#i don't use it but i'd heard it was supposed to be better lmao

[daisyofwaterdeep]

Just read some of your stuff involving Gortash and all I got to say is yyyyyyyeeeeeeep.

*incoming NSFW*

Also, he would totally make a fucking machine so he could sit back and watch you write helplessly from overstimulation before making you earn a moment of respite from it by fucking you himself (and you better make sure you let him know how grateful you are that he so kindly decided to be the one doing the work here, otherwise he might just "forget" that he was supposed to give you a break from the machine).

pretty sure you sent this as a "hey consider this idea" but i just had to write it lmao

~

Endurance

Gortash/femcis!Reader

contents: dubcon, possibly noncon?, overstimulation, gaping, sexual torture

~~~~~

Your mind has gone so numb to the mechanical hiss and chug of the machine that you hardly hear Gortash's words.

"Look at the mess you've made."

During the first few hours, you would think you had heard him and would whip your head around looking, but that false hope had withered away after the dozenth time. So when you feel a warm, callused hand run up your back, you jolt and gasp. Even then, part of you wonders if it's some sort of hallucination.

"I'd say it's about time for us both to have a break, what do you think?"

You try to say yes, but your voice comes out in a dry croak, completely inaudible under the sounds of the machine. You nod stiffly, wincing at the soreness of your neck.

The hand leaves your back, and the machine's noises stretch into tired groans as the machine begins to slow down. The dildo inside of you pulls out, and with one last hiss from the machine, does not enter again. After hours of the assault, your body can still feel the steady push and pull of it, can still feel the rhythmic rocking and hear the chug-hiss-chug-hiss of the contraption echoing in your head.

You're only aware of just how silent the room actually is when you feel Gortash's hand around your waist and hear the rustle of the heavy chain being unlocked. As soon as it's gone, you fall forward onto the floor, realizing that you can't feel your knees with how long they've been planted on the ground. You splay your body out immediately, whimpering as all the numbness in your limbs awakens into all the aches and pains of being stuck on your hands and knees for hours.

"There we go..."

Gortash nudges your legs apart with a pointed shoe and admires your pussy. You don't understand why he finds it so exciting. After being pumped into by the machine since this morning, you can feel your hole gaping open uselessly, the muscles too tired to contract. That, combined with the slick and cum and urine drying on your thighs and in a puddle on the floor, you know you look like an absolute wreck. But Gortash is getting off to it, pawing at his erection carefully with a gold-gilded hand as he toes your legs open a bit more, dark eyes hungrily taking in the sight of you.

"How many?" He asks, unfastening his pants as he steps between your legs and lowers down, "You kept count like I asked, didn't you?"

You did-- or at least, you tried to. Some of your orgasms blended together, and once the pain and overstimulation set in after the first hour, it had become increasingly harder to keep a coherent thought. You lay on the floor, still feeling like you're rocking with the machine, trying to remember the last number you had mentally tallied.

"Seven...teen..." You hoarsely answer, obediently spreading your legs as Gortash settles between them, his hard cock in hand.

"Seventeen?" Gortash repeats with almost a pout, "I was expecting something in the thirties." His lips pucker in thought as he spreads your pussy to examine you more thoroughly. "There's quite a bit of redness and swelling, I'll strengthen the lubrication spell....and perhaps I can alter the machine to provide clitoral stimulation?"

He's mumbling to himself now and you can see his dark eyes flicker to and fro as his mind works. Even now, with your body battered and your mind fried, you still find yourself appreciating his inventor's spirit. There's a maddening cleverness to everything he does, and even if you're on the receiving end of his experimentations, you can't help but admire his genius.

"I'll tinker with it a bit after work," He nods resolutely before flashing you a charming smile, "But in the meantime, let's see if we can get you to eighteen."

You dread being entered again-- the aching relief of being empty after all this time is a godsend that you're clinging to, but you know better than to deny Gortash.

He lines his cock up and effortlessly slides into your abused hole, his balls pressing against you before you even realize that he's all the way in. To your surprise, it doesn't hurt like his toy did. There's more give to his cock, it's not as hard and unforgiving as the metal of the dildo. Rather than impale and stretch, it conforms-- bending subtley with the passage of you, joining with your body rather than conquering. And unlike the dildo with it's impersonal pumping, Gortash stills when he's inside of you, the top of his pelvis pressing so perfectly into your clit. It's the first time it's been touched all day, and the sudden burst of pleasure has you gasping.

It's far from the first time you've been taken by Gortash, but it is the first time you've noticed such things, and even appreciated them.

"Enver," You say, your words nothing more than a jittering whisper from your sore throat, "Please..."

"Even after hours of being fucked, you still want more?" Gortash can't hide the glee in his voice as he begins rolling his hips-- deep, slow thrusts that never have your bodies parting. Like this, he's grinding so achingly perfect against your clit...And by his grin, it's certainly on purpose. "Or is it that you prefer my cock to the toy I made for you?"

"You," You rasp out, your voice cracking around the edges as you begin to moan in time with his ministrations, "Always, ahh, you--"

You swear you can feel Gortash swell inside of you. He looks down at you, the torchlight along the walls catching in the depths of his brown eyes and making them glitter with warmth.

He leans down and kisses you. After crying out and panting all day, your mouth is tacky, but it doesn't seem to bother him in the slightest. He kisses you deeply, his saliva mercifully moistening your dry tongue and reinvigorating you.

His thrusts speed up as your moans do. Your clit is trapped against him, rubbed and squeezed over and over between your bodies as his breathing picks up. You can feel your body tightening around him as your noises become higher and more urgent.

Despite how tired your body is, it seems unable to deny him. The warm weight of him on top of you, the taste of him in your mouth, the feeling of him inside of you...

You cum with a cry and a weak writhing, holding him tight as your overworked muscles spasm and clamp around him. It hurts, but that pain only comes second to the pleasure of it. And as if being rewarded for your efforts, you feel his seed spill inside of you, the heated slickness of it like a salve on your chafed walls.

"That's it," Gortash kisses you messily before dragging his lips to your throat and groaning, "Good girl--ah, that's my good girl..."

The praise fills you with more euphoria than the orgasm. If you weren't so dehydrated, you're pretty sure you'd cry. Instead, you hold him tight and grimace as you force yourself to clench around him even tighter to show your gratitude.

Gortash kisses your neck, then your lips before pulling away. He stands and tucks his limpening cock back in his pants before sighing happily.

"As much as I'd like to stay, I'm afraid our break is up."

He reaches down and grabs your arm, and you weakly scramble to sit up. But before you can make it to your feet, Gortash is forcing you forward onto your hands and knees once again.

You realize what's happening when he grabs your hips to pull you back and the metal of the dildo, now cooled from lack of body contact, touches your ass.

"No," You sob dryly, wanting so desperately to collapse and refuse him, but not having the willpower to do so, "P-please, no..."

"Hush now, love." Gortash tuts and smacks you lightly on the thigh before grabbing the chains and wrapping them around your waist once more, "It's only a few more hours."

Your dry throat contracts and your eyes burn as you cry emptily, your head hanging as the aches you had only just gotten relief from begin anew.

[genericpuff]

1. Have you read Circe by Madeline Miller + Song of Achilles ~ if you have what are your thoughts

2. In the original what was your favorite male character drawn out (mine was Hermes only bc I found him hot😓)

3. How long do you think it’ll take you to ‘finish’ your story, like do you have a set date: 2026,2027, even 2030🙈🙈

4. What’s your backstory on tattooing and art, was this your initial plan

5. Fave girl character, (mine is Minthe only bc she reminds me of my younger self since I seemed to only choose realtionships where I get here)

thank youuu

ahaha so many questions! I'll answer them as concisely as I can :>

1.) Song of Achilles is on my shelf, I've been meaning to read it all but I haven't been able to make time for it, I might try and do so before the new year! I've definitely heard great things :>

2.) Hephaestus! He gives me such older brother vibes, he just seems like a really chill and snuggly guy LOL Only complaint about his character design is the fact that he's constantly using running blades (sure they look cool but they're not practical for casual wear, you're supposed to use them for, y'know... running lmao) but that's really it, I think his arc with Aphrodite in S3 was poorly written tbh especially with how rushed it was, but overall not the worst treatment out of the cast.

3.) Definitely don't want it to take until 2030 LMAO It's gonna depend on a few variables, including update schedule (I'd really like to get back to posting once a week again like I used to but I don't think it's gonna be possible for a little while u.u""") and how long the final scripts come out to be. Ideally though I'd like it to be wrapped up within another year or two. This definitely isn't one of those "work on it indefinitely" type projects, I have an end goal in mind and I don't want it to take over half a decade like my last comic project did LOL

4.) Never expected to wind up making Rekindled or in tattooing. I'm kind of a "fall into it" type person, I do what feels right in the moment even if it's not what I initially planned for (within reason, of course! I've learned to sit on new ideas and plans for a bit before pursuing them to ensure I'm actually into them before diving in lol it helps me avoid the impulsive ADHD-fueled decisions 😆). I sort of had a plan for myself back in primary and high school - I wanted to become a video game concept artist, but over time as I got into making comics and after I graduated college, it just never really happened. It's never too late, of course, but right now I'm having a lot of fun tattooing and making comics in my free time ! I think I'd still be making comics even if I ended up in game dev, it satisfies my storytelling side haha

5.) If you mean specifically LO, yeah, Minthe here too. Which is wild because I remember when I was still a huge fan of the comic and was on the "fuck Minthe!" train. Now that I've explored the comic with a more critical eye, I sympathize with her way more and I really hope she had gotten a more satisfying conclusion. Still, she got away from Hades and Persephone's nonsense so that's better than nothing LMAO but I definitely want to explore her side more in Rekindled as the story unfolds, I have some fun plans for her <3

[pizza-cake-house]

so i listened the entire clancy album thru and it's. good, i like how each song has a distinct theme and tunes and stuff and each has a different message in them for us or anyone who knows atleast a lil bit about the pilots lore but they're all good. also this isn't gonna be like a rate list for these songs, i'm just sharing my thoughts about them but i might make a separate post where i rate them ig (so that's why all the songs aren't here)

overcompensate is kinda the Main Song in it, the one everybody knows by now. good but it gets kinda repetitive if you've already heard it multiple times before imo. kinda gives me the vibes that i've heard it before and i could need some change but ig that's just me.

lavish is definitely the silliest song in that album. it's got all the humour and the silly tunes and the theme of the boys wearing suits and being the big rich famous superstars they are, drinking capri suns like wine and riding a limo, but also jabbing at the music industry for screwing them up lmao. also idk how androgynous is actually pronounced out loud but it just felt wrong to me imo idk lol.

the craving (jenna's version) is for jenna and about jenna and only shows how much tyler loves her and wants to spend more time with her and the fam but can't bc of his music career and tours and such and propably worries that he's taking smth from her more than he is giving and wishes he could do the opposite. a love song about jenna. love it. 10/10 might make me cry thinking bout it

oldies station was better than i'd thought it was, i'd expected it to be like,, a full on rock song but it was. calmer than that. kinda chill. so good i listened to it twice bc i liked the vibe it has. the type of song i like listening but don't want to end even tho it eventually does.

paladin strait, the finale song. i would swim the paladin strait with no floatation tells you all about the song tbh. tyler swims across the paladin strait to face the bishops in dema but idk who is the visual cue on the other shoreline, maybe it's josh??

since ig josh was shown in the mv wearing his trench outfit and he's protecting tyler from dema with that since bishops can't see yellow but they can see red which means tyler sets himself intentionally in danger by doing that. silly cat man.

-10 points for hearing nico speak in the end of the song tho like ik it's important for the lore n shit but damn. dude idc i actually don't like u that much. shut up

Edit: fixed a typo in the oldies station review. it was supposed to say "don't want to END even tho it does". hope it clears out some confusion now.

[ghostsbimbo]

Mr.Owl Ate My Metal Worm - Simon "Ghost" Riley x civilian!Reader Trigger Warnings: the topic of self harm/self inflicted wounds/implied self harm. A/N: This is literally just me coping. Title is a song by D.R.U.G.S. [ Destroy Rebuild Until God Shows ] Glad I'm having a mental breakdown after Finals are over lmao. Also, I did include a link to the song, but please don't listen to it if you're in a bad headspace, ty. word count: 345

I'd like to keep cuttin' I'd like to keep cuttin' but I can't stand to watch myself bleed

it was just supposed to be one little cut. that's what it was supposed to be. just one fucking little measly cut to shut the voices up in your head. it probably didn't help that you were blasting your usual music that genuinely effected you in this mind set.

but here you are, in your shared bathroom sitting on the closed toilet, clutching toilet paper to your thigh, a broken & melted shaving razor sitting on the bathroom counter as couple pretty deep cuts bleed through each layer of toilet paper you keep adding.

you jolted a tiny bit when you heard his voice. "you ok in there?" simon questioned after a light knock. it caused you to freeze, not even able to respond to his inquiry. your breathing quickened, your thoughts starting to become more irrational than what they were prior to him checking on you.

you glanced at the door handle as you noticed it starting to turn, the door actually starting to open. fuck, of course you forgot to lock the door. when he finally sees you, he takes in the scene and lets out a soft sigh.

he grabbed your phone, turning off the song that was on loop. he grabbed the first aid kit from under the sink, along with some rubbing alcohol. he gently took your hand away from your leg, and slowly uncovered the cuts.

"I...I'm sorry Simon." you muttered. he just stayed quiet, cleaning your cuts and bandaging you up.

"next time you feel like doing this, come to me, please?" he requested after he was all done. "don't like knowin' ya feel like ya need to do this to yourself." he added before getting up off the floor, putting everything he used away, taking the razor as he left the room.

the next day, you two set up a safety plan for when you felt like this again, him taking leave to help you get better again. bringing you to therapy, finding new healthier coping mechanisms for when he's away - including getting you a weighted blanket.

[ad-hawkeye]

posing you a potentially difficult task:rate artem’s year three worst to best(when you get the time ofc)

anon this was difficult on my soul. but i did it. mostly. because there's one or two i haven't watched in full myself, and one of those i legit have heard nothing about in terms of quality, i will mark them with a star.

i will also be including some of the upcoming third year cards i've read the translations of.

with that disclaimer out of the way, here's my list! worst from best.

ocean’s enchantment [summer splash] - i have no clue how they made a card that i consider worse than artem's second anniversary card but. by god did they do it. never say anything is impossible. at least artem was dressed nice in his second anniversary card. and also shitfaced. literally nothing is in this card's favor. also artem knowing how to surf is mind numbingly stupid i'll say it. lavish invitation [second anniversary] - i've bitched and moaned about this card for nearly two years now. you all know the takes on this one. third anniversary - this one nearly put me to sleep! 2/10. despite some weird short lived ooc moments, not as bad as artem's second anniversary card. its main sin is being a chore to get through. i was fighting against the urge to skip forward. mediocre art. top up cello ssr - ugh. i got so annoyed by this one i stopped watching a few minutes before the end. it's yet another "omg no way artem is a master at this random ass hobby?!?!?!?!??" card that year three LOVES and the explanation for it is so convoluted. really pretty art though. always happy to see rosa's canonical violin skills mentioned. calm as the night [billiards] - this one was fine. i guess? first of the cards i don't actively dislike. epic highs (omg this part made me smile like a year one/two card!) and epic lows (why are they licking each other's arms) velocity of desire [racing]* - i'd rank this one equal to artem's billiards card. one of the ssrs i mentioned that i haven't actually read, but i've seen people have generally indifferent to positive commentary on. better handling of jealousy. the actual event this came with was super cute though. love for the ages [3rd birthday] - cute art, serviceable if not a teensy bit convoluted story. an enjoyable time. this ranking is NOT about the birthday event it came with which, imo, sucked major ass. enshrouded sunglow - to the surprise of no one the au cards are going to wind up topping this list. funny enough i think this is artem's weakest au card. it's afraid to take risks and was a bit more boring than the other aus. still ages better than most of year three though. cutie ollie - mind boggling how this card where artem "isn't used to this kind of physical touch" in regards to mc playing with his hair, comes AFTER the daddy dom sex god ssr. anyways this one is very cute. i'm convinced it was supposed to be a year two card bc the only mention of second anniversary is a quick mention of an engagement ring. lmao. stormy enigma [bakerlon] - bakerlon my beloved. save me bakerlon save me. one of artem's better au cards, but i still wouldn't rank it first. also celestine is in it! a win! belle nuit d'amour - further evidence to my claim that tot's personal story cards rarely if ever suck. some good character stuff, the closest we've seen to artem fucking up a case, really good art. would recommend. or maybe not idk i haven't actually read the global version but i can't imagine it's too different from the fan translation i read. dragonsbreath - this one ties with the weeds for my favorite artem au card story. neil is in this one. fun plot. good art. good characterization.

[UNRANKED] voice of comfort* - i have not read this one nor have i ever seen anyone talk about it like. ever. or maybe i did read it and just fucking forgot. idk. don't really have the energy to read it regardless. the art is kinda mid. if anyone wants to message me their thoughts on this one, i can tentatively adjust my ranking on it

*i have not personally read either of these. any ratings are done via word of mouth or summary. regard these ratings tentatively.

[gamerwoo]

Omg please continue the Minghao and Jia drabble if you still want to, I love their lore so much!!

pfft well if ur gonna twist my arm i suppose i will 🙄

(i was waiting for someone to ask)

this is kinda rushed though because i didn't want to forget the idea and i poorly scribbled it down somewhere lmao. sorry if it kinda sucks <3

part 1 | tftp masterlist

»»————-　　————-««

"So that's how you found him?" Suvi giggled, thinking Jia and Minghao's story was the cutest love story she could've ever heard. "I can't believe it was right when Lilly died -- talk about fate!"

"It was pretty perfect timing," Danbi nodded. "Obviously everyone was really distraught, but Minghao had his mate there for him. I guess he would always tell the pack that she saved his life."

"Yup," Jia laughed softly. "Doesn't let me forget it."

"Hang on," Jooyeon interrupted, staring at Jia intensely. She had even leaned forward as she listened to the blind girl's story because she was so invested, "so what happened with XiuXiu?"

The girls were staying at Hanbin's place with the other mates while all the wolves were hanging out together at some secret werewolf-only speakeasy that Hanbin and his pack went out to from time to time. It wasn't often just the girls got to hang out together, and it was even more rare that they got to spend any time with the girls from Kyung's old pack. But all the boys wanted to get together before Minghao and Junhui's annual trip back to China. And this year, they were taking Jia with them.

The conversation originally began with Ari curiously asking what had happened to the rest of Hanbin's pack. Eunjin had screamed her head off as soon as she was on the property, which of course, startled everyone, so Hanbin had mentioned offhandedly that a lot of their pack had passed away before he went out with the other wolves. Ari being Ari, was curious and didn't know any better to have a filter, but the girls explained most of what happened.

That is, until they got sidetracked. Kyung talked about how Taejin was lured to his death by his mate, and Yeji had jokingly said, "Jia, imagine if Minghao had lured you to your death, huh?"

So that sparked the question of how did Minghao and Jia even meet since it happened in a dream.

"Or June!" Jimin added on.

Jia merely shrugged, "I don't know. I never saw either of them again."

"What?!" the thief whined. "No way! You have to know what happened to at least June!"

"What a shitty ending..." Kyung muttered.

"Do you think I'd see any clues as to where June went?" Jia laughed. "I'm blind."

"I can't believe we're just left on a cliffhanger like that," Seongmi sighed.

"How do you think I feel? It really makes me sad... I hope she's doing well, wherever she is."

"Why would she be the first dream you ever entered, though?" Soomin wondered. "It's so random..."

Rika shrugged, "Sometimes life doesn't give us answers."

"If you're Rinnie," Jimin was watching Kyung whisper translations in Cooper's ear, "it rarely ever does."

-

The boat ride wasn't Jia's favorite. She hadn't been on a boat since she had to flee when she was a child, so she didn't really remember the experience. She realized just how awful being stranded in the middle of the ocean on an unfamiliar vessel with a bunch of strangers was when you couldn't see anything.

Even if she could see, she was sure she would hate it.

"My parents are old," Minghao warned her. "They won't want to go out and explore with us. They're tired pretty often."

"That's okay," she assured him with a smile. "I'm excited to meet them no matter what."

"You think having old parents is bad?" Jun scoffed. "My baby brother looks older than me."

Appearance-wise, Jun and Minghao looked like they were in their 20's. And their bodies technically were. That was around the age that they stopped getting older until they met their mates. Minghao started aging again as soon as he met his mate -- physically, of course. Junhui was still stuck.

But despite their young appearances, they were both over 40 years older than they appeared. So both of their parents were much older than one might expect, and any younger relatives they had appeared to be older than them now.

On the way to Minghao's old house, he explained how he ran away from home as soon as he realized what he was. But he said his parents went out looking for him and wouldn't stop until they found him. He admitted what he was and ran away before either of them could accept him or turn him away. He just wanted to protect them Then he ended up finding Soonyoung, so he went off with him and never looked back.

"I was really close with my cousin, Yaling," he told you. "We were basically like siblings, so I told her to take care of my parents before I left. She tried to convince me to stay, but I knew how dangerous it was."

Jun was the one to convince him to return home half a decade later. Since he went to visit his mom, Minghao would often wonder aloud how his own family was doing, so finally, the older wolf coaxed Minghao into going with him. And that was when he realized his family had been searching for him the whole time.

"They put up missing persons pictures using a couple photos of me from family photo albums," Minghao chuckled at the memory. "It was crazy because it was five years later and I still looked like that."

Looking back, Minghao felt lucky that he reunited with his family so he could watch them grow and get old. It was bittersweet getting to see his parents gray while he stayed the same. He was grateful to still be loved by them so he could experience them getting older, but it hurt that he couldn't age with them.

But then there were happy moments, like watching his relatives that he grew up with -- like Yaling -- get married and have families.

"The Xu family reunion is huge," Junhui stated with a laugh. "Everyone shows up to see Hao."

Just as Jun promised, Minghao's parents' house was full to capacity when the trio arrived. While Jia couldn't see all the people, she could hear the commotion. It was overwhelming, but she put on her warmest smile and let the two wolves help her around as they introduced her to his family.

It was as Minghao was introducing her to his parents and Yaling that his mother was interrupted.

"Jia?" a female voice asked.

Jia's eyes wandered, her head turning toward the noise. She waited to hear something else, but all she heard was soft footsteps getting closer until they stopped in front of her.

"Your eyes look the same," the girl giggled excitedly.

Her head cocked to one side, "I-I'm sorry?"

"Xiuying, what are you talking about?" he asked her.

"I know her," she insisted before looking at Jia again. "Don't you remember?"

Minghao paused while he thought, and then his eyes seemed to brighten, "You two are about the same age. But if she knew you before she moved away... XiuXiu, she's blind now."

Jia's eyes suddenly widened and her entire body seemed to perk up.

"XiuXiu?"

"Jia!" she laughed again before throwing her arms around Jia.

Jia let go of Minghao's arm to hug her back, a smile so big spreading across her face that it made her eyes close.

Minghao looked to Junhui first, both boys sharing confused looks before he turned to Yaling for answers. Somehow, his cousin looked like she knew exactly what was going on and she was shocked.

"Did you know?" Minghao asked her.

"I-- ...I thought Jia was imaginary..." was all she said.

"XiuXiu's dreams were the first I ever entered," Jia explained once the two girls pulled away. "Aside from my dad's, of course. I only ever saw her dreams up until I had to leave home."

"I was wondering where you went!" Xiuying was still laughing -- out of both excitement, joy, and shock.

"XiuXiu cried for days," Yaling nodded. Then she imitated her wailing of, "'Where's Jia! I miss Jia!'"

The rest of the reunion was sweet and happy. Everyone was excited to see Minghao and meet his mate, and the two girls were practically inseparable. But somehow, it seemed to make his parents even more fond of Jia -- although, it was hard to not be fond of her in the first place.

That night, after everyone had gone home and Minghao's family retreated into the own rooms and made sure Jun was settled in the guest room, Minghao and Jia curled up together in Minghao's old room that his family kept for him. And as they were winding down, of course Minghao had to bring up his mate's history with his 'niece'.

"How come you never mentioned XiuXiu?" he asked.

Jia shrugged as she pulled the covers up, "It seemed a little pointless. I obviously wouldn't expect you to know who she was, so why would I mention the random little girl I used to visit?

"Actually, what about you?" she asked with a frown, turning it around on her mate. "How come you never mentioned XiuXiu talking about a Jia?"

He chuckled, "Because Jia isn't an uncommon name, and I never heard about a Jia after Xiuying got older. I figured it really was just an imaginary friend like everyone else. Plus, I only saw her once a year so her Jia never really stuck with me."

"Sure, HaoHao," she chuckled, sliding down the bed until her head touched the pillows.

"You know what that means, right?" Minghao asked as he followed suit.

"Hmm?"

"You've been connected to me for a long time," he giggled. "You've always been made for me."

Jia scoffed as she rolled over to snuggle into Minghao's chest, "I always knew that."

There was a pounding on the wall before the pair heard Junhui call just loud enough for them both to hear, "Could you wait until I fall asleep to be disgustingly cheesy?"

[aerospectrum]

@wexarethewalkingxdead asked: 1: How are you today? 8: How would you describe yourself to a stranger? 13: When did you start roleplaying? 14: What are your favorite subjects/genres to roleplay? 15: What fandoms are you in? 17: How many muses do you currently have? 22: What do you think are your roleplaying strengths and weaknesses? 23: Is roleplaying more of a job or a hobby to you? 27: Name something that’s a favorite of yours? 28: Any advice for other roleplayers? NOSY MEEEEMES :: OPEN

i feel like I ramble so badly so i put all the answers under a readmore to save your dash sanities lol.

1] I am surviiivin', but i'm chill. I have crazy insomnia so I haven't been able to sleep much and I am so behind on asks and drafts and everything else... aaaah maybe I'm stressed lol. but chill stressed lol.

8] hmm, I guess maybe to a stranger i'd describe me as timid or shy or quiet. Odd looking in a way that isn't unique? Mismatched and in need of a haircut as well

13] hmm, I think officially in 09 or maybe 2010?

14] I love angst/comfort I also really love enemies to lovers those are so fulfilling especially when they don't realize they've fallen for one another just yet and then something happens to one of them and it's just "oh ... i'm in love aren't i?

15] I'm in so many fandoms at this point, oh gosh. Supernatural, the Boys, Marvel, hmmm, Walking Dead, Lucifer, , Stardew, Owl House, Destiel lmao, Yellowstone, Jurassic Park, honestly if it snags my interest i just jump in headfirst.

17] oh dang, I'm not sure, I think 12-15 as of now, but some never get out there but I still love them very much!

22] i think a strength of mine is I'm very willing to learn new fandoms and the lore to place my muses into them in a way that fits. I also think I'm fairly accepting of all muses be them canon or originals- I always try to put in the effort to make sure everyone feels seen and heard! I think my biggest weakness is that I love to start so many threads all at once then I get overwhelmed and kinda become a hermit. I forget to focus on just a few at a time and then I get panicky lol. But it's fine, i love having a million different threads with everyone because it's fun and cute!

23] i like to keep rp as a hobby, though it could definitely be a cool job!

27] a favorite thing for me is making meals for others. I went through a lot of food scarcity when I was younger and i think that's something that lowkey traumatized me, so to be able to make a meal for someone i love- or even someone i don't know makes me feel like I'm undoing that particular trauma in myself by providing for others in a way that's easy for me to show love???

28] my advice would be, try really hard to not take yourself too seriously, enjoy the goofy moods and remember that this is supposed to be fun! it's easier said than done but you'll lose the fun when you start comparing yourself to others. It's quality not quantity and sometimes people are gonna be better than you and that is completely ok- it doesn't negate your worth or abilities as a writer or a person. even though it's really scary and some of us are shy or struggle with anxiety- try and message people you enjoy writing with and create meaningful healthy ooc relationships, you're not annoying one another. we're all searching for community and belonging so if you reach out to someone and they turn out to be a huge dillweed, don't sweat it, there's so many other super kind people here to talk and chill with- try not to let the mean ol' hoes ruin your time here, lol.

[cagedchoices]

I saw a post the other day that said it's weird when people say “[muse name] is so spicy right now” because, in their words, “people who do that are just writing smut as a self-insert fantasy to get off to" I thought that was kind of reductive and untrue and it kind of highlights a growing issue I’ve noticed in the RPC and I kind of just wanted to talk about it from my own perspective.

I am an asexual, aromantic, and nonbinary afab person. My most consistently present roleplay muse for the past 4 years is a cis man I headcanon to be bisexual and biromantic. I feel like it should be somewhat obvious that this is not a self insert fantasy for me, but if it's not that obvious, I'll try to explain.

Initially, I based Caleb's sexuality off an admittedly narrow perception of his canon background. I interpreted his relationship with Francis as romantic partially because at the time, I thought “There’s no heterosexual explanation for how emotional Caleb gets whenever he thinks about Francis, so therefore he must have been in love with this man.”

In addition to that, Caleb had 2 failed relationships after Francis died and there’s nothing dictating what gender(s) those partners were.

I was also partially motivated by spite. How many times has everyone heard “ugh not every close emotional bond between two men has to be gay 😒” ? How many times has that been used to shut down any conversation on the question of sexuality when it involves two male characters? I was sick of it.

I used to say that though. Before I knew any better. I'd see two characters who had a connection I liked seeing as platonic, and instead of reasoning that it's perfectly valid to interpret these characters how you want, I would be like “no. absolutely not. these characters aren't gay because the author didn't write them to be and didn't say they were and actually it's pretty homophobic to think the only way men can be emotionally vulnerable is if they're gay” which is…STUPID lmao don't be like Past Me. That was a DARVO tactic and a particularly shitty one at that. I'm not like that anymore and I'm glad I learned to do better.

Anyways... I love shipping, but I’m less attached to looking through shipping goggles these days and I try not to look at anything from such a narrow point of view anymore. Now whenever I think about the bond between Caleb and Francis, I can see it in a multitude of ways. Which is the same way I see his bond with Dolores in season 3 and his bond with Maeve in season 4. And further how I see potential for ships I develop in roleplay.

But recently I'd been struggling a little bit with truly defining the difference between romantic versus platonic ideals. Most of the generic definitions I see out there describe romantic attraction as being “the desire to do romantic things with someone” and then the examples listed are something like “kissing, holding hands, getting married, spending time together, etc.” and I'm just like “okay what about when people do those things *without* romantic attraction involved?”

Like it just breaks my brain. People get married for reasons that aren't out of love sometimes. And as much as I like kiss scenes in fiction and I like writing them when my brain stops short circuiting long enough to actually do that, I think the entire act of putting your mouth on another human’s mouth and sometimes getting tongues or teeth involved in smushing your lips together over and over again is a really weird ritual to show someone you like them. I still write it though because it's cute. As for holding hands and spending time together?? Are we just not supposed to spend time with friends ever? What the fuck.

I stumbled across a video a few days ago by a neuroscientist who has studied the concept of love in the human brain and what she said helped me put things into a better perspective. Someone asked her if there's a good way to differentiate between platonic and romantic relationships when, especially in modern society, we don't have as much separation between the things humans do WITH romantic partners versus in non-romantic relationships and the lines blur more than they used to in the past.

What she said was that romantic love behaves similarly to an obsession or addiction in the brain. It's not just the fact that you want to DO so-called romantic activities with someone, it's more that you want to do them so badly with a specific person, you can't really let go of the thought until you follow the impulse to do it.

Kissing, for example. It's possible you might want to kiss a friend you have a strong platonic bond with, but if you don’t do it, then the interest usually fades and the brain will quickly move on. On the other hand, if you have a crush/partner/spouse/any kind of romantic connection and you want to kiss them, the brain will most likely fixate on the thought of kissing them until you actually go and do something. It will not fully move on until it gets the dopamine hit.

I guess since I’m aromantic, this means that for me, I don’t experience that addictive feeling of wanting to do something with someone so badly that it's all I think about. But I write a muse who is biromantic and does experience romantic attraction, which sort of requires me to know how it works, so I can actually write about it.

I see sexual attraction in a similar way. I’m asexual and in my case, I'm one of the ones who doesn't experience sexual attraction in any way and is not comfortable with being personally involved in sex. But my muse is bisexual and does experience sexual attraction.

So I decided to start writing smutty things last year and I had a couple reasons for it. The first is that I had never actually written smut before so it was something new to try, and practice would mean I would get better at it.

The second was that I have watched, for years, many of my mutuals routinely participate in sexy sunday and similar things. It probably sounds kind of like peer pressure, but it wasn’t like anyone was really encouraging me to do anything or not do anything. It was more like after years and years of existing in my own bubble of never engaging in it, I wanted to see what I was missing. Completely my choice.

Thirdly, after tackling the subjects of “where the fuck do you put your hands?” “does this position sound physically possible? or...comfortable?” and the like, writing simple kiss scenes or non-sexual intimacy no longer feels like a monumental task that I mentally freeze up on the second I realize I have to write.

For a while it also got very hard for me to figure out when someone wanted to ship with me versus when they didn’t. I was afraid to ask. I started overthinking everything to the effect of “what if they think I’m being presumptuous and pressuring them into writing a romantic relationship they don’t want?” or “what if they are afraid to tell me they actually Are interested in a ship in case i think they’re trying to pressure me into it instead?”

There was also quite a bit of “oh god what if they see that i wrote my muse on a date with someone in a certain location and when i put our muses in that same location for a different thread they think it’s a date too when it’s not?” or even “what if a mun of a duplicate muse sees me writing a ship with a different partner writing the same muse and they start thinking i’m only writing with them to add them to a weird little collection or something?” and all the social anxiety I fall victim to when my mental health gets tanked by stress and depression.

All of this to say, now that I’ve climbed back out of the pit of despair I fell into… I don’t think anything is as simple as “people only write shipping to fulfill the desire for a relationship/people only write smut to fulfill their own sexual desires.” I think you have to take it on a case by case basis and not make broad assumptions. Otherwise all you're gonna do is alienate people over things that really don't matter.

Plus, maybe it's just that “[muse name] is feeling so spicy right now!” is a lot quicker and easier to say than “the part of my subconscious imagination that [muse name] occupies is telling me that if this muse were a real person, they would be feeling sexually aroused right about now and I'm willing to write about it!” so like. Y’know.

[deductivisms]

if you read the blue giant manga what do you think about the movie ending??

I WAS JUST THINKING ABOUT THIS LMAO

... short answer no spoilers? i like the movie ending a lot / the changes they made really suit the film version !!

long answer all spoilers

i'm the type of person who considers something "good" if i think it's moving and it definitely helped that you could hear the jazz in the movie adaptation -- like.

you get this really crappy rendition of first note at the beginning of the movie, it sounds unpolished (by design ofc), tamada is fighting for his life but even dai and yukinori are still kind of grappling with each other -- this doesn't make it bad and it does have its charms (the composition itself is very nice; s/o to first note which is one of my most played songs of 2023 according to my spotify wrapped LMAOOO--) but when you compare it to the last rendition of first note it's LIKE ?!?!??!

after yukinori returns from the hospital and is only able to play the piano using his left hand -- which of course calls back to his first encounter to Dai, who saw him performing using only his left hand

i thought it was crazy

i also thought that them having the disbandment conversation directly before the performance - which would be their first and last as a trio at So Blue - elevated the emotional weight of the scene to levels that i thought was kind of mean 😭

like i'd read the manga so i was anticipating the accident and the disbandment but when that bit was altered for the movie i was like UM!??!?!!

it was.

really good and i like that it felt like a true end to JASS as a trio and also tamada's tears before the performance had me like AUAUAUGUGHVHHGG---!!!

... that being said i do think the original manga ending is emotional in its own way too

in the movie, yukinori still suggests disbandment because dai still wants to continue on with his aspirations as a saxophonist and there's no guarantee that his hand will heal up the way it's supposed to -- they're also both aware that jazz bands don't stay together all the time, it's the nature of the genre and goes hand in hand with the 'in the moment' nature of jazz

that part isn't different but what is different is that tamada chooses to stop playing the drums on his own -- he's already noted that he'll never be able to play on the level of dai or yukinori, he's satisfied to retire; during his last performance with dai, he likely realized that dai was only going to get better and better and he was there during the conversation with yukinori wherein yuki explains that he can't and refuses to stop dai's momentum, and tamada likely draws the same conclusion

that being said, the fact that JASS was unable to perform as a trio upon a stage that they aspired towards is tragic in itself

unlike in the movie, they don't end off together, and dai's bandmates essentially walk away from him

furthermore you get to see dai's reaction to their disbandment, and it's one of the rare instances where he's upset - his own aspirations have separated him from two people he cares about, who have been with him from the beginning

it's like ??!?!?!? idk ishizuka is nuts for that

i think the movie ending suits the film adaptation given the fact that performances are animated and able to be heard (that piano solo in first note still makes me tear up HAHA,,) while also lending the film to a more standalone feel -- i think given the performances that the film would have felt incomplete if they hadn't ended together

but the manga ending is also good as it is because it lends itself to the fact that blue giant has sequel manga, dai's journey isn't over, and he's set to keep going!!

[aerodaltonimperial]

The Attic Expedition AU

(never heard of this in my life, so... you get this LMAO)

Hook's seen some pretty bad hoarders before, but this...this reaches a whole new level. He surveys the attic, shoved to the brim with so much junk he can't even identify most of it, as his stomach sinks down to his feet. He so is not going to make it out of Louisiana before mosquito season starts.

"Yeah," Ricky says. He winces, but he does not look nearly as apologetic as he should. "This'll be a tough one." He slaps Hook on the back. "Good luck, rookie; we'll call in about a week and see how you're doing."

"I hate you," Hook tries, weakly, which is thoroughly ignored as Ricky tromps back down the steps. He turns back to the mess. Jesus, he's probably going to be buried alive when this shit falls on him.

The first day, he clears out barely a square foot of space and nearly fills the dumpster they'd hauled in. That night, he has to call to get the collection company to come empty it. The second day, he gets a little further, but still hasn't found anything valuable. It's all just junk.

But on the third day, he stumbles upon an old chest at the bottom of a heap, covered with dust and decidedly locked. Hook bashes the padlock off with a pair of garden shears.

Problem is, it's empty when he opens it. "The fuck?" he asks to the stale attic air.

"No swearing," says someone from behind him. Hook whirls, hands up in fists in case he needs to start swinging. There's a guy sitting on a precarious pile of old board games on the other side of the room. He waves a little. "Hello."

"What the hell?" Hook gasps. "Where did you come from?"

The guy nods at the box at Hook's feet. "You opened it."

"What?" Hook asks, thoroughly confused.

The guy hops down from the pile, shoving his hands down in his pockets. He's wearing strangely out-of-date clothes, like he went shopping in the 1950s, but he's got blue eyes straight out of a romance novel. He's good-looking, kind of alarmingly so. "It was locked for a reason."

Okay, creepy. Hook bends down to grab for the garden shears again, and holds them up, hoping he looks like he means business. "Don't come any closer. I'll cut your fingers off."

"Tough guy," the man says. He raises one hand, waggling said digits like an invitation.

"Where did you come from?" Hook demands.

"I already told you," is the answer, along with a shrug. "As for all the other ones you want to ask, yes, I'm definitely dangerous. Can't you tell?"

"You look normal, dude. Nice vintage threads."

This seems to surprise him. The man puts a hand to his face, and then, when he doesn't encounter what he apparently thinks should be there, another. His eyes widen. "Huh. That's a first."

"What am I supposed to be seeing?" Hook asks.

"The demon." The man stares at him, no longer menacing his way forward. "No one's ever seen past that."

These riddles are getting obnoxious. Hook's got a job to do. "What does that mean?"

"I...don't know." The man huffs out a little laugh. "I'm, uh, Danhausen."

"Is that a name?" Hook asks.

"It's the one I've been using since I turned, so, yes. Normally it fits better."

"Sure, right." Hook puts the shears down. He's reasonably sure at this point the guy isn't going to attack him. "Well, I've got a lot of work ahead of me, so..." He gestures at the mess still clinging to every corner of the attic.

The guy, Danhausen, looks around, almost like he's seeing everything for the first time. "I'd say so."

"You gonna help, or just stand there?"

Danhausen blinks owlishly at him. "Help?"

"Yeah, dude. Would be nice if you could assist in some way, y'know?"

"Well, I guess...why not?" Danhausen grabs for the nearest box, and they work quietly for the next few hours, as Hook checks every ten minutes or so to make sure he's still there and that he hasn't turned into some kind of a demon. (He never does. Hook takes him out for tacos at the end of the day, and it's the weirdest not-weird date he's ever been on.)

[bitegore]

cut for length rather than contents; Motormaster surrenders to the Autobots and no one can figure out why and also Motormaster is not telling lmao.

The answer is a truly godawful pun that i'll have to save for next year because passover is over and also i made it this year and i want to get fresh, new groans and eye-rolls lmao

Motormaster glowered at the Autobots. Kind of funny, since he was the one who'd brought himself here in the first place. The growl of his engines promised violence, but the sword he lugged around was still in his subspace and the gun he sometimes used was nowhere to be found either. Instead he stood in the open desert sand in front of the Ark and looked pissed, and a little dusty.

"Can you, uh," Sideswipe, who thank Primus was actually behaving himself instead of hitting first and asking questions never, "can you repeat that?"

"I said," Motormaster ground out. "Put me in. Your brig. Dumb fragger. Do you have mud in your audials or something?"

"We heard you," Wheeljack said, raising a hand to forestall any insults that would turn into proper violence. "You're… what, surrendering?"

"Obviously not. Do I look like a fragging loser?" Motormaster said.

"Okay," Wheeljack said. "So what's the deal?"

"Put me in your fragging brig," Motormaster snapped. "This is not that complicated. Aren't you supposed to be some smart big-processors engineer or some slag like that? You take me on your ship and you put me in a cell, I don't see what the fragging hold-up is."

"And you're here alone," Sideswipe cut in. "And it's not some trick."

Motormaster's engine gave a nasty rev, and then he grimaced and stuck his wrists out. "Not some trick. What kind of a loser trick would this be? You sound fragging stupid."

Sideswipe looked over to Wheeljack, and Wheeljack shrugged. Yeah, something was obviously fishy here, but he wasn't going to say it in front of Motormaster--

His internal comms beeped, a message from Sideswipe.

SdSw: This is definitely a trick.

WhJk: Sure seems kinda weird to me, at least. WhJk: Keep an eye on him, I'm going to talk to Prowl.

Sideswipe nodded, hefting his blaster.

WhJk: DON'T shoot him.

SdSw: Aw, Weej, you sure I can't shoot him a little? SdSw: Yeah I get it. I'll keep him here, I'm gonna comm Sunstreaker for backup. SdSw: Tell Prowl i want my fireworks back :(

Wheeljack wasn't in a joking mood, and he didn't think Prowl would be either. "Alright, you two, hang out here for a couple minutes while I get things ready for you, alright?"

Motormaster's glare switched from the muzzle of Sideswipe's blaster back to Wheeljack. "What on fragging Earth is the problem? Should I have come gift-wrapped or something? If you were Decepticons I'd already be in an interrogation cell. If I didn't--"

And then, even more suspiciously, he shut up and glared at the ground.

Weird. Definitely seemed like some kind of trap. And not one Motormaster wanted to play bait in. Maybe the Stunticons were on the outs with the Decepticons, even more so than Jazz had been saying.

Wheeljack turned and hurried inside. The faster they could figure out what to do here, the better. Getting Motormaster into custody would be a pretty big win… but only if it wasn't playing into some Decepticon scheme.

"So, uh," Sideswipe said, after standing in silence for a few minutes. "What's the deal here?"

"You put me in a cell and maybe I don't break your face," Motormaster growled.

"Yeah, sure, whatever." Sideswipe had a gun pointed at him and Motormaster was open-handed; his face wouldn't be the one breaking if Motormaster made a move. "Why are you here?"

"To be put in a cell in Autobot control. Fragging-- custody. That scrap." Motormaster didn't look any less torqued than he'd done all day. It was funny. His jaw was set like he'd been grinding his dentae and there were grooves in his palms from clenching his fists so hard, Sideswipe got to see the little indents when he'd first asked to be cuffed and arrested. Whatever was happening here, he was steaming mad. Funny how that hadn't lead to violence yet, but there was still plenty of time left in the day. Maybe when Sunstreaker got here they'd prod him into a fight they could win.

A fight they could probably win.

"Okay," Sideswipe said. "That's fucking weird, though. You know that, right?"

"It's temporary, if that helps any," Motormaster growled. "You won't have to feed me or whatever for more than a week."

"That doesn't really make this make any more sense, you know that, right?" Sideswipe said, catching a silent ping on his HUD.

SuSr: Explain. SuSr: Fight or no fight?

Ugh, so Sunny was in a fucking mood. That was the last thing Sideswipe needed. He got to typing.

Ignorant as he was of Sideswipe's truly abysmal life and troubles, Motormaster glowered harder and then grimaced like he was trying to fight the urge to just go stomping off. "I don't really give a frag if it makes sense to you."

Sideswipe rolled his optics and then tagged that in as a multimedia file.

SdSw: No idea. I want you on my back so that if this is an ambush or something I don't get a hole put in my head. There's always one more stunticon than we think there is and slag. fucking listen to this and tell me something isnt up. SdSw: motormaster_saying_some_scrap_4-22-86-46-191387-122-195618.mp4

SuSr: … SuSr: fine. On the way.

"--and Jazz and Bumblebee both have good intel on the location of the other Stunticons," Prowl finished. "Apparently they're off looking for 'unleavened' energon, whatever that means."

Wheeljack squinted down at the table, trying to think. "You think they might mean unleaded?" he finally asked.

"I'm not confident it matters," Prowl said. "Regardless, there isn't anything to suggest we've got anything to fear from taking Motormaster into custody."

"But it's strange, right?"

"Very," Prowl said. "Wheeljack, hold that thought for a few moments. I'm going to tell Sideswipe to take him in for now, and then I'm going to rendezvous with Red Alert and see what we can work out. I'd like you to come with."

"Alright," Wheeljack said, standing up from the table.

[spireofdeceit]

This is me asking about your transformers ocs

• Who was ‘born’ first?

• Who is the most temper-mental?

• Any of them a ‘class clown’?

• Name a favorite aspect of each [physical build, backstory, personality, etc.].

• Do your ocs enjoy earth and learning about human customs? Or is it beneath them?

I'll die for you thank you

There's a group of bots traveling around the space pretty aimlessly, consisting of Riff, ex-communications officer (so he likes to say but he's still pretty much in charge of the ship when captain isn't there), Monarch, an ex-phase sixer, twins Cleft and Treble who used to be mechanics for racers, Fleewheel, a used-to-be-smuggler pretty much, and the captain himself, Emberfist. Fairly there's more people... But that's all crew for now! Let's just say they interact with each other the most.

- Emberfist is the oldest! He's been around since times Before Megatron's decepticons, and feels very strongly about what both factions did to their home. He's forged as well! After him goes Fleewheel, then Riff, then Cleft and and Treble, then Monarch.

- Riff, I'd say. He tries to play it cool- a lot, but after everything that happened with him he's barely holding it together, from being an impulsive blabbermouth to a shutdown recluse. Good thing Ember figured out he's better at work and doing his weird music thing rather than just sit and sulk.

- Fleewheel. LOL. He's always this 👌 close to be kicked out of the ship, but for the same reasons that keep him there - his mouth and dumb sense of humor. He's a fun among the sad for what it's worth.

- I'm Yet to make designs for a lot of them, so bear with me 🤡

Riff might be my favorite out of all of them, I'm pretty happy with both his design and backstory/character. Fairly he started off as a sona (like most my favorite ocs do LOL), so he has combination of red and black that i love to work with. I find his disdain with war because of jis personal losses and desire to let them duke it out and leave him out of it also my favorite part.

Emberfist i love cuz in my head he looks like a very tired, a very done with everything mech. He's a monoformer, as well, so it didn't exactly make his life any easier. He's an engineer and he's the one who even built their ship! Overall i just like him, he cares for his fellow cybertronians who are tired and hurt, and pretty much welcomes anyone on his ship and won't be scared to protect it with all his might.

Monarch has one of my favorite designs I've ever done, i love the colors and her wings are torture for me to figure out but i love them nonetheless. Her story is also very fun to me she's just the biggest traumatized loser. She's a triple changer who could turn into a jet and a bomb. She was supposed to have an indestructible spark casing and such, so whenever she used her bomb alt mode, she'd be able to reconstruct herself. She, well. Never found out if it works LOL she just left when she was on her first mission cuz she got so so scared. Love her.

The twins are fun to me because i. Love twins. They play music all the time and are very high energy, it's fun to watch. They're small and frisky and generally just a delight. You'd think they cause mischief but they're more of snitches actually LMAO they don't get along with Fleewheel well.

As for Fleewheel... Anyway.

(Joking i actually think he's very silly i love silly guys who are just asking to have shit beat out of them)

- Only Fleewheel's been on Earth, actually! Had a lil rendezvous with Swindle there. Wasn't impressed much, and surely isn't looking forward to coming back there (though humans are quite entertaining)

As for others, they've HEARD, probably PASSED it at some point in search of energon, but didn't dare to land. For reasons. Riff downloaded a lot of Earth music at some point, though, and he's been menace about it ever since.

[godtier]

and now for something completely different—

so I'm playing through ffxvi and I wanted to Rant about my experience so far so spoilers

so firstly, and not actually spoilers lmao, idk why this game makes my ps5 so warm. it's honestly not... *that* impressive graphically? which isn't necessarily a dig at it; I'll play anything as long as I can tell wtf is going on and it's fun to play. so idk if it's just yet another AAA game that isn't optimized well or what, though typically console games are *more* optimized... idk! just a gripe.

other than that, I'm seeing some Issues developing narratively... I'm not what I'd call an Expert Writer but yknow it's been noticeable so far. here are few thoughts and gripes with the story:

the inconsistencies in the story. the biggest one so far, and this is what I'd consider p big spoilers, is clive's whole "I gotta come to terms with the fact I killed Joshua" which is like... okay *fair* I suppose, but once he figured out that he was ifrit, yknow after killing benedikta, he... I mean he kinda *did* immediately accept it?? so... the whole "I gotta accept this" part was odd. I have heard tell that it was meant to represent a jungian acceptance of the shadow, or at least that's what people are alluding to in their own theories (and this is all secondhand btw bc I have the tags blocked til I finish)

to elaborate on what jung's interpretation of the shadow is for those who don't know: the shadow is essentially the suppressed subconscious, the things you don't want to acknowledge, for better or worse. it's most typically applied to things like traumatic events, but jung specifically does not commit to the idea that the shadow is *only* bad things. when you confront the shadow, the next step is to integrate the shadow to the conscious mind or ego, which you could argue was why they may have written it the way they did; clive isn't just acknowledging that he did do that (which he pretty readily did when he figured out he was ifrit's dominant) but he's also accepting it as irrefutable fact and integrating it to the ego so it cannot be repressed again.

now... having said that, the *problem* narratively that I'm seeing is that... well. Joshua isn't dead. clearly if Joshua had died... well, that'd be one thing. now they're saying "well ACKCHUALLY 🤓 he didn't die at all!" so that, to me, renders the entire "journey" pointless. what exactly is he accepting? if he didn't actually do it, why or how could he feasibly accept ifrit in that context? wouldn't his subconscious mind, his shadow (ifrit in this case) remain unincorporated? it's just very clunky and I think it was meant to show Clive as an unreliable narrator.... but there's really no one there but Joshua to confront this false accusation. and Joshua is MIA currently at the point I'm in so! who knows!

moving on, Jill is currently nearly a non-character at this point. what I mean by that is she's always just sort of... there. the only times she's shown depth is her speaking about hating herself for what she did with her powers while in captivity. even then, it doesn't appear to be given the attention smth like that deserves; we see a handful of flashbacks from when we fight her at the very beginning... and that's really it. I would like to see more but I have a feeling they will not be showing us

benedikta died way too early. she seemed like she was going to be a character of mild intrigue, but she was killed so very quickly. her and cid's past relationship (whatever that might have been) was only just elaborated on (we know cid saved her from slavery but little else), but I feel it could have been fleshed out beyond that. they spoke in broad terms about how she was and then what she became... but nothing I would consider to be substantial enough, given her connection to a major character. we also don't see enough of her and hugo, just that scene where they practically dry hump in the hallway. we know he cared a lot about her, esp during the scene with her uh. severed head? which... who did that, exactly? they blame it on cid, but we know he would not have done that. but anyway, fleshing out their relationship would have been nice

cid's death. now, it's not that I'm saying something as basics as "he could have lived" which, maybe? and it's not even that they did the whole "oh [mystery person] (it's Joshua) shows up to save them but he's too late!" trope crap. what bothers me the most about his death from a character perspective is his lack of *any* mention of the daughter he supposedly loved so much as he lay dying. now yes, up til that point, we only know that cid has a daughter via a sidequest that people could miss. but that in and of itself is an issue. why introduce that aspect of his character... and then never do anything with it while he was alive? why did they feel it sidequest worthy? they could have just slipped it in as banter or something, maybe gav teasing him or something?? anything?? basically the fact that he dies without nary an utterance of his so beloved daughter, not even her name, was a huge sour point to me. sure, you could argue that he wanted to get pertinent information to Clive as quickly as possible since he knew he was dying, but I would have been satisfied with just a whisper of her name (which I don't remember them mentioning during the sidequest?) and they could elaborate on it later, maybe in a follow-up sidequest??? maybe you find the letter he meant to send her back?? anything??? it just seems so weird from a characterization standpoint to introduce this concept of him melting for his daughter, his daughter being such a soft spot, etc, and then... never addressing it in a meaningful way when he's on death's doorstep

OK this is a dumb thing and not necessarily a negative thing but how the fuck did tomes, a geriatric librarian, survive the raid on the hideout but a bunch of younger, much more spry characters just croaked and couldn't escape lmao. IDK I LOVE TOMES DONT GET ME WRONG but it was just so... idk. funny? I also get it's a game mechanics contrivance as well, given that they built an entire mechanic around him, but idk I wanted to mention it bc it makes me laugh

that's about it for now. if you message me about this tho, pls no spoilers beyond the iron kingdom crystal raid. thank. 🙏

[flyingcookierambles]

dawntrail predictions?

so below the cut for spoilers and such that i discuss that i have seen without context and such and how i predict dawntrail will go based on those lol

i'm on the rite of succession msq btw, still very very beginning once you have the parade of sorts that introduces wuk lamat's brothers and also bakool ja ja

so....if i had two nickels for every time a south american based region and story got criticized as the worst content and story in the game, i'd have two nickels. which isn't much, but it's weird that it's happened twice.

lmao. ffxiv and genshin. tural and natlan. oooooh boy. the timing is possibly the funniest coincidence possible. i should make a meme edit later of the epic handshake lol.

so, i've seen some posts and such, completely out of context, regarding dawntrail and it's story being weird. and i've seen preach gaming's short video review of 7.1. so. it seems that it kinda gets a bit better in 7.1. and so, now dawntrail is stormblood 2.0.

lyse was naive and annoying in stormblood 4.0, according to public opinion, but the stormblood patches gave her characterization that made her a more mature and reliable leader.

now, since i'm suuuper slow in everything, i joined ffxiv in shadowbringers and i started dawntrail literally yesterday, i've had the reward of getting random spoilers and social media posts to help me uhh. lower my expectation i suppose.

i didn't mind lyse being annoying and naive because i *knew* ahead of time that that was kinda the point of her character and also that she will get better, i just gotta be patient.

lyse had this sheltered life, or as sheltered as a refugee could get, safe away in sharlayan, away from the oppressive garlean colonial rule of ala mhigo/gyr abania. she was likely raised with this nostalgic patriotism from the real ida and mostly interacted with other rebels in the resistance, not the average citizen who has had their spirit broken. this really showed in the early cutscenes, especially in ala gannha and when meeting the Skulls/Fordola. she can't fathom what the average citizen has been through and can't understand why the ala mhigan youths might join the garlean army for a better life. she is disappointed and admonishes the average citizen for not fighting, not really showing empathy for how their repeated years of trauma might not make them the most excited to join the rebels.

through out the msq, but mostly the patches, lyse really grows into an empathic leader who tries to understand things from other's point of view.

now for wuk lamat. so, i've heard some things about her voice acting. totally out of context, i've heard of the infamous "SPHEEEENNNNNNEEEE" while some song called smile plays in the background??? so, i know that people have clipped this scene/video, however, i've only read about it in comments. i've never watched any clips/videos of this scene. i want to experience the hammy camp voice and the song, which i've been told is good but the timing was just bad, completely fresh. like i've avoided listening to flow or close in the distance on spotify and youtube for an entire two years of endwalker, i will avoid watching this or listening to smile. i think it's only fair that i keep this one thing to myself lollllll!!!!

anyways, sena bryer has been in other things and, so far in the early msq, wuk lamat sounds pretty decent. i think she can act, if given good directions by the ADR/voice acting director. sadly, it seems that most voice acting in DT was just...weird? i've read that y'shtola's is not good, however some lines were re-recorded and fixed in 7.1. this is because her voice actress was recording from home and not a studio, as she was on maternity leave. cat woman mommy became a mommy frfr! lol

anyways, i'm not like an expert in voice acting or anything, and i also really don't like how many transphobic ffxiv fans took wuk lamat's voice line quality as ammo to use against the voice actress, a trans woman, instead of going after the voice acting director, the real culprit. i'll have to look at the staff credits of ShB and EW closer to see if the director changed between those two and DT. and that's all i'll say about wuk lamat's voice acting criticisms.

so, her character. now, i thought that she was young, since i keep seeing naruto comparisons. i've seen a reddit comment that she is 30????? HUH?? well, i guess we can't confirm until the 4th addition to the encyclopedia eorzea or something lol. either way, i've read that she, despite saying that she loves her country, doesn't seem to know it very well. she is ignorant of the different cultures and such, which is why you have to go around and meet everyone.

hmmm. i guess i'll just see this when i see it in msq. so i am guessing that were they going with a naive and sheltered princess who needs to learn more about her country before she can rule it, but it came off as so ridiculously ignorant, that she became unbelievable, is that it? i can definitely see if that was their goal but the writing and stuff was just annoying after a while?

during the cutscene that just happened to me, the parade of the candidates, erenville makes a comment that bakool ja ja doesn't seem to really have any policies or goals except to win the contest. maybe they could've gone with something similar to wuk lamat? like, she was also so laser focused on stopping bakool ja ja to preserve her father's peaceful legacy but also has literally no policies or anything for when/if she wins the throne, but throughout the journey/msq, after meeting people outside the capital city, she learns to really appreciate and love her nation. like, if they just started with her love for her father at the beginning msq but ignorance of life outside the city, and then she really learned to love all turali cultures, i think it would be interesting.

right now, at the beginning, when she is saying that she loves tural and all, it seems like superficial. it's like when metro man in megamind says "and i love you random citizen!" but he doesn't really know who that random citizen's name or hopes and dreams are, you know?

she mentions going to another ethnic group's town for a festival that her father took her to, but it seems by her wording, that she's never returned there to see the everyday life outside of holidays. she's never like really gotten to know the people there.

would an approach like that have fixed wuk lamat? hmmmm.

anyways, that's my current impression of her. so far, lyse 2! i know she'll get better, and i am patient, but as an outsider to dawntrail right now, it seems that the hate around her is sooooooo crazy overblown. like it's all i see. its hilariously confusing.

idk, maybe, since i've actually read all 700 chapters of naruto and also all of homestuck, my tolerance for weird anime bullshit and patience is longer than the average ffxiv player? lolll.

well, i'll try to get through dawntrail quickly and return to this post for edits and/or a repost with part 2 of my impressions of how wuk lamat really was during 7.0.

anyways maybe natlan and tural will just be mid and all the hate is overblown, idk. i just want capitano to be playable. da wei, i'm coming for you and your incel gooner waifu bait decisions! i loved genshin, but this pivot is literally driving away many of the playerbase that is the average person and/or female, the only audience being incels who want anime waifus is just unsustainable for profits in the long run. BRUUUUH ugh

[icharchivist]

I'm really sorry to say this, I know Metera is doing her best to be Miss Fanservice in the Versus roster, but she doesn't impress me as much as Belial does

Maybe it's her personality, maybe it's because you see women with huge breasts everywhere in Anime but have to seriously look for a man like Belial who is more than happy to show off what he's got

Maybe I'm not bisexual enough for her

Another thing that bothers me is that her original sprite didn't actually have those big bahonkeroos she's sporting now, y'know

Meanwhile Belial has always been packing pecs

Idk I just wanted to complain 😕

HELPP

i kinda understand. Metera kinda falls in this "try hard" to be horny that for me it doesn't work out. She does that mostly to have fun and not like, out of pure horny, and it can be fun as a result, but i don't really feel attracted to her either. (and i think i made it clear from raving about Miss Cathy that my problem isn't sexy women, it's just, how they're going about it)

And actually yeah i'm so upset about her boobs too. Like, in her original sprite she was sexy and everything but she did look like more "flat" than most of the women in the game, and i thought it was kinda interesting to have a woman being extremely sexy without relying on just giving her big boobs and leaving it at that. But then the more they went on with her arts the more they gave her and by the time of her summer units it's just, unrecognizable lmao.

i mean good for her for the boobjob i guess, but idk, i think she worked a lot better on her original art.

(tho i gotta say i do have a soft spot for her capped holiday look, since it doesn't focus much on her body and just on her mischief face, i find her cute)

I didn't read a lot of her stories, i've heard she's supposed to be a big sister, so perhaps her relationship with her sisters would eventually give me more insight on her. In the end i've only ever really seen it with her Holiday lines (bc one of my crewmate is HAUNTED by the way she sings Happy Birthday in a lewd way (and not the good kind of haunted) so a while back our crew made an app in which we all set up bday message for him, but all while Metera's bday voiceline plays in the back, and he was laughing so hard and touched while also cursing us, so now i just see Metera as a partner in crime), her quick appearance in Ferry Holiday's FE, and her appearance in the latest Lowain event. So to me it isn't enough to grasp most of her.

I'd say it's a bit difficult to compare her to Belial because ultimately, she is written to be fanservicy, in a very "male gaze" way. and Belial doesn't really come with this baggage, especially since his sexuality is more linked to characterization (and also an aspect of how you're supposed to be thrown off by it, though counting also on the people who would be turned on by it). (and just so we're clear I do think that some of the girl's sexuality can also be written as characterization over fanservice, imo this is the difference between Shalem and Fediel, who's sexuality is meant to be furthering their characters, and Hekate or Metera who has a much more fanservicy flare to it).

That said it's true that Belial is completely one of the kind, i don't really think most stories dare to go to these levels with their male characters, especially mobage. When you trace back the fan-reaction of most stuff gbf, for a long time, like a lot of gacha, the whole interest was mostly to keep the straight men's money. This is why for a long while we didn't have summer units for men. this is also why when they started to roll them it was only one a year, until they finally dared to do more later, compared to the amount of female summer units we get every year. I remember the turn about is supposed to have been Percival apparently, who, just after he joined the suptix pool, became the most suptixed character who brought them the most money at the time. And it was the turn around about how they realized they could actually do more to appeal to the male-attracted fanbase. Which is why he was the first Male Summer Unit also.

The thing is that it's really not usual for gacha like this to really bank a lot on what's considered to be the straight woman audience. Granblue has been the talk of a lot of mobage space for always being the "first" to really incorporate some male fanservice in their gacha where female fanservice is much more expected.

Belial probably wasn't expected to become the next step of that, but he really turned things around in a very unexpected way. Truly a man with a will on his own so much so that he changes the fanservice game all on his own. And i do think it may have cygames discuss what they can do to reproduce this success that has been bringing them even more money than any of the female fanservice stuff they've been releasing. Without the reaction to Belial i doubt we would have had anything like vday Wilnas for example.

anyway lots of ramblings but, yeah, Belial really is a beast of his own and really just, his sexuality kinda went off the rail in a sense which also makes it more raw and authentic. Metera is mostly just a safe fanservicy representation for example, but frankly i feel like the comparison doesn't even have much ground to exist due to the nature of how they came to be.

SO YEAH ramble ramble on my hand, sorry Metera your sexy spells don't work on us, i find her hilarious tho and it's all that matters to me o7

[tenrose]

I always cringe when all the kpop stans praise the group singing in the "it's live" channel because the vocal editing is so bad imo. The band arrangement is great it's true, especially with DC since their music is rock influenced obviously it's gonna work (the arrangement for bon voyage is so good 😩). However I'm sorry but the vocal editing is not it. Honestly it barely deserves the "it's live" mention, because ok they sing live but whoever edit this must hate raw vocals or something and as a result it doesn't sounds live at all. Like for example they always edit Dami's voice so much that she ends up sounding robotic and higher than her natural voice and like it is very clear that it's heavily edited??? And a lot of time I've heard voices sounding more robotic and the pitch way too high to sounds natural... Whatever settings they are using, they are using them wrong.

Anyway, truth to be told, generally speaking kpop stans baffle me. Like when I first got into kpop and DC I've seen a lot of people praising them for singing live and I was like "???? They are singers it's literally their jobs what do you mean????", before finding out that it is indeed not so common for singers to sing 💀

Don't get me wrong, I know TV broadcasts are almost pre recorded for technical reason, and not just kpop shows, like every musical awards ceremonies are like that. The Eurovision song contest is just a different breed lmao. Also I get that they are dancing so they need to breathe and can rely on backtrack, although some choreographers clearly don't give a fuck about the singing part cause some dance moves can't physically allow the artist to sing at the same time 🙄 As for encore stages, obviously nobody should expect perfection when the artists are singing, with a noisy crowd and no in ear monitor but at least sing. So I'm not here to bash imperfections. Although being able to at least decently sing your lines seems like the bare minimum. Obviously we know it won't be the outstanding vocals moment and I don't really care if they skip something because they are celebrating, gooding around etc., have a voice crack or sometimes are a bit out of tune because of the no in ear monitor but at least try, thank you very much.

But like for concerts and festivals???? You guys are paying for a backtrack concert??? Again I can understand why they need backing when dancing, although I'd say for a concert they should be more laid back on the dance to be able to sing but I suppose some people value choreographies more than I do. But when singing with no choreography at a concert and you can hear the backtrack more than the actual vocals???? That's insulting to everyone's wallet tbh. Not to mention the fact that they are groups so each member don't even sing an entire song by themselves????? And people are like, they need to preserve their vocals, they are tired etc. That's just bullshit. Bands sometimes have tours for months and they sing every two days or even every day, they may not be dancing but some are like running and jumping around for the whole show. And they sing live for like two hours. And yes sometimes their also singers have a bad day, and their vocals are weak, they sound exhausted etc. Sometimes their voices crack, they miss their cue etc. But tbh that's what I love about a concert. And personally I would rather see an artist performing at their lowest than paying for no live singing or being overpowered by a backing track.

Literally all a singer need is practice and obviously a healthy as possible life hygiene (but I won't get to that topic because tbh I don't think idols have anything to say in regarding this matter and I don't want to fuel that sterile debate). Some singers are better than other, that's for sure and not even talking about vocal capabilities, because I'm not an expert at all, we all have our preferences and that's alright. But they should be able to perform songs they actually recorded in the studio booth at some point. What's the point of making a song you can't even sing live anyway???

And I mean I can't blame the idols because they probably don't get to choose whether to sing live or not. Not to mention the fact that kpop stans praise so much fake live vocals that they don't understand what's a live vocals and can't stand imperfections which really does not help at all.

But to each their own I guess 🤷