#the author delivers

[finalgirlsamwinchester]

1.01, "Pilot" | Stephen Adly Guirgis, "The Last Days Of Judas Iscariot" " | 5.22, "Swan Song"

[gremlin-pattie]

Psych fics that altered my brain chemistry (most of these focus on Shawn and Gus’s friendship):

One Undead to Another

(vampire!Shawn, angst, the gang (Gus + Lassie + Jules) being there for Shawn)

same eyes as your father

(Henry learning how to accept and support trans!Shawn; he’s a little confused at first, but it’s very sweet)

Second Shooter

(trans!Gus and trans!Shawn surviving middle school together)

every superhero has an origin story

(a look into how knowing Shawn has changed Gus’s life)

these first few fragile months

(Shawn and Gus reconnect after Shawn returns to Santa Barbara, once Shawn finally decides to stop running)

Extradition a Little to the Left- And… On the Ground

(a fun Shawn x Despereuax rewrite of the end of s5e10 ‘Extradition II: The Actual Extradition Part’)

[giantpacific-octopress]

Fic: Something Reckless by @millenni-em-tauk

Fandom: Witch Hat Atelier | For: em, the author herself <3

Book #12 is for a brand-new fandom, and reading it got me so hype I went back and caught up on the entire manga in an wild insomniac blitz over four days - PLEASE READ IT. Em is a superb writer and it's truly an honor to count her among my friends, as she is unflappably considerate and smart. She is also so talented: not only did she write this fic, she drew all the illustrations!

This book was my first all-Duo book (in Mudbath) - Duo really is a pleasure to work with, which made it all the more frustrating when I fucked up the margins on the case and foiled that giant golden eye off-center. Boo! But since I refuse to turn in B+ work, especially for Em, I tossed out the case and made another - much better this time (I free-handed the little frills hanging off the tassels BOTH TIMES. Please clap.) This was also my first time chisel-trimming the block; I like how it turned out, but the power sander sings quite the siren song...

Another design note: Witch Hat Atelier is about magic that is hand-drawn, with a focus on runes/glyphs; every rune or glyph has its own unique effect/element. For every chapter, I used a different rune /glyph as the section break (nine total) for funsies.

Font is Perpetua, with accents in Song of coronos and Kristi. I am starting to see the value in chapter pages having no header or footer (notes for next time.) Endpapers are Italian letterpress marble in azure/gold from Hollander's.

[chadlesbianjasontodd]

Closely connected to the act of name signing was the act of writing poems on walls. As scholars have already pointed out, with beginnings traceable to the Six Dynasties, wall poems (tibishi) were already very widespread during the Tang. By Christopher Nugent's count, well over one thousand entries in the Complete Tang Poems had titles indicating that they began as inscriptions on some surface other than paper or scrolls. These surfaces included walls at places of gathering and transit, such as post stations, scenic sites, inns, and increasingly in the latter part of the Tang, Buddhist temples, which also served public roles for lay gatherings and performances. (100)

In one anecdote, a latecomer casts aspersions on a first writer's literary skills, comparing him to the general Xiang Yu (232-202 BCE), who was infamous for having learned just enough writing to manage his name: "Li Tang signed his name on a pavilion in Zhaoying County. When Wei Zhan [jinshi degree 865] saw it, he took a brush and dashed off a taunt: 'The rivers of Wei and Qin brighten the eyes, / but why is Xiren short on poetic spirit? / Perhaps he mastered only what Beauty Yu's husband could / learning to write just enough to put down his name.' " ... It would not be a stretch to imagine the sniggering of those who read this inscription in a frequented pavilion. (102)

For a degree seeker in Chang'an, these circuits of information and judgment received more discussion than the actual examination itself. Tang literati wrote copiously about activities such as name signing, public exposure, and triumph. It would not be an exaggeration to say that in ninth-century temples and popular recreation areas, the vertical spaces were teeming with verses that clamored for attention. (104)

selections on poetic graffiti from linda rui feng's city of marvel and transformation: chang'an and narratives of experience in tang dynasty china (university of hawaii press, 2015)

[iamanartichoke]

Posted this on twitter but it applies here, too. Also a plug to I guess follow me on twitter if you want - I'm not super active there insofar as posting goes, but I'm on there a lot (more than I ought to be, tbh).

Anyway I'm posting this partly to share but mostly bc I have things to say about it and I want to come back to it without it getting lost in my brainpan.

[that1notetaker]

Genuine question for the fanfic authors, from the perspective of someone who, for the most part, doesn't understand kissing. Sometimes I'll be reading this really intricate story. There's plot, subtle but amazing character development seen throughout the story--and right at the end of it, especially and usually at the end of it, the bomb is dropped, and either the characters kiss or confess their love or..something. And it feels...incredibly rushed? I don't get it. I mean, I get it, but what's with that pacing? Why at the end and sometimes out of nowhere? Why is a kiss the magnus opus?

Seriously please if someone wants to give me an actual explanation I want to know

[tangledinink]

i've actually decided that anyone who's made any disaster twin fanwork that includes dialogue along the lines of, "i can't survive without my other half," or "i'm not a whole person without you," or "life isn't worth living without my twin," owes me $50.

[largishcat]

yeah im in touch with my masculine side *confidently says the most incorrect shit you have ever heard in your life*

[fluffypotatey]

That is, huh. A lot more of a thought out response then what I was going for lol. I was like “what little rat does that remind you of” “the dude spying in the castle just now” when I rhetorically said “what shadowpeach does that remind you of” and you debunked it 😭 but since we’re talking about this now

Wiki calls em “an interconnected, self-perpetuating cycle. Yin and yang can be thought of as complementary and at the same time opposing forces that interact to form a dynamic system. Yin and yang transform each other: like an undertow in the ocean, every advance is complemented by a retreat, and every rise transforms into a fall.” Idk about you but with Mac getting chaos powers, I figured the show might take inspo from this, what with the cycles and all too. There might be an opposite “order” power in contrast to Nines. If Pandora’s box is literal, MK is “hope” there’s a lot of other symbolism fandom likes the stereotypically portray into their ShadowPeach lol. But they have day/night too. Nobody has to think too hard to take inspo, and most shows don’t in my experience. Shout out to Ninjago and ATLA just mixing culture and language in a way that annoys people and placing it under one umbrella.

well i mean, lmk is already playing with the themes of order and chaos. except there Order was on the side of the antagonists while MK was Chaos (being the harbinger and all). we saw it with LBD and Azure and now with Nines

also, lmk’s order can be seen when it talks about Fate and Destiny and even the “story”, but in a way where they are shown as being too fixed and bureaucratic compared to the lessons being taught to MK and by MK which are “your fate (order) is your own and can only be determined by you.”

we had it with MK telling LBD “do you really think the universe cares about any of us?”

we had it when Macky told MK “if you tread the paths already carved for you, then you doom yourself into a self-fulfilling prophecy”

we have it even more explicitly in s5 from Wukong: “sometimes you need to carve your own path and fuck all the rest”

lmk is all about finding that balance between the chaos of your mind and the forced order of the world around you. our own daily ying and yang that we must balance, and that is why i don't place those themes with shadowpeach just because it takes away from the crux of the show where it’s original focus is on MK and how he changes and grow throughout the seasons

tbh i think their day/night themes with ying/yang are significantly minor. the major focus with them is the themes of betrayal and reconciliation and past haunts

[hopelesslygaysstuff]

I forgot to put "request" on my soft fragile MILF stepmom wanda :(( it's supposed to be a fic request but whatever u want it to be no pressure. Thank you :))

I tried writing this... I truly did. But, something about the stepmom thing just makes me uncomfortable. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE reading other authors' fics with stepmom Wanda, but me writing it felt weird.

Idk I just be thinking... why is a man even involved?? And also writing about a character cheating makes me sad and uncomfortable, and I can't see one of my Wanda's ever doing that. In my head, Wanda would divorce Vision before ever acting on her feelings for someone else... bc that is the right thing to do.

HOWEVER... let me get off my soapbox now... here are some recommendations for other stepmom Wanda fics!

Matriarchal Disturbance || Secret Santa || Be My Baby by the wonderful @wndaswife

Treat You Better by the amazing @wandasfawn

Sweet Trouble by the fantastic @xxxdreamscapexxx

And those were all the ones I could think of 😔 enjoy!

[chanshoesunite]

absolutely loved your work with petting and grinding on chan

but what if he and reader haven't been intimate yet (maybe reader wanted to wait or smth) and they were making out and got carried away so hard that they started grinding on each other and came at the same time

okay bye

This was the image I had in my head when I read your ask. There you go, nonny, it's unbeta-d still but ONLY FOR YOU MY LOVE

You smile at Chan as he joins you on the couch, handing you a mug of tea. “There you go, princess,” he says, mirroring your smile, and you feel yourself blushing. You haven’t been dating for a long time, and there is still a hint of shyness you feel when he gives you his undivided attention, what with him being not only incredibly sweet and kind, but also extremely good-looking. Plus, you’ve only ever picked him up from his flat before, never coming in, and now, as you’re sitting on the dark grey IKEA couch in his living room, you feel more than a little flustered.

You thank him, averting your eyes as you cradle the warm mug in your hands, your legs crossed. “We barely dodged that downpour, huh,” you add, your gaze raising to the torrents raining down against the window.

“Yeah,” he agrees, eyes also watching the rainstorm outside. “Are you sure you don’t need a hoodie or something? Your jacket got pretty wet.”

“I’m fine with tea, thanks,” you say, but growing a little bolder, you add, “but you can always cuddle me to make me warm again.” Chan turns his head to look at you, and his smile is so soft it makes your heart yearn for him. “Come here, then,” he whispers softly, almost too soft to hear over the rain. Putting your mug down onto the little wooden coffee table next to the couch, you swing your legs over Chan’s, half sitting in his lap. “Hi,” you quip, and Chan’s smile widens even more. “Hi, baby,” he answers. “Would it be terrible of me to want to kiss that smug little expression off of your beautiful face?”

You giggle a little, feeling soft and flirty. “Would it be terrible of me to want you to do exactly that?”

Chan boops his nose against yours. “So happy we’re on the same page about this,” he says in a slightly raspy voice before he softly touches his lips to yours.

His kiss is sweet and slow and caring, just like all of your other kisses have been in the few weeks that you’ve been dating. With both of you busy with college and jobs, there wasn’t much time for just being together. But as his tongue slips into your mouth, exploring it sensually, you realise that, with the rainstorm cutting your trip to the amusement park short, it is now late afternoon and there is nothing else for the two of you to do except enjoying each other’s company… And maybe bodies? You shiver slightly at the thought – you are not very experienced with men yet, and the thought of sleeping with Chan is a little daunting to you.

Chan seems to mistake your trembling for cold, because he breaks the kiss softly and reaches around you to grab a fluffy blanket from the back of the couch, unfolding it and tugging it over the both of you, cocooning you closer to him. “Is that better?” he asks, pushing a curl behind your ear. You nod, whispering a soft “thank you.”

He smiles. “Now, where were we?” he murmurs in a deep, vaguely seductive voice.

You shrug. “Is there a still a smug little expression on my face?”

Chan touches your chin, pretending to study your face from various angles. “Oh my gosh, yes, absolutely!” he proclaims in mock-surprise.

“Hmmm.” You pretend to think about it for a second. “Then I guess the off-kissing hasn’t worked yet.” And you lean in to kiss him this time. As soon as your lips touch his, you feel that this kiss is different; with your bodies cradled together under the blanket, there is an added level of intimacy you hadn’t anticipated. Your tongues slip together, and a light groan escapes your throat, a sound that makes Chan’s hand travel to the back of your neck, softly stroking the tender skin there, and you utter another little sound.

Encouraged by this, his hands travel over your back just as yours move to his shoulders. The shirt is damp beneath your hands – not surprising, since Chan had not been wearing a jacket but just his longs-sleeved shirt as you’d made the dash from the car to his apartment building.

Chan breaks the kiss again to pepper little kisses along your jaw and down to the column of your throat. “Is this okay?” he breathes against your skin, and you shiver again – and again, not from the cold.

“Yes,” you say in a low voice. “But Chan?”

“Hm?” he hesitates. “Everything okay?”

“Absolutely.” You meet his gaze and press a quick peck to his nose. “I just wanted to ask you if… Could you take off your shirt? It’s pretty wet?”

Chan’s grin is almost wolfish. “Baby, if you want me to take my shirt off, you just have to say so.” You slap him in slight indignation, but he reaches back, grabbing the hem of the shirt under the blanket and pulling it off in one smooth motion. And then you’re in Chan’s lap and he’s shirtless, and the heat radiating off his body is too much for you to hold back. As he nods his consent, your hands follow the line of his shoulder, his muscled arms, his veined hands, his pecks, and all the while you're gazing at him, at this beautiful man who has decided that yes, you are worthy of his time and affection.

The soft sighs of pleasure he utters do things to you, but his body language clearly tells you that all the power lies with you – Chan knows that you want to take it slow, and he’ll give you all the time you need. So when you lean forward again to claim his lips, his reciprocation is almost euphoric, and his large hands find your back again as he pulls you against him. As you kiss him, stroking his soft skin, you feel yourself getting more aroused – this simple situation of slow touches and soft exploration is so incredibly sexy to you that you know you also want to be touched like that. Reaching down, you grab the hem of your own shirt.

Chan’s gaze is heated, but he immediately says, “You don’t have to, baby.”

You smile. “I know,” you answer. “I want to, though.”

Your boyfriend holds your gaze, then nods, as he watches you tug off your own shirt. His eyes travel over your skin, but you feel less shy than full of anticipation. You want him to see you, know you, feel you, just like you want the same from him. His big hands find your waist. “Just tell me to stop whenever, okay?” he whispers, and as he kisses you again, his fingers lightly brush against the swell of your breasts, his mouth swallowing your gasp of pleasure. You retaliate by softly biting his lower lip, and a groan escapes him. As Chan squirms in his seat, you feel his hard-on against the softness of your thigh, and in a spur of the moment-decision, you also shift your weight, throwing one leg over him and straddling him.

There is a surprised look on his face as you bear down on his lap, effectively grinding against him, and his eyes fall closed with a moan that’s louder and rawer than anything you’ve heard from him so far – you find it thrilling. The hardness beneath you, pressed against your core, is exhilarating, and you know that some day soon, though not today, you cannot wait to feel it inside you.

As you draw a lazy circle with your hips, causing both of you to moan at the friction, Chan’s hands find the clasps of your bra. “May I?” he rasps, and you barely have the breath to answer, but he hears you clearly enough. Unclasping the offending garment, he gets rid of it, and then his hands are back against your hips, helping you swivel them in ways that make you both groan in pleasure. Your eyes fall closed as you feel his tongue against your nipple, and you give yourself over to the sensations – his skin against yours, both of you enveloped in warmth as the rain splatters against the windows. He continues to pleasure your breasts with his lips and tongue, and the pace at which you move together grows more frantic and sloppy as you feel your desperation growing more and more urgent. Chan’s hardness is rock solid beneath you, his own moans are beginning to sound more like cries of pleasure, their sound pushing you closer towards where you need to be.

“Chan, I-“

“I know, princess, I’m almost there, too!”

Your lips find each other again, his hand cups your breast and then, as you grind down particularly hard, your orgasm hits you, and the way Chan cries out tells you that you’re not alone in your ecstasy.

You slowly kiss as you both shudder, clutching to each other, trembling through the aftershocks of pleasure despite being warm underneath your blanket.

You lean down to put your forehead against his. “That was… Unexpected,” you say, a soft smile playing on your lips.

Chan brushes a strand of hair back from your face. “A good kind of unexpected, I hope;” he says tenderly.

You nod. “Absolutely. You’re just too attractive to resist, Channie.”

You boyfriend chuckles. “God, I like you so much,” he says, pressing a few kisses to your face before you settle your head against his shoulder. You stay like that for a few moments, listening to the rain and the calming of your breaths.

“Baby?”

“Hm?”

“Could you… I’d love to get out of these pants?”

“Ah, yeah, sorry.” You try to get off, but not before stealing another kiss. Chan gets off the couch, the wet stain prominent on his crotch. “Do you maybe want another cuppa? I bet yours is already cold.” He waits in the doorframe for your answer, his jeans already halfway off.

“No thanks.” You grin. “I’m warm enough now.”

[traxanaxanos]

A while ago I commissioned @starfleetspacecadet​ and they did this fantastic piece of Seven hanging out with the Wildmans! (Or, Seven assisting Samantha with some hands-on xenobiology research and Naomi doing her best to also assist). It’s wonderful, please gaze upon it.

I’m trilled to pieces with it! :)

[bunnyflrt]

ok this isnt what i normally post but fuck u i do what i want

the making love scene in the rwrb movie was actually the only thing ive ever needed ever. alex's necklace dangling. every single shot of them holding hands, and alex sliding his hand across henry's wrist to his fingers to hold onto him. henry's face because christ. henry's hand running down to alex's low back and pressing him inside. the constant nonverbal communication, alex asking over and over again if he's okay with just his eyes. the eye contact. the touching of foreheads and noses before the kiss COME ON GUYS

[giantpacific-octopress]

Fic: A River in Egypt, by @nenya85 Fandom: Yugioh!

[kaiba voice] MIRU KA II! ENDPAPERS FROM JOANN'S!! WAHAHA!!

Nenya is an icon in Yugioh fandom - and an adored friend <3 It was time she got to hold a hard copy of all her hard work in her hands. Working on these books over the past few weeks has brought me insane joy, and I'm so proud of how these turned out - they are #5 and #6 in my current book tally, and I learned a pile while working on them.

The covers are silk moire in black, gold, and a sandy white, while the blue is Japanese book cloth. The body of this text is set in 10.5 point Perpetua font, with accents in Skandal and Aquifer.

Some additional details below the cut:

Every chapter in this fic starts with a little meditation/vignette on the five stages of grief...

So I translated each of the five stages into their hieroglyphic equivalents (using either direct translation or good-enough approximations - I think the word I used for "bargaining" actually means "to exchange or trade.")

I also managed to split the fic exactly in half, into two volumes of 17 chapters each. Volume I is 216 pages; Volume II is 208 pages. In other words, the volumes are both balanced in their chapter count and almost identical in their widths, a testament to Nenya's skill and consistency as a writer.

[libraryleopard]

just read unraveller by frances hardinge and it was soooooooo good. the exploration of justice vs. punishment and anger vs. hatred through the lens of fairytale curses! the purely platonic yet deeply complicated relationship between a teen girl and boy at the heart of the story! the creepy marshes! the flesh-eating horse!

[constantvariations]

Genuinely cannot understand the people who still engage with Harry Potter at any level. Is it not tainted for you? Is Rowling's expansive hatred not foul enough to rot your memories and nostalgia to the core? How are you able to stomach the world of a woman capable and willing to destroy countless lives?

I've seen so many people defending their continued engagement by saying it helped them through dark times and therefore they can't give it up, but that's some horseshit. Youtuber Cryaotic's videos were my sole source of comfort during the worst years of my young life - years I had zero desire to survive - but now, after learning what he did, I can't even hear his voice in a video essay without intense turmoil, much less actually watch any of the videos that once brought me joy

If you can't stay away from Harry Potter and the Pipeline to Fascism, keep it to yourself. No one wants to hear your justifications