#obvs talking about doing something and actually doing it aren't the same

[smallishdoggo]

i'm trying to keep the bitching about fandom bullshit to a minimum and just focus in on stuff i like, but man do i not like at all how nobody has anything even remotely interesting to say about braius in the newest episode. it's just on the one hand people who're just like "everyone who makes laudna upset should die", and on the other is people who're upset at how the campaign is going and are just happy that braius is doing shit that makes characters they don't like mad. boring. dumb. Talk about my guy, damn you!!! with empathy and thought deeper than "evil is when my blorbo is made sad"!!!!

[ventbloglite]

I think we need to sit down and talk about malgendering.

Not misgendering, malgendering.

We all know what misgendering means. Misgendering is when a trans person (or to be honest, even a cis person) has their gender denied to them in some fashion by implying, suggesting or outright stating that their gender is actually Something Else and not the one they identify as.

e.g. A trans woman being told she cannot attend a certain class because it's 'just for women'.

Malgendering is when the trans persons gender is not questioned or denied and may even be affirmed - but only in a context in which it can be used against them in some fashion (to make judgements on them as a person, to exclude them from something, to incite bigotry towards them etc).

e.g. That same trans woman taking her shirt off on a hot day and being arrested for indecent exposure.

This is misgendering;- "You're not a woman, you're a man." This is malgendering;- "Trans women are women, so obviously they exist to serve men."* *obvs it is also transmisogyny and all malgendering is transphobia.

But what you don't want to hear is that malgendering is a form of transphobia mainly used against trans masculine people and nonbinary people.

Most people recognise malgendering when it's;

Using the term 'theyfab' to ridicule an agender person or making jokes about how an agender they/them user looks (to you) to be a completely cis woman.

But you need to look out for how;

Malgendering is treating trans men like their transition has turned them into women-hating predators because of your own predjudices towards men/trans man were always inherently women-hating predators because maleness is what makes you those things not your actual thoughts, words and actions.

Malgendering is not listening to how trans masc people are marginalised 'because men aren't oppressed though' as if that's not ignoring a huge part of their identity (the being trans part) and how that works.

Malgendering is telling trans men 'this is just what it's like to be a man, people treat you like shit and you have to take it or not transition'.

Malgendering is insisting that any trans man who calls any attention to the fact that he is indeed, trans, and has/had female anatomy and faces misogyny due to being raised and still perceived (by transphobes) as a woman is misgendering himself, all other trans men and 'weaponising his AFABness'

All of this is transphobia. All of this is bigotry. This kind of predjudice and bullying doesn't magically become 'OK' once you find the 'right' group to do it to. You either want to end bigotry and transphobia and identity-specific targetted hate or you want to perpetuate it. But you can't call yourself a trans ally, or escape the bigotry allegations whilst malgendering people. And no you're not being sneaky by slipping in your hateful predjudice comments and actions whilst validating their gender.

Malgendering is transphobia.

[channelinglament]

I LOVED your SAHSR thoughts so please hear me out.

I actually doubt that HSR will understand what God means, like, they're in space and modern tech and with all the things they have encountered, I just feel that they have never understood "God" like in SAGAU. The only being that closer to a "divine being" being is aeon.

So my brainrot is, the player as aeon, who's just mindlessly flying across the Herta's Space Station that currently being invaded and taken interested in MC (who's literally stellaron) and favored them.

HSR characters are aware, that something powerful is actively watching and taking care of them. They are wary because aeons are areas they know very little about and have no control over.

But, who could resist the constant warmth and kindness of this peculiar aeon, plus, this aeon seems having no bad intention. Just some harmless mischief (scaring a cleaning service; those trash bing thingy; destroying property for some cash; etc)

Sorry if there any grammar mistakes. English is not my first language.

THIS ^

THIS IS AMAZING

TW:some religious themes, yandere

I agree, they indeed would think you're an aeon.

Some sort of highest of aeons.

AND THE MISCHIEF PART IS SO TRUE

They wouldn't understand why are you so different from all the aeons, but you don't cause trouble, and seem to actually care for them, make then stronger.. You really aren't that bad. And just like that, after their observation on you, their obsession began!

Considering what destruction everything else causes, you're the safest one, so some of them might even worship you. Admire you while being obssesses with divine aeon. Y-You even saved Belobog! And Herta's station.. They really should thank you, but how? Maybe offerings will do...?

Oh, some would be obsessive about you! Everything you do is absolute perfection! How could they not love you? Would keep a journal and take pictures/draw/paint you.

Some would be protective, you always look after them and their backs, so they are doing the same for you. "Just like in some romance book!" They say.

Others would be possessive (obv). They don't wanna share you with anyone. You're too special. They're the only ones who deserve you/ They may not deserve you but no one else is, so they'll try to isolate you. They want to keep you to themselves, you're to good for everyone and anyone else anyways.

Some are Manipulative and Cunning. This being paired with what I stated above is not a great idea. Thankfully, not everyone is like that.

Others are Clingy and Delusional. Would not recommend, as, if their delusion would shatter...the result would be..messy. you'll be alright tho. But everyone else won't.

Some would definitely share with each other and work together. Use their strong traits and cover the weak ones of others (and vice versa).

Running away? Kinda impossible, you're in space..

BUT

Hear me out, if in sagau we are sometimes ACTUALLY a God with gold blood

What if we are actually an aeon?

(We can talk and speculate about it more, I'm really interested about you're thoughts hehe. Everyone is so cool ><. Imagine being in both, SAHSR and SAGAU universe, both sides loving you, worshiping you and pursuing you. Oh it won't end well, and if it will, it won't be for you-)

[lamnwar]

Hii! I really love your stories and writing style and since i saw your requests are open, I'd love to request a NSFW with Akashi where it's both, his and reader's first time, with lots of fluff if possible and if you want!!

If you decide to write it, thank you in advance! <3

Omgggg can't believe it took me 6 months to complete this request I swear I momentarily forgot how to write smut 😭😭 hope you still enjoy this though, I felt bad so this one is extra long (4.7k) <33

You're My First // Akashi Seijurō x Fem! Reader

MDNI 18+

Context: Might have taken you and your boyfriend Seijurō way too long to finally have sex, whoops! All characters are aged-up (18+) for plot purposes.

Warnings: mainly fluff till the last quarter, mention of reader (and Akashi a bit) being sexually frustrated, mention of masturbation (both Akashi and reader do it), kissing obvs, handjob, fingering, protected sex (because Akashi is a gentleman 🥰)

The wooden tile strategically placed on the board, Seijurō's game partner sighs. It's a force of habit: can you ever win against a guy like him? You chuckle, arms wrapping around your boyfriend's shoulders as you kiss his cheek.

“What is it that you say? Your victory is absolute?” you whisper loud enough for Shintarō to hear you.

“Please, no need to add more to my defeat” the green haired man readjusts his glasses, seemingly unbothered by his loss but you aren't dupe.

A smile on your lips, you let your fingers run through Seijurō's red hair. His shogi playmate looks away, like all the times you show some sort of affection to your boyfriend. Throwing his jacket over his broad shoulders, Midorima excuses himself by saying that he's got practice. It figures, you think, Seijurō's friends are players like no other. You wave him goodbye as he walks out, and once his tall figure is out of sight, you let out a soft sigh.

“Sei?”

He looks up from the board with a softness in his gaze, putting the tiles back in their designated bag. Akashi Seijurō conceits his emotions quite well, that's a well-known fact. But the minute he fell in love with you, he's learned to open up. From talking about his mother to how basketball saved him from his darkest times, the Seijurō you know is exclusive – no one, not even Midorima that he's fond of, has any knowledge of the depth of his person. But you don't bother: he's your one and only, isn't he?

“Coming to my place tonight?” He asks.

You breathe in, like every time he asks. Most of the time, there is no meaning to these words. Nights of shy touches, nights of "sorry love, I can't". You ponder if you should refuse. You have needs, don't you? Of course you do. More than touch-starved, you crave love to a level that you feel Seijurō is not ready for.

“Sure thing” you utter, incapable of turning him down.

A light brings his eyes to life, and you feel your heart melt.

Isn't he sweet, your Sei-chan?

A thought you never believed you’d ever had, on the day you met him; an afternoon in May, both of you finding yourself in the same isle of the library, looking for the same book.

“It's in my recommended reading list” you said, not willing to back down.

“Funny, my professor wrote this one.”

His arrogance turned you off, but then, he organized a special lecture for your class with the author of said book, leaving your own lecturer in awe and you wondering why he did such thing for someone who meant nothing. Took you long enough to realize that you actually meant something to him. He asked you out right after that lecture and now here you are.

“Sei, let me treat you. We’re having celebratory diner for your victory in shogi” You stretch out of your spot, hands swaying to your hips as you smile to your boyfriend.

“My love, if we have a celebratory diner every time I win, you’ll end up broke.”

You scoff, nudging him in the arm. His arrogance ever so often pops out, but in a rather endearing way. In the right settings, you find yourself thinking, it might even be attractive – but you guard yourself from admitting so.

“We’re eating to my place instead” he says as his arm finds your shoulders, wrapping around it with the grace that could only be associated to him.

You raise an eyebrow but doesn’t refuse the invitation. The last rays of sun cast on your faces as you both walk in the late summer evening, between the distant laughter of children and the sounds of birds going home. And amidst all of what soothes your soul, nothing compares to the way you feel at this exact moment, walking so close to the one you love. It’s a subtle feeling, one that you don’t bother to describe, that makes things so easy when he’s around. And you just need to glance for a second in his direction, to see it. The way he makes you feel, written all over your face.

Seijurō is silent, yet, from the dancing flame in his eyes, you can guess that something is brewing in his head. You smile, a soft chuckle coming out of your lips. You know he hates it, when you’re able to read him so easily; he told you once, “I’ve always thought of myself as hard to decipher”. Not so much though, or at least, not to you.

“Sei, you seem nervous despite having an awfully good day.”

Your remark gets him to straighten up as he walks, a quick raise of his eyebrows indicating that you took him by surprise.

“Can’t a guy be nervous around his girlfriend?”

“My…” you chuckle, “don’t put it on me now. What’s up? It’s not the first time I��m coming over, although I’d argue it’s not a common occurrence.”

“Well, you know – “

“You might do things you'll regret if I come by too often, I know” you cut him off.

You both stay silent for a minute; your words having brought up the memories of countless of discussions around this topic. Seijurō has never outrightly told you why he barely has you over, why he cuts your dates short when things start to escalate, why every time you take the level of intimacy up a notch, he is the first one to grow distance between you. It’s always some vague excuse that you don’t really understand, but you try your best not to judge. Intimacy, after all, is not a given to everybody.

“But you know, I don’t think I’ll regret anything I do with you.” You say, cutting short to the long silence. “I mean, as long as it’s you and that… you know. I just wanna say, I trust you with these things. I wouldn’t be with you overwise.”

You quickly glance in his direction, in search of a reaction from your boyfriend. You don’t know if your words are clear enough to him – not that it’s been your kind (or his kind) to be straightforward. Yet, you still manage to get yourself to be understood, despite never saying things outright. So you just hope that he’s got the message clear; and he does, you figure, by the small nod he gives as you approach his place.

“I’ll treat you to a lovely diner tonight, then. And if you don’t mind, you can spend the night.”

You stare at him, incredulous. Have you heard that last part right? Seijurō always speaks with assurance, but these aren’t words he’s used to speak.

“Oh, y-yeah…” you clean your throat, hand clumsily trying to hide your blush.

This is a turn of situations you haven’t expected whatsoever, but as you walk into the familiar lobby of Seijurō’s place, you realize soon enough that this is real. Unusual, but real.

And then it hits you.

The reason he seems nervous, the reason he’s invited you over in the first place, and why he’s asked you to stay over from the start. It comes clear, especially knowing him. The young man has always been one to plan things out, especially important things. And if you read the situation correctly, tonight is not born out of nothing.

Maybe he’s finally taken notice of the small clues you’ve left, traces of your desire for more. The way your hands linger longer on his body when you touch him, the sweet perfume you wear on your neck in hope whiffs draw him in, the elongated looks you’ve sent him for weeks now. Sweet, innocent eyes, yet eyes ready for more, if he’s only willing to give you an opportunity.

And willing, to your surprise, he is. Something feels different when you walk the threshold of his place; it’s not the soft smell of lavender you’ve grown familiar with, it’s not the warm shade of the light, it’s not the way he hangs his jacket on the hanger at the door. So, what is it?

“Love, are you coming?” His voice brings you out of your thoughts.

You breathe out a short “yes”, joining him in the kitchen. Your gaze fall upon the rolled-up sleeves of his shirt, as he rinses vegetables for diner. The way he moves with grace and confidence while you’re still trying to process what this whole night means stuns you, and you sit, in contemplation of whether you should address the subject.

How are you supposed to ask your boyfriend if you’re having sex for the first time tonight, anyways?

You contemplate, ultimately concluding that being direct is the best way to go about it. Well, that is, if you even know how to be direct in the way you address the subject. So you stand, looming over his shoulders as he stirs some onion and garlic in the pan, shy hands locking behind your back. He hums, an assured smile creeping on his lips as he feels your presence in his back. He’s seemingly way more relaxed about this night than you are – but then again, Seijurō is the last person on Earth to show any sign of nervousness. His hand reaches back to you, gently dragging your face closer to land a kiss on your forehead.

“What’s that, love? Are you the nervous one, now?”

He chuckles as you stare at him, baffled. Are you doing such a terrible job at hiding it?

“Can’t tell me you’re all chill about tonight either” you retaliate.

“Oh, but I am.”

“When did you decide to make tonight the night, anyway?”

He turns off the stove, flipping the veggies one last time.

“I had that idea in mind for a while, but I wanted to make sure that you wanted it as well” he replies honestly, “so when you said that you trusted me earlier, I had all the confirmation that I needed.”

You nod, sitting on the counter.

“And you’re really gonna make me think you’re not nervous at all about it?” you cock an eyebrow.

His silence leaves you uncertain – something that annoys you ever so often. Your ability to read him better than anyone else has always been your pride, so these moments where he strips you from your special ability to comprehend him always annoys you.

“Seijurō.”

He looks up in your direction, his eyes open slightly as he hears your tone. It’s not cold, or mean, or stern. But it’s serious, well serious beyond what he’s used to hear from you. He sighs, joining you as his pinkie finger gently grazes your hand.

“If you don’t want to, we don’t have to do it.” He sighs. “Maybe we should have talked about it before…”

“It’s fine. If we did, it would have ruined the mood.”

“Because there’s a mood to ruin to begin with?”

You chuckle, finger interlocking with his.

“Oh, I’m crazy nervous, but it doesn't make me any less… eager than I’ve always been.”

He raises an eyebrow, slight amusement on his face. You can’t help but chuckle a bit at his expression. Suddenly, seeing him smile so wholeheartedly makes (most) of your nerves go away. Maybe that’s what he does to you, and maybe that’s why you stick around. You let out a soft giggle, before looking at him.

“Anyways. Do you have any idea how the night where you lose your virginity typically goes?”

“I was relying on you to have an answer on that.”

You scoff, a heartfelt laugh coming out of your throat. The sight of you like that makes the blood pump to his face; a light pink blush painting his cheek as he laughs too. He doesn’t even know what gets you to laugh like that – head thrown back as the little crinkles by your eyes that he loves so much appears, but it warms his heart like nothing else can.

“Damn, we’re two big virgins, aren’t we?” you say as you sigh dramatically.

“For some reason, I imagined that you would have been more knowledgeable than me on that topic.”

“Seijurō, who do you think I am?!”

He chuckles; a slightly high-pitched sound that rarely comes out of him unless he’s with you. Because this is what you do to him, letting his true nature shine through from time to time – whether it be his radiant smile, the pink on his cheeks every time he’s near you, or the kindness of his amber eyes.

“Well… you know I’m not one to half-ass anything, but it’s not the easiest thing to do some studying on.”

“I see.” You nod, fingers interlocking with his. “But we trust each other, don’t we?”

He hums, looking at you. And that’s when you see it in his eyes, that glimmer that tells you without stuttering that he is absolutely sure about this, you and him, but mostly you.

“Can’t go wrong if it’s us, yeah?”

His words travel in your mind as he slowly leans towards you. His thumb caresses the soft skin of your bottom lip, before he leaves a sweet and soft kiss on it. It feels almost nostalgic, a kiss similar to the one you first exchanged when you just started dating. The warmth in your heart and the gentleness of his fingers on your skin, all reminiscent of the kisses you experienced when you were falling for him. And now that you have fell, the idea of feeling these kisses all over again makes your heart beat frenetically. You kiss him once again, your hand resting on the soft skin of his cheeks as you pour your love in that single kiss. He pulls away, hot breath falling on your lips as his eyes capture you, forbidding you to look anywhere else.

“Is it crazy if I tell you I am absolutely sure about this, in this very instant?” he mutters against your lips.

You hum, shaking your head. It’s not crazy, the thought has crossed your mind, too. And maybe that’s a sign; for the little that you know on the topic, overthinking things usually isn’t the way to go. It’s more one of these “if you know, you know” moments.

And right now, this is it.

Just one look, and he grabs your hand, taking you both to the bedroom – not before covering up the sautéed veggies he’s cooked earlier, of course (Seijurō, even in desperate need for you, wouldn’t leave freshly made food uncovered). You giggle, body lying on the soft mattress of his bed; bed that you’ve shared multiple times without ever crossing the line.  And here you are, fingers tangling in his soft, red locks, too lost in a haze of desire to think of the hardship it has been all along to not act on your needs for him, for his touch.

“Sei, I want you, you know that?”

“You made it quite clear, yeah” he blushes softly as a sweet laugh comes out of his lips. “And I know it’s not very gentleman-like of me to say it, but baby, if I could, I would strip you naked right away.”

“Do it then, who’s stopping you?”

He raises an eyebrow, pink painting his cheek as he sees the daring look in your eyes.

“My... I’m no savage, I had to make sure you wanted me to.”

You laugh, leaving a sweet kiss on his jaw.

“Baby, I’ve got years of pent-up sexual frustration about to get unleashed. Please, do not be a gentleman with me tonight.”

He looks at you curiously, not expecting his sweet girlfriend to utter such words. Yet he feels his cock twitch in the confine of his pants when he hears you speak like that. Something about your tone – so clear and confident, with a hint of need, makes the blood rush down to his aching member. The one he used to stroke once you were gone from his place, mad at himself that he didn’t gather the strength to touch you despite knowing that it was what you both wanted; and he found himself angry at himself and in desperate need for you, stroking his dick shamefully as he thought of you.

But here you are, under his body, your tongue leaving the sweet taste of you in his mouth as you push him as close to you as possible.

He pulls away, heavy breath fanning on your hot skin. It’s almost by instinct that he lets his hand trail down to the hem of your shirt, tugging on it as if to ask if he can remove it from you. And he does when you give him a nod, loving eyes examining all parcels of skin that gets unveiled before him. He’s delicate and meticulous, removing piece by piece with so much regard for the fabric that you’re almost tempted to tell him to just rip it off. He has always had that theory about you – one that he finally gets to confirm.

You are, indeed, a piece of art.

The beauty of your skin, the marks, moles and scars, the curves and angles. All so perfectly mixed like you were created by an artist and no less. He stops for a minute, wondering: does he have any right to touch something so immaculate?

But you’re quick to give him an answer, when your hands remove his shirt, letting you get a sight at his body. Seijurō is surprising. His build is slender, delicate; but when your fingers trace the outline of his muscles, it becomes clear that he is more than he appears to be. Not that you’ve ever been curious about his body either. One thing that you’ve always liked about your boyfriend, is his face. His features are soaked in grace, always having the look of a prince in all situations – even in the morning when he’s just wakened up, or after practice when he’s sweaty. He’s got that same look, over and over, that makes you believe you must have done something great in your past life to find yourself someone like him in this one.

“Sei, I wanna touch you, can I?”

He smiles softly. Your request is sweet, almost innocent. He can’t say no, he doesn’t want to.

“Be nice, yeah?” He leaves a peck on your cheek.

You giggle – who would have guessed that he’d make you feel like a silly teenage girl in love right now? Your hand trails down his body, meticulously exposing his skin. It’s soft and warm, and now you understand why his hugs always feel so good. Your movements slow down when you reach his belt, eyes widening slightly at the sigh of the bulge in his pants. It’s not the first time that you see it – you’ve noticed it in the previous nights you had a sleepover – but this time, you ought to do something about it.

“Ah – oh my…” his breath hitches in his throat as your fingers reach inside his pants, pulling the fabric down to unleash his cock.

It’s a bold move on your part, one that gets you to blush furiously once you see his erected member before your eyes. It’s pretty, you think, much more than you expected it to be. A delicate curve that leads to a blush pink tip – sensitive, you notice as your finger curiously brushes over it. You explore, hand wrapping around his length as you give him gentle caresses.

“Is that good, Sei?”

“Amazing, love… please don’t stop.”

You hum, letting your fingers translate your curiosity by the way they explore every inch of skin you find, watching him shiver when you touch some places, sigh when you touch others. So… this is it, you think, a man’s pleasure. You continue, watching him twitch in your hold. You look up at him, sparkles in your eyes.

“Sei, do you love my touch?”

His fingers run through your locks, a soft smile on his face.

“I have to, it comes from you.”

Pulling you up to pepper your face in kisses, you can almost cry. It's never hit you before, how much your boyfriend actually loves you. But you can’t deny that look in his eyes – love and lust painting his irises like night lights.

Beautiful, like him.

Enchanting, like him.

Loving, like him.

“Sweetheart” his voice falls in your ear in a soft murmur, “I’ll need you to stop fiddling with my cock with those soft fingers of yours or I won’t be able to contain myself anymore.”

“Oh… Oh!” you blush, pulling your hands away. “Got carried away. A man’s anatomy is a curious thing” you remark.

He raises an eyebrow, laying you down on the mattress.

“I could say the same thing about a woman’s body, particularly yours…” he taunts, thumb tracing down your throat to your perky nipple.

You hiss, surprised look at the way he touches you like a scientist making a new discovery. His touch is exploring. He rolls the sensitive bud between his fingers, observing the way your body folds in response.

“Sei! Ah… sensitive!”

“I know.”

You ogle at him, only getting him to laugh with a bit of mischief in his voice. And you get reminded at this moment that this is who he is. Seijurō is a learner, getting his kick in mastering new skills. And for a man that has never done it before, he is surprisingly skilled in touching your body. As his lips trail down your abdomen to your navel, you hold your breath. On the moment, countless thoughts cross your mind. Did you shave this morning? What if he finds out about this one mole on your pubis and freaks out? Doesn’t it look a bit weird down there?

“Good lord…”

Fuck.

You panic even more upon hearing his exclamation; what does it mean?!

“My love, are all vulvas like yours? Because it looks so pretty…”

“Huh?”

You’re stunned, speechless. It isn’t quite the compliment you could ever wish for. To be honest, you’ve been too scared to take a proper look at your own cunt before, so all the sense you have of it comes from what you’ve gathered from your touch. You’re familiar with the ridges, soft bulging parts and folds, but what has always been mere anatomy to you, seems to be art in Seijurō’s eyes. His curious finger runs through your slit, separating the lips as you blush furiously. His movements are teasing – you wonder if he’s doing it purposely or is it just a mishap of his exploring. Either way, you bite back your whimpers, watching him brush against your clitoris softly, while you squirm.

“Sei that’s uh…”

“Here? You want my touch here, love?”

You nod eagerly, observing the way he looks at you from between your legs, finger gently circling around your clit. Your hips buck forward, setting a rhythm to which he adapts his moves.

“You’re getting wet… do you mind if I put a finger in?”

“Please!”

You quickly cover your mouth, surprised by how needy you sounded just now. Such tone has never gotten out of you; except late at night, in the solitude of your room when you’d think of him, frustrated fingers toying with your clit as you would almost cry thinking about how much you craved Seijurō’s touch. But now that you have it, it’s a different thing. It’s much more intense, like your skin is a fragile flame, and his touch is fuel. He pours, your flame grows, and grows, and grows.

“Fuck… I…” You pant, far from expecting his fingers to know your cunt so well – isn’t that supposed to be his first time, too?!

“Everything’s alright?” he asks between two kisses on your inner thighs.

Your lips tremble, one arm pressed against your forehead while your other hand holds the bed sheets like your life depends on it.

“I think I’m close” you finally manage to say.

“Want me to stop?”

“…” you think for a moment, too overwhelmed to have an idea of what you truly want – but you do give reason to your body, eventually, “Don’t stop.”

He leaves a sweet peck on the skin of your thigh, working his fingers till you squirm, your warm walls pushing him out as you reach your orgasm – first one that he’s brought you to. He props his body up to kiss you with all the love he has for you, and you pull him close, goosebumps covering your skin when you feel his naked body against yours. He’s so soft, so loving, it can almost make you cry.

He’s just… love. That’s what he is, the embodiment of love.

“Baby, should we go all the way?”

You nod, kissing him again, and again, drunk on him.

“Please say it with your sweet voice” he murmurs against your lips.

“Seijurō, please make love to me.”

He nods, the tenderness in his eyes giving you the kind of warmth you’ve always craved. It stays, even when he gets up to get a condom, and even when he stands before you, hard-on in his palm as he rolls the rubber on it. You look with stars in your eyes when he hovers above you, leaving a peck on your forehead.

“I’m going in, alright?”

“Yeah” you breathe out.

Your nervous, trying to distract yourself of the stinging feeling when his head pushes in, so you look at his face. His half-lidded eyes, his parted lips as his hot breath fans on your face, and the contraction of his shoulders as his hold himself above you.

“Are you good, sweetheart?”

You shake your head, feeling tears coming up. You can’t tell if you’re just overwhelmed or if it’s that novel pain you feel in that part of your body. Seijurō’s furrow his eyebrows in concern, stilling as he looks at you.

“Shall I stop?”

“Let’s… don’t move. I wanna get used to it.”

“Sure?”

You nod, take big breaths to calm yourself down. Leaving kisses after kisses on your forehead, you feel yourself relax a bit, eventually giving him the thumbs-up to push deeper. And he does, slowly, carefully, like your pussy is the most precious place in the world and that he, a mere mortal, should only thread carefully around it.

“Here you go” he coos “taking me so well…”

You mewl, hands wrapped around his neck, as he starts his slow thrusts. You wonder for a minute if he’s pacing himself as to be careful, or because he’s afraid of not being able to hold himself back overwise. Either way, you slowly find pleasure in the feeling of his cock roaming inside your walls – in and out, deep and slow. Seijurō’s soft grunts falls in your ear, making you shiver.

“You feel… ah… so good, love” his voice is slightly more high-pitched, hints of desperation tinting his timbre.

“Please, faster…”

“Is that what you want, hm?”

“Yeah” you moan out as your hips buck to meet the movements of his.

He pants, the look in his eyes being something you’ve never seen before. It’s not something you can comprehend, but seeing that light danse in his amber irises, combined with his slender finger toying with your clit, you feel your high build up. And explosion of sensations, taking your entire soul to another dimension as you squeal his name, holding on to him like he’s your saviour.

“Fuck, I…”

You giggle in surprise, not ever recalling hearing him swear before. But can he be blamed, when the tight hold your pussy has on him is just so heavenly?

“I’m… love, I’m cumming!”

Those words alone send you into a frenzy, the song of both your moans filling up the room, the same way his hot seed fills up the condom, seconds before he gives out, head falling on your chest.

“I love you” you whisper, just a bit louder than the erratic beat of your hearts.

He looks up at you, incapable of voicing an answer, but you’ve known Seijurō’s face well enough to read his thoughts.

You’re his biggest victory, he believes, being here in this bed, closer to you than he’s ever been before.

[hey-august]

Cus saying something about rollercoasters gave me an idea.

What do you think buggy is like if he wants to take his partner to like a fair or theme park or something of the sort. Cus, obv he would. But they're way too afraid to get on most of the rides?

He may tease, sure. That's got to be a given, no? But seeing the terrified look your face after he'd somehow coaxed you into let's say the Ferris wheel? He's holding your hand, telling you it's okay. Describing the pretty lights and stunning view as you slowly get to the top. And while it's stopped all the way up high, you actually look out. Able to relax a bit. It's not so bad. It's pretty, actually. But heights are still terrifying.

Or maybe it's a rollercoaster he had to coax you onto. "Just try it once!"

And maybe he'd regret it just a little. The constant scream right next to him. Absolute death grip on his hand.

Getting on and starting to go up was one thing. The second it sped up just a hair to get to the top is when the screaming started, the tight hold on his hand. Then the screaming got louder as it sped downwards and your hand kept one hell of a death grip on his hand. The only time the screams stopped was so you could take a breath to continue screaming. Once the ride was over though he led you to a nearby bench until you could relax.

Or maybe those teacup rides. Only scared to get on it because.. Well it's buggy. And most people you've been on that type of ride would spin it way too fast and scare the ever loving hell out of you. But he's already dragged you on enough rides and this was one you liked. So he did spin it, but made sure you were okay with the speed. Laughing and spinning it together, enjoying the more peaceful ride.

Though you two did get on it again just to go as fast as possible. Laughing and clinging onto the seat.

I feel like he'd also want to win you a prize. *Of course* it had to be one that was so fucking stupidly hard to get. But he wanted to see you smile, he always did. So he tried. And tried again. And again. And..one more time. *damnit* why was it so difficult? But the second the person who was in charge if the game became distracted with something, even for a mere second, he cheated. Hey, he wanted to get you that prize. And it so happens he can detach limbs. His hand reattaching before anyone can see of course.

Is some of this based on personal experience? Yes. I can't stand rollercoasters, they scare the shit out of me.

My personal story with my first rollercoaster was at Kentucky kingdom. Lightning run. My mother fucking counted. (Yk the count to 3) Just to get my ass on a rollercoaster. I was terrified okay? But, yes, the death grip and screaming was what I did. That was her karma. My loud ass screaming in her ear (I was on her left) and one hell of a death grip. She might have lost a little blood flow for the time being. But she never dragged me on a rollercoaster again. And she never will be able to again.

(I have written more than intended but ideas keep coming)

Heck yes! Buggy would be a MENACE with this. Taunting and goading you into going on the thrilling rides.

PUH-LEASE, only weenies skip the big rides. What's the point in going if you're not gonna ride Mr. Bones' Wild Ride? (okay, maybe skip that one)

Buggy also talks up how the rides aren't even that scary. You eventually give in because:

maybe he's right,

you don't want to miss out on a good ride,

he seems so excited, and

he's getting annoying.

Yeah, the ferris wheel wasn't terrible. A little more shaky that you expected and very high up. But you got to sit next to Buggy. He even bought (stole) you a corndog to enjoy. He ate most of it.

The roller coaster though. Buggy thought he won (what exactly? who knows) when you agreed to go, but a little worm of regret started wiggling when the car reached the apex. Buggy said it was like climbing the ship's rigging on rough waters, but this...did not feel the same. Or maybe it did and he forgot how intense that feels. Both of you had white knuckle grips on the safety bar the whole time.

The tea cup ride was fine. Better. Really nice, actually. Even when it spun wildly, you still enjoyed it. It was less of a competition and more of a cooperative sport to spin the tea cup juuuuust right. Buggy also showed off by using his hands to spin the cup while he leaned back, handless-arms behind his head.

And BIG AGREE to Buggy stealing prizes. He also cheats. A barely-noticeable fingertip knocking over bottles, nudging balls, guiding hoops. He's schmoozing with the game attendees, distracting them from all the other shady shit he's doing. Meanwhile, you stand slightly off to the side and grab whatever Buggy hands you.

Do you need a giant plush sleepy banana? Or five bunny keychains? Or more than three lanyards? Or a frog bucket hat that doesn't fit? Or a bear bucket hat that doesn't fit? Or a cat bucket hat that doesn't fit?

No. But you take them anyways.

---

I'm also right there with ya with some un-fun ride stories, cyra. 😂 Once when I was a younger kid, I CRIED on the queue for Space Mountain. SOBBING. I was scared but we were going to go on the ride. And then the HORROR - I was supposed to sit at the front. Absolutely not. Thankfully, some older teens took pity and sat in the front.

I got on the ride, continued to cry, and shrunk myself so low that my head knocked on the sides of the ride during sharp turns. It was not ideal.

On a lighter note, there was a time where I was on one of those spinning Gravitron rides. The UFO shaped one. And the ride operator would slow down the spinning and then start it right back up. They said we were almost done more than once but everything kept spinningggg. We were hostages in the UFO and it felt like forever. Honestly, I loved it but omg I felt like I was outside of my body afterwards. I was not the same person.

[i-guess-im-into-this-now]

The Apothecary Diaries

S1E11 First Watch

Here's where I watch The Apothecary Diaries for the first time and give my thoughts, analysis, predictions, and occasionally I stumble into a joke.

To start at the beginning:

Episode 1

My character/location cheat sheet

Lady Ah-Duo - Pure Consort, one of 4 top concubines

Garnet Pavilion - Lady Ah-Duo's residence

Fengming - Head LIW at Garnet Pavilion

Lady Lishu - child bride concubine

Jade Pavilion - Lady Gyokuyou's residence

Luomen - Maomao's physician father

No cryptic opening! Maomao is in a garden, examining a flower, and maybe this is one of those plants that she mentioned last episode. One of the medicinal plants that suspiciously grew both in the palace and in Luomen's own garden. Is she thinking of the secrets that her father has kept from her? Or how the machinations of the palace affected him?

Maomao goes to deliver a letter from Lady Gyokuyou to Lady Ah-Duo, but runs into Fengming, and I'm guessing that's why she is actually here. Maomao opens a box and shows her something that makes Fengming nervous. Maomao has figured out what has been going on in this pavilion and she's either here to confirm something or to offer her own form of justice.

If that's the case then I'm scared that she's doing this on her own. Aren't we still assuming that someone here tried to murder Lady Lishu? And wasn't the servant girl that worked here killed? Isn't it dangerous to confront these folk all on her own? Does she know something that I don't (she does), about these mysteries that makes her feel safe walking in alone?

The people of Garnet Pavilion have their luggage packed and are vacating because Lady Ah-Duo is about to be replaced.

Maomao confronts Fengming with what she has surmised. Lady Ah-Duo had her baby at the same time as the former empress and was unable to receive medical help during delivery. Something went catastrophically wrong if Maomao is correct, and Lady Ah-Duo lost the ability to bear children. Since Lady Ah-Duo was so injured after birth, Fengming cared for the newborn. Fengming made a critical mistake when she fed the infant honey and azalea (Oh that's the flower she was examining in the opening). The death was attributed as being due to the same poisonous powder that killed another newborn recently, but Luomen was blamed, labelled incompetent and expelled from the palace. Later Fengming learned that she was responsible when she heard Lady Lishu's story, but kept the truth hidden, and tried to keep distance between Lady Ah-Duo and Lady Lishu, who had developed a bond. Fengming tried to eliminate Lady Lishu by poisoning her soup.

Fengming denies none of it and simply asks:

What may I ask do you want?

Justice asshole!

But really, what is Maomao trying to achieve here? She isn't trying to blackmail Fengming. If she really wanted to do something about this, couldn't she just tell Jinshi and let him handle this? What does Maomao gain by going directly to Fengming with this? It seems dangerous.... is she trying to see if Fengming would kill someone for discovering this secret? Trying to see if this is what happened to the servant girl who was killed?

Fengming feels incredible guilt over what happened to the baby. She witnessed Lady Ah-Duo's grief. And devoted herself completely to her concubine.

Maomao: I can't relate. I don't have it in my heart to let anyone that close to my own.

Girl, we noticed. But that is Maomao's character arc! I've talked before about her fear of vulnerability, I just didn't know she was aware of it.

I've been thinking about Maomao a lot (obv, I'm writing blogs on every episode), and something has been slowly becoming more and more apparent. She doesn't think very highly of herself.

Oh sure she's assertive in how she acts with others, but that's only because she typically only speaks on topics she is certain on. She consistently declines to talk about gossip, and routinely resist talking about conjectures. Jinshi is sometimes an exception. Maomao knows what she knows about medicine and draws a line where her expertise ends. So when she speaks, she speaks with confidence and we get the impression she is a confident person.

But I don't think that's the whole story. I think she views herself in how she can help others. She only is valuable because she can serve others. If she couldn't do that, then what good is she? And even as an apothecary she doesn't take pride. She believes she's subpar, because she compares herself to her father.

I don't think she sees herself as inherently worthwhile.

We hear it quietly in off hand comments sometimes, like when she was talking about Lady Lihua having a large chest and she says that she herself isn't blessed that way.

We see it in big ways like self harm and suicidal ideation.

We see it a whole lot in how she relates to Jinshi.

Maomao: Please, I'm of lowly birth. It's not right for you to touch me. [Episode 6]

She really thinks she isn't worth his attention.

So she's going to need to learn to love herself for more than what she can provide to others before she can accept that others love her too.

But she does better when she's surrounded by people who truly love and appreciate her, like the ladies of the Jade Pavilion. And Jinshi too. On his good days, he's a great influence on her. I like the ways he makes her comfortable enough to share her thoughts, supports her, and appreciates her. He's giving her some desperately needed validation. And what is love if not feeling seen and valued? Our girl will get there eventually.

Maomao: Once he hears my story, Master Jinshi will surely apprehend Fengming. There's no way she wouldn't be executed. The woman is smart, and surely she already knows this.

Then Maomao offers to take her two motives and make them into one. I wonder what she's doing. Lady Ah-Duo watches Maomao walk away, turns out she wasn't out of the pavilion as Fengming had claimed after all. I wonder if she heard all of that.

Maomao is exhausted from the stress of all the emotions she's been navigating all day, and the weight of the choice she has to make next. Turns out she was prepared in case Fengming had tried to stab her. She really walked in to a situation where she thought she could have died. And for what? What did she achieve today?

My guess is that she needed to confirm her theories before she brought them to Jinshi, because the stakes were too high for her to be wrong. If Maomao's theory had a flaw in it, and Fengming was executed because of it... well Maomao couldn't risk that. So she walked in there, knowing she could be attacked or killed, to get the truth. Holy shit Maomao.

Jinshi is also tired. Fengming handed herself in. I'm sure he's happy to get to the bottom of this case but it's yet another thing for him to deal with. And maybe he hoped that there was some other explanation that wouldn't require him to execute Fengming.

Jinshi asks if Maomao knew about it, she denies it. I'm sure he already knew she was involved before he asked and I'm sure she knows that he knows. So this little exchange is just a testing of the waters. With Jinshi saying are you ready to open up to me yet? And Maomao saying nope. The whole conversation Jinshi's keeps pushing, keeps giving her opportunities to tell him the truth. He never gives up on her. But she has locked every door he tries open.

We find out that Lady Ah-Duo was already scheduled to leave the palace to go to an imperial villa. Jinshi thinks Fengming's motive is odd.

Oh Hongniang came by earlier and brought some flowers? I'm sure it was just a meaningless gift for the palace manager and not an excuse to spend time with Gaoshun.

Maomao starts sucking on a flower so Jinshi does too. Then she tells him it's poisonous. Just because Maomao eats something doesn't mean it's safe! Which is actually hilarious, because she is a food taster.

Maomao explains that she convinced Fengming to say the baby's death and the attempt to poison Lady Lishu were due to the same cause, which was trying to secure Lady Ah-Duo's position as a favored concubine. I don't quite get how that motive explains the baby's death, but I'm just going to roll with it.

Jinshi goes to Lady Ah-Duo to talk about Fengming. He's going to have to execute her, but she was a well respected companion to Lady Ah-Duo. I think it is kind that he is taking time to have this difficult conversation with Lady Ah-Duo. Jinshi never shies away from a situation because it's hard, and I think that's admirable.

But also, this is SO his mom! I know I said that about the dowager empress, and I was dead wrong. In my defense, the empress also has the same coloring as these two. But, Lady Ah-Duo, she even wears her hair up in the same style. And there was a whole scene in an earlier episode about how Jinshi wouldn't spend time in a concubine's room alone with them, but here he is, perfectly comfortable doing just that. She's his mother, and he knows that, and probably other people know that too, since he's not afraid of getting busted. I'm dying to see how Jinshi relates to the emperor and empress.

Maomao is feeling guilty. She's done the right thing, but someone was executed because Maomao got involved and she's struggling to accept that. She climbs up on the wall. This is the same place that Lady Ah-Duo's lady fell to her death to drown in the moat. This wall which represents the boundary between the cage of the palace and death in the moat. I don't think it's a coincidence that Maomao is here. Is Fengming's execution justice for the girl who died?

Lady Ah-Duo meets Maomao up there. She probably has a lot o her mind since her head lady in waiting was just executed for killing her child, and attempting to kill Lady Lishu whom she has a fond relationship with. Plus she's leaving the palace tomorrow. Perhaps she wanted to come up to the wall one last time before she leaves forever.

Lady Ah-Duo tells us she never wanted to be a concubine and questions why she clung to it for so long. Her relationship with the emperor was that of a friend rather than a concubine. Maomao thinks that Lady Ah-Duo would be saying the same thing to anyone whom she may have come upon on the wall this night. I disagree. I think Lady Ah-Duo is a lot more aware of who Maomao is then she is letting on. I think she overheard the conversation between Fengming and Maomao the day of the confrontation. So Lady Ah-Duo has Maomao to thank for uncovering the truth about a couple of things. But also. Since I'm assuming Lady Ah-Duo is Jinshi's mother, there is also the possibility that she knows a whole lot more about Maomao, having heard it all from Jinshi himself.

I see. Lady Ah-Duo is up her for the same reason as Maomao, which is to remember the servant girl who died. Turns out even a servant girl's life mattered to someone in the palace. She didn't just disappear without a care. I wonder if Maomao will take this to heart, if it might help to ease the black mood we saw from her a couple of episodes ago.

But her death was a suicide. She killed herself this way so as to keep suspicion from Lady Ah-Duo. Perhaps Fengming even helped her. Lady Ah-Duo knew how the girl died. She calls her a "fool" but cries and says "we all are." This entire story arc demonstrates the desperate choices people make under pressure, and what they are willing to sacrifice.

The servant girl's suicide is the most prominent example of acting out of desperation, but every character in this arc has their own version of this. Fengming in what she has done to cover up the truth of Lady Ah-Duo's baby's death. Lady Ah-Duo with her clinging on to her position in the palace. Maomao in her need to figure out what happened to the servant girl. Even Jinshi in his desire to connect with Maomao.

Maomao is coming down the wall when she is startled by Jinshi. She falls, into his lap. And... is Jinshi... drunk? She tries to get up, but he hugs her.

Oh Jinshi. If we needed another example of desperation here it is. Tears fall as he asks Maomao for warmth, just for a little while.

Jinshi has been unraveling for awhile now (See previous posts). He's lonely, overworked, and overwhelmed. And now he is overcome with emotions. Plus, he's just had to execute someone today. And his mom is leaving. Yet another loss from his ever shrinking circle of support. It's been a rough time for our dude.

I don't know what was happening with him and Lady Ah-Duo, I'm guessing they were drinking about how shitty the day was or maybe saying goodbye since she's about to leave. I wonder why Lady Ah-Duo wanted to get him so drunk, and then left him in her room to wait for her. When she returns, she tells him she's satisfied now. What does that mean? Oh! Is she saying she approves of Maomao?! Then she threw him out. Maybe, so that he could have a serendipitous encounter with his sweetheart? Is Lady Ah-Duo on team JinMao? I am choosing to believe yes!

In any case he's drunk and his will to keep holding back his emotions from Maomao has bottomed out. This one person with whom he feels some kind of connection with just fell into his arms, and no, he's not letting her go right now.

So, he squeezes her tighter and she settles in, willing to tolerate this breach this time. Allowing him to touch her is a line she tried not to cross, but she's not willing to enforce her boundary this time. Her boundaries are there because she's afraid she's unworthy, and she's afraid that getting involved with Jinshi could lead to trouble, and she's afraid to be vulnerable. Those boundaries aren't there because she doesn't care. In fact, it's because she cares, that she breaks her them down tonight. To deny him in this moment would be cruel. And she's not willing to hurt him, even if it means she has to be a bit vulnerable herself. Her boundaries were never meant to hurt other people. They were there to protect herself. If the choice is between protecting someone else and risking herself she will choose to endanger herself every time, she's consistently self-sacrificing.

It's a major step forward for both of them, and I'm extremely interested to see if the boundaries will go back up the next time they meet or if this wall that just came down can't be re-erected.

Also, props to Jinshi for asking for exactly what he needs. Maomao is terrified of being vulnerable, but Jinshi is fearless. They are both such fascinating characters.

Lady Ah-Duo gives back her crown to symbolize her official retreat from the palace. Maomao is seeing Jinshi and Lady Ah-Duo side by side and it hits her that they are mother and son. And boy doesn't that have a lot of ramifications.

Maomao surmises that Lady Ah-Duo's baby was switched with the empress's child. Perhaps Lady Ah Duo did it to ensure her child would be safe. Turns out that was a justified fear since the baby in her care did die. Maomao thinks that someone may have found out about the switch after the baby was dead and held Luomen accountable for not noticing the switch. It also explains the odd position of the emperor's brother. And why Lady Ah Duo stayed around the palace so long despite not wanting to be a concubine. And Jinshi must know too because he stayed around drinking with her.

Maomao: What complete nonsense. I'm disappointed for even thinking of it.

Same, Maomao. Same. It's exactly how I feel about all of my theories, and this blog in general. But unlike me, Maomao is rarely wrong, so I'm counting this as proof!

Lady Lishu is crushed that the only maternal figure in her life is leaving, but it does look like her food taster may be be on her side now.

Maomao walks away from the scene, which is closing out so many of the mysteries that were unsolved. And I can't help but notice that there are clouds gathering on the horizon. Foreshadowing.

I don't know what the last scene between Gaoshun and Jinshi means. But the storm has arrived, so I know this is a turning point.

Gaoshun: Fengming's kin, and those connected.

Jinshi: *sigh* She told me she was kidnapped and sold off, but...

What does it mean that Maomao's name is among those of Fengming's family and associates? I only have one theory and I don't like it. My theory is that the emperor had a relationship with Fengming and that Maomao is the bastard child of that relationship. Hidden and removed from the palace for... reasons. But I don't believe that theory myself, if the emperor hid that, then it wouldn't be coming up now. I'm returning to my theory that "the annex" will hold the answer to who Maomao's parents are. And now that I think about it, why would Jinshi mention the kidnappers here? Are the kidnappers part of Fengming's family? What will happen to Maomao because of this? Is she to be punished? How will Jinshi handle that?!

What I really need are more scenes with the emperor so I can get a sense of that person. So much of this story revolves around him (harem story duh), yet he's not actually around all that often. I'm so intrigued to know how he and Jinshi relate to one another. Let me into that emperor's head already!

At least now we don't have to pretend we don't know Jinshi is a prince. We don't know for sure who is father is. I'm going to guess he's not the current emperor's child otherwise his position in the palace would be as a future heir, and not the ambiguous position he holds now. As it is, he's being presented as the emperor's younger brother, which considering the emperor has no legitimate heirs, I think that would make him the crown prince. At least in name, if not in blood.

And Maomao may think her theory is wild, but now that she's thought it, I wonder how it will affect how she behaves around Jinshi. If she thought he was too far above her as a eunuch official, what will she think now that she suspects him of being the crown prince? Also, surely she'll realize now that he is not indeed at eunuch. The empire would not castrate their prince. Will that realization impact Maomao?

I can tell we are at a turning point in the story. Early storylines have been all resolved, and the characters have completed their first arcs. We're ready to move into the next challenges. Frankly I'm super excited.

To start at the beginning of these blogs:

Chapter 1

Next Chapter

Chapter 12

[evangelineiiimoscovia]

I've finally watched Link Click s2 and Yingdu arc. I won't talk about the actual writing and foreshadowing of the show since there are a lot of people already on the topic. I personally enjoyed it and I'm in for the ride. I'll instead give my thoughts on specific details of the show that caught my eye.

More under the cut

First off, something I thought was general knowledge but apparently isn't. The Chinese name for the show, ShiGuangDaiLiRen, is a pun. Much like any Chinese/Japanese series, all names are puns. Cxs means (Cheng) Process (Xiao Shi) Hour. Lg means (Lu) Land (Guang) Light, and don't take my word for this, but I think this is a double pun. Lu(land) sounds the same as Lu(path), making his name "Path light" as in literally lighting the way. Of course I could be wrong because although Lu(path) is not a common Chinese surname, if the creators had wanted to call him Path Light they totally could have.

ShiGuang, the first part of the title and the ship name of the MCs means "time", but not just any time, it's usually used in a positive context, like the times that you appreciate, or moments to treasure. DaiLiRen, the second part of the title means emissaries or agents. So the title means "(Treasured) Time agents", and for the shippers out there it can literally mean "ShiGuang agents"

Moving on. I'll always love the voice actors they do an amazing work. Chinese voice actors have really stepped up their game these past few years. The characters seem alive and the delivery of some lines is hilarious! I also appreciate how each character's dialogue and voice gives them life. Cxs speaks more informal and youthful (Sha' instead of shenme, using geme'r as in bro, general slang), Lg always uses serious dialogue. One of the villains (Xiao Ma obv) spoke in dialect and although the racism in China is inevitable and clearly appears in the show, it's still a bit of representation and I actually liked him and I thought he was quite funny and a bit sympathetic.

Shout out to Wang Juan, she only did a little but I appreciated her just existing. Western shows are used to including these types of representation ("strong female characters", girls with short hair, women in male dominated fields) so we kinda take them for granted at this point, but I have to give props to the writers because they absolutely didn't need to make a character like Wang Juan but they did.

Link Click in general is quite good in that sense. It's not based on an existing novel (as far as I know) and it's not danmei or bl (who are genres more notable for boundary breaking) but Cxs has semi long hair in a pony tail, the two noodle girls in s1 were obviously together, the women are well written (although the spotlight still always falls on the men) and in no point are the girls inferior to the men in combat. It's little things that maybe aren't groundbreaking for a lot of people, but the teens and maybe some children (the show is also meant for them because of the PSAs that sometimes appear) are seeing representation that is rare in chinese cartoons.

Speaking of the PSAs and the ads, I don't know why they're all so funny to me, just by existing. Especially the one about domestic violence. Obviously we know it's bad, and the show clearly frames it as a horrible thing, but they HAVE to add it, it's just a thing that they have to do. In a sense our MCs are influencers and they just, have the responsibility to say it's bad, and ask the viewers to fight for a world without domestic violence. The same goes for the Yingdu arc. They have to say the "everything is a work of fiction" or whatever, even though it's obvious given that Yingdu doesn't exist in real life (Obv London since Ying is for England and Du is for capital but still), and they have to say "don't attempt to carry out any of the reprehensible actions shown" like the classic "don't try this at home"

Moving on to Yingdu. I'll be honest I didn't like the opening song, the rhymes feel flat and the lyrics just aren't it. It feels like someone's best attempt at writing an English song when they haven't really mastered English. It's not bad at all, it's just not for me.

I was shocked at the hour long opening movie! I was actually so happy Link Click is getting that type of treatment. Well I'm happy about it existing in general. I'm used to Chinese shows popping out the first season of something promising but also setting up to be very long and just, never continuing. But after MDZS basically revolutionised the industry in 2018 and got western attention, Chinese animation has gotten so much better, the production is more organised, everything is more polished, voice actors are getting the recognition they deserve and it makes me very happy!

The art style has changed a little bit, mostly the faces, the backgrounds too. I don't think I'll be able to hold Chinese animation up to western or even Japanese standards in this decade still, it's currently just not possible, so I won't even try. I appreciate the characters moving normally, they do feel alive and have little movements that aren't 100% relevant to the story but give them characterization, and that's already so good! That wasn't too present in s1, but in s2 I really scrutinized the first few episodes because usually second seasons have a drop in quality, but I was pleasantly surprised to see those little character animations.

A thing that I've always liked about Link Click is how they portray subtle details of Chinese life, like your parents showing care through food, a spice native to a certain village, a mother's silent support in a rural area... All small things that just remind you this is (fantasy) China and for the Chinese viewers seems relatable or even nostalgic if they're overseas. Foreign viewers get a little bit of what (fantasy) china is like, mostly for young, urban middle class people though. It's like when people watch anime and learn a bit about Japan, people watch donghuas and have to learn a little bit about China, it's only fair.

In the Yingdu arc I really loved the moment when LiuXiao stopped the robber. I just really liked it because Cxs (not Lg, Lg is living in another dimension rn) is your typical Chinese tourist, he speaks limited English he has no idea wtf is happening, and he's so happy to meet another Chinese person. Just meeting someone who speaks a language he understands, and has just helped him. He says that even overseas it's best to rely on compatriots, and it's really true. People who travel somewhere else be it for tourism or actually emigrating will always be happy to meet someone they "know", and immigrants usually first find their footing among compatriots.

On that note, I also appreciate the detail of Yingdu actually being shown to be a different place. The people don't automatically speak Chinese for the Chinese viewers to understand, they all speak (a very broken ch)english, and it really feels like we've moved location. Every time the MCs meet someone who speaks Chinese it's treated like a little gem. And then there's Vein, speaking chinglish and saying Nihao (hello) with an accent even though mfer knows mandarin.

SOMETHING I FORGOT. I just find it hilarious that the guns in this show never have the accurate amount of bullets. That gun Xiao ma pulled out shot at least 10 times. You can tell the average Chinese person has never seen a gun before. And the one Vein has? I don't know what type of gun that is but it sure doesn't look like it can shoot 8 times idk.

Overall I'm happy to have caught up to Link Click. I liked the first season but I don't know why it never hooked me, even though it ended on a huge cliffhanger. But now I'm hooked and pleasantly surprised by the general quality of the show

[duxfemina]

Hey just went through your previous ask.

But honestly consider that if you are women in your early to mid 20s rank the ancient romans which of them would be least to most creepy on your journey.

Thank you for establishing that my theoretical life here is that of a woman of rank. So I'm my head the scenario is my litter or whatever I was traveling in has broken down and it's just me and the two slaves who were with me (real me would never have slaves obvs upper class Roman me pretty much would have to)

Octavian - one look at this man and my skins gonna break out. I'm baby faced IRL so his creepy ass would mistake 24yo me for 14 and he had a thing for underage girls so he's probably gonna try to take liberties. This isn't gonna end well for me I fear. Especially if I'm somebody's wife because if it's not teenage girls his next favorite amorous target is other guys' wives. 1/10 the only reason 1 is there is just in case I actually get to escape this scenario without him forcing himself on me.

Sulla - depends on if it's party boy Sulla or Sulla on a military mission. Either way I'm gonna either get basic courtesy but very brusque at best or at worst I'm getting r*ped and left on the side of the road, potentially without even the protection of my servants who he'd probably steal 3/10 if he's in a good mood my vehicle may get repaired but the prospects aren't great

Julius - Julius would follow the same route as Agrippa except if he found me attractive or thought my family was of strategic influence then he'd spend the whole time trying to seduce me. Which depending on how footloose and wild of a Roman lady I am here, I might do, especially if I think it will bring political advantage to my own family because that's all Romans care about. But if I turned him down emphatically enough he'd probably take it well enough and leave me in peace and then he might not be as considerate as Agrippa but he wouldn't be outright rude because he never knows when he might need favors from my fam. 7/10 on safe vibes.

Cicero - he'll be perfectly safe just very self important and remind me how indebted I am to him ever after this event. 7/10 I'll be safe, he won't be pervy, he'll just be annoying and pompous

Antony - he'd offer his assistance, invite me to the party he's having, invite me to travel with him, try to seduce me, but if rejected he'd take it just fine and give me a couple amphora of wine for the road 7/10 he might get handsy when he's drunk but other than that he's gonna be a gentleman about things

Brutus - he'd offer me what hospitality he could, even if this is Liberators Era Brutus and he's scant on supplies or something he'd still do his best to uphold the reputation of his family for hospitality. Definitely not creepy, dinner with him might turn morbid though so 8/10 simply because he might be a little too passive to stop the men under his command from behaving unseemly

Agrippa - would stop, offer his protection and assistance. He'd probably talk to me about his kids and treat me to a nice dinner and then if I wasn't headed the same direction as he was he'd send me on my way with a detachment for safety and protection or have his men repair my chariot or whatever I was traveling in. No creepy vibes whatsoever 9/10 on safe vibes

Aurelius - he would be very courteous and help me out and even restock my provisions and set me up with a whole new vehicle rather than even delaying me to wait for repairs 10/10 this man is not creepy in the least

Gnaeus Pompeius - Magnus is magnanimous as heck. He's also very traditional. He would treat me with respect and honor and be extremely courteous. If this is Pompeius the married man he wouldn't even think of flirting with me because he was notorious for his monogamy in marriage. If it's bachelor Pompeius he might be making observations on my suitability as a spouse but he's not gonna make any forward moves. He'd talk to my family about it afterwards if he was interested in marriage. 10/10 I'm gonna be safe and sound and if any of his men made inappropriate comments he'd be the most likely of the guys on this list to admonish them for it

[little-miss-dilf-lover]

Sorry for any mistakes !! 💺 anon

1) One more yoga idea!! You're doing your usual exercises when all of the sudden you feel his hands on you. "Let me help you with that, love." And he helps us stretch more (after all, he is good at stretching us, if you get what I mean)

2) If my man was so riled up just from us showing a little bit of thighs, how would he react if we send him a photo of us in lingerie??

3) His clothes are our clothes too, so we just borrow anything. His sweatpants (he def makes a comment about we're cleaning the floor with them since they're too long), shirts, dress shirts, jackets, even his socks and tie??

4) Speaking of clothes, Tan with a sophisticatedly dressed wife? Dressing up in nice suits while on missions? Helps you take off your blazer once home because he feels

5) OK JUST IMAGINE FOR A SECOND THAT HE SHAVED (for whatever reason idk), and now he looks like a baby and we tease him

6) Putting on lipstick and telling him to come closer so we can blot the excess off, so he brings us some tissues but we just start kissing him, leaving lipstick all over his face 🫠

7) (just added this one last min) about tan being a flirt, I feel like he makes some comments and lem has to shut him up because he doesn't wanna hear all that

8) This random thought that I had : "Can we watch The Intern?" "Are you serious, again?" "Can you be a fucking man and watch The Intern with me?" The wife privilege is real

9) So we talked about reader getting injured, now I'm making it about him. He survives the events from the movie and we're also left traumatized since we saw him almost die and every now and then we stare at his scar and try to not think back to that day :( and we're trying to hide our tears from him :(

10) He has that 'I don't want a cat but when I will get a cat I will treat it as if it's my child' vibe and I love him for it !!

Assassin!reader 1) AAHH imagine we have the same coat they are wearing at the beginning of the movie so we all match?? (in our size ofc)

2) And also, what would you say our codename is? It's obvs a fruit so we match with them but which one are you thinking?

3) Reader being even more of a menace over text?? They start to get worried because we aren't responding to their texts or calls and when we do, we send them something like "Sorry guys, just got hit by a car" or "SORRY the train I am in is on fire" (TRUE STORY BTW)

4) RANDOM 2AM THOUGHT!! We're on a mission and we run into another assassin who's also married (like the wolf except his wife is alive oops) and after a little bit of fighting, we just end up gushing about our lovers !!

5) So in the book, they had to go to Morioka, not Kyoto. So that sparked a scenerio in my head. After tan hangs up (it's the phone call before they meet with the yakuza, that scene) : we say "We're stopping at Morioka though, not Kyoto." "No it's Kyoto, love" "No, the destination says Morioka." We show them the details we were told, and we all start to realize there's something wrong. (Ignore the fact that we didn't tell them 😘😘)

+ more lem because we're platonic soulmates 1) I mentioned this a long time ago but imagine a convo of us trying to argue with him about how we're actually a diesel. "Think about it, you said they bluff, they're liars and the worst. That girl back in Japan fooled all of us with her act. I do the same when we're on missions and need intel!" And he's just shaking his head and crossing his arms. "Are you hearin' her right now?"

2) Sorry I'm touching on this topic again but what kind of music does lem listen to? I'd say probably ones that hype you up so much that if he were to sing you would hear it from a meter away from his car, with his windows up.

3) We get a notification from them, saying they finished the mission and will be home in 3 hours, so we send on the group chat a photo of the food we prepared and he is so pissed!! "COME ON IT'S THREE HOURS. You can't do this to me"

4) Another sms one sorry!! I hc he uses emojis randomly "Why is this man arguing with me about how many people we killed? 😻😻" (Us) "Where's my gossip buddy??" "REPORTING FOR DUTY 🤾🏿‍♂️🤾🏿‍♂️🤾🏿‍♂️🤾🏿‍♂️" "The fact that you don't understand what I'm trying to say is making me cry" "You don't know what you're talking about do you?" "NO 🗣️🔥💯😼" "BRO THE GRIP HE HAS ON THAT PHONE WHAT DID YOU EVEN SEND HIM ⁉️ Him fr: 🧍‍♂️>🧎‍♂️>🐶" "ALSO NO DON'T TELL ME WHAT YOU TWO ARE TEXTING 🤺🤺" "Wasn't planning to 😱" STOP HE DEF MAKES STORIES USING EMOJIS WHEN HE'S BORED!!

ALSO THE SMS?? ! NOT LEM PICKING 17 WHEN WE ASK HIM 😭 Also requets might get open?? AS ALWAYS NO RUSH LOVE but I just wanted to ask if you will be accepting smut?

JUST SAW THE OTHER ONES WITH TAN OML. The photo with the bathtub, we're so evil imagine we leave him on read after that 😭😭😭 I FEEL LIKE I DON'T SAY THIS ENOUGH BUT THANK YOU SM FOR EVERYTHING YOU DO ILYSM 💗💗

apologies for any in mine, I do these on my phone 😭😭

1- AAAAHH YES!!! hands on waist standing behind ‘helping’ you (I do see what you did there and im liking it)

2- if he got it in public I feel like he’d do a really long exhale, a deep kinda sigh and palm over the bottom half of his face. maybe rake through he hair (we got him all frustrated and flustered tehe)

3- that’s a given. we share clothes, ie we take his. also imagine imagine ??? he wears our dressing gowns in the morning ??? and he’s just making a tea and having a fag out the back door and he’s wearing a floral stain dressing gown (I uhm think that’s very hot) also also he wears plaid pj bottoms bc I say so and we always wear them

4- like a mafia/ mob wife ???? im seeing the vision and again im loving it

5- AAAAAHH stuff like that freaks me out. he would feel like a stranger in your house and he’d look so naked without it😭😭😭😭

6- ARFGGHH OMG THATS ACTUALLY SO CUTE ??! pink or red or brown smooches all over his face 🫠

7- yes yes yes !!! lem loves relationship gossip as much as the next, but some things he just doesn’t want to hear. I feel like lem has no filter sometimes so if he says he doesn’t wanna hear it you know it’s bad😭

8- “can you be a fucking man and watch the intern with me”😭😭😭😭 I think he enjoys your movies a lot more than he lets on. and happy wife, happy life 😌

9- he has the scar from it??????🥲☹️ he def notices the way you look at it and he reaches out for your hand, giving it a squeeze bc he knows how sad it makes you

10- I love men that love cats😩 he is one to say he doesn’t want one but loves it the most out of everyone

assassin reader

1- stop it!!! that’s so cute 🫠 so coordinated I love it

2- back when I first started writing tan I thought I was being original when I named reader cherry, turns out lots of other writers used cherry😭😭😭😭😭 I thought it was unique only to see that it wasn’t. imagine if you were from new zealand and your code name was kiwi, little bit on the nose but that would be pretty cool ngl (just thought of that so had to say lol) but I really haven’t given it much thought since that debacle

3- 😭😭😭 yes!! like one disappears and updates with the craziest things “thought I bruised my rib, turns out its puncturing my lung🤪 back in a few hours”

and wait you were on a train that was on fire????

4- awwww :(( be like “one sec my man is texting me” “yeah no problem, mine is too” “want to have a timeout— he gets funny when I don’t answer checkpoint calls” “mine does too. he calls me every 30 minutes to make sure im okay and where I need to be” 😭😭😭 and then just chat and gossip

5- damn I really should read the book

platonic lemon

1- 😭😭 love it!!!

2- yesss !!!! idk why but I cannot think of any??? but his taste is very different to tans, that I can guarantee. also lem is an avid music listener, he knows what’s popular and what’s in the charts

3- 😭😭😭 he gets hangry (it’s okay me too)

4- never be sorry!! omg yes that works so well for him and makes so much sense !!! I enjoyed reading those texts way too much😭😭 and the “him fr:” pissing

—

he’s just too impatient lmfao, didn’t even get a chance to tell him what it’s for

im gonna give you the 411… im opening then in an hour just before I go bed, shush don’t tell anyone, it’s a secret. and ofc to the smut, always always yes to the smut 😭

hehehe yesss!! it’s not our fault we misunderstood him (we didn’t, we just like to tease) he’d spam with texts until you reply

AAAAAAHHH YOURE ALWAYS SO SWEET THANK YOU :(( ILYSM 💓💓

[rollercoasterwords]

same anon who is fretting left and right abt r and s and everyone else ;_; i love having ur insight and thank u kindly for the long answer…. exactly what i wanted *evil laughter* but i have a follow up!

this might be too far into spoiler territory tho…. another Painful element of this beautiful fic is the lack of love between s and j it’s KILLING MEEEE (as always in the best way) not seeing them as they usually are… will we ever get any s+j friendship crumbs? or is this just not possible within the world you’ve created? i trust ur Vision either way i’m just gnawing at the bars of my prison cell thinking about the possibilities…..

hmmm yeah i feel like i can’t really talk abt like. what’s going 2 happen w them without getting too spoilery (although my usual like…wip policy applies here lol if you absolutely want them 2 be friends stop reading if u absolutely don’t want them 2 be friends stop reading be ready 4 it 2 go either way etc) but! i can talk a bit abt like. how james currently feels where we’re at in the fic & how his feelings have changed

what i've been trying 2 do w j + s in this fic is like. well clearly they hated each other at the beginning bc s sees this arrogant pigheaded order soldier whereas j sees this entitled foolish d.e. & that starting animosity is pretty intense, although it's a bit more personal 4 s--j is like. one of the first order members he's knowingly met + becomes kind of his warden in a way so he pretty specifically hates j whereas for j s is just one of many d.e. he's encountered before so he doesn't really hold a grudge in the same way once they start working together, although he also isn't quick 2 trust s bc unlike his brother s didn't join the order of his own accord (obv. reg didn't exactly join of his own accord, either, but that's pretty much how j sees it).

so when they do actually start working together j is like. well this guy's gotta prove himself if he wants me 2 trust him but once s does start proving himself he's pretty willing 2 put the old animosity aside, and he views s as part of their team--hence him risking his life 2 go back & save s, etc. s, on the other hand, is holding a personal grudge & specifically does not like j so even when j starts acting a bit friendlier towards him he's still like. hmph. bc while j is like "oh holding u prisoner was nothing personal obviously it was just what we had 2 do 4 the order" for s it was very much personal! lol

anyway despite the grudge etc. they do both mutually begin 2 realize that they have certain key similarities--specifically, the fact that they both feel responsible for the people they care about & would do pretty much anything 2 protect them, even if it's something those people wouldn't want them to do. so when we reach this point where they need 2 break into the dept. of mysteries, they both end up reaching the same conclusion abt how they're going 2 have 2 do that, and realizing that they've both reached that same conclusion kind of bolsters that mutual respect they're developing 4 each other. so there's sort of this truce struck while they're planning s's obliviation, where they still aren't friends exactly & probably wouldn't go so far as 2 say they like each other, but they're also like...the only people who can kind of understand what the other one is going thru + sacrificing (as in the convo in the james pov where s says 'they're all gonna hate us,' etc), and in a way it's nice 2 have someone who understands u in a way the others can't...also s going thru w this whole plan has made j respect him a lot more & view them as much more similar in terms of both being practical (and ruthless) enough 2 place larger goals above their own well-being + being willing 2 do things that will make their loved ones hate them as long as it keeps those loved ones safe. so j's feelings towards s have obviously changed quite a bit! of course now s has no idea who j is so. suppose maybe he'll have a chance 2 make a better first impression next time around lol

[literaticat]

According to an agent I follow on Substack, editors are talking more about acquiring MG at 40K words instead of 50K or 60K. 

I totally understand the push for shorter mg. I'm writing an upper grade contemporary portal fantasy. Fantasy needs more words for the world building. If what this agent says is accurate, would fantasy still get a higher word even in the push for shorter MG books?  Obvs not talking about 100K words or something! Like 60K or less? 

Everything I know about word count is in the Famous Word Count post, which I stand by, though it is old.

As you will notice if you click through to the post: the range of what is "normal" is VAST:

FANTASY MIDDLE GRADE: 35,000-90,000 words. Sweet spot: 45,000-75,000

I've added to that post over the years and made the word count ranges EVEN MORE vast, but I have NEVER made the ranges smaller, nor will I.

(Mind you, this does not count outliers -- there are always outliers. If your name is Rick Riordan or JK Rowling or Shannon Messenger, disregard. You aren't any of those people, I presume? OK, carry on.)

Now, fashions do change, and right now at this moment, the fashion is for somewhat shorter MG. So I would just suggest aiming toward the lower end of the vast range rather than the higher end of the vast range. But that would still put you squarely in the sweet spot.

Just look at the current NYT Bestseller List for MG.

MILLICENT QUIBB - 45k - MG comedic fantasy

BELLWOOD'S GAME - 55k - MG horror

IMPOSSIBLE CREATURES - 72k - MG portal fantasy

All of them are in the sweet spot!

So look. Yes, sure, by all means, aim for something closer to 45k than 70k, and I'd avoid going wildly over that. But you truly don't need to fret too much about getting right to some specific arbitrary number on the dot. Relax.

If I pick up a book, open it, and it's so compelling I want to race through it and not set it down? I don't actually care about 5 or 10k words here or there. And I think most people feel the same way. I only care about word count if a) it is wildly outside the norm, or b) the book drags, feels bloated, and I'm looking at how long it is taking me to read and sighing.

So if your book is within the realm of normal, and it is fast-paced, tightly written, everything that is in there needs to be in there, it won't FEEL long. That's what it's all about!

[webheadedhero]

Positivity anon here! Could I ask you to shout out to your five fave blogs? Just to make someone smile today and let them know you love their blog! Maybe even say a little about why!

you mean I have to narrow all of these great people down to five? can't do it jfaskl;jfd. okay uh lemme try and there's no way i'm gonna do five so some will be multiple for the same character.

@redhead-reporter & @watsonjackpot are both fantastic mj's, I will never get tired of seeing them on my dash and I love how they've brought mj to life in separate and unique ways. still staying true to their core characteristics, and being diehard petermj enthusiasts doesn't hurt either. they're both so kind and fun to talk to. legit i've talked to each of them about everything from comics to just shooting the shit, shaye and I obvs are both trashy reality show fans. they both have so much love to give when it comes to mj and you're missing out if you aren't following<3

@revenantinflames - jess is someone I've written with for such a long time and you can feel the love she has for johnny pour out in her writing. the way she knows just about everything about him in his comic run is insane, like actual expert in anything fantastic four related and top tier person. she's so sweet and fun to chit chat with, she's always interested in how you're doing and what's going on with you. you don't just feel like following number 326<3

@fightwing - kayla is so freaking kind and fun to plot with and just write with, she's so happy to talk and yell about your favorite characters with you!! also she's so accommodating like will make verses and figure out ways to fit nightwing into different universes simply to try and write with you. very quality writing partner<3

@biitchcakes - the jess-pert on spider-woman fjklasj. no but aurora is so kind and outgoing and so easy to plot and talk to. also so freaking knowledgeable on jess and it's crazy how she'll pull this inspiration from her comics?? and tbh I don't know too much about jess apart from seeing her in some stuff with pete (knowing they're obviously besties) but she's made me a (bigger) jess fan tbh. I didn't know how dorky and cute jess could be so it was so fun jfaslkdjf now gonna have to read more of her earlier stuff.<3

@malka-lisitsa - novi has a huge amount of love for katherine and understanding of her character. and i might be biased cause katherine is my favorite character from tvd but the way that you could pick anything she's written in a reply and ask her "why did she react like that?" and you'll get an explanation. it isn't just something from nothing. she's also a blast to talk to and plot with, very kind and thoughtful person 10/10 would recommend<3

[lily-orchard-gossip-blog]

I used to be kind of a fan of Lily's videos. Like, I never really subscribed to her but I did watch her videos kind of often, even though I've been a huge anime fan for way longer. I'm also currently learning Japanese (so obvs can't claim to know as much as a native speaker) and I've pretty much gotten over my... like, I guess, of Lily's videos through sheer force of will and how utterly goddamn hilarious both her Spy x Family and list of anime she likes videos were. As someone who has been watching anime for 10 years now, and someone who actually is a big fan of Spy x Family, every single thing she says about it is laughable. First of all, she's absolutely fucking clueless about shows that anime fans actually like. Anime fans LOVE Spy x Family because it's wholesome and fun. But also, the most popular manga and anime in recent memory – Chainsaw Man – is a deep and purposeful exploration of trauma and abuse and the author of Spy x Family used to work as an assistant to the author of Chainsaw Man. She's also utterly clueless about the author's feelings on his own manga. Endou Tatsuya does not hate or "feel nothing" towards Spy x Family. He was surprised that it became as popular as it did, but he doesn't dislike the series at all. The most baffling thing to me is that she claims she knows what Japanese people enjoy but has literally zero sources on that. Not to even mention how utterly racist and offensive she is about the Japanese language. She states in one of her videos that every Japanese word has a direct equivalent in English – something that is horrendously untrue to the point that, when attempting to translate, I often have to write entire paragraphs in English trying to explain what one word means and its connotations – and that honorifics and titles are the same or have the same meanings. Again, utter fucking nonsense. God, it pisses me off so much. Sorry I ended up going on a rant here. Just wanted to talk about how fucking deranged she sounds. Lily get your fucking shit together. Either stop talking about anime and how much you hate Japanese people/the Japanese language or do your fucking research before you open your mouth and let whatever fucking nonsense is holding your brain together slip out.

Since we're on the language train, she also doesn't seem to grasp that puns translate horribly. Because they're a play on words, and what might work in one language might not have an equivalency in another.

And that happens in Japanese a lot. You can tell sometimes where translators had to take liberties to just convey a joke because it just couldn't translate otherwise.

Oh, and that's not even getting into popular idioms!

It's really annoying listening to her act like languages aren't a reflection of the cultures that speak them, and just shows how little she knows about the world outside of North America.

[vacantgodling]

3, 5, 12 and 18 for the fun ask game thingy

thank you for asking!!

3. 3 films you could watch for the rest of your life and not get bored of

pride and prejudice 2005

demon slayer: mugen train

sherlock holmes (the rdj version because idc what anyone says that movie slaps)

5. what made you start your blog?

well, this blog specifically, i wanted to make a writeblr where i felt like i could talk about sex and my ocs getting it on (and other more adult topics). i had a writeblr before, i made back in like 2021 i think? but at the time i was following a lot of people who were kind of "prominent" in the community back then (don't ask me who i don't remember frfr) and i also had a lot of minors following me and so i felt bad and guilty for wanting to talk about it. especially when i came up with paramour, and obvs given that wips subject matter uhhhhh it was a conflict of interest. so i just wanted to make a new blog where i promised myself that i would just do stuff that i wanted to do lol.

not to be dramatic but yeee

12. whats some good advice you want to share?

something that i've been trying to teach myself recently is trying to find the middle ground between my feelings and what makes sense and is logical. annika actually said this best when i was talking to him, but basically she said that your emotions are your brain trying to tell you something, so you aren't wrong for feeling them, but definitely how you handle them and react to them is what matters. so i've been trying to get better at that lol.

18. do you believe in ghosts or aliens?

yes and yes. i've seen a ghost before and had some Ghostly Situations on a few occasions, and i just think logically the universe is too large for there to not be Something out there- i just don't know if itd be sentient in the same way that we define sentience

[fixfoxnox]

Ok so not a request but:

Opinion on a sort of reverse au? Where rpach and everyone else are reincarnated like in sito BUT

Roach has no memory of his past life and literally everyone else on 141 does. So soap and ghost and everyone remember roach! Ghost obvs would prolly search for roach i think? Maybe in the past life there was some ghostroachsoap.

Idk i think it would be interesting for roach to be different and literally everyone else has their memories and is confused as fuck.

Honestly this would be really angsty in some ways, but at the same time I think it would be funny as fuck sjfjfjdjjf

Like Soap and Ghost trying not to let anything slip but its so hard because Roach is so much like their Roach. So like I imagine before they're all dating or something, when its only Soap and Ghost together, Ghost gets up to leave the room and just like on instinct kisses both Soap and Roach.

And neither Soap or Ghost realize anything is wrong at first then you just have Roach who is like 🧍😳

And neither of them realize until later when they're like laying in bed together and Ghost suddenly has the dawning realization and just in the most horrified voice is like "Did I kiss Roach???"

And they're both freaking the fuck out because Roach didn't say anything and should they say anything? It all gets fixed the next day when Roach is like "So was that a European custom I don't know about or...?" (They tell him it is which backfires when he kisses Gaz later to tell him goodbye skdjdnjdhf)

But also I love the alternative angst of all but one remembering. Because can you imagine being the 141 and having their memories and slowly coming back together and feeling this sense of relief because oh thank god everyone else remembers too.

And after all the time together you finally manage to get the last missing piece of your team back and for Soap and Ghost they're so excited to finally have back the man that they love only for all of you to realize, with horror, that he doesn't remember?

All of the memories, all of the time, all of the love is just gone for him. He'll never get that back and you'll never be able to talk about it with him. You have him back, but do you really? Because the Roach that you knew, the Roach that you built all of those memories with, he's gone. He's gone and you all have to live with that.

And while you aren't alone, you're missing a key part of you that you'll never get back. A key part of your life, someone that you loved, they're just gone. Nothing you can do will change that.

Then on the flip side, imagine being Roach? Imagine you find this team of wonderful people who seem to care about you and love you off the bat. Imagine everything seems perfect and you start getting to know them. Imagine you fall for two of them and find yourself in a loving relationship. Then imagine that you start noticing things.

There's something that these people you call your friends whisper about. Something that brings panic to their eyes when you walk into a room unannounced. These men, your friends, they look at you like you're dead. You can't understand why.

Your boyfriends, they love you, but there's a block there. Its like you can never properly fit with them. Sometimes you do or say something and its like they shut down. Like you've just reminded them of something long gone that they can never get back. Sometimes you do something and they look at you like they don't know you.

They buy you gifts. Sometimes they're things you've never mentioned wanting to them. You have no idea how they knew. Sometimes, they buy you gifts and they get it all wrong.

"Honeysuckle, they're your favorite."

"They're lovely, but actually Lilies are my favorite."

They look at you like you're a ghost. Like they've never met you before. You begin to wonder if its actually you that they see, or some phantom in your place.

And the worst part of it all, is that you can never know. You ask, you try to understand. You ask directly, you try to hint at your question, you try to let them know that you won't judge them, that whatever it is won't change anything. They never tell. Roach will never know. And, in the end, it might destroy them...

Anyways idk man I think the idea is neat 😁

[dykesbat]

hi. writing here because of your privacy settings, sorry.

from what i’ve seen you’re doing supporting for fundraisers, and i wanted to ask for your help.

i’ve had a person submit an ask to me saying they’re from gaza and need donations. i’ve never had experience with anything like this, but i’m trying to ask questions. they don’t share much info about themselves. their link leads to a something something linktree where you can donate with paypal. they sent me a photo per request, upon looking it up in google it leads to a gofundme https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-the-aqlain-family-evacuate-gaza?modal=donations&tab=all

can’t open it because of the country i live in, but the date is set to 16 feb. the name there doesn’t match name in their link, or the name they’ve sent me per my request.

:•( i’m getting a fishy vibe, but i’m worried it could be a person new to tumblr or eng speaking social media in general.

hi! sorry for responding so late. you did everything correctly and those are all definitely signs of it being a scam. i just talked w a friend about this (ill copy and paste my tips below).

i completely understand the worry. many of these red flags aren't outright indicators that every single blog that fits them is a scam, but the combination of things is what really makes the case. it's unfortunate but, a big red flag generally is if a new blog sends you an ask about donations. it's a common scam tactic from before this nakba. the scammers are just exploiting palestinians' genocide instead of the other issues they typically exploit.

obviously not all of these tips are absolute indicators of a scam and some are already things youve considered! but my general tips:

1. is the blog just new? if the icon is of a real person, is it their image? (you can reverse google image search! w mobile you'll have to save the image first and find a site for it. i typically use labnol but i can help you find alternatives if youd like!) are the posts they're reblogging related to the things that you post? (consider: how did they find you) are the posts they're reblogging coming from an actual dashboard rather than the recommendation page? (indicates that they're reblogging popular posts without any rhyme or reason to look like a real blog) is their first post a donation post and was it just made? (dates the blog. you can look in their archives to see the date of their earliest post)

2. where are they linking to? im not sure if your device has an option to preview a link url before sending you to the page but if it does, i would use that here just to be safe. do the names of the accounts match? (note that in this case, of course, many fundraisers are being raised by people outside of palestine. but if the blog claims to be the account owner, do their names seem to match? if theres a description, do the names match the ones the blog gives?) does it lead to a paypal instead of a gofundme? heavily stressing that this obv doesnt mean every request from someone using paypal is a scam, esp w the way gfm has been screwing over some palestinians, BUT paypal is often what scammers would use. gofundme is generally reliable and every fundraiser is donation protected, meaning its possible to get a refund from gofundme in the rare case that the fundraiser is a scam.

3. verifying gfm's can be a lot harder bc my go to options aren't always available. generally what i do is to look at through the organizer's updates, the fundraiser's description <- which obv you should always do anyways, and the fundraisers photos to see if theres anymore information about social media accounts related to the fundraiser. sometimes people will link twitter profiles, sometimes people will link instagram profiles. its just the same process of scrolling back as far as you can and seeing if you can identify the same face(s) from before more people started exploiting these traumas to scam others, seeing when the profile was made, checking if the images are truly from the profile's owners and not stolen, etc.

the biggest indicators imo are the stolen photos since the originals almost always link back to a name that doesn't match the blog.