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lazyliars · 4 years

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Thinking about Tales from The SMP...

So, If I’m interpreting things correctly, Karl canonically doesn’t get to choose when or where he time travels to, meaning that something, or if the books are any indicator, someone, is deciding where he goes, and what “story” he experiences.

“Stories like todays can show that not everything necessarily has to end in misery.”

So, setting aside the obvious question of Who, I’d like to take a moment to consider some of the Why.

Namely, why are the stories that Karl is experiencing necessary for whatever it is he’s doing/going to do?

The Masquerade makes the most sense as of right now - It gives Karl forewarning about the Egg, how it operates, and that it’s old.

It, interestingly enough, doesn’t give us more than that. The only new piece of information the viewers get is, as previously mentioned, that the Egg has been around for awhile.

This lets the theorists narrow things down a little, but the general viewership doesn’t get much out of this nugget of information, so we have to assume that the narrative purpose this serves is to bring Karl up to speed on the Egg stuff.

The Lost City of Mizu again reaffirms the information we already have. In it’s climactic reveal of the Dream Room, we learn that Dream was worshiped through blood sacrifice, and that Ranbob might have murdered the entire city, which reminds Karl and the audience that Dream’s Not A Good Fella.

We could also extrapolate that this is a warning from the In-between that Ranboo is compromised and/or has a connection to Dream, but we’ve yet to see them interact properly so that’s just speculation for now.

The other episodes are less clear in their intended message, lesson, or warning.

The Town that Went Mad gave little to no concrete links to the modern day SMP (until Ponk began to tie it into his lore, which is baller btw go check him out, but which afaik was not planned during the writing of the episode so I’m not counting it to be safe.)

Tubbo/Robin also drops a line about the “Red-Eyed Village Wars” which some have linked to Egg plot. The time period could easily line up with the Masquerade and The Wild West, but there’s every chance that this was a throwaway line from Tubbo, and completely unplanned. We just don’t know.

But more than lore drops, The Town That Went Mad shows Karl an eerily familiar scene - a community of people tearing themselves apart to root out the source of conflict. It’s not quite a 1-1, as the town did have more clear cut “bad guys” then the current SMP, but the similarity remains.

I’ll only count The Town That Never Was as tentatively part of the tales canon. It was the pilot episode, and it doesn’t involve time travel, at least as far as we know.

As for what it has to teach, it’s a clear recreation of the destruction of L’manberg. I don’t know what this teaches, but, uh, yeah.

Then there’s the Beach Episode... It’s got that early installment weirdness, Karl is still very obviously working out the kinks in his storytelling style and voice, and it’s clear that he hasn’t fleshed out what he wants this to be yet. As a consequence, the following theory is tenuous at best, please take it with a grain of salt.

At first glance, the Beach Episode seems to have no lore-relevance. It’s just a fun jaunt between a group of friends.

But, this was streamed on Jan 9th - a time at which Dream had just blown L’manberg up with Techno, and was hiding outside of the SMP lands. This episode also features Ranboo and Dream, the former of which has stated that he and Dream haven’t spoken once, meaning that either he was in Enderwalk when this happened, or this episode not only doesn’t fit into the timeline, but it doesn’t fit into the canon at all.

Now, there’s a good chance that this is just meant to be taken as a filler episode, and we should ignore the canon inconsistencies. However, I’m have adhd that want thing be deeper than it is.

I propose that this Episode is canonical, and takes place in an Alternate Universe - visited by Karl to teach him that, despite how horrible things are right now, they could be better, even idyllic, where a group of friends can cavort around a beach and look for treasure without a care in the world.

This explains the inconsistencies - In this Universe, Dream either didn’t blow up L’manberg, or Ranboo and the rest of the dteam + Bad didn’t mind him doing so.

This opens the door for other AU themed episodes though - silly ones, serious ones... I for one would love to see an over-the-top “darkest timeline” episode, where everyone talks in a low, gruff voice and tries to be darker and edgier than each other.

More lore-oriented, we could see canon-divergence - maybe a “Pog 2020 wins the Elections” story, or a “What if Eret never betrayed?”

I feel like this would give a lot of freedom and give some opportunities to people to explore their current characters on the SMP in ways that they otherwise wouldn’t be able to. It also serves the narrative, giving Karl reason(s) not to mess up the timeline, lest he get these strange offshoots.

Anyway, I would love to hear what people think about this, and any ideas for AUs that could be explored through the Tales format...

#tftsmp #tales from the smp #dream smp #Karl Jacobs

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imjustthemechanic · 4 years

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The Price of a Soul

Part 1/? - Agent Russel

I am absolutely going to regret starting to post this, but here goes.

An AU: a Russian agent slips Agent Carter a letter that seems to contain a clue to the location of the Valkyrie crash site. What is Peggy willing to sacrifice in order to bring Steve’s body home? Her job? Her reputation? Maybe even her life? And what will she do when she learns what her Soviet source already knew - that Captain America isn’t a corpse after all?

Peggy was not at all happy about the situation, but at the same time, she knew she had nobody to blame for it but herself.

After all, she was the one who’d broken Dottie Underwood out of prison and then lost track of her. That made it, technically, Peggy’s fault that the woman had robbed the Toucan Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, making off with some two hundred thousand dollars. Now the mafia was looking for Dottie, along with dozens of corrupt police officers all over the country, all of them getting in Peggy’s way, alternately threatening her, trying to bribe her, and ignoring her… and as if that weren’t enough, now the bloody FBI had gotten involved.

All things considered, Peggy was very tempted to call in to work with a headache. The main reason she did not was because half the people involved in this fiasco already considered her a potential criminal and she didn’t want to give their theories any support. But there wasn’t exactly a spring in her step as she opened the door marked Auerbach Theatrical Agency and stepped inside.

It was a sunny morning in Los Angeles, and light was pouring through the big window into the middle of the room, where a blonde in a pink cardigan was kneeling on the floor doing a scene from MacBeth.

“The Thane of Fife had a wife!” the woman lamented, in a shockingly obnoxious mockery of a Scottish accent. She mimed thrusting her hands under a stream of water and rubbing them together to wash them. “Where is she now?”

“Good morning, Rose,” said Peggy, to the woman behind the desk.

“Good morning, Peggy,” Rose replied with a sigh. The SSR had gone out of its way to make the supposed ‘theatrical agency’ nearly impossible to find, and yet hopefuls still showed up quite regularly. When Peggy had left the previous evening, there’d been a pair of young East Asian men, twins, juggling knives. One of the blades was still embedded in the wall where its owner had thrown it. Now there was this would-be Shakespearean.

“What, will this hand never be clean?” the blonde went on, refusing to break character. “No more of that, my Lord, no more of that! You mar all with this starting!”

“Well, if anyone needs me, I’ll be upstairs waiting for my ten o’clock,” said Peggy. FBI Agent Russel, here to offer his ‘assistance’ apprehending Ms. Dorothy Underwood – and to keep an eye on SSR Agent Carter to make sure she wasn’t involved in any criminal activities. They might have at least tried to be subtle about it.

“I’ll let you know when he arrives,” said Rose.

Peggy turned to head upstairs, when a new voice said, “Agent Carter?”

She turned around. The blonde was standing now. She was quite small, shorter than Peggy, dressed in a mid-calf beige skirt, and the pink cardigan was over a matching blouse with a single tasteful string of pearls. Her makeup was quite dramatic, with deep red lipstick in a similar shade to Peggy’s own. Her purse was also bright red, and she reached into it and pulled out a little leather billfold which she opened to reveal a red and silver FBI badge.

“I’m Agent Nadine Russel,” she said.

Peggy should not have been startled – she really should not. She was thoroughly sick of everyone she met being surprised that SSR Agent Carter was a woman, and this Agent Russel probably felt the same… but it took her a moment to regain a neutral expression regardless. She looked at Rose.

Rose shook her head. Apparently the woman had simply walked in and started doing Shakespeare.

“I’m sorry,” said Russel with a smile. “But she asked me if I were here to audition and I couldn’t resist.”

“To be fair, she’s not one of the worst we’ve had,” Rose put in.

Russel stepped forward to shake Peggy’s hand.

“I apologize as well,” Peggy said, as she accepted the gesture. “I wasn’t aware the FBI employed female agents.” It made sense, though… if they wanted to send somebody who could tail Peggy anywhere, a man would not do. They would know from her history that she could get away from them easily.

“That’s how they like it,” said Russel with a nod. Her accent was educated American, non-regional. Peggy could not have begun to make a guess where she came from. “Let’s go upstairs, and we can talk.”

In the upstairs offices, the other employees of the Strategic Scientific Reserve were already getting on with the day’s work. Director Daniel Sousa was having a conversation with Agent Sato when Peggy and Russel arrived, and Peggy waited a moment until she knew the men had seen her before interrupting.

“I’m sorry, Daniel,” she said, “but Agent Russel wants to discuss the Underwood case with me somewhere private. May we use your office?”

Daniel was just as surprised to find that Agent Russel was a woman as Peggy had been, and while there was a part of Peggy that thought he, too, really ought to know better, another part was just glad she wasn’t the only one. “Of course,” he said. “Go right in. Ben, let’s go to your desk.”

Benjiro Sato nodded, and the two men got out of the way. Inside, Peggy sat down in Daniel’s chair, leaving Russel to take the one opposite. It was not intentional on Peggy’s part – she merely entered the room first – but she decided not to change the situation. It would help to remind Russel, who after all was not exactly an ally, that she was on her home turf here and the other woman was not.

Russel didn’t seem to mind. She pulled her chair closer to the desk and took a leather-bound folio out of her briefcase. “This is the most important information we have on Miss Barynova,” she said. “I was going through it again on my way here…”

“Barynova?” Peggy interrupted, a chill running up her spine. “You mean Dorothy Underwood?” In all her own work on and with the woman, she had never encountered anything that might be her real name… only a series of aliases, with ‘Dorothy Underwood’ merely being the one they’d placed on the ‘most wanted’ list.

“Oh, yes, I beg your pardon, her name is Olga Barynova,” said Russel. “At least, according to sources at the CIA that I’m apparently not allowed to speak to directly.”

The CIA as well? There were entirely too many acronyms involved in this, Peggy thought crossly. The more organizations got interested, the more bureaucracy, the more paperwork, the less communication, and the less chance of them ever finding their target. “I see,” said Peggy. At least that was new information. She wasn’t surprised the CIA hadn’t shared it with her, but she was a bit surprised they’d been able to find it out. Her impression of them in peacetime was not good. Perhaps the information could serve Peggy at some point in the future.

“Anyway, as I was saying.” Russel took out a notebook and sat back to balance it on her knee. “I was looking through our information and realized that for all you’re the one who first encountered her, nobody has apparently interviewed you about your history with Miss Barynova, which…” She paused, perhaps searching for words, and settled on the tactful, “seems like an oversight.”

“It is, rather, isn’t it?” Peggy asked. She remained calm on the outside, but inside her mind was scrambling. Russel was about to ask her to tell the story. Peggy didn’t want to incriminate herself because that would only slow down the whole process of catching Dottie and lead to a lot of sidetracks. But she didn’t want to tell too many lies, because lies could be checked, and whatever she said was going to have to be self-consistent.

“Maybe you’d like to tell me what happened?” Russel suggested.

“I would very much like to,” Peggy lied. “To the best of my knowledge, Miss Un… Miss Barynova came to America in the employ of a man named Fenhoff, who claimed he needed her help with something to do with undermining democracy… I’m not sure of the details. What he actually wanted from her was help in a plan to take personal revenge on Howard Stark…”

The first half of the story was easy enough to tell… the half in which Peggy had been purely trying to catch this woman and hadn’t been complicit in her presence. The second half, the part that took place here in Los Angeles, was far more difficult.

“When I left New York she was locked up,” Peggy said. “The next time I heard about her, she’d escaped and had been sighted here in California.”

So far, Russel had been listening, making notes, but not interrupting. Now she suddenly asked, “what do you think brought her here?”

Now it was time to lie. “Quite honestly, I think she was following me,” Peggy replied. “When she was arrested at the bank she had taken some trouble to look like me. I think I may be the only person who ever really tried to get inside her head, and that seems to have impressed her.” Perhaps Peggy was tooting her own horn there, but she did get the idea that Dottie was somewhat obsessed with her, and that was her best guess at why.

Russel nodded. “We’re not used to people trying to get inside our heads,” she observed, tapping the side of her own. “Men tend to assume there’s nothing much going on in there.”

“They do, don’t they?” said Peggy, not amused at all. Of course, Russel was doing the same thing with Peggy now, trying to get inside her head… and she was perfectly well aware that Peggy knew that was what she was doing. This could turn into a dangerous game indeed, and a distraction Peggy did not need right now. “Unfortunately, during Miss Barynova’s stay in California I was far too concerned with Agnes Cully and the problems at Isodyne to really have time to pursue her. By the time I turned my attention to that she was long gone.”

“Do you think she has a long-term goal?” asked Russel.

“I can’t say, honestly,” Peggy replied, and that was the entire truth. “Sometimes it starts to seem like she’s up to something fiendishly clever and I’m only seeing the tiniest corner of it… other times I think she’s doing all this just for the fun of it. I do know she doesn’t want to go back to the USSR.”

“No… we have some idea what happens to Russian agents who outlive their usefulness,” said Russel. “Besides, we’d much rather have her here in the States where we can pick her brains.”

“I doubt you’ll get much from her – nobody else ever has,” said Peggy.

Russel nodded. “What did you do when you first heard about the Toucan heist?” she asked.

The two women talked for most of the morning, and while Peggy wasn’t sure what Russel thought of her, her impression of the other woman was of somebody intensely focused. That was not good from her point of view. The reason she’d been dreading meeting the FBI agent was because she’d thought he’d be a pain in the arse to get rid of – but she’d never doubted she’d be able to do it. Russel was another matter entirely. She would not be avoided by going into the powder room, would not be scared off by a mention of ‘ladies’ troubles’. Nor had she been asking a list of routine questions. She’d let Peggy lead the way, while she inscrutably wrote notes, keeping her thoughts to herself but attentive and interested.

Nadine Russel was an equal, and the most annoying thing about the situation was that if it weren’t for the situation that had set them up as rivals, she and Peggy would probably have got along like a house on fire.

Finally, around lunch time, Russel checked her watch and closed her notebook. “Thank you for your time, Agent Carter,” she said. “I’ve got some more interviews I need to do today, but I will definitely check in with you again. If you need to contact me, you can do so at this number.” She held out a blank business card, with the phone number written on it in tidy black ink.

“Thank you, Agent Russel, I hope I was helpful,” Peggy replied.

They shook hands again, and Russel took her red purse and her leather folio, and left.

Once she was gone, Peggy sat back down in Daniel’s chair and pushed her hands into her hair. Bloody hell, she didn’t need this right now. She did not.

There was a rap on the door. “Peggy?” Daniel asked, sticking his head into the room.

“Sorry, Daniel,” she said, and got to her feet with a sigh. “You may have your office back.”

“Are you all right?” he asked.

“I’m better than I might be, but worse than I’d hoped,” Peggy said, and that much was entirely honest. “It would be a gift if I could just tell her the truth, but that would create far more problems than it would solve.”

There was a moment of silence. Peggy and Daniel both knew that ‘more problems’ would involve them getting in deserved trouble for laws they absolutely had broken. The problem was that there was nobody else they trusted to handle things like Dottie. The police were corrupt, and the government and big business was, half the time, the problem, and they definitely weren’t going to let the mafia deal with it. That left only so many options.

“Well, better get back to work,” said Daniel.

“Yes, back to work,” Peggy agreed.

She returned to her desk and dropped her purse on it heavily. The world was such a mess. During the war it had been so clear who were the good guys, and who the bad. Now it had become ever so much more complicated.

#fanfic #captain america #agent carter #peggy carter #steve rogers #steggy #fix it fic

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rosecorcoranwrites · 4 years

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September Reading Roundup

It's time for this month's reading roundup, but first, a little announcement that no one but me will care about: I'm staying off the internet until the election. Well, mostly. I'll still post to Tumblr, Twitter, and Instagram when the mood strikes me or when I have a writing update. I'll still post Rant Rave Reviews on here and Youtube (the theme this month is spooky stories, of course). But I won't be interacting much (ie, I won't be spending hours reading through Twitter and Tumblr and watching random Youtube videos I've already seen). If you @ me or retweet or reblog a post, I'll probably respond in a day or two, but other than that, I'm becoming a recluse.

The reason for this is twofold. First, I'm offering it up. For those of you who aren't Catholic, "offering it up" is sort of like giving up something for Lent. You discipline yourself by enduring some deprivation (either natural, like pain, or of your own choosing, like not watching hours of Youtube). At the same time, you offer up your (albeit, in this case, slight) suffering as a sacrifice for some good. I'm offering it up for America. Not the election, America. Because, not to get political or anything, but no matter who wins the garbage fire that is the 2020 election, America is doomed unless our culture changes. As I said to a friend recently, if this was the 90s, we could weather whatever storm Trump or Biden brings, but people hate each other so much right now that our country is pretty much over. Unless...

I don't know what I'm praying for, but I'm praying, praying that come what may, God in his Providence will drag something good out of all of it, kicking and screaming if need be. I will also be doing a rosary novena with my diocese October 14th through October 22, and then another one with the USCCB October 26th to November 3rd. Join me if you would like.

On a lighter note, I'm a volunteer writer-in-residence again at my hometown library, so I'm obligated to focus on writing this month, and need write, research, and workshop without distraction. I have two Forensics and Fiction books all tabbed and ready to read, plus a book about army nurses in the Vietnam War. The plot of book one in the alternate-history/fantasy/mystery trilogy is fast congealing, and I want to strike while the iron is hot. I need to focus! My ultimate goal is to be ready to write a little each day in November, returning to my heretical NaNoWriMo ways.

I'll let you know how it all turns out in my first Novemebr post, which will be a reading roundup of October. Until then, let's take a look at what I read this month:

Two Six Shooters Beat Four Aces: Stories of a Young Arizona by Barbara Marriott Ph.D

Genre: History - Anecdotes

Why I read it: Arizona book club pic

What I thought of it: While it's clear that Marriott is an excellent researcher, she is either a bad writer or in serious need of an editor. Individual paragraphs proved internally repetitive, and the overall structure of each chapter was slapdash. It needed smoother transitions from anecdote to anecdote or more section breaks and section headers.

Would I recommend it: No, everyone in my book club, including myself, hated it.

7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

Genre: Supernatural Mystery

Why I read it: I'd been wanting to for a while; the premise caught my eye

What I thought of it: The body-hopping time-loop stuff was brilliant, the characters likable, and the story delightfully twisty. The last twist and conclusion were unsatisfying, though.

Would I recommend it: Yes!! Despite it's flaws, it was an exciting, fun, and original book. I will definitely be reading Turton's next book (which involves a closed circle of suspects and, possibly, demons!?).

The Exorcist by William Blatty

Genre: Horror

Why I read it: I'd been meaning to for a while, and writing research gave me an excuse to do so

What I thought of it: I like that it doesn't pull it's punches; I'm kind of shocked that it's only been censored a couple times, actually. It presents demons as they are: hateful, grotesque jerks who get off on picking on humans. I also liked that there was a murder mystery subplot. I'm not sure I approve 100% of the ending, theologically speaking, but that's a pretty minor quibble.

Would I recommend it: Yes, but it is not for the feint of heart. Trigger warnings for child sexual abuse, adult sexual abuse, language, violence, the works.

How to Destroy America in Three Easy Steps by Ben Shapiro

Genre: Nonfiction - politics

Why I read it: It's a long story that I shall tell about in my memoir of library life, but not here. Also the cover is 10/10

What I thought of it: It was ok. I already knew most of what he said. I disagreed with some of it, like seeing the constant moving of people from town to town in 1950s as a positive thing; in actuality, "company men" in the 50s were moved around so they wouldn't have community ties but instead ties to the company, which is anti-human to the extreme. I did think it was interesting that he combatted the idea of America's greatness being built off the backs of slaves by pointing out that slavery was actually terrible for the south, as reliance on slavery retarded their economic system well after the Civil War.

Would I recommend it: If you're into political books, sure.

American Sherlock: Murder, Forensics, and the Birth of American CSI by Kate Winkler Dawson

Genre: True Crime - forensic history

Why I read it: I love historical true crime

What I thought of it: It was ok, but kind of didn't make the case for him being "The American Sherlock Holmes" (even though people really did call him that back in the day), in that a lot of his conclusions ended up being a little dubious. Still, from a research perspective, it did establish when various forensic practices started being used in the USA.

Would I recommend it: Maybe? I personally liked Father of Forensics more. I'd say this book is, like, 3/5 stars, just because it could have been tightened up a bit.

Coraline by Neil Gaiman

Genre: Horror

Why I read it: It's spooky season!

What I thought of it: Having already seen the movie, I knew pretty much what was going to happen, but I love Gaiman's turn of phrase.

Would I recommend it: Yes, especially for children who are too young for scarier fair but still want a creepy story.

The Horror at Red Hook by H.P. Lovecraft

Genre: Horror

Why I read it: It's still spooky season!

What I thought of it: I honestly liked this a lot more than the Cthulhu mythos stuff. Rather than vague demoniac blasphemies or black cyclopean gulfs, there's a real tangible cult that sacrifices (reanimated?) corpses to a pale, dancing, snickering Thing on a golden pedestal. I dig it.

Would I recommend it: Yes. Just... ignore the racism. That goes for all of Lovecraft's stuff, by the by.

Herbert West: Reanimator by H.P. Lovecraft

Genre: Horror

Why I read it: Turns out I like HP Lovecraft. Who knew?

What I thought of it: You gotta love mad scientists who try to reanimate the dead, right? I think this one would make an excellent mini-series.

Would I recommend it: Yes.

Solutions and Other Problems by Allie Brosh

Genre: Essay - illustration/comics

Why I read it: I loved Hyperbole and a Half, and was excited when I saw Brosh was coming out with another book.

What I thought of it: It was okay. Not as good as her first book, but for an understandable reason: medical complications and her sister's suicide (that's not a spoiler, as the book is dedicated to her sister). Thus, the book had a heaviness to it that the first one didn't. Still there were some parts that made me laugh so hard I cried.

Would I recommend it: Maybe? I'd say borrow it from the library, but don't buy it, unless you are also suffering a loss. It might be really relatable and cathartic in that case.

The Rats in the Walls by H.P. Lovecraft

Genre: Horror

Why I read it: I like HP Lovecraft

What I thought of it: Not as scary as I had been led to believe by my brother, but still a good story. I plan on reading Lovecraft Country at some point, which supposedly flips Lovecraft's racism on it's head, and so help me, if it doesn't make reference to this story and chattel slavery, I'll throw a fit.

Would I recommend it: Yes. I like that the cat didn't die. :)

The Shadow Over Innsmouth by H.P. Lovecraft

Genre: Horror

Why I read it: I just... I just really like Lovecraft, okay?

What I thought of it: I find the sea inherently creepy, so when you have a decrepit backwater filled with a fishy stench and secrets, it's gotta be good.

Would I recommend it: Yes, especially if you liked the Fishing Hamlet part of the Bloodborne DLC (which I could not help but think of the whole time reading this novella).

The Thing on the Doorstep by H.P. Lovecraft

Genre: Horror

Why I read it: You know why.

What I thought of it: So if you've read enough Lovecraft, especially Dunwich Horror and Shadow Over Innsmouth, you already know what's coming... or do you? Right away, HP establishes that there is a special knock the guy uses with his friend, so I assumed the twist end would involve the Thing appearing in the guy's body but not using the knock, thus revealing itself to be (redacted for slight spoilers). I was wrong. That's not how it played out, and the way it played out was so much creepier!!!

Would I recommend it: Yeah! I really liked this one!

Haunter of the Dark by H.P. Lovecraft

Genre: Horror

Why I read it: Yup

What I thought of it: Same ol', same ol, but what I thought was cool in this one was that the supposedly superstitious Italian Catholic immigrants totally know what's up and spend their stormy nights keeping the Haunter at bay with nothing but candles and flashlights. What a neat detail!

Would I recommend it: Yup. :)

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its-a-branwen-thing · 5 years

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The Next Steps

One of the closing shots of this volume captured my attention in that it directly parallels the closing shot of V6 and the opening of V7:

Here they’re entering Atlas at night and, although equal parts intimidating and exciting in the “Manta 5, welcome home”, it doesn’t seem unfriendly at first. We know Atlas relatively well. It isn’t until we progress further into the volume that we realize how dire the situation is, and then how much direr it gets. So I have some theories as to the next steps. My disclaimer is that these are always for fun:)

So with Salem arriving at Atlas, it isn’t possible that our team is running away, is it? They aren’t going down to Mantle or it would likely be a more direct route, right? I had an inkling that they might flee entirely, but I feel like that’d too directly undermine the message of not abandoning people no matter what. Because they always wanted to stand their ground. I find it much likelier that they’re going to seek shelter in the dust mines or in the crater where, presumably, Oscar and a newly present Ozpin are.

The Atlas arc is going to carry us into V8. It has to. (Unless, once again, CRWBY subverts our expectations). It might even carry into V9. But what feels so absolutely terrifying about this conclusion is that Salem is there. She really showed up! I used to think she couldn’t leave the dark continent for...plot convenient purposes but that’s now officially out the door. So what are her next plans? Because this feels like the endgame, and I highly doubt it is.

Atlas Defense Systems

“But, with the staff we have a constant, seemingly limitless energy source.”

Salem could so easily ram the city of Atlas with Big Chungus the whale Grimm and overrun it with the army she’s brought along. Not to mention she has two (three...with Neo?) agents inside of Atlas, and one now presumably in Mantle. It feels too much like an instant checkmate. But Ironwood also has the staff of creation that, while not manipulable at the moment, he might have had fail safes around. Maybe the Kingdom of Atlas, and not Mantle, can be protected by a hard dust shield that’s powered using whatever energy connection utilizes the staff to create Atlas’s flotation. If Ironwood can erect an impenetrable shield around the city, he can stall against Salem long enough to attempt to secure the maiden (if Winter tells him it’s Penny) or else keep the relic, at least for now, out of Salem’s reach until he can formulate an alternative plan. But I think too--why wouldn’t he just do this at the start? Instead of raising Atlas up as a last ditch effort, why not just hold out, like Ruby and Blake suggest, behind the shield until they finish the tower or form a different plan? Mantle was to be the sacrifice either way. And to that I say--this would be Ironwood’s last ditch’s last ditch.

He wanted to raise Atlas in order to keep the relic from Salem forever, in his thinking. Not just temporarily. And this shield solution, however impenetrable, would be temporary. Even if Ironwood revealed he could do it this season and hold out for more time to raise Amity, he’s probably thinking they wouldn’t even be able to get to Amity through her overwhelming forces. So it would fail. Or maybe he creates the solution on the spot, after realizing he could? Or he never did it before because Mantle would be unprotected and that, before his fall, was unthinkable? IDK!

I think, if this is how they go about it, Salem will be forced to lay siege to Mantle instead, and Ironwood will look down at the destruction as he’s slowly driven more and more into a corner. It could make him colder, more erratic, more unstable. It could make him able to change. Who knows! I just have a cool vision of him looking down at his city from his office, his look more haggard than now, flinching as the door opens at his back and one of his team enters, quietly, fearful of sparking his anger, to talk to him.

But I think next season will see Salem trying to secure the relic on her own, by utilizing Cinder, Neo, Em, Merc, and Hazel too, (with Watts and Tyrian as wild cards) so that she can unlock the Vault, secure the relic, and bring down Atlas.

I think our Atlesians will see less action next season. They’ll be trapped in their city. It’ll be Mantle fighting the Grimm. And it’ll be Mantle losing. Again.

Amity

The Amity Communications Tower is now repurposed, unfinished, and lying presumably vacant somewhere in...the tundra? I’m not sure exactly where the coliseum is, but the launch site was to be a collapsed dust mine. We know Watts and Ironwood fought there. We know Ironwood brought Watts back to Atlas. So if the tower is indeed on the ground, defunct, what better way to attempt Ironwood’s original plan than a group of ragtag heroes, and one very renowned Atlesian scientist, attempting to get the tower off the ground once more without Salem even thinking they’ll be a threat? It was partially done, why couldn’t it be finished now? Because all of Salem’s focus will be on Atlas. And with her concerns all there, these lose pieces won’t mean anything to her.

While Salem is occupying her time laying siege to Atlas and Mantle, team RWBYJNRMP and, hopefully, an eventual Oscar after some alone time for reflection, will see to its completion. And using it, they’ll call Vacuo for help. By the time Salem sees that the tower’s being raised, Ironwood will realize what’s happened and send his now hopefully rested military to fight her, head on, so that she will have two fronts to contend with. Redirecting forces away to attack the tower, or focusing them on crushing a now offensive and unified Atlesian military?

This is a totally out there theory, but it’s super fun to craft these things! I think if Ironwood sees that the very people he doubted, the very people he refused to trust and consult with, are acting of their own accord, putting their lives on the line, to save them all, I think he’ll act. And I’ll think he’ll fight this time. Against Salem. They all will, because there will be no other choice. It’ll be a desperate, last battle on all fronts. And it will be awesome.

What About Poor Mantle?

Well, I mean, I think the odds are already looking pretty...Grimm? (I’m sorry!) But in all seriousness, Mantle is already under attack. It’s already been breached. If anything, Mantle already fell this volume in the figurative sense. And not nearly everyone was or will be evacuated. Which makes the imminence of Salem’s arrival and Ironwood’s subsequent, as my theory goes, abandoning of Mantle again, all the more pressing for our heroes to find a solution fast. I think the people of Mantle will hunker down, go into hiding, as the Grimm comb the city streets. I think the Happy Huntresses will help protect as much as they can before realizing they can’t possibly win and going into hiding somewhere. Sewers were an established thing, right?

If this holds true, than by the end of the volume, depending on how fast and over how much time it takes place (if they want to launch the tower, days, if they want to do something else...weeks?) all of our disparate parties will be coming together and Vacuo, in a final, climactic scene, will be contacted. And I think that’d be an amazing ending. A fight for the life of Atlas, Mantle, and the Kingdom itself, and the final kicker being that Vacuo is now on the way and the maiden, whoever she is, with the relic of destruction, is ready to use it.

Unless my weird inkling that time manipulation is somehow involved as they reference the time line, like, a lot, and time dilation is totally a thing as Weiss has done it before with Blake in V2.

Anywho thank you to anyone who reads and enjoys these! :) I love making them, especially when they miss the mark (so, always haha).

#rwby #rwby meta #i was going to work on my marrow one but...this took me away from that #rwby spoilers #rwby theory #long

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mahou-queen · 4 years

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♡52 Weeks of Lolita Questionnaire♡

In a recent Lovely Lor video, Lor answered questions from Loliprompts’ questionnaire “52 weeks of lolita”. It seems like a fun list of questions and I thought I would answer them too~ ♡

1. What is your favorite brand, and why? What’s its history? ♡ I guess my favorite brand would have to be Angelic Pretty. I love a lot of other brands, but the majority of dresses in my wish list right now are Angelic Pretty. As for their history? I don’t really know haha, I guess I should research that a bit.

2. How would you describe lolita fashion to a curious person you met in passing? ♡ I always just say I am apart of a fashion club? People don’t generally require more than that but if they did I would probably tell them that it’s an alternative fashion based on Victorian fashion and we have a fashion club and we get dressed up and meet for tea and stuff.

3. What style do you think is the most underrated, and why? ♡ qi and wa lolita. I almost never see them, or see interest in them which is a shame because there are some really beautiful dresses out there that are suited for these styles.

4. What does the phrase “lolita lifestyle” mean to you, and do you, or would you like to, adhere to it? ♡ lolita lifestyle is when you try to bring lolita or lolita-esque aesthetics into every aspect of your life. Maybe wearing lolita every or most days, and having a very “loliable” home/room. I could never be a lifestyler because I have other fashion interests. Also lolita is not appropriate at my workplace.

5. What do you think constitutes lolita etiquette or good manners? ♡ I don’t believe there is any “lolita etiquette” I think you should just be yourself. Good manner are good manners, don’t be rude to your comm members, don’t dance on the tables at a tea party. But that’s just commonsense I don’t think there is a way to behave that is lolita.

6. Does your style change with the seasons, or do you dress the same and try to bear the cold/heat? ♡ I try, but admittedly I am awful at it. I try to keep berets in the cooler months, as well as long sleeves. BUT I’m a sucker for ankle socks and I wear them all year despite the cold and I do freeze my legs off at winter meets.

7. Do you have a fashion role-model? What do you admire most about them? ♡ I actually have several! I will list them and their instagrams here: sleepyriri - Her coords are so dreamy looking, very light floaty aesthetic which I love. She also has her own lolita brand! Le_verger_sucre - Her coords are so pink and princess-y. I find myself sharing her photos a lot. Fannyrosie - the classic lolita queen. Need I say more? Tokimeki.bunny - I love the cuteness of her coords. They always have a lot of extra elements and are so well balanced. She’s also really good at coordinating printed tights which I am awful at. Tsumikko - Lavender QUEEN! I love her use of aprons, layering, and color balancing. Very light, floaty vibes. Milkcircus - Print QUEEN. Her use of prints and patterns absolutely inspires me. Coords are always very multi-dimensional Cursed.Kaiser - They’re coords are honestly so cool, there’s a kind of drama in them that I really like. Darkxdelirium - She almost made me want honey cake with her impeccable coording skills.

8. What are the top 10 things you love most about lolita? Can you also compile a list of things you hate? ♡ I don’t think I can come up with 10 but I’ll do my best. ♡ Loves: The community aspect, the ability to reclaim my femininity through lolita, the creativity that goes into building coords, crafting to make one of a kind pieces, being able to feel beautiful without being “sexy”, having a hobby to focus on when I need something to escape to.

♡ Hates: Second-hand market price fluctuation, brands still releasing dresses with a max 96cm bust, buying petticoats, storing my stuff (especially purses), brands who charge astronomical prices for low quality materials (AP purses, Q-pot jewelry, etc).

9. How strict are you in applying the rules to yourself? To others? ♡ I am pretty strict on myself. For a long time I was terrified to be seen as ita. I was even afraid to wear bodyline for fear of being ”ita” even though my coord was good. These days I am less strict on myself and worry much less about these things, but I still struggle to get out of the strict mindset from time to time. others? I love experimentation even if I am afraid to do so so I am really not too strict on others, if it works, it works, and I am not going to criticize anyone.

10. What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever incorporated into a coord, or the weirdest material you’ve ever worn? ♡ The weirdest thing I think I have ever worn in a coord were a pair of korilakkuma bell earrings. As you can imagine, bells on your ears? not great.

11. What’s the story behind your discovery of lolita fashion? ♡ When I was a senior in high school, a new girl started attending my school. She wore fairy kei and sweet lolita to school. We became friends through art class and eventually she ended up teaching me about the fashion. She sold me my first dress, and later my first brand piece. I am really glad to have met her and to have been exposed to lolita. You can follow her on instagram here

12. What is the one item that you’ve owned the longest? ♡ I still own my very first dress I got in 2012. Bodyline Squirrel Party. However, I am planning to sell it since I’ve worn it in everyway I can think of.

13. Do you think lolita is only about clothes, or does it also encompass a certain attitude or mindset? ♡ Lolita is about the fashion. All kinds of people are lolitas and they like it or wear it for different reasons.

14. Have you ever decorated a room or other space (car?) with lolita aesthetics in mind? ♡ My old bedroom used to be very “kawaii”. I love pink so my car stuff, my desk, as much as I can get away with, is pink.

15. Is it possible to be too obsessed with lolita? ♡ If lolita is interfering with your ability to pay your bills, or to be happy, or to focus on school or work or family then you should probably pull back. Some people do get very absorbed by things and in those cases it can become too much.

16. What are you favorite and least favorite trends? Do you think it’s important to follow them, or to do as you like regardless of them? ♡ My favorite trend ever is the chiffon half blouse. So comfortable, affordable, light, cute, and much more size inclusive. Least favorite trend? mis-matched shoes from the 2010 era. I like my shoes to get equal wear. I think these days more than ever, you can really just do whatever you want. Wear the fashion is right now is like anything goes which I think is great,

17. How do you define “lolita cosplay” and how do you feel about it? ♡ Lolita cosplay is stupid. sorry

18. Are there other fashions that you wear regularly, or are you an everyday lolita? ♡ I don't wear other street fashions anymore. I used to wear fairy kei and himekaji but these days I just dress regular outside of lolita.

19. Do you look for bargains to save as much money as possible, or are you willing to make sacrifices for high-quality products? ♡ I try to find the best prices when applicable but if I am in love with something I’ll do what I have to do.

20. When was the last time you wore lolita, and what did you do that day? If you wear it daily, when was the last time you went OTT or extra-fancy? ♡ The last time I wore lolita was in April lmao. For a virtual meet-up with my comm.

21. If you were to combine lolita fashion with an unrelated style or theme, what would your new creation be? ♡uhhhh I honestly have no idea at all.

22. What is your favorite accessory, and why is it your favorite? ♡ I have 2, 2-way bow clips from back when bodyline had a massive “sundries” section. They're no longer available and haven't been for a long time. I am really glad I got them, I wish I had bought more sundries when that section was still there.

23. What’s your favorite online lolita community or forum? Are there any that you avoid? ♡ I don’t have a favorite tbh. I have never been on 4chan and I never will be.

24. What is your favorite theme (e.g. school loli, pirate loli, nurse loli) or motif (e.g. deer, music notes, stars/constellations)? ♡ black and gold stars! Valentines day! fruits! gingham!

25. Is there any music that you associate with lolita? ♡ orange caramel lol

26. Will you ever be too old for lolita? ♡ never

27. Do you enjoy sewing? Why or why not? ♡ I don’t know how to sew :(

28. How does your location affect your involvement in the local lolita community? Would you like to move elsewhere to be closer, or perhaps farther away? ♡ I drive about 1.5 hours for meetups because that’s the closest active comm. I do not mind so much. I’d like to maybe be closer.

29. Does your sleepwear resemble lolita at all? ♡ not at all. I sleep in oversized t-shirts

30. Can you admit to any unpopular opinions regarding lolita? ♡ I hate peeking bloomers. I’m sorry :(

31. How do you feel about Visual kei or Jrock, and do you feel it’s related to lolita, or not? ♡ Love it, and absolutely. Visual Kei is like lolitas relative.

32. Whether or not you wear them (looking at you, Ouji), do you prefer the look of skirts, JSKs, and OPs with or without prints? ♡ I like both, but these days I am appreciating non-printed items more.

33. How has your style evolved over time? ♡ It hasn't really, just gotten more refined.

34. If applicable, what other communities do you belong to? What other identities do you adopt? ♡ I’m queer, so the LGBTQ community is important to me.

35. What are your favorite shoes to wear with your style, or what’s your dream pair? ♡ I love heels. I do not like flat shoes because I like to elongate my legs. I don’t have a dream pair.

36. Would you, or have you ever, dressed your pets in lolita? ♡ lol I’d try but I don't think it would work.

37. How do you feel about people who wear lolita for Halloween? Does it depend on whether that person is already a lolita? ♡ Wearing lolita for Halloween as a lolita is fine, but wearing it as a costume is kind of meh.

38. Excluding fashion shows, what’s the most amount of outfits you’ve ever worn in a day? ♡ just 1 haha

39. What’s your worst lolita horror story? ♡ I don’t really have any. I one time went with some of my college friends to a con and I left my dorm building in full sweet early in the morning. I was afraid my dormmates would see me cause I did not want to explain but luckily no one was awake and I made it to the van unscathed.

40. Do you like sweets? If so, what’s your favorite dessert? ♡ I love angel food cake

41. Do you have any beauty products, health routines, or special diet to keep you at your best? ♡ I take co-q-10 for my eczema, I like laneige lip sleeping mask, especially in the winter.

42. What were the best and worst meetups you’ve hosted? If you haven’t hosted, would you like to someday? ♡ I wanted to host a garden meet this summer but covid ruined that. Maybe next year.

43. Who is your favorite artist? If not famous for lolita art, do you think they have lolita appeal? ♡ I love a lot of artists, some of them I think are lolita-adjacent because their style is kawaii. I’ll list some here: jisaaaa! ubokhee MISOART_ meowwniz gojio_ hanavbara Fancy Surprise Arcade Healer Yurie Sekiya and many many more. Go stalk my following on instagram for lots of kawaii artists.

44. How do you feel about wigs? Do you wear any, or style your natural hair? ♡ I used to wear wigs, but my hair is too long now so I use my natural hair with fake bangs.

45. What’s your favorite animal motif? ♡ bears?

46. Have you ever visited a brand’s shop/boutique? If so, what was your reaction? If not, what shop would you most like to visit? ♡ I want to visit AP San Francisco

47. Do you think posting photos of your coord online is a crucial part of belonging to the community? ♡ YES, it’s how we all stay connected and inspired

48. How has the lolita community changed since you became a part of it? Where do you see lolita heading in the future in terms of community and networking? ♡ I think it’s become way more accepting and accessible. When I got into lolita there were virtually no legit resellers, the community was entirely on livejournal, buying second hand was a nightmare. Buying anything! was a nightmare. There was so much stress around looking “ita”, and the superiority of brand. These days its just not like that. So much amazing taobao brands have really helped even the field for lolita. We have so much more access to the clothes, the community, everything. It’s great. I only see it getting better as years go on.

49. What advice would you give someone who is nervous about starting lolita? Or do you think they should learn their own lessons? ♡ I think too many lolitas today rely on seasoned lolitas to tell them everything. I would say, go watch lovely lor, read @lolita-tips and look at other peoples coordinates. Lolita Tips tumblr taught me basically everything I know back in the day and it a wealth of info and concrit. Part of what makes the lolita journey so great is the research, the learning, the mistakes. You don’t wanna be like someone else, you wanna be you. So you really need to do the work yourself so you can put your personal flair into the fashion. That’s when it’s at its best.

50. What’s your dream dress/garment? Is it a faraway goal or have you obtained it? ♡ My dream dress was AP sweetie violet jsk in lavender. Which I got in 2019. My new dream dress is AP rose tea garden jsk in navy. It’ll probably be a while before I can afford to buy one.

51. How do you feel about the stereotype that lolitas are full of drama? What’s the worst drama you’ve ever witnessed or been involved in? ♡ I think any and all groups of people are bound to have drama. I don’t believe that’s specific to lolita at all. I personally have not been involved in any lolita drama.

52. Are you loyal to any particular makeup brands? ♡ I am very particular about my makeup because I do not like to use certain ingredients. I really like Pacifica. But I also like some Korean brands like The Saem, MISSHA, and TonyMoly.

This was super long but I had fun answering all the questions. Have you done this questionnaire? I’d love to see your answers~

#about me #lolita asks #loliprompts #52 weeks of lolita #lolita fashion #egl community #j fashion

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wackygoofball · 5 years

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Wacky’s Brooding Box

Okay.

Here is the thing.

We are only a few hours away from the next episode. And I am barely containing my HYPE right now.

Okay.

That was a lie.

I never contain my HYPE.

But that’s not the point. The point is that I have some fanfic-y thoughts I want to share with you that are likely wishful thinking for what awaits us JB-wise in this and the final episode. I have many more headcanons of that sort, but those are the ones I am now putting in this little box here.

I will lock those headcanons inside the box and below the cut. These are all scenarios I would dig to see, and whatever doesn’t happen... I will try to make fanfiction, I suppose. If I somehow unbreak my fanfiction bones. If at least one of them turns out true... I will get a crystal ball.

1) Brienne somehow learns about Bronn having been tasked with assassinating Jaime and Tyrion. Perhaps Podrick knows from Tyrion that Bronn showed up again, but Tyrion instructed Pod not to tell anyone. But since when can Ser Son keep anything from Ser Mom for long, right? Tables turn when we see Bronn the next time, drinking himself silly at an inn close to Winterfell. Pod comes in and they have conversation - only for Brienne to come up from behind and honor Bronn with the same kind treatment he gave to Tyrion. If she breaks his nose for real, she gets extra cookies. Brienne quickly disarms him and makes it clear that she is not like Tyrion, not like Jaime, she is not here to negotiate or play castle-swap. It’s either that he does as she says or she will end him. Bronn is pissed but impressed, makes jokes about Jaime's cock being magical if someone goes that far to get it back or something to that effect. It turns out that Brienne has a new plan, which involves taking Bronn to King’s Landing with her as he has knowledge of the passageways underneath King’s Landing, as can be assumed after he led Jaime down there to meet up with Tyrion. I would just about die to have a roadtrip moment of Bronn having the giggles about JB finally having done it, though things would likely turn serious soon. I keep having that mental image of Brienne telling him that she pities him for being so alone in the world that he can’t seem to care for anyone or anything beside himself, how his life is devoid of meaning and how he will die alone no matter what castle he comes to own. Since I still have that headcanon that Bronn will choose to die an honorable death in the capacity of actually risking his life for his friends (Jaime and Tyrion are really the people he could care about even if he says and acts like he is the only one who matters to himself) or perhaps for Brienne now.

2) We zoom in on Winterfell. Brienne tries to distract herself from her anger and sadness by training excessively with Pod. She barely talks, grits her teeth a lot. Maybe Sansa watches from the balcony, looking a bit concerned or at the very least troubled. Then the IMPOSSIBLE happens. Pod lands a hit for the first time because Brienne is distracted. Podrick has a total WTF moment ("When did I become so strong? What power was I given by the Seven? What is happening??? Did I just kill her??? Ser Mommmm?"). He starts to fuss and apologizes to her as Brienne straightens back up. She tells him there is no need, then excuses herself and storms off.

3) possibly in connection to 2) if Jaime did indeed put a bun in that oven (I think he did), we see Brienne puking somewhere, or hear her, we can fill in the blanks on our own, thank you. Then either ENTER Gilly going like "oh, girl, I know the feeling, it'll pass once you are a bit further along with the pregnancy". Brienne stares at her as wide-eyed as ever , thinking "the lady is mad" or ENTER Dadvos showing concern for Brienne (I really kind of want them to have another scene because they have a twisted history together and ever since the whole honorable man and just woman, I have my headcanons, so many of them). Brienne tries to brush it off but soon realization dawns on her that, yup, there is a Braime Bun. 4) Sansa tells Brienne that Bran wants to talk to her. Brienne goes to see him and he drops some truthbombs. This ould be a number of things, scenarios my brain is currently favoring: a) Bran reveals he had another conversation with Jaime before he left wherein he told him that "you will have a child, but it isn't the Queen's" which made Jaime connect the dots that Brienne already was pregnant with his child whereas Cersei actually was not, doubling the angst for him to put her at risk; b) Bran tells her something along the lines of what he told Jon, that Brienne has to make a choice about where she wants to go moving forward as she has an important role to play in all this, which may or may not cement her crucial role to endgame; c) he reveals to her that he drove Aerys mad to bring Jaime to where he was to even things out between them, basically, how he had to set it all up for Jaime to be right where he is now, that he has to bring everyone to where they are needed and that Brienne now also has to decide where she wants to be, though whatever choice she makes “will come with great sacrifice;” d) he drops a massive hint towards the YMB(Q) being about Brienne in an even more overt way; e) some talk about East and West united, f) Bran repeating to her "Nothing's more hateful than failing to protect the one you love” to Brienne.

5) Brienne readies the horse for herself (similar to how we saw Jaime ready his before he left), we see her taking a moment to hold on tight to Oathkeeper or we zoom in on it, to affirm that she's holding on to her bond with Jaime through the twin swords; ENTER Pod asking her what she is doing. If he opens with "Ser" or "M'lady Ser" he gets extra points. Brienne tells him that she will be leaving for King’s Landing. If Pod got the clue that she may be with child (if that's the scenario we are rolling with), he may express concern about her going alone, arguing that he as her squire should come with her. Even if not with the bun going on, he may still insist on doing that because he is a good squire and she raised him well. Brienne then touches him in a very soft kind of way and tells him that she needs him to stay here, that she trusts him with her promise to Lady Catelyn now to protect Sansa from harm. "There's nothing I can teach you anymore, Podrick." Something like that. She then rides off to kick that lovely man with golden hand in the balls and make him come home.

6) Alternatively, I could see Sansa and Brienne having honest conversation about the status of her oaths and her staying at Winterfell. Brienne may express fear that Sansa would not understand why she'd want to go after Jaime, just that she does, showing that she is more adult than most others, arguing that Brienne doesn't have to stay to know her protected, hinting at the fact that Pod is more than capable as she trained him well.

7) Brienne actually doesn't head straight to KL but meets up with Selwyn or a commander of Tarth forces (maybe a kind of Goodwin character). Big reveal is that she wrote to her father to request help before she left Winterfell. I mean, they have soldiers right? I want to see more of those??? I bet they kick ass??? I would just love it if Brienne commanding Vale soldiers would now bring her one step closer to doing the same for her own people/troops. It would so neatly fit with her arc about finally taking up on her position as only living heir to her House. This could well be incorpated with Bronn being dragged along and Brienne basically not just planning a rescue mission for Jaime but also to protect his finest act by getting people out of the Red Keep and to safety by enabling evacuation protocols.

8) If there is such a thing as a father-daughter reunion between Selwyn and Brienne at some point (not necessarily before going to King’s Landing), I just want him to say how much she's changed upon first seeing her. Gah.

9) After Brienne is normally always the one to ask “what are you doing?” I kind of want Jaime to now say that to her upon seeing her wind up at King’s Landing.

10) I can still see a fakeout death scenario for either one of them. Since they were so heavy on misdirecting us with regards to Jaime’s fate, I start to think that maybe it’s really Brienne. She didn’t have a stand-alone near-death experience ever since the bearpit and the fight with the Hound. The rest was more regular battles that left us little second-guessing. At Winterfell against the living dead, eveyone could have been gone any minute, so that hardly shed the light on her (not that this episode shed much light *nudge* *nudge* Long Night *nudge*). Like, I was personally very fearful we would lose Pod that episode because they gave him the song and all those things, but she momentarily lost Jaime. Now the show’s dropped the idea of “you don’t have to die with your sister, Jaime” which is why I think that is precisely what is not happening. Otherwise it’s extremely... oddly... straight-forward. Plain. Point being, in the BatB trajectory, we are now at the point where Belle leaves for her home to be with her family, only to be held off by her evil sisters who are jealous of her. The Beast “dies” as a result of that neglect, but awakens/is reborn when Belle returns and professes her love for the Beast, and the curse is broken. In that part of the story, Jaime is Belle and Brienne is the Beast. So it may be that this is the time when we are led to believe that Brienne died, and Jaime will believe that she died, just that she didn’t. “Who wants to die defending a Lannister?” Big foreshadowing right there from all the way to their first encounters. So I can see her coming to King’s Landing and saving Jaime, only to nearly get killed herself, or leaving Jaime under the belief that she may be dead, only to then reveal that she is not. He still has to say the magic l-word, after all.

Anyway. Those are some broody thoughts for Wacky’s broody box. Thanks for your attention.

#got spoilers #jaime x brienne #jaime lannister #brienne of tarth #wacky rambles

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zmediaoutlet · 5 years

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you saw endgame! please share with the class! assemble!

haha, okay, well–here’s some thoughts, since we’re far enough out that I don’t think this will be too spoilery for people – but it’s gonna be super long, so it’s under a cut, either way:

Well, it was–spectacular! In that it was literally a spectacle, for one thing. I had pretty lowered expectations after not particularly enjoying Captain Marvel (it was fine, but boring) or Infinity War for that matter (better-made, but the stakes were obviously nonexistent because we knew something was going to be done). Here, though… I just really, thoroughly enjoyed it. It was thoughtfully done, well-executed, and just as a moment of payoff for those of us who have been here all ten years… It was just really something. I saw Iron Man on opening weekend in 2008 and fell in love, and even if I haven’t loved every single movie since then, I feel like Marvel just sent me a love letter, and I was so–glad. What a good movie-going experience it was.

I say all that having seen SO MUCH rending of garments and gnashing of teeth from the !stans and shippers, but all of that’s so very much missing the point. This is the story of *this series*, this great arc that led to this point. The thing to remember is that the MCU is fanfiction itself–it’s based off of characters who are based off of characters from a canon that’s been rebooted and re-blended about a billion times. This is the story this group of fic-writers, essentially, chose to tell, and I think they did it pretty damn well. You can write your own fic where Steve weeps into Bucky’s hair for 70 years if you want to. This story isn’t that, and that’s okay. (Genuinely, if fandomites could take like half a step back they’d be much happier people. I know it’s hard–I’ve been in a process of letting go with SPN that I haven’t really managed to do well–but c’mon. Don’t get so het up about it.)

Some things:

1) I was genuinely impressed with the time travel mechanism, especially as it bounced meta-ly off of other examples we’ve seen in pop culture. Finally, a story that allows ACTUAL alternate-universe time travel instead of boring-ass time loops. I’ve always thought it was spectacularly dumb when the worry is “but if I kill myself in the past, I’ll die now!” Nope! Avoided! Thank you, folks. It’s kind of weirding me out that so many people online seem confused about how the time travel worked, but it was incredibly clean and I just want to high five the people involved. The one thing that seemed like a plot hole was Old Steve at the end, with the implication that he was co-existent in this timeline for 70 years (and did nothing about Hydra??)–but then the Russos said that they assume he went to an alternate timeline, and then came back to this one to give Sam the shield. It wasn’t on screen either way so you can make your own headcanon, but I’m good with that. So: successful time travel. Hoo-fucking-rah.

2) Thor. This was the one real spoiler I had going in, that Thor Got Fat. All this weeping about how he’d been mistreated by the narrative. So, I was pre-emptively worried… and then ended up not thinking it was that bad. Look, I’m a chubster, I’m well-aware of how sensitive that can be for people. What I found interesting about it was that it was, yes, kind of a visual joke, just because The God of Abs was a pudge, but it was actually treated remarkably kindly by every character for whom that would be in-character. Meaning, sure, Rocket makes fun of him, and Rhodey’s kind of a dick (because Rhodey’s like that with Tony, even)–but Bruce, Steve, and even Tony all deal with him quite gently. That scene where he tries to volunteer for the gauntlet and Tony carefully holds him back was so sweet and sad. Poor guy. It was a good exploration of the depths that the last ~10 years of his life have pummeled him into. It wasn’t that he was fat, it’s that he was broken. People will make up their own minds about the equivalencies there and what’s being implied, but it was a good visual metaphor as far as I was concerned. If he were “just” a sad drunk no one would have believed that he wasn’t ready for what was coming, and he wasn’t. But he got better, because his friends really were there for him. (Also, Korg was wearing Taika’s pineapple shirt! I hope there are nice fics where Korg and Maik gently just play XBox with Thor because that’s all they can do for him.)

Also on Thor, re: Thor/Loki – more rending of garments about how he didn’t go see Loki. Let’s think about this: you’re on a top-secret time mission to save the universe (Time Heist!), and you go see your trickster god little brother who, yes, you miss, but who also hates you at this point in his life. That’ll go well. I completely understand why there wasn’t a scene. The scene with Frigga was all I needed there.

3) Steeb: I’ve never been the… biggest fan of Steve. I mean, he’s fine. His character is caught awkwardly between the man, Steve Rogers, who abhors bullies and will break rules to do what’s right, and between The Man, Captain America, who kinda Is Rules and needs to do what’s right but also represents an idea greater than himself. There’s a lot of wonderful tension there, but the movies haven’t particularly capitalized on it, and when they’ve tried it’s been in a lip-servicey way.

That said, this movie deals with it really, really well, I think. At the beginning he’s trying to live, and isn’t doing a great job of it. The plan they come up with is simple, perfect heroism – he’s not representing an Ideal, but he is one: he’s the man and the ideal simultaneously, that striving toward right will eventually create a more just, fairer world. If sacrifice is required he’s willing to make it. That scene of him standing alone against the massed forces of Thanos with his broken shield strapped tight to his arm is like a distillation of who Captain America should be. I’m so glad we got that, at the end.

As someone who doesn’t invest in Steve/Bucky but who completely understands it, I also see no issue with the thing where he goes back to Peggy. Bucky understands, too. That moment where they hug and he tells Steve, so-softly, “I’ll miss you,” oh man, oof. Bucky knows. I hope there’s a lot of pining!Bucky in that fandom, y’all are missing out on a STELLAR opportunity if not. Especially pining!Bucky where Steve knows and can only do his best to be Bucky’s friend. Steve going back isn’t out of character, either, despite the clamoring. He misses Peggy, he misses peace. Who knows what they got up to in that alternate timeline–maybe he and Peg went and routed Hydra early, maybe they saved Bucky, maybe they had a WWThreesome with Buck, whatever. But Natasha and Tony both told Steve to “get a life,” and he finally got to. He’d done enough. He earned it.

4) OH MY GOD, NATASHA. What a character arc. I friggin’ adore the mirroring of her and Clint’s stories. The brutal assassin who gained a family and learned what it meant to love something so much she wanted to sacrifice herself for it–those scenes on Vormire were heartbreaking. I’m also super glad that the movie paused, after that. Someone called her death “fridging” – wow. No. She was a hero, as much as Tony was. Whatever it takes.

5) Tony. Holy shit. In a lot of ways this was his movie–in a more meta way, it was RDJ’s movie, and Favreau’s, and Feige’s. It all started with Iron Man, and that’s where it ended. There wasn’t a stinger scene because we got that funeral and then the moment in the credits with the originals signing the screen, and of course they saved Robert for last. The success of this movie is really a testament to the risk everyone took, way back then. It sure as hell paid off.

“You wouldn’t lay down on a grenade to save your men,” Steve said. How many different ways can Tony prove him wrong? At least once more. ;-; I’m just super emotional about the whole thing. So many good moments all leading up to what happened. Little Morgan in his helmet, Pepper’s faith. Steve’s faith, for that matter. (I still have a tiny pocket of my heart reserved for Steve/Tony, no matter how non-canon it is. What a great relationship they have.) The panic and misery when Carol brought them back, calling Steve a liar, and Steve just–gentle with him, again, and how there was no anger there anymore. Argh.

That’s the thing that I think I appreciated about the movie most, in the end. Despite all the craziness, the spectacle, the easter eggs slinging at you left and right (”Hail Hydra.” !!!!!!!!!!!!!), what I loved most is that in the face of this ultimate goal, this literally universe-saving moment, the stakes were actually felt because the characters (and actors, and script) sold how unimaginably important it was. Interpersonal bickering fell by the wayside; any dumb conflicts just washed away. No drama for its own sake, or manufactured arguments. Just–working together. The Avengers we hoped to get in the aftermath of the first team movie. We got ‘em, finally, even if we lost a lot too.

This all sounds super elegiac, I guess. It sort of is. It wasn’t a perfect movie by any means, but it might be perfect for what it meant to do, and what it set out to do. There were a couple of little nitpicky things that I might change, but they’re so small so as not even to be mentioned. And so many more tiny moments that I loved, loved, loved. It’s the first one of these movies that I’ve wanted to rewatch in literal years, and that’s making me really happy all on its own. I’m just left with this utter… satisfaction. Not sad, just happy that they made it worth my while.

Put another way: when I was leaving Shazam I felt like I’d spent about 4 hours wasting my time. When I was leaving Endgame, I felt like it had been an instant. Just yay, all ‘round. I loved it three thousand.

What did you think?

#ombrecoeur #avengers #endgame spoilers #...i have a sneaking feeling i could get hate for this #pls note that the views above are the sole property of etc etc #i just really liked it is all #just a lot #i keep thinking about it #keep thinking about little moments that were great #and if that isn't a satisfying movie experience idk what is

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dropintomanga · 6 years

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Gintama - Finding a Time Machine to Move Forward

Back in February 2018, fans of Gintama were expecting a resolution of what was/is one of the funniest manga titles ever and one that outlasted both Naruto and BLEACH. The Silver Soul arc was set to be the finale of the adventures of the beloved Yorozuya who’ve touched many fans’ hearts for 15+ years. But beneath any cover, you shouldn’t always judge by it. The manga went into its climax instead and a long one where readers experienced a wide mix of emotions as it’s become apparent that Gintama will end on the terms of creator Hideaki Sorachi himself. On September 17, 2018, Gintama ended in Weekly Shonen Jump. But due to Sorachi being unable to end the story on time, it was to get its true ending starting on the Jump GIGA magazine in December 2018. Three chapters and months later, Gintama is now done on Jump GIGA and Sorachi still hasn’t finished the series. The manga is now aiming to have a proper sendoff by June 2019 (which is the release month of the proposed last volume, Volume 77) as its subsequent final chapters will be released via a mobile app in Japan.

While reading through this lengthy epilogue, I wonder about the significance of this true finale as it focuses on how one’s past can either get in the way of life or lead to a future that helps everyone.

The climax takes place 2 years after the ending of the final battle with Utsuro, the enemy who’s been a big part of Gintoki Sakata’s life since he was a child. Kabukicho is now at peace, but the Yorozuya have broken up. Shinpachi Shimura has become the only Yorozuya to defend his hometown. What starts off as a funny epilogue to Gintama takes a dark turn as it’s revealed that Gintoki went off on a personal mission to visit natural energy sources throughout Japan. Remnants of the Tendoshuu, the alien government that once controlled all of Edo and thought to have dissolved after the final arc, have been plotting a resurgence and hope to revive Utsuro to become immortal. Gintoki wants to prevent that by searching for any physical remnants of Utsuro at the energy sources themselves as they were what gave Utsuro life. The conclusion is now setting up to be one where Japan looks to properly transition into its own “Meiji Era” through the actions of a silly samurai who feels that he has to do everything he can to protect his friends and those who want him around to see what he accomplished.

Gintoki decides to handle everything himself out of his promise to his master, Shoyo Yoshida, who was an alternate persona of Utsuro. Shoyo, out of sympathy for Utsuro, wanted Gintoki to put an end to a cycle of abuse where power-hungry individuals continued to take advantage of Utsuro for their own needs. It was so personal that Gintoki couldn’t rely on anyone who didn’t experience what he went through. His former comrades, Shinsuke Takasugi and Katsura Kotaro, are also trying to save Shoyo in their own way. At first, Gintoki traveled all over Japan to ensure the friends he made throughout Gintama weren’t targeted by assassins who knew what he was up to. However, the Tendoshuu have plans to use Kabukicho as a newfound base and Gintoki ends up having to go back to the friends he left behind (in hilarious fashion as the series is known for).

A lot of us are defined by our pasts. They shape how we behave, what we believe, and what we may become. Childhood and adolescence are often the roughest period of growing up for many people. Those experiences do become them. Of course, it doesn’t mean life-changing moments don’t happen when we’re past adolescence. Yet we’re always moving forward and not taking much time to reflect on what was.

This seems to be the case with the Yorozuya. Gintoki made the decision to disband the group, saying that everyone involved had a personal job to do. However, Shinpachi and Kagura didn’t feel that they accomplished anything during the 2 year time-skip. Shinpachi thought he was trying too hard to live up to Gintoki’s shadow. Kagura went on a journey to help Sadaharu, the pet dog who became trapped in a tiny ball due to his sacrifice to stop Utsuro back then. The only changes she felt were of the humorous kind (turning into an old lady at random). You can say Gintoki didn’t achieve much either since his promise to “save” Shoyo/Utsuro took up his time.

While the Yorozuya eventually do reunite in Chapter 701, it’s really hard to move on sometimes. Yes, you can let go of people, but there’s always that nagging feeling in your mind that makes you go “What if..?” There’s a part inside your head that sort of demands some proper closure. It’s a hard-wired feeling. The entire cast of Gintama characters that rush to help the Yorozuya admits that they missed seeing Gin’s charming idiocy in full display.

Although he didn’t die, Gintoki going off on his own personal journey affected everyone in Kabukicho. While there was some closure due to the world being saved, it wasn’t simple to get over or move on from someone who changed the lives of many. All the characters could do was talk about Gintoki and what he did, which is important to process any kind of loss in your own life.

This also applies to the other side. The Tendoshuu couldn’t get past their own desires for power and Utsuro’s immortality. Utsuro wanted humanity to die after being taken advantage of for hundreds of years. There’s a good reason why he wanted to do so as people do get easily corrupted from vices. The addictive nature of certain vices and their immediate relief to pain reinforce a mind that serves like a bully to someone who’s depressed and anxious. You can say Utsuro was an innocent resource who suffered from people chasing a past to grab their own closure for the worst. They couldn’t deal with an uncertainty where they’re not able to control the world.

After arriving in Kabukicho before the final battle, Gintoki made some comments about running back to his past. He felt he had no right to talk to anyone he knew as he was trying to save the enemy that tried to destroy the world. At the same time, Gintoki felt as if he didn’t change at all as he missed Shinpachi and Kagura in his life. He subtly wanted them to stop him from disbanding the Yorozuya for personal reasons.

As Gintama fans may tell you about the general theme of the series, it’s about dealing with your past and going forward from there. But good god, does the past catch up to you in ways you don’t expect. I think that’s what Sorachi is trying to say with bringing back Utsuro as a plot point. Humans don’t always learn from history well. We do repeat the same mistakes. A book I once read about anxiety said this as a quote, “Sometimes, taking a step back is the best way to move forward.” Take a look at your past and process it for the better, not suppress it for the worst.

I often wonder if another lesson from Gintama right now is that closure can be a myth to many people. Some may need it more than others especially if they go through significant events. For everyone in Gintama involved, the Silver Soul arc was that event.

However, as I noticed while reading, the Yorozuya had a certain kind of mentality to handle the ambiguity of their separation at the time. Maybe they’ll reunite, maybe they won’t. Whatever happens won’t mean the end of the world. All 3 members just kept going despite their inner pain. People can both be absent and present at the same time. This realization can do wonders if someone accepts it.

Maybe Gintama will end this year, maybe it won’t. All we can do is just enjoy this long ride as much as possible. Then we’ll look back with all kinds of mixed feelings like the characters themselves do. Gintama is about messiness in all kinds of ways, but that also means it’s a series about us - humans struggling with conflicting thoughts every day and managing to hustle along to the beat of their souls the best they can.

#Gintama #manga #psychology #moving forward #psychology of the past #closure #mental health #ambiguous loss

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redasatomato · 5 years

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What If/Potential Scenario for consideration: Loveater Episode

Before Loveater comes out, I want to make a guess/what if post for what plays out in the episode, as well as long term set up for the Love Square? Considering what we know about Kwami Buster and the synopsis about Love Eater...

What if the idea of Marinette being Ladybug ends up not leaving Adrien’s mind since then Kwami Buster? He knows what he saw that day, the advice Plagg’s given, the current implications of what might happen if there’s an identity reveal too early—by all accounts, he shouldn’t spare thought to it too much anymore for the time being. For both of their sakes.

But instead, he ends up dwelling on it, finding himself really truly genuinely wishing that Marinette were Ladybug. That maybe in spite of current evidence, there’s some way she could be! That maybe there’s some loophole, something obvious he’s missing. And at some point, there’s a build up between Kwami Buster and Love Eater with him to connecting the dots that why he’s so hung up over the idea is less about identity implications or whatever else, but rather, he’s already fallen hard for Marinette, for awhile now, even.

On the other hand, Marinette doesn’t realize this and thinks he has eyes for Kagami. And with Kagami and Adrien being both her friends, and signs pointing to trying to move on for the meantime being the “proper” choice or something, she tries to sacrifice her feelings, leaving those two alone... Only for that act to provide the right opportunity/circumstances/time/leverage that allows for Adrien to realize and admit aloud yeah, he’s realized he’s fallen in love with Marinette this whole time.

Bonus: He says this out loud in front of Kagami, who’d gotten closer to him over the season, and had come to that conclusion herself much much earlier. This triggers a sort of “No chip, Sherlock. (Now what are you going to do about it?)” moment from her. Cue a but there’s Luka or some equivalent statement. There’s no way she’s ever seen him in that light. (Callback to WereDad, he recalls her confessing to Chat Noir, though he can’t tell Kagami that bit.) Cue a you actually asked her point blank how she feels? Do what you want, but know that inaction is also a decision in of itself, and you better be willing to pay the consequences of it if that’s the hill he’s willing to fry on. She steps aside as Adrien books it in the direction of where he saw Marinette go last.

Meanwhile, the akuma happens. Marinette had been there when Loveater became a thing and quickly discovers that they aim to devour the (romantic) love in Paris. (Scenario: She’s covering for Adrien and Kagami at the ceremony, so that’s why she has to come back to the ceremony after helping Adrien and Kagami escape beforehand.) Transformations occur and she has to fight Loveater alone since Adrien’s too far away to realize what’s happened still.

Quickly, the fight makes it so Ladybug has to run to where she knows she left Adrien and Kagami alone... to find Kagami alone, no Adrien in sight. This triggers Ladybug to think something is wrong, in a why Adrien would leave Kagami during a crisis like this, but since it’s Ladybug time, she can’t reveal that she knows Adrien is supposed to be there, and so can’t ask Kagami where he is. She’s able to get Kagami and whoever else to safety, just in time for things to click for Ladybug to conclude “What if Adrien is Chat Noir?” as for the reason for his disappearance. (Marinette’s never been more simultaneously right and wrong in that moment.)

There’s no time to process all the implications of this conclusion, as there’s still a very tough akuma to fight. No Tikki to talk things out with, like what Adrien had in Plagg back in Kwami Buster, since she’s transformed. Marinette’s still upset about her own love sacrifice, so she understandably glosses over the fact that the implication of her conclusions mean that Chat Noir aka Adrien was in love with Ladybug all along and not Kagami.

Turns out Adrien is running back to the ceremony to talk to Marinette in the wake of his realizations, finds it’s the aftermath of akuma time instead, so he transforms and runs back in the direction he left to fight.

Bonus: He finds something Marinette left behind in civilian form and takes it as her being attacked/victimized by Loveater.

So both she and Chat Noir fight against Love Eater distracted due to their respective situations to notice why they’re both so off key that time. Chat’s fighting but is more off key because he’s worried about what happened to Marinette, but feels he cannot tell Ladybug without risking outing himself as Adrien. Ladybug misunderstands it as him being worried about Kagami’s safety, but feels she cannot tell him outright that he can stop worrying as Kagami is safe without implicating herself as Marinette.

The Mistake™ Ladybug makes ends up making is giving Chloé her miraclous back when pressed for options. Victim of circumstances kind of mistake. Ladybug thinks she’s not vulnerable to Loveater’s devouring love thing (due to her sacrifice), while Chat Noir aka Adrien is. She feels she can’t let Chat take the hits for multiple reasons (Adrien theory, the feelings she thinks he has for Kagami, etc.), but she needs another ally in the fight. Normally, Alya and Nino are her go-tos, but they are compromised because they know each other’s identities as boyfriend/girlfriend and thus would be vulnerable.

Alternatively: They might have also been incapacitated at this point by Loveater in their civilian forms, if the identity issue isn’t what’s addressed.)

Additionally, Fu needs Wayzz because Hawkmoth and Mayura know him to be the Guardian still, as of Feast. It isn’t ideal, and it’s against her better judgement, but Chloé is the only immediate ally she can find that won’t get compromised by the akuma’s powers. There’s always a risk with plans and Ladybug decides that the risk involved with it being Chloé’s parents is a risk she’s going to have to take. Queen Bee proves competent in the fight for awhile, but is ultimately compromised long term (aka next episode) because Loveater knows she’s their daughter.

It becomes evident in the episode how important and complicated secret identities are, but also that the current system/policy on that is flawed—it’s not a black and white situation, so mindsets are going to have to shift long term. Additionally, it ends up reinforcing that Ladybug and Chat Noir need each other as partners, filling their own unique, but equally meaningful roles in their dynamic together. It’s implicated that in the long run, they’ll be better off knowing each other’s identities both in and out of the mask, but after they sort out/address the loose ends and messy bits. Both heroes might have been frazzled and distracted in the fight at first, but soon are able to get a grip and win temporarily before Hawkmoth and Mayura get to Chloé.

Ladybug and Chat Noir find themselves needing to recharge before going out to fight again, so they separate, detransform, and have Tikki/Plagg eat up quickly before meeting up again.

Bonus: They run into each other during the brief down time and Adrien can’t help but either ask Marinette what her true feelings are for him, confesses his own hodgepodge of feelings, or a mix of both. Marinette either refuses to expose her feelings if the former, rejects him if he confesses, or a mix of both. There’s a rejection no matter what, unfortunately.

The “Adrien is Chat Noir” theory Marinette came up with is challenged somehow in the next episode, so status quo can be somewhat returned without an identity reveal, but the wheels are in motion for some dynamic shifting. Luka and Kagami are still involved, but in a way that gives them all closure. I have a theory or two I feel might happen to those two in particular, but that’s another story for another day—this post is kind of getting long.

With everything that went down, it’s setting up for more of a full throttle reversal of the love square, while still maintaining the affections of the current love square set up. Basically, exploring and upping more of the romantic focus for Marinette/Ladybug -> Chat and Adrien/Chat -> Marinette, while maintaining/strengthening some Marinette/Ladybug -> Adrien and Adrien/Chat -> Ladybug. Feelings don’t go away in a day, and the implication here is for an even more solidified she/he loves him/her both in and out of the mask in a romantic light on top of the platonic light, before a proper reveal happens.

Bonus: Season 4 cues also a lot of wistful “Okay, but what if he/she is though?”

Post-Reveal Pre-Relationship is going to be a ride and a half when it’s time for it.

#miraculous ladybug #ml spoilers #ml leaks #marinette dupain-cheng #adrien agreste #this has been a text post #posting from mobile so please excuse the formatting #sodjisjdidkd i’m not 100% married to the ideas here but it’s been on my mind for awhile and Kwami Buster unleashed the floodgates for me #okay additional tags just in case i’m right on anything #loveater spoilers #love eater spoilers #ml loveater

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samfenderfans · 6 years

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Sam Fender - Spindle Magazine (February 2018)

Hey Sam, to start with, can you tell us a bit about how you got started in music?

I’m from a very musical family, my old man and my brother are incredible musicians, they are both multi-instrumentalists. There was always music in the house whether it was a record playing whilst my dad cooked or my brother smashing his drum kit about. They never pushed me in to it, but by the time I was 10 I was mad for it. There were always musicians coming in and out of our house from various different bands that my dad or brother were involved in, I used to ask all of them to teach me stuff. I was an annoying little fucker, completely obsessed. I hit 13 and that was when I knew. I was shit at football and bored at school, all I wanted to do was get back home and play my guitar.

So what music did you listen to growing up, has it inspired your music in any way?

I listened to a great mix of stuff, there was a lot of soul and jazz/rock playing around the house like Donny Hathaway, Aretha Franklin and Steely Dan, then on the other hand my brother (who was a teenager at the time) used to play a lot of 90’s stuff, he got me in to everything from Jeff Buckley to Oasis. My Godfather was also a massive inspiration to me musically, I’d go around to his house, put the kettle on and blast a bit of Joni Mitchell and The Smiths or some obscure artist that I’ve never heard before.

What was it like to write and release your first song?

An amazing experience, makes you feel overwhelmingly excited and vulnerable at the same time. But when it works it’s incredible. Watching something that you wrote and recorded between a shed and your mam’s flat with your best mate become a fully mixed and mastered piece of noise, that is what I live for.

You’re kicking off 2018 with a UK tour, what are you most looking forward to?

I’m looking forwards to seeing the fans. There’s nothing better than singing a song that you wrote hungover in your boxers to a crowd of kids shouting the words back at you.

Can you talk us through your recent track ‘Start Again’?

It’s about an alternative reality in which the world starts again and what would change and what would stay the same. It’s a negative portrayal of the human race’s violent tendencies and it’s innate hunger for power.

We love your video for ‘Play God’! What’s the story and inspiration behind it?

Rich Stewart directed it, for me it’s a beautiful video that challenges our conception of masculinity. That’s all I need to say I think.

How do you go about writing your songs?

Depends really, sometimes I write poetry then come up with a melody and chord structure, then other times I do all that in reverse. The best songs fall out the sky.

The messages in your songs are raw and politically charged – can you tell us about what messages you’re trying to convey?

I just write about what I see, people can take whatever they want from it, as long as they enjoy it then I’ve done my job. The messages are clear.

You were selected as one of BBC’s Sound of 2018 nominees, well done! How do you feel about being nominated?

I’m completely buzzing. It’s made us put our foot on the gas even more than before. I can already see the impact it has had on our following and it’s only January.

You’ve supported artists such as Catfish and The Bottlemen, Ben Howard and George Ezra – what was it like working with such big-names?

It was great, you learn a lot on tour. Especially when the artists you support have toured a lot. I cut my teeth as a live performer with all of these people, and I’m eternally grateful for all their support and advice.

Have you got any plans for a debut album?

I do. It will come.

What’s the best advice that anyone’s given you since you started your career in music?

I’ve had great advice from a number of people. Look after your voice, pack more underwear than needed, don’t eat loads of shit on tour, be kind to the people you meet on tour, be kind to the people you work with, believe in yourself and never give up. And don’t be a dick.

What is your dream collaboration? and why?

No idea, there are many. I would love to do something completely different to my own music, like working with Thundercat or maybe singing on a Vulfpeck track.

What are you most looking forward to that’s coming up this year?

My first headline tour in the UK. Seeing new countries and releasing new material.

Finally, what advice do you have for young creatives trying to get their message out to the world?

Be relentless with your work ethic. Sitting in your flat ripping bowls and talking about how you’re going to take over the world may be fun, but it’s never going to get you anywhere. You have to create and sacrifice, then you can get as fucked up as you want.

Don’t listen to the people who use the terms “real job” and “plan B”, they’re all dead inside.

Write with honesty and conviction. Mean what you say, if you don’t, no one else will believe you.

Don’t compare yourself to other artists, it draws focus away from your own material.

Don’t let the bastards grind you down. Take all reviews with a pinch of salt, even the really good ones. As long as you’re happy with what you’ve created, that’s all that matters.

Never give up.

Most importantly. Have fun.

#Sam Fender #Interview

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mswyrr · 6 years

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what i mean by the “rule of three” regarding redemption in star wars

I’m speaking here strictly from the perspective of storytelling structure and the pattern I believe is at work. I’m happy to chat but not interested in and won’t reply to anyone who goes into personal attacks.

Right, so it’s an established pattern in humor, storytelling, and even quotes (”I came, I saw, I conquered”) that three elements lends a sense of completion. The sense of completion in storytelling or the punch-line in jokes works by establishing a pattern in the first two iterations that is changed up in the third case.

It’s like a satisfying chord in music.

Here’s an example from comedy:

Reader, suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself. —Mark Twain

Okay, so what’s the pattern they’ve chosen to set up across two films? People reach out to Kylo Ren/Ben Solo, trying to draw him back to the light. They do this at great cost to themselves: Han risks death and dies at his son’s hand, Rey risks herself and is tortured by Snoke rather horribly, though Kylo chooses to spare her life over following Snoke’s orders.

Whatever, there’s a pattern: two people reach out in two movies, trying to find the light in this guy.

Now, plenty of people are like: I hate him! He’s had enough chances! Hey, that’s a valid feeling. Do what you gotta do. I’m not asking anybody to feel anything here.

I’m saying I see the set up of a three part structure. One where the final thing is that, after being reached out to twice, IX is going to come to a crisis point where the guy has dug himself in deep and has to choose to reach out for the light himself, at a personal cost as high as the ones Han and Rey were willing to pay. Involving some kind of act of selfless love or self-sacrifice.

They planted seeds that sprouted at another time but didn’t go to waste. The idea is that nothing good you do goes to waste: it can end in failure. But goodness is bigger than that temporary failure. A small flame can beat back the darkness. Good can wear away at evil, which thinks it’s so powerful, like a slow trickle of water can wear away a rock. Or the roots of a plant can split cracks in concrete.

This could fit really beautifully, I think, thematically, with a Stormtrooper rebellion. Which would be about the light Finn embraces and how that single act of saying no to the FO can create an avalanche of change. Even if he couldn’t imagine it at the time, every choice we make to embrace the light matters. Goodness matters in ways we might never fully see, rippling out from us to the whole world of people.

It would also explain why the Resistance is so small at the end of TLJ: if the ultimate victory involves turning a lot of people, the light bursting the FO apart from within. Moving through people choosing to see and reach for it.

As Maz put it in TFA “the light [has] always been there. It will guide you.“

I think that kind of thematic point and resolution would lend the story a sense of completion and earned hope. It would feel like a victory in a total way, for the victory to not be from physical might alone, but from the power of good at work through choices. And that a message like that is far more fitting to what the Skywalker saga intends to be.

I get that Kylo makes a lot of people see red. And so this outcome or something like it would too. That’s fine.

But the alternatives don’t really make sense to me as something you’d put in a family film. If nothing comes of the first two parts of the pattern, then that’s weird and bad storytelling. A set-up with no finale. If what comes of the first two parts of the pattern is a really negative ending (this guy needs to be murdered), then it says that all the good that Han and Rey tried to do was so much foolishness.

It’s a lot of screen time and characters just poured out on the ground for a message of hopelessness.

It implies that compassion and light are foolish and you should batten down the hatches and never reach out. That Leia was wrong and sent someone she loved to die foolishly. That Han was a fool and wasted his life. That Luke is a fool when he claims that “no one’s ever really gone.”

That Rey is a fool who deserves to be punished by the story forcing her to kill someone she’d gotten to know and care about.

A film could send that message if it wanted to, but I really doubt this film in this film franchise is going to do that. And if they were going to, I’d prefer it if they’d spent their limited narrative time building something else up more instead, honestly.

But, mswyrr, you could say: Anakin falls and there’s a negative ending there. Yeah, as a backstory to the positive victory/redemption of the OT. (If you don’t think Anakin becoming a Force Ghost and smiling at the end of ROTJ is a clear narrative signal that his change of heart was total and not just limited to loving his son then we very much disagree on that.) The ST takes place after the positive OT ending and obliterates it. I don’t think they’d do that without a plan to create some kind of new sense of completion/resolution/positive ending.

I could be wrong. Maybe they’re actually not doing a very good job at writing this series. Or maybe they’re geniuses whose storytelling approach I cannot begin to comprehend and I will walk out of IX agog in wonder. But, based on what we know now and the thinking I’ve been doing, this how I see it and why I see it that way.

#star wars #kylo ren #ben solo #my meta #i hate that just writing meta like i do in all my fandoms #is such a tense thing in this fandom #sw meta

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peanutbutterjelly-pie · 7 years

Text

This is a HUGE Thank You for 3k followers!!

You're amazing and awesome and so beautiful and I actually don't know what I did to deserve you >.< I hope you may find some stories in here you haven't read yet and I will update this post regularly, so stay tuned for that!

Have fun with our two favorite idiots falling in love over and over again :D

Also watch out for the other two parts:

Alternate Universe

Alternate Universe: Supernatural Elements

CANON!VERSE:

In Which Dean Frogs Up by almaasi

Dean transforms himself into a frog by mistake, bang in the middle of Charlie's Moondoor tent. Only true love's kiss will put him back to normal. But who the hell is Dean's true love?! Since it's not Charlie or Sam, maybe Cas can shed some light.

(Words: 6k)

Lost in Words, Hand In Hand byhallowgirl

"I-" and Castiel says the words quickly. "I could always read you some other pieces of literature" and the angel looks away as if he expects Dean to run out of the room." Dean would be the first to admit that he's not a reader. Castiel has a way to remedy that. It involves a lot of reading aloud. And a lot of lying on the same bed. But that's just an accident.

(Words: 6k)

Even If It Kills Me by cymbalism

Dean has cuts that won’t heal and bruises that won’t fade, and he’s getting worse. But Heaven's at war and there are people dying in Iowa and Dean’s not fucking dying anytime soon, thank you very much. Except the part where it really seems like he is.

(Words: 7k)

How To Fail At Keeping Your Heart Safe From Sleepwalking Angels by Dean Winchester by EllaWinchester24

"You- you broke my brother!" Sam cried.

The one in which a certain angel sleepwalks and Dean is defenceless against his cuteness. Also, Sam is awesome.

(Words: 7k)

Mine by whelvenwings

Dean and Cas are on a hunt together, searching for what Dean thinks is probably a ghost. However, strange things start happening, and suddenly all Dean's most secret desires seem to be coming true... but is this really who he's been wanting?

(Words: 7k)

Minty Fresh Kisses by almaasi

Dean teaches a newly-human Castiel how to brush his teeth properly. Things don't go according to plan – but for once, the unexpected development actually presents a more promising outcome.

(Words: 8k)

Damn You Auto Correct! by Chiyume

A sore throat is never a fun thing, and being unable to talk is even worse; especially if your name is Dean Winchester.

Left behind at the motel to recover while Sam takes care of their case, Dean is soon hit by utter lethargy, and since he can't speak to save his life, he resorts to texting in order to ease his restlessness.

Castiel is of course happy to oblige, and things appear to be going smoothly until auto correct decides to put its sticky fingers all over their conversation...

(Words: 8k)

Unknown Quantities by xylodemon

No one ever tells Dean anything.

(or: Dean Winchester and the not-relationship crisis of 2014)

(Words: 8k)

Hearts Here to Steal by peridium

“That you and I have been having sex,” Cas says.

Dean’s heart drops all the way to the motel basement. Because the fucked up thing is, they haven’t been. He would remember.

(Words: 9k)

Aim and Ignite by wincechesters

After the angels fall and Cas loses his grace, and with Sam still recovering from the toll taken on his body by the trials, Dean starts a prank war as a way to lighten the mood in the bunker and alleviate his boredom. It might just have some unexpected consequences.

(Words: 10k)

Shatter Me by Slanguage

At the end, there had to be a sacrifice. Castiel bled for the Winchesters before they could stop him.

When Castiel wakes up four months later under an overpass in South Dakota, fate brings him into the path of a set of familiar names in his hunt for the Winchesters, who have dropped off the face of the Earth after his passing. Armed with a sheriff, a troubled teen, a fangirl, and a gangly werewolf, the group sets off to reunite the ex-angel with his missing Winchesters, no matter the overabundance of sarcasm, determined to let nothing stop them; not even a set of angry paranormal creatures hunting for the same brothers. Because death cannot stop true love—it can only delay it for a while.

(Words: 11k)

So, That's How it Starts by por_queeee

After an encounter with an incubus inadvertently reveals Dean's feelings for Cas, Dean makes the decision to just ignore the whole thing and avoid the angel for awhile. But when a cut-and-dry case in Ohio turns into a little more than the brothers bargained for, Dean might have to consider praying for the angel after all- and confronting whatever it is that's growing between them.

(Words: 12k)

The Care and Handling of Angels by fanfic814

When a book about caring for angels shows up on their doorstep, Dean assumes it's just Sammy playing a joke. When Sam claims to know nothing about it, Dean gets curious and takes to secretly reading the book in his bedroom... and maybe trying out a few things on Cas.

(Words: 13k)

Empyrean Glow by shirozora

Post Apocalypse life isn't quite like apple pie, but it's better than Dean expected. And then a bored crossroads demon just has to take an interest in his crush on Heaven's newest archangel.

(Words: 14k)

Critical by maraudersgirl47

Dean receives a phone call that elicits a response he's not so eager to repeat - Seriously a panic attack? Him?

Cas is in the hospital and his condition is critical. Sam and Dean spent the entire night on the road towards Idaho - Everything just seemed to fall into place after that.

(Words: 15k)

Dead Body Disposal 101 by almaasi

Cas is gonna become a hunter. According to Dean and Sam, that means he needs to learn how to efficiently dispose of dead bodies. Cas is good at it, since he can use his power to help out when he needs to, but he comes to learn that 'being useful' doesn't always mean having a shovel in his hand or angelic spark in his fingertips. Sometimes it just means sticking around instead of leaving.

(Words: 15k)

Leave My Body, Moving Up to Higher Ground by triedunture

Castiel must take a new vessel to return to earth, so he strikes a deal with a woman who isn't as willing as Jimmy had been. But Dean's in a bad way and Leviathan needs to be smote, so what else can he do?

(Words: 18k)

Build a Home by domesticadventures

After they save the world, Dean expects Cas to come back to the bunker with them.

He doesn't.

(Words: 20k)

There's Only One Sure Thing That I Know by leah k (blinkiesays)

Dean doesn't even get halfway through explaining before Bobby starts laughing. When he lets himself think about it for more than five seconds, Dean can almost see Bobby's point: he's faced down demons, witches, vampires, werewolves, ghosts, angels, and Satan himself and now he's been defeated by the God damn Midwest.

(Words: 20k)

The Tunnel of Love by xylodemon

"We might," Cas starts slowly, pausing like he's choosing his words. "We might have to kiss."

Dean just stares at him.

(Words: 21k)

How to Take Care of Angels and Little Animals by remivel

Gabriel is tired of having to listen to Castiel's woes about the Winchesters, so he decides to take matters into his own hands... and turns Castiel into a furry pet for the Winchesters to take care of.

(Words: 21k)

Hurry Up And Wait by MittenWraith

Cas has given up his grace to hunt with the Winchesters, but that's not the only thing that's been a long time in the making. A strange potential case perks Dean's interest, if for no other reason than it pushes every geeky button he's got. An impossible murder committed with a sword from a special collection of weapons straight out of the Lord of the Rings leads them to discover another treasure they've waited far too long to find again.

(Words: 22k)

Okay, Let's Go by Nejinee

Sometimes a hunt goes awry and turns into something bordering on the insane. Sometimes, shit just gets weird.

These are the excerpts, the hunts no one ever talks about, because Dean doesn't like to reminisce about the time he was toddler-sized. And Sam's just gonna bury the memory of the time he was female for a hot second. And Cas is such a dork sometimes, maybe Dean just wants to keep that nugget to himself?

Not every hunt is perfect, but who the hell ever expects them to be?

(Words: 24k)

Après by imogenbynight

When the angels stop falling and Castiel makes his way out of the trees, he finds himself alone and oceans away from the Winchesters. For once, Dean flies to him.

(Words: 24k)

How to Date an Angel in 12 Easy Steps byfourthduckling

It's not that hard to date an angel. All Dean has to do is fight off hordes of vampires, research gay porn, get sucked into a crappy Narnia, endure Sam's comments, creep out on Dr. Sexy, get harassed -- oh, and that's right-- figure out he's into Cas. Easy, right?

(Words: 24k)

That Don't Impress Dean Much by ANobleCompanion

Cas has fallen and he's trying to find a way to impress Dean so the hunter will want to keep him around.

(Words: 24k)

The Mirror bycloudyjenn

When Dean touches a strange mirror, he's whisked away to one alternate reality after another and it doesn't take him long to realize the universe is trying to tell him something.

(Words: 24k)

Castiel in the Bunker by Athena_Ergane

After giving up on the trials, Sam and Dean find Castiel lost, empty, and human. They take him back to the bunker to their broken hunter family. Kevin is livid. Sam is sick. Dean is worried. Yet, all three men find time to teach Castiel something new about being human. They bond through their lessons with Cas.

(Words: 25k)

If You Get Lost, You Can Always Be Found by WinJennster

Days after I’m No Angel, Castiel finds himself exiled from the safety of the bunker. The money Dean gives him runs out all too soon. Luck, or perhaps divine providence, lands him on the Amish farm of Jacob and Lydia Bieler. The Bielers take Cas in. Despite the Amish’s general distrust of outsiders - Englischers - the strange man who can understand their language and isn’t afraid of hard work seems a natural fit amongst them. Castiel thinks he might just go ahead and stay - the farm seems like a good place to heal his broken heart, and maybe forget who broke it …

(Words: 25k)

Dream as if You'll Live Forever by MittenWraith

Cas has just sacrificed the last of his reclaimed grace to cure Dean of the Mark of Cain. He held on to the last wisps for as long as he could, but the first time he succumbs to sleep as a human again, he's in the back seat of the Impala while Dean's driving at highway speeds. A strange dream sets off a series of near catastrophic events, from almost-car-crashes to Dean feeling responsible for Cas being human enough to have a nightmare in the first place. What starts off as an apology ends up somewhere neither of them would've hoped for in their wildest dreams.

(Words: 25k)

Framed in a Stranger's Speech by pantheon_of_discord

Dean, Sam, and Cas have finally found some normalcy – and despite all odds, happiness – when an average hunt leaves a powerful witch gunning for revenge. When the dust clears, there’s a crater in the bunker’s walls and Cas’ vessel is lying empty on the floor. But Jimmy isn’t the only Novak out there …

(Words: 27k)

Bittersweet

Dean and Cas unknowingly start a long-distance relationship.

(Words: 28k)

The First and the Last by peridium

The soul bomb doesn't work, and God is going to die, but Amara has a soft spot for Dean. She gives him the gift of time: the end of the world will be slow.

Dean, Cas, and Sam travel the country in the breaking-down Impala to get in one last road trip and help their scattered friends wherever they can. Between looted gas stations and empty motels without wi-fi, monsters even more monstrous than usual, and heat so stifling not even Dean can wear more than one layer, they're fucked.

Unless they're not. Unless Billie the reaper is right and Cas has something amazing up his sleeve. Dean just has to get his head out of his ass and accept that the power of love might not be a total load of crap after all.

(Words: 30k)

Tethered by thestoryinsideme

When Castiel disappears without a trace, along with the Mark of Cain and twenty-four hours of Dean's life, Dean seeks out the help of the only other righteous angel he knows – Hannah.

(Words: 32k)

Everything Comes Back to You by VioletHaze

Dean knew better. Of course he did. But Cas seemed so charmed by the antique-filled bed and breakfast that Dean went along with it when the proprietor mistook them for a couple. Telling himself it gave them a strategic advantage to be so close to the crime scene, he agreed to the weekend special she offered them. When the case ended up being a bust, they stuck around anyhow because hey, the second night was free…

(Words: 33k)

Zenith by anactoria

Season 9 AU. Still relatively new to humanity, Castiel struggles with both Dean’s confusing behaviour and the loss of his angelic faculties. When a pissed-off witch restores his ability to see the supernatural, the curse seems like a blessing. He can help his friends again – and when Dean’s lies blow up in his face and Sam is once again left hovering between life and death, Cas is happy to be useful. But his abilities keep getting stronger, and they might just be more than a human brain can handle.

(Words: 33k)

Bucket List by cheeseburgersmakemeveryhappy

It's time Dean remembered who he is now that the Mark is gone. He wants to try new things, do something different, and realizes he doesn’t want to do it alone.

(Words: 35k)

Our Bodies, Possessed By Light by obstinatrix

Purged of all his souls, Castiel is a changed being, stronger than an angel and too powerful for Jimmy's body to contain. Happily, there's an archangel's vessel on hand, and he could use fixing, too. Dean isn't too happy about the idea of his brother acting as a vessel for Castiel, and Sam can guess why, but it isn't until Castiel gets inside his head and they learn to share the vessel -- and their thoughts -- that Sam realises Cas is as in love with Dean as Dean is with him. It's unfortunate that there's nothing much to be done about it now, but Castiel will get another vessel soon. The Winchesters will make damn sure of that. In the meantime, it's up to the three of them to establish their own strange accord, and Dean realises more fully than ever that it's Castiel, and not his vessel, that he loves.

(Words: 40k)

It's A Long Life to Always Be Longing by superhoney

Dean’s life has always been dictated by duty rather than by need. So when Amara offers to give him the thing he needs most, he doesn’t know what to expect, but it certainly isn’t this: a chance to rest, some time away from his life and his burdens. Now he’s trapped in an enchanted sleep, unable to bring himself back to the waking world …

(Words: 40k)

Someone Who's Feeling For Me by ellispark

Dean sees her for the first time in nearly six years in some no-name town in Idaho, and it's panic at first sight.

Lisa Braeden, the one woman Dean ever actually had a shot at a real life with, back from where he buried her in his mind. And her hand is on Cas's arm like it's no big deal, like it belongs there.

Cas, Dean's dorky, sweet, badass, angelic best friend, and he's just standing there next to Lisa and not moving her hand away.

Dean feels the jealousy rising, and it's not directed where he expected it to be.

Because it takes this exact moment for Dean to realize he's in love with his best friend. He's in love with his best friend, and Lisa is looking at Cas like he's the best thing since automatic rifles, and Dean is utterly fucked.

(Words: 46k)

Though The Course May Change by imogenbynight

After a couple who went missing several years ago from an Oregon couples retreat are mysteriously returned on the same night that another disappears, Dean and Charlie plan to go undercover to find the cause--until Dean's foot meets his mouth, and he finds himself fake-engaged to Castiel instead.

(Words: 52k)

The Prophet Must Die by imogenbynight

"What about Castiel? He seems helpful... and dreamy."

Something about the comment just isn't sitting right, and Dean's jaw twitches. He stares at the wall in the dark, and at a quarter past four in the morning, it hits him.

"Asshole," Dean hisses under his breath, sitting up straight, "that sonofabitch kept publishing."

(Words: 54k)

These Violent Delights by Persephoneshadow

A newly mortal Castiel wants to understand humanity, and a little Shakespeare is just the thing to help him. Of course, it takes a little bit of prodding, but soon the Winchesters (along with Kevin and Charlie) are all part of the world's weirdest reading club. Of course, the poetry starts having an effect on everyone...

(Words: 57k)

To Mend The Cracks With Gold by starsandgutters

After almost losing Charlie to the Stynes, and almost losing Cas in the fight that follows, Dean Winchester is ready to do whatever it takes to rid himself of the Mark of Cain. But when the solution turns out to lie in unfinished Winchester business - shutting the gates of hell - Dean begins to realize this is a quest he might not survive.

(Words: 59k)

As Thin of Substance as the Air by Speary

Chasing a nephilim and keeping the world from yet another potential apocalypse leaves little time for the apple pie life. That sort of life is the very thing that dreams are made from, and Dean barely has time for even that. So when Sam hands him a case that takes them into a charming, small town in Virginia where winter never comes and everything is pleasant, he rolls with it, mostly. After all, Cas is with them there, and sometimes they get to live like they aren’t about to die and kiss like they’ve got all the time in the world.

(Words: 59k)

Circadia by imogenbynight

4-01 is a monster undeserving of a name.

In a facility known only as Circadia, he serves a life sentence in punishment for terrible crimes he cannot remember, and is told to be grateful to have forgotten what those he left behind cannot.

Meanwhile, convinced that he is nothing but a poisonous presence in the lives of those he loves, Dean is attempting to track down Gadreel when Sam calls with bad news: Castiel has disappeared without a trace.

(Words: 76k)

Meet You in Idaho by hunenka

Even if Castiel can’t live in the bunker as long as Ezekiel is healing Sam, it doesn’t mean that Dean can’t stay in touch with the fallen angel. So staying in touch with Cas is exactly what Dean does. In more ways than he originally expected.

(Words: 93k)

The Most Important Thing by NorthernSparrow

Jimmy Novak remembers nothing of the last six years. Reunited with his troubled daughter Claire, he's struggling to raise her on his own. The most important thing is to make Claire happy. But why does he keep having these dreams of wings, and of two men in a black car?

(Words: 95k)

CANON DIVERGENCE:

bloody, but unbowed by you_idjits

Sam doesn’t know what to expect when he walks into the courtroom. But of all the possibilities, he would never have imagined this one: his brother, grinning like the devil, in the defendant’s chair.

Or, the one where Sam never goes to Jericho with Dean, but instead pursues law school and a life with Jess. Dean falls in love with a gas station attendant named Castiel.

Six years after they last saw one another, Sam and Dean meet again in a courtroom. A lot can change in six years.

(Words: 10k)

Dean Winchester's Secret (Angel) Boyfriend by reluctantabandon, Winter_of_our_Discontent

Dean Winchester isn't exactly a team player. So when he starts mentioning a new Hunting partner, Ellen and Jo Harvelle aren't sure whether they should be worried or relieved.

But they're starting to get the feeling there's something important Dean's not telling them about Cas...

(Words: 11k)

Equinox by luchia

In which Castiel is the weird time-traveling freak who just might be the love of Dean Winchester's life.

(Words: 12k)

Face to Face with the Skies by quiddative

(Set right after 4.22) Castiel was not killed by Raphael on the night of Lucifer’s release. Instead, he’s sent to the year 1996 and encounters the Winchesters. Unable to return to the present, Castiel resigns himself to traveling with them on their hunts across the states.

Meanwhile in the year 2008, Dean has barely gotten used to being back in the land of the living when he gets the biggest shock of his life; the man he fell in love with when he was eighteen has seemingly come back from the grave as well, claiming to be an angel of the Lord. The thing is, he doesn’t have a clue who Dean is.

(Words: 42k)

Find the River by LoversAntiquities

Barely a month after recovering from the crash that nearly took his life, Dean’s world is rocked once again, this time the result of an even more devastating injury—the loss of his leg. The accident should have killed him, left Sam alone with a car and without his brother. But in the aftermath, Dean finds unanticipated salvation in a gray-suited man who calls himself an Angel and claims Dean’s life is worth more than he thinks.

After Dean’s miraculous recovery, the Angel leaves him to his own devices with a prosthetic leg and a mission—to find out more about this mysterious ‘Castiel’ and the meaning behind why he pulled Dean from the brink of death, why he thought Dean, out of everyone else that day, was worth saving. And maybe, just maybe, Dean can come to accept it as well.

(Words: 43k)

Season Ticket On A One Way Ride by Darksilvercat

Before Castiel breaks Dean out of the green room in 4.22, he breaks Anna out of prison. With two angels on Team Free Will, the apocalypse takes a different course. Some things change, some things stay the same, and the world is going to Hell in a handbasket, but in the midst of it all, Dean finds a way to hold his family together.

(Words: 44k)

The Law of Equivalent Exchange by awed_frog

“And what’s the point of it?”

“Of love? There isn’t one. Loving is its own purpose.”

(Words: 61k)

A Different Kind of Falling by Lyrial

“I will do it then,” Castiel said with confidence that he did not truly possess. “I will pretend to be a hunter and gain the trust of Dean Winchester so that we may locate Michael’s grace and restore him. I might not be as familiar with humanity as Balthazar is, but I am still a master tactician. I am certain that deceiving a few humans will be well within my capabilities.”

As the humans would say, famous last words.

(Dean is the fallen archangel Michael. Castiel is sent on a mission to restore him to his angelic self. Things get complicated, however, when Castiel finds himself falling for Dean.)

(Words: 72k)

a turn of the earth by mishcollin

Dean’s your typical half-orphaned, monster-killing 22-year-old until a trenchcoated stranger crashes into his back windshield one September night, claiming he’s an angel that knows him from the future and that he’s on the run.

Frigging fantastic.

(Or, in which Castiel gets stuck in Dean’s timeline preseries and Dean kind of hates it—until he doesn’t.)

(Words: 95k)

My Roots Take Flight by KismetJeska

After forty years in Hell, Dean’s more than willing to accept the offer: become a guardian angel and earn his freedom. But his new ward seems destined to hunt alongside Sam, and there are secrets in Heaven that the angels don’t want found out. Dean’s going to have to choose between his duty and the people he loves- and to work out just where Castiel fits in.

(Words: 126k)

#destiel #fanfic #fic #fic rec #rec list #masterlist #canon!verse #canon divergence #fics underneath the cut

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bevioletskies · 7 years

Text

i heard it through the grapevine

characters: gamora & valkyrie, peter/gamora (mentioned)

summary: gamora has had a long day. valkyrie is having a surprisingly good day. a new friendship might be in the works.

word count: 1.8k

a/n: this is (barely) part of my 20 questions 'verse, so all you need to know is that the characters attend a superhero school on earth, though this is 99% based off of their mcu counterparts. there's a tiny bit of thor: ragnarok spoilers in here as well. i just really want gamora & valkyrie friendship in IW/A4, but i figured here in my own mash-up universe would also be a pretty good start!

fic title is from the song i heard it through the grapevine by marvin gaye, since they discuss each other's backstories from what they've heard from other characters, but otherwise don't look too closely into the lyrics or anything, haha

ao3 | tag | masterpost

Gamora practically stomped her way into the bar, the squelch of her boots ringing through her ears rather unpleasantly, though she couldn’t be bothered to wipe off the blood. Yes, blood. The last mission might have been a little messier than originally planned. Whatever, her plan right now was alcohol first, shower second.

The crowd parted almost instantly upon her arrival, partially because it was Gamora, but mostly because of the stench. She threw herself into one of the barstools with an exhale of satisfaction, alleviating the ache in the arches of her feet, before turning towards the bot bartender. “My usual, please.”

A slow chuckle to her right jolted her out of the thoughts racing about in her brain. “I can’t tell if you just had the best or worst job of your life.”

Gamora couldn’t help but laugh herself, dipping her head abashedly before turning towards the other person. “When it comes to the Guardians? It’s always a ‘both’ situation, never an ‘either or’.” She smiled at her companion, quirking an eyebrow at the large beer stein in her hands. “Bad day, Val?”

“On the contrary,” Valkyrie grinned impishly, pursing her lips as she raised her glass in victory. “I had a damn good day. So I’m celebrating.”

Now Gamora was curious, turning in the squeaky barstool to face her. “Celebrating what?”

“Loki tried to pull a fast one on me. I knocked him on his arse for his troubles, not that it was going to turn out any other way,” Valkyrie replied with an impressive roll of her eyes. The bot returned with Gamora’s drink, letting out a disconcerting series of beeps before gingerly offering her a towel. Relenting, she accepted it and began wiping down her shoes. “So, what happened on this mission of yours that took you straight here? Without your team, no less.”

“Just...needed the night off, I guess. From their ridiculousness,” Gamora added. “Sometimes I think I’m the only sane Guardian around.”

Valkyrie nearly snorted into her beer mug. “Sane, right. I doubt you’re without your...quirks.”

Gamora slammed down her bottle a little harder than necessary on the bar. The bot nearby gave out a squawk of surprise. “You don’t know me,” she reminded her, her eyes darkening.

“Relax, I didn’t mean anything by it.” Valkyrie simply waved a hand in her general direction as if it explained everything she was trying to convey. “And I mean, I’d like to. Come on, Gamora, we’re both non-Terran girls with swords that like nothing more than a good fight. You never considered the idea of us being friends?”

“You suggesting being friends?” Gamora laughed with a little more derision than she intended, though Valkyrie didn’t seem all that offended. “When you first got here, you seemed more antisocial than my sister, and that’s truly saying something.”

“Well, can you blame me? This school is mental, even compared to Sakaar.” Valkyrie stared down her mug for a moment, swishing it around with a flick of her wrist. She seemed almost mesmerized by the movement. Gamora briefly wondered if she was already getting a little inebriated. “Fine, you don’t want to be friends. Whatever. I was just hoping to find someone to talk to that wasn’t a goddamn Asgardian.”

“Aren’t you Asgardian?” Gamora asked. “When that Hela woman came here, searching for Thor...she recognized you.”

“They’re conceited, the lot of them. ‘Asgardian pride’, they call it.” Valkyrie took another generous swig. “Well, I call it complete and utter shite. Their whole damn history is something to be ashamed of. Them and their family feuds.”

When Valkyrie seemed like she wasn’t going to elaborate, Gamora instead turned in her stool to face the rest of the bar, observing the other students. Some of them were watching a sports game on television - what kind of game, Gamora couldn’t tell - while others were chatting away at the pool tables, likely complaining about their professors as they often did. Sometimes, it was hard to understand them, or alternately, for them to understand her. “We can be friends,” Gamora said quietly. “I think we’ve both spent enough of our lives being lonely. We could use the company.”

“Oh, I had plenty of company back on Sakaar,” Valkyrie said, grinning salaciously. Gamora had a feeling she wasn’t talking about just friendship, or even really thinking of friendship at all. “That was never a problem. It’s the freedom here that’s weird. The Grandmaster might pretend that my being a scrapper meant I wasn’t one of his so-called ‘prisoners with a job’, but it wasn’t like I could exactly disappear off the face of the planet and not expect consequences.”

“And what about before Sakaar?” Gamora prompted. “I’ve heard tales of it from my time with Thanos, but I’ve never been there. It doesn’t sound like the kind of place where you would raise children. You did grow up on Asgard, didn't you? Did you know Thor then?”

“Please,” Valkyrie chuckled. “I’m much older than you think. I’m older than Thor.” Very suddenly, a sobering look passed her face, her eyes somewhat glassy as she fixated on some random spot behind the bar. Gamora turned to see if she could tell what Valkyrie was looking at, but she was simply just staring off into space. “Valkyrie isn’t actually my name, though it looks like it’s gonna stick. It’s the title I had back on Asgard. I led a battalion of women called the Valkyrie who would guide the fallen to Valhalla. And, one day, we had to take on Hela. It didn’t end well.”

“Meaning…” Gamora’s mind was racing with the possibilities, though there was really only one conclusion she could arrive at.

“Meaning I’m the only one left.” She slammed her mug viciously against the counter, sloshing beer everywhere. The bot tittered at her, flinging another dishrag, this time in Valkyrie’s face. She spat at the bot in retaliation, smirking to herself as it cowered and slinked off like a scolded cat. She wiped her forearm across her mouth at the bit of beer foam that had been left behind. “You know, I’ve heard stories about you. The ‘deadliest woman in the galaxy’, they say? And how you lost your family? I know a little bit of what that’s like.”

Gamora could feel her fingernails digging into her palms, though she knew Valkyrie didn’t mean it out of malice. Maybe they did have more in common than she initially realized. When Valkyrie had arrived at the academy, courtesy of Thor, who had dragged her back with him from one of his adventures, she had been snappish, a little violent, steely-eyed like no other. She hid herself among Thor and Hulk especially, and somewhat reluctantly, Loki as well. The others didn’t know what to make of her, had written her off as just another angry girl. But from what Gamora had observed, even in those initial weeks since Valkyrie’s arrival, she could tell the other girl was recovering from years of just trying to survive, spending her days drinking and fighting and drinking again. The amount of free will she had here was probably disorienting, scary, even. Gamora had experienced that herself, at least, at first. Having the Guardians had made her considerably more comfortable over time, learning how to be with people that cared about her in a place that didn’t drain her very existence. Valkyrie would need time to get to that point herself, would need people who would offer her that time.

“It’s not something I like to relive,” Gamora murmured. “And I imagine the same goes for you.”

“I had to watch her sacrifice herself...right in front of me.” Valkyrie glanced at Gamora, giving her a tight smile. “My...my girlfriend.” She then let out an unsettlingly hollow laugh. “Why am I telling you all of this? I must be drunker than I thought. Not a good sign, I’m only getting started. Barkeep!” The bot grumbled to itself in more nonsensical beeps before reluctantly refilling her glass.

“We don’t have to talk about all this now,” Gamora offered as she drained the rest of her bottle. She was admittedly more curious than before, now knowing what she knew, but it wasn’t the right time, the right place, or even the right mindset. Her own brain was beginning to fuzz a little around the edges from her drink.

“Good, because I don’t want to,” Valkyrie said shortly, though not unkindly. “Tell me, is there anything fun to do around here? I’ve already been to all the places that serve alcohol on this campus, but what if I want to just fight? Not for my life, but just for the fun of it. I miss a good tussle, especially the kind that don’t involve Loki’s tricks.”

“It’s always a good adrenaline rush, isn’t it?” Gamora smiled a little at this. She was beginning to grow uncomfortable with how uneasy Valkyrie had seemed just moments ago. This right here, this seemed less like uncharted territory, and more like common ground. “Well, I’m assuming you’ve already signed up for combat classes with Ares, but I’m also running a fight training extracurricular with my sister in the new semester. You’re welcome to join in, maybe help us with some demonstrations? It’d be nice to have some other perspective on how to fight with a sword.”

“Maybe I will,” Valkyrie nodded. She leaned in a little, poking Gamora in the shoulder with a single finger. Now she seemed well on her way to being tipsy, if the frequency of her pokes were any indication. “Y’know what, Gamora? You’re not so bad. I heard talk around campus about how you’ve got a real hard edge, but you seem alright.”

“Thanks, I guess.” Gamora wrinkled her nose in distaste. Valkyrie’s breath was stronger than she had anticipated. “I also know all the hiding spots on campus, if you like to people-watch.”

“That’s more like it,” Valkyrie beamed. “I need my fill of entertainment, now that I don’t have the Contest of Champions to look forward to. I imagine there’s all sorts of drama with this amount of so-called ‘heroes’ around.”

“Oh, you have no idea,” Gamora said with a good-natured eye roll. “I ask myself every day if this is how Terrans usually live, or if it’s just a disproportionate amount of flashy personalities among our campus population, my boyfriend included.”

Valkyrie let out another hearty laugh, notably cheered up from just moments ago. She held up her glass, paying no mind as it slopped a little bit onto her arm. The bartender bot let out a resigned sigh from behind her. “I’ll drink to that. And to friendship, apparently.”

“Sure.” Gamora held up her empty bottle, ignoring Valkyrie’s side-eye at its vacancy. “To friendship.”

a/n: just a quick little drabble that was rattling around in my brain, since i want to incorporate valkyrie into future fics as one of gamora's friends. i hope i got her characterization down right, i've only watched ragnarok once so far (and i'm already in love with valkyrie, honestly who isn't?). constructive criticism of how i've written her would be especially helpful for the future!

for those of you regularly reading the 20 questions 'verse, thanks so much for doing so! the next fic will be posted on christmas day, though you can also check my WIP page to see what's coming after that, too. likes and reblogs as always would be lovely, and i'll see y'all next time!

#gamora #valkyrie #myfic #myfic: 20q #marvel #uhh i literally have no idea what to tag this with since idk if other people have written them together yet #and also peter's not even in this so tagging it as starmora would be a fat lie #either way i hope y'all enjoy this!#i'm hoping i characterized valkyrie correctly

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merryfae · 7 years

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Yall mind if I rant: The Sequel Nobody Wanted

The newest comic got me to question my stance on Korra/sami yet again (the dashes here exist to keep it out of the tags, just in case that’s still a problem). The short version of this is that my stance really hasn’t changed. (Also, just a headsup, I haven’t read my old anti k/s post in a long time, but it’s probably full of logical fallacies and the lot, so…what I’m getting at here is please don’t judge me based on what I’ve written in the past).

I remember when I loved LOK. Book 1, I was able to look past the flaws, because the tension, characters, and atmosphere was so good. Book 2, the flaws became harder to overlook, but the Avatar Wan episode was definitely an experience. Book 3 was an entirely solid outing, though I missed some of that original atmosphere from Book 1. And then Book 4. I was so excited for the finale, because Book 4, despite its flaws, had been pretty great. But through the majority of the finale I was thinking to myself, “is that it?” Like, don’t get me wrong, there were some good fight scenes between Korra and Kuvira, and Mako’s sacrifice was pretty powerful, but most of it was underwhelming. It felt less like a wrap up of the show, and more like a wrap up of that season. Nothing from past seasons really tied together with the exception of the spirit portal. Plot elements from past seasons that could have been integrated into the show were dropped altogether. I don’t know. It was disappointing.

So I was already in a bad mood, and the entire ending with Korra//sami kind of killed it even more for me. Because representation is important, no doubt. I push for it a lot myself. But not when it impedes the storytelling. The storytelling of LOK? Didn’t warrant it. This is coming from someone who, at the start of Book 3, loved the idea of Korra/sami. Their interaction in the car? Adorable. Asami sparring with Korra? Great. But there was nothing in future episodes to build up to a romantic conclusion. There was a scene where Korra blushed when receiving a complement from Asami. That’s the only scene between Korra and Asami that implied romantic intent. That and Mako’s whole, “What is with you two???” thing when they all go out for lunch, but goodness, if that wasn’t the most forced, inconsequential conflict I’ve seen in this series. I mean, if you have to tell the audience that there’s something going on between these characters instead of showing us, maybe there’s a reason a portion of your audience didn’t latch on to your intent.

The problem with every scene where Asami and Korra interact (aside from the fact that they don’t bond over internal, character-building struggles, and instead just solve external problems together) is that most scenes are just Asami supporting Korra emotionally. Which, okay, for another character, that could imply romance. However, Asami’s character is already naturally caring and nurturing. She was already a character who was entirely supportive of the rest of the cast, so it’s no stretch of the imagination by any means to view her supporting Korra with tea or her offering intimate support when Korra is devastated in the Book 3 finale as inherently platonic. And, given that she was a support figure already, Korra sending her letters that the others “wouldn’t understand” can likewise read as platonic. This would be different if a character like, say, Opal interacted with Korra in similar ways after her introduction, a character who did not exist to offer unconditional support to our main leads already throughout the show, and whom Korra alternatively exhibits support for in Book 3 (or maybe I just really like their air bending scene together. I don’t know. Don’t hold me to that one). And that covers basically all of Korra and Asami’s interactions – Asami offering Korra support, and Korra accepting (usually) that support. That is, aside from those short (very short) but sweet moments at the beginning of Book 3. Plus, Book 4 takes place after a years-long gap as well, so the fact that we’re only shown them interacting once outside of the finale in Book 4 really speaks volumes. Which is not to mention that, aside from that last scene they have together, they hardly interact in the finale at all. I wanted to like this ship. I really, really did. But not when the writing didn’t add up.

And then there’s the fact that Bryke’s claims that Korra/sami was intended from the beginning are obviously false. I mean, they’re on record saying that after Book 2, relationship drama had come to an end, and they were ready to focus on friendship. If I remember correctly, the voice actors had to be called back in after the finale had already been finished in order to include that last scene with Korra and Asami. It was literally last minute.

It certainly doesn’t help that I dislike basically every ship in LOK. I never liked B/opal either. I didn’t like M/asmi, and Ma/korra didn’t have the best development itself. Honestly, I don’t think Bryke are good at writing romance period. But I’m angrier about Korra/sami, because not only is it a relationship involving the show’s main character, but it’s the central focus of the scene that ended the entire show. Say what you want about Kat/aang, but at least that ship was planned and introduced beyond minimal amounts of subtext from day one. It was a consistent part of the story. And alternatively, if LOK had ended with Ma/korra like it did in Book 1, I wouldn’t be necessarily pleased with it, but at least there was a textual history there between the two.

And I hear the arguments about how Bryke couldn’t include textual evidence of Korra/sami because it was a ship between two women. Okay, point taken. I mean, they did admit that they didn’t even bother asking Nick until last minute, but I digress. But jeez, you could at least develop their relationship a bit, couldn’t you? Again, the only conflicts these two face together are external ones. Korra and Asami fight a gang. Asami carries Korra away from danger while Mako and Bolin fight off baddies. Korra and Asami escape/crash/rebuild an airship. In none of these scenes together do they have any meaningful interactions. Maybe you could count Korra grinning at Asami for two seconds while they rebuild the airship. Maybe. But they don’t bond over anything or talk about anything except what’s happening to them at the hands of outside forces (or essentially, what’s relevant to the plot). Hence why Asami’s offer of unconditional support of Korra in the Book 3 finale rings a little hollow. It’s just Asami doing what she’s been doing the whole time, albeit with a more emotional framing.

And all this could all lead me to explaining why I didn’t like the conclusion of Korra’s character arc, or why I didn’t like how Asami was essentially a plot device until Book 3, and even then, she wasn’t given any real development. (In fact, I’m actually kind of bitter that the show didn’t write Asami better. Her entire character basically revolved around A) the love triangle nonsense or B) her father/company). But if I were to go in depth with that, it’d take another thousand or so words, and I’m amazed I even had the drive to write this whole thing in the first place. In short, the show really is a mess.

Now, I’m only writing all this because I’ve seen panels from the comic. The first few panels I saw, I figured I shouldn’t judge too harshly. I didn’t see enough of the actual comic to draw a conclusion. But with the new ones out, it’s safe to say that the comic seems relatively out of character for both Korra and Asami. Seriously, maybe one sentence in there sounded like it could come from Korra. I implore you all to switch the dialogue and pretend Korra is saying Asami’s lines, and Asami is saying Korra’s. Do you feel the character-charged dialogue? Me neither. And anywho, I’m a bit frustrated people are hailing Korra/sami as the epitome of representation when it’s really…not. It’s hard seeing Korra develop into a nearly unrecognizable character for me, because she was the saving grace of the show from day one.

Korra/sami isn’t the only ship that’s frustrated me like this. I downright despise several forced ships in fictional media, especially when it’s detrimental to a character’s development. I didn’t like J/ashi from Samurai Jack. Krist/anna or Kristoff/anna or whatever the heck it’s called from Frozen was pretty awful. Several Marvel movies (of which I am a fan) have awful romance subplots (Sta/ron and Bruce/nat are the biggest offenders). At the end of the day, Korra/sami isn’t the biggest offender. It does offer quality bi representation between two WOC. But that doesn’t mean we have to like it. Go ahead and enjoy your ooc comics folks. Who knows. Maybe it’ll actually be good.

#anti korrasami #anti bryke #shipping nonsense #i really hope i don't come off as pretentious #as i gain more confidence i'm always worried about asserting myself #do i sound like a jerk?#also #my inbox is open so if you wanna have some polite discourse #hit me up #also also #did i write this whole thing only for no one to read it?#yes yes i did #and a headsup #i didn't write this out of anger #i wrote this because i love fictional analysis #this honestly started off as a one paragraph thing that i wasn't planning on posting #but i had so much fun i ended writing a bajillion words

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amourete-blog1 · 7 years

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(( opinions.

the “realistic” approach to online interactions doesn’t work. it’s a fundamentally flawed system for several reasons, which is exacerbated by the fact that people on tumblr are afraid of face-to-face interactions. even if one singular person isn’t afraid of it, the community as a whole is, and that’s a BAD habit.

fact: some characters will not get along unless they are literally forced to spend time together. this is one of several dynamics that makes rp interesting for quite a few people. if it’s not your fancy, more power to you, but for some people it is, and the current community approach to rp is crippling their ability to explore that. characters can have WILDLY different views on certain subjects, which are usually formed by people they look up to, people in their life, things they’ve researched or things they’ve personally experienced, among likely several other sources. these differences should be encouraged, not smothered. it’s not fun to rp when every character is exactly the same.

the usage of ic blocking so flippantly is a huge factor in smothering those differences in characters. as rpers, interactions are our lifeblood. without them, we can’t rp. rp is one of the few things a person cannot do by themselves, like it’s literally impossible - if you’re rping by yourself, you’re writing a novel. it’s no longer rp.

when characters icly block each other, that cuts off an avenue for those characters to interact, which means one less interaction for both those characters, ESPECIALLY because again: we as a community are afraid of ftf roleplay, so there’s no other alternative route. some rpers can take that hit, of losing one possible rper. most can’t. if your character is one of the types that is hard to love, you get a lot of people blocking you, you’ve now effectively cut off a whole circle of interactions, and here’s the worst part: when someone blocks you, there is virtually nothing you can do.

therefore, we as rpers learn that we “can’t” have our characters have those opinions/do those things, or else they will be blocked and we will be rendered incapable of rping. for “survival” in this community, we sacrifice diversity, because otherwise we know we literally won’t be able to rp. that’s not okay. and yes, some brave souls will do it anyway, but i would urge anyone to consider: how many people have you actually seen rp with those people? because all the numbers i come up with are typically pretty low.

oocly, it makes sense to block people you don’t want to talk to. it makes perfect sense, and i’ve done it several times myself. blocking is a wonderful tool that absolutely should be used. however, when used in-character, it presents massive problems, like this. rp does not strictly follow the rules of real life. that’s why we have aliens, and magic, and “coincidences” that add up to the conclusion both/all rpers want. if you’re looking for truly, flawlessly realistic rp, go talk to someone offline and have adventures. we write fiction here.

solutions: stop using in-character blocking except as a very, very last resort, and provide a way for the character to be unblocked. if a character blocks another character, expect character b to be unblocked at a later time, whether by character a’s choice, by a malfunction, by outside interference or anything else - and moreover, put plans in place for that to happen. provide a means.

fact: characters do not have their own autonomy. they are fictional. they can’t think or act for themselves, we as muns are always in control. if a mun is not in control of their character 100% of the time, that is actually, truly dangerous to everyone involved, and should not be encouraged.

we make judgements about what our characters would do in situations based on information we’ve gathered about them. it’s a really remarkable ability our brains have. we can put ourselves in their shoes, but at the end of the day, we are still making that choice to have them act on whatever they act on, think whatever they think, and so on. yes, impulses are a thing. yes, sometimes they greatly benefit an rp. no, they do not always have to be followed.

having characters react to every single thing they see can sometimes be good for sparking interactions, but most of the time, it’s exhausting. perpetuating an atmosphere where characters that DON’T interact with absolutely everything they see is frowned upon/discouraged is ultimately harmful. if an rper, ooc, is uncomfortable with something, or just doesn’t want to rp it, the atmosphere we should be perpetuating is one of “that’s okay. you aren’t obligated to rp this.” and if it’s brought up to them personally, rather than just being flung out in the abyss, we should be encouraging them to break character and talk ooc.

reacting to content, whether directly or indirectly (vagueposting, purposefully loudly ignoring by trying to redirect the topic) rewards behavior and furthers that content. if you don’t want to interact with content, don’t. don’t have your character vague. don’t have them scream at the top of their lungs about how nice the weather is where they are. that’s still an interaction. when you interact ic, you are confirming that you are okay with what is going on. if that’s not true, rpers need to stop interacting. they need to break character, and they need to say “i’m not okay with this.”

no, this isn’t a matter of “don’t assume consent.” online we have literally no other indicators of whether someone is uncomfortable or not. we just have the text we’re given. it is impractical at absolute best to constantly ask “are you okay with this,” and impossible at worst, because we’d be accenting every line with that question to the point where it would be just the same as before: assumed. we must, must start pushing for people to communicate ooc, immediately, when they are uncomfortable or otherwise not cool with what’s going on.

solutions: if an rper doesn’t want to have their character engage with a certain topic, have them do something else. not out of spite, not as if they’re trying to distract, just... something else, for its own merit. they can hit someone up in ims. they can start a different post. sometimes this doesn’t work because the discussion is so widespread, but that’s kind of... just how it goes. we as a community should also try to encourage this method by interacting with that content too, but sometimes it’s not what people want to do, sometimes it just doesn’t happen. whatever it is, though, it’s still better than icly interacting with the thing you don’t want to interact with.

that being said, widespread dash discussions of bad shit, like we’ve seen with the hemoism, slavery, etc discussions, are a problem. it would be good to mitigate those, a lot more than they are now. tagging is a good step, but interacting with non-Big Bad Discourse (BBD) topics will help too. like sandwich discourse - that was good. if someone’s trying to make a joke, we can help them! we can interact with them and help them make their joke, then we get something funny and everyone wins. if someone starts dropping hints in a post/dropping interesting information, it’s probably because they’re seeking interaction. scratch that: if they make a post, period, it’s because they’re seeking interaction because again, it’s the lifeblood of rp. it’s what we do. likes are great, replies are better, reblogs are top-tier. interact with content you want more of. we all want more diversity in the content we see here, so let’s make that happen, and “vote with our feet.”

and no this post isn’t actually solely re: hemoism discourse ooc talk. it’s actually opinions i’ve had for a while. i kinda just woke up and was like “hey i maybe want to talk about this.” the purpose of this post is me hoping to make a couple ripples in the community as a whole and maybe change the way we do/think about certain things. i really like this community, i love the people i’ve met, and i want to see it get better. if you don’t agree with me, that’s your prerogative, but i do hope you’ve at least thought about what i’ve said.

floor is open to discussion if anyone has anything to say/add.

#ooc post #/#//#///#////#ooc discussion #not re: discourse specifically but discussion nonetheless on ooc best practices #it's also very long - sorry.#long post /#god i hope my edits go through i found 2 big errors since i posted this

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