#but let me not get ahead of myself - I have like 7 characters more to finish before I can do those ones

[accio-victuuri]

it’s been a while since i’ve shared my recent reads! so here’s what i have picked up in the past months. felt inspired cause i’m really enjoying the story i’m reading now, w/c i initially picked up as a manhwa but i’m impatient so i switched to the novel. it’s called the hunter is gonna lay low or the hunter wants to live quietly. it’s such a gem! cause it starts of pretty simple and funny then the author manages to put in the plot and well, it’s plotting. lol.

if you like systems/dungeons, cast of characters, time travel, mystery and the most delicious slow burn then this is for you. i hope this gets animated at some point cause it’s so good! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 this is the only novel on the list so it’s pretty special that the story led me to WANT to read the source.

i’m literally listing what i’ve read so yeah. and pretty much a v short reaction to it cause there is a lot (53). it’s a mix of ongoing and completed works at the time of writing and when i read it so i’ll mark that too.

1. Sweetie, Sweetie, Sweetie - this title is so misleading cause you would think it’s a modern story full of sweetness when it’s not. this deals with kingdoms/royalty, superpowers — and isekai.

2. How my Daddies Became mates (completed) - first foray into mangas because i most prefer manhwa/manhuas — i know, sacrilege. but yeah, it’s a cute story of two dad telling their kid how they met and fell in love. It’s so wholesome! a short read when you feel tired of all the toxic bl stories. 😂😂😂

3. Unintentional Love Story (completed) - pick this up! it’s so good! slice of life kind of vibe and falling in love in a small town.

4. Someone like You (completed) - this was something i started before and went back in now that it’s completed.

5. Isekai no Sata Wa shachiku shidai - i don’t really go for Mangas but this one pulled me in! I love myself some isekai plot. it’s just sad that no one has updated the translation for so long so that may put some people off in picking this up.

6. Bend over Backwards (completed) - corporate slave x international model. if you like this kind of dynamic then go ahead. Only 40 chapters plus a bunch of side stories so this kind of thing is a good choice.

7. Dinner with a Vampire - pretty obvs with the title.

8. Mister Wonderful teases me

9. Romance but not Romantic - omegaverse! the kind where the omega needs the alpha but initially hated him.

10. Be, Be. - omegaverse with modern royalty!

11. Smoky Nectar 1 - a short read that continues to a part 2 and it’s good ✌🏼

12. Smoky Nectar 2

13. Reincarnated to Devil King Evelogia’s World - this is so uniquely unhinged that it became. endearing. No. I swear. I haven’t read anything like it. I love it tho. Maybe some people will find it over the top but it’s now one of my personal faves.

there’s an animated version of it if you wanna start with that just to see how cute they are lol.

14. Bullying the Dog - an MC who didn’t get much love then he meets the ML who shows him what it’s like. it’s so somft.

15. Bittersweet Martini (completed) - i’m gonna cheat here and copy/paste the first comment on this story cause i think it perfectly describes the story: “If you're looking for a casual pleasure read with a green flag story with heavy flirting, which leads to a lot of blushing but also deals with a more serious topic towards the middle, without leaning too much into the drama, then look no further.”

16. Over the Paradise - guideverse with zombies!

17. Hero vs Villain - what happens when the supposed hero and villain become friends and fall in love? this was so nice!

18. Night of London - vampire and werewolf pairing! come on! Let’s gooooo! 🙌🏼

19. Kill my love - omegaverse and assassins!

20. Turning - Another work that i would most likely pick up the novel version cause it’s that good! Regression theme! ❣️plus the setting is they are in a kingdom where people have powers.

21. The Moon is coming to me - I have already talked bout this before and it’s one of my absolute faves! I didn’t know the Manhua was released! So i was so happy to enjoy it in that form. The translation for this is very close to the end so pick it up!

22. Cozy Obsession - transmigration where the MC knows how the story goes so he is trying his best to change the ending.

23. Summertime (completed) - one of my favorites! love it when friends become lovers and some may say the ML here is manipulative but i wanna say in a good way. lol. anyway, it’s classic, atleast from the MC’s side that you’ve known this person some time and that summertime everything has changed.

24. My way with you (completed) - gonna cheat again with this one by pasting here what someone commented: “LISTEN UP GUYS this one has everything: healthy happy relationship, supportive friends, trauma and healing, mysterious past connections, beautiful men, hot af smut, 100% consent, cutest lovey dovey couple, NO drama, NO “misunderstandings”, NO second ml, NO annoying interfering side characters. You will cry, but because it’s just so good.” 💯

25. Netkama Punch - i haven’t finished and progressed much as i would like tho i know a lot of people have this as their favorite! I will get back to it! The premise of hidden identity and online gaming is one of my fave so i will surely pick this up again.

26. Through the Years - i haven’t finished this yet but it’s a lot of people’s fave

27. Fools (completed) - disillusioned guy meets excitable puppy 🤍

28. Moonquake (completed) - a very unique concept. people on earth have powers and then some of them decided to rebel and live in the Moon. Our MC is one of the best ones on earth and is supposed to bring down the leader of the rebellion. but you all know what happens, they fall in love! AHHHHH! and i have to say the art in this too is exceptional.

29. Men’s wear store and the Royal Princess (completed) - this may be weird for some or slow / not enough action lol. i enjoyed it tho! the MC cross dresses and finds someone who loves and accepts him!

30. Ex Hot Neighbor (completed) - a story that centers around a misunderstanding! MC thinks he can’t date the neighbor cause he’s his friend’s ex. but nope!

31. Forest Sea (completed) - A good and solid fantasy story. Please give it a try! The whole birds vs snakes thing was kinda weird at first but the author made it work.

32. When you were asleep - this hasn’t been updated in a while and it’s so sad because the art is topnotch! the plot is good too, especially the dreamscapes but there’s still a lot to discover cause we wanna know what happened in the past. Why is MC even having these dreams and all that.

33. Beum & Go’s Unholy…. - still ongoing and read few chapters

34. Spring, the color of love (completed) - what a wonderful story. Oftentimes, as a reader, you have that sense of boundary with the narrator. But this one — you can feel and understand what the MC is thinking and going through. even tho i haven’t experienced what he did, i can totally get it. this is one of those tropes where they fall in love during their school years and some misunderstanding happens, they meet again years later and try again. something i would love to re-read even if there are parts of it that hurt. and it’s just proof that if something is meant to be, it will come back to you.

35. Keep Holding On (completed) - a short and sweet read with friends to lovers trope!

36. Wolf in the House (completed) - i am so late with this cause i feel like every list has this story as one of the best. I have to agree! it’s so good! tho i have to say i’m more attached to the second pairing. this one is a perfect mix of fantasy, action, comedy and romance. A solid recommendation!

37. Touch within the Abyss (completed) - AAAAAHHHHHH! a hitman x blind cinnamon roll! read it now! please! it’s so sweet! their love and care for each other is so pure 🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹

38. 99% in love season 1 (completed) - from bestfriends to lovers in the cutest way! they start fake dating and it leads to more obvs.

39. 99% in love season 2 - their college life and this one has smut scenes!

40. Alpha Trauma ( novel ongoing ) - if you know Omega Complex then you might be aware that this is a sequel of sorts but follows the second lead’s love story if you may. Everyone loves Dohyun so i’m one of those happy readers who is happy that he gets his own story, tho the POV in this is not his but his Omega. If you like ABO and campus setting then this may be for you.

41. Soul Sealer’s school life - The MC is the soul sealer who has to do good deeds to prolong his life, then he meets the ML who has a strong spirit in him. It’s a perfect blend of fantasy, comedy and not so much romance as of the moment. The art is 💯 and i really like to see where this goes!

42. Guidance with Benefits - still ongoing and read few chapters

43. Chiguha Kuna Kisu (completed) - if you like a short read that will make you have overall good vibes then this is it. school setting, two cute boys, a fortunate miscommunication and starting a relationship. it’s so good and made me want to look for more mangas! 🤍

44. Spicy Milk Candy - yandere but in a good way. that’s all i’m gonna say.

45. Ruby Red wo Kamikudaku (completed) - i’m just gonna add the summary below but it’s truly a unique read!

Akane is an Omega who can see people's pheromones as multicolored "crystals”. During his school days, when he was lonely because of his peculiar constitution, he meets Makise, a school nurse teacher. 5 years later, they are miraculously reunited, but Makise has a secret

46. Yume Nara Doko Made Yurusaremasuka (completed) - corporate slave x young policeman. 6 chapters of sweetness!

47. Sparkling Baby (completed) - this is supposedly a sequel for the second lead, but i haven’t read the first story. I just love how the MC/ML first met and then made a mark on each other as strangers — but it wasn’t there time yet. and so they meet again later and navigate their lives together. What attracted me to this story is how the MC changed because of love. For years, he had this sense of what he think is love and looking back, maybe it didn’t work out because love isn’t supposed to be like that. What he found with the ML is real and why it feels different.

48. Ashita kimi no mono ni shite (completed) - this so wholesome! school setting and friends to lovers. quiet boy x cool guy

49. Koibitu Keiyaku chu ni suki (completed) - friends to lovers! fake dating. and well, look at them. so precious together:

50. Camboy Bunny (completed) - i think the title says it all. A delicious read!

51. Beyond the Memories - AAAAAHHHHHHH! the story in itself should be sweet and fluffy but the author manages to squeeze in the undercurrent of there is something wrong. as a reader, there is something big that we don’t know and once it comes out — all of it will be shattered. it looks like there is some sort of regression and MC doesn’t know this but the ML does. The question here is when his memories will come back and will he forgive the ML. We are not in that part yet with what’s available right now so i’m excited!

52. Private Call (completed) - another omegaverse.

53. Senza Replica - guide/esper. very few chapters out and something i will go back to.

I read everything except the novel at BATO. 🫶🏼 covering my may-october 2024 reads.

[feeder86]

Feeder 86: The Top Ten

Can you believe that the Feeder86 ‘Orginal Gainer Stories’ blog will soon be posting the two hundredth story? I thought of many ways to celebrate. But then I stopped and realised that I would probably be best using the time to address one of the questions I get asked about most frequently. Which of the stories do I personally like the most?

This was not an easy list to make as I very rarely go back to re-read my own work after I have finished editing and posting them. This is not because I do not like them, but because I always see bits that I want to change. Nevertheless, this project was the perfect opportunity to revisit a few oldies that I remember being very proud of at the time. 

Hopefully you will see this list for what it is: a glimpse into how I write, my motivations and drive; rather than just a self indulgent pat on the back for myself. Yuck!

So, with that being said, let us begin...

#10 The Feeders’ Formula: This tale certainly had to be placed into the list. After all, it is the one that kicked off ‘Original Gainer Stories’ all those years ago. There are many amazing examples of instant body weight transformation stories out there. I felt that I needed to write this one as my contribution to the genre. It went down well at the time. I swiftly wrote a Part Two, then followed it up with others (The Feeders’ Formation, The Feeders’ Formalities, The Feeders’ Foreclosure, The Feeders’ Forecast, The Feeders’ Former Years), becoming something of an ongoing saga in recent years; focusing on the different Feeders from that very first meeting. As a writer who sometimes struggles to find the ending, these are wonderful to write as they all have the same inevitable conclusion. There is also so much freedom to be had when you’re working with characters who are pretty much pure evil. I know so much more about the Feeders than I’ve ever written down, so it is great to tease out those little details with each new installment. The newest of these tales (The Feeders’ Foreplay) was the darkest yet, but seems to have provoked a very favourable reaction from many. Who knows what the Feeders may get up to next? I do! And you can find out too, once we start a whole new sweeps season of stories this April! Come with me into The Feeders' Fortress!

#9 Only One: Where do I start? Only One has my absolute favourite type of feeder. Ben is big, sexy and very in control. He’s one of those rare types of guys who always stays on top and is a step ahead of absoultely everyone he meets. Who wouldn’t fall for him? I certainly did! In fact, I loved him so much that I wrote an entire prequel for him (and none of you even noticed!) Check out Rewire if you want to see how Ben became the man we know and love.

#8 The Wright Boys: The idea of a weight gain that cannot be stopped or controlled is a tempting one for many. How much easier would it be if you didn’t have to second guess your choices or face the pressure to lose weight? This was the first tale of what I see as ‘The Curses’ saga that eventually bled into many other stories (including another one on this list!) and culminated in Wright vs Beckett. However, this story remains my personal favourite of these. If you’re a fan of looking for crossovers between my stories, these are some of the most explicitly linked. I followed it up with a spin-off tale (The Wright Boys: DNA), but continue to have ideas about how I could go back to these boys in the future. Watch this space.

#7 Making Monsters: The title of this story really does give away how I felt about it at the time. This is quite the saga, spread over into not just two, but three parts! It began as a story that was very similar to Blackmailed; a tale that I had written previously about a guy voyeristically enjoying seeing his friend fatten up her boyfriend. However, this story evolved even further for me, with Tommy’s love of eating and gaining weight being both his greatest love, and his biggest shame. His denial only heightened the tension for me, and, when he does eventually give in, the gains feel all the more satisfying as a result.

#6 The Pig Feed: It’s not easy to write a gainer story where there isn’t another character spurring the events along and encouraging things. In this tale however, that role is given to a very tasty and surprisingly addictive pig feed mixture that Steve gets himself hooked on. It’s a story that I really enjoyed writing and still feel very happy with. I have considered writing more stories around this interesting feed. However, I am yet to do so; deciding (for now at least) that things are perhaps best left as they are. But, feel free to let me know your thoughts on this.

#5 Farm Boy: Whether you grew up in a big city, or a small rural community, like Hayden in this story, we can all relate to having desires and attractions that those around us don’t understand. And, thanks to how well connected we are these days, we now know what it’s like to realise that you’re not actually alone, and the whirlwind of excited emotions that follow. I enjoyed writing this story because I, quite simply, fell completely in love with Hayden. As kinky as he was, he still retained that fresh faced innocence throughout. If any of my characters were destined to be together forever, I imagine that these two would be my top choice.

#4 Keeping a Crush: This is one of those stories that I wrote in a matter of hours, and I was so pleased with it when I was done. Getting the train to go to work is not necessarily something that many Americans have to do, and so the location had to be switched to the UK (quite refreshing, I thought!). For me, it’s one of those really rare instances where placing very solid restrictions on the structure of a story (In this case, having it all take place during the commute to and from work) and finding that it actually elevates the sexual tension and mood. All scenes take place in public settings. All conversations could, in theory, be overheard. These days, so many people meet online and flirt for weeks by messaging back and forth, before they even see each other for the first time. Nowadays, for better or for worse, the actual, real fantasy is finding a connection with someone you just see in the real world; perhaps with a person you literally just met on the way to work...

If you’ve not read this one, I really would highly recommend it.

#3 To the Max: Stories with a magical element to them are either loved or hated. However, I find that this tale walks that line very successfully. Ned gets his hands on a love potion and makes straight guy, Max, fall for him. I’m sure we’ve all been there with that fantasy! However, it is in the consequences of inviting someone into your life, someone that you actually know very little about, that the entire eroticism of this story is based. I won’t spoil it for those who have not read it, but believe me when I say that things soon start getting very interesting indeed…

#2 Tommy’s Two Hundred. Don’t recognise this one? Well, that's because none of you have read it yet. 

Now, I’m not just saying this because I want you all to come back for the two hundreth story, but this is genuinely one of my absolute favourites. For my big milestone stories in the past, I have written something specifically for that event (Wright vs Beckett, The Seven Feeders of Finn). However, this is just a tale that I adored writing and decided to hold back for you all, especially for this occasion. It’s a story of domination and submission within a fairly open, but very kinky, relationship. Strapping Hunter plays the part of a very controlling feeder, making me break many of my own rules and stretching my boundaries to the absolute limits. You’ll either love him, or you’ll hate him. That’s all I’m going to say…

Also, this story is going to be the first Feeder86 story that will be fully illustrated. It’s all thanks to the amazing talents of Spellwell9 who was given an advanced copy and asked to imagine the characters in four different scenes. I cannot wait for you to see this!

Put it in your diary. All will be revealed from Friday 5th April…

#1 F80 Control: This is perhaps a controvercial choice (especially as my #1). I have previously admitted that this story strays a little from its purpose of being a gainer story. In other words, I get very caught up in the background story that is being told. However, I feel that the science fiction genre is surprisingly underused in tales of weight gain. Yet, the combination of Aritificial Intelligence and submission seemed, to me, to be the perfect blend. It really is a beast of a story if you can follow it all the way through to its conclusion. 

With the advent of improved artificial intelligence software in recent years, I felt the time was right to develop the world further, with the addition of F80 Ctrl Alt Del; a spin-off tale set slightly before the main story. Then, unable to help myself, I followed this up again with another companion story, F80: Kidnap and Control. 

The reason I chose this universe as my favourite is because this is where I am happiest writing. With AI, I don’t need to consider the morality or motivations - I know exactly what their aims are and I can see multiple ways in which it will cause conflict with humanity (and their waistlines!) I would also love to write more for this world one day, and I even left a little unused subplot in the last story that I think would provide the perfect starting-off point for another chapter. Will I ever write it? Well, we’ll have to wait and see…

So, there you have it! The the complete list!

This was a much harder exercise than I expected when I first embarked upon it. Stories like: Jiggle the Jock, Meticulous, Rule Number One, Freaks, Leftovers I and II, Ethan: The Secret Feeder and, not fogetting The Consequences I, II and III all crept in and out of the list, unfortunatley missing out on the final cut. There are many, many others, of course. But this list cannot go on forever...

So, why not tell me which ones were your favourites? Feel free to write in the comments and post a link to any other stories that you have enjoyed from myself, or from other authors. Hopefully, if we all work together, this could become a great resource for people in the future, filled with signposts and reccommendations.  

Also, don’t forget the Feeder86 Contents page where you can find links and descriptions of all the 200 stories posted so far (as well as plot outlines for upcoming tales as well). Please continue to enjoy the vast catalogue of stories, and even have a go yourself! I love supporting the many new gainer fiction writers who contact me. So please do get in touch if you need advice, or to talk through your ideas. Let’s all encourage a whole new generation of people to get typing away! I’m sure you will cheer them on just as much as I will.

Thank you to everyone who supports the stories blog here on Tumblr. Keep checking in every Friday througout April for a whole new sweeps season to celebrate this milestone. Stories will include: Tommy's Two Hundred, Train for a Gain, The Feeders' Fortress and The 1% (a companion story to The 5%). For now, I thank you all for taking time out to sit and read the very bizarre tales that sprout from my mind. You are all wonderful.

Happy 200 stories!

Feeder86

[elecman108]

This has been in the works for several months only due to work, and it’s at a state I now want to share; My D&D PC Character References (all now the CORRECT heights, thank you past me for not doing that) now redone!

I lost the original file on my old drive, so I decided to remake them. Aside from Irina (in need of being redrawn anyway), Tempest (in need of some updates to his outfit), and Selgy (I could not find a version of her with most of her visible to reference from), here’s the full and current list! I will be adding in exactly one more - Lady Joy, a character I have decided to pull out of Blaze/Carrion’s backstory - and then I get to design more from scratch for fun!

Under the cut will be an alternate version of the image and updates to each of these morons from left to right based vaguely on where their heads are.

Oooooh you clicked on the read more, you’re invested in this long-ass post now.

Note: I did end up deciding to drop Zekiel, Azure, and Eddyn for different reasons: Zekiel was an uninteresting character build so I’m going to drop him to OC status and possibly make a new Aasimar in future, Azure made for a better NPC than PC, and Eddyn did NOT work in D&D and worked better in-line with my standard OCs. Either way, they’re still about, just not in the D&D zone.

Now, for the less important bit - the alternate image and the updates!

Welcome to hell, smartass! Anyhow...

-AXEL MEVIAS - Not visible here, but has +3 different outfits for 5 total; Standard, Winter, Fancy, Underwater, and Underwater2. The latter three are based on his Miitopia outfit (complete with cat ears/tail), and the two underwater ones are based off the Mermaid!Axel design I made after my DM allowed me to have him transform into a mermaid when getting his improved swim speed.

-ZARRIS “ASH” ATTREYU - A new guy!! He’s based on a concept I dropped from Blaze’s original design - a Colourblind Tiefling with a frankly OUTRAGEOUS outfit whose magic is only in greyscale. He has two forms; Colourful and Greyscale. Self-explanatory what they are.

-SERAPHUS - Incomplete as he is, the only changes to D&D!Seven is I made his horns bigger and changed the tip of his tail from a triangle to a diamond.

-TORI KING - The only change to D&D!Vic is I made her bandages more dense. That’s barely even an update in all honesty...

-TAIO ETRAL - Slightly updated D&D!Theo’s hair and shifted his eyes to be looking to the right instead of straight ahead. I’ll decide if his tattoos will change when I do his colours.

-CECILLIA - She has a LOT to mention... Updated her horns again, fixed some issues with her shirt/jacket, modified her jacket at the back, added a tail as she IS a tiefling, and fixed her hair length. I’ll be adjusting some of her colours too, so stay tuned!

-VERDA DEI’ILYA - Fixed a wonky face on her default look, fixed her rabbit tail/ears to just look better, and added bows to her shoes. She also now has a second form (not visible here) of an actual Harengon form as opposed to just a bunnygirl which has plenty of new stuff to look at, so stay tuned.

-MONA QUIXOT - Only change to D&D!Mona is I removed several eyes of the Somnovum because having seven of nine of them seemed a bit much. Now she has three.

-KRESS DARKLAW - Adjusted the colour of his pants (nice), and added in a new form of his halfling disguise Linos where he has wings.

-GOLDEN SHADOWS - Added an “S” after his name because it sounds better, and fixed the lines on his rapier to be thicker because they were bothering me.

-KAU - Eyes adjusted to fit the rest of the D&D refs. That’s... that’s it!

-BLAZE/CARRION “IFRIT” GOLDSHARD - Two new looks added, which are two Clown/Circus outfits for him beyond his normal look. All forms of his have the Ringleader’s Mask at his hip.

-RANRAN - No changes. She’s perfect already. <3

-LAYLA JAEST - D&D!Lailah now has a slightly different thingy-doodad on the sleeve of her jacket by her shoulder that looks a little nicer and is easier to draw.

-KARA SUNDANCE - Adjusted the look of her sword’s hilt so it made more sense, and removed the random orange underskirt to her tunic. I have no idea why it was there.

-MIRI EVENWOOD - Shortened her hair to be more reasonable, and adjusted the look of her bow so it made more sense.

-RASHA - Adjusted the colours of his tunic-thing to look slightly better. He now is looking to the right.

-URSINIA - Added ‘veins’ to her wings to make them look more like flower petals, added a charm to her belt-sash, gave her sandals less detail, and gave her shorts so she’s slightly more modest. Her dress is, however, further off her shoulders, so... Hey, you add shorts, you gain more boob I guess.

-MELIA OF THE AUTUMNAL FOREST - Mouthful of a name remains, no I will not change it. Adjusted the look of her freckles and changes some colours around so she didn’t have three shades of brown on her attire... And added a cocky grin.

-ELLANA JAEST - D&D!Ender’s scar that was taking up real estate on her face is now completely covered so she looks 10x better. Also I fluffed up her hair and moved her tail in behind her person.

-ORINA - Lost her last name in the divorce from my old drive, but modified her tattoos to look better. They are now a dark grey instead of black to better view the lines of her character due to the modified tatts.

-ILDAN KILARN - Separated the collar of his cloak from the rest of the cloak so it looks better, and fixed the bottom part of his armour (the skirt bit?) to look much better. Also gave him a slight haircut.

-REVEREND EZRA MASON - Gave the Reverend back his cross so he can ward away the demons, and he now has his alternate Werewolf form as a reference (not visible here, obviously). His pants are also white now because the vague colours of Kress and Ezra were too close and giving him white pants felt like a good idea at the time.

-ALLISTER DAL’THALOR - D&D!Alpha now has a better looking battleaxe and his last name changed from “Ethereal” to “Dal’Thalor” to better match him. Actually, all the D&D!OCs other than Mona have changed names to better match the D&D world, but Alpha’s the only one where the last name completely changed.

-OLIVER ENOIR - D&D!Alren has a better looking cloak and that is IT.

-LIXORI - Arm and tail bands added, as well as some additional details to her dress to make it look better. Adjusted the Plum-to-Red hair progression to be more plum than red because it looked better.

-INSPECTOR - Added an actual mouth and gave additional beef to his lower jaw, belt buckle now a ram skull, and the bottom of his jacket is now torn. Some slight adjustments to the feet, hands, and neck to look a little better. Eyebrows now ANGY.

--

Aaaaand that’s it! I can give some previews for the three I’ll be redoing and one I’ll be adding though...

-LUN TEMPEST NOBLESONG - Modified pose to fit better with his personality, adjusted weapon size to be larger, adjusted coat to be the correct length.

-SELGY STONEPELT - Redone pose completely to remove limp wrist wave, added detail to the belt/bracelets, added flowers to her tail to match her hair.

-IRINA - Lost her last name in the divorce from my old drive and in the process of getting a new one, redid pose to match the style of the rest of the refs. Added some detail to her corset and skirt, removed cloak, shoes now visible.

-LADY JOY - New addition now with two forms; Original and Dark Carnival. Original has additional alts of Masked and Full Uniform, as well as an added alternate of being in a clown-like outfit.

Enjoy trying to work out those details, future-me!

[marionthegeek]

Stede is in the Gravy Basket, Izzy is Alive

The season 2 finale of Our Flag Means Death is odd.  It hits weird. I think I know why. And this is going to sound bananas, but give me a chance to explain.  Maybe you’ll agree.

It has a huge tonal shift. It seems to speedrun Stede and Ed’s romance. It feels like we’ve missed out on something from the end of episode 7.  The fight scenes and pirate plans are nonsensical, even for OFMD. And most egregiously, a prominent character is killed off in a way that feels disingenuous to his story arc, just for starters.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.  We need to go back to the beginning of season 2.  The season opens with Stede looking more piratey than ever. Beard, sash, earring… oh he’s his own fantasy of a real proper pirate.  He’s clashing swords with Izzy Hands and demanding to know where Ed is. He’s dreaming. In the dream he kills Izzy. He and Ed run into each other’s arms while screaming each other’s names. They crash into the surf. Ed says “I knew you’d find me, Babe.  I knew you’d find me, Love.” Stede keeps asking if they’re good. Ed dodges the question. Then Ed asked about the smell. Stede wakes up in a crowded room with farting and shushing roommates.

At first I thought the finale was supposed to be just a “satisfying” mirror to Stede’s dream. Stede and Ed call each other’s names and run into each other’s arms in a display that resembles a more grown up version of Stede’s dream fantasy. There’s some wild sword fighting not unlike Stede’s dream duel with Izzy. And Izzy dies.

It does mirror, but I didn’t find it satisfying. All of the characters except Stede feel flattened. Stede gets to make the heroic plan (that we never even hear) while there’s at least five pirates with better skill sets for it in the room. Ed, as Blackbeard, was described last season as “History’s greatest tactician”; Zheng Yi Sao conquered China; Jackie just took out a room full of British soldiers. Izzy and Auntie are right there. You could make arguments that Jim or Frenchie, or pretty much anyone could make a better plan. Then Stede says “It’s only suicide if we die,” which is horrible considering the plan gets Izzy killed.

Stede’s really the only person in that room who thinks Stede should be making the plans.  So I got to thinking, what if it's not just mirroring the dream? What if it is a dream? Last shot of episode 7 is an incoming cannonball. Maybe he’s unconscious.

Huge shout out to @Arty_Sunflowers on twitter (I’m not calling it X, fuck Musk) for pointing out that that isn’t the only episode that ends with a cannonball. Episode 2 ends with Jim swinging a cannonball down at Ed’s head.  Stede’s not just dreaming, he’s in the Gravy Basket!!!! (Stede even screams “Oh my God!” at the end of episode 7 in the same tone he screams “Oh my God, I don’t want to die.” in s1e9.

Stede’s hopes, dreams, and insecurities shape everything in the finale. And it helps explain the absurdities in the episode when you remember that Stede is living out pulp adventure and romance novels in his head. (He even looks like someone on the cover of one in his episode 1 dream.) But Stede can’t be dead, you say. He’s literally the main character. Well, Ed was dead for a whole episode. Let’s take a closer look.

I could and probably will do another essay on Lucius as a POV character and Ed’s mental health and how the threads they seemed to have dropped aren’t as dropped as they appear. But all of that hinges on me proving the Stede is in the Gravy Basket theory. So for this essay I’m focusing on that.

So for starters we’ve got the cannonball scenes. They’re eerily similar even if the method of cannonball propulsion is different. We don’t know Ed is dead and in the Gravy Basket for about half of episode 3. Neither does he. It makes logical sense you can be there without realizing it for a while. Buttons even said Ed didn’t know whether he was in the Gravy Basket or not in episode 4. It definitely messes with your reality.

One of Ed’s issues is self hate. He manifests Hornigold as his companion. Stede is desperate to be a good pirate and have people be proud of him. And he lives in his fantasies a lot.  So his dream shapes his experience. There’s a whole bit about Zheng needing “soft” and Auntie saying she’s proud of her. That isn’t their issue. It’s discordant with the show previously. But it is Stede’s issue. He’s manifesting.

When we first see Stede and Zheng in episode 8, they’re in a familiar spot for Stede, the bridge from episode 1. But why are they alone? When we last see Stede and Zheng in episode 7, several characters are within 5 to 10 feet of them. Did none of them decide to escape with Stede? Izzy, Lucius,  and Jim are closest. But we know Pete was there begging Stede to stay down during his fight with Zheng. Archie was definitely in the bar. That's why Jim entered the fight. So why is it only Stede and Zheng at the bridge? Because, going back to rescue others fits into Stede's hero fantasies. 

Zheng and Stede also argue about who pulled who to safety and how they got there. Stede waxes poetic about being a failure his whole life, but things always seem to work out for him. He’s such a main character mediocre white guy in this scene. He saves Zheng from two random soldiers, then she has to save him from them. Then they fight a bunch more soldiers on the beach until Blackbeard manifests in full leather from the ocean.  It looks cool. But it's absurd, even for OFMD.

Speaking of Ed, he begins the episode waxing poetic about nature and calling fishermen simple.  Those things are more Stede than Ed. Pop pop tells Ed, “You have no skills” which is something Izzy said to Stede in episode 5.  He also tells Ed, “If you were ever good at something, go do that, you bum.” If Stede’s insecurities could be distilled into one sentence, it would probably be that. (He also talks about being like a wave. I’m not 100% sure it's a The Good Place joke, but it would be thematically appropriate.)

Pop pop also tells Ed he “ruined dinner.”  Back in season 1, in Stede’s flashbacks to life with Mary and the kids, Stede thinks he’s ruined dinner. But remember, we also see another version of the scene where Stede is laughing with Mary and the kids.  Stede isn’t exactly a reliable narrator. Even in his own head.

Despite it being beyond unlikely, Ed finds soldiers reading one of Stede’s letters. I know physics in this show is sketchy, but this seems like a good time to point out no one found the red silk. Stede wants Ed to read a letter and for it to fix everything between them. The letter, plus Stede being in danger, make Ed swim out, find his leathers, and emerge from the sea with them on, while the music is the Swede’s solo from Stede’s fuckery in s1e6. Stede wants to be rescued by his handsome pirate in leather, again, just like a pulp adventure romance novel. Little chance of Ed swimming out and finding his kit.  Even less of him getting leather pants on under the water.

Back to the beach… for some reason two squads of soldiers are wandering around out on an empty beach. A visually incredible fight scene occurs. It honestly reminds me of Pete’s story in s1e2, including flips. Ed and Stede yell each other’s names exactly as in the dream. Like I’m pretty sure they used the same audio track. The same song (I Love My Baby, Nina Simone) starts playing. Ed says “I love you.” Stede says “I know.” (We’ll come back to the Han Solo joke in a minute.) They have a bit more absurd fighting then Ed, Stede, and Zheng sit on the beach complimenting each other. And Ed calls Stede “babe”.  He’s never done that outside of Stede’s dream and this moment. He’s called him mate a couple of times.  Babe is exclusively in Stede’s head.

Back in the Republic of Pirates, the crew are locked in a cell that is actually the “vista suite” at Spanish Jackie’s.  Izzy gets a heroic entrance. It’s as cool as Stede thinks Izzy is. And he gives a speech that sounds like what he probably told Stede to get him to relinquish the suit in episode 5. Piracy is about belonging to something. You can’t ignore the wishes of the crew.  Izzy also knows details about Captain Kidd and Pinocchio. Not impossible, but not exactly Izzy’s wheelhouse. It is Stede’s though. He’s obsessed with pirate tales and he read Pinocchio to the crew.

Stede, Ed, and Zheng show up just as Jackie has poisoned a bunch of soldiers. Stede makes a plan, despite everyone else being more qualified. Everyone disguises themselves as soldiers. Now we’ve seen the crew of the Revenge wear disguises. They never do the weird free styling they do here. Only Stede actually looks like a British officer. Zheng at least wears the disguise properly. Suddenly Ed has a multi gun bandolier like Blackbeard in the books. Pete ripped the arms off. Izzy is still wearing his vest. Doesn’t make sense if we’re going for stealth. Neither does not checking hostage Ricky for weapons or putting Izzy and his wooden leg at the front of the group.

If I'm right, Stede wouldn't know Ricky was behind the explosions. However,  Ricky is basically evil Stede. He's Stede's perfect foil. All of this is reflecting Stede's psyche. So, of course, it's Ricky.

Izzy gets shot and says quite a lot of nonsense in his death scene. “They love you, Ed.” Um, 3 of them were going to leave like five minutes ago. Ed has made some progress with the crew, but we’re not at “they love you Ed”.  The only person who thinks the crew loves Ed is Stede. Stede who weeps for Izzy while most of the crew aren’t showing much emotion. Stede can barely deal with his own big feelings. His fantasy doesn’t give the crew room to have them. Also, given the rest of the season, having Jim just let Ed be the person cradling Izzy doesn’t fit. The crew is also pretty stony at Izzy’s funeral.

I feel like it should be noted the last shot of Izzy in episode 7, he’s got one are around Jim and a hand on Lucius’s shoulder. He sat in Wee John’s lap in episode 6. Reactions to his death don’t make sense.

Also, Izzy’s terrible grave marker is very … Stede. He’d think it was a brilliant idea.

I didn't understand at first why Izzy had to die, even in Stede's dream world. Stede clearly likes him a lot better now. Why kill him? Well, it's because we're supposed to think Buttons is there to go to the Gravy Basket for Izzy. When actually he's already arrived in the Gravy Basket and he's there for Stede. Also, mentors die in pulp adventure novels. Stede sees Izzy as a mentor.

They go aboard the Revenge for Lucius and Pete’s wedding. It’s cute that the crew performs the ceremony, but I’d venture a guess that’s because Stede doesn’t know a captain should do it if it's legally binding. Stede does love the romance of it all.  The sudden uptick in monogamy is also very Stede. He barely understands monogamous relationships. Polyamory is beyond him.

Then Stede and Ed, who earlier told Zheng they’d help hunt Ricky, go back to the island where Izzy is buried to start an inn in a run down shack.  Stede knows Ed wants to do this because Ed told the (Taika’s) kids that they ran an inn.  We hear Ed ask “Jesus, what is that smell?” Now, at first, I thought Izzy, because Ed “knows the smell of my rotting first mate”. But what was the last thing to happen in Stede’s dream? A fart joke.

Last scene is Buttons landing on Izzy’s grave. To retrieve Izzy from the Gravy Basket? No, Izzy’s not dead. He’s with Jim and Lucius, probably watching over Stede’s corpse. Buttons is there to retrieve Stede.

This theory fixes the plot holes and dropped threads problem. We’re coming back to them next season. Ed's amends making should be far from over. And we see several moments during the season where he acknowledged that. And yet here on the island they've set up a horror movie and called it a happy ending.  Well, Stede is the type of boss who thinks things are fixed with a pizza (Calypso) party. In Stede's mind, this is a happy ending.  But really Ed is still off finding himself,  Stede is (temporarily) dead, and Izzy (who is not dead!) is probably guarding Stede's corpse.

They haven't resolved the domestic violence thread, but they haven't dropped it, either. Izzy is alive. Stede and Ed aren't together (yet). There's still time.

This also explains some of the freewheeling nonsense David Jenkins has been spouting in articles. Ed doesn’t see Izzy as a father figure and mentor, Stede does.  Stede almost turned to mush when Izzy approved of him. And David is writing a three volume adventure novel. Han Solo (Stede) is in carbonate (the Gravy Basket). The perfect end to the second act. See, I told you we’d get back to the Han Solo joke.

I still have problems with the season.  I really think they need a sensitivity reader. Even just implying a newly disabled character was fridged is certainly a choice. Especially given the amount of time devoted to how the character handled the disability. The DV scenes were brutal, as well as the suicide attempt, and the Human Puppet joke. I think they need someone trauma informed and disabled in the writer's room. (David Jenkins hit me up!)

Overall, I liked season 2. Especially once I realized Izzy wasn't dead. I'm looking forward to season 3, the conclusion of the Gentle Beard arc, and hopefully 6 seasons and a movie of Izzy (to be clear, he's not captain) and the kids sailing up and down the coast being gay and doing crimes, occasionally checking in with Stede and Ed.

Seriously, David, call me.

Historical Note: IRL Blackbeard died on November 22, 1718, killed in a naval battle off Ocracoke Island in North Carolina. IRL Stede Bonnet died December 10, 1718, hanged in Charles Town, South Carolina for piracy.  IRL Israel “Izzy” Hands survives piracy, death date unknown. I know this show doesn’t actually care about historical accuracy, but this lends a little support for my Ed died, then Stede died, and Izzy isn’t dead theory.

[melusinealarice]

I saw someone ask for this, and I want it as-well so Im writing it

Finnick and reader (y/n) screwing in the arena as a “fuck you” to the capitol.

A final, fuck you

Annie doesn’t exist, quarter quel, no established relationships, just enemies to lovers, sexual tension and an axe to grind

Warnings: cursing, smut, angst, hunger games so yk, violence, mentions of prostitution, porn with a little plot, If you wanna skip there I’ll put a huge red heart right before ❤️❤️‍🔥🩷❣️

Backstory: reader is 23, district 4 won 70th games, family was killed,

“Look at you,” you turn around to see Finnick, and turn away covering your eyes. “You know there are children watching this Odair, wanna put some clothes on? Or leave anything to the imagination?” You say, “ouch, feisty.” He retorts, tossing a sugar cube up catching it between his teeth. “What are you? 12?” You say rolling my eyes at him. God he is such a peacock, and it pisses you off so much. He just thinks he is god’s gift to man. “12 inches deep in your mom.” He says playing into the character. You try my best not to laugh, and Finnick can tell, “you wanna laugh and you know it.” He says, a smirk on his face. “Funny, hilarious actually, it almost made me not want to kill myself.” You roll your eyes, regaining your composure. “Well, we wouldn’t want that now would we, who would be the pretty girl on my arm?” He says eyeing me up and down, “we are wearing the same thing (y/n). You have no leverage here.” He says. “Yes, it seems ive lost my clothes, usually its just you dressed like a whore, i mean if the shoe fits.” You fire back, now it was your turn to smirk, “what? Cat got your tung?” His face falls, he looks, angry? He pulls you in so no one else can hear him. “Look (y/n), you dont know shit.” He whispers harshly, his grip on your arm tightening, his nails digging into the skin, you like the feeling. “So i’ll give you a warning, shut the fuck up.” He finishes before pulling away, his facade back on. “After you m’lady,” he says, a fake smile that looks teasing now, as he holds out a hand to help you into the carriage.

After that interaction meals are quiet, you had quit trying to talk with him, focusing on the task ahead, getting out of that arena, one way or another.

“(Y/n)?” Your stylist, Ines says snapping you back to the present, “what?” You ask. “Never-mind,” she says, waving if off. You’re about to enter the tube that will take you to the arena. “30 seconds remaining.” The speaker says. I step into the tube. “Good luck,” Ines says. “20 seconds remaining.” “Thank you,” you reply, “10 seconds” the tube closes, “5, 4, 3, 2, 1.” You start to move up. Sun hits your face, as your eyes ajust to the light you look around. Water, you’re completely surrounded by water, well, you know who this arena favors. You get ready as the count down starts. “60 seconds” you look around, Beetee and Chaff are on either side of you. “50 seconds” you look at the cornucopia, you’re facing it’s mouth, there are throwing knives relatively close to you. “40 seconds” you look for Johanna, the two of you made an alliance, she is your best friend and if you’re dying you wanted it to be with her. “30 seconds” you spot her, she is already looking at you. “20 seconds,” you get ready to dive into the water. “10,” you’re shaking, “9” This is really happening, “8” fuck. “7” just get to the cornucopia, “6” Dive as far out as you can, “5” get onto the rocks, “4” run as fast as you can, “3” dont trip “2” you’re ready, “1” shit. The cannon booms, you dive in, you pull myself onto the rocks and start running, not looking anywhere but forward. You make it to the cornucopia and grab the knives and the belt. The first cannon goes off, you look for Jo, and spot her, you run towards her, “Fight them off, Ill get Beetee and Wirus!” She yells, you throw your knife, it finds it’s way into a tribute’s chest, cannon, you throw a few more. “LETS GO!” You shout to Jo, “ok come on follow me!” She starts down a strip of rock, you dive in swimming along side her. You all make it to the beach and run into the cover of the jungle.

“Ok wait stop.” You say after a few minutes of running, “lets stop here and talk strategy.” “Good idea,” says Jo. “I think we should play evasive until we have no choice.” Says Beetee. You all agree. After a minute or two of talking Blight talks, “ok, lets keep moving, we’ll walk as far into the jungle as we can.” He says, “alright, take the lead.” You say, motioning for him to start. Jo and you bring up the rear, half defending half talking and joking. “Would you two focu-” blight starts to say but he is cut off. “RAIN!” You scream, tilting your face to the sky, but something is off, Jo notices it aswell, you all exchange confused looks. “Oh shit.” You say with Jo. Suddenly the ‘rain’ turns into down pour, but its not rain, its blood. Thick hot blood. You can barley see in-front of of you. Jo grabs your hand “RUN!” blight screams, starting to run forward, you start to follow as best you can but he hits something. It throws him back. “WAIT WAIT! STOP!” Beetee screams, “its a force field, other way!” He screams, the cannon goes off. “Damn it!” Jo screams, you turn around. Stumbling blind, you trudge through the jungle, only knowing where the others are by hearing their voices. “THE BEACH! I SEE THE BEACH!” Jo screams, and you follow her voice.

You get to the beach around the same time as Jo. You hug each-other, a few seconds later Beetee emerges with Wirus. She is freaking out, you all are covered in blood. As Jo tries to coax Wirus out of the tree line you are checking the surroundings. “JOHANNA!” You hear, you turn drawing a knife, its just Finnick. But you dont put the knife back tho. “FINNICK!” She screams back. He starts running to her. Sometimes you can’t believe they are friends. As you look past, you see Katniss and Peeta, you clutch your knife tighter seeing she has her bow drawn. Johanna starts explaining the situation to Finnick, but Wirus starts getting on Jo’s nerves, who is already stressed out and pissed off. “Tik tok, tik tok,” she repeats over and over like a mad woman grabbing Jo. “OKAY OKAY!” Jo screams pushing her off. “Hey, HEY, LEAVE HER ALONE!” Katniss screams running up and pushing Jo, she draws an arrow. You look around, Peeta, perfect! You draw your dagger and before anyone can react you put him in a headlock, holding the dagger to his throat. “HEY!” You scream, Katniss turns, aiming her bow at you.“Let him go.” She comands, as if she has any authority in the situation. “Leave Jo the fuck alone, we just ran through fucking blood!” You yell back. She fires her arrow, but you dodge out of the way taking Peeta with you. “Shoot it again, I fucking dare you! This time, I’ll move lover boy right in the line of fire, try me!” You scream at her, pressing the knife harder into Peeta’s neck. He puts his hands up in surrender. “Woah woah, calm down.” Finnick says stepping in between the two of you. “Dont tell me to ‘calm down’! SHE HAS A KNIFE TO PEETA’S TROAT!” Katniss screams at Finnick, “How about we all put our weapons down,” Peeta says, pleading to Katniss. “Shut up.” You sneer, moving your knife to tilt his head up. “Ok look, Katniss, she just thought you were gonna hurt Jo, are you gonna hurt Jo?” Finnick asks Katniss, telling her the right answer, “No.” She says, arrow still in place. Finnick exhales, Katniss must realize your too good to be stubborn with. “See, now, (y/n) let Peeta go,” he says. “I’ll drop my dagger, but im not letting him go till she drops the bow.” You drop the knife. “Katniss, will you please drop your bow?” Finnick says, he knows, you’ll kill him, right here, right now, and that’s exactly what he needs to not happen. She drops her bow. “If you try anything I swear to god i’ll snap your fuckin neck.” You whisper in his ear, he nods. You let him go, with hands still in the air he walk to katniss. “Okay, good, we’re all stressed lets just cool off,” Finnick says walking to you. “Im fine,” you say grabbing your dagger. “No your not, your mad and you’re gonna do something stupid.” He says grabbing you and throwing you over his shoulder. “FINNICK! FINNICK WHAT THE FUCK! PUT ME DOWN- I SWEAR TO GOD ILL KILL YOU!” You scream squirming around. ���Calm down” he says dunking you in the water a few times before straight up dropping you into it. You stand up, wiping the water from your eyes, still pissed off, just at him. He laughs, “god you know, you look so… cute when your mad.” He says, still laughing. “Oh fuck off Odair.” You say turning away from him. You wash the blood off as he turns and walks back to the beach. Jo joins you, washing the blood off her. Once you are both done yall go back to the beach, sitting together on the sand.

Some time passes, “Im gonna go get water.”you say getting up and walking into the jungle. Really you just wanna be alone for a little. It peaceful until you hear a scream, it’s Katniss’s name, but its not a tribute. “PRIM” you hear her scream in the distance, shit. You try and ignore it, not your circus, not your monkeys. You hear another scream. “FINNICK!” “FINNICK HELP ME!” What? But thats not possible, you’re not screaming. But its your voice. “(Y/N)” you hear him scream back. “DAMNIT ODAIR!” You scream to no one in particular, your circus, your monkeys. You run towards the screams but run, into a wall? But it’s clear, and it doesn’t throw you back like the force field did with Blight, you cant hear any screams anymore. “(Y/N)! Over here!” Jo beckons to you. You walk over to her. “What is this?” You quickly regret asking as Beetee starts going on about some science stuff. “Okay, okay.” Jo says cutting him off. You look to see Katniss on the ground covering he ears as birds swoop in. “Jabber-Jays, DAMNIT, I HATE SNOW! FUCK YOU, CANT YOU JUST FUCKING DIE ALREADY! HOW ABOUT YOU COME DOWN HERE AND WE CAN FIGHT YOU PUSSY!” You scream up at the sky, Jo is smiling, Wirus is mentally gone, Peeta is staring at you like you’ve lost your mind and Beete is just not saying anything. “Finnick flipped out when he heard your screams,” Jo says sitting beside you. Finnick is currently on the ground as well, but he looks up for a brief moment, long enough to see you, and you see some of the worry in his face leave, you look back at Jo but he stays staring at you. You look at Jo, a look of confusion on your face but you know exactly what’s going on because you’ve felt is aswell.

❤️

The hour is up, you run up to Finnick, holding his head, “shit, im so sorry” you say, he straightens hugging you back, it’s strong, and he smells like the ocean. Katniss is worried about her sister, “they aren’t gonna do anything to Prim.” Peeta says. “He’s right ya know, the whole country  loves your sister, if they ever did anything to her, forget the districts, there would be riots in the damn capitol. HEY HOW DOES THAT SOUND SNOW? WHAT IF WE, WHAT IF WE SET YOUR BACKYARD ON FIRE? YA KNOW YOU CANT PUT EVERYBODY IN HERE!” Jo screams, waving her axe around. Katniss and Peeta stare at her in absolute terror, its almost funny. “What? He can’t hurt me. There’s no one left that I love.” She says, “im gonna go get some water.” She leaves. “Lets go scout out the area Finnick,” you say. The two of you get up and walk away. You walk for a few minutes in silence before Finnick breaks it. “Im so fucking ma-” but you cut him off, backing against a tree and pulling him with you into a kiss. Its rough and passionate but hungry. “Fuck,” you pant out. “God you’re hot,” he says kissing down your neck. “Wait, what about the Capitol?” You say before he draws a whine from you, sucking on a sweet spot. “Fuck them, now they’ll know how I really feel.” His voice is low and raspy, his eyes filled with lust. You pull his zipper to the wetsuit down revealing his abs and arms and fuck, he might be god’s gift to you. “Is this really, the best, place?” You say in between pants and moans as he peels the wetsuit off your body, grabbing your breasts and massaging them, making you push back into the tree throwing your head back in pleasure. “I dont want to die never having done this with you sweetheart.” He growls into the crest of your neck. “Mhm oh god, me neither.” You say as you feel his bulge against your stomach. On instinct you start to grind on it. “Fuck thats it.” He says, groaning as he throws his head back in pleasure, “please,” you whine, he brings the rest of your wetsuit down and picks you up, wrapping your legs around his waist. You shimmy his suit down the rest of the way, pulling him out. He groans at the contact, “Fuck, you’ve hardly touched me and look at how worked up I am,” he says, lining up with you. “Oh darling, you’re so fuckin wet for me” he coos, running his tip along my slit eliciting a whimper from you as you grab his hair. He pushes into you with a groan. “You feel so good (Y/n)” he says, moaning your name. It sounds so right coming from his mouth. You clench around him and he lets out a loud groan, his nails digging into your arm, you like it, so much more this time. “Fuck, Finn,” you whine out. “Yea good girl, say my name, tell them all who’s making you feel so good, im making you mine (y/n)” he groans, thrusting into you faster and your moaning and whimpering around him, he feels so good, so so good, “so so so good, finn, mhm dont stop.” You whine out, yanking his hair harder, closing your eyes. “Open those pretty eyes for me,” you whine in protest, “now or I stop.” He forces your eyes open, looking into his as he fucks you harder, hitting all the right spots, getting all the best noises. You can feel how close you are, and so can he. “Finnickk.” You whine out, “I know, me too,” he grunts out, moving his hand to rub your aching clit, “yes, right there, please oh god oh god FIN!” You cry out as you cum for him, “fuck sweetheart you sound so pretty, you feel so good.” You whine and your hips buck up trying to get away from the overstimulation, “Finnickkk, please I can’t,” you whimper out, still shaking from your first orgasm, “Im close sweetheart.” He says his pace picking up, his fingers still working your clit. He hits the spot deep in you that has you seeing stars. You moan his name, as a second orgasm hits you, “Oh god Finnick, finnick,” you moan his name like a chant it feels so good, “Im gonna cum (y/n)” he grunts out, his thrusts getting sloppy before he cums inside of you, moaning your name and burying his face in your neck as he thrusts in a few more times. “God, you did so so good sweetheart” he pants out.

You both regain your dignity before turning to face up and flipping off the world. A final fuck you to the capitol.

The end, hope you liked it ❤️

Funny story, as I was writing the smut while my playlist was on shuffle, Ronan by Taylor Swift started playing, so I had to take a break and cry. 😃 so if the smut sucks thats why, it killed my mood. Then my cat came in and needed my attention.

[twompweek]

Hello all and welcome to the twomp week blog! I don’t think this will end up being a big thing, but with a few other people showing interest in participating it will still hopefully be a bit of fun.

I figured I’d put together this introductory post to explain a few things for those unsure, and later include any links to relevant other posts for ease of finding information. Of course, if there’s anything you find unclear or any follow up questions you might have, feel free to drop an ask or dm this blog.

So let’s get into things!

What is twomp week?

Twomp week is a week long, low pressure event for creatives within the twomp fandom. For each day the event runs there will be a list of prompts to help inspire those participating. Don’t feel like using those prompts? No worries! You can create anything you’d like for this event, regardless of the prompts for the day. And, of course, there is no pressure to post one thing for each day. Create as much or as little as you want! This event is only for a bit of fun so do whatever makes you happy :)

Who is running the event?

Me! Hello, I go by Squid. My mainblog is @thatgirlwithasquid but, while I do not enforce an 18+ following because I frankly don’t care enough to investigate who follows me, I do reblog and very rarely post more explicit content within my other fandoms on there. If you are under 18 or that content will bother you, I’d suggest going on my main blog with caution (though the #twomp tags on my blog should be perfectly minor friendly)

I love twomp but don’t create as much for it as I’d like, so I’m putting together this event both as a way to motivate myself and to share in some fun.

Is twomp week minor-friendly?

Hell yeah! I’m aware that there’s plenty of minors within this fandom so I want this event to be open to you to participate too. That means that I won’t be reblogging any nsfw content to this blog and politely ask that participants respect this and help to create an event that is safe and welcoming to all.

What can I make for the event?

Anything! Art, fanfic, music, edits, animation, gifs, character analysis… Anything that you like doing as a way to participate in this fandom is welcome. This isn’t an event tailored towards writers or artists or anyone else in specific. It’s for everyone.

I also intend for this event to be inclusive for all things twomp related. Want to create for a background character? A rare pair? Argos and Mr Plant? The plants? One specific episode? An OC? The voids themself? Our lord and saviour Argos’ Pet Rock? All perfectly acceptable and encouraged. As long as it’s linked to twomp its perfect for twomp week!

When will twomp week be?

Twomp week will take place on the week beginning with the 5th of August and run for 7 days. Prompts will be released ahead of this on July 15th so that anyone who may need/desire time to prepare their work beforehand has the opportunity to do so.

How can I find out more about the event?

I’ll be updating about the plans for twomp week as I work them out and posting about it on this blog, so following the @twompweek blog is the best way to stay updated as I figure things out. You can also just keep an eye on the #twomp and #the world of mr plant tags for anything I post about it, or the #twomp week tag itself which I will also start using.

You can also send an ask to the event blog or send me a dm here and I’ll do my best to get back to you about whatever you want to know!

How do I take part in twomp week?

There’s no sign up process! This is an open event that anyone can join in, no need to ask or feel worried about just jumping on. When the event rolls around, all you need to do is post your work here on tumblr with the #twomp week tag or @ this blog so that I can find and reblog your creations onto the event blog as well.

It would also be nice if you followed the event blog or the #twomp week tag so that you can enjoy and support other participants and all their hard work, but that’s optional and up to your preference.

[guppygiggles]

Like Real People Do ♡ (Casper x Avery)

☁️ Summary: Casper moves to a new town. A peaceful morning longboard ride along the boardwalk leads to a chance encounter~! This story is written in first-person (Casper's) perspective.

☁️ Warnings: Light tickling (accidental + clinical setting), mild injury (no blood or gore), death mention (no actual death). Loneliness/insecurity mention.

☁️ Author's Note: This is my first fic (ever, lol, not just with these characters) so I hope you enjoy it! Please let me know if the tags/warnings are wrong and I will fix them. I am so thankful for the support and love I have received for my characters, it means so much to me.♡

This is a series now!

Part 1 *you are here

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Part 8

If you just got here and want to know more about my characters, you can read my comic starting right here!

"Alright, go ahead and lie back," the doctor instructed as she pulled the extender out from the examination table. I did so, swinging my legs up and planting my socked feet on the extender. Goosebumps rose on my arms as the cold vinyl was easily felt through my thin t-shirt. My eyes traced the borders of the sterile white ceiling tiles, my lips pursing as I prepared to be examined. "I'm just going to feel your belly, okay?"

“Just,” I thought.

"Okay," I sighed, and then locked my teeth together. Perspiration formed between the vinyl and my clammy palms, and a familiar heat began to creep from my ears across my cheeks. Invisible under my soft layer of pudge, my stomach muscles knitted together. As she leaned over the table, I avoided the doctor's eyes, as if one glance would betray some emotion a little too complex -- a little too personal -- for a routine checkup.

She lifted my shirt to the bottom of my ribcage, prompting a shiver as the cold air rushed over my bare skin. Her icy fingers began to unceremoniously probe my stomach; starting above my bellybutton, she pressed and prodded in a seemingly random pattern. Toes curling, I tried to steel myself, to compose my face in a mask of indifference, even as I felt my blush deepen. My belly trembled as her fingers traveled down each side, then lower, pressing into the spots just inside each of my hip bones. I twitched, my composure faltering. Mercifully, I was able to quash my giggle into a sound more akin to a cough.

“Did that hurt?”

“Ah, no, it's just… sensitive,” I answered, cleaning my throat to lend more credibility to my coughing.

“Okay, good. You can sit up now.”

I sat up – a little too quickly – cursing myself as my head spun.

“Well, you're very healthy. We'll keep an eye on that low BP, just make sure you stay hydrated, exercise, yadda yadda, you know the drill,” she prattled as I prepared to leave, jamming my feet into my shoes without untying them.

I checked out at the front desk and got in my car. Once safely in the driver’s seat, a relieved sigh rolled from my chest. In the privacy of my sun-bleached and beat-to-hell Versa, I could admit, at least, in my mind: while I enjoyed being ticklish, it did make doctor visits a challenge at times.

Back at home, the rest of my Saturday proceeded without incident. My new job offered weekends off, a pleasant change from the unpredictable schedule of my previous position. Since I had just moved to Port Oleander, though, I didn't have anyone to spend them with. Most of the time, that was okay; I was pretty introverted, but I did get lonely sometimes. Well… more often than I liked to admit.

Standing over the sink, I ate dinner – leftover chicken with rice and green beans – while watching YouTube on my phone. I took a shower and brushed my teeth. In bed I watched the ceiling fan spin in the dark, trying to follow the tips of each blade with my eyes, until it gently hypnotized me to sleep.

+++

When I awoke, the room was dark and still. Rolling over, I grabbed my phone and checked the time, blinding myself with the backlight I had forgotten to turn down. Four a.m.

I mopped a sweaty hand over my face. For no reason I could discern, I had been waking up three hours before my alarm every day for the past month. With no hope of going back to sleep, I would scroll on my phone, waiting until it was time to get out of bed. Today felt different, though. While I would generally awaken groggy and irritable, today, I was restless and alert.

Summer was hot and humid in my new city, so I pulled on a pair of cargo shorts, my most breathable binder, and a loose t-shirt. “It’s supposed to be nice today. Maybe if I ride my longboard, I'll run into some other skaters and make a friend or something,” I thought, then blushed in spite of myself. Not very many people skated anymore, especially not in my age group, and even if I did run into someone… would they want to befriend a visibly queer person like me? Would I even be safe? Oleander seemed generally more open-minded than my hometown, but since moving there, I had already been the recipient of enough sour looks to make me gun-shy.

I shook my head to stop the spiral.

“All I can do is try.”

+++

Yellow streetlight bathed the boardwalk pavement as I made lazy, wide carves down the vacant street. Aromas of coffee, food and ocean spray enveloped me as businesses began to open. The smooth pavement was a refreshing change from the rough sidewalks where I had grown up, and with my wheels gliding like marbles on glass, I barely needed to push. Clean, cool air filled my lungs and whistled through my short hair, pulling negative thoughts from my mind. It was more than a plank of wood with some metal and wheels attached; it was a magic carpet, and I lived to fly.

I surfed along the boardwalk, watching the sky lighten in shades of red and orange as it prepared to welcome the sun. It was my first time visiting the boardwalk since moving to Oleander, and as I coasted, I came to a pier that stretched way out into the water.

“That might be a cool place to watch the sunrise,” I mused. Angling my feet into a turn, I felt my wheels roll over the wood slats, gently vibrating my feet up to my hips. I was surprised at how soft the wood felt; it rattled a bit, but it wasn’t unpleasant. The pier was dotted with awnings and folded-up stands, but no vendors had opened yet, and I was glad for the lack of pedestrians to avoid. I pushed hard as I cruised down the pier, feeling the cool salt spray on my bare arms and face. As I looked out across the water, something caught my eye.

I thought it was a glass bottle catching the light as it bobbed in the surf, but as I looked closer, I became more convinced that it was not a single object; it didn’t just shine, it glittered, as if someone had spilled a container of sequins in the water. Unlike debris, though, the sparkly mass did not follow the swell of the waves. Seeming to act of its own accord, it moved toward the coast and then back, vertically upward and then down, hovering just above the water. Squinting in the pre-dawn light, I could have sworn it had a smokey, blurry haze around it, too. There was something distinctly alive about its movements. Transfixed, I watched it move almost playfully as it bobbed and weaved along the coast.

By the time I looked up, it was too late. I slammed my foot down to brake, but the slick wood did nothing to stop my forward momentum. My arms pinwheeled as my stomach connected with the guardrail at 10mph. It was only then that I realized just how high the end of the pier was. Shock and vertigo seized my body as I flipped over the rail, hands grasping uselessly at empty air. The next few moments of my experience proceeded as a flashback.

I was nine years old, crying on a beach chair at the public pool. I had jumped off the high-dive for the first time, my skin stinging and red as my dad wrapped me in a towel and sat beside me. He rubbed my back. “You were brave for jumping, angel, but you gotta be careful how you hit the water next time, okay? Water is just like concrete if you’re too high.”

“I wonder if I’ll see him again,” was my last thought as I plummeted into unconsciousness.

+++

The first thing I became aware of was a high-pitched whistle, followed by a musty scent, like wet stone and paper. I opened my eyes to a small, circular room.

Across from me, just beyond the foot of the bed I was lying in, was a red door. The walls were white-painted brick and featured bookshelves that practically exploded with books. “This isn't a bedroom with some books,” I thought, dazed, “it’s a library with a bed in it.” From every available wall space hung scientific illustrations of all kinds. Above my head, a tall window flooded the room with sunlight.

I tried to sit up, causing pain to radiate from my stomach. I was hurt, and this wasn't a hospital, meaning I was in someone else's home… in someone else's bed.

My mind scrambled to fill in the blanks. I woke up too early, again. I was skateboarding. I could smell pancakes and coffee. I wanted to watch the sunrise from the end of the pier. My feet tingled as I recalled my wheels rolling over the wooden slats; it seemed to go on forever. Did I make it to the end? Wait… what was that in the water?

Whatever happened next must have led to my injury. Did someone attack me? I couldn't remember seeing anyone on the pier, but maybe I was wrong. Did I fall?

Immediately, I checked my clothes. They weren't wet, which meant I didn't hit the water, but my back felt a bit damp… perhaps from sweat. How long was I unconscious? Frantically, I jammed my hands in my pockets, looking for my phone. Not only was it gone, so were my wallet and keys. Fuck!

With some difficulty, I kicked my feet out from under the heavy quilt and tried to stand. For the first time, I noticed that the bed had a small table beside it. All my effects were there, along with a glass of water and some over-the-counter painkillers. I urgently checked my phone.

“Six P.M.?!”

I had been sleeping in a stranger's bed for at least eight hours. No, probably even longer. I thrust everything into my pockets and made for the door, feeling a flash of fear that it might be locked. Mercifully, it wasn't.

The door opened with a creak that was loud, but did not travel as the hallway was incredibly small. Stairs led both to and from the tiny landing, going so far in each direction, I could not see where they terminated. Whipping my head around, I looked out the window. I could see nothing but sky. Was I in a tower?

I heard movement from above me. Whoever it was that brought me here was coming back. I started to descend the stairs, as quickly as my aching stomach would allow.

“Wait, stop, please!” A man's voice called down the spiral corridor.

I didn't stop, though. Racing down the steps, I practically tripped over my own feet as I scrambled to escape. Maybe he didn't kidnap me – he did leave all of my belongings, after all – but I wasn't sticking around to find out. My heart thundered in my chest as sweat broke out all over my body. The stairs seemed to go on forever, and I could hear the stranger behind me the whole time I ran, begging me to stop.

“Please, you'll hurt yourself! Please stop!”

When I finally reached the bottom, I threw open the heavy door and gasped as I was met with a cold spray of seawater in my face. Far in the distance, across miles of ocean, I could see the coast. Desperately looking from side to side, I saw that the tower was surrounded completely by water. There was no escape.

“Please… don't go any further. There's no way off this island. Please, I don't want you to get hurt.”

A hand on my shoulder made me jump. As I spun to face the stranger, all the blood drained from my face.

I was stricken by how tall he was, dwarfing me by at least a foot. His skin – if you could call it skin – had the appearance of thick white smoke trapped in a bottle, seeming to billow and roll beneath the surface. Most strange of all was his head. I could see the faintest outline of a human-shaped face, but it expanded outward from the sides and top, forming rolling peaks like a cloud. In the center were two large eyes, the irises and lashes of which were both stark white. Despite the creature’s fantastical appearance, he wore a simple blue button-down shirt and slacks.

Suddenly, I felt sure that I had died on that pier. Perhaps I fell. Perhaps I was still falling even now, synapses grasping at straws, presenting a frenzied hallucination before death. I could feel my grip on consciousness slipping, like flat shoes sliding on ice.

“Please don't hurt me,” I whimpered, fighting the pressure behind my ears and eyes.

“My dear, you being harmed is exactly what I am trying to prevent.”

“What are you? Am I dead?”

“I'll explain everything, okay? Please come back inside,” he pleaded, offering me his hand. My strength was fading fast. Deciding that the risk of trusting this stranger was preferable to collapsing in his doorway, I took it.

+++

Like the bedroom I had awoken in, the lighthouse kitchen was filled with sunlight as I sat at the table. Riding above the ever-present scents of sea, stone, and paper, the dining room air was thick with bergamot and lavender.

“I know it's summer, but I drink hot tea year-round. Would you like some?” he asked.

I suddenly became aware of just how thirsty I was, having been unconscious for so long, followed immediately by a frantic jog down the longest staircase of my life.

“Please,” I croaked.

I watched the back of the cloud-man’s head as he prepared the tea, my brain immediately connecting the loud whistle I had awoken to with his old-fashioned kettle.

He took a seat across from me, porcelain clattering softly as he placed the teacup and saucer in front of me. I sipped, relieved at the familiar and comforting flavor of earl grey.

“Listen… I'm… very sorry. It's really my fault you ended up here… that you got hurt.”

I looked up from my tea, brow furrowed. His eyes were pained as he stared at the vinyl kitchen floor.

“I was collecting sea glass and I lost track of time. When it's dark, humans can't really see me, so I usually do it at night,” he glanced up at me, the faintest hint of blue tinting under his eyes, “when I saw you watching me, I was just going to disappear into the water… but then I saw you hit the end of the pier. You hit it so hard. I got to you before you fell into the water, but you were already unconscious. I didn't know what to do... so I brought you here, to my lighthouse.”

His face was a mask of apprehension and regret. I had no memory of hitting the guardrail, but it did explain the bruise across my stomach.

He continued, “I’m not a medical doctor, but I've read many of your medical textbooks. I… examined you, while you were unconscious, to make sure you weren't seriously injured. Professionally, of course!” The blue tint under his eyes deepened and spread a bit as he stole another glance at me. Was he blushing?

I offered a humorless laugh. “Well, I'm glad you didn't take me to the hospital, my insurance doesn't cover that, and god knows I can't afford it. I've fallen off my skateboard before, it's no biggie. I'm sore, but I don't think it's, like, serious,” I supplied casually, trying to comfort him.

He perked up, just a little.

“I'm really very sorry, and I'm sorry if I scared you, too. I know that seeing me must have been quite a shock. I've read many of your books, and watched you on TV and on the computer, but I've never met a human before.”

Reality began to settle on me. I still wasn't totally convinced that I wasn't flailing in midair, moments from death and hallucinating vividly, but if this was real… then this was the coolest shit that had ever happened to me.

“Even – and perhaps, especially – if am about to die, what's the harm in playing along?” I thought.

“What… are you?” I asked.

He brightened a bit more, even managing a shy smile now.

“I believe in your language, the closest word to describe me would be ‘elemental.’ I learned that from one of your Dungeons and Dragons books. And, I do actually have a name,” he gained a bit of confidence here, giving a little hand flourish, followed by a bow, “Doctor Avery Nimbus, at your service.”

I giggled, and as I did, Avery’s face lit up; his grin was so big, it curved his eyes into half-moons. For a moment, I could swear the room was brighter, and a warmth spread through my chest.

He proceeded, “And you are…?”

“Well, my name is Casper. I'm just your regular ol, garden-variety human.”

“Casper, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance,” he said, extending a hand across the table. I clasped it gently, his large hand almost completely enveloping mine. His skin had an interesting texture, too; it was cold and soft, much softer than human skin, and I could feel the swirling tempest beneath it, like storm winds against a window pane. He held my hand for just a tick longer than I expected. By the time I looked up, he was already looking away.

“Ah… it's starting to get dark, now. I should take you home,” he said softly.

I frowned. I had so many more questions. A pit grew in my stomach as I thought of returning to the mundanity of my life after this experience, but I couldn't just drop everything, could I…? Besides, I was afraid of overstaying my welcome. I had been sleeping in his bed for hours.

“How do I even get home? You said there's no way off this island, and I didn't see a boat out there…”

Avery beamed again. This time, there was a sly twinkle in his pale eyes.

“Allow me to show you.”

+++

I gasped as Avery hoisted me into his arms, easily carrying me princesses-style despite my extra pounds. The night wrapped around us like a star-studded cloak, Avery's body nearly invisible in the darkness. He stood on the rocky edge of the tiny island, the crashing waves spraying us with salty mist.

“Are you ready?” he asked.

“Oh, god… as I'll ever be,” I whined, my hand clutching the fabric of his shirt.

“Then here we go~!”

With that, Avery leapt upward with incredible force, propelling us into the night sky. My stomach dropped as I squealed, memories of the drop-tower ride at my hometown amusement park flooding my mind. I hated that ride, but my brother always made me go with him. Avery was trembling, though, and it took a moment for me to realize it was because he was giggling.

“I always love takeoffs,” he tittered, and then began to walk across the air in slow, bouncing leaps. The cool night wind caressed my cheeks as I leaned into his chest, blushing and grateful he couldn't see it in the dark. Looking down on the city below us, I could see where the black of the shore met the twinkling yellow of the boardwalk lights. In that moment, I forbade any further notion of this being a hallucination; even if it wasn't real, I was going to live as though it was.

+++

My feet kissed the ground just outside of my door. Looking up, I stared into the glittering blackness of Avery's face, the bits of ice in his cloud-head catching the lights around the apartment courtyard.

“Will I see you again?” I asked.

“If you like, certainly.”

“Can you come back tomorrow night?” I blurted out, blushing brightly -- and now, there was definitely enough light for him to see it.

For the first time, Avery laughed a real, genuine laugh. It was a symphony that started as a tinkling of giggles, crescendoing into a hearty boom that rattled my chest like a thunder clap, tickling my ears and making them flush.

“Absolutely, dewdrop.”

[sunchaserwings]

Incoming rant about The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Herlock Sholmes from The Great Ace Attorney, and the BBC Sherlock (no major spoilers ahead I promise).

A preface before I begin; I was never a big fan of Sherlock Holmes or any adaptation of the stories. I've seen Elementary although I was very young so I only have the vaguest of memories of enjoying it, and my roommate had me watch a couple BBC Sherlock episodes when I was a tween/young teen. My mother claims she tried to get me into Sherlock Holmes but I'm rather skeptical. Anyhow, onto the story.

Back in March my boyfriend bought me the Ace Attorney games for my birthday which included the Great Ace Attorney Chronicles (or Dai Gyakuten Saiban for those who are still stuck on the pre-localization names ;p). I was on my flight home from my birthday trip after I got the news my manager fired my brother while I was out of the state and figured why not, I'd start playing the first TGAA game on the flight. I'd probably enjoy myself and I couldn't sleep.

Second biggest mistake of the year (first biggest was trusting Les Schwab to do my brake job). I. Was. Hooked. I played the first case and fell in love with Kazuma instantly (he's so Zero shaped!). I played the second case and realized that calling him Zero shaped was way too accurate. We all know what happened there. Most important to this rant, I met Herlock Sholmes (more on my opinions on him later). I could barely put the game down but I had to take a break due to finding a new job and getting adjusted. I ended up finishing the game in June or July, one of the two. I finished the final case of the first game in one long 12 hour gaming session it was that good (my back didn't thank me though).

Now, the man of the hour: Herlock Sholmes. I didn't think much of him initially. He was simultaneously charming and annoying in the second case but as I played more he grew on me. I cried when the start of 1-5 happened. He clawed his way up into like the top 7 favorite characters at the time. The ending of the game with him playing his violin made me bawl my eyes out. I. Loved. This. Game.

It took a few more months to start and finish the second game. In between Adventures and Resolve I played Skyward Sword, Minish Cap, and some others so I had a healthy break. I came back to play Resolve and finished it like two months ago. It hit me in the gut just as hard as the first game did although there are a great many things I'd tweak and do differently. But Herlock Sholmes... man, he's not my favorite but he's up there underneath Kazuma and Van Zieks.

Anyhow, I finished the game but the hyperfixation had started and would not let me go. I've never been one to go out and seek fanfiction due to... personal stuff but I had a feeling I didn't want to go probe the depths of AO3 yet for fear of crying. I started a graveyard shift at my job which severely limited my ability to talk with people about stuff and also there's so many major spoilers but very few people I knew had played the game. A thought occurred to me, however. What about Sherlock Holmes audiobooks? I have an auditory processing issue which has made listening to audiobooks hard but I decided to give it a go. Perhaps it would satiate the TGAA hyperfixation hunger.

I found the ones produced by Magpie Audio, expertly narrated by Greg Wagland. Go check him out, he has over 77 videos of Sherlock Holmes audiobook recordings and all of them are a minimum of 40 minutes, often times far more. I went through over 30 hours of audiobook in a few weeks listening to these. Sherlock Holmes is such a good character and I can understand how and why he took late Victorian England by storm. And you know what the best part is?

Herlock Sholmes is the most faithful adaptation I have personally seen as a character of the original Sherlock Holmes.

They got so many of Sherlock's little idiosyncrasies right and you can tell the entire team were genuine fans of the books. I listened to Mr. Wagland's narration *and I saw 221B Baker of the games*. Especially the jack knife impaling the communications to the mantle being referenced in the game? The sheer mess of the flat? It's so good!

My roommate (whom is also a Sherlock Holmes fan) noticed my newest hyper fixation that spawned off of TGAA and that reignited his Sherlock Holmes obsession. He was a fan of the BBC Sherlock and now recognizes it was not a very great show but it's a comfort media for him nonetheless. He just dragged me into rewatching it and... okay, it's playing into a lot of inaccurate Sherlock tropes I don't like but goddamn Martin Freeman carries the whole show. I love his John Watson because it feels like a reasonable version of a modern, younger Watson. He feels real in a way. I do like the fact that even in the first episode, it's established that John and Sherlock can make each other laugh and smile just like in the books. I don't forgive them calling Sherlock a sociopath, however (speaking as someone with a brother that has been diagnosed with being a high-fuctioning sociopath). He's AuDHD to the max and deserves recognition in that department.

All of this to say, I can trace my current Sherlock hyperfixation back to Mega Man. Finding Mega Man in 4th grade led to watching the Ace Attorney anime in late 2021 which led to playing The Great Ace Attorney and that led to listening to Sherlock Holmes. I don't know why I decided to make this post but maybe I might start live blogging this shit? All in all, this is going to be a wild ride.

[humongousgothskeletonfarm]

chapter 6 thoughts: (spoilers ahead!)

oh. fuck.

-

he was king. now he’s a martyr.

holy shittttt

-

aftg really brings us all together, this is random but i love talking to other fan accounts about the books

-

anyway fanfics will no longer have to speculate when rikos funeral was, and if kevin attended or not (or if he had a mental breakdown about it)

also neil u have no tact babe and i love u for it

-

oh renee ur so lovely ur so insightful (neil u should listen to what she has to say)

jean and his ‘i won’t grieve him’ ❤️🫶

- ‘promise me’ jean said with a desperation that should have kill him, nathaniel didn’t hesitate, ‘i promise’ SHUT THE FUCK UP I LOVE THEM THANK U NORA THIS IS EVERYTHING I WANTED FROM THIS BOOK

THE SWAP FROM NATHANIEL TO NEIL IS JUST AS POWERFUL FROM JEANS PERSOECTIVE IN TSC AS IT WAS IN FROM NEILS IN TKM I LITERALLY CANNOT THE PARALLELS ARE KILLING ME

-

it’s 1:40 am and i’ve just made a cup of tea to keep myself awake

feeling many things about jeans perusal of the fox photo wall and taking renee’s picture

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i know these motherfuckers aren’t accusing neil kevin and jean of abandoning that cunt and leading to his ‘suicide’

-

WE ARE THE RIGHT PEOPLE I THINK JUST NOT THE RIGHT TIME (look i am admittedly not a jean/renee shipper but good god they are so sweet in this)

A COOL EVENING BREEZE AND RAINBOWS

-

screaming as silently as i can rn

- petition for someone to put summertime sadness on the jean playlist

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whattttt is the mystery about jeremy’s family?? what is this fabled fall banquet that tore his family in half im so intrigued i have to know more

ALSO JEREMY IS IN THERAPY AND HAS SOME SORT OF FAMILY ISSUES I KNEW IT IM SURE THATS ON A BINGO SOMEWHERE

-

jeremy dad of the trojans checking to see that they’re safe and also cody first cannon non binary character??? pls say yes

-

accidentally fell asleep in the middle of my planned all nighters whoops it’s currently 7 am

chapter 7:

“I like to indulge,” Jeremy said with a dimpled smile. ​Kevin’s words mocked him in the back of his thoughts: “Some of them you like.”

i did. notice this in chapter 2 or whatever but is this?? are we getting jerejean???? that’s what this means righ??

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jeremy wdym ‘oh to be the pampered elite’ u have a butler??

jean defending kevin saying he’s earned the right to be arrogant be still my beating heart i love these stubborn mother fuckers

-

He was years away, watching a different beautiful boy lean in close to say, Will you teach me when he’s not watching? It could be our secret.

STOP IT RN

chapter 8!!

flicked him a sly look. “Easy on the eyes, maybe.”

AHHHHH!!!

-

also so glad that there’s 100% confirmation cat and laila are dating (shared bedroom!)

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the description of laila and cats lounge room is so soft and cozy im so jealous i wish i was there

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barkbark von barkenstein u will never top sir fat cat mcatterson (although props to nora for always having simultaneously the worst and most creative names for pets)

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jean telling cat she’s a good player but misses every ball at her hips is literally every raven! (someone) fic ever come to life where they meet a relatively normal other team and have absolutely no tact or awareness of what others considered rude and immediately tell the other players what their weaknesses are (i’m obsessed)

-

“Yes,” he said, and if he didn’t sound sure, he at least sounded angry. “Let them all burn. I hope none of them survive.” BABY I LOVE U IM SO PROUD OF U UR SAFE NOW FUCK RIKO FUCK THE RAVENS FUCK THE MASTER

-

“Oh, he’s good. A bit rude, but I like him. I think we’re going to be good friends.”

i’d say the exact same thing

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*jeremy giving jean the keys*

well it’s not andreil levels of drama and symbolism but love a good comparison

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or they do not care enough about her wellbeing. It’s unforgivable either way.”

giggling a bit over jean being up in arms about boba knowing that he’d be seriously unimpressed with me if he knew how much boba i drank

-

he wants to know what it was for

AND WHAT IF THAT LINE BROKE ME NORA?? AND WHAT THEN??

The Ravens had given up everything to be the undefeated champions, only to be destroyed last month by a tiny team from South Carolina.

I CANT DO THIS ANYMORE

“Loving something is not enough,” Jean told him, right on cue. ​“When is the last time you enjoyed playing?” Jeremy asked. ​“Irrelevant,” Jean said. “I am Jean Moreau; I am perfect Court. I do not need to enjoy it to be the best backliner in the NCAA.”

that was what Jean felt safest in, Jeremy would back his decision wholeheartedly.

LITERALLY LEAVE ME ALONE

chapter 9999

also i’m so glad that we have jeremy/laila/cat friendship like in fics and stuff they were always best buddies coz they were the only trojan characters named in the books but it’s great to see they’re actually good friends in cannon

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“I need you to listen to me for one moment,” Laila said, “and I need you to believe me when I say it. Fuck Coach Moriyama.”

AGREED AGREED AGREED FUCK THAT CUNT

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COOKING LESSONS WITH JEAN THIS IS THE WHOLESOME CONTENT I SIGNED UP FOR

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cat talking macronutrients and promising to help with his diet so it’s still familiar but more fun in order to begin healing jeans relationship with food is so important to me

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nora bleaching jeremy’s hair blonde after telling us she was shocked we all headcannoned him as blonde while she thought he was brunette is so funny to me,, don’t worry fan artists u do not have to change a thing!

(frosted tips made me giggle too, jeremy u pussy)

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“Voulez-vous coucher avec moi?”

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chapter 10

jean learning basic household chores like sorting and washing clothes and deep cleaning the apartment and learning his way around a supermarket <3

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LAILA CAT JEAN FRIENDSHIP IS REAL

Afternoons were filled with whatever the women were in the mood for that day, be it wandering downtown, shopping, or combing through estate sales.

Jean went where they took him because it was better than being left in the house alone,

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COOKING IS HEALING JEAN ITS A COMFORT THING SHUT THE FUCK UP THIS IS EVERYTHUNG HES SO REAL FOR THAT

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Ravens graduated; they didn’t leave.

fuck if that didn’t just stop my heart

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i definitely should have been more wary of the trigger warnings. if anyone is wanting to read the book but is worried about certain parts, i’d be happy to let y’all know what sections are triggering so u can try and skip around them.

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But Jean was not a Raven, and Wayne was dead.

FUCK YEAH BABY NOT ANYMORE U ARENT

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the thought of that quiet space with its single bed was so repulsive he turned toward the living room instead. - this is so important to me

He could sense the others’ presence even if they weren’t around to bother him, and that was enough to take the edge off the loneliness eating at his heart.

literally end my life i’m so happy for jean, he’s healing slowly but surely

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this was better than anything he’d ever had. It was worlds more than he deserved. He feared it as much as he wanted it;

JEAN U DO DESERVE IT I PROMISE U

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wait wtf,, zane is reacher??? in literally every raven fic ever reacher is the most abusive character other than riko

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OMFG BEACH SCENE??? THEYRE GONNA TAKE JEAN TO THE BEACH??? CHECK THAT OFF EVERY SINGLE BINGO CARD MADE FOR THIS BOOK

^ yeah i wrote that two seconds before then reading jeans panic attack about drowning and the trigger of riko waterboarding him and neil and now i want to cry

[awriternamedart]

yall know what time it is

For funsies whenever I do challenge stuff like this, I like to look back on the work I put and think over the decisions I made while on a time crunch!!

And since Sampard Week has come to an end once again, I might as well make the review public and open for the masses to see.

Each oneshot will be graded on a 0-10 scale determined by how much I think i put into the oneshot- by effort, consistency, continuity, characterization, and enjoyment in making. I will attempt to be fair to myself, its been a rough and stressful week on top of it, so lets just dive in headfirst!

all fics will be linked in this post as well, so consider it a masterpost of sorts.

Day 1 - Flowers | 6/10

Honestly this one was difficult. I was really struggling with the angle to take with this oneshot, and it took me more then a bit to settle on a draft I liked and could continue with. It was definitely more of an art prompt then a writing prompt, being so broad and vague means making a story out of it can be rather daunting or difficult. But in the end, Im content with how it turned out, even if it was the start of my mental deterioration with writing Sampo. So a bit of a rough start, but overall it works.

Day 2 - Traveling | 5/10

I love this one, I genuinely do. But uh- this was sampard week. not gepard is an uncle and sampos just there week. ADAJRJSJFJ

Seriously- I loved writing this, but I also found it to deviate a little to much towards the end from the original meaning for the post. It was meant to be a lot less focused on Luka and more on Gepard getting heatstroke and Sampo being Sampo. Not to mention, this fic has.. alot of errors.... I recently switched over to a new writing software, and it was after this fic that I learned where the autocorrect button was. Yeesh.

Day 3 - Neighbors | 8/10

This one? Good shit.

I LOVED writing this one. Since it was a 5+1, I felt like I could take it a bit easier with the scenes, and it meant I could delve a bit more into Sampo's character in a more modern setting. While this fic is truly where my frustrations with writing Sampo came to light, I feel like I did a good job at making peace with the part of me that yells the universe is gonna collapse if I dare to take a step to far from canon behavior. Its cute, its sweet, Gepard worked at FNaF, we had fun.

Day 4 - Domestic | 0/10.

i did not write. I cannot review writing where THERE IS NONE AHDHAJR

I do think this is a cute doodle for barely 15 minutes - i.. mixed up the band au days and skipped ahead mentally and forgot domestic was a prompt.. so uh yeah this entire came out of my panic of realizing oh shit. I dont have time to write a oneshot. and i dont have any ideas. BAM. so yeah a doodle!

Day 5 - Band AU | 7/10

i love plotless sillies.

Honestly this fic was meant to have a LOT more plot. It was originally Sampo going to a mechanical fever concert to check out the band since he wanted to audition as their drummer and then he just started crushing on the bassist. But then I went - im already being ultra indulgent by giving Gepard a bass and Sampo fishnet. And I want them to make out.

so yeah, i basically just went down the route of indulgence. I do wish I had written more- but it was during the writing of this oneshot that my stress had shot to an all time high and I ended up getting really sick from it for the rest of the week. So it has a lot of missed potential and while its good as it is, its one I would adore re-writing one day to give it a bit more oumph.

Day 6-7 - Dreams, Free Day | 8/10

As per last year, free day I did an Akrasia one shot. (For those of you who dont know, Akrasia is my sampard longfic that is an Alternate Canon based around the idea of what if Gepard went to the underground with the trailblazers) And I was like eh why the fuck not - Akrasia just turned a year old, so !!

And thus, this was born. I had no idea what to do for Day 6's prompt either, and as I sat on it over the week I realized that it would be best to combine the two as it would one- give me a rest day to hang out and touch grass and two- let me get a bit more in touch with the concept and explore it further. Akrasia is in a bit of a tight spot right now - I want to do more with it , but Im afraid of writing something that will conflict with a promise I made to write Akrasia's sequel should we go back to Belobog with a Sampo-central storyline. Which is why this oneshot is sent so far in the future, and even then I didnt do NEARLY as much as I wanted to. I wanted to more deeply establish the strain on them both for Sampo coming back, for the deeply seeded fear of failure that was planter in Gepards heart. I wanted to explore a bit more of Gepards arm lore since its a huge part of Akrasias base storyline, I wanted to touch a bit more on Sampo dodging around the universe after the Trailblazers, but in the end I am content and even happy with what came out of it. Their both just tired and deserve to rest with each other at the end of the day.

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Aaand yeah thats about it. honestly surprised i survived the week , and even more so that I managed to finish on time , with almost every fic being nearly 3k words.

At the end I understand a few more flaws in my work - i use to many commas and tied together sentances, I struggle with overly formal word choice, etc - but its alot of fun to test these kinda things out. See where I was last year and know that I did better this year .

and lets hopefully do it again - next year :3

[cutthroatcarnival]

Febuwhump Alt Prompt 7: Last Words (AKA Day 12)

Tags/Warnings: Referenced character death (The Shadow)

The journey is over, and it’s time to say goodbye.

Read it on AO3!

A Parting

The field was quiet, devoid of the sounds of battle from mere minutes ago. A gentle breeze swept through, twirling and dancing around the heroes as they stood, all swords raised skywards. It was done. The enemy had been slain.

Hyrule shivered as he felt the overwhelming presence of magic in the air, like crisp winter air, curling around the nine of them, bathing the area in a shimmering gold veil.

“Heroes… You have fought well… Valiantly… Your journey draws to a close…” The voice chimed, quietly authoritative, drawing the attention of the mentioned heroes to the swirling gold that had appeared.

Portals. They would be going home. Hyrule felt his chest clench and throat close, eyes stinging as reality fell upon them. He could see Wind sobbing, clutching to Warriors, as the older hero gently shushed him, cradling him gently with silent tears.

Next to him, a little ways away, Time held Twilight and Wild in a hug, refusing to let go of the family years ahead of him, clutching onto them for dear life. Hyrule turned to face more sobbing; Sky, the culprit of said sobbing, was curled around a teary eyed Four, both wore smiles.

A throat being cleared behind him made Hyrule jump, whipping around to see Legend, who offered him a hand with a soft smile. When he took it, he was a little surprised to be pulled into a hug. Hyrule wrapped his arms around Legend, feeling as the other trembled. The tears Hyrule had been holding back spilled over, darkening the red tunic he buried his face into.

“I’m sorry that your world fell into decline, that you grew up in a place of constant danger,” Legend’s voice was quiet and shaky, “But you’ve been so brave, despite everything thrown your way.” The pink haired hero laughed wetly, pulling away enough to see Hyrule’s face.

“I see too much of myself in you, and that admittedly terrifies me,” Hyrule swallowed back a sob, “Even with that fear, I know how incredible and capable of a hero you are. I’m proud you’re my successor.”

The floodgates broke, Hyrule slumping forward as he sobbed, burying his face into Legend’s tunic, feeling the other hero wrap him tightly in a hug. The wetness seeping through his own tunic alerted him to the fact that Legend was also crying, making him clutch tighter at the veteran.

They slowly parted, tears glistening on their cheeks and in their eyes, making their way back to the others, in a similar state of teary-eyed. The humming of the portals grew louder, beckoning them back home. Wild stepped forward, holding what appeared to be a book to his chest.

“I asked Purah for her help with these to make sure they’d withstand anything.” The scarred hero handed him a small leather book, Link; Hero of Hyrule scrawled on the front in loopy handwriting. Inside the book were pictures of their time together, captured memories so they could never forget and get to reminisce.

Hyrule approached Time, slightly staring at his blank eye that was open, as he focused on the books in his hands- it seemed Wild had given him two, one for himself and one for Malon. The older hero glanced over at him, a soft smile playing on his face, and pulled Hyrule into a side hug.

The magic of the portals started to tug on them, slowly losing patience as they said their goodbyes. Hyrule removed himself from Time’s side, shuffling over the portal that called out for him, noticing the others had done the same, except for Twilight, who walked over to time with a bag in his hands. Hyrule knew what was in there, he had placed things in there after all, blinking back more tears.

As Twilight moved to stand in front of his portal, Time spoke, “Whenever there is a meeting, a parting shall follow. A salesman on my quest had told me this, and now I believe I fully understand it.”

The golden light began to envelop the heroes, readying to pull them back to their home eras, “It’s no longer dangerous to go alone, now that I have you all with me… in heart, mind, and spirit.” Hyrule choked out, watching the emotions on the others faces before being swallowed by golden light.

[ro994art]

Minireviews of the Bluey Minisodes

Hello everyone! Here's another one of those rare text posts from me.

As most of you may know, I'm a Bluey fan. And as all Bluey fans know, today a new batch of Bluey shorts premiered on Disney+, also known as Minisodes (or previously "Bonus Bits").

And while most fans had likely already watched these minisodes, given how they came out nearly a month before in Australia, I myself chose to wait until they were available on Disney+ to watch them, in order to save myself the hassle of looking for them online. Call me lazy if you want, but I often find it trickier than it sounds like. 😅 Especially considering how quickly those tend to get taken down.

But I digress. I was going to do this on Twitter originally, but I thought it'd be more fun and easier to express myself without a character limit here. So, since no one asked for my opinion, I'm going to give it anyways! xD

⚠️ Spoilers ahead, of course.

Here are my brief(-ish) thoughts on each of the new 7 shorts that were released.

🍔 Burger Dog

I have a soft spot for any Bluey short or episode that shows the characters dancing, particularly if they showcase new dancesteps that hadn't been shown before and that isn't flossing. I just find it really adorable and well-animated, so I enjoyed this one.

Maybe this is coming from the perspective of a non-parent, and if I ever have kids I'll have a totally different opinion, but I personally didn't find the song THAT annoying xD At least not for a first time listening to it. If it were the 15th time they'd had it on, I'd understand Bandit's position, but if it really was the first time he heard it, I would've at least let Bluey and Bingo finish the song if I were him. But again, that's just me, and it's not like what Bandit did was anything too terrible, nor am I mad at him for it. Just giving my opinion here. 😅

Oh, and the ending made me chuckle. Clever girl, Bingo. 😉😂

🤖 Bingo 3000

Not really much to say about this one, other than it was cute xD It reminded me a lot of "Daddy Robot", but with the roles reversed. Honestly, the final scene of Chili calling Bingo 3000 with her arriving super slowly because her legs are still stuck and Bandit's all "Don't get me started" was my favorite part. 😝 Overall, it was fine.

🚚 Muffin Unboxing

DEFINITELY my favorite out of this batch xD Muffin may not be my favorite character, but she is definitely the most entertaining one, and I always love seeing her show up because you just KNOW some hilarious chaos is about to ensue. 🤣

What can I say? This minisode was classic Muffin from beginning to end. Her having a toy review channel just makes too much sense and I never knew I needed it until now xD Something else I loved about this one was seeing Stripe's poor video editing skills once again, with him leaving in parts of the recording that were definitely meant to remain on the cutting floor. 😂 Very "Bumpy and the Wise Old Wolfhound," which is amongst my favorite episodes, so you know I loved seeing it.

And of course, I can't stop mentioning and appreciating Socks, my favorite, getting a cute little cameo at the end, and getting at least one line! AAAH! She's always so cute, I love Rock-Socks, you do you babygirl :'3 (And the ending was hilarious of course xD Again, classic Muffin)

I want to petition Ludo Studio to make a "Muffin's Toys" shorts series where we see Muffin parodying various types of YouTube Kids videos. Like, imagine Muffin doing challenges or a DIY? I feel like we need that. At least I do. 😜

📄 Letter

I liked this one quite a lot as well. Always love seeing tidbits of the parents' childhoods. And even though this wasn't on the same levels as "Fairytale" or "Dragon" when it comes to flashbacks or revelations, it was still pretty sweet to watch.

Little Bandit's spellings made me chuckle xD I also weirdly like how it was revealed that he used to have a bird, mostly because it reminded me of a few pet birds my grandma had when I was little. I got a bit worried that Chris was going to get sad or offended about Bandit's comment on her cooking, but glad she took it with humor. 😜

I know Bandit never really liked his artstyle, but honestly, I find it kind of charming and cute. And pretty good for a five-year-old. 😉

🍴 Hungry

Another one that was just okay for me, personally. I mean, Bandit playing like this with the girls and making them laugh is always adorable to watch. And the dad jokes were strong with this one. A lot of people are probably not going to like the gross humor, but eh, it honestly doesn't bother me.

So yeah, this was classic Bandit. I think that's all I have to say. 😅

🐷 Three Pigs

Since "Cinderella" was one of my favorites of the original batch of Bonus Bits, I had high hopes for this one. And well, I won't say that I was disappointed, because I wasn't really. I just didn't enjoy it as much as "Cinderella", mostly because this one felt a LOT more fast-paced, and I was having a hard time keeping up with Bandit's story at one point. Mmmh, is the duration of this shorter than "Cinderella"? I'll have to check it out, but I don't think it is, which makes the fact that it felt so much more fast-paced kind of interesting. 😅 Maybe he just spoke more, I guess.

It was still pretty fun. Bandit naming two pigs after the girls was cute, and sending the other one away to make things easier for himself was really funny. 😝 I wish I had his improv skills, not gonna lie. 😅 As a little side-note, I'm a bit surprised Disney didn't change or omit the "It's against my religion" line.

But yeah. Didn't like it as much as I would've liked, but still a good time.

🍃 Animals

I think this might be my second favorite out of these new shorts. Keep in mind that I was raised by a single mother, so as much as I love Bandit, I'm always going to have a soft spot for episodes that focus on Chilli hanging out with the girls in some way. 🥹

I don't know, I just found the game really cute for some reason. 🧡 It's so simple, and pretty much just an excuse to tickle Bingo in different ways, but I like how creative they got for each animal's walk. And from a character design standpoint, it made a lot of sense to make Bingo's back a "field". Like, for some reason, that made me chuckle, I don't know xD These dogs are so cubical, it felt logical, LOL.

Chilli's games have always been lot more, well, chill than Bandit's xD But I've always been a calm kid, and once again, they remind me of things my own mom and I used to play, so they resonate with me. Despite the surprising ending, this minisode was just very sweet. 😊

Final thoughts:

Even though there wasn't really anything that extraordinary about these minisodes, one must keep in mind that they're not really meant to be compared to the regular Bluey episodes, which themselves have set a pretty high standard. These are just bite-sized, mostly slice-of-life little adventures to keep us interested in these characters in-between seasons. I've always been a lover of simple slice-of-life stories when characters I love are involved, and I love these characters a great deal, so I'll always like seeing them in any capacity, especially in official productions.

I do wish we could get a few shorts of other secondary characters such as Bluey's school friends, Bingo's school friends, the neighbors, or even Rad and Frisky. But I do think more of these are coming, especially considering that some of the stills that have been released as promos (such as Chilli measuring the girls or them arriving at Nana's house and Grandpa Bob being there) didn't appear in any of these. So I have no doubt we'll be getting more minisode batches soon, and hopefully, other characters will make appearances similarly to how they did in the first Bonus Bits.

Any Bluey content is always a win for me, so I'm happy we got these. 💙

[rorywritesjunk]

There's no race, no ending in sight

r rating. title comes from "two of us on the run" by lucius

(one more part after this and it's done. This is basically how I imagined this happening too btw. Maybe a lil ooc of one of the characters but with this story I kind of feel that it makes sense)

Taglist: @hey-august @thoraeth

pt 1 + pt 2 + p3 + p4 + pt 5 + p6 + pt 7 +Pt 8 + Pt 9 + Pt 10 + Pt 11 + Pt 12 + Pt 13 + Pt 14 + Pt 15 + pt 16 +Pt 17 (End)

Pt 16

They arrived back home with little issue. Sunny stayed with Buggy, wanting to make sure he was really okay after falling into the water and he took full advantage of that, complaining about water in his ears, that the icky water got into his mouth, and he was upset that he didn't get the chance for Sunny to perform CPR on him, even after she had to remind him she didn't know it at all.

"Not even a thank you kiss." He muttered sulkily as the ship docked. She sighed softly and walked over to him.

"Buggy."

He wouldn't look at her, sulking quietly. "What?"

Rolling her eyes, she leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you for trying to rescue me."

His eyes lit up and he turned to look at her, positively beaming from the gesture. "Really?"

"Yes, silly." She chuckled. "Now let's get off this ship, okay? Make sure you rest once you get back home."

He seemed pleased with that, though he wished for more he didn't want to push his luck. He got up and headed off the ship with Sunny following behind. She hadn't seen Crocodile the entire journey and she didn't bother to go check on him. It was likely she was going to get a stern talking to.

Crocodile was already walking along the docks in the direction of their home. Buggy decided to hang back for just a few extra minutes, making sure his hair looked right, not wanting loose strands to be tempting to be yanked on to throw him back into the ocean by the taller man. Buggy did just spend several hours alone in his room with his wife. No doubt Crocodile would be planning his death by now.

Sunny waited a few minutes as well, not wanting the confrontation that was bound to happen. She felt justified in staying with Buggy. He did jump into the water to save her even if it didn't work out that way. She had to be sure he was okay after all that.

Mihawk was silent as he walked ahead of them. Buggy kept trying to reach for Sunny's hand to hold but she wouldn't let him, shaking her head when he would try. The clown pouted instead. Wasn't he her hero?

Once they stepped off the dock, the swordsman continued on while Sunny and Buggy lingered. He looked put out, keeping his hands in his pockets as he looked down at his feet. He hated this. He wanted her to be with him, not with Crocodile. It wasn't fair.

Sunny looked towards her home before turning back to Buggy. It felt weird to her, like this was some kind of goodbye. It was likely she wasn't going to be able to speak to him again after this. Crocodile would insist on no contact for the two of them. Seeing Buggy miserable was his favorite thing. There wasn't a chance in hell he'd allow Sunny to even say hello to him after this.

"Well, I'm glad you're okay." Sunny said as she looked back at Buggy. "I'm going to head home."

"Whatever." He mumbled, now refusing to look at her as he pouted. "I wish you would come home with me, y'know, because I love you and would take care of you."

"I know." She sighed. "I know you love me, Buggy."

"Yea? And do you love me back?" He asked, looking back at her.

"I'm married-"

"Yea, I know, you mention it all the time." He shot back. "I wish you could just leave him since you're so miserable. He doesn't deserve you and really, I don't either at this point! I think I'd rather you just not be with anyone even though I want you all for myself!"

Sunny stood there, waiting for him to finish. Once he was done, going on about her needing independence, maybe not having any romantic relationship with anyone would be good for her, but he would still love her even if they couldn't be together, really, she reached out for his hand. Confused, he let her take it, trying to catch his breath from his rant.

"Thank you, Buggy." She chuckled softly. "It's nice that you want that for me and seem to finally understand the situation."

"Okay, but-"

"I wish things were different but it's not."

"But-"

"But, if things were, I'd go on an actual date with you." She told him. "An actual one where we get to know each other."

Buggy's face lit up. "Really?"

"Yes, but we know it can't happen." Sunny smiled as she squeezed his hand. "Now I need to head home, Buggy."

He didn't want her to, he wanted her to go home with him. He tried to hold onto her hand but she pulled away and started for home. Buggy stood there, watching her leave. He wished she wouldn't.

~

Sunny noticed the tension in the air when she walked in. She had to mentally prepare herself for the confrontation that was going to happen and... And she was terrified. While Crocodile kept his word of never hurting her, what's stopping him from going back on that now? She wished Mihawk was there. The swordsman would hopefully have helped her.

She headed to the bedroom first, cautiously peeking in, but he wasn't there. The kitchen was vacant as well so he had to be in his office. She sighed and headed that way, wondering what was awaiting her.

The smell of smoke caught her attention when she was at the door, a scent different from the cigars he favored. She hurried in, not bothering to knock, only to stop when she saw him standing at the desk, watching something burn up on the floor in front of him.

"What the hell?!" She rushed over to put it out but he held his arm out to stop her. What was he burning? It looked like a piece of paper, turning to ash before her eyes before he stomped on the singed remains to smother them. "What was that?"

"As much as I enjoy making the clown suffer, I've come to see that I hate seeing you as unhappy as you've been." He said, making sure the burning ceased before he went to sit down. "When I saw you dancing with that woman last night, I thought that maybe you'd be happy with anyone besides me, not just him."

She frowned as she listened, trying to figure out what he was getting at. She was happy last night; any night she wasn't forced to be by his side she was happy.

"That was our marriage document that burned up." He said.

"I don't-"

"I'm letting you go."

Sunny stared up at him in confusion. What did he mean by that? Was he being serious or was this some kind of sick joke?

"I thought the clown was just being a fool to irritate me, but seeing what he did today showed me that he does care about you in some way." He went around to the other side of his desk to sit while Sunny looked back at the little bits of paper on the floor. "He didn't hesitate, unlike myself."

Sunny kept quiet, absorbing his words. There was a moment of silence as his words replayed in her mind, that he was letting her go, but there was no way he would do it that easily.

"So... What does this actually mean?" She finally asked. "Are we no longer married then? I... I can just leave and I'll be okay and my family will be safe?"

"Our marriage is over, you're free to do what you wish." He told her as he leaned back in his chair. "Stay here with that clown, leave completely the island, it's up to you. I won't keep you any longer."

She stared at him for a moment, trying to figure out any catch to this, but it sounded straight forward. He was no longer going to keep her married to him. Nodding slowly, she turned and headed the door.

"Sunny." He called out to her.

There it is, there had to be something. She turned around and sighed. He grinned at her as he lit up a new cigar. "You were a good wife."

"... Thanks." She frowned. "You were a good husband, kept me fed and clothed. Thank you for letting me leave."

She didn't want to linger, exchange more pleasantries, so she turned and hurried out. She could go to her room, collect some things, but what was there to take? She opted to change clothes, however, favoring her duck printed shirt and overalls instead, something comfortable to wear.

What should she do? Go to Buggy first, perhaps? Would he want to see her or would he have given up already? It... It didn't seem likely. He did risk his life to save her.

Once she was dressed, she hurried out, making her way to his tent. She decided she wanted to see him immediately. Now was her chance.

When she entered the tent, he was inside, talking with some of his men while Richie lounged nearby. He didn't notice her at first, the lion however did and the large cat didn't hesitate in leaping up, knocking Buggy aside to greet her.

Buggy stumbled forward, ready to yell at the lion, but stopped when he saw Sunny. She was petting Richie, happily greeting him like the overgrown kitten he was. When she saw Buggy, she smiled brightly at him.

"Buggy! Do you want to go on a date with me?"

[yzeltia]

WOL/Raha Week Day 7 I Love You

Rating: T for Teen Characters: G'raha Tia, Keith Summers, Kirian Summers Notes: Happens before DT, just a few months after Keith and Raha adopt Kirian

“NO! I HATE YOU! You’re not my real dads! You’re just a dumb coeurl!”

G’raha recoiled as Kirian finished screaming at him before going into his room and slammed the door. He dropped the book of storytales he was carrying to read to the boy.  His ears drooped along with his tail as he slumped to the ground on his knees, tears beading in his eyes. Crueler things had been said before, but he could not recall where or when. In his shock, he’d barely noticed that Keith had come and knelt down to hug him from behind.

“You okay?” Keith asked, kissing softly into his husband’s ear.

“I am a bit shaken…like I might not easily recover though they were but mere words,” G’raha said, clinging lightly to Keith as he leaned back into him. “He is not like G’khenna was.”

Keith tilted his head, resting his cheek between his love’s ears. “Well, yeah. She’s so much like you and we’ve been with her since birth. All of the stuff that we messed up, we did ourselves. And when she was upset, she found other ways to hurt us…but she never meant it. We’ve only had Kirian for a few months and still don’t know much about what his life was like before we adopted him. We gotta make up for all that love he felt he’d lost, y’know. It only stings cause we do love him.”

G’raha nodded, trying to steel himself as he lingered in his husband’s embrace. “Yes. I shouldn’t let it get to me. Lyna, too, had her fits. Let me breathe and I shall endeavor to set things right.”

The two sat in silence, embraced on the floor. With a small exhale, G’raha picked up his book then moved to stand, helping Keith up with him. Stepping to Kirian’s door, he gave a gentle wrap on the door. “Kirian…I’m going to come in.”

“GO AWAY,” the boy yelled from inside.

Keith grimaced then pushed G’raha to the side to open the door. “There’s no need for yelling,” he said, dropping his voice a bit.

Kirian glowered from his bed, hugging onto a gryphon plush that was about as big as him. “You said this is my room! I don’t want you in here.”

Crossing his arms, Keith stood in the frame and raised his brow. “I’m not in your room, I’m in the frame,” he responded with a grin. “We’ll leave you be but we need to talk first. What you said really hurt our feelings. Especially your dad’s. You know it’s not okay to call a Miqo’te a coeurl, right?”

The boy continued to glower, narrowing his brow more at his dad’s joke. Turning, he hugged into his toy. “I don’t care. I don’t want to read his stupid book…,” he said before pulling his covers over his head. “I didn’t mean to call him a coeurl though…sorry.”

“You said you hate us because you didn’t want him to read you a storytale before bed? You love it when we do that,” Keith asked, voice softening as he opened the door a bit more so that G’raha could peek in now too.

“It’s okay Kirian. I’m not mad,” G’raha added calmly. “Though, why do you not want to read with me?”

Kirian stayed coiled in his blanket, not answering for a moment. “‘Cause you’ll make me try to read it myself.”

G’raha blinked. “Well of course. It’s no fun if I have to do all the voices myself,” he said, wandering forward to sit on the edge of his son’s bed, Keith following his lead.

“I can’t do it,” Kirian responded, muffled under his covers.

“Sure you can! You just gotta just make a silly tone in your voice,” Keith said, inflecting his voice higher for emphasis.

Kirain turned, peeking his head out from under his blankets, looking between them then away. “I can’t read,” the boy huffed. “I can’t do it…so go ahead and send me back so you can find someone else who can,” he whined before returning to his cocoon.

Keith and G’raha blinked at each other, having not realized the boy had not yet learned the skill. Crossing his arms, Keith thought for a moment. “But, your teacher says you know your letters and keep up with the class just fine…Still, Kirian. Even if you could never read a single word, we wouldn’t give you up. You’re our son no matter what,” he said before reaching out to rub the boy’s shoulder.

“Why would you think that? It is perfectly normal for a boy your age to still be learning to read,” G’raha pressed, opening up the storytale book to find something simple for them to practice.

“‘Cause G’k said she was reading lots of books by the time she was my age. She’s really really smart and so are you…I don’t fit in,” Kirian said, turning back over to look up at his dads.

“Keith? Smart?” G’raha asked, trying to stifle a laughter.

“Yeah! Pa answers all my questions cause he knows everything…and whatever he doesn’t you do,” he said. 

G’raha was unable to contain his laughter, earring a small glare from Keith, the latter turning to his son to pat his shoulder again. “Ah, yes. That might be the tiniest exaggeration on my part. Heck, when I was your age I struggled really hard with my letters cause…well, ‘cause,” he started before looking at G’raha then lowering down to whisper in his son’s ear. “I needed glasses. Don’t tell, it’s my biggest secret.”

Kirian nodded, brow raised before sitting up a little. “So you were doing worse than me?”

“Mhmm. And look at me now. I married the actual smartest guy in the world and have two very bright children that I would not trade for anything in the world.”

“Not even front court bomball tickets?”

“Not even those,” Keith assured the boy.

“Well, that seems to have cleared everything up,” G’raha sighed, relief washing over him as he smiled at Kirian. “I won’t make you, but I would like it if you'd try with me. Is that okay?”

Kirian nodded, sniffling a bit as he made room for G’raha to sit on the other side of him. The book put in his lap, he flipped it to the first page then hunkered down between his dads. “Ah…um…Upon an era long ago, there was a nice pi…pi…”

“Pirate,” G’raha helped.

“Pirate. Upon an era long ago, there was a pirate. He want-eed…wanted to find trees..treasure. The treasure was called the one pi..pie-...piece,” the boy read, sounding out the words before stopping.

“That was very good. Why did you stop?” G’raha asked, petting on Kiran’s shoulder.

“Um…I um…I love you. I’m sorry I yelled…you are my real dads,” he said quietly. 

Keith and G’raha looked at one another then smiled before hugging the boy tight between them, letting him squirm about, G’raha affectionately nuzzling over his head. “We love you too,” G’raha sighed happily.

“You’re messin’ up the hawk! You’re messin’ up the hawk! I take it back,” the boy fussed, trying to push them away as he started to laugh. Once they relented, he calmed down together they read until falling asleep together in the small bed.

[blackhakumen]

Mini Fanfic #1222: Watching the Sunset Together (Sonic X DK Country)

7:15 p.m. at the Smash Beach............

Funky: (Sighs Relaxingly While Sittong to Wave, Watching the Sunset Together) Now, this is a view of the century right here.

Wave: The color and shade on that sunset does look very pleasing to the eyes. Relaxing even.

Funky: (Smiles Brightly to Wave) That's the best thing about watching the sunset, baby. It's so bright and vibrant that it erases all your stress and troubles you've received in your day and helps ease your mind to an all time low. Can't even begin to tell how many times it helped me out over the years.

Wave: (Forms a Bit of a Teasing Smirk on her Face) You, the most laid back Kong in the planet, gets stressed out that easily? That's a shock of the century if i ever heard one~

Funky: (Chuckles Lightly) It's the honest truth, little lady! Even your boi here have his stressed filled moments from time to time. Helping out the Kongs, getting all the machines and techs are fixed up for completion, keeping Konga Island safe and secured from any reoccuring and/or potential threats, finishing off massive pilesof paperworks on the side, and rinse and repeat.

Wave: (Eyes Widened in Genuine Surprise) Oh god....That's even worse than my work schedule.

Funky: (Casually Shrugs) Yeah, it's a tiresome chore, but it's nothing I can't handle completely. But since we're on the topic of work related schedules, what's yours like?

Wave: Oh just the usual: Preparing and settong up business meetings, fix up and modify almost every new Extreme Gears release, do a couple of researches here and there, make sure Jet does his share of paperwork- (Starts Rolling her Eyes in a Bit Annoyance) While also making sure he doesn't go out and try picking fights with Sonic again in the process.....

Funky: Those two has been butting heads for longest now, huh?

Wave: Yeah. Since the day they've first met at Metal City. Sorry if their consent bickering became a bother to you out there.....

Funky: (Gives Wave a Reassuring Smile) Nah, don't even worry about it, little lady. Rivalry as fiery as theirs helps build characters and personal growths.

Wave: Don't forget ego.

Funky: (Chuckles Lightly) Yeah, that too. But my point still stands. Let the boys keep having their heated feud. And tell 'em I'll be around if they want another rematch with yours truly, will ya?

Wave: Will do.

'Bit of Silence'

'Sound of the Smaller Waves Coming in the Shore'

Wave: (Starts Scratching her Cheek Very Lightly) So uhh.....Can I ask you something?

Funky: Sure. What's up?

Wave: I heard you used to hate going on adventures a lot. Is that true?

Funky: ('Sigh') Yeah, adventures and I never clicked together those days. They're filled with a lot of danger and risks you can fall right into if you're not careful and I wanted no part of it for as long as I could even remember. That is until the day the Snowmads sailed into the island and took over. DK and the crew weren't seen and heard from shortly after that, so i had to set out, look for them, and the fight the baddies off myself. (Looks Up at the Sunset) It was a little nerve-wracking at first- (Smiles a Little) But I slowly started to warm up to it the more time passes by. And once the day and jungle was saved afterwards, I felt good, more alive than I've been in my entire life, and I wanted to have another go at it one of these days if I ever get the chance.

Wave: (Smiles Softly) You should. Despite the dangerous hazzards the locations may have long ahead, It could still be a pretty fun and exhilarating experience if you know what you're doing. Heck, if you like, you're more than welcome to join me on a Treasure Hunting Adventures someday. (Starts Blushing and Whispering) Just the two of us.......

Funky: (Turns Back to Wave With a Bit of a Smirk on his Face) Two of us you say?~

Wave: (Eyes Widened Before Turning Back to Funky) Uh. Y-Yeah. (Puts on a Pouty Looking Face) What of it?

Funky: (Casually Shrugs) Oh nothing. It's just that whenever I see two people, with a close, stable relationship, doing anything alone together- (Lowers his Shades, Showing off the Cool, Sophisticated Look in his Eyes) It mostly negates to that of a date of some kind~

Wave: (Blush Turns Bright Red) O-O-Oh GET REAL, JERK! (Quickly Turns Away From Funky with her Arms Close) It's just a trip between two, highly knowledgeable associates, nothing more!......But.....say if this whole thing was a date propsal.....(Slowly Turns Back to Funky) Would you accept? H-Hypothetically speaking of course.

Funky: (Grabs his Chin While Thinking) Welllll.....if that were to ever been made from anyone else I don't know all too well, I'd probably wouldn't accept right away, but if it's from you, little lady- (Smirks at Wave Again) I would take you out in a heartbeat~

Funky Kong Winks at Wave, causing her get even more flustered than originally.

Wave: J-Just me, huh?

Funky: (Chuckles Lightly) Yep! Only you. You're pretty cool to hangout with in general, so why not?

Wave: (Rolls her Eyes) Probably the reason why most people don't give me the time of day: I'm boring, bossy, know-it-all.

Funky: Hey now. Ain't no shame in knowing a lot of things, everyone needs someone to keep them in check sometimes, and you are far from being boring in my eyes, Wave. And if any those folks thinks otherwise and still ignore you because of it, then that's all on them. (Forms a Cheeky Grin) It just means I can have you all to myself. (Immediately Starts Blushing as Wel Whilrle his Smile Turns More Sheepish Likel) I-If that's alright with you, of course?~

Wave: (Almost at a Loss For Words) Funky.....I-

AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!~

Wave/Funky: (Turns to the Source of the Sound) What the/Huh?

????: (Lowering the Two Girls Down Behind a Randomly Place Umbrella) Amy! Coco! Get down!

Wave: (Groans and Facepalms Herself Once She Immediately Figured Out Who the Culprits Are) Oh... my freaking god I hate them.....

Funky: Those your friends from over there?

Wave: Yeah. Friends who ate about to be eviscerated in the next few seconds once I'm through with them. (Gets Herself Up From the Towel her and Funky Were Sitting on) You think you could give a sec?

Funky: (Gives Wave a Thumb Up) Sure thing, miss thing. Take all the time you. But before you go, I gotta ask?

Wave: Hm?

Funky: That treasure hunt you want us to go on together.....(Starts Rubbing The Back of his Head Back and Forth) Do you....want it to be an actual date or-

Before he could finish his sentence, Wave suddenly gives Funky a kiss on the cheek before standing back up and smiling at him.

Wave: Yeah. It's a date. We'll discuss the plans going forward in a bit, 'Kay? (Winks at Funky Before Walking Off)

Funky: (Watches Wave Leave in Genuine Surprise as He Place his Hand as He Blushes Once More) ........Sweet.

Meanwhile Behind the Umbrella.......

Tails: ('Sigh') Honestly. Would it kill you girls to not lose cover that quickly? (Plave his Hand on his Chest) I think I felt my heart skip a beat or two-oof! (Suddenly Gets Pulled into a Loving Hug by Amy)

Amy: Those two are so cute together, Tails, we couldn't help it!~

Coco: Funky's laid back surfer vibe blends in with Wave's bossy attitude super well!~ Good thing too. (Starts Whispering into Tails' Ear) Home girl could DEFINITELY use a chill pill these days.

????: I heard that!!

The trio gets startled a bit as they look up to see Wave glaring down at them.

Wave: And did any of you dinguses forget how rude it is to spy on people in brod daylight?

Tails: (Smiles Sheepishly) S-Sorry, Wave. You've been hanging with Funky all day today that we could help but to spy on you a bit.

Coco: (Forms a Teasing Smirk on her Face) And judging by everything we've seen so far, I take it you're enjoying his company pretty well so far?~ Hmm~

Wave: Yeah, I am. ('Sigh') And before any of you even think about asking, yes. We are scheduled for a date in the near- OOF!

Amy: (Immediately Hugs Wave) OH MY GOD, CONGRATULATIONS!!!!~ I'm so very happy for the both of you!~ There's so much we need to prepare for.

Wave: (Winces in Pain by Amy's Tight Hugs) Prepare for what? My hospital bill?

Amy: Your date!~ I can tell by your looks alone thar your inexperienced. Luckily for you, I, Amy Rose, will be your guidance of love, passion, affection, suspense.....(Conyers Rambling On)

Wave: ('Ugh') I regret opening this beak of mines.....(Turns to The Two Tailed Fox) Tails, get your romance obsessed sister off of me!

Tails: (Shrugs) Sorry. Occupied at the moment.

Wave: Doing what!?

Coco: (Hugs Tails Lovingly) Getting hugged by yours truly! I promised I give him some today~

Tails: (Hugs Coco Back) I miss her hugs~

Coco: (Happily Snuggles onto Tails' Embrace) I miss yours more, bud~

Wave You think I give a damn!? HELP ME!

Tails: ('GASPS') Wave Swallow, language!

Coco: (Shakes her Head in Disappointment) And here I thought you were the most mature out of the three of us. Come, Tails, let's take our hugs and innocence elsewhere.

Tails: (Simply Nodded) Let's.

Wave: (Flabbergasted) Are you serious right now- HEY!

Tails and Coco walks away together in arms.

Wave: (Angrily Yells at the Kids) Where are you even going!? I swear to God, if you two brats don't get your butts back here in the next TEN SECONDS I'LL- (Continues Yelling and Sqwaking like a Bird)

Elsewhere in the Outdoor Bar.......

Sonic: (Starts Hearing Familiar, Angry Sounding Sqwak Noises While Sittting Next to Jet) Hang on. Is that Wave just now?

Jet: Yep.

Sonic: (Turns to Jet) Should we find out what's going on or.....

Jet: (Casually Fling his Hand Down a Bit) Nah. This is Wave we're talking about here. She can handle her problems just fine. (Takes a Sip of the Beverage He Ordered)

Sonic: (Shrugs) If you say so. (Tales a Sip of his Drink astime? Before Smirking at Jet) Rematch at a different beach next time?

Jet: You're on.

@caleb13frede

@bestpony666

@ma-lemons

@decibelcoatl

[katyspersonal]

OH MY GOSH OH MY GOSH HGJGTFH GUYS I LOVE SOTE SO FUCKING MUCH AAAAAAA I got back to playing it and it was so much fun today I HAD A HUGE BLAST TODAY GOD LET ME JUST share a log (probably a two parter)

1) So I continued on my way through the woods!! I was not wrong about how these guys were invincible too! By that time @val-of-the-north woke up and confirmed that you only really can sneak past them by crouching in the bushes! In fact, there were preset notes from the devs with the hints and I just haven't payed attention.. т.т So the stealth quest took me Eniugh attempts

2) I intentionally got close to this plant because from the looks of it I thought it was a collectable material or something:

Turned out that it actually was a bell that instantly alerts the Untouchables and attracts you to them ;-; Well you fuck around and find out I guess XD

3) I then found the mansion!!!! This took me a while too, this forest is SO confusing! I will never EVER talk shit about Forbidden Woods from Bloodborne again ;-; But on the bright note, although I am extremely bad at confusing open world locations and maps in general, I managed to strain my mind and actually remember which turns I've already visited and not! Conquering my weaknesses!

4) I was surprised to find..... this

There is a line of headless corpses like this before the entrance. I assume their heads exploded from Frenzy of course?

5) Instantly was interested because of the amount of thrown and burnt books everywhere here! I was thinking, so was Midra a huge nerd then? 🤔 How the painting was the only non-ruined and unburnt thing here was cool too. I told Val "damn the art in this setting really IS the magic".. and, well, it kinda is? When you examine the paintings in artist shacks, they do mention how the soul is dwelling in them still or something like that

6) The painting also depicted the Manse when it was still thriving and the land wasn't afflicted by Frenzied Flame!

I wanted to take a better screenshot of it by zooming in...... and accidentally hit it instead and it disappeared 🤡 It was an invisible wall! I swear only I could have failed in such a dumb way gfhggvn

7) THIS IS A SURPRISE TOOL THAT WILL HELP US LATER:

Turns out that this is an in-universe hint for how the Aging Untoucheable actually CAN be killed! But perhaps I am getting ahead of myself.... -_-

8) So basically 'how there are THIS many books everywhere' continued. They are literally everywhere. And then even more because there is a library. Damn, this guy could compete with Micolash on the subject of 'insanity displayed by books tossed everywhere chaotically'!! I was already curious!

9) Speaking of curious, I really wondered why Midra himself didn't have the horns! From prior descriptions and a dialogue by another ghost by how they and Midra are of the same brethren as the Hornsent inquisitors that hunted them, I assumed he should have been the Hornsent himself and maybe earlier I didn't see it clearly on the portrait. Heck, the ghosts in the Manse also have horns!

But nope. There were no horns on the portrait, and then I was extra sure during the cutscene..

10) aaaaand I fucked up and COMPLETELY forgot to take the screenshots during his battle ;-; When I got to this post I thought maybe I snapped some during my many deaths, but no I didn't. I forgot. I got too caught into it..

11) I already heard that he would be a boss, so when I first met him as just an enemy I needed to kill I knew it was just a lead up for the battle xd Though I didn't dodge his grab attack in time and it felt.. odd when he howevered over Tarnished and laughed already 🤔 And.... siiiggh..

12) friends: Katy Katy Katy oh my god you really should find the Frenzy guy in the DLC you will like him so much we just can tell!!!

me: Get LOST with this guys, I am not interested in some random guy parasiting on Shabriri lore, besides unlike you CASUALS I do not simp for taken characters so he can get kicked into the same nonsimpable box as Rykard and Rellana! Also, still picturing you guys as CASUALS, no Aldrich married to Rosaria is different as it isn't simping but reverence!!!

me: *spends next ~40 minutes being absolutely lost in this boss' vibe to the point of literally drooling, gets overall absolutely helpless and just watches his dance-like moves and legit can't recall a more intimate experience with a Soulsborne boss. it wasn't this way even with Maria.*

me: I am booboo the fool

13) No, but seriously though.. My initial reaction was a slight annoyance! I ran to Val complaining that I deadass had no idea how the HECK I could survive even a couple of his attacks! I just felt so incompetent after several quick failed attempts, even saying that it seemed like I've reached the point where I have to watch the vids of the bosses I could not beat to know what happens next!

No, Val didn't tell me to git gud, no gfggf He should have though He just gave me a hint that the bleed might help! So I went to change strategy again and reborn with a bigger healthbar and overall different states, took Mohg's spear the old reliable, used talisman of Cleanrots that powered up continuous attacks + Mohg's one that made bleed stronger and went with it. It was really hard, but I had no choice but to adapt

And like... I know that "this battle feels more like a dance once you get into it" is a compliment thrown around very often with Soulsborne bosses, but this boss deserved it the MOST I swear. It is impossible to put into words how I was starting to feel over time, just.. inexplainable beauty in how he was moving for attack, you could tell he was enjoying it :') I didn't feel the same level even with Malenia's battle! The way this battle felt weirdly intimate also absolutely fits the way Frenzied Flame functions; one of the incantations refers it too? And the way his movements and grabs were weirdly calming considering the context felt the same as what was earlier stated about Chaos bringing sense of peace after burning victim's eyes! Just how, HOW they made it so good? They've nonverbally put the same information into this encounter. And the music was absolutely the biggest banger, what the fuck?

14) Okay I can write much more paragraphs trying to grasp what exactly was this feeling and still not be able to overcome my complete lack of verbal communication skills lol gghggh I start to understand why @heraldofcrow at times can't put her feelings into words and uses that gif of sad girl in the rain gfggjhnh

15) Still, the battle was beautiful but HARD! I decided to call @jarognieva to help me and while she needed "just three minutes" to get ready I decided to go and kill time by still trying to defeat Midra anyway, and.....

I ACTUALLY DID IT???? GGTFHHHGHH GODDAMIT I ACTUALLY DID IT AAAAAA I LEGIT FELT AWKWARD, I guess relaxing upon knowing that the help was coming was the missing piece ahahdgfg! (Jara did help me with another boss later though but about this in the next post xD)

16) .....and satisfaction left in literal seconds. Instead I felt so devastated and angry at the fact that there are no boss resurrection option in this game. :/ While I was struggling with him it felt so hard, although I wasn't giving up and studied his patterns... But instantly I felt regret about defeating him too fast and no longer getting to have that fun with that incredible music... Experienced reverse of Skill Issue, basically.

17) Something something May Chaos Take The World something

18) To think of it, Midra as Lord of Frenzy is as much a himself as Malenia is herself when she turns into Goddess of Rot though 🤔 The vibe before and after is different. Both characters are very much on their way to become husks of former selves, or rather, vessels for a different entity that represents an Outer God! (+ funnier how Shabriri and Gowry likewise have identical functions as "bringers" of this godly figure but not becoming it)

.......but that makes it even more captivating 😳

19) After this point I really didn't know what to do, it felt like enough for today so I just decided to complete the lose ends like items I didn't collect yet in this area!

^ Also answers the question as to why Torrent was too scared to go here.

(So yeah, misc items in the next post it is just 1 AM here and I've lost the track of time playing sorry gfhygh)