#i actually wrote this a couple hours ago but i'm posting it before others i've written bc uhhhh

[serenescribe]

i don’t have a specific prompt, but maybe something with malleus being soft for sebek, perhaps post-book 7? thanks in advance! i love ur writing!

[✐] ficlet frenzy (thank you for your kind words! ;v; i'm always surprised and happy that people enjoy my writing so much)

Malleus knows better than to complain after everything he’s done, especially when said complaints concern such mundane yet essential duties. There is plenty of work to be completed with handling the aftermath of his overblot, especially considering the absolute scale of it all — a monstrously massive dome of thorns that slowly, ever so slowly, began to envelop the entire world. Had it not been for a handful of heroes — the Shrouds, for one, but also Malleus’ loved ones: Lilia, Sebek, and Silver, along with the child of man and their direbeast — he would have undoubtedly succeeded.

Damage control is essential in these critical moments after his overblot. Plenty of magic and technology, though Malleus lacks a complete understanding of how the latter works, are being employed to clean up his mess. Malleus himself, though, is busy with meeting after meeting, day after day. Of conferring with the headmage, discussing matters with the Shrouds, and, perhaps most embarrassingly enough, needing to be lectured over and over again by his grandmother, who travelled personally from the valley.

He is still allowed to stay in Diasomnia throughout all this, though that is more because of convenience than anything else. It doesn’t mean much when all the students give him an even wider berth than before, his loneliness taken to a new extreme. Sure, Lilia has changed his mind and will now stay with him, and Malleus is still close to him, Silver, and Sebek, but…

The guilt eats at him nonetheless.

Regardless, there is little they can do on the side of diplomacy, save for giving their testimonies and standing up for him, an action that Malleus deems more merciful than anything else. Malleus is largely alone for most of these days as he wrangles this mess with everyone else, while the others return to their regular schedule of classes and studies as though a world-shattering incident had not just occurred.

So it comes as a surprise to him when he returns especially late one night, entering the dorm in the wee hours of the morning at a time when even Lilia wouldn’t be awake, and sees Sebek fast asleep on the couch.

Malleus can only stare for a while, blinking in utter surprise. Sebek is one who is typically early to bed and early to rise; had he passed out here somehow? It doesn’t occur to him until he gives it some thought that perhaps Sebek had only fallen asleep here because he’d been waiting for him — and it is with that realisation that something clicks, memories of seeing Sebek on this couch night after night whenever he comes back, sitting with the other two, rising to the front of his mind.

“Your neck is going to hurt, sleeping in such a position,” Malleus murmurs, leaning over Sebek and taking in the peaceful expression of his face, the light snore that escapes his parted lips. He doesn’t even think about it before he summons a spell; green sparks fly around them as, in the blink of an eye, they are whisked to Sebek’s room, filled with the snores of his fellow roommates who, thankfully, do not stir at Malleus’ intrusion.

Gently, he lowers Sebek on the bed with the help of his magic. The mattress dips under his weight, and Malleus busies himself with fluffing up the pillows (to prevent any stiff muscles in Sebek’s neck), and straightening out the blanket, snapping it wide open in the air with the flick of his wrist before draping it over the sleeping Sebek. He steps back, surveying his work for a moment, a swell of warmth blooming in his chest.

This is good.

He reaches out with a hand, hesitating before stroking his fingers through those tousled, green locks. “Rest well, Sebek,” Malleus whispers, his voice hushed. Sparks dance around his fingertips, and the sleeping boy’s face smooths out into utter bliss; “May you have the sweetest dreams.”

After all, it is only what Sebek deserves, after everything he has gone through to save Malleus from himself.

[cyberjello]

An Analysis of Alex Hill

Aka: "In Which Cyberjello Spends Too Many Words Projecting Onto One of His Favourite Characters"

If you're here from the SRS discord server, Hi! I noticed something neat about Alex, and because I either have nothing to say or way too much, I wrote this whole… thing about it. Enjoy!

On the other hand, if it's the future and you stumbled upon this post by chance and are still here because you like reading character analyses even when you know nothing about the character (like me), this is about Alex Hill. He's a main character from a webtoon called The Last Dimension, which you can read here (and should because it's great)! This pile of words contains some spoilers for the first and second seasons. Enjoy!

Alex is a pretty interesting character. Sometimes he's a massive jerk, and sometimes he feels really bad about having been a massive jerk. But 90% of the time he's a pretty chill dude (if a little insensitive) who doesn't seem to care about any particular issue. I've pointed out an example of this before; how in the span of a couple days he switched from harassing Phillip about not being normal, to telling him in no uncertain terms that his otherness didn't matter. At first I was a little mystified. It seemed weird for him to change his stance like that so quickly, yet at the same time it didn't feel out of character for him. So I thought about it a bit more, and then I had an epiphany.

Alex differs from the others in how he thinks. He doesn't worry about what could happen in the near future, like Fai does. He doesn't dwell on the implications behind pieces of information, like Phillip does. He's impulsive, quick to say whatever pops into his head, and rarely stops to consider the long-term consequences of his actions.

And gee, as a young fellow with ADHD who's only been medicated for less than ten years, that all sounds awfully familiar. And rereading TLD with that connection in mind has been quite interesting.

See, ADHD—or at least my particular flavour of it—does some interesting things with one's sense of importance. Past, present, and future are tossed aside in favour of a much simpler system: "Now" and "Not Now". Things that happen during "Not Now" are rarely factored into decisions made during "Now". Desires, ideas, and thoughts that happen "Now" are almost always a higher priority and given more immediate attention.

The most visible manifestation of this is impulsiveness: the moment at which you have an idea, something you could say or do, is Now. Anything else—be it a task you were just in the middle of doing, a favour somebody asked of you an hour ago that you should really get started on, or the possible future consequences of executing this idea—those are all Not Now, and therefore not important, in the unlikely event that they even come to mind. And you can definitely see that impulsiveness in Alex whenever he says something he really, really shouldn't.

But impulsiveness isn't the only thing that the Now/Not Now dichotomy is responsible for. One of the clearest places I've also noticed it is in how he treats Phillip. Remember how he switches from jerk to friendly almost on a dime? Yeah, he actually does that a lot in season 1, doesn't he? In fact, I've gone and taken SIXTEEN FRICKING SCREENSHOTS BETWEEN EPISODES 2-15 AND I'M GOING TO GO THROUGH AND TALK ABOUT EACH AND EVERY ONE OF THOSE MOMENTS BECAUSE I'M INSANE!!!

To start off though, I'm going to say what should be obvious to anyone who's read TLD: Alex isn't a mean person at heart. He cares a lot about those around him, including Phillip.

Anyway, in Episode 2 he acts like an absolute jerk to Phillip:

Clearly not the best of friends, are they? Well, you could have fooled me, because 15 minutes later, Alex is cheering him on and then looking out for him as he bluntly tells Phillip to "shift into [his] normal self".

And he proves to be a pretty good person after this. He's genuinely worried about Fai when she nearly drowns, and he's pretty friendly, if a bit cranky. But eventually it becomes clear how bad their situation is and all of a sudden—

—he's back to being a jerk.

But then Fai calls him out on it, and the effect is immediate.

He feels bad. He knows what he just did wasn't right. BUT THEN FIVE MINUTES LATER HE DOES IT AGAIN

Twice more this happens, where Alex is acting pretty friendly but then says something stupid, Fai tells him off, and he clearly feels bad immediately after—

—and then he acts like it never happened and he's genuinely friendly and nice again.

In fact, after that first day on Imash, he never says anything mean-spirited to or about Phillip again. Insensitive, sure, but not outright mean.

This isn't just Alex changing his opinion over the course of a couple days. This little flip-flop he does is a whole pattern that I'm going to go ahead and examine a little closer.

To start, let's compare the first two scenes I mentioned. In their room the Institute, Alex is frustrated that he has to share a room with Phillip. There's a good reason for him to not be upset; he does care about Phillip, and sharing a room with him would really help Phillip stay hidden. But Phillip's predicament—and more to the point, the effect it has on him that Alex perceives—currently rests in the far-off land of Not Now. Meanwhile in the land of Now, Alex doesn't get to be in a room with his other friends. Phillip's visible otherness is a painful reminder of the perceived betrayal from when he revealed his true form. To top it off, there's the background noise of Alex's frequent use as a guinea pig. There's a lot going on, and only one target to lash out at.

15 minutes later during the fall to Imash, all those things have entered Not Now. On the other hand, "I'm no longer falling to my doom thanks to Phillip" and "Fai and Anne are coming and are about to see Phillip" become Now. Looking out for Phillip is the Now Problem, sharing a room with him is a Not Now Problem.

But that's fairly normal, isn't it? Of course Alex is going to be nice to the person who just saved his life. Let's continue.

After they swim the shore, Alex is actually relatively friendly with Fai, in contrast to the name-calling and snarkery he used with her and Susi back at the Institute. Because Now, Fai isn't someone annoying trying to get in his way, she's just someone stuck here along with him.

Speaking of which, he doesn't seem all too concerned about what just happened. Annoyed, maybe, but not worried. After all, nothing bad is happening Now. But then Anne finds a tablet with an alien language on it, and the fact that they're not in Kansas anymore suddenly becomes a very big, very obvious Now Problem. Alex finally feels the true gravity of the situation, and lashes out at Phillip. (This provides a decent example of that impulsiveness again, where Alex's brain makes a connection and he acts on it Now.) Which brings me to my next observation, which is that Fai, by intervening, basically gives Alex the opportunity to realize when he's in the wrong.

Now, this part brings back a lot of memories from before I started taking medication for my ADHD. I used to tease my sister relentlessly. As Paranatural's Ed Burger puts it:

As I myself can testify, that bit about the reactions is the key here, ESPECIALLY when one has ADHD and that immediate reaction, the thing that happens Now, is practically the only thing that matters here. When I used to mess with my sister, I hated making her sad and felt awful wherever that happened. But angry? When she got angry and chased me around the house I thought was hilarious. It was that brief but very much Now moment of entertainment that motivated me. However, we've seen that Phillip doesn't give much of a reaction when bullied. He freezes up and then afterward, he disappears somewhere for half an hour to cry where no-one will see it:

And I believe that LACK of an immediate reaction is just as important. Alex has a lot of crap in his life to move him to take it out on Phillip. He doesn't need a reaction to do it, but the absence thereof means he never immediately sees how much Phillip suffers because of it. It never becomes apparent Now, when he's able to notice. But then along comes Fai, who does react when he says something hurtful about somebody else. And it's her reaction that makes him stop and become able to realize that what he was doing. He genuinely feels bad because as I said earlier, he doesn't want to be mean, he's just never able to notice when he is.

There's one other things I want to point out about the Now/Not Now thing. When you have something that could happen or will happen in the future, something that could affect you in some way, it doesn't really seem real. It's not immediately affecting you, it's Not Now, so there's no need to worry. And I see this in Alex a LOT.

These are his thoughts about seeing a giant energy beam appear in the distance: "I'm tired; it's not a Now Problem, I don't feel like thinking about it right now." The reason I find this familiar is because it's exactly what my brain would tell me whenever I sat down to do homework with a far-off deadline. And later, when Alex and Fai tell Phillip about Fai's bad vision about him, he very clearly isn't thinking about the contents of the vision itself; they're not happening Now, after all. He doesn't seem even a little worried about it, unlike Fai.

Now, I'm not going to outright say "Alex might canonically have ADHD" because I'm not a brain biologist who knows how to look for this stuff, nor do I know if this was intentional. (I'm also never been one to form headcanons, I typically stare at canon and go, "yup, that's pretty cool!") But I will say that I have ADHD, and I see a lot of myself in Alex, which is pretty neat.

[literallykenmaandshoyo]

I'll Know

Tendou Satori x Female!Reader

Warnings: Language, outdoor blowjob, creampie, cum swallowing, oral (male and female receiving), lots and lots of praise!! I wrote Satori as reader's first intimate partner! Just smutty smut smut smut lolol

Word Count: 3.3k

Author's note: Oh my god, it's been so so long since I've posted a fic on here this is insane. College and life have been so so hectic and I completely forgot about the page Mod Kenma and I made :,) Mod Kenma is so good with keeping consistent and everything on here and I'm going to try and do the same since I've found myself writing with them a lot more now! I'm so sorry for the long hiatus, but I wrote this fic a couple of weeks ago and thought it would be a nice way to start my comeback! I hope you all know that you're more than welcome to request anything from me, just make sure you specify that you want it written by me haha! I hope you enjoy the smut, I had so much fun writing it!!

I'd love to hear everyone's feedback on this, so don't hesitate to let me know on how I can make things better or if you enjoyed it!

~Mod Shoyo <3

The bright lights of Shiratorizawa’s gym hurt Y/N’s eyes as she walked inside. Today, the volleyball club was going to be hosting a late night practice. Normally, Friday nights were reserved for date nights between Y/N and Satori, but she never ever minded coming to watch Tendou practice. There was no hiding how she really felt about watching him practice.

It got her going.

Something about her tall, lanky boyfriend sweating his ass off playing sports just did something to her. She was well aware of this feeling and found it slightly funny every time Satori tried to push practice to the side for her. “Now, why would you do that, ‘Tori? Volleyball is your passion. I really don’t mind staying for a couple hours to watch you and then getting to hang out with you after!”

Tendou always appreciated Y/N so much more when she said things like that. Little did he know that he was only fueling her drive to chase him. To jump his bones the second that he was finished with his practice. Tonight was no different. Y/N came waltzing into the gym in her black t-shirt dress, her eyes darting across every single body she saw to search for her boyfriend. The second that Tendou noticed her, his posture stiffened and he made a bee-line straight towards her.

“Well, look at you in that black dress of yours,” Tendou flirted, his tone light and playful but his voice was resting in a deeper part of his throat. “Don’t you look delicious.”

Y/N blushed and stood on her tippy toes to kiss him. He smirked against her kiss and brought his right arm around her waist to pull her close to him while his other arm carried his water bottle. The second they pulled away, she could already feel herself getting riled up. His normally spiked up hair was sitting slightly damp now. Most of it was still intact, but some of the front strands were sticking to his forehead, absolutely drenched in sweat.

“How’s practice going, baby?” Y/N smiled, her eyes too focused on his sweat than his actual ruby orbs. 

“Coach had us do some punishments because Goshiki didn’t receive a ball correctly,” Tendou tossed a look over to Goshiki who was cowering in a corner, gripping a ball tightly in between his hands cursing himself. “Other than that, It’s going pretty average.”

Y/N smiled and nodded her head. “Well, go knock ‘em dead baby, I’ll be right here watching!”

Tendou grinned from ear to ear and stooped down to press one last kiss to her lips. As Tendou turned on his heel to start running back, Y/N leaned forward and laid a harsh slap on his ass to motivate him. Tendou turned slowly with a smirk and walked back towards her. He towered over her like a skyscraper, looking down on her with the most shit-eating grin she’d ever seen.

“My turn.”

Before she had any time to think, Satori's hand was unleashing the most pain-inducing, heartstopping, panty dropping slap on her ass. She yelped and listened to the sound echo throughout the gym. His palm remained on her right cheek, she could feel his fingers curl up and feel around. He jumped slightly, then leaned down to get his lips right next to her ear.

“You dirty girl,” He whispered huskily. His voice sent shivers down her spine and she could feel the heat between her legs growing. “No panties huh? And were you thinking about telling me?” Y/N gulped and turned to the side slightly.

“It was supposed to be a surprise after practice.”

Tendou hummed. He turned on his heel once more and walked away. His shoes squeaking against the gym floor slowly dissipating gave her the ‘okay’ to finally relax. Y/N made her way over to one of the courtside benches and took a seat. With her legs crossed, she let her eyes linger on her red-head boyfriend.

The middle blocker was working overtime tonight. His guesses were on point, every single possible hunch he could have had about a spiker’s decisions were completely right. She could only imagine the type of psycho-analysis that was going on in his head right now, how meticulous he had to be in order to block everyone on the other side of the net.

She was wrong.

Tendou was on his game because he knew that she was watching him. He could feel her eyes lingering on him, only paying attention to his movements and no one else’s. Who was she, to sit on that damn bench with no panties on in front of all of his teammates. He could only imagine the juices that were marinating in her cunt right now, he was salivating at the thought of it. His hunger was only fueling his movements, a snide smirk resting on his face. 

One of the managers rushed around giving all of the players’ some towels to wipe themselves off. Once Tendou was handed his own, he turned slightly and noticed Y/N had taken some extra interest in watching him. He scoffed and pressed the towel against his forehead and neck, wiping off all the remnants of his hard work. Y/N licked her lips and didn’t let her gaze falter for a second. Tendou’s legs carried him over towards his girlfriend once more. His aura was radiating pure starvation. He couldn’t even keep eye contact with her for more than a millisecond before letting his eyes drop down to her crossed legs. He could feel himself get hard just knowing that he was the only one that got to spread those legs. To see what was beyond her gorgeous thighs.

He tossed the towel at her nonchalantly. “Hold this for me, would you baby? Just a little while longer.”

Y/N was quick to catch the towel and let it rest in her lap. She could feel herself getting warmer, at this point she started to regret not wearing underwear. She knew that she was going to spill the juices that Satori claimed as his all over the floor once she stood up, but for right now. At this very moment. She could care less. Her mind was turning into mush, and it didn’t help that Tendou would toss her looks in between practice sets.

Her pussy was aching. Tendou had been her very first intimate partner, and she loved the idea that her pussy was molded into a hole that fit his dick perfectly. She was growing more restless by the second, counting down each second that went by that Tendou wasn’t rearranging her intestines. Finally, like a bright light shining down from the heavens, practice was called to an end and everyone started to pack up the equipment and their things. Once everyone was finally done with their chores, Tendou slowly made his way back to his girlfriend.

“Can I see that towel in your lap, pretty girl?” Tendou grinned, holding his hand out in front of her. She nodded and dropped the towel into his palm. “Thank you darling~”

As Tendou wiped his face again, Y/N was fuming. Her entire body was quivering with nothing short of pure lust for Satori. And the worst part of it all, was she knew that he was teasing her. He was dragging his feet when he walked, he was taking his time to get each individual bead of sweat off of his face, he knew that she was dying for his touch.

“Alright baby, let’s go. Are you ready?” Y/N didn’t give him any time to change his mind. She was off the bench and ready to go with her purse at the sound of his voice.

Tendou chuckled and draped an arm loosely around her shoulders, pulling her close to him as he slung his duffel bag over his left shoulder. They had finally made it outside the gym. Sure, they only took one step outside, but Y/N was practically dizzy with how much fresh air was hitting her face right now. Before they could walk any further, Tendou stopped them both in their tracks.

“Oops! I forgot my jacket on the bench, I’ll be right back love,”

Y/N was fed up. She was seething, begging to be touched and he kept setting them back. She looked to her left and noticed a corner that the lights weren’t hitting. She moved into the shadows and waited patiently for Tendou’s figure to walk out the door. After watching most of his teammates leave with their bags and set off on their journey’s back home, Y/N was ready to get what she wanted.

The second she could smell his after-practice musk, she grabbed hold of his arm and yanked him into the corner with her. Tendou looked down at her with a cocky smirk and raised an eyebrow. “And what’s this about?” She looked up into his fiery ruby orbs and made no sound.

Her fingers grabbed hold of the band of his practice shorts and looped a finger into the band of his briefs before using all the strength she had to yank them down his legs. His cock sprung to life before her very eyes and she found some sort of relief in knowing that he was just as worked up as she was. She licked her lips and nearly drooled at his feet just at the mere sight. His tip was swollen, his shaft curved upwards, it was a gorgeous sight to see. Tendou gulped before finally speaking.

“Suck it.”

Y/N had already gathered up all the spit she could in her mouth. She spat onto his cock and didn’t even bother to start to stroke him. She took his entire dick in her mouth and felt his tip hit the back of her mouth. She had no strength to push her legs together anymore and slowly just let them spread apart. Her knees were starting to burn from the small rocks and pebbles that had littered the sidewalk, but she was too busy drowning in her horniness to care. The guttural groan that left Tendou’s mouth as she deep throated him was enough to send her over the edge. Her head was bobbing up and down his shaft, her lips gliding across his drenched cock.

“Fu-fuck baby. Take this cock like a good girl,” Tendou sighed heavily. “Fuck, you suck me off so good baby.”

The words of encouragement egged her on, pushing her to grip whatever wasn’t covered by her mouth with her hands and begin to stroke while she sucked. Tendou nearly banged his head into the wall from the immense pleasure that took over him. He was trying so hard not to cum down her throat as fast as he wanted to. Y/N knew that he was holding himself back, but she didn’t bother to berate him or tease him for it. What mattered was that she had his cock in her mouth and she was going to swallow every last drop of cum he had to offer.

She could feel him twitch in her mouth, every vein that was ready to burst getting eased with the coolness of her saliva. She deep throated once more and felt some pre-cum slide down her tongue. She pulled her mouth off of his dick, still stroking him with one hand while she popped his cleanly shaven balls in her mouth. Tendou clamped a hand over his mouth to try and prevent the loud groan that fell from his lips; even covered by his hand his moan was loud enough to get some stares.

Y/N moved back up to eye-level with his cock and spread her hot mouth all over it once more. She bobbed her head as fast as she could, feeling his dick twitch faster than before. It wasn’t until Tendou’s sweet groan entered her ears that she realized he had painted the back of her throat with his cum. She pulled herself off of his dick for the last time, snot falling from her nose, tears falling from her damp eyelashes and down her swollen cheeks. 

Tendou looked down and moved her loose hair out of her face, watching her tongue fall out of her mouth still covered in his cum. Within a second, she swallowed whatever of his load was leftover in her mouth and let her body slump. Tendou noticed her relaxed nature and immediately lifted her up into his arms.

“Don’t think this is over. I’m going to fuck the shit out of you when we get back to my dorm.” Y/N laid in his arms completely lifeless, her mind still only focused on the pleasure she had given her boyfriend just now. 

She had no concept of time, or even realized how much time she had taken to suck him off outside of the gym, but none of it mattered. It wasn’t until he threw her onto his bed that she snapped back to reality. Her hair was a mess, her face was flushed with a red color, her legs could barely stay closed. Tendou was huffing, heavily breathing as he threw his shirt over his head and tugged his boxers down once more. He didn’t bother to take Y/N’s dress off. What was the point if he had easy access anyways?

“I’m going to fuck the shit out of this pussy,” Tendou growled, pressing lazy kisses to the sides of her neck. “My pussy.”

Y/N’s ears were ringing. The second she felt his lips on her neck her entire body went into shock. She felt so sensitive, anywhere he touched immediately made her quiver. She wanted to take every piece of clothing off of her, she felt like she was roasting in 100 degree summer heat. Tendou’s long, slender fingers wrapped around her knees and yanked her legs apart. His eyes widened and he stared at her glistening pussy like it was a gift given to him by god. And it was. Tendou licked his lips and fell to his knees. He gripped the backs of her legs and pulled her to the edge of his bed, her pussy right in his face. 

He wasted no time in diving his tongue in between her folds. The tip of his tongue flicked her clit before gathering up some of her wetness like a spoon. He was eating her up like a starved man, smacking his lips and burying his face in her. Her noises were enough to wake up every single member of his team in the building, but that was the least of his worries. He had a cunt, shining with pure excitement  under the lights right in front of him, and it was all his. His dick was so painfully hard and he wanted nothing more than to just slam it inside of her, but she was dying to suck him off, and he would be lying if he said that he wasn’t dying to feast on her pussy.

“Te-Tendou, please,” Y/N whined. “Please just fuck me, I-I can’t take it anymore.” Her words stopped his actions. She whined from the loss of friction and his swift motions.

He stood up and wiped his mouth of whatever juices she left on his lips. He had never heard anything more sexy than her pleads for him to fuck her in all his life. He smiled from ear to ear and came down to press his lips onto hers. “Whatever you want, baby. Your wish is my command.”

Tendou lined himself up with her entrance. He slowly started to push his tip into her. Once just his tip had been swallowed by her cunt, he grabbed hold of her hips tightly and bucked his hips so hard into hers that she nearly screamed. The harsh slap of his balls slapping against her skin made a clapping noise, and he started to pound into her like his life depended on it. The sound of her loud moans only fueled him to keep drilling his cock into her. He leaned down and buried his face in her chest, loving the feeling of her tits bouncing in his face. He pulled himself out of her and lifted her into his arms. He sat down on the edge of his bed and sat her on his lap. Y/N got the picture and quickly slammed herself onto his dick. 

“God damn, Y/N. Ride this dick, take this dick like a good girl.”

Y/N sank her teeth into his shoulder as she bounced up and down on his cock. She could feel the coil in her stomach slowly unraveling with every slap their sweaty bodies made. She pulled her face out of his neck to see that his eyebrows were furrowed, the groans leaving his mouth nearly making her cream on their own. Tendou grabbed a fistful of her hair into a makeshift ponytail and held it up for her, the breeze that hit her neck sending goosebumps down her hot skin.

Tendou could feel that she had gotten tired of picking herself up, his hands moved down to her hips and gripped them so hard that she was sure his fingers would be bruised into her skin. He held her up and thrusted as fast as he could, his balls slapping against the bottom of her ass with every move. Y/N dug her nails into his back, sure that she drew blood with how hard she was holding him.

She lowered herself back down onto him once more and simply served as a hole for him to fuck himself with. He moved her at his own tempo, lifting her body up and down his cock with the strength he had. Her legs quivered and she could feel herself getting close.

“To- Tori, I’m gonna,” She couldn’t even finish her sentence before it was drowned out with the harmonious sounds of their moans joining together.

“Let it go love, cream all over this cock for me.” Tendou practically yelled through clenched teeth. 

Within seconds, both of their moans joined together once more for a grand finale. Y/N’s body fell limp, her bare chest resting on top of his. Tendou was still twitching inside of her, his hands coming up to caress her back lovingly. After a few minutes that way, Y/N finally sat up to pull herself off of his dick. The sight she was met with nearly made her want him to fuck her again, but she was far too tired.

Satori’s ruby eyes focused on her pussy as she pulled herself off. Strands of their combined cum looked like strings holding their two bodies together. Y/N relaxed and Tendou could see a cluster of his cum slide out of her pussy and down the sides of her legs.

Tendou reached into his drawer and grabbed some cool wet wipes to clean themselves off, he handled his lover with such care, feeling her jump every time he brought the wipe anywhere near her still sensitive pussy. Tendou moved every article of clothing that sat on top of his covers off and threw it somewhere into the corner of the room. He grabbed Y/N’s waist and pulled her next to him, helping her get under the covers and into his arms.

“That’s probably the best sex we have ever had.”

Y/N nodded, barely able to catch her breath. “I feel so much better now,”

Tendou just chuckled and pressed his lips lazily against her own. “I love you baby, with all of my heart. Thank you for always being so devoted to pleasuring me.”

She smiled and pressed a kiss against his lips before nuzzling into his neck. “I love you Satori,”

The two of them yawned, falling asleep within seconds. Satori felt his entire body finally truly relax, and knowing that she would be here in his arms in the morning made his sleep that much better.

He thought to himself that maybe every date night should end like this, but he knew he would never hear the end of that conversation.

[sassy-cissa]

20 questions for fic writers!

I wasn’t tagged *sad face* but decided to do this anyway. Even if no one reads, I’ll have a record.

Here are mine! (under the cut)

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

I have 111 works right now. (mostly fics and some poorly done art)

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

768,637

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Harry Potter!! Mostly Drarry and a couple Snape/Hermione

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

We Found Love Right Where We Are (mpreg)

The One Where Draco Loses his Mind and Gains a Boyfriend

There's No Espresso in Azkaban

Into My Heart

Regardless of desire, life hands you who you are

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? I really try to, but especially when it's a fest fic I feel like I keep saying the same things over and over. Sometimes I try to go back – but truly I suck at responding.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? There are two: First: All you left me (are the whispers in the wind)  and also Then the Tears Fall  Both are MCD…so yeah

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Except for those two I'm all about the happy ending. I guess the endings I like the best are Every Hour Has Led to This and The White Dragon

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Only once. I took some real shit on a fic I wrote over 10 years ago.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Personally, I think I'm an abysmal smut writer. And it's only if a fic if I feel it works. Outside of a few things, I generally don't add smut for the sake of the rating.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

Nope

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

There's No Espresso in Azkaban into Korean - HERE and into German HERE

The Toad's Hollow School into

German: HERE and into Spanish: HERE

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes – a few times. I co-wrote with  @timothysboxers, and a little ficlet with @lettersbyelise and @maesterchilland. I've also done one with oldenuf2nb.  I'm always up for a collab.

14. What’s your all-time favourite ship?

Drarry – hands down. Once I found the pairing there was no turning back.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

A couple. One I'm working on (sort of) and the other continues to lie dormant from 2012. If I do ever pick it up again, I'll have to really almost start over. I think my style has changed since then.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I think I do okay at dialogue and plot. But honestly I'm a much better continuity beta (for everyone but myself)

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Being overly detailed. I must keep telling myself every minute of every day does not have to be accounted for. It's my nit-picky nature that often tires me out and why things go unfinished.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I don't do it much. Lord knows I have enough trouble with English. On one hand it frustrates me, since I don't know what it says and if they add the translation – it distracts me. On the other hand, it's generally not enough for me to hit the back button.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Harry Potter. First and only!

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

Really…I can't pick one. The two I mentioned above for their endings come to mind. Is it cocky to say if I posted it – I actually liked it? But the one I'm most proud of was my Big Bang fic - Every Hour has Led to This.

No tags, but feel free to do it if you're of a mind.

[lemoncrushh]

a sad little life update...

hi friends. I know Tumblr isn't always the best place to post about personal shit, but I feel the need to let some things out, and if you wondered why I've been MIA...

a few weeks ago, I got fired from my job. it was a sucky job, I didn't really like it, but it was close to where I live and it had health insurance. I'd only been there since January. the ironic thing is it was a mental health treatment center. but the owner didn't give a shit about the mental health of his own employees. he just wanted to make money. I ended up sending a long email about how I felt working there and what I was unhappy with (I won't go into those details here). a week later the HR lady told me they were letting me go. not the boss. not my supervisor. nobody else talked to me.

in the meantime (actually the day before), I had reconnected through Facebook with an old high school boyfriend. we exchanged numbers and chatted every day. he had been going through his own shit, but had a new outlook on life, positivity and all that. so he told me he wanted to help me. he lives three hours from me, and he even offered to let me live with him and get a job there. so anyway, he invited me to come visit for a weekend, and I was so excited. although we both agreed not to have any expectations (just see how it goes), we flirted all the time. for the first time in a really long time, I was feeling happy.

when I got to his place, I didn't notice the change at first. but that night he pretty much rejected me. we kissed, but he said we shouldn't "do anything reckless." I was like what?? I let it go because I knew he was tired (he works nights and had been killing it all week). the next day, although he wasn't really standoffish, I kept getting the feeling he was entering the friend zone. that night, he rejected me again (gave me some lame friend excuse), and I cried my eyes out. the next morning he asked if we were okay, but I told him I didn't know. honestly, I couldn't even look at him knowing he didn't want me. so I left. I cried almost the whole way home.

he'd told me to text him when I got home, so I did. but he didn't reply. I kept texting him, but I got nothing. when I finally heard from him, he said he was "giving me space". I told him I didn't want space, I wanted to talk. I couldn't tell if he was angry at me for leaving, or at himself for rejecting me, but I think it's the latter. we had even had a discussion at his place about how I hate when guys ghost me. but that's exactly what he's doing. he told me he was "attracted to my heart and my mind", something about my potential. That was over a week ago. Last Wednesday is the last time I heard from him. I'd asked him what I could do to make things better. he said to let him finish his day and catch up on what I wrote. he has not texted me since, even though I've sent a few more messages.

I feel so pathetic. if it was just some random guy, I probably would have just shaken it off and moved on. but because we had history, and because he'd seemed so adamant (and excited) about helping me, I just feel so lost and confused. my heart hurts so bad. some days are worse than others. today was the worst because I went back and read some of our old conversations. how could he say those things and then take it all back?

when he knew me before, I barely weighed 100 pounds. I have gained another 80 since then. I told him I was fat. he argued I wasn't. but I think once he saw me in person he was disappointed. he was probably trying to let me down easy, hoping we could still be friends. but it ended up biting him in the ass because I got upset and called him on it. he's choosing to ignore me rather than admit the truth because then he'd be the asshole. that is the only explanation that makes any kind of sense to me.

anyway, sorry for the rambling. in the meantime, I'm still living at my ex's house, still trying to find a job. I'm still waiting for my bankruptcy to be filed (just a couple things left to do, but it's taking forever), and I have no money.

because of all this shit, I have had no motivation to do any writing, or even reading. I'm so sorry. I just can't even bring myself to think about it.

rejection seems to be following me everywhere. in my teens, I was always rejected by guys I liked because I was a virgin and they didn't wanna be my first. when I finally found someone, he rejected me a week later to go back to his ex. my own ex husband didn't wanna marry me at first. now that I'm older, men don't want me because of my age or my body. I get rejected for jobs because I don't have a four year degree or the experience they want or I'm too old. I've never been anyone's favorite. never been anyone's first choice.

I had really hoped this old boyfriend connection was kismet. that we had come full circle and were supposed to help each other (even though I never believed in that sort of thing before). I'm so heartbroken :(. it hurts.

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

I was going to watch John-Luke Roberts' stand-up specials this week, but then I got the GoFasterStripe newsletter that said they filmed his older shows in Edinburgh this year (when he was performing his whole back catalogue), so actually, I'm going to wait until those get released, and then watch all of them in order. So in the meantime, here's what I've been doing.

Stand-up shows that are free on YouTube, that I've watched in the last couple of weeks:

2022 - Lara Ricote - GRL/LATNX/DEF

I already wrote a post about this just after I watched it so won't too much into it here, but I need to say again, this is one of the best stand-up specials I've watched all year. Will probably make my top ten, by the end of the year, and that's out of a lot. Very funny, very well done, some heavy subject matter dealt with playfully and just really really fun overall. Highly recommend.

If you want to know the topic, it's basically in the title. A show about being a woman, being Latina, and being deaf, both sort of poking fun at the way she's expected to take those three words on as her "oppressed identity" labels, but also talking really insightfully (and humorously) about the way those things have affected her life. Also there's some material about the world being on fire. It's really funny. It also won the Edinburgh Newcomer Award a couple of years ago, and must have deserved it as I can't imagine any other debut hour that year being better than this.

2017 (but recorded quite a bit later) - Larry Dean - Fandan

It's taken me far too long to get around to watching a full special by Larry Dean, given how much I liked the little bits of him I'd seen before. This was very funny, very Glasweigan comedy (I'm not 100% sure what "very Glasweigan" means, but I'm pretty sure he's that). It's about being Scottish and gay and friends with criminals (that last part isn't a joke, he makes jokes about it but genuinely has interesting stories about hanging out with friends of his who are in prison, which I'm pretty sure isn't a topic I've heard covered in stand-up before), it's got bits about class and religion that are rather more well-trodden ground but still made me laugh. He's very likeable, I find him quite naturally funny, I'm pretty sure this show got nominated for some stuff and rightly so.

2023 - Melanie Bracewell - Forget Me Not

I watched this because of how much I enjoyed her 2024 show, Attack of the Melanie Bracewell. This one was different, not so focused on one topic, more of a way for a comedian to introduce herself (I don't think it was her debut hour, but it's at least her debut special). It had an interesting thread about her boyfriend's medical history (with, she assured us, permission from him to discuss it), and some other stuff I liked about family, particularly her grandfather. And besides that, just a bunch of funny stories strung together. Oh, and an utterly brilliant callback at the end. It's really worth watching until that end just to get to that; it really came out of nowhere and got me. She's got such a naturally likeable manner on stage, it's an enjoyable way to spend an hour.

2023 - Tom Cashman - Pests

This one was more tightly structured, with a slideshow that took us through a few different stories. He related the stories to each other in interesting ways, though he probably could have simplified it a bit. I realized by the end what the throughline was - that he was telling stories about times he's been annoying and times he's been heroic - but I think he was trying to tell us that from the beginning and got slightly muddled.

That, however, is a pointlessly nitpicky criticism in a show that made me laugh a lot, that made some good points (not deep points about deeply important issues or anything, just accurately pedantic points, and I enjoy those), and had a bunch of funny graphs. What more could anyone want from a stand-up show?

2022 - John Hastings - Do You Have Any Ointment My John Hastings?

I already wrote a long post about this one too so I won't get into it again, I just need to repeat that I loved this one. It's his 2022 Edinburgh hour, it's about the horrific year he had with a near-death experience and PTSD and divorce and also was one of the many comedians affected by the tragedy of comedy director Paul Byrne (Ed's brother) dying, and he makes all that dark stuff ridiculously funny.

2021 - Celia Pacquola - Let Me Know How It All Works Out

This is another comedian where I don't know how it took me so long to watch a full special by her, given how much I like the bits of her stuff I already knew. She also starred in a show called Utoipa, which was a fantastic government comedy for three seasons (before being a weirdly right-wing farce for the last two, but I assume that's not her fault), and I like how similar he stand-up persona is to her Utopia character.

It was really hard for me not to get turned off early in this special, as she talked about going to see psychics. This is why I don't get into Lou Sanders' stand-up even though I like her - I cannot take seriously anyone who talks unironically about stuff like that. Like, someone who genuinely believes it enough to spend money on it, rather than just thinking it's a fun thing to imagine. I realize that makes me judgmental. Sometimes I'm judgmental.

But Celia made up for it by saying repeatedly that she knows its bullshit, and just does it anyway for various reasons, and actually gave some reasons that I find an interesting look into why people do that sort of thing. By the end I was fully on board (with Celia and her stand-up, not with psychics), and very glad I stuck with it. So glad that I immediately sought out her other specials, which I plan to watch next. It was funny, and nicely structured. Not really tight, but all fit together in a way that seemed natural, though I know it takes a lot of experience and competence as a stand-up comedian to appear so effortless.

2023 - Micky Overman - The Precipice

Really, really good. I like Micky Overman so I expected this to be good, but this exceeded my expectations. A lot of it was about one of my least favourite topics for stand-up comedy - long-term relationships and the choice of whether to have kids - and I still found the jokes on those topics funny. I think that's got to be a sign of a talented comedian, if they can make you laugh even when you don't much like the topic.

By the end it had built to being about far more than that, it was about imagined dystopian world scenarios and also about feminism. There was really clever, well-woven feminist stuff all the way along, that ramped up as the show did and I love the way she did it. And interesting angle on feminism. A jaded Millenial angle on feminism, so even though I personally don't do long-term romantic relationships or heterosexuality or want kids, it still managed to be relatable to me from that angle.

It's smart, funny, feminist, jaded Millenial comedy. Great stuff.

[lividria]

Funny Story: Bad Video Game Endings (+ a game nobody's heard of before)

Not as in bad endings as in negative outcomes in the story, I mean video game endings that are of poor quality. I have some funny experiences with them. One of them is in a game I could probably convince you was a hoax if I tried hard enough. The other is from a recent Nintendo release. Strap yourself in, this'll be fun.

I'm back from writing this out, and HOLY SHIT, THIS MIGHT BE AS LONG AS THOSE TWO REALLY LONG METROID PRIME 4 POSTS I WROTE OUT. Abandon all hope, ye who enter in.

I Might Be One Of The First Actual People To Document Sparklite On Tumblr

Okay, Sparklite is a pixel-art 2D top-down roguelite that's on a couple consoles and I think Steam, but I played it on my stepdad's Switch (He found it in the eShop, I watched him play and wanted to try it myself). The game is seemingly often compared to 2D Legend of Zelda, but I personally don't really see the comparisons beyond comparisons you can make to dozens of other games and not just LoZ. It took me 2 or 3 days to beat, but if you have enough time and know what you're doing you might be able to beat it in 3 hours. This game has enthralled me ever since I played it like... It might've been months ago now, actually, because it is possibly one of the most obscure games I've ever played, and the way it handled it's plot fascinates me.

I looked on YouTube and only found a couple playthrough videos & specific segment guides and not much else besides the official soundtrack upload (By the way, huge shout out to the game's composer, Dale North, this game's ost is amazing go listen to it right fucking now it has under 2K views but is spectacular and deserves better), I found a Fandom wiki for the game that only has 16 barren pages and the main page was vandalized for some time because it wasn't fucking edit locked, and besides for like 1 or 2 people playing through the game on their own, all of the posts about it on here seem to be either automated reposts from other sites and/or like... Reviews and articles written by game journalists? Which puts me in an interesting spot here.

I just find that entire side tangent really interesting, but I'm now going to spoil the entire plot because it leads up to why this game's ending sucks. If you're playing through this game right now, don't read further but let me know and provide proof because I will not believe you but also really want to know if I am literally the only person who knows about this game.

Sparklite's Story, From Memory at 12:30 AM

You're a mechanic girl named Ada flying an airship with your robot pal Wingnut. You crash atop the continent of Geodia, and have to figure out where to go now. Woohoo.

You go through a weird building called a Founders' Vault that gives you a crossbow then replaces it with a blueprint in your inventory when you leave, and get your ass kicked by a robot that eats Wingnut and has a human piloting it that is uncommunicative and never elaborated on and entirely possible to miss.

You wake up in the Refuge, a fucking sky island base built by the people of Geodia because it is currently experiencing multiple seismic events constantly reshaping the land. Because it's a roguelite. There's this one character I forgot the name of, he's really cool looking and is said to be the one who built the Refuge but hasn't talked since he finished it, he'll come up again a bit, I'll refer to him as Hero because his design at first glance reminded me of a character named Hero from one of my friend's projects, ROYN, which I shall now shamelessly plug, go watch it. I dare you. I don't think the designs are actually comparable in hindsight.

You go down from the Refuge into Geodia, starting in the Vinelands which has a lot less vines than the name implies, and explore a bit, meeting a strange pirate gambler who makes you gamble at his game and resets all of the objects once you leave the room allowing for you to grind breaking plants eternally for infinite money, and eventually find that boss from before and kill him. Wingnut is saved, hooray!

Behind the boss (Because I guess it couldn't get in there but wanted to guard it) is a room leading to a giant chasm underneath Geodia revealing a big crystal. I don't remember if it was named. I'm going to call it the Philosophers' Stone because it's funny and technically a pun. You step on a symbol and a voice from who the fuck knows where speaks to you, telling you things. You're warped back to the Refuge, Hero speaks to you, and the next area is unlocked. This loop repeats for each major world, because that sequence unlocked the next one.

Between the mystery voice and Hero's monologues, you learn the following:

The main fuel source of this world is Sparklite, a usually green crystal that comes in other flavors and contains essentially infinite power. Basically anything drops it, and it's the currency of the game. Despite being set up as a power source, you're arbitrarily given a separate energy meter for the weapons that cost energy.

You can burn Sparklite to get a higher energy output but destroying the Sparklite, which fucks up the environment and turns things into monsters and is what's causing Geodia to fracture, and that's what the main antagonist, the Baron, and his soldiers, the bosses, are doing. Why? I dunno. Hero specifically mentions he was the one who invented burning Sparklite, but this never goes anywhere.

There was this ancient people that either came to this continent or planet and made it alive because they needed a place to stay. I forgot all of their names, but there were 5 important ones, but only 3 were actually important to the plot, and in fact I might be misremembering and only 2 are. one of them made the Philosophers' Stone as essentially the world's heart (It's one giant Sparklite crystal), one of them is Ada's ancestor and passed down the necklace thing you use as a key to get into more Founders' Vaults, and another tried to break the Philosophers' Stone and figured out how burning Sparklite works. No, I don't think this means Hero is thousands of years old, though I wish that was the twist.

I think Ada was prophesized to show up here, but I don't know how or why.

The Baron wants the Philosophers' Stone. You have to activate the seal things at the end of each world to protect the stone and stop him from getting it.

There are these musical creatures called Beats that keep getting lost. This one girl, Harmony, wants you to rescue them all. Saving all of them across the entire map gives you essentially the instant win button, as it's the max upgrade of each major equipable accessory thing I forgot the name of. If you've played Iconoclasts, they're essentially this game's more elaborate version of Tweaks... Iconoclasts is also another obscure indie game I've obsessed over a lot, and I only know one person outside of the game's Discord that knows about it.

Sparklite's Ending Has To Have Been Developed In Under An Hour

Okay, that's a bit of hyperbole, but still.

You're in the final world, Titan's Ridge, listening to one of the coolest tracks in the game, and you enter the final dungeon, seeing that the standard boss room is empty and the door to the Philosophers' Stone chamber is broken open. You walk in, the stone is gone, and the voice tells you you were too late and to go stop the Baron.

You're warped to the top of Titan's Ridge (it's a mountain), where the Baron is staring over the clouds at the Refuge. He has a generic villain monologue about how Ada is annoying and Sparklite is always more powerful when burned, snaps his fingers and the ENTIRE REFUGE CATCHES FIRE AND FALLS OUT OF THE SKY, and the final showdown commences.

You beat him up, and then he just absorbs the entire Philosophers' Stone out of nowhere, transforming into this horrid abomination that takes up almost the entire background as you fall into the stone chamber, and have to fight a swarm of buffed enemies to reactivate all of the seals. Alright, now I can fight him for rea- Wait, what the fuck, the game's over.

I'm not kidding. You have the first phase where you fight him in his normal form, then he turns into a kaiju, and you don't even fucking fight him, just his enemies. He doesn't even have a unique animation for when the seal lazers shoot at him and just... Disintegrate him offscreen, I guess, because the Philosophers' Stone is put back in place and the day is saved.

Hero's entire arc is never resolved, none of the other characters you meet have literally any relevance to the story, there's no further explanation given from the voices, the Refuge is somehow back to normal again, and the monsters all turn back to normal animals. The credits put you in a white void with nothing to do but pet a dog as the credits roll, and then you're booted to the title screen once the credits and their corresponding song (best track in the game and one of the best credits themes I've ever heard btw) finish.

You can imagine why my immediate reaction was frustrated, confused vocalizations of distress and despair, after having spent approximately 4 or 5 hours trying to beat the final boss (You had to restart at phase 1, and I had to leave to get better equipment twice which meant finding the dungeon in the newly randomized map all over again).

Hero's story never went anywhere and had no relevance to the plot, Baron's character was never explored, you don't even see what happened to him, his minions literally never got dialogue but were clearly people as Hero would talk about them individually each time you cleared a world, a lot of questions about the ancient people are left unanswered, Ada's relation to the ancients and Geodia is never explored, Wingnut is barely even a character if you remember them by the way they don't talk ever again after rescue besides when you get upgrades for them because they're a gameplay gimmick, and I don't know if Ada ever gets her ship back.

I don't know if this was a deadline issue, since the game was already pretty light on content and made by seemingly an indie studio idk I haven't looked into them, or if the devs just... Ran out of ideas on how to wrap the story up and just threw together something just to get it over with. Ultimately, it doesn't matter, you won't be playing the game for the plot, and it was my fault for expecting the game to have one when it was absolutely a gameplay-centered game. But still, as the ending to a narrative, that was dogshit. I still recommend the game, though. I don't even play roguelikes/lites and I still had a great time. I don't remember the price tag, and as you can tell I'm too lazy and tired to be googling things right now, but I'm pretty confident it was less than 30 dollars.

Princess Peach: Showtime, A Paradox Of Game Design

One of my friends didn't even know this game released when I started playing through it. I got it for my birthday, because I thought a modern Princess Peach platformer would be a decent time and I was running out of modern first-party Switch releases I was actually interested in. Like Sparklite, I see nobody talk about it, but obviously due to being a Nintendo game (Though made by some other company, I don't know what Goodfeel is in relation to Nintendo but they're to blame for this) there's much better documentation meanwhile Sparklite doesn't even have a Wikipedia page. I don't know what the standards are for that kind of thing, but you get the idea.

In case anyone missed that this game existed and don't know anything about it, Princess Peach is invited to the Sparkle Theatre, only for Madame Grape and the Sour Bunch to infiltrate and fuck up the plays happening in the Theatre, while locking everyone inside. The theatre's guardian, Stella, this game's stereotypical tiny floating exposition dump partner, asks Peach for help going through all of the plays and saving the day. You go through the plays, resolve the story conflicts the Sour Bunch are causing (Fun fact, they literally commit an act of terrorism in one of the levels), rescue the main actors called Sparklas, yadda yadda.

The game's story is as bland and generic as you can get, so you won't be playing the game for that. You could've swapped Peach out for a unique non-Mario character and nothing would've changed, literally nothing. Especially since most of the character designs don't feel like Mario characters to me. The game's soundtrack, to me, was nothing to write home about. The graphics are alright, but still pretty standard. The gameplay loop, in a vacuum, should be really annoying: You go through a linear level with a couple easy-to-miss side paths or side quests to get collectibles, do a couple minigames, maybe fight a boss every now and then, and if you want to retry literally any part of the level you have to restart the entire thing. At some point, you get a transformation into a costume matching the play, and a new gimmick is introduced, that usually sucks.

The game is easy as shit, unless you're trying to 100% it, then if so the developers hated you. I genuinely don't know why I even finished the game, I should by all accounts not have enjoyed it, but I somehow had fun with it and I still can't really figure out why. It was barely even a platformer. I gave up 100%ing it halfway through when I had to ask myself if constantly retrying a level if I actually cared enough that I wanted to be doing this, because I realized I was just acting on completionist instinct. Once I re-evaluated, I immediately dropped it and just went to finish the game, because I was just not into this game enough.

Princess Peach: Showtime's Ending Is Sonic Adventure 1's Final Boss But Done So Terribly Worse It's Actually Really, Really Funny

I have not, in fact, played Sonic Adventure 1.

I will preface this by saying that even with how lame the game was over all, it was ultimately inoffensive. Sure, it existed only to exist and make Nintendo some more money and nothing more, but you could at least have a good time with it. Up until this ending.

You've beaten every level, and rescued all of the Sparklas. The final boss door is waiting for you, where Madame Grape is waiting behind it. But... Stella can't get it open, even with her magic (By the way, Stella and the Sparklas are powered by Sparkle, Grape uses DARKLE). The cutscene makes it feel like all is lost, because now we can't stop Grape if we can't get to her, and she's just gonna rule the theatre forever.

The Sparklas, previously not in literally any part of the hub world even after being rescued unless I missed them, all surround Peach and offer up their Sparkle, and Peach absorbs it AND GETS A SUPER FORM. Like, literally, through the power of friendship she gets a Super Sonic form.

She floats now, too, and can shoot magic projectiles. So Peach goes through the door, Grape is waiting, somehow three times the size she was in previous cutscenes, and challenges you to a fight, saying she'll create the perfect tragedy by defeating you, her foil. The fight is flying around a ring-shaped arena and shooting projectiles at her around obstacles blocking you from shooting her as you occasionally have to dodge rocks and lazers. That is the ENTIRE FIRST PHASE OF THE FIGHT.

Some of the major bosses of the game actually had interesting gimmicks, like Light Fang was a snake in a clocktower-like environment who you had to avoid being spotted by or else they'd REWIND TIME until you got high enough to hit their fuse and stun them, and Spotlion who would turn the arena to glass and shoot projectiles that now bounce around and you'd have to reflect them back at the boss to stun them. But not the FINAL BOSS.

Peach powers down, and she and Stella go to leave, satisfied Grape is dead as only her mask is left on the floor, only for her to reform and the entire room explodes.

Peach and Stella wake up in the rubble of the Sparkle Theatre, which is now completely destroyed. Grape, now instead of basically being invisible under her clothes besides for a purple smog orb is now whatever this is, and the size of a fucking kaiju.

All seems lost AGAIN, until the residents of the island offer up their Sparkle to Peach, who powers up AGAIN with technically a different form but functionally the same except shooting a beam instead of an orb, and flies off to fight Grape... IT'S THE SAME FIGHT AGAIN, BUT WITH A SMALLER, RECTANGLE ARENA, SHOOTING A BEAM, AND EVEN EASIER TO DODGE ATTACKS.

AND THEN GRAPE IS BLOWN UP AND THROUGH THE POWER OF BULLSHIT THE THEATRE IS RECONSTRUCTED AND PEACH GOES HOME. THAT'S THE ENDING. THAT'S THE FUCKING ENDING. But then, on one of the random credits slides you can see Grape's mask floating in the ocean, implying she might come back in the future. That wasn't a post-credits scene, not one of the last 5 slides of the credits, they put the sequel bait only like 3/4ths into the credits.

I can't be the only one who feels like this is basically just thrift store Perfect Chaos, right? Just when it seems the villain is going to succeed, the main character assumes a floating super form with the help of their friends and goes in for the final showdown. The final boss is the main antagonist which is some esoteric being with shapeshifting capabilities thousands of times bigger, more monstrous, and made of some kind of viscous fluid, and is fought in the remains of the hub world. It even looked like the island was being flooded in that final sequence right before the second phase of the Grape fight.

Obviously, Perfect Chaos is much better than Grape in basically every aspect, especially because that form is actually earned by Chaos meanwhile Grape just... Turns into it.

Oh, also, get this, I didn't look much into the post-game content just because I was so fucking done with the game by this point, but those collectibles you can find in the levels if you hate yourself can actually be spent on something besides unlocking boss doors now. You can decorate the hub world. There's only like 15 decorations, and you can't choose where they go. They're in specific spots. And you can only get one of each. And there's only like 3 per floor.

Don't play this game. You can take the triple A price tag and split the money up to buy like 5 indie games so much more worth your time than this fucking garbage. I beat it a few hours ago and I'm still fuming about how dumb the ending was.

Conclusion

I hope at least one more person buys Sparklite or at least looks into it/listens to it's soundtrack because of this post, and one less person buys Princess Peach: Showtime because of this post.

Also, Bonus Funny Story: Me joking with one of my friends about Grape devolved at breakneck speeds to PP:S 2's antagonist being named Pineapple, having the evil plan of opening a portal to Hell, being fought in the Greed layer of Dante's Inferno except it's basically El Dorado, burnt to death by being dropped into molten gold, replaced by a corrupt businessman as the main antagonist only to come back for the final boss as Golden Pineapple. And then Reality Pineapple.

Would you believe me if I told you all of that was references to the ROYN series I mentioned earlier and the inside jokes we have related to it? Because that's what happened. No, you are not getting an explanation. Unless you watch ROYN. There's a running gag where me and that same friend from the Pineapple joke advertise the series like we're paid shills, and it's really tempting to lean into that right now, but then I'd just actually look like a shill. Especially since I'm friends with the guy making it.

[love-fireflysong]

Got tagged by @queenofbaws like 6 seconds ago to do this thing and because I'm currently trying SUPER hard to stay awake for at least another three hours to get me back on a 'normal' sleep schedule for the next week and a half, we're doing this shit now! ...and also because if I don't do it now then I'll just forget about it and never do it asjdhkjahsdkjs

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

59! Not a bad total all things considered 😤

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

337,514. That's an average of 5,720 words per fic btw akjdshjkahsd

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Until Dawn mostly. Got a decent amount of Tales of Phantasia stuff as well as a lot of ideas for it but cause that fandom is even deader than ud's, I never actually write any of it lmao

4. Top five fics by kudos

Valentine's Day Prompts (crossed out because while it's *technically* my highest I do not count it for the sole reason that like literally not even ten minutes after I uploaded it I got like 50+ guest kudos all at once so those are clearly bots and the correct kudos count is probably somewhere between 20 and 30 lol) What I actually consider my top five fics by kudos are:

The Final Days of Our Youth

More Than Worth It (though considering it was posted only barely a week after the vday prompts the kudos may be a bit suspect here as well 🤔)

Nothing and Nobody But You

The Sound of Silence

Baby It's Cold Outside (so hold me tight in your arms and don't let go)

5. Do you respond to comments?

I did/do. And by that I mean I love to, but the last couple of years I've been letting the few I've gotten pile up due to not being in a good headspace to answer/I've just been really busy at that exact moment. Which is important, cause if I don't have the time to respond then and there, I will just keep forgetting to reply. Which is how I've reached the point where I have almost 2 year old comments that I want to respond to but I feel like shit answering them now 2 years later, and let me tell you the feeling does NOT get any less guilty the longer I wait to respond aksjdhkajsdhjk

(maybe I should use this time to answer them while I try to stay awake lmao)

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Hmmmm. I mean, technically the one I'm writing now? It's probably between Winter is Death and Not Only Monsters Hide Under the Bed where one fic involves Hannah slowly losing her free will as she spends a year with the Makkapitew taking over her body and the other is about a little girl hiding from the people sent to kill her village but being found and killed just before her brother got home to save her.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

...Somehow, this is the harder of the two to answer aksdjkjahsdkjashd uh.... pretty much any chrashley focus fic where the ending involves them actually confessing and getting together I guess? But if I have to chose one, I think The Final Days of Our Youth cause it's chrashley confessing and getting together, but also repairing their friendship that Chris very nearly torpedoed cause he's an avoidant moron.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Surprisingly no! Thankfully anyone who does not like the ships I write for does not read my fics and thus does not leave comments. And if there us people out there who just do not vibe with my writing style (understandable) they've just clicked back and not responded either.

9. Do you write smut?

Once! I did it once and only once because I just really, really wanted to read about an awkward and clumsy first time between Chris and Ashley and that, uh, did not exist. So I (unfortunately for everyone lol) took it upon myself to write it. That being said, because it is smut, it is unsurprisingly the one fic I can always count on getting a new kudos or bookmark on every now and then.

And I will probably never write another one again sorry not sorry lol.

10. Craziest crossover?

I mean the only crossovers I've ever done is my Outlast au stuff but I don't really consider that a 'crazy' crossover lol.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I'm aware of! Like I'm not even sure that they've been scrapped by AI sites. Not sure why anyone would want to steal my fics in the first place though honestly.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

I mean, no one's ever asked so I assume not? If they did though than all the power to them.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Nope! Never been asked and never asked anyone lol.

14. All time favourite ship?

I mean, Chris/Ashley easily, though Chris/Josh/Ashley is a *very* close second lol. (Chester/Arche is also a very close third but no one other than me here knows who they even are so askldjaslkdjsa)

15. What's a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Oh god, the actual main outlast au fic that really delves into how the initial prank on Hannah snowballed into climbing chrash being thrust into experiencing the events of the Outlast video game. Except that's not a wip I've even started despite all the notes and timelines in my head 😭

16. What are your writing strengths?

I do think dialogue is my strongest strength personally. I think it flows fairly naturally, to the point where I've sometimes gotten stuck on a scene and switching over to some dialogue either earlier on or just throwing a line in randomly will just unstick *something* in the brain and my creativity output stops being a blockage and returns to it's trickle aksjdhaskdhj

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Literally everything else? Descriptions. I just feel like I can't describe things very well and so I'm always worried that my writing tends to read flat because of it.

Also, due to being told that I'm a waste of space, stupid, ugly, blah blah blah by like 99% of my classmates from like grade 1 to grade 9 my self-esteem when it comes to shit like this is unsurprisingly pretty fucking abysmal! So every time I go to post something new I spend way too long hovering over that upload button convinced that this is the fic that will convince everyone that I'm actually a terrible writer and they won't like me anymore lol

18. Thoughts on dialogue in another language?

Never had to use it before myself but it's neat when done... not right or well but, like, done to achieve something you've planned out. I'm not sure what ways I would use it myself, I think it would depend on what use I need it to have in the story itself.

19. First fandom you wrote in?

Oh Class of the Titans easy. Inuyasha is where I discovered fanfiction, but CotT is what inspired me to try it out for myself (my first attempt was uh, not great aksdjklasjdlkasj)

20. Favorite fic you've written?

Oh god, there's a tough question lol. Uh, probably between Baby It's Cold Outside (so hold me tight in your arms and don't let go) and Artificial though. Both are my babies, but Baby It's Cold Outside is the fic that finally started me writing again regularly since middle school after a like almost ten year drought. And Artificial is the one where I finally got to really sink my teeth into what makes my outlast au actually outlast and really get to experience a bunch of shit I had never really written before (torture (physical and psychological), whump, body trauma) and it turns out it was a lot of fun sdlkajsldkjaslkdj

Oh god I have to tag people to do this now don't I? Uhhhhh, @chris-hartley, @icequeen-07, @hannahwashington, @eurazba but if there's anyone else who follows me that wants to do this than please by all means go ahead! Share your work with the rest of us 💖

[legolasghosty]

20 Questions for Writers

Aaaaaa thanks @1mnobodywhoareyou for the tag!!!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

26

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

62,578

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Julie and the Phantoms mainly, though I have a single Harry Potter fic I wrote for a friend, one Lockwood & Co ficlet floating around Tumblr somewhere, and a couple of Red White and Royal Blue ideas/wips that may end up on something someday.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Maybe You Can't But That's Why I'm Here (90)

Your Colors Show Me Your History (81)

It's New, It Looks Good On You (76)

I Shouldn't Keep Loving You (But I Like it When You Hold My Hand) (66)

I'll be Here, I'll Hold You Through It (64)

5. Do you respond to comments?

I try to! I know I'm very behind on it though. It's on my list of things to catch up on in the next few weeks now that I'm done with school.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Hmmmm I'm honestly not sure out of the ones I have posted. I know I have an older Bobby Angst fic that I didn't post that is probably the angstiest ending I've written, but out of ones I've put online... I'll be Here, I'll Hold You Through It maybe? It's not exactly angst, but it's lighter in the actual comfort than most of my angstier ones? Or Screw Your Family (You Have Us)?

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Oh so many, I love a happy ending! I Know I Can Fall (Because You'll be there to Catch Me) is a lovely one with a cool happy ending I think! But really most of mine have happy or at least hopeful endings.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I haven't really gotten any to my face so far. Yay for tiny fandom where people are mostly nice!

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I haven't up to this point, no.

10. Do you write crossovers?

I haven't really in the past, at least not anything I might consider posting, but I'm not opposed.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope :(

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes but not posted, @valiantlyweepingdreamer and I have a longrunning soulmate AU we started together a couple of years ago, and there's been a couple of other little things I've helped friends write.

14. What's your all-time favorite ship?

Either Percy/Annabeth from PJO or Willie/Alex from JatP! I love the both of them with my entire soul!

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you will?

Besides the aforementioned soulmate AU, uhhh... oh I have this old idea for a JatP Camp Halfblood/PJO AU that I started but I don't think I have a solid enough grasp on where I want it to go to finish it :(((

16. What are your writing strengths?

I have been told I'm good at writing feels and softness?

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Angst, super long ideas, and dialogue can be hard sometimes for me.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

Theoretically cool, but I would absolutely not do it beyond like using a pet name in another language unless I had someone else who actually spoke that language to help me. I've seen too many badly translated bits in books and fics to feel comfortable with that.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Julie and the Phantoms

20. Favorite fic you've written?

Oh gosh... I'll go with Maybe You Can't, But That's Why I'm Here, because it was just pure projection, but it was the first thing I ever posted and people were so sweet about it, so it holds a special place in my heart!

Okay no pressure tagging @linden-after-hours, @fandomscraziness22, @keepingthepeaceinouterspace, and anyone else who wants to play!

[semperama]

I was tagged by @zjofierose! Thanks, pal!!

rules: give us the links to your fics with the most hits, second most kudos, third most comments, fourth most bookmarks, fifth most words, and fic with the fewest words.

1: fic with the most hits: Little Drops of Anguish. Never underestimate the power of joining a fandom that's about 1000 times bigger than almost any fandom you were in before lol. Tbh, is it the best thing I've written? No. I have some problems with it in hindsight. But I'm glad this resonated with so many people!!

2: fic with the second most kudos: Don't Leave Me, Even For an Hour. I think this only swapped places with my most popular Pinto fic within the last couple days, which is bittersweet to me. But I am really proud of this one!!

3: fic with the third most comments: Dearly Departed. I was surprised, because I felt like this didn't get many comments at the time, but then I realized I haven't replied to some comments on other fics, which would shove this down the list, lolol. But honestly, this is proooobably the second or third best fic I've written IMO, so this positioning makes sense.

4: fic with the fourth most bookmarks: Sing the Words Wrong. A fic I frequently forget I wrote and feel somewhat ambivalent about. But!! I'm always happy when people enjoy something I've written enough to bookmark it and come back to it, even if it isn't my personal favorite.

5: fic with the fifth most words: Let's Stay Together. I'm cheating a bit, because my actual fifth most words is a compilation of tumblr ficlets that I had before I started posting them separately, but I'm figuring that doesn't count since it's not one story. I remember when LST felt like the longest thing I could ever possibly write, so I'm glad I've managed to extend myself since then!

6: fic with the fewest words: Like a Rose. Just a silly little tumblr fic I wrote a long time ago, haha. But also a good reminder that I should archive more of my tumblr fics on AO3.

tagging @jouissants, @trailsofpaper, @baking-soda, @boxboxlewis

[lilbittymonster]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

Tagged by @crackinglamb, tysm 💜

1. how many works do you have on ao3?

Currently 33

2. what’s your total ao3 word count?

110,421

3. what fandoms do you write for?

Currently writing for Final Fantasy XIV, but I have also written for Borderlands 2, Fallout 4, and Critical Role

4. what are your top five fics by kudos?

Only A Thought Away - Critical Role, Widomauk, Soulmates AU.

This Is Home - Critical Role, Widomauk/Fjorester/BeauYasha, Domestic slice of life.

I Will Endure - Critical Role, Widomauk, background Yashagard, Canon Divergence.

Forgiveness - Critical Role, Genfic, a bit of catharsis that still ended up happening in game just not the way i first envisioned it.

Boy, Oh Boy - Critical Role, Genfic, modern au.

All of these were done for a discord event several years ago.

5. do you respond to comments?

I do, I make an effort to respond to every one I get. Only exceptions being a couple "moar plz" "when's the next chapter?" type ones that I just deleted.

6. what’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Extinguishing the Last Light, my worst end Lightwarden AU where the Scions fail to defeat the final Lightwarden and the First continues to drown in Light.

7. what’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Walk to the Water, a 10k Borderlands Gaingel MerMay AU

8. do you get hate on fics?

Not yet, but if anyone tries it they've got another thing coming :)

9. do you write smut? if so, what kind?

I've written plenty, I've only posted the one E fic though. Mostly gay elf porn.

10. do you write crossovers? what’s the craziest one you’ve written?

No.

11. have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of.

12. have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope, though I'd be fine with it as long as I'm added as a co-author with a link to the original English.

13. have you ever co-written a fic before?

I have, I was doing a pretty large scale Critical Role rp fic with four other people. It disintegrated from some interpersonal tensions and one person leaving the fandom entirely but I still think very fondly on it. Before that, I was doing a Borderlands OC rp with a friend.

14. what’s your all-time favorite ship?

You ask me, a bisexual, to make a choice? Lol. Lmao, even. I do not have a One True Pairing, I have learned the mature art of multishipping like a goddamn adult.

15. what’s a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

OOF well this is a tie between Sometimes Goodbye and A Thistle's Thorns, both being all but abandoned due to fandom drift and loss of motivation. I found the original outline I had (thankfully) written out for Sometimes Goodbye, and I have started another BL2 playthrough, but FFXIV has eaten my life at this point so idk if I'll ever come back to it properly.

16. what are your writing strengths?

Show don't tell, detail descriptions, I have been told my characterisation through dialogue has been consistently on point (which is a relief), worldbuilding

17. what are your writing weaknesses?

Finding a good place to end. if left to my own devices I will Just Keep Rambling. That was actually one of the reasons I kept my FFXIVWrite entries so short. I needed to get over the hump of just letting things end.

18. thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I haven't had this particular problem yet, but I will once I start writing stuff for Stormblood, because Kitali is multilingual.

When I'm reading it, though, I prefer to just have a dialogue tag indicating which language is being spoken and then either a bold, italics, or both to show what's being spoken in what language. It saves me the trouble of scrolling back and forth and back and forth from the notes at the end of the chapter or trying to remember what was said where exactly and in what context.

19. first fandom you wrote for?

Borderlands 2

20. favorite fic you’ve ever written?

That would be Dragoon Age: Origins, the telling of Kitali and Estinien's first clash which I definitely did not just spend the last hour or so rereading nope not me

Tagging: @captainsparklefingers @screamingvikings @ir0n-angel and anyone else who wants to take a shot, I have lost track of who writes and who doesn't lol

[heartofstanding]

A little while ago, I got a comment on the Humphrey instalment of the fic series about the births of the Lancasterlings, saying they were eagerly awaiting the Blanche and Philippa instalments. Which was really nice to hear but also made me realise that it's been four years (?!?!) since I posted the Humphrey instalment.

I don't consider the series to be over, in case anyone thought I did. I've always intended to cover the births of Blanche and Philippa and still do. I mean, at the very least, it's me. Come on, do you really think I'd drop the series before I got to write the sweet, sweet angst surrounding Philippa's birth? And that's not going into how much I yell and cry about Blanche or Philippa at any given hour on any given day.

Why is it taking so long? Mainly because I've been writing a bunch of other stuff, and my brain is such that I can only really write what I want to write unless I've got an external deadline pushing me on. I've also had to rejig the timeline a bit in relation to finding out when Blanche's actual birthdate was (I had her in early May, she's actually late February). I've also been blocked on the Blanche instalment for a while - I started writing it and have about 2.5k already written but then got stalled.

The good news is that I've got some fresh ideas for how to get unblocked. I was going to write it solely from Mary's POV, like the last two instalments, but I'm thinking a return to Henry's POV, either solely or shared with Mary, might be the shift I need to get cracking on it.

I've also been playing with the idea of delving into Henry's issues more and borrowing from Susan Howatch's The Wheel of Fortune where the equivalent of Henry's crusading leaves him with some PTSD, iirc, and how that impacts his relationships with his kids. One problem with this plan is that I'd have to reread chunks of the Henry bios I have which means reading Ian Mortimer (ugh) which will probably result in me yelling about it at poor @shredsandpatches, who has already suffered though many, many, many of my rants about Mortimer's BS. On the other hand, this fic would be gratifying revenge as this Henry would be even more the antithesis of everything Mortimer thinks Henry was. After all, Henry's crusading is one of the big things Mortimer cites as proof of Henry's greatness and unquestionable heroism and his giant penis supreme masculinity...

Another possible problem with this plot is whether it's going to be a sudden and dark tonal shift in a series that's largely about the Lancasterlings being stinking adorable. On the other hand, the first and second instalments deal with Henry having depression and anxiety after Hal's birth and the last one has Hal having his first depressive episode so it's not like the series is Fluff and Cuteness: Everything Is Fine and Wholesome All The Time.

At the moment, I want to get to it soonish. I have a couple of WIPs I'm actively working on, from a modern AU about Hal's birth and a fic about Henry seeing Hal for the first time following his Shrewsbury wound. I also want to finish off the fic from Hal's POV about the dagger incident. It'll probably be long too so it'll take awhile to write once I get started. And this all supposes my brain doesn't chuck an "actually, write about this instead!!!" moment and scuttle these plans completely.

I do have some stuff written for the Philippa instalment - actually, it's one of the very first things I wrote from Mary's POV and still really love - but I don't have any real idea about the plot, character arcs etc etc except "Mary dies and it's very sad" which means it'll take even longer to write. I'm pretty sure that will be a split POV too but we'll see what happens once I start actively working on it.

So, that's the state of the series. It's not abandoned, only stalled, and I can't believe it's been four years since the last instalment. I hope to get to Blanche's instalment soon and not get stalled again.

If you made it all the way to end, an excerpt feat. Mary and baby John:

Mary scrutinises the open pages of her account book, making careful notes on a wax tablet every time she finds something to query or adjust. John, sitting on her lap, mirrors her – his eyes slide over the list of figures and as soon as she lifts the stylus, he scribbles his wax tablet. Despite the fact that he is only just beginning to make shapes that could look like letters, he’s clearly a clerk in the making. She takes a moment to kiss his cheek and cuddle him to her. ‘Mama,’ he says, ‘Mama love?’ ‘Yes, Mama loves you very much,’ she said. He gives a contented sigh and wriggles on her lap. She kisses him again, nuzzles her chin into his thatch of dark hair. He and Humphrey have been needy and insecure since Harry and Thomas went to stay with her mother for a short while. She can’t blame them. Without Harry and Thomas, their home in Peterborough feels half-empty and much too quiet. There’s no Thomas ready to scream or shout at all hours of the day or night, no boys nosily playing in the courtyard. John misses them especially – he’s too young to follow them and too old to be much interested in Humphrey.

[fountainpenguin]

Blog Stuff

^ Like, "FYI if you want to block tags" stuff

Little announcement here: Factor It In is on hiatus for now, probably for the rest of 2023. I know where the story is going overall and I know where the next chapter's going, but I struggled more than expected with the "Torus" voice (took like 6 weeks longer than the other chapters and all of it painful :'D)

I don't want to face a timecrunch struggle with TJ and Rose POVs (two characters who will be new to me), so I'm taking the bi-weekly update stress away and putting the 'fic on hiatus for now. But I wrote 77k before a hiatus was needed so I'm proud of that <3

We've got some 130 Prompts coming up as well as "Unicorn Years" for Origin in September (and hopefully a special Friday the 13th piece in October). In other words, FOP stuff is still bi-weekly as usual.

-> As a reminder, the 130 Prompts are posted in the order they are for a reason. You don't have to read them all if you don't want to, but extra context is always nice. If you've been dragging your feet on "Looking Back" by any chance... I might recommend that before the next update, which is "Sentry" ;)

On the "off" Friday I'm planning one-shots for various fandoms, especially shorter character studies. Really want to practice capturing a variety of voices, some quicker one-shots, and maybe I'll try some characters I don't use a lot. Or I'll be self-indulgent and focus on my faves... who knows.

Hoping to post more Come What May as well since you guys were excited to see it back <3... and it would be nice to actually finish a non-one-shot 'fic for the first time in. 7 years.

It's probably been obvious, but I also took a long hiatus from digital art. Traditional art is more comfy for me and I've been trying new digital programs, but haven't fallen in love with anything (i.e. I've been a vector artist for 10 years and moving from my safe space to different programs and styles is... painful).

I think I'm ready to start pushing my comfort zone, but be forgiving of my digital style because I'm playing around with new tools and this is a big jump for me, ha ha. I think I'm going to do some silly, low-stress fanfic doodles with very little attempt to make them look good, just testing stuff out.

I miiiiiight have a few PMV / animatic ideas, so we'll see

By nature of me posting art for my own 'fics, spoilers be upon ye if you're not up to date with my writing. Relatively recent stuff and/or stuff I consider "big" will get the #ridspoilers tag, but stuff I wrote 6+ months ago is less likely to get the tag, so that's how that goes.

-> #Dog's Life spoilers will get a unique tag because the weekly updates and drama make me say "Yeah, a special tag makes sense," so if that's a 'fic you think you want to read someday without spoilers, consider blocking that sooner rather than later :)

-> I'm also adding a #Pixels Imperfect tag to stuff from that universe (and I'll go back and add it to the chapters I already posted). "Pixels Imperfect" is the series name on AO3 for my digital gremlin Traffic SMP content (Everyone can freely wander around New Star Station outside the game and just puts on their roleplay hats when they go in, everything under this series fits under one umbrella of universe canon, etc.)

-> #Neighborhood Watch is the series name for "we take the roleplay lore seriously, this is their life, no digital world and no roleplay hat to take off" Traffic SMP content. I haven't posted anything for it yet, but I've got stuff in the works (I'm playing with a couple "making every season as canon as possible in one storyline" pieces and </3 it's big divorce speedrun hours for Clocker fam rn)

As for the other 'fics, I've been posting stuff like Origin, the 130, and Knots for 7 years and I feel okay about how that's going- I don't normally get spoiler Asks, but my general rule is to wait 1-2 weeks before I say anything spoilery on my blog. I think that's been working fine and we've got a good system, so I'm not changing anything there.

Lastly - and this is also part of the reason Factor is going on hiatus - it sounds like Traffic SMP Season 5 is just around the corner. For my followers who don't know much about this Minecraft deathmatch series, the creators only play for a few weeks - I think the shortest season was 6 weeks and the longest was 8 - and each creator puts out one episode a week (usually Friday).

So, it's a pretty short chunk of time and I don't want to be juggling too many things while it's coming out. I think this year I want to jump in and create some nice content while it's ongoing instead of just doodling off to the side and keeping it to myself... I need to dig up my old liveblog doodles I never shared, hm.

-> The traffic story canon gets reset every season (i.e. it's unscripted play, there's no continuous plot, and each season starts relationships from scratch), so if you've been enjoying any of my Traffic SMP reblogs, consider looking into it and riding that wave while episodes come out for a couple weeks and we can be hype together <3

-> Stuff for that season will be tagged #traffic spoilers, which is the tag I use across all the seasons, and I'll make a new post with my Season 5 spoiler tag once we get the name reveal.

-> As is traditional when I liveblog, I'll also use the tag #Riddle watches Traffic so you can block that too if you like. Just wanted to let people know in case I have any Traffic SMP followers who want to go in blind and don't want to risk seeing my posts before they have time to block my spoilers tag. #traffic spoilers still covers everything, including new season.

-> I also need to look into maybe switching from Traffic Life SMP as my blog tag to Traffic SMP because I think that's. the right name and it would probably be smart to tag properly... hm.

I think that covers everything I wanted to say. I'll add a list or link to my pinned post as well so people can figure out what to block for spoilers and stuff.

Thanks for enjoying my blog!

[fractoluminescence]

For the AO3 wrapped meme! :)

3. What work are you most proud of (regardless of kudos/hits)? 12. How many WIP’s do you have in your docs for next year? 20. Which work of yours have you reread the most?

Oh! Tbh I reblogged this so as to not lose it and come back to it when I'd have more stuff posted (which is why it's got the fract resources tag instead of the featured tag) and was kinda expecting nobody to notice lol. The ask is welcomed tho <3

(Note: This got a lot longer than I meant it to be. Whoops)

3: Most of my works are currently unpublished - in the sense that I've been ambitious right off the bat, and have been working on the same WIP for roughly 7 years now. I like 'Blood Bank' (which is posted on AO3 and is an unrequited love AiShin Vampire AU I wrote in a rush for AiShin week this year - I'll need to copyedit it properly sometime lol), but otherwise the work I'm working on (currently nicknamed 'You Only Die Twice', but I'll likely change that name because it doesn't make as much sense now as it did when I named it that) is the one I'm the proudest of.

The whole thing started out as one big story called 'Isolated', but then I learned to plot about 2 years ago or smth and realized I was trying to write at least 6 different novel-length stories within one fic... So I've untangled them and now I'm working on them one at a time lmfao (at least now I know why I was struggling to write that massive thing so much ahahah, what a mess. At any rate, I've decided to only publish each of them once they are finished, so while the old Isolated from high school is still online I haven't posted anything of this fic series since).

I'm very proud of my characters (my main character in particular. She's the first OC I managed to develop correctly and actually like. That's a whole story though so not going into it here), but even more so of the structure I'm able to give the whole thing - it feels so good to actually know what I'm doing and have so many elements of the story just click into place like well-oiled cogs.

Also the story involves the SRDI so I get to write sci-fi-ish mad-scientist-sounding stuff hehehe.

---

12: So, I have YODT, as mentioned above. I also have a fic I wrote the first chapter of during AiShin week called 'Feed Me Love' to finish (it's a sort of mirror version of a friend's fic). And I have my other long project, an either novel or novella-long demon-summoning AU fic called 'The Summoner' (also AiShin) that is in the works, but I've set as a rule for myself to only work on it during periods during which I need space from YODT (which I currently don't, because I'm barely working on the latter, and this is the fault of my master's schedule because I only have very few hours of class a week and thus completely lost the habit I had of writing at the same hour every day after class that allowed me to make tons of progress last year. I can currently barely step out of my house and my sleep schedule is worse than it has ever been, including during periods when I was a lot more depressed than this).

I have a song I started revolving around Momo that's been going very well but that I haven't taken the time to work on since this summer, and a couple of poems that I'm waiting to be fully confident of before I post them anywhere that I might wrap up sometime.

I also intend to rewrite and finish the translation of one French fic I had started in high school sometime. Knowing me I'll likely start working on it again at the drop of a hat one of these days.

---

20: YODT, probably, since I fix plot-consistency issues as I go. Other than that, likely a poem of mine somewhere wins that one.

[dzpenumbra]

5/3/23

Another night of crappy sleep. I got about 4 hours, then was up for about 2, then got another couple after. It's taking a toll.

I've been waking up really dehydrated, so maybe that's part of it? Maybe showering before bed would help with that. I'm gonna talk to my therapist on Thursday about my predicament with weed and sleep, and sorta go from there. I keep thinking it's like... the early 2000's and you can't talk about weed and shit.

Funny story, back when I was playing on Minecraft servers and we had voice chats and shit, back in the early 20-teens, we had some discussion about weed, and everyone was like doing the typical "why isn't it legal, just legalize it already" thing. And I remember being like... 20? or 21? And going "yeah, you guys really should be saying 'decriminalize it', because that's like... the only way it's going to work. You really want weed to get legs, you need to build industry around it, you need farms and shit, you need to be able to build supply to meet the demand. Just saying 'legalize it' doesn't like... do any of that, it just gets rid of penalties for all the biggest suppliers, who are like... cartels and shit..." And they went quiet real fucking quick. Because they never wanted to have an actual conversation or learn anything about it, they just wanted to giggle and eat cheetos and watch cartoons. But... now that I think about it... half of them probably wouldn't even smoke weed if it were legal at the time.

Anyway. I'm kinda stuck in that time period, in my own head. And I get afraid of the judgment from others, the consequences. Ugh, it's always consequences with me.

I got a bill from a medical test lab today. The doctor I went to see... I think over a month ago? He sent out a sample from my scalp thing to get lab tested... and I still haven't gotten a call back from him... and I just got a $125 bill for it. ... I haven't really had time to mentally process that yet. I have no clue why they wouldn't call me back, in this fucking long, but... I guess that's just where we are. So... now I need to call the doctor back and ask them for the test results... and figure out what the fuck I'm going to do, because it has not gotten better at all, despite stopping cutting my hair and beard entirely for (I think) a month... when he said my hair clippers were what was causing it.

I posted a comment on an art subreddit today. Someone else was struggling to find a community, both locally and online, and I wrote a few paragraphs commiserating. Idk if it'll turn into anything, or if I'll learn anything, but yeah. It was nice to get it out, at least.

Yeah, didn't really do much today. Just an incredibly intense yoga workout thing that kicked my fucking ass to the point where I almost puked... got delivery to make up for it... and did some laundry. Just a low-key day because of how exhausted and ass-kicked I've been. I've been busting ass on art shit lately, I'm okay with giving myself days off.

I'm gonna do a run of Risk of Rain and then head to bed early.

[arverst-aegnar]

Not anon, but this is ... well, it's basically what you wrote up there, just in different words.

I'd like to say "to be continued", but i've got so many other things i'm working on right now that that would be unjustified optimism. But if someone else feels inspired and wants to run with it, go ahead.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The first time he saw the photo, scrolling through his feed, Aang thought he had imagined it. But he had been staring at it for five minutes now, and it was as unmistakable as it was incomprehensible.

The couple in the photo beamed at the camera like they had just won the lottery: cheeks flushed, eyes shining, wide smiles. Zuko's chin rested on top of Katara's head, which was pressed to his chest, her left hand splayed out to show off her glittering ring. The comments underneath were full of “Congratulations!” and “About time!” and “So happy for you!” and “You guys are perfect for each other!”

Perfect for each other? Aang couldn’t understand how anyone would think that. Last time he had seen them, they couldn’t stand to be in the same room together. (Well. Not so much the actual last time he’d seen them, but that had been under … extenuating circumstances.) Now that he thought about it, it had been a long time since he’d seen either of them: almost a year, in fact. But that was hardly enough time for them to get engaged.

He clicked on Katara’s page, half-expecting to find it was all a joke or a prank or something. Instead he found --

I’ve never spent my birthday surfing, eating ice cream, and stargazing over a fire on the beach before! Best part, though? Spending it with my amazing boyfriend who set it all up for me. I love you so much, babe!

Fell asleep at my desk, working on my latest case (what else is new?). I stumble out into the kitchen to try to pull myself together enough to go into work, and find Zuko in my kitchen making tea to go along with the doughnuts he picked up. How did I get so lucky, to find someone who takes such good care of me? <3

Is your boyfriend man enough to take over crocheting a baby blanket because your grandmother’s arthritis is flaring up? Mine is. 

Only sixty-three more hours until Zuko comes back from his “super-manly, dudes only” hunting trip with Dad and Sokka, but who’s counting? (Me. I’m counting.) 

Dinner at The Badgermole to celebrate Zuko’s birthday!! Thanks to everyone who helped me plan for this and keep it all a surprise!! 

On my way to Ember Island with the new CEO of Jasmine Dragon International for the opening of the first international Jasmine Dragon location! Zuko, you’ve been working incredibly hard to get everything ready, and I know your uncle is as proud as I am of what you’ve accomplished!

Coffee from Aunt Wu’s with Zuko to celebrate my first day at the new job!! Don’t tell Uncle.

If you’d told me a few months ago I’d be here, laughing so hard soda is coming out of my nose, I would never have believed you. It’s been an incredible, amazing, crazy first month with you, Zuko Rokura, and I can’t wait to see what comes next. <3

Almost every post was accompanied by a photo: her page was full of photos, mostly of her and Zuko. That was weird enough by itself – Zuko had always protested when other people tried to take his photo, and tried to hide in the background or something if he couldn’t get out of one – but for someone Aang had always thought of as grumpy and closed-off, he was smiling in an awful lot of them. He’d never liked physical touch, either, shying away even from Mai when the two of them were dating, but almost all of the pictures showed him and Katara hugging, holding hands, cuddling, kissing … 

Something unpleasant curdled in Aang’s stomach.

Zuko’s page was private, but a bit of searching found his personal Hawky account. There weren’t nearly as many tweets –

here's my list of places i can/cannot take my gf to on Ember Island, please rec places with NON-SPICY and/or SWT options

things wrong with @paintedlady: - so pretty i can't breathe when i look at her - compliments me too much - cold toes

blue, the autumn sky ocean waves in a typhoon your eyes in moonlight

-- but Aang didn't think he wanted to read much more anyway. He set his phone aside, and decided to avoid social media for the rest of the day, maybe even the week. 

It didn’t make much of a difference. Looking at the houses as he walked Appa had him thinking about where Zuko and Katara were planning on living. He stopped by the store to pick up some muffins and tea so he wouldn’t need to grab something before work in the morning, and wondered when Katara had got that new job. The way the sun glinted off the colored glass outside the crystal shop brought back that first terrible photo, with the beautiful shining ring on Katara’s hand that Aang knew would take him six months to afford, maybe more.

Was that why she and Zuko had gotten together? Surely not. Katara didn’t care about money like that. At least, the Katara he had known a year ago hadn’t.

When he picked up his phone again, it was lit up with notifications. Maybe some of his old friends were trying to get in touch, mend bridges, because of the engagement. He cringed in anticipation. 

He felt a combination of relief and exasperation upon seeing it was just a bunch of messages from his girlfriend.

Mai: (3:30pm) Ready to die of boredom after today. Dinner?

Mai: (3:47pm) Where are you?

Mai: (3:52pm) Don't tell me you're sulking about your ex. 🙄

Mai: (4:25pm) Is your phone dead?

Mai: (4:33pm) Whatever. If you have a clean suit, meet me at Bosco's. If I'm in a good mood by the end, we can get drinks at my place.

Aang sank into the couch, staring at the last text. He'd told Mai about his meeting with the financial advisor last week, and he knew she hadn't missed it when his third credit card declined at that boutique shop the other day. He'd only just gotten his first paycheck from his new job, and it wasn't enough for half an appetizer at Bosco's. And if she was already annoyed with him, he knew she would be ordering one of the priciest entrees on the menu -- where did she think the money was going to come from?

Picking up on his master’s unhappiness, Appa whined and thrust his muzzle onto Aang’s lap. He reached down and stroked the fuzzy white head. “I’m okay, buddy,” he murmured.

As he settled into petting Appa, Aang closed his eyes.

“Hi, sweetie!” Katara greets him with a smile and a kiss on his cheek. “How was the dog park?”

“Great! Appa made a bunch of new friends, didn’t you, boy?” The dog is giving Katara his own hello, which makes detaching the leash a little tricky, but Aang manages. His girlfriend giggles as Appa eagerly licks her face, which makes Aang laugh, too. He’d never doubt Appa’s loyalty, but there’s no denying he loves Katara almost as much as Aang does.

Katara eventually nudges Appa down. “How does pad thai for dinner sound? I made extra in case you wanted to take some for lunch tomorrow.”

Aang slides an arm around her waist as they walk to the kitchen and pulls her to his side. She fits perfectly. “I really worked up an appetite chasing Appa around the park today. I might just eat all of it!”

She snorts. “Okay, Sokka.” Aang laughs. “But I may have made some egg custard tarts for dessert, so keep that in mind.”

The table is already set and two plates ladled high with pad thai, fresh seaweed rolls, and Aang’s favorite dipping sauce. He pulls out Katara’s chair for her, and plants a kiss on her hair as she sits down. In between bites, they talk about their day, the coming week, and about whether Momo is getting fat.

“I was thinking about inviting Zuko and Mai over for dinner sometime,” Aang says, watching his girlfriend’s face carefully.

Her nose wrinkles. “I don’t know what Mai sees in him. Zuko’s such a jerk.”

“He’s really not that bad, once you get to know him.” Aang reaches out to take her hand. “But I won’t ask if you really don’t want them to come. I could just meet them for coffee or something.”

He watches Katara consider, idly rubbing his thumb against the back of her hand. She can be stubborn and hot-headed sometimes, but he trusts the sweet, caring side of her will win. 

After a long minute, she shakes her head. “Thanks, Aang, but it’s your decision who you invite to your apartment for dinner. If you want to invite Zuko and Mai over, then I guess I’ll just have to find a way to be nice to him for an evening. Even if he is a jerk.”

Aang smiles. He’s not planning on it being just his apartment for much longer, but that conversation can wait for another day. “I’ll tell him to be on his best behavior.”

He insists on clearing the table, and Katara pulls the tray of egg custard tarts out of the fridge. When he suggests a movie, he can tell she knows he’s really suggesting they cuddle on the loveseat and get distracted by feeding each other bits of egg custard tarts, but the sparkle in her eyes and the upward twist of her lips tells him she doesn’t really mind. 

Aang loses track of the movie fifteen minutes in. There’s egg custard on his shirt and in Katara’s hair, but they’re too busy giggling like teenagers to care. He cups her face in his hands, gently, reverently, cradling her like the precious gem she is, while she looks up at him with adoration. When he leans in to kiss her, the world around him disappears. It’s just him and her, like it’s supposed to be. Forever.

The sound of Momo knocking something off the coffee table jolted Aang out of his daydream. With a groan, he leaned forward, burying his face in his hands. He didn’t know what hurt worse: remembering that it wasn’t real, or that it never had been.

He hadn’t appreciated Katara properly. He knew that now. She’d been taking care of him for so long, he’d just assumed that’s how it always would be. She’d made it look easy, cooking and cleaning and shopping for the both of them, so he thought he could manage on his own. He’d been taken in by Mai’s glamor and thought if he did things her way, he would be more sophisticated, more mature. He’d been an idiot.

Aang pulled out his phone, and scrolled through his feed until he found the announcement again, and with it the information he wanted. In his first uncomprehending encounter, he had missed the tentative wedding date.

Six months. He had almost exactly six months to fix his finances, break up with Mai, and win back his forever girl.

I keep thinking about a cheating Flying Dagger.....

Zuko breaks up with Mai/Katara breaks up with Aang and so here is Aang now living with Mai and he's now realizing how much Katara actually did

Mai hates cleaning, cooking, and would rather spend the $$ to pay a maid, would rather eat out at expensive places and so on... Aang now has to really be responsible for things he never really gave a second thought towards

He really misses Katara, his friends are obviously pissed at him. He probably only knows what's going on in Katara's life thanks to friends of friends/social media and learns shes now with Zuko

First of all, thanks for using Flying Dagger. Together we can make this a thing!

Second, this sounds amazing. If you write this, puh-LEASE tag me in it!!!