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yourstrulynobody · 1 month ago

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Fake EAPS ep and thumbnail based off what Eclipse said on EAPS newest ep on timestamp 10:56 (im having too much fun making these fake eps lmao)

"The GOODBYE of A FATHER!"

No lengthy writing/full story for this one, but there is a scene I wrote out based off the thumbnail under cut :D

(They may be out of character, so I do apologize! By all means, do correct me :3!!)

[...]Eclipse watches as Andrew's fingers drag one of his main hands forward, tugging him closer in a pleading manner, but Eclipse didnt budge. His eyes focus on how the black streaks under his children's eye began to flow like tears, becoming thicker the more their emotions grew stronger.

"Little ones..." Eclipse trails off to allow a painful grunt to escape him due to his left eyes striking into a purple color, forcing him to use his right pair while he hid the left ones, his claws extracting because of the affects.

He stammers, trying to form coherent words while his voicebox fought to only let out the snarls of a hungry wolf. The thought of losing control before he could say goodbye was painful to Eclipse, so with little strength he had left, he spoke in the softest voice hes ever used.

"Its gonna be okay." Eclipse musters a smile that was quickly shot down by another painful shock, making him curse and turn his head away, not wanting for them to see what monster the virus was allowing him to be.

Letting out a choked exhale, he takes a moment before his eyes return to them and...

And smiles.

A smile even he refused to believe he managed at this moment.

"I'm gonna be okay." Eclipse whispers, his shaky tone making none of his kids believe him. "I promise... I promise, little ones." He turns his head to them, more relieve than he thought he'd be. "Dont... Dont forget that I love you all so much... okay?"

Andrew shakes his head, trying to hold back his tears. "We wont." He looks over his shoulder, desperate to be backed up by his brothers.

Jake nods, sobbing the hardest out of all of them. "..hmn-hm... We love you, too, papa..." Hes barely able to speak as his cries get the best of him, but the last word he spoke was the clearest of all, making Eclipse's gaze soften.

Andy holds Jake tighter, choking on his words as his cries worsen. "More than anyone." he adds on, his voice reduced to nothing but a whisper.

Eclipse hadnt realized his influence—how his impact on these kids were greater than he'd ever expected.

"Yeah?" Eclipse laughs, lowering his hand that he so desperately tried to keep from hurting his kids. He pulls his hand away from Andrew, smiling as softly as he could although the affects becoming more evident. "I love you all."

Too late.

Andrew realized what Eclipse was gonna do, but he reacted so slow to it.

With one push Eclipse gave Andrew, followed suit were Jake and Andy as though they were dominos, falling into the portal that glew in a beautiful blue behind them.

Their eyes all set on Eclipse who continued to smile as he knelt in pure exhaustion, looking so relieved for them. Even when the portal was doomed to close after they stepped in, Eclipse never looked any happier.

A small hand reaches out to Eclipse, the time slowing down which allows him to see their expressions—how they cried and begged for him to join them, how Andrew held out his hand so Eclipse could grab on and stay with them.

But Eclipse didnt.

Eclipse didnt because this has always been the safer option since the start.

He wants to be with his kids, yes, but if he did grab on, everyone would be in danger again. Him departing from his kids and sending them off elsewhere is something hes more than willing to risk, even if he knows he wont ever see them again.

A wide, toothy smile spreads on Eclipse's face, not allowing the virus to waver his strong apperance; till the end, he will show himself as this person who can fix everything in his way, even if this problem was the only one he isnt able to. For not only himself but for his kids who need a better father figure in their life, something Eclipse knows he cannot provide unlike how Henry can.

Eclipse took care of Charlie for Henry, and now all he wishes is Henry return the favor. Just this once so they were even.[...]

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veliseraptor · 3 months ago

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It's funny how Xiao Xingchen wanted to understand Xue Yang and Xue Yang wanted to be understood, yet they still ended up talking past each other.

this is an old ask but every so often I go back in my inbox to see what's in there.

I actually don't know that Xiao Xingchen did want to understand Xue Yang, though! Or at least he was never in a place to receive that information. But he does pretty explicitly reject Xue Yang's offer to explain in both the novel and the drama (though he indicates some hesitation in novelverse); Xue Yang just goes ahead and does it anyway, because the second part of this is certainly true: Xue Yang desperately wants Xiao Xingchen to understand.

I think if Xiao Xingchen were asked when he was calmer - if he ever had the chance to get calmer - whether he wanted to understand, he would probably say yes, if only because he would feel the need to make sense of the entire disaster. He would want to have some kind of explanation for it all, and part of that includes a level of understanding of Xue Yang.

But I also don't know that he ever would be able to make it make sense for himself. Xiao Xingchen works so psychologically differently from Xue Yang - their worldviews are so profoundly divorced from each other, and their understandings of right and wrong even more so - that I don't think there's really a way to bridge that gap in the sense of "oh, I get it" on a logical level. When I write fix-its, I don't tend to have Xiao Xingchen reach understanding so much as acceptance. And absolutely at the point in time when Xue Yang is trying to explain himself Xiao Xingchen is in no kind of mental state to absorb anything outside of his hurt and horror.

On Xue Yang's end of things, I've written before about how something that breaks my heart about that exchange, and specifically about Xue Yang's attempt to explain himself to Xiao Xingchen, is the fact that it is something he otherwise doesn't do. The contrast is clearest in the drama where Wei Wuxian directly asks Xue Yang why he killed the Chang and Xue Yang doesn't answer him, but in the brief account of Xue Yang's trial in the novel, too, there's no indication that he makes any attempt to justify himself - which could be a desire not to incriminate himself since the case being made hinges on his supposed innocence, but also...I think he just doesn't think it's worth it.

but with Xiao Xingchen...he tries. which, for Xue Yang, is an act of intense vulnerability - and the fact that it ends in emphatic rejection is what triggers his bomb detonation of a reveal.

I wrote a long thing about this back in 2020 and went back to excavate it if you are interested in more of my Thoughts on this

#conversating #anonymous #xuexiao #lise does meta #the sad queer cultivators show #xiao xingchen #xue yang

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housemdork · 29 days ago

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house md rewatch: 1x08, "poison"

the diagnostics department is poisoning its devotees to act just like their idol. chaos ensues.

this one felt good. it feels good to be hit over the head with some over obvious messaging every once in a while, especially when that messaging is very fun, exciting, and character-driven. PLUS we get major house and foreman dynamic development! i am very pleased.

this episode very conveniently comes in thirds, represented by each time chase, foreman, and cameron misstep during the case (in that order). they're confronted with a helicopter mom who reacts, in their view, poorly to how the diagnostics team treats her son. in my opinion, she's one of the first to rationally question their central practice of treating to diagnose, so it's funny how they all immediately get pissed off and write her off as crazy. i'll break down this first and move into other sub-conflicts/plots.

house demands to know why foreman cares so much about the case from the very second he presents the file to house. he's asking nothing but leading questions, of course, because he can tell that foreman's base interest comes from just that - blanket curiosity - rather than a more cameron-esque bleeding heart. house identifies a burgeoning house-ism in foreman, and it's one of house's most dangerous.

chase's tendency to be cavalier causes the mom to toss him off her son's case. he doesn't often weigh the consequences of what he's going to say in conversation, so long as it gets the job done, gets the patient to comply, gets the diagnosis clear and under control. yet another house-ism. yet, unlike house, chase doesn't have the necessary thick skin to bear through the pushback his big mouth gets him.

cameron's stubbornness could not present in a way more dissimilar to house, yet it's their strongest and clearest connection. she's also the last of the ducklings to be sent in to deal with the helicopter mom and, frustrated that she's compromising the diagnostic process, says that "no, it's on you. you need to do better. right now. yes or no." it's easy to put those words into house's mouth, but, not long after, the mom also boots her off the case.

each of the ducklings embody their own house-isms, but to varying degrees of failure. it seems like 1x08 may be highlighting the missing component for us: house combines all 3 of the aforementioned traits, rendering him pretty darn miserable, which makes him less compromising, less kind, and more convincing.

above all else, though, foreman gets the spotlight this time, which is refreshing after several chase and cameron-heavy episodes. while investigating the patient's home, cameron comments that he's "deflecting a personal question with a joke. gee, who do i know that does that?" foreman, understandably irked by this question (because, for nearly the full duration of this show, i believe that foreman does NOT like house), retorts with, "yeah, i'm just like him, except for the angry, bitter, pompous cr*pple part." he misses all the true comparisons to be made between himself and house thus far: their ambition, love of the puzzle, and the same cynical way toward others. and, just like how house md presents love in all its dimensions across several characters, the show will also present these traits in their character foils as equal parts good and bad.

later, when trying to make another appeal to the mother of the patient, she freaks out on foreman, too: "you're just as pompous and superior as [house] is!"

1x08 also presents these foreman/house similarities as inescapable. house is thrilled that foreman isn't making up with the mother by the episode's close, but foreman doesn't know why he would do that at all. never fear - house knows! there's no reason to make nice with her if "you don't care about her. or her son." immediately following this, foreman and house leave together in the elevator, where house smugly realizes that they do, in fact, where the same shoes. ugh, to respect someone so much and detest them at the same time is such an insanely interesting character dynamic.

a brief chase/daddy issues moment rears its head, too. he's able to redeem himself for his prior failures with the patient when he fakes a phone call to the mom from the CDC, since she won't go ahead with house's treatment till she hears their second opinion. not only is this ingenious and horribly manipulative, it also impresses house, a rare thing. i'll never forget the absolute elation chase feels after earning this fleeting approval, complemented nicely by a literal glow passing over their heads between shots.

that's his DAD, you guys.

there's another separate thread i want to highlight happens during cameron and foreman's conversation about house. foreman is upfront about house and vicodin - he's an addict. he uses vicodin to get through the day and can't pass easily through one without it. but cameron is so resistant to this. disputing foreman's diagnosis, she says, "he's not an addict. he has to take drugs. he's in pain!"

there are so many distinctions throughout house md about the root cause of house's addiction, a conflict that will basically tear up his relationship with cuddy and (very nearly) with wilson, too, in the distant future. oftentimes they're insistent that his pain is psychosomatic, therefore "less real," or it's phantom pain, or it's just Not As Bad as he claims. cameron makes a unique divergence from this separation of disability, addiction, and pain, by removing all traces of responsibility from house. it's all pain, so it's all okay. most people claim the opposite and put all the onus on house without factoring in the hand life has dealt him.

this is very in character for cameron thus far, as she wants to bring out the best in house, the kind of "best" that may not even be there in at all.

and, finally, 3 small notes:

hugh laurie has just about Found House at this point. the above picture says it all. he's endearing and funny and still a little evil.

wilson was there. this was probably his most "i, too, am in this epsisode" episode to date. i do love that he showed up solely to read the love poem the 80-year-old syphilis patient wrote for house, give him the test results that he had no business handling, and then leave. and he looked good during it all!

cuddy said like 3 words all episode :(

#this one is a bit shorter but overall i rly liked 1x08 #it's the classic procedural episode with equal parts character work and medical plot #house md #malpractice md #greg house #james wilson #allison cameron #eric foreman #robert chase #cameron #chase #foreman #house md rewatch #rewatch 1 #season 1

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couchlovers · 4 months ago

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I didn't specify my previous request precisely so i'll do it again i hope its okay😭 Could you write some romantic one shot or headcanons for Moana? It would be cool if its a little bit longer but tbh i dont really care i just NEED her🤭

disney masterlist masterlist my rules

1k of words!!

Its my first time writting headcanons so here they are, hope this is what you wanted

When you first wash up on Motonui, disoriented and exhausted, Moana is the first to find you. She’s both amazed and concerned—your boat, though damaged, shows signs of a skilled voyager. She immediately helps you recover, offering food, fresh clothes, and endless questions about where you’re from.

The two of you bond over your love of the ocean. You share stories of your journeys, the islands you’ve seen, the creatures you’ve encountered. Moana listens intently, hanging onto every word, thrilled to finally meet someone who understands her longing for adventure.

At first, neither of you realizes the growing feelings between you. But the way Moana’s gaze lingers on you when you’re fixing your canoe, or the way your heart races when she laughs—it’s undeniable. Even the villagers notice how you two gravitate toward each other.

Moana insists on showing you every corner of Motonui. She takes you up to the best lookout points, the clearest lagoons, and even teaches you about the island’s traditions. You, in return, teach her some of your own customs, exchanging knowledge and deepening your connection.

On quiet nights, you sit by the shore, listening to the waves while Moana hums softly. Sometimes, she’ll teach you songs her grandmother once sang to her, and you’ll harmonize under the moonlight, feeling the gentle pull of the tide—and each other.

One evening, while repairing your canoe together, your hands brush, sending an unexpected jolt through both of you. Moana looks at you with a mix of surprise and realization, before hesitantly intertwining her fingers with yours. No words are needed—just the warmth between your palms and the knowing look in her eyes.

Moana carves a small pendant from a seashell and gives it to you as a keepsake, telling you it’s to protect you on your travels. What she doesn’t say is that she hopes you’ll stay, that she’s afraid of watching you sail away like the tide.

When your canoe is finally repaired, the bittersweet moment arrives—will you stay or continue your journey? Moana doesn’t ask you to stay, but the longing in her eyes says it all. It’s up to you to decide whether your heart belongs to the ocean… or to her.

The evening before your departure, you and Moana sit by the shore, the salty breeze tangling in your hair. There’s a heaviness in the air, a conversation waiting to be had. She’s tracing patterns in the sand with her fingers, hesitant. “I should be happy for you,” she says, voice quiet, “but I don’t want to watch you leave.”

The next morning, just as you’re making final adjustments to your canoe, Moana appears—bag packed, determined look in her eyes. “You’re not going alone,” she declares. Her father tries to protest, but her grandmother’s spirit seems to whisper on the wind, encouraging her. She belongs to the sea, and now, she belongs with you.

Setting sail together feels right. Moana watches in awe as you navigate, noticing the differences in your techniques and merging them with her own. The way you work together is effortless, as if the ocean itself approves of your partnership.

Nights on the water are filled with laughter and whispered conversations. You sing her a song from your home island, and she returns the favor with one of her own. Some nights, you just listen to the waves, hands loosely intertwined, feeling the vastness of the world—but never alone.

There are storms, rough waters, and unexpected dangers, but there’s never fear—not when you have each other. Moana’s courage is unwavering, and your adventurous spirit matches hers. When challenges arise, you face them as a team, stronger together.

It’s the way she tucks a flower behind your ear, the way you brush sand from her face, the teasing remarks, the shared glances. It’s waking up to find her curled up next to you, the warmth of the sun and the scent of salt in the air.

Every island you reach is a new adventure, but no discovery is as precious as the love blooming between you. You weren’t just searching for new lands—you were searching for a place to belong. And you found it, not in a location, but in her.

Wherever the ocean takes you, as long as Moana is by your side, it feels like home. And perhaps, one day, you’ll return to Motonui—not as two separate travelers, but as one.

The confession happens at sunset, while you and Moana are sitting on the edge of your canoe, feet dangling over the water. The sky is painted in warm hues, and the only sound is the gentle lapping of the waves.

She’s unusually quiet, which is rare for her. She’s fidgeting, drawing little patterns on the wooden deck with her fingertips, clearly lost in thought. You can tell she wants to say something important.

Finally, she takes a deep breath and admits, “I always thought I was meant to explore alone… but then you came along.” Her voice is soft, but there’s an intensity in her gaze that makes your heart race.

You reach for her hand, fingers brushing before she intertwines them with yours. It’s a simple touch, but it sends a warmth spreading through both of you. Moana gives your hand a small squeeze, as if grounding herself in the moment.

A small wave laps at the canoe right as she whispers, “I don’t want to sail without you.” It’s as if the sea itself is listening, nudging the two of you closer.

It’s hesitant at first—both of you unsure, hearts pounding—but then you lean in, and she meets you halfway. Her lips are warm, soft, and the second your hands tangle in her hair, she melts into it, deepening the kiss with quiet longing.

When you pull away, Moana’s breathless, eyes shining brighter than the stars that are beginning to appear. She laughs softly, nudging her forehead against yours. “That was… really nice.”

There’s no need for more words. You both turn toward the horizon, hearts light and hands still entwined, knowing that wherever the ocean takes you next, you’ll be together.

#disney x reader #moana x reader #vaiana x reader #disney #pixar #disney +

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quasi-normalcy · 2 years ago

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Which Star Trek series should you start with?

The Original Series: Advantages: + The one that started it all + Has some sophisticated and socially conscious science fiction that has held up exceptionally well + The lead characters all have really good chemistry and fun to see play off of one another + It's what most people probably think of when you say Star Trek (together with TNG) Disadvantages: - It can feel very dated and kind of sexist, particularly in its treatment of women - The sci-fi and social commentary may have held up, but damn it, the special effects really haven't - When TOS is bad, it's really, really bad.

The Animated Series: Advantages: + Basically just more TOS. Disadvantages: - Basically just more TOS, but substituting extremely cheap animation for bad special effects

The Next Generation: Advantages: + Probably the most popular one at this point + The crew is full of interesting characters and they're fun to spend time with + Just really smart people solving Space Mysteries + Socialist space utopia + Geordi-And-Data! + Lots of cool sci-fi concepts and social commentary + It's what most people probably think of when you say Star Trek (together with TOS) Disadvantages: - Although not in the same way as TOS, it can feel dated at times, particularly in terms of its treatment of women and it's near complete refusal to acknowledge queerness - Without wanting to bias viewer opinion, the first season is widely considered to be pretty bad - The series makes no bones about the fact that the socialist space utopia is better than every other society that has ever existed and will reiterate this point over and over again

Deep Space Nine: Advantages: + The most popular Trek series on Tumblr + Has a complete story arc, as well as arcs for all of its characters, including the extremely minor ones + Plain, simple, Garak. The humble tailor. + Garashir, if you're into that + Seriously has a really sophisticated treatment of things like post-colonial politics, anthropology, worldbuilding, and the horrors of warfare + Just the characters in general + Is the only Star Trek prior to the 2010s to even look meaningfully at queer representation Disadvantages: - Has an absolutely massive inferiority complex with respect to TNG and this drives a few poor writing decisions that seemingly exist just to poke the Socialist Space Utopia in its eye - Introduces a space religion and then just slowly turns it into Christianity with the numbers filed off - Seems to think that sexual harassment is just a quirky eccentricity - There's no women in its writers' room, and frankly it shows

Voyager: Advantages: + Probably the clearest instance of found family in space + Lots of really good episodes + Lots of fun new characters + Strong female role models + "Set a course...for home." Disadvantages: - Continuity? I never knew her! - Probably about 90% of Trek's reputation for technobabble comes from this one series - Even less queerness than TNG. - Only like...3 characters actually get arcs. - The first few seasons lean very hard into bullshit fake "Native American" spiritualism with one of the characters - How do these guys have warp drive but can't find any water?

Enterprise: Advantages: + Chronologically the first series + 90% less technobabble + The only series to plausibly frame our heroes as astronauts...on some kind of...star trek. + Still has probably the best production values of any series + Makes alien cultures of the week feel somehow richer and deeper than other series + Faith of the Heart is good, fuck you. Disadvantages: - Oh my god, the decon scenes - Seriously, if you've ever wondered what a "sexy" series written by a 14 year old boy who's only ever seen a bit of scrambled softcore porn on late-night cable would be like, this is the show for you - Somehow feels more sexist and racist than the show from the '60s - Seriously, the POC characters mostly exist to fill seats on the bridge; the women constantly have to undress themselves - Hellooooo, Bush II-era political analogies - Scott Bakula is a good actor but you wouldn't know it from this series - In season 3, they add a tambourine beat to Faith of the Heart and ruin it

Discovery: Advantages: + Noticed the lack of queer characters in the first 50 years of Star Trek canon and decided to make up for lost time + Seriously, the "Bury Your Gays" tally for this series is like...negative two + Just incredible representation in general + Some really good science fiction plots, particularly in later series + Some really fun, memorable characters + It's still running, so it has an active fandom on Tumblr Disadvantages: - Makes Elon Musk out to be one of the great visionary geniuses of history - Not really representative of Star Trek as a whole - The series swerves wildly in tone because of constant, behind-the-scenes churn in the writers' room - Offputtingly grimdark first season - Let's be honest, none of the season-long arcs have actually had satisfying conclusions - Half the cast feels like it's just there for exposition and to be killed for cheap drama

Picard: Advantages: + Has the best dramatic acting of any Star Trek series by a fair margin + Has the best musical score of any Star Trek series + Introduces a whole crew of fascinating new characters + Introduces all kinds of fascinating transhumanist concepts + AGNES. JURATI. Disadvantages: - You know all of those fascinating new characters that I mentioned? Yeah, it unceremoniously gets rid of all of them to bring back the old TNG gang. - You know that all of those fascinating transhumanist concepts that I mentioned? Yeah, it gets rid of those too so that to give us some generic action - Oh my god, someone teach the set designers to operate a fucking light switch - Grimdark - Nossssstalgia - Each season is basically unrelated to every other season - Depends so heavily on TNG that its final season is basically unwatchable if you haven't already seen a 30-year-old TV series

Lower Decks: Advantages: + It has probably the most efficient storytelling that I've ever seen; seriously, it's incredible how much it can fit into a half hour episode + It has a bunch of delightful, archetypical characters you get to know and love + You like hanging out with these people + The ship is kind of crap and you will learn to love it that way. + Basically a sitcom version of TNG. + Has a big fandom on Tumblr Disadvantages: - The art style is pretty Rick & Morty-ish - It takes most of its first season to really strike a good balance between being a sitcom and being a Star Trek series - The main character, Mariner, is kind of unlikable for the first season or so (she gets better) - Lots of callbacks to other series (though always either incidental or clearly explained) - Given that it's the first Star Trek sitcom, the comedy is honestly kinda the weakest part? Subjective I know.

Prodigy: Advantages: + Absolutely gorgeous to look at; the most visually stunning Star Trek by quite a ways + Lots of fun new characters on a cool ship + Gives you clear on-boarding notes to the Star Trek franchise if you're watching it for the first time + Can be watched on its own, but also works as a direct sequel to Voyager and a prequel to Picard (making both of them retoractively better, in fact) + Kind of like the Clone Wars or Rebels of the Star Trek universe, I guess? + Found family in space! The next generation! + Soon to be running on Netflix, so if you already have a Netflix subscription, you don't need to pay for another service + Written for a younger audience. Not necessarily an advantage, but nice if you happen to like family friendly animation or YA. Disadvantages: - *sigh* You basically need to pirate it. Thanks, Paramount. - Has a second season that we may or may not ever actually get to see even through piracy. Thanks, Paramount. - Isn't airing on the same streaming service as all of the other ones. Thanks, Paramount

Strange New Worlds: Advantages: + Basically what the original series would be if it were released today, rather than 57 years ago; all of the cool, socially consciousness sci-fi adventure, none of the weird 60s sexism + Fun, awesome characters you get to like spending time with right away + Incredible visuals + Nifty sci-fi concepts, mostly without the 90s-style technobabble Disadvantages: - A huge cast with only ten episodes a season, so many of them feel underdeveloped - Unfortunately, a bunch of its characters are younger versions of the characters from The Original Series, and they hog most of the spotlight; and the characters whose futures aren't locked in stone are kind of treated as disposable - In general, it needs to spend less time being a prequel, and more time being its own thing - "What if Starfleet ran into the Xenomorphs from Alien?" "Well, they'd probably kill them." "Okay, let's spend several episodes on this."

#star trek #tos #tng #ds9 #voy #ent #tas #dsc #pic #lwd #pro #snw

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stillness-in-green · 4 months ago

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in an ideal world, how would you have written mha's endgame?

That’s not a question with a short answer, I’m afraid. There’s a lot I’d do differently, in ways it’s hard to even sum up all of because a lot of what I’ve thought about revolves around things I’d want to do differently with the Heroes (and dating back much farther than the second war, at that) with the changes to the Villain side of things being, I don’t doubt, equally drastic but currently much more vague. I’ll cover my biggest contention in a general way above the cut, but if you want some of my more specific ideas for how I’d approach changing things, look below the cut!

The most pressing problem is that the story built so many of its themes on a framework of Saving People and then let the endgame dissolve that central idea into an incoherent, mushy slurry of saved and unsaved, alive and dead, smiling and unsmiling, free and imprisoned. For the story to work under its own established parameters, the kids have to truly save the Villains—not just their souls, but also their lives, and not just the ones the kids personally care about, but all of them. Nothing less will fulfill the twofold promise the story made to its readers with great specificity: that The Greatest Heroes are those who save everyone and that this is the story of Deku/Class 1-A becoming The Greatest Heroes.

That’s not possible in the Hero System as it currently exists, which is my other big target for the thing that needed to change with the endgame: addressing the problems with the status quo. Class 1-A has to confront the reality of their failing system and realize it needs drastic change, if it can be salvaged at all. The kids cannot be hailed in the narration as the group who became, collectively, The Greatest Heroes if they inherit and uphold that selfsame failing system. Regardless of how positively the story tries to spin things in its epilogue, if society doesn’t treat or conceptualize Villains any differently than it ever did,[1] then none of that society’s long-term problems have been solved.

1: And it doesn’t; the vast majority of the epilogue’s focus is on how the kids’ actions have reduced/are reducing the number of people who become Villains, with little to no focus on how their new-and-improved society deals with Villains themselves—either the already existing ones left over from the war or the future ones who still arise despite society’s best efforts. An ounce of prevention may be worth a pound of cure, but the pound of cure is still important to have—BNHA’s epilogue very pointedly lacks it.

Saving the Villains who are right in front of you, and making sure the people you can’t be there to help still get saved anyway are ideas that are inherently, inseparably connected. You can’t do one without the other because each of them requires the other to stick. If individual Heroes don’t give a shit about helping those deemed Villains, then Hero Society will follow their lead, and if Hero Society doesn’t give a shit about helping those deemed Villains, then no help individual Heroes offer will be guaranteed once the Heroes have gone.

Toga is the clearest, sharpest example of the problem, in that no help Ochaco offers her means a thing if the larger system to which Toga is remanded doesn't support Ochaco in giving it. Horikoshi's inability to solve this conundrum is presumably why Toga had to die. The short answer, then, to the question of how I would write the endgame is that whatever I’d come up with has to be a story in which Toga could be saved in the sense that Shimura Nana meant the word—a resolution that would see her both smiling and alive.

As to specifics? Well, again, I don’t have the details ironed out because a lot of my ideas are unconnected “I didn’t like how canon utilized its set-up and characters; here’s an idea I like better” spitballing, but if you’re interested in what those ideas might be and how I’ve started lassoing them together, hit the jump.

So, I may have, on occasion, made reference to “the fix-it fic(s)” around here. This is a pair of scenarios I call “Forward Different” and “Backward Different,” with the idea being that both would be canon divergent from the moment Heroes launch their attack in the first war, but the divergences would immediately go in very different directions based on changes to the underlying material.

Forward Different keeps everything established by canon up to that point as-is, but only what’s been explicitly established, so there could be some surprises with things like character motivations or secrets that had not yet been examined. Backward Different, meanwhile, would have huge differences incorporated into the backstory, stuff that goes at least as far back as the training camp attack, that would not be made immediately apparent to the reader.[2]

2: The hypothetical reader, I should say, since I have no plans to ever write these out in full, my track record with longfic being as woeful as it is. But I do want to hammer out the plotlines just to have them, share them, and maybe write some excerpts from them when the mood strikes.

I’m not going to share everything I’ve got in mind right now, but there are a few major points I can talk about, and some fun ideas here and there that I’m willing to share.

The single biggest difference between the two timelines is how they treat Deku, Shigaraki, and (to a lesser extent) AFO’s respective relationships to the One For All and All For One quirks. Basically, I think it’s tremendously unfair that we see two almost totally incompatible versions of Vestige Fuckery in the story and it just so happens that the main character gets the version that makes everything easier for him while the Villain get stuck with the shitty version that make everything harder.[3] The fix-it fic AU(s) are in large part about equalizing that balance.

3: And god knows I don’t buy that Deku gets the good version because he’s the good guy and he deserves it because Good Karma or whatever, while Shigaraki gets the bad version because he’s the bad guy and has Bad Karma. You don’t give bad guys or good guys the fruit of the seeds they’ve sown two-thirds of the way into the story. That stuff’s for the climax, goddamn.

The Backward Different timeline (the one that’s somewhat better developed at this point) is also called Splintered Wills. In it, Deku and Shigaraki are both dealing with multiple vestiges that have minds and desires of their own who can choose to be helpful or to cause problems. In effect, it’s giving Shigaraki access to the same potential benefits Canon!Deku enjoys while making Deku deal with the same potential downsides that Canon!AFO (who’s basically working with Deku’s version of the vestige mechanics; his vestiges just all hate his ass) has to deal with.

In Shigaraki’s case, that’s a huge step up from his canon situation, where he gets devoured by one (1) uber-powerful vestige and spends the vast majority of the last two arcs totally out of action. Instead, he finds that his head is now full of quirk ghosts and, while many of them want no more to do with him than they did AFO (especially the vestiges of civilians and Heroes), plenty of others have no great love for Heroes or their status quo and thus are much more open to helping him. Maybe they’re willing to hold back more hostile vestiges like AFO's; maybe they have memories or experiences that could be useful.

Shigaraki also pulls away a chunk of OFA the first time he and Deku fight post-surgery. Specifically, he picks off All Might’s “vestige,” and All Might’s vestige, unspeaking though it is, and technically powerless, has lots of opinions on who he’s more inclined to help when given the choice between his career-long archenemy and his master’s grandchild.

Meanwhile, on Deku’s side of things, Deku’s newfound desire to save Shigaraki Tomura combined with Shigaraki Tomura stealing one of the eight spirits in One For All sends his headspace into a tailspin. He spends much of the post-war arc with his powers on the fritz, as the OFA vestiges clash and argue and have mixed feelings (or very strong negative ones) about what he and they should do going forward. He no longer benefits, as his canon self did, from OFA behaving as basically a unified collective; Yoichi can’t win Kudou and Bruce over for him with a sweet line or two. Indeed, Yoichi doesn’t even want to because Yoichi is inclined to agree with them, though he’s not without sympathy—he never did stop wanting his brother to change, after all.

The other big factor influencing Backward Different/Splintered Wills is that the class size steadily shrank over the course of the backstory. Aoyama was revealed as the traitor all the way back at the training camp. Momo’s parents pulled her out of UA after the attack and enrolled her at Shiketsu instead. At least one student will turn out to have Liberation Army ties that pull them away from the group.[4]

4: Probably Iida, but I’m not firmly decided yet. MLA!Iida is very near and dear to my heart, though, so he’s definitely going to be in one of these timelines.

Several students aren’t allowed to do active Hero work because, without Aoyama to rally around during the license exam, they failed the first round, not even making the cut for the remedial course. One transferred out of the Hero course for less dangerous work. Maybe one gets critically injured during the first war. Maybe some aren’t willing to buck the system enough to follow where Deku is going. And so on.

The smaller class size serves two purposes, one character-based and one meta. First, starting big and winnowing down allows the story to actually write the students as distinct people rather than having them melt into an undifferentiated blob of Unified Niceness. We shouldn’t have had a story with twenty kids who all, ultimately, react the same way to the crises they face! If modern heroics has a problem with people who are just in it for the fame and money, or people who expected it to be relatively easy work due to the peace All Might established, then we should have seen that reflected in the class, too!

(That’s not to say no one who leaves or fails can ever show up again! I have specific scenes in mind already for how Aoyama and Momo return to the story as allies, for example, and Shishikura plainly shows in the canon that failing the license exam in the first round doesn’t mean you can’t still find yourself doing Hero work anyway. But the students’ paths should be ongoing threads that diverge and reconverge throughout the story, not a solid monochrome stripe that runs across the entire story-cloth like someone fell asleep at the sewing machine.)

Secondly, the smaller class size facilitates one of the major changes I have in mind for this timeline, which is that when the class confronts Deku post-first-war, they do it not with the intention of dragging him back to U.A., but of joining him in staying outside. I have a ton of stuff I want them to see and interact with and be forced to acknowledge and reflect on, and that doesn’t happen if they just go back to school and wait for their next assignment. Navigating all of that as a group trying to feel their way to a better future against the efforts of both jaded authority figures and Villains who’ve been burned one too many times to trust so easily is just simpler with a smaller, more focused, more strongly characterized group.

So, the Splintered Wills timeline, in summary, goes all-in on OFA being a repository of different people who are allowed to have different opinions and reactions to things, paralleling the dissolving of Team Hero’s united front; Deku & Friends have to struggle and clash, learn when to compromise and when to stand their ground, in order to build their way back up to unity, while Shigaraki is allowed the chance to continue coalition-building and consolidating resources under his own banner mentally in the same way he spent the entire series doing physically. As Team Hero’s collective grasp on society collapses, Shigaraki’s grows stronger, reversing their positions such that Deku and company have to come back from the actual underdog position they fall into compared to BNHA, where they never 100% fall from the seat of power the way readers are encouraged to believe.

The Forward Different timeline is also called, for now, Creepy OFA. It goes in the opposite direction by making Deku deal with the same kinds of problems Canon!Shigaraki has to deal with vis a vis being possessed of/by a quirk with a single domineering will of its own. While Splintered Wills portrays OFA and AFO alike as being full of people, each with their own unique motivations and desires, this story underlines and reunderlines that quirk vestiges are ultimately biological impulses, not people.

OFA is an originally simple force that’s been compounded in complexity and appearance of rationality every time it’s been passed down, but is still ultimately just a quirk, mindless, unreasoning, imprinting its bearer with its own dictates and not caring a bit if the bearer likes or agrees with those dictates. “OFA must be passed on,” “AFO must be destroyed,” “The bearer must be the Symbol of Peace,” and so on.

Making Deku and Shigaraki have to struggle against this loss of autonomy due to an out-of-control quirk vestige puts them on a similar level of challenge, the better to give them some common ground for understanding. Whether they have to fight or help each other in the end, they’ll do it as free agents, people who have both had to figure out a way to throw off the weight of the lineages trying to mold them into a desired shape. The help of their respective friends and allies—and maybe even some of their enemies?—will, of course, be immeasurable with this.

Some ideas I want to incorporate (or have already so started) into one or the other of these timelines include:

I want the PLF to do better no matter what timeline we’re in. Currently my idea is that in one timeline, they had a well-placed mole somewhere whom Hawks and the HPSC didn’t sniff out, so the PLF knows the raids are coming and have laid traps for the attacking Heroes. This could still go haywire, of course, ‘cause Heroes are very good at what they do, but it definitely won’t be a total blowout as it was in canon. Then in the other timeline, the PLF don’t see the attack coming, but are given more license to act like the organized, effective threat they were initially portrayed as—they have sentries and security cameras posted, so while they only get a minute or two’s warning, it’s still better than absolutely nothing, and the outcome is way more chaotic and fraught for both sides, such that the country ends up dotted with PLF holdouts in situations that are part-siege and part-extended hostage negotiation. That gives an opportunity to show at least a partial version of what a PLF takeover might look like in practice, though it remains compromised by the ongoing conflict.

As part of treating the PLF better, both timelines will have characters revealed to have MLA ties. As mentioned, MLA!Iida is for sure in one of them; my strongest concept for a second choice is Ochaco having to grapple with the government’s heavy-handedness getting her parents arrested when they barely know anything about what they got themselves into,[5] but really, it could be practically anyone, including parents or mentors. All I require is that the kids have a reason, any reason, to care about the fates of the tens of thousands of people the government sent them out to mindlessly arrest. 5: This would be a scenario in which I just went with the makes-more-sense-as-canon-anyway idea that being a Hero is the only way to get a quirk-use license so Ochaco is pursuing Heroism because she can’t get permission to use her quirk to help with her parents’ construction business. She doesn’t wind up MLA herself, but her parents—trying to be supportive but not thrilled that their daughter decided to pursue such a dangerous career for that reason—get handed some dodgy pamphlets, after Uraraka moves out to attend U.A., about a group trying to get the laws changed to be more in-step with the universality of quirks and the principles of bodily autonomy and economic self-determination.

I think the time between the first war and the last confrontation should be longer, introducing more new characters and developing many characters BNHA showed only in passing. I have ideas like new heroic types (students or pros) who are brought in from other parts of the country because they have useful quirks for the raids, a heteromorph ex-Hero student who bails on his school when he realizes that the people handling its shelter operations are turning away heteromorphs, someone who catches Nagant’s backstory confession on video and has to decide what to do with the bombshell about black ops extralegal Hero assassins, a support/protest group consisting of people who’ve become jaded about Heroes after things they see on the day of the initial attacks (people like Can’t-Ya-See-kun, the medical staff who tried to defend their beloved Doctor Garaki, people who lost family to the mass arrests and so on), people from branches of the government that aren't specifically associated with law enforcement, etc. Seriously, I want a story that acknowledges that there are people who could possibly be relevant and important to events that we haven’t already met circa the first war because something like The Total Collapse of Society will naturally stir up activity all across the country! Maybe people who the 1-A kids have never met before could bring valuable input to the table!! Gosh!!!

Changes to the traitor plotline. I mentioned Aoyama being outed circa the training camp for one; I’d like to run with Traitor!Hagakure in the other. I’m thinking she goes missing during the first war and the students are worried sick about her because no one’s sure what even happened. Did she run away? Was she hurt? Was she killed? Would anyone even know, if she stayed invisible even as—as a—as a dead body, Bakugou is the only one willing to actually say out loud. She is, of course, not dead, but the class won’t find that out for a while.

Changes to how Hawks and Endeavor’s partnership plays out. I want Endeavor to die during the first war in one story, allowing the rest of the family space to navigate that plot without him even as it pushes Hawks off the deep end, leading to him going rogue such that he gets what was in canon the Lady Nagant fight.[6] In the other story, Endeavor survives but tries to make better decisions about how to handle Touya, leading his and Hawks’ stellar partnership into rough waters when it comes out that Hawks very much just wants Touya dead. 6: And freeing Lady N to show up elsewhere in some totally different capacity. There may be ample evidence that her fight was originally intended to be for Hawks, and in that version of the story she probably never existed at all, but I love her potential far too much to erase her completely, even in a timeline that reverts her plot back to Hawks.

Gran Torino living and having a change of heart about saving Shigaraki in Splintered Wills, but dying and becoming a loss Deku has to weigh against his desire to save Shigaraki in Creepy OFA. More named and important losses in general, actually, and more time for the characters to react to those losses, be it with grief or with mounting rage. Students who lose teachers and mentors, Heroes who lose peers and sidekicks, Shishikura losing his father, the League losing Twice, civilians who are allowed to be justly angry about their losses without being drawn like unreasonable screeching harpies for it, and so on.

The Lady Nagant fight cuing up the way it did in canon only to abruptly end when Deku just straight-up agrees to go with her willingly because finding AFO and Shigaraki is what he wants, so why would he turn his nose up at the opportunity? This leads to him getting a lot of exposure to Alternate Perspectives via Lady N’s history, Overhaul’s shattered state, and whatever’s going on with the League in this scenario before he eventually escapes or gets rescued with neither him nor AFO/Shigaraki able to make concrete progress on saving Shigaraki/stealing OFA.

Playing more with All Might’s mental connection to OFA. In Splintered Wills, Shigaraki gets his vestige, which means he loses the connection to Deku/OFA completely and instead starts having horrible nightmares of rage and death and Decay. I’m still making up my mind about how things go in Creepy OFA, but I like the idea of All Might having his own mind back after 30+ years of being under OFA’s influence, and having a front row seat for what that influence is starting to do to the teenager he so unthinkingly gave that power to (or, more accurately, gave to that power?).

Ditching the stupid mech suit in one timeline and letting Toshinori Yagi find ways to be relevant and meaningful without it; alternately, letting him keep the mech suit only to run it square into the rogue AI teeth of the lone free-willed survivor of the U.A. robot uprising, the R2D2-looking PLF advisor in Toga’s chain of command.

Consequences for Deku’s fucking arms. He developed a kick-based fighting style; he can damn well use it. Also handle his problem with losing his temper by making him fuck up something that can’t get unfucked by having an ally nearby to save him from the consequences of flying off the handle.

More, and different, interactions between Stain and All Might. More extended ones, for a start; I want Stain to rescue a heavily injured All Might from the car attack and for them to then spend days together while Toshinori recuperates enough to be moved.

Better material for Kurogiri and Gigantomachia. And plenty of other Villains too, really, not just the PLF. I’d like the Tartarus escapees to be human beings suffering a variety of ills from their extended solitary confinement; I’d like the Shie Hassaikai to make another appearance; I’d like Mustard to be relevant again. Et cetera.

Let stuff like the quirk erase bullets and quirk singularity have more significant airtime.

Spinarakiya. AHEM. My willingness to be self-indulgent about ships I know good and well would never be canon has yet to be determined.

And that's some ideas! I have lots of others, but I don't want to completely turn this ask reply into a dumping ground for the many (many) ideas I have for that dyad of stories. If you read all of these, know that I appreciate you deeply. And thanks for the ask, @friedeggpajamas!

#bnha #bnha endgame #shigaraki tomura #green no. 2 #quirk metaphysics #let ofa be creepy!#stillness answers #the fix-it fic au(s)#ficcing adjacent #friedeggpajamas

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alpaca-clouds · 11 months ago

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Hayao Miyazaki & Solarpunk

Hayao Miyazaki probably never planned to become this super influential voice for Solarpunk. He did become it though. In fact a lot of his movies are considered to be Solarpunk to some degree, which in a way does make a lot of sense. After all, not only does he generally feature stories about preserving the environment, and stories that are very much anti-war and often also anti-capitalist, but - and I think this is something often ignores - he also is heavily influenced by indigenous Japanese storytelling. There are very few creatives in Japan that outright reference the indigenous cultures of Japan - but Hayao Miyazaki is one of them.

The strongest Solarpunk vibes in his movies can obviously be found with Nausicaä, and with Princess Mononoke. One a post-apocalyptic movie, the other one a historical fantasy piece, which makes this entire thing even more interesting. Laputa, too, is often seen as Solarpunk - a story that is pretty much high fantasy with some scifi elements. And I would argue that you still very much can find Solarpunk themes in both Spirited Away and My Neighbour Totoro.

Not one of those movies is SciFi. And I very much find this worthy of discussing, because I think it is one of those aspects where a lot of people who would like to write something more Solarpunk could learn from.

One point that cannot be ignored is of course that Miyazaki aside from traditional and indigenous Japanese storytelling also drew heavy influence from Ursula K. LeGuin in some of his works - who also is one of the big influences on Solarpunk. And yes, there might be some essay of mine about LeGuin coming some day in the future - but not too soon.

From the very beginning of Studio Ghibli at least, Miyazaki's movies always had a heavy emphasis on some themes. These included feminism (by showing both women who can fight, and the importance of care work done by women), anti-war and pacifism, and environmentalism.

It should be noted that very much no Miyazaki movie is set in an utopia. Instead the movies are concerned with the idea of finding solutions for the characters - and with the characters empowering themselves.

Nausicaä and Princess Mononoke might be the clearest examples here. In both movies the protagonists take the role of creating peace between nature and those, trying to destroy it. However this ending is never quite a compromise, rather than the destroyers seeing that they are doing wrong and promising to do better. Which is another core thing that is there in most of Miyazaki's movies: They show a big hope for humanity and its ability to be good. Only rarely are we shown irredeemable villains in those movies - most of the times just people blinded by their lust for money and power. Or, at times, there is simply the problem that the two different sides can literally not understand each other.

This is a theme that gets explored again and again. How so many conflicts are rooted in the different sides not communicating - or at times literally being unable to communicate. With the protagonists being the ones who will be able to listen and understand.

The other aspect is that the protagonist in Miyazaki's movies also will empower themselves, while the antagonists do try and depower them. The protagonists have their own wishes and believes and stay true to them. They will also manage to succeed by befriending other people they meet along their way, by meeting them without any prejudice in many cases. Be it Ashitaka, who meets both the gods and the people of Iron Town without hatred, or be it Chihiro, who manages to befriend almost everyone she meets along her way.

The important aspect is, that the movies here offer a hopeful outlook and also show the importance of helping each other and banding up against a greater evil. In fact they do show a heavy emphasis on Mutual Aid in some interesting ways.

Here is the thing: Yes, I really want to see more Solarpunk fiction that is set in possible, but really positive Solarpunk worlds that dare to imagine anarchist and communist worlds. But we absolutely need these kinds of stories. Stories that are about the fight for the environment, for a better word. Stories in which the characters do offer mutual aid to others, work together and find understanding. And stories in which there can be hope found.

And I think we just need to give this more of a chance - and talk more about it.

#solarpunk #studio ghibli #hayao miyazaki #princess mononoke #spirited away #ghibli #ghibli films #nausicaä of the valley of the wind #laputa #anime #anime and manga

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jowritesfanfiction · 1 month ago

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Masculinity in Back to the Future (an essay)

A couple weeks ago, I had to write an essay about Back to the Future for a sociology course. A few people were interested in reading it (@measuresderepo and @yourlocalvastard specifically), so I thought I'd put it out here for anyone to read.

Quick notes before you read: A huge thank you to my friend and my sibling for answering my questions about male friendships. Also I briefly mention sexual assault and sexual harassment as it shows up in the movie. It is not the main focus, but it does come up.

That being said, here's the essay:

One of the most successful films from the 1980s was Back to the Future. For the uninitiated, the film is about Marty McFly, a 1985 teenager who time travels to 1955 and accidentally intervenes in his parents’ meeting, consequently threatening his existence. Most of the movie revolves around Marty teaching his father, George, how to be a man to woo Marty’s mother, Lorraine. The movie explores the theme of masculinity through the characters of Marty, George, and Biff, but deviates from typical depictions of masculinity through Marty’s friendship with Doc.

Marty is the archetypical 1980s cool guy and embodies the cultural ideals of masculinity. He is played by Michael J. Fox. Marty stands up to Biff when he bullies George and harrasses Lorraine. When Lorraine falls in love with him instead of George, she admires these qualities in Marty. Consequently, the movie’s values about masculinity are governed by what Lorraine believes a man should be: “[...] strong so he can stand up for himself and protect the woman he loves.” Since the movie revolves around what Lorraine values in a man, it is fair to assume that Marty is who the movie deems as the ideal man.

Marty spends the majority of the film socializing his father, George, to fit into traditional gender norms for men. Unlike Marty, George is a pushover and avoids all confrontation or rejection. George would rather peep on Lorraine than ask her to the dance and risk getting rejected. He only pursues Lorraine when “Darth Vader” threatens him. Still, Marty coaches him through flirting and how to “rescue” Lorraine with minimal success. It is only until George punches Biff for taking advantage of Lorraine that he woos Lorraine and becomes the ideal man. These new traits make George confident, financially successful and make both him and his family happier in the future. Through George, the movie suggests that exhibiting these cultural values are guaranteed to make a man happy and successful.

On the other side of the spectrum is Biff. Biff uses his stature and physical strength to intimidate and manipulate others. He coerces George into doing his work because George will not fight back. Biff does not need to stand up for himself because he starts fights with anyone who stands in his way. Rather than protecting the woman he “loves,” Biff uses his strength to harass and violate Lorraine. Biff is the result of taking on the cultural ideals of masculinity to its most extreme, or “toxic masculinity” in modern terms. The movie goes on to show how fragile this form of masculinity is when Biff is challenged by Marty and George. At the end of the movie, Biff no longer has any leverage over George or anyone. Through Biff, the movie shows how cultural ideals of masculinity can be detrimental if taken too far.

Despite positioning Marty as the ideal man, the movie shows how he deviates from the norm through his friendship with Doc. They function like typical friends, but the degree to which they care for one another differs from typical male friendships. The clearest example of this is when the two are getting ready to send Marty back to 1985. Doc expresses that he is going to miss Marty because Marty has “really made a difference in [his] life.” Before Marty leaves, Marty thanks Doc and because Marty is so grateful for Doc as a friend, Marty hugs Doc. Genuine physical affection between two men is not typical today and was especially not typical for the 1980s. The two share a level of vulnerability that is in direct violation of typical norms of masculinity, but it is what makes their relationship work so well.Back to the Future is a perfect example of what the ideals for masculinity were in the 1980s. Marty exudes the ambition and self-reliance of the era. George learns how to become that ideal man and becomes successful. Biff exemplifies how cultural ideals of masculinity can become damaging. Conversely, Marty and Doc’s emotional vulnerability is a direct subversion of typical norms of masculinity. Perhaps masculinity is not solely about physical strength and protecting a lover, but rather strength of character, vulnerability, and caring for everyone they love romantically and platonically.

#bttf #back to the future #sociology #bttf essay #essay #marty mcfly #george mcfly #biff tannen #doc brown #emmett brown #doc and marty #i wish i had more than 750 words but alas #i could go on about these movies and the depiction of masculinity #esp with the 1st and 3rd movie GAH

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elainsgirl · 8 months ago

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Let’s make something painfully clear:

In ACOTAR its stated how not every single bond is right. Not every bond is a true pairing of souls, some mates are only bonded as they will produce powerful children.

Questioning elucien’s bond and saying its wrong or corrupted does not bring into question every single bond. Because once again, as its clearly stated in the book: You will have some bonds that are perfect and right for each other. OTHER bonds will not be perfect. Its a mixture- of right & wrong bonds. The only way every bond would need to come into question is if Sjm had stated that bonds were never wrong. The cauldron/mother chooses perfectly every single time - but did Sjm write that? No. She didn’t.

Feysand’s bond has no association with the cauldron but their bond is clearly right. Feyre and Rhys belong together, they’re a true pairing of souls. Nessian’s bond is the same. Lady Death and the man who has walked alongside death. A perfect pairing. The ONLY bond to have been questioned on page is elucien’s. “What if the cauldron was wrong?” - only said about elucien’s bond. To have your main character then proceed to say, “why not make them mates” between Elain and Azriel is the most clearest foreshadowing an author can write.

And even IF Sjm’s end goal is to abolish mating bonds and claim they’re wrong, it doesn’t matter. Why?

Feyre and Rhys, Nesta and Cassian all fell in love and chose each other BEFORE their bond was accepted. They wanted each other regardless of being mates or not. Take the bond away, and their love won’t just dissipate into thin air. It will remain. They’d STILL be together. Their mating bonds are just the cherry on top.

However take away elucien’s bond, and you’d get two relieved characters that now have no connection to each other. Nothing forcing them to be together. They would happily go their seperate ways.

#elriel #pro elriel #lucien vanserra #elain archeron #feysand #nessian

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thecurioustale · 10 months ago

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Writing Psychological Horror Is Hard

Writing horror is hard for me.

I think it is perhaps the clearest example, at least when I'm the subject, of the difference between being the author and being the audience. I find it extremely difficult to know what will creep out someone who doesn't know all the behind-the-scenes details of what is happening. This is despite my considerable experience as a consumer of [psychological / environmental] horror media.

When I think about the things that scare me, or maybe "unsettle" is a better word, it usually comes down to two things: 1) narratively plausible violations of the laws of nature; and 2) foreboding, i.e. the slow-building setup that something bad is coming—something that is specific enough to be apprehensible but still ambiguous enough to be cloaked in mystery.

But! Not just any attempt at these things will actually work. There is definitely a secret sauce that makes some efforts fail and others succeed.

In the game Oxenfree, probably my favorite horror game of all time, there is a scene on the "Find Clarissa!" subplot where Alex et al. are in something akin to a classroom in an abandoned military base on an uninhabited island, and a discordantly upbeat and normal-sounding midcentury-style gameshow host is talking to them through a haunted radio asking them questions in a game of Hangman (whose figure is gradually being drawn by invisible means on the chalkboard), while a lamp overhead illuminates the room in a very unnatural light as it swings back and forth for no apparent reason. And this was one of my favorite moments in the entire game, because it was really scary. It benefitted from the existing atmospheric horror build up in the events immediately preceding it, and also benefitted from not being a narrative climax; it actually ratchets up the tension in the story even higher, without resolving anything (other than itself).

But I think that if you went purely by my description, you would be hard-pressed to create a scary implementation of this scene. I certainly would be—and I know that for a fact, because I have more or less tried it!

What is it that makes something profoundly unsettling in that oh-so-delicious manner of a good horror story? Well, the academic answer is that it's appealing to our instincts of danger: dangerous environments (like rocks or cliffs or plants, or, indeed, "the dark"), dangerous predators, dangerous people, dangerous forces (like fire and wind and water), and dangerous sicknesses (e.g. infectious disease). Most horror taps into at least one of these primal apprehensions in the human psyche. And to succeed it has to feel real, the way a roller coaster feels like you're really falling. But I don't think "the academic answer" really sheds all that much light on the mystery of actually composing horrifying situations and events.

A lot of the craftsmateship is a balancing act.

For example: You don't want to hit the audience over the head with obvious bogeymates—jumpscares for the sake of jumpscares, as it were, or having your big scary cryptid jump out in its full costume in broad daylight and look absurd—but I have also found, through experience, that it is very easy to hide horrifying details too well, to be too subtle about it—and it is extremely difficult for me to get a sense, on the audience's behalf, of how subtle is too subtle.

That leads me to an important insight: Part of the secret sauce of horror is contextually embedding horrifying story elements into a broader context. A "haunted stick of furniture" isn't going to get many people a-quailin' in their boots. It has to be more about how that object is embedded in the story. You know, like a haunted couch, or a haunted table: How do you make that scary? I don't think it can be scary on its own. Not consistently and convincingly. Instead you have to set it up ahead of time in some way(s), by providing information to the audience that you are then going to subvert or manipulate later. Yet it is all too easy to do this in a way that comes across like a paint-by-numbers exercise: "Wait a minute! Wasn't this couch pointing the other way earlier?! GASP!!" No one is gonna be scared by that. It's not enough.

Ultimately, I think scaring people successfully, in the psychological horror sense, therefore involves an element of overwhelming their ability to cope with and anticipate environmental changes, which assumes an elaborate environmental structure that you're going to have to set up, in non-obvious ways, earlier in the story. You have to give them expectations about how things will change and then either gradually go beyond that magnitude of change or else go in a different direction of change entirely—usually the former. Psychological horror is all about the fear of the jumpscare that never comes.

But I'm also just spitballing for the purposes of this essay. I don't really know. I struggle with this stuff!

It really is an art form to be able to scare people in this way.

Additional, medium-specific difficulty comes in the fact that the written media that I work in does not have access to a scary soundtrack or sound effects or voices, or to scary visuals and visual effects. Written text does have the corresponding advantage of having unfettered access to the reader's imagination, allowing them to essentially self-select the personally scariest interpretations of some of the details of a scene. But taking full advantage of this power is not easy at all; you have to put the right kinds of details in, and you have to do so in a digestible format, all without cluttering the flow of the story.

I have been doing a lot of Galaxy Federal writing lately, and have been trying to write some of the "scarier" bits and pieces in it, and I almost resent how totally clueless I am in regards to whether I am hitting the mark to my satisfaction! 😮

#Horror writing #Philosophy of horror #Psychological horror #Galaxy Federal

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chthonic-cassandra · 2 months ago

Note

22, 23, 25 & 26 for Furious Docility, or any other Sadeian Women fic of your choice :) (as an homage to our shared extensive experience with Sade)

While I don't know that I can say I'm happy to have this extensive experience with Sade, I'm glad that it's at least something we can share! <3

I'll go with Furious Docility (120 Days of Sodom, 17k, unfinished) for all of these to keep it simple.

22. What is something you learned about yourself as a writer from the experience?

So it's good that this question specifies "as a writer," because I have a notably crazy story about learning something about myself through the process of writing this one. But that particular story isn't so appropriate for general consumption.

But as a writer...I learned that I can get overly caught up in plotting/outlining to the point that it gets in the way of actually writing. I learned that I can effectively do Sade pastiche vulgar dialogue, even though it makes me deeply uncomfortable. I learned - and this is a more fraught one - that sometimes the right thing to do is drop a project, at least temporarily, when it's not serving me.

23. How did you come up with the title?

This story had something like five different titles over the (many) years!

This one is a phrase from the Seaver and Wainhouse English translation of the text. It's a phrase from one of Duclos' stories; she describes a libertine "requir[ing] what might be termed a furious docility on the girl's part." In context this refers to intense compliance despite feelings of repulsion, but I became really fascinated with the multiple meanings encapsulated within the idea of docility as furious, and the way that it could apply in different ways to my four protagonists. I remain really very fond of the title.

25. Share your favorite line

I rarely reread this one and the parts of it I posted were all written quite a while ago, so looking back at it for this I found a lot of lines I had really forgotten writing!

But I still think the prologue may be the strongest piece of what I posted from it, and I love this in its simplicity and as part of an opening to the story:

Instead, she stood at the narrow arrow-slit of the window, watching the snow melt under the faint gleam of the sunrise. Slowly, patiently, inch by inch, the ice receded, yielding its hard, merciless grip over the chateau. Soon, it would be April. Soon, they would be able to leave.

26. Share your favorite detail.

My favorite details in this one are all characterization ones - whatever strength there is to this story, in its many various iterations, has always been in the practice of taking the extremely fragmentary hints of personality the wives/daughters get in 120 Days and trying to envision actual people behind them. I think one of the clearest examples of this is from the Adelaide-Julie-Constance conversation about Christianity in chapter 3; the distinction between the frameworks from which each of them are operating feels like a plausible and effective extrapolation of the upbringings each of them might have had.

#amarocit #meme #my writing #sade #against libertinage

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7grandmel · 5 months ago

Text

Rip of the week: 20/01/2025

Watching Spongebob and Kirby Super Star

Season 8 No Album Release (Read More) Cocoa Cave (US Version) - Kirby Super Star

Ripped by PBandJam

youtube

Many years ago, during its first-ever Season, SiIvaGunner released the rip Light Plane (Krabby Mix); a rip that I, in my review and analysis of it just a few weeks ago, described as perhaps the best SpongeBob-related rip of its time. Utilizing a simple concept, a recognizable song, and an immediately identifiable and funny source all at once, Philiponbread created an all-time classic using naught but the bare essentials. Yet writing that post got me thinking of what lies on the opposite end of the spectrum; what would qualify as the best SpongeBob rip of TODAY, one made with years upon years of refinement in ripping prowess? Part of that thought process was, of course, also motivated by remembering how Season 8 in particular had an entire SpongeBob event occur during it, which gave my question more answers than I could have ever hoped for. There were tons of possible picks I could have had for today's post, but ultimately it was Watching Spongebob and Kirby Super Star that stuck with me most; standing out as the clearest expression of just how far SpongeBob-posting has come in the years since Light Plane (Krabby Mix).

Indeed, while Light Plane (Krabby Mix) was moreso teetering on the edge of being a YTPMV though its approach of pitch-shifting one snippet of audio alongside the original track's music, Watching Spongebob and Kirby Super Star is almost overwhelmingly maximalistic in its approach as evident from just the first few seconds. Despite all falling under the same umbrella term, the art of making YTPMV covers so many different approaches; For instance, there's rips like (YTPMV) Bob-Omb Battlesources which give a sense of ping-ponging between different sources by the second, while rips like Going Somewhere Jerma? and Everything Circus use a consistent, themed set of sources throughout their entire runtime. All YTPMVs are, in some form, rearrangements, which rips like Chillin' Like A Villain and its WANO-ilk embrace to a point where that underlying chaos that defines the genre almost starts to disappear from that equation. At the direct opposite of that almost elegant style or arrangement, then, we find the embodiment of said chaos, the definition of the aforementioned maximalism; with rips like my dearly beloved Crompton Racing, or indeed, Watching Spongebob and Kirby Super Star. Like rearrangement rips, every part of the original song is taken into consideration – Lead, bass, percussion, etc. – yet, rather than the approach of unassuming coherence, these are the kinds of rips that lean wholesale into cacophany; using as many sources of as many different kinds as possible, each source being picked out on a "what would be funny"-like basis. From there it's effectively just a matter of how hard the YTPMVer wants to dial in; into total insanity along the lines of LAST YTPMV^2 OF 2016, or into something that still holds on to a shred of sanity.

The most standout thing about Watching Spongebob and Kirby Super Star beyond its broad-strokes direction is the care taken in the sources used; what at first appears like a cacophany of sources taken everywhere from SpongeBob itself to funny online videos and memes, soon clicks as all being under one theme; It's ALL SpongeBob posting. The percussion and bass are from the SpongeBob movie and show respectively, yes; but the TikTok that plays as the lead melody, an all-time favorite source of mine, is very specifically connected to SpongeBob as well, containing the lyric "Chilling on the weekend like usual / Watching SpongeBob and Scooby Dooby Doo". The high-tempo soundscape of Kirby music being used as the framework for all of these sources to fit into has an almost inherently comedic value to it, in a way I've alluded to back on rips like Kirby Joins the Circus!; it's the kind of whimsical soundscape that elevates YTPMV sources to sounding even more absurdly funny than they already are. As mentioned, the Gym Music TikTok source is one of my most cherished sources of all time, and the realization that it was eligible for SpongeBob day through seeing this rip made me embarrassingly giddy, only emphasized by how much fun the pitch shifting on it became through being aligned with Cocoa Cave's melody. This pattern only continues throughout the rip; The sudden appearance of the Whip and Nae Nae of Whip Fortress fame baffled me at first brush, only for the visuals remind me that, oh RIGHT - Silento DID make a Nickelodeon-themed (SpongeBob included) Whip and Nae Nae variant for Labour Day Weekend!

This all follows what I think, crucially, most separates SpongeBob rips of today from SpongeBob rips of yesteryear; The sources have gone from being in tribute to just SpongeBob itself to also referencing so many parts of SpongeBob's meme culture. Of all cartoons in the world, perhaps only The Simpsons rivals the absolute outreach that the Sponge has on internet posting; So many quotes, so many clips, so many gifs and so many absurd videos have been shared and made and posted in tribute to the show. Light Plane (Krabby Mix) was only truly scratching the surface, of just one of SpongeBob's many many many holds it has on the internet world; every little source from Watching Spongebob and Kirby Super Star – the knee-slap percussion, the stepping-on-the-beach song, the NO-NO-NO-NO!'s, the use of that one Patrick soundbyte that Sans Undertale's voice was sampled from – feels like it can be mentally traced back to some week, month or year on the internet, be it social media or YouTube or forums or discord, where it was THE funny thing to be sharing. It took until a rip like this, so dense with audio information all layered atop one another in a way that teeters on the incomprehensible whilst remaining a genuinely fun listen, for me to realize just how MUCH SpongeBob has its roots in the internet world.

PBandJam is a ripper that doesn't strike often, but has a damn good grasp of what he's doing; with this and Wind Scene (Short Version) - Chrono Trigger alone he pretty much immediately cemented SpongeBob Day as one I'll remember even as someone who hasn't really watched much of the show. There's something to be said about that attachment I still hold to SpongeBob, despite not growing up with it, despite not getting that same nostalgic kick out of Ocean Man and CG Man HD Remastered Edition as everyone else, but because the means in which he's been wielded by the internet is one that feels timelessly appealing. Lots of the sources in Watching Spongebob and Kirby Super Star are ones you could call stupid bullshit; But it's stupid bullshit that I and millions of others got to be part of and laugh alongside during its moments of online relevance. And isn't that feeling, truly, what SiIvaGunner is all about?

#todays siivagunner #season 8 #siivagunner #siiva #tentative rip name #PBandJam #spongebob #spongebob squarepants #kirby super star #kirby #kirby music #kirby series

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