#I wasn't planning on revisiting this story again but I've been in my feelings since watching that deleted scene

[empress-of-snark]

more detailed Beetlejuice Beetlejuice thoughts!

I was going to wait to make this post until I've had the chance to see the movie again, but right now the plan is to go with my best friend when she visits at the end of the month (I was the one who introduced her to the first Beetlejuice movie back in high school), so I decided to go ahead and write a longer post now!

(spoilers under the cut)

CHARACTERS

Absolutely no complaints here! I think Lydia's transition from edgy goth teen to somewhat lost adult struggling with single motherhood is realistic. We get one line referencing that her mom is still alive (distinguishing the movie from the musical a little bit), but it doesn't seem like they're close, and obviously her relationship with Delia has been a struggle through the years. It makes sense that she'd have difficulty connecting with her own daughter, especially with the circumstances surrounding Astrid's father.

While at times Astrid feels like Wednesday Addams in a different font, I liked her a lot! Jenna Ortega fits into the Burtonverse very well, and she and Winona Ryder have great mother-daughter chemistry, both onscreen and off. I do wish that she'd gotten the chance to interact more with Beetlejuice, because as far as I remember, they only exchange one or two lines of dialogue. This feels like a missed opportunity, as I could see him making a lot of jokes about being her future stepdad lol.

As mentioned in my initial review, Catherine O'Hara was a crowd favorite at my theater and earned a lot of the biggest laughs. I really loved Delia in this movie, especially since she and Lydia have clearly grown a lot fonder of each other in the years since the first. I'm also obviously very glad that Jeffrey Jones wasn't invited back to the party, and I think the way they used claymation to show his death was a clever workaround to avoid hiring him again lol.

I adored Willem Dafoe as Wolf Jackson. Was he necessary to the plot? No. Do I give a shit? Also no. He was hilarious and completely ineffectual and I love him.

Rory is a good minor antagonist, and he's fun to root against. I've seen people seemingly frustrated at his relationship with Lydia, and how easily he manipulates her, but I don't find it out of character on her part. In the first movie especially, she's shown to be very lonely and mentally unwell, contemplating suicide on more than one occasion. She latches onto the love that the Maitlands give her as their surrogate daughter, but imagine how hard it must've been for her when they were finally able to move on, and she was stuck with a father who didn't understand her and a stepmother who barely tolerated her? When she meets Rory, Richard has recently died and Astrid resents her. To me, it makes sense that she'd latch on to anyone showing her affection. She doesn't really love Rory, but she thinks that he loves her, and that's enough. It isn't until Beetlejuice helps her see Rory's true colors that she's able to recognize how unhealthy the relationship is.

Speaking of Beetlejuice, I'm so so glad that they followed the trend of the first movie and kept his screen time to a minimum! He's only onscreen for 17 minutes (about three minutes longer than the original), but the way that he eats up every scene he's in makes it feel like more. Michael Keaton was clearly having so much fun revisiting the role! I think that the less we know about Beetlejuice and his backstory the better, so I actually wasn't thrilled when I heard that there was a flashback to his death in this one, but the way they shot the scene with the Italian dub was hilarious, so I'm giving it a pass.

THE STORY

Allegedly, the original runtime of the movie was around 2h15m, which means that a whole thirty minutes ended up getting cut, and I really wish they'd kept it in. Not just because I want more content (though I do), but because the plot does feel a bit cluttered and rushed at times. Between Astrid's fleeting romance with Jeremy, Beetlejuice being hunted down by Delores, and Lydia fending off Rory's proposal/wedding plans, there's not a lot of room to breathe, and the Delores plot definitely suffers a bit. She's made out to be such a huge threat, but gets so little fleshing out that Monica Belluci almost feels wasted. I'll be very interested to see if the DVD has deleted scenes or better yet, a director's cut!

But I've been having fun trying to figure out Beetlejuice's actual motivations, because the differences between the first movie's wedding and this one are very telling. Rather than speed things along like he did the first time, this Beetlejuice takes his time to give Lydia a proper, romantic ceremony. "MacArthur Park" is not a short song, and I'm pretty sure they didn't cut any of it.

It's an interesting song choice, to say the least. The lyrics are about a couple breaking up, and the man vowing to the woman that even though things have ended, he'll always love her. This, coupled with the fact that Beetlejuice gets defeated on a flimsy loophole when you'd expect him to have an ironclad contract, and when Lydia finally banishes him, he doesn't resist at all (again, think about how much he had to fight to shut up the Maitlands when they tried to stop the wedding in the first movie), makes me wonder if he ever actually intended to go through with the marriage. As @simplyshelbs16xoxo theorized in an earlier post, I think this was all just an excuse to see Lydia again and show her how much he loves her (in his own twisted way). Maybe he'd even sort of accepted that Delores was going to find him and kill him (again) any minute, because after all, why would his getting remarried even stop her from doing so?

Who knows? The fun thing about Beetlejuice as a character is that he never fully shows his hand, and there's no way of knowing exactly where his motivations lie.

The Beetlebaby was… something lol. I still haven’t quite decided how I feel about it, but I liked the design, and the fact that it was a clear reference to Chucky. I also like trying to figure out how much of the movie was Lydia’s dream. Just the last scene? Or maybe the whole thing? Does Astrid even exist, or is Lydia really a spinster in the attic, as Winona Ryder says?

THE VISUALS

Tim Burton thrives with practical effects. I'm a fan of most of his work, and my least favorites tend to be the ones that rely too much on CGI (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Alice in Wonderland, Miss Peregrine, etc). Not to say that any of those are bad movies, but I'm glad he's returned to his roots with this one.

One of the things the original Beetlejuice movie is known for is its campy visuals. Part of that is due to the fact that their budget was so small, since Burton was still establishing himself as a director, but it works with the cheesy horror/comedy vibe. And words cannot express how delighted and relieved I was when the sandworms in the sequel were still made with claymation!

Obviously the movie wasn't completely devoid of CGI, but most of it was subtle, and only enhanced the practical effects. The makeup was great as well--I especially liked Willem Dafoe's partially-exposed brain. The original movie actually won an Oscar for Hair/Makeup Design, and I think this one has a good chance for a nomination at least!

FINAL THOUGHTS

The original Beetlejuice has been one of my favorite movies since I first watched it at around thirteen/fourteen. It's a Halloween staple, and I was extremely nervous about the prospect of a sequel after so many years (let's all breathe a collective sigh of relief that that old rumor about a reboot starring Johnny Depp wasn't true because it truly had me scared). While the trailers gave me hope, I still went into the theater with enormous reservations and was fully ready to be disappointed.

And in the end, I definitely wasn't! While the sequel's not perfect and could never come close to surpassing the original, I enjoyed it immensely. It was a lot of fun, and I'm really looking forward to my second viewing! I think it's safe to say that this is Burton's comeback!

[victorianpining]

im very hyped for your 29th jan video! but can you tell us a tiny bit more about it? im looking forward to it being hours long tbh the longer the better, but is it s4 meta? i’d be delighted to know all your thoughts and your stance on s4 :)

Hi, thank you for your interest!! Fingers crossed I can keep to that deadline, I really really want to for symbolism reasons but it also keeps getting longer so...

Here's the general outline of what I plan to cover.

Introduction & Framing: Basically setting up how I'm approaching the discussion and why I'm doing it that way. The video is in a weird middle ground of not really trying to convince anyone that TJLC was or is right, more so that TJLC is and was reasonable, and not something to feel ashamed over.

TJLC: Explained: A reintroduction to the techniques used in the TJLC reading for those who have been away from it for years and who, like me, convinced themselves we were crazy and made everything up. My main point with this section is that TJLC was not unique apart from it being one of the first fan movements to take the idea of queer representation seriously and push for it as the *right* move. Almost every analytical technique we used was standard fare. But that leads to...

Authorial Intent: Clever, and all that, but the writers said repeatedly it wasn't their intent. How and why would someone have thought or still think they were lying? How do people view the writers now in light of series 4? How much of that is or is not reasonable? How much can we truly know?

Series 1-TAB Recap: Essentially going through the show, mostly ignoring the symbolism layer to show that even then, "the romance was there, we could not alter the facts!" At the end of this section I will pause and give people the chance to leave if they don't want to revisit series 4.

Series 4: A surface level summary of Series 4 for those who have not watched it since it aired. This is mostly intending to help people see that these episodes aren't some unspeakable horror, for people who developed a trauma response to them, they need to be watched and laughed at before they can be analyzed.

BBC Dracula: Sort of a bridge to analyzing series 4. Looking at another bit of Mofftiss' work, the similarities to their approaches in both shows, the things that seem to be references, but also the things that apparently just seem to be an inherent part of Their Style. This section is going to end by reading into the "The game is over, you lose. You will live forever in shame," conversation as a way to lead into series 4, because it's part of what I needed before I could do it properly. Again another opportunity for people to leave if they don't want to continue the discussion.

TJLC Explained: [Episode 49] Title Redacted: This section starts with an overview of why someone would think the story isn't over, will go over some of the prevailing theories and ideas at present, and then I'll offer my read on what I think is going on under all the Weirdness and then shift focus to the potential meta commentary layer because that's what I've always found most interesting.

Conclusion: There were reasons to like this show and this theory, I'd argue there still are, if you want to revisit it. But if not, I hope at the very least we can all stop giving ourselves such a hard time for believing this was a possibility.

[cranesinthe-sky]

By Your Side- Companion Piece

A companion piece to my story, “By Your Side”. Inspired by that emotional deleted scene that's been making its way around tumblr.

“So when are you coming home again?” Glenn inquired.

Michonne glanced at the calendar on her kitchen wall. “I’m hoping sometime around Christmas. Work has been keeping me busy lately.”

“You should come down for a little bit. Just for the weekend or something,” he pressed. Aside from facetime calls, he hadn’t seen his closest friend in nearly six months, the cases at her law firm keeping her on her toes. “Christmas is another two months away.”

“I know, but it’s really the only time I’ll be able to get off,” Michonne said, opening the cabinet door and reaching up for her favorite coffee mug.

“Not even Thanksgiving? You can’t get away for a few days? Atlanta isn't that boring.”

“I’ll try my best,” she assured him. “But I have this really big case that I’m working on and then there’s this volunteer project that I need to look into.” She exhaled, already feeling the pressure rise up inside of her.  “A lot has been going on.”

Glenn chuckled. “Always doing for everyone else. When are you going to do for yourself?”

Michonne froze, the coffee pot still in her hand, surprised. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, what do you want, Michonne?” he urged softly. She imagined him sitting behind his desk at the middle school where he worked as a guidance counselor, his dark eyes filled with compassion and thoughtfulness. “You’ve always made sure we were okay, even after you moved to New York. You need to look out for yourself for once.”

She already knew what -or rather, who- he was alluding to. The man she had left behind while she pursued the path of what she thought she wanted. “You've been speaking with Maggie,” she teased. Maggie was the heart of the group, determined to keep them all together, but Michonne liked to think of Glenn as the pulse, pumping out the love and energy amongst them to keep them going.

“Maybe,” he said. He paused, carefully making his approach. “He still loves you.”

She closed her eyes, her shoulders slumped and she set the coffee pot back down on the counter before she could drop it. The image of a blue eyed Rick Grimes appeared in her mind and although they had remained friends over the last five years, she couldn’t help but miss what they had together as a couple.

“The feeling is mutual,” she whispered. Shaking her head to rid the thoughts of the “what if’s”, she attempted to change the subject before their conversation turned too somber. “So, how's my godson?”

She could hear the smile on Glenn’s voice as he spoke of his son, Hershel. The three year old was an exuberant little thing, providing his parents with stories to tell and brag about for days.

“We haven’t told anybody else, but Maggie and I were thinking about having another baby,” he said, knowing he could trust one of his oldest and closest friend with the information. “Everything has been going great with the house, ours jobs. I think it’s time.”

“Glenn, that’s great!” Michonne practically squealed. “I’m happy for you guys. You two deserve it all.”

“Not as much as you do, too,” he replied back. “Just think about what I said. Promise me.”

His words came out more as a statement instead of a question and she knew that he was being serious. Whatever their futures held, he wanted to make sure his friends were happy.

“I promise.” she replied.

“Great,” he sighed, as if a huge weight had been lifted off of his shoulders. “So, what about next weekend? Can you come down then?”

***

Michonne smiled to herself as she watched Hershel run around the yard, his laugh lingering in the air as he raced against the small red toy remote car Shane was maneuvering with a controller just a few feet away.

It was a cool, autumn day, a peace in the air as the friends came together to celebrate the life of another friend, proving that his memory still lived on. It was Maggie’s idea to have a dinner in honor of her late husband, setting up the picnic table in the backyard for them to eat and reflect on the good memories, ignoring the bad.

“Auntie Chonne, look!” Hershel called out from the yard. “I'm winning!”

Michonne leaned against the porch railing, the smile on her face spreading wider as she observed the four year old race against the car. Hershel had gotten so big over the last year. His legs stretched out longer due to a growth spurt and his cheeks were less fuller than they were last year. He reminded her so much of Glenn, not just with his expressive eyes and dark hair, but with his playful and kind hearted spirit. He possessed his mother’s smile, lighting up any and every room, proving that he truly had the best of both parents.

It had been a year since Glenn’s death. A year since they had heard his voice and cheerful laugh. A year since he had held his son and kissed his forehead. A lot had happened within their circle but Michonne was sure he already knew about every one of the changes. He had always been there for all of his friends when he was on earth and was sure he wouldn't stop in the afterlife.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the door opening behind her, followed by the sound of footsteps. She knew who it was without even turning around and gave a small smile as she felt him place a hand on the small of her back, confirming her suspicions.

“Hey,” she said as Rick stepped beside her, his blue eyes meeting her brown.  

“Hey. Everything okay?” He asked, his hand rubbing her back for comfort.

“Yeah.” She sighed, leaning in closer to him to rest her head on his shoulder. He wrapped his arm around before depositing a kiss on the top of her head. “Just glad to be home.”

It was Glenn’s words that had led her back to Atlanta. After embarking on a long distance relationship with Rick for months, Michonne finally figured out what she wanted and it had been right in her face all along. She wanted Rick. She wanted to be near her friends again. To wake up next to Rick in the morning. To take Hershel to the aquarium and watch him on the weekends. To spend time with Maggie in the garden. Not just once a month during her monthly visits but every day. She wanted to go home.

So she moved back home. It was what she needed, to be surrounded by family and friends and the love that they provided. Both Glenn and Maggie had given her that little push with their individual talks and for that, she would forever be grateful.

“It’s good to have you home,” Rick said gently, smiling down at her. “Come on. Let’s go eat.”

He clasped her hand and they made their way down the porch steps towards the table where Sasha was lighting a lone white candle.

Maggie watched from the screen door behind them. A small smile spread on her face as her fingers tightened its hold around the gold pocket watch she had given Glenn for Christmas years ago, a heirloom in her family that would eventually be passed down to Hershel. But for now, it would remain in her care, safe in her hands until he was ready.

She glanced down at it before opening the door and stepping out onto the porch, the breeze greeting her as she stood there for a minute. She could practically feel his arms around her, comforting her and promising her that he would never leave her side.

They had went through the unimaginable a year ago, but Maggie vowed to keep their group of friends together. They needed each other now more than ever. Glenn had chosen to be there for each and every one of them over the years and she would do the same.

“I'm just following your lead,” she whispered to the wind.

[jadelotusflower]

June 2021 Roundup

It's been a month of highs and lows. Every year my city holds a cabaret festival, and I've seen some truly amazing acts over the years - including Lea Salonga, Kristin Chenoweth, and Indina Menzel. This year's Artistic Director was the great Alan Cumming, and although due to covid he didn't quite get to curate the program he wanted to, the opening night Gala was still a highlight, as was Alan's DJ set at the pop-up Club Cumming afterwards, where there was much singing at the top of my lungs and dancing to pop anthems and theatre tunes. At one point Alan, dressed in a onesie and perched on the shoulders of a man wearing only sparkly short shorts, was carried around the dance floor while Circle of Life blared. Reader, I was delighted.

I was also able to see his solo show Alan Cumming Is Not Acting His Age, which was hilarious and damn, he can sing!

As for the low, I was meant to fly to Sydney for the weekend to see Hamilton, a trip I have been looking forward to for almost a year, but had to be cancelled because of a covid outbreak and border closures. The tickets have been rescheduled, but I'm still kind of bummed about it (while completely appreciating the need for covid safety, especially when our vaccine rollout has been completely botched by our incompetent, corrupt federal government)

Anyway.

Reading

The Hundred and One Dalmations (Dodie Smith) - With all the bewilderment over Disney's Cruella, I decided to revisit the original novel which I first read as a kid. It's funny, I had very vivid memories of this book, or rather thought I did, particularly the scene where Roger and Anita have dinner at Cruella's house that fixed in my young mind as utterly disturbing with all this devil imagery and the implication Cruella was literally some kind of demon, which must have been either a) my overactive imagination or b) an illustration, because it's not as clear as I thought it was. The strangeness is there (food with too much pepper, Cruella's inability to keep warm, the walls painted blood red) but not the explicit demon imagery I had remembered. There is a part later in the book recounting the history of Hell Hall and the rumors of Cruella's ancestor streaking out of the place conjuring blue lightening, but clearly child me was reading far more into the book than was on the page.

But I still wish they'd gone with this version of Cruella's backstory, because to me an aristocratic, ink-drinking, heat-obsessed, possibly-demon spawn, high camp villain is more interesting and rings far more true than plucky punk against the establishment.

Smith clearly had Facts About Dalmations to share, and she does really craft a wonderful animal-based story that the Disney animated film is largely faithful to. Key differences include: Roger's occupation (he doesn't have to pay tax because he wiped out government debt somehow?!?), Pongo's mate and the puppy's mother is called Missis, Perdita is another dalmation who acts as a kind of doggie wet nurse, Roger and Anita both have Nannies who come to live with them (Nanny Butler and Nanny Cook), Cruella is married to a furrier (who changed his last name to de Vil). Also odd, on her first description Cruella is described as having "dark skin" but later in the novel her "white face" is mentioned, so I'm chalking it up to 50's descriptors not having the same meanings they do today.

The Duke and I (Julia Quinn) - After being just whelmed by the tv series, I wasn't really planning on reading the books, but I saw this on the top picks shelf at the library and damn, the top picks shelf is irresistible. This is very much Daphne's book (and I had known each in the series dealt with the different sibling) so many of the characters and much of the plot of the show is absent, as are some of the more baffling elements of the show like the Diamond of the First Water nonsense, which I always thought was a strange character choice in that it stacks the deck for Daphne when her character arc is better served as somewhat of an underdog (in her third season, the kind of girl who is liked but not adored), and the Prince subplot which was always far too OTT even for soapy regency romance.

It's a breezy, fun read (that scene excepted), even if the misunderstandings are contrived and I'm never going to take "I'll never have kids because I hate my dad" as a credible romantic obstacle deserving of so much angst.

Faeries (Brian Froud and Alan Lee) - A lovingly detailed and illustrated compendium of Faerie and its inhabitants, drawing from a range of European (but primarily Celtic) folklore and mythology. Froud was a conceptual designer on The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth, and the link is clear in the art as well as the focus on faeries as mysterious but oftimes sinister beings, where human encounters with them rarely end well. Lee has illustrated several publications of Tolkien's novels, and was a lead concept artists for Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings and Hobbit trilogies, and there is a touch of Middle Earth here as well, or rather the common inspiration of the old world. A useful resource for my novel!

Watching

The Handmaid's Tale (season 4, episodes 4-8) SPOILERS - So when I last wrote about this show in the Roundup, I was complaining it wasn't going anywhere. Well, I'm happy to be wrong because they finally changed things up with June finally escaping to Canada. That part of the plot following the survivors and their trauma has always been far more compelling than Gilead, and so it was a welcome development even if I side-eye some of the choices (none of these characters is seeing an actual licensed therapist why?).

This show has always been difficult to watch given the subject matter, and that has not changed after the shift in power dynamics. I will give the show credit for showing a broad range of trauma responses, from Moira wanting to move on and not let it consume her, to June, a ball of rage and revenge on a downward spiral, to Emily, trying to follow Moira's path but being drawn to June's, to Luke, trying his best but utterly unequipped to deal with what is happening.

But it is very hard to watch June go down this path - raping her husband (I concede the show perhaps didn't intend for it to be rape, but that's what is on screen and framing it as just "taking away Luke's agency" doesn't change that), wishing death on Serena's unborn child, and orchestrating Fred's brutal murder by particulation, then holding her own daughter still covered in his blood and it getting smeared on Nicole's face (an unsubtle metaphor in a series full of unsubtle metaphors).

There are interesting questions being asked of the viewer, and the show (perhaps rightly) not giving any answers. I can certainly appreciate the catharsis of Fred getting what he deserves even if I personally find the manner of it horrifying, but where is the line between justice and revenge, is revenge the only option when justice is denied, when does a trauma release become cyclical violence/abuse - the show is, for now, letting the viewer decide.

Soul (dir. Pete Docter and Kemp Powers) - In a world full of remakes/reboots/sequels, Pixar is perhaps the lone segment under the Disney umbrella committed to original content. However, there does seem to be a Pixar formula at work directed to precision tugging the heart strings, and some of the film feels like well-trod ground. On the other hand, it's hard to criticise the risk of centering a kids film around the existential crisis of a middle aged man, even with the requisite cutesy elements (and of course, the uncomfortable pattern of yet another film where the black lead character spends a great deal of the runtime in non-human form - herein, an amorphous blob or a cat). But the animation is stunning, it successfully did tug my heart strings, and the design of the Great Before and the Jerrys is original and fun.

RuPaul's Drag Race Down Under - Drag Race is somewhat of a guilty pleasure for me, since I generally don't watch reality shows, and this is something I really enjoy even if I'm not invested in the fandom (which like many fandoms can be very yikes). This year it was time for the Australian/New Zealand (Aotearoa) queens to show their stuff, although it's been met with mixed reactions. Covid restrictions didn't allow for guest judges, relegating them to mere cameos via video calls, and its clear that Ru and Michelle really don't quite get all the cultural nuances - Aussie judge Rhys Nicholson was however always delightful. But it wouldn't be Australia without a racism scandal, with the great disappointment of the two queens of colour eliminated first, and one queen having done blackface in the recent past yet making it all the way to the top four.

In the end, the only viable and deserving winner was last Kiwi standing Kita Mean, and it was pure joy to see her get crowned. I do hope they fix the bugs and indeed do another season to better showcase AU/NZ talent.

Writing

A far more productive month - to try and get out of my writing funk I had a goal to try and write every day, even if it was only 100 words. While I didn't quite achieve a consecutive month, I did get a pretty good average, at least got something posted and two others nearly there.

The Lady of the Lake - 2441 words, Chapter 4 posted.

Against the Dying of the Light - 2745 words

Turn Your Face to the Sun - 1752 words.

Here I Go Again - 1144 words

Total words this month: 8082

Total words this year: 35,551

[ankaaz]

hihi el! i was the SK anon from awhile back and decided to make a tumblr separate from my personal! i can't even begin to tell you how enraptured i was in your plot line!! the gasp i let out when i realized it was a reincarnation fic and reading from akaashi's pov? the backstory?? had me HOOKED. i absolutely LOVE the use of cycles & patterns in writing and yours is definitely one that is sticking with me <3

Oikawa looks at her, feeling conflicted. "I don't want you be lonely." She just smiles gently. "And I want you to rest." And that smile, oh that smile is familiar and Oikawa flinches as the final memories click into place. He chokes out, "I hope next time we're friends again... and that I treasure you properly."

god the way this was just a snippet and it had me choked up? i can already imagine how bittersweet it'd be at the end once akaashi realizes that he needs to stop saving her</3 what exactly inspired you to write SK and what was the planning process like? i'd also love to hear about what roles you had for the other hq characters as well! i think i remember you posting pictures of your journal of everything in SK fleshed out and i was shocked bc it seemed like you had the entire world fleshed out!

hi cherry!! sorry for the long wait, I had to dig up my notebook actually to revisit everything haha. I think I first drafted this plot in summer 2020?? so it's been a HOT minute since I've thought of the intricate details.

ahhh I'm so glad you enjoyed reading through the plot! it was so fun to make and I remember sitting on the phone with a friend for like 4 hours figuring out the different possible endings and such haha.

Oikawa and reader's slow friendship in this was def something that tugged at my heartstrings :') he was genuinely descending into madness but once he was a ghost, his mind was clear again which allowed for a bit of a new start.

hmm as for inspiration, I think when I thought of this story I was wanting to sink back into my roots of fantasy writing! most of my original works are high fantasy or urban fantasy, and while I enjoy the introspective works I do for cathartic reasons, I wanted to create a fantasy au for haikyuu! I was a huge fan of Iwaizumi and knew I wanted to write something with him, and I also liked Oikawa's character, so I thought it would be fun to do something with the two of them.

from there I knew I wanted to use Oikawa's "grand king" title and started with making him an emperor. I then wanted to draw to base everything in Japanese mythology, deep dived into it, and the ball started rolling.

the planning process was fairly chaotic. I first assigned different roles to characters, some of which changed, and then figured out some basic world building. then I created the "myth" of the pillars and started building around that, specifically the Shinigami myth and ran as far as I could. as I jotted down stuff, things started to connect, and it all eventually turned into SK! I also wanted it to be reincarnation because I just thought it would be cool to mess around with that kind of trope.

hmm I'd say aside from the characters I mentioned in the previous plot vomit, there wasn't anyone that I planned on having show up unless mentioned in passing.

I assigned roles to almost every single character in haikyuu, even though 90% of them weren't going to show up HAHA. I just write fantasy better when I know a lot about the world/outside characters because then I can slip things in, rather than going back and trying to fill in holes after writing everything.

however, when assigning roles I did take into account personalities/their schools. I also grouped schools together under the different gods. all those in Karasuno (aside from Kageyama bc he was reader's little brother) lived within Kiyoko's pillar, while all those in Inarizaki + Komori lived in Sakusa's pillar! Aoba Johsai were all various samurai or nobility, along with Shiratorizawa. Bokuto, Kenma, Kuroo, and Konoha were technically under Akaashi's care, but their pillar is the smallest because of Akaashi's detached and wayfaring nature :)

[findingroleplays]

Splatoon Roleplay? Splatoon Roleplay

(ALL THE CHARACTERS INVOLVED, CANON AND OC, ARE CANONICALLY 18+)

Hi, hello! ♡ I'm, once again, back at it at Krispy Kreme! Hopefully looking for some partners to write with!

First of all, a brief introduction! In case you don't know me yet - I'm Xii, a 25 year-old girl from South America! I've got 10+ years of experience roleplaying and I mainly verse myself in fandoms! It's been a while since the last time I advertised myself on Tumblr since I moved on to Discord, but I figured I'd give this a shot again!

So, to what brings me here. 👏 Splatoon. With Splatoon 3 right up the corner, this fandom has been living rent-free on my brain for quite a while, but it wasn't until recently when I decided it'd be a good moment to remove the dust off my old OC's and revisit them, along with properly flesh them out, since they were pretty barebones the last time I checked on them. And I thought, why not attempt to fish one or two Splatoon roleplays? Because honestly, I'd love to write these OC's out in more fleshed out stories.

So - I've got two Splatoon OC's in posession (An Inkling and an Octoling, respectively. Both females and 18+), both of them which share a lovely punk-rock band together! Something I've elaborated mainly with the idea of giving the Squid Sisters and Off The Hook some friendly competition. That's the main gist of them - I'd be more than happy to elaborate further if you're interested in hearing out more tidbits about them!

I'm mainly looking for Canon x OC shenanigans here! I'm either looking for Callie or Marie from the Squid Sisters (As seen in Splatoon 2, separately - I will NOT write against their underaged versions or ship them together) or Pearl from Off The Hook - but I'm not opposed to OC interactions, so feel free to throw your OC's at me if you wish to do that! Though please keep in mind that (unless I like your OC enough) I might not want to jump straight into a romantic storyline with them. I prefer to test the waters to see if there's chemistry, and after that, take whatever direction the roleplay decides to give us :^)

And yeah, considering I'm talking about two OC's over here, I'd absolutely love to multimuse, but by all means this isn't mandatory! While I'd love to roleplay both gals at once, I'm not opposed to focusing in one of them at a time, or put the focus in just one and have the other one in the background. Plot-wise, I'm not really looking for anything really specific here, so feel free to pitch me your ideas if you have any! I'd be more than happy to brainstorm something from scratch as well. Slice-of-life settings are most preferred since I'm looking for something more light-hearted than anything else, but I'm down taking the deeper route and do something more story or lore-heavy, whether it is from the get-go or later on in the roleplay. The Splatoon lore is something I really love about this game, so if that's something that you'd like to go ham on and worldbuild on, I'm 100% down. 👌

Alright, now that the basic ground of what I'm looking for has been set - some other things to take in mind:

18+ roleplayers ONLY, please. I don't roleplay with minors for my own comfort - and while I'm looking for something story-based here, I enjoy my NSFW content. If the occasion to write NSFW content is given, I do not fade to black. Plain and simple.

For romantic ships, CANON x OC > OC x OC - While OC's are more than welcome in this prompt, I'm mainly looking for Canons to ship against my characters. By all means, feel free to pitch me your OC's! But keep in mind that when it comes to romance I'll be picky, since I'm looking for chemistry between characters before planning out anything romantic.

I write in Literate, Multi-Para form (3+ paras preferred), but I can also easily go all the way to Novella length. 3rd Person form. I'm ditch-friendly as well as ghost-friendly, but I'm hoping to find a long-term RP partner here!

Yes, I double! However, please bear in mind that I haven't written in a while, and I still need some time to get used to writing two characters at once. I'm 100% down for it as long as you have some patience with me, please! This is not mandatory either, but still, feel free to ask! I'd be more than happy to indulge you with whatever Canon x OC craving you may have in return for indulging me! ♡

Now, in the case you find yourself interested in writing with me, I only roleplay through Discord, so please contact me through there!

My Discord handle is Hashiyukas#3232 I look forward to talk to you! I'm really excited to write some cephalopod adventures! Thank you so much for reading, I greatly appreciate it - and don't forget to Staaaay Fresh! ♡

Yours truly

- Xii