#Or stumbling with their plot

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

i vote that next year instead of reading Dracula we do a Jeeves & Wooster Book Club. those two never got the rabid tumblr shipping fandom they deserved (disqualified for the sheer technicality of being published a century too soon). we must correct this injustice

[khattikeri]

another specific thing i love about mxtx's books is that they all have scenes that EASILY could've been romanticized rape if written by someone else, but she purposely avoids playing it straight.

we have the land of the tenders, a classic "aphrodisiac flowers" scenario. hua cheng (as hong'er) could've forced himself on xie lian in the name of "serving his prince." xie lian could've simply succumbed and forced himself on hong'er, or reluctantly asked him to "help." xie lian instead stabs himself and fights through the agonizing pain without touching hong'er at all, because hong'er was a teenage boy.

we have phoenix mountain, where wei wuxian is blindfolded and alone in a relatively deserted area, weakened unbeknownst to anyone else because he no longer has a golden core. and true enough, lan wangji pins wei wuxian down and forces a kiss on him. but lan wangji also immediately, viscerally regrets it. he runs away so furious with himself he starts punching trees. he never once does anything like it again until wei wuxian is resurrected and purposely, consensually provokes him into things like that.

finally, we have scum villain, and all its intricately twisted, overlapping power dynamics. i truly do mean the vast majority of the novel. there are SO many times where either shen qingqiu or luo binghe could've forced themselves on the other. and unlike mxtx's other books, scum villain does have a mutually nonconsensual sex scene where luo binghe is under the influence of dark, corrupt magic and shen qingqiu is unable to fight back because of system transmigration sci-fi shit.

however, unlike many other nonconsensual danmei sex scenes, this one is intentionally written to be extremely unsexy. the narration bluntly says it hurt for shen qingqiu. luo binghe, a fairly manipulative person, is sincerely distraught and in tears when he regains his senses. they both hated it equally and the story doesn't handwave that away. neither of them get horny over it. luo binghe especially loathes remembering it. after they get together, whenever shen qingqiu so much as furrows his brows during sex, luo binghe canonically stops.

the way mxtx plays around with and toes the line of consent tropes may not be comfortable for everyone to read, but i enjoyed her stories even more for it.

[tk-duveraun]

This is probably retreading crow Yuan ground, but crow spirit Shen Yuan to transmigrated into a crow!! When SJ didn't die as expected. The system gives him a little boost to get started on cultivation as well as "mini games" that increase his cultivation and but the time LBH comes out of the abyss, SY has a golden core and can communicate with lbh though he's a long way from a human transformation.

But this point in his life, LBH knows to be wary of everything, but also that crows are intelligent and loyal so he gives SY a chance and once he discovers they can communicate easily, allows the bird to hang around.

It's good to have a spy - and not even a demonic one or one first loyal to MBJ (looking at you, shishu). Crow Yuan is very supportive of LBH's schemes and plans, but extremely critical of LBH's women. It should take more than a "you deserve better than her" and a few squawks to dissuade LBH from his conquests, but something is sharp and bright and he DOES deserve better

When LBH has a breakdown over QWY forcing herself on him by coercion, SY goes into overdrive. He'd thought that scene was sus but now he's on the war path.

He goes and retrieves a ton of magical items and precious manuscripts to help LBH handle xinmo so he's never forced again. SY keeps waiting to feel bad as some woman dies bc LBH refuses to save her with his dick, but that feeling never comes. He feels a little upset, but mostly at airplane for designing the world that way

LBH still knows sy is upset and eventually research reveals there was a non heavenly pillar cure AND the woman's village should have known it. He goes back and strongarms them into doing regular sex pollen education.

Then it happens again

And again.

SY is starting to get confused about LBH's conquest against wife plots. Shouldn't he be, you know, conquering the land?? Not that SY is complaining. LBH never seemed to enjoy his power, he just never wanted to be trampled on again. It was like that study about how money does buy happiness, but only to a certain point. Maybe power was the same?

After sy learns SQH is airplane, he whole -heartedly encourages LBH to force more and more demonic sovereignty on the North just to give airplane more work. Especially since SY, with his front row seat on LBH's shoulder, has seen tons of demonic courting live and knows MBJ wants a piece of that.

Meanwhile, SY's cultivation improves by leaps and bounds with the help of LBH's blood and various gifts from the protagonist.

SY really wants to hate all of the silver bangles and other decorations he's gifted, but his brain is still a crow's brain at the end of the day so he suffers it with dignity.

At one point he realizes maybe he should stop cultivating. After all, if he's a human, the dynamic will change. LBH might see him rejecting marriage offers as a threat rather than good advice. LBH might think sy wants more power and riches for himself rather than for LBH

[aquanutart]

"little miss prairie faerie" is a cute name actually... (but I won't use it if she doesn't like it)

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

[RHETORIC - Legendary 14]: Convince Kim you are in a timeloop.

(ISAT side of the swap)

[ruanbaijie]

shen zhiheng and his “oh you little fucker” smiles reserved for li yingliang and li yingliang alone SNOWFALL 冰雪谣 (2024) 1.03

[talk-danmei-to-me]

I've spent the day binge reading the Ghosts Nocturne and the art is insanely beautiful.

[randomwriteronline]

Still thinking abt @crystaltoa 's narrative and destiny in bionicle essay and at some point it struck me that oh shit is this why Lesovikk never achieves anything?

Because his destiny was to die, basically, he's technically been retired from the narrative before even entering it. He should by all accounts be the equivalent of a name in the flavor text of a Skyrim history book, just there to give additional context to the culture or language or history of the Matoran Universe. He could leave! He could sit back and watch it all unfold from the safety of his "narratively dead" status. But he doesn't know that, and so he wallows in grief and misery for 90 thousand years as he runs in circles desperately trying to insert himself back into a story that just doesn't respond to his presence. He can't save his team because Destiny says so, he can't return to his Matoran because he technically shouldn't exist anymore, he can't kill Karzhani because he's an actual character with a role to play and he can't just be decommissioned by flavor text.

Even in The Powers That Be, where the influence of the narrative is waning and retired characters are being brought back into the story through the Red Star, his only victory is undone (Idris and Sarda notably do not appear even in mentions in the serial despite them having formed/regained a bond with him previously, implying they have since returned to the Mahri/Voya communities while Lesovikk hasn't for whatever reason) and he remains unable to pursue his goals, at best becoming Velika's scapegoat.

He's like a vengeful yet ineffectual ghost stuck in a house that has moved on without him, repeating old motions in the hopes that he will somehow solve his unfinished business soon.

The Myths and Legacy version's conclusion for him (while I still don't enjoy it personally) does fit this reading. He shows up so suddenly on the Red Star but is it strange? Does it even matter? That's where he should have been to begin with, of course the story would twist and bend itself to accomodate that. While Velika is horrendously cruel about it, revealing Lesovikk's purpose in the narrative exorcises that guilt he's been dragging around for nearly a thousand centuries and gives him solace: he fully detaches himself from Kopaka and Pohatu to join the living dead he has so much more in common with, and finally he realizes that little plot point that he'd been stuck on for so long and is finally at peace. By tearing himself to shreds and blowing up a spaceship but at peace nonetheless.

[kacievvbbbb]

There really is something about the way Supernatural writes younger siblings and how corruptible they are; it’s Sam with the demon blood, Abel and his love of Lucifer, Lucifer and the mark and his hatred He’ll even Chuck and his depression, his narcissistic low self esteem. They are never strong enough to fight the corruption on their own they always fall prey to it. And it is always the duty of the Elder to put them down when they do. To punish them

Cain kills Abel as his last act of love for his brother, Michael casts his beloved Brother into the recesses of hell in righteous fury, So many chances Dean was supposed to put Sam down to save the world it was woven into his blood, and Chuck…..Chuck turned Predator before he could become prey caged his sister before she could destroy him. Chick wrote these storylines into existence like he was scared scared of what his sister might have done. Scared that he would have deserved it. Every sibling is modeled on their relationship after all.

It’s why Sam and Dean fascinate him. Because Dean would burn the world to the ground before he ever took a knife to his brother. And maybe that’s what Chucks been looking for since the beginning to be loved so wholly corruption and all.

[luna-the-cretar]

I love that Arabelle mechanically wasted a spell slot just to tell Clayton that she was having Mac and cheese for dinner and also that she missed his house and kinda sorta maybe him as well. I also love that Clayton’s immediate response was just “DID YOU JUST CAST SENDING!?” In such an “excited and confused and VERY proud” dad voice. I love them.

[faaun]

the way that diff languages sound r so fascinating they're all different and all so vivid

[yusuke-of-valla]

The thing about mean rivals is that like there's kinda a reason we stop having them the second the plots started getting world-ending in scope and that's because you do not have time to deal with some whiny asshole who you've beaten over and over again's shit when a space chinchilla is about to suffocate everyone in the region

Like if they're a dick to you the entire way through they quickly become all bark and no bite because narratively they're going to keep losing to you, and again progressively destroying the ego of a small child is second to whatever this year's eldritch abomination is (and if they went so far as to help the eldritch abomination it raises questions about why they're friendly enough to battle you in the post game).

So like. It's simpler if they're just nice? And have arcs where the fact that they keep losing to you is the point? Your rival isn't the final boss anymore you don't have to build up to finally being able to defeat them for good (except not really) (I guess Hau in USUM arguably but LBR the final boss is Ultra Necrozma)

Like I guess I get annoyed when people don't acknowledge there's a point to how the rivals have been handled since gen 3. You don't have to like it per se but there's a reason the rivals are like this and it's not just the devs don't want to upset little kids.

The fact that the adults care about your safety on the other hand...

[tubbytarchia]

Oops I decided to extend the shinyduo animatic

This is the vision I saw from the start and actually I don't think I'd forgive myself if I cut that vision short because of impatience. So this'll take another few weeks haha

In my head a fight involving a centaur looks so cool but can I visualize that? Well I sure. tried

It's so easy to make it look stupid when it's a swordfight between a person and a centaur whose torso and arms are way higher. Logically a centaur would just trample you to death, quick and easy, but that simply doesn't make for good enough imagery here with everything I was trying to cram into this part of the song

[theroseempress]

been doing some scripting so here's some script points that amuse me (names censored for spoilers) (WishWIP taglist; @ettawritesnstudies, @enne-uni, @mr-orion, @ashirisu, do ask to be added/removed!)

[benevolenterrancy]

Do any NieYao (or general 3zun) shippers follow me? I've been tossing around the idea of a nieyao fic but I'm getting tripped up by timeline shit because good lord JGY's life is a nightmare... is there anyone who wouldn't mind either:

a) chatting with me about timeline/canon stuff to help me get sorted

b) sending me recs of their favourite nieyao fics 👀 for, uh, strictly research related purposes for sure for sure

[brujc]

Just read the three chapters of @mari-lair's human sacrifice Aoi AU and....it's so good! It's been a while since something so well written graced my eyes??? Characterization ? ON POINT! Plot? SUPER INTERESTING! Super good integration of canon elements and exploration of the human sacrifice theme that is so... masterfully done.. Btw did I mention Characterization already? CUZ DAMN UGH I LOVE HOW ALL THE MAIN CHARACTERS ARE PORTRAYED LIKE UUUUUUHHHH'DHFJFHDISHDD (Aoi is literally perfection, Akane amazing too and Teru surprising but suuper refreshing). Love this love this love this love this love this-

I'm happy as hell this got a chapter three! YALL MUST ABSOLUTELY READ THIS, THIS IS THE EPITOME OF PEAK!!!