#I can't stop writing this storyline I'm finding it too fun

[morken1396]

I'm Done. Helluva Boss has officially lost me.

I finally tried to watch Apology Tour this evening. I made it to 9m58s and I just could NOT go any further in the episode. I very honestly had to close the browser because I was cringing so hard. So I have no idea what happened past Verosika cutting the Blitz cake, other than what I've seen online from y'all.

And that's saying something, considering I managed to make it through the painful, cringe-worthy Stolas/Blitz confrontation at the end of "Full Moon".

Please feel free to let me know if any future episodes are truly worth watching, but I just keep getting the absolute "Ick" from Viv and Co. regarding most of the HB/HH content in 2024.

It's odd and weirdly humbling to be in a position where I used to defend these shows and the writers (to an extent), but I just can't anymore. I'm done. The narrative in HH and especially HB is so painful for me to watch, now. You may disagree, which is absolutely, positively fine!

Power to you if you enjoy it, but I don't, anymore.

My genuine facial expression for the entire first ten minutes of "Apology Tour" that I could manage to stomach was LITERALLY this:

I'm done.

I still enjoy HB's first few S1 episodes before HB bought in so heavily into becoming the "Stolitz" show (I'm fully aware Stolas was featured from the start, but he was very villain-coded in the beginning, and I loved it, and its past potential storyline implications).

And I will admit that I find the original Fizz/Oz content from "Ozzie's" and pieces of S2 E6&7 to be enjoyable. I'm still an absolute sucker for Fizzarolli - sue me.

But let me be clear, Helluva Boss and Hazbin Hotel were never - in my eyes - well-done, artistic, or particularly poignant. They were fun, but that was the end of it. They weren't/aren't well-written.

They're not "important", which is fine. Content doesn't have to be important, impactful, or "well done" in order for people to enjoy it.

They were fun, and fun only. But now, they are trying to be "good", and they (HB, esp.) are not that. Because, frankly, Viv truly isn't capable of writing that way. Which - again - is fine!! Not everything has to be cinematically excellent and objectively "good" in order to be enjoyable to the audience.

We can enjoy content without it having to be important.

But please stop trying to make your fun IMP plotline into a melodrama that you, yourself, are not mature enough to write WELL, Vivienne. Stop playing HB as suddenly "important" with storylines that are complex and inward-focused when you have failed to set them up as such from the start.

Ret-conning is not good writing, and you're relying on it far too much. Particularly with your dear, sweet Stolas.

And frankly, I'm tired.

We should have a "Viv Sucks" party every Halloween, instead.

[apathycares]

Why I think the ending of MHA makes sense (manga spoilers)

So I came out of hiding specifically because MHA ended and this blog started off as a place for me to ignore my other works/fandoms and write stuff for MHA so it's a given that I talk about it. Just a little disclaimer – MHA is not my first fandom, and I've been watching anime for forever, so I'm not biased when it comes to shipping or how mangakas end their work. I'm purely speaking from a place of my own sense of objectivity.

Also, since I don't think I've shared my opinion on stuff too much here so it might be weird to my current followers (hi!!), I'm gonna do it headcanon style.

Midoriya being a teacher is not farfetched – some people have said it would've been better if Hori made him a strategist or something along those lines, but you all have to remember that his only goal has been to be a hero. If he wanted to become a strategist he would've (a) thought about/been suggested that when he was quirkless and (b) there's nothing TO strategize since the big bads are all gone. Hawks is running the Commission. Police exist in this verse. He wanted to be a hero fully, so if he wasn't able to do that, then the next logical step would be to TRAIN the next heroes.

Bakugou wouldn't have become number one straight out of high school. Bffr. I know it's anime and we don't have to use real life logic but it's been said over and over again that rankings are both based on feats achieved and popularity, and even though that man has accompanied A LOT, he's always going to be rough around the edges, and as a hero, people are just not going to rock with that. But, given Endeavour's example, I think he could become number one with his feats alone as the years go on in spite of his attitude.

Midoriya not keeping in touch with the rest of his classmates except Bakugou (or maybe not being able to, whichever way it was translated) is NORMAL. How many of you keep in touch with your high school classmates after the fact, regardless of how close you were? How many of you outgrow your very real and very deep friendships? Eight years is a long time. Bakugou being left makes sense because they've known each other forever.

No ships were confirmed. Please let us leave the ending of that as it is. BUT! Let's all ship who we want, create for the ships that we want regardless. That's the beauty of fandoms. We can toy around and find joy in it, but PLEASE don't push that a ship is canon when it's not. As an old head anime fan, there's a distinction between those two. We can all have fun and accept that the series ended with no ships.

Continuing off of the previous point, I LOVE that the manga ended with no ships. That just gives us full liberties to do whatever the hell we want in this fandom and have fun without people rearing their annoying heads and writing shit comments about their pairing being canon. No one gets any ammo.

Aizawa cutting his hair is a crime.

Did they give Touya an ending??? Why can't I remember??? Well, the fact that he didn't is another crime

Everyone else's endings were solid (and I don't see much discourse about this so let's leave it at that)

See now that I'm thinking about it again, Aizawa cutting his hair isn't a crime....but why did they do him like that???

Giving Midoriya a hero suit at the end of it and Bakugou holding his hand out was GOLDEN (I'm indifferent about the suit because Teacher!doriya would've been a solid ending, but the holding the hand out squeezed my heart that was a BEAUTIFUL ending to the entire Deku/Kacchan storyline)

Some people are mentioning that Bakugou calling him Deku destroyed it but y'all forgetting that THAT'S HIS HERO NAME. Stop being lame.

I wanna know the full rankings of everyone just to gauge where Bakugou and everyone else are. Maybe Hori might do a lil something, who knows, but I don't think we need a MHA Shippuden.

High key, if we do get a spin off or something, we need a Misadventures of InsertSomeoneHere to see what a DITL of them at 24(?) looks like

Now that I'm looking at this...the fact that I watched this at their age and it ended with them being 24 and I'm currently 24 is.......

Anyways! Those are my very rushed thoughts. As much as people like to play around MHA, it was a great manga, it had a solid ending for the lore that the story was going for, and it was a great ride. I'm excited to see when all of this gets animated and we can ride this ride again, but this fandom will always be special to me.

[forgotn1]

As we come to the final episode of not just season 2 of Interview With the Vampire, but also the end of the book, I can't help but wonder what will come next. It seems unlikely that they'll stop the story there, although it is possible they change the title or start a "new" series that picks up where this one left off with a POV shift to Lestat in the modern era. But, what story do they tell?

The obvious choice would be to jump straight into the Vampire Lestat to tell Lestat's origin as well as his take on what happened with Louis and Claudia. However, I think it's possible the showrunners will take a different direction and they may have already dropped a major hint as to which book they'd tackle next. That hint is Raglan James, the man who stole Lestat's body in the Tale of the Body Thief.

Why else would they have him be the Talamascan to give Daniel the information about Louis, Armand, and his capture in 1973? It could've been David or Jesse or even a new character, but they chose someone who has direct ties to Lestat in the modern era. That seems like a deliberate choice - and not just as a way to set up the Talamasca show they've been talking about making. The most telling part was when Raglan joked to Daniel that he'd "swap bodies with him" if he could.

It'd make sense too. They could use season one of the Talamasca to establish Raglan's ability to swap bodies as well as his rebelliousness within the Talamasca itself. It would also be the perfect place to introduce David Talbot to the audience and bring him and Lestat together, even if for just a few scenes. They could end the season with Raglan tracking down Lestat through David and the next season of IWTV (or whatever comes next) could cover the events of the Tale of the Body Thief interspersed with Lestat reminiscing on his past.

Outside of the hints, I think the show has also entirely sidestepped Lestat's impetus for writing the Vampire Lestat in the first place. He initially wrote it because he was annoyed with how Louis portrayed him. But the show has given us a far more nuanced and accurate portrayal of their relationship than either showed in their respective books. We didn't get Louis' 1973 version that was filled with venom and hatred and vitriol. Instead, we got a story that pulls from both books and gives a far less biased view than either.

There is also the story of the Tale of the Body Thief itself to consider. In the beginning, we find a depressed and anguished Lestat who is questioning his life as a vampire while also struggling with the guilt of Claudia's death. He is broken and talks almost exclusively with David Talbot before ultimately trying to burn himself to death in the desert. Which is where Raglan enters and the story takes off. It would be a fitting place to begin following Lestat as the primary character after his role at the end of season 2.

Of course, this is all just theory and conjecture based on a few hints and observations. I would love to see the Vampire Lestat and Queen of the Damned be adapted, but I can also see how they might not be the easiest stories to tell considering they're the most well known parts of the Vampire Chronicles. I'm also not sure the rockstar storyline entirely fits the vibe of the show, even if it is a lot of fun.

[queenlua]

what would you recommend as a first Fire Emblem game to play? do i just pick up the latest one, or does an older one capture the True Fire Emblem Experience(tm) better? sorta like Super Metroid still being my absolute favorite of that series…

iiiiiinteresting question, huh! it probably depends somewhat on what you think you'll like / care about the most in a Fire Emblem game?

my personal first FE game was Sacred Stones & i think that's still a really good place to start. the spritework is *gorgeous*; i personally think it's the visual peak of the series. it's got the core "old-school" FE gameplay but with lots of nice quality-of-life improvements (as compared to e.g. something like FE4 or FE7), and the story is my second-favorite in the series after the Tellius games—just a good core emotional core with really well-drawn characters and support conversations.

the drawback is that it's on GBA, so if you don't have one of those lying around (or some other handheld to play it on), you're stuck playing it on an emulator on a computer, which i think hampers the enjoyment somewhat—like, i played a lot of that game in "in-between" moments, while on the bus, etc, and it was really excellent for that. also: it's on the easier side! which i didn't mind; i find the FE game loop enjoyable both when i'm just cruising through baddies AND when i'm having to tightly & rigorously strategize every move. but i know a couple people who stopped playing because they found it too easy & got bored

i do think the Gamecube/Wii FEs (Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn, aka the Tellius games) hold up really well. obviously i am a little insane about them *stares at fanfiction output* and thus clearly biased, but the character writing is shockingly good & rich (sometimes despite itself, lol), and the gameplay's real fun! reasonably challenging while not making you want to throw your controller across the room (unless you opt into lunatic you mad lad!). i do think they're a little ugly though lol. rip. also, if you like PoR enough to play RD, you'll find RD... uneven. it's uneven in ways that mostly delight me, but like, yeah it's suffering a little from "we're telling like four different storylines with a HUGE cast & jerking you around between them a bit" so it interrupts the usual "smooth progression of your carefully-curated army" gameflow for something more like "wow, hope you're looking forward to saying BYE FELICIA to all your old dudes & putting down a random rebellion in Crimea for exactly five chapters & then doing something else entirely."

those games are my personal faves though and. i will always tell people to start with them. in principle. but you should decide if you trust me lol

a WHOLE lot lot of people got started with Awakening, and the core gameplay in that one is VERY fun. about halfway through, if you're sufficiently clever at assigning abilities, the game becomes a little too easy to "break," but it's an enjoyable ride the whole time. it also introduced a LOT of the quality-of-life improvements people now take for granted in modern FEs (you can choose to disable permadeath; UX is much nicer; etc). so if dealing with some old-school cruft is unpalatable to you, you'll definitely want Awakening or newer.

unfortunately the writing in Awakening is, uh, not great, lol. there's two generations of characters you're playing as, and the first generation is just... not very interesting! very one-note and tropey! storyline is nonsense! the second-generation characters are a little more fun but overall i found the main plot's incoherence + the plethora of dull characters meant that i found the story very forgettable.

i think the writing in Conquest/Birthright is similarly weak but i do have to say, if you want to powergame and optimize stats and get REALLY SWEATY GAMEPLAY NERD about it, Conquest can't be beat. best map design in the series, extremely challenging, etc

and then there's the massive fandom juggernaut known as Three Houses lol. of the "modern" FEs, this game contains the most Stuff I Like About Fire Emblem. the storyline's a lil jankier than e.g. the Tellius storyline, but still has plenty of fun stuff to chew on, and even if you don't some of the 3-4 storylines offered, there's a pretty strong chance you'll resonate with at least one of them. and the gameplay is *fun*, lots of QoL improvements, reasonably snappy...

...but it does have a somewhat bloated, "AAA-gamification" feel. visiting the monastery between EVERY SINGLE FUCKING CHAPTER to do "home base"-y stuff gets old fast. and also, the gameplay starts to drag some as you go along... a campaign takes like 40-50hrs iirc, and near the end, i usually find myself going like "jfc i don't WANT to do these three skirmish battles before i go onto the next one... but i need to because it's the Objectively Optimal Thing To Do... why is this game making playing it so annoying," lol. also, the writing, while reasonably solid... could've been reduced by like 50% and probably been *stronger*? most "old-school" FE games only had 3-5 support conversations per unit, and that was generally enough to give a good sense of the character without Overwhelming With Pointless Chatter. but so many characters in Three Houses have *so much more* text than that and it just starts feeling like.. a chore... to go through... especially when in practice i won't even like all those conversations... so yeah idk

tl;dr if you have slightly old-school sensibilities, get Sacred Stones; if you want a "modern" feel, get Awakening or Three Houses; if you want to make Lua Internetperson happy, personally, you should grab Path of Radiance :P

[aninkwellofnectar]

Author Questionnaire Tag Game

Tagged by @tryingtimi and figured I'd give this gauntlet a go, lol.

About Me

When did you start writing?

Very, very young. I'd say about 6. I used to get on the computer and type out storylines similar to the animated movies I was watching (some mixture of Disney stuff lol) so they were kind of fairytale-oriented then I later moved into Neopets territory and then outright fanfic. I started writing seriously in my late teens to early 20s. Before that it was exclusively something I did for fun.

Are there genres/themes you enjoy reading different to the ones you write?

I used to read a lot of contemporary fiction though I've started reading a lot more fantasy in order to write it better. But my background in reading is very heavily oriented towards contemporary fiction and classics. It's weird now because I find I can't... get into contemp as much anymore. Part of that might be to do with how much I feel alienated and disenchanted with the real world, idk. Indie has gotten me into more things I otherwise wouldn't have touched like romance and horror (the latter I'm not opposed to on principle it's just not something I would pick up on its own) and I'm grateful for the expansion.

Is there an author you want to emulate, or one to whom you're often compared?

Before I read Patricia McKillip I would say no but she absolutely has what I want in one package. I admire her greatly. I wouldn't say I've ever been compared to an author but I'm open to comparisons if anyone has any.

Can you tell me a little about your writing space?

I do a lot of my writing at my desk with my desktop or on my laptop in my bed. I also write on my phone (blasphemy) but I suppose my desk is my "writing space" as it were and it's very cluttered ever since I start publishing with an array of stuff I use to run a business out of my bedroom.

What's your most effective way to muster up some muse?

Reading excerpts of books that have inspired me or re-watching scenes on Youtube of dialogue and characterisation that strikes the mood I want to bring to my own scenes. I find this helps overcome the "empathy gap" because I'm not a very emotive person. I'm very rational and what some people call "repressed".

Did the place(s) you grew up in influence the people and places you write about?

I suppose the family dynamics I write but I never really considered it until other people started talking about it in terms of "oh, it'd be nice if some families weren't dysfunctional" to me it's the normal families that are weird, even growing up with my childhood friends it was very abnormal for anyone to have like a stable two-parent dynamic. Perhaps this is just a class/background kind of thing but I write what feels emotionally true and familiar to me.

Are there any recurring themes of your writing, and if so, do they surprise you at all?

Self vs society, power vs love, escaping the constraints of a toxic community to seek liberation. And it's not really a surprise why that would crop up continually because it relates to things that I've continually had to grapple with in my own life.

My Characters

Would you please tell me about your current favourite character?

Laila Rose. She's the protagonist of my fantasy series and I love her to pieces. We've been through a lot together and even when I eventually stop writing her I will probably always love her the best and the most and want to continue her journey. Working up the courage to say goodbye to her has been immensely difficult, more than I anticipated. It's like trying to part ways with my soulmate. I feel like I've spoken at length on why I love her and I don't really want to repeat myself so please read The Essence of the Equinox and I hope you'll come to love her too.

Which of your characters do you think you'd be friends with in real life?

I'd definitely befriend Lyra, she'd be a riot honestly. Laila I'd be too intimidated by in real life to even think of approaching. Maybe I'd befriend Sabina as well, I could fix her, but not many of the others.

Which of your characters would you dislike most if you met them?

Dominus. He's pretty much like... everything I hate rolled into one package.

Tell me more about the process of coming up with your characters.

I often get inspired by favourites in media and I pluck pieces of them and fit them together like a little puzzle until it becomes one definable template and then I sort of keep expanding that puzzle piece by adding little bits here and there. Dialogue, voice, ways of moving and emoting, until they become real to me.

Do you notice any recurring themes/traits among your characters?

A lot of them are not very "likeable" people. They're not underdogs. They're not bastions of purity and goodness. They fuck up a lot. They hurt people, even and including those they love, they can have unchecked bigotry, they lie and cheat and scheme. But they're all very real and human in a way that, again, feels true to me. For me a character is defined more by their flaws than by their virtues.

How do you picture your characters?

Some are more vivid than others but once I get a face claim something clicks in my mind and it's like I'm seeing them even clearer than before.

My Writing

What's your reason for writing?

It's just a part of me. It's like asking me why I eat or sleep. It's a compulsion and it makes me feel useful, accomplished, grounded. The fact that all of my current friendships stem from me writing doesn't feel like a coincidence because it connects me to the world in a way I wouldn't bother indulging if I didn't write.

Is there any specific comment or type of comment you find particularly motivating coming from your readers?

I don't get many comments from readers but my closest friends reached that level by showing that they spent a lot of time truly thinking and dissecting and ruminating on what I write and why I choose to write it that way. When I get a lengthy comment from them showing that they've truly turned something over in their head or pointed out themes or little hints I've tried to pepper through... it makes me feel seen and appreciated.

How do you want to be thought of by those who read your work?

I want to be seen as talented, of course, I want to be seen as someone who is skilled in my craft and meticulous with detail. I want to be seen as an accomplished wordsmith. And I work very hard to try and attain that standard for myself.

What do you feel is your greatest strength as a writer?

I think it's being very visually-oriented. I really feel like I can paint a scene with my words in a small amount of them, especially when I discover that right combination.

What have you been frequently told by others is your greatest strength as a writer?

People have said it's crafting immersive imagery, whether that's with food or settings or even when it comes to eroticism and sex. I'm very sensory-driven as a writer and I want to really transport you somewhere else when you read.

How do you feel about your own writing?

I think that I'm good but that I can be much better and that's always the mindset that I carry into my work. I internalise criticism a lot although I'm also very good at pushing back against it if I don't fully agree but whenever I sit down to write something I always think "how can I make this much better than the last piece I've written" and I do think I've accomplished that.

If you were the last person on earth and knew your writing would never be read by another human, would you still write?

Yes, because honestly my writing isn't nearly so dependent on external validation as I thought it was. I used to think the thing I wanted most to be read and adored and while I do long for recognition it's more about being awarded for merit and being acclaimed for hard work, talent, and vision. I do sometimes get sad when people don't love my work and I took it quite hard when I first published When the Stars Alight, I will admit that. But I've found that I've come to terms with being constantly at odds with the world, having less popular tastes and interests and viewpoints, and I feel like my writing is just an extension of that. So rejection was not only to be expected but accepted. I myself will still always love my stories deeply and think that they're great stories worth being shared with the world regardless of what anyone else thinks.

When you write, are you influenced by what others might enjoy reading, or do you write purely what you enjoy? if it’s a mix of the two, which holds the most influence?

Before I published? Absolutely not. But as a businesswoman I have to be a bit more shrewd. I never write entirely to market tastes because it'll stifle my authentic voice and I don't really think I could do a paint-by-numbers job without my lack of passion showing. But I do weigh up a lot of my ideas based on what I've seen work commercially a lot more than I did before going indie. At the end of the day I'm a pragmatic creature who will do what needs to be done.

tagging: @laufire @words-after-midnight @pinespittinink @ladyniniane @rose-bookblood @i-m-p-a-v-i-d-u-s @sometimesraven @jazmine-here @zmwrites

[void-of-unparalled-chaos]

This whole civil war on reading vs not reading comics is baffling to me. Like honestly this whole arguement is stupid.

Full disclosure before people come after me: I am a comic reader! I love reading comics (although I havent been able to read nearly as many as I would like)

Anyway yeah my whole 2 cents on this.

On one hand, I get why avid comic readers are annoyed. You're favorite character being what you perceive as wildly misinterpreted and being unable to find the content you want is annoying. But also it's so easy to just... click off? Like no one is forcing you to read it, just go find a different work instead of complaing to the author or whatever.

Also, comic characters have been written and rewritten by so many people and have had so many changes to their storylines and personality that a lot of stuff being argued as "not canon" very likely could have been at some point! And that's not even talking about other media like shows and movies.

The first example that comes to mind is Superboy (Conner "Kon" Kent). Comic Kon and Young Justice Cartoon Kon are drastically different in both personality and appearance. Comic Kon is the most bisexual coded person I've ever seen and Cartoon Kon is a grumpy asshole who looks like he stepped straight out of bootcamp. But guess what? Regardless of which one you like most both are canon in DC!

As far as I'm concerned, comic timelines and characters are a mess with or without other media types and we should be allowed to pick and choose whatever traits we want from it. Do I want Kon to have bisexual hair? Yes! Am I ignoring that Batman beats his kids in some runs? Also yes!

And because I saw a few complaints like these once before I'm going to address them.

"Character A can't be into this. It only happened like 1 time in the comics!"

Yeah but it happened. If people want to take that little hint of a trait and expand on it then power to them!

"Character A never actually had this role or did this so stop writing them like that!"

It's called a headcanon or an AU. This may be surprising to you, but both of these are common in fandom spaces. If that headcanon or AU is popular it's because people obviously like it. That person may not be you, and that's fine too! Just let them have their fun and leave to read something else.

And I'm not claiming to be innocent in all this btw! Lord knows I get loud and angry about many MCU fans' interpretation of Jake Lockley from Moon Knight. That being said, the reason I'm loud and angry isn't just "oh they made him less friendly and changed some personality traits". Its the fact that they interpret him as an "evil" alter which perpetuates hateful stereotypes about a very real and very stigmatized disorder with very little decent representation. The whole "Jake is an evil bloodthirsty alter" spreads those fearmongering ideas and has the potential to harm actual systems in the long run whether it's intended to or not. Disclaimer: I am not a system, but I do try my best to listen to what they have to say. By all means listen to their opinions on the situation over mine.

Even so, I don't go and yell directly at those creators. I click off. I don't have to read or look at their stuff if I don't want to.

Another complaint from comic readers I see a lot is "oh but it's so easy for them to just pick up a comic and read it! They are just being lazy/stubborn/etc." And honestly...

It's really not!

It took me YEARS to start reading comics because it was so overwhelming and I had no one to help me. Keeping track of all the comic runs is hard enough let alone actually finding and reading them. Comics are simply not well organized and it's hard to find a part to jump into when so many of them rely on prior knowledge.

"Well ask somebody who works at a comic bookstore!"

I did. He had no answers for me and looked like he would rather be talking to literally anyone else instead of a clueless 15 year old girl. Stepping into spaces like that can be intimidating in itself for a variety of reasons, let alone trying to ask for help. Online it's not always much better. So many people won't give an honest recommendation and others won't be specific enough. Many comic runs have similar titles, and honestly it's best if you just know the name of the writer.

Trying to break into comics is just genuinely difficult for a lot of people depending on their situations whether it be enviornmental, financial, or mental.

Also you can't just force someone to read the comics! If they don't want to and just want to watch the shows or absorb fanon content then that's their preference! You don't have to interact with it! Am I saying that no one should read comics? No! But I am saying that not everyone has the same accessibility and the way some comic readers treat these people isn't doing favors. Attacking them over stuff and getting annoyed at them isn't going to encourage them to pick up a comic and read it but rather push them away from something really fun.

Okay now that's out of the way, time for me to turn my sights on the "not reading" camp.

You can't just attack people for suggesting canonical content under your prompts. Unless they are being a dick about it. Then you can go ham. But if someone is coming in like "hey btw A is a thing that happens canonically and it might be fun to do!" then there is no reason for you to act like they just ate your baby!

It is also not completely unreasonable for someone to simply suggest that you try out a comic or two (provided that they are being polite and are actually willing to help you with clear reccomendations). There is no reason for you to get pissy at them, just as it is not a requirement for you to take up their advice. If you don't want to read it or can't currently that's fine, but just know that you have the potential to be introduced to something you really enjoy and that consuming canon content will more than likely help you with your writing!

[gay-dorito-dust]

But that's why it's so fun though. There's definitely the surface level canon story.

It's fun to think, what if? Especially with easter eggs or vague elements showing the tiniest connection to another. Someone had to create that, so maybe they had an idea the viewer would too. If so, then what would the story look like if this connection is canon. Bonus points if it is canon and theres tiny nuggets all over the place. Im looking at you, eldren ring 😘👅. Overall, it expands the story and adds depth, and who doesn't like that. (Trick question: NO ONE)

Lmao YOU KNOW he was waiting!! The pan away shot was so the audience couldn't see the filthy smirk on his face after saying that. Leon is totally a "fun guy" at heart *snaps finger guns*. Definitely loves to crack jokes. It's just given his surroundings and the situation he usually in, it's totally not called for. Especially his type of...humor, which already isn't that funny in a normal environment. Then when he says it, it's a double "Oh hell no." for me, dawg.

AHHHHH lmaooo you like his jokes! You're more whipped me than! 🤣 I'm shriveling up. A chocolate eclair 💀 we gotta build that up! (I can't talk mine is as tough as extra firm tofu)

Fr I totally understand. I'd feel bad especially since he's trying to lighten the environment, plus I know he hates this more than I do. Replace me with Ashley and all I hear are gunshots, goreish noises, and foreign yelling 24/7...👁👄👁 I'm listening to "Leon's jokes on a 10 hour loop" (some of them). I'd have to scrape up the courage to think of jokes and not hyper fixating on my environment and future death or Leon's back 😉.

I'd either beg Leon for a mercy kill or do it myself. I'm not built for that world. Also if Leon actually said that, he'd get 1 good noodle star, cuz that actually made me laugh.🤡

I'm hollering!! I was thinking the same thing but couldn't find the meme!!! Thank you!!🥹

Leon is a frat party and a Bang energy drink (the only option) with a plate of hooters wings away from being the "you're not that guy pal". Maybe the trauma was worth it.

(Again sorry for any grammar mistake. I can't read or write)

I love a game with little nuggets that subtly connect to one another to weave an story beneath the common storyline. It just gives you more insight to…well everything! It’s one of my favourites that the game developers are like ‘we’re gonna give long time players a treat and new time players a fun thing to unravel.’

Ngl, Leon would single-handedly give me brain rot so bad that I start doing crappy, half asses one liners.

It’s a disease and he’s the cause.

It ain’t my fault that Leon is so unbelievably pretty! My kryptonite is pretty boys and unfortunately Leon is on-top of the list for prettiest boys!

All he’d have to do if flash me a smile and I’d be like; 😩 😳😖🥵🤤🫠

The trauma Leon has been through had altered him so much so that his coping mechanisms are to make shitty one liners to EVERYTHING.

He thinks he’s a cool kid at heart, we know that ain’t true. He’s a dorky dork that thinks his humour is the shit.

Me: Leon go to therapy, you’re obviously not okay.

Leon: Therapy is for losers and I am no loser😎

Me: you’ve missed 6 appointments, the jokes got to stop-

In all fairness he probs doesn’t think therapy would work out for him at all and also over works himself to the bone. I remember someone saying that the reasons for Leon being jacked as all hell in re4 is so he doesn’t get taken by surprise anymore.

My baby needs a hug but he’d probably be so on edge and alert that I wouldn’t be able to without triggering his fight or flight responses.

I’d get too distracted by Leon’s ass and have a deep debate within myself whether or not it’s be inappropriate to slap it. Also Leon doesn’t skip leg day. He’s got nice thighs, and arms…and back…nice tits…

Leon probably would drink bang energy in means of staying up at night. How he finds out about bang is anyones guess.

[pebblysand]

Omggg pebbles! That mia pov fic🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺 I'm so in love with how you've portrayed her. She's heart broken but she's gonna get better, I hope she does. It's so sad that she was so hurt because of harry especially when harry didn't mean to do so at any point. I wonder if harry actually thinks about her and regrets their relationship for actually hurting her. Also pebbles, how do you think ginny feels about mia at this point? Are ginny and harry sorry that they kissed when harry was in a relationship with mia?

Also at some point do you think harry and miss could ever be in touch? And what about her father? Will that dickhead ever come back to his senses and treat his gem of a daughter the way she deserves? Will they ever be in touch?

Istg i have soooo many questions about mia. Thanks for writing about her, I see so much of myself in her and i can't help but root for her ❤❤❤

aww thanks ❤️. you have a lot of questions about mia? that's good - i have a lot of thoughts, lol 😆 (for reference and for anyone who hasn't read it - Mia fic is here)

it's funny, i recently had a similar discussion with folks on discord about mia getting to her own version of the epilogue. i think people generally want me to say that she's okay in the same way that people want(ed) JKR (obv. pre-JKR becoming awful) to tell them that george was "okay." this sort of comfort of: we know they've been through a lot but they're okay, please-tell-me-they're-okay, you know? and i remember JKR was always a bit like "😬 is he, though?" realistically speaking? i think that's how i feel about mia too.

on discord, about her epilogue, i said:

i think her epilogue in my head is maybe a bit more… bittersweet than other people's epilogues. cause i think (and this is totally my headcanon, you can see it differently), she has a lot of good things coming out of this. she���s able to establish boundaries with her parents in a much healthier way, she learns to trust herself and stops being such a people pleaser, she learns that she doesn’t have to do everything alone, she has an amazing career - all those things made possible by her character evolution while she was with harry. but there’s this bittersweet aspect of: i think to her, he is and will always be the one that got away. and the kind of love story they had, at the age she was (20/21), those are the things that just stick with you, you know? and i don’t think she regrets anything she did/decisions she made, but there’s this aspect of: he’s the one she fell in love with, and he’ll probably always be the one she will compare other people she dates to. and that’s just… it, you know? and i don’t think she’s sad forever, i think she has fun and has a good life and maybe even finds another partner if she wants to, but harry is the one she's always going be talking to her therapist about. again, that’s okay, and i feel for her So Much, but i think it does sort of have this impact on her that never truly goes away.

i think to me, when it came to shaping mia's character, it was very important for her to have her own arc, too. of course, she existed in reaction to harry's storyline, and was going to help him realise some things about himself, but i also wanted her to be a person, and to grow in her own way.

at her core, mia is someone who is very lonely. when we meet her, she's in her last year of uni. she's away from home, in an environment that is not her own, and basically has no one who really cares about her. her mother is having a new family (new husband, new baby) and while she loves her, she's also replacing her. this is a detail in chapter 13 but mia doesn't even have a bed in their new house. her father is an absolute arsehole who tries to control her life after being absent for 17 years, and she doesn't really have friends. harry always says she has a lot of people around her, but they're school friends, acquaintances, going-out friends, not people she'd ever actually confide in. when she's starving herself trying to survive, no one notices. she says so herself in chapter 14:

‘You know no one else [cares], right?’ she says, then. Looks up to cross his gaze and takes his breath away. ‘Not my dad, not my mum, not my friends in school where I’m like,’ she speaks quick, rolling her eyes, ‘the token black girl with the funny accent from up North when their parents all know people - bloody Vivienne Westwood or something,’ she sighs. Her voice breaks. For the first time that morning, he hears tears in her words. ‘And, I don’t even hold it against them. They’ve all got objectively more important things than me to worry about. It’s just so fucking lonely sometimes.’ 

i think when i was building her character, i kept thinking about how lonely i felt during my first years in uni. mia isn't a self-insert in the way that i think we're very different people (god, i would have dumped his arse so much quicker), but that's definitely something i wanted to address in castles. in popular culture, we tend to romanticise our early twenties and uni years as the "best time of our lives," but the more i think back, and the more i talk to my friends now, as a grown-up, the more i realise that many of us have this very similar experience of deep loneliness and this feeling of being "lost" in the wild world of early adulthood. it's not just about mia's family, or her friends, or her doomed romantic relationship with harry. what makes her relatable, i think, is this general feeling of loneliness and inadequacy that we've all felt at some point in that time period of our lives. you're in uni, you're sitting there stressing about finding a job, a partner, what life is going to be like once you graduate. add to that that this period of your life is often where you get your first real relationships and heartbreaks, and it makes for a very hard time. and, it's terribly lonely because it's so romanticised that you can't even say it's hard, or that you're lonely, because This Is The Best Time of Your Life and #yolo.

and, with mia, you add to that the fact that she's broke af. like: she doesn't have money for food. in an environment where everyone around her has money. so, she doesn't want to admit how broke she is, doesn't want to ask for help because there is literally no one who would help her, but the financial stress is killing her. and, i think it's very important to consider that the money harry gives her isn't much to him, but to her - she later owes him her life and her career. the thing about financial precarity is, you can tell people to "pull themselves up by their bootstraps" all you want, the staple of financial precarity is that you're one major expense away from a catastrophe. people are maintained in poverty because what is a small expense to someone with financial security (say: having to fix the lights on your car for instance) can throw someone else in a cycle of debt that they'll never get out of. the money harry gives her is just enough that she's able to get her head above water, and while he always says it's not about the money - to her, that makes a huge difference. because, she's not only one major expense away from a catastrophe, she's also one minor donation away from being able to live the life she dreams of. she - quite literally - owes him paris. she owes her career to him choosing to believe in her in that moment when it mattered. could she have done it without it? maybe. but there is a high chance that if he hadn't given her the money, she'd probably have drowned, given up and gone back to manchester and had a shit job she hated for the rest of her life. that is terribly important. she'll always be grateful to him for helping her out when no one else did.

and, i think the loneliness is also why she and harry connect on such a deep level, because when they meet, he is incredibly lonely too. not in the same relatable, muggle uni ways but: ginny's left, the "buzz" and the elation of the first couple of post-war months have lifted, the press is saying he's gone insane, it's winter, it's dark, wet. he says it himself when they first sleep together in chapter 5:

Mia dances close; Harry mostly watches, but at around three in the morning, they share another taxi home. The fact that they live in the same building could have been a good excuse, Harry thinks, except that by that point, they don’t really need one. He’s already kissed her, trailed his fingers up her thighs in the club (loud music, smoke; he managed to just smile and not think) so it’s not exactly a surprise when he follows her down the stairs to her flat instead of going up to his. He kind of hates himself for the thought but to be honest, it’s been over two months since he’s last had sex and well, she’s offering.

it's kind of tragic but being "there" and "offering" is most of her appeal, at that point in time. and, it's in reaction to those who aren't there and offering. and so, in those months, they bring each other so much. and of course, it grows into something that is much more than loneliness-bonding. again, to mia, harry is the one who shows her her father is an arsehole. he's the one who believes in her when no one else does. he shows her she can trust people. i think the fact that he insists he cares about her, and will always care about her, even when they're not together, means the world to her. she's never had anyone like that in her life. and, in a strange way, by being an - objectively - shitty boyfriend, he teaches her to stand up for herself. because, not only is she terribly lonely, she's also such a people-pleaser that she never pulls anyone up on their shitty behaviour. she doesn't resent her friends (see above), or her dad, or her mum. when harry says this in chapter 15, it really matters:

‘You’re brilliant,’ he just said, instead. His voice cracked and he felt tears clouding his vision, closed his eyes for a moment. ‘You deserve so much better than this.’ She looked down to her lap, then back up to him. ‘Better than him or better than you?’

the question is rhetorical here and they both know it. harry is important to her development as a character because at the end, he allows her to be like: yeah, i fucking deserve better than you people. for her, that's huge.

but then, in a strange way, i do think she's rather nostalgic about it. because i think she really did love him and just wishes things had gone differently. because again, he's the one person who cared about her when no one else did and that's hard to let go of. i think she - again - has very conflicted feelings about it, which do filter through in the paris fic.

that said, to answer your question (I wonder if harry actually thinks about her and regrets their relationship for actually hurting her): yes, he does. i think that's part of his character evolution too. he knows he Fucked Up and it sucks. he feels very guilty about it. that's why he agrees to be the 'bad guy' in the end, when she basically asks him to break up with her because she can't, and then does it in the most godawful way. he takes responsibility for his behaviour, which is also very important to his character arc. it's very hard to navigate your late teens/early twenties without hurting someone without meaning to. what matters is how you react and own up to it. he struggles, acts like a complete douchebag, but in the end, he owns it. he gives her the story she needs to move on and be like: yes, he cared about me, but he was also an arsehole. he gives her that:

She met a boy who slept with her on and off for eight months and broke her heart, dumped her after sex and punched her father in the face. It's not a lie.

in a very strange way, that's an act of love and care too. it might not be enough for her to completely get over him or forget him, but it does allow her to have mixed feelings and hang onto the fact that she deserves better, which is already a lot.

but yeah, of course he feels guilty. he even says so himself in 15 & 16:

(xv) They talk about Mia, that night. Not that he brings it up, but in light of what Gwenog Jones said, he actually asks if she regrets the dating and the going out. There is no judgement in his voice, he’s just curious, and she says: ‘I don’t know, it’s complicated.’ She asks if he regrets Mia and he wants to laugh - same, yeah. He wonders if perhaps, these were the mistakes they needed to make.

(xvi) It’s a fair question, of course. How he feels about Mia. A couple months have passed. Water, bridges and all that. ‘Still a bit guilty, I think,’ he admits. Winces. ‘You?’ ‘Still a bit jealous, I think.’

so, yeah, regarding how ginny feels: of course, she feels a bit jealous. because she knows that he loved mia and cared about her. and, ginny herself slept around, sure, but love wasn't part of the equation. if you remember, she tried to date someone (early on - from october to january of '98) who she did like (but not yet love) and even told harry about, but then that blew up in her face so spectacularly that feelings never really crystallised. (sidenote: i actually think the matt incident probably had even more of an impact on her than sleeping around because this was the first person she ever put her trust in that wasn't harry (post-amycus) and he dumped her in an extraordinarily dickish way (blamed her for the press, which she couldn't control) and that is also what triggered her to be like: fuck this, they say i'm a slut, might as well be one sort of attitude --- but i digress).

it was really important for me that they both have pasts and insecurities about their respective pasts because -- well, that's part of any relationship, isn't it? like, you should never let it eat you up, but it's normal to feel a bit awkward and insecure about your partner's past at the start of the relationship. and, also about yourself. you really want this to work and not fuck it up. so, like: harry feels shitty about treating mia like shit because he didn't mean to. he feels a bit insecure about the fact that ginny's been with a lot of people before him, and doesn't want to admit it. he feels insecure about whether or not she loves him because she's dumped him once before and, well. she feels insecure because everyone thinks she's a slut and she worries he does too. she feels insecure about the fact that he used to love someone else.

but, the important part is: they talk about it. and, that's how they grow and act adult, and that is what matters. the insecurities are obviously there, but they chat and reassure each other and that's what grown-ups do. it even comes up during the sex in 16 and i love how they deal with it:

‘Merlin, that was -’ she laughs. He laughs, too. ‘Much better than last summer,’ she adds.  He’s got this stupid, self-satisfied, Cheshire cat smile across his face when she finally turns to look at him, so large it’s probably rather obscene, and a stupid (stupidstupid) thought suddenly hits his brain: I’ve had time to practice. He doesn’t say it, but she must bloody read it in his eyes because suddenly, a flash of recognition washes over and he wants to say something - anything - to take back that cringey, gauche thing he hasn’t even fucking said, and he wants to disappear deep - far - into the ground. He thinks back to their conversation at the restaurant, and: ‘Still a bit jealous, I think,’ - it makes his skin crawl. Now, though, Ginny laughs. At him, mostly. ‘Harry,’ she says. ‘Harry, look at me.’  Reluctantly, he does. ‘It’s fine,’ she whispers. ‘Just kiss me.’

there's acceptance there, and love, and trust, and that's what matters.

to anwer your other question: Are ginny and harry sorry that they kissed when harry was in a relationship with mia?

honestly, no, i don't think so, though. i think the kiss is the least of it. it's not about one kiss. it's about Everything Else, really.

regarding mia herself, she might make a cameo at a later date. not saying more. but i don't think she'll come back regularly. she needs to be away from him. she says so herself but this isn't the kind of break up where they can stay friends. it would kill her.

lastly, regarding her father (And what about her father? Will that dickhead ever come back to his senses and treat his gem of a daughter the way she deserves?): i headcanon she goes no-contact with him. you can of course hc different things but imo, that's one toxic relationship she lets go of. she knows harry was right there, and i think she's thankful to him for showing that to her, too.

so, in sum: i think mia moves on. i think she has a great life. i also think her love story and harry are always somewhere in her mind. like everything in castles, it's complicated.

[inmyhorrorsera]

S5E7 "Hybrid Creatures" thoughts

That's it. Those are my thoughts.

.

.

.

Kinda...

I'm kinda used to the writers putting Nadja in situations and see what it sticks, but (un)holy shit its so obvious that they don't know what to do with her character. What we do in the shadows learn how to write women challenge.

I don't know if the Guide even appeared. My stream stopped a couple times and I have to refresh so maybe I missed her (if not see previous point because it also applies to her).

LOVED Nadja's kitty hair buns, love to see that at least the hair and costume department still cares about her.

The line about burning the school made me roll my eyes, not only because that story doesn't make sense with what we learned about her childhood, but also because I can FEEL when tv shows throw lines with the specific expectations of them being gifed, become memes, etc.

I know it's stupid to discuss about the ethics of Laszlo's experiments on the dick and balls show but in this episode I was all 😬😬😬 about it. Like, I don't give a shit if it was done with comedy purposes, animal experimentation is one of the subjects I will never find remotely funny or make jokes with, specially if we start thinking... How much consent Guillermo gave for Laszlo to straight up play with his DNA in this way? He has nothing to say about it except for a confused frown or looking panicky at the sight of the creatures?? More important, if Nandor did this exact same thing the past season and created the hybrids with a Djinn wish or whatever, how would the fandom have reacted??? (spoiler: waaay more angered than when everybody's fave Laszlo does it).

The work of puppetry and digital effects was good as always, nothing bad to say about the team behind the cameras that puts all their hard work and craft on this, sadly, mid storyline.

Despite how little I care about mAd ScIenTiSt Lazslo plot, the moment when Guillermo believes he won't help him anymore was truly heartbreaking just by looking at his face. You can see he really has all his hopes in Laszlo finding a 'cure'.

I wish the whole thing about Guillermo being incapable of killing the hybrids hit me harder (as if we didn't saw him luring innocent teenagers so they can get killed in the literal pilot).

Sorry but that lady character didn't work for me and the "Helen the Magic Johnson" joke was unfunny and kinda old :/ i wonder if half of the wwdits fandom even got the reference (also lmao shameless product placement, you can tell they needed the money to pay for the cgi used on the creatures).

Colin was like his season 1 self. I bet the wwdits reddit ate up that shit.

See also: Laszlo calling Guillermo 'Gizmo' again. Hated it.

Colin becoming the stereotypical 'cool' white liberal teacher was hilarious specially when he said the cliché "history is written by the oppressors" line because that's where the parody becomes too obvious. This is the guy whose dna results on s1 were "100% white" after all. AND YET some people here are still celebrating and repeating it as this 'so true bestie 😔✊' moment without realizing the show's laughing at you, not with you. But hey, this is the we don't get satire even if it bites on our ass site. Imagine fans celebrating when Kendall Succession shouted "fuck the patriarchy!" in front of the paparazzi for being a #feminist. That's how wooosh the moment went over some of y'alls heads.

Nandor and Colin at the museum felt a little tackled on, but at least Nandor annoyance at his personal items being displayed was fun.

And Colin being friendly (dare I say…sweet?) with him at the end again gave me a happy smile. I'll never guessed this season was all about the Colin and Nandor (Condor??) era but I'm all for it.

Biggest Mild laugh of the night: Nandor mannequin having male and female lovers on the display, the dude is wearing Calvin Kleins!

I can't say much about Guillermo leaving the hybrids at the senior home because it's a overused ending for wwdits at this point. Seriously, when this show doesn't know how to end an episode they always do the same shit: Leave the characters that are a problem in a different place. It happened with: Topher at the zombie sweatshop, Jim the vampire as the volleyball coach in Tucson, familiar Benji in a different city/state (forgot where), The Baron and the Sire in the countryside, Derek working at Sean's MLM, Freddie!Marwa in the Uk. They have done this ending 👏🏼lots 👏🏼 of 👏🏼 times👏🏼already!!

Having a wank?! The setup and payoff for this joke really worked.

Next episode seems interesting.

Anyway, I am once again asking for the Djinn...

[i-write-shakespeare-not-disney]

🎬💭🦋💘💡🧪🤩 💛

🎬 If a movie or show were based on your fic, which fic would you choose and who would you fancast?

Last time I said Lovesick, but that's kind of cheating since I already fancast that.... so let me try something new.

I want to make a miniseries out of Princes & Pickpockets! Tom Holland for Midoriya. He just gives the energy I want midoriya to have within it (and since they're from a fantasy land, I don't really have to narrow it down to Japanese/Asian actors). Also.... I kinda want a Kpop idol to be Todoroki.... the grace... the elegance... I'm a Jimin fan so... he's the one on my mind rn. I also can't stop laughing over the idea of Tom Holland being betrothed to Park Jimin😂 no wait, I actually wanna think about this I might make another post for this casting lmfao

💭 What inspires you and your writing?

A lot of the times it's songs honestly. I like making playlist for the storyline!

🦋 Which character is your favorite to write?

I love writing the angry characters who feel too much but refuse to let it show. Keith, Katsuki, Rody, Chuuya. They feel... close to home lmfao

💘 Is it easier to write angst or fluff?

I personally love to write angst. I love digging into the aches and worries. I actually find it really hard to write fluff because I worry it's too cheesy or unrealistic and half the time I don't even know how couples are supposed to act once everything is settling

💡How many WIPs do you currently have?

This should be an illegal question lmfaoooo oh man. Theres... stilverse, the soukoku fic, two rddk ones..... then there's concepts I haven't posted which are like... another four???? God t.t let's not talk about it lmfao

🧪 Do you research for your fics?

I do, to the point where it's not even all that necessary. I know so much about queer Japanese artists rn (enough to ramble, not enough to educate tho...) and I research a lot of cultural aspects to make sure it's authentic. I used to research dance a lot in order to describe it. For a while I was actually in a fitness program that taught basic kickboxing/jiu-jitsu, and I used that to create an ATLA battle scene. It's honestly really fun to me. You won't believe how much research has gone into STILverse since they all have different jobs and I wanted to give them complex lives to interweave and ahhhhhh yes, yes I do research.

🤩 What led to your interest in the fandom?

Honestly, happenstance. I found fanfiction which led me to finding pages on Facebook of fans who would post imaginary snippets and that led to me writing and eventually I found Tumblr and started posting here. I was really surprised when I got responses and feedback from other fans, and I realized there was a lot of layers to fandom. Role-playing and fanfiction and art and cosplay and just the general discussions. I've been lucky enough not to encounter toxicity (wild considering the fandoms I've been in) so it's all been really enjoyable!

💛 What is the most impactful lesson you’ve learned about writing?

Ahhh. Honestly, this is something I learned in college in my poetry classes not quite through fanfiction, but the most impactful lesson I've had is to trust my subconscious. I shouldn't steer the story just because I'm hellbent on an idea. Most of the time your subconscious makes connections you're not even aware of until they're on the page. It's happened so often to me. It's important to be flexible and to trust your creativity to flow and take the story where it needs to go♡

Thank you for asking!! ♡♡♡

[alisonfelixwrites]

hi i just wanted to say that i just read lucky penny on wattpad and i'm... trying to figure out how to say this. i'm not well. i'm kind of. fuck. words. struggle. ugh. i'm in a really dark spot in my life. and i stumbled across lucky penny, not knowing what to expect, it's the first thing i've ever read by you. and i just needed to tell you how much it means to me. the amount of times i couldn't fight off the cheek splitting grins, blushes, and giggles that story caused me to have is insane. the most from anything i've ever read. and in a time in my life where i don't wear a drop of makeup anymore because i know that most of my days i'll end up crying it off, smiling and laughing is... not common. i was overwhelmed with so much giddiness when reading it. tiny squeals and hiding under my blanket when overcome with all the joy i felt. and it's such a foreign feeling right now. i know people say things like that a lot - 'giggling and kicking my feet', 'screaming', etc. etc. and its probably lost its impact to think you've made people feel that way... but for me, it's so unusual. it's like a drug to me right now, that kind of joy. and i've never felt it as strongly.

i also didn't expect to find that the relationship penny was in is just like a previous one of mine, and the way you wrote it... only someone who's been through it could write it like you did. and so for that, you have my heartfelt empathy. it's so hard to describe that relationship, and sometimes it still is... to somehow put it into words. it's always seemed intangible when explaining it. but you put words to it. the way you've shown it through different points of view is beautiful and a real talent.

the story is lovely. and there's so much fun with it. the friendship dynamic added such a lovely layer to the story, and was so refreshing to have that comradery so present in the storyline. it makes me yearn for something similar. the sexual exploration. the dialogue. the silly goofy. the playfulness. all of it was just really beautiful and i can't remember the last time i've felt my heart beat out of my chest like that. i can't wait to re-read it again.

i just wanted to say thank you. i saw your notes on it as i continued to read and realized that you' wrote 'd written it during a tough period in your life. so it was an escape for you. it was therapeutic. and that's exactly what it is to me.

hi :'(((((( this HAS TO BE one of the sweetest messages i ever received omfg i don't even know what to say. i'm so glad i could make you smile for a little bit and that lucky penny was sooo positive for you! i actually wrote it in a very similar point in my life, when I was very sick and bedbound. i wrote 70 chapters in like 6 weeks lol, I was just writing non stop and they meant so much to me and did so much for me. it's crazy to me how they can do so much for others too. ngl I was thinking of lucky penny lately and reread some of it and sooo many things made me cringe and i seriously considered reworking it/ rewriting it to fit my current writing style more - but the story is so charming even with the mistakes i made when writing it. i wrote it so quickly and it all came so naturally that i didn't think twice of the stuff i wrote, so it feel so pure to me :)) i'm so sorry you went through such a horrifying relationship and lost so much of yourself in it. i promise it gets sooooo much better!!!!!! thank you for this, i wanna give you the biggest hug, literally omg you made me tear up MWAHHHH <3333

[bookaddict24-7]

REVIEWS OF THE WEEK!

EVERY WEEK I WILL POST VARIOUS REVIEWS I’VE WRITTEN SO FAR IN 2024. YOU CAN CHECK OUT MY GOODREADS FOR MORE UP-TO-DATE REVIEWS HERE.

___

111. Where We Go From Here by Lucas Rocha , Larissa Helena (Translator)--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I really enjoyed WHERE WE GO FROM HERE and the important messages it had for the reader. I think this is the first book I've read where some of the characters are HIV positive and it was interesting to learn more about how care works now, and how the world's perception of it has either shifted or (in some instances) remained the same.

The dynamic between the characters was great, although I think one of the characters was given a little bit too much of the benefit of the doubt. I find that sometimes in order to have a "happy ending" some things are sometimes compromised and some characters are pushed to react in a way expected by the adults writing the story themselves. Granted, I'm a stubborn and sometimes petty person, so I'm probably not the best judge of character here.

I liked seeing the different families (or lack thereof) because it was such a realistic portrayal of the differing reactions families (especially Latine ones) have when they learn that their son or daughter is queer. In some instances, it's heart breaking, but also sadly realistic.

From the very beginning of the book, I was pulled in and I couldn't stop listening to the audiobook. I think that even though this is a translation, Rocha's writing was addicting and powerful. Will definitely want to check out their future work! I'm finding that I have a soft spot for Brazilian YA authors.

___

112. Delinquent Daddy & Tender Teacher Vol. 1 by Tama Mizuki--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

There were so many great layers to this manga. Not only was this a sweet romance between the dad and the teacher, but also the dad and his son, and the teacher and the little one.

The dad and sons' relationship was adorable, especially as the son slowly comes to understand how much his dad loves him. Seeing him go from telling his classmates that that isn't his father, to calling him "daddy" by the end of the volume was stinking adorable af.

Also, the progression of the love story was heartwarming. I want only the best for them, especially since one essentially saved the other. I also loved that they had that past connection!

Can't wait to read more of this one!

___

113. The Bride by Ali Hazelwood--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

While there may be some tropes in BRIDE that are in the usual Hazelwood book, this book presented a story that was so new compared to the STEM series that I didn't even focus on the popular tropes. I enjoyed BRIDE so much more than I was expecting. I went into this with zero expectations and I'm so glad I did.

Since we mainly see the story from the perspective of a vampire, we don't really get the "running through the woods" moments we usually see when werewolves are involved, but it was still a fun experience. I actually liked it because we very rarely get an outsider POV when werewolves are involved.

I liked the romance between the MC and her love interest. It was one of those slow build ups that even though it's clear where it's going, the MC is still ignorant of the fact. They had some great sexual tension, but keep in mind that this isn't an overly sexy book. I'd go in hoping for a cute and tense romance, not an overly spicy story.

Anyway, I enjoyed this and had a lot of fun while reading it. Definitely impressed with Hazelwood's dive into this genre!

___

114. The Promised Neverland Vol. 1 by Kaiu Shirai , Posuka Demizu (Illustrator)--⭐️⭐️⭐️

I had a mild idea of what I was going into when I started THE PROMISED NEVERLAND, but it wasn't entirely THAT. That reveal was nightmare inducing.

The artwork was gorgeous and incredibly intricate. The storyline was interesting and I had to remind myself that these were incredibly intelligent kids, since sometimes they acted a little bit like mini adults--which granted is fair considering their situation.

While I was interested a few times and I do have that level of curiosity of where the story is going, I don't know if I care enough to read the next volumes. I'm lucky that I enjoy a lot of the manga I read, but this was one of those rare ones where I was counting down until the last page. I just thought it was a bit drawn out, but nothing felt like it was happening. Maybe I WILL read volume two, but it's not with that same level of urgency I've had in the past.

___

115. Mindy Kim & the Trip to Korea by Lyla Lee--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Mindy Kim continues to be adorable af. Her family goes to Korea in this one and I loved seeing the country through her eyes. I also enjoyed seeing the interactions between the family members, even if they were somewhat wary of Mindy's dad's GF.

These books are wholesome. They explore family, the ways life could change, and the curious mind of a young child who is just trying to find her place in her world. I love the life lessons always presented in these books and I hope the little ones reading these books are also learning from the experience!

___

116. Graceling by Kristin Cashore--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

After having GRACELING on my bookshelves for over a decade, I knew it was time to check it out. I listened to the audiobook alongside the physical book and wow, what an experience. It's a full cast and they have music that plays on occasion (which, admittedly, made me think of the NANCY DREW audiobooks, lol).

I'll admit that I almost DNFed this book a couple of times because I was having a hard time connecting or falling into the story. A friend encouraged me and so I kept going. Thankfully, too, because I ended up really, really enjoying this one. I loved the character growth and the romance between the MC and her love interest. His interest being obvious from the beginning, while she was unaware is one of the best romance tropes out there.

I also really liked the adventure. I love a good road trip type adventure where the FMC is a badass that people sometimes underestimate.

The one thing that was very different in this older fantasy book from more present ones is the tone of voice of the narrator. This one was very straightforward, no quirky dialogues or over the top situations. Although, I will admit that sometimes the full cast threw me off--especially when the FMC would literally yell at the love interest with a bit too much gusto.

Anyway, I really enjoyed this and I'm glad I gave it a shot! It's not a favourite, but it was a very fun read. If you want a FMC that knows her mind and is steadfast in her decisions, then I think you'd like this one.

___

117. Hooked by Emily McIntire--⭐️⭐️

In my opinion, HOOKED started out strong. I loved the few tropes being introduced and the jealous friends-not-friends thing was very early 2010s romance era. I was even a bit into the dark MMC and how he didn't give a shit about going for what he wanted. He knew who he was and he didn't shy away from that.

And then we hit a moment where this book just lost all seriousness for me.

The FMC is the innocent protagonist that wants to prove to the world that she isn't this naive child. A great way of showing the reader that was by the insta-lust and insta-love with this admittedly dangerous man and the lack of a backbone when he did a big no-no and she immediately gave into him again. I expected her to be that not-naive girl she claimed to be, but there was no grovelling and close to no anger. She made allusions to HOW she knew she should react to him, brushed it off so quickly that it left me nervously giggling. Absolutely zero backbone.

Also, I just want to say that it was super weird that Peter was her dad when he was always a love interest. Although, the inclusion of names and the twisting of certain things was very clever.

This book often also felt like a badly scripted telenovelas with revelation after revelation--by that point I was rolling my eyes so much, I feared they might get stuck to the back of my head. Also, how many times will we be reminded that Hook's dick will split women in half? I just. Yeah, I don't know.

I'm glad I read this one because now I know that the rest of this series might not be for me. Not because of the adaptation aspect--that part is cool--but the writing is just very much not for me.

___

118. Sasaki and Miyano, Vol. 1 by Shou Harusono--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

These two are incredibly adorable, but I definitely need to read more of their story to fully gage if I'm truly interested in continuing.

I did like how the one guy is the one that's chasing the pretty one, when it's usually the other way around. It's weirdly refreshing and adorable. I can't wait to see how the character growth looks on them. LOVED the artwork, especially with how the characters were presented (how the one looks innocent but secretly loves BL manga, and the other looks like a scary bad boy, but is actually a sweet cinnamon roll).

Will read the next volume to fully make my mind up!

___

Have you read any of these books? What were your thoughts?

___

Happy reading!

[writinggremlin]

Why, hello there!!

Allow me to introduce myself. (NOW WITH MASTERPOST!! WOAHHHH!!!!) (found at the bottom. I need to remake this post from the ground up next year.) (New post has been made this one is outdated now-- how the hell did you even find this one? Did you actually scroll all the way back here?!)

I haven't really come up with a pseudo name for myself yet, so I guess "Gremlin" or "That One Chaotic Lil Shit. You Know The One!" will do for now. No DNI here btw. I am totally, 100%, definitely 19. So all of those 18+ blogs that are just checking for my age can move on now, haha!

...Why are they still here? And looking at me suspiciously? Y-- You guys can leave now! Shoo! Go on!

Well then. Anygayyyyy! Other than that, I guess the other important thing to mention is pronouns. You may use she/her or they/them. I honestly don't care which ones you use for me. Use one, use the other, or get a little wacky with it and change them out mid-sentence. Are you still talking about the same person? Or somebody else entirely? Who knows!

In addition to that, if you wish to refer to me as a little lad or fellow, I would definitely not complain!

Something else that's probably worth mentioning is that this is, indeed, a side blog, which means that the blog I'll be doing my likes and follows and such from, will not be this one. I don't put any mention of this blog on my other ones because I don't want that audience knowing about this. Besides, my mom's on here too, and she knows about my two other blogs. Yeah..... you probably get it lmao.

However, I don't mind this community knowing about my main stuff, so I'll give you guys a hint, because this is an easter egg hunt now apparently (/s /lh). Nah, but fr, I tend to like a post either immediately before, or after I reblog it. Also my pfp is a chaotic collage of our lord and savior, Spleens, the cat. All hail the Glow Cloud, and all hail Spleens, the cat.

-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-

So. Now that the basic stuff is out of the way, it's time to get into some more blog-related things about me. Specifically when it comes to writing. So fuckle all of your seatbelts, because this may get long.

To start off, I initially just spontaneously created this blog to dump a lot of reblog stuff that I loved and didn't want to lose. That's not going to stop anytime soon. Buuuut, lately I've been feeling more confident to post random prompts and ideas, and maybe even a random blurb or two! So, there's that for the near future. Maybe. Possibly.

Next I'd like to mention that I have OCs!! Quite a few, to be exact. All with their own intricate lil storylines and a few unique settings! I love to scheme and keep plenty of secrets, as well as make some goofy references here and there. Just because I like to write some sad shit, doesn't mean that I can't have some fun with wacky stuff happening in the background too!

Anyway, the OCs of mine that I'll probably mention most around here right now are: Mist, Ember, Kage, and Onyx. (As for my whumper's, those two are Vivek and Lilium.)

-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-

Hmm... what else...

Oh- uhm! Tropes I like and the squicks and stuff!

Tropes I enjoy:

• Delirium/Half-Conscious/Dazed

• Mind Control/Hypnosis/Brainwashing (I guess you could say that I tend to... lose my mind over this one)

• Drugged/Spiked

• Sick/Fever

• Just any loss of situational awareness, really

• Fainting (I'm tempted to write a tip post for this one, because there's some underrated things that I think some people might really like to mess around with! Also because I might've had a whole hyperfixation on this stuff.)

• Lab Whump (so fun to read, oddly difficult to write)

• Starvation

• Pushed to the limit, and then some. Doesn't matter who's doing the pushing.

The tropes I don't so much enjoy:

I don't really have any triggers when it comes to reading, but there are a few things that can make me uncomfy.

• Sexual Non-Con. (Gives the heebie jeebies)

• Oddly Specific/Unorthodox Whumps (Yanking teeth, yanking fingernails, putting something under fingernails, etc. More heebie jeebies.)

• Visually speaking, I recently learned that I get triggered by watching somebody who's obviously suffering/dying, but everybody around them tries to dismiss it or act like they're fine. It's fine to write and read (love it in word form, actually), but as soon as it's a video, I just can't.

-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-

YIPPEE, A MASTERLIST!!!

OC intros

Mist

(One down... 15(?) more to go.)

The only OC piece I've posted so far (that may change soon 👀)

Prompts/Ideas (Feel free to use!! And please show me if you do, I'd love to see what you do with my funky lil scenarios!)

Baby's first contribution!

Blank slate

Secret punishments

Trapped

"I don't matter."

Suddenly ripped away

Stressed out caretakers

Eavesdropping caretaker

Helpful angst

Angy whumper

Dizzy whumpees

DISGUSTANG!

Chill out in the freezer

Chill out in the freezer (cont.)

Ask games that I am desperate someone contributes to. Please. My askbox is so empty that there's cobwebs forming in there.

Blog ask game

OC introduction ask game

93 OC questions

Oddly specific OC asks

Tags worth mentioning:

Check out #good soup for all of the good shit

#delicious soup is a tier above the good soup

#ultimate soup is the best of the best. The golden buzzer of soups. I am addicted to that post and regularly return to it. Only one post has it right now.

And that's all for now! Thanks for reading through all of this, and I hope you guys all have a great day/night/life!!

[destinationtoast]

first thoughts on Ted Lasso s03e05

(I had to watch it without captions, so I missed a lot. hoping to watch again with captions later.)

I'm pretty displeased with the Shandy storyline. I had so many fun backstories in mind for the two of them from back when they were roommates, and so many directions their current relationship could go... but that was far more boring and annoying an outcome than anything I'd considered.

Roy's description of breaking into a bedroom and beating someone seems way too premeditated for how we've ever seen Roy's anger work. (It's also very dark, but I have no problem with dark. it just doesn't seem like the right kind of dark for Roy, imo.)

bullying doesn't usually happen when one kid loses his temper at another... that's two kids getting in a fight. maybe his teachers mischaracterized the incident, but if Henry's actually bullying, it's going to take more to get past it.

kind of weird that Richmond was all wins two episodes ago thanks to Zava, then all losses this episode in spite of Zava (but with no explanation of what changed, unless I missed it)... maybe it would have made more sense from a writing perspective to have him suddenly quit at the beginning of the episode, leading to their string of losses? The quitting was also so abrupt... I hope we find out later that Rupert bribed him to quit, or something -- but since they'd been losing anyway, it's not like that seemed necessary.

It was entertaining to see the coaches begging for Trent to give advice, but I wish he'd been able to actually join in a little more then instead of just immediately getting shot down.

I didn't buy the turnaround of Jade starting to feel sympathy toward Nate. She never stopped smirking at him (and her boss offering him the best service made no difference to how she treated him), so I fully expected her to keep smirking when his date walked out on him.

I still hate the psychic storyline. I am happy for more time spent on Rebecca, but not this. (I'm also allergic to fertility storylines, but i don't object to that in the same way as the dumb psychic storyline.) Less staring at green matchbooks and running into exes just so someone can say a random line from the psychic, please... more interactions with other characters we care about!

omg Man City... I'm gonna need SO MUCH more fic about young Beard and Ted!! :D

I'm super into Keeley and Jack, and the way that they hooked up. I still am going to fantastize about Keeley getting her footballer threesomes, but now she has a girlfriend, too. XD (Can't see Jack hooking up with either Roy or Jamie, lol)

I'm going to be annoyed if we never get any further discussion of what exactly went down between Roy and Keeley when they broke up.

definitely my least favorite episode of this season, but it had a couple very bright spots.

[barbex]

Hi! It's me again can I get ❝  if you keep waiting until you’re done ‘working on yourself’ before you let yourself be with the person you love,  you’re never gonna be with them.  and they’ll find someone else who is brave enough to give them a chance to love them exactly how they already are.  ❞ (and here I'm cheating a little bit) in the "To Kiss" storyline, either Anders giving advice to Hawke or Fenris or Justice or getting advice or a sequel or a prequel 🥺or any male ship with Anders hehehe

Comrade! I love you.

I wrote a second chapter to the "To Kiss" fic because I this is such a great prompt and I'm such a sucker for your praise.

---

Having sex, like they had for the last few weeks, is something entirely different than kissing. Anders had plenty of sex in his life, but he hadn't kissed many people. Sex is fun, but kissing... that's a whole nother level of intimacy.

Fenris kisses him. In the middle of the plaza in Hightown, wearing nothing but his leather pants and a blanket, Fenris takes his face in his hands and kisses him with all his might.

Anders' knees go weak as Fenris presses closer, his lips soft but demanding against his own, his tongue dipping into his mouth, his hands touching him, caressing him. It's everything Anders ever wished for, it's more than he ever hoped for. 

It's too good. Too good to be true.

Anders draws back, pressing his hands against Fenris' shoulders. "No, stop."

Fenris stares at him, hurt clear in his expression. "Why?"

"This is not... right."

"Why do you think so?"

It's wrong, it's all so wrong. "Someone like me can't be with you." 

A frown settles on Fenris' face. "Because you're a mage and I'm an elf?"

"Because I'm a mage." Anders shakes his head. "Not because you're an elf, never that."

"I don't believe you." Fenris' balled fist begins to glow. "I should have known. Never should have trusted a mage." 

"I'm sorry. Go to Hawke." He turns away, not looking back to where he left Fenris standing. The stairs down from Hightown are long, but they take him out of Fenris' sight quickly. 

The days blur into each other as he throws himself into work. The foundries and mines, and the general mess that is Kirkwall, provide him with a steady stream of patients. When he doesn't heal, he prepares potions and salves, keeping his hands busy. Hawke rarely calls on him for excursions, unwilling to miss out on Fenris' fighting power and equally unwilling to suffer the ice cold air between Fenris and Anders.

It doesn't matter. There is so much to do. He's writing another letter to the Divine, laying out his arguments with quotes from the chant, proving with the old words that the chantry has no right to oppress mages like this. He's deep in thought, arguing with Justice over the language, when the door to the clinic flies open and crashes against the wall. 

"Anders!" Hawke calls out with unusual urgency. 

Anders rushes into the main room and takes in the situation. Varric and Hawke look like they fell into a pool of blood, but it's probably mostly not theirs because they still walk upright. Unlike Fenris between them, propped up on Varric's shoulder and clinging to Hawke's arm. 

"Put him here." Anders points to the table he's using for his examinations, the one where he installed a lantern right overhead that he now lights with a flick of his fingers. Varric and Hawke set Fenris onto the table and arrange him on his back. He's pale, and his eyes flutter. Barely conscious. "Water, clean water into that jug," Anders orders, not caring who reacts as long as someone will. 

His first diagnostic scan reveals several strains and cuts, but the main problem is the obvious dagger in Fenris' stomach, which wisely nobody removed. The loss of blood is still significant, dangerously so, and Anders draws water from the jug and threads it into Fenris' bloodstream. It's a poor substitute for actual blood, but it will give him the time he needs to deal with the injury.

It takes nearly an hour, with Hawke pulling the dagger out bit by bit, while Anders fixes intestines, removes internal liquid where it doesn't belong and mends tissue, layer by layer. At last, the wound is closed, a general healing spell takes care of most other injuries, and Anders has just enough mana left to heal Varric and Hawke of minor cuts and scratches. Finally, his hands shaking from having spend all his energy, he sits down and Hawke and Varric lift Fenris onto a cot with fresh blankets. He watches Fenris, still but breathing.

And he breaks down. 

Great, violent sobs wreck his body, making him shake all over. He nearly lost him. Fenris, who has crawled out of the worst life he could have and fought like mad for his freedom, such a fighter, such a bright light, and he nearly died on Anders' table. 

"Hey, hey now," Varric says as he sits down next to him on the floor, handing him a handkerchief. "He'll live. You saved him." 

"I nearly... I nearly didn't." Anders presses the handkerchief to his face. "I wasn't there, because we had this stupid fight and he hates me now and because of that I wasn't there and he nearly died, and if he would have died I never..."

"Never what?" Varric asks gently. 

Anders looks up, noting that Hawke must have left. She never was very good with emotional outbreaks. Varric watches him, waiting for an answer, and Anders glances back to Fenris, breathing evenly under a blanket full of blood speckles.

"I have to clean that up, the blanket is too soiled, I have to —" He scrambles up, pulling a clean blanket from his stash to drape it over Fenris' unconscious body. 

Varric stands up too and steps to his side, putting a hand on Anders' arm. "Never what?" Varric asks again.

Anders' hands clench into the clean blanket. "Never... never told him how much he means to me. How wonderful and amazing he is. How much he deserves. That I... I..."

"That you love him?" 

Anders stares at Fenris, at his face, looking so much younger now without his usual frown. "I can't."

"Why not? Is he not good enough?"

"Are you out of your mind? Fenris is perfect. I'm the mess."

Varric sighs. "If you keep waiting until you're some sort of mystical better person before you let yourself be with this man you love, you’ll never gonna be with him. And one day he’ll find someone else who —"

Anders turns to Varric, a hysterical laugh braking out of him like a sob. "A mystical better person? There's nothing mystical about this. I'm a mage!"

"And I'm a romance author, and I happen to know that forbidden love —"

"This isn't one of your stories!" Anders cries out. "I'm an apostate, I'll never be free, I can never give him the life he fought so hard for. I'm a mess, dangerous and unstable, possessed. Death and destruction follow me around. I'm nothing but everything he hates." He brushes the hair away from Fenris' face. "I hope he'll find someone else one day who will give him all he deserves."

Fenris groans, his eyelids fluttering again. Anders quickly puts his hand on Fenris' forehead and casts a gentle sleep spell to keep him in a pain-free sleep for a while longer. He finally exchanges the bloody blanket for the clean one, tucking it close around his body. Feeling the coldness of Fenris' skin, he chucks a small fireball into the oven to keep the room warm.

"He doesn't talk much, but he's been even more broody than usual in these last few weeks," Varric says. "I think he misses you."

"Bless your romantic heart," Anders says with a sad smile, "but this is the real world." 

Varric shakes his head and pulls a chair to the cot. "Why don't you get some sleep? I'll watch him." 

Anders wants to protest, but his eyes keep drooping. With his last strength, he drags himself to his cot and falls onto it, face first. He's asleep with his second breath. 

The door opening wakes him in the morning. Lirenne tries to be quiet when she comes in, but the circle ingrained certain reflexes deeply in him and they have saved him from templar raids here in Darktown as well. 

"Good morning, Lirenne," Anders says as he steps out of his curtained-off corner of the clinic. He glances at Fenris, still asleep on the cot, and Varric, his head resting against the back of the chair. He looks asleep but he makes a sign with his hand that everything is alright.

"What happened to your friend?" Lirenne asks.

"Dagger wound to his stomach."

Lirenne pulls a face. "Nasty stuff. There's a new group running around from Antiva. They love daggers." She shakes her head, mumbling something to herself, and begins to clean up the mess from last night. Anders wants to help her, but then the first patient stumbles in from the night shift at the foundry. It's not the only patient for a while, but by lunchtime, things quiet down. 

Anders uses the break to wash himself and change into a clean shirt. Then he checks on Fenris, who still sleeps. Varric still sits in his chair, scribbling into a notebook. 

"You can go home, Varric." Anders casts a diagnostic spell over Fenris, satisfied with his healing progress. 

"You know, I haven't been this productive in a long while, with nobody wanting anything from me." Varric stretches his neck and turns onto a new page in his notebook. "I'll stay a bit longer." 

Anders looks at Fenris, his heart hurting like a stab wound. He brushes over his hair, letting his fingertip linger on the stretched shell of Fenris' ear. "He'll wake up soon, maybe you can take him home then. He will not want to stay longer than he has to."

Turning away, he nearly screams when suddenly a hand closes around his wrist like a vise. He turns back, looking into Fenris' wide-open eyes, his hand tingling with protective magic at the perceived danger. 

"Mage," Fenris growls. 

"Yes, that's me. Glad you're back with us." His stomach flips at the hard stare Fenris gives him.

Fenris' other hand goes to his stomach, carefully poking the fresh wound. "It looks like you saved my life." 

Anders peels Fenris' fingers from his wrist and looks away. "It's what I do. Varric can take you home once you feel strong enough." 

"Mage. Anders." 

Hearing his name in Fenris' voice, stops him in his tracks. He turns back slowly, rubbing his hands to warm them, as he suddenly feels cold. 

Fenris frowns at him. "I do not appreciate getting knocked out with a sleep spell."

"I know, but you needed to rest and then you wouldn't feel pain so I — wait." He narrows his eyes. "How do you even know what I did cast?"

A smile twitches at the corner of Fenris' mouth. "I was awake."

"No, you..."

"It's vital for a slave to pretend to sleep convincingly." 

Anders thinks back to what he says and dread settles like a wet coat over his shoulders. "So you heard..." He closes his eyes for a moment to harden his heart. "Well, mock me all you want then."

Fenris grabs his hand before he can turn away. "I will not mock you." He pulls, surprisingly strong. "Forgive me, I can't sit up yet." His arm slings around Anders' neck and he draws him close. "I don't understand why you think you're not worthy of love. You are a powerful mage who uses his powers in the best of ways. You give your heart to fight for the kind of life I want."

Staring into Fenris' eyes, Anders sets his hand on Fenris' cot, holding his weight over him. "I'm a mage. You hate me." 

Fenris' fingers clench at the back of Anders' neck. "I don't hate you. I never did. I feared you at first when I saw your power but now I know." He draws him closer, their lips nearly touching. "I know now who you are. I know what you do."

"You could have anybody," Anders whispers. "You could do so much better." 

Fenris' lips brush over Anders'. "I don't think I can."

"I'll never be free." 

"We'll be free together, as much as we can." Fenris pulls back, looking into Anders' eyes. "I am yours, if you let me."

Tears well in Anders' eyes as he surges forward. "Yes, love, yes." And he finally kisses Fenris.

"I knew it was a good idea to stay," Varric says as he madly scribbles into his notebook. 

Anders laughs out, pressing his forehead against Fenris'. "He's gonna write a book about us." 

"I know." Fenris glares at the dwarf. "You better make it a good one."

[jazzforthecaptain]

Guess who's back on her Fast & Furious bullshit.

Is the new movie good?

I mean, how do you define good? Did I have to suspend disbelief about a lot of things (gravity, friction, inertia, technology, projectiles, the towing capacity of a Dodge Charger, etc.)? Yes. Absolutely. 100% from about 20 minutes into the film.

Was it fun? Fuuuuuck yes.

Did it pass the found family vibe check? For sure. It referenced people I'd almost forgotten about. They pulled the original actors to play all of them. The movie even has a discussion with itself about how quickly and completely people still get pulled into Dom's orbit, which is a great bit.

There's some eyeroll inducing lines - there always are - but this iteration seems more aware of itself than past films, and the writing is better than 8 and 9. Even when someone says something worthy of a comic book font, it matches the tone of the scene. The action sequences are outrageous and the movie knows it. It's fine with it. We live in a world where the heroes discover a massive explosive in the back of their vehicle and nobody even says "WHAT?" This are roads we know.

It's fun. It's a greatest hits review of the good stuff from F&F. Charlize Theron is somehow better in this than she was when she first showed up in the franchise to chew the scenery. John Cena is, frankly, adorable in his role. And Jason Momoa's sheer chaos energy - this man has range. Over the years I've watched him go from Ronon Dex to Conan the Barbarian to Aquaman to Duncan Idaho, but I never expected Dante Reyes. There's so much personality in this character that it escapes into everything he's wearing and driving. Momoa's humor and comedic timing shines. Dante makes a Joker for Dom's Batman and his Justice League of associates, literally assembled out of DC and Marvel actors.

The plot is whatever. It mostly connects, even if it pushes past belief before the first half hour. Did you come here for the plot? This franchise? The one with the car chase against a submarine, against a tank, against a plane? The franchise where a shadowy agency airdrops muscle cars into a combat zone? Where our heroes drive a car out of one high rise and into an adjacent high rise? Where they launched a Fiero into space to ram a satellite and hitchhiked onto the ISS?

I stopped being here for the plot after Fast Five. Honestly I should have given up sooner but what can I say? I'm stubborn. I mean, for a movie where people chase cartoonish bombs through Roman fountains and back cars out of low-flying planes, it's ironic how ultimately safe and predictable the storyline is. But like... it's a pretty satisfying story. It's a bedtime story for a baby Toretto, where the good guys face impossible odds, get framed for something they didn't do, and have to fight their way out of corner after corner with ever-escalating stakes; but where love and community always saves the day, and nobody ever really dies.

So was it good? I feel like that's the wrong question. Was it what I wanted? Yeah. Things suck right now and this was a silly, feel-good treat for myself. It was fun to get dressed up in my Fast & Furious shirt and go to the theater. It reminded me of all the things I love about the franchise and better still, it owns the franchise from start to finish. It doesn't try to be anything else. The Fast & the Furious, Fast & Furious, and Fast Five are always going to be where my heart is. This touched on those vibes without dwelling too long on them. When it hurt, it was a good hurt, and then we got on with things.