#exposition stuff

[dandelionjack]

saw this on the forbidden app could not resist reposting because it’s true. “the one who waits is almost here” is lazy LAZY writing. stop dangling lore in front of our faces… make it SUBTLE. show not tell…

did russell go to the chibnall school of bad screenwriting before his return because these episodes do genuinely feel like they’ve been created by a different person entirely than the emotionally intelligent, thoughtful showrunner who gave us the first four series

[siyuri]

Ef's moment of respite at the bottom of the Mariana Trench from amazing story Falling Falling Stars by @not-poignant

[sporkberries]

I’m very tired of the claim that comic books are difficult to get into because they aren’t- they are very purposefully not that way. Comics actually go out of their way to explain every single thing to you constantly just in case you’re a new reader picking up this issue(or if you skipped a few issues).

I’ll concede they seem hard to get into from the outside but comics ARE NOT hard to get into you dont even need to follow a reading list or start at issue one just pick up a book.

[hananono]

ive always felt that serizawa actually doesnt know a whole lot when it comes to spirits and curses. in claw, he mostly dealt with other psychics, and before that he was completely isolated. the supernatural has always been present in his life, but he has no real knowledge about it aside from educated guesses mid-exorcism and stuff he picked up from video games—he was actually surprised that psychic powers worked on ghosts at all, since in pokémon psychic types are weak to ghosts and not the other way around.

[havinganormalone]

One of the most refreshing things about Dungeon Meshi is that it's a return to fantasy without the isekai aspect. There was a long stretch of time where it felt like fantasy anime had no idea how to world build without the "fish out of water" character that would ask obvious questions that could lead to exposition. Dungeon Meshi proves that you don't need that tired fish out of water framing. All you need is a cast of autistic characters who are excited to info dump about the niche aspect of that fantasy world that happens to be their special interest.

[lynaferns]

My old glasses are really worn out, my eyesigh got worse and I'm still using the old graduation. I don't like how I look with them anymore either so it is time to change them (also because I can get a blue filter in the glasses to protect the eyes form screens light and I really need that, and this store has a 2x1 offer so I'll have an extra pair half the price just in case :3c)

The two girls working at the store were really nice and tried their best to help me :')

I spend an hour yesterday trying on glasses... I found two models that I liked right at the end. I just. really. hope. I don't regret my choice when the glasses are done and I try them on again.

[konfizry]

She is so

[alexis-royce]

Anyone want to pickup an early Hallowmas companion?

Invite a Disgraced Academic to join you (HALLOWMAS)

One shouldn't walk alone at Hallowmas. Though from the state of that overcoat, urchins must've picked this poor fellow clean months ago.

SUCCESS

One good eye stares through cracked lenses, dreamlike and confused. The other is black as a burned-out coal, and the sheaves of Correspondent notes in their sleeves point toward a cause.

You don't walk with the Academic, so much as meander. The state of their thoughts is much the same: their diction is so varied, vocabulary so large, that you can hardly keep track of the subject at hand.

But when you do realize! My word. Not even Benthic is open-minded enough for that sort of thing.

(When equipped, this companion adds a card to your London deck, which assists with raising Scholar of the Correspondence.)

------

Unburden Yourself to an Attendant (HALLOWMAS)

Were you to post this information, the mail would surely be black.

"I have been a fool, haven't I? My time among the spires might have elucidated linguistic secrets, but what good is a language if you've nothing to say, and nobody to say it to?"

The Academic's tired eye grows alight with malice, and opportunity.

"Thank you. I will see that what you've told me reaches the appropriate ear."

You've gained 1 x Ex-Disgraced Academic

You've lost 1 x A Confession of Guile

You've lost 1 x A Confession of Impropriety

You've lost 1 x A Confession of Pride

You've lost 1 x Disgraced Academic

(The SOTC card no longer appears in your deck)

[fisheito]

yakuya in MY swamp? in MY ecosystem? no . i am still in disbelief. i hope you all know that my particles are bouncing off the everything. i am using periods as punctuation but the state of my mind is naught neareth final.

[anniebass]

might ruffle some feathers, but the superhero show The Bøys is soooo fucking meh. I regret the hours I put into that first season and two episodes of the second.

[devilry-revelry]

Untitled - Male Orc x Female Human (Part 4)

OOPS I TRIPPED.

Not lemon, but maybe lemon zest?

Minors Do Not Interact

This marks the original concept/story for these two. First story was Riley worrying about stuff and things. Names may have changed since then. It's hard to remember. Ya know, because I deleted everything.

-

[Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3]

-

“Fuck,” Arzok snickered. He sounded absolutely winded from all of the laughter. “I’m not just going to ram it in and hope for the best, Riley. I promise you, we’ll fit together just fine.”

-

Riley’s curiosity was a dirty little bitch; a needy insatiable little whore.

Four weeks, and seven dates had left Riley’s baser urges feeling frayed and restless. After their second date they had shared the first kiss, and had since enjoyed a bit of necking. It was during their last date when their kisses turned downright sinful. Sitting in the car outside of her apartment in the middle of the night, Arzok’s hand clasped around her throat, the other slipping up her skirt as his tongue dominated her mouth. He’d teased her for just a moment, thick fingers tracing a slow path over the cleft of her pussy before he completely withdrew and bid her goodnight. Riley had been a mess ever since then. Any attempts to ease the tension Arzok had created left her feeling bereft and wanting. His had been such a strong, and commanding presence. Fiddling around with her vibrator didn’t do her any favors. 

And that’s where her dirty, dirty curiosity came in. 

Riley couldn’t help but think that her and Arzok’s first time together would be coming up soon. They had discussed her staying at his place for a weekend. Planning was still tentative at best but it was something they talked about with increased frequency. Arzok lived a little over thirty minutes outside of town, and while he claimed that the commute wasn’t any trouble, they had both agreed that a relaxing weekend without all of the typical date-night run around would be a nice change of pace. That, of course, meant that Riley would be staying at Arzok’s house and, sure, she could sleep on the couch or in a spare room, but she probably wouldn’t. Sex or not. Because they were adults. And they were dating. 

But those thoughts took a hard turn and she had been stuck with thinking about what she should expect were she to sleep with Arzok. He had mentioned that he was dominant and controlling, but what else should she anticipate? Arzok was big. Huge. He dwarfed her by nearly two feet and Riley was on the taller side of average. He was broad, and he was strong, but what about the rest? Short of just coming out and asking Arzok “hey, how big are orc dicks?” her only real avenue of getting that information was the internet. 

And that’s where Riley’s curiosity turned into a dirty, insatiable, little tramp. 

The initial search was a simple request on average sizes, but then a few videos showed up. The first video Riley stumbled into involved a beast of an orc, his height easily breaching the eight foot mark. He was paired with a petite, tiny little woman. The orc’s dick was bigger than Riley’s whole forearm, and while the pornstar took it like an absolute champion, Riley was aghast. It was porn so of course there were so many degrees of separation, but there was no way. No. Way. One video chased another in an effort to debunk the sudden theory that orc men were just obscenely massive in the pants department. Absolutely nothing was debunked. She’d even tried narrowing down her search, but it yielded no results. Instead, Riley had somehow ended up on orc-human BDSM play – and that was how Arzok’s phone call found her: stunned, horrified, whole-heartedly curious, and completely dejected. 

Riley didn’t process the first ring. She was far too engrossed in what was going on on the screen. On the second ring, she had a whole body reaction like he just walked in the door and caught her personally. Riley yelped - actually yelped - and slapped at her keyboard to pause the video. Then she abandoned the laptop on her coffee table and retreated to her bedroom as if getting away from the laptop would hide the evidence of her insatiable curiosity. She even closed her bedroom door. Locked it. 

“H-hi-llo–?” Hillo. Jesus. C’mon Riley. 

“Hey, baby,” Arzok said. His voice was low, and sleepy-quiet. He had informed her earlier that day that he wouldn’t be getting home from a work-thing until late. Nearing midnight, he sounded absolutely knackered. The growling rasp that was always in his voice was more prominent with his fatigue. Riley couldn’t help but like the idea of hearing him sound like that in person, grumbling sleepy good mornings. “I was just calling to say goodnight.” 

“I won’t keep you then,” Riley replied. Her voice matched the quiet pitch so as not to rouse him. “Did everything go okay, though?”

“Don’t know, and right now I’m too fucking tired to care,” he groused. Riley was able to pick up the teasing inflection of his words despite his bitter tone. “How about you? How was your night? What’re you still doing up?” 

“Oh it was fine,” Riley replied quickly. 

Arzok asked again, “What are you still doing up? You’re usually down for the count by now. Is everything okay?”

The heated flush that rushed into her cheeks felt as if her own body was trying to betray her. She moved away from the bedroom door to sit on the edge of her bed, then she flopped to her back. She hated that he was right. Riley was typically curled up, in bed, and on the verge of sleep by 9:30 most weeknights.

“Oh, everything is fine. I just… lost track of time.”

“Yeah? Doing what?” 

His question didn’t feel as if he was prying. He sounded genuine in his interest. Riley worried her lower lip, wishing that she had curiously looked up videos on how to knit or crochet. 

“Nothing. Just…” The idea of lying left a sour feeling in the pit of her stomach. So she skirted the details and addressed it in broad strokes. “I’ve just been thinking. It’s really nothing crazy though. But, hey, why don’t we both go to bed and we can talk about it tomorrow, okay?”

“The fuck we will. What’s wrong, what happened? Is everything alright?” The sleepy timber of his voice was gone, and he now sounded wide awake, and bordering on frantic. 

“It’s literally nothing to worry about. I promise–”

“Riley.”

“Fine just… Just don’t make fun of me, alright?”

“Never. Just talk to me, baby. You’re freaking me out. ‘I’ve been thinking’ sounds like a goddamn death sentence.”

Riley sucked in a slow breath, held it, and released. She tried to control the swell of stinging, hot, embarrassment. She had thought about it so much that it worried her, which drove her to the internet, which worried her more. The fact that she had thought about it enough that she was driven to consult the internet was so stupid–

“Riley, sweetling, come on.”

“Okay, okay.” She babbled, “You have to promise not to make fun of me though, alright?”

“I already said I wouldn’t. Look, if you don’t tell me I’ll drive over there and–”

“Whatifyoudon’tfit?”

“Fucking what?”

I said,” she heaved another heavy breath. “What if… you don’t… fit?”

Silence. Quiet, deafening, silence. Riley waited with baited breath, waiting for him to say something. Anything. It felt as if the quiet stretched on for an eternity before a hint of sound broke through. It was barely there. Muffled. There was a sound like a snort, and then another–

“Don’t you laugh at me, you monster!”

The laughter came through full force suddenly. It was loud, booming, jovial. Riley could imagine him; his head tilted back, eyes squeezed shut tight as he succumbed to it. Imagining him laughing made Riley’s mood darken. He was making fun of her, but he was beautiful when he laughed. The bastard. 

“I–I’m not–I–” His efforts to calm himself only seemed to make the situation that much worse. 

Riley sat up in bed, glaring daggers at her bedroom wall. “Hey, I’m serious!”

Arzok’s rolling laughter slipped into its decline, and eventually he said, “Fuck, sweetheart. You’re–you’re up this late worrying about whether or not my dick will fit–?”

“Yes!” Riley wailed. “I am! Look, I know it’s dumb, but I like you a lot. And if this whole thing doesn’t work out because you have a third arm–” Arzok cackled. “--then that’s really going to suck.”

“Fuck,” Arzok snickered. He sounded absolutely winded from all of the laughter. “I’m not just going to ram it in and hope for the best, Riley. I promise you, we’ll fit together just fine.”

Riley grumbled morosely through his reassurance, thoroughly embarrassed and ready to hide under her bed for the next century. She should have known better than to let her curiosity win. And on top of it, she sure as shit shouldn’t have been data collecting by watching pornography. Even if it was mostly accidental, once she started it was hard to look away and she fell down the rabbit hole. 

“Sweetling,” Arzok growled. “When we are ready to take that step, I’m going to take pleasure in making sure you’re good and ready to take me.”

His voice cut her grumbles short, and she fell into surprised silence. She sucked in a quick breath, searched for a reply, and managed an airy and incredibly eloquent, “Oh.”

“And I’ll make damn sure that you enjoy every fucking second of it, baby.”

The low rasping purr of his voice was warming her in ways that the insane porn videos didn’t. This was for her. She crumbled back into the bed and let her eyes close as he spoke. She imagined lying beside him as he made his dark promises, and that familiar want that had been plaguing her began to flood her system. 

“I’ve thought about you cumming on my tongue as I prepare you to take my cock. Would you like that?”

Riley shivered. The ache in her core assaulted her with no mercy. She could feel her pulse leap in her sex, and the sensations resonated through her body, making her toes curl. 

“I asked you a question, Riley. You will answer me.” Arzok’s tone dipped lower still. It was suddenly threatening in a way that Riley liked far too much. 

She pressed her thighs together, and hummed her agreement. 

“No. You will answer me. Use your words.”

“Yes…” she whispered feebly, feeling more heat gather in the apples of her cheeks. The heat seemed like it was everywhere now, emphasizing her timidities, and fueling the fire he had created with just his voice. 

“Good. Now stop worrying about this shit, you hear me?” The way the threatening rumble of his voice shifted into something entirely casual and bordering on playful smacked into Riley like a Mack truck. The spreading fire was doused with a bucket of water. Her eyes popped open to stare dumbfounded at the ceiling. “I don’t know who got into your head and told you we wouldn’t work, but we will. I can’t tell you how I know that, but I look at you and I can feel it in my goddamn chest. We’ll work. Promise me that you’ll give us a chance before you let someone convince you that we won’t. I–”

“It wasn’t anybody,” Riley said gently. She had initially been willing to let him ride with the assumption that an actual person had stirred up her concerns. Now she didn’t want him to think that she was willingly associating with someone who was trying to cause problems with their relationship. That wasn’t fair. 

“Then what did it? Do I need to slow down? I will…”

“No,” she said quickly. Maybe too quickly. “The only reason I was thinking about it is because I’m-I’m looking forward to it. But… Okay, you can’t make fun of me this time.”

“It can’t be that bad.”

“I assure you, it is. No laughing.”

“No promises.” When she didn’t immediately reply, Arzok pushed onward. “Can you tell me so I’ll stop worrying about it?”

Riley rolled so she could suffocate herself with the pillows in the event that the humiliation proved to be too much. 

“I watched porn, okay?” I watched dirty, filthy, orc-on-human porn and I regret it! Stop laughing–!” He did not stop laughing. “Alright. Well, I’m going to go walk into the ocean now. Goodnight!” 

“Baby, what the fuck?” He was still coming off his most recent bout of laughter. “Wh-why?”

Riley shoved her face into her pillows, mumbling a muffled reply, “Can we stop talking about it?”

“I will never stop talking about it. Fucking wow.”

What a nightmare of a night. If she managed to get to sleep after all of this, she was going to wake up still embarrassed. 

“I’m assuming I don’t need to explain why porn isn’t the most reliable source.”

A mumble of agreement. 

“All of this worrying because some pornstar with a monstercock spooked you,” he said good naturedly. 

“Stop.”

“Alright, alright. I’m done. No more orc porn though, got it?”

“Got it.”

They elapsed into silence, but it felt like Arzok was smiling like an idiot. Riley felt it in her heart. She glowered and mumbled about going to bed. He agreed, and she was almost completely certain she could hear him smiling. 

“Goodnight, sweetheart.”

Almost as soon as they hung up, her phone buzzed once, twice, three times. Three text messages. All from him. Two were images. 

First there was a picture of his face. His torso was bare, his arm curled around a pillow as his dark eyes stared into the camera. His inky hair was splayed out over his big gorgeous shoulders and white sheets. Riley smiled, simply staring into his eyes for a moment.

The text read: 

> Just so you can get an idea of what you’re working with. 

The angle of the picture came from somewhere over his head. It started just at the bottom of his chin, and it went down, down, down over his splayed chest, his stomach, his waist, to the tops of his thighs where the sheet was precariously bunched. His green skin offered a stark, beautiful contrast against the pristine bedding. Basked in warm lamp light, the contours of muscle were highlighted from his pectorals, all the way down to the tantalizing V of his hips. One of his hands was resting over his navel, and she followed the strong musculature of his tattooed arm down, and up, and down again. Riley’s eyes caught on the smattering of dark hair that met the sheet.

That awful (wonderful) orc.

Another buzz. Another message. 

> Sleep sweet, Riley.

[Part 5]

[felixravinstills]

🎃trick or treat! 👻

Show us your favorite quote from the books

Happy Halloween! Sorry, it took so long for me to respond! I should really re-read the OG Trilogy (and also tbosas) because I feel like I could find a more impactful and resonate quote, but this one sticks out to me! Coriolanus is just so out of pocket, and there's something about Gaul here expositing about her time as an obstetrician that I love.

[gingermintpepper]

Finished Wuwa's main campaign last night and after sitting on it for, well, the night, I felt compelled to talk about how fantastically they handled the atmosphere of the conflict. All of the playable characters in Jinzhou helping out? Seeing Yuanwu fight alongside Midnight Rangers, or Verina healing the injured soldiers huddled behind weapons and getting healing items from them -- Aalto and Encore seeing the escalating disaster and being like "Okay damn, we'd really love to stick around and help but we need to alert the rest of the world that we might have a global disaster on our hands", the way they used communicators to keep Jinshi, Mortefi and Baizhi in the loop without ever needing extraneous cutaways and decentering the conflict. There was a TON of environmental storytelling that I really appreciated -- Jiyan still seeing vivid phantoms in the Retroact Rain because he didn't take an antidote and is instead saving them for his troop + any unlucky person caught in it, the Midnight Rangers staying at their posts to combat the TDs even when they get super close, the amount of corpses everywhere like!! !!!! Yes!! This is it!!! This what I wanted!!! I love that it FELT like this is a city that's seen a shitton of wars and conflicts, everyone was on the ball and knew exactly where they needed to be and do!! This is how you do crisis situations in games!!! Oh my god yes!!!!

[langernameohnebedeutung]

I just read Scarlet Witch & Quicksilver #4 and they literally airdopped Magneto in, had him say the worst thing imaginable to Pietro and closed curtains lmaoo 😭

just drop a car battery on me why don't you

[characteroulette]

All the Stars in the Sky (Ace Attorney)

Jove managed to live the attack and Apollo grew up half in Khura'in, half on the road with his father. Instead of pursuing the stars, Clay ends up facing the sun. A what-if where Clay takes Apollo's place and Apollo gets to have a family.

posting all of what I have for my Jove Lives AU because fuck it, I'll get back to it eventually.... hopefully. orz in the meantime, please enjoy Ace Attorney Clay Terran and Khura'inese siblings Apollo, Nahyuta, and Rayfa

[epickiya722]

You know what, I don't think "media literacy" is something that just some JJK "fans" lack. It's a problem in the anime community overall.

It seems that quite a bit of folks only admire pictures and fights, so when it comes to the characters talking or just any kind of exposition they pull the "this doesn't make any sense", "yap session *yawn*", "pfffft, the mangaka doesn't know what they're doing", and all that absolute bullshit.

Is it the mangaka not knowing what's going on or you just tuned into pretty pictures to be horny over and just clicked off your brain when it comes to actually reading the words and attempting to understand the story?

Like, folks be surprised when Gege actually writes like Gege and go "this sucks". Well, why are you still here and are you now actually reading the story?

People be like "that character shouldn't be able to do that in the fight" but literally there has been an explanation as to why that character was able to do that.

When there's fights in JJK: "Ugh, these fights are so repetitive."

When there isn't fighting: "Ugh, yap session. Go back to the fights."

Also will get upset because the character is not acting the way they want them to in the story. Well, obviously again, you're not really reading the story. You conjured up this fanon version of that character when you might as well should have created an OC for the story that you want so bad that you should write.

Maybe less relying on TikTok crappy videos and not fully translated leaks?