#inherent to the genre at this point tbh

[pirateyang]

a comparative analysis of shows in my favorite genre: the girls are stranded!!

#afraid 'amazon prime you'll pay for your crimes' might be moved to the wilds/class of 07 overlap if more ppl don't tune in #anyways watch class of 07 on prime :) #also okay i may have forgotten the all important 'lesbians' in the middle but just know its there in spirit #inherent to the genre at this point tbh #the wilds #yellowjackets #class of 07 #class of '07

[lowkeychenle]

Irrevocably [ZCL] (M)

Description: You were friends with benefits with Chenle until he got a girlfriend...fast forward months later, and now they've broken up--leaving Chenle to come back to you, very much in need of a distraction.

DID YOU MISS ME?! It's been so long someone should chop my hands off omg

Genre: Smut. Angst. Read at your own discretion!!! Read the warnings first please! It's mostly smut tho tbh

Also it's not proofread or anything crazy like that but I do hope y'all like it...I've been so busy sos

Content Warnings: Explicit, rough, unprotected sex (don't do the unprotected part), Chenle says pretty girl again (not sorry) and also slut because duality (again?), overstimulation, multiple orgasms (both), cum eating (like he actually eats his...own cum...), he's pretty pussy drunk in this he cums twice, Chenle is manipulative as hell in this!!! he is not a good guy in this fic!!! Do not read if you don't like it!!!!! Also I'm not sure if this can be considered infidelity but if you're sensitive to that topic read with caution!

Word Count: 4,877

Pairing: Zhong Chenle x Reader (mentions of Mark Lee x Reader)

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Juliet's Masterlist | Requests

You can’t even say you haven’t heard from him in a while. That’s far from the truth—and in your opinion, maybe you hear from him too often. Your friendship was constructed long before any other aspect, but for as long as you could remember, it’s been you and Chenle.

Now there’s you, and there’s him. Inherently separate.

Your situation with him was simple—friends with benefits. And everything was working great at first, and the end wasn’t traumatic and the world didn’t crumble. You weren’t in love with each other, and you both mutually understood that the second someone has the potential to become more in one of your lives that you’d stop immediately.

So, when Chenle started talking to his now girlfriend, you did the right thing. The respectful thing. You backed off, and you wouldn’t say you regret it. He’s happy—happier than he was before, and that’s all you want for him. You’ve been friends for forever, after all, and what would that make you if you had ill wishes for him?

It was three months after he started dating his girlfriend that he introduced you to one of his friends, Mark. Fortunately, you got along with him well, and he gave you a much needed distraction from the empty void Chenle had left in your life. He’d been more than sex, but less than love. He gave you company and companionship, even if it was in an unconventional way.

You’d been up front and honest with Mark about your relationship with Chenle, but he didn’t mind as long as you were sure there hadn’t been feelings involved. For Chenle, you weren’t sure if he ever told his girlfriend about you. You wouldn’t blame him if he hadn’t, but considering you’d been sleeping together up until their first date, it might have been a good thing to mention.

The difference was simple—you and Mark weren’t anything, not really, but Chenle and his girlfriend were, in their words, serious. In fact, in the past four months, you hadn’t even slept with Mark. The most he was at this point was someone to keep you company.

And then everything blew up.

Chenle called you at 9 p.m., almost nine months after he started dating his girlfriend. You were in your apartment by yourself, watching the same TV show for the 70th time. You stare at your phone screen in confusion before you answer it.

“Hey,”

“Hey.” He lets out a breath, and the defeat in his voice hints something’s wrong.

“Everything okay?” you ask him, sitting up on your couch.

“We broke up.” Chenle pauses, maybe to contemplate what he says next. “Can I come see you? I know it’s random, and I probably shouldn’t, but to be bluntly fucking honest, I’ve missed you.”

“We talk all the time,” you mention and cradle your knees to your chest. 

The thought of allowing Chenle here so late scares you—old habits die hard. You feel like you owe more than that to both Mark and Chenle. Mark, because while you two aren’t together, you’ve grown quite close over the past few months. Chenle, because he’s probably not thinking straight at the moment.

“You’re the only one I can talk to about this,” he mumbles.

Your heart sinks. “It was because of me?”

“I…Not exactly. It wasn’t you at all. It was us. And it was me for not saying anything.” He sighs, and you envision the way he tugs his fingers through his hair.

“You never told her?”

“I didn’t think I needed to,” he says. “What am I supposed to say? ‘Oh, hey, by the way, I used to fuck one of my closest friends on the regular, but now that you’re here, I stopped.’ That doesn’t sound great.”

“Better than her finding out some other way.” You chew on your bottom lip. “I told Mark.”

“That’s different,” Chenle replies. “You’re not dating Mark.”

A moment of silence passes between you two, and when you don’t respond, he clears his throat.

“Oh. You are.”

“It’s not like that.”

“So, what is it like? Is it like what we were?” He sounds shorter, as if he’s no longer enjoying the conversation.

You scoff. “It’s none of your business, Chenle. Mark is nice. And you’re the one who introduced us anyway.”

“Mark is nice,” he repeats, snorting. “You act like I don’t know you. Nice isn’t exactly your type.”

“You can come here if you stop being a dick,” you tell him. “But we’re only talking.”

“Good. I’ve got a lot to say.”

You debate changing after he hangs up, but Chenle’s already seen you at your worst. Your shorts and T-shirt won’t faze him in the slightest. Nerves like this haven’t swarmed you since the first time you slept with him. Clearly, your body doesn’t get the memo that this isn’t a booty call.

And when he arrives, you realize how well he fits. The dim, golden lighting reflecting off of his skin, the dark, oversized clothes he likes to wear, the way his hair is parted. Everything about him is exactly as you remember. It’s odd to think that way, because really, you’ve seen him as often as you used to. Things were just…different.

And under these circumstances, it’s awkward. But even when he was dating his girlfriend, there were times where the two of you were alone—nothing ever happened, of course, but it hadn’t ever been so nerve wracking until now.

It isn’t for long, though. Within seconds of your thoughts running wild, he’s closing the distance between you and pulling you into a tight hug. You exhale in relief and return the gesture with no hesitation. He takes a deep breath, almost as if he’s inhaling your scent.

Something about this hurts. Your ribcage suddenly feels like a prison, and all you want is for your heart to be free. Why does it feel like something’s stabbing it?

“I’m sorry for asking to come over so late,” he whispers. “And for being a dick about Mark. It’s not my business.”

There’s a twist deep in your chest. You wonder if there’s truly anything left in there.

“It’s okay, Le.” Your voice is muffled by his shirt. “Let’s sit and you can tell me what happened.”

You move away from him, lightly grabbing his hand to lead him over to your couch. When you’re both seated, he rests his head on your shoulder. You reach up to play with his hair, and instinct you became familiar with when he needed comfort back when you two were messing around.

“She asked about you.” His fingers toy with yours, warm touch gently grazing your skin. “Really, I had no idea what to say. There isn’t much to say, you know? So, that’s what I said. I told her we’ve been friends for forever and…that’s it.”

“Technically not wrong.” You chuckle, but the ache within you only grows.

“I went to shower and when I got out, she was going through my phone. By the time I realized what she was doing, she’d already found more than enough to be pissed.”

“What was it?”

“Pictures. In our text conversations from like…almost a year ago. I get why she was upset, you know? But it’s not like they were recent. Or even in my camera roll, for fuck’s sake.” He shuffles a bit closer, his warmth pressing into you. “But I should’ve checked and made sure. Or something. So, I’m sorry someone else saw those, (Y/N).”

“Did I look good at least?” you joke.

“Oh, fuck off.” He laughs, shaking his head. “You always look good and you know it.”

You get a sudden, overwhelming urge to look at him. His words make your stomach turn, and you’re desperate to figure out what the hell is going on with you.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah.” He ponders for a moment. “I thought I’d be a little more upset, but the only thing I was really thinking about was coming to see you.”

Chenle sits up, eyebrows slightly furrowed as he takes you in. His gentle brown eyes trail over you, unrecognizable emotions swimming around in his irises. You find him still as extraordinary as ever. His features so sharp, lips perfectly full. You fight the craving to reach out and trace his jawline.

“It’s just…” he murmurs. “It just always comes back to you, doesn’t it?”

“Chenle…”

“It’s been so long,” he continues. “Since I’ve seen you like this.”

“We hung out all the time.”

“No. Not like this. I know why you did, but you got so distant from me. Didn’t you ever think about me? That whole time?” He wets his lips.

“How could you ask me that?” you breathe out. “I thought about you all the time, but you weren’t mine to think about.”

“When I thought of you, it used to hurt. I used to have to distract myself from you because it was wrong to want you when I had everything else.” His gaze flicks down to your lips, and you feel every ounce of you crumble to pieces.

“It’s not…wrong anymore,” you say.

His eyes flutter shut, eyelashes brushing against his cheeks, and the next thing you know, his mouth is on yours. You let out a shaky breath against him, but quickly reciprocate what he gives you. All hesitation is out the window now, all thoughts of him being too upset at a moment like this fly from your brain.

It’s Chenle. He’s kissing you. This is familiar. Right, even.

“God, it’s been too long.” He reaches up to cup your cheek, thumb rubbing your skin. “Need you, baby. Never wanna lose you like that again.”

Your heart is beating so fast, you’re not exactly sure how to respond to that. The longer you take in every word leaving his mouth, the quicker you realize what’s happening to you.

You haven’t slept with Mark because you do have feelings for Chenle. It hits you like a freight train, and the fear sinks in only for a second before you slam your lips back to his. Being with him like this feels good, like nothing could go wrong.

The quietest moan slips from his mouth into yours, and just like it used to, heat floods your core. His hand slips beneath your shirt, his scalding touch trailing across your side before settling on the small of your back.

You pull away from him and gently push against his chest. “Do you even know what you’re doing right now?”

“Need a distraction.” He swallows hard. “That’s what we are for each other right? She’s out of the picture, so I get to have you again?”

You shake your head. “Only when we’re both available. Not just you.”

“Did you fuck him?” Chenle tone drops, a dark hint of jealousy gracing those narrowed brown eyes. One of his hands drops down to your thigh, tracing along the hem of your shorts. “Is that why you don’t want me anymore? He’s better or something?”

You let out a shaky breath. “I—Chenle, I haven’t.”

Wetting his lips, his touch trails higher, his skin burning against yours in the best way. “Don’t you miss me? Or at least the way I made you feel? When’s the last time someone made you cum?”

He notices when your legs press together, desperate for any sort of friction between them. You’re fighting every urge you have, wanting nothing more than to have Chenle right here on your couch, but something holds you back.

Leaning closer, he hums lowly in your ear, “You know what I can do.” His lips press against the spot below your ear, slowly heading down until his tongue runs along your pulse.

“Damn it,” you groan, pushing him back. “Take your pants off.”

As you stand up to push your shorts and panties to the floor, he lifts his hips to push his sweats to down his legs. He reaches into his boxers and strokes himself slowly.

“C’mon, baby.” He smirks at you. “Sit on it.”

You straddle his lap, bracing your hands on his shoulders as he pulls his cock out. One hand grips your hip and he holds you above him.

“Do we need a condom?” he asks, gaze glazed with want.

“I haven’t slept with anyone,” you mutter, face heating up for more reasons than one.

“It was just…” he trails off and gulps. “You know. I’m clean.”

The idea of him with her is almost enough to snap you out of it, but the last thing you plan on doing is getting off his lap. You ignore the sting of your heart and instead trade it for the sting of your walls stretching to accommodate Chenle with no prep. Whining at the pain, you stop after a couple inches.

“S’okay, baby,” he encourages you. “Take it slow.”

You dig your nails into his shoulders, lifting up before sinking back down to take a bit more of him than the last time. He breathes heavily, biting down on his bottom lip while his chest heaves.

“Just a little more.” Chenle slowly pulls you closer until he’s fully seated inside you.

The stretch has your legs shaking, whimpers escaping you as he whispers praises to you.

“Such a good girl,” he coos. “Letting me fill this pretty pussy with my cock.”

Chenle tugs your shirt over your head, freeing your bare breasts. He lets out a small sound at the sight before leaning down to kiss them, teeth nipping and tongue flicking your nipple.

Unable to hold back anymore, you push him back harshly. His lips part as you grind, sweet moans escaping him at the same time yours do.

“So tight,” he groans. “You waited ‘cause you knew no one else could do this to you, huh?”

“Shut up,” you command him.

His eyebrows raise for the briefest moment, until you start bouncing on his cock. Wetness starts squelching around the two of you, aiding you in your quick movements on top of him.

“Yeah, that’s it, baby.” Chenle thrusts up to match you, hands trailing around your body to squeeze your ass harshly. A slap comes next, the sound resounding through the room.

Your hips jolt, thrown off your rhythm at the stinging sensation on your skin. Nails leaving angry, red crescent moons in his skin, you rock back and forth to stabilize yourself before continuing. The sound of your arousal would embarrass you under any other circumstances, but the fucked out expression on Chenle’s face is enough to keep you going.

You don’t hold back your moans, letting the needs of your body take over instead of whatever the hell is going on in your head. He feels so fucking good inside you, the rough slide of his length against your walls, the way he throbs with want for you. The twitch of his cock inside you has a knot tightening in your stomach.

“Look at me,” he says roughly.

You don’t bother listening, too focused on your own pleasure to justify stopping.

“I said fucking look at me.” He grabs your face, pulling you close so you're inches away from him, hooded, hazy brown eyes devouring you. “Keep fucking yourself on my cock.”

You let out a weak moan, legs aching as you continue, but you know you need more. Trying to grind down, you do whatever you can to get friction on your clit. Whines slip past your lips, with the mind-shattering high just out of reach.

“Use your words, pretty girl.” Chenle slaps your ass again.

“Close,” you practically whimper. “Touch me. Fuck, please.”

Immediately, he lets go of his harsh grip on your cheeks, reaching between you two and quickly finding your clit. Your nails scratch down his shoulders, leaving marks as his fast circles push you over the edge.

You scream out in pleasure, your vision blacking out as you’re swept up in your climax. Crumpling into him, you squirm on top of him until he wraps his arm around your waist, warm seed coating your insides.

His chest heaves, lips parting as he rests his head back on the couch cushion. He gulps and strokes your hair while still slowly rocking up into you. You finally work up the energy to get off of him, but he holds you down.

“No,” he murmurs, breathless. “Not yet. Not done.”

Your body heats all over again, the idea of another round sends tingle down your spine. Goosebumps form on your skin, but you listen. Something has to make up for the lost time between you two.

“Need you again.” He nips where your neck and shoulder connects. “Can I take you to your room?”

You nod, unable to speak. He lifts you deftly from the couch, carefully walking over to your room like he’s done hundreds of times before. You hold onto him desperately, never wanting to let him go for more reasons than one.

As soon as you’re both on your bed, he’s already beginning to thrust again. You dig your nails into his back, but he grabs both of your wrists and pins them above your head.

“Be good,” he warns, filling you up over and over, ever so slowly. “Little pussy’s so greedy, sucking me in like this.”

Your eyes roll back in your head, the weight of him on top of you making you whine until your throat’s raw.

Every nerve-ending is on edge from your previous high, skin tingling and burning wherever his fingers trace shapes on you. You can barely keep your eyes open, the gentle brush of his chest against yours has your weak-minded state reading into this much more than you should.

If you could form actual words, you’d probably accidentally confess to him. He works through his own overstimulation, his jaw clenched tightly as he works your body expertly.

“I missed you,” he whispers, dipping his head down to nip along your neck. “Did you miss me?”

“Yes,” you force out, barely able to muster up the words. “God, yes.”

He hums, tonguing along the pulse in your neck. “You didn’t fuck him ‘cause he can’t make you feel like this, can he?”

You want to be mad at him for bringing Mark up at a time like this, but his words only make you shiver. He’s right. You can’t be mad at him when he’s right, and certainly not when your brain is fuzzy with the pleasure of his cock rubbing so, so slowly against your inner walls. Nobody could ever fill you like Chenle does.

“Answer me.” He thrusts particularly hard, jolting you up the mattress.

“Fuck, he can’t make me feel like you do.” You’re not entirely sure if your words are coherent, but Chenle seems satisfied by what you said.

“And you’d better remember that, too.” He releases your wrists and reaches between you two, resuming circles on your clit. “Could fuck you all night. You’d like that, wouldn’t you? Getting your cunt filled with my cum as many times as you can handle?”

You wrap your legs around his waist in a desperate attempt to keep him close, the angle allowing him slightly deeper inside you. Between the delicious stretch of your walls and the uniform, skilled rubbing on your sensitive bud, your body shudders uncontrollably. Your back arches and your hands fly to his hair, loud, obscene moans pouring from your lips.

Chenle’s thrusts pick up as he helps you ride out your high, eyebrows furrowed as he tries to keep his steady pace. He slows to a stop, sweat making his hair stick to his forehead, he kisses you, tongue already slipping past your lips to dominate your mouth the same way he’s dominated the rest of you.

“Think you can get on all fours for me?” he asks, his breath fanning across your face.

“Again?”

“Please, baby, I’m close already, just need a little more.” He presses kisses on your cheeks and the tip of your nose. “I need it so bad.”

You nod, shakily removing your legs from around his waist. He guides you to the position he wants, your head resting on the mattress as he squeezes your ass.

“You’re still so fucking wet,” he groans, a slap resonating around the room. “Might wanna hold on, pretty girl. I’m not going easy on you.”

Despite being an absolute rag doll, you clench in excitement at the idea of having him inside you again. You push back toward him, urging him to fuck you. He uses his knee to nudge your legs apart, and even though they’re shaking, you plan on letting him pound into you until they fucking give out.

He runs the head up and down your folds, switching between barely pushing his tip inside and tapping it on your clit.

“God, I can’t fucking take this anymore,” Chenle growls, and the next thing you know, he’s thrusting inside you with as much force as he can. You scream, gripping onto the sheets and biting down on a pillow to attempt to silence yourself.

With all the stimulation, you feel constantly on the edge of another orgasm. His hips slap against your ass, the clapping sounds emphasizing your pleasure. Squelches of wetness float around too, the stickiness dripping down your thighs onto the bed the longer he has you in this position.

He shifts slightly so his balls smack your twitching clit with every thrust. You’re barely able to think straight, and you’re half-sure you’re drooling, but Chenle slams you into your third orgasm of the night rather easily. Your legs threaten to buckle, and he loops his arm around you to keep you up.

After a couple more thrusts, he moans loudly and spills deep inside you, chest heaving at the effort. Both of you wait in silence for a few moments, him to regain composure and you to remember how to breathe. He gently pulls out of you, turning you to drop your back down on the mattress. Once he gets out of bed, he stops in front of you and pulls you to the edge by your ankles. Nudging your legs apart, he sinks down to his knees.

“What are you doing?” you ask, rising up to your shaky elbows.

“Need a taste,” he says, mesmerized by the mess leaking out of your entrance. Swiping some of it up on his finger, he offers it to you. “Taste us, pretty girl. We’re so good together.”

You lean closer and wrap your lips around him, giving a harsh suck before you release him.

“God, baby, your pussy is so perfect when you’re leaking my cum.”

You’re not expecting him to move forward and flatten his tongue against your core. He holds your hips down to the bed, tentatively licking your slit. Without much effort from him, he’s reduced you to a mewling mess again, core throbbing with sensitivity even when he barely touches you. Your arms immediately give out, slumping you back onto the sheets as he works your core with his tongue.

It’s odd how much the idea of him eating you out when he came inside you turns you on. As limp as your body is, you relish in all of the pleasure he’s willing to give you. His tongue dances around your slit, alternating between slipping it between your folds and flicking your clit. You lazily tangle your fingers in his hair, tugging just enough for him to moan against you.

Your hips jerk when his lips wrap around your bud, and next thing you know, his hands hold you down. You call out his name, pulling with the grip you have on his hair to tell him you’re much too sensitive to continue.

“I know, baby,” he murmurs, blowing cold air on you. “Just a little bit more, okay? One more time.”

And then he’s back at the apex of your thighs, working much faster and harsher with his movements to get you to the edge faster. You shatter all over again, a mantra of noises passing by your lips as your thighs clench around his head.

You must actually black out for a moment, because when you come to, Chenle has pulled away from your core, his lips and chin coated with your arousal. He wipes his mouth with the back of his hand, his expression equally as exhausted as yours.

He grabs a towel to clean you up, but both of you are beyond tired from all the activity. You shift up on your bed, not bothering to say anything else to him as you slide beneath your blanket. When you and Chenle did things before, he always stayed. He always pulled you into his chest and whispered sweet nothings into your ear until you fell asleep.

You’re not sure if that will be the case today.

Except he does. He carefully crawls into bed next to you, turning you toward him and pulling you to him. Kissing the top of your head, he taps his fingers against your arm.

“I really missed you,” he says.

“Me, too.” You nod, but something makes your heart twist in your chest.

“Can I be honest for a second?”

“Of course.”

“I knew the pictures were there,” he whispers. “Maybe it’s shitty, but I couldn’t delete them. Sometimes, I looked back at our old conversations—not the sexual ones—and just…thought of you. I couldn’t do anything to erase you and what we did from my life. I didn’t want to.”

You wonder if that’s his idea of a confession. If he’s trying to tell you he has unresolved feelings for you.

“Then why did you stay with her?”

“I don’t know.” He shrugs. “Everyone liked her. My mom told me she thought I’d end up marrying her. She obviously didn’t know about…this. But I couldn’t fucking stop, (Y/N). Everything came back to you.”

“We’ll talk about this in the morning,” you offer. “I’m exhausted.”

“Yeah…” Chenle takes a deep breath. “Yeah. Let’s talk in the morning.”

You and Chenle wake at the same time, to the sound of his phone on the bedside table. Groaning, you massage your forehead and turn away from him. When he answers it, your interest is piqued.

“Hey.” Sleep still weighs on his voice, making it scratchy. “No, I’m not at home.”

There’s a pause, and the vague sound of the other person responding makes your heart twist violently in your chest. It’s her.

“Would you stop jumping to conclusions? I’m at Jisung’s.” Irritation laces in his tone.

You should say something. Let her know somehow that he’s lying, but you don’t. You stay silent in your hurt and wait to see what he could possibly do next.

“Yeah, forgive me for not wanting to be alone after what happened.” Chenle scoffs and runs his fingers through his hair. A sigh follows. “Damn it, I told you that was done. I’m sorry you saw those, okay? They’re from…over a year ago. It didn’t seem relevant to bring it up, and she’s still my friend, so.”

Friend. You almost laugh out loud, but again, you don’t say a word.

“Yeah, of course. Where?”

Another pause from Chenle.

“Yeah, I’ll stop by my house and then I’ll be over there. I’ll see you in half an hour?”

Your heart feels like it’s being shredded into a thousand tiny pieces.

“Thank you.” He sighs, his body deflating. “I’m so sorry for all of this, you know that, right? I’ll see you soon. I love you.”

Tears sting your eyes, and as soon as he hangs up the phone, he hops up to go grab his clothes from the living room. You sit up in your bed, blanket clutched to your chest as you watch him scramble to get dressed.

“I’m sorry, (Y/N), I have to go,” he says, walking back into your room. Leaning in, he attempts to press a kiss to your lips. You turn away from him, chewing the inside of your cheek.

“Where are you going?” you ask, even though you already know the answer.

“She…She wants to talk it out. And I have to go. You understand why, right?” His eyes widen as he scans over your face.

When you say nothing, he sighs.

“I’ll text you later. You can answer or not. Whatever you want to do.” He walks toward the door to your bedroom, but you stop him when he reaches the threshold.

Your eyes sting, your body’s sore, and all you wanted was to tell him the truth this morning. Now it’s clear to you—he’ll never feel the same way for you. He’ll drop anything and everything—you included—if it meant getting her back.

“Chenle.”

He stops, turning to you.

“She’s going to make you choose,” you warn him. “Between her and me.”

Chenle pauses, fingertips gripping the frame. “I know.”

With that, you have nothing else to say, and he wouldn’t have time to hear it anyway. He leaves without another word to you, and when he’s far enough away, your tears finally fall. You want to scream and yell, but your throat is too raw from the long night before to even attempt it.

#nct #nct dream #chenle #nct imagines #nct dream smut #nct scenarios #zhong chenle #chenle x reader #chenle angst #chenle fluff #chenle smut #nct smut #nct angst

[iwrotetheilliad]

Girls Need Love~

♡ You are well aware that your boyfriend’s a busy man, but that doesn’t change the fact that you still need him desperately.

Genre: P WITHOUT P ;)

CW: DACRYPHILIA !!! THIS ONE IS HUGEEE!! Praise kink, reader is a horny fuck, oral sex (m! and f! receiving), lotsa hickies, a little bit of body worship, if you squint a little, dry humping, Isagi kinda manhandles the reader at various points, mentions of choking (reader doesn’t get choked, but he puts his hand around her neckline), unprotected, penetrative sex. I’m pretty sure that’s everything, but please be wary cuz this is smut!

Characters: Isagi Yoichi

A/N: Ive made a playlist for Isagi ^_^! A lot of the songs on it are something you would probably find on a smut playlist tbh, but it’s not my fault if this man just radiates sex energy the same way Nagi radiates bde ;)

The city outside of your floor to ceiling windows is alive. Lights from neighboring apartment buildings, headlights of the traffic, stoplights, and whatever else the world gets up to at night contrast the quiet, gentle glow of the lamps in your apartment. You step out of the shower, letting water drip everywhere. Lately, a need for your boyfriend has been crawling through your blood, taking over all your senses. Nothing could be done about this desire though; Isagi’s always busy. You dry yourself off, trying to get the image of his hands caressing your skin out of your mind. Drying your hair, moisturizing your body, and slipping your nighttime shorts and shirt on, you leave the bathroom with the horrible need still pulling at you to relieve yourself somehow.

Grabbing, a small snack from the kitchen, you stare down at your phone, the time glares back at you mockingly. Isagi’s late, again. Honestly, there’s nothing special about today that would make his absence an inherently negative thing, if it weren’t for the burn in between your thighs.

Sighing, you switch your phone off, and head into bed. Throwing the fluffy white covers back, sleep is the last thing on your mind. For a moment, all you do is stare at the mattress, the ache only growing. Your hand slowly starts moving up your body, cupping your tits from through the thing white fabric. You can feel your nipples getting hard, as you play with them through the cotton. Finally, after massaging yourself through your shirt, you move to your shirts, pulling them down your thighs. The baby blue lacy panties that Isagi bought for you mask your pussy from the world, but are getting soaked through by the second.

Collapsing onto the bed, you grab a pillow, and placing it in between your thighs. Slowly you begin grinding yourself along the length of the pillow, trying desperately to offer yourself some type of relief. It’s a mildly successful endeavor, when sometimes you grind yourself just right, sending shockwaves of pleasure shooting through your entire body, but it’s not enough. You need Isagi desperately- you might even go crazy if you don’t have him tonight.

Moans and whimpers escape your mouth, before finally you give up and collapse back on the bed. You stare up at the ceiling, extremely dissatisfied. You’re about to try and force yourself to go to sleep, when you remember the kitchen light is still on.

Reluctantly rising to turn it off, you don’t make it out of your bedroom’s doorway before you hear the lock click and the front door swing open.

There he stands, sliding his shoes off, the answer to all your problems. Isagi’s frame is slightly crouched over as he removes his shoes, and when he glances up, his smile fades as he takes in your current state.

“Babe, what-”

Just hearing his voice is enough to break you, and tears fall down your face as your thighs begin to shake. Immediately, Isagi is beyond concerned.

“What happened, are you okay?” he asks rushing forward and trying to cup your face.

Before his hands can caress your cheek though, you grab his wrists and move them to your boobs, letting him grope you instead.

“Please…” you mewl. “I need you so badly, please Yoichi.”

Understanding replaces the worry in his eyes, and a breath later, that understanding is replaced with lust. Isagi bends down to meet your lips, before moving his hands to your hips, squeezing reassuringly.

“Don’t worry,” he mumbles before pressing his lips against yours. “I’ll take good care of you.”

He scoops you up in his arms and carries you to the bed, hungrily kissing you. It’s sloppy, it’s wet, his tongue licks your lips like they’re ice cream.

You moan into his mouth, finally feeling that satisfaction you had craved just moments ago. When he throws you down underneath him, a new rush fills your blood, and you gently cry out as he immediately covers your body with his. Isagi sucks marks into your neck, and you grip his hair with iron-strength. The tears have slowed, but when he kisses this one spot of your neck, water fills your eyes again and you all but cry out.

“Yoichi, please, just take me,” you whisper breathlessly, as he moves down to wear your shirts collar starts.

“Relax, Y/N,” he mutters, running his hands along your curves under your shirt. “Just let me take care of you.”

You grab his hair again as he massages your tits, and bring his head up to continue making out with you. As the two of you passionately kiss, you feel his sweatpants begin to rub against your underwear. The friction sought after in the pillow is finally here, and your hips greedily snap into motion, taking everything that your boyfriend is offering, and trying to get even more. The two of you’s hips move like waves, in perfect push-and-pull movements that have the wet spot of your panties growing by the second.

“Babe,” you murmur when he finally pulls away from you.

He growls savagely, before making his way back down your neck. Suddenly, he grabs your shirt and with a loud tear, your chest is exposed to the cold air. Isagi’s mouth immediately starts sucking hickies around your chest, covering your torso with pretty purple and red marks. Signing contently, you relax into the bed, letting your boyfriend continue pleasuring you to his hearts content. Isagi finally lets up with one final kiss to the rib before dropping to his knees. His hands hook underneath your thighs, and he pulls you with all his strength to the edge of his bed. His nose brushes against your clothed clit, and you yelp.

“You poor thing,” he coos. “You must’ve been so pent up for days, look at how wet you are,” he places soft kisses against your panties. “Look how pretty you look in this lingerie I bought you, I knew you’d be perfect.”

You hum at his praise, raising one of your hands to cover your eyes.

Placing one last kiss on you panties, he commands, “Lift your hips for me, love.” When you do, he hastily pulls your underwear off, grinning at the sight of your glistening cunt. “You’re so perfect baby. I’m gonna make you cum so hard so many times.”

Before you can respond, Isagi licks a line straight up your pussy. You cry out and tighten your already impossibly tight grip in his hair, pushing him closer, urging him to never stop even though he’s just begun.

In between gentle kisses and starving licks, Isagi manages to mix in praise of, “You sound so pretty love,” and, “Lemme stay here forever.” When you start to feel the rubber band in your stomach begin to reach its limit, your thighs close in around Isagi’s neck, almost cutting off his air supply.

“Yoi- oh my fucking god, yes, please!” You cry out into the night, as you release everything all of his tongue. He greedily drinks it all, like it’s water blessing dried out plants. “I love you so much,” you obscenely moan. “Please, yes, yes, ugnnnn~”

When he finally breaks free from your cunt, your fluids, drip down his chin. Grabbing the collar of his shirt, you flip him over so that he’s underneath you now. You climb over his lap, and yank his shirt off, revealing the body he spent months and years delicately crafting. Rubbing your hands over his pecks, slowly you make your way down to the tent in his sweatpants. Sliding off of him, you slide his bottoms off and let his pretty cock flop out.

Licking your lips, you grab it and slide the tip of it into your mouth. Isagi moans out a sound fit for a porno, and tosses his head back. When you slide your mouth down the rest of his length, his adam’s apple bobs. He glanced back up to see you beautifully suck him off and swears that he almost cums right then and there with how eagerly you bob your head up and down his dick.

“Oh my god, baby,” he groans, “that’s it, just like that. You’re so good for me…”

You release his dick with a pop, and dirtily like up his cock, before sucking again on just the tip. He grabs hold of your hair, twisting the locks around his hand.

“Oh fuck yes,” he groans, not daring to look away for even a second. You don’t stop until his moans, “Y/N, I’m cumming-” prompting you to take him out of your mouth, and stick out your tongue so that he can see the thin stripe paint the inside of your mouth. His hips twitch and his lets out whatever he can.

Slowly, you stand and he grabs you, pulling you next to him, kissing your shoulder and back.

“Yoichi…” you whisper hotly, turning your head to try and look at him.

“Can I fuck you?” he all but begs. “Please, let me fuck you.”

“Yes,” you sigh, scooting a bit away from him. He follows you up the bed in a trance, and watches your body underneath him. Your hair is a mess, your lips are swollen red, and some of his cum stays on them. Your chest is flushed red, and his hickies look like flowers in a garden against your skin.

“Yoichi,” you say, snapping him out of his haze, “fuck me.”

Isagi wastes absolutely no time, and immediately spreads your legs, sliding his dick into you. The two of you cry out. His hands rest against the bottom of your neck, covering your collarbone, to inches away from choking you. He smirks as he watches your slutty face contort in pleasure as he begins moving.

He doesn’t wait for you to get used to him, he starts going fast from the get-go.

“Made for me,” he slurs. It sounds more like he’s saying it to himself than you.

It doesn’t take long for you to start feeling the same tightness that you’ve been experiencing for the past how long. It doesn’t matter anymore though. Nothing matters except for this moment right now-how amazingly he’s drilling himself into you, how pretty his hair looks when the sweat beads at the tips, dripping on his face and your body. You grab his wrist with both your hands and let yourself rock back and forth as your boyfriend fucks the life out of you. The headboard begins banging against the wall and with his free hand he grabs it. The floorboard creaks with every moan you release, and soon you start sobbing again. Everything is so good, you just can’t help it! Every sense is alive as it takes in the sensations of Isagi.

“Like it that much?” Isagi jokes, leaning in closer to you.

Words don’t exist. Nothing does that can quantify just how much you like it. All you can do is take your hands off his wrists, cover your face, and nod vigorously. Isagi chuckles hotly and moves his hand to the bed, fisting the bedsheets getting stained with sweat.

“My pretty crybaby,” he sighs, feeling another orgasm forming in his lower stomach. “Cmon baby, I’m almost there.”

“Me too,” you mumble, shaking. You take your hands off your face and wrap your arms around his neck.

Nails dig into his shoulder blades as he says, “Cum with me my baby.”

As if on cue, you cum, and not even two seconds later, he releases inside of you too. He pants and you whimper, feeling so incredibly full. He starts to pull out, but you cry in protest and wrap your legs around his hips.

“Stay,” you sniffle.

Isagi’s heart does a funny thing. It doesn’t break, but it aches in an odd way that feels like it’s breaking. He knows that because of his job, he’s practically never around home, and he wishes he could be. He knows it must drive you crazy being cooped up all alone at home, and there would never be enough words to express how sorry he is because of that.

His smile is kind and warm, and he slowly lowers himself on top of you. “Of course, my love. However long you want.”

If you got the reference I made in this, ILY ToT.

#isagi yoichi #yoichi isagi #bllk isagi #blue lock isagi #isagi yoichi x reader #isagi x reader #isagi yoichi x you #isagi x you #isagi smut #isagi yoichi smut #bllk smut #blue lock smut

[littleroaes]

To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before, tbz [ TEASER ]

FULL FIC

Y/n's stale love life gets a catalyst at the start of the autumn semester when two weeks earlier; her younger brother got egged on by his friend to post the box of secret love letters she has collected during 12 years. how does she handle the end of summer and five leaked love letters?

PAIRING ( 3rd pov, she/ her ) fem!reader x lee hyunjae, lee juyeon, ji changmin, kim sunwoo, eric sohn

GENRE, WARNINGS fluff, university!au, humor, to all the boys i loved before!au, 2000s and 2010s au, summer!au, sprinkle of angst, sporty people, nerdy people, parties, friends2lovers, childhood friends, bickering, slice of life, coming of age ( more info in full fic ! )

RELEASE DATE end of may

ESTIMATED WORD COUNT 10 - 17 k

TEASER WORD COUNT : about 500

this will be my fic for the @deoboyznet love letter collective event! ( idk if i should use the dbn tag since it’s just a teaser ) i've wanted to write a "to all the boys..." fic for so long and i'm finally doing it! if someone wants to be tagged for the full fic lmk!

like and reblog are highly encouraged!

THERE'S A THING YOU DO–OR SHE DOES AT LEAST–WHEN SOMETHING'S BEEN OCCUPYING YOUR MIND.

Dad told her once after an argument with a best friend to take a paper and a pen; then, let it out. Fold the paper, lay it in a box, and shelter under your bed. 

It’s inherently the same concept as a diary she suppose. Though, somewhat more effective. 

Nonetheless, from that first letter a series of what one can only describe as an uncontrolled teenage angst ensemble of love letters emerged over the course of twelve years.

...

There are five of them. 

The first one is Lee Jaehyun, a three year older popular student who she had a trivial crush on in middle school (together with everyone else). In all honesty she didn’t know much about him; just that he was cute looking. There’s a sort of emotional torment in recalling her one sided adoration while leaned out the school window to see him play football. Even his name haunts her still in uni as her roommate had a crush on the shining hockey player the entire two semesters.

In short, everyone liked Lee Jaehyun. 

Next is Eric Sohn, her childhood friend, the boy next door, her first love? He has many titles she realize. He lived in an impressive house north from hers, one that hosts many parties every time his parents take the trip to their summer resort. At some point, it felt like he knew every kid in town. Luckily for her; Y/n has never been the jealous type. Despite being each other’s ride or die since ten, Y/n has never confessed the secret ways she looked at him back in the sandbox.  

Third is Sunwoo–just Sunwoo; she never got his last name–from summer camp who she even (jokingly) got married to. Her first summer at thirteen, away from her parents, with kids her age. When recalling it all back, that summer feels as if taken right out of a movie, and she fell head first, three meters deep with the boy. Sunwoo always stood in the center (bad and good…mostly bad tbh). They got paired up for the kayak; it pissed rained and their coordination couldn’t take them ten meters. But she remembers every word he said as butterfly inducing nonetheless. After that, at night they snuck out of their cabin’s to watch the stars. And when that summer too ended, she swore her heart shattered into million pieces.

The fourth is Lee Juyeon, a boy she had never seen before until his cat got pregnant by her own. Scuba Steve (long story) had been gone for some days until another family came up to their door with him. For half a year, it felt like she saw Lee Juyeon everyday. He was just as enchanted by kittens as her (if not more) and they would visit each other just to cuddle with them. Her teenage heart used to rush with the mere presence of him and they together named all the kittens–until they were sold off. Then they eventually stopped seeing each other. Though he still lurks around as a poet’s ghost around campus (source: Eric). 

The last one, Ji Changmin, the son of her mother’s friend. He teached her calculus for a while in high school. To be fully transparent, she didn’t learn much from him that year because all she did was leaning on the kitchen table while adoring him until the rims of his glasses slipped. He always scolded her endearingly when she didn’t listen (which was the majority of the time). Ji Changmin always wore cute polos with neat pants–now when thinking about it, her mother might have approved if they got together. But it’s too late. He went to uni; and simply left her with a newfound thing for glasses (still wearing cute polos in uni). 

And that's all five. She sometimes wonders if it was a mere symptom of youth that resulted in those letters. Since uni–outside a campus crush or two-–that compelling yearning for someone has never come back to her. 

to be continued

© littleroaes, written and all

#deoboyznet #the boyz imagines #the boyz scenarios #the boyz fluff #the boyz x reader #hyunjae imagines #juyeon imagines #ji changmin imagines #sunwoo imagines #eric sohn imagines #the boyz fanfic #kpop imagines #kpop fluff #tbz eric #tbz juyeon #tbz hyunjae #tbz sunwoo #tbz q #tbz changmin #eric sohn #sunwoo #juyeon #hyunjae

[manyminded]

reasons I probably have autism (non exhaustive list, I’m rlly sleepy rn but insomnia is kicking my ass)

special interests - to my understanding, they last longer and the things u r interested in are broader. the poster child for my sp/ins is the osc, a genre, which I have been heavily invested in for over a year. (side note: they feel a lot like hyperfixations, almost identical for me, but sp/ins last way longer. most hyperfixes, for me, last up to [but usually less than] 3 months.)

adhd and autism are comorbidities

while it’s hard to tell if you know me, I definitely struggle with social cues. I can read them well; but presenting them myself is hard. my mom always told me to stop talking to myself, I over share all the time, I ‘talk out of turn’, etc etc

even though I can READ social cues/rules I have a general disregard for them; I tend to think they’re stupid and bad. (one example is I refuse to shave my legs and care very little for skin care)

i was always “a pleasure to have in class”, and while that isn’t usually a sign of autism, I’ll tell you why it could be in me. I never knew what could get me in trouble, and the rsd I have makes me want to avoid that as much as possible - so I become over complacent, afraid to test boundaries and avoiding any slight danger to my “goodie two shoes” life.

almost all of my friends are autistic, or have some other flavor of neurodivergency. we come in packs. we can sniff each other out, man. (side note: in online spaces, I usually end up in primarily autistic communities, almost always on accident. it comes with the overlap of most communities I’m in that, while not inherently linked to autism, have a big portion of their members be autistic.)

A little related to the previous point - I can almost always tell when someone is autistic if I’ve hung out with them like, 2-3 times. It’s not even conscious it’s just an instinct of like “oh hey another of my kin. hello 👋” Yk?

sensory issues. I’ve always been a “texture girl,” especially when it comes to food - I have been a “picky eater” for most of my life (although that has started to lessen over the years.) and while sensory issues aren’t inherently autistic, they are closely linked.

the fact I’m writing this at all, tbh. no neurotypical would do this I don’t think

I always get really fucking mad when ppl are ableist, especially in the context of autism. but maybe that’s the other disabilities talking idk (the memory of kids saying “don’t make jokes about being autistic when you aren’t diagnosed!” and rolling my eyes because Have You Met Me)

tbh creature

there’s probably more but I’m sleepy and mostly writing this to spite my mother bcuz she insists I’m not autistic. for some unknown reason. idk man

#autistic #autism #autism spectrum disorder #neurodiversity #neurodivergent #neurodiverse stuff #neurodivergency #neurodiverse #actually autistic #asd #audhd #actually autism #actually audhd

[mumms-the-word]

tbh i'm actually kind of pissed at larian. regardless of if it's sticking it to hasbro or not, they're leaving the game in a potentially awful state and not delivering on promises they made, like the upper city. You also have SWEN talking about shit that could have been like ketheric's recruitment and what not, which stirs the pot even more and makes me angry. Like stop talking about it. we're already upset enough.

These are all very valid critiques, anon! I have many thoughts but I’ll put everything under the cut since I got a little long-winded because I’m passionate about video games in general.

I do play a bit of Devil’s Advocate here but please note I am not attacking you personally or trying to direct any hate towards anybody at all! This ask honestly gave me space to vent some thoughts I’ve had for months about this game. I did my best to offer nuanced perspectives and acknowledge my own biases. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, including their own disappointments and praises for Larian, Swen, the actors, and all involved in the making/maintaining (or lack thereof) of BG3.

TLDR: We shouldn’t put Larian on a pedestal as the Best Studio Ever, but we don’t have to grab our pitchforks and say they’re the worst studio ever either. If BG3 is a disappointment it might be because Larian flew a little too close to the sun trying to squeeze 80% of a functional D&D experience into a digital video game package, when (in my opinion) those two game genres are almost inherently designed to not mesh well, disappointing one fan while satisfying another.

———

Point #1, Idk how much Larian is sticking it to Hasbro but Hasbro IS a greedy corporation who has no idea how to make video games and I very highly suspect they’ve been making demands of Larian’s team that are impossible to meet without destroying the work ethic (and health/mental health/financial stability, etc) of Larian’s team. Hasbro just sees dollar signs. Larian isn’t necessarily as interested in milking BG3 for all it’s worth.

If they were, we’d be paying for Upper City in a DLC, and we’re not. Instead they’re choosing to pivot to a fresh new project that isn’t beholden to Hasbro or the demands of WOTC. Does it feel like they’re abandoning the game? Yeah, kinda. But if Swen says that his team looked visibly relieved to move on to something new, that gives me warning bells. Not against Swen, but about the crunch standard of games industries as a whole and possibly against Hasbro or WOTC. I’d much rather his team take care of their very human selves than grind themselves to ultimate burnout working on a game that is functionally complete, if buggy in places and not satisfying for some players because they didn’t get the content they wanted.

There is no perfect game, after all.

And honestly I’d say the same of any AAA studio too. I am consistently frustrated with game studios firing whole departments for the sake of retaining profits and treating their employees like content robots. Games should not be made at the expense of anyone’s physical or mental health, but unfortunately that’s The Industry Standard. (And personally I think Larian or at least Swen is uncomfortable with that.)

(Also I think people forget that making a game the size of BG3 requires the talents and hard work of hundreds of people. Larian was working with, what, 400 people? And that was after they hired like 250+ to even rise to the challenge of making BG3. Who are we even pointing the finger at for all these issues? Swen? He’s one man.)

Should they have promised something they couldn’t deliver? No. But also, I have no idea what issues led them to cutting the content, either. What’s done is done.

BG3 will be an obsolete game in a year or soon anyway, not because Larian isn’t working on it anymore, but because the games industry is just So. Freaking. Big. and pumps out thousands of games a year. Like, I hate to say it, but people are already dropping BG3 for other games like Dragon’s Dogma 2 because DD2 is shiny, new, and has a bonkers character creator.

And there’s nothing wrong with that! We’re not built to play (or work on) a narrative-focused game for 5-7 years, regardless of what any die-hard Destiny fan tells you (note: multiplayers without narrative get a pass purely because the focus isn’t on the narrative, but on collaborative play).

If a game is no longer fun to play, move on and find something that scratches your itch. Go back and play old games! There are so many things out there to explore. I have a To Be Played pile literally right now, a backlog of games I haven’t tried out yet. I’m sure many others do too.

Point #2 (and here I could be wrong, if I’m not already wrong in my opinions above), but they’re not entirely abandoning the game like…at the drop of a hat. They’re still promising at least a handful of hotfixes and at least one more patch with new evil epilogue endings (among other things).

Does that get us Upper City? Likely not. Does that add enough content to give Wyll a more well-rounded storyline, elevate all the romances to Astarion levels of cutscenes and dialogue, and finish Karlach’s questline with an actual solution for her heart? Also likely not. Is it precious to be mad about these losses? No! Be mad!! Wyll deserves justice!!!

I’d love to explore Upper City. I’m a huge advocate for Wyll getting more/better representation. If I could save Karlach without throwing her into Avernus I would in a HEARTBEAT. But these things aren’t in the game, and they likely won’t be. Larian made decisions to meet a (self-imposed? Hasbro imposed? Industry-relevant?) deadline that are ultimately disappointing. We can absolutely acknowledge that we’re disappointed.

But I don’t necessarily think Larian is just being lazy about these decisions, though. At the end of the day we have no idea what contracts Larian is under, what hell the developers have been through, either from the game industry, Hasbro, rabid fans, or excessively cruel critics, or what technical/gameplay/scheduling/financial issues they ran into at various parts of development.

Like the Ketheric thing (Point #3). Was it bad PR to bring up that Ketheric was a “kill your darlings” decision late in development around the same time you’re openly promoting the end of your relationship with BG3? Yeah. Totally. But I’m not surprised they had to cut something like that. Games, movies, books do that all the time. How many deleted scenes from movies have we seen where it could have changed the whole narrative (maybe even made it better) if it had just stayed in? I can think of a handful. It sucks, but trust me, it hurts the writers and developers way more to cut content they’ve poured money and time and heart and soul into than it hurts us, the players who would never know the wiser if they hadn’t said anything.

But also, the game is ABSOLUTELY MASSIVE. On PC you have to have 150GB free just to install it. Can you imagine how big it would be if they had shoved everything they wanted into it, even if they had delayed the game a while to make it happen? 150GB is a lot.

For perspective, that puts it on par with a very, very, VERY tiny sector of PC games at about the same level (or higher) of GB requirements, including Red Dead Redemption 2 (a fantastic open world game that still holds up in 2024), Microsoft Flight Simulator (which requires 150GB because it’s literally just flying through high quality renders of actual Earth), Forspoken (everyone says all the GB went to graphics here and I believe them), Star Wars: Jedi Survivor (which only has about 50 hours of playable content, allegedly), basically any VR game, and ARK: Survival Evolved which comes in at a whopping 400 GB mostly because of DLC. In other words, games that big get that big either because of graphics or like a hundred DLCs.

BG3 manages to fit in gorgeous cinematics, a super complex spell-combat system, a more or less streamlined video game build for complex D&D combat rules and mechanics, 10 potential companions, 8 romances among those companions, several large maps to explore, and branching narratives that would take you days to read every scrap of dialogue for (I’ve downloaded the datamined files for Patch6, and there are whole leagues of dialogue, encounters, and bits that are in the game, unbugged, that most of us pass by because we don’t explore enough). You want to know where most of the GB goes? It goes towards sustaining a D&D combat/narrative structure that was originally never built with video game constraints in mind.

Do you know how many conditions/status effects there are in the game? Over 1100. 1100+ unique descriptions and titles for conditions that debuff or buff your character or your enemies, granting hundreds of actual gameplay affects. Do you know how many spells there are across the 12 playable classes and all unique spells for enemies and allies? Like 400, if we’re getting picky and splitting hairs over stuff like Rolan’s Magic Missile being different than the usual Magic Missile or if we’re splitting out something like Disguise Self into its 32 different variations. Each spell needs a different icon, a different graphic effect, and it needs to do the right kind of damage and cause the right kind of condition or effect, some of which are immediate, others which linger.

We can speak with dead with hundreds of characters. That’s a lot of dialogue. We can talk to ANY named NPC. That’s a lot of dialogue! We can talk to any animal, with or without speak with animals enabled. That’s a lot of dialogue!!

A single playthrough where I try to explore as much as possible takes me 150 hours or more. I have 500 hours in this game and I’ve only got 4 characters and I’ve only finished 2 of them. This game is mind-bogglingly big. Even if it’s not the biggest game in history ever, or even the biggest game by the time of its release, its BIG.

The biggest critique I would have here is one that I’ve had since I first started playing the game, and it’s that D&D systems and video games don’t mesh comfortably well. I think that Larian got distracted trying to make the ultimate D&D experience, catering to a demographic that is known to ignore plot and pursue shenanigans, and Larian felt the need to build in a lot of shenanigans.

I think they got a little overzealous about it, and that’s where we have missing content, and a lot of fluff that isn’t always plot-relevant. If the game feels unfinished, it’s because Larian started too many threads, and while there are endings to all of those threads, many of them feel rushed or unsatisfactory. Why do they feel unsatisfactory? Because we’re offered so much freedom early on, only to be pulled back into the much more limited narrative constraints of a video game at the end. Because the game has to end eventually, unlike a D&D campaign which could go on or explore many other possibilities. But by act 3 in a 150 GB game, we’re running out of time and space.

And yes that’s disappointing as hell and Larian could and arguably SHOULD have made different decisions on what to focus on.

But ultimately, you just can’t fit a full-on, any-choice-goes D&D experience in a game that needs to be packaged neatly enough to run on most PCs or consoles, and Larian was ambitious as hell to try. Contrary to popular belief, I think they did pretty freaking well given the challenge, and no, it isn’t perfect, and no, to confess to my own bias, I don’t have the same complicated history with the game that early access or release day players have because I bought the game like 2 months after it was out and patched twice. But they’ve clearly built a game that people love so much they’re upset there isn’t more of it, or at least upset it isn’t the best it can be.

But sometimes we have to be realistic too. I can only imagine how many more bugs or render issues we’d get if they did try to shove in Upper City at this point. Games can only be so big before they start to become too much for the systems that try to run them and I don’t want the games industry veering towards making games an elitist hobby for only the rich and elite who can afford expensive rigs and $100 games.

(And also, I’m not at all upset that for $70 bucks I got 500 hours of gameplay and I’m not 100% sick of it yet. When EA and Activision are getting players to pay hundreds in micro transactions and DLC and dangling extra maps and new missions behind paywalls? Bish, please, I’m good. You want to talk about an unfinished experience? Dragon Age: Inquisition made us pay for our epilogue content as a DLC. At least Larian built theirs in for free from the start.)

Anyway.

All that said, I’m sure if Larian could turn back the clock and start over, they’d make different decisions about what to keep, cut, and refine. But we’re here now.

If I want to see anything from Larian right now, it’s a dedication to fix ongoing bugs that make the game unplayable or that block the narratives that they have built so that they play correctly (like with the Minthara romance). IDEALLY I’d like to see them add more content for companions other than Astarion, to equalize the romance experiences, but I’m not holding my breath (again, considering things like game development, actor schedules, contracts, etc).

While I’m sad about the permanent loss of stuff like the Upper City and disappointed by all the rushed questlines, I’d rather them fix the bugs that make the game un-fun to play and bow out gracefully once they’re sure the game won’t need constant supervision.

Besides, they’re working on cross-platform mod support, and mods are gonna add and mess with the game for many years to come, so we can pivot to support them instead while Larian works on its next game (and hopefully learns from its mistakes with BG3).

#bg3 critical #bg3 #my thoughts #super long post #long post #larian critical #op/anon I appreciate you and your ask #my hyperfixation triggered and I almost didn’t post this :’) #anyways feel free to ignore

[mitziholder]

I find your thoughts on fandom interesting, and in general, I'm really glad to see more discussion of the bad shit fandom can/is doing to young women in radblr spaces. But I mean this as an honest question: Why do you consider fandom not challenging writers/readers such a problem? These aren't professional writing spaces, and the vast majority of fanfic writers don't intend to go into them. Does an artistic hobby *need* to challenge its participants to be worthwhile? I mean this all really genuinely, especially as someone who *does* work in the arts and *does* actively want work that challenges me, and has traditionally prided herself on it -- are these inherent moral goods? Am I a reasonable standard to expect of other people? Is engaging with boundary-pushing art a requirement of healthy maturity? Why? Is, say, a human rights lawyer who spends her free time watching trashy reality shows blighted, somehow, by that fact? What about a cashier who watches the same stuff because she's genuinely not interested in anything else? And, given the vast majority of readers of actual books basically read the way fanfic-only readers read -- the same genres, which use well-worn tropes -- do we think fandom is actually keeping its participants from more worthwhile experiences? (I suspect you might argue this is dumbing down the publishing industry, which I would really disagree with, as someone in publishing -- I know we can all point to Ali Hazelwood or a million YA books that advertise with tropes, but I really can't emphasize enough that this has been the case since modern publishing began, and I think pinning "so-so prose that's The Same Old Shit" on the current young female writer cohort borders on sexism, tbh.) I've been thinking about these questions a lot lately, and I just don't know the answers. My gut wants to say yes, it's good to present challenging work to people, especially women, because art is a key part of the human experience, and can effect all sorts of societal things. But also ... I know very little about the environment, including my immediate natural environment, and if I'm honest, I'm not really inclined to learn. I'm sure learning about it would effect all sorts of change in my life and concept of self. But I'm probably not going to do it because I have a limited amount of time and I'd rather give it to other things. Is that better or worse than engaging with challenging art? Is it better or worse to be me than the woman reading the same old tropey fanfic in her free time? I think what I WOULD argue is that, specifically, fandom as it is reinforces patriarchy and induces a lot self-destruction and alienation in young women, with particularly vile effects on young lesbians, autistic women, etc. But if it didn't do that....would I still have a problem with it? I don't know. But it's interesting as hell to think about, and I'd love your thoughts on it.

hello nona :-) many interesting points, much to consider

>Does an artistic hobby need to challenge its participants to be worthwhile?

no. I’m sure there are plenty of people who enjoy crochet or knitting or something like that for the sake of it or to de-stress. I’m sure there are also plenty of people who write and draw for the sake of it with little interest in grinding for improvement. that’s fine. the problem is when you have people who replace reading and personal edification with endless fluff + pointless indulgence.

reading... things... that are above your level, that actually make you think, is how you increase your vocabulary, your linguistic competence, your critical thinking skills, your ability to express yourself. difficult and complex texts present you with opportunities to broaden your perspective. they stimulate your mind, present you with new ideas; they can help you grow as a person in ways that the Same Old Shit simply won’t/can’t. it would be like benching the bar every day for 10 years straight and expecting to get stronger... I presume. I don’t lift weights.

as I said previously, I don’t think fanfic is going to destroy your brain, but if you read nothing but fanfic, that is on the same level as (or maybe worse than) reading nothing at all. of course I’m going to be critical of a community of people who humblebrag about how they can’t bring themselves to read 25 pages of literature in an academic (non yaoitastic) context.

ya ya it’s a joke they’re joking very funny, but do you see people of other creative pursuits or hobbies joking about how they can’t bring themselves to focus on a piece of actual literature or nonfiction? how they have zero interest in anything outside of anime boys kissing each other? it’s a sign of intellectual stagnation (and eventual regression imo).

I watch a lot of shitty youtube videos, but I acknowledge that they are basically a waste of my time. meanwhile you have post after post singing the praises of how culturally important and worthy of respect Our Beloved Fic Writers are in spite of the fact that their work is, by and large, completely self-indulgent shit! there’s just so much potential that isn’t being tapped into & so much complacency... it’s very frustrating to me. I find it dishonest. red white and royal blue is not going to change the world... lol

for the record, yes, you are right, lots of Real book-readers also read mostly self-indulgent shit. genre fiction is far more popular than anything else... and I don’t care for booktok either. in fairness, literary fiction isn’t always good, and I’m sure there were many women who read nothing but terrible pulp novels 70 years ago too. that doesn’t make fandom any better! not to say this is all women’s fault - I just have zero frame of reference for how “cultured” men may or may not be, and I don’t really care either way. I focus on fandom girlies because they’re what I know, & I want women to be... better, or at least more interesting. this is, of course, sexist by definition. I hold myself and other women to higher standards. I will admit to that. I’ll also admit to the fact that I do not care about men or what they are writing or reading and would not give a shit if they all became illiterate thoughtless slugs. it is what it is.

truthfully, I have no interest in moralizing any of this. I just find it depressing! it’s resulting in more and more women who cannot relate to and have zero interest in anything outside of the narrowly defined fanfic bubble - so, more and more women who can’t relate to me or what I care about. I’m selfish, and I think it’s unfortunate that there are so many young female writers clearly capable of writing something interesting who nevertheless restrict themselves to lowest common denominator coombrained garbage because it’s what’s easy and popular.

do we have a responsibility to pester random strangers about their amateur fanfic? naw. who has the time? all I know is that conversations I’ve had with my female friends about our original works or other women’s writing have been vastly more substantial and enlightening than any argument about who tops or bottoms in supernatural... imo. in my opinion

re: the environment and social responsibility, I also have no interest in debating what matters are the most important and whether you have a personal, moral obligation to educate yourself about them. I recognize that we all have a limited amount of time and energy to dedicate to something which is admittedly fairly peripheral to most people’s everyday concerns (such as... paying the bills). then again, so is almost everything.

at the end of the day, I just think it is an awful shame that some women would - and they freely admit this - rather turn their brains off and do nothing, think about nothing, read the same shit over and over, watch the same shows over and over, draw and write the same things and dynamics over and over... than do anything else. anything different or thought-provoking or uncomfortable. it is a loss for the breadth and the depth of women’s contributions to culture as well as their empathy and intellectual curiosity.

obligatory food analogy: a little bit of junk food won’t kill you, but if that’s all you’re eating, you are probably not... doing... well

and that’s not even getting into the social contagion present within fandom re:mogai, relationships, and gender identity shit (which I would say probably has a lot to do with the underdeveloped critical thinking skills and worldviews of girls who read nothing but fanfiction). I would love to come back to that at some point, but I think this post is long enough, so I’ll just put a pin in it. there’s honestly an insane amount that I have to say about common talking points regarding the value of yaoi/fanfic (in terms of how they portray Marginalized Identities and Relationships and how it supposedly helps women navigate their own trauma through a proxy or some shit like that) oh god this is a horrible run-on .... that’s all for now! send post!

#i am glad you found my thoughts interesting enough to write in:) #ask

[nono-bunny]

Heya! Just wondering, since Netflix Geeked Week will probably show a trailer for the live-action Avatar on Thursday, I want to ask a few things:

Are you excited for it?

What do you think they'll keep, cut, and expand in this live-action of ATLA - Book One: Water (Season 1)?

Since Bryke are not on the project now, do you have a good feeling that this live-action could be a lot better than what they come up with at Avatar Studios?

(By the way, were these "Braving the Elements" episodes recent from your last posts? And were Bryke really acting like complete stooges in them? :O )

Hi, thank you for the lovely ask!

I've been completely ignoring the huge Geeked Week banner so I have no idea what's up with that or that it's possible we're getting a trailer soon, so that's cool information to have lol

1. I honestly can't say I'm excited for the live action. The last Netflix live action for a beloved childhood franchise of mine was such a dumpster fire because they focused on being edgy and dark and abandoned the source material for the worse, so like? Past experience has made me extremely cautious in regards to live action adaptions coming from them. In general I am not a fan of this trend- the Disney ones are shit, and I only really find myself watching and enjoying the (sometimes shitty, but like, in a fun way) J-drama adaptions of old shoujo manga as I don't really fuck with any other genre nowadays. Anime has a long history with shitty adaptions for action shows, and as action is inherent to ATLA after all, even if it's not technically an anime, I know that's gonna be a hurdle they'll have to clear- just having good effects and fight scenes. It's not MY personal focus as I do find charm in shitty effects (I do like J-dramas after all!) but honestly that is probably what's gonna make or break the initial hype for the show imo. Rn I'm honestly just... So neutral about it to the point where it surprises me (I'm. Very much not a neutral person usually lol) and I think it's just a matter of like.... Being burned AND pleasantly surprised by ATLA stuff before so I'm kinda hedging my bets until I know which way it's gonna go for me. Honestly I can very realistically see me LOVING it, but the other option is that it's bad and that's kinda what I'm preparing for rn ig? I can't imagine I'll be too upset if it's just... Bad or unsatisfactory given that I already spend way too much energy on the shit the OG did wrong lol, if the LA follows suit with those I think I'll just kinda... Ignore it lol. Idk, A LOT of mixed feelings

2. I... Really can't even begin to imagine what they choose to do with the reduced time frame, but I know I for sure have my own thoughts on what I WISH they would! Mainly I want NO Kataang, if there's Kataang I'm not gonna even bother with it tbh unless it's completely one sided (which it was in the original, yet we still know how THAT turned out)... I obviously want endgame Zutara, but I'm not hard pressed on it tbh- it would be funny as fuck for it to happen after Bryke left over creative differences though! I REALLY want the Blue Spirit to stay, I really DON'T want The Great Divide (no way it's staying in though so we're probably safe on that front), and overall I kinda just? Want Aang to be more sympathetic- him being irresponsible in the original show only makes sense until a certain point, and I want an Aang that shows an ability to grow from early on. Aang's an awful, awful Avatar, and I truly want him NOT to be one here- honestly, a good way to get around some of his early issues would be to borrow a bit from Korra and twist his love for slacking off into an enthusiasm for all four cultures (rather than just their rideable animals), which I feel like he was CLOSE to having... But as usual with him it was all tell and no show- I wanna see him having friends in all four nations, I wanna see him being multi cultural even before he gets freezed, I wanna see him embrace all four bendings and cultures rather than fixating on air, I wanna see him fail and take responsibility... But I also still want to see him being a kid, because that's crucial, and while the original show never allowed him to grow up, I also don't want him to be immediately seen as and treated as wise and powerful- I want him to struggle with what it means being an Avatar who knows about it at such a young age, I want to see him meaningfully interact with his past incarnations, I want him to ACTUALLY find a balance! I think I maybe just... Want a whole new main character still named Aang tbh, because I DON'T like who he is in the original show, but I do like who he could've been! I REALLY don't want the show to be intentionally edgy- if it goes into any dark topics, they should be ones already raised in the original. I want some more light shed on how the North Pole and Pakku's sexism never went away, I want the show to acknowledge that the monks didn't go down without putting up a hell of a fight, I want to know what the fuck Zhao was doing to get promoted like that despite his constant failures on screen, I want to really dive deep into Aang and Bumi's relationship and maybe how Aang failed him on a personal level (he's literally the only one who would've missed Aang, not the Avatar for all this time) and how he mourned him for years, I want Aang to contend with and realize that he's in a war and how he's FOR SURE killed people and will have to again even before Koizilla (he kills so many people in The Northern Air Temple!!)... I could honestly kinda do with an abridged version of some of the Gaang's travels, like, a lot of them are neat but only matter tangentially or from a world/character building perspective and can be dropped/merged/replaced pretty safely tbh. For example, Haru doesn't really need to exist tbh, what Imprisoned does for Katara can and maybe even SHOULD change gears to focus more on her rather than this random guy who only ever shows up once more to get laughed at because he has a lame mustache. The Fortuneteller should be dropped or altered severely because its message doesn't hold up under scrutiny. Yue should be a bigger presence and be more of an established character. Jet should maybe get his role expanded. Suki should be more of a presence throughout. There are a lot of ways to make the first season better tbh, and also it NEEDS to change to fit with the new timeframe so? Yeah I hope they do a good job at separating the wheat from the chaff because god knows the original show did not know how to do that.

3. I'm honestly pretty confident in saying that Avatar Studios will never ever make anything good, or at the very least, anything that I'll like, but as to what the lack of Bryke means for the LA? Honestly, it's all up to the people working on it- Bryke being bullheaded and bad writers isn't exclusive to them, and if the staff is made up of writers that lean too heavily on the source material or drift too far from it that could honestly sink the whole show. Of course I'm happy they're not on board given their awful track record, but like... I know nothing about any of the people working on it in their stead, so a lack of Bryke doesn't necessarily equate to good writing (it certainly does leave out THEIR bad writing though!!)

Braving the Elements is soon gonna start reviewing the third season of ATLA, and it started in 2021 so everything there is very recent! And yeah, every time Bryke are on they prove themselves to be assholes all over again, they keep topping themselves somehow istg!

I feel that this isn't my most eloquent post but tbh I'm quite sick rn so this is the best I can do atm, hopefully I managed to answer properly anyway?

#avatar the last airbender #atla #anti aang #anti kataang #anti bryke #atla critical #atla live action

[mermaidsirennikita]

your latest review made me curious about regency/historical romances featuring the servants or working class characters, how prevalent are they? any you would recommend?

It's not really prevalent, and there are several reasons why.

a) many (not all) historical romance writers do suffer from classist or elitist streaks, and tbh, a lot of historical romance readers also suffer from this streak. There's historically (get it) been this uplifting of not only the wealth that comes with the elite, but simply the title. Like, a lot of dukes have plots where they don't have any money, and that's not new; but them being dukes keeps them "above" and thus venerated by the genre.

b) there is also a big race problem in historical romance. Think the Julia Quinn "I don't write people of color because people of color don't have happy endings" mentality--she's not the only one with that mindset (and I'm gonna be real, in one of the multiple situations where she made comments like this, Eloisa James was pretty much backing her up right there). Not that people of color were inherently working class at all, but I do think that if we had seen more diversity in general in historical romance from the jump, we would also 100% see more working class people depicted in historical romance.

c) there is, either way, an element of fantasy involved. I work very hard for my money, and I'm living paycheck to paycheck nonetheless. I think that there should be more depictions of working class love in historical romance, but I'd be lying to you if I said I sought out books in which, at the end of the story, money remains a big concern for people. It's very stressful for me, versus relatable; and I don't think I'm alone there. There relatability perhaps comes from money being a concern at the beginning, but for me to feel okay with an HEA, I don't want it to be an active concern at the end. This doesn't mean people need to be SUPER WEALTHY or that it needs to be a huge plot factor. But I think this is why the concept of the "interclass" romance exists, or the person who began working class but has become super rich before the story even began. You can start struggling, but you can't end struggling for a lot of readers.

And this, considering my previous point, goes across the racial divide in historical romance--Beverly Jenkins writers about Black characters in the 1800s, but her heroes often come from wealth, or are at least quite comfortable (and often her heroines are the same). Jeannie Lin writes Tang Dynasty Chinese characters who are often of the extreme upper classes. And I think these choices do an extra layer of work when people are writing about people of color, because there is this idea pushed that all people of color did in the past was suffer under white oppression, which ignores thriving communities, massively expansive eras of history, culture, etc. Beverly Jenkins in particular does great work with exploring the different levels of class in 1800s Black America; Forbidden and Indigo are so compelling on that level. As much as the heroines are "working class", the heroes are both wealthy upon meeting them, influential, etc.

So what you will see a lot of is books with the "working class hero has gotten rich", like Dreaming of You by Lisa Kleypas. Neither Derek nor Sara are upper class. She's decidedly middle class, though she makes a good living as an author. She doesn't have titled parents, she doesn't come from a grand house, but she does come from "respectable stock" and is well-bred enough for Derek to feel a way about it. Derek comes from the literal gutter and was essentially a sex worker for years before getting rich enough to invest in his own gambling club. His entire identity is wrapped up in him being lower class and considering himself less than Sara--he can't ever truly drop his accent, no matter how hard he works at it. But he is also.... super rich, lol. Her other self made men are similar; Simon Hunt is looked down on by his heroine initially for being poorly bred, but he's much wealthier than her from the jump and is tight with an earl. Evie Jenner and Sebastian St. Vincent flip this, in a sense. Her mom married down when she got with a gambling club owner, but his money makes Evie an heiress and Sebastian is well-bred but poor, so it all works out.

Lorraine Heath does similar stuff--in her Scoundrels of St. James series, you have one hero who grew up impoverished much of his life but was a secret nobleman, Jack Dodger grew up poor but became wealthy, James Swindler grew up on the streets and is now a respected inspector who probably isn't making a ton of money but is comfortable and has friends in high places and doesn't really want for anything. Kerrigan Byrne has several heroes who grew up in the dredges but are now like, criminal masterminds with tons of money.

I feel like Thief of Shadows by Elizabeth Hoyt gets like... close....? Because Winter is a poor schoolmaster, and though his heroine is a society lady, she's also a widow and she would have to give some shit up to be with him, for sure. Hoyt is much more interested in working class people than a lot of writers, imo--The Leopard Prince has a steward hero (but he gets with an heiress), Scandalous Desires has a heroine who also works at the orphanage and her hero is not upper class at all (but he is a rich pirate--I mean, shit does happen there), Sweetest Scoundrel has a heroine who is not poor but is not legitimate either, and a hero who's trying to build his business.

I can't think of many about servants that don't involve the servant getting with someone who is not a servant, lol. Like, a lot of people recommend An Offer from a Gentleman as the classic "servant heroine" romance, and I'll be real, I super dislike that book in general because I find it boring and the hero is a total flop... But also, the heroine gets with Thee Most Idle Riche guy ever (he's a painter! he doesn't even have rent to collect! Anthony is at least sending out strongly worded "the rent is due" reminders, which... look, there are problems with truly upper class heroes, for sure lol) and it's like... okay..... When a "servant/upper class person" romance hits for me, it hits, but I can be a hard sell. I think the one I've liked most was probably The Leopard Prince by Elizabeth Hoyt, and that was again, a steward hero and an heiress heroine.

Anyway, I have a lot of feelings, on to more recs that might scratch the itch:

The Queer Principles of Kit Webb by Cat Sebastian--the book actually examines class a lot, and while one hero is the son of a duke, there are.......... many things explored there. It's also just super romantic and good and I love it.

Glory and the Master of Shadows by Grace Callaway--the heroine is 1/4 Chinese (but it's not really something she can publicly acknowledge for reasons relating to her birth and her parents'... complex past) and the hero is Chinese and came to England as a young man. She's the daughter of a duke, but he obviously does not come from any kind of title or even heritage the English aristocracy will acknowledge, and I found the dynamic in this one super compelling in terms of how the heroine connected with him over their shared cultural backgrounds that he was super in touch with already, while she felt disconnected.

The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen by K.J. Charles--one hero is a minor baron but to be blunt he doesn't have a lot of money and power, while the other hero is "working class", but is a powerful smuggler, so the dynamics examined here are super interesting

A Rogue's Rules for Seduction by Eva Leigh--heroine is upper class but doesn't have a lot of money, hero is working class but his family made a lot of cash when he was young, so he remembers being poor but is not now, but still feels that level of being ostracized

What A Rogue Desires by Caroline Linden--this one has a con artist heroine and a second son hero, who actually has to like... shape the fuck up to be worthy of her, which I liked a lot

Any Duchess Will Do by Tessa Dare--very classic class divide, heroine was a barmaid, hero is a duke

But yeah, honestly, I can't think of any books that have worked for me where both sides are not well off--and I think that's partially on me and my taste, but also on the genre making them not super like... popular, accessible, whatever. Often, when you do see the supporting or "servant" characters getting a love story, it'll be in a novella.

#romance novel blogging #book recs

[biracy]

Tbh I disagree with the idea that fanfiction by default translates badly into quote unquote "real books" "because no worldbuilding." 1) I think it's untrue and disingenuous to portray fanfiction as a medium inherently lacking worldbuilding, plenty of fic authors really enjoy worldbuilding and character development and, especially if they're writing an AU fic, can put so much work into worldbuilding and character development that the fic effectively stands on its own apart from the original work entirely (whether or not the author continuing to consider it fanfiction is a crutch is debatable, not the point), and 2) I think it's untrue and disingenuous to portray "real books" (i.e. a book that has gone through whatever op thinks is an acceptable standard of traditional publishing) as a medium inherently requiring worldbuilding to be worth reading/to be "complete." If I'm being perfectly honest I just don't think a lot of you actually read a lot of "real books" if you think that a book introducing a character or characters with very little preamble before getting to what people call "the good stuff" is inherently a flaw. Common story structures are not a rule every author is bound to following, and many more experimental and/or greatly influential books play with story structure, worldbuilding (which tbh isn't that important if ur not writing fantasy or sci-fi, u guys DO know there are genres besides fantasy and sci-fi, right?), developing characters in like, the Tumblr writing advice sense where "developed" means "has a backstory", etc. Especially if a book is a mainly a character piece, a lot of rules about "story structure" kinda go out the window. I also think a statement like "fics that have had their serial numbers filed off are stories, but not books" means absolutely nothing, it just relies on a reader's preexisting ideas about the inherent virtue of "books" when compared to "stories", ignoring the systems in place that often separate "books" from "just stories" AND the fact that short stories, vignettes, etc. are absolutely acceptable forms in which to write fiction. Of course this isn't to say that books that started off as fanfiction CAN'T have structural problems, a lot of fiction (fan- or otherwise) that was originally published serially online as the author was writing it can have structural and pacing issues where chapters don't really feel connected, threads start but don't lead anywhere, etc., but like always it's not really a problem unique to fanfiction and also the way people are going about it is just so hollow and performatively intellectual. In My Opinion

#like idk. i'm a big fan of 'books about nothing' and character studies and stuff like that. that's most of what i write #and idk. the three-act structure just doesn't really translate to a story focused on a character more than anything else #'seren's story doesn't go anywhere' fuck no it doesn't that's the point! #idk i read the fall this summer and like. THAT'S a book that isn't structured conventionally lmao #but i can assure you if a woman who used to write fanfiction published a book that was a series of monologues instead of #'a real book with regular real book structure' you people would eat her alive #open mick night

[theconstitutionisgayculture]

I'll recommend another comic book: Justice, the 12-issue maxiseries from 2005-2007.

It's seen by some as a response to the darkening of the DC universe by making what is, at its core, a high-budget Superfriends. Is it perfect? No. Is it the most deep or emotionally gripping superhero adventure? No. Is it still cool? Yes!

The art is beautiful, the characters act intelligent with fun action set pieces, and above all it never loses sight of the fact that it is a superhero story, with all the idealism that contains.

Sounds great, tbh.

I've never understood the obsession with "realism" in stories that are inherently unrealistic. Superheroes are allowed to have idealized bodies to the point where they're constantly drawn with thick, sinewy muscles the human body doesn't even have, but being kind, heroic, and moral is somehow too unrealistic for the modern reader to swallow. The entire point of the superhero is that they're more than we are. They can do things we can't and they can be the things we often struggle to be. I'm not saying there's no room for darker, or more cynical, stories in the genre, but I hate, hate, hate the idea that things must be "realistic" and that "realistic" means virtue is a lie and morality is whatever makes us feel good in the moment.

The only "realism" a story needs is contextual realism. What happens in the story needs to make sense in the world it inhabits. If your story is a high fantasy epic with elves and dragons, your main characters probably shouldn't be wielding .50 cals and lightsabers unless the worldbuilding explains why those things exist in the setting.

[angryteapott-archive]

Why is Goncharov 1973 funny:

I saw something like the goncharov joke stands in direct contrast to the “sometimes the curtains are just blue” post which made me go hm…. Also saw people confused by the joke so now I thought too much and made a three parter on my take

Part 1: shoe movie funny

The original joke is that a pair of shoes invented an obviously fake movie, which is funny because why would a pair a shoes do that. The derivative joke is a person going “wow loser you haven’t seen this fake movie?” Which is a joke stressing how ridiculous it is by pretending it’s normal for shoes to advertise a niche obviously fake scorsese film, who isn’t known for gimmicky advertising, BUT ALSO a joke on how bullies could use fear of missing out to make people just pretend to have seen something that doesn’t exist rather than reveal ignorance (like the classic made up band name jokes).

The next step of the Goncharov joke, and from what i can tell launched it all, is a person making up a poster about the movie and going oh yes this very real movie. It has jokes about the mafia genre tropes (“ice pick joe”, a hot lady side character, mostly male cast, scorsese actors) as well as being funny because it commits highlights the same two juxtapositions as the previous jokes, FOMO and shoe movie funny, while adding the inherent funniness of someone putting in way too much work for a bit. Things like the soundtracks follow on this (they’re mostly funny because they take the shoe movie too seriously) and thus should be categorized as part of the third wave.

Part 2: sometimes the curtains are just blue

The fourth wave of goncharovism, which is the bulk of the posts and the subject of most discussion, is media criticism, content, and derivative works about Goncharov, a movie that doesn’t exist. There’s posts that read like actual film critics, lines that seem like surprisingly good dialogue, themes about time because Film Shows Clocks Means Deep, bad overwrought dialogue, and most critically, the typical tumblr engagement with a piece of media including meta, gifsets, fanworks and snide comments about how other people are misinterpreting the movie. A movie that isn’t real. It’s fake.

The joke here is obviously a love letter to and scathing critique of criticism- the fact that analysis of something that doesn’t exist reads like actual analysis that people unironically post mocks that a lot of analysis doesn’t engage with text but overlays existing biases over it regardless of content, and also that a lot of movies are the same movie tbh. Katya is being held to unrealistic standards makes fun of shallow stock feminism, “homoeroticism” points to tumblrs obsession with gay stuff that isn’t actually that gay, and all the fake and often bad quotes show how we love to feel deeply about stuff we don’t really engage with. It’s also pointing to how silly it is to put in this much “anger” and effort in and how enjoyable it is to do this, regardless of whether it makes sense. Sometimes curtains are just curtains, and sometimes a clock doesn’t fucking exist, but it sure is fun to say what the curtain really means is that humanity is inherently sinful and that the clock means that Goncharov and Andrey, two characters that don’t have personalities because the movie they’re from doesn’t exist, wanna fuck.

The joke is that it’s fake deep, but it’s fun to do anyways. The joke is that people are getting mad about “people” who don’t exist being sexist etc because they’re making fun of tumblrinas who don’t look at nuance and assume a very specific form of oppression without evidence AND that people would say that shit because scorsese bros ARE sexist. The joke is that we know it’s fake but people find themselves taking it seriously anyways because it’s fun to make up a movie together and fun to make fun of ourselves. I love it!! It’s great!!! But it’s not a declaration against that the curtains are just blue, it’s a satire making the same point much more joyfully.

Part 3: the reality of goncharov

The fake goncharov movie has trended a fairly specific ways: it has defined characters and relationships, a fairly limited cast in terms of people who matter, homoeroticism, hot girl with a gun, and a lot of foreshadowing. It’s very invested in Katya and Goncharov’s personal narratives despite the wide array of people on the poster. Other than that very funny post about a (fake) shoot out showing the destructiveness and hollowness of nationalism, it’s not all that engaged in systems or the mafia specifically.

And sure, our Goncharov is so narrow partially due to its fake genre- mafia movies are tropey and hero obsessed. It’s fake. We’re making fun of the “best movie” by making a fake tropey movie!! But half the joke is being earnest, and our fake movie is chock full of the tumblr beloved tropes of obsession with romantic relationships, with “themes” that emphasize tragic endings for mutual obsessions, of an absolute lack of engagement with systems while insisting we are engaging , and of a focus on two or three characters instead of an ensemble cast- a million people are writing a movie and yet it has no breadth.

And GET THIS- Goncharov is a real movie. No, I mean it. Goncharov is probably a Google-translate-error-caused misprint of the movie Gomorrah, “presented” by Scorsese while not being directed by him at all. Egbert’s review, so mercilessly parodied in Gonch-posting (or goncharosting, as I like to say), calls it “a curative for the romanticism of The Godfather and Scarface”. Rather than deifying a specific man, it is a series of vignettes about horrible violence that seems unavoidable for its rotating characters. It’s based on real killings, and many of its actors were actually arrested for mafia activities. Forget hollow themes- it’s a movie that’s harrowing due to its reality.

Which is very very funny. Like i genuinely can’t believe we made a fake mafia movie that’s accidentally about a realest mafia movie ever made that proves how much we don’t mentally engage with the important oppressions and systems in our world while insisting that we’re self aware the irony the thematic parallel the sheer “oh fuck for real”ness of it all i was going to try to say something deep but like can you believe it??? God playing is playing 4-d funny chess with every last one of us. Long live goncharov

#goncharov #no one’s gonna read this but istg goncharov is the funniest joke ever made #goncharov meta #goncharov explained #long post #i was going to put a read more but no. this is funnier

[bruciemilf]

A lot of ppl dislike jaybabs bc it no.1 reduces babs to a love interest to be passed around by the batboys (we all know shes so much better than that and used to be one of the best disabled rep when she was oracle) and no.2 babs and jay have a massive age difference. Babs and dick have a lil age difference but not as big. Like obviously when ur both adults its fine bc consent but the fact that babs knew him when he was a kid? She was a working adult at that point and its almost like, imagine dating the guy who used to babysit u? It just seems kinda weird and tbh it just seems like jay needs his own love interest and not his dad or brothers gfs...

Dude I understand this actually because I remember such a deep seeded disgust when the Bruce and Barbara thing happened in the killing joke, I believe. I feel like it'd be the same thing here. There's just too many familial elements to extract for it to stomach smoothly

I feel like when approaching the " does love make female characters weak?" Debate you have to thread the threshold carefully. Is love an inherent crippling factor for characters, - but especially female characters? No.

Is stripping a character of their behavioural anatomy and personality traits to simply label them as the love interest and nothing more? Yes, but that's a phenomenon that covers the entire spectrum of fandom. Gender is merely a coincidence in that, to me.

Romance (for me) is the hardest genre to pull off; With action, mystery, fantasy, etc, you have a smoother thread to sew, but romance is inherently hard because it follows people. Their dynamics, a solid history, a believable connection. And its ESPECIALLY hard to do with hetero ships.

But if you'd like to argue against Jaybabs, - which, yes, I don't support it because I ship Jason with someone else and for the reasons you listed, - you can't just swipe the family dynamic under the rug. Aside from that, it just lacks substance and innovation for me

#asks #andy got me in a MOOD jsjs

[goliraz]

cracker island track by track review

'review' used very loosely. These R the thoughts of a tipsy scouser

got too long so it's hidden; it is mainly critical tbh not because Im negative or mean its just my track by track thoughts and on sound alone this (2 me) was the weakest album they've ever put out

cracker island: if it came on in a club I would dance to it but I don't know if Id be having a great time. The song feels way more redundant than it might actually be because there's only like 1 melody in it. The instrumental melody & the vocals r the same. So IDK it's like. Its definitely technically a song. But it's like the bare minimum of a song

oil: I wish if any of the songs on this album broke from the popsynth fake drums mold it would be this one. The thing about Stevie Nicks is I don't listen to fleetwood mac at all but her voice is so unique and captivating. It crushes me like an anvil on my head that they didn't even let her sing on her own + kept her to a secondary harmony the whole time. This more than any of the other songs would have benefitted from real instruments IMO. The up a perfect fourth down a perfect third hook is catchy & that pattern can't fail it sounds good nomatter what.

the tired influencer: at this point in the album Im starting to wonder why they even bother with the characters playing instruments anymore cos what did noodle do on this album. There's like no guitar at all on the album. All the bass is synth bass. The characters' function in the band/story is getting less & less relevant to the music it annoys me. IDK this song is boring 2 me. Its like if the Fall was overproduced and had nothing 2 say

silent running: this song has always since it came out felt half finished. It's like the basis of a song that's not done IDK I feel like it's missing a component that might make it feel whole. The feature could have been deleted and the song would be the exact same; something I notice about the features on this album except Bootie brown & bad bunny is that they're extremely underutilized to the point where they might not have even been there. Like ur featuring an artist to do a background harmony??? Maybe this song will feel more done & real when I hear the piano version

new gold: 1 of the better ones on the album for me completely because of Bootie brown. Even though they took a rapper who is so strong and good even (especially) live and put his voice through 100million filters and dampened his skill completely. The live version of this one is how I wish it sounded on the album cos the energy of Bootie's part in that saves this song; timing is kind of cool but it's not like. New in any way.

baby queen: if they had changed the presentation of each instrumental in this song they could have made it an 80s synthpop genre piece like aries that would have been 4x better. I wish it wasn't so so so so so so boring to me. It just sounds like all the other songs on the album IG it feels like a filler song to me. Even just better/less smooth tone/effects on the synth wld have been something but suppose not

tarantula: it's catchy but it feels low effort. The lyrics r dumb IDK how else to put it not that they're inherently stupid but they're dumbed down. Compared to sum of their earlier more 'romantic' minded lyrics like every planet + some of the stuff off plastic beach, "if ur good for me and Im good for u then that's all I need in my life" sounds like a 2014 pop lyric geared towards the 11-16 age demographic u feel. Lyrically they've dumbed down their shit so much

tormenta: fine I guess. It's mid reggaeton that's too produced and smooth to even dance to. If it came on in a club compared to most other bad bunny songs I've heard not even the bad bunny fans would dance. It's like. Too slow to be what the only things going for it would suggest it is. The little synth break at around like 2:40 is the prettiest thing in the song to me I wish maybe they had leaned more towards that for tone instead of trying for something the song is just not

skinny ape: the third better song on the album. In terms of like well these are better than the rest. Like it's this new gold and oil I think. Maybe this is the song that feels the most comfortable in what it is. It sounds exactly like 2012 radio pop in the self proclaimed "alternative" genre like grouplove an shit. Like it sounds like 1 song in particular but I cant remember what it is and its driving me fucking mental. Something about it is likeable even though the lyrics are so fucking dumb I wanna tear my ears off. U are not a cartoon G damon u are an embarrassing middle aged geezer

possession island: like if Idaho kind of forgot its poignancy. But there's something really beautiful about the first minute of it. Maybe this is actually one of the better ones too. The further Im getting into it the more Im liking it. I don't see why beck had to be there. It's like the plague of this album they feature someone to literally sing backup. Anyway the further I get in this song the more I like it I think it's my favourite song on this album probably. OK goodbye

addendum: if I listened 2 any of these songs coked out of my mind they'd probably sound fine so maybe I should just save this album 4 those circumstances

#gorillaz #it was so funny the further along i got into possession island the more I was like wait. Wait. Waitttttt OK... #the progression from. This is a knockoff idaho. To. Woaow I get it

[orionlancasterr]

🍀, 🍂, ☀️, ☁️, 💧 and 🍃 for Judas? (sorry I know that's a lot but I keep seeing your posts and I'm Curious)

Do not be afraid or apologize for sending me lots of things to answer please it makes me sooooo happy LMAO

🍀: Does this OC have any piercings?

Yeah! He'd got several ear piercings, three lobe piercings and probably a helix and or orbital. He also has a septum and center lip ring all done either himself or by wheaty.

🍂: What kind of music does this OC like?

He's a huge fan of music and and likes a lot of genres. mostly 90's grunge but classic rock and like hardcore sneaks in there sometimes. He had a shitty Ipod nano that he took with him everywhere and was almost always listening to. It had a broken screen so i couldn't see the song selection anymore but honestly he didn't care. At some point he ended up losing it though and it absolutely wrecked him.

☀️: Does this OC make good or bad first impressions?

I think it probably depends on how you meet him tbh? I mean if you meet him mid combat you're going to meet a Judas that is very different from non-combative Judas. Especially after the first trial Judas during a fight is like kind of like watching a feral dog and it takes him a long time to relax and calm down however if he's just chilling he'd very awkward and easy going.

☁️: What is this OC's clothing style like?

Whatever Alice in Chains had going on in the 90's

💧: What is this OC most passionate about?

oh boy. Judas is nothing if not passionate! He's passionate about the whitetails, about hope county, about people! If i had to pick one thing and like. boil it down it would probably be about the goodness of people? Which is wild and it takes a lot of work for him because he's seen some pretty horrible things- has had some of the worst things imaginable happen to him but he still chooses to believe people are inherently good. He believes the people who followed the seeds are redeemable and that it's up to the resistance and the whitetails to show them some level of compassion- that they will not be able to show them the horrific ways of the seeds by killing their families.

🍃: Describe this OC in one word

kidnappable.

#oc: judas daniels

[inkykeiji]

Hope you don't mind if I stalk your content for a while!!! Just answered an ask I got where one of my anons mentioned your work, so I came to find your blog and I'm super excited to read your stuff 🥺💕

hello!! welcome to my blog!!! (´∀｀)♡ hehehe aw of course i don’t mind! happy to have you here c: just promise me that you’ll heed the warnings on each post and stay safe <3

out of curiosity, i went to see what ur anon had said and the piece they’re referencing is right here, if you’d like to read it!! <3 it is change room smut just as you mentioned in your answer hehe c: a small note below the cut because this was getting long:

also!!! i really appreciate your little note at the bottom, thank you so much for that. i completely get what you mean and totally see where you’re coming from, but i also think smut concepts/situations are extremely generic. i do not own the general idea of change room smut (but i do own all of the little specific bits and details that make my piece uniquely mine), nor does anyone else, and you’re more than welcome to write it if you’d like to (you don’t even need anyone’s permission!). what makes a piece unique and original isn’t merely the general idea of it (as general ideas are rehashed over and over and over again, genre films being a fantastic example, like rom coms or slashers! this is why ideas cannot be copyrighted) but the artist/author’s own unique and individual interpretation and expression of the concept itself. if you and i were to both receive the very general prompt of ‘change room smut’ and nothing else, just those three words, each of our pieces would end up being inherently unique despite encompassing the same topic, because no one will interpret it and write it the way YOU do.

there’s this fantastic quote from asha dornfest that goes: “i think new writers are too worried that it has all been said before. sure it has, but not by you.” and i love it, because it’s so true. no one can write what you write but you. it’s like how two painters can use the exact same reference and end up with completely different pieces that may share some very basic surface similarities but are wholly and completely unique pieces in and of themselves. there is a big difference between writing the same concept as someone (which will inevitably have a few similar basic surface details) vs taking inspiration from someone vs plagiarizing someone, you know? and there are definitely many complexities and nuances within that and i’m just boiling it down to it’s most basic points.

obviously when it comes to taking heavy inspiration from someone else then it’s a lot more complex and nuanced, and there should be a mention of the piece you’re taking heavy inspiration from. there’s also someone who has been consistently rewriting my work—literally REWRITING my stories—despite being caught three times now, and that is plagiarism, which is obviously never okay under any circumstances. so yes, there are definitely intricacies to it; there is absolutely a lot of grey area that heavily depends on the specific situation itself, and tbh i can see where you’re coming from, because if someone sent what they sent to you to me, i’d feel the same way you do.

the point i’m trying to make is that as long as you do not have the intention to steal someone else’s work and pass it off as your own, meaning your intention is to create something new, original, and yours, writing the same general concept is totally fine as you will inherently interpret the idea of ‘change room smut’ differently than i will (or than anyone else will, too!), because we are different people with different experiences, thoughts, opinions, beliefs, influences etc etc etc. and all of those things work together to create your unique, one of a kind style of writing + lens of interpretation as an author. thus, your expression of that concept will be ultimately unique to you and you alone, even if it has those few basic surface similarities, because like i said, no one can write what you write but you; no one will interpret and express a concept exactly the way YOU do.

okay!!! i have rambled enough i think. i really hope my points and thoughts are coming across clearly but if there’s anything that confuses you or you’d like more clarification on please let me know! as i said there are definitely complexities and nuances to it for sure but in general this was a very long way of saying ‘hey, if you wanna write change room smut with touya, or if you wanna write bikini/panty smut with touya that occurs after a shopping trip, go right ahead.’ i have unshakeable faith that whatever you would create would be unique enough and different enough to be considered your own original piece <33

#i hope this all makes sense!!! <3 #and once again welcome to my blog 🥳🥳🥳 #i hope you enjoy ur stay here <3 #have a lovely wednesday and please stay safe!!! #and don’t forget to drink water!!! #clari gets mail