#second story press

[pahuapants]

Phoenix Gets Greater

Hi everyone - PHOENIX GETS GREATER was on my TBR for a long time, and I'm here to tell you that it made me weepy. I loved it, and here's the review with why! Thanks for looking!

Phoenix didn’t have any friends who liked hockey, trucks, and bulldozers. He made friends with those who liked dolls and dancing too. But sometimes, other kids made fun of Phoenix because he preferred dolls to trucks. They thought he was strange because he didn’t act like the rest of the boys in their class. Unpaginated Introduction Aanii boozhoo nwiijkiwehnak! Today’s book has been on my TBR…

[pirateshelly]

While I very much do think Lestat is an extremely enjoyable/interesting/entertaining character (he's probably my least favorite in the show but that's entirely a me thing and it doesn't mean I dislike him he's just not a particular character type that tends to grab me!) I simply cannot imagine watching all of season 2 (which I personally enjoyed even more than season 1) and being like "this is really suffering from a lack of lestat". It just does not compute. My love for Louis and Claudia and Armand is simply so all encompassing that my brain just short circuits at the idea of watching them on screen and thinking "hmm this is fine I guess but what if lestat was here right now?"

And I am 100% looking forward to season 3 because I still do very much enjoy him as a character, and Louis and Armand and Daniel are still no doubt going to have solid roles even if it's a very Lestat focused season. But the thing that confuses and vexes me is when people (like a LOT of professional reviewers) act like he's THEE main draw and that the others simply aren't enough to hold the show up without him

[skeletalheartattack]

hi I like gelato a lot

[mariocki]

Roger Delgado makes a brief appearance as an unnamed but helpful Argentine diplomat, in Overseas Press Club - Exclusive!: Two Against the Kremlin (1.13, ABPC, 1957)

[pancoleon]

I'm seeing people going "Are the Tories trying to lose the election?* and getting flashbacks to 2017 when the exact same question was being asked. (For example: hbomberguys Electionwatch 2017 vid) As shit as they are I think the answer is no. They're just this shit and are suddenly being burdened with a press that isn't willing to cover their arses over it.

Theresa May used the cover of "but you don't want Corbyn" to run a shockingly half-arsed campaign and still just about won, with the press reaction being to double down on finding Labour scandals. Boris Johnson survived a dozen scandals to the point of being nicknamed "Teflon" because none of it would stick until the press started noticing and he collapsed immediately. Like, in the 2019 election antisemitism was a big topic and no questions had to be asked of him, the author of an absurdly racist book that states that the news media is run by Jews.

For Liz Truss they paid attention real close and she collapsed in seconds. Rishi Sunak fell for his own hype during COVID (SuperRishi comes to mind) and his success in ousting Boris - the garden party scandal pictures literally came from his office window - to believe he was a great political operator. Now he's got to be the face of a national election campaign and it's collapsing because he has 0 charisma, has no fucking clue what he's doing, and with an acceptable alternative the press is suddenly not holding back.

[smashpages]

A new Dwellings miniseries by Jay Stephens will arrive from Oni Press next year. Read more

[eskititgay]

fengqing + pork soda - glass animals

[bmpmp3]

why does everything i get really into always end up being so god damn niche. by the year 2035 i am going to be blogging exclusively about the interpersonal relationships between the pillbugs and snails hiding underneath the bricks lining the flowerbeds in my parent's garden.

[artfartt]

I have news!

I made 3 new aus!

But dw I didn’t forget abt the book thingy au

Tw: bright colors for the last one, and lots of reading

1st au (going from most recent)

So the magic rabbit au. Max is a magician that’s in need of a assistance and Sam is a dog man in need of a job, what perfect match! Sam always wanted to be a magician, but he was horrible at it, but Max never gave up on him. Max never gotten too attached to anyone, but Sam was something different, but of course because I’m writing it Max believes that this shouldn’t be allowed, so they just go on with their acts. Since Max has a bad reputation with other magicians, they get into some “freelance trouble” like being tied up on a spinning wheel and letting little kids throw axes at them /hj. Max does rethinks his feelings, but I’m not sure if he ever confesses to him since I came up with this yesterday, but he does go over Sam’s house so much they practically live together, so yeah.

2nd au

In The love doctor au, Max has every type trauma you can imagine (main character moment). He’s a sad, unemployed, lifeless soul. While watching tv one day, he comes across an ad about a nonprofit organization that helps cure people called ‘The love doctors’. He finally decides to go there after been told to go there by his therapist several times and was partnered with Sam. Sam worked day and night to help him. At first, Max was hesitant and uncooperative, but the more they go one the more he realizes that he likes Sam. Once he got cured, he got too attached and decided to cheat his way into staying with Sam more. In the end Sam finds out about the crush and Sam and Max now live together. Max taking care of the house, and Sam helping out patients. Every now and then, Max finds hisself sad at home, but Sam can easily cure him.

3rd (and final)

I wanted to redraw this since it was made a whole month ago so here’s the original

In the toy prince au they live in a society where they’re different regions that belong to certain kings and queens (and they’re all toys). Sam is the prince of “The Aces” (one of a few colonized lands) but soon has to make his choice on who will be his spouse. And because this is Sam we’re talking, he’s looking forward to marrying someone. Max is an orphan picked off the streets when he was little, and was chosen to be the royal jester. Ever since then Sam and Max has been best friends, but Max’s friendship for Sam has grown stronger over time. A bit too strong. Once the day comes for Sam to choose his wife, his mother breaks the news that he’ll be marrying princess ‘Queen Cat-toy’ (yes that’s her name) for treaty purposes with one of the regions. This marriage makes Max jealous because he’s Max, and because he’s afraid Sam won’t hang around him anymore. And that’s when he discovers his feeling for him, but he tries to reject them because “forbidden love” stuff. A few weeks later, Sam’s birthday comes around and he and Max barely talk anymore because Cat-toy needs attention and she keeps dragging Sam everywhere with her. Sam becomes sick of her but he can’t divorce her because she’s crazy and tries to threaten him by planning out a huge war. Because of this Sam realizes that he misses Max, in a way he feels like he shouldn’t. In the middle of the huge birthday party, he sneaks to go take a break from life itself, and Max follows. Max finally decides to speak his feelings and Sam and him decides they’ll be in a royal affair. Princess Queen Cat-toy soon finds out that about this affair and is trying to catch him in the act to get guillotined (I forgot to mention, Max gets sentenced to the guillotine several times because he and Sam like to go out on adventures around the village, and usually Max is the one to get in trouble even if it was Sam’s idea to go in the first place).

Fun fact: this one was inspired and made the same day as The Amazing Digital Circus

[silverwhittlingknife]

very important announcement: new @birdchildsnest fic!!!

[youcanfacethis]

do you remember listening to the entirety of folklore for the first time? if so, what was your reaction?

[agni-ashes]

qsmptober day 6 - story

[winepresswrath]

I got extremely sick and watched all of love between fairy and devil in a miserable haze and I've gotta say 1) bodyswapping at its finest 2) with slight tweaks the idiot ball did not need to be passed around so much/at all 3) the fuckup little brother industrial complex still has me in its grasp but this time I've gotta give it up for the shifufucker. they really nailed the miserable oblivion of quasi-incestuous all consuming devotion & that's not even my thing. Good job team!

[hollowwhisperings]

The Secrets of The Secret Room: KH2's Hidden Boss Arena as a Future Plot Point.

Anyone remember that Secret Room in KH2? The FRUSTRATINGLY difficult-to-reach one within the basement caves of Ansem's Castle? The one that lets you fight Data copies of the Organization XIII members? THAT Secret Room?

KH2's "Garden of Assemblage", GIF by superbia (nokuto.tumblr)

Well, what if we look at KH as a series and its LOVE for hiding plot within gameplay mechanics... and look at that Secret Room again after the Lore Bombs from KHUX & KH3?

The KH series LOVES to "hide" lore & plot foreshadowing within game mechanics: the different/same coloured dream portals in DDD & KH3, the "reset" levels in each game, Anti-Sora and Rage Form...

i wonder who, exactly, set up that Data Combat Record of Organization XIII members?

the easiest candidate is DiZ: he has the means, motive & opportunity to have set something like that up (know your enemy).

it's also plausible that Saïx set it up for Axel, a means of preparing him for assassinations but it doesn't make much sense given that Axel would need that combat data BEFORE he fought his targets while the Data Room only has those 'records' AFTER targets are defeated.

Xehanort is another candidate, perhaps setting the system up in order to have Data Copies of the Organization to fall back on for Future Use (no time travel required!). it WOULD be easier to put a Data Copy into a Replika than trying to locate, say, Lauriam or Arlene (who he only seemed to meet through Xigbar) upon their recompletion.

There's also That Looming Option of Darkness.

Darkness, getting one (or more) of the above characters to set this room up, ultimately for ITS use: Darkness seemingly needs 13 Vessels in its Game with MoM and, going with Sleeping Realm Theory, KH3 DID seem to imply that Data Riku & Young Master Xehanort were not only working for (or with) Darkness but were investigating how Hearts & darkness interacted with DATA.

KH's Primordial Darkness IS canonically tech-savvy: the Secret Room of Data Organization XIII fits EXACTLY within its modus operandi.

it's not JUST Darkness who knows of/discovered this Secret Room, however: Sora & Team Guardians of Light did too.

KH3 somewhat implies that Ienzo and Even learned of the Secret Room after being recompleted: it's probably what they were referencing when trying to set Xion & Roxas up in Replika bodies.

If Roxas is now made up of himself AND his Data Copies (from Data Twilight Down & the Secret Room)... it solves the issue of his dual-wielding keyblades despite no longer having 2 "real" Hearts to source them from.

I don't think that either of these Data Roxases would feel a need to have their own Replika bodies: Axel's Nobody formed a Heart but it integrated with his "recompleted" self without issue, just as all these Roxases would. These Hearts can merge or otherwise exist alongside each other without any issue because they share the same "Soul" (or, at least, there are no conflicting memories within their Timelines).

Xehanort did not seem much affected by Xemnas seemingly forming a Heart either: the "lived time" of Xemnas simply went back to Xehanort (& if the transistion WASN'T so seamless... it's not like he would care & he ended up Time Travelling Xemnas before any conflicts of heart could arise anyway).

Terra, on the other hand... well, Xemnas got the Fixation with Aqua's Armour from SOMEONE.

Back to That Secret Room...

my munny's on Darkness bringing that Data Organization XIII back into play at some point, if only to allow more Hidden Boss Gameplay post-KH3 for the purposes of "strengthening" the Darkness within its vessels.

It makes me wonder if the "Demyx" met during KH3 was actually a "Data Demyx": he and Luxord do not seem native to [this side of] "Reality" but to the home of Nameless Star, going by the Verum Rex trailer in Toy Box & the Secret Ending(s) of KH3.

the premise where DiZ or Xehanort sets up the Data Organization for further study, only for it to get used by Darkness could just as easily apply to XIGBAR/Luxu for MoM but... Darkness is the entity with the greater connection to Data Hearts so, regardless of WHO this Secret Room was set up by, it's probably Darkness who'll bring that game mechanic into the future of KH's Story.

[goldentigerfestival]

if there is one thing i will never recover from with crestoria's crossover being gone for good, it's that we'll never ever know the story behind transgressor yuri.

if there are two things i will never recover from with crestoria's crossover being gone for good, it's that leon and aegis' loyal friendship will never ever return.

[alethiometry]

what the fuck do you mean there is a FIFTH sage???