#finally my magnum opus has been released

[boatboysrowout]

please tell us more about the mall au, specifically etho and his pipe bomb, i need an entire thing of him running from the cops (i am your number one fan ignore that i only just found out about you that doesnt matter)

hey guys. wanna hear about white castle pipe bomb c plot?

this may come as a surprise to some, but etho is a natural at customer service. he’s always been a pretty chill guy- it takes a lot to faze him, probably a consequence of his proclivity towards explosives in his early years. that calm exterior translates well to working the front desk of a local electronics repair store (not that he had needed a summer job, really, but doc and beef both went home for the summer, and someone kept leaving him visa-friendly job applications in every nook and cranny of his dorm- he found one in his cereal a few weeks before finals, and even that one had nothing on the one he found folded up in his toothpaste).

that being said, being good at customer service doesn’t mean that he’s completely immune to the agonies of said customer service. being good at customer service just means that after the eighteenth laptop he has to factory reset while a teenaged boy swears up and down he had not in fact clicked on a link for sexy singles in his area, etho’s able to wait until the boy leaves before attempting to gouge out his other eye.

he’s searching for a screwdriver when his phone buzzes with a text, and after a longing look at his toolbox etho flips his sign to closed and heads over to the white castle. he makes a quick stop at the arcade tango mans to set a new high score on the pinball machine, effectively guaranteeing tango will be glued to the pinball machine until he regains the top leaderboard spot, and then continues on his way to the white castle, spirits high. 

etho’s good mood abruptly vanishes after stepping into the white castle, as bdubs has apparently deemed etho’s delay in arrival unforgivable and is now withholding the free fries etho had been promised.

etho slumps himself over the front counter, not unlike a wet cat, and starts causing a scene, whining about his awful day full of idiot teens and potential self mutilation that can only be staved off with free food. bdubs staunchly ignores him and cleo threatens to pour hot oil on his head.

eventually actual paying customers come in and etho’s continued presence becomes a problem, so bdubs heaves a sigh and offers the fries to etho as long as he pays full price for them, to which etho, an extreme couponer, reacts appropriately.

etho’s eye narrows as he peels himself off of the front counter, demanding the fries free of charge. bdubs refuses. cleo smacks bdubs on the back of the head and tells him to just give etho the fries so he'll go away.

etho gives bdubs one last chance to give him the fries for free, and by the time bdubs physically removes him from the premises etho is already plotting his revenge and heading straight back to the art store to collect a favor.

(you see, somewhere between the fifth and eighth laptop etho had to factory reset, tango texted him that he managed to jailbreak the pinball machine to accept a quarter for unlimited plays, and etho abandoned his job immediately to take advantage of the incredible deal.  

that was his intention, anyway. but what happened is this: etho had never really shaken off the hold explosives have over him. after he’d been put on a five different government watchlists by the time he was seventeen he’d taken a step back and started focusing more on computing and getting into college and other projects that were less likely to necessitate seizure by the canadian government. he’s clean. he left that life behind him.

however. 

when the sound of an explosion comes from the cute little art shop as etho walks past, there’s not a second of hesitation before he swung the front doors open and entered the shop.

it hadn’t taken him long to locate the source of the explosion, following a trail of smoke down a half hidden flight of stairs to a door with a hastily scrawled sign on it reading 'SUPER TALL AND HANDSOME EMPLOYEES ONLY.’

etho opened the door, walking into what has to be the world’s most pathetic meth lab. in the corner there was a stack of cardboard boxes labeled NOT DRUGS/DEFINITELY LEGAL SUBSTANCES. beakers filled with unidentifiable substances were bubbling over onto the table. a laptop near etho’s foot displayed results for a google search of ‘how to tell if a cut needs stitches and also how long can you set yourself on fire without going to hospital.’

“THIS ISN’T WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE.” a man who etho vaguely recognized from grian's beginning of summer introductions had shouted, throwing his body over the contents of the table in a desperate attempt to hide the beakers from view. a few shattered under his weight and etho heard him stifle a whimper. “everything here is perfectly normal and also legal.”

breaking bad played quietly from a tv somewhere in the background.

etho raised an eyebrow.)

in the end, they manage to work out a deal: etho would not call the cops or tell anyone about joel's secret little operation and in return, joel owed etho a favor.

and now etho will cash that favor in.

(“so let me get this straight. you’re pissed your friend wouldn’t give you chips for free and your first instinct is to go to a meth lab and steal my meth supplies to get back at him.”

“failed meth lab. and yup.”

“there’s something wrong with you.”

“at least i know how to make meth.”

“wait, you what.”)

they start small. prank calls, anonymous yelp reviews calling the really loud cashier short, launching fireworks through the drive-thru window. it doesn’t take long for them to get bored with that though, which leads to bdubs walking into the white castle one morning to discover a horse standing in the middle of the lobby. 

the horse seems very at peace with the situation, wandering over to chew on bdub’s hair as he sputters and cleo ignores the situation entirely. bdubs is left with the task of removing the horse from the store, except the horse seems to be taller than the doorway and not particularly interested in leaving, so eventually bdubs is forced to give up. There’s just a horse in their lobby now. 

it doesn’t take bdubs very long to become attached to the horse, much to the detriment of cleo. she’s running the white castle single handedly by the end of the second day, serving customers and manning the kitchen while bdubs whispers sweet nothings to the horse in the makeshift horse stall he made in the women’s restroom. 

it’s pointless to try and reason with bdubs, so cleo makes her way over to the art store basement where joel and etho have set up their base of operations. ignoring the now functioning meth lab, she demands the horse be removed from the premises in exchange for a reasonable one free small fry per week. 

reasonable to cleo, and least. both jeol and etho scoff at her offer and demand at least one large fry per day each, to which cleo laughs in their faces. she doesn’t bother making a counter offer, simply turning on her heel and walking out of the basement. she pauses for a moment at the front of the shop to make sure she hadn’t been followed before grabbing her lighter from her pocket, casually flicking it on and taking a step towards the tissue paper.

by the time joel and etho notice something is amiss the fire department has arrived, and they’re barely able to hide the evidence of their operation before firefighters are breaking down the door, carrying them out through the art shop, entirely engulfed in flames. 

(“so in retrospect, ripping all the smoke detectors out of the ceiling probably wasn’t a great idea on your part.”

“how was i to know i was gonna get into a war with an arsonist, all i wanted to do was mind my own business and make meth!”

“fail at making meth.”

“shut up.”)

now relocated behind the counter at etho’s repair shop, joel and etho prepare their final attack.

the plan is simple: using supplies salvaged from the meth lab, etho will construct a smoke bomb and throw it through the white castle drive through window while joel takes advantage of the distraction and steals all the fries the white castle possesses.

making the smoke bomb is a piece of cake, and when joel isn't looking etho sneaks a few of his own more... volatile substances into his backpack. just in case.

joel enters the white castle and cleo immediately clocks him due to joel being the most suspicious person alive always, but she cannot be arsed to investigate. it’s been a long fucking week. joel knows what will happen if he messes with her.

bdubs, however, feels an impending sense of doom through his Etho Senses and rushes over to the drive-thru window and whips it open, immediately screaming at the sight of etho across the road winding up his arm with a smoke bomb in his hand.

and that’s when things really start to go wrong.

because here’s the thing: etho’s been missing an eye for most of his life. he knows his depth perception is shit. but he’s so caught up in the adrenaline of the moment, and bdubs screaming isn’t exactly helping him focus, and listen the baseball scene in canada isn’t exactly thriving-

all of this is to say that etho activates the smoke bomb, winds up, and promptly chucks it five feet to the left of the drive through window. it bounces off the side of the building and rolls to a stop against the tire of the car that had been pulling up to order.

several things happen in very quick succession:

1. the smoke bomb begins pouring out smoke, completely obscuring etho from view and flooding into the white castle

2. bdubs attempts to continue screaming but immediately regrets it as copious amounts of smoke invade his lungs

3. the car which had previously been pulling up to the drive through attempts to exit the scene as quickly as possible, but due to the aforementioned copious amounts of smoke misjudges where the road turns and makes a hard left directly into the wall of the white castle

the very same wall where bdubs had leashed his horse mere minutes before, and the very same wall joel had been creeping along.

the horse and joel are immediately flattened, and upon seeing this bdubs’ impassioned screaming reaches pitches previously unknown to man, and all hell breaks loose.

cleo starts cackling and arms herself with a makeshift flamethrower thrown together with hairspray and a personalized lighter. bdubs attempts to leap out of the drive-thu window but his foot gets stuck and he falls out of the building, crumpling to the ground in a still screaming heap before scrambling back up through the drive-thru window and into the fray. joel manages to claw his way out of the rubble, finds himself face to face with cleo and her flamethrower, and has half a second to regret the his and hers shrek mugs that trapped him in this stupid country before he’s running for his life. 

etho himself ends up sitting peacefully on the bench outside the white castle entrance, his mask helpfully filtering out most of the smoke. it’s lucky he grabbed some extra materials from joel’s lab really, he knew bdubs wouldn’t hand over the fries without a fight. 

he’s in the middle of assembling a device that’ll definitely get him put on the american government’s watchlist and ignoring the screams coming from inside when two men rush past him into the white castle, shouting something about justice and burgers. etho waits for a second, and almost immediately they come rushing back out. he waves at their retreating figures, one of whom he’s pretty sure is the theater kid that tried to put on a one man show of macbeth during welcome week.

etho wraps the fuse around his pipe bomb and stands up, brushing the debris off of his pants and strolling into the fray.

he finds bdubs almost immediately, the man standing on the counter and clearly audible even over the fire alarms and incessant swearing from joel and cleo, who now both have improvised flamethrowers and are duking it out in the kids play area. despite the smoke bduds and etho lock eyes instantly, bdubs paling a few shades when he sees what etho has in his hand.

bdubs jumps off the counter and attempts to run to etho, but is cut off by an entirely engulfed in flames joel. it seems that bdubs did not learn a single lesson about the flammability of his hair product from his run in with grian at the beginning of the summer, because his hair bursts into flames after the slightest brush from joel, and this time cleo isn’t standing nearby with a fire extinguisher.

it should be noted that most of the white castle is entirely engulfed in flames at this point. etho’s at the center of it all, cradling his pipe bomb like a baby and searching furiously for his promised free french fries. 

he’s stopped by cleo who meets his eyes, smiles wide, and lights the pipe bomb fuse. 

-

etho and cleo stare at the wreckage of the white castle. look at each other. look back at the rubble.

the sirens in the distance are distinctly closer now, and both etho and cleo abruptly realize how much evidence is contained on their person. 

“joel’s probably fine.” cleo says. “i saw him run into the walk in freezer after i burnt away the last of his clothes and hair.”

etho nods. “bdubs is too short to get crushed by rubble.”

cleo hums agreement. they stand side by side for a moment longer before cleo turns to etho.

“well, i won’t tell if you won’t.”

with that she turns on her heel and walks away. etho sticks around for a few more minutes, watching the flames die down and the last of the white castle crumble. he digs around in his pocket for a moment and pulls out a blackened handful of fries, yanking his mask down to shove them in his mouth as emergency services skid into the parking lot. 

sticking around turns out to be a mistake, etho quickly realizes, as his white hair reflects the light from the police cars and catches the attention of every officer there. he takes off at a sprint, pulling his mask back up and booking it straight into moving traffic, dodging cars and leaving the yells of the police officers and the rubble behind him.

and that’s the last anyone sees of etho that summer.

(og link here!)

[midnightsslut]

A Guide to Red - The Quintessential Taylor Swift Album

After the release of The Manuscript, the role of Red and Red (Taylor’s Version) in Taylor’s life and discography has been highly discussed. A lot of people have referred to it as her magnum opus and most formative album. I have decided to compile a condensed list of about a dozen key interviews, performances, speeches, posts, and videos from 2011 all the way until 2024 that illustrate the importance of this record for Taylor’s personal life and career. I’m putting the list under a cut because it got pretty long. You don’t have to go through all of these, obviously, but I would suggest at least one per era. The bolded ones are essential in my opinion.

Pre-Red - These interviews hint at Taylor’s emotional state at the time and thus the content that will be explored on the Red album

2011 The New Yorker profile

Taylor Swift reveals new album is all about heartbreak - Extra TV

Bonus: an article going through Taylor’s arm lyrics on the Speak Now World Tour, which she described as mood rings for any particular show

Lover diary entries from the making of Red (credit to @cabincreaking for the scans)

- All Too Well lyrics first draft (February 2011)

- Random bursts of happiness and anxiety during the Speak Now Tour (June 17, 2011)

- Red (September 8, 2011)

- Holy Ground (February 2012)

- Nothing New (March 2, 2012)

- Working with Max Martin (June 10, 2012)

Red era - Listen to the original sixteen songs on the Red album at this point.

Red announcement livestream + Q&A

Red prologue

2012 Rolling Stone interview

2012 The Guardian interview

2012 Billboard interview

2012 Esquire interview

Sirius XM Town Hall - an hourlong interview from the day Red came out

Good Morning America - this is the first mention of the ten-minute version of All Too Well

Red track-by-track descriptions

Random interview where she discusses the connection between writing Speak Now and Red

I Knew You Were Trouble music video

Diary entry about how love is fiction and she might move to New York after all (January 6, 2014)

Diary entry from Grammy night (January 25, 2014)

Red Tour London performance of All Too Well - any performance of this song from 2013-14 will work here, but this one has a pretty comprehensive speech

Final performance of All Too Well on the Red Tour - just listen to the speech here

Post-Red era - Over the course of these interviews, you’ll see her relationship to the album evolve.

Taylor’s description of Clean (skip to 11:18)

2014 BBC Live Lounge interview

1989 World Tour interview where she mentions thinking she’d never sell as many albums as she did with Red before 1989 came out

Clean speech - a lot of these will work, but these two best describe her relationship with the Red era and heartbreak in general

All Too Well (The 1989 World Tour live)

2015 GrammyPro interview

All Too Well Super Saturday Night performance

Reputation Tour All Too Well speech

Red into Daylight performance - 2019 City of Lover concert in Paris

Re-recordings era - at this point, listen to the red vault

2020 Rolling Stone podcast

Red (Taylor’s Version) prologue

2021 Saturday Night Live performance

All Too Well: The Short Film + Behind the Scenes

Seth Meyers interview

2022 Tribeca film talk OR TIFF (both are equally good. I have a slight preference for the former, but there are some interesting new details in the latter). You could also watch directors on directors from the same year as a bonus, but it’s less comprehensive.

2022 Graham Norton - How All Too Well (10 Minute Version) came about + how the re-recordings inspired Midnights

Also listen to Midnights

The Eras Tour

All Too Well speech (Glendale Night 2 & Atlanta Night 1) - any of the speeches from March and April 2023 will work, but these two really illustrate how she feels about this time in her life now and how the fans changed the Red album for her. Obviously credit to @cages-boxes-hunters-foxes for the transcripts!

Maroon first ever live performance (‘This is a song about something that happened a long time ago, but it took place in New York’)

Aaaand finally listen to The Tortured Poets Department, especially The Manuscript

This is a lot, but it’s worth it. Enjoy!

[pr0cyon-lotor]

AU where PIWD is a RPG game that follows LBH defeating the disgraced cultivator turned demon king (emperor? lord? Whatever) Shen Qingqiu and becomes the demon king and gets a harem made up of his adventuring party.

Shen Yuan had playing it and it sucked major ass (I might make him fond of SQQ again the au is growing on me ngl). He enters the modding community for the game. He makes mods that give story behind the characters, give the girls actual personalities, fleshes out the villain, etc. He's fairly popular in the community and is well known to be Airplane's biggest hater.

Shen Yuan gets a helper eventually someone that also dislikes how the story went (totally not Airplane on an Alt account. nope.) and together they work on a mod that completely rewrites the whole thing because the game mechanics are good enough. (Airplane finally gets to tell the story he wanted)

It's their magnum opus. It takes years to finish and when they finally upload it, bullshit happens and they both end up croaking because yay 😊

Shen Yuan gets thrown into the modded version of PIDW. He is the current demon king's son. He recognizes that he will be the demon king that is the predecessor to Shen Qingqiu.

He tries to run away from his fate and ends up running right to the throne and accidentally becomes way over qualified. He eventually resigns to his fate and instead focuses on making sure his staff is loyal to him because the former demon king was betrayed by his staff or something.

Shen Yuan ends up becoming one of the most well liked kings in their history without realizing it.

One day when he's doing fuck all in the mortal realm. He encounters a town gets raided. He came too late to stop it, but he did manage to take down the raiders (Huan Hua Palace). He looked over the town and didn't find many survivors, one was a little girl that he picked up after she clung to him in desperation.

He takes the survivors back with him and makes sure they're fine, but accidentally adopts the girl since she tugged at his heartstrings. So he has a daughter now.

Years pass and he becomes an old man before he figures out how to halt his aging (old man Shen Yuan makes me feel things). And by then his daughter (take a wild guess who it is with my track history. c'mon we all know it's Su Xiyan) is an accomplished cultivator.

He's proud of his daughter and insists that she at least visits him. Su Xiyan eventually joins a sect/guild (honestly depends on how much RPG I want to make this) and gets aquatinted with the people there.

She becomes friends with one of the cultivators there named Shen Jiu and they're both very catty and take shit all the time.

Things happens, plot occurs, and Su Xiyan accidentally releases an ancient demon that had been sealed away for centuries. She is fascinated by his pathetic rizz and decides that "sure, I'll fuck that."

She brings back her totally-not-demon boyfriend to the rest and he is accepted in (YQY couldn't find it in himself to really gaf). Eventually Huan Hua Palace requests for help to take down the demon king.

And even though they have an ancient demon among them they said "yeah sure :)" Cang Qiong ends up being the ones to actually do the journey.

They get there, it was a tiresome and perilous journey. And they're finally at the demon king's throne room in front of this terrifying demon and this terrifying demon is like

SY: "Oh my God. Hi Xiyan you're visiting again? You were here a few days ago. Are these your friends? :D"

SXY: "Hey dad. These are my friends also we're here to kill you :)"

SY: "Woah really? That's great, sweetie! Make sure to aim for the head :D"

The cultivators get their asses handed to them (Tianlang-jun's ass was NOT helping)

And instead of getting killed by Shen Yuan he invites them to dinner to recover their strength. And like the demon king is like pretty chill and asks if they want to try to kill him again. Yue Qingyuan proposes an alliance instead.

Shen Yuan agrees because he figured out that trying to run from your fate brings you straight to it, and he might as well benefit his kingdom before he's killed.

The dealings take a while (a suspicious amount of time) so Yue Qingyuan, Shen Qingqiu, and Shen Yuan get aquatinted. They start having tea and gossip and maybe start a bookclub :D

Shen Yuan thinks he somehow thinks he befriended the guildmaster and his future murderer and is a little confused while Yue Qingyuan and Shen Qingqiu is like "This Gap Moe is Crazy. We wanna fuck this old man 🤝🤝🤝"

Eventually they do, in fact, fuck that old man. Su Xiyan is not impressed that her friends are dating her dad. Tianlang-jun is personally enjoying the fanfiction.

[fillinforlater]

It’s that time of the year again. What are some of your favorite smuts released in 2023?

Monday of Appreciation: Part 104

Hello everyone, Smite here!

2023 is coming to a close and it's been quite the year, a mixture of "this is a bridge year for greater things to come" and "WE LIVIN' NOW MF!" What is a bit different this year is that the highs weren't as high and the lows weren't as low compared to previous years---maybe that is just me getting older, maybe it's hindsight. Either way, I'm good and this year was good.

But some things are more than just good. I'm of course talking about these writers and their stories that I have featured today. All of them deserve special mention, but I want to focus on two of them specifically.

In a year of great, fantastic and already legendary fics, these two stand out.

Without further ado, let's dive into the final MoA of this year:

-1-

@fanfiction4sooya: Can't Save You Now ft. Chaewon, Kazuha, Sakura

I- I- I just read the damn tags and new I one day had to give this a shot. ff4sooya has crazy ideas, futa galore, different dynamics and kinks, which is SO MY THING. This has Mommy and Daddy involved in an absurd (and absurdly hot) threesome that I couldn't take my eyes off.

Now I definitely need to read more and you should too because I bet there are a bunch of Masterpieces in that long Masterlist!

-2-

@iznsfw: Drunken ft. Olivia Hye

Is it really a Monday of Appreciation post without IZ?

Seriously, what this genius is able to cook up in a commission or in the currently ongoing (HYPE) IZ DAYS OF CHRISTMAS is absolutely incredible. We have long stories with in depth characters and love drama that ends not only smuttily but sweetly. Who the fuck needs books, when you can just binge IZ?

With "Drunken", they have once again hit it out of the FUCKIING park. There is never enough Daddy kink fics, yes, but mine seem like nonsensical cringe porn compared to this beauty of a piece. I love how it plays with my heart, no I'm not crying---okay, now that is hot.

Let me change that: there is three very fucking special stories today!

(I think this might even be better than Levi's Hyeju, wtf)

-3-

@cataboliac: Enkindle ft. Wendy

Firstly: I LOVE YOU CATA, BIG QT!

Secondly: "Enkindle" feels a bit like coming home, like a day in Paradise, like the one person that shines so bright in your life that you don't want it to go. And you know, that is the great thing: this might be Cata's final fic, the farewell, but not only is his life gonna be great and he'll be super happy - we also get to read this again and again, and I'm sure I will one day.

Thank you, Cata, for hanging around!

Thirdly: I'M GONNA KISS YOU, CATA!

-4-

@writerpeach: Delectation ft. Wonyoung, Yujin

1.000 Notes, and it's still not enough for what is my pick for fic of the year (FOTY? FOOTY? There is a scene like that, yep). IZ*ONE truly never dies, but it is IVE and these absolute super stars, bomb shells with flawless faces and different, yet irresistible bodies that have us in a frenzy.

Talking about frenzy, all those 30,699 words are a frenzy. I thought Peach would set it up with a long and painful tease that has us edging the entire time BUT NOPE this has so much fucking smut, so many lines of neediness and horniness, it is impossible to finish in one try or two tries or... I dunno, seven-hundred tries?

It's detailed, it's straight forward, it's sex from every fucking angle, I can never get tired of this. I will go so far and say this is Peach's magnum opus, the GOAT fic by the GOAT writer. At least for that day, I can say this without a doubt.

Peach, you are crazy and thank you for that <3

#PeachPavedTheWay #AnnyeongzForDaddy

[keepthisholykiss]

The results from my Dracula Daily survey are in! Just like with my Hamlet survey in the past, these are the highlights of data that I found from the survey. Folks shared valuable insights that are soon to be shared with the purpose of advocating for further free education resources like these. The data in these graphics is not all the data received but that is because I never share 100% of results, only the interesting parts. This is also probably my final survey I will do like this unless there is desire for me to do more research, if you have a topic you’d like me to cover send me an ask! Otherwise I will be working on my child, my magnum opus, my future PhD dissertation.

Onto the post mortem thoughts and alt text which are both under the fold!

This survey was originally done with the purpose of a specific conference I was to attend and share my thoughts on accessible education with. However that conference was, ironically, incredibly inaccessible. I am a queer disabled scholar and I face a lot of challenges in academia so making my case for why educational resources like Dracula Daily should be promoted within academia is very important to me. Unfortunately my original plans for this research could not happen due to my having to pull out of the conference. Now this data is being shared with a new and much more accessible conference, so at least I can still have use it for its original purpose!

Also of note is that this survey, unlike work I have done in the past, received some really nasty responses. Specifically terfs (idk why they wrote gross stuff in my survey answers though) and people who wanted to belittle the way or the content of what I was researching. This is not okay. I want to reiterate that I am a queer, disabled scholar who has zero tolerance for some of the responses I received. Studying fandom is never fully free of this but I want to hold people accountable always for the way people are treated within a community. My studies of online community are basically done (because I am moving onto my PhD work which does not involve the same research) but if I come back to doing it I will be implementing other methods to avoid the way I was treated. Regardless of the bad eggs and struggles I have with most all of academia this was fun. I appreciate everyone who participated and thank you for the feedback. Please enjoy these results!

ALT TEXT:

Slide one: Dracula Daily survey results Slide two: About the survey -  A survey was conducted to gather data from fans of Dracula Daily to gain insight on accessible education and fandom. The survey received 863 responses these are the data highlights. Slide three: Disclaimer - The data presented here is a summary of information and highlighted portions of responses. This is not all of the data and the entirety will never be released. Also some responses were omitted from final numbers due to abusive language entered into the survey toward the researcher. Slide four: Before Dracula Daily - 62%  of respondents had not read Dracula before Dracula Daily.  More than 50% of respondents answered that they had been avid readers at some point in their lives. Slide five: 85%  of respondents noted that they had consumed other gothic or vampire media prior to Dracula Daily. Slide six: Finishing the story - 66%  of respondents finished Dracula Daily. 15.7% plan to finish. Slide seven:  92% of respondents said Dracula Daily improved their understanding of Dracula and/or classic literature Slide eight: Stopping short -  The majority of those who responded that they did not finish stopped reading sometime in October.  The top reason for not finishing was: lack of motivation. Slide nine: Let’s Talk About It - 82%  of respondents talked about Dracula Daily online, in person, or both. Over 50%  cited memes as their favorite part of participating. Slide ten: One More Chapter -  Many respondents indicated their desire to read more books in this format, the titles with the most interest were: Sherlock Holmes, Jane Austen, Phantom of the Opera, and Les Miserables

[insertdisc5]

Devlog #16: Answers and Questions

Hello everyone! Welcome to this month’s devlog!

If you just stumbled upon this, I am Adrienne, also known as insertdisc5! I’m the developer, writer, artist, main programmer, etc of the game. The game being In Stars and Time, a timeloop RPG, which is also the next and final game in the START AGAIN series, following START AGAIN: a prologue (available here!).  You can find out more about In Stars and Time here!!! 

LET’S GET TO IT. This month is Q&A: Cohost edition!

“A Q&A again?” Heheh well I don’t have anything to talk about this month ✨ We’re working hard on finalizing the localization! And on porting to consoles! And on secret stuff! You know, the usual!!! Get excited!!! So, Q&A again 💖 And see, I asked questions for Q&As on Twitter. On Tumblr. On Discord. But some new social media platforms have entered the fray. SO.

Welcome to Q&A: Cohost edition. (Follow me on cohost and/or read this post I wrote about why I think cohost is neat teehee) (and follow me on bluesky if you want. I like it way less though. Sorry bluesky)

@ItsMeLilyV asks:

One of the bits of advice that gets tossed around by indie devs is to avoid making RPGs, especially for your first few games, because they tend to be large in scope, difficult to prototype, and easy to underestimate.

Was this ever a fear for you in making START AGAIN, or In Stars and Time? Did you take any special precaution to keep these games within a scope you could handle, and did you learn tricks from START AGAIN that carried over to ISAT when in came to keeping things manageable? Thank you!! ✨

I had no idea that was a piece of advice given, but yep, that makes a lot of sense! Since I didn’t know, I went in blissfully aware, teehee.

I will say that I am familiar with working on big projects from working on comics, and with seeing big webcomic artists always mention to never start with your magnum opus… And I could tell ISAT had the potential to be way bigger than I imagined, which is why I decided to start with creating the prologue to get used to RPGMaker as well as making games. Kind of a pilot of sorts!

Again, thanks to comics, I know to keep my scope pretty small, because even if you keep it small it WILL balloon into something way bigger than you thought. Just for the prologue, I imagined it’d be a 20mn game, and it’s easily a 2-3h one! Keep your scope small!!!

As for tricks, when I catch myself thinking “wow what if I added this cool thing”, I try to always keep in mind those two things: 1. How long will it take to implement (including bug testing), and 2. Does it add something important to the game. I know we always want to add a fishing game, or a fun minigame, but do you Need It. Does it add something substantial to the story, to the Themes. Or are you just adding it because you like fishing games. Which is a valid reason, but also, maybe just make a fishing game instead. You are not the Yakuza series!!!! You are a small indie gamedev!!!! Think about you in 4 months who has to fix all the fishing game bugs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

@stem asks:

how is it to have a piece of art that's basically done (as far as i understand) that you can't share yet? like how do you personally bide the time until it's finally ready to release, or is it not really a challenge to wait? :0c

It’s so weird!!! The game has been done for so long!!! I’m very glad I asked some friends to playtest the game, so I could at least get some feedback before the game is out… In some ways it feels like the game will be done twice: once back when I finished making the game, and once when the game actually comes out. It’s just a very strange experience. Sometimes people tell me they’re excited to find out more about this story beat, or about this character, and a part of me is like… Wait, haven't you played the game? Oh, yeah, it’s not actually out. Guess you’ll find out later.

EDIT: My god. I just checked on my private devlog for when I completed the Alpha of ISAT. It was in August of last year (I lay down on the floor and look at the ceiling) (I still had to finish all the illustrations so really the game was Done Donezo in October but still…)

anon asked:

What role did Armor Games play in creating the final product?

SO MANY THINGS. Here are some of them: support when it comes to porting/marketing/social media/localization, feedback on the game and how to make it better, community guidance, testing support, QA/internal testing… The game couldn’t be the way it is without them.

For more small details, I have a weekly meeting with my producer, Dora! We talk about the game and how everything is going. A couple months back, I also was checking in with the internal QA team fairly often to fix any remaining bugs. They also helped me find ISAT’s additional programmer, Isabella, and she is a godsend because coding is hard. They also take care of communicating with press, finding more opportunities to showcase the game in conventions, talking with the localization/porting teams… I am probably forgetting a thousand little things they did to help out!!! THEY’RE SO GOOD OK

Anon asked:

So obviously the skills/spells/what have you are based off of Rock, Paper, Scissors. Did you design each "type" to be like a certain style? Rock being heavy damage and defense buffs, scissors being speed and quick attacks, like that?

Absolutely! I just went with the obvious. Rock is physical damage, defense focused, Scissors is swords, attack focused, and Paper is magic, mind focused. It was fun to develop a spell system around those! I’m excited for people to find out more about Craft…

@nickshutter asks:

I really loved START AGAIN (streamed it for a small handful of friends) and was super happy to hear about a follow-up! The cast is so much fun and their personalities are really well-balanced—did any of the characters change pretty drastically from their initial conception during development of the game?

I’m so glad you streamed it with friends… I hope you had a good fun time…

And for sure! Isabeau and Mirabelle were pretty set from the get go (himbo and shy wallflower), but Odile started as more of a gentle teacher type, even if I very quickly went the snarky old lady route. Siffrin and Bonnie were harder to pin down– I wasn’t sure how to portray Siffrin’s despair in the prologue, and started showing them more overtly depressed, but I thought it’d be Very Yummy to have them show a happy facade to their friends. And then, for ISAT, I had to figure out what a non-depressed Siffrin would be like, for the first couple acts of the game before the despair sets in. As for Bonnie, I had a lot of trouble figuring out what they’d be like, what kind of kid they were, what their relationship with everyone else would be like, and then I thought about what their past would be like and then their characterization was set in stone. Sometimes you need to figure out One Thing to unlock a character’s brain. I’m very excited for everyone to find out more about each character in ISAT!

@SuperBiasedGary asks:

What games (or other media) lit a fire under you to create your own?

It could be stuff you liked so much it inspired, something you found frustrating because you felt an itch to do it differently, or something that made you realise humans make things and you could be one of them.

I found a lot of indie games inspiring, but I think Umineko might’ve been the one that made me go… Oh, anyone can just make a massive video game narrative. And you can make it very simple, with kinda goofy sprites, and still manage to make an incredibly touching story!

As for frustrating games that lit a fire under me, I think I’d say in general, I found issue with the classic trope of the “main character helps people and doesn’t get anything back”. What often happens in some games is that you help NPCs with their problems, sometimes helping them with very intense, complicated problems! For a very long time! And, in exchange, you get… A cool item? A nice new skill? And that’s it?

I know this might be complicated to implement on a narrative perspective, but I remember playing Persona 5, and your character just went through a very harrowing experience (like, oh, being INTERROGATED AND TORTURED BY THE POLICE) and you help your friends during social links, and they go “thanks for your help! Bye~” like WHAT ABOUT ME. WHAT ABOUT MY PROBLEMS. CAN YOU GIVE ME A HUG

So on a certain level, I wanted a game where instead of the characters around you having problems, the main character also has problems. And is subconsciously screaming “CAN YOU PLEASE NOTICE I HAVE PROBLEMS AND GIVE ME A HUG.” And hopefully, the characters notice. Winks

Hm. I do want to say I wrote most of the prologue/ISAT during the pandemic, and I felt very lonely and not supported. But then guess what. I told my friends about how I felt. And most of them told me they had no idea, and vowed to support me more. And now I’m closer to them. So the moral of this answer is, yeah, it’d be nice if people noticed, but also, you need to tell people when you’re feeling bad. LOOKS AT SIFFRIN

Anon asked:

Is there a song you listen to in order to put yourself in the sasasa/ISAT mindset?

I have a whole playlist baybee. Before you ask: there aren’t any hidden meanings behind those song choices. It’s about the Mood, and also my personal tastes in music I listen to when I need to concentrate. I like songs that go WUB WUB

 In no particular order, here are five random songs I played on repeat when making the prologue:

Future Club (Arcade Version) by Perturbator (in bold because this was THE song I listened to on repeat. I believe I gave it to Lindar for inspiration lol)

Arcades by C2C

Wake Me Up by Para One

The First Wish by DROELOE

Les Enfants du Paradis by World’s End Girlfriend

And here are five random songs I played on repeat for In Stars and Time:

Down by Chloe x Halle

Nonsense Bungaku by Eve

Non-Breathe Oblige by PinocchioP

Gentle Heart by Jamie Paige

Ready For The Floor by Hot Chip

It’s interesting, the songs I listened to for the prologue are generally more heavy and frenetic, while the ones for ISAT are more hopeful… I made sure to listen to more lively songs for ISAT, since that’s the feeling I wanted to give off…

That’s all the questions I have! In other, non related ISAT news, I have started a new project and having a lot of fun. It’s a visual novel this time. I’m hoping to get some screenshots ready in the next few months, but also I’m taking it easy on this one. If it takes years with many breaks in between to get it done, it’s fine. What matters to me right now is the process!

That’s all I have to say for today! Let me know if you have any questions, or if there’s any aspect of the game development struggle you’d like me to talk about! See you next time!!!

AND DON’T FORGET TO WISHLIST THE GAME ON STEAM ALSO IT REALLY HELPS BECAUSE STEAM’S ALGORITHM IS MORE LIKELY TO SHOW OFF GAMES WITH A HIGH AMOUNT OF WISHLISTS THAT’S THE REASON WHY GAME DEVS ALWAYS ASK TO WISHLIST!!! OKAY BYE!!!!

[mryaksalot]

Plans for the rest of 2024 and beyond.

2024 has been a turbulent year for me, to say the least. I went into this year with an entire agenda as for what I wanted to accomplish in terms of writing. Little did I know how differently things would turn out for me.

My mental health back in March/April was not great if I’m being honest. I found myself not having nearly as much motivation to write as I did before. I decided to take a break from social media, fic-writing included, in order to work on my mental health. I’m happy to report that I’m doing a lot better now, and my motivation to write fics has increased significantly since June.

During my time away from the internet, I had time to reconsider what my intentions were when it came to my writing. I always enjoyed writing for the fun of it, but I also wanted my stories to stand out from the rest. I wanted to create something that was entirely unique, something that I can look at and be proud of.

The following is a list of all of the things I want to accomplish for the rest of 2024 and beyond, highlighting future stories as well as major changes in regards to my writing.

Backstory AU/The Road To Success

I’ve always viewed The Road To Success as my flagship story. I created this AU all the way back at the beginning of 2021. Hours upon hours have been put into fleshing out this AU into the multi-chapter saga. So many changes had to be made along the way(including starting the whole story over from scratch back in 2022). The story is now over 140k+ words, and it’s nowhere near finished.

Admittedly, I went a little overboard with how much thought and ideas went into this AU. I was not aware that this project would take so many months, even years, to put together. I don’t have an editor – I write, edit, proofread, and publish every one of my stories by myself. That takes a while to do.

Back in January 2023, The Road To Success went viral. This was around the time the 3rd and final season of the reboot came out, and AO3 was flocked with fans eager to catch the hype train. For a good few months, my story was gaining an immense amount of readership, which encouraged me to pump out as many chapters as possible in a short time frame.

But, like all hype trains, the excitement from the new season release cooled down. By the fall, the only fans left were diehards like myself. I was also experiencing some major burnout from pushing myself so hard. I had other responsibilities outside of social media like work, school etc. This burnout led to several delays of new chapter uploads.

During my break, I had time to rethink several components of my Backstory AU. I made a handful of changes to The Road To Success. The most prominent one was making the story much more Yakko-centric. I wanted to make a story showing how hard work and dedication to your craft can get you to places in life you’d never imagine. Yakko is the perfect character to convey that sort of message.

Initially, I wanted to include more character perspectives beside Yakko, but I ultimately decided to size it down. We’ll still see some of their perspectives (Wakko will get his own chapter at some point), but for the most part, the spotlight will remain on Yakko. This is his story, after all. Because of this, the current version of TRTS is much shorter than I originally drafted 2 years ago.

I have thought about expanding the universe even more with additional stories, but I have decided to hold off on that until I reach a certain number of chapters (you’ll understand when the time comes). I’m currently working on a 2-parter, chapters 17 and 18, which will take priority for the time being. I will save an announcement about bonus content for another day.

The Backstory AU has really become a passion project of mine. You can say it’s my magnum opus. I intend to take my time with future updates going forward. I used to pump chapters out as fast as I can, but I don’t really feel like I need to do that anymore. I feel like my content is better when I take my time to make sure everything is right. I want this AU to be executed to its full potential. Rome wasn’t built in a day, as the saying goes.

Oneshots/Additional projects

I have always been open to doing external projects on top of working on the Backstory AU and The Road To Success. Though recently, I have cut back on the amount of oneshots that I put out. There are two reasons for this:

1. The time I spend on these oneshots takes away time that I could be spending to write up the next chapter of The Road To Success. That story is a much higher priority to me, so I would like to put my time and effort into that before I decide to work on something else.

2. There really isn’t much demand for me to pump out as many oneshots now than there was 2 years ago. As I said in the hype train analogy, when a show gets new seasons/episodes, it draws fans to social media – it gives fic writers the motivation they need to push out new content. But now that the Animaniacs reboot has ended, a majority of the casual fanbase who had jumped onto that hype train had left to other fandoms.

But while the Animaniacs fanbase is much smaller now than it used to be, it allows me to focus less on the demand and more on the product itself – that product is the Backstory AU. I feel like I can take my time on new chapters knowing the diehard fan base will still be there. As long as there is an audience, I will write for as long as I still feel value in my work.

With that being said, I am going to be putting most of my focus on the AU going forward, rather than adding onto the load. I feel less anxious that way, knowing that I have a clear path in getting a fic done with little delay.

However, I am still open to doing oneshots in the not so distant future; I’m just putting priority on a bigger project at the moment. That might offset some readers who enjoy shorter content, but do know that all of my oneshots currently posted will remain on the platform for anyone to enjoy. Not to mention all the other great content getting posted on AO3. We’re a small, dedicated community, working together to make content for our own enjoyment.

But while I’m cutting back on individual oneshots going forward, I have something that you might enjoy.

Splats Of Ink/The Drabble Collection

Back in January, I decided to try my hand at a drabble collection. I saw that a couple of my fellow Animaniacs writers were doing it, so I thought “Why the heck not?” So far, I have written 6 entries to the collection, all of which have received decent feedback from readers.

I’m really enjoying doing the collection so far, because it gives me the chance to write out those strands of ideas floating around in my head. None of the drabbles in the collection are directly related to anything major, but that was the intention. The drabble collection is like my own personal sandbox – a place where I can figure out what works and what doesn't.

I won’t say yet what you can expect for future ideas for the collection; the collection itself is sporadic for the most part. But I would like to write out some deleted/extra scenes from The Road To Success which didn’t make it into the story. There is a lot of cut content from that story which I feel is still worth sharing. Other entries will include character study, and characters which I feel aren’t shined upon that often.

These drabbles will take the place of oneshots, and will typically be released during a wait period(when I’m in the midst of working on the next chapter of TRTS). As I said previously, I will still do oneshots on occasion, if I am able to come up with an idea that I can expand upon. For the most part, however, expect much more of the drabble collection in the near future.

Conclusion

If you made it all the way to the end, I just want to express how thankful I am to everyone who has supported me and my fics after all this time. I’ve been at this for 3 years now. I have made several new friends during my time here, and I’ve seen the talent of so many people in this community.

With that being said, I will be taking my time with my fics going forward. That doesn't mean I’m gonna quit necessarily, but I will be taking my time with my fics to ensure that they can hold up to their full potential. As long as there is still engagement in the fanbase, I will continue to write fic for as long as I still hold value to my craft.

If you have any questions about any of the information above, do not hesitate to ask. I will answer any questions you have, whether it’s about the Backstory AU or another project of mine. I want to be as transparent to you guys as I can.

Cheers.

[skysometric]

Zeta - As Complete As It Gets

Zeta was my "magnum opus" back in 2014… the pinnacle of everything I had learned with level design in Mari0 1.6. Everything about it is as grandiose as possible – colorful levels made with an omnipalette tileset, unique challenges that blend Mario and Portal elements in fun ways, a plot holding secrets close to its chest. I released about half of it in various demos up until mid-2013, getting lots of praise and attention from the community! I was quite proud of myself and my work…

But I had ambitions to use features that hadn't even been added to the game yet, like a full custom music album, water tiles, custom enemies, cutscenes. I decided to shelve the project for a little while, at least until later versions of the game gave me more tools to work with. Those new versions came and went… yet I never returned to Zeta, instead embracing other big new projects like Retrush and Floating Isles. Zeta faded into history, left unfinished, a casualty of ADHD novelty-chasing.

Many of the ideas that were planned for Zeta would later find their way into my other projects, but the idea of returning to Zeta itself has always been daunting. Despite the fact that I was so proud of it in 2014… it's a little uneven looking back on it now. In addition to finishing the existing levels, there's a ton I'd want to rework from scratch! That would practically be a new project in its own right.

The perfect excuse to return to Zeta came when I started streaming all of my Mari0 mappacks in a retrospective series. Most of them I was content with showing as they were released… but with Zeta, I specifically wanted to show it in its best light, as close to its original vision as possible. So, using modern tools in AE, I added all of the music I wanted to add from the beginning, added warps between areas of unused content, and even finished the final boss! The stream itself went great, and I had a lot to say about development of the mappack – you can watch it in full here:

The short version is that Zeta is honestly better than I remembered! Even though there's still a few rough edges, and the blend of Mario and Portal elements gets kinda wacky at times, it has a cadence to it that's genuinely unique and fun in its own right. It's a lot more mature than I expected, and getting to revisit it was a joy.

And since I already have all the materials ready… I'm releasing this version of Zeta to the public! This version has a little more work done on it since I played it on stream, including the addition of water tiles in some areas and fixed time limits in most levels. There are still a few unfinished levels, but otherwise… this is how I wanted Zeta to be, ten years ago. This is as complete as that original vision gets.

I have to make the distinction that this is the "original vision" because there's SO MUCH I would change these days. Before I did the stream, I had to mull over just how extensively I wanted to change things up – but I decided that preserving the original vision was most important… and if I want to change things more extensively, that will be a separate release. I guess let's say that a Zeta DX isn't off the table~

For now, though, here's that original vision preserved as faithfully as possible. It doesn't run in the original Mari0 1.6 anymore due to the music and the final boss, so you'll have to use Mari0 AE. A decade later, please enjoy Zeta as it was meant to be played!

https://www.dropbox.com/s/85z8jqotzun1e8z/Zeta%20-%20As%20Complete%20As%20It%20Gets.zip?dl=1

[tumblydovereviews]

The Sign: Bluey's Magnum Opus

This was originally scheduled to be a four-part review but I have something even bigger coming up and, ultimately, I found myself with more ideas for a sole post on what is now one of my favorite episodes of the series and wanted to do a much deeper dive into it.

Magnum opus. Defined as the greatest achievement of a particular person or work, while a magnum opus isn't always the best in quality, it more often than not represents an amazing feat in the series' history. And, the Bluey 28-minute special "The Sign," is no different. With praise and acclaim from both critics and casual viewers, and currently holding the highest rating of any Bluey episode on IMDb, it's safe to say that this episode is one of, if not the best that Bluey has ever had to offer.

Bluey's array into long-form content didn't start from this special, though. In 2020, a new play titled, appropriately, Bluey's Big Play, was released to audiences with positive reviews from all demographics. Needless to say, Bluey long-form content was desired more than ever, and The Sign only delivered in that aspect.

The Sign focuses on Bluey and Bingo learning about their family's plans to move out of Brisbane and into the city, where Bandit has received a new job. Bluey is heartbroken, while Bingo takes the news oddly well. At the same time, the Heelers are also preparing for Frisky and Radley's wedding, which will be hosted at the house before the big move. The Heeler girls, along with Muffin and Socks, derive a plan to get Frisky to move the big "FOR SALE," sign out of the driveway so nobody will buy the house, but plans are changed with Frisky ends up in an argument with Rad and calls the wedding off, leaving Chilli and the Heeler cousins on a road trip to find her, save the wedding, and (possibly), the house as well.

Despite being four times longer than the average episode, The Sign's pacing didn't feel slowed down compared to a regular episode; instead, enough plot has been packed inside of the special to account for the longer runtime. Not once did I feel like the special was dragging on or moving too fast. The pacing was perfect. The animation was great, and the lighting in certain scenes was amazing, especially during the dance party at the reception.

Bluey's growth as a character also stood out tremendously. This Reddit post sums everything up amazingly. Bluey is getting older; she can sit in the front seat, she can listen in to conversations she'd initially be ushered out of for being 'too young,' and she spends more time hanging out with Chili and Frisky during the search than with her sister and cousins. By now in the series, enough time has passed for Brandy to be noticeably pregnant and for Rad and Frisky to develop their relationship, so Bluey is at least 7.5 years old now. Seeing such noticeable growth in her character is a wonderful thing.

The small details in the special as well are amazing! Seeing Grandpa Bob again, Frisky's family, and Brandy finally getting pregnant! Honey gets her first speaking role since Season 2! Pretzel has two mums! Socks is speaking in full sentences and has her biggest role in possibly the whole series!

But, perhaps the best part of The Sign was it's use of the butterfly effect, a reaction in which something seemingly mundane has a much larger impact and leads to a chain reaction. Each event has a purpose, whether we see its need immediately or not. Muffin jams the coin in the wrong spot of the binoculars, but the coin is used by the sheepdogs to discover Winton's house for sale and decide to move there over to the Heelers' house instead, which ends up being the final straw in Bandit's decision to keep the home. The motif of the Ulysses butterfly, first seen in Slide, as a reference to good luck only fuels the butterfly effect in the special.

My favorite scene in this special would have to be the ending, featuring Lazarus Drug in the background. The sheer anger on Bandit's face as he throws the sign onto the grass. Chilli diving onto him and sobbing, her shoulders shaking with the weight of her emotions. The girls running towards their parents, elated on the revelation. The Heelers, enjoying a dinner of fish and chips, the house almost completely empty as we pan up to the sky and the end of the special. This scene struck a chord with me that I had only felt during Bluey's saddest moments, and I had to admit, I shed a few small, but significant tears.

Bluey's The Sign not only teaches us about the sheer impact of the decisions we make everyday, but it also shows us how, even when life takes us in directions that we can barely respect, everything will always work out in our favor. Life gives us enough bad things to anticipate, that maybe anticipating isn't the best thing after all. Maybe, we should just say, "We'll see," and hope for the ultimate best.

This is why I believe that The Sign is not only one of Bluey's best episodes, but its magnum opus, Joe Brumm and Ludo Studios' greatest achievement to date. Not many preschool shows can expand to thirty minutes while still keeping audiences of all demographics engaged. Not many pieces of media in general can be both realistic and fun like Bluey can. Not many shows can show to us, the audience, the little moments in life that leave to big lessons as well as Bluey is able to. The Sign not only encapsulates the show's mission but goes well beyond of the barriers that children's TV is forced to be in the best way possible.

[merge-conflict]

thread-safe

goro takemura x valentine

After V has fled from Arasaka with Johnny and Alt, she meets with Goro, who has come to bring her back. Their argument turns into passion, but there is more at stake than just their broken hearts.

“You slept with Silverhand,” he counters, the accusation slipping out before he can stop it. It’s been on his mind from the moment she left, how she could not only betray him but betray him so completely. “After everything he has done!”

V’s smile is mirthless. “I didn’t know you were keeping such a close eye on me.”

“There was an investigation.” The truth sounds hollow, even to his ears.

Her chrome fingertips glide over the back of his hand and he releases her, feeling like he’s been burned. “Should I have lived like you? In total denial?”

“At least I did not consort with the enemy.”

She tilts her head, frowning almost imperceptibly. “Am I your enemy?”

It’s misdirection. Provocation. He’s seen her back enough people into a corner with a similar technique, until they are too angry and defensive to avoid admitting fault. Working hand-in-glove with Abernathy, exposing their target to expertly crafted repercussions. But she’s not as invulnerable as she is pretending to be, or as unaffected.

“Are you?” he asks. He already knows the answer but wants to hear her say it. The instant he touches her cheek she leans into the touch like a cat, eyes fluttering closed as he leisurely runs his fingers down her neck, down the line of her shirt, over the curve of her stomach. He lingers at her belt, tracing the buckle as he feels her muscles tense. The gesture is complete only when he slides his hand between her legs, palm pressed against her clit through several layers of fabric.

She makes a guttural sound, pressing into him. “No.” Read more on ao3

a/n: This is my magnum opus. It's a heart-breaking gut punch and I feel like I finally had the skill to accomplish the fic I've wanted to write since I first played Cyberpunk. :3

Bonus Track:

[blurhawaii]

AO3 roundup 2023

for the first time in many years i actually wrote things. this is largely because i daisy chained fic exchanges for pretty much the entire year, but whatever works, right?

anyway, my new year resolution last year was to write more and i ended up writing 70,980 words across 11 fics. which is, i think, a big success.

1899

werewolf heart | maura franklin/eyk larsen/daniel solace | 7K

part werewolf story, part butchering of selkie lore, all set on an abandoned, haunted steamship

'cause he knows it's all worthwhile, he told me | eyk larsen/daniel solace | 4K

post canon fic exploring the dangers of being pulled early from a cryosleep

mine, yours, and how it went | eyk larsen/daniel solace | 7K

part 1 - daniel doesn't abandon his son at the first opportunity, and eyk is seduced by a sad, wet man attempting to be a dad

the truth has always been a lie | eyk larsen/daniel solace | 17K

part 2 - daniel and maura have coded conversations, elliot is sad, and eyk continues to be slowly seduced by daniel's lacklustre parenting

From

your pleasure's set upon slow release | jade herrera/jim matthews | 5K

jim is schrodinger's widow until tabitha comes back and opens the box. or jade invites himself into jim's bed

Indiana Jones

never knew the cold hand of danger; til i met this one and let it inside | klaber/jurgen voller | 7K

klaber visits voller's classroom at the university of alabama, a possible look into why klaber is so loyal

Project Blue Book

mass migration | j allen hynek/michael quinn | 2K

an entire forest uproots and moves while quinn blindly steps into a precurser to a threesome

a blood pact of sorts | mimi hynek/susie miller | 1K

mimi takes a sledgehammer to a bomb shelter and susie helps

The Nice Guys

for the good life is out there somewhere | holland march/jackson healy | 1K

jackson teaches holland how to take a punch to the face

The Quarry

every fortress falls | travis hackett/laura kearney | 9K

basically a 5 times fic, spanning the entire game. highlighting touch and moments of kindness, sometimes at the same time

and finally, my magnum opus

The Departed

posthumously | billy costigan/sean dignam | 5K

snapshots of a life in slow recovery. or billy survives the bullet and now he has to survive dignam trying to be nice

here's to 2024 and hopefully another productive year !

[27-liter-horse]

'BRAT' review

Charli XCX has always been a smart artist, knowing exactly what she was doing and leading herself toward a bright future. That bright future has finally arrived with her newest album, "BRAT." The album was set to succeed almost immediately, with cover art inspired by minimalist techno party pamphlets—instantly recognizable and easy to meme. The album starts with '360,' which, in my opinion, while a great song, shouldn't have been one of the leading singles. Nonetheless, it sets the introspective and anthemic tone of the album immediately. 'Von dutch' is also an absolute bop, with an extremely fun beat and well-sung lyrics; Charli excels at showcasing her confidence in a very energetic way. An underrated aspect of Charli XCX is her introspective and sometimes even somber songwriting, which shines beautifully here. I found myself relating to many of the tracks that also became my favorites on the album. 'Talk Talk,' 'Everything is romantic', and 'Girl, so confusing' encapsulate the complex feelings I’ve started to develop recently. 'Talk Talk' is particularly relatable because it speaks about an online relationship where the other person doesn't seem to be present. The final chorus, "Talk to me in French / Talk to me in Spanish / Talk to me in your own made-up language / Doesn't matter if I understand it," is perfection. 'Everything is romantic' is about falling in and out of love with many different people and paints a vivid landscape of bad tattoos on leather-tanned skin and Jesus Christ on plastic signs. 'Girl, so confusing' touches on Charli and Lorde's feud, and they even released a remix of the song where Lorde sings her own verse, resolving their differences in the best way possible. An honorable mention goes to 'Club classics' and the tribute to SOPHIE, 'So I.' The album concludes with the song '365', the perfect way to end the album. It's similar to '360' but doesn't feel as barebones, and it features an amazing vocal bumpin' effect that repeats after Charli, which is just music to my ears. The song finally ends in this beautiful EDM beat which to me was very reminiscent of Aphex Twin's 'Windowlicker'. While I didn’t discuss every track, I covered most of them because, genuinely, the album is a masterpiece and Charli’s magnum opus as an artist.

Favorite tracks: Talk Talk, Everything is romantic, Girl, so confusing, 365, Club classics, Von dutch Least favorite track: I might say something stupid

[carmenized-onions]

First of all HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY!

I just reread everything for the THIRD time and I finally built up the courage to send my thoughts. I am OBSESSED with this story! You had me hooked from the very first chapter you posted. I don’t think I’ve ever read a fan fiction that was this damn good. Every single detail is so well thought out, you have captured these characters perfectly. I can’t believe that you are writing this one week at a time (we need to get you in the room when they write season 4). Every character is written so well throughout this story, I can tell that you really get this show. I’ve always felt disconnected when reading fan fiction because the writing style is usually so different from how the actual show is scripted, but man… you nailed it. I feel like you understand these characters better than the actual writers of the show. Nothing you’ve written so far has felt out of character. I’m actually furious that this story isn’t cannon because it’s so damn good! I won’t make you read every single thought for every single chapter because that would take me forever to write and I’m not that great at writing. I will however share with you my overall thoughts on chapter 13:

Holy shit! This was THEE chapter. I love a flashback episode and this was PERFECT (I think you should be very proud on how this turned out holy moly). It is mind blowing how well you’ve fit Chip into this story. I’m sorry I couldn’t give you a more detailed review of this chapter but next time I promise to write out my thoughts as I read. I am very excited to see what happens next. Have a lovely day!

THANK YOU DEAR, sorry I’m late to all these birthday wishes myself, I’ve got like 20 asks in my inbox, my apologies for my lateness loves, a bitch has been busy. 

THIRD re-read is WILD!! I wish I was still on my once a week release man, I was in my BAG. Hopefully after the move I can finally get back into it. ALSO listen, if anyone knows, how to get in that writers room, i’ll make myself so available. I’ll go anywhere. I’ll meet you on Huron and Orleans right now storer please. (though I do think they already filmed a majority if not all of S4? Which,, I’m not gonna lie I am worried about. They need Joanna Calo back like fucking yesterday. God i’m so in love with her). It really really means a lot to me though as a screenwriter being told so often that I should be in the room. So sincerely thank you!!

AS WELL AS THE STYLING YES!! I consider myself pretty versatile in terms of being able to switch my tone based on what genre I’m working with, but as a little fucking freak, The Bear lends itself very well to my own frantic stream of consciousness constantly over the top writing, I think. So I’m happy about that. And thank you thank you for saying I understand the characters, I’m always always trying to do their personas justice cause they’re !! just so !! I love them. They’re all very rounded out and managing all those little people quirks is always so fun and interesting. I can’t deny I also wish Chicago’s Kindest was cannon. It would be so interesting to see it play out in show perspective, rather than y’know having it as almost always Tony’s perspective going through her days. Ahhhh I can’t think about it for too long or I’ll lose it. 

AND THOUGHTS ON CHAPTER THIRTEEN THIS WAS ABSOLUTELY THEEEE chapter,, I think that’s why i’ve had so much trouble with Chapter 14 honestly, because it was like oh christ. That was my magnum opus. It’s all downhill from here. Hopefully that’s not the case, but we’ll see. I need everyone to gas me up so much when CH14 comes out. Chip is so woven in to the story at this point and it’s gonna personally hurt my feelings so much when S4 comes out and everything I wrote is not possible in future canon because Christopher’s gonna do that to hurt ME personally. Jkjkjkjk. But it is a secret fear I have. It’s fine. 

Thank you so much for your thoughts!! Also listen, I love getting peoples play by plays, but never feel pressured to do em!! Honestly hearing like people’s analysis’ of scenes as a whole that stuck out to them is probably my favourite shit to see— I LOVE IT ALL THOUGH— I DON’T KNOW— ITS ALL VERY GOOD AND I’M THANKFUL FOR ANY AND ALL THOUGHTS I GET!! I’M GONNA SHUT UP NOW!! Hope you enjoy the next one when it’s out see you then !!

[always-rolling-my-eyes]

Day 4 of The Tortured Poets Department countdown which means a solid 2 hours and 10 minutes of my day was happily and devastatingly dedicated to Red (Taylor’s Version)

This album was Taylor’s second peak and first magnum opus. Since its release it has been one of the top contenders of the ‘Taylor’s Best Album’ title, and to still be that highly regarded even six (almost seven) albums later just proves how amazing this work of art is. This album is where Taylor truly started crossing genres while never compromising her artistic vision or watering down her songwriting and it took almost a decade, but Red finally got a very much deserved Grammy. Although All Too Well (10 Minute Version) losing SOTY will forever be my personal villain origin story, it’s clear that nothing can tarnish the legacy of this album. And fuck sonic cohesiveness.

My top 3 from the album are:

All Too Well (10 Minute Version)

The Lucky One

Come Back…Be Here

Honorable Mention: Red

Most Underrated Song: Starlight

Favorite Vault Song: I Bet You Think About Me

[twistedtummies2]

The Price May Be Right - Number 3

Welcome to “The Price May Be Right!” I’ve been counting down My Top 31 Favorite Vincent Price Performances & Appearances! The countdown will cover movies, TV productions, and many more forms of media. We’ve entered the Top 3 of this countdown! Today we focus on Number 3: ZigZag, from The Thief and the Cobbler.

This movie has a history like you wouldn’t believe. I could jabber on for AGES about this “lost epic” of animation, but I’m going to try and keep the context as succinct as possible. “The Thief and the Cobbler” – which underwent NUMEROUS title changes throughout its extensive creation – was the intended Magnum Opus of master animator Richard Williams, the man most well-known today for being head of animation on “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” Williams wanted to create a comedic, surreal film – inspired by the legends of the Arabian Nights – that would be the absolute pinnacle of animation at the time. Production started as early as 1964…but no complete version of the film was released until the early 1990s, with the last one being in 1993 (released a month after Price’s death, technically and posthumously making this his final film role). So, what happened between 1964 and 1993? Well, the short version of it can be summed up like this: Williams kept changing his mind on the project’s story, and the funding for the film kept changing from backer to backer. Animators came and went as the characters and plot shifted with the decades. Finally, Williams finalized the story and got support from Warner Bros., who delivered a simple ultimatum: Williams had to finish the project on time and on budget, or they would remove him from his own film and get someone else to finish it. Wouldn’t you know it, that’s exactly what ended up happening: unable to meet the deadline, Williams was fired from his own movie, and producer Fred Calvert turned to the Completion Bond Company to get the movie made. Two completely different “finished” versions of the film were released; neither was received very well by critics, and both failed at the box office. Williams would forever consider the fate of his intended masterpiece the greatest embarrassment of his entire career. There are now no less than four versions of the movie available for viewing. There are the two versions released by Calvert and the CBP, the original unfinished workprint by Williams…and a fan-made project called “The Recobbled Cut,” which attempts to give the film the closest thing to its intended release possible by blending elements of all three together. The Recobbled Cut, itself, has gone through several editions over the years, and is still a work in progress, much like the movie it aspires to breathe pure life into. The film has become something of a legend in animation circles, for a LOT of reasons…but we’re not here to discuss the movie in totality. I’ve rambled about its history long enough; we’re here to talk about Vincent Price. So where does he come into the picture? Well, back when the movie was first getting started in 1964, Price was in his heyday. As it turned out, Williams was a big fan of Price’s work, and he contacted Price to see if he’d be interested. Vincent thought the movie sounded like an interesting endeavor, so he agreed, and his antagonist – first named “Anwar,” then later renamed “ZigZag” - ended up being the first character in the film cast. As the years went on, and the film’s plans changed, Price – who remained devoted to the project – would return periodically to re-record new lines. Apparently, it became one of his favorite projects, and Richard Williams and his team all agreed that ZigZag was their favorite character to animate. What’s interesting is that, with the different versions of the film later released, every character in the movie was recast over the years, with multiple performers playing the roles in different releases. For example, one of the two titular protagonists – Tack the Cobbler – was played by an unknown actor (doing an impression of Sean Connery) in the workprint, Sean Lively in one of the two Calvert cuts, and Matthew Broderick in the 1993 release. The one exception to this rule was Vincent as ZigZag: every version of the movie very wisely kept Vincent’s voice for the character, and it’s a good thing they did. Because while every version of the film has its pros and cons, ZigZag is consistently the best character in every version. The villain is not an especially complex character; he’s essentially Proto-Jafar (very literally, since some of the people who worked on Aladdin also worked on the Thief at earlier points in their career). Like Jafar, ZigZag is an evil magician and corrupt vizier, who seeks to marry the resident princess and take the throne. But it’s Price’s voice that makes the character so great to listen to, and the animation is always glorious to behold in action. One of the odd things about ZigZag is that nearly every single one of his lines are spoken in rhyme. There doesn’t seem to be any REASON for this, but I’m not complaining: I could listen to Vincent Price speaking in rhyme all day and be quite happy. No matter what version you watch of this movie, Price delivers every single time. Tomorrow, I present my penultimate pick, with my 2nd Favorite Vincent Price Performance!

[thegentlesurvive]

I’m so sleep deprived, so this is truly a junk drawer post, but I’m not done talking about Taylor Swift and literary alchemy!!

Like can we just talk about the fact that the proper name for the alchemical process is magnum opus and how that term is commonly used to refer to an artist’s masterpiece that is most representative of them and their journey or the most important to them?

Is it possible that we’ll find that the title “The Alchemy” could be substituted by “The Great Work” or “The Magnum Opus”? That provides so much fuel for predictions about the song.

“Daylight” has been discussed as being connected to “The Alchemist” because of the mention of gold and to “Red” because of mention of red, but can we talk about how it specifically references ALL the colors of the three stages of alchemy in order (I once believed love would be black and white […] I once believed love would be burning red, but it’s golden”)?

And can we talk about the album colors and how they tie in to alchemy? If Reputation was the black stage, next comes white, right? But Lover isn’t white, even though that seems like the vibe it was going for—perhaps white was the stage Taylor wanted or believed it to be in her life and/or music career, but as the Apple Music “I Love You, It’s Ruining My Life” playlist tell us, Lover was mostly denial—nor is Midnights, which harkens back to the darkness. TTPD is the white stage—the purification and refinement (i.e., removing what doesn’t belong…just sayin).

What comes next, then? Either one (red, most likely) or two (yellow and red) final stages. Philosophically, the yellowing, cintrinitas represents an awakening, and the reddening/rubedo “stage entails the attempt of the alchemist to integrate the psychospiritual outcomes of the process into a coherent sense of self before its re-entry to the world” (Wikipedia). If it’s two, well, bring on the two ✌️ theories!

I think there probably are multiple correct answers here for how what’s to come next relates to alchemy, because it’s like that, and very layered (I mean, literary alchemy started as satire of alchemy before it became serious themes and tropes and story structures and the names of mentors in Harry Potter).

What speaks to me the most in regards to twos and alchemy is that she has two re-recorded albums to release to complete the Taylor’s Version project. Is Taylor’s Version her magnum opus, her hero’s journey?

If there’s just the one final alchemical stage to follow TTPD, will that yellow/red phase be the next new album and our mystery orange door? Whether or not the Karma theories have a factual basis, we know Taylor takes inspiration from fan theories, as most recently evidenced by the grief playlists. Could the concept of Karma—the orange (yellow+red) album that was waylaid by the blackening (Reputation) and burned down in the subsequent attempted whitening (Lover) which left us back at the dark stage (Midnights [leaving folkmore out because they’re not overall autobiographical and weren’t planned, so there wasn’t an intention to move/transform into the next stage, if that makes sense?])—be used by Taylor to represent that the end of this alchemical process is getting back on track for what she had planned before the Taylor Swift Is Over Party and/or Joe? Or, if that potential album indeed burned down completely with the rest of the Lover house, will whatever her next album after TTPD be rising in some way from those ashes?

Okay I’m officially deliriously tired now to where I can’t read what I’m writing as I write it, so I’m going to pause here tonight before my theories totally lose the plot, but please continue and add your thoughts/ideas!!