#I'm also working on little backstory summaries but like i'm 3 in and they're not as little as I want oops

[factorialsotherfandoms]

From @cubitodragon

I know nothing about xcom but I do love hearing all the au babble SO: how did the morning crew form in this timeline? Are animal hybrids a thing or is it more a unit/call sign reference? What brought the various teams into contact with one another? What order did egg children show up in their lives? (Do bad and forever still have dumb arguments about politics during not!date dinners?)

Hihi! Okay so I'm running with XCOM2 specifically, which is a turn based strategy game where you run a group of resistance members who live on an alien spaceship they stole, and fight against aliens who invaded earth ~20 years prior, recruiting people, making contact with other resistance cells, gathering proof of crimes against humanity, etc. For sake of the AU making sense I cut this time down to like ~10 years ago. There's the very basic premise.

Okay so question one! So we actually have a couple of answers here. The simplest is that there's a shift pattern for who is on comms and checking the airship is going the right way (and also shift sleeping as there's like 10 beds for the entire group), and they have the morning shift. Very basic. HOWEVER, at the start of the missions, Tazercraft are missing. Tubbo also doesn't go out on active combat duty, being Chief Engineer. Tazercraft used to have that job but, well, there's a reason they're both missing and the Chief Engineer no longer goes on combat missions... Tubbo was about 14 when Mike found him blowing up a Federation base via rewiring their electrics, and took him back with them. Pac and Mike took him as their joint apprentice, and he got forced into their job when they vanished. Fit and Philza both showed up a bit later. Fit and Philza knew each other before the invasion, but were split pretty soon after it began, each ending up being heavily involved in different resistance cells which later folded into the main one. Philza knew Tubbo as a kid, though lost contact a bit before the war. Fit and Phil have actually been on the ship a couple of years when shit kicks off for plot, just not quite as long as Tubbo. It's a little funny - if you need one of the five the place you need to look is the engineering quarters. At the start it's Phil dragging Fit to check up on Tubbo, once Tazercraft are back (because of course they will be eventually), it's Fit dragging Phil there on vague excuses of getting gear fixed to make puppy eyes at his crush. Either way, if its one of the five of them you need, you check engineering first. Philza's the least likely to be there, Tubbo is most likely, but even if its Tubbo sleeping in a cupboard someone will be there and will know where the others are. Forming wise... Well they just kinda stumbled together. I think you can piece it together from the above?

Haven't quite decided on hybrids and such. On the one hand, all human is more sensible. On the other hand, hybrids are fun and I'm soft for wingfic and it'd help the eggs settle in... Better. If human society is used to hybrids of some forms. They're a bit... *vague gestures* off.

At the start of everything the egg children have yet to show up at all! I am still in the process of placing them all but currently... Operation Shadow Tomb brings Chayanne and Bobby Operation Rotting Wail brings Pomme and Richarlyson Operation Pungent Father brings Trump Operation Crypt Hand beings Dapper, Ramon, and Leo Operation Dismal Paramore brings JuanaFlippa and Tallulah Operation Haunting Night brings Tilin While those words have no meaning to you, they are in order lol. There are reasons they go this order (mostly who has parents where when, but also some of them due to plot happening in specific places). All of the eggs are safe from death, you will be pleased to know. I also reserve the right to add Hope and/or A1 in, but... Well A1 would take Trump's place, who would instead have to end up with Flippa and Tallulah. Memory would take Tilin's place, who would be dropped back to with Pomme, or even back to Bobby and Chayanne. It's not really to do with their canon ages or aught (okay bar the triplets coming as a three), but yk. It's not actually until Trump/A1 that they actually have any idea what the eggs /are/, beyond slightly odd children. Their parents love them anyway.

Bad and Forever have dumb arguments about literally everything all the time, and when he's injured Bad /will/ use the fact he's one of the squad captains, and therefore writes reports, and Forever is the commander of the operation, and therefore reads reports, to demand Forever bring him snacks/attention while he's injured. It is, unfortunately, a little hard for them to get time and privacy to have not!dates. Living on a single airship with like 40-ish other people once vague background NPCs are accounted for

I've picked out characters I struggle with (Bad, Forever, etc) to have to write a lot of the in-universe documents, and the entire main plot is in-universe documents and then I flesh it out piecemeal like the one fic I did already as takes my fancy. In theory. Not much is written.

[rennybu]

hi.... i'm just a poor boy . who does not know the loam lore. would you be willing to share.... a summary.... (so curious i am a loam enjoyer)

oh my gosh hi griff..! oh there is so much to tell... i will h ave no choice but to put this under a readmore. the shortest answer is that he is my character of 3+ years in @jawsandbones homebrew dnd campaign and he is like a son to me. but to start off with baby pictures:

LOAM was born 52 years ago in a city called TILDEN, which is blocked off overland by a CURSED* SWAMP that creeps closer every year.

*Misremembered and only Recently Re-Contextualized Major Historical event

His mom is a shy, worried, and loving woman named Bayla - she's a druid and sells medicinal mushrooms of all sorts. His dad is an unwaveringly positive (but incredibly serious) mason named Uttara who proudly works on all sorts of projects around the city, especially major infrastructure. Yay stoneworkers!

(Because fantasy lifespans are strange and somewhat silly to me I just imagine Firbolgs to be stuck in their mid-20s existential dread until they're like at least 150. The backstory part of this spans literally 51 of his 52 year s of life. he's so young)

He got equal enrichment from time spent in nature with his mom as from time spent in the city with his dad. His nickname in the Tilden Firbolg community To This Day is "Always With Questions" - a kind of affix to differentiate him from any other Loams. He may not know much but he really would like to find out, please!!!! He sees a lot of beauty in the natural world, but his idea of what's natural is skewed somewhat by the uh, Curse. He once fell through some algae into a deep body of water and had a very fun memento mori experience as a kiddo (beautiful golden sunbeam shining onto a silty skull)

He got the name Loam very young from his interest in both his parents' work, which lead to him learning about soil types and uses in gardening and construction aklfhglskg. Loam was important for both jobs so he (in guess-what-I-just-learned little kid fashion) told everyone who would listen about it. The association STUCK and he's Loam now :].

His birth name is actually Rahara! but that's secret knowledge only his bestest friends and Tzip and some scarycool important NPCs know.

He loves beasts and magic and plants so much. And on the flip side he also loves and is fascinated by architecture and engineering. He never got any like, higher academic schooling or whatever, but had many many different apprenticeship type training relationships from his parents, other tradespeople in the city, from the senior rangers etc etc.

Small break to plug @jawsandbones lore packets for the Quarter Cities (including Tilden), Scarabae, and the overall campaign setting!!!! I'm just gonna talk about stuff without adding too much context of my own because AAA WORD COUNT!!!

The hole in Loam's ear was brought about by a shit ass Tilden local trying to tear his earring off him, since he'd bought it from a foreign merchant from a city Tilden/the Quarter has historically warred with. Loam's always been open minded and deeply curious about other cities, due to how isolated the bog is. Any visiting merchants are sources of wonder!!!! Even though he only bought the one hoop earring from the Quietus merchants (Mirjam and Mihail, mother and son!), after the ice was broken he stayed by their stall the rest of the day and talked about all kinds of things, and befriended Mihail!

Loam trained as a ranger as soon as he was old enough to do so!!!! He saw it as the next logical step past what his parents would be able to show him and was incredibly eager to get hands-on experience in the wilds. He met his first ever boyfriend among his peers there!!! Bragi... he has had many lovers and situationships in Tilden since, BUT only recently feels comfortable trying monogamy again after meeting Tzipporah.

Bragi unfortunately died badly to a creature in a traumatic backstory incident that left young Loam super fucking bereft and hyper aware of how easy it is to die. (Big monster attack + group of trainee rangers accompanied by a few more senior rangers + chaos and bloodshed. Loam carried Bragi to safety and tried resuscitating him but he was already gone. The experience made him uncomfortable with the idea of being in a defined, monogamous intimate relationship for the next like. 19 years. He felt like he got ripped in half!)

After the ranger's guild recovers from THE CREATURE ATTACK, Loam meets his close friend, Reece, a fellow ranger and Kenku (she looks like a masked shrike)!!!

He gets his septum pierced by the same visiting merchants from Quietus a few years after Bragi's death. It's a very important moment for him, where it feels like he can finally start to let himself change and grow beyond that event. He also spends more and more time in the city, away from the more rural/overgrown districts, and chases a love for the arts and partying and people, where he meets Kallirhoe (human, not a even a classed bard but like. an indie musician. an eboy if high fantasy had eboys. a tattooed twinkish fellow. you know the type)! They are very good friends who also have sex. Many days spent waxing poetic about THE BIG WIDE WORLD and how they'll never get to see it. (Spoiler: He sees it)

Loam gets into tarot as a hobby, and makes his own deck in a very scribbly freehand style with ink and charcoal!!!! he's slowly replacing them with more Worldly artwork - the deck he left home with was very. Tildencore

Many good years of being a party girl who has to go work a construction job tomorrow and then go be a ranger at 6. A rich and storied life. AND THEN THE GAME TIMELINE STARTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A path Through the bog has recently finished being built by Dagda, the Southern representative to the other Quarter Cities, making more trade possible overland, and making local tensions go even crazier. Also there are strange Awful Huge Scary Monsters appearing WORLDWIDE, so the Directions and the Three Kings of Scarabae and the remote island of Geest (ADRA'S HOME!) and the mysterious magical Widow's Wood are all like "STOP WAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING RN". Trials are held in the Western city of Dina to appoint FOUR TEAMS OF FOUR to help defend against the new threat. Loam is like. Well I've gotta fucking do that. I've got to try. If I'm not chosen, at least I've set foot outside. He has a fight with his mom about this, because she is terrified she will lose him, like she lost her mother in a previous conflict when Scarabae was occupying the Quarter, before Loam was born. He stands firm and his dad has his back, and ultimately he leaves with both their blessings, but his dismissal of his mom's feelings weighs heavy on him the longer he's away from home. (He has a big cry and reconciliation about this when he is next able to come home.)

I'm clapping and cheering and skipping joyfully because now he HAS MET HIS BESTEST, DEAREST, CLOSEST FRIENDS IN THE ENTIRE WORLD: ADRA ILSA AND TALEE!!!!!!! I have to be so careful now because we have no joke hundreds of pages of notes. I cannot read that shit on google docs mobile app. We are approaching session one hundred and fifty of this game. They love each other so fucking much. THEY ARE THE INFORMATION GATHERERS!!! A PARTY OF SLEUTHS!!!

He also has his meet-cute with Tzipporah at the trials, which in hindsight is hilarious, because of the whole, "Tzipporah was sent to the trials as a spy (by the very people responsible for the giant awful monster crisis) and immediately pegged Loam for an easy mark to get information from" thing. And he was 100% correct. But a lot has to happen before that gets revealed. They took a nice night walk and write each other big long letters. And Loam tells him soooooo much <3

At one point while exploring a wizard tower he attunes to a lightly cursed ring and forgets what his parents look like, like their likenesses are Gone from past and recent memory. Which is a big thorn of homesickness that he writes to them about. He has a big cry and stares at them both for a LONG time when he next sees them.

Also they save an orphaned Kenku from some bandits and now Loam has a little shoulder-sniper named Bubby. We have a son. A perfect little crow son who is really good at killing, with arrows. He hides things in Loam's hood regularly

Other major things include ummm umm Loam's TWO deaths, one during a dungeon-rescue type scenario in a room that was Flooding and full of Phantoms and also a charmed Druid (Feyan, good friends now) wildshaped into a big scary water snake. He was hurt bad and (comedically) levitated so he wouldn't DROWN but then got Phantom Speared right through the torso. Second one was because Tzip's evil half brother Vences was like, mad at him for being a good influence on Tzipporah and interfering with the spy duties. Chill touch so no healing + dagger in the ribs! Ow. Also the reveal that Tzip was a spy was happening like, simultaneously here so we were yowling and screaming. (Well. Talee and Co had their long time hunches about this. Loam and I had turned a beautiful blind eye to all suspicious activity)

ANYWAY HIS DEATH SCARS LOOK LIKE A COMET ABOVE HIS BELLY!!!! The spear scar made a patch of his fur turn white (front and back), and the dagger scar is its crude tail!

I am skipping over so many plot revelations i. This is just the Loam Cut. and it's not even all of it.

His buzzcut was for emotional superstitious reasons!!! He cut it after Death 2 and Tzipporah getting taken against his will back into Evil Gang. Loam's mom has a lock of his hair at home now. ALL THIS TO SAY TZIP IS OKAY, NO LONGER SPYING, WE RESCUED HIM AND RIPPED A MASK OFF HIM AND SAVED HIM FROM GETTING HIS MIND EXCAVATED ! SO LOAM IS GROWING HIS HAIR OUT AGAIN!

The deaths of his close friends and their allies have also been. insane for him to process. To return someone to life in this setting u need to like. entreat a Titan. plead on the deceased's behalf and offer something up for the chance to revive them. (NO player spells like revivify. house rule) So interacting with these entities he sees as like Both forces of the natural world AND of huge religious/cultural importance regionally. And to have their requests be HEARD? He loves magic he loves Titans. And the plot is unfolding in such a way that scares me so bad. He loves his titan (The Curious Spear) SOOOO MUCH he has like the foundational belief that it can see through his eyes. Even if not true it motivates him to always seek understanding of strange new things.

Oh my god I didn't even talk about his multiclass into druid. He's a druid also. Circle of the Stars!! As a navigational point. He loves them. He loves space. He loves geography and regional interpretations of constellations. He used to just do freehand observations but truly became dedicated to charting the skies of every place the party travels to, after Tzipporah gifted him a grid-lined journal <3 <3 <3 STARRY FORM!!!!!!

His awe and inspiration and hunger for knowledge is the well he draws magical power from. My Boy is thematically bound up in the soggiest parts of this earth and also the unknowably distant stars above and I'm normal about it (lie) (There is a new and scary Third Thing rising which is the space between. I <3 Void). I know i draw him beige and green but his like, character colour theme is. Dusk to me. Gloaming. When the world is lit like a dream <3

In summary. In conclusion. He and Adra and Ilsa and Talee (and the rest of the Four of Four) are trying to prevent Global Disaster of an existential scale never before seen and are being very brave about it.

Loam wants to understand everything about Everything. Because understanding is love. Unfortunately there are hostile resentful and vengeful forces making this hard to do. Most recently by saving a city we Unmade a magically sustained centuries-old library. And we haven't had time to like fully let that sink in. Because of the horrors of war and being Four of Four means responding to emergencies and protecting cities as best we can against a foe that was forgotten by history until like, 10 months ago. Less, even. I hope this is anything. I hope u are his friend now too because he is yours

good lord how could i forget. His gender is male in such a way that he does not give a shit about it. He's one of the girls. He's genderless. Like a knight. His sense of identity is built on Living Laughing and Loving.

his personal goals are 1. to uncurse the bog in such a way that the wrongs committed by Tilden historically are brought to light and righted, 2. to get super married to Tzipporah and build a house together, and 3. to somehow, eventually, through great teamwork and effort, cure(?) the dreadful lingering soul plague on the island of demeter. HUMBLE! OH and to make a finished star chart covering the entire planet. humble.

thank u for reading here are his current stats

[kimdokjas]

why you should read Mystic Prince if you enjoyed ORV

Mystic Prince / Prince of Myolyeong (묘령의 황자) is a fantasy and action-adventure manhwa with art & story by Aheuredal (아흐레달) and in my humble opinion, an absolute hidden gem. it's literally one the best manhwas i've ever read (among the top 2) and i've finally gathered my thoughts enough to try to articulate why i love it so much, and hopefully convince you to give it a chance!

here's the official summary on webtoon:

An immortal emperor rules the Kingdom of Yeol, a divine country blessed by gods with awesome powers. After a thousand years of peaceful rule, the time has come for a new emperor to be chosen. This is determined by a series of trials, in which twenty princes with special powers who have trained since birth must compete. As all princes of varying personalities and agendas gather to partake in the trials, intrigue and possibly even bloodshed seem all but certain. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to the other princes, the Fourth Prince Jeok-yeon Ryu hides a secret he must guard with his life.

anyway i literally made a carrd for this, that's how much i care about this manhwa and i worked very hard on it!! you can find the carrd here*

(* also if you hate daily pass like me pls note that there's a fan translation as well! just keep in mind that some episodes have ost but you can find the links to youtube on the carrd as well. but if you enjoy it please do try to leave likes, comments, and a good rating on webtoon to support the creator!)

Mystic Prince is incredibly unique in terms of story and execution that i can't really compare it to anything else but here's why i think you'll enjoy it, especially if you also liked orv:

strong-willed MC who's not naturally skilled but works extremely hard

said MC is willing to suffer and hurt themselves to achieve their goals (aka kim dokja-esque tendencies)

seemingly cold and aloof ML with yoo joonghyuk vibes at first, naturally gifted and seems to look down on everyone

...but is actually head over heels for MC and just doesn't know how to express his feelings

ensemble cast of incredibly complex and well-developed characters with different personalities and motivations

MC seems a little dense at times but they have a tragic backstory that explains why they're Like That

incredibly bisexual vibes !! like literally off the charts

slowburn romance that is cooking up such a great meal

MC and ML have actually known each other for centuries

characters go through trials that involve risking death

extremely unique lore and world-building

i said ML before but there are actually multiple potential MLs with how much complexity all the character dynamics have

beautiful character designs (literally over 10+ within the main cast and they're all so unique)

evocative writing and heartfelt monologues that seem taken out of a book of pure poetry

narratively significant motifs of fire and water (à la orv's black/white and reader/protagonist)

profound and realistic depiction of the inner feelings and troubles that the characters go through

incredibly heart-wrenching original soundtrack! (actually made me cry)

some of the most gorgeous art i've seen in any manhwa (seriously pls just open the 1st episode and look at the first few panels)

[spoilers below for chapter ~10]

delicious gender fuckery

MC is actually cross-dressing afab (i personally hc them as genderqueer; korean doesn't have gendered pronouns but the official tl uses she/her pronouns)

bonus: they're built like a fucking tank (as seen here) like hello??? which is so refreshing to see for an afab MC

plus they're also canonically lacking in empathy but still deeply compassionate which again is really refreshing

i'm sure there's even more stuff i'm forgetting but these are just some reasons off the top of my head why i think this manhwa is so amazing

please do give Mystic Prince a chance, it's an absolute delight!! there are multiple beautiful covers but here's a couple of them, BE ART BAITED <3

and finally some of my personal reactions to Mystic Prince and also a note regarding the content warnings under the cut!

feel free to skip this part lol but personally when i look for recs, i love when people tell me their emotional reactions and how passionate they are about it! so if this tells you anything,

this is the ONLY manhwa to have made me cry so far (yes that includes the orv webtoon, but not the novel ofc) like actually ugly sobbing with snot and tears and everything lmao

(it's not all sad though! this manhwa will have you clutching your heart one moment and then cackling out loud the next)

and it's also the ONLY manhwa i've ever spent actual money on before the fan tl picked it up just so i could read the advanced chapters (i'm notoriously cheap so this says a lot imo)

and i'm not alone in this, every other comment on webtoon is people saying the exact same thing. the general consensus is that this is 100% a hidden gem (webtoon DP my behated why'd you have to shoot yourself in the foot like that)

also regarding the content warnings on the carrd: this was my first time making a list of cws (i don't think anyone else has made one yet?) and i was a little hesitant to add them, so i sincerely apologize if i missed anything!! if anyone else has anything else to add (cws or otherwise) then please feel free to send me a message and i'll be happy to edit it!!

(btw this was inspired by this post which is also a great summary for why u should read a cnovel called mist unlimited)

[blaiddraws]

Finished watching trigun anime today, they killed off my favorite character in the last 5 episodes so now I'm sad

May I have a quick summary of your gunsmoke au so far

sure! i was devastated first time i watched the show and that happened. and it hurts every time i rewatch it as well.

fortunately i will not be killing off any characters <3

this is the second and shortened time i wrote this and it's STILL Quite A Bit Long. anyway here's a read more

emmet and ingo are a pair of twins that survived the SEEDS ships crash after an unexpected and massive solar flare basically messes with all of the navigation systems (and like. everything else.)

emmet is a bit disillusioned with humanity but he's not like. evil and murdery like knives. but he still doesn't like being around humans that much. ingo is Not like that.

eventually ingo disappears, emmet is distraught.

a strange man wakes up in the distant settlement of Pearl, and is given the name Nobori.

after a while nobori ends up wandering the planet for. decades. emmet starts hearing rumors about nobori and has a very tiny hope. but it's enough to get him to actually try searching for ingo again. since he's actually out and doing stuff he somehow (and unwillingly--) picks up a small group of stragglers that follow him around for some reason. he's not particularly a fan of this but they're helpful so he deals.

it all culminates to nobori and emmet meeting each other in the city of July. all nobori can remember of July is flashes of confusion and panic and fear and a horrible horrible light.

and emmet is. he's. confused and upset. his brother blasted his legs off-- did he really hate emmet That Much? so as much as emmet wants to find him and reunite. that ended real bad last time. so he hides himself away again and intentionally does Not try to seek out Ing-Nobori.

nobori wakes up confused once again, this time sans an arm. also a bounty on his head for destroying one of the biggest cities on the planet. wonder what that's all about ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

eventually through events emmet's weird little gang ends up taking care of this little girl-- dawn. they're not the best parents and she grows up to be self reliant far earlier than she should have.

Emmet still doesn't want anything to do with his brother (LIE) but once Dawn is old enough he sends her off to find Nobori and keep tabs on him. but like. don't tell emmet about anything unless it is significantly life threatening.

meanwhile two insurance girls, Elesa and Skyla, have been ordered to stick around the walking calamity, Nobori the Eclipse, to try and mitigate any damages that may occur because of him. shenanigans and fun times.

(-- at some point, not sure where exactly to first bring her in, but the gang ends up crossing paths with Zisu. ex-sheriff turned bounty hunter/hired gun, after a series of moral disagreements with the mayor of her old town led to her being kicked out. zisu isn't dumb enough to go seek out the bounty for nobori but she's also not dumb enough to take the opportunity that's presented to her hhdkshdjdjhf. but through a series of events she and nobori are forced to work Together and afterwards she decides. nah i actually like this guy he's neat :> and kinda sticks around, not necessarily always traveling with the squad but they do cross paths a lot)

and so as nobori and elesa and skyla are in a bus crossing the desert, they find some kid passed out in the middle of nowhere. dawn ends up sticking around full-time. you know for no reason in particular or anything. (and nobori cannot help but adore this weird little girl. feels oddly protective over her. this will not develop into parental feelings at all (lie))

and thus, the gang has grown and so has the propensity to chaos and shenanigans.

the "current" day story, what u see in the anime and manga, is a lot more vague than the rest of the backstory, but there's a lot of nobori running from his decades-due existential crisis, weird stuff starts happening, friend and family bonding. even More weird stuff. nobori starts getting the barest flashes of memory-- both of July and also Before. and eventually eventually eventually, emmet and nobori finally reunite and no one gets their legs blasted off.

(emmet learning that his brother has amnesia like. oh. oh . i could have avoided so much stuff if i thought of that)

OKAY. PHEW. GOT THAT ALL OUT.

basically albeit Quite Vaguely;

Nobori/Ingo takes vash's role

Emmet takes knives's role

Elesa and Skyla take Meryl and Milly's roles, respectively

Dawn and Zisu both take/share wolfwood's role, in different aspects of said role

- various other npcs such as irida and kamado and the wardens show up as assorted side characters throughout the entire thing. for example, irida is one of the kids that nobori knew way WAY back when. kamado is the mayor of the town zisu came from. rei is actually the one that made nobori's prosthetic arm, from technology he'd scavenged from a seeds ship. (it's not too advanced and doesn't have a gun in it like vash's, though). akari is rei's sibling and Dawn's grandma. drayden is also mayor of a town (specific idea there that we don't have time to get into fhdkbdjsd). volo is Some Guy who tries to sell them stuff that shows up occasionally but doesn't have plot relevance. etc etc etc

- the gung ho guns obviously,, aren't really a thing. the characters certainly exist SOMEWHERE but they're Different. and not the gung ho guns.

- bringing in backstory and minor plot aspects of the manga, but the plot is something more similar to the anime. out of 100 percent personal preference, i just liked the anime's plot better.

- yes this means tessla did exist. that was such an integral part to their backstory I'm sad it didn't get included in the anime. for people who don't know the manga. well. i do plan on making something about that eventually, so. >:)

[wondereads]

Personal Review (04/24/23)

Silver in the Bone by Alexandra Bracken

Summary

Ever since being abandoned by their guardian seven years ago, Tamsin and Cabell Lark have struggled to get by as Hollowers, thieves of magical artifacts. It doesn't help that Cabell is cursed with a particularly violent spell. When Tamsin gets wind of the location of the Ring of Dispel, a ring capable of removing any curse and the item her guardian vanished looking for, she decides she'll do anything to get it. But the competition is fierce, and soon she ends up with her long-time rival and a naive sorceress on the island of Avalon itself.

Plot 1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10

The plot at the beginning of this book struck me as a little meandering and aimless. Tamsin is seemingly pulled in all sorts of directions—Cabell's curse, the Dispel Ring, Nash's disappearance, her own lack of the One Sight, all kinds of things are going on. However, once the characters arrive in Avalon, things get a little more streamlined. There's one major issue: the island is overrun by the Children of the Night, and priestesses of Avalon have dwindled to a truly miniscule number. Once the real conflict is revealed, I was properly pulled in.

The final 100 or so pages were very strong. There were all kinds of reveals going on, and it had me on the edge of my seat. Tamsin's own connection to the curse is incredibly interesting, and not all the questions have been answered by the end. The twist at the end was insane, and it was a little vindicating since I'd suspected one of the reveals. Also, I knew who the traitor was from the start; they almost made me doubt, but then I was right, which is always fun.

Characters 1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10

The main character, Tamsin, was at first a little typical. The grumpy, rude, disillusioned protagonist abounds in YA today, and I wasn't really into her at first, but she got better. I think it really helped to have Cabell there; Tamsin's care for her brother balances her prickly personality well. By around halfway through, it's clear that Tamsin is disgustingly pessimistic but by no means an asshole. By the end of the book, especially after seeing how she came to be this way (and then have it happen to her again and her choose to be better this time), I was thoroughly attached.

Cabell is a character I'm torn on. From an analytical perspective, he's quite interesting, but I kept getting annoyed with him. I feel like it's just a side effect of relating so much to Tamsin, who definitely has eldest sister syndrome. Honestly, despite him being such a major character, he wasn't around as much as the other side characters, Neve and Emrys. Neve was sweet, and I think she was good for Tamsin, although I'm hoping to get more information on her backstory. We got a little peek of it, but then it was pushed to the side in favor of the other things going on. Emrys, however, really got me. First, he seems like a great love interest for Tamsin. Second, I thought I had him figured out towards the end, but then everything went off the rails and now I definitely want to see more of him.

The other side characters were pretty good. I particularly liked the priestesses, Cait, Olwen, and Flea. I think that Cait especially was characterized very well, and despite them really only 'joining the group' towards the end, they all were great.

Writing Style 1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10

While I really like Alexandra Bracken, it's more for her plot and character work than writing. There's nothing wrong with it, I just don't think it stands out in the grand scheme of things. It does what it's supposed to do, and that's about it. I will mention that the pacing feels a little off in the beginning; it feels like Bracken knew where she wanted the characters to end up, but she wasn't sure how to get them there. Once they're in Avalon, everything smooths out, but before it's a little jerky.

Overall 1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10

Initially, I was having some trouble getting through this book. I think part of it was just how busy I've been, but I do think the beginning just doesn't do it for me. However, it was necessary for the most part, and I really liked the rest of the book. Tamsin grew on me, I was invested in the romance, and the side characters are quite good. The actual plot is full of all kinds of twists and reveals, and it ended on such a good cliffhanger—it definitely makes me want to read the next book! I'd say that even though this book isn't perfect, it's a great read, especially if you're an Arthurian nerd like me.

The Author

Alexandra Bracken: 36, American, also wrote The Darkest Minds, Passenger, and Lore, and she's a Star Wars nerd

The Reviewer

My name is Wonderose; I try to post a review every week, and I do themed recommendations every once in a while. I take suggestions! Check out my about me post for more!

[storyspinner91]

Chapter 3: Planetarium Stickers on a Bedroom Ceiling

Summary: The gang heads for the spaceport, moving cross-country and fending off more GaleForce attacks along the way. They're headed to the same place, but it's not certain that they're all going there TOGETHER.

[Another old chapter; I just finished the first draft of ch. 15 and it's a doozy, it is 13,000-some words which is too long, but I'm happy I've got a draft and it's very late where I am so have this as a little celebration.]

Chapter 3 is sort of a filler chapter - we're moving from point A to point B - and sort of a final bit of exposition. It's notable because it's the first chapter where I started to let the Oh Hellos songs dictate the structure of the chapters themselves, not just the ideas. See, this song - #3 on Notos - is a purely instrumental track, Planetarium Stickers on a Bedroom Ceiling. And as I was sitting down to write it, I thought, "What if I did a chapter entirely without dialogue?" And, well, here we are. This is why there are what I've called "vignette" chapters in this stories - they correspond to the points where there are no lyrics/vocal lines for the songs.

Back at this point, I was also toying with more actual play of Lancer when I was writing - I had characters/mechs built for the 5 protagonists and was running them through little combats. A "mission" in Lancer is pretty typically 3-4 combats, and I did indeed run 4 combats for the "Escape from Tir Asleen" mission: the fight at the Summer Manse, two combats on the road, and the fight at the spaceport (chapter 4).

What I realized in doing that is that TTRPG gameplay often does not make a compelling story. More on that next time, but suffice to say: about the only thing I kept from that was the idea of there being two fights on the road, mostly because I realized that with 5 POVs I could tell the story very efficiently as "before," "fight 1," "brief rest," "fight 2," and "after." I'm happy with how that came out, and I'm happy people seem to like this chapter. It's doing a lot of exposition work and more building in world details: it's the first hint we get of Kenneth as an NHP, it's the first bit we get of Boorman's adapted backstory, and it's the first time we see Elora hack anything (indeed, it's the point at which I realized, "Oh you know what would be a fun magic-equivalent? Hacking!"). I had a lot of fun writing the Elora and Boorman sections of this, in particular. They're fun characters to write for; I enjoy the I-Don't-Know-What-I'm-Doing aspect of Elora at this stage, and I just love getting to write Boorman. Always gonna lean into that "Wait, I thought Kit and Jade were already dating??" angle with him.

And, of course, the title of this song is weirdly perfect for Jade to close out the chapter, which after all remains in "her" book. I flag a couple of things here (especially establishing the "mechs are powered by fusion reactors which can go Very Boom"), but it's mostly about her feelings for Kit. As so many things are with Jade. But the planetarium stickers tie in nicely to the line from the show about Jade counting stars before falling asleep, a line we've all made much of in the fandom space, I think. (It will recur later in my story, too.)

And, of course, I already start breaking my own rules by putting one line of speech into the end of this chapter. To set us up for the heartbreak of the next. ;)

[mermaidsirennikita]

What’s your take on people being up in arms about Bridgerton’s treatment of season 2 and by extension Simone Ashley. Do you think fans are on to something or are fans doing too much?

I think a bit of both; and I also think that the way we see promo roll out for season 3 will affect my perception of it. The reality is that s1 promo is difficult to compare to s2, because s1 was not a big returning hit. So s2 will be need to be compared to s3.

Do I think I would've liked to have seen more promo with Simone? Of course. Do I think that this is much, much more complicated than many people realize and that there are multiple entities at work with promo issues? Netflix (somewhat), production (less so), and Simone's team (quite a bit) included? Yes. Do I think people totally glossed over the solo shoots that Simone got because in reality they didn't want to see Simone, they wanted to see Simone AND JB? Yeah.

But I don't think there's some grand evil scheme at hand, I think that there is racism throughout the industry and while Bridgerton's production is no doubt affected by that, I don't know that it's... this elaborate scheme to prevent Simone from doing well or ensure that Kate doesn't ~steal focus~. Tbh, I think a lot of this comes down to the show being run by people who aren't all that talented, and are part of a machine that has always had some very weird relationships with gender, sexuality, race, and colorism. As much as people want to act like Shonda Rhimes being a highly successful Black woman means that her products are this post-racial utopia, that just isn't the case, and you can go back to... Grey's Anatomy, honestly. Shonda's works do often feature interracial couples (yay!) but they often feature interracial couples with at least one white person, often a white woman (see: Jackson and April, Addison and Sam, Addison and Jake, Callie and Arizona, Simon and Daphne). Often, when woman of color are given center stage in a Shondaland production, they are lightskinned--see Olivia Pope, Maggie Pierce, compared to how sidelined Stephanie Edwards on Grey's Anatomy was, to the point that she was publicly humiliated by her boyfriend leaving her for a white woman.... when that white woman was at the altar. Of course, there are exceptions, but this is something Shondaland has been critiqued on for quite a while.

At the same time, I think that a lot of Kathony fans want to pick a struggle and latch on to it hard and make their fandom identity being like... downtrodden. And lied to. Like, do I think that Kate's backstory and inner life should have been further developed? Yes. Do I think that Simone was deliberately lured into the role and bait and switched? Probably not. I wish they hadn't cut the scenes she apparently read from, for sure, but I also don't think it's unusual for scenes to be cut, especially when they're flashback scenes in general. I think other scenes could've been cut instead... But tbh, I don't think Kate flashback scenes would've been very good.

Which is something that I think people need to accept with this show. It's like. Not good. Nobody is making deliberate decisions to fuck shit up, they just kind of don't write well. I don't think the Polin season is suddenly going to uplift Penelope with Good Content. The fact that the summary mentions Colin coming back from his travels with "a new swagger", which is something they already tried to sell in s2 and nobody bought it--they're like. Not great.

And it's not the end of the world. Simone will quite possibly dip after season 4, should they be renewed beyond that. I don't think she's crying into her pillow about this. I'm hoping she's looking for other, eye-catching projects. The reality is that this was a good profile boost for her. I don't think the show had it out for her or JB by not campaigning for them with the Emmys, because there was frankly little to no chance of them being nominated either way.

The reality is that while I do think Simone has not been given the full shine she deserves, I also think that people are mostly just mad that the show didn't give them what they wanted and are railing against that, using Simone to give themselves a righteous cause. Some people genuinely care, of course, and make nuanced and rational arguments, but a lot of it is putting a noble label on fandom wank.

And at this point, I don't think it changes shit. The show is renewed through season 4. Neither of the next seasons will be giving those fans what they want. Simone is not going to have her profile raised in them. Her centerpiece season is done. So idk, if you're an actual fan of her I'd suggest watching her scenes by themselves and otherwise focusing on what comes next for her.

[sk3tch404]

The fact that I actually recognise that person-

Was actually debating whether to block them a while back and then forgot about it but omfg yeah I shoulda done it 💀💀💀💀 idk how to explain it properly but they strongly remind me of the IRL_Clowns situation back on TikTok for some reason (the summary should still be up when you search for it I think) although they haven't reached that same lvl of..... 'Bro wtf' yet, I think

Also it's not like Aponia could whitewash Naib more than Netease already did themselves fr

Yes just block him soon...

Wait, did I ever tell you guys we were mutuals? Oh no, I didn't. Let's recap.

I understand as a fictive you can't control the characters you see yourself as, but uh yeah...

I don't mind irl's or fictives, but sometimes y'all get a little out of hand. Like...

Wow defending Phillips racist backstory and character... How interesting.

You can be an irl of whoever u want I really don't give a fuck. I'm glad they're 'not racist' as people, but can they at least acknowledge PHILIPPE'S CHAFACTER IS RACIST? HIS CHARACTER TRAILER LITERALLY HAS A BLACK PERSON WITH DRAWN WITH ETHNIC FEATURES TURNING INTO A WOLF. AN ANIMAL.

DEEMING THEM AS CRIMINALS BASED ON PHYSICAL STRUCTURE. HOW IS THAT NOT FUCKING RACIST.

You don't have to be EVERY SINGLE TRAIT of that character as a fictive, but at least acknowledge the character you are is a bad person dude 💀

Ain't it funny when you pick and choose what to speak out on?

He can't STAND IT when racist black caricatures are on screen, but when his irl S/O cries about being seen as racist even though the character they are, Philippe, is racist in his work, deeming ethnic black features as a aggravated wolf ready to strike, that's when he goes tell them to do they things they like. Take their mind off of things and take a nap.

Yes this makes total and perfect mature sense. Good job team of 7 braincells.

I also think how it's a bit funny how despite me telling him my real age when I was 13 (almost 14) and they were 16, (Probably almost turning 17 because a bit after that they had 17 in their bio) they still replied with sexual implications for the characters even though they told me,

Murder stuff only huh? I get making sexual jokes with your friends, but I can't look down at someone nearly 3 YEARS YOUNGER THAN ME, and be comfortable making those kinds of jokes.

I'm not saying he's a predator, no no not at all. What im saying is, that even though he may have tried making me feel welcomed and tried to be friendly, it was not in my best interest safety wise.

This had me thinking that making semi sexual jokes with older people was normal and okay. It is alright once in a long while, but I remember multiple occasions where he would respond with something like, "Oh yeah Naib blows readers back out when Eli isn't around."

Of course that isn't specific, but it isn't too far from incorrect.

At the time, I was still trying to be more social and getting over my social anxiety. It made me happy that someone ONLINE paid attention to me with positive things to say. Even if they were very... Effortless or braindead smut.

Now I'm not saying he had to reply to every one if my asks with a full mental analysis, but at that time, I just felt worthless and disappointed with the responses. Though I can understand why he had only replied with one sentence or two most of the time. The guy was answering a FUCK ton of asks every single day. I'm sure there was a lot of pressure there too.

He was also reblogging with his S/O a million times every day so there's that I guess.

He uses the same 7 brain cells with every ask. Literally just porn, porn, porn and porn. I don't have an issue with legit pure thirsting, but honestly the intelligence in the room dropped to 25 everytime I went on his blog.

He claims not to be racist and points out misrepresentation, yet chooses to turn a blind eye to his irl fictive S/O when they feel bad bc the racist character they are, is being seen as racist.

He didn't tell me to not make sexual jokes and set those boundaries once again knowing I was about 3 years younger, but encouraged them with keyboard smashes and more thirst.

Sending in semi sexual asks were mistakes I made on my part alone, but seeing it as entertaining and allowing it to continue was something that made him amplify the issue even further.

Being a fictive is difficult and messes with your mental health a lot, but that doesn't give him an excuse to defend explicitly racist characters when your fictive gf/husband cries about it. Just because you're ill or are an irl doesn't mean you are excused from these sort of things.

I don't know how it is to struggle with being one, or will ever know what it feels like, but I can be sure when I say, I do not tolerate picky hypocrites.

He wants to point out Kurumi for 'white washing' Naib? Okay, I get it. Doing the right and moral thing huh? Well then, allow me to point out the things I had experienced during time I spent and lost during the late year of 2020 and the entirely of 2021 - 2022.

Naib was already pale to begin with. Kurumi couldn't white wash him if he was already that color.

After all, even if they wanted to 'white wash' Naib, Netease already beat them to it. Netease is a colorist, racist, offensive, and overall problematic company.

Every single character of theirs has their issues and faults, but this 'white washing' accusation that has fallen on Kurumi's shoulders has weighed heavy enough. They are simply not true and have fallen short.

Kurumi is not a native English speaker. They were confused and anxious while he confronted them. They only had a basic understanding of what he was trying to say. I talked to them and it was never their intention to hurt anybody, especially people who are colored like me.

If he wants to confront someone improperly, it should be me. Not her.

I don't want drama. I just want what's hiding in the dark, to come out into the light. Thank you, have a good rest of your day.

[babygirldennis]

This shit is fake bby!!!

Here she is.. My masterpost of all the dumb, illogical bits of info contained within these s15 “leaks” that make me fairly confident they are complete bullshit. It also includes my little tinhat theories that have absolutely no evidence.

I will be putting it all under a Readmore in case you don't want to risk it or if you simply Do Not Care

First up, I'd like to point out that these call sheets repeatedly give very detailed backstories to characters that have few lines which conveniently paints a picture of each episode's plot. And I'm not an expert so correct me if I'm wrong, but after looking at other similar casting calls, they only ever include the demographic and necessary skills.

Basically who in their right mind would write up casting calls that give away so many spoilers? Seems like that could cause and issue if they were leaked lol. But anyway that's my 1st point. But onto the actual content

So the conceit of this episode as a whole is that during the pandemic, the gang "gamed the system" and received three (3!) Loans to start businesses that went bankrupt. One of these businesses is implied to be the one started by dee and charlie who end up selling to Qanon shaman. Already this is so impossible baby.

1. We've already seen the gang try to get a loan and it didn't work. They don't have good ideas. Ur telling me, they managed to finagle 3 separate loans for 3 separate business ideas from an actual bank?

2. Maybe I just have bad reading comprehension but how does one have a business that is both fictitious and bankrupt?

3. If the customer is supposed to be Qanon shaman, an actual real life guy, why are the only descriptors white and male? They say he's shirtless so are they going to paint on all of the tattoos he has? And if so, doesn't that kind of ruin the dramatic reveal when charlie "throws in" the viking helmet? Why would he do that anyways? Sus.

Moving on

Alright this episode would fucking blow for obvious reasons but im going to refrain from looking at this through my gay dennis thruther lens because im biased.

Purely from a narrative standpoint, a woman hasn't been shown to be interested in dennis in nearly 5 years during the wade boggs episode. Ever since, every single woman he approaches has been actively creeped out by him. And now I'm supposed to believe that 3 "smart, passionate woman" (In Their Twenties!!!!!!) agreed to go on a date with him? And Anna even slept with him! Just because he what? Agreed with her? I'm not buyin it.

Plus the concept of this scenario lacks any potential for comedy. When iasip gets political, they always discuss a very specific topic using hyperbolic situations and flawed metaphors. If this is supposed to be a political episode, what ultimately lukewarm point would rob be trying to make here? So far we know they're ranting about

The patriarchy

Privilege

Socialism

No more personal responsibility(?)

The... nature of power in society(??)

How on earth would an episode like get approved? This shit sounds like a Ted talk. It sounds like it was written specifically to sound like a political episode so boring and pointless it would generate outrage and mile long essay posts from Tumblr users and reddit users alike. Almost like this one lol.

On a completely unrelated note, do not try and convince me that Frank "casual cock ring wearer" Reynolds is unable to perform.

Jeez this is getting out of hand fast. Let's move on

Ok now we're starting to getting into the Ireland of it all. Let me go on a bit of a tangent here about all this.. Now I thinq there are just 3 possibilities. Either this is all a publicity stunt and there is some truth to the Ireland rumors, the entire thing could be bogus from some weirdo fan (ps, if a fan did write this I want you to know I fucking hate you. You did this to me), or it is a publicity stunt but Ireland is just more bullshit.

I am going to assume it was a publicity stunt, otherwise I just wasted my entire evening and I can't have that kind of mentality rn. Additionally, I'm Going to tinhat here for a second and say that the Ireland rumors are true, but the details are different.

I say this because if they were going to do filming in Ireland, they probably figured that that information would be impossible to hide. In essence, my completely unfounded hypothesis is that this leak was their fucked up little way of controlling the situation while simultaneously messing with us.

Ok tangent is over, returning to the casting calls. From the looks of it, dee starts a "scam" acting class and has some very devoted students (Note that Tony was also the name of the porn shop owner. Seems weird!) Presumably after the gang replaces her with a monkey as the title suggests.

Honestly, there isn't too much here that's a red flag to me... seems like a nice little dee-centric episode that is the link to the Dublin angle. Assuming I am At All right, this could be a genuine plotline for Dee. However, the monkey could be a red herring and there could be a whole different side plot with the guys. who's to say. Next one!

Ah yes this is the dennis we all know and despise.. no red flags for me here really, I'm also running out of steam because idk if it shows, but I am majorly sleep deprived atm. Anyway I'm going to the next one

Okay this is where things start getting weird again ough a migraine just hit, anyway back to my earlier point about how casting calls would never contains major spoilers bc the people who see these wont be under any kind of NDA..

These ones reveal that bonnie dies. Again, that info wouldn't be in a casting call.

But also they suggest charlie has a irish penpal named Shelley who is his biological father. First off charlie is illiterate, although as pointed out by @undeadbreeze shelley could also be communicating in symbols. However, this scenario is still unbelievable to me for a couple reasons:

1. Bonnie's last name is Kelly obviously, and we know it's her maiden name because Jack's last name is also Kelly. But Shelley's last name is... also Kelly? In the context of this big ol hoax, it feels like it was written to show that look! his last name is the same as charlie's! That's how you know that's his dad! But It would be way too big of a coincidence if charlie's dad happened to have the same last name bonnie.

And 2. There's the whole mystery of charlie's long-lost sister from 'charlie got molested' but never any mention of a brother which according to this, shelley has been pretending to be his brother for years. And we all know how much rcg loves their continuity, it seems uncharacteristically lazy to just tack this on without any prior buildup.

And finally let me talk about mac for a second and specifically the line in gus's summary "both are gay men who are attracted to the priesthood for all the wrong reasons"

Iasip has commented on pedophilia in the priesthood many times in the past which leads me to believe that they are implying that mac is a pedophile? Please let me know if I completely misread the implications of that statement, but if not, then that is completely insane and one of the biggest indictators that this is fake. Mac is awful, just like everyone in the gang but he is definitely not a pedophile.

However even if i did completely misread that, it's still proof this is fake.. For all his faults, Rob put a surprising amount of care and effort into mac's coming-out. It hasn't been perfect, but Mfhp in particular firmly established that mac's faith is integral to his identity so Its unlikely that rob would throw all of that away for a cheap shot at priests.

Ok my brain is irradiated sludge at this point, but in conclusion. I hope that 1. I'm right, at least about it being fake (Otherwise damb that'll be so humiliating for me) And 2. This eases ur fears a bit. I don't want to lose all faith in future seasons bc I love iasip and miss the gang. If you read this far youre insane but I literally love you so goddamn much because I spent so so long tapping this out on my silly little phone

Please feel free to add on or message me your thoughts and opinions I need to know I'm not the only one who uhhh went a bit insane. And finally: whoever made these is a cunt. Mwah.

[autisticcassandracain]

black manta, since you've been reading thru his appearances and i hvan'et seen much outside movie/tv

Oh!! Him!!! Yeah something you should know is that Black Manta doesn't have consistent characterization. Like he just doesn't. There's not a single consistent thing about him except that he's an Aquaman rogue. His backstory and personality constantly change. As such, I can't really say that there's a singular way to write him 'in character', so these are mostly opinions on how I'd, personally, write him/like to see him be written. Under the cut because I really couldn't shut up on point 3 specifically, so summary:

Autism

Vengeance(TM) but like, Human

His N52 Backstory is Simply Superior

He's a Manipulative Shithead and Brilliant Tactician

He Cares for Jackson

1. Autism

To my knowledge he's still DC's only prominent autistic character! And until they get off their ass and pick another one to hit with their autism beam, they better not forget the one piece of rep they have. No I don't give a shit that it was written in a terribly ableist way, there's a new continuity, fix it!!! Give the man autism or face my wrath!!!

2. Vengeance(TM) but like, Human

I won't lie, I do very much enjoy shithead "How's the wife and kids, Arthur?" completely irredeemably evil Black Manta a little, but he's just infinitely more interesting when he's actually, you know. Human. I think the N52 and onwards has done that better than ever before (even if, again, character and backstory still fluctuate a lot). I really like Higgins' take on him in Aquaman (vol. 8); I usually don't like 'cycle of vengeance' type stories (bc I think the concept's dumb), but in this case, I think it really works, because they go out of their way to show the ways in which Manta's character has broken down due to vengeance, to the point that he has completely lost sight of why he's even taking it, but also show a nuanced portrayal of how he got there. While obviously I'd also very much love a redemption arc for him (and honestly I'm not ruling it out with the way his solo has been setting his character up so far, though I'm not assuming they're gonna go there), I still think it's entirely possible to write him as a vengeance-driven villain while still being a human and sympathetic character. By extension,

3. His N52 Backstory is Simply Superior

It just is! It's not often that the N52, let alone anything Geoff Johns wrote in the N52, does something actively better than the preboot version, but like, even a broken clock is right twice a day. Death of a Prince is an iconic storyline and for good reason, but it was also written in the early 70's by people who were just beginning to experiment with darker storylines, and it really shows. The actual way Arthur Junior (who didn't even have a name other than Aquababy of all things for the majority of this storyline) died was kinda laughable, Manta had basically no motives other than 'is evil', and Arthur's quest for vengeance got routinely interrupted by a Villain of the Week. And while the influence of the arc has been undoubtedly enormous, I don't think it's all for the best. Mera has gotten repeatedly demonized because of this arc's influence (even though in the actual story she and Arthur made up), for example. Arthur's personal grudge and drive for vengeance against Manta as a result of the arc wasn't uncompelling, necessarily, but it was always doomed to go nowhere, since it's not like they could actually let him kill Manta (partly for hero morals, partly because he'd just come back), and it made writers heavily limited in how sympathetic they could make Manta himself.

By contrast, the backstory he was given in the N52, of watching Arthur kill his father in a misdirected fit of rage, works much better for Manta. I still don't feel like I've read enough of Arthur to fully grasp his character (though by now I've fully read Aquaman volume 1, 2, 3, 6, and 8, all of 7 except Bunn's run, and half of volume 5), but since Arthur has been predominantly portrayed as a very angry person, I think it's not really out of character, provided that it's a) before his career as Aquaman and b) something he immediately shapes up and learns from (which is where I think Geoff Johns really dropped the ball).

And it's just SO MUCH MORE COMPELLING for Black Manta. It gives him an actual concrete motive to go after Aquaman (rather then the weird wishy-washy stuff they tried before), and an inherently sympathetic one at that. And the fact that Manta's quest for vengeance is doomed to go nowhere actually adds to his character's story, since it's the nature of villains to fruitlessly struggle against the heroes, and it provides a very solid foundation for an actually good 'cycle of vengeance' story.

While I have mixed feelings on Abnett's writing of Manta in vol. 8 (since it really felt like it was trying hard to move him away from the motive/character vol. 7 had developed him into, which I think was shortsighted), I REALLY love one of the first scenes with him, where he and Aquaman face off and it becomes clear that neither can kill the other and forever put an end to their useless feud, but that only Aquaman is ultimately at peace because he has moved on from the earlier, more hateful version of himself, whereas Black Manta has clung to it. It's just!!! SO much more compelling than anything regarding Death of a Prince in preboot has ever been.

4. He's a Manipulative Shithead and Brilliant Tactician

Sure, Manta can hold his own pretty well in a fight, but what actually makes him dangerous are his plans. Manta is an very smart and cunning villain who, when some thought is actually put into his writing, pretty much always has a plan. He's also extremely charismatic man with a talent for manipulation, and he frequently uses this to his advantage to win followers. While I don't like the 'fake SJW' angle for him (it should really be obvious why I think the idea of a Black man specifically using ideals of racial and social justice to manipulate other Black people into supervillainy Has Some Problems), it reinforces what I'm talking about here: that Manta is a charismatic manipulator and brilliant tactician.

5. He Cares for Jackson

I DO NOT CARE this one is ENTIRELY subjective. I simply like it better when he's shown to have like, any affection for Jackson at all. I don't necessarily mind when it's overshadowed by his need for vengeance or something, but like, the way Manta's relationship was written in the Teen Titans series as a flat antagonistic one on Manta's end was really really boring. And also I just like it when he cares about his kid. Like don't get me wrong dude's not winning any Father of the Year awards any time soon regardless of how much he cares about Jackson, it just makes me soft whenever he shows affection for him. Manta's solo having the narration being a dying letter to Jackson >>> 'I don't care about you and I'm only using you to my advantage'

[sokkadora]

tattooed heart; an ellie williams x fem!reader

chapter 3: a cold morning

masterlist here.

part summary: a tad bit of backstory on how joel, ellie, amelia and you met, seth being annoying, y/n and dina escapades, ellie apologizing for the kiss.

trigger warning: none .... i think

a/n: enjoy! and please check out my book safety net on wattpad! my account is @/CATRAMITYS <3333

- ☽ iii ༓ iii ☾ -

                life in jackson could be described as fairly easy - slow and consistent. the people who were living there never actually left and there weren't many people that would move into the city. most people you've known since they were the ones living inside the walls ever since you had come there.

some of the children were born there, yet most of the people came to the settlement as the time passed, seeking protection from the fireflies, infected or bandits. and so far, so good. the settlement was started by maria, tommy's wife, and her father a long time ago. when tommy left the fireflies in search of a normal, peaceful life, he ran into wyoming, finding this place. before their hard work, it was quite hard to manage - they needed to protect the settlement, build walls around it and make sure the people in there were safe, yet the young married couple was way more ambitious.

they wanted to make the old hydroelectric power station work again and that was one of the settlement's biggest projects to date. and to the wonder of everyone, they made it work again, so jackson had a stable supply of electricity almost every day. except for huge storms, which you all were waiting for to end sitting in the dinner, telling each other stories in the light of candles and so. these occasions were fun.

the city was independent - you had your cattle, horses, hens, and pigs, you had women who could sew clothes and make fabrics, you had a few men who were capable of making a gun. also, your mechanics were capable of making a few old cars work if the things would get really bad. in spring and summer, you always made sure to harvest vegetables and fruits, hunting throughout the winter mostly. you had a school and a kind-of-a-cinema when you were bored. for existing in a post-apocalyptic world, jackson was fairly normal.

and though you never got to know your parents, you had amelia. this lady was pretty old in the time she found you — she wasn't that kind of a brutal survivor who would bash someone's skull, twist her knife inside someone's body, or shoot them dead. she was the quiet traveler who was purposely avoiding big cities, who was traveling through woods and walked among rivers to see where her road will lead her. from the moment you bumped into each other, you became friends. family even. but once you got bit, she almost shot you. until she found out you were immune.

you and amelia didn't know what to do, but once amelia caught word of an old man and a 14-year-old immune girl traveling to the fireflies in salt lake city, you two went to find them. it took a few months to find them, the two of you almost giving up after taking shelter in what you thought was an abandoned apartment in pittsburgh.

SUMMER OF 2033:

"y/n, in here." amelia called for you quietly, gesturing to the apartment inside. you nodded, glancing behind you before quickly moving inside and locking the door.

you let out a sigh of relief, readjusting your ponytail and checking out the apartment. amelia jumped in front of you, pulling out her handgun, "get behind me, sugar." she whispered, softly moving towards the bedroom where she heard noises.

once she opened the door, the two of you aimed your guns at the people inside, two dark skinned boys, one around your age at the time and an older man with a red haired girl also around your age.

"amelia, they're not bad." you say, lowering your gun slowly to look at them better. the older woman glances at you before putting her gun down too.

the young man steps forward with his hand outstretched towards you, "i'm henry, who are you?" he asks nervously, glancing

you look up at him, then glance at amelia. she nods, signaling that it's okay, "i'm y/n." you respond with a small smile.

henry grins a bit, gesturing to the others, "we all just met but, this is joel," he starts, gesturing to the older man in the flannel, "this is ellie, and this is my little brother sam." henry finishes, gesturing to the girl and the boy.

"amelia and y/n." amelia introduces, gesturing to her then you. "sorry for the, uh, abrupt entrance. we thought this apartment was empty." she laughs nervously, fidgeting with the hem of her shirt.

"no worries. we were about to head out anyway." henry starts, beginning to walk out. "wait, would you two like to come with us?" we're planning on getting out of this city tonight."

you and amelia look at each other before she turns her head towards the henry again, "i don't thi—"

"amelia, c'mon! safety in numbers, remember." you remind her, crossing your arms over your chest and looking at her knowingly.

the woman scoffs and shakes her head, looking at her lap for a moment, "fine, okay, we'll join you guys."

upon leaving the apartment, you, sam, and ellie began to talk to each other. once you found out she was 14, like the immune girl, you went up to amelia while you were waiting in henry's "office".

"amelia, can i talk to you for a second?" you whisper to her, gesturing to a quieter spot. amelia's eyebrows furrow in confusion as she looks away from the outside to you, nodding.

once in a quieter spot, you tell amelia your hypothesis about ellie and joel, them being the two you’ve been searching the country for, "no, no way. they're probably just father and daughter."

"don't daughters usually call their fathers dad instead of their actual names?" you ask her, irritated while your arms fold over your chest. amelia stares at you blankly, hands resting on her knees. "this is the man and the immune girl we're searching for, amelia. we have to tell—"

"guys?" a voice calls into the room, making yours and amelia's head shoot towards the sound. it's sam. "henry says it's time to go." sam tells you two awkwardly.

amelia sighs heavily, rising from her place on the desk and looking at you, "you and i will finish this conversation later."

that conversation never went as well as you hoped, you and ellie finding out that you both are immune in the radio station during a slow game of truth or dare. neither of you knew what it was, but henry gave you the basic gist of it.

ellie was thrilled to know she wasn't the only immune person, and she wasn't alone in that area. after losing henry and sam the morning after, you four headed off to find joel's brother, tommy in wyoming after finding a car.

after finding tommy and heading to the university of eastern colorado, things only got more rough from there. joel and amelia both got impaled, barely making it out of the science building alive before getting on their horses and passing out. resulting in you and ellie panicking before getting yourselves together and finding a nearby town to stay at for the winter.

during that winter, you encountered david, and his friend carl. you and ellie almost lost your lives after getting captured by them, then joel and amelia swooped in saving you and ellie from becoming the monsters you both fear.

the rest of the journey carried into the spring, you, joel, ellie, and amelia becoming much closer during the time from winter to spring. once you all got to the firefly hospital and joel and amelia found out what the cost for the vaccine was, they saved you and ellie.

you both had become to loved and valuable to them, neither wanting to bear the loss of another child. and they lied to you both to keep you safe. so after they took out most of the fireflies in the hospital, including their leader, marlene, you all headed back to tommy's, to jackson.

you and ellie both stopped the elders before entering jackson, "hey, wait." ellie called, looking to you for a bit of comfort.

amelia and joel turned around, looking at the two of you. you bit your lip as ellie started talking, "back in boston — back when i was bitten... i wasn't alone." she reveals, glancing between joel and amelia.

"my best friend, riley, was there and she got bit too." ellie tells everyone.

"and i was with my best friend, carly." you tell the group, fidgeting with your fingers. "we didn't know what to do. so, she says 'let's just wait it out. y'know we can be all poetic and lose our minds together. we're still waiting for our turn."

"then it was tess." ellie states, fidgeting with her fingers anxiously.

"then henry and sam—" you continue the statement for her.

"none of that is on you." amelia states, stepping a bit closer to you and ellie.

"no, you don't understand." ellie says sadly, rubbing her face.

joel suddenly steps forward, "i struggled for a long time with survivin', and you-" he briefly clutches his watch. "no matter what, you keep finding something to fight for. now, i know that's not what you want to hear right now but it's—"

you shake your head, looking away before turning back at joel, "swear to us." you interrupt, looking between the two adults seriously. "swear to us that everything that you said about the fireflies is true."

joel and amelia look between you and ellie with a hesitant look, "we swear." she says to you two, placing a hand on joel's shoulder.

you and ellie take a pause, processing everything before looking back at amelia and joel, nodding, "okay." you say together.

MARCH 2ND, 2038:

that was how you got into jackson. the first months there were pretty weird to you - the city had rules, schedule and they gave you food every morning, midday and evening, calling it breakfast, lunch, and dinner. the first week, you spent with vomiting since your food wasn't used to eat regularly. it was also pretty hard trying to trust strangers before you realized they don't mean you any harm. amelia was immediately capable of working at their farm with their animals, while you were getting the jobs like cleaning up mess or help in the kitchen - which meant that you didn't see each other that much.

- ☽ ♡ ༓ ♡ ☾ -

but after last night you and ellie went your ways after the talk with joel and amelia. there were many exchanged glances as she walked you home although you insisted you were fine. when you stood in the doorway of your house, ellie kissed your cheek before waving goodbye shyly.

a knock wakes you out of your sleep, groaning as you sit up and walk to the door, "just a minute! geez." you call out, walking to the door while scratching the back of your neck tiredly.

once you open it, you see dina. your other best friend, "hey dina." you yawn, squeezing the door handle as you look at your friend who's already dressed. "oh shit-"

"yep. hurry up and get ready, stupid." dina grins, stepping inside and sitting on your couch as you head into the bathroom with a new set of clothes. "maria also wants to talk to you."

stepping out of the bathroom, you reload your pistol and grab your switchblade that joel made you, "alright, dina, let's go."

she nods, opening the door as both of you step out into the cold air, "are joel and amelia up yet? or ellie?" you ask curiously.

"tommy and amelia went out early for patrol. something about a herd or infected up north, i don't know where joel is, and ellie, is still asleep. like ellie." dina tells you as you nod in understanding, chuckling at the last part of her sentence. "are you four... good?"

you glance up at her, sighing, "yeah, i guess so." you shrug, looking away and itching your nose.

once you and dina get downtown, she leads you into a restaurant, "this way." she says, motioning towards the nearly empty restaurant.

once you two enter, dina walks away to socialize with the others. you glance at her anxiously as she just smirks, shooing you in maria's direction.

"hey, y/n! over here!" maria calls from across the bar, making you groan and walk over unenthusiastically.

you walk to maria, "yes?" you ask, rubbing your face with your gloved hands.

"seth has something he wants to say to you." maria tells you, glancing towards the kitchen.

you glare at maria, irritated, "i don't wanna hear what that bigot has to say."

maria looks at you with an unreadable expression, "do it for me, please?" she asks gently.

you scan her face over, and sigh, resting your foot on a small crate, "fine."

"seth! seth, come here." maria calls towards the kitchen.

"fuck me." you mutter under your breath, as you look up.

seth walks out of the kitchen sheepishly, with something in his hands, "hey. look last night, i was drinking too much." seth starts, making you scoff quietly.

"sure." you say in disbelief, crossing your arms as you rest your right leg on the stool next to you.

"i'm trying to say i'm sorry!" seth exclaims, getting more irritated with you. "maria tells me that you and dina are heading out." he tells you, making you glance back at dina. "i made you two some sandwiches." he reveals.

seth places the sandwiches on the bar counter, giving them a pat before scooching them towards you.

"okay." you mumble, staring at him awkwardly.

"they're steak." seth informs you, gesturing towards the sandwiches you haven't taken yet.

maria gets tired of the awkward silence as she takes the sandwiches as she shoves them into your chest, "thank you, seth." she says assertively, scaring seth back into the kitchen.

turning around with the sandwiches, you bump into dina, "what've you got there?" she asks curiously as you shove the sandwiches into her hands.

"some... surprisingly decent looking bigot sandwiches." you scoff, dusting off your pants while looking around the outside room.

dina lifts them to her nose, taking a whiff, "they smell absolutely scrumptious." she says in a fake posh accent, making you laugh as she secretly throws them away.

"come on you two, time to go." maria calls from the doorway of the restaurant, gesturing to the outside. "y/n, i need to talk to you for a minute before i head back inside."

you stop next to maria, gesturing for dina to go ahead without you as she closes the door, "are you amelia and joel good?" maria asks quietly, making you roll your eyes. "they seemed to be in a better mood this morn—"

"we're fine maria." you interrupt her, your eyes closing in annoyance as you're getting tired of this question.

the blonde woman puts her hands up, "just wanted to make sure. i worry y'know." she chuckles, bringing you into a short embrace. you nods, pulling away, "go find dina." she tells you heading into the restaurant as you head on your way.

you find dina and overhear how she's about to start a snowball fight with a bunch of the kids. you sneak up behind the kids, snowball in hand. dina glances up and spots you, making you put a finger over your mouth to shush her. she looks back at the kids, egging them on as you come up and headshot a girl named, isabella.

this made the kids go feral, sending them to one side of the playground as you and dina hid on the other side, laughing your asses off.

you and dina played with the kids for around fifteen minutes before you heard ellie's voice. you turned around and saw jesse, waving politely at him before returning to the game.

"dina! come on! you and i are paired for patrol today." jesse calls out to his ex, making her roll her eyes before heading out of the playground, following jesse.

"hey, y/n! can i talk to you?" a familiar voice called, you turn your head to see ellie. you smile and wave at her before putting the snowball fight on a pause so you could talk to her.

"hey." you say breathlessly, tucking a strand of hair behind your ear.

"hey." ellie responds awkwardly, tapping on the wooden fence.

"i just wanna say sorry for ditching you after the... thing last night." ellie apologizes, making you tilt your head in confusion.

"oh, no, it's okay. i totally get it. i- i just- i felt bad." you tell her, looking at her apologetically while fidgeting with your fingers.

ellie shakes her head lightly, "why?"

"because, i started the whole thing and i... i just shouldn't have kissed you in front all those people and—"

"no! it's okay, you were drunk." ellie says, laughing off the light embarrassment.

"well, still i don't want you to think—" you start before ellie interrupts your once more, making you chuckle lightly.

"no, i'm not reading into it or anything." ellie tells you, making you shake your head.

you look up at ellie, smiling softly, "you know what i love about you?" you start, making ellie blush a little. "how you let me finish my sentences."

ellie chuckles, shaking her head, "alright. well, we should probably get going." you nod, before a snowball nails ellie right in the shoulder. "ow!"

you turn around angrily, glaring at the kids, "what the fuck?!" you exclaims at them, making them giggle.

"i'm not even playing!" ellie yells at them.

"cause you're a chicken?" one of the kids yells out, making the rest taunt ellie playfully.

"i hate those kids so much." ellie mutters to you irritated, making you look at her mischievously.

"you wanna fuck 'em up?" you ask evilly, giving ellie a side glance.

ellie looks to see if anyone's coming before nodding, "yeah, i do." ellie leaps over the fence as you both start playfully shouting at them.

"you asked for it!" you yell at them.

"you better run you little shits!" ellie exclaims, you and her taking cover behind a structure.

the game was the first to ten hits wins, it took you and ellie a minute, but you beat to little shits 10/3.

"no fair!" isabella whines, wiping the snow off her coat.

you spread your arms out victoriously, "eat it shrimps! how's it feel?" you brag to them, making them all run up and tackle you. "you'll never get away with this!" you yell happily as they dog pile on you before ellie comes and rips one off.

"get off of her you little monsters!" the red haired girl exclaims, making them scurry away before helping you up.

"i guess i asked for that huh?" you ask your friend, heading towards the gate.

"yep." she deadpans at you, making you smile. you both exit the playground, heading to the stables. "so, jesse wants us to do the creek trails. he's gonna relieve amelia and tommy."

"oh, okay. that's nice he assigned us together." you tell ellie, greeting the lady at the front of the stables. "you're gonna like this one."

someone yells to you and ellie they'll take your horses in so you can grab them. yelling out a quick thanks, you head over to grab your horse, moon. walking to the east gate, you pet his neck, greeting him.

"look who decided to join us." jesse tease you and ellie, making you roll your eyes.

"ha ha, you're so funny." you tease back, elbowing him gently in the side and taking your rifle from him.

"open it up!" he yells up at the gate keepers. "settle down. alright. you all know the drill." he assumes, looking to all the patrol groups. "run your routes, mark your logbooks, clear any infected you see. you run into anything you can't handle, you come back." jesse tells everyone. "be smart about it. alright, get going."

you and ellie glance at each other with a small nod, getting on your horses and riding off towards the creek trails.