#a very common plot for a story like this

[helthehatter]

From what the tags tell me I'm on a lonely road

[wavebiders]

Feeling very insane about the fact that, in a way, being a bad Sharran is what saves Shadowheart in the end

Because like. She's not supposed to be bad at keeping secrets. She's not supposed to be vulnerable, kind, or hopeful. She's not supposed to get attached to anything or anyone

Yet, it's these things that allow her to get close to the pc and the group as a whole. The more she fails to keep Shar's secrets the more she opens up to you, and the more she opens up to you the more you have the chance to build a relationship with her, and it's through having that relationship that she finds the courage to defy Shar

If she had been a better Sharran she never would have built that bond at all, she wouldn't have felt safe to make the decision she did, and probably no one would have trusted her enough to let her decide to begin with

Shadowheart is saved because she is loved, and Shadowheart is loved because she cannot stop being herself no matter how hard she tries

[empyrangel]

I can’t find my post from a few years back about the crk fandom’s reaction to Affogato, but anyway, Peach Blossom just released and I’m here to make my Why Can’t the Cis CRK Fans be Normal About Gender Nonconforming Characters Part 2 post.

Seriously, what the fuck? I don’t think the reaction is as bad as with Affogato, but maybe it just looks that way to me because I’m not nearly as active in the fandom as I used to be.

Of course people are sexualizing him, disappointing but not surprising. Before he released, everyone seemed very insistent that he was evil/would pretend to be helpful but later be revealed to be working for Mystic Flour (which is funny in hindsight considering he turned out to be literally just some guy with 2 minutes of screentime). But their justification for why he was so obviously going to be evil was his feminine appearance, which like way to reveal your biases I guess.

I straight up saw one person say they knew he was going to be a trickster type character because of his “deceptive appearance.” What an absolutely unhinged thing to say. Please tell me y’all don’t say shit like this to real people. Imagine seeing a gnc person and going “you don’t look like what I think a person of your gender should look like, therefore you’re manipulative and a liar.”

There’s been a lot of trap jokes as well. Most of them seem to be ironic/self-aware so the people doing them don’t think there’s any harm. But it really doesn’t matter if you’re genuine or not, it still perpetuates a harmful mindset if the joke is the mere existence of gnc people, especially gnc men, being inherently deceptive/outrageous/confusing.

Edit: found the post

[rmbunnie]

no shade to anyone but it kinda gives me the heebies when i see people like "oh Steph is just like Jason but without all the melodrama lmao!" like. no she isn't actually? I love Jason and I LOVE Steph but they honest to god are not that similar. The most interesting events in Stephanie's story like her diying her vigilante work and all the personal life stuff going on with her are not at all applicable to Jason and Jason's death had implications for him and a butterfly effect that Stephanie's death simply did not hold for her. Both are tragic events but the context around them is like not the same, at all, even a little. Of course they have things in common like the kinda snarky demeanor and rough home life, but for them to be "pretty much the same" you have to be playing pretty fast and loose with personality and tone for both of them, and it's kinda a disservice to both as unique characters. Also idk it just rubs me the wrong way to pitch a female character to the fandom as like "omg she's just like your favorite boy except without the most interesting parts! Isn't that something?" but who am i to decide it's kinda just a pet peeve of mine lmao

[yannig]

I'm invested in Mut and Tongrak, don't get me wrong. I like them, I like the show, I will keep watching and enjoying it.

But from an aromantic perspective, it's fucking painful.

I. know. Tongrak doesn't believe in love because his parents' marriage was a tragedy and he's never seen real love, yada yada.

But he reads so, so aromantic to me. Like "love is imaginary and only exists in story" is a pretty common aromantic experience.

I know in this context it's the trauma. And it's a perfectly legit plot.

But seeing his perspective being dismissed so readily by the show... it hurts a bit, to be honest.

[ozonecologne]

whooooaaaaaa tell me about your original fiction!! we love the sea!! we love the sea monsters and creatures!!!

OH I'm so sorry I never saw this!! Thank you so much for asking, I'd love to talk about it 🌊

The big thing I'm working on now began with a retelling of the myth of Iphigenia. Discussion and moodboard link below!!!

A group of island fishermen believe that they've offended the goddess of the sea, and offer up the life of a beloved daughter to make amends. They throw her body into the sea, but the girl does not die. She cuts through the water and is wrapped in the skin of a seal, transfigured into a half-drowned monster with dark eyes and sharp teeth. Only occasionally does she ever venture towards shore, to chase the fishing boats and sate her new appetite. As she ages and forgets more and more of the life of warmth she once led, she grows to hate the goddess that so rules the attitudes of her village. Every night she peers up from beyond the sea foam and over the sharp rocks to the mountain where her temple stands. Strong but clumsy on land in her new form, the girl could never reach the mountain's peak alone. And she would rather die than ask a villager for help. Storms swallow the island, fueled by her rage. As the years and years roll past her, the desire for revenge only grows stronger.

Decades later, a world-weary fisherman in a decaying house on the edge of the village crosses her path much by accident. Due the bad weather that the island is now famous for, a large tree fell from the cliffs and smashed through the second story of his home. The upper bedroom is destroyed, but this alone doesn't upset him; the room was his sister's, who had not long ago passed from illness that went back to their childhood. She'd always been sickly -- it was the damp, you see. He's ashamed to admit that he's a little relieved to be rid of her, only he isn't exactly. Even in death, she just can't leave him alone. He sleeps in the front room, on the lumpy couch that their father used to take up residence in under a tarp that holds back the leaking from above, but he sees her shadowy form lingering in the doorway. She peers at him through the windows, paces the cracked hall upstairs, reaches out from the cupboards with long, untrimmed fingernails when she thinks he's not looking. To placate her spirit he knows that he needs to fix the roof, but there's a problem. All the solid trees that would make good lumber grow at the top of the island's mountain; he can't go there by himself, not as frail as he is at his age, and there is no one alive he can ask to help him.

When a local's body washes up on the rocky beach near his home, our protagonist finds a strange figure hunched over and chewing through to the bone. In the moonlight, for a crazed instant, he fears that it's his dead sister -- that she has found a way to leave her broken bedroom and haunt the village in her unnatural state. And then those big, watery eyes meet his, and he knows that she too is something not of this world.

Despite their mutual disgust for one another, they eventually strike a deal: if he takes her up the mountain to confront the goddess that caused her death, the selkie will help him cut and carry down wood from the mountain to repair his broken roof. Neither can go there alone: they need each other.

As they climb up the mountain, the storms become heavier. The terrain becomes more dangerous. Monstrous guardians block their path to the temple, and the two have to fight their instincts and place their trust in one another to make it to the goddess alive.

But as this duo comes to find out, not is all as it seems on the island, and the ocean keeps many secrets...

This piece is currently under the working title Merrow. You can view the moodboard I set up for it on Pinterest here! If more people are interested, I might also post excerpts in the future?

[igneouswyvern]

one of the things i love about zestiria is that it's not a classic chosen one story. they set it up like it is one in the beginning with the legends but in reality the only requirement is that the shepherd have high resonance so he can communicate with lailah and form the pact. there's no destiny there's no "chosen by the gods" it's just about being able to see seraphim. really the only thing that makes sorey special is that he grew up around seraphim instead of humans

and even further, the role of the shepherd isn't something you have to take. it's not "a calling" it's a choice. lailah makes a point of confirming with sorey that this really is something he wants to do. he could have refused if he wanted to and i think that's really interesting cause you see a lot of destiny stuff where the protagonist has to take it on and zestiria is really refreshing in that way

i really hate destiny type shit in my stories. and i love that zestiria doesn't do that

[aroaessidhe]

2023 reads

Wren Martin Ruins It All

YA contemporary romcom

student council president proposes to cut the school valentine’s dance because it's expensive and alienating for queer/single people, but instead the vice president (who he adamantly hates for being perfect) suggests they get sponsored by a popular friendship app

he decides to secretly give the app a go to “know his enemy” but ends up making a friend, and starts to catch feelings for him...and maybe realises the guy he hates isn't actually so bad either...

ace mlm MC, aro-questioning side character

I loved this so much! great MC with a funny internal monologue

despite the title most issues or misunderstanding are sorted out pretty quickly rather than drawn out for the drama and plot. which is refreshing

I was a little nervous about the concept of ‘ace hates the school dance and wants it shut down’ - there's a bit of a stereotype of aspecs being boring Fun Haters - but I think it did a really good job of showing the specifics of why, not dragging it out, and also that he’s just a snarky fun hater in general with not much weight behind it.

There’s also no discovering of sexuality or big coming out (just one-on-one) - he already knows he’s ace, and it comes up naturally a bunch, talking about how dances etc can feel isolating, the way the friendship app called buddy being called ace-friendly can feel infantilizing, avoiding dating because of the stress of having to check upfront if people about it, etc.

I would have liked to know more about his relationship with his mum? Though I understand that it’s clearly something he avoids thinking about - going too deep into his relationship with his parents might have changed the tone a lot. but still.

ARC from netgalley thanks netgalley

[july-19th-club]

love an ending that is 'happy' in that a desirable outcome is produced, but made complicated by the fact that the protagonist has given up something integral to themself in order to make it so. it's sort of uncool in some circles to admit you LIKE when characters give up something really cool for something pretty basic, but it's all about context and quality of storytelling, right? that sort of conviction - this is a part of my personality that i am permanently renouncing access to, and it's my choice, and i'm going to miss it, but i'm not going to regret it - that's compelling. ending in which a character who loves nothing more than the rush of finding the answer to a question is handed, one day, a puzzle they just don't want to solve. and that part of their life is over, but it's not a bad thing. maybe the answer doesn't need to be known. maybe not knowing it opens you up to a creative mindset you never had before. character who gains some kind of special power chooses to give it up not because they no longer love the ability, not because it hasn't improved their life, but because this thing they love comes with costs, is getting in the way of a life someone they love or loved and lost would want them to live. i'm glad it turned out this way. i miss the missing thing with all my heart. i would let go of it again if i was asked to choose.

[llycaons]

I understand why aristocracy and royalty is an exciting setting for fiction/fantasy but if the narrative isn't a serious political commentary or a legitimate critique of the setting (comedic or otherwise), I'd almost prefer if they just ignored all the social and political issues around the hierarchy they live in. that sounds bad, but it would at least be more honest to its identity as a fantasy than legitimately pretending like it's the epitome of progressivess to not beat your servants for making a minor mistake. like if you care about your people so much prove it. redistribute your wealth and power. abandon your privileged life and status to protect abandoned political prisoners from being murdered in prison camps like wei wuxian did. bitch.

[rawliverandcigarettes]

wow the end of teop is an actual nightmare. I had forgotten that, this being a much more upbeat story with fun scheming and plotting and conspiracies and the likes implies than when the curtain drops, it feels pretty much like being punched in the lungs at full speed.

[senadimell]

Perhaps this is just me, but if I’m using ao3 I have never found it helpful to sort by kudos to find “good stuff” because doing that literally just yields popular stories and my tastes very rarely align?

[patzweigz]

randomly hit with just how. strange. it really is that general discussion of fictional characters treats them as like... people, who's actions have consequences in the real world or who's writers put them through real situations

[smute]

Molly McGhee, Jonathan Abernathy You Are Kind

[mesaprotector]

I read Umineko a year and three-quarters ago in a dark hotel room in Alaska, and it occupies a very weird space in my mind where I simultaneously adore and recommend it with no reservations at all... and also dislike the ending and wasn't as affected by certain emotional points as everyone else in the fandom.

[my-animeandmanga-journey]

First time through, I thought it was sweet that Ayumi still kept being brought up even two episodes after she died. Like, most shows don't do that, you know? Someone dies, the story moves on and the dead only get brought up when it's convenient.

So when they did it again three episodes later, with Yuu still saying good-bye to her picture at the beginning of episode 10, I was like "what's going on?"

I honestly thought at that point that she wasn't dead, that there had maybe been some kind of cover-up where she'd been taken to a research facility. I expected the rest of the show to be about finding this out and planning a break-in and rescue mission.

And then they did the future flashback.