#they're in the show so briefly but they have so much depth

[comicaurora]

Have you watched the new castlevania nocturne season?

Yes!

(Spoilers)

IT SLAPPED

My primary difficulty with season 1 is I didn't feel like I had enough time or reason to get attached to Richter, since he didn't get to do much in-depth character stuff while he was busy repressing the hell out of everything, and I think this season absolutely corrected for that. He's very lovable, and the animators even make him adorable sometimes, which is nice.

Annette! Queen of the season! She and Mel Medarda are shaking hands in the gold-trimmed magical girl transformation department. The way they portrayed her journey through the spirit world and the gods of her people was incredibly beautiful! The idea that, no matter how far away she is, the people she loves and the culture she hales from are never more than a step away. Gorgeous.

Vampirism is colonialism! Bathory claiming Sekhmet's power is colonialist appropriation! Drolta refused to leave her dead and at peace and became one of those who desecrated the tomb! The themes are incredibly simple and yet rock solid!

Maria's extremely understandable emotional breakdown in the beginning half of the season managed to avoid being tiresome, even though she was mostly causing problems because of it. I loved the scribbly animation of her dark portals, and the way they animated her eyes when she was really lost in it.

The narrative reframing of Big Badass Superheroes Kick Ass into a more grounded "we're just small people doing our best in a big, cold world, and the first battle is against our own despair" narrative felt extremely solid, and strangely comforting. Might just be me and my headspace, but I hate it when I'm stuck with a bad situation I can't brute-force my way out of. It's oddly reassuring to be reminded that even larger-than-life heroes in stories they're the main characters of can't just Gumption and Badass all the world's problems away in one fell swoop.

You can tell Alucard is kind of thrilled to be actually Old and Ethereal and Wise now. He was faking it so hard in original Castlevania.

They watched a SHITLOAD of DBZ before choreographing this season and it shows. Like. I'd say parts of it are explicit homage. Drolta getting bisected and her POV splitting in half Frieza-style, Richter and Alucard getting trapped in a timestop midair, and we even got Bathory being briefly sketchy-whited-out by a massive energy attack.

On that note, choreography and fighting styles! Richter fights in a completely distinctive way to everyone else, and I think they intentionally minimized his use of the whip to distinguish him from Trevor. Richter Throws Hands. Half his moves are boxing, and it felt like he was channeling Street Fighter whenever he got in close with anyone. You don't often get the combo of a spellchucker AND a brawler, and it was extremely rad.

He fucking volleyball-bumped Alucard's meteor attack. What the fuck. Hell yeah

[dreemurr-skelememer]

Hello :D

I have been following you for the last year or so (a few days after I got my Tumblr lmao) and I absolutely love your art!

I have been wanting to study your art style for a while but don't really know where to start,,,

Could you please show me a small portion of your art process, if it isn't too much trouble of course. Thank you and have a nice day!

hello. oh my god. this took forever to find.

im sorry it took 2 WHOLE FUCKING MONTHS for me to respond to this but i wanted to put it off until i felt happy with my art process again, so here it is

my fall 2024 rendering tutorial!

(this will be very very long)

FLATS AND WHATEVER YOU WANNA DO WITH LINES GIRL. then make sure to recolor the lineart to better match your base. trust me it helps, bold dark lines are Not your best friend when rendering. wait for that post-rendering

i start off with a doodle or a sketch, and then filling it in with flats and other details such as blush

FIGURE OUT YOUR LIGHT SOURCE. FIGURE IT OUT GIRL YOU CAN DO IT you can make it as simple as possible, make it as big as possible, dont even THINK about the details.........just make it really fucking big so you at least know where the shadows and the light goes THEN add smaller shading details LISTEN TO ME. LISTEN TO ME OKAY!!!!!!!!

my key point with this is for you to learn lighting fundamentals.

it's SOOO ANNOYING but alas......they are all correct. it helps a lot.

one thing i also really want to point out is that i like creating a big shadow shape first before fixing up the little details (such as folds and whatever) because it helps me focus on the way the lighting actually works instead of tunnel vision-ing into making the shading make sense on the clothing.

contact shadows (i dont remember if thats what theyre called okay) theyre fucking ugly because im not actually thinking sorry 💔

okay so basically:

contact shadows (if that's what they're called) are the spots in shading and lighting where light will NEVER hit.

shadows are still influenced by the colors and lights around it (it's why a blue shadow and a yellow shadow feel completely different, despite both being shadows) so it's not always COMPLETELY dark.

BUT! there are small points in shadows where light never hits, and they're almost always super dark or pitch black.

it's hard to explain shadow and light so briefly for a tutorial, but you'll notice it when watching fundamental studies and when trying it out for yourself

YES i unclipped the multiply layer YES its ugly and terrifying but it makes coloring the multiply layer easier okay the colors merged w multiply so now it looks cool and has depth overlaying colors that actually make sense

so basically what i did was color the multiply layer that i used to shade the overall drawing

adding a band of red/orange/yellow around where the light hits, and blue where the shadows get big and wide, gives it a fake ambient occlusion effect in the way that a person would get if they stood under the sun with a clear blue sky

the colors don't have to make sense, especially because i never draw backgrounds, but coloring the shadows really help it give a sense of depth and extra subtle detail and effect that just helps make the painting look nicer

around the end, i also put in colors (in an overlay layer with a low opacity brush) that actually make sense in context of the drawing, which is the lit cigarette and the yellow eyelights

mostly because none of the colors were making sense and i needed to actually make use of the lighting that DOES exist in the drawing lol

adding a muddy golden yellow pin light layer (opacity turned down to like 40-50%) to make the light colors less ugly lol

i SWEAR by the fucking pin light layer style. it's so useful and so so underrated.

i used an almost brown-ish gold color on stop of all the layers, and with the pin light layer, it helped make the bright (almost blue-ish) white colors more warm and more yellow. it just helps make things more warm (something i prefer)

i could probably show what it looks like without adjusting the layer opacity to truly show off what i mean (like in the coming section) but i sadly forgot to do that lol

make a layer on top of your drawing with this color in these ranges YES the drawing is fully merged NO don't be afraid, the base was fucking ugly anyway 💔 make this layer into an exclude/exclusion layer style TRUST turn down your exclusion layer opacity from a range of 10% to 40% literally until you're happy with the contrast and the way the color over the drawing. use your eyeballs. i know you can do it im so proud of you

this is pretty self-explanatory instruction-wise, so i'll go into why i do this instead

i really like art that seems like it has low contrast, with almost mid-gray shading and lines. i don't personally use dark and bold lines and shading, unless i find it necessary for the tone of the piece, so using this method helps lower the contrast of the art and make it look "pleasantly muddy" in the way that it's easier and softer on the eyes.

the inverted blue color also helps makes things warmer!

the exclusion layer style is still a bit of a mystery to me but i really like the effect it gives, even if i don't completely get how it works lol

if you want an alternative method to this, and if you have access to it (because i primarily use sai and sai only),

i absolutely encourage you to play around and experiment with gradient maps.

there are so many out there you can make yourself or even get from others that just give the painting an extra amount of depth and color variation. they're SO fun.

personally, if sai2 gets a gradient map update, it's over for y'all it will literally be so over no one will be able to stop me

then i merged everything and actually adjusted the contrast back up because it was looking too muddy for me 💔 but the color adjustments are still there so all hope is not lost here's a comparison of the adjusted contrast in black and white (adjusted on the left) (newly merged layer without adjusting the contrast on the right)

as you can see, i actually turned the contrast back up (despite talking all about how i liked things with less contrast lol)

i wanted to demonstrate that doing adjustments should be done in moderation, and is why i adjust layer opacity often when making color effects

you are free to play around with colors to help your style, but don't lose your initial idea and colors along the way.

you still need to trust your own colors and intuition!

along with that, i just want to say that it's completely okay to change your mind mid-painting, and it's okay to make somewhat drastic changes.

don't be afraid to change things you don't like or change your mind about certain aspects way later on

that's basically the whole thing of this!!! don't be scared!!!

now im gonna hold your hand when i say this..........but you need to learn how to render by yourself. it seems like i can teach you but i literally can't, because rendering is different on every piece and depending on how clean your base is. i have to render A LOT because of how fucking ugly my sketches are LMAO to simplify it, think of it as obsessively cleaning up every detail you can see, but with a color picker and a clean, hard edged brush. if you have shit lineart, you don't have to redraw it cleanly over and over, just paint over it. that's basically what rendering is

THIS especially is where you need to be brave and stop being scared.

like i said, i can't teach you how to render, and it's something you have to discover yourself because rendering is something that will always be personal to every single piece you make. the way you render on every piece is different.

on one piece, you will barely need to render, and on another, rendering is more than half of your ENTIRE process.

don't be afraid to paint over your old art.

rendering is a process that's both very perfectionist yet also very careless.

find your balance and just go for it.

and then that's it……..u did it………..now yuo know how to paint and render. it's literally just layering shading and lighting knowledge until you think it makes sense and looks okay lol additional note: since i render in only one layer (you don't HAVE to do this, but it'll be harder for you…), i also made slight adjustments with the transform (and liquify, if you have it) tool to make things more proportionate. (i drew the head too big lol)

if you compare the finished piece to the final unrendered base, you can see that a LOT changed, including a bit of subtle proportion adjustment.

particularly, the sleeves changed A LOT (because i really didn't like them)

but it's also over all cleaner and more coherent, instead of having haphazard colors and shading just thrown about.

rendering is when you finally use all 100% of your brain to finalize and figure out where the shading should go, where to clean up your lines, where to ERASE or ADD BACK in lines, and make sure all your colors look coherent.

it's not as intimidating as it seems, i only use a hard edged brush with a little bit of color mixing and my color picker.

it's like dragging and dropping colors to cover up mistakes, it's really quite fun when you get used to it

i wish i could explain it clearer but it's hard to describe without visuals!

i hope this helped, and i hope all my yapping isn't annoying (art as a special interest beloved)

have fun studying and trying to render in my art style!

[markiemelon]

hiiiii~~ can i request a scenario where nerd!mark and athlete!reader are on a study date and mark finds reader so cute when they don't understand the material? also bonus points if the reader is shy and doesn't want to ask for help cus they're embarrassed

Thank you!! ur writings make me so happy

focus

genre fluff ﹋֪֢ ♡︩ · no warnings!

pairings nerd!mark x athlete!reader

4:18pm — ♡

“yn,” your math teacher addressed you, “im worried that your training is interfering with your studies.”

that wasn’t the first time you’d heard that, and yet, you still couldn’t think of a good excuse to tell. “look, yn, i’ve made it easier for you by arranging some study sessions with a classmate of yours.”

you actually felt kinda relieved to hear that. surely, some extra studying couldn’t hurt.

“in fact,” he continued, “he’s right here.” he gestured to a familiar boy walking into the room.

it was mark. you knew mark, but you never crossed paths much, considering how different your priorities were…you were all about training, and mark was all about studying…

“so i have to spend the rest of my afternoon with this nerd?” you accidentally said aloud.

“now, yn, we still have to be professional during after-school hours.” your teacher demanded.

mark just chuckled and smiled at you. his round glasses and ruffled hair added a gentlemanly charm to him that made you swoon a little.

“i’ll be off now, but feel free to stay in the classroom.” your teacher said, shuffling together some lose papers. “mark, just lock up the door as usual, i trust you as our class president.”

you widened your eyes. “he’s class president?”

“you didn’t know?” mark raised an eyebrow.

“i—uhh”

“i’ll leave you guys to it then.” your teacher nodded before he exited the room.

you approached mark. “if it makes you feel any better, i didn’t even know our vice principal until last week… so um, don’t take it personally.”

with that pathetic attempt at explaining yourself, mark sensed you were nervous. he walked up to you, his arms crossed and head nodding ever so slightly. “alright.” he said with a grin. “i won’t.” he looked at you for a second longer before pulling a chair out from the desk. he insisted that you sit, and he sat beside you.

and so the studying began… you handed mark a crumpled up page from the deepest, darkest depths of your backpack, and he looked confused “do you… want me to throw this away for you?”

“no!” you snatched it back. “that’s my calculus homework!”

“oh shoot!” he couldn’t hold in his cackle. “I’m sorry— yn im sorry.” he said it with the biggest smile on his face, weak from the laughter.

“whatever. just tell me how to solve this. or save us both some time and just tell me the answers.” you slumped in your chair.

he scanned the page briefly. “yeah, so it’s simple, really..” mark inched the graph paper closer to your side of the table.

he pointed at some numbers and rambled, of course, you couldn’t keep up. so you did the next best thing, which was letting your mind drift off to somewhere else..

“actually, he’s kinda cute..” you admitted to yourself while observing his side profile.

focus.

“it must be the glasses. he looks good with glasses.” now you were noticing things you hadn’t payed any attention to before.

focus.

“why is he so close to me…” your heart skipped a beat at the realization.

suddenly, mark’s voice became clear at the mention of your name.

“yn… focus” he cooed, not even looking up from the paper. he must have felt you staring, but oddly, you didn’t look away from him.

mark stopped his writing, but he kept his pen to the paper, holding it still as he turned to face you.

almost immediately, your confident demeanor crumbled, and now, head lowered, you depended on mark’s answer to break the silence.

“solve this one. it’s what i just showed you.” he rolled his pen to you.

“oh. okay.” you hesitantly took hold of the pen, and did your best to pretend like you understood, but mark obviously wasn’t buying it. after writing some gibberish, you gave up.

“um, mark?”

“yeah?”

“im a little embarrassed to ask… but.. can you explain it again?”

he didn’t look surprised. he looked at you endearingly. “as expected..” he chuckled, weighing his head side to side to stretch out his neck. his gaze shifted to the clock on the wall behind you. “you know, we should probably head out now.”

“already?” you looked back to see the time for yourself. he didn’t say anything for a second, he just nodded and flashed a gentle smile. “you get too distracted.” he nudged your shoulder. your cheeks burned a little when he did that. “well you’re too distracting.” you nudged him back.

mark grabbed his shoulder where you touched as if he were injured by your strength. “i’m so distracting yet you couldn’t focus on a single thing i said?” he teased you. you didn’t have a witty comeback, so you just stayed silent and stuffed some things wherever they could fit in your bag.

at that point, it was clear to both of you that the next few study sessions you had lined up, would be far more exciting…

a couple weeks of studying with mark went by, and the flirting made its way into your classes. he was getting bolder in his advances. it started with some subtle compliments but now he’s been giving you these corny winks from a across the room, and he makes it really obvious what he’s doing.

once mark started sitting next to you, hell broke loose. one time, the teacher asked the class to solve something, and you miraculously managed to figure it out before mark did. it still backfired tremendously…

“oh my gosh, i got it!” you whispered to mark. “it’s 29!”

he smiled at you for a second, before raising his hand, while simultaneously blurting out, “29! it’s 29!”

your teacher looked pleased. “that was quick, mark. as always, you never disappoint me with your calculating abilities.”

mark threw is head back laughing as quietly as he could, and you kicked his leg underneath the table.. as hard as you could.

later, you would find yourself sitting with mark, side by side, staring down at your math textbook.

“okay, so tell me, what's the answer to number 4?" mark questioned you.

you didn’t even try to hide the fact that you had no idea what was going on. “i don’t know it.”

mark paused and laughed out of disbelief. “yn, it’s a good thing you wanna be an athlete and not a mathematician.”

what he said was true, but it annoyed you regardless, so you snapped back.

“and it’s a good thing you’re cute, ‘cause that’s the only reason i haven’t killed you yet.”

“psh,” he laughed in an exhale. “are you into me or something?” he kept his eyes fixed on the paper in front of him.

you giggled, “i think that’s the first time i’ve actually known the answer to a question you’ve asked me.” you smirked to yourself, feeling proud of your smooth talking.

when he didn’t respond, you continued.

“yknow.. mark, for being top of the class, i thought you’d have a bit more common sense.”

“what’s that supposed to mean?” he didn’t even bother looking at you.

“yes, mark, i’m into you.”

he still avoided looking your way, but he couldn’t hold back his smile. you stayed staring at your cute math tutor, and you could tell it was making him shy. “yn. focus.” he tapped his pencil on the table.

you tried to pout. “but the math isn’t cute...”

he tapped his pencil more aggressively.

you didn’t try to fight back. you started jotting some things down desperately trying to figure out the equation, until he tapped his pencil again. “yn. i need you to focus.”

annoyed, you jerked your head to face him. “i am focused. im literally doing the math-” your eyes traced his features.

“no, i mean on this.”

“on what?”

he smiled and tapped his pencil to his cheek.

“i need you to focus on me.”

this ended up being longer than intended... but thank you thank you so much for requesting, im so happy to hear that you like my writingggggggggff!!!!! also sorry this took so long, im kinda backed up on requests LOL.

[cnnmairoll]

First Kiss

Pairing: Kozume Kenma x Reader Genre: Fluff a/n: day one of me coping with fanfics............. idk how this fic made me feel

You strolled leisurely through the park, hand in hand with Kenma Kozume, your boyfriend of three months. The late afternoon sun bathed the surroundings in a warm golden hue, casting playful shadows on the ground. As usual, you were the one who had initiated the hand-holding, gently intertwining your fingers with his. Kenma didn't resist, but his grip was always tentative, as if he wasn't entirely sure he should be holding on.

"Look at that," you said, pointing to a group of children playing on the playground. "They're having so much fun."

Kenma glanced over, his cat-like golden eyes taking in the scene briefly before returning to the path ahead. He had his portable game console in his other hand, but it was off, a testament to his effort to focus on your time together. "Yeah," he replied softly.

You squeezed his hand, feeling the familiar, comforting warmth of his touch. "You know, you could have fun too, if you let yourself," you teased, a mischievous glint in your eye.

Kenma's lips twitched in a small, shy smile. "I'm having fun," he said, but it was clear he meant it in his own quiet way. He was never one to get overly excited about anything that didn't involve video games or the occasional volleyball match.

"You call this fun? Just walking and holding hands?" you teased again, nudging him lightly with your shoulder.

He glanced at you, a hint of amusement in his gaze. "Being with you is fun," he murmured, his voice almost lost in the gentle rustling of leaves.

Your heart skipped a beat at his words. Kenma wasn't one to express his feelings openly, and such a statement from him was rare and precious. You leaned in closer, feeling bold. "You know, Kenma, if you keep saying things like that, I might think you actually like me," you teased, knowing full well he did.

Kenma stopped walking, turning to face you fully. His expression was as composed as ever, but there was a flicker of determination in his eyes. "I do like you," he said, his voice steady.

You blinked, taken aback by his sudden boldness. "Well, that's good to hear," you replied, a playful smile on your lips. "But you know what would be even better?"

Kenma raised an eyebrow, silently prompting you to continue.

"If you showed it more often," you teased lightly, poking his chest. 

Kenma looked down at where your finger had poked his chest, a faint blush creeping up from his neck to his cheeks. He was silent for a moment, his mind clearly working through something. You were used to his quiet nature, his way of processing things internally before responding.

"I do show it," he mumbled, almost to himself, his eyes not meeting yours.

You couldn't help but chuckle, leaning in closer. "Oh, really? Is this your way of showing it? Because I think you can do better, Kozume," you teased, knowing how to push his buttons just enough.

Kenma's eyes darted up to meet yours, a rare spark of frustration flickering in their golden depths. "You just don't get it," he muttered, his voice a mix of irritation and embarrassment.

You grinned, feeling a bit triumphant. "Well, then, make me understand," you challenged, stepping closer to him.

Kenma's gaze hardened, his shyness momentarily overshadowed by a surge of determination. He looked around briefly, as if to ensure no one was watching, then took a deep breath. "I'm gonna have to shut your lips with a kiss," he declared, his voice steady but the blush on his cheeks deepening.

Your heart raced at his words. You had teased him like this before, but he had never actually followed through. "Go ahead," you replied, your voice softer now, almost breathless with anticipation.

Kenma stared at you for a heartbeat, his eyes searching yours as if looking for any sign of insincerity. Finding none, he stepped closer, his free hand coming up to gently cup your cheek. You felt the world around you blur, the park, the children, the sunlight—all fading into the background as Kenma leaned in.

His lips met yours in a soft, tentative kiss. It was brief, a mere brush of lips, but it sent a shockwave through you, leaving you momentarily stunned. Kenma pulled back slightly, his face mere inches from yours, his eyes searching yours for a reaction.

You blinked, trying to process what had just happened. Your heart was pounding in your chest, your cheeks felt warm, and you were pretty sure your face was as red as his. "Kenma..." you whispered, your voice shaky with emotion.

He bit his lip, his own expression a mix of anxiety and hope. "Was that okay?" he asked quietly, his shyness returning in full force.

You let out a breathy laugh, your hands coming up to cup his face. "More than okay," you replied, leaning in to press another, firmer kiss to his lips. This time, Kenma responded with a bit more confidence, his hands steadying on your waist as he kissed you back.

When you finally pulled away, both of you were breathless and blushing. Kenma's eyes were brighter than you'd ever seen them, a small, genuine smile playing on his lips. "I guess I can show it more often," he said softly, his fingers intertwined with yours once again.

You smiled back, feeling a warmth spread through you that had nothing to do with the sun. "I'd like that," you replied, giving his hand a gentle squeeze.

The two of you continued your stroll through the park, the air between you now filled with a new sense of closeness and understanding. You teased him a bit less, content in the knowledge that Kenma's quiet ways of showing affection were just as meaningful as any grand gesture. And as you walked hand in hand, you couldn't help but feel that this was just the beginning of something even more special.

[sillykitty9000]

Ready To Pay In Full by Teethies on AO3 is a masterpiece and I need to talk about it right now

Mild-moderate spoilers ahead + Cw: mention of sexual harassment and abusive power dynamics

First of all, how the fuck was THAT written in only 4 days? 10k words of beautifully thought out in-character plot? In 4 DAYS??? Good lord, that is incredible! Also, Teethies mentioned that this was their first time writing fanfiction? Unfair if you ask me. (/lht) It was wonderfully written, and I can not believe how much I enjoyed it.

Chapter 1: It opens beautifully. The descriptions are rich, and the characters are so real. Not only is Teethies's voice portrayed well throughout the story, but the characters' voices are seen wonderfully, too. It briefly, but not inconsistently, fills in the end of OUAW and sets the scene in a realistic way. It is admirable how Teethies can make both Kremy and Gideon in character even without having them speak; their body language shows expression without any semblance of "He did this, he moved there." I really enjoy how Teethies handles small details, like how Gideon’s hair leaves ashes on his new shirt; it's not necessary to the plot, but it gives the story so much more life. Gideon and Kremy feel real in the way they interact, and they are sweet in the way that only they can be. Vague flirty remarks just before moderate insults. Reading this feels like I'm listening to their campaign with how accurate these characters are. This whole chapter explores character history, especially Kremy’s, and it really goes in-depth as to why they each do the things they do. Again, they're all so in character that it feels like I'm really there. Even the subtle nonverbal reactions feel like the characters, and it's really sweet seeing Kremy and Gideon interact in the way they're so used to. Outside help brings them a bit closer, and it's a really nice way of showing how close they are, even if they aren't explicitly romantic. Again, I really appreciate how in-depth this story goes with Kremy’s history. I never really considered what his past before the Carnival but after his childhood would be like, but Teethies perfectly explains why Kremy is so powerful and how he knows so much about Garou. It really paints how Kremy behaves, and I loved every second of the first chapter.

Chapter 2: How this fic somehow IMPROVED upon their first chapter was something out of a dream. As someone who hasn't caught up on the campaign entirely, I don't know much about Mr. Garou, other than they owe him money, but Teethies does a wonderful job characterizing him in a way that feels canon and makes me understand the motivations of the characters through the story. Also, Teethies makes him a completely horrible person in a truly aggravating way. He is unredeemable, he is unlikable, and he is perfect for that. Not once was I thinking that he may change his ways, and it makes the morally questionable Kremy and Gideon seem like good people. It made me feel bad for them, and it made me enjoy their character just that much more. This chapter definitely favors the view of Gideon as opposed to the Kremy central story of the first chapter, and it really shows their differences. Kremy’s chapter was anxious. It was so obviously fearful, but it had the comforting figure of Gideon beside him. In this chapter, however, there is no comfort. Gideon is angry, he is concerned, and he has no one to turn to. He is supposed to be the protector, but he quickly learns how powerless he is in the face of Mr. Garou. Around here is where Mr. Garou gets really gross. Again, he is an unforgivable evil man, and Teethies portrays him as such. The way he talks to Gideon, but especially Kremy, makes me a bit sick. He is so cruel, and it makes you feel bad for all that Kremy has had to put up with. Gideon naturally responds with anger, but he then has suggestion cast over him. This part is actually fascinating to me because I've never considered how suggestion would work. I love how Teethies describes it as comforting magic because that really ties in to the wisdom mechanics of the game. Gideon could choose to disobey, but Kremy is mentally praising him and is so happy to see how well-behaved he is. He must be a bit scared to disobey because he feels that Kremy could leave at any point and never take him back, and that's where his wisdom fails him. He does not know that Kremy cares about him as much as he does, and that's why he submits so easily to suggestion. He does not want to lose Kremy over something like disobeying orders. We see again how badly Gideon does not want to lose Kremy at the end, where they find themselves in an argument over the entire scene with Remy Garou. It wonderfully breaks down their feelings into a soft scene, and it concludes a fantastic story.

This fanfiction was incredible from beginning to end, and it made me go through so many emotions at any given point. While there is romance, it is not the main focus which is fantastic. It really dives into the depths of each character and how they exist in their world, but also shows the inner workings of their minds without being too invasive. It was a fantastic read, and I highly recommend it.

[reel-fear]

Bendy And The Power Of Representation

So those graphic novel pages huh? Seems I posted my cover post at just the right time because literally minutes after I was informed the preview pages came out and uh. This is Buddy and Norman!

Oh dear... I'll put the full graphic novel pages down below but I have so much to say on how awful this is it'll need several posts. However, right now I want to mostly talk about representation and briefly touch on why it's so damn important + inform others about the current shit Mike and Meatly are saying about the books n such.

Now note: All the things I'm saying below are based on my personal experience, maybe some people don't care about seeing the representation of their identities in the media they consume. Maybe some will think I'm merely being dramatic and I might be but I'm not lying when I say I personally believe being represented and seen in the media you consume can be one of the most wonderful feelings in the world.

Look I'm not here to argue with people who think that Norman in particular was never meant to be a person of color, I would argue he is very coded but the points I'm making here are not about how Norman particularly had to be black. The point I want to make is the lack of diversity in our cast in general and how Norman's design has heavily dwindled it considering most people [including myself] rightfully assumed he was at least one of three black characters in our cast. Not according to this though and looking at the the rest of the pages our chances of seeing any kind of decent diverse character designs dwindle more.

So firstly... Buddy a character who has been said to experience discrimination for being Jewish, lacks any kind of ethnic features at all. That's... Cool but yeah I think this shows a rather grim future for the character designs as a whole.

Also, Norman... As I mentioned he was largely assumed to be black due to his southern dialect, his voice, and other factors. But nope, he's a generic white guy. With... Gross looking hair tbh...

Sadly this is not the first time the topic of poor representation has come up concerning Bendy either.

[note how he disregarded the other mentioned minorities and specifically cites LGBTQ+ characters]

This sucks as a response but sadly considering Mike's recent behavior it seems to fall in line with the Bendy team's general lack of care towards representing anyone who isn't straight and white.

So how did Mike respond to all of this? Well...

TDLR - "Who cares if the Graphic Novel we're selling to our fans for full price sucks, we now no longer consider the books canon."

This is horrible, I know Mike and Meatly are only really in this for the money, the fact BATIM is in the state that it is proved that, but they really couldn't have been less obvious about it?

So basically when it benefited them, AKA when it meant people would have to buy the books to understand important lore like Boris' identity... [the character you spend all of chapter 4 trying to rescue] They were considered canon... At least the author sure thought so.

Hell even in the tweet Meatly made here he doesn't say the books aren't canon, he just says they're not needed to understand Bendy's world. Now Mike is using that as a shield instead of doing the right thing and saying "You're right, the poc in our fanbase deserve better we'll have it fixed right away!" Like most reasonable people would considering how his studio has literally been accused of bigotry, poor rep, and general lack of diversity before. Why risk making more people avoid this franchise?

Also just... Imagine how insulting it would be to be an author who helps flesh out so much of this world and gives its characters depth like NONE of the games have managed to do, filling in plot holes, creating a timeline for events, etc... Then because they couldn't bother to change the graphic novel for ur story to be better they instead throw out all ur writing and declare it non-canon.

If I were her to put it bluntly I'd feel insulted and horrible. Why make her do all the work of making sure her works align with the timeline and game's canon if they're not part of it?

I can't speak for her obviously but Meatly and Mike know of her account, so speaking out against this could very much risk her being fired or at least not allowed to work on Bendy anymore... So I would take all her tweets on this situation with a grain of salt. She very much is not in a position where she could be honest if she was against this.

So with all that history now, the question I'm sure many are wondering is... Why does this even matter? Who cares how diverse the characters are when it doesn't affect the story?

Well for one thing, if you think like that consider having more empathy for your fellow human beings but also it does affect the story. One of DCTL's themes is about the bigotry of the period it is set in.

Now the Bendy team has managed to make the discussion of this book centering around their bigotry which is ironic in a way I almost find funny... Though this entire thing is just a bit too hurtful and upsetting to find any humor in, at least for me...

But another thing is representation can bring people such joy when it's done with care. It really shouldn't be understated how far it can go to make people feel more comfortable in their own sense of self to have a franchise choose to represent them and their experiences. I know this from personal experience.

Now if you've been following me for a while, you know I'm a big fan of Transformers. I no longer engage with it much due to baggage from the fandom's awful treatment of me, but before I left I remember being able to witness the release of Transformers: Earthspark first few episodes.

These introduced the Maltos the family who meets the Transformers and serve as our protagonists and guess what?

It's a family of Filipinos!

Now look I'm not Filipino, but I am half Mexican and I have a lot of love for that part of me. So seeing the representation of any Spanish culture in this franchise I loved made me so happy! I remember just watching the first episode I was happily telling my partner how fun it was to see people like me and my family in a world I love!!

But it didn't end with the Maltos in fact... There was another character who spoke to me, their name was Nightshade. Their pronouns are They/Them and they spoke about it on the show! Not just mentioning it and moving on but actually sitting down to speak about their experiences...

This clip in particular really turned them into an absolute favorite among fans and well... I'll let you see it for yourself.

This scene... Fills me with a joy I cannot describe. It is the creators of a franchise I love telling me they see people like me and find the stories of people like me important enough to include in this series. There really is nothing like being able to say there are Non-Binary characters in a franchise I have so much love for. I was far from the only one too.

This is amazing, this is wonderful, this clip and character were moving to so so many people and...

This is a joy the Bendy creators have no interest in giving their audience. They don't care how you feel as a queer and/or black person, which... Hurts...

I... Discovered I was trans while in the Bendy community... It was where I learned the word Non-Binary and started using it for myself. To me Bendy will always have that connection... But the devs themselves seem to hate the idea of being forced to actually represent that in their games... And I still haven't really gotten over that pain or betrayal if I'm being honest.

So...

With Norman now being portrayed as white here, we are down to two black characters. Thomas [who Meatly has claimed is white in the past] based on a vague conversation with Sammy in DCTL they could easily ignore... And Jacob.... A book exclusive character which according to Mike means he is non-canon.

If we don't count Thomas' vague talk with Sammy about disrespect as confirmation he's black [which the devs don't seem to think so] then we have one black character in all of Bendy... And he recently got retconned into non-existence. Great.

Look... The Bendy fanbase has always been full of wonderfully diverse designs for the staff and even more diverse people creating them. Bendy's fandom was built with the work of queer people from all kinds of places.

If the Bendy team continues to show how little they care for anyone who isn't straight or white... I wonder who they are counting on to buy this book or in general financially support their franchise?

I know right now, I am furious, I am hurt and I most certainly don't feel like buying a book that's currently just a massive fuck you to the fans and I hope I've expressed why I feel this way in an easy-to-understand way here...

Either way, I will not be forgetting this anytime soon and I hope the fanbase does the same. Maybe just maybe, if there's enough backlash to this series of horrible decisions they'll learn better.

Right now, it's kinda of our only hope for a better future, and if you know any poc who are into Bendy right now... Maybe consider making sure they're feeling okay.

I know from experience how much this sort of thing hurts, to have the creators of a world you love straight up tell you they don't intend to fix the fact no one in their stories represents your identity or life...

What I'm trying to say is...

This is a really low point for Bendy and its fans... Even more for the poc who have to witness such ignorant and careless attitudes from Mike and Meatly towards their feelings.

Please don't forget them when you discuss these tweets or this situation. That's exactly what Mike and Meatly want right now.

For them to be unrepresented and therefore... Unheard.

[lunar-years]

still thinking about the "well henry is boring so ted shouldn't've had to return home and be a parent to him :(" take like kjnqekngk HUH 😭 what kind of exciting depth and backstory did you want them to give Henry? ...He's ten. 😭😭

Also, this isn't a show about children. it's a show about adults, and the children in the narrative exist in order to serve the arcs/characterization of the adult main characters. Henry's purpose in the story is to be the child Ted left in order to take this job, so that Ted can miss him, be conflicted about leaving him, and ultimately grow into the person who decides to return to him. That's...it! The focus and point is not Henry himself but what he represents and the space he occupies in Ted's life.

Like, I love Phoebe, but even her point in existing in the story has nothing to do with her and everything to do with how she changes how we the viewers perceive Roy. She's there to show a different side to him and flesh him out as a character.

Similarly, it doesn't matter that the dutch girl isn't named or focused on at all or that she appears only very briefly. She's not there to have a storyline of her own, she's there to facilitate Rebecca's storyline! This is true of many side characters, not just the kids, in this and many stories! And it's why it doesn't bother me that Matthijs and Jelka don't have huge roles or that we are only introduced to them briefly before they become Rebecca's """endgame""" family (and I say endgame very loosely here). Their actual respective relationships with Rebecca aren't the point of the story. The point of the story is *Rebecca* coming to accept that her future isn't going to look the way she'd once imagined it, but also realizing that that doesn't mean she has to entirely give up on her dreams of finding romantic love and a family, either. Matthijs and Jelka are representative of the future that's still very much possible for her. They're symbolic of a new beginning for her, not an end.

[truearchangel]

Okay, I’m at a computer again finally. I want to update and organize my rules before I do anything. It’s been a while since they’ve been changed and I really feel like I need to adjust them for my own comfort. Also, just a reminder @thylightbringer is my main Lucifer and one of my best friends. Things that reference a Lucifer in threads relate to them. We’re both silly little beans and you should definitely follow them if you don’t already. I adore B with everything I got.

Some other cool beans you should definitely follow:

@alteregozowie @radioiaci @diistortion @adflictus @solmxri @arachn0philia @gamblins @paymons @hotlhost @chasingrainbcws

They’re rather incredible writers who put great spirit and love into their muses. I haven't had the pleasure of interacting with all of them yet but I certainly watch them from afar, admiring the way that they write their muses. All of us put such depth thought love and passion into our muses and a lot of the time we don't feel like it gets seen read or cared about but that is certainly not the case. Though we might forget to leave a like or feel awkward giving a comment on something we're not a part of, everyone has carved out a wonderful spot for themselves in this silly little space.

Zowie, TJ and Luke are beautiful artists who put passion into making their muses come to life. Luke especially has poured time and effort into helping me bring Mike into reality on the wonderful art he has made for me. All three of them draw their own icons for their muses to breathe even more passion into the things they're making. The time, effort and love that has to take is beyond my small brains comprehension.

Gold I noticed draws too, I saw their wonderful art of Angel at Halloween in that kinky latex outfit which you can see on their artblog @golddraws and they are very much talented as well. I adore the way they play Angel and the absolutely amazing and hilarious Gingerbread fight that they engaged with me in. I still can't believe how long they kept that up with me without getting annoyed.

Autumn and Rory are two people I haven't gotten the chance to engage with yet but that I have carefully watched on the blog since sticking them in my pocket. Rory is very passionate about Paymon and the hcs, meta, various posts that they have made about them are absolutely brilliant to consume up. I absolutely love watching them engage with others. Autumn writes two other muses and the new bird along with Husk really are people Mike is going to scoop up and steal. Their blog aesthetics are so pretty and I adore Husk! He feels very on character from the posts I read from them. Especially with Angel, I read a lot of the Angel threads.

Charlie @chasingrainbcws is very aware of how I feel about them. Though it's been a while since we're written together (I need to throw some memes at you) they very much capture the feeling of Charlie herself from the show. I've only written with their Charlie and Emily (briefly her) but each interaction I got to do with the Princess of Hell very much felt like I could hear her voice or see her actually doing what she was in the show. I could clearly visualize our thread and I loved that. They are an amazing writer who really captures their muse well and I can't wait for the things we might get to do in the future. Either with Charlie or the other wonderful muses they write!

May @hotlhost is my newest friend who I've engaged with briefly but I loved and laughed so hard at the things we've done already. Charlie is absolutely brilliant and adorable and the interactions I've seen of them feel so spot on. Mike already very much wants to scoop his niece up and tuck her away somewhere where things won't get to her. I can't wait to see where their relationship develops when we get a real thread going!

Yata and Tordo are my friends and I will kill for them. @adflictus @solmxri are my chaotic partners in crime along with Bianca @thylightbringer. They've put up with me, listened to me ramble / cry / scream / have a breakdown more times than I can count. They've handled my for so long it should deserve some sort of metal of honor. They're all beautiful writers who have put so much time and effort into their muses (especially Tordo whose been around maybe even longer than me and created the Gabriel Yata writes), and the depth that all takes is remarkable. They all breathe such life into their muses and world and I love them. They will forever be a part of anything I create.

[mdhwrites]

Do you think the show rewards Luz’s Selfishness too much?

So I normally frame Luz's decision to self martyr herself and stay in her own world as not wanting to bother with the effort to fix her mistake. Let's shift that a bit so we can talk about why the show couldn't have Luz tell ANYONE this deeply selfish choice. A choice that by all means, Camila seems to think is just a bad choice for Luz and for no one else.

But... Luz chooses that her pain and angst is so bad that she doesn't want to help Amity reunite with her siblings. Or to make sure they can live in a world where they're safe. Gus' dad, Willow's parents, Darius, etc. All of them can rot as far as Luz is concerned. She even explicitly states this in For the Future. "Once Eda and King are safe, I'm going home."

No one else matters. LITERALLY no one else matters to her but the people she has chosen to care about and there aren't many of those. This is framed even worse by the fact that by the end of this episode, Camila will effectively say that Luz has NEVER done anything wrong. That trying to critique her at all, to try and give her life skills and friends with the camp after she put people's lives potentially in danger (snakes and fireworks are not meant for school for a reason), was wrong. That Luz just needs to be 'understood'. Part of understanding Luz, especially in S3, means that unless someone attacks her about it, like the dream sequence, WHICH ISN'T HER OWN MIND BUT A FABRICATION AND LIE, she isn't going to think about others. Just her adopted family and herself. And even then, maybe not even her adopted family since they sure as shit didn't matter in Thanks to Them.

BUT. we are supposed to sympathize with her and believe she did nothing wrong, just like Camila. Do not question her motivations, or her efforts, just believe her words.

This is emblematic of the show as well. The first two episodes talk a big game about fantasy vs reality and like Luz's selfish motivations, warped way of looking at things and her learning to be a human being, not a walking, wanna be protagonist will be interrogated. But... Not really. She repeatedly does things that are mirrored in her favorite series. Her final battle line will be a reference to that series and her delusions with that series. People might get briefly upset about her actions but most of the time she either doesn't have to do anything, like Reaching Out or Adventure in the Elements (where she gets a glyph BEFORE making up the fuck up she did) or show how special she is like in Lost in Language and Covention. I can only really think of like one episode after the first two where Luz fucks up and genuinely has to take the brunt of punishment for it, Winging it Like Witches, and even in that one, she is saved before anything bad happens to her before winning with the same trick that hurt her friends, just... Now it's okay because they're all on the same page about it I guess. Couldn't have had Willow come up with something herself because Luz actually was willing to listen to Willow and not force something onto her. That'd be too much work.

It's part of why the more you interrogate Luz's intentions and motivations, it gets BAD. So much of what she does could be easily grafted onto a kid trying to play hero or not learning anything from past mistakes. Don't ever forget that Teenage Abomination says "Listen to your mentor about their specialty," then The Intruder says "Don't take shortcuts to magic" before then in Adventure in the Elements, Luz takes a shortcut for magic while also not listening to Eda and almost gets people killed for it. GREAT JOB LUZ! Much development, such depth.

And yes, lots of shows will have characters yoyo and the like but these are within HALF A SEASON of each other. It usually takes a little longer for most animated shows to straight up start repeating lessons. Hell, yes, it is theoretically a problem for Amphibia too with stuff like Bessie and the hibernation episode both featuring Anne's impatience but also S1 is genuinely about how Anne is fighting between the lessons she's learning and her growing empathy versus how she used to be with her selfishness and laziness. Also, both episodes might be about her impatience but they genuinely tackle it in different ways, with one being about disregarding the rules because of overconfidence and the other one is out of boredom. For TOH... It's just that Luz wants the magic she thinks she should have, as easily and as fun as she thinks it should be instead of weird and actually taking work, and fucks it up because of that same motivation.

That same motivation that doesn't treat reality like reality. According to the show though, that's just the best way to be. Follow your own version, fuck everything else. That's what Luz gets to do in the end after all and she's the one literally blessed by God to be correct.

So yeah, I think her selfishness might be a touch rewarded.

======+++++======

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

[look-at-the-sky-im-still-here]

Somebody knows (unfortunately.)

Nobody will know part 2

you got me so hyped with your comment @propertyofseverus that I wrote this unplanned 2nd part >:)))) enjoy <3

Ship: Olivia x Severus (both are adult professors), warnings: slightly (?) subby Sev, risk of being caught, penetrative sex, biting, collars/leash, mild voyeurism, Lucius briefly appears

----

The parent teacher conference night is exhausting, as always. Petty parents with their random questions and expectations, not knowing the depth of the work she already does and thinking they know so much better. Please, spare me your drivel.

She's generally not a people person. Especially not when it comes to stupid people.

A pair of parents exit her office, bidding their goodnights. Olivia groans and leans back in her chair, rubbing her temples. She feels a terrible headache rolling in. Thank Merlin, though, Malfoy hasn't shown up yet. Hopefully he won't, either.

She has a soft spot for Draco but his father... good lord. She could strangle that man.

Liv opens her schedule. "Two more conversations..." At least the night is almost over. I have a feeling my head isn't gonna stop pounding 'till I sleep, though.

A sudden flash of light on her desk makes her flinch.

"Huh?"

A small potion bottle has appeared, most likely through a spell. She picks it up and looks at the little card hanging off it. 'For your headache.' It reads.

Her cheeks warm and a pleasant smile spreads across her face. He knows her so well. Even while they're both working he still thinks of her...

"Psh. And he has the gall to act like he's not sweet."

She downs the potion and sighs in relief when her headache fades. She makes an indulgent little chuckle and bites her lip.

I should visit him when I'm done...

-

Severus sighs and writes down the notes of the last discussion. He despises these nights, too. So much time wasted when he could definitely be doing better things.

His scowl hardens when he hears his door creak open. Another one? Great.

He looks up.

Oh, no, it's not. It's Olivia. She shuts the door behind her and leans against it. she regards him with an unreadable expression and for a moment both are silent.

"Is something the matter?" He eventually questions, expression a bit softer.

A smile spreads across her face. "No. But I thought I'd pay you a visit..."

He instantly gulps at her low tone and suddenly he feels hot at the collar. "You got the potion I sent."

"I did. It was... very sweet of you." She murmurs, approaching his desk. "I just had to show my appreciation somehow..."

"...What are you thinking..?" He looks up at her. Part of him is irritated and scandalised, he knows what she's doing, but also, he can't help but feel a bit excited about it.

"What do you think...?" She purrs, unbuttoning two buttons of her shirt.

His face darkens considerably when he's offered a tasteful view of the soft swell of her chest. Hastily, he looks away. "Really, Liv? C-can't wait until later?" He mentally curses himself at the tremor in his voice. "You know I am still working-"

"All the parents have gone. It's just us here." She plants her hands on his desk and leans forward, looking at him with heavy lidded eyes.

"...Surely I didn't send you a potion of lust." He grumbles, meeting her gaze.

"Haha. I don't need one to want you." She moves around the desk to come closer, to which he stands and stumbles back. She's the only one who sees him like this, this normally bitter and cold man now so flustered at her advances. He's not happy about the effect she has on him but at the same time... to be wanted so carnally is an intoxicating feeling.

"I'm warning you, Liv." He steps back whenever she steps forward, attempting to keep a stern expression.

"Elaborate." Olivia is enjoying the hell out of this.

"I-" He grunts and shakes his head. "I know what you're doing, t-trying to seduce me-"

"You say that as if you don't like it." She comes closer.

"Not when I'm supposed to be working...!" He catches her hands by the wrists before she can grab at him, but she just smiles sweetly.

"It won't take that long, love."

"That's what you say every time- and then an hour later we're still... occupied. N-not to mention last time. We almost got caught." He huffs indignantly, but doesn't push her away when she leans into him. His back hits the wall.

She says nothing, just leans in slowly. Despite himself, despite his arguments, he's leaning forward too, almost instinctively. His grip loosens on her wrists and she slides them up, over his shoulders.

"Damn you... insufferable woman..." He mutters against her lips, eyes fluttering closed.

"You love it that way," She whispers and kisses him.

Almost instantly, his reservations melt away and his hands are sliding up her back, pulling her flush against him. Damn her, truly. Damn him for giving into her so easily. She plucks open the buttons keeping his long cloak draped over him and tosses it aside. He shivers a bit at the cool air hitting his back, but grunts and does the same with her cloak. With her neck now exposed, he presses warm kisses to the skin under her jaw, eyes closed. Her perfume is subtle but intoxicating, something foresty, something like the rain.

"Mm- Severus.." She leans her head back so he can reach better.

He groans. "For the love of... I could eat you whole if you'd let me," He murmurs under his breath, setting his teeth into a spot on her neck and making her squirm.

"Yes... I would let you." Amusement twinkles in her gaze.

"Don't say that..." He shudders all over and she soothes him with a gentle caress. Briefly he pauses, suddenly acutely aware of how 'out-in-the-open' they are, gulps, and rips open the door to his potion storage. "In here."

"Oh?" Liv purrs, sliding her hands over his waist. "Nice and private, mh?"

"Yes. Please." He grumbles, embarrassed but so unbelievably fond.

She's fine with that... she just wants him. She takes his face in her hands and kisses him again, walking him back into the storage room and closing the door so quick it gives a rather loud 'bang' against the doorframe.

There's shuffling, followed by a surprised gasp and a quiet chuckle in the dim light of the room.

.

-

.

In the hall, Lucius walks. He's on his way to the Potion's Master's office to discuss business. But strangely, when he gets there, nobody's around.

'What? Did he leave already?" The blond mutters under his breath, frustrated. "And here I was thinking he never left this room."

Just then, though, he hears shuffling and quiet bumping noises coming from a door to the back.

"What in the...?"

.

-

.

"Mmmh... oh, Sev..."

"Fuck." He buries his face in her hair, gripping her waist tightly as his hips meet hers time and time again. She leans against the shelves, eyes closed and pressing back into him. Every time he ruts his hips forward, bottles and ingredients on the shelves rattle and shake. Her dress is hitched up far enough for him to pound her cunt but nothing more. They have to be discrete, after all...

She holds back a whimper as she clenches around him. Her panties are tossed on the floor, long forgotten.

She leans back up, pressing her back into his chest. His hips stutter for a moment, because when Olivia's hand passes over his throat, a silky, smoky black collar winds itself around his neck. Tight enough for him to feel it, but comfortable nonetheless.

He jerks in surprise and she smiles. "Stop moving, love." A leash of this same, mysterious energy forms, attached to the collar, and she pulls it taut, pulling him tighter against her. A breathless whimper escapes him at the pressure.

"O-Olivia... What are you-"

"Just a little experiment, darling." She clenches and both of them groan. "Remember... I'm in charge here."

"I, ah- am I ever going to be in... charge...?" He grunts, aching to keep fucking her but also very keen on obeying her. He usually isn't like that... is that a magical effect?

Or is it just her?

"Perhaps... even I like to take a load off and relax from time to time." She purrs. "But not right now." She plucks open her shirt fully and her nipples harden at the cool air against them. "Now... keep going, love..." She grabs his hand and brings it up to her exposed chest. With a weak little gasp he holds her tight, large and warm hands squeezing the soft flesh of her breasts. She purrs in delight, leaning her head back onto his shoulder as he resumes his frenzied thrusting. Olivia holds the leash tight, wrapped around her fist, making sure he's not going anywhere. Not like he could possibly want to.

His fingers press to her nipples, feeling the heat of them. He gently pinches, squeezes, rubs them. The way she squirms and gasps is all the reassurance he needs. He closes his eyes, focuses on nothing but her and the surprisingly exhilarating feel of the collar on him. Part of him feels as though he should be irritated, he's not a dog or an animal, after all, but it's different... It's like she's saying he's hers. A pleasurable tingle goes down his spine at the thought.

He's trying so hard to keep his desperate noises to himself and she can tell. It's kinda cute, isn't it. His eyes squeezed shut, panting harshly into her neck and every heavy breath he takes is exhaled shakily, sometimes with the slightest whimper. His hands slide down her belly, internally irritated at the fabric separating them there, but she enjoys the caress regardless. Especially when his fingers dip lower, stroking over the sensitive skin of her inner thighs. She spreads her thighs a little wider to invite the contact but in turn causes him to thrust deeper into her, to which a startled but pleasurable cry escapes her throat.

"Ngh!" His hips jerk and he almost comes just from that. But he holds it back.  

She claps a hand over her mouth and he grunts.

"B-Be careful, Liv-"

"I know,," She hisses back.

.

Lucius' eyes widen at the sound that suddenly emanated from that room.

"What..." he whispers, face growing red. "Don't tell me he's...?" He shakes his head. Couldn't be Snape, no way. He doesn't seem the type. Still though, someone is being sinful in there. There's cloaks laying on the floor. He grins widely. How should he go about this? Swing the door open and catch them in the act? Wait until they come out?

He slinks over to the room and peeks in through a crack in the door. But what he sees shocks him.

.

Olivia's facing him now, one leg holding her up and the other hooked on his waist as she gets plowed by her darling husband. She grips onto him tight with one hand, the other still firmly holding the leash. "Gooood b-booy..!" She gasps and he scoffs.

"L-Liv- I'm no such th-thing.." His voice cracks a little.

"Shh. You are," She fiercely kisses him, muffling any utterance he was about to respond with. "My good boy."

He can't hold back the desperate whimper this time and it fills her with delight. So, to hide the clear embarrassment in his expression, he buries his face in her chest and holds her tight to him.

"Ngh- You're doing so good... keep- keep doing that...!" She squeezes him tighter, legs trembling. She leans in and bites his earlobe to which a startled moan escapes him.

.

Oh my god.

Oh my god.

Lucius is so hard, he can't believe it. He knew Severus is married to Olivia, but he hadn't anticipated them to actually be this... wild over each other. Considering the man Severus is, anyway. It's like he's watching a complete stranger.

Part of him is appalled at the audacity, another part is so unbelievably envious. Narcissa never looks at him in that way, with such carnal want. He palms himself through his trousers, biting his lip.

Like Severus had initially anticipated, this is definitely not as quick as Liv said it would be. Insufferable... Yet, he lacks any kind of true annoyance over it. This is a far better way to spend his time than what he was doing before... what was he doing before, anyway? He's so unbelievably sensitive and despite his efforts he can't hold back the noises. It's music to Olivia's ears.

Her pussy throbs, she's so wet that he feels it on his inner thighs. "Severusss-! I'm- I'm so close."

"F-fuck- me too- darling-" He leans up to kiss her again, shifting one of his hands to her lower back for better leverage. They're ravenous. Olivia bites his lower lip and he sucks in a sharp breath, the jolt of pain going straight to his aching cock.

Lucius watches, listens. He's a darn creep for this, but he can't bring himself to tear his eyes away. There's a morbid curiosity there, though he's also enjoying the view... He grinds into his palm harder, gritting his teeth.

Olivia whimpers, finally, when she comes. Her pussy flutters and clenches from the stimulation. She gasps. "C-Come inside...!"

"Ah-! but...-" He hisses.

"Do it, I'm p-prepared..!"

"Of course- y-you would be, h-uh...!"

"Shut up and- s-stuff me already-"

He chuckles lowly, though there's no mirth in his expression, just pure hunger for her. "As- as you wish." He plants his hands against the shelves hard enough to send some ingredient flying, rolling across the floor and out of the small crack in the door... He doesn't care. Olivia clings to him, burying her face in his neck and biting down on him hard enough to leave a mark. A broken moan escapes him and he buries himself in her as she grips onto him tight and doesn't let him move his hips away.

Mmm... so warm. Her depths milk his sensitive flesh and he's left breathing shakily.

They truly should do this more often.

She sighs pleasantly and leans into him.

Lucius holds back a groan. So erotic... But not enough to finish. He could barely see enough. He takes a step back, annoyed, but doesn't notice the glass vial by his feet and steps on it. His blood runs cold at the sharp 'crack' that sounds.

Instantly, the pair is alerted.

"Someone's here...!' Olivia covers her chest instinctively and makes the magic collar disappear.

Severus hastily pulls back from her, wincing at how sensitive he still is, and rearranges his clothes. Olivia ducks behind a shelf to clean herself up and Severus swings open the door to catch the retreating Malfoy just before he's managed to exit the office. He looks at him over his shoulder, though then quickly runs out of the door.

"Malfoy!" Severus is about to follow but stops when Liv calls out.

"Let him go." She emerges from the storage room. "The creep isn't gonna admit to anything anyway." She grumbles, looking slightly dishevelled but at least dressed again.

"Let him go? What if he tells on us?" He clenches his fists.

"He's known me long enough to know that if he does, I'll hunt him down." She walks towards him- a little unsteadily from the pounding she just got. "Besides, it's our word against his."

Severus looks doubtful for a second but then sighs and holds her as she sways unsteadily on her feet. "If you're sure. But should problems arise I will blame you for this."

She rolls her eyes. "Fine, but you have to admit that was fun." She nuzzles him affectionately.

He chuckles, fondly. "Yeah... you surprised me with that collar."

"Did you like it?"

He's silent for a long while.

"Mmh?"

"No. I don't know." He grumbles, embarrassed.

"Would you be open to trying it again? With a proper leather collar, of course." She strokes her fingers down his chest.

"I-" He swallows. "...Perhaps."

"Wonderful. I'll get you something custom made, my dear Severus..." "I- oh- r-right." He huffs indignantly. Always making him flustered...

[uncreative-cryptid]

Still in the car :’)

So all I’ve had time for is to think about how Valerian and Caladin would probably have very in depth conversations on how to avoid Overclocking (and avoiding medical personnel in Cal’s case)

I think it’d be a really rough conversation for both of them. Mainly because I don’t think Cal comes anywhere close to Valerian’s instability- or even Camellya or Calcharo. He has varied stability (as stated in his Forte Examination)

But he’s been around a while, and his own grounding techniques are still pretty different from the typically prescribed therapy.

I’m just so curious as to how that conversation would go :3

i am so glad to touch on the topic of valerian's overclocking cause he genuinely HATES when he is getting close to overclocking (for a myriad of reasons i will detail)

first of all based off the information we get from resonators like camellya (and others who are highly unstable, like calcharo and sanhua), overclocking has some SERIOUS physical affects that seem to range from exhaustion to outright physical changes.

if the topic gets brought up, it'd likely be post-mission or post-battle, winding down. either caladin or valerian talking about the battle (probably valerian honestly) as they're trying to unwind a little.

valerian would be idling with his bracers and the sleeves, where it's probably that caladin would realize how much valerian's forte affects him physically.

valerian mutters something about the pressure, and when the fabric rolls down, shards are probably falling down and out of these sleeves as he shakes them off and removes the shards like he's done a thousand times before.

if questioned, he probably kind of laughs it off, forgetting that not everyone has really seen how .. close he gets to overclocking and how constant it actually really is for valerian when he's fighting closely with people he cares about.

valerian will, sheepishly, admit he was pretty damn close to overclocking and playfully wave it off, probably joking about how "careless" caladin was and he just wanted to make sure caladin wasn't hurt (he's actually extremely terrified of hurting another resonator and friend, so battle with people he's familiar with put him under a lot of emotional strain he isn't showing, adding to that instability).

however he will absolutely jump at the chance to show caladin his own techniques to how he handles his own stress.

something i've briefly detailed was that valerian keeps a chain of stones that are wrapped in wires and trinkets, and in his previous cherished items he has a "worry stone" he uses pretty often when he can.

pre-battle: valerian will often silently take stock of his own crystals he's carrying on hand and minerals he has tied to his hip. it's a grounding technique that reminds him of the immediate space around him and the vibrations he's specifically chosen to carry with him in order to further himself (he will not actually say this exactly, but he might throw it out like "oh, i like to tell myself which rocks im carrying. did you know this one has a measured vibration of [x] ? pretty neat" because valerian himself cannot admit he's a little superstitious or at the least feels a connection and draw to the metaphysical side of these things)

during battle: valerian is probably extremely focused on the fight, but something i don't think i've ever really expanded on too deeply is that some crystals actually have associations with specific numbers (think like lucky numbers kind of things) - so all of his damage and all the numbers in his kit are actually related to the associated numbers aura quartz has. however, for valerian, his repetitive pattern is actually in measures of four ... like a standard sheet music with a 4/4 count/a metronome ticking in 4/4. (i briefly recall you said in a moot's post you played instruments, so hopefully that kinda makes some lick of sense lmao)

post battle: he has a little routine he usually follows, which includes removing the shards from the covered fabric if he did overclock/was very close to overclocking, and probably taking some time to look at the thinner crystals he is carrying through the light because he likes the way the like bounces off and around the insides of these crystals. not only is it relaxing to him, but it's a great way for him to keep himself from getting worked up again after a battle if he was a little too close to overclocking that particular day.

sorry caladin, you will probably get rock-based info dump because valerian wont just admit that He Cares About You TM but he has The Trauma

[arabellas]

hi :) i hope it's okay to ask, i love your colorings especially on your the bear gifs, would you consider making a tutorial for how you colour the kitchen scenes in the show, like the scenes that have a lot of white in the background and are quite bright? i find them really hard to color without making everyone's skin look muddy and i'd love to know how you make yours look so good. no worries if not though!

hellooo! sure, here's a quick tutorial on bright scenes :)

i would recommend checking out my general coloring tutorial here where i talk more in depth about my process as i'm just gonna go through it briefly here. here's my gif right after sharpening:

it's a pretty bright scene with lots of white and it can be tricky to color it properly and not make the skintones washed out. i like my gifs to be crispy and have a lot of contrast, so here's what works best for me:

i always start with layers and curves, they're the most helpful guide for me when it comes to working with literally any scene ever. i explained how i do it in my previous tutorial, so you can check it out, but i basically pick the brightest and darkest parts of the scene with the pipette tool which helps to neutralize the overpowering color if there is one and just makes the scene more natural (e.g. if it's too yellow, it will automatically tone down the yellow). in this case, the scene has a little bit of a blue tint, so it reduces the appearance of the overall blue tone (i really hope it makes sense lol). i usually set the opacity to around 50-30%. here's the result of just two layers: levels and curves:

it's a subtle change but it deepens the shadows and it's always so much easier for me to color after i do this step, so i never skip it lol.

next up, i use a gradient map to bring out the shadows even more just because i think it looks better (especially on the bear scenes, i noticed! or any 4k footage tbh). so i just add a gradient map layer, black to white, set it to soft light and set the fill to 10%:

and since this makes the gif just a little bit darker, sometimes i want to bring back the brightness a little bit because i looove contrast! here are my exposure layer settings:

and here's what we've got:

looking pretty good but sydney's skintone is looking a little bit too orange at this point and we don't want that! there are some wonderful tutorials how not to orange wash poc and i highly recommend checking a couple of them out to see which method works best for you, but i personally like using selective color and toning down the warmth of reds and yellows in the scene. for example, these are my settings for the red color, the opacity of this layer is set to 23%:

i do a similar thing with yellow, just messing around with the settings and seeing what looks best.

and then i add some additional layers like color balance and hue/saturation to bring it all together and that's it!

i put this together pretty quickly but hopefully i was able to help out! let me know if you have any questions, i'd be more than happy to help/ recommend something :)

[dracoroma]

To me, this last episode, particularly Ashton's talk with the titan, highlights where the nuance is failing.

Matt is attempting to show every possible possible outcome as equally viable, without giving it any downsides.

We don't get an exploration of the pro-god perspective because then we'd feel the consequences of the gods being eaten by Predathos

We don't see how the gods harm mortals because then saving the gods keeps us in that eternal cycle.

There are other forces keeping sealed evils at bay, and other sources of divine magic, so we don't need to rely on the gods here

Maybe the world hasn't had enough chaos, and getting rid of the gods would be good. But maybe there was too much chaos before the gods came.

And all of this really feels like when people say "question the man", but don't follow through on it. The questioning is little more than attitude and defiance because "the man", "the authority", "the throne," exists. This is Ashton.

This being in contrast to chesterton's fence (which I briefly mentioned in a previous post on this topic). It's the concept that before in a previous post, but to go more in depth, Chesterton's fence says you should understand why a law, tradition, or structure is in place before removing it. And this is Imagen's perspective.

Overall, the only feedback we're getting is "here's the benefits of this course of action", woth none of the downsides presented. And that's why Bells Hells has been so indecisive. Imogen and Orym can talk all they want about the good things the gods do, but it's abstract and not present for Ashton and Dorian. Ashton and Dorian can talk about how the gods hurt people, but Imogen and Orym don't have the proof that it outweighs the good they do.

We need to see trade offs here

Keep the gods around, they still do good, but here's the too much control they have that you can see for your own eyes

Kill the gods and enact freedom, maybe predathos destroys a bunch of shit, and the gods aren't here to keep many demons and natural disasters at bay

Chase most of the gods away, keep the demons and natural disasters at bay, but Asmodeus (and almost assuradly Vecna) will circle back

These are the kinds of options we need, that are viable not because they're all net positives, but because we have to weigh the positives and the negatives. Rather than "do what you want, the world will keep spinning"

Bells Hells are desperately searching for answers of what effects their actions will have, and Matt keeps giving them an "I dunno"

[burst-of-iridescent]

atla live action thoughts: episode 5

SPOILERS AHEAD

tw: opinions

things i liked:

the title of the episode being a nod to ghibli is cute since ghibli was a major influence on the original

jun hitting on iroh is so fucking funny. zuko's reaction is 100% on point it's giving that scene in book 2 where iroh flirts with the ba sing se official to get passports and zuko's all "great agni please kill me now"

guessing this episode is pulling from both the swamp and the winter solstice. not mad about it, they're probably trying to eliminate some of the early filler in s2 to save time in the next season if they get greenlit. this means we're likely not getting aang having his vision of toph though :(

katara actually seeing her mother be burned to death is so much more traumatizing than the original, but i do appreciate the depth it brings to how desperate katara is to learn waterbending because she wasn't able to save her mother when it mattered

koh is just as creepy as the original, but i wish they hadn't taken out that the way he steals faces is by goading his victims into showing emotion

mai and ty lee sleeping next to each other is very cute <3

idk if i was just imagining things but it looked like azula's fire briefly turned from orange to blue at the end. guessing the season is going to end with her getting her lightning and iconic blue flames

aang getting to have one more moment with gyatso to say goodbye and gyatso assuring him the air nomad genocide wasn't his fault... tearbending

things i disliked/am conflicted about:

why on earth would sokka's traumatic memory be nearly failing at ice dodging and having to be saved by bato??? the fact that sokka DIDN'T get to go ice dodging in the original was a great way of showing us what he'd lost without male influences in his life, and his success at it highlighted his quick-thinking and ingenuity. if we needed a traumatic memory, why not use the moment where sokka watches the men sail off to war without him?? especially since the live action is so focused on how sokka grew up too soon by having to be the protector of his village and this was one of the story beats in the original that told us WHY he felt the need to live up to some impossible ideal of masculinity

sokka and hakoda's relationship in the live action is just weird in general. sokka saying his dad didn't really support him being an engineer in omashu as though hakoda wasn't just as resourceful and inventive in the original? i don't buy that hakoda would've EVER spoken about sokka like that to bato either, which also defeats the entire purpose of foiling the zuko/ozai and sokka/hakoda relationship.

fox spirit yue (?) was downright odd

no clue what they're doing with azula's character or if i like it. on the one hand, i do find it plausible that ozai would use the threat of zuko to keep azula in her place, but she feels way too visibly threatened by zuko here when she didn't seem that way up till her breakdown in the original. why would she when she was ozai's golden child pretty much right from the start?

ty lee's wig is god awful

we're more than halfway through and aang has not waterbent ONCE or made any attempt to learn... bombastic side eye

overall episode rating: 6.5/10, mostly for the odd characterization decisions.

[canmom]

tsv episodes 24-27

loved 24. i mean it's a Carpenter centric episode so of course it slaps, and fascinating to see her really confront the shit she has done and how she rationalised it at the time. i think one thing this show does exceptionally well is show how people don't have to be an anime psycho to commit violence - how with the right social pressures you could totally become someone who does the monthly murder before dinner. the setup reminds me of that point in Exordia where Anna goes into hell. time loop lotus flower dream stuff can go a few ways, but these cruel variants are especially interesting. one thing that wasn't entirely clear was the old man and little girl who Carpenter apparently left behind - possibly this is foreshadowing? unless they mean the pox monk and the girl who can't see other people but i don't think so. besides Nana Glass there was another voice of Carpenter's guilt that I didn't recognise, and maybe this is related to whatever is being foreshadowed.

episode 25... was kind of a moving the pieces around episode. the 'snuff gods' were cute - it's interesting to see what the line is for what people consider a truly socially unacceptable god in this setting after we've seen what they'll rationalise. i honestly don't get that much out of the hunter duo - they're not terrible characters but they don't feel like they have the depth of our MCs. i kind of expect at least one of them to get killed off in the finale. but while it was good to see Carpenter and Faulkner reunited, it was less emotional themes and more action.

episodes 26 and 27 though - hoo boy. paige and her dad have a fascinating dynamic, and this season it feels like the real thematic meat lies with this attempt to create a parasitic god that steals martyrs.

and honestly, what a way to make the classic redemption arc => immediate heroic sacrifice beat fresh and sharp again. the white crocus flower imagery is so damn nier, can't get enough of white flowers that symbolise death in fiction lol.

but I'm even more fascinated by the idea that this god punishes all acts of predation, even a whale consuming krill. the inherent violence of animal life was probably not considered in scope. we already have themes of "pollution" by the effects of the war and the churning of gods, and this area seems well on its way to becoming another spiritual chernobyl.

the prisoner, Esther, was also really well handled. though she's a victim of this regime, she still has agency, and a real no bullshit attitude about her situation and the options. although she only appears briefly, she makes a very strong impression.

we're on to the rapid apocalyptic escalation now. this is an insanely good story, just the kind that i love - tightly plotted, thematically sharp, juicy with its imagery. can't get enough of it.

[everythingendsbutcomicsr4ever]

((This originally comes as my response to someone saying that ppl don’t like The Sun and The Star because it’s a middle school book and we were expecting the series to grow along with us.))

Valid point I keep finding BUT I recently read the PJO series again in preparation for TSATS and those books still slap!! They’re so good even tho I’m reading them as an adult even though they're meant for kids. (Also I recently read ToA because of course I’m gonna keep reading Rick’s middle school books until the day I die or they stop coming out lol. And that series while more goofy at points I still really liked) I also read one of Mark Oshiro's other books in prep for this book because I was excited for The Sun and Star to be released and I just COULD NOT get through it 😭 the writing was just giving me the ick and the characters where all kind of samie like that sassy talking wit. Which was a bummer because I liked the premise of the book “Anger is a Gift”, which was about underfunded schools mainly facing ppl of color and immigrants which leads to the school-to-prison pipeline because of the defunct way America funds public schools that keeps the poor poor and the rich getting richer & it was ACAB & had a lot of queer representation & etc. So I thought I’d really like it but I just couldn’t get through it because of the writing and I noticed this same writing style showing up in TSATS. Just because it’s for kids doesn’t excuse it from being bad. Like early Pixar and Studio Ghibli is still so good to watch back again and my 50+ yrs old parents like it. Book examples would be Harry Potter (screw JK Rowling tho fr) & the The Little Prince

Not to bash on ppl who say this is the main reason ppl don’t like the book but it feels like a straw man argument to say that the books not growing with us is the main reason ppl didnt like it. All tho I’m sure ppl have argued this but that is definitely their fault because Rick is staying in middle-grade fiction forever like that’s his thing! Why would ppl expect different 🤣 You think he wants to write a sex scene?! LMAO

(Here’s my review, it’s unhinged and not great because I should be doing productive stuff but am distracted until I can at least write down some of my thoughts on my disappointing experience)

Here are some things I didn’t like about it from a piece of art standpoint:

The pacing was bad

This book was filled with the first thing they teach you about writing which is: SHOW don’t TELL

It made me not ship Solangelo surprisingly like how??! I used to love Solangelo but I think this mainly is because of the collective consciousness of the fandom and because we wanted Nico to find happiness with someone. But if you really look back on their moments canonically from the books Will is a background character (who honestly kind of gaslights Nico by invalidating that ppl treated him differently as a son of Hades and that he didn't feel welcome at camp) and they kind of have a quick meet cute in the last book of The Last Olympian. They get together without us seeing their developing relationship and we now know they’re dating in The Trials of Apollo where we see them briefly in the first book and then more so in the last book. Honestly, this canonically alone doesn’t give me enough information or examples to really know or care about their relationship in comparison to Percy and Annabeth who we get to see develop. So TSATS just kind of felt hollow to me because I’m supposed to believe they’d die for each other but I DONT KNOW THE POWER OF THEIR LOVE?? This could just be a first love fling type thing like I was never shown the depth of their romance just told constantly in the book how much they love each other so it just felt kind of empty and emotionally unsatisfying to me.

Solangelo's relationship has always been in the background and the fans are what really made it cause we love Nico and want him to be happy. So when Will and Nico are fighting in this book all I can think is that this is just their relationship period.

So the reason it made me not like Solangelo was because Tarturus was supposed to bring out the worst in them and strain their relationship but, like, I haven’t really seen much of their relationship so I don’t have a “control group” to base this off of. So Will just seemed rude when he was so mean about Nico’s underworld home and about Nico's darkness which I also didn’t understand wtf he was talking about because Nico has killed just as many monsters as other campers and what else was his darknes based off of. cause he’s emo/goth?? Cause he can raise the dead?? Like guys we’ve discussed this just because a character wears black doesn't automatically make them the bad guy. I honestly thought Will just thought that was hot and they’d have that normie x alt relationship dynamic (that meme of: My hot witch wife. Me doing whatever she wants) I thought THAT was Solangelo not Will constantly trying to bring this light side to him and trying to change him. I agree that Nico needs help w his trauma and PTSD and things like that but this felt like if someone tried to “cure” a goth person, like actually screw you

I thought Will was supposed to look like a normie but be secretly a freak (in a good way lol) / goth interest. Cause this is meee I thought I was like Will as someone who looks like a normie and has a sunny disposition but I have a lot of alt/goth interests and I would let an alt girlie step all over me tbh lol. So does he like Nico for who he is or not?!

This is more in line w what I thought their relationship was like lol:

The flashbacks and forwards I thought were ok even if they took you out of the story a bit but this device is supposed to be used for an IMPORTANT event not just as a way to quickly give context to their relationship and when we got to the scene this was taking place in I was like that’s it?? He what? fell down and is suffering from sun withdrawals and this is the book's big moment to justify jarring flashback scenes?

Mark Oshiro is not a fantasy adventure or horror writer and it shows. Maybe it’s just me but their depiction of Tarturus and the nightmare and the journey were just not up to snuff with good horror and fantasy books I’ve read. (And if your gonna say something about how it’s for kids then I raise you the book series “Goosbumps”) So as a genre in itself, it was just disappointing. It was mainly a relationship guidebook book but I didn’t really like that or feel like it was done well, It felt lectury and also idk if that's the genre middle schoolers really like?? 😅

It had too many references which really dates a book, A lot of professional writers say not to use too much slang or modernreferences (unless you’re trying to make a book expressly about a time period) because it really dates a book and doesn’t make a story feel timeless for future generations if you use too many references (this doesn’t include political novels tho which are very much based in that time when the events happening) Anyways for future writers keep this in mind, you don't need to keep in touch with the youth through urban dictionary you can just write about the emotions of being young or whatever. If you’ve tried to read a comic book aimed at teens from the 50s like I have you’ll realise how funny that is.

(Also the carebear reference that I didn’t even understand and I watched carebear as a kid & Lil Nas video which if this was written for kids that music video feels a bit inappropriate for them 😂 it had a reference both too old and too young for middle schoolers AND how in the world would 1930s born, dropped out of elementary school, can’t use the internet or phones half blood, NICO DI ANGELO know these references???)

The writings giving:

Bad alt representation. (This is my most out-of-pocket opinionated bullet point rant so if you don't agree that’s a-okay :D ) This could be a whole post in itself but although I know ppl joke about Nico as the Emo kid I would really like to get into how Nico is actually, or it would be cool, as having some goth subculture inclinations. And ppl probably think of Trad Goths with the whole makeup and teased hair look but it’s mainly a music-based subculture and/or it just has a different idealogy around the ideas of death and what is deemed beautiful while most ppl see it as ugly. (Like listen to “Gallows Dance” or the Bauhaus's “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” & “The Passion of Lovers”, to name songs off the top of my head) This bullet point is definitely MY OPINION and doesn’t contribute exactly to the book being bad but aren’t those songs the vibe of an underworld kid like Nico?? Embracing the darkness and dancing in graveyard vibes fr!! Anyways most alt subcultures and especially emo are seen as a phase in life that you grow out of and then become normal. This book just really gives the energy of being written by a normie who would be confused by the choices of alt ppl and just doesn’t get it because it’s not their personal interest, which isn’t exactly bad even tho I want more philosophy from Nico on the chillness and acceptance of death (all tho greek mythologies view on the afterlife sucks fr and THAT is a whole other post haha) So this isn’t exactly a problem BUT what gives me the ick is WILL NOT ACCEPTING THESE THINGS LIKE SIR STOP BASHING YOUR BOYFRIENDS LIFE!! Will asking Persephonee, “How do you love someone from the underworld” SHUT UP!! 😤

Will was useless and I know what they were trying to go for but if I had a girlfriend (oh I’m a lesbian btw just in case ppl think I’m going harder on this book more than the other books because I’m homophobic bruh I swear I’m not I’m only disappointed in the art itself, NOT the representation which I actually liked) and if I was super good at fighting and they weren’t, I’m sorry but I wouldn’t take them BECAUSE of my love for them. If they were going to be useless on a mission of such life-threatening danger and importance I WOULD NOT TAKE THEM OUT OF KINDNESS. Like skills in medicine and art and music are great and there’s of course nothing wrong w not being a badass fighter (lmao this is me and most readers) but then DONT GO TO SUPER HELL!!! Especially if you have something that makes you more pathetic than being a normal human in Tarturus, his suffering from no sunlight is out of pocket and just makes the story draggg and makes him seem boring and the story more boring. I know they were trying to go for a fish out of water storyline and roll reversal but I think it wasn’t done well enough and overall hurt the story

Also, I’ve heard ppl talk about how it would have been nice to have a book focus on their relationship while at Camp Half-Blood. Like maybe it takes place pre Jason's death and we can just see them living at camp. It’d be chill and we can actually see them as a couple & It would give the energy of readers wanting to go to camp half-blood again like how everyone wanted to go to Hogwarts. Cause we haven’t seen the camp as a fun home since the very early PJO books ;-; (this is just a fun idea I like and I think would have been more manageable for an author but this is FR my opinion on a fun book idea i’d like to read) ALSO this would have been so nostalgic for the older readers who have been here since middle school gobbling up this universe 😌

I know ppl get mad at ppl making fun of Will for being pathetic in tarturous. As saying he’s a child and no one can be happy and sunny and doing well 24/7 which is valid but that’s not really my argument. I like watching characters put in situations where we watch them bend against what we thought they were when put in a hard situation (the masochist in me lol jkjjk). But this I think didn’t work for me because as I’ve said before he’s mainly a background character at the end of one book thrown together with Nico and we as a fandom have mainly made him up. Also, Tarturus was just not as scary or adventure-filled as like any of the other missions from previous PJO books, It didn’t feel as trauma-inducing as everyone in the series tried to explain it as. (again show not tell from the book) Also, I would have liked to have seen Will cool at least once or one reason for me to like him with Nico but I saw him as pretty bland as a character

The writing style felt bad to me because of the show don’t tell part for example telling as “it made him sad and traumatized” when showing would be, you know, actually showing the scenes and this book just felt like 80% telling what they were feeling instead of letting the reader feel the emotions of the scene for themselves

I think that’s another thing I really didn’t like related to the Show Don't Tell. And another hallmark of bad writing was this book was really telling the audience how to feel instead of allowing the story to be powerful enough to do that for itself. This book follows a trend I’ve seen a lot in TV shows where everything kind of feels like detached irony from being on Twitter where you hear everyone’s opinions so the story is written as a wink and a nod like we know what we’re doing and we know what your thinking and how twitter will react to it. Like it’s hard to describe this trend I’ve mainly seen in TV shows and movies recently which always gives me the ick cause it doesn’t feel funny it feels like I’m in a response piece that is breaking the fourth wall and reminds me that I’m in reality watching or reading something instead of actually feeling like I’m in the story. It’s like pseudo-wittiness or something. Tell me if you guys feel this way about some modern tv shows or books, I can't be alone please 😭!!

The stupid toast scene at the end lol The book is like: Do you get it? Did you get it?? They’re opposites! And they attract!! We did the trope you guys!! Also, the stupid Darth Vader scene to start off the book 💀

This whole book made me cringe where I had to constantly get up walk around and lie on the floor before I could continue, only to constantly repeat the cycle 😅

Anyway, idk how to end this review/rant I just had such strong emotions I had to get out probably because I was so excited for this book to come out for like over a year and got back into PJO for a bit and read some of Mark Oshiro’s books and greek mythology and stuff, so I think it wasn’t just me reading any random bad book it disappointed me more that it was poor quality because I wanted to love it so much.

It did have some actually good parts, the troglodytes were cute … I can’t remember the other stuff but it was there I swear lol! If you enjoyed it I’m happy for you! Don’t let me ruin a book you like, you deserve to feel joy 😘💐