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neet-elite · 24 days

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↳ EVENT 08. Harvey (Corruption Kink & Anal)

Pairing: Harvey / F!Reader Genre: Smut 18+ WC: 2,616 Warnings: corruption kink, anal (m receiving), sex toy, strap on, consent checks, masturbation, established relationship Prompt(s): 12 — corruption kink + 19 — anal Event Masterlist: CLICK HERE!!

A/N: ignore the flimsy excuse for getting harvey to try out a strap on okay this is PORN we run with SILLY FICTIONAL story lines <3 anyway, i haven't written for harv in a year or so? so please excuse any OOC or terribly written moments </3 im trying to get into his mind despite never talking to him in game LOL.

His voice is shaky and unsure when he eventually gains the confidence to speak, interrupted only by brief bouts of nervous laughter as you hold the silicone item before him, seemingly proud of the size and girth of it, confident that he'll react the way you want. And it's not that he's intent on disappointing you, God no, so far from it! It's just, well;

"Are you sure this'll help me relax?"

He hadn't meant to sound so taken aback, disbelief tainting his otherwise genuine question. But the strap on you so happily wiggle before him is a little intimidating, if he's honest. That, and his analytical mind is unable to conjure up any reason as to why the offending item will supposedly help him de-stress, get him out of his shell as you so eloquently put it earlier on in the week. He's not one to judge, but the scepticism is likely clear on his face; he's never been the best at hiding his emotions. And neither are you apparently, his expression prompting the fall of your own after his admittedly meek questioning leaves his heart hurting a little, aching to reach out and cup your cute little cheeks as a soft reminder that he trusts you! He's just a little anxious, as per usual.

But, you make the first move. Like always, swooping in to save him when his heart is hammering and he struggles to find the right words to express himself appropriately. It's one of his favourite things about you, honestly. How you manage to sync up with him so well without even trying. The romantic within him pinning it down to fate, or destiny.

The look of sympathy you offer him is very much appreciated, an immediate balm to his anxiety ridden heart. Better yet are your sweet reassurances that follow.

"We don't have to do this if you don't wanna, Harvey," Though, the gentle pass of your fingers running up and down his already exposed thigh is all the convincing he needs to proceed ahead with caution, but still he listens to you. Waits for an opportunity to say his piece. "You can always say no— I just think that dabbling outside of your comfort zone might show you that anxieties aren't always telling the truth, y'know?"

While part of him understands that you only have the best of intentions, pretty words promising to help heal him— even if in an odd way. The other half of him is still anxious, fists balled into the familiar sheets below as he trembles before you on your shared bed. When he married you, he knew that there would be obstacles to overcome, difficulties that could—and would—be shared. However, he never expected this. To be stark naked in bed, the pretty sight of you in some delicate lingerie doing wonders for his lust, cock already hard and dripping precum down to his tummy without needing to be touched too much. The strap on you so boldly hold drawing his attention front and centre, gulping at the thought of using it in any capacity beyond decoration.

Still, he persists. Even if only because he trusts you. Completely and utterly, placing all of his faith in you to cure the doctor himself. Where he's failed, he's certain that you'll be able to help— and, there's the added benefit of making you happy too! Something he always strives for.

"No, no," He rushes to answer your acknowledgement of his predicament. "Like you said, um... I think it's worth a shot!"

Ever the vanilla, being pegged as you described it has never crossed his mind before. He knew it existed, of course, but it's never been a topic of discussion in his mind other than: huh, that exists. However, thanks to your insistence on the topic, even going out of your way to research and prep all of the necessary items for the big event, he thinks it's worthwhile trying. There's no use in outright declining an attempt, he'll never know whether he likes it or not without at least trying!

And he's been wanting to be more sexually adventurous with you, even if his thoughts revolved more around having you be on the receiving end of such experimentation. The analysist within him is excited at the prospect of potentially discovering new things about himself, whereas the realist is worried over the practicalities.

Which is where you, fortunately, come in. God forbid he explore the topic on his own, pushing his glasses up in an attempt to focus on the situation at hand, doing his best to not touch his cock to the sight of your pretty smile as you shuffle closer, finding home between his legs. "All right," You start, helping him spread his legs a little wider, toying with the beads of precum at his tip before grabbing the length of his cock with a teasing touch. He inadvertently bucks into the feeling of your soft hands, heat rushing to his cheeks at the cute giggle you let out in response to how sensitive he is.

"Let's warm you up, then."

Two fingers, coated in a mixture of saliva, precum, and lube, press deep inside of him. It's an odd feeling, not wholly unbearable, inching on pleasurable the longer you rest them inside of his asshole. But still, definitely, uncomfortable. Which is probably obvious given how his face scrunches up in inadaptability, slightly cringing at the newfound feeling in his lower half.

"How are you feeling, love?" You tenderly ask him, and it takes him a moment to collect his thoughts. Another few to gather the strength to speak with the pressure he's experiencing below the belt.

"Uh... Weird. I think?" He questions even himself, eyes trained on the way his cock bobs and jerks under him, matching the lazy strokes in and out of his ass from your fingers. It's difficult to deny that some part of him does enjoy the feeling your offering him, it's just that it's new, he decides. Yeah, it's just new and he's just anxious, worried about his performance, how he must look to you right now, slightly hunched over himself as an instinctual reaction to the tension of your fingers inside of him.

And the light laughter you let out given his response only heats his cheeks up some more, his own fingers tightly fisting into the sheets in soft embarrassment. "It's okay, Harvey. I think most people feel that way when they just start too. Give it a few minutes, and then we can decide if you wanna stop or keep going, okay?"

Okay, that he can work with. Once again relaxing his posture, leaning back against the bed headboard to let you work your magic. It only takes a minute or so longer for your words to ring true, for his trust in you to bear fruit— resulting in his body jerking forward at a mere prod against his insides.

"W-Wait!" He ends up gasping, surprised at the tone his exclamation carries itself with, but nonetheless he continues rambling. "What— wait, what was that?" He almost laughs, tenderness present in how his hand wraps lightly around your wrist that's pressed against his ass. He's not even aware that he's doing it until you just as affectionately remove his hand, cooing sweetly for him to relax.

"Told you it'd feel good." You smile, toothy and wide for him to further trust, wide eyes imploring you to show him more of what you mean, because now his interest is piqued.

With every curl of your deft fingers inside, as if pressing on a feel good button, his upper body jerks forward with his cock, spilling precum aplenty for the fingers you have buried knuckle deep in his hole. The once weird and strange feeling in his abdomen soon becoming known and hot. The well acquainted burn in his tummy that he so often experiences when you're touching him slowly climbs back to where it should be, increasing only because you decide to slowly stroke his pulsing cock in tandem with your finger strokes.

His toes curl with your fingers, huffs of air rushed out only for him to gasp it back in, half moans and stuttered words, he's not quite sure what he's trying to convey. One things for sure though, and that's that he doesn't feel so worried any more. The comfortable pooling of lust in his core convincing him to seek out only what feels good, forget about everything else. And he's about to warn you of his fast approaching orgasm, but when words yet again fail him, God can you blame him with the way your fingers skilfully explore his insides, making him feel things he never thought possible, his body does all the talking for him. Shaking under you, panting for air with every pump of your fingers, carding through his hair to clean off the dripping sweat from his forehead.

And then you stop. Suddenly and carelessly. And though he can breathe again, only a pitiful whine escapes him at the loss of stimulation.

"The main event waits, love."

Your reminder of the object to his side startles him out of his lust filled stupor, but only for a moment. For his cock remembers how good it felt to have you inside of him just moments ago, finding himself eagerly nodding for you to proceed, a reassuring grasp at your arm while you get yourself strapped up conveying the message of: please, I'd do anything to feel that way again. Once reserved, now needy.

To be in this position, that is to be under you and not the one on top lining his tip up to your hole, feels strange. Not necessarily in a bad way, but rather... It leaves his head a little dizzy. Body tingling under your touch at the excitement coursing through him, wanting more than anything to keep his mind as empty as it's been turned from your touch.

He feels you tug at his ass, a brief moment of shyness creeping up on him before you compliment him on how pretty it looks. A word he never thought possible to describe himself, but he easily trusts that you're being honest when your gaze meets his own, and he can see the matching hearts in your eyes.

"Be gentle, please..." He mutters, overwhelmed with love and affection for you as you rub the silicon tip up and down between his cheeks, dribbling copious amounts of lube over it despite how wet and pink his asshole already is.

He's not sure why he said it, considering that you are the love of his life and you've already proved to him just how good exploring new things is, helping him relax into the comfy pillows and sheets below as he wiggles himself lower down to get into position for you. But oh to have you lean over him and whisper about how proud you are of him, and how you've always wanted to see him under you like this, distracting him with words of praise as you slowly push the tip of the toy into his stretched out asshole feels so good, ah... Leaves his mouth hanging open and glasses slipping down his nose, a little loving groan escaping him when you kindly help push them back up.

Something as big as the toy almost feels like the experience is restarting all over again, feeling all funny and full in his tummy until you manage to work your faux cock inside of him enough to be fully sheathed. The weight of the toy heavy against his squirmy insides, his brows furrowed in sheer horny frustration.

"Gonna move now, okay?"

He doesn't trust his voice right now, merely nodding up at you as his hand reflexively wraps tight around his throbbing cock when you draw your hips back, squeezing at the base of it as you thrust your hips forward. And the pace is settled quickly, nice and easy and gentle enough for him to grow accustomed to the toy exploring his insides— helped by the fact that he's effectively masturbating in front of you while you tenderly pound his twitching hole.

Tugging his cock up and down, moaning openly at how slippery he feels, front and back. He can barely focus on your face due to his eyes continuously rolling back, body jerking up the bed with your every thrust, humping inside of his tight heat so nicely that he can't help but to compliment you. Spilling babbled thanks between sighs of satisfaction, helping you fuck into him by sliding his ass down onto the toy when he can; as much as possible anyway, given his laying down missionary position under you.

And the feeling of your nails on his thighs, prompting him to lift his legs up and oh— shit.

"Ah, wait—" He begs of you, but certainly doesn't stop jerking off, and he's all too happy for himself when you don't heed his warnings either. Nails digging into the fat of his thighs, pumping the silicone cock in and out of his hole at a new angle; one that immediately tightens the ball of lust in his tummy. "I'm close, gonna cum if you keep going like— ah, like that—!" He urges you for a breather, but when he catches your smirking expression, he understands intimately what you'd rather do.

So he doesn't complain when he feels you pick up the pace, a muffled slap! filling the room with every wet fuck forward you make inside his ass. Moans dripping from his lips, intermingled with half gasps of your name, whines for you to stop, or was it don't stop? Fucking his fist faster too, attempting to match your unfair thrusts, but he's too sloppy with it. Mind too far gone with pleasure to actually attempt to jerk off, instead just idly playing with himself because it feels good. Something he's scarcely done before, but you've brought out some new side of him tonight. One that needs and whines and begs for more, back arching off the sheets when your tip repeatedly knocks against that sensitive spot inside again and again, just like earlier with your fingers.

All he can do is silently stare, brows furrowed in concentration of your every greedy stroke inside, fucking his ass so good that he feels a little numb, honestly. Ropes soon shoot from his tip as his orgasm washes over him, thick and white. Spurting all over his chest, a couple shots landing on his glasses for which he hasn't the capacity to care about, not when you continue to fuck him through the good feeling. Making sure to hump every last drop of cum out of his cock with your toy, milking him dry, his tightly wrapped fist glazed over with sticky seed.

And before clarity has a chance to hit him, he scrambles to beg you to continue, to prolong his empty mind and the good feeling between his legs. The doting smile you wear upon his broken pleading is confirmation enough that you enjoy that idea very much so too.

At least for now, his troubles are far away. And, if ever he needs help in future again, he knows what to ask for. Excited about all the new possibilities your little experiment has brought out of him tonight, wanting to eagerly explore as many options as possible in the safety of your shared 4 walls for the rest of the night.

You wouldn't mind, would you? If he asked for more, a tinge of greed gripping his heart as he watches you fuck him all better.

#500 event!#sdv smut #stardew valley smut #sdv harvey smut

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grandlinedreams · 7 months

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hey babes!!! i just want to say that i love your law fics! and i stumbled across the soulmate law fic and you talked how law is so kaz brekker coded 🥹 glad im not the only one!! i would love to see more law in kaz moments just like the scene when kaz treated inej in the bathroom (im not sure if you've done this trope before but i love the tension between kanej) 🤣

GOD BLESS YOU you know what i'm talking abt they're so similar yet different but OUGH YES i had to find my copy and reread the chapter so i could get a good read again hhhfnd

[Heads up!: some good ol' pining, mention of injuries, pre-dressrosa/post punk hazard]

The door to the bathroom is open, shiny tile and bright lighting ㅡ and you, making neat strips of clean cloth for bandaging. Law doesn't knock to announce his presence, knows he doesn't have to. Though you don't look up, you're aware of him.

"There are two doctors on this ship," he intones, "you could have had one of us patch you up."

Snip. Another strip of bandage. "Both of you are injured. I hardly think it fair to ask you to do more while you heal."

"I think you're still bleeding." Law nods to the bright red that blossoms through the bandage that you have wound around your upper arm, approaching. "I can help."

You secure yourself further against the basin, watching him. In the reflection, he catches a peek of the tattoo stamped over the topmost knot of your spine ㅡ he looks away.

"I'm sorry."

You don't ask him what he's apologizing for ㅡ there are a thousand things he could be apologizing for, a thousand that he should.

Apologies don't come easy for a man like him.

"Were you the one who shot me?" He doesn't like the way you stare at him, Law realizes. Too analytical, too much like you're pulling him apart meticulously, piece by piece. He wonders ㅡ if you reach in far enough to pull the dark, wild thing of his heart out, would you be afraid of him?

"No. Butㅡ"

"Then you have nothing to apologize for." His teeth grit, jaw aching with the force of it. You make it sound as though the world deals in absolutes, measured evenly and doled out in the same way.

It doesn't, he knows that. If the world were fair, he may still not have his family, but he'd still have Cora.

"You shouldn't have come with me." He still hasn't moved towards you, evaluating you like a cornered animal despite the relaxed set of your shoulders, the loose curl of your hands for balance on the basin.

"I pledged my loyalty to you, not to a ship crew without their captain."

Law wonders if you've ever lied in your life. You meet his gaze, and his eyes narrow. He should demand you leave ㅡ find some way to get ahold of Bepo and the others, make you leave.

(He needs you to stay.)

He finally slots himself in the space between your knees, takes hold of your arm with one hand, the scissors you'd been using with the other.

Despite the blood seeping through, the wind of bandage is neat, efficient ㅡ you've watched him do it so many times.

Snip.

Bare skin, marred only for the clean, punched hole that oozes fresh blood. If it hurts, you don't show it.

He holds his hand out without looking at you, soft cloth against his fingers that he dabs your wound with.

"What's your intention in Dressrosa?"

Blood seeps into the cloth. "This should be stitched."

He doesn't need to look up to know you're staring at him. He can feel your gaze, fights the urge to look at you. "It's fine."

He winds white bandage around it, lost in the soft loop around your arm as he finally answers your question. "To bring down Doflamingo."

Scissors gleam in the lighting overhead. Your eyes, dark moon pupils haloed by color ㅡ dismantling him, piece by piece. "What are you really after?"

Snip.

The scissors clatter into the basin as his hands meet the mirror on either side of your head. This close, he could kiss you. Let his hands wander, touch, selfishly covet the way he so badly wants to. But he doesn't.

(His hands are bloodstained, and yours are not.)

His eyes lock with yours, his fingers curling. "The means to an end."

#ㅡmine.#one piece scenario #one piece x reader #law x reader #trafalgar law x reader #ㅡanswered.#ㅡgrandline friends!

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jaybirdswriting · 7 months

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tips on what to add to a story after the main characters start dating?

A: Have the rest of the main cast react to their relationship! Even if it's just glancing down at their intertwined hands and sharing a knowing look.

B: Add whether or not the side characters pick up on their relationships. Are they so subtle about it that someone who hasn't spent a ton of time with them wouldn't pick up on it? Or are they so obnoxious that there's no one in the world that couldn't pick up on it?

C: No relationship is perfect. Show a conflict between them now that they have an established relationship! It doesn't have to be a big deal either. It could be something as silly as they both want the last piece of pizza.

D: Put them in a situation where their strengths really work together. (EX: Character A is level headed and Character B is analytical. Maybe they could crack a dangerous puzzle by Character B figuring out the solution and Character A making sure that they don't panic.)

E: Show how it effects the couples day to day lives. Is one person staying over a lot? Are they taking time out of their schedules to make time to see each other? Is one trying to win over the others skittish pet? There are plenty of ways a relationship could change their day to day!

F: So you know the whole "would you still love me as a worm," question? Let your characters ponder something of that sort when one of your characters changes over the course of the story. (Not change into a worm necessarily. But like...how would Character A react if Character B suddenly decided that they wanted to be a warlock after spending most of the story hating magic?)

More Undercut

G: A first date moment! (Even if you don't write the first date, tell the audience what they get up to! Maybe have one of the characters mention that they went to museum with their partner. Or have them mention that they want to get ice cream once everything has calmed down.)

H: Have the characters react to each others pets. What do they think about their partners giant dog that likes to sit in peoples laps? What do they think of their cat that doesn't like new people?

I: If one characters family is a big part of the plot or their life, you could have the other character meet their family or react to them. (EX: Character A sees their brother every other weekend and wants Character B to meet him. Or Character A's sister is famous and Character B has a reaction to learning who she is.)

J: Let them have a first kiss scene if you want one and they haven't had one yet. Even if it's in the final chapter as a final moment for their characters.

K: You could have the characters move in together or discuss moving in together one day. Who would move into who's house? What would they take with them? Would they even want to move into each others house, or would they want to get their own new place together?

L: Do they wish they could change something that happened between them before they started dating? Have them talk out loud about what they could have changed. Or maybe let them daydream about it.

M: If one character holds a secret that they STILL haven't told the other, then that should probably come out at some point.

N: Let them continue having romantic moments! Let Character A bring Character B flowers. Let Character B make a big meal for Character A.

O: Let them have more physical contact. (if the characters like physical contact of course!) That contact could be: Hugging, kissing, hand holding, rubbing their back, etc.)

P: Have them challenge each other. What happens when what Character A needs isn't what Character B wants?

Q: Have them clarify what they want out of their relationship. Are they looking for a good time, or a long term commitment?

R: Have the character react to their partner being in a dangerous situation.

S: Write about the first time they say "I love you."

T: Is this couple the type to give each other pet names? Then give them pet names for each other and let them use them!

U: Let them have moments after a big event. If something huge happens show how it effects their relationship, for better or worse.

V: Let them do something that they've always wanted to do together. Have they always talked about a big trip that they should take together? Let them! (Or if you want to go for soul crushing angst...then don't.)

W: If the couple getting together has been a big focus in your story, it wouldn't hurt to let them have at least one scene that's just them together after their romance starts. It could be a date scene, them talking about the stories events, exploring somewhere, etc.

X: Keep showing what attracts them to each other, even after they're together. Does Character A like how strong Character B is? Then let Character B have a chance to carry them bridal style.

Y: If they're trying to hide their relationship for any reason, put them in some situations where it's hard to hide. Or just have them struggle keeping it to themselves.

Z: If you don't want to write a sequel, and you don't plan on your story having an fast forward epilogue, have the couple mention what they want out of their relationship give the audience some idea of what's next for them. (EX: Maybe they both want to get married. Maybe they want kids. Maybe they want to foster animals. Maybe they want to travel.)

#writeblr #writing #prompts #writing prompts #oc prompts #otp prompts #romance prompts

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doublesunsets · 1 year

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Experiment 002

Tech x Reader PWP - NSFW - Explicit Word Count: 3.1K

Summary: If he thought that your pleasure was worth exploring, you were not going to contradict him. If his analytical mind found your moans interesting enough, you will provide them gladly.

Warnings: reader POV, smut, oral sex female receiving, liberal use of the word 'fascinating', (slightly) overstimulation, did I say smut? Self-indulgent smut

Author's note: Still, I don't even know, mate. Some people asked for seconds, and who am I to get in the way of science. I gave Tech a hair-pulling kink, I'm not sorry. There's no beta, I apologise if there are any mistakes. I also apologise for my pretensions of knowing how to write sex, I'm just trying to have fun. -Sunset

part I & part III

✩ AO3 link

You stood on your toes at the top of the lifting platform, trying to force the hydrospanner to move with the weight of your body, but the angle wasn’t right, and you groaned out loud in frustration. You twisted your body trying to find a good position, but inside the hull there wasn’t that much space around, so when you hit your elbow against some metal part you retaliated saying something about its mother. You were definitely not throwing your frustration at the ship, not of course.

The Havoc Marauder was stationed at the outskirts of a nice and quiet city that the squad knew to be safe. It had been a couple of intense weeks, some bounty hunter had got sight of the group and there had been some pretty nasty gunfights, but it was all solved now. They were not coming back for any of you. Not for anyone else, for that matter. Besides some scratches already healed, everyone got out of it unscathed, and you were glad for it, you really were. It was a time to feel happy and not other feelings were in the way. You were definitely not mourning the lack of alone time with Tech, not of course.

When everyone decided to go into the city earlier, Tech announced that he wanted to run a diagnostics on his ship, just to make sure everything was in pristine conditions. As you noticed that Echo was about to volunteer to stay back with him, you stopped him, and told him that you would do it, no problem at all, and even if he hesitated at first, Omega grabbing his hand was all he needed to concede. Tech had been crouched over his datapad already and didn’t notice any of the exchange, so when you let him know that you had stayed behind to help, he startled at your voice, his eyes wide behind his goggles. You let him space, and went to check your usual things, while he kept looking at you, datapad clutched in his hands, like a mynock in headlights. You were definitely not expecting him to be overwhelmed by scientific curiosity again, not of course.

So far he had been busy plugging and checking, and paying little to no attention to you, but that was to expect. You were quite sure that this piece of junk, that was definitely not mocking you right now, came first to him. Your only hope was that once he finished all his tasks, you came second, and judging by the small movement of the platform, you were right.

“It seems you are having difficulties up there,” Tech’s voice came from some place in front of you, outside the hull.

“I cannot reach it properly!” you growled at the bolt. “The angle is wrong, so I don’t have enough leverage.”

“I have already finished with my diagnostics, allow me to help you.”

“I don’t think we can both fit in here, Tech, don’t wo–,” two firm hands on your hips made you gasp and you almost bit your tongue.

“Two work better than one, darling.” He had climbed onto the platform and was pushing you a little, so he could squeeze himself in between you and the ship. You looked down and instantly regretted it, the visual of Tech on his knees grasping your hips was more than you could handle at the moment with the limited oxygen you had inside the hull.

He pushed himself inside, his head and shoulders managing to fit in, up to your stomach. Your shirt had slid up from your movements, and now his breath was hitting your skin, making your heart pound so hard that it was hard to listen to what he was saying.

“I am quite positive that I can lift you up enough and stabilise you, so you can secure the bolt. Are you prepared?”

“Yes, I–” you cleared your throat, taking a deep breath to focus your thoughts. “Sure, I am ready.”

You were not.

Tech surrounded your hips and looped his arms under your butt, and then stood slowly, lifting you carefully. He was basically hugging you, your mind unhelpfully provided, his face pressed against your stomach, and your left hand flew to his head to ground you.

“Can you reach it properly now?” His words were spoken directly into you, his breath scorching your skin.

You gulped and forced yourself to look up again, trying to locate the blasted bolt. “Yes, I can. Just, don’t move.” Without thinking, you grasped his head more firmly, his soft hair between your fingers, and focused on your task.

Certainly it was easier from this angle. On the other hand, it was harder, mostly because you were hyper-aware of Tech’s strong arms hugging your thighs and his breath tickling your navel. You attached the hydrospanner to the bolt and started unscrewing it.

“This is a very intimate position,” Tech’s voice broke your concentration, and you almost dropped the hydrospanner on his head.

You snorted. “Are you realising that just now?”

“I searched for the most efficient way of helping you, I didn’t stop to think about the logistics of it, nor the consequences of you grabbing my hair either, if I’m being honest.”

“The consequences of–” You stopped and finished removing the loose bolt, changing it for the new one in your pocket. When it was done, you grabbed Tech’s hair again, this time a little bit harder, and he hissed. “What kind of consequences, Tech?”

“It seems that proximity to your skin intoxicates my senses,” he muttered almost to himself.

Oh, you knew this tone of voice already. His voice was sharper, meticulous, as calculations rolled around in his mind. You looked down at him, but he was not looking at you, his forehead leaned on your stomach.

“And that’s all?” He didn’t respond, so you tried again. “Are there any other variables, Tech?”

You punctuated your question with another soft tugging of his hair, the vibrations of his moan straight to your core.

“It also seems that I deeply enjoy the sensation of your hand pulling my hair.”

You felt through your grip how he tilted his head and pressed his face further into you, starting to leave kisses on every patch of skin he could reach. He started with small peaks that soon enough evolved into open-mouthed kisses that left a wet trail. The hydrospanner and his head were your only support points, and they were quickly becoming not enough.

“Maker, Tech,” you breathed out his name like a prayer. “I am not complaining, but do you think I could finish this first?”

“You are perfectly capable of carrying on with your task with what I am doing right now.”

As if to exemplify the opposite of his point, Tech ran his tongue slowly through your navel, and you let out a frustrated groan. His assumptions about how capable you were of working while he was kissing your stomach were highly inaccurate, and as he bit your hipbone, you jerked on his embrace, your hand slipping from the handle of your tool, that luckily stayed secured by its hold on the bolt. He continued kissing and biting at a leisurely pace, completely oblivious of the magnitude of his effect on you. You took another deep breath and managed to take hold of the hydrospanner again, finishing tightening the bolt.

“Okay,” you let him know with a trembling voice, patting his head. “Job’s done, let me down.”

Tech crouched again on the platform floor and took you down with him, but after the tension, your legs failed you, and you fell on your knees the moment he released you. He quickly held you again, stopping your fall, and secured you against his chest. He searched your eyes, a look of concern on his face, but before he could say anything you took the momentum and closed the distance, kissing his lips firmly. Without hesitation, his arms tightened around you, rendering yours useless, trapped between your bodies. When you moved your head back, there was a nice blush on his cheeks, and he looked at you with wide eyes.

“Did you enjoy the sensation of my lips as well?” You asked him cheekily.

“I am going to need more evidence,” his dazed voice made you smile, but it was short-lived.

He pounced at you and kissed your smile away, leaving only fire. Tech didn’t do anything half-heartedly, and that included kissing. You freed your arms and crept them around his neck while he moved his lips against yours with an insistence that made you arch your back, his firm embrace the only thing keeping you upright. Your fingers entangled with his hair once more, and you were definitely taking a liking to this recently discovered outcome, taking advantage of his gasp to intrude his mouth with your tongue and taste him in an experiment of your own. Your mind couldn’t grasp how such a sharp tongue could be so warm and soft, pliant at your motions, and you could have stayed there, under the open hull of the Marauder, kissing him forever, if it weren’t for his comlink going off at your back.

He moved away and answered over your shoulder, Hunter’s voice coming loud and clear from his vambrace, “Tech. How are those repairs going?”

“Problem?” His clipped tone sounded annoyed, and you started kissing his jawline. Hopefully, the comm didn’t catch his gasp.

“No, no problem at all. We just found a nice place, and were going to grab something decent for once, you two coming?”

“No. I haven’t— we haven’t finished yet. There is no reason to wait for us.” You raised your eyebrows, surprised, but he didn’t look at you.

“Sure, see you later then.” Hunter sounded wary, but didn’t mention anything else and closed the communication.

“I thought you had finished already with the diagnostics,” you observed innocently.

“That is correct. Nonetheless, there is another pressing matter at the moment that requires my attention.”

“Is that so? Another experiment?”

“Indeed. I just thought about something and would like to test a theory.”

“Which one?”

“I want to check how you cum quicker, with my fingers or my mouth.”

———

Surely all the repairs were done, you hoped, because none of you spared a second glance while going back inside and entering the cockpit. Tech was silent, methodically removing his upper body armour, with a look of concentration of someone who was calculating the best hyperspace route and not the logistics of sex inside a battleship.

You were giddy, your body remembering what it was to be the focus of his attention, currents of electricity travelling through your veins. If he thought that your pleasure was worth exploring, you were not going to contradict him. If his analytical mind found your moans interesting enough, you will provide them gladly. You removed your boots and sat on the pilot chair, turning it to face him, his back to you, and delighted for a moment in the view without the extra layers; even if he hadn't removed his blacks, they left little to the imagination. He looked at you over his shoulder and hummed approvingly at your sitting spot choice.

“What do you want me to do?” Your breathy voice wavered in anticipation, and the corners of his lips turned slightly upward at the sound.

“Well, for the sake of the experiment I am going to need you naked, but allow me,” he strode over you and kneeled on the floor.

Tech reached out and grabbed your knees, blood rushed to your ears while his hands slid up your thighs slowly, until he reached the waist of your trousers. He hooked his fingers under your clothes and tugged both of them down, stopping for you to lift your ass a little, so he could remove them completely. He grabbed your knees again, opening them this time, and the cold air hit your wet cunt, making you hiss between your teeth.

“You are already wet for me, darling. Is it due to the kisses? Or the anticipation?” He glanced at you,

“Ah, both, I guess. Your hands on my skin are also helping,” you breathed out, eyeing how those hands drew patterns on the inside of your thighs.

“I see.” He grabbed your thigh tightly, his fingers pressing enough to make indentations but stopping on the good side of hurting. “Do you like my hands, then?”

“Maker, yes.”

“Yes, of course you do,” he tugged, stopping when you were on the edge of the seat. “But for the sake of science, we have to deviate from what we already know. The search for knowledge is insatiable, you know?”

A shudder went through your body at his words, and instinctively opened your legs further, exposing yourself more and giving him all the permission he needed. Not that he seemed to hesitate at his actions, his movements had the usual confidence with which he carried himself, even if under his googles you could see him blushing at your reaction. His whole demeanour was a mixture of cockiness and vulnerability, and it made you want to submit and coddle him in equal parts. You reached with your hand to his jawline, crooking your fingers under his chin.

“And what about you, Tech?” you whispered, looking into his eyes. “Can you be satisfied?”

To your surprise, he shook his head, “Not in the slightest, darling. Since the first time you allowed me to touch you, I have come to realise that I will always want more, you are too fascinating,” your chest tightened, and a whimper escaped your lips. “Right now, though, I’ll be satisfied as soon as I see you come in my mouth.”

He bowed his head and started kissing up your leg to the apex of your thigh, and stopped there, looking up at you, gauging your reaction. His hot breath hit your cunt, and you squirmed, breathing heavily, unable to stay still. Those brown eyes were scrutinizing you, as if he was trying to discover the very fibre of your existence, it made you feel drunk of a liquor never tasted, seeing him there, kneeled between your legs, his hands clutching your thighs like a lifeline, and for a moment you had the illusion of being the only creature in the galaxy who could capture his attention.

You were not far from begging him to move, forward or backward, you didn’t care, but being on the edge of falling was making your whole body tremble. Your mouth opened, but before you could utter a word, he turned his head and gave an open-mouthed kiss to your cunt, turning your begging into a loud moan.

“Fascinating,” he spoke without moving back, his lips spelling the word into you, and the shiver that went down your spine left you trying to grasp into something, so you wouldn’t slide down to the floor. “Such a good experiment subject, such a good girl.”

Your cunt clenched around nothing at his words, while he took one of your hands and put it on his head. A part of you remembered what he told you earlier and instinctively tangled up your fingers into his hair. His tongue delved down into your folds, and you sobbed at his wet heat. He dragged his tongue back to your clit and closed his lips around it, you moaned and pulled, making him close his eyes and groan, the vibrations going straight through your clit.

Tech seemed intent on only using his mouth this time, but you could feel his fingers pressing harder into your skin with every new gasp falling from your lips, inching closer to your core. His whole focus was on you, away from his own body, and he kept sucking your clit and flickering it steadily with his tongue. When your body was starting to get used to the rhythm, on a clear path to your release, he let it go, and you whimpered at the lost.

You didn’t have much time to recover, as he murmured something that didn’t reach your ears and pushed your legs open as far as the pilot seat allowed him. You could feel your wetness and his spit sliding down, and the knowledge of the state you were leaving his seat in pushed shamefully closer to the edge. He licked down around your entrance, dragging his nose against your clit every time he moved his head, and your other hand went to his nape, trying to hold him against you, to pull him impossibly closer. You weren’t sure if he was indulging your unspoken petition or himself, but he then penetrated you with his tongue, and you moaned obscenely loud while he continued fucking you with it.

Your whole body was a tense wire that needed to be released, you were right there teetering on the edge, shaking and vibrating out of your skin, while Tech continued devouring you without restrains. You tried to speak to no avail, the only thing coming out of your mouth a high-pitched whine, so you pulled his hair once more trying to get him up, until his mouth was back on your clit. He closed his lips around it and sucked, and your whine turned into a cry as your orgasm broke free.

You flew above the seat and came back without even moving, your senses coming back to you one by one. The cold durasteel floor under your feet; the leather seat creaking under the pressure of your body; the bright sun coming from the cockpit windows; and Tech’s warm presence still between your legs. He rested his head on your thigh, panting, his mouth and chin glistening, and you whimpered at the visual. He noticed you looking at him, turned his head and gave you a soft kiss, followed by a smile pressed into your skin.

“You were amazing, such a good girl,” his reassuring words distracted you enough that you didn’t notice his creeping fingers, until they reached your centre and played around gathering your wetness. You were too sensitive after your orgasm and recoiled, but he kissed your thigh again to soothe you. “Shh, it’s fine, darling. You did a truly magnificent job, I believe we broke the record.”

“How do you know?” your eyes fell shut, and you felt so drained that you could have fallen asleep if only his fingers stopped playing with your cunt as if it was another of his tinkering projects.

“I’ve been timing it in my head, of course.”

“Of course!” You laughed, or chuckled really, your body still under a blissful spell.

“Now, do you want me to clean you up and go meet the others?” he proposed nonchalantly first, and then without missing a beat buried his index finger up your cunt slowly, your eyes and mouth flew open at the sudden but not unwelcomed intrusion. “Or do you think we could try another experiment? I couldn’t stop thinking about—”

+++++++

Hope you enjoyed! Thank you for reading, commenting, liking, sharing, and existing, basically. Tech loves you, and so do I.

Tag list: (in case anyone wants to be tagged for any future shenanigans, just let me know)

@fenharel-enaste

#smut #tech x reader #tbb tech #tech tbb #tech tuesday #x reader #sunset writes #star wars smut

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nekropsii · 1 year

Note

Hi! I've recently gotten into homestuck and I've read quite a bit of it, as well as other people's blogs analyzing and criticizing the media. I've heard a Lot about Dave's arc being centered around internal homophobia and toxic masculinity, so it surprised me to hear taht you disagreed! I was wondering why you think that, and what are your thoughts on what his arc actually is? I know you don't like writing about the alpha/beta kids, so feel free to ignore this ask completely if you want. Thank you, I hope you have a great day!

Hello, Anon! I'm glad you've been having fun with Homestuck lately!! Despite its many flaws, it is a deeply compelling piece of fiction, and I'm always glad to see new eyes on it and new voices being added to the analytical sphere. To answer your question...

Personally, I have never seen what people are talking about with regards to Dave's whole character arc surrounding overcoming Internalized Homophobia and Toxic Masculinity. These are fundamentally not what his arc is about, and this is never what his arc has ever been about. I'd honestly never seen that analytical lens until after DaveKat rose into prominence (mostly due to Post-Canon's heavy featuring of the pairing), and I feel as if these things are related. It is easier to make easy-to-stomach, shippy angst out of addressing your own personal shortcomings than what Dave's arc is actually about. No shade intended. This is because...

Dave's character arc is, and always has been, about Recovering from Childhood Abuse.

This is the conflict we are made aware of in his introduction, and it's a theme that persists all throughout the story. We meet Dave as a 13 year old boy suffering some pretty extreme abuse at the hands of Bro- Physically, Mentally, Emotionally, and Sexually. Dave's home life is such an active threat that he struggles to even admit to himself that it is abuse in the first place- that's an admission that takes a level of vulnerability that he just could not afford, and it's something he's only left to truly unpack during the Meteor Arc.

I have a couple major problems with the "Toxic Masculinity and Internalized Homophobia" takes. Firstly, Toxic Masculinity is not inherent to any expression of Masculinity. The only Toxically Masculine trait we see that's applicable to Dave is that he struggles deeply with vulnerability and sincerity in his emotions. However... These don't really have anything to do with what his views on what a man is or should be. They have everything to do with the fact that he was abused by someone who punishes any display of weakness, because Bro excused his abuse with it being "Training". Secondly... Dave is Bisexual. Even if the process of Dave struggling to accept being attracted to men was a major point in the story, it would not be called Internalized Homophobia. It would be called Internalized Biphobia, because Dave is canonically Bisexual, not Gay. We have seen Dave be attracted to more women than men, and attraction to both genders was present simultaneously. It was not Compulsory Heterosexuality. If it was, it'd be actually written into the story. Bisexual people exist. This is not a Homophobic argument to make; I am literally a Gay man.

It's anthropologically fascinating how this take arose... Basically out of nowhere from my perspective, especially considering how all of Dave's most iconic dramatic lines have something to do with him having to sort through his own abuse. Does no one remember the rooftop scene between Dave and Dirk, where Dave starts telling Dirk all about the horrible way that Bro raised him, and how deeply it affected him?

If not, I'm posting the most striking part of it here.

[Homestuck, page 7749.]

... So, yeah, no. Dave's character arc is not about "Overcoming Toxic Masculinity and Internalized Homophobia". It's about Abuse. Dave is an Abuse Victim. Point blank period. Any trait even loosely attributable to the ideas of Toxic Masculinity and Internalized Homophobia are a consequence of how he was raised, and how he was abused. This does not mean that this is what his character arc is about. That just means that's included within his character arc. It's a way to show growth, not a way to define his arc in its entirety. That is legitimately not how character writing works. To claim such would be to express a remarkable amount of Tunnel Vision.

Inclusion does not equate to Totality. There is a bigger picture, and that bigger picture is Abuse Recovery.

#homestuck #homestuck meta #homestuck analysis #homestuck fandom #beta kids #beta guardians #dave strider #bro strider #cw abuse #cw child harm #dave.pdf #nekro.pdf #nekro.sms

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that-ari-blogger · 6 months

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The Ritual Breaks Story

If you hadn't guessed by the two other posts I have made on the song, The Ritual is my favourite song in Stray Gods: The Role Playing Musical. I would go as far as to argue that it is the best song in the musical as well, but that isn't the point of this post.

This post is to gush over why I love the song so much. Specifically, this post will talk about how The Ritual messes with the commonly used story structure, in its placement in the musical, and in the song's actual structure.

Let me explain.

SPOILERS AHEAD

This post will focus on three of the most common story structures, the Monomyth, the Three Act Structure, and the Freytag's Pyramid. But first, I would like to do some contextualisation.

These structures are not rules.

Anyone who tells you that a story "should" or "must" or "can't" do something is talking out of their arse. As such, these structures are to be used as analytical tools, rather than ratings. I am not going to be scoring the song as to how many points on the Hero's Journey it hits, I will be looking at how the musical as a whole uses the monomyth and how it doesn't and to what effect.

That felt like it needed to be said.

The Monomyth, or Hero's Journey, was presented in Joseph Campbell's 1949 book: The Hero With A Thousand Faces and it was, in my opinion, rather unrefined. Or more accurately, overrefined.

What do I mean by this? I mean that Campbell's monomyth was incredibly overdetailed and ridiculously prescriptive as Campbell tried to squint and put every story ever written into the same mould and make judgements about society at the same time.

It also had elements in it that haven't aged well at all. For example, one element that Campbell proposed every story had, was called the "woman as temptress" which is... not just sexist, but also inaccurate. I'm glad the modern monomyth has mostly avoided this.

As such, the monomyth concept is what I will be using, much like other modern interpretations, and either scrapping, or ignoring, certain elements. It is a medicine journey with a few more steps along the road. Ted Ed has a fantastic video on the subject, as does Overly Sarcastic Productions.

In any case, The Ritual, according to this model, fits into the "Trials" section. It's unimportant, and not typically a challenge for a character. This is the start of Empire Strikes Back, when Luke has to get out of the frozen cave. It's tangential.

But The Ritual is what several of the main characters have been leading towards. Eros and Aphrodite and to some extent Apollo have all been gearing up to this moment. You could read this as the result or crisis in their arcs, but I don't think that fits. It's its own moment, but it's its own moment in someone else's story, not Grace's.

The three act structure is the most famous, and is almost synonymous with writing as a whole, but it isn't as ubiquitous as you would think. James Cameron (who wrote The Terminator and Alien) offers this piece of advice:

"I firmly believe in the three act structure. I have just never written one."

The structure boils down to three sections of a story, each culminating in its own climactic event, that build into the third act climax. These don't have to be fast paced, but they are emotional beats. It could be a fight, or a quiet, retrospective moment.

There are then plenty of elements that are usually relegated to a specific act. For example, a villain might have a third-act breakdown, or a hero might discover their magical powers or something in the first act. And the mentour usually dies either in the first or second act climaxes, or quietly at the start of act three.

I would say that The Ritual hits the second act climax, possibly. Because Stray Gods almost intentionally avoids this structure. The closes thing it has to a first act climax is Challenging A Queen, which isn't really a climax, its more of an individual challenge that sets up something later. Similarly, Old Woulds might fit that first act climax, but it also sets up other stuff in later parts. It's deliberately unclear.

But you know what isn't unclear? The structure of The Ritual itself fits firmly into the three act structure, and so do a ton of other songs in the musical, most notably Phantom Pains. I would say the two songs are linked by grief and cycles, but the entirety of the musical is linked with that, so it's not really a unique thread.

The Ritual begins with exposition in the form of those stained glass windows about the war and the idols' place in it. Then it switches to a different location based on a choice you make.

Then there is a lull as Eros (Or whoever you choose if you get to a point where you can choose) begins to speak, before the final act gets decided, and it is here that all the decisions come to fruition. Everything up to the third act is set up, and it all pays off here.

Freytag's Pyramid is a lot less complicated than it sounds, and it is one that you have probably heard of, if not by its actual name.

This is the Freytag's Pyramid. I've heard people call this the five act structure, and I disagree with those people, but I can see where they are coming from. There are five main sections of this, but they aren't acts, they are descriptors.

The Freytag's Pyramid model is a graph. And yes, I am going to bring maths into this. (I can count to 12 and a half, so I assure you I am quite qualified)

The horizontal axis of the graph is time. As the story progresses, usually, you move from left to right on the scale. The vertical axis is tension. The more tense an event is, usually, the further up on the graph it sits.

As you can see in the diagram above, a story tends to progress towards a climax, with tension rising as the story picks up speed, until the story closes, and the stress drops to the denouement, which is just a fancy word for the finale. These lines can be a bit wavy as you see fit, but the general direction is fairly standardised.

So where does The Ritual fit into this?

Trick question, it doesn't. I would argue that The Ritual is its own climax. It should (if we were using this model) fit on the "rising action" section of this. But it doesn't, it's its own thing.

Ok, I've harped on long enough about theoretical stuff. The point I am getting at is that Stray Gods isn't Grace's story. That's a weird way of putting it but let me clarify. Stray Gods is the story of Grace convincing this messed up family to get along and get over their problems.

The Ritual feels like a climax because it is. This song is the climax of a different story that Grace stumbled into and helped change the direction of. It's the climax of a tragedy that Grace managed to avert.

Stray Gods functions like people watching and doesn't fit with the story structures because people watching is exactly what this story is. This is several different stories that have stretched and stretched until they have warped beyond comprehension and lost all meaning.

The stories you watch are trying desperately to stick to these pre-existing patterns, and they aren't working. Stray Gods is a musical about change. You don't fix these people's problems for them, but you convince them to change and to adopt a different story structure. To try things a new way. To try and fix themselves instead of running face first into each obstacle over and over again until either it crumbles, or they do. The Ritual is this concept put succinctly and powerfully.

Previous - Next

#rants #literary analysis #literature analysis #greek mythology #what's so special about...?#stray gods #stray gods spoilers #stray gods the roleplaying musical #stray gods aphrodite #stray gods eros #stray gods the musical #stray gods the ritual #the ritual stray gods

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meili-sheep · 3 months

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Genuinely disgusted by how people keep victim blaming Diluc, saying Diluc is the source of all of kaeya's problems. And some of the people slandering Diluc are Diluc fans themselves!

Don't get me started on the "jokes" this fandom writes about him. I personally don't think physical violence or 'characters getting blamed for something they didn't do' are funny jokes.

I'm so tired.

Wish people would realise how shitty of a person kaeya is. It doesn't help that Genshin rewrote kaeya to make him likeable.

(Kaeya and collei are friendly with each other, Kaeya babysitting klee when she already has albedo)

Sorry for rambling. I'm sick of how terribly Diluc is getting treated. And I am avoiding most of the fandom, but I still end up running into these people.

Honestly, like Diluc low-key has been getting shafted for a while. In the fandom and in canon.

And the only reason I think that he's been kept in Mihoyo's basement is because his lore is just so end game heavy. So that's why he hasn't popped up again. I think Mihoyo realized that the traveler could just ask Diluc shit, and he'd be able to solve like 70% of their problems.

As for the fandom. I personally am both fascinated by fandom as a method of looking at people's social interaction and as a method of studying their interruptions of media in a creative way. But also holy cow does it suck to be in here sometimes. And I feel I am desensitized to people's shitty takes on Kaeya and Diluc. Partly because well. I'm a Jason Todd fan, so I've been having the shit beating out of me since like 2014 (when I got into superhero comics). And I do see a lot of parallels between fan interruptions, Bruce's relationship with Jason and Kaeya and Diluc. Like Bruce has deeply wronged Jason. And I'm not talking Under the Red Hood, I'm like talking RHatO #25 and whatever the hell was happening in Gotham War (I'm honestly trying to forget that). And so has Kaeya. Like Man is not that stupid, his decision to tell Diluc that was entirely selfish. You have to have like no emotional intelligence to do what Kaeya did. And Kaeya had consistently proven he does have that. He had a great moment of weakness and now continues to be too weak to actually apologize. He's also dense in a way I'm not a fan of. Because if you really think he's gonna be a spy and betray Mondstadt I would ask you to take a literature course to expand your critical thinking and analytical skills. Because it would make no sense. Like he might for like half a second, but then he's gonna turn around.

Anyway. If you want a piece of advice, the only advice I can give you is to not engage and let it roll off your back. You're welcome to come here and bitch if you want. As I am the Hate Crepus corner. And I'd say I'd warmed up the Kaeya but honesty I think I've just warm up to how *I* write him which is different.

On a positive note, I'm working on a theory that Jason Todd and Diluc Ragnvindr are Lesbian Wraith characters. No, I will not explain at this time.

#diluc ragnvindr #diluc #maybe i just like character that like the punching bag of fandom #and In Jason's case canon #My mans gets no break

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king-paimon · 9 months

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Houseki no Kuni Chapter 103 Thoughts: Can't Stop the Inevitable But It'll Be OK (Maybe...)

Hello hello hello. Long time no see, Houseki no Kuni fandom! How have you all been? It's been a while. That hiatus Ms. Haruko Ichikawa took much longer than expected. That's fine by me because I've been pretty busy these past few months. Mostly the usual stuff; had some major ups and downs for me and those who I care about, annoying work/life events, though I had the wonderful opportunity to branch out and meet people who could help me with my career, found some new stuff to obsess over, etc. I honestly forgot about Houseki no Kuni for a little while until I saw the announcement about the latest chapter.

And now here we are.

This chapter was very dialogue heavy, though fairly straightforward. It seems to confirm some of the thoughts and theories other fans and myself had made back in chapter 102, though I left me asking a few new questions. They aren't big questions, but I just can't help but wonder...

This will definitely be one of my shorter posts because I don't have any big analytical thoughts here, just with lots of pictures from the chapter, so I'll make sure to add the spoiler tag. As always, please feel free to share your own thoughts in this post and sorry in advance for any mistakes or ramblings. Might add more later, but I can't promise anything.

Anyways, here we go!

It'll Be OK: Liberation Of Internalized Suffering

The interaction in this chapter was interesting. Like I stated above, this chapter confirms that Phos is scared of corrupting the new rock species or being the catalyst that would cause humanity to come back. They don't want to be the source of suffering again, even if it meant destroying the very last remaining piece of their original self. They were ready to do whatever it took to prevent that from happening, even by having the entity who hated humanity do the deed.

But what surprised me a little in this chapter was Eyeball. For one, even though he could have fulfilled Phos's request, he didn't. He claims that there's only a trace of humanity on Phos's remaining piece, but states that it'd go away over time, therefore there's no reason to destroy it, even though Phos initially wanted that. I'll get back to this part later.

The other thing that surprised me was how Eyeball was able to placate Phos's current mindset, at least for a little bit, and he do it in an interesting way. Eyeball basically told Phos "Hey, your fear might come true... but it'll be okay. If if comes to that, I'll figure something out. And you shouldn't worry too much about it even if it happens because all things will come to an end one day, including us, and things will start over again in some way. There's no point in stressing about that future, so don't worry about it."

In some ways, I kind of see this as Eyeball liberating Phos by taking some of their burdens onto himself by him stating that he'd be the one to figure out what to do if humanity did come back, not Phos, all the while dispelling Phos's other concerns by stating that Phos shouldn't waste their time worrying about what could happen. Phos's fears might come true... but so what? That's just how things go. Somethings are just out of your control and change is inevitable. Yes, it's stressful to worry about but that's just how it is. That's the strange beauty of it all, at least that's how I see it.

And I don't know about you, but I just really liked Eyeball's monologue through these pages.

In the end, I think this interaction helped Phos by the fact that despite their fears, they chose to tell the pebbles about what the Professor said and humanity. Because even though Phos understands that humanity is capable of doing horrible things, thanks to their own experience as a sufferer and perpetrator, they also understand that there are parts of humanity that is capable of creating wonderful things. I'm glad that Phos is the one who wants to take this task. Despite everything, Phos is taking it upon themselves to be the one to teach these aspects to the pebbles so they can have the freedom to figure out how they can learn and evolve from this point onwards. It may lead to a better version of "humanity" or it could lead to something very similar. Who knows? But at least Phos is (hopefully) giving them what they need to figure themselves out.

What will come from this interaction is anyone's guess and I'm hoping we will soon see within the next, and hopefully last, couple of chapters.

The Last Piece Of The Past: Why Keep it?

One of the things that this chapter left me questioning was the final piece of the original Phosphophyllite. Not only is this the last remainder of Phos, but it may be the very last piece of the last human descendants; not just for the gems, but for the admirabilis and the lunarians. If what Eyeball said about the Lunarians intentionally leaving a piece of Phos's untarnished self behind is true, my question.. is why? Why did they leave this behind in Phos?

Was this for Phos's benefit somehow? Is it supposed to remind them of their origins or who they represented they obtained their final deity form? Or is the piece supposed to serve as some sort of artifact that could be beneficial for future organisms that would form over the course of time?

At this point, I have no clue. If anyone has any theories, please feel free to add them or post them!

Until Next Time! (Hopefully sooner than 4 months...)

That's honestly all that I have at this point in time for this post. I may come back to it and add more, but I can't promise anything. I don't know how my future posts for the hopefully last chapters will go, but I'll be honest... I can't wait to see it end. I enjoyed this story and I'm still looking forward to see what happens next, but I'm ready to it end.

For those of you who like these rambles, thank you so much! I still love seeing everyone's thoughts and I can't wait to see what people think of this chapter.

Hopefully this will be the last hiatus Ms. Ichikawa will have and we'll be facing the true final stretch of this story.

Or maybe we'll face another hiatus after another couple of chapters.

We'll see.

See you later!

#houseki no kuni #land of the lustrous #hnk #lotl #hnk thoughts #hnk spoilers #lotl spoilers #hnk chapter 103 #hnk spoiler #hnk phosphophyllite #hnk phos #haruko ichikawa #hnk meta #hnk manga #hnk manga spoilers

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spicybylerpolls · 2 months

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Well, unknown hero agent man / pen symbolism anon, i hope you're reading this, cos you hit the nail on the head! this kind of symbolic storytelling is not only a fine art of cinema (being lost these days a little sadly, what with the whole netflix speedy turnover etc), but exactly what (good) films of the horror genre aim to do.

horror has long been a way to creatively tell 'normal' dramatic stories through subtext and symbolism. not sure if this is still a way around traditional censorship but im sure it began that way. films like the exorcist, the shining, rosemary's baby... all classics that are filled with subtext. its also an exciting way to talk about things that might seem trite or too bleak when portrayed as a 'straight' drama (this is the term meaning 'non-genre based' or 'non-musical' lmao). So you could say that ST is NOT straight, in more ways than one 😉

but much of this will go over casual viewers heads, so its finding the balance between making a story believable on the surface (another dimension exists! scary government men trying to kill us!) and subtextually (the UD as a metaphor for trauma/AIDS/closeted homosexuality/abuse etc) if viewers are clever enough to see/feel it. i say feel because much of storyviewing is instinctive instead of analytical.

so ST incorporates both - not just metaphorical, vague storytelling, but also real issues too. but it goes one step further, and actually has characters talk explicitly about reading deeper into stuff (murray's behind the curtain speech). it's a very meta show, even for a genre piece, which is why it astounds me that some people think it's not that deep lol. and some people think that only literature can be deep, but never tv or movies - which is an insult to anyone who has ever been passionate about cinema tbh. It's a statement that would probably rip the heart out of the duffers' chests and stomp on it. these guys are super nerds who have dedicated their adult lives to this passion project. as finn said, 'most people make it then just cash in - im so glad they still care'.

I'm sorry you don't feel comfortable talking about the beauty of this storytelling on your main. it really does surprise me that the fandom is so censorship obsessed because sexual metaphors have long existed in visual media, and especially in horror films. there used to be a long post about byler and a potential sex scene at lover's lake on here, but the user disappeared and the post went missing. it was about all the sexual imagery in ST, with a focus on byler in s4. i especially loved how they mentioned mike's introduction, where he was just in underwear: it is both appropriate for the setting, but also gets the audience used to him as a growing lad with a body and draws attention to those uncomfortable, potentially sexual aspects of being a teen. i mean, he was in tiny pants for god's sake. did we need to see that? why did we see it? etc etc

hilariously, they also referenced the always sunny in philadelphia scene where a character is in a therapist office talking about a pen being a dick. he then puts it in his mouth and chews the pen lmoao

i think you'd enjoy @therainscene's rod symbolism post too. I'm personally hoping for some explicit sex scenes with byler, because the show so far has arguably been telling that story metaphorically already for 4 seasons, and bringing it out of the subtext could be a storytelling device in itself. bringing byler's secrets into the light. after all, this is a period piece that aims to shed light on a bygone era. its not a propaganda piece that needs to remain coded; the reasons for staying secretive still exist for mike and will in the 80s, but times have changed since then for us as a global audience, and more importantly, the aspirational message has changed. what message would the duffs want to send to viewers that are still bigoted? clearly one of the beauty of homosexuality, seeing as will, our fav gay boy, has been the darling sympathetic victim of the show since s1e1. the show needs to remain true to both the 80s while also having a strong message for this decade in order for modern audiences to be able to gain something from watching this story; in order for there to be a reason the show exists at all.

so to answer your question, i had never picked up on the pen symbolism until now, but i immediately agree, not least because 1) it must have a meaning that connects to byler's conversation otherwise why does it just interrupt them with no reason? (from a storytelling pov), and 2) because of the always sunny scene lolllll

thanks for the discourse! if you stick around into s5, im sure we will be able to start discussing this on our mains. it'll be a new era and there might even be gifs/pics of byler to accompany our 'spicy' discourse haha!

Amazing/fascinating points! Thanks for adding to the discussion!

#byler #spicy byler #will byers #mike wheeler #no poll

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skye707 · 1 year

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How would the riddlers react to someone coming out to them as trans ? I really love your blog !! always bring me comfort when i feel a little down, so i have to ask this

Unburied - That's awesome! I mean he already hypothesized as such (of course he knows, he can read people like a book), but he waited for you to tell him yourself. So, as much as it is a welcoming feeling for you, he feels just as loved. Someone trusts him enough to open up that very personal aspect of their life to him? He could shed a tear, but he won't. Not the look he's going for.

ZY - Disregard for gender norms and societal pressure to fit into a finite box? That's pretty metal. His core belief is that human progress is all about thinking outside the box, and someone who has the guts to challenge centuries old thinking is definitely capable of such. You've got his respect, that's for sure.

Dano - Oh! Okay, wow. He's a little internet cretin, so he's more than familiar with the ignorant discourse that too many people experience when making the decision of coming out. So, naturally, he is now going to be your own little watchdog online. No, he's not going to tell you, he's gonna do it behind the scenes you might say. Point is, if you decide to come out publicly, no one is going to bother you. For any reason.

YJ - Ah, that's so cool. You trust him enough to present the truth about yourself. That makes him feel super special and warm and fuzzy, and now he's a stuttering mess again. Even goes a little pink in the cheeks. But also, he's a little jealous of your confidence. That's a huge decision! Maybe you could give him some pointers?

Gotham - I see, interesting. Tell him more, if you're comfortable with that? He's such an analytical little bean; he's got to know everything! More than that though, his friend has just released new information to him about their personal life. As such, he needs to file all of it away in his little mental filing cabinet for later use.

BTAA - Ah, congratulations, kid! A metamorphosis, you might say. How artistic! That gives him an idea for his next puzzle!! Next time you see his beautiful face on the news, you can hold close to your heart the knowledge that you and your spectacular story of self-realization played a key role in the creation of his magnum opus.

Arkham - That's great, now help him move this piece of scrap metal out of the way. This Ed is not overly concerned with the details of the human body. Machines are more his speed. Don't mistake the disinterest for insincerity, though. He does care that you thought so highly of him that you would come out to him. He's just emotionally constipated; his own emotions included.

BTAS - Really? How intriguing! Like Gotham, he wants all the information you can give him. Not just so he can say he has the info, he genuinely wants to do everything he can to make you feel comfortable and safe around him.

Telltale - Hm, congratulations. He doesn't even flinch. Grandpa has been everywhere and seen everything. Absolutely nothing phases him. However, does it seem like he's being a little nicer to you lately? A little less grouchy? Probably not, but maybe.

(p.s., I'm really happy for you, anon! You should always be yourself, no matter what that looks like, and I hope the people in your life hold the same sentiment 💙)

#riddler #the riddler #edward nashton #edward nygma #unburied!riddler #zero year riddler #capullo riddler #paul dano riddler #dano riddler #young justice riddler #gotham riddler #btaa riddler #arkham riddler #btas riddler #telltale riddler #riddlerverse hcs #Skye

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yourlocaldisneyvillain · 6 months

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Writing explicit material about an aged up character is NOT it. Wednesday is a minor in the show, aging her up in your fanfiction doesn’t make it any less creepy. You even state in your writing that Wednesdays attraction develops WHILE SHE IS STILL A MINOR IN SCHOOL. The original attraction came from a child’s mind, do you not see how that’s wrong? Aging characters up just to ship them with adults is disgusting and writing sexual content about it is even worse. If you wanted to write about stuff like this I would’ve suggested making OC’s and not using already made characters that have a fandom surrounding them. That would’ve stopped some of the backlash and made it a little less creepy. Genuinely hope you see how this is wrong, please stop, thank you.

hi! i suggest you don't read stories you find upsetting! there's plenty of other fics to read, both mine and written by other people.

i also it's sweet you think an anonymous message will make me see the error of my Immoral ways. also are you suggesting it would be better if i wrote a fic with a different minor that grows up and then has a relationship with a former teacher? i don't understand what exactly you mean and how that would, in your book, be better than this lol. also, i don't know if you're aware but all adults you know were once, in fact, minors.

i know this isn't a message in good faith, and that nothing i say will change your mind. that's alright. nothing you say will change mine, either! i will write what i want and how i want it. you are welcome not to read it and say, well, not for me, moving on.

however, since you were so free to give me a friendly suggestion to Stop It, i will be so free to suggest you give stories that make you uncomfortable a go. the Immorality will not, in fact, rub off on you. i do think it's some of my best work writing wise, and i think the quality of it is pretty decent. there are even Themes and Motifs, and believe it or not it isn't porn (there is one smutty chapter out of fourteen and that's it). you could read it and try to articulate which parts of the story make you uncomfortable. you could try to read it as purely a piece of fiction, a story (which it is), without attaching a moral judgement to it -- perhaps try putting yourself in the shoes of the characters, or perhaps even the author, and try seeing how and why someone would write a story about very unusual, particular people who find each other, despite all odds. you could perhaps even ponder the concept of the "immoral" nature of their relationship being a metaphor for any unconventional relationship. after you do all of that, if you still feel uncomfortable, that's perfectly alright! i think some fiction is meant to make people uncomfortable, and it is a valuable skill to be able to approach it analytically and pinpoint exactly what doesn't sit right with you -- that, unfortunately, requires reading the work in good faith.

i will always encourage meaningful critique of my work! however, just some anonymous rando coming up to me and saying "this is WRONG!!!" will do precisely nothing.

you've spoken your piece, but if you continue to pester me with similar messages you will be blocked! have a nice day!

#i got an ask!#particular tag #also yes wednesday had a crush on a teacher when she was in school -- a very normal and common experience #however when they meet later in life that attraction isn't the same -- she doesn't see larissa as a teacher or a mentor of any kind #the nature of their relationship is different and the attraction is different #it's not wednesday realising her teacher crush fantasy #it's her seeing a real person and falling for her #and not even expecting it herself

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gregrulzok · 2 months

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What are your top 10 favorite media, like from books, anime/manga, movies, tv series, etc (if you feel like listing multiple) of all time? Feel free if you want to write the reasons or not of why you love them....

Now THIIIIS is way different from asking me my favourite characters.

When it comes to characters, I tend to be heavily analytical and critical. When it comes to media... Well, you'll see. Whatever the case please note that these pieces of media being my favourite doesn't mean I necessarily recommend them. There's things I love with my whole heart that I wouldn't inflict upon my mortal enemy. You've been warned.

I'm also purposefully omitting some of my favourite pieces of media to shine a spotlight on ones I don't really get to talk about, or just want more people to know about (sorry, Berserk)

I'll try and keep these ones spoiler free, since I'm thinking of them more as recommendations! NSFW media will be marked with a *, but I won't go into anything explicit here. Please look up media mindfully and with discression, some of these may be triggering.

Thank you for the ask and I'm sorry for the ridiculous lengths of information you're about to witness !

Dungeon Meshi

Lets start with a safe one. A simple one. An expected one.

Yes, Dungeon Meshi IS that good.

Dungeon Meshi is a beautifully drawn manga that starts out slow, whimsical and almost slice-of-life-y, and then descents into utter madness so slowly and skillfully that by the time you blink you're in another dimension.

The world building in this series is second to none - everything makes sense and nothing is handwaved. The genuine and honest passion in the way the world feels alive is palpable, and despite its realism it never loses its magical feeling.

The characters are charming, lovable, realistic, and complex. Each of them have an inner world to tap into, each of them feels like a real person you could hold a conversation with and would WANT to hold a conversation with. Here I'll also proudly announce that we get zero (0) gratuitous fanservice, zero (0) characters who exist as a punchline, and guaranteed Sexy-Lamp Free !

The plot... Fuck, man. The plot is the most honest and bare faced look at some of the most nuanced subjects in the world (desire, ambition, love, death, survival, trauma, neurodivergence) wrapped up in a way that feels simple, grounded and real.

It also sincerely began to heal my relationship with food. I don't think I've ever seen the subjects of cooking, eating, health, weight and body diversity portrayed so well in such an empathetic, understanding and caring way in any piece of media. Body positivity is not so much a focus, but rather an undercurrent in the whole manga.

Whew ! With one objectively good piece of media out of the way, let's move on to something more unhinged, such as ...

Honestly I can't begin to imagine what kind of person WOULDN'T enjoy Dungeon Meshi. Do yourself a favour and read it.

Cats (1998)

Cats. The Broadway musical cats. One of the longest running musicals in the world, award winning, famously bashed and hated, recently revorked into a horrible film that was even more bashed and hated, the beautiful, glorious wonderful disaster of my heart - Cats.

Specifically, the 1998 film version.

...It's so hard for me to explain this one.

At some point, while watching Cats for the second time (for a reason I cannot explain), some neurons fired the wrong direction in my brain and now I have a pathological obsession, to the point where I can name each and every single Godforsaken cat in this show, including the ones that don't even appear in the credits.

Cats. What am I even supposed to say here, like, genuinely. It's cats.

Well, here's the thing - the choreography and acting direction in this fucking musical is genuinely breathtaking. It takes a few watches for it to fully click, but once it does, I sincerely believe that Cats is one of the most endlessly fascinating pieces of media to analyze. What you have to understand about Cats is that every single character (with very few exceptions) is on screen basically for the entire show. And so while you're watching the dancing in the foreground (which is beautiful on its own), every single cat in the background is just ... There. Moving, interacting, portraying characteristics that are never stated, never so much as focused on - but you can see them. You can see the kittens playing with each-other, you can see the elders gossiping, you can see small bits and gags you won't catch your first time, or second, or fifth. You can see how rowdy Tumblebrutus and Pouncival are, you can see how excitable Electra is, you can see the quiet dignity of Coricopat and Tantomile, the friendship between Jellylorum and Jennyanydots. There's always new little bits of background characterisation you can catch, pretty much regardless of how many times you've seen it.

In that way, Cats is feels the most alive, the most ever changing and evolving. I'm completely enraptured by it and if you do want to watch it, I recommend watching it as many times as you can stomach, because your first time through it'll glide right off you like water off a duck.

Chainsaw Man (Public Safety Arc)*

The first time I finished reading Chainsaw Man, I stared at my phone for a straight minute, then started sobbing. The next morning, I drank alcohol for the first time.

I wish that was a joke.

I'll admit I'm not up to date on the second arc of Chainsaw Man - it honestly got away from me a little and I'm not entirely sure I'll be finishing it.

But that doesn't take away from the fact that the first arc is one of the most tightly written, beautiful, emotional stories I've ever read.

Sure, it's fun and funny. Sure, it's cool in it's action scenes. Sure, the art direction is absolutely breathtaking. Sure, the character design and worldbuilding are interesting and detailed.

But at its heart the core appeal of CSM, to me, is the way it speaks about trauma, abuse, assault, isolation, fear, and desire. Chainsaw Man is painfully down to earth in a gritty, real way, and while it is extremely dark, it's also uplifting and hopefull in a way a lot of dark media isn't.

Chainsaw Man makes you feel tiny, helpless in a massive world. Chainsaw Man puts you up against horrors both tangible and fantastical, and then it looks you in the eyes and says "Hey. You aren't weak. You aren't useless. The world is scary, the world is cruel, the world is harsh, but that doesn't mean you can't fight it. That doesn't mean there isn't hope".

I really don't know how else to describe it without going into spoilers. It's genuinely moving.

Arcane

Arcane is a beautiful tragedy that has no right being as impactful as it is for being a goddamn League of Legends adaptation, of all things.

The art direction in Arcane is absolutely insane - Taking a page from Into the SpiderVerse (which is another favourite of mine), it blends 3D animation with a 2D-esque art style and fully 2D effects to bring what I genuinely believe to be one of the best looking shows in the world to life. And that's not all !

Arcane is infinitely nuanced. Between it's multiple plots it introduces many, many characters, all of whom have their own wants, needs, goals, ambitions, fears, flaws and trauma, and it clashes them together beautifully. Nothing in Arcane feels like an afterthought to me, I think the most fantastic thing about it is how expertly it weaves all these different storylines together. Everything ties into something else, everything affects something else, the story changes based on every little movement of our main characters and by the time it unfolds you realize that there's nothing that could really be done to change it because EVERYTHING lead to this.

It's a tragedy in the best way possible.

Attack on Titan

I don't care what anyone says - Attack on Titan is one of the best Anime ever put on screen.

I am a person that grew up in a colonized, war-torn country. Part of our land is still occupied, and our occupants are currently seeking refuge in our city and acting like this is their vacation resort. My people have been marginalized, demonized, dismissed, our culture has been erased and we have been fed more propaganda than I can count.

And I say this because I think being in this situation lends me a pretty good perspective of what AoT is:

Propaganda. The first two seasons of Attack on Titan are literally an extended propaganda film, meant to trick and decieve the viewer into siding with the protagonists, and dismissing their enemies as mere monsters.

If I go any deeper into that statement, there will inevitably be spoilers, so I'll cap it off with this:

There are no easy answers in war. There are no heroes and no villains, there are no good guys and bad guys, and there are no winners. There is only deception, control, and death.

I've never seen a piece of fiction capture the true, real horror of war quite as well as Attack on Titan does.

Death Parade

Everybodyyyyyyy put your hands upppppp

Death Parade is the show I go to rewatch when I have nothing else to rewatch.

It is a soft, yet painful look at human nature. It's an exploration of what makes a person good or bad, and whether such things even exist. It brings into question the very nature of humanity, whether there's such a thing as being good or bad, whether our character is formed by our circumstances or our behaviour, and how those things should be judged. It asks what it means to have emotions, to have feelings, and how your own personal emotions and biased factor into how you assess other people - whether it's more unfair to judge someone objectively without empathy, or subjectively with your own narrow, biased worldview.

All of that wrapped in a beautiful aesthetic, and a somber, subtle love story. Not even necessarily a romantic one - just pure love.

Highly, highly recommend.

Oyasumi Punpun*

Oyasumi Punpun is the most direct, honest, unfiltered, unbiased look at a human being's psyche I've ever seen.

It's also one of the most triggering bits of media on here, so proceed with caution.

Oyasumi Punpun follows the life of a single boy from his childhood, through his adulthood. Every single hardship, every single setback, every victory, every memorable experience, is shown to us through the lense of his own eyes. His childhood innocence, his teenage cynicism, his adolescent hopelessness, his own naivete, his own trauma, his own biased colour the way we view the world around him.

It genuinely makes you feel like you are wearing his skin and living his life through him.

Its disturbing, uncomfortable, dark, scary, and it's funny, hopeful, and just plain bizarre.

Great Pretender

Alright, back to light-hearted things !!!

Great Pretender might be the funniest show I've ever seen, to me, personally. Its bright, saturated, expressive animation compliments the absolute insanity of this show perfectly.

The most basic premise is that Great Pretender is about two con artists desperately trying to out-con each-other, and then it all goes downhill from there. It sets up so much of its payoff in such tiny little ways that by the time I got to the end I'd be beating myself up for missing a completely innocuous detail like a characters fucking watch, because it was actually a hint towards the overall plotline.

Its clever, it's funny, it keeps you on your toes, and it can be genuinely heartfelt and delightfully homoerotic to boot !!

It's absolutely worth the watch. Please give us season two. Please. PLEASE.

Dark Heaven*

Dark Heaven is what I'd recommend to someone if they told me they liked reading BL.

As a gay man in an interracial relationship, I've yet to find a piece of media that is quite so open direct, brutal and honest about the kids of issues that gay people, people of color, and people in interracial relationships can face.

To that end - it's extremely triggering if you're sensitive to those particular topics, as well as some other things. I'd very much recommend looking up a list of triggers first if you want to read it because it does get very, very dark. (And very NSFW). (Right from chapter one)?

But yeah - Dark Heaven is a beautiful, engaging, and at times very fluffy and humorous romance between two men, that is heavily overlaid with real actual issues people face every day (and some people don't face every day, but are nonetheless very real). It's honest, soft, and uplifting where it needs to be, despite not sugarcoating absolutely anything. It also does us the wonderful favour of not fetishizing gay men, not playing into weird creepy stereotypes, and not turning their relationship into something to gawk at.

And now, the one, the only, the piece of media that captured my heart and soul and will never ever let go:

Warrior Cats

Fucking Warrior Cats.

I have read every single book in the series. The series with over 100 books (depending on how you count them). Every official piece of media, I have consumed.

I've been reading this book series since I was 11. I've loved, cherished, lived and breathed it. I keep up with them to this day. I recently completed a chronological re-read. I've made OCs. I've roleplayed it in person and online - in fact I've been a mod in a DeviantArt roleplay group.

I HAVE A GODDAMN EXCELL SPREADSHEET WHERE I ANALYZE THE STATISTICS OF THE WARRIOR CATS NAMING SYSTEM

"Oh wow, sounds like the series is really good" WRONG

Warrior Cats is one of the worst written series I've ever read. It's poorly paced, it's full of plotholes, most characters are pieces of cardboard with a furry coat. It's dumb, nonsensical, inconsistent, and infuriating. It preaches the worst lessons I've ever heard, it's full of nothing but wasted potential, and I could honestly count the number of books I'd consider to be genuinely good on both of my hands.

Out of a 100. I've read a fucking hundred of these. Send help.

Why do I do this to myself? Why do I read them?

Because I'm autistic and my brain is holding me hostage.

Against my better judgement, I have such a deep and genuine love for this series, for the characters, for the content mostly created by the fans, for the world building.

And every single time one of these fucking cats dies, I end up tearing up.

I love Warrior Cats and you can pry it from my cold, dead hands.

...

And that's IT !!!

Thank you again for the ask, and thanks if you read it this far !! You can really tell which ones of these I'm currently hyperfixated on haha.

Again please practice discression in looking these up - I have absolutely no triggers, and so don't think twice about consuming really dark and heavy pieces of media. This is also why I didn't just opt to put in my own trigger warnings - because I don't know everything that could be potentially triggering, and I don't want to give off the impression that you know everything you need to, in case i missed anything.

Be careful and be safe !

#dungeon meshi #cats 1998 #chainsaw man #arcane #attack on titan #death parade #oyasumi punpun #great pretender #dark heaven #warrior cats #warriors

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thelettergii · 6 months

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How does one even learn how to draw the way you do? Like, this is not just (deservingly) complementing you, I genuinely want to know because your sugarplum ladies and sailor moon art are everything! The colour and texture of your art are so unique!

Wow, thank you so much! <3

The nice answer is that if I could share 3 tips that shaped my artwork:

Get a really good understanding of anatomy and proportions. Some people memorize every muscle, but imo you don't have to. I grew up with foervraengd's anatomy tutorials and took those proportions to heart. I wouldn't try to stylize (that is, find your own unique art style) until you can grasp the basics, because you have to understand the basics before you can exaggerate them.

Learn to reference without tracing exactly. I often look for photo references for poses I'm not familiar with drawing. I think it's ok to layer a ref on top of your drawing to check if proportions are correct or something like that, but I've learned what looks lively IRL can look pretty lifeless when transferred directly to a canvas. An artist I like @/almakrowan suggests blurring the reference to help you interpret it in your own way; I would also suggest exaggerating the placement of body parts a little - look at the direction the arms, legs, shoulders, and hips are facing and make that angle a little more extreme.

Analyze your favorite artists! I'm an analytical person by nature so I'm biased, but I think it's fun to break down exactly what I like about a specific artist's style or art piece. Maybe it's their line textures, or the way they capture faces in an elegant or cute way, or the composition or layout of their pieces. It's very likely you enjoy more than one artist, so I think if you can take all the things you like about different artists and combine them together somehow, that's what creates your unique artistic voice. (This works for fashion design too!)

The less nice answer is that truthfully I am pretty hard on myself when it comes to art, unhealthily so. In my old art I see nothing but flaws, so I'm always trying to get better with my latest artwork. This is not a healthy learning mechanism and I do not recommend it, haha.

I used to lurk on deviantART as a kid and there was always this huge emphasis on "accept constructive criticism and always improve yourself" and a lot of art drama stemmed from artists who refused to take critique and you could see their art stagnating. So even though I was just a lurker without an account at the time I took that philosophy to heart, maybe a little too much...

#askings #like even the sailor moon collection is far enough ago where i look at it and i don't love it :(#i'm sure the way social media is going for artists is also not helping

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bonesbuckleup · 2 years

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Do you have any advice on how to learn from writers you love? I've read a few books recently that are absolutely spell binding but not in a way I'm currently capable of mimicking. Do you think there's a way to pick out what it is we love and then practice it in our own stories?

Oh, bud. Oh, bud. OH, BUD. The way this ask has been making me positively rabid all day with wanting to answer it. Fun fact--this is a hill I have died on, am currently dying on, and will continue to die on for my entire existence.

Short answer: Yes. Yes, yes, a thousand times yes. What you're describing is the oldest model on earth for learning how to do any artistic undertaking: you look at what the masters are doing; you think that you would like to do that thing; you learn the rules; you replicate, replicate, replicate, replicate; once you've mastered the rules, you break those rules to create your own style. Painting, writing, musical instruments, woodworking...this is the most classic of classic ways to learn a craft.

Long answer: Number one, anyone doing anything remotely creative should listen to what Ira Glass has to say about the creative gap. I kept trying to type up an answer to this ask, and he says in 2 minutes what I was taking thousands of words to try and describe.

Under a cut! And I'm sorry, it's very rambley, but I really think I could teach an entire semester class based on this concept.

The thing is, the way you go about picking out what you love and figuring out how to do it yourself will vary widely depending on what you want to replicate in your work. Dialogue, general plotting, vibes, mood, setting, character...all of these have slightly different ways you can go about them. I could probably write a book on this topic. I tried to boil it down to a few ideas:

Identify what it is EXACTLY that is drawing you to that particular book, short story, writer, etc. There is no room here for "I don't know, I just love it!" It might be the overall mood of the story. It might be the way characters are depicted. It might be the way the writer puts a sentence together. It might be how they use really plain language and then just SMACK YOU IN THE FACE with a sudden lyrical sentence. It can be anything. It might be small, like a specific 3 lines of dialogue. It might be big, like the way the plot is put together. I had a professor who called this the "gravitational pull," which is a part of the story you are drawn to the most. There can be multiple of these in a single work, of course, but the important part is to be explicit and direct in pinpointing what they are.

Rip apart the thing you love. Violent? Yes. Necessary? Also yes. Once you've identified what it is that's your gravitational pull in a story (and it's okay if there's more than one, just work through them one at a time), it's time to figure out how they work. I tend to be fascinated by how plots fit together, the if-then of storytelling, so I end up spending a lot of time making outlines of other people's books. (Fun fact: using a classic three act structure, Twilight is an almost mathematically perfect plot). Figuring out how things work can take a while, depending on what aspect you're looking at. If it's a character arc, you might plot out the main scenes and shifts that character goes through, then identifying the specific moves the writer made to take them from Point A to B to C to D. If it's something like style, such as the way a sentence is phrased or the way the language works, write down your favorite bits and figure out what, exactly, it is that you like about them. What's the draw? How is it functioning as one piece in a whole?

(One warning for ripping apart the thing you love--once you start reading like this, it's really hard to turn it off. You'll be perpetually diagnosing and dissecting everything you read. It takes a really good book to make me not do this, but even then, once I realize my analytical brain was quiet for a while? It gets kicked into overdrive, because a book that makes Analytic Brain shut up is a really fucking good book, and I want to know what makes it tick. ANYWAY. Be warned.)

Read a metric fuckton. Read the kind of thing you would like to write. Read the opposite of the thing you would like to write. Read fiction and non-fiction and fanfiction, and figure out how they're similar or different and what the rules are for each. My favorite books all combine bits and bobs from different genres (Legendborn by Tracy Deonn is such a banger of a book, and it's basically if Arthurian Legend met Beloved by Toni Morrison and took place on a college campus which is a bizarre premise but it WORKS SO WELL).

Write "In the Style Of" Pieces. Another professor of mine had us read several stories by the same writer all in a row. We identified the things that made them That Writer's style. So, for instance, JD Salinger: he has short sentences, very plain language, tends to have a page break/vibe shift approximately halfway through his short fiction, and often has some kind of shift at the ending. I think. It's been 10+ years since I read one of his. THE POINT IS: we identified the things that made a JD Salinger short story a JD Salinger Short Story. We looked at them and figured out how they worked. Then our assignment was to write a JD Salinger Short Story using the themes and style ticks that he used. We also did this with Denis Johnson (lyrical prose about very un-lyrical situations), Flannery O'Connor (Catholicism and people being shady), Raymond Carver (a rant for another time lmao), and a few others who are escaping me.

Were my pieces anything like the greats? NOPE. Not at all. I definitely fell short. But! There were a few things I learned from each of them, including things I didn't want to do. I think knowing what you don't want to do in writing is almost more valuable than what you do want to do, but I'm getting off topic. By forcing myself to write in a style completely alien from my own, whether or not it was good writing, I started to figure out what my aesthetics are, what I want my voice/writing/style to look like, how I wanted to structure stories, and I learned that from taking bits and pieces from some of the masters. This is an exercise I still sometimes do: what would this story look like if Neil Gaiman wrote it? Leigh Bardugo? Karen Russell? Tamora Pierce? How is a story by CL Polk different than one by Kazuo Ishiguro or Douglas Adams or Cornelia Funke?

Steal Widely and Mercilessly. Fiction is stealing. Anyone who tells you differently is lying. I got into grad school with a story that boiled down to "what if Leonard McCoy was drafted into the Vietnam War and had to decide to dodge or not?" My grandma had a saying about babies--hope for a girl and love what you get--which is more or less the basis of a major character in the novel I'm finishing up. We all steal. We're all thieves. There's a difference between stealing and plagiarism, obviously, but like...I love the way Rory Power balances dialogue and action, and sometimes I read and use her stuff as a structure model. I used the plot breakdown of Hunger Games for that same novel I'm finishing up--it is nothing like HG, but the pacing was relevant, which is learning while running. Whenever I'm about to write a garden scene, I reread bits of Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman. Like. Steal. Do it. We all do. Fiction's a grab bag and we're all out here grasping at straws. We're not stealing things verbatim, because again, plagiarism, but like...you like Zuko from atla a lot? Cool, grab his general character and put him on a space ship. You think the concept of Bruce Wayne is fun? Neat, what's he look like on spring break and broke and named Carl? You heard someone say something truly unhinged on the bus? That happened to a friend of mine, and her book came out from Simon and Schuster a couple years ago and the unhinged thing is still in it.

Make writer friends. I don't necessarily mean accomplished writer friends, though that's fine too! But the most valuable writer relationships and critique partnerships are with people and who are on an even-ish level to your current writing status, whatever that is. Because sometimes it's really, really hard to articulate what you love about a thing that's working well, especially if you're new to this practice. However, it can be much easier to recognize what isn't working well. That's the true secret of writing critique: it's not always to make your writing better, but to teach you how to talk about what you like, don't like, is working, or isn't working in any particular piece of writing. Plus, then you have a buddy to commiserate with, and that's always a necessary component of writing.

Write a metric fuck ton. Once again, I reference Ira Glass on the creative gap. You churn through enough words, and eventually you look up and realize your words have gotten better. I know a bunch of writers, and you want to know the difference between the truly talented and "gifted" ones and the ones who hustle and grind? Over the years, the ones who work really fucking hard and put a bunch of words out (versus being precious and going after perfection) have published more widely and are producing more interesting, compelling work than the "talented" ones. Almost every time.

One final thing: the moments I hate my writing the most are almost always just before a level up occurs. It's like a boiling point. So those times you really, really hate everything you do? You might be close to a break through, so do not give up. Keep going.

And, actually, I lied. I'm going to end this with a few of my favorite books about writing. None of them I love 100% all the way through, but the all had bits and bobs that I've found useful in how to dissect stories and diagnose what you like or don't like about them:

Story Genius by Lisa Cron

Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott

Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert (very woo woo but honestly a feel-good favorite)

Story by Robert McKee (A BRICK. Technically about screenwriting, but it's useful for classic structures like the 3 act, a hero's journey, etc)

Steering the Craft by Ursula K LeGuin (when I say that I would die for any word UKLG says about writing...ugh...love her.)

I hope something somewhere in this answered your question, and honestly, thank you for giving me an opening to scream about this specific thing, because it's one of my favorite rants to have.

#politicalbloodtea #ask #writing #god this is so rambley #I hope something in here is useful for you #please feel free to come poke me for clarifications because my brain also happens to be made of beans today

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legionofpotatoes · 1 year

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For real, your take on Mando season 3 is completely on point. But I get not feeling able to say it out loud without a disclaimer before, after, and in the tags to keep from getting shouted at in the reblogs. It's just the messed up nature of being in the SW fandom on Tumblr. Speaking your mind on your own blog is an invitation for buffoonery.

If I were completely honestly, I'm not in the least shocked that's what we got. I've long held the opinion that the worst part about the fandom is the fan opinions and expectations out of a new series, and the expectation that a formula for a show won't change, or that a character will maintain one set mentality/trope while simultaneously offering new, completely different story arcs. It isn't necessarily impossible to pull off, but it takes very careful planning and execution. And, unfortunately, that has never been a strength in this franchise, even before Disney ownership.

For most shows, it's the season 5 slump. After 5 seasons, all the flavor is gone and any additional seasons are painfully rehashed at best. For all the corporate financial squeezing that's been done to Mando since the beginning of the show to wring out revenue like its a wet washcloth, it really tracks that were in this place after only 3 seasons.

IMO the only thing that's going to save Andor is the fact that the end of the story has already been told in Rogue One and its confirmed that season 2 will end at that point of the timeline. If it was going to be a 3+ season show, I suspect we'd see the same treatment.

Anyway, I'll stop flapping my gums in your ask box. Your hot take encapsulated what felt off about this season to me. I couldn't put words to it, but it just felt....meh.

I just disable reblogs and try not to tag it in an inflammatory way, my gripes are genuinely like. basic semiotics and story sense, I'm not going after anyone's childhood or feel-goodness. This is all me-problems and me-expectations with a massive machine of commerce that will never give a shit lmao

I too wrote a couple of posts back in s2 days expecting something of this sort going forward after the weirdly presumptuous cameo-baiting of s2 and whatever in the goddamn hell boba fett did with its mando tie-ins, but an entire season of tirespinning sure was a surprising choice. I think writing for TV is fundamentally different than writing for film, so I didn't really see a clear parallel of incompetence within the franchise; and especially with season 1 being so solid in balancing both the overarching and the episodic stuff I felt like they had a neat ramp to milk a decently long character piece out of.

But I can't help but feel like my main problem with the disney/abrams/filoni/favreau era of star wars is its irrationally strong love for the aesthetic. it blinds them to good choices that will then make for interesting stories. gently deradicalizing, humanizing, and then literally AND figuratively getting din out of his shell so he could open up to a child's love could be such an effective, simple to parse, and wholesome core to structure the series around, but that would upend the aesthetic of their cowboy-ass romp a bit too fast and have an end and an identity and all that non-marketing friendly stuff. so they keep withholding his psyche, they keep giving then taking clear communication tools away from grogu, they keep teasing their bond but never outright stating it (I cannot believe after 3 seasons he still hasn't just looked at the baby and directly confessed he loved him), so they can keep bumping those goalposts back and forth while pretending it's progress. because they are in love with the aesthetic.

again, this is my main problem, I don't see this as a problem writ large or even something that represents a wrong way to do star wars. who the hell even knows how you treat a franchise that large at this point, what importance you assign to aesthetic vs. story, all that jazz. I don't know. they're the ones with the analytics data, so they definitely know better. and maybe that's the saddest part

#no need to apologize nonnie this is a heated subject for all of us lmao #anon #asks #negativity

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