#It was just supposed to be a throwaway idea but I actually really like this

[somegrumpynerd]

Some doodles from the freaky friday idea I had, as it turns out neither of them can do a convincing impression of the other

Also this

[koimethehorizon]

Amazing Digital Circus Theory: Gangle is an NPC

Sooo, I wasn’t expecting to talk about this show. I was perfectly content to just enjoy Digital Circus as is.

It’s a show that invites theories as to what exactly’s going on with the setting and characters, but I didn’t have much room to think too hard about it. Who’s Abel? Is Pomni really a human? Why is this VR game emulating an N64 game at the start? I like the show plenty, but it just wasn’t as interesting to go hard on any of those questions at the time.

But with this recent episode… a single, perhaps throwaway line got the brain nagging. And it’s kind of a bizarre one to waste hours analyzing.

Okay, so yeah, it’s a joke on submissive and breedable. (Don’t give them ideas) But try taking it at face value.

What does he mean by this? Sure, Jax is an asshole, and being a bullied kid is Gangle’s whole archetype… but what if it means a little more than that?

Gangle’s trapped for all eternity this asshole and she’s just letting him boss her around. Zooble can choose not to participate, so no one has to. Why does Gangle listen to Jax at all?

Let's entertain a thought: Is Gangle an NPC?

With Episode 2 bringing so much attention to the autonomy of NPCs, it seemed natural to start pointing fingers at characters being this or that. But this isn't just a random crackshot, I feel that there is a story to tell here.

Look back at Pomni’s “orientation” with the other humans. Ragatha, Zooble, and Jax ease her by saying that they’ve been trapped in this world for years and then bring attention to Kinger being the oldest.

But Gangle… she’s isolated from the peanut gallery, busy moping about the broken comedy mask instead.

Every character has been given some hints as to how they’ve been coping with the situation. Jax no longer empathizes with anything, Ragatha once had trouble adjusting but now tries to stay happy, Zooble picks and chooses her involvement, Kinger is the eldest and just exists for the hell of it, and Pomni is new to everything.

With Gangle, it’s a blank. No opinion, no hints of her human side, how long she’s been here, no thoughts on the games, nothing. She’s just Jax’s punching bag.

Even Kinger gets a potshot on Gangle in a rock-paper-scissors game…. and he likely forgot that she doesn’t have hands!

And that brings me to another detail. Doesn't Gangle look different from the others?

Unlike everyone else, Gangle's just a mask and a ribbon. No hands or legs, or just any limbs in general. She stands out as looking a bit simpler than the others.

Gangle's most interesting design trait is that she's based on comedy and tragedy masks. The ones used old Greek theater to dictate the emotions of their characters.

The first episode seems to imply that with a broken comedy mask, Gangle literally can’t stay happy. Hence why we see her sad most of the time. That's a strange limitation if Gangle's human mind is supposed to be completely intact, especially with how expressive the other characters can be.

It's not delved into too much but does Gangle actually rely on these masks to "feel" emotions?

The obvious hole is that Caine would’ve just killed her a while ago if she was an NPC, but he's not exactly omniscient.

He even admits that he has to kill them off because it’s possible for him to lose track.

Now normally I could just stop here, but I’m all about the grand statements. You know, the retroactive readings of an episode once you get a theory going. Why does Gangle being an NPC matter at all? How does Ep 2 change?

While deep diving, I realized that the thematic core of Episode 2 is Pomni and Jax’s approaches to surviving the Digital Circus.

In Pomni’s A plot, we see her connecting with Gummigoo, the NPC that Caine pitted their group against. After discovering him lamenting his new reality, she finds a strange comfort in being existentially lost together. Because in the end the NPCs and the humans are just as displaced and frightened in this meaningless world.

In Jax’s B plot, he forces Gangle to follow some insane orders. Sabotage the game to let the big chocolate turd monster destroy the Candy Kingdom. To Jax, he is the main character. Helping or displeasing this giant population of fake people doesn’t have any consequence for him, so why humor anyone but yourself?

A bit of a stretch, but what if Jax already knows Gangle is an NPC and is keeping it quiet as long as Gangle follows orders, hence the “submissive” comment? He’d be a way more unpleasant character with this reading, but it doesn’t seem off the cards with how he treats everyone anyway.

This dichotomy already plays out well within the episode, but when reframing it as Pomni and Gummigoo vs Jax and Gangle, the parallel is a lot more interesting.

Make an NPC an equal, they die. But keep an NPC under wraps as long as they continue to obey you… they live.

The episode ends with a grim conundrum that NPCs can’t be together with the humans, not because of their differences but because they're just... not allowed to be. But what if one already in the group, proving that they’re just as capable as the humans to play the games and grieve loved ones together?

PS. Despite knowing everyone else's name, I actually forgot Gangle's until I started finding evidence for this intrusive thought. Sorry Gangle.

PSS. I couldn't fit this anywhere, but Gangle's door frame doesn't work as evidence against the NPC theory, because even the mannequins have their own rooms in that hallway.

[gartenofbanny]

Andrealphus's first appearance in Unhappy Campers was probably the most mediocre introduction in all of Helluva Boss thus far. Andrealphus had no build-up aside from a single line Stolas said in The Circus.

Instead, Andrealphus has been moreso built up as a character outside of the series entirely. Tweets made by Vivziepop releasing his design and describing his role

This is one of my main issues with Andrealphus's introduction as a whole. He wasn't introduced within the series itself but on Twitter. Keep in mind that he is supposed to be a major antagonist, and usually antagonists who are major have introductions within the series. But maybe he does have an introduction within the series with dramatic effect behind it..right?

Right?

When Western Energy released 13 seconds into the episode, Andrealphus just appears.

No entrance, no in-show introduction, no explained role, just nothing. Andrealphus just appears as if he's always been in the series. This is the worst villain introduction I've seen in Helluva Boss because there was no introduction within the show.

It's like the writers had no idea how to introduce him within the show and just tweeted who he is and what his role is and called it a day. That's not how any character introduction works because they're essentially spoiling their audience. Instead of building him up within season 1, giving the audience something to theorize and talk about, eventually paying off with an appearance they just do "Hey, here's this character that will appear in a future episode! Let us explain to you who he is instead of letting you put the pieces together yourselves!"

So, I'm going to bring up one of my favorite introductions to an antagonist in fiction. You all have heard of Dragon Ball Z, right? Well, here's how one of the main antagonists, Cell, was introduced.

Words can not express how much I love this introduction, why it has a great build up, and how it's fucking terrifying. But I don't feel like explaining right now.

So now that you all watched the video or have already seen it, Lets try something different. Remove the majority of the video, immediately cut to Piccolo facing Cell with Cell already absorbed the last citizen of the city and Piccolo about to fight Cell while screaming his name. That doesn't work because two things are missing.

And that is the build-up and

ACTUAL INTRODUCTION

This is why Andrealphus's introduction into Helluva Boss is mid (if you can even call it an introduction), Andrealphus had no actual introduction within the series aside from a throwaway line a couple episodes before and no actual introduction within the series either. Andrealphus just appears in Western Energy, and the episode acts as if like the audience already knows who he is and what he does.

Newsflash, we don't. Well, we know who he is, but that information was given outside the show. Because for some REASON, Viv and Spindlehorse write their characters outside of the show.

-Insert Millie thread reference here-

Am I expecting Helluva Boss to have Dragon Ball Z's level of writing? No, it's Helluva Boss, lmao. But I did expect it to have a decent villain introduction, especially when the villain is really major. Helluva Boss has had pretty decent villain introductions and twists with Martha and Striker. Hell, in my opinion, the DHORK Agents had the best introduction thus far, but it just fumbled the bag with Andrealphus.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Andrealphus's introduction sucked and he's honestly just painfully boring as an antagonist overall, but that'll be a topic for a different essay. That's all I have for today. Thank you all for reading, and I hope you all have a great one! ❤️

[suzukiblu]

i want to write and post kinky things, but i can’t get past this base level of… shame, i guess. or embarrassment. or anxiety over judgement. it feels weird to ask just another blog, but yet i still am… how do you do it? did you have to get over the same thing? if you did, how?? sorry. i love your writing

You're good, friend, don't sweat it! ❤️ Honestly I don't remember if I was ever particularly ashamed or embarrassed by the idea of doing smut or not, but I WAS once ashamed and embarrassed by the idea of writing and posting things that I thought were too id-driven or too self-indulgent or just Too Much.

And then I thought, "okay, but if I'm not having fun and not being authentic and not doing what I want, what's the point anyway?"

So I just slooooowly step-by-step stopped reflexively reining myself in, and then I found out that actually the world is full of people who are exactly as id-driven and buck-wild as I am and they are both delighted and GRATEFUL to see my hyper-specific opinions about gender and yes they WOULD like to read about this character being the exact kind of queer I am interpreting them as and no there is NOT any such thing as "too much" hurt/comfort or too many fix-it AUs or too much focusing on your favorite character and yes they DO wanna see those kinks explored too; actually, you should probably write all your fave things a few MORE times and commit even HARDER this time. Like, the more niche and self-indulgent I get, the more enthusiastic and involved the people who read my stuff seem to get, in my experience. People LIKE the stuff I thought I'd get judged over. Like, a lot of people! Not EVERYONE, but still, way more people than I ever would've expected when I was regularly thinking "no one will like my stuff if I get too carried away and do what I REALLY wanna do".

I realize you're asking about specifically porn here, but that was sort of an overlapping thing for me in terms of the KINDS of porn I wrote, and like . . . I really do think making the things you really WANT to make is always gonna resonate harder than just making the things you think you're SUPPOSED to make.

I don't know if any of that was sufficiently helpful, but personally I always say you should just do what you want, in situations like these. You're not gonna be eighty and going "gosh I wish I'd had LESS experiences and tried FEWER new things!", you know?

(also if all else fails, there's always the good ol' "make a throwaway NSFW account to test the waters on your own comfort level and go from there" option)

[busghost]

I've been really negative about Honkai recently and I'm sorry about that but with everything that's wrong it gets you thinking about how they could have done it better.

So now I'm wondering what ideas people have for Mei's (gestures at her) everything. Instead of just telling us everything Mei is supposed to be and show us Mei growing as a person.

I do want to see what other people think up because by no means is my idea the only good one.

DISCLAIMER: I'm only throwing ideas out, I'm not claiming to be an actual good writer. I'd be a pretentious asshole to think that if I wrote this in a story format rather than an outline that it'd be any good. It'd be worse than what we got. I'm also not blaming the writers for being crunched so bad. It's just a lot of unfortunate circumstances.

Personally I'd go nuts with the beta Crown of Thorns + the ideas introduced in ch 1-2 of Elysian Realm and the story beforehand (Elysia is "perfect" but acts mean).

Elysia considers herself the perfect human when there's no humanity in her having let the end come because "it's their own fault". As if Mei let Kiana die to her own foolish self sacrificial habits. Her love is a detached one, like she doesn't truly understand what it is to love nor does she understand what she is loving. Humanity is more like a cute plaything than the collection of all people and their hopes and sorrows and hatred and love and everything in between.

The point of the Previous Era was that they were so coldly logical that they lost. They had no love, just look at what happened to RIN, murdered in cold blood and only became a Herrscher because of it. And that basically ALL we knew about the PE for the longest time, the coldblooded murder of a young woman just because she might've been a threat and how Sakura was able to reach RIN and get her to stop killing in the end with love.

Take the examples of love from the PE and crush them under that cold logic. Su being a doctor forced to continually sacrifice the few for the many, going against all he stands for. Griseo growing up in a world so apathetic towards new life. Hua hating Kevin for being Dr. Mei's pawn and killing HIMEKO. Expanding on the throwaway line where she was ostracized for being so close to somebody who became a Herrscher. Eden being so depressed at the loss of art and so much life. Sakura trying to do good by her sister but killing for a living to make it so. I think they really nailed Pardo the first time around. And very importantly, make it clear that MOTH/Dr. Mei's rationality is what caused so much suffering. Despite this, have her thaw out and be understanding even for their worst qualities. As the sims open up, so does she, becoming more like a person again rather than angst with a vague goal.

Contrast all of this with the love Mei has felt through her life. Her few interactions with her father that left a mark on her. Seeing how Hua has changed from the past into the present, finding people that she can openly love and care for. Theresa and Himeko giving her unconditional love and teaching her so much as parental figures. Even the tough love like Himeko slapping her across for face for suggesting everyone else would be better off if Mei killed herself. Kiana and Bronya relying on her and supporting her, her happiest moments being when she was at St. Freya with her family. Even during her short time at Anti-Entropy, Tesla was very kind to her. See the few examples of love that appeared in the Previous Era and realize THAT'S what they're fighting for in the real world.

I forget where it was stated, but I think it was Otto who said that the Current Era has come to a better understanding of what it means to be human and I really like that idea. Herrschers are more capable of being human than some people. That being human and defeating the Honkai isn't based on plans that kill nearly everyone on Earth or making decisions for the people of the future. It's not "PURGE THE HONKAI" as the PE was so fond of saying, it's "Fight for everything beautiful in the world."

With Elysia as the antagonist it doesn't even necessarily need to end in a boss fight against her or anything. But make Mei decide for herself that what she is going to fight for, she isn't "perfect" like Elysia but her love is genuine and she has a deeper understanding than Elysia ever could. She can carry on the memories of the Previous Era, not of all the fighting and plans but of the love people tried to show each other. A rejection of what everything the Previous Era stood for.

Have Mei leave the Realm and World Serpent, not because Kevin said "okay you can go now" but to abandon them to be with the people she truly cares about and believes in because that is what is important now. Maybe have her come to their aid when it's explicitly against WS's interests.

THEN Mei can take Elysia's place as Herrscher of Human/Origin because she truly understands what it means to love people unlike Elysia. How Kiana's arc is learning to accept love and loving herself, have Mei's arc be learning to love the world again.

Also do none of the retconning in chapter 34. Make everything they are doing in the Current Era their own decisions, their own plans. They are supposed to be overcoming Project Stigma through their own determination and knowledge, not because this was the real purpose of Project EMBER. Also just let the Will of the Honkai be something the Previous Era inflicted on the Current Era while tampering with it, not "we were making it easier for the CE the whole time". The Current Era's victory over the Honkai has to be their own.

I'll be first to admit, I haven't thought much into how it's play out and definitely should have more to do with Elysia, the realm is named for her and it's her big secret at the center of it all. You could still pull this off with making Elysia suffer so much for having so much genuine love for everyone in a loveless world or a million other ways. Just not, Elysia decided the future for the Herrschers and everything the CE is doing is actually a PE plan.

[somethingusefulfromflorida]

I just had a really weird experience with a dating app and I don't know what's real anymore.

I matched with a cute girl earlier today, and we spent a couple hours talking about our shared interests in podcasts and history and weird niche topics nobody else cares about. It was nice, and I asked her if she wanted to get lunch sometime this week. She said she'd like that, but then immediately changed the subject to talk about her job instead of scheduling the date. I mean, that's not TOO weird, I figure she must have wanted to say no but didn't want to hurt my feelings. Whatever. No big deal. We keep talking.

She mentioned that she works as a medical scribe at a doctor's office, and I said that that sounds like a wizard's apprentice. She said that medicine is the intersection between science and magic. I replied with a throwaway joke that chemistry is just alchemy with a little flair, and then shit went off the rails because she sent me a link to a pornhub video titled "We came at the same Time - Sensual Side Fuck" and said "me when someone tells me they're an alchemist."

A cute girl sends me a literal porn link after dodging the question of whether she wanted to go on a date, so I'm confused as hell. I don't know if this is her way of flirting or what, so I replied "I'd be down to practice some alchemy if you're not busy." I regretted saying it immediately because I never talk to anyone like that, I was just blind sided by the porn and thought maybe she would think it was funny. Well, after a few minutes she says "did you just ask to fuck me?"

Okay, I'm going down in flames, I crossed a line, that alchemy "joke" was inappropriate and creepy and she's clearly not into it and she's probably gonna unmatch me and block me and report me or something. I'm still confused over the direction the conversation is going, but I decide it'd be better if I apologize and go on the defensive instead of doubling down like a jackass. I tell her "no, not really," I'm not soliciting a stranger for sex, I was just yes-anding. She sent a porn link. What was I supposed to say? How was I supposed to respond?

Another few minutes pass. I was 100% sure that when I reopened the app she would be gone, but no, she finally replied "I was hoping you were..."

What kind of mind game is this? Is she just looking for a hookup? Her profile specifically says she's not! I have no idea what's going on.

"Did you just ask to fuck me?" My honest answer would have been "yes, isn't that what you wanted?" but the thought of saying that to somebody makes me feel like a douchebag. Her tone with that question didn't sound flirty, it sounded accusatory, like she was outraged I had the audacity to ask for sex so soon. My social anxiety is going through the roof. Whoops, turns out she actually WAS flirting and DID want to have sex, and I've managed to waffle it and sound like an asshole no matter what I say. Damned if I do, damned if I don't.

From my perspective:

Her: *posts meme about sex* (it's just a meme, nothing more. Don't read into it)

Me: *flirty memey response* (could go either way; I'm not outright saying I want to have sex with her, I'm just matching her energy. She memes about sex, I reply in kind because I thought it would be weirder go ignore it)

Her: oh my god, did you really just say that? Did you really think I wanted to have sex with you?

Me: I'm sorry, I overstepped

Her: mind games, dumbass! You don't know what I want, motherfucker!"

From her perspective:

Her: our conversation is going well, let me drop a big hint that I want to hook up

Me: picks up on the hint

Her: really?

Me: NO!

Her: oh... okay... nevermind...

So then I take a step back and try to see if there's any way whatsoever to salvage this dumpster fire of a conversation. I admit that I'm confused and ask her point blank if she wanted to have sex. I legitimately don't know if she was making a move or not, and I need her to know that I'm not the kind of guy who asks for sex as an opening move but I'm not opposed to it if she's the one bringing it up. There's no way to fix this. I failed at this interaction. I need to cut my losses, but somehow we keep talking.

She says, quote "I like making art and love. Sometimes at the same time, ya know?"

I say "do you want to make love?"

She says "we probably should."

I ask her if she'd like to get something to eat first, as was my initial date plan before the porn thing. Her response confused me even more. "I can't right now. I'm exhausted from traveling all weekend. I haven't eaten and feel like I'm gonna pass out." That reply doesn't make sense. It's Wednesday and she says she's too hungry to get dinner. That's when I noticed that her previous message ended with a period.

"We probably should," period. I scrolled back up through our conversation and realized that EVERY message she sent me ended with a period. Every single one! Oh, and some of them weren't even direct responses to anything I said, so now I'm 1000% convinced that she's a bot. I got tricked into talking for three hours with a bot, and I derailed the scam by rolling a nat 1 critical fail when it tried to sext me.

I ask "her" point blank when she wants to meet up, and it said "I need to eat first. Make food, not war, lol. Where are your top places to grab food?"

Bot. Almost certainly a bot.

My final reply, in the extraordinarily small off chance that she's not a bot, was to say it depends on my mood, before losting three or four of my go-to places.

"She" didn't unmatch, but she ghosted me. No reply.

Bot. Absolutely a bot. No doubt about it.

TLDR, I got catfished by a bot!

[hils79]

Hils Watches Misty Creed - Part 1

This was supposed to have been released at the end of October but finally it is here.

I wasn't hugely enamoured with the last movie but I'm always here for my blorbos and maybe this one will address some of the issues I had with the first one.

Okay, let's go!

I forgot these new movies are more horror. So we're starting with what looks like a demon baby

I have a squick about pregnancy anyway so this is going to go well for me

I do love that both movies have started with flashback horror like an episode of Supernatural

Oh, dude, you just abandoned your heavily pregnant wife who may be about to give birth to a demon. This is not going to end well for you.

First scene in the present day and Wu Xie is in trouble and calling for Pangzi to save him *sighs happily in pangxie*

THERE'S MY BOY

Ooh he strong! Holding up a whole coffin by himself to stop Wu Xie going splat. I love this already.

And of course Xiaoge bursts in to help his husbands. God I love all three of them so very much.

Excellent out of context caption there

Wait if Xiaoge could use his special Zhang fingers to punch a whole through the coffin lid to give Wu Xie one of his hairs why doesn't he just make the hole bigger and pull Wu Xie out? Unless there's something else going on beyond 'Wu Xie trapped in coffin'

And then he just ripped the lid off. Why didn't he do that before? Well, it's not DMBJ if there's not plot holes I guess :D

He had a whole coffin plus all of Wu Xie's weight on one shoulder but he's acting like helping Wu Xie stand up takes all of his strength. It's okay, Pangzi. You can admit you just want to keep touching him.

Oh no not more creepy dolls

In case you weren't sure they're a triangle

Wait, what? Oh my god is this an escape room?

IT IS!!! HAHAHA! Incredible! A+ I love this! That is exactly what these idiots would do in an escape room too

Throwaway reference to Xiao Hua there. Love to see it.

Ah hah! So this ties in to the post-credit scene from the last movie. So this is the person Xiao Hua said he was sending to Wu Xie while he adventures in Russia with Hei Xiazi (at least that's where I assume he is)

Xiao Hua's family owes this dude, but he was too busy with his boyfriend so he told him to come and see Wu Xie instead. Xiao Hua isn't even here and I love him.

HAHAHA! God, I love these idiots so much!

Oh shit if Xiaoge feels strongly enough about something that he actually says it out loud then you listen.

I am absolutely losing it over the idea that Xiao Hua apprently has a business running an escape room based on a tomb. He's such a nerd I adore him.

Pangzi is so outraged that Xiao Hua charged them to do the escape room, then billed them for destroying the probs AND they have to go off on an adventure to repay one of Xiao Hua's family debts. I'm sure Words will be had at Pangzi and Xiao Hua's next spa date.

I love that even though Wu Xie is allegedly the brains of their group (did you know he has a degree in architecture?) it's Pangzi who has thought of the practical things that they'll need for a misty environment.

Wait, what happened to Xiaoge's sword? I know he lost the original one during Ultimate Note era but Wu Xie replaced that one.

Ah, okay. Apparently Xiaoge's original sword came from the place they're going so I guess we're ignoring the Ultimate Note replacement so they can find a new one for him here. Who needs consistency when you're NPSS.

I'm losing my mind at 'xiongdi' being subbed as 'mate'. In my head these hunters now all have British English accents.

Is it really Wu Xie if he's not having terrible ideas?

Right, I'm only 20 mins into the movie but I'm at the image limit. Onward to part 2!

[nani-nonny]

Distorted Mirror throwaway snippets for trashed sequel: Broken Mirror

TLDR: Nonny is sharing the ideas originally planned for Distorted Mirror that was pushed into Broken Mirror, the sequel that will never be

Idk if I blatantly mentioned that originally had a sequel to Distorted Mirror or if it was just briefly mentioned in asks here and comments on ao3, but i never got far in actually planning it out. After all, Distorted Mirror was supposed to be a short oneshot lol, and was supposed to have a oneshot sequel but look where it brought me haha!

Anyways, Distorted Mirror was planned to be a oneshot, yes, and in its planning phase I had some ideas that didn’t really fit in the story outline. So I put the thought aside for a sequel and focused solely on plotting DisMir.

After finishing DisMir… ch.3? I think? I revisited these tossed ideas and tried plotting out how I could fit these and line them with some questions unanswered by the completion of DisMir, because I knew there would be some left since the final chapter’s summary and outline was already planned out.

For example, I pushed Leo’s possible Krangification out of DisMir entirely, hence the repeating notion of Leo’s cautious demeanor about the filtration masks and strike of fear after seeing what Michelangelo did to that infected person. This idea was moved to the “possible” sequel, which explains the snippets I have provided. vvvv (check the Read More)

Following that note, while struggling to fully write out the final chapter of DisMir, I was also struggling to plot out the summary, ideas, and outline for Broken Mirror. It just wasn’t hitting the same way DisMir did, and I didn’t want to force a sequel so I kind of pushed the idea aside to my little mind vault and finished up DisMir.

It would be a little bit of a shame to let these snippets die in my little mind vault, and since I’m not writing anything at the moment, I thought I’d share them. :)

First snippet: possible idea #1 @ 1.4K words

Leo rests his chin on the kitchen table as he stares at the wooden statuette. His eyes stare deep into the wood’s carving that resemble a pair of eyes staring back at him. He hasn’t been able to make sense of the strange markings engraved into the ends and the sides, nor has Donnie been able to make progress.

No matter how long he stares into the statue’s eyes, he still can’t make sense of how this small item is the key to the prison dimension.

This is what kept those… those things trapped for years? This tiny thing? He’d rather believe that the future brothers of his were lying, but he knows better. He witnessed how horrible the Krang are, he even has the scars on his carapace to prove it.

But how does this keep them locked away? And how did his future brothers let it slip away? What happened that they couldn’t retrieve it in time?

How long had Donatello been thinking about this key that he knew exactly how the key got to the Foot Clan’s hands?

What happened to them after he changed everything? Are they okay? How are they dealing with Prime?

A soft knock interrupts Leo’s thoughts, alerting the slider who looks over his shoulder to see Donnie standing in the kitchen doorway.

Leo sits up and turns in his seat to look at Donnie. He whips up a quick smile and picks up the key to spin it in his hand, “Hey, Donnie Boy, what do you need from your new leader?”

Donnie flicks with his thumb a small purple cartridge at Leo, who fumbles with the key before catching the object.

“Had your fun?” Leo asks as he raises a brow and shakes the cartridge lightly. It’s half empty. He sets the key back on the table as he watches Donnie pass by him.

Donnie plops himself at the seat adjacent to Leo and crosses his arms. From the look on his face, it wasn’t easy to decipher the contents of the cartridge, “It’s like… herbicide. I don’t know, it’s a weird combination. It’s got some strange ingredients in it—some I don’t even recognize—but overall it’s a herbicide.”

“That’s it?” Leo asks as he flips the unlabeled cartridge in his hand. An everyday herbicide can kill a possible Krang infection? That’s all he’s inhaling? “Then, can you make another?”

Donnie rolls his eyes and reminds, “I can replicate a herbicide, but this is a different story. Like I said, there’s some other components that I don’t recognize. I get nothing on my scanners but there are some mystic properties in it.”

Leo nearly jumps out of his seat, “Mystic? What kind of mystic? Did you check with Draxum yet?”

Donnie snarls and he narrows his eyes, “I’d rather gouge out my eyes than work with him.”

“Come on, Donnie, we have to know what are in these inhalers,” Leo asks with a smile. He knows Donnie can replicate the serum. He only needs the assurance of having the antiKrang substance.

Donatello told Leo to let Donnie watch over his vitals upon returning. Nothing has come up since he left the future, and Donnie told him that there aren’t any traces of the Krang infection in his system.

But just knowing that there are extras will ease his mind.

“Then you talk to Draxum. If he has the time to research the mystic properties in this inhaler in between the hours of ‘Mystic Class for Mikeys’ and ‘Warrior Lessons for Raphs’,” Donnie says as he crosses his arms over his chest and narrows his eyes at the reminder.

Leo nods but doesn’t say a word in response.

Ever since the initial scare when he was gone, as retold by his brothers when scolding Mikey, the box turtle has been attending lessons with Draxum to properly use mystics. And as excited it makes Mikey, it really takes up a majority of the box turtle’s time. They’ve hardly seen Mikey outside of leadership training, only spotting the box turtle in passing or eating alone at the table before zooming off to Draxum’s lessons.

Although Leo isn’t certain whether anyone else has noticed or if he’s imagining things, he noticed a small hair beginning to sprout on his little brother’s head.

Raph, on the other hand, has been fueled by the fiery passion to become big and strong like his future counterpart. He’s taking fighting lessons from Draxum, usually when Draxum isn’t teaching Mikey.

Donnie rolls his wrist, “But besides that, who’s to say they’ll actually be able to figure it out? Mystics are a finicky source that fails to follow any sort of rules. We can’t even bullshit our way to a solution.”

Leo sighs and leans back in his chair, staring at the key that stares back at him.

Donnie’s right. They need a plan. He can’t go back to the future for a reason that isn’t absolutely necessary. He’s fine. Donnie said so many times.

But the way the key is staring at him doesn’t ease his anxiety.

He clears his throat and asks Donnie for the umpteenth time, “Am I really clear? —of the infection.”

Donnie nods, his voice clear and without hesitation, “I’ve checked every morning and night. I haven’t seen any foreign bodies in your lungs. You’re clear, Leo.”

Leo nods. He feels a little better. Just a little. He never told the specifics behind the Krang infection and what he saw Michelangelo do to that Infected. Donnie is only aware of the infection’s ability to “Krangify”. The softshell doesn’t know the stage where there’s no going back, where Michelangelo burns the body to a pile of ashes. But Leo’s just glad Donnie’s willing to reassure him again and again.

“Thanks, Don,” Leo responds and turns the key away from him.

Donnie nods, “It gives me an excuse to record your—.”

It happens too fast for Leo or Donnie to comprehend.

In one blink, Donnie is about to finish speaking. In the next blink, a blinding light bursts into life on the kitchen table. Then the light becomes a cracked, golden ring. It widens until a figure shoots through the broken opening before disintegrating. The figure, consumed in a multi-colored flame like a meteor, crashes into the stove.

Donnie is quick to grab a ladle from the rack above the kitchen table and point it at the crash site. Leo reaches for a sword that isn’t there.

And the figure sweeps an arm over its body before revealing a teenage, human boy. A boy wearing dystopian clothing, armor plating his chest and shins and elbows, a hockey stick thrown to the ground, black hair held back by a hockey mask, and smelling like iron and smoke. The boy looks up at Leo, eyes wide and beginning to tear up.

His scratchy voice croaks softly in pure disbelief, “Dad…?”

Before Leo can respond, the boy’s eyes flicker to the purple cartridge and they narrow immediately. The boy’s gaze is hardened and he launches himself forward, tackling Leo to the ground.

“What the—,” Leo begins but stops short when the boy’s knee presses on his plastron. He tries to push the boy off with his hand but the boy snatches the cartridge.

The boy breaks open the top of the cartridge and shoves it into Leo’s face. His voice comes out hoarse and demanding, “Breathe it!”

Donnie cocks his hands back, ready to swing a frying pan straight to the back of the boy’s head. But the boy is quick, a metallic arrow is shot from his forearm, revealing a grappling hook. The arrow hits the side of the frying pan, knocking it out of Donnie’s hand and making it fly to the sky and fall directly on the softshell’s head.

Leo glares at the boy for Donnie’s sake, a smile creeping on his face as his foot reaches for the same frying pan. But he stops when a stray tear drops on his cheek.

The boy’s holding back his tears as he demands, “Inhale the medicine, please. I can’t lose you again.”

“Again? Who the hell are you? Where did you come from?” Leo asks as he gives up on reaching for the frying pan.

The boy swallows but doesn’t pull his hand away from Leo, “I’m from the future. I was sent back to stop the invasion, starting with you and the key.”

Leo’s brows furrow in confusion, “What invasion? The Krang? They couldn’t have come back, we have the key.”

The boy shakes his head. “No, not the Krang.”

“Then who?”

The boy doesn’t speak but the answer reflects in his eyes. The blue mask and red streaks stare back at Leo, giving him his answer.

So, Casey Jr would make his appearance not as the baby that played an Easter Egg roll in DisMir, but as the boy we see in the rottmnt movie. (Did anyone notice the little movie throwbacks and Easter Eggs in DisMir?)

CJ Jr returns with a similar mission as the movie, but with a twist. He comes back to prevent and stop a death and catastrophe from the future. The future is overrun not by the Krang, but by the Krangified Future Leonardo Hamato, whose death reignites the flames of war with an unknown enemy (I couldn’t decide on whether to bring a new enemy or bring in the Triceratons, which become a huge predicament in plotting Broken Mirror)

And then we have the other possible time traveler, which follows a near similar plot to the previous snippet. Present!Leo is pinpointed as the beginning of the end, whose abrupt infection ignites a new war. (Again, couldn’t decide if I wanted to bring back the Krang or not)

Second snippet: possible idea #2 @ 414 words

Leo shields his eyes as a blinding purple light bursts from the cracks in the walls. Almost reforming, the walls crumble and bulge before a new shape takes place. It’s like his portals, but purple and reminiscent of Donnie’s mystics.

A large figure collapses through, a cape covering the entirety of the stranger’s body.

But the mystery of the stranger’s identity doesn’t stay for long before they lift their head, revealing a dirty purple mask.

“Donnie?”

Leo’s beating heart from the sudden scare doesn’t slow, as this Donnie is nothing like any of the Donnies he has met before.

This Donnie is large, larger than Donatello. And for a brief second, he believes it truly is Donatello. The same Donatello from the future that believed in him from the very beginning, broke the rules of time travel and warned him of the key.

But one look straight into this Donatello’s eyes tells him it’s all wrong.

This Donatello isn’t missing an arm, replaced by a purple prosthetic. But he is missing an eye, a leg, and a piece of his plastron. He is covered in endless scars, but not a single one reaching his back. He has abandoned the metallic shell, replacing it with a mystic shell. His staff is caked in dry blood and pink guts.

And worst of all, he glares at Leo. A deadly glare that nearly threatens Leo’s life.

“Donatello” rises slowly, using his staff to hold his weight before grabbing the cartridge and shoving it near Leo’s face. “Take it properly,” he orders coldly.

Leo can only stare at this new Donatello in shock. He’s nothing like the Donatello he met. Who is this guy?

“Donatello” nearly growls out, his patience running thin, “I won’t say it twice.”

Leo takes the cartridge carefully, trying not to touch Donatello. He rummages through his non existence pockets before shrugging, he smiles to defuse the situation, “Oops, I don’t have my inhaler.”

“Leo, I don’t have time for your games. Take the your medicine, and give me the fucking key,” Donatello demands angrily, clearing his throat with a painful cough.

“Are you okay?”

Donatello glares again, “Yes. But you won’t be if you don’t take your fucking medicine. You still have it in your system.”

“That can’t be, Donnie said I’m clear,” Leo corrects as he closes his shaking fist over the cartridge.

“Listen to me, you still have it in your system. And you will be the end of us all.”

I kind of liked this idea more as it contrasts how kind and more welcoming to Leo DisMir F!Donatello was to the new timeline-branch F!Donatello who is immediately threatening and hostile upon first meeting.

Imagine being Leo in this position. Reuniting with, at first glance, the future counterpart of your twin who helped you not only accept the heavy responsibility of being a leader but also broke the rules of time traveling to make sure you don’t face the horrors of an—at the time—ongoing war against an alien race. Not to forget to mention who hid the secret of the true reason behind the invasion and the lost key, because that’s how much your twin loves you…. Only for it to be a completely different future counterpart who pins all the blame of a worse future on you.

Sad stuff, but also wasn’t enough to get my writing gears gearing, you know? I needed a struggle for them to go through that wasn’t shallow or easy to wade through. The ideas I had weren’t “enough”, per say.

Anyways, hope you liked these snippets and my little rant. (Definitely not little, but a rant nonetheless) A lot of thought goes into the writing process and sometimes it just doesn’t work out, sadly :(

I think that if I had more inspiration or more of a writing feeling or fuel, this could’ve been done. Maybe I could’ve gotten a plot line started for Broken Mirror. Maybe. Oh well~

[darchildre]

The Ides of March, part 3

In which a jewelry store finally gets burgled and Bunny makes a fateful commitment.

Thing 1: The physicality and careful detail of getting through the door and picking the various locks is very fun. As is Bunny's apparent need to tell us every couple of paragraphs how pretty Raffles is.

...there knelt A. J. Raffles, with his black hair tumbled, and the same watchful, quiet, determined half-smile with which I have seen him send down over after over in a county match!

Like, rein it in a little there, Bunny.

Thing 2: One of the things I find most interesting about Bunny is that he doesn't actually feel bad about engaging in criminal activities. He thinks he should feel bad and he therefore deliberately makes himself feel guilty afterwards (and that guilt is compounded by the guilt about not feeling bad naturally) but actually during the crime? Bunny is absolutely enjoying himself.

The romance and the peril of the whole proceeding held me spellbound and entranced. My moral sense and my sense of fear were stricken by a common paralysis. And there I stood, shining my light and holding my phial with a keener interest than I had ever brought to any honest avocation.

(Something something burglary as a metaphor for other kinds of crime something something)

Thing 3: God, the little throwaway detail of Raffles leaving all the silver on the counter alone "except to choose a cigarette case for [Bunny]"! Picking out a little present for his boy on top of saving him from his gambling debts - so sweet and charming.

(Like, this is absolutely Raffles' idea of a fun first date, right? They've had a few drinks, they did a fun activity together, Raffles got to show off, Bunny got a present - clearly a date.)

Thing 4: "He could think of Keats on his way from a felony!" Bunny, I'm sorry, you have no idea how many weird poetry allusions and puns this man can make while in the middle of a crime. I'm shocked he's only made one, but I suppose this is Raffles on his very best 'first date' behavior, trying to be charming and not annoying.

Thing 5: I love very much that Raffles removes the bullets before giving Bunny back his gun. (He does this again to someone else in Mr Justice Raffles and it's such a weird, funny thing to repeat, I'm so fond of it.)

Thing 6:

Why should I work when I could steal? Why settle down to some humdrum uncongenial billet, when excitement, romance, danger and a decent living were all going begging together? Of course it's very wrong, but we can't all be moralists, and the distribution of wealth is very wrong to begin with.

Unlike Bunny, Raffles has never had a moment's struggle over the morality of what he's doing. He objects to other things, like murder ("not the game at all") and extortion, but stealing? Totally fine, at worst morally neutral, at best nearly salutary.

Thing 7:

"I'll lend you a hand as often as you like! What does it matter now? I've been in it once. I'll be in it again. I've gone to the devil anyhow. I can't go back, and wouldn't if I could. Nothing matters another rap! When you want me, I'm your man!"

Oh, Bunny. The end absolutely is pure blatant manipulation on Raffles' part - so blatant, in fact, that one feels Bunny could wriggle out if he really wanted to. (He doesn't, though, probably. He just wants it to be someone else's fault. They're both so fucked up, these boys.)

[beevean]

you know, I actually think there's a lot of juicy merit to the idea of the belmonts not being the righteous heroes we always thought they were. maybe after many generations of triumphing over evil, they let it get to their heads that they were unfallible, that their judgements were always correct, etc. the concept of genuinely making them morally grey has so much potential from a storytelling angle, it's just too damn bad the only media that ever attempts this is fucking netflixvania. outside of like, less than 5 throwaway lines about baby vamp skulls and dark magic sealed doors, IT'S NEVER BROUGHT UP AGAIN. you had an idea and it sounded cool in your head, but no genuine clue how to actually WRITE it so some editor just overlooked the few lines you shoved into the script on a whim. as it stands now it feels like one the shows many attempts to shit talk the source material for the thousandth time. and aside from trevor, everyone is dead! how are we meant to criticize the dubious heroes when we can't even see how they behaved/what their practices were?? why should we even CARE???

The vampire kids is just proof of how shoddy the lorebuilding is. Once you get past the initial shock of "OMG the Belmonts killed babies??????", you think for one second "wait, the vampires can't reproduce, so... where are these children coming from?". And no matter the answer, you eventually realize that they deserve to be mercy killed 💀 (unless they're dhampirs, but that would be an even worse piece of information to relegate to shock value for 5 seconds)

There's also Julia, mind you. Who was apparently racist against vampires lmao, and killed Olrox' poor bf who was so nice and wanted equality and revolution, really! I don't even know how bad we're supposed to feel lol, because unless I'm mistaken, in that scene Olrox also reveals he turned his bf against his will...

Anyway. I get your point but... I don't trust like that anymore 😅 once again, I'd rather extrapolate on what the games left us. Trevor, as pointed out here, is an absolute savage in CoD, like he sounds so bloodthirsty for no reason! And he's the first Belmont who has killed Dracula, he's not even burdened by his own legacy, he's one of the founders of said legacy! And Richter's flaws are infamous, the way he enjoys the thrill of the fight just too much, the way his identity is wrapped around his destiny, the way he falters under Dracula's manipulation... Even Juste, you can see him as being a hothead and too willing to forget about recent events in HoD, indicating either denial or a sense of overprotectiveness.

Basically, giving personal flaws to the Belmonts is more than welcome. You can use these flaws to paint them as not completely pure, even, although personally I'm tired of the stereotype of the arrogant superhero. But NFCV just... doesn't like the Belmonts, at all, and that "oh they kill innocent vampires" tidbit that Alucard so despises, while I'm sure it's meant as a way to flesh out the "heroes", comes off to me as the show siding too often with the antagonists, and downplaying the Belmont's genuine desire to do good. Or turning Trevor and Juste into cynical washouts because we just like that archetype I guess :\

[daydadahlias]

i want to hear the glee thoughts and feelings

ok ur so gonna regret u asked this

So, I watched glee way back when in middle school (before I knew what a lot of the words they said meant <3 I remember watching the first time episode and having no fucking idea what was going on <3) and I really loved it!! who doesn't love a jam yknow?? and, obviously, i attached myself to Blaine very quickly because his voice is just my favorite and he puts out nothing but bangers. this last week, I've gone back and rewatched seasons 2 and 3 (because that was peak Blaine Anderson) and - because I'm the world's most needlessly passionate person - I'm getting a little fucking worked up about it !!

It will never fail to bewilder me how much of a literal SHIT HEAD Kurt Hummel was. Like, I know that we as audience members are supposed to align ourselves with him because he's an OG character and he's a queer kid just trying to be himself or whatever, but frankly it doesn't pay that much to "just be yourself" when yourself SUCKS! kurt fucking SUCKS dude. He is so whiney and so selfish and blatantly rude. and he is a shitty ass boyfriend to Blaine!

this is also rooted in my absolute maniacal frustration that Blaine never gets to be a character of his own. His character is always (throughout the entirety of the show) written within the context of Kurt and Klaine. It's very much Ken and Barbie-esque with the whole "Ken only has a good day when Barbie looks at him." Like we never get to know anything about Blaine's personal life except for ?? a throwaway line that his dad (who we never meet) is homophobic? and also that he was gay bashed when he was 15. And, just to bitch about that, it will never not piss me off to insane lengths that Kurt wanted to go to prom so he made Blaine go with him even though Blaine was blatantly triggered by it. The literal dialogue exchange in the episode (S2E20) is Blaine detailing this very traumatic experience and saying "this is just a bit of a sore spot for me" and Kurt replies "this is perfect." LIKE WHAT?? WHATTTT?? what do you mean it's PERFECT?? your boyfriend is clearly uncomfortable and triggered by this!! do not make this man go to prom with you!! And then, in that same episode, Kurt very blatantly outs Blaine's secret trauma to his family without any fucking care whatsoever for what Blaine actually went through (which is crazy considering Kurt was bullied too and should have some goddamn sympathy for the situation??). and look at my boy!! he's CLEARLY UNCOMFORTABLE!! does Kurt give a fuck?? no he does not! and he literally never apologizes for this!!

gif credit (love this set and creator btw)

This is after they're dating and there are MANY more instances when they're dating that Kurt blatantly bulldozed over Blaine's boundaries with reckless fucking abandon. And any single time they ever get into an argument, Blaine has to be the one to apologize to KURT? like even when Kurt is the one who cheats on him in Season 3?? Blaine has to apologize to him for being insecure?? Or in Season 5 when Blaine is experiencing a lot of insecurity (which was also a crazy arc considering how attractive his actor, Darren, is?? and I always loathe when shows add unnecessary fatphobia plotlines for literal skinny characters but that's a different tangent) and he told Kurt and Kurt's response was quite literally "I'm not going to apologize for being better than you." Like that's a fucking insane thing to say to your boyfriend who is standing in your kitchen crying, saying he's scared you're "going to wake up one day and realize [you] don't love him anymore" (S5E16). AND THEN?? IN AN EVEN MORE INSANE TURN OF EVENTS?? literally a handful of episodes later that's EXACTLY what happens!! Just out of the blue, Kurt decides he doesn't love Blaine anymore and breaks up with him?? Which was an absurd plotline?? (as most plotlines from season 4 and on are).

I'm also just going to add that Ryan Murphy does not know Blaine Anderson like I do, clearly, because there is nothing at all in his character that insinuates he'd be a cheater especially considering his ENTIRE PERSONALITY REVOLVES AROUND KURT. which is some fucking lazy ass writing, I'm just gonna say.

Also, further defending Blaine and calling Kurt out for being a SHITHEAD! there's that whole episode "Blame it on the Alchohol" where Blaine and Kurt go over to Rachel's house for a party and Blaine gets literally blackout drunk and kisses Rachel during a spin the bottle game. Immediately, the fact that Kurt gets so upset over them kissing says a lot about how self-involved and psychotically jealous he is (considering he and Blaine were NOT together at this point and Blaine had literally actively said he did not want to be in a relationship with Kurt).

And then this will also always bother me?? Blaine was blackout?? So Kurt drove him home?? and let Blaine sleep in his bed??? with him??? which, based on the way Kurt was acting and how possessive he always was over Blaine, this was Weird. Like if you can drive your drunk friend somewhere, why aren't you driving them back to their OWN home?? especially when Blaine wakes up in the episode (looking very cute, I will say) and his immediate reaction is "Where am I?" Like that's fucked up???? And then, later, in the same episode, Blaine says he thinks he might be bi and Kurt goes off his fucking ROCKER. and is so blatantly biphobic !! and it's gross !! and the only reason he is is because he wants Blaine to himself even though Blaine literally said he wasn't interested!!!

including gifs of drunk!blaine bc he's cute <3

And to talk down to your supposed best friend?? And act like you know him better than he knows himself?? yeah it was fucked up and biphobia is never cute. and, also, all Kurt ever did was pretty much blatantly pressure Blaine into dating him?? Like he was constantly all over him and then, the second they got together, the writers were like "ok and now blaine's only personality trait is loving Kurt." Which never made any sense to me considering that Kurt is constantly talking down to him? He constantly (multiple times in multiple episodes) complains about how talented Blaine is. Which is just not something you fucking do to someone you supposedly love and respect??

Before they were even dating, Kurt complained to Blaine that he "always has solos" and "right now, it feels like we're Blaine and the pips" and also a very underhanded comment about how "I know we're all supposed to be do-whopping behind Blaine while he sings every Katy Perry song" (S2E16). All of these things are just blatantly belittling? Also, tea time, but Kurt's ass was not fucking talented enough to be making bold ass claims about how he should be singing lead vocals.

Once they're dating, Blaine and Kurt both try out for the musical. When Kurt finds out that Blaine is trying for the lead, he immediately becomes standoffish and Blaine clearly panics, making a comment about how seniors should get the leads, not juniors. And Kurt goes "yeah that's usually how it works!" So then Blaine completely fucking forfeits the part! He auditions for a side role so that Kurt can get it and Kurt won't see him as a "threat" but then, because Blaine is so fucking good (and better than Kurt cough cough), he gets cast and Kurt is fucking pissed about it !!! (S3E02).

Once they are dating, Kurt literally cheats on Blaine, then claims that it's "okay" because it's "just texting" and, when Blaine says he's hurt, Kurt calls him crazy?? (S3E17) He never once apologizes to Blaine for what he did, only saying "I'm sorry if this upsets you but it's okay" which is not a fucking apology!! And Blaine ends up being the one apologizing to Kurt at the end of the episode, saying that he's insecure!! But Kurt does about fuck all to actually care for him!! And, during that scene, he says "Do you know how many times I've had to sit on a stool and watch you perform?" Like how fucking shitty is that to say to someone you love? Literally All Kurt does the entire series is make Blaine feel bad about how good he is??

there's a lot of other moments where Kurt is really just blatantly fucking mean to Blaine but I'm going to stop there because this is getting <3 really long <3 and I'm going to take a deep breath.

ANYWAY CONTINUING ON!

Blaine literally transferred schools to be with Kurt because Kurt pressured him into it?? Like there were literally scenes where Kurt was like "you should change schools" and Blaine went "aww no I don't wanna :(" and then Kurt continued to pressure him into it?? it's not something he ever should have even proposed in the first place?? But then when Blaine actually did transfer - and made it blatantly clear to Kurt that he did it for him - all of a sudden Kurt was like "aw noo u shouldn't have done this for lil ol mee!" (S3E01). Which was some BULLSHIT! but i am gonna include a gif of new kid blaine because look at this fucking cutie !!!

gif credit (i luv u klainegifs)

ok so, after Kurt pressures Blaine into going to his school and all of Kurt's friends are blatantly fucking mEAN to Blaine (despite him being the most talented member of the club cough cough), there's the scene where they all go to prom. Now this one.... oh this one makes me mad. And this makes me mad because it's just clearly rooted in the outright racism of Glee. And here's the reasons I'm mad:

Darren Criss (Blaine's actor) is Asian-American but Glee pretends like Blaine Anderson is a white character.

A fun fact for you about Glee is that Darren Criss auditioned for Glee's first season with his natural hair (big, fluffy, curly, beautiful) and he did not get a part. However, he auditioned again for the second season with his hair short and gelled back and he did get the part. Notice anything fucking weird about that???? he was just as fucking talented with the curly hair !!

Glee gels Blaine's hair so fucking much in later seasons that he literally develops helmet head. Look at the difference between season 2 and season 6:

LOOK AT HIS FLAT ASS HEAD !! ITS LIKE THEY PAINTED HIS FUCKING HAIR ON !!! RELEASE HIS CURLS RIGHT THIS INSTANCE!!!!!!!!!!

4. There was one episode (a different prom episode in season 3) where they did release the curls. and they pretended like my boy was UGLY!?! LOOK AT HIM

he's literally precious. But also, the producers of Glee went out of their way to try and make his curls look bad?? like they purposefully tried to give him bad hair?? and make fun of his natural curls?? and this was kurt's actual fucking reaction to seeing his boyfriend's natural hair for the first time:

he says "oh my dear god" in horror. like kurt literally go fuck yourself. Everyone is so fucking mean to Blaine when he ungels his hair!! and it's because they're RACIST!!!! name one curly-haired character in Glee. I'll wait.

I never liked Kurt but him reacting so cruelly to blaine's natural hair (and then Blaine never ungelling his hair again) is one of my biggest problems with him.

in conclusion, I will never fucking forgive the way that Glee treated Blaine. My beautiful baby boy and his bowties deserved better.

the end.

[mdhwrites]

What are your thoughts on those fans who bodyshame Belos? Keep in mind, he is the ONLY character in the show who gets this treatment, and almost no one calls out the fans who bully him for that. I don’t think they are aware of how many people they’re hurting by mocking everything about Belos’ appearance.

FUCKING WHAT!? I'm not familiar with this trend actually! As a 290 pound fat white dude though (who even when he's doing better hovers closer to 260 *sigh*), that fucking blows! Fuck those people! It's... also not surprising... Kind of because the show doesn't exactly refute the idea that those who are evil are also ugly. Now to be fair, that's frankly a tale as old as time in media, especially visual media. Kind of like dressing in black, it's just one of those ways to theoretically set your audience on edge about a character and amplify the fact that someone is a villain. Their monstrosity inwards is monstrosity outwards.

But that also feels like a trend that has been fading but TOH is not a very progressive show in a lot of ways and beauty is definitely one of them. I've made a blog about how all the good characters are fairly standard levels of beauty with Amity being portrayed as ready for the runway and even Willow is the definition of 'more to love'. Meanwhile it's bad guys are the demons and commonly on the uglier side. Even Hunter has the most 'abnormal' face amongst the main characters with his large nose and his scars but he started as evil and questionable to trust so... That doesn't help anything.

And this will bleed into a fandom, though I also want to be fair that besides making religious colonizer jokes... What does the fandom really have to work with with Belos if you don't like him? His appearance is effectively half of his presence and easily the thing that makes him the most intimidating. The animators pull a lot of work that the writing isn't quite keeping up with him in order to give him a menace? Want to knock him down then? Hit on his appearance so he doesn't look as scary.

But also... Belos is a good looking dude. Controversial opinion maybe but the dude is about the same body type as Hunter, a trained soldier, has a Hair Metal main and sure, his face is showing slight signs of age but the animators did a good job making him be able to have a warm smile and a kindness to it when talking to Hunter that wouldn't be possible if he were genuinely grotesque in anyway. The second he closes up the scar on his face and pulls his hair back into a ponytail in King's Tide, he looks ready to be a teacher in an anime.

Which I assume mostly happened because he's a main villain. He's not like Tibbles where he's a joke and Tibbles is fat. He's not a throwaway one off like the publisher who worked with King who is demonic. He's more important than that... Like Odalia. You know 'dem hips'. Even Alador doesn't look bad by any conventional means.

And as I said the last time I spoke of this: I like pretty people in stories. It is still an awkward element of the show though that it claims to be so incredibly progressive but that all of its villains are the ones with truly alternative body types and that it almost equates beauty with power in its subtext because we NEVER get an ugly opponent that we're supposed to take seriously or be afraid of.

I don't even think any of this is intentional, I'm not saying Dana is fatphobic or something. Again: I write pretty people in my stories because I like attractive girls and I do have a type, not because I dislike other body types. But when you have no true positive portrayal of the other, especially in a story 'celebrating the other' (in theory), it's not surprising if people make the sorts of jokes that bash on someone's appearance for only being an 8/10 like Belos instead of literal perfection. They are being unconsciously told to still mock someone who doesn't have perfect hair ALL THE TIME because the characters we're supposed to like are all conventionally attractive.

'The Other' looks like they're ready for a Vogue Fashion Shoot, why aren't you? *gags* Edit: I went back and forth to add this but I actually did do a story about body positivity. With the framing device I used, I decided nudity was necessary but everyone is 18+ and there's no sex in it. Just Luz trying to get comfortable with the idea of being undressed for Amity. Or that's what she claims at least to Boscha.

=========

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead, If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

And finally a Twitter you can follow too!

[cilil]

🏜️, 🧩 and 🧃 for the ask game ❤️

Thanks for the ask, love❤️

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

As I'm sure many authors do I always love and appreciate the long comments going through a lot of things that happen in the fic and adding their two cents, like for example what people use the floating comment box for or them going through certain story beats on their own like "there was this thing that I liked and then this thing happened and I loved that".

In general I just LOVE to hear people's thoughts and what resonated with them on a personal level because some throwaway line for me may be someone else's top quote. I also don't mind and actually really appreciate commenters expressing that they don't usually read fics like the one in question but tried it and liked it anyway or that they got into a new ship or headcanon or that they saw something different in it than I do - in my jurisdiction one of the defining qualities of art is that it can always receive new and different interpretations, so it makes me feel like I created an "artsy" thing :3

Just to be clear in case any readers and commenters are reading this, everything I mentioned can very much be expressed in one sentence, there is absolutely no need or obligation for the aforementioned long comments; only wanted to honor the time and effort that goes into those in particular :)

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

Not too many things I dare say, but:

A) A character being very "OOC"/misinterpreted to the point of being unrecognizable, especially if it feels like it's coming from a place of malice on the author's part and they're bashing the character (we don't like that on this blog). Now, I actually don't like using the term "OOC" here (just couldn't think of something better) because I am willing to bet that I have written stuff others see as OOC either in regards to canon or their headcanons and I probably read and enjoyed that sort of material in other cases too; I suppose we all have varying levels of tolerance for that. What I mean by being unrecognizable is for example if character A is canonically kind, friendly, patient, polite and then suddenly they're written as super angry, hostile, rude and abrasive in a fic - again especially if I have grounds to believe that the author did this because they dislike A and want others to do so too. It's just... idk man it feels icky to me and if I like that character the whole atmosphere begins to feel hostile to me on a personal level as well

B) The story is confusing for me (I really want to avoid making any comments about "badly written" fic here because this is a hobby and people are allowed to be learning and improving on all levels and at their own pace, so I'm highlighting that these cases are about me having personal difficulties others might not have). I don't even care much about grammar mistakes or the prose not being super smooth or a bit of confusion when it comes to who's talking or who's in what position, but if the story gets confusing to the point that it feels jarring or I don't know what's going on and why anymore, I may stop reading.

🧃 ⇢ share some personal lore you never posted about before

There's actually a bit of lore specific to this day, but it's a bit of a sad and sensitive matter so I won't bother anyone with it.

Instead something funny: I own a little plant collection, mostly cacti and succulents, but there's also some sort of poisonous bush thingy. I have no idea what kind of plant it is; in fact I have no idea what any of them are beyond "cactus", "succulent" and "the bush". One succulent of unknown origin has outgrown its pot twice now and is about to conquer the third. I'm going to need an entire garden for it one day, I fear.

[v-arbellanaris]

Hey I saw your Sera ask earlier and I def agree with what you said, I can definitely understand why Sera does what she does and why she feels a certain way. What frustrates me is that of the two elven companions we get in DAI, they're both so incredibly dismissive of the Dalish, with Sera's issues and Solas' smug "oooo the Dalish are so silly for daring to try to reclaim their heritage im so much smarter than them lol" and like comparing that to irl indigenous groups trying to reclaim their heritage after centuries of colonization, and having the Dalish be relentlessly mocked for trying to do the same without a shred of nuance is just such bad writing. Actually all of the companions dumb throwaway lines about how the Dalish are "Just as bad" drive me up the fucking wall. Also there's no way to gently challenge Sera on her beliefs, its either "I agree completely with you" OR "youre crazy and make no sense" like I'm all for maladjusted characters but let me help them and actually watch them grow and change for the better!! Anyways sorry to rant, you don't have to respond if you're not up to it, but Sera had such potential but her bad writing and other examples of bad writing for the Dalish overall just irritates me lol.

no i absolutely agree but i feel like these are two separate issues when it comes to sera. there's a faction of fandom who find her annoying - which is fine, but instead of just... saying that... i suppose to dodge accusations of lesbophobia or something? people often criticise her writing for flaws that it doesn't actually have.

some flaws her writing does have (not an exhaustive list):

lack of alternative perspectives. as you mentioned, both the elven characters in the party care little about or for the struggles of dalish elves or city elves (sera generally focuses on class and ignores the intersection between class and race entirely).

inability to respectfully engage and challenge her ideas, without calling her insane/crazy/or otherwise being ableist

her reduction of characters' gender to their genitalia/transphobia

lack of clarity for her character's background, motives and arc (which as i've said, i think is the direct result of sera being white in-game; her character point of internalised racism would be easy dots to connect if she was a person of colour).

antiblackness - specifically towards vivienne.

but then there's other criticisms which just don't really seem like writing flaws to me. sera's story, her reactions, are all fairly accurate representations - in my experience - of dealing with internalised racism. within the frame of the narrative, city elves and dalish elves are oppressed by humans in different ways; sera's dislike or rejection of dalish culture and religion is reflective of her internalised racism, not racism. sera is also an elf; the history of arlathan and the dales belong as much to dalish elves as they do to city elves. sera dunking on the elves is upsetting, sure, but it's not comparable to human characters doing the same - sera is a city elf directly as a result of orlesian colonisation, which led to the creation of the alienages in the first place. this is her culture, her history, and the fact she's slamming it so hard is a symptom of her internalised racism.

and there's further criticisms still that are applicable to multiple characters in the story because it's the result of dai's shitty writing, which isn't limited to sera. but some people act as if it is, ignoring entirely their male favs who do the same thing. idk! i think some people who find sera annoying should & can just say that - i also think she's immature, which can be grating to deal with - because some of the logic offered for not liking her seem to miss the point of her character entirely.

[twoheartbeatss]

i just get so MAD thinking about it. there are building blocks for such wonderful things in chibs era, like the characters really are given interesting lives and backstories! but the thing is. those interesting things are only brought up once, and when the plot calls for it. ryan’s dyspraxia, for one obvious example. yaz’s history with mental health, for another. graham’s cancer, for yet another! and then there’s throwaway lines, like ryan talking about finding his mom when she died. and that’s just... never brought up again? i get that people handle trauma differently and that it’s been a good ~six years, but him dropping that bombshell of a trauma and it never being pulled on during their adventures is such a weird choice. in the past--and i hate comparing eras because i know that’s unfair, but it’s different when i’m comparing things that are similar in all the eras--traits each character has are brought up and utilized. donna talks about being a temp like she’s ashamed, because she is, but yaz never gets to sit down with someone and relate to them in a way that saves the day like donna’s typing skills do as the doctordonna. you know, here’s an idea! yaz’s own issues with mental health could be used to help the doctor! save the day when the doctor needs her to! or rose always asking people’s names because she knows what it’s like to fade into the crowd as a retail worker. ryan could’ve done something like that. bus driver graham could’ve done that. graham is actually the odd man out i think, because his past as a bus driver is useful twice! which is more than many of the other characters can say. but it’s the difference between his skills in that or ryan’s skills as a warehouse worker only being relevant when they are in those exact situations versus martha using bedside manner from being a doctor (in training) to calm people down, or rory carrying around first aid stuff because he thinks it’s cool. it’s clara’s teacher tendencies reaching beyond the classroom. bill’s curiosity going beyond tutoring. even amy’s childhood obsession with the doctor allows her a special insight into who he is and what he needs! you give a character a trait because it follows them throughout life, not because characters are supposed to sometimes have things that imply personality. and that’s the problem. the building blocks are never built with. 

[doomsday-dj]

This feels like a dumb question but I'm asking it anyway. How do you come up with the cases for your stories...like AGVK for example. I have ideas for Rizzles stuff and then I always end up dropping it because I can't get the case to make any sense. You have to set it up but not give everything away and throw in a twist. I don't know just poking your brain.

I don't think this is a dumb question at all, but listen, I'm just a novice writer who has, to this point, come up with two whole murder plot lines and we're still waiting to see if the second one pays off. But I do have some thoughts (a lot of thoughts) on this.

(Before I begin, I should mention that if you're reading this and haven't read AGVK, this will spoil some things for you.) Okay, so, remember that you're going to be more critical of your case than your readers. You specifically mention AGVK and a lot of people have told me they thought I did a really good job with the case and especially balancing the case with the love story. I didn't really think I did! Because I was on the inside so I saw where it was lacking!

With the balance part, I remember realizing at one point that I had gone CHAPTERS without mentioning the case, because I got all wrapped up in the Rizzles of it, and I got a little upset with myself that I'd neglected it so much. But truthfully, with that story, the murder is very much the B plot and the audience was ultimately there for an enemies to lovers story. If you're not doing a straight up case fic and are actually trying to write a Rizzles story, your investigation should be interesting enough to provide some intrigue, but if it's not that robust, don't worry too much. People are mostly with you to hang out with the characters they love, they’re not reading this for English class. For the case itself, I think I made a lot of mistakes -- I really only mentioned three non-murdered gardeners by name so I only gave you three possible suspects: Amy, Bex, and Lorraine (the woman who runs the garden), but the way I write the story makes Bex pretty much the only option by the time we're midway through. I introduced Lorraine first and made her say something vaguely suspicious which is a pretty weak gesture at misdirection, so a savvy reader knows it's probably not her, meanwhile Bex is just kind of there and bitchy. It's a pretty blatant set up. There is also Amy of course, and she initially has a bit of an antagonistic role because she's standing in the way of our love story, so is she also a murderer? Maybe? But by the time we're into the second half of the story, I have made Amy a pretty genuinely likeable character (I think) to the point where it would seem both cruel and narratively bad to make her the murderer, plus she becomes a suspect too early. So my only hope for a surprise is that people have forgotten about Bex. And probably some people did and were still surprised but a LOT of people figured it out. And that's okay!! It's okay if people figure it out. Some people SHOULD figure it out. If you're building a story and leaving clues someone is going to put them together. Red herrings are good but remember about Chekhov's gun too. People are going to pay attention to things you do that seem like throwaway details because that's what we're supposed to do when we read or watch a mystery, and so they will pick up on your clues. If a murderer reveal doesn't have some people feeling smug and others going "gasp, of course" then I don't think you've written a very good story. Now, obviously you don't want to give it away so much that you're like "and then the murderer walked in" but please remember that this is also fucking Rizzoli & Isles, where we know who the culprit is the second Mark-Paul Gosselaar shows up, so you do not need to be holding yourself to the standard of something like Knives Out here. I will say a good way to redirect after dropping an important clue is switch to your B or C plot for a bit after mentioning it. If you tell people something important but you kinda want them to forget about it then leave the case alone for a bit. Focus on the romance part or introduce an unrelated issue. It’ll put it out of your readers mind and they’ll have an “oh yeah!” moment when you come back to that plot point. And now to answer your actual question, which is how do I come up with the ideas. So for AGVK, the idea originated with the fact that someone I know is in a community garden and someone was stealing flowers from it in LARGE quantities, almost certainly to sell to a florist. I was like, dang, add a murder and you really got something here. But here's the shameful truth: the original idea for the story was terrible. It was going to be much shorter, Amy was going to be the killer, Jane was going to be like "omg I slept with a murderer" and Maura was going to be like "more like manslaughterer, and hey, we've all been there." The actual, better story only started to come to me when I started writing and got pretty deep into it. Sometimes you just have to write it and figure it out that way.

For DNH, I wanted to finish AGVK with a really weird body dump, so I just came up with something kinda morbid, threw in a bunch of details with NO thought as to their significance, and then reverse engineered the story from there. So basically I was like "what's a really weird body they could find?" and once I had that, I came up with a reason why someone would murder someone in exactly that way. Surprisingly effective! Two more thoughts: Remember that you can tell a story where the killer is known and the story is about HOW they prove it. This is often true with serial killer stories, where we meet our obvious psychopath and the story is about them evading the protagonists. You don't always need a grand reveal. Finally, this is fan fiction and if you lift the murder plot from something else, most people won't know and also you've committed no crime. Go, like, read the synposis of some Agatha Christie books and tweak the details to make it your own/make it fit the show. We borrow the characters, and we often borrow plots, too! Don't put a ton of pressure on yourself to come up with a new and interesting murder. This is supposed to be fun. :) Also, at this point I think a few people on here can attest to the fact that I love brainstorming, so if you want to DM me to discuss plot, I’m always down to give my two cents.

Thanks for the ask!