#like the concept of it. a few months and then we're just done?? you're not in my life like that anymore?? we go our separate ways and move

[ronanlynchbf]

i literally will never understand casual dating like wdym i give my heart to someone & open up to them & be vulnerable with them and then we break up after a few months there's no way. Die for me or don't hit me up at all 🙄

[archaeren]

How I learned to write smarter, not harder

(aka, how to write when you're hella ADHD lol)

A reader commented on my current long fic asking how I write so well. I replied with an essay of my honestly pretty non-standard writing advice (that they probably didn't actually want lol) Now I'm gonna share it with you guys and hopefully there's a few of you out there who will benefit from my past mistakes and find some useful advice in here. XD Since I started doing this stuff, which are all pretty easy changes to absorb into your process if you want to try them, I now almost never get writer's block.

The text of the original reply is indented, and I've added some additional commentary to expand upon and clarify some of the concepts.

As for writing well, I usually attribute it to the fact that I spent roughly four years in my late teens/early 20s writing text roleplay with a friend for hours every single day. Aside from the constant practice that provided, having a live audience immediately reacting to everything I wrote made me think a lot about how to make as many sentences as possible have maximum impact so that I could get that kind of fun reaction. (Which is another reason why comments like yours are so valuable to fanfic writers! <3) The other factors that have improved my writing are thus: 1. Writing nonlinearly. I used to write a whole story in order, from the first sentence onward. If there was a part I was excited to write, I slogged through everything to get there, thinking that it would be my reward once I finished everything that led up to that. It never worked. XD It was miserable. By the time I got to the part I wanted to write, I had beaten the scene to death in my head imagining all the ways I could write it, and it a) no longer interested me and b) could not live up to my expectations because I couldn't remember all my ideas I'd had for writing it. The scene came out mediocre and so did everything leading up to it. Since then, I learned through working on VN writing (I co-own a game studio and we have some visual novels that I write for) that I don't have to write linearly. If I'm inspired to write a scene, I just write it immediately. It usually comes out pretty good even in a first draft! But then I also have it for if I get more ideas for that scene later, and I can just edit them in. The scenes come out MUCH stronger because of this. And you know what else I discovered? Those scenes I slogged through before weren't scenes I had no inspiration for, I just didn't have any inspiration for them in that moment! I can't tell you how many times there was a scene I had no interest in writing, and then a week later I'd get struck by the perfect inspiration for it! Those are scenes I would have done a very mediocre job on, and now they can be some of the most powerful scenes because I gave them time to marinate. Inspiration isn't always linear, so writing doesn't have to be either!

Some people are the type that joyfully write linearly. I have a friend like this--she picks up the characters and just continues playing out the next scene. Her story progresses through the entire day-by-day lives of the characters; it never timeskips more than a few hours. She started writing and posting just eight months ago, she's about an eighth of the way through her planned fic timeline, and the content she has so far posted to AO3 for it is already 450,000 words long. But most of us are normal humans. We're not, for the most part, wired to create linearly. We consume linearly, we experience linearly, so we assume we must also create linearly. But actually, a lot of us really suffer from trying to force ourselves to create this way, and we might not even realize it. If you're the kind of person who thinks you need to carrot-on-a-stick yourself into writing by saving the fun part for when you finally write everything that happens before it: Stop. You're probably not a linear writer. You're making yourself suffer for no reason and your writing is probably suffering for it. At least give nonlinear writing a try before you assume you can't write if you're not baiting or forcing yourself into it!! Remember: Writing is fun. You do this because it's fun, because it's your hobby. If you're miserable 80% of the time you're doing it, you're probably doing it wrong!

2. Rereading my own work. I used to hate reading my own work. I wouldn't even edit it usually. I would write it and slap it online and try not to look at it again. XD Writing nonlinearly forced me to start rereading because I needed to make sure scenes connected together naturally and it also made it easier to get into the headspace of the story to keep writing and fill in the blanks and get new inspiration. Doing this built the editing process into my writing process--I would read a scene to get back in the headspace, dislike what I had written, and just clean it up on the fly. I still never ever sit down to 'edit' my work. I just reread it to prep for writing and it ends up editing itself. Many many scenes in this fic I have read probably a dozen times or more! (And now, I can actually reread my own work for enjoyment!) Another thing I found from doing this that it became easy to see patterns and themes in my work and strengthen them. Foreshadowing became easy. Setting up for jokes or plot points became easy. I didn't have to plan out my story in advance or write an outline, because the scenes themselves because a sort of living outline on their own. (Yes, despite all the foreshadowing and recurring thematic elements and secret hidden meanings sprinkled throughout this story, it actually never had an outline or a plan for any of that. It's all a natural byproduct of writing nonlinearly and rereading.)

Unpopular writing opinion time: You don't need to make a detailed outline.

Some people thrive on having an outline and planning out every detail before they sit down to write. But I know for a lot of us, we don't know how to write an outline or how to use it once we've written it. The idea of making one is daunting, and the advice that it's the only way to write or beat writer's block is demoralizing. So let me explain how I approach "outlining" which isn't really outlining at all.

I write in a Notion table, where every scene is a separate table entry and the scene is written in the page inside that entry. I do this because it makes writing nonlinearly VASTLY more intuitive and straightforward than writing in a single document. (If you're familiar with Notion, this probably makes perfect sense to you. If you're not, imagine something a little like a more contained Google Sheets, but every row has a title cell that opens into a unique Google Doc when you click on it. And it's not as slow and clunky as the Google suite lol) (Edit from the future: I answered an ask with more explanation on how I use Notion for non-linear writing here.) When I sit down to begin a new fic idea, I make a quick entry in the table for every scene I already know I'll want or need, with the entries titled with a couple words or a sentence that describes what will be in that scene so I'll remember it later. Basically, it's the most absolute bare-bones skeleton of what I vaguely know will probably happen in the story.

Then I start writing, wherever I want in the list. As I write, ideas for new scenes and new connections and themes will emerge over time, and I'll just slot them in between the original entries wherever they naturally fit, rearranging as necessary, so that I won't forget about them later when I'm ready to write them. As an example, my current long fic started with a list of roughly 35 scenes that I knew I wanted or needed, for a fic that will probably be around 100k words (which I didn't know at the time haha). As of this writing, it has expanded to 129 scenes. And since I write them directly in the page entries for the table, the fic is actually its own outline, without any additional effort on my part. As I said in the comment reply--a living outline!

This also made it easier to let go of the notion that I had to write something exactly right the first time. (People always say you should do this, but how many of us do? It's harder than it sounds! I didn't want to commit to editing later! I didn't want to reread my work! XD) I know I'm going to edit it naturally anyway, so I can feel okay giving myself permission to just write it approximately right and I can fix it later. And what I found from that was that sometimes what I believed was kind of meh when I wrote it was actually totally fine when I read it later! Sometimes the internal critic is actually wrong. 3. Marinating in the headspace of the story. For the first two months I worked on [fic], I did not consume any media other than [fandom the fic is in]. I didn't watch, read, or play anything else. Not even mobile games. (And there wasn't really much fan content for [fandom] to consume either. Still isn't, really. XD) This basically forced me to treat writing my story as my only source of entertainment, and kept me from getting distracted or inspired to write other ideas and abandon this one.

As an aside, I don't think this is a necessary step for writing, but if you really want to be productive in a short burst, I do highly recommend going on a media consumption hiatus. Not forever, obviously! Consuming media is a valuable tool for new inspiration, and reading other's work (both good and bad, as long as you think critically to identify the differences!) is an invaluable resource for improving your writing.

When I write, I usually lay down, close my eyes, and play the scene I'm interested in writing in my head. I even take a ten-minute nap now and then during this process. (I find being in a state of partial drowsiness, but not outright sleepiness, makes writing easier and better. Sleep helps the brain process and make connections!) Then I roll over to the laptop next to me and type up whatever I felt like worked for the scene. This may mean I write half a sentence at a time between intervals of closed-eye-time XD

People always say if you're stuck, you need to outline.

What they actually mean by that (whether they realize it or not) is that if you're stuck, you need to brainstorm. You need to marinate. You don't need to plan what you're doing, you just need to give yourself time to think about it!

What's another framing for brainstorming for your fic? Fantasizing about it! Planning is work, but fantasizing isn't.

You're already fantasizing about it, right? That's why you're writing it. Just direct that effort toward the scenes you're trying to write next! Close your eyes, lay back, and fantasize what the characters do and how they react.

And then quickly note down your inspirations so you don't forget, haha.

And if a scene is so boring to you that even fantasizing about it sucks--it's probably a bad scene.

If it's boring to write, it's going to be boring to read. Ask yourself why you wanted that scene. Is it even necessary? Can you cut it? Can you replace it with a different scene that serves the same purpose but approaches the problem from a different angle? If you can't remove the troublesome scene, what can you change about it that would make it interesting or exciting for you to write?

And I can't write sitting up to save my damn life. It's like my brain just stops working if I have to sit in a chair and stare at a computer screen. I need to be able to lie down, even if I don't use it! Talking walks and swinging in a hammock are also fantastic places to get scene ideas worked out, because the rhythmic motion also helps our brain process. It's just a little harder to work on a laptop in those scenarios. XD

In conclusion: Writing nonlinearly is an amazing tool for kicking writer's block to the curb. There's almost always some scene you'll want to write. If there isn't, you need to re-read or marinate.

Or you need to use the bathroom, eat something, or sleep. XD Seriously, if you're that stuck, assess your current physical condition. You might just be unable to focus because you're uncomfortable and you haven't realized it yet.

Anyway! I hope that was helpful, or at least interesting! XD Sorry again for the text wall. (I think this is the longest comment reply I've ever written!)

And same to you guys on tumblr--I hope this was helpful or at least interesting. XD Reblogs appreciated if so! (Maybe it'll help someone else!)

[justin-chapmanswers]

Was there a different way [like work flow and stuff like that] you guys wrote season 3 differently from season 2? If so will you continue that flow into season 2?

Also do you have any tips on how to mange an object show since you've worked on II for a long time?

[The voices you do in II are so funky and I mean this in the best way possible]

Thank you so much! My funky voices are incredibly grateful.

Near the end of the pre-Invitational season two, the process was generally that we'd talk out where we want to go next, have our big debates, and Brian and I would draft up an outline for the team. Then the writing would start and, as it was for almost every season two episodes before Invitational, the group would just jump into a Google Doc and we'd write, together, chronologically until we'd get burnt out. Some of us were thinking of the minutiae on-the-fly, some of us would draft up practice-scripts ahead of time to work off of. It was chaotic, but then we'd spend a long while reworking/rewriting scenes.

Starting with Invitational, things changed. Most notably, we started having one writer per episode instead of jumping into the chaos. Having four writers in at once didn't help, it just made things complicated. It was about learning to let go a bit and trust the rest of the team to do a good job. We'd still of course chat about the events well-ahead of time, but then the writer would be the one to outline and pitch that outline to the team before writing. And then in revisions, we'd give notes to the writer instead of individually taking cracks at scenes. That way, the whole episode became one person's singular artistic vision. By the end of Invitational, we also weren't doing the "have our big debates" part of the process, anymore. We still would push for ideas we're passionate about, but it's been a long while since we weren't agreeable and on the same page.

So then there's the question about season two. We've been generally sticking to the Invitational way of going about things with season two, except also with Brian and I being back on outlining, and it's been going really great! Before Invitational, the pre-writing and writing time used to be the longest parts of the episode process. And not because we were spending that whole time being productive. It was common that the pre-writing planning part of the episode would be a little intense so we'd often take breaks after the previous episode's completion (plus because it's nice to take time to clear our heads) as to not jump back into chaos. And then carving time for all of us to be in the space for hours at a time while balancing school/life was tough to schedule. That all to say, now, the writing process is efficient and super-not-chaotic (aka healthy!). Instead of a few months at that stage, we're there maybe like a month and a half, from early concept (aside from the stuff we've been thinking up for years already haha) to final draft. And that's all while we've been overlapping episodes that are each at different stages, with their own things to get done. I think what we've been cooking up is gonna be really special. <3

I've been rambling for a while so I'll (try to) keep this next part short. As for the question about managing projects, that's just a tricky one cause I'd normally tailor the advice depending on the scale of the project, the amount of experience for those going in, etc. But in a broad sense I'd say do everything you can to work specifically with the people who make you excited to work. Whose ideas inspire you. If you're leading, really try to understand every step of the process. Definitely trust parts of the pipeline to other people if it's not your cup of tea, but really understand what they do. Say thank you every chance you get. If you're having fun with your show, whether it be the goofiest or most-serious of all shows, the viewers will, too. Making each step of production an enjoyable experience is worth fighting for.

[mantisgodsart]

[Tonight I dreamed of teeth and claws and what felt like a million grasping hands chasing me through an endless field. The air smelled of sulphur and acid, and I could tell something was watching me, far beneath the moss and earth.

I woke to find I had been shedding wing scales in my sleep, and that apparently one of my primary containment chambers was registering a foreign presence within it. The only thing there when I checked, however, was Mal, who is supposed to be there - and certainly not supposed to be registering as an intruder.

I hope I don't have to update containment over this. Rescribing every little knot in the weave every time I need to strengthen or add to it gets tiring, when you have to do it multiple times a month. Maybe I should start looking for an apprentice again, if only so I don't have to maintain the entire laboratory myself.

There's an old joke about this sort of thing, charmsmiths only getting an apprentice when they need to make sure someone's take down notes about the experiment that kills them. I'd like to think it's more simply making sure that my knowledge doesn't die with me...]

One of the two left over from @bug-oc Round 1, Mal from @sushiikando gets a post all to their own, just like a Round 2 contestant! This is both because zey're a big/complicated design and because we... really aren't gonna be done Pola any time soon. Which is probably what we get for making a comic, even a short comic, while in the time of summer where we actively struggle to think. Oh, well. We'll get it done eventually.

More details under cut, as usual - despite our enthusiasm for walls of text, we don't particularly want to completely obliterate your dashboard. We're getting kicked in the dick by fatigue right now, so further ones might take a bit - we've got Maria sketched out, and Pola's comic only really needs painting and accompanying story, so all fates willing, it shouldn't be too too much of a holdup. There's an abundance of things that we would LOVE to be doing right now, but heat does awful things to our brain, we're still feeling off from being sick, and with tourism season in swing to boot even with our current medication it's an uphill battle to get ourself to do anything at the moment. Hopefully, this clears up soon. For now, we're still very much alive.

First things first - wow, this one took a few drafts. Although not really an originally anticipated difficulty, the lack of reference of just what Mal looks like under that coat made a lot of our original ideas fall a bit flat unless we wanted to make something up from whole cloth. Marigold's transmutations don't include clothes by default, since actively incorporating inanimate objects into an animate body is both difficult and much, much fussier than usual when you're using Marigold's particular methods.

We tried a few initial designs that stopped at that point, then tried at incorporating the coat into the design more properly a la the more "abstract" brews, but after a few fell flat, we sort of... just started throwing spaghetti at the wall, so to speak, and spaghetti stuck. The body patterns here are, for the most part, entirely made up. Maybe the patterns distorted, maybe they didn't - we don't know what's under the coat and we will likely never learn. It's probably fine.

Our primary inspiration here is eastern dragons, particularly the mythos of the koi who climbed the waterfall - the colors and patterns of Mal's design reminded us of koi patterns on first glance, and after a few drafts, we started running with the concept, using both Mal's wings and the shape of the lab coat for "fins". Runaway To The Stars's Bug Ferrets also provided some inspiration (particularly in the face - if you click the link, those mandibles might start looking very familiar).

We also took some amount of inspiration from theveryworstthing's REMwolf series, particularly Laika and The Morriss Dragon, though a lot of the particularly body-horror-y and sillhouette-breaking effects we might have wanted to include in a more detailed piece got nixed by a lack of time. We cannot take the duration of the entire tournament to draw one Round 1 contestant, unfortunately. Even if we wish we could've gotten a bit more detailed, and we very much would've liked to tinker with working in some design elements akin to Sea Legs or Guard Dog or Biology Lab, we're very nearly a full month overdue by now. We have other contestants to paint, and so we must move on.

...fuck, this took a while. Thank you for being patient with us while our brain's scaffolding falls to pieces! We dearly appreciate it. Hope you have an excellent summer!

[isolaradiale]

POLICY UPDATE (02/02/25)

Hey everyone!

As it's the beginning of the month, we thought now would be a good time to make a few policy changes and reminders! Some of these changes are a direct result from the survey we ran at the end of last year, while others are all new!

GIANT CHALLENGE CHANGES

Going forward, challenges for ranking up to the Giant tier must be submitted by the member looking to rank up and won't be written by a staff member. You'll use a modified version of the original form to submit the challenge you'd like, and staff will either approve it or recommend changes if it wouldn't be feasible! This also applies to Hypergiant challenges.

This does not mean you need to write your own challenge concept, however. You could get a friend or someone else in the group that knows your character to either come up with something or help you brainstorm! We'll also be adding a new channel to the Discord server specifically for help, where members or staff could weigh in. There was a vocal minority of members who wanted the old system retained, so we hope this can serve as a middle ground.

Anyone who has not been issued a challenge that submitted the form before January 1st, 2025 is eligible to move up to Giant without completing a challenge. The requests we have in the box range from 3 months old to 7 months old, and so this is to make up for that wait since it wouldn't be fair to wait for months and then have to do the work themselves. If you have a challenge you've been given that you haven't done, you'll still have to do it, but you could also apply for a new challenge using the new system instead. If you are eligible to move up without completing a challenge but would still like one, you're free to submit your own under the new system instead. Either way, please send us a message so that we have it on record that you chose to rank up on your own or not.

GENERAL POLICY CHANGES

We will now accept other Tumblr RP blogs as OOC contact so long as they meet the following requirements: they aren't affiliated with Isola already AND they have at least six months worth of posts on the blog. We've also been accepting Bluesky contacts since the end of last year and will continue to do so.

There is no longer a penalty for losing a character if you have more than 10. Slots 11 and 12 aren't being used enough by the general member base to justify having the additional penalties, so we've decided to remove those penalties.

If you find yourself having complaints about another member of the group - and these complaints cannot be solved by simply unfollowing / blocking that member - it needs to be sent off-anon going forward so these cases can be properly investigated and resolved, and so we know who to follow up with! We'd like to discourage people using the masterlist inbox as a place to put complaints and concerns that can't be worked through properly, but we do want to make sure genuine concerns are taken seriously.

We've removed the age section off of the application form as the group is currently 18+. We will be adding a reminder that the group is 18+ on the forms page itself instead, and if you join as someone under the age of 18 and we find out, you will be permanently banned.

OOC POSTING & TAGS

In November we made a post about group etiquette so we'd like to remind you guys to read it here! We're specifically still having issues with members going back and forth in quick succession on the dashboard by posting and reblogging posts that would not qualify as IC under the guidelines in that post. As a related reminder, shortform posts without formatting, like this example, are not considered IC regardless of the tag used. This is so it makes clearer if something should be reacted to ICly from a member point of view, as well as easier for staff to tell if a post is IC or not (especially if replied to by another member for the activity check).

We've added a new official tag: #isola things. Please use this if you're just making a silly or commentary post that doesn't actually reflect something your character could be canonically thinking or doing in the group! Think things that you would usually use "crack" tags for. These do not count as IC posts however, and we ask that you do not do reply chains with them. Remember that the #isola dash commentary tag also exists for commentary specific to what's happening on the dashboard!

In a related point, we'd like to ask everyone to please do not use the term "crack" to tag or describe posts that would fall under the above point. While we understand it has commonly been used in RP communities for years, we want to be considerate of the drug-based implications of the term and those who may be made uncomfortable by it being in a commonly used tag.

We have added a new page to the masterlist that lists all of the tags, their uses, and whether or not posts in that tag count towards activity. You can find this page here! You can also find it on the important links page, where we have removed the old tags category beneath it. We ask everyone gives it a read, as there as been some confusion lately regarding what should or shouldn't be tagged as commentary.

Going forward, we'd like to ask members to begin using the "reply" button underneath an OOC post if you need to weigh in rather than reblogging it! That way you can still have your OOC back and forth conversations without cluttering the dash for others! We're looking to strike a balance between letting everyone have their fun while also being more respectful to members who may find it frustrating to sift through OOC posts!

POLICY REMINDERS

For characters that require specific accommodations to survive, these items will always be provided in the group setting. If they require a specific type of food to live or maintain their body (blood, oil, etc.) or even a medication, it can be found within the group setting. You can choose to either forage it or buy it in stores, whatever is most convenient for you! If your character needs a specific accommodation in terms of things like prosthetics, wheelchairs, medications, etc. please include them on your app!

-- the island stars.

[lottepriant]

Hypnosis Case Study: Reminiscing

I was consulting on a scene with a couple of domme & hypnotist friends of mine, and I realised that one thing we don't especially do very often in hypnosis is… analyse. Collaboratively. Share thoughts on a concept, or an idea, or a scene - not in a "this is hot" way, but in a breaking down a scene and an interaction way.

So, let's try this. I'm going to lay out a brief description of a scene/vibe and a subject (who was very kind to volunteer up herself + this story for public display :P) - if you want to play along, share your thoughts on how you might approach the concepts below with this subject. What things would you pay attention to? How would you frame the idea? Can you forsee any potential issues? What would be your angle of attack here?

In a couple of days, I'll post how I did it (this scene happened yesterday) and how it went. If you have any questions, reply to this post, and I'll see if I can give you more information.

Your subject, C, has been your play partner and friend for a few months. You hit it off at a hypnosis munch a few months back, where she caught your eye by sharing some particularly interesting insights about her experiences with VR hypnosis and the different affordances between VR and meatspace scenes. Since then, you've played a half-dozen times, and spoken a lot about your respective approaches on kink, and also just general life and interests. In a kink context - as a submissive - she loves feeling controlled, helpless, and special - the latter being particularly important. Any hint that she might be fungible, or that her submission and time and attention isn't valued, is a real issue.

Which is not to say that she likes her scenes warm and fluffy, oh no. She's an intense emotional masochist, especially around fear play, and enjoys predator-prey vibes. Also the idea of being manipulated and coerced - by word or by force. In my first scene with her, I threatened her with a (blunt) knife and told her that it'd be two days before anyone came looking for her. After the scene ended, she burst out into maniacal laughter. She's quite an accomplished subject, too, and an active one - communicative during trance and out of it, and very good at adapting suggestions and concepts as she needs.

She has quite a "strong sense of self" (her words) and dislikes it when suggestions or concepts are trying to impose themselves over her personality and that sense of self. She is very comfortable with the idea of being altered, but in a way that is about being a more useful version of herself for the moment rather than a fundamental imposition of another way of being on top of her core self.

I've played with her a few times now, and she has a habit of gushing (her word) about me and our scenes to her kinky friends. We were talking about this concept, and she came up with an idea for our next scene: "Use some memory fuckery to seperate the fact that you're the person behind all the scenes we've done together. Have it so that we're talking about kink, and sit back and listen to me gush to you - about what we've done - like it wasn't you."

This scene can - optionally - also include some element of taking advantage or otherwise manipulating, coercing, drugging, etc. her - but the core should be, at least to begin with, that reminiscing over her scenes to me as though it wasn't me who topped them.

[sparklecarehospital]

I'm almost done with all the thumbnails for V4, like, I literally have 2 more updates to sketch. I think it's kind of crazy that I'm gonna have all the thumbnails done before the release date is announced. This is honestly the fastest production has ever gone for a volume and this is also gonna be the shortest between-volume hiatus we've ever had and it's just got me very optimistic about the future of the comic and it's starting to feel a lot less daunting, like, for a long time I was scared about how slow the comic seems to be going considering we're 5 years in and we only finished V3 a few months ago...

But things seem like they're gonna be getting smoother. Our new clowns have been super super helpful with this too and I appreciate everything they've done to contribute :] (if you guys see this you're awesome!)

It's at a point where I've been doing a few things for V5 already too, even if it's super early concept stuff. V5 will probably be here next year, and I imagine it'll continue on like that. Stuff doesn't feel as scary or daunting as it did for a while. I'm feeling really good about where we are right now.

I really hope you guys will enjoy V4 because it's very fun and has been a blast to work on. It's my favorite for a reason! If you like Barruni content, you'll enjoy this one 💖💖💖💖💖💖

[violet-lazer]

Delayed Gratification

Content / Warnings : (Young) Sister Imperator/Reader, Mature (Suggestive Content, Language), Gender-Neutral Reader, We're in the Seventies baby! , Lots of Teasing, A Bit of Grinding, Sister Imperator Takes the Lead, 1.6k words. Thanks, please enjoy! (AO3)

You aren't meeting Sister Imperator's expectations. She wants to show you what you're missing out on.

You reckon there’s a possibility you may be dreaming. As Sister Imperator slides into your lap, straddling you in the high-backed leather chair you’ve only just sunk into, a possibility seems to give way to a strong probability. Here, a couple of hours after Papa Nihil’s most recent performance, in the dingiest of bars this town has to offer, the jukebox is cranked up loud enough that she has to lean in close to speak. Long blonde hair tickles your nose.

“Something on your mind?”

Yes, actually. What’s on your mind right now is that Sister Imperator’s dress is riding up her thighs and it’s taking every last ounce of your willpower to meet her eyes rather than let your gaze drift downwards. What’s on your mind is that the woman you followed on a whim right into a new life in a satanic church is in your lap and you don’t know where to put your hands. Some eleven months ago in a joint not too different from this one, your attention had wandered vaguely left while a band that called itself Ghost was haunting the stage and you’d locked eyes with her for the first time. Your breath hitched and you were done.

It wouldn’t have mattered what she’d said when she approached you after the show; it could have been anything. You’d have fallen apart regardless. Admittedly, you weren’t expecting her opener to be an invitation to leave everything you knew behind and join what absolutely could have been described as a demon-worshipping cult. But how easily it worked.

Sister Imperator raises an eyebrow impatiently.

“Well? Don’t leave me hanging. You haven’t said anything to me all night.”

She wasn’t wrong. Though it was quite the privilege to be asked to accompany Sister Imperator on show nights, when she would scan the crowd for people who really got it, prime recruits for the Ministry, trembling hearts to be opened to the Dark Ones, if you were honest you weren’t really feeling it tonight. Watching her eye up potential converts reminds you that, really, that’s all you are. All you are to her. No matter how you may try to convince yourself otherwise. You’ve lost count of the number of times you’ve had to admonish yourself for almost reading something into her glances, her touches, her praise.

“Ah,” you say, slow and deliberate. “I haven’t really…had anything to say.”

The majority of your night has been spent lingering at the bar. Usually you’d be at Sister Imperator’s side, holding her drink and listening to any snide comments she fancies making about Papa Nihil’s performance, but tonight she’d quickly found a couple of promising prospects and busied herself chatting them up. After a few minutes of receiving precisely no attention or direction from her, you’d reasoned she had no use for you and trudged over to perch on a bar stool to watch Ghost’s set, ordering yourself something strong for good measure.

Sister Imperator reaches out and lifts your chin with one sharp, manicured fingernail.

“You’ve spent most of the night flirting with the bartender, so I wouldn’t say that’s accurate.”

Well. Not quite. You’d struck up a decent conversation with the bartender who had been frankly (understandably) baffled by the band’s concept, and you’d spent a good while insisting that Satan was actually quite laid-back once you got to know him, but you weren’t flirting. So she isn’t quite on the money but that doesn’t matter because fuck, is she…

Surely not. Don’t get ahead of yourself. Don’t let your heart race like that. Sure, less than two minutes had passed between you departing the conversation and her climbing into your lap, but she couldn’t have been observing you. She would have been too preoccupied with her potential recruits to watch you move away from the most densely-packed area of the club and settle in this worn leather seat. She must just have been passing. Right? Then why is she in your lap?

Glancing up over Sister Imperator’s shoulder, you can see Papa Nihil lounging against a pillar a few metres away, drink in hand and very obviously trying to pretend he can’t see what’s going on in front of him. Ah. This must be about him; a ploy to stoke his jealousy. It’s no secret that he and Sister Imperator have a tumultuous history, and to be honest you aren’t entirely sure of the exact nature of their relationship at present. Sister Imperator does not speak kindly of Nihil, and sometimes mentioning her name is enough to make him tear up a bit, but you never know. You don’t want to ask- it’s freeing, in a way, not to know. If she’s attached you should let this little crush go, so you’ve chosen to exist in blissful ignorance. It’s none of your business, you suppose. When her thighs are pressed up against yours like this, you don’t really care.

…Except you do. Your thought pattern must be obvious, as Sister Imperator turns her head to follow your line of sight. When her eyes meet yours again, she laughs. It’s low, dangerous, mocking.

“This is not about him. He’s irrelevant.”

Oh?

“Then what is it about?” Your voice is almost steady considering the way your heart is racing. She tuts.

“You aren’t a very good listener, pet. You haven't been meeting my expectations tonight. I afford you the privilege of accompanying me and you are nowhere to be found when I need you.” Slowly, she begins to trace your jawline with one finger. “I expect you by my side at all times, yes? And I certainly do not expect you to be flirting with people right in front of me. Do you understand?”

You nod slowly. There’s the loose thread, the question of her intent. You want to pull it.

“Is this a…professionalism thing?” you ask.

Sister Imperator is quiet for a moment, and she’s looking at you with an intensity that renders you almost speechless. Then she reaches down, takes your hands, and guides them to rest on her hips. As she does so, she shifts her weight to bear down almost fully on the top of your thighs. Fuck. The weight of her hips against yours is not helping the growing ache between your legs. If she rocks forwards you’re fucked. Sister Imperator raises an eyebrow.

“Hmm. Perhaps this isn’t your fault.” Her tone is casual, and she’s musing almost to herself. “I’ve been waiting for you to offer yourself for something other than errand-running and paperwork. But perhaps I should have been clearer about my-” she casts a brief, scathing look behind her- “lack of attachments.”

This is a lot for you to take in. You can tell because your mind is struggling to put together a coherent thought and you’re really focusing on regulating your breathing. To be fair, you think you’re doing admirably for someone who has Sister Imperator in prime grinding position and oh her dress is hitched nearly to the base of her hips and fuck you’re not sure if she has anything on underneath-

Involuntarily, your fingers flex, fingertips digging into her hips. When she looks at you next you think she may be about to devour you.

“Let me make it easy for you then. I’m going to tell you what I want from you and you’re going to tell me if you can do it. Yes?”

“Yes,” you say, the picture of obedience. There’s a wild thought in the back of your mind that she might actually kiss you.

“I want your undivided attention,” she says. “When I call I want you to come running. And…” She leans forwards, rocking her hips as she does, grinding right down into you. You bite down a moan. Lacing her fingers together at the back of your neck, she pulls you as painfully close as she can without your lips touching.

“I want you to offer yourself to me,” she says, slow and deliberate.

You’re aching. It’s radiating through you, desire and nerves and- fuck it- hope that you’ve not been fooling yourself for the past eleven months of your life. Is she aching like you are? Would she ride your thigh right here, in front of everyone, come undone on you, let you taste her?

“And in return…” she continues, so close that when she speaks her lips just barely brush yours.

“In return?” you say, stripped of the presence of mind to do anything other than offer her own words back to her. She hums.

“I’ll show you what it’s like to be my favourite.”

This is it-

Before you can say anything, before your lips touch, she pulls away. She leans back, mouth quirking into a lethal smile. “I’ll give you some time to think about it, mm? Some time to reflect. I expect you in my office first thing tomorrow with an answer.”

“What-?”

The question comes out of you pathetically. Sister Imperator laughs, and it’s absolutely at your expense. She shifts her dress down her thighs, then elegantly climbs out of your lap, turning on her heel without a glance backwards and disappearing into the crowd. You sit there uselessly; thoroughly unkissed and heavy with desire as your thighs adjust to the absence of her warmth.

Looking up, you make direct eye contact with Nihil, and even from this distance you can see he’s grasping his beer so tightly his knuckles are white.

You could use a drink.

[moodymisty]

Hi! If you’re looking for cute ideas still, imagine how the clones would react to a “birthday party” for them. Obviously the date is questionable as well as the concept of them being “birthed”, but it was something Y/N wanted to do to show them that they are happy the batch exists and that they got to meet them all

Author's Note: Awwww this is precious;;; I hope you enjoy <3

Relationships: Gn!Reader with no relationships, at least overtly. The whole thing is pretty platonic but go wild

Warnings: Fluffy fluff, Pre-Echo, mentions of alcohol

Is this going to be enough cake?

You stare at the cooking tin through the window of the oven, pondering if you'd made enough as the cake slowly rises. Wrecker eats a lot of food, and you know Hunter has a secret sweet tooth.

But the big question beyond all of the cooking prep work you've been doing today, is would they even remember why you're doing all of this in the first place?

You had just mentioned the conundrum mostly out of curiosity, but ended up not getting the answer you had wanted at the time.

"The closest thing we would have to a 'birthday', would be the day that we were removed from our growth pods. The date doesn't hold any significance to any of us."

Well, it wasn't much to work with; But you could figure it out.

A decent amount of time had past since than, more than a few months, and they'd surely forgotten about that little conversation, but you hadn't. Once you'd saw the day Tech had mentioned right around the corner on the calendar, you'd began secretly prepping.

Mostly just making a ton of food, and buying some good drinks. You want this to be a time to relax, more than anything.

Pulling the cake from the oven once it dings you sit it in the conservator and close the door, hoping it will chill it fast enough so you can frost it. And you made quite a large amount of frosting, far more than even someone with a super sweet tooth would probably want.

But in the meantime, you decide to give Hunter a call so he can gather the troops and bring them to you. It's only moments after you call that he picks up, hearing that it's quieter than usual in the background.

"Hey, you guys have shore leave right now, right?" You instantly get to the point.

"Well hello to you too," Hunter snorts. "Yeah, we do. Why?" Maybe you got lost in your own excitement a bit, taking a look at the cake and giving it a poke to see if it's still warm. Still a little too warm, but it's getting closer.

"Hello, Hunter." He can hear the way you mockingly sing it; Clearly rolling your eyes and smiling, and laughs. "And I was asking because I have something for you guys."

That catches his attention, more than a little bit. His voice is audibly perked, when he speaks again.

"What is it?" You don't really blame him for asking, but you refuse to let this remain anything less than a complete surprise. That was half the fun of this, after all.

"If you want to know, come over. I have it all set up already." Hunter isn't exactly the most pleased that you won't fess up the answer right away; But he can't say he isn't curious. As are his brother surely, as it's not likely they haven't overheard part of this conversation.

"Alright; We're on our way. Be right there."

Hunter hangs up shortly after to head out, and so you take the time to make sure any remnants of your mess of dishes is done. Whether or not you enjoy cooking and baking, it's impossible to enjoy the cleanup.

After you finish doing so you have just enough time to pull the cake out and frost it, slathering it with more than enough frosting to give even the most stalwart soul a sizable sugar rush.

Only the best for them, you think; Looking over your feat.

It's a mess; There's so many different types of food and a few bottles of drinks, some not alcohol just in case.

You never thought you'd do this much for something like this, let alone enjoy it. But it's hard not to be proud of your work, as well as excited to see if they like it.

That's the most important thing out of all of this after all. You consider it a way to thank them for always being there for you. Even when they were actually lightyears away. Even if it hasn't been that long since you met them, you can't imagine life without them.

In your own thoughts the sound of someone at the door nearly startles you out of your wits, looking to see how much time had passed since you'd finished cleaning up. Less than you thought it would take for them to get here; Even if they had no clue what to expect they still rushed out here quite quickly, which you find more than a little bit sweet.

Opening the door, it's not long before you're instantly bombarded with demands for clarification on this whole thing.

"So, what's this surprise?" Tech pushes past Crosshair who glares at the back of his head as he speaks up. He's looking at you to prove he's right, as he begins unraveling your plan.

"I believe I know what it is; Perhaps is it related to when you a-"

One quick motion of your hand and sharp array of nonsensical noises quiets Tech, even if he is startled and not necessarily pleased about it.

"Don't spoil it! I know you remember, but can you just let them be surprised?" Catastrophe averted, you step back and let them in, before gesturing at your kitchen and the array of food that is laid out. Hunter was probably able to smell it from outside the door. The sight makes them all noticeably perk up, either from how good it looks, or just the sheer volume.

"Happy, as Tech put it awhile back: 'being removed from your growth pods' day!" For a moment they're all too busy eyeing the food, before looking back to you when you start talking again. You put your hands back down and look at them, smiling a bit more nervously. You can't help the way you rub one wrist with your hand, hoping this all isn't too much.

"I know you said clones don't celebrate all that stuff; So just think of it as me just finding a good excuse to feed you all. As thanks for always being here with me."

Needless to say, Wrecker is sold on this, and instantly moves to trap you in his arms, gripping you tight and lifting you off the ground. Thankfully Tech closes your front door behind him, as you're a bit too preoccupied at the moment.

"We can start celebrating it! It'll be a new tradition for all of us." They all don't seem apposed to the idea, given by the way Hunter nods, and even Tech cracks a smile.

"I'll mark it on the calendar." Hunter crosses his arms and watches as Wrecker finally sits you down on solid ground, and you brush the front of your clothes flat again.

"No point in thanking us; You couldn't get rid of this lot if you tried." Crosshair walks by you and rustles the top of your head, making an amused noise when you try and push him off.

You know he's trying to still sound like an ass, but what he says still strikes a cord with how nice it actually is. They're not gong anywhere. At least not without you, as you all shove yourselves into your kitchen.

Wrecker is trying to grab as much food as he can hold, Tech is watching and poking at each and any every thing, Crosshair is attempting to pop open a bottle of liquor, looking around in your kitchen for the right tool before just using his vibroknife. Hunter watches it all, while leaning against the countertop and shaking his head, having already snagged a bit of food.

When you step beside him and watch as well, he puts his arm around your shoulders and squeezes you briefly into a one armed hug, serving as a silent 'thank you'.

Life is good.

Join the taglist here: @seriowan @starborncyare @simp-legend @chad-something @coffeyorky @nekotaetae @lokigirlszendaya @merkitty49

[thedragonagebigbang]

Bang Creator Interview: AO3: ParallelanPrincess  |  Bluesky: ParallelanPrincess

The Collaboration period has begun! In these quiet months before works are due, we want to foster a sense of excitement, camaraderie, and celebration among our participants. To that end, all participants were given the option of a formal interview by our mod, Dema, or an informal “ask-game” survey. We hope you enjoy getting to know our phenomenal creators as much as we have!

Local Elf Extremely Unqualified For New Job

Para and Dema talk Hinterland Elves, Nickelback, and tug-of-war with wayward OCs

Dema: We're about two months into the writing period(!!!! halfway!!). Have you found your process has changed during this time?

Para: Oh definitely. In the beginning I was writing daily and being upset when I missed a day. Now, I'll do roughly 7-10 days of writing straight and then take a break.  I work a fulltime job so I'm always writing either in the evenings or on the weekends. I've found that the best way to get work done is by sprinting with others. Prior to that, I was just sitting down to write for an indeterminate amount of time and making little progress. Sprinting is definitely more effective in getting words on the page in a reasonable amount of time. I also use an excel sheet to track my writing in regards to time spent, word count, what day, etc so I've been trying to use that to maximize my productivity.

Dema: Sprinting is such a powerful tool. One of the things that I find so interesting about it is that it appeals to people in different ways – some just like the time + short break, some like the community or body doubling, as some are competitive and looking to get the highest word count. What about it is helpful for you, do you think?

Para: It’s the community that helps. Even if the other person isn't writing, or is using the timer for something else. So since I'm extra, I use gifs to announce that I'm in the server and want to sprint, and usually people respond very enthusiastically to that since it kind of opens the floor to join. But for this bang, sprinting has been all about the word count since this will be my longest COMPLETED fic.

Dema: Oh wow, that's exciting! Is this your first big bang, then?

Para: This is my…I want to say third bang? The first one was the Not Victuuri bang and the second was a Tadaai Bang. This is my first non-anime bang! So for tackling it, I had to redo my approach. I couldn't just rewatch a show. I had to replay the game and make notes as I went!

Dema: I love a note-taking replay. Did anything stand out to you this play through? Any little tidbits of dialogue or lore that you were excited to be reminded of?

Para: I noticed that there's a lot of opportunity to help elves in the Hinterlands. And if you do there are a few dialogue options that correspond if you're Dalish. So I wanted my Lavellan to react to these elves who weren't in a clan or alienage and how that sort of fit into his world view.

I also noticed that if you dillydally too much, Solas will start to insist you go to Val Royeaux, which is really interesting to me. Very early on in my writing, I noticed I was retelling the main game beat for beat, so I had to do a VERY hard pivot and start getting extra creative. But also just the whole thing of being an "outsider" and suddenly having to deal with politics and religion that are utterly alien to you was an intriguing concept. 

Dema: I'm so curious if there was a particular elf in the Hinterlands that influenced or challenged your Lavellan's worldview. For me it was Hyndel. 

Para: Oh it was definitely Hyndel. I can't go into detail because I worry it will enter spoiler territory. But Hyndel and the cult were very intriguing concepts to explore. Also, I think her name is Maura, the elf whose husband is killed by the templars. She was also a good concept.

Dema: Is Inquisition your favorite game in the franchise?

Para: Oh definitely. I played Origins first and loved it. My first Origins playthrough was Surana and I went in deciding that would be the default world state. I've never, ever seen a copy of DA2 in the wild, so I never played that. Good thing we have the Keep. But yes, Inquisition holds a special place in my heart. The game that showed me that I could handle open world rpgs. I'm typically a Simmer and a farm rpg girl, so Inquisition was the first time I went "Okay, maybe AAA games aren't overhyped." I've done about 4 playthroughs, but I crafted a new one just for the bang. Also, the mage combat was far, far easier in DAI. 

Dema: I LOVE being a mage in DA:I! All the classes are fun but Mage is always my first playthrough 😂 As a fellow simmer: have you made your DA OC's in the Sims

Para: I really, really should. My laptop would explode if I tried to add the necessary CC. Also, my fave game in that series is Sims 3. Those third installments hit different.

Dema: They really do. That game was a masterpiece. Besides your new play through and the DA universe in general, is anything in particular inspiring you for your bang fic?

Para: I really draw a lot of inspiration from music. I'm the type of person who always uses song lyrics for their titles. If it works it works. Feel free to redact if this is goes to spoiler territory, but the guiding song behind this fic was Nickelback's Rockstar. For the guiding song, my brain has a full on animatic in mid. Shame I can't draw. But yes, I was debating what kind of Lavellan I wanted to make. Heard the song randomly and went Oh.....OH! I can use this!

Dema: Did you already have a general idea or direction and then created your Lavellan, or was it a back-and-forth? Or something else?

Para: Once I had the guiding song, it came down to crafting my Lavellan from that. And he then proceeded to fight me. The end result is only a hint of the character I set out to write. But hey, that's part of the process! So I had a concept and a direction that immediately went left. Decided to roll with it because it was putting words on the page and making sense. So it was a tug of war in many ways and my Lavellan won out in the end. (He is a lil shit)

Dema: Well he's a Big Rockstar. What did you expect. (mine always give me a hard time too lmao)

Para: I expected him to go with the plan!!

Dema: Besides wrangling your OC, what is the greatest challenge writing a fic like this?

Para: Sticking to the outline. Dear lord, the outline. I do not do well with outlines and I foolishly thought this would be different. My original outline was both vague and overly ambitious. For this reason, my fic was dragging a bit at the beginning. I had to revise my outline three times and then finally tossed it once I got about 14k in because I finally knew how to scale it down for the time I had left. Another thing was deviating enough from canon to make my fic unique without making the characters and setting unrecognizable. Looking at my first outline, I had pretty much retold the game so it's good I ditched it.

Dema: Sounds like you've been very flexible in this process and it's serving you well!

Para: I have to be. This is a big word count to hit and sometimes staying on target means doing whatever keeps the plot progressing, even if you have to go in totally blind.

Dema: In the last few minutes, and only if it sounds fun, can you give your fic a misleading click-bait title? (Without major spoilers of course)

Para: Local Elf Extremely Unqualified For New Job

Dema: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Para: He did not sign up for this!!

Dema: Actually cackling right now. This could be a spider-man meme with so many Lavellans.

Para: It really could.

Dema: Thank you so much for your time today, Para! It's been fun chatting and I can't wait to read your fic!

Para: Thank you for taking the time out to speak with me!

[riveriafalll]

hiii, seems like shits hit the fan for you, hope everything improves!!

any indication as to what project(s) those 8k-or-so words are from? 👀 always happy to hear about your writing, but no worries if not if course

sending my best

🍁anon

hii 🍁anon!!!! been a few weeks since ive seen you around, hope you're doing well dude!

yeah it's been- it's been a rough week so far, but it's cool, it's fine, we'll vibe our way through this.

i've been working on several different things this week (none of main projects, (cries) but definitely fun ones). A god 6k-ish of the 9k was from things I'd written on paper months ago, and never got round to typing up, but I've done some extra bits on various other projects as well as adding to the typed-up-ones.

Just over 4k alone was written on a Shadowhunters fic that I will be introducing soon, featuring a rather precocious OC Warlock child, Magnus Bane who can't believe he's being forced to raise a smaller version of Raphael Santiago (he's blaming Catarina for this), and a lot of sass and glitter. (set during the second TMI book and with plans to go right through and into The Dark Artifices)

There's only just under 800 words on my 'Another Life' fic, which will also be introduced at some point, but it's a concept I've been working on for... two years? Before I knew fanfiction existed, actually, when I was writing a story on paper for fun, and is centered around a female Loki, who, when she dies in Infinity War, briefly meets the conciousness of the universe, who sends her to another universe (the canon one we're familiar with) just before the Battle of New York to see what she can fix. Going by the name Até (the Greek Goddess of Mischief, and mispronounced Arty by everyone), she attempts to stop the future she knows is coming, so she can live out the rest of her life in peace, but rapidly finds herself more and more attached to the far-better-off-than-they-were-in-canon Avengers. Oh, and she's partially merged with the Tesseract.

I've done a fair amount on my fic Cadre-Coparenting (I really need to start introducing these, don't I?), which is set in the Throne of Glass Universe, where Aurelia (the younger sister of Aelin) is sent to Doranelle by her parents as a child to learn to control her powers of death and darkness, and promptly gets adopted by Lorcan who most certainly is not triggered at all by the fact she had to wear iron cuffs as a child to stop her powers, and no, he's not ready to talk about his childhood. In other words, Maeve thought it was hilarious to make the Bloodsworn raise a child, and they all got slightly attached even through their more than slight incompetence.

I had fun writing some extra Empires Rise (Empires Fall), a Fourth Wing fic starring my OC Elyrion Foxe, who was raised in Tyrrendor, evacuated before the apostasy, and joined the Riders Quadrant to reconnect with her childhood best friend (and basically cousin at this point) Xaden Riorson, while evading detection from her father who explicitly forbid her being a Rider once the Marked Ones arrived. Add in her complicated birthright, a rather boisterous blue-daggertail, and a lot of secret operations, the entire thing gets a bit difficult.

The last two are just drabbles for the minute, both under 1k words, but might be fun to do at some point in the future - a loops fic for Harry Potter, featuring Hermione and Draco as best friend loopers, who loop in and out at various points in the timeline, and alternate between following canon, causing minor chaos, and strutting around Hogwarts in matching bejeweled robes playing trumpets. Look, they have to get their fun somewhere. This fic would likely be a non-linear set of drabbles and fun ideas for them to do (possibly through requests from readers), mixed with heart-breaking angst and trauma.

The other one is also a Harry Potter fic, but is a little more complicated than that. On the night that Lily and James die, the Aurors find another child in the forest outside the house, a toddler, really, who is taken back to Hogwarts by Dumbledore to raise. Lillian is raised in Hogwarts for her entire life, spending holidays with rotating staff members, while Dumbledore refuses to tell McGonagall why she couldn't have just gone to a foster family, why he refuses to let her near snakes or dark magic, and most importantly, why as the years go on, she starts resembles a certain student from the 1940s that Minerva hoped to never see again.

Thank you for your ask, that was quite long, but fun!

[dirtanddistance]

Squamish50 Race Recap: Fool Me Twice, Shame on Me

"Won't make my mama proud, it's gonna cause a scene // she sees her baby girl, I know she's gonna scream // GOOOOOOOODDDDD WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?! You're a Coast Mountain girl, and you run in the woods // oh mama, IIIIIIIIII'M JUST HAVIN' FUN, on the trail in my vest, it's where I belong, down on these // COAST MOUNTAIN TRAILS, I'm gonna keep on running on these COAST MOUNTAIN TRAILS, I'm gonna keep on running out in WEST CANADA, I'm gonna keep on running on these coast mountain trails, coast mountain trails"

Phew. Now that that's out of my system...

When I was growing up, the concept of 'peer pressure' never made much sense to me. I was not intrinsically tempted by drugs, or alcohol, or skipping class, or the social points that might have been gained by participating in such shenanigans. Outside of what that might say about me as a person, it led to an interesting revelation as I got older: my so-called peers back then just weren't doing anything interesting enough to make me feel compelled to join. All of this changed the moment I encountered my first overnight relay race in college. I was sold. Things would only escalate from there. My mama was not proud. There were actual fights over these endeavours. It culminated in me running my first ultra before I even had a bachelor's degree, setting my life in a direction no one predicts for their child.

It would come as no surprise to find me signed up for a 50 mile race eight years later in an entirely different country, if you had much of a background on ultrarunning. And after watching the 'vlog clip' my husband so charitably took of me at the finish line vowing that I would never do such a thing again, a seasoned member of the ultra community would have laughed and said 'see you next year'. Which is where our story begins, one year after the infamous 'never again' caught on film.

I did not feel an aching desire to run farther than 50 miles again, or even to do that particular event again. I had achieved my Gary Robbins hug and shiny medal, I had proven whatever it was that I needed to prove (see, dad? Not all ultras are just 'a few more miles than a marathon' AND I'm alive to prove it!). Cue, peer pressure. I wrote a silly little race report talking about how much I cried and a few of my friends read it and talked about it and were like 'that sounds great I'm in'. And if there's one thing I can't abide, it's my friends and peers going on an endurance adventure without me. A whopping three or four months had passed by the time it was sign-up day so there I was at 7am on a Friday before work on Run SignUp and the group WhatsApp open as we all digitally shared the high of registration day and collectively ignored the implications of signing up for a 50 mile race.

Fast forward to last weekend and we're all at the starting line hemming and hawing about how we didn't sleep so well last night, and we're scared, and 'just gonna go out there and have a good time'. My little brother was texting me, because unlike here in BC it was a godly hour of the day in Florida and he was at the ready to remind me that he had gone to a T-Pain concert the night before, and that T-Pain is a resource in times of need (?). This is salient because one time in high school, my cross country coach told us to do a particular warm of exercise with the kind of energy and enthusiasm we would have if we were rushing the stage at a T-Pain concert, so referring to Tallahassee Pain when I am going for a run will always resonate. Yes. The T stands for Tallahassee. Not Tylenol extra strength, which may also resonate during long runs. Anyway, I put all my worries away in a mansion somewhere in Wiscansin, we snapped a start line selfie, and off we went into the brief dark.

The first couple of miles slipped away as I kept up with a few much faster compatriots. I got Travis talking about his upcoming trip to Japan, which is a subject I can listen to/speak about endlessly. Alas, being the personality hire of the run group meant that I would fade to the back fairly early, and eventually we reached the first climb of the day, DeBeck's hill. This was where I broke last time. I was crying. This isn't even to the second aid station. Full blown tears, panic attack. I was determined not to break this year. I made everyone I knew very aware of my goal for this year: do not cry before aid station two. I'm very happy to announce I did achieve this goal, but was almost brought to ruin on the Midlife Crisis trail as I discovered TRAIL LORE. Trail lore is in fact the best part of not being a complete hermit during your race, which was my other, unspoken goal of the race - interact with fellow runners enough to become emotionally invested in the outcome of at least two other participants beyond just 'wow I hope everyone has a nice day'. The fellow behind me as I was hot stepping from rock to rock about to throw up and/or throw myself down the hill goes 'don't rush! I'm not trying to pressure you! Don't fall, my friend built this trail and he wouldn't want you to fall!' Right there we almost got the first cry of the day. Not because I was panicking or sad but because THAT WAS SUCH A NICE THING TO TELL ME! PEOPLE ARE LOVELY! I was then provided the added details that this friend designed that particular singletrack run when he turned 50 to prove he could still do hard things. Which, if true, is way more wholesome than my interpretation of the name Midlife Crisis, which was that the trail is so stressful that 31 is going to be my midlife with the years this trail is taking off my life span.

I rolled into aid station 2 at Alice Lake without a tear having been shed, and ready to hit the bathroom. I ran into a fellow trail homie from the run club at the bathroom line (so, like a regular club? Very brat.) and rolled on. I thought briefly 'wow, I wish my husband hadn't had a combination migraine-food-poisoning-slash-general-itis and thrown up last night making it very unlikely that he'd make it to the first crew aid station in time' but mostly I was proud of myself for not crying and it was time to carry on to my previously favorite section of the race.

Corners is the best trail ever because it's pretty and flowy and there are wildflowers everywhere and fun signs that say that you might get zapped by the powerlines overhead. It's also where the professional race photographer hides out and catches you when you're running at a decent clip with a pretty background. I was so confident going into these parts. Then I watched the gal ahead of me almost eat some dirt. Not too bad, she recovered quick. Couldn't be me. Except a few minutes later it was me, fully supermanned out on the ground, covered in the gritty sandy stuff and bleeding. I hopped back up and kept moving, knowing that sitting around evaluating myself would probably just make it all hurt more. Blood streamed down my leg, but it seemed nothing particularly important was hurting as I resumed my journey. Ah well, I thought, maybe this will just make my race pictures look more badass. Another familiar face caught up to me, which was quite a surprise because I do not have any idea how anyone I knew could possibly be behind me at this point in the race. It was nice to have someone to whine about my fall to, and who also admitted to having taken a little tumble himself. We rolled into Aid Station 3, and I declined having anything done about my bloody leg because, well, what was there to do? Fall on the ground or not, everyone is coated in layer upon layer of dust and sweat out here anyway. We trekked on to the little loop that would eventually lead back to AS 3 and slowly parted ways as I kept a conservative pace. Then it hit me - the ground again. This time, not only was the knee bleeding again but I got my left hand pretty good, with blood streaming across it from a few difficult to evaluate spots. At this point I was big sad. I let myself cry a little. My finger HURT where it was cut. I gimped along feeling sorry for myself until my brain generated the thought 'you're having an Eren Jaeger moment' while looking at the blood streak across my palm. I had the power of God AND anime on my side now. I dragged my sad little self back to the aid station when miracle of all miracles occurred. There was a familiar face with a volunteer vest on on. I don't think I'd ever been so happy to see someone in my life. Before I could say anything, I was pushed into a camping chair and another volunteer was swiping away at the blood and dirt with a paper towel and some saline spray. Not exactly how I would do it, but hey. It became obvious that while gnarly, these injuries were probably not life threatening and I was probably gonna make it. After a little bit of whinging and snacking and the affirmation of 'see you at the finish line' (this will come in handy later), I wandered back into the woods for the trek up Galactic.

Galactic is, like, the most fabled section of this race. If you look at any race report, or even the race description itself, this is described as kind of a piece de resistance. It's a hella long incline is all it is. You're in the woods, walking upwards, for longer than you would like to be. It's just inclined enough that an amateur like myself does absolutely zero running for like, half an hour straight. It's a drag. It's also not particularly 'hard' in the sense of being technical, or super steep. Last year, this was an unremarkable section of trail for me. I was feeling pretty okay having conquered last year's Most Wanted incline on DeBeck's and thought nothing of the trudge up the hill. And then my subconscious came out to play. Covered in blood and dirt and with like, half the race or more to go, the 'why are you doing this' crept in. Now, I also faced down this question last year, starting like 15k into the race, so not having to wrestle with it until several aid stations in is actually a good thing. However, I was out there with my little vest and my little philosophy minor degree ready to Conquer The Question of Purpose in Ultramarathoning, and the answers were not looking good for me. I was deconstructing with every footstep forward. Is there intrinsic value in pain? And if there is, what is it? Why am I out here alone? Time doesn't exist and I have no concept that it has probably been less than an hour since I spoke to a friend and would probably either find more friends or make more friends as the day wears on. I am alone in this forest, and I am going to cry about it. Like, ugly cry. Sobbing, gasping, this-character-is-being-hella-overacted crying. I want to quit RIGHT NOW. But I told Tam I'd see her at the finish line. And like, it'd look kinda lame if I DNF this for no good reason besides getting too sad. At this point, I determine that it's probably time to Eat Something, so I pull out the super dense gel sugary thing I picked up at the aid station to avoid eating my own carefully curated snacks. And what would you know, approximately 5 minutes after consuming 200 calories of pure maple syrup with added salt, the world suddenly seemed less bleak and finishing this race seemed like a less awful proposition. My new attitude and I finally rocked up to aid station 4.

Aid station 4 was uneventful until we heard over the radio 'first female has cleared Smoke Bluffs'. Oof. The aid station volunteers graciously reminded those of us who had just been confronted with our weak paces that those who are finishing now did not get to spend time having snacks at the aid station. I took off, and found myself chatting with a fellow from Squamish. It was his first ultra, with an eerily similar story to my decision to run this race the year before - the 50k sold out too fast and thought, 'eh, how bad could 50 miles be?'. Officially invested in my unknown friend's fate now, we eventually rolled up to Aid Station 5, which I refer to as the family tailgate aid station. At first, I looked about helplessly for my husband without the faintest clue whether or not he'd even gotten out of the house. I wandered over to the medical tent where the nice medic scraped the hell out of my knee using alcohol swabs. Honestly, this might have been the worst part of the whole day if not for what was in store between aid stations 5 and 6. Finally I caught site of my spouse and parked myself in the grass to eat a sandwich and whine some more while he recorded it as a 'vlog' to share with everyone else I know. He had in fact remembered to bring the Scandinavian Swimmers I had emphatically requested the day before, but I ended up forgetting about them moments after he told me he had them. I considered letting them squeeze the cold water sponges on me before I headed out, but thought better of it when I contemplated the water cleanliness and the oozing scrape that we decided against bandaging for the sole reason that no bandage was going to adhere to me at this point in the day.

I rolled out of the aid station around the same time as my new friend, and we continued on our little trek. At this point, my right knee was starting to do The Thing. Previously, only my left knee had been known to do The Thing. It's a sharp sharp pain on the outside, near the knee cap when I land on that side. Sharp enough to make you not want to land too hard because that leg might buckle from the pain. It wasn't so bad, and only every few steps, so I got by just fine walking more than I wanted. Until I didn't, and it hurt with every downhill step I was taking and I started crying again because THIS TRULY SUCKS. I didn't even do anything to that leg! I did not bring this upon myself except by maybe having been born with kinda messed up legs that turn inward instead of straight ahead but I DID NOTHING WRONG! I will add at this point, this section of the run (despite being reassured that all distances are as marked and completely correct) at least FEELS exceptionally long compared to how it's advertised. You think you're almost to AS 6 for a VERY long time. As I cried about the unfairness of life, I remembered I had put every kind of OTC medication one might even think about needing in my vest, so I popped a couple of ibuprofen and grumpily walked on. For some reason, despite being an entire doctor, I never believe that ibuprofen could fix MY problem. It is a solution for someone else. Fortunately for me, ibuprofen doesn't care about my skepticism and went to work, rendering my knee functional and capable of being run upon and allowing it to carry me to Aid Station 6.

Aid Station 6 is kind of a letdown. Not because it's not fully stocked and staffed by fantastic volunteers - it absolutely is. Every aid station is a 10/10. It's just wedged between two very exciting aid stations where you get your crew and there is generally a lot of activity and cheering. However, a familiar face again saved the day when I realized the ice water bucket manager was in fact another run club friend. This friend in particular I had pressured into running the Valley Vertikiller as a fairly new trail runner. I was not, in my current state, doing a great job of selling the idea that trail running is a fun and safe activity, but his enthusiasm and selfie taking renewed my spirits and made me believe that I could make it to the next aid station, which would in turn mean that I could make it to the finish line.

It was at this aid station that I started to chat with a couple of ladies; the conversation with an aid station attendant about the insanity of doing this race multiple times had come up, so naturally I was prepared to contribute to this conversation and inform them that I was, in fact, completely unhinged. As we rolled back into the woods, these ladies were talking in miles which was my second cue to start talking, because where there are miles there are, typically, fellow Americans. These lasses were from Colorado; when I mentioned I was originally from Florida but had moved out to BC, they, without skipping a beat, went, 'wow so a total upgrade'. Ahhhh, to be amongst my kind of people. This was not their first 50 miler, and had come all the way out here to run it. I passed my original compatriot somewhere during this phase, which flew by in good company as I pulled ahead and in to aid station 7. Aid station 7 has you run across a bridge and going downhill for a bit. I saw a few folks standing before the aid station on the sideline; I assumed it was just course marshals or someone taking down bib numbers for checkin. I spotted my husband with his Real Camera, and as my brain slowly processed the blonde girl cheering for me by name (as an Experienced Runner, I am now conscious of when I have my name printed on my race tag and no longer become completely frozen in horror when I hear my name called by enthusiastic strangers) as not just a random volunteer with a lot of energy, but my BC Bestie Elise! And then as I got to the aid station proper, I realized that I was in the presence of my husband, BC Bestie, AND my Aid Station 3 trail angel friend! As disoriented and overstimulated as I was by this, it was honestly magical, I almost cried, and I reluctantly accepted/delivered the most disgusting hugs I've ever been a part of. I was truly ready to tackle the final 8 miles now.

The last section of the race includes an additional unpleasant climb that kinda never ends, but did include an exceptional sunset. As much as it meant knowing I'd be rocking up to the finish line in the dark, the striking purple and orange on the horizon as I crested the false peak on my way up Mountain of Phlegm was first class. As we finally neared the stairs, I chatted with a woman who was here from Alberta to do the 50/50 (for those of you fortunate enough to not know what that is, it means running the 50 mile race on Saturday followed by the 50k race on Sunday). It rained just a little bit, and I wished her good traction and tacky surfaces for Sunday (and warned that if it rained too much that slippery might be a concern to monitor). When we reached the stairs, the course marshal eagerly assured us that we were done with the stairs! Which was quickly disproven upon reaching several smaller flights of stairs... sigh. After this betrayal, we eventually made our way out of Smoke Bluffs to the sight of a disco ball and Von Dutch blasting on a bluetooth speaker in the parking lot. Fortified by the power of brat summer imbued in that melody I took off onto the pavement princess section of the race. Several very, very enthusiastic high-five soliciting children ambushed me with their excitement and encouragement as I ran past the hostel I was staying at, onto the final stretch of road.

You might be thinking to yourself at this point, wow, she's run 50+ miles in the woods without encountering a single bear! What luck! And you'd be right, except then I encountered a bear. On the street. Walking down the opposite side of the road. This is an inconvenience, and I suppose I should have exercised better bear manners. I gave it the little bit of 'hey bear!' I could summon and basically hoped it would continue on its way down the street because nothing was going to delay me from reaching this finish line right now, not even this unbothered black bear. Fortunately, he or she seemed utterly unmoved by my antics and continued on down the street as though they were also a taxpaying member of the community and I barreled down the street and into the finish chute where I was immediately granted my second Squamish50 Gary Robbins hug and the attention of many friends who had to witness my (again) overstimulated and disoriented presence. After a finish line group photo, it was time to start recombobulating, relaying stories to Toby and Elise, and drinking an orange juice juice box like any good Floridian would.

While I haven't quite sorted out my running purpose deconstruction, being reminded that I was the reason someone else signed up for something challenging or ridiculous seems like a good enough proxy for now. I hopped on the results page as soon as it was up to ensure my Squamish and Colorado friends also made it across the finish line (yes, they did!). I only made it four days before I was talking about signing up for my next ultra (not alone... not ready to do that again), which may be a new record turnaround time.

I cannot sign off without reiterating how absolutely blessed and lucky and fortunate I felt to have so many familiar, happy faces out there on the course last Saturday. From my other pals running the race that I felt I couldn't be the only DNF of the crew, to the volunteers and friends that came out to cheer me on and my ever-attentive forever race crew member Toby, this race reminded me that no matter if you're racing or just out for a run, going fast or taking it easy, the real magic of running is the folks you meet along the way. Without this sport, I honestly don't think I would have had some of the most important relationships and experiences I've had in my life.

Tune in next time for my musings about my mid-race existential crisis and the ever elusive 'why do I run?'!

[ccaptain]

🌿 Author Portrait .

get to know the author behind the blog! repost, do not reblog.

.Basics

name/nickname: sam/zack c: age: 29! pronouns: she/her/them years of writing: oh man, a LOT. i'm pretty sure that it's around 13-14 years of experience between Facebook para rp (dont ask) and Pokèmon forum chatrooms... good times. 

.Reflection

Why did you pick up writing? i was always an huge fan of reading and still am, and it came to me very naturally to the point where I had some notebook that I used to write scripts of roleplays between my OCs... it only escalated when I found out that people roleplayed with eachother. BOOM. opened an entire world to little mini me who was basically the weird kid with no friends. 

Do you have any writing routines? i settle down after lunch and dinner to start replying to stuff! i'll reblog a meme i really want my partners to send to me a couple of times to make sure that they see it (timezones SUCK), wait a bit to see who sends and then i'll get down to those first, and drafts come after i've done all memes if i still have energy c:

What's your favorite part about writing? THE CLAY-MOLDING YOU CAN DO TO A MUSE and the studying you do about them by researching stuff for their story, putting them in situations, letting yourself think about how they may react to love, affection, a possible betrayal... and its all on the tips of your fingers to write. i LOVE studying things!!!!!! i rotate them in my mind like a funky gyroscope!

.Three things you like about your writing:

i. while I don't particulary like angst, once I get in a mood or my muse is put into a particular situation, I'm gonna make it heart wrenching. i'm gonna make whoever is reading this break down on the floor crying. and i'm also gonna cry myself. i love that little stomach pain when you synchronize so much with your muse's pain that you're able to feel it. because others will be hit with a mallet with that too c: heheheheohee

ii. how my muse quite literally never goes away, and the patience that i have developed when dealing with my partners. we could literally not interact for months, and then when you come to me with ideas we're just going to pick up where we left, like, i'll open a box and take everything out. i was told often that this allows people to stress a little less about getting back to me fast so i'm happy about that! no stress while writing with me. i'm never out of muse anyway!

iii. the amount of EFFORT that i put into characterizing a muse......... a lot of research and plotting and thinking goes into that and i never run out of headcanons, as silly as those may be. i personalize them like a teenager would do with their cellphone by applying stickers to it and the stickers reflect their personality. 

.A question for the next person

write a question for the next person to answer. once you've answered it, leave a new question for someone else to answer.

new question: what do you find the most difficult to write (eg dialogue)? ( lauri )

i'm gonna have to go with dialogue, yeah,,,,,, i can be very wordy when describing paras and paras around a situation. then i get to the dialogue and there's a few lines of stuff that look kind of out of place to me. FORTUNATELY im working on it-

NEW QUESTION: Do you have a certain type of muse you enjoy writing? ( robin )

TECHNICALLY....... yes. i enjoy muses with deep inner turmoils that look a little mysterious, that have a lot of internal difficult decisions to make, that are a little complex and once somebody tries to figure them outand they get it completely wrong. part of why i'm currently so unashamedly hyperfocused on H:SR Kaeya is that i made him into a very complex concept and i rotate him in my mind like a sausage. 

NEW QUESTION: what kind of threads do you enjoy the most?

tagged by: @daybreakrising @duelmarks MY POOKIES tagging: @predvestnik @snowtombedstar @visionkept @chasersglow @dupliciti

[eolewyn1010]

badly summarized WIP game

More than a month ago, @chucklepea-hotpot tagged me for this... mea culpa, I shouldn't have put it up for so long; it's such a fun concept.

Rules: Pick a bunch of your WIPs and summarise them as badly as possible, then ask your followers to vote on which one they'd most like to read.

Has anyone not done this yet? Uh, I'll hazard a few no-pressure tags: @str4wanzerin @chrisoels @carlomenzinger @mutantenfisch @krejong @awordwasthebeginning

[steveinscarlet]

I don't think I've ever seen this interview before? It's from a free paper called Soundcheck! in Nov 1983. Transcribed below because the layout is hard to read and the spelling is bad! Like misspelling both parts of Steve's name bad 🙄

Talk about keen. After a gruelling ten-month trek of the States, followed by a short tour of Europe which precedes a pre- Christmas mini-tour of Britain (sheesh, it's tiring enough just typing about it!), Def Leppard guitarists Phil Collen and Steve 'Steamin' Clark have filled their precious few days of rest in between by doing a whole pile of interviews.

This includes yours truly, SOUNDCHECK! staff reporter Pete Makowski. This year saw the massive US success of the group's third and greatest album Pyromania, which has established them as Superstars in America, where audiences scream and general hysteria is the norm at one of the group's stadium-size performances.

Phil Collen is the band's newest member and fits in comfortably with the Leppard sound. He also works very well with Clark. In fact, their musical tie has developed into a solid bond of friendship and they seem to spend all their working hours together.

Both firmly believe in maintaining the axe image and hopefully after the release of their next album will show audiences all over the world that solos do not have to be long, boring and monotonous. They have an idea they feel will revolutionise the concept of guitar playing.

As expected, they were tight-lipped about this new baby but otherwise proved very open and entertaining as a team in the interview that follows......

PM: The tour has been promoted partly by Why Bother Ltd, which is your company (one of them, that is). Has that moniker got anything to do with your feelings about touring this country? 

PC: Yes. 'Cause when we tour over here, we always lose money. 

SC: Yeah, the title of the company speaks for itself.

PC: If you're touring somewhere, and you're losing money, why bother doing it?

PM: Will you ever concentrate your energies on crackin' it over here?

SC: We obviously are! We wouldn't be doing a tour here after 10 months of playing America, would we? It's still a bit steep though, because now it's not Phonogram anymore who are backing us for these ventures; we're actually forking out our own money, as we've cleared our debt with Phonogram.

PM: What could you credit for the mammoth success of the last US tour?

SC: Lots of different things, you know we don't look like we're one of the Metallica bands. In fact, we made a conscious effort of not trying to look like that. We just tried to look normal and it seemed to work. Mums ain't scared to send their kids to our shows, where they'd probably have second thoughts about an Iron Maiden tour or Judas Priest, something like that, thinking their daughters would get raped or something. 

PM: Why do you think groups like Quiet Riot have recently enjoyed mega mammoth success?

SC: Because we opened it up a bit; I don’t think it's just because of that. We've definitely opened the gate for other rock bands and they all seem to be doing quite well again. You know how it goes.

PM: Do you still enjoy touring the States? 

SC: Yeah, when we come back and toured Europe, mainly because of the weather. Everyone immediately got 'flu. America was good and we had a good summer on our side. The tour got bigger and bigger, we started off thinking 'are we big enough to headline?' We have a top ten album and we were supporting Billy Squier. Then we got bigger and bigger and half-way through the tour we had to play two nights in some places; the further we went on the bigger the band became. 

PM: Did you make a conscious effort to pace yourself on this, because I recall the last two times you played there everyone got worn out halfway through? 

PC: We done alright. Actually, I was surprised.

SC: The big difference was that we headlined everywhere. This was the first time we'd headlined everywhere.

PM: Has it made that much difference? On your previous marathon treks it seems it really took its toll, physically speaking?

SC: It's probably because you weren't there (laughs). Keep Makowski out the way and you'll be alright!

PC: I remember our manager, Peter Mensch, saying: 'I realise Phil that this is your first American tour but Makowski won't be here so you'll be alright'. 

PM: Was Pete Willis (Leppard's former guitarist) missed? I mean, what difference has his absence made to the group? 

PC: Well it's the difference between half a million and six million.

SC: Pete had more of a cult following. 

PC: I got some iffy fan mail, didn't I. Things like, 'you should be dead'. I got some fierce ones.

SC: When people saw the videos it helped to advertise the fact that Pete had gone and now Phil is with us. So kids, when they think of Def Leppard now, they think of Phil Collen as being an established part of the band.

PM: Your last album Pyromania was a mega mammoth success; have you started thinking about having to follow this up?

PC: We haven't really thought about it. We've got some ideas. A lot of bands do that, they think right: 'the last album was successful, this is what we should do to follow’. We haven't done that.

I mean, we may even do a keyboard album, as an example. I very much doubt that that's gonna happen. It's all down to how we feel at the time, really.

PM: How have things worked out between you two, because after America you should know each other pretty well by now and ironed out any problems that needed to be dealt with. 

SC:I think we were worried about things at first, but I think that Phil's better and all the numbers sound much better than they ever could have with Pete. We're best mates now. 

PM: That was quite a crucial change in personnel for the band.

SC: Yeah, and we were worried regarding how it would work out, because you don't really know what you need until you experience the change. When you've worked with someone for three years, initially things will be a bit strange; but as it's happened, things have worked out better than we'd ever expected. 

PM: Is it still necessary to keep touring the States?

PC: I just think it's important to play where people appreciate you; you know for a fact that you lose money in England and you have to draw the line somewhere. As it happens, we made a bit of money in the States and it becomes very apparent that in other places we lose money when we go on the road. Hand over fist you have to fork out cash from your own wages.

PM: You've been getting a lot of teenybop- type fan hysteria in the States. How do you feel about that?

PC: It's great fun. Just take it with a pinch of salt. When it first started happening we just looked at each other and burst into hysterics thinking 'are you sure?'. It is a bit weird and we didn't accept it as the norm. We just thought this is a fluke, take it with a pinch of salt; it just kept on getting worse or better, whichever way you look at it. 

What helps though is the attitude of the band. There's no ego problems here, which is what always screws other groups up. People start getting really weird. We're in a good position in as much as we're a younger and newer band and you can see all that crap going on while bands like AC/DC are getting on.

SC: When we're their age we'll have seen all the bad sides and have experienced all the problems when we were a lot younger. So it's taught us a lesson. So when we're their age we'll know what to do and what not to do.

PM: You do have a very strong band image.

PC: Yeah, it's not run by one person. The only way that you're gonna make good is if you all stick together and you all pull together.

PM: Have any of you got individual aspirations?

PC: Only within the band really me and him. Personally, there's some guitar things that we wanna do, but we can do them within the band. It works out great.

PM: Will the next album take as long to put together as Pyromania, which was 14 months in the making? 

PC: It may do.

SC: We're not jumping on the Pyromania bandwagon: ‘oh, we want a hit album, let's bung out another one quick'. We're not going for a formula and trying to make forthcoming products sound like Pyromania because after a couple of albums we'd be finished. We're gonna take our time, do another album, which will retain our quality, and if it doesn't sell as well then tough shit! At least we'd know that what we did we wanted. But we're confident that it will do well anyway.

PC: Pyromania will be a hard one to follow up, but we ain't even thinking about that at the moment. We've got our own ideas and we're just going to do them. If no one likes them then bollocks!

PM: How about recording a live album? 

SC: We have no plans for a live album.

PC: That usually comes at the end of a band's career or record contract; when they peak. Live albums are basically bullshit time. We haven't really got enough material to do one.

PM: You seem to separate yourself from the whole Heavy Metal bandwagon. Is that a conscious move?

PC: Well, it doesn't really bother us if we're associated with it. I don't really think that we're like the rest of them. We don't wear all that stupid regalia; we don't get all the studs and leather on, 'cause that's really false isn't it? I mean, could you seriously look me in the face if we was to like stick all the gear on?

SC: We've never tried to dress like that and it used to worry us. But we don't care anymore.

PC: The way we look at things is that we fill a great big gaping gap between bands like Journey and Foreigner and bands like AC/DC and Iron Maiden; we're right in the middle. 

SC: We're almost like a Zeppelin or Queen -right in the middle! Well, that's what the press in America compare us to. We never said anything. We'd like people to take us for what we are... 

And the beat goes on.

[gaykey]

I find it super interesting that a lot of older shawols dislike DCM! I've been a shawol since lucifer came out, but fell away from kpop for a while in 2019ish, and only came back in full force towards the end of 2021 (a friend showed me christmas evel by skz, and I pretty much blacked out and woke up months later covered in skz merch like 'uuuuh') as a result, I saw everything for dcm out of order - I saw the mv first, heard the album and saw the teasers/concept stuff way later.... and I super love the song? like its one of my firm favs? 😂 I loved that at a time where some other 2nd and 3rd bands were doing slightly nostalgic or maybe wistful songs, shinee was out here doing a song with a very 4th sound like 'oh you thought maybe we'd fade out? no we can do a song that's utterly not us but still make it sound good, we're out here at studio choom singing live just because, we've got the visuals, the dance, the vocals, the heart and the charisma' like I hope for the next album the main song does have a more shinee feel, but I love DCM for the power it feels like it has. (also it makes a really good ringtone for phonecall hating millenials like myself lmao)

yeah, i can see how seeing the teasers last can change hiw you view dcm - but no, i agree with you in regards to how shinee approached dcm.

you're right, they could have easily done something more lowkey or 'shinee-like' but no, they didn't do that, and instead chosento stand out during a time when 2nd gen groups were few and far between, after being away from the industry for 2 and a half years.

that's an achievement in itself.

like i've said in prev anons - i applause shinee for what they did with dcm, even if the songs not for me.