#hey man can the characters just be funny without getting me involved

[broareweabouttoviberightnow]

writing dialog for a funny character n suddenly realizing that means YOU have to be funny

[louisferrignojr]

caught in the way you got me [ao3]

relationships: Tommy Kinard/Original Male Character/Original Female Character (M/M/F)

rating: E

words: 2465

Thinking back, he realises he had never actually been attracted to women; not even the gorgeous women who would approach him in bars, who buttered him up and made him laugh when he’d be feeling lonely and horny enough to go home with them, a mutual understanding that they were both only in it for a one night stand. And it wasn’t bad, it was never bad, but he never felt that thrill like he did with men - something he didn’t even realise was missing until well into adulthood.

Six months into living in LA he still feels like a foreigner, and he thinks the locals can tell; one of the most common questions he gets asked is where are you from? and he’s always hated it, always scrambling for an answer. It’s no surprise that’s what Amalia asks, too, shortly after introducing herself and asking Tommy for his name, buying him a drink and inviting him to a game of pool − and Tommy’s supposed to be watching the game on one of the screens in the corner of the bar, but it’s been boring without the friend who bailed on him last minute, and he accepts her invitation without thinking twice about it.

“Where am I from?” Tommy’s eyebrows knit together, a slight tilt to his head. “Uh, planet Earth, and yourself?”

Amalia laughs, throwing her head back. It was a deflection more than a joke, and not a very funny one at that, but she seems to find it hilarious. He can’t lie − it strokes his ego just a little bit.

“I can’t place you from your accent,” she says. “I’m usually pretty good at it, actually, but you’re kind of a mystery.”

Her eyes travel all the way down his body and back up, locking onto his gaze, and Tommy feels a blush coming on. He looks down at the pool table, and it takes him a moment to remember it’s his turn to play. It takes him much longer to figure out she’s letting him win, or maybe she’s playing terribly because she’s more focused on flirting with Tommy and laughing at the lame jokes he keeps making without even trying to be funny, and when she comes around the table and touches his arm for the third time, Tommy tries to shuffle away discreetly, trying to think of a way to let her down gently.

She must sense his discomfort. He’s always been bad at hiding it. But she smiles at him and in a much gentler tone says, “Hey,” and when Tommy turns to meet her eye she adds, “I’m here with my boyfriend, actually,” and points towards the bar.

Tommy spots him right away. David is looking at them, and when he sees them, he lifts his drink in greeting and winks at Amalia − or at Tommy − or both of them − seemingly unbothered that his girlfriend’s been practically throwing herself at another man.

Tommy’s at a loss for words − talk about fucking awkward. She’s definitely been hitting on him, and Tommy’s definitely not interested in getting involved in whatever weird open relationship thing the pair have got going on any more than he’s interested in pursuing any kind of relationship with a woman.

“That’s nice,” Tommy says, because what else is he supposed to say? “I, uh…”

And then she asks, “You wanna meet him? He’s really nice. C’mon,” and she loops her arm around Tommy’s and leads him to the bar before Tommy can even protest.

David greets him with a gorgeous smile, deep blue eyes fixed on Tommy’s, and says, “Hey, handsome,” in a rich, velvety voice.

Tommy’s brain short-circuits for a moment. He watches as Amalia slides up to him and he puts an arm around her shoulders, and they’re both looking at him kind of expectantly and he catches on only with seconds to spare before she asks, “You wanna come home with us?”

And it’s really hard to say no to that, because she might not be doing anything for him, physically at least, but he definitely, definitely is. He’s wearing a plain white t-shirt that shows off his arms, and his shoulder-length brown hair is tied back into a half-ponytail, a few days’ old scruff on his jawline. And he’s standing in front of Tommy, looking at him like he wants to devour him whole − and it’s really, really hard to say no to that.

[continue reading on ao3]

[chimerapartyhouse]

Some Logan fans should prob stay far away from me cause of my interpretation of the character. I take what's shown quite literally.

I love this slightly socially awkward man who prefers to stick with talking about his one l hobby. (Even Mi-an has expanded more than him.)

He's such an action first, ask questions later guy that it feels like a miracle he's alive or hasn't caused more damage than he did. Haru earned that tuition from watching over dumbass here.

He can't cook for shit so if you romance him and can't cook, you two are setting the kitchen on fire one day. [Burning the food at Haru's goodbye and failing to remake his Pa's monster gut stew.]

He's such a giant dog when you romance him, he's trying his hardest to understand things and do better. I want to pet him and hear him make embarrassed noises over it.

The horns on his hat are to make him more intimidating. More intimidating to who? It plus that chair in the hideout gives me such theater show vibes. I'd clap for the funny yakboy if I hadn't spend the last 15 minutes having bombs blow up in my face constantly.

Honestly, all of his compliment personality responces are hilarious. And he is completely adorable in general. That whole tough guy thing is such a cover up for this soft man who just happens to really like violence. Good for him.

He's a stinky boi.

He's transgender to me. [When I saw his reverse confession I was dying at the sight of him shirtless cause his chest looks bigger to me than without a shirt so I went "he's binding!" and never let go of the joke. He just also happens to fit my ususal trans MO too.]

[Me barrelling straight into the real thing I want to ramble about like the crazy man I am. Be warned.]

With that said, I want to write a crack-esc fic of Pen/Ruber(Builder)/Logan once I've finished my long series cause I have so many stupid ideas for one.

A "5 times + 1" kind (never written one, sounds fun) of Logan accidentally interrupting Pen and Ruber's dates. He can't really tell, considering the activities aren't date to 'normal people'.

Like beating the shit out of monsters for fun. Logan prob assumes they're getting materials for the workshop and, being a slightly attached bestie to the builder, wants to help out too. Or the two sparring away from town for privacy but Logan unfortunately finds them.

He gives such 'I'm the one who stops you two from killing each other despite also wanting to kill you' vibes if he caves into their affections. I love it.

Pen: “If he’s going to keep barging in on our date nights and you let him, can you at least invite him to one so it feels purposeful.”

Logan: “Wait, so you two were on dates when I got in the way? Why didn't you say anythin’?” Pen: “I wanted to, but Pretty Boy didn't let me.” Ruber: “'Thought it was funny.”

Ruber: “Hey Logan, we're gonna have some fun starting with sand painting, wanna join?” Logan: “Isn't that a date thing?” Ruber: “Yep, you coming or nah?” A confused and slightly flustered Logan stands there without an answer until Pen gets quickly bored and throws him over his shoulder. “You didn't say no. Get on the trolley.”

Let my man Ruber-Roseus be happy in one timeline, he deserves it for the shit I put him through. That and I just really like their vibes. It's unhealthy for everyone involved and they know it, but shrug and go along with it anyway. 'Three types of idiot try to function'.

[librathefangirl]

9, 10 and 17 for your fic wrapped pls 🥺❤️

My pleasure! Here you go 💜

9. Favorite pairing you wrote for this year?

Okay, so romantically speaking, this year I've only posted fics for Melizabeth in different constellations - Elizabeth/Meliodas, Goddess Elizabeth/Meliodas, Elizabeth Liones/Meliodas, and Liz/Meliodas. Out of those four, Goddess Elizabeth/Meliodas was the most fun to write. I just really enjoy exploring that era and that pairing to be honest. I mean, enemies-to-lovers in a holy war whose love story was so revolutionary that the gods decided to kill their own heirs?

Liz/Meliodas takes second place because Liz and the Danafor era deserves some more love - but I've only written one fic with Liz and it wasn't that much focus on her/her relationship with Mel in that one.

But if we're talking pairing as in two people with any kind of relationship (romantic, platonic, whatever) then it's hands down Meliodas & Zeldris. I mean, it's the demon bros, do I need to say more? I am, personally, a huge sucker for siblingship of any kind in media. (Maybe because I have a lot of siblings myself? Maybe because my aroace self feel a bigger connection to those relationships even tho I really enjoy romantic ones too). Plus, there is so much fun dynamics to explore with these two; Mel and Zel's childhood, the betrayal, reconciling after everything, or other stuff completely (<- I'm actually low-key working on an au where Mel and Zel are goddesses and Ellie is a demon and it's been really interesting to figure out the brothers' dynamic without the canon betrayal, also they're twins in that one fyi).

10. What work was the quickest to write?

Ooh now that's an interesting question. Let's see... The fastest ones were probably all written in February to be honest, because that was my most productive writing month (I was also doing Febuwhump which added pressure and motivation to complete the fics quick lol).

There All Along was probably the one I finished the quickest. It was written in February, within a day, and also one of my shortest fics.

My Love, It Burns was probably the quickest longer/multichapter fic I wrote this year. It was written during the end of February, also within a day I think, and, well, inspiration just struck. I had a clear idea of what I wanted to write, and was excited to try writing two different endings to the same fic. (Plus I wanted to write the endings close together so they matched up well).

But also telling how quick a fic is to write is hard lol usually I write down the idea and maybe even make the document but then don't actually work on it until days/weeks/months later...

17. Your favorite character to write this year?

This is actually a difficult question. Because while I do love writing about Meliodas (he's my blorbo, my baby - the only fic out out 25 that he wasn't tagged as a character still had him featured in the background and as a "topic"). But I also feel like I tend to write other characters' pov more than his (possibly because he's mostly the one getting whumped lol). So Meliodas is a character I like to write stories of, but if were talking point of view and all, I liked writing Merlin and what's-his-face... Gavin!

Merlin is actually a character I find hard to write (but hey it can be a fun challenge) but also fun to write. I especially love how she can be like a bridge of knowledge between what the other characters know of Meliodas/demons and the truth (that she knows). Writing from Merlin's pov also allows me to really tap into the age and history of Meliodas and her :)

Gavin (my oc from One Man's Beast, aka the Monster Sins AU) was fun to write because to be honest outsider's pov is really funny when the Seven Deadly Sins are involved (the chaos! lol). Also it allowed me to explore the AU in a better way. (<- speaking of, I'm playing around a bit with the outsider's pov in my next Monster Sins AU fic too, because a part of that one is from Dreyfus and/or Hendy's pov)

Anyway! ao3 wrapped (ask game) <- if anyone wanna send me more questions :)

[sharpth1ng]

I don't know if you remember but I'm the trans guy who asked if there'll be a cis version for the sequel cause he couldn't read the trans version due to some heavy body dysmorphia going on.

Soooo update I finally am able to read the trans version... You probably don't remember but the way you responded helped me a lot to come to terms with the way my body looks right now and that I can still be a man, even like this.

(Tbh for the longest time I thought I was a transphobic woman bc trans characters who hadn't transitioned gave me panic attacks and it's kinda funny in retrospect lol I was just dumb)

And I dunno I just needed you to know that you wrote that beautifully and I'm so relived and happy to be kinda content right now. I haven't felt this good about me... Ever?

And I just read the christmas scene and Stu saw Billy naked for the first time and... And he just wants and loves Billy exactly the way he is and that was so... Healing. (honestly am totally in love with your Stu anyway but this really sealed the deal).

Long story short I have been crying for 30 minutes now. Honestly tears of joy and relief. Thank you!

(I hope you don't mind me telling you this)

Hey dude I definitely remember you! Your ask was important to me, honestly, transmascs like you are some of the people this fic is for. To be clear its for everyone, but the whole reason I wrote two versions was because of my own fluctuating relationship with dysphoria. I understand why you weren't feeling ok to read the trans version, and I'm glad it ended up being a healing experience for you, you have no idea how much it means to me to hear that.

And just as a side note I don't think it dumb you were afraid you were just a transphobic woman. I think it's really easy to internalize transphobia especially when you're still processing your identity. Transphobia is everywhere and it's unquestioned, and in a lot of cases it's more accessible than trans rhetoric that's positive and affirming. I would argue that transphobia has a major presence in a lot of trans communities too honestly, that's what trans-medicalism is.

The reality is our bodies aren't worse than cis bodies, they aren't less attractive. They're just different, but the world acts like it's a fucking tragedy to have to cut your tits off and take hormones, and that's bullshit. I'm a much more attractive trans dude than I was a cis woman. Do I still have a complicated relationship with parts of my body? Yes. Do I still have dysphoria? Yes. But so do cis people.

I wrote the trans version specifically because I wasn't seeing a lot of transmasc representation (in fic or other media) that felt true and affirming to me- not that the other stuff can't be affirming to other transmascs, just I wasn't finding stuff that felt like a positive version of my own experience.

I think theres a tendency to focus on body, dysphoria, and insecurity in trans fiction in a way that isn't untrue, but also which doesn't give me the ability to engage in fun smut the same way I feel cis people get to. Cis people can be insecure about their bodies in lots of ways, I'd argue cis people also experience gender dysphoria (think cis women with small chests, cis men who have breasts or smaller penises, ect.), but it's not nearly as common for sexual depictions of them in fiction to focus on those insecurities, and on navigating the way other people react to their bodies ahead of the actual smut.

The other place I see this happening is with sexual depictions of fat people and disabled people. Our bodies and minds are positioned as barriers in sexual situations, and while realistically we may have things to navigate that cis, thin or able bodied people don't, that doesn't mean those barriers need to be centered in erotica that involves us. Cis, thin, able bodied people have insecurities and sexual hang-ups too, so why do they get to be written as having fun, positive sex without centering those things when we don't? To me it positions transness, fatness, and disability as inherently being a barrier to positive sexuality and I just think that's unrealistic.

I'm rambling but all that is to say, this has been healing to me too. We deserve depictions of ourselves that acknowledge the differences and barriers we do have (like, Billy is still scared about coming out, it's hard for him to do, thats a barrier) without making them the whole experience.

I'm really glad you're feeling better about things, and i'm really, really fucking touched that my writing could be a part of that 🖤

[fraudulent-cheese]

MY THOUGHTS ABOUT EPISODES 5 AND 6 OF SEASON 2 OF TD2023!!!

MAJOR SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT!

I'll get the ships out of the way - WE DIDNT GET RAJBOW DIVORCE!!!! REJOICE!!! Their conflict wasn't solved well, but at least it's solved man! Rajbow is still alive!

Ripaxel is actually really growing on me? The shipping hasn't overridden their personalities which was a MAJOR concern for me. Glad to see Axel still kicking ass and Ripper being actually funny! ALSO THEY BROKE THE COUPLE'S CURSE! Neither of them have even been at risk of being eliminated which is kind of insane because usually the couples in TD have one partner (or both in gidgette's case) be eliminated right after they're established but THEY DIDNT! YIPPEE!

Priyaleb on the other hand... Yeah i don't care for them, sorry! they are the obligatory straights of the season for me, i REALLY don't care now that Caleb might be returning those feelings (i can STILL hold on to my grey-romantic Caleb headcanons >:D ) and i prefered when they weren't returned! Zee's involvement was funny tho, and Priya's pretty enjoyable in episode 5! They're cute but i DONT CARE.

MKULIA IS STILL IN THE GAME! Love how the only thing that bothered Chris was that MK stole his hair dryer XD that is very in character!!! They were fun in episode 5 and hey! They're still doing the alliance bit since they got a duo confessional in episode 6 so im excited to see where they go next!!!

Damien was fun in episode 6. just got nothing to add i don't really care for this man

i LOVE ZEE AAAAAA HE IS SUCH A SILLY LITTLE NOODLE OF A MAN lowkey might be one of my favs now (in canon) they figured out how to make imaginative jokes that have to do with the soda bit! He is such a vibe man

MK's been great too, i like how the cheating had consequences without those consequences being getting kicked off the game!

i'll mention the challenges before going over the eliminations, the iceberg challenge was pretty nice imo, i think Ripper getting involved with the MKulia cheating is fun and him ripping his shirt off is funny tbh. The snowball fight was really fun too!

The obstacle course is fine, the wall with the boots reminded me of Wipeout (which, fun fact, is called Total Wipeout in french) so that was pretty neat

The kayak challenge had a neat twist, loved Axel just punching Ripper off the boat and the confessional right after was pretty funny. Axel and her stupid ass boyfriend, it's great

OK ELIMINATION TIME!!! CANT SAY I DIDNT CALL THEM BUT I TOTALLY DID!!!!

I did say Nichelle might get eliminated since the writters have done nothing with her, but i... don't like what they did at all. The movie deals should've been real and Julia just snuck them on her bed since they were sent to production and they didn't give them to her yet. it just. sucks that all but one elimination while the teams were active were girls, especially Emma's and Nichelle's. Scary Girl is 100% coming back later tho so we'll see!

ALSO. DID I PREDICT EXACTLY HOW BOWIE'D GET ELIMINATED OR DIDNT I? Ok it wasn't exact but i was right on the money in saying Julia would get him eliminated by telling the others about him supporting the cheating. especially since she did it to save MK, im considering that an MKulia win. For once im actually satisfied with an elimination this season! dang!

My predictions are kinda the same - Scary Girl coming back, MKulia being real, Priya being eliminated soon - but i'll add my specific thoughts on who i think will be next in terms of eliminations next monday i think.

DAMN, this post is LONG wow

[northwest-cryptid]

Local amnesiac clockman in dystopian city gets hired/abducted by the 12 complete messes based on literature, the lamest badass in the setting and his funny amnesiac daughter. Gets told to give therapy to said messes by looking for branches in ruined scp facilities while occasionally incurring on the wrath of capitalism and the little prince for some reason.

Said total messes are:

Straight up the korean poet Yi Sang because his most known poem had a character named "I"

Autism filled woman who is technically the actual boss of everyone

Woman don quixote

Fucked up japanese artist except her art is violence

Autistic french man with gap moe

Sheltered chinese man with the most fucked up family ever

A brit with a bat named revenge

Fish bisexual obsessed with murdering a metaphorical whale

Mommy Russian with only food and no hindsight in her head

Closeted young man with a fuckload of trauma involving ableist cultists

Straight up fucking Odysseus but in woman

And our ptsd riddled cockroach: Greg

See on one hand I genuinely appreciate the attempt here.

On the other hand this is extremely fandomized and I can't really learn anything from it as a result, especially considering that this covered stuff I already sorta know from just having played through the first major part of the game before having issues with it but more specifically from the fact that it's on the website for the game.

I need to reiterate my first bit here, I genuinely appreciate the attempt and I do not seek to belittle or insult the sender or anyone in question for attempting to enlighten me on the game but hear me out if you will...

All the information provided can be obtained from the website for the game or the first 10 minutes of the game; however it is only partially factual.

I am interested in Limbus Company, the game; not "Limbus Company The Abridged Version As Seen by the Fandom." When people go on and on about character analysis and plot depth and why it's so cool and interesting and deep and fun I want to jump in and engage with them on the narrative and such, but I can't because I'm not: A. Financially well off to Gacha for shit. B. Good enough at the game to get very far. And as a website that talks a lot about accessibility in games I feel like if anyone is going to shoot me down with a "git gud" it'd be kinda dumb, like sir/ma'am/individual of non-specific gender identity; you are on the "games should let you experience the story even if you're bad" website, please sit down.

I was honestly kind of hopeful that I would get some serious answers; and while some people have given me more serious answers than others; a lot of what I get is either specifically the start of the game which ignores/overlooks/doesn't mention the folks Dante is having an encounter with at the start, the fact they can use their clock head powers to turn back time and revive the sinners; or even the fact that they have no idea why any of it can happen. Like no one has even mentioned the whole star thing? I think it was a star? Something like that, anyways that thing was pretty cool and no one talks about it.

What I do often hear is how cooky and ku-ray-zee the main cast of silly little guys is; which I feel massively takes away from who they actually are.

"And our ptsd riddled cockroach: Greg" Alright since I've actually played through the first bit of the game so I know just enough about Gregor's story, why do we summarize a man who literally was a child experiment; who was betrayed by the only parental figure he knew; who was made to kill and murder without understanding of it literally like drugged or some shit to think he was just cutting apples; and who's body literally mutates into a cockroach down to just "lol he's a silly little guy with ptsd" ptsd from what exactly? Oh you mean the fucking Smoke Wars? One of the if not the biggest event in the PM Universe?

Like okay I understand I said "hey maybe don't send me entire documentary style paragraphs of text because my ADHD brain will not let me read them" and that's true, but I also really don't vibe with this whole concept of "this person doesn't know the characters at all so I'm going to call one bisexual, I'm going to call one a mommy, I'm going to call one a ptsd riddled cockroach named greg lol" Like I don't know how much of this is fandom and how much of this is real anymore. I know that some characters in PM's universe ARE LGBT so the idea of one of the Sinners maybe being Bisexual isn't too far fetched, but is that completely fandom interpretation or is it real? I sure as hell don't know when characters like Gregor who have deeper meaningful stories that tie into the world as a whole are boiled down to a one line joke about, I guess his name being Greg?

Like again I have nothing against the person who sent this or anything, I'm sure you meant well and I'm glad you're excited enough about the game that you reached out to me; that's all great and such, but I can't help but need to point out that you're talking to someone who knows almost nothing, but not nothing; about this game

and you're choosing to represent it in such a way that might be factual or might be fandomized and I can't tell the difference when the things I know are fandomized are present or when it mostly consists of jokes.

"Local amnesiac clockman in dystopian city gets hired/abducted by the 12 complete messes based on literature, the lamest badass in the setting and his funny amnesiac daughter."

Kind of not really. Like I'm not even going to get into the fact that technically speaking Dante is a Clock Person not necessarily confirmed Clock Man. I AM however going to get into the fact that they come to Dante's rescue(?) during what is essentially an execution; Dante is going to die and these 12 sinners jump in to fight for them for seemingly some reason we don't get to know yet. Hired is a much better word than abducted in this sense. Don't even get me started on "the lamest badass" because like, that entirely ignores the fact you're talking about who I can only assume is Vergilius AKA The Red Gaze, which is sorta huge considering what we've seen of Color Fixers, and you know; the entirety of the Comic/Light Novel Leviathan released prior to the game. What would a color fixer be doing with the sinners? What is his connection with Dante? Even having read Leviathan these sorts of questions are interesting and they create interest as someone who wants to question and explore the setting and it's themes.

AND I'M SORRY BUT "HIS DAUGHTER"??? Has that been confirmed because I highly doubt that unless there's some dialogue somewhere in the game that shows he adopted her or something, I mean yea he clearly cares about the orphans, but like I don't recall him ever adopting her and if he did I can't tell if you're telling me a fact or a fandom here because of everything else you've stated.

Are you beginning to see the problem here?

I literally have to wave off everything you just told me as no more than "lol silly jokes man lol" and I don't mean to be some asshole about it either but this isn't really going to help anyone get into a game or a story or anything because I don't really KNOW anything about it.

Again I'm not mad, I'm not trying to be rude; I've got nothing against Alex or anything! I appreciate someone taking the time out of their day to send me this but it ultimately doesn't tell me anything I'm just as much in the dark as I was.

This is specifically why it's so hard for me to interact with a lot of larger communities, a lot of the information I want is factual, from the source material; but I'm perhaps not skilled enough at the games to obtain it myself, so I turn to the community for information since people tend to enjoy talking about the things they like, and instead of getting actual information I get in-jokes I don't yet have context for, and fandomization that isn't actually true to the source material.

I understand I may come off a little harsh here, so for that I do apologize if I've come across rude. That being said, please do try to refrain from sending people who know next to nothing about your interests, a ton of fandomized in-jokes they won't understand, it feeds into the misinformation loop. Can you imagine if I went around telling everyone that Charon was Vergil's daughter when in reality he treats her as "something of a daughter" according to the publicly editable and horrible "fandom wiki" which is the only place that I could find information about it.

This isn't the same thing as say a biological daughter, or even an adoptive one. Which could be an interesting plot dynamic. I mean do you guys remember what happened last time a Color Fixer had a kid? Or rather I should say, last time a Color Fixer WAS GOING to have a kid? That was kind of a big deal. It's not really a shocker to learn that the guy who really likes orphans would be nice to the child.

anyways sorry for the lengthy explanation of "this isn't really what I'm looking for" but I've literally spoke on this whole "fandomization of characters bothers me a lot" topic before several times for literally this exact reason.

[ryttu3k]

BG3 update, exploring Reithwin, a new team member, to about midway through Moonrise Towers!

Little snippety bits, team banter, etc that I've smushed into one image because I have a limit here:

*eyeing that 'unknown elf' listing* Also I love how Astarion is genuinely bullshitting in the blood-taste bit because we know he hasn't been drinking thinking-peoples blood aside from enemies and, once, Tae.

Anyway. To Reithwin! Delightfully spooky, honestly, the atmosphere here is fun. Managed to talk three enemies to death - the tollkeeper (who reminds me of corrupted No Face in Spirited Away?), the absolute creep in the House of Healing, and, after the world's grosses drinking game, the bartender. More on the latter two later!

At the cemetery, we meet Arabella! Who has... picked up some new skills.

Of course she can stay at camp while we look for her parents!

Into the bar for the world's worst drinking game. Plus side, got a boatload of approval from Astarion, Shadowheart, and Lae'zel from it! And some... really nasty mental images!

"Really? Right in front of my drink?"

Stopping to camp for the night. Getting some much more genuine Astarion when asking if Cazador has other spawn. Larian let me hug him as a friend.

Karlach brings up the whole... Gale thing. Which I still feel bad about tbh.

On a more depressing note, telling Arabella about her parents hurts ;_; Apparently not everyone gets the scene that follows, so I'll include a Youtube link to it here! Man, given Withers'... everything, I have to wonder just what that destiny will involve!

Honestly, though, I goddamn adore him as a character. Even if he does warn Tae not to get distracted by Karlach XD;;

Not the only intriguing camp companion we have, apparently!

Speaking of companions, visiting the House of Healing and retrieving Art's lute allows us to progress with starting to end the shadow curse, and properly recruiting Halsin!

I really like when you can let companions speak for themselves, you get so much more lore, like letting Lae'zel speak at the creche.

Once Thaniel is restored, Halsin officially becomes a member of the Brainworm Squad, albeit minus a brainworm! The companions have assorted things to say about him (including Wyll calling him a 'thick hunk of an elf'), and Tae gets to know him better. He likes honey and knows it's funny! He likes whittling! He likes whittling ducks!

"I like ducks :)"

(Tae has officially decided he's their new grandpa now. The other companions have... less familial views, apparently!)

Back to the mission! Heading to the Thorm mausoleum, and oh dear, look what the cat dragged in...

After getting some good advice to skip the mausoleum until prompted to go there later, we turn back, and this time, make for Moonrise Towers itself! (Minus Halsin, with the narrator very helpfully reminding me that, hey, may not want to bring someone without a brainworm there.) Discover some... concerning cargo:

Yeah, we, uh, took the canister and now it's just. Sitting in the traveller's chest. What do we do with it?

Into Moonrise Towers, witnessing a group of goblins attempt to kill Ketheric and. Completely fail. That's concerning!! Tae is instructed to deal with the remaining goblins and opts to let them go, because who knows? Maybe they'll return the favour one day. Karlach hears from an old 'friend', Florenta the Garrotter, a cambion from her Avernus days, and gets given some soul coins (albeit with a story attached to each).

Lots and lots of concerning bits of evidence, all pocketed. Stuff on recruiting drow, shadow druids, goblins, et cetera, invasion plans for Baldur's Gate, and - what have we here? Collaboration between Ketheric Thorm and Gortash!

We meet Araj. We meet Tae's extreme urge to punch her in the face. We meet Astarion's genuine surprise and gratitude at someone giving him a choice on what he does with his body for possibly the first time in two hundred years I'm gonna fuckin' cry. Larian let me hug him as a friend, part two.

We meet Steelclaw. Steelclaw I would die for you. ...Can we recruit her for the final battle?

That done, time for a prison break!

I don't like him much. Barcus sweetie you can do so much better. The tieflings are much happier to see us! (Lia: "Oh, you clever bastard. I could kiss you!" Cal: "Not in front of me, please. I've suffered enough.")

After the successful prison break, it's time for a rest. Is it weird to find, like, a 'realistic' place for them to rest? I used that office/tower in the middle of the prison, in the upstairs bit, where anyone awake could watch out for anyone approaching. Anyway, Gale has set up a hologram kind of... thing to invite Tae somewhere, finding him in a Weave illusion and in a... very melancholy mood.

Understandably.

Was definitely concerned this would lead more romantic. Thankfully, the game allows it to be played completely platonically, which is good as! Gale is a friend! A friend who's hurting and terrified and needs support and anyway Gale haters can fight me.

Genuinely beautiful scene, and I absolutely got misty-eyed.

Fight me, Gale haters.

Back to Moonrise. We do some more exploring, finding the third part of the tale of Orpheus. Lae'zel is... not impressed in the slightest. We also meet Ketheric's dog :( And private chambers. And stuff relating to his dead wife, and their daughter, who I have definite suspicions about. (It's Isobel, right? Isobel is Ketheric's daughter, right? Don't tell me either way, but that definitely seems to be the vibe I'm getting.)

We meet with Disciple Z'rell, and get a new mission - go to the Thorm mausoleum, and retrieve the artefact for Thorm. Now we can go! Also, at the least, she seems to trust us?

Back to the Last Light for some happy reunions! Alfira is ecstatic to have Lakrissa back (who proceeds to flirt with Tae, Lakrissa please their girlfriend is standing right there), Barcus is so excited to see Wulbren again... who doesn't appear to feel the same way.

Do you think Barcus would mind overmuch if Tae stuffed Wulbren in their pack and threw him back in a cell? Just saying.

Then back to camp for a rest, and a conversation with Astarion that punches me in the emotions!!

Full scene (including the initial confrontation with Araj) available here. The options I picked were, "Why has she upset you so much?", "Have you even enjoyed having sex, in these last decades?", and "You aren't a slave any more, Astarion, you're free."

Anyway that scene emotionally kicked my ass and I still couldn't even hug him. Larian let me hug him as a friend, part three!

[spinningbuster98]

Mega Man X7 Part 1

So I know that technically speaking Zero 1 should be next since it came out the year after X6 but y’know what? There’s only 2 X games left, might as well do them sooner rather than later. Besides the Zero series has a much more connected story throughout its games so it’s more fitting to do them all in sequential order without interruptions.

It’s just too bad that we now have to deal with quite possibly one of the worst games ever made

X7′s issues are much more...explicit than X6′s. You can spot them just by looking at it.

Probably the first thing you’ll notice is just how ugly it looks. This is a 2003 PS2 game, this thing came out at the same time as Sonic Heroes and yet it looks like a Dreamcast game, if the character models were completely and utterly inexpressive, the characters animated like actual puppets (and barely at that) and the environments looked as bland and uninspired and murky as fuck. The opening stage is a recreation of X1′s (because X7 came out to celebrate the X series’ 10th anniversary, now where have I seen a similar situation before?), and it just serves to further drive home the point of how despicably low we’ve fallen

So this game wants to be 3D. Well 3D and 2D as well, with different sections in each level. Barring Legends, which was 3D but kinda cheated by having a different gameplay style altogether, this is technically the first....and only time a traditional Mega Man game has ever been translated into 3D.

You may already spot the main issues, like the camera being stuck in this pseudo bird’s eye view half the time while also being stuck to your ass, making it damn awkward to see where you’re going during 3D sections, especially when platforming is involved.

Another big issue that you wouldn’t notice unless you were playing this is the controls: the characters feel sluggish, slow, they have little sense of fluidity, 3D sections, with their extra spacious design, pretty much require you to dash jump all over the place if you intend of moving at a pace that’s greater than that of entropy and wall jumping feels awkward as hell with the characters jumping way too far away from the wall and the camera moving alongside them even in the 2D sections

The game has an auto lock on, because the devs must have figured that it would be needed in a 3D space and it is, but this also means that Mega Man’s trademark gameplay style of taking aim and firing is neutered since now you can just spam a button indisciminately and stuff will die. They won’t die immediately  because enemies like to be tanky and you can get knocked on your ass by stuff like explosions, which does WONDERS for this game’s pacing but hey.

Word of advice: go to the options and turn on rapid fire. Trust me you’ll see later why you’d wanna do this

Anothe thing you may have noticed is the voice acting

MM8 and X4 are infamous for their voice acting but y’know what? They were somewhat charming in a “so bad it’s funny” kind of way, plus I could count the voiced cutscenes on one hand

X7′s can get funny in a memey sort of way but mostly it’s fucking ear-grating

Zero sounds half decent but the direction they gave the actor makes him sound like he’s changed his mind about coming back to life and now just wants to gp back to the void

Signas is voiced by Robert Belgrade, the man who voiced Alucard in Symphony of The Night, probably the only voice actor in that game who put any kind of genuine effort (besides Dracula’s in his own way). Here though he sounds completely zoned out, like he’s here fot the check and nothing else

Alia sounds like a timid teenage girl

Axl sounds like every annoying shonen kid stereotype all rolled up into one

And X

Ooooh X....

So unlike what my previous criticisms of Zero becoming the de facto protagonist of the series for a while (and my profile picture) may have suggested I actually don’t have a lot of love for X aside from his design.

The series has just never done anything of substance with his concept of being the first robot capable of true free will, and due to his general lack of dialogue and interesting story beats when compared to Zero he just doesn’t amount to much kre than “angsty Mega Man”, like he’s exactly like Rock except you swap out his childlike optimism and drive with lots of angst and doubt. On paper this should be enough to make X different enough but in practice, like I said, the execution has simply never been there.

Theoretically a story where X decides to no longer fight the good fight because he can’t take it any longer would be great; not only is it very human but it also showcases X’s ability to make his own choices in a negative way by having him make a bad decision. It’s a far more interesting idea than simply having him go evil as was the original idea behind the Zero series....which actually ended up having X also retire from fighting out of sheer mental exhaustion before X7 was even a thing.

However what we get here is one of the worst cases of flanderizaton I have ever seen

In past games X would have usually only 1 brief (BRIEF) moment where he laments that he has to once again take up arms and fight to save the world. He’s a pacifist at heart so it makes sense.

X7 makes it X’s entire personality. And in the whiniest, most hateable way possible. And I don’t mean Shinji Ikari kind of whiny.

He just stands there at HQ doing fuck all all day (as far as we can see at least), criticizing others for using violence to deal with dangerous criminals, while not coming up with a better alternative and just being a douchebag overall. He sounds like your average Twitter user who rants about the injustices of the world and how other people are shit for not doing anything about them while they themselves are just sitting there typing at a keyboard from their mother’s basement.

That moment when he tells Red that if he wants Axl back he can have him because he has no intention of fighting for the likes of him is fucking putrid. He’s literally saying that he’s A-OK with handing over a kid, even if a troubled and irresponsible one, to a criminal organization just because “fighting bad”.

It’s pretty funny. Inafune has long left the series and you can tell because Zero is no longer the center of the universe, but now this new dev team want to impose ANOTHER main character in the form of Axl and X is treated worse than ever.

And we’re just getting started

[whatyourusherthinks]

The Book Of Clarence Review

If there is one thing I love, it's blasphemy. Okay, okay, jokes aside, I was legitimately excited for this movie. I really like theology and religion from an academic standpoint, and I'm always down to see different perspectives and takes on mythology. Plus, man, the trailer and premise was super cool. I love me some grifters.

What's The Movie About?

Clarence is a weed dealer in debt to a gang boss, and since the movie takes place in biblical times, his get rich quick scheme is to become a false messiah. Also, everyone in the movie is black except for the Roman soldiers and one beggar. This (apparently) is the first time Jesus has been depicted in a movie as a black man. If that offends you, read an actual historical textbook while touching some grass.

What I Like.

This movie is style over substance, so my real recommendation comes on whether you can enjoy that or not. I can, and the style of the movie is pretty awesome. I also enjoyed all the characters in the movie, I know a bit of the bible and it was pretty interesting to see how they cast and performed various figures from the time. I love how Jesus is just basically an X-Man and for the first half of the movie you never see his face. There's one character called Barabbas the Immortal, who is the coolest motherfucker ever. Speaking of cool, there is two scenes in particular I goddamn love, one involving Barabbas and another with the Last Supper. The music in the movie is also top notch. I mean, obviously, Jay-Z not only produced but provided music for the soundtrack along with a bunch of other black artists. Of course it's good. And the movie is pretty funny too.

What I Don't Like.

As previously mentioned, the style of the movie certainly overtakes the substance, and while I'm totally behind it, there were still some moments where I was like "Wait, this scene doesn't make sense with the world you set up." AND THAT ENDING! The ending is horrible. It pulls my most hated cliche out of a hate. Skip to the next section if you want to avoid spoilers but, hey Movie Writers. If you are out there reading this, STOP BRING CHARACTER'S WHO HAVE AN EMOTIONAL DEATH SCENE BACK TO LIFE. IT CHEAPENS THE PREVIOUS SCENE AND MAKES THE AUDIENCE LOSE ALL INVESTMENT CURRENT SCENE, IF NOT THE ENTIRE MOVIE.

Final Summation.

I actually finished writing the reviews from the other movies I saw the same day I saw Book of Clarence. But I want to release my reviews in the order I see these movies, and I was very split on whether to recommend this movie or not. Because those cool moments are pretty damn cool. And I got pretty invested in Clarence and his story. But god help me that ending is horrible. Honestly, if I could let you know when to leave early without spoiling the ending, I'd tell you to just leave during the final scene.

My point is I was left in a predicament. Do I tell you not to go see this movie with cool style that was written, directed, produced, and most acted by black people just because some scenes made no sense and the ending blew chunks? I had to stew for a bit before I realized. I don't want to be a white person telling you not to go see a black movie because I have some problems. Yes, I'm recommending this movie because of white guilt, deal with it.

No, but seriously, there's some pretty cool shit in this movie, and I would definitely be interested in seeing more movies like this.

[marioboyy]

[NON-Spoiler 'Super Mario Bros Movie' Review]

Like many others in this fandom I have dreamed of a proper Mario movie or cartoon since forever (Super Show is bad, I'm not sorry, and well, we all know the live action) and today.. I can say I have it.

Let's be honest, It's not perfect, there's some things here and there in this film that needed to be reworked! (For starters Mario's large @ss face design, I adapted to it but what was wrong with the og shape?)

Sad truth is: It had to be mid in something; it's still Illumination.

This product infact suffers a very simple storytelling, not helped by a very fast-paced rythim. Sometimes you may want to take a breather and enjoy slower moments, and more exposition, but nope, gotta go fast, Sonic style. Dang it. I mean c'mon we needed to see at least 5 minutes of the heroes' travel towards the Kong Kingdom, plus the lack of such scenes resulted in a lack of Toad scenes!! SHAME!

Minor bad thing: The power-ups are used so much, to the point they make it look like Mario's got no chances without 'em and it's not right, he's supposed to be strong in regular form. Oh, they are not even 'explained', and hey, before you tell me "It's Mario, you have to turn your brain off" i call BS, Mario with actual lore is\would be the best Mario, and it's totally possible, it's not that hard to make up something like 'they're ancient relycs our ancestors placed around the kingdoms for us to survive this wacky world'. (And, this is more of a personal thought i guess; some animal power-ups should have not been a thing here, i know they're iconic and i love them in the games but in a movie they're just ridiculous on Mario)

That said, "The Super Mario Bros Movie" is a BLAST anyway! Yeah I think the best way to describe it is 'A simple and sweet blast', it took me a while but I'd give it a 7 out of 10 because the main key element this blockbuster needed at all costs (aka what the games miss) is there and it's good: characters' interactions.

Mario and Luigi's bond here is explored so well it can get you teary in few moments. It's the heart of the whole thing. They're THE bros!

And Mario and Peach? Finally with them we get something more than those crumbs the source material had used us to. It's no revolutionary approach; we could, and should, have had more of these two, to be fair, but considering Miyamoto is involved (he is always been scared to touch the love topic since he basically considers it mature stuff) what's in the final cut is already a lot.

DK and Mario's rivarly is spot on, legit funny to witness.

Bowser and Mario scenes are very limited, strange yeah, but I love the basic reason of his hatred for the man. Btw this Koopa King is hilarious yet more villanous than ever before, someone will tell you he's an antagonist with no motivation but it's clearly untrue.

The action is on point, the animation is incredible. (I just wish they didn't spoil most of those goodies with tv spots)

In the end this really is a love letter to almost the entire mario history, it's crazy to think how much of many many games, they incorporated in a single film, and in a way that feels right: from musics to characters and locations, it's phenomenal.

[sh1mmer-add1ct]

GOOD GODDD WHO FUCKED UP THESE TEENAGERS LIKE THATT?!

major(?) character death and language <3

tag list: @sleepygamerotaku

Willow sat at a table with Evan away from the animatronics, but not so far that she couldn’t keep an eye on some of the other kids, her white mask sitting in her lap, she avoided wearing it around him so as to not scare him, even though the rest of her friends always wore their masks around him. The little brown haired boy looked at her, his blue eyes wide. “How come you’re sitting here with me…instead of hanging out with your friends…?”

“It’s your birthday, how can I not hang out with you? I hang out with them all the time, they’ll be fine without me for a little bit!”

The girl gently hugged him, her arms holding him close to her. Evan hesitated for only a split second before hugging her back.

“Thank you…” his voice was barely more than a whisper, only loud enough for Willow to hear.

Willow ruffled his hair gently, giving him a soft smile. Elizabeth sat practically right in front of the stage, her eyes fixated on the animatronics, she’d always been interested in them, while her younger brother was utterly terrified of them, and Michael couldn’t care less. Other kids were laughing, yelling, and running around, some older kids playing some of the arcade games. Michael, Jeremy, Sammy, and Ana stood on the opposite side of the room, near the stage. Willow’s smile faded as Ana’s gaze caught hers, and beckoned her over. 

“Hey uhm..I’ll be right back, okay? Why don’t you go play with some of the other kids for a bit?” Quickly she stood up, putting her mask on as she walked away. Evan watched her for a moment before ducking under the table, tears welling up. “What’s up?” The three boys laughed, which only worried her even more. “We’re gonna pull a prank on the cry baby. You in or not?” Michael asked, snickering quietly.

Willow stared at Michael, their gazes locking. “C’mon…it’s his birthday, can’t you guys just leave him alone for today?” her gaze didn’t move as she spoke, her baby blue eyes glimmering with worry.

Sammy elbowed her in the ribs “You’re no fun! It’s just a prank, it’s not that big of a deallll! Or are you too chicken to be mean for once in your life?” he teased playfully, grinning under his mask.

Willow just rolled her eyes in response. “I’m not a chicken. I just don’t get why you guys are so mean to him all the time…”

“Cause it’s funny, and he’s annoying. Why else? If you’re not gonna join us then we’re just gonna do it ourselves.” The white haired girl sighed, “I’m not gonna be mean to him on his birthday.”

“You’re never mean to him.”

Before she could reply, the four of them walked away, heading towards Evan, who was still hiding under the table. When he saw them, he froze, his eyes wild with fear.

“Wow, he really is a cry baby.”

“It’s hilarious” 

“Why don’t we help him get a closer look? He’ll love it!”

“No! Please!”

“C'mon guys, let’s give the little man a lift! He wants to get up close and personal!”

 The group of teenagers grabbed him and began walking towards the stage. Elizabeth glanced towards them, her green eyes glinting with worry as she jumped up and backed away, clearly not wanting to be involved with whatever they were doing. Tears were now rapidly streaming down Evan’s face, he wriggled in a feeble attempt to loosen their grips. Willow stood frozen in place, she wanted to move to stop them but it was like someone was holding her back, no matter how much she wanted to run towards the stage and grab Evan out of their grips.

“No! I don’t want to go!”

“You heard the little man! He wants to get even closer!” Michael laughed as they got closer to the stage. Evan was full on sobbing now, still wriggling to no avail to get away. Willow’s eyes widened “G-guys…I think you scared him enough…” her voice shook as she made a pointless attempt to stop her friends. Ana glanced back at Willow as she watched the white haired girl walk towards the stage. Gently she grabbed Michael’s shoulder “Mike please…can’t you tell he’s already scared out of his mind? You guys have scared him enough, it’s his birthday for fucks sake!” she pleaded, however the brunette just rolled his eyes and pushed her away. Willow stumbled back slightly, clearly not expecting his reaction.

“Hey guys, I think the little man said he wants to give Fredbear a big kiss!”, Michael’s dark blue eyes glinted with mischief “On three! One…two…”  

“GUYS PLEASE DON’T-”

The teenagers lifted Evan up towards the animatronic bear, putting him in his mouth, all of them laughing as the boy kicked and screamed, begging for them to get him out. Nothing went wrong for a moment, until the animatronics jaw suddenly crunched down on the poor boy's neck, blood splattered on the group's masks. All the kids in the diner froze as a blood curdling scream came from the stage, and then Evan went limp, he didn’t struggle anymore, he stopped crying, and went completely silent. The only sound for a second was the music, then screams, and crying, children were screaming in terror and running towards the door. Sammy, Ana, and Jeremy bolted, leaving Willow and Michael frozen where they stood. Evan’s limp body swung from side to side as the animatronics head continued to move. Michael couldn’t do anything but stand there, trembling. This wasn’t supposed to happen, it was just supposed to be a harmless prank, they were gonna leave his younger brother there for a few minutes and then get him down. The animatronics jaw wasn’t supposed to do that, it shouldn’t have crushed his neck and skull. How was anyone supposed to know that would happen? 

Willow took her mask off, flinging it to the side, tears beginning to well in her eyes as she climbed up onto the stage. “Evan…? Evan cmon,…Evan please…I-it was just a prank…they were just messing with you!” Her voice shook and cracked as she pleaded.

Behind her, Michael slowly took his mask off, his gaze focused on his brother’s body, dangling limply as Willow pulled him out as carefully as she could, she held the boy close to her with one hand supporting his head so as to not cause any more damage as she climbed down. Trying not to cry, the girl gently laid Evan down on the floor, her pale gaze fixated on his chest to watch for breathing. Tears began running down her face as she watched him struggle to breathe, unable to do anything. Michael’s knees buckled under him as he stared at his younger brother.

“I…I didn’t mean to…”

Willow turned around, walked over to Michael and sat down in front of him. Without saying a word she wrapped her arms around him and pulled him close to her, his head resting on her chest as she rubbed his back, trying her best not to cry. The two sat on the floor of the otherwise empty diner, ignoring the sirens wailing outside.

[katkenyon]

Romance & Safe Spaces

I was working on a different post, but this situation happened out of nowhere, and I feel compelled to speak.

Consider it one of my rants I try to avoid anymore because they get me in trouble, but in this case, the whole Spoutible thing has me thinking, and until I get this off my chest it’s going to sit there like a giant anvil and I have things to do.

Spoutible Poutible

I posted this on Twitter and on Facebook because, Christopher Bouzy annoys me. Does it surprise me that this man used his platform to bully Courtney Milan? No. This isn't his first time around the drama cesspool, and I know he has a following. But a lot of shady people have followings. The parasocial relationships online communities dedicate them to do not grant legitimacy to their skills, their character, or their business.

I know I know, he “proved” Megan Markle was bullied. Whatever.

He was also behind the company that “proved” the supposed coordinated bullying of Amber Heard, and that was bullshit. Anyone who watched that trial knows what Bot Sentinel said had no viability in the facts. Which is funny, because now he says the romance community was involved in a “coordinated” attack and it most certainly was not.

The man does not know what an organic community looks like.

Get to the point.

In the end though, Bouzy is just another symptom of the problem. Romance writers need a place to express themselves to their readers in a way that allows them to be themselves and share their books.

We’re treated poorly in the spaces where we’re needed, such as bookstores and online platforms who sell our stories, and in places where we need to be, like social media platforms where we promote our stories.

In one place, they put us in dungeons, hide or suppress our covers, tell us how toxic we are, or just ban parts of our genre. In the other, they tell us we’re porn and to sit down and shut up.

And what's worse? We have members who help punish others with venomous and vile judgement, as if they’re in a position to claim the high ground. They take notes from the far right and condemn books and sub genres as unacceptable or evil.

All of this forgetting there’s no true safe space for them either.

Betwixt and between, never to be seen.

Many in the romance community believe the far progressive left is more accepting of our genre than the right. But there is just as much speech suppression, book monitoring, and disapproval there. If you don't think so, you haven't been paying attention to their communities.

When a safe space is defined as: a place that provides a physical and emotionally safe environment for a person or group of people, especially a place where people can freely express themselves without fear of prejudice and negative judgment, than any "wrong" step is going to be problematic.

Romance by nature pushes the boundaries of what makes people comfortable.

It always has.

The idea that only conservatives will be uncomfortable with romance is lazy. Bordering on ignorant. In fact, all you have to do is look at the conversations within progressive writing communities to find out how volatile the conversation are to realize how much of a failure that presumption is.

And if the idea is to leave behind the sub genres the our more “precious” members dislike, say pure erotica, dark romance, monster romance, because hey, no one should be reading that smut anyway… Believe me when I say they will come for you.

The mommy handing their phones over to their child, doesn't lock their phone. They won't like your kissy cover unless it's a cartoon. It will offend them when their teenage daughter downloads that smut scene, horrified you thought to put that in your paranormal. And then you'll be gone too.

Quit looking for safe spaces. Romance don’t belong there.

I understand why people don't want to see hate in their timelines. It makes your pulse race and it can last with you all night, ending any possibility of sleep. It can suck every bit of creativity out of your mind if you let it, but romance does not belong in the vacuum of a safe space.

Romances involve engaging in emotion. The point is to pull it out of the reader. The more the better. If it doesn't, why write it? Why read it?

Which means you're going to have people who don't like it. They won't like you. That’s the opposite of safe. That is what you sign up for when you publish. I know what that means because I’m on a shelf that calls me a misogynist. Not the greatest thing to be called because it's not true, but I got an emotion out of that reviewer.

I made her mad.

She hates me. And that's okay. No, fuck that. That's glorious.

She was so engaged that she went on a rant. And I know all about those. I also made people cry who love the book. Again, big emotion.

None of which can happen in a safe space. The marketing of it can’t go there either. Because to jerk on those emotions, I have to risk making people upset. I have to risk that rant.

Anyone doing this work risks upsetting people.

You wrote this, you didn’t write that. How dare you post a clench cover? How could you post a man’s nipple? My kid saw that.

You know my answer to that? What the fuck is your child doing playing around on app that requires they be at least thirteen? I'm not responsible for your five-year-old seeing something on an app that requires you be X age. That’s a you-parental problem.

When I get complaints about abs on my cover, my thought is, if you're old enough to read about sex, you should be old enough to have a book with people parts on it. Not to say I won't make different choices for different books, or recover, which I will to make more money. But I refuse to cater to a safe space concept. And romance as a genre, dare not.

It dare not.

Because the minute we cater to change to please others, we lose the right to please ourselves. Which is what the genre is here for. Exploring what pleases and provides a happy ending to the reader. To the writer. To humans.

I know in the current climate, we want a moment to feel okay, but that's what family is for. Private chats. Real friends.

Social media timelines are not.

We need to learn how to keep our personal social circle's safe and make sure our larger communities never end up in tiny little silos on safe sites. Because we should be pushing everyone to learn how to be kind, to learn what consent looks like, to learn how to please their partners, and to learn how to seek a happy ending.

Previously on my blog. For more reasons to throw stones at me, follow me athttps://www.katkenyon.com/post/romance-safe-spaces

[lakesbian]

to be clear everything i am about to say is hypothetically what would happen if worm had interesting things to say about gender and has literally zero textual basis outside of the canonical traits of the characters involved. that said:

both alec and brian are teenage boys who nebulously want to be stronger/better than their abusive father figures, except the difference is that alec is either extremely lazy about or wholly uninterested in nearly everything brian perceives as strength. brian feels psychologically beholden to desperately strive 4 successful traditional masculinity as a protective mechanism & both never feels good enough at the parts of it he desires (stoicism, being kind/protective of his loved ones, being a good leader) and fears turning into the parts he despises (abusive behavior, being violent or domineering).

as for alec, the fact that his cape costume is feminine enough to result in his being homophobically macroaggressed does not, in his mind, even remotely contradict with his desire to be more powerful than his father. you could not pay him to work out. he's completely chill with--even enjoys--not having to make decisions or be in charge. and despite this, he's just better at so many of the things brian strives to be than brian. without even trying! not only does he never cry, he doesn't have to try not to cry. when brian relives the worst moments of his life in echidna, it shakes him so badly he can barely speak or stand and needs to be taken home to recover. when alec relives the worst moments of his life in echidna, he shakes it off like it was next to nothing and gets back to the fight.

which is to say. i think brian doesn't judge alec per se because he's a nice guy but he does find his relationship to being a man bewildering, fully unrelatable, and discomforting to consider too deeply, and he also unconsciously resents him for being so much better at being emotionally stoic & in-control of himself than brian is when he's not even trying. like he's 100% jealous that alec is more* mentally ill than him. [brian voice] hey how come when ALEC'S dad abuses him he learns how to never cry or show vulnerability ever again but when MY stepdad abuses me i start intermittently shaking like a wet chihuahua. that's not fair i want alec's trauma symptoms instead. he literally wears skorts he should just go cry into his pillow and let me have the stoicism instead

*this is absolutely not a real quantifier or thing i think about mental illness to be clear i'm being funny about my imaginary version of brian's problems and issues

also brian does unconsciously believe that men are The More Inherently Violent/Uncaring/Stoic Gender and subsequently spends every day desperately struggling to achieve guy-appropriate levels of stoicism while being kind and caring and a competent leader without ever realizing that his inability to let himself be vulnerable is what's resulting in him behaviorally reproducing the unhealthy aspects of masculinity that he's trying to avoid. he's secretly really scared that he's going to turn out like his mom's boyfriend and thinks he can avoid it by just repressing everything forever

[five-rivers]

Life's Great Lie 7

It was early in the morning when she got the call.  Sixish.  The other numbers on the clock didn’t register to her.   

“Hey,” said Tucker, “guess what government agency I just hacked.”

Sam sat up, all traces of sleep gone.  Her hand curled around the wing of the nearest stuffed bat.  “You found him?”

“Sort of.  Ever hear of SHIELD?”

“No,” said Sam.  “Is it part of the GIW?”  Ever since the Fentons came back without Danny and locked themselves in Fentonworks, that had been her biggest fear.

“I found them through the GIW, but they seem to be partitioned pretty well, along with something called HYDRA…”

“What, like World War Two HYDRA?”

“You know them?”

“They were one of Hitler’s science divisions,” said Sam.  “They…  My great-grandparents were rescued from one of their camps by Captain America.”

Tucker paused.  “Funny you should mention Captain America,” he said, the words almost tumbling over each other.  “Because apparently, he works for SHIELD.  Or with SHIELD?  It’s a little unclear, actually.  I’m not sure he’s getting paid.”

“Focus, Tucker,” said Sam.  “How is Danny involved?”

“He’s been mind controlled by an evil clown.”

“What?  Freakshow?”

“No, this one’s green and Norse god themed.  Loki.  Has a scepter, too, though, which is a weird coincidence.  And he’s from space.”

“An evil green clown from outer space is mind controlling Danny?”  That was… an eclectic bundle of traits, even for them.  Like someone had thrown darts at a board of character concepts.  Or took Freakshow, swapped his palette and made him an alien. 

At least it wasn’t the GIW.

“And making him fight Iron Man and Captain America in…  Germany.  Stuttgart, Germany.  Oh, this is live.”

“You have eyes on him?”  She swung her feet over the side of her bed and reached for her laptop.

“Electronic ones, but yeah.  Gotta love the body cam trend.  I’m sending you the footage on a secure link, but I’ll have to delete it, after.  I don’t want to show up if they investiga—”

Sam, having just clicked on the link, swore.  “He’s human, Tucker.”

“Yep, I know.”

“He’s fighting them as a human.  That means they know who he is.”

“Yeah.”

Clearly, the problem with that wasn’t clicking for him.  “That means they know who we are.”

“Crap,” said Tucker.  “Plan?”

“Not much we can do to help Danny, but…  He didn’t hurt anyone in that fight.  Not seriously.”

“I think Captain America cleared thirty feet on that throw, so…”

“Captain America’s abilities are well documented.  He’ll live.  I think Danny is fighting this, or at least working around it.  We can’t trust SHIELD if they’re associated with the GIW and HYDRA, even a little bit, so…  We need to find out where they keep prisoners, in case they catch Danny, and figure out how to stay away from them.  They’re going to come looking for us eventually.”

There was a tapping sound from the other side of the line.  “Ghost weapons will only get us so far.”

“Yeah,” agreed Sam.  “Secret government agency versus two teens armed with weapons that only hurt dead people.  Three, if Jazz gets back soon.  Not much math there.” 

“Objection.  The Fenton Anti-Creep Stick can hurt a wide variety of people.”

“It’s just a baseball bat with the name Fenton painted on it in phase-proof paint.  Not much good against bullets.”  She knelt on the floor and reached under her bed.  After a moment of groping, she pulled out a thermos.  “I have an idea, but I don’t think you’ll like it.”

“Is it some variation of sneak over to Germany and hit Danny with the Fenton Anti-Creep Stick until he snaps out of it?”

“We don’t even know if that will work,” said Sam.  “It didn’t with Freakshow.”

“We couldn’t even hit him when he was with Freakshow.”

“You think that’s changed?  No.  Even if he can’t go ghost for some reason, he actually knows how to dodge now.  I was thinking about a trip to the museum.”

“You’re right, I don’t like it.”

“It’s the best weapon we have access to, and I trust you.”

“I don’t trust me.  Besides, do you really think that a second mind control scepter is the thing we need right now?”

“We need something.”

Tucker sighed.  “How are we even going to get it?  It’s in a museum.”

“I haven’t been able to empty the thermos since Danny’s parents came back.  It’s almost full.”

“Oh, no,” said Tucker. 

.

Releasing the Box Ghost (among other sundry minor animal and blob ghosts) into the museum caused a predictable amount of chaos, especially when the staff sprinted into back rooms and downstairs to protect the archives.  They still used boxes and crates for that, here.  Rookie move. 

“Come on,” said Sam, making sure her hoodie was on and her blaster was primed.  Tucker, with his PDA and ‘ghost noise’ generator, followed behind.  With all their precautions, they’d hopefully wouldn’t be identifiable on the security cameras. 

Duulaman’s Scarab Scepter sat in the display case in front of them.  She raised her blaster and fired.  The glass broke. 

“Are you sure about this?” asked Tucker, hand hovering in front of him. 

“Yeah, but we can try something else if you’re really worried about it.  You stopped yourself last time.  You controlled it.”

“Yeah,” said Tucker.  He swallowed.  “Okay.  I’ve got this.” 

He picked up the staff, and the museum dissolved in a whirl of sand.  They were standing on top of a dune, pyramids in the distance.  Tucker’s fingers looked bloodless from the stress of his grip. 

“Tucker,” said Sam, cautiously. 

“It’s okay,” said Tucker.  “I can do this.  Just.  Give me a second.”

The sand swirled again, and they were in Tucker’s bedroom.  He dropped the staff with a gasp.  A fine layer of sand drifted to the floor. 

“That was,” he said, “something.  I could.”  He covered his mouth with one hand.  “I could take us to Germany,” he said, voice harsher than usual. 

“We don’t know if Danny is still there,” said Sam. 

“R- Right,” said Tucker.  “I need to—I need to sit down.”

Mrs. Foley’s voice rose from downstairs.  “What agency did you say you worked with again, Mr. Coulson?”

[yuukei-yikes]

Is kagepro an anime? I wanna get into the series but I don’t know where to start (and honestly all i know about it is the stuff that you post, shout out to that white hair malewife and black hair girlboss you always post about)

GOD OK UM SO kagepro is really one of those things that are. just messy.

this is my pinned, so i’m putting it under read more!

What is kagerou project, should i get into it, how do i get into it?........... let me tell you about it!

originally? it started as vocaloid series, as in a story told thrusongs, then it had a manga adaptation, anime and novels. they all vary a lil bit with consistency tho tell the same story. and that is because… each media represents a “route” the characters go through. yep. it’s a “time reset” kinda story! kagepro its what i like to call a clump story. just a bunch of stories put together. u take longer delving into each character's backstory rather than the actual main plot ig?? like, knowing everyone's backgrounds Builds the present story. it is difficult to explain 1 thing without explaining another and so on..

if you want to start somewhere I recommend listening to the songs in order, many have very cool music videos also the songs are VERY VERY GOOD.

the manga i recommend up until volume 4 chapter 18. after that it gets TOO confusing because it goes into a route thats only explored in this adaptation, while its kinda important if u REALLY wanna jump into the world of kagepro, it is VERY VERY confusing at first, like a LOT happens and differs significantly from the regular routes(and as an old fan i really was not into it that much but that’s aside the point) but the manga in the first 4 volumes at least puts the beginning more in perspective

and only then id recommend watching the anime cuz without all this the anime is VERY confusing lol the novels are good but theyre wholeass BOOKS yknow. there are 8 so it is not beginner friendly if u rly dont wanna tap into it lol even some seasoned fans haven't read them. that’s my casual kagepro fan guide. but.....

but if in the end u rly become interested and u end up reading them... hey, ur here already, and i know i told u not to finish the manga but if u just read 8 light novels i guess ur ok with reading 9 more volumes of manga!!!! and then... i’d watch the anime? because the anime, believe it or not, as shitty and as ugly as it is... possesses the GOOD ending. and bc u read 8 novels, 13 manga volumes and listened to like 5 song albums, u can watch and actually know what’s going on and u are very happy at the end bc after ALL THAT u get to see the good ending.

BY THE WAY AS FOR THE PLOT... as i said, a clump story. kagerou project isn't only difficult to understand when it comes to all its different medias, the story ITSELF is as convoluted as it comes! hurray! but the basics is, shintaro kisaragi is a shut in ever since his hs best friend ayano tateyama committed suicide. he goes out for the first time in 2 years and runs into some funny quirky people who might've been involved in ayano's life, who in return was involved in fun quirky sci-fi shit about..wow? superpowers?! maybe her suicide wasnt driven by depression but by....(SPOILER CUT)? or was it? join shintaros man angst as he learns about everything ayano left behind! you'll cry! its a REALLY sad story! with lovely characters such as:

kido kano and seto! ayano's little siblings! kido is the leader. of what? good question! kano is gay and hates shintaros guts. seto? he has jobs and better things to do. he likes dogs.

momo! shintaros little sister! she is.. a famous idol?! and... DEPRESSED?!

mary! token cute character who is...relevant to the plot!? and even...A PLOT POINT!?!

hibiya! a 12 year old who ended up here for some reason! also equally as important depending on the route, his best friend hiyori! dont worry about it. 

konoha! we dont know who this guy is. well. we do. but thats a spoiler so dont tell!!!!

and of course our lovely deuteragonist, ene!! the funny little AI living in shintaros phone who TOTALLY didnt use to be human and has a sob story of her own and totally isnt related to the mystery of konohas existence. kagepro!! call now!! ITS AWFUL IN HERE!