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astroyongie · 1 month ago

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https://www.tumblr.com/astroyongie/782909605040816128/hi-this-is-my-first-time-requesting-somewhere-so?source=share

Please do for skz too

How Would Stray Kids React To Seeing Their EX Out With Someone Else

-> Astrology based

Bangchan

Oh well it seems like Bangchan is the type that will observe from across the room where you and your new partner are, with a soul-piercing gaze. yet you can't read him, he seems calm and unreadable.

Does not react visibly mostly because he doesn't want you to have the wrong story about him. But the temperature in the room just dropped 10 degrees.

Birth chart based, Chan believes he still has some kinda of psychic ownership over you and it's something he would struggle with a lot. thinks stuff like “That’s mine. Even if it’s not mine anymore.”

Will remember your new partner’s face forever, for strategic reasons. because you never know when he will have to run over someone with his car

Chan possibly walks by, looking hot and untouchable, just to haunt at you as he truly wants to show that he doesn't care.

Minho

I believe that Minho would have a hard time with it and he might react strongly. like, immediate internal explosion: jealousy, betrayal, rage, desire all at once.

the moment he sees you with that new person, he will feel physically ill but pretends not to notice since he doesn't want you to know that he is affected by your presence.

Can’t stop watching. his birth chart also shows that he might stalk your new partner online later for extra info or ask “who the fuck is that?” to your friends or his own

Will spiral into 3 AM obsessive thoughts and possibly ritualistic revenge plotting because well, Minho is just like that really

"No one touches what's mine and gets away with it." that's definitely his energy and thoughts about the whole situation

Changbin

Changbin's first reaction would be: scrutinizes your new partner’s outfit, posture, and job stability. anything he can to show superiority.

I believe that pain would hit in slow, subtle waves. he won’t make a scene, but will judge hard as he sees you laughing with this new partner of yours

Lowkey, i think changbin would think something like, “Do they even floss? I gave them structure, and now this?” like he can be extremely judgy

More bitter than jealous. Might fixate on flaws as self-protection and also to help him feel a little better about the fact that you have moved on.

based on his chart, he is the type that could go home and deep-clean the entire house while overthinking everything or most precisely on his case, going to the gym and sweat a bunch.

Hyunjin

well with Hyunjin.. the moment he sees you with your new partner. it would feel to him like a ghost just walked through him.

based on his chart, he may pretend to be fine, even sweet to you an them, smiling and introducing himself — but internally he is drowning in nostalgia.

"Were you ever real with me?" — cue inner violin solo. No but he would truly feel like his world is just over since you have moved on

Jealousy hits in a tragic, poetic way. Probably writes a vague caption later., writes some lyrics for his musics or even paints to express his emotions

Hyunjin might even dream about you that night and confuse it with reality, or think it means you still want him

Han

Well the moment he sees you with someone, it becomes obvious. Han is painfully aware of how the situation looks to others, but he would try to keep calm and a graceful composure.

Internally, he is hurt but immediately goes into charm mode to outshine your new partner. He wants people to see that you have lost him and not the other way around

Might flirt with someone nearby just to see if you notice. it's also just enough to see if you would get jealous.

Han probably thinks something along the lines of “They downgraded, and that’s embarrassing for me.”, because again his ego would hurt

based on his chart, Han would try to process feelings later over wine, friends, and curated playlists.

Felix

The moment Felix sees you with someone else, you can bet that he will smile automatically and waves even. he wants to avoid awkwardness at all costs.

Doesn’t show jealousy about you or your partner but he feels it intensely under the surface- yet he would try not to show it too much

based on his chart, after the encounter he spiral, and ask himself stuff like “Did I do something wrong? Was I not enough?”

Possibly compares himself as someone who is unfavorably to the new partner in your life. to him you deserve better and he hopes you will be able to realize it

for sure, Felix would text three friends of yours to ask if you are doing okay and also to have info about your relationship

Seungmin

the moment he sees you with a new someone, segueing would be laughing too loudly, flips his hair, but he does not ignore you, his little evil side showing.

based on his chart. Seungmin would passive-aggressively flirt with someone hotter while keeping you in his peripheral vision to see if you were looking.

Lowkey hopes the your new partner trips or spills something and makes themselves a fool so he can judge it later.

but honestly things are easy with him: Jealousy turns to pettiness, which turns to self-doubt, which turns to online stalking.

he might post a fire selfie captioned “unbothered 💅” on his social media to send you hints but then he would cry 10 minutes later in his bedroom

Jeongin

I think that jeongin would be visibly triggered by your presence with someone else, and he would be instantly hot in jealousy, and even comment out loud something like “Oh? Already??”

but I believe he would react with boldness to the situation, with either flirting with you, confronting your new partner, or makes a dramatic exit.

he wants to win the breakup on sight. “I’ll find someone hotter. Tonight.” he would whisper to your discretely, as if he was trying to get you back

based on his chart, he might act fine, but his body language gives it away. jeongin has fiery eyes and sharp movements shows his jealousy

Could actually hook up with someone just to outdo you and your partner.

#stray kids #stray kids astrology #stray kids headcanons #stray kids imagines #stray kids scenarios #stray kids reactions #jeongin #changbin #han jisung #skz #lee know #stray kids x reader #stray kids felix

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runnning-outof-time · 10 months ago

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Hii! Can i pls request a arthur Shelby x wife!reader where the reader isn't involve in any of the business of Arthur and his family and during the vendetta the italians kidnap her to kill her as revenge but Arthur and his brothers come in time and Arthur comfort scared reader?

Hi anon! I hope you don’t mind the formatting of this - I’m trying something out in hopes that it’ll help me get these requests shared. It’s not quite a structured story, but it’s also not quite headcanons - it just kinda showcases the major plot points of the story along with some added supporting details … whatever it is, I wrote it! I hope you enjoy!

When The Day’s Done | Arthur Shelby x Reader

**gif credit: @/sparksetfire, who sadly deactivated**

Summary: Arthur meets a woman when he moves out into the country. She stays behind when he must return to Birmingham to fight the vendetta because they feel that it's safer for her to stay here. Their decision turns out to be the wrong one, and now Arthur must save her.

Warnings: season 4 spoilers, kidnapping

Word Count: 2777 (way longer than I expected)

PLEASE LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK! - YOUR COMMENTS & REBLOGS HELP ME WRITE!

Arthur met (Y/N) when he moved out to the country.

**Linda's not present in this story, but he'd still move out there after the events between seasons 3 and 4 finished. **

Ada - with the help of Polly - would have a big hand in prompting this move. They both know that Arthur could be better, and that what he surely needed was to be away from the smoke of Small Heath. And they were correct.

It didn't take long for them to meet.

(Y/N)'s house was the next one over - down the street that is - and she met Arthur when she opened her front door to find him one day.

Arthur had met her father prior. He already had an established farm, and that's something Arthur's hoping he could create for himself now that he's got this land. So (Y/N)'s father had told him to come over and that he'd show him around in hopes that some inspiration would strike Arthur.

(Y/N) still lives at home with her parents. She's got a job within their community - running the farmer's market that all of the local farmers bring their goods to (her father included) ... it's just easier for her to stay at home, and her parents are quite happy that she chooses to as she's an only child. They like to keep the family close.

So back to Arthur meeting her at the door. Knowing how Arthur is, I'm sure you could picture how he reacted when he came face fo face with this beautiful woman instead of the older man he'd met earlier in the week. Yeah, he suddenly doesn't know how to form a complete sentence.

(Y/N) finds it adorable. And she goes to get her father when Arthur finally manages to get out what it is that he's there for.

She makes sure to ask her father about him once he leaves, too. Like she pretty much plays twenty questions with him. Her father obliges and answers what she asks...and he's got that look in his eye too - like he has an inkling of an idea as to why she's asking all the questions. (Y/N)'s too oblivious to catch it.

The next place Arthur finds (Y/N) is at the farmer's market. He's getting some things that he needs and she, of course, checks him out (in more ways then one, if we're being honest).

He's actually able to strike up conversation with her this time around - asking her about the market and how long she'd been working there. And she happily shares answers with him. He ends the conversation with "well if it all goes right, you'll be selling my things here too."

To which (Y/N) responds with "if you're following my father's advice, you'll be growing things in no time."

She leaves him with a sweet smile and then kicks herself once he exits the market. Since when have I ever been so giddy over a man?, she thinks to herself.

Little does (Y/N) know that Ida, one of the older women in the community, watched the entire interaction with a knowing look...she can read these two like an open book.

And it just so happens that Ida's one of the women in the village that loves to gossip.

The first person in Arthur and (Y/N)'s circle that this gossip gets to is (Y/N)'s father...yeah, probably the worst person it could have reached. He overhears it when he's at one of his fellow farmer's home. The fellow farmer's wife decided to bring it up as a topic of conversation, surprising (Y/N)'s father.

He doesn't even wait to speak to Arthur about it. It's during one of the evenings where the two men are meeting, because Arthur's still getting a handle on the whole farming thing, that the older man decides to bring it up. He comes right out with it, too - "whatever your intentions with my daughter are, you'd better be an honest man about it."

Arthur's surprised, to say the least. But he doesn't deny the interest he has in (Y/N). He puts on a serious face and nods, saying "I will, sir." (Y/N)'s father nods in response.

So the next time Arthur sees (Y/N), which happens to be when she answers the door to find him on her family's front stoop - again, Arthur asks her to dinner.

And that's the start of a lovely relationship.

He's careful with who he tells. He wants to leave his life in Small Heath out of it for the most part. Sure, in some ways that's doing a disservice to (Y/N), but this new start has been good for Arthur.

He tells John and Ada, who are both incredibly happy for him. Finn just kind of finds out one day when he's visiting his eldest brother, and he's got nothing bad to say about it. He'd tell Tommy too...if Tommy wasn't so hard to reach. Polly is also hard to reach during this time, but he does mention it to her.

They're truly inseparable from the start. (Y/N) feels bashful at the fact that she practically lives at Arthur's home now, but Arthur repeatedly tells her that he's so incredibly happy that she's staying with him.

It's during these months that he's the happiest he's ever been. His little farm is flourishing (thanks to the help from the farmer's daughter and her knowledge), and he's sure that he's now with the love of his life.

The move that he was initially feeling uncertain about has turned out to be one of the best decisions he's ever made.

About three or four of these blissful months pass before Arthur's meeting with (Y/N)'s father again. This time, however, he's got a question that doesn't involve farming.

He wants to ask him for his daughter's hand in marriage.

He does everything in proper fashion too - sits down with him, professes how (Y/N) makes him feel and even shows the ring that he'd picked out a few weeks back.

(Y/N)'s father essentially has to agree to Arthur's questions twice because the latter doesn't hear him the first time. He's too busy going through the speech he'd prepared to take into account that her father could answer before he finished it.

And when he does hear his answer, he's immediately relieved.

He wastes no time in asking her. In fact, he does it that evening while they're enjoying some time out on the grounds of his property. Of course she says yes!

News of the engagement spreads like wildfire throughout the village. Some think it's way too early for that step, but others - particularly those who have known (Y/N) and her family for some time - think it's perfect.

(Y/N)'s so excited to plan their wedding, and Arthur's eager to allow her to have anything she wants as part of their big day.

She pours every ounce of herself into the planning and preparations over the next few months.

All of the excitement, however, comes to a screeching halt near Christmas of 1925, when a Black Hand comes in the mail.

To be clear, by this point Arthur's told (Y/N) about what sort of business he was involved in prior to moving out of Small Heath. He felt that if he was going to truly be with her, she deserved to know every part of him.

Sure (Y/N)'s not exactly enthused to learn of the types of things he'd done in the past, but anyone was easily able to see that he was making a good faith effort to separate and distance himself from every part of that lifestyle - besides keeping in touch with his family, of course.

When it's decided that the Shelby's would move back to Small Heath to face the vendetta head on, Arthur insists that (Y/N) stays back in the village. He hopes that the Italians don't know much more about his life there than the address of his home.

There's some hesitance from (Y/N), but she ultimately agrees and moves back with her parents as Arthur heads to Small Heath.

The distance is tough for the two of them. They've essentially gone from being each other's everything every day for the past year to not having any contact whatsoever.

And so while hell's happening in Small Heath, (Y/N)'s living a normal life back home. Things go on like this for some time too...until one day things change.

The - for lack of better terms - hit gets put out after Arthur kills the two men in the basement of the factory.

Two strange men were hanging around the farmer's market for the entirety of (Y/N)'s shift. She feels something uneasy about them, but tries to shake it off and focus on helping customers and whatnot.

They bring her to a stop on her walk home and force her to get into their car, driving off without a word.

(Y/N) decides to stay quiet and remains relatively calm. She doesn't know what these men want, and hopes that if she's compliant with them, they'll let her go.

Unfortunately things don't pan out that way.

The drive feels like it goes on forever, and it's dark by the time they make it to their destination. Because of this - and the fact that the men were forcibly dragging her to the doors - (Y/N)'s unable to catch any defining markers of where she now is.

She's dragged into a dark room, where the only piece of furniture is a wooden chair. Nothing is said as she's shoved into the chair and the men begin tying her to it. "What do you want from me?" she finally asks.

One of the men smirks, glancing at his counterpart before responding, "I'd get comfortable, sweetheart, you might be here awhile."

With that the two leave her tied to the chair, nodding to the man that she now notices is sitting by the door of the room.

A decent chunk of time passes - (Y/N)'s not sure how much because there's nothing that could tell her - before the door opens again.

A different man walks in this time. He's wearing a nicely tailored suit, a fedora, and as he comes to a stop in front of her, (Y/N) can see that he's chewing on the end of a matchstick. A wicked grin spreads across his lips as he gets a good look at her.

"Who are you?" she asks, trying to keep her voice steady.

"You don't know me, sweetheart, but I know all about you," the man answers, "and your family."

This confuses her even more. "What do you mean?"

The man responds quickly, "Your husband killed my father. I want to know where he is."

"I don't...I don't know where he is," she says while trying to hide the fact that her heart is beating out of her chest.

The man just laughs at her statement. "See I don't believe that."

"It's true," she quickly responds, the desperation in her voice not helping her.

The man shakes his head, a wicked smirk forming as he looks her over. "Let me put this as simply as possible: you have twenty-four hours to give Arthur Shelby to me, or it'll be you who dies next. Understood?" (Y/N) doesn't answer. He gets really close to her as a look of annoyance spreads across his face. "I said: do you understand me?" The cologne he wears is almost too much for her to bear. Her face wrinkles together for a moment, hoping if she holds her breath, he'll just leave. But he doesn't.

So she opens her eyes and locks them onto his. "I do," she finally answers, her voice steady despite the fear that's coursing through her.

"Good," the man smirks, finally stepping away from her. "You'll tell him when you're ready," he states, motioning to the man who'd been watching her since she was placed in the room. "I'd do it sooner than later, sweetheart," he suggests, laughing to himself as he exits the room.

(Y/N)'s left with a startling decision now. She truly doesn't know what to do, or if there's even a way out of this.

Back home, people are talking. (Y/N)'s absence isn't hard to miss. At first it's thought that maybe she's gone out for the day, but worries skyrocket when she hasn't returned by the evening.

Her parents waste no time in contacting Arthur, even though it might not be the best move.

(Y/N) told them of the way she was instructed to get any urgent information to Small Heath - by calling the factory they owned and placing a message.

When Arthur receives this message the next time he's at the factory, he immediately knows something's wrong with her. There wouldn't be any other reason why (Y/N)'s parents would be the ones sending out the call.

They manage to send one of Aberama's men out to gain more details, and what information is brought back to Small Heath instantly makes Arthur's blood run cold. His fiancée was in danger. Everything else could wait...what needed to happen next was they needed to find where she was being held.

— ••• —

(Y/N) doesn't give any information to the man appointed to watch over her. She wasn't going to give her fiancé up. She holds onto hope that something'll happen before her time is up.

The man sitting by the door keeps a steady watch on her. (Y/N)'s surprised that he hasn't nodded off to sleep yet, as he hadn't been switched out for anyone else.

It all happens so suddenly. One moment, the man was turning his head to investigate a scraping noise that he heard just outside the doorway. The next, there's a man with what (Y/N) makes out to be shoulder-length hair peeking out from under a fedora pressing a gun to the seated man's temple.

The breath gets stuck in (Y/N)'s throat, but she doesn't panic.

"You speak and it'll be the last thing you ever do," the gun wielding man threatens the seated man. As expected, silence follows. "She's in here," the man then proclaims, making more footsteps sound in the corridor.

The voice that comes next has sobs of relief leaving (Y/N)'s mouth. "(Y/N)," Arthur calls as he rushes to where she's tied up. "(Y/N), love, I'm here."

"I...I didn't know what to...I didn't tell them anything," she stumbles over her words as Arthur works quickly on untying her from the chair. The second her hands are released, she falls into his arms.

"I've got you now. You're ok, you're safe," he whispers into her hair as she clings to him.

"What do I do with him, boss?" the man, who's still pressing a gun into one of her captors' temple, asks.

"Dispose of 'em," a second man responds. A slight struggle ensues, but (Y/N) doesn't move to see what happens. She stays put in Arthur's arms.

Time passes and the couple stays put. Arthur's thanking every god he knows of for keeping (Y/N) safe. (Y/N)'s still trying to get a hold of her emotions. Keeping them bottled up for this long while she was tied up is catching up with her.

"I didn't know if you'd come or not," she finally says some time later.

"I'll always come," he assures her, his voice gravelly as his emotions catch up with him. "When the day's done, I've got you, darlin'."

His comforting words made her finally lift her head from his chest. Her teary eyes found his and she couldn't help but smile. It felt like they'd been apart for years. Something quickly became apparent to her as she took in his appearance.

"Arthur..." she paused, letting out a mixture of a laugh and a sniffle, "your hair." What was all one length and longer was now shaved short on the sides but kept long on the top. She just had to reach out to feel it, wanting to confirm that it was actually real.

Arthur's brows furrow in confusion for a moment before he realizes what she's talking about. He can't help but chuckle as he feels her fingers run through his hair. "I cut it. Hope you don't mind, love."

"I don't," (Y/N) answers, shaking her head. "I love it."

Thank you for making it through…whatever this was. I appreicate you sticking with it. I’m not sure how many more fics I’ll write in this format but I will say that it really helped me get an idea I was originally struggling with out.

MASTERLIST

Tagged: @the-anxious-youth @mystcldydrms @look-at-the-soul @mrsalwayswrite @julkaamazing

@evita-shelby @lilyrachelcassidy @theshelbyslimited @peakyswritings @watercolorskyy

@strayrockette @peakyduchesss @alexxavicry @stevie75 @dark-academia-slut

@zablife @cillmequick @letal-y-poetica @depxiety @shelundeadxxxx

@red-riding-wood @padfootdaredmetoo @crabat-the-queen @sebastianstangirl01 @everythingelseisextra

@kmc1989 @papichulo120627 @brummiereader @adaydreamaway08 @justrainandcoffee

@peakyltd @johannelis2302nely @just-a-blackhole @anotherblinder @ce1iat

@christinasyellowflowers @insanitybyanothername @daisyblinder @wotcherpeak @call-sign-shark

@sleepyycatt @novashelby

#arthur shelby #arthur shelby x reader #arthur shelby x you #arthur shelby x y/n #arthur shelby imagine #arthur shelby fanfic #arthur shelby fanfiction #peaky blinders #peaky blinders x reader #peaky blinders x y/n #peaky blinders x you #peaky blinders fanfiction #peaky blinders fanfic #peaky blinders imagine #peaky blinders fic #fanfic #fanfiction

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oceanfruitsstuff · 5 months ago

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So, I’m in no way a professional here, but I’ve been learning more about writing and storytelling and all that fun stuff and one thing I love about Stranger Things is how they do love triangles—or more, love upside down V’s, that visual always helps me a bit more when I’m trying to make sense of them.

Stranger Things isn’t over yet, they still have a big chunk left to go, so I’m not going to act like anything is set in stone, they might go a completely different direction we know nothing about and that’s totally fine—but if we’re working with what we know up to this point, it’s always been pretty obvious to me what their intentions are if they’re following the normal structure of love triangles.

So let’s say Mike is character A, El is character B, and then Will is character C. Since Stranger Things isn’t a romance story and there is queerness involved, it’s going to be much more subtle then, let’s say, Steve/Nancy/Jonathan. But I’m getting off topic here, what I’m saying is Mike is not the main focus for both characters, in a show or movie that’s revolving around romance, both B and C characters would, usually, have their main focus be A (the character they want to be with) a big thing for me when I’m reading books with love triangles or watching shows/movies, is that if at any point one of the characters (besides character A) has an important arc of finding independence and learning about who they are, you can almost always rule that character out of being part of the “endgame couple”. Not everytime, but almost everytime. So, the second I watched season 4 it was a big “ohhh” moment for me when I saw what they were doing.

Also, if we’re gonna just follow the cliques of love triangles, the “obvious” or maybe first choice/couple, is very rarely going to be the final couple. Again, not always, but it’s extremely uncommon.

We can even do a comparison to the hunger games, it’s obviously a vastly different story, but there is a similarity woven in with the little love triangle they have going on. Katniss’ first choice is not Peeta, and we all know what happens—but the thing that is bringing me to this point, is that they still are almost always together, their plot lines are lined up. Of course it’s different since Katniss is the only POV, but still, no matter what, she winds up, usually, working with Peeta OR trying to find him once he’s taken.

Circling back to Mike and Will, they’ve never been separated, they’re storylines have been continuously woven together, they flew Mike out to Lenora this season just so he would end up working with Will. The only season they’re apart is season one—but, Mike’s goal the entire time and main focus is Will. They bump together because, a lot of the time, they’re focusing on one another.

A writer wants their endgame couples to be displayed together, the want people to like them together and root for them, or really just see them together. Every single other couple on the show (except for Jonathan and Nancy is season 4) are always shoved next together during the main plot. Joyce and Hopper don’t even start chatting about being together until season 3. We all kind of know where it’s headed, but most of their encounters aren’t romantic, there’s a depth to them that makes it somewhat romantic, but it’s not necessarily written to be that way. If you’re writing a story, you want the two characters you plan to be together to have a heavy background, a good rapport with one another, and to be seen together. Whether they’re currently dating or not, you want your audience rooting for them.

With El and Mike, it’s always been so odd the separation they have—because their arcs are not meant to intertwine, they love each other and hold an important relationship in the story, sure, but one of the reasons I’ve always felt strange watching their relationship on screen is because it doesn’t appear their stories are going in the same direction. There is this lack of romantic depth, or honestly even friendly depth, they hold each other at arms length. I think that’s for many reasons, but an important one is that El’s arc is not romance, I think for her character it would be insane if it was. The things she’s been through are crazy, and she’s only just learning who she is and who she wants to be—based on what we saw in the last scene where she’s practically ignoring Mike, we can assume she’s figured out what she wants.

Very very rarely does character A end up with character B. In real life, maybe, in stories, it’s pretty boring and not what people lean towards. Again, the show is not over, they could shift things around, it’ll be interesting to see—but I would be extremely surprised if Will and Mike don’t end up together or atleast are shown to have mutual feelings, purely just based on the simple storytelling structure they’re following.

Anyway I’m sure a million people have already said this, but the writing of how they’re handing Will and Mike is so interesting to me—and obvious if you’re taking away homophobia.

Characters that are meant to be together are usually shown together. If they’re not, that’s when you ask questions on what else might be going on.

Who knows if I know what I’m talking about, that’s just my POV on it all. I love Mike and Will, I’ve always thought they’d be beautiful together, but season 5 will be super exciting to see.

#byler #byler endgame

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keyofjetwolf · 3 months ago

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Now that it's been a couple of days, do you have any structured commentary about the Sailor Moon Live, or is it still just (excited screaming)?

CAN SCREAMING FOREVER WORK AS A RESPONSE

That doesn't pass for structure, huh? Fair. Okay well let's spew some word-based vomit all over things. That's The Jet Wolf Way.

Spoilers for the Sailor Moon Super Live 2025 North American (read: JUST U.S. SORRY CANADA YOU'RE A PENGUIN TO US NOW) under the cut.

By which I mean specific production details, because it's the fucking Dark Kingdom plot AGAIN so like how realistically spoiled can you possibly be on that by this point.

So first and foremost let me say that I am so out of the loop that I had no idea there was a new Sailor Moon musical production AT ALL, let alone that it was coming to the States. States to which I could reasonably have access! When Doc dropped this on me, approximately three hours I think before I was going to be sitting there in a seat all of my very own, I was absolutely 100% without a single word for I think a good minute.

Life necessitated a massive shift in my day-to-day focus of course, but matters of the heart give far fewer shits. My girls are still my motherfucking girls, and while the last few years have left me with far less time and energy to scream, the desire to do so remains strong and vibrant. Midge knows each of the Inners by name, because she sees them constantly on my computer wallpapers, art on my refrigerator, the blanket that's now functionally hers. "Who's the best character in Sailor Moon?" is met, with about 95% unprompted success, with a resounding "REI HINO!!", because she's my medically perfect genius baby (and also perhaps coached on this not infrequently).

My heart is and continues to be a kaleidoscope, is what I'm trying to say. And this was something I've wanted to do, to see a production live and in person, and NEVER thought I'd have the opportunity to do. Then suddenly, not only did I learn it was happening, right here, right now, but I WOULD BE THERE. I'm not sure I can properly articulate the sudden unexpected magnitude of feelings. I have no idea what my fucking face looked like, but I hope for Doc's sake, it was pretty great.

I actually continued in a weird place of disbelief up until the very moment it began. Despite the ticket, despite the marquee, despite the incredibly thoughtful and gorgeous and wonderful Mars sweater Doc fucking MADE ME. Despite the flow of other nerds around us, despite the photo op, despite the literally unbelievable merchandise line (the shit was up with that my GOD), despite the set, despite the light, despite the literal stage with the literal signage that literally said "Sailor Moon".

LOOK AT THAT FAKE FUCKING NEWS, I apparently thought to myself.

It wasn't until the house lights went down and the Usagi body double popped her giant moon did it slam into me. It's happening, AND I AM HERE TO SEE IT.

I absolutely 100000% did not tear up a little when Rei came out, and that non-existent moistening in no way increased as she proceeded to give Usagi shit for the entire duration of her intro. No sir no ma'am, I'm both a rock and an island, you know.

The story itself, I mean -- like I said, it's the Dark Kingdom. AGAIN. But it's amazing how actually being there, being part of the whole thing? It didn't matter. It was almost ... Like, I will always always always be team "Give me something new jesus fucking wept I am begging you" for this franchise. But the fact that I knew every single beat of this tired out overplayed thing and so too did 2500 of my closest friends ... It freed me from demands. It wasn't going to be different, so it also wouldn't let me down in new and exciting ways GLARING AT YOU FOREVER CRYSTAL.

I think if this were a regular thing, this going to watch the musical LIVE and IN PERSON, then yeah, moving exactly nowhere in 30+ years would feel pale and stagnant. But we're not there, nowhere near, and so it wasn't that at all. It wasn't dull. It was home.

Because I'm me, and because I don't have the at-home freedom to pause and rewind and spend hours studying a single scene and repeatedly rewatching to catch every single detail of every single character, I of course played the "WHERE'S REI WHAT'S REI DOING" game every single second the opportunity presented itself. Consequently, I enjoyed no small amount of consistent badassery and flagrant Usagi-based protective shenanigans, including bodily shoving her this way and that and turning to snap at her when she was stupid and I was in pure heaven, kids.

I could absolutely have done with more Inners-based individual character stuff, but let's be honest, I'm basically an insatiable bottomless void there. When is enough enough? A: NEVER. But trying to be (relatively) fair and (grudgingly) concede it's not necessarily all about ME, I thought it did a good job with its balancing acts. Usagi kind of sucked in places, Mamoru's dick wasn't perpetually shoved in my mouth, the Shitennou weren't even IN the bloody thing so we didn't have to waste precious minutes there, AND MINAKO GOT TO STAB BERYL FUCK YEAH SHE DID. It even, for a couple seconds there, flirted with the idea of Beryl ALSO being stuck in a resurrection cycle, which I can't lie is intriguing as FUCK.

So yeah, I'd say I felt the production felt to me like a celebration, and for that, did its job SPECTACULARLY.

MY GIRLS

Special Bonus Awesome Notes:

Cabaret Beryl huh???? Talk about a thing I didn't know I needed but SO DID. What a magnificent way to have fun with something that might otherwise be either too slow or too dull. I legitimately didn't even realize the Shitennou weren't there until much later in the production; Beryl just FILLED the stage when she was there, and the delightfully ridiculous seasoning on the whole thing was all I needed to make the dish satisfying.

I know Holligay is a raging lesbian, but this bitch and whasserface playing Mamoru, fuck me.

I NEED NAY DESERVE THOSE TWIRLY SENSHI LIGHT THINGIES. The light peripheral game in this thing was strong as hell, and peaked exquisitely with those. From elements to symbols and back again. LOVED THEM. WANT THEM. MUST HAVE THEM. (blah blah blah Jetty you wouldn't know how to use them you'd kill yourself Jetty no blah blah)

In summation, what a glorious fucking time. I've actually been struggling a little bit with feeling I've not done anything to deserve what a wonderful, thoughtful, FUCKING UNDERHANDED AND UNTOPPABLE, gift was this experience. But I sure did get it, and I sure did love it, and it's mine now, so OH WELL I GUESS.

Allow me to leave you with this, the only tiny bit of video I took of the whole thing. Please enjoy: a) Holligay VERY CLEARLY joining in on the "Oshioki yo!" like a fucking weeb, b) how the video jumps dramatically at the opening strains of Moonlight Densetsu because the aforementioned Holligay jabbed not just her elbow but HER ENTIRE BODY into me, and c) that weeby cunt bellowing the opening syllable in "Sorry" as in "Sorry that I'm not honest" as she begins and will continue to sing the entire song in the correct tune but with the translated English lyrics. Longtime Yuri Hell's Kitchen fans, you might recognize this travesty.

youtube

IN CONCLUSION: REI HINO

#jet wolf loves rei hino #sailor moon super live 2025 #i hate docholligay: the blog #i mean seriously how do i get this fucker back for this one like damn girl

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sumwan · 2 years ago

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I'm not sure how many people know about this, but the entire script for the Green Festival was actually shown in Tommy's DSMP tribute video from last year. It seems to have been written by Dream (it mentions "I" at some point when referring to Dream), and it's pretty interesting to see how they planned out the lore streams and what changed in the actual streams.

Transcription can be found under the cut.

Transcription The festival is happening. Fundy, Tubbo, Quackity, Ranboo, Niki, and anyone else that is generally around lmanburg can attend. Everyone starts streaming early for the festival. Before the festival starts, Quackity Tubbo and Fundy (and ranboo? I'm not sure who was there originally), have a meeting about how they're going to kill Dream.

They talk about how Dream trusts Tubbo so Tubbo is going to have to be the one to do it. That they've become sort of friends since Tommy was exiled. Tubbo agrees, still slightly doubtful that it would work. Tubbo says that Dream agreed to show up with no armor to for the first time ever, honor lmanburgs laws.

The meeting ends and they start the festival, talking about how Dream said he would be a little late.

Tommy and Techno at this point have been planning how they're going to ruin the festival (and get back Tommy's disc from Dream). They know that Dream will show up, but they don't know how they'll fight him without him escaping. (Ranboo finds them on the outskirts of lmanburg and tells them that Dream agreed to show up in no armor? possibly?) That sparks that they can hide around lmanburg and ambush Dream when he's at the festival. Tommy and Techno improv and mess around while trying to build an "ambush spot" (all of this is sort of unimportant to the plot so can be adjusted to make funnier/better streams for those two).

Tommy and Techno start streaming about 30 minutes after the others.

After some festival activities have been done, Dream shows up in full armor, placing obsidian again in a wall formation. Everyone sees him and runs over confused about what's happening.

They hop in a call with dream (techno and tommy join too but tell eachother to be quiet before joining.) Dream starts screaming about what Tommy did and how he really screwed up this time (tommy is kind of afraid and is looking at techno for assurance), and everyone is confused about what Tommy did, especially tubbo. Dream yells about the fact that Tommy destroyed the community house, the longest standing structure on the server, and how he has to pay for it. Quackity and the others don't believe it and decide to go look with Dream. (Techno and Tommy follow stealthily behind (invis), no one should see them).

Sapnap and anyone else from the original Dream SMP can log on now or already be on and come over to see. (Awesam, Callahan, George(probably not), Sapnap, BadBoyHalo, Punz)

They stand in front of the shattered remains and everyone is shocked that Tommy would do this, and upset. Everyone is insisting that Tommy really screwed up and that it's horrible.

Tubbo agrees but insists that he and lmanburg had nothing to do with it. Dream says that as long as Tubbo has one of the discs, he has everything to do with Tommy. Tubbo seems shocked and thinks about what Dream said. All of the Dream SMP original members agree and are talking about how he should give it so they can burn it once and for all. Tubbo is reluctant but seems to agree that Tommy keeps doing things that would put lmanburg in danger, so he doesn't want association.

He seems like he is about to give the disc, so Tommy reveals himself (techno too) and gets into a screaming match with Tubbo about it.

--Tommy and tubbo fill in what happens here, but it's a big argument and fight probably mostly improv-

Eventually after both nearly dying, Tommy realizes that he's fighting his best friend and stops. Tubbo is angry and gives the disc quickly to Dream, saying that it's just a stupid disc. Tommy is hurt by that but realizes that he's been blinded and has lost friends because of it. Tommy realizes that Dream now has both of his discs, and that they're back at square one.

Dream has an evil speech about how Tubbo is an idiot and that he never should have given him the disc. That Tubbo was never the president of L'manburg, but that everyone else had more control than him of his own country, even Dream. That he's the worst president because he was no president at all. Expose Ranboo as a traitor that has been working with Techno and Tommy, and that he can't even keep control of his own people. Give Tubbo the book with proof. That l'manburg is weaker than it's ever been, and that the only thing stopping Dream from completely destroying l'manburg was the fact that Tubbo had the discs and so Dream had to befriend him.

Now there's nothing stopping Dream from completely obliterating l'manburg. Everyone seems shocked and tries to talk Dream down, but Dream screams and tells everyone to shut up. Everyone goes completely silent. Dream asks Techno if he has any withers left. Techno responds basically like "oh do III" because he has so many.

--Techno should add more here so he has more of a role-

Dream announces that tonight is the final night of l'manburg forever. That he and Techno will finish the job that Wilbur started, and that l'manburg will be blown all the way to bedrock at (TIME, the next day). He tells everyone to say their last goodbyes, and to not try and stop him because Techno and him will kill every last one of them.

Dream leaves.

Everyone is left in shock, (maybe techno has some funny monologue here like it's awkward that I just left him there with everyone or something)

No one knows what to say. They realize that Dream has gone completely insane and that he has to be stopped. (techno is gone by now) They realize that Dream made a mistake by telling them the time, and they decide that they will all plan to work together and stop them. If all of the server fights together they can beat Techno and Dream. They get hyped about it and Tommy and Tubbo agree to fight together, despite having 1 canon life, that they're willing to put their lives on the line for l'manburg. They kind of have a reunion.

--Possibly Tommy leaves or ends here?-

Quackity seems blood thirsty and wants to punish Ranboo for conspiring with them and being a traitor. Tubbo disagrees and Quackity and tubbo get into an argument, Quackity insists that he HAS to execute him because he was a traitor. Tubbo gets mad and flips out on Quackity insisting that he's not going to be like Schlatt and execute him next to his own festival decorations (call back), that they need to ALL be together, ALL of them, otherwise they will lose to Techno and Dream. As long as he agrees to fight, he will fight with them. Quackity still seems to disagree, Tubbo puts his foot down and mentions what Dream said. That everyone else always pushed him around, but no HE'S the president, and his word is final, anyone who goes against it is committing treason. Quackity reluctantly agrees, but says that what Tubbo said doesn't mean they can't deal with the traitors after they stop Techno and Dream.

-End of this stream-

Bullet points for Tommy-

Starts Stream a little after Tubbo and the others start.

Plan to go to l'manburg to ruin the festival

Show up at l'manburg, with lots of invis potions, investigate what's happening

Dream shows up, join VC secretly Hear Dream freak out about the community house, seem confused, follow them.

Once Tubbo seems like he's going to give up the disc, tommy interjects

Fight tubbo

Give up on fighting tubbo and realize that you're fighting your best friend

Listen to Dream evil speech

After Dream/Techno leaves, convince everyone to work together. Talk about putting your life on the line for l'manburg.

Bullet points for Techno-

Start Stream a little after Tubbo and the others start.

Plan to go to l'manburg to ruin the festival

Show up at l'manburg, with lots of invis potions, investigate what's happening

Dream shows up, join VC secretly Hear Dream freak out about the community house, seem confused, follow them.

Once Tubbo seems like he's going to give up the disc, tommy interjects

Fight tubbo

Give up on fighting tubbo and realize that you're fighting your best friend

Listen to Dream evil speech

Join in when Dream asks if you have withers, *whatever else you want here*

After Dream leaves, awkwardly leave and head back to your house

Dream is there and Techno & Dream briefly talk about what they're going to do, Techno shows Dream the wither room

Bullet points for l'manburg-

Start Stream a little before the festival

Have meeting with cabinet about killing Dream, how Tubbo should be the one to do it because he's trusted.

Start the festival, Dream said he would show up a little later.

Dream shows up in full armor and is building an obsidian wall.

Realize and run over pissed off. Join his VC (don't see tommy / techno)

Listen to Dream, then go see the community house

Be mad at Tommy

Tubbo fights with Tommy after almost giving up his disc

Fight ends, Tubbo gives the disc to Dream to end war

Listen to Dream evil speech

Ranboo was a traitor for Techno/Tommy

After Dream/Techno leaves, Tubbo and Tommy convince people to work together. They talk about putting their lives on the line for l'manburg.

Quackity wants Ranboo executed

Tubbo puts his foot down and insists that he will not be doing that, that he's president.

Bullet Points for original DreamSMP members:

After l'manburg and dream show up at the community house(it's blown up), show up and seem upset and distressed that it was blown up. That it was the oldest artifact on the server and it had a lot of memories.

Follow Dream's lead, mostly agreeing with what he says.

Once Dream brings up the disc that Tubbo has, insist that it be burned and turned over by Tubbo.

Once Tubbo turns over the disc, Dream gives and evil speech

Realize that Dream is taking it too far and l'manburg's a part of history and is a free country

Follow Tommy/Tubbo's lead, talk about how you guys can stop Dream and Techno if you all work together

#maybe this was known about already but I've never seen it anywhere?#meta #it's funny to me how closely both Dream and Punz follow the script actually #dsmp

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blakbonnet · 11 months ago

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AUTHOR OF THE WEEK: @clairegregoryau 💕

Everytime the topic of fandom kindness and community comes up, of helping each other out and fostering a quiet corner where people can be themselves, most people in our little fandom think of Claire. She's written over a million words of OFMD fic and read even more, and you can always see so so many recs over on her twitter. Incredible good vibes, and an author who truly lives to lift other authors up. She also does SO SO much for fic authors over on the OFMD Fic Club server <3 And she was incredibly kind and shared her entire writing process with me:

What's your writing process like? Do you start with the beginning or the end? Do you write in order or as the scenes come to you?

I’m a huge advance planner, which is a process that has developed for me over more than 25 years of writing original fiction. I’ll get whacked with a story idea, then I’ll sit down and set out the central kernel of that idea, and where it needs to start, where it needs to end, and what the turning points need to be to get there.

A lot of the time I use a three-act structure, largely because Jenkins has talked about OFMD using that structure (one example here). So that makes it easy for me to hold to the canon beats when I’m writing AU stories, or to mirror them in canon-era stories, which is also something I try to do most of the time. With long experience (and now 1.7 million words of OFMD fic written (!)), I find this part of the process really easy. I’ll usually do that plotting by hand-writing out my notes, because it really fires up a different part of your brain.

Because I am such an advance planner, I do tend to write in a completely linear way from start to finish (I also pretty commonly post my long-fics as I write- each chapter goes up as soon as it’s finished and has a final editing pass). Punching through it in a linear way, knowing the ending that I’m working towards and being enthusiastic to get there, really keeps me motivated.

I do all of my writing in 30-minute sprints at the OFMD Fic Club Discord, where we’ve built a lovely and LOUDLY enthusiastic writing community that anyone is welcome to hop into 24/7. For those who find the constant chat a bit overwhelming, we also have a Quiet Focus Sprints channel. Again via long practice, I’m a very fast writer, but that’s accelerated a lot more over the last couple of years, paradoxically because I couldn’t write the way I used to anymore.

I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease that includes some fun brain impacts at times, and it’s really hit my working memory especially. I used to be able to hold all the strands of a complicated story together in my head as I wrote, but now I can’t do that as easily. So that’s why the outline is important for me, so I never lose track of the idea- I’ll also do a quick outline at the start of each chapter I’m writing that notes what needs to happen, and then I’ll write in what I call layers, getting down whatever I can first, and then doing sweeps back through it to add internals, narrative detail, sensory details and so on. I make a LOT of notes and square brackets as I go to remind myself of things to look at later.

I also use a plot matrix [Twitter thread, Example Matrix] that you may have seen floating around- I mostly use it to keep track of plot details that have already happened within a story, so that I can check it out at a glance, but I will sometimes plan certain elements in advance (as in the case of Tree Change, which covered 87 of the 93 Kinktober prompts last year across 12 carefully planned chapters). There’s always space when I’m writing for the characters to surprise me within that plot framework- as a final plotting thing, once I’m at the halfway mark I’ll often plot backwards from the planned end to make sure that I’m on course, and to see what I need to adjust.

Favourite trope or headcanon you like to explore while writing?

I really like to dig into the friends-to-lovers trope that sits at the heart of the show. The Ed and Stede relationship reminds me immensely of my own- like Rhys and Taika as friends, we’ve been yes-anding each other for over 25 years (all of my least hinged fic ideas come from bouncing thoughts back and forth with my husband), and it’s been a steady mix of constant silliness, curiosity, and care. We’re best friends first and that’s one of my favourite things about Ed and Stede, that they are, too.

What I really love about it is the vulnerability of these two people who’ve been hurt so much by others in the past, who’ve never been fully appreciated for all the things that they are, and in each other they find the one absolutely perfect person who just gets them, and it makes all the difference. It’s always fun to play with that and variations on it in fics, and it’s usually the beating heart of my stories.

Whose voice is easier to write - Ed or Stede? Why?

I want to say that I find them both equally easy depending on the story. Ed as a character speaks very much the way I think- he has that ADHD buzz, the high swear level, and a very AoNZ turn of phrase that’s also very familiar to Australians (like me). Writing Ed is like turning the inside of my head out and it always flows easily.

But I have always said that I see myself in both characters in equal parts, so I find Stede pretty easy to write as well. I feel like I pretty solidly understand him as a person, with his history of rejection and his commitment to trying anyway, and trying to be kind, and letting himself be fascinated by things, from piracy to books to moths to Ed (that one’s not hard).

Your personal favourite thing you've written that you'd like more people to read

This is a near-impossible question with 69 OFMD fics up on AO3 😅 I really do love them all, and I have a lot of smaller one-shots that haven’t been read as much, but overall I’m incredibly lucky with readership and so so grateful for everyone who enjoys my work.

But my recent Reverse Bang fic The Broken Lines is hugely important to me and I think it’s probably one of the best things I’ve ever written anywhere. It’s set in the aftermath of the First World War (my professional zone of expertise), and features a Stede who’s lost his voice, his memory, and as far as he knows, his Ed. He gradually remembers what happened with the help of the crew and another Ed, who appears in his mirror from 1719, searching for his own Stede. It was a beautiful collaboration with artist Gerlinde to begin with, but I also got to work with one of my longest-term writing friends Jill @followedmystar as my beta, and then with Boy, who made a truly transcendent podfic that I can’t yell about enough.

What is the one word that you think you use a lot?

I think the word I have to zap more than any other is “actually”, and there are still a million of them in there when I’m done. The main reason is that to stick close to canon voice, I try to incorporate a lot of the less iconic/ more ordinary turns of phrase that the characters use a lot in their speech (I’ve watched every episode of the show… way too many times), and both Ed and Stede actually use “actually” a surprising amount. I just use it an even more surprising amount 😂

(This just sent me on a QUEST to find a specific number because I am that kind of nerd- Stede says it 15 times in S1 and 12 in S2, and Ed says it 8 times in each, for totals of 27 and 16, many of them in distinctive moments; it just gives that little buzz of recognition for me. I started out screenwriting before I moved to prose, so my writing tends to lean pretty strongly on having a recognisable, almost audible voice to the dialogue, as well as a cinematic visual style for the big adventures especially).

Do you have a beta reader? Have they made you a better writer?

I quite deliberately don’t use a beta reader for most of my OFMD fics, because being in this space is an exercise in recovering from lifelong paralysing perfectionism around writing especially. I’ve spent so many years not finishing original work because it never feels like it passes the invisible bar for perfection that exists in my own head. So when I started writing OFMD fic, I set out to accept good enough as good enough, and to get back to enjoying writing as fully as I can.

Obviously this means that my work could be better, but I’m actively working on letting that thought go and loving everything I’ve made just as it is. When I have worked with beta readers on projects that require them, like the Reverse Bang, it’s been with friends who I trust and adore, who I know will listen to what I need (cheerleading, mostly), and will do their best to work with me on improving the story without letting me spiral into hating it all because it wakes the perfectionist beast back up.

That doesn’t mean I’m without regular support, or that I’m not trying to improve my writing! I read an absolutely insane amount of fic, and I’m always in awe of the talent we have on this ship, and always learning from what other people do well. In lieu of beta readers, we share snippets of work all the time in our sprints team, so I get feedback there; I also get it from readers in progress, who often give me a sense of what’s hitting the way I hoped and what needs a bit of tweaking. I also have lovely group chats and individual friends like Kerry @communionnimrod and Lis @ghostalservice and Jill who I can run to if I need an opinion on whether an idea feels right or not, which I will often ask.

I’m very very careful with my writing, but in a couple of rare instances readers have also DMd me to note spots where I’ve inadvertently included something that doesn’t reach the sensitivity standard I’m aiming for. I’m always grateful for that gentleness and bravery in reaching out and I’m always happy to change something or to add tags or notes as needed.

Why OFMD 🥹

I watched the whole show in one hit a week after the final episode aired, and I loved it immediately, but I thought I was going to be normal about it. The unravelling into complete, unrelenting obsession happened gradually as I rewatched it with my husband and teen, then again, and again, then started to read fics and hunt up art, then started joining fan spaces, and then dived into writing my first fic in two and a half decades (all original writing between The X-Files and here), thinking it would also be my last.

I’m still here, still writing constantly, and a major portion of it is the show and how distinctly it reflected all the many parts of me, some of which I’d never seen so clearly before. I had a tough childhood in a few different family respects. I didn’t understand that I was neurodivergent until I turned 40 and my own kids were heading for diagnosis, and I’d been rejected constantly throughout my life for being too much. I was a high achiever who was in the process of crumpling under pressure right when I watched it, and while I’d been figuring out my sense of my own queerness for a few years, I’d never had a community that helped me feel at home with that.

And in the end it’s the community that’s been the reason I’ve been fully sucked into fandom for the first time since my teens- the writing in this space is top-tier wonderful, and the community is such a found family, just like the Revenge. Being able to write and have people actually want to read that writing, being able to cheer others on and hype their work, being able to help set up the OFMD Fic Club Discord and make it a safe spaceship for so many people, has been incredibly fulfilling and lovely.

Please head over to @ofmdlovelyletters (who also made the header) and send your love to all your favourite authors (and authors of the week 😈 watch that blog for some special letters coming your way)

#aotw #author of the week #artist of the week #clairegregoryau #ofmd #our flag means death #writing

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hotasfahrenheit · 3 months ago

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the extra long university BL thing: Perfect 10 Liners vs We Are

something that @poetry-protest-pornography and i started discussing the other day and that i just started getting into with @tortibomb in some reblogs is the differences between Perfect 10 Liners vs We Are, which are in many ways similar shows on the surface, but for me at least, P10L is working SO MUCH BETTER and has kept me captivated for 20+ episodes already where We Are had me complaining about how slow it was and itching for it to be over by episode 10, and barely held my interest to make it to the end at episode 16. why is that?

the main, most important difference between the two shows is in the structuring and how that has drastically effected the pacing of the plot and the focus on the characters. We Are was set up like a traditional college drama, with a whole set of main character couples to follow, and a handful of secondary characters that pop up through the series. there was one timeline happening through the show besides some flashbacks sprinkled in here and there, and we followed the entire group as they went through various events and struggles and falling in love with each other. at 16 episodes, even tho the characters were likable, the story felt unwieldy and slow for a lot of it, and i had to watch most episodes sped up to get through them and even doing it sped up felt like a struggle sometimes. i know a lot of people absolutely loved this show, but watching it a few months after it aired was rough, and it took me a long time to get through all the episodes because i just kept deciding to watch other things instead.

Perfect 10 Liners, in contrast, has a set of main character couples as well, but the show has used three story arcs to pull the main characters in and out of focus instead of trying to keep them all in the forefront the entire time, and it's made a WORLD of difference. the first arc (hah) mainly focused on Arc and Arm in an extended multi-episode flashback, but did tease the other couples here and there in a more current timeline. the way that they were then moved into being side characters for the next couple, Yotha and Gun, let the story feel fresh again while still having familiar characters around. beginning to set down the building blocks for Faifah and Wine in the second arc made the transition into the third even better since the seeds were planted so that you want to care about them and their story by the time it's their arc. you're already invested, and you're ready for them to take over the lead spot.

the problem with attempting to have four main couples all some degree of active at the same time in We Are meant that everything was spread too thin across the episodes. we got a small amount of progression for each couple sprinkled into episodes, and when all that is then spread over 16 episodes, it made the story feel achingly slow. i know a lot of people who actively watched the show while it was airing weekly didn't feel like there was an issue with the pacing, but i missed out on the weekly viewing and my viewing of it started as binge watching the first few episodes on a plane trip. after that trip and further into the show, i hit a point where i was spacing the episode watching out between other things and sometimes letting days or even a week or two pass between episodes, and i still struggled to finish the show. the cast couldn't save it for me, the characters couldn't save it for me. it was a struggle. i was watching episodes sped up and it was still hard to focus on them and care about what was going on.

meanwhile, Perfect 10 Liners has had me the whole run. with the cycling of the main characters, we've also had different sets of side characters introduced to go with them, and that hasn't felt overwhelming or cumbersome to the story. the shifting of the plot has felt like a natural progression between leads, and having the settings change a little has helped keep it fresh. the arcs have kept any part of the story from feeling like it goes on for too long; even something that's carried through, like the bad relationships that Yotha and Faifah both have with their mom, have been handled differently between their arcs as we've seen their problems from two different perspectives. the show feels more like it could have been three short seasons of one show instead of one show run all at once. being able to see each of the main couples function past the point of them finally getting together has been a bonus of the second and third arcs, as they've stepped aside once their arc is done. it's added a lot to the overall narrative, and made the whole thing just flow better.

when they announced Perfect 10 Liners was going to be 24 episodes, i was flabbergasted. i didn't think there was any way i would be able to handle watching the whole show, and i guessed that i would have to watch it sped up like i did with We Are. i've been so pleasantly surprised by it, and as it's drawing to a close, i'm finding myself sad that it's going to be over and i won't have all these beloved idiots on my screen on sundays anymore, when they've been with us for so long at this point.

also to be clear, if you haven't watched We Are yet, this isn't me telling you to not watch it. everyone likes different things, and just because i struggled with watching it doesn't mean you won't like it. maybe the structure of Perfect 10 Liners will drive you crazy. maybe you'll love both! maybe you'll hate both! everything is subjective! i just wanted to write about the thing that's made the difference for me. go forth and watch whatever shows you want and enjoy whatever you like! that's the beauty of having so many options these days.

the real thing i hope for coming out of both shows tho for real is MARC AND POON LEAD ACTORS WHEN because they were SO GREAT in both shows and they just need their own series already. pls. i'm begging you, gmmtv.

#perfect 10 liners #p10l #we are #we are the series

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horizon-verizon · 10 months ago

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How are we not supposed to root for the Targaryens when Daenerys performed a miracle of resurrection and is using her power to free enslaved people across Essos ? Even though we are told in the prologue of the first book that the true enemy is the cold and Daenerys is a dragon queen who birthed fire-breathing creatures ?

Daenerys is the ONLY character that is using her power to benefit more than just themselves or their family’s power. The emphasis on her fertility is not because the Targaryens are doomed to die, it’s just another aspect of the way she consistently defies reality and achieves the impossible, Mirri Maz Dur told her a flowery statement about the nihilistic situation Daenerys had been cast in but Daenerys rejected it, birthing dragons and healing herself.

Thank you, anon, for the Mirri thing, I esp appreciate this point bc I've last talked abt how Mirri attempts to deceive Dany concerning her son's death in the womb, how Mirri tries to "gaslight" & confuse her and very likely could have also tried to make sure she at least instills a seed of doubt in Dany even after death HERE.

And I agree, this is one of the early instances of Dany defying the expectations and machinations of both out-world and in-world; as the once-ozymalek/Phoenix-Ashes once said, in a conventionally written fantasy work, Dany would have been long-killed perhaps in her first married night or by Viserys or in childbirth. And despite her brother's and Illyrio Mopatis' and yes, even Mirri's, plotting and intentions for her, she manages to defy them all and survive but also work towards her people's wellbeing and safety anyway she can. Her brothers & husband die for her rise instead of the other way around. Through that fire that birthed her dragons, she is also passing through a inner transformation she herself triggered & orchestrated after doing away with her enemies, Mirri one of the first, turning Mirri's deception into something useful for herself even though it was never her intent to use her husband for said dragons. It's truly a beautiful and well written thing!

As for her ancestors, I favor them bc they simply are the more interesting party whoever you put beside them and that's because they are fleshed out for Dany's sake to contextualize her arc and character and role in Planetos history, past, present and future. While being very entertaining.

Truly, I think some people also hate the Targs as a group/collective bec EITHER bc:

they just cannot get behind who they see as enthusiastic/complacent participants of feudalism/exploitative structures when Dany is right there to be the opposer to any sort of exploitation, reevaluating and working against the legitimacy of absolute for its own sake

they hate how they make the injustices of Westerosi feudalism that much more obviously unjust in myriad of ways

Of course some Dany stans dislike or hate the Targs before her, and that makes sense precisely as you say abt her being the only one who is not trying for power either for themselves or for their house at the expense (or simply not centering) of lower classed people. Participating in their exploitation. I don't have anything to really say about that except for sometimes that comes at the expense of understanding the value of some Targs's stories--like with Rhaenyra's particular histiographical and personal experiences with sexism and how while she herself is nothing like her, her experiences and the themes there do connect with Daenerys and other F&B women [acertifiedmoron]:

within the culture of westeros all women are a commodity, valued entirely for their reproductive capabilities, exchanged by men to maintain the male line. this is the very basis of patriarchy. which is why the real evil here is the institution of marriage. yes, we've established that targaryen women are trapped within their endogamous marriages, but noblewomen in exogamous marriages also have very little hope for recourse. they don't have anywhere to go but pray for their family's aid (which happens rarely or never, as i've pointed out) or their husband's death. this is not me going to bat for incest, just that there really is no significant material difference between targaryen incestous marriages and other westerosi marriages. but to speak of the former as a unique kind of evil, one has to tacitly go to bat for normal westerosi marriages. and that obscures what the text is communicating. the targaryens are not an abberation. westerosi society as a whole is built on gendered violence perpetuating systems of gendered oppression. rarely is anyone not brutalising their daughters. the targaryens do it by keeping daughters within the family structure for consolidating dragon power and the other houses do it by trading their daughters for political power. both cases involve using young girls to bolster male power

#asoiaf asks to me #mirri maz duur #daenerys stormborn #daenerys targaryen #daenerys stormborn's characterization #agot characterization #the evil targaryens #asoiaf #fire and blood #agot #defending Daenerys Stormborn Khaleesi Targaryen

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manorpunk · 4 months ago

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I had an epiphany that I've been rolling around in my head lately - "if the plan is not working, that doesn't mean there's something wrong with me. It means there's something wrong with the plan."

I get anxious at the thought of changing things or starting over. It feels like an admission of defeat, or that it means I’ve been wasting my time. That’s not true - the plot is only one part of the story, and I’ve still been developing all these characters and locations that I can bring with me to the next idea. More importantly, “starting over” can mean that I have a better idea of what’s working and what I want to accomplish. If I start on an idea and it turns out it's not working, or even if I just start getting tired of it or feel like it's starting to collapse under its own weight, then I should put it on the shelf for a bit and try something that sparks my interest more. It seems obvious in retrospect to say "I will write more if I'm writing something I enjoy that interests me" but sometimes obvious things still have to be learned the hard way.

So, what's got my interest? What are the ingredients I want to put into the stew here?

Promise of the Premise: So, I've been rotating this thing in my head for a couple years now, which means there's a lot of twists and turns and not-what-it-seems and in-universe ideological debates that I've been developing. But the surface pitch of Manorpunk is "post-apocalyptic cyberpunk western pastiche of American suburbia," and when I write the Thing To Share, I want to hit those notes hard before I delve into the ideology and 'meaning,' which is fine, because hitting those notes is fun, and what's the point if I'm not enjoying myself!

Episodic/Serial Structure: TV show-esque, in terms of there being a series of self-contained stories advancing larger threads. A novel or movie or Big, Singular Thing is a constant process of revision, tweaking, changing the beginnings to fit new endings, etc., but if I go into it with an episodic structure in mind there's a lot more freedom to figure it out along the way.

Big and Small: A location that allows me to show off the various 'sides' of the setting - the unincorporated Manors speed-running the transition from anarchy to feudalism to statehood; the reality show-esque clashing of personalities among the governors of the post-crisis states; the atomized, corporate-branded treat-treadmill of city life. Any and all of these threads should be able to come up without needing to jostle things around too much.

Core Pair: A pair of central characters with interesting viewpoints, a compelling relationship with each other, and a vague goal which makes for a good excuse to catapult them in whichever direction takes my fancy.

I am not Nabokov: "My very photogenic mother died in a freak accident (picnic, lightning) when I was three[.]" What an unrepentant, interminable showoff! The way those two words conjure such a complete and hilariously grim image. The poetic rhythm of that two-word aside: PIC-nic, LIGHT-ning. The wry self-awareness of Humbert Humbert, revealing his sympathetic villain backstory - child of a perfect little family that was suddenly torn apart through random tragedy, oh you poor thing - yet doing it in a sly and subtle way that doesn't bring attention to itself, and yet on further inspection that sparse and lackadaisical description of his own mother's death brings attention to itself by being, well, a sparse and lackadaisical description of his own mother's death! You could write an entire master's thesis about that single two-word aside! In any case, I am not Nabokov, and what a relief that is, since Nabokov himself seems to have personally been truculent and insufferable (not content to just insult and grouse about his contemporary authors, he went a step further and beefed with Cervantes, perhaps being the only person to dislike Don Quixote who wasn't being funded by the Habsburgs). Free from the burdens of Nabokovhood, I can write and relish in the familiar, the weightless, the genre. I can seek comfort without shame and delight in petty parlor tricks. I can, in other words, have fun and enjoy myself.

I will explain where all of this is going... soon.

#under the hood

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athenanfaymont · 2 months ago

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On Growth, Craft, and the Right to Say: Yes, Sarah J. Maas Got Better ✍️📚

After I posted about Tamlin’s villain arc — or more precisely, the lack of one — I got a lot of responses. Some were supportive (thank you! 💖), and others were… let’s say passionate in their disagreement. So I thought it was only fair to clarify something:

Yes. I do think Sarah J. Maas improves her writing significantly as her books go on.

And no. That doesn’t mean I hate her or her work — quite the opposite.

🌱 Let’s start at the beginning. A Court of Thorns and Roses is a decent book. Enjoyable, romantic, intriguing enough to keep you turning the pages. But let’s be honest: the character development is inconsistent, the pacing shaky, and the prose is a little flat. The book is structured almost entirely around two major events (Feyre entering the fae world, and Under the Mountain), and everything in between feels like it’s still trying to figure itself out. There is a clear intention to create mystery when she is alone in the palace, but the author is unable to achieve it.

If you don't believe this, read it again and you'll see the HUGE difference in pacing, depth, and intention once the Under the Mountain arc begins. The improvement in the writing and plot is clearly evident.

✨ Fast forward to A Court of Mist and Fury, and suddenly you have layers. Inner monologues that actually hold weight. Character decisions that carry consequence. Trauma handled with more subtlety. Useful dialogue. And writing — actual writing — that feels more fluid, vivid, and intentional. 🌊💫

🧱 By A Court of Silver Flames, we’re deep into themes of mental health, recovery, shame, and desire with a complexity that would’ve felt impossible in the first book. We get to Nesta's arc because Maas is already capable of writing something with that complexity. Before, when she tried (and I have to go back to Tamlin), she wasn’t able to.

This isn’t slander. This is growth. You can love a series and still acknowledge its early flaws. You can be grateful for what it gave you and still wish it had been tighter, smarter, deeper from the beginning.

🌟 SJM didn’t start as a literary genius — few authors do. But what matters is that she got better, that her books are now of higher quality, and that we can enjoy them more fully.

And that’s something to appreciate. 💜📖

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yoddhasblog · 1 year ago

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Mahabharat is and will always be my favourite tale to reflect upon and talk to people about. This book was immensely hyped up along with the author. I have now read three of her books. The Last Queen, which admittedly I adored. Then, the Forest Of Enchantments, the book I'd been looking forward to for such a long time. That one left me in a rage.

I went into this book expecting to be pissed off and disappointed. And I wasn't let down on that assumption.

The Palace Of Illusions is a retelling of the great Indian epic-Mahabharata. A tale incorporated so deeply into our hearts that everyone has their own takes and beliefs and opinions about it. I sincerely believe that you cannot write a retelling without angering a number of people. Well, I'm one them.

The writing style:

I didn't have too many issues except i did not get why there were so many rhetorical and philosophical questions? Literal, paragraphs that were nothing but questions.

Draupadi, the enigma, the fire-born, the one person I would fight for as long as there is life in me, why was acting as though she was a little more than a sullen child? In the book that was supposed to be from her point of view, the person, the author did the most injustice with was-Draupadi.

The plot assassination:

As I mentioned above, most of everything in the plot of the epic was butchered and mangled to fit into the author's narrative of women, good-men,bad. It is common knowledge that women's position in society was as downtrodden as depicted here. Don't get me wrong, horrific crimes happened against women and justice was also delivered adequately but the author pulled apart the entire social structure only to be able to say that every bad thing happened to Draupadi was because she is a woman.

~ In the very first chapter, Draupadi said it was egoistic of her father to give her a variation of his own name when her brother, Dhrishtadyumna got an original name. In Vyas Mahabharat, her birth name was Krishnaa but like many people in Hindu beliefs, she was also known as Draupadi, though that is the most commonly used name. So, no points to the author trying to convince everyone that this was sexist.

~ Draupadi was highly educated and trained in many things including economics and she was the one who was in charge of the treasury of Indraprastha. She was a finance minister of sorts. So, saying that King Droupad refused to let her train because she is a woman is stupid.

~Also, I've grown up listening to that Draupadi stepped out of the fire as a young woman. She wasn't a child. Some sources say she was around 16 some say around 25.

~ Are we still stuck about 50 years ago that we're going to be okay with authors portraying that all women in power are evil? Kunti and Draupadi viewed each other as rivals? Draupadi throwing temper tantrums over other women? wtf

~ Draupadi as a pick-me? Half the book Draupadi's internal dialogue is nothing but I don't know how to socialize with other women, they're jealous of each other, they're always giggling, I won't survive the world of women, I can't dance, people don't find me pretty because of my dark complexion(where did white supremacy even came in this conversation) but suddenly out of nowhere Draupadi just knows that every woman is envious of her. She adores the saris and jewellery that she used to find impossible to handle.

~ Maharishi Vyas giving Draupadi Divya drishti to see the battlefield of Kurukshetra came out of nowhere. It felt a forced action done only to show Draupadi's emotions about the deaths.

~ Draupadi harbouring hidden feelings for Karna and him secretly returning those feelings felt like a teenager's fever dream. A teenager who's hellbent on sexualizing everything they come across.

~Bhagvat Gita was witnessed by everyone on kurukshetra including the Virat roop? Again, it felt like a move forced that was done in order to show Draupadi's internal dialogue. How did the author even think she could fit Bhagvat Gita in half a chapter?

~The Pandavas just had no personality whatsoever outside of being obedient to their mother and scared of Draupadi's temper tantrums.

~Krishan ji was told to be this charismatic, carefree, silvertongued diplomat but he was simply shown as someone who randomly showed up and gave unsolicited advice.

~And I don't know what that ending was but you can't be serious telling me that Karna and Draupadi somehow end up together in heaven?

~WHAT WAS THE AUTHOR'S PROBLEM WITH RESEARCHING ABOUT MAHABHARATA???

There was no way the entire plot of Mahabharata could've fit into one book. She tried too but this book sucked. I understand it's a retelling and sometimes had to change but everything here felt so forced. The author broke everything in context to fit into her supposedly feminist ideal. Don't get me wrong, i dislike the Pandavas, the Kauravas and their elders with all my heart but they all had one dimensional personalities. They had caricature-ish depositions. I had no emotions attached to anyone in this book whatsoever. This was a headache.

#the palace of illusions #draupadi #mahabharata #kurukshetra #hinduism #hindublr #desi blog #desi life #desiblr #being desi #desi tumblr #desi tag #desi teen #desi academia #desi dark academia #desi shit posting #arjuna

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cinnamontails-ff · 2 months ago

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"Magistrate's Advocate" in 15 beats

Here's my beat sheet for "Magistrate's Advocate"! Once again, I'm following the "Save the Cat" method to break down the plot into 15 beats. Yes, at 200k words, MA is roughly twice as long as a traditionally published novel, but it's always been planned as a single coherent story, and what's fanfiction for, if not a little self-indulgence? :D

Hopefully, this will be interesting/helpful for anyone interested in story structure, outlining etc! My beat sheet for Accountant's Guide is right here.

Full spoilers for Magistrate's Advocate ahead!

Opening Image

For MA, I really wanted to start off with the friendship between Zoraya and Astarion. The way they've spent their whole entire lives together in one way or another. That's why we start with them as children, running around his parents' orchard, laughing and having fun. It's a sweet, happy scene, but since we see it through Zoraya's eyes, there's also an air of nostalgia to it. Her narration makes it clear that their friendship didn't last forever and how, already back then, she felt like she was chasing him. It sets the tone for the depth of her feelings for him, the sense of imbalance in their relationship, and how this woman would do absolutely everything for Astarion.

2. Set-up

While Zoraya accepts Aquilan's request to go work for Astarion already in the prologue, I don't think the plot really kicks off until chapter 4, where Astarion makes her his advocate and decides to actually work with her (rather than give her menial tasks and be a pain in the ass). Chapter 2-3 are mostly set-up for the dynamic between Zoraya and Astarion. Her telling herself she can deal with this and is totally over him (sure, Zoya, sure). Him being an absolute prick to her and making it clear just what kind of magistrate he is -- but also showing the first signs of vulnerability and how maybe, perhaps, there is a sad wet cat hidden underneath it all.

3. The Catalyst

The point of no return is in chapter 4, where they go to court together and Astarion realizes what kind of gigantic trump card he has on his hands with Zoya. To me, the story doesn't really start until he states that she's his "advocate" (just pulling it out of his ass right then and there :D). And while his motivations are selfish, initially, this decision paves the road for their relationship to be one of respect and collaboration, rather than him torturing his assistant in whatever ways he can think of.

4. The Debate

This time around, the debate beat is less about Zoraya trying to decide if she wants to accept his job offer and more about her being confronted with the reality of what it's like to be his advocate. In chapter 5, he invites her to dinner with Cazador, which is where she really gets to see the kinds of people Astarion has surrounded himself with and what all he's willing to do to maneuver himself into a position of power. It's not enough to make her consider quitting, but it definitely sets the stage for what she's going to have to deal with in this job.

5. Theme Stated

Again, I don't want to say "this is the one and only theme of the story and if you saw something different in it, you're WRONG". Not at all. I love the fact that stories mean different things to different people, and I'm always super happy when readers point out things to me I never would have noticed or interpreted that way. But. For me, at its core, MA was always a story about people and how you view them. Racism, justice, slavery & vampirism -- those are all just different facets of it. The overarching question the story poses is: How do you view others? What sort of value do you assign to them (and what is that based on)? This is stated most clearly by Zoraya in chapter 4, where she tells Astarion, “Yeah, I’m sure you of all people know all about burdens.”

6. Break into 2

We begin act 2 with a visit to the Gur camp in chapter 6. We don't stay there for the entirety of act 2 this time, but it widens the scope of the story and forces Astarion to interact with the people who will be most affected by his policies. The scene is pretty much Zoraya, dragging him out there to confront the reality of his plans -- thus, figuratively, dragging him into act 2 of the story where he can no longer hide behind his fancy desk.

7. Fun and Games

"The Promise of the Premise" for MA is that the selfish racist magistrate accidentally learns morals from his lovely advocate, all while working through their shared past and falling in love in the process. The general trajectory of things here is positive, so from chapter 6-14, we see Zoya breaking through Astarion's walls of elitism, prejudice and selfishness. Importantly, she doesn't change him so much as she inspires him to change all by himself (see beat 8, B Story). After she saves him from the bandits in chapter 7, putting her own life on the line for him without a beat of hesitation, he is the one who decides to change his plans and make the Ancunin Highway into a philanthropy project instead. He tells her (and himself) it's just an act for media approval, but, well ... the timing of things tells a different story, Astarion :P

At the same time, we see their blossoming relationship as he and Zoraya work together on his highway plan. We see them fight over what happened in their childhood, get closure on all those things that were never said. We see them twirl in ballrooms and pine and kiss, but most importantly, we see how they're both at their best when they're together -- not just romantically, but also as legal professionals.

8. B Story

Whereas Astarion's highway plans are the external plot, the internal plot is all about Astarion learning how to rethink the way he sees the world. I've always seen this version of him as a product of his circumstances. Not a bad person so much as someone who's spent his entire life in rich, elitist circles and kind of forgot that that's not how the world works for everyone. It's Zoraya who reminds him of that. Zoraya who challenges him over and over again, pushes him to rethink his ways and be better. And while he initially plays the role of the philanthropist for his own gain, he quickly grows into it because he realizes it's actually pretty cool to be making a difference and to be respected for his accomplishments, rather than his lineage (another facet of the theme: Astarion and how he views himself).

9. Midpoint

Since the direction this far has been upward, the midpoint consists of a "false victory" in chapter 14, where Astarion is proclaimed as the "Magistrate of the People". This is a false victory because while the public is celebrating him as the savior of the Gur (& specifically his rescue of Ira), things have never been more tense. Police brutality is on the rise, Tatiana is distancing herself and working on her own plans, and Cazador is pissed about Zoraya's growing influence on Astarion. Basically, we get a moment of happiness (the infamous library date!) before shit really hits the fan.

10. Bad Guys Closing in

After Zoraya and Astarion start dating and get to have their well-deserved chapter 15 (:D), chapter 16-19 is all about ramping up for the inevitable catastrophe. We have the literal bad guys closing in in terms of the nightly visitors at Zoraya's house, the vampire attack through Boris, and the mounting political tension. On top of that, there's the figurative bad guys in the family dinner at the Ancunin estate, Cazador's manipulations of Astarion, and Zoraya's growing conviction that he's a vampire. The whole section is about building that sense of dread, that feeling that something terrible is right around the corner.

11. All is Lost

The lowest point for them both is of course chapter 20. The political tension coming to a head with the bombings, then the vote and the fight, followed by the Gur attack on Astarion, and then Cazador coming in with his little deal. It's just hit after hit for them both. I even made it rain, for god's sake! But really, in all honesty: Having Zoraya find out about it all from the newspaper is probably the cruelest thing I've ever done to my characters. Sorry, Zoya.

12. Dark Night of the Soul

This is the beat where the heroes regroup after their ultimate catastrophe. For Astarion, it's waking up in Cazador's estate and finding himself confronted with the bitter reality that no, he was never special. This was always what Cazador planned to do with him and he is helpless to stop it. Meanwhile Zoraya, stricken with grief, goes to his grave only to find that whatever was in the coffin is no longer there. Which is horrifying in its own right, of course, but for her, it's exactly the glimmer of hope that she needs to rise like a phoenix from the ashes and devote all her energy to getting. her. boyfriend. back.

13. Break into 3

Act 3 is all about Zoraya freeing Astarion. Her initial brute-force approach in chapter 22 goes about as well as you'd expect, and she only makes it out of the Szarr mansion due to Karlach's swift intervention. Zoraya lands in a prison cell for breaking and entering, and in comes Gale, informing her that there's no legal basis for accusing Cazador of kidnapping because vampire spawn are considered the property of their lord (i.e. he can do with them whatever he wants). This is where I tie the threads of racism, elitism and vampirism together in a pretty, if somewhat convoluted little bow by having Zoraya gather her allies and go to court to fight for a vampire spawn's right to personhood. Welcome to act 3, aka the courtroom drama!

14. Finale

The finale is Zoraya's High Court case. It's her using her legal expertise, the help from her friends, and also some unlikely allies (:D) to prove that yes, vampire spawn are people and deserve the right to legal protection. At this point, Astarion is traumatized enough that he himself needs to be reminded of the fact that he is still a person and worthy of her love and effort. I'm playing a lot with Cazador's control over him and the other spawn, and how he uses that to try and discredit Zoya. But ultimately, it's when she lets go of her strict moral compass (taking some inspiration from Astarion) and when he openly embraces his feelings for her (proving that vampire spawn are still capable of love & affection) that the High Court rules in their favor. Cazador ends up behind bars, and our heroes get to return home.

15. Closing Image

Astarion decides to embrace his vampiric nature, at least for the time being, and becomes a vigilante warrior for justice (which he has a ton of fun with). When he returns home one night, he accidentally discovers his bat form. He's a little freaked out by it, but then Zoraya finds him and calms him down. The closing image is her telling him that yes, she'll still love him even if he's a fluffy white bat. Accepting this part of him, just as she's accepted everything else about him.

#writing meta #magistrate's advocate #outlining #beat sheet #save the cat #writing craft

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goatsandgangsters · 3 months ago

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Book Review: Januaries by Olivie Blake

★☆☆☆☆ [1/5 stars]

DNF at 34% / after 4 stories / on page 133

This was a slog, with juvenile writing, flimsy storytelling, and nothing particularly interesting to say.

I tried. I really tried. But after thinking, "I'm not enjoying this. Maybe I'll try one more?" after every single story, I can't do it. I can't try just one more. I'm not strong enough.

The writing style was unimpressive. It alternated between unsuccessfully attempting a lyrical voice and (much more often) writing in what I've now termed "meme voice"—a quippy, modern-slangy, overly casual tone that often jarred with the fantastical fairytale setting. The two styles together clashed, and neither was wielded with much success.

The short stories themselves seemed to take a very long time to accomplish very little. There was a lot of needlessly convoluted setup, where the only payoff was the exact same cookie-cutter couple falling in love. Again. Seemed extremely roundabout. None of these stories are really "doing anything."

I picked this up because the cover is gorgeous and I thought the seasonal framing would make it a good pick for the start of the year. While the cover remains gorgeous and has thankfully not decayed Dorian Gray-style, even the seasonal framing seems arbitrary. Maybe it becomes clearer with later stories in the collection, but so far there hasn't been anything to tie these stories to their particular season thematically. There's no sense of temporality at all, which seems careless given this collection is structured around time.

I try really hard to finish everything that I pick up by choice. I don't DNF lightly. I can't even remember the last time I outright gave up. But my good will as a reader has been completely squandered and I don't think there's any benefit to continuing—either for myself or for this review, which would probably devolve into angry swearing if I tried to force myself through an insurmountable 200 more pages.

I haven't read any Olivie Blake before, though I know of her. Maybe her novels are stronger (short stories are their own unique skill set), but unfortunately I'm not very motivated to find out, as this was a poor first impression.

Below are my notes that I jotted while reading each story:

The Wish Bridge: 2.5 stars Writing is very juvenile. Alternates between attempting a lyrical fairytale voice (itself meh) and extremely modern slang-y phrasing, which is jarring. Feels like flash fiction on tumblr, but not in a good way (aka trying too hard to rules-lawyer a trope or genre convention, instead of telling an actual story). Not a strong start for a collection.

The Audit: 1 star Took a long time to do not very much, which is not a great quality in a short story. The whole setup seemed like a needlessly roundabout way to achieve what it wanted to achieve; I was expecting it to do More based on the premise. The meme-y voice still isn't my favorite, but it fit better for this story and this character. I'm still trying to wrap my mind around someone unironically writing and publishing this story In This Economy. It truly boggles my mind that this story has NOTHING to say about labor OR free will vs destiny. Truly taking the speculative out of spec fic.

TUMBLR EXCLUSIVE: I hated this short story so much that I had to text @opheliaintherushes venting about the bizarre pointless premise, and I think you'll all hate it too, so I'm transcribing my annoyed texts below so you know that I am Justified In My Ire once you understand the plot [editor's note: annoyed texts have been condensed for clarity]: so it's set in what I'm ASSUMING is a near-future sci-fi setting where using ~technology, they have this new pilot program where people in their 20s can find out how much money they're going to earn in their entire life, get the whole lump sum upfront as a loan, go enjoy their youth, and then when they're like 35 they go do whatever job they're "meant to do" that earns them all that money in the first place You might think the point of this setup is to explore something about work or wealth or youth or capitalism. You would be wrong. Our annoying 20-something protagonist finds out the ~terrible news that she now has 40 MILLION DOLLARS IN HER BANK ACCOUNT. She has to go to grad school when she's 30 so she can get the qualifications for her job at age 35, but otherwise she has a decade to enjoy HAVING 40 MILLION DOLLARS Also did the question of free will or fate factor into this ever? No. It did not. She spends the entire short story doing absolutely nothing. She said she was going to quit her job to travel. She doesn't do this. She repeatedly GOES TO WORK. (She works in, wait for it, a bookstore because of course she does of COURSE she fucking does. and it's a ~chill bookstore that makes all its money selling rare books so she doesn't have to do like, any work). It is so many pages of her just like, considering buying Nice Chocolate and then getting stressed and not buying it. And then continuing to go to work The thing that she DOES do is repeatedly hang out with her downstairs neighbor in his apartment that he never leaves ever. He only got several hundred-thousand dollars, because he's going to die young, which is why he's stopped leaving the apartment (again: do questions of fate come into play here? No) They fall in love, which apparently was the actual point of this short story. Seems like a whole lot of unnecessary setup to me just to write a story about falling in love with your weird neighbor So anyway, after doing absolutely nothing with her 40 MILLION DOLLARS for like twenty pages except think about how she doesn't really know what to do with it, it ends with her renting a bunch of famous paintings from museums and bringing them to this guy's apartment so that he can enjoy them without leaving his apartment. The end. hold onto your blood pressure, but her roommate is in law school (she chose not to find out her ~destiny) and the protagonist is like "do you want me to like, pay for law school" and the roommate says no (??) and the protagonist is like "I just want to make things easier on you" and the roommate says AND I QUOTE "things being easy isn't the point." which like WHAT. in this economy????? Why are you setting up a story about WEALTH AND FATE AND PREDESTINATION AND WORK to literally just bone your neighbor I'm literally staring at the wall of my cubicle and thinking "I don't know if I can do it. I'm not strong enough." Usually books that I hate take longer than this to go off the rails. It's been 51 pages. There's 300 more.

this was also the point when I came on tumblr and complained to you all about my suffering, but then I continued to read two more stories "just in case it got better." It didn't.

Sucker for Pain: 3.5 stars On a style level, the writing was worlds better than the first two. But in terms of plot and character, it was basically every YA paranormal fantasy that's ever been written condensed into 40 pages, so it wasn't really for me. At least that there was some degree of prose.

My feeling is again that we just sort of meandered around for 40 pages. There isn't a strong sense of purpose here, or that real kick that short stories are meant to have. So far none of these have been Doing Anything in a storytelling sense

The Animation Games: 2 stars Well, this one went in directions I did not expect, which is not the same as Doing Something. Again took too long to do very little of substance and unfortunately it devolved into meme-y-ness and a very typical couple dynamic that's been done to (ha) death. I kept looking at the number of pages and feeling deeply frustrated that there were more of them. Romantically murdering each other with weird antics like somebody decided they wanted Tom/Jerry instead of Tom & Jerry went on for an excruciating number of pages.

Shoutout to one of the worst sentences I've ever read: "He let the water coat his lips, seeping coolly onto his tongue, before it slithered gradually down his throat and settled conclusively in his stomach." Slithered? Settled conclusively?? Maybe I shouldn't have complained about the meme voice if this is what her attempts at being lyrical are like. But unfortunately this sentence lives in the same story as meme-voice dialogue such as "I sort of assumed you were the regular kind of dead." It's painful.

The only thing I felt after this story was exhausted relief that it was over.

In conclusion: I would recommend this book to people who want to look at the cover without ever opening it.

#ARE YOU READY FOR MY HATERISM #this is the book I was angsting about whether to DNF or not #I also had to add in the annoyed texts I sent to @opheliaintherushes #because my god who unironically writes a short story like that in this economy??#book review #januaries #olivie blake #the wish bridge #the audit #sucker for pain #the animation games

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