean.

Anyways;

No idea how they got there!! This is set maybe a week before Sakumo offed himself but now he can't kill himself bc that'd mean abandoning Kakashi to the fucking warring states.

Kakashi fits the warring states standards alarmingly well actually. Honestly I think even for that time period he's still scarily young to be on the field. People are giving Sakumo looks like 'it's so hard what we've been forced to do to our children, the battles we've pushed them into, the things they've seen and done all too young'

Sakumo is going *hrrg.* and having a good long look in the mirror actually. Proper crisis, lots of guilt, Kakashi should not be out in the field this young and at least before he was mostly getting baby missions but now they're stranded in time and keep running head first into trouble.

I want Izuna and Kakashi to fight and even though Kakashi absoloutley should NOT win that battle I want him to win just so that Madara and Tobirama can make fun of him for losing to an actual child

Izuna is mortified he wants that brat DEAD

Uhh I have some more but I'm at work and actually hit post too early on this post so I had to come back to rush add all these edits bc I meant for it to stay a draft I could keep adding too later. So I'll just come add more later fr

[captainfantasticalright]

Another Sir Terry Pratchett interview on the details of writing Good Omens with Neil Gaiman. (More about this process x).

Question about how he goes about collaborating with someone else .

Terry: “You make them do what you want”.

Gary Cornell came up with something very apposite talking about working together, he says : It’s not that (each) of you does 50% of the work, each of you does 90% of the work.

Um. The way we did it then, and I can’t really speak as an expert because it's the only time I’ve ever done it and other people do it in different ways, it wasn’t a case of, the way the Americans tend to do it, um, is one person writes a draft and the other person goes in and noodles with that draft. We did the whole thing from the ground up; each was doing bits. The ad hoc way we had of working, it’s simple: I’ve got a track record writing novels, Neil hadn’t. So I became like the editor, the taskmaster. Because the other thing is the practical problem about two people 120 miles apart doing something, is that, um, it would be different now, but in those days we had no reliable means of electronic communication. We could connect computers together with modems and then spend the whole evening at cross purpose and ringing each other up and saying “I’m getting lots of little faces and shit like that all over..”

Three quarters of an hour and about eight phone calls, you actually managed to transmit about 2000 words you could have actually phoned and sneezed in a morse code.

[w]hen we were doing the first draft of the film script, we were both members of CompuServe so crappy our BT rural lines that the quick efficient way was for me to go into CompuServe and leave the work I’d done in Neil’s mailbox on the computer in Ohio or someplace and later that evening he would dial CompuServe in America and download it from Ohio or wherever it was.

So in order to get the script 120 miles, electronically it was doing about 10000. This is from the global village.

What we would do is I would hold the master copy and sometimes work would have to stop for 24 hours because stuff was in the post, because the nightmare, the absolute nightmare which I knew would happen if we let it, was that somehow we’d end up with two master copies in existence with little, minute changes, and we’d never be able to spot which was which.

So the last thing we wanted was two master copies, and we worked on the phone who did what. I did a bit more than Neil, of that anyway. But, it also felt to me to be an awful lot of the glue that no one wanted to do because it was easy to do set piece scenes and written on a kind of, on the kind of plot somewhere you get A and B to F and X and Y across to C T. And that really is like 3000 words where you have to move people around and then,you know, shove extra bits in; so I ended up probably doing near 75% of the book.

I would probably say because it’s, because had we’ve done it any other way it would’ve been like three months longer to do.

Also part of the process from another interview with Terry Pratchett:

Q: Let's talk a bit about the book you collaborated with Neil Gaiman on: Good Omens. That was before email, so how did it work on a practical basis? What was the most challenging aspect of writing with someone else?

I'm sure what I have to say will echo what Neil has said. When two people work on a book, it isn't a case where each one does 50% of the work. Each one does 100% of the work. There are some bits in Good Omens which I know are mine. There are some bits in Good Omens which I know are Neil's. There are some bits which were Neil's idea which I wrote, and there are some bits which were my idea which Neil wrote. Some bits we no longer know exactly whose ideas they were, or who wrote them. By the time we'd gone through all the drafts, it had been written by some sort of composite entity. We wrote it in the 14th century. We each had one phone line and a 1200 baud modem. We'd work it out: "OK, you send, I'll receive." Sometimes it would take 20 minutes to half an hour before we could send the stuff. It would have been cheaper and easier to have rung each other up and sneezed out the text in Morse Code. I was the Keeper of the Disks. I insisted that there should only be one official version in existence at any time. The moment it split into two, we would be in dead trouble. But Neil would sometimes send me a disk with 2000 words, saying " This is the scene with so and so -- insert it here." It more or less worked. It took us about six weeks to do the first draft. I think it worked because, at the time, we were each making a name for ourselves in our respective fields. It's not that we didn't take it seriously. But we were relaxed. We thought we would earn some holiday money by doing it. The nice thing about collaborating is that there is one other person in the world who is thinking about the exact same thing that you are thinking about. We both have a similar reading background, I suppose. It was quite rare when one of us came up with something that the other guy didn't know about. So we could bounce ideas off one another quite easily.

[catiuskaa]

putting to good use

a short sub!jisung smut because he has been going crazy this comeback and I know it for a fact.

posting bc i have 33 drafts and its making me and tumblr a bit crazy lol

MY MAN NEEDS TO CHILL BECAUSE WOW MAN I CAN HANDLE UP TO A POINT

WC: 0.9k

you had always been Jisung’s utmost supporter, his number 1 fan, and with the last comeback, who could blame his partner for wanting to reward all his hard effort?

“Jagi, i’m home!” He greeted, the smile on his face rolling off on his cheeky tone of voice. Jisung giggled softly at the loud hum you let out as a greeting.

He left his coat on the entrance and then walked to the small office/studio you had both created in the apartment so you two could work from home, soundproof panels adding to the vibe and making it clear that there was an artist among you two.

“Oh, hi baby, how was your day? Aww, it was good, jagi, thanks for asking!” He mocked, resting his shoulder on the doorframe.

You stared at him from above the computer screen, your hand fidgeting with your lips, then just nibbling on them, quickly eyeing back to the device.

Han’s eyebrows shot up. He chewed on his lip, wondering if maybe he had done something to annoy you?

What would normally happen was that you'd smile at him, take your headphones off, and hug him tightly. Not just acknowledge his presence with a hum and a nod, your eyes glued to your computer.

Lost in thought, he went over to the kitchen and took a pack of instant noodles for himself. But he hadn´t finished setting up the pot to heat up the water when your arms slithered their way to his waist, turning him and caging him against the countertop, bodies tight against one another.

"J-Jagi?" He stuttered, flustered from head to toe.

"Thought I wouldn't do anything about it, huh?" Your sly snicker sent chills all over his body, and he gasped when your hips pushed him further against the counter. "You, looking hot, and sweaty, and all bothered on stage..."

Each aspect numbered had been accompanied by a gentle thrust of your hips, and Jisung couldn't —wouldn't— dare to hide the little whimpers that came out of his mouth. You smirked, pressing soft kisses on the corner of his mouth.

"And, that silly little video... taking your jacket off your shoulders... and sticking your tongue out, breathless?" Whispers followed the trail of open-mouthed kisses from his jaw to his shoulders, leaving lipstick stains on the way, and Han's legs wobbled in place, still trying to process what was happening.

He panted when you moved away slightly, almost failing to hold his weight on the counter behind him, feeling the cold marble pressed on his lower back, in contrast to how hot you had made him feel in the blink of an eye.

"I- I just..." he muttered, trying to get back his mind, which turned blank at your movements but was quickly silenced when you bit his lip.

You had never done anything like this. Yes, you liked to talk in bed sometimes, but never so dominating, never making him feel like he was yours to touch, and yours only.

He needed more. Now.

"Oh, baby." You cooed at him. He was seeing stars already, his body reacting to your touch and your whispers in a way he had never felt before. "If you stick your tongue out, you might as well be prepared to use it."

The kiss that followed was messy, like a flame that burned its way down his body, a mix of teeth and tongue that made him crazy. You then cradled his face in your hands and pressed his lips against yours, pulling him tightly against you. His mouth was fierce and eager, kissing you deeply, as if it were the only thing that mattered in the world. He didn't want to stop, so he kept pushing you against him, his fingers tangled in your hair as he held you close, his other hand weakly helping his body stay in place.

"I'm going to put that little mouth of yours to good use. Would you like that, baby?"

He was blushing furiously when you nibbled on his ear, waiting for him to reply, but you laughed when he nodded eagerly.

"Speak, baby. If we're going to do this, I need you to say what you want."

He panted, arousal flooding his body, his mind only able to focus on your body and your voice.

"F-Fuck, darling, please–"

You moved away from him, and he almost fell to the floor, breathing heavily.

You softly took his cheek in your hand, his skin hot and red.

"Such a good boy."

He couldn't help but groan now as he felt the anticipation build up inside him. He felt he was going to wake up at any moment because whatever was going on right now felt like a motherfucking dream.

Jisung let out a flustered sigh when you pushed him to the couch, your thigh spreading his legs open just enough to make him suddenly crave more.

"Be a good boy and don't move now, yeah?"

You felt his body tensing underneath your touch when you bent over, your hands resting on his thighs.

"Are you getting shy, baby?" You whispered tenderly at him, your tone completely different from before. He blushed deeply, not able to look at you when he nodded.

You raised your body and kissed him softly, a loving gesture that made Jisung feel butterflies not only on his belly, but all over his body.

“You are absolutely and undeniably beautiful, and you have no reason to worry about how you look or sound right now. Just enjoy it, baby.”

He cradled your face and kissed you tenderly.

You smiled. "Sit back and relax. I'll have my fun now."

~Kats, who had to stop because she got blocked and started laughing and giggling.

[mysewingadventures]

Making the ✨Lioncourt Gown✨ (Part 1/4)

Shoot, it's been like two years since I last posted, apologies! I’ve been incredibly busy with uni and life in general, taking care of my mental health, it’s just been a very stressful time lately. I haven't really worked on anything worthy of posting in the meantime, only minor things and one dress I rushed and it didn't turn out well anyway. But, since Halloween is coming up and I don’t feel like wearing the same thing for the third time in a row, I thought it was the perfect excuse to try and make something new and the other day at 2am I fell down a rabbit hole and came up with an idea I’m completely obsessed with.

So recently, (in case you couldn't tell by the title haha) I’ve been really into Interview with the Vampire (the TV show), and there’s this one costume that’s so iconic it immediately caught my attention: This Lestat outfit.

I feel like since this blog isn't fandom related I need to explain myself to those of you who are just semi-familiar with IWTV. Maybe you know Lestat as essentially the villain of the story and are wondering why on earth I'd want to make an outfit inspired by him. The answer is quite simple and not actually deep at all: I just thought it'd be a fun project. I'm very well aware of his personality and would not want to be in the same room as him in real life haha. But he's such an interesting character to watch on screen (they all are, in my opinion). Anyways-

This outfit is from a scene that takes place in the 1790s and now, I’m unfortunately not too versed in men’s fashion so I can’t quite comment on its historical accuracy (and also it’s worn in the context of a theater performance so it’s bound to be more flashy than what people would have worn on the streets), but the way the lapel is shaped just screams redingote to me, and since I've always wanted to make a redingote I'm going to make a redingote version of the costume!

For reference, here's what a c. 1790 redingote looks like:

This one has a normal button closure but redingotes were also often double-breasted (which is what I'm going for), taking inspiration from men's fashion. These were often worn to ride in - hence the name, redingote - riding coat.

Maybe this is the point where I should mention that I'm not going for perfect historical accuracy for this project. It really is just a fun project to try to approximate something as seen on a show to an actual historical piece of clothing.

Here’s a super quick sketch I drew to check if the colors looked good together, and I have to say, I’m sold 1000%.

I am so excited to wear this when it’s done, but also a bit anxious because for starters, I’ve never made a redingote before, and the dresses that I have made all have issues with the sleeves because apparently, I can’t sew sleeves correctly. So this time, I really want to make sure it all fits properly before I sew it and take my time with it to make sure it ends up being something that I love as much as I love the idea of it.

This time, I tried something a little different with my mockup - usually, I’ll draft a pattern on paper, then cut out my mockup and sew it, but this time I decided to make the mockup by draping the fabric directly on the mannequin that I dressed in my stays and a bumroll, making sure I had the correct measurments, and it was a complete gamechanger. It fit right away with minimal adjustments, and I was also immediately able to check how the fabric falls, if it needed to be on the bias or not, etc. I ended up doing everything on straight grain which is technically not 100% correct as the front piece needs to be on a slight bias but it seems to work for this piece so let’s hope the fabric doesn’t wrinkle! I’ll also be adding boning so I’m hoping that’ll additionally keep it all straight and even in the front.

Once the mockup was completed, I went on the search for the right fabrics and got these (the skirt fabric, the buttons and the tape I ordered online and they've yet to arrive!):

The black base fabric and the blue one are cotton, as will be the skirt. The details are satin! I spent a long time at the fabric store trying to think of the best way to do this and it does look like the details on Lestat's outfit are maybe velvet, but I was afraid it would look a little too costume-y and cheap, so I ended up going with satin in the end.

I pinned the fabric mock-up onto the lining fabric (just a white Ikea bedsheet), added 1,5cm seam allowances where needed cut out the lining first, then placed the lining onto the black base fabric and cut that out as well.

I needed to lay the pieces down this way because I bought 2,5 meters, and I'll need 2m for the outer skirt alone so there's not a lot of space left, as I'll also have to cut out the sleeves from that fabric. I then sewed everything together.

And then I noticed I'd made a mistake - the lining for the front panel was supposed to be blue. Welp, now it's white, and I also realized I didn't have enough blue fabric to do the collar AND the lining, so I went for a fake lining for which I cut out two blue triangles to be slightly bigger than the lapel

and stitched them to the lining layer so the seams wouldn't be visible on the black outer layer. This was the result:

Pretty happy with it! Next up, even though I don't have the beige tape yet, I decided to cut out the color panels in the front and already pin them down. After some trial and error, I decided to go for 15x4,5cm triangles and calculated the size needed for the shorter ones (9x7,5cm), cut them out of the satin (which, let me tell you, was so finicky it ended up being the most difficult part of it all) laid them down and fastened with pins.

This is what I have so far:

Looking at it in the picture, I'm worried that the color panels take up too much space in the front. It looks like that in the original picture, but in my sketch I made everything a little narrower. But I was also scared of pulling on it too much because the panels are just pinned to the fabric. Some parts are sticking out over the black base layer which maybe also makes it look wider than it really is, I'll cut it to shape once I have the tape and have a better visual understanding of what it's going to look like.

Next up will be the collar/yoke and the dreaded sleeves and possibly the boning. I should do the boning before I attach the beige tape. I am realizing as I’m writing this that I should’ve done the boning before pinning down the colored panels as they’re supposed to cover it. Oh well. It’s fine. Either way, I think it already looks super cool and I can't wait to see the finished product!

Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4|

[kpopsexstories]

hey, i have an idea for a good story. being an idol can be problematic when it comes to relationships and sex. NCT Mark is well known for his friendship with Mina from Gugudan, the two idols can help each other out quite well and have fun in bed. another example is Jeno and Mina from Twice, they also had their time. they all have the same problem so what's stopping them from having sex! (i don't mean a foursome!! i'm just giving two separate ideas with a similar plot)

One-shot #25: Mark & Mina – Presenters to Lovers

This is the 25th story in my broader Mixed One-shots series. Unlike my Quick Fix series, One-shots are usually longer and more story-driven.

Celebrity: NCT Mark x Mina

Sex Content: Eating pussy, Missionary, Use of condom

Type of Sex: MEDIUM

Word Count: 5.5k

Story: A young Mark is reluctant to say yes to a new job – because she will be his co-presenter on stage. Mina is his former classmate, and when they meet again it reignites a past attraction.

This is a story that has been through some ups and downs. Immediately when receiving the request I went way overboard and sort of outlined a whole mini series about Mark and Jeno with their respective Mina's. Let me ruin it straight away: that's not something you're going to get, sorry 😅

Because I went overboard I lost all passion, and for a while I thought there wouldn't even be a single story after all. But the idea did still stick with me, and then one day when I was supposed to be working on something else I hashed out the story you now get in this post. It's just Mark and Mina, no Jeno.

But it was very rushed. It wasn't a great first draft. And I then thought I would scrap the whole thing...

…only to revive it again some time later. I rewrote parts of it and changed it from a two-part to a longer one-part story. I think you can still tell where the break was supposed to happen – there's a shift in tone – but I've done my best to smooth it over.

Now here it finally is. Please enjoy this Mark & Mina smut, based on their real life history and work as co-presenters, and of course on the great idea in the request 😀

Mark wasn't happy and excited at all when he was offered the Music Core presenter position. In fact he was mortified. It took a lot of convincing before he finally agreed, but man is he glad he did.

He knew that management had put his name in the hat. He was flattered by their confidence in him. But suddenly the reality of it all sank in. He was eighteen years old and so scared and certain he wouldn't be able to handle it that he initially flat out refused.

He was repeatedly told how great he would be which only added to the pressure and anxiety. He was reminded that he had plenty of stage experience already yet he brushed that argument aside. It should and would be a cake walk for someone like Mark Lee, and the people around him were confused and a little frustrated with the young man's child-like reluctance.

Where did this sudden stage fright come from? Was he going through some teenage phase of awkward self-doubt? What could they say or do to make him come to his senses and see what a natural talent he was?

“But Mina will be by your side,” Mark was told, referring to his co-host-to-be and former classmate. “Doesn't it feel good to know your friend will be there to support you?”

If only they knew the truth. Mark couldn't very well tell them and he never did. The problem was not stage fright or a lack of confidence. It was Mina herself, and she was the only person in the world who would ever know that.

Mark and Mina had a short-lived but major history, well before they got up on stage together in front of the nation for the first time. Back in school they weren't really friends at all, but they weren't just classmates either.

They had shared similar goals and aspirations and that's what once brought them together. The reason Mark was so scared, and why Mina was a problem rather than a friendly face to rely on, was because he once lost his virginity to her.

That's right, Mark was being pitted with the first non-family woman who ever saw him naked. He had dreamt of that day ever since. To see her again now was terrifying, specifically because he felt he had to be perfect for her.

She was the cause of the pressure and anxiety because he wanted to impress her. In other words, she was quite the opposite of the blessing people around him believed her to be.

It's not that their first time was a bad experience, not at all. But they had only kept in sporadic touch since and any closer relationship had never formed. The prospect of seeing her again, in this new setting and what felt like a lifetime later but which was really just a couple of years, made him horny, afraid, nostalgic, excited and insecure all at once.

He was genuinely afraid. He worried that she would find him inadequate, that he wouldn't live up to her expectations. A disappointment. He didn't want to tarnish the great memory, and was convinced that his heart and mind wouldn't be able to take the embarrassment if he somehow failed. In front of her.

At the same time, maybe the true or deeper reason behind his hesitation was not the fear of embarrassing himself. Maybe it was the fear of them sleeping together again. Because he honestly believed her to be way out of his league, and his young heart was afraid to be hurt. That was his real worry.

He did eventually agree though, both despite and simultaneously because Mina was his female counterpart. And it turned out to be the best decision he ever made.

Today, several years after their reunion on stage, Mark and Mina's stint as co-presenters feels like an emotional blur for a multitude of reasons. Though he's proud and happy that he did it he can only recall glimpses of it. The fact that he can't even remember why he was so worried in the first place is probably a good thing.

Teenage hormones tend to play tricks on a young man's body and mind. But as an adult, Mark can't even remember what the big deal was. It's funny how a man's mind can change in so much in just a few years.

As presenters the duo was praised for their professionalism and charismatic banter. The fact that they once slept together probably helped, in the end. They supported each other both on and off stage, and as their professional relationship formed and grew, so did their friendship and Mark's maturity and perspective.

In short, not only did it turn out to be a fun job, it was the start of a long overdue friendship. Mark and Mina became close, and this time they stayed in touch. One important reason for that was that something else happened, another thing he didn't tell many people about and certainly not his managers.

Young, naive and working with the girl he had a major crush on – because yes, that's essentially what it was all about – Mark experienced new emotions and the possibilities and freedoms of a grown-up. As did Mina, who had followed Mark's career since those school days.

Perhaps it was only a matter of time before it happened. If they hadn't been paired up like this it probably never would have, but when fate brought them together the attraction was still there.

It never left. And yeah, as you'll have guessed by now, at some point in the middle of their brief time as colleagues, Mark and Mina found themselves naked in bed together again.

Mark might not remember much from their time on stage. But he certainly remembers that night off stage. It was one of his most memorable sexual experiences in his teens, and he's so glad he finally dared to say yes. Yes to hosting, and yes to her.

*****

Mina had fond memories of Mark. It was a shame that their relationship in school never amounted to much more than being classmates. Classmates who once explored their sexuality with each other.

For a year Mark was just the guy she lost her virginity to. Then he became famous, and she borderline stalked him throughout his early career. She stopped when they became co-presenters, and a handful of comments online bashed her for being too clingy. It was a painful reality check.

Ironically, it was Mark who made her feel better. He understood her, or at least her position in the public eye. When she learned that he had been hesitant to take the job because of her she laughed about it, but quickly realized that it was actually kind of sweet. Mark hadn't forgotten about her either.

To reunite on stage in front of the nation was indeed a unique situation, but above all a fun experience. And, as they quickly figured out, the sexual attraction between hadn't gone anywhere.

Mark had just turned nineteen when they inevitably ended up having sex again. He made fun of Mina for still being a year younger, though in reality they were the same age and her birthday was just a few months away. Making illogical jokes that were perfectly logical in his oddly wired but absolutely brilliant brain was his strange way of flirting.

The banter on stage often continued off stage too. His unique sense of humor was part of the reason why she still found herself attracted to the man. Mark was a fun and sweet guy to hang out with, and the flirting – which went both ways – worked.

*****

In the years that followed the two friends and lovers became something just short of a couple. They never dated, not even unofficially. They were never close friends who saw each other daily. But they did have sex again, many, many times.

The attraction that had always been there was restricted by youth and inexperienced, but as adults they could let it blossom. In the spotlight and unable to freely date others, they found in each other something that was surprisingly common in the Korean music industry, but also something that was exceedingly rare. Much to the amusement of their friends they became the definition of two people who were friends with benefits.

The sex was always good, and with time it became great. Even as they grew up further and gained experience with other lovers in their lives, they always found themselves returning to each other for more.

But it wasn't just about satisfying a sexual need. Mark had found someone who understood him, not just as a public figure but on a deeper level. Mina would be by his side for many years to come, and in some ways sleeping together was just a bonus. It was as much about a need for comfort and an escape as it was about two people who genuinely could relate to each other on so many levels.

It was a unique relationship that still holds to this day, one that neither of them would change anything about. They both knew early on that they were never going to be a real couple, but they were both happy and thankful to have each other in their lives. As colleagues, lovers, and friends.

This story is not about their present relationship as friends with benefits though, nor is it about their very first time. It's about that second time, in the midst of their season as co-presenters when Mark was at the height of his worries and anxiety.

*****

There was nothing romantic about the way Mina suggested it. She simply just asked, and Mark said yes. In hindsight working together was the best decision, as it was the start of a sexually loaded friendship that would last for many years.

Like Mark, Mina lived in Seoul. Unlike him, however, she had her own apartment. One night after work he found himself in it. Just how they got there is another thing that remains a blur in his memory.

It had been a while since he touched her naked breasts for the first time. To do it again now felt incredibly good. He massaged them, kissed them and rubbed his body against them before their clothes had even come off. He simply couldn't stay away or get enough of them, even when his anxiety was so powerful.

In fact, the fact that she wanted him to touch her was a major reason why the worries became lighter and weaker. A lot of his anxiety stemmed from his imagination.

Mina was turned on by the lustful actions of her friend and colleague. He felt more secure than last time, like he actually knew what he was doing this time around. She was more mature too, and that fact played a major role in the future development of their sexual relationship.

Only an hour had passed since Mina suggested the thing she had wanted to suggest for months. Now here she was, already partway through their time as co-presenters, squirming with her legs spread and her shirt up to her neck, and with Mark's hands and lips all over her body.

She had undone her bra but not taken it off. It still loosely rested on her chest, pushed slightly to the side by Mark's fingers. He had his hand inside it while his body gradually made its way between her thighs, as he eagerly ventured further and pushed himself closer to her.

In the heat of the moment there was no self-doubt at all. Just pure, young love and attraction, topped with a sexual desire so strong everything else faded in the background.

Mark had on a t-shirt and a pair of light jeans. Mina was wearing sweatpants, the same pair she always put on after a show. In this moment she was very happy with her decision to finally invite the man home with her after work, ultimately to do the thing she'd been wanting to do in the time since she basically stalked him.

Happy was not the word Mark would use to describe the situation. He was extatic. His heart was beating fast and his mind was racing. He'd dreamt of this moment since he felt the folds of a woman for the first time, back in school when they were classmates and neither of them were famous.

Mina giggled at his excitement when he took the bra and yanked it off her. He raised his head and smiled down at her chest. Her breasts were perky but flat as gravity pulled them down, and the sight made the boner in his pants throb.

Mark came down and attacked his lover with his mouth. He kissed and licked one boob while massaging and squeezing the other. He touched her waist and pulled her in, while rubbing his groin against her thigh.

The arousal they both felt was intense. The reunion in bed felt long overdue.

Mark's lips jumped south, from the chest to Mina's stomach. He occasionally glanced up at her face, watching her pant with her eyes closed and mouth slightly open.

He mostly went by instinct. He was experienced and comfortable enough in bed to know roughly what he was doing but his actions weren't premeditated. He simply did what felt good and right in the moment, encouraged by Mina's reaction and the fact that they'd been naked together before.

He kissed her stomach and belly button. He reached the pants and undid them. She raised her hips when the pants opened and he slowly pulled them down with his fingers.

He got hold of the edge of her panties. He was going for the treasure and knew where to find it. Soon her pants and underwear slid over her ass, and Mark instinctively planted his mouth on her folds.

She was wet. He was eager to explore her body. As her clothes slid further down her legs he kissed her inner thighs and caressed her soft skin, and the worried about taking the job were long since forgotten.

The whole situation felt nothing like he had thought. It was endlessly better and not at all a case for concern.

Mark played with his lips on Mina's vagina and stuck out his tongue, and she let out an audible gasp. Last time they had sex he had been clueless and too scared to do anything other than the basics. This time he did what felt natural and it came easy to him. He had certainly matured by a lot, and wasn't at all scared of the woman any longer.

While Mark lay on his stomach and kissed and licked his lover, Mina reached down between her legs and touched his head. She raised her hips and pressed her folds against his mouth, and eventually got hold of his t-shirt. She pulled at it, dragged it up his body, and exposed his lower back.

“Mm,” she moaned and took more of the shirt in her hand. Mark kept smacking and kissing between her legs.

“Do you want to have sex?” he suddenly asked and briefly looked up.

Mina stopped moving and raised her head. More or less shirtless, bare-chested and with her pants down to her knees she stared down at the head and adorable face in her bed. Mark's big eyes, serious expression and his mouth still on her folds made her giggle.

“You didn't just ask that?” she said.

Mark was confused. He thought she wanted it. He certainly did. But he could hardly believe she had fallen for his flirting and thought the question was more than valid. His brain still told him this was all too good to be true.

Then it clicked for him. It wasn't just him who had matured. Mina was an adult with needs and desires like anyone else, and she didn't have to reply.

Of course she fucking wanted it, and he suddenly felt dumb for asking. Still, she found it nice and adorable that he was still considerate enough to ask.

When Mark did catch on he quickly pulled himself up. He left the vagina alone and went in to kiss her lips. They made out with a sudden, adult passion, and when she pulled on his shirt again he sat up straight on his knees between her thighs and took it off.

Mina pulled her leg in and around the front of Mark's body. She sat up and reached down to take her pants and underwear all the way off. Mark immediately started to unbutton his jeans, while Mina pulled her shirt over her head and tossed it on the floor.

Memories flooded them both. They were simultaneously so into the moment that they didn't really stop to think, and so strongly reminded of the past it was all they could think about. It was a feeling, one beyond sexual attraction, and one they both recognized and liked.

Mina rolled sideways and reached for a drawer in her bedside table. Mark rolled on his side too and pulled his pants and socks over his feet. She found a condom and held on to it, turned on her back and watched. When Mark was down to only his boxers, he returned to her lips and their naked bodies embraced.

They made out for several minutes, rubbing their horny selves close together. He kept jolting and thrusting his hips, pressing his bulge and boner against her side. She spread her legs again, and soon he climbed back on top.

“You sure?” he asked in between lustful kisses.

It made Mina giggle. “You asked the same thing last time and I said yes.”

Mark stopped moving and looked her in the eye. He had a hand on her chest and another behind her shoulder. She stopped giggling and let out a soft moan, then clarified: ”Yeah Mark, I want to do it again. I've missed you.”

The words and Mina's lustful panting made Mark feel all warm inside. He'd missed her too and, consumed by the anxiety induced by the idea of working with her, temporarily forgotten just how much. But there was a time when he couldn't stop thinking about her, about how great his first time was.

He wished they were better friends back then, and for months after they took each other's virginity he had thought of nothing but her. Now here he was, back in her room, thrusting on top of her naked body. It was a recurring dream come true.

Mina caressed his legs with her feet and stroke his back with her fingers. She was still holding on to the condom and played with it on his skin. Mark kept gliding back and forth while gently massaging her boob, and they kissed and touched in ways that felt incredible.

Until Mina's hand slid inside his black boxers and she held the other in front of his eyes. The sight of the condom wrapper prompted him to suddenly pull away and roll off her.

He sat down and raised his ass and instinctively pulled his underwear down. He quickly got naked while she unwrapped the condom and scooted closer. He lay back and relaxed when she first kissed his shoulder and chest, then grabbed his dick, touching it for the first time.

Back in school she never saw it. He did the work and she was so nervous she never even tried to catch a glimpse. Now she wrapped her fingers around it like it was nothing, pulled the foreskin back and placed the rubber on the head.

She rolled it down and he held his breath. He stared at the ceiling, suddenly worried again. Worried that this wasn't real, and that if it was real, he'd disappoint her after all.

“That took so much longer last time,” Mark joked to lighten his own thoughts. It was true though.

“I've had a lot of practice,” Mina said and winked.

That actually gave Mark a piercing sensation of jealousy. But when Mina was done and leaned in over her friend, that jealousy quickly vanished.

She kissed his lips while still holding on to the dick. She stroke and squeezed him while they made out again, and Mark's lips were pulled in by hers.

He halfway sat up. He put his hands on her body and turned sideways. He moved closer and she lay down. Before long he was back on top, the dick wedged between their stomachs.

They were indeed more experienced than last time. They had both had multiple sexual partners since then. But they were still young, still learning, and the sex that followed was great but nothing crazy.

The dick kept kissing its target as they grinded their bodies together and made out. They touched and squirmed, Mark thrusting repeatedly between Mina's legs. She raised her knees and he caressed her thighs, her waist, her breast and neck. His hand moved up and down along her body for several minutes.

It was hot. They were both horny. It felt great, but the dick just kept gliding back and forth and miss.

At some point this started to worry Mark. He had already been worried he'd disappoint. Now he couldn't figure out why things weren't working on their own. He couldn't ever recall this being an issue before, and considering how hard he was and how wet she felt when he ate her out, he figured it shouldn't be an issue.

He tried various solutions. He raised his ass and thrust in different angles. He slid down a bit to get the head into a new position. And he even reached in to use his fingers, but even that failed.

The whole time he kept kissing his girl and tried hard not to show what he was thinking. He genuinely feared he was doing something wrong.

“Here, let me,” Mina said and stuck her hand in. The fact that she had noticed him trying made his heart sink.

She touched the dick and he lifted his ass to give her space. She pushed it down against her labia and he raised himself even further. He quickly closed his eyes when she looked at him, then felt incredibly relieved when the head was suddenly engulfed by her folds.

The sensation was amazing. Not only was he relieved by the wet vagina swallowing the tip of his dick felt so, so good. As he sank back down on top of her the shaft slid all the way in, and he was immediately reminded of the sensation her body gave him the first time around.

When they kissed again he used the full length of his thighs to make wide up-and-down motions with his ass. Mina spread her legs further apart as he repeatedly pushed his organ into her. She let out a deep sigh and Mark allowed himself to moan.

“Mm, mm,” he said still with his eyes closed.

“I've really missed you,” she whispered which made him feel really good.

They lay like this for quite a while, slowly fucking while smacking their lips together. Mark's hand returned to her breast. When he raised and moved his chest sideways to be able to feel more of her with his fingers the dick briefly popped out, but this time it quickly slid back in again.

The sensation made Mina gasp. She open her mouth and her hips jolted. The dick slid deep inside and Mark let out a soft grunt.

This was indeed a dream come true. Mark felt like he was in heaven, and Mina was experiencing similar emotions. Perhaps they had both been worried about their new job, and being together like this took off the edge.

Mark and Mina lay together for nearly forty-five minutes. The dick kept gliding in and out as Mark slowly pushed and pulled his body on top of her. He kissed her lips, massaged her breasts, and their lust came and went in bursts.

Sometimes they picked up the pace, when Mina raised her knees and Mark’s ass moved a little faster. Sometimes they lay completely still, lips on each other’s mouths and the dick resting and throbbing inside the woman. And sometimes Mark spread his legs, pushed himself up on his elbows, and bent his neck to passionately and violently kiss the breasts. Whenever that happened he was simultaneously overcome with rapid jolts of passion.

But not once did they change positions. Laying like this in each other’s arms simply felt too good. It was an amazing experience, and thanks to how great it felt in their hearts it wasn’t their last time naked together. In fact this night was the start of something really great.

In future they would get more creative. Sure, they would spend time just like today too, but sometimes – quite often, actually – they’d be brave and explore further. They’d grow very comfortable around each other and with time the sex would – at times – be quite raw and rough.

Mark had already had sex much wilder than this and Mina had too. Today was just about getting to know one another. Again.

Yet despite their future growth in bed, at no point in their relationship was it ever even hinted that they would be a couple. They both just knew, somehow, that they were only meant to be friends. Friends with amazing benefits. Compared to the first time they hooked up that was already a major step up.

If management ever found out about any of this there would be trouble. Two colleagues with a public image to protect, doing naughty things to each other that shouldn’t be mentioned outside the privacy of Mina’s bedroom. They would certainly assume they were a couple, and make a big fuss about the importance of keeping romantic relationships hidden.

Actually, at one point they did find out, and indeed it did have minor consequences, though mostly the two friends were just embarrassed. The assumption that they were a couple, and consequently being forced to explain that they were not, made the whole thing unnecessarily awkward. But that’s a story for another time.

Right now, however, after those forty-five minutes of plain but wonderful sex, Mark felt like he needed to finish. It wasn't that it just happened, he had to focus on getting there.

As much as he loved the sensation of it all they couldn’t stay like this forever. So when a burst of lust and passion came over him again, he immediately decided in his head: this is it. It was time to reach a climax and complete the experience.

Once he put his mind to it he became very focused on it. He suddenly had a goal: to come inside the girl. Premature ejaculation had never been an issue for him, quite the opposite. In order to orgasm he really needed his mind to be clear. The same was true when he masturbated.

Mina could sense that something changed in him. Mark became more eager, but he didn’t squirm and grind and touch her the way he did before when lust took hold of him. Instead he became stiff, his legs and upper body almost motionless, yet his ass moved faster.

He thrust into her at a rapid pace, and stopped kissing her altogether. Instead he buried his head by her side, and she tilted hers back as she gasped and panted.

The dick rubbed her in the same spot again and again. The friction subjected to it made Mark open his eyes wide. He stared at Mina’s ear and held her tight under the shoulders, while he pulled himself onto her repeatedly.

She caressed his flexing arms and locked her legs around his. Her knees were raised in the air and she used her feet to push, aiding Mark in his motions of desire. The mattress shook and squeaked and the friction brought Mark to the edge, until he let out a deep sigh and groan.

Mina moaned to encourage him when she felt that he was getting close. “Mm, mm, mm,” she said repeatedly.

Mark panted and grunted again. “Ah, ah, ah, ah, mmmpfh!”

His stiff body jolted and he squeezed her shoulders tighter. He pushed his pelvis down hard and jammed the dick deep. His skin was warm, his muscles tense, and he jolted again when he orgasmed.

“Ahhh, ahhh, ahhhh!” he exclaimed when his dick erupted and he released his cum into the condom. The dick jumped when he ejaculated, and Mina rolled her hips a few times to show that she enjoyed what was happening too.

She may not have come herself but she didn’t need to. Mark was wonderful and she wanted him to know that. “Mm, mm, yeah Mark,” she moaned when his body became flushed and hot and he jammed his organ into her a few more times.

“Ahhh, ahhhhh,” Mark sighed deeply. “Holy shit.”

“Mm, Mark, I’ve missed you so much,” Mina added.

Mark collapsed in her arms and she lovingly embraced him. He closed his eyes, kissed her neck and relaxed. She smiled at the ceiling and stroke his warm back, the dick still inside her as they both came down from the energy-intense activity.

They lay like this for several minutes, just holding and feeling each other. The dick eventually grew slack, and after a while Mark started to wonder if the condom was still on.

He slowly pushed himself up on his hands. He looked Mina in the eyes and they both smiled. He kissed her lips a few times, sweet pecks as if to tell her, ‘I’ve really missed you too.’

Soon he raised his body higher and gently pulled out. He sat up on his knees and looked down between their legs. First at his dick, to make sure the condom was still there which it was. Then at the vagina, which he had licked and kissed not long ago. Even now after the act he could hardly believe he got to be inside it.

He put his hands on Mina’s legs and stroke them. He kept smiling as he caressed her hips and stomach, and leaned forward until he could touch her breasts. He felt them, one last time before officially ending the sex, and concluded that he was one lucky man.

He was glad they met in school, because if they had not been classmates odds were they wouldn’t have worked together and shared a stage today. And even if they had, odds were they wouldn't have ended up sleeping together. Their history mattered a lot.

When he was satisfied Mark lowered his ass onto his heels and spread his knees. He reached for the dick to carefully remove the condom, and grimaced when the shaft and head were freed. He made sure to hold everything down as not to spill.

Mina observed what he was doing. She glanced at the condom and the sperm inside it. She giggled and threw her head back while Mark tied it together, then looked up again when he held it out and asked her: “Where can I put this?”

Mina pulled herself higher on the bed and sat up. She took the condom from Mark’s hand and turned sideways to put it on the bedside table. When she returned she slid back down and made herself comfortable, and pulled on Mark’s arm to bring him in.

He lay down beside her and they kissed. They rolled toward each other and made out. Wrapped in each other’s arms they gently felt each other's presence, and simply enjoyed the wonderful feeling of being together. Naked, spent and at ease.

*****

Following their sexual adventure in Mina’s bed there was a certain glow between the two friends. People around them could tell that they’d become closer, but put it down to them having grown into their roles.

The banter and chemistry between them on stage improved, and even the audience could tell that they were growing together. While most people assumed they were just getting more comfortable, rumors started to flourish. Rumors about the nature of their relationship and whether they were in fact dating.

Only Mark and Mina knew the truth. They were not dating and never would. But their relationship had definitely changed, and it was far from the last time they slept together.

In fact they both became somewhat obsessed with it. In a reality where they couldn’t freely date and explore their sexuality with just anyone, having each other was a real blessing.

And with time their sexual connection and activities changed too. They had gone from innocent and insecure first time lovers, to adults so horny and eager they behaved as if they’d just discovered sex again for the first time. Eventually, as they got to know each other’s bodies and minds, that sex became wilder, daring and more experimental.

The friendship that never was finally blossomed. The benefits it came with were pretty incredible.

Mark was beyond happy that he said yes, to the job and to her.

[unspoken-blossomed-feelings]

{Always expect the unexpected around your friends with unusual hobbies.}

ᯓ✮ Chan ft. Jisung, Minho & gn! reader

ᯓ✮content: ✨silly nonsense✨

ᯓ✮wc: 433

ᯓ✮warning: mention of food (beef stew).

>March, 2020🌱

The first thing that greeted Chan as soon as he opened the door to the apartment was the comforting smell of a home cooked meal. Next, he saw two extra pairs of shoes that he knew all too well by now, and that confirmed his suspicion. You and Minho were visiting.

So, he expected to see both of you going around the kitchen in what seemed to be a perfectly coordinated cooking routine, just as it had occurred many times before. However, what Chan saw was you and Jisung sitting next to each other in front of the kitchen as Minho was stirring what he presumed was beef stew.

"Alright, what are you guys doing?" Chan asked as he scratched the back of his neck, a lopsided grin on his face. Your shenanigans never failed to amuse him, and he was always ready to expect the unexpected.

"Hey Channie! We're hot people watching." You answered briefly, as if that didn't need any further explanation. Then, you scooted over to make room between you and Jisung.

"Come sit with us!" this time it was Jisung who spoke, patting the space between the two of you to call Chan over.

Once Chan found himself sitting between the two of you, he nodded "So, hot people watching," he said, though it sounded more like a question than an affirmation.

Minho scoffed before shaking his head. Unlike Chan, he was clearly unamused. "They're just staring at me while I cook dinner because they're weird. Ignore them, that's what I do." 

But then, before Chan could make any comments, Jisung took a deep breath and sighed heavily "Man, I wish I was a spoon so Minho would hold me."

Minho simply rolled his eyes, "I hold you all the time though?".

"Yeah, me too." You agreed with Jisung.

"Me three." Chan added, nodding his head.

"Oh, please. Don't join the weirdos, Chan." This time Minho was the one who sighed. He pretended he was done, but not enough to crack.

This time it was your turn to take a deep breath and sigh, a wide smile on your face "I wish I was a potato, so Minho could make mashed potatoes with me."

The next thing you heard was Chan laughing, Jisung almost chocking, and Minho groaning loudly, even though you could tell a smile was trying to break through his facade.

"I'm never cooking for you guys again."

When Chan finally calmed down, he noticed two pairs of eyes watching him expectantly. Were you waiting for him to say something? What could he possibly say next?!

"Err..."

A/N: This prompt was in my drafts since June 20th, 2022. It's finally seeing the light. Anyway~ Posting this to be free from this eternal suffering called "having ideas yet not writing them & getting too many unfinished drafts".

-Sophie🌱

unspoken-blossomed-feelings 🌱

[vii0so]

[BSD 120.5] Theory/Analysis

NOTE BEFORE READING: 90% of this post was written on the day of the chapter's release but got forgotten in my drafts. As I'm too lazy right now to read through and edit, expect things that: make no sense, are worded as if the chapter came out today or recently, stop in the middle of the sentence/incomplete etc. Also for some reason I added stuff not directly relating to the chap...I'm sure I wanted to lead into a bigger point but by now I have no idea what I was going for.

I realised it's almost time for the new chapter and that's how I remembered this was still in my drafts...

So I'm posting it more for me rather than anyone else (which I sort of already do anyway).

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Well well well...it's been another month so I'm here again to put my 2 cents in on this month's chapter.

I'm sure there's no need to say it but the following will contain spoilers for BSD chapter 120.5.

And as always with my long posts...expect me to sidetrack a lot.

This includes a deep dive into Fyodor's title as well.

Today's Topics:

Humanity & Fyodor's outlook

Fyodor's title

Fyodor's humanity

Ability Users & Humans

The page isn't with Fyodor

Thoughts on Fukuzawa's "death"

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Humanity & Fyodor's outlook

Today's chapter gives us a great insight on Fyodor's goal, or at least confirms the one we already knew of and bathes it in a new light. But let's first start with what his outlook on humans is.

"An unlearned outlook befitting of your short lives."

"Your" = humans "Short lives" = human lifespans

This is basically saying: "You haven't lived as long as me so you don't know/understand" Or better yet, "You will never have enough time in your short lives to learn like I did."

Fyodor in his immortal life has seen things, witnessed eras come and go, same with wars. He has had nothing but time to observe humanity and their many flaws.

He believes no one with a short life-span (humans) will understand his learned outlook.

Note: We don't know how old Fyodor actually is. I personally believe that he's over two thousand years old but I only have one small piece of unrelated evidence that supports this. Though, no matter the age, he has lived a long time, that doesn't change.

Fyodor looks genuine in this scene. The look of "acceptance". Accepting the fact that humans won't understand or change, no matter how many centuries pass.

Note: It should be remembered that acceptance does not mean compliance. Fyodor is the perfect example of this.

It honestly feels lonely. Trust me, I don't even like Fyodor but this is just depressing, even for the villain. Imagine your ability has made you pretty much immortal and you watch humanity make the same mistakes, have the same flaws, see them drive themselves to ruin multiple times and no one will ever understand you as they haven't lived as long as you. (Arguably, I'd say Dazai got close)

TLDR: Imagine living forever and watching humans ruin themselves repeatedly and having no one who will understand what you're thinking. That's Fyodor's life.

He lost faith in humanity a long time ago.

Anyway...on a different note (slight backtrack), our boy Atsushi seems to agree or at least understand that "Humanity cannot bear such enormous virtue." Based on his expression here and the panel.

It's like his expression is saying, "Damn, he's right, I've gone through so much to stop this but it's just way too much even for me (an ability user)." or something...idk honestly.

Atsushi is emotionally tuned in with the world so maybe he just saw Fyodor's expression and was like: "holy shi-" again, idk.

"Pure evil"...not like anyone has said otherwise about Fyodor.

His calm yet determined(?) expression when Fukuzawa tells him this shows that he finds what he's doing as necessary and planned.

What Fyodor wants is a world war. Specifically, one that will eliminate all ability users. Instead of getting his hands dirty, it'll be done by humans.

Now, I know that ability users get separated a lot from your every day average human but Fyodor's choice of words shows that he doesn't view ability users as humans at all.

Though, the way he uses the word "humanity" may be more as in those of the greater population, or just "The ones without abilities."

With [One Order] though, does "humanity" include ability users? In theory it should, and yet it doesn't seem that way.

Fyodor believes there will be peace if ability users are gone...Looks like he either has never seen a world without ability users or there's more to this plan than he's letting on.

"What...are you...? I can't possibly see you as human."

Fyodor has never once claimed to be human. Or at least he has never seen himself as human.

And he clearly separates himself from those with short lives (humans) as a different being.

He has been considered a demon throughout the whole series.

Now for my monthly: "Analyse the original Japanese even though I don't speak it."

Today's segment will mostly be my curiosity taking word form, so feel free to skip to the next part or enjoy.

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Fyodor's title

First off, I didn't manage to get the raws to see the spelling of the title. I only heard the spoken Japanese version in the anime, which was "majin".

[ Dazai says it around 12:33 in Season 3 Episode 8 ]

So feel free to interpret it as either [魔神] or [魔人] (both are pronounced as "majin" but have different meanings).

Due to the official translation calling him "conjurer", I thought that maybe it was [ 魔人 ] but the fact that the fan translation calls him "demon", points closer to [ 魔神 ].

Left: Fan translation (DazaiScans) | Right: Official English translation

When you break it down more into individual Kanji, you start to see the difference and similarities.

Both are pronounced as "jin" when in "majin".

[ 魔 ] / "ma" is in both [ 魔神 ] and [ 魔人 ]. And it's from "ma" that we get the more demonic/evil meaning.

So, in a way, even [ 魔人 ] could be seen as "demonic person".

[ 魔 ] / "ma" is in "majin" and "akuma"

Now, when Dazai was called a "demon" he was referred to as "akuma".

As you can see, [ 悪魔 ] is way more serious than [ 魔人 ] or [ 魔神 ] .

This obviously gets lost in translation, as both become "demon".

One instance where Dazai is being referred to as 悪魔 is in the 15 light novel and manga adaptation. For some reason, it's not in the anime.

I'm not here to talk about Dazai's humanity though. I just wanted to show the difference in seriousness of "demon" between the titles*.

*Correction, "Demon" is not Dazai's title. While he has been called as such, his only known title was "Black Wraith" (Kuroi Yuuki - 黒い幽鬼).

Yuuki [ 幽鬼 ] - ghost; revenant; spirit (of the dead); departed soul

Kuro [ 黒 ] - black (as noun) - Kuroi [ 黒い ] = black (as adjective)

So back to the topic at hand!

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Fyodor's humanity

Fyodor being referred to as "majin" instead of "akuma" makes a big difference even if both can be "demon".

In this chapter - as I stated earlier - we see Fyodor talk as if he isn't human. Akuma would refer to a demon - not human, but majin refers more closely to an "evil being", and if it's [ 魔人 ] it can especially be seen as a "demonic/evil human".

Therefore, Fyodor's title shows that he is human, no matter how much he separates himself and the rest of the ability users from the greater human population.

...Wait a minute...just remembered something.

I should have trusted my memory and checked the raws from chapter 120 earlier...it was literally only a month ago and yet I almost forgot Fukuzawa literally used Fyodor's title at the end of the chapter!

So Fyodor's title is [ 魔人 ]

[ 魔 ] for "witch", "demon", "evil spirit"

[ 人 ] for "person"

...Remembering this earlier would have saved me so much time ;-;

I will still keep what I wrote from earlier - my rambling about wether it's [ 魔人 ] or [ 魔神 ] - as I spent way too long on it and don't have enough mental energy to change it.

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Ability Users & Humans

(Specifically in the eyes of Fyodor)

Now that we know it's [ 魔人 ], I can analyse further into Fyodor's view on ability users.

In short, Humans are...humans, I won't go into the foolishness and ugliness of humans, because in life there's death just like there's pain in love, it's yin and yang. Basically: where there's good, there's evil.

人類 - mankind; humanity

異能 - unusual power; superpower; ability beyond that of humans

者 - person (rarely used without a qualifier)

I understand 者 as the user in "ability user"

So 人類 vs 異能者 = Humanity vs Ability users.

[Section Incomplete] - I remember wanting to talk about how Fyodor sees himself and then talking about how that shows how he views humanity and ability users. First off, he doesn't care what he becomes or is seen as. He is the type to "willingly become a demon for future peace" (at least "peace" in his eyes). I remember having a plan (in my head) for this section but...by now I've forgotten and are too lazy to continue it.

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The page isn't with Fyodor

This may sound strange since we see Fukuchi hold the page too but remember: we never saw them actually use/write on the "page" that we've seen. It's basically just a normal piece of paper.

Fukuchi claims the paper he's holding as the page. [Chapter 83.5]

There's no proof of it actually being the page though.

Fyodor offers the page to Atsushi [Chapter 119]

This was Fyodor's plan to show Atsushi that the page is there with them. So that he has no reason to question where the page is.

If you see an apple in front of you, you won't be thinking "I wonder where the apple is" but instead believe that it's right there.

I had a far fetched thought that maybe the page was with Fyodor in the prison and then made to be found by Sigma in the guise of the note claiming he needs help:

When Sigma picks it up, it looks like there are two papers.

And yet, when he shows it to Fyodor there seems to only be a one:

Now of course, this could just be artistic error or even mere perspective but I don't think so. Every detail is usually intentional.

So what's the second paper?

The page.

...possibly

"How did Sigma not realise?" I don't know...Maybe it's been changed to appear as a blank page somehow.

This would tie in with my theory from last update that Fyodor is in a rush to get to Sigma before he wakes up.

Atsushi thinks Fyodor has the page and that he'll have to take it off him (steal it) somehow. He has no idea that the page isn't even close by but instead in Meursault.

A lot of people think "How could Atsushi's day get any worse?"

Well...fight a literal god-like-level being who is controlled by a 2k+ old evil mastermind who wants to get rid of all ability users by manipulating the general public and then never even get the page that you were fighting for because you were being manipulated this entire time and the page was never there...

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Thoughts on Fukuzawa's "death"

First off, I don't think I've mentioned it in my theories so far but I don't believe that those "killed" by ame-no-gozen will stay dead. At some point, all of them will be alive again with no issues.

Anyway, Fukuzawa's "death" reminded me of Rampo after the "Kamui is Fukuchi" discovery. Is this a sign that we'll see him in the next chapter? ...probably not, but it did feel like a parallel, at least to me.

Also, I know last time I said "maybe next chapter he'll die" but no, this is not the death

Btw, this feels like a parallel to me even if it's not exactly the same:

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██████████ Complete!

Note: The following segment was written around a week after the chapter released.

The moment I finished reading the chapter (a few hours after it released) I started typing this immediately. So I've been writing this on and off for a week now...

First, I was tired IRL, then the next day was busy, and the next and the next and...you get it. I probably wrote most of it on the first day while tired so don't mind if anything makes no sense.

This must be the longest theory post I've written for BSD so far...

Should I stop doing long posts? Would you guys prefer short ones? I try to do one long post per chapter, but I feel like not many people read them, precisely because they're long. I like doing it like this as it's more compact (in my opinion) but if you guys would like me to stop the long posts let me know.

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To the people who actually read this post, if anything doesn't make sense or seems incomplete, it's because I wrote all this while tired (35% with a headache) and whenever i came back to write more I couldn't remember what I was trying to say...

It was in my drafts partially incomplete so since we're expecting the new update soon, I remembered this and posted it.

[wildflowerteas]

20 questions for fic writers!

thank you to vik @minusboy for the tag <3 <3 <3 i missed seeing you on my dash.

how many works do you have on ao3?

. . . 2

what's your total ao3 word count?

503,872. (⊙ _ ⊙)

what fandoms do you write for?

just bsd! i try to work on original stuff in my down time, and I've considered writing for hannibal, sw, dune, etc... before however I've found i enjoy reading fics more for those fandoms.

what are your top five fics by kudos?

i don't have enough fics for this ;_; 1. when i awake 2. the second perspective

do you respond to comments? why or why not?

i try!! i have a huge backlog because i was gone for so long but i'm slowly slowly working through them ( 180+ )

what's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

when i awake's ending is definitely bittersweet, but sometimes death really is just the ending that provides the best narrative fulfillment for a character. however considering the ending I have planned for tsp... ugh. i actually think when i awake might be angstier

what's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

see above.

do you get hate on fics?

apparently~ not much, though, thank god. i have seen people talk about my writing in passing on twitter when they didn't know it was me they were replying to, or they think i don't check the qrts on my posts, but it's mostly harmless stuff about my writing not matching their preferences which is alright <3

do you write smut?

yes, only very recently though

do you write crossovers?

i'm thinking about it... mostly because i think an altered carbon bsd au could go CRAZY

have you ever had a fic stolen?

no!

have you ever had a fic translated?

i've had people ask to! but nothing has come out of it just yet ( or maybe I haven't looked hard enough )

have you ever cowritten a fic before?

i'm hoping i can...i just have huge issues with creative control so it's going to be a big thing for me.

what's your all time favourite ship?

Hannigram or destiel

what's the wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

with the way things are going right now it might be TSP. but in all seriousness, there's a BEAST AU skk thing sitting in my drafts waiting for a better outline...and all I do is stare at it longingly. lots of little snippets of it exist in a nebulous plot cloud ( my notes app ) alongside the synopsis of a soukoku actors au

what are your writing strengths?

i think the thing i do best is probably symbolism or the like... bringing moments back full-circle, weaving bits of the real-life authors' or bsd canon and meta-canon into the fic is where i find myself most satisfied with what I've done. also--since TSP is so noir-inspired--adding references to some of my favorite films hehe.

what are your writing weaknesses?

i'm awful at dialogue ( banter ), action sequences, and planning.

thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

i don't do it in languages i don't know unless i have a team of people willing to check it for me. i just write it in the same language as the rest of the fic and add a dialogue tag specifying it's being translated...

first fandom you wrote for?

you'll never find it but i did write destiel way back when

favourite fic you've ever written?

it WILL be TSP... when i finish it.

tags!!! no pressure to continue <3

@booksandpaperss @nyxi-pixie @saoirseyun <3

[concerningwolves]

The 'When Dealing with Wolves' re-release announcement

I've been mumbling about this decision on here for a while, so I figured it's time for An Official Announcement post. If you're new here, When Dealing with Wolves is my debut novel, which was originally published four years ago (four years and 4 days, to be precise: on June 30th 2021). It's book one of two in The Wyrdseren, a series about humans and (talking) wolves living in the aftermath of a past they've forgotten they once shared.

Thing is, lots has happened since then (starting a bachelor's degree, building up my editing career, writing other books, life fuckery); some of this stuff just slowed me down, and some of it has made me much stronger as a writer. I feel like publishing the second book now while the first one no longer reflects who I am as an author would do the whole series a disservice. That, and in my rush to publish WDWW last time, I made choices about the story that I regret now. But seeing as I'm self-published, I can do what I want forever, so! When Dealing with Wolves is getting revised and re-released.

This post has all the information on how it's going to work and what's getting changed. You can learn more about the novel here.

How it's going to work:

I'm going to finish this draft of book two, The Kindness of Ravens, first, seeing as this draft is going to be the last before revisions. Then I'm going to go in and overhaul WDWW. Key things to know are:

Both the revised WDWW and TKoR will be released at the same time (I'm not even going to guess at a release date yet though lol).

You'll have the option of getting either both of the ebooks as a bundle at a special price, or buying them seperately full price each. I'm going to work out the details for physical books (likely just paperback) closer to release time.

I'm going to take down legacy WDWW over the weekend so it will no longer be available.

Following my tag #The Wyrdseren is the best way to stay tuned for now, and/or you can ask to be added to the series' taglist:

  @yvesdot @kriss-the-writing-nerd @lady-redshield-writes @thespooniewrites @weaver-of-fantasies-and-fables @kwriteswords @heniareth @chauceryfairytales @royalbounties-main-blog @corishadowfang @novel-novelist

(or if you want to be taken off the taglist, that's fine too – just ask! This thing is also so old I had to clean off a bunch of now-defunct blogs, so please let me know if you need to be re-added under a different username).

I'm going to re-open my author newsletter at some point probably, but I'll make a taglist announcement about that first anyway 👍

The scale and scope of changes:

This will still very much be the same book – the same core story, characters, themes and magic system – just polished and refined to better match up to where my storytelling skills are now. My planned changes mostly cover:

continuity / making the two books more cohesive as a whole

pacing

refining certain aspects of the worldbuilding and magic "rules" that never quite sat right with me.

(And now I can incorporate all the viking history special interest reading i've done since then! yay!). Also have some changes planned to Thrigg's backstory that I'm pretty excited about :3

+ I do not know why I ever said yes to my copyeditor applying the Chicago Manual of Style when a) I write UK English and b) I don't like how CMOS handles ellipses & prefer spaced en dashes over closed up em dashes. So I'm changing that too.

[smilesatdawnmain]

so Taken has inspired me to write my first fan fiction, and I was wondering. What sort of prep work do you typically put in before writing your chapters?

I've got like 4 pages of notes/bullet points (3 for the overall au, 1 for the first chapter) and while that works for me, everyone has their own methods, and making mine made me wanna know more about your process.

I'm very similar : ) I make bullet points usually when I don't want to forget an idea or something I want to make sure I add. These are key things I want to add into the chapter. Like say

The Characters get to location

-The characters explore the location

-Gasp, evil villain spotted in alleyway

-give chase!

-Internal monologu that "Why would villain be out in the open?"

-Get to open area and think they caught villain

-oh noesss- twas a trap!

-Fight scene

-Villian gets away with main characters best friend.

Then I write just that. I go through my chapter MANY times, let me tell you. XD The first go through is literally the choppiest, little detail first draft. XD Basically exactly above.

Then I go through it a second time adding more of the characters personal thoughts, what the area might look like, the meat of the story if you will.

Often times, if I get stuck on one scene and am unsure how I want it to play out, I just leave it alone for now. Just to keep the process going, cause I find if I linger on what I don't know/am unsure of, I'm gonna be stuck there all day.

Example: The door opened, leading into a long and eerily quiet hallway. The young maiden gasped as she saw a Monster! The Monster was- (come back to this to figure out monster description. probably something yucky looking)

The maiden was off in a mad dash, desperate to escape. Never daring to look back once, less it be her end!

---- Like that XD XD

And even though I have some gaps in my chapter, I'm still thinking about it once I take my break and go about my life XD And usually, give it a day or two, sometimes even a full week, and SUDDENLY my brain clicks "Oh my gosh. I know exactly what can go there!!!"

--- I say I read through my entire chapter start to finish several dozen times. And each time I find myself adding a little extra something, even to parts I deemed "complete" the previous read through.

Like a funny little interaction, or a fun character detail.

Then, once the chapter is congruent and has a beginning middle and end, I read through it one more time to try and catch any spelling errors (I still find so many even after I post them- sighhhhhh) and it's done!

--------

I hope that made sense XD It's probably a messy way to make a chapter, but it make sense to my brain.

[bladekindeyewear]

Beyond Canon 2024 October and November Artist/Writer Commentary

So the new Artist and Writer commentary for this month's latest upd8 popped up on Patreon, and even though I've been working (pathetically slowly) on a draft post that goes back through the commentary in order from the past where I left off, I feel like the last two updates have been HAMMER BLOWS in terms of the seriousness, hopelessness, et cetera and I feel like everyone wants answers as badly as I do, and the teaser we got at the end of the last upd8 to whet my excitement can offset the bad news only SO much on its own. So even though I'm kind of too sick to be doing this today, I want to help myself and others cope by liveblogging the last two months' posts of Artist and Writer commentary each so we get some more... words from the word of God on why they're subjecting us to this.

As much of this is Patreon exclusive content I won't be quoting everything, I'll be making just a couple out of context quotes and summarizing or paraphrasing things that I find important to point out about what I'm reading.

I'll put a TL;DR here above the cut once I'm done-- ahem: "Oh yeah Rose was even more doomed to feel fucked in that sort of situation than I realized, and also there's a hiatus because an animation is coming to kick off the End of Act 1 / Start of Act 2, holy shit. Maybe I’d have known that already if I’d read the news posts, oh well".

10-24 Artist Commentary

This is the artist commentary for the update I liveblogged starting here.

They mention how it contains a lot of standout moments, "things are coming to a head in the story"-- there was indeed a climax between this update and the one that followed it, I certainly agree. Since this is the artist commentary, they talk about their appreciation for proposed pacing, the jaw-dropped yelling of some on reading the proposed script... there's a shot of the story board, of course.

They go into some interesting detail on how they went about devising how they wanted Jade's "Space force fields" to look.

Everyone loves Jade's paw-print gloves, as they should.

Haven: this panel showing “how rose ‘sees’ things now” was added late into this update's production and floral didn't have a description other than “haven go wild” 

Yes I can certainly believe that. Nice touch in retrospect thematically coloring Rose's blood with her color instead of the literal red it'd be.

"generic troll soldier bumps into a god"-- nice how they're lumping Kanaya in with the god-tiers when referring to the Gods of this world.

Oh I never actually noticed the rebellion's "massive crab tanks" in the background of all these other shots, no wonder they surprised me the following update.

The full hemospectrum of Blood around them grasping hands:

Haven: sometimes very blatant symbolism is the way to go.

exactly, noted, noted...

Some notes on how they did up Jane's office and her bridge, and the storyboard for that BRUTAL scene with Jane and Jake, ow.

Practice the different artists had at drawing Jane and Jake in "Guardian Mode", which is the new clearly adult sorta-hero-moded silhouette term that I probably would have gotten from reading the other artist commentary in order.

Nice thoughts on how even the framed photo of Tavvy next to the blaster button is a distant shot-in-passing photo that doesn't communicate a close family.

The shot, the heal, the turnaround and beatdown.

I got storyboarder brain and I love the excruciating anticipation of making people hold their breath between panels... When you know something’s coming but you can’t help but clasp your hand over your mouth like, “OH NO…”

Yeah, no kidding...

Nothing too concrete to note in this artist commentary, the writer commentary's probably going to be richer. So to save my sanity I'm going to do the next Artist Commentary first:

11-2024 Artist Commentary

This is the artist commentary surrounding the most recent upd8 i liveblogged.

Oh holy shit, this one has some big news I wasn't aware of!

Chumi, hoping you guys had a Happy Thanksgiving: Welcome welcome! 🎉🎉 We’re really getting into the holiday season with this one! Unfortunately, this is our last update until the Flash Production break. Look forward to the Flash guys, we’re working really hard!

I didn't expect them to start off our new session with a big flash, but if they're going to bust out some Animation to really emphasize any new stepping stone in Beyond Canon, the introduction or pre-introduction to The New Session™ is probably the time to do it. I'm pretty busy and/or sick lately (the annoying sort of sick not the dangerous kind) so I'll be glad if it takes a little longer before the next upd8 than it did this one.

They talk about how they carefully gradiated the sky over past updates to reflect the danger closing in, much appreciated.

Tavvy writes with something called "Magic Link" handwriting apparently; they go more into it here.

An Andrew-embossed-seal reference, huh? I'm not gonna elaborate on that but it is funny.

Rose covering the kids' eyes before the shot:

I thought I was so clever putting a bit of shadow underneath her hands… Because her aspect is Light… She’s blocking the Light / knowledge from reaching the kids…That’s why she’s a silhouette too… Heh…

Yep.

Kim: This particular bit gets me every time I think about it… Jade loves her child!!! The way it completely throws Jade off her game when the most precious thing in her life right now is suddenly in the middle of a freaking battlefield of a WAR. These kids just can’t stand still for one minute can they!!

Gahhh, it just tears my heart out. Rose could have stopped this with a word, earlier, but didn't... why not?! What does she KNOW where she sees this path being the better path forward than others?!

Jade getting shot...

Floral: I can feel how much this hurts, it’s so good.

Guhh my heart. Owwwwuch. Can bad things just stop happening to Jade Harley for once? Can some good things start happening where she gets to be cool and not shoved out of the way unceremoniously by the narrative? :C

Okay there's something interesting here.

Floral: I did a single panel for this update too, featuring Dirk’s bell tower and the rest of the human city that stands between it and the meteor site. So much to parse. Wonder what the significance of it all could be.

Implying this has some significance... does it have something to do with what's brought into the game session? With how much IS and how much isn't? Or are dramatic things happening at "Dirk's bell tower" repeatedly being themed to be brought home by something else happening there later? Hmm.

Oh:

The impact is also knocking over whole tanks and the trees around the area, so the Rebellion guys near the meteor are totally vaporized. Sorry fellas. The two peeps in front are just some random soldiers to fill the empty space HEHE.

This explains my confusion around the explosion. The crab tanks I hadn't noticed earlier that they helped point out above, and these indeed being two random soldiers and PROBABLY not a stealth inexplicable Aradia appearance. PROBABLY.

So the "End of Act 1" bit:

Chumi: We are not done with Act 1 just yet…

I was wondering how much the "psyche" meant, if it meant psyche regarding our place within the story, how much was left to go, whether this was a real act ending et cetera... apparently the end of Act 1 is coming somewhat soon from the sound of it, and that gives us an idea of what exactly is planned for this lovable clusterfuck that is Beyond Canon. Is this a three-act tale we're planning, or effectively one, sort of like our three most major build-ups and climaxes across the six acts in the main story (Descend, Cascade, Collide)?

A slight preview sketch of the computer exploding in GC's face you can see if you opt for the Patreon commentary, and that closes out that. Now we'll have a look at the really, REALLY juicy stuff for the last two updates, the WRITER commentary. I'm dreading seeing them drill down into the dread these last two updates gave us before the hope of a new session with our favorite new kid-kids in it, and I'm desperately hoping that as they explain their choices they sprinkle in some EXTRA hope they hadn't given us with Rose's twisted hopeless perspective, because I could use the positive reinforcement.

10-2024 Writer Commentary

Been so excited/apprehensive for this update to drop!! It’s been months and the entire time we’ve been going back and tweaking and playing with things to perfect it and it was worth it. Super satisfied with the response.

Any writers getting ready to write such meaningful dialogue and traumatize their audiences are going to be chomping at the bit to, I've had the taste of that in my mouth before as someone on the writing end and the twists you're ready to unleash can have you salivating even when you know they're going to cause suffering. ESPECIALLY when you know that. It's the entire author's curse that is essentially THE ENEMY in the form of Dirk Strider in this narrative.

And I was inspired to handle it in a way true to a Seer or Light, heavy in lore and reminiscent to Rose’s GameFAQs Walkthrough of the SBURB Beta.

That's a very good inspiration for putting most of Rose's predictions in her narrations below her walking away from that conversation.

They go a lot into the idea of her creating a Spatial shield, whether it would fall into the confines of her powerset. I like a lot of the keywords used here:

A stray missile comes towards them and the shield won’t bounce it off but manipulate and control the space around it.

Note the keywords 'manipulate and control', the change/control/manipulate keywords we've always held so central to the theorized Witch role and possibly the Heir role by extension.

And ultimately:

I think in general, a lot of aspected powers are limited only by the user’s imagination!  But even putting that aside, it makes a lot of sense to me that she’d have the tight control necessary of a spatial perimeter necessary to do something as basic as maintain a shield.  We’ve seen her do way crazier shit before.

--who could disagree?

FLORAL: There was a lot to explore with this conversation between Rose and Jade, the first one they’ve had privately since fucking… ACT 5, 2011?

Yeah, they barely got STARTED with the unpacking. And Rose refused to continue it because she foresaw that it'd be ultimately pointless.

Many thoughts of how their dynamic could be and how their dynamic would evolve under current conditions went into it and it was so fun!! Writing two people that obviously understand one another so well while feeling completely misunderstood and frustrated because they’re not being empathized with is complicated! But exactly how you show a character's specific perspective the best in my opinion. Rose and Jade share a lot of experiences, especially considering their Aspect switcheroo fake out, and have taken such completely different lessons from them. I love their friction! 

What's also unsaid here is how their Aspect switcharoo fake out was also secretly potentially paired with a REAL class switcharoo in the form of role inversion that they BOTH underwent, Jade getting a distrust of Seeing and Rose gaining a distrust of Witchcraft in making any ultimate difference as this wasn't the way they were best meant to operate as themselves, but can't help but project onto each other when stressed.

We know from Meat that even without all of Candy’s baggage they aren’t close. So why? There are very probable, passive answers and then there are equally probable drama answers, that actively communicate parts of these characters we never got to see clash.

Really interesting. And yeah, we DID get to see that from this update.

MILES: I think, and this is something that we’re going to touch on later in this commentary/update, part of that is that they really aren’t that compatible in terms of their interpersonal problem solving styles. 

We talked about this in a great deal of detail surrounding the update in question, and I'm glad they were intentionally provoking us to think about these things!

Okay there's a section here that I'm going to quote in FULL from the Patreon commentary, and it also outlines a divide, a HUGE rift between Candy Jade and Candy Rose that Meat Jade/Rose wouldn't have experienced, and the tragedy of its basic inevitability because of how events turned out:

MILES: And speaking of dear, sweet Yiffy, and the way Rose and Jade’s attitudes differ, there really isn’t a better example of their incompatibility than the two entirely polarized attitudes they take towards Yiffy’s existence: Rose’s detached view of Yiffy as amounting to nothing more than an inconvenient favor she did for a friend, as part of a cosmic obligation she barely even understands (more on this later), spits directly in the face of Jade’s knowledge that Yiffy is, without question, the most important thing in her life.  It’s arguably “right” that Rose chose to completely sterilize any feelings she might possibly have had (but probably barely even ever did) for Yiffy in terms of maintaining some modicum of emotional fidelity to her Actual Wife and her Actual Daughter, but obviously that’s going to chafe Jade.  Jade’s a lonely person!  Yiffy was a way to fill that void, and although having a daughter has absolutely brought some purpose, companionship, and stability to her life, the complications that came along with it have absolutely served to isolate her even more in other ways. 

:'(

With all the setups being given to us like Dave's stuffed corpse falling out of Jade's pocket, or the idea of Kanaya finding "new love" before Rose is saved that she refused to Foresee (I'm still banking on that Light Between Space OT3, you can't stop me), I'm really hoping that Candy Jade can both live through this and come to a MUCH LESS LONELY peace than she's come to in other timelines we've been forced to witness. I don't want Meat Jade to be the only Jade that comes out of this healthier and happier than she went in.

The commentary gets into Jade and Rose's debate on what Truth means, from a Light perspective or a Space perspective almost...

That’s why it was felt important to comment on Rose’s estranged relationship to Roxy too, in her ramble. Really cementing questions that were hinted at before, can you find closure in another, younger version of your dead parent? How does that evolve over the years?

I really hope that we get a version of Rose and Roxy out of at LEAST one of the two ongoing timelines that end up MUCH closer than this update implied Rose's parental relationship had forced them to stay estranged rather than get closer like they could have, possibly should have. I want them to come to terms with each other because they could be SUCH good sisters to each other. And maybe in the Meat timeline when they're put into direct conflict, when Roxy achieves some sort of victory over Rose, Void over the gaps in Ultimate Light, that it finally punches through her emotional barriers and lets that version of Rose accept her essentially-sister the way her Candy Self never let happen.

And now we get to that horrifying future-sight screed of Rose into the narrative text zone...

FLORAL: Everything Rose talks about in her monologue was so, so nerve wracking to write, to take so many points of what makes this character who they are laid out for the reader.

Yeah, it made so little sense why she'd say such callous things to Kanaya earlier unless she had been DELIBERATELY trying to push her away... which as it turned out in this monologue, she absolutely had been, having foreseen her own coma.--

Which is hard for serialized media because you guys don’t get those answers the way you would if you were watching a movie or a book, there’s real time waiting completely out of your control. It’s anxiety inducing! I’ve had a good deal of Homestuck induced anxiety myself lol.

Hell to the fucking yes. We're all feeling that incredible anxiety and only the writer knows, for sure, that it's all going to turn out okay, but we the readers have to wait in limbo with our anxieties gnawing at us all the while.

MILES: I totally get where you’re coming from, on that.  This bit felt like a part we really did need to write, partially for that exact reason; taking the readers on an exciting voyage to the twisted shores of Rose’s nihilisthmus is a peek behind the curtains that hopefully DOES serve to contextualize just how checked out she is and provide some more clarification on why it is she’s acting the way she does.

Instead of taking individual text blocks, Miles is going to give us the whole shebang summary, so I'll pull it straight out of the patreon commentary wholesale since anyone suffering like me probably ought to hear it with me:

Overall, as a Light player trapped in a universe/timeline/whatever-you-want-to-call-Candy devoid of “real” narrative consequence (and thusly, devoid of any “real” fortune that might seek to inform her Light-aspected guidance), she’s been sort of adrift!  Imagine having access to a cosmic intuition that points you towards what’s “best” and then, one day, you notice it’s broken.  Still trying, but broken nonetheless.  Rose is already predisposed towards existential malaise; she’s always needed action to fill that void, and when the little voice in your head suddenly starts telling you that you live in a world where action is fundamentally meaningless, coping with that reality probably... fucking sucks!  She has nonetheless done an admirable job of trying to keep herself anchored with a wife she DOES care for and a daughter she DOES love, but fighting the creeping thought that none of it means anything at all?  Having what you believe is objective cosmic confirmation of nihilism woven into the foundation of the reality you inhabit?  That’s scary shit.  Honestly, it’s kind of a wonder she’s even as sane as she is, but Rose, for better or worse, is quite the badass. Not great for the people around her, though.

I'm starting to see, that's useful additional information. Rose's Seer of Light powers aren't just telling her that this timeline doesn't matter, they're also almost broken to the point of uselessness by the fact that so little 'matters' in the entire world. And those malfunctioning powers have been reinforcing her nihilism just as much as the message that this is a Doesn't Matter Timeline is. Gosh that's depressing... and I hope what Vriska, the Plot Point, and the New Session pulling in their children does manages to eventually shake her out of it, even if she needs to get miraculously saved from a coma first.

Moving on...

Karkat and Kanaya clasping hands being awesome, yeah.

Jake and Jane's confrontation. As much as they wanted in their hearts to give Jake a win, they had to make him lose here because Jane is just too wildly powerful to fall to him when he'd only just turned around, and had to make it sentimental and personal instead of doing something cold and unloading enough lead into her to kill a God of Healing, which wasn't something he'd prepared himself to do, doing something more Jake and "cinematic" instead.

Then we cut back to the kids, and the next update:

11-2024 Writer Commentary

Okay, here we go. What are you going to give us from that last update that was such an emotional whiplash of impacts?

FLORAL, loving some bacon: THE HOMEWRECKER IS DEAD!!!!!!

God damnit XD You fucking jokesters.

Some comments they have about Jake's letter here, which seems unintentionally tailor made to provoke Vrissy into a frenzy:

We’ve been trying to give him a little shade of passive aggression, just a hint of spice, and I think this letter was a fun place for that.  “Sorry but you guys are kind of weak as fuck, can’t do a single backflip, and so you need to sit here and eat these considerately provided packages of snacks while a real gymnast handles shit.”  It’s a flex, but I think it also demonstrates his caretaker tendencies.

I'm trying to dissect what they're saying about him and more could mean about, like, his potential Class and Aspect, but I'm coming up with bupkis aside from all our previous scattershot analyses. Gymnasts can be Breath, Breath can be Provokers, and plenty of classes can be Caretakers, but... I'm still not entirely sure where Tavvy is going to land on the hero spectrum.

MILES: Unfortunately, he probably should have accounted for the fact that these two aren’t really inclined to listen to him.  When Tavvy flips the script on their established relationship dynamic, as he has quite a bit these days, it rubs at least Vrissy the wrong way. 

Yeah it didn't seem like Tavvy was TRYING to provoke Vrissy to run out in rage and try to do something heroic to keep her kismesis from showing her up, but he definitely had that effect unintentionally as hard as it possibly could have been, and any variety of Breath player could have unintentionally managed that, even a Bard. The Caretaker thing is being reinforced by the soda and snacks though, and this writer commentary... is it pointing to a specific caretaker class like a Maid of Breath? Hmm.

On Jade dying right in front of them:

Clearly shit is popping off a bit more flagrantly than the kids imagined.

To put it mildly, yeah.

Tensions have been building for a while, but blood’s been definitively drawn now.  It’s been a lot of setup to get to this point, but it’s super satisfying to see it all reach a boiling point here, even if it comes at the cost of poor sweet Jade’s cranial structural integrity. 

Everything this entire-- well, "Act", now that we KNOW it's an Act, has been building towards THIS climax in particular. A moment where so much shit goes down that we can officially say in every way that Shit Has Gone Down, and they had to herald it in with SOMETHING shocking I guess... especially if they want to neutralize the lingering macguffin that is Candy Calliope's spare Ring of Life if I had to guess from the hints they've been dropping.

The act curtain drop, the psyche, and...

MILES: You’ll notice that, with this little gag (which felt so fun to do, by the way), we’ve returned to the ACT structure, abandoning the CHAPTER format HS^2 utilized before the production change.  This was a point of a lot of thought, for us, but ultimately we think that the Act structure makes more sense for the story it is that we’re trying to tell, for a variety of reasons that I’m not gonna get TOO into here.

With a new session on the cusp of starting, I can really imagine why.

That said, we’re coming up to the climax of what we consider... I don’t know, the “setup” period of the plot?  It’s been a long, long road, and it’s tough to say what final percentage of HS:BC this whole saga is going to represent, but capping it off all under the purview of one Act feels appropriate.  Everything, from the beginning of HS^2 to now, has been dedicated to fully selling the transition from the Epilogues to what has become Homestuck: Beyond Canon.  It’s been just over a year of updates on our end, and it’s so crazy to see this arc getting ready to finish!

That confirms a feeling I was getting but wasn't sure whether to confirm. That the entire time we've been experiencing HS^2, interrupted by that long hiatus in between, was meant to be a setup for THIS moment where we realize a new session is starting, and we're dumped fuck deep into the Game Session format with all the establishing situations and incoming vectors and player collisions to come laid out like bullets streaming in converging on a single point of impact.

And to finish it out, they analyze our new Dark Purple Text Friend!

HAVEN: “Negging” this is new! And again with this 108 number pattern, how curious.

I genuinely forgot they did that 108 earlier in Vriska's plot point. Read back on my Homestuck Liveblog tag for people pointing out the significance of that as HS:BC's act number.

This person seems to drag on each sentence... Before snapping back to finality.

A trait I hadn't noticed besides the bombs, but a trait one bomb-and-fuse oriented could be reasonably said to have without indicating to us which Doom class this obviously-Doom-player is.

HAVEN: A lot of information here! TC and AA, who are curious characters and what could their roles be? (well I suppose you could guess their upcoming roles.)

There probably ARE hints to TC and AA's literal hero roles, their classes and aspects (such as Oracle being listed there), but we don't have enough of them on hand to tell the wheat from the chaff just yet beyond that. I'm sure we're going to be getting piles of hints in the coming pages both up through and after and possibly within whatever flash-like animation they're taking extra time to cook up for us to celebrate the miracle of this new beginning.

They point out GC's "and we did spend a lot of time on it..." meaning they're the ones that must have coded this new incarnation of The Game out of the Ruins codebase.

HAVEN: Here I think there was going to be a line specifying they had “47 friends lined up” but it got switched out.  JAMES: I wonder if that's important. I guess we still need to be sort of coy about it.Which is horseshit. HAVEN: Yeah, that IS horseshit! Anyway our coyness continues.

I like how they wanted to make at least a JOKING reference to a 48-player Squiddle session that isn't going to happen, because I'm still betting that somewhere between 8 and 16 people is the most we can comfortably fit in a new plot like this, not to mention the Gene pattern that seems to be being followed so far, but we'll have to see.

Alright, that's the end of four posts of commentary. I've gained a LITTLE bit of meaningful information and some expectations on the upcoming timeline, and I hope you have too, and I also hope I didn't pull so much out of the Patreon exclusive info that y'all don't feel discouraged to chip into Homestuck Beyond Canon too like I'm doing if you have extra dosh to spare (but only to spare, don't impact your livelihood if you need the money for important/life things, that's advice they and anyone else would give you).

I'm feeling slightly less sick by luck now that I've rammed all this typing out of my fingers, and hopefully y'all feel a little less of the ominousness that can't help but hang around recent in-canon events. Phew.

I see in the Patreon comments some commenters are extrapolating from that cut "48" that Dirk wants to create the session that made the TROLL session (with the trolls' 48 star signs) to complete a solid loop, which I concede is possible, but I doubt his goals are really all that pedestrian, that wouldn't make him the most important the way he's aiming-- you already have my counter-speculation in hand that Dirk intends to create the session that gave birth to the chess game ITSELF, that gave birth to the Prospit/Derse system and the very seed session for the propagation of Paradox Space. Alt!Calliope seems like they're practically in alignment with him on the goal, wanting to tie Beyond Canon back down into a neat self-causing loop excepting that Alt!Callie's intending to ensure he doesn't get to make himself the Author Of All That Exists, no matter who it hurts when she forces the issue, which makes Alt!Calliope not much different from him. And between these dueling forces, we have the ever-underestimated plans of Calliope and Roxy across both timelines, the Muse of Space and the Rogue of Void, who seem to have SUCCEEDED in collaborating knowingly or unknowingly across the timelines to use Vriska as a shunt to SOMEHOW get the Candy Kids to be important friends and players in this new Game, bringing things all full circle in a way not even Alt!Calliope thought would save their home timeline but quite possibly can. How exciting!

It hurts, sometimes, but gosh do I still love Homestuck. See y'all whenever that next hiatusy bombastic probably Flash-animation-like update goes up in a month or two or however long it takes them, bless their diligent crazy hearts.

[nancyheart11]

Hey guys! guess who forgot to post this months ago and the pics rotting in the drafts :D

So for my senior project I convinced the professor to let me work on a corset even though it was a class for outdoor products! As someone who needs extra back support a corset to help me keep better posture is amazing, and if I'm making a custom one for me, why not add pockets so that it's even more useful!

The first pic is the digital concept sketch I turned in

Then we have the various stages of prototypes made of a thick cotton to make sure things would fit the way I wanted before I cut things from my nice fabric. I went through 3 different iterations of the bra cups, 2 on the straps, and took out almost 3 inches from the side seams at the under arms. I also broke three needles testing my boning insertion because I didn't quite cut them short enough.

The next row shows how I went from 4 piles of cut pieces for the different layers, to the two layer that got sewn together. The Fashion layer of cotton herringbone getting basted to crisp horsehair underling, and the lining layer of green satin that was bought for a completely different project and is finally getting used here having crisp sew in interfacing attached.

the next four pictures take you through sewing my panels together, making the boning channels, inserting the boning, and just how much curve got added since the boning came in a roll XD

then a close up of me trimming my seams because the pattern instructions rarely tell you to do this BUT IT MAKES EVERYTHING LOOK SO MUCH BETTER ON ENCLOSED SEAM I PROMISE. also texture.

then comes the construction of the cups, which was a trick! once I got the pieces sewn together I had to go through and edgestitch the seams open in order to make it so they would curve correctly. the close up on the cup shows this particularly well and also! shows off how cool the different grains working together is with herringbone because the little V's are pointing towards each other and blending beautifully.

the next row has the line of topstitching to make a wire channel to put in the underwire that supports the cup (I could not find any underwire at any of the stores I tried and was running low on time ... So I just went to the thrift store and bought a bra to harvest the wire) I also may or may not have added a beaded lace trim for some ✨spice✨ which cost me 2 hours of hand stitching

next row shows just how neatly lining the straps went! I was a little worried about that since I hadn't had time to try it on my prototype. then comes the part I pulled an all-nighter on to get this thing turned in on time, trimming the upper and lower edges in order to wrap bias tape around the edges and slipstitch the entire thing closed BY HAND since I would have hit my boning and broke more needles if I used the machine to do it :(

Then the row with my current pfp on it! :D another one of my goals with this corset was being able to put it on and off far easier and quicker than the corsets that lace in the back, so I had changed out the laces in the back and split the front, adding these really cool hook and eyes to the edges, and in the process accidentally took what may be the best picture of my life. then the pockets, which wen through their own series of prototypes before I settled on the design you see, and rather than line the pockets with the easily snagged and light satin, I used more of that durable heavy cotton so that I can actually use those pockets (which don't quite fit my Ipad, but everything else I tend to want? easy fit) I will put more on eventually, but this was done mere hours before the project was due so I could only get out 2 at the same quality of the rest of the corset

the next three are just different view of how proud I am of my corset! Because in just over a month I made that! and it looks good and feels good too (๑•̀ㅂ•́)و✧

Then the last two pictures are interesting, because prior to this class I had never thought too hard hard about how they get the drawings of the clothes on the back of the pattern envelope. But since this class was designed to help us get experience in doing things to industry standard, we all had to make technical flats of our projects after they were due and put them in a packet with all the details a factory would need to replicate the project, by doing these drawing I learned so so much about digital art and it really pushed me grow more than anything else in the class.

Thank you for reading through, because actually making a corset has been on my bucket list for years and actually having done it is an amazing feeling <3

[aioliravioli-69]

Detective Noir AU

Alright, this au has been sitting around, waiting for me to finish it but chances are, I never will :((

So instead, I'll just post what I have so far

This was inspired by that one comment on the au post the author made(at this point you could consider me a stalker for the amount of hours I've scrolled through her feed💀)

First things first, none other than our main character himself, Detective Hollow!

I made him the detective in this one mainly because I was basing it off of the theory that if there was no heroine the keyholder would simply become the hero instead(don't remember where I read this but I'm guessing it was the webtoon comment section).

I also my have just really wanted to draw him in an overcoat

gonna be honest, I did little to no research going into this AU, the thing I most tried to learn about was the femme fatale so I could get a good view on how to design Buddy

Speaking of the femme fatale:

Seems like someone got caught in the spotlight!

And before you ask, yes, those are pants. Weird ones, but pants nonetheless. I swear, I hate lighting when it's from the front. Frontal lighting can go fuck itself. Please ignore the little help lines I put in

Honestly, Buddy's outfit was probably the hardest part of this one. I wanted him to look slutty, but I didn't want to make it TOO slutty, but I feel like I may have added WAYY too many folds in his pantsuit and I kinda messed up on the overcoat lol. The diamond on his chest was inspired by the diamond on the villainess key more than anything and I tried to incorporate that into his gloves too.

Anyway, have some potential outfit sketches I made:

the two I thought might come off as too slutty and

the ultimate winner of the outfit ideas

As you can see the diamond chest window and fur coat were a mut in this outfit and I'm pretty happy with the end result

Y'all know how the femme fatale usually has to seduce the main character a.k.a. the detective?

Well, y'all know me so have an extra just for you <33

But I'm not done just yet!

Remember how I said that I made Chase the hero because of the lack of a heroine in the story? Well...

I did some more surface level research(and I mean very surface level) and decided to adapt the trope of the girl-next-door archetype for him!!

Don't think it suits him, since they usually just sit pretty and wait for the detective to notice them, but they do have badass roles once in a while and I live for those!!!

The one Chase has taken on doesn't though sadly :')

I decided to go with Charlie Hollow for this one because it sounded more like something the timid and 'pure'(yuck I know, but sadly film noir movies often prop up comparisons between the femme fatale and the girl-next-door, this being one of them) girl next door would have

Overall I tried to make this one as cutesy as possible because, why not lol

Lastly(I apologise, I made this in a rush because I was running out of motivation)

The distance between Buddy and the detective sure did close QUICK-

Originally I was planning on adding Deacon as a police officer and now that I think about it I could technically fit Prunella in here as well, but I just don't have any willpower left to keep this thing alive

My art blocks been acting up recently and I can't even pick up the pencil without immediately wanting to put it down :((

I wish I could have continued this and maybe I will someday, but until then this'll just stay in my drafts