#i have so many others i Want to preorder

[emiliosandozsequence]

i've preordered skyshade, reckless, onyx storm, and heavenly tyrant.

[deus-ex-mona]

l e t m e i n ! ! !

[inniave]

after surgery i'm buying myself pentiment goddamnit

[littlefoxgw2]

okay i put some things on youtube because it's easier to upload it there than on tumblr. here is the playlist of the older videos i still have and this new video. i have more halloween clips for another video, but my to-do list isn't prioritized so i have no idea when i'll finish editing that.

[raspbrrytea]

Ey yo? 🤨 YOU DRAW TOO?! All the talent in the world went to you huh?

You’re standing at the altar, about to get married to your beautiful fiancée. When suddenly the king of demons bursts through the door of the room, which naturally causes panic. You tried to warn everyone that inviting your sibling to the wedding would mean trouble, but they kept insisting.

[drchucktingle]

sometimes buds ask’ what is it like to be a neurodivergent artist?’ and this is great summary: the charts can look like this, and at same time people will be endlessly posting on how you are ‘not real’ or ‘a bit’. you can hold bestsellers in slot 1 to 4 and still not be 'serious'

i am ultimately ok with this. i love my trot and would not have it any other way, but i think it is worth investigation. when irony poisoning has seeped into everything, how many times does a neurodivergent person have to say ‘actually this is NOT so bad its good. its just good’

when you are autistic, or queer, or both, how much proof do you need to be considered good art? or good business? what do the charts have to look like for me to be a ‘real’ author? or allowed my face mask at a library association conference? or one person not a group of writers?

im coming up on a decade of writing tinglers soon, and people are still talkin about my ‘serious’ works vs my ‘joke books’ and at every turn, as kindly as i can, i shout from the rooftops: THEY ARE ALL SERIOUS BOOKS. THIS IS NOT A BIT.

but its hard when buds have had ‘the correct way to be a writer. the correct way to be an artist. the COOL way to react to a book that is TOO weird’ pounded into their heads by internet culture. 'kill it with fire' they say. 'i need eye bleach' they say without thinking. a line.

heres the thing, the tide IS turning. theres buckaroos jumping in and saying, ‘I want to be a part of this’ and for that they are being rewarded. the publisher who took me seriously is lookin pretty dang good right now with these charts and these sales. i am honored and moved

over time there will be more buds who shed that irony mask. the tide of sincerity is powerful, and the tide of love is inevitable. it is difficult to stand strong in our uniqueness but it also pays off, and I hope to be a shining example. eventually THE TIMELINE BENDS TO YOU

so this is not a thread to complain. i have been trotting long enough that these things do not really bother me. being made fun of and disparaged as ‘not legit art’ while also being objectively successful at the things im made fun of about is kind of the ocean that i swim in.

no. my point of this is to say THANK YOU to those of you who have been trotting by my side over these years. THANK YOU for proving love to me. im so honored by your support, and you should know that YOU have seen beyond the irony poisoned veil that stops many others. YOU get it.

and to those with their own unique perspective on creation: look what you can do. yes there will likely be a lot of resistance to something different, but there is also a LOT of reward. YOU can trot a new path. YOU can prove love is real, not in MY way, but IN YOUR OWN WAY

anyway thank you for reading buckaroos. thank you for your support. LUCKY DAY comes out next summer and it is probably as FAR OUT and existential as the tingleverse has ever gone. you can preorder it here

[voidimp]

oooo u want to give me money to buy choker supplies sooooo bad

[a2zillustration]

Farewell

Not "farewell," but "see you later."

| First | | Previous |

[[ All Croissant Adventures (chronological, desktop) ]]

[[ All Croissant Adventures (app) ]]

...Time to blather on under the cut. I've got thank yous, some notes about potential future comics, and if you scroll to the end of the post, I've decided to compile Croissant Adventures into a physical book. It's mostly for me, so I can hold all TWO HUNDRED AND FIVE of these strips in my hands, as a brick, but if you'd like to own a copy as well, I'll have a link to the preorders down below. If this is where you're going to stop reading, I'll extend a quick heartfelt thanks to you for joining me on this adventure!

Thank you, reader.

This is undeniably the largest project I've ever tackled in my art career; it was never supposed to be this big, and I expected maybe a handful of people to read it, at most. Instead, it became this massive project that I've been working on for ten months straight, and in the end these characters meant so much to me. I'm incredibly grateful for everyone who's bothered to read my little comic strips, whether it was just one or two, or if you've been here since the beginning, following Croissant's adventure from the minute they plummeted off the nautiloid. Thank you so much for being here and supporting this project. Thank you to everyone who left kind words and comments, sent me asks about Croissant, liked or reblogged these posts, or just read these and enjoyed them! While I was determined to finish this project no matter what happened, you certainly made it all the more fun and kept me excited to tell you the next part of Croissant's story.

Thank you, Larian.

If by some chance someone at Larian ever happens to see these, I also want to give an immense thank you to everyone who was a part of making this game. I don't play that many games these days, but BG3 rocketed to the top of my all-time favorite games almost immediately. (It was also the game that made me feel the most out of anything I've ever played; I got legitimately depressed for a few days during my run don't worry I'm fine now we're all good haha). You can tell there was so much work, and so much love involved in this game's development, and I'm so happy the studio has been rewarded with multiple awards in recognition of that dedication to making a fantastic game. Thank you again for sharing this story with us, and I can't wait to see what the studio does in the future.

Is this goodbye?

I'm hoping this is less of a "goodbye," and more of a "see you later." I'll probably take a bit of a break, since I've put off other projects for months, and art fight is happening, but I have many more things I'd like to add to Croissant's story! I have yet to play the epilogue, and I intend to illustrate parts of that depending on what happens. I also have a handful of comics for post-game Breadweave, in addition to some scenes I thought would've happened in-game but weren't canon so I left them out of the original story. (If I haven't gotten to these in a few months and you find yourself wondering about Croissant again, my ask box is always open, feel free to give me a good kick to get me back into their story, lol).

...A book?

I said I never intended this project to be so large, and I meant it. But now that I'm sitting here with two hundred and five Baldur's Gate 3 Tav comics, I really wanted to compile them into a physical book for me to hold. This is mostly for me, but if you'd also like one, I'll have a preorder available in my shop until the end of July.

✨✨✨ Croissant Adventures Preorder ✨✨✨

If you made it to the end of this post, I can only thank you again, from the bottom of my heart. I hope Croissant's story brought you joy, and if you're able to play BG3, I hope that you're having just as much fun in your own tavs' stories.

[somelazyassartist]

LAST DAY!!! If you wanna get a free sticker or button pin with your order, now's the day to do it! Tomorrow it'll be back to normal with my shop, with some new preorders available (I'm going to try doing a test run of a new way to restock items that were sold out and see if this new way works better, the liquid glitter keychains are finally ready to open for preorder, and I'll be trying out some artbook printing for the first time!), but after today the free item promotion will be over, so now's the best time to get stuff if you want an extra surprise treat with your order for free!!

HOLY SHIT, WE HIT OUR GOAL OF 300 SALES!!! YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS?

I'M GIVING OUT SOME DISCOUNTS N' FREE STUFF* TO PEOPLE WHO BUY FROM MY SHOP FOR THE REST OF MAY!!!!!

*(eligible orders only, details below)

[plain text: DISCOUNTS N' FREE STUFF!! MAY 10TH-31ST!! • spend $10 and get 10% off your order + 1 free mini size sticker • spend $20 and get 15% off your order + 1 free regular size sticker • spend $30 and get 20% off your order + 1 free button pin • spend $40 and get 25% off your order + 1 free jumbo size sticker • spend $50 and get 30% off your order + 1 free glow in the dark sticker . (Discounts do not stack - you will receive 1 free item per eligible order. Free items are picked at random from my current stock and designs for free items cannot be guaranteed). End of plain text]

Feel free to come check out my shop for the 300 sale celebration from now until May 31st when this promotion will end!! Thank you all for your support for all this time!! 💖

[folkloresthings]

BECAUSE I LIKED A BOY / CL16.

in which the world’s favourite pop princess becomes tangled in the life of a certain formula one driver, flipping her entire world upside down.

( charles leclerc x singer!au )

track one: lonesome. track two: fast times. track three: nonsense. track four: opposite. track five: how many things. track six: bad for business.

✩⡱ warnings: nope

INSTAGRAM.

liked by fernandoalo_official, scuderiaferrari, and 720,553 others

charles_leclerc starting P3 in abu dhabi for the final race of the season! fingers crossed for a good result

view all 267,394 comments

carlossainz55 a good result in the race or somewhere else

⤷ charles_leclerc shut it

user 2022 season almost over :(

landonorris bring it on 😏😏😏

scuderiaferrari let’s race!!

INSTAGRAM.

liked by charles_leclerc, badgirlriri, and 943,600 others

yourusername MY NEW ALBUM “emails i can’t send” OUT AUGUST 14. this year has been a whirlwind of emotions but it’s given me a lot of very dear songs. thank you for your patience 💌

view all 510,305 comments

user NEW MUSIC ALERT

gracieabrams squealing with excitement

arianagrande SO excited 🤍

user a whole album inspired by austin AND charles???? yes please

landonorris preordered and presaved can you send me a signed copy

taylorswift EEK!

it was finally here. the weekend of the final grand prix in abu dhabi, the end of another season of racing. you’d had your flight booked for weeks, but you hadn’t decided what you were going to do with it. all of your contemplating had made you late to the airport, having to rush through the terminal just in time to make the flight. and even then, thousands of miles in the air, you kept wanting to turn back.

you wanted charles, that much you knew. but you didn’t want to get hurt again, you were sure your heart was running out of bandaids.

no one knew you were here, besides lewis. he had helped you sneak in and out of the hotel, and into the paddock, without being caught. you didn’t want to let anyone know you were here, considering you might still change your mind at the last second.

but then it was sunday, before you knew it, and you were donning a red ferrari cap as you waited the race prep out in lewis’ driver’s room. every so often, you got the sudden urge to get up and run away, far far away. your heart was racing — maybe charles had changed his mind since you last spoke. three months was a long time, long enough to find someone else.

the race began and you watched it intently on the screens, biting at your fingernails every time charles rounded another corner. come the final lap, your feet were carrying you out to the paddock, away from the mercedes hut and towards ferrari. the crowd erupted nearby, charles crossing the finish line in P2. your heart swelled with a thrill, happiness for him filling you. a podium on the last race, something he’d spoken of time and time again.

you squeezed yourself through the celebrating ferrari employees, right to the front of the fence, watching as charles’ car pulled into it’s space after the cool down lap. you pulled the hat off, hoping your hair on show would catch his attention better. his fist pumped as he clambered out of the car, pulling off of his helmet and beaming at the crowds.

by instinct he moved to run towards the group all in red, the usual celebrations waiting to follow. but the monegasque driver stopped, his eyes stuck in the middle of the group. on you. you had come — you had actually come. charles could have pinched himself, sure he could never have gotten so lucky.

you felt your mouth run dry, unable to read his expression from where he was standing. everyone around you carried on celebrating, but the two of you were frozen. you smiled a little, shoulder shrugging with a slight chuckle. and when he smiled back at you, you knew.

you knew this was where you were meant to be.

INSTAGRAM.

liked by danielricciardo, nicohulkenberg, and 762,401 others

tagged: yourusername

charles_leclerc possibly the best race of my life, i won the greatest prize of all ❤️❤️❤️ oh and i got P2

view all 511,024 comments

user SCREAMING

landonorris i cried seeing that on the screen after the race

carlossainz55 they grow up so fast 🥲

user i never thought i’d live to see this day

scuderiaferrari OUR FAVS!!!!!!

yourusername my one and only ❤️‍🔥

⤷ yourusername pls ignore all the times i curse u out in the new album thanks 👍

writers note: i was THIS 🤏 close to her not getting on the plane

[styrmwb]

References to Previous Final Fantasies in Dawntrail

Or, how 9 + 11 + 6 = 14, somehow. (SPOILERS, OBVIOUSLY)

I've played every mainline FF, plus a few others, so one of my favorite things about playing XIV is seeing what they do with previous FFs, and how they incorporate it into the world/story. Dawntrail very very much did this, to the point that I could literally predict plot points before they happened. (THIS IS NOT A COMPLAINT I LOVED THIS)

So I figured I would put down my fanboying in text form, for people to read the insanity of a madman who has played too many JRPGs from a single series.

Note: I have not completed every single side quest, but I have done the entire MSQ, every dungeon, and 3/5 of the role quests. This isn't a complete collection, just what I noticed :)

V

Krile's "real name" is Maya. The original Krile in FFV was Krile Meyer Baldesion. (XIV might also have the middle name but I don't remember! I'm gonna put it here regardless!)

VI

Valigarmanda is the first Esper you encounter in VI, right at the start of the game. Its summon attack is Tri-Disaster. I really liked how they kept it frozen in ice, just like the original, and because Tri-Disaster is a SMN ability, they changed it to Tulidisaster to fit the Tural location.

Pictomancer was first in VI as well, being Relm's job. She even got to be in XIV as well, being credited as the Archon who created the art (HA). Shoutouts to the Relm reborn joke it needed to happen

IX

One of the two most important games in this expansion. There is A Lot here.

The preorder bonus/deluxe edition had a Wind-Up Zidane and Garnet, the two main protagonists of FFIX.

Alexandria is lifted directly from IX. The name, the style of the buildings, and even the castle with the crystal popping out of the top, shown in the dungeon and in Yesterland in Living Memory.

(This is the Dissidia NT version, but I wanted a picture that showed the castle and the roof architecture)

Solution Nine is named after one of Zidane's Dyne abilities. While not direct, Living Memory, the final zone, is very reminiscent of Memoria, the final dungeon of IX. I wonder if you can get a special sword by completing the entire MSQ in under 2 hours?

Living Memory also features quite a few locations from IX. The Canal Town looks very similar to Treno, and features a location called the Daguerreo Medical Collection, named after the city as well. Underneath Proto Alexandria in Yesterland, where the data terminal lies, looks very similar to the part of Alexandria Castle where Steiner can grind to level 99 (I don't know how else to describe it if you know you know). In the Windspath Gardens lies the Cleyra Museum of Nature, also named after the IX city.

Some quest text in Living Memory tells you about other locations in the Unlost World. Lindblum, the city that holds hunts and is very technologically advanced; Conde Petie, where the Dwarves are from (mentioned by a Milalla who said he was from there), and the Iifa Tree. There might even be more here, that I either missed or haven't done yet.

Another quest has you go on a treasure hunt for a password. This password? "I Want to Be Your Canary", the play from FFIX.

Solution Nine has a couple buildings with monsters from IX as signs. One building features a Mu (Which is also mentioned in Living Memory), and another building features Yans, both friendly and not friendly.

Another monster that I noticed a reference to was the Gimme Cat, which is featured on the popcorn in Living Memory. It's also mentioned as an energy drink, but called a "Gimme Bat" instead? I guess it does have bat wings.

While XIV doesn't have any direct plot important characters from IX, the ones we do have are very reminiscent of its cast, and clearly are done like that on purpose.

Otis is Steiner (with maybe a little tiny bit of Beatrix depending on how you look at it). Captain of the Knights of Alexandria, he speaks in an older fashion, similar to Steiner, and is very loyal to his princess.

Sphene is an interesting mix. The most obvious one is Garnet, both being Queens of Alexandria, being named after stones, and loving their people. The other one, which might be argued isn't intended, is Garland.

(No, not those guys. The other one.)

Garland in IX is an artificial being whose purpose is to continue his world's life. To do this, he would try to fuse Terra (his planet), with Gaia (the main planet), and control Gaian souls for Terra instead. What did Sphene do? Try to fuse her reflection with the Source, to use their souls for her own people. I personally think this is a very clear similarity.

In general, because of this similarity, the latter half of Dawntrail shares very similar themes with IX's plots, dealing with death and souls. I also think it's pretty funny that both start out pretty happy and cartoony, and end fairly depressing and existential.

Another plot point used in the MSQ is the play sequence. While IX's is based off love, and XIV's is the history of Alexandria, both feature a sword fight scene. (99 out of 100 nobles approve).

Finally, several songs from IX are used in Dawntrail. In the above mentioned play, Swords of Fury plays, just like the original. And a few scenes later, Vamo'alla Flamenco (previously used for the DNC quests) plays, though it should have been during the sword fight!! Prima Vista Orchestra and Fleeting Life are used in several scenes, usually involving Sphene. Something to Protect also appears, but in a scene I can't recall. Finally, the Court Jesters' theme gets a remix as the main song in the Strayborough Deadwalk.

X

There is a singular joke in Heritage Found made about dodging lightning bolts right before the flash so they don't hit you. The person who wrote this line wanted to induce PTSD in as many people as they could with only a single line of dialogue.

XI

The other most important game in the expansion. In a way, Dawntrail FEELS like it could have been an XI expansion in another lifetime. I might be looking too much into it, but I feel as though this was foreshadowed back in the first patch of Endwalker, as Dawntrail takes A LOT from the Treasures of Aht Urhgan expansion.

In Endwalker, the Alzadaal's Legacy dungeon was based off of the Alzadaal Underwater Ruins in Aht Urhgan. The dungeon used many models from XI, such as the Rampart, the Xzomit (hell yes!), and the Acrolith. The dungeon had a visual similarity, as well as the areas in the dungeon being named after zones in Aht Urhgan (Bhaflau Thickets, Arrapago Reef, and Mount Zhayolm). I know this is Endwalker and not Dawntrail but trust me it's important for the foreshadowing.

Gulool Ja Ja was a boss in the Besieged mode of ToAU, leading the Mamool Ja Savages to assault Al Zahbi. Both incarnations of this character are VERY different from each other.

Similarly, Gurfurlur was also a boss in Besieged, leading the Troll Mercenaries. It's very funny to me that both of these warmongers became such nice people in Tural.

The Yok Huy as a whole are actually Trolls from XI. The different name I assume coming from the fact that Trolls are already an enemy in XIV, in Labyrinthos.

While this isn't direct, and is probably unintentional, the fact that the final boss in Vanguard was a naga/lamia like entity only makes me wonder if it was somehow a callback to Medusa and the Undead Swarm, the last remaining Besieged invaders.

Zoraal Ja is a Notorious Monster in the areas around Aht Urhgan.

To continue on with Mamool Ja facts, Mamook is an area in ToAU. They don't look very similar, but they do both share the title of Autarch as their ruler. Mamool Ja in general come from XI, so it's no surprise that in the expansion that well, expands on them, it uses XI for inspiration.

This next one might be a little insane. The general plot of Treasures of Aht Urhgan, is that after killing Promathia, a god that wishes to end all life, the Adventurer goes to a completely different area to have a relatively calmer adventure. Here, they meet a female member of royalty named Aphmau. Her brother, Razfahd, unable to rule over the country, has a conquering nature, and uses an Automaton body to control Alexander for his goals. This... can't be a coincidence, right?? We kill the Endsinger, who wanted to end all life, go to a completely different area to have a relatively calmer adventure with our female member of royalty, Wuk Lamat, and we fight against Zoraal Ja, her war hungry brother that is unable to rule, so he uses the power of Alexandria (a mech suit) for his goals. You... you see what I'm cooking here right??? RIGHT!?!?!

To piggyback off of this, Wuk Lamat very much fits the role of the XI heroine. A girl who is very clearly the main character of the story, and hangs around you more than anyone else.

Edit: one last thing that I forgot to put down before posting, one of the hunts uses the Magic Pot model from XI. We love Magic Pot.

I THINK that should be everything I found? I know for a fact we're going to get more since the Alliance Raids are based of off XI (I'm so excited)

XIII

A couple enemy models were used from XIII.

The Silver Lobos in Urqopacha use the XIII model. I'm fairly sure they've never been used in XIV yet, but I could be wrong.

Similarly, the Strayborough Deadwalk uses the Gremlin/Ahriman enemies. I do not think they've been used before this, feel free to yell at me if I'm wrong :)

Type-0

While not like, direct, the concept of erasing the memories of anyone who has died (especially seen as a blessing) was a major plot point of Type-0's world.

I think that's everything? My memory isn't the greatest, so I'm sure there's something I noticed that I missed, and again; I haven't done everything, so there might be even more out there that I've yet to find!

Please, feel free to comment anything else that you may have noticed, and hopefully you enjoyed reading :)

[satocidal]

𓂂 ˚ ☆ ꙳ * ࣭ 𓂂 ˚ ☆ ꙳ Consume All of Me — Gojo Satoru

Synopsis: He’s Satoru Gojo, he’s the strongest man— not in your embrace however, there he is no more a creature reduced to his carnal wants

— a/n: it was supposed to be so very short idk what I wrote but it’s meant to cannibalism symbolised with love idk idk ik not ok—tagging @draecys becauseee yes; the indented/highlighted parts are portions of the poem “The Cannibal’s Canción” by Gloria Anzaldua

— word count: 2.3k

— warnings: Smut!! MDNI!! AFAB! Reader x Gojo Satoru; cannibalistic themes; animalistic themes; mentions of blood; mentions of death (set during the time period when Yuuji “died”); sex used as a form of coping; unprotected sex; established relationship; p -> v; “god” used as a term to portray their ‘love’; not preordered bound to have mistakes

It is our custom to consume the person we love.

Satoru Gojo was meant to be.

An heir, the strongest, half a god, an admiration, an inspiration, a story—a tragedy.

To do and not to do, boundaries were placed clearly, on youth that was meant to be the revolution—each boundary broke in the essence of his wants.

The sheer simplicity of his life lay in the irony—Gojo, he carried the name well, all that extricated him from that which was humane.

He hated it, bound to—snatched from his hands was the toy most referred to a childhood, stolen from were partially his dreams, pulled from him was an innocence and thrust into him were responsibilities.

He carried himself well, he was the strongest, he had to.

But Satoru Gojo, despite the rumours that fell behind him, despite the prayers people would sing to him, he was no god.

Human.

Human.

Human.

Pity.

Those were the nights that he was truly yours—not the world, no, just yours. Those were nights he didn’t pretend—there wasn’t the joy in his voice, plain debauchered reality.

Those were nights when he didn’t hold you, rather, he let himself be held—those were nights when Satoru Gojo slipped away from that which was his tragedy.

Those nights he sunk into you, deep, a haven—Satoru Gojo was a god to many, you loved him as one too, and he often held you as his Goddess too—but those nights, those nights he loved like you were his possession.

And perhaps—no, factually, you were.

Taboo flesh; swollen genitalia—the nipples—the scrotum—the vulva—the soles of the feet—the palm of the hands—heart and liver taste best.

Yuuta Okkutsu, a planned execution.

The kid was 15, 16 at most, by the face of it.

Your room was quiet, save for the hefty, slow breaths that Satoru passed.

The sun was out still, your room was full and yet—even then it was ever present, his gaze, glowy- dark?

It wasn’t the first time you’d seen him this way, he wasn’t panicky—though you’d seen that too, no, Satoru Gojo was livid.

Your room compares small to his, your world fell smaller too—but you were his world- he didn’t hold comparisons there.

“Satoru?” A voice held timid, Satoru yearned the quiet—“I want to kill them,”

A sigh, yours—a scoff, his.

“I know but…”

“You don’t. But that’s ok, it isn’t your fault,” these nights Satoru was hard to deal with, these nights Satoru was judgemental but he was accepting, these nights Satoru spoke like the ego he was sure to hold.

“He’s just a kid, what do they even…” you watched as he let his words trail off, one leg in the table, the other resting upon it, he sat opposite to you.

Most would sense the danger, the rage—you did too, which was why you were his.

Where most feared him, you extinguished it.

Satoru could deal everything on his own, he adored how you never let him though.

“Do you want time to think or…?”

Often, you felt shameless—raising the question—knowing all so well that everything that plagued his mind was all so concerning and yet, yet all you offered to him was sex, an escape.

He always accepted.

Vulgar—he craved it.

“Think about what,” his words seemed harsh—directed at you, sometime he did so, you didn’t mind it.

“About how even as the strongest I can’t do shit huh? That- that I- fuck,” another scoff, your heart sank.

“Come here Satoru,” a small beckon, he obeyed—he always did.

Almost crawled into you, large hands, the way they seemed to engulf you—it was almost unethical to him.

A kid was to be dead, he’d blame it upon his insolence when your embrace would be ripped from him again—and here he was, head jostling it’s way between your thighs, a burn he lett do behind.

But there you were, eyes focused onto his, a soft smile, you washed it away—his sorrows, his anxieties—to you, it was conceptually simple.

Good or evil, it did not concern your God.

“Are you ok?” A mumble, yours, his head bobbed in a yes—“are you?”

He didn’t care—he didn’t have to, not in this moment.

You paused, of course you were, always with him.

“Mhmm,” you offered a short smile, “always with you, just wanna see you ok.”

The process was always the same—your corruption, it began with his mouth, pressed against yours, desires lingered on the tongue and shared, the wanting, the need—the desperation to be whole.

He wanted to have you, you wanted him to have you.

Consumption.

Teeth sank in your flesh- often it hurt, it did this time too—Gojo loved you as a rotten dog, he was starved.

You wanted him to be satisfied, you didn’t question it—Satoru made up for it anyways—if he left three bites, he’d leave three thousand kisses on the same spot, he loved you.

He really did.

And he always was satisfied too, right after you both would lay on your bed heaving, he would be okay.

You would fall asleep on him, he loved just how tired you would get from him, you would hold him, he loved just how normal it was for you.

But all that was to be described a vex—you couldn’t help but add Satoru’s phone to the list.

A groan—his, and just like that, he slipped away.

Gone.

Chaste kisses gone, a wet touch longed for—the primal feeling remained.

Satoru was gone.

I’ll wear your jawbone round my neck, listen to your vertebrae, bone tapping bone in my wrist.

It’s been almost an year—the moment of compassion never arose again, you were glad—but you also weren’t.

Satoru was giddy, Satoru was loving—however, you could hear the stress, your ears perked up always, he showed nothing—a slow curtain drawn.

But fate as it lay—not in his hands, he was only a creature after all.

The strongest, but a creature.

It was the same as ever, he paced and paced walked right in front of you, the room was quiet—the call had just ended, Satoru had scoffed at the end of it.

“Toru’?”

No response.

You remained quiet, not afraid, you knew better than to approach him such.

1 round- then 3 and then 5 more, Satoru stopped in front of you, dropping to his knees, his fingers rubbed circles on your knee.

“The kid’s probably not comin’ back,”

You stared at the mess of his hair, it’s been a while since you last trimmed it, your hand grazed into it.

You knew who he was referring to, Yuuji Itadori, Satoru was the mentor—words acclaimed as of now insisted that he’d been found dead as the many you’d heard of over the years of your youth.

You didn’t bother asking the details, Satoru always vomited it out anyways, “those bastard- fuckin’ assigned the kids a mission like that- a special grade? Bloody fuckers,”

Your hand pulled at his hair softly, a tug here and there, then a kissed pressed.

“Will you go right now?”

The answer was obvious to be a ‘no’—proven right in the way he shook his head—“s’been a while- I need to— I, shit- need you.”

You gulped—aware of his guilt—his students were hurt, and here he was begging for a touch.

But, you heard the desperation evident in his voice, who could you even be to defy his request?

So slowly, surely you spread your knees, pushing yourself back—it was one of the nights when Satoru didn’t fuck to please you, no.

These nights, your body was made for him.

These nights he bared you no foreplay, there was no teasing, just sex.

Pure desire.

A small ‘umph’ slipped your lips as Satoru threw you on your bed, eyes stuck on your face as his hands pulled away your pants.

Shameless.

Neither cared.

It was always the same, his touch was feather light—trailing from from your feet to calves, a light massage offered to your inner thigh—he treated you as if you were fragile, for him, you were.

Your face grew hot, his eyes remained stuck on the wet patch on your panties—“were you touching yourself?”

Only animalistic—you had needs, Satoru wasn’t around to fulfil.

A nod you passed— a light smirk grew on his face—easy, he was on the higher pedestal.

“Show me,”

Show him—put in a performance—your fingers traversed your own body, it grew hotter, it burned, your own touch.

You were aware of his gaze, your fingers traced the lace, the wet patch—you pressed into the wetness- eyes closing in slight ecstasy, a performance.

“Did you miss me?” You dare not increase the pressure of your fingers on your cunt—slow circles drawn, a tease—“a lot,” you whispered back—“you?”

Both hands grasped in one of his—he pulled them away, mouth leaning in between your legs, to see what was his, to sniff, to smell—he loved it.

“Always.”

You paused, you knew he wouldn’t bother today—he never did, not in such cases.

Typical sex was different, it wasn’t heavy, it wasn’t so tense—it was Toru’ that you fucked those days.

But as of now, the man who twisted you about wasn’t Toru’, the man who’s calloused hands rubbed your spine, fingers lending in a shiver—it was Satoru Gojo.

“Do you need more prep? I can’t be bothered unless…”

You shook your head quick—it was once in forever of a moment, you wanted to feel him, raw.

And that was all the encouraging Satoru required—pulled away your lacy panties—he smiled softly as the silver of your wetness connected to the gusset of your soiled panties in a string—“how fuckin’ filthy,” he groaned, “got so wet at the thought of me?”

And like his possession, you nodded.

You let him move you, a heap of flesh and blood and emotions that lay scattered, you wanted to please— your breath hitched as he situated your legs over his shoulders—“shh,” he murmured, “you’ll be okay with me,”

You lay as the crimson to his pale—the blood lay splattered in the snow—“ready?” He needn’t wait for the response, half hardened dick already lined at your entrance, his tip teased you— a whine you passed to his amusement.

Satoru couldn’t care enough though, pushed in all the way, he didn’t give you time to settle in, mending your walls, stretching them to accustom his length—only to pull away all the way, you whimpered at the sudden loss, crying when he pushed in all the way again.

Pathetic moans you let out, your walls flattened about his size — nails digging deep into his biceps—deep enough to scratch, to mark—it wasn’t new, it was exhilarating all the same.

Satoru was merciless with his pace—he wanted to taste your pain, he wanted to feel the salt of your tears—lick them away, he wanted you spasming.

Sex, it wasn’t enough—he lusted for all of you.

Rapid, the way he pulled out and pushed in harder, each thrust left you gasping—it was an appetite being satisfied.

White hair dishevelled, slight sweat pressed to his forehead, every thrust accounted for a ditzy kiss pressed to your forehead.

“Y’er s’fucking tight angel,” your mouth hung open at his words—too far gone to pay attention—“you were built for this,” he added, panting, “this pussy, for me. You’re mine,” a low growl that he let out, he could feel you clench tighter at that.

You knew he was losing it, the control, primal in all senses—you moaned loudly as his hands cupped your face— a rough kiss tucked in, his tongue sliding over yours—filth.

Legs pressed to your sides now, you cried louder as he reached in deeper—so warm, you met him perfectly.

“Y-you’re close,” the stutters, you giggle slight as he does too—close, both of you, he could feel your climax building, so did you.

And just like that he leaned in further, your nails remained placed in his arms—blood oddly visible now—it dripped, beautiful.

You bit your lips as Satoru dragged his mouth—pressed upon your shoulder—teeth napping at the soft flesh.

I’ll string your fingers round my waist—what a rigorous embrace, over my heart I’ll wear a brooch with a lock of your hair.

“You’re mine,” a whisper—a demand, you nodded, “yours,” you related, mind blanking—“yours alone, all yours just yours,”

“How do I feel?” Another demand—“fucking perfect,” another moan- you could tell he was edging himself, not until you do — you were close still.

“Tell me you love me,” a finger pressed to your ignored clit, All stimuli away from your shoulder now—not an inch of pain anymore on either body, just marks, territorial— and pleasure.

Your pussy clamped down onto Hinckley his thumb focusing on the bundle of nerves down there—so ignored, so tenderly he rubbed it.

And that was it, the pleasure enough to cause you to break—enough to have your mind blanking—enough for your abused pussy to tighten around him, and that’s when he came right after.

“Can you take more,” a shake of your head, he nodded- he loved you.

He didn’t pull out yet—never did, basking in the warmth of your bodies pressed together, enjoying the marks he left, they’d hurt later, he’d kiss them better.

“Love you,” a murmur, yours—and you watched as he slipped out of the slow trance—no longer the man who just fucked you, back to being Toru’.

“Love you too,” he whispered back, finally pulling out—he lay on top of you, a heap—but even then you were sure, a growl that you heard.

Nights I’ll sleep cradling your skull, sharpening my grin on your toothless grin. Sundays there’s mass and communion and I’ll put your relics to rest.

And when all was said and done, a stress by gone for later, satoru lay pressed to your side, your fingers grazed his hair, tugging. A hand woven to hold you close, heavy, him and his slumber. And in your moments of solitude and awareness you realised easy—the man beside you wasn’t human entirely.

Not yet, not to be ever.

A beast- nevertheless, yours.

A beast- nevertheless, yours.

A beast- nevertheless, yours.

All of this work is original and entirely my own— please refrain from copying or reposting.

Likes and Reblogs highly appreciated!

[thebibliosphere]

I saw your post about ingram, and out of curiosity, is there some advantage to going through the whole self-publishing thing with retailers when you're just starting out? like I mean the way that fandom zines work is that they don't even bother going through ingram or amazon or whatever. they just set up a social media site (usually twitter) to gain followers, open preorders (usually 1-2 months in length) to generate the costs of printing upfront, and then sell anywhere from a few dozen to several hundred copies of their books (usually artbooks, but anthologies exist too). I've seen some zines generate over a thousand orders. they're kind of like pop-up shops, except for books. maybe the sales numbers aren't so impressive to a real author, but the profit generated is typically waaaay more than the $75+ apparently needed for Ingram Spark, so I still feel like new authors could benefit from this method too, especially if they just need some start-up cash to eventually move to ingram if they want to for subsequent runs of their book. I think authors would also have to set aside some of the pre-order money to buy an ISBN number to have printed on their book, and I'm not really sure what other differences there are, but I just wanted to ask about it in case there's some huge disadvantage I'm missing!

So, popup zines work well for some people, and I know some authors who kickstart their work successfully. But for a lot, it's just not feasible as a long-term stratedy. Or even as a means to get off the ground.

Fanzines succeed primarily because an existing fanbase is willing and ready to throw money at something they love. They’ve got a favorite writer or artist they want to support. Supporting all the others is just a happy by-product. They also take a HUGE amount of short-term but intense planning that just doesn’t always jive with how some of us work.

I, for one, would never offer to organize a fanzine. I’ll take part in them as a creator, but I’d rather throw myself off a cliff than subject myself to wrangling that many people and dealing with the legal logistics.

When it comes to authors doing anthologies, it'svery much the same. The success of the funding often hinges on having other big-name authors involved whose existing fans will prop up the project. Or having a huge marketing budget.

Most self-pub authors have zero marketing budget. I’m one of them, and I’m under no illusions that my work would not be as popular and self-sustaining as it is if I didn’t have a large Tumblr blog.

When I thank Tumblr in my forewards, I am utterly sincere. Tumblr brought fandom levels of enthusiasm to an unknown work and broke the Amazon algorithm so hard, that Amazon thought I was bot sniping my way to multiple #1 spots and froze my sales rankings.

That’s not the norm. And while I could probably kickstart my own work as an indie creator, that’s because I’ve put literal decades into building up a readership. I’ve been doing this since I was 16 and realized people thought I was funny. I didn’t know what to do with it or if I’d ever actually write anything, but it meant the groundwork was already there (thank you, past-me). I basically fell upward into my success by virtue of never being able to shut the fuck up and wanting to make people laugh. Clown instincts too strong.

New or first-time authors trying to sell their work without that will find it infinitely harder.

All of that aside, even if an unknown author somehow gets lucky and manages to fund their work, there’s still the question of shipping and distribution logistics. Are you shipping everything yourself? Better hope you’re able-bodied and have the time for it. (for reference, it took me months to ship out 300 patreon hardbacks because of my disabilites. It damaged my back and hands. I couldn’t type for several weeks after I was done.)

Are you going to sell primarily at conventions? Better hope you’re able-bodied, have the time and don’t have cripling anxiety about being in large groups...

Also, will selling a dozen to a few thousand copies in one burst be sustainable in the long run as a career? Not for me. Doing things via Ingram and Amazon means I earn a steady trickle of sales for the rest of my life provided the platforms remain and so long as I keep working and can generate interest in the series, not just when I have funds to pay for physical copies to sell. The one-time (in theory) cost of $75 to distribute through Ingram gets paid off pretty quick that way. And it doesn't require the same logistics as doing the popup/crowdfund.

Ultimately, it comes down to what you are capable of but also the type of work you’re doing. If you’ve got an extended network of fellow creatives who will back you or you’ve got a large following elsewhere, doing it like a popup might work for you.

If you’re an exhausted burnout who can’t fathom the short but intense amount of organization that sort of thing requires, not to mention doing it over and over and over... Ehhhhh. No thank you.

[corvidexoskeleton]

Fromsoftware games like dark souls or elden ring are known for being difficult in a very specific way, but the games are trivialized by being able to pick up on patterns and timing easily. To someone who is good at timing and remembering patterns, the combat in those games is going to be easy, whereas people who aren't so good with those kinds of things (like myself) will struggle and need to put in a lot of time and effort in order to make any progress

But I don't think the games are made worse because of it. The difficulty of needing to quickly cycle through your items in order to remove poison or use a throwing knife without pausing mid-fight, and finding ways to work around that aspect of gameplay, is part of the challenge the games present to players. In a similar vein, puzzle or problem solving games like portal will be very easy to someone who is good at problem solving or figuring out 3D puzzles, but very difficult for someone who has trouble with those kinds of things

It might not be something you enjoy in a game, but that's ok. Not everyone is going to mesh well with the gameplay mechanics of a game, and very few people will enjoy how the majority of games play. And you don't necessarily need to play a game in order to engage with it or it's story. I don't think it's inherently bad to not be able to play a game for one reason or another, but sometimes you have to decide if you're willing to modify the game in order to do so, or if you're fine with alternative methods of engaging with it

While im not opposed to pause buttons in games or devs who choose to have non-hostile enemy mode settings in their games, i do feel like the idea that these are things a game should have, that games need to be accessible in very specific ways in order to be good, is kinda strange tbh

"Difficulty" isn't a sliding scale that you can toggle on or off, what's difficult to some people might be very easy for other people, and the same is true for accessibility. Sure, you can add settings to your game to toggle various features on or off, but there's not really any way to make something accessible to everyone, or at least not in the base unedited game

[yumeka-sxf]

I would have included this scan with my recent miscellaneous collab scans post, but I decided it deserves its own post, not just because it's one of the loveliest official Twiyor illustrations I've seen, but also because the story of how I got it is...interesting 😅

This image is from the chara fine graph (which is basically a framed picture) that was included as a preorder bonus for buying the complete season 2 blu-ray set from a shop called Rakuten Books (together with badge pins of the same designs). I briefly mentioned it back in October of last year when season 2 was airing, along with preoder bonuses from other shops like Animate and Amazon. I only wanted to get this one though, so as per my usual process of trying to secure rare SxF goods, I made a note to myself to keep an eye out for when it released. Rakuten, which I believe is the main company for Rakuten Books, has their own proxy buying service, and as the season 2 blu-rays were released, I saw them appearing there. But as noted on their main site, the condition for them to send you the chara fine graph is that you must preorder all of the three season 2 blu-ray discs from them. Once you buy the third one, if they know that you've already bought the others, then they'll send you the preorder bonuses along with it.

I was concerned that if I bought the discs via proxy, they wouldn't know that I bought all three and would cancel my order at the end! I would be devastated if that happened after waiting months and spending all that money on the complete set. I knew people would sell the chara fine graph second-hand as soon as it released, so I decided to wait until then and try to find it on Mercari.

So the months went by and eventually I found out that the final blu-ray volume of season 2 would release on April 17th, 2024. I made a mental note to check Mercari for it then, but unfortunately something else released around that same time...CODE: White in the US, which had its first screening on April 18th. Admittingly, I got distracted by the CODE: White release and had seen it twice by the following weekend. I did do some preliminary searching for the chara fine graph, but not with my usual refined search terms. It wasn't until the 21st that I finally sat down and really started searching for it. And while I did find a few listings, they had already been sold.

I was hopeful that more people would sell it, since it had only been less than a week since release. But I guess I underestimated how popular this chara fine graph was because, after the initial five listings I saw that were sold within the span of a few days, none appeared after. I had, like, ten Mercari tabs open on my browser with different search terms that I refreshed many times a day, but nothing was showing up. I would groan whenever I'd see the preorder bonuses for the other shops like Animate and Amazon pop up, but not Rakuten Books. I did finally see one new listing of someone selling just the badge pins, but that was sold within a few minutes, which made me even more nervous. I would also be nervous getting up in the morning since I didn't want to see that a new listing was posted and sold while I was sleeping! Thankfully I work from home so it wasn't too much of an inconvenience for me to refresh the Mercari tabs on my personal computer whenever I had a minute. But as the days went by and I didn't see any new listings, I started getting mad at myself that if I had only started seriously searching for it right on release day, I would have had at least five chances to get it and could have saved myself this hassle. I even sent a message to Rakuten Books via their online form, asking (in Japanese) if they could somehow sell it to me and ship internationally, etc. But their response was pretty much what I expected...a polite "no."

But then, on the evening of May 4th, I found a new listing and immediately bought it! What should have been a red flag though is that the person was selling it for $30 (with the badge pins included), while everyone else had been selling it from around $80-$100. The title they gave to the item was weird too; they simply called it "Spy Family" instead of "Spy Family Chara Fine Graph" or "Spy Family Rakuten Books Bonus" or something descriptive like that. But the seller had a decent rating so I didn't think there was a problem. After I got the email from Buyee (my proxy service) that they successfully bought the item, I thought I was all set. I closed out all my search tabs and went to bed feeling satisfied.

However, when I got up the next morning, my heart sank when I saw that about an hour after I had gone to bed, Buyee sent me another email saying that they refunded and cancelled my order! The reason they gave was "due to the convenience of the seller" 😫

But what was most frustrating about this is that, when I checked the searches again, I saw that the same seller had relisted the item, with a higher price and more descriptive title, and it had been sold already. What probably happened is that the seller realized they made a mistake with the title and price of the listing and wanted to change it, which Mercari apparently allows them to do even after it had already been sold and paid for!

I was furious with Mercari for allowing this. The least they could do in a situation like this is give the original buyer, like, one day to buy the item again with the increased price before the seller is allowed to relist it again. I wanted to write to the seller and/or Mercari, but I wasn't able to make a Mercari account since it's restricted to Japan. I was also internally yelling at myself that if I had just started searching for it within a day or two of release instead of procrastinating, I could have avoided all this. So it was back to square one, but I wasn't going to give up! I opened up more search tabs with even more refined search terms. I also expanded to other proxy-supported shops like Surugaya and Yahoo Japan Auction. I even got my mom to help me, since she's often up in the middle of the night and can check in case anything is listed during that time while I'm asleep. I downloaded the Buyee app too so I could check listings even if I was away from my computer. With all this, I was hopeful I'd be able to buy it again, though it was more of a question of "when" than "if." With second-hand collectibles, you never know when they could pop up...I could find a new listing the next day, or not for a year or two. But I just kept up the searching, and finally, after another month went by, on June 3rd (June 4th in Japan, so technically Twiyor day 😁) I finally found it again...on Yahoo Japan Auction of all places!

I had never bought via auction before so I was a bit nervous I'd get outbid or something. But I immediately clicked the "pay buyout price option" (which was only a few dollars more than the original price) and, thankfully, a short while later Buyee informed me that I successfully won the auction! But after what happened before, I was still paranoid that it could get canceled for whatever reason. But that didn't happen, and after waiting for shipping, it finally came~

I always like to add a "lessons learned" in these situations, so I'd say the lesson here is don't be blasé or procrastinate when it comes to something you really want. And of course, being persistent pays off more than not!

[physalian]

First Time Author Mistakes You Don’t Have To Make

This is for self-published authors, somewhat, I didn’t go through the agent/publishing house process, but I did give it a try.

1. Thinking everyone you work with will like your book

I wasn’t under this illusion, but I did assume that every beta I worked with would be able to stay objective, i.e. saying while they don’t like an element they think it still works instead of “I don’t like this” with no explanation. Which was not the case. If this happens, best thing to do is to cut your losses. They’re not your target audience.

2. Underestimating how long it takes

Your book baby is your top priority and yours alone. Everyone else that you could work with does so at their pace on their schedules. I wrote ENNS in one month. It took almost six months of beta readers and a professional edit for a lot of reasons, but largely in part due to betas just not being very speedy. In other areas, too. I didn’t query ENNS because my first experience trying to work with publishing houses was a lot of “hurry up and wait” and I did not have time to wait 6+ months, with exclusive submissions, just to be told no.

3. Underestimating how much it costs

I had funds prepared and set aside in a savings account to pay the editor that I knew would be the steepest cost of the whole writing process. I’d saved up over a couple months and was virtually unaffected by the exorbitant fee when the bill came due because I had prepared. Betas and editors cost money, and you can’t skimp on those otherwise you’re just burning money. If you hire illustrators or promoters, they eat up cash. Formatting, too, costs money. If I wanted to break even with ENNS, I would have to sell over a thousand copies. Just to break even. Even if you do it all yourself, of which I did my own illustrations and formatting, the programs I used cost money, and time.

4. Vetting book promoters

Anyone following this blog might know of my recent escapades in dealing with scammers. It’s my personal opinion that anyone who will promote any book for money does not have an opinion worth trusting. Do I think my book is good? Absolutely. Do I think every book they promote is good? No. Nor do these people seem to care about anything more than profit. I wouldn’t buy a product based on a review without integrity, and have learned a hard lesson in trying to undo that mistake. If you just want word out, then you can act without discretion and just pick the cheapest influencers. But their word means nothing if they’ll sell it to the lowest bidder.

—

These are just four things I didn’t quite think about going in. I’ve been a writer for almost 10 years now but this is my first time all the way through the publication process and it was a wake up call in many areas, especially with the bad actors on social media.

But the bottom line is this: Don’t underestimate the cost of the process, whether that cost be money or time or simply stress. Writing is easy. Publishing is work.

—

My LGBTQ+ vampire fantasy novel Eternal Night of the Northern Sky is out for preorder now! Paperback debut on 8/25/24.