#I hope the title wasn't misleading

[danses-with-dogmeat]

Ooooh! Show me something from warm and fuzzies!

Ahh, the warm and fuzzies are just sweet little things that people have sent me in asks and dms and such that I look to when I need a little serotonin boost and inspiration 😅

Not sure if the title of the doc was misleading or not 😅

But here you go! A little tidbit (thank you to the folks who sent them!) And thanks for the interest in it my lovely! 😁 (also, I hope you're doing well!! <3)

[genericpuff]

Lore Olympus just pulled off the biggest whiff in webtoon history.

I promised I would choose one of two headlines and of course, this is the one we wound up with. But should we really be surprised? Rachel herself seemed to be telling on herself down to the minutes leading up to the finale, fully confirming to us that yes, she's been writing this comic at the last minute, by the seat of her pants, for ages now.

(that second one was literally posted TWENTY FUCKING MINUTES BEFORE THE COMIC UPDATED.)

Welp, let's get into it. Possibly the last essay I'll ever write about this dumpster fire of a comic (but probably not, let's be real LOL)

CONTENT WARNING: DISCUSSION OF SEXUAL ASSAULT AND FASTPASS SPOILERS FOR THE SERIES FINALE AHEAD!

Holy crap, where to even start with this. I knew it was going to be bad. I knew it was going to be rushed. I knew it wasn't ever going to live up to what I had hoped it would be years ago when I was still a diehard fan.

But I didn't think it was going to fall quite this hard. Despite bracing myself for the worst, Rachel has once again let my expectations down through a final display of explosive mediocrity and disappointment.

Yes, the episode is called "You're Welcome", and yes, that instant "ick" you're feeling is the exact same as what we're all feeling. This title plays into the dialogue later, but what a shitty, lowkey mean-spirited title for the series finale.

Now, before we get into the actual episode, the WT ads for this are just... so desperate and misleading.

They are trying SO HARD to hype up something that isn't there, and at the last minute to boot, because Rachel definitely hadn't written any of this ahead of time.

First off, the bit about the gods being in "eternal chaos" of course isn't a stake worth worrying over because Gaia literally does away with Ouranos in the first 5 panels.

Did you really think I was joking about that 5 panels thing?

That's it. That's the death of Ouranos. As mysteriously and quickly as he arrived, he was gone, after Gaia ripped out of him what appeared to be some purple sunny side up - but it's actually, in fact, Apollo.

And that's when we start to get some of the worst dialogue I've ever seen throughout LO. Remember when I said LO's dialogue was like Shenmue 3? Welp, the finale decided to continue that tradition and further fuel the suspicion that this entire thing was written by ChatGPT.

Oh, by the way, that "thank you, ma'am" was Artemis' first and last line of the episode. So once again, just like in Episode 248, we're completely robbed of her reaction to Apollo being a rapist piece of shit and the character development she could have had as a supporting character. The women in this "feminist retelling" really couldn't be more half-baked.

Gaia stumbles upon Persephone, and I'm not even gonna fucking bother showing the panels where Gaia says it's time to "make things right" because they literally don't matter. Why don't they matter? Because Rachel just had to get in one more pointless time skip.

We're shown a sequence of pointless images that I'm not gonna show as I don't want to waste my image limit on them, depicting Hades having a sad day because his small wife isn't with him and oh nooo what could have happened?? Did Persephone finally divorce him ??

Nah, we couldn't possibly have an actually happy ending in this comic. Instead we get a completely pointless phone conversation between Hades and Hecate-

Not only is the grammar particularly bad in this episode, but the actual script-writing is atrocious. We literally did not need this phone conversation to happen because-

-we're cutting BACK TO THE PRESENT THAT WE JUST CUT AWAY FROM FOR A 3 MONTH TIME SKIP. FOR NO REASON BESIDES SHOWING HADES BE SAD OVER SOMETHING THAT ACTUALLY ISN'T THAT BIG A DEAL, AS YOU'RE ABOUT TO SEE.

I- I LITERALLY HAVE NO WORDS. I HAVE NO WORDS TO DESCRIBE WHAT THE FUCK THIS IS. ALL I CAN HEAR IN MY BRAIN IS THE LEGEND OF ZELDA ITEM GET MUSIC-

-BECAUSE THIS WHOLE THING SUDDENLY SOUNDS LIKE SOME CONTRIVED FETCH QUEST. WHAT DO YOU MEAN HADES AND PERSEPHONE HAVE PROVEN 'TRUE LOVE' IS REAL? WHAT DO YOU MEAN THEY HAVEN'T USED 'LOVE' AS A FORCE FOR DESTRUCTION?? ARE WE FORGETTING THAT HADES MUTILATED A GUY IN THE NAME OF 'LOVE'? THAT PERSEPHONE LITERALLY INVADED THE HOME OF HADES' CANONICAL FIRST WIFE BECAUSE SHE FELT MILDLY THREATENED BY HER?

This whole concept of "true love" that Rachel is trying to convey feels so juvenile especially for a series that has sold itself as being mature and thought-provoking and progressive.

HAHAHA SO FUNNYYYYYYY why does Rachel write like this. this is, at best, the writing of a 13 year old on fanfiction.net, which I SHOULD KNOW, because I WAS ONE OF THEM. BUT I'M 28 NOW AND RACHEL HAS ANOTHER 10 YEARS ON ME.

Okay, this is the part where I'm CONVINCED Rachel either just mashed this into the episode in the MINUTES leading up to its release, or she used ChatGPT or something. Because NONE of this dialogue makes any sense. Beyond how stilted and lifeless it is (seriously, this dialogue reads like something from Empress Theresa) Gaia is clearly meant to 'replace' Erebus here which I SHOULDN'T HAVE TO EVEN EXPLAIN IS SO FUCKING DUMB, but ALSO what is even Persephone trying to communicate here? "That is true, but it was a deal I was willing to make and ties me to the Underworld. Please don't change me." What? Gaia hasn't even insinuated that she's going to do anything to Persephone, why is Persephone immediately jumping to this conclusion? What does 'changing' her mean? Is she asking Gaia not to force her to sacrifice something (which she never did)? Or is she asking Gaia not to strip her of her Underworld status? Because again, why is that even something Gaia would do?

Maybe this is harsh but I'm pretty sure even Empress Theresa is more coherent than this, what in the flying fuck is Gaia talking about?

"I can just see the potential for conflict! To relieve you from the burden of the whats, the hows, and wheres." Like... okay, first of all, that second sentence isn't even a complete sentence, it's a dependent clause left hanging, but also what the fuck does this MEAN. Is she EXCITED for the conflict but then contradicting herself by saying she wants to relieve Persephone of that conflict? Or is she saying she can see the conflict it would cause for Persephone to have to perform duties in both realms and trying to insinuate that she's going to relieve her of those complications?

Here's what I think happened - I think that second 'sentence' wasn't supposed to be a sentence, but the start of the sentence to the next panel-

So with that theory in mind, the sentence becomes, "To relieve you from the burden of the whats, the hows, and wheres, you are to spend three months in the Mortal Realm to do spring and the rest of the year in the Underworld. That seems fair to me."

It's still a very poorly written line of dialogue, but at least with that fix in mind it makes sense. But man, you can really fucking tell this episode was submitted at the last minute because that's a serious syntax error that should NOT have happened in this two-time-Eisner-winning comic.

Errors aside, it's clear that Rachel is following through on having Persephone spend only three months in the Mortal Realm, rather than the traditional six. There ARE other translations that have that number closer to four, but those four are the time she spends in the UNDERWORLD, meaning she's always spending either equal or MORE time in the Mortal Realm. Of course, Rachel doesn't want her self-insert small wife power fantasy to actually have to be separated from Hades despite this being a retelling of The Abduction of Persephone, so instead of her spending three months in the Underworld, she's now spending them in the Mortal Realm, literally doubling the MINIMUM amount of time (four months) she was originally meant to reside in the Underworld.

But oh no, apparently those three months are STILL NOT SHORT ENOUGH FOR PERSEPHONE-

Of course, Rachel "Retcon" Smythe had to have her cake and eat it too. I always worried something like this was a possibility, but I never thought she would actually prove me right - not only is Persephone only separated from Hades for three months out of the year, but actually he can visit her any time he wants to, so really, they're not separating at all.

I think Rachel needs to look up "reunion" in the dictionary, because if you can visit each other any time, then that means the 'reunions' are no longer special occasions. This completely removes any semblance of depth or meaning from all of the storytelling leading up to this, all of it with the expectation that this was a retelling of the Abduction of Persephone, because that's what Rachel said it was going to be. At this point it's safe to say that Rachel has zero business attempting to "retell" mythological stories, because she doesn't even seem to grasp the concept of why they were written the way they were to begin with. Either that, or she really just doesn't care, and the only reason for making LO a Greek myth comic at all was to propel her career.

This also brings me back to those promotional ads, the other one that posed the question, "Will sacrifice be enough to bring these two back together?"

This is stating the obvious, but I need to make it perfectly clear - Hades and Persephone have never sacrificed a single thing. The only thing they could POSSIBLY quantify as a "sacrifice" is "not being tied at the hip for a few hours", because even Persephone going on the equivalent of a work trip next door is apparently enough to make Hades sad as we saw in the 3 month time skip panels. Why is Hades so sad and lonely if he can visit her any time? Why is he acting like he hasn't seen her in years when he's actually on his way to reunite with her? Why is Hecate calling to ask him if he's "okay" as if he JUST got separated from her, but actually he's about to literally go to the Mortal Realm to reunite with her?

Hades hasn't 'sacrificed' a damn thing, neither has Persephone. They've both always gotten exactly what they wanted, even at the cost of breaking the story's own established rules. Their 'sacrifice' is equivalent to what billionaires think are 'sacrifices' when they can't buy another yacht or go on that third overseas vacation for the month.

And even outside of this episode, when have these two ever sacrificed anything?

I've tried so hard to think of what sacrifices have been made by the characters within LO, and I genuinely can only think of one - and that was when Artemis chose to go to the Mortal Realm with Persephone instead of staying with her family in Olympus. That was a genuine, selfless sacrifice, made by a character who has been shelved in favor of focusing on the self-centered pink and blue airheads.

Being forced to be apart for a couple days to do the equivalent of a day job and whining about it the whole time is not a 'sacrifice'. Neither of these characters have ever sacrificed anything, they just feel like sacrifices because they have the integrity and empathy of soggy cardboard.

sigh Anyways, we're back in the present and Hades and Persephone immediately decide they're gonna have sex because ofc, and then we get this gem of a panel-

MMMMMM

FUNNYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY JOKE

For some reason it's just a common thing for people to just be in Hades' home, and they can't seem to get any privacy as a result of this, but I digress. Turns out they still need to have that coronation for Persephone.

There is... so much wrong in these three panels.

First, to state the immediate issues - why the fuck are they mentioning Apollo at Persephone's coronation? Like first of all, no shit Apollo isn't gonna be there, but also, if this is supposed to be an event for and about Persephone becoming Queen of the Underworld, then why in the WORLD is Apollo even being mentioned? This is supposed to be a "feminist retelling" where the victims are empowered and heal from their trauma, but LO once again can't try to show any sort of positive growth for the victims without bringing up the assaulters and giving them screen time. It just goes to show that Rachel's idea of "healing" is purely rooted in the revenge, and not the growth. It's a very high schooler approach to this subject, hellbent on showcasing how all the meanies from the past are losers now and life just sucked for them forever, but inadvertently proving its own point that the victims haven't and can't move on because the narrative is spending so much time on caring what's going on with the abusers. It's the "I don't care! Look at how little I care! I'll prove it to you by putting in the effort of showing you how little I care!" approach, it doesn't really feel like moving on.

It's not about how Persephone and his other victims could have grown and healed, no, Rachel always needs to highlight just how much worse the bullies and haters and abusers are doing to make the victims seem like they've healed by comparison. Don't get me wrong, I can understand wanting to showcase the downfall of a character like Apollo, but this just... isn't the right context for that? Because it's once again taking attention away from the victim to focus on the abuser. It's once again spending screentime on the voices of the oppressors rather than the oppressed.

And speaking of, what the fuck is this punishment even? I knew Rachel wasn't gonna be able to resolve this plotline properly, she never had the capability to, but ... community service? Are you fucking for real? What is this even a punishment for even? Was this EXCLUSIVELY the SA, or does this ALSO include his attempts to overthrow Zeus by poisoning him, nearly killing Daphne, Eris, Eros and Psyche, trapping Eros and Psyche in an enchanted basement, and framing his father's 'death' on his half-sister? Because if so, how in the world is anyone content with community service? He hasn't even been turned into a mortal, HE'S STILL A GOD, so what's to stop him from going "WE'LL MEET AGAIN, SPIDERMAN" and trying something else? How is this a reasonable resolution in ANY context?

This is why I talked at length about what an issue it was to hide what Apollo really admitted to. Because now we really don't know what exactly he confessed to, and thus we can never really see the point of views of the victims outside of just Persephone - and we still don't even get Persephone's, because she just walks away from him and then he gets eaten by Ouranos and next we see of him is him doing community service! Once again, any emotional development that could be given to Persephone and the other victims is stripped away to make room for the point of views of the oppressive men. In this, the two-time-Eisner-winning "feminist comic" that is LO.

And that brings us to the "where are they now" segment. Yes, as we all feared, there's a "where are they now" segment, and it's as rushed and underwhelming as we ought to have expected it to be.

There is just... so much to unpack here, and yes, all of it is delivered in the dumbest way possible that only raises more questions than answers.

So Rhea and Metis are just back and we're not gonna talk about the implications of them being alive again?

Dionysus is a 3 month year old in the body of a teenager / young adult, and his mom is just alive now because Hades conveniently got his hands on more ambrosia and brought her back to life offscreen? But somehow Triptomelus and Hedone are still child-sized relative to their ages?

How did they 'heal Zeus'? And why is he so content with losing his power as King and Apollo being sentenced to community service after making an attempt on his life? How does he feel about the letter that Hera gave him? Did he even read it?

Where the fuck is Hebe in all of this? Is she okay? Do people still think it was her who put Zeus in a coma? Or did Apollo confess to that, too?

You're telling me Hera and Echo are just in a relationship now despite the fact that Hera is literally racist towards nymphs and there is ZERO reason for them to have a relationship in the comic beyond the fans making gratuitous headcanons out of it? How is Rachel, a bisexual woman, so bad at writing actual lesbian relationships and giving them the same amount of attention as the heterocis ones without shoving them into the background as props for insincere queer rep? And what about Hera herself? How did she overcome her role as the Goddess of Marriage to finally divorce Zeus?

"Ares is still a dog!" Haha! Ares is still a Persephone simp! Happy end!

Why is Eros just standing there smiling at the camera struggling to be seen past Hedone who's just floating right in front of him? You're telling me there wasn't a better place to put her out of that entire panel?

"Hades and Thanatos have been making more time for each other. Sometimes they even have a conversation." I'm sorry, is this supposed to be funny? The man abused Thanatos for years, treated him as just a lowly employee when he was literally his adopted son, and now you're trying to play it off as a joke that they're "making more time for each other"? What the fuck is this?

TGOEM disbanded? Why? What about the women who were genuinely a part of it?

Also, Artemis and Selene are just good friends now because reasons? Because they're both affiliated with the moon, I guess? Why is Selene even in this comic-

"They are still looking for Kassandra". Who? And why? This feels like such a last minute addition to acknowledge a character that the comic spent WEEKS foreshadowing only to have her finally appear as a pointless McGuffin, but it's so last minute that it does nothing. I'm assuming it's Eros and Psyche looking for her, but like... why can't they find her? They're gods, tracking down one mortal shouldn't be that difficult LOL ???

And also, where the fuck is Leto?? You're telling me she was an accessory - maybe manipulating Apollo, maybe not - but we don't see what happened to her? Is she just back to being a social outcast then? jesus christ this comic isn't finished-

Kassandra is where the "where are they now" sequence ends, and we're treated to one final horribly written dialogue scene between Hades and Persephone, where they tell each other how much they love each other in a desperate attempt to convince the audience that this is, in fact, a romance.

There's this thing in romances called chemistry, and if you're good at writing it, you shouldn't have to write dialogue like this. You should be able to see how much the characters love each other through their actions, through their small behaviors around each other. It's not always about what they say out loud, it's about what they don't have to say, because when two people really share that close of a bond based on love and trust and chemistry, words often aren't necessary.

Hades and Persephone do not have that chemistry. It has been apparent for years now, but this final exchange really is the nail in the coffin. There are no microexpressions or subtle emotions, no subtlety in their word choice, and nothing unique setting their voices apart. It's all just "wow thank you for being such a wonderful amazing partner, you are amazing and I love you" word salad that has to do all the heavy lifting for the completely non-existent chemistry that's been at its absolute worst throughout this entire season.

And worst of all, despite this story trying so hard to be focused around Persephone, around her story, her trauma and her healing, her voice... it's still all just about Hades. In the end, she's thanking Hades, and forcing him to say "you're welcome". All of it is trying so hard to convince us that Hades has been a positive addition to her life, that she 'owes' so much to him, but we've obviously seen plenty throughout the comic that begs to differ. And even if he were a better person than he is, it still doesn't change the fact that once again, the men are being held up above the women, with the women being grateful to the men who choose them. LO can try its hardest to convince people that it's feminist, but it is, at best, reinforcing the very same structures of the patriarchal system that it claims to despise and rebel against.

We do get one line from Hades acknowledging Persephone's part in the relationship-

-and it falls so fucking flat because it's still about him and what she does for him, and because nothing about their relationship was built on any sort of organic chemistry. There was a lot more chemistry back in S1, but it was still predicated on Hades lusting after a vulnerable 19 year old girl.

Yep, and that's it. That's the end.

Except it isn't because Rachel wanted to try and be smart by including an 'epilogue' that's really just stretching the episode out pointlessly for another few panels. And of course, we had to get another time skip, just a final dose of salt in the wound, this time to years ahead when we inevitably had to reconnect with Persephone and Hades in the future after Melinoe was born.

To recap, Melinoe doesn't remember... because Hades had Morpheus erase her memories.

This plotline has really started to give me the ick because it actually feels very familiar. Bear with me here, because I'm gonna go on a bit of a tangent about my own original work, but it's because I wrote a plotline exactly like this years ago.

There's this... turning point, in Time Gate: Reaper, when the main character Uzuki is kidnapped by a Reaper (see: undead) who wants to experiment on her in the hopes that he can somehow gain her abilities to bond her soul with others (which later allows her to literally possess people after she becomes a Reaper herself). Mitsuhiro, the male deuteragonist who kickstarts the plot by telling Uzuki she's got a limited amount of time left to live (which he knows thanks to his magical death timers that mark themselves on his skin), feels an immense amount of guilt after finding out she was kidnapped by the Reapers (at this point she's been gone for three months), as they were originally after him; he worries that she was made a target simply due to him associating himself with her, and vows to rescue her.

With the help of some other spunky teenagers and anime trope characters, Mitsuhiro does eventually rescue Uzuki - but for the three months she had been gone, she had been tortured, abused, and experimented on, causing her mind to split and for her to lose any sense of awareness of who Mitsuhiro or her other friends were. She was no longer herself after the hell she had been through.

Mitsuhiro's solution to this is to have Springlock - another Reaper with motivations that are not yet clear to the cast - erase her memory. This is not a light decision that comes without consequences - for the remaining duration of the story, Uzuki is plagued by night terrors and panic attacks, unable to really remember what happened to her aside from whatever brief flashbacks her brain recalls in its haze of memory loss. She is traumatized, both physically and mentally. She has lost three months of her life and memories, and doesn't know how to explain why she's covered in scars that are still healing, why she's missing organs, why she's now blind in one eye, and why the sound of scraping metal and ticking clocks gives her panic attacks. Mitsuhiro has convinced her friends that she's suffering from memory loss due to trauma, but only he knows the truth that he forcefully took her memories away from her, without her consent. This was not the right choice to make. It was not noble of him, it was not a grand gesture of love, he made a decision on her behalf without her consent that has now resulted in her becoming a nervous wreck. Sure, she still would have had PTSD if she remembered what happened, but at least she would know why and could then seek adequate help. Without those memories, she has nowhere to begin to heal. And so we see the consequences of this throughout [AFTERBIRTH] and even the upcoming Thread of Fate. It is a long-term problem that is not going to be solved overnight, especially not with Mitsuhiro withholding information from her.

Reading about Melinoe having dreams about her experiences trapped in Tartarus with Kronos ... it felt familiar enough that I had to talk about why the insinuations of this are so fucked up. I know there are people who are gonna handwave it away as "she's just a kid", "these are gods so what does it matter", etc. but ... it just feels like such an oversight to have Hades effectively erase her memory of her trauma and then hint at them still being present in her mind through her dreams. She did not ask for that. And the fact that she's now dreaming about it all does not bode well. But we're supposed to think Hades made the correct choice, regardless.

But none of this is effectively expanded on or explained, because we get one final scene of Melinoe and Demeter visiting Persephone, who has just given birth to... Makaria?

So it turns out Persephone and Hades are just able to have biological children now. Don't know why, but of course they both look exactly like Hades.

What I was really confused by though is the fact that it's Makaria and not Brimos. Do you remember Brimos? The child that was foreshadowed in Hades' original fantasy dream sequence about his future children about Persephone?

Either Rachel completely forgot about him, or she saw all the criticism over the fact that Brimos isn't a confirmed child of Hades and Persephone (rather, an epithet that can apply to basically any Underworld god including Persephone and Hades) and that her "research" was dependent on a book she read when she was 13 and decided to axe that. But she went to the effort of establishing that all the dreams Hades had were , in fact, canon visions of the future, so good job Rachel, you created yet another plothole on top of the hundreds of others.

And that's where the series ends, on a final nuclear-family-photo of Persephone, Hades, Melinoe, and Makaria. Of course, Dionysus and Thanatos aren't present in this shot because this is Lore Olympus and only biological children count /hj

Why Rachel couldn't move the "the end" portion to THIS part, I don't know, but I'm also expecting way too much of the person who finished this 20 minutes before it was due.

So that's it. Six years and that's what we get. I didn't expect much, but I was still incredibly disappointed, as were many others who walked away from this dazed and confused. Maybe it's all the "haters" deserve at this point. But what of the fans? While many of them are celebrating this ending at best and tolerating it at worst, I can't help but think of the fans of this comic who hung on for so long in the hopes it would "pay off", just for it to go out as gloriously as a wet fart.

As for me, I have such mixed feelings about Lore Olympus ending, but none of them pertain to the comic itself. Most of what I'll miss from this comic isn't the comic itself, but the people who have made reading it every week so fun, the artists and writers who have enriched the content with their own interpretations of what could have been, and the experiences of being part of such an amazing community made up of people who are as long-term-obsessed about this piece of media as I am.

I get people who ask me a lot if it's "worth it" to be so engrossed in the LO slander, who assume that I'm going to "regret" ever being a part of it all... but from where I'm standing right now, I couldn't ask for a better view.

Even if I didn't love every minute of it, everything I have here I owe to this comic. This stupid, wonderful, boring, amazing, pile of shit comic.

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

WIBTA if I suggest sex to my husband?

The title might be very misleading but i really don't know how to summarise it better.

So the thing is, we've been married for around a year and were dating for a couple years (okay maybe four years is closer to the truth) before that. I've always known that he's a very reserved person and also twelve years older than me, so I guess the difference in sex drive should be kinda self-explanatory and probably expected. But not so long ago I realised that in all the years we've been together he literally never once initiated the deed, it was always me. As an experiment I stopped and as you might guess we haven't had sex since (it's been long enough for it to not be a coincidence). He seems fine and totally unbothered, I'm not sure if he even noticed. Now I'm feeling bad about all of the previous times (was it all rape? i sure hope it wasn't and he seemed willing and mostly took the initiative from me once we started, but also. it does seem he didn't want it now, not in the "in retrospect he did not look like he consented to it" way, just, you know, it just looks like he doesn't want sex in general? maybe he should research in asexuality?) and myself. The problem is, I still very much do find him attractive, and he's just easily making me horny by being around bc he's very tactile and you know how it is when the guy you like is into casually groping you. I don't even know how to bring this up because yeah. So. Would I be the asshole if I just ignore all of the above and continue about our life as it was?

What are these acronyms?

[dresshistorynerd]

I think we can all agree that this is dumb, right? Though the title is highly misleading and the quote marks around "ban" do a lot of work here. These companies just no longer requires actresses to wear structural garments. Still a dumb and bad solution to the problem of badly made costumes.

Couple of my issues with the article:

The purpose of the corset or any other similar structural garment wasn't to reduce waist, but to provide support and shape the silhouette. In the article someone from Netflix commented that they shouldn't promote that women should make their waists smaller, apparently it's "bad optics". And from Neflix the main series where corsets are no longer required is Bridgerton, because one of the main actors had bad time with her stays. But if you take just one quick look at the Regency silhouette you will see the waist is far from reduced. Literally there is no waist. Completely covered. They have been doing something terribly wrong if they have made Regency stays that pinch down the waist. Some actors also seem to think the waist is supposed to be reduced all the time. I remember that one actor in HBO's The Gilded Age complained about the corset, but then in the same breath admitted that she had asked the costumers to make it purposefully a little too small so she could be tight-laced all the time (a practice some fashionable rich Victorian women did for high society events, and definitely not all the time). But beyond the inaccuracies in the article, there is an issue here. Structural garments supported the bust yes, but also in many periods they supported the weight of the dress. In 17th and 18th centuries and Victorian Era the skirts of rich women especially had a lot of heavy fabric which would be hard to deal with and move around with, if all the weight is only on the waist. But with a structural garment it distributes the weight to the whole torso, especially on the hips.

A structural garment needs to be fitted well and worn with with a shift underneath. It absolutely can be uncomfortable, create bruising and restrict breathing, if it's not well fitted. If you have ever used too small jeans that contain no spandex at all, you know how nasty the effects can be on the skin. Especially TV sets often have very little time for creating costumes and they might have just one fitting or at tops two or in worst case scenario none at all, which very easily leads to ill fitting costumes. That is a huge issue with structural garments. I've been making transitional short stays for myself and I have never made a garment like that so I'm still struggling fit it well (it's unfinished), and I can say it's not comfortable when it doesn't fit well. I haven't watched Bridgerton but I have seen couple of screencaps of different scenes with characters wearing stays and no shift to be seen anywhere. I really do hope they actually are wearing shifts when they have the full outfits on and just didn't wear them in these scenes for aesthetics or something. Because, yes, that will absolutely give you bruising, if you wear any type of fitted and structured garment against your skin without any fabric between it and the skin, against which the structural garment can slide against. It would be irresponsible to put your actors in such garments without shifts. I don't blame the actors for complaining about the "corsets", since I can believe they are uncomfortable if they are not well fitted or god forbid if they aren't wearing shifts.

I don't know how many times this needs to be said: corsets are not torture devices. While I don't blame the actors for complaining, reading comments like this kills one brain cell every time: "Women existed in that for such a long time, which does give you a lot of sympathy for that time period and what they were going through. For the first month, I couldn’t breathe." I'm sorry, but women literally did physical labour in corsets. They climbed mountains in corsets. (I have a whole post related to this.) Do these people really think so little of women in the past that, if corsets really were torture devices, they would have just endured them quietly for centuries? Of course the most fashionable clothing in a lot of the periods were uncomfortable and hard to move in, even restrictive, but those were the court gowns and ball gowns the young fashionable elite wore for the special evening occasions to show off to the high society. But does that really differ from today? If you look at the MET galas and stuff, do these actors really claim the outfits are comfortable? The everyday clothing and the clothing of the working class was fairly comfortable, and yes, they all wore corsets.

Yes, you can make properly fitted, comfortable supportive garments for costumes in any production. The proof is in opera. Opera singers wear corsets in a lot of productions. I have read many accounts by opera singers who talk about how their corsets are well fitted and actually makes singing easier, because you can "lean" on the corset (I don't know anything about singing, but that's what I have seen them say). Also they tend to wear those large and heavy period dresses and as alluded earlier moving on them on stage without corset would be very hard. Singing also would be harder as the singers could easily become breathless from moving the heavy dress without using the muscles on the whole body. Operas have much smaller budget than these big tv and movie productions, so there's really zero excuses for making badly fitting corsets.

So yes, it's dumb, it's inaccurate and kinda infuriating. But it's also actually pretty sinister. The issue isn't actors wearing corsets for many hours, that's what people have done for ages and still do in re-enactments, opera etc. The issue is that there's too little time for fitting and sewing the corsets in modern tv and movie production. And this is part of a much broader issue. Costume designers and makes are unionized in Hollywood and for a while now Hollywood studios have tried to cut the amount of unionized behind the scenes labour they employ.

Making profit from a movie or a tv show is not good enough anymore. Now productions that don't "perform as expected" are seen as flops. The production companies make predictions of profit and green light projects they have calculated to make most profit, and if they don't make that high profit, it's a flop and it won't get the planned sequel or the next season. To achieve those high profits they also do everything they can to lower the production costs, and one way is by employing as little unionized labour, to whom you have to pay fair wages, as possible. So costume departments are then very often understaffed and they have way too little time to produce the costumes in proper quality. This can be seen very blatantly in the clear drop in quality of movie costuming during the past couple of decades. So the reducing of structural garments in costumes seems like yet another attempt to reduce unionized labour disguised as feminism.

Obviously the good and smart solution to the problem of uncomfortable structural garments is to hire enough costumers for long enough time so they can have multiple fittings and make them better.

[amethystina]

I am intrigued by all the wips honestly. Anything you give us will be amazing, I have no doubt.

I will ask about Thou Shalt Not Covet tho because it is completed.

And I LOVE the How To Build a Family for Dummies title lmao. If you feel that it fits the story, you don't have to change it imo 😆

Also, I have to ask about your health. I hope you're doing well these days and that you're getting better. If not, don't push yourself too hard. Take care of yourself either way 💜

No pressure x'D

Jokes aside: thank you 💜 I'm very flattered that a lot of you have such faith in me and my writing.

Thou Shalt Not Covet was something I wrote in a feverish haze about a week ago because I was high-key panicking over not having been able to draw or write in what felt like forever and my brain just latched on to that story. Which wasn't at all what I had planned but, apparently, what I needed at the time, so I try not to hold it against myself.

It's basically a fic about Ga On being a raging ball of jealousy for 10k straight.

... or gay, I guess?

So the title is a bit misleading since there is actually A LOT of coveting going on. Coveting of Yo Han, to be more specific.

Ga On you little sinner you.

And it's 10k before editing, I should say. Because since I wrote it with a fever, I'll probably have to add a bit as I edit. Understandably, I tend to miss a lot of details when I'm too feverish. The fic is set just before Kim Choong Sik's first trial, so around episode 10. Which means I'm going to have to add a couple of warnings because Yo Han does not play fair. Whenever I write Yo Han as he was during the drama I'm reminded of how far he's come in Who Holds the Devil because dear LORD is he a manipulative asshole in this one x'D

So yeah. Jealous!Ga On and a Yo Han who doesn't pull his punches. A recipe for disaster, in other words. But they work it out eventually.

Here's a snippet from the beginning of the story (though unedited so there might be changes before it's posted)

---

Ga On had never understood how utterly devastating jealousy could be until he felt it — truly felt it — for the first time.

If asked, he would have said he wasn't a jealous person. He may have felt a burst of it once or twice as he and Soo Hyun had grown up — whenever another boy had shown an interest in her — but it had faded just as quickly as it had flared up. Perhaps because, deep down, Ga On had known that Soo Hyun only had eyes for him.

There was no need for him to feel jealous since the odds of him losing Soo Hyun to another were slim.

And, in hindsight, that must have lulled Ga On into a false sense of security, giving him the impression that he wasn't the jealous type. That he was calm and rational enough not to get upset, and knew how to handle the surge of emotions that might occur. Not realizing that what he'd felt at the time wasn't jealousy — or at least not the true depth of what he was actually capable of feeling.

Ga On had underestimated his own possessiveness.

And it wasn't until he met Kang Yo Han that Ga On knew true jealousy.

His first clue that he'd misjudged himself should have been his inexplicable desire to remain within Yo Han's orbit despite having numerous reasons to stay away. All Ga On wanted was to keep pushing closer, to keep proving himself, to keep asking for that intoxicating attention that crackled like electricity down his spine. He may not want to name what he was experiencing — instinctively shying away from a revelation he knew would change his life beyond what he was ready to deal with, finding comfort in denial — but he still craved the rush it gave him. He couldn't help wanting more.

His second clue should have been his own reaction as he'd watched Jung Sun Ah fuss with Yo Han's tie during their photo shoot.

The anger Ga On had felt in that moment — curling black and vicious inside his chest — had been an overreaction of the kind that should have given him pause. But, somehow, it hadn't. Somehow, Ga On hadn't even registered it as something out of the ordinary. Some part of him had even felt justified in his anger.

As if he had a right to feel that possessive over his chief.

But the rational part of Ga On knew that he didn't. He may be sleeping in Yo Han's house and helping him with his mission to upend the world as they knew it, but they were still nothing more than coworkers.

Yo Han had never promised him anything.

---

Expect jealousy, anger, and a bit of angst. Because Ga On has abandonment issues and it actually hits pretty hard when he starts suspecting that he's not so special to Yo Han after all...

As for How to Build a Family For Dummies, the title doesn't fit the vibe AT ALL which is why I'm calling it a working title for now. It just sounds way too cute and cheerful for the actual theme and content of the story x'D But more about that in another reply since I got a specific ask about it!

Aaaaand when it comes to my health, things are really bad, unfortunately. The kind of bad I haven't had since January, with daily exhaustion fevers and lack of focus. And it's probably not going to get better anytime soon since the main cause is related to something outside of my control that will most likely take months to fix. So it's really just a matter of me trying to hold on as long as I can and, if I'm lucky, I won't break completely before I reach the other side. I guess we'll see?

Anyhow! Thank you so much for the concern and the lovely ask. You take care of yourself too 💜

WIP Tag Game

[orkbutch]

so what is Kelly like, LIKE? what kinda fella is he?

I was gonna answer this more elaborately with drawings of other characters talking abt him but I'm too busy 😭 sorry for da late response.

Kelly is an edgy poser that distrusts everyone except like 2 - 6 people, who he is doggedly loyal to. He'd be an idealist if he wasn't so fucked, and he is an idealist in the parts of his life where he hasn't lost hope; mostly his love with Sadie. He is a hardcore romantic. He believes very solemnly in being Cool (Cool is survival and respect). He hates preachers, snakes, salesmen, macho men, elitists, authorities and negotiators. He thinks violence and killing is not the first but the most reliable solution to many problems.

He's one of the last butches still in existence in the world and he is trying to earn the title, in an existential sense. He is trying to literally earn several titles of success within the Hogboyz gang culture, especially the ones he falsely had tattooed onto his body when he was younger. The tattoos scare away most people but some can tell theyre fake, and those are usually very dangerous people that care about them. Kind of like a butterfly with wings designed to mislead predators, but 15% of the predators just get extra pissed. He is very good at combat with knives, machetes and guns. He is a very good shot, including while riding. He is illiterate.

[veebs-hates-video-games]

Ok I didn't do the other one after I ate. I forgot and did other stuff and went to bed instead. It was supposed to be Ghost Trick though.

Short version: everyone's right about it being great and you should go play it.

It's a delightful cast of weirdos, a pretty compelling and satisfying mystery, a clever central mechanic that's mostly used well, and an endless supply of absolutely gorgeous character animations.

I had a few mostly minor annoyances with it, but nothing that really detracted too much. I wasn't 100% on board with a couple things about the ending, but it was still good enough that I was happy with it overall, and I don't need a perfect ending to still really like something (see also: 13 Sentinels). There were some minor inconsistencies in the puzzle mechanics that made a couple of the puzzles a little more annoying for me than I would've liked because I was basing assumptions on how stuff worked in previous chapters that just happened to be slightly different this time. And beyond that it's just really minor stuff like scrolling through the character info tabs in the menu being painfully slow compared to everything else in the game.

Besides that it does just about everything very well. I was a little worried like 2/3 of the way that the story was going to head in a stupid direction, but it ended up going more the way I was hoping it would than how I was worried it might, and it was fun overall. Aside from a couple annoyances with a couple puzzles (particularly one that in hindsight seemed to be almost deliberately giving me hints that were misleading, unlike basically every other chapter) they were pretty well put together too. Mostly not super difficult or anything, but they use the mechanics in some clever ways and make you come up with different ways of using them to solve stuff.

The presentation is overall pretty good too, while still managing to remain pretty faithful to the original DS version. The music's pretty decent and I like the art style and quirky character designs, but the highlight is easily the character animations. There aren't a ton of them compared to a modern big budget game and a lot of stuff doesn't have custom animations specifically for that scene/action, but every single one of them they created is put to great use. They're all so smooth and clean and expressive, and every character moves in their own unique way that gives them so much personality. Lots of cartoony exaggeration and idiosyncrasies that set them all apart, and there are so many little details in each one of them.

Yet another winner of the title of best thing I've played so far in 2024. At this rate by May every game I play will be the best game that could ever possibly exist.

[saturnfairycat]

Winged

Work #3 | copyright to saturnfairycat

Author's Note: this is one of my biggest works. I really hope you enjoy this one. This is inspired by the Obsession poem series. Debrief: Word count: 1694 Warnings: gore, horror, death, sensitive topics.

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

Winged

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

'Do you see her flying?'

Is all of a brusque rhetoric opine. Even the blind could descry such a figure. 

Biblically meticulous angels are a frightening, foreign perception for the faint of heart. But a feminine adolescent human with ivory, coriaceous wings? A sight for sore eyes, a sight to behold. Uncorrupted and innocent, dove-like as a symbol of societal freedom and peace. A pleaser designed by birth to conjure movement and enthrallment for the ravenous. A perishable's dream bride, adorned with white like untouched snow on the first night of winter.

Kings have egos. Compelled to order and empower by any means necessary. Vestal subjects have pride. Their crest adorned with white is comparable to celestial tears. Combatants have glory, taking— saving— risking lives by ineludible ordinance. And evil? All they have is revenge. 

Scarlet wounds, blood vessels ripped apart unseemly by brute force. A perfect canvas, stained and poisoned by acid rain. Tainted with colour, her dress subsumes the surrounding ichor from the broken statue. If it wasn't for the gore giving away the depiction of clay and adroitness, she would've been a Renaissance angel built to be worshipped like the holiness structure itself. The venerable church has been home to the slain of sin, the keeper of the sorrow and celebration of nuptials. Its outer walls creak and moan at the sounds of howling winds, angered at the sight inside the chambers of salvation. High ceilings may have constructed envy to those whose house is neither grand nor tall enough to withhold such metaphorical heights of a ceiling— likewise a telling of the staircase to the heavens above.

The beams are indestructible by delineation, holding the shouldering weight of the god's misfortune of reckless decision-making. Howbeit, ladders like vines on great oak trees enable worshippers to maintain the tidiness of the “humble” estate; the beams are wide enough to dance to the opera choir singing, whose dedication to the ones living in the unbothered clouds. For someone to climb up the vines to reach the tallest branches on the great oak is a possibility within a thousand coin flips, though ought to question the means behind such a purpose is certain. Revenge is a rather peculiar sin, anyone could imagine it as such. The drive behind it is sorrowful to the do-er, but judgement day does not care for the iniquitous.

Revenge creates motivation, determination is effectual. To train like a knight, one can easily carry a dead weight on their cracked shoulders up the staircase to heaven. To study with pride, one would know what people see as their true saviours— their delusional hallucinatory of an angel. How to dress, how to please. White and lacy as a wedding dress, pure and lush as a celibate. 

The victim? 

How curious, the devil pondered. Perhaps a pleaser at heart? As such:

A devoted woman to her word, a persona whose love for the weak and vulnerable is overpowering. Like spiked wine, a goblet filled with luxurious liquid gold— misleading from its appearance— a perfect femme fatale. Its insides tell its truth, how we're all the same within— an inescapable peracute. But who said to drink it? Use it for self delectation? What a poor magnificent object, she doesn't want to be mere treasure. She is the perfect vestal subject, what more could you want? Perhaps she is more fitting as a villain, always seeking more. Greedy, much?

Yes, a perfect sacrifice indeed. An impeccable example of the ambition of a “devil”'s revenge. A church can have followers, so a mere cult can be concordant. While the title of being a cult is a fragment of exaggeration, the apostles will work well in such a plan. They, the misfortunate, seek the pained for comfort… paltry sympathy can only do so much, however. But it's only just sufficient enough. Manipulation? How insulting. Ultimately, it is up to those who seek change to take heed. Hide fleetingly, pretend to associate with everyone just like in the old days. The crowd knows when to act.

Evil can kill, there is nothing else to it. Have you ever wondered how it feels to bathe in virgin blood? It's disappointing, such fuss for it is foolish. The only real kick was the twisted face of telling. That face alone is a blank, pitiful canvas turned into the definition of art itself. Oh, you could paint a thousand frescoes with such an expression. It doesn't disturn her prepossessing features, but it does make her look older. Such complicated, big emotions shouldn't even be within reach for such a young fawn. In another life, surely her underlying intelligence would serve others more than just being a lap to cry on, but in this taken existence— her sheltered mind breaks from the sudden intensity of trahison des clercs. This isn't what her story was supposed to be in her eyes. Ah, regrettable unfortunate. ‘Not favoured by fortune, was she?’, the fallen angel cruelly smirked at the thought. 

The evisceration was excessively long. The risk of blood ruining the white was too prodigious, though such fastidious concerns were needless in the end— her neck provided enough liquid genealogy, painting the front of her dress crimson. The colour of hell, of sin. The tainted heaven, the poisoned goblet. Her wings were made from dove feathers, plucked with attention to detail— a maiden in a meadow, choosing and picking the best of flowers could not compare. The bone structure of the wings was genius, specific bones were chosen from certain organisms to create a grand juxtaposition from angel to bird. Sticking each chosen feather to the structure was tedious, but a hyper-fixed maniac does not sway from such work. Inspired by the Winged Victory of Samothrace, the wings belong on her back. But her impressive bone anatomy is in the way... 

...with the scapulae removed, the wings fitted with such grace and ease. Death has blessed her with paleness, such colour is the reminiscence of a statue. But her wasted life must be highlighted, must be remembered. Just like all those Renaissance angel paintings, after all— that is the only perception of angels that people will embrace. 

It is always about beauty and selflessness, never should one ought to become a fallen one.

Tough to touch, the rope that scratched up skin with small amounts of friction has proven to be practical. A satirical necklace for her elegant neck— tied down to halt the escape of her soul to the sky above. Wings may have been granted, but freedom of flying is not an option. But one as kind and saving as her needs a taster of such, the vines are no competition of strength with her figure in the devil's grasp. The perception of the stairway to heaven is certainly a sight of lush imagination, except the beams are thrilling as a ballroom for the bride-to-be and the avenger. Humming, content with glee; evil looks down to the church below, to where the mighty cross stands at the front of the sect.

Their creation is more impressive, without the use of a single nail. Prideful, the striking idea of overshadowing the lord himself is great. Tying the knot where evil saw fit, the weeping angel longed for the higher stakes before being pushed down, down to her fate. For a second, the wings may have tried to lift the dead and fly up— but the crushing weight of sorrow brought both down with a crack of bone. Her neck crooked, leaning to the left with no resting place for her head, she floats in front of her lord. Her feet swayed slightly, still savouring the dance from before as blood dripped from her blue-hue toes. Such pale eyes never saw the light of the sun again without the stained church glass praying through. 

***

The morning prayers, on time as usual for another hour of adored hope from the public. The doors opened, creaking and moaning its warning. The crowd is loud, chatting and laughing with optimistic cravings for their future. A future that she will never see. The crowd silences, and the cessation of movement brings shock and dread to the hearts of his lord's worshippers. She hangs in front of their eyes from afar, suppressed into death. It was when her guts came with a sickening "splat" onto the ground beneath her feet from her tedious exoneration that broke the silence. It was heaven's gift to them, the insides that paint the truth of the world… which they did not accept. There was then shrieking– some are praying, some have become sick– while the followers, the actors— they chanted at the sacrifice, sang with glee. 

All was in chaos until he, the evil, the devil himself— slid down from the oak ladder. One of his sinful hands still grasped at the ladder as his heels clicked onto the cool, stone-tiled floor. Some of his leeching zealots pointed at him, eager to know his final motive. 

Why such a plan? Why such a sacrifice? 

Sick revenge for mortals that need to be taught a lesson. 

Would they finally get it? Would they finally understand the suffering? 

No. 

They never do. They never pay attention until it’s too late. 

Gritting his teeth while his jaw clenches at the strike of realisation, he turns away from the selfish sinners. Has all his cruelty to her been all for nothing? His free, bloody hand carries a singular candle— which he tosses at the corpse. She lights up in flames, her laced dress burning into black ash as it climbs up her strained body. He looks in awe at his doing, the followers are shaken to their core. The thrown candle had crashed onto a parallel wall from directly hitting the “effigy”, miraculously causing arson, thus setting fire to the church itself. All his cruelty to her will not be all for nothing. The church doors slam shut behind the crowd, beckoning them in. As the house of holiness burns up to hell’s temperatures— he, who has been staring at her the whole time, finally questions the followers and himself:

'Do you see her flying?'

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

[robotpussy]

im being so serious henry cavill is such a nasty man idc if he has the body of a god and the mind of a computer nerd he is a nasty predator he even got fucking defensive when ppl pointed out his gf was 19 and he was 33

like ok you're both adults but that doesn't mean you arent a fucking predator chasing after a girl who wasn't even legal to be with you 2 years ago and now he's 40 and is dating 18 year old millie bobby brown I hope he dies fr

*edit: nvm they arent dating the titles of the articles are very misleading 😭😭 but I still think he needs to stay away from young girls

[after-nine-at-the-oasis]

Abbott Elementary Episode 4: Smoking!! I lowkey forgot Abbott aired last night till I saw a clip of it on YouTube earlier, I believe lol. I watched it earlier today and did not liveblog it, but I'm here to talk about it a bit now!

Not much though, because it's late and I had a show tonight, and more tomorrow and Saturday lol.

The fact that they were discouraging substances while all actively using substances is hilarious xDDD It's not where I was expecting that to go lol! Idk what I was expecting, but not that xD

I'm glad it really talked about how broken the system is. I hope that kid doesn't get suspended <3.

Also the jokes the kids made about their vices were wild 💀. That dust bowl was out of control XDD Iconic all around though lol

I'm glad Jacob decided to give up vaping lol, good for him :') <3. Out of all of them his was honestly the most actually harmful lol.

Even though I don't love the detail that he vapes (mostly because you'd think being against it would be one of his many liberal policies lol), I really love that it brought back that smoking comment from the pilot!! Also I can totally spin this into a vices from deep anxiety thing which is lovely lol. Also the air bit was hilarious xD

Anyway they're all idiots but I do love them all lol <33

Also Janine was wild with that teacher lol 💀. I do think there were some things she was right about (like. the literal education parts lol) but dang girl xD love that the sub did not care at all lol

Unrelated but I love Jacob immediately blaming Morton for the smoking lol xD

Anyway seeing them all being chill at the end was great xD. Like Barbara trying the oil, Jacob quitting, etc lol. Good for them :).

This episode caught me off guard a bit, especially since I don't use substances, but I kinda like that, once again! This season is really throwing me off my game in the best way possible - we all need to be made uncomfortable sometimes to learn stuff :). This episode it wasn't too much, because I don't disrespect anyone who uses drugs (of the safe kind), but since I don't it's still a view into the other side.

Also Gregory's was so him xD. Honestly all of them lol - Janine's makes so much sense in hindsight (also Gregory's comment to her about like "Did you smoke last night" 💀 XDD iconic lol), Melissa's (and her smoking background - which by the way, the comments about that were funny too lol) made sense, Barbara's was- yeah xD, her lol, we basically already knew about Ava xD. And of course Jacob's is a callback lol! And it does kinda make sense for him, even if I thought he would know. I mean hey, we do things we know are bad all the time lol, and nobody can resist everything. Also I think I'm in partial denial because I don't want him to have gone through what it puts you through lol xD. Anyway, they were all super accurate :D.

I loved this episode!! I thought it was really great and I'm so excited for the next one :D. I am also utterly terrified :). Help me please :'). The title and description are scaring me and I swear to goodness they better be a mislead. I think they probably are but still xD.

Don't break them up please I need them lol

Also I'll just pretend it never happened anyway xD

Oh dang I probably won't be able to see that episode live either- eh we'll deal with that later.

So yeah! I loved the episode :D. I thought it was really great and super interesting :). I'm excited for the next one!

This has been my review for. . .

Abbott Elementary, Season 3, Episode 4: Smoking

It was really good :)). I'm really excited to see the next one but y'all I am so scared lol.

I'll be back next week for my review of. . .

Abbott Elementary, Season 3, Episode 5: Breakup

See you guys then!!!

[in-flvx]

Hellooooo

I didn't come across a private chef Sirius ask? Or maybe I just missed it but I'm curious since the title is misleading?

I am becoming obsessed with your writing and ideas and just your blog! 👀😍👀😍👀

Hey hey, no there wasn't a Private Chef Sirius ask yet, and I'm super excited that you are interested, bc I love this AU. It let's me work with one of my fav thought experiments: how different would each of the Marauders be, if just one of them hadn't gone to school with the others. The title is a bit misleading bc Sirius ended up not actually working as a chef, but you'll see in the snippet.

The following morning begins with watery coffee, and kisses, bittered from that, in bed. Rubeus tells Sirius that he loves him still, and Sirius buries his face in Rubeus' armpit hair. It smells masculine in a way that Sirius relishes in. The sweet a reminder of the intimacy they shared, forever ago. Masculine and bitter, and sour in the way only alcohol manages to make someone smell. And yet. Rubeus smells like the first harbour Sirius ever knew.

"So, what brings you back to the isles?" Rubeus is wearing his glasses, from just having read the paper, but now looks at Sirius. There is hope in his eyes, that breaks Sirius' heart. Not for you, old man, not for you. "Work, actually. They need a hand at someones summer residence." Rubeus' face falls a little. "When do you start?" Sirius sighs. "Today. Or rather I'll have to arrive today. Not sure if they make me actually start today as well." Rubeus sniffs a little, but instead of protesting, he busies himself with making sandwiches for Sirius, despite Sirius' protests. Not much later, they share a last kiss before Sirius takes his old bike, and takes off.

Another drive through the scottish countryside, shorter this time, brings Sirius to the manor of his new job. It's large. Dark and oppressive, like so many houses of Sirius' childhood. Ivy ranks over the light facade. Natures protest against the building. Trying to strangle it. He can feel himself straighten up, as if his old gouverness had stuck a hat needle between his vertabrae again. With crunching stones, Sirius parks his bike. As he gets up, a stern looking woman stalks towards him. "Mr Black, I suppose?" She asks. Sirius is sure he can hear some of the brogue scottish in her RP. "Hi, yes that's me," Sirius gives back with his friendliest smile. "Minerva McGonagall," she introduces herself, and then continues to admonish Sirius for putting his bike where he had, and to instead park it behind the house. Sirius follows her instructions. "The Potters and their friends will start coming by Saturday. Mr Potter likes to keep company. His friends as well as the mother of his son join him here for the summer," McGonagall explains on the way. "By then you'll find your way around the manor and understand the workings, and routines of this place." Sirius parks his bike in a garage with several limousines and a few less fancy cars, which in all likeliness belong to the staff. "These are the cars you are expected to drive. While we have a chauffeur, you are going to do our shopping, and should one of our Masters require a drive you might have to step in. Everything you'll need for bigger repairs is stored here as well." Sirius nods. The garage is fancier and older than those he worked in so far, though that doesn't have to mean much. "The shack right over there contains Mr Filch's utensils. That is our gardener. He will expect your help frequently, as his old age forbids him from certrain work." Sirius nods along, as McGonagall shows him around. "Mr Slughorn and myself are the heads of our regular staff, but you are not the only newcomer here. All the more important that you don't embarrass us with incompetance or the unwillingness to help. One of our maids only started this week as well, and our new chef will arrive on friday." It starts to rain when they arrive back at the manor. "I understand you have a wide array of skills?" "I should hope so." McGonagall looks at him expectantly. "I'm used to farmwork, understand mechanics, and worked in several kitchens." "You will get to show off all of your varied skills over the summer." McGonagall uses a small key to open the door, and leads Sirius through a badly lit corridor. They cross several staircases which lead to different parts of the house. The very first, right behind the entrance door leads to the living quarters of the staff, as McGonagall explains. Sirius can hear two girls singing a round. Both immediately stop when McGonagall opens the door. The girls jump up in greeting.

[askthe4thwallbreakers]

heyy, I read the pinned post and I didn't see that it's not allowed to ask the creator, so regards.

I wanted to ask about how Fourth-Wall Breakers are characterized. i mean, i remember how Warren in his episode literally "pauses" it and speaks to the audience, he speaks to us. So, would he also be a Fourth-Wall Breaker? and I also ask about the characters who look at the screen, who look at us.

sorry if it's very inquisitive and it turns out to be annoying, you can answer with a simple "it's a fanfic stop screwing around " and I'll understand🫶🫶

very good fanfic and I hope you have a good life‼️‼️🌟🌟

oh yeah you're perfectly allowed to ask me stuff (at least somewhat related to this fic) through the askbox.

and dw your ask wasn't annoying in the slightest, this is something I've been thinking about for a while. please keep screwing around, look as far into it as you like, even for stuff I might not have intended. If I was someone who says "it's not that deep" to everything, this fic wouldn't exist.

so. I think the fic title is a little bit misleading on my part (and I don't just mean the word 'support' when the characters are getting none of that). Fourth-wall breaking refers to pretty much ANY form of self-awareness for fictional characters, of course. Like Deadpool, or Wander - even George and Harold from the goddamn Captain Underpants books count as fourth-wall breakers by definition, those books are stuffed with meta jokes and genre awareness. But there's the rub - in all those examples, the fourth-wall breaking is intended as a joke.

"This has been going on for an entire season-" *looks at audience* "-of our lives."

"We were supposed to do this four chapters ago!"

"You really can fix anything with a montage." (spoken right after a montage of characters solving a problem)

All those are clearly intended as nothing more than jokes. Warren is a slightly different example, but he still falls into this category. He's supposed to be a caricature of bad PSAs and anti-bullying instructors and influencers and whatnot, and him talking directly to the audience is part of that.

Monika, Wally, Rob, and to a lesser extent Yellow, on the other hand, all have a vital part of their character tied to their self-awareness. It's essentially 'crack' versus 'crack treated seriously'. The fourth wall breaking may have started off as a joke, sure, but if you - or the characters - stop and think about the implications of them KNOWING that they're fictional, it's horrifying no matter which way you look at it. Rob specifically is an interesting case because The Amazing World Of Gumball ALSO does fourth-wall breaking as a joke. And Rob's arc is far from the only time it's taken seriously. Just look at 'The Signal', one of the most horrifying episodes in the entire show to the point where I am astonished it's not talked about more.

Anyway, TL;DR - the four idiots whom this fic centres around are set apart from your average fourth-wall breaker by one single thing. They thought about the implications.

[rjalker]

Rating books by how fitting their titles are, Martha Wells edition:

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The Cloud Roads - Not literal, but aplicable. They fly. The clouds are their roads. It works.

The Serpent Sea - yeah, there's a sea. And there sure as fucking hell is a sea serpent in it.

The Siren Depths- oh yeah, the depths. The depths that call like a siren. the siren depths.

The Edge of Worlds - yeah, it sure as shit is

The Harbors of the Sun- YEAH!!!!!!! THEY SURE ARE!!!!!!

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City of Bones - no, not really. yes there's a city but bones are mentioned offhand one time as being at all important and they were not important in this story. No one tried to steal Khat's bones. If that were a common occurrence this title would be warranted but it's not.

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Wheel of the Infinite - I guess. This book was really boring though so IDRC. It wasn't even really a wheel, more like a mural. Mural of the Infinite. Map of the Infinite. Window of the Infinite. Mirror of the Infinite. many titles can be just as vague.

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The Wizard Hunters - yes they do in fact hunt wizards

The Ships of Air - yes there are air ships. flying whales you might say. But they were in the first one and they aren't any more relevant in this one so I don't know why that's the title.

The Gate of Gods - ? sure? I mean they were also literally in the first one. This could have been a name for the first book. Why is it the name for the third one? It's not like this is new information.

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Razor's Edge - of what. No. has nothing to do with the story. The story is not dramatic or suspenseful enough for a title like this. Very misleading.

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Reliquary - yes, that is the purpose of a reliquary. Martha Wells are you autistic.

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All Systems Red - no, not all the systems are red. most of them are working just fine. Overdramatic and misleading.

Artificial Condition - ???? no??? has literally nothing to do with the story.

Rogue Protocol - what does this even mean. This could have worked for the title for the second book but how does this have anything to do with this story

Exit Strategy - no not really. it's not a strategy it's two steps and the first one requires the enemy be unconscionably usesless and incompetant so it's not even a plan. It's just "oh I hope our enemie decides to sabatogue themselves for no reason" and then they do!!!

Fugitive Telemetry - ??? no? what

Network Effect - literally where. only by the most absurd stretching of the imagination. This is just a bad name. There are so many other things you could call this book that would better identify the story it tells. You could have made puns about the word "transmission" but sure, Network Effect totally works /sarcasm

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[allthemusic]

Week ending: 13th December

Oooh, a duet! We've not had one of those for a little while, and I generally do quite like them. They're uniquely well-suited to romantic songs, I think, as you've got the potential to hear both sides of a story. Plus you get the whole "two voices harmonising together" thing, which is a lovely metaphor for people being in love. So I'm hopeful, despite the bland title here.

True Love - Bing Crosby and Grace Kelly (peaked at Number 4)

The names involved immediately shouted "song from a film musical" at me, and I wasn't wrong. This song is apparently from the film High Society, a musical that's itself a remake of the 1940 screwball comedy The Philadelphia Story, a film about a jazz musician trying to win back his ex-wife before she marries another man. In the 1940 film, True Love was apparently the name of the sailboat that our main characters owned back when they were happy together, so including a song called True Love in High Society is supposed to be a call-back to that, I think?

In that context, it works well enough, I guess. We start with an accordion, or something similarly reedy, as well as some lush strings, and Bing harking gently back to when they were Suntanned, windblown / Honeymooners at last alone / Feeling far above par. I'm not convinced that "above par" is a great lyric here, but that's a minor quibble, and overall this is fine and quite pleasant. Not inspiring, but pleasant and unobjectionable.

And so it ambles slowly and softly along, with Bing singing about how on and on, it will always be / True love, true love, and talking about the young couple's guardian angel who will keep their love true. Which I guess is deliberately quite ironic, given that most of the film is about their relationship being on the rocks. You don't get much of a sense of that from this song alone, though. As a stand-alone song, it just seems like a blandly sweet and gently song about being in love.

Grace Kelly doesn't sing very much at all. She sings well, when she does, but giving her the same credit as Bing is a little misleading here, as she basically just comes in to harmonise and/or sing along in the final verse a bit. But I guess her name was big enough at this point that it was a selling point, so she gets full credit, not just a "featuring".

Not much more to say here, apart from that this song made me yawn repeatedly. It wasn't boring so much as just soft and slightly lullaby-like. Its speed, instrumentation and general vibes were all perfect for putting me off to sleep a bit - not a bad thing, per se, but I do hope next week is a rocker.

Favourite song of the sleepy, sleepy barely-a-duet bunch: True Love

[theemeraldforesthideout]

I hope this come out as i intend it to. I tried several pages for hd explanations on profiles and such, and i find they drifted from where they used to mean. The articles are flowery and ,, waxed up. I read of hd from early, 1.the ppl discussed on this used very simple and close to literal vocabulary while 2.the names sometimes dont mean it (the irony) . So number 3 in profiles share 18-58 gates traits; do things/ live days, thru trial and errors, it’s like, if a person does something, they might get it right at first try, but they would only know 01 way to solve that thing and therefore their perspective, pov would see things in certain way , but 18-58 and 3 in profiles, will fuck it, kinda, but (important here), thru it, u , me, others with them , will know several ways to things

That sounds way better, if it just gets straight to the point. I think I saw a few that were like 'X' title, and it wasn't literal at all. Pretty misleading. So they are not incapable of it, of seeing/knowing other ways, they just need the extra elements: people, knowledge and that kind of thing.

Oh, hang on, let me check my special bookmarks folder :)

:)

[lovecanbesostrange]

Hiii!!! Random question, but I just saw a trailer for it, and I was just wondering if you are looking forward to M3gan? I can't imagine how much more of the movie will be a surprise than in the trailer, but I personally enjoyed Malignant, and this is the same screenwriter, so... Just curious to see your impressions!

Yep, saw the trailer and hey, it's a creepy AI-doll, I'm in. The trailer like so often showed a bit too much. Just this inkling of "I'm not letting anything harm the girl" should have been enough. Where you already know this will backfire so hard. That bit with talking about vegetables was satisfyingly eerie already. We all sometimes need to do unfun things. Also sometimes people get hurt by accident. Showing those extra creepy movements is better advertisement than showing the use of the nailgun imho. But I guess there is room for some gruesome moments in the finale. Not expecting a groundbreaking masterpiece, but some fun enough by the numbers rogue AI horror. It's almost misleading that James Wan is mentioned as a producer, since he's not the director. But the director - Gerard Johnstone - did this very bizarre horror comedy called Housebound, so I'm hopeful. The crew list has lots of good names.

Also! I'm not sure if I ever responded after I asked if you had seen You Might Be the Killer, but I enjoyed it! I don't like too much blood, but going into it, the blood fit the type of movie it is, so I wasn't too bothered. (Or maybe I'm getting inured, heh. :D) Alyson Hannigan is ALWAYS amazing, and I love how it did the classic setup at the end. Anyway, I enjoy reading your takes on horror movies, just wanted you to know! :)

Ahahahahaha, YMBTK is funny. Good watch with The Cabin in the Woods and The Final Girls, to get into all the typical tropes. Although it's weaker than the other two, there is some real love for the slasher genre.

As for blood... if it's just blood, I'm still here to say "yes, put it everywhere". But I kinda do not need to see where exactly it's coming from. The latest Texas Chainsaw (which overall was really bad) had a scene with Leatherface sawing his way through a whole bus of victims, which is probably the first time the title was done true justice. It was all about the insane amount of blood and some screaming, nothing too detailed. Honestly, a movie I consciously avoid at this point is Terrifier. Art the Clown is already an icon, that's fun, but...... nope, I do not need to see that. Kudos for how absolutely disgusting practical effects can be though, I guess?