#which sums this up far better than i could ever hope to

[beforetimes]

have to preface this by saying i don't really care about jayvik and i probably won't be posting about them after this but i DO subscribe to the meljayvik agenda. but only in the context of a very specific dynamic i've invented for them in my head that i can not explain without giving an example, which is what i've come to lay out today.

let me set the scene: pre-act two, mel and viktor become. acquianted. mostly through ""closet-detours"" during very long and boring parties mostly about acquiring funding for their projects when hex-tech is still being built up. viktor is not totally sold on anyone on the council and mel doesn't really care to know viktor as a person but there is a serendipitous moment where mel looks at viktor and is like 'i can tell you don't want to be here' and viktor looks at mel and is like 'you are doing a great job of sounding as if you like these people but i can tell that you definitely don't want to be here right now.'

anyway, this is how they first get acquiainted. and its mostly stress-relief and no one is privy to it except for jayce, who doesn't explicitly get told but after spending so much time in viktor's vicinity and also around mel he can sort of put together the pieces in a way that no one else can. and after a few years of this very casual no strings attached fling going on, mel and viktor both kind of realize that they need more to get the same thrill they did at the very beginning of their little arrangement.

which is where jayce comes in, after all the pieces are set in place.

inviting you to imagine jayce to have the same disposition as this poster on twitter while all this is going on because its an essential part of his characterization in this scenario i've concocted: "Me [heard "PAWG" and got so hard i got nauseous]: i think i hauve Covid." this describes jayce's state of mind far more succintly than i could ever hope to.

now, in this scenario, mel pulls the same little show that she does in season one that eventually leads jayce to sleep with her. this is without the added backdrop of viktor's illness getting bad because it's pre-act two. but jayce knows that mel has something going on with viktor, even if he can't really put into words what it is along with the fact that neither of them have ever said anything about it out loud. so jayce, trying not to do his friend dirty, asks 'what about viktor?' to which mel replies 'he doesn't have to know.'

viktor knows. he is incredibly aware of this. mel also knows this.

anyway cut back to mel's room and they're in the middle of foreplay where jayce is so unravelled at this point that he can't tell if he's enjoying himself or halfway to a panic attack because wow mel is so beautiful and he's lowkey been fantasizing about her for years but also he feels so guilty because he knows that he's definitely betraying viktor's trust but also now he's started getting into this he thinks he'll die if he tries to walk out on mel. which is obviously when viktor walks in.

now i hear you saying: wouldn't the natural reaction be for viktor to start yelling, asking what the hell is going on, or for mel and viktor to have constructed this entire charade for viktor to let loose on him in some weird continuation of their foreplay? i see where you are coming from. that is not the way this unfolds.

viktor, very blase and casual about it all, says 'don't mind me' and takes a seat in the corner. now he is a spectator.

mel is very into this. viktor is very into this. jayce thinks he's going to pass out and he can't exactly tell why. but also i want to remind you of the 'got so hard i got nauseous: i think i hauve covid' mindset jayce is walking into this with. now imagine that times about one hundred. this is the only way i can explain that somehow, some way, jayce continues and they sleep together similarly to the scene in season one while viktor watches them the whole time. jayce, privately, can't tell if he's into this or not. he thinks he is, which is terrifying, but he kind of ignores viktor the entire time and mel does too.

the next morning jayce wakes up. he is much more soberingly aware of what exactly went down the night before and thinks his life is essentially over. viktor is, like, his only friend besides caitlyn. and maybe yesterday mel wasn't thinking straight so she regrets it this morning and now she won't want to see him either. but he can't ask her because he woke up in her bed and she isn't here.

now, today is saturday, which is usually when he and viktor have breakfast together in the lab because they trade-off on treating each other to waffles from one of the pastry stores down the street after a week of hard work. jayce is already convinced that he's going to go down to that lab and find one of two things: 1) empty lab, no viktor and no waffles, where he will proceed to kill himself in his head and cry for about two hours before going home and lying in bed the rest of the day or 2) viktor in the lab, mad, and ready to ream him out in a way he couldn't when mel was in the room yesterday.

neither of these options are very appealing to jayce, so on his way down to the lab, as though he's walking to the gallows, he stalls and kills himself in his head preemptively about three hundred times. then, about half an hour later than he's usually there, walks in.

bad news: viktor is there. good news: there are also waffles?

jayce is baffled. then immediately jumps to the logical conclusion that this is a friendship break-up breakfast and they are never going to speak to each other again after this.

viktor, who heard jayce walk in a minute ago before he froze at the sight of pastries, turns around and is like 'what took you so long? you're never usually late.' very casual. jayce, again, is baffled. viktor is seemingly oblivious to jayce's gripes [not true. he is incredibly aware] and invites him to sit down and eat waffles. viktor does not mention the night before.

mel, when he eventually sees her later, doesn't mention it either. jayce is so confused. no one is talking about it. he expected to ruin this entire interconnected trio by sleeping with mel in front of viktor the night before but literally nothing has come from it and he is waiting for the other shoe to drop while also coming to a vaguely terrifying sexual awakening after interrogating the fact that he was kind of into it when viktor was watching him and mel in bed but also he really liked sleeping with mel when it was happening. but anyway, getting off-track.

this is the rundown:

jayce isn't talking about it. he's decided that viktor not talking about it is some sort of implicit forgiveness where they both silently decide to never discuss it again because then they don't have to dissolve their friendship and make the rest of their partnership awkward. viktor reinforces this belief by acting like absolutely nothing is wrong.

mel isn't talking about it. she is very aware of the fact that jayce is being put through the horrors and interacting with him after that night and acting like nothing at all has happened while continuing to flirt with him makes his reactions to her advances about twice as entertaining and three times as attractive in how disproportionatley flustered he gets every time.

viktor isn't talking about it. he doesn't care that jayce slept with mel because watching was kind of hot as fuck and he was into it and he thinks that watching jayce slowly die inside every time mel drops by in the lab is very entertaining. especially considering the fact that jayce would usually vent to him but because of The Night he is absolutely not going to bother viktor with sexual frustrations about mel.

mel and viktor don't talk about it with each other. they only debrief during one of their closet-detours during a party where they kind of get each other off while in a very false-casual tone mentioning off-handedly how much more fun it would be if jayce was here right now.

jayce is not aware of the extent to which they've manufactured that specific night and the aftermath to ensure that he is in the torture chamber at all times. mel and viktor are slowly wearing down at jayce with their own almost imperciptable advances. after The Night, the culmination of months of planning and pointed remarks and lusting from mel and viktor, everything becomes a waiting game. and lowkey a competition between the two of them, too: who can get jayce to crack and talk about it.

the moment he does talk about it, they plan to invite him into the fold by having viktor seduce him into sleeping with him before mel joins in properly instead of just watching. in this scenario, jayce wakes up and mel and viktor are both there and they act like this is also very normal until jayce goes with the flow and accepts this new throuple-ish dynamic where no one actually says anything.

for now, though, they are waiting. jayce has no idea any of this is going on. he is the most stressed man alive and he thinks he is going to die about three times a day and kills himself in his head once a week because he can not stop thinking about viktor in the corner of the room and also how entirely overwhelmingly good he felt all because of mel. and he thinks he is bisexual but he was employed and a little mentally unstable for most of his teenhood so this is the first time he's thinking about it. and mel and viktor are still having their closet-detours while trying to sweat jayce out.

to me personally, this is the ideal pre-act two, season one dynamic for meljayvik to work. hope you all see the vision too

[wetsnifflesneeze]

F/F STORY

Girlfriends! Cold! Caretaking! That sums it up.

Btw, I’m really not a writer. I don’t even have a title for this.

……………………………………………………………………….

Although she did have allergies she could tell by the afternoon that this was more serious, her temples and head were starting to ache and she just felt exhausted. So it was a cold. I can handle it, no big deal she thought. Although she did feel slightly deflated about it since she was visiting her girlfriend tonight. It felt overdramatic to cancel because of a cold. As the day went on the minor headache got worse until just about everything was hurting. It was definitely too late to cancel now, she was already on the way to Harper’s house. She sighed, walking through the crisp air wishing she could be feeling better. She blows her nose before texting Harper she’s outside, hoping she might be able to hide her cold for at least the first while.

Harper opens the door with a big smile, kisses her, and pulls her inside. “Come in love, it’s freezing out”

“Yeah, it is” Bella agreed, she cringed slightly at her voice still sounding a bit congested despite the fact she’d just blown her nose. The warm air in Harper’s house was already making her irritated nose tickle. “Huh.. hh.. NNgTSSHHHOO” an absolutely futile attempt at stifling, she was still in Harper’s embrace but managed to turn away slightly and sneeze towards her shoulder. She had to sniffle deeply afterwards, her nose as congested as ever already.

“Awww bless you baby, did you catch a cold?”

“Yeah.. *Sniffle* it was fine this morning but, I really don’t feel good now.. m’sorry I sneezed on you” she added shyly, blushing a bit. She sniffled miserably, quickly realising there was no use in trying to hide how she felt. Her cold was far too obvious already.

Harper gently cupped her cheeks in her hands as well as feeling her forehead, she pouted and made a sympathetic noise. “Oh darling, you should have told me you weren’t feeling well” she says, her voice laden with sympathy but Bella in her self conscious state somehow misinterpreted it.

“Uhm yeah sorry I probably shouldn’t have come over *sniff*”

“No silly, I don’t mean like that. I’m a pharmacist I could’ve just grabbed you some medicine before I left work. I always want you to come over.”

“Oh! right” Bella smiled dumbly “I honestly didn’t even think of that.”

Harper knew Bella came from a less than empathetic family so it did make some sense to her why Bella would’ve tried to pretend she was fine.

“Well, we’re here now and I do have some paracetamol we can use for your fever. Just make yourself comfy on the couch okay darling, I’ll be right back”

“Okay *sniffle* umm Harper could we light the fire? I feel really cold.”

“Of course we can, and by WE I just mean me, I don’t want you to do anything except rest.”

Bella flopped down onto the couch straight away, instantly sinking into the comfort. She felt so weak but she knew she could just rest now and her girlfriend would take care of her.

Harper took in the sight of her girlfriend curled up on the couch. She was pale and still shivering a little bit. Her caretaking instincts took over immediately. Tonight was no longer for drinking wine together and doing other things she had planned. Bella’s breath gets shaky and she takes hurriedly takes out a tissue from her pocket, which clearly had been used too many times already, she held it all balled up to her nose and it did nothing to contain the “hehTSSSSHOOO!” that tumbled out. Harper just smiled fondly, she somehow looked incredibly cute.

“Bless you sweetheart, here I got you some tissues.” She takes one out of the box and hands it to the younger girl.

Bella took the tissue and blew her nose as politely as she could manage before putting the tissue back beside her on the couch. “Sorry, disgusting.” She said, using as few words possible.

“Don’t apologise sweetheart, and you’re not being disgusting at all, not in the slightest.” She gently rubbed the sick girls back in reassurance. “Here, I brought you something more comfortable to wear” she produced a hoodie, very thick and warm. It seemed almost new. “Oh, thanks” Bella slowly got up into a sitting position wincing as she did so. If she had any energy she would’ve argued that the hoodie was too nice just for her to get her snot and germs all over it. But she submissively allowed Harper to help her put it on. Her girlfriend covered her over with a blanket afterward.

“Okay that’s better. Poor baby, I know everything hurts right now. Here, take these painkillers they should help you in a bit. I’m sorry it’s not going to be instant but just hang on for a while okay, try to get some sleep” she gently stokes her face and kisses her forehead and lips. “Kay.” The weak monosyllabic response told Harper everything she needed to know about how the sick girl was feeling. She fell asleep feeling the older woman’s hands slowly massaging her head where it hurt, and her shoulders and back.

While Bella slept Harper ordered them some food including her usual favourite but just some chicken ramen for Bella. Much blander than what she usually preferred to eat but this wasn’t a usual night.

Bella woke up a couple hours later after Harper shifted on the couch to get their food. She was a bit disoriented at first, they had been dating for a few months but she wasn’t particularly used to waking up from a deep sleep on this couch. She shivered and whined a bit. Everything was still hurting. Almost instantly after waking up her nose started running again, she grabbed a tissue before it got down to her lips, as soon as the tissue touched her nose it started to tickle “TSSSHHHH”

She was just about to remove the tissue from her face when she glanced up as Harper got back with their food. “Hi sleepyhead” she smiled at her indulgently.

“Hey” Bella replied quietly. Still sounding sleepy and dazed.

“How was your nap?” Harper asked as she sat down on the couch and guided Bella into her lap.

“Good, I really needed that”

“Yeah? Are you feeling a little better?” Harper inquired, one eyebrow slightly raised.

“Honestly no” Bella shook her head. She shivered a little, proving she still had a fever.

“Poor little thing, this cold seems pretty nasty huh?”

“AIIISSSSHHHOO… Mhmm” Bella equally agreed and moaned at the same time.

“I’m so sorry love, I thought you’d feel better after a little nap.”

“KSSTTTTTCCIEW… ugh… nDot your fault.” Bella replied, kind of unsure what to say. She really wasn’t used to anyone feeling sorry for her. Her voice sounding so deeply congested it was almost hard to understand what she was saying. She sniffled and sniffled again, and again.

Harper knew she was self conscious about blowing her nose in front of her so she didn’t push it. Instead she kissed her neck and soothingly rubbed her back. Bella nestled her head in the spot between Harper's neck and chest and sniffled again.

“How do you feel about chicken ramen, do you like it?”

“I do…” Bella’s voice trailed off.

“But... you’re not hungry, right?” Harper guessed.

Bella quietly raised her arm to try sneezing into the elbow, her head ducking down towards Harper’s lap “hehTSHHHCHEW *gasps* HahTTScchiew… TTTCHIEW”

“nDo, nDot hungry” *SNNNF* “ugh” Bella sighed clearly frustrated that she had to blow her nose.

“That’s okay darling, I thought as much. Bless you” she kissed her cheek. “It would be great if you could just eat a tiny bit, a few spoons. I don’t like the idea of giving you more medicine on an empty stomach. Please? For me?”

Bella just nodded her head, smart enough to know it would be useless trying to argue with Dani about this - as much as she wanted to. Maybe she was acting a bit like a brat but she couldn’t help it.

“Good girl, and then we’ll go to bed where you can get some proper rest.” They got into bed shortly afterward. Harper was naked. She guided Bella, wearing just the hoodie now, to rest on top of her. Bella sighed, contentedly this time. It felt good feeling her girlfriend’s soft skin, feeling her warmth, unfortunately she couldn’t smell her perfume right now but she knew she smelt amazing, she always did. Bella felt like an absolute mess in comparison.

“Sorry I’m not fun tonight” she said, as a way of trying to apologise for well, everything about her current state.

Harper’s soft sigh followed by “Baby, I don’t expect you to be fun all of the time.” Soothed her a bit. She continued “I know this isn’t how we normally spend our nights together, but I really love being able to take care of you like this.” She gently slipped a hand down to Bella’s lower back and gently rubbed it. Kissing her again on the forehead.

Bella sniffled, her nose tickled and she felt a sneeze coming but with Harper’s arms were wrapped tightly around her it was hard to move. She tried to sit up, but Harper didn’t let go. “What’s wrong love, you not comfy?” She asked

“I n’deed to sneeze..”

“It’s okay baby, you can sneeze on me”

“AhTISSHIEW”

“Good girl” Harper praised her, feeling her girlfriend’s warm breath against her chest as a tickly sneeze exploded out.

“HITCCSHHIEW”

“Bleeesss you, darling”

Harper praised her again with that sultry voice. That combined with the way her hand was placed on her lower back honestly would’ve turned her sick girlfriend on had she not felt like she’d been hit by a bus. She could, however, still appreciate the attention the older woman was showering her with and it did feel good.

“HAAIIIPPPPSHHTTTTIEW! ugh *SNRF* fuck”

Harper instinctively knew Bella needed a tissue, it was a particularly messy sneeze “It’s okay my baby, I got you” She pulled a couple tissues from the box and cleaned up her girlfriend’s upper lip. Before asking ”Will you blow for me?”

Bella didn’t say anything but obediently gave a hearty blow into the tissue being held around her nose.

“There we go, that’s a bit better. My poor sneezy baby”

“Love you.” Bella mumbled softly, still exhausted.

“I’m so in love with you, Bella”

Shortly after they both drifted off to sleep.

[rolandkaros]

That Igaryna gif is killing me 😭 Iga being completely oblivious to Aryna's awkwardness every time they interacted this year was hilarious. I do wonder why Aryna has become so weird (in a good way) about Iga, like why did she suddenly start talking about her in the media 24/7 and acting all nervous/awkward around her? It's very interesting

timing of this ask is incredible bc i literally just restrained myself from going crazy in the tags about them lmfao.

but THIS. is literally their whole vibe. and i was even gonna say like that gif is basically their whole dynamic summed up.

i think a lot of it is just timing tbh, because this i think is the first year where there was no obvious "gap" between the two of them (personal opinion that i think getting to no.1 last year was the big change for aryna). so whenever aryna talks about iga now it's not "my rival who is clearly better and way more successful than me" and instead "my rival who is somewhat more successful than me." and aryna even said it herself, that they're keeping it interesting, which i think circa 2022 was...not really the vibe. i think aryna is still in this position of thinking that she needs to play catch-up, and after winning two more grand slams + now with ye#1 and iga having a good season instead of an incredible season (lol), their levels look really comparable.

which is to say i think aryna is finally at the point where when she compares herself to iga and talks about their matches and their rivalry and competing for trophies and such, she doesn't feel like she has to undercut it with this tone of "ohh but she's just so much better than me so i'll just have to try my best and play my best tennis and hope that i can do enough" (<- literally what aryna sounded like in ~2022 talking about iga lol). so she is asked about/talks about iga because it's an actual conversation that can be had instead of just "what do you (#2 player with 0 gs) think about this player (#1 player with 3gs) who keeps kicking your butt"...like what could aryna even say. but now, like i said, they've actually quite evened out, so there's actually a lot of interesting conversations to be had about their rivalry.

i also think there's a couple things about iga that contribute. i think iga is very focused on herself (NOT in a conceited way lol, just that she tends to mind her own business) and as a result she doesn't really try to interact with aryna except if she's asked directly or they're playing each other. this was probably exacerbated as well by iga being #1 and previously quite far ahead of aryna, meaning there wasn't much reason (no offense) for her to talk about aryna other than being the next highest ranked player (which wasn't even always the case). so i think iga has naturally sort of been oblivious to aryna's opinion of her for the most part. and aryna is obviously quite extroverted so we see a lot more of her thoughts & feelings about stuff anyway.

additionally i think iga is very...how do i put this. her attitude is very clinical and logical with almost everything she does, and i think that affects both how she interacts with aryna on-court and how she talks about her off court. so like in that gif where she's clearly more focused on taking the picture than on what aryna's doing. if you watch her net handshakes most of them look almost the exact same from match to match (over-extending here to say it's like she decided at some point what the "right" handshake was and has been doing it ever since). even things like interviews, she has a very specific way of answering and talking about her tennis and whatnot. and obviously this isn't an iga-exclusive thing (it's called having a personality lol) but my point is that iga's personality and approach to tennis leads her to just not really notice or mention what others are doing in general, and to not output a lot of emotions or subjectivity of what she's doing herself.

all this leading to iga not really talking about aryna or interacting with her outside of tennis except to say "well yes of course aryna is a great tennis player we always have great challenging matches" and not much else. i think aryna conversely shares a more subjective perspective, which is partially due i think her personality but also because she just straight up has more to say about iga than iga has to say about her in terms of their competition.

going back to what i was saying at the beginning, i think this year was really the first time that they were in positions to interact with each other on level-footing (more or less). i think aryna would have been nervous/awkward around iga if they had interacted more previously but i lowkey think she viewed iga as out of her league (in a very literal tennis-sense lol). but now it's classic introvert/extrovert interactions where it's clear that they do not know how to act around each other and do not pick up on each other's cues or vibe.

which is how that gif happened. it was probably just instinctual from aryna to put her arm around whoever she's playing (extroverted) but the fact that there was clearly a moment where she went oh wait iga and i do not hug KILLED me. hilarious and devastating my god. and iga (as usual) is just not noticing at all because she's too focused on making sure she's doing the photo correctly.

also madrid where iga told aryna to her face "thank you for pushing me to be better" when aryna lost after having THREE MATCH POINTS and the worst part is iga was 100% being so sincere and aryna was contemplating murder because her rival basically just said "oop you almost got me haha."

also in cincinnati aryna was talking about "oh well yeah i had to keep it interesting because no one wants to watch a rivalry if its so obvious that one person's going to win over the other" and iga was like "oh yeah aryna i mean such a great player....what more is there to say?"

point being it's a pattern where iga is in her own little world doing her own little thing and aryna is Aware of Everything. summed up in that gif.

[divinemiracles]

may i ask why lunter shippers often criticize and/or dislike lumity so much ─ as in, the pairing itself, not the fans? it's extremely frustrating because i'm a multishipper (lumity main, but i very much love lunter too) and i don't understand why the shipping war over which one "should be true canon" isn't just one-sided from biphobes/antis/etc., because i was always under the impression that was the case. i've only ever experienced the fandom mainstream and i'm still new to spaces where shipping luz with boys, especially hunter, is acceptable. i'm curious as to why each side has negative shit to say about the other as if their opinion is absolute. hell, i'm still confused by how much people passionately hate huntlow this bad for being boring and unoriginal at worst; if it's problematic for the age gap then surely lunter is too (rhetorical)? anyway, i hope this ask comes across okay and respectful enough. i read your blog's description and pinned post so i hope i can find some answers through you.

~ bi-ship

Thank you for being so respectful!

There’s many reasons as to why Lunter fans dislike Lumity as a ship. It’s mainly due to a difference in shipping taste or out of spite since a handful of Lumity shippers are toxic (I like Lumity, it’s cute, but I fall under the difference in shipping taste category).

Lumity and Lunter are two completely different ships. One falls under the cutesy, wholesome, loving couple (Lumity) trope and the other falls under the angsty, heartbreak, storyline, and lore-based (Lunter) ship trope.

Many Lunter fans are mainly in the fandom and watch the show for the lore and Wittebane brothers, which is why they ship Lunter (for the Evelyn/Caleb parallels). If Lunter was canon, TOH would be a completely different story and have the Wittebane family as a major key to the story. But with Lumity, the story doesn’t go much into the brothers and just has a cute loving couple.

That’s where most of the criticism comes from. Lumity isn’t a ship that’s there for the lore, it’s just there for sapphic representation and normality. Also, since it was the first Disney sapphic couple involving a protagonist, it would be difficult to add it into lore-based angst since it would probably be passed as “too toxic” or whatever. That’s why they’re so lovey-dovey. Keep in mind this is just a thought. Lumity is not toxic at all, they’re just a normal couple.

With Huntlow, Lunter fans mostly hate it and criticize it for being boring and unoriginal like you said. It was rushed a lot and could have been dropped since it didn’t bring representation or relevance (Willow was never confirmed as Evelyn and they were never in-show confirmed or coded as bi/pan. I headcanon them as such but all they ever had were popular color palettes). It also depends a lot on perspective. It’s toxic to some and not toxic to others. I have a deep hate for it just for the unoriginality (bad boy turns into malewife for the shy girl that turns into a girlboss) and irrelevance but I don’t actually view it as TOXIC toxic since in my viewpoint, it’s just two normal people pushed too hard into a malewife x girlboss ship. I don’t like how Willow does sometimes resemble Belos but she’s far FAR better and healthier than Belos.

To sum this up: Lunter fans often dislike/criticize Lumity and Huntlow for being lovey-dovey, unoriginal, and not relevant to the plot. It all boils down to a difference in shipping interest. None of the ships are actually toxic (it’s mostly just people looking far too deep into them) but some people can view it as such and that’s fine as long as no one gets harassed. We all have different views.

[ellievenus]

THE FUCKING DRAGON ONE......BITCH.........UR WRITING IN GENERAL......UR M I N D!!!! uuhhh.....can i pls have sum childe content? i want this man to make me bleed and then homoerotically lick it off of me, u can go as far as ud like w/ it! if not childe, i request more kokomi dragon stuff.....have a luvly day, mwah

Childe x GN!Reader

A\N: omg thank u so much for the compliments!! um this went for longer than i thought but hey i hope u like it!

Warnings: blood, blood kink, childe jerks off to seeing you bloody. not proofread!!!

Your sparring sessions with Childe got… intense to say the least. Though you don’t support a vision or a delusion like him, you can still keep up with him and that turns him on more than anything.

The way you glare at him when he gives you a nasty cut on your cheek, your short breathing and your hisses when he clashes with you. It gets him drunk like no liquid ever could, he doesn’t even care about the hard on he has, he can literally cum from just fighting you if you wanna take it that far.

Alas, your body can’t take any more unless he wants to break you, which he doesn’t. At least not yet.

“You were… more intense today, Ajax. What gives?” You ask between short and hurried breaths as you slowly get up from the ground, before you can react you see a flash of purple and you’re on the ground, on your ass with a grunt. “Hey-”

Your words get stuck in your throat when you feel the sharp tip of one of his swords on your chin, the electricity illuminating your features and the crackling is rippling all throughout your body. He’s using his delusion.

You can’t see his expression behind his mask but you can tell he’s enjoying the way you hiss as he presses the sharp tip on your chin and draws blood, the electricity clashing with your blood making you whimper. 

He finally draws his blade away from you with a trembling breath, tossing them on the ground, he straddles you.

“You look so pretty with blood all over you…” is all he could muster while he got his already erect cock out and you could just watch in anticipation and shock as he hissed when the cold air met his cock. You watched him work his shaft, right hand working his dick while the left is smearing the blood from your cut all over your face like he’s painting on a canvas.

His voice low, “gonna look even better when my cum is all over your pretty face- fuck.” He let out a gasp as the cut on your cheek bled a bit more when he pressed his finger on it. Taking his hand off you and tasting your blood, he fastened his pace on his cock and started moaning your name, how perfect you are, how obedient you are how fucking gorgeous you are for him as he came with a whine of your name, all over your clothes and face.

He caught his breath before he leaned down and planted a kiss on your mouth.

[hobbitwrangler]

15, 17, and 29 for ao3 wrapped!

Ooh, thank you!💚

15. What WIP are you taking into next year with you?

I've spent the entire year working on and off at The Last of the House of Steward (despite it not being very long), about Faramir and Denethor's last remaining sister (Caeveneth) and their conversation about Denethor's death. It's almost finished but it will probably be a while before I post it, since in the meantime I've collected more WIPs/fic ideas featuring Caeveneth and want people reading it to (hopefully) have a better idea of who she is as a person and her relationship with the rest of her family beforehand rather than just diving in head-first toward the end of her life.

17. Your favorite character to write this year?

This is a hard one! I think it has to be Tar-Míriel in out of the water, cold and blue. I loved getting to portray her as being so vengeful, angry, pitiless and embittered, even if it was at the expense of innocents. There's something so cathartic about writing a female character as being so horrible and angry and hurting others so callously and given what she's suffering in canon, it almost feels like a relief.

29. Favorite line/passage you wrote this year?

I think this passage from the plain sight of our destiny is the cruellest thing of all has to take the cake. It just made me so upset writing it, because it really sums up Zira's tragedy. Castrin's rant about Sauron's seizure of power is a close second though.

I am not going to grow old. I am not going to marry. I am not going to have children.  And yet she had never really thought that she would ever do any of these things. They all seemed so far away, part of other people’s lives, people who had lived and died before her, outside of the shadow. She could not truly mourn joys which she had never hoped to live. I am not going to swim in the sea again. I am not going to help Castrin cook supper. I am not going to read an old novel with Gulmagol. I am not going to go hunting for crabs with Dragur. I am not going to see the spring.   And that was what formed the lump in her throat, the grief so heavy and thick and unfair that she knew even screaming would not release it. It would be curdling in her body as she died, growing stronger and more bitter. Maybe it would flow out with her blood. She wondered if it would poison the god who drank it, if he would recoil at its bitterness. Or maybe he enjoys it. Maybe our torment brings him joy. Maybe he enjoys the twisting of things, the corruption of what was meant to be alive and good.

ao3 wrapped ask game

[mortallyandrogynoussheep]

1/100 days of getting my life back together

Wednesday, July 3, 2024

So I decided to try to do a thing for the first time ever since forever - try to start having a blog(?) again, because, well, the brain rot is real. I've deleted twitter for now to give my brain some rest, because a lot of things were stressing me out.

My life has been a real mess the last few months and I really need to get my shit back together. This semester was the biggest flop so far (which is not to say that much - it's only a second one, but still) and I'm really upset about it.

I've come off one of my meds, that were making me insanely sleepy whenever I tried to focus (still have no idea whether that was a real thing or no, but they either way were not doing anything for me), got back on antidepressants, that are a-okay to me, at least side effects wise, and I was hoping that NOW I will be so much better at school. It got so much worse.

Not my room, but the vibes sum everything up quite perfectly. Everything feels insanely hard to do. I feel like a failure. I'm stressed and lost, but we persevere to the best of our abilities.

Anyway, I am writing this post one day after the 3rd of July, because I figured I should start somewhere, and despite wanting to have the first entry be as perfect as I want to become later, I figured that I have already tried that approach earlier, and it always falls off. Maybe it's better to start bad, slowly trying to build up all the habits and changes.

After all it is 100 days of trying to get my life together, not 100 days of describing my life being together.

Anyway, on 3rd of July I wanted to do some document related work and do some job applications, but because of fucking up my sleep schedule days prior to finish an assignment (which I got 100% for, insanely), I could not resist falling asleep in the day and then waking up late in the evening. That then scaled to 4th of July night, when I could not fall asleep again until 4 am, and the cycle repeated again.

So, yeah. T'was a flop. I didn't do anything good or productive for studying. The only thing I managed to accomplish was tidying up the place a little, but not the dishes. Luckily, my boyfriend helped me with that. It feels so much better to be able to work as a team on tasks that feel this big and unbearable.

2/100 days of getting my life back together

Thursday, July 4, 2024

It is currently 13:44 as I am writing this. Woke up (or more so, thankfully, got woken up by my boyfriend) by about 12:30. Still feel very poopy, but in today's plans are to do some studying for the first out of my two exams, and maybe a little bit for the second one.

DB 2

DB 3

SE2

dishes

DB 4

Probably will keep editing this post for any relevant updates that are not shitposts.

15:08 - 16:02 finished the db2 and 3 bits, 3rd one was way shorter than I expected. it turned out that I already had a set of flashcards on quizzlet there on it, so that was a win. originally was planning to study for one hour, but then finished 6 mins earlier, because my brain was fried and finished the dishes on my break. now back to studying

16:17 - 18:01 finished working on the SE2, but the lecture was kinda short and won't be that important at the exam, so I can't say I studied it properly. i will put more thought into it later (maybe), but not for now, since my ass is BURNING from the heat of upcoming deadline for the exams and there are more complex things i need to learn. started working on DB 4, which was an addition on initially planned to-do list. a little more than 1.5 hours of trying to understand the lecture made my brain feel GONE. i started to feel very irritated at the end, so im gonna be taking a break.

18:36 - 19:52 some minecraft break for mindlessly and quietly doing some things around our base. cleaned up the ground for where i want to build our house, transferred some stuff and organized it in a new chests system. the project will take A LOT of time so yuh. did i spend too much time on it? yes. will i do it again? also yes, probably. then we ate some dinner and now im comming back to some studying and note taking.

21:09 - 22:22

did some more note taking on DB4, not finished with it yet, but I think I'll call it a day for today. I'll probably play some more Minecraft before sleep and reread my notes and flashcards too. overall I feel still kind of unsatisfied with the day and its' results, I think mostly because of this is 1.5 hour game break, but it is what it is for now. overall I guess I did do some stuff done today, so it's still a win, right?

[queenofalpaca]

I doubt anyone even reads my posts but just in case someone stumbles across this one, here it goes.

I watched Strange World today. I saw a trailer for it at some point and thought it looked cool, but I completely forgot about it because my brain doesn’t latch onto things before they’ve been slapped in my face three times in a row and Strange World has criminally little promo, which every person on this website who’s seen the movie will also tell you, so I’ll refrain from reiterating a point smarter people have made far more eloquently than me.

What I wanna write about is the fact that I love this movie (and no, it’s not just because my current favorite actor is in it and that’s why I was reminded of the movie’s existence today lol). It’s so colourful and just absolutely beautiful, visually. I could look at this movie for hours. The world design and creature design is also just amazing and I loved the extras that go a little more in depth on them. The whole comic introduction section immediately stole my heart, cause I am a slut for that stuff.

Storywise, it may be predictable in hindsight (but I didn’t actually see it coming the first time around until right before the reveal) and it doesn’t really do anything you haven’t seen before, but as a complete movie, it’s absolutely better than the sum of its parts. In regards to themes, it touches on the same environmental stuff a lot of contemporary movies do, but I personally have never seen it presented quite this way. In addition to that they also managed to fit generational trauma and the journey of discovering who you are in there which are two topics near and dear to my heart, especially in the way it’s presented here (Searcher trying not to be like his father and being so much like him sure is. uh oh. *eyes my own pile of daddy issues*) And just as an extra sprinkle on top a little something on monocultures and agricultural practices.

And all in all you end up with, probably, my favourite Disney movie ever. Not that I’m terribly in love with most of them, but this one’s just perfect for me specifically. Which is why I made my mum watch it too as soon as she was home, heh. And if whoever stuck around this long to read my post feels like watching a movie sometime, I definitely recommend this one. I really enjoyed it, it definitely deserves way more attention than it got and if it’ll convince you, yes, it has a gay protagonist and the representation is perfect (he’s just gay. It’s a fact of life, it comes up a few times, and it’s handled exactly the way I hope we can treat all queer people in the future. A little optimism never hurts)

So yeah :) I had a good day

[odilesquedetherese]

listen: Albert Camus's statements on acting (i've wanted to talk to literally anyone about this for at least 40 hours and now i see the perfect place: tumblr dot com babeyyy) People tend not to understand why I love acting, and it is something almost indescribable. But now having read it I can point them towards the section of Albert Camus's "The Myth of Sisyphus" on "Drama," where he sums it up better than I can hope. For Camus, "nothing interests [the actor] more than himself, especially his potentialities." Every role the actor plays is him playing out a version of himself, who he could have been had certain essential factors been different. But Camus also emphasizes that once the actor plays these roles they don't simply leave him: he "cannot very readily separate himself from what he has been. Occasionally when reaching for his glass he resumes Hamlet's gesture of raising his cup." And I can easily confirm the truth of this: a combination of every accent I've ever used lives within me; every time I read the word "interesting" I am tempted to use four syllables instead of my normal three, as I did for a role; occasionally when making a joke my mediocre Transatlantic slips out. Acting makes you aware of your body in ways almost indescribable: Camus says the actor learns "to what extent appearing constitutes being." And there is a great lesson in this as well: in learning to control your appearance you're learning how to control what others think of you. Forget the numerous psychological tricks on how to make friends, be charming, etc. It's really not as complicated as all that. Study acting and the same thing can be accomplished far more easily: if you do it right, you illustrate "that there is no frontier between what a man wants to be and what he is." And you do that with the added bonus of creation. But the creation of the actor, his artwork, is "the most ephemeral." "He will die in three hours under the mask he has assumed today. Within three hours he must experience and express a whole exceptional life." Almost all bad acting can be summed up as that which doesn't do this. If an audience can believe the life an actor is portraying, that audience is apt to excuse many faults.

[shzmluvrs]

I luved your freddy lovey dovey stuff so can i request sum more fluffy things for the first movie freddy?? Like maybe trying to have a sleepover and the family keep interrupting them or something like that?? x

Finally

Prompt: Freddy should've known better. Wanting time to himself was already hard enough at his house. Wanting time for himself and you? For a sleepover, a.k.a. a longer than 24-hour period of time? *loud laughing*.

Timeline: Post Shazam!, Pre S!:FOTG

TW/Content: Yelling⚡️Freddy being inpatient and wanting you to himself lol⚡️Fluff (plenty of it, I'm sure)⚡️Cursing (I think, but probably not)

Reader: Non-specified! Any Pronouns!

Requested By: Anon

Back to Master List

I know for a fact that Freddy never watches TV downstairs, ever, for the exact reason that there is no point in doing so.

Er, attempting to do so, rather.

So why he even bothered to try it while you were over spending the night with him, he'll never know. He will reap the consequences, though.

He could excuse it when it was Victor, the man coming in to suggest some of the top notch, upmost best and entertaining movies to watch. And when Rosa came in to "check on you guys" and "make sure you had snacks." She was just mothering and being nosy, nothing new.

But it was when he had barely gotten to slyly drape his arm around your shoulders before Mary walked in squealing over something ridiculous, his irritation had started to grow. And you gladly gave her your attention, turning away from him to entertain whatever little funny video she had to show you on her phone right now.

He would knaw at his lip and keep his brown eyes glued to the screen, ignoring it all until he felt you cuddle up into his side once again. Maybe he had gotten all worked up and pissy for nothing, I mean, your attention wasn't pulled away for that long...

Mary was already gone, the movie was still only beginning... Good. But before the two of you could fully relax, Eugene came barreling into the room. Right in front of the TV.

Shouting.

"FREDDY, THEY RELEASED IT, THE GAME JUST DROPPED LIKE, TWO MINTUES AGO, WE HAVE TO GET IT NOW, LIKE, RIGHT FREAKIN' NOW!!"

While you stared like a deer caught in headlights, Freddy could only (again) roll his eyes. He knew exactly what his younger brother was talking about, and though a small part of him fluttered with excitement at the news, it meant nothing to him right now with you right next to him, attempting to spend some time together.

"I'm kind of busy right now...!" He hummed (hiding his passive aggressiveness through grit teeth). "Like, extra busy." Even going as far as to pulling you even closer, if possible, hoping Eugene would catch the obvious hint. He did not.

"She'll understand it if we just explained it to her!"

"Yeah, Freddy, explain it to me~." You teased, and then hushed up real quick when he sent both of you glares indicating he was not at all in the mood.

"Maybe later."

With Euegene gone, he was finally able to kick back once more, placing casual kisses to your temple as if he didn't almost explode mere seconds ago. It caused giggles to leave your throat, humming to yourself at Freddy's versatile range of emotions when it came to you. Although, you couldn't help but admit you did admire his willingness to completely give up any and all other distractions for you.

Including this next one, Darla bounding into the living room with dolls in hand. This was now, not only a test of Freddy's patience, but yours as well...

"(Y/N)!! Do'ya' wanna play Pixie Nightclub Life with me?"

... what ?

"...What?" You asked in complete confusion, staring between her and the dolls.

"No." Freddy gave a solid answer for you, pursing his lips up into a huge pout you didn't want to address just yet. "We actually just wanna spend time together, if that could be possible, which, I know it could, because it's not- It's not a hard thing to achieve and completely reasonable to want... just sayin'."

"Stop it..." You hissed, slapping at him lightly before leaning upwards to face Darla one-on-one. "How about this? When I wake up tomorrow morning, me and Freddy will play dolls with you. Call it... a special reservation of our time." Her lips, which were already beginning to dip into a frown, immediately backtracked right back up into a wide grin at your compromise, nodding swiftly before bounding off.

. . . "I don't wan-" "I don't care, be a good big brother." "Mmm..."

He didn't argue, but he released his pout and leaned further into you, knowing you had basically just done him a favor. Plus, he was just happy you two could now, finally, have so-

Nevermind.

The two of you jumped at the loud screaming coming from the kitchen, sharing a worried glance before you shot up off of the couch and Freddy paused the movie.

"WHY IS IT ON FIRE?!" "I BURNT THE WAFFLES!!" You weren't even granted time to wonder, 'How does one burn waffles?', watching with wide eyes as a flame lit up the entirety of the kitchen with its orange light, Pedro backing away before he could get burned.

"WHY WERE YOU MAKING WAFFLES IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT, WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!" Freddy screamed, Billy already moving towards the sink as he shouted back. "WE WERE HUNGRY AND ROSA IS SLEEPING!"

"Probably not anymore..." Pedro murmured, your hand itching to stop Billy's actions for some odd reason. You couldn't place it, but something about him pouring water into a large cup to put out a fire in/on the toaster didn't seem right. "Wait..."

"OH MY GOD, WE CAN LITERALLY HAVE NOTHING NICE IN THIS HOUSE!!" Freddy groaned in agitation, not noticing it as you left his side to slowly trail after Billy's hurried movements.

"Dude, wait..."

"WELL, NOBODY TOLD YOU TO INVOLVE YOURSELF, FREDDY!!"

"I'M A SIMPLE, HEROIC GUY! I HEAR A SCREAM, I GOTTA SEE WHAT'S UP!"

And finally, it clicked. "Wait, nO, YOU DON'T POUR WATER ON AN ELECTRICAL F-!!"

Too late. Water doused over the toaster, drenching the burnt bread and anything else around it as a silence loomed over the group. It wasn't long before low, electrical humming could be heard, and then a loud pop/shock sound from the outlet, scaring the life out of all of you, jumping back as a curt scream escaped from your throat. At the very least, you found it endearing that Billy, Freddy, and Pedro's instinct was to immediately keep you behind them. Yet still...

"Stupid idiots." "DID WE NOT...? JUST SAVE YOUR LIFE??" "YEAH, FROM A PROBLEM YOU CAUSED!"

When the chaos was said and done (and the whole of downstairs aired out to get rid of the burnt smell) you and Freddy were placed back on the couch, comfortable in each other's arms as Freddy eagerly rewinded the movie.

"I'm sorry we haven't really gotten to focus :/..." You sighed into the crook of his neck, your boyfriend already placing his hand on top of yours to rub your knuckles soothingly.

"Don't worry about it, (Y/N). Everyone's asleep now, I'm pretty sure, so we've got all night to ourselves, finally."

"Finally." You repeated, a smile gracing your lips with a hum, your eyes closing in content as you leaned against his chest.

It was Freddy who realized they never opened back up again (your eyes), looking down at you upon feeling the oddly slow rise and fall of your body against his arms wrapped around you. You had peacefully lulled yourself to sleep, the calming sound of his heart beating not aiding in keeping you awake while he scoffed.

"Are you serious right now..."

The next morning was pretty much the same deal, everyone sitting at the large dining table enjoying the breakfast and chit-chat. Each member of the family capturing your attention over and over again, leaving Freddy no time to even speak to you. But, for this moment, he didn't mind. He sat and smiled, mainly at you, admiring your features as you interacted with his family. He squeezed your hand under the table, keeping it in his lap. And, without any need for you to even break conversation, you squeezed it back.

I hope you liked it!! I feel like I made it a little longer (and more chaotic-ish) than originally intended, but it's ight, you'll live💅🏽.

Also, Moon, I'm coming for your man, he's so sweet🥺🫶🏽💙.

~ Star✨️

Back to Master List

[claygoestothemovies]

⭐️⭐️

Mikael Håfström’s SLINGSHOT had potential. Unfortunately, the final product is an utter slog. The characters in it get to go to hypersleep, but the unwitting audience members have no such reprieve from the boredom they’ll be subjected to during the 108 minutes they’ll be trapped in their seats.

We follow John (Casey Affleck, sleepwalking his way to a paycheck), an astronaut undertaking a first-of-its-kind mission to one of Saturn’s moons in an attempt to get a source of clean energy to save an Earth that is quickly on its way to being uninhabitable. Along on this voyage are Captain Franks (Laurence Fishburn, slumming it) and scientific officer Nash (THE BOYS’ Tomer Capone, the one actor I felt was actually trying in this snooze fest). The trip involves using a slingshot maneuver with Jupiter’s gravitational pull, and after something strikes the ship, the small crew start to have differing opinions on whether it’s feasible to continue. Then the paranoia and hallucinations start, which certainly won’t affect anyone’s judgment.

The premise, while familiar, had promise. Hoping against hope I would be treated to a fresh take on this type of material, the script continuously persisted in being subpar, at best, actively irritating more often than not. And don’t even get me started on the incessant unnecessary flashback scenes that made me wish I had an alcoholic beverage, if only to make a game out of it. By the time the ending (finally) rolled around, it was too little, too late.

Speaking of the ending, you’ll either love it or be so mad you’ll throw something out of sheer frustration at being toyed with so mercilessly for the better part of two hours. As for myself, I would have admired it if I hadn’t been so annoyed at everything leading up to the climax. All in all, fellow critic Brian Tallerico summed it up far better than I ever could in his Letterboxd review: “In space, no one can hear you yawn.”

2/5

[pupintransit]

Well that was certainly an eventful few weeks!

I already thanked all of y'all who reached out to check on me and who gave me their empathy in comments. I wasn't doing super great and that positivity really helped my mood 🧡

On the whole things are going pretty well now! The resolutions to the anxieties i was having are quicker to sum up than writing about them the first time, so in sum: Sitting is mostly fine now, i haven't had a new UTI in several weeks, and I finally had an orgasm! And then another one! And another one.

And another one.

Folks, i do not know how the hell i ever thought cumming with a cock felt good cuz compared to now it is so much worse. 0/10. Do not miss my old equipment at all, may my sopping wet man cunt reign sumpreme for eternity.

My choice of words with "orgasm" over "cum" in this context is deliberate. I haven't been cumming, at least not like how I used to. Lots of folks who are post-op, including folks i know personally, are able to jizz the same familiar white fluid they were before. So far I can't do that. I'm pretty sure I'm still physically capable of it but we haven't quite gotten there yet. What I feel instead is waves of pleasure followed by my pussy becoming much wetter and warmer than it did during the performance up until then.

Now, I've played with very few natal pussys but what I feel from my partners and from what chatting with AFAB folks in general this is generally comparable to what the natal experience is like? Which honestly suits me just fine. I liked the feeling of cumming with a cock but the clean up afterward made me feel kinda gross about have done it. I don't have the problem with the new equipment. There's no shame in this for me now, although admittedly I'm often too engrossed in myself to feel much of anything other than rocketing joy.

I could go on for longer about masturbation and sensation for waaaaay longer but i think i'll save that for a different write up.

In terms of general healing I think we're basically all done at this point? At least in terms of basic functionality and sensation. I've had two rounds of silver nitrate for hypergranulation on my introitus, which hasn't quite finished healing yet. I'm still bleeding when I dilate as well as during the first I use the bathroom. Or at least I hope that's where the bathroom bleeding is coming from because the alternative explanations for that are a little spooky! We'll see what my GP has to say about it, but I don't have any other symptoms of significant bladder or colon trouble so I'll probably be just fine.

I did also see my therapist about the anxieties I was having, and he helped me put a lot of my fears into perspective. The short version is that I'm healing very well and that I may want to scale back my expectations. My brain has healed faster than my body. I'm really raring to go to be back to normal but I'm forced to go at a speed I can't control. It's an inescapable bummer, but in a way it's still a relief that I'm not going backwards in my healing process.

I keep saying and it keeps being true; I am going to be fine even if there are days where it doesn't feel like it. I am getting better at internalizing that now, compared to my last write-up. I will say that being able to masturbate again is making that waaaaaaay easier now.

Just imagine how much easier it'll be once I can finally fuck!

[aspiring-holistic-otaku]

Season 2 Ramble# 8 - Sports!

As I hope you got from the title, this ramble focuses on sports in manga, but before I get into it, let me breakdown some things about how this is gonna go.

Firstly a little heads up for you and a little copout for me, the average sports manga tends to be a bit longer than other genres so I figured my usual sprint approach of picking up a bunch of titles and blitzing them wouldn't work. Instead I went for a kind of marathon type approach where I still read a bunch but didn't have completion on my mind as much as usual.

Pros and cons for this approach

pro - I was able to get in that much more diversity than I would otherwise. There's hella sports out there which makes for hella subject matter, each carrying its own unique perspectives that I'm really glad I got the chance to experience, and equally glad to try and share those experiences.

cons - I made the pro sound pretty grandiose but as I said, completion wasn't at the forefront of my mind as much this month, meaning there's quite a few titles I didn't get to finish, so with a lot of these reccs I'd have to say there's more than a grain of salt to keep in mind.

Second thing I want to get out the way are the elements I consider the most important in a sports manga, which I hope will give a little more context to the lists. In my mind the four most important elements for a sports manga are realism, teamwork, ego/drive to win & mindset/mentality. I speak on what those mean to me a bit more in the episode.

Moving on, the actual format of the episode is gonna have things I read this month in a triathlon type setup, meaning 3 categories/legs, closed out with a small award type ceremony thing, then after things read this month I'll speak a bit on my favourite sports manga read before this month.

And now without further ado, LET THE RACES BEGIN!

Things read this month

(first leg)

Uncompleted Incompletes {stuff I didn't finish reading and are still ongoing}

#3 Hajime no Ippo {by George Morikawa, read 49 out of the total 1434 chapters}

Seen this around for the longest time, usually see it called the top 1 boxing manga in more than a few circles, and again for more than a few I've seen it called the top 1 sports manga overall. All that being said the reason a self proclaimed aspiring holistic otaku like myself hasn't read it before now is due to its extreme length.. roughly 1.4k chapters and counting…. just couldn't see myself devoting all that time to what I figured could be summed up in one word, boxing.

That being said, I figured that even if I wasn't going to finish or even put a dent in it, now was the time to bite the bullet and as you can tell from its placing I'm glad I did.

The story follows ippo, a bullied highschooler who is one day saved by a passerby boxer. In awe of his strength, ippo decides to join his gym and try to get stronger. Simple and common enough baseline story, mainly driven by ippo's growth which is tied to his mentality, as ippo is naturally a timid guy but his earnesty towards bettering himself makes those around him, including me the reader, want to support him.

Cool cast so far from his gym mates to opponents, all contributing to a pretty good balance of serious and funny moments. So far the art has generally been pretty good, the only slight gripe I have at this point is I find the mc pretty meh.. like he's endearing but like in that way any kid trying out a sport seems where you just wanna tell em good job no matter what.

In any case I only read 49 chapters so huge grain of salt, though I imagine that both ippo and the cast must develop in a bunch of ways over 1000+ chapters

side note Kentarou Miura, creator of berserk was an assistant on this manga for some time, rip the legend one time every time

#2 Yowamushi Pedal {by Wataru Watanabe, I read 114 out of total 486 chapter count, btw in Brazilian it's up to 700+ }

Literally like maybe 1 or 3 people I know have ever mentioned this to me, 1 of whose taste I couldn't really trust, the second literally cycled everywhere n wore that bodysuit type thing to school which kinda put me off the whole thing and I'm pretty sure the third is a figment of my imagination.. so this series never really had any pull innate or otherwise + I figured it could be summed up into "dude rides a bicycle" which again unlike boxing doesn't really have any appeal with just that.

In any case I'm so so glad I picked this up, grabbed me from chapter 1 and honestly had a hard time putting it down.

the story here centers around sakamichi, a freshman highschool student who wants to make an anime club so he can make friends. This is a cycling manga so unfortunately for my guy that didn't pan out well for him but due to some plot I don't want to spoil he ends up in the cycling club and yes he does make friends.

Great mc but that's probably weeb bias, great main cast nonetheless, the teamwork stands out fr like I didn't know how cycling could be a team sport but it is, and I love that even though they're all on the same team most of them have a drive to be the best which works out in an iron sharpens iron kind of way. The mentality of a cyclist was also really cool like with boxing or more physical sports it's easy to grasp that you have to ready yourself to take a hit but in cycling they got into the flexibility and perseverance you need to keep pedaling no matter where you are and the sights you'll be able to see because of that. Great art, very scenic as they're riding all over the place and though I've only read about a quarter it's definitely something I'd highly and heartily recommend.

#1 Giant Killing {with Masaya Tsunamoto doing the story and Tsujitomo on art, read 84 out of the 514 chapters}

This is a soccer manga. Now you may have noticed a trend here where I haven't thought much of some manga and then ended up liking it, well that's because in general I don't like sports,, well I enjoy playing but not so much watching.. except table tennis and maybe basketball but anyways that trend pretty much continues here. straight out the bat I'll say I don't care for football or soccer or whatever you wanna call it but man this manga.

The story is that an already failing football club now finds themselves in need of a new coach after theirs left them, and so some managerial staff track down a former star player for the club who they heard now coaches small town football sides in England.

Kind of a slow start with them finding the coach and him settling in and everything but it sets solid groundwork which builds into great main and wider cast dynamics. This is one of my favourite things about this manga, it offers solid perspective and narratives from the coaching staff, managerial staff, the players on and off the pitch and even fans and journalist. Never seen a sports manga so thoroughly build out its world. The art was an interesting style but it does a great job of illustrating the dynamicism of play mixed with solitary key moments which makes me feel like I'm watching a slowmo highlight.

Very real feel in a lot of respects and I really appreciated that despite the name they don't just go around making upset wins. They win and lose their fair share but always kept me engaged. #1 on this leg but not something I think is for everybody, especially if you're not a sports fan but if you are a sports fan, especially a soccer fan, I think this will be one of your favourites.

hm: MF GHOST(initial d sequel), Ao Ashi(soccer)

(leg #2)

Completed Incompletes {finished reading but still ongoing or just not fully translated as is the case for everything here}

#3 SK8R'S {by Hajime Tojitsuki, read 9 out of the total 18 chapters}

This is all about street skating, not much to say with only 9 chapters but it just looked really cool

Anyways the story is that a kid happened to see a dude skating one day and he did one of those jump tricks and he was hooked.

Average art but it's pretty dope when they do full spreads and tricks. Again not much chapters so not much to say but I really hope the rest gets translated.

#2 Tsubame Tipoff {by Hiroya Watanuki, read 40 out of total 50 chapter count}

This pulled me in because women's basketball and I'm always a slut for new perspectives.

The story here is a tall but uncoordinated freshman finds her short but extremely athletic upperclassman cute so she joins the basketball team to get closer to her... Now I'm not gonna call her gay but she be blushing like crazy... In any case the art is pretty solid, really cool cast, not sure if I thought that just cause of the relative novelty of a girl's basketball team in manga but they were just pretty cool.

what I read was pretty good and again I would really love if the rest of the chapters got translated.. maybe I'll just learn Chinese idk..

#1 Break Shot {by Takeshi Maekawa, read 84 out of the total 152 chapter count}

This is a manga about billiards which I think is different from pool but I didn't look it up so I'm gonna play it safe and stick to billiards

The story here is that the student council wants to shut down the billiards club because they only have one member who is our mc, chinmi. He tries to negotiate and they tell him if he wants to keep the club he has to show some record of notable achievement or skill, so he enters a tournament with his club on the line.

The billiards pulled me in and as expected there was some unreal stuff to keep it interesting like a dude who has a special shot that breaks the cue ball on purpose and uses the force of the shratnel to pocket multiple balls… like come on… he's a highschool student for one like come on… but outside stuff like that I really like how they framed a billiards game as a puzzle where your skill is actually more a reflection of intellect, in being able to make a pocket or stop your opponent from doing so. also loved the art like it's old but it's the kind of old school charm that gives a Sunday morning cartoon vibe and I'm not sure if it's because of the subject being billiards but it felt really smooth and classy.

Billiards is a singles competition but they were able to create an element of teamwork through rivalry which was cool and I kind of already spoke on the mentality through their framing of the game as a puzzle. To solve the puzzle they really had to think on their feet. Ego and stuff was definitely there and again I really really want this to be translated. In any case I highly recommend this one.

hm: Dogsred(about hockey by the creator of golden kamuy), Mongrel (mma)

(and the last leg of things read this month)

Completed Completes {finished reading, finished publishing}

#3 moon land {by Sai Yamagishi, 98 chapters}

This is about gymnastics and I didn't think I'd be interested + I'd never even heard of it before but this was recommended to me by Jen who I had on last episode and from its placing you can tell I enjoyed it. This is why I trust Jen and even had her on the show, shout out Jen every time

The story is basically that the mc mitsuki is really good at gymnastics because of strong fundamentals but he had no flair. the main thing is that it presents gymnastics as an expression of self and mitsuki aims to be able to move his body the way he wants to, in other words freedom.

The art is kind of meh in general but ofc they step up in spreads and stuff, great teamwork, ego and mentality stuff, more of that iron sharpens iron effect I like, kind of felt like the ending was rushed but it was an unexpectedly nice journey. they really took the time to educate about gymnastics which i appreciated and I feel like I'm underselling but it really was cool.

#2 Gambling Apocalypse Kaiji {Nobuyuki Fukumoto, 158 chapter}

Had actually tried another manga by this guy called Akagi hoping to learn the rules for mahjong but they didn't care to explain the rules and it wasn't super well translated so I couldn't really keep up despite how cool the mc seemed.

In any case the quirkiness of his art style is what really drew me in so I picked up kaiji instead and it turned out to be really good.

The story here is kaiji, the mc is pretty much living a garbage life which gets worse when a debt collector comes and tells him a friend of his ran off on a debt kaiji was the guarantor on. the debt is in the tens of millions which he clearly doesn't have but the collector tells him there's a once in a lifetime opportunity happening soon, and offers kaiji a ticket onto a ship to play games and win enough money to clear his debt in one night.

I guess this is where the question of whether or not gambling is a sport would arise but 1) it's my list and 2) they are competing according to set rules for a prize so that's that.

Anyways this was closer to my preferred tastes with the darker, more critical view of #society and stuff, which is seen in how teamwork was kinda nonexistent or fleeting at best but the mentality needed to win or even just survive was strong.

Really liked the mc, lots of growth in a short amount of time but in any case I'd recommend this one for sure, especially with the recent wave of squid games and stuff like that… it's not squid games but just if you liked that you'll probably like this..

#1 One Outs {Shinobu Kaitani, 175 chapters}

I think the full title is actually One Outs, nobody wins but I which is just super cool especially as you see how the story unfolds but yh.

The story here is that tokuchi toua is a professional gambler that dedicates most of his time to a tweaked baseball game called one outs. In this game the pitcher must get 3 strikes to win but all the batter has to do is hit the ball past the infield for a win, yet in 499 matches toua has never lost. Due to some plot stuff I don't want to spoil he ends up getting involved with the main japanese baseball league and basically the owner of his team doesn't like him, so tokuchi baits him into a contract unfavourable to himself where he gets paid 50 mill for each strike out but has to pay 500 mill for every run scored on him. The owner didn't believe his 499 streak record held much weight so he accepts.

The people he's playing with or against don't know anything about this and they're all pros so his skills are definitely tested fr. It's hard to explain how mind games comes into play but just trust this guy basically turns a sports manga into a psychological thriller which was just amazing.

Highly recommend, I didn't really know anything about baseball, still don't really but man. nothing but praise tbh.

hm: aoiro ping pong, and **mighty girl(baseball)

{in the episode I mention some other stuff I was reading and would also recommend but felt they out would be too contrived or too much grains of salt due to how the small percentage of their total chapter counts I got to read despite how much I enjoyed them but you can check my anilist to see

{in the actual episode I name black box as the second honorable mention. but that was a mistake probably due to it and mighty girl having the same author idkidk but mighty girl was better}

}

if you're interested you can listen in to the episode for the small awards ceremony thing that would be here but in this writeup I'm just going to move along

Things read before this month

not as much detail as before cause spoken on most of these before plus nowadays in think more attention sound be given to newer reads but anyways

#3 Eyeshield 21{Riichirou Inagaki story and Yusuke Murata, read/333 chapters}

American football focused. really really good. has been in my top 3 sports manga for like a decade now.

#2 Ping Pong{created by Taiyou Matsumoto, 55 chapters}

Table Tennis focused. spoken on before in detail in Season 1 Ramble#10 and was #4 in its section + became my #3 read overall last year. So good I actually took the time to watch the anime this month.

#1 Rookies {Morita Masanori, 233 chapters}

Delinquents playing baseball. Top 1 in Sesson 2 Ramble#6, #2 in Season 1 Ramble#12 delinquency and #3 in the very first real ramble Season 1 Ramble#1 which is where I spoke on it with the most detail.

hm: Usugoi(peak gambling), HAPPY!(lawn tennis by naoki urasawa)

[thelordofgifs]

@butterflies-and-fishermen I was so touched by your tags on the latest instalment of the fairest stars (the AU bullet point fic “Beren and Lúthien steal two Silmarils and things snowball” I’ve been posting to tumblr in irregular instalments, for people who missed it) that I thought I’d make a separate post to respond to them here, I hope that’s ok!

#but! But!#Celegorm may be doomed according to Oath rules#but this can't just be a tragedy#(bawling my eyes out)#if the Oath turns you into the worst version of yourself and takes what good you have left#then Celegorm died as a hunter of evil#not a predator of the weak#he gave his life for a worthy cause#for his friend#the Oath too was sacrificed#instead of being the altar on which everything was sacrificed#They will meet again#But even hound and hunter battling Carcharoth together for eternity in the void is a sweeter ending

You’re so right!! Killing Celegorm felt a bit cruel but ultimately I thought it was a much kinder ending for him than his canonical one. I wasn’t even intending to have him reunite with Huan initially (he wasn’t supposed to BE in the fic originally, but he insisted); but when I realised I could actually have something of a reconciliation with Huan for him, I couldn’t resist letting him die fighting evil. As a hunter of evil specifically (I’m so glad you used that phrase!), which calls back to his old role as one of Oromë’s following. (Yes, I totally did that intentionally, it wasn’t an accidental thing which ended up turning out neat, no not at all, why do you ask?)

But what I really wanted to address here was the Oath, and whether it really does “turn you into the worst version of yourself, and strip away the best thing you have left”. This is Maedhros’ line, which Maglor has also echoed in his conversation with Lúthien – importantly, though, Maglor added that he wasn’t sure whether or not he believed it. Do I, the author? Is that how the Oath works? That’s something I haven’t fully decided yet (although it is a fun idea to meta about, there’s been great discourse about the Oath recently) and probably shouldn’t reveal anyway because of spoilers. But I wonder how clearly it’s come across that the Maedhros of TFS wow look it has an ACRONYM it’s all grown up is… not always mentally in the best place. It’s not nearly as bad as it gets in canon – this is pre-Nirnaeth! But he still has so much Angband-related trauma, being chained up by Thingol was incredibly triggering for him, he’s very upset by his little brothers’ terrible deeds in Nargothrond, and he spent like five parts convinced he wouldn’t be able to hold a Silmaril – baselessly, as it turned out. Maedhros is very afraid of himself, and of the Oath. So take that line of his with a pinch of salt! The Oath might have turned Celegorm into the worst version of himself, and taken his best thing (his dog), but he both redeemed himself a little and got to reunite with Huan. Maedhros, for his part, has so far managed to avoid doing anything deeply terrible, and his own “best thing” (Maglor) hasn’t died.

As for Celegorm being doomed according to Oath rules – I’m unsure how relevant that will end up being in TFS, since I haven’t planned that far ahead (or at all lol). But after quite a few months of thinking, I came across the most beautiful line in this beautiful fic by @thearrogantemu: “Everlasting Darkness! As if darkness were a thing that could last!”

… which sums up my feelings better than I ever could.

OKAY I now need to apologise to: both the people I tagged completely unprompted in this rambly self-indulgent navel-gazing post about my own fic; my followers who assuredly did not ask for this pseudo-dvd commentary; readers of TFS who haven’t caught up on the last part and are now spoiled; and anyone who hasn’t read TFS and has no idea what’s going on here (quite intrigued by what you make of it with no context, though).

[sizzlingpatrolfox]

okay what’s your analysis of this album. also the mv that debacuhery kind of aesthetic god *chef’s kiss*

I was so excited last night when the album and the MV came out. I had so much adrenaline in my body lmao. Then this morning I woke up, had to go out so I played the album on spotify while I was out, walking. Later, I came home and the interlude was playing again and I started ugly crying at that bit of Jimin introducing himself at the concert.

Well, it's obviously a sad album. There's so much frustration and loneliness and disappointment at oneself in almost every verse of every song. Musically, as far as sound and music genres go, I love all of it. I think it sounds expensive, polished, high quality. He sounds better than ever and his voice is so dynamic, changing with every line, every song. It should be talked more often the way he's able to mold his voice to every music genre. I really don't have much to say about the sound overall because I honestly love every bit of it. I've been enjoying listening to all of the songs, they're just good good songs. It should even be a longer album, imo. But also the songs that are there are kind of enough to send the intended message across.

Face-off starting with that clown music is just genius. To me this song feels like a critic to himself and talks about self-sabotage. I don't really think it's about anyone in particular, but just an abstract song about realizing that you've made a fool of yourself for whatever reason. I know it's a 180 from that but it actually made me think of how in Promise he talks to himself /about himself in the third person. It starts strong, talking about drinking, which is the persistent theme throughout the whole album.

Alone is a very consistent track with the overall concept of the album and the explanations Jimin himself gave for it. You could probably sum up the whole album in just two songs: Alone and Set Me Free pt2. If we go by credits order, alone it's the song Jimin had the most participation in writing and it does have the most raw, realest lyrics. In the first verse he does that thing of talking about himself in the third person "you tried to escape but you've lost your way". The line "always acting like I'm okay, I feel pathetic" really gets me. It's not really a song that needs any analysis, since it's all laid out pretty clearly. Face-off, for me when I read the lyrics, it feels like choices were made to fit the lyrics to a certain beat/rythm/concept/vibe, and not like the lyrics are the spotlight or the focus of the song. On the other hand, alone does come across as a song where the lyrics are the most important part of it. When I wrote about set me free in a different post, I talked about how my personal interpretation had to do with being stuck, with repetition and something you can't get out of; then the filming episode was posted and Jimin actually said that it was about that, the feeling of being in a hamster wheel. Alone touches upon that again. The same day, the same miserable feelings repeating over and over. Lyrically, alone is my favorite.

Letter is so beautiful. So soooo pretty and I wish it would've been in the album because it feels like a nice wrap to it. Like after all the chaos and self-hate, there's that song that's forgiving, warm and hopeful. I don't really think it's a romantic song; going by the references it really sounds like it's for army and it aligns also with the way he's talked in 2021 about how their "relationship" with army has changed from the beginning until now. I do think having Jungkook on the song was unnecessary because his background vocals aren't even that outstanding (in this song). But that's JK, he's been singing songs for army since forever so that's probably a reason why Jimin might've wanted to include him. I think Jimin said he will talk about this song when he goes live on the 29th.

I left like crazy for the end because this one is all over the place for me. The lyrics, the references, the MV, the choreo (that I haven't seen but we've all read the things people at the recording said), the explanations Jimin has given. There's like a million interpretations and then also none at all. You could take so many meanings from it depending if you're analyzing the MV, the lyrics, the things Jimin has said, later tonight when we watch the choreo that too will probably make it even more complicated than it already is LMAO.

Firstly, I think one of the reasons there could be so many angles to it and for the lyrics to be kind of... strange? It's because there's so many writers in the song. There are seven credited writers in this song, both the Korean and English version, and Jimin is second to last in contribution. Meaning that 5 other people probably had more input in the lyrics. I don't think that lyrically the song makes a lot of sense with all of the stuff that's been said about it. Is it about the movie, is it about Jimin's personal experiences, is it romantic, is it about sex, is it about a break up???

I was confused by the "she", at first. I was waiting for the Korean lyrics to come out because I wanted to see if Jimin had written it with pronouns. I geniunely didn't think it was something like him, to write a pronoun at all. And he actually didn't. If we go by this, he just wrote "baby".

I'm pretty sure the "she" was added by the other writers, to fit the beat better or to give it more sense to the whole concept. It's just a really random "she" at the beginning of the song.

Things Jimin has said about the song and what it means:

This song to me feels sadder with every listen lmao. My first time watching the MV, without subtitles or lyrics, what I got from it was that he was lost and lonely between the crowds. Again, the feeling like in set me free, of being there but not really being part of anything. There's couples kissing, and groups of friends in the MV, and some moments he's with them but for most of it he's just alone. Even the part where he's standing over the couple kissing, it doesn't feel like that's meant to represent him and a girl either, to me it's all about being alone while everyone else has someone.

I didn't get the feeling that there was a love interest, and I actually find the girl that's "wandering" kind of unnecessary because it leads nowhere...? I feel like they could've gone all the way and show them as a couple/exes if it was the intention, because it's safe. But that didn't happen. I don't know if the choreography will be more "romantic", but from what people have been saying it sounds like it could be more about just mindless touching, meaningless human interactions that are just a distraction for something else. That, I understand; I do get that from the MV and it makes sense with the explanation that Jimin gave about it being a song in which you're just trying to escape from feelings you don't want to -well, face. In the English version there's a line that says "numbing the pain", which is quite literal.

If I think about the movie, the characters are both alone in different parts of the world and they both date other people while still missing each other and never really letting go of what they had. They didn't get any closure. I could see that in the half-assed metaphor with the girl and how she and Jimin are "searching" for each other but never really getting together. In the movie, they're constantly trying to make it work but it just doesn't work. The characters are stuck in the past (again, a recurring theme in the album), and they keep trying to be together but it gets to the point where it's like "are we trying to make this work because we still love each other or because we're clinging to what we used to be?". It's in those particular feelings that the movie evokes where Jimin explanation makes sense, that it's about losing yourself because you want to stay in that fairytale with a loved one. Even if that daydream-like experience has already passed and now it's just painful and draining and a neverending circle of self-loathing because they can't be that same couple again.

Before the song/MV were out, a friend and I talked about how it would be about separation, and I thought that it could be about BTS, even. Then, Jimin actually said this:

And this:

I think it's another valid angle from which you could interpret this song, too. It would even make sense with the timing, because he said he was feeling like that during their Vegas concerts, and that was the last moments BTS were together as a group. Though I wouldn't necessarily take his words so literally. He said it began at those concerts, so it probably went on for a while after that. The songs are in order for a reason, and like crazy is one of the last songs of the album.

All in all, to me it really is unclear if this song was written based on his personal experience, a real romantic break up he actually went through, or if he was going through something else (disbandment) that he related to the story in the movie.

As for a general commentary about the album, I think he did a fantastic job at blurring the line and making songs where the subject is ambiguous. The songs can be read as being about other people, failed relationships, or they could even be read as self-criticism.

[junypr-camus]

Writer Questions Tag

Thanks for the tags, @eccaiia and @saltysupercomputer!

Tagging (softly) @dogmomwrites, @blind-the-winds, @timetobuttonmash, @aloeverawrites, and @mayonnaisepudding!

Questions:

What is your absolute all-time favourite idea you've ever had?

Is there a question you've been asked in the past that really stands out to you and you still think about sometimes?

What is your favourite part of being a writer? What parts could you take or leave?

What is your greatest motivation to write/create?

What is the best piece of advice you've ever read or been given as a writer?

What do you wish you knew when you were first starting out writing?

What is your favourite story you've written TO COMPLETION? Link it if you'd like and can!

What is your favourite out-of-the-box quote?

Which of your characters would you say has the most controversial mindset? Why do you say so and how do you personally feel about their ideals?

If you when you first started writing met you now, what would younger you think?

1. What is your absolute all-time favourite idea you've ever had?

This is pretty hard, but I think maybe the scene with the animate mannequins in The Great Mall Mirage. Because I managed to creep everyone out with the thought of plastic mannequins chasing them to the edge of an elevator shaft.

2. Is there a question you've been asked in the past that really stands out to you and you still think about sometimes?

A friend and I have always been the kind of people others go to for help (him more than me because I have harder limits than he does). I remember asking him "Do you feel that you're the one everyone goes to for help..." and he finished my thought exactly with "but when you need help there's no one to go to?" That felt like it summed up a lot of my life.

3. What is your favourite part of being a writer? What parts could you take or leave?

I love coming up with ideas, sharing them with people, and seeing how they interpret the worlds I create. I would perhaps leave the actual writing of things like info dump conversations because they can get somewhat boring.

4. What is your greatest motivation to write/create?

To explore. I realize more about myself and about the world with a pencil in my hand than anytime else.

5. What is the best piece of advice you've ever read or been given as a writer?

You can't revise a blank page. First drafts are always horrendous, but they make second drafts so much better and so much easier, because now you know what you want to say, and you can lift out the good stuff and rework everything else.

6. What do you wish you knew when you were first starting out writing?

The pacing of sentences plays a big part in conveying emotion. I used to think that I could craft the perfect scene by just choosing a few good adjectives, maybe a bit of figurative language, but it's so much more than that. It's what you say and when you say it, and also what you don't say.

7. What is your favourite story you've written TO COMPLETION? Link it if you'd like and can!

To completion? Nah.

8. What is your favourite out-of-the-box quote?

"Don't be lasagna." (I'm going to be really happy if anyone recognizes that.

9. Which of your characters would you say has the most controversial mindset? Why do you say so and how do you personally feel about their ideals?

Terry Silver. She's somewhat single-minded and a bit idealistic: she believes there's hope for a utopia and will do anything --- even letting loved ones die --- for it. Considering Seranid's about the price of change, Terry was meant to be an exploration of how far someone would be willing to go to create the world they wanted. It's up to the reader to decide if they think she's justified, but personally I think she makes her choices having weighed all the possibilities and deciding to take the risk.

10. If you when you first started writing met you now, what would younger you think?

"What the hell happened to you?" (affectionate but concerned)