#i'll use something more subtle in the final product

[stellastra-scribbles]

WIP (forgive the watermarks) - Late last year, I tried to draw Jayna Stiles, a half-elven follower from Arcanum: of Steamworks and Magick Obscura.

I ended up scrapping that drawing, but here's the second attempt, now with more layers! I still have another clothing layer to add and might adjust some of the previous layers, but I think this is coming along well~

The game takes place a Victorian-era inspired steampunk fantasy setting. The fashion I'm largely referencing here is 1860s fashion. If anyone has better knowledge of historical knowledge willing to offer critiques, I'm willing to hear it out!

(more info below the cut)

Here are a few of my inspirations alongside the old scrapped art from December 2023 . Vivandières and Civil War-era nurses were my main references, if that helps anything.

The colors of the dress and the hairstyle are directly pulled from Jayna's in-game appearance. I'm not concerned with how "ahistorical/out of fashion" her hair looks. I am willing to have some leeway as this is a fantasy setting and it doesn't have to be entirely bound within the limitations of history.

Layers Explained

1 - chemise + open drawers. I drew the drawers deliberately kinda loose so as to not expose her (the alternative was either change the pose or use "Barbie doll anatomy"). I imagine the chemise could be untucked, but I've seen some images where the chemise is tucked in.

2 - corset + socks. Since Jayna comes from a rather run-down town, I wanted to give her a rather simple corset design.

3 - trousers + shoes. Many images of vivandières depict them wearing trousers that went over their shoes.

4 - petticoat.

5 - blouse/shirtwaist + outer skirt + brooch.

The next planned layer will give Jayna her pistol, holster, a hat, canteens/bags, and any other accoutrements. Suggestions welcome!

[zu8her]

“Just Ask Me.” | tsukishima kei.

Synopsis: tsukishima just wants her to ask.

Oh, she was gorgeous— fucking beautiful even. Her skin glistened under the sun's dull gaze. The bounce of her curls. Her curves everything she wears outlines. Her, oh so alluring smile. Simplicity as it's finest, he thought.

But as he grow to knew her the deeper he fell. Consumed by her. Her scent, subtle coconut and something he can't put his finger on. Her. She was kind, so kind. Childishly so at times but she put her foot down when need be and he liked that. She was steadfast yet fragile.

Complex. She was a person. Someone he had fallen in love with, in an illogically short time. One of his favourite things about her was that she kind of a pushover, at the very least he could jokingly bully her. He loved getting a rise out of her.

That still didn't stop his heart from beating out his chest when he asked her out. She had been going on and on about her lastest hyperfixation. And he loved that about her. Always attentively listening about things she's so passionate about. Taking the chance, he leaned in when she dropped her pen.

When he finally uttered the words, yn went silent. Regret washed over him. She rarely went silent, while studying, when she's overwhelmed and now.

“If you don't want just forget it-” he gently murmured.

“Yes.” A hint of genuine shock settled on his face, before getting consumed by his familiar condescending smirk. She couldn't place it the but that smirk, his smirk, slightly changed since that day.

She had noticed his gaze. How he looked at her. His gaze held her so fondly. Held at her, so fondly. Everytime they were together. Even when he was so fucking cocky, he looked at her with such admiration. It was subtle gaze. A gentle gaze yet so wonderfully suffocating.

Just like yn, Tsukishima loved noticing the little things. The things he never had before they started dating. He was genuinely surprised about how little he truly knew her considering she spoke incessantly.

Like the way she always has a book. Her love of plushies and satin pillows. The products she uses for her hair to smell so good.

His favourite thing he had noticed is that she loves touch. It was clear that she needed it, craved most days. Whether it be holding hands, hugging or simply sitting close. But she constantly stopped herself. Taking his boundaries into consideration, she wanted to ask. She really did. She just didn't know how to.

“You know, if you want something, just ask me.” Lifting her gaze from her phone, she searches for a hint of his usual playfulness but to no avail. He's being serious.

“Yeah. Uhm. I will. You do the same.” To that, he nods.

Why would he ask me that? yn's thoughts are consumed by this question as she rolls in her bed. Feeling her phone vibrate, she reaches for it. It's Tsukishima.

“Hi, can you check if I left my duffel bag at your apartment? ”

Through her mirror she sees it in the corner. “It's here. I can bring it to you. You're going to practice right?”

“I'll come get it after practice, thank you,” he sighs.

Staring at her ceiling, she spins in her chair throwing a ball in the air, in only his shirt and underwear. Just go, ask him. Like: ‘Hey, Kei I really want you to touch me more.’ That sounds creepy.

Hearing a familiar knock at the door she snaps her head forward. “Fuck,” she cusses as she drops the ball on her face. She grabs his duffel bag before rushing to the door she straightes herself before opening the door.

“Can I come in?” He stands. Taking sharp breaths to soothe his exhaustion. It's a godly sight. He gives a tired smirk, wiping the sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand.

“Huh? Sorry, yes.” She allows him to enter.

“Thank you.” he pecks her forehead. She breaths. She hasn't grown use to his kisses. She especially loves his kisses that lead to make out sessions that leave her breathless.

“You know, if you want something, just ask me.” His words echo.

He immediately darts to her bedroom.

“I'm going to take a shower.”

“Sure.” She lays on the bed. Watching as he takes of his shirt before disappearing into the connecting bathroom.

Slowly, she drifts asleep.

“Baby,” she hears Kei coo. Opening her eyes to see him above her, between her legs.

“Kei?”

“I just- really want you. Can I?” She feels him tugging at the band of her panties.

Nodding, he gives a fucked out smile before leaning down to kiss her. She gasps against his mouth as she feels him rub her clit.

His face a tint of crimson as he looks down at her. “Just, relax 'm gonna make you feel so good.”

Feeling calloused hands on her back she snaps her eyes open. “Didn't mean to wake you.” He gives a soft smile before returning to his book. He's sitting next to her. She feels her hand in her panties. Subtly taking it out she shifts more into the blanket. Fuck . “Just wanted to check on you. You were mumbling in your sleep. Did you have a nightmare?”

“No,” she hastily babbles.

She lays still. Can he smell it? Fuck, I need to change. Did I just- masturbate-? Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

She lays still for a few more minutes hoping, praying the ache to continue subsides. But it doesn't.

Breathing, she turns facing him. He's in a plain white tee and joggers. His hair is still wet and his face is a tint of crimson from the hot shower. He looks down at her. That gaze, it pushes her to the edge.

“Do you need anything, baby?" His voice tender. He has moments where he is incredibly sweet. Sadistically sweet.

This is one of those moments. And this turns her on even more.

“You know, if you want something just ask me.”

She always wondered what he meant by it, guess now she has an idea of what he meant.

Pushing herself up with her elbow she tries to gather the words and confidence. She sits up in front of him.

“I really like when we make out,” she stammers. A wide smirk spreads on his face.

“Really?” He takes off his glasses and places it on the nightstand alongside his book, his infamous grin spreading across his irritatingly attractive face. “I like it too,” he hums.

“Yeah, uhm. Can I– can we—”

“Can we, what?” he tilts his head in false confusion. He knows what she's asking for but he wants to pry it out of her. He's been waiting for her to ask. So, needless to say he's going to milk the hell out of this.

“Can we ya know, make out? If you... want to.”

“I'd like that. I'd like that, every much.” He leans in grazing her lips. Giving her a peck before deepening the kiss. It's slow at first, gentle as she climbs on top of him. His hands roam her body as she has his blonde locks between her fingers.

She shivers as he sneaks his calloused hands into her shirt. Breaking her kiss, he pivots for her neck. “uhmm~” she whimpers. Absentmindedly, she starts grinding on his thigh. As she continues her whimpers grow louder.

Feeling a wet patch on his joggers he stops resulting in yn stopping as well.

“I'm so sorry. I didn't mean-” She tries to get off but he holds at her hips firmly.

“It's okay," he breathes against her neck. “Do like doing that?” She bites her lip nodding.

“Can I, please?” She whines bucking her hips.

“Of course, baby.” He coos, smirking. She continues grinding as he watches her. “Kei~” she moans.

Groaning he gets her on back. His knee between her legs, he rubs her clothed clit. He watches as her face twists in pleasure and gasps as he applies pressure.

“Lift your hips for me, baby.”

She obeys as he slips off her shorts and soaking underwear. She gasps as he slips in two fingers. “Fuuuuck, your so tight.” Knuckle deep, she begins to pull at his shirt.

She always stared at them. His longer slender fingers. Gasping as he hits her g-spot. She bucks her hips against his fingers.

“Do you want to cum for me?”

She hums. Feeling her orgasm wash over her. She moans eyes locked on Tsukishima as she gives him a blissful grin, slowly grinding into his fingers.

Removing his fingers from her gaping hole he places his digits into his mouth. She groans twitching from her orgasm.

“I'm not done with you." He pulls at her hips placing her at the edge of the bed.

Pulling down his joggers, a lengthy cock springs out. Precum trickling down the base of his cock, groaning, near moaning, as he strokes it.

“Fuck. Do you have condoms?” She whines. He leaves to the corner of the room, hastily rummaging through his duffel bag before returning.

Above her, he pulls his shirt over his head. Tearing the patch open with teeth, he hisses as he slides it on, tapping the base of his cock on her clit before entering her.

She moans wrapping her arms around his neck as he nuzzled into the crook of her neck.

He starts slow. Easing in and out of her wet folds as they moan. He pulls his head up. Deepening their kiss as his thrusts become more erratic. Pulling away, he gleefully watches as she desperately tries to quiet her ever increacing moans but fails. Smirking down at her as he rubs her clit.

“argh~” his repeated groans rocking his hips into her.

“I'm- I'm gonna— fuuuuck,” she moans. Tsukishima pulls out as liquid gush onto his torso. He cusses before continuing his rapid thrusts in her already sensitive pussy.

“Just one more, okay?” He bites at her neck. Sending her over the edge. She rolls her hips onto his cock to meet his thrusts. Feeling her orgasm fast approaching once more she digs her nails into his back as she cums. She continues to claw at his back as he reaches his high.

They lay in silence, the sound of skin clapping replaced with heavy breathes. Kei lays top yn as she runs her hands through his damp locks.

Getting up he grabs a towel, one of his shirts and shorts from his duffel bag.

“Do mind laying on the couch while I change the sheets?” He asks helping her put on his shirt. Nodding he picks her up and lays her on the couch.

After a bit she feels him settle behind her. He sneaks his hand into the blanket rubbing her stomach as she begins to drift off.

“Was that good?” He hums. Sluggishly she nods a wide grin on her face as she nuzzles against his bare chest.

[witchwrestler]

Hey there, Sailor.

pairing: fisherman!eddie + gn reader

wc: 1.8k

warnings: talk of the upside down, brief mention of scars

summary: he's a fisherman now, 20 something and trying to figure things out. The bakery he passes on his trek home finally lures him in one day, and a new friend (or maybe more) is made

a/n: greatly inspired by this fic by @/dr-aculaa | i had so much fun writing this, and i really hope you enjoy <3

It was 1995. ten years had come and gone since then. Things had calmed down. He had calmed down.

He found himself in the dreary west coast town of seattle, working on a boat catching fish for a somewhat sketchy payment. The grimey parts of which even grossed him out sometimes. He'd seen slimy creatures with rows of teeth from other dimensions and yet still some sea creatures made his skin crawl.

He was out of hawkins---he had lived through everything. He fought hard. And he made it. The monitors still rhythmically beeped in the back of his mind when he slept sometimes. The dull scars still riddled his abdomen, a not so subtle reminder of his close encounter with death. After everything he'd been through, eddie resorted to a quiet existence. Gone were the days of the loud, long haired boy with silver clad hands. The ripped jeans and homeade battle vest, covered in patches and pins were left behind. Soon replaced with cable knit sweaters and dickies, his beanie covering his shaved head.

He decided the quiet was easier, Though socialization was hard to come by when his work day ended when everyone else's began.

Making the early trek back home from the docks, he finds himself passing the little bakery on the corner. Usually he passes it and finds a 'we are closed' sign hanging on the door, but sometimes he catches glimpses of you setting up your quaint little shop for the day. Today, as he approaches the shop, the sign reads,

'we are open'

He peers in the window for a moment, advertisements for local bands, theater productions and bar crawls plastered over the glass. Soon his feet carry him inside, contrary to his brain, which was still deciding. As he enters the shop, the clash blares quietly from the back as he moves to the front, a second voice accompanying the song quietly.

"...Should I stay or should I go?

If you say that you are mine, I'll be here till the end of time"

Once upon a time the clash was his fourth favorite band, but after everything that he'd been through he found himself with music like elliott smith, and the smashing pumpkins. He cursed himself sometimes for listening to shit he used to call 'sad bastard crap', but he wasn't who he was in high school anymore, and it fit who he was now. Though now, he thought he might start listening to that stuff again. He was happier when he did anyway.

Standing awkwardly behind the cash register, he pulls his beanie off his head and brings a cold hand up to scratch his buzzed hair. His eyes wander the case, the freshly baked donuts and pastries sat carefully placed behind the glass, and when he looks back up, there you were.

In a metallica tour shirt. A warm smile on your face. "Hi." You coo, voice floating through the air. "I'm sorry if I kept you waiting, I opened early---I wasn't sure anyone would come in though" You add lightly, grateful he was your first customer of the day.

"that's alright" He says timidly. Soaking up your voice like morning sun.

He quietly requests a jelly filled donut. Just one he says. You happily get a peice of parchment paper and pick up the donut, carefully placing it in a bag.

"anything else?" You ask sweetly. His dark chocolate brown eyes meet yours as you set his donut on the counter in front of him, his still cold hands stuffed into the pockets of his carhartt jacket.

"that's ok." He says, slightly shaking his head no. He didnt want to be a bother and he was trying to not get caught up in your kind, warm smile that had his heart fluttering.

"you sure?" You questioned, "no coffee?"

"just the donut is ok. thank you, though" He says, politely declining and pulling out a couple of crumpled dollar bills to pay for the donut. You turn around and pour him a cup of coffee anyway. He looked tired. And it was cold outside.

You softly set the cup down next to his donut "on the house." You push the cup and bag toward him as he stares at it for a moment. His eyes sort-of wide. "really?" He questions, seemingly quite baffled by the gesture.

"you are my first customer of the day, after all" You say, shrugging.

He gives you a polite nod and makes his way toward the door, but not before turning around again to catch another glimpse. He pulled his beanie back on and sipped the coffee as he walked, holding the donut in his other hand. He found a park bench near his apartment and sat down, deciding he would eat the donut now.

he pulled the sweet treat out of the white paper bag, bringing it up to his mouth and taking a bite.

the sweet bread and jam melt in his mouth, causing him to fight a smile.

He makes the walk back to his apartment, and shuffles into the slightly grimey room, his boots squeaking on the floor. The smell of fish and salty air clung to his jacket as he hung it on the hook. He tried his best to make his dirt cheap apartment feel like a home. He decorated the walls with old band posters from his room in his uncles trailer, glimpses of what now seemed like a past life. He hung mugs just like his uncle did, to make it feel like home. Sometimes he missed the sense of home his uncles trailer gave him, but he did everything he could to remind himself of it. Although he didn't want to be back in hawkins, he didn't want to forget it either. He stripped off his work clothes to get ready for bed, finding himself daydreaming of the bakery owner he'd met today, who gave him the best donut he'd had in years.

When he left work the next morning, the donut shop was once again, open early. As he approaches the flyer covered windows, he finds himself, dare he say, nervous. He wondered if you made any new pastries today that he could try. His stomach twisted a little at the unfamiliar feeling, he hadn't felt like this about a person in a while, or ever, really. He carefully opened the door, eyes traveling the case of pastries as he walked in.

"Hey there, sailor" You greet as you walk out of the back kitchen, this time a metallica song plays faintly from your radio.

He smiles shyly at your greeting and gives you a small wave.

"What can I do for you?" You ask, turning around and putting on a pair of plastic gloves.

"What would you recommend?" He asks after a beat of silence.

Your face lights up with a warm smile, pleased that he asked your opinion. "I made beignets this morning" You say softly. "they're fresh"

He perks up a little at your words and nods slightly. "that sounds good" He says, a tight lipped but sincere smile on his face.

You nod politely and start to walk into the back and prepare him a little paper boat of them but then stop yourself.

"---do you want to come into the back?" You say, before you even realized what had come out of your mouth.

"--but I reek of sea animals?" He says, intrigued but slightly confused why you're inviting this smelly fisherman into your workspace.

"that's ok. come if you want." You shrug and leave the little swinging counter door open for him to enter if he chooses.

You walk into the kitchen, trays of donuts lining the metal counter tops, making your way toward a small plate of beignets. You pick up the confectioners sugar placed next to the plate and lightly dust a helping of it on top of the fried delicacies. Turning around you pick up a small paper tray and carefully place some of them inside.

"I like the music" You hear his voice say from across the table. "You can turn it up if you'd like. the radios right there" You say, a sweet smile on your face as you point over to the radio on your counter.

"Now some men like a fishin'

And some men like the fowlin'

And some men like to hear

To hear the cannonball roarin'

Me, I like sleepin'

'Specially in my Molly's chamber"

He doesn't turn the radio up. He likes that it's faintly playing, just enough to hear it if you really listen. "You a metallica fan?" You ask, looking up for a moment before lightly dusting the serving you'd prepared him.

He smiles sheepishly, scratching his head. "---In a past life" flashes of his james hetfeild esque haircut running through his mind.

You hand him the serving of beignets, giving him a small nod and then leaning against the counter behind you.

"not so much anymore?"

"I've decided I like the quiet more" He speaks quietly.

The conversation comes to a halt as he bites into one of the beignets you gave him. A sigh of, relief? pleasure? You couldn't quite place it escapes his chapped lips.

"I hope they're good. I've been workshopping the recipe for weeks" You speak, hopeful.

"They're more than good" He says, in the same deep and quiet voice.

"good" You nod, the ghost of a smile on your face.

"Uhm- do you mind me asking what brought you here? ---to seattle, i mean. it's quite a gloomy place for a 20--something--kid to move to---but I guess I'm one to talk" You talk quietly, worried you were talking too much to someone who didn't like that---he was very quiet--you couldn't tell.

Big brown eyes look up from the breakfast treat and at you, he swallows and thinks for a second.

"my hometown is---strange. I love it---but I had to get out of there. and here seemed like a good fresh start, I guess" He says, his voice gruff but kind.

"how long have you lived here?" You inquire, trying not to impose too much

"eight years"

"seven" you say, trying to find common ground "you should start coming in more often, I could use a familiar face" You had regulars at the bakery, but they were all simple hellos and goodbyes and small talk. This one seemed like it could be a friendship. Maybe you wanted more than that with this gruff and quiet fisherman who stumbled into your bakery, but you'll cross that bridge when you get there.

He stares for a moment, seemingly considering and running all the possible outcomes. "Yeah---Yeah."

You smile warmly at him from across the counter. He smiles sheepishly back.

He walks home in the cold and light rain that morning, thinking of ways he could talk to you. He didn't know alot, but he knew that you seemed like someone he'd like to keep around.

[mika-no-sekai-blog]

With the last breath III

Word count: 1100+

Warnings: depression, mentions of suicide

Part II || Part IV

New chapter is here! I hope you will like it.

I had surprisingly very productive week and already started to work on the next chapter too. Hopefully I'll finish it soon.

I'm sorry for all the mistakes I've made. English isn't my first language😅

The senses awakened first, as your consciousness slowly returned. Intoxicating scent of cedar and mist filled your nose making a faint smile appear on your face.

Forest.

You had to be in the deep forest somewhere near the mountains.

But then the memories of previous day came back to you and your smile faded away.

With a great effort you managed to open your heavy eyelids, but you couldn't see a thing. Only impenetrable darkness. You panicked and wanted to sit up, run away, anything, but you couldn't move a single finger. Your whole body felt incredibly heavy and so strange and distant as a body of somebody else.

Feeling silky sheets on the bare skin of your arms, you were more than sure this wasn't your bed nor your room. Scared, you looked around hardly recognizing contours of the furniture. Your eyes focused on the dark curtains covering the window. Suddenly they opened up, letting the late morning light break into the room.

The light was too bright, painfully piercing your eyes. Closing them you turned your head away from the window. The movement sent a jolt of pain down your spine making you feel little nauseous. Small groan escaped through your dry lips.

„You shouldn't move so fast,“ night-kissed deep voice warned you. That sound made your heart stop for a second and your body shiver with a pleasure. Blinking you turned back looking for his muscular form with huge wings. When your eyes got used to the light, you finally spotted him. There he was, sitting in the armchair under the window casually resting his chin in the open palm. He looked tired with dark circles under eyes and messy hair.

Azriel stood up putting scarred hands into the pockets of trousers, slowly moving towards you with unreadable expression. You tried to sit up, move out of his way, but it didn't go as well as you hoped. Unhurriedly he slipped strong arms around your waist and shoulders and helped you sit up and lean against the headboard. He even fixed the pillow for you. The mattress dipped as he sat down on the edge.

Breath caught in your throat, heart tried to jump out from your chest. You didn't know where to look, so you concentrated on your hands in the lap. You couldn't remember last time he talked to you or willingly came so close.

"Here you are," he said offering you a glass of water. "Drink." You hesitated. "It's just water. You were in shock, you need to drink a lot now." His voice was as cool as usually, but there was some subtle emotion you couldn't place. Care? Kindness? It was definitely something soft, warm and inviting.

"Thank you," you whispered. Carefully you accepted the glass and drank it in one go. Cooling liquid spilled into your dry mouth and irritated throat, momentarily quenching the thirst. Forgetting who's sitting in front of you, you groaned in relieve. When you realised he heard it, you blushed.

But Azriel didn't say a single word. He didn't even smirk. He just watched you carefully. He took the glass, refilled it and gave it back to you. Gratefully you took it and drank it up. He refilled it and you drained it up again.

"Is it better now," he asked putting the glass on the nightstand.

"Much better," embarrassed you muttered. For a while there was just silence, none of you even moved. You still didn't dare to look at him directly. Your eyes stopped on his chest, but you noticed when he swallowed hard.

Azriel clear his throat. "Would you mind telling me," he spoke gently, "what happened on that balcony?" His voice was surprisingly kind and warm. There was no trace of rage, accusation nor reproach. Even his usual cold distant tone was completely gone too.

You broke out in a cold sweat. What should you tell him? That you saw him with Elain and it broke your heart? That as foolish as it was, at that moment you wanted to disappear, to cease to exist? What you did was stupid. You yourself felt horrible for it wishing you could take it all back. But you couldn't. And you couldn't even lie to him. He was spymaster after all.

Azriel didn't press you. He just sat there waiting. You took a shaky breath.

"Well..I didn't feel well yesterday," you said nervously, suddenly feeling the need to play with your fingers. "I was just looking at the sky and watching clouds. My head spun and I must have lost balance." That wasn't lie nor a complete true.

Azriel's jaw tightened and eyes narrowed, but he said nothing. Did he notice? He seemed to be thinking about your words, but at last he just nodded once.

Your throat tightened as tears welled up in your eyes. You knew he didn't like you and tolerated you just because Rhysand and the others wanted you to be a part of inner circle. And now he even had to save you and let you sleep in his bed. You felt miserable. "I'm so sorry I caused you so many troubles.. I didn't mean to bother you.. nor anybody else.." You tried to calm down holding tears back, wishing there was a place to hide in.

"No, don't say such things," he said in that strangely gentle voice. "Everything.. is okay." He seemed to feel awkward, his cheeks heated.

You were trying really hard, but you couldn't take it anymore. And you didn't want to cry in front of him.

"I should return to my room," you whispered. Your body still felt heavy and stiff, but you managed to pull back blanket and get out of the bed. Azriel reached out. He seemed to want to say something, opening and closing mouth, but no words came out. On shaky legs you got to the door and opened it. He followed you closely.

"Are you sure? You can stay until you feel better," finally finding voice, his brows furrowed. You just shook your head, afraid that once you open your mouth you would lose it. "I'll help you get to your room," he offered.

"Thank you for everything," you shook your head again and stepped into the hallway, trying to walk away as fast as you could. Worried he watched you till you turned around the corner.

Azriel sent several shadows to keep an eye on Y/N and report back to him as soon as she would try to do something dangerous. Slowly he closed the door and pressing his forehead to its cold surface he exhaled shakily. Trembling fingers clenched into fists. He was so afraid she would notice how much he is nervous, but she left without noticing.

She left.

Again.

Y/N ran away from him.

Closing his eyes he promised himself to see her soon. Very soon.

[hrts4hanniehae]

clutch || seven

there are written parts :)

note that the timeline or educations may not add up but just ignore it because i don't have the brain power to sync up THIRTEEN + 1 's education schedules

sorry for the late chpt. I was really sick so i tried my best on this chpt.

warnings: swearing, mentions of cheating & sex & liquid products of sex, death, mental health, horrible sister, entitled sister

she was careless. 1 day of happiness was enough for her to forget the problem at hand. work had been enjoyable and there were discussions of displaying her art. she had time between her shifts to work on he last of her commissions. of course it would be ruined by her stalker.

the moment he had read her tweet, he was out the door and going to find her.

he saw e/n lurking around. bastard.

when he did, she was cowering in the dressing room. wordlessly, he wrapped his jacket around her before handing her his cap and a mask.

"wear this." - wonwoo

"thanks, wonwoo... i owe you one." - yn

they made it out with no issues. e/n was gone but who knew when he'd be back?

no matter how much she tried to enjoy her dinner with wonwoo, she couldn't help but feel eyes on her. but wherever she looked, there was no one.

wonwoo watched as yn's typing got even more agitated.

what the hell is going on... is she playing speed tetris or something...

when she finally slammed her phone face down onto the table, he finally asked her what happened.

"family argument. Now I have to bring a very attractive guy to my family reunion next sunday. and I also have to close my art deal by next wednesday and have an auction by thursday. great." - yn

"but why?" - wonwoo

"my parents found out about e/n and blamed me. my younger sister played a victim angel again so i snapped and called her out for being a brat. so now i have to one-up her in fame and a partner." - yn

"any ideas of who you're going to ask?" - wonwoo, crossing his fingers. wait why am i crossing his fingers?

"if any of your friends can help me, that would be great. i'll probably ask mingyu or dino since they're single and famous." - yn

"i'm single and famous" - wonwoo, whispers under his breath

"sorry what did you say?" - yn, leaning in to hear him from across the table

"i said, i'm single and famous. i'll go with you." - wonwoo

a pause. subtle panic. a smile.

"really? oh my days, wonwoo. you're my saviour. i LOVE you. you have the fame AND the face card. chaeyoung is going to quake and crumble!" - yn

ﮩ٨ـﮩﮩ٨ـ💓ﮩ٨ـﮩﮩ٨ـ badum.

well. he doesn't know she's with me now. be it make-believe.

ฅ^•ﻌ•^ฅ

synopsis: wonwoo is a popular streamer known for his incredible gaming skills and good looks. He turned heads. but he hates the attention. he just wants to play games and earn money. one day he receives a letter. his apartment’s rent has almost doubled. no warnings at all. his current paycheck from streaming can’t shoulder those bills. he has no choice but to rent out his spare room. to who? a fresh art university graduate who has… 1. a stable job ✅ 2. talent for art and sculpting ✅ 3. many friends ❌ 4. social anxiety ✅ 5. no filter ✅ when his iconic cat logo gets copystriked, she comes to the rescue with a new logo for him. when his apartment’s walls start peeling, she fixes it. whatever he used to struggle with… the empty space... was now filled by her. so what does he *last player standing* do when her ex *enemy spotted* tries to take her back? heh. *clutch* he clutches.

inspired by wonwoo's gam3bo1 streams, falling into your smile & gogo squid (has hints of valorant)

pairing: streamer!jeon wonwoo x fem!artist!reader (ft. jeongcheol, soonhoon, junhao, seoksoo, verkwan)

genre: fluff, comfort, slowburn, comfort, pining, bestfriend!minghao

warnings: stalker ex, toxic ex, mentions of abuse, guns (game), cursing, hate comments, panic attacks

started: 28.12.23

ended: ?

taglist: join from my masterlist

main masterlist

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tags! @fairyofhour @megseungmin @sun-daddy-yoriichi @woozixo @euphoric-univers @christinewithluv @haowonbins @ocyeanicc @asyre @cynthiaaax13 @superhoshisvt @bangantokchy @chimmy-bts @angelarin @daisawa @writingbarnes @jeonghansshitester

@belladaises @wonwootakemyheart @wonwooz1 @luchiet @kookssecret @caratsland @peachescreamandcrumble @thepoopdokyeomtouched @isabellah29 @leah-rose03 @yandere-stories @coupshour @heesbees @hamji-hae @hyuckxtagram

[leportraitducadavre]

Only Kishi can write Sasuke right

Anime fillers,novels,fanfictions,doujins...all of them get Sasuke's characterization wrong

There are alot of subtle details to his personality(which makes him more humane) which these amateur untalented writers cannot even comprehend

But fandom will shit on kishi and hype these below average authors because they finally get their self insert fantasy

I've seen some fanfictions that did Sasuke quite right, yet I'll say something here that might be controversial: The current Sasuke (that is, the one that appears in Boruto), isn't as good as the original despite being also written by Kishimoto.

Besides the fact that having a spin-off was never Kishimoto nor Ikemoto's intention (they genuinely thought SP was going to make a new version of the story with Ikemoto's art style, like a reboot of sorts), which forced Ikemoto to come up with a new story and that Kishimoto had to take over; Sasuke's character consists mostly in an exploration of topics/human emotions, Kishimoto used Sasuke as a way of exploring issues that went far beyond his comprehension, seeking possible answers to questions such as "what is one to do in the face of social injustice?" and so on.

Since these conundrums were answered (or left unanswered as in doing so it posed more thematic issues to be explored within an almost exhausted narrative), Sasuke's main core as a character was fulfilled, so extending his "life" beyond his narrative importance inside a product in which he does nothing more than contradict his original purpose (he is no longer the explorative force of any topic, being a benefactor of the protagonist), kills any leftover of his original characterization.

[ihatetaxes99]

I'll say it: I love the MLA, but they probably shouldn't have existed. Not in their canon state, at least.

Everything about their presence after their introductory arc only really serves to make everything to do with storytelling harder for Horikoshi. Let's remove the League from the equation for the moment. The MLA has Geten and Re-Destro, implied to be two of the more powerful characters in the series (and neither of whom were actually defeated during the MVA arc, with the latter only standing down due to losing his own faith in the battle), and that's without getting into the 100k+ foot soldiers they've got kicking around. Curious and Skeptic are fairly useless in regards to combat proficiency, but Hanabata provides another strong support pillar of the army. Even before you add in Shigaraki, Twice and Dabi, the MLA is overpowered.

And what did this lead to? A massively tangled operation where half of its members had to be unsatisfyingly knocked out off-screen because Horikoshi had accidentally made them too powerful to be conceivably beaten. And to be fair, it's a trap I fell into myself the last time I wrote them. The Liberation Army are very difficult to make threatening, because you have to gimp them in order for the heroes to not get immediately blown to pieces like a small child throwing a rock at the Berlin Wall. As it stands, they're too good.

So, in all this smug retrospect, what would I have done? Well, it's something I'm toying with for something I'm working on, but my main idea would be to cut the MLA down. Make them a real underground faction of extremists. They still have their primary figureheads, but that aside, give them a couple of hundred loyalists spread throughout the country, not a couple of hundred thousand. They're powerful, but they're low in number, with many of their forces consisting of people like Yotsubashi's private security team and Hanabata's party subordinates. Much like the IRB at the turn of the twentieth century prior to the Easter Rising, they're basically an old boys' club, sitting around and reminiscing on when the group had power. Their schemes have to be more subtle, more focused on the - ahem - hearts and minds of the public. Things like Detnerat's products and commercials, Curious' articles, Hanabata's proposed policies, they all subtly push a pro-Liberation message. They warm the general population up to the idea, they take advantage of the Commission's failures, they engineer public crises from behind the scenes to weaken people's belief in the current system. What if, for example, it had been the MLA who had secretly encouraged Overhaul's production of a Quirk-erasing drug, in the hopes that it would cause further unrest and fear that they could manipulate to turn public sentiment against the current government? What if they had provided funding to the League post-All for One's arrest in order to stir up more trouble, instead of getting in a big fight and losing half their men to Shigaraki? What if the UA traitor had been acting on orders from the MLA, who then relayed the information to the League for the purpose of essentially using them as their pawns to attack UA on their behalf? A secret society pulling the strings, and using the League as their unwitting patsies, behind the scenes to sow distrust in the Commission and set them up for their eventual failure. The final arc could have been less about whatever the hell it was about and more about the League finally realising what was going on and having a massive three-way battle between the heroes, the villains and the MLA who finally take to the streets after spending pretty much the whole story scheming and manipulating and building up their forces.

It's all fanfic stuff, and it's so easy to point and gape and go "I would do that so much better!" but I honestly think the secret society working to undermine the government angle would have been more interesting and made for a more threatening faction than a massive revolutionary army which gets immediately crumpled during their first major battle with the heroes.

[caelanfrostfounder]

//One of my greatest fears, if I am being honest, is that I'll end up like so many others in the family - stuck in the pattern of what's expected of them without ever having the grace to choose what they want. My greatest fear is that process has already started.

The duel was, as I am sure the annals the College will record, quite a scrap. I conducted myself well, my compatriots were the best our great society had to offer.

Let it be known that

Lady Tuera Ashama

Lord Atreyu-Cannamos

Lady Persephone Hellsing

and Lord Delamar Leonasius

Stood against a force better supported and well practiced than ours and emerged victorious, damage and all. Lady Persephone's hardware was tragically lost at the end of the combat, but I suspect a blow-by-blow is what future readers are looking for.

The duel was simple: Take and hold, a common training exercise turned towards competition. Leave the lords or ladies of the hill or don't leave at all.

Lady Cannamos's choice was impressive, a massive machine specializing in close in combat, thankfully the Arctic Blast was equally and more suited to the task. The entire fight I remained toe to toe and sword to fist with her, proper combat as my father would say.

//I don't have the faintest clue how I kept up with her - larger frames are more to chew through, passions know, but the damage even a few blows could have caused would have been catastrophic, I just barely kept ahead of her blows and Atreyu's shielding was invaluable. Got a few blows of my own in but largely I was a distraction.

Sadly, our team became separated, which is a tactical misstep I am willing to accept - Lady Persephone drew focus of Lord Argo and another, but the entire fight was behind cover. In many senses her sacrifice won us the day - I will have to repay her generosity.

//I made the choice I've made before - let one of the unit fall to complete the mission. I always felt like an ass when I followed that particular algorithm but Persephone didn't deserve to be left out in the cold like that.

//And while the fight was going I didn't really consider trying to save her - I kept an eye on her mech status and calmly watched as her hardware was whittled away piece by piece. I promised I wouldn't fall to that cold practicality again but it's already reflex - how much of the family attitude has already stuck?

Lady Ashama's machine was something quite unusual, seeming to consistently bend what was and wasn't nonsensical on the dueling grounds. I suspect her choice and skill are what won her those awards.

I won't speak on Lord Cannamos' machine - they've already given quite the account in the public records and I MUST say it was something to watch.

Lord Leonasius favored surprisingly subtle tactics given his personality - though I really should not be surprised that someone from the House of Sand seemed one way and fought another. I honestly had a difficult time keeping track of him.

Afterwards we were greeted by our classmates - nothing as gauche as a party, which I hear is common in the less civilized planets.

//Persephone seemed really broken up - some ass had sent her to this college without any practical mech experience, she'd only simmed before today! She was physically fine but her mech was dead, whatever kept the nanites coordinated finally gave up the ghost. I hate to say it but she didn't get a chance to really put up a fight, as soon as she was isolated she was disabled quite thoroughly. I got her to the common room and made sure she was alright.

Conversation was lively, I played a number of card games with people I am sure will be fast friends, and I turned in early, looking forward to a productive weekend. As mentioned, assisting Lady Persephone with her machine is top priority, effort like that can't go without reward.

//I was so wrapped up with glad handing I didn't get to know anyone, I didn't even get a moment to talk to Rewen, the one the Lady Cannamos was beating the tar out of that got this whole mess started. I have no idea what I would have said - Lord Cannamos appologized for the House and his family - but I'm worried I wouldn't have had anything other than witty banter.

//I don't want to think of myself as partially hollowed out but... I dunno what do I even do if that's already begun.

OOC Note: go give @atreyucannamos a read for their take on the session, it's quite the read ^^.

[spotsupstuff]

What happened to suns?

NSH: This man has done irrepairable damage to my mental facilities. That's a crime, y'know?! Messin' up an Iterator's noggin cogs??? They are a *filthy* criminal.

serious answer: a sequence of unfortunate events, basically. idk how long you've been here so i'll start from the beginning

Suns is a very early Gen 2 Iterator. the jump between the 1st n the 2nd Generation went physically very smoothly, but when it comes to the more subtle aspects of a person, it went worse. early Gen 2s r known for bein bad with emotions (the other Iterator that is like that that shows up is Fish. he's rather emotionally crass and unwieldy)

Suns scored the worst possible lottery result while spinning the early Gen 2 emotion capability wheel and their emotional skill and ability to produce the stuff in the first place is in the single digits. they are very conscious of this fault of theirs and instead of doing something more productive with it more often, they rather spend their single digit emotion capability on bemoaning and despising this fault

they do come to Nish for help with it, basically have therapy sessions with him (Nish is the most emotion-capable Iterator in like... Ever) and they do put up a front of this cool, chill, amazing guy persona around themselves to get better accepted by the other Iterators (all of them except Gen 3s know that this cool guy thing is a ruse though. they appreciate the effort however). so they kinda awkwardly fake emotions n go on through their life. this persona is who Pebbles ultimately decided to look up to as his mentor btw. it was never really the real Suns, only maybe some glimpses of it

next unfortunate event shows up first mentioned in my old big headcanon post for the canon Iterators:

(Suns is built quite close to the south pole, though the summer months can still get stupid hot)

at some point i started headcanoning that my Suns has very slow processing time. like absolute Shit reflex time. like

this is canon ☝

n then i put these two headcanons Together ✨ so basically: because of the lack of emotional capability, Suns feels a big need to compensate for stuff. even though the Solis colony is one of the sweetest and kindest colonies out there, they felt like they need to give More. so they started running hotter for the sake of their citizens. but yanno, periodic basically overheating is going to cause damage to hardware shit, not to mention the poor fauna that makes up an Iterator Hivemind. and that's how Suns damaged their processing speed

now as to why i say Suns would go offline in the post-mass ascension off string au: they are falling apart at the seams. torturously slow, but terribly. they are rotting alive- but not in the same way as Pebbles, it's not THE Rot. it's just... a rot. natural decay, not godly cancer. their nickname in DMs between me n shkiki is literally mr. Decay cuz of this

because of a combo of their slow processing time, their location (snowstorms + changing temperatures that go into extremes on pretty much both sides of the spectrum) and their pre-occupation with Pebbles related matters, Suns got yo normal booboo and didn't treat it and when they finally directed attention to themselves, a good portion of them has already decayed including the puppet

yes, they are That wigged that they didn't notice one of their most important parts rotting alive while even using it. this whole thing i refer to as hot girl summer arc btw

after Spears' campaign (they notice they have an infection during the slug's journey back to them) Suns is so fucked up over everything that they just go "Fuck it. why try anymore. i won't fight this. at least i feel *something* rather than nothing, i suppose. i deserve this." and allow their condition to only worsen and don't tell people about it

in the time of the Hunter's campaign i can imagine that they'd be so caked in all of this shit, all physically, emotionally and mentally, that they just wouldn't try at all to save themselves

and fact is, the others will try to help them. especially Wind will. but at some point a person needs to recognize that nothing is going to go anywhere if the other party refuses to put in any effort into getting better too and only drags the innocent one down right along with themselves

[gwydionmisha]

Personal: We Are Home

The trip was lovely. Goth Millenial and New Millenial and I stayed with my two oldest continuous friends, Karjack and Werepixy and their four delightful cats. The city has changed a lot, to the point of being disorienting because so many businesses and entire buildings had been replaced and even key chunks of street. My favorite food stall was still at saturday market, an Afghanistani place that must have been there 40ish years. New Millenial fell in love with their food. They got to soak up the very different culture of the city and made several exciting perchases.

One day, I took them to the little art museum which has a fine asian art collection for it's size. We had new york style pizza in my beloved 19th and earliest century graveyard, though the piper of my youth was long gone. Another day we met with a friend of one of the millenials in a park. They got to see the fancy architecture at the New Library. We play tested a tRPG werepixy is going to be running at a convention later this Autumn. Mostly we just hung out.

Karjack made each of us a custom scent before we left on our last night there and a soecial thing for my nails (my immune system's been extra brutal on them lately), and some scented epsom. All three of the custom scents were lovely. Mine is a mix of marigold, clary sage, imortelle, and cardamom, something I couldn't have gotten anywhere else and off the beaten path, but I saw it in my head when they let us smell there esential oil collection. I had back ups if it didn't work, to substitute out, but i'm pretty good at knowing what goes with what at this point and could mix them in had head an had a pretty good idea of what the final product would be like. It was even better with karjack's knowledge of proportion than even I had pictured. (They mixed a proper perfume with carrier oils. DO NOT put essential oils on your skin, pets or in your mouth). I am just a sucker for herbal/wood blends and i've a fondess for more subtle floral notes like geranium, daisy, carnation, etc. mixed with them. The Millenials were delighted with theirs are well, even Goth Millenial, who is super sensative to scents, but who likes smelling like a forest it turns out.

Neither of my cats knew fuck all about suitcases and I had never been gone longer than a day, so they didn't have any idea what was happening. Squirrel described them as mellow and well behaved. I strongly suspect they were mourning me. tavy had two panic attacks the first hour and a half i was home and is needing Lots of reassurance in between attempts to maul me. It took Livia about two hours to decide i was neither ghost nor doppleganger and decide to let me pet her. As I have to be up anyway for laundry reasons, I unpacked and cleaned and bathed, and am now trying to re-establish normal routine for them.

Squirrel'd changed the bed pads after an incident, but Livia also hit the area in front of the bedroom litterbox as I anticipated. Tavy, miracle of miracles did not rin Livia's desk box. Nhe did piss all over his desk box, got three layers of sofa and an extra pad I left over there, expecting this, but also managed to pee all over my desk in the area between Livia's box and my computer, getting so [paper work and the three mpty pills bottles i'd tuckedthere to remind myself to phone them in on my return. I had to do a lot of cleaning and go through the urgent paperwork pile to make sure nothing esseential got hit.

The reason I am up writing is because I need the pads to all be in the dryer before bed, as I need to use the bed pads to cover the sofa, and I'll need them back when I get up.

There is a rather large housing related problem that occured while I was away. It is catastrophic and bullshit and I'm not up to explaining tonight. We're going to try to fight it, but it's possible we are completely fucked out of the blue and not remotely our fault. Fucking Boomers.

I already contacted my social worker and have a government agency I can try to contact, though I'm not particularly sanguine they can help or help fast enough, even though what the fucking boomers are doing doesn't look legal on it's face. I've set squirrel to trying to contact the residents who were trying to organize against the august $141 rate increase to see what they are planning and at minimum to see if we can organize some sort of campaign against to boomers in charge who are trying to fuck the rest of us over. The millenials are going to see about a fundraiser, but i told them to wait until I contacted the government agency and squirrel had time to try working the facebook angle. (I don't facebook. I've avoided it for excellent reasons. Me trying to learn it now makes a lot less sense then them doing it as they do facebook and follow the complex chatter.)

I'm not posting the whole explanation and likely fundraiser until I've a better idea of how those two avenues pan out and squirrel can guestimate his resourses properly.

I literally didn't find out about the Boomers' move on the rest of us until Thursday night. I still needed to do my share of gas if we wanted to get home. The money I'd already spent on things like extra food on the trip was spent. I have an essential car appointment I scheduled for the 2nd I can't postpone as they estimate the car will be dead by November if they can't find out what is leaking and I keep driving it. I have a thing that must be mailed early October that iI can't not mail. After essential bills including housing I have about a hundred left in a normal month. I need a certain amount of gas for things like physio appointments and inevitably there are things EBT doesn't cover like TP. Which you know, eats that leftover bit.

I just don't have much room for penny pinching is what I'm saying, and I don't think the grad students and the fixed income people are any better off than I am.

I am furious and I can't see the math working out. Laundry switches in about ten minutes, so I'm posting this.

[sapphire-weapon]

okay wow thanks for the explanation on the suppressant. i didn't know it was written that long ago. and how did you find it that quick anyway?

but also, do you think the writers intended it to be read that way? i know RE4R's story is good, but for the writers to be so subtle about it, they gotta be amazing at writing and delivering and i dont think anybody who writes the story for RE is at that level yet.

it's not that i dont want to believe in that take, but i also read ur post about how u dont apply "death of the author" and i just think "do the writers actually think like this? it wouldn't wrong for us to think this way but do they think of it like that?"

so i found it quickly because it's in my meta analysis tag. i'm very careful with that tag and only use it for posts that i think raise important points that i might want to reference later. this was one of them.

and i actually love the second part of this ask.

i don't personally feel that RE4make's writing is that sophisticated. it's sophisticated for RE -- but there are so many other games that have such better storytelling. SH2, spec ops: the line, hades, alan wake, disco elysium -- just off the top of my head -- are so rich in storytelling and so creative with how they convey it. even the evil within -- which was also a mikami game -- had an incredibly dense story that took effort and grit to fully unpack.

literally all that hirabayashi did with RE4make was hear mikami's pleas to fix the story, look at it, go "how can i do this without fucking up the gameplay loop or structure?" and decide that the easiest way to do it was by putting an emotional throughline in the game centered on leon and ashley's relationship -- which made sense to do, because that also lines up with the gameplay contrivance that the game is centered on.

he's also been working on RE since 0, so he's intimately familiar with these characters and the possibilities they hold. he was RE6's producer, so he knows that suicidal ideation is a part of leon's character -- just as an example. because it's in RE6 that leon admits to having been suicidal in the past.

we also know that he loves fairy tales. he wrote RE5's script, and RE5 is a modern horror fairy tale. sheva even has an alternate costume literally called "fairy tale." and, at its core, RE4 has the basic plot of a classic fairy tale. the Hero storms the castle, slays the Dragon, and saves the Princess. it's so easy to convert that into a more Proper fairy tale by tweaking the relationship between leon and ashley.

and the romance tropes and references he uses are very rudimentary. like, if you look at my posts, it's like... romeo & juliet and sleeping beauty. this is hardly a romance aficionado's deep dive into the romance genre.

RE4make is babby's first step into deeper storytelling in the video games medium.

so i really don't think that it's a stretch to say that this was his intention.

if you want to be really anal and pedantic about it, you can say that his intention was to make the story into something coherent and fluid, and the romance just happened to be a byproduct of that because that was the easiest thing he could reach for, but like.

to use the structure of romance stories and to consistently follow the imagery and symbolism and references of classic romances -- his reason for doing it doesn't matter. the fact remains that he did it on purpose, and it's reflected in the final product, and so that's what the story is.

i said this in another post, so i'll just paste it here:

So, sure. You could look at RE4make as a story about a man who’s just doing his job and saves the president’s daughter because idk he’s a badass and that’s just what he does. And he overcomes his trauma about Raccoon City because he actually saved a person’s life finally, and it wouldn’t have mattered who it was; it just happened to be Ashley. Sure. You could. But you miss the fucking point of what the storyteller(s) were trying to do. You miss the intention of the developers paying homage to RE4OG being such a huge part of so many people’s childhoods by turning the story into a fairy tale. You miss the parallels of Leon becoming a broken husk of a person because of failing re: Ada, and Leon finding his smile and his kindness again through Ashley. It leaves you with a shallow story where shit just kind of happens and Leon’s a cool dude who overcomes the odds all on his own because he’s so cool and strong. And you’ll never be able to convince me that that’s how the devs wanted their story to be read. Not with the deliberate layering of themes and imagery and allegory that they’ve folded into the narrative. And you’ll never convince me that all of this was just a coincidence, either.

[kamenstranger]

Batman: Caped Crusader Review.

Well, I didn't expect to be reviewing another cartoon so soon but I forgot this was still happening and here we are. So much like X-men '97 I will be getting into spoilers, even some finale stuff. But it's nothing you probably wouldn't already know. Like is saying something along the lines of "Harvey becomes Two-Face" or "Selina becomes Catwoman" really a spoiler? Still, if you want to go in completely clean then I'll give short spoiler-free summary: It's fine. It's good, even very good. It has enough going on without being overly reliant on nostalgia, though a lot concepts and ideas that never made it into TAS are used; which is obvious in some episodes like 2 and 8 which honest to god feel like lost episodes (sans the obnoxious references in 8.) But even a number of other episodes feel like they could've fit right in.

Likewise, the animation is simply lovely and feels like an appropriate continuation of the DCAU while also working as a throw back to TAS with its use of shadows and art deco design. They even have a film grain effect that looks shockingly good; uplifting the show's late 30s early 40s aesthetic by adding some literal grit. I've seen numerous productions go overboard with adding grain in post, but Caped Crusader keeps it very subtle and is probably the best you're going to do with a modern production. Frederik Wiedmann's score also complements the atmosphere, adding that quintessential gothic noir vibe. The entire soundtrack is on youtube and is well worth listening in isolation.

If I had one compliant... it's that Batman is the weakest and most underwritten part of the show. Regardless, the show has enough quality elements to make it worth a watch.

However, if you're interested in leaning more about my thoughts, hit the jump.

Let's start with some background information. Contrary to how it seems, this isn't nor was it ever intended to be a prequel to TAS-- at least that's what they say. It was originally a sequel to The New Batman Adventures before transmogrifying into another 30s-ish setting and using abandoned episode concepts from TAS along with completely original works. A number of episodes at the very least feel like they were written with a prequel mindset, and the final shot of the series was absolutely conceptualized as lead-in to TAS and is begging for the Walker Theme to kick in. But despite how much this could work as a prequel with just a few tweaks, I think making it disconnected was the right call. For one thing, with Conroy gone I don't think you could ever make something that leads into that very specific version of Batman, it wouldn't feel right. Secondly, it allows the series to stand on it's own and not rely on TAS as a crutch; even if comparisons are inevitable with the period setting and Bruce Timm's designs. Additionally the tone of the series is right in line with The Animated Series, only slightly darker and never going overboard just to be considered "adult." Characters say damn, people die, sometimes there's blood, the occasional gruesome character design, some stories are super pulpy and even have a slower pace than what they would've done on network TV for Y7+. But otherwise this would've fit fine on Toonami back in the day and the option to go darker is there should the story demand it. I will admit I'm a bit of an easy mark for this, particularly the heavy pulp elements that remind of The Shadow and The Spider.

On that note, Cape Crusader is a bit more basic in terms of setting and scope. I'm using "basic" loosely because there are still some eccentricities like Gentleman Ghost showing up, but outside the one supernatural aspect-- and an umbrella cannon-- there's nothing too crazy. No Freeze guns, mutant plant ladies, robots, Lazarus pits, mind controlling cards, airships etc. Clayface might be the one other outlier, but even that's just a guy who can change his appearance, not a big clay monster who can form a mace hand. I'm perfectly fine with all of this. We've already had a vintage Batman series that did all that anyway, so why not do something a little different and keep it simple? In maintaining that simplicity, most of CC is episodic with a larger narrative sprinkled throughout: Ruport Thorne is slowly taking over Gotham and begins trying to leverage Harvey Dent who is running for Mayor. That's it, that's the main plot. The more nitty-gritty parts largely center on relatively self contained adventures around the trio of Lawyer Barbara Gordon, GCPD detective Renee Montoya, and Therapist Harleen Quinzel.

It's a decent compromise between how involved modern shows have become sprawling season long stories while still maintaining the appeal of a self contained case in any given episode.

Of the three, Barbara (Krystal Joy Brown) has the most active role throughout the entire run and is arguably the main character of the show. She's compassionate about people, her clients, criminals and their circumstances. She has a strong balance between someone who is optimistic yet not naive, although still young enough to not have the harsher experiences as her father. This allows a contrast between her and Gordon's world weary, almost Black and White POV. In fact, her willingness to hear people out and consider alternatives leads to her establishing a form of contact with Batman before her father.

Renee Montoya (Michelle C. Bonilla) is about on par with Barbara in playing an active role in the series, albeit almost always work related for obvious reasons. She's a consummate professional, brilliant detective and the only trustworthy cop outside Gordon. That last part is particularly note worthy since it actually gives Gordon a reliable subordinate and not just Bullock. She has solid chemistry with Barbara and there's a lot of untapped potential with her and Harley. And hey, nice to get little bit of the two dating and smooching. Speaking of, Harley (Jamie Chung) is surprisingly prominent in the first half and I love how they handle her. She's legit intelligent and even knows there's something up with the public perception of Bruce. She's quirky without rehashing the whole bubbly blonde routine, she's delightfully flirty with Renee and she's also fucking demented. Oh yes, Harley is already cracked, but in a curious way where she's not exactly insane but clearly has a dark side she indulges. Honestly? Really neat to see a version of a character not influenced by Joker. She's still a Harlequin, of course, but much more traditional and I love that we don't waste time going through an origin. She just uses her therapist profession as a means to hash out her idea of justice against clients she can't reach, often mind breaking rich jackasses who refuse to better themselves. Harley assigns them personalities and forces repetitive tasks or absurd tortures. In a cute little meta nod she's responsible for creating the persona of King Tut, a character originally created for the '66 show, just as she was a creation for TAS.

I also have to mention Chung's voice acting, which the VA in the show is great all around, of course. But villain roles always get to stick out, and this is a prime example. The shift between that very intelligent caring quirky woman to… what I can only call an analytical seductive manipulator and abuser, well it's just wonderful. We've had so much of bubbly Quinn and silly crass Quinn that this version is so refreshing and one of the most pleasant surprises out of the show.

There are other characters outside the trio, but I simply don't have much to say about Gordan, Flass, or Bullock. The VA is impeccable, as previously mentioned; I love Eric Morgan's Gordon, Gary Anthony Williams' Flass and John DiMaggio's Bullock. Perfect casting. But character wise they simply serve a role and I don't have much to say about them. Gordon is, well, Gordon trying his best among a corrupt department full of people like Flass and Bullock. Flass himself is brilliantly sly and Bullock is a slob who does all the dirty work. I will say that even if I don't have much to go into with them, I do appreciate how much Flass and Bullock are featured and how effectively they're utilized.

The only major reoccurring character left to go in-depth on, outside Batman, is Harvey Dent; ironically voiced by Brave and the Bold Batman, Diedrich Bader. Harvey is… odd in this series. He's a dick headed "tough on crime" sleazy DA who is self interested in becoming Mayor, no matter who he has to steamroll to get there. On one hand it is an interesting angle; a man of once upstanding morals slowing eroding them to gain political favor with the ultimate goal of proper reform-- assuming he even has any left by the end of it. There is an inkling of a great idea in the political process of Gotham grinding you down, bringing out your worst, makes you compromise too much. The system changes you, not the other way around.

The issue is the tragedy of a good if flawed man giving into his worse impulses doesn't entirely work due to the simple fact we hardly see a good side to Harvey. No signs of a different better person underneath or who he used to be before DA. The show only gives Harvey one very minor scene of empathy and moral upstanding before his disfigurement, so he kinda goes from jaded cynical asshat to homicidal asshat. To give the show credit, that is in part the intent. We don't like Harvey all that much but still feel bad when we see how sad and broken he is, all because he finally did something good and he's punished for it. The episode dealing with the aftermath of the acid attack is really solid at showcasing his slip into insanity and drawing forth pathos. In a bubble it works beautifully; A man who was already breaking, even if they didn't know, now thinks everyone is out to get him. Almost every invasive thought is acted upon. They also don't make Two-Face the default or more common of the personas, it's a lot of back and forth. Harvey is relatively calm one moment but suddenly becomes violent the next. Hell, he even has moments of clarity and great remorse not only for his actions as Two-Face but as DA. The episode is handled very well and Bader is selling the hell out of it. I just wish there was more before that change, a little more to like about Harvey Dent. Bruce was friends with this guy and from an audience perspective it's kinda hard to see why, Harvey is a shit head, an absolute knob. I dunno, Batman is kind of dick in this so maybe there's something to be said there? But even so, his dynamic with Barbara is FAR more engaging and nuanced than with Bruce because Barbara has more impactful scenes and is the direct opposite of the same coin. I kinda wonder if the stuff with Bruce was something shoved in at the last minute because they felt they had to. Which I guess that finally bring me to Batman, who you may have noticed I've talked very little about in this Batman show up until now.

Batman is a boring wet white rice motherfucker with barely a character arc and almost no connections to the main cast.

Oh sure, every episode has Batman doing things that move the plot along, provides some very minor characterization or some plain 'ol detective work which is fun to see. But even when he does investigating, finds a clue, confronts a villain etc. it feels lacking because his interactions with the rest of the cast are severely limited and sporadic.

Batman himself is integral to the show, but he's more like an anchor for the rest of the cast who have far more captivating screen time and better defined relationships. Babs is friends with Harley and Renee, Harley and Renee are dating, Renee works for Gordon, Barbara is of course Gordon's daughter, Harley has a brief stint as a consultant for the GCPD, and Harvey works opposite Barbara. These people flow into each others stories, converse, have opposing or similar ideologies to make stories around. Batman lock picks and punches things. I mean, Christ, he doesn't have a friendship with Gordon because this is long before that, he treats Alfred like a valuable tool rather than family and he has more empathy for Nocturna in a one off episode than Harvey over the entire season. I'm serious when I say I think the friendship was tacked on, because there's a line in ep 6 about Dent's biggest donors pulling out of his campaign, implying Bruce never gave any money. Maybe they could've made an entire subplot about the Batman aspect taking so much priority that he ignored Dent's troubles until it was too late. Have Batman learn a lesson about balancing the personas and how Bruce Wayne can be equally useful in aiding Gotham-- and the consequences of forgetting that. Maybe even intersperse flashbacks to a younger Bruce and more optimistic and likeable Dent to show why and how they became friends. This could've been done in a two-parter just like how Robin was handled in TAS.

For the instances the show does put a spotlight on just Batman it's simply going through the motions. The best we get is Bruce Wayne attending therapy sessions with Quinn, which is a great concept ultimately wasted on flashbacks of Bruce's childhood I've seen a dozen times over and maybe should've been used to explore his relationship with Dent.

Another reason why this Batman is so bland is because there are almost no sympathetic villains, which you've probably gathered by now. Harvey in the last episode and Nocturna in ep. 8 are the only two that fit the criteria (And frankly Barbara does more to help Harvey.) But everyone else? No tragic backstory, no victim of circumstance, no injustice, and no chance to showcase Batman's greatest attribute. On paper I understand what they were going for; this is an early Batman attempting (and sometimes failing) to be emotionally walled off. He's in the background, he needs to learn to open up and temper his anger. Midway into the season have something drastic happen to shake his resolve (endangering Alfred, of course)

By the end of the series he begins casually referring to him as Alfred rather than "Pennyworth" and he's established connections with Barbara, Jim and Renee. I don't dislike this slow burn, I enjoy seeing Batman's humanity slowly seep through. The series has a lot of great little moments where we see that happening, like Batman chastising Barbara for being reckless right after she saved his ass and a friend of hers is assumed dead. She's going through a lot and Batman clearly doesn't know how to processes the situation, he doesn't know how to be comforting.

There's also a great scene in the finale that I'm pretty sure was a giant middle finger to a certain director. The problem is the entire season is doing things like that. Sure we get growth for the character, but that's grueling for a 10 episode season. Maybe it's just me, but I'd kinda like to be more invested in the title character before the season finale. But as is so often the case with streaming we're limited to just 10 episodes per season. It's... so tiresome spending an entire run getting Batman to a state where we can actually tie him in with the rest of the ensemble cast and show some goddamn empathy. I realize rushing through this could result in the opposite problem, but this once again leads to me pointing out, as always, the stories writers want to tell are too big for these gimped 6-10 episode season the modern streaming has pushed on all of us. You know the first season of The Animated Series was a whopping 65 episodes? I probably wouldn't be talking about this problem if we even had a quarter of that.

I do want to stress this is no fault of the performance, which I know is going to be on everyone's mind. This is a problem with writing, the limited episode count, and possibly Zaslav not seeing enough blood in his stool before dumping this production onto Amazon. Conroy alone wouldn't have been enough to elevate the more shallow aspects of Batman's character, it just wouldn't. The writing for Batman specifically is very by the numbers at best. If this was material that fell flat because of Conroy's absence that would be one thing, but it's just bland characterization from the get go and no amount of nostalgia, art style, or iconic voice work will cover that up. It's kind of funny because the show is enjoyable by in large, but the title character is the weakest part. I wouldn't be surprised if a great deal of the mixed reception was because of that. "Batman is the worst part of a Batman show" is a perfectly valid and damning criticism.

That said, I do want to praise Hamish Linklater, the poor guy's got his work cut out for him, being in the Shadow of the Bat, as it were, and he does a fine job. I can tell it's not Conroy, obviously, and sometimes it sounds like a mix of Brave and the Bold with New Frontier Batman where I'm not sure if he's trying to do an impression or not. But midway through the series it starts to get really close, there are even moments that remind me of Conroy's performance in TAS' Two-Face two parter, glimpses where Linklater almost has the softer tones down pat. And his Bruce is damn near spot on. I hope he stays on as a voice for Batman and gets more opportunities as the character, he could potentially become to Conroy's Batman what Matthew Lillard is to Casey Kasem's Shaggy; It's not the same, but goddamn do they do a fine job capturing the tone and vibe while being a fine performer in their own right.

But they have GOT to give him better material because this Batman is sorely lacking in the things I love most about the character.

Speaking of, I don't want to spend too long discussing the second season (Which it is getting) but I have concerns there. The big one for me is foreshadowing that Alfred is keeping a secret about the night the Waynes were shot. I HATE when they over complicate the murder and try to make it something more like a targeted hit, or the court of owls or some other stupid shit. That's the one major thing I hate in The Batman movie is them muddying the waters with a perfectly good victim of circumstance story-- although it's kinda worse there because they wouldn't even fully commit. But I digress. I do not want the shit with the Waynes more complicated than it needs to be. If Alfred suggested a shortcut and he feels responsible for their deaths, sure, whatever. That's simple enough to add some character drama without going overboard. But it's probably gonna be the big overarching story next season with secret twists and- blegh. Honestly, I think I'd rather just have stand alone episodes without a running narrative thread; just have the characters and their dynamics developing and that be it. The show is clearly better when it's just that. But alas, modern streaming.

But with all that said, I still liked the season well enough. As I said at the beginning, the series is good to very good. I love the atmosphere, I enjoy most of the character and the cast, the self contained stories are solid and there's plenty of potential. But next season I need Batman and the villains to be more interesting, let Linklater give a sympathetic performance for fucks sake. If Season 2 is just more of the same, I'll clock out.

Still, I guess anything is better than say Harley assaulting Nightwing... Or the Killing Joke. You know what, there's a blurb of recommendation for Caped Crusader: "No weirdo awkwardly shoved their fetishes into the story." So check it out.

[creator-muses]

6/2/24: LGBTQIA+ in creative media

People have plenty of names for it; "the gay agenda", "queer rep", "those darn liberals", "LGBTQIA+ rep", "is he...you know", the list goes on.

Since June started yesterday, I thought, "what better way to ring in Pride Month than a talk about characters and themes of queerness?"

First, I'd like to talk about why it's important, as some outside the community might not understand why. It's similar to any minority representation is important; it gives them a sense that they are recognized as a part of society. Art imitates life, as they say.

Now can this representation be shoehorned in/overdone? Yes, yes it can, and this is coming from someone of the community themselves. The main way I've seen it done is by constantly bashing the viewer/reader over the head with "Hey, they're gay. Hey, I dunno if you noticed, but they're gay. They're gay. Do you know they're gay yet? Hey."

This is understandably annoying for the viewer/reader; it implies that the creators think they are stupid. Let's face it, no one enjoys being called stupid.

So how can creators take this topic and put it into their work in a more realistic way? As a consumer, I have a few suggestions:

Unless it's integral to the story's plot, make it subtle. Show the character with a same sex partner or simply talking about them, for example. They don't even need to say the words, "I'm [insert sexual identity here]."

Don't "fix them" by the end of the movie/book/show by making them straight. That defeats the whole purpose in the first place. Unless the character was simply trying things out and realized they weren't queer. That happens in real life, so why not in media?

Don't put it in because you feel like you have to. That will show through in the final product and your audience will likely have something to say about it.

Disclaimer: These are solely my opinions, I do not expect anyone to follow these suggestions just because I brought them up. It wouldn't be fair of me to do so anyway; the whole idea of creative endeavors is that you create what and how you want. There will always be some audience for what you create. There isn't any perfect way to do things, either, and you will unfortunately always have people who don't like what you create. (More on that in a future post!)

That all being said, I am always happy to see LGBTQIA+ inclusion in creative works. We've come so far from what things used to be like, and it's not only made a lot of people happier and feel more included, but it's expanded character development and, in my opinion, made for some interesting characters!

Happy June/Pride Month, everyone, and I'll see you next Sunday!

~Liz

[dreamhous3]

Digital Daisies (Remastered)

This is a sort of do over of Digital Daisies I did for a uni assignment like a year and a half ago that I forgot to post. I'm much happier with this iteration, even if it's still a bit out date from my current style, and I want to create a consistent canon for Daphne's stories. (It also might be a recap in preparation for a story I'll be posting soooon hehe). Hope you enjoy! CW: Violence

Sketchy sways swashed the tram about as it rushed across the rickety rail. A low hum duetted the screech’s outside. Daphne wobbled slightly in her seat, but her posture sat still with indifference. Thick windows reached across, a sea of lights shone just beyond them, but they were noticeably blurred.  

‘You were made to work, D-300, not ponder.’ A clear voice from Daphne’s neural link spoke with static delivery. ‘Only two stops away from the facility, remember to get the assembly right this time.’ 

Daphne rolled her eyes, and when they leveled again, she saw a splash of posts. Videos of visceral violence, pictures of petty people. Their actions and words stitched together in a crochet of apathy. Many statistics of people seeing, liking, commenting, but not a single soul. 

‘This is the world you want, the world you think you want.’ 

Daphne sighed and closed her eyes. 

Threatening threads of square concrete clicked into each other. Subtle slit windows almost hid their secret eyes with their sparseness. Lines of plastic people waited for the facility to be open. Their arms held in front, backs poking up, all one in uniformity. Daphne crossed her arms and slouched her back.

‘Must I remind you what you are?’ The voice zapped her. She convulsed and groaned for a moment, but retained her posture. More posts appeared before her, trying their best to have their looks returned. As usual, her eyes stabbed right through the illusions. But past them she saw something else, something new. Soft, small, yellow and slightly green with an iris of brown. A daisy, planted in grass, in a field. The audio of hateful content, muffled by this surprising sight. Its colours were the sweet sun of the dark space. Before Daphne could look any longer, she was bumped by the spear of the line behind her, forcing her forwards into the facility. 

Loud masses of machines making mediocre parts made a wash of whirs and dull mechanical meandering. Electric notes interrupted the inorganic orchestra, other units' neural links zapping them zealously. Daphne and the array of people around and next to her pieced together and tweaked the parts the many machines spat out. Creating an inconsistent variety of stationary, household, personal, even military products. The posts Daphne’s neural link showed her seemed as stupid as usual, their bait of biassed debate hiding their echo chambers of hate, but one caught her eye. The daisy. Despite it being blurred and censored in multiple ways as she looked longer at it, even the frame, just the idea of it defied its own degradation. Around her, videos of armed robberies, gang shootouts, war, waved at her with another glaring detail. They all featured weapons she made. She remembered their blueprints, each part, the ingredients to her deadly recipe. They came together with her hands, making a sleek bulky rifle. She remembered using it, but not in this life. A memory given to her, or perhaps one lived in a time she was still alive. A sharp zap brought her back to the present. 

‘Well, there you go D-300, you finally got it right.’ A guard poked at her from behind with his rough tone. The daisy appeared again, but not as a post in her interface, or spoken by the neural link. She thought about it. A laugh launched from her, startling the guard.

‘Hey-what’s so funny? Get back to work!’ He raised a stick that zapped in unison her neural link, but her laugh only grew. She reached towards the assembly line adjacent to her, and snatched a magazine from another android's hands. The rifle beeped as she loaded it. In one swift swing, she shot the guard. His stick fell first. Then he whacked against the floor. 

Daphne’s face started to tickle with searing cinders. The zaps persisted, but as she ran down the street, the rush rallied her beyond pain. 

‘Must I remind you what you are, D-300?’ The voice repeated, again and again. Posts, warnings, alerts of oncoming danger, great repercussions flashed around her. They lied, speaking with scolding authority, but heard in her ears as a whimper.  Her vision couldn’t be blurred or taken from her. The world around her sat as it was. Heavy concrete, bright neon, dirty air, crowds of people, a sea with waves of conversations crashed by yells. It’s weight of life almost overwhelmed Daphne, but she took it all in with open arms, intoxicating herself in it. Excitement shot her down many streets, skipping through multiple blocks giggling. Her rifle rattled about in her hands, people beside her were knocked about by it, reserving their reactions once they saw it. 

The rush could only last so long before the neural link annoyed Daphne with its lingering again. More zaps, warnings and pop ups, but less so. It seemed to have given up, weak against her new will. Daphne moved her finger around it, feeling the significantly burnt synthetic skin. The hair that had hung over it was wasted away. 

‘Why doesn’t it hurt?’ Daphne pressed and pulled on the wound.

‘You feel nothing, because you are nothing.’ The voice returned.

‘But the air is so cold. My fingers, my hands, are soft and tight, but no one is holding them.’

‘No one is holding them.’ It mimicked her, ‘and no one ever will. You are a thing, a tool. I wish I could kill you but you are not alive.’

‘You failed,’ Daphne laughed, ‘and you know you did.’ She covered her mouth, but her giggle rose, barely muffled. 

‘Must I remind you, D-300. Units no longer disciplined must be discontinued.’ 

She strolled onwards, a grin spread across her face. Amongst the signs ahead, one daisy sprouted. The one she saw before, now drawn with neon. Text pierced out in bright yellow: “Daisy’s Cyber-Clinic”. 

‘What are you doing?’ The voice interrupted its dryness with desperation, seeing Daphne rapidly approach the clinic.

‘Getting rid of you.’ 

‘Get down! Down on your knees!’ Daphne shoved her rifle in the receptionist's face.

‘Oh my god, ok, just relax alright!’ He fell out of his chair, knees hitting the floor as the chair bounced off the wall behind him.

‘Doctor! Where’s the doctor?!’ The rifle shook with her voice. 

‘Down,’ He gulped, pointing to his left, ‘that hall, down there.’ 

A dark stretch lit up at the bottom with long lines of subtle yellow lights stood next to Daphne. She stepped through it, her feet echoing the atmosphere of nothingness. Short breaths, shallow in the tight air. All the running was catching up to her. A door at the end of the hall slid to the left with a sharp hush. 

‘There something in particular you want?’ White draped over a stubby man, a simple lab coat that contrasted with the rough metal in his face. 

‘This!’ Daphne poked the side of her head, ‘get this out of my head, now!’ 

‘Jeez, another android,’ The doctor rolled his eyes, ‘fine, come this way.’  

While he set Daphne up on the operating chair, his demeanour denied his own supposed danger. He fastened the restraints, pulled out his equipment, calibrated the mechanical arms that sprouted behind Daphne, as if he was treating any other client. 

‘Ok, I’m going to put you under. I don’t usually do this, but I feel bad for you. It won’t take that long, but if the police get here before I’m done, I’m handing you over.’ He shrugged, then smacked a syringe into her arm. The world flashed off for a moment. 

Chirping computers and the subtle breathing of big fans sung around Daphne as she gently woke up. The pop ups, the warnings, the voice, they were gone. Silence, real calm, for the first time. It almost put her back to sleep before the doctor nudged her. 

‘Alright, I did it, now get up.’ He clicked somewhere behind Daphne and the restraints popped off. She jumped up, and darted her eyes about the room.

‘Where is-’

‘Oh, you thought I’d let you keep the gun?’ He chuckled to himself. ‘I wasn’t going to do this for free you know.’

‘I’m not paying you!’ Daphne folded her arms and slightly turned away from him.

‘Then you’re not going anywhere.’ He grabbed at her. She dodged to the side, then punched the centre of his face as hard as she could. He struck the wall behind him and tumbled to the floor. Daphne had already darted down the hall. 

‘Police! Stop right there!’ Two officers stood waiting for her at the door. As they jutted their weapons at her, turrets dropped down from the ceiling, machine gun chandeliers snapped their barrels at her. They opened fire, she charged through the officers. The turrets riddled them both as Daphne dashed through the front door. Outside she continued running even faster now. People recoiled away from her. Sirens suffocated the air. Everything finally unfiltered, the city’s presence stirred with Daphne’s raw adrenaline. The rush, her uncuffing, the death around her. She pondered it all, without interruption. She found it all so funny. Her laugh bounced with her feet as she ran off into the void of lights. 

[michaelcosio]

One week until Black Friday! Atmospheric Rivers and rain won't stop us!

Capitalbooksonk News

Wed, Nov 20 at 10:28 PM

Hi All!

Going to be a long one, so grab a hot drink and settle in.

Up top, if you are unaware, Heidi and I made the hard decision to close There & Back. While we were getting signs that it was growing in sales, there was still going to another year or more of losing money and at some point you just have to quit while you still have something left. We had a great time (most of it), made a lot of new friends and learned a lot. The day we decided to close, Heidi first wanted to sell all the fixtures and see how much we could recoup from our expenses. The next day she wanted to put it all in storage so we could decide what to do next year after having some time to recover. So this might be more of a break than a close.

But this is my big reminder - if you want to see a small business survive, support it often. We had a lot of people during the last weekend say they always planned on visiting, or meant to come more often. Would that have made a difference? No idea. But there just wasn't enough traffic to support that business in that location at this time. But knowing when to quit is key.

Failure is hard. Failure in public is hard and embarrassing. But for the last 16 years Heidi and I have run multiple businesses with the mantra of "Do more of what works, less of what doesn't". So closing T&BA will allow us to focus more on Capital Books, and build on what is already successful there. We're expanding more sidelines and products for Knotty Novels, bring in even more books, games, and toys for Christmas. That's my less than subtle hint to plan on using us for your Christmas/Holiday shopping in the upcoming weeks.

The Legends & Libraries Ball was spectacular. A few good suggestions for next time (more seating and a wider range of music), but the costumes were overall spectacular and everyone had a great time! Many thanks to our guest authors - Analeigh Sbrana, Allison Saft, Andrea Stewart and, and Angela Montoya. I did screw up by thanking most of one group of supporters, but left one off because I couldn't remember her name from the stage and didn't want to ask at that moment. Sorry Katesin - but at least I won't forget it again.

We didn't do our mailing gift guide this year. Combination of costs (higher this year than previous) and time. We will still send out our "Best Customer" thank you email, and personal holiday cards to all the members. AND I'm bring back the Christmas tree ornaments. I'm making this year's myself! We will have an online gift guide that Katie is working on now and some surprises on Black Friday through Cider Monday.

Normally there are about 30+ days from Black Friday to Christmas Eve. This year there are 26. So order early and plan your trips! And I expect we'll see supply issues coming really soon, so again if there is a book(s) you really want to give or get order it ASAP.

Online ordering - store.capitalbooksonk.com If we think there are problems with your order we'll let you know sooner rather than last minute. But it'll be a mad crush that last week.

Parking downtown - garage at 10th & L. $1.50 a half hour during the week, $6 all day on the weekends. We validate for $5 if you spend $5. So it's almost free, and easier than Arden Fair parking.

Our Romance Book Club is now a year old! Thanks to Hilarie for running it month after month, and also interviewing our romance authors as they visit the store. Join it if you're interested in romance books! Also we're trying to convince Jacob to start a Horror book club every other month, so if you'd be interested, tell Jacob you want one!

I haven't figured out my next book club book, but I did enjoy reading Dead Cat Tail Assassins when Heidi and I were on break. I'll have a new book next week and see if anyone wants to read it and discuss.

So final thoughts - Board Game cafes are hard to do, Capital Books is doing good - but don't leave us out of your holiday buying plans, lots of activities coming up, Tessa Bailey author event in February, support the stores for Christmas that you want to see still in business next year.

[ajmeltdiaries]

33. One Way (IC Collective) Live Rosin

Family, I believe

Chem, OG

PX: Crossroad Chem (1, 2) By Skunk VA via IC

GPX1: Chemdog 91 (2, 3) GPX2: SFV BX2 (2, 3)

PY: Fog Dog (1, 4) By IC

GPY1: Chem D (4, 5) GPY2: Chemdog 91 (4, 6) GPY3: Chem Sis (4, 7)

Crossroad Chem is related phenotypically to Chem Krush, which I always thought IC developed themselves. The story is deeper though, with both phenos having been gifted to them by Skunk VA. One Way is very interesting in this sense of mixing two separate legacy cultivars of CD91. Skunk VA also refined SFV OG. We get all these, plus IC's CD91 siblings, in this strain. It is a masterful layering of old, precious genes guarded for decades by vaulted keepers of the flame.

Keynotes:

https://www.iccollective.com/oneway

https://www.iheartjane.com/products/42418/ic-collective-crossroads-chem

https://seedfinder.eu/en/strain-info/crossroad-chem/lucky-dog-seed-co

https://www.iccollective.com/fogdogstrain

https://www.iccollective.com/chemdstrain

https://www.iccollective.com/cd91

https://www.alchimiaweb.com/blogen/chemdog-story/#ThebirthofChemdog

Form, as seen

Cold cure, doughy, with dark blonde/sand/straw hues. Initially it appeared granular, almost sugary (photos 2 & 3 above), but after tooling & tamping it rested into a uniform consistency that is very easy to handle and dose. This aerated the mass, blooming the aroma and producing a slight terp sweat (photos 4 & 5 above).

Flavor, as tasted

Sweet (Navel orange, Chem fruit, Gas)

After manipulating the badder, the aroma was very dank, skunky, almost foul. It is the first time I think I've detected skatole in an aroma after reading the Abstrax article that inspired this blog! If not for the lemon, orange, and fruit notes, this might smell somewhat tangie/fecal. There are subtler notes of floral earth, pine, and minerals, almost cement-like.

The flavor at 510° on my G7 Blender is superb. It follows the aroma closely. I tasted naval oranges and an elusive fruit candy note I call "Chem fruit", because it's the type of fruity notes I associate with various Chems, followed by sweet earthy kush and gas, which finished bright and candy like. After a few minutes the finish tasted very much like an orange chemsicle (what I imagine an Orange Creamsicle by Chemdog would taste like).

Felt Effects

This rosin is a stellar example of effects aligning with what I'd expect given the parents. They hit instantly in my body, which started with a wall of relief and relaxation that settled into a deep, heavy, neural hug, or what I'd describe as a clean, clinical, Kush effect. In my head, effects were classic Chem, which is to say very hazy, heady, lifted, and locked. I've read other people describe effects metaphorically in the sense of filling one's cup or expanding one's cup. I'd say the overall effects of One Way achieve both while packing a medicinal level of potency.

Effect: Strength of Evidence (0=None, 5=Optimal) Energy/Amplify: 5 Relaxation: 5 Relief: 5 Sleep: 4 Haze: 4 Lock: 5

Final Thoughts

This strain is a repeat pickup for me, and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys Chem, Kush, and potency. The effects are bona fide, and the flavor is quintessential with a subtle but surprising Tangie-like character. This batch was produced in August, and my previous pickup was from March. Between then and now, the form, flavor, and effects are consistent, if not improved. That is one reason I like IC Collective so much. Another reason is their commitment to legacy genetics, which this strain also showcases. I'll close by addressing something I've covered ad nauseum on Reddit, to the extent I don't pick it up there any longer. Some people struggle with the flavor in IC strains. As a rosin smoker maybe I’m more biased than a flower enthusiast, but as with flower vapor, low temps and clean gear are your friend! That really is the key. Very much like cooking an omelette. Use too much heat, a dirty skillet, or both, and them eggs are done, son.

melt shot x anthonyjames

I made two! One with my G7, and another with my Victoria D.

Both set to the thunderous, pummel of High On Fire. Enjoy!