#gonna stream later probably!! finishing up what i started last stream

[its-time-to-write]

sooo excited requests are open again! Jamie gets a day off from training and you spend the whole day together cuddling and snogging and watching films

Done😎 Gonna hit you all with some angst pretty soon, so enjoy this angst-free fic while you can! Thanks for the request!

(p.s. this gif makes me giggle. idk why)

tell me where to put my love

There is absolutely nothing like a Sunday morning, because it means that Jamie has absolutely no training. Saturdays are subject to extra time with Roy, so you and Jamie only get one day a week with absolutely no football. Well, not absolutely no football. Sometimes you let him cajole you into going to the Richmond Green and kicking around one of the ten billion footballs he has in the house. 

He says you’ve gotten better since you’ve started, you say that you could take on all of Richmond and win.

He says you’re very funny.

You say so too.

Sundays are great because you get to sleep in, but you probably don’t. You’re both so used to being awake early so despite being up late, you’re both unable to sleep past 7:30, maybe 8 if you’re really tired.

You don’t get out of bed, though.

The first one to wake will lie as still as possible, looking at the rise and fall of the other’s chest. Usually it’s Jamie watching you. You’re a light sleeper, so you begin to stir at the slightest change in atmosphere. He’ll stroke your cheek and you’ll smile and stretch, refusing to open your eyes.

His hands will start to slide down to your arms and to your waist, then dip below your pajama bottoms. You’ll open your eyes at that, because he’ll soon shift so that his head is at your waist, and lift his baby blue eyes to yours in a question. 

This Sunday is no different, and you both end up staying in bed until 10. It’s not until you’re lying tangled in the sheets, sweaty and gasping for breath, that a stomach growls (yours, his, what’s the difference) and you each throw on as little clothes as possible and head to the kitchen. Jamie pulls things out for his morning smoothie and you’re toasting frozen waffles. Neither of you are saying much, except for a “hey!” from Jamie when you steal some of his strawberries. 

You take your respective breakfasts to the couch and settle under a blanket. It gets cold when you’re only wearing pants. 

“What are we gonna watch?” you ask. 

Jamie just grins and flips through your streaming services.

“No, babe,” you groan, “not again. Please, I beg of you.”

Jamie pretends he can’t hear you and lands on Keeping Up with the Kardashians. 

“Jamie,” you say as he chooses an episode, “why are you so obsessed with reality tv? It’s so unrealistic.”

“Don’t pretend you don’t fucking love it,” he replies, lightly knocking his head against yours. You roll your eyes and suppress a smile. You can’t argue with that. 

You stay on the couch for three hours until Jamie starts to get bored and starts kissing a line up your neck. You giggle and shift away.

“Babe,” he says between kisses, “you hungry?”

“That is not where I thought this was going,” you laugh. 

Jamie shrugs, lips still against your throat. “Trying to make up for making you watch fucking American reality television. And I want takeout.”

At that, you turn and capture his lips in yours. He’s not supposed to have takeout right now, not part of his eating plan. He’s trying to butter you up so you won’t talk him out of it. Lucky for him, he’s making a very convincing argument. 

An hour later, you’re in the backyard on the patio eating Chinese food. You’re both in more clothes and soaking up the rare bit of sun. Jamie has also produced chips, and you’re not sure why they go so well with Chinese, but they do. 

You’re finishing up the last box and chatting about Jamie’s upcoming match when there’s a knock on the door. You both freeze. You’re not expecting anyone, and you exchange an assessing look to see who is most presentable to answer the door. 

It turns out to be Jamie, so he pads inside and opens it to find Dani. 

“Eyy, muchacho! Nice to have a day off, no? I was feeling a little bit lonely, so I decided to drop by to see if you would like to play some FIFA. And I did not come empty handed!” Dani holds up a bag of Mexican food. 

“Can’t,” Jamie says. “Girlfriend’s here.”

Dani’s face droops a little bit and, as if on cue, you appear behind Jamie, all wrapped up in a blanket. 

“Hi Dani!” you say. “Heard your voice from the backyard. What’re you doing here?”

He shrugs. “Just lonely, I guess.“ 

He looks so hilariously forlorn that you laugh and Jamie rolls his eyes. 

“Do you want to come in?” you ask. “Ooh, is that Mexican?”

Fifteen minutes later, Dani is explaining hair masks to a fascinated Jamie, as you sip your drinks and eat the food Dani brought. Neither you nor Jamie care to tell him you had just eaten.

He stays for two hours, crushing Jamie at FIFA. After the door shuts behind him, Jamie looks at you and says, “shower?”

You and Jamie stay in for way too long, only coming out when your hands are far too pruny. The bathroom is all steamy, and Jamie’s towel is wrapped low around his hips. You end up back on the bed, laying on top of the sheets in your towels. His arm is around you, thumb rubbing up and down your arm. Your head is tucked in the crook of his neck, and you’re breathing in his clean scent slowly. He’s talking in a low voice, not about anything really, just chattering about football, his mum, and the future. You’re trying to stay awake, you really are, and there’s no reason you should be tired and yet your eyes are growing heavy. It’s not your fault that his voice is so calm and so soothing, and before you know it you’re asleep. 

You don’t see this part, but Jamie notices the change in your breathing and starts whispering about other things. How much he loves you, and why he loves you. His real hopes for the future, the ones he’s not sure you’re ready to hear, but thinks one day you will be. He’ll let you sleep as long as possible. These times are rare, and he is going to savor every moment. 

#jamie tartt x reader #jamie tartt fanfiction #jamie tartt imagine #jamie tartt x y/n #jamie tartt x you #jamie tartt #ted lasso

[wyattjohnston]

need a little company - nick blankenburg

summary: morgan hasn't seen nick in years and her strongest memories of him are the crush he had on her in college. when he gets signed to columbus after years apart, morgan realises that maybe she should have given him a chance.

chapter word count: 3.5k

last < table of contents > next

Nick’s couch was probably the comfiest Morgan had ever sat on, and every minute she was on it, she sank further and further down until she was in a position her PT would shame her for—if she’d seen him in recent memory, anyway. He’d probably just be happy if she made an appointment.

“You remember KJ?” Nick asked, his voice coming from somewhere above her head that was resting in his lap—where it usually ended up.

“Only from Blue Jackets stuff,” she answered. Another image filled her mind, and she added, “and that one time at the restaurant. I graduated before he started.”

It was something Morgan hated thinking about, that anybody younger than her was accomplishing their life’s goals, and she didn’t even know what she wanted to do with hers.

“He was gonna come around later. Is that cool?”

Morgan suppressed her sigh and lifted her phone to read the time—look at it, anyway, no matter what it said she would still have said, “Yeah, I was going to head out soon.”

“You don’t have to go.”

“You don’t want me ruining your time with your friends.”

“We’re probably just going to play some games…” he trailed off as he finished his sentence, starting to frown. “That might be really boring for you.”

“If he’s down for Overcooked or something, I could play, too,” Morgan suggested, trying not to sound too enthusiastic.

Nick perked up instantly, “Yeah? You wanna? Worms maybe?”

She agreed on the proviso that they could practise before KJ arrived because it had been a while since she’d played it. She would embarrass herself without a doubt but knowing what most of the items did before Kent arrived would save her a little bit.

Kent arrived mid-afternoon and did not look the least bit surprised to see Morgan when she answered the door. He greeted her with a head nod and a complicated, one-sided handshake that she abandoned almost as soon as it started

Morgan settled back onto the couch she’d been sharing with Nick while Kent stretched out on the empty couch beside them, swiping up a controller on his way through. It was alarmingly easy to get sucked into the game and ensuing conversation with Nick and Kent, especially when Morgan was left perplexed by many things that came out of Kent’s mouth—there was only four years between them, and she hadn’t expected to feel so out of the loop.

“When’s your mom flying in, KJ?” Nick asked after a hearty laugh at Morgan’s expense.

“Tomorrow morning. She’s not super impressed I told her she should stay at a hotel, but when she sees the state of our place, she will thank me.”

Morgan, perplexed, asked, “Your mom’s coming here, too?”

“Mom’s trip,” KJ said, his eyes not leaving the stream where one of his worms was taking out a baseball bat. “Everyone’s got their mom or an aunt or something coming, and then we’re taking them to Pittsburgh for the game.”

Nick’s last remaining worm was sent flying off the screen to a cacophony of frustrated yelling.

“Oh,” Morgan said, unsure if she actually made a sound.

“Can’t wait to see which guys clean up their act when his mom is around,” KJ continued, unfazed by Morgan’s lack of response or Nick’s declarations that KJ was now his sole target in the next game. “Blanks won’t have to change a thing.”

Morgan couldn’t pinpoint why she was so unsettled that Nick hadn’t said anything about the mom’s trip—whether it was because she was suddenly going to be without Nick or Karin for an amount of time she hadn’t determined, or just because she had assumed Nick was telling her almost everything going on in his life. Not that she had any right to all that information.

Nick spent Sunday at the game, and then on Monday, he and Karin disappeared for the Mom’s trip. Embarrassingly, Karin had sent Morgan home on Sunday evening with enough food to keep her fed while they were gone—a whopping three nights, and not even the longest she had gone without being fed by Karin. Four nights was the record since she’d forced herself back into Nick’s life. She’d survived just fine even if her bank account had looked a little worse for wear.

Not for the first time, Morgan tuned into the game. She supposed she had a small interest in KJ now that she’d spent the afternoon with him. Even if the team as a whole had been disappointing for much of her life. The sweep of Tampa in 2019 notwithstanding.

Something warmed inside her knowing that Nick was there and that he’d finally been able to be on a roadtrip with the team.. He still had his boot on, and the knee scooter had gone with him, but Morgan knew that him going on the road trip meant that he was heading towards a return. Less than a month had gone by since his injury, an impossible timeline for walking, much less a return, it just didn’t take a genius to know that athletes typically had a quicker recovery time.

Professional athletes. Being an athlete hadn’t helped Morgan as much as she would have liked.

Nick had been texting her or sending Snapchats pretty consistently throughout the day, and it was clear that being back with the boys was doing wonders for his mental health even if they were all being supervised. KJ had apparently been right in his prediction that the boys would be cleaning up their acts. Nick proclaimed them Momma’s Boys in a text to Morgan within minutes of getting on the plane. She’d wasted no time, and got endless joy, out of calling him out for being a Momma’s Boy.

His contact with her only increased during the game, with various photos and texts about the box he was sitting in with the moms—and the sisters, aunts, every important person who had been invited along—including the occasional selfie that reminded Morgan that she was supremely affected by his glasses.

And even more impacted by the soft way he said goodnight when he called her from the hotel room later that night.

Morgan hadn’t intended to go for another run after the previous went horribly wrong. She’d been good, truthfully; had been strapping her knee pretty regularly, especially when she couldn’t moocha ride to work, and taking it easy.

The itch was back, though. The need to get outside and run, to feel the cold bite at her skin, wasn’t something she could fight so she strapped up her knee, laced up her ASICS and hit the streets of Columbus.

She felt great for the first ten minutes, a slow jog even on the hard concrete wasn’t too much for her to handle, and it satiated her need for fresh air. The issues came when she decided to push herself because she was feeling so good.

Morgan hadn’t set up a timer, there was no thinking about splits or if she could still make the college team;she was just trying to be in tune with her body. That was the plan anyway.

She felt so good that she picked up speed considerably, oxygen filling her lungs and dopamine—serotonin—hitting her brain for the next five minutes as she pushed through the twinges and the aches not wanting to stop.

It wasn’t until the twinges and aches turned into a sharp pain that she realised she needed to actually call time on her run. Walking wasn’t much easier, a sure-fire sign that she had done far more than she should have, and she couldn’t hide the limp she was sporting because she held too much fear about what would happen if she walked normally. If the pain would even allow her to.

She gathered her bearings, trying to work out the flattest, quickest, quietest route home and realised that Nick’s place was closer. Morgan, on the verge of tears and without much strength or willpower to continue, limped towards Nick’s.

There was no trying to conceal her limp, she just clenched her teeth and more or less dragged her leg along beside her. It was dramatic, and she received more than one concerned, pitying look before she finally ended up at Nick’s door.

She didn’t knock, instead opting to pull out her phone and text Nick to have him answer the door to avoid Karin being the first person to see her. Granted, Nick wasn’t much better as the first line of defence, which Morgan found out when he opened the door.

He opened his mouth to greet her, only to stop instantly; his face had matched those of the people she’d passed on the street. Her name fell softly from his mouth, and he reached out to help her into the house. Any tears she’d been able to fight back—admittedly that wasn’t many—fell from her eyes as she limped into his arms.

Karin asked who was at the door as Nick shut it gingerly behind them and was there to help Morgan within seconds, joining Nick in whispering placations. The couch was a godsend, the weight coming off her knee was instant relief, though the damage had been done and the pain was well and truly settled.

“I thought we didn’t do pity parties,” Morgan said weakly when Karin had hurried away for ice, and Nick was pouting at her.

His expression immediately changed, though not in the way Morgan wanted, the pout transforming into a frown. He sat down on the cushion above Morgan’s head, the frown deepening. They sat in silence when Karin returned with an ice pack, some ibuprofen and fussed about Morgan; the silence was uncomfortable.

“Have you re-injured it?” Nick asked once Karin had left.

“Can I re-injure something that never healed? Or did I just fuck up my recovery?” Morgan retorted. “Again?”

“You need to go back to see the surgeon, or at least a physio, Mo. You can’t keep running on it when it’s clearly not getting any better.”

“Didn’t you keep playing after you broke your ankle?” Morgan gestured to the ankle still encased in a boot, her pain coming out in her voice as nothing but snark. “I’m poor, Nick. I don’t have insurance good enough to keep going back to a surgeon who maybe fucked up my surgery in the first place, and I have less money to start the whole process over again. We’re not all professional athletes with doctors on call.”

“You don’t have to suffer. We can find a way,” he assured her. Morgan stayed silent, not believing that they could find a way. That silence led him to continue, earnestly, “I’ll pay.”

Morgan’s stare was heavy, unable to make direct eye contact but staring at his hairline. She didn’t know what else to do aside from voice the only thought that came to mind, “I can’t ask you to do that for me. We only started talking a month ago.”

He nodded, seemingly agreeing with her and aware that what he’d said was unhinged at best. His shoulders fell—Morgan hadn’t even realised they’d been so high—and he looked up to the ceiling.

“That seemed like a less crazy idea than offering to marry you so you could mooch off my insurance.”

Morgan recoiled as far as she could into the couch, only a little mollified by the embarrassment radiating off him. She had to move on from the idea before she thought about it too long.

“They’re both crazy and off the table,” she told him firmly. He didn’t look like he was about to argue with her. “Like, it’s whatever. I’ll just never run again, and I have to learn to live with that.”

“Do you want to learn to live with that?”

“No. Of course I don’t.”

“Then we’ll find a way, okay?” Nick said, reaching out to place his hand on her arm. “Surely your insurance covers something.”

Morgan hummed, unconvinced, and finally closed her eyes and succumbed to the exhaustion caused by her pain.

Morgan had only barely recovered from the embarrassment of showing up at Nick’s door in tears. Most of that recovery had benefited from Nick deciding he was going to play doctor.

He’d taken excellent care of her, anytime she was over he was plying her with ice packs and ibuprofen and was seconds away from offering her something a little stronger if she needed it. She didn’t, it was just nice that he was thinking about it.

Also on her mind was that Christmas was rapidly approaching. She didn’t dislike Christmas at all—the Christmas carols and lights throughout Columbus were beautiful—there was just something to consider that she’d never had to before.

“Do you think you’ll be here for Christmas?” Morgan asked, staring at the tape Nick had so painstakingly reapplied. She had to sit on her hand to stop herself from picking at the edges and ruining it.

“Trying to work out if I’ll fly back with my mom on Friday or if they’re going to ramp up rehab.”

“Your mom’s leaving?” Morgan asked, looking back over the couch and up the staircase to the spare bedroom Karin had been using even though she wasn’t home at that moment.

“She can’t stay forever,” Nick said, confused. “Dad needs her to help with the business.”

“No, yeah, of course.” Morgan nodded quickly. She knew that.

Nick, still confused, tilted his head. He was still sitting on the coffee table, his hands resting on his knees where they were still bracketing Morgan’s. He wouldn’t have to move them far at all to move them back to her knees.

He kept his hands to himself, though, just nudged her good leg with his knee.

“You’re sadder about her leaving than me leaving.”

“You have to come back, though.” Morgan inhaled, recognising her own petulant tone and reeling it in. “I just—I haven’t spoken to my mother in years, and she was never like Karin anyway. I got used to having a mother figure in my life, and I should have realised that she’d be going home.”

It hadn’t been very long at all, which was perhaps the hardest part for Morgan to reconcile. She’d become attached far quicker than she ever would have imagined.

She tried to relax her face, remove any sign of sadness or discomfort but it was too late; Nick already knew. He looked perplexed yet determined as they sat in silence and returned to watching Bob’s Burgers.

The silence was broken in the last way Morgan would have expected, when Nick asked, “Do you want to come to Michigan for Christmas?”

Stunned, Morgan’s response was delayed and then utterly baffled, “You can’t just invite me to Christmas without talking to your family.”

“They’re not going to care; my mom’ll be thrilled.”

She protested until he dropped it, adamant that she didn’t need an invite to Christmas. She wouldn’t be telling him that her Christmas plans were the same as the Thanksgiving he still didn’t know the details of.

Speaking to Nick every day was becoming Morgan’s normal, so it didn’t surprise her when he called as she was finishing work so he could keep her company on her walk home. He started the conversation by asking how her knee was and accepted her lie when she told him it was fine with a wobbly voice.

“My mom wants to see you before she leaves,” he said, changing topics smoothly and without hesitation.

Morgan spoke around the bubble still stuck in her throat, which wasn’t getting any smaller at the thought of Karin leaving, saying, “I want to see her, too.”

“I’ve booked us a table at a nice place to say thank you for everything she’s done.”

“Oh, Nick,” Morgan sighed. “I can’t crash your thank you dinner for your mom. I’ll just pop by after work to say goodbye quickly sometime this week.”

“Morgan,” Nick said in a tone that Morgan was hopeless to defy. “Please? I want to thank you, too.”

“Don’t do that,” Morgan pouted to herself.

“Do what?”

“Use your captain voice on me.”

“Sorry, sorry,” he said quickly. “I don’t do it on purpose. Hard habit to break apparently.”

Morgan hummed. It wasn’t something that he did all that often and, if he did, it was mostly directed towards Kent. It made her feel chastised, mostly, and partly like she didn’t have a choice. The counter to that was Nick as a whole who had never actually made her feel like she had to do anything.

“How nice is nice?” she asked as she reached her front door.

“Nothing ridiculous. Just nice,” he answered quickly. “You can probably just wear what you wore to work.”

She sighed, both exasperated and amused, and didn’t bother moving from the rug inside her front door. She asked, “It’s for tonight, isn’t it?”

Nick confirmed that yes, he had booked the reservation for that night and that, no, he didn’t plan on getting any better at planning anything in advance. Morgan laughed, a deep vibration in her chest, at the admission that soon turned into a flutter when Nick laughed back.

The mirror hanging near her front door reflected what she already knew: she was a goner for Nick Blankenburg.

Very politely, Morgan did not point out that Karin’s absence was already noticeable when she arrived at Nick’s later that week. It wasn’t anything horrendous and was still much cleaner than Morgan’s own place, there were just a few things not where she’d come to expect them—and a few more dishes piled up in his sink than she’d ever seen.

Morgan immediately missed Karin’s presence even if the hovering had been something she had to get used to after not having any parental figures—any real supervision—in her life for just over 4 years. Nick was managing fine, though, and Karin couldn’t be with him until his return, so Morgan had to get used to Karin not being around.

Nick managing fine also meant that he was moving around his own house with minimal difficulty. He still had the scooter nearby in case he needed it to get around; he mostly just hopped along under Morgan’s worried gaze as she expected him to take a tumble any second.

Her own knee was also giving her grief after a slippery patch of sidewalk caught her off guard earlier that day, and their joint solution to their woes was to lay on Nick’s long couch, their legs hanging over the arms and their heads sharing the centre cushion. Elevation and all that.

They had long abandoned trying to watch anything on the television–they’d tried but it wasn’t feasible unless they moved– so they had taken to regaling each other with stories from throughout the years. Morgan assumed that Nick was leaving the particularly scandalous ones out, mostly because she wasn’t quite ready to spill the beans about the many skinny-dipping adventures she’d had during her time at UMich. From what she knew about the hockey team, he wouldn’t bat an eye at that, she was sure.

Midway through a story about his teammates getting thrown out of a bar for drinking underage, Nick started laughing so hard he struggled to get words out, and his breaths were halted and almost became a wheeze. Morgan shuffled to face him; her own breath caught in her throat when she was met with the pure happiness on his face. She had no idea what the end of the story would be, or if it was even worth his laughter, she just knew that she’d let him tell her any story he wanted if she got to see his unbridled joy.

Even after the laughter stopped and Nick caught his breath, Morgan didn’t look away. She wanted to categorise every freckle on his face, every laughter line, exactly where his glasses sat on his nose, and commit it to memory. Nick wasn’t looking away either; he just let his eyes fall shut and a peaceful smile formed.

“Mom’s gone!”

Nick’s eyes snapped open and, simultaneously, both he and Morgan sat up, their chests meeting their knees.

Kent was standing in the doorway, holding a four pack of White Claws in the air like a trophy–it was a trophy that his fake ID worked, or maybe just that he’d conned somebody into buying them for him. They were slowly lowered to his side when he saw Morgan and Nick and the caught-out expressions on their faces.

“It’s a Sunday night,” Morgan managed to get out, her throat tight.

“No weekends in hockey!” Kent shouted, recovering from his shock.

“You have a game tomorrow,” Nick chastised.

Kent grumbled, complained that Nick was no longer his captain, and sat in the seat that had previously been home to Morgan and Nick’s heads.

#nick blankenburg fic #nick blankenburg imagine #nhl fic #nhl imagine #hockey imagine #hockey fic #homemade fic #cbj fic #need a little company fic

[blackvelvetmuffin]

I’ve been hearing much about Hazbin Hotel coming out this summer except...it didn’t. With news of WGA Strikes and the Actors Guild joining them, it would make a lot of sense for the show to be delayed. 

However even that news feels extremely suspect out of these facts.

1. Hazbin Hotel season 1 finished production nearly six months ago - meaning its ready to be marketed with a trailer not far behind it except...

2. It still doesn’t have a platform to air from and...

3. Despite the completion, it had little to no marketing whatsoever which for me, is a VERY BIG red flag. With mini pics, character redesigns, and 1 sec gifs from the show to hype up the audience.

But how the hell does Vivziepop ever expect for her show to be successful on a mainstream platform if she’s only showing teasers and speaking with her little club house of fans that is a very small minority on twitter?

I understand being presumedly gagged by a company you sold your rights too out of fear of violating a contractual legal agreement but come on...

Everyone wants to deny it but I’m gonna say it.

There’s a lot of smoke from this. 

It was back in 2020 that A24 bought the rights and property of Hazbin Hotel with the big fallout of the entire VA cast being replaced with those that are a part of a union and with some hoping that the show didn’t need the helping hand of ANY corporate middleman or assistance so the show would remain an indie project from start to finish. 

Most projects are marketed at completion with a trailer out at least a season away from release. This level of silence and underexposure and sending just GIFs and design work is just extreme BIZARRE, even more so, from the creator herself! 

We should have gotten interviews from the new VAs, a TV opening, a trailer, a soundtrack, ANY SOUND OR HUMAN INVOLVED OR ATTACHED TO A GIF with the project especially with the release date being this summer! None of what is happening with Hazbin Hotel is making sense on any realistic or creative level. 

We haven’t even gotten any word of WHO IS VOICING the cast this close to scheduled release with radio silence from both A24 and BentoBoxAnimation about it, that is also a big red flag as its listed as current work but they aren’t bringing attention to it with it so dangerously close to scheduled season release. 

Everyone has a right to be concerned about HH by this point but blaming the delay on the strikes seems more like a very convenient excuse and cover by this point as Vivziepop said the season is finished....or is it?

It makes me wonder if all the social media selfies with her merch is covering up a very probable fire involved that she doesn’t want anyone catching on too. The lack of VAs involved or exposed almost makes one wonder if she even managed to hire any union VAs to voice her cast in time, let alone getting voices recorded and OST made for the show. It makes one wonder she only managed to complete the animation part of the season to make room for finding VAs to cast later to finish up at the last minute. 

But that would be crazy right? It would be utter batshit on a stick. No creator, let alone a professional production team, would be THIS crazy to do a reckless career and reputation killing move as to do false advertising on a half-finished product to keep the hype and traffic moving on said product and keep moving the goal post on release?

But how else do you explain the near radio silence on HH with barely any real marketing or advertising and with the series still not finding a streaming home? 

Now is the time to question Vivziepop’s transparency and credibility as this is truly getting out of hand with the teasers and vagueness and excuses. 

This is not about her personal life or past as I’m completely and utterly uninterested in the drama even though half of which is debatable. This is about her transparency and credibility as a creator in her field as this is not the first time she has been dubious and creative with the truth or avoiding it all together when it comes to her work. 

I see so many flags that it might as well be a crime scene and it feels like a big scam. If my theory holds any water, then Vivziepop is playing an extremely dangerous game with her own fanbase.

#hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel criticism #vivziepop criticism

[kingboohoo37]

KBH RANDOM RANT

I'M BACK... at least I try to post more often. Streams will also come more regularly (surely...).

I'm slowly getting back to work so my time is still very limited. I thought this was a good time to bring back my random rants about fandoms since I just revisited an old classic from my childhood.

YEP we're talking about Kim Possible one of the most ludicrous fictional universes I've ever seen... In a good way!

First up: This show is FUDGING 22 YEARS OLD THIS YEAR... I'm really getting old...

The funny part about that is it was made during the peak of the 2000s... and you really notice that. The language that most teenagers use in this show is so stereotypical for that time it feels so nostalgic even watching it XD

Anyway, let's get the obvious out of the way. I know this is supposed to be a kids cartoon and I know that I'm an adult man but that doesn't stop me from watching it.

So, why is this show so great?

Good question! Its primary charm probably comes from its simple comedic attitude of telling a story.

The characters are so ridiculous that you should never be able to take this show seriously simply because most of their actions or the situations around them don't even make sense. This show just requires you to take in its vibe and go with the flow. I mean... a teenager knowing 16 forms of Kung Fu and saving the world on any given occasion is nothing that can possibly make sense. Don't forget: "Anything's possible for a Possible!"

Let's get into the characters:

Kim is your basic teenage girl, and she's here to save the world. You can't stop her 'cause...

Okay I'll stop xD

Apart from her being an ass-kicking girl boss, her main character traits are kinda the things you expect from a main character. She saves the world out of sheer will to stick to her morals. In short: she wants to help people. That obviously doesn't always work out and she sometimes ends up judging people by what they are instead of who they are. On top of that, she gets jealous easily.

BUT she is brave, smart, and makes usually good choices in the heat of the moment (except when it comes to love xD), and is otherwise very mature for her age.

Well... the opening song didn't lie. She really is your basic teenage girl. That doesn't mean she isn't cool xD

Well, obviously I can't end it without talking about the man and his very smart and hungry naked little friend.

What makes this show so funny is well... its ability to deliver comedy simply by a character existing and Ron Stoppable plays a big part in that.

He is pretty much a normal guy who just happens to be Kim's childhood friend and later somehow steals her heart xD

He is an absolute doofus. He is silly and rarely takes anything seriously. He is also lazy and loves his favorite junk food joint Bueno Nacho.

Despite all that he still cares for his friends, his naked mole rat Rufus, and usually learns a very important lesson after an episode.

He accompanies Kim on pretty much every mission and is usually more of a hindrance than a help. Despite all that Kim still loves him in her own way. And he also saves the day a couple of times, so it's not like he is a complete slob.

Rufus is just the cherry on top. Both of these guys are hilarious and I was honestly surprised by how much I laughed watching this show.

I could go on and on but I'm gonna try to finish up this post here before it gets too long xD

Even though every episode has kind of a similar structure, it never gets boring. The villains, the side characters... all of them add something very unique to the table. You just throw some characters together and boom the story kind of writes itself XD

Season 4 was my absolute favorite part of the show since guess what ... that was when Kim and Ron started dating and BOY DO THEY MAKE A CUTE COUPLE.

Ahem... anyways. I do not regret watching all 87 episodes in the last 2-3 weeks. If you're looking for a comfortable. goofy and funny way to escape reality for a moment I can only recommend this old classic.

#kim possible #show #rant #kingboohoorants #fandom #recommendation

[weebsinstash]

All I can say is that if Batman reader ever tried to commit “sewerslide” after being trapped, they better hope they’re successful because the after effects from the family would be insane

I mean, hypothetically, even IF Reader did die, Bruce could always idk infiltrate or cut a deal of some sort with Ra's al Ghul to dip your corpse into his magic McDonald's sprite and bring you back

But I imagine you'd basically lose every last bit of privacy. Someone would be with you at all times, even in the bathroom and when bathing, like being on suicide watch. Certain materials and media you're allowed to consume become heavily restricted based on the contents (for example if you cut yourself, suddenly Bruce doesn't think it's appropriate for you to play video games where they use blades and swords, or maybe even things like pokemon "hey, what did that move just say?" "Uhhh leaf cutter?" "Absolutely not") because "oh no what if that makes them think bad thoughts and they wanna hurt themselves again" and tv can be equally as unpredictable so they probably only let you watch certain things on streaming services that have clear ratings, or maybe they even look up spoilers and "research" before letting you watch anything. ("Oh sorry we WERE gonna let you watch that critically acclaimed movie about the deaf girl and the bully, but apparently there's attempted suicide so, let's watch Ponyo instead")

Your diet would probably drastically change in the sense that they suddenly won't let you use knives and forks. If you want meat it will usually be in a stew so you can use a spoon or a soft meatloaf (you know Alfred got that bomb cooking), Dick will spoil you with your favorite ice cream and soft pastries constantly like he's trying to buy your love with it, for some reason they don't like it when you use chopsticks either. What, do they think you're going to stab your eye out or something 🙄 or maybe you casually make that joke once when they let you use the chopsticks and they all look deadly serious and suddenly you never use chopsticks ever again 💀

They'd be extremely clingy and all manifesting their trauma in different ways. Maybe Bruce is constantly not around because he's basically being Batman 24/7 so he can "clean up the streets and make this city a safer place for you" (especially if your mental break was connected to a villain in any way, like the concussion idea I discussed) but he makes sure to be at dinner with you or check on you at least once a day. If you were going to school with Dick and Barbara like in the age regression idea, maybe one or even both of them start doing classes from home so you aren't as lonely and excluded because, obviously you are not really allowed to leave the manor, let alone the property anymore. Maybe Bruce straight up pulls you out of school and says to focus in your health and you can just collect all those credits and such and finish it later and it's like sorta helping but also making you feel like a failure

Also tons of cuddles and hugs and platonic kisses and you probably aren't allowed to sleep alone. Maybe in the rare instances Bruce actually sleeps he comes into your room to male sure you're sleeping soundly and he'll fall asleep in a chair in the corner (because he doesn't want to wake you 🥺)

For that idea and also the next one, I've also thought of the potential use of J'onn or M'gann as Martians, or even Zatanna, if Bruce is ever like, intent on getting into your head, accessing your memories, accessing your thoughts. Maybe when you have your mental break Martian Manhunter is there as a good friend to Bruce to let him know how you genuinely didn't want to hurt anyone 🥺 if you go mute or even catatonic, there's Miss Martian to maybe see that traumatic memory permanantly plastered in the forefront of you mind replaying over an over, something that absolutely broke you, maybe even something Bruce doesn't even know about

(Actually this isn't the "next idea" I was mentioning before but I've also thought of "Reader is actually good friends with Bruce/the League/basically an extended Batfam member but you bounce to another universe one day and come back a wounded traumatized mess and it turns out you were with Owlman or something and Bruce kind of terrifies you now because they look and sound the exact same, and also, universal constants so 'your' Batman is also crazy for you and now he wants to "rescue" you")

And for real though, I have actually also sat down and thought about Reader/OCs who were sidekicks or Batfam member who had to be sent to Arkham 👀 I dunno it's something about the drama and possession but idk also helplessness of them "caring" but helping you in such an extreme way (even if maybe it's what you need)

Like, say you're a Batfamily member or fellow Justice Leaguer and Bruce can tell you're starting down a mental decline. More stressed, more depressed, isolating yourself more, but you keep pushing yourself to do hero work. You start doing things he doesn't agree with, getting too rough, almost going way too far and being caught and stopped by him more than once. He's actually worried about you, but you won't confide in him, especially if you're just another superhero and not exactly "under his care". you're more independent and don't want THE Batman being disappointed in you. You don't want to have to be rescued

But eventually there's some sort of horrible breaking point, whether something awful is done to you and you completely snap or you've suffered a terrible lose or failure (like say you failed to save someone and they died, or you failed to save a LOT of someones) or you're exposed to Joker venom or Scarecrow's fear gas (I actually have some ideas for that gas ngl 👀) and you're just straight up hallucinating. You were already starting to act out and become aggressive and with your skill and depending on preference, superpowers, you could start causing real damage. You're hallucinating being attacked, and send out a force of energy to blast whoever that attacker is away, and you just tear up a city block with people still on it. Bruce or Clark or someone tries to come up and talk to you, but all your brain interprets is someone is chasing you, you have to get away, they're going to hurt you, you have to run, you have to fight back, you have to PANIC--

Arkham IS an asylum, and it's used for housing the dangerous and powerful. What else can they do? A hospital wouldn't have the security or facilities to contain you, unless they had members of the Justice League with you on standby to literally restrain you if needed, and, they've got important duties of their own. Bruce tries to visit you constantly as Batman, as the one who brought you in, but you usually refuse to speak with him or cower at the sight of him. You're kept isolated from the other patients who would absolutely tear you apart if you were allowed to walk amongst them, but you're treated well besides perhaps being forcibly medicated which is only as violent as you make it. But it's a hospital, not a prison. The asylum staff feel horrible you're even there, sympathetic. I mean, after what happened to their coworker Doctor Quinzel they would know about good people succumbing to their mental illness

You're finally showing signs of improvement and they go to release you and you've requested to be put in a halfway house or some sort of program to be independent on your own rather than be released into anyone's custody and who is there waiting outside the asylum for you? Batman. And you're either one of two ways: you're humiliated to see him and kind of want to be left alone but reluctantly go with him bc you dont have a choice, OR youre filled with absolute terror and ready to go back into the hospital because you don't want him to "get you" (which unbeknownst to everyone is true, he's totally there to take you "back home", not escort you to your next destination like they all are fooled to believe)

It's genuinely a lose-win no matter what. I mean, you can't escape, but, at least he's more than just a little dedicated to taking care of you 😅

#yandere stuff #sinprompts

[klonoadreams]

since you're close to the finish line for p5r (i think?) how do you think things will go in jamais vu based on how far you've reached in the game? (will interrogation room still happen, how will the end-game be in jamais vu?)

oh things I've changed since I started, we got Makoto going by Rider, because I feel it fits her better, Ann with her black outfit because the red clashes too much with her pink gloves.

YUSUKE WITH LONG HAIR.

also with Kasumi, it's her and Jun getting along because they've popped up around each other through gymnastics. and Haru of course, has her Confidant way, waay earlier, and she gets to spend time with Jun (they go to dance class together).

interrogation room will continue as planned. All things have to go as it goes, but damn, poor Jun is gonna need more time to heal. :V

reminder the real kicker of Jamais Vu is that is is a second chance from a bad end, involving a certain other Fool. And while his Joker wasn't the same one he knew, he still goes through the same emotions as he does his best to avoid the fuck up from last time, while also getting surprised by the new stuff since he's from the P5 Vanilla timeline.

Thats' effectively what's changed. :V

I'll probably stream more p5r later, right now i'm just chilling after some tiresome work hours so thanks for asking!! :D

#ask #shuuenmei #persona 5 #persona 5 royal #p5r #jamais vu (fanfic) #kimura jun

[penissirius]

Secret Secret

Secret Secret Pt 1

Lee know x male reader

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: M/n is a very famous and well-known gamer and content creator. Idol Stray Kids still. M/n has braces but if you don’t you can just skip that part and imagine the hair as something else as well. I tried to keep it generally plain tho so you could more imagine yourself.

AUTHORS NOTE: So because this is gonna be kinda short (That’s what I thought but now that im halfway done I realized it's pretty long compared to the Late Nights one.) and more of an intro to this three-part series, I'm going to put part 2 up really close to part one. Maybe a day or so apart so it gives you guys time to read part one first. (Maybe not because im on vaca visiting my partner and im also writing a fanfic for AO3 which is taking most of my creativity but I shall try) Part 3 will probably be a few days later, depending on how much you like parts one and 2.

WARNINGS: Nothing really, fluff, some jealousy from the reader, insecure thoughts, idol AU, famous gamer reader.

FEMALE ALIGNED PLEASE DNI <3

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

M/n was chilling on his twitch stream and it was one of the few moments where he wasn't gaming but was reacting to videos his fans had recommended to him in the patron rec box. He had just finished a hilarious video of TXT and was now moving to the next video in the queue. “So the next request was from AshleysAshknee, nice name dude, this will be the last req of the live before we wrap up!” He clicks on the video and sets everything up before looking at the title.

“Alright, this is ‘Stray Kids Lee Know being the most unpredictable member in SKZ’! (I don’t know if this is an actual video so please don’t look for it 😭) Sounds good. As you all should know by now Lee Know and Changbin are definitely my biases, mainly Lee Know”, M/n laughs after reading the title. “Well let's get into it!” He starts the video and reacts to it here and there, laughing and making side jokes about his secret boyfriend. He ends up laughing at the clips of him being unaffectionate and hating affection.

There comes up a compilation of a bunch of clips near the end of Lee Know smacking the member's asses, trying to kiss them playfully and the ever so unavoidable Minsung clips. He laughs at the first sets of clips where his boyfriend is smacking their asses or playfully trying to kiss them because he knows that that's just how he jokes around with them and it's funny. When we get to the dreaded 3 to 4 last minutes of the video dedicated to Minsung, we see a slight shift in M/n's mood. It’s not enough for his fans to notice but if his siblings or boyfriend were watching they'd definitely notice.

As he watches through the clips it feels like this is the longest 3 minutes of his life and one of the only times he hates that he's reacting to an audience. The more clips of them being intimate and clingy to each other go by the more of a bitter taste is left in M/n’s mouth. In the end, they also comment about how they think Minsung is real and actually dating but M/n knows they aren't. He knows that Lee Know is his and they'd never do that to him. When the video ends M/n is quick to exit it to try to get the bitter taste away faster.

He goes through and says his usual goodbyes telling them when the next stream is and what he's doing, and if he ends the stream quicker than usual, well that's between M/n and his fans. M/n shuts everything down properly after uploading the stream so fans who didn't make it could still watch. After that, he creeps his way into his kitchen to get some snacks and drinks to take the bitter taste in his mouth away. He sits on the couch watching but not watching some random show that came on. He's scrolling through Twitter looking at drama recently and posts his fans make about him that they think he can’t see when he finds a whole thread about him.

M/n is no stranger to hate and usually, he's strong enough to fight back and laugh them off but now he's all by himself in an already weakened state and he lets the comments get to him a little. He wants to stop reading but can't bring himself to. One specific thread just gets to him in a way the rest didn't. ‘M/n talks about having a boyfriend all the time but how come we never hear about him or from him?’ ‘I don’t know maybe his boyfriend started realizing how fucking ugly M/n is and cut it off lol’ ‘Or there is no boyfriend, I mean who would date M/n unless they were looking for fame’ ‘I remember he said in one of the first streams it was brought up in that the said boyfie was an idol or famous, one of the two but still what idol would wanna date some random ass streamer who isn't even that good.’

M/n quickly shuts off his phone and throws it to the side. He realized that they were right towards the end. ‘Am I that bad looking?’ M/n stands up and walks to his bathroom mirror looking at himself. He starts to slowly pick himself apart, “My smile is horrible, these braces are so unattractive, I have such a chubby face..” Pulling on his face thinking of how ugly it looks to him and apparently other people. He tugs the ponytail in his hair pulling it out and watching as fluffy (h/c) bangs cover his eyes fully and the back of his hair goes past his shoulders with (f/n) streaks through it.

“That's a little better... You can't see the top of my face. And I can surprisingly still see like this.” He moves on poking at his body and saying things he doesn't like before giving up and changing from his favorite shirt out of his fandom merch into an oversized hoodie his brother gave him for his birthday. Was it over 90 degrees today? Yes, but M/n would rather sweat than see his body today so he just turned the ac up and moved on.

He sat in the very corner of his bed and pulled his legs to his chest. In M/n’s little corner he started overthinking. ‘What if Minho doesn't like me anymore? He’s gonna finally realize that I'm not what he wants or needs and he's gonna leave me for someone way better…like Jisung... They were right. What famous and beautiful Idol would seriously wanna date someone like me? Maybe I should tell him. I mean he'd be so much better and happier with Jisung- They're closer than me and him and spend way more time with each other and look and sound good together. He's way more affectionate with him than me..’

M/n understands that they don’t get a lot of time together because of his boyfriend's very busy schedule as an idol and yes dates and hangouts have been canceled frequently but he understands. His boyfriend's career is way more important than M/n, at least in his personal opinion. After what felt like seconds or minutes of being trapped in his head but was hours, he doesn't hear the front door open or his boyfriend walking in and taking his shoes off.

Minho was very confused because when he usually pops up around this time his adorable shorter/taller boyfriend is found in the living room or kitchen. He calls out for him getting nothing in return so he walks around looking for him and even checks his streaming room in case the stream went on longer than he thought but he wasn't there so he went to the bedroom. When he walked in he found his boyfriend still in the corner of the bed balled up and he blinked confused a few times before rushing over to him and sitting next to him on the bed.

“M/n? Baby what's wrong?”, Minho asked he made sure not to touch him because he knows how things could get if he touches him without his permission in this state. M/n slowly looks up at Minho and only cries harder when he realizes that he’s wasted hours and should have had dinner started and ready. Minho was quick to hold his arms out to the boy and M/n slowly unfolded himself before hesitantly crawling into his boyfriend’s strong comforting arms. Minho waits for him to calm down before asking him again, “Baby what's wrong? What happened?”.

M/n hiccups a few times before answering. “I'm sorry, I'm a terrible boyfriend and you deserve so much better. I'm not pretty enough or handsome enough and I should be better. You should be with someone better. You’re a famous idol for god sake what is someone like you doing with someone like me? You could have anyone you want in the world. Why are you here with me?”.

Minho held M/n to his chest, blinking confusedly about what could have caused this. He knows that M/n has insecurities and has moments like this but they've never gotten this bad before. M/n continues to sob into his boyfriend's chest, “M/n love I don't know what caused this, but I don't want to hear you say that stuff about yourself ever again. You are the most amazing and adorable and handsome person I have ever met and the only person I will ever love.”

Minho kisses the top of M/n’s head and rubs his back soothingly. “Will you tell me what caused you to think like this?” M/n sat, still sobbing, trying to calm down some before speaking. “You don’t have to tell me now but when you feel like it you can” Minho said, running his hands through his boyfriend's hair. After a good 5 minutes of trying to calm down and just basking in his boyfriend's love and comfort, M/n finally was calm enough to speak with just a few hiccups in between. He taps Lee Know’s arm twice signaling he's ready to talk now. “Hm? Are you ready baby? Take all the time you need if you aren’t!” He said looking down at his baby. “I- I’m ready now..” M/n said, his voice was kinda shaking. “Okay, what made my prince cry?” Lee know said, smiling at him.

“Um, I was on stream today and I was watching videos that people recommended to me like I told you it was planned, and everything was going good! It was a good stream but then we got to the last video of the stream and it was a video about you and..” M/n started crying again but not as hard. Minho just held him and listened while comforting him, trying to be there for him the best that he could. “I really enjoyed it, you’re so amazing and talented and it was so cute and funny watching all your moments was very fun. But then towards the end, there were like 4 minutes of just clips of you and Jisung being all cute and affectionate towards each other. It was cute and I enjoyed watching it slightly but the more and more I saw it and started thinking.”

“It went on and about how you guys would make a really good couple and that you’re perfect for each other. I know that you guys would never do anything and that you’d never cheat on me and that he’s my best friend, he’d never do that. But watching you two being so close and affectionate and always together while we almost never get time together anymore left a really bad taste in my mouth.” M/n sobbed out. Minho held him and listened taking in everything he was saying. “And then I was scrolling through Twitter after stream to make myself feel better, and I ended up finding a whole thread of hate directed towards me. Fans were saying that they didn’t believe that I was in a relationship, that no one would want me let alone a popular idol or celebrity who was a mystery. They said I was too ugly and no one would date me unless they were looking for fame. I mean they aren't wrong, look at me”

The cat-like idol looked down at his boyfriend with shocked eyes. Minho took everything in before gently grabbing M/ns chin making him look up at him. “Don’t you ever say that about yourself ever again. You are the most amazing, beautiful, funny, adorable person that I know and I love being with you. You are the reason I've gotten as far as I have, you are my biggest support. You motivate me to be the best that I can be. Everything between me and Han is strictly just friends, I don’t think of him in that way and I never will. I wouldn’t trade you for anyone else in the world.” He was going to continue but M/n cut him off.

“But why? You could have someone so much better! With the same career and be able to spend more time together and be so much happier. Not some nothing Twitch streamer like me. I have no talents and nothing that makes me as special as all the amazing people that you work with. I’m disgusting and boring. My smile is ugly, these stupid braces are unattractive, (no they are not people with braces you are amazing and adorable!) my face is chubby and ugly. Everything bout me is either ugly or boring! The only thing that I like is my hair, maybe if I wear my hair down more I can hide everything. I mean I can still see through my bangs, but that way most of my face is covered, and all I’d have to do is to wear a mask or minimize the amount that I open my mouth so you can’t see my braces much.” M/n forgot he was still talking to Minho and was rambling to himself at that point.

“I’m gonna stop you right there.”, Minho interrupted him. “You are not boring or unattractive at all. You are amazing, no one can compare to you in my eyes. Your smile is absolutely gorgeous and it lightens up my day the second I see it. I think your braces and chubby cheeks make you even more adorable. You are anything but boring, it’s such a joy hanging out and being around you. You are hilarious and you brighten the atmosphere just being in the room. Watching you when you stream whether it’s gaming or reacting to videos or even drawing comics is always entertaining. The people who made that post and agreed with it aren’t real fans. Your real fans love you and love the content you make.”

Minho lifted M/ns bangs so that he could see his whole face. “There’s my beautiful baby.” M/n smiled gently hearing what he said and seeing him smile at him with the most love he has ever seen in his eyes. “There will never be a time where I will stop loving you. No matter what you say or haters say I will always be right here. Better suck it up cause you’re stuck with me now.” He said kissing all around his boyfriend's puffy face and tickling him. M/n giggled trying to get him to stop. Minho smiled stopping after a bit, “Ah the adorable giggle I love so much, music to my ears!” M/n giggled again wiping his tears. “Thank you Minho, I’m sorry I let the hate get to me.” “Don’t be baby, everyone has their insecurities. I’m always going to be here to prove those wrong just like you do for me.” He smiled kissing the shorter/taller’s forehead.

M/n smiled leaning into his chest more. “Now how bout we get you some food and then spend the rest of the night watching movies and cuddling?”, Minho asked his very cuddly boyfriend. “I would like that very much, and thank you very much again”, he smiled looking up at him. “No need to love, now I’ll go cook, you go shower and try to relax” Minho lifted M/n and took him to the bathroom. “I’ll get you clothes” M/n smiled from the bathroom and yelled towards his boyfriend who was walking back to the bedroom, “Thank you, I love you!” “I love you too now go shower before I come in there and wash you myself stupid” M/n just laughed starting the shower.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AUTHORS NOTE: So this is way longer than I thought it was going to be. Im hoping to start part 2 soon! It’s ‘Reader no longer wanting to be a secret’ Im trying to think of ideas of how it could go and I’ve got a few that I’ll probably merge into one. If you guys have any ideas I’d be stoked to hear them and use some suggestions! I hope you guys liked it! Please tell me how it was and if you didn’t like it what I could fix! Signing out, your lovely author, Ash &lt;3!

#lee know x male reader #kpop idol #i tried my hardest #x male reader #stray kids x male #stinky stinky fic #stray kids #i love stray kids #Lee Know #lee minho #skz #stray kids fanfic #skz x reader #pls dont let this flop #pls dont hate me #pls dont steal #female aligned dni #i love him your honor #i love him #look at him #i love him so much #i adore him #i freaking love this #yes it really is a male reader #he/they support #at this point idk lol

[bisexualshakespeare]

fic writer asks

I saw these questions by @ficwip and decided to just answer all of them rather than waiting to be asked

30 questions below the cut!

What’s something new that you tried in a fic this year? How did it turn out and would you do it again? Uhh I wrote a lot of smut? 😅 oh I have a fic that is just a sex scene? it was part of a series so the lead in was technically there and also I was about to start my period and was very horny. I loooove a long lead in to the sex. Lightning Strike, and kind of Nymph Butter too, has like a couple horny paragraphs and then sex. I don't know if I would do it again but it wasn't really planned? so I guess we'll see what happens!

How many fics did you work on this year? (They don’t have to be finished or published!) it looks like 25??? wild

What’s something you learned about yourself as a writer? I think I have a better grasp of how I intuitively write and I learned that it's NOT a thing I need to train myself out of. It's okay if I write non chronologically or in dialogue only for the first draft, because following the way my brain works will lead me into the most energetic path and I can circle back and add description or transitions later. I think I'm better at description than I think I am but it just doesn't come as quickly.

What piece of media inspired you the most? I mean I published 5 Willow fics in less than two months and started several more so I feel like I have to say Willow!

What fandom(s) did you write for this year? Willow, Ted Lasso, Haven, a couple other one off fandom filks

What ship(s) captured your heart? Airk/Elora/Graydon I am such a sucker for ot3s

What character(s) captured your heart? THRAXUS BOORMAN MY LOVE

Did you write for a new fandom or ship this year? Yeah I watched Willow in i think April and enjoyed nothing else as much

What fic meant the most to you to write? Finishing Multivocal was soooooo wow. Like it is The longest thing I've ever finished and it really brought writing back into my daily life as something to look forward too rather than something to feel guilty for not doing? I wrote it for like three years. This year I made some edits and added some scenes that made me feel really good about taking my time. I really wrote the fic I wanted to see (except i mean i would've preferred them to fuck but other than that lol)

What fic made you feel the happiest to work on? Eckleberry Pie was so fun. It was really stream of consciousness. I just had no worries about what other people would think cause I literally was like no one is gonna read this but @lowkeyed1 so I can do whatever stupid shit I want 😂

What fic was the most satisfying to finish writing? I think Apple Candy. I didn't realize how it was going to end until I got there. I kinda sped through the end of the chapter cause it was already going up after the October collection was closed and I wanted to get it done, so I was just kinda awkwardly figuring out what we were gonna leave on and then I wrote that Graydon was loved and I was like 'oh. yeah. that's what this was about!'

What fic was the most difficult to write? Did you finish it? All of them were difficult. If we're including fics I didn't finish then probably every ted lasso fic I tried to write and couldn't. I was planning on writing a series from Jamie's perspective, I tried to write a fantasy AU, I tried to write PWP, just so much did not work and then I left the fandom.

What fic was the easiest to write? I think I wrote Lightning Strike in like an hour lol

What were your shortest and longest fics this year? If we're ignoring filks and Multivocal, which started posting last year, then the shortest would be Bridges at 670 words and the longest would be my as yet unposted Cyrano AU at 21K.

Rec a fic you wrote or posted in 2023 I mean I have to go with Eckleberry Pie and the rest of the Harvest Festival series right?! Or if you don't want a bunch of smut then In The Middle is a filk about yelling at creators, so that's a mood

What were your go-to writing songs? I got really into these "immersive writing session" videos where someone buys the rights to a bunch of instrumental music and puts it together to fit a vibe. I listened a lot to traveling through a medieval fantasy world but it gets darker the longer you write What were your go-to writing snacks? tiny bottles of wine cocktails from the grocery store

What was the hardest fic to title? I guess Lightning Strike? I almost always name fics after phrases I use in the fic and in the Harvest Fest series I wanted them to be named after food cause I knew the last one was going to be called Apple Candy, but Lightning Strike didn't have any time for food cause it was just fuckin so I had to find something that felt like it fit but was different. It was a change in perspective, Elora instead of Graydon, so once I decided I wasn't mad about the title not fitting the theme.

Share your favorite opening line Okay I actually wanna use a filk for this cause I love the first verse of What You Believe: How on earth could I be calm When inside my chest's a ticking bomb? The nicest guys can be deceiving Lift you up, then leave you bleeding It's a goddamn tragedy like Misérables

Share your favorite ending line As the moon rose on the final day of the Harvest Festival, Graydon knew, with the utmost certainty, he was loved.

Share your favorite piece of dialogue From Apple Candy:

“So what am I gonna do while you and Airk are together? Sit in my room twiddling my thumbs?” She scoffed and dropped her hands from his shoulders. “I kinda thought you would do things that I don’t like, like studying your languages or practicing the flute.” “Yeah or sleeping with Boorman.” Elora groaned and rolled her eyes. It was kinda cute though. Knowing she was in love with him made it better. He ran a thumb over her hip. “Hey so, Airk left us your bedroom for a few hours. What do you think he’s doing, knowing what we’re supposed to be doing?” Elora’s eyes narrowed. “He better be twiddling his damn thumbs.”

Share an excerpt from your favorite scene From Multivocal, a scene between Duke and Audrey I added right before posting and was much needed:

“I think it could work." She pressed. "The three of us.” “Oh you’re not even gonna ask me? I could have other offers. I’m a very well liked guy.” “As I can see by the gigantic mess all your friends left.” “Hey I don’t mind a mess,” he held her eyes, “as long as I’m not the only one trying to clean up.” She stepped closer. “You’re not.” Audrey put a hand on his chest. She had almost done the same thing several months ago, when she thought the only option was giving him his family trouble again. But then she’d wrapped her hand around his neck instead and pulled him in for their first kiss since Colorado.

Share the final version of a sentence or paragraph you struggled with. What about it was challenging? Are you happy with how it turned out?

this is so hard. I feel like I forget what I used to struggle with cause I'm so focus on what i'm currently struggling with 😅

I had a really hard time writing Nymph Butter because it was this mix of humor and smut and sincerity and I wanted to have like real moments of connection between Graydon and Elora without it being so serious that it killed the sexy mood. The whole fic was a big balancing act there.

“Can you stop talking about Airk? He has nothing to do with us.” “Of course he does!” She shouted, hitting the ground in frustration. “I thought I loved him, but what if I was just using him to get over you? Like you're using Boorman to get over me.” “First of all, Boorman likes being used. Don't you, pal?” Boorman’s moan came from behind him, along with the sound of his hand sliding with help from the nymph butter.

I'm pretty happy with how it came out. I was very meh when I first posted it, but on a reread I think it holds up. Since my new main ship is an ot3 I'm sure I'll have many more chances to work on this mixture of sex and relationship negotiation.

What’s something that surprised you while you were working on a fic? Did it change the story?

I think I was surprised in Apple Candy that Boorman got a little jealous of Graydon and Elora. Boorman was always supportive of them but when I was writing the morning after, I started thinking in Boorman's voice and I felt that little twinge of sensitivity that he has and how he runs away from his emotions and I was like hmm okay I'll follow that. The overall story was the same but I think it added a little weight to the Graydon/Elora relationship negotiation that came after.

What did you use to write? (e.g. writing programs, paper & pen, etc.) a combination of GDrive, LibreOffice, OneNote, and a physical notebook.

If you had to choose one, what was THE most satisfying writing moment of your year? Probably in August when I first started writing Cryano AU. I hadn't written anything the whole month and then in the last week and a half I wrote like 5k

Did you do anything special to celebrate finishing a fic?

No but I should! I need to think of a good finished project ritual. I think I usually just text a friend and sigh and watch youtube videos and wait to get a comment.

How did you recharge between fics?

I...don't? Should I have a recharge ritual too?

If this were an awards show, who would you thank?

🥺 I would like to thank my IRL friend Lee for beta-ing Multivocal for me. I would like to thank lowkeyed for leading the way in the scary world of rare pairs. Thanks to everyone on the Revolorilution server for encouraging my ideas. Everyone at Voiceteam for encouraging my filks, especially klb! And of course I thank everyone who commented and gave a kudos on my fics! I love you all so much! It's been a great year of writing! Thank you 😭

What’s something that you want to write in 2024?

I want to write all of the willow season 2 fic ideas. I am manifesting an announcement of the show coming back and I want to make sure I get all my thoughts out before that happens. I'm definitely excited about the possibility and would like to have trust in the writers, BUT I put off all my ted lasso ideas until season 3 and now they're all dead to me so gotta grab my joy while I can!

#ask game #kinda

[writtenjewels]

Monstrous part 4

Part One, Part Two, Part Three

One Month Later

It had been difficult to explain to his son or his sire why Salim was so distracted the last month. He could barely understand it himself. He'd known Jason for such a short amount of time-- it made no sense to miss the werewolf this much or think about him as often as Salim did. The sad howls of that last night still echoed in his heart.

He went hunting as always but the hunts felt hollow without Jason there. Salim readied himself for another night like that. He just finished off his first kill when he caught an unusual scent in the air. It was so familiar to him... But no, it couldn't be. Not wanting to hope, Salim followed the scent.

He spotted a pale human figure standing in the woods next to a wide stream, their bare back toward Salim. If his heart still beat, Salim knew it would be racing now. The figure stiffened, head tilted to the side. They turned and Salim stared with eager, hungry eyes.

“Thought I smelled somethin'.” Jason's voice was just as he remembered. Not much had changed in him at all over the last month, except maybe the stubble now on his jaw. “You're a fuckin' sight for sore eyes.”

“So are you.” Salim took a step forward but hesitated. It'd been a month, after all, and he wasn't sure if the connection he felt went both ways. Jason crossed the rest of the distance and threw his arms around Salim in a hug. Salim returned the gesture without hesitation. “You're hot,” he observed.

“Thanks, you ain't so bad yourself.”

“That... that's not, um...” Thanks to the recent meal, his cheeks had enough blood to turn red. Jason chuckled and pulled out of the embrace.

“Didn't know you were bashful,” he teased. “None of your vampire buddies tell you that you're hot?”

“Vampires can't be hot. The best we can hope for is 'warm' after ingesting a lot of blood.”

“Smart-ass,” Jason snorted, shaking his head. “Yeah, I guess I'm runnin' a little hot right now. Always happens just before the full moon.”

“That's tomorrow night, isn't it?” He probably shouldn't have said that and revealed just how closely he'd been noting the phases of the moon. Thankfully Jason didn't notice. “You're growing a beard,” Salim noted to change the subject. And then realized that revealed how well he remembered Jason's face.

“Nah, just too lazy to shave. Too bad you can't grow one; you'd make it look good.” Is he flirting with me? Salim pushed away the thought as soon as it popped up. “You got time to hang out?” Jason asked him. “We didn't talk much last time we hung out.”

“I could stay,” Salim agreed. Jason flashed a smile and reached down to the button on his jeans. “Um, what are you doing?”

“I was gonna dip in the stream.” Jason went on to unbutton his jeans and started to pull them off. Salim knew he should look away but his eyes were glued to the werewolf, heat pulsing through his body. “You gonna join me?” Jason asked.

“I, ah...” This had to be a dream, right? Salim had been thinking of the werewolf so often over the last month and the first thing Jason did when they met again was strip down. It couldn't be real.

“Or you could stand there on shore.” Jason shrugged, getting into the water and wading out where it was deep enough to reach his waist. Salim didn't need to breathe but he did it anyway to calm himself. His reaction was more than he expected. “So what've you been up to?” Jason asked him.

“Ah, well, the usual.” Salim tried to keep his eyes on Jason's face so they wouldn't be tempted to dip any lower. “Hunting, spending time with my son, gardening. What about you?”

“Work, mostly. One of our dairy cows is gonna give birth any day now.”

“You're a farmer.” He hadn't expected that. “Do you like it?”

“Sure.” Jason scooped up a handful of water and splashed it over himself. “It's hard work but I like bein' outside and the animals are good company. Besides, there's no better guard dog than a werewolf.”

“I see your point.” Salim watched the water droplets slide down Jason's chest, appreciating anew the hardened muscles. Yes, that was a body honed on manual labor. Jason ran wet fingers through his hair and Salim swallowed hard. He struggled to think of something to say to distract from his thoughts. “What did the other werewolves think of our team-up?”

“That I was fuckin' crazy to trust a vampire.”

“My people had a similar reaction,” Salim admitted. He was quiet for a moment before adding: “I didn't think I'd see you again. I'm glad, though. To see you.”

“Same here.” Jason turned to wade back toward the bank and Salim quickly averted his gaze. “You sure you don't wanna come in? The water feels good.” Salim couldn't manage to speak. “I don't remember you bein' this shy,” Jason noted.

“Maybe you're just easier to talk to when you're a wolf,” Salim teased.

“In that case, meet me back here tomorrow night. We'll go huntin'.”

“I will.” Salim turned back to face Jason. “I should, um, get back to hunting. See you tomorrow.”

Salim knew he would hurry here as soon as the sky went dark. He didn't want to miss a moment of being with Jason.

#jason kolchek #jason kolchek x salim othman #jason/salim #jason x salim #salim othman #house of ashes #jalim

[kraefishh]

nintento direct thoughts

yeah so hi i deliberately stayed up until 7am on a work night in order to watch this and do not regret a thing.

-> splat3 dlc looks cool!! will i play it? no. does it look cool as hell? yeah!!! I personally don't like splat3's actual single player campaign so unless im able to access the dlc without finishing the main campaign then... im not playing it lmao. it looks cool as fuck though!! i like whatever the hell they had going on with the glitchy taz hunger looking goop that produced skeleton fish. pearl + marina lore is also a win in my book -> i dont actually have all that many thoughts about the smrpg showcase but MAN it looks cool as hell. at first i didnt like the revamped graphics but now theyre growing on me.... plus the trio attacks??? HELL YEA! i hope the remake will make me actually finish the game this time around instead of start it twice in the past three years and then quit within the first few areas (<- i say as if this isnt a normal problem i have regardless. thanks, its the adhd)

-> SaGa Emerald Beyond actually looks interesting?? like I know nothing about that game series but the character designs look very cool and i like the concept of a multiple outcome story based entirely on which character you play. do i think i'd actually play this game? no, probably not. looks cool tho

-> despite me being The pokemon nerd i have nothing to say about the new detective pikachu game. i dont like the voice they gave pikachu imo. i think thats just cause im spoiled on movie detective pikachu being ryan reynolds... i joke i kid. kinda. also i never like. actually played any detective pikachu games so i got nothing

-> WAS NOT EXPECTING A TROMBONE CHAMP PORT, TO BE QUITE HONEST

-> cool that were getting a new wario-ware!! not sure how i feel about like the.... forms? is that what theyre called?? w/e regardless im not sure how i feel about em. but its a wario-ware game so its bound to be weird but like ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

-> FUNKY KONG DIDDY KONG PAULINE RELEASE FOR MARIO KART WAS NOT ON MY LIST. SO SO HAPPY THOUGH. peachette is whatever. no idea where she came from

-> gotta say i completely forgot among us was on switch so seeing the crewmates i was like "are they making a fucking spin-off game for switch?" no. i just forgot. the fungle is a funny name though i appreciate it

AND THEN

THE LAST THING I WAS EXPECTING

A PAPER MARIO THOUSAND YEAR DOOR REMASTER.

I was laying there in bed at 7:40am and was like. oh cool one last thing before its over. its probably gonna be just another title release of something or a sneak peek on some dlc.

and then i hear the music.

THAT NOSTALGIC MUSIC THAT MAKES ME FEEL LIKE IM SEVEN YEARS OLD AGAIN

-> yeah anyway so i screamed "WHAT!?" at the (metaphorical) top of my lungs (because it was 7:40am and people were sleeping). ttyd getting a remaster is so so cool. and now that i know its possibly getting a re translation that makes me even more happy. give us trans vivian....... i also just think its very funny that ive been playing ttyd on twitch for the past. year now? (ive taken a shit ton of breaks) and theyre making a remaster?? now? not complaining im having a blast playing it with my cohost but HHADGHGAKDFJ

-> i'm mostly just excited for the remaster cause it'll hopefully bring traction back to the paper mario series. idk about like the general consensus of the fandom but like. the paper mario series has been needing a pick me up for a HOT MINUTE.

-> no i am not going to play the remaster of ttyd for stream. maybe on my own time. we'll see. i dont see the point of finishing the og only to then, like a year later, play the remaster. especially when i have a TON of games backlogged on my list since i only stream once a week. more often than not, not even that. i am planning on doing rpg tho

#krae rambles #nintendo direct #ttyd #stream things #also yes im staying up now to write this on a work night at 5am what of it #this is normal #have a good day

[bookworm-2692]

🌲 favourite member/character?

🧨 favourite season and why?

🔥 if you were in the life games, how would you play it?

⚡️most cinematic death?

🌿 any favourite interpretations?

🔮 predict the winner of secret life

<3 love to hear your thoughts

Uhhhh sorry about the delay getting to answer this! I first saw the ask on my phone and wanted to wait until I got to my laptop and then forgot until I got another ask haha.

🌲 favourite member/character?

Oh man this is hard! I'm really liking Gem this season, and Pearl is always fantastic. Her Double Life was extra great, but I've loved her loyalty to her team and the way she's trying to get them to win in both Limited Life and Secret Life, even when her teammates are a bit pathetic (affectionate) sometimes (BigB and Mumbo...). I loved Impulse in Limited Life and how much he was trying to win without letting on that he was tryharding it... Also Skizz Limited Life my beloved <3. Skizz is wonderful and I wish he was in Double Life so I could've been introduced to him at the same time I was introduced to the rest of cast (apart from the two I had known about for a decade already). They're all fun and so wonderful!

🧨 favourite season and why?

Third Life and Last Life are excluded because I have only seen three sessions of Third Life (was about to start session 4 when Limited Life was released) and none of Last Life (because I was gonna watch it when I finished Third Life and that hasn't happened yet). I think Double Life will always have a soft spot in my heart because it was the first one I saw and I loved the soulmates mechanic (I still wonder how things may have changed if, on a red life death, the one who died still dies, but their soulmate gets like a totem effect and continues playing as a solo red... I think that would have made it interesting, especially to see Pearl hunt Scott. I've noodled this as an au but not really come to any conclusions yet. Also what would Tango have done, being alone so early?? That sort of thing). Also I watched Pearl's POV first each week because she uploaded just before I went to bed on Friday night, and everyone else would upload while I was asleep, so that just made her win that much better <3.

I also loved Limited Life because Skizz my beloved <3. I loved how they had solid teams but the alliances between teams changed every five minutes it was so funny. I loved how cavalier they were with dying until they were like "oh shit" because it was the end and they were desperate. I loved making my life tracker graph for this season. Limited Life was a lot of fun.

Secret Life is also fantastic so far. I love the tasks and the interactions (and canon Gem in the life series!). Unfortunately, Secret Life is uploading concurrently with Decked Out running. During Double Life I managed to watch every single POV each week. During Limited Life I was busier, so I only managed to watch most POVs each week. For Decked Out, I was mostly keeping up with everyone's streamed runs, but behind on videos... and now Secret Life is happening... so I'm way behind on both, because keeping up with just one is a full time job and I like both. So I will definitely have to go back later and watch more Secret Life POVs because I just can't keep up with Decked Out at the same time.

So all in all... I think Double Life is my favourite. The Divorce Quartet stuff was great, and I loved Pearl so much. I might go have a poke again at some point about what may have happened if the final death disconnected the soulbond (especially if they players weren't aware that would happen, so Jimmy still dies first but Tango is alive... and then the chaos as everyone realises their red soulmate is no longer safe...)

🔥 if you were in the life games, how would you play it?

Oh man, this is hard! I'll be honest, I've hardly played minecraft in years other than a few hours here and there starting a new world and then getting too busy to continue. So I definitely don't have PVP skills and would probably honestly be a pretty wet cat. I guess try to find a solid team and try to build some houses/some basic wheat farms, and try not to die pathetically too quickly??? I don't like lying, so I'd be really bad at being boogeyman if that was in play. I don't think I'd betray my teammate, but I would probably be pretty easy to betray. I would definitely die in the bottom half of the rankings lmao.

⚡️most cinematic death?

This one is also hard. Ren and BigB in Double Life was good, with the absolute fluke of a dripstone kill. Also Double Life, but when Bdubs and Impulse became red as Ren was hunting Bdubs, and Impulse took the time to change the music disc to be thematically appropriate is absolutely iconic. In Limited Life, I think Jimmy's final death was fairly cinematic - surrounded by everyone, the fall, the lightning... the tragedy of it all really makes it. Grian's final death is only cinematic in its parallels - falling in the same manner as Jimmy, from skynet, especially as both of them are often interpreted as being birds. I think also Scott's death from green to yellow is cinematic, when the entire yellow server was chasing him, so it involves him escaping everyone, and then the swimming through water, Jimmy trying to kill him, and Scott desperately trying to swim to Martyn so that Martyn can get his time instead of an enemy. I'm not sure if Secret Life has had any cinematic deaths so far... wait actually. Jimmy and Martyn becoming red. From Impulse's POV he (or nvbzy) did a lot of awesome cinematic shots of the dragon fight, including the moment the intruders appeared and then two of them immediately died. Was very cinematic from Impulse's POV, though I haven't seen it from their POVs yet.

🌿 any favourite interpretations?

Hmm. I like that Pearl canonised Tilly having three lives too, she died on her yellow life at the end of the season, which means she's technically still there on her red life. I also like where I saw somewhere about Matchbox potentially being a reincarnation of Tilly?? This is less an interpretation and more based on the skin, but I love that Gem is corrupted by the End now due to the circumstances involved with how she became yellow. I am also now suddenly incapable of remembering any other interpretations, or at least forgetting what is canon and what is an interpretation haha.

Wait I do also love the post that mentions Gem being brought in as a Listener agent simply because Martyn and Jimmy are too pathetic right now lmao

🔮 predict the winner of secret life

I think Impulse has a good chance this time. He's a solid player, and his team is solid and loyal. He came second in Limited Life, and was fairly high in the previous seasons too. Limited Life really showed how much he's willing to work to win, and this time he won't have Scott kill him three times in a row lmao. Scott is also a really good player, but because he's won, he won't want to win again (Pearl has explicitly stated this as well, but Scott hasn't stated it but has shown it with his actions in Double and Limited Life where he very easily could have won again twice over but chose not to), so he will be able to help his teammates. Gem is good at PVP but she's a little more reckless with her hearts than Impulse - actually, Impulse and Skizz both have an advantage with experience being in UHC mode. So yeah, Impulse makes sense to me. And after Limited Life he deserves it. It would be funny if like Gem won on her first season though, or if somehow Jimmy won after becoming the second red so early. I don't think Jimmy will win but it'd be so funny if he did (and so cathartic if he broke the canary curse by winning).

Thank you so much for sending these asks in, and apologies for the week and a half delay in answering!!

Ask game questions here

#traffic life smp #double life smp #limited life smp #secret life smp #ask

[looseygoosey66]

Stone Gossard And Regan Hagar On Bookending Brad Via Pair Of New Releases

Since forming in 1992, Seattle rock outfit Brad has released six albums, experimenting with voices and sounds which allowed them to operate outside the grunge groundswell developing around them.

Driven by the soulful, one of a kind vocal of singer and pianist Shawn Smith, Brad’s music has always maintained a sense of honesty, the singer’s earnest delivery and thoughtful storytelling defining their best work.

Sessions for the group’s 1993 studio debut Shame, newly reissued to celebrate the album at 30, moved notoriously fast, with Brad emerging with a self-produced album in just 17 days, the result of a highly collaborative songwriting process.

“I think Regan has been using this word more often. But he talks about inception and how he’s so attracted to art that is sort of the first moment or the first time that something reveals itself,” explained Brad guitarist Stone Gossard, referencing Brad drummer Regan Hagar. “I think we had that on the first record in spades,” he said, looking back at Shame. “Because we were just jumping off a cliff saying, ‘Well, let’s make a record. We don’t have any songs but I know we can do it in 10 days. And we’ve never heard this bass player before but I bet he’s gonna be good! And we’re gonna go in a studio and it’s probably all gonna work out.’ And it actually did!” recalled the guitarist. “And the reason why is because we had that spirit of sort of dreaming and collaborating.”

Smith passed away tragically in April of 2019 at just 53 years old, the result of high blood pressure and a torn aorta shortly after the start of sessions for what would become Brad’s sixth studio album.

Processing the loss of their friend and bandmate, Brad reconvened to finish the music that makes up the new In The Moment That You’re Born, now available on vinyl and for online streaming, a collection of ten songs which includes a Brad take on “Stars n You,” Hagar revisiting his work alongside late singer Andy Wood in the group Malfunkshun.

“To me, this record is the most similar to the first. So, it’s interesting that they’re bookending each other from our career as it were as a group collectively,” Hagar observed. “The early tracks, it was 17 days of just kind of throwing ideas down and that kind of collaboration - working through songs in real time onto tape,” he said of the Shame sessions. “This latest record is actually a collection of those moments through the past decade really, where we had gotten together for a weekend at a time to throw ideas down - always with the intention of getting together later to finish,” Hagar explained. “When we did get together to finish, Shawn wasn’t with us any longer unfortunately. So, it remained rawer and more like the inception of the songs than some of the other albums. Which, I think, looking back at it now, lends itself so much to our first outing, the Shame album, that it’s poetic in a sense.”

Both the Shame reissue and the new In The Moment That You’re Born album are now available via Gossard and Hagar’s own Loosegroove Records, a label they ran together between 1994 and 2000, relaunching the label in 2020 in partnership with music distributor The Orchard, a forward thinking entity focused on great music which drills down on the lost art of artist development.

I spoke with Stone Gossard and Regan Hagar about the legacy of Shawn Smith, the cathartic process of wrapping up In The Moment That You’re Born and bookending the Brad story in surreal fashion via a pair of new releases. A transcript of our phone conversation, edited for length and clarity, follows below.

Jim Ryan: Stone, when you and I spoke in 2020, you mentioned that you were hoping to get this last Brad record out. Here we are almost three years later. I imagine it’s a difficult process but is it cathartic at all seeing it out there now starting to find an audience? Does that bring closure at all?

Stone Gossard: I think it’s cathartic. And it does bring some closure for sure. The process was three years and I think it was appropriately long in terms of sort of all of the things that needed to happen to sort of move through the process of listening, finalizing and bringing back the sort of key players that are going to be part of the decisionmaking in terms of Brad and Shawn’s estate and Lucy his partner. And just kind of getting everybody to see the idea and to approve. So that was a good process for us.

We got deep listens on a lot of tracks that we had recorded over the last five years. And I think we went in with the mental attitude of, “How do we move through this like Brad would move through stuff naturally?” And I think we were able to do that. Leaving it raw and loving elements that are sort of unpolished - but also sort of messing around and tweaking stuff and flipping it over and trying new stuff.

It gave Regan and I a chance to spend some time with Keith Lowe. Keith was a major contributor on the songwriting end of this record, which is a great, great thing. We really got to sit in the studio together and just listen to these old tracks. And spend some time together and think about Shawn and how much we miss him and how much his musical energy and his kindness and his humor and his view of life - just how much we appreciated that. And it was a good process. And I think in the end that the record turned out great.

“In the Moment That You’re Born” is the first single and it’s kind of one of the best Brad songs that I think we’ve ever written. It has an element of Satchel in there, which is Shawn and Regan’s other band. It’s heavy and it’s soaring and it has one of those lyrics from Shawn that sort of transcends and that can really bring a lot of meaning to a song. So, it was a good process.

Regan Hagar: I appreciate Stone’s answer there. It was quite an experience losing Shawn. And then going through and listening again gave all of us different ears for a moment. And just hearing Shawn’s message was coming across so much clearer in his absence. It was an interesting experience - very fulfilling.

Ryan: I was listening to the album again this morning. I think there’s a real honesty in Shawn’s lyrics. And I think that’s something that very much comes across in his vocals too - they’re so earnest. What sort of struck you about hearing him deliver these new songs as you started to reapproach them again after a few years?

Stone: Earnest is one word. I do think there’s very little between Shawn’s singing and sort of the very present sort of emotion of what he’s going through. I don’t know what the right word for that is. In terms of my experience with other singers, and just in music in general, his ability to sort of summon that kind of energy out of the universe in terms of being able to crystalize his emotions into a vocal melody, and even a vibration in his voice and how his voice comes across - it’s very pure. And it has an element to it that’s just undeniable when you’re in the room with it and when you’re listening to it. In the moment of creation, Shawn is really at his best. He really has a superpower there.

Ryan: I know that writing Shame was pretty collaborative. But by the time you get to this one, everyone’s just busier. There’s so many more things in play 30 years later. But, at least initially, how did these songs start to come together as you guys started kicking around the idea of a new Brad album?

Regan: To me, this record is the most similar to the first. So it’s interesting that they’re bookending each other from our career as it were as a group collectively.

The early tracks, it was 17 days of just kind of throwing ideas down and that kind of collaboration - working through songs in real time onto tape. This latest record is actually a collection of those moments through the past decade really, where we had gotten together for a weekend at a time to throw ideas down - always with the intention of getting together later to finish. So, when we did get together to finish, Shawn wasn’t with us any longer unfortunately. So, it remained rawer and more like the inception of the songs than some of the other albums. Which, I think, looking back at it now, lends itself so much to our first outing, the Shame album, that it’s poetic in a sense. This record reminds me of the first experience in its raw nature.

And the fact that we’re looking at a collection of song inceptions. And not that they’re not finished, but a lot of times in the studio you’ll redo things several times or add parts. And that wasn’t necessarily the case. The bulk of these songs are really just one or two passes with the band in the studio. So, it’s fun.

Ryan: Regan, what was it like revisiting Malfunkshun? How did you guys go about putting a new spin on “Stars n You” and kind of reapproach that track?

Regan: That was actually Stone’s idea. It was one of those weekends where we just got together and only did that song. And we had been apart for quite a long time at that point. It wasn’t initially going to be on the record I don’t think. In our first setup it wasn’t there. I had a really good time kind of revisiting that. Shawn was such a fan of Andy’s that when he approached it, he sounds to me very, very much like Andy. I can barely tell the two apart on that particular track - which is pretty phenomenal. As opposed to thinking he didn’t have an angle on it, Shawn shows amazing respect to Andy on that track. It’s been a good experience.

Stone: I knew how much that song meant to Regan and Shawn and I. And I think at the time it was like, “What’s something that can sort of remind us of where we came from? Something that’s fun that really could sort of reenergize our collaboration in a way?” Andy Wood was one of the most powerful, amazing sources of love and joy for all of us - everyone that met him, including Shawn. Invoking one of his songs just felt like the right thing to do at the time, you know?

Ryan: One of my favorite tracks on the album is “Without Guns.” A bit of a message there, some pretty powerful storytelling. But musically it’s great too. Am I hearing saxophone on there?

Regan: Yes! So, again, that’s a sketch. Sometimes Shawn would just vocalize what he thinks a melody should fit into a verse section and then would come back and do that later. This was one of those situations where we had a missing verse and we asked Hans Teuber, who had done some various horns and assorted instruments and keyboards and stuff with us on that album, to go in there and jam with Shawn’s scatting as it were - just kind of vocalize his idea. And it ended up just being really cool having the two of them run consecutively together. That’s what I’m thinking in my mind’s eye right now when you bring that up is that I really love that second verse where it’s Hans on sax and Shawn kind of scatting. It’s really amazing.

Stone: It’s great that you brought up that song. Because that’s definitely like a wonderful sort of - it’s not a Frankenstein but we started out with... I think Shawn did that as sort of a late night drum machine, one guitar and threw a vocal down where it was like, “OK. Here’s just kind of a crazy sketch…” But the more we listened to it, the more we fell in love with that character. The song has this... I don’t know what the right sort of word is. But this sort of homemade quality of it and… I don’t know. It has sort of has this quality to it that’s so nasty and broken and unpolished and unvarnished…

Regan: Like a drawl.

Stone: Yeah. It’s like he’s channeling some character from some place that is not Capitol Hill, you know? It’s great.

Ryan: Regan, you directed the video for “Hey Now What’s the Problem?” There’s this cool combination of vintage horror film imagery, cool pop culture moments, footage of the band - what were you going for with that video?

Regan: Right. I had initially been so excited about that track when it was first cut that I just threw together a bunch of my - I have a collection of pop clips. I am a bit of a videophile. This must’ve been six or seven years ago but I cut together all of that stuff without any of the band in it. Just running on excitement from cutting the track and listening to it and what Shawn was singing about, I just started getting the imagery of kind of how ridiculous some of those quote unquote “spooky” things are to people. And I found it somewhat ludicrous. So, I had just started comping that stuff together. And it sat for a bunch of years. And then when we finished the record, and it was time to generate some videos for it, I thought, “You know, I want to change that - but keep the same vibe.” But I ended up going and refreshing it with a bunch of clips of us playing that we had just to kind of bring it up to date. But it was just kind of goofing off with pop video stuff, which I really very much enjoy doing.

Ryan: Well, Regan, I think it was you that used the word “bookended” earlier. And that’s exactly the word that was in my head this morning. What a surreal way it is to sort of bookend this Brad story with the Shame reissue plus the new album. What did each of you learn in the process of working on both of these albums and taking a rare look like back like that in the depth you have throughout?

Stone: I think Regan has been using this word more often. But he talks about inception and how he’s so attracted to art that is sort of the first moment or the first time that something reveals itself. And I think over and over again through our careers, particularly with Regan and I, and with all of the bands that we’ve played in, when you first get together and you don’t know what anything is and you’re having this moment of like, “I’m free to be myself and I trust these people and I know that I’m safe...” I think that has been shown to us to be true again and again. The nature of the best stuff is when people let their guard down and come together collectively.

And I think we had that on the first record in spades. Because we were just jumping off a cliff saying, “Well, let’s make a record. We don’t have any songs but I know we can do it in 10 days. And we’ve never heard this bass player before but I bet he’s gonna be good! And we’re gonna go in a studio and it’s probably all gonna work out.” And it actually did! And the reason why is because we had that spirit of sort of dreaming and collaborating.

And I think the last record was the same in the sense that I think we came into the studio in those last sessions when Shawn was still with us and I think at the time we thought, “Well, what haven’t we done? How should we collaborate?” And I think the thing that we did was say, “Well, Keith Lowe, you’re a great player. You play some riffs.” And some of these Keith Lowe riffs that he brought out allowed us to kind of play in a different way than we normally played. And we layered those. And then Shawn Smith would come in and layer it in another way that we didn’t expect. And there was a generosity to the process that I think really comes across in the music.

So, long story short, I think it’s that inception and collaboration are those two things that really generate the most in the least amount of time.

Regan: I feel fortunate. And to see the absoluteness of it now with Shawn’s passing, I just feel thankful. And I’m glad that, though difficult at times, the band really stuck to doing what we wanted to do. And sometimes that was trying to please each other, sometimes it was trying to please ourselves. But I like that we did it together. We’re such old friends in a sense. It’s rare - being old now and realizing that it’s a little bit more special than we realized. It feels good.

#stone gossard #regan hagar #rip shawn smith #shawn smith #keith lowe #jeremy toback #brad #shame #in the moment that youre born #interiors #best friends? #satchel #brad vs satchel #welcome to discovery park #united we stand #loosegroove records #seattle #pearl jam #mother love bone #green river #malfunkshun #andy wood #thee deception #SiriusXM

[asianalley]

20세기 소녀 | 20TH CENTURY GIRL - kmovie

just gonna post this and pretend it hasn’t been a million years since i last posted but anyways.. let me start off by saying this movie is so sad you guys. SO SAD. probably THE saddest kdrama/movie i’ve seen this year. and that is saying a lot because yes, i have watched all the sad dramas this year (except the red sleeve, i still need to finish that..). overall, 10/10 characters, 10/10 plot, 6/10 ending - i took off 4 points because the ending got me so mad omg.

SPOILERS AHEAD!

things i enjoyed:

- poong woonho.

100/10 character. loved him from start to finish. perfect boyfriend material, the source of my tears, and literally the ideal man. HE IS PERFECT. i’m not going to lie, part of the reason why i loved him so much was because he gave off such strong second lead vibes from the start; and we all know how much i love my second lead men :) later on though it was inevitable. INEVITABLE. i would’ve fallen for him anyway whether he was the second or main lead he just.. :( he’s so perfect. when i tell you i was crying ugly tears when i found out he died.... oh it was UGLY. SPEAKING OF. i wish we knew how he died. like it was so abrupt. the death was so unnecessary in my opinion and didn’t really build up to it at all. it feels almost as if they put it in there just to make the movie like all the other 1990s dramas that came out this year (cough cough 25 21 cough)

- baek hyunjin’s and na bora’s friendship

okay, they were cute. very cute. probably one of my favourite friendships (just right after yeondoo and bora, nothing tops my two babies). when he confessed to her in the restaurant and bora started spewing some unattractive nonsense so he would stop liking her, i was laughing so hard their dynamic is hilarious!!!!! there’s also that one scene when he’s complaining about helping her in the grape farm (?) and bora just,,,, shoves a whole cluster of grapes into his mouth to shut him up oh my god that was my favourite scene LOL the only time i laughed throughout this movie was whenever these two popped up together.

things that could have been better:

- THE ENDING

i know i mentioned this a million times but oh my god what was that. WHAT WAS THAT???? that was not needed at all.. no buildup, no mention, no foreshadowing of it at all (i went back and watched, i promise) and no backstory on how it happened. it’s a whole mystery. it felt a little rushed and the way she found out was a little odd too. why did his brother somehow find woonho’s letter 20+ years later?? out of nowhere??? why did he not end up finding it sooner?? i have so many questions that i feel like were unanswered.

anyways. overall, it was still a good movie. did it make me cry? yes. a lot. i think especially the train scene. not even when he died because it was out of nowhere i don’t think i had enough time to process it when he did LOL. but that one scene when he leaves? tears. all over my face. streaming down into a huge puddle of tears. ugly snorting and sniffling my housemates definitely thought something was going on in my room. but it wasn’t my favourite movie/drama this year (speaking of, i need to catch up on my other reviews oops). still very good though and i HIGHLY RECOMMEND!! thanks for sticking around and reading my rants if you’re still here :)

#kmovie #reviews&recommendations #kim yoo jung #kim yoojung #byeon woo seok #byeon wooseok #20세기 소녀 #20th century girl #park jung woo #park jungwoo #roh yoonseo #roh yoon seo

[pathos-p]

"Weirdly Specific Artist Ask Game" but i got tagged in it so i am gonna answer all of them 'cause theyre fun

questions by @/i-like-eyes

thanks for the tag @king-chook!! ^^

1. Art programs you have but don't use

i thiiink i have a license for clip studio paint that came with my old wacom tablet but i never rly used it. also used to have krita installed for the longest time but just always felt off to me idk why. don't currently have it installed anymore tho

2. Is it easier to draw someone facing left or right (or forward even)

to their right is a bit easier i think. not smth i consciously notice, mostly i'm just thinking abt when im doodling on the margins of stuff they usually are looking to the left of the page

3. What ideas come from when you were little

uhhh idk tbh, i dont think much of my art draws from that

4. Fav character/subject that's a bitch to draw

cityscapes !!! i love cities they r so pretty and cool looking but goddamn theyre so hard to draw

5. Estimate of how much of your art you post online vs. the art you keep for yourself

80-20? i post everything that i finish. basically the only stuff that doesnt get posted is sketches i give up on

6. Anything that might inspire you subconsciously (i.e. this horse wasn't supposed to look like the Last Unicorn but I see it)

hmmmm not that i can think of rn...

7. A medium of art you don't work in but appreciate

watercolour !! i've tried it a few times and Struggled but i love seeing ppl's work in it

8. What's an old project idea that you've lost interest in

so many animatics ..................... also many comic ideas ..................... i get so many ideas that i just never start on or start and only do a little before losing the hyperfocus/fixation and just Cannot continue them. it sucks

9. What are your file name conventions

usually the character name, maybe a bit of description of what theyre doing... idk not much of a convention to it

10. Favorite piece of clothing to draw

hmm i like jackets :)

11. Do you listen to anything while drawing? If so, what

yes, usually music. sometimes random youtube videos like stream highlights or video essays.

12. Easiest part of body to draw

uhhh hair? maybe idk. hard question bc it varied a lot depending on what kinda style and just. sometimes smth is hard in a particular drawing then easy later idk

13. A creator who you admire but whose work isn't your thing

i cant think of anything i will edit it in if i think of anyone

14. Any favorite motifs

in my drawings i dont feel like i use any much. mostly i pull motifs from whatever im doing fanart of lol. in music, i like religious motifs (but not like. ones abt christ or bible stories, rather heaven, hell, god/divinity, angels)

15. *Where* do you draw (don't drop your ip address this just means do you doodle at a park or smth)

at home pretty much exclusively. in bed lol

16. Something you are good at but don't really have fun doing

idk i feel like the stuff im better at is the stuff i like bc i practice it more for fun lol

17. Do you eat/drink when drawing? if so, what

not usually

18. An estimate of how much art supplies you've broken

surprisingly little. mostly bc i do more digital art lol

19. Favorite inanimate objects to draw (food, nature, etc.)

weapons and nature. especially ice for nature

20. Something everyone else finds hard to draw but you enjoy

i cant think of anything ill add it if i do

21. Art styles nothing like your own but you like anyways

i love rougher styles, like ones with a lot of visible brushstrokes and bold lines and shit. so cool. idk how to make it look good lol i dont have the confidence in my lines for it

22. What physical exercises do you do before drawing, if any

none... probably i should change that

23. Do you use different layer modes

yeah, often i use a multiple layer for shading then a variety to colour adjust at the end

24. Do your references include stock images

sometimes

25. Something your art has been compared to that you were NOT inspired by

cant think of any

26. What's a piece that got a wildly different interpretation from what you intended

there was this poem i wrote about capitalism and how shit it is and someone thought it was abt interpersonal relationships/smth along the lines of a breakup. i rly didnt mind it tho i thought it was cool bc the emotion was not far off, the sense of betrayal and abandonment. just a very very different subject

27. Do you warm up before getting to the good stuff? If so, what is it you draw to warm up with

no lol

28. Any art events you have participated in the past (like zines)

i ran a zine (digital only) for the dimension 20 zine jam! and also made art+writing for others in that :D also was part of a polygon yt fanzine a while back

29. Media you love, but doesn't inspire you artistically

spider-man (not the MCU, mostly tasm and a few of the comics)

30. What piece of yours do you think is underrated

IS IT BAD TO SAY A PIECE THAT GOT QUITE A BIT OF POSITIVE ATTENTION ?? maybe

i rly like the cj comic i did i am genuinely so goddamn happy with the result so . even tho it did very well by the standards for the fandom its for and my current follower base it is underrated

alternatively this one https://www.tumblr.com/pathos-p/704380503765221377/tridential-sovereignty?source=share bc it didnt get all that much attention on any social media site but i think its cool !!

(mostly only using recent ones bc i dont wanna dig back further esp onto my old twt acct, too much work lol)

[jigensass]

Part 1 - Video Games

Part 1 – Video Games.

The more I wrote this list, the more that I realized I played a lot of games this year. More than average.

First off, the one shot sittings.

Unpacking – made me cry 10/10.

The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog. Best April fool’s Joke ever 10/10.

Papa’s Freezeria Deluxe. 7/10 because nostalgia.

Now, let’s start off with the real shit.

Persona 4 Golden – Yes I am aware this is a 10 year old game. I don’t care.

I have known about this game this its inception, most likely due to the now defunct playthrough from Super Best Friends. But not gonna lie, the pony version of this version was way much better.

I’ve ranted on Persona 5 so damn much but I actually enjoyed this game and the critical issues of the teenage psyche that it delved into alongside the purpose of the main villain, who I am not going to spoil. Even the mascot character was bear-able to hear because you could literally bench the guy since he didn’t become a member of your party until halfway through the game. And Teddy was never in my face on what to do and didn’t creepily live in my house. The game just gave me suggestions when important events would happen to nudge me to say ‘hey, you should probably do this thing.’ Unlike Morgana who kept saying ‘Hey, Hey. We must sleep. Do as I say and obey.’

Overall I just found it more engaging and new mechanics weren’t always being shoved down my face during every new chapter and if there were new mechanics to use, I hardly ever used them because I mostly stuck with the same four core of Yu, Yukiko, Yosuke, & Kanji. I really wish I could have had more time to play with Naoto but by the time she enters your party, the game is nearly entering the final battle and any missed content you forgot to pick up along the way.

And I obviously picked well to romance the goth girl Marie, because I got a secret ending.

Overall, solid 8/10.

Sherlock Holmes the Awakened.

So the Gigachads at Frogwares have done it again and managed to make a sequel to their prequel ambiguously gay Sherlock game and as a remake of one of their first point and click adventures where Sherlock takes on Cthulhu.

Meanwhile in the background of all this madness (and how maddeningly they played the ending to a remake be a sequel to the original), kept throwing this about.

I’m just saying, if they announce the remake for Nemesis, I will live stream it.

And for those who don’t know what Nemesis is, it’s Lupin Part 6, the way it was supposed to be.

There is a demo on steam, the game is very short due to its age and if the old puzzles frustrate you, the game has an entire guide to how to solve Lupin’s shenanigans built in. If you love old point-and-click Nancy Drew like games, you’ll like this.

Giving it a cocktease/10.

Final Fantasy XVI & Final Fantasy Crisis Core (I’m lumping these two together).

Crisis Core is…Crisis Core. It was my first time playing it and because I set it down I believe last year or when it first came out, picked it up again, and finished it in maybe two or three more sessions and a few guide reads later, it felt…eh.  It’s been a while since I’ve played it so since it really didn’t latch on to me like some further entries into the list, I would have been able to remembered some more.

However, I played FFXVI and there are only two things you need to take away from it.

The gays are winning.

Sex on the beach.

TORGO IS BEST BOI.

Cildilfus

No really that’s it. The combat for XVI is certainly something new. And at some points, it did make me cry. But overall because the game was so small and finite, it felt…unfulfilling. I wanted to spend more time in this world to get to know these characters. Yes, I am still a bit petty that when I played the demo before I bought the game they teased that you could also play as Joshua, maybe other characters, but that never came into fruition in the final version. Which makes me believe that this game had a lot more going for it than intended.

Just like the next game on the list…

Assassin’s Creed Mirage.

This game was probably the fastest I had explored a map within one sitting. My playthroughs for FFXVI and AC Mirage were about the same length. The return to form with the old stealth mechanics was refreshing, although I only played a small bit of Valhalla and that main character drove me nuts. However, I could have cared less about the story. It was all about that sweet, sweet map exploration. The very instant I was given free reign after the tutorial, I flipped off the first objective and went off to go explore the entire map. The glaring issues of how little work went into this game showed when I just waltzed up to the final area of the game with ease or how it felt boring that to have to backtrack through the plot to get half the armor and weapon upgrades that I went out of my own way to get on my own. At that point, I just didn’t care and the ending…yeah the ending made no sense to me at all.

5/10. Very mid.

But let’s go from mid to god tier and talk about the latest Yakuza- sorry Like a Dragon game, shall we?

Like a Dragon: Gaiden – The Man who Erased his Name

AFTER 7 YEARS, HE HAS RETURNED- No wait this is Joryu Jozuma, but everyone is calling him Kiryu Kazama? WHO IS HE?

Jesus Christ I hope the people at SEGA got paid well for making this DLC into a masterpiece in six months. https://automaton-media.com/en/interviews/20231030-22625/ (link it here)

Not going to lie, this is definitely one of the better titles in the RGG franchise to date up with Yakuza 0 and the original Ishin (more on this in a bit). It’s essentially ‘Yakuza Lite’ for anyone who wants to get into the series. It’s not the best place to start if you want to get invested, but it’s a good swallow pool to get your toes wet.

The story, depending on how much you know about the series, will make you cry during the end. RGG (the studio, not the game), brought their A-game with the animations and it has been a long time coming.

Most of the fan favorite minigames are here so there’s a little bit of everything for everyone. And although most of the game does feel like busy work, which it’s a Yakuza game. The whole vibe it is supposed to give is to get you invested in something so unrelated to the main story that 40 hours later you go, ‘wait, what the fuck was I supposed to be doing again?’

And I’m not going to lie, I’m glad the finishing of the completionist list and maxing out the Akane network to level 30 being completely optional is a breath of fresh air. Because the trophy list was so easy to attain, minus a few snags here and there, I am proud to say that RGG Gaiden is my first platinum trophy on PS5.

9/10.

Meanwhile on the other hand…the meme is dead.

At the beginning of this year around February, Yakuza Ishin Kiwami dropped to the mainstream western audience, officially making it localized. I’ve already played Ishin in its prime form, so to see the state the game was in was…very depressing.

This was the first RGG game to run on the Unreal Engine and it shows that the team was not well-versed with it and the time constraints on getting the game out did not help at all. I believe this game went through six or seven patches before they said ‘enough was enough’ and just let it be.

I even broke a portion of the game on a substory with the final mail delivery race. What happened is that I took a different path than the AI so he went off screen and sooner or later I realized I was kicking his ass. Upon further investigation, I noticed that he had gotten stuck in a loop on a bridge, which was not supposed to happen.

OH AND THE AUDIO BALANCING WITH THE NEW VOICE LINES IS REALLY GOOD WE SWEAR!

Just go find a copy of OG Ishin on Ebay or somewhere. I can hardly read Japanese and still had a good time. I did not have a good time with the clunky combat, the necessity of using the tropper cards (I never used them in my original playthrough in Ishin, why should I have to use them NOW? Shinada card OP.)

6/10. – Because Majima’s lines are obviously re-used, unlike Kiryu’s who got to have most, if not all of them, re-dubbed.  

Ace Attorney Spirit of Justice.

It took me so long, but I did it. Coincidentally, right around the second trilogy announcement for consoles came about. I sat down and played the current final game in the Ace Attorney series.

And what did I think of it?

Well, it’s a mess that is for sure. That fourth cock tease of a trial with Athena may or may not be getting her own game soon…eventually… is possibly the worst case in the entire series. And no, it’s not just because of this is the case that gave the internet the sheer thought of…………….clussy. It was boring, bland, uninteresting, and there were no stakes or ingenuity to use your brain to solve the case.

Apollo? Trans? High probability. I didn’t feel any kind of deep connection to what was going on and the plot twist at the end was…too be honest kind of dumb. Like in the…’oh you had no idea but look at this cool thing we did so it feels kind of empty’ rather than how I felt when it hit me like a truck about the obvious plot twist with Bridge to the Turnabout did. Listen I’m just linking HBomberGuy’s video on Sherlock because the analogy of the 12 hour trial and Bridge to the Turnabout are identical to Moffat’s Sherlock and the OG Sherlock serials. It was his idea first.

Really the only thing I can remember is the one post I made that popped off about Athena calling out Apollo for being flustered about Klavier.

Speaking of posts that popped off…

8. Obey Me! Nightbringer (aka dear god why do I make terrible decisions with my life).

So, the gacha otome game that ruined my life last year is getting a sequel prequel!

I’m not going to play it! The gameplay will probably be just more of the same-

It’s a rhythm game.

It’s. a. rhythm. game.

*audible screaming*

ANYWAY SO NINE MONTHS AND ABOUT TEN THOUSANDS ANALYSIS POSTS ABOUT HOW EVERYONE IN THIS GAME IS AWFUL- (no I’m not joking. I’ve analyzed Lucifer like I analyzed Jigen and dare I say this man is more akin to my inner struggles than Jigen will ever be.)

Don’t worry, the money spending has been a lot more sparse and comes in giant dumps during events of a card that I want rather than a consistent cash flow since the game is more of a way to have fun rather than a way to escape humanity. Due to how much my workload has becoming, I’ve just gone down from playing daily to just playing weekly to play the new story chapters. I’m probably just going to do the bare minimum to get anything out of the Christmas event (the plot is so silly it made me laugh, ngl).

Because the story is ongoing and my opinion on some characters has changed drastically over the course of the last week. I’m just going to make a tier list of how I feel the story have been IN ACCORDANCE TO THEIR ACTIONS. (mild theory spoilers) as well as how I actually see the characters.

PLOT OPINION

CHARACTER OPINION

Overall the game is enjoyable when it takes itself seriously.

But now we must address the elephant in the room aka the big star of this year’s game list?

WHY THE ACTUAL FUCK DO I HAVE 250 HOURS IN AMERICAN TRUCK SIMULATOR?

NO REALLY.

(btw add me on Steam, it means you actually read this disaster piece)

I don’t know what it is with this game just driving around in a big rig blaring country music is so…cathartic. It just makes me hate people in cars even more. If anything, this sparked my love for crappy 90’s country music to a spike. I admit it, it’s a guilty pleasure of mine. This is my guilty pleasure game. And judge me for it all you want. My inbox is obey.

But let’s get serious. I was going to just…ignore this game despite… THIS being the release showcase. This is how I initially found about this long game that had been in development and beta testing for many years beforehand. And don’t lie, this is probably how most people found out about it too.

But someone told me that the VA from Sherlock Chapter One was doing some of the moaning during the sex scenes and I just hopped onto the train

Of Baldur’s Gate 3.

I had absolutely no idea what I was getting myself into (I started playing around launch in late August, right around Hotfix #3 with the mirror came out). I knew next to nothing of the main lore of the Forgotten Realms universe, but my knowledge with D&D from college was basic, at best. And I was going to quit playing the game because I really did not like the constant top-down view camera. Until a co-worker, who was also playing said, ‘you know you can move that camera, right?’ So I came back, plugged in my PS4 controller into my computer and I was off to the races.

That was until when I went to go free up some space on my computer, this fucking piece of shit game nearly bricked my damned PC and I saved it with patience and by the grace of fucking Mystra herself because I deleted MY ENTIRE USER FOLDER LIKE AN IDIOT

Disclaimer: I have yet to finish the game because this is an OC simulator, I still want to play the Origin characters, as well as the Durge playthrough. Which, depending on how you play, is THOUSANDS OF HOURS of CONTENT. And there is just so many options and how you can go about things as well as that random chance of RNG.

I currently have four OC campaigns. I have not even touched the sheer tip of the iceberg. Azazel, the buff High Elf Bard who is fucking Halsin. Donna, the sorcerer Luna, the Wood-Elf Druid Burrito, the human warlock. (This is by far the craziest playthrough so far)

I am also writing this after the game awards so congrats to Larian for getting the sweep they deserved. All the other games that were nominated this year were just a blip on the radar compared to what BG3 was doing. The gameplay is not innovative outside of the world of D&D, but they hit a homerun with all of the story that is crammed into this game and did it so well that they continued to update the game MONTHS after the open release with change of life styles and multiple bug fixes that many players enjoyed.

Also all of the voice actors are beautiful. They all did a fantastic job with their work. But you know who this is about now.

(I go looking for one specific video and I find this fucking piece of gold while the game was still in beta access.)

Yes we are going to be talking about Astarion (or for me at first it was A-‘stair’-ion).

What do I think of him? Since I have seen many posts going around that apparently a portion of the fan community cannot separate between actor and the art. I made this meme.

Yes, Neil is a very precious man and deserves more work in the industry after his spring board with Astarion. I do not associate him with Astarion outside of their voices because I hate to love Astarion. The man is a fucking slut of a PROSECUTOR. He would make Miles Edgeworth jealous because he took his husband of an attorney and would make Klavier Gavin foam at the mouth at his sense of style is 10000x better than his. He would be slaying in the courtroom ALL THE TIME.

Astarion is the devil on every player’s shoulder that goes ‘yeah we could be goody-two shoes but is that fun? No, no it isn’t. Spill some blood, just for me kitten.’ And you wouldn’t hesitate to do it.

My bard, Azazel, who was mostly aligned with good, had a neutral relationship with Astarion going into Act 3. Astarion at this point was EVERYONE’S Devil and I blame him for Gale getting into deeper shit with Mystra than he already had been. Azazel would always listen to what Astarion would had to say, but never would be drag along with his shenanigans, despite keeping him around to use as a distraction to try multiply times to steal 10 scrolls of dimension door from the wizard shop in Baldur’s Gate. Did I do? Fuck yes I did. Was it worth it? Hell yes it was.

MEANWHILE, I’m currently going through the game as well, me, as a human warlock. And let me tell you, this game will show you what kind of person you actually are. And truth be told, I’m a decent person, but will go the shady route to get things done. I almost ALMOST sided with Minathra based on looks alone until I found out she sounded like a crazed member of the Alt-Right and was going to also kill the refugees. I pissed some kids off, lied, stole, but somehow in the name of Mystra, just because I fed Gale some magic items and heard him out did he instantly rise to ‘excpetional’ status without me even realizing it. He instantly became an incel because you guessed it, some white-haired vampire seduced me into sleeping with him and THEN the githyanki because I helped HER out of her problems wanted to sleep with me. THEN THE VAMPIRE found out I was sleeping with the githyanki, and told me ‘it’s either me or the gith’.

It was a hard decision: Being stepped on, or good sex.

Obviously I chose the latter. Because I’m a sucker. Though I really do wish I could let this go on.   

#you think I would tag this #if you read this whole piece good for you #Youtube