#edited it a little still think it kind of looks bad but it’s an improvement :]

[twinkskeletons]

found this old drawing from last year i never posted bc i hated it lol

#my art #fall out boy #edited it a little still think it kind of looks bad but it’s an improvement :] #probably still wouldn’t post this but i’m doing another yaoi redraw rn so need something else 2 separate them out a little

[moni-logues]

A Dream Come True

Pairing: Jin x reader (afab)

Genre: roommates-to-lovers, smut/pwp

Content: masturbation (reader), use of a vibrator, protected sex

Word count: 3k

Summary: You've been fantasising about your roommate (and making it obvious) for weeks; Jin has been a little slow on the uptake, desperate to avoid awkwardness and embarrassment. It's only when he's tired and worn down from work that he finds himself able to skip over his self-consciousness and you get to find out what happens when dreams come true.

A/N: hehe, it's another repost! I feel like I haven't reposted anything for a bit. This one has had a pretty reasonable facelift but is not unrecognisable haha. The smut has (i hope) been improved significantly but that's really where most of the editing went (shocking, in a pwp, huh). It's not been read over or edited since the editing, so I might nip back and check it over tomorrow when I'm better rested haha. anyway, hope you enjoy! Missing Jin hours are always open!

* * *

It’s been a long day. You’re tired. You’re frustrated. You feel all this pent-up aggression inside you that won’t go away. You’ve been to the gym; you’ve hit that punching bag a thousand times, but you’re still too tightly-wound to sleep. You look at your phone. It’s late. You pick it up and unlock it, then pause. You were about to message a particular ‘friend’ of yours, but you think better of it. You’re not sure when Seokjin will get back and you don’t want him overhearing – not because you’re embarrassed; you just don’t want him to think you’re unavailable. You need it to be clear to him that there’s nothing standing in his way… if he wants to go there, that is. 

Truth be told, you’re not sure he does want that. You feel as if you’ve been obvious enough recently; you live together, for god’s sake, so there’s plenty of opportunity! But he hasn’t taken the bait. You can’t decide whether this is because he’s not noticed (possible) or he has noticed but is pretending not to so he doesn’t have to out-and-out reject you (also possible, but you hope not the case). You feel reasonably confident, knowing him as well as you do, that he would do the right thing and tell you if you were barking up the wrong tree. But that doesn’t explain why he hasn’t given any indication that he’s picked up on your feelings. Short of walking around naked or grabbing and kissing him on a random Thursday night, there’s not a lot you haven’t done to make it clear. Or that’s what you think anyway; you’ve never had to work quite this hard before. Sometimes it makes it difficult to hope. Other times (like right now), it makes you frustrated. 

You were already frustrated and this has not helped. you shake your head and blow out a a deep breath; there’s no point getting annoyed about it and there’s no point making any sort of decision or taking any kind of action now: it’s late and brains do not work well at night. No good decisions are made after 9pm. You know this. 

You finish brushing your hair and slide into bed, taking some slow, calming breaths. You close your eyes and continue thinking about Jin but in slightly different terms. You fantasise about what you would do if you were together; when he comes in from work, so late, so over-worked, and you kiss him gently and take off his clothes. He wraps his long arms around you and sucks at your neck. He’s tired, but never too tired for you. As if your lips were electricity, each kiss makes him feel more alive. He lifts you and carries you over to the bed where you straddle him and grind your hips, his cock already hard, already straining against the thin fabric of his underwear. 

You imagine wrapping your fingers around him then your lips. You don’t just imagine your hand running down your body and slipping into your own underwear. You’re wet and aching for him. Naturally.  

“Fuck,” you whisper to yourself; you have got it bad. Big time.  

A thought passes fleetingly into your head: god, what would happen if he came in right now? if he knew what I was thinking? A tremor of excitement runs through your body like an electric shock. 

What if he liked it? 

You know, somewhere in your Smart Brain, that if he came in right now, things would not unfold in the way you are fantasising, that it would likely be awkward and embarrassing and could ruin things between you forever. But your Smart Brain is so not in control anymore. So you let your mind continue to roam around his body—his body and yours, tangled, entwined, hot, sticky, hearts racing, blood rushing. You bite your lip, trying to be quiet and then remember that he’s not even home, so you let yourself be loud. It’s not the real deal but this is as close as you can get and besides, who knows your body better than you do? 

*  *  * 

It’s been a long day. Jin is tired. He looks at the clock and can’t believe he’s not even left the building yet. They had been promised that they’d get off at a reasonable hour today; it was assured. Then things just kept coming up and now it’s almost 11pm and he’s still at work. He rubs a hand across his eyes and sighs, blinking hard. His contacts are bothering him but he doesn’t have his glasses – it was supposed to be a short day after all. It’s giving him a headache and he can’t concentrate. What is even the point of their being there? No one makes good decisions so late at night. 

He stands suddenly and announces that he’s off home. He tells the others to do the same; they can get back to work tomorrow but, right now, they all need their rest. 

He had cycled in this morning, but there’s no way he’s going to ride his bike all the way back home. He takes a taxi and almost nods off in the backseat. He trudges into the building, leaning heavily against the lift wall as it takes him to his floor. He has to heave himself off it when the doors open, moving so slowly that they almost shut before he makes it out.  

When he gets into the apartment, he sighs with relief: finally home. Like a weight instantly lifted, he feels lighter, more comfortable, even just standing in the hallway.  

He walks to the kitchen and grabs a glass of water, drinking it at the sink, wondering if you’re still awake. He feels grumpy and frustrated and would really like to hang out for a bit, chill and unwind, but he doesn’t want to disturb you. 

He’s felt things change between you recently and he’s not sure what to do about it. Initially flustered by your sudden flirting, he feels like he has missed his window to respond appropriately and has just made things awkward. It’s not that he’s not interested, not at all, but it’s different when you live with someone. You can’t go home from a date when you live with the person you’re dating; it’s like living on a date and who wants that? It’s complicated- well, it would be complicated if anything happened between you. He’s thought about it; he really has. A lot, actually. Come to think of it now, he looks towards your bedroom door – slightly ajar – and, in the silence of the apartment, his ears focused, he hears you. 

*  *  * 

One hand tightly grips the sheets whilst the other holds your favourite vibrator against you. You rut against it, trying to let go and give in, but frustration lingers. It’s not the same. All you can think about is Jin, the mysteries of his long, lean body, his unknown face as he comes, the unheard sounds of pleasure escaping his lips. 

Jin stands just outside your room, and he’s about to knock but something stops him. He knows this could be a disastrous move. Awful. Could ruin everything. But he’s tired and not necessarily thinking straight and he also knows that this could be the very thing to get the two of you over this hump. 

He opens your door and walks in. With your eyes shut, you don’t see him enter but you notice his presence and your eyes fly open as he shuts the door with a click. Your eyes meet and his expression is unreadable. You aren’t sure what to do; this could be the very thing you’ve just been fantasising about or it could be the most excruciatingly embarrassing moment you’ve ever shared. 

“Are you thinking about me?” Jin asks, not breaking eye contact.  

He starts to unbutton his shirt and it’s discarded on the floor before you’ve even processed his question. 

Your heart is beating even faster now as adrenalin floods your system. You feel your mouth suddenly go dry as you take in his bare chest, his fingers unbuckling his belt, pushing his trousers to the floor. You must be dreaming. Literally. You’ve fallen asleep and this is a dream because there’s no way Jin just walked into your room, no way he’s standing over you looking at you with thinly veiled desire in his eyes, no way he’s palming at his cock, stiffening quickly under his touch, straining against the fabric of his underwear. 

“Yes,” you whisper in response, your voice taken by your breathlessness. You nod for good measure. 

He nods. 

“I’ve been thinking about you, too.” 

Then he hooks his thumbs in the waistband of his boxers and drags them down his legs, stepping out of them, coming closer, kneeling over you. Your mouth opens and closes, trying to catch a word, a sound, something but there’s nothing, nothing until he slips two fingers inside you and you can’t stop the whine that leaves your mouth. Nor can you stop the tilt of your hips, the clench of your walls. He smirks, withdraws, and puts those two fingers at your mouth. Still eye-to-eye, you close your lips around his fingers and suck. His eyelids flutter briefly and you see his Adam’s apple bob as he swallows. You’re transfixed just looking at him. 

Having licked his fingers clean, he pulls them back from your mouth and the world seems to stop spinning for a moment. Time holds its breath as you and Seokjin look at each other, pausing for a fraction of a second... 

Then it passes and, instantly, you’re in each other’s arms. You bite at his bee-stung lips and he sweeps your hair aside to kiss your jaw and your neck and your shoulder. Your bodies press so closely together, you can feel his heart thumping in his chest; you run your hands through his hair, across his shoulders, down his arms. You can feel him pressed against your thigh and your walls clench in anticipation. It’s quick and frantic and a blur of lips and limbs and breathless words barely uttered, barely heard. It really is like a dream, everything moving simultaneously too fast and too slow, everything a blur and everything in hyper-focus; real and fantastical and you feel so fully in your body as he touches you whilst also feeling disembodied, like you’re floating above yourself watching this happen. Your skin is alight, everywhere, burning where he presses his lips, tingling where he lays his hands. They wander down your body and spread goosebumps all over, a spark shivering down your spine. It’s already almost overwhelming. And you had been so, so close before he interrupted.  

You’re suddenly impatient. As much as you are enjoying this part, you can’t wait any longer. Turning quickly, you grab a condom from your bedside table and make quick work of its application. You grab Jin’s shoulders and pull him around, pushing him back against the headboard. Without wasting another second, you take his hot, heavy cock and lower yourself onto it, sighing as you take him all the way to the hilt. Then you pause. 

You stay like that for a beat. It feels so fucking good to be so fucking full of him but there’s a stretch to accommodate all of him and you give yourself a second to adjust. A second in which his hands squeeze hard at your glutes, in which his lips press lightly at your jaw and his teeth graze at the delicate skin of your neck. There’s a shudder as he bites down and you keen, clenching against him until he groans.  

You start to roll your hips and it somehow isn’t anything at all like you imagined. Reality has obliterated your fantasies and you can’t even remember what you had been thinking about minutes prior. He’s hotter and leaner and bigger and smoother and stronger. As you stare into his dark, dark eyes, you still can’t bring yourself to believe that this is real, but you can‘t believe it is a dream either because you couldn’t have imagined the exact way the head of his cock hits your g-spot just right with each stroke; you couldn’t have imagined the sounds he’s making or the words he’s saying. He fills your vision, the rest of the room – the rest of the world – a blur to you now.  

You lean your head on his shoulder to catch your breath for a moment and Jin wraps his arms around you, rolling and then lowering you onto your back. He kisses you deeply and guides himself back into you, thrusting slowly at first, then picking up the pace. His eyebrows are brought together in a light frown, his mouth pouty and slack; you look at him, making a study of his face, this face that you’ve imagined a thousand times but never seen before. You think he is a work of art.  

You tip your head back and he kisses your chest, sucking on your nipple as his fingers rub teasingly at your clit. You feel full and tight, your entire body stretched to its limits, ready to burst, ready to pop. You’re back at the cliff’s edge again, teetering over it, and then Jin’s fingers press harder, move faster and your rhythm stumbles. Every muscle in your body goes tense, your teeth catching flesh between them, your nails digging into his shoulders as you come. You hear him pant, vocal little ‘ah’s as your cunt clutches him in spasm. Then all the tension and frustration leaves your body at once.  

“I’ve wanted you for so long,” you whisper in his ear, hands wandering to any part of his body you can reach. “I’ve imagined this so many times.” 

He kisses your cheek and his hair tickles your face. So many times you’ve thought about this happening and so many details you’ve missed: the smell of his shampoo, the long dip in his back where his spine sits, the flush in his cheeks, the way his fingers wrap all the way around your wrist. 

“And is it like you imagined?” he asks, his voice breathy and strained. 

“No.” 

He stutters and looks at you, surprised, confused. 

“It’s so much better,” you purr. 

He laughs and shakes his head. You tilt your hips and bring your legs up, allowing him to get even deeper, and he thrusts harder in response, gripping your thigh tightly. It hits you, this post-orgasm clarity, the reality of this situation. It is happening. Really, truly for real. A thousand and one of your fantasies coming true at once. A shiver ripples through you and you can feel the pressure building inside you again.  

Jin is fucking you. Jin, with one hand tangled in your hair. Jin with those big, brown eyes looking, right at you, right now. Jin whose stupid laugh wakes you up when he’s gaming at 3am. Jin who will watch whatever you put on the telly, no matter how much he claims to hate it. Jin who cooks for you. Jin who tells his mother when you’re ill so she will make her home remedies to make you better. Jin who is kind and sweet and funny and (not so) secretly sensitive and wise and-… that Jin. That Jin. Your Jin. Your friend. Your roommate. That Jin is fucking you. That Jin is kissing you and praising you and putting one hand between your flushed, hot bodies to find your clit.  

“Fuck,” you whimper, your toes starting to curl. 

He starts moving faster and the wave of pleasure hits you again. Submerged in a sea of ecstasy, you pull him under with you and feel his muscles twitch as he comes with a grunt, with a gasp, with you. He presses his forehead against yours and you pull his face closer, kissing him so hard you can’t breathe. He kisses your lips and your cheeks, your ear and jaw and neck. He lies heavily on top of you, breathing deeply. 

There’s not a breath of space between you and the moment hangs suspended, like a sword of Damocles. This probably shouldn’t have happened like this. One of you is going to have to say something, shine the light on this now that you’re both sated and spent. You’re going to have to talk about this, properly. But, right at this moment, neither of you is thinking about that. Neither of you is thinking much at all. Just feeling: your hot skin pressed together, the tiny breeze of his breath against your neck, the pounding of your heart in your chest; you’ve never been more fully in your body than you are now.  

Jin groans as he lifts himself up and off you, crossing the room to throw away the condom. You see his eyes glance down at his discarded clothes, but you don’t want him to put them on. It’s cold in the space that he’s left in your bed and you want him back there. You beckon him and he obeys, crawling in next to you and curling into your side.  

“You were back late,” you say after a minutes or two’s silence, mostly just for something to say, because it feels like one of you has to. 

Jin grunts in response and you aren’t even sure if he’s still conscious, his eyelashes fluttering against his cheeks.  

“Work,” he mumbles eventually. “I’m going to call in sick tomorrow.” 

“Yeah?” 

“Yeah, you should, too.”  

“Why’s that?” 

“We’ve come down with something terrible,” he explains, tightening his grip on you. “We can’t even make it out of bed.” 

You can feel his lips stretch against your skin as he grins and you roll your eyes, but you’re smiling, too.  

“Is that right?” 

He nods. 

“Yeah, I think it’ll be at least 24 hours until we’re better.”  

“I was thinking 48.” 

“Exactly.” 

#bts fanfic #jin fanfic #bts smut #jin smut #bts x reader #jin x reader #mmm repost

[sam-glade]

Reducing verbosity, improving clarity

Part 3/3 of my editing process. Part 1 link. Part 2 link.

This is what I do to a novel or a novella before showing it to anyone (including beta readers). I’m posting it in hopes that it will help someone, and I’m not expecting it to work for everyone. Take any parts that help you!

The goal of this step is to make the style more crisp and direct. If you're going for a slow or very poetic style, this may not be as applicable.

Two things up front:

‘Imperfect’ doesn’t mean ‘bad’. Good writing can have imperfections.

The goal is to get the manuscript to a stage where the imperfections won’t be distracting to beta readers.

The idea is to convey the maximum amount of meaning in the minimum number of words. Be as specific as you can.

Large paragraphs

I go over the manuscript and compare the size of paragraphs. If they look close to square on a laptop screen, I’ll see what I can do about them. I personally don’t mind a paragraph of description or exposition, but the one rule I adhere to is that it must be immediately connected to what the character is thinking, feeling, or talking about. 

E.g. I need to give a description of the uniform most of my characters wear.

‘So he sat there in the ashen coatee with white facings, unbuttoned to reveal a white waistcoat, both creased after a long day. Little swords on his shoulder straps signified his division, and three stripes on the buttons of his jacket marked him as a sergeant. His long slim Sword was at his side — not as slim as a rapier, and with only a simple cross-guard over the grip. And yes, it looked more silvery than cold iron should, and it glowed faintly in the dark, but when it was sheathed, it looked very ordinary. I’m just a simple Sword, Ianim’s appearance said. Move along; there’s nothing interesting about me.’ → I deliberately highlight the details about the weapon that are out of ordinary, AND explain how Ianim feels about the outfit.

If it doesn’t do that at the end, and is still long, it needs to be shortened or tied into the current situation.

Laundry list of actions

Here, I’m looking for paragraphs that list a handful of actions, without any introspection or description. It usually means I’m spelling out every little action, when the reader will fill in the blanks easily if I remove a good portion of them. It’s things like ‘looked around and located X’ or ‘walked across the room’.

E.g. ‘He rolled his eyes around, trying to locate whoever was speaking. He felt a faint touch on his left shoulder and twitched, promptly hissing in pain. The hand was withdrawn. He gathered his strength and turned his head in that direction.’ → I don’t lose anything by cutting the first sentence. In fact, it works better without a convoluted description of looking around.

Too many clauses

Another kind of sentence that I come across in my drafts is of the form ‘Something was X and Y happened to it’, which can be rephrased as a single clause.

E.g. ‘The roof had collapsed in one corner, and water dripped through it.’ → ‘Water dripped through a hole in the corner of the roof.’

E.g. ‘Once Master Varré had returned and deposited the supplies in the kitchen, the four of them sat down to a simple meal.’ → ‘Once Master Varré had deposited the supplies in the kitchen…’

Reiterating spoken words with actions

I want my dialogue and action tags to add something new to what’s said, not reiterate it. I look for actions like ‘sighed’, ‘frowned’, ‘nodded’, ‘shook their head’. I’m NOT advocating for removing all of them by any means. They’re sometimes needed to induce a pause in dialogue, and are slightly better than saying ‘he paused’. Quite often, an ellipsis will work just as well.

Examples of reiterating dialogue:

“It’s taught in the second year of the cadet course, but…” He frowned. “I don’t see why not? → remove ‘He frowned’

Gullin nodded sharply. “Yes, ma’am.” → the line of dialogue can be cut.

“I can’t deny it. It is regrettable, but I don’t think I can deny it.” He sighed. “I wish it wasn’t the case though.” → remove the dialogue tag. Yes, when I read this sentence, I instinctively hear a sigh there, but nothing hinges on it being there, and removing it doesn’t mess up the rhythm.

“Do you not want to take it outside, sir?” Gullin checked. Master Varré thought about it, but shook their head. “Not necessary. We are not going to release our Swords.” → remove ‘not necessary’

Dialogue thing that I do

On a similar dialogue-related note: as I write I ‘hear’ the words spoken in the character’s voice in my head. As a result, I VERY often end up with dialogue, where the action in the tag is performed by a character other than the one who’s speaking – usually to indicate a pause or a non-verbal reaction.

E.g. 

Master Varré sprang out of their chair and started pacing around the hall. Lissan watched them warily.

“We need evidence, solid evidence before we can mention this to anyone. No offence, kid, but your word won’t cut it.” Lissan nodded seriously; he’d expected nothing less. “I’m going to Redguard to check [their] records.”

→ This is spoken by Varré, not Lissan, though the action tag indicates something to the contrary. I need to add something like ‘they said’ to clarify it. 

Another dialogue thing that I do

A couple of my characters deliberately hide their emotions, and their reactions are measured. I tend to indicate it with phrases like ‘he allowed himself a sigh of relief’ or ‘he permitted himself a small smile’. Now, I want to bring it to the reader’s attention, when the character’s control is important in the scene – e.g. they’re keeping their cool during an argument, and allowing themselves a small smug smile when they come out on top. However, it’s not adding anything when their self-control doesn’t contribute to the conversation – which is most of the time. Even then, not every controlled reaction has to be preceded by a phrase like this; a few mentions are enough to establish the background tension, but soon it gets repetitive.

Hence, I’ll remove it:

Every time – in conversations where the characters can relax, e.g. when talking to their buddies at a pub.

Most of the time when the character’s self-control is important. I’d leave it in no more than half of the gestures (smiling, sighing, rolling shoulders, rubbing their eyes, etc.).

Thesaurusising/rephrasing

Especially in narration and in longer paragraphs, I find sentences of the form ‘they tended/liked/had a talent for doing X and Y’, where X and Y are close in meaning. I can remove one of them or replace them with a more generic word that covers both.

‘She had an incredible talent for reading hints between the lines and figuring out what was not said’ → Yes, that’s exactly what reading between the lines means. I’m removing the second clause.

Sometimes, especially in dialogue, I leave the rephrasing for dramatic effect, but only when I’m confident that it adds something.

E.g. “Because ever since I’ve met him, he wanted to be seen not as the Prince Successor, not as a grandson of the White Dragon, but a normal guy.” → this stays as is.

Describing the obvious

There’s usually no reason to describe something that the reader can reasonably assume to be the case. E.g. if you say it’s raining, you don’t need to follow it up by saying the clouds covered the sky.

UNLESS

The few exceptions I can think of:

One of my characters focuses on their surroundings to avoid doing something. E.g. they aren’t in a mood to talk and they let a conversation happen around them without listening, they focus on the chips in the walls or the grain of wood on the table.

When a character is bored or waiting for something, they might look around their surroundings. Adding descriptions to pass the time is often a good alternative to saying ‘they waited’.

When the ‘homely’ is surprising. E.g. the character has been on a run for a while, squatting in abandoned buildings or sleeping outdoors. When they finally get home, I’d elaborate on the comfort of it, to pull the reader out of the default atmosphere of the last few chapters.

I still consider these tricks to be exceptions to the rules – best used sparingly.

#editing #writing #writing tips #writing advice #novel writing #creative writing #writeblr #writeblr community #writers of tumblr #writing resources

[babyangelsky]

BL Challenge 2k24 ✨Day 5✨

Hello and welcome to @negrowhat's 15 Day BL Challenge! Full challenge can be found here.

Biggest Flop: Beyond the Star (2023)

*long sigh*

Listen, I don't exactly have what I'd call highbrow taste in dramas. I wouldn't even say I have good or consistent taste. I have the taste of a radioactive raccoon living in a Waffle House dumpster and the consistency of Texas spring weather. I have the kind of taste where I haven't watched I Told Sunset About You but I've seen Work from Heart twice. Questionable taste, to put it nicely.

(As an aside, yes, I know ITSAY is a masterpiece. Everyone says it's a masterpiece and I'm sure it is but I've seen the experience of watching it be compared to being run over by a freight train and it's hard to go into something knowing it'll make you cry and piss you off and possibly give you second lead syndrome (I think?). Maybe that's just me, maybe it's a skill issue. I don't know. What I do know is that Work from Heart doesn't feel like getting run over by a freight train and also I only watched it because @poetry-protest-pornography made a post about how great and sincerely horny the love scene was and I always show up for genuine and sincere horniness because that's the kind of degenerate I am. But I'm getting off track.)

I'm an easy girl to please. The only thing I ask of any media I consume is that it entertain me, and if a piece of media can do that, then it has done its job. I try not to go into any show with expectations and generally, I'll give most things a chance if they pique my interest. I think I've only dropped about three shows in my year and change of watching BL.

But having said all that, even an inconsistent degen radioactive raccoon like me couldn't get through more than two episodes of Beyond the Star. Actually I don't think I even made it that far, I might've clicked off halfway through the second one.

When I first saw the pilot I thought, "oh boy, this is going to be a messy fun time!" And I love a messy fun time! But then the trailer came out and I saw that they'd seemingly cut the storyline I was looking forward to the most and I started getting a little nervous. But I still had hope! Maybe they just hadn't shown it in the trailer.

Then the show came out.

It wasn't a messy fun time, it was just a mess. Watching the first episode was such a bizarre experience. I can't remember ever watching a show that just...didn't introduce any of the characters? Like they genuinely gave us nothing in terms of exposition. It felt like we were starting off on episode two or three instead of episode one.

We had no idea who these boys were, why they were here, how they were connected, why the hell we were supposed to care about any of them, NOTHING! Not a blessed thing! And that's not even mentioning the stiff, weird dialogue and acting, the odd pacing, audio issues, and editing.

Genuinely the only enjoyable part of what I saw of this show were the fucking cityscape transition shots.

Like look how pretty that is.

From what I understand there were production issues and scheduling conflicts that resulted in things having to be cut and restructured which obviously affected the final product. I took a look at the reviews on the MDL page just out of curiosity and the general (scathing) consensus is that this show just wasn't it. Things started off bad and just never improved.

#BLChallenge2k24 #beyond the star

[sovonight]

drafting radri's mage dress

i started with a shoulder princess sloper—it actually takes cup size into account, which was a big selling point for me, and the bust fit perfectly with no adjustments! i still had to edit it though ofc, the waist was too low and i took it in a bit

i made a first draft with most of the actual features of the dress, in red flannel because that's what i had lying around lol. i french seamed everything (i wanted to learn how to do sleeves & slits with french seams), but my final fabric is on the heavier side of lightweight so i'll have to stick with regular seam finishes for the real thing

the hemline does lift a little in the front when i belt it bc extra fabric has to go under the bust, and i'll be adjusting the princess seam just a liiittle bit, but i don't wanna take the princess seams fully in towards the underbust or anything because then it wouldn't look right if i didn't have a belt on. and anyway the lift isn't that bad either because this'll be ankle length, so 1) who's really looking down there and 2) if anything it'll help me not step on the front hem

oh and the left and right cuffs are different bc i didn't know if i wanted to stick with the pointed cuff i drew. i knew i'd have to add a little loop to the pointed cuff in real life if i didn't want it to shift around, and didn't really wanna do that so i was prepared to just go with the regular non-pointed cuff, but then the regular cuff kept rotating willy-nilly too and i got annoyed at that, so. pointed cuff with a little loop it is

in the drawing i closed the cuffs with ribbon ties, but in real life i uh. can't imagine being able to tie those cuffs closed alone. so i just put buttons there 🤷 which will be a little annoying if i have my wrists down against a surface, like if i'm typing or something, but i kind of feel like i won't be typing in this garment (if i even wear it at all after i finish it lmao). i did think about migrating the button closure to the outside of the wrist, like suit jacket placement, but i feel like it'd look a little weird on the pointed style cuff 😖 and anyway suit jacket sleeve buttons bother me when i leave my wrist against a surface too lol so it wouldn't be a huge improvement

i used this method to attach the collar and sleeve cuffs, which i like the result of but never like executing. it wasn't as tedious on this muslin since i was lazy and didn't baste or press anything, but on the final i'll have to do everything i skipped 😣

anyway the next step is to tweak the pattern a bit and make it ankle length, then make another muslin in my semi-final fabric (semi-final bc it's the same as my final fabric but just in a different color). i'm actually pleasantly surprised that this hasn't felt like a ton of work yet—probably because it doesn't need a lining lol

[greenerteacups]

Merry Swiftmas! I saw your note at the end of the most recent chapter. What are you Tortured Poet Department thoughts and feelings?

Literally just got back from a listening party so this is all coming in VERY fresh and unprocessed but first reactions:

The unfortunate exigencies of Industry Shit have kind of hurt Swift creatively because (1) she's been taught she can have her cake and eat it too with the Grammy-winning 15-track sonically cohesive tone album if she just drops it separately as the first act of a 30-song behemoth deluxe edition/multiverse of bonus tracks, and (2) the Vault Tracks have taught her that fans actually do want to hear every single thing she writes, even if she (rightly) might have thought it wasn't release-quality 5-10 years ago. Long story short there is a good album in here but it needs to be TIGHTLY pruned out because a lot of these songs are either underwritten or underdeveloped or both. She should've focused her energy on improving a smaller set (i.e. cleaning out some of the clunker lines, tightening melodies, giving each song its own identity) and cutting like, more or less the last third of the tracks. That being said! I did like a lot of it.

I also think some people fail to understand Swift is a pop artist making pop music. When we say she's a good lyricist, we don't mean she's fucking Samuel Coleridge, it means she uses the medium of a pop song successfully to communicate a mood or an emotional experience. Pop is vernacular; it's supposed to evoke the kind of language you hear every day. Not surprisingly, I find her at her best when she's not trying to affect some kind of heightened poetic mood. Songs like "Would've, Could've, Should've" straddle this line pretty well for me, because it's not affected, it's just... intelligently thought-through. It's a single metaphor, taken from multiple angles, explained well, and set to a great melody. It's not trying to impress you, but it still does. Anyway.

Miscellaneous/specific thoughts:

"Guilty as Sin?" is my favorite, it's going to be one of my most played songs of the year, both for reasons of Oh Shit It Me and because I'm just straight up in love with the sound of this motherfucker. No analysis it makes the happy juices in the brain go

Other favorites: So Long London, Fresh Out The Slammer, The Bolter, Daddy I Love Him

"thank you aimee" is a reprise of "Mean" addressed semi-obviously to Kim K/the Collective Nation of Haters of Taylor Swift, which was a weak diss track when it was a teenager singing it and has not improved in the mouth of a 30-something artist

"But Daddy I Love Him" is conversely a very successful ironic reprise of "Love Story," and I'm fond of it because it reads like a love letter to the girls who grew up on that song

Interesting strains of Reputation on "Little Old Me," I feel like there was an earlier draft of this song that went harder on the Bad Blood/Don't Blame Me vibe, but she's still scarred from the critical reaction to reputation and hasn't fully gone there since. Which is why someday I will throttle the Pitchfork editor with my bare hands

Florida!!! feels like it needed some more production besides Jack Antonoff sitting on the synths with a jackhammer but I do like it. The bridge/second half sounds a lot like a Bleachers song (compliment)

"So High School" was sweet and I was surprised by how much I liked that and "The Alchemy," both of which are fun but ultimately simple and sentimental — which is GOOD to be clear I don't go looking for Proust in my pop music, and simplicity can be a virtue

However, I scream-laughed in a full room when I heard the line "you can ball and I know Aristotle," and I look forward to thinking about it once a day for the next forever. Insane. So good. Also, like — Taylor, have you read the Politics? You are legally obligated to tell us now if you have read the Politics.

#greenteacup asks

[bosskie]

Molluck Study Night

Man, I don't remember when was the last time I managed to draw this many sketches in a day... Last night I studied Molluck's anatomy, so the rest of the sketches here will be about naked Molluck. But this was the last one I did since I also wanted to just practice drawing his face. I had no idea how to draw him but then I just looked at those cutscenes and wanted to draw this one because he is just so cute when he is pondering after looking at the blimps in the first part of the good ending! This wasn't easy one to draw and I actually fixed this a bit digitally since I realized my mistakes while editing the photo of this... It just feels like I still have so much to learn how to draw this Gluk... I feel like I lack of something, making me unable to ever be professional in art, but maybe I just haven't been doing enough art, studies etc...

But currently, I do am trying to improve my art since I feel like I'm just stuck and haven't really improved in a decade... So, here's some random Molluck anatomy studies, being in order I made them:

These are actually quickly made sketches, so that's how I was actually able to draw this much in one night... Though, I finished that portrait after waking up since I become too sleepy to finish it. I personally feel like these sketches only show how poor my anatomy skills are, so I wasn't even sure if I post these or not but well, still wanted to be brave and show my poor skills bare naked, just like Molluck is... This is just how I feel about these sketches... They show my real skill level and I don't think that it's good... Well, gotta just keep drawing. Though, I do still sketch a lot poorer stuff when I try to figure out how to realize my drawing ideas... Well, I guess that I could give you a look at these actually awful sketches:

All of these are made for a sketch/drawing I have posted here. (Yes, I tend to sketch stuff using Paint.) Frankly, this is how I tend to see my skills, how I feel when I look at my stuff... I know that it's not nice to see an artist calling their art bad but I just wanna be honest, like brutally honest about how I see my stuff, so here's kinda like a visualisation of how I see my stuff, at least during my worst moments... There do are moments when I do feel like I can actually draw but they seem to be just little moments and I'm soon back to thinking about that I cannot draw a thing. It's depressing and it makes me feel kinda depressed when I look at the stuff on this post but well, this blog has also kinda been about the journey I have been doing with my Molluck art/stuff, in many ways.

I'm sorry but I just cannot pretend that I loved my art... I love Molluck so much but at the same time, I just hate myself so much... I don't even know why but I just feel like my life is already a failure... Just feel like how this stuff shows how I cannot truly draw... How me being skilled is just a lie... Man, I just have so bad impostor syndrome... I feel the best when I forget myself but when I think about myself, it only depresses me... I just tend to think that every energy/time/etc. spent on me is wasted...

Even looking at the stuff on this post makes me feel worse, I still wanna post this bad art. I just don't feel like that the portrait looks great either but I tried my best and that's the main thing. I just feel so bad about myself... It feels like I'm only able to practice self-love thru Molluck, making him being kind to me while I tell myself the worst possible things... This is one of the reasons why he is so important to me... He is the one that tells me inside my head not to do it, not to end it all... Frankly, like I said some time ago, it's actually like a mundane thing for me to think about suicidal things, just nothing special anymore, it's been so long like this, over a decade... This also kinda one reason why I'm so open about my own situation, I'm getting so tired of this... To describe how awful my mind is, I can say that it has just laughed at me when I have been reading about how seriously suicidal thoughts should be taken, said how I'm not worth saving but all the others are...

But I'm still trying to fight, even I have felt like life is pointless for over a decade... The cycle of life has just felt so odd: born, grow up, (breed,) die... Like, what's the point of this all? Why to live, why to survive... Thinking this stuff was the reason why I got depressed, just don't understand the point of living, doing anything in life... Maybe it's my personality that just makes me unable to enjoy life, stop caring about this... But like I have said, I do still feel like I'm a failure, so I'll never really be anything... This is how I just feel and I don't know how to stop feeling like this... Just everything I have 'achieved' feels like mere luck or 'lucky mistakes'... I just feel like I'm a living lie, my impostor syndrome is this bad...

I don't wanna depress anyone else but my blog has kinda become like this, that I also write how I'm doing with my mind since it affects my stuff a lot and Molluck kinda just keeps my mental health 'in place'. I really had some positive things in mind to write here but I just cannot when I feel like my 'art' looks so bad right now... Well, another time then. I'm sorry but I'm just fighting for my own life with my mind... Since I more like hate my creations, I'm only able to show my stuff related to Molluck since this Gluk is just the love of my life... This was also the reason why I didn't take part in that OWI's fan celebration thing they just held, just have no mood for making my stuff more visible, show it around but here. Like I have said many times, I felt like deleting my submission to that SoulStorm tattoo contest I won, it just looked so bad in my opinion... I only wish I was able to see what the people who enjoy my stuff see... Why is my mind just trying to kill me, but there somewhere I still know that I'm not so awful as my ill mind tells me, that I do have hope, that I shouldn't take my own life... Man, brains are so odd too...

I don't wish that I end this all because of all the bad things I tell myself. I more like wish that me being open about this can help the others like me. That's why I'm also working on a game related to mental health issues like mine. Thinking about publishing/showing it makes me feel nervous though but I'm trying my best with being able to show my stuff since my life kinda depends on it... Man, why it's so difficult to feel anything positive about myself... I seriously don't know why I hate myself so much... Why I have so high expectations for myself... Why I feel like I can do nothing in reality...

#molluck #oddworld molluck #molluck the glukkon #oddworld #art like a bosskie

[boringbones]

What do you think The Sims 4 should have been? How should they have looked? I see people say they have the best graphics in the series and damn, that's a slander. I think The Sims 4 should have been an evolution of The Sims 3 and instead it looks cartoony and the shadows don't even catch the sims. I even think The Sims 2 looks better than The Sims 4, I think the sims can look great with a lot of custom content but that's the only thing because the world looks so papery and so green. I'm asking you this because I think you're one of the most objective simmers right now and I think you really appreciate The Sims 3.

Objectively, this is what The Sims 4 should have been. A significant evolution of the 3, keeping everything the 3 brought, without the performance issues of that period. That at least was what I expected when the first image came out. It sold us mystery, it sold us the idea of interconnected narratives like in ts2, it sold us the idea of a game that would bring everything that was left out in ts3, but that was in 2!

It's very kind of you, thank you for seeing me that way. My take on Ts4 is that the game is in the condition it is in and part of that is the fault of the extremely "positivist" community. Who celebrates Patch who brings class to the kit, and is happy with considerably superficial and insignificant deliveries.

I've been playing The Sims for 19 years. I criticized The Sims 3 a lot in its time, for (compared to ts2) presenting sims so robotic and with "hard" animations. This has improved over time and HAPPY is fixable. My idealization is that I wouldn't complain about this in ts4, however, 4 went the complete opposite way, giving us goofy sims that look more like they were made for kids than adults. They are literally silly. There is no significant consequence, there is no risk.

What made Ts1, 2 and 3 special was not in 4. However, I cannot deny that The Sims 4 was perhaps one of the games that best managed to represent the original idea of The Sims: House Building Simulator. Houses and Sims. But that alone doesn't sustain what The Sims franchise has become. That goes far beyond these two concepts. By the way, it's not because the ts4's CAS is push and pull that it's the best. It's easier to work on sims in ts2 and 3 with sliders than in 4, especially if you decide to change "ethnic" traits. Since, if you choose the wrong eye, and spend two hours editing it, you'll have to start all over again on the next swatch (model) you choose.

The Sims 4 needs to end. But if it's approaching 10 years, the community is responsible for that. Every time someone annulled themselves, every time someone stopped criticizing, every time someone accepted it and thought it was normal, it corroborated for that. It is worth remembering that it took almost a "third war" on twitter, to give us more variation of skins. And I ask: Do we REALLY deserve to go through this? Should we really lower the bar to charge for essentials?

The Sims 4 is so popular for embracing diversity, but TS3 did it without show, and the mainstream media never applauded it for it. Why? Because he was performing a natural evolution, it was his destiny. In 4, however, it seems that they program evolutions, to be applauded, handing us first a piece of dry bread, then a nice sandwich and…: "Aren't you going to applaud us? We're doing everything you asked!" In exchange for what?

The Sims 4 didn't even have a family tree in the base game. This is a bad joke. To those offended, I can only apologize, I'm not talking about you, I'm giving my opinion about this generation of almost 10 years. As a longtime Simmer, I've never seen maxis deliver so little, charge so much and still be idolized for it. This was not the maxis that revolutionized the industry 20 years ago.

And Yes!! Nothing beats the sims 2 even today.

In addition to having extremely malleable graphics that can look amazingly good 20 years later, it has the best lighting system in the entire franchise and the CRAZIEST sims (WHICH I LOVE)

By the way, do the poles light up the roofs on the ts4 too? (I really have no idea)

[jovenshires]

wait smosh taskmaster would be SUCH a massive slay wow. immediately my mind went to shayne as alex horne ! but greg i could see as diff options bc i don’t think any cast members embody that archetype personality wise as is but i could def see them put their own spins on em as a character if that makes sense ? would love to see what damien or chanse could come up with (bonus pts for being tall). but i also just realized arasha would be good too lmaoo. OH and that tommy as greg and spencer as alex would be SO good. and then for contestants would love to have angela, two that don’t end up in the above roles, keith, and than a rando crew member that we don’t see that often to shake it up - maybe vida bc they killed it in tntl and they do improv? wait also loved patrick making a reappearance so him as well. obvi would love to see most of the cast /crew participate as contestants if it’s like a recurring series ! ok clearly this show is perf for smosh considering i included a bajillion people in this ask pls kiana i’m begging 🙏 - spencersagnew

@spencersagnew YOU. YOU GET ME. i love your takes,,,, shayne as alex and arasha as greg specifically is everything to me. i'll put my cast out there but your takes are incredible and you've never been wrong.

tommy as the taskmaster. i think he just has that dry humor and can lean into the antagonistic nature really well while still being a fair judge and interacting well with the contestants. he's also just one of my favorite hosts of anything ever so ill let him do whatever he wants

garrett as the taskmaster's assistant. LISTEN. LISTEN. we need someone pathetic. someone who can be a punching bag. someone who's a little unhinged. someone who will get bullied by the cast and just take it, but also someone who has the Audacity. and That's Garrett. he fits the bill. i'll say honorable mention to shayne bc i think he would do this really well too but there's something about garrett that i think people would just take to using him as a puppet, a prop, whatever they needed for their tasks. and then get shit from him as soon as they're in the studio.

ian as contestant number one (The Grumpy Old Man). look, i have the taskmaster casting system boiled down to a science. i truly believe almost every cast can fit into these categories (almost! almost all!) and so i'm going by the same metric for smoshmaster. and we're starting off strong with the grumpy old man archetype. i think he'll be generally annoyed by everything. tommy, garrett, the other contestants, the tasks, whatever. he has a really dry sense of humor that'll balance everybody else out, and an above-it-all attitude that you can't help but respect. examples of this include julian clary, frankie boyle, and dara o briain.

angela as contestant number two (The World's Strangest Woman). every season needs one woman who just goes about the tasks in The Most Insane Way, and that's angela. point blank period. is she gonna win? probably not! but who knows! she's a wild card! she's the one who says her legs are basically just arms without fingers, you know. i think she'd just panic and do. whatever. no planning, go with her gut instinct. she'd also be super competitive and her reactions when she realized just how bad she fucked up.... incredible. examples include lucy beaumont, jenny eclair, and fern brady.

spencer as contestant number three (The Loveable Goofball). look. LOOK. you know him. you love him. he probably won't win. but god is it fun to watch. he's generally kind of pathetic, and while he fails miserably, you can't help but root for him, feel bad for him, and point and laugh at him all at once. he's going about the tasks either half-heartedly or putting his whole soul into it with absolutely no in-between. he might win an episode, but it's because the edit is throwing him a bone. spencer's really good at putting on that character of. miserable dude. the heel of it all. but also balancing that out with his quick wit and intelligence. he's perfect for this. some examples are susan wokoma, ivo graham, and john kearns

chanse as contestant number four (The Fan Favorite). he's hot. he's smart. he's funny. everybody likes him. he is the People's Champion. everyone wants him to win - even the taskmaster is a Little biased. he has electric chemistry with everyone, somehow, you can't really figure out how. he absolutely kills ALL the tasks but especially the prize tasks. i also think chanse would just have the funniest reactions to what everyone Else is doing. like i think he'd stand by what he did until the bitter end (even if he did something fucking insane) but everyone else he would relentlessly make fun of. god i want him on this show so bad. anyway, my examples for this are sam campbell, kiell smith-bynoe, and munya chawawa.

courtney as contestant number five (The Only Competent One on the Board). everyone else is fucking insane, but courtney is holding down the fort. she's always handling the tasks in a smart, efficient way that seems like the most logical way to go about it. they frequently outsmart the prompts and the competition. whether or not they win it all, they just seem like they deserve it most. her humor also brings a really nice balance of riding that line of silly goofy and smart and quick. i think courtney rounds out this cast really well (and is my personal pick to win <3). examples of this are sue perkins, mae martin, and sarah milican.

im flexible on the teams, although i think my personal pick is spencer / courtney / angela and ian / chanse bc. comedy to me. also i will say i think i could go on for like. at least two more seasons building different casts truly this is not the Only combo. anyway kiana call me i've got big plans

#long post #spencersagnew #can you tell ive thought about this. a Lot #ask #asks #anon #anonymous

[yumyumlum]

Headcanon: Sonic Is Actually Eggman's Foster Kid IRL - Fluff! Angst/Feels! Emotional Robotnik & Sonic

Ok, so hear me out! It's not the typical Sonic & Eggman plot that you would think.

(Music choices throughout this post.)

Augustana - I Still Ain't Over You

Sonic (not his real name) is actually an orphan child in the foster system, who nobody can control because of his ADHD, abandonment and anger issues.

Sonic's whole 'hedgehog' persona is just a projection of his more private identity. A hyperactive hedgehog, because he can be spiky and unsociable at the best of times, hides (shuts the world off) when he's nervous or shy and attacks with raised self defence.

He is a survivalist / wild child who was probably forced to move often to avoid social workers (capture.) He stays up all night, then doesn't want to get up in the daytime, hates the cold (hibernates/doesn't want to get up) and has a poor 'child's diet' (when he's in charge.) He wasn't cared for properly, so has a lot to learn.

Sonic's friends are actually either fellow orphans or local people he's met along the way; Tails a bullied child with no friends because he's different, so he's hidden his own personality away like Sonic (two tails / tales.)

Music: Blue Light - Mazzy Star

Dr 'Eggman' (the kids pet name for him, see notes at the bottom of this post) is actually Sonic's foster-father-to-be / on-and-off, working through a lot of issues with Sonic.

With many similarities they are curious about one another, and make a great team. But neither wants to disappoint the other and there's still loads of growing/improvement to consider, especially as Sonic has behaviour problems.

Robotnik (actually a company name) is Sonic's projection of a highly educated adult; he appears to have unlimited power (due to his ability to do almost anything), so Sonic is nervous and mistrusting of him. He is obviously wealthy, and Sonic has learned not to trust higher class people, as they're often the most judgemental.

Sonic also doesn't like the way that he (himself) has turned out, so withdraws inside himself a lot. He (internally) compares himself to others a lot, overthinking his own expectations and then burning himself out, or feeling like a failure.

Music: Fade Into You (Edit) - Mazzy Star.

His view is that anyone who has the power to change the world, when it is so perfect when it's natural, can't be that good a person. Sonic is a very simple, natural, peaceful individual, not overly keen on the adult world or things designed to overcomplicate matters.

As he learns more about Robotnik, he starts to let him in a little more. Robotnik, is quite a loner and grew up not dissimilar to Sonic, having to fight for everything and turn away from others, which catches Sonic's attention.

He tries to be there for Sonic and break down that wall he constantly keeps putting up, but Sonic won't let him. His anger and abandonment issues often stem from constant rejection he got, so he shuts everyone out.

Music: 3 a.m. - Gregory Alan Isokov

When Sonic is upset, he'll storm out into the night and stay out late, often in bad weather and in the rain, holed up somewhere. He'll go to a bad place to make himself feel bad, like he deserves to be there.

He doesn't want to get used to normality (a kind atmosphere), because the drop will be overwhelming for him when 'things go wrong.' He fully expects to see himself living on the street alone for the rest of his life, because there is no other life and he is meant to be in control of his own destiny. He doesn't rely on anyone for help.

That way he can't be disappointed because he doesn't expect anything better.

Eventually Robotnik has to go out looking for him. He has learned not to chase him, otherwise he just pushes him away more and runs further away.

One time Sonic properly disappears, and he's worried sick about him. He can't sleep, he sits up by the phone all night incase he's lost or stuck somewhere.

Turns out that Sonic ran away so that he wouldn't hurt anyone anymore, blaming himself for everything. See if he could get the courage together to end it all so that he wouldn’t be a problem anymore.

After a long few days walk, he'd eventually stumbled upon a partially collapsed, abandoned tower block overgrown and reclaimed by nature. It was night, he'd taken shelter from the storm, soaked through and hungry. He had tripped and fallen on something sharp like wire, and had torn his leg up and couldn’t walk.

Not wanting to return home like a loser, he'd soldiered on and curled under some newspaper to keep warm. As he moved, the stone floor gave way and he fell through onto the next floor, furniture slamming against him. His joints were hurting from the broken stone he was laying on, his back and neck were killing him, and he was in real trouble.

One of the items that Sonic had taken with him, was a picture of them together... and he'd torn it in half to keep Robotnik's side. So it's like they've been torn apart.

Which is probably what kills the doctor the most; they were so close to fostering again / adoption, and it's like a confirmation of 'I've lost him!' And on opposite ends of the scenario, they both cry a little bit. He just wants to know where Sonic is, that he is ok.

The waiting is the hardest part. It's killing him, not being able to take care or protect him and imagining the worst things that could happen to a child by themselves.

Sonic holds the photo close to himself, so that he won't be alone when the end comes, and whimpers I love you... dad.

(Spoiler: He doesn't die. It’s quite by accident that he’s discovered. There’s a light or a loud noise that attracts attention, and soon after he’s found unconscious and really out of it)

And as he’s floating away in his dreams… he hears his mother singing (Music: You Are My Sunshine - Jasmine Thompson), and there’s blinding white light, and spooky dark light and he’s floating through a tunnel, getting further and further away from his body…

There’s a suggested scene that he’s dying, but he’s being healed (spiritually) by his dead mother. In reality, Robotnik has rescued Sonic, and has fought for his life in every way he can, and is sitting by Sonics bedside just praying, stroking his hand and singing gently to him. So it’s his foster dad he can hear in his dreams.

And I think Robotniks ‘hayfever’ is suddenly playing up something terrible. He’s not one to cry, but he is so broken. If Sonic dies, he won’t be able to stand it.

-

I want big soft egg dad and tooth rotting fluff between the two of them.

Lots of love and tickles between them when Sonic is better :3 He is just going to absolutely cover Sonic with his love, f the no-touching rule. He loves him too much for that.

BEHIND EGGMAN'S NAME

Sonic is a simple little animal at heart right. So when he calls him Eggman... it's actually more to do with the fact that he's like his mum and dad all rolled into one because he doesn't have a mum anymore...

Like 'male mother.' And he associates eggs with birds and other such animals, like hens. The chicks are kept warm and safe in the eggs, and the mother hens brood over them. So he's seeing Eggman as a broody loving male mother who's keeping him safe and warm.

#sonic the hedgehog #sonic fandom #sonic fanfiction #sonic headcanons #sonic boom #sonic movie #sonic series #dr robotnik #robotnik #dr ivo robotnik #dr ivo eggman robotnik #dr eggman #eggman #ivo robotnik #ivo eggman robotnik #doctor eggman #doctor ivo robotnik #doctor ivo eggman robotnik #doctor robotnik #robotnik family #sonic & robotnik #sth

[a-court-of-moonlight-and-ire]

I re-read my post about chapters 22-30 and I realized that theres so much I just fully forgot to mention, mostly relating to the inner circle so heres a quick summary of my thoughts about each ic member now that Im about halfway through the book and have spent some time with them. To briefly recap my previous thoughts, I think their group dynamic is insanely uncomfortable because of how apparent their hierarchy is and also none of them seem to actually like each other all that much

Amren

I dont dislike her in the sense that I dont dislike her personality or the basic concept of her character, but I do hate that shes in the inner circle at all. Like, whats this eldritch creature trapped in a body thats not her own doing hanging out with all these boring people ass people FOR 500 YEARS dude, if I had to spend 500 years with Rhysand I would destroy the entire night court regardless of whether or not I had Amren-levels of power. Like, why on earth would she be satisfied playing second fiddle to Rhysand and living in an APARTMENT in his stupid °•~City of Starlight~•° when shes supposed to be like a billion years old and a thousand times more powerful than him. I feel like itd be interesting to explore that but I know that we really dont from watching cari can read's summaries, so she just ends up being a character thats supposed to be interesting because shes so mysterious but is actually so shrouded in intrigue that it turns around and she just becomes boring again

Mor

When I first met her I said that something about her bothered me but I couldnt put my finger on what it was, but that I still kinda liked her because she atleast annoyed Rhysand. She really hasnt annoyed Rhys in any way since her and Feyres first meeting so I like her less because of that and also because shes mostly just boring to me at the moment. I think another reason why I dont particularly like her is that she feels so intrinsically tied to the misogyny of this world that just suddenly materialized in this book and its really annoying, I would like to avoid that subplot as much as possible. She basically just exists to give Feyre a female friend at the Night Court and to show her that you can totally girlboss your way out of a misogynistic system! But you cant dismantle the system because uhhhhhhhh. change is like a glacier because its slow

Also, shes obviously meant to parallel Ianthe, like shes supposed to be the better version of her, but I cant even imagine her and Feyre making out sloppy style toxic yuri edition so I cant really see her as any kind of improvement. sorry

Cassian

One of my least favourite character types is Fratbro But You Put Him In A Fantasy Setting so Im not the biggest fan of this guy ngl. The one redeeming quality he has is that hes very obviously crushing on all of his friends bisexual style, especially Rhys and Azriel. Its almost a little sad but mostly its just very funny. Like whyd you wanna take their clothes at the illyrian camps so badly huh? You like seeing pretty boys squirm around naked?

Unfortunately, I know that hes gonna end up with Nesta and that hes not even gonna treat her well, my guy is gonna go from being gay because he likes men to being gay because he hates women and I am not looking forward to it

Speaking of Nessian, a lot of sjm critical anti nessian people say that Nesta and Cassian used to be so good and so genuinely romantic in ACOWAR and that their relationship got completely ruined in ACOSF and. I mean, granted they dont ever talk about Cassian behaviour towards Nesta during the meeting at her house in ACOMAF but I hated the way he was just so angry at her on Feyre's behalf when she wasnt even that mad herself, she just felt weird and bad. Of course, I havent read ACOWAR yet and I might change my mind in the future but right now, I'll just say it doesnt surprise me that Cassian would laugh at Nesta falling down the stairs

Azriel

My favourite guy!!! Out of this bunch I mean. My favourite guy in the entire ACOTAR series is probably Lucien, but if we're just talking about the jokers from the Night Court, then this guy is my favorite

I really wasnt expecting much from him, I thought he would have absolutely no personality from what Ive heard other people say about him, but hes basically exactly what I want in an edgy traumatized shadow boi. Ive talked about this before but I really dislike Rhysand and part of that is that I normally really like the archetype of the tortured edgy love interest with shadow powers but he makes it so goddamn annoying by being so flirty and cocky I just want to see him dead. But Azriel is quiet so he doesnt bothr me and also theres some intrigue about his backstory and the extend of his powes but he feels like a solid enough character that he doesnt become boring to me like Amren

I will say though, theres something particularly uncomfortable about watching anyone from the inner circle interact with him and vice versa, I think its because he seems like he doesnt actually like them more than anything else. Ive said this in a previous post, I think Cassian wants to be in a relationship good friends with him and he seems to think they have some good sunshine guy/grumpy guy banter going on but to me it just seems like Azriel genuinely dislikes him. And then he obviously doesnt trust Amren and I feel like hes in love with Mor and has been for a really long time but doesnt actually like her, I honestly feel like hes just sticking by Rhysand because he feels like he owes him and because it gives him an excuse to be close to his crush

Yknow, that I think about it maybe thats why I like him so much. I dont like the Inner Circle, he doesnt like the Inner Circle, thats a relatable king right there

#anti acotar #anti acomaf #anti inner circle #anti rhysand #pro azriel #somehow #anti nessian #flames and darkness liveblog

[divineerdrick]

Warhammer: Age of Sigmar Reveals From the Dallas Open 2024

Alright!

When Age of Sigmar 4th Edition was revealed, I was a bit down on it. Part of this was just hearing regurgitated marketing from 10th Edition. Part of it was I didn't like the way they did the reveal show. Part of it was I didn't like the Stormcast half of the cinematic trailer (the Skaven half was awesome!). But, I've been following the reveals for AoS4, including Vince Venturella's Warhammer Weekly podcast. And, with some exceptions, I like what I've seen. I'm still worried, especially for another "buggy" launch, but I do like what they've shown. Tonight, they're doing a big reveal show from the Dallas Open, and I'm hoping to see more.

What I Expect

As almost everyone does, I'm expecting to see the launch box revealed in full. I'm pretty sure we'll get a nice presentation of all the new plastic coming, the new cover of the new rule book, and maybe a few other noteworthy inclusions (got my fingers crossed here.) I'm also expecting to see a few more rules teasers, probably unit profiles for some of the new models. And honestly, that's all I'm actually expecting to see. That's basically what we got with the full Leviathan reveal, and I think that's probably most of what we'll get here too. If we're lucky, we might get to see the two new Spearheads for Stormcast and Skaven, as they're probably in the box.

What I'm Hoping For

However, they need not stop there. First, let's talk inclusions for that big box. I'm hoping it will come with a Battle Tactics deck similar to the Leviathan deck for 40K. We've already seen that the basic Battle Tactics module for AoS4 is pretty bad. But the Battle Tactics deck coming with Spearhead looks awesome, and is very reminiscent of Leviathan. I really want there to be something similar for core AoS.

Next, it would be really nice if they actually put some terrain in the box. This is a reach, since they haven't boxed up any terrain for some time now (outside of ultimate starter sets.) But with new terrain rules it would be nice to see some new terrain. This is very much not likely, but we might see some new Skaven terrain pieces that will be sold later or possibly in some ultimate starter set.

Finally it would be nice to see a roadmap for AoS4 releases. The releases for 40K have been coming nice and fast. I'm hoping they're planning something similar for AoS.

The "Live" Show

D'oh! I it looks like another prerecorded show!

And there's all our shiny new Stormcast!

Love this Lord-Vigilant on Gryph-Stalker!

Yep its prerecorded interviews on the couch . . .

At least it feels like we're getting more of the minis this time, with multiple views and angles and even different lighting. That's an improvement at least.

"More to come." Better be more, we still got Skaven.

And here are the rats!

Yes! Rat Ogors! They look awesome!

We've already seen the Jezails and the Engineer.

Finally our big rat on a big rat!

Love this warp blaster! I'm just all about this.

And back to the interviews! "Yes, players. We here at GW also are constantly waiting for our ranges to get refreshed!" I don't know if this is all the models, but it doesn't feel like enough Skaven for the amount of Stormcast we saw. Like, I feel like there should be a lot more Skaven.

Okay, so with this book reveal, that's probably the box. But they say they're more announcements coming. Let's see what they have planned.

Looks like this box will come with a separate campaign rulebook.

Oh nope! It's the rules for Spearhead games!

And back to the couch! Here are those marketing points again . . .

Okay, these second and third points are actually new. We know they were building up interactivity in AoS 3rd, but they're trying to keep that going. And from the previews, that seems to be true.

The final point about keeping games close with lots of back and forth moments makes me hope again that we'll get some kind Battle Tactics deck. I'm always a little leery of there being too many catchup mechanics. Again, sometimes the right answer is to shake hands and rack up again. I don't want games to feel like they're scripted. It stifles strategy and can make games predictable.

Oh! We're getting a simplified version of the Generals Handsbook!

Okay, we already knew about Spearhead, but here are the Skaven and Stormcast Spearheads. As expected, you can make them out of the launch box.

Sneaking in some new ones too, or at least teasers for them.

Looks like they're going to try to keep the stats the same, even if the rules are unique, so it's somewhat easier to go from Spearhead to the core game. Already had a little difficulty taking new players from Combat Patrol to 40K.

Don't know if these are from the Vanguards but we've got images of some Nurgle vs. Seraphon.

Okay! We still have some more! Maybe I'll get some of my wishlist tonight!

So here's the full boxset reveal.

Yeah, 24 Stormcast to 50 Skaven doesn't quite seem right. That is a lot of minis though. These are just all fantastic models. We'll be going through those on their own in a bit.

Wow! There is a bit, even if only a little bit, of terrain in the box! I'm honestly surprised!

And with that! Hi Adam! Hi Paul!

Okay, other than some Spearhead teasers this was honestly just the boxset stretched out into a 30 minute show. We did get a lot of looks at the miniatures this time, but that's basically it. There were a couple of different tidbits in the interviews, but honestly nothing we haven't already gotten from WarCom.

This really was just 30 minutes of one box.

Oh well, the WarCom articles should be up soon and we'll go through them one by one.

The Miniatures

While the show was honestly stretched out a lot, and didn't really have anything new other than the box contents, there were a lot of miniatures. And we got some loving shots of them this time!

Lord-Vigilant on Gryph-Stalker

Absolutely fantastic piece! While Stormcast helmets can be kind of bland, the crown is nice and the Gryph-Stalker looks incredibly regal.

Lord-Veritant

They Gryphs don't stop though! Here we have a kind of blind seer look. Again, this model drips character. And there's something about that Gryph-Hound that looks like they are done with your nonsense.

Lord Terminos

The model for our perspective character from our new cinematic looks absolutely fantastic. They look like they're waiting in silent meditation, along with their attendant, for that moment that Sigmar determines they're needed. I love the details on the cloak too.

Knight-Questor

Another model that left the helmet at home, this one has a very grizzled veteran look that goes well with their lore.

Reclusians

Some of our line Stormcast, also with mortal attendants. Again, amazing amount of detail on these miniatures.

Prosecutors

Here we get my first miss. Most of this is the faces. There's something about them that has kind of that exaggerated, Dredd style faces I've never been particularly fond of. Also the flames coming out of the wings aren't working for me. It feels like they were trying to depict feathers made of magic flame, and I just don't feel they got there.

Liberators

On the other hand, the Stormcast mass melee has never looked better! These models look absolutely fierce!

And with that, those are our Stormcast models. Now let's look at our rats!

Clawlord on Gnaw-Beast

Look at him! Look at him! He just looks so awesome and that gnaw-beast looks so nasty! I would not want to get bit by that! Just glorious!

Grey Seer

I absolutely love this, but I'm having trouble coming up with why. There's a very sinister aspect that's definitely helping. But then I see those rats coming out of the cracked bell. Absolutely awesome!

Rat Ogors

Possibly my favorite new models. What can I say? I love my big monsters. But seriously these look epic!

Ratling Warpblaster

I love steampunk, and Skaven tech (as well as Kharadron) have a very nice steampunk aesthetic. The goggles and his intense aiming also remind me a bit of WoW style Gnome/Goblin engineering. And it's all contrasted by the absolute raggedness of the Skaven pushing the machine.

Warlock Engineer

And here's one that's a slight miss, emphasis on slight there, but I honestly can't tell you why. I think maybe they look just a bit too dignified? I'm really struggling to explain why this isn't working for me.

Clanrats

And here they are! Our new clanrats! And they're an appropriately motley crew. Lots of fun here!

Warplock Jezzails

I've seen these already too, and I still love them. I like the design of the shield and brace. And I absolutely love the sinister expressions on these rats, befitting a sneaky sniper assassin.

Final Thoughts

So this was all box and miniatures, as I said, stretched out over 30 minutes. We really didn't get a lot of new info, save for some teased Spearheads and the surprise of a Spearhead book and GHB in the box. Oh yeah! And somehow I got my wish for a handful of terrain for this launch box!

Miniature wise we're a little bit more than Leviathan, though there were a handful of really big kits in that box. We technically did get two books in Leviathan, as the Leviathan book included the Leviathan Crusade book. The hardcover Spearhead book will be nice, though I'm pretty sure that will be available free online.

But Skaventide is also including a lot of play aids, including cards for both the Warscrolls and GHB rules. On the balance I think they'll be mostly comparable boxes.

And I love Skaven! I love villain factions that are full of character and personality, and Skaven have it in spades! And I really do love the new Stormcast models too. But I'm a little sad that GW has decided to keep using Stormcast as their launch faction. I know they're the poster child for AoS, but I feel that things like this have a huge effect on how factions are perceived. New factions in launch boxes experience spikes in popularity. Where as if one faction is constantly focused on, well just look at all the Ultramarines memes.

Tomorrow we go back to the grimdark future. But I don't feel like reacting to another of the prerecorded shows. I think I might, emphasis might, watch it, but then just look at the miniatures on WarCom. I want them to go back to actual live shows with at least some audience interaction.

#live blog #live blogging #liveblogging #liveblog #warhammer community #warcom #age of sigmar 4th edition #warhammer age of sigmar #age of sigmar #whaos #aos #warhammer aos #aos4e #dalas open #skaven #stormcast eternals

[artem1sc0re]

So I have this idea of a little fluff-based AU me and my partner came up with out of the fact that all I’ve really seen if Norman and his late boyfriend Reilly in terms of fanfiction would be angst or just pure tragedy.

So basically in this AU Norman Jayden is a flower shop owner and his bf Jack Reilly is a coffee shop owner. The two of them bond through a collaboration of Norman helping jack’s small coffee shop flourish through vibrant flowers that grow throughout spring as well as a traditional homey cafe with a warm beverage.

It’s kind of my first time writing something to do with Norman dialogue-wise, so I have no idea whether I’ve got his character right or not; so to get to know his character and perhaps look for criticism, I’ve written a one-shot.

Please provide criticism for dialogue and let me know how I can improve!! ^^

(EDIT: I GOT IT POSTED ON AO3!! Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/53010700)

A proposition.

The coffee owner initiates cleanup the moment he feels the presence of frequent visitors is bare as a desert; swiping dirty tables and crumbs sluggishly, missing the ever few stains of bitter coffee but remaining unbothered. Although more sluggish than usual, he remains oblivious to the observing presence of a flower shop owner, following his moves with his soft and admiring expression, gleaming through his sage-green eyes.

Jack gives up at the sign of his blind movement, missing the small bits and bobs of stains and ceramic plates, straying to the spruce counter to slouch over and reflect, covering his cracking facade with his trembling hands.

Norman notices this, perking up curiously as he snaps out of his trance. At the first sign of vulnerability, he gets up from his spot in the corner, heading to check up on the gloomy coffee owner.

“You look downtrodden tonight. What’s eating at you?”

He broke the cold silence that loomed the closed up and dimly lit shop.

Reilly straightens, his startled eyes looking at Norman like he was a deer staring at headlights.

“I-it’s nothing really. Just had a bad day, I guess.” He answered reluctantly.

Although reluctance was shown, he takes his face out of his hands still creating a tremor as if he were watered down to nothing but a bundle of shivers.

“O-okay, maybe there is something that’s ‘eating away at me’, as you put it.” Jack quivered, giving in to his own emotional state.

Norman’s eyes remain on Reilly, waiting for the burdened barista to speak his words, nodding softly as to remain attentive.

“I don’t think I can do this anymore. Fuck, everyone’s leaving for the café around the corner. Students who used to study here and used to frequent for a good cuppa’ have vanished, and as I walk, they’re chatting away and working at the ‘haba de café’, as they call it. (I ran out of name ideas.)

I can’t even keep it running with all the cost of good quality beans inflating, or the constant remarks about how the haba de cafe is so much better than this run-down place, with their modern decor of fake and artificial flowers, or posters with LED borders.

I might just shut down this place. Find a new apartment and just work a typical 9-5. It’s tiring trying to keep a positive and optimistic passion for this place, when no one wants to see it.” Jack rambled. His face paints with distraught at the thought of being unable to pursue his passion, instead having to go to a boring job in a cheap apartment.

“Hey. Listen.”

A reassuring hand from Norman lands on Jack’s, causing him to glance at the flower shop owner.

“I’ve seen what this place does, and it has potential. Just because some new coffee shop opened up by some wealthy bastard who wants to leech more money off of loyal customers, doesn’t mean you should put yourself down. If anythin’, you shouldn’t even bother comparing yourself to that place. They’ve got more than one person working, meanwhile you’re a one-man management. You work with enthusiasm and it shows in the drinks and the food just how much love was put into it. It’s why people frequent this place. The quiet atmosphere and the homey aroma of this place is what’s so great about it.” Norman reassured, his tone soft-spoken and attentive.

Jack loosens up, his eyes glancing to the polished countertop, staring at the dim reflection of his inverted counterpart.

“That’s what I intended to create.. a quiet yet homely atmosphere..” He cuts himself off, as if something was ignited in the barista, his eyes lighting up in realisation.

“W-why was i getting so worked up for, in that case? This isn’t about the profit, or gaining money. It was just that I wanted to create this environment, intended for everyone to use, to feel at peace as if they’re just at home, about a hot beverage in the cold winter, creating a warm feeling after a chilly day. I was only getting started! Although.. what can I do? It’s going to remain unchanged even if I regain my love for the relaxed atmosphere of a traditional cafe with hand-brewed coffee.” Jack questioned, glancing at Norman.

“I was thinking of a proposition between you and I. Something that could benefit the both of us.” The florist replied, carefully contemplating the words to say to the coffee shop owner, slowly breaking eye contact with him.

“I could help decorate your place, if you’d like. Since valentine’s is around the corner, as well as spring, the flowers are at their optimum and lovestruck teenagers would be buying roses for their significant others. It could benefit the both of us; allowing promotion of my shop, and attraction to your place.” Norman eventually offered, his observant yet hesitant eyes attempting to gauge the reaction of the barista.

Reilly lit up like a star; the happiest he’s been since he opened the place.

“Are you shitting me?! It’s a perfect idea! It’s just the thing I need! Botany, to add some flourish, life to this place! Externally and internally! You fucking genius!” Reilly grips Norman’s loose hand on his into the form of a handshake, moving it firmly before pulling the florist into a hug.

Norman flinched at the sudden physical showcase of gratitude, but something inside him felt warm, the warmth of being able to possibly revive and bring this cafe back in business.

#heavy rain #norman jayden #quantic dream #jack reilly #heavy rain game #heavy rain chronicles DLC #I NEED THESE TWO TO LIVE A WHOLESOME LIFE NORMAN DESERVES TO BE HAPPY #coffee shop AU #one shot #oneshot #fanfic #fic #David cage did norman so dirty with scrapping his dlc and giving him horrible endings #normanjayden #jackreilly #heavyrain #heavyraingame

[margosfairyeye]

paper cut

(rated T, idiots to lovers, hurt/comfort)

you can also read it on ao3

“Shit!”

Eddie looks over as Steve doubles over, clutching his hand.

“You all right, Harrington?” Eddie asks carefully.

They’re sitting side by side on Eddie’s couch (a new and improved version of the old beat to hell one they’d had in the old trailer, provided by the government along with the new trailer itself) while Eddie tries to study for finals and Steve leafs through his papers, providing such helpful commentary as “Wow, you really fucked this one up, huh?” and, “Don’t you think books should have a list of themes at the end, like a cheat sheet?”

Steve whimpers and Eddie jolts into action, grabbing the old first aid kit from the bathroom and sprinting back to the couch.

Eddie throws himself down next to Steve, not bothering to worry about how close he’s sitting during what clearly is some kind of emergency. His stomach churns, panic rising as he thinks about all the things that could possibly be wrong, batshit monsters included. “Shit, is it your bat wounds? Is there something here? Come on, man, you’ve got to at least reassure me you’re not about to keel over.”

Steve’s still curled into himself, which is a bad fucking sign. Eddie’s pretty sure that he got lucky with the murder charges getting dropped, what with the government interference and all, but he doesn’t think he’d be able to talk his way out of a second inconvenient supernatural death in his trailer with him present.

Plus, there’s the fact that Eddie is completely, depressingly, overwhelmingly in love with Steve. It would utterly devastate him if Steve decided to die on his ugly living room carpet.

Eddie has been kind of under the impression that Steve is secretly a superhero, just without the spandex (shit, he could pull off the spandex, though). How else could he explain Steve walking around with bleeding abdominal wounds and pretending to be totally fine, or (apparently) getting beaten bloody and tortured while still slinging zippy one-liners? Steve’s like, Hollywood action hero levels of badass. So if he’s fucking whimpering on Eddie’s couch, Steve must be really hurt.

But fuck if Eddie’s going to let Steve go without putting up one hell of a fight. Even if it means fighting Vecna, second edition.

Eddie puts his hand gently but insistently on Steve’s shoulder, forcing bravado into his voice. “Okay, Harrington, let’s see the damage.”

Wincing, Steve uncurls himself, offering his left hand (which had been cradled in his right) to Eddie. Eddie takes Steve’s hand in his own, dimly aware of every inch of their skin that touches as he examines it, looking for a gash, a stab wound, a broken bone—hell, even a fucking leech or something.

But there’s just a little cut on the tip of Steve’s thumb, bright red but not actively bleeding.

Without thinking about it, Eddie smooths his own thumb over the tiny cut.

Steve cringes, trying ineffectively to pull his hand from Eddie’s grasp. “Ow! Munson, what the fuck?!”

“Is this it?” Eddie asks skeptically. “A paper cut? That’s…are you also being psychically tortured or something, like, in addition to the paper cut?”

Steve looks at him, eyes narrow, pain drawn in lines across his forehead. He looks like he might be about to deck Eddie, which Eddie might kind of deserve because he feels like he’s about to start laughing. “No? Shut the fuck up, it’s deep. Cuts like this always get infected, too, and people die from that. You can’t underestimate this shit.”

It’s not funny, really. Steve is clearly in a lot of pain, but…this is the guy who Dustin said was the most fearless guy he knew? This is the guy who faced down Vecna without breaking more than a sweat, laid low by a paper cut?

Steve taps his knee against Eddie’s. “Come on, man, pour something antiseptic on it or something, before it gets worse.”

And despite it all, this is the guy Eddie is head over fucking heels for.

Steve looks at Eddie pleadingly (hopefully). And shit, there’s literally nothing Eddie wouldn’t do when Steve gives him that look, including acting like a paper cut is a lethal wound.

Eddie flips open the first aid kit with his free hand to reveal…not much. A couple of bandaids, some butterfly bandages, and some packets of barbecue sauce. Not an antiseptic wipe to be seen.

“Uh,” Eddie shows him the sparse first aid kit, holds up a bandaid. “Will this help?”

Steve looks unimpressed. “Do you have any alcohol we could just pour over it?”

Eddie knows he means like, hard liquor, but the thing is that shit isn’t cheap. Uncle Wayne probably wouldn’t give a shit if they took shots of his good whiskey, but pouring it out…

“Like, beer?” Eddie asks hopefully.

Steve shakes his head, groaning. “Too sticky.”

Which, yeah, obviously. Eddie weighs the pros and cons of trying to just convince Steve that his cut is going to be fine, or possibly getting in the van and driving to the pharmacy for new first aid supplies that he can’t afford and isn’t sure Steve can either. Maybe they could steal them, that might be a fun bonding activity, or maybe Eddie can trade the pharmacist some off-label pharmaceuticals for some hydrogen peroxide or something.

“Saliva,” Steve says suddenly, looking Eddie dead in the eye. Shit, his eyes are pretty, and this close Eddie can see the little flecks of gold and green in his eyes.

Then the word actually catches up to him. “What?”

“Spit, I think it’s supposed to help with shit not getting infected.”

Eddie blinks at him. “So do you want to spit on your thumb and then put a bandaid on it?”

Steve huffs in frustration. “I don’t think it can be your own spit, man.”

“Oh.” Eddie feels a little frustrated himself, since he’s almost entirely sure this is all bullshit— Steve doesn’t fucking need anything but soap and a bandaid and maybe a night of good sleep—and Eddie is supposed to be studying for fucks sake, and…and he’s the only other one here. Steve said it can’t be his own spit and Eddie is the only other one here. Oh.

Eddie’s still holding Steve's hand in his palm, and he runs his finger along the side of Steve’s thumb. Steve doesn’t flinch this time, just looks at him expectantly, that hopeful look that Eddie really can’t say no to.

It’s a bad idea. Eddie is going to get way more out of putting his mouth on Steve’s finger than Steve will—he's going to be on a different fucking planet than Steve, who’s just looking for a quick fix for a papercut and isn’t having trouble with his jeans suddenly feeling way too tight.

It’s a bad fucking idea but Eddie nods.

“Yeah, okay. Sure, uh, I can…yeah, I can do that.”

Eddie slowly lifts Steve’s hand towards his mouth. His mouth suddenly feels incredibly fucking dry, and he can feel himself tensing up, ready to run in case it was just a joke, in case he gives himself away somehow and this ends in disgust. He’s half expecting Steve to laugh and say it was all a setup, joke's on him. He’s half expecting Steve to flinch away, to see Eddie’s feelings clearly visible in his eyes.

Steve doesn’t do shit, though. Just watches Eddie with wide eyes, his lips slightly parted. Eddie has his thumb pressed against Steve’s pulse point, and Steve’s pulse jumps, slipping into a fast gallop that Eddie can only assume is due to stress.

His own pulse pounding in his ears, Eddie puts Steve’s thumb in his mouth. He realizes, after he’s already done it, that there were other ways of accomplishing this. He could have spit on his own hand and like, rubbed it on Steve’s thumb or something. He could have licked Steve’s cut, quick and dirty, but like…quick.

But Eddie’s brain power is slowly draining down towards his groin, and he sucks the whole damn finger into his mouth, rolling his tongue over Steve’s little paper cut like he’s fucking fellating the finger.

Steve’s mouth drops open, a little puff of air blown out into the space between them, then bites his lip. His eyes are dark, watching Eddie, but it still looks like he could be in pain. Eddie softens the pressure of his mouth, sucking gently, just like, trying to make sure he’s done a good enough job that Steve can relax.

He’s holding Steve’s hand, still, his fingers gently curled around Steve’s, and it feels, all of a sudden, incredibly intimate. Eddie should take Steve’s thumb out of his mouth—Jesus Christ, should he—but the intense eye contact and the way Steve is biting his lip red and the way his thumb feels against Eddie’s tongue, a good kind of pressure, is all adding up to this moment that Eddie wants to live in. For a second, he can pretend this isn’t some inane injury thing, can pretend that Steve’s as into him as he’s into Steve, that Steve wants Eddie and Eddie is just teasing the shit out of his thumb.

And then Steve clears his throat and his eyes slip down to Eddie’s lips. “I think, uh, I think that’s good, maybe?”

Shit, yeah, of course. Eddie parts his lips, moves Steve’s thumb away from his mouth, although he does it slowly enough that the pad of Steve’s thumb drags along his lip a bit, and fuck if that isn’t a turn on as well.

“Yeah, right. Is that—is it better?”

It’s fucking awkward, is what it is. Eddie feels hot all over, can tell he’s probably flushed, and his jeans are way too damn tight in a way that’s probably really obvious. And Steve’s thumb—shit, it’s shiny and wet and way too suggestive for Eddie’s current state, and the paper cut still looks completely fine.

Steve’s eyes slip briefly away from Eddie—from where he was staring at Eddie’s fucking mouth—and down to his thumb, his hand still cradled in Eddie’s. Steve licks his lips, considering his thumb. Eddie is waiting for the other shoe to drop still—for Steve’s expression to shift to disgust, or for him to just casually ask for a bandaid (not like it will stick now), like this is a normal thing friends do for each other for minor injuries.

He’s not expecting Steve to suddenly lunge forward, pushing Eddie back against the back of the couch, and press his own lips against Eddie’s. It takes Eddie a moment to even catch up to what’s happening, his brain stalling out at the unexpected kiss. Because that’s what’s happening, Steve fucking Harrington is kissing him, and once Eddie realizes that, he jumps into action, kissing back hard. His fingers clutch at Steve’s hand, at his spit-soaked thumb, his other hand wrapping around Steve’s back, and Steve moans into Eddie’s mouth.

Eddie’s startled enough by that to part his lips, and Steve immediately deepens the kiss, slipping his tongue into Eddie’s mouth. He presses his free hand to Eddie’s neck, cradling his jaw. It’s sweet and hot and fucking unexpected, and Eddie feels like he must have fallen asleep, must be dreaming this entire scenario. Except Steve is basically on his lap now, and he feels warm and solid and he’s kissing Eddie better than Eddie’s ever been kissed in his entire life, and it’s all too real to be anything else.

After a long moment, Steve pulls back, leaning away but not moving off of Eddie’s lap. Which Eddie isn’t complaining about, although he’s sure Steve can feel how hard he is.

Maybe that’s not a bad thing, though.

“Finally,” Steve murmurs, leaning back in for another quick kiss, more of a peck. A kiss that’s more fond than passion. Eddie’s had even fewer kisses like that in his life. Steve is good at the deep tongue kissing, and he’s good at the cute chaste kissing, apparently. He’s a goddamn force. “I thought you were never going to kiss me.”

“Technically,” Eddie says, and his voice is strained and hoarse, embarrassingly so, since Steve still sounds suave and like, in control of his tone, “you kissed me.”

“You just sucked on my thumb,” Steve grins. “That totally counts. It’s lip to skin contact.”

Eddie has to admit, that kind of sounds like it does count. Plus, he’ll totally take the personal clout that comes with making the first move on Steve Harrington. Even if he did it without thinking, just acting on the want coursing through him every time they’re together. Except, now that he’s thinking about it, Steve totally walked him to that action, and now he’s looking gleeful and happy, and not surprised in the least.

“Was that—” Eddie presses his palm against his forehead. “Was that a move? Did I just fall for a paper cut move?”

Steve grins. “Kind of? I mean I threw out the pitch but you hit it over the fence.” Eddie must look confused, because Steve rolls his eyes. "I wasn’t expecting you to fucking suck on my finger, but damn. ”

Steve runs his hand through his hair, mussing it a little, and Eddie wonders if he’s allowed to muss it now, too. Eddie tentatively reaches up, curls his fingers into the strands of Steve’s hair, just holding on for now, and Steve gives another quiet moan. Steve’s eyes are dark and he looks almost as turned on as Eddie feels, and a wave of pride washes over Eddie.

“Guess the Munson moves are almost as good as the Harrington moves, huh?”

Steve shrugs noncommittally. “Yeah, they’re okay.” But he leans down and kisses Eddie again, so Eddie’s counting it as a win. Maybe not an entirely intentional win, sports metaphors aside, but still.

“So,” Eddie says when they break apart again, panting, Steve’s lips shiny and bruised red, “was all of that an act? You’re not really that upset about a paper cut?”

Steve shrugs. “I mean, it hurts like a bitch, but I saw an opening and I went for it.” His smile turns devious. “In fact, I think there might be some other injuries you should check, on more uh, sensitive spots. Now that I know you’re so good at tending to my wounds.”

He gives Eddie a meaningful look, and Eddie doesn’t need to be asked twice. He jumps off the couch, pulling Steve with him, hand still clutching his barely injured finger. He pauses in the hallway, just outside of his bedroom, a place they haven’t really been together, because there wasn’t an excuse, because it felt like a Thing before.

“Put my mouth to work,” Eddie says quietly, raising his eyebrow, and laughs as Steve all but pushes him through the door.

#steddie #steddie fic #steddie fanfiction #stranger things fic #hannah writes #seriously idiots to lovers

[boysplanetrecaps]

The BUILD UP BRAPPIES, 2x2 Rivalry edition

Time to take a brief break from my MNET Build Up Recap Project to hand out some BRAPPY Awards for Excellence in the Field of Excellence! In this post, I'll be giving out BRAPPIES based on how everyone did in the 2x2 Rival Mission. Let's go!

Favorite Performance Overall:

I have to give it to River, of course. I was thinking, “Which of these do I most want to just rewatch right now?” and that’s the one. You can fairly point out that I also like the song, and that’s true. But there you go.

Honorable mentions: Sherlock, Dangerously

Favorite Performance of a Song I Don’t Like:

I’ll give this one to Moon. The song itself is whatever, but I liked Joohee and Euibin’s performance.

Honorable mention: Still Love You by Hyukjin and Inseong

Performance Helped Most By Song Choice:

I have to give this one to My Sea. The song is so incredibly emotional that it’s hard to deny, even if the performance had been a little weak. I’m not saying the performance WAS weak, but having a song like this is nothing but a boon.

Honorable mentions: End of a Day, To My Youth 

Performance Hindered Most By Song Choice:

Woong and Seokhwa’s performance. No question. Blackpink can make almost any song seem good, but I’m not sure even they can save Kick It, much less two nervous idols alone on a stage with critical judges. 

Honorable mention: Sungwon and Taehwan doing Play. 

Teammate Most Screwed Over By a Teammate:

What? What's this? There's a tie?? This is unprecedented!

The awards go to Kwon Euibin AND Kim Seongjeong.

In the case of Kwon Euibin, not only did Joohee get most of the lines in the song, he got most of the attention on the show in general. We didn’t hear a single word of feedback about how good/bad Euibin did. Then, the duo got a comparatively low score primarily because Joohee couldn’t keep it together. And yet, the damn judges saved Joohee! Someone get that fire extinguisher and keep it handy. Grrrr. 

Kim Seongjeong went through basically the same thing. His teammate Gwangseok was the problem in their performance, and yet, the judges saved Gwangseok.

Team Most Screwed Over By The Team Itself:

This award goes to Seokhwa and Woong. I think both of them would have been better off working with someone else.

I keep thinking, what if Yeo One had been obsessed with working with Seokhwa for some reason, instead of Lim Junhyeok? And then what if Woong had ended up with Junhyeok, who was his old hyung from his JYP days? I really ended up enjoying Yeo One and Junhyeok’s performance, but if Woong and Junhyeok had sung that same song together I think it would have been even better, as Woong is no question a better vocalist than Yeo One.  And Yeo One and Seokhwa could have sung a sweet, light song together; perhaps they could have done Been Through by EXO. There, I fixed it. You’re welcome. 

Biggest Discovery:

Kwon Euibin. I just loved his performance, and I never noticed him that much before.

Biggest Glow Up from Previous Round:

Kwon Euibin again. Round one, he looked like an actual robot. Round two, he looked like a slightly thicc dude. Huge improvement. 

Biggest Dimming Down from Previous Round:

Geonu, sweetie, darling, honey pie. You were a nominee for best sweater in the first round and then there's... this??? What. Is. This. Sweater.??

Biggest Coat-tail Rider:

Geonu again. I believe strongly that his team won primarily because of Soomin’s performance, not Geonu’s. 

Honorable mention: Kim Seongjeong, who *wanted* to ride on Gwangseok's coattails very badly.

Best Sweater:

This is it. This is the best sweater from this round. There wasn't a lot of competition, but this one would have won anyway.

Team That Seemed To Have the Most Fun:

Taehwan and Sungwon, Play. 'Nuff said.

Team That Cried The Most:

Donghyun and Sunyoul, I assume. We didn’t see them actively crying in the montage, but I get the feeling they were crying a lot in private. 

Song That Made Me Cry the Most:

End of a Day, but that’s kind of a special case.

Honorable mentions: My Sea, To My Youth 

Most Random Judging Moment:

The judges hating Hwanhee and Hwanji. No question. Did Hwanhee like, park in VCG’s parking spot? Did he take the last cherry danish? WHAT. HAPPENED. HERE.??

Most Spot on Judging Comment:

When VCG pointed out to Seokhwa and Woong that lowering the key to adapt a female song for males to sing it would also mean lowering the intensity and interest of the song, it was such an interesting lightbulb moment. I think there's some real truth to that.

Best Dahee moment:

Dahee had a lot of great moments, but the best was when she came up to Jeup and Suhwan after their performance of Sherlock and murmured that she enjoyed it more than the original version.

Honorable mentions: When she danced to Hmm Cheat, When she told someone she thought they were cool even though they lost

Judge Who Pissed Me Off The Least:

I was going to give an award to the judge who pissed me off the most, but I found that I couldn't make up my mind on that. All I knew is that it wasn't Wendy. So, I decided to give her this award instead. She’s also Wen-fucking-dy and I love her voice. Reveluv for life.

Ok, that's it for this round of Brappies! Is there an award I got wrong? An award you'd give out? Let me know!

I'll see you in the next post, when we gear up for the 3x3 Death Match. I don't know what it is about that name that makes me anxious. Must be all those threes.

See you soon!

#mnet build up #bpr recaps build up #build up #build up mnet #red velvet #red velvet wendy #park jeup #lee hwanhee #up10tion #one pact #jay chang

[thekuraning]

Waaah, could I please have 8, 24, 25, 33 and 38 for the writing ask? 😍

XHAJHSDGHA thats SO MANY 😭 (ty friend!!)

I dont know when to shut up so im puttinf them under a readmore

8. How slow is a slow burn?

I am so bad as accurately pacing a fic so this is something that. Is hard to say. But I think there's no hard limit to how short or long a slow burn actually is. What makes something a slow burn is a combination of 2 criteria: a) the length of time the story takes place over, and b) how long it takes for the reader to get from plot point to plot point. If you consider something like Romeo & Juliet, it takes place in-universe over the course of like a couple days, and you are constantly moving from story beat to story beat since the work is meant to be enjoyed in one presentation. It's complex and moving, but I think we all can agree it's not a slow-burn, more of a sudden explosion lol. Some people may think that sitting around 20k words it's not a short work, and for a play it's average (about 2 hours) but it's only 1/5 the length of a standard novel! (100k)

But if we imagine Romeo & Juliet taking place over say 4 months, and each 5000 words is a moment where he's come to Juliet's window one night each month, and nothing else about the story is different, the entire tone changes to something longer and drawn-out. In fact, I think it's probably possible for a skilled author to write a convincing long burn in 10k words or less if the internal and external pacing of the story is right. I also think it's probably possible to write a slow-burn that takes place within one universe day, but I think the pacing for that would require more words.

In reality, slow burn just needs to feel long, even if it isn't actually long.

24. Thoughts on flashbacks/flash forwards.

GO. FUCKING. WILD. Make time your bitch. Laugh at the linear progression of cause and effect. Storytelling is this weird abstraction where all of time exists at once and won't ever exist again. A well-placed flashback or flash forward will enhance the story by revealing hidden motive, establishing dramatic irony, or building anticipation. Be fucky with time. It's already fake and gay—with your help, we can make it faker and gayer! 🫵

Naturally, like any trope or tool, there's always a time and place when a flashback or flashforward is most effective, and sometimes it won't be. But as long as it doesn't feel pointless, as long as it feels like it's a scene we need, they're great to use! I started really playing with time and flashes in Maelstrom fic because of the villain, and it's the funnest thing even in relatively minor jumps of minutes or hours. DON'T BE AFRAID TO USE FLASH JUMPS THEY ARE GOOD AND FUN!!! 👍👍👍

25. Is writing the whole thing beforehand better or worse than writing it as you go?

I wish I was the kind of person who could write the whoke thing beforehand, because I think that + careful editing really is the best way to create a cohesive, well-balanced narrative but right now i just... dont work like that lol. I feel like i have to be extra diligent in keeping track ofnplot threads and potential holes and such. But on the other hand I think I prefer it this way because I get a lot of good feedback on what's working via comments! Especially in long running fics like Maelstrom or Zubat Fangs I refer to comments a lot when trying to decide how hard to hit certain plot points. I'm always open to (polite) constructive criticism on my fics bc of that!

33. Give your writing a compliment.

I think my writing brings people joy :) in all sorts of ways! My silly writing, my angsty writing, my gorey writing.... it all makes someone's day a little better at some point, and I take a lot of pride in that. I can also look back over the years and see how much my skills have improved since I uploaded my first fanfiction decades ago, which I think I still have on a floppy somewhere lol.

I've gotten so confident that I'm starting to more and more seriously consider working on my original fiction and well 😬 I'd like to publish something professionally. Even if I only self-pubklish an e-book or smth. I think I'm about there!!!

38. "This never happened" fix-it fics or "this happened but" fix-it-fics.

Definitely "this happened but" fix-its. I got my start in pokemon fics naturally and one thing you never see the end of are "Ash is a better trainer and never got pikachu" fix-its which. I mean. Eh. Sure. There's nothing wrong with that per say but like. To me it's the same as writing a coffee shop AU. You're telling a different story conpletely. And of course there's degrees, because sometimes the change is smaller and what that means is the story is basically the same. Idk. There's nothing wrong with that but it doesn't make me excited. "Yes BUT" feels like its adding onto something, not just altering it. 🤔

Thanks again friend!! This was fun!! 🥺

#kurasays #ask game #isleofair