#looooooong text

[sensarna]

TTS Mittens is kinda funny to me, because it means that, out of ALL the Primarchs, Magnus "Nerd" the Red is the first Primarch in TTS who is in a romantic relationship with someone

[the-punforgiven]

I remember the first time I heard the song Short Skirt/Long Jacket by Cake it was on a road trip and already playing when we turned on the radio on, I didn't know about the song beforehand so when it got to the chorus and the guy was like "I want a girl with a short skirt and a loooooooooooooooong-" I listened with baited breath, eyes wide, slowly turning to face the speaker like "Is he gonna say it? Are you even allowed to say that on the Radio?" And then he said jacket and I was like "Ohhhh ok nevermind"

[2sgf]

you should promo me. i'm sol and i remade a little recently. we can be mutuals. we can sit on my porch together and drink tea together.

[xuciferous]

there are so many self opposing dichotomies in the bible it begins to become difficult to wrap my head around

at what point do my acts differ from acts of god if he must give me the strength to do anything? if he already knows everything ill do does it not become his act?

[mosspatterns]

Portable Magic by Emma Smith has great discussions on book burning, freedom to publish, and how books are seen as more sacred than other material objects in western culture (ex. a cd also contains human knowledge and art and nobody cares if you break one). Id recommend anyone interested in how people interacted with books in western society to check it out at their local library and that’s where I’m about to pull from.

Anyway, book burning is actually pretty ineffective as a form of knowledge erasure because it requires you to round up things that already exist in the world, widely disseminated, and gather them together to destroy them all at once. People will say they don’t have it, forget they owned it, hide a copy within another book. Of course some of those books (particularly niche academic texts, which were burned alongside things like Hemingway) may have been the only preserved copy; this isn’t to say it did nothing, but that it’s less dramatic than were lead to believe. The most impactful thing that happened in terms of book censorship in nazi Germany was pulling books from libraries and bookstores. You know, book banning. The thing that they’re trying to do in the US via legislature right now. US anti-german propaganda from that era was promoting libraries as the protectors of knowledge, we should probably focus on that instead

“destroying things is for fascists! we as Nice People have to keep HP books sacred or else we’re book burners just like nazis!” it is possible that you are stupid in a very big way

[sturniology]

bsf! text msgs w matt sturniolo x fem!reader

part 10 -> part 9

WARNING : none !

OMGGG THIS IS THE TENTH PART 😭😭 thats mad

LOOOOOOONG one (? 😭)

[taintandviolent]

Rough ; Roman Godfrey x secretary!reader

summary: PART THREE TO LITTLE MOUTH! [PART ONE HERE] & [PART TWO HERE]! Roman's vague and horrible as always, but at least his instructions were clear; wear a dress. It's the night of the investor banquet for Godfrey Institute, and you're feeling out of place. You're on your period, so everything is getting under your skin. Unfortunately for you, Roman has a very specific appetite tonight.

word count & w a r n i n g s: 2.6K | female reader, smut, unprotected sex, kissing, choking, rough sex, manhandling, period sex, cunnilingus, blood consumption, bloodplay, blood drinking, mentions of tampons, mentions of alcohol, neck kissing.

a/n: AHEM. I've been asked for a part three to this for a looooooong time, so here we go. not beta-read, so any mistakes are... y'know. just ignore them. banner by @/strangergraphics!

↓ full fic under cut! ↓ / playlist here / ao3 link here! / I don’t have a taglist anymore, but please turn on post notifications if you’d like to be notified of future fics!

Roman was a bizarre boss. Not just that, he was a manipulative, degrading asshole. So, why were you so interested in him? You’d fucked him twice and suddenly he had you under his thumb like some desperate floozy. Sickening to your intrinsic feminism.

You hurriedly sweep the brush over your lid, blending out the powder you’d just put there. The motivation behind Roman’s vague instructions might’ve been unknown, but at least he’d texted you early that morning, reminding you that it was the night of the investor visit and banquet. You’d been reminding him about it for weeks, and suddenly you were the one who had forgotten. You chalked it up to the fact that you hadn’t planned on going, because really, who brings their secretary to a weekend event? 

Leaning away from the mirror, you take a moment to survey yourself. You’d chosen a slinky white dress that hugged your curves as though it had been tailored to you. It hadn’t – you had impulse bought it online a few months back. Your hair fell in delicate waves around your shoulders. You swat away your nagging insecurities, knowing that your mind was playing tricks on you – you looked fine, and it didn’t matter, because Roman was going to be there any minute. 

He doesn’t even bother to knock – just texts you that he’s outside. You grab your purse, and rush down the stairs and out the door. It’s raining when you open your front door. 

There he is. Even from here, even with the rain spattered windshield, you can see his plump lips, eternally pouting. You can see the harsh angle of his jawline, and his piercing green eyes as they watch you, impatiently. Your purse hangs from the crook of your arm, swaying gently as you stride over to the passenger side, your heels clacking against the wet pavement. With a sigh, as though you’re prepping yourself, you open the door.

“Hi,” you say, settling in. You shift in your seat, reaching for the belt.  

He simply nods at you, and puts the car in reverse.  Great. There’s something so wretched about the way he fucks you one day, and treats like you nothing the next. You hate it. Anger roils in your stomach like an angry serpent trying to devour itself, and you ease back into the seat, crossing your arms over your chest. You know you’re sensitive right now, but it’s really doing wonders for your self-esteem that he is the way he is. 

The ride there is a quiet one (unsurprisingly), and Roman hardly says a word, though you catch him as he keeps stealing glances.

“You look good,” he says abruptly when you’re only a minute or two away. 

You turn your head, your eyes climbing from his hands on the wheel to his stoic face. “Thanks.” 

Once you arrive, the Institute is filled with suits and ties. You recognize a few faces, but not enough to make you comfortable. You aren’t sure what your purpose is here, and without your folders and notepad, you feel naked around these people. Not to mention, you’re dressed in a way that will inevitably give them a different opinion of you, because they never see you like this. 

Roman immediately is overtaken by people who want his attention, want his approval, and you’re almost thankful for the reprieve of his hot and cold attitude.

“I’ll take one of those,” you say politely, though determinately. Your fingers wrap around the delicate flute as the waiter breezes by, and you bring the effervescent liquid to your lips. God bless alcohol. Truly. 

You feel a particular and sudden gush between your legs and your eyes widen, pupils swallowing your iris. Shit. Had you really bled through your tampon already? 

Turning on your heel, you make a beeline for the bathrooms, which are from where you are, is a decent walk. You take each step carefully, praying and hoping that crimson hasn’t saturated your beautiful silk gown.

You make it to the bathroom and shove the door open hard. There’s no one inside, thank god, because you’re about to unleash a string of expletives if you’ve bled through your dress. After locking it behind you, you take a deep breath and step in front of the mirror, before turning around slowly. 

The dress remains pristine. You’ve caught it in time. 

You set the champagne flute on the counter top. Throwing yourself towards the toilet, you hike your dress up around your hips and sit down. You reach into your small purse, thankful that you brought an extra one, even though you hadn’t planned on using it so soon. Just as your fingers inch between your legs, you hear someone knock on the door. 

You wait. 

The knock doesn’t repeat, and your fingers twitch back to life, blindly searching for the string.

A few seconds later, his muffled voice comes from outside. 

Did he just tell you to open the door? 

“Just a second!” You shout. You can hear Roman’s impatience through the wood, but for God’s sake, you’re changing your tampon. 

“Open the fucking door! What, you think you can hide in there?” 

Now feeling rushed, you wrap the used tampon in tissue. Frustrated, you get to your feet, pull your underwear up around your hips and hurry to the door, opening it just a crack. You toss the tissue into the trash and peek through the slit. Roman stands there, in his stupidly attractive suit, with his pink, pouted lips and intense gaze, like he was trying to burn a hole through the door. 

“What are you doing?” 

You hesitate, drowning in the awkwardness of the situation. “....I’m dealing with something, if you don’t fucking mind.” 

“I do, actually.” His chest fills with air as he takes a deep breath. His nostrils flare and his eyes widen, looking animalistic. “I need you.” You furrow your brow as you watch him – what was he doing? The term need could refer to a multitude of things from him – you weren’t sure which it was. All of the options were terrifying, considering you were now free-bleeding into your panties.

A few seconds pass, and you get your answer. His fingers splay out on the wood as he pushes the bathroom door open, forcing you to take a few steps back. It happens quickly, but he crouches in front of you, just enough to hoist you up over his shoulder. Your feet leave the floor, and you can do little but flail in his grip, trying to reach for the door jam as he turns, striding out of the bathroom. 

“Roman! Roman, stop–!” 

“Shut up. Shut the fuck up. Be grateful that I didn’t wait for you to come back and make you suck my dick in front of everyone.” 

I kind of wish you would have. Your core twinges with heat at the idea of ruining your reputation in such a way. 

He carries you, your vision bouncing with his steps, until he comes to the large glass doors of the main conference room. He pushes his way through them, and takes long, determinate strides until he gets to the wooden table in the middle of the room. 

Your back meets the wood before you can protest again. 

His hand comes to your neck, gripping it softly. You whimper, stretching your neck away from his grasp, to which he hums, satisfied. You suck in a deep breath as his hand trails down further, along your decollete. 

“I can feel your heartbeat.” His palm ghosts over your chest, fingertips grazing the exposed skin between the fabric. “You’re nervous.” 

“Yeah, because I don’t know what you’re doing.”

Roman says nothing, only continues touching your body, trailing his hands along the slinky fabric of your gown. You look around the conference room passively. It’s a room that you’ve been outside of many times, holding the door for Mr. Godfrey while passing him a file folder of bullet points to talk about and things to address. You never join him in the room, so you’re never sure if he actually does go over them. You assume not.  

“You’re bleeding, aren’t you?” The question is asked as he’s gathering your dress up around your hips. You lift your hips up, and he pushes the fabric underneath your ass, into the small of your back. Thoughtful. Surprisingly. 

“I can smell it,” he adds.

You swallow, uncomfortable. “Y-yeah. I am. And you interrupted me from fixing that. So, if you don’t mind, I’d like to put a tampon back in and go back downstairs.” 

“Hm…” Roman says, one hand on either knee, spreading your legs apart. “Why the fuck would I let you do something stupid like that?” 

You saw Roman guzzle blood straight out of a bag. That, somehow, didn’t come as a shock to you. What does come as a shock, is that he’s kneeling between your legs, his hot mouth nearing your even hotter center. He runs a single finger along your panties before hooking them around his index finger and yanking them down over your hips. 

“Ro– Roman… what… what are you doing? What if someone sees us? Are you insane?” 

He straightens up and his gaze bores into yours, iron-locked and deep.

“Shut up!” His hand snakes up between your legs and grips your jaw tightly, your expression tightening up into a wince. “Stop talking for once. Stop asking me stupid fucking questions.” 

That haze returns and you happily don’t say another word. The first time he did it to you, it frightened you, made you feel like you were losing grasp on reality. At this point though, you’re almost comfortable with that feeling. You’ve come to crave the feeling of relinquishing control, the way your limbs buzz with compulsion, the way your mind goes blank for a fleeting moment before you enact whatever he told you to do. It’s much easier than thinking.

A single drop of blood descends from his nostril, and he reaches back to wipe it away. 

His flattened tongue presses against your cunt and your eyes roll back in your head, lids fluttering desperately. It feels so good. So fucking good. You’d heard that sex on your period was incredible, because you were extra sensitive, but no one ever warned you about being eaten out on your period. Where did you even start with this? 

The fucking smell that fills his nostrils has his muscles tensing with hunger. You notice the change in him; the darkening of his eyes, the way he seems to loom between your legs and the way the muscles in his jaw flutter as he clenches it. Flattening a hand on your hips to keep you in place, to keep you from moving too much, he growls deeply against your folds before opening his mouth further on her, his tongue lapping at your clit. 

To you, it’s something to be discarded, something annoying. To him, it’s a sweet, heady nectar to be devoured and appreciated. Your head lolls back, heavy, and thuds against the wood as a shaky repetition of oh my god and fuck tumbles from your open mouth. Roman goes at your cunt, hungry. You can hear him sucking and slupring at your fluids and you spread your legs farther open, exposing everything to him. His large hands stroke up and down your thighs, kneading the flesh in some places, and you whine, arching your back. You’re a slave to his touch, even if deep down, you resent that. 

After a particularly loud gulp against your cunt, he inserts a single, long digit and curls it upwards to the spongy flesh within you. You cry out, feeling weak and heading straight to your first earth-shattering orgasm of the evening. He pulls his mouth away just before you come, and when he does, you lift your head. His lips and chin are covered in a glistening sheen of crimson. You experience a violent whiplash of arousal and disgust at the sight, unsure of which one you should pluck out and hold onto tight to. He pulls his finger out of you, and brings it up to his mouth. Making ferocious eye contact, he brings it to his mouth and swipes his tongue along it before dragging his palm upwards on his chin, bringing the rest of the blood and cum up into his waiting, hungry mouth. You find yourself clenching your teeth, watching him silently as he undoes his belt. 

Still, you say nothing. 

“Such a good little secretary.” He hums before hinging at the waist, bending over top of you. His hands are splayed out on either side of your head, locking you into his atmosphere. You’re shivering helpless, charmed. There’s nothing else to do besides dissolve into his gaze. “So good for me, keeping your little mouth shut and not asking questions.” 

His green eyes drop to your lips and he leans in. Filled with immeasurable disgust, you wrench your head away from his grip and scowl, unable to withhold the next words that claw their way out. “Don’t. Don’t kiss me. Please.” 

Roman breathes out a laugh and reaches in between your bodies to line his aching cock up with your entrance. “Fine,” he says. Your stomach ties itself in knots at the thought that follows. Was he trying to be tender? To be romantic? And was it so easy for him not to be? Most guys would feel offended, dejected. But Roman was seemingly happy to not have to bother with the frivolous foreplay of kissing. 

No warning. No preparation aside from the few seconds that his hot cockhead nudges your slit, finding its way. He bottoms out in one thrust, pressing his hips tight against yours. Your jaw drops at the feeling; muscles clench and relax and the added lubrication of your blood has him reaching a depth that makes your toes curl within your high heels. 

He jerks his hips hard once, the fat, leaking head hitting your cervix. Then, he pulls his blood soaked cock from you slowly… so slowly. It’s almost tender, like he’s trying not to hurt you – but you know hurt is the last thing on his mind. 

“I’m gonna’ fuck you now.”

“Yeah, Mr. Godfrey. I know you are.” 

His cock buries itself inside you again, twitching as he finds a bullying, cruel rhythm. He fucks every inch of you, watching you as he does. Above you, he’s grunting, his plump lips open, jaw hanging slack. His perfect hair is now shaggy, strands hanging in front of his face. His expression is blissed out, and you know that the blood feels just as good to him as it does to you, if not better. 

Your orgasm washes over you, waves of pleasure drowning you and leaving you gasping for breath. 

“You like that? Huh?”

You nod and reach your hand up to make a fist in his hair. Roman immediately responds by gripping both your hands and yanking them harshly above your head in an act of dominance. He presses them against the cool wood, using the position as leverage for his deep, harsh thrusts.

His cock doesn’t stop, fucking into you hard and fast, and it isn’t long before he tenses up above you. His breath rushes out through clenched teeth, and his grip tightens on your hands. 

“FUCK!” 

He pumps himself into you, rutting his hips hard against your center. Every last drop mixes with your own fluids, and Roman makes sure that none of it seeps out until he’s ready. He looms over you, chest heaving and green eyes scanning over your fucked out features. 

Eventually, he withdraws his cock with a slick, wet sound.  Back to the cold, cruel exterior. You roll your eyes.

“Clean yourself up. You’re a mess.” 

He tucks himself back into his slacks, hiding the bloody evidence within the fabric.

“And when you’re done, come find me. I have a few things you need to do.” 

You want to bite back, snark at him with something defiant. Write your own notes. Schedule your own shit. 

“Yes, sir.” 

[taffycandyqt]

Please No

You can't sleep and seek company in your misery through your best friend. However he's not at home.

Masterlist

Request Rules

OH MY GOSH IM NOT DEAD! In all honesty I haven't been super motivated lately but I started this personal project a LOOOOOOONG time ago and felt I couldn't move on to other requests before I finished it. When I started this I felt really inspired to make it solely because I feel there is simply not enough Donatello fluff in this world, especially in 03' and 12' s case. So I hope you like it!

2012 Donnie x reader

Aged up, all characters are college/older adult age, depends on how you want to read it.

Fluff, slightly angst if you really want it to be there

Fem reader

Sleeping was always a struggle for you. Logically you knew you needed sleep, physically you felt tired, but mentally you just couldn't bring yourself to do it. Your body hated the idea and actually laying down and sleeping, so you went to the only person you KNEW would be up right now.

Casey Jones.

He was annoying when you first met him be he was chill enough that he grew on you pretty quickly. Not to mention that if it weren't for him you wouldn't have met your now boyfriend. You always enjoyed spending time with Donnie but trying to pin him down was hard especially since you didn't know where he lived. He didn't want you to meet his brothers just yet, says he wants time to adjust to your guys relationship before being teased. Which, fair. SO! To Casey's you went. You two usually met up at grueling times of the night so it was customary to clime up each other's fire escapes and practically break into the other person's house. You'd either scare each other awake or find the other sitting in their kitchen shoveling cereal into their mouth watching conspiracies on YouTube.

Tonight though, nothing. Like the dude up and vanished. You checked the kitchen and his room. You even went as far as to check the bathroom. THAT WAS HIS WHOLE APARTMENT! Did he have just as an abhorrent sleep schedule as you? Yes, but he never left the house to make it a strangers problem. So to ease your nerves you decided to call him, if that doesn't work, your gonna pray Donnie is awake enough to answer the phone.

One ring. Two ring. Third ring...

"This is THE Casey Jones." You breathed out a sigh of relief. He isn't kidnapped, dead, or lying in a ditch high of weed somewhere.

"Hey man, just dropped by your place, where you at?"

"Oooooh, one of those nights huh?"

"Isn't it always?"

"heh, I feel ya. Here I'll text you my location so we can chill." after that you heard talking from the other side of the phone. Someone that wasn't Casey. But before you could ask any questions Casey quickly responded to whatever it was that they said.

"SHUT UP! ILL KICK YOUR BUTT INTO NEXT WEEK, BUD!" ending with extra sass on the 'bud'.

That's when you got his text. Perfect!

---

Orrrr not. You swear you followed the directions exactly, so why are you standing in the middle of an alleyway being told to go forward when THERE IS NO FORWARD! Being the reasonable person you are you blamed it all on Casey and let him know of your little predicament.

And, 'wait there, just a sec was his reply.' You didn't think Casey would be the kind of person to plot someone else's demise. Not that he he hasn't caused someone else's demise, he just doesn't have the forethought to think ahead about it. However this whole, standing in an alley in New York at 2 am alone, is really starting to feel like a plot.

Once again, your nerves started rising. You looked around the old bricks, worn with water damage and scraping and covered in graffiti. The dark distorted your surroundings making it unclear if you were really alone in that alley or not. The stench of the trash bags shoved as close to the corners and walls as possible started to get to you. Your breathing got a little heavier. The ominous lighting from the street lamp didn't help either. Then a sound rose above the scampering feet of rats. You turn to see the man hole cover slowly scrap along the concrete as a large gloved hand shoved it away. The darkness of the alley clouded the figure and with the covering gone the hole left seemed like a endless pool of inky nothingness. You were stiff as a board and you could hear your heart thrashing in your ears. This is it. This is where you die and it's all Casey Jones's fault.

"Hey you did make it! Nice!"

Your threw a scrapped can square at his face.

"Ow!"

"CASEY! YOU SCARED ME!"

"Yo chill! I told you I was coming to get you!"

"YOU TOLD ME TO WAIT, I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT THE FRICK YOU WERE DOING! GOSH CASEY! WHAT WERE YOU EVEN DOING DOWN THERE!?"

"Hehe, come on. I'll show you," he winked at you before gesturing you to enter into the manhole first.

"No."

"Oh come on! Don't you trust me?"

"NO! Also gross. I'm not going down there just for the heck of it Casey. I have never been curious what New Yorks sewer system looks like."

"It's not about the sewers! We just have to walk through the system to get to the place," he told you mildly annoyed.

"And your purposely being suspicious about 'the place', because?"

"Because that's a surprise,"

"Oh joy. I just love surprises at 2 in the freaking morning, in the sewers, wearing my pajamas," you snarked as you lowered yourself down the manhole scowling slightly.

Casey led you through the sewers keeping a brisk pace. You asked him about the voice you hear over the phone earlier and all he told you was that it was part of the surprise. To which you rolled your eyes.

"You seem pretty confident on where your walking," you remarked.

"Well I sure hope so!" he laughed to himself, "I've only been coming here since highschool."

Him saying that struck a possible idea of what his "surprise" could be. But you couldn't be sure.

You initially met Casey in college. Not that he went to collage, he just crashed a class that you shared with his friend. He called her red, talked about her a lot too. You didn't really know her outside of that one class. It felt strange to know so many details about someone you've never talked to. He did mention that she was Donnies first crush but Donnie never talked about her though so you didn't really care much for that detail.

You knew that Casey had known Donnie, his brothers, and "red" since high school. He told you about their adventures all the time. Sometimes it made you feel a little disconnected, especially since the only people you ever knew from the group were Donnie and Casey. But you tried not to let that feeling get to you. It would simply take time. Besides, even if you're newer and don't know the whole group, neither Donnie or Casey ever made you feel like you weren't a part.

The thing is though, is that Casey only mentioned highschool when talking about the turtles. So while it is a loose assumption, you had an idea of what he might be planning. Part of you really hoped it wasn't what you were thinking. The other part really REALLY wanted it to be what you thought. But the majority part was to tired to care and just wanted something to do.

After a short walk you noticed the sewer transition into an abandoned subway station. That's when you heard the sounds of videogames and people. The smell of pizza lingered in the air the closer you walked to the sound. Eventually you got to the part of the station where lights lit up the dark space.

When you got to the entrance, you saw two turtles playing videogames. Pizza boxes littered the floor, some of them containing pizza, some completely empty. You were a little stunned honestly. Donnie had a genuine reason for not introducing you to his family, you didn't want to cross that line. But at the same time, you really needed a brain rotting distraction. You hesitated. But when Casey gestured you to go first through the turnstile first, that hesitation crumbled. You just wanted some pizza, was that so wrong? I mean you were already here, might as well just commit. You and Casey passed through and neither of the brothers tired to look at you. The one in red acknowledge the sound by saying,

"Welcome back Case."

"What didja need to do that you left so fast brah?" Asked the orange one.

"My best bud needed A.M. pizza, so I figured here would be the best place for her to get some," Casey told them patting your back before taking his seat next to the orange brother and picking up an abandoned controller. You followed, feeling out of place, you sat beside him.

This got reds attention.

"I'm sorry, she?" He paused the game to look over at you.

"WHAT?! CASEY WHO THE HECK IS SHE?? YOU CAN'T JUST BRING RANDOM PEOPLE DOWN HERE!"

"Dude chill out! First of all, shes not random, she's y/n," reds eye twitched, "Secondly, it's no biggie, she already knows Donnie, she's no snitch."

You smacked Casey's arm and shook your head.

"Hey! your already here aren't you?" he whined at you.

"Wait, how do you already know Donnie?" orange finally spoke up.

"Yeah, who are you anyways?" red questioned you.

"I-um. Hi, I'm y/n" you stiffly introduced.

You felt very awkward about this whole situation.

"And you know Don, how?" red reiterated impatiently.

You decided to play dumb.

"What do you mean?"

"How do you know Donnie?! Oh my gosh are you dumb?!"

"No, I get what you asked, but in what way?"

"THE FRICK DO YOU MEAN 'IN WHAT WAY?' HOW DO YOU KNOW MY BROTHER?!"

You both went back and forth like that for a while. Little did you know that this was Casey's plan all along. He had talked to Donnie about introducing you the family but he always said it "wasn't the right time". You and Donnie had been dating for almost a year now and had known each other even longer. Yet his brothers had yet to know you even existed! Knowing you, you wouldn't push the issue because you didn't want to pressure your poor boyfriend. You were under the false pretence that he would come around eventually. The truth is, he wouldn't. And it wasn't because of his brothers teasing.

They would still tease him yes, but they've grown, they know the line. The real reason Donnie hadn't introduced you was because one; he wanted you to himself. And two, the biggest reason; he was embarrassed of where he lived. Yes his home was cleanly and all but it was still a sewer. It had taken a long time for him to begin to believe that you actually thought he was attractive and not some kind of monster. Living in the sewer though? What if that breaks your entire image of him? What if you think he really is some slimy gross sewer monster after? He couldn't bear the thought. After being with you for so long, he doesn't think he could live without you.

It took a lot of nagging but when Casey finally broke him and that was the explanation he gave? Casey was so done. So he took matters into his own hands. He waited for the opportunity to present itself and tonight was the night.

"Dudes!" orange interjected, "Chillll. Ever consider that maybe she won't say cuz we haven't introduced ourselves yet?? Hmmmmmmmmm?"

He chewed red out. Red just scoffed and rolled his eyes.

"Hi, I'm Mikey, and that grump is Raph," he told you, "He's been awake too long, he gets fussy without his nap."

You giggled at this, but before you could say anything back Raph had tackled Mikey to the floor. As they rustled you made a small laugh.

"What is going on in here so late?" you heard someone say from behind you. You turned to where it was coming from and saw the third brother you had yet to meet. Blue.

Before he could say anything to Raph or Mikey though, he made eye contact with you.

"Who are you?"

"This is my best bud y/n. Y/n, the fearless leader Leo," Casey introduced.

"Don't call me that Casey," he told him sternly. He walked over to you guys and took a seat in the other side of you.

"You know Case, if I wasn't half asleep I'd be way more upset about you bringing a stranger to the lair."

"She's not a stranger though, she's known Donnie for a while now. Besides we already got yelled at enough by Raph," Casey told him.

He humm and nodded in a 'that makes sense type' of way.

"So you've know Donnie for a while?" he asked.

You felt like could tell Leo just as much as you could tell Raph. Which was nothing. But you felt like Leo would be more receptive to a reasonable answer then Raph was.

"I'd tell you, but I'm not at liberty to say right now," you said.

"That's not suspicious at all," he teased.

"Hey!" you laughed at him and he laughed back.

Casey elbowed you and smiled proudly. He acted like he deserved a thank you for introducing you to your boyfriends family behind his back. All you did was elbow him in the ribs. That was he really deserved. You would be lying though if you said it wasn't an oddly fun situation.

That's when Raph had pinned Mikey and he started screaming.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY? I COULDN'T HEAR YOUR BEFORE?!" Raph yelled at him with this hands pushing Mikey's head to the floor.

"AAAAAAAAA!!" was all Mikey said him response.

Leo sighed next to you, "I guess I'll be taking care of that."

Before he could make a move though, you heard a familiar voice.

"What is going on out here?! I can't work with all this RACKET!" Donnie grumply shouted.

He stopped right in his tracks when he saw you though.

The only time you had seen Donnie that worked up was when an experiment failed or his brothers got on his nerves. Even then though, it was just venting after the fact, so you never witnessed the brunt of his frustrations. Safe to say you were a little startled, not put off or anything, just surprised mostly.

"Y- y- y- y Y/N?! What in Earth are you doing here?? At this hour? Here? I- ??" he was completely flabbergasted and udderly mortified.

He looked a mess, bags under his eyes, mask lazily pushed above his eyes, and not to mention yelling like an angry old man! Oh nononono. It was bad enough you were in his sewer home, there's no way you don't think his a monster now!

"Would you look at that, guess you did know Don after all," Raph said, head in hand while an elbow laid on Mikey's head.

You turned back to Raph, "Why would I lie about that?!"

This boy was unbelievable.

"Raph get off Mikey," Leo told him.

"Not until he says it!"

"Really Raph? I though you stopped doing that when we were teens."

Deciding that you needn't be involved in that conversation, you turned back to Donnie who had a horrified expression on his face.

"H- how long have you been down here?" he asked quietly.

"Not super long, Casey and I only got here like, a few minutes ago," you answered him.

Donnie took a deep breath, he looked like he was about to loose it. You didn't blame him honestly.

"You. Brought. Her. Here?!" he asked Casey. Clearly hanging by the thread of his last nerve.

"Yeah, s'not like you ever would have, so I took matters into my own hands. Besides she's my friend just as much as she's your girlfriend, I have a right to introduce her to my closest buds."

"Wait. Did you just say, girlfriend?" Mikey asked. Leo was helping him off the floor with a displeased Raph standing to the side. They all froze after Casey's statement and started at you and Donnie with wide eyes.

"JONES!" you both yelled at him in unison.

"What? They were gonna haft'a know eventually, I just got the awkward part out of the way for you," he shrugged and winked at you both.

You were gonna kill him. And by the looks of it Donnie and you were on the same page.

You pinched the bridge of your nose and let out a sigh.

"Okay, I think Donnie and I need to have a private conversation. When we're done we'll clear everything up with you all. Okay?"

"That sounds good," Leo nodded while everyone else complained.

You turned to Donnie signaling to lead the way to wherever you two could have some alone time. He seemed nervous and jittery, but led you none the less. He let you in first through a big sliding door that opened up into what seemed to be a garage. It had tables with tools and other electronic equipment strewn around. There were chemistry supplies as well along with some posters in the walls.

"So," Donnie started, fixing his gaze on the floor, "you wanted to talk?" He adjusted his mask to fit back over his eyes.

"Uh, yeah," you answered. Why was the air so thick all of a sudden? Donnie was so closed in on himself it was almost like he was afraid of you. Honestly, you wanted to ask him why Casey said he would never take you down here. But now wasn't the time for that.

"What do you want to do now? I know you wanted to introduce me on your own terms but now that that's not really a possibility. So where do you wanna go from here?" You asked.

You figured it would best to have a game plan before explaining everything to his brothers.

"I understan- Wait what?" He looked at you confused.

"Uuhhh, where do you want to go from here? Ya know, now that your brothers know?" You repeated yourself. Now you were confused.

"I. Wha. That's all you have to say?" Donnie said mouth agape, shocked.

"What? I mean, about this situation yeah? I mean, I am curious why Casey felt the need to do this but that's not really my first priority right now. Am- am I missing something here?" You asked him.

"I- I thought... I live in a sewer," he told you.

"You thought you lived in a sewer?" Your confusion increasing, "Like. You didn't know?"

"No! I know that! I just... you don't care?"

"Why would I care? I'm sorry," you put a hand to your forehead, "did you think I would judge you for your living conditions? Which are honestly pretty cush. Who do you take me fore Don?!"

"I! Well it's not that I thought you would judge me, it's just... I'm a mutant. Living in the sewers just- I don't know. The only things you think of living in the sewers are creepy gross monsters or rodents. On top of that it's the sewers! Most people find that pretty gross."

"Donnie. We've known each other for longer then a year. If I was disgusted by you, you would know by now," you spoke dryly.

"All this time I thought you just needed to get used to things. But you were just assuming the worst about me? What the heck Donnie?" You were hurt. You loved him so much, and he thought you would leave him because of where he lives? He really thought you were that judgemental?

"What?! No! I wasn't assuming the worst about you! I was just afraid you'd realize you deserve better than me!"

"BUT YOU'RE ALL I WANT!"

He stopped and looked at you, eyes wide.

"Really?"

"Yes! And I hate it when you talk like you're not deserving of love just because you're mutant."

"I just... I just don't see what you see in me," he admitted.

"Then stop assuming things and closing yourself off. Talk to your family, talk to your friends, talk to me. I never worry about whether or not you love me, you've seen me at my worst and never left my side. You're so scared of how I'll react to your worst you never even give me a chance to show you," you grabbed his hand and looked him in the eye.

"You don't get to decide how I feel or what I think, only I do."

"You're right, I'm sorry. Sorry for assuming things, things about you, and for taking so long to introduce you."

You kissed him on the cheek.

"Thank you," you smiled at him. Then pinched his neck and pulled him to you.

"Ow ow ow ow!"

"And never do that again," you let him go.

"Yes of course absolutely never again," he nodded and smiled at you. You smiled back and patted his chest.

"Now before we continue the conversation of how to approach your family, I feel like we should address the eavesdroppers in the room," you said pulling back the door all the way. It was already cracked open to allow the peepers better visuals for your conversation.

As it slid open you noticed Casey and the three brothers trying to run away from the door.

"What! Guys! What part of private conversation do you not understand?!" Donnie yelled at them.

"I told you guys you shouldn't have done that," Leo scolded them.

"YOU LITERALLY JOINED RIGHT AFTER SAYING THAT!" Raph pointed an accusatory finger at him, "AND FOR THE RECORD IT WAS MIKEY'S IDEA!" He yelled moving his pointing to the youngest.

"Wow dude, I thought we were in this together," Mikey put a hand on his chest hurt.

"Well in the end it doesn't matter cuz it already happened right?" Casey shrugged and took a seat on the couch again.

Out of everyone here you and Donnie were most ticked at Casey.

Both you and Donnie approached him from behind and grabbed one of his shoulders.

"W-what? Uhhh. You dudes need something? Eh heh..." he stuttered nervous. Only just now did he realize the hole he had dug for himself.

"Why don't we have a chat Casey," you smiled but it was less of a question and more of a statement.

"Privately," Donnie finished, no smile to be found.

You both were gonna have fun with this. Then Donnie could take you home and tuck you in. What a great boyfriend girlfriend bonding activity!

------------------------------------------------------------Listen y'all, I know Google maps don't work like this, but just for the sake of plot pretend like it does.

[soul-controller]

From A Bill To A Bronco

In the wake of his engagement, Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen finds himself on the receiving end of countless gifts and cards to congratulate him. One of these gifts ends up being from his best friend and backup QB Mitch Trubisky, who seemingly aims to troll him by gifting him with a skimpy black jockstrap. Upon putting it on, Josh finds himself changing in body and mind. As Mitch taunts him via text, the quarterback finds himself becoming an entirely new man -- an expert at a different type of ball-handing...

Author's Note: After a looooooong wait, this 14k word patron-voted story is finally here! This is a story I've wanted to write for over a year now, which, after it won the Patreon poll a few months ago, caused me to ultimately write this story TWICE. My passion for this story made me unsure of what angle to take the story so there were two vastly different versions and end results. Ultimately, I decided I liked pieces of both versions, so the long wait involved me combing through both versions to combine them into one story that I thought was acceptable and made sense. I feel as though I've done that, but you can tell me if that's not the case. For those who decide to join the Patreon to read this story, I hope you enjoy!

PS - Now that this story is finally done, I will now be getting back to doing these Tumblr request stories I started... so stay tuned!

[smg34swap]

I would have liked them to continue the meme guardian arc. There's potential there for what else SMG4 and SMG3 can do.

Ahem, my headcanon for this au. WARNING: LOOOOOOONG TEXT, sorry ;w;

Gender Swap Au:

After the events of SMG0 and REVELATIONS, 4 decided on her own and hidden from everyone to further embrace her power as a meme creator and meme guardian. But after multiple attempts, she didn't visit 3 several times with the excuse of reviving some memes. 3 didn't agree with this because she had to wait for them to become popular again naturally. However, 4 turned a deaf ear and whenever she could, she took 3's hand to use the meme guardian powers.

It wasn't until 3 forced her to talk about why she wanted to use the powers if there wasn't a danger of cosmic or cybernetic proportions, that 4 ended up confessing why she wanted to use the meme powers, which only worked when they held hands. When they weren't holding hands, this power was very limited and rarely worked, and it only worked when it came to making video promotions.

So she shares her idea and theory that if they managed to train their powers further, they could be used individually. In the end, 3, not entirely convinced by 4's theory, decides to agree to help, just to prove that SMG1 and SMG2 are right about not being able to use their powers separately.

In the end, 4 shows 3 that they can use their powers separately only in a minimal way, so 3, in order not to be left behind, begins training their powers to be on par with 4. Of course, several setbacks occur, and finally, these powers manifest fully when Miss Puzzles is about to deliver the final blow.

So, she surprises her friends when 4 has magic arms and 3 magic cannons in her hands. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

This applies to the original AU, but since they don't know how to exploit the potential of their powers, well, they stuck to the basics: holding hands for their powers to work. I'll see if I can make a mini-comic about the last thing mentioned when Miss Puzzles almost sends the girls to God.

[thewebcomicsreview]

So, Gunwild, the writer of Cassiopeia Quinn, made a comment on that post about webcomics turning into illustrated prose

gunwildversuseverything said: I was hoping this would prompt a discussion about formats and expression, but no, it’s about artist versus writer workloads and “amount of story” being reduced to equations and word counts and update schedules. Figures.

And you know what, it's a good point. So instead of getting into the Artist vs Writers debate for the millionth time, let's take a look at how you, and artist and/or writer, can get a story told on the internet. For the sake of this discussion, lets assume you don't have any actual preference for a given medium that might influence you, you just want to know what's right for your story and will learn whatever skills you need.

TRADITIONAL WEBCOMIC

Comics are the most visual-heavy medium that a solo project can realistically do. This has several business advantages (pictures do better on social media), but it's also a good fit for stories with a bunch of things that are interesting to look at. Cassiopeia Quinn is a story heavily featuring weird alien races, cool spaceships, and attractive young women with extraordinarily casual dress codes. These are visual things! And visual things can be conveyed super quickly and subtly using visuals. Imagine just the "Cassiopeia doesn't wear pants" gimmick, if this was written out. If Cassiopeia gets a description of her appearance the first time she shows up in chapter one and then it's kind of glossed over, the reader would forget. If every time Cassiopeia entered a scene Gunwild had to go

Cassiopeia sauntered up to the motorcycle rack. Her own rack was barely contained by a dangling strip of black fabric, visible through an open orange jacket. Black elbow-high sleeves, covering her hands, matched her thigh-high stockings, separated from her black panties by her thigh pouch.

Somehow it's a lot less cute when it's written out like this, huh? And it also takes way longer to read that then it does to just look at her on the page, which increases the chance your readers might get bored. Comics are the medium that takes the most time to make and also the least time to read, which makes readers a lot more likely to put up with exposition or a plot tangent that doesn't really connect with them. Even if your comic has bits that don't grip your readers, they can grip themselves if you show them interesting bits.

The main downside of comics is the "equations and update schedules" part. They take a looooooong time to make, even compared to everything else. It's also got issues with how people read it. A comic that looks good on a desktop often looks too small on a phone.

TEXT UNDER A PANEL

This style is so strongly associated with Homestuck that a lot of people who weren't making explicitly Homestuck-themed comics seem to have been scared off it. But it's a perfectly cromulent format. It reads well on both desktop and mobile, and lets you use art for all your visuals while using text for dialogue and character thoughts. It's not, however, the best fit for every story. Because each panel is separate, it can be hard to make an exciting action scene this way, which is part of why this format is also associated with special animated pages (I mean, besides "Homestuck did it"). The panels don't really flow into each other, and there's a constant switching between looking and reading.

ILLUSTRATED PROSE

Distinguished from the Text Under a Panel Style mostly by the ratio of text to art, without a hard line demarcating the distinction between them. This style also reads well in desktop and mobile. Well, it should, but a lot of webcomics who switch to this style tend to stay in their webcomic format, meaning it's a picture of text that doesn't resize legibly, grumble grumble. I don't....I don't know if I need to explain the concept of "text" to people. You know what words are, and if you don't there's nothing I can say to explain it.

VISUAL NOVEL

I'm not going to claim to be a visual novel expert, but the main advantages are that it's the most art-efficient medium of any of these (because you can flat-out reuse art), the main disadvantages are that you'll usually need music, it's maybe not as well suited to long monologues, and most importantly that it's not a good method for drip-feed three-day-a-week updates. You kind of have to release the entire thing all at once, or at least in large episodes.

ALL OF THE ABOVE

A comic like Out-of-Placers is mostly traditional, but uses illustrated prose for lore updates. Prequel is text-under-a-panel but not always, and of course Homestuck is the absolute king of format switching, even ignoring the animations. The upside is that you can use the best format for any given scene, and that you're constantly keeping your readers on their toes. The downside (besides having to learn to do all this shit) is that you kind of have to commit to the bit and get your readers on board early with the idea that you're going to just be doing whatever this week. It's also harder to take full advantage of any one medium if you're constantly switching them up

I'm sure I'm forgetting about two hundred formats, but what are the biggest ones I'm missing?

[dokidokitsuna]

Dream Alliance: Jambastion Rebirth

So yesterday I was archiving the text from all my DeviantArt posts about the DreamAll AU, and it was really fun to read through all that lore and story again. ^^ It’s unfortunate that I was working on it during my transition from DA to here; I feel like a LOT of info got lost in the confusion. But at least now I have it all in my own files to reference (or retell) later…especially if I ever get around to reviving/expanding on the AU like I’ve always wanted. There are a lot of unused scripts and ideas waiting for that day…

And since I was feeling inspired today, here’s one of ‘em. ^^ Since this was such a dark idea that I don’t really consider “canon” to the AU, I never really wrote it down or anything…but it made for such a good story that I held onto it in my heart~. Warning: LOOOOOOONG post ahead. ^^

So at the end of DreamAll’s story, Magolor and Division Six risk their lives and defeat Void Termina, yadda yadda…but once the world is finally safe from that threat, its next big question is: how can we make sure we’re safe from the teenage mad scientist with the god-killing mecha and bioengineered alien attack dogs…?

Basically, Magolor inadvertently made himself so powerful that the rest of the Dream Alliance and the world is kinda scared of him now. ^^; And as I showed in the final comic, Susie Haltmann takes it upon herself to investigate him and find out what his deal is…and in doing so, learns that he’s actually a Jambastion mage, and Hyness’ estranged son. And thus, the scheming begins~.

Mind you, Susie doesn’t really have anything against Magolor. It’s just that the pressure of essentially becoming president of the world, coupled with the revelation that Magolor is not only an eccentric genius, but also a dimension-bending dark mage that she doesn’t know how to control…it leads her to fall back on old (villainous…) habits and start to treat him like an obstacle, to be overcome by any means necessary.

And her first play would be to use the threat of Hyness’ execution to get Magolor to spill his guts: to tell the truth about his magic powers, explain in detail everything he did to create the Void Destroyer system, and get it all on the record so that he can’t lie about it anymore. Which I think Mago would agree to immediately-- he doesn’t want to see his father die (despite his literal crimes against humanity), and tbh he’d probably be kinda glad to have the weight of that deception off his shoulders. Unfortunately, he’s not worldly enough to understand that divulging all this information is the beginning of the end…

Next play: regulations. Now that the crisis is over, the Dream Alliance’s superweapons will naturally have to be decommissioned…including Magolor’s ‘angels’. Seeing as they’re technically not living things (as per Mago’s explanation) Susie would demand that he toe the line and put them down, or at least demonstrate that he’s willing and able to cut them off from his power on command.

And naturally, Magolor would think of this as going a bridge too far. Marx, Galacta, and Morpho might not have their own life force, but they’re still sentient beings who love and trust him as their creator. And if it’s a choice between betraying that trust and leaving the Dream Alliance entirely, he’s inclined to choose the latter.

And ^that is the decision Susie would be waiting for: proof that, when pushed, Magolor cannot be trusted to act in the ‘public interest’. And considering what he’s capable of, it’s now in the public interest for the Dream Alliance to find a way to contain him.

Of course, she doesn’t go after him right away-- she simply waits for him to come to her, thinking he can convince her that his angels are more than just weapons. When that fails, he resigns on the spot…unfortunately, he never actually gets the chance to leave.

Based on everything Magolor’s explained about the way his magic works…she decides her best bet is to cut off his hands, severing his connection to his vambraces and sending him into shock from blood loss all at once. Both serve to severely weaken all of his subconscious magic use, and his angels by extension-- Galacta collapses, and Morpho straight-up disintegrates. Marx is the only one able to remain conscious without his master’s direct influence, and immediately realizes that something is seriously wrong. His first instinct is to rush to find Magolor and slaughter anyone in his way…unfortunately, he discovers that he doesn’t have his flight powers anymore. Without his usual magic strength, he can hardly even move his prosthetic arms, and is easily captured when Magolor’s lab is raided.

Fortunately, Meta Knight is one of the arresting officers, and decides to take pity on Marx and “lose track of him”, letting him leave in the dead of night for parts unknown. He disappears for a couple years, skulking in the shadows, stealing food when no one’s looking, being miserable and missing all his friends.

But during all that time, he’s also preparing…he spends most of his days retraining his body to adjust to the much smaller amount of magic that he has access to, and trying to find information on the dissolution of Division Six and Magolor’s whereabouts…which proves to be pretty difficult. So eventually, when he finally gets a decent amount of fighting strength back, he decides to start his revenge plot by finding an ally: Magolor’s father, who’s still imprisoned where he’s always been.

Hyness has never met Marx before, but he remembers Magolor’s mentions of him. And besides, they both share a deep concern for Magolor and the willingness to do anything to save him. So Marx explains the situation and breaks him out, setting his plan in motion.

He realizes that Susie will have seen him through the security cameras, and will predict that he’s coming for Magolor. So he decides that his true next target will be Galacta Knight, and asks Hyness to use his powers to find and awaken him first.

After being forced to use his magic just to keep himself alive during his long imprisonment (which by this point, ended up approaching the decade mark) and having his hands removed as well, Hyness is also a lot weaker than he used to be. But he has experience on his side, and quickly adjusts by using the magic stored in his cape (basically, what I was foreshadowing back when I drew this). Together he and Marx make a fairly powerful team, forcing their way into the facility where GK is being stored, and setting him free to unleash his wrath.

^This is a decision Magolor would probably take issue with, if he were present to give his opinion on it-- he’d be against triggering GK into a psychotic break just to create a diversion, knowing all that death and destruction would weigh heavily on his conscience afterwards. But Marx, being in a desperate and angry place, doesn’t care, and figures potentially scarring his little brother is a small price to pay to get their family back together.

And while Galacta Knight is out acting as a weapon of mass destruction, Marx and Hyness manage to find and release Morpho Knight as well. Morpho has very nearly reverted back to the unresponsive energy blob that he was when Magolor first found him…but he’s at least conscious enough to follow his brothers around and help protect them occasionally. Marx leaves him with GK and follows Hyness to Magolor’s location, deep within Dream Alliance HQ.

How things go from there is a little more nebulous…I think it would probably start out as a stealth mission, which would take an unfortunately bloody turn before Magolor is finally found and revived. I think Morpho and Galacta would eventually catch up with them there and make things even bloodier. ^^; I think Susie would get into a big ‘tech vs. magic’ fight with Division Six that’s honestly been a long time coming. And I think Magolor, despite having just been awakened from a years-long medically-induced coma, would be forced to take point as the most powerful mage left in the group, and do something drastic just to put an end to the conflict and get everyone out of there. 

The aftermath would be bittersweet, and a bit ironic-- essentially, Magolor would be forced to go back to living in a secret society cut off from the rest of the world. He’d be reunited with everyone he cares about, including the father he once thought he might never see again, but he’d still have to live with the fact that the world he risked his life to save ultimately rejected him…and after all the atrocities his family committed just to get him back, the world is probably now convinced that its fears were justified. The damage is done, and irreversible…after all the effort he put in to become a hero, his short-lived dream is already dead and gone. I honestly don’t know what he would want to do with his life after that…

…Anyway, if you made it all the way here, thanks for reading~

[ourlittleuluru]

Finally got enough chocolates to exchange for Xavier's outfit ToT

Now it really feels like a matchy couple outfit (๑>؂●)ゞ

(Xavier, I know you don't like turtle necks, but you look too good in them... (￣∇￣*)ゞ or is it just my inner Cloud fangirl at it again?

I wonder if the reason why Xavier not liking turtlenecks is also partly due to the collar... hmm...)

~+~

And unlocked another text msg with him and... Am I looking way too deep into this line??? I am, aren't I?;;;;;

What do you mean "different from the one you know"?? C':

Reference from his previous identity???? From long looooooong ago????

[letscodelesbiansletscode]

Week 2, book 2. I definitely need to whip out my planner and get myself into gear. I did not plan my time well this week and ended up staying awake until 3AM meeting deadlines, which I have learned I am no longer built for as a 26 year old. C’est la vie I suppose. I’m still getting used to all of the reading grad school requires, especially considering my undergraduate degree was an art degree. I began college with a liberal arts graduate prep style program, but it has been a looooooong time since I used that part of my brain. Of course my minor was Anthropology, but ethnographic text is soooooo different than the standard academic format. But I can already feel myself reading quicker and more efficiently the more I push myself and my focus is improving, so hopefully it will get easier with time. But man does my gen-z mush brain just want to binge watch 90 Day Fiancé and doomscroll.

[syrupspinner]

i am obsessed with roman sands re:build

so now im gonna talk about it for a looooooong time. you can hit j to skip posts

roman sands re:build is an upcoming game developed by arbitrary metric (paratropic) and published by serenity forge (ddlc+, lisa definitive edition, slay the princess pristine, basically if it has text boxes and is an updated release it was these guys). notably, it is a remake of a visual novel just called roman sands, but ive deliberately avoided learning anything about the older release because I don't want spoilers

it's hard to pin it to one genre. you could call it an adventure game? you take first-person control of someone... interchangeable. nobody cares about your name, and people seem to use whatever pronouns is most convenient for their perception of you in any given moment. anyway, it's your job to be the busybody at this resort. fulfill requests until the day ends, which takes four room transitions. you start in the morning when you first enter the main doors, then it goes to noon, then afternoon, then evening, then you quit

then it's the next day. you're in a time loop... probably. this is also just what working in retail is like, I've been told. every day has you do the same thing for the same people. oh, speaking of,

everybody hates you. there are four hotel guests: Betty, who will yell about hoe youre awful at your job and you should be ashamed; her husband Harold, who is scatterbrained and weak-willed but at least knows how to say thanks: Sylvia, a high-class lady who condescends at you; and... bunk

I mentioned your perception is inconsistent. Betty sees you as maliciously incompetent, Sylvia is equally insulting but in a way that's more concerned with emphasizing her own superiority, and I'm not sure if Harold even knows you work here. but bunk can flip-flop in the moment. sometimes, he sees you as one of the guys that he can talk with about the good old days where you could complement women on their bodies without them calling hr. sometimes he sees you as one of those women. he doesn't care about who you are in the slightest, you're just a means of gratifying whatever whims he has. well, the others are like that too, but bunk is the most obviously carnal.

the main gameplay loop sees you routing the most efficient way to maximize your XP gain. since entering a door advances time, and the tasks reset every loop, you can do stuff like... getting Betty's pills before she asks for them, and going through the side door so you can fetch Harold a chair before he asks for it. cutting down on backtracking means you can do as much work as possible in as short amount of time as possible, just like a real overworked minimum wage service worker!

the games design and atmosphere does a great job at distilling this sense of frantic pace-keeping. I could never play stuff like diner Dash cuz I always got overwhelmed by having to keep all the orders straight and worrying about customers getting even a little unhappy. RSr:B fixes both of those problems, the former by making everything predictable enough to plan around and account for with previous attempts explicitly not mattering. the later is addressed by making everyone a stupid jerk.

also, just because i dont realy dwell on it, the aesthetic is amazing for non-thematic reasons. i love the use of cool colours despite the tropical setting, it emphasizes the tranquility that is intended by the location, and heavily contrasts with the presence of the sun as a threat to the narrative, which emphasizes the threat's dismissal. wait shit thats a thematic reason again, fuck. i love pretty dreamcast beaches and shiny y2k ui elements and the stupid stretchy noodle people. it just looks so cool man. im and english student not an art studen so i cant really articulate why i think that without just saying its pretty and i like looking at it.

anyway, there are so many minor mechanical things that are built to goad you into hurrying the fuck up. you start each day with two minutes on the clock, and if that clock runs out, you... miss out on a little xp boost. if you walk on an arrow path to whatever task is closest, you go way faster, encouraging you to move straight from one request to the other without breathing. and you cant select responses by scrolling through a menu, you have to select it from the number row. its like in a shooter, if you couldnt use a weapon wheel and always had to quick-select, which of course encourages you to be quick

there's enough that encourages you not to get too stagnant with your loops too. first, there's a sense of mutual exclusivity. there is only one drink, and two people want it. second, there's unlockable items! this is the main use of leveling up. for example, you can get a mop to clean bunks puke (don't actually you'll softlock and the demo doesn't save) or get that checkbook Silvia wants you to sign. or a simple toolbox

ooo, another thing is the tutorial. just when youre about to enter the doors, you get a pop-up of a girl telling you stuff lie "keep your head down" and "hurry up" that dont actually tutorialize much of the gameplay itself. i think this is another deliberate satire of capitalism. the most important part about getting and maintaining a job isnt your skillset, its who you know and how well you adhere to the culture. it doesnt matter how well you do the skills if you dont know your place

also, the game is really good about teaching you things naturalistically. betty asks you for a marg (with the pop-up lady redundantly telling you to get her the marg, but this would be really helpful to the players that were very understandably overwhelmed/disoriented by being yelled at by three people at once). bring it to her and she immediately barks another order at you, which tells the player that you talk to people to get requests. then, you go outside and get her pills like she asked, and you learn about the mechanic where time pass when you go to a different area.

the main goal of the demo, the main thing you're working towards, is fixing the elevator. well youre in luck, because the thing that you get from being level 3 (which you can get in your first day if you know what youre doing) is a toolbox. its not robust enough to fix the boiler in the basement, but... actually no it cant do anything about the elevator because its too sulfur-y. from here im going to spoil the central puzzle to completing the demo, so if anything ive said sounds interesting, leave now and play it

so! if you take some time to look around, youll notice the orrery. yes thats its name, yes thats a real word, yes i also misread it as ossuary and got super concerned for a minute. the orrery it has a large yellow chunk in the middle, and a planet missing from the display. theres a solar system display in the main lobby. so take the planet thats logically missing from both displays (or just take em all and just see which one fits - its mercury btw) and put it into place. now just... rotate the display until the planets align and beam the sun from the left into into the yellow chunk and... it retracts, showing you the idea of sulfur. you can use that to fix the elevator, and then the demo ends! nothing noteworthy or worth mentioning happens after that point. nope, not even [withheld]. look i know too many people that ignore spoiler warning but i still wanna leave something for them to discover when they play the demo, because you are going to play the demo

now, with everything (audible wink) established about what this game is, lets talk about why it is that way. i know i usually jump right into the analysis assuming that the reader already knows about the game, but like, there are three people who have posted about this on tumblr. two of them are developers and im the other one.

so first and foremost, ripping the bandaid off, this game is anticapitalist as fuck. you play as a service worker that has their humanity brushed aside at best for the sake of fulfilling menial tasks. your paycheck is sporatic, and they only things you can spend it on are consumerist trash that literally does not matter. at the end of the work day you vanish into the sea, crawling right back out when the next day starts, as a metaphor for how the people being serviced by these workers see them as their job and nothing else, dehumanizing them to the point that nobody in the game realizes that youre a human being first and a worker second. your opinions and feelings dont matter, just your labour. and i dont have to tell you that the time loop represents the banal repetition of the 9-to-5.

also, its getting hotter. every day is one tick off the countdown where the sun fucks the big one and... maybe youll die, maybe youll just be in hell. this is also anticapitalist, because this is pretty obviously... fuck i dont even wanna call it a metaphor because it just kind of is climate anxiety. its mentioned once as something too far in the future to care about, if its even a problem at all, and youre expected to go about your day without thinking about it. but at the end of every day you still see it. n days until the sun dies. just ignore it, you cant do anything about it

the aesthetic plays into this too. you know im a sucker for paradise-like locals, and my favorite thing you can do in them is explore what goes on behind the curtain to make them paradise. like, in Paradise Killer, a lot of ink is spilled over human "workers" sacrificing their lives to build something that will just be scrapped for some trivial imperfection. here, you essentially play as one of the humans trying to upkeep the illusion of perfection. its supposed to be incongruent to your gameplay experience because youre just a worker, your experience doesnt matter, this is all for the guests sake. your frantic gameplay is deliberately contrasted with the serene locale and calming music

oh! the calming music! theres one track in the game that isnt a chill beat, and its... the level up music. the first thing i thought of when i saw it? a slot machine. did you know theyre often designed to have flashy and appealing scenes play out both when you win and when you lose? its to subconsciously trick your brain into thinking youre doing a better job than you are, that youre winning in some way just by continuing to pour your money away. i dont think thats a coincidence. first, slot machines are a great symbol of the evils of capitalism, a machine that only offers the "service" of a slim chance of receiving money that, realistically speaking, is dwarfed by what youve already lost. the purpose of a system is what it does, and gambling as a systemic part of life is successful in bankrupting as many vulnerable people as possible.

how does that play into roman sands re:build? well, like a slot machine, the extravagance of the music and the visuals exists to play up what youre getting. on one hand, this is just a reasonable way to design a game, emphasize gameplay rewards with something flashy so players have an increased sense of accomplishment. on the other, this is meant to convince the player that slow incremental progress towards finally earning the right to use a mop bucket is something worth celebrating. it reminds me of how often employers try to trick their employees into being satisfied with stuff like pizza parties instead of, like, raises. this may sound like a stretch to you but id like to take a moment to remind you that this game includes a gacha system for literal useless trash for no other reason than to satirize how consumerism encourages you to spend money on things that cost as little as possible, valuing consumption for consumption's sake rather than the actual value of what youre consuming. why wouldnt they extend this to also satirize how capitalism undervalues workers by withholding basic amenities and minimal compensation as a reward for doing as much as you can as fast as you can? keep working, motherfucker, maybe youll get that better toolbox soon

wage theft is one of the most common forms of abuse done to the working class. it follows, then, that it is one of the most normalized. it takes many forms, like unpaid overtime and withholding benefits. perhaps the most notable are forcing employees to purchase mandatory equipment out of pocket (a central game mechanic as discussed earlier) and asking employees to do things outside of the scope of their position. of course, this is how the gameplay works on a fundamental level. you are asked to do the work of a receptionist, a janitor, a bartender, and even a masseuse. notably, this is done by the customers and not the administration. I'll get into the lack of a distinct employer figure later, so for now I'll go into how the layman's complacency in abusive systems seems to be a major theme of the game

yknow what im gonna talk more about harold. the other guests are actively disrespectful and directly abusive to you, so Harold definitely stands out. he requests things from you politely, and shows you sincere gratitude. here's the thing though, he's TOO accepting. Betty arguably treats you the worst out of the four guests, and Harold is never seen even attempting to oppose her. he's on to something when he hears the vmmmmm vmmmm noise from the basement, because there's a giant ominous machine if unknown purpose, but Betty yells at him until he stops caring. his abuse towards you, the working class, is not through shouting insults at your capability or sexual assault or insulting your personhood directly. it's through witnessing you be mistreated, and embracing it as the status quo, making the most requests to you out of everybody. at least when the others dehumanize you they're blunt about it, but Harold being the nicest person while still only seeing you as a worker to be commanded stings in a special way. being treated this way is normal, it's the best you can hope for

not only does Harold serve an important role in showing how complacency in an abusive system helps perpetuate it just the same as active participation, but he also more specifically connects to the climate change metaphor. just as all the guests mistreat you in a unique way, they all dismiss the growing heat in unique ways. bunk notices it, but is too caught in his vices and self-loathing to really care that much about the realistic consequences inplied by the fucking su dying. betty says that shes fine with an awful thing happening to everyone because itll probably hurt the people she hates, meaning she definitely votes conservative. and Harold, having heard all this, questions it but soon blissfully dismisses his concerns, a toxic positivity urging him that things always turn out for the best. the other viewpoints are selfish in self-explanatory ways, with Harold representing the climate deniers who see the topic as too confusing and complicated to hold a proper opinion on. Harold I'm shoving a microphone in your face how do you feel about the conflict in the middle east

did you notice i didnt mention sylvia? she doesnt comment. she takes the moment to passively insult those shes around. between you and me, i think she knows more than she lets on, it seems too much like shes deliberately dodging the topic. also, from the way she talks about couture later, specifically upholding it as something godly and unfit for mere cattle (the player) it kinda feels like she has to be in some higher position. or being on the same level as the lower-class that she demonstrably hates is really starting to get to her, and she feels the need to distance herself from the likes of us.

let's get back to the lack of an employer figure. depending on how you interpret [withheld] it can be theorized that kara (yes thats her name no you didnt miss anything) holds this role, especially since it seems to be her in the tutorial pop-ups. I disagree with this for more wide-scope reasons, I think you sincerely washed up in shore one day. the doyalist explanation is that it is how all workers are seen to operate. the working class is not envisioned by those they serve as having lives outside of their job. how often have you considered what your cashier's hobbies might be? their family, their weekend plans, their politics? youre probably just waiting for the card reader to let you scan and go home, all you're worried about is the service provided by their labour. I'm using "you" but I do this exact shit all the time too, to be clear. anyway, it further emphasizes the guests dehumanization of you in their perception. they can imagine that when a human works at a job, they answer to a boss. but when presented with a service, a worker just becomes a means to that end, and their humanity is replaced by their labour.

even if you didn't disappear into the sea, it wouldn't make any difference to them, they only think about you to acknowledge when you're not performing with proper efficiency, just like how you don't think about your clothes until they stop fitting, or you don't comment on roads without potholes, because there's nothing remarkable about meeting expectations.

so. what's up with that anyway. I've yapped about metaphors and figurative representation for a while now, but what's the lore? well, fuck if I know, it's a demo. but I've got some theories

theory one, it's a simulation. that would make sense with what is presented to us in the [withheld] segment, and also explain the time loop succinctly. the vmmmmmm machine could be some sort of core of the simulation? the lobby is full of larger-than-life paintings and sculptures, which may be foreshadowing that the entire world you're in is also man made (also, since i dont bring it up anywhere, i like how youre surrounded by art by never encouraged to interact with it, highlighting how capitalist obligation prevents us from truly appreciating the artistic). it is all but told to you that you're an interchangeable replacement for a previous employee, whatever happened to them, and some sort of matrix-style disposable humanity schema would fit right in to that. for the rest I can just say "it's like that one visual novel" and I think most of you will get it

theory two, it's the afterlife. it would make sense considering the location is called paradise in marketing. sulfur as an element is heavily associated with demons, so perhaps there's meant to be some symbolism that's made more solid in later parts of the game? here i can say its interesting that you obtain it by stepping outside of your role and not adhering to commands, which can parallel an angel disobeying the will of god. and using it to actively solve the problem could represent breaking traditional thought with new ways of thinking outside of doctrine? i dunno, it's hard to really say what it represents in the grand scheme before I've like, played the whole thing. also, that could mean [withheld] is a flashback to before you were conscripted into servitude (read: died), especially since the store page specifies that its post-apocalyptic. the cow imagery gains a double meaning here as well: they're seen as livestock meant to be literally churned into product, but hinduism sees them as sacred. something something essential worker, most see the proletariat as a disposable beast of meat, the animal itself just a means to an end of what they produce, but a select enlightened subsect of the world understand their importance to upkeeping society. which i guess are marxists in this metaphor? again ive only played the demo so this is 70% extrapolation

oh, speaking of cows, you can find a cow that has suffocated from neglect. I think this can connect to the whole worker dehumanization theme, but my intuition tells me it'll be more relevant to the [withheld] parts, in a way that is complimentary but still stands alone. god that part is so interesting, kara just could not wait to talk about dying. the voice actress nailed that shit

okay one last thing. the release was originally planned for summer 2023. its almost 2025 and the steam page still says "coming soon". completely sincerely: good shit. it would be hilariously pathetic to overwork for an arbitrary metric deadline when the entire game is like, about how shit that specific practice is. I love to see devs taking their time to make things the best they can.

if you can't tell I'm. kind of excited for this game. i dont usually go this in-depth but the thought of this thing instills the innate autistic urge to yap deep within my soul. but like i said earlier i dont really have the capacity to talk about stuff like how it looks and how it plays without just blindly gushing. did you know in the gameplay reveal trailer on serenity forge's youtube channel, your character nudges forward a little bit whenever they pick something up? this doesnt seem to still be the case, as interacting with objects now gives a full-screen prompt with the option to pick it up or examine it. also you dont seem to be any further forward when the prompt goes away.

okay. im gonna try and be less biased and come up with a critique. um, the demo could benefit from a save system, since its pretty easy for players who are taking their time and taking in the atmosphere to spend over an hour on this. you could argue that since the game is about going fast and being efficient through time loops that its not that big of a deal, and i agree! if a player quits the demo halfway through they can get back to where they were pretty quickly. but the demo does have a few glitches, like moments where it softlocked on a selection menu and it forced me to alt+f4. i know this'll be fixed in the full game anyway though so who cares.

uhhh i can see people being thrown off my having to click the mouse to advance dialogue but not being able to click menu options? i explained earlier how i think thats thematically resonant, but themes or no themes its still an inconvenience that players might have a problem with. the game has the colours and animations so built-in to how it works im not sure how robust the accessibility options are gonna be but that remains to be seen. but players are already complaining that the demo made em motion sick so i hope people sensitive to that kinda thing still have a chance to enjoy this. theres also how it isnt very obvious that you can select other planets in the lobby solar system but the dev said theyd improve that for the full release so im not gonna make a redundant suggestion.

um. there are probably. other things? accessibility/approachability is pretty important, but im just trying to be considerate of other potential players. if youre asking about what i, personally, think needs to be improved i can think of much. maybe if you play you can find a flaw, cuz i sure didnt. when you play the demo, let me know if i missed anything! i feel like i discover something new to talk about every time i launch this thing, which... is too often i think

this post is 4000 words. its almost 4 am. play the demo for roman sands re:build and add it to your steam wishlist.

[beloved-child-of-the-house]

Thanks for the tag @greattemptation yay I get to do Leo’s questions too 🥰

Last book: Wicked by Gregory Maguire, much more fun than I remember! Def very different from the musical but such is the way of adaptations!

Favorite animal: cats. If we couldn’t keep cats as pets, we would looooooong for them. Cats are wonderful and we’re lucky they love us back.

Last meal: I just made dinner actually! Chicken drumsticks, mac and cheese, steamed broccoli

Last text message: “Good luck 🤞🏽🤞🏽🤞🏽”

Socks/slippers/bare feet: slippers always!! I have sensory issues and I had a rlly debilitating case of plantar fasciitis a couple of years ago that I am a little paranoid about recurring.

Last thing that made me laugh: probably something funny my spouse said

Last thing I watched on youtube: a video about fat phobia in Harry Potter

Favorite lazy-sunday activity: baking, laundry, writing

Current obsession: the fountain pen my sister gave me for Christmas AND the clairefontaine journal I bought to write in with it. It’s amazing the way I can focus so clearly with those two in tandem. Such a sensory pleasure!

Looking forward to: eating my fancy yogurts for breakfast. Tomorrow’s is orange blossom honey flavored 😋

tagging @wholahoop, @lqtraintracks, @nv-md, @apricitydays-lazynights