#post hype clarity

[phantomthiefgaige]

Post Hype Indigo Park thoughts

Okay, now that I calmed down I can give my two cents on what I thought of Chapter 1 of Indigo Park

Basically, it’s fairly average in what it does an unlike most mascot horrors, has no known real gimmick atm. But I don’t really mind. You don’t always gotta have a gimmick with this type of game to make it stand out. Just as long as the story and presentation can help it stand out. Speaking of…

Now I played this on my shitty gaming laptop so it didn’t look smooth on my end but for everyone else, damn this game is stunning. Some are even saying it looks like a Security Breach mod or Ruin fangame. It can look a bit iffy in some areas but they really nailed the look of a crumbling down theme park.

Story is hard to talk about here since it’s just one chapter but I’m hooked and invested so far. Most games just want you to escape or find something in these areas but this one, you’re working with someone to actively try and bring life back to a place. Nice little twist that I’ve only seen at the END of one indie horror game. Speaking of that someone

I love Rambley so much dude. He’s just so…lovable and cute and I want a plushie of him, and all his friends are cool too and they va’s did great with all of em and they have cool designs and ahhhhh!!!! Love it!!! I love em all!!! I wanna be Rambleys friend!!! I wanna take him home and give him a hug a-

In conclusion, while it IS a first chapter demo and isn’t super complex, I’d still say give it a whirl. This game has something most others don’t…heart, love, soul, and so much passion put into this project. If you haven’t already, go get it on STEAM, it’s free and takes an hour and a half to beat if you’re hunting for collectables.

….also if any devs read this, I’d love a signed autograph of Rambley? Please? I SWEAR I’M NORMAL FOR HI-

[taylor-titmouse]

hey i want to talk about how you should be promoting your work as an erotic author/illustrator

i'm writing this up because the marketing aspect of my work as an erotic author/illustrator is a science to me, and also because i'm the guy who gets unreasonably annoyed when i see other creators not properly advertising their work. you presumably want to make money off your work. this post will be written under the assumption you want to make money off your work but are doing a bad job at it. it will be very confrontational. if you read this and feel attacked you're right and i am attacking you.

this is geared toward selling erotic comics/writing/books/art as products. i will probably write more than one post about this subject so if i didn't touch on something you want to know more about, comment/send me an ask and i'll keep it in mind for the next one.

i will start with my first and least specific but most important point:

DON'T GET FUCKING CUTE

hi are you paying attention. i'm gripping you by the sides of your face. do not get fucking cute with what you are trying to sell. you are not a big enough property to get cute, nobody LIKES it when big properties get cute, and you are selling porn. you have to own this. you have to be up front about this. don't be tongue in cheek, don't be all teehee i wonder what this could be~, don't be secretive. you are selling a product. you have to fucking act like it. you are an adult selling pornography to other adults. i am GRIPPING your HEAD you NEED to understand this.

and to be clear when i say 'cute' i mean coy. i don't mean cutesy, as in the aesthetic. you can be as hello kitty pastel ten emojis a post uwu as you like when you're building your audience and generating hype. but when you start trying to sell, don't be vague, don't be sarcastic, don't mislabel your work as a joke and assume everyone is on it. because they're not.

you must always assume 75% of the people seeing the thing you are advertising have no fucking idea who you are. and that includes a huge chunk of the people who already follow you. they do not know who you are or what you've been working on for two months or why they should care about it. they just got here. somebody just reposted it. they are seeing it for the first time. most people are only looking at social media for a tiny chunk of their day. they are not keeping up with you. you cannot get cute about what you are trying to sell because nobody knows what it is until you tell them.

okay are you still with me. we are going to talk about clarity now.

YOU GOTTA TELL ME WHAT IT IS

good lord the amount of times i have gone to buy somebody's comic or book and had no idea what's actually in it or what it's about. who are the characters? why should i care about them? what do they do in it? what is the premise of this thing you want me to spend $5 on? why would you not tell me? i'm shaking you again. please i have to know what i'm buying i only have so much money to spend on porn.

porn, arguably more than any other genre, relies on knowing exactly what is in it. you do not want to surprise your readers with a kink they were unaware of! and on the flip side, you do not want to miss out on your target audience! if your book contains a hot spider babe laying eggs in an elf, you have to say so. not just so people who don't want to read about eggs know it isn't for them, but so the people who are egg crazy can see that and go "oh fuck YES i love EGGS here is my $5 and an extra $2 tip for catering to me specifically". a contents/features list is as much an advertisement as it is a warning!

as for re: who the characters are and why should i care, i'm sorry but you need to learn how to write sales copy. you have to write blurbs. you have to get good at the shit that goes on the back of a book. we all hate it but we have to do it. i want to know who the characters are and what the context is. i, personally, am not interested in contemporary stories as much as fantasy and historical. please tell me what genre this porn exists in so i know if it aesthetically appeals to me. pull some books off your shelves and see how they do it. hell man go look at mine.

while you're there, note that every single book of mine has a sample of what's in it. this feels like such a no-brainer to me but again! the amount of times i have gone to buy somebody's work and they don't show me what their work looks like! you gotta give me the first page or two! just enough that i know if i like the way your writing sounds, or the way you draw your comics! i don't know you! i am not going to trust that you're good at what you do just based on a cover. the cover is to get me to this step, it is not the only step. you have to show me that you're worth spending my money on!

to put it less cynically, you want to catch my interest. you want me to go 'oh i want to see more of this', you want me to go 'ahh i want to know where this goes!' you need to get me invested and craving more. earn my $5!!!

YOU HAVE TO MAKE IT EASY TO GIVE YOU MONEY

hey go look at your bio right now. go look at your pinned post. do you have a link to your patreon there? do you have a link to your itchio/gumroad/whatever? do i have to click more than once to get to the places you want me to go to give you money? why? why are you making me click twice? have we learned nothing from every website making you click an extra time when they make some stupid UI update and how much it pisses us off? i have already given up, i have forgotten you, i am not giving you my $5 today. put your links in the easiest places to get to them.

god literally as i was writing this post i went to go find somebody's itchio to see how they described their work and it was not anywhere on their profile. grabbing you and shaking you PUT THE LINK WHERE I CAN FIND IT. don't make it hard! make it easy! i am a dickhead sitting on the toilet scrolling, saw your post, and was interested enough to read further. but you made me go to your bio to find your linktree and oops i have already gone back to my timeline to look at the boobies in the next post. stop wasting precious bio space on DNIs and put your fuckin links there!!!

this is more for the twitter people, but: just put the link in the damn post. just say the word commission. just say it's for patreon. "wuh wuh the algorithm" it is not the damn algorithm it's that everybody hates advertising and nobody wants to retweet ads. putting slashes in the words doesn't do anything and you look like a fool. i have posted so much art that says it's 'a commission for ___" and it did exactly as good as any other art despite having the word commission in it. and by doing the slashes you just made it impossible for anybody to search your account for your commission information (which should be at the VERY LEAST in a post under your pinned tweet if you're not actively posting about them being open).

okay that went on a tangent i'm going to back to the point of putting the link in the tweet. put it in the first post. not in the first reply. don't tell them to go to your bio. put it in the post people are actually going to share. it's fine to put more information in the thread but people are only ever going to share the first post. so put the link there. you have to make it easy. putting links in tweets can hurt you algorithmically, even in the replies. so you're better off having it in the post that actually gets seen and shared. i don't want to open the tweet and scroll to get to your sales page where i ASSUME you will have put all the information anyway. put it in the tweet that just got retweeted by itself onto my dash!

also you have to share it a ton of times. i repost my shit every few hours when i'm trying to push a new product. as i said before people are not 24/7 looking at their timelines. they missed it the first time. they missed it the second time. they didn't get paid yet that week but they were after the eighth time and you reminded them again so they finally bought it. that i will still get sales every time i repost a book ad weeks after release says there are always people who missed it, or who only just showed up.

abandon your pride and shill. shills pay their bills. anyone who gets annoyed about it isn't giving you money in the first place. don't worry about looking like a sell out. don't apologize for plugging your own work. post about it often, post about it in different ways. post about it. post about it. you are not going to make money if people don't know you have something to sell them. if you want to make a career out of it, you need to act like it.

I DON'T HAVE A FOURTH POINT

kisses your forehead. i'm sorry for yelling at you. i've been making and publishing and selling adult art for the past two-three years and have got myself to the point where it pays my rent, and i got there by paying attention to what does and does not work.

please do your best to make money. i want you to make money.

as i said above i plan to write more posts on this subject, such as cover design, how to actually write sales copy, and best practices with running a patreon, but if there's things you would want to hear more about leave a comment or send an ask! i will probably be less aggressive on future topics. these are just things that have grinded my gears for a grip.

[bunnybunbun0]

renaissance

summary: because Paul Atreides was a piece of art in bed.

pairing: Paul Atreides X fem!reader

warnings: smut,porn without plot,

A/N: with the hype of dune part two being released i finally got my shit together and watvhed part one years later and oh.my.god. Seeing timmy play a serious important yet loving duke just rocked me a bit. i hope you guys like this!

sorry its short i wasnt planning on writing it,it just came t mind.not proofread,we die like real man. english is not my first language so be kind!

you are responsible for your own media comsumption! :)

credits to gif owner!

Paul Atreides was undoubtly the prettiest man you have ever seen.

And after stumbling upon a book on what ancient civilizations considered art,you were even more convinced he was god´s most wonderful creation.

When he pants on top of you while fiercifully thrusting into your soaked slit,his black curls clinging to his pale skin with a sheer of sweat;a beautiful contrast with his dark hair and white skin.

The sounds leaving the back of his throat are a sweet melody to your ears; the gutural grunts,the ocasional moan,the pants of your name,the filthy things he whispers in your ears.

You were fully convinced paul was the most beautiful work of art youve ever seen,he was ethereal,every trace of his was brushstroke,you lost yourself staring into the honey galaxies of his eyes.

"What are you thinking about that is more important than my cock inside you right now?"

His dirty question gets you out of your head;a long whimper scaped you at how dirty his words were,you tried your best to focus on answering his question,but between his cocktip brushing your sweet spot so deliciously,the force of his hips meeting yours,and the sinful noises that filled the room,all you could do in response was moan and whine.

He lowers his head to your neck,sucking and biting the sensitive pristine skin;you shiver at the thought of being marked by his beautiful lips,having him set a clam on you.

"Answer me" he asks in a grave tone,a shiver rippling through you bringing you closer and closer to the edge.

"You´re beautiful!" you blabber out in a high pitched moan,not even realizing how desperate you sound or how you´re not making any sense to him right now "you´re beautiful! fuck paul,you´re so beautiful"

To say that was not what Pauls was expecting to hear was an understatement,he knew you appreciated his looks;it was clear with your lingering touches on him or how youd be amazedly watching him while he did the most mundane of tasks,but not that you liked it enough to declare it so devotedely while he was deep inside you.

He knew your body better than anyone else,and he could sense you were on the brink of an orgasm,his hand reached down rubbing sensual circles around your clit,not once slowing down his thrusts.

You unravel around him yelping and crying out as your release washed over you,your eyes shut feeling the moment where you and him become one.

A few more faltered thrusts into your now even tighter pussy,and paul was cumming inside you with a string of profanities leaving his mouth accompanied with your name.

You both stare at each for what feels like forever,breathing deeply while coming down from your highs.

Paul was a completely different person once the sexual aact was over,the kiss he pressed on your lips right now was not desperate and hurried,it was calm,soft,he treated you like the wind blow you away into a pile of sand.

He slips out of you carefully,making sure youre okay,carefully enveloping you in his arms and throwing a blanket around both their naked bodies;a confortable silence falls into the room as thetwo of you cuddle,paul lovingly stroking your arms,ocasionally kissing whatever naked skin he could get his lips on.

"You really think i´m that good looking?" he asks with the memory of you moaning out how beautiful he was mid sex stuck in his mind.

In your post orgasm clarity your mind goes back to the beautiful paintings you found on the ancient book,the delicacy of the lines,the softness of the colors and beautiful tragedies behind every piece. The sudden desire to once again tell paul how beautiful he is and make sure to know your ancient knowledge with him are overwhelming.

You sit up in the bed looking up at his face,a smile immediately meeting your lips as you look at him and decide to ask:

"Have you ever heard of Michelangelo?"

[smutstevington]

Resensitized (part 2) | Eddie Munson x Reader

(Find part one here)

Summary: Oh, how the tables have turned. Your porn star roommate is getting a little distant and weird after your night together. But don't worry - his attempts at avoiding you won't last long.

Word Count: 6.4K

Warnings: 18+ Minors DNI!!! Smut (pwp), Pornstar!Eddie x Fem Reader, no use of y/n or defining characteristics, Eddie is a soft dom but has a kink for reader, grinding, pining, reader tempts Eddie and is kind of a BAMF, protected PIV sex, oral fem receiving, fingering, male self-gratification, hickies, communication/consent is sexy, things get very sweet at the end

A/N: Okay so you all loved part one and wanted more so...here we go! I tried to add what I saw requested - sub Eddie, some of his POV, the date, etc. By the way, I read ALL comments and tags, because they make me so happy. So, thank you to everyone who left feedback on part one and I hope this lives up to the hype?? xx

--------------------------------

Wait, did he just say-?

“What?” you asked, your eyes wide. His face fell.

“Uhh, shit.” He let out a breathy laugh, then jumped out of bed to put his clothes back on. “That was, uh - I don’t know why I said that.” 

As you watched him hurriedly step into his boxers, face flushed and hair a mess, you couldn’t help but notice that you’d never seen him flustered like this before. Sure, during sex, his usual composure was blown to bits by the end, but this was different.

You’d heard about the concept of “post-nut clarity” before- men who think something is a good idea when they’re horny, then immediately regret it after the fact. But you weren’t offended by Eddie’s nerves, because you knew this wasn’t him regretting that he’d had sex with you.

It was him freaking out because he enjoyed it.

Let’s be real - successfully getting Eddie to bust after he’d insisted he wouldn’t be able to made you feel like a goddess. So, instead of feeling rejected or vulnerable, you were riding high. 

“You probably said it because you want to go on a date with me,” you teased, sitting up in the bed and swinging your legs over the edge. 

Eddie looked at you, but he didn’t respond. Instead, his eyes traveled to your breasts, lingered for a moment, then widened.

“Oh, shit,” he said.

“What?”

He pointed at your chest, and when you looked down you saw several dark splotches on your skin. You chuckled.

“Well,” you responded with a sigh. “I think it was worth it. Any on my neck?”

“No! I was careful,” he replied. You eyed him accusingly. “I just got carried away at the end, there.” You smirked at each other, and you realized that despite the fact you’d had sex, the dynamic between you both hadn’t really changed. Not as much as you thought it would have, anyway.

“Well, luckily I stayed true to my word,” you replied, gesturing at his unblemished neck. He checked himself in your mirror to confirm, then nodded, impressed. You grabbed your robe from the floor and wrapped it around yourself, tying it until it was snug, then unintentionally began ogling the way his jeans hung low on his hips, his buttons and belt still undone.

“You see something you like, roomie?” he teased with a smirk. “My eyes are up here, you know.”

Your gaze snapped up to meet his as you bit your lip, guilty.

“Sorry, you’re hot,” you responded.

“And you’re drooling.” 

“Am not.”

“Are too.” 

Eddie took a step forward to close the gap between you, then dragged the pad of his thumb across the skin just below the corner of your mouth. Once again, you were mesmerized by him, your lips parting at his touch. After his thumb finished traveling along the curve of your bottom lip, his hand found a home against your cheek. 

“Eddie,” you said softly. “I would go on a date with you.”

His expression went through a series of small shifts - surprise, amusement, joy - then landed on cockiness, his lips pursed and brow raised.

“Good to know,” he replied. “We’ll, uh - We’ll talk about this more tomorrow, yeah?”

You were feeling incredibly sleepy, so you didn’t fight his avoidance of the subject. Besides, you lived together - you were bound to finish the conversation eventually.

“Okay,” you replied. “Night, Eddie.” He dropped his hand from your face, and you immediately shuddered at its absence

“Night, roomie.”

He didn’t kiss you, even though you very much wanted him to. You wanted him, in all capacities. As a roommate. As a friend. As more than that. You couldn’t quite comprehend it all in your tired state, though, so you let him leave. You heard his footsteps trail off down the hall, and you swore you heard a hesitation before his bedroom door creaked closed behind him. 

-

Fuuuuuuuucking hell. 

Eddie wasn’t supposed to feel like this. This wasn’t how he did things. He didn’t like this. 

Eddie closed his bedroom door and wished he hadn’t. He wished he’d instead stayed in your room and held you while you fell asleep and maybe fucked you a few more times because oh my god????

That was amazing. So amazing he’d nearly forgotten how the whole thing started.

He’d told you it wouldn’t mean anything. He’d told you that it wasn’t a big deal. That it was simply transactional and nothing else. 

He stayed there with his back against the door, breathing rapidly, hearing you walk down the hall and hoping you were coming to him. Instead, you went to the bathroom. He heard the toilet flush, then the sink running, then the sound of you brushing your teeth. 

You lived together. You were friends who signed a lease and who got along and had a good thing going and Eddie felt like he screwed it all up. 

He clutched his chest and let it rise and fall against his hand, his heart pounding beneath his ribs. 

Just calm down, idiot. You’re acting crazy.

He’d grown to care about you quite a bit since you’d moved in together. He loved any time schedules lined up and you got to spend time together. He loved joking around with you, and the way you let him be completely himself with no judgment. He loved how nervous you were around him after you watched his videos for the first time. That was probably his first clue that he kind of maybe liked you as more than a friend or a roommate. His second clue was less of a clue and more of a neon sign. 

Sex hadn’t meant anything to Eddie in a long time. Now it meant everything.

-

Unsurprisingly, you slept better that night than you had in months. You woke up with the sun streaming in through the windows, fresh as a daisy. 

You loved this apartment. You loved your room. You loved your roommate.

You didn’t love him like that. Actually, maybe you did. Or maybe he was just so good at sex you were getting your feelings confused. 

It was still early - Eddie would probably be asleep for a few more hours. It’s one of the reasons why you didn’t see each other much - you woke up early, made breakfast, then left to work or run errands, and he slept in until the early afternoon, worked or rehearsed with his band, then stayed up late practicing guitar or playing video games with online friends in his room. 

You walked into the kitchen to get a pot of coffee ready, then made yourself a bowl of cereal. You checked your phone to see that your horrible Tinder date had messaged you again. 

Had a lot of fun with you last night. Would you wanna do it again?

Hmm. What was the classiest and least hurtful way to say, absolutely the fuck not??

To be honest, you’d forgotten him already, even though it had only been about twelve hours since you’d hooked up. He was entirely irrelevant, now. Every other partner you’d ever had paled in comparison to Eddie. That was just a fact.

Then, you realized you’d never told your friend what happened. You had passed out so immediately you hadn’t had the chance. 

HEY GUESS WHAT

WHAT

I FUCKED MY ROOMMATE

Naturally, she called you pretty much immediately.

“Tell me everything, spare no details,” she greeted. You looked down the hall to see Eddie’s door still closed. 

“I don’t want him to hear me,” you told her.

“Wait, are you still in bed? Did this happen just now?”

“No, it was last night,” you answered, holding your phone to your ear with your shoulder so you could carry your coffee and cereal to your room. You closed the door with your foot and set everything on your desk, then sat down with a sigh. “It was the best sex I’ve ever had, no contest.”

“I’m sooooo jealous,” your friend replied. You laughed. “So, how did it start?” You sipped your coffee and leaned back in your chair, happy to recount the memory. 

“Well, I - that guy from Tinder came over, and it ended up being extremely underwhelming, and Eddie picked up on it because - um, anyway, he wanted to help me out, I guess?”

There was silence on the other end of the phone for so long, you wondered if the call dropped.

“I have so many questions,” she finally said. “Why did he pick up on it?”

“He heard my fake noises through the wall,” you answered. 

“He was listening?” she asked, a flirtatiously quality to my voice.

“Said he was curious.”

“Hmmmm.” You already knew what your friend was thinking. “And then he wanted to prove he was better than Tinder boy.”

“Yes.” She waited for you to continue, so you did. “He was all about communicating and doing exactly what I wanted him to do.”

“Hot,” she responded. “Did you - I mean, did he get you to - you know?”

“Yup,” you replied. “Four times.”

“No!”

“Yes!”

“Oh my God!”

“I know!!”

You realized that you were raising your voice, and you didn’t want to wake Eddie through the thin walls, so you calmed yourself down.

“So, what happens now?” your friend asked. “You’re going to hook up again, right? You have to. Do it for me, if nothing else.”

“Trust me, it wouldn’t just be for you,” you replied. “And I think we will. I mean, I know we will, but - well, he kind of asked me on a date after.”

“He WHAT?!”

“I was confused too!” you told her. “We’re going to talk about it more today.”

“You absolutely have to go on that date,” she said.

“Duh.” You laughed, but were interrupted by a light knock on your door. You brought your voice to a whisper. “Shit, he’s at the door. Talk to you soon.”

You put your phone down on the desk, took a deep breath and walked to the door, then opened it.

Eddie was fiddling with his rings, one corner of his mouth raised into a smile.

“You’re up early,” you noted.

“You were yelling,” he explained, his smile turning into a smirk. 

“That was not yelling,” you replied. “God, these walls are too thin.”

“That is how we got into this whole mess, isn’t it?” he teased, walking into your room and looking around as if it had changed since the night before.

“It’s a mess?” you asked. He turned around and shrugged.

“I was up all night thinking about it,” he began. “I just - it’s not a good idea - you and me starting something, I mean. It won't end well.” You laughed and rolled your eyes. “What?”

“You were the one who asked!” you pointed out. “Way to dangle the carrot in front of my face and pull it away.” He ran his hand through his hair and smiled, bashful. 

“There’s a joke in there somewhere where the carrot is my dick.” You rolled your eyes again. 

“God, Munson, get your head out of the gutter for once,” you told him. “If it’s a bad idea, why did you ask me in the first place?” 

He looked down at you, and you realized that he was wrong. It had changed things, because he’d never looked at you like this before. In an instant, he snapped out of it - clearing his throat and shaking his head.

“It doesn’t matter,” he replied. “Look, I like you. I like living with you. And you’re kinda my closest friend right now.”

“I thought you were used to fucking your friends, though,” you countered, referencing a statement he’d made in what felt like eons ago. 

“I was,” he responded. 

Two words, and yet he’d said everything he’d needed to say for you to understand the rest of his thought - I was that way, but I guess I’m not anymore. Not with you.

Well, fuck. He had a point, as much as you hated it. Hooking up with your roommate was a recipe for disaster, usually. It was why you’d resisted the idea for as long as you had.

“Okay,” you sighed. “So, I’m your closest friend, and you don’t want to mess with that.” 

“Exactly,” he agreed. You both stood there awkwardly, not really knowing where to go from there. Finally, he puffed out his cheeks and exhaled deeply. “I’m gonna go smoke.” You crumpled your face in disgust.

“Cigarettes are a bad habit,” you reminded him.

“Yeah, but I’ve got an oral fixation,” he replied.

“Oh, I know.”

He was stunned for a moment, and then you caught him fighting a smile. His tongue grazed across his upper teeth, and then he nodded.

“I guess you would,” he responded at last. He went to leave, but paused with one hand grasping the door frame and the other giving you a halfhearted salute. “Catch ya later, roomie.”

Then, he was gone. The conversation didn’t go at all the way you’d wanted it to, but whatever. It was for the best, probably. When you returned to your desk, you saw that your friend had never hung up. You brought the phone to your ear and shook your head.

“You’re too nosy for your own good,” you told her.

“He likes you,” she said.

“Yeah, but you heard him,” you continued. “It’s not happening.”

“Bullshit,” she argued. “That man is obsessed with you. You’ve totally got him hooked, but he’s pushing you away because he’s scared. It’s a tale as old as time, babe. You live together. Any attempts he has at getting over you are doomed to fail.” You laughed, then resumed eating.

“I don’t want to make him do anything he doesn’t want to do,” you said.

“You’re not,” she assured you. “You’re reminding him that he should do the thing he very much wants to do.”

“Maybe.”

“Please,” she begged. “For me. Otherwise I’ll just hear you pine about it some more, and it’s entirely avoidable.”

“Fine,” you agreed. She squealed into the phone.

“Yay!” You smiled against your coffee mug, then realized you’d actually taken one of Eddie’s this morning. “As always, keep me posted.”

“I will.”

She was probably right. Okay, she was right. Relationships and dating were things you had long given up on, ever since your horrific breakup. But one thing you knew about yourself was that, once you found someone you liked, you weren’t able to just…stop thinking about them. 

So, you decided to be a little sneaky. You wouldn’t do anything crazy, you’d just give him a few reminders on what he was missing out on. He liked you, and you liked him, and you knew with 100% certainty that you could get him to break. 

You had this in the bag.

-

Eddie was losing his mind.

For a few weeks, everything went back to normal. You were extremely level-headed, and things were how they’d always been between you. As if that one night had never happened. Which, granted, is exactly what he’d asked for, but he didn’t like it.

He thought about you all the time. He lingered in the kitchen and kept his door open on the off chance that you’d want to talk to him. He felt like a goddamn fucking idiot, honestly. It wasn’t even about the sex, he just wanted to be around you. He wanted to make you laugh. He wanted to make you blush.

But, more often than not, you were doing those things to him instead of the other way around.

He would walk into the kitchen and see you wearing an oversized t-shirt and no pants, reaching for something on the top shelf enough for the shirt to lift and reveal your cotton panties. He’d try not to stare, but he would anyway, and he’d fight the urge to fall to his knees and sink his teeth into your skin. 

He wanted to literally bite you on the ass. What the actual fuck was that about.

You’d sense his presence and look over your shoulder to confirm your suspicions, then smirk. 

“Good morning,” you’d say. 

“Morning,” he’d respond, already fighting a hard-on.

And you knew exactly what you were doing. You knew that it killed him every time you asked him to zip up your dress. You knew it made him blush when you’d come home on hot summer days and walk around in a sports bra and shorts. You knew his heart skipped whenever your playful banter turned flirtatious. You knew why his eyes focused on the edge of your coffee mug after you took a sip - because your lips had just been there. You had to know.

And then, one fateful night, he dreamt of you. 

He was at work, except you were the only other person there. He was confused at first, but then you told him that you were the one he was paired with that day. He nodded, but it felt different than all the other times he’d been told the same thing about other people. He took his shirt and pants off and tried to touch you, but you backed away, tutting and waving your finger at him. 

“Not this time,” you said. “I don’t want you to do anything unless I tell you to. Lie down.”

So, he did. He swallowed and felt his heart rate skyrocket when you climbed on top of him and rocked yourself against him. You were moaning, your eyes closed and lips parted. He wanted nothing more than to kiss you, but you weren’t going to let him. You kept your hand on his chest, holding him down, biting your lip. 

“Can I -?”

“Shh,” you cooed, focused on what you were doing. “Don’t talk.”

His cock stiffened as you continued to grind on it, and the feeling was indescribable. Your motions picked up, your hips rocking faster and faster, your moaning turning higher pitched and less controlled. 

He watched you - beautiful, sexy, incredible you - and felt the familiar feelings of his own orgasm building within him. Any moment now and he would -

“Fuck!” you cried out, your composure fully unraveling and your movements stuttering. He spilled onto his stomach immediately, feeling the warmth of that and himself and you all around him. You crashed down onto the bed, still breathing heavily, and pulled him into you. 

“Thank you,” you said, placing a quick kiss on his cheek. 

Suddenly, he jolted awake in his bed, eyes wide. 

He was sweating a little bit, but thankfully hadn’t jizzed in his boxers. He was grateful to keep up his streak of no wet dreams since his teenage years, especially since he shared a bathroom and washer/dryer with you. That would have been mortifying.

Seriously. What the fuck were you doing to him???

He decided he needed yet another cold shower - he’d been taking a lot of them recently. One would think that him still having sex with other people through all of this would have helped his situation, but it was actually quite the opposite. He didn’t want them, he wanted you. Besides, the sex he was having was for work. He did try once to hook up with one of the other actors after hours, but even that didn’t curb his desire for you in the slightest. 

He probably should have anticipated running into you on his way to the bathroom, considering you lived together and all, but somehow it took him by surprise.

“Hello,” you called to him casually from the kitchen. 

“Uh, hi,” he said, awkwardly standing in the hallway. He saw you sitting there, fully clothed and doing literally nothing remotely sexy, but he blushed anyway as if you were. 

“If you’re about to shower, just know there’s something wrong with the water heater,” you informed him.

“That’s okay,” he replied, perhaps too quickly. “I, uh - I don’t mind.” You put your phone down and looked in his direction, suspicious.

“Okay, weirdo,” you teased. “Anyway, I tried to talk to the landlord but I think he likes you better, so -”

“Uh, yeah, I’ll give him a call,” Eddie said. He pointed at the bathroom awkwardly and nodded. “I’m gonna - uh - yeah.”

Way to go, idiot. She totally knows something is going on with you.

He couldn’t worry about that yet, though. By the time he shut the bathroom door, his dick was so hard he had no choice but to deal with it. He hadn’t been this out of control horny since he was going through puberty. His face was red and his bottom lip was chapped from biting it so much. He stifled his grunts and groans to the best of his abilities, leaving the water running to mask the sound of him jerking off. 

It didn’t take long. It never did when he was thinking about you.

The shower was in fact cold, but he was too busy trying to figure out what he was gonna do to notice the temperature that much. He didn’t come up with anything by the time he was finished washing up, or even after drying himself off. He put a pair of pants on and opened the door, just to jump at the sight of you waiting for him by his room.

“You’re being weird,” you told him.

Yeah. There was no denying that fact.

“I know.” You continued, taking a step closer to him.

“You’re acting like I did when -”

“I know.” You eyed him with a smirk, then gestured for him to follow you to the kitchen. He did so blindly, even though he wasn’t sure why you needed a location change. Honestly, he would have followed you anywhere. 

“Okay, let’s talk about it,” you said, drying off the last of the dishes beside the sink. Ah. So that’s why you needed to be in the kitchen. “Did something happen? Did you find one of my videos?”

“Do you have any?” Eddie asked. He didn’t mean for it to sound desperate. He honestly was curious. But, combined with everything else, that’s how it came off.

“No,” you answered. “Not yet, anyway. So, spill. What happened?” Eddie took a deep breath and leaned with his back to the counter beside you.

“I had a sex dream about you.” You burst out laughing, your eyes squinting so much he could see the crinkles around them. He smiled, joining in with your laughter. “Don’t laugh at me!” You calmed yourself down and shook your head.

“It’s cute! That’s all,” you said. “We’ve all been there, Eds. Was this last night?” He nodded. “First one?” He nodded again. “But you’ve been acting weird around me a lot lately.”

“Woah there, detective,” Eddie replied, his hands up in defense. “What’s with the interrogation?”

“You told me I could ask you anything,” you responded. Eddie groaned, realizing he had in fact said that. Fuck. “Does the dream have something to do with the moaning that was coming from the bathroom just now?”

Eddie’s eyes widened. Fuck these paper-thin walls. This was worse than the time he popped a boner in math class. You stared back at him, smug, and he narrowed his eyes at you. Making people flustered like this was his move, dammit.

“So, what if it was?” he asked with a shrug. You rolled your eyes.

“Just admit that you have a crush on me.” Eddie couldn’t believe how bold you were being. Once again, that was traditionally his move. The tables were turning, and it made his heart race in a way he hadn’t experienced before. Your eyebrows furrowed at his silence. “Um, sorry. Maybe I had this all wrong -”

“I absolutely, 100% have a crush on you,” Eddie answered. “That’s not a secret though. I’ve been down bad since we - I mean, you know. And it’s fucking annoying. I feel like an idiot for telling you I didn’t want to go out with you. I thought that repressing it was for the best, and maybe it is, but at this point I reeeeally don’t think I can hold out much longer. No help from you and your refusal to wear pants around here anymore, by the way. It’s like you’re trying to rile me up.”

You looked down at your oversized sweater and exposed legs, then smiled. 

“That’s exactly what I was trying to do,” you admitted. “I’m glad it worked.”

“That’s mean,” he replied, smirking. “You’re mean.”

“Yeah, but you have a crush on me, sooooo….” He chuckled, then shoved you playfully against the arm. 

“Yeah, whatever,” he responded. “Congratulations, roomie - you’ve ruined me. Let’s go on a fucking date.” You smiled, big and bright, then bit your lip. Eddie realized he’d do anything to make you smile like that any chance he got. 

“I thought you’d never ask.”

-

You settled on going out to dinner. Nothing groundbreaking, but a date’s a date. Eddie originally suggested going to the arcade and playing laser tag, but you told him that was more of a third date kind of thing. 

Secretly, you both already knew that a third date would happen, so you didn’t stress the first. It was all a formality, anyway. A symbol instead of a step. Like, you already were close friends who lived together, and you’d already had sex. So it felt like you were going in reverse more than anything.

At least that’s how you thought it would feel. Instead, it felt perfectly natural - as if this was a normal situation that went in a normal order. You laughed, you people-watched, you flirted, and all was well. 

“Your place or mine?” he teased after he’d paid the check.

“Mine,” you answered. “I don’t have sex on the first date, Edward.” Eddie snickered.

“Bullshit,” he replied. You smirked, then got your purse as you both stood up from the table. He took your hand to walk you out of the restaurant, and neither of you even really noticed you’d never done that before. 

“I’m serious, actually,” you responded. “I mean, I used to be that way. Before I moved here and had that one night stand.”

“That godawful one night stand,” he reminded you. You rolled your eyes.

“Yeah, well it led to us hooking up, so at least something good came from it.”

“Yeah, you did,” he said with a grin. “Four times, if I recall correctly?” You blushed, biting your lip at the memory.

“Has anyone ever told you how humble you are?” you joked. He laughed, nudging his shoulder into yours.

“Not once,” he responded. 

It was a quick drive home, and conversation continued to flow easily. You were talking about some movie you’d both seen as a kid when you walked through your front door, and you’d nearly forgotten that you had just come from a date. None of it felt new, somehow.

“Well, I’d say that was pretty successful,” you said once there had been long enough of a silence. You went to grab yourself a glass of water at the sink, when Eddie said something behind you that sent a chill down your spine.

“Do I get to kiss you goodnight?” 

You spun around to face him, then nodded. He closed the gap between you and put a hand at the small of your back, then laid his other hand against your cheek, his fingers wrapping around to the back of your neck. He leaned in and pressed his lips to yours - slowly, gently, respectfully.

The moment you kissed back, his composure broke. He breathed you in, parting his lips to deepen the kiss, tightening his grip on you. Your arms went over his shoulders so you could be even closer to him. His tongue grazed your lower lip, then dove past it to lick the roof of your mouth. You moaned unintentionally, then broke from him just enough to speak.

“Woah,” you said, your head spinning. 

“Sorry,” he replied, putting his forehead against yours. “Too much?”

“Not at all,” you answered. “How long have you wanted to do that?” 

“Too long,” he responded, breathlessly. “Too goddamn long.” You gave him another peck on the lips, then cherished the way he chased you when you didn’t go back in for more.

“You want me again?” you asked him, softly. He nodded.

“Yes.”

“Now?” you asked, as if you didn’t already know the answer. You could already feel him stiffening against you.

“Always.”

Within moments, his lips were on yours. His hands quickly tangled in your hair and pulled you deeper into him, your bodies flush with one another. He walked you backward until your ass hit the kitchen counter, then wrapped his arms tightly around your waist and lifted you up so you were seated. His hands abandoned the small of your back and went to your thighs, spreading them apart so he could stand between them. All the while he kissed you and touched you and and breathed into you. 

“I want to make you feel good,” he said. He was so close to your skin, you could feel the vibrations of his words. “Please let me make you feel good again.”

He nipped at your earlobe, causing you to shudder. Your eyes flashed up to the ceiling, all other thoughts fading away.

“You are,” you responded breathlessly. “You do.”

The confirmation seemed to only motivate him even more. His fingers began trailing up your skirt as he dropped to the floor, a frenzied desire in his eyes.

Ohhh lord. Seeing him on his knees for you turned you on more than you could have ever anticipated. 

“Please,” he begged, placing a quick kiss on your thigh. While it was tempting, you didn’t really want to have sex in the place where you prepared food.

“Yes,” you permitted. “But not here.”

“Why not?” he whined. “I eat here all the time.” You kicked him playfully, rolling your eyes.

“That’s gross,” you said. He stood up, grinned, and held his hand out for you to take.

“Tell me it’s gross in two minutes when I have you screaming my name again.” Your breath hitched as you took his hand and followed him to your room - you might have gone to his room instead this time, had it not been ten feet further away. You didn’t want to waste a single moment. 

“You’re dangerous, Eddie Munson.” 

“That’s what they tell me,” he replied with a smirk. “Now, take off your clothes and pick a number.” You were confused, but did as told anyway.

“Uhh, 7?” you said as you lifted your dress over your head. His eyes bore into the newly revealed parts of you - your stomach and chest and legs. 

“Pssh, easy,” he said, his gaze still fixed to you. “Let’s get this out of the way, too.” His arms went around you to unfasten your bra.

“What’s the number mean?” you wondered, shivering at his touch. Your bra fell to the floor beside your feet.

“Oh, it’s the number of times I’m gonna make you come,” he replied casually. Your eyes widened.

“What?!” In an instant, his hands groped at your breasts while his lips went back to your neck. “Eddie, I - mf,” you murmured, already succumbing to his influence. “What if I’d chosen a higher number?” Eddie broke away from your neck to look into your eyes with a smirk. You jolted when his thumb and forefinger flicked across your nipple.

“Then we would have to be here for a while,” he said. “Do you wanna change your answer?”

You stared at him, dumbly, unable to comprehend how you’d found yourself in a situation this perfect.

“Just shut up and kiss me,” you replied.

So, he did. One hand grabbed and pulled at your hair while he kissed you passionately. Then, he kissed down your jaw, to your collarbone, between your breasts, on your stomach. He left a trail of fire all the way down to your panties, your core already throbbing for him. Once he was back on his knees, he yanked your underwear down to your ankles and lifted one of your feet so you could spread your legs apart. 

His mouth was on you in seconds. No time for teasing. As he licked up your slit, you searched for something to hold onto. The only thing around was him, so you grabbed a hold for dear life, gripping a fistful of his hair. He groaned in pleasure as he tasted you, and you felt your knees buckling. He slipped a finger into you as his tongue swirled circles around your clit. He pulsed in and out of you, and your eyes rolled back into your head. You felt yourself cresting over the edge as your fingers tangled in his hair, and before you knew it you were losing your balance and falling to your knees across from him. While his head had separated from you, his finger remained buried inside you, undulating against your g-spot.

“Oh, sweet Jesus,” you muttered. You could tell that your first orgasm was just prefacing your second. “Don’t stop.” You shifted yourself until you could lie on your back against the floor. Eddie threw one of your legs over his shoulder and continued eating you out as he fingered you. Your hips grinded against him of their own accord as you moaned and squirmed beneath him. 

And then you felt that tightening deep in your stomach - just as you’d suspected - and all of a sudden you were shaking and exploding with pleasure, tears springing to your eyes.

“Fuck!” you shouted, quickly slapping your hands over your mouth to keep quiet. Eddie used his free hand to tug your arms away from your face, tutting in disapproval. 

“Don’t censor yourself, sweets,” he cooed. “I want to hear you scream.” He added another finger inside you, stretching you out. You gasped in delight. “I’ve wanted to hear it ever since that first night,” he continued. He kept his hands on you but crawled forward so his mouth could reach your breasts. He kissed one, gently. “I was hearing that pitiful excuse for sex through the walls and all I could think about was how I could fuck you better, and how you’d sound when you weren’t faking it.” He sucked right beside the last remaining hickey from the first time he’d done this. Your back arched, your heart beating so fast you were practically vibrating.

“Eddie,” you moaned. “I need you inside me right now.”

“I am inside you,” he said, flexing his fingers in a way that made your hips roll against his hand. You shook your head and reached down to his jeans, grabbing his cock and running your hand up the shaft. He stiffened, his eyes closing and motions stuttering. 

“This,” you clarified, tightening your grip. “I need this.” He groaned, then nodded.

“Fuuuuuuck, okay,” he said. He pulled his fingers out of you, licked them clean, stood up, pulled you up, then started stripping as you got a condom from your bedside table. By the time you’d retrieved it and turned around, he was fully naked and waiting eagerly to put it on. He ripped the foil open with his teeth and rolled it over his length, then sat you on the edge of the bed and lined himself up with your entrance. The corner of his mouth twitched into a smirk, his eyes dark and pupils blown out. With a final nod of your permission, he thrust himself inside you all at once.

You whimpered, your mouth falling open at the feeling of him completely filling you. Your legs wrapped around his waist, your heels crossed under his ass. He pushed himself in and out of you, guided by your feet, falling into a steady rhythm. You bit at his shoulder and neck, drawing groans of pleasure from his lips. You could feel his body getting warmer to the touch, a bead of sweat forming on his brow. You leaned back and laid down fully on the bed, and he quickly followed you. You both crawled further onto the bed until his body was stretched out and hovering over yours. You tightened your legs around him again and threw your head back, enjoying the way he continued pumping himself in and out of you. 

“Tell me that nobody else fucks you like I do,” he said in a husky tone. Your eyes were closed to keep yourself from being entirely overstimulated.

“N-nobody,” you stuttered. “Nobody fucks me like you.”

Suddenly, he was kissing you, and you were kissing him back, and he was fucking you, and you were rocking your hips against him, and his thumb rubbed at your clit, and you were coming again, and he was coming with you. Your mouths were open against each other, gasping and shaking, and then your eyes opened.

He was looking at you, really looking. As you returned his gaze, you got lost in it all. His hips stalled with his cock buried deep in you, but neither of you dared to move. You just kept looking into each other's eyes, breathing deeply, and that’s when you realized that one of your hands was interlocked with his. You kissed him again, slowly and leisurely, before sucking his bottom lip into your mouth and biting it. He moaned softly, appreciatively, then sighed.

“I lied before, about having a crush on you,” he said. You raised your eyebrows, mind still reeling from the sex.

“Oh?”

“I think it might be more than that,” he explained. “I mean, it is more than that.” Your eyes widened.

“Oh.” He waited for you to respond. “Just - give me a minute. I’m still in outer space.” He flashed a small, crooked smile, then pulled out of you slowly. After he settled back into bed, you instinctively curled up next to him, which he happily accepted. 

This was nice. This was better than nice. This was perfect.

“I know that because of my work -”

“It’s more than that for me, too,” you interrupted. You angled your head to look up at him. 

“Yeah?” he asked. You nodded.

“And I don’t know how I’m gonna feel about dating someone who has sex with other people at work,” you continued. “But right now, I don’t care. Usually, I’d be jealous, but - but I’m not.”

“You really wanna give this a shot?” he wondered, desperately trying to hide his excitement. You nodded again, smiling.

“I don’t think we have much choice,” you replied. 

“Fuck yeah,” Eddie said, grinning from ear to ear. “Let’s do this, then.”

You kissed him on the cheek, then went back to cuddling up to his chest. He hummed, content. 

He was pretty sure he loved you, but that was for another night. This night would be spent making you come another four times, as promised.

Eddie was always true to his word.

(Next part)

------------------------------

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[pinksssideblog]

it's so weird to me that someone whom ive never talked to before has been telling people why i left.... when ive never talked abt it and def hadn't told them.

just for clarity, i left bc im done.

when i first decided to make my blog, i had just entered the void and just wanted to share my success story but i got so many questions and people asking for advice and tbf a lot of trauma dumping and i rlly wanted to help everyone.

back then, and even now, i cannot forget my old life. i have def grown since then and with time healing me as well as therapy, i have been able to move on a bit but it's not something ive forgotten and back then, it was much more impactful so i decided that i will make a blog and i will help everyone in the same situation as me.

ive been very transparent and honest abt my failures, doubts, and struggles with my void journey. i did this so that anyone else in a similar position can relate and know that they can still enter the void and i think ive achieved that.

ive made so many motivational posts bc ik how much those posts can help during desperate times and i know ive achieved that from how many people have succeeded in entering the void and have told me that those posts helped.

ive shared ALL my experiences with all the countless methods ive tried/learned about during my void journey and now there is nothing left.

ive ran countless challenges to help motivate people and get them to enter the void state and my @pinksssecret page speaks for itself.

ive even bought so many subliminals from some of the most trustworthy, effective submakers in order to help everyone. (also as a side note, a lot of ppl have been requesting more subs from me and while i understand you might just be following the hype for a new submaker, pls refrain from doing this. i have bought plenty of subs already. if you haven't entered from them, you are not going to enter from anyone bc there's another issue there. your own mindset. work on that and you'll enter with the subs ive alr provided. pls stop chasing new subs and new methods, i promise my page has everything you'd need).

there is genuinely nothing left for me to do. i have provided everything anyone would need, from resources to support. that's why i decided to close up my blog. ive done what i set out to do.

please do no use me for your own narrative bc till the end, i am proud of what ive done on my page and i hope everyone enters the void 🤍

[11cupids-tarot11]

Free Tarot Reading Raffle

FINISHED!

✧˖ °. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁‧₊˚ ☾. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁˖°✧

HII! I am sooo frreaking excited to announce that I will be doing a free tarot reading raffle!! So basically anyone who wants to will enter via Google form and I'll be spinning a wheel and selecting 3 random followers for a tarot reading!! I can't wait, this feels like so much fun, I might do this more often?!

I love you guysss thank you for 400 followers!! (Manifesting 500, that's my goal 😭 you guys hype me up so much to continue doing this, can't say thank you enough!!)

- Cupid 𖥔 ࣪ ᥫ᭡ꗃ⋆࣪.

➽���──────────────❥

RULES: 

One Question per person, can be a love question (18+ questions allowed) , a career question or clarity question. Literally any question, I don't mind anything as long as not Death or Health.

You must be a follower! 

You must Reblog this post!

You must read and complete this Google form! ᥫ᭡

If these rules are not followed I'll unfortunately have to pick someone else! 

DEADLINE:

Friday, July 12th so please enter while you can!! 😊🫶🏾

[twopoppies]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13809239/Travis-Kelce-calls-lawyers-leaked-contract-claimed-reveal-exact-date-relationship-Taylor-Swift-end-Fake-PR-strategy-document-spread-online-gave-illusion-year-long-love-story-sham.html

Well that's interesting...

I assume they’ll say it’s fake. Which it very well may be.

[…]The paperwork which appears to have been created by Los Angeles-based firm Full Scope, reveals a strategy to make their split, and says the date for an announcement is September 28.

It also outlines a supposed plan to release an official statement at the end of this month – three days 'post-break up' to 'allow the initial media frenzy to settle and ensure clarity'.

It adds that the announcement will be 'gracious, respectful and stress mutual respect.

Laying out what the statement would say, they write: 'Example: Travis and Taylor have decided to part ways after careful consideration. They both value and respect each other's personal lives and appreciate your respect for privacy during this time.

They say it is fake blah blah.

However, tonight a spokesman for Full Scope insisted that they were 'entirely false and fabricated and were not created, issued or authorised by this agency’.

The representative also said they have called in lawyers - though they are not expected to find the culprit.

'We have engaged our legal team to initiate proceedings against the individuals or entities responsible for the unlawful and injurious forgery of documents,' they said.

Travis’ team talks about how they have created PR relationships before

[…]

Mr Kelce is represented at the US firm by Jack Ketosyan and Pia Malihi.

Mr Ketsoyan has admitted to putting together 'showmances' — where celebrities are set up for publicity — before.

Featuring in an Australian podcast for Mamamia's The Quicky in 2019, Mr Ketsoyan said the fake romances are generally put together if one has a film or something to promote or to distract from unappealing publicity like a project flop.

He said at the time: 'It's to be able to sell the hype of it – whether a concert, album… or getting people to go to see the movie, it all about the hype at the moment.'

Full article here

[old-type-40]

Hey hey hey I just frantically watched unification bc of all the SPIRK IS CANON posting and I would absolutely love some clarity bc im confused. I saw the Nexus, and after that I was lost. I'm not really a tos fan but im genuinely confused about what happened in the short film. Also who made it? Like does it count as alpha canon? Hype and crying but lost.

Some have speculated that Kirk was able to visit Spock because he exited the Nexus. But given that we got Gary Mitchell appearing before we saw Kirk, I believe Unification is strongly implying that Mitchell was responsible. And Mitchell had gained god like powers in the Star Trek pilot Where No Man Has Gone Before. If you want to see this episode you can view it on demand on the free Pluto TV service.

There's debate whether this really counts as canon. Given that Rod Roddenberry (Gene's son) is an executive producer on this film who is also executive producer of all the new Trek series and Paramount staff are listed in the credits, I personally feel that it does count as canon. When the intellectual property rights owners are involved in a production even when it's not released by the studio, I would say that counts.

[crismakesstuff]

im so excited for invincible s2b now that it has an official release date… and that release date is march 14th

Let me talk about why that has me worried for the future of the show

‼️also no hate to any other shows mentioned‼️

I want to start with these two images :

invincible compared to the boys and now hazbin hotel has BARELY gotten any offical advertising on this level. The boys also got ads in times square for the promotion of s3 and the spin-off gen v im pretty sure but I could be wrong.

Don’t get me wrong I am rly happy to see an animated show get promotion at that level and I think more streaming services should do the same but why is it that invincible, a show on its SECOND SEASON gets nothing? The official invincible accounts have to do most of the heavy lifting themselves with generating hype on their twt,insta and tiktok. People complain that the accounts often make “an announcement for the announcement” but they have too! They literally have no other option! It sucks to see invincible show signs of a show thats clearly being tampered with by executive fuckery that has led so many other animated shows to an early grave.

Also I NEED people to realize that invincible’s release schedule NOT THE FAULT OF THE CREW

I see people regularly being rude and borderline aggressive to crew members online (which ive seen happen in other fandoms too) but the amount of people that were bitching and whining about the hiatus saying things like “this is why we shouldn’t let animators have good working conditions” and people agreeing with those takes were INSANE. The crew have no control over when the show drops or not, that is a decision left up to executives.

Now why could this delay be happening ?

a little bit ago amazon made this announcement to its customers:

this very well lines up with what many people began to speculate online as to why invincible had such a weird release schedule for season 2. They release the first half and get people hooked on the first 4 episodes ending on a massive cliffhanger and then release the second half after ads are introduced in hopes of making more money bc ppl don’t want ads in the middle of their shows.

Even then many people (myself included) think that it would’ve ultimately been better for the sake of the shows own hype to just wait to release them in March back to back all 8 episodes. Because the midseason break just kneecapped the hype the show had built up so hard and now many people are reasonably frustrated.

Because there was no clarity on when the show would be back. Most people assumed it would be a month long break for the holidays which shows have done for a long time. And then fake leaks came out that the show would come back in early January, and then the invincible accounts were virtually silent, and people were saying the break was intentional for fans to (recover) for ep 4. It was all over the place

What should fans do going forward?

Best thing you can do is stream the show legally if you can! TALK about invincible, don’t let the hype die out. Get this shit on trending ! Boost any official posts online showing that there is still a demand for this show! If you can, buy merch! Read the comics legally ! LET AMAZON KNOW WE STILL CARE ABOUT THIS SHOW!

again no hate to the other shows here bc ive watched all of them! I just want invincible to get some of that love too because this show is so amazing and you can tell how much love the crew has put into it <3

[sleepanonymous]

Heya! I just got into Sleep Token and I'm enamored! Do you know of any links to posts or anything that talk about the characters and their personalities onstage? I'm having trouble differentiating between III and IV (I know II is the drummer) and I want to learn more about them!

Also, is it pronounced Two, Three, and Four, or Second, Third, and Fourth?

Hi and welcome! 😊 Glad to see a new fan of the band. For the sake of clarity, I'll answer your second question first. The Sleep Token lore technically dubs them all Vessel 1, Vessel 2, etc. so it's my understanding that fans started calling the other band members Two, Three, and Four, and used Roman numerals for their monikers.

TLDR: This Weblink has almost all of Sleep Token's lore, and This Video also has almost all of Sleep Token's lore. The easiest way to tell III and IV apart from each other is by their instruments and height. III plays bass and is taller than the rest of the band. IV plays guitar and is shorter than the rest of the band (except for II, he is the shortest of the four).

I'll be honest, I also had trouble differentiating between III and IV when I first got into the band. Up until very recently, they wore similar outfits, too, which made pictures difficult to tell them apart. You can always tell via the instrument they're holding (if it's visible). III is the bassist and IV is the guitarist. Another way to tell depends on which side of the stage they are standing on. 85% of the time III is stage right, in front of the choir (Vesselettes) and IV is stage left, in front of II's drum set. My favorite way to tell them apart (before it just became secondhand nature to know which was which) was if the musician had a bun under his mask or not. IV's hair is relatively concealed beneath his mask, but III has longer hair and puts it up into a bun to keep it all in place under his mask during rituals.

The neck of III's bass is kind of in the way of the back of IV's head in the second photo, but here are two examples of the bun shape that III has. This is also a good way to tell them apart if they're standing next to each other, or, in this case, kissing. III is extremely tall and will always be taller than any other band member unless he's crouching or leaning over. If the two aren't standing near each other, you can always use Vessel as a measuring stick.

The photo on the left probably isn't the best reference, but trust me, III is about 5 centimeters taller than Vessel, he's just leaning back. The photo on the right also probably isn't the best since Vessel and IV are both just dark shapes lol, but at least it's obvious that Vessel is taller than IV.

The band as a whole is anonymous so you might not find much in the way of personalities, even of their stage personas. If you're willing to read up on the Sleep lore itself, you can do that here (this is a link to boolintunes.com). Or, if you'd prefer to watch a friendly, lecture-style video, there is this one here on YouTube. Persona-wise the most concise I can give you is this:

Vessel is very emotional. That is evident by the lyrics he writes, but doubly so when he is in front of an audience. He will cry, he will laugh, he will do silly dances, and he will hype up his bandmates. It's evident that he loves what he does, but he is also extremely humble about it. All of the love his fans give him he makes sure to give back 110% (the fact that he manages to do it without speaking is impressive in itself).

II is a beast, like no joke. This man has got to have started playing drums before he could walk, I swear. He, like Vessel, obviously loves what he does, has a blast, and also gives zero fucks while doing it. He will sit at his drum set and kick out beats while drinking Red Bull and Diet Coke through his mask 🤣🤣 During moments in songs where there is little to no percussion he'll often stand up and react to the lyrics Vessel sings. He also comes to the front of the stage at the very end of rituals to hype up the crowd and hand out his used drumsticks and sometimes even a drum head.

III is the most animated of the guys. I will often refer to him as the "main character" of Sleep Token because he is always front and center. This has also earned him the fandom nickname of Bassy Boi. I've seen him do everything from windmill headbang, to run in place, to high kick, to jumping up and down for 30+ seconds straight. He also has a knack for yelling at fans. There is a compilation video on YouTube here for reference. Also! Something I forgot to mention earlier in telling III and IV apart: III almost always has on his iconic checkered socks in the most recent shows.

IV (at least the current IV) is probably the most reserved and collected on stage (fun fact, there were two other IVs in Sleep Token before our current IV, I wrote about that here), In earlier shows he played with the band, around 2021/2022, he used to be fairly shy. Sometimes IV would stand off to the very side of the stage and let Vessel and III have all the attention. Luckily he's seemed to get past his shyness and has become much more of a crowd pleaser. He'll often do things like serenade the crowd (a bit like II does, only a lot closer since there's no drum set in the way), get roped into Vessel's or III's chaotic stage antics, or, you know, tease pulling his mask off in front of an entire music festival crowd.

[newleaf92]

The Full Moon

This post does contain spoilers so read at your own discretion if you haven’t seen the episode.

I do want to start off by saying that I can understand why some people found this episode a let down. Especially after the hype it was given, and the expectations people had for it.

However, I personally didn’t see it that way. One of the symbolisms/meanings behind a full moon is completion.

From the beginning of season 1, we slowly saw the emergence of Stolas’ true feelings for Blitzø. Yes, it started off as a transactional relationship, but it slowly turns into him realizing that he harbors true feelings for Blitzø. In S2E6, Stolas goes to Asmodeus in hopes of obtaining an Asmodean Crystal for him in order to give him the opportunity to choose to be with Stolas. In The Full Moon, Stolas finally commits to giving Blitzø the crystal. While this may have seemed to be revealed too fast without giving Blitzø adequate time to actually process what he was saying, it was back in season 1 episode 7 that Stolas actually started telling him that he was open to possibility of doing more than just having a “passionate night of fornication.” So, he finally completed his personal goal of not only providing a Blitzø a way to do his job without having a transactional relationship but also laying everything out on the line for him in regards to how Stolas truly feels about Blitzø.

Blitzø also has a part to play in this. This imp has walls around his walls in regard to how he truly feels. His very first interaction with Stolas was by his dad selling him to Paimon to be a friend for Stolas for the day—granted, it was also a means to steal from royalty, but still. This, I have no doubt, soured his perception of all upper class demons because he was sold to one. What else was he supposed to think with that? So, when Stolas actually begins to show genuine care towards him, Blitzø has trouble believing that as that first encounter most certainly left an impression. In S2E6, he even fights with himself on accepting that he harbors feelings for Stolas, and he struggles with the idea that not all royals are the same. In The Full Moon, Blitzø’s rant to Stolas is fueled by the stress of meeting up at the full moon after a break of not meeting for a little bit (this worried him because the transactional relationship was “safe” to a degree, it was routine), having Stolas give him the crystal (he was forced to give up what was giving him a reason to come back to Stolas, again the transaction was safe), and being hit with the reveal of Stolas’ true feelings towards him (Blitzø didn’t know what to do with that so he resorted to making a joke and then exploded on Stolas because he couldn’t process it). Blitzø let out his frustration, fear, perception of royalty, and denial that someone like Stolas could truly love someone like him. Yes, he fucked up and realized that, but by that time, Stolas had already teleported him out of the palace.

Both Stolas and Blitzø had a moment of completion in The Full Moon. Stolas with giving the crystal and revealing his feelings. Blitzø finally releasing the built up resentment towards royalty and having a moment of clarity where he sees that he was wrong about Stolas. This completion on both sides can now most certainly allow room to grow some more, and hopefully both will be able to obtain the relationship they both want.

[umlewis]

Lewis Hamilton On Winning Again and Making the Formula 1 Movie With Brad Pitt

Sir Lewis Hamilton is suddenly on a hot streak. In early July, the seven-time Formula 1 champion won the British Grand Prix for the ninth time, setting a record for the most victories by a driver at a single circuit. It was just the latest milestone for the 39 year old Hamilton, who has won more races and finished on the podium more times than any other Formula 1 driver in the history of the competition. But the win in England was his first in more than two years. He followed it up by finishing on the podium in third at the Hungarian Grand Prix in Budapest a couple weeks later, and then a week after that, Hamilton, who was knighted a few years ago, notched another victory at the Belgian Grand Prix after his teammate George Russell was disqualified post-race when his car was found to be underweight. I got a chance to sit down with Hamilton at the Ritz-Carlton in Budapest the night before the Hungarian Grand Prix. The Ritz-Carlton is the official hotel partner for the Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula 1 team, and I was one of a group of invited guests and prize winners who traveled from Vienna to Budapest in a convoy of Mercedes vehicles for what the Ritz-Carlton called the "Road To Legendary Car Tour." Hamilton stopped by to chat with the group and to offer a tasting of his non-alcoholic tequila brand, Almave, which he launched last year with the spirits company Casa Lumbre. Hamilton is taking on new challenges at the track, too. This season is his last with the Mercedes team. He announced before the season that he would be leaving after twelve years and will be driving for Ferrari in 2025. Hamilton is also going Hollywood, co-producing the much-hyped movie F1, which is scheduled for release next year and stars Brad Pitt as a former driver returning to compete in Formula 1. We talked about his battle to get back on top of the podium, how he stays in shape to compete with younger drivers, calling bullshit on the F1 screenplay, getting out on the track with Brad Pitt, collaborating with director Joseph Kosinski, and how he'll know when to walk away from racing. Our conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

What do you get from doing something entrepreneurial, like launching Almave, which is different from everything else you're involved in? "I think as a racing driver it's really healthy to unplug and do other things and tap into other mediums, and when you get into the room to sit with a bunch of creatives-working with Casa Lumbre, for example, who have done who knows how many different spirits-they can explain to you the whole process. And then there's things that perhaps you ask them that they've never had to think about before." Your win at the British Grand Prix was your first time on the top of the podium since 2021. What was it like to finally get back to winning, and to do it on your home turf in England? "Everyone was talking about it being this fairy tale, and it really, really was unexpected. Going into that weekend I had no idea that that was going to be possible, and it had been such a long time. So many thoughts cross your mind. Some of them you start to potentially believe in, bit by bit. And finally I had that day when I was able to excel, and we excelled as a team, and it just kind of shuts that all down nd it helps you rebuild again. So it was really great to be able to do it at home, in my home country, with my family around. The last race in Mercedes at Silverstone. It couldn't have been more magical."

The past couple years have been kind of a grind for you after experiencing so much success for so long. What have you learned about yourself, going through that? "It's been mostly a battle of the mind; keeping yourself sane, trying to pick up new tools. Ultimately it always comes back to persistence and dedication. Hard work. It always does eventually pay off. I think I learned that life is really about how much pain you can experience and keep going, and how much you can suffer and keep moving forward, you know? And that's life, right? It's not how you fall, it's how you get up. It's how you continue to apply yourself every single day. It's how you connect with people that you work with. I probably learned to be a better teammate in this period of time, because we've had more time to focus on communication." There's been a lot of buzz about F1, the upcoming Formula 1 movie starring Brad Pitt. I know you're a producer. How did you get involved? "We were there from the beginning. There were a couple scripts out there. I had known Joe [Kosinski, the director] from when we talked about doing Top Gun: Maverick through Tom [Cruise]. Tom put me in touch with Joe, and there were discussions of being in the movie. And then we just stayed in touch. Then we all reconnected to talk about potentially doing a Formula 1 movie, and then we went through this whole process of working with a writer."

What was that like? Did the screenwriter interview you about the details of driving in Formula 1? "Ehren [Kruger, the screenwriter] basically did a ton of research, watched a lot of races, came to a bunch of races, and then went away and wrote up a script. But we would sit and talk about what racing is about. Then once he wrote the script, I would sit with him and call bullshit, basically, on the things that don't seem real and are not what F1 is about and try to make sure that it's as authentic as possible. Then, at the same time, I started a production company, so I'm a producer with these guys. I've been able to be involved in all areas, so making sure the cast is diverse, making sure we've got a woman in a pit stop, which we never, ever had at the actual track. Hans Zimmer was someone I wanted to have doing the [music for the] movie, so we have Hans Zimmer. Joe has been amazing at including me in everything." What types of things in the screenplay made you call bullshit? "It would just be racing scenarios, technical jargon engineers would talk, but particularly racing scenarios and sequences between overtakes and pit stops and strategies and all those sorts of things. There may have been a crash that was like the car hits the wall and flips and lands on the wheels and keeps going, and that doesn't happen in Formula 1." When you were prepping for the movie, did you ever get out on the track with Brad Pitt to check out his driving? If so, how'd he do? "Yeah, we went to a track in LA. I took him out and sat in the passenger seat, and he drove. I used to be a driving coach when I was younger-it was a way of making some money part time whilst I was racing-so I've sat with god knows how many non-racing drivers. You can tell immediately the good ones, the bad ones. Straight away he was on it. You could tell he has it. He has it in his DNA. He's just not been able to hone in on it like we have. But he's got big potential."

So you're confident he can give a realistic performance as a driver? "Yeah, but I think obviously it takes time. Ultimately, the story of a 50-odd-year-old jumping into the season and fighting against us youngsters, it's just not the done thing. But then there's discussing, how would you go about doing that? How much training would you have to do in order to really be able to come back and fight and react in the same way? Yeah, there's a lot of detail that went into it." How have you changed up your training routine over the years to stay fresh and competitive? "You definitely adapt always, and you learn you have to just watch your energy. Recovery is huge, a really big part of the process. It's the whole 360 thing. It's not just going to the gym. It's how much you stretch, how much physio you end up doing, what you eat, and that's constantly changing week by week. And obviously, depending on how much energy you have, the different time zones that you're in." You travel so much for your sport. Do you have rituals or secrets to make yourself comfortable when you arrive? "Not really. I listen to a lot of music. I have music set up in my room. I record music. Basically, I write and sing music, different sorts of R&B. So I record music at night. Often in my evenings, I read. Try to meditate, mostly in the mornings, but I don't always get to it. And then I'm focused on my sleep-try not to slack on that ever-so there's a cutoff time when I want to go to bed, depending on what time I need to be up the first day."

In working with a partner like the Ritz-Carlton, you have a chance to do different kinds of events, like the Almave tasting we just had. Any favourite experiences? "We were just talking about this the other day. In Mexico City I went to visit a school and see the kids. I love when I work with partners that are doing practical stuff. I think that's been a real shift. When I first joined Formula 1 we were working with partners, but less so in the human connection space. In the last five or six years, working with partners like the Ritz-Carlton, it's "What impact are you making? How do you give back?" When we go to a school, see youth and see that they're invested in children, for me, that brings real warmth to my heart, especially as my foundation is all about getting youth who won't have the opportunity, for example, to get into our sport, to get into STEM and channel through to a good career." Do you have a time frame for your career? You're going to be starting a new process with a new team next year. Do you have a plan for how long you'd like to keep racing? "I definitely do. There are days I'm like, shoot, I don't know how much longer I can go. There are days I'm like, shoot, I'd love a break, a proper break, because you don't get a real big break in the season like other sports. You don't finish until mid to late December, and then you're back into training already in January, and that's two times a day you're training. There are another couple of hours of therapy that you're doing during that time, as well, so you're not really getting a huge amount of downtime. And in February you're flat out running until December." That sounds pretty grueling. "But I do have, mentally, a plan of where I would like to extend to. I've just got to strategize and sequence things. I'm very much about sequencing, like looking at brands that I collaborate with, companies that I'm essentially starting, how I manage my time between all those, and how I'm able to dedicate myself to this job still. Is there a time when I'm not all-in and I'm just not in love with it anymore? That's the moment that hopefully never happens, in the sense that I've fallen out of love with it. But I will know when I need to stop."

You'll feel it. "I want to make sure I really max it out while I can and fully enjoy this sport I've done my whole life. There are so many people that have finished their careers early, and I've spoken to many who've said they wish they could have just done one more year or two, and they're like, "Stay in as long as you can!" But I don't want to do it if I'm not good, so it's like, how much do you want to train? When you're 22 it's so easy to work out and be fit. There's no recovery and you've got nothing else going on, no other stresses, no real responsibilities except for that one thing to go and kill. Now it's, how can you stay sharp and be able to do all those things you have going on, and still be able to compete with those young guys in their twenties?" Does it give you particular pleasure to beat the young guys? "Not particularly. I'm super competitive naturally. I don't care who it is. I just want to win." No matter who it is you're competing against. "Yeah. When I won the other day, I didn't think anything about anybody else. I just thought about my team. I thought about people that were with me. People that have sacrificed their time away from their families. People who were giving that extra bit of time in their day when they could have left early to go home and see the kids, and they've given that extra time to build these parts that got us that result. That's who I think about."

[nasuverse-most-breedable-tourney]

Honestly. I understand why people hype up Kama, but let's be real. Sure, she knows a few tricks, and yes, there's a book with her teachings (most of the positions are quite impractical, though), but you know whose skills are so legendary they saved the universe from destruction? That's right. Mama Parvati. Her head game is so powerful it gives Shiva enough post nut clarity to keep him from destroying the universe.

[the-s1lly-corner]

jeff x reader platonic headcannons?

Jeff the killer x reader (platonic!)

WOOOOOOO honestly i love getting platonic stuff for creepypasta!! dont get me wrong i love writing romantic stuff for the fandom but i feel that platonic is rare.... but i think thats the case for other fandoms too shrugs)

oh hes an asshole and hes full of himself, so either youre going to need to be able to handle his personality or youre going to need to match his energy

but even through that i like the idea that hes still a big brother at heart; even after everything... i dont know, jeff having moments of downtime and clarity between everything hits me a certain way

also it leaves room for guilt

snorts

but thats not what this post is about!

got someone harassing you at work/school? depending on the time of day hes either going to hype you up or... fix the problem himelf

honestly youre probably going to have to beg him not to do anything in case it cycles back to you

despite what his literal catchphrase is, expect a lot of late nights where the two of you hang out and do loads of stuff; from binging movies to video games to wandering the streets after everyone else has gone to sleep

can see jeff being the type to have roast battles with his friends, or whatever theyre called; probably the only time hes going to let you freely say anything about him in a mocking way... usually

you know how in "night in the woods" mae and gregg had that running joke where they would meet and say something like "too bad you didnt (terrible event)" and they try to one up each other?

congrats i think you and jeff would do that too, definitely fits the bill for jeffs humor i think

one of those "i dont like showing that i care," so he will never admit anything but hes going to be hanging back and making sure you get to your destinations safely; hes going to get you what you need if youre sick; hes going to spook the shit out of anyone who makes you upset

just dont say anything because he might actually hold back or outright stop these small actions because hed rather die than be seen as caring

[highlordofkrypton]

writing tips // beta readers

The topic of beta readers has come up pretty often ever since I joined Tumblr and is very prominent on AO3, especially in the notes. I wanted to add my two cents on the topic of beta readers and how I work with them to get the best I can out of my work.

My beta reader(s) are the only reason my work ever saw the light of day and I will say it again and again. Without them dragging my ass through some chapters and smothering me with hype and affection, I don't think I would have ever finished a project or gained confidence to share.

What is a beta reader?

A beta reader is someone who looks over your work before you publish it. Commonly, the beta reader is used to check for consistency along with grammar, proofreading, etc.

The important thing is to determine what do you want out of your beta reader?

For me, I use a beta reader for:

Vibe check

Consistency / Lore check

Flow - the rises and falls in the story

Smut check

Grammar, punctuation & spelling

Clarity

Keep in mind, at the end of the day this is your fic, so any feedback given is up to you to implement or ignore.

Where do you find a beta reader?

Anyone can be a beta reader, be it friends or family (depending on your comfort level). It can be other writers in the community, or a reader who has been a longtime fan of your work. Again, it depends on your needs. You'll see that I emphasize this a lot throughout this post.

A good beta reader can work miracles, as long as you know your expectations and set them.

Make sure that:

Your beta reader is someone you feel comfortable with, especially if you're a writer who feels especially vulnerable when sharing early stage writing

You trust the person to be timely (if you have a timeline) and communicate well their thoughts, especially if you want to learn from the feedback

Most important of all, your beta is someone you have fun with.

Does a beta reader need to in the same fandom as your writing?

Not necessarily, no.

Personally, I prefer beta readers who are not as familiar with the fandom because I take responsibility for the 'canon lore' and decision for the changes, but what I do want is to see if the chemistry of the characters (towards each other and the reader) is strong. That's more important to me than lore accuracy. I also prefer to beta fics that aren't in my fandom or my pairings because I feel like I can do a better job in giving feedback! Probably because I'm not great with canon.

Alternatively, if there is a good writer in your fandom who's writing you enjoy and would like to learn from, definitely reach out to see if they'd be willing to beta! You never know.

Who can I ask if I don't know anyone to beta read for me?

I found this really cool ressource the other day: @needabeta! They have a whole masterlist with people who are willing to beta read along with their fandoms, so check them out.

How does beta reading and beta feedback work?

There is no wrong answer; it works the way you and your beta reader want it to! I'll outline the way I do it, but what works for me, may not work for you!

I'll be using the same steps as my drafting process.

DRAFT 0: OUTLINE

I usually finish my outline before mentioning anything to my beta. If i outline a full story, and it looks like I'm actually going to write it, I'll give her a heads up that she'll have a fic coming. I don't let her see the outline, but I will:

Ask her questions about hyper specific elements (i.e. I was struggling with reconciling the problematic age gap between Faeries and Humans in my fic and wanted her opinion) -- this didn't really need characters to discuss the topic.

Give her an outline of where I want to go or what vibes I'm aiming for so she can keep it in mind: this is where you set your expectations.

For example, I'm writing a prequel for the parents of a character in my fandom -- the relationship needs to have love, but it also needs to be cold and broken. It needs to break, but not so much that it can't be repaired (multiple times). I need this to be a balancing act, more than a full fledged story because it's a side story to give background.

DRAFT 1: SKELETON / JUST WRITE

I'm gonna out myself here, but I'm a writer that needs my hand held 😂 Even through I'm just writing, I'll call my beta in multiple times to:

Do an interest check. "Is this story interesting? Do you want to know more?"

HYPE ME UP (and by GOD my beta is so good at this)

I get bogged down a lot in my impostor syndrome and will often re-write the first chapter of a fic 5-7 times. Having her be my conscience and my sanity really helps. She's so good at hyping me up, but she communicates so well that even when I'm not hitting the right notes, she'll know how to ask without making me feel that I need to restart.

A good example would be, "This section is good, will you be adding more for x and x?" I'll know that's my cue to gauge if I'm doing enough or not enough.

But honestly, at this point, she just drags me to the finish line.

DRAFT 2: FLESH OUT THE STORY

Now that the first draft is done, I will ask my beta reader to go back to the beginning and we will both read and take notes. She likes to comment directly in the doc while I take my notes by hand.

@ellipsus-writes also has a cool feature where you can have multiple drafts of your doc IN THE SAME DOC AND THEN MERGE THEM!! HOW COOL IS THAT!! Anyways, that's a software I've recently transitioned to and I'll eventually make a post about that... eventually.

At this point, these are the questions I ask:

Are there any scenes missing?

How does the story flow? Too fast or too slow?

Do the characters have enough depth? What about their relationships?

Do you have any unanswered questions about the story?

Is there anything that is unclear or inconsisent?

Once I have her feedback, time to write all the additional scenes. Notice how all the questions are focused on content and not polishing.

DRAFT 3: SELECTIVE READ

Once the additional scenes have been inserted, I bring in my beta reader again. If it's my main beta reader, I know she'll re-read the story entirely, but I have additional beta readers to whom I'll provide the 'new' chapters and they'll just read that.

If you remember in my drafting process, this step is where I'll want to do a selective read of specific elements. So, I'll make sure to do that first and send her my questions for each element.

Here are some examples:

Character descriptions (i.e. Are there any details that jump out to you as inconsistent? Am I too repetitive with eye colour, hair colour, etc.? Can you check for x's hair colour, I struggled to keep that in check so I might have forgotten things.)

Lore elements (i.e Is the world magical enough? In x and x part, I feel like the magic has died, but does it make sense to reflect what's happening in the story? Are there too many magical bargains?)

Dialogue (i.e. Is x sassy enough throughout the story? I feel like y doesn't talk enough.)

Smut (i.e. Does this need lube? More foreplay? Does the scene need to be longer? Do they finish too fast?)

Show vs. Tell (Do you feel the magic? The pain? The love?)

Tense (past vs. present)

Relationship depth (especially for side characters) (i.e. does it make sense that they fell in love? or that they became enemies? Do his brothers feel like family??)

This also requires self-awareness about your own writing and the points where you struggled in the process. I know writing smut is really difficult for me, which is why I always ask if it's enough.

The best way to get the information you need is to guide your beta as well. Of course, I welcome any additional feedback she might have.

DRAFT 4: FINAL EDIT

GIRL, IF YOU SEE THIS BC I KNOW YOU CHECK MY BLOG ONCE EVERY FULL MOON 🙏 THANK 🛐 YOU 🫵 fOR 🌈 EVERYTHING 💃 YOU 🥳 DO 💗

The reason I'm giving her a shout out at this stage is because I never ask her to proofread more than she feels like because I think it's very boring and tedious, esp if your fic ends up being long AND YET, HER ASS PROVIDES ME WITH AN IN-DEPTH FULLY REVIEWED DRAFT FOR 100+ PAGES. I am blessed, i am bLESSED.

I don't even proofread that diligently.

Anyway, for anyone else, I would normally just ask them to read over a final time to see if the vibe is right. You could even combine steps 3 and 4, and just have your beta read when you're done editing completely. It's up to you and your beta reader!

That's it!

When I post, I always make sure to thank my beta reader even if it was a partial read.

I realized that I didn't say where I found my beta reader, but she's my longtime friend, soul-sister, owner of the main shared braincell most of the time. We used to work in marketing & content writing together, which is why we have a formalized process just from years of being on the same team. A lot of the reviewing process is second nature, but I really do hope it helps someone out there!

We also overlap on almost all our fandoms, but enjoy them in different ways, so I love that she understands the vision and at the same time, brings her own perspective. She also gets my inside jokes in the fic, which is why I say have fun with your beta. You're building worlds together! Make the best of it because if it's not fun, what's the point?

[tstwitterupdates]

I don’t really go into TS criticism too much, because it’s a good way to attract hate, but there’s a lot I need to say.

See the thing is, the orange side hype would be a lot more… hype if Thomas weren’t being so open about it. It’s like teasing at a characters death quietly, saying “I hope nothing bad happens” and then just like continuously posting that same line under every post regarding the character. Little bits of hinting, like adding more orange to Thomas’s wardrobe when he films updates, or using orange emojis in his tweets like pumpkins or something, would be a lot better.

While Thomas’s content itself is great with foreshadowing imho, like Virgil’s dark side reveal being built up but not explicitly stated before he says it, Thomas himself isn’t. You can’t add subtle foreshadowing in your show and then turn around and spoil the script, which is a hair away from what he’s doing with Orange hype and the series itself. Thomas isn’t flawless, nobody is, but this is getting insane.

And as for the lack of updates on development, he could definitely be less vague. We want clearer updates on how soon the episode should be up, not explicitly telling us about the biggest plot twist in the show. Thomas needs to get his priorities sorted out. Why avoid telling us how long it should be until the next episode instead of “sometime this year”? Even if he says it’s going to be really far from now, like say, November, or something, then at least we get a better idea. We’d all appreciate a more direct response as to how much longer it’ll be until the plot twist he (and Joan) have already given away finally shows up. He’s being too vague about things we need clarity on, and being too upfront about things that should stay back.

right like it was cool when it was just us piecing together that the rainbow was still missing a color and also looking at some merch you’d see things in each color of the sides plus an orange one. and that thing some people caught about there being orange light from upstairs when Logan threw the paper ball, or the orange hue of the whole shot of Thomas arriving home after the wedding. that’s all very cool and smooth enough! and even all together it still leaves you with just the tiny smallest bit of uncertainty, enough to get hyped and want to know if your theory is true.

like. with the Virgil being a Dark Side thing everyone on tumblr did call it and had accepted it for a while but i guess it didn’t take three whole years for it to become canon and it also came in an unexpected way, and we still weren’t totally sure what Deceit and Remus were teasing Virgil about before, so the reveal was still exciting!

but with Orange it’s been so long that everyone has been convinced that this thing that is strictly still is theory is actually just. accepted. because it’s been so long and the hints have gotten so explicit that we just accept it. and then Thomas and co know we’ve figured it out and moved on from the uncertainty so they try to renew hype by adding more hints going like “hey you know this thing that you know is coming? well! it’s coming!!” like… uuuh. okay. thanks… i guess.

and about the lack of updates well. i don’t know. i know thomas and joan gave up on setting deadlines because it was too hard to stick to them and even harder to feel like they disappointed the fans when they said the video wouldn’t be ready on time. which i understand. but years after that there’s no more deadlines, more money, more staff, and probably even more stress so i don’t know what’s wrong.