#i will be giving zero explanation for this. i think its up to you the context.

[lizardsfromspace]

The Claim: they've erased Discovery from canon. It's not longer canon! CONFIRMED! They announced Star Trek Discovery was WIPED from canon, even though it has one ongoing spin-off, has a spin-off movie set to debut, another spin-off series filming, and has been referenced extensively in every other modern Star Trek show, and the producers and writers of it are still in charge of modern Star Trek, they definitely made it non-canon just to appease internet people who are mad at if for reasons that are definitely not just racism and misogyny

The Article: not linked in this tweet! Odd! Why would you not want to link your source?

The Evidence: Lower Decks featured a cameo by the alternate Klingon makeup

This brief cameo PROVES Discovery is in an alternate universe.

Which wouldn't make it non-canon. After all the Kelvin timeline movies are set in an alternate universe, and they're unambiguously canon to mainline Trek.

On a Watsonian level, they could've become a Disco Klingon from another universe while they still exist in the main one. Or maybe in another universe that's what that Klingon looks like. It's canon that Klingons have multiple appearances due to the virus from Enterprise's final season, so why not?

But confirmed! The show they definitely didn't just hate for having a woman of color as its star is no longer canon because of a brief Easter egg in a cartoon! Multiple sites are reporting this!

Discovery is no longer canon! Thanks, one second long joke, for giving shouty man nerds a chance to Make Trek Great Again

One fun aspect of this is that you can tell the first article I capped was written by someone not really familiar with the show himself who was just copying this other article; because the earlier one - linked & paraphrased frequently in the article the alcoholic film screamer shared - says the show was retooled after season two, and the quote-filled article mangles this as "the show was sent to the future for the last two seasons". Which isn't true - they spend three seasons in the future, not two. The rabid internet nerds aren't even watching the shows they're quaking with rage about, they're just copying from each other. "Why don't these networks not care about pleasing people who provably don't watch their shows? HIRE NON-FANS PLAGIARIZING OTHER NON-FANS!!!!"

The wild part is, these pieces present it as if the only flaw in Discovery is that they changed the Klingon's makeup design. This alone is enough to exile it from canon. You may think "wait, but the show already addressed it, first by having them grow hair in season 2 of Disco & explaining why they hadn't, and then by restoring the original makeup in SNW", and they have an explanation: SNW is still canon bc it's not canon to Disco, the show it references many times, because it's actually about a slightly different Enterprise in an alternate timeline, since establishing two parallel Enterprises that are 90% the same but in different universes, and never directly stating this except via buried clues in a different spinoff, makes a lot more sense than saying a popular TV show you don't personally like exists

It's funny how they harp on about how the Klingons look and ignore other changes. SNW has turned the Gorn from an allegory - seeming aggressors who turn out to be the ones who were invaded, and whose Captain is clearly set up as an analogue for Kirk - into pure evil slaving xenomorph knock-offs who not only have zero depth or meaning, but who are proudly Just Evil. Seems like a much more important change than the Klingons having somewhat different heads, but I've seen basically none of that crowd comment on the Gorn except to say they're Totally Badass Now, while they're still so enraged by a change in Klingon makeup design that happened seven years ago & that was retconned five years ago & abandoned fully since over a year ago they're writing long articles analyzing how a throwaway gag in a cartoon is a secret sign a show they dislike for totally not racist reasons is non-canon. After years of speculation that Kurtzman was secretly fired, they've now just evolved into full on Trekanon. Incredible

[mochasucculent]

Was looking at refs and since Viktor has two different leg braces I was wondering, do we think he wears them simultaneously?? The refs don't perfectly line up perspective-wise so it's hard to tell but parts of the one he wears during the Hexcore scenes look like they could maybe line up with the brace that he wears over his clothes, but also some parts really don't and look like they'd be super uncomfy. Also HOW does he take these on and off. Experts weigh in

[cloudd-nyne]

The L Word

[weabooii]

Sleep a Way Out!

Thoughts/ some explanations below the cut

It's a little disappointing to me that even though Zero abducts everyone in 999 at night, none of them seem to be in their pj's. So this is what I imagine their pj's (or in some cases, clothes worn around the house) would look like.

(left to right)

Ace's boxer fit is purely vibes based. He just seems like that kinda guy.

Lotus: I tried to bring some of her girl boss energy into her pj's. I imagine she wraps her hair in silk so it doesn't get messed up at night.

Clover just seems like she would chill in an oversized cutesy onesie.

Snake: My historical fashion obsession rears its head. He's wearing a Banyan, which is a European gown/lounge wear from the 1700s based on the Kimono and possibly other Indian robes if I recall correctly. The flower on its sleeve is a Chinese Lantern plant. He's holding a chamber candle stick as well. His cap is just based on stereotypical goofy historical pjs, just for fun.

Junpei: I couldn't bring myself to remove what I saw as some of the most iconic parts of Junpei's original design so I just remixed them. Instead of a flannel shirt he's wearing flannel pajama pants and instead of "bisexual sneakers" he's wearing one bisexual slipper (the other one got lost). I was originally intending to give him a generic college or baseball tee but while I was replaying through Ai the Somnium files I spotted the 999 reference by Sunfish Pocket and thought it would be fun to give him an old Lemniscate shirt instead.

June: She has to be wearing purple. Her fashion sense seems to be very natural, with a lot of knitting and textile ornamentation which lead me to think she'd probably wear a nice, simple cotton nightgown. And the bunny slippers are a little nod to her backstory.

Santa: You know, I just get the impression that Santa sleeps in the same clothes he wears in the game. And with a build like that he's definitely getting enough sun to have some embarrassing tan-lines.

Seven: Again, kinda like Santa, I get the feeling his pajamas could be the same clothes he wears in the game. But the shower sandals are a must.

Guy 9: There just wasn't enough for me to go off of for him. So I deleted him :) Sorry. He blew up.

[0crooked-arcade0]

Something about the Markiplier cinematic universe I think needs to be talked about is the fact that literally 80% of the reason it's so compelling is because it doesn't take itself seriously at all. It's just a story that's an absurdly chaotic mess, and I mean that positively.

Who Killed Markplier is a tragedy at its core, a very well done example of, even if you try to do all the right things, sometimes you still fail, and there's no way to fix what's already been said and done.

'DAMIEN' has hauntingly beautiful scenery, it's an outsiders perspective of an altercation between two unreliable narrators that gives little context to its premise, immersing us in our place as a bystander.

All that being said, it's juxtaposed by;

-The man cast ending up in space with zero explanation.

-Two men getting into a fistfight in a movie theater parking lot in borad daylight in a violently slapstick manner.

-William telling the group he once got sucked into jumanji and nobody even questioning it.

-The viewers very existence being used to play up a series of visual gags with absolutely no context, (Pocket Sand, for example.)

-Darks tendency to pull a 'draw me like one of your French girls' while speaking to us in fucking riddles

-The stunt dummy being kept in after the editing phase

-Literally 90% of the shit Actor does despite being a revenge fueled monster, he wears crocs everywhere like c'mon

-HeeHoo

Honestly I think it's great because it allows you to play with the worldbulding extensively as there's debatably no concrete facts one way or another. I'm writing at the moment and using it to my advantage and will probably post more about that soon.

[cripplecharacters]

The Mask Trope, and Disfiguremisia in Media

[large text: The Mask Trope, and Disfiguremisia in Media]

If you followed this blog for more than like a week, you're probably familiar with “the mask trope” or at least with me complaining about it over and over in perpetuity. But why is it bad and why can't this dude shut up about it?

Let's start with who this trope applies to: characters with facial differences. There is some overlap with blind characters as well; think of the blindfold that is forced on a blind character for no reason. Here is a great explanation of it in this context by blindbeta. It's an excellent post in general, even if your character isn't blind or low vision you should read at least the last few paragraphs.

Here's a good ol’ tired link to what a facial difference is, but to put it simply:

If you have a character, who is a burn survivor or has scars, who wears a mask, this is exactly this trope.

The concept applies to other facial differences as well, but scars and burns are 99% of the representation and “representation” we get, so I'll be using these somewhat interchangeably here.

The mask can be exactly what you think, but it refers to any facial covering that doesn't have a medical purpose. So for example, a CPAP mask doesn't count for this trope, but a Magic Porcelain Mask absolutely does. Bandages do as well. If it covers the part of the face that is “different”, it can be a mask in the context used here.

Eye patches are on thin ice because while they do serve a medical purpose in real life, in 99.9% of media they are used for the same purpose as a mask. It's purely aesthetic.

With that out of the way, let's get into why this trope sucks and find its roots. Because every trope is just a symptom of something, really.

Roughly in order of the least to most important reasons...

Why It Sucks 

[large text: Why It Sucks]

It's overdone. As in — boring. You made your character visibly different, and now they're no longer that. What is the point? Just don't give them the damn scar if you're going to hide it. 

Zero connection with reality. No one does this. I don't even know how to elaborate on this. This doesn't represent anyone because no one does this.

Disability erasure. For the majority of characters with facial differences, their scars or burns somehow don't disable them physically, so the only thing left is the visible part… aaand the mask takes care of it too. Again, what's the point? If you want to make your disabled character abled, then just have them be abled. What is the point of "curing" them other than to make it completely pointless?

Making your readers with facial differences feel straight up bad. I'm gonna be honest! This hurts to see when it's all you get, over and over. Imagine there's this thing that everyone bullied you about, everyone still stares at, that is with you 24/7. Imagine you wanted to see something where people like you aren't treated like a freakshow. Somewhat unrealistic, but imagine that. That kind of world would only exist in fiction, right? So let's look into fiction- oh, none of the positive (or at least not "child-murderer evil") characters look like me. I mean they do, but they don't. They're forced to hide the one thing that connects us. I don't want to hide myself. I don't want to be told over and over that this is what people like me should do. That this is what other people expect so much that it's basically the default way a person with a facial difference can exist. I don't want this.

Perpetuating disfiguremisia. 

"Quick" Disfiguremisia Talk

[large text: "Quick" Disfiguremisia Talk]

It's quick when compared to my average facial difference discussion post, bear with me please.

Disfiguremisia; portmanteau of disfigure from “disfigurement” and -misia, Greek for hatred. 

Also known as discrimination of those mythical horrifically deformed people.

It shows up in fiction all the time; in-universe and in-narrative. Mask trope is one of the most common* representations of it, and it's also a trope that is gaining traction more and more, both in visual art and writing. This is a trope I particularly hate, because it's a blatant symptom of disfiguremisia. It's not hidden and it doesn't try to be. It's a painful remainder that I do not want nor need.

*most common is easily “evil disfigured villain”, just look at any horror media. But that's for another post, if ever.

When you put your character in a mask, it sends a clear message: in your story, facial differences aren't welcome. The world is hostile. Other characters are hostile. The author is, quite possibly, hostile. Maybe consciously, but almost always not, they just don't think that disfiguremisia means anything because it's the default setting. No one wants to see you because your face makes you gross and unsightly. If you have a burn; good luck, but we think you're too ugly to have a face. Have a scar? Too bad, now you don't. Get hidden.

Everything here is a decision that was made by the author. You are the one who makes the world. You are the person who decides if being disabled is acceptable or not there. The story doesn't have a mind of its own, you chose to make it disfiguremisic. 

It doesn't have to be.

Questions to Ask Yourself

[large text: Questions to Ask Yourself]

Since I started talking about facial differences on this blog, I have noticed a very specific trend in how facial differences are treated when compared to other disabilities. A lot of writers and artists are interested in worldbuilding where accessibility is considered, where disabled people are accepted, where neurodivergence is seen as an important part of the human experience, not something “other”. This is amazing, genuinely.

Yet, absolutely no one seems to be interested in a world that is anything but cruel to facial differences. There's no escapist fantasies for us.

You see this over and over, at some point it feels like the same story with different names attached.

The only way a character with a facial difference can exist is to hide it. Otherwise, they are shamed by society. Seen as something gross. I noticed that it really doesn't matter who the character is, facial difference is this great equalizer. Both ancient deities and talking forest cats get treated as the same brand of disgusting thing as long as they're scarred, as long as they had something explode in their face, as long as they've been cursed. They can be accomplished, they can be a badass, they can be the leader of the world, they can kill a dragon, but they cannot, under any circumstances, be allowed to peacefully exist with a facial difference. They have to hide it in the literal sense, or be made to feel that they should. Constantly ashamed, embarrassed that they dare to have a face.

Question one to ask yourself: why is disfiguremisia a part of your story?

I'm part of a few minority groups. I'm an immigrant, I'm disabled, I'm queer. I get enough shit in real life for this so I like to take a break once in a while. I love stories where transphobia isn't a thing. Where xenophobia doesn't come up. But my whole life, I can't seem to find stories that don't spew out disfiguremisia in one way or the other at the first possible opportunity.

Why is disfiguremisia a default part of your worldbuilding? Why can't it be left out? Why in societies with scarred saviors and warriors is there such intense disgust for them? Why can't anyone even just question why this is the state of the world?

Why is disfiguremisia normal in your story?

Question two: do you know enough about disfiguremisia to write about it?

Ask yourself, really. Do you? Writers sometimes ask if or how to portray ableism when they themselves aren't disabled, but no one bothers to wonder if maybe they aren't knowledgeable enough to make half their story about their POV character experiencing disfiguremisia. How much do you know, and from where? Have you read Mikaela Moody or any other advocates’ work around disfiguremisia? Do you understand the way it intersects; with being a trans woman, with being Black? What is your education on this topic?

And for USAmericans... do you know what "Ugly Laws" are, and when they ended?

Question three: what does your story associate with facial difference ��� and why?

If I had to guess; “shame”, “embarrassment”, “violence”, "disgust", “intimidation”, “trauma”, “guilt”, “evil”, “curse”, “discomfort”, “fear”, or similar would show up. 

Why doesn't it associate it with positive concepts? Why not “hope” or “love” or “pride” or “community”? Why not “soft” or “delicate”? Dare I say, “beauty” or “innocence”? Why not “blessing”? “Acceptance”?

Why not “normal”?

Question four: why did you make the character the way they are? 

Have you considered that there are other things than “horrifically burned for some moral failing” or “most traumatic scenario put to paper”? Why is it always “a tough character with a history of violence” and never “a Disfigured princess”? Why not “a loving parent” or “a fashionable girl”, instead of “the most unkind person you ever met” and “total badass who doesn’t care about anything - other than how scary their facial difference is to these poor ableds”? Don’t endlessly associate us with brutality and suffering. We aren’t violent or manipulative or physically strong or brash or bloodthirsty by default. We can be soft, and frail and gentle and kind - and we can still be proud and unashamed.

Question five: why is your character just… fine with all this?

Can’t they make a community with other people with facial differences and do something about this? Demand the right to exist as disabled and not have to hide their literal face? Why are they cool with being dehumanized and treated with such hatred? Especially if they fall into the "not so soft and kind" category that I just talked about, it seems obvious to me that they would be incredibly and loudly pissed off about being discriminated against over and over... Why can't your character, who is a subject of disfiguremisia, realize that maybe it's disfiguremisia that's the problem, and try to fix it?

Question six: why is your character wearing a mask? 

Usually, there's no reason. Most of the time the author hasn't considered that there even should be one, the character just wears a mask because that's what people with facial differences do in their mind. Most writers aren't interested in this kind of research or even considering it as a thing they should do. The community is unimportant to them, it's not like we are real people who read books. They think they understand, because to them it's not complex, it's not nuanced. It's ugly = bad. Why would you need a reason?

For cases where the reason is stated, I promise, I have heard of every single one. To quote, "to spare others from looking at them". I have read, "content warning: he has burn scars under the mask, he absolutely hates taking it off!", emphasis not mine. Because "he hates the way his skin looks", because "they care for their appearance a lot" (facial differences make you ugly, remember?). My favorite: "only has scars and the mask when he's a villain, not as a hero", just to subtly drive the point home. This isn't the extreme end of the spectrum. Now, imagine being a reader with a facial difference. This is your representation, sitting next to Freddy Krueger and Voldemort.

How do you feel?

F.A.Q. [frequently asked questions]

[large text: F.A.Q. [frequently asked questions]]

As in, answers and “answers” to common arguments or concerns. 

“Actually they want to hide their facial difference” - your character doesn’t have free will. You want them to hide it. Again; why.

“They are hiding it to be more inconspicuous!” - I get that there are elves in their world, but there’s no universe where wearing a mask with eye cutouts on the street is less noticeable than having a scar. Facial differences aren’t open wounds sprinkling with blood, in case that's not clear.

“It’s for other people's comfort” - why are other characters disfiguremisic to this extent? Are they forcing all minorities to stay hidden and out of sight too? That’s a horrible society to exist in.

“They are wearing it for Actual Practical Reason” - cool! I hope that this means you have other characters with facial differences that don’t wear it for any reason.

"It's the character's artistic expression" - I sure hope that there are abled characters with the same kind of expression then.

“They’re ashamed of their face” - and they never have any character development that would make that go away? That's just bad writing. Why are they ashamed in the first place? Why is shame the default stance to have about your own face in your story? I get that you think we should be ashamed and do these ridiculous things, but in real life we just live with it. 

"Now that you say that it is kinda messed up but I'm too far into the story please help" - here you go.

“[some variation of My Character is evil so it's fine/a killer so it fits/just too disgusting to show their disability” - this is the one of the only cases where I’m fine with disability erasure, actually. Please don’t make them have a facial difference. This is the type of harm that real life activists spend years and decades undoing. Disfiguremisia from horror movies released in the 70s is still relevant. It still affects people today.

"But [in-universe explanation why disfiguremisia is cool and fine actually]" - this changes nothing.

Closing Remarks

[large text: Closing Remarks]

I hope that this post explains my thoughts on facial difference representation better. It's a complicated topic, I get it. I'm also aware that this post might come off as harsh (?) but disfiguremisia shouldn't be treated lightly, it shouldn't be a prop. It's real world discrimination with a big chunk of its origins coming out of popular media.

With the asks that have been sent regarding facial differences, I realized that I probably haven't explained what the actual problems are well enough. It's not about some technical definition, or about weird in-universe explanations. It's about categorizing us as some apparently fundamentally different entity that can't possibly be kind and happy, about disfiguremisia so ingrained into our culture that it's apparently impossible to make a world without it; discrimination so deep that it can't be excised, only worked around. But you can get rid of it. You can just not have it there in the first place. Disfiguremisia isn't a fundamental part of how the world works; getting rid of it won't cause it to collapse. Don't portray discrimination as an integral, unquestionable part of the world that has to stay no matter what; whether it's ableism, transphobia, or Islamophobia or anything else. A world without discrimination can exist. If you can't imagine a world without disfiguremisia in fiction... that's bad. Sad, mostly. To me, at least.

Remember, that your readers aren't going to look at Character with a Scar #14673 and think "now I'm going to research how real life people with facial differences live." They won't, there's no inclination for them to do so. If you don't give them a reason, they won't magically start thinking critically about facial differences and disfiguremisia. People like their biases and they like to think that they understand.

And, even if you're explaining it over and over ;-) (winky face) there will still be people who are going to be actively resistant to giving a shit. To try and get the ones who are capable of caring about us, you, as the author, need to first understand disfiguremisia, study Face Equality, think of me as a human being with human emotions who doesn't want to see people like me treated like garbage in every piece of media I look at. There's a place and time for that media, and if you don't actually understand disfiguremisia, you will only perpetuate it; not "subvert" it, not "comment" on it.

I hope this helps :-) (smile emoji. for good measure)

Mod Sasza

[kathaynesart]

Okay, so I was absolutely giddy reading the newest post when I thought about something.

I remember in a previous explanation that each brother has their way of communication with Leo. Ninja mind meld with Raph, Donnies big book of codes, and pretty much just wingin' it with Mikey.

With that being said, it makes sense why Mikey was confused here, since Donnie was using, what could be considered complicated codes.

Anyways, I loved it, can't wait for more, and tysm for this amazing series!!!

Hahaha! This is very true in some regards and I'm glad you picked up on it! There will always be a bit of a communication barrier between Donnie and his other brothers when he's not taking the time to give proper context.

I'm sure though Donnie would argue that "Mach Stem Barrier" is not code at all and if his brother knew ANYTHING about bombs then there would have been no confusion.

In which case *puts on nerd glasses* I think a little lesson on bombs is in order (because if I had to study all this stuff for this comic then you get to suffer along with me).

BOMB LESSON

A Mach Stem is basically the huge shockwave of pressure that comes from the blast of a bomb when it merges with its own blast being reflected back up by the ground. It's basically the thing that causes that huge slice of pressure which levels everything around ground zero. This strength of this wave is normally about twice the pressure of the actual blast itself, doubling its destructive power.

It's so powerful you can actually see it with the naked eye: VIDEO

To counteract this and reduce collateral damage Donnie created the shield we see which he calls the "Mach Stem Barrier." It acts as a giant cylinder that contains all that pressure and heat and then releases it high up into the stratosphere, protecting the surrounding area from harm. Luckily the blast is radiation free so no fear of fallout. The attacks works more like a pressure oven, the heat inside reaching up to temperatures of 200 million degrees Fahrenheit (about 100 million degrees Celsius), or about four to five times the temperature at the center of the sun, incinerating anything within its confines, even Krang tech. Crazy stuff and all backed by actual science, just as Donnie would have it! ...Now if Mikey would just get with the program!

[fiveht]

Proof of life (Adore pt 3)

Hello my sweet angel babies ♥️

I'm not going to be able to adequately express my gratitude for the steady stream of love (and concern, sorry) I've been receiving over the past couple of months. I'm so sorry I've been AWOL, it will definitely happen again. Because see, for me, I usually have to make a choice between social and creative fandom participation. My battery is small, and takes a long time to charge.

Thank you to everyone who's left comments and asks and DMs since I've been gone. I don't think I can respond to all of it, but rest assured those messages ping my cold, dead heart every time I see them.

So I'm gonna go out on a limb here. I did this same thing months and months ago, when I was working on Head Over Feet, and let me be clear: posting even a single word of a WIP goes against my every instinct and principle as an author. I am someone who likes to finish an entire story before I post any of it, and on top of that, I am NOT a fast writer, so the expectations that I'm setting up here might not be advisable. But I did it before and managed to finish the thing, and I want to give you guys something in exchange for being so unbelievably awesome, so here I am again.

This will probably be the only time I mention this story in public until it's finished and posted, and inquiries about my progress are unlikely to help with the writing process, I'm just saying. I reserve the right to change every last word of this before the final draft, and I also reserve the right to fall off the face of the planet and simply never finish it, as much as I will strive to prevent that from happening. Please be patient with me.

Anyway, here is my paltry offering to say thanks for the love: the (VERY rough) first ~1300 words of the third instalment of The Adventures of Soft Daddy and Danger Twink.

Sirius secures his handheld shower head to its holder at the edge of his clawfoot tub, and steps out carefully onto the bathmat. He shivers in the cool air outside the shower curtain; it's about twenty degrees below zero outside, so even if he could afford to run his ancient radiator at full blast, it probably wouldn't help much.

He dries himself off and checks his reflection in the mirror, turning his face this way and that as he tugs his hair out of the bun he'd piled it into to keep it dry during his shower. There's no need for makeup tonight, not when he's not even planning to put on clothes.

It's incrementally warmer when he steps out into the main room of his apartment. He gathers an array of splayed text books and notes from his bed and dumps them carelessly onto the couch, then closes his new laptop and places it delicately on the coffee table. It's the most expensive thing he owns, save for the Gucci backpack currently sitting in his wardrobe with a three-inch berth around it like his shoes and other bags might somehow contaminate it. It's weird owning rich-people stuff when you are still, objectively, broke as fuck.

He perches on the edge of his bed and sets his phone to charge, because his battery doesn't even last a day anymore, and he's going to need it this evening. He tucks it in next to his pillow and picks up his new toy.

The plug isn't much larger than the one he already has. A little longer, which is appealing, but no wider, so it shouldn't be a challenge to get it in comfortably. He disconnects it from its charger and hefts it in his hand, feeling the added weight from the electronics inside.

He picks up his phone, and hesitates when he sees the notification waiting for him.

Rieka: let's go out tomorrow

Rieka: the fact that we haven't been drunk since the term started is criminal

Rieka: we've had two chem labs and zero drinks

Sirius purses his lips, thumbs hovering over the keyboard. There's a fine line here, and he hasn't quite found it yet.

Me: got plans

Me: raincheck?

So complete avoidance is the best strategy, right?

Rieka: booooo 👎

He sighs, but at least she's not asking for an explanation. He opens a different conversation then, pushing all thoughts of Rieka Lupin into a tidy, sealed compartment, not to be opened during certain activities with a certain relative of hers.

Me: i'm ready

Me: are you in your office?

Daddy: Yup, I've got a few minutes

Daddy: Want me to call?

Instead of answering, Sirius hits the call button himself.

"Hey baby," Remus answers. His voice is already smooth and honey-sweet, and just from that, Sirius knows he's planning to lay it on thick tonight.

"Hi daddy," Sirius says with a smile. "Should I put it in now?"

There's a low chuckle over the line. "Are we feeling eager?"

"Always," Sirius says, laying back on his bed.

"Use the good lube I got you, it's gonna be in there a while."

He switches the call to speaker, and snags the bottle from his nightstand. "I threw out the old stuff, you've got me ruined for cheap lube."

"Only the best for that ass," Remus says, and Sirius can hear his smirk.

He gives the plug a liberal coating, running his fingers along its shape, his dick twitching just at the feel of the silky-smooth silicone, at the anticipation of what's about to happen. He spreads his legs wide, drawing one knee up to give himself easier access.

"Take it slow," Remus says, succinctly heading off Sirius' impulse to just shove the thing inside himself in one go. "Rub the tip against yourself, so you're nice and wet."

Sirius shuts his eyes as he obeys, sliding the slick end of the toy over his entrance. "Okay."

"Are you going to be a good boy for daddy tonight?"

"Uh-huh," Sirius says, teasing the very tip of the plug in and out of his hole.

"Tell me how."

"I'm not gonna touch."

"You're not gonna touch, and you're not gonna come."

"Yeah," Sirius says. His cock is starting to harden as his body tries to draw the plug inside. "Can I put it in, daddy?"

"Slow," Remus reminds him, "Slide it in nice and slow for me, baby."

Sirius catches his lip between his teeth and tries to push the plug in slowly, the way he knows Remus would do if he was here. 

The shower has left him relaxed and more than ready, and it's hard not to take advantage, just press the toy in to its limit because he can. But he's working on his patience -- under Remus' careful tutelage -- so he shuts his eyes and tries to savour it, the tease of the plug's rubber tip at his entrance, the slow stretch as he eases it past the slight resistance before he sighs, and his body eagerly accepts the intrusion.

"Mmmm," Sirius sighs as he settles the base of the plug flush against his entrance, shifting his hips and feeling the constant, dull pressure against his prostate.

"How's it feel?" 

"Good," Sirius says, splaying his legs out and just enjoying the pleasant fullness. It's been almost a week since Remus last fucked him, and that's just way too long. Christmas really spoiled him. He tugs the blankets up around him, because it's going to take some time before his body temperature is high enough to fight against the chill in his apartment.

"Have you tried out the settings at all?" Remus asks him, and Sirius picks up the phone, switching off speaker and holding it to his ear.

"No," he says, grinding his ass down against the bed to test the plug's reach inside him. "I thought you'd rather do the honours."

Remus hums, and Sirius hears the phone shifting in his grip. "I'm gonna turn it on, okay? Lowest setting."

"O--" Sirius stutters as the plug buzzes to life inside him, nestled snug against his prostate and sending little zings of pleasure down his legs. "Fuck that feels good. That's the lowest setting?"

"It is," Remus confirms. "Want to run through them all, see how high it goes? Or would you rather be surprised?"

"Mmmm, surprise me."

"Surprise it is," Remus says, and Sirius hears shuffling papers in the background as he prepares for his night class. Psychology 1001, Thursdays, 7-9:30PM. Two and a half hours of a lecture that Remus swears he's given so many times he could recite it in his sleep, so why not give himself something fun to focus on while he goes through the motions? 

Being privy to all of this brilliant, upstanding man's secret perversions is a privilege Sirius does not take lightly.

"You can turn it off from the app if you need to," Remus is saying, "Or you can call me and I'll switch it off. My phone's on vibrate, so I'll see it right away."

Sirius smiles to himself. "Got it," he says, though this is a rehashing of the rules that Remus had laid out when he'd brought the plug over last weekend. He'd called it a "late Christmas gift", as if he hadn't already given Sirius several thousand dollars worth of presents on Christmas morning.

There's more rustling over the line, the squeak of a chair. 

"Tell me again how you're going to be good tonight."

"I'm not gonna touch myself, and I'm not gonna come." The toy is still buzzing away inside him, making everything a little fuzzy at the edges. 

"Tell me why."

"'Cause daddy's in charge, even when he's not here."

"Good boy."

Sirius squirms with pleasure, his cock smearing a little drop of fluid on his belly as the toy hums insistently at his prostate.

"I have to head out," Remus says. "How do you feel?"

"Good," Sirius says, his abs tensing as he shifts his legs and the angle of the toy changes. "Excited."

"Me too," Remus says softly. "I'll talk to you soon, beautiful. Send me some pictures." With a low beep, the call disconnects.

[ziminy]

Beast and the beauty

There was a bounty on your head, and Toji was there to claim it. However, he didn't expect the beast to be you. Now he got other plans on what he's going to do with you.

Tags: smut, mdni, f!reader, beast!reader, hunter!Toji, enemies to lovers, threatening, lots of lies, Toji is messing with the reader, manipulation, fingering, orgasm denial, crying, slightly chocking, humping, making out in the hallway, doing it in the library, public s(e)x, creampie, the reader haves boobs, oral (both m and f receiving),

Author's note: i wrote this with a hand in my pants (jk)

Pt2 Masterlist kinktobermasterlist

It was a cold night when he found himself in the middle of the woods. He been out haunting the whole day, but he won't give up just yet, the prize was too good to give up on it.

A ferocious beast is hiding somewhere in the forest, in a place that it was impossibly hard to find it. But the zeros on his paycheck won't make him turn around any time soon.

With a gun in his back pocket, some knifes and whatever weapons he might carry, he was determined to get this job done and live lavishly for a while. He's thinking about the most expensives hotels and the most renowned restaurants. Maybe even go on vacation, maybe.

He had nothing planned, he's just thinking of spending money as fast as possible.

All he could think about was the papers. So, he better find the beast's hideout soon.

And he did found it, a big abandoned castle. A place fit for a freak, he thought.

This place looked creepy, the vibes were off and if he wasn't so determined to get the money he would have passed the opportunity to someone else. He'll make this quick so he could go the fuck home.

He opened the front door, careful of his surroundings. With small steps, he got inside, looking left and right and being on high alert. His fateful gun in his right hand, finger on the trigger and waiting for something to appear.

The corridor he was on was full of candles, soft light illuminating the room. It was clear he wasn't alone, and the fact that he saw something moving with the corner of his eye confirmed his suspicions.

The shadow seemed to move quickly. It looked like it would get away if he doesn't do something quickly. So, he moved his body after it, for a moment getting too carried away and stepping on something that makes a loud sound.

"Is someone there?" a feminine voice could be heard from where he saw the shadow. Loud steps coming towards him, all in a hurry.

He won't be deceived. He won't let a sweet voice make him hesitate when all he was craving for was money.

He stood there in place, gun pointed towards the source of the sounds that is getting closer. He was ready to shoot, not a second waisted.

However.

He was taken by surprise when a creature smaller than him popped out the corner. Big round eyes, full lips and a perfect posture. White delicate clothes that didn't matched this scary castle in any way.

Who looked more surprised in that moment? Him or you?

"Oh!" you exclaimed, still not believing he was real.

"Are you alright?" you must be one of the beast's captures. He can't come with a better explanation.

"Are you alright?" you said, scanning him up and down. The gun he had in front of you a few seconds ago was now next to his body, still in his hand. "Come in, you must be tired." you said all exited to have your first guest in years.

"Miss, I'm here to save you." be didn't believe his own words.

"From what?" you said all confused.

"From the beast." you blinked a few times at his words. You sighed, somehow looking more relaxed now.

"Come in, I'll explain everything. But first, are you hungry?" some time later, he woke up in a big dining room, the table being longer and wider than his whole house combined.

Everything was moving on its own, the furniture, the silverware, the plates with food on them.

"You said you were looking for a beast, right?" you asked after some time, not wanting to disturb the meal.

"Do you know where is it." everyone froze. The furniture that was talking a few moments ago now dead silent. Everybody stopped breathing, too afraid to do a single wrong move.

"What do you plan to do with it?" your sweet voice now cold while asking questions.

"What I was hired to do." he too can match your attitude. Hide that creature as much as you want, he'll find it eventually.

"I can throw you in the prison at any time I want. No one will find your body here." your words didn't match your image. That white night dress made you look too innocent, and your eyes made you look inoffensive if he didn't look good enough at you.

"Is that a threat?" he asked, somehow excited to drag his gun out and put a bullet right into your head.

His smile disgusted you. Annoyed, you got up from the table, making every single of your servant look at you.

"Master, please." a clock said, but you didn't looked twice back.

"Show this gentleman his way out tomorrow." you said before closing the door after you.

"I'm sorry about this, our master haves a bit of a temper." the clock apologized.

He saw worse than this.

"Let me show you our humble abode." a candle said.

He will get those money no matter who appears before him.

It was so easy to fool these idiots. He walked behind them and slipped the moment he got the chance. Now wandering somewhere far away from where he was taken to.

This part of the castle looked worse than outside. Walls having big cracks in them, paintings thrown apart, and this bad feeling that is following him ever since he got into that hallway. He must be close to the beast, he knows it, he can feel it.

Nothing looked too out of the ordinary, however, at the end of the hallway there was a big door, claws mark on it, and it gave this off feeling more than any other rooms in that hallway.

He got closer to it, slowly open it, and stepping inside.

The state of the room was questionable. It looked like a fight happened in there, and it ended with somebody getting killed.

"I told you, I want to be left alone." he could recognize that voice. It came from the bed, from under the covers.

He got closer, his gun out his pocket and pressed against your head when he got mext to your bed.

You got your head out of the blanket, looking up at him who looked all relaxed, like this was a normal activity for him.

"What do you want." you looked tired. Was he the reason? But what a honor.

"I'm here because of a bounty. I'm not leaving empty handed." so he wasn't as idiotic as he looked like. "I wander how a bullet will look in that pretty head of yours. Try to move and we'll find out." that's why you didn't like people. Every single person that came to visit the castle had some kind of unsolved issues that couldn't be fixed by you.

"So. What do you want me to do?" you looked bored. His games didn't amused you at all.

"Just answer a simple question. Are you the beast or nah?" perhaps he was dumb indeed.

"Why are you asking when you know the answer?" a big grin on his face as you confirmed your identity. His gun pressed against your forehead even harder, his face getting closer to yours as he lowers his upper body to take a closer look at you. "Just do it already, everybody will be free if I'm not here." your cooperation didn't made him feel guilty at all.

"Goodnight, sweet thing." you closed your eyes, expecting to not feel a thing besides the after life. But instead, his gun got further away from you, and back into his pocket.

You opened your eyes, looking surprised at his actions. "Why didn't you do it?" were you disappointed? Oh, well. What can he do about that?

"What if you haunt me in my dreams?" he walked to the door. "Don't get too comfortable, I'll come back here tomorrow." he said and left the room, closing the door behind him and leaving you all alone in there.

You should kick him out, but at the same time you're afraid he might kill one of your servants. He can do whatever he wants with you, but you draw a line when it comes to your animated companions who were cursed because of you.

God, take all your suffering and give it to that trespasser.

That night, you fell asleep with your heart in your throat. Stressed and full of anxiety. You would wake up at the smallest sound or if you felt anything moving.

It wasn't enough that he was the one making your dreams become nightmares, but he even had the audacity to show his face when you went to eat the next day. All a smile and acting like he didn't terrorized you ever since he stepped a foot into your home.

"When are you leaving?" you asked when he kept looking a bit too insistently at the knife he had in his hand. Could he eat like a normal person? Why did he had to act up even now?

"B- but master!" you couldn't give a fuck about that damn curse anymore. Better die alone than a freak like him interfere with your life.

"You want me gone already?" he asked in a teased tone.

"Yes. Very much so." you said with full confidence, but you wished you could take your words back when he took his gun out and placed it on the table like it was normal.

"Here." he threw the gun at you, making you catch it in your hands. "Shoot me and you won't have to deal with me anymore." the terrified look on your face couldn't be more funnier.

You got up, your chair moving backwards as you throw the gun on the table, rushing out of the room.

"Master!" some furniture ran after you while calling your name.

"Our master is really trying her best." if that's what you call best then he doesn't know what to say. You need to do better.

"One of us haves to go if she wants to live a peaceful life." he said, looking over at the stuff on the table, wandering what he can use to stab you with.

"Don't say that. I bet my master took you in consideration when you arrived here." the candle said without thinking, making Toji to raise an eyebrow.

"Take me in consideration? For what?" did you wanted to eat him? Oho, but he won't give up without a good fight.

"To break the curse-" the candle finally realized what he was saying and rushed out the room.

Break the curse? So there's more that he doesn't know about. Well, won't it be fun to break a few of your fingers and make you spill everything out?

He waited until the nightfall and sneaked back into your room. You looked so peacefully asleep. Won't it be sad to wake you up?

He sat at the edge of the bed, a hand placed on the bed to hold himself up, as he looked down at your sleeping face.

How did you got cursed? And how did you become a beast? If this was your beast form, then how did you looked like a human? Was this a form you took to deceive people?

"Mm." you wanted to turn around in bed, but then you felt something. Now you were fully awake.

"Morning, sleepyhead." your heart skipped a few beats when you saw him. His low voice ringing right into your ears as he smiled.

You drag your blanket over your head, trying your best to ignore him. This was all a bad dream. It had to be.

"Don't ignore me." he dragged the blanket off your face, being welcomed with your mad face.

"Honestly, can you leave me alone." you looked at the way his hand went to his pocket and you instantly opened your mouth. "I- I apologize. I'm still half asleep and I didn't realized what I'm saying." did he really came here to play his dirty tricks on you? "With what can I help you."

"A little birdy told me about your curse." that was all? You could only sigh.

"It's nothing, really. Some old lady turned out to be a witch and cursed me. She transformed me into a beast and my servants into talking furniture." it wasn't a secret anyway. He didn't had to act so shady.

"And how do you break the curse?" you looked away, avoiding his gaze and his questions. "Or do you want to make you talk?" he was impossible.

You got up from the bed. "Follow me." you said and walked to another room. An empty space with nothing but a big window and a small table in the middle of it.

"What's that?" he said when he noticed what was on the table.

"The curse will end when the last petal of this rose will fall." you said and got closer to the table.

"I heard something different." his skepticism didn't affect you in any way.

"There is a way to break the curse. But I prefer to look for the end of it."

"What's the difference?" they're both bad ends for you.

"In one I'm suffering alone for eternity and in the other I suffer with someone next to me."

"Elaborate." you tried to explain in the best way you can, for this dumb ass to understand.

"When the last petal falls all my servants will become lifeless, and I'll be all alone to suffer until I die." and you wanted to go this route? Aren't you quite a masochist?

"And how do you break the curse?"

"Learn how to love somebody. And that somebody haves to love me too." you prefer to be all alone, people disgust you.

"What will happen if you break the curse?" isn't he asking too many questions?

"My servants will become human again, the castle will probably come to its original form and I'll be more miserable than I'm now."

"Aren't you a selfish one? You're putting all your sick fantasies above the people next to you?" he laughed.

"Whatever. You can leave whenever you want. I'm not holding you back." he's the one to decide that.

"What if I help you?" he got closer to you, trapping you in between the table and his big body. "What if I break this curse?" his face got closer to yours. "What are you going to give me, hm? I want a reward." you looked like you were dead inside, not a single emotion written on your face as all the life in your eyes left. "I want to see you more miserable, hit rock bottom. I want to see you at your worst." his eyes were scanning everything on your face, if your eyes betrays you and give you away, if you will get flustered. He wants to notice that right away. He wants to see you crumble under him and give up.

"I think you're tired." you really don't want to satisfy him. "You know your way back." you're so cold, kicking him out without even saying good night.

But he doesn't give up. Because the next morning he followed you everywhere, every single step you took he was right behind you.

"Why do you keep following me? Don't you have better stuff to do?" you asked him, annoyed.

"Hm? Not really. I came here for the head of the beast but now I have nothing to take back with me." all the servants around you look terrified at those words. He really had the audacity and he made sure to make it everyone's problem.

"Then do it. Right here, right now. What's stopping you?" you said, raising your head so your neck could be exposed to him. "Do it." your eyes never show fear and it made him so excited to play with you, tease you and go as further as he could just to see how you'll react.

"M- master!" the clock said, not believe what he just heard.

"But he could-" the candle stopped speaking, not wanting to spill something he's not supposed to.

"I could help you break the curse, can't I?" he said full of himself. "Come on, let me help." you turned around and started sprinting put of there.

Crazy fucker. Can you believe you welcomed him in without thinking twice.

You stopped to catch your breath a few hallways away, but you regret doing that when you felt someone behind you. "Stop running, I'm getting tired." you're not even going to question how he got there that fast. He looked like he didn't even break a sweat.

"Listen." you said out of breath. "I don't want to be helped. I'm alright with the punishment I got." he shook his head in disappointment at yout words. "I did something bad, and now I'm getting what I deserve. I don't see the problem with accepting my fate." he got closer to you, trapping you once again. Your back against the wall as he stand in front of you, a hand on the wall and lowering his face dangerously close to you.

"You said you need to love somebody to break the curse, no?" yeah, and? You raised an eyebrow, not understanding what he was trying to say besides volunteering himself as tribute.

"And I said that I don't want to." you quickly replied back. Not wanting to hear any of his bullshit anymore.

"Do you need to love somebody emotionally or physically?" how are you supposed to know that? His question didn't made any sense.

"I don't know." you were thinking of the meaning of love now. "Emotionally, I think?"

"So you're not sure." you wanted to poke his eyes out. That grin on his face drove you insane every time you saw it. "I can show you how I love. No feelings involved." you shook your head.

"My servants will finally be free once the curse ends. They won't have to serve someone like me and I can be alone for the rest of my life." you already made your mind, what makes him think you'll change it.

"But does your servants think the same?" you didn't thought of that. "Wouldn't they want to be human again? To experience the life they once had?" you hate to admit it but he was right in a way or another. You didn't thought of the people next to you because it would hurt even more acknowledging that you did that to them.

"Then.." you bite your lip, not wanting to admit defeat, but you had no better idea. "What will you do?" you were thinking of holding hands or maybe a few hugs here and there. But instead, you were taken by surprise when his lips touched yours.

He was amused at your expression. It was like you didn't even see this coming.

"You suck at this." he said after he got away from you, for a moment. His lips were back on yours, now biting your lower lip to have access to more of you. His tongue in your mouth, trying to find yours, fighting it when they made contact.

His hands wrapped around you, a hand of his going to the back of your head and pushing you closer to him. Now you were really trapped in his arms.

You slowly tapped his chest, trying to get away when you were running out of oxygen in your lungs.

He let you breathe for just a moment before he kissed you again, this time more hungrily.

Your expressions were so cute, it was like nothing he saw from you before. You looked flustered, brows slightly arched and eyes closed. You didn't dared to move or say a thing. It was so funny.

But after a while, he let you go, leaving you feel dizzy and confused on what just happened.

"Did-" you said catching your breath. "Did you break the curse?" he doesn't know what to say, you look exactly the same to him.

"I don't think this will be enough to break the curse." he replied. You knew that much, but you hope that it would do something. "There are a lot more things that we can try. It's not over yet, don't worry." that's what you were afraid of. His words doesn't reassure you at all.

The problem might be the lack on physical touch. A few kisses won't be enough. They aren't enough for him, since he craves for way more than that. He doesn't care about your curse, all he cares about is you. Your body if he's being more honest.

He would have never thought that you'd be stupid enough to really believe him. Listening to his untrustworthy requests and acting just the way he liked.

Like now, for example. He managed to catch you in the library. The moment you saw him you ran behind some bookshelves, hiding from him. He couldn't help but laugh. You always manage to wake something inside him every single time he sees you.

"What are we hiding from?" he whispered in your ear when he sneaked behind you, making you jump and look at him terrified.

"I-" you bite your tongue trying to come with an excuse. "I was looking for a book." you're in a library after all, so it would make sense.

"You're sure? Because it doesn't look that way to me." his grin pissed you off so bad.

"I was looking for something to step on because the book I'm looking for is on a high shelf." that was the best excuse you could come up with.

He looked up at whatever books were next to his head. "This one?" he pointed to the first book he saw.

"A little more up to the left." you had no idea what you were even saying.

"This one?"

"A little more up."

"This one?"

"The one right next to it." you had no idea what that book was even about.

"Hmm." he looked at the book's title. "You're sure it wasn't the other one?"

"I'm pretty sure it's that one."

"Alright then." he handed you the book and you dropped it right on the floor after reading the title.

101 ways to make love to your partner.

"It was the other one." your heart was beating so fast that it might as well jump out your chest.

"Here." this book was even worse.

How to set up the mood.

Just kill me already, you yelled in your mind.

"It's the wrong bookshelf!" you were about to turn around and run from there but he grabbed your arm and dragged you to him.

"I'm sure it is." his expression showed absolutely no mercy, he was laughing at you.

"I don't even know why we have these books here anyway." it was all a misunderstanding. He had to understand this, but he looked like he was intentionally taking it the wrong way.

"Let's read those books together." he said with a smile on his face.

You don't even know how it happened, but you woke up sitting on the floor in between his legs, your back pressed against his chest as you had one of those cursed books in your hands.

"Stop turning the page so fast. Are you even reading?" his chin was resting on your head, reading from the open book.

You weren't even paying attention to the words on the paper. All you could think of is how to run faster from there.

"Turn to the next page." he ordered and you did as he said.

A big drawing of two people in a very promiscuous position appeared when you turned the page. You dropped that book from your hands, too stunned to speak or process what's going on.

"Ahaha." his colorful laugh was like an echo, coming back to life in your head again and again even after his lips were shut. "Is that too much for you?" you didn't wanted to respond to his question.

"I'm leaving!" you really wanted to run from there, but his hands were wrapped around you the next moment you said that.

"How are you gonna learn something if you're not studying." he whispered in your ear. "Open that book again, I'll teach you how it's actually done." he was so annoying, but you did as he said. You opened that book again and looked for the page you were at last time. "They're wrong about this." he pointed at a sentence. "How old is this book?" if the slightly yellow pages weren't showing that it was old, he could have pointed some very incorrect words that gave it away.

"From what I know, they been collecting books since the first generation that lived in this castle." no wander this book was so dry.

"Open your legs." his hands started to travel around your body, one went under your chest while the other traveled to the waist band of your pants.

Confused, you raised your head to look at him. "For what?"

"Do as I say." his voice was so cold, it was nothing like a few moments ago when he was laughing.

You lower your gaze to his hand and the way he was getting under your pants. You finally understood what he was going to do and you couldn't help but shift in his lap. He slapped your clothed pussy slightly and then dragged his hand out. "Rise your hips." he commanded. "Relax, I'm only showing you the basics." you gulped and raised your hips, the next thing you know your pants are down your thighs, along with your panties. His hand traveled to his mouth, taking some spit in it and then going back to your pussy.

His fingers parted your folds apart, smearing his spit on your clit before he started to slowly move two of his fingers on it, doing small circles.

You sighed softly, your back slightly arching at the feeling.

Your eyes were closed, a hand wrapped around his arm and your head against his shoulder. If he's going to do something, you might as well enjoy it.

"Look how wet you are, and I didn't even do shit." he chuckled against your ear. His fingers doing long strokes between your folds, going down to your hot entrance. It was like it was calling his name, a sweet voice calling for him over and over again, longing for more of his touch.

A hand went under your shirt grabbing one of your boobs and started to play with it just the way he wanted. Intentionally moving his fingers against your hard nipple to see you squirm. A small moan leaving your mouth, making him to get his face closer to yours.

"Keep it quiet." one of your hands went to your mouth, now being to self conscious because of him.

He placed a kiss on your hair before his eyes traveled back to your pussy. One of his fingers got inside your warm core, moving it in and out slowly. Something dark in his eyes as he looked at the way you were sucking him in.

He bite his lip, trying to hold back whatever praise he was about to accidentally spill, or the sinful moan that was at the back of his throat. Your pussy looked so good, it was making him salivate.

Was this an effect of your curse? Was this a thing you did to mess with people's minds? Well, guess what, he won't give up just yet.

Now, another finger being added inside your delicious pussy, curling them up while his palm was against your clit, making you gasp and throw your head back.

He was going to kiss you, he was about to smash his lips against yours and leave you out of breath. He wanted his lips all over your body. He might as well devour you. But he didn't do anything out of spite. If you're going to run from him then he might as well punish you for your bad behavior.

"Come on, cover your mouth better. What if somebody hears you." he said when he noticed the little hiccups that leaves your mouth. He knows the wet sounds produced by his hand against your pussy are louder than you, but he couldn't help but tease you. You always took him so seriously. Look at the way you try to keep quiet. Eyes shut and a hand placed over your mouth like your life depended on it. "Look at me. Keep your eyes on me." he said, making you open your eyes slightly and look at him with big doe eyes.

He wanted to eat you up, pussy and all. Everything that was yours, he wants it.

You looked right into his eyes so lovingly, he couldn't help but gulp.

Fuck it, what does he haves to lose. He haves no dignity anyway.

So, he moved your hand away and pressed his mouth against yours, eating your lips the way he wished to eat your pussy.

His hand movement was so mean, calloused fingers moving in and out so fast, going deeper and deeper, curling them and rubbing his palm against your clit. His other hand back in your shirt and playing with your breasts.

One of your hands went to his arm, slapping it slightly to catch his attention, but that only made his hand move harder inside you. Curling his fingers again and again to see you break.

Tears seemed to form and ready to fall down your cheeks, but that only made him laugh. You're so easy to please, it was pathetic.

He let you do your thing, crying only made him want to push you over your limits.

He got his hand out your shirt, placing it under your jaw, keeping your chin up for a moment before his fingers were wrapped around your neck, chocking it slightly.

You were so close, he could feel your walls tightening, and your expression didn't helped with the fact that he wanted to shove his dick down your throat.

He wasn't feeling like letting you cum today. Especially not after playing with his feelings like that.

He got his fingers out your sweet pussy, letting you come back to your senses. But he never stopped kissing you, his lips never leaving yours, making a mess out of yourself, still so wet for him.

"See, it's nothing like in that dumb book." he said after he let you go, even if he didn't want to. You turned around, looking at him with big eyes, expecting him to show you more. "Don't look at me like that." he laughed. "I'm just showing you what you need to know." you bite your lip, your eyes traveling to his mouth, eyebrows furrowed as you keep thinking of his magical fingers and the wanders they're doing.

"I want more." he was taken aback by your words. You got closer to him, sitting on your knees as you tried to sit in his lap.

"Maybe another time." you couldn't understand him. Usually he wouldn't leave you alone and now he was trying to get away.

"Touch me, please." he tried to not look surprised, but man, his cock was jumping in his pants to get free and give you what you wanted.

"Aren't you a needy one?" his mocking usual self came back in an instant. His hands traveled to your hips, dragging you closer to him. "Let's take those pants off and then we're talking." he helped you take off your pants, now dragging you on his lap, your pussy right against his cock that was still in his pants. You looked down, your hands went to undo his belt, but he stopped you, placing your hands on his shoulders. "I love your enthusiasm, but not now." his hands traveled to your ass, grabbing it, dragging it forward for a moment to give you some friction.

Your mouth was slightly open as you sighed. This was feeling too good, why was he trying to stop you from feeling like this.

His hands remain on your ass, rocking you back and forth to give both of you some kind of relief. His head went back, resting it against the wall as he kept moving you.

"If you want it you gotta do it yourself." he doesn't have to say it twice. With a hand on his shoulder and one on his thigh, you started to move your hips on your own, grinding a little harder whenever you could feel his cock throbbing.

You keep moving, and moving , and man, did it felt good. It was a different type of feeling than before. It was better. But you wished you could feel more, to feel stuffed just the way it was when his fingers were inside you.

You bite your lip and looked at him. He had his eyes closed, and mouth slightly open, his back resting against the wall. He looked like he was enjoying this in his own way. "I want to feel more of you." your words made him open his eyes. "I want to feel you inside me." his dick was wide awake, it was so hard that it was going to jump out his pants.

He laughed. He liked your energy, your words were so tempting, however. "For now this is more than enough for you." if he was going to fuck you, at least let him do it properly the first time.

He wasn't usually a gentleman, the fact that he got himself in this situation prove his point. But it was something about you that made him want to tease you. Make you longer for him, crave for his body. He wanted to see you beg him.

You're already doing it, so eagerly to get a taste of his cock, but he didn't wanted to do it just yet.

"Keep moving your hips and I'll think about it." lies, he won't get his cock inside you any time soon. But you looked so excited to grind on him, doing your best to move your hips, your juices all over his pants.

Fuck, you were doing so good. Continue just like that and he might cum a lot sooner than he wants to.

His hands went back on your thighs, then up your body, traveling under your shirt and then back down to your hips, gripping then tightly and helping you move better on him.

"Fuck.." you said out of breath, your eyes closing for a moment.

You didn't want to admit it, but you wanted to kiss him so bad in that moment. You wanted to trail your hands all over him. To feel his skin against yours, the warmth of his body.

You could feel that thing deep inside you stomach again, it was forming, and forming. It was so close, you couldn't help but feel desperate for that release. You couldn't tell him, he'll stop the moment he knew what you were going through.

But he already noticed. Your expression, the way your trembling, how your hips moved in a broken motion, not sure what you wanted to do yourself.

He was also close, he'd be lying if he said he wasn't.

But all he did was to grab your hips and raise them off him, moving you in front of him before he got up, not even looking at you before he left you all alone in that library.

He did it again, can you believe him.

He'd rather overestimulate both of you, leaving you hanging than give you what you want.

Fuck him. Fuck him. Fuck him.

What an asshole. What even is his problem. Now you're not in the mood anymore.

You got yourself dressed and stormed out that library and straight to your room, not getting out of it for the rest of the day.

You didn't expect to see him again any time soon. And you didn't saw or heard him for the rest of the day. You even managed to go to sleep in peace.

It was around midnight when he got in your room.

You can't say that he woke you up when you weren't sleeping to begin with. The scenes from today replaying in your head as you cursed yourself for wanting someone like him.

"You're awake?" he said when he saw you turning around to face him, eyea wide open.

"What do you want." he got closer to your bed, sitting at the edge of it and looking at you.

"You live all alone in this part of the castle, don't you?" you nodded. He already knew that, so why was he even asking. "It's also the middle of the night." it was. "No one will disturb your beauty sleep." obviously.

"What are you trying to say?"

"Off with your clothes." he never fails to surprise you in the worst ways possible.

"I want to sleep." you wanted him far away from here.

"I can give your pussy the attention it needs and deserves." he said, dragging the blanket off you. "I'll give you all of me. For tonight at least." seriously, what do you even see in him.

You still ended up naked, sitting on your back at the edge of the bed as he slipped his cock inside your mouth, moving it back and forth.

You couldn't say a thing, your voice being muffled by his hard dick, moving deeper and deeper, trying to see where was your limit point.

"Do good and I'll give you a reward." he looked down at the way your breasts were moving when he moved. His eyes traveling down your body, to your pussy and the way your thighs were pressed together. You were needy, weren't you? You had to milk him dry before he gave you what you deserved. "Is my cock too big for you? Too bad you'll have to learn how to live with it." he was enjoying this.

He was going to lose his mind, the way your mouth was so wet and warm. He wanted to fuck your throat so bad, but this was for another time. He doubt you can take it.

He groan, his head falling backwards as he kept his movement at a steady pace. You'll be able to take more in the future if he trains you right.

With a few more thrusts he got his cock out your mouth, coming all over your chest and belly. You can't take his load yet. He can't push you over your limits yet when he doesn't know your limits to begin with.

"There are some tissue on that table." you said and point at a table somewhere on the other side of the room.

He handed them to you, helping you clean yourself before he pushed you in bed, jumping in between your legs and placing them on his shoulders. He waisted no time and started to eat you up. His tongue going all over the place, lick your clit, get inside your wet pussy, then lick your clit again. And when two of his fingers got inside of you it didn't helped at all. Sucking your clit while his fingers kept moving in and out of you, he never left you alone.

One of your hands went to his hair, griping it slightly and going with your nails through it, scratching it. That made his grip on you even tighter, it might even leave a bruise.

You could feel that feeling from today coming back again. And you're so afraid he'll leave you again. He didn't, this time at least. He kept his hands going, curling his fingers and never forgetting to give your clit the attention it needed. He kept going even after you creamed all over his fingers, cleaning your juices, but more seemed to come every time he got rid of them.

Out of nowhere, he flipped you around, ass in the air and all ready to take him.

A loud slap placed on your ass before you could feel the tip of his cock right at your entrance.

You saw him, you got to touch it and have his cock in your mouth. But you still couldn't help but feel scared.

No words of encouragement were said as he slowly got inside, stretching you out and making you tremble when you felt him touching some places that got you weak in the knees.

"Don't run now." he said, dragging your hips back to him. "I know you can take more." seriously, what did you even saw in him. He wasn't nice, he was mean, rude and pretty much a brute. But damn, his dick felt good.

He got out your wet pussy, just a little, getting back inside, touching that deep spot and make you almost lose balance and fall into the bed.

He kept moving his hips slowly building the pace, speeding up little by little, making you adjust to him before he shows you what he's actually capable of.

And when you seemed to get comfortable with him, that's when he started to move his hips faster, making the bed move at the same time with you. Another loud slap placed on your ass, moving his hips harder, hitting and touching most of the places that got you melting.

"Let me hear that voice. Tell me how much you like it." he said when he saw that you were covering your mouth with one hand, reminding him of today's events.

He grabbed the hand you were covering your mouth with and placed it on your back, holding it in place as he moved his pelvis harder into you.

Sounds of skin against skin, wet and hot coming from the two of you. Your soft sounds slowly escaping your mouth as he kept moving, not a single moment speared.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck." he said, his pace becoming quicker than before.

Your walls were so welcoming, hugging him so tightly. And when you got closer to your release, the way you were squeezing him got him desperate to release his load inside you.

He kept moving, your hands mobilized behind you. And fuck, he couldn't keep it like this for much longer, not when you kept sucking him inside.

With a few more thrusts, he came inside of you. Painting your walls white, still continuing moving to make sure nothing gets out.

After some time, he got out of you, his load slowly dripping down your thighs. "Have the curse broke yet?" you asked, curious if you managed to make a change.

"Not yet." he said, flipping you on your back. "Guess we have to try harder." he said, already getting positioned back between your legs, ready to stuff you with his cock until you get bored of this.

Author's note: this was supposed to be a much smaller fic. If it happened it happened 🤷🏻‍♀️

[lovelynim]

TickleTober2024/Day 31 - Rest

Zenless Zone Zero - Wise x Lycaon

“Your tea, master proxy,” Lycaon announced politely, bending over next to Wise’s seat while holding out the cup in a silver tray. With his head lowered and an arm folded behind his back, Lycaon waited until the weight on top of the table to stand back up.

Wise raised the cup slightly, as if cheering. “Thanks, Lycaon,” he hummed before taking a sip. He closed his eyes, feeling the drink warming up his body slightly and making him unconsciously relax his tensed up shoulders. 

Wise let out a pleased sigh, placing the slightly emptier cup on top of his desk before his eyes focused back on the screen before him. Lycaon raised an eyebrow, concerned. “Ahem.”

“Hm? Yes, Lycaon?”

“Master proxy, allow me to ask,” Lycaon muttered, holding the silver tray against his body while giving Wise a stern look. “Shouldn’t you take a break to rest?”

“W-what?” Wise coughed and let out a surprised chuckle, caught by surprise. “Why do you think so?”

Lycaon’s head turned around as the butler took a moment to scan the whole scenery of Wise’s bedroom. Unlike his usual tidy self, blankets and clothes were scattered around the room - which, as a matter of fact, lacked proper illumination, with its main source of light being the screen of Wise’s computer. “Intuition.”

“Well, you could be wr-”

“And, of course, the dark circles under your eyes, master,” Lycaon added, deviating his gaze to something else to avoid Wise’s upset look. “No offense, of course.”

“Sure,” Wise huffed, leaning back into his chair and crossing his arms. “Still, I will go get some sleep when I finish this p-”

“Allow me another question, master,” Lycaon interrupted, swiftly placing the tray away and holding his hands behind his back, “how many days have it been since you started this project in particular?”

A shiver traveled down Wise’s back as those words reached him, echoing inside his head. Uh oh. “A-ahm… two? Three? I don’t kn-”

“And how many of the past 72 hours did you, master, use to sleep and rest?” Lycaon asked, his hands latching onto Wise’s shoulders. While silence filled the space around them and Wise tried to come up with an explanation, Lycaon decided to jump from the “investigating” part of his plan to the “executioning” one.

“L-Lycahaon, whahat are y- ahHAh, wahahait, thihis tickles!” Wise laughed, his arms pressing down against his sides and his back against the chair as Lycaon, somehow, managed to get his hands under his arms.

“It’s most unlikely, master proxy, that you get the recommended amount of sleep in the past days,” Lycaon explained, but why did Wise feel like he was scolding him? “Therefore, as the one currently in charge of your care, I advise you to take a break and rest. Now.”

This was no advice, this was a straight up order! Who was the servant between them anyway?! “H-hehey, I cahahan’t stop nohohow!! I’m ahahalmost dohohone an- ahAHAH!! LYCAHAHON, W-WAHAIT!!”

“Every minute wasted in this discussion is a minute you could use to rest, master, please, reconsider or I’ll have to opt for more… extreme measures.”

A/N: And, at the dawn of the final day, here we are, completing another TickleTober. Thanks to everyone who stopped by and hope you had as much as me!

[vmbrq]

how do u think some of the scream guys react to a more bimbo esque s/o….. cus i already KNOWWWW some of them *cough cough* charlie *cough cough* WOULD FW IT, LIKE IDKK AND DONT EVEN GET ME STARTED ON ETHAN ?? obsessed loser boy x oblivious girly bimbo ??? SOOOO 🤭🤭 and i just know they’re silly little perverts too so they would get all squirmy just from her accidentally flashing them as she bends down to pick up like a flower out of the grass or smth😭😭 IDK I JUST THINK ITS CUTEEE 🤭

(also omg idk if u do anons or anything but like …… if u do …. can i be 🩷 PLEASEEEE if not thats okay😁☝️ ANYWAYS OKAY BYEEE)

yes, i do anons !! so you certainly can <3

AND IT IS CUTE :( ethan would be STRESSED LMAOO practically glued to your side or standing behind you to make sure you don't accidentally flash anyone. he would also be one of the first to volunteer to fix the straps on your sandals or tie your sneakers for the same reason. he also takes advantage of any opportunity to tutor you, even if most of your sessions end up with you in his lap with your lips on his. he's such a sucker for you, too, so weak to the way you whine his name or gaze up at him, all sweet and adoring, and ask him for a kiss. he could be holding a cardboard box he can barely see over, and he'll still be awkwardly angling his body and bending forward to give you a quick peck on the lips.

charlie would be so fond of just observing you, whether it's admiring your side profile while you touch up your makeup or watching how your animated expressions reflect your thoughts as you try to work through homework on your own. plus, he knows that half the time, you have zero clue what he's talking about when he rambles on about the specifics of media, but he adores the effort you put into trying to understand. and even if you've given up on trying, you still sit there with a smile and give him your full attention, bc you just like hearing him talk.

both of them would be obsessed with the way you have no concept of personal space when it comes to them, your brain consisting of nothing but tv static as you get right in their face or press up close to them. you're shameless with your affection, and you never think twice about how out-of-place they appear at your side.

mickey and billy would adore how easy you are to mold into their perfect, unwitting accomplice, taking all of their explanations in stride and rarely ever questioning them. there's a certain freedom that your presence allows, since they know that you don't even blink or think twice about the thin layers of blood embedded beneath their fingernails or that strange scent that clings to their clothes when they kiss or hold you. oh, they accidentally cut themselves? oh, that smell is just the gasoline from their car? okay. after all, all you need is to trust them and let them do the thinking. all you have to do is sit on their laps and look pretty for them.

mentions of smut under the cut ; minors dni

all of the sex jokes when they're around end up flying right over your head. you're so naive, so sweet, so easy to manipulate until you're bouncing on their cock and creaming a pretty, white ring at the base because it's "the best way to get rid of your stomachache." they stick out like a sore thumb against the decor of your room, but sometimes, when you've got their head resting on your chest with your fingers combing idly through their hair, or when they're sprawled on your bed lying about not peeking through their fingers while you lotion up your bare body and reflexively reach for the shirt they lent you three weeks ago, they feel as though they fit right in.

[apollosgiftofprophecy]

The Wisdom Saga: My Thoughts

Hey all!!!! Here are my thoughts on the Wisdom Saga from EPIC: The Musical!

Overall it isn’t my favorite (Circe/Thunder my beloveds), but it’s still pretty good imho!

Legendary

Love how upbeat this one is. MICO as Telemachus is VERY good, and I especially liked the little trembles/voice cracks (?) as he sang! Gave Tem a “young” vibe.

also loved that “L-L-L-L-Legendary” lol

ITS THE ANIMATIC FROM THE REFERENCE VIDEO :D

The Suitors’ voices 👌 also ANTINUOUS JUMPSCARE. HOW DARE YOU CALL PENELOPE A TRAMP WHEN YOU’RE THE ONE TRYING TO GET INTO HER BED.

Antinuous’s lines are the perfect ick. The ToA Discord and I were all typing out various amounts of EW, ICKY, GET OUT at his parts.

Fight Little Wolf

This is possibly my favorite from this saga! I’ve been looking forward to this one for a while, and I was really excited for it! Athena coming in was brilliant and I love it :3

We’ll Be Fine

ATHENA CALLED ODYSSEUS FRIEND. OWIE.

Anybody else pick up on a similar melody to Open Arms? Because ow.

Love In Paradise

LOVED the flashbacks at the beginning!

The unhingedness Gigi gave Calypso LMAO Zero social interaction does that to you lol

“Last I checked goddesses can’t die!” Stream gets censored

I PANICKED AT THAT LMAO

all I hear are screams…the ptsd is real

“Stay in my open arms” and then IMMEDIATELY triggering an Open Arms reprise. HOW DARE YOU JAY.

NOT ONLY THAT. BUT ALSO EURYLOCUS REPRISING LUCK RUNS OUT AND ANTICLEA’S WAITING. OUCH.

God Games

This is in battle with Little Wolf for favorite Wisdom Saga song lol

THE INTRODUCTION TO THE GODS SLAPPED. WOLFY YOU WONDERFUL WOLF THAT WAS AWESOME.

APOLLO GIVING A LIL BOW AND CASUALLY WAVING TO (us) HIS ADORING FANS (also us)

don’t mind me fangirling he’s my favorite and he was GORGEOUS

Hephaestus being voiced by Jorge’s dad!!!!

I really liked how Luke Holt delivered Ares’s name. Very gritty and perfect I love <3

APOLLO’S LITTLE SMIRK WHEN HE SAYS “GREAT.” I’M DEAD I’VE DIED RIP ALDER

APOLLOOOOOOOOO

his part was sadly short, but honestly? It makes sense why it would be! Apollo really has no beef with Odysseus, and the Sirens are a little out of pocket, like he was assigned to play the game but is throwing Athena an easy thing to counter so he can get back to Orestes and also Athena owes him a solid so EPIC’s explanation for Athena helping Apollo in the Oresteia? 👀 I’m a nerd connecting the dots leave me be

“If that’s true then release him 🙄💅” Apollo has no time for this bullshit he’s like “come on dad why did you pull ME into this?” Lmaoooo

Hephaestus’s part about trust!! I love. Also the lyricism here and in Apollo’s is very very good <3

APHRODITE. Unlike Apollo and Hephaestus, who were rather quick to support Athena, she’s moments away from going “no ♥️💋”

ARES’S ENTRANCE WAS SPETACULAR NO NOTES I LOVE

DISCO HERA!! ANNIFLAMMA THAT WAS SO GOOD AHHHHHHH THE STYLE THE SWAG THE SASS 100/10

THUNDER BRINGER REPRISE AHHHHHH WITH BEAST MODE ZEUS

Also Athena ain’t dead lol she comes back in King isn’t it? Also she’s a GOD. Who CAN’T DIE.

I’ve seen criticism about Zeus attacking Athena, and about how he wouldn’t do that because she’s a favorite…but the thing is, in The Iliad, he does threaten to blast her and Hera off their chariots at one point…plus Apollo’s a favorite too, and he was nearly thrown into Tartarus by Zeus! Being the favorite doesn’t automatically mean you can get away with anything and everything, so I headcanon that Zeus got a bit more peeved than usual because of just how quickly Athena swayed the others (this can connect to the Odyssey then too, because the majority of the gods already agreed that Odysseus had suffered enough and were quite willing to let him go).

I have additional thoughts on God Games, but that’s for another post since it detracts from the actual livestream, but overall I really enjoyed this one! It’s the first livestream I’ve seen in full, though I do think Thunder Saga was more impactful to watch (I watched that livestream too, but came in at the end of No Longer You).

Two sagas to go!! I’ll be updating my tier list sometime soon as well, so stay tuned for that!!

[anim-ttrpgs]

Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy, and Themes of Disability, Mental Illness, and Criminality.

Back Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy on kickstarter before May 10th if you want to help a disabled person with limited ability to work pay his bills.

Verisimilitude, What Would a Person Do?

To understand Eureka’s themes regarding disability, mental illness, and criminality, you first have to understand its verisimilitude.

“Verisimilitude” is defined as “the appearance of being true or real,” and it is a big part of the core design ethos behind Eureka. It is a very realistic game.

We aren’t necessarily of the opinion that “realism” is a better design choice than stylization overall for RPGs, but it is a better design choice for Eureka, because we want the PCs to be very normal, believable people who make believable, organic decisions in extraordinary situations. No matter what anyone says, the mechanics of a TTRPG strongly influence what kind of stories are told with it, and what characters do in those stories. So if we want characters to make realistic decisions, the world they inhabit and interact with must be constructed of realistic rules.

Even though there is a small chance that they may be a supernatural creature, PCs in Eureka are still not fearless action heroes, chosen ones, or anything of the sort. They’re normal people with jobs, friends, and families who get mixed up in mysterious and/or dangerous situations, often against their will. They are fragile, vulnerable, imperfect, and they, largely, know it.

“Composure” is a mechanic that helps you know it too. I’ve given a deeper explanation of the Composure mechanic in the post linked here, but I’ll give a very very very condensed version in this post. Composure can sort of be thought of as “emotional/fatigue HP,” (and no, it is NOT “sanity”) it acts as a guideline for how well your character is handling the situation, and when it gets low enough, it starts to have serious mechanical effects as well, because a character’s stat modifier can never be higher than their current Composure level. Fear, hunger, and fatigue all lower Composure, and eating, sleeping, and bonding with one’s fellow investigators can all restore it, at least for normal people. More on that further down. All you really need to know for now is that when Composure gets below zero it starts eating into HP, so characters can even pass out or die from loss of Composure, and also one single bullet is enough to permanently cripple a character, and the rate of Composure loss during combat reflects how serious that is for the characters.

Grievous Wounds

It isn’t too uncommon for RPGs to have some sort of “flaw” system, whereby in character creation you can give your PC “flaws” or some kind of penalty, and usually get that balanced out by being able to add extra bonuses elsewhere, and these “flaws” may take the form of disabilities.

Critical Role’s Candela Obscura, the whole document of which is one of the most egregious examples of liberalism and toxic positivity I’ve ever seen in the TTRPG space, takes this beyond just character creation, and makes it so that if a PC receives a “scar” in combat that reduces their physical stats, their mental stats automatically go up by an equivalent amount, and proudly asserts that to make any mechanic which functions otherwise is ableist. I think you can probably tell what I think of that from this sentence alone and I don’t need to elaborate. Getting bogged down in all the failures, mechanical and moral, of Candela Obscura would make this post three times as long.

I actually do think that as long as you aren’t moralizing and patting yourself on the back this hard about it, “flaw” systems in character creation are a pretty good idea in most cases, it allows for more varied options during character creation, while preserving game balance between the PCs.

But in real life, people aren’t balanced. The events that left me injured and disabled didn’t make me smarter or better at anything—if anything, they probably made me stupider, considering the severity of the concussion! Some things happened to me, and now I’m worse. There’s no upside, I just have to keep going by trying harder with a less efficient body, and rely more on others in situations where I am no longer capable of perfect self-sufficiency.

Denying that a disabled person is, by definition, less capable of doing important tasks than the average person is to deny that they need help, and to deny that they need help is to enable a refusal to help.

This is the perspective from which Eureka’s Grievous Wounds mechanic was written.

When a character is reduced to 1 HP, which by design can result from a single hit from most weapons, they may become incapacitated, or they may take a Grievous Wound, which is a permanent injury with no stat benefits. Think twice before getting into a shootout.

Grievous Wounds don’t have to result from combat, they can also be given to a character during character creation, but not as a trade-off for an extra bonus.

“But then doesn’t my character just have worse stats than the rest of the party?” Yes, didn’t you read the above section? There is no benefit, except for the opportunity to play a disabled character in an TTRPG, and this character will probably have to be more reliant on the rest of the party to get by in various situations. Is that a bad thing?

Monsters

Just like mundane people in Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy, monsters are playable, because they are regular people. I’ve gone over this in other posts and also you can just read about it in Chapter 8 of the Eureka rulebook, but the setting of Eureka doesn’t have a conspiracy or “masquerade” hiding or separating supernatural people from normal society. They exist within normal society, and a lot of them eat people.

Most RPGs consider monsters to just be evil, they do evil for evil’s sake. RPGs that seek to subvert this expectation often instead make monsters misunderstood and wrongfully persecuted, but harmless. Eureka takes a wholly different approach.

There are five playable types of monsters in the rulebook right now, and it’ll be seven if we hit all the stretch goals, but for simplicity’s sake this post will just focus on the vampire. Despite them applying in different ways, the same overall themes apply to nearly every monster, so if you get the themes for the vampire, you’ll get the gist of what Eureka is doing with monsters in general.

I mentioned Composure above, and how it can normally be restored by eating food and sleeping. Well, vampires can not restore their Composure this way. They don’t sleep, and normal people food might be tasty as long as it isn’t too heavily seasoned for them, but it doesn’t do anything for them nutritionally. Their main way to restore Composure is fresh living human blood, straight from the source. To do what mundane PCs do normally by just eating and sleeping, vampires have to take from another, whether they’re happy with this arrangement or not. They do not, of course, literally have to, and a player is not forced to make their vampire PC drink blood, just like you don’t literally have to eat food, but they do and you do if you want to live in any degree of comfort or happiness, or else they’d eventually just sit at 0 Composure and not be able to effectively do anything.

There’s a reason that this is a numerical mechanic and not simply a rule that says something like “this character is a vampire and therefore they must drink blood once every session,” and that is to emphasize and demonstrate that the circumstances a person faces drive their behavior. In America, there is a tendency to think of criminality and harmfulness as resulting from something of an intrinsic evil, but in my experience and observation, people do not just wake up at like age 16 and decide “I think I’ll go down the criminal life path.” Through their life circumstances they have been barred from the opportunities that would have given them other options. People need food, food costs money, money requires work, work requires getting hired, but getting hired requires a nearby job opening, an education, an impressive resume, nice clean clothes, a charismatic attitude, consistent transportation, and so on. For people without, criminality is something they are funneled into, which becomes harder to avoid the longer they go without consistent access to their basic needs. The choice will be between taking money from others by force or trickery, or running completely out of money.

As the Composure counter ticks down, a vampire, or other playable monster, is going to encounter much the same dilemma. There is little to no “legal” or “harmless” way for them to get their needs met, even if they do have some money. Society just isn’t set up for that. And no your kink is not the solution to this, trying to suggest every vampire get into sex work is like one step removed from telling every girl she should just get an OnlyFans the minute she turns 18, or that women should just marry a man and be a housewife that gets taken care of if they want their needs met.

Playable monsters in Eureka are dangerous, harmful people. They were set up to be.

“Oh well then the vampire should just eat bad people!” You mean those same bad people i just described above? See this post for answers to all the other arguments people are going to make to try and absolve vampires of causing harm.

Society not being set up for that brings me to next reading/theme: Monstrousness as disability, and monsters as takers.

Mundane human characters restore 2 points of Composure per day just by eating food and sleeping, but vampires do not, they can’t. To restore their Composure they have to take from others a valuable resource that everyone needs to live and the extraction of which is excruciatingly painful and debilitating (blood). No one knows what happens to blood after a vampire drinks it, it’s just gone. Vampires are open wounds through which blood pours out of the universe.

This is a special need, something they have to take but cannot give back. Their special needs make them literally a drain on society and the world.

Even in so-called “progressive” spaces, there is a tendency to consider takers, people who take much more than they give back, such as disabled people, as something that needs to be pruned, with the mask over this being the aforementioned total denial of the fact that disabled people take more than they can give.

In this way, vampires and other playable monsters are, inarguably, “takers,” but in positioning them as protagonists right beside mundane protagonists, Eureka puts you in their shoes, and forces you to at least reckon with the circumstances that make them this way, as well as acknowledge their inner lives. You have to acknowledge two things: That they are dangerous, harmful people who take more than they can give, and that they are people. Because they are people, Eureka asserts that they have inherent value, a right to exist, and a right to do what they need to do to exist.

One final point is that of monstrousness as mental illness. Mental illness is a disability, one pretty comparable to physical disability in a lot of ways, so all of the above about disability can apply to this metaphor as well, but there are a few unique comparisons to make here.

It’s not the most efficient, but there are a couple of loopholes deliberately left in the rules that allow vampires to restore Composure without drinking blood. Eureka! moments can restore Composure, and Comfort checks from fellow investigators can restore Composure.

When I was writing the rules for how monsters regain Composure in accordance to these themes, I came to a dilemma where I wasn’t sure if it was thematically appropriate for them to be able to regain Composure in these ways, but ultimately I decided that yes, they can. It works with themes of mental illness, which is mental disability.

People with mental illnesses may have the potential to be harmful and dangerous, but study after study, including my own observation, has shown that mentally ill people with robust support structures and agency allowed to them to handle tasks are much less likely to enact harm, be that physical violence, relational violence, or violence against the self. So that’s why I kept that rule in for playable monsters. Being able to accomplish goals, and having friends who are there for them, makes the harmful person less likely to cause unnecessary harm.

I couldn’t really figure out where to fit this paragraph in so I’m sticking it here right before the conclusion: Vampires are especially great for this because they’re immortal, and because they always come back when “killed.” They can’t be exterminated, they aren’t going away, there will always be problem people in society, no matter how utopian or “progressive.” They’re a never-ending curse, who will always be a problem. The question is how you will handle them, not how you will get rid of them.

In conclusion,

Eureka is as much a study of the characters themselves as it is the mystery being solved by the characters. It is a harsh, but compassionate game, that argues through its own gameplay that yes, people do have needs which drive their behavior, many people do have special needs that are beyond their ability to reciprocate, and failure to meet the needs of even a small number of people in a society has high potential to harm the entire society, not just those individuals whose needs are unmet.

And Candela Obscura sucks.

Back Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy on kickstarter before May 10th if you want to help a disabled person with limited ability to work pay his bills.

If you want to try before you buy, you can download a free demo of the prerelease version from our website or our itch.io page!

If you’re interested in a more updated and improved version of Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy than the free demo you got from our website, subscribe to our Patreon where we frequently roll our new updates for the prerelease version!

You can also support us on Ko-fi, or by checking out our merchandise!

Join our TTRPG Book Club At the time of writng this, Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy is the current game being played in the book club, and anyone who wants to participate in discussion, but can’t afford to make a contribution, will be given the most updated prerelease version for free! Plus it’s just a great place to discuss and play new TTRPGs you might not be able to otherwise!

We hope to see you there, and that you will help our dreams come true and launch our careers as indie TTRPG developers with a bang by getting us to our base goal and blowing those stretch goals out of the water, and fight back against WotC's monopoly on the entire hobby. Wish us luck.

[dedalvs]

Would it be reasonable to use a mirative as a way to say that you "ended up doing X" like saying "I ended falling asleep" or "I'll end up getting sick"? I'm having a hard time confirming anything about how languages encode intention, or the lack thereof. After some thinking that's what I came up with, though, but I dunno if I'm just reachinga bit too much with that.

Sure? If it makes sense in your language.

I'm going to pull out a paragraph from the article on mirativity on Wikipedia that I believe helps to illustrate one of the central problems conlangers face in interacting with linguistic research:

As you can see, there's a back and forth here involving Aikhenvald (because of course) and the one who proposed the category of mirativity (DeLancey) and others. In my opinion, the entire argument is f*cking ridiculous and is best settled by asking, "Who tf cares?" It reminds me of the Wikipedia article on the hortative that has red flags at the top saying, if I may paraphrase, "Uhhh...wtf?"

In short, both linguists on either side of this argument believe there's a trophy shelf called GRAMMATICAL CATEGORIES where certain features may sit proudly with their name emblazoned on a plaque above the name of the linguist who discovered it. On the one side, you have DeLancey saying, "Mirativity deserves its own trophy with my name on it!" On the other side, "No, what you've discovered can be encoded with other grammatical strategies, therefore it doesn't deserve its own trophy, and you get your name on nothing!"

Meanwhile, languages do need to have a way to express things like "We ended up going to the slam dance protest after all" and "He's apparently really good at juggling mosquito hawk wings", so what does it matter if either of them get a trophy on the shelf or not?

For a conlanger, what matters is how your language is going to express these meanings. It is not the case that you have to unambiguously express every shade of meaning without resorting to complex explanations. If we could do that we wouldn't have fiction. Part of the trick with learning how to create a conlang that feels more natural (whether you're going for a naturalistic conlang or not) is that the majority of meaning are expressed with non-dedicated morphological constructions.

For example, if you look at everything as morphemes, then there should be a morpheme for everything. If you want to turn a statement like "John is giving a fish to the flower" into a question you simply take your question morpheme and stick it somewhere. But look at English!

STATEMENT: John is giving a fish to the flower.

QUESTION: Is John giving a fish to the flower?

No morpheme there at all but a little switcharoo with the word order. Some linguists and a lot of conlangers want to get all galaxy brained and say "MAYBE THE WORD ORDER CHANGE IS THE MORPHEME", and, indeed, maybe the real conlang is the friends we made along the way, but a better way to look at it is we use what we have to express new meanings before creating something new.

So, if your state zero is you have something that express mirativity (i.e. surprise at some state of affairs), then, hey, why wouldn't use that for "it ended up that"? It's kind of surprising if you end up doing something. It's running counter to your expectations. Sure! If you want to get all "my eyeglasses put on a pair of sunglasses" on it then you can have your genunine-shock-mirativity suffix and your we-didn't-intend-to-but-it-happened-anyway-mirativity suffix and someone-told-us-it-would-happen-but-we-didn't-believe-them-but-then-it-happened-but-we-weren't-dismayed-mirativity suffix, etc., etc. If you keep going down that road, though, you end up with there's a unique word for every possible thought, and you end up with an ultimately unlearnable and unusable language.

In short, you do you. As long as you can explain it and it makes sense to you, then it works.

[allwormdiet]

Extermination 8.2

I'm gonna be real, I don't think Legend is good at this

I actually really like the sense of mounting dread that's happening with Leviathan. Not just the storm that's approaching provoking black clouds in isolation but Legend's explanation of what to expect. What's coming is bigger than the Wards, bigger than the ABB, bigger than the Empire. It's so much worse. And you know it's coming.

The fact that Leviathan is so deadly because of the mere impact of water is a really fun detail, I know that a lot of Worm comes down to making fantastical powers impact with realistic consequences but the total negation of the idea of water being something soft is well done, especially in the scenes where it's actually implemented.

Newfoundland is 42,000 square miles in area and about a mile at the highest point, and Leviathan sank it like a toy boat. Kyushu is smaller but taller, and it fucking went under. I know a little bit about what Simurgh can do, so that shit is appropriately terrifying, but now I'm wondering what the hell Behemoth has going on that makes him as scary on the scale of entire landmasses sinking beneath the waves.

This is kinda diabolically clever, it gives the exact stakes and the clear threat of what comes with failure to stop Leviathan. It also puts even more pressure on those gathered to push harder and risk more.

A further reinforcement of the idea that this thing is fucking immortal, and another reminder from the very backdrop that it's getting closer.

"The inevitable." That's unambiguous. They truly believe that the Endbringers will eventually destroy humanity, and that all anyone can do is buy a little more time, at the cost of however many dozens of capes sacrifice themselves every fight. Losing that much more capacity to do something with every fatality.

The world is dying. They just have to hope it's a slow death.

A) who keeps making Wards fight Endbringers, for real

B) Fuck are the Travelers doing mucking around with an Endbringer?

Tattletale starts hitting this man with a verbal combo straight out of Marvel 2 and literally doesn't stop for the entire rest of the arc

What are the odds that Leviathan is clever enough to have deliberately interrupted this meeting as they were dispersing? Because I don't think they're zero and that's terrifying.

Man. We've been there, is the thing. Like we know the Boardwalk, we've seen the Undersiders walk up and down it, shop, grab lunch, talk about shit. And now it's just splinters against the tide.

God, what a cool design. I'll give kudos on this, it's a fucking badass monster that's about to wreck this city. And it's spooky! The face just being a featureless shape except for the eyes is a little odd but with everything else it comes off more uncanny than if it was on its own, and there's something about the description of how its head moves that's just unsettling.

And we're off to the fucking races.

Current Thoughts

What a good fucking threat. We've had three previous chapters of buildup to this moment, plus the offhand mention in 3.6, and when Leviathan finally appears in the flesh(?) his first move kills at least one cape and knocks out more. His presence can be felt in the fucking weather, he can scatter the city's defenses without even being present. This is a monster where its reputation, fearsome as it is, might actually be underselling it.

Anyway, up next we finally get that glimpse into Tattletale's thoughts that I was literally begging for at the end of Arc 7 lmao

[taki118]

Yakuza Fiance ep 3 Manga Comparison

Ep 3 of Raise wa Tanin ga Ii aka Yakuza Fiance, just aired, and you know the drill there are some important and/or fun things that slipped through the cracks of adaptation. Since I am SUPER normal about the manga I got everything here under the cut. Warning these are fan translations cause I'm lazy.

So for reference yes the manga chapter does start like that but there is a little back and forth in the scene overall including this

Kirishima actually has to beg more for Ayano (thats her name) we loose some good bits, such as Aya being a bikini model and having a boyfriend she complains to him about, and how Kirishima describes their situation like its your bog standard high school romance.

This scene was really cut down to be like a cold open there's more but there's this

We get more insight into Kirishima's situation with these women and confirmation there are more and that they are aware. Another thing is Ayano does help Kirishima work through some thoughts and cutting down their back and forth looses some of that. (maybe i'll do a whole thing on this later)

I actually really like how they did the first sleep scene in the anime except

Why did they leave out the line where Yoshino guesses it was Kirishima? Its so odd but again this scene of Yoshino in the kitchen is longer in the manga

Most importantly it makes clear a full day has passed and that she was trying to sus out info from him at school. Also she ponders if he poisoned her water filter before she has her freak out that he's so crazy it's becoming normal for her.

Overall the second sleep scene is done fairly well I like how it's animated the manga just gives you a feeling its going on longer as Kirishima makes a bunch of braids in her hair so her jumping makes more sense but also we loose this bit

I dunno I just think Kirishima worrying about the futon and her hair is funny.

Honestly I'm actually surprised how closely the convo they have after this is so close to manga. I'm glad cause it's important I could talk about it but thats not what this is for (getting so many ideas though)

So again there is more back and forth about Kirishima calling Gaku (where he says he thinks he shouldve gone in person to apologize) and more on Yoshino's dad, with her asking how much he's looked into her and Kirishima admitting it was a bit. Yoshino also states it was because her dad was normal she had some hopes of being with a normal guy, and that all the men in the house feel like fathers or brothers to her which I do honestly think is important for her so I'm sad thats out. Its not alot but it is some added context.

so ok this guy at the summit, (excuse my shitty picture)

Yeah he's not introduced in the manga at this point, every other character is there but for some reason the anime added this guy to the scene. Like he shows up WAY later and doesn't do much had it pointed out to me but its still weird. Anyway surprisingly the meet is very accurate to the manga thought for sure they cut something but no instead of ending with Akime giving an ominous stare we get this guy glaring at Renji, and like I think it really undercuts the scene cause it makes him seem more important than he probably is.

Anyway the scene with Hotei is again longer in the manga and like the scenes with Renji a lot of the warmth is lost again you don't really get a sense for their dynamic like technically there's nothing really missing but it doesn't quite have the right feel.

So I am very surprised with how much the cut from the SHouma shopping scene. Such as this

Like Yoshino is literally dragging him around cause he can't be bothered and Yoshino points out he went through the trouble of booking a room but not packing luggage, grade A Shouma logic, (also why that added bit in ep 2 makes zero sense) But we also loose some more explanation as to why he's here now.

Its not needed needed but it does provide extra context. What I am upset with is they didn't do the pay off for a set up in ep 1

Like the weirdly cut out the part of their conversation about the bullying Yoshino got in ep 1 explaining who she sent the picture to and why she did it. It's so weird honestly cause again this shows us how close they are and what their dynamic looks like. Also it just makes the conversation flow more naturally, in the anime is a little odd.

Well at least they kept Kirishima's weird ass basement.

Again though a LOT is cut from the dinner scene with Yoshino and Shouma the conversation is a lot longer.

She brings up Kirishima after rolling down his sleeves (which is funnier in the manga) and again the flow is better. Yoshino gives a much more in-depth explanation about why she can't really describe him to Hotei. But there is some character stuff here in her feeling comfortable enough to tell Shouma, also he makes some funny faces.

Anyway the explanation about the gang stuff is kinda the same overall but the manga feels less expositioney about it what with how its presented and how it feels more like a conversation

It just feels less like Shouma is talking at her but rather with her.

So again I don't get why the anime keeps removing the humor from the series like this

The idea that Yoshino is dying from over eating but Shouma wants to get some ramen and how he compares her to a sea lion, like its fun anime why do you seem to hate fun. But again a LOT of context is taken out of the scene from between Yoshino complaining about Kirishima to Shouma saying he'll kill him

Like the pieces are here but they arent quite fleshed out enough, the anime makes it seem like Shouma just offered to kill unprompted but Yoshino brings it up first in the manga and the way she talks there he does sound more dangerous.

The convo again is similar but lacking in depth, both because its shortened and because a lot of the build up is missing. Honestly theres just sooooo much in this ep I'm not surprised but I am surprised where its cut from. The ending is exactly the same with Kirishima and Shouma meeting (again why that bit last ep??) with the exception of missing out on this golden undercut

Like seriously why take out these jokes anime? this better be in ep 4