#'why is it that long???' because I wrote down basically all of the lore I could find in Ignition and re:||VERSE

[minnie-cai]

I had a dream of sleeping over nerd!Arts dorm room, it was storming outside and he refused to let me go walk out on my own I was on hid bed and he was working on something hes reading a book with his glasses low on his nose and was only in a white shirt and sweats where his junk was almost out. I was so horny I just straddled his lap and started going crazy, he ended up shoving my face against his pillow pounding me from behind fucking me while he kept his glasses on <3

𝑰 𝑴𝑬𝑨𝑵 “𝑪𝑨𝑴𝑨𝑹𝑨𝑫𝑬𝑹𝑰𝑬” !

that’s so crazy i actually had the exact same dream last night so here’s something i wrote about OUR dream

not proofread, bless your eyes, it’s 2 am and my eyes are basically shut.

rating ; mature. smut. it’s smut. leave if you’re a minor. or don’t. i can’t stop you. actually i can. i will find you. and take away your phone.

oh nerdy!art my beloved, where he’s the sweetest guy you’ve ever met and he’s stumbling over his tongue awkwardly as he tries to flirt with you but it turns out his tongue was made for bigger things.

and it’s so weird the first time you fuck because you fall next to him on the mattress, out of breath, sweaty and high on orgasms and suddenly, all you had heard about nerdy guys being good in bed was confirmed.

you start dating, he holds your hand around campus sweetly and all of your friends love him. you’d heard the lore of all of tolkien’s writing at least a hundred times as you played with his hair but you’d hear it thousands if he asked. you give him head under his desk as he does your assignment for you and he cums all over his thighs and panics, rushing trying to find a towel or a dirty t-shirt as he babbles apologies and squirms because he hasn’t even properly finished yet.

after a few months of dating, it’s totally casual and normal for you to stay over at his single dorm after you’ve complained about how annoying your roommate was, under the condition, of course, that you’d let him study when he needs to. you promised.

you were lying in his bed, wearing a hoodie he’d lend you after you’d softly fucked with the rain pattering on the window. you pouted and twisted the fabric of the sweater in boredom. art was sweet, sure. he’d made you finish first like a gentleman, cleaned you up and dressed you but you just found it so annoying that he managed to move on to studying right after sex. you stared at him and stared and stared as he sat in his chair, his foot resting on the desk as he read a book he was assigned with his lips lightly agape and his round glasses low on his nose.

the grey sweats he’d thrown on quickly after he got out of bed being a size down from his normal one, giving you the great view that was the outline of his semi-hard cock.

as you’re thinking and just admiring him, you hear him sniff and he swallows, his adam’s apple bopping with the movement. and suddenly, yet again, your panties are wet. what is this boy doing to you?

“artie….” you mewl gently from the bed, your legs twisting under the sheets as you try not to press your thighs together. “is it gonna take long?”

“i wanted to finish at least two chapters by class tomorrow, why?” he mumbles as he moves on to the next page, licking his fingers so that the paper doesn’t stick together but the only thing you can think of is him licking his fingers and playing with your clit as he mumbles compliments against your collarbone.

“nothing… just a bit bored…” you respond as you start to stand up but he just hums, not looking up from his book. when you reach his chair and lean against the back of it with your elbows, moving your fingers to run through his hair, scratching his scalp gently, his head falls back against your chest and he lets out a breathy grunt.

when you moved to straddle his lap, that was his last straw. “you’re kidding…” he mumbles in a soft but raspy voice with a sweet smile when you roll your hips against him. his glasses threatening to fall off his nose and his curls falling messily on his forehead, times like these is when you really take a look at him and realize how gorgeous he is, like he’s trapped a ray of sun inside his eyes.

“huh?” you giggle, almost breaking this innocent character you’d built up. “i don’t know what you mean.” you shake your head with a gentle smirk and furrowed eyebrows, your eyes narrowing as you try your hardest to look confused and hold back your laugh.

“oh you don’t? oh really?” he says with an amused laugh and raised eyebrows. “i- yeah?- rea- really?” he starts with narrowed eyes but he ends with a scoff and a small smile as he realises he wasn’t sure what he really wanted to say and was just stuttering nonsense. “you don’t know what i mean? you want me to show you what i mean?” he chuckles with a sarcastic attitude, looking up at you through furrowed eyebrows.

“i might need you to show me what you mean.” you laugh but it’s cut short by a shriek when art throws you over his shoulder, laughing. “what are you doing?” you cry out as he stands still in front of his twin bed for a second, contemplating before he decides he doesn’t want to throw you on it and gently sets you to sit on the bed. he pauses and folds his arms, looking down at you, the smile not fading from his face. “what are you looking at me for? c’mon, pretty! down and on your belly.” he says, snorting at his own tone.

“down and on your belly? where did you come from? orderin’ me around!” you say surprised by his newfound confidence before following his instructions. “i’m not sure, i like it though.” he replies laughing before settling on the bed, his knees on each of your sides as he pulls down your panties, pulling your hips up, carefully raising them.

his hands hold their position on your hips when he inserts into you, making you sigh shakily. he grunts as he feels the warmth of your walls enveloping him. his head falling forward, his eyes shut.

moments after, he pulls himself back together, pushing his glasses back to the bridge of his nose and moving his hands to push down your back, your body being smashed against the mattress by his warm palms and when he moves to rut into you, you leave out a moan, muffling it with the pillow.

by the time he is close to cumming, full on whines and whimpers fall out through his lips, his thrusts getting quicker as he chases his release. “so pretty… fuck.. ugh- so good…” he babbles and his upper body connects to your back, folding forwards to try and handle the pleasure as you suddenly feel the cold material of his glasses against the skin of your neck which you felt was burning, the sensation making you shudder.

“please, baby… i’m- i’m close…” he blabbers on your neck, leaving small wet kisses against it as his rhythmic pace gets rougher.

when you both cum, whining and moaning like hormonal teenagers and fall back against the bed, he wraps his arms around your head, pulling you into his chest. “that was really, really hot-“ he pauses, taking a long deep breath “don’t do it again.” he finishes and laughs, pulling away to wipe the fog off his glasses with his your shirt.

[goldenwitherphoenix13]

(Sighs) no one asked for it, but Im gonna share it anyways because no ones asked for it and i want to put an end to this Canary curse debockal.

Here is my interpretation of Canary Jimmy in the life series, the canary curse and why i think the fandom has flanderised it. Its extensive, its repetitive, its probably inaccurate, but I want to both clear up confusion on what the curse is and then share my own interpretation. Spoilers below for today's session of Wild Life, if only brief.

The Canary in the coalmine is all about how when the Canary starts to go quiet or die, that there is danger about. There is poison in the air. That if the coal miners do not evacuate, then they will die.

And when Jimmy was seen bringing death wherever he went, or being out first in the first 4 seasons of the life series, people started to dub him as "the canary" and say he was cursed with "the canary curse". But I think the Canary curse has lost its meaning by now. Its been so consumed by the idea of it just being about Jimmy dying first that I think that we all forgot that it's first ever mention was during Scar, Grian and Joel's series, 100 hours in hardcore minecraft, was not solely about him dying first.

Let's recap.

Part way through the 100 hours series, Scar had to go and get some major surgery done, so he couldn't play on the server for a while. So, while Scar was away, Grian and Joel invited some other friends on to fill the void as they waited for their friend to return. The first friend they invited of was Jimmy and they decided to go to a woodland mansion where this resulted in Grian dying.

This event had happened not too long after the finale of Empires season 1, Where Jimmy (and Fwhip) had just accidentally destroyed the entire server, plunging all the kingdoms into a multitude of disasters and starting the event known as the rapture.

And, remember, this series occurred just after Last life, the second season of the life's series, had ended, where Jimmy had been out the series first twice.

It was ALL of these events that lead to the creation of the fandom dubbing Jimmy as a canary. And the Canary curse was born.

Jimmy then proceeded to die first for 2 more seasons of the life series. And that is when the canary became canon as multiple people started referring to Jimmy being cursed, including Jimmy himself, and Martyn wrote it into his lore. It's also where alot of the fans started to associate the curse with just the life series, not really remembering its connections other series.

Back to present day. Jimmy has now gone 2 seasons of the life series and an April fools special without dying first, which is amazing! I'm very proud of him for that! But the fandom feels divided on this, half of them saying him not dying first has broken the curse and now it can't be used as a headcanon anymore, and the other half saying how him breaking it is temporary or that it's only out the first stage and now he's doomed to die second. And to all of you I say... no. No it hasn't ruined the canary hybrid headcanons, no it hadn't been taken to stage 2, the canary curse was NEVER JUST about Jimmy dying first, because it was never just about the life series. The original canary comparisons mentioned Empires and 100 hours, and he never permadied first in either of those series.

Let's go back to the idiom. Canary in a coal mine.

This idiom is based of of a real life practice of taking living, breathing canaries into the coal mines. Coal miners wanted to keep down the costs of having to breed and buy new canaries every time one died, and didnt want to always leave the cute birds that kept them company to die. Its like just using a pet as death foder. They wanted to keep these birds alive for the sake of keeping costs lower and for not killing of the adorable birds. So what would they do? They made chambers to keep the birds alive after they passed out. Oxygen tanks or medicine chambers basically. The canaries didn't always die in the coal mines. They sometimes just got very sick to the point of fainting and passing out, but they could be saved. The canaries don't always need to die to be a warning. They just needed to go quiet. Coming close to death and being kept alive is still a functionable canary system.

Do you see where I'm going with this?

Jimmy isn't cursed as a canary to die first out of everyone. That was never the case. To me, the canary curse has always been about one thing.

The chaos after the canary falls silent. Not after it dies. After it falls silent, after it comes close to death. The curse was never for him. It was a curse on EVERYONE. And Jimmy turning red is enough to trigger it. Jimmy being close to death but not dead yet is enough to trigger the chaos. Jimmy is a canary. His curse was never to die, his curse was never even truly a curse. It was a warning that the games were in danger of ending. That the chaos had only just begun.

And do you know what the cherry on top of all of this is?

The Canary doesn't need to die at all for the coal miners to die.

There are many, many, many ways for coal miners to die in the coal mines. A cave in could crush them, they could find a massive cave that they could fall into, they could turn on and attack eachother. But the Canary can be spared. The Canary may die eventually. Gases or hunger or predators may find it. But it could be the last one to go when the circumstances line up.

It's why I still believe in Canary Jimmy, and why I think he can still win a life series simultaneously. Because it doesn't matter what place he comes at, the canary curse will always trigger. It was never about how Jimmy was "so bad at the game" that he died first. It was never about how the watchers kill him every season because its funny. It was about the death and destruction that hovered around him. The doomsday that chaos brings.

And do you know what's even better? Jimmy is completely unaware of this purpose. He thinks the curse was him dying first because that's what the fans made it out to be.

Jimmy broke this unlucky death streak, but he did not break the canary curse.

Because the canary curse was never JUST for him. It is EVERYONES problem.

Tldr; the canary curse has lost its original meaning and been flanderised to the point of people forgetting that its origins don't require Jimmy to die first and it doesnt need to end in tragedy. The Canary curse is just everyone's problem, including Jimmy, but also including everyone else, and no one has realised this yet. Not even Jimmy. They just think his curse is him dying. But he doesn't even need to die to let the "curse" activate. His presence is more than enough, and even with it he can still win. He's just gotta find the right time.

Anyway I'm done rambling, I hope you guys enjoy my thoughts, I'm going to go finish my Uni Presentation and Evaluations of my project!

[charcubed]

I watched Sinners in IMAX a few days ago.

I saw it after a long work day and basically had a religious experience.

My friend and I talked about it in the parking lot for an hour, and then I got home at 11:30pm and fell asleep with my phone in my hand at 1AM while writing down my thoughts about it in a doc (at the request of another friend). I took a half day off of work the next day to sleep in and wrote for 4 more hours, then finished cleaning up the doc a couple days later.

So here's about 4,000 words (?!?!) of my thoughts on this incredible fucking masterpiece of a movie.

Certainly not expecting anyone to read this but I do want to put it here for myself :) Because this is how I have fun for some reason!

Disclaimers:

I’m not Black so I’m obviously discussing topics outside the realm of my experience / culture and could be completely off the mark on anything. Apologies in advance if I am. I also assume I’m not the first to say any of this analysis.

These are my initial thoughts and interpretations before deep-diving or Googling or reading interviews about this movie! (That's my rule.) Just from my brain’s first watch and my limited knowledge of history and sociology.

---------------

-I cannot fucking wait to rewatch this movie with subtitles someday because I know for a FACT I missed some things.

-I liked how Stack drove the red car and Smoke drove the blue truck :) so cute. I was like yaaayyy, hammer home this visual separation so I can get a sense of them as individual people before we keep going, thank you <3 so many good framing and color and lighting choices throughout this movie that foreshadowed things too!

-Lowkey I totally get why people probably want sequels and spinoffs of this universe to learn more lore, but I felt very content with where it left us. The themes/subtext are so strong and so well-executed that the story feels fairly complete in that regard to me because it had things to say and said them well. Not to say the metaphors couldn’t be continued in more storytelling and worldbuilding, obviously, and I’d eat it up if they did decide to do it… But I also think what we got feels fairly satisfying to me.

-However: WHERE IS MY CHOCTAW NATION VAMPIRE HUNTERS SPINOFF. GODDAMN!!! Also love how we get them for literally 3 minutes and they embody every aspect of this movie’s messaging perfectly. Insanely cool shit

Okay anyway

-The opening intro makes such a bold claim about how the music we’re about to hear that’s so incredibly beautiful. It talks of music that transcends time and holds so much power it attracts outside dark forces. And then… when Sammie first plays and opens his mouth to sing… Stack’s reaction is our reaction in the audience, because that claim is immediately upheld as believable. You immediately believe the folklore’s validity because of his skills. Astonishing feat. Holy fucking shit. God I love blues music

-The opening sets up the unsubtle thesis, but then Slim’s story in the car (and its beautiful sound design!!!) after they see the slaves take encouragement / heart through music underscores it all. It felt like a powerful tool to further set up a grounding for the supernatural we were about to see play out, and a reminder of its intended metaphors. Slim’s brother was a blues player who was lynched for the crime of simply existing in his Black joy and trying to get to make a bigger life for himself, and (as Annie later tells Smoke) money was no true power that could save him. In fantasy and reality, when people of color are just living with authentic joy by enjoying their own unique culture and music and lives, it attracts white supremacists who want to gleefully, hatefully leech from or destroy all of it.

-And then Ryan Coogler really was like, “Just in case you missed this movie’s unsubtle messages, we are going to be loud.” The way the vampire fight isn’t the final violence or the point… God. Instead, we end on the justified KKK slaughter. The real klan, the actual reason all of this happened because they set it up, the start of it all and the white supremacy that fuels the darkness. It says, These are the true monsters, and don’t you fucking forget it.

-But, our plot’s main monster is REMMICK. He’s no Southern white man. He’s specifically Irish! I fucking love that they did this. So much nuance here. Remmick has been isolated from his own people, heritage, and language through colonialism and the rise of the Baptist Christian church. Cornbread tells him (and the 2 Klan members…) that there are plenty of other spaces for them and their banjo music, and while of course he’s right – Black people (and POC in general) deserve their own safe spaces of expression, and too often white people are trying to encroach on those – for Remmick, there’s sadness here too. Those other white spaces are not his spaces either. He’s Irish and Celtic; they’re not his culture. He’s adrift and has no place, disconnected from his home, Othered by being an Irishman and a vampire, and the loss of his own culture and family has him desperately seeking attachment to others’ – but in the worst way. His fate is what he now violently forces onto others. While he ostensibly hates the KKK, he aligns with them indiscriminately in search of connection and his own survival, and he essentially helps them achieve their goal of destroying Black people – a mirror to how, in history, Irish people benefitted from white supremacy for their survival at the expense of Black people. (And a mirror, of course, to how white people broadly try to steal from Black culture daily.) Remmick’s message is basically “just assimilate and be free,” simultaneously asking them (especially Sammie) to assimilate into his culture for his sake because it’s what he needs, yet assimilation is clearly its own form of entrapment and death. It’s a tragedy that it was what Remmick was faced with as an Irishman, but it’s a larger inexcusable tragedy that he turned around and decided to perpetuate the same cycle of violence onto others in alliance with white supremacy.

-Of course, we see this most in the contrast between the music ensembles (and holy shit, SHOUT OUT TO THE ASPECT RATIO CHANGES IN THESE!!! Religious experience!!!). Sammie’s “I Lied to You” blues music is transformative and joyful, inspiring multicultural connection and appreciation that honors history and genres. It’s filled with warmth and life, and is perhaps even a hopeful depiction of the true melting pot of America. But Remmick’s “Rocky Road to Dublin” song with the vampires he’s turned has everyone washed out, looking and sounding homogeneous in a sinister way, blending together in the perfect terrifying depiction of what assimilation does. Individuality and different cultures are gone; there is now only this, powered by the violence of whiteness. Remmick’s supposed position being “We believe in equality” is of course a farce, and though he’s not motivated by racism (like the KKK), he has no qualms with aligning with its results. More importantly, his enforced assimilation in the name of supposed equality brings to mind the harmful modern adages of “I don’t see color” and other similar positionings which erase differences in culture rather than honor them. Add to that the moments where Remmick showcases having the memories and skills of people he’s turned, who are now all “connected” to each other but in a way where they’ve lost all individuality. When he speaks Chinese, it’s a moment of horror because it’s a language he didn’t learn for genuine connection but rather stole for cultural appropriation, and then he specifically uses it as a tool of violence (and threats of sexual assault!) against Grace.

-ANNIE. I find it fascinating how she kind of embodies the movie’s critique of the Christian church and evangelism as a tool of white supremacy to placate Black Americans and encourage or enforce assimilation. Annie practices (to my knowledge) hoodoo, occult magic from African culture and a form of spirituality that Christians would obviously deem evil and sinful. But here, her mojo bags and ancestral knowledge are the only things that keep anyone safe. (Notably, Christian crosses did nothing for protection.) She’s another layer to the concepts of being in touch with your culture and ancestors… and she chooses death rather than turning/assimilation or losing her sense of identity. I couldn’t help but think about the history of African slaves jumping overboard from ships because they chose to die on their own terms rather than live in enslavement.

-SLIM. He’s the Black elder who’s seen and experienced and survived horrendous, evil things. Yet despite it all, he’s the comedic relief of the movie. While Slim drinks to repress the trauma (which is objectively not the most healthy decision and it’s constantly pointed out), it doesn’t compromise his connection to his music or to his people. Despite everything, he’s still filled with joy and good humor and wisdom – something that feels very true to life in regards to the fortitude of so many Black elders. And when push comes to shove, he puts his life and body on the line to be ripped to shreds (not assimilated!) by the destructive forces coming for his culture and his people in an attempt to protect them. I fucking loved him.

-MARY. She’d be considered Black by the One-Drop Rule / Jim Crow laws, and she’s grown up in this community, but… she’s not really Black. She feels Othered by that, yes, and it was a natural continuation (to me) to know that was going to result in her becoming a vampire in the plot. Of course there’s a level of sympathy to be given to her and her situation, in the sense that she’s also a victim of segregation, as anyone in an interracial relationship was. She just wanted to live with the man she loves but society wasn’t structured to allow that. But at the end of the day, she still had safety in the ways she was able to move through the world as a white woman — and power. (Stack tells Sammie not to look at her at the train station; if white people claim a Black man looked at a white woman the wrong way, it can turn into a lynching.) It’s notable that Mary is able to go speak to the white people/vampires with less perceived risk to her in ways none of the Black people could… and then she’s also able to be metaphorically turned to their way of seeing things. It’s not an accident that she’s the first turned, then them letting her in and Smoke fucking her is what kickstarts their collective downfall. Mary was a “safe” white person for her Black family all their lives, until abruptly she wasn’t. A too true-to-life tragic possibility.

-PEARLINE. She’s a bold, unapologetic Black woman connected to her culture who chooses her own freedom and authenticity vs Christian traditionalism. A sinner through “infidelity” – a word which can mean being unfaithful to a partner, or unfaithful to religious/Christian belief. And she dies because of it.

-[Side note: super interesting to see the scene of Pearline’s musical beats being timed with the violence of Smoke and the other men killing a guy who was threatening the haven of solidarity and community they’d built. A commentary on being distracted by in-fighting while the real enemy and evil of white supremacy is on the move]

-GRACE. The embodiment of how, when shit is going down, POC solidarity can crumble. At the start, we see her and her family being on “both sides” with the white and Black stores, and able to cross between those 2 stark worlds/realities with ease. “We didn’t sign up for this,” Grace says, when the evil white people come for the Black people; the fun and the culture, but not the fight. Then she makes the selfish and individualized decision to let the evil in at the expense of everyone else. And yet… Her name. Grace. Does the story want us to grant her a little bit of it? I’d argue Smoke gives her grace, because he includes her and her husband in his fond and motivating memories of the earlier parts of the day. Is what Grace does defendable? No, but perhaps it’s meant to be understandable. In the moment, she’s not thinking of saving her own skin or uselessly trying to save her husband; she’s thinking of wanting to protect her daughter and the rest of the town, so instead of choosing passivity, she opts to protect them by addressing and destroying the monsters head-on so they can’t continue their evil mission. But unfortunately, in another example of lack of solidarity, she goes straight to destroy her husband and her fight stops there regardless of everyone else’s fight. Her vindictive revenge turns into mutual destruction because she burns up with him. And she’s perhaps also an example of how when someone is so focused on being combative with a person who broke their tradition they forget to focus on what they still have to protect.

-Speaking of names… lol. CORNBREAD. Obviously there was intentional comedic relief happening in the scene where he’s pissing in the woods and monsters are hidden around him whispering “Is that cornbread?” lmaaaooo but also… Not just silliness! Cornbread is historical food for survival and resilience that has roots in several different cultures. It stems from making something from very little under the forces of oppression and enforced famine, and it’s what the Indigenous people, Black Southern Americans, and the Irish all made. Something that should be or could be a source of connection and a way to let each other in (as he was the doorman!), but instead becomes another tool of violence and of a right vs wrong way to be.

-SMOKE. Violence as protection, and a burden to be shouldered for tenderness and love. He killed his father to protect Stack. He killed Annie because she asked him to. He sent Sammie away to face and kill the KKK men by himself, knowing he might be killing himself in the process. I think of the scene where he’s dying and Annie in the afterlife is watching him while holding their child. As Smoke unloads bullets into the dying klan member, she doesn’t flinch at his violence, and neither do we as the audience. It’s righteous and justified, and in the very next moment, he holds his daughter softly. The violence stands in contrast to his connection to his brother and lover and daughter, but it’s not antithetical to it or a threat to it. Defense of Black culture – and Black masculinity itself – is not inherently violent. Smoke is not his violent father; he broke that cycle too. He is tender and loving, and it’s the reason for his protectiveness and informs his violence that’s directed outward in defense of his family, and especially at the vampires and white supremacists. There’s also something to be said for how Smoke has these violent skills and weapons because he was a soldier in WWI. He served a country that treats him and his people as less than human. And Grace even tells him, “Aren’t you a soldier?” Yes, he was. He shouldn’t have to be at home. And yet, this too is a war, with him and his people being constantly besieged when all they want is peace. Along those lines: At first, Smoke thought that money could be a form of power, to the point of nearly slipping into valuing it more than community when it came down to payment for drinks at the juke joint. But he internalizes and learns especially from Annie that money can’t save you; money didn’t save Slim’s brother who was lynched, and the twins throwing money at a Klan member for the juke joint didn’t stop them from pulling up to their door. Smoke comes to fully learn that All we have is family, community, and our traditions, and we can’t let them take that. Perhaps that’s also part of the reason why he couldn’t kill Stack in the end, instead killing Remmick (as he killed their father) to give Stack his best chance at freedom.

-SMOKE & STACK. The older brother looking at his now-wayward younger brother who suddenly feels like a different person. The twin who looks at his mirrored self and doesn’t recognize who he sees anymore. Who is Stack now? Did Smoke fail him? But there’s something in Stack that is still him, even though he’s forever changed, and ultimately Smoke can’t destroy that. From one sibling to another, it’s the thought of “I can’t abide by or agree with what you’ve become but I can’t destroy you either.” There’s no me without you in the sense that we’re forever tied, but also in the sense that we were instrumental in making each other who we are, for better and worse.

-“ELIJAH MOORE” VS “STACK.” Names are powerful. Smoke’s real name is used in the end as a nod to the connections to his history and roots, and also to his truest self, which he reunites with just as he reunites with Annie, their child, and spirituality in death. Contrast this with Stack, who is going by his nickname in perpetuity – a half name that’s forever cut off from Smoke as the other half, and a disconnect from his old self he’s buried. In the end credit scene, STACK is seen on his ring and visually tied to stacks of money under his hand, aka empty power at high cost. It’s a sad reversal of Stack’s prior thoughts on community and people being more important than profit, when he and Annie were united at the juke joint in pushing back against Smoke’s pursuit of “American dollars.”

-SAMMIE and “This Little Light of Mine.” My goodness. At the start of the movie, Sammie’s preacher father wanted him to sing gospel as a way to lead others in the church, but he never gets to in the context/timeline of the movie. We only hear the choir singing it in the opening instead without Sammie’s involvement. But then, the final credits scene: Sammie has his guitar, which we know doesn’t exist anymore because it’s the guitar he used to fight off demons (literal and metaphorical), and now he’s singing it as a blues song. Did he sing it in church at an earlier point before the events of the movie? Who knows. Doesn’t matter. What matters is this: Sammie’s preacher father tried to give him an ultimatum. Put down the guitar; put down the blues music and the dancing and the sex; put down the sinning. It all attracts darkness, so come back to church and return to the Lord. Be pure. The Christian church, explicitly used as a tool of oppression that benefits white supremacy. But even after the horrors and trauma Sammie experiences – some of which he even draws in through his music (and metaphorically his ���sinning”), which is not his fault – Sammie won’t let it go. He can’t. It’s who he is, and it’s his culture and connection to his ancestors, and there’s nothing sinful about any of it. The music, the dancing, the fucking, or anything else. It’s all beautiful, and the embracing of it all then necessitates (because of his father’s ultimatum) a level of rejection of the church in order to continue to live. But despite all of that… The church (and perhaps some redefined aspect of faith) is still a part of him and his culture too. He carries it with him, which is a relatable notion for many people who were raised religious and either chose to walk away or were forced to because of the inherit ultimatums in its restrictions. And so: Sammie had been told to lead and use his music to shine his little light all around the world. It may not be for the church or in the way his father wanted, but by God, he still went out and did just that. In his way, on his terms, without forgetting where he came from.

-Sammie stands in church at the start of the movie. His pastor father has been pushing, Give me the blues guitar. Rejoin our congregation. Sing gospel. Sammie stands in church and it’s intercut with flashbacks of Remmick attacking him. Give me your music. Join our clan. Sing Irish folk songs for me. And yeah, Sammie’s grip on that blues guitar stays real tight.

-[Side note, mostly kidding: all vampire stories could do with a bit of queerness. As merely a fun exercise, if I was choosing to make one aspect of this movie queer in a way that naturally further services the themes… I’d make Pearline a man. Have Sammie be a “sinner” in another dramatic sense by making him queer. What if on the best day of his life in the juke joint, he connects with another man through music and then fucks a man? Much to think about. But there’s a lot going on in this movie already of course, in a specific historical context. And people would’ve gotten too distracted from the various core messages about race and culture (because no one can be normal about seeing queer stuff and understanding intersectionality). But hey, that would’ve hit! And would’ve fit. Just an interesting and extremely unnecessary what if in the privacy of my own mind.]

-STACK (& MARY). Still alive, but dead inside. How good is the life they lead? Stack, when trying to convince Smoke to join the vampire clan, referred to the assimilation they were experiencing as a form of freedom because of the (tangential-to-whiteness) power. But not only is that freedom untrue and filled with conditions, it also comes at a high cost. Eternally separated from their family, divorced from culture, their old selves and lives dead and gone, with no one but Sammie left to remember who they really were. Frozen, adrift, unable to move on or grow. But here’s the thing: was it their fault? Both Mary and Stack’s turnings were nonconsensual. Their disconnection from and erasure of their culture was nonconsensual, and they became Different before they realized what was happening. Remmick is killed and they’re free of his influence and control now, but where does that leave them anyway? They’re still ostracized and left out in the cold, and can’t be let back in unless someone lets them in, which no one is inclined to do – except for Sammie. In Stack and Mary, we see the cost of leaving your cultural roots behind, or (more accurately) having them taken from you violently, forcefully, or through the inescapable encroaching influences of colonialism and white supremacy. As foreshadowed by Sammie’s question to Mary in the juke joint: what are they now? They’re something Other, trying to make their space in the world, and dressed not dissimilarly to the genres of music seen when Sammie’s blues transcended time. So maybe they’re trying to make their own spaces work. But in particular… Stack can’t fit with the white humans, and he can also never go home. Yet he and Mary long for home and for culture, and make an attempt to reconnect with it – which, incredibly, Sammie allows. Sammie is now (visually) the elder who lets the wayward young people back in. He literally embraces Stack – and I think it’s key that he doesn’t embrace Mary. Stack and Mary may be together, but the ways in which they’ve been changed and the disconnect they’re experiencing is undeniably different, because Stack is Black and Mary is not. Its relevance can’t be ignored. This moment and this culture is not hers in the same way. Sammie takes a last parting shot at that point and hammers the themes home by changing the lyrics of his “Travelin’”: I don't know why in the hell I'm here, because the woman I'm lovin', you know she really don’t care. Fully justified? Slightly unfair to her trauma? Maybe mostly the former and a tiny bit of the latter, and heartbreakingly understandable regardless.

[garf-lover96]

if i'm posting this then that means i finished playing The Veilguard!! i don't have as much experience with the Dragon Age series as a long time fan would (i started with Inquisition earlier this year, go easy on me if i get anything wrong) but i wanted to write a review of my own anyway, because i've been yapping about it to everyone around me (i'm pretty sure they're all sick of me by now)

first of all, i went into the game with practically 0 spoilers about the main story and the companion quests. the only thing i knew for sure was that everyone on the internet seemed to absolutely LOATHE this game, which honestly saved me from the disappointment i would've felt if i'd assumed that it'd be any comparable to Inquisition... well, now i know that it's definitely not

★★★

1. gameplay

getting the obvious point out of the way, it was pretty jarring to me to transition from the more tactical style of the previous game to just spamming my console pad buttons like i'm used to doing in Genshin Impact for instance (not that i was any good at playing the Inquisition, i never figured out how to build my characters and i probably never will...). i can't say anything about the general difficulty of the enemies because i immediately picked the easiest mode, out of fear of perpetually getting my ass kicked (again). it was quite fun though!! i felt a little silly for enjoying it more because it was kind of dumbed down but what can i say.. i guess i'm just the spamming buttons kind of guy after all. also i think the companions warning you about the enemies around is pretty cool!! they've saved my ass from getting nuked a lot of times already

that being said, i'm definitely picking a harder mode for my next playthrough (yes, i'm already getting ready for it. i think i got brainwashed)

2. main story/writing

again, definitely dumbed down in comparison to Inquisition, but at least i didn't have any trouble keeping up with the lore... i do however have a bone to pick with whoever was in charge of writing the dialogues in this game. anyone who saw at least one clip knows what i'm talking about but i got disappointed with the banter especially. a lot of the back-and-forth's left me feeling like i was waiting for a punchline that just never showed up?? and some of my Rook's 'jokes' not landing lowkey made me feel like i'm at a family dinner, but i suppose that's my own problem

FURTHERMORE i felt almost insulted at those little 'explanation' texts that sometimes popped up during quests to allude to what happened earlier. it must be that whoever wrote them thought that the players are brain dead and don't understand that the actions they take have consequences?? or was it a way to brag and basically say 'ooooh look we thought of that! you made a decision and that's why this character is acting that way! DO YOU GET IT?'. i mean for instance, when Lucanis told my Rook that he made cioccolata calda for him, i didn't need any help understanding that it's because he previously mentioned that he likes it. I'M PLAYING THIS GAME, I KNOW WHAT'S HAPPENING IN IT!! but they felt the need to point it out anyway, for some reason? might be a nitpick but i seriously don't get why they felt the need to implement that

back to the story, what's most noticeable to me now that the choices just weren't painful enough, throughout the whole game. i've found myself bracing for having to hear about the consequences of my actions but they were surprisingly tame most of the time? yes, Neve was pissed at me for a little while after i saved Treviso but after advancing the story a bit we were besties again. i could also stand the companions being at least a little mad at me for flirting them up before leaving them for someone else, but i might've just been spoiled by BG3 in that aspect (Wyll's miserable expression after picking Astarion over him will forever live in my memory). i feel like making me live through a bunch of great losses in the finale was a last ditch effort to give me that 'see, your actions have consequences after all!' (it wasn't all that bad for me anyway, i only lost Harding because she sacrificed herself). but that Varric plot twist?.... i need to hunt down whoever even came up with that. it was such a cheap shot and i know it but i sobbed anyway, obviously

and anyway, the finale felt so underwhelming for me, i was seriously hoping to at least get a proper afterword and instead i just got the credits...

to alleviate some of the negativity, my favorite part of the main quest was the Weisshaupt part. really enjoyed punching the First Warden and the action was very dynamic, i was giggling joyfully

3. companions/characters

alright, i feel like this is going to be the longest point... to be honest, i wasn't expecting to get as attached to my team as i did after a while of interacting with them (excluding Lucanis because i've had an eye on him for quite a while before buying the game). there's no better way to say this though, i kind of felt like i had to gentle parent each and every one of my team members. but then, even if i didn't coddle them, i don't think i ever got a 'blank disapproves' message from them (aside from when i punched the First Warden, i think i saw Emmrich disapprove). is it even possible for the companions to not love you? it really put me off and made me lose a great portion of the immersion

commenting on Lucanis first because i'm really pissed about what's been done with him. SO UNDERWHELMING🫩🫩..... PLEASE tell me that at least the other romances aren't as much of a nothingburger as his was. i am immensely disappointed. and the final romance scene getting triggered after we just lost 3 people? tasteless. i really liked him as a character but it's like the romance wasn't even there. you're kidding me. him being possessed was such a cool concept for me but again, it was so underutilized that it started getting painful. i think i will stick to fanon Lucanis, thank you... at least his personal quest was quite interesting and Illario's betrayal did catch me off guard. i loved Spite as well and i hate that i didn't get to talk with him more!! those first possession instances were some of my favorite character moments in the game! (and i hope whoever got the idea to get rid of the smooching mechanic will burn in hell)

Emmrich on the other hand... i was seriously tempted to romance him instead and i'm still planning to do that soon. he was so charming and kind and i really loved those hand movements he did while corpse whispering. his quest was fun and i LOVED Manfred, i got a little emotional at the end when Emmrich kept saying how proud of him he is. my only qualm is that, again, the final decision didn't feel serious enough? he's been talking about becoming a lich being his biggest dream but when it came to convincing him to not do that, he just shrugged and went along with my suggestion to not go through with it, no question. it was such an easy choice for me as well, obviously i wouldn't want to lose Manfred forever?? anyway, really fun guy, i need him bad

Bellara my sweetest girl my best friend. i enjoyed her companion quest and her overall energy very much. the brother thing managed to made me a little emotional as well, especially when she first opened up about it. i flirted with her for a bit as well and she was so perfectly awkward in that time we got before i settled for Lucanis. i don't have much reason to complain about her! definitely in my top 3!

now for Taash... listen, i thought i wouldn't like them a whole lot when i first met them but they really grow on you. i didn't hate the mixed heritage thing nor the non-binary thing, although... actually using the word 'non-binary' sure was a choice. it wasn't the fact that they told me they want to start using different pronouns that broke the immersion for me, it was them using the real world terminology for the experience. i think it would've been fine if they left it at just 'neither'! i certainly don't remember Dorian telling me that he's 'gay' or 'homosexual' in Inquisition, but i still got the point when he said that he prefers the company of men. i don't know if it was the fact that queerness got more acceptable over those 10 years that made them want to mention the actual label, but fantasy settings using those is kind of my pet peeve. the non-binary name drop aside, i actually enjoyed Taash's coming out scene a lot. it was tense and awkward which felt realistic for someone with a traditional parent (as well as those jabs she made about Taash acting like a man because i've heard that sentiment myself before lol). the mother's death scene was pretty tough too, though i find it funny that every homophobic parent in Dragon Age that i'm aware of gets murdered at some point. now that sends a message. to finish off, i will just pretend that the Isabela scene at the bar didn't happen at all. so tacky and just plain annoying..... i know i would've been pissed if someone started doing fucking push ups after accidentally misgendering me

DAVRIN AND ASSAN😊😊😊😊 i know i wasn't all that fond of Davrin at the start because my Rook's joke went over his head (i hold grudges for that sort of thing sorry) but he grew on me just like Taash did. i admit i used to put off his quests because wardens just aren't that interesting to me...? that's probably a hot take and i might get stoned for it though. but once the Gloom Howler thing took off a bit it was enjoyable enough to go through. and Assan..... my favorite boy... his relationship with Davrin was so cute and i loved how Davrin warmed up to him over time. the way he kept saying that he's worried about dying because then Assan would be left alone😞 solid guy, we are friends

Neve and Harding i'll have to condense into one paragraph because i fear we didn't bond as well as i did with the others. i know that for Neve it was because i didn't save Minrathous so our relations got pretty much stunted... i felt really bad for her every time she got beat up though (at the start and the finale because i had no idea the gods would kidnap her???). i honestly just feel like i failed her and i'll try to do better on my next playthrough... for Harding it was unfortunately because i didn't find her quest very engaging. i kept zoning out in the Deep Roads until i had no idea what was going on anymore. sorry Harding (i did like her in Inquisition though)

★★★

overall, i had low expectations for Veilguard and it didn't exactly manage to exceed them. it indeed is slop and i am a little sad that i put so much of my time and effort into it

i made this thing sit in my drafts for a while so i'm fairly sure i mentioned everything i wanted to. i probably won't be editing this but maybe i'll reblog it if i have something to add after all?? and if you're someone that has actually read all that then hiiiiii i'm looking for dragon age mutuals:3 and let's discuss in the comments also if you want, i need to talk about dragon age

[iamnmbr3]

I was reading the wiki page on Occlumency for a fic and now I'm even more confused why JKR thinks Draco can't be redeemed (or whatever she's said on it, I don't care too much for her words).

She literally acknowledges in a quote that Draco is so good at Occlumency because he can compartmentalise his feelings well, and gave as an example that he's such a 'good' bully (good is kind of contested because I really don't think he was that good lol) because he can suppress the pity he feels. Like, she basically says that he does feel bad for (some) of the things he did (or at least has the capacity to), and he just forces it down. I'd imagine an actually 'good' bully wouldn't even feel pity to begin with.

She also says he shut down his compassion to be a good DE, which really just sounds like he tried to shut it down and failed in the end, because he's awful at being actually cruel and doing things the other DEs do. And overall, most people don't hold out for very long when they're actively suppressing or shutting down emotions, and I honestly think it's very possible that Draco struggled more and more with that near the end of the War until it all fell apart at some point.

Of course, this is all just post-books quotes, and fuck JKR, but it's so interesting that she acknowledges that he can (and maybe actively does) feel pity and compassion, which would be such a good set up for a redemption arc imo!

I'm mostly asking this here because your analyses are amazing and you're by far my favourite drarry blog (even though this is only Draco, oops), but I'm curious what you think of this since I don't think you've said anything on this yet (correct me if I'm wrong lol, I could be).

yeah exactly. (for those who don't know - on wizarding world there's this whole long incredibly pretentious and condescending essay that she wrote about how draco didn't get a redemption arc and fans better not like him or else which is hugely contradictory and literally describes how he got a redemption arc - and drops some cool additional lore that makes him even more interesting and complicated - all while trying to get fans not to care. it's wild.) a while ago i started a meta breaking it down but I never got around to finishing it. I really should dig it up.

and yeah I think that whole essay provides great additional backstory that adds depth and interest to draco's character (love the bit about him keeping dark arts relics in a glass cabinet as a reminder - to look at and never use) and is literally the opposite of what jkr wants it to be. she literally describes how he had doubts and had to suppress parts of himself to go along with something he knew was wrong (something that bellatrix or even lucius very obviously didn't have to do) and how ultimately his morals won out, he spent the rest of his life regretting his actions, and fought with his family in order to raise his son with different values. I.e. he CHANGED HIS MIND AND HIS ACTIONS...aka a redemption arc.

the essay is great till jkr concludes with 'so this is why draco is irredeemably evil and fans shouldn't like him'. um ??? the??? why didn't u write him that way???? her lack of self awareness is bizarre.

[piosplayhouse]

I don't know if you'll answer but I need to know the lore behind sexy times with Wangxian, like is it a fanfic? why do people hate the author??

It was the longest mdzs fic posted during its time in 2021 and gained extreme notoriety for its absurdly long tag list, frequent update schedule that consistently forced anyone scrolling any of its tags to see it at the top of their page, and escalating poor, racist, and trolling authorial behavior that ultimately culminated in the author virtual1979 being suspended from ao3 for a month because she posting an author's note saying she hoped that all her haters would contract covid and die. She deleted the fic from ao3 a little while after this happened, ig bc she wasn't getting enough attention anymore, but allegedly the thing's still up on dreamwidth under strict friendslock. The fan lore article goes pretty in depth about it:

The best summary for why it pissed people off so much is really just showing you these screenshots of what the fic looked like towards the end of its life on desktop and mobile (be warned opening the full image):

From my personal experience:

from 2019 up until around 2021 the fic really was just a normal-ish, if very strangely written and kinky, wangxian porn fic about them basically just fucking around post canon and enjoying day to day life. It updated pretty frequently and had a fair amount of tags because the author was literally just tagging anything that she wrote. But like the first few hundred, maybe even a thousand tags were pretty accurate to what the fic was because of that, and were relatively manageable for the first few years that it didn't pick up any attention really.

At some point in 2021 when cql was really starting to blow up online and the tag count was starting to pile up to the point of annoyance, the fic started receiving some comments that were just like "hey can you try to cut down on tags, I don't think it's necessary to be so specific as to tag 'Korean food' or 'eggs' or whatnot". The author did not share this idea, evidently, and instead built a grudge against commenters who would tell her to delete tags, subsequently adding more and more as time went on.

As the tag count and updates increased, the content of the fic did too-- it got a lot, lot weirder. I'm sure someone's saved it all somewhere but for reference it spun out into what I can only describe as like if Rick and Morty's plot was cut to be just the parts of the show with underage/incest plotlines with All Tomorrows level sex dystopian world building exclusively to elicit the most visceral audience reaction possible. Around this time is when more people started to notice the fic and its escalating tag issues, leading them to leaving more comments complaining about it, leading to the attention seeking author spitefully adding more tags. Around this time is when she also started adding fake tags that didn't apply to the story whatsoever (sorry to disappoint, "talking vagina" was one of those. I did check) just to boost the count, take up more space on people's screens, and bait people into commenting hate for attention.

By this time, it had become a fandom-wide annoyance as she had begun to tag entirely unrelated ships, therefore putting the near-daily updating titanic of a fic at the top of any mdzs-related tag. People were outraged about this, and calls came for ao3 to step in. Ao3 waffled around for a bit as there was no official rule at the time that imposed a tag limit, so there wasn't established ground to ban virtual1979 (who btw many people suspected of being 40 whole years old due to the username and allegedly some other internet sleuthing on Facebook or something). Meanwhile, she began to tag other fandoms-- tgcf, svsss, BTS, basically anything that would get a lot of attention and draw hate with the advent of The Monstrosity suddenly drowning out all other recently updated fics of the targeted fandoms.

People had been trying to retaliate without ao3 action, though, by coding their own themes/skins that would allow someone to block a user or work and other fic writers made their own parody, the "bland times with wangxian" collection, which were minimally tagged sfw shortfics typically featuring wangxian just doing laundry or things like that. A good amount of them were actually like just fics where wwx would explain to lwj how to install custom ao3 themes and block fics that were taking up too much space on his screen. Imo it was pretty funny, but these also sparked some controversy as people disagreed with fighting annoyance with more annoyance to people trying to find content.

Either shortly before or after ao3 staff said they'd step in due to an insane amount of reports and backlash, I forgot which atp, virtual1979 began perhaps the worst tagging spree of the fic's life by changing the title, many of the tags, and the summary to a slew of racial slurs, sexually explicit imagery, and other generally offensive statements. I'm pretty sure this came after the fic was temporarily hidden once, as this update gained considerably less attention than the rest of the tagging saga, but people were still rightfully pissed about it. Ultimately, like I mentioned before, the author was then suspended for a month for wishing covid and death on her haters, and attention seemed to die down during this time to the point where she didn't really fight much more when her suspension ended and deleted her account and the work shortly after. Again she seems to have moved to dreamwidth, but most have forgotten her and I'm not sure if her presence is public at all on there. But that's the story of the worst mdzs fic ever written

[gravityyalwayyswins]

Kaylors especially LSK always reference Karlie as Taylor’s muse seems blind to all the other flings / relationships. also why are Kaylors always so dam aggressive when you mention other female potential muses and will do anything to make everything about kaylor.

Such a gooooood question!! I have many thoughts on this, but I think it boils down to a few key things:

I've noticed Kaylors tend to have no issue discussing Tayliz or sometimes even Swiftgron (but only 2012-13, with a sharp cutoff) because, well, it doesn't interfere with their Kaylor Narrative of late 2013 onward. But even though myself and most Tilys believe Kaylor was def a thing 2014-15ish, just that...then they broke up and Tily was together by mid 2016 -- that's a narrative/timeline they refuse to consider. Believing in Tily isn't Kaylor erasure, it actually helps fill in a TON of holes that present themselves in post 2015 Kaylor theories. Since most Kaylors adamantly want to believe that KK is the main muse for Rep *and* Lover (and onward, for a lot of them...), then they have to shun Tily lore and proof because summer to fall 2016 is when Taylor and Lily began spending more time together; then Lily went to Thanksgiving with Taylor and SAT NEXT TO her father; and then multiple photos of Lily from Dec 2016 and Jan 2017 place her IN the London apartment. Kaylors just opt to ignore all of this though.

Beyond the basic timeline explanation above, there's also something else key at play: since Kaylor was SO very much in the public eye as besties who went everywhere together for a good deal of 2014 - 2015, and then Rep came out in 2017 and was SO very sapphic, it seems a lot of Gaylors just had to immediately attach the gayness of that album to Karlie because it's the woman they'd been theorizing about for multiple years at that point. It seemingly doesn't matter to them that Kaylor went from spending a ton of time together in 2014-15 to very little in 2016 to...literally nothing in 2017 onward. There is ONE photo of them from 2018 when Karlie went to ONE Rep show, and she posted it to IG and Taylor didn't even bother to like it or comment lol. Similarly, Karlie wrote Taylor a bday post in 2016 that Taylor...also did not like or comment, a stark contrast from how they engaged with each other's social media frequently in 2014-15. In fact, Karlie was in Australia for work for a good deal of Dec 2016, at the time that we know Taylor ran away with her lover...to LONDON. If she was with Karlie, why wouldn't she have found lodging in Australia to hang with her boo? There is so, so much that truly does not add up re: Karlie being the muse for Rep, an album entirely rooted in the theme of finding a NEW LOVE circa snaktegate/when her reputation was taking a hit in summer 2016, and again, we know that Kaylor was at its height in 2014 into early 2015. Furthermore, suddenly Taylor is referencing her new lover being non American with an accent and infusing tons of British-isms ("fit like a daydream," "fancy you, not fancy stuff," etc.) in Rep lyrics which she hadn't done before. Harry Styles is also British but she didn't use British-isms in 1989 because he was her beard for Dianna and Di isn't British... yes, Taylor absolutely uses lyrical red herrings here and there to sell the het-narratives of her beards, but it is usually a line here and there. In order to believe Joe was a beard for Karlie (instead of Lily...who is a blonde blue eyed introvert Brit just like him, a perfect match of beard to real partner), you have to believe that Taylor suddenly started throwing SO MANY red herrings into Rep that don't fit for the actual lover she had at the time. Not to mention how before settling on Joe for a long term beard, Taylor also had the brief PRlationship with Tom Hiddleston - another Brit! Why would she be so hellbent on getting a BRITISH blue eyed Brit in order to cover for her... St Louis born, NYC based hazel eyed gf?? Make it make sense.

Anyway, those are my main thoughts on it! Thanks for the question and I'm always happy to discuss further xoxo

[aliyahgracedrawing]

I was sitting here drawing some more Ian art when I remembered this lovely little oc from my webtoon I stopped making, and thought I should totally revamp her design cause all my old art of her sucks, and she deserves better art, even if it’s just a really sketchy 40 minute drawing.

Some lore for her under the cut!

She and Maya were childhood best friends (and kinda more, like they both liked each other ALOT but they never quite got to the point of dating before Maya went on the run.) in their universe a large percent of the population is part animal of some sort (and will have feature of that animal, such as wings, ears, tails, extra limbs or eyes, ect.) and part of their world’s folklore is the chameleon. The story around chameleons is that they have the ability to change their appearance and they use this ability for evil to eat people or something like that. The only part of the story around them that is true is that they can change their appearance in any way. Maya is a chameleon but hides it from everyone (her mum makes sure of this cause she is super controlling, protective and has major trust issues cause she too is a chameleon and has had people spill her secret in the past). She also doesn’t tell anyone because not only would normal civilians be afraid of her and want to hunt her down, but obviously the government would do anything to get their hands on the ability to transform and camouflage things.

What does this have to do with Monica? Well Maya and Monica are super close, and Maya trusts Monica so much she tells her about what she really is. Monica freaks out a little bit and tells her mum, lorelei, who happens to be a police officer. At the time Monica thinks it would be fine, cause she just needed to talk about it to someone, and surely her mum would be chill about it since she sees Maya almost as like a second daughter? Wrong. Lorelei freaks out and basically begins hunting down Maya, believing it’s for her daughter’s safety.

Maya, feeling betrayed because she thinks Monica just went straight out and told the police and ratted her out, goes on the run. Since she can change her appearance it often takes quite awhile each time for the government to find her. (Also in all this Maya’s mum gets killed so she is on her own on the run). While Maya is on the run lorelei seeks out the help of some of the top government officials, also known as ‘the scientists’, who begin manipulating lorelei. The scientists begin slowly poisoning Monica, but tell lorelei it’s a rare desiese that could only be cured through Maya’s blood. Lorelei trusts the scientists, cause they run their entire society, why would they lie? Also she would do anything to protect her daughter.

When Maya and Monica were friends Monica would often sing for Maya, and was super shy but Maya encouraged her to pursue singing and acting and stuff. Not long after Maya leaves Monica scores a lead role in a popular movie and from there becomes a super popular actress and singer. Maya is unaware of that for years until the present of the story when Eva (her current best friend and girlfriend/ love interest/ crush) finally convinces her to go to a concert for Eva’s favourite singer and actress and celebrity crush. (At this point Eva and Maya are on the run from the government and lorelei together). When at the concert Maya automatically recognises the new song Monica is singing as the one they wrote together when they were young. As they are trying to escape and leave out the back the two run into Monica, Eva starts fangirling but Maya and Monica have this moment of just staring into each other’s eyes, Monica with regret and guilt, and also fear, in her eyes, and Maya glaring at her with fear and hurt in her eyes. Monica helps the two escape, even though at this point she still Maya’s blood is the only thing that can heal her, she wants to try and make up for her mistake.

Anyways if you’re still reading this, thank you for reading all these ramblings! I hope you like it!

Also let me know if you’d like me to draw out any of these scenes as a lil comic or animatic or something, cause I think that’d be super fun!!

[d0wnbaddanny]

I'm in the trenches of the Outlast Trials, so of course I had to cook up an oc

what if they have a godamn 15 year old catching fades?

Sanis!! "Sansy-Wansy"

⏫️

Full body pic!!

Lore drop down below if you wanna read!!(warning, its BIG, also tw: for murder, mass death, the usual for OLT)

Wendell "Wally" Lawrence(Her real name) was a talented young 12 year old girl in her small southern hometown(borderline village) that happened to have a vulnerable sewage/pipe system

She was the sole Lawrence child, the apple of her father's eye, and her mother's mini-me. If you want a character referance and if you've seen Wreck-It-Ralph, think of Turbo(keep in mind the shit he pulls aka Roadblaster incident) she had friends, was respected, a nice little upbringing, all until her baby brother was born,

Her younger brother, Franis(yes it was intentional, trust) suddenly was the swarm of the town, and she never saw why, that fuckass baby 'all he did was cry' Wendall would brood, unable to take her nice little life, all peaceful and kind to her suddenly every conversation turning into "How's Francis" or "Your baby brother!"

Now the bastard herself had a ego, delightful little girl, shoved to the side like yesterday's trash, she was PISSED. Unfortunately for everyone, it was gonna get bad, so she starts plotting, being the most overdramatic son-of-a-bitch because she didn't realize it was a phase and soon it'd be back to normal,

In blind rage, she finds her father' firework stash, everything that can be considered an explosive and that'd fuck up a pipeline system, and whole town and had stuffed it in the system the day before she plans to ditch town and play the "pitiful orphan girl who lost it all" card the next town over..too bad she wrote it down in a diary she hid poorly, her mother found the day shit was gonna hit and it became a whole family confrontation at dinner...

She crashes out, grabs a knife and starts going crazy on her family who thinks she's lost it(she has). Ends up killing everyone in the house, mother, father, and leaves the baby brother to endure the wreckage soon to come..Mounts her bike and speeds it out of town, Wendell never saw WHAT happened, but the pipes blowing up did go down so fucked up town, gets in the paper, she's in next town over plan is planing, there was just a hiccup in the road(homocide)

(Basically that was her Roadblasters Incident™️)

This part im still cooking on, but so far Murkoff hears but town travesty which was getting confirmed to be sabotage, just evidence is getting figured out... due to getting details of the one house that a murder went down in..it seemed that the case was gonna bite little Wendall here in the ass..Alas, there was Prime Asset potential in her

...so they get an agent, get the message in the kid via claims to adopt her thats she's fucked in the outside world, unless she signs her ass away to Murkoff, then her name will be cleared in the outside world

Long story short, the kid "signs" (in reality got "adopted") now dwells in the Sinyala Facility, as the newest Prime Asset to the collection, the kid is still shaken up (Mainly form almost getting a fatass stain on her "perfect" reputation). She seems not to give a damn about killing reagents,

Ok we done with backstory

Extra info:

Trying to deny her past being Wendall "Wally" Lawrence, she prefers and wants to be called "Sanis" she made the name up on the spot and doesn't like being called anything else! Even the common nickname "Sansy-Wansy" causes her to freak out and give a harsh correction, saying "It's SANIS!"

When dealing with reagents, she likes to taunt them mostly, slamming her axe into them while crying out childish with an slightly annoying high voice remarks like "Gotcha!" Or "Strike!", she only cuts the non-swearing sweetheart act when the reagents either don't die or start to fuck with her(throwing shit at her) then she drops into her more deeper voice and occasionally curses.

She's all pissy and stuck up about "being perfect" when it comes to reagents, putting herself to a standard of whipping out an entire team of them or all of them or the one, every time.

Dealing with ex-pops she either ignores them or screams at them, to "find their own meatloaf" when they attempt to attack a reagent SHE was planning on also attacking, she sees them as below her, aka sub-human in a sense, cause "Who's the Prime Asset? That's right...me." in her words

Reacting to the other Prime Assets she only really likes Mother Gooseberry for obvious reasons and puts up an "innocent" act around her(she gets head pats sometimes) and taunts Dr. Flutterman when Gooseberry isn't looking, the duck hates her ass (same bro), she'd be running up to Mother to show her if she caught a reagent slacking and killed em for praise, she's always looking for it.

For Coyle, Sanis just shuts up, not wanting to deal with his bitchass for the most part, he "bores" her in a sense but doesn't speak up about it, occasionally agreeing, but not seeming like she's being bullshit, she just shuts up and gets the job DONE,

Now fuckass Franco, they beef HARD. Fate was screwing with Sansy for this man having a name a little too close to her baby brother's name who "took my life away" (overdramatic ass🙏🥀) and is crashing out because of Franco's baby bullshit (me too), avoiding him mostly and cussing him out when he's out of earshot, a hater but NOT enough to be dealing with him jumping her ass a second later. Obvious reasons for Franco being a hating bitch bc "he's the baby" can't say more bc I've yapped too hard already

IF YOU READ THIS I LOVE YOU!!!

Also PSA if anybody wants little ol me to drawing their Outlast trials oc (or from anything else) pop by my ask box bc its dry as HELL (i need to draw, RELEASE ME)

EDIT: they(Murkoff) experimented on her thats why she's chopped now ok bye bye💗🎀

[mechanismslorearchive]

Can you explain the narratomancy thing?

Narratomancy is a beast. I wrote a meta on it a few years back. from a doyalist perspective can be summed up by rule of cool and the rule of drama being married to Whatever Is Best For The Story Should happen.

Why was Jonny only a head in gptvtmk? Because he needed to be, and because its cool. Not because it makes sense with the internal lore of the universe. Why did he stay dead long enough in gender rebels for Brian to need to babysit his corpse? Because Jonny wasnt there in person, so he had to be.

Why did the diamond kill all the suitors in ulysses? same reason. Because thats what is best for the story.

Canonically speaking, D'Ville discusses it here, (although Nastya does disagree here)

There is also the whole story echoes thing, which can be seen in this fiction by kofi

Narratomancy is basically a collection of concepts that can be boiled down to "rule of cool" "dream logic" "whatever is best for the story will happen" as well as "stories are what the mechs subsist on" "stories are part of the fabric of the mechsverse, and this is important" "the characters the mechs play is songs have direct parralells to the characters themselves, this is facinating"

ANYWAY. thats a long ramble. read the below posts for a more in depth less rambley version of this:

mod miralines wrote a meta on it here that is better put than what i can do right now

and i wrote a meta on it a few years back you can read here (although I have my issues with this as my opinions have shifted over time) (although it does go further into the more watsonian aspects of narratomancy)

[clefdesoll]

If you don't mind the question, do you have any advice for people who want to start writing stories and improving at writing? But don't really know where to start?

Sure, of course! Here’s some stuff from the top of my head in no particular order, anyone is welcome to share and add to this so check out the notes too;

- first off don’t try to write “good” stories, write stories that you personally have fun writing and try not to worry about the quality. The first version of my webcomic I wrote when I was 14 and it was novel style, absolutely terrible, not even good grammar or anything but it keeps you hooked and having a fun time because it’s insane and I need to see what comes next, what will the characters do now

- if you’re the kind of person to worry about details or needing everything to be perfect you should try to make it a challenge to not be allowed to edit any of this. Write it physically on paper if that helps (so it’s a bigger effort to change anything of it) and commit to what you’ve put down and keep going. This is how I managed a finished first draft.

- don’t like a past piece of lore in that version that has you feeling blocked? Change it. Who cares. The story evolves as it goes, it finds itself. Again, you should be having fun most of all as I promise THAT is what the readers will really get attached to.

- you’re allowed, and even recommended to take breaks. Take a break long enough that you no longer think about the story or the writing and forget what happened. Then reread all of it again from the start and take notes of certain early ideas you started but haven’t completed.

- while writing I like to do what I call “opening doors” which is basically “starting” some plot points and leaving them open. For example, the main protagonist receives an item and then does nothing with it. On a later reread you’ll think “right, something should happen with that” and get an idea and write that down. The time between event A and its resolution taking so long makes it feel connected. If you do this enough you’ll get a really complex map of connections inside your work, and you can do this to varying degrees of complexity which also adds depth. The protagonist receives medication in chapter 3, but in chapter 8 she fought in a storm so it became wet and unusable. In chapter 2 a character gets angry at someone he sees below him and in chapter 15 you realize he’s usually at the receiving end of this dynamic.

- it’s totally okay if your story starts with like, characters basically copied from those you like from other medias. I’m personally more of an original works kinda person but the first story I wrote there were characters who were “pokemon but not really.” As you write they become their own unique thing.

- don’t worry about it, just keep going. If it feels difficult, take a break and do something else. If you have ideas while you aren’t working, write them down in notes or sticky memo pads and stuff

- even if you end up with a story you don’t like or don’t finish, you’ll always find things out about yourself and your writing style. Don’t throw it away but you are allowed to file it away and not look at it. The you 10-20 stories from now will want to look back at how far they’ve come so save it for them.

- while watching/reading/playing other pieces of media if anything you see makes you go “wow that was really cool,” I really recommend checking out tv tropes and seeing what they have to say about that character or scene. They break down how it was achieved narratively so you can learn how the writing was done and get a better grasp of it and reader expectations in regards to that technique and why this instance worked so well to try it out yourself

- now that you’re on tv tropes, check out the tropes doing things you like and go through the list of examples to see how this particular thing was done in other media you’re familiar with

- now we’ve lost you to tv tropes for the next few months

- don’t worry about it this is research

- reread your story again and now you should have even more ideas!

- end up with chapters getting longer and longer as you want to do things with each character in each chapter… your document of things you want to add in the story when it feels right keeps getting longer. I apologize to you.

- oh something I do BEFORE I start writing anything down, especially on a later rewrite where I know what the story wants to be, is what I call a “mood map.” So I’ll usually know the start of the story pretty well, an idea of the ending and a couple scenes I think would be impactful. Before I write any of them, I’ll decide what emotion I want the person reading it to go through the story. I want them to be feeling happy and comfortable, then we hit the first conflict and bam, that mood drops. We aren’t feeling good, maybe even a bit on edge. Then we get a bit of a breather to recover from that to keep its impact. I find it helps hold the entire thing together as knowing what the mood of a scene will be you can adjust the writing (and colour palette/pacing/composition, if it’s a comic) to hold it all together nicely and with intent. It doesn’t have to be detailed either, I just do a graph with negative and positive mood on one axis and time of the story on the other so I can plan the emotional pacing of the whole story.

I hope this helps! But I really cannot insist enough to just have fun by yourself; no matter what emotion you write from people will be able to tell. So if you write out of resentment because you want to be popular and feel entitled to the attention, it’s probably not going to be fun to read. But if the author has fun with the story and loves the characters, it’ll rub off.

Find yourself one story that drives you crazy (positive, well written) and one that drives you crazy (negative, so close to being good but isn’t) and let them drive you insane in different ways and write your own, that’s what I do HAHA

[sizzlingpatrolfox]

one thing that always made me wonder, especially when i don't have much to occupy myself (like right now lol), is why bang pd didn't let bts have solo activities as a whole prior to 2023, and why he limited solo activities just to the rap line. when i think about it, it would've been so much better for the members to have sparsed, natural solo debuts in-between their promotions as bts, like every other group does. the impression i had during this entire year is how those solo debuts and promotions felt forced and rushed. i wonder if hybe withheld some rap line releases (like jitb, even d-day) for 2023. then, you have members who clearly didn't have nothing to release, but were forced to just to tick the "solo debut" box, like jungkook and taehyung.

sometimes, when i entertain the idea of earlier solo debuts, i wonder if some of the misconceptions armys have always had about jimin wouldn't be erased, i.e when some diet solos and antis helped spread through the fandom that he's not creative or musically inclined or artistic. it makes me even question why some of his collaborations in early bts songs were ommited for so long, like when he said that the original dna melody was trash or literally came up with the melody for bs&t. i don't blame pjms who believe in some hardcore conspiracy theories about hybe/jimin, because it does look like the company had an agenda against him from the beginning. also, it would've helped so much to humble the Real Husbands™️ and tame their egos and their insane solos, because jungkook and taehyung were the ones who benefited the most from this arrangement. they could tease their legendary mixtapes and snippets of their songs as much as they wanted, be labeled as the artistic geniuses and creative artists and never release a single song. it's so funny to me that the "most artistic and creative" members of bts were the ones who didn't even try to release something they wrote/produced for their debuts. and the member deemed the least artistic just dropped a whole self-produced masterpiece.

to me, this whole solo era really made me open my eyes to which members are in bts because they want to be artists and performers and which ones are there just to ride the fame wave.

The "most artistic and creative" members of bts were the ones who didn't even try to release something they wrote/produced for their debuts. and the member deemed the least artistic just dropped a whole self-produced masterpiece.

FUNNY THAT..

I think there was probably a general understanding between them that the time for solo releases would come once they went into hiatus, and that's why they didn't release before. I mean, jitb, dday, the examples you gave. I thought the same about Jungkook and Taehyung, who were allegedly writing music since 2019 for their solo "mixtapes". I thought, maybe they didn't release it two years ago because they knew they'd had their moment to do only that.

It's not a secret why they didn't all get solo debuts before this, and it's just because the group was the focus. The company doubled down on the "ot7" agenda after 2017, when they won that Billboard Social award, because they understood that people liked them as a group, and that's where they'd make the most money. "If it's not broken, don't fix it" kind of thing.

There was an interview where bangpd said that if the members wanted to release solo music, they had to work on it themselves, that they didn't get help from the company. Which -lies, because rapline still got help. I always thought that they were allowed to release solo music because they were able to do it, of course; but also because BTS whole image was created around the premise that the members did their own music. Allowing rapline to release their solo works kept feeding this narrative. Not that it was a fake narrative, but it was basically the core of the BTS lore. And that's how the company itself also helped foster the idea that rapline were so superior because they wrote music.

They eventually did the same with Jungkook. Slowly, but surely. He started talking about releasing his mixtape in 2019, and in 2020 only he got a song stay in BE, still with you, your eyes tell, film out. I don't know if I'm forgetting something else from that year.

Yoongi said he'd wanted to give Jimin his song People, and the company didn't let him. Right after that they said, let's get a Yoongi song and give it to Jungkook. That was stay alive.

What would've been so wrong about Jimin singing in Yoongi's album?

The devil works hard, but hybe worked even harder for Jungkook's 209849 solo debutSSSS.

Everyone in BE had a song... except Jimin, even though he said he had presented three songs for the album. The only thing they ended up choosing from Jimin was the bridge in disease, which was literally the best part of the album by a landslide according to everyone's opinion lmao.

Then Jungkook went and posted the bridge he'd done and got rejected because why let Jimin have a moment for himself, right? Funny that whole attitude carried on onto their solo careers.

About earlier solo careers changing the opinion of the fandom regarding Jimin... maybe? I'm not sure. I don't think it's lack of proof of Jimin's character or anything, it's the narratives the members and company have drilled into the fandom's collective brain on one side, and on the other side there's the fandom's own reluctancy to acknowledge Jimin in a serious manner. I've said before it's almost as if they like having him under their thumb, they need to control him or at least control the way others think about him, hence their constant fighting with pjms only while they don't care about the other members' solo fans.

[timeregistry]

omg dude i love ur sebastian!!!

and if u want, i’ll tag u when i post my painter design

i’d also like to hear more of ur ramblings about pressure or anything of the sort :3

have a good day!!!

TYSM!!! I'm glad people like him 🥹He's been my everything since I got into Pressure, let's just say that the AU of my fic had lived in my brain since forever before I started writing LOL

OH and also I would ADORE to see your Painter design PLEASE 🙏🙏🙏 I LOVE PAINTER SM I LOVE ALL PAINTER DESIGNS

ALSO sorry for answering this so late I got injured (again...) and it was hard to write but also I’m INSANE like IM CRAZY you literally put on a silver platter that I can talk about ANYTHING like DUDE. IM CRAZY. I jump around fandoms a lot so to say that I have a lot on my mind apart from work is an understatement (let's just say earlier I went crazy about regretevator...... it's bad)

SO to organize my thoughts, I've been really wanting to actually talk about like... some thought process stuff of my fic (A Human's Touch) and things that happen before the fic... since SO MUCH happened but I don't mention it because we are put at a specific moment in the story... VERY VERY Sebastian and reader focused so TW: Sebastian Solace 😔

Under cut because its LONG. LIKE. REALLY LONG. I HAVE TOO MUCH TO TALK ABOUT LMAOOOO

SO pressure's lore is a MESS don't get me started on how I feel about the current lore so I decided that since no one really saw the timeline or pretends it doesn't exist as they should, I feel it's a bit unlikely Sebastian would be able to convince Painter to start killing people after meeting it TWENTY MINUTES PRIOR T_T (and hacking all of Urbanshade network in that time?!) so that's why I actually made (in chapter 7 that is not on tumblr rn LOL) them meet. I mentioned in a comment on AO3 since someone had asked smth about Sebastian and just to give an idea, the start of A Human's Touch happens a couple of months before the events of Pressure. SO at that point, Sebastian and Painter have known each other for months. I would LOVE to go into detail how I see their relationship is when the lockdown happens + what happens with reader but I DONT WANT TO SPOIL ANYTHING T_T so maybe when I finish the fic I'll go into detail as I'm not actually really planning on writing the actual like.... events of pressure w/ reader instead I guess, idk how to put it, just to let you in a little secret, Painter does know part of Sebastian's plan when the lockdown happens in this universe.

So enough about Pressure lore and what I changed from that, I wanted to talk a bit about before the events of the fic... I didn't write it since I felt it would be very Sebastian and reader centric and since it was most likely going to be in a platonic sense I wasn't sure if people would be interested! To admit something since I don't imagine many people will read this but originally I had written a fic that was with Sebastian (it was more romance with him tho as I was down HORRENDOUS I wrote so much Sebastian y’all have no idea I got jumpscared trying to find some of my old things to reference and seeing the sheer amount of Sebastian) which was actually where the original summary of A Human's Touch came from HELPPPP LIKE ORIGINALLY IT WAS A PARAGRAPH OF MY FIC I JUST EDITED IT T_T I never post what I write I'm surprised that I even posted A Human's Touch but I digress. Anyways I had originally considered writing a platonic version of that fic (not like that one was finished) but in the end I never did since again, I didn't think anyone would read it--

Either way, here is a TLDR of how reader and Sebastian met. Basically reader came in as an intern to Urbanshade right? How I imagined it was that they actually had seen Sebastian when he was still in his big ol heavy containment aquarium. While I think he still needs to go there when Urbanshade wants to contain him, I imagine reader met him when he was MOSTLY in there... While he could leave as his status as an MR-P made it so that now he could leave and free-roam, I imagined that he never really saw a reason to do so... I think atp Urbanshade hadn't really found a good reason for him either, as he was soo unpredictable because of how aggressive he was with them. SO they just leave him in his cell basically, its good to see if there were any longer terms effects of his… condition. He would normally just look into the window and look at any of the scientists.

Now how I imagined his heavy containment cell was that like, an aquarium. Like there is this big window where you can see him but I imagine that he had this like area at the surface of his cell that there is like a walking area but it was specifically because not only is he an MR-P so its like a little better than his old cell but also because he was exactly for an experiment that was to make humans be able to breathe over and underwater so I like to think they want him to take in oxygen naturally anyways–

MS Paint jumpscare but something like this

ANYWAYS I imagine reader had seen him from the window that you can peak in from just him swimming around and being completely fascinated by him. Stuff happens, and they decide to try to see him without their superiors knowing so... I decided I would pull directly from one of my old fics:

You first met Sebastian fully at night, when most scientists were already resting in their own quarters. You were already shown where you would stay, yet you couldn’t get the image of Sebastian out of your mind. You wanted to meet him directly. He was the first of the subjects that you met, against all safety protocols and you remember he himself mentioning it. He was rude and in all ways, a certified asshole, immediately tricking you by making you walk a bit too close and effectively making you fall in his tank. He didn’t keep you there however, you knew he didn’t like your presence but you couldn’t resist wanting to learn more about him.

How I imagine reader's and Sebastian's relationship was just, a really rocky start because we have reader who wanted to know more about him and then we have Sebastian who didn't want to know anything about reader because they are just another scientist. He never left his containment either because I imagine that the other prisoners would give him funny looks and dislike his presence because of how he was. I think... he was very bitter. It took a lot for him to warm up as he did… Especially with someone who was one of the scientists! 

“You really don’t know do you?” Sebastian snarled slightly, his casual facade crumbling briefly as his expression went more of pity. “Of course you don’t, you keep coming in here as if I can’t kill you right here and now.” You frowned at him. “I’m here to learn-” “You are trapped. They have you right where they want you. The moment that you have served your purpose they will kill you.” He put a claw near you, his other hand flaunting his sharp nails. You took a step back, sensing danger unconsciously. He noticed, his trained eyes on you like a predator. “Word of advice, start making yourself useful and leave me alone.”

I always saw that reader was treading on treacherous waters... always seeing Sebastian secretly at night and after talking with him, he would eventually warm up because whether he liked it or not, I think he was lonely. Because he would live without speaking with anyone and talking to someone who's a lot more genuine... I don't think the reader is like the other scientists at all, I don't think that it would even be known what Urbanshade was doing! I think Urbanshade just flaunts a lot and doesn't hide anything, but makes any new interns or hires go through the longest paperwork part of their work EVER to see if they are dedicated before kinda forcing the unethical experiments... basically like roping in with mundanity and beauty, the curiousity on how these beautiful sea creatures are made only to find out that it was all done with torture--

SO my point is that reader didn't know what happened to Sebastian, nor knew why he was so standoffish, they were forced to do ONLY paperwork and their free time went into seeing the subject that they can see very very easily. It was like... just the curiousity of what Sebastian was, what he was capable of, etc etc. I don't think reader even knew that he was... human. And he doesn't mention it either... I think he only mentions it soooo much later... As for Sebastian’s side of things, I imagine he decided to entertain the reader only because atp he’s thinking he can probably use their naivety for his escape!

ANYWAYS to skip ahead because I have JUST SEEN THE SHEER LENGTH OF THIS IM SOOOO SORRY I LOVE LOVE TALKING ABOUT MY CREATIONS IDK lore dump moment

So at one point, Urbanshade notices that reader is interacting with Sebastian, however, instead of like, stopping them, I imagine that Urbanshade instead saw an opportunity. Sebastian doesn’t talk to ANYONE so suddenly finding out that he’s talking to someone??? 

It was only much later that he actually warmed up to your presence, choosing to follow you around when you were stuck doing your boring paperwork. You were starting to regret applying here as they wanted to wait a really long time until you could actually do any hands-on work. However, Sebastian’s presence made the situation a lot more bearable, as he would sometimes read over your shoulder and mention things that you would outright forget to write down. Because of his seeming attachment to you, your higher-ups completely changed your temporary job of reading and copying down paperwork into instead… still do the same thing but also look over Sebastian’s behaviour. They would say how you were the only person that he got along with, which meant it was the opportune moment to find out more about him and fill his file even more as it was severely lacking apparently. And so started your Behavioural Scientist job with no hiccups whatsoever. Especially not after begging Urbanshade not to let you go after the internship ended, convincing them that you were the only person who managed to get even remotely close to Sebastian’s good graces. No issues at all... 

OH and at some point reader is given their own office and it’s because they had a normal desk like other people before but because Sebastian is.. big… he would push the desks all the time and he would apologize to the scientists but you can tell he wasn’t being genuine as the malice was obvious on him SCREAMING but after having TOO MANY complaints about Sebastian following reader around and reader insisting that they need him to follow because it’s their job, Urbanshade just gave them a temporal office (that became their permanent office for years to come)--

I think it’s there where Sebastian starts seeing reader as a “friend”, they never hurt him and quickly realise that reader was genuinely not evil like the scientists that experimented on him. While Urbanshade made reader the behavioural scientist, they started working with other subjects as well (as you guys know) and Sebastian started seeing reader in a much more positive light. 

Reader goes on vacation sometimes, brings a lot of trinkets and pictures of the outside world to Sebastian. I think he tries to keep a strong face when he gets some of those things, he misses the outside world. I like to think reader asked him once what was his favorite snack and he would mention something from Chile and reader would get it for him and that’s probably the first time that he does cry in front of them because of the whole emotion of having something that’s basically a comfort food after so long. It was like a taste of freedom. Something to look forward to and not give up to Urbanshade. And seeing as how reader didn’t look disappointed or in any negative emotion I think that’s when Sebastian just completely changed his perspective. The idea where now in his grand plan of escaping the Blacksite that he had been making the moment that Urbanshade stopped doing the extreme experiments and let him walk (slitter?) freely now would include reader. 

While he knows reader is there for the other subjects too, he also knows that they are mostly there for him counting as I imagine there is a lot of subjects that reader can’t understand (like the angler… or pandemonium…) and while Sebastian knows a lot of them thanks to working with reader so closely (him reading all these classified documents) that he weights if he would escape the Blacksite he would want to take reader with him. I think at first when they met he was like they might die but its a sacrifice for his escape (they are but another scientist), but now he’s like if they die I die (“I have failed.”).

BASICALLY I imagine their friendship that is very slowburn but in the end they become extremely loyal to each other, reader doesn’t know that they are part of his plan now. I mention it in A Human’s Touch but Sebastian has this hidden room where he keeps all these things and he probably has written (in a coded language) a whole plan of his escape + what he would do once he gets out of the Blacksite. At first it only included him but the longer he spent with reader the more he kept in mine their safety as they are the only friend he’s had for years and they are ATTACHED. 

Oh and a final note, Sebastian’s bracelets were given by reader, but i wanted to talk briefly on the obsidian one because I went with spirituality and symbolism as to why I took that material… obsidian bracelets mean protection, grounding and emotional healing… a lot of mental clearance and transforms negative energy to positive ones. I like to think that reader got it for him after learning more about him, because just as he wants them to be safe, they want him to be safe too. Their biggest fear is that Urbanshade would want to experiment harder again with him again and/or kill him. Sebastian shares the same fear.

OK I think I am... done... I'm so sorry AGAIN if something doesn't make sense... feel free to send an ask.... That goes for anyone ofc but yes... I'm crazy but if you got this far here's a quick doodle I did for your troubles dear reader

[daryltwdixon]

Hihi! I’m here with some writer’s asks (sorry if it’s a lot 😅)

🍓 ⇢ how did you get into writing fanfiction? 

🕯️ ⇢ on a scale from 1 to 10, how much do you enjoy editing? why is that?

🥑 ⇢ you accidentally killed somebody, which mutual(s) do you text for help?

🥤 ⇢ recommend an author or fanfic you love

🌻 ⇢ tag someone you appreciate but don't talk to on a regular basis

🐇 ⇢ do you prefer writing original characters, reader inserts, or a mix of both? 

🧃 ⇢ share some personal lore you never posted about before

🧸 ⇢ what's the fastest way to become your mutual?

📚 ⇢ what's the last thing you wrote down in your notes app? 

❄️ ⇢ what's your dream theme/plot for a fic, and who would write it best?

🏜️ ⇢ what's your favourite type of comment to receive on your work?

🍦 ⇢ name three good things about a character you hate

🦴 ⇢ is there a piece of media that inspires your writing? 

☁️ ⇢ what made you choose your username?

🧩 ⇢ what will make you click away from a fanfiction immediately?

Thank you sm for the love 😭😭😭❤️❤️❤️

🍓 ⇢ how did you get into writing fanfiction? 

when I was part of the 1d fandom in 2012ish I wrote a tonnnn of fanfiction on my blog 😅 I had no business writing and reading so much filth

🕯️ ⇢ on a scale from 1 to 10, how much do you enjoy editing? why is that?

oy vey. Honestly, id give it like a 6, it’s not terrible but rereading the same thing over and over again will make me crazy after awhile LMAO I do like it cause I’ll write a pretty basic outline of a scene out then go in and fill in where I can to add layers and texture!!

🥑 ⇢ you accidentally killed somebody, which mutual(s) do you text for help?

@chockholdsillegal not saying we’d be great at covering our tracks but this my homie right here (and your job might help us be able to get rid of evidence in a way other people don’t have access to 🤔)

🥤 ⇢ recommend an author or fanfic you love

forever and always will rec @heathermason6060 like holy shit their Matchmaker Merle pt 1??? Serial killer rick and daryl??? 🧑‍🍳💋

🌻 ⇢ tag someone you appreciate but don't talk to on a regular basis

@weirdoneattheparty your internet sleuthing is incredible and more people need to appreciate the work it takes for the shit you are able to dig up

🐇 ⇢ do you prefer writing original characters, reader inserts, or a mix of both? 

I like reader inserts ! Writing them and reading them personally! Like partially yes I am the character but also they are their own character at the same time w a totally different lore than me and putting myself in their shoes is just as fun. Like would I make all the decisions fmc would? No but im not about to complain about a character acting morally gray or making bad decisions cause if they didn’t there would literally be no plot lmao

🧃 ⇢ share some personal lore you never posted about before

speaking of lore hmm you want like normal? I own my own pet sitting business on the east coast in the US :) I’m also a surrogate baby and have a bunch of half sibs that I’m close with now as an adult!

🧸 ⇢ what's the fastest way to become your mutual?

slide into them DMs and let’s be friends OR if you reblog good stories or write interesting stuff! I also follow people who regularly comment on my writing cause I love you sm

📚 ⇢ what's the last thing you wrote down in your notes app? 

here’s a screenshot of something I saved for Heart of Us inspo! I have a long note of drabbles of dialogue / scene ideas and screenshots of things I find so this one was from tik tok

❄️ ⇢ what's your dream theme/plot for a fic, and who would write it best?

god as cliche as it is I love a good and juicy love triangle. I also love when reader/fmc is able to handle herself and is tough as nails. I mean I’m literally writing the fanfic I want to see so idk what else but also I love @heathermason6060 because she writes an amazingly desperate and needy daryl so whenever I need a hit of that to my system I go to her ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

🏜️ ⇢ what's your favourite type of comment to receive on your work?

honestly I love any and all comments when they’re kind! But esp when someone is like “holy shit” lmao or even just a really nice “can’t stop reading this” or “so glad I found this” I’m telling you comments make my day and make me want to keep writing!! I love any and all!! ❤️

🍦 ⇢ name three good things about a character you hate

ooof… well I’m gonna go with a character I hate at this exact moment in my rewatch which is Eugene. Let me complain then I’ll say something nice. EUGENE YOU WERE SO EASY TO MAKE THE FLIP TO NEGAN YOU ASSHOLE WTF. Ok nice things he’s v smart for someone who was a liar / fraud he still knows how to do SO MUCH !!! He also was v kind when he told negan’s wives he knew they were there not of their own volition and didn’t want to take advantage of them. I also understand why he flipped to negan so readily because they treated him so freaking well and he was always being ridiculed and told he wasn’t enough back w his old group!

🦴 ⇢ is there a piece of media that inspires your writing? 

Other than the obvious in watching the show, god I love music. Whenever I hear a good lyric I’m like oh shit I need to base an entire story around that or the feeling music will give I’m like this is how daryl would feel or fmc would feel when this and that happen!! Poetry is also a huge one, as seen above with my recent screenshot to my notes.

☁️ ⇢ what made you choose your username?

when I’ve been on tumblr before I knew short and sweet is usually best, and the fact twd fit so well into Daryl Dixon I said let’s try this lmao and it worked!! So now I am Daryl the walking Dixon lmao

🧩 ⇢ what will make you click away from a fanfiction immediately?

this goes for books/novels as well. You need to show me how a character is feeling, show me the scenery, the atmosphere instead of TELLING me. My favorite example of this comes from Harry Potter which does way better to explain than I could writing out everything:

Instead of “Harry started crying”, in GOF it says “The thing against which [Harry] had been fighting on and off ever since he had come out of the maze was threatening to overpower him. He could feel a burning, prickling feeling in the inner corners of his eyes. He blinked and stared up at the ceiling.”

This goes for atmosphere/scenery too! What the heck are the smells! The sounds! What does it feel like!! So whenever fanfic or books do nothing to embellish any feelings I usually click out or DNF

[moonlight-tmd]

After reading your post about bumblebee being like part insecticon, it reminded me of this one post I read a while back on an au where bee is an insecticon. In this au, bee is half insecticon and he was raised in a hive and he had (half) siblings.

So I was wondering, if your au(?) insecticon! bumblebee had any (half) siblings or something alike? And what are the others reactions to this piece of information?

Aaaah good timed question, i was just thinking about that piece of lore i made. SO-

Part-Insecticon!Bumblebee AU

In the facility Bee was forged was an infestation of Insecticons. That being said, some of the protoforms forged there have gotten insecticon genes by accident.

That's the reason he grew wings in the first place- that were later burned by the bad carequarters manager. He grew up, and got into boot camp where he met Wasp, another bot who got infected with insecticon genes. Wasp also had wings and made fun of Bee when he discovered Bee's ones were broken. Bee became friends with Bulkhead and Longarm and then got into the repair crew.

The only one to know he had wings was Ratchet after an incident and Bee got hurt. Only then Bee learns about his insecticon side and how it affects him. The rest doesn't know until they get to earth.

When they get on earth, Bee is hit with the side effects of changing weather and atmosphere. The team is worried why Bee has suddenly changed behaviors when it got cold so Ratchet tells them. From then on Bee has an excuse of not going outside or doing certain stuff because the weather could harm him, he doesn't go out in winter(or rainy cold weather) unless necessary. Heatwaves aren't good either, but that one affects everyone so...

Now, i know i wrote about Bee's wings being repaired by the Allspark. But i think it's way funnier if he got like, a cocoon n stuff and everyone's so confused. XD

So, scrap the Allspark fix- One time on a mission, Blackarachnia injects him with some toxin, most likely to painfully change him into a techno-organic like her- but instead, his insecticon genes react.

He starts moving slower, gets really sleepy all the time and is very hungry. Ratchet knows something is wrong but doesn't know what cuz his systems seem fine.

Then one morning there is just a big metallic lump on his berth- a cocoon. They are very confused what has happened, is Bee dead? Prowl is the one to answer most of the questions since he's a huge nerd on earth creatures and other creatures from various places of the universe.

And so the big lump stays in medbay for almost 3 weeks and then Bee hatches. He doesn't know what happened, since he only remembers falling into a long nap, so he is a little freked out why he's all smily n stuff.

Once he's dry then his insecticon side is really showing; his frame is only slightly changed in build, he got a big fluff around his neck, down his back and around his waist where his protoform is exposed. His servos have tiny claws, his subspace has permanently moved down to represent an abdomen and most importantly- his wings grew back.

I imagine he is very concerned when Sari told him he turned into a soup when he was napping. XD

Bee didn't have any siblings, the closest to anything like that would be Wasp since he was in the same factory as Bee.

I imagine Blackarachnia is an insecticon after the spider incident. Wasp also gets turned full insecticon later on. But Bee? His genes are only triggered and cause him to go into metamorphosis like larva, it has only affected his root mode tho, he still keeps the car alt mode(although he does have fluffy seats afterwards). Fun fact: his glossa is now long and can act like a straw like bees have.

Idk but i think insecticons are a type of techno-organic so yeh. I assume the Dinobots count as techno-organics since they're basically reptiles.

Now there is romance possible and i don't wanna make it too long, send me more asks so i can give you a proper answer. (BlitzBee or ProwlBee)

[branwendaughterofllyr]

Thank you for answering my previous ask! :D I have some thoughts on "a poison tree" that I wanted to share, so I couldn't help but write another one lol. So already going into it I love the backstory you gave Larys! His confession about his upbringing was such a haunting and memorable moment, especially through the lens of little Alyssa (who shouldn't be anywhere near him tbh). The way you portrayed her perspective as a child feels so real and... sad, somehow? Her disappointment with the limited life she can have as a woman in such a stratified and sexist society was really poignant, and her desperate search for someone to fill the void her mother left were highlights that resonated deeply within me (along with Larys' struggles as a disabled person in Westeros, since I'm disabled myself). Alyssa and Oldgon not only fit perfectly into the original story but also enriched it in ways that F&B and HOTD lack. This is so rare in fanfiction today and requires a tremendous amount of work and research, be it into the original work's lore or actual history. I'm really grateful for you sharing such a passionate and dedicated story with us.

On a side note, I apologize in advance because I have so many questions! Will "a poison tree" feature another character's POV besides Alyssa and Oldgon? Do you watch or read any analyses of HOTD/ASOIAF? If so, which ones? I think you would really enjoy the YT channel Hill's Alive. Lastly, could you recommend some of your favorite fanfictions for HOTD/ASOIAF? Bonus points if they're long fics!

Oh my gosh, I just about started giggling and kicking my feet when I saw this ask. Thank you so much for giving me the space to talk endlessly about my fic!

I saw Matthew Needham’s interview where he talks about his headcanons for Larys’ backstory, and it basically came down to his mother dying in childbirth and to be honest… I thought that was pretty lame because every mom dies in childbirth in this universe haha (even though I did it myself with Elinor lol). It’s just very lackluster to me, and I was already coming up with my own backstory for the Strongs at the time. Larys to me is a very… underutilized character, especially in fics. Many of the characters in F&B serve as parallels to characters in the main series, I think there’s a lot to Larys as a basically a caricature of Tyrion through the lens of history, an evil disabled man with unknown motives, who exists only to be the villainous traitorous wildcard. It’s very hard to get a handle on Larys in F&B because he’s really a character that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense based on what little we know about him, and while I thinks it’s worthwhile to consider him in the light of how Tyrion is viewed by a society that pre-judged him and will allow him no lenience, it’s deeply annoying to me that the show chose to do very little with him (especially in s1) and just make him a cackling villain who kills his own family just because. And this is not to say that I think Larys is a good guy, not at all, but I think there’s room to explore why he is the way he is.

And I think that I wanted to approach it through the eyes of a child, who might not have absorbed quite all the biases yet, or at least doesn’t understand the nuances of it. That’s why I wrote that bit where Larys expects Alyssa to ask him about his foot when she’s staring, and then is surprised when she asks about the ghost thing, and this entire thing goes completely over Alyssa’s head. I actually do kind of like the show take that Larys is seeking out people similar to him in Alicent and then Aegon, lonely damaged people that are isolated. But yes, Larys should not be allowed around children, especially ones that will straight up ask whatever questions on their minds. I think Larys’ confession was half-malicious, half-intended to be helpful, much like some of Cersei’s conversations with Sansa. Better to be traumatized early and learn that the world sucks. Really, he’s doing her a favour here!

One thing I tend to find…. Very heavy handed in most fics is how heavy handed the sexism can be, and how “modern” the sensibilities of the female characters. I think there’s a lot to be explored in the more insidious and underlying aspects, as well as the more obvious and in your face ones. Like, she’s grown up around men (of noble birth) who have been able to make their own ways in the world on paths simply not open to women, and as a child she doesn’t understand precisely why she can’t do the same.

I actually wanted to make Oldgon, for as much as he loves his daughter, still submerged in misogyny that he’s not really questioned much. Like, nice and/or smart people are not immune to the biases of their society! And Oldgon certainly isn’t, even if he has more fondness and respect for women due to his upbringing by Alysanne than other men, and he still expects his daughter to obey most of the rules for women even if he thinks education and curiosity are virtues for both the sexes.

I’m very glad that Alyssa has come off as a sort of melancholy character, especially since I think there’s an inherent cheerfulness to Oldgon even though he’s had a lot of tragedy in life. I wrote much of Alyssa I during the wintertime, when I suffer from pretty bad seasonal affective disorder, and I think that the pre-Dance Red Keep is a pretty disordered and lonely place to grow up in, even though it’s full of people. The severed emotional ties, the inherent distance between family members, all contribute to that. I also wanted to give her a really complex relationship with motherhood, that I will continue explore as the fic goes on!

I don’t currently plan to have any other character PoVs for Poison, it was always going to be just Alyssa and Oldgon in my head. But I have been making plans to do much more extensive fake F&B excerpts for events neither of them are present for. You may have noticed that I’ve introduced a new source for my version of F&B, Perkin Gaunt, who will survive the Dance (spoiler lol) and write his own history of it. Writing the F&B bits is actually really hard, but I like thinking about how the history got recorded, by who and why and to what end.

I actually don’t like watching ASOIAF YouTube videos or listening to related podcasts at all, a lot of the really popular ones have opinions I deeply disagree with or just find really annoying, and I’ve disliked the ASOIAF fan industrial complex since the days of GoT, and my opinion has only sunk lower as HoTD started airing. I’ve seen a few of Hills Alive’s videos, as one of my friends sent them to me, and I think she’s got some decent takes overall.

For ASOIAF fics, I like iron fears the rot by @undeniablespice which is a genderbent Theon Greyjoy AU. I’m currently still mad at the most recent chapter for making me feel things about the deaths of the older Greyjoy sons. I also love any work by just_a_dram but I’ll recommend their most recent finished work, which is a Jonsa space opera AU titled Lupum Luna

In the F&B/HoTD realm, I’m always recommending @aifsaath’s series The Sky is Always Red Above Valyria (great title that I am insanely jealous of) and their other series, co-written with @gwenllian-in-the-abbey Our Fathers Clad in Red which is a book canon AU, where Aegon II marries Baela after the Dance. I also like solitariusvirtus’ Aegon III/Jaehaera fics, and I’ll recommend every tomb, every sea, spit the bones from your teeth as a good one shot starter. This next one is probably not for everyone, but I have been fascinated by glory days by behemoth for a while, which is a pre-canon fic exploring Viserys’ enmeshed relationships with his father and Daemon, with plenty of uncomfortable moments, but it’s heavily informed some of my own headcanons about the family for my fic purposes lol.

Anyway, feel free to ask any questions, and I will spill more of my ramblings!