#so i literally had the attention span of a rock

[ask-whitepearl-and-steven]

I admire your patience with those readers who need you to spoon feed them the story. Everything is in the comics but they still manage to go pass it. I can't help but feel a bit sad for them? Do they not understand what they read? Are they not attentive when reading it? I'm legitimately concerned because I function so differently I can't fathom this. If you like a story, isn't it normal to make your best to grasp it's essence and reflect on it? I know I project a lot about this, everyone works and registers things differentely of course but sometimes it's very frustrating to see people consume any media and just completely miss all the important messages in it, or even just fail to get the scenario sometimes, and it feels like it's very common now... Idk I just wanted maybe to have your perspective on this? Sorry for the long post (Been here for a few years now and your a true inspiration to me. All my luv to you! ❤️)

You know, I'm gonna be honest. I used to stress out about this... a LOT.

As a story-brained person, this is definitely something that comes naturally to me, and perhaps to you, and to many other people who are wired similarly. To us, following the path of a story in an analytic, highly detail-motivated manner and unwrapping the themes can be as exciting as lifting up a rock to see the bugs underneath. It's an exciting mental activity that's stimulating and feels effortless.

And yes, as an author who spends literally 60% of my day thinking about this comic and how to draw it, panel it, script it, make it better (I script and panel in my head constantly)........ I have trouble realizing/dealing with the fact that some people are just here to CASUALLY enjoy the story that I am lowkey obsessed with.

But I've come to realize that... that's NORMAL! And healthy.

People have different attention spans for different things.

People have varied ways to read a story and engage with it.

People have unique interests.

People don't have the same amounts of energy to devote to reading!

Maybe someone missed a detail I lovingly and painstakingly put into the dialogue because they're reading the update late at night after a long shift at work. And maybe someone scrolled past the dialogue completely and just got the gist from looking at the art, because they're in a hurry to get to practice at their favorite sportsball.

And maybe someone just had a really bad day with a really bad encounter, and they're reading the update in a terrible mood and instead of seeing MY grey-morality narrative, they're focusing on all the negative points and misread the vibes because of their own biases that stem from places of hurt.

The thing is, I have to be okay with that as an author, because I will NEVER be able to get into my audience's heads and read this comic 'correctly' for my own sake.

They will always have a slightly different interpretation of things, and they will always misunderstand details and miss clues. And sometimes, they will be wrong about the way they read a character's motivations... and sometimes maybe they won't be! That's just a part of communication. That's a part of telling a story.

An imperfect delivery, and an imperfect reception should, in my opinion, be a natural and accepted part of storytelling. We're human, and we all have a different lived experience, and we will ALL have different takes on a comic, even if it's so close that we THINK we are both getting the exact same thing. That small human interpretation variation is a home-made touch that makes it feel more organic.

In short.... Not all light particles make it here from the sun, but damn the result is stunning anyway.

#chekhov answers

[argumentativeaxolotl]

Random Human AU Cars headcanons that probably don’t make any sense before I go to bed bc I can.

Lightning McQueen:

- Has accidentally called Doc “dad” before

- Has accidentally called Strip “dad” as well

- Bro can literally not stop moving- like he will not sit still and he tries so hard

- He has the shortest attention span ever if it doesn’t have to do with his friends or racing

- He actually really enjoys American Football and plays a modified version with Mater sometimes

- He was an orphan growing up

- Bro would 100% go apeshit feral if he lost a game of Uno

- Loves carnivals

- Dog person

- Forgets he’s rich sometimes and he can make his own decisions about money

- His love language is hugs and gifts

- He bought the Hot Wheels of his car and continues to buy every variation

Chick Hicks:

- Bit other kids as a child

- Filled water guns with lemonade and shot at people’s eyes

- Daddy issues(actually this is canon isn’t it?)

- Cat person

- Frighteningly good at card games like Casino “house always wins” levels of good. Like bro will somehow know what your cards are without even looking at them

- He put rocks in snowballs

- Alcoholic

- Loves anything horror, gorey, and True Crime

- He’s notoriously bad at getting people gifts, like seriously bro is not allowed to buy anything for anyone for Christmas or their birthdays that’s how bad it is(someone usually gets it for him)

- He probably has a huge gambling problem

- His love language is giving gifts

- He gives gifts as a form of apology because he’s shit at words

- Literally the best mustache in all of cars- like he keeps that thing at top condition 101% of the time

- He never actually finished school because his dad forced him into racing as soon as he could

- Probably had rabies at one point and somehow survived

- If you somehow manage to become a good friend of his, he’ll actually be super chill w/ you

- Rich as FUCK

Strip Weathers:

- Legally adopted Cal after his parents passed away(or sumn idk)

- Has several scars on his arm from the crash during the tie-breaker race

- He, Tex, Lynda, and Cal were practically inseparable after the crash

- He and Tex are literally the bestest of buds like they are homies to the MAX

- He doesn’t hold any ill-will against Chick even if he should and is allowed to

- The “Boy Scout” of racing(think Superman or Captain America)

- He listens to “Old Town Road” by Lil Nas X while working with his horses. Cal cringes every time.

- He never swears unless he’s serious about something or is extremely upset or concerned

- He almost fainted when he met Doc for the first time, almost immediately asking for an autograph

- He has a ranch full of horses and enjoys horse racing as well as car racing

- Received an apology gift of both cologne and a miniature trophy from Chick

- He let Chick sign his cast after the crash

- He’s tried to teach Lightning and Bobby how to ride horses with Cal’s help. It did not go well

- He wanted to be a doctor for a little while before switching career paths

- Racing is literally in his blood(he comes from a very VERY long line of racers)

- Weirdly good at writing. Like for no reason.

- He heavily fanboyed over Doc when he was younger

Doc Hudson:

- He loves Lightning as his son

- He thinks of Sally as a surrogate daughter

- Unironically says “back in my day” whenever he’s telling a story

- He owns a shotgun and it’s hidden away in his house, far away from Lightning(who keeps trying to find it with no luck)

- He knows the most shit out of everyone and all their backstories. Bro hears the gossip and goes “nice”

- He loves watching fruit dissection videos on YouTube for some reason

- Bro is great at knitting. Like seriously. Give him ten seconds and you’ll have a whole ass sweater with a theme and everything

- He is an alcoholic(especially after his crash)

- Never got married or had children… until Lightning and Sally lmaooo

- He nearly started crying tears of joy when Lightning called him dad the first time

- He has several large burns and scars on his legs and lower back from the crash(like shit is really bad dude)

- His favorite movie is the original ghost busters

- He is a cat person

- He is a neat freak at heart yet gave up trying to clean out his garage because of all the bad memories

#cars 2006 #human lightning mcqueen #humanized cars #chick hicks #headcanon #lightning mcqueen headcanon #chick hicks headcanon #humanized chick hicks #doc hudson #strip weathers #humanized strip weathers #humanized doc Hudson #headcanons #humanization #I’m really tired lmao #it’s like 1 am #i’m very tired #lmaooo

[purple-scrunchie]

More Heathers Headcanons bc they're rotting my brain

Heather Chandler:

absolutely dogshit at croquet. Only plays to knock other people out

mostly Heather

*slaps roof * this blondie can fit so much anger

has a deep respect for Duke but sees too much of herself in her (and therefore as a threat) and doesn't know how to deal with that healthily

Has an older stepsister she's only met twice

They write each other letters and they're quite close

refuses to let herself or any other Heather date the football team (she says "we don't date the help")

secretly likes her friends but doesn't know how to go about telling them she loves and appreciates them as people

her love language is getting people matching earrings for their birthdays

Heather Duke:

ex dance kid (iykyk)

wrote emo poetry in 7th grade (she burned it all last year though)

queen of malicious compliance

knows a shit ton of card tricks

is not allowed to shuffle the deck on poker night

she knows what she did

queen of telling scary stories (has made Heather, Heather, and Veronica sob like little babies before)

had a photography phase too

still has loads and loads of undeveloped film left over in her closet from this

her dad used to take her fishing and she secretly still loves it

Heather McNamara:

hates swimming

hates water in general

This girl only drinks milk it's a problem

Has literally everything you could ever need in her bag

once mistook her mace for her sunscreen

never again

ex theater kid (she was really good but then got busy with cheer, which took priority because her parents said so)

used to want to be an actress

now she wants to be an equine vet so she can get paid to be a horse girl all day

Not stupid at all, just has a selective attention span

broke her arm when she got thrown off a horse in 3rd grade

Veronica Sawyer:

has all 3 Heathers in her contacts as 'Heather'

she knows what's from who based on the messages

her bag is so damn disorganized she's basically Mary Poppins

we're talking everything from extra snacks to industrial-grade superglue

wanted to get a tattoo but her parents said no

she got JD to do it for her anyway (it's a really shitty rendition of her childhood cat, JFK)

lives off peanut butter & jelly sandwiches

still falls for the toothpaste in Oreos prank

bit her nails until Heather got her that nasty anti-biting polish for her birthday last year

Jason Dean:

red sox supporter

owns a tattoo gun

owns a real gun too

and a signed baseball bat (too bad he can't read the signature)

should not own any of these items

best friends with the movie theater clerk

uses this to see so many movies for free

the definition of "I know a place"

likes to walk around in the woods

just fuck around and throw rocks and shit

He told Veronica that if he ever goes missing that's the first place she should check

#scrunchie's ramblings #heathers headcanons #heathers #heathers 1988 #heathers the musical #heather chandler #heather duke #heather mcnamara #veronica sawyer #jason dean #my blorbos

[creapysummer]

Things I loved about Some Theater Company's production of Ride the Cyclone

-i didn't have super high hopes because it was at this tiny community theater in the middle of nowhere but OH MY GOD IT WAS INCREDIBLE

-the cast came around and told everyone that there was going to be a loud noise at the end so that no one would be too shocked which i thought was very considerate

-before the show started the cast (minus jane) was kind of milling about in character and it was so much fun to watch

-mischa was just on his phone the entire time and at one point before it started noel tried to take it from him and mischa flipped him off

-ocean was dragging constance to see a bunch of posters

-like literally dragging

-mischa and ricky were kind of like bro-ing together it was funny

-ocean and noel were standing in like the exact same stance while bickering with eachother it was so funny

-V I R G I L

-karnak was really cool and funny

-uranium suit was so good omg i got chills at the build yourself a funeral pyre part

-when karnak showed them the other side they all RAN for it

-noel was physically restraining ocean to get her not to go through

-talia was playing in the background during mischa's catchphrase

-i might be wrong but i'm pretty sure when karnak first started controlling them that mischa tried to fight against it

-when jane showed up was just sdjsjms

-jane looked kind of like a ragdoll but had more the posture and mannerisms of a porcelain doll it was really cool

-during her catchphrase she literally had constance in a chokehold and was just kind of like petting her head

-constance started crying

-ricky almost tried to comfort jane after her introduction

-all the girls had bows around their necks and ocean and constance's were black but jane's was red

-"ohmigosh ricky you can speak!!" "that's NOTHING watch this." *little tiny jump*

-mischa was so happy for ricky when he started talking

-"HOW CAN SHE HAVE SPEECH FOR THIS⁉️⁉️" like bro was furious

-during oceans monolog literally no one was paying attention

-like the entire choir (minus jane) just went to the back of the stage and started playing rock paper scissors

-mischa called ocean a bitch in the middle of her speech

-at the end of her speech the choir faked clapped for her and when karnak said she was conceding they started full on applauding

-AAAA WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS

-the cast came out into the audience sometimes

-virgil and karnak were both chilling in the box together (electricity is real😍)

-ocean needed constance's help to get down from the human pyramid

-when karnak revealed that it was a group vote everyone sort of looked away kind of sympathetic and ocean realized she wouldn't win except for noel he looked right at her and started grinning

-it was my cousins BORTHDAY

-jane was literally constantly trying to hug constance

-"noel i love you!!" and he BOLTED like he tried with all his might to run away from her

-ricky quite literally did not have an attention span bro was always staring off into space and paying no attention to anything

-during the nativity scene noel used his tie to mime hanging himself and then constance grabbed him by the tie and YANKED him forward

-"OR we can just go to the manger JOSEPH😡"

-noel tried yet again to take mischa's phone because he wasn't listening to his monolog

-the monique dress was so pretty omg

-and instead of typical heels she had these kick ass heeled boots

-constance and ocean started slow dancing in noels lament

-when noel and mischa started making out the entire audience started cheering it was so funny

-"that was dope yooo!! 😃😃"

-ocean was so annoyed with noel

-ricky was SO engaged with the improve scenario

-he got very excited when constance brought up doing and/or dealing recreational drugs

-mischa called ocean a bitch several more times. both in ukrainian and english

-he was also like constantly flipping people off

-mischa was trying not to cry when karnak told his past☹️

-collective cheering from the audience when mischa took his shirt off

-talia was so beautifully done omg

-i'm pretty sure that there was also a complete separate actress for talia (who also played virgil i believe?)

-talia's dress was so beautiful

-ocean and constance danced together again

-at the end talia left and mischa ended up hugging noel (he was very confused and noel looked absolutely thrilled)

-noel tried one more time to take mischa's phone but this time he let him

-they all had a group hug instead of just noel and mischa hugging

-noel and mischa still had a one on one hug omg

-oh boy space age bachelor man

-"or i could tell you about the time i was a superhero sex god on a cat planet!!" "😨"

-horrified looks from everyone in the room

-sabm was so wonderfully weird

-oh my god the costume change.

-i don't know how i can describe it besides train conductor meets gay sparkles

-like it actually had a hat that looks like the ones train conductors wear

-also you could totally see his dick

-it reminded me of david bowie in the labyrinth

-during his speech afterwards he was like hiding his dick with the conductors hat

-when jane went "my turn!!" constance literally LEPT into mischa's arms like he was holding her bridal style for a hot second

-tbojd was so good omg it was haunting

-everyone gasped when the flying mechanism started

-the new birthday song ☹️☹️☹️

-happy birthday to hmm hmm and noel tried to finish the song before ocean shut him up

-ocean did the whole 1 2 3 thing then trial off and ricky just jumped in with "4!!"

-jane was so happy aaa

-she was soso excited about savannah with the greenest eyes

-when mischa called noel tragic they hugged again they were literally hugging all the time nischa is real

-ohh constance's monolog ☹️☹️

-this one lady kept laughing while i was trying not to sob

-sugar cloud was so amazing and happy and lovely

-the choreography was so silly

-nischa did the synchronized headbanging

-at the end constance thanked them all

-when ocean was deciding who to vote for everybody froze except for her and karnak

-aaa i almost sobbed

-it's not a game/it's just a ride was soso beautiful

-at the very end they all reached out towards the audience it was so incredible

#i found my new second favorite rtc production #i wish there was a slime tut☹️☹️ #it was actually incredible #there was also so much more that i forgot #ride the cyclone #rtc #noel gruber #ricky potts #mischa bachinski #constance blackwood #ocean o'connell rosenberg #jane doe rtc #penny lamb #some theater company

[always-is-always]

Jimin-💜-Jungkook

This IS a LONG share, so have a seat, grab some coffee or tea, and bear with me....

Where to begin is a question... where to begin? My Heart is filled with so much right now that it is hard for my mind to translate it all.

The Heart Knows All.

When they went live the other day with Joonie and Tae, I could sense and feel(emapathically) that Jimin and Jungkookie were already in the energy of "companionship" in regards to the military. It was already in their field. This is in addition to their already established energetic connections that span all other aspects of their lives.

The energetic signature of the military is new and foreign. And, it is also distinct.

In that short time on the live, it was very clear to me that JK & JM would be okay. Everything was in place, energetically. That means that their bond, their commitment to one another to navigate the enlistment together was rock solid. It was palpable. And, there was the love that they share that clearly fuels this for them. However an observer "sees" that Love that flows between their hearts. Love is Love.

So, after watching that Vlive, I felt some peace. My Heart felt more settled, after that. I'm grateful for that peace, as I had been feeling some concern about them. My concern was not about them being bullied or something of that nature. It's been more of a concern about their emotional and mental wellbeing, while facing the challenges of going through the training and beyond.

This is where I get a little wobbly in my words.

I know without a doubt that Jimin and Jungkook will be each other's rocks, for the duration of the enlistment. They will have each other's backs. They will support each other in every way, on every level. That I have total confidence in.

Here is where concern creeps into my heart. Here is where I bear all in my own way, in putting into words what needs to be said.

When I watched the short video of their enlistment day what I saw, felt and sensed in both Jimin-ah and Jungkookie was VULNERABLILITY.

Yeah. Vulnerability.

Yeah.

Something that I had not seen in them, in quite this way. Or, at this level...

That broke my heart.

What we were seeing in both of them is vulnerability. An unease. Like they were stepping out to the precipice, and about to take a huge step off, into the unknown.

Seeing that reminded me that this experience is life-changing, beyond anything that a civilian can understand. Truly. Especially considering their choice of path, to enter the training for front line duty.

{{{A side story here- My bestie is a Veteran. She served in two wars, jumped out of airplanes, gave everything she had to serving the US. We have had many conversations about JK & JM enlisting. Some of what I know and understand comes directly from things that she has shared, her understandings (she's lbgtq), and such. I am not a Veteran, and have not had direct experience in the military.}}}

While watching the livestream waiting for Jimin and Jungkook to arrive, I noticed and felt some things about the military base, and I also realized some things about what JM & JK were stepping into.

.....that livestream was literally 4+ hours long.

As I sat with the volume on, I began to notice a man's voice shouting (it seemed) through a loud speaker (megaphone?), and then voices responding to him. There was a specific cadence to his words, and a specific crescendo in tone and volume, every time he spoke. He would get louder and louder, and the voices that responded would shout out the exact same words every time, and they repeated the response 3 times. What really caught my attention was the voice of a woman that was high-pitched, and louder than all of the others.

I began to listen to this, and after about 5 minutes I began to feel really uncomfortable. That kind of twisting in the solar plexus type of uncomfortable. I wound up turning the volume off, as it was really bothering me, and I began to feel anxious.

After several more minutes, I turned the volume back on and they were still going at it. Call and response. Over and over and over again... The same man shouting out and the same response back to him. That same woman's voice.....

Drill Sergeant. It finally dawned on me that the man was a Drill Sergeant. He was "drilling" instructions into the psyches of those soldiers , and who knows what else.... This type of repetition is designed to mold minds, to instill compliance, and to establish the foundation of training that follows.

That call and response lasted for an hour. They had a break for maybe 30 minutes, then it began again and continued. (It was still going on when JK & JM's vehicles arrived.) That same female voice calling out above the others...

So, my discomfort intensifed as my empathic and intuitive hits just made it hard to bear witness to what was happening. Even with it being something I was hearing and not seeing. So... I turned off the volume again, and then really looked at the base energetically. What dawned on me was the biggest awareness that brought me to tears, and it also sent me into prayer. (not religious prayer, just simply communicating with the Divine, and Benevolent Beings)

(What followed that prayer could be described in another post, but it will never be written. All I can say is that some big work was done, to clear that base of all nefarious energies, and to establish a clear Foundation of Light. To support everyone there.) (a tiny digression here!)

In those moments what I realized, is this: As soldiers they are taught how to take the life of another Human Being. Jimin and Jungkook would be learning this, in a way that also instills a commitment to do it, if they were to ever participate in an armed conflict.

Going back to my Bestie, I spoke with her about this. She said, "yeah, it's totally de-humanizing".

My thoughts then turned to what is and has been happening in this world for thousands of years. How and why we are still in a position on this planet where Human Beings have to be trained and prepared for war is something I just cannot understand. (Again, another rabbit hole!)

Jimin and Jungkook are enlisting because they have NO choice. Just like citizens of all 34 countries on Earth that have mandatory enlistment. This brings one more awareness into this.

There is a stark difference between a person enlisting by choice (like my Bestie), and a person enlisting because they do not have the right to choose otherwise. The experience is beyond difficult either way, but for those who are forced to go into the military it is another level.

Circle back to vulnerability. Circle back to Jimin and Jungkook, and their obvious state of being when they were enlisting. Especially in those last moments when we saw them marching off with the other enlistees.

What we have witnessed is beyond sad. There are no words that can adequately express this. That we live in a time where Human Beings are forced to enter into military service. That we live in a time where Human Beings are still being trained and taught to kill.

And, those beautiful Hearts that are Park Jimin and Jeon Jungkook (and the others, too!) have to somehow get through their “training” and “service”, intact and unscathed. They have to make it through, maintaining their Innate Human Essence, and Heart.

Yeah.

All we can do on our end is continually send them clear energies of Love and Support. All we can do is hold Space, while they navigate through each day, each week, each month....

What will help them most is to Love them through this experience. In every moment. See them as being carried by Love and Grace, surrounded by Love and Grace, and held in Love and Grace. Every single moment of every single day.

What they are going to face is something that will impact them in ways that are yet to be known. I am just grateful beyond words that they have each other, to walk side by side, through this experience.

Bless their beautiful Hearts and give them Deep Strength, as they take each step along the way.

June 2025 cannot come soon enough. 💜

#jeon jungkook #park jimin #jk #jm #jungkookie #jiminie #jikook #kookmin #jungkook and jimin enlistment #surround jimin and jungkook with love #why is the world still at war #time for humanity to wake up #is it 2025 yet #conscription is inhumane

[itaerae]

babysitter 💭💭

pairing: bf!ollie x reader

summary: so what happens when you decide to babysit your neighbors’ kids with olilumpa ? disastrous indeed. psst, let the poor boy rest !

word count: 346

warnings: mention of kids (?) (not proofread)

notes: this is a little drabble for my 🌱 anon ᵕ̈ it’s been sitting in my drafts for a while, i hope you enjoy it ml !

what started it off as a seemingly relaxing day quickly turned catastrophic in the span of a couple hours. now you were starting to rethink your decision of inviting your boyfriend, ollie, to help you babysit the neighbors’ kids.

it all started when your neighbor approached you and asked if you could watch her kids while she went on a date with her husband. being the good person you are, you agreed. not only because you loved kids, but you thought it was the perfect opportunity to squeeze in a date with your overgrown child !

“AAAAGH ___ SHE BIT MY FINGER AGAIN !” you could hear ollie screeching from 5 miles away (your living room.) you sighed and face-palmed yourself. you left ollie alone with one of the twins for a few minutes so you could change the other one, but apparently ollie and babies are not a good match.

“band-aids are in the cabinet ! seriously wonka, you need learn how to entertain a child properly.” you picked up the other twin, getting ready to change her. ollie pouted, “it’s not my fault i’m a literal child too.” you rolled your eyes.

“yeah yeah, keep whining wonka. anwyay, i’m leaving you with the calmer one for a few, don’t burn the house down please.” you narrowed your eyes on him at the last few words. “will do, captain !” you heard him say before going upstairs.

it was awfully quiet when you returned about 15 minutes later, all you could think of was worrying scenarios. the whole day was filled with ollie’s screams and yelps because the babies were “bullying” him, so you were definitely suspicious.

walking into the living room, a scene instantly melts your heart. ollie and the child had fallen asleep together on the couch. “how cute !” you mumbled, careful not to wake up the pair. your attention diverted to the little one who was now resting on your hips. “how about we join them ?” you cooed and gently rocked the baby.

maybe today wasn’t so bad after all.

#boys planet 999 #boys planet drabbles #boys planet scenarios #boys planet imagines #boys planet x reader #liu tianyue #🌱 anon

[thepsychewrites]

Double Penetration | WandaNat

ThePsycheWrites Kinktober

Entry One: Double Penetration

Mommy!WandaNat x F!Reader

Warnings: 18+ ONLY MDNI ;; Literally only smut — double penetration, mommy kink, toy use, slight praise and degradation, bondage, spitting, vague mentions of sub space, kinda mean!mommies, pet names used (princess, angel, baby), not proof read oopsies!!

Word Count: 578

Authors Note: Surpriseeeee >:) Wanted to hop on this years Kinktober — but in the form of smaller drabbles / blurbs that are easier to write and get out. Not sure how many entries Ill do, but we shall see my spooky sluts 👻 Reblogs n feedback are highly appreciated <3

Main Masterlist

——————

The cold air that entered the cracked bedroom window provided a stark contrast to how hot and sweaty you were getting as you laid below your Mommies, wrists bound to the metal frame of the headboard, legs pushed against your chest as two large cocks filled your holes.

The larger of the two, Natasha’s favorite red silicone eight inch cock, was rammed to the hilt inside your leaking pussy. Wanda’s choice in toy, a deep purple six inch, was rocking in and out of your ass mockingly slow.

“Is our princess feeling full?” Wanda teased as she ran her free hand up and down the span of your thigh, her nails pressed firmly into your delicate skin to ensure she left a mark behind to inspect later.

Natasha hummed with approval. “Oh, I think she’s feeling very full. Our sweet angel can’t even speak. Isn’t that right?” She asked, her hand holding her upright by your face as her other was wrapped tightly at the base of the cock, dragging it through your fluttering pussy with a quickening pace.

They had reduced you down to a drooling mess, your eyes halfway shut and muffled whines coming from your mouth. Your lungs were filled with their scent, somewhere between salty sweat and a rich spiced vanilla. Somehow you managed a weak nod, jumbled blabs making their way out from your lips after. The two women chuckled at the headspace you were in, making mental notes to fill you up like this more often.

“Our girl is always so good, isn’t she, honey?” Natasha called to Wanda, who had her full attention on the silky juices that flowed from your pussy to the tight hole right below it, now stretched out around the toy cock.

She smiled though, a wicked flash of her teeth past her ruby tinted lips. “The best girl in the whole universe. I mean — just look at how well she’s taking us… quivering over her Mommy’s cocks like it’s her job.” Lowering her smile into a faint grin, she took her eyes away from where she was buried inside you, landing on your blissed out face instead. She tilted her head, pursing her lips before sending a trail of spit between your holes, watching as it mixed with your arousal and rolled down your ass. With the added slickness, she was able to push the cock in all the way, earning a choked sob from your precious mouth.

Wanda met Natasha’s gaze and exchanged a silent nod, the two of them now moving the toys in sync. Their pounding grew faster and faster, your eyes squeezing shut as your back arched off the bed. Save for the few broken whines and cries that came from you, you were almost entirely silent as you fell into an earth shaking orgasm, both of your holes pulsating from the climax. The toys were now fully coated in your cum, the wet sounds of them slapping against your skin filling the room.

You grabbed at Natasha’s arm as your orgasm began to dissipate to let her know to slow down, but she looked at you with a sneaky expression.

“Awh, did our princess really think we’d only make her cum once?” She cooed in a dark voice, airy laughs following the taunting words.

Wanda gave the underside of your thigh a harsh smack. “What a dumb little baby. Better catch your breath angel, Mommy’s getting out the strap next.”

-

-

-

#mommy!wandanat #natasha romanoff smut #wanda maximoff smut #wandanat smut #kinktober #thepsychewrites kinktober #wanda smut #natasha smut

[gizkasparadise]

webtoons im currently hooked on

my brain hasnt been able to muster the attention span for dramas lately, so i've switched to reading webtoons for the time being. wanted to share some of my current favorites so maybe some folks can fangirl about them with me /o/

i also have a list of similar dramas so if youre new to webtoons but not dramas you can kind of compare #vibes

roughly in order:

TRAPPED (ALSO KNOWN AS OLGAMI OR NOOSE)

synopsis (mild spoilers)

girl meets boy at church. girl is an ex-convict who tried to kill someone. boy is a vampire. boy blackmails the girl into hiding his dead bodies using her job as a taxi driver. boy thought he had control over the situation. he absolutely does fucking not. the most fucked up slowest of slow burns ensues as fuck-or-die might become a little too literal.

why read

omfgggggggggggggg if you like your ships dysfunction junction this one is 100% for you. the romance takes a while to kick off, with the first season being mostly thriller with some unhinged UST between the leads, but when the male lead (park yunsu, vampire murderbastard) falls he falls hard and it is messy beyond all belief because the female lead (han chae-ah, taxi driver and unwilling gravedigger) does not forgive or forget and will do whatever it takes to survive. both leads are compelling and interesting and it's such a great take on enemy lovers (and not necessarily enemies to lovers)

chae-ah: i'll kill you

yunsu: alright :) try your best :) ill be waiting :)

the side characters are all really interesting as well! especially grimm, a 60-year-old child who definitely chooses mom in the divorce

similar dramas: basically take any fei wo si cun male lead (goodbye my princess, siege in fog), give him the ability to commit supernatural murder, and then pair him with a female lead who will absolutely kill him the second she gets a chance to

MY REASON TO DIE (ALSO KNOWN AS WHAT I DECIDED TO DIE FOR)

synopsis

ji-o is a talented taekwondo student athlete on her way to the olympics before she gets an injury that stalls her progress. while on the bus to training, she crosses paths with cha gyeol, a delinquent who runs with a rough crowd and almost never comes to school. as she navigates her feelings with unexpected first love, ji-o keeps having prophetic dreams-- ones where someone dies over and over again.

why read

female gaze: the webtoon lol. ok but actually what starts out as a fairly fluffy/slice of life high school romance has a plot twist that really rocks and made want to immediately start a reread of the whole webtoon.

similar dramas: someday or one day

MAYBE MEANT TO BE

synopsis

han jia is a 32 year old unemployed freelancer living with her parents, who are getting a little desperate to have her out of the house. during the holidays, she sneaks away from her family to have a smoke in the alleyway. there, she bumps into jin mincheol, a friend from childhood who she hasn't talked to in years. and he is just kind of. eating a chicken breast there. anyways.

they talk, and mincheol shares that his mother is also pressuring him to get married. jia proposes a contract marriage, not expecting mincheol to take her up on it. he does. immediately. oh shit.

why read

omg jia's a mess and mincheol's a nerd (affectionate x2). there's something just really delightful about seeing these little weirdos work through their issues, grow, and realize that they actually fit really well together. i love them both. mincheol is just so delightfully consistent and we get to see jia begin to figure her life out. the humor is spot on as well, i've laughed out loud several times

similar dramas: because this is my first life

OTHERS I REALLY LIKE

something about us. gayoung and woojin have been friends forever. when woojin comes back to college after his military service, that begins to get shaken up. friends to lovers with really cute art and one of my favorite second leads of all time

unholy blood. hayan is a pureblood vampire OUT FOR REVENGE against other vampires. blood+ vibes in the best way (not that far into this one yet, BUT IM READY)

dreaming freedom/freedom in dreams. jeongmin is relentlessly bullied in school, and the only way she escapes is through lucid dreaming, where she imagines her life differently and also how she can get her revenge. in her dreams, she meets a manic murder yandere boy, and shit escalates from there

cheese in the trap. aaaaaaaay we know this one :'D

#webtoon #trapped #olgami #my reason to die #maybe meant to be #manhwa

[starlitangels]

Good Boy Audios Incorrect Quotes (Part 2)

Faithful: Don't bottle up negative emotions. It's bad for your health

Albus: I know, that's why I bottle up all my emotions, both negative and positive. So it all cancels out!

Faithful: *exchanges concerned look with Devlin* T-that's... not how it works.

•••

Odin: You know, when I first met you, I did not like you

Ulysses: I'm aware of that

Odin: But then we spent more time together

Ulysses: Uh-huh.......?

Odin: It did not get better

•••

The Guardian: You know, one of the reasons I live 914 miles from civilization is that I’m kind of allergic to other people’s drama

•••

Albus, after getting a hold of the cursed sword: Due to personal reasons I will be going completely off the f^&*ing rails

•••

Just a Head!Pandora: Can't you try and see things from my perspective?

Odin: Okay *sits on the floor*

Pandora: Listen here, you little sh!+—

•••

Albus: I've slept so little I can now officially smell colors

Devlin: How are you still alive?

Albus: That's a question I ask myself every day

•••

Odin: I have the right to remain silent!

Pandora: Yes, you have the right to remain silent

Pandora: What you Lack is the Capacity

Odin:

Odin:

Odin:

•••

Albus: Love is a weakness and an evolutionary mistake

Devlin: You're... literally making a Valentine's Day card for the sister right now

Albus: *points hot glue gun at him threateningly* You're on thin f*^&ing ice, Vinny

•••

Ulysses: You're stupid

Odin: That's it?

Ulysses: Give it time. It'll eat at you

*Later*

Odin: Am I stupid?

Pandora: Yeah, a little

Odin: Damn him

•••

The Guardian: I've never been in a snowball fight before. I don't know the rules

Zed: What?

The Guardian: Like, is there a point system or is it to the death?

Zed: WHAT?!

(also Albus and Faithful)

•••

Devlin: I am telling you, go to a healer!

Albus: I'm sorry, is this OUR stab wound? Stay out of it

Devlin: Fine. I'm calling the sister

Albus: Wait no—

•••

Fenrir: What do you think Odin will do for a distraction?

Pandora: I dunno. Probably, like, make a noise. Throw a rock. That's what I would do.

Ulysses: Probably

*building explodes, triggering several alarms*

Pandora: ... ... ... Or he could... do that...

•••

Albus: Dating tip! Hold the door for your date. Rip the door off its hinges. Then use the door as a weapon to fight off other suitors. Establish your dominance—

Devlin: I’m beginning to see why you’re still single

Faithful: No, no. Let him finish

•••

Yargwynn: I need you

Paradise: For?

Yargwynn: Ever

•••

Albus: Is four a lot?

Devlin: Depends on the context

Devlin: Dollars? No

Devlin: Murders? Yes

•••

Paradise: I am at a loss for words!

Yargwynn, narrating: Despite being at a loss for words, my paradise continued to lecture me for 25 minutes

•••

Devlin: Albus, did you do something stupid?

Albus, covered in blood: I think we both know the answer to that

•••

Paradise: I made you a friendship bracelet!

Kalamos: I'm not really a jewelry person...

Paradise: You don't have to wear it if you don't wa--

Kalamos: No. I'm wearing it forever. Back off!

•••

Odin: Ulysses sent me a Get Better Soon card

Tyr: That's nice

Odin: I'm not sick. He just thinks I can do better

•••

Yargwynn: I win

Paradise: I have you pinned to the ground

Yargwynn: I know

Paradise:

(also Albus and Faithful hopefully)

•••

Albus: I may not be your cup of tea but I am your tenth shot of tequila

•••

Yargwynn: Do you think when butterflies are in love they get humans in their stomach?

Paradise: Yargwynn. Darling. Honey. Love of my life. What the F^&* ?!

•••

Makkaro, provoking the Guardian: This is either the best idea I've ever had, or the worst. Stay tuned!

•••

Yargwynn: Alright now, everyone, pay attention. I have an announcement to make and I only have a minute

Paradise: Why, are you in a hurry?

Yargwynn: No. I was referring to all of your relatively short attention spans

•••

Pandora: How long are we gonna stand here and just let him do that?

Odin: Just... give me a minute. This is the most fun I've had in years

Ulysses: *pushing a door that clearly says 'Pull'*

#Good Boy Audios #GoodBoyAudios #GBA Bastard Warrior #GBA Fourseen #GBA MotH #Space Pirates Saga #GBA Albus #GBA Faithful #GBA Devlin #GBA Guardian #GBA Makkaro #GBA Odin #GBA Ulysses #GBA Pandora #GBA Tyr #GBA Kalamos #GBA Paradise #GBA Yargwynn #GBA Fenrir

[lochblocknroll]

> file.doomsday

> folder.justdroppedin

> document.loch

last accessed: ERROR: no data available

CONTINUE?

SECTION ONE:[A SONG FROM YOUR CHILDHOOD STARTS PLAYING, A MELODY THAT REMINDS YOU OF A TIME WHEN YOU WERE A HAPPY CHILD — ONCE.]

It's hardly been that long in the scheme of things. When compared to the grand span of eons that make up the universe, a few hours in a small, loud, flying tube of death didn't matter much. In the world of light and electricity, however, it may as well have been an eternity that Loch had already spent squeezed into this seat that pinched at his back and his neck. He was used to working on a different scale than the human. Loch was made for the immediate pulse of circuitry and this was as close to torture as he could imagine. Nothing like the demand of inaction ate at him quite so deeply.

Sighing and shifting for the tenth time in as many minutes the question he had done his best to ignore swam to the surface and breached his mind: how did I get here?

Just as quickly came the melody of a band never far from his mind and the questions posed when he was just four years old and with a muscle memory Loch never bothered to try to suppress, his head began to bob to a tune only he could hear as he quietly sang under his breath: 'Letting the days go by, let the water hold me down...' The Talking Heads had always spoken to that deep, unknowable part of him that had remained unchanged through the years and had more than once fueled a late-night dance party when the code swam before even his trained eyes.

It was a shame his mother never liked them much. She had always preferred the crooners from her days, which were more than enough to put Loch to sleep half the time.

It was a shame he was the only one left of that house that remembered the words to this song that danced freely in his brain like the rattle of an earthquake.

It was the same as it ever was.

SECTION TWO: [A FIDGETABLE, ANALOG ITEM, CAN BE KNIFEY THOUGH YOU BETTER HAVE A GOOD REASON FOR IT TO BE]

It had been another uncountable slew of minutes turned to slurry when the mountains had finally broke and demanded their presence be known. For a moment, Loch's heart had leapt with the hope that they were perhaps finally arriving. The same extremely large dickheads that had demanded he be separated from both his fish and his beautiful Alienware computer (never mind the Dell Ultrasharp curved monitor they had taken as well) had mentioned something about the mountains, right? Loch knew he should have been paying better attention, but watching literal thousands in equipment be carted away was a little more distracting than hour four of boring corporate bullshit.

(How did I get here? Letting the days go by...)

His fingers ached with the urge to type. Loch's brain practically ate itself in worry as his eyes ached with the memory of that headache and the damn flying helltube just kept going. His ears were doing to implode on themselves. It was sheer self-preservation that he found that worn river rock in his hands, pulled from the pocket of his backpack. It was dark in color, worn smooth over years of water and smoother in Loch's hands. His sister had found it, that time when she dug so deep into the ground she found water. That water held the rock.

Loch clutched it in a closed fist, thumb running along the self-made groove in its surface and focused on breathing and not the possibility that this entire thing was a hologram pulled together by a fringe cult of Owlmen or their Sincerely Completely Personable friends. But it never hurt to keep a healthy degree of suspicion, and Loch kept his eyes on the minimally staffed crew.

SECTION THREE: [ A PLACE OF GREAT PERSONAL SIGNIFICANCE, BE THAT POSITIVE OR NEGATIVE]

Loch was beginning to believe he was going to die on this damned helicopter and no one was going to notice because they were all going to just keep flying until they ran out of fuel and crashed in a terrible ball of fire without even the courtesy of Mothman making an appearance. He was going to be that man stuck in the Twilight Zone screaming about a man on the wing of the plane if something didn't happen soon. When nothing did, as things seemed determined not to on this thing, Loch found himself dozing off.

(And you may find yourself in a beautiful house...)

The home was warm. In his bedroom sat his set-up in its full glory kept perfectly cool as a dull green glow emanated from the doorway as Loch let the code run. It was going to take awhile, after all, and if he was going to see the same damned error on line 3549, he might take a hammer to the entire beautiful setup. Best to let it rest for now.

The rest of the house did not smell of dirt as it so-often did and instead smelled of the faint lavender perfume Mamá loved so dearly. The curtains that the golden hour shone through were the handmade ones, covered in small embroidered plants as soft and thin as lace. The dull thudding noise from the kitchen spoke of Mamá's famous locos tonight and that silly betta fish seemed to laugh in time with his sister's high-pitched, airy giggle.

The jolt of turbulance shook Loch awake, the half-heard memory of Matias being called to pour his sister a glass of mote con huesillos before the heat cooked her as well as the fish fading to the dull and the dark of the helicopter, void of anything resembling home. They overlapped for a moment before his home disappeared. Loch sighed. It wouldn't disappear forever, he knew. He was going to make sure of that.

#loched.doomsday #loched.plot #loched.development #fhq.prompt

[toxicanonymity]

Do you ever struggle with feelings of discouragement or inadequacy if your fics don’t do as well as you had hoped?

I’m struggling with that myself. I try not to get so hung up on it but it’s very hard, especially when something I’m so proud of doesn’t do as well as my other works.

I don’t even feel motivated to write bc I don’t wanna set myself up for disappointment

Discouragement, sure, I think that's natural sometimes. But I really don't feel like stats have anything to do with adequacy. Baring my soul, yuck. But fuck it we ball. Sorry it's a long answer.

I don't think I've ever answered a serious ask aside from the time i created Dr. rock which hardly counts but I've seen a lot of people struggling with this lately and hope this might be idk comforting to a person or two without leading to debate/discourse.

You mentioned something you're proud of isn't doing as well as your other works, and I can see how that would be disappointing. For laughs, I'll compare 2 of mine. These fics are impossible to compare (as are most, I think) but I def understand the urge to measure yourself against what you see as the potential. Aches: <1k popular trope I banged out in no time, wasn't sure about it, literally thought "people don't have to like it" before I hit post. >4 notes per word. Left in Lincoln: >22k posted so far, challenging, writing it for months. Has possibly driven me crazy bc I had this passing thought the other day and not about TLOU. (I didn't feel like re-reading it all): "I should just rewatch the movie. . .wait." 🤡 The whole Lincoln series combined has fewer notes than Aches lmao. But it's far more rewarding in getting to see it come to life, quality of engagement, and stretching myself 😏. It's not for everyone, for various reasons. Surely would have better stats without the twist I went with. But at what cost??

-------

Often, if people don't read or like something, it's a reflection of their own interests, limitations, and assumptions. And the right "fit."

I don't rly read much in general, but specifically, I rarely read long stuff (if I do I prob scan a lot tbh). I normally only want, if any, just enough plot/premise to build sexual tension. I don't read fluff or angst. I don't have the attention span / commitment to get invested in original characters. I tend to avoid stuff similar to what I'm working on. I make assumptions - If there's no word count, maybe it's too long. I know a lot of the fics I skip for these reasons must be fantastic. Assumptions I experience - I've seen very popular fics in the wild that strike me as dark, creepy, or pervy but aren't tagged that way. So some things that are tagged dark, etc., including plenty of mine, might not be dark in the way people assume based on their own ideas, or based on what others do tag. Also some people think I only write dark when sometimes it's just horny (see master list).

I've sometimes found myself thinking "It sucks more people don't read this bc i bet they would enjoy it" (not just my own fics). It might sound egotistical but I think it's often true.

------

Of course I want engagement because that means more people reading something which can mean more interaction, discussion, learning what you liked, what you think, etc. that's what I love.

But notes aren't rly near the top of what I care about, even though it does feel great to get them and I truly appreciate every single one.

Night walks doesn't get nearly as many notes as some of my other stuff, especially these days, but it's fun to write and I like to feed his feral fans who only get more into him with time. Same with raider: among those who do read and engage, I sense rising enthusiasm, thirst, and rate of falling in love with him (my bad). That's all worth more than 1000 likes to me. I have a good time writing these guys, so I write them more than other ones that get way more notes 🤷. I'm not saying notes don't matter at all, I know they affect exposure and engagement. But if just did what gets notes, I don't think I'd have such high quality engagement bc I'd just bang out more stuff with the most popular tropes instead of our fave Joels and those destined to become our faves bc they offer something special.

My outlook was the same before I had so many followers btw. Rock Bottom (22k) was what I felt like writing, still more ambitious than anything I've done in the Halloween fandom. I was disappointed it got way less attention than my one shots, but I know it's a banger, just certainly not for everyone lol.

-

I'm sorry for what you're experiencing and feeling, but I think it's very common and hope you can reframe it to not feel inadequate. I especially hope it doesn't discourage you from writing. ❤️

#ask #how the sausage is made #toxicanonymity writer's room #this doesnt mean i answer serious asks now lol

[fourswords]

the more i dwell on the fsa manga the more i'm so sure that the most interesting character to think about is link. the story begins and ends with him. in fact the story begins with link being showcased as an arrogant little dweebus middle schooler and the entire rest of the story was him quite LITERALLY being peeled like an orange and split apart into sections for the world to see and. 1) an orange that has been peeled cannot magically become un-peeled. okay well according to the four sword it can but the orange will always know the sensation of what it was like to be bare and split and fractured even if everything's back to the way it was before. and that's a very odd thing to grapple with because if the orange is split into sections then do those sections not become objects in their own right? do the phantom echoes of the sections not arise when the orange is magically resealed into a whole orange? this metaphor is getting away from me and i need to go to bed.

red and blue and green and vio were all sections of link with different personalities who all had the chance to grow on their journey but they were still just sections. link reforms and has to deal with the constant annoying thought of "...so did i do that or did red/blue/green/vio do that or did we do that or—" before he decides it doesn't really matter anyway and goes back to bashing criminals' heads in and acting like a dweebus because. hello. middle schooler. attention span of a rock (and thinking about what he was capable of doing when he was split [read: blue and vio] freaks him out a little bit so he's not going to think about it). and also 2) with shadow literally being alive at the end of the manga i think that opens the door to the most convoluted apology session ever. vio was a part of link but link is not a part of vio because he's the WHOLE so it's just a whole back and forth between them like:

link: okay. um. i'm sorry for betraying you

shadow: YOU didn't betray me. i don't KNOW you. we interacted for FIVE SECONDS. VIO betrayed me.

link: okay well vio was sorry for betraying you (even though it had to be done [<-he does not say this part out loud]).

shadow: HOW WOULD YOU EVEN KNOW THAT?!

link: BECAUSE I AM HIM!

shadow: NO YOU'RE NOT!

link: OKAY FUCK YOU STAY UPSET HOPE YOUR DAY GETS WORSE LIKE ACTUALLY!!!

and this continues like a cycle until zelda smacks some sense into them. because again. middle schoolers. it's like playground drama between two twelve-year-olds fighting over their failed roleplaying stint with their OCs if it involved near-death experiences. do you guys see what i'm trying to get at here

#I NEED TO GO TO BEDDDDD I HAVE A CODING PROJECT DUE TOMORROW THAT'S KILLING ME DEAD #fsa #txt

[vampyrsm]

I agree with the anon who said that they haven't been this immersed in a story in a while. Your writing just has phenomenal flow and structure. It's very easy to follow but is rich nonetheless, so reading each chapter is just pure pleasure. Your dialogue, description of scenery, atmosphere, character dynamics and style is genuinely top tier. I'd love to write the way you do one day ❤️

Omg, thank you <3

I'm really happy about that tbh, I sometimes struggle with following fics because it can just be a lot of information (not a bad thing btw! I just have the attention span of a rock so my brain just doesn't process it all) so I'm glad that I've managed to write with a balance of easiness/richness combined

I wish I had tips but I literally don't know how I write the way I do? LMAO - like, I just see stuff in my mind and write it down. But all I will say is practice writing, have fun with it and enjoy yourself!

#— alex has mail ! #— user anon

[fruchtfleisch-art]

kirashino fic prompt: sacrifice, dance (literal or figurative), and/or “when they’re not looking”

Kirashino microfic #2/?: Sacrifice/"When they're not looking"

Being married is all about compromising. Sharing space. Encroaching on your partner’s time. Cleaning up messes you didn’t make, spending money you didn’t earn on purchases you don’t really care about. It’s a decade-spanning war of attrition, compromise after compromise until the base bedrock of individuality is eroded to fine powder, never to reform.

Kira, lucky man that he is, has skipped right to that stage in Kosaku’s marriage. The man he’s impersonating doesn’t have a personality so much as preferences, and boring ones at that. He’s trapped in a dead-end job, but unable to take time off to find a different one. There’s no flex in the Kawajiri budget for anything outside of rent and loan payments. His wife buys his clothes and cooks his meals and tidies up after him. What’s left for himself?

It's a living situation that would make him deeply depressed, if he had any intention of staying in it. Kira is just biding his time, waiting for the perfect opportunity to destroy the people who seem dead-set on exposing his identity. Until then, he can’t rock the boat too much. Sacrifices must be made.

That’s why, even after an exhausting workday, Kira said yes to an office get-together at a nearby restaurant. He watches the hours sluggishly tick away as the people around him get loud and unruly and start saying things like lighten up, Kawajiri, would it kill you to smile?

This job is a bit like a marriage, too. He can’t wait to be rid of it.

Shinobu came with him, but he’s keeping her at arm’s length, unsure of how they’re supposed to act in public. He pointed her towards a gaggle of other women when they arrived and hasn’t seen her since.

The restaurant’s air conditioning is on the fritz and the air is muggy and stagnant, nidorous with the mingled odors of cigarette smoke and fried food. Kira feels tired and vaguely nauseous, recoiling from an good-natured touch on his shoulder like it's a spider bite. He’s had too much to drink, but not enough to enjoy himself. It wouldn’t do him any good to slip up here and reveal something incriminating.

Eventually, he stands, muttering something about the bathroom, and meanders his way to the front door, then outside. Just for a few minutes, he tells himself, knowing it’s a lie. The cool night air on his face is far more refreshing than anything they were drinking inside.

He doesn’t know how long it’s been when the door swings open and Shinobu slips out to join him. “There you are. Ready to go home?”

“We can stay longer if you want-“

“I don’t.”

It’s strange. Kira thought she would do well in a large group, given how desperate for attention she is at home. He says as much, couching it in much softer terms.

“I just don’t really have anything to talk about with those people,” she says, laughing self-consciously. “My day-to-day is so boring. Maybe if I had a degree or a career or something, it’d be different.”

“Let’s do something you want to do next time, then,” he says, knowing full well there won’t be a next time. Shinobu lights up, all smiles again, the way she is when it's just the two of them.

“You’re such a nice guy. Really. Thanks for letting me tag along.” She takes his hands in hers. “Give me a kiss?”

The moment is all wrong: Kira can’t imagine a less romantic scenario than this, the two of them huddled up outside a dirty restaurant storefront, neon signage casting them in harsh pinks and yellows. He’s not drunk, but not exactly sober, either. At any moment one of his coworkers could come bursting through the entrance and see them.

But nobody does. He stoops to give Shinobu a peck on the lips, pulling her in close, and then they’re off.

#jojo's bizarre adventure #kira yoshikage #yoshikage kira #shinobu kawajiri #kirashino #[scientist holding up beaker meme] at last... an attempt at glen cook-style skim dialogue #ty for the request!!

[zitasaurusrex]

I've been trying to absorb a new audiobook but have been in a very no-focus mode, so I have had to back up this effort with An Activity to keep my attention span from revolting completely.

That activity has been wandering along a major road (Route 8) in Second Life.

Here are my photos of various things I saw yesterday.

First order of business: me. Let this set the tone for you.

Combination pony cafe/airplane store with a gas sign that might hail all the way back to 2003, based on price.

The kind of free items you encounter on offer in weird roadside stands in second life.

Cat Cafe

Second Weed

Sometimes you just find buildings that are like this and you have no idea what they mean.

More Second Weed

Second Pawn Shop next to the Second Weed (like most roadside shops that aren't selling clothing/hair/skins/vehicles, nothing in here is actually interactable in any meaningful way, it's just scenery for playing pretend games and taking photos. The guns and guitars on the walls are literally just 2d graphics.)

Typical roadside storefront (real commerce) next to typical roadside garage (pretend)

Extra hour in the ball pit

Get Shrekt

Genuinely helpful road sign from second life management pointing out a tricky-to-cross spot where 4 region corners meet. (Crossing the big gridlines between squares of the grid can mess with any scripted items you have because, iirc, they're being handed off from one server to another in real time. This is notorious for breaking/crashing/causing people to lose control of vehicles. Second Life is hilariously hostile to vehicles, but vehicle-havers in Second Life are very very very persistent.)

Fascinating home decor choices of strangers.

(The book in the first one is a working copy of the bible.)

Second life having a disagreement with my horse

A very tiny parcel of land showing off how most people use land. Contents: 1x game board, 2x empty shopping boxes for avatar items the owner unpacked here.

(I'm being flippant, land in SL is a pretty big and fascinating topic to me but for here: You need a space where you're allowed to rez items out of your inventory into the world in order to unpack and use a lot of things. This is the main thing people want land for. There are a lot of people who run free fitting room areas to let landless people unpack clothes and adjust their outfits, it's a whole thing.)

Fuck dude I'd risk it for $1.93 gas. (There are actually tons of gas station/convenience store plots people have set up along the road for RP purposes/for the purposes of this one game a lot of people like to play. (Long story.) I saw a lot of those today. This, however, was the only zombie themed one. )

Inside the building, they had a map, an info box for their second life biker club, and a panel that linked to a dead twitter account.

Huge ugly privacy wall in the distance with a huge expensive RP region behind it. (Don't ask about that half-loaded building stack, I don't know either.)

AOL never dies.

A big castle that claims to be a goth rock club, but I couldn't find their dance floor.

Whatever this is

There are dozens of empty biker bars, empty diners, and empty clubs, but this AMERICA themed one had animated decorative fake people in it for atmosphere and a Cards Against Humanity table upstairs.

Not pictured: Multiple sex dungeons (when you've seen one you've really seen them all), giant rotating transphobic sign that I had to block, roadside yard sales of people trying to sell old gacha machine items they collected before second life banned gachas, and multiple plots full of obnoxious little breedable pets.

#sl posting

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

Round-up of queer stand-up specials that were released in December 2023, and that I have watched (I did not set out to make this a specifically queer list, those just happened to be the three specials released this month that I was interested in seeing, and after I put them together in a list I realized, hey, December 2023 has been a pretty gay month for new British stand-up specials):

Leo Reich – Literally Who Cares (December 18, 2023)

I watched this because I am really trying not to be biased against Gen Z comedy. I think of how annoying it is when older people dismiss “Millennial” anything, and I don’t want to sound like one of those people when I say I think Gen Z comedy is all Tik-Tok stars doing prank videos for people with an attention span of eight seconds. So I have tried to watch their specials. The other one I tried this year was Finlay Christie’s OK Zoomer, which is free on YouTube and was better than I’d expected. There were good jokes in it. But also, throughout the hour (well… throughout the 37 minutes, because he wasn’t doing a lot to combat the idea that Gen Z people are performing for such short attention spans that they run well short of a full hour, but that’s just being picky because I think just about the best thing in the world right now is Sam Campbell and he did ten minutes in Edinburgh this year), I found myself working pretty hard to keep my mind open enough to enjoy it. I’d judge something and then stop myself and say, no, come on, this actually is kind of funny, if you’re not so judgemental (not with all of it thought – like I said, I think some of it is genuinely funny).

I’m pleased to say I did not have to do that with Leo Reich. Not even a little bit. There were a few parts that I didn’t love, but I let myself not love them without guilt, because I liked the vast majority of it so I knew I wasn’t just biased against him. Most of it I genuinely, easily, enjoyed.

And this probably should have been the type of humour that would annoy me. A Gen Z child talking about how very Gen Z he is, how the most stereotypical values of his generation are how we all live our lives now. That kind of things annoys me in general (it annoys me when Millennials do it too though, I don’t love any humour that’s too focused on generational stereotypes), and there were a few times when it annoyed me in Leo Reich’s show too. But only a few times, which is impressive given that that makes up so much of the show. I enjoyed most of it.

It makes me think of when I watched Maisie Adam’s show from the year she got married. So much of it was about her wedding, pointing out the sexism and just general stupidity of so many wedding traditions, and laughing at herself for how silly it is that she has to engage in them. And some of the humour got lost on me, because I kept thinking… well just don’t do it then. You’re right, obviously the father giving away his daughter is ridiculous. But you’re not the first point to point out the weirdness of this trend that we all have to follow. Most people have noticed that, and lots of them choose to not do it. You haven’t explained why you’re still doing it.

There were times when Leo Reich’s show made me think that, but about the performative social media obsessions of Gen Z rather than terrible wedding traditions. I appreciated it, when I heard him talk about how it warps people’s minds to live according to what will look best on Instagram. But I kept thinking… you haven’t justified why you’re doing it, though. This would work better if Instagram were something we absolutely had to do, and you’re pointing out the flaws in this system where we’re all unfortunately stuck. But you know we’re not, right? It’s like someone with their arm trapped under an easily liftable rock, doing funny observations about why the rock is so painful. It works best if you give some explanation for why you haven’t lifted the rock.

Obviously it isn’t that easy, obviously social media companies are spending billions of dollars to figure out exactly how to manipulate the chemicals in young developing brains (and older brains, but it’s even more common among young ones) to keep them addicted to it. I know that, and I see it in the teenagers I work with, and because of that, I do find it interesting to hear from the perspective of someone who is steeped in it. What’s it like in there? Why are you doing it? (I guess I shouldn’t condescendingly pretend to be so above it all because I have a Tumblr blog and am also imperfect for many reasons, I know.)

This is one of those extremely confessional stand-up shows, one of those “I’m laying out all my secret flaws and the most fucked up things I’ve done even though they might make me unlikeable, because I’m rebelling against the requirement to paint a sanitized public image of ourselves” shows. And there were a couple of points when I thought he might have succeeded slightly too well in his quest to make himself seem unlikeable. But only a couple.

This post has focused way too much on the negative for a show that I actually really liked. Let me be clear: I really liked this show. I’m being nitpicky about some parts that left me slightly cold, but overall, I thought it was great. It was smart and funny and it had well-shoehorned dramatic callbacks, I always like those. It had an interesting perspective and interesting points. It had ridiculously good production values for a show by someone so young, which makes me think we’ll be seeing a lot more of Leo Reich in the near future, if they invested that much money in filming him.

I didn’t have to force myself to enjoy this. It was good. It was about coming of age as a queer 23-year-old, and relationships, and the ways in which the panopticon of social media will fuck you up. Parts of it were sad. I’ve heard worse ideas than Leo Reich being the future of entertainment.

Jen Brister – The Optimist (December 14, 2023)

From the 23-year-old bisexual single boy, to the middle-aged married lesbian mother. Queer comedy is a spectrum.

I didn’t enjoy this one quite as much as her previous special, Meaningless, but Jen Brister is always good, and that includes this one. It was consistent, it felt polished in the way that you don’t tend to get until someone’s been doing this for a lot of years. Everything flowed and cohered.

It was a special about lockdown and about parenting, and about lockdown parenting. Lockdown and parenting are two of the subjects I’ve most often heard people say they’re sick of hearing about in stand-up, they’ve been done to death and everyone is bored of hearing any more. Jen Brister acknowledges this early on, saying she tries not to talk about her kids all the time on stage, because people are always saying they’re sick of hearing about her kids.

But then she proceeds to talk quite a bit about her kids anyway, which is fair enough. She has five-year-old twin boys – at that point, your kids are such a massive part of your everyday life that I can understand why parents have difficulty talking about anything else (in life or on stage). And while most (most, there are exceptions) parenting material isn’t really my thing, I’m glad it’s out there. Because there are a lot of people who dedicate most waking minutes of their life to focusing on being a parent, and it’s probably nice for them to go out afterward and hear comedy that reflects their experiences, that makes fun of the most frustrating and absurd parts of that life. It’s just not my life, so I’m not really in on the joke.

Jen Brister does a better job than a lot of comedians of including non-parents on the jokes, and they did make me laugh at times. My favourite parts of the show were when she veered away from the parenthood stories and into broader topics, but still, as far as parenthood-based comedy goes, I think she does it well.

The trademark anger is still there, and I still think that’s when Jen Brister is at her best. When she’s getting furious about important and unimportant topics equally. Her previous special, Meaningless, had some excellent, searing fury about feminist issues, and also a lot of lighter topics for frustration. This one doesn’t quite hit the searing highs of Meaningless, but it’s still got the anger, about, you know, all of it. Walking around looking at all the terrible people out there. What that’s like. She touches on that.

I’ve said before that I find it funny that NextUp’s “Angry Acts” collection only has seven acts in it, and two of them are Michael Legge. Worth noting that one of them is also Jen Brister. Her show Meaningless is on there as well as on Amazon Prime, it’s worth watching:

Mild spoiler alert, this is one of those comedy specials with a sad bit at the end. I found that bit worked well because I’m already pretty familiar with her comedy catalogue, where (less mild spoiler alert, seriously, stop reading if you plan to watch, this special is free on YouTube and it’s worth watching and if you do then it’s worth going in without knowing the ending) her mother featured quite heavily, so it was a bit of a gut punch to learn that her famous (famous from Jen Brister’s stand-up routines, not actually famous) mother had recently died.

If you don’t already know who she is, I think the sad ending bit might have not quite worked as well as it could have. It could have been built up to more, been given a bit more time to expand. The callbacks were nice, but a bit tacked on, they could have been built deeper into the show. But still, I found the ending interesting.

Susie McCabe – Femme Fatality (December 24, 2023)

I’ll say right now that this was my favourite of the three. I was so excited to finally get to see a full Susie McCabe special. I was introduced to her by Frankie Boyle’s New World Order, where she was a recurring guest, and she was always excellent. So I sought out her other work, and was disappointed to find that while she’s clearly got quite a successful stand-up career going within Glasgow, she hasn’t gotten big enough to have done a lot of stuff that I can easily see from Canada. Apparently she’s a regular compere at The Stand in Glasgow. One time she went on TV and said good things about trans women and then got called horrifying things by transphobes for a while, because it turns out that those people are not actually interested in being nice to lesbians.

Anyway, the point is that I was very pleased to see she has filmed a stand-up hour about exploring her relationship to womanhood, and I was not disappointed. The gender that she’s exploring is being a cis butch woman, which is, you know, my thing. I enjoy hearing people of all genders explore their relationship to gender, but I do connect especially well when it my gendered experience being discussed.

The show’s central topic is a fairly heavy one, which makes it all the more impressive that she keeps the show very light. It’s funny. It’s funny, and at no point does it get sad. It briefly gets serious, particularly at the end, and I guess if I wanted to be nitpicky about something, I could say that maybe she could also have drawn that ending out a little more, made her central points a little more clearly (I see the points she was going for, about the pressure to fit into masculine expectations and how that pressure is on cis men but it’s also on butch women who want to fit in with those cis men), could have explored that a bit. But this show wasn’t really about exploring the deep important points. It was about telling funny stories that come together on the central theme of what being a butch woman is like. And I loved listening to it.

There are other types of identity that come into this show – being Glaswegian and working class. But she never actually uses the words “working class”, she never gets deep into talking about serious stuff related to that either. Just funny stories about what life is like when you’re Glaswegian and butch and working class. It's fun and easy to enjoy. I almost wrote "fun and easy", but of course it wasn't easy to write. But it's easy to watch and laugh. It's warm and accessible (again, I feel like "accessible" is a backhanded compliment, I really don't mean it that way, I just mean you don't have to be a working class Glaswegian butch lesbian to enjoy it).

She gets into her history, her family, her co-workers, her deep, identity-level connection with butchness and lesbianism. The fucked up parts of female gendered expectations, particularly around being skinny and diet culture and intergenerational trauma that gets passed down through mothers indoctrinated with said culture. But she gets into it with such a light touch. She's so likeable and so much fun to watch. Quick to make fun of herself and hold no pretensions.

One of the shitty things about Frankie Boyle's New World Order getting cancelled is that he brought on several comedians I had not seen on any other TV shows - Jen Brister and Susie McCabe are actually both people I was introduced to by that show. Frankie Boyle was single-handedly keeping middle-aged lesbians on our TV screens, and now that he's out of the game, someone else needs to step up because I want to see Susie McCabe on more things.