#page 450

[beautifulbookishdisaster]

"My father made a mold and forced me into. I was a bad casting but I couldn't be remelted. Nobody can be remelted. And so I remained a bad casting."

John Steinbeck, East of Eden (Adam Trask)

[pesterloglog]

Sollux Captor, John Egbert

Page 447-454

SOLLUX: eating a sandwich.

JOHN: what? no, i mean, what are you doing HERE in the meteor?

SOLLUX: i live here.

SOLLUX: its like im fated t0 wind up back at this idi0tic r0ck every c0uple 0f sweeps.

JOHN: i’m... sorry?

JOHN: ...

SOLLUX: real mess y0uve made 0f things 0ut there.

JOHN: yeah, well... we’re trying to fix that now! which is why I need to find my friends!

SOLLUX: kind 0f fucked up y0u guys let this happen t0 begin with.

JOHN: soooo anyway, on the topic of you living here...

JOHN: does roxy know about this???

SOLLUX: why w0uldnt she?

JOHN: huh.

JOHN: umm... how do you know her?

SOLLUX: wh0 d0 y0u think h00ked me up with these sick ass shades and gave me all these ape games.

JOHN: okay, that kind of makes sense, i guess.

JOHN: ...

JOHN: are you guys... close?

SOLLUX: wh0. me and r0xy? i guess. we squad up a c0uple times a week.

SOLLUX: why d0 y0u care?

SOLLUX: y0u w0rried im m0ving in 0n y0ur ex?

JOHN: ...hmm.

SOLLUX: ...

JOHN: hm. hmm. hm.

JOHN: hm? HMMMM.

SOLLUX: what is g0ing 0n here.

JOHN: sorry, i had an answer but then i started actually considering it.

JOHN: am i jealous?

JOHN: hmmm...

SOLLUX: if i tell y0u straight up n0 we arent h00king up will y0u st0p?

JOHN: ...maybe?

SOLLUX: g0ddammit.

SOLLUX: listen.

SOLLUX: c0ming fr0m s0me0ne wh0 has shared breathing space with y0u 0nly 0n 0ccasi0n.

SOLLUX: its 0bvi0us t0 me y0u're n0t supp0sed t0 be the thinking guy.

JOHN: we’ve met before?

SOLLUX: ...

JOHN: ??????

SOLLUX: sigh.

SOLLUX: pirate ship. d0uble eye-patches. girlfriend ascensi0n.

JOHN: :0!

JOHN: double eye patches!

JOHN: i remember you now, you were at mystery jade’s funeral too!

SOLLUX: sure.

JOHN: sorry for not recognizing you.

JOHN: the eye patches are pretty distracting!

JOHN: like every time i see them i have to stop and think...

JOHN: wow... that looks really really stupid!

SOLLUX: yeah.

JOHN: are you still hanging out with that creepy alive girl?

SOLLUX:

SOLLUX: 0n a spiritual level.

JOHN: cool!

JOHN: is ... she also dating roxy?

SOLLUX: what?

SOLLUX: idk.

SOLLUX: i d0nt make it my business t0 keep tabs 0n that.

SOLLUX: im busy.

JOHN: you’re gaming!

SOLLUX: im fucking gaming.

SOLLUX: speaking 0f which...

JOHN: so what were you guys up to before this?

SOLLUX: (what the fuck)

SOLLUX: is there a prer0gative here.

SOLLUX: are y0u spades baiting me right n0w?

JOHN: honestly i don’t know what that means.

JOHN: i suppose...

JOHN: how do i say this...

JOHN: contextually!

JOHN: i always find myself going to a lot of places and meeting all these people but.

JOHN: most of it never matters to me until i’m not doing anything at all.

JOHN: last time that happened it was for ten years!

JOHN: and it only changed because i started talking to people again.

SOLLUX: (i did this t0 myself why did i ask)

JOHN: i guess in gamer terms it's the same as screwing yourself over by not checking every non playable character dialogue box.

JOHN: any one of them could have the clues you need.

SOLLUX:

JOHN: sooooo...

SOLLUX:

JOHN: come on!

SOLLUX: c0me 0n! :B

SOLLUX: die.

JOHN: aw, don’t be like that dude.

JOHN: i promise no more questions after this.

JOHN: do you not want to because it just ...isn't important?

SOLLUX: excuse me.

SOLLUX: my vestigial digits get m0re imp0rtant shit d0ne 0n wednesday nights than y0ur ill dressed b0dy has d0ne y0ur entire life cycle.

SOLLUX: but im n0t g0ing t0 g0 int0 all that because 1. i d0nt kn0w y0u and 2. i d0 n0t respect y0u.

SOLLUX: itll 0nly make y0u feel bad anyways.

JOHN: why would it make me feel bad?

SOLLUX: i can smell it 0n y0u man.

SOLLUX: y0u stink.

JOHN: i stink?

SOLLUX: yeah.

SOLLUX: y0u smell like a guy.

SOLLUX: wh0se never had any bitches.

JOHN: what!

JOHN: i have a son! i have a house full of pictures with him!

JOHN: that is physical proof i have had “bitches” thank you!

SOLLUX: as s0me0ne wh0 has been friends with every w0man y0u are attempting t0 categ0rize int0 this

SOLLUX: i can assure y0u, they were n0t y0ur bitches.

SOLLUX: y0u were theirs.

JOHN: i

JOHN: i was the bitches?

SOLLUX: this was the missing puzzle piece r0xys ex.

SOLLUX: y0ur arc is 0ver.

SOLLUX: y0u can g0 h0me n0w.

JOHN: my home burned down.

SOLLUX: sad.

SOLLUX: y0u kn0w what is tragic th0ugh?

SOLLUX: i have n0t been able t0 play this game the wh0le time because s0me0ne was talking 0ver the s0und.

JOHN: oh!

JOHN: sorry : (

SOLLUX: w0rds d0nt mean much.

SOLLUX: 0nly acti0ns.

JOHN: well, i suppose i left the vriskas waiting long enough...

JOHN: see you eye patches...

SOLLUX: n0t wearing them.

JOHN: or not who knows!

SOLLUX: WAIT.

JOHN: !

SOLLUX: change my game f0r me.

[cinnamart]

back on my silly shit, here's my main quartet's artbreeder icons B)

[venndaai]

Chapter 20 of Assassin’s Quest. Holy shit. What the hell.

[rowan-ashtree]

i saw this middle aged couple six years ago and i still think about them with regularity. we were driving next to them at like 55mph.

[fridgeworthystudio]

Coloring pages for you! This stained glass style is really meditative to color. You can also make your own design really easily with a sharpie on plain white paper! Find better image files for free or pay what you want on ko-fi here! (Donations are not expected or mandatory, but all donations will support purchasing supplies for my art classroom.) You are welcome to print them or color them digitally, but if you intend to share them with more than a few people, please consider sending a small donation my way if you like them that much. You can also request a custom coloring page for a small donation! If you are low on funds and willing to be patient, you could send an ask with an idea to this blog, and it might be used. Please feel free to share completed coloring pages with this blog and I can reblog your work! However, please do not try to claim my work as your own. Thanks! Happy coloring!!

[klara-rosa]

reading iron flame and honestly it's getting...tiresome. Am I the only one finding this book boring?

[dirtyoldmanhole]

fyi: I'm going to make a one off physical paperback version of YRMR, especially since the cover's already made.

originally i was only going to make this paperback version for myself just to have on the shelf, but - there's a few of you longstanding gunter fans I'd like to give this opportunity to. :) within the next month i'll post a limited-time link to where you can have it shipped direct to wherever you are. (i'll set the price as close to 0 as i can, obviously; any cost is set by the manufacturer to print.)

more to be coming, but in the meantime have a WIP >:)

(edit: this is different than the doujin - it's just gonna be pure text in here other than the cover. just making sure that's clear to not get hopes up. :>)

[allieinarden]

I miss the Dublin Murder Squad series. :(

[blazevillains]

guys it turns out that when youre reading for yourself and not school it actually kind of rules

[dailyreine]

coos at the madman as though he's a chicken

[sixofravens-reads]

Listen, I don't like to skim books, because skimming means I end up missing important details and usually feel meh about the book.

The exceptions are Margaret Weis (because she writes dnd-based novels and there's a lot of repeated descriptions, fictionalized rules/mechanic explanations, and sidequests that seemingly occur because someone she was playing through the plot with rolled a 1), and apparently Pamela Dean, because holy shit Tam Lin is so slow and full of faff and sidequests I'm gonna lose my mind.

TBH if it wasn't a retelling of one of my favourite tales and part of a series curated by one of my favourite authors/editors I would've DNF'd it by now, but I'm willing to persevere because of that. Also, the setting is fun I guess. Kinda dark academia (light academia??) ish. But like. I'm on page 182. Janet has met Thomas (Tam Lin), but they're dating other people. No one is pregnant yet (in fact there are very in-depth descriptions of 70s birth control methods (did condoms exist in the 70s? I have to google. If they do, I'm gonna be mad that no one has them!) and still no idea who the "fairy queen" is here. In fact we know basically nothing about Tam Lin except that he's a theatre major who got mad about a book and is dating Janet's roommate, while Janet dates this pretentious loser named Nick. The author created TWO plays--productions of Hamlet and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead--and had her characters discuss both in detail. I dread the emotional nonsense that's going to have to occur for Janet to end up banging Tam Lin. Just.

AAAAAGGGGGHHHHHHHH

The thing is, the setting is fun, the sidequests are not terribly boring, and the writing style is not terrible. The actual real plot we are promised by the title of the book is just NOT HAPPENING!

So, anyway, time to skim.

[trans-xianxian]

my bestie leant me their copy of a manga called the girl from the other side because she thought I'd like it (I do) and I always appreciate when stories like correctly portray how kids act. like yeah this is exactly right

[whosafraidofvirginiawoolf]

why is this book so stupid like the dialogue? CRINGE! the shallow-vapid feminism? CRINGE! the weird attempt at being inclusive and mentioning briefly on the side poc and lgbt ppl? CRINGE! the writing style? CRINGE! the plot? CRINGE!

[cynthiav06]

I recently finished the Defy the Night Trilogy and I am so in awe and so overwhelmed with feels (that happens so rarely if at all when reading). It's just so good and I could rant about how everything clicks in place so perfectly and how every little relation is so well thought but that would take ages. It's politics centric but the plot just hooks you in so well and the characters are just such aptly fleshed out. And it just keeps getting better with each book. Like this is right up there with Shatter me series, Six of Crows Duology or the Folk of the Air trilogy and definitely worth multiple re-reads. Expect more rants about this series in the future until it gets the love it deserves. (I have finally found the perfect place to vent out the post-book high)

[wlwgang]

TOM BLYTH WHITE BOY OF THE FUCKING YEAR