#+ more but these are the ones i’d personally love to see the most

[pixiecaps]

recapping a bit of what haru said on stream

haru on her stream spoke about how shes had a really awful past five years and all her experiences just from this past year has been incredible. she gave a massive thank you to everyone and that she has no regrets.

“i never imagined i’d be where i am right now and i mean it with all my heart thank you so much. i had a very good time and i hope to have made you guys happy.”

she mentioned that since she was young shes always wanted to make content that makes people happy because she felt the world was missing a lot of love so shes happy to have given the world a piece of her heart. she mentioned how shes met so many incredible people who motivated her to see the good parts of life. to have found even this little bit of sunshine has left her so grateful. she says thank you for all the kindness, all the moments, all the memories, all the words, everything. shes very happy and mentioned this has been a very special experience for her. she reminded her chat that theres always another day and to enjoy life to the maximum, to live, to love, to talk, to hug each other, to be happy always, and that all the beautiful happiness we’ve given her will be returned back to us. she continues to express her gratitude. she mentioned this is one of the most beautiful communities shes ever had the pleasure of meeting in the entire world. she goes on to include the spanish, portuguese, french, english, german, and korean community in that statement.

“there is love in all types of languages and that love needs to be shared.“

she said her words will never be enough to express all her gratitude. she gave a reminder to always keep being kind. her voice falters a couple times from all the emotions. she mentioned shes cried enough and didn’t want to keep crying since she had something to do tomorrow and she didnt wanna have swollen eyes lmao.

she then shares a more personal moment. paraphrasing here.

“after i lost my dad i swear i felt like my life was falling apart. i never thought i’d be able to recover. after that many things happened and in those things, i wasnt destined to meet two people, this is a story i’ll always remember because i wasnt destined to meet these people. … they tell me hey the actor for this little thing didn’t show up and i say no way seriously? tell them to let me be it, tell them please because i want to be with you guys (harus two friends who were apart of the project). and i didnt think they’d agree… and they said yes. and i met two very important people and honestly (starts crying) thank you so much. thank you so much nussa. thanks to you i was able to meet them. i never imagined this would happen i promise you. thank you nussa. it means a lot to me that you decided to put me (into the leo spot). the only major thing in my life, i started being so happy, i started enjoying all the moments in my life as if it were the last, thanks to all this i’m here. and could meet you all. such a beautiful community.” she goes on to keep thanking nussa while crying and saying it was written in the stars. she goes on to say that shes gonna tell this as a story some day to her family, who doesnt know what she does or that she streams, and she’ll tell them about all of this with so much care and love. shes very thankful to have learned so much english and more about so many different cultures. she again reiterates shes very happy.

she also teases that she wants to go to brazil!!!! which… might be soon… and that theres little things being planned so hopefully if all goes well…👀 (an egg admin meetup would go so hard)

NOW GO SUPPORT HER ON TWITCH @ HarumiVT

[isalisewrites]

A Deep Dive into JKR's Terrible, Amateur Writing - Part Two

Welcome to my ballsy series where I will prove to you, dear reader, that J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series and resident Twitter TERF, is actually a very, very poor writer.

And when I say ‘poor writer,’ I’m talking about her prose, her sentence structure, and her scenes. I am not going to discuss anything about the HP world nor the overall plot of the books. 

This is all about the nitty gritty in the craft of writing itself.

Part One Link.

Disclaimer for all readers of this series: 

I’m going to sound very confident in my posts where I work under the assumption I’m a better writer than JKR; because I am. My apologies if this rubs you the wrong way. You’re simply witnessing the culmination of over two and half decades of experience with the intensity from a neurodivergent who is hyperfocused on her special interest. I didn’t just learn how to create stories; I learned the craft of writing to a minutia of details.

I’m not a perfect writer. No one is. I’m not a talented writer either. I’m experienced and skilled through years of study and practice.

I don’t care about J.K. Rowling. At all.

If you’re triggered by the concept and fact that JKR is a terrible crafter of writing, then you might want to take a step back and self reflect on that personal issue.

I still very much love and adore Harry Potter; you’re still allowed to love Harry Potter.

This is not a series to bitch or bash. This isn’t a shitpost. This isn’t an attack on JKR, no matter the disgusting bullshit she spews forth on Twitter. However, my hope is people awaken to the fact that JKR isn’t the goddess of writing we’ve all been led to believe.

This is a place of study and learning, where the purpose is to help students gain critical thinking skills and writing analysis tools to become better in their craft.

And, sorry, one more disclaimer for this specific post: 

Fanfiction is written for fun and is posted for free. I put most of my effort into my main fanfic, Terrible, But Great. (Yes, I intend to update Moon Rite soon, too) However, I also have two fanfics that are cowritten with another author; thus, the style of Shall I Stay and Badger Prey are understandably different. I spend three to four times the hours to edit a chapter versus drafting it. My process for fanfiction: I draft. I do one expansion edit. I do one proofread edit. I post.

However, if I were to publish a novel where people are expected to drop money on said book, my work flow would be vastly more extensive. To be clear, I’d do all of the following myself. I would not outsource. My process for published novels: I would draft. I would do three to four expansion edits. I would do two to three cutting edits. I would do three proofread edits. 

See the difference?

Because I don’t go through a cutting edit for my fanfiction, I’ll often come back later and see things I think are weak. I’m constantly seeing where I can tighten my work. There’s always room for improvement.

Remember: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is a paperback book that costs $10. My fanfics are free. If I, someone who writes for free and puts what she considers the bare minimum of effort into them, have a higher standard in the quality of my writing than a paid traditionally published novelist, there’s a problem here. 

All right, with that nonsense out of the way, buckle up, my writing friends. Grab a snack. Hydrate. Remember to take what resonates and leave what doesn’t. Let’s begin.

Class is in session.

In this post, we’re going to discuss these five pages from HP5 and dissect one paragraph and a line from page 731. All dialogue is highlighted in blue.

(My favorite book in the series, btw. I fucking love fifth year the most. JKR did a damn good job with Umbridge.)

Since a certain anon lacked the skill to comprehend the difference between too much dialogue and stories driven by a high saturation of dialogue, let's go into further depth about dialogue.

What did I mean last week when I said: "Too much fucking dialogue!"

Today’s lesson will focus on the overall issue in JKR’s dialogue and in the prose surrounding those dialogue lines.

And since, apparently, I “lack the self awareness” to know most of my fics are “oversaturated with dialogue,” I’m going to use weaker examples of my own writing. Chapter 24 of TBG is heavily driven by dialogue with twenty-one named characters to juggle, something that's very difficult for me to manage. Though the chapter is lovely, I do feel it's some of my weaker work. In the end, I just didn’t have the energy to edit it a second time nor go through cutting edit.

Here are three different pages (some connected, some not) from Chapter 24 of Terrible, But Great. All dialogue is highlighted in blue.

You can already see the difference, I'm sure.

So, what’s the difference between a scene that has 'too much fucking dialogue' versus a scene that is highly saturated with dialogue?

Because there is one.

Let's set the scene for HP5. In the middle of an OWL exam, Harry received a vision from Voldemort, showing him that Sirius has been captured. He's being tortured to get something from a shelf, but Sirius refuses. Harry believes the vision is real. He tells Ron and Hermione, then asks for their advice on how to rescue Sirius. Ron and Hermione are both like, pardon, wtf, sir? (As they should be.)

We have five pages of this fight between them. These five pages are mostly dialogue with very little else surrounding it.

Also, note the final page where it has the worst sins of adverb usage. That page is what triggered me to begin writing this series in the first place, btw.

There's too much dialogue here. There's no description. I'm being told stuff, but I'm not being shown anything. There are no emotional anchors to Harry either. The more I reread this scene, the more I realized what was wrong.

There’s an emotional disconnect from Harry in the prose.

Do not misunderstand me: it is NOT to say that Harry isn’t emotional here. It's that the prose doesn’t grip me, the reader, by the chest and twist my heart with his overwhelming emotions. The prose doesn't prove anything, doesn't show me anything. This is an intense, terrifying moment for Harry. It should feel visceral. It should feel tangible. I should be able to taste his fear.

We also don’t get too much information about the emotional states of Ron and Hermione. We have hints, of course. But we can’t feel them. The emotions of the scene are dampened, muffled, dull even.

With an untrained eye, you might disagree. It's okay. You'll see what I mean soon.

Page 731 exact quote:

"I dunno how," said Harry. "But I know exactly where. There's a room in the Department of Mysteries full of shelves covered in these little glass balls, and they're at the end of row ninety-seven...He's trying to use Sirius to get whatever it is he wants from in there....He's torturing him....Says he'll end by killing him..." Harry found his voice shaking, as were his knees. He moved over to a desk and sat down on it, trying to master himself.

(Btw, punctuation issue: you do not use an ellipsis and a period together and there should be a space after the ellipsis.)

This is the only instance in the five pages where we get any information about Harry's physical state.

And it's written in such a weak 'telling' instead of 'showing' way, too.

How and where was his voice shaking? How are his knees shaking? Are they knocking together in a weird way that's kind of physically improbable? Or was it actually his legs were shaking? Isn't he leaning against the door? If his weight was resting against the door, then there'd be less shaking in his knees or legs because his knees would be locked to brace his body against the door. His arms and hands would be shaking, though.

How does Harry master himself? What does that look like? Slow breaths? Running a hand through his hair? Rubbing his face and eyes? How is Harry mastering himself? Is it mentally? Then, where are those mastering thoughts? What are they and why do those thoughts in particular help Harry 'master' himself?

What's Harry's tone as he talking about Voldemort threatening to kill Sirius? How is Harry feeling about this? Give me MORE!

The dialogue is presented to the reader in a bland, empty fashion. Harry is relating something to Ron and Hermione. I could switch the dialogue out with anything and it'd still make sense.

There is little surrounding the dialogue to anchor it.

So, let's rewrite this, shall we?

"I dunno how," said Harry, letting out a shaky breath. His hands clenched into fists against the door of the classroom. "But I know where—they're in a room in the Department of Mysteries that's filled with rows of shelves holding these... weird little glass balls. They're in row ninety-seven. Voldemort, he's—" Harry's voice broke. His breath caught in his throat. The memory of the vision returned full force into his mind, the image of Sirius on the floor at Voldemort's feet stark in his mind. He ducked his chin; his chest inhaled in a desperate breath and the edges of his eyes burned. He's torturing Sirius—I can't just wait around. I can't lose him. Harry looked up at Ron, whose face had grown pale, while Hermione stared at him with wide, terrified eyes. The strength in Harry's legs weakened. "He needs Sirius to get whatever it is he wants and he's—" Harry sucked in a gasp, his voice trembling like an autumn leaf in a thunderstorm. "—he's torturing Sirius... says he'll kill him in the end." His knees buckled. Harry stumbled to the nearest desk; Ron reached out with a steadying hand on Harry's upper arm and silent gratitude filled Harry's heart. With shaky arms, Harry lifted himself onto the desk to sit and twisted around to face Ron and Hermione. He licked his dry lips, rubbed his eyes with a hand, and took slow, deep breaths to master his fraying emotions.

The original canon text has 57 words of dialogue with a total of 83 words.

My rewritten version uses 56 words of dialogue with a total of 247 words.

I'm going to drill this concept into your heads, my lovely students: this is what I mean when I keep saying JKR's writing is both bloated and underwritten.

I only rewrote a single paragraph and its following line. The five pages I've provided are filled with this kind of empty dialogue.

So, what have I done here? Can you see the difference? Can you feel the difference?

Let's analyze what I focused on in this scene to show Harry's body language and his thoughts. I upped the physical effects on Harry's body. His fear causes his voice to break in the middle of explaining what's going on. He's terrified of losing Sirius, the only father figure he's ever known. Voldemort might take another parental figure from him. 

And now the prose reflects these feelings, not just in his thoughts, but also in how he speaks and reacts to what is around him. He is not just speaking at the reader.

Harry exists in his world. 

And you can feel it.

When he stumbles to the desk, Ron is there for him. Hermione reacting could also be added here. There is a lot that can be added to this scene, if one wanted to expand this further. 

Yes, what I've done has increased the word count, yet it strengthens this short moment—and I'd do this for the entire scene.

What I did to the scene is merely one version of its potential. It could be rewritten in a multitude of ways and go in various directions. I spent 10mins to 20mins on it. I haven't edited it or refined it.

Can you finally see what I mean now?

If you compare the highlighted pages of HP5 to the highlighted pages of Chp 24 of TBG, you can visually see the difference in the density of the dialogue. JKR is the one whose writing is oversaturated with dialogue. My writing will always be highly saturated with dialogue because my stories are character driven. I prefer stories like that. But I also need the dialogue to be interesting and engaging, where the character feels alive in their world.

When I say there's too much dialogue, this scene is such a good example of this because Harry, Ron, and Hermione are all over the place in their interactions with each other. Yes, you want your characters to sound realistic, but you're also the author curating an experience for the reader.

There's a balancing tightrope act between having realistic dialogue and unnecessary dialogue.

There's a thin line between showing too much and telling too little.

Lastly, if I were to improve the overall scene, I would center the focus on Harry's desperation to rescue Sirius. As Ron and Hermione try to talk him out of it, where Hermione delivers that iconic line of 'you have a people saving thing,' I'd have Harry explode with something like this:

"You don't know what's it like! You both have your parents—I-I don't... You'd feel the same as me if it were either of your parents being tortured by Voldemort, yeah? I can't lose him—I can't lose Sirius."

I'm not bothering with description around it right now. I just wanted to give the baseline dialogue to show you the theme I'd carry through this scene. It's all about Sirius. It's all about the fear of losing him. It's about showing the emotion of the character and making the reader feel that deeply.

And that's what matters the most.

All right then.

We have come to an end of Part Two in this series. We have discussed fives pages in JKR's Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. The pages in question are 731 - 735 should you wish to look it up and study the scene yourself.

And so, please do the world the greatest of favors and write better than J.K. Rowling. I promise, it's not that hard once you see the differences.

Until next time.

Isa

[canthelpit0]

Skinny

Pairing: bf!Chris sturniolo x Reader

Wordcount: 700

Summary: you talk to your boyfriend about the internet (literally just the song skinny, by Billie Eilish)

Warnings: really short, angst(?), body image, the internet, hurt/comfort (?), direct quotes, idfk

(Litterally wrote this during a 1h car trip, so it’s rlly short. I was listening to the song while writing this. Hope you guys like it tho <3)

I recently met the triplets in LA. We quickly became friends, but I always felt drawn to Chris the most.

Sure they’re all considerably hot, but there was just something about Chris that made me feel something..

Turns out I wasn’t the only one that felt it, and soon enough Chris confessed to me. Wich meant a lot, considering he has commitment issues, but he was willing to commit… for me?

We dated for a while until I realized,

I fell in love for the first time.

I may only be 20, but those 20 years felt so eternally long. Chris was everything I’d been waiting for all my life, being the hopeless romantic.

I started to go to the gym more often, and eat healthier. Not for any other reason then, I was happy.

I also started to notice that Chris’ Pepsi habits got better, and he started to eat healthier as well.

We were talking one day, both of us sitting on opposite sides of Chris’ bed.

“People say I look happy, just because I got skinny.” I sigh.

The only reason why I look happier is because I have a working healthy relationship, because I’m in love. Not because my body changed.

Chris tilts his head to the side his eyes slightly furrowed as if asking me if I’m serious.

But the ‘old’ me was still me. Maybe even the real me, my actual personality when I’m on my own, And I think she is pretty.

I never really had body image issues. I never struggled with eating.

I got famous pretty young, like 17 or so. And back then I was a kid, of corse I liked to eat. I wasn’t even that big really. I was just a kid, I didn’t care about it too much.

I’m not magically happier than I was before. I still cry.

“People say I’m acting my age now.” I sigh. “Am I already on the way out, am I ‘falling off’?”

Chris tilts his head not saying anything just trying to process my words. As if my words are outlandish to him.

“I feel like a bird in a cage, you know. With all these expectations and rumors.” I sigh softly. All these things have been bugging me for a while.

“I’m sorry.” He looks at me with not pitty but understanding. “You were my secret,” when we started dating we hadn’t told the internet. “- and I didn’t get to keep it”

But like couples do we would go out on dates. With both of us being touchy people, PDA was big. But a random fan took a picture of us kissing and it spread like wildfire.

I sigh heavily at the memories. How betrayed I had felt by those so called fans looking into my business.

“The internet is hungry for the meanest kind of funny, and somebody’s gotta feed it.” I purse my lips closing my eyes briefly.

“I suppose that’s true” Chris breaths out his eyes locked on mine.

“People really think suddenly all my problems are gone and I’m all happy, not because I’m in a healthy and stable relationship but because i got skinny.” I huff working myself up, and getting angrier and angrier at something that seems like nothing.

“Do you still cry?” I ask rhetorically, my previous breathy and small voice now loud and clear. “I mean I do.” I reply to my own question.

I look at my boyfriend and the way he looks back at me with such understanding.

We look at each other in silence. “I love you. And I’ve loved you for so long. And that’s not going to change.”

Chris says firmly a small gentle smile forming on his lips. Chris opens his arms waiting for me to come to him.

I’m not upset per se, it’s just annoying seeing people comment on my body and happiness and whatnot. It’s none of their business.

I’m a content creator. I didn’t ask for them to criticize me.

I sit up shuffling over to Chris. I let myself fall into his embrace.

But in Chris’, the love of my life’s arms, like this, it doesn’t matter anyway.

Masterlist

A/N: hope you guys like this style of writing. If h goys want to be on the taglist comment. Asks & requests are open 💕

‼️please don’t copy my work/idea‼️

Taglist: @muwapsturniolo , @sturnad , @iluvm4ttsturni0l0 , @evie-sturns , @me09love , @fratbrochrisgf , @spideylovin , @chrissgirlsstuff , @stunza , @whicked-hazlatwhore , @sturniooolos , @ecliphttlunar , @orangeypepsi , @klaus223492 , @char112244 , @sst7niolo , @slut4chriss , @mattsturniololoverr , @th3-3d3n-g4rd3n , @st7rnioioss , @t1llysblogs , @nonat-111 , @blahbel668 , @rockstarchr1s , @sturnsintrouble , @nayveetbhh , @tillies33ssss , @sturncakez , @strnilo , @somegirlfromasgard , @mattslovelygf , @sturnsmaeve , @sturnstvr , @lucianastrun , @jnkvivi , @jamiesturniolo , @chr1sgirl4life , @h3arts4harry , @whosthislyssbitch , @jamiesturniolo , @sturniololover-09 , @zayyluvz , @sturnzsblog

[mamashenanigans]

I’ll have this in my analysis, but…

I love Izuku being the one to finally break down AFO by seeing him for what he truly is. Not an inconceivable, born evil monster, but a lonely old man. A man wracked with guilt and grief, but unable to complete the 5th stage of acceptance.

It’s telling that, for the first time, AFO begs Izuku “not to see him” when he has said countless times how he wants everyone to look at him forever. The demon lord persona is shattered just like Izuku shattered him physically. The immediate shift to the vestige world and AFO finding what little remains of Yoichi is an awesome way of completing Izuku’s statement. AFO has tried so hard to pretend he’s completely evil, incapable of feeling anything, but the truth is that Yoichi is his world. He is interdependent with his twin and he honestly is nothing without him. These very real feelings of guilt and grief, those he’s been in denial about, those that he never wanted anyone to see, especially himself, are finally at the forefront. And Yoichi was a perfect distraction for the other user’s to aid Izuku in finally destroying what remains of AFO.

He died a sad, lonely man because he simply couldn’t accept that he accidentally killed the one person in this world that mattered to him. Not a possession like a toy, but as the only person in the entire world that he could and does love more than anything.

And honestly…

This makes AFO the most relatable villain in the entire story. We have all felt guilt. And I’d say the majority of us have all felt grief. The grief never goes away. It’ll always be there in the back of your mind, but acceptance of that grief allows us to continue our daily lives. AFO couldn’t do it. Yoichi was at the forefront of his entire mind since he was born.

He is the saddest, most relatable villain in all of My Hero Academia.

[ninyard]

Came here from your in universe tweets posts and have just realised you're also Irish.

What are your thoughts on Kevin Day seeming so American through and through? I personally wish Nora had given him an accent or something seeing as he was raised by his Irish single mam. Like I kinda wish there had been some cultural differences there even if it was done badly.

However I think Nora was very on point with the fact that if somebody was going to make a very violent stickball sport it would be an Irish person.

I don't know anybody IRL who's read aftg and I would love to hear somebody else's thoughts on Kevin's Irish heritage lol

I wrote these silly little hcs about Kevin’s childhood in Ireland but a lot of that is kind of dependent on Kevin having had more of a childhood in Ireland (which I don’t think happened but I haven’t got a clue what the timeline of Kayleigh being in Ireland to Kevin being born is tbh)

Personally I wish Kev was a little more Irish and I also think the Irish mammy thing would’ve had a HUGE influence on him (again depending how old he was when she died). She would’ve been his best friend if he’d grown up with her. Also the internalising of his problems is VERY typical of an Irish man but I’d like to imagine Kayleigh tried to break the cycle of that mentality in sons/first born sons and it was destroyed by the Moriyama’s.

Things I would maybe like Kevin to have/do:

- just a little bit of an accent. On certain words, or if he’s drunk or tired, or if he’s speaking with an Irish person, his accent QUADRUPLES in intensity.

- burns in the sun SO EASILY but also wears shorts when it’s barely even hot at all

- he drinks tea when it’s cold because it’s comforting and it reminds him of his mam. It’s the one indulgence he allows himself because she took her tea sweet so he heaps two teaspoons in when he feels like he needs a hug

- I’ve mentioned it before somewhere but I believe that Kayleigh was from the west, from a gaeltacht area and spoke fluent Irish, and raised Kevin to be bilingual until she passed, and he never continued and honestly probably forgot it. He remembers little words here and there but really not much at all.

- right after he graduates he spends an entire summer in Ireland before he starts with his pro team. It’s a silly decision for his exy career really because he could use all of the professional practice he can get, but he needs it. He goes back to Ireland and visits all of these places he doesn’t remember, the places where Kayleigh grew up and took kev when he was a baby. Maybe his grandparents are still alive, and his grandfather plays hurling with him, and they speak to him in Irish, and he spends the summer learning and just relaxing and reconnecting with his roots. Maybe his grandmother has a box of Kayleigh’s old things and for the first time in his life he holds something belonging to his mam other than his letter. Her jersey with her original IRE National Court number on it from the Olympics just a few years before she died, and some photos he’d never seen before. I’d really love for him to just be able to know his mam better somehow. I feel like he deserves it!!!

(He comes back with the most obnoxious Irish American accent after that summer and he gets ROASTED for it. But he doesn’t care, because he feels so much closer to his mam having spent that much time at home)

I am CERTAIN that Kayleigh was inspired to create Exy by watching hurling. There’s no way she wasn’t. Exy is the bastard sport of lacrosse, hockey AND hurling.

[artycomicfangirl]

I really like your take on Daisy's parents and how you took real life inspirations for them. I also find it sad that Daisy lost her mother at a young age and thus her father was a bit more protective of her.

How would Daisy's father react when his daughter tells him about the relationship she is in? And how would he react towards Luigi when he eventually shows up in Sarasaland?

Ah man, I have only just managed to catch up with my inboxes that need answering! So sorry for the lateness, but here it goes!

(Like how I state in my other Daisy related Headcanons. I shall use the name Richard for her father, because that’s what it seems most of the fans use!)

- A Father’s First Impressions -

• The Princess claims she has found her soulmate? How surprising, really! As much of a leader Richard is, nothing could prepare him for THIS.

• At first, is the usual “Oh! How delightful!” As his on-the-spot response. But inside the turning cogs of his head, he’s already kind of an uncertain mode. For some reason, he always thought that Daisy wasn’t an easy person to win over. In fact, he even sort of takes pride that his daughter can be strong and super independent. That even a Prince needs to keep up with her.

Basically, he got this kind of vision of Daisy in his head that’s a bit different.

• To put it bluntly. The moment when he sees Luigi, he was a bit skeptical. The King found the plumber to be the complete opposite of what he thought Daisy would be in love with. I mean, nothing exactly bad with that. But it definitely caught him off Guard. certainly not the ideal image of a perfect Suitor for his daughter.

• Richard is definitely one of those type of fathers who appear to intimidate and interrogate. Having gotten Luigi’s first impression as a more timid and polite character, the King takes his approach steadily. Simple questions at first. Then as time goes on, he begins to try and delve for knowledge of Luigi’s being, and test him with other questions so far.

• ESPECIALLY at The Dinner feast for the guests! In a more comedic outcome, Richard might become a little too intimidating, to the point where he renders Luigi bumbling a bit over his answers. As the older brother, Mario immediately catches this (I’d like to believe Daisy actually went to Mario for help when she first found herself falling for Luigi!) and notifies Daisy for a swoop-and-save.

• After Hilariously pulling her father out from his chair and out of the room for a ‘few words’, The Princess right away tells her father to cut it out, and that He’s embarrassing her in front of the guests.

The King tries to cover up his little stunt as ‘Just asking questions!”. But upon being the subject of his Daughter’s steely glare, he gives in, defeated. He deeply apologizes, and confesses that he honestly couldn’t understand why she would choose someone like Luigi. Daisy firmly retorts back that Richard is being ridiculous.

• If I am trying to align the King’s personality with the Kodansha Conic more, He’s not the type I think to want to ‘break up’ the two. But he will be prone to nit-pick and point out things that Luigi might have done wrong. Or passive-aggressively put emphasis on Luigi’s flaws.

• I’d like to think that it’s gotten so ridiculous at some points, that a couple of times Mario’s more take-charge attitude has lead to him to defending his brother every time. And in worse case scenarios, ALMOST wanting to argue back. But by the good grace of his younger brother’s pleads to hold back and just be calm. He does it for Luigi’s sake.

• I’d like to think that at some point though, the King has been proven wrong. There would be a moment where he would see the Mario Brothers at the height of their power, leaving him in awe.

• Although at the end it still does take a bit getting used to accepting the fact that his daughter is in love with someone like Luigi. The King does genuinely apologize at the end for giving Luigi a Hard time. And it is in that moment, where the King reveals a bit on why Daisy means so much to him.

• Or picture this. An Enemy that has backed Luigi into a corner. But the King immediately jumps in front to his defense without hesitation.

And the most surprising thing? You mess with his future Son-In-Law? You mess with the King, the Royal Family…and most likely the other kings from the 4 Kingdoms.

[dingodad]

I know your tags said that the lil cal & Gamzee stuff isn’t worth discussing, but I think a lot of people could actually use someone articulating the problem with assuming that the puppet is what triggered the breakdown/“mind controlled” gamzee. If you’re really to speak on it, I’d love to hear it 

to preface: i'm not unsympathetic to the desire to see a more sympathetic interpretation of Gamzee given how his arc speaks to certain racialised themes within the comic. but this is what's in the text as i see it.

ultimately it comes down to the exact same arguments that apply to Dave's bro. Gamzee is part of Lil Cal, so if Lil Cal were whispering in Gamzee's ear the whole time he was also undergoing all these stresses related to faith and substance, those whispers are Gamzee's own thoughts being reflected back at him. if puppet-Gamzee suggests to man-Gamzee that he kill people and man-Gamzee concedes, all that's really happened is that Gamzee has given in to his own desire to do that. this is what Homestuck does when it pits alternate timeline versions of characters against each other; it simply manifests interactions going on within that character's own self.

more specifically to Gamzee, this is a character who manifests Homestuck's feminist themes very explicitly, especially in regards to how they are portrayed via Alternia's caste system as a member of the patriarchal purple class. it is true and worth mentioning of course that Lil Cal is not just Gamzee, but is also Caliborn, Gamzee's patriarchal god! but then it was Gamzee who raised Caliborn to have those patriarchal principles; because in Homestuck the patriarchy isn't something you're somehow influenced or tricked into participating in, it's something you choose to perpetuate, just as Caliborn chose to perpetuate it in becoming Alternia's patriarch... and so on ad infinitum.

the "tragedy" of a time loop isn't that fate is somehow forcing you to adhere to a course of events that you don't want to adhere to; tragedy is when the person that you are makes it inevitable that you will walk down that same violent path every time. and Homestuck is all about that person that you are; it's a story by and large disinterested with any scenario where a character's actions do not offer insight into their personalities. a Homestuck character has a certain nature, and while on occasion they are offered psychic stimuli, how they react to that psychic stimulus is according to their nature.

there is of course a physical rather-than-metaphysical approach to Gamzee's backstory, which I'm sure is more along the lines of what you were looking for lol, and while analysis of that is not so much my area I feel that the physical approach basically points toward the same kind of conclusions as the metaphysical one. Gamzee is a character of tragedy, who has been shaped by physical stimuli like religious abuse (from all manner of directions!), parental neglect and substance addiction. and my assessment of that is primarily that... this should be enough? like is that not enough to create a compelling character. even if it were not antithesis to Homestuck's themes I guess it just seems to me like it goes without saying that "this character's actions were the result of someone else's will and not of their own unique circumstances" reduces the character. most certainly yes, there are manipulative forces at work in Homestuck, and their name is Lord English, and yes, Lil Cal is Lord English, but Lord English's power lies in the telling of the narrative; and the narrative that turns Gamzee into a villain is already there! English doesn't need to tell Gamzee to make those malevolent choices, because English already established the circumstances that made those choices inevitable. to make Lil Cal into some literal cursed amulet is to make Lord English into Vriska, and that reduces him, because that's not what he is! he's the god of inevitability!

[darkurgetrash]

Get to Know Me Tag ~

Hiya! I got tagged in a few different 'get to know me' tags so I thought I'd just combine them here, hehe. Thank you so so much to @dutifullylazybread @weaveandwood @orangekittyenergy and @blackstaff-blast — I really love these tags, both answering and reading others'. What can I say? I'm a gemini.

No pressure tags! ~ @lemonsrosesandlavender @savriea @graysparrowao3 @heytheresunflower

Do you make your bed?: Yes! I'm not a neat-freak, but I consider myself quite neat

Favourite number: When I was a young child someone asked me this and I didn't know what to say so I pretended it was '86'. Since then, that's always just been what I've said… couldn't tell you why lol

What's your job?: Between roles atm, but usually a copywriter

If you could go back to school, would you?: For sure. I was really let down as a kid by the system, if I could go back but with the wisdom I have now, I would love to. As for further education, I loved my undergrad but I can't see myself realistically studying more on account of chronic illnesses

Can you parallel park / Can you drive a manual car?: Nope. I was good at parking and driving back when I was first learning over 10 years ago but never took my test because I got a lot of anxiety driving. I live in London now, so there's no urgent need to learn, but I will have to some day.

Do you think aliens are real?: Yes. Ain't no way we're the only life forms to exist in the whole universe, pleaseee

What's your guilty pleasure?: I love Britney Spears 💁‍♀️

Tattoos?: A small one, on my ankle. Two hands in a reference to Twin Peaks. I also just love the design — even if my tattoo artist did a slightly shoddy job and told me they did the exact same reference on tonnes of people ayyy lmao

Favourite type of music?: Easy answer is indie, though even that is a huuuuge umbrella. Some of my fave musicians are Mitski, Bright Eyes, AURORA, Radiohead, EELS, and Thumpasaurus. Also, a long-time MCR fan.

Do you like puzzles?: I'm wayyy too ADHD for them tbh but I don't mind some types of puzzles, like in video games. But even then, they can't go on for too long, lol

Any phobias?: Crowds are def my biggest one. I’m scared of pretty normal things I’d say, like hornets. I do have a lot of sensory issues though that give a similar feeling, the most unusual being cardboard. Do NOT touch it near me, I WILL scream. And slight trypophobia… 🤢

Favourite childhood sport: Always hated sports and exercise, even as a kid

Do you talk to yourself: I sing to myself (and in general) a lot and have big echolalia, but I don't really talk to myself in the traditional sense. Now my partner on the other hand… he does not stop yapping for even a second in the day.

What movie(s) do you adore?: The immediate go-to's in my brain are The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Pride and Prejudice (2005), Your Name, and… Shrek. Non-ironically.

Coffee or tea: Earl grey tea with oat milk, please! If not an option, I'll go for an oat milk mocha.

First thing you wanted to be growing up?: I… okay. I don't even know if I should admit this, but it's kinda funny… but remember, I was a CHILD. like, FIVE. My sister wanted to move to Africa and be a mango farmer (???) and I wanted to go with her so I said I wanted to sell shoes there because I saw a gap in the market. 😭😭

Last song I listened to: No You Girls - Franz Ferdinand

Favourite colour: Lavender

Favourite flavour: Depends on what it is, but most likely either chocolate or strawberry

Current obsession: BG3, if y'all couldn't guess. 😂

Last thing I googled: 'Sacrum'. Girly doesn’t know what body parts are called.

Favourite season: Late autumn

Skill I'd like to learn: I'd looove to be able to sew and make clothes but I am the most cack-handed person you will ever meet. I literally got kicked out of textiles class when I was in school because I was so bad they thought I was messing about on purpose 😬…

Best advice: Be cringe, be free. People will either not care or think you're cool for your authenticity.

Currently watching: I don't really watch TV! Still getting through Dungeon Meshi, lol

Currently reading: I've been trying to read 'Interview with a Vampire' since the start of the year, but my brain only has room for BG3 fanfic it would seem… SO, here's a list of my current bookmarks hehe. Special shout-outs to @lemonsrosesandlavender @crystal-overdrive @ghostcouncil @weaveandwood @sinelaborenihilsr2 @dutifullylazybread @notlikeparis

Relationship status: Been in a relationship since 2016! Also, taken by Gale Dekarios in my head. 💜

Sweet/savoury/spicy: Big, BIG sweet tooth.

[thlayli-ra]

Punknightyre you say???? 😳 I’d love to hear more if u have any. knight does seem the type to weasel himself into someone else’s messy relationship like a moth to light

Ok kids, get out the pinboard and yarn stash! Thlayli is back on her bullship again! (That was a typo but it kinda works...)

So, first of all, Knight and Drew already have a history together. It did not end well!

(Yeesh, here I am drawing a bodice-ripper Punkintyre from scratch when these two are recreating it for real!)

Drake/Knight clearly got a bit of a taste for Scots seeing as he later feuded with Grado, Odarg the Great (don't be daft, how can they possibly be the same person?) and Joe Hendry.

Knight also has a blink and you'll miss it history with Punk as a body-guard (in the most over-acted, 'pick-me' display ever. Shaun, you are adorable, never change!)

Fast forward to the present. Punk comes back and gets THIS reaction from Knight.

(Thlayli died shortly afterwards... anyway!)

Knight comes up with the term DM Hunk. Drew graffitis this across Punk's shirt.

Punk then says a line which sounds eerily similar to this one from last year.

In Elimination Chamber, Drew chooses Knight (out of five other candidates) to set up for the GTS, Punk's finisher.

Then these two are sidling up to each other when Cody wins at Wrestlemania.

Other notable mentions - both Knight and Punk using the term 'on sight' in their promos within a week or two of each other, Punk talking about tagging with Knight in his return promo on Smackdown, Punk doing the 'YEAH' on the Wrestlemania pre-show and of course, (in my most desperate attempts to make connections yet) Knight's recent gear being the colour of Pepsi (the actual drink itself, not the branding).

In conclusion, am I clutching at straws? Yes, absolutely! Does it mean I'll stop trying to link these three in any way possible so that I can clatter their heads together like Barbie dolls making out? Nope, not a chance!

(Ok kids, you can put the conspiracy board away now. Pop it next to the Punk's Wrestlemania Suit one. Ta very much!)

[cetaitlaverite]

Why All This Music?

Masters of the Air - Rosie Rosenthal x OC

masterlist is linked here <3

20. All My Life

The sky was grey with the threat of rain. It had been sunny this morning. But it was March and even though spring was close it still wasn’t close enough. Before dinner, Freddie thought, the world would be soaked.

She called for Meatball to hurry up as he wandered around in the grass outside the mess hall, trying to find an adequate spot to relieve himself. It was a habit of his she found endlessly infuriating - how many hours of her life had she racked up by now simply watching Meatball walk around and around and around, searching for the perfect spot just to squat in the grass?

Freddie squinted up into the sky again. It was almost certainly going to rain.

“Meatball, buddy,” Freddie pleaded with him, pulling her sleeves down over her hands. “Hurry up.” It was chilly today, too. In the week since Rosie’s last mission the weather had looked like it was turning; it had been all sunshine and premature warmth ever since. But it was turning back now, it seemed. Rain and a chill in the air. They were right back where they started.

Freddie felt Rosie’s eyes on her before he was anywhere near her. There was a particular weight in his gaze whenever he looked at her which she could always sense. He had a talent for making her feel like the most special person in the world with nothing more than a glance.

She turned to watch him approach, smiling in anticipation of having him close.

“Hi,” she greeted when he was finally near enough to hear her. She reached for him, tugging him towards her the rest of the way, and pushed up on her tiptoes for a kiss he gladly gave her.

He was smiling when they pulled apart. He lifted both hands to brush her hair out of her face, then cupped her cheeks to kiss her again.

“Hi,” he whispered once he was satisfied.

Just because she could, she reached up to kiss him once more. She had to make the most of having him close, she knew. Any day now he’d be returning to the States and she wanted to remember what it had been like to live in the bliss of his nearness.

This kiss was longer, deeper, slower. A kiss which might have been trying to start something had they not been standing right outside the mess hall and waiting for Meatball to go to the toilet.

Flushed and breathless, Freddie pulled back to catch her breath and ran her hands up and down his arms over his leather A-2 jacket. “Hi,” she said again.

Rosie was grinning. “Hi, sweetheart.”

“You’re early to dinner today,” Freddie said, adjusting the fit of his jacket. She loved seeing him in this jacket. It suited him incredibly well. Perhaps the only thing she loved more than seeing Rosie wear it was wearing it herself, with nothing underneath as they spent quality time together in his plane.

Rosie hummed his acceptance of this observation. “Croz said I might find you here.”

Freddie brightened. “You were looking for me?”

Rosie laughed. “I’m always looking for you.”

“Well, you found me,” she sing-songed quietly. Her smile turned coy as she tilted her head.

“Found you even more beautiful than I left you,” Rosie said.

Freddie smiled brighter, quirking a sly brow at him. “Oh? And what are you going to do about it?”

Rosie laughed, using his hands on her waist to tug her closer and press a lingering kiss to her forehead. “Later,” he promised, punctuating the statement with one more long kiss. “I came out here to talk to you about something.”

“You came out here to talk?” Freddie asked with a mock gasp. “So boring,” she teased. “I forget you’re a lawyer at heart.”

Rosie rolled his eyes fondly. “Seriously, Fred, I gotta talk to you.”

Freddie nodded, accepting his seriousness. “Alright,” she conceded. She turned to find Meatball still wandering around in the grass and sighed. “I’d say let’s go to my office but Meatball’s still taking his sweet time, so let’s just stay here. Hopefully it won’t rain before he’s finished.”

Rosie smiled a little bit, following her eyes briefly to the Siberian Husky with his nose to the ground before turning back to her. “Right. I just wanted to talk about the brass upping the end of tour requirements.”

“Oh,” Freddie said, with a somewhat confused smile. “Okay.”

After the two of them had returned to the officers’ club on the evening of Rosie’s twenty-fifth mission, Jack had revealed that the American Air Force brass were upping the requirements for the number of missions which would constitute a full tour. Previously, it had been twenty-five. Now, it was twenty-eight for existing crews and thirty for replacements arriving from this week onwards. Rosie and his Riveters were safe, among the very last to meet the previous requirements, but henceforth the twenty-fifth mission would be cause for no more celebration than any other mission survived.

It was cruel, Freddie thought, to do that to them so late in the game. But at least Rosie was safe. He would be back stateside soon and she would no longer have to worry.

“I been thinking about it a lot,” Rosie said, regarding the increase in requirements. 

Freddie nodded. She figured he would be. It was inevitable he’d feel some sort of guilt about it, being one of the last to get away with the twenty-five, but he was lucky and he had to hold onto that - they both did. He was getting to go home. How many men had gone down dreaming of the same thing?

“I, uh,” Rosie went on, “I just got done talking to Colonel Bennett.”

Freddie’s eyebrows furrowed. Now she had no idea where he was going with his. Still, her hands continued smoothing up and down his arms while his continued smoothing up and down her back, the gestures calming both of them.

“I’ve decided to re-up,” Rosie said.

Freddie’s hands froze.

“I talked to the colonel and he’s allowing it,” Rosie continued. He was smiling slightly down at her. “He promoted me to major so I’ll be the new commanding officer for the 350th. Means I can help all the new boys, Fred, and keep ‘em alive. And I’ll be sticking around. We don’t have to say goodbye anymore.”

It was a few moments before Freddie found her voice. When she did it emerged choked, the back of her throat suddenly dry. “I think I’m confused.”

“By which part, honey?” Rosie asked gently. He lifted one of his hands to cup her cheek.

“By all of it,” Freddie replied, shaking her head. Her hands were holding on tight to his arms now, as if it was that grip alone keeping her upright. “You’re a major? And you’re leading?” She frowned. “You mean in air exec?”

“No, honey,” Rosie told her quietly. He stroked her cheek gently with his thumb, ducking his head to better meet her eyes. “I’m re-upping. I’m gonna get back in the plane and finish what I started.”

Freddie shook her head dumbly. “You’re re-upping?” Her voice didn’t sound like it belonged to her. It sounded far away, somehow, like it was coming from where Meatball was still wandering around in the grass.

“Yeah.” He stroked her cheek again, his eyes searching hers for a sign of how she was feeling. 

Her eyes evaded him. They were stuck staring at the name patch on his jacket. “You’re going to fly again?”

“Yeah.”

“How many times?”

“Until the job is done.”

Freddie started gnawing on her bottom lip. Her hands were only gripping onto his jacket tighter and tighter. “I don’t understand.”

Rosie sighed. “I know it’s a lot to take in all at once, Fred, so do you just wanna sit with it and -”

“Do I just want to sit with it?” Her hands fell away from him. She took a step back. “No, Rosie, I don’t want to sit with it, I want to wake up from whatever nightmare I’ve fallen into.”

“Fred -”

“I don’t understand, Rosie.” She swallowed hard, a vain attempt to clear the thick lump lodged in the back of her throat. “I don’t understand why you would do this to me.”

“Fred, honey, I’m not -” He sighed in frustration as he tried to explain himself. “I just couldn’t live with myself if I left like this. The war is nowhere close to finished and they’re just gonna keep on sending in replacements, and all of ‘em will get ‘emselves killed. But I’ve got the experience and I’ve got the talent to bring myself back and I can lead them, Fred. It’s - it’s not as bad as you think.”

“It’s exactly as bad as I think,” Freddie disputed him lowly. When he tried to close the distance between them she took several steps back, refusing him the closeness. “You know what your twenty-fifth meant to me. And you go and you give it all up without even consulting me, without telling me you were ever thinking about it? You tell me once you’ve already gone and done it and I’m just expected to live with it?”

“Nothing’s going to change,” Rosie insisted. With every step he took towards her she took another step back until he conceded her the distance, stopping still in his tracks. “Everything will be the exact same as it has been the entire time I’ve been here. I’ll go up and then I’ll come back down and everything will be fine, honey. It’ll be fine.”

“You can’t promise me that!” Freddie argued. “Daniel used to tell me the same thing! He made me all the same promises you do and he didn’t want to break them any more than you do, but he still did!”

“What happened to Daniel isn’t gonna happen to me, Fred.” His voice was pleading with her, now, to stop arguing and to let him explain and to see it from his perspective. But it didn’t matter how he phrased it, Freddie wasn’t going to agree. How could she? He’d taken away the one bit of happiness she thought was promised to her. She’d been holding on so tight to him for so long, terrified every time he went out on a mission, and the instant she loosened her grip, certain she no longer had to worry, was the instant he himself wrenched himself out of her grasp and straight back into harm’s way.

“How could you possibly know that?!” Freddie demanded.

“Because I’m -” Rosie cut himself off and looked away from her.

Freddie knew exactly what he had meant to say. “Because you’re a better pilot than he is?” she asked him quietly.

“No,” Rosie began slowly, calmly, trying to pick his words carefully.

Freddie cut across him. “No, if that’s what you wanted to say then say it.”

Rosie turned his eyes back to her. Now he was looking at her hard. It was clear he was getting frustrated. “Just give yourself some time to think about it, Fred,” he eventually replied. “We’ll talk when you’re ready.”

“No,” Freddie said.

Rosie’s eyebrows furrowed. “No?”

“No,” she reasserted. “I’ve thought about it all I need to think about it. And I think you’re making a mistake.”

“I would regret it for the rest of my life if I went home,” Rosie told her seriously.

“But at least it would be a long life,” Freddie contended. “At least you’d have a life to think back on.”

“I’ll still come back to you the same way I always do.”

“No,” Freddie told him. “You won’t. You might come back here but you won’t come back to me.”

His entire face dropped. Gone was the frustration, replaced by panic. “Wait, Fred -”

“How long have you been thinking about this?” Freddie asked slowly. She had her arms crossed as she considered him. Her face was carefully blank.

Rosie held her gaze but he was clearly struggling to do so. “Since the party.”

“The party to celebrate your twenty-fifth?” Freddie checked.

Rosie nodded.

A week and a day. It had been a week and a day since then. And the first she was hearing of it was once the decision had already been made. He had spoken to Colonel Bennett about it before he had spoken to her.

“Does Pappy know?”

“Not yet.”

Freddie nodded. “Right.” She didn’t make any move to say anything else.

Rosie took a tiny, cautious step towards her. “What are you thinking, honey?”

Freddie scoffed. She turned her eyes on the field where Meatball was chasing flies.

“Fred, please let me in,” Rosie pleaded softly. “What are you thinking?”

Slowly, she turned her eyes back on him. “I’m thinking,” she said, “that we have had sex almost every night since that party. I’m thinking that you let me give myself to you over and over again and not once did you think to talk to me about your plans.”

“Fred -”

“I’m thinking that you didn’t tell me because you knew I’d be upset, and if I was upset you wouldn’t want to go through with it. So you went behind my back and made sure it was all organised before finally working up the courage to tell me. I’m thinking that you’re a coward.”

“Freddie, come on -”

“I gave all of myself to you, Robert Rosenthal. My heart and my body and my soul, when I was well-prepared to never give myself to any man ever again. And you have let me continue giving myself to you knowing that you don’t deserve it. Every step I ever took with you, you’re - you’re throwing it back in my face.” Her hands were shaking with rage. Her heart was pounding with panic. Her cheeks were hot with humiliation.

“You have played with me,” she went on. “Like some sort of fucking toy. Like you just wanted to prove to yourself and to everyone else that you could finally be the one to turn my head and now you’re kicking me in the dirt.”

Rosie closed the gap between them in seconds, his hands grasping at her waist before she leaped out of the way.

“No,” she snapped. “Don’t touch me. I don’t want you anywhere near me. Don’t look at me, don’t talk to me, don’t talk about me. This, whatever it was between us, it’s finished. Do you hear me, Rosie? It’s done. Congratulations. I hope getting to jetset around Europe in your metal deathtrap is worth it, because I’ll hate you all my life for this.”

She turned and she ran and Meatball followed. He’d been at her side the moment she’d started to raise her voice. 

The two of them ran all the way to the wireless operators’ hut, Meatball hot on Freddie’s heels as she all but collapsed through both doors. She threw herself onto Millie’s bed and sobbed, loud and screaming, into her pillow. Meatball sat whimpering at her feet.

She was in the bathroom when the first of the girls came back. It was Emma, and she stopped short in the doorway as soon as she heard the retching.

“Millie!” Emma called, frantic as she started to push back through the gaggle of wireless ops. “Mils! Or Jem?!”

“Here!” Millie called back, jogging the rest of the way to the door to Emma. “What’s wrong?”

“Fred - she’s - she’s in the toilet and -”

Millie didn’t need any more explanation than that. She pushed past Emma, pushed past everyone else, and found Freddie throwing up in the nearest toilet stall. And with no questions asked she fell to her knees behind Freddie and held her hair back, rubbing her back with her other hand and murmuring that she was there and she would be staying as long as Freddie needed her.

“He’s re-upping,” were the first words out of Freddie’s mouth when she found a reprieve. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and slumped back against the stall’s wall, drenched in sweat.

“He’s re-upping?” Millie repeated.

Freddie nodded, shutting her eyes and breathing heavily through her nose. “Now that the American brass have upped the tour requirements he’s decided he’s the only pilot capable of bombing the Nazis, and they’ve rewarded his stupidity with a promotion. He’s leading them into his own death.”

Millie sighed. “What did you say to him?”

“I called it all off,” Freddie said simply.

“Fred -”

“He’s been having sex with me knowing he was going to do it and not once did he say anything. He told me today after getting it all organised with Colonel Bennett.” Freddie scoffed a low, bitter laugh. “How can he have told me he loves me while knowing he was about to betray me?”

Millie didn’t say anything.

Freddie opened her eyes to gauge her reaction.

If Millie sided with Rosie, Freddie thought her heart might just collapse in on itself. She had lost one love of her life. Then, against all odds, she had found another. And Rosie had promised to protect her and love her and take care of her and in one fell swoop he had not only taken all of it back but ruined the rest of her life. She would not find a third man. She didn’t want to. Every ounce of trust she had left she had given to Rosie and he had flushed it down the toilet.

But Millie didn’t side with Rosie. “Fuck him,” she said.

“Unfortunately, I did,” Freddie replied.

Millie let out a reluctant laugh. “Well, fuck him metaphorically. If he dares to try to talk to you it’ll be the last thing he ever does.”

“I don’t want him to talk to me or to look at me or to even breathe in my general direction,” Freddie asserted. “I don’t want to have to be reminded that he even exists. He can go and fly his missions and he can never come back and it will make absolutely no difference to me. He’s dead to me already.”

Millie looked like she wanted to say something but she decided against it at the last moment. Instead, she clamped her mouth shut. But when Jem appeared in the doorway, wary and cautious, to ask what had happened, Millie explained it all in Freddie’s stead, then rubbed her back as she threw up one more time. And when Jem went into a rage to rival Freddie's, no one stopped her.

[pbjelly90]

I haven’t really gotten into the swing of blogging here and I probably have like 2 followers who aren’t bots 😆 but I’m rewatching BBC Sherlock and feeling an inkling to reread the original stories and it just has me thinking and wanting to ramble about Sherlock media and put it somewhere. What I’ve really grown to appreciate all these 20ish years of being a Sherlock fan is seeing every new adaptation put their own spin on Sherlock and all the characters in the canon. Some I’ve loved, some I’ve been displeased with, but it’s always fun to analyze and revisit and see what parts delight and what disappoints or leaves me wanting more. More thoughts below because apparently I had a lot to ramble about on this topic lol.

BBC Sherlock probably has one of my favorite Watsons, and he gets more focus here then a lot of other adaptations, and feels truer to the character to me than many others. Old adaptations like Basil Rathbone with Nigel Bruce used to have him be a bumbling fool type and I’m glad that’s in the past now. I also enjoy Lestrade in the BBC version and tend to prefer adaptations that get him along this vein, a trusted person on the force, exasperated with Sherlock and his methods a lot of the time, but also one of the most willing to put faith in him and believe in his abilities (and his integrity when it matters.)

Irene Adler adaptations like the BBC show or Robert Downey Jr movies are usually hit or miss for me, and generally I find they put too much emphasis on making her have romantic feelings for Sherlock for my liking. I applaud how they want to make her a more prominent character than one who only appears on page in one story, but romantic tension/interest feels so limiting as the way they choose to do it. There’s some merit to showing how she has to weaponize her beauty/sexuality in that time period at times, but they rarely dig deeper than that or give her more of her own storyline.

I’ve also found most Moriarty adaptations pretty lacking. BBC Sherlock’s became very popular, and Andrew Scott is a wonderful actor, but he always came off as far too gleefully chaotic and evil for evil’s sake to be that interesting to me as Sherlock’s foil. I feel like they went with a Batman versus Joker sort of dynamic there, emphasizing shock value, and I much preferred the mystery of him throughout the early seasons versus the reality post reveal.

Moriarty in the original canon only gets hinted at very late when Conan Doyle is setting up what he believed to be the end of the stories (before public demand and personal debts changed those plans), and therefore he’s always been more a mystery figure than an actual developed character in the original stories. But the building blocks are there for adaptations to take and mold and I hope we get to see more creativity here. Robert Downey Jr faces off against a version of Moriarty in the movies that I’d call Moriarty classic. Serviceable, but nothing new there really. Math teacher, formidable, crime lord, older, genius, check, more or less straight from the books.

BBC Sherlock was also missing Moran who I’d been highly anticipating, and fans kept speculating some unnamed sniper was him, but we never got confirmation. To me that was such a huge missed opportunity, for an adaptation that really highlighted the bond between Sherlock and Watson, how could you ignore the bond between Moriarty and his own “dark” version of Watson?

So cue Moriarty the Patriot, which felt like a series made just for me to fangirl over. It nails Sherlock and John, even if they’re not as much the main focus here as other series, and that’s just clearing the bar for me, my first criteria for any Sherlock media being “do they get John right?” They introduce a younger version of Miss Hudson, whom I also loved in BBC Sherlock, but this brings a fun new dynamic where she feels more like a loving sister to our boys rather than a favorite aunt like in the classic take. Still long-suffering, still the heart who keeps them in check and cares for them, and until John comes along, the only person really in Sherlock’s confidence. I hope we see more of her backstory in MtP (BBC nails this quickly with the mention of Sherlock helping to put her shitty husband in prison.)

Then there’s the MtP version of Irene, who’s the most creative take on the character I’ve ever seen. Is there some potential romantic tension with Sherlock still? Sure if you’d like to ship it, but thats far from her main storyline, she has so much MORE going on. Her own wants, her own goals, her own mistakes, her own plans, that whole first plot of hers is still one of my favorite arcs in the manga and a time when it truly differentiated itself for me from any other adaptation. And that’s not even getting into the Bond material yet, which as a Bond movie and book fangirl as well, was this series actually custom made for me?!?? Ya’ll really were deep into my brain for this one, combining M with Albert, bringing in Moneypenny, all of it. The manga blew me away with all of this and how it was handled. Moran, you better never betray Bond as agent 006 Alex Trevelyan a la Goldeneye. 😆

Before the meat of this, I want to take an aside to also say I love MtP’s take on Mycroft. BBC gives us our first more active Mycroft on-screen that I can recall, not just lounging in the Diogenes Club per canon, orchestrating everything at a remove, but more involved in looking after his brother and meddling when he feels necessary. He’s a huge drama queen in the first episode and I’m looking forward to rewatching the seasons again and seeing the brothers’ dynamic grow. But MtP takes this and instead of having our first encounter with Mycroft be with John alone, more removed from his brother still, we see the two fighting and squabbling and I just love them, your honor. I would like to see someone handle their parents better than the BBC version did, and idk if we’ll ever see them in MtP, but I do enjoy the tidbits we’ve gotten like Sherlock’s working class accent. They already used the name Sherringford/Sherrinford for their ancestor, so curious where they’d go with this. But Mycroft in general, his parallels with Albert, his guilt over their ancestor and role in the government? His relationship with his brother? Nailed it, more please.

Brief shoutout to Enola Holmes, she’s a bit Mary Sue/wish fulfillmenty, but I enjoyed her and her dynamics with her brothers vastly more than the sibling they shoehorned into the last season of BBC Sherlock. If you’re going to give the boys a sibling, that was a fun way to do it. Henry Cavill looks NOTHING like Sherlock is usually described, but he was fun and quite nice to look at lol.

Now onto the main thing I want to ramble about: MtP has the single best adaptation of James Moriarty that I have ever seen in writing or on screen. It’s no coincidence that this is the first adaptation I’ve seen try to dive into his backstory, figure out what’s the deal with his brother(s), which was a genius move taking that inconsistency with Doyle’s descriptions to make there be three James Moriartys total, and to give us a compelling reason as to WHY he does the whole lord of crime thing. Like fine if it’s just for money, control or power, and I can read/watch that story if well done, but this is the first time I’ve really seen a series take the building blocks Doyle laid out and really turn them into something more, to create something original and compelling. William and his brothers 100% deserve their main focus in the series, and its all the better for that perspective flip, as much as I love Sherlock and John. Sherlock and John are fleshed out already, most modern adaptations can get them right, but the Moriartys? That was brand new.

Not to mention, they gave William James Moriarty his Sebastian Moran, and nailed that dynamic as well. Normally I’d think if we finally got Moran he’d be my main ship for Moriarty, just as John was always my main ship for Sherlock, but somehow MtP gets me shipping them, but also William x Sherlock, Mycroft x Albert, Moneypenny x Moran, Irene x Hudson aaand I could digress for way too long here so I’ll leave it at that. Note to anyone writing future adaptations, GIVE MORIARTY HIS MORAN.

All of these MtP versions of the characters are so good that now they’ve ruined me for other Sherlock related media, I’ve found. I watched Ron Kamanohashi and loved it, but as soon as elements of Sherlock and Moriarty were introduced, I found myself badly wanting MtP to be the original canon they were drawing from and see those storylines reflected in the modern day setting of Ron’s story. That is now 1000000% my headcanon. Can we somehow get future Sherlock media to adapt some of the new ideas MtP introduced moving forward, and keep expanding on those concepts? Be inspired by them to keep exploring more of the characters once you’ve gotten the mains right? Maybe not, but a girl can dream. It’s a fun time to be a fan of Sherlock related media.

With all that rambling said, has anyone got any recommendations for other Sherlock books, shows, manga, etc? I remember The Seven-Per-Cent Solution was a very influential AU book back in the day for Sherlock fans and is supposed to present an alternate telling of the Holmes and Moriarty dynamic, so I may read that. Sometimes I branch off into Lupin media and I’ve read some of Arsene Lupin vs Herlock Sholmes as well. 😆 I enjoy silly Herlock in The Great Ace Attorney games although he definitely feels like a goofy AU version.

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TLDR: If anyone has skimmed this giant post and has any other Sherlock media suggestions, let me know! Looking for some more unique takes on the characters and story.

[blossomdapple]

Relationships/dynamics I would love to see explored in SpongeBob more often:

Pearl and Squidina

Sandy and Squidward

Sandy and Patrick

Sandy and Plankton

Squidward and Patrick

Squidward and Plankton

Larry and anyone

Karen and anyone who isn’t Plankton

Mrs. Puff and anyone who isn’t SpongeBob

[lameow-l]

so wait… furina is the name of the archon role that “furina” had to play

wouldn’t make more sense narrative wise to give her a name of her own?? like scara gets his own epic chapter about him ridding himself of his past and adopting a new name then proceed to ignore said name in favor of “hat guy” but the actress playing “furina” doesn’t get to be known for her own name?

like people of fontain (partly maybe) know the truth so why not let her free? let her enjoy the simple human life she so so longed for? even the other furina wouldn’t want this

[alwayshappyhoursomewhere]

Cup of China 2023 - Adam Siao Him Fa and Shoma Uno during the men’s victory ceremony

[truth-01001001-liar]

Shezarrine Nerevar headcanons fucking kick ass and i understand them and love them completely B U T…...there are similarities between Nerevar/Nerevarine and Trinimac/Malacath and what if Voryn Dagoth was the shezarrine instead???

[vicsera]

i think a big thing that has always stumped me abt being in friendships is the common conception that like. okay this may be more prevalent in cishet romantic relationships compared to queer romantic relationships but. the common thread that u can’t tell ur partner everything. u can’t trust them to love u if u tell them the bad stuff. u have to have someone other than ur partner who can “handle ur ugly” so to speak

which is so silly to me like? why Shouldn’t i tell my partner everything. i’m in this relationship for the long haul baby park that ass and open ur ears it’s story time about the Tale Of Me. also like i live with my partner. i’m not driving to someone who may or may not give me the time of day depending on how they feel at that moment when i have someone i’d much rather be around? like i kiss this person for a Reason? also circling back to the someone i’d rather be around comment i have noticed (and/or ignored) for years how i’m consistently exhausted after seeing a friend for longer than . an hour. but i want my partner in my skin. i want to share thoughts with this person. i want to mix our blood and fuse our bones and i CANNOT say the same for most if not all other people i know