#alongside the meme ones I’ve been sharing recently <3

[ghostdrinkssoup]

okay so I watched ouef (s1 ep4) last night and I only vaguely remembered it as the episode with the lost boys and the creepy family dinner, but now that I’ve rewatched it I’m losing my mind over how much it actually sets up/foreshadows mizumono, especially thematically. considering this, it’s surprising how little this episode is talked about so I’ve decided I’m gonna unpack it myself because I honestly see it as mizumono’s necessary counterpart. it’s first half, if you will

so let’s talk about oeuf

I think part of the reason why a lot of early s1 isn’t discussed as widely as the rest of the show (especially late s2 and s3 in general) is because of the prescriptive use of genre conventions that underpin the “monster of the week” format that, upon first glance, makes s1a seem a little less interesting. it strongly follows the rules and expectations of the standard crime procedural that we’ve come to expect from a show like this: first there’s a murder, then our cast of characters go to investigate, slowly unravelling the mystery while learning some lesson along the way, until finally they catch the bad guys and the episode ends with justice prevailing, resolving the initial injustice of the crime. overall we’re left feeling satisfied, but it’s nothing to write home about

nonetheless, it is very important that nbc hannibal follows this formula in s1 because it allows it to meet audience expectations while also setting up the building blocks for its later acts, which, as we know, (mostly) abandons this scaffolding entirely. you can’t break the rules unless you know the rules, and s1 proves this by luring us in through its promise of convention. you could argue that, in its own way, s1 is the show’s own person suit

that’s not to say the “monster of the week” formula completely hides the show’s gothic side. beyond the show’s visual aesthetics (dark colours, artistic murders, etc) and the almost supernatural quality of will’s empathy, each episode/murder so far has had an underlying “fairytale-like” quality to it that’s achieved through the use of specific allusions/familiar images. first it’s will describing abigail as willy wonka’s golden ticket, then it’s the mushroom garden, then sleeping beauty wakes from her coma, and now we have peter pan and the lost boys. considering how the rest of the show plays out, especially s3 where hannibal literally describes the italy trip and his perception of life as a fairytale, this seems intentional to me. I mean, he and will literally adhere to the beauty and the beast archetype, with both fitting either role depending on what aspect of their relationship you’re looking at

that’s all to say, it’s notable that mizumono acts as the literal gateway between the familiar world of s1 and 2 and the phantasmagoric beauty of s3, stripping both its main characters and the show itself of their person suits, which isn’t as jarring as it should be due to the particular way s1 is structured

which takes us back to what I really want to talk about: ouef

the episode opens in baltimore, where will tells hannibal this:

as will speaks, we see his house, lit up and observed at a distance in the middle of nowhere, caught in the vast, misty darkness he describes. linking the house with the boat is important, since this dual image develops throughout the rest of the episode. thematically, ouef is about family, as is represented through the monster of the week: the woman kidnapping the lost boys and manipulating them into killing their families. but as we said before, this scaffolding is designed to set up character specific concepts and themes that’ll be relevant later. for now, will’s home is only a safe space for him at an observable distance — only “safe” because it looks like a boat at sea, which is a positive association for him

houses traditionally represent the self. it’s an image commonly linked to identity, both on a literary level and oftentimes when interpreting dreams. and of course, when talking about the house we naturally think of family. will can only appreciate the intimacy of both himself and his personal connections from an observable distance. he does not feel safe doing otherwise. it’s why his house is located so far away from the rest of society: he’s in hiding

from here, hannibal is quick to change the subject, stating that will “stood in the breathing silence of garret jacob hobbs’ home”, or, metaphorically speaking, hobbs’ identity. in episode one, will saw the truth of hobbs more so than he’s ever seen (or embraced) the truth of himself. he was not at a distance. he was not safe

then hannibal asks, “did they speak to you?”

and will responds, “with noise and clarity”

he then follows this by saying he “tried so hard to know garret jacob hobbs. to see him” beyond the police tape and dead girls and photographs, all of which he considers superficial details. this particular phrasing is significant, since it directly parallels what hannibal later tells will in mizumono after he learns of his betrayal: “I let you know me. see me.” this scene lays out the dominoes for this chain reaction, all of which results in s2’s climactic moment, by showing hannibal’s desire to be seen, even if he doesn’t fully realise it yet, and will’s desire to connect with others like himself, if they even exist. as I’ve said before, will does not think monstrosity and humanity are separate concepts

so, by wanting to see beyond hobbs’ person suit, which in of itself is a metaphor for conformity, expectations, and the false self, will set aside his own denial and discovered something very ugly about himself. he murdered hobbs in his own home and, for the briefest moment, caught a glimpse of the truth of himself. “see?” haunts will for this reason. it’s something he carries for the rest of his arc

it’s important that this all happened in the kitchen, but I’ll get to that later

but returning to the scene. hannibal asks will how he felt seeing marissa, the girl hannibal killed last episode. there’s an unspoken question here: did you try hard to get to know me too? did you know me? see me? would I ever allow you to do so? under the copycat guise, and the person suit, is knowing me even possible? as we learn in mizumono, the answer is yes

will says he feels guilty and I don’t think he’s lying here the same way he lied when he told abigail murder is the ugliest thing in the world last episode. there’s a difference between feeling guilt and feeling remorse. he thinks he caused marissa’s death, and he feels guilty because he knows he isn’t feeling (or reacting) the way he should be. killing hobbs felt good, remember? he saw hobbs, and in turn himself, with “noise and clarity” and had a moment of chilling self awareness he can’t shake. this is what he feels guilty about. it’s not about “not saving her” it’s about the threat of his self-destructive nature burning everything around him, which is what he fears. he feels monstrous inside, due to his own sense of vindication and inclination towards righteous violence

for the rest of this scene, I’m going to pick apart the dialogue in a kind of skeleton structure so we can take what information we need from what they say. their conversation goes as follows:

“sometimes I felt like we were doing the same things at different times of day. like I was eating or showering or sleeping at the same time he was.”

→ will feels like he’s doing the same things hobbs was (showering/sleeping/eating) even after he was dead because he’s now sensing hannibal, the copycat. or rather, his own copycat/foil. they’re already connected and they already feel the same (he feels like he killed marissa even though hannibal killed marissa)

“even after he was dead?” / “even after he was dead.”

→ so it’s hannibal he’s connecting to now, even subconsciously

“like you were becoming him?”

→ the introduction of the “becoming” motif which, as we all know, is a central theme and another reference to their foil dynamic (hannibal has already said he and will are the same). note hannibal’s tone when he says this: he’s speaking quicker, unable to stop questioning. there’s another conversation happening just below the surface of this one. he’s curious about will and his ability to connect, which was established earlier in episode 2

“I know who I am. I’m not garret jacob hobbs”

→ links back to the first episode where will, out of his own free will, chooses to shoot hobbs. remember that in the opening scene of that same episode he himself tells his students that, according to his own worldview, by understanding the murder, we understand the man. this isn’t a matter of confusing his identity with that of a killer: will knows exactly who he is, and that’s what scares him. he’d rather stay in denial

it’s also noteworthy that will’s refusal to be seen as hobbs, or a copycat of him, mirrors hannibal’s refusal to be associated with him too, as we saw in episode three when he tells abigail “I am nothing like your dad.” it implies that reading either of these characters as a mirror of someone else (other than each other, of course) would be a misstep. for both will and hannibal, hobbs is just another layer of the person suit. something that’s brutally stripped in mizumono, as I said before

we learn all this in one scene alone. like I said, this episode is complex and packed. the rest of the episode simply expands on the concepts introduced in this one conversation. I won’t go into every scene because this post would turn into an academic paper, but I do want to spend time dissecting a few key scenes which I feel directly link back to mizumono specifically and highlight why this episode is so important: the family dinner scene, hannibal breaking into will’s house, will’s therapy sessions with hannibal, and hannibal and abigail making breakfast together

how will analyses the family dinner, as well as what we learn from this scene, adds to our understanding of how these characters interpret family as a whole. after all, this episode is about “the lost boys” which, to me at least, will and hannibal both are. it’s their lack of real connection that causes them to treat abigail in the idealised way they do, similar to how the woman tries to make her own found family with the kidnapped boys (although this parallel better fits hannibal than will)

within his reconstruction of the crime scene, will sits at the head of the table, saying he’s “brought his family to this home invasion.” of course he’s impersonating the killer here, but this use of the home again (and family) is enough to pay attention to

power and control is also brought up in this scene. will says he controls the turners with “threats of violence. threats that turn to action” which is how hannibal operates (although more psychologically considering his demeanour, he doesn’t seem threatening at first and rarely loses his cool) but he can’t control people that way, least of all will. in the end threats of violence don’t even work, because the more worked up you get the less in control you actually are

will then shoots mrs turner, who, as we later learn, forgives the act since she loves her son. forgiveness (and acceptance) being synonymous with love literally underpins the conflict of s3, which is triggered by hannibal asking will if he’ll forgive him for murdering abigail in mizumono, but it’s first shown here, of all episodes, in the story’s set up. because of this, hannibal killing abigail and stabbing will recalls this episode, perhaps more as an echo than a direct link, but is strengthened nonetheless by this subtle build. added to this, it’s notable that the threat of violence here is also due to a type of betrayal (“family dinner, I wasn’t invited”) but the lost boy sits at the head of the table anyway, where he belongs, much like hannibal does, both at the end of this episode and as the “paternal” father figure throughout most of the show

as will says, this whole sequence portrays family values. twisted ones, but values nonetheless. it’s why I’m more inclined to connect this episode to the s2 finale than I am the s1 finale (although it’s still relevant) because this episode is so strictly about family. mizumono is the same but in reversal: the ideal family hannibal dreams and tries to take control of, since he had no control of his own as a boy, is shattered before his eyes

the other largely significant moment in this episode is when hannibal breaks into will’s house and pierces his thumb on the hook, tying the fishing/boat imagery back to the house again and foreshadowing will as the “lure” (his s2 persona)

what’s important about this scene is that hannibal enters will’s world (his isolated identity) to plant the evidence that’ll later frame him for all the s1 murders, leaving traces of himself on will so that, for a moment, will too becomes the copycat. again, not the exact truth of him or his nature, but a fragmented replica. inauthentic. fake. another layer of the person suit, except this time it’s hannibal’s forced on will

but what’s interesting is that hannibal also gets caught in will’s web. there’s a lot of focus on the hook specifically, and the camera lingers on the feathers, which hannibal takes the time to touch and look at, until finally, he pricks his thumb and draws blood

the irony is that in this moment, before the game even really begins, hannibal loses. he’s already hooked himself. we saw hints of this in the first scene of this episode, how his fascination with will is unlike any other attachment, or lack of attachment, he has, and it encapsulates the whole reason for his downfall: his attachment and obsession. it’s beyond his control (“you cannot control with respect to whom you fall in love”) and humanises him in darkly twisted way. he cannot control his feelings, and he doesn’t know what to do with this

his fate is sealed in this episode, but he doesn’t realise it until mizumono

again, the boat imagery is another interesting thing to note. fishing/boats/anchors are all introduced in this episode as mild, safe things (seeing the house as a boat makes will feels safe, wanting to teach abigail how to fish, hannibal saying will needs an anchor, will and his dad at the boatyard, etc) but fishing has an insidious side, too. one hannibal isn’t aware of. it has a meek mask, and in its own way, acts as another type of security. does will feel safe within his own sense of control, too? that’s the whole point of the person suit, isn’t it? it’s an important question, because the fallout is explored in mizumono. like I’ve said all throughout this analysis: everything here is being set up for a single climactic moment

will also sails to florence later in a boat he builds. he returns to hannibal’s home in s3, sitting in the kitchen with abigail’s ghost, but it isn’t home if hannibal isn’t there, so he sails to find him. I hate to say it, but will’s insane little sailing trip to italy is actually symbolic too if you interpret hannibal as will’s home, and by going to find him will, in turn, is also going home

the scene ends with hannibal sucking the blood from his thumb, before we transition to the blood streaked family portrait, opening the next scene. having the frame of hannibal bleeding being immediately followed by the bloody family portrait seems deliberate to me, since, as we know, he kills abigail later and destroys their “family” because will “makes him bleed”. again, tying the events of mizumono back to the family values introduced in this episode

also, in the script the sound hannibal makes when he sucks the blood from his thumb is described as “not unlike a quick kiss” which is an odd way to phrase it within the literal context of this scene, but makes a lot of sense when you consider what it means symbolically. it’s a small detail, but it recontextualises will “luring” him in as a romantic act, as well as a romantic betrayal

continuing on, what family means to hannibal and his desire to both connect with will and manipulate abigail are both interweaved as the episode progresses. hannibal says that “children transport us to our childhoods”, reframes the idea that will’s family, who will jokingly refers to as a pack of strays, also includes abigail (and without saying it, himself) and that the woman who’s kidnapping the lost boys is engaging in a “perversion” of motherhood. all these things evidently reflect hannibal himself, and the specific trauma he experienced losing his parents and, more to the point, his younger sister. we don’t learn the specifics of this backstory until much later on in the story, but his behaviours (and the trajectory of his character arc) are influenced by it regardless

in contrast, will doesn’t seem all that interested in the concept. he sees family as an “ill fitting suit” (yet another reference to the person suit) and it’s an entirely foreign concept to him (it’s foreign to hannibal too, since they’re the same, but I digress). still, he tries to connect to abigail anyway, but this isn’t motivated by a want for authentic family or someone who understands him, but rather an ideal. will doesn’t want to see the truth of himself, it scares him. he doesn’t want to see the truth of abigail, either. he doesn’t want to see her as her father’s lure (again, fishing imagery) but as something innocent and divorced from what he knows of himself. he ironically buys her fishing gear in this episode (although he never gives it to her) in an attempt to associate her with the same meek mask we discussed earlier. but as we know, this “safety” too has layers

buying abigail a gift also mirrors what hannibal says to will in mizumono: “I gave you a rare gift, but you didn’t want it.” the rare gift is family, which is given value when will says “I can’t give them back what they just gave away” in relation to the lost boys and their dead mothers. it’s again another part of the family values introduced in this episode: family is a rare gift, but it’s not something you can force, which both hannibal and will try to do with abigail (like the mother tries to do with the lost boys)

the “I can’t give them back what they gave away” is particularly important, since it implies permanency and an inability to reverse the action. the gift of family and connection is only rare because once it’s taken from you you can’t have it back; you can’t reverse time; you can’t take back control

this is the crux of hannibal’s entire arc. the belief that he is in control of his life, since, in his mind, he’s godlike and exists beyond human folly and attachment, underpins every single one of his actions leading up to mizumono. for this reason, it’s significant that the teacups are introduced in this episode as a means (and symbolic prop) to control abigail. they are later related back to time but this is meant to be a symbol of hannibal’s power. he directly says that he wants to give abigail her ‘power back’ earlier in the episode, but he’s really just empowering himself. he projects his attachment to mischa onto her, something he pretends doesn’t affect him and he is above of (his approach to dealing with trauma is clear through his interactions with abigail — he thinks she shouldn’t be immersed in the tragedy of the past and should just ‘move on’)

in truth, hannibal wants to recreate the moment of tragedy (both his tragedy and abigail’s tragedy) in order to reverse time and have the perfect family, despite being incapable of this. he’s trying to escape how his trauma makes him feel powerless by attempting to take power back, no matter how futile it is

he attempts to do this here, in his home, by making them breakfast, since in his mind by feeding abigail the same (and last) meal she had with her family, he is in turn engineering a kind of ‘rebirth’ for her. he reassures that although this was the last meal she had with her family, it’ll be the first with him, and tries to take away her bad memories by replacing them with positive associations. the reversal of time is even clear in how he makes breakfast for dinner, flipping literal time on its head for his amusement

for the audience, in this scene we learn he’s a more skilled manipulator than the woman who took the lost boys, since he’s forcing this “blur” between abigail’s father and himself through the use of psychedelics and fostering dependency. he wants to replace hobbs without necessarily becoming him. again, he’s his copycat, not his replica

the fact that this all takes place in the kitchen is also important. it’s the same place hannibal will later kill her, proving he can’t reverse time and he isn’t in control, and that she was never reborn, and he was never her father. and returning to the beginning of this analysis (I said I’d come back to this) will also killed hobbs in his own kitchen, where he finally sees the truth of himself. in mizumono, a reversal occurs: hannibal is now confronted with the truth of himself and, like will, accidentally finds something very ugly by exposing himself

the episode ends with will separated from the ‘family’ and resting with his dogs, similar to how mizumono ends with will lying in his own blood, alone. in summary, oeuf quietly introduces and foreshadows key plot, character, and thematic elements through the conventions of the crime genre, and it’s fascinating to me how many links can be made between this episode and the bloodbath in mizumono

even down to the episode title: the newly formed egg and all the consequences that are to follow its hatching

[tired-biscuit]

i've just seen your posts on dash biscuit and its so sad you're feeling like that :( If i'm to tell you the honest truth biscuit, I don't remember how I found your account but i remember being so intrigued and hooked immediately - I went on to read your War General Kiba (to somewhat expose myself.. I am War General Kiba anon from around a month ago) bc your writing itched my brain so fuckin good !!

It makes me so sad that uni started recently for me and I have been so caught up I haven't gotten around to reblogging war general kiba because I haven't gotten the moment to write my thoughts regarding those:( they're sitting in my drafts. I decided I would read every single one of your fics a month ago (unfortunately I haven't been able to yet) - including the naruto thirst you elaborated on for me, and though I haven't gotten time to read it, THANK YOU SO MUCH BISCUIT for taking your time out to do that :( <3

You deserve every single one of those likes , but you deserve them alongside an equal amount of reblogs :/ i sincerely hope that these followers and whatnot pull their heads out of their ass and start reblogging - because if they don't, they're not going to have anything to read. bc biscuit you are such an amazing and talented writer, and it always blows my mind we get to read your masterpieces for free. FOR FREE!!!! that is so crazy like, this is stuff that could get you MILLIONS and we have the blessing from you to type a few words onto our screens and read it! like WOW thank you so much <3 🍁 anon

oh my gosh, you’re so sweet; imma start sobbing!

listen, you don’t have to apologize for not being able to read my fics; i get it, life happens and we get busy as people and fanfiction definitely is NOT everything there is to life! so please don’t say sorry for that because there is literally no need for it, like i said. YOU’RE GOOD!

it just grinds my gears that i’m not allowed to vent on here about this particular topic because some people will INSTANTLY jump the wagon to call me ungrateful. i get it, i get notes, but people usually don’t understand that likes don’t mean shit on here and that the majority of those notes are just that: likes. sure, i get a little notif that someone liked my story, but i have no clue what they thought about it based from that heart. i have no clue if they’ve even actually read it. to make matters even worse, it makes the post just straight up fucking die.

i spend hours and hours and hours writing, editing, rereading, tweaking the same story for ages. i could just not post it and keep it to myself, sure, but i enjoy interacting with my moots and my followers in general, and giving people that share my interest in the same characters something to read about, because let’s be real; kiba is niche af. i like feeding the kiba girlies because i barely had anything to eat a couple years back when it comes to him and i’ve worked my fucking ass off for those notes over the years, SO OF COURSE I APPRECIATE THEM, OK?

this debate, or whatever you wanna call it, has been circling around here for ages and it’s useless at this point, i think... writers, artists, creators of all sorts say “please say thank you for my creation that i made for YOU after you’ve asked, i beg” and people call us ungrateful or stuck up or whatever the fuck. i mean, do people seriously think i enjoy self-reblogging all the time and begging for interaction like that robin hood meme with the cup???????? no, i do it because it is the only way people will see my work before it disappears into the ether once again, ffs!!!!!!!!

ANYWAYS, i will write a drabble for your war general!kiba ask when i have the time, i promise! i just want to actually make it good and write like a proper story instead of just my thoughts because he is very dear to me and i am a perfectionist when it comes to my royalty AU and it makes me overthink and just… yeah! he has been sitting in the back of my head, clanking his heavy weapons impatiently, lmao.

I LOVE YOU!

[shoujoinvestigation]

Our 2020 Drama Recs

What a year 2020 has been - a time of tumultuous change, anxiety and reflection. During this time, dramas have certainly become a safe space for comfort and entertainment. Fortunately, we’ve also seen more and more quality dramas released in 2020!

As we head into 2021, here are our top 2020 dramas picks:

1. Winter Begonia 鬓边不是海棠红 recommended by Admin JY

The story of two seemingly polar opposite characters in 1930s China - a feisty traditionally-trained Beijing opera star and a wealthy Western-educated businessman in a setting where Western influence meets Chinese traditions. Yet when they finally cross paths, their parallels in fact draw them closer to each other. The main characters shine and sparkle both as independent characters with their own depth, flaws and quirks and with their ever-so-natural chemistry interacting with each other, in what could be the most healthy and balanced relationship dynamic I have ever seen between leads.

Winter Begonia presents brilliantly written three-dimensional, human yet relatable characters growing with each other through a time in history of change and uncertainty, in addition to great acting, beautiful costume design, production value and showcase of Beijing opera. If you are looking for a show with drama, history/culture, comedy, family, action (and tragedy), look no further than Winter Begonia for an entertaining yet reflective story of growth filled with all the *feels*.

2. A Murderous Affair in Horizon Tower 摩天大楼 recommended by Admin JL  

What’s your idea of a feminist drama? An ensemble of badass, confident female cast kicking ass and bonding with each other? For Horizon Tower, it is to be concealed in a mystery. Two detectives take us through the life of an attractive cafe owner after her death, retracing it through the eyes of people new to her and old ones who had known her well. They all have various things to say about her - each have a different piece of the full picture. What part of the truth do we trust? How do we, or can we judge her? While women are often expected to be the “perfect victim”, Horizon Tower says, the simple truth is, a victim is a victim, and a crime is a crime, regardless the conduct of the victim.

Horizon Tower is a sophisticated, brilliantly written and directed story. It’s fast-paced, compelling as it plays with multiple facets of the truth. There is no simple dichotomy - of black vs white, of women vs men. Instead, it fundamentally embraces the complexity of human nature - which is what makes it feminist. For me, this drama will stay in my heart as one of the most powerful and brilliant feminist stories to exist. In a time of feminist movements, it feels extra important and meaningful for China to have produced such a drama this year. Thank you for being the voice we all needed, Horizon Tower!

Watch the official episodes, subbed, on Youtube.

3. Hyena recommended by Admin JY

Not quite simply a law drama, nor a “badass” law drama turned into a sweet romance drama - Hyena is great for its culmination of confident writing featuring strong and unique characters that break stereotypes, balanced with a refreshing focus on morally ambiguous law cases.

Just as much as the focus was placed on the well-paced and exciting stakes in  the legal cases featured, the drama always gave space for the characters’ legit explosive chemistry to shine through and be developed further. While KDramas have been attempting to write “badass” female leads, Jang Geum Ja always stayed true to her anti-hero and morally grey character, with her gaudy, loud masculine style, unscrupulousness and shameless ambition to the end - a truly strong and admirable female lead who may not be fully likable. Yoon Hee Jae as the male lead also deserves praise as a more sensitive and softer portrayal of a privileged and powerful male lead, without ever overshadowing others or overstepping his boundaries.

Even as someone who struggles to watch purely-law/detective dramas, there was much to appreciate and enjoy from this drama, with its quality acting, writing and even memorable OST that can only be fully appreciated by watching.

4. The Bad Kids 隐秘的角落 recommended by Admin JL 

This is China’s year of high quality, sophisticated suspense dramas! Alongside Horizon Tower, The Bad Kids is certainly the one which had first carved out that status. Before it was named one of the Best International TV Series of 2020 by Variety, it had already achieved a phenomenal status in China with plenty of good fun memes and incisive meta created.

The success of The Bad Kids, in my opinion, represents creativity and the heart for storytelling triumphing over rigid, spartan censorship. It’s a testament that witty and thoughtful writing is what you need to tell a good story - and even censorship can’t get in the way of this (sometimes). It told a compelling and introspective story threading into moral fallibility while opening up questions to audience about what we perceive and know. This is a rare accomplishment when so many other recent cdrama stories are increasingly sanitised. The auteur-level of directing was vital in shaping the experience as well, down to the quirky selection of music.

So, do you believe in fairytales or reality? :)

5.  Brutally Young 十八年後的終極告白 recommended by Admin JY

How far would you go to hide the secrets from your past to protect your present? - that was the simple but solid foundation that this HK Drama delivered.

A group of high school friends are forced to reunite after 18 years to unravel the mystery of a recently discovered corpse, related to their shared pasts. Through this premise, mystery and suspense unfolds as the characters’ complex motivations and hidden pasts are revealed.

Despite the wide ranging cast, many characters are given good depth and personal arcs for development, and even decent romance feels. The pace of the story is also kept tight and remains consistent and realistic throughout.  Definitely an unexpected dark horse from TVB’s 2020 lineup, worth checking out!

6.  Candle in the Tomb: The Lost Caverns 鬼吹灯之龙岭迷窟 recommended by Admin JL

Okay, after two heavy suspense dramas from me, is there anything more lighthearted to watch? I’m usually not an action/adventure fan, but I’ve been a fan of the remakes of Candle in the Tomb directed by Fei Zhenxiang along with his team, following after the prequel adaptation last year, The Wrath of Time. 

This time, we have Pan Yueming as Hu Bayi, forming the Iron Triangle with Pangzi and Shirley, embarking on a tomb-raiding treasure-hunting adventure. Director Fei makes action digestible and fun to watch, on top of the witty script, great character-writing and performance - true to canon (as far as possible). As far as old fans of the franchise and new ones of the drama know, this is the best remake so far. I’m looking forward to the next instalment, The Worm Valley, likely out early 2021!

Watch the official episodes, subbed, on Youtube.

-

Let us know what your picks for 2020 are!

Written and gifs by Admin JY and Admin JL, unless stated otherwise.

[the196thbattalion]

star wars human! high school! au

i’ve seen so many headcanons circling throughout the star wars tumblr about high school au’s, so i wanted to share my bit with all of you :D

anakin skywalker

five words: REBEL CHILD ON A MOTORCYCLE.

he doesn’t like riding the school bus because it makes him feel extremely claustrophobic, so he scrapped and scavenged up parts to make his own customized motorcycle, which he lovingly dubbed artoo.

the blue and silver detailing was the joint effort of ahsoka and obi-wan, because anakin doesn’t know how to paint.

if he can catch up to the bus, he’ll ride alongside it and flip off the students on it before revving on ahead of them. (the freshmen think it’s the funniest thing in the universe)

probably one of the most well-known juniors in the entirety of temple high school (mostly because of his shenanigans but partly because he’s dating padme fuckiNG AMIDALA, PRETTIEST GIRL IN THE DAMN SCHOOL)

he always wears this worn-down leather jacket his mom gave to him before she passed away, and refuses to take it off, even though it’s somehow “a violation of the dress code and should be outlawed.”

his hair alone has seduced eight different students (boys and girls)

sometimes during study hall, ahsoka or padme will get a hold of his hair and style it into little braids or make a super rad ponytail.

he really likes iced coffee with milk and sugar. he puts in the milk to make it nice and light (it’s aesthetically pleasing, obi-wan!), and then like eight tablespoons of sugar to make it actually taste good.

his favorite class is mechanics, taught by kit fisto.

anakin spent months on a mechanical arm project to replace his clunky plastic prosthetic, and he was so freaking happy when it was finished; he almost cried. (he did cry and ahsoka got it on video)

obi-wan kenobi

a mixture of the soft™, pretty™, hippie™, grunge™, vsco™ and nerd™ tropes.

he really likes peppermint tea with lots of honey but takes his coffee black.

he has had too much tea.

someone needs to stop him.

almost all of his classes are ap courses, and if cody hadn’t been watching when obi-wan was making his schedule, all of them would be.

him, cody and padme have ap english with mace windu, and cody knows how much his classes stress him out, so he lets obi-wan sleep during class and sends him the notes

the only ap class obi-wan doesn’t take is mechanics, and he shares that class with anakin.

anakin and obi-wan are super close with each other. kenobi was there when ahsoka was adopted, and anakin was there when kenobi got his cat. (they were like 5 okay)

“NAME IT C3PO OBI-WAN, OR I SWEAR TO FUCK-” “what kind of name is that, and why would i - anAKIN PUT HIM DOWN!?”.

mr. fisto constantly has to split them up for disrupting the class, but it’s almost like they can communicate telepathically, and the teachers have a running bet

mace windu literally bet $50 on these fucking nerds so you know it’s for realsies

in reality, they’ve just gotten super creative with passing notes.

kind of off topic, but he has these brown harry potter glasses that he uses (kinda for reading???? but mostly so he can do that anime pushing up glasses thing)

cody thinks it’s the funniest shit ever

whenever cody is feeling stressed, obi-wan just does the thing™ and BOOM! happiness.

people think he’s a goodie two shoes, and honestly, it’s really easy to think that. if the iconics are trying to do something stupid, he’s usually the voice of reason.

but parties?

…

you know what, just ask anakin for the video footage.

ahsoka tano

this hs!au ahsoka tano turned me bisexual confirmed ✔

okay before i go into her style, which is mainly what made me drool over my computer, can i just put skatergirl!ahsoka out there?

spray painting of the rebellion symbol all over the bottom of her board and on items in a couple of the places where she skates the most (like the back of an abandoned car yard)

her instagram is filled with these super cool vhs-tape recorded skate videos (u know)

lots crackhead 3am visits (starring anakin, rex, kenobi and barris) to a gas station to get slushies and grind the shit out of the curb connecting the store to the parking lot

trying to teach anakin how to skateboard but he just can’t figure it out? uh yes

“try to balance skyguy!” “HOW DO I MOVE? DO I SCOOT? SNIPS THIS ISN’T FUNNY AND I WANT TO GET OFF – GUYS, STOP LAUGHING!”

okay okay okay i’m done

for now

anyway, her style???? is so???? fucking????? cool!!!!!

her genetics gave her a 80% of having vitiligo, so it really wasn’t a surprise when patches of her skin got lighter, but it still freaked her out a little bit.

basically, went like this: “DAD, I’M TURNING WHITE!” “???? oh my gosh ‘soka, no.”

she has long braided dreadlocks she dyed a super bright orange with various colored beads woven into them with the help of anakin and padme. she usually styles them into little space buns atop her head.

her entire clothing wardrobe consists of fishnets, neon bomber jackets, at least 11 bisexual beanies™, handmade patchy jeans, white tank tops, and light-up platform shoes.

she doesn’t give two flying fucks about the dress code, and – IN THE MIDDLE OF THE MOST BUSY HALLWAY - punched principal sidious over whether or not she “could wear shorts that short” (anakin may or may not have cheered when she broke his nose).

the fetts (chuck have mercy)

*cracks le knuckles* i’ve put it off long enough

we have: fox (24), wolffe (19), cody (17), rex (17), echo (16), fives (16), boil (15), waxer (14), hardcase (13), jesse (12), longshot (8), kix (6), tup (3), gree (2) and boba (9mo)

wolffe is off at college - fox already graduated and moved out, that cheeky little fucking shit - but both still keep in good contact with the fam, and it’s a constant clamor between eleven of the siblings of who gets to talk to them first

fox majored in government/politics, bly is majoring in space/astronomy, and wolffe is majoring in police/law enforcement shit (i don’t know how college works, so sue me)

cody and rex are juniors, and despite their similar looks, the amount of schoolwork each of them completes drastically varies

cody is the honor roll student, valedictorian, whatever you want to call it

rex kinda just either does the work really well or 9/10 times gets distracted by anakin or ahsoka sending him some nice spicy memes

cody tried to tutor rex but it ended up almost landing tup in the hospital

“that’s really simple, actually. if you – vod? rex, are you okay? what are you oH NO TUP DON’T PUT THAT IN YOUR MOUTH-”

fetts on the varsity football team is like a right of passage in the family

right now, only the juniors of the fett family are on the team, but the coach has eyes on fives and echo for next years team

SPEAKING OF

echo, fives and boil are the infamous sophomore trio that pulled the milk bucket prank on the gym teacher, pong krell.

they had to help the janitor (99) clean up afterwards, but they genuinely enjoyed 99’s company, because he’s rad as shit and knows all the secret school passageways.

to be honest, not one person (except maybe sidious) was complaining

that motherfucker makes everyone run like eight laps during gym class

even mr. windu gives them a small smile in the hallways after that

boil says he was blackmailed into it

waxer is a freshman (the poor dude, i’m so sorry), and he always looks out for the nervous freshies

if someone is having a bad day, he’ll give them a lollipop (he carries around a whole bag), a place to sit during lunch, and a shoulder to cry on

all you need to do to find waxer is to locate this long ass line of children

the school counselor, plo koon, sometimes brings his niece numa into school during the day because he can’t find a babysitter, and waxer. fucking. loves. her. PERIOD.

w+n pull these tiny little pranks on teachers, and the staff pretends not to notice, but numa always giggles and gives them away.

boil has a soft spot for numa too, and sneaks her rice krispies.

bonus shit i want to add in but can’t figure out where to put it (or i’m just gonna add it on and shit)

plo koon adopted anakin after his mother died (him and anakin’s mother were good friends), and found ahsoka on the side of the street, shivering like a maniac.

he doesn’t know where ahsoka came from, but he loves her so gOD DAMN MUCH.

he’s the school counselor, and still keeps in touch with a lot of students even after the graduated (he thinks that majoring in law enforcement/police is a bit dangerous for wolffe but he still supports his unofficial but basically son 100%)

yoda is the super old but radically rad english teacher.

his entire point of existence in my mind fic is to troll the shit out of palpatine.

a recent conversation starring yoda and palps: “did you give the students the mountain of extra work i assigned them?” “for the students, that was?” i’m sorry. my bad, that is.” “this is the seventh time, yoda.”

okay but for real

mace windu violently roots for the school football team.

“BEAT THE SHIT OUT OF HIM, CODY! YOU TOO...OTHER CODY!”

“THAT’S A HOLDING! THAT’S A HOLDING!”

“REF IF YOU DON’T COUNT THAT TOUCHDOWN THEN I SWEAR TO SAMUEL L. JACKSON I WILL COME DOWN THERE AND BEAT YOUR SORRY PINSTRIPED ASS!”

[404fmdtaejin]

famed idol life / career meme

notes: once again, a big mega post because i didn’t want to flood dash with answers. thanks to everyone that sent in!! 

1. what is your favorite single you’ve released?

“solo wise? i’ve only released one solo portal song, which was a self-written song called that’s okay. well, bc forced that one on me when they took pages from my diary — still, my only one solo release, and that’s the favorite since i’m left with no other option. in regards to group? everyone knows, amigo or not — my favorite will always be view. something special about that time, i tell you.”

2. what are your favorite b-sides/non-title tracks you’ve released?

“since i haven’t released any songs by myself other than the one mentioned before, i’d have to go through decipher’s discography. lovesick, odd eye, prism, honesty, stranger, better off — there’s a lot to sift through in the past few years. unfortunately, there’s a point where my interest had started weaning off idol-dom, and you can observe that when i stopped paying attention and interest into what decipher did conceptually after 2016. at least the enjoyment was fun while it lasted.”

3. what is your least favorite song (title track or b-side) you’ve released?

”that’s an easy one. you take any b-side we’ve released in the past few years, and that probably makes the list. the comeback with the b-side shot was awful. that’s probably the worst, in my head. never was a fan of that comeback, now that i think of it — i call it the dark blip of decipher’s early career. perhaps it’s just ambivalence at this point that i have no real strong feelings towards bsides nowadays.”

4. if you could do a duet with anyone in the industry, who would you choose? what do you think of your/your group’s concept?

“i’d want to do a duet with duri — we’ll have a tale of the oldies. the two 1990 liners inside bc’s walls doing a ballad song. though, duri would have to take the high notes on that one seeing as how he’s a power vocalist. there’s rarely times where i’m able to keep in touch or have people around my age, and for that — i’m always grateful when i come across that. we’d manage something interesting given the same age, and the ballad concept.”

5. what do you think of your/your group’s concept?

“decipher doesn’t really stick to a concept, and i suppose our concept has always been to branch into new avenues. there’s good things and bad things about it, obviously. we’re given new things to try, new stylings, and what not. however, we’re also subjected to that risk in case it doesn’t turn out how bc envisioned. to put it short — it’s either a hit or miss.”

6. what is one thing (a concept, a genre, an outfit, etc.) you would least like your company make you do?

“decipher’s novelty in the industry is that we’ve been here so long that we’ve managed a lot of different concepts. from the house pop to retro vibes, even spring ballads in soft tunes — we’ve done it all. the least? i’d say another electronic heavy music where we’re dancing like madmen. i wouldn’t mind a powerful choreography to show i can still ‘hang’, but to the sounds of techno-ish music? i don’t think so. at least, not with my age.”

7. what one thing (concepts, genres, styling, frequency of comebacks, etc.) would you like to change about your current career as an idol?

“i don’t want to comeback so frequently — it seems we’re coming back more frequently than other rookies. it would be nicer to stay back and relax while we let the hoobaes have their time to shine. genres and concepts aren’t really on the top of my list to complain about, though i would enjoy an old throw-back to decipher’s glory days where we’re given something newer. perhaps, that’d be enough to rejuvenate my attitude towards the industry.”

8. if you could be in any idol group, which one would you choose?

“with my age, i don’t think i’d fit any group. perhaps, i could assimilate myself to knight, but the bad boy niche doesn’t really match mine. say, i was a few years younger — then, you’d have me inside charm. i think i’d do a pretty good left and right if you ask me.”

9. if you could say one thing to your ceo, what would it be?

“i respect the business model you form. however, i’m still trying to understand it when applied to me. thirteen years, and i have yet to sit down and have a conversation with you. it’d be nice to have one someday.”

10. if you were auditioning for your company today, what would you perform for your audition, or what would you change from your original audition?

“my audition was so long ago. fourteen, fifteen years now, and that’s nearly half of my life. i wish i could remember parts — but there’s only the snippet of a ballad i sang, probably kim bum soo. all alongside some awkward dancing that bc shaped me up for. i’d probably pick a sung sikyung song instead.”

11. if you could do any special stage, what would it be and who would it be with?

”call it a weird match, but i’d have a set with duri, andy, joohwan, my maknae and jiah. well, those would be the people i’d know well enough to collaborate with, though the outcome might not be as promising as i initially thought. case closed, never make me do a special stage.”

12. what career opportunities would you like to pursue that you’ve yet to, or what achievements would you like to obtain that you’ve yet to?

“maybe a bit of variety? i’m completely happy where i am with acting, though it’d be better if decipher’s comebacks were rarer. however, i’m taking what i can get and variety might be a chance to show the side that doesn’t get shown when i’m playing a role on tv. i’ve heard from some people that i can be funny at times.”

13. if you could become a model or ambassador for any brand, what would you choose?

“as much as i like high fashion, i haven’t done any modeling in regards to brand deals with high fashion. a luxury brand would be nice — i hear prada has changed with the entrance of raf simons. i’ve been into the streetwear look lately after itaewon class, so that would be a current go-to. otherwise, i think i’m happy promoting good feel and credit cards.”

14. if you could be on any variety show, which one (or which type of one) would you want to be on?

“i live alone would be my first pick. only because i’ve decorated my house nicely recently, and haven’t had a chance to show it off to many people as i’m not home as often these days. however, that’d require an off day and i don’t have many of those lately. i think people would be shocked to see what i do when i’m around my house, lounging and rarely moving around.”

15. if you were offered the chance to become a ceo of an entertainment company, new or existing, would you take it? why or why not?

“as much as i’m leader of decipher, i don’t think i could handle leading a company. i wouldn’t want to become a ceo. it distracts from my own schedule, and i’d be too focused on my company rather than the hobbies and interests that appeal to me. sure, i’d make more money — but what’s more money on top of the money i already have? it’s counterproductive and i’d rather do what i like doing.”

16. what changes would you implement if you were the ceo of your company?

“each company runs on a specific pattern of events, and there’s a reason for that. a reason why routine shapes each group, so i wouldn’t necessarily change much. my trainee year was difficult, but it also fostered friendships within the group that i consider irreplaceable. the only change i can think of? maybe getting to know my artists rather than staying far off.”

17. what do you do to relieve the stress of idol life?

“i work out. i run a lot, and go to the gym as cliche as it sounds. but each role requires me to be in top shape, and after all that i’ve found a love for working out each morning. other than that, i like to shop and cook, even walk my dog. normal things any other person does on their day off. by the end of the day? finishing it off with a cold beer becomes my saving peace.”

18. what tips would you give to a trainee about to debut?

”push through it because it’s only a matter of time till debut happens. the trainee years are taken for granted, and you need to learn to treasure those moments. once debut happens, there’s no looking back and you’re constantly on the move — so, you’re better off enjoying now. also, don’t be afraid to approach sunbaes. we’re all in the same boat, been there and done that, so let us help where we can.”

19. what was the hardest part of being a trainee?

“singing while running around the room? i remember running too many laps, out of breath belting a high note. looking back, it was probably the time i thought i was going to end my trainee career right there and run to my parents. other than that? learning to live with others? i’ve lived a blessed life, and i’ve never had to share a room with anyone. that felt like a culture shock.”

20. did you enjoy the lifestyle of a trainee or of a debuted idol more?

“call me weird, but i’d say the trainee life. there was something special about those days, and now i’m so many years in my career and i miss the days crammed in the dorms. i don’t think there’s anything like it. the structure of it, the tears of joy and sadness all into one — every emotion all there. it’s rare moments like those i’ll never get back.”

21. what one song or album by another group or soloist would you have liked to release yourself?

“i’ve heard a lot of songs, but i heard a song recently by a charm member. one of the solo projects of dai, and his song let’s love was something that made me want to release music as well. maybe, it’s just inspiration just at that moment, but the song was something i enjoyed listening to. knight’s tempo was also something that i wish decipher was given, just because there’s a certain spark when it comes to the song.”

22. describe your dream sub-unit (members and concept).

“my dream sub-unit? does that relate to in-group or out of group? for the sake of this question, i’ll keep it in-group to simplify things. i’d like to keep our main vocal, myself and our lead rapper only because the maknae already has his thing in champion — though conceptually, i’m not sure what we’d be able to do. something non-dance related, i’d hope. perhaps, a power house vocal because i know our lead rapper can belt a few notes better than most main vocals of other groups.”

23. out of the following six options, would you rather be allowed to play a major hand in the lyrics, production, choreography, styling, music videos, or concepts you release?

“no lyrics, production or choreography. i’ve never been talented in that market, and maybe that’s why i don’t take part in any of these things. instead, i’d keep to the styling, and music videos — though, i don’t have an artistic eye. perhaps, i’d keep to styling as it lies most with my interests. my members might get bored of wearing the same dress shirts and slacks for each comeback.”

24. which of the two other companies (out of bc, dimensions, and gold star) you are not currently signed under would you rather be an artist in?

“none of the other two. i’ve said it time and time again that i’m loyal to bc — i might complain about it, sure. but in hindsight, i don’t see myself being in any other music company. now, if you had asked me in terms of acting? then, we’d have a different story between namoo, artist and vast.”

25. what is your least favorite part of being an idol?

“there’s no breaks, not for age. there’s little opportunity to cease the past, and continue on a new future. instead, i’m always tethered to the role of an idol, and despite how much i try — they still reel me back in each time for another comeback. on top of that, some songs don’t age well with time — decipher has a few of those. yet, because they’re fan favorites, i have no choice but to dance and sing along as if it’s 2009 again.”

26. what is your favorite part of being an idol?

“ironic, but there’s a lot of opportunities to try new things. i wouldn’t have thought of cf modeling or acting, if it weren’t for the opportunities presented to me. as a result, i’ve found a new enjoyment in an acting career due to the idol life. plus, along the way i meet different people to give me new insight — suppose it keeps me young again.”

27. would you rather be incredibly famous with a terrible reputation and hated by most or be fairly unknown with a good reputation and adored by those who know of you? why?

“i don’t know how to answer this one because being incredibly famous with a terrible reputation is just a cheapened output of your career you’ve built thus far. that would simply become a life unenjoyable, so by default i suppose i’d rather have the latter. fairy unknown with a good reputation because that way, you have a basis to build yourself up.”

28. what moment in your career are you proudest of so far?

“i’d either attribute it to parasite, which did win a lot of accolades not only in the country but out or i’d give it to the recent baeksang nomination for the dramas i was in. i don’t think i’d ever predict the success of stories i had a pleasure of working on. in retrospect, it was nice that so many people were able to relate and get along with the characters i was given the honor of portraying.”

29. what have you learned about yourself and/or society since becoming a celebrity?

“i’m no longer an extrovert. in fact, i’m more of an introvert. i used to think i was an extrovert, and one time i was when i was busy running around getting assimilated to those new faces. however, over the years, my circle’s only run short and i’ve been given little things here and there that make me want to preserve my small circle of people i’ve gotten to know along the way. i don’t like going out and partying, and much rather have a night in with dubu in peace.”

30. what would you like to change about how society views or treats idols?

“it’d be nice to be given more freedom — but isn’t that what everyone wants? i’m talking about stepping into something without facing backlash, or how we’re seen as approachable because we’re public figures. it’d be nice to sit down and have a meal without the thought of dispatch finding who i’m with, or scrutinizing any of my friendships. there should be some level of normalcy given, and i think that’s the least anyone could ask for.”

[captainderyn]

2019 Writer’s Round Up

Thank you for the tag @elveny!! 

I’ll admit 2019 has been...a very rocky year and I feel like my writing production has reflected that. But I’m very harsh on myself so let’s see if that’s actually as true as I think :’) 

Tagging forth @lumielles @inquisitorhotpants @greyias and anyone else who would like! 

--

Word Count 

Overall this year I wrote 266,375 words in total. Let’s break that down shall we?

On From the Ashes I wrote 62,168 words in actual content and 2,089 words in discarded or not yet used content 

On an RP working with @berriku (which...more on that later c:) we wrote 125,270 words between our main story and offshoots. I’m not sure how much of that was me, so it’s all lumped into one. 

For Moments In Time, my first foray into LOTRO, I wrote 22,261 words over the month of October. On a smaller set of Wulfwryn and Raenor specific prompts I have written 1,276 words. On an upcoming fic for them I have 1,174 words so far.

During my first set of commissions ever, I had the privelidge to write 6,041 words for people <3

And finally, on other varied prompt/fic word I wrote 46,096 words. 

Number of Smut Scenes: 

A whopping...0 lmao xD I have considered writing several, come close to writing several, have one in the works, but have yet to actually write any. 

New Things I Tried:

-Commissions! I tried my hand at writing commissions this year and it has been so worth it! I never thought I’d have the confidence to advertise myself that way and I am so glad that I did and that there was actually interest for them~

-New Fandoms--I ventured (back) into LOTRO and began writing in it for the first time. This alongside having some writing ideas for Check, Please! and technically foraying briefly back into Percy Jackson just for fun, I have really expanded what I’m comfortable and happy writing in. 

-New writing challenges: I participated for the first time in the WIP Project and Fictober, which I had never done before. Both times were a good way to get into a writing routine. 

Favourite thing I wrote this year

Moments In Time, my fictober compilation from this year is probably one of my favorite things that I have written aside from various prompt fills that I really do love. 

Favourite fic I read this year

Oh gosh this is really hard...I’ve read so many great fics. If I’ve kudos’d or reblogged your work, I guarantee I love it. 

@elveny‘s Spark of Hope series of works has been one of my favorites that I have picked up this year. It’s just masterfully written and has made me fall for a Solavellan pairing in a way that I didn’t expect! I can’t wait to see where it goes in 2020

@lumielles’ Rising Son. I know that you know that I absolute love Idan with all of my heart. I would die for my most favorite JediDad. But Rising Son frames his story from the beginning and makes you fall in love with the whole cast of characters that Lu writes in such a beautiful way. You get hooked to Idan’s story and the story of Ysia before him and Lu’s writing between characters just flows so naturally. 

@elveny and @kunstpause‘s The Hands of Fate Are Your Own. I don’t have enough room to say all that I would like to about this fic. The time and love that they put into this work is so clear in their writing which makes it an absolute joy to read and makes you fall in love with all the characters and the pairings. 2020 is going to bring more amazing chapters, I just know it. 

Writing goals for 2020

1.Finish From the Ashes: This fic has put me through hell and back but I so badly want to finish Baraneth and Alistair’s story in the way that it deserves. Perhaps even continue their story into what happens after the beginning of DAI. But this fic has given me too much to just bail out on it now. 

2. Work more on a project with Ien and Evvie that @berriku and I have been planning: We really want to share Ien and Evvie’s story with all of you guys, and I hope to really buckle down on outlining for it and possibly start writing it. 

3. Write and finish my own original short story: I have had an idea for the last few months and with a spring semester course setting me up perfectly to do some world building with it, I would love to actually produce something that is 100% original. 

4. Worldbuild and work some more with @delavairess and I’s original idea: the whole concept that we’re building is absolutely awesome and I am so excited to start focusing on it more. Especially the OT3 that we are building with that story. 

I have so many other ideas that I want to work on, such as planning an LOTR fic revolving around Wulfwryn and Raenor’s daughter and Eldarion. I also really want to write more content for those people I hc with. That really fell by the wayside this year and I’m sorry to all who I headcanon with for not giving our characters the love that they deserve. But those 4 goals are my main ones and I’m going to try and stick to them. 

Words of Thanks

This year has been so rough between academic changes and personal life struggles and I am so thankful for everyone who has stuck beside me through it. 

@lumielles @ofmistandrain @moonlitalien @skullinacowboyhat @berriku  who have spent so much time headcanoning with me and creating the most beautiful characters together. Not to mention the boundless support on my writing and overall friendship that I am so thankful to have with y’all. I definitely haven’t tagged everyone here, but *blows kisses* y’all know who you are

@anchanted-one and most recently @elveny for all your help with Ashes. This fic definitely wouldn’t have made it as far as it has and all the work that you guys have done with me between beta’ing and ideas has been so, so helpful. 

Everyone who I talk with, who reblogs my things, tags me in memes, sends me asks, and keeps this machine running. I am so thankful for you guys 

And of course @delavairess, my creative partner to the end, my best friend, and my ongoing inspiration <3 I couldn’t do half this creating thing without you. 

Here’s to 2020 guys 

[kusunokihimea]

                                                                     [ x x x ]

     [ So due to life being a TOTAL MESS these last several weeks, I actually managed to miss a rather important date last week...that being the fourth anniversary of Ryū and I RPing on Tumblr! It’s weird, it both feels like it’s been longer, and shorter...but! To celebrate, I thought we’d do a little shout-out to the peeps who have stuck around the longest, interacted the most, and overall just made these past four years as fun as they have been. 

     Sadly very few of our original partners remain, but we’ve gained and lost many over the past four years! This, of course, isn’t mean to exclude anyone who has found us more recently (and some inactive blogs may be excluded, but are still loved), but as a little something for those who have been around for the long haul, and who we’ve gotten to know well both IC and OOC! The Naruto RPC has seen its share of ups and downs and changes, after all. So without further adieu...here we go! ]

@historias-multorum :: Little sib! Someone I’ve known I think pretty much since you started, right? A wonderful friend, and so many great interactions between our many muses. It’s been so awesome watching you and your muses grow since you arrived in the community. Tumblr wouldn’t be what it is to us without you <3

@ascxndinggg :: MY SON. Core of my heart, receiver of puns, sharer of memes. The last of my OG mutuals from those first few weeks when so many of us OC blogs banded together and got each other going. You’ve grown so much little one, as a person and a writer, and it’s humbling to see. I love you, kiddo <3

@duckbuttsurvivor :: Sanjiii! One of the first Sasuke blogs we got to interact with, and my goodness Ryū scooped him up as her little brother so fast xD She adores him, and you’re such a good bean, Sanji. A wonderful artist (who has drawn FAR too many things for us (which we love ofc)) and just a sweet guy with sweet muses that we adore <3

@despairinghxpe / @uchiha-madara :: Oh Phoenix, where to begin with you? The clicking between our muses was so much fun to explore (and in some cases, so unexpected!), and remain some of my most memorable interactions we’ve had in this site since coming here. Your writing is phenomenal, and you’ve always been such a sweetie to talk to whenever we get the chance <3

@frogprinceus / @redlineoffate :: MITSUKI! Oh my gosh, writing with you has ALWAYS been such a blast. I love your muses, and all of their bonds with my silly beans. From father-daughter interactions with Jiraiya, to ItaRyū, to all Ryū’s friends on redline, there’s never a shortage of bonds between our blogs. And you are legitimately one of the nicest muns we’ve ever had the pleasure to meet! <3

@hyugainterior :: Hina-mun, you too are one of the brightest lights in the Naruto (and other fandoms) RPC. Your voracious positivity never fails to inspire me. While we don’t write IC, you’re still one of the most memorable people I’ve met during my time here, and every snippet of conversation we have is a gift I treasure. I just hope you’re keeping up with your own well-being as much as you strive to do so for others <3

@sennenryuu :: Another AMAZING OC blog - one that’s dipped in and out of the RPC, but one I’ve adored since discovering it. N, your level of attention to detail of your character and her lore is something I very much look up to and strive to match as a character creator and worldbuilder myself. We’re so happy to see you back in the community, and can’t wait to write with you and get to know you more <3

@yukaikokoro :: STAR! Devourer of my lore x’’D Seriously though, you’ve become one of my closest friends, and I love just chatting with you, and writing with you. It’s been so much fun talking about DL with you, and you’ve honestly been a huge help in pushing my imagination further with it. Now all I gotta do is write it, right? But seriously, we love you both <3

@scnjuclan :: Another blog we’ve formed such awesome IC bonds with. I love our family verse so much - it’s one of my favorite canon-based verses. Little Ryū looks up to Tsunade so much, and uncle Nawaki is a major favorite! All of our interactions always feel so welcoming and organic, I love them. And it’s always great to chat with you, Bailey <3

@silverfaxg :: Oh my goodness, this is seriously the cutest OC blog we’ve ever encountered. Kadia is SUCH A SWEETHEART, and I adore our interactions, especially with Ryū and with Reiji. They’re all just so fluffy and filled with good feels. And chatting ooc is always fun, talking about our silly beans and what shenanigans they’ve gotten themselves into next, ahaha <3

@kyuuzuchiha / @xkaekox :: Booooo~ One of the sweetest muns on the planet. And I know you don’t write too much anymore, but our interactions with both Naruto and Sasuke are too beloved NOT to say something. Between the sibling-like aspect with Naruto, and the budding romance with Sasuke, just...! So many great times. And of course we miss YOU alongside those boyos, and hope you’re doing well my friend <3

@quiet-kunoichi :: Jack, my dear friend. Golly I miss writing with your girl. The modern thread we had was honestly one of my all-time faves and I miss it to pieces, it was SO GOOD. And I love having our little pop-up chats! I hope you’re doing well, and look forward to any return you might make in the future so our girlies can continue being gay messes xD <3

@abyssaldespair :: mEEEG! Bruh. One of my most active RP partners, and one of my closest friends. Still astounds me how we went from cracky side interactions to the mess of shipping and threads and fics we have now, my gosh xD I LOVE our IC stuff, and also just getting to chat with you. Just! One of my besties for sure <3

@noharin :: I AM SO HAPPY YOU’RE ON TUMBLR AGAIN AHHH. I am A Mess at keeping up with Discord stuff but ohman, it’s so great having Rin-senpai back in town across all my silly bloggus. Mey you’re a peach and I love ya and we’ve had so many great threads and AUs. By far one of my favorite blogs and muns <3

@ncgeru :: Oh my gosh, this blog man - this blog xD You are so much fun to talk to OOC even if we don’t do so too often. My goodness. And don’t even get me started on your boy. He’s such a gem! Ryū cares about that boyo a ridiculous amount, and I still giggle to myself over the ToD game with him and Obito duking it out, my gosh xD I love our interactions and always love to see where they go next <3

@i-minato-chan :: I don’t get to write Ryū when she’s a smol too often, so honestly this blog and the AU we write in is SUCH a breath of fresh air. Your little Minato is such a good boy, and Ryū’s friendship with him is so pure and adorable. I love it. Whether it’s them being nerds together or just chilling, each thread has been so much fun <3

@masshirohebi :: Okay real talk, your blog intimidated me for the LONGEST TIME - you’re such a beautiful writer and your characterization is just! So amazing. I’m so glad to be finally interacting with you more. Seriously your Oro is just beyond perfect. I adore them and all their sneaky ways xD And you’re such a sweetie OOC, thank you for writing with us <3

@oc-lootcrate :: Oh my goodness, the OCs on this blog are so GREAT! We need to interact with more of them, I just haven’t had the time dfjhgdfg but the ones we HAVE written with have been a blast. Whether it’s adorable lil Senri or Ryū being this || close to nabbing Kenji, your muses are awesome. And you’re so sweet and easy to talk to, a v v good bloggu <3

@thecorpsecarrier​ :: This blog is just so...unique. I love the idea of the corpse corps, and Jun is such an intriguing character. I have LOVED our threads with the smols. Ryū is so curious about her and just! Wants to be friendos. I love them. And you’ve always been super approachable. I hope life isn’t keeping you too busy, and we get to write again soon! <3

     And to all of our other mutuals we have yet to get to know, we love you guys too! And we look forward to getting to interact both IC and OOC as more time passes. Tumblr RP has, at times, been a rough place to be...but overall it’s been a second home full of wonderful friends who have gotten Ryū and I through many a tough time. So even if you aren’t listed here, you’ve made a difference in this nerd’s life one way or another, so...thank you, and we look forward to another year <3

[ask-the-guiding-light-cast]

Fan Fic Writers Appreciation Day!

Without saying anything specific, I’d like to thank those who submitted for the ask meme thing. As an author, though, I think it would be wrong of me to let this day go by without taking the opportunity to acknowledge some of the stuff I’ve discovered since I began my writing endeavors. More details after the cut.

I’d like to recognize a bunch of fics written by folks who I’m in a PMD-related Discord server with. I’m really grateful to everyone in the server. They’ve been very encouraging and, in some cases, indirectly served as a means for bouncing off certain ideas that later became reality in the fic. While I haven’t been able to read these all, I’m gonna do my best to give a rundown!

First off, of course, are the fics I’ve worked with for April Fools’ specials. There’s Spiteful Murkrow’s and @virgil134‘s shared universe, consisting of Fledglings and it sister spin-off, Casting Off. Both of them are much more high-fantasy PMD stories set in an ocean-punk setting. The stories focus on world-building alongside an expansive cast of colorful characters. The authors base their settings off real-world locations and the research shows. Just check trivia posts that Spiteful Murkrow has made for the fic in its Serebii version.

Second off is Namohysip’s Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Hands of Creation, which is a hodgepodge of shonen and conspiracy thriller story elements. The Dragon Ball Z/Super inspirations are quite noticeable, if you’re into that. You may scoff at the premise, but it’s become a bit of a running joke that the further Namo and I read in each other’s stories, the more we seem to discover we have in common, ha ha. It also features an extensive cast that those of you who love dragon-types will likely appreciate.

Next up are a pair of fics that utilize darker settings and tones: Shadow of Antioch’s Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rebirth and MadderJacker’s A Home Far Away. The former uses a wartime setting that takes a lot of cues from Greek and Roman mythology and, as the plot advances, finds you questioning the moralities of the different factions in the conflict. The latter I’ve, unfortunately, not gotten very far in. But I’ve been able to do some RPs with some of MJ’s characters including his protagonist, Riley, and from what I’ve seen of how he writes Riley, the guy’s very easy to root for. There’s also TehSammichMan’s Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Your Great Kindgom, which draws inspiration from Rebirth.

Now onto some lighter original fics! P-bugle’s Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Pathways of Aspiration uses a unique team of a bagon and an alolan raichu, along with a tropical setting, to offer up a tale about the importance of second-chances. MagicAngelo’s PMD: Lost Spirit is a story that’s just getting started, but already looks to be doing something quite different by plopping a human boy right into a world of pokémon without any sort of transformations. To up the ante, he’s found not by kindly rescuers, but a shifty outlaw. Also recently-started is Shamekeeper12′s Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Agents of Fate, which seems to be using established explorers to tell a tragic tale about a dire, desperate conflict.

For those who are looking for complete fics that can be read from start-to-finish, I’ve got two in mind: Talgoran’s Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Power Trip and cynsh’s Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Fractured Elements. Both of these take place in original settings but are much smaller in scope and scale than some of these other entries. They focus on smaller, more intimate casts of characters. But, from what I’ve read, the more-grounded plots doesn’t mean these stories aren’t hiding some big, shocking twists. That’s lame wordplay on my part, since the former has a conflict themed around electric-types getting unnatural power boosts (hence the title) and the latter sees its protagonists dealing with strange weather phenomenons. Additionally, while I haven’t been able to read any of it yet, there’s ArbitraryRenaissance’s Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Aura of Storms.

Soniclink137 has a series of short stories set after the events of Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon, with his current one being The Tomb of Light. I’ve only gotten to read its predecessor, Amaranth, but I appreciate the focus on a character-driven storyline and the interpersonal conflicts between Light, Fennix, and the title character who’s conscripted to their team. Also in the realm of stories based on existing PMD canon is ShmokeyDaBear’s Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Canon Breakage. While slow on the update front, it’s shaping up to be very interesting as it drops a genre savvy human with knowledge of Explorers of Sky into the Explorers setting... only for everything to immediately go off the rails.

Lastly, these are fics whose statuses are uncertain at the moment, but I’m including them anyway! Maxatax1029′s A Song of Two Worlds, TheG0AT’s Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Gravity of Perspective (a Super adaptation that goes off the rails around chapter 20), and Will1231′s Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Blazing Aura (an Explorers retelling).

---

There’s a good chance I missed a couple of things. And, truthfully, there’s more I want to say, but writing this all out exhausted me, so I think I’ll have to do a belated appreciation post another time. Still, if you’re looking for something new to read, I hope you’ll give these stories a shot. <3

[orionsangel86]

Episode Review - 14x01 - Want, Everything, Sunshine, and Beyonce

Hellatus is over everyone! Put away the crack memes and shit posts and bring out your meta caps because we are back in business! Oh boy are we back in business! 

Right before @tinkdw came over to watch the premier with me, we discussed our expectations and both agreed that whilst our expectations were pretty much in our boots, we would consider the episode a success if it was even remotely meta. We wanted to be able to see clearly constructed themes both as a continuation of what had come previously and as a foundation for a strong season going forward. We were both hoping that at least from a meta perspective, that the episode would leave us happy and thirsting for more.

Dabb did not disappoint us.

It was such a strong episode meta-wise. There is a lot to pick apart that is ripe for discussion and I seriously hope that Dabb will keep a close eye on the other writers to ensure that these themes continue throughout the season. Plot-wise it was a weaker episode, but then again Dabb has always focused on the character emotional arcs more than the actual plot points in recent years, and I am grateful for that. The second half of season 13 felt stagnant to me simply because there was little to no character development and from a meta perspective it was also extremely weak. I went into this hellatus feeling negative about the show simply because I hadn’t actually enjoyed an episode properly since 13x12. However, the season 14 opener was most definitely enough to quench my thirst and get me excited for the coming season. Fingers crossed it goes from strength to strength.

Long review under the cut

Michael!Dean - What Do You Want

Straight in after the introductory Nyoooom of Baby (driven by a grim looking Sam and a pretty impressive swap from title music to diegetic music), we are introduced to the angel of the hour. 

8 Things about Michael:

1. I am not sure how I feel about Jensen’s performance right now. He is playing Michael extremely straight and whilst I can see how this cold, calm portrayal can come across quite terrifying, it’s not a carry over from Christian Key’s performance. I don’t want to be too critical, because we only saw him in a few scenes so far, but when I compare it to how Tahmoh portrayed Gadreel alongside Jared, and the way Misha pretty much nailed Mark P’s performance (and greatly improved it), I guess I’m still waiting for Jensen to WOW me in the role. The one thing I will say is that he did terrify me and managed to come across creepy when acting alongside his own WIFE. So he's doing something right I'll give him that. When Jensen wants to have chemistry with someone, he does.

2. I like the fact that Michael’s goal right now seems to be to educate himself on our world. He’s not running around causing terror and mayhem like Lucifer, he’s learning how best to go about “improving” the world. He also appears to be inspiring people with his words: “Holy men, leaders, killers” and we have seen the effect he had already on Kip the Demon - who was inspired to run for King of Hell until Sam Fucking Winchester ruined that plan. I wonder if we will be seeing the fallout of Michael’s specific type of inspiration throughout the season.

3. “What do you want?” Obviously this question is an important one. It was repeated like six times throughout the episode, though never to the main characters. It looks like this is going to be the theme of the season and as far as TFW’s personal journey’s go, this is now the question we are asking them and the question being explored. What does Sam want? Or Cas? Or Dean? This has an endgame flavour to it that has me extremely excited. 

4.Michael’s own personal want of “A better world” is a follow on in a way of many of the villains that have come before him. For seasons now we have been exploring this concept of improving the world for the better. We had it first in season 8 when the brothers had the goal to do the trials to make a world without demons, in season 11 Amara’s vision was to destroy so she could reshape the world to her own blueprints that she saw as better than Chuck’s. Dabb era has been even more obvious, first with the goal of the British Men of Letters being “a world without monsters” which was shared by Mary wanting a better world for her boys, and then in season 13 Jack’s arrival floated the idea of “paradise world” to Castiel. I don’t think Michael is gonna fair any better than any of these others, and wonder exactly where all these escalated versions of “a better world” will end up. It's all exploring the notion that nothing is black and white, but in fact a grey area.

5. I already discussed Michael and Sister Jo here. Cas mirrors... Cas mirrors everywhere... I also side eye the "pretty things" line because it reaks of Dean and his whole sublimation thing. In that sense it seems Dabb is making Jo a mirror for both our boys. I'll be keeping a close eye on her from now on.

6. ”Why would he say yes to you?” “Love”. OH DEAN. Just, Dean wasn’t in this episode but my god did we feel his presence RIGHT HERE. And to think there are people out there that still think this is a macho mans show about macho manly men. I’ve never known another character with more heart than Dean Winchester. This show is about LOVE above all things. I wish people would stop trying to deny that fact.

7. Radioactive Pigeon:

Look I’m not trying to be critical okay it’s very pretty and this is the FIRST time they have attempted showing an angels true form and that is amazeballs and all, but still. He has little pigeon wings and a bent halo. Pfft.

8. The Purity of Vampires. I actually love this. I think it comes across a bit silly on the surface, but the whole idea of monsters being pure is a massive callback to purgatory and season 8 and anything that calls back to season 8 makes me happy. 

Sam Fucking Winchester

Excuse me while I scream HELL YES. I have been waiting for Sam to take on the leadership role for AGES. Honestly this was always my dream endgame for Sam. To organise and lead the hunting community. There’s your better world guys. It was something that the writers flirted with in late season 12, but at the time Sam only took on the position with Dean’s approval and encouragement to go ahead. Sam has always stepped back and let Dean take the lead throughout the show as the big brother and parental figure. I think this was always a role he was destined to fill and something that has been building in the subtext for a long time (much the same way as the toxic codependency has been shown to hold Sam back.) 

What’s of interest here is what will happen when Dean comes back and is fighting fit. Will Sam relinquish his leadership position to Dean? Or fight for it? Will this cause conflict? I read this amazing meta on this which turned into an epic discussion and I highly recommend reading it. My HEART.

Sam’s state in the episode is one of constant motion. He cannot stop for a second, always being pulled from one thing to another. He doesn’t sleep, he doesn’t get to change out of his hideous blue and orange shirt (which is officially now my favourite Sam shirt), he doesn’t even get to finish his soup. I know Jared said that Sam had a ‘grief beard’ but Tink and I are adamant that the beard is simply due to the fact that Sam doesn’t get the time to shave. He has taken so much weight on his shoulders and in amongst that has to deal with horribly traumatic things such as face the face of his abuser and actually be a healer to him. Sam doesn't get a moment to himself and spends all his time concerned about others. It's very noble of him, but he's going through the motions.

Sam is the contrast here to both Cas and Dean, who are physically and mentally stuck in their awful situations. Sam is also stuck in a way, stuck with no time to actually contemplate the situation he has got himself in. Stuck without a moment to breath, or to grieve his brother. Stuck holding the weight of the world on his shoulders as every other single character looks to him for support, help and guidance. Sam is the motherfucking Beyonce of the episode, that is for certain.

He is also calling the shots on hell now...

(x)

... I find it amusing that back in the early days Sam's destiny was to be the boy king of hell, and it's almost like he's fulfilled that destiny, not by being king, but by being gatekeeper and in a position powerful enough to scare the demons into submission. This is probably what Crowley intended. Sam probably owns the moon now.

About Nick - Well, first of all, I TOLD YOU SO. I did say that I could tell the guy from the back of his head and I was damn right about that. Learn to trust me guys I am occasionally good at this stuff. Okay, now that that is out of my system, let’s talk about this. Round of applause for Jared in this scene. Because he takes Sam’s hell trauma extremely seriously and made sure that every nuance, every twitch, was picked up by those camera’s. I loved that. Potentially Nick could be a good way to help Sam heal in the coming season, as Sam has finally freed himself from Lucifer’s grasp. Is it fair that he should have to look after the face that tormented him for years? No. Not at all, but could it prove somewhat cathartic in the end? Maybe. 

At the end of the day, Dabb must have considered Nick to have a purpose beyond “I want to give Bucklemming something to play with so they don’t fuck up my actual story” and “We need to keep stroking Mark P’s ego for some stupid reason”. Because otherwise I am really worried about how limited his power must be, and refuse to entertain the thought that he was overthrown by Singer and his horrid wife. I can see the potential in Nick being a dark mirror for Dean following his freedom from Michael’s possession. How Nick deals with the post possession trauma could be an indicator to how Dean is really coping even when he buries it.

At the same time, both Sam and Cas have been possessed by Lucifer, and therefore have all the experience between them to help Dean’s recovery without needing Nick to get involved. So I dunno guys. I’m trying to see the positive in something I otherwise despise. 

Anyway I thought Jared was fucking superb in that scene and pretty much the whole episode and want to give him a round of applause because it is rare that he truly gets to shine on his own without Jensen by his side.

Now all we need is for Sam to get some sleep. How he is still functioning by the episodes end I will never understand.

Castiel Everything Winchester

(x)

Look at him. So defiant and done. You can almost imagine that fire behind him burning in his eyes as well. He’s such a dom.

Several things about Cas in 14x01:

1. He is 100% done with every demon on the planet and doesn’t give a fuck. Honestly though. The way he says “Oh God” when Kip walks in. The way he rolls his eyes. I wonder if he had Dean’s voice in his head saying “You know who wears sunglasses indoors Cas? Douchebags.” 

2. He is making desperate choices in order to save Dean, which is certainly typical for him. The fact that he spends the entire episode stuck in a chair is a fantastic metaphor for his whole feelings on the situation, a metaphor then reinforced through a mirror at the end when he speaks with Jack (we never get anything explicit with Cas do we?). The fact that Cas can’t save Dean right now is weighing on him, but he is determined to do whatever it takes. The conversation he has with Sam at the end is a brilliantly short but important moment:

“I should never have gone to those demons”

“Cas no I don’t blame you. honestly I wish I had thought of it first. If it meant finding Dean I’d work with.. I’d do anything.”

The takeaway here is that actions speak louder than words. Sam HAS been distracted being leader of the hunters and having to face his own nightmares thanks to Nick, but Cas has literally been doing anything he can with a soul focus on saving Dean. 

It's an intimate moment between them. In a bunker now bustling with life and movement this is the only time in the episode that it really seems still. The library has always been Sam's private space, where he feels most at home - like the kitchen is for Dean. But here he and Cas sit as equals together weighed down by their shared grief. It's the soft moments like this that I love the most about this show. They are both willing to do anything they can, but the difference is that whilst Sam is being pulled in lots of different directions, Cas’s sole focus is Dean. Note that heaven wasn’t mentioned once. It hasn’t even crossed his mind.

3. Everyone Knows, but Cas doesn’t give a shit. 

“How is it you lost Dean, I thought you guys were joined at the... well you know, everything.”

It is an extremely explicit nod to Destiel. It is also the first time a line like this has made it into an episode since season 7 I think. The difference now being that we’ve had years of steady subtext and narrative building on the love story, hence the line has a different weight to those previously. It was very carefully written, careful not to imply that Cas was joined to BOTH Winchesters as the line was specifically about Dean. It was written by the showrunner, who would have known the significance of such a line, it encourages the view that all of heaven and hell have made their own assumptions about Dean and Cas’s relationship, and in case anyone wants to argue that the missing word was “hip” like the saying goes, the gesture and nod by Kip goes to prove otherwise. In other words, there is no platonic interpretation. Which is delightful.

Cas’s completely stoic silence is even more delightful. God I love him.

4. He can’t see demons true faces anymore. Like everyone else, Cas not realising those people were demons really threw me for a moment. Tink and I both agreed that the scene should have had Kip snap his fingers and have the demons smoke in and possess all those people instead - still catching Cas off guard but not making it seem like he is just super unobservant. I personally feel like this was just an error Dabb made. I have no desire to try to meta explain that one and I accept it as the error it is. I do like that it took an entire room of demons and 4 sets of enochian hand cuffs to overpower him though...The fact that he had to sit there and watch his family be beaten and almost killed around him whilst he was helpless again, is an excellent parallel to Dean’s current situation and what he will most likely have to face in the coming episodes, and also a reflection of Cas’s mental state (as mentioned above), Coming out of this episode it seems like this will be another season where Cas and Dean mirror each other and walk similar paths in terms of growth and development - if only those paths would meet with a kiss!

5. He’s the bait. Tink found this line hilarious straight away, where as I had to blink and ask why because I obviously took offence. But once we started discussing it and realised the quadruple entendre it is I found myself applauding Dabb on his genius. Cas IS used as bait, by the SPN PR people. Because he’s Mister Popularity. He’s also the character who causes the most conflict in fandom, with those who love him so much they are bitter and mean and those who simply hate him often complaining about the exact same things but in different ways - leaving the regular fans stuck in the middle (Tink explained this to me with delight - how both anti’s and bitter!cas girls alike will latch onto that line for completely different reasons). He’s also potentially a queerbait depending on how you look at it. But anyway. Cas’s epic eye rolls in this episode were almost enough to rival Sam’s bitchfaces. I am impressed.

6. He takes no pleasure for himself. I am forever going to obsess over Cas’s relationship with human food and drink:

“Coffee has no effect on me.”

“Me either, not anymore. But its like with saltwater taffee or infants, you know I just like the taste”

Although we can argue his refusal is out of stubbornness to not give the demon the satisfaction, even when accepting drinks from the Winchesters he doesn’t usually bother, or will stick with water. Even if he is seen ordering coffee it is usually only to avoid looking suspicious in diners. We know Cas enjoys some food and drink, but Cas rarely allows himself the pleasure. Even in 13x14 when Dean offered him a beer, it remained unopened. A symbolic metaphor for Cas refraining from indulging in other pleasures? This is why I am so so desperate for Michael to ask Cas what it is HE wants. Lucifer stated that Cas was a “pleasureless dullard” and I want to see this theme continue. Cas uses his grace as an excuse not to indulge and I consider this linked to meta about the “sacred oath” of heaven and Cas being duty bound and numbed by his grace. But these are all elements for a bigger meta at another time and the moment in this episode is just another snippet of that.

7. He looks awesome framed in fire. I just really liked the set up of Motown Meats as the new hang out for hell, with its fire pit and orange glowy bar. There is a lot of general symbolism there but I enjoyed the flames framed behind Cas in every shot he was in. Because even though he was mostly stuck in this episode, that fire raging inside him didn’t burn out once. He WILL save Dean. Just as he promised to Jack at the end, even if he get’s battered, beaten and bruised, his determined stubborness to save his husband will win eventually. Cas is no longer the broken thing of seasons 11/12. He well and truly rose like a phoenix in season 13 and now it’s showing through, as it’s a mission fueled by his own passion and love.

Jack Winchester (AKA my nougat son)

Poor Jack, like his father he hasn't had it easy in 14x01. He is struggling with his humanity now, his usefulness, in such a clear mirror to Cas that it kinda hits you in the face. He is desperately seeking guidance from those around him. First in the form of AU Bobby who has clearly bonded with Jack following their experiences together in apocalypse world.

It is great to finally see the Bunker gym! A room we all have ingrained in our fandom hive mind thanks to a 100 destiel fanfics. We all know what's gone on in there. >.>

Throughout the episode, Jack seeks out guidance first with Bobby, which goes badly, then with Sam, which is interrupted, and finally with Cas, which is when he finally gets told what he needs to hear. I am really happy that whilst Jack has so many father figures now, it is Cas who truly holds that torch and is able at least somewhat give Jack what he needs near the episodes end. If only he had damn well given his son a hug!

I loved the conversation so much that I transcripted it here:

JACK: I’m fine.

CAS: You did well

JACK: All I did was get punched. In the face

CAS: To be fair we all got punched in the face

JACK: That’s not - Before when I had my powers I could have done something

CAS: Jack you don’t have your powers, and your grace should regenerate in time, but until then..

JACK: I’m useless. I cant kill demons I cant find Dean and Michael is in our world and I cant stop him.

I can’t do anything. I don’t have anything.

CAS: Oh Jack. That’s just not true. You’ve got me. You have all of us. You have your family.

And we are going to find dean and we are going to beat Michael and we are going to do it together. Because that’s what we do.

This whole conversation was PERFECT. Every line chosen so specifically and weighted with meaning. Urgh Dabb I fucking love you for this.

Jack starts with “I’m fine” which Cas knows by now means you are not fine but he has also learned to recognise that sometimes it doesn’t mean “leave me alone” as Jack was crying out for guidance and support here. 

The mirrored “got punched in the face” calls to attention the fact that Jack is a reflection of Cas himself here and everything he has felt both now and in the past.

Jack’s complaint about being useless without his powers is a fear Cas has carried with him since his fall in season 9. It’s something that still weighs on him and whilst Cas now knows his place by the Winchester’s side, knows that they are a family and that he is not just a hammer, I think that fear of losing his power and being cast out is still well and truly weighing him down. It will be cathartic for Cas to see the family accept Jack as one of their own even if he is “useless” and human. 

Cas’s “That’s just not true” when Jack says he is useless - his voice breaks and you KNOW Cas has had those exact same thoughts.

“you’ve got me, you’ve got all of us. You have your family” compared to You’re my family, I love you, I love all of you” compared to “We're family. We need you. I need you.” The difference is there is no ambiguity in the word ME. Dabb turned it around, but had Cas clear it up. It’s the same line every time. The only difference is the placement of each individual statement. If this isn’t yet another clear example that the “I love you” was specifically directed at Dean I don’t know what is. THIS IS A CONTINUING PATTERN PEOPLE.

The determined promise to save Dean at the end, right after he specifies the singular and plural because obviously Dean was on Cas’s mind at that point - Mister I Don’t Get Words Wrong over here knows exactly what he means.

I love this whole conversation, but as I said above, it drums home the fact that whilst the Winchesters and others may be sources of guidance and support for Jack, he only has one true father, and I think Dabb wanted to make that clear in this episode. Remember:

Fingers crossed for more father/son bonding between these two in future episodes.

Mary and Bobby

(x)

Baring in mind I was expecting 1 small Destiel moment in the episode in the form of a line from a demon. You have NO IDEA how happy this moment between Mary and Bobby made me. If anyone saw that inktober pic I drew for premier day of me and Tink gasping in shock at the screen, it was for THIS moment. My face lit up in delight.

I said at the start of this long review that Dabb picked his moments well. With every second counting from a meta perspective. This was one of those.

Tell me, anyone, when watching that moment, would you deny that there was something between Bobby and Mary? As homework I'd like you all to play this scene to your heteronormative friends and family, or even be brave and ask a bibro. Would ANYONE deny that it was intended to be romantic?! I highly doubt it.

And yet there was nothing textually explicitly romantic about it. There was NOTHING in this scene that hasn’t been filmed a thousand times between Dean and Cas. The fact that Dabb chose to write this extremely small seemingly unimportant moment, in the kitchen, and for Bobby to use THOSE EXACT WORDS. As I have mentioned several times already, Dabb doesn’t fuck around when using well known moments from past canon in order to reinforce the importance of a thing. Dabb LOVES parallels. He wrote Bloodlines after all. He also knows the fandom hive mind and the things we pick up on and latch on to. This was a very smart calculated decision to include this in the episode and I am LIVING that he did it. GIVE ME ALL THE BOBBY x MARY/ DESTIEL PARALLELS. 

...

I actually really liked Mary in this episode. There is so much discourse in fandom about her and whilst I find Sam Smith pretty cold and wooden, I have never understood the utter hatred of Mary as a character. Hence why I praise Dabb’s genius at this moment:

(x)

Because this line literally sums up her entire arc since her return. Tink and I paused the episode and basically flailed at each other because this is EXACTLY what Mary has been trying to do. She was in HEAVEN, with her BABIES and suddenly she is back on earth with two grown men who are strangers to her, telling her they are hunters and have suffered a life of HORRORS without her. So she ran. Hell, I would have ran too. She shoved herself into hunting because all she could think about was trying to make things GOOD for her boys. Trying to FIX her mistakes the only way she knew how: by HUNTING. She was drowning in the bad. So she found focus in trying to make things good. Like in this episode, she reassures Sam so much that he snaps at her. He doesn’t want to be reassured, and that’s fine. But my god this felt like the first time Mary has truly had a voice. I really weren’t kidding when I said that Dabb made sure every word counted.

OTHER THINGS

I am unsure how I feel about the title card:

Tink called it. I think it looks a bit odd, a bit too clean. I like the title cards to be grim and dark. Black angel wings though! And hey, at least the fiery halos in the title cards are perfectly spherical... so we know they CAN do it right...

*side eyes SFX team*

Kip as a wannabe Crowley was kinda fun for a one off episode but I am glad that they are stressing now that wannabe Crowley’s get killed. The last one we had was Bart in 13x08 who was very much the same flirtatious queer coded demon. I’m fed up with the villainous queer coding by now. It’s been done too often. Give me another Demon like Alastair or Ramiel or none at all.

“Asmodeus Kentucky Fried” DID ANYONE LIKE ASMODEUS OTHER THAN BUCKLEMMING? This made me LOL.

The fight scene at the end was really weird and overly long. I dunno why they decided on so many random slow mo and wooosh shots. the whole Mary slow mo throwing the blade at Sam was cringy. I wish they’d stop being experimental and stick with what they know! You think they’d learn after 13x23!

Maggie was a bit annoying. Why bring her along if she can’t fight? Also the random cuts to her reaction after Jack was angsty had me reeling. simply because in het couples that’s a brewing romance and that is a massive NOPE from me. I like her as an individual character, I DO NOT like her as a love interest to a 1 year old, and I certainly wouldn’t like some pining story for her where she falls for an unavailable guy. It’s not fair on her character. The one thing I did like was the “pointy end” comment. It reminded me of Charlie for some reason.

The throw away line about Ketch being in London looking for the golden egg Lucifer/president extractor. Nice closing of a plot hole there Dabb.

I liked the Jesus weapon expert hunter dude. He seemed quirky. Dead man’s blood bullets are an excellent idea. 

DETROIT. Why does everything always happen in Detroit? I swear one day they are gonna reveal that Detroit is like a central universal power hub where the walls between the dimensions are thinnest or something. I could go on about this but I am sure a better meta writer elsewhere already has and this is waaay too long so I’m leaving this here.

If you got this far. Kudos and thank you for sticking around to read my thoughts. Feel free to ask me anything about any of the above. If I could hand out cookies through the internet I totally would right now.

Basically I enjoyed the episode. I have since re-watched it a dozen times and it is really the meta of it all that makes me love it. The story IS weak, and there ARE moments that are a bit odd, or infuriating depending on the way you look at it, but the heart of the episode was classic Dabb. All character driven and full of meaning. I am extremely well fed after this meta feast, perhaps even enough to get me through the horror show that will be Bucklemming’s 14x02. 

So long as Cas continues to look like a sexy beast I’m sure I’ll get through it.

I’ll just leave this here:

God he’s such a dom. :P

[page-of-tales]

HFY Story: Faith in Humanity

Listen, I’ve accidentally deleted this thing twice now. First by not saving manually, and then by overwriting the file accidentally. I’m hoping this counts as my third draft and so I’ve edited it less thoroughly than usual.

Word count: 2040

---

“The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.”

― Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Bureau of Alien Contact is a large Ergotoid government agency tasked with protecting the Ergotoid people from the influence of alien cultures. Each new alien species encountered resulted in a new department and new challenges for this agency. Sometimes the threats would be active, such as the subtle hypnosis imagery utilized in the entertainment distributed by the Boral aliens. Or the false claims by the Knorr in their advertisements for Ergotoid miracle “cures.” Other times the threats would be from within, and prove to be far more challenging. Inevitably after contact with a new alien race was made, a cult of personality would form. Admiring if not outright worshipping an alien race, idealizing them to godhood status. These cults would have to be crushed physically and ideologically as they posed a risk to national security.

Senior Agent Barann was well versed in dismantling these deviant worships. Having organized the misinformation campaign to break the illusion presented by the Pladis and their “utopian” society. As well as heading the military campaign to “kill” an Immortal, shattering the supernatural allure the mysterious figures held over the Ergotoid citizens. He had been commended for his effective solutions. Promoted to head his own department for a new alien species. Set for life it seemed. However now his position was now in contention.

Barann had not expected the subject of his department, humans, to generate much attention. They were at a glance an uninteresting species. The usual freakish alien appearance with no close match to any Ergotoid mythical imagery. No supernatural abilities or “magic” technology. Territory far enough away to limit physical influence to just their diplomats. Early assessments had graded humanity a low priority for the BAC, Bureau of Alien Contact. Whoever had made those assessments should have been fired. It had recently come to light that a human sourced series of viral videos was being passed around on the net. Like most such viral instances the videos were not distributed by any accountable source, but continually shared and transmitted by individuals.

Any alien product that reached that level of appeal was immediately appraised for threat analysis. Prior instances of the human cultural artifact known as memes had been brought up before and consequently been dismissed as non threats. These videos were different, despite having no obvious call to action, it was spurring sentiment in favor of the humans across Ergotoid space. Barann had viewed the first video in question several hundred times by now. Despite his seniority status he found that examining the materials under examination to be far more useful than second hand reporting.

The video was formatted as an amateur edit of various clips. With an opening text disclaimer asserting the imagery was not for juveniles.

The first clip has footage drawn from a camera outside the hull of a ship. Text in the corner notes the time and place. The ship is labelled as the Vivian. Barann had heard of this incident, rewriting it to feature Ergotoids had been one of his tasks before his promotion. The Vivian had been a colony vessel, some 10,000 individuals aboard belonging to the Kellarian Constituency. While on route to a potential colony site the Vivian had become crippled by a microstorm in a remote system. The punctured hull and spinning fragments could be seen as the camera panned slowly about. No engines, no shields, just waiting in space for the microstorm to rotate around the star and finish them off. The quietness of the video is unsettling. The camera’s slow movements almost seeming regretful of the loss about to happen.

Then a blink of light in the distance, distinct from the flashing metal and debris. The camera pans over and zooms in search. In the distance a large freighter can be seen moving in slowly. The human freighter, the Pale Air. The silence of the footage is supplemented by a tense music cue as the freighter moves in slowly. Stopping just beyond the edge of the microstorm.

Whatever discussion was taking place ended. The Pale Air’s engines flicker to life and the Pale Air closes in on the crippled vessel. The Pale Air’s shields flash as microstorm debris disintegrates on impact, sections begin to fizzle under the continued bombardment. As the freighter continues to approach it becomes apparent the humans are moving too fast to safely dock. A minute later something large impacts beside the camera. As the camera stops shaking the image resolves to show the Pale Air impacted against the Vivian’s hull. It’s engine roar to life. The vibrations from the engines transmitting to the Vivian and rattling the camera. Text scrolls past the screen as the camera slowly loses fidelity. The Pale Air had slowly pushed the wounded colony ship out of danger away from the microstorm, saving the lives of thousands of Kellarians. The screen fades to black as the music plays into the background.     

The second clip starts with news footage. As footage of a bustling multi-species hub is shown the news ticker describes what is happening. A disease called the Jinkor plague, is ravaging some alien system. Somehow human blood is being used as treatment. The camera moves to an alien reporter who begins to speak, behind them are rows of humans sitting in chairs. Red liquid being drawn from their arms.   

The video cuts to a vertical aspect ratio. A human pointing the camera at themselves. It opens it’s mouth to show teeth, in a predatory manner. It shouts in an alien tongue over a noisy background, “Doing my part, hashtag Give Blood.” and points the camera at it’s arm. Inserted into its arm is a needle drawing blood into a machine. The human raises the camera to show the people sitting behind them who wave a hand at the camera, “These people are also doing their part!” The camera spins around to show the rows of humans giving blood before the video cuts again.

This time it’s a newsreel montage. Footage of red liquid being injected into aliens. Long lines of the same aliens. Crowds cheering, more blood donations. The a blank page with statistics scrolling upwards. Number of donations, quantity of blood, lives saved. The montage ends with a picture of a juvenile alien hugging the leg of a human before fading to black.

The image pans from a cloudy yellow sky to a tree. On the upper branches a purple creature can be seen. Its cries faintly caught by the recorder. The viewer pans down to an alien in distress. Pointing and calling for someone to help its pet. From out of frame a human steps forward. Grasping a lower branch it examines the tree. Then the human pulls themselves up. With surprising agility the human climbs the tree until it is just below the purple creature. An arm stretches out, fingers stretching to reach the creature which shys away. The human jumps, shaking the tree. The human jumps again, and a branch snaps.

The recorder swings wildly, blurred frames of the human falling through the branches. There is a scream, and then the recorder rushes over to the human laying on the ground. The human uncurls an arm and the purple pet springs from its grasp and runs to its owner. The human then slowly rises to its feet. The recording stops as the human hobbles away.

An audio waveform bounces on the screen as an alien voice speaks.

“Distress, distress, this is Hilti Mining Station JV-33, we’ve had a mass casualty explosion event. We require immediate evacuation. Repeat, we have had an explosion. Fires uncontained. We require evacuation. Distress, distress…”

Colors splash onto the screen, a light blinds the camera, then the camera faces at cold metal plating. The angle moving awkwardly before settling into place. “Helmet cams online.” The camera turns, a human in full hard suit makes a hand gesture at the camera. More human voices crackle through a radio.

“The Hilti are cut off from their hangars and escape pods. Fire remains out of control and fuel is leaking into the vicinity. Check your fire suppression tanks.”

The camera moves as the human looks around the small room. A small group of humans wearing hard suits surround them. Various tools and devices at hand.

“30 seconds, get ready!”

The POV camera turns to withdraw a large tube from a locker. The human moves to stand with others alongside a wall. The human crouches down, one hand reaching out to grasp a handle.

“Opening door in 3, 2, 1. NOW!”

One of the wall slides away opening the room to space beyond. Across the distance is a facility floating in space. The lower half clearly damaged with gaping holes exposing the interior to the vacuum of space. Parts of the station glow red and white as internal temperatures rise from uncontrolled fires.

The human kneels down, the large tube protruding into the camera view. After a moment a rocket is fired. Behind the rocket trails a line. Unraveling as it travels, the rocket embeds itself onto the station. Moments later two more lines attach to the station The lines are attached to the ceiling of the room, bridging the gap between the ship and the station. Then the humans attach ascending devices to traverse across the line. The only movement being the humans on the line, and a tendril of orange liquid fuel twirling in space. As the humans are in transit one of them yells out.

“Holy shit! Lookout!”

In the silence of space the facility plating down below seemed to suddenly disintegrate. There was only time for brief incoherent yelling before the expanding metal shards reached them. The camera jerked violently, humans ahead curling up to make themselves smaller targets. Within seconds the shrapnel passes by.

“Roll call!”

“I’ve got a breach!”

The camera turns to look at one of the humans behind them. They have a hand to their leg.

“Return to the ship, everyone else keep moving!”

The video cuts to the humans hanging off the side of the facility. Sparks from torches blinding the camera as they cut through the wall. The panel is launched outwards as the internal atmosphere vents into space.

The video again cuts as the humans make their way through the darkened station corridors. Smoke obscuring their visor lights.. The humans regularly calling out for survivors. Open flame doused with a chemical foam. A hand with 4 fingers reaches out to them.

The video cuts again to the humans traversing the lines back to their ship. The room now filled with aliens laying against the wall. The human turns to cut the line from the roof as the wall slides back into place. The video cuts out and ends.

Barann shifted to a meditative stance. The appeal of the video was obvious. Dramatic depictions of heroic deeds was bound to inspire admiration. The usage of true stories only enhanced that effect. But its effect was becoming much more far reaching. Net searches related to humans had increased several thousand fold. Uncontrolled media outlets also began presenting stories of humans. Interest in humans was statistically on the rise, a positive image working to subvert the BAC’s work.

It seemed obvious that something insidious was going on. Something the BAC had missed. The analysts had combed the video for hidden signals or subversive techniques, finding neither. Attempts to find the procedure had been unsuccessful. Barann suspected it to be a group of individuals human who made the video as part of an amateurish hobby. Which would make it difficult to stem the further production of videos. Hoping to find a clue in the next viral video Barann uploaded the next file, Faith in Humanity #2.

[fanfictionlive]

Does your fandom has a toxic community?

Greetings fellow fanfic-writers and readers!

Today I'd like to share with you something that happened to me just a few moments ago and start a discussion, grab some popcorn because this might be a long rant, so please bear with me if you're interested.

You see, I've been playing videogames for most of my life now. Alongside comics, animation and recently writing, they are among my favorite type of media that I'd like to work on someday. As such, I am no stranger to high levels of toxicity, for I was there during the worst times of Halo 3, Call of Duty and most of all Gears of War, especially in the latin-american community (my community, greetings from Mexico!), where all the issues about elitism, thrashtalk, racism and sexism happens there on a daily basis, not a place for those without a thick skin.

Where am I going with this? Just an hour ago, I turned on my Xbox to check on some downloads I left during the night, that's when I found a message from the Xbox Live Support team saying that apparently my rep has improved from 'avoid me' to 'needs improving'. This took me off-guard since I hardly talk with anyone outside my group of friends, my only sin would be to answer to those who insult me, but I never start an argument, I just let them know that I won't stand still while they try to stomp me, and it seems that Microsoft doesn't like that either.

"bUt hOw dOeS tHis RElaTes tO FanDomS or Fanfiction, kNoIgHt?¿" You might ask.

Well, I reply, as you can probably tell, all that nonsense happened to me while I was playing videogames, being Ubisoft's 3D fighting game "For Honor" the offender in this case. In Reddit and the forums, this community is not much of a threat outside of dank memes and heated arguments concerning the balancing of the characters, but oh my god in Xbox Live people is insufferable and nonsensical sometimes (Please note that I'm just talking about the community side on Xbox ONE, which is where I play the game, I'm not sure if this is different on Playstation 4 or PC).

Let be clear when I say that I LOVE this game, from its interesting concept of knights vs vikings vs samurai, being the knights my favorite of the bunch (duh!), the story, the gameplay, the music, the artstyle, most about it it's great, to the point where I wrote a small crossover fanfic about this I.P., like those who know me probably have seen already. The rotten apple of the mix comes with the community being elitist, as well as being both bad winners and losers with annoying emote-spams and thrashtalking you down whether they defeat you or you defeat them. I am not a saint, and I have engaged in this... 'triggering' behaviors myself, but only as a response to those who wrong me first, I react, never act.

"bUt wHy yOu dIdn'T pOSt tHiS iN ThE fOr HOnoR sUbRedDiT, kNoIgHt?¿"

I know that community quite well, this would dismissed by the lament of a butthurt noob if I posted it there. I am posting it here because I would like to start a discussion with a civilized, trustworthy community about how it breaks my spirit to see people from a fandom being divided by the most insignificant of things, like shipping wars for example. Heck! If you are a fan of The Dragon Prince and have visited the subreddit, you probably know about the "Rayllum" ship related content that has been flooding that community. I respect those shippers and their right to post whatever they please, even when you could say I ship Callum with Claudia (yeah, controversial opinion, I know), but that's beside the point.

What I'm trying to say is that regardless of gender, skin-color, nationality, sexual orientation, political or religious beliefs, we are all fans of something at the end of the day. If we share a common preference, we should be rallying together in honor of that, not fighting amongst each other over petty differences, that part of why the fandom/fanfiction culture was frowned upon for so long. If you play competitive videogames, please don't be nasty and, if you are a shipper of anything/anyone, feel free to make your voice heard, but also respect those with a different perspective.

But that's all on my part, I really needed to get this off my chest, which is why I thank you sincerely for reading this rant. To wrap up this I'd like to ask you some questions to start a conversation!

Would you say that you are part of a fandom with a toxic community? How has been your experience so far?

What is the best/worst thing the people of your fandom has ever done?

Have you ever considered abandoning a community because of toxicity?

And, if you are into For Honor, which faction have you chosen? Do you have any anecdote that you would like to share here?

Meanwhile, my best wishes to every soul in this subreddit. I hope we meet again in the close future. Much peace and success to you all! Cheers!

submitted by /u/Knight-Rhapsodios [link] [comments] from FanFiction: Where Magical Ponies battle Imperial Titans https://ift.tt/2Ci0CLB

[fhawnmillahn]

Counting Meme

Fhawn

ONE INSECURITY

♦ “It’s... daunting thinking about whether my support, my benefaction, or... my ministration---that’s what I’d like to believe it was---truly brought him back and set him to the right path, once more. 

Where he traveled off to, I may never know, and whether he’ll maybe return tomorrow or never, who can say.” 

TWO FEARS

♦ Is... is it rational of me to somewhat fear those thaumaturges and their guild over in Ul’dah? I’ve witnessed what fire begets, temperamental and unyielding as it is. What it’s capable of is... terrifying, so when imagined in the hands of a some overconfident student...

I’ll admit, unless under duty or urgency, I avoid visiting the city if I can.”

♦ “I think I’m at my wits end with these weevils. If one more infestation decides to tear at my nettle and yarrow roots, well... I’d fear for their safety as much as my garden.”

THREE TURN-ONS

♦ “...Passion. For sure.”

♦ Though it’s impossible not to be vain about your interests sometimes, there’s just... something about gingers and their red-maned brethren. Such captivating colors.”

♦ “Perhaps I’ve been spoiled with present circumstances, but I sure do love the mind and artistry of a musician. However, I do wonder if it’s just my envy.”

FOUR LIFE GOALS

♦ “Green thumb or no, everyone is capable of assisting in spreading the bounty of verdure. There’s nothing quite like uniting all under the solace of a healthy, beautifully lush world. My heart races at just the thought of it all.”

♦ “This goes hand-in-hand with my previous statement, but I... would honestly love to offer flowers to every body inhabiting this world alongside me. Even if it’s just a single blossom, I think it’s both a blessing and reminder for all to know they’ll always have something to both cherish and share with everyone.”

♦ “I... I’ve recently thought about children and... maybe fostering a few.”

♦ “After my years have been shed and I’ve provided all that would secure the sanctity of both family and kin, I’d want to live out my remaining seasons adventuring. 

To see all that grows and blooms the land over would be my final dream.”

FIVE THINGS THAT MAKE ME HAPPY

♦ “The coalescence of the early morning, home, and my garden. Waking to the soil and toil is sometimes all I need; it’s nothing short of a blessing experiencing such succor with every rising sun.”

♦ “Learning. Erudition. Being a student to the woods is fulfilling when I get to discover something new. Be it a seed, a leaf, or an unfound substance, there’s ever a secret waiting to be understood.”

♦ “Honestly? Receiving a level of intimacy and camaraderie; not so much the specifics but the rapport of it all. Knowing that someone’s time or attention can never be formally asked for, so when someone offers so willingly to me, it... well, it makes me glad to know they think that highly of me.

Perhaps that can be mistaken for pride, but... I am technically proud of the many friends and companions I’ve shared both time and thoughts with, as well.

♦ “There are times when I must away from home and the hearth, so when I return... and I’m greeted by all of my loving family... and Therron offers to play me a song... and I am struck by those lulling, sonorous notes...

...the sensation is to die for, truly.”

♦ “When all else fails, I break into my cupboard, pour an arbitrarily selected blend, and retire to Haven.”

SIX WEAKNESSES

♦ “I suppose I’m inevitably going to lose a match of physical prowess. Though, strength is more than brawn, as the wise are to say.”

♦ “As often as I’m assured sentimentality is virtuous, just as much reason can be played against it to argue sensitive and concerning flaws exist in altruism. And I suppose those that believe are right to be both aware and pragmatic about extending your care and concern to strangers.

...not that I’ll ever truly believe that. Everyone deserves some touch of kindness.”

♦ “Sometimes I get the impression certain people or parties might consider me strange or eldritch. In truth, they’re not entirely wrong... I’ve never fully fit into these social structures society has. Though, I suppose that is inevitable when you’re born away from society, grew up relatively apart from society, and continue to live out in the woods.”

♦ “If I could live a life without cold, steel machinery or strange tech-infused magicks tearing up the world, that would be heavenly.”

♦ “I have sensitive ears, and I don’t simply mean in response to noise. I... it’s difficult to explain, but more than just loud frequency, friction or even relative proximity to any sort of touch is... painful. 

I’ve never understood why either...”

♦ “Ironic as it is, I sometimes forget to maintain and properly heal my own body after serious labor and toil. So, as is expected, some days and night my back will ache, my shoulders might jerk, and I may pull a muscle or two if I get too comfortable working in the garden, carelessly. I need to hold myself to a better standard, but alas...”

SEVEN PEOPLE / THINGS I LOVE

♦ “My garden. I would be nothing without any and all of what green I manage to bless this realm with. May I never see a world without their cherubic beauty.”

♦ “Like loyal kin, my family at home has forever and always won my heart. Dew, Bleu, Piper... we’re all bound at the seams now. Though they have chosen to remain at my side, they are still of the wilder side of nature so I’ve always made certain there was a choice in their company. I’m... doubtful they fully understand, but whether that’s because of their attachment or my ministration is difficult to discern. 

Despite this, I... I cannot lie and must admit that I’m glad they’re still with me.”

♦ Tea. It’s astounding some days, really, because I forget how much of a remedy my home-brewing has been to me since my former years. I may very well have gone mentally unhinged without it, I think. It’s both terrifying and amusing to think about.”

♦ “Friends... acquaintances... companions... tutors... work affiliates... the whole wealth of motley individuals I suppose, from one face to the next. It would take till sundown to name them all by heart, and some I feel may have been lost to memory, but to all that have... simply touched my life, in what way they may, I... I could not be where I am now. 

This has nothing to do with coyly imply destiny or fate, either. I... I’m just happy for everything. Even the times when, perhaps, people weren’t their best, provided that’s not some fatuous notion to believe. I just appreciate them... all of them. They have all taught me something valuable and introduced me to an infinitude of thoughts and feelings that have inadvertently assisted in constructing who I am. For better or worse.”

♦ “Smiles. The pure, unfiltered expression of someone’s sheer elation and ode to joy. It doesn’t matter whether I facilitated to it’s existence or if it even has one, for seeing anyone smile, especially someone I care more extensively for, brings me a profound sensation I can never have enough of.”

“See, you’re probably smiling right now! It’s infectious!”

♦ “My beloved...

Continue to inspire me with ardor like no other. It is one selfish desire I’m glad to share in forever.”

♦ “Myself. Forever and always...”

Tagged by: @red-dawnbringer (thank you again, you bean)

Tagging: @dancingnlancing, @dandiilionz, @chxsingthemoon, @valourheart-xiv, @theforestsquiet, @nightmaze, @geisterfuchs, @elixirsgelsandherbs, @elyot-xiv, @yoiku, @season-of-maha, @nemophilisty, @ffxiv-whitefox, plus anyone else who is reading or curious to try. Might as well go for it!

( For anyone with alts, feel free to use whichever and however many characters you want for the meme! <3 )

[predatoryfuzzball]

Debunking the “Male Privilege” Meme:

I've seen this post shared around on on a slew of conservative pages, despite the fact that many of its statistics are misleading and imply gender discrimination/bias where there is none. The following is my rebuttal: 1. Combat deaths are 97% men and 3% women — Of the three sources given for this particular statistic, only one link actually still works. This is mostly likely due to the age of the meme and of no fault of its creator(s). The only accessible citation was from a marketing publication by the name of "Hat Research Group" [1]. The PDF itself is a compiling of data from various sources to create two separate tables regarding "America's major wars". One table outlines the percentage of the American population that was enrolled in the military during these major conflicts and the second outlines the number of soldiers wounded and killed in these conflicts overtime. Neither so much as mention gender. I'm curious as to wether or not the creator(s) actually read the PDF they're citing or wether they just put it there to give their post a false sense of credibility. 

That being said, men are more likely to die in combat. The Defense Casualty Analysis System (DCAF) collects data on the demographics of wounded and killed soldiers during the United State's recent wars and operations. It's obvious going through this data that men make up the vast majority of casualties [2]. However, focusing solely on combat deaths is simplistic at best. It's well known that vast majority of war casualties are not the result of combat, even when you include civilians. One study compared the amount of deaths in direct military confrontation (including civilians) to the amount killed indirectly due to the famine, disease, poverty, poor infrastructure, etc. caused by a series of modern African conflicts. They found that battle deaths only accounted for about 6% of war casualties on average [3]. This becomes particularly relevant when you consider the fact that women are significantly more likely to be killed by these indirect factors when compared to men. 

According to a review of multiple studies by PIRO, "men die more frequently than women in direct armed conflicts, while more women than men die in post-conflict situations of the indirect causes of war" [4]. That said, the study also makes clear that "[i]t is still unclear what it is about these post conflict situations that leads to all these female deaths and this is a research area that merits more attention". Regardless of the cause, it's not inaccurate to state that women are the primary victims of war. 

Moreover, the reason that the majority of combatant deaths are men is because of the propagation of traditional gender roles that feminists seek to abolish. Thus, using it in this context only serves to address one of the main points of the feminist movement.

2. Homicide victims are 76% men, 24% women — Of the 8 sources presented, none of them have anything to due with homicide. Of the two sources that had to do with criminal law, one links to a paragraph of commentary from the National Coalition For Men on an article from the Seattle Times regarding the sentencing gap [5], and the second was to a 2001 study from the University of Georgia also regarding the sentencing gap [6]. Neither of these have to do with homicides or any of statistics presented here. 

That being said, according to the FBI, men represent about 71% of homicide victims [7]. However, this is not evidence of criminal gender bias or female privilege. For example, in mass shootings, the victims are 37% women, 36% men, and 27% children [8]. This isn't consistent with the idea that felons primarily target men and avoid hurting women due to either conscious or subconscious biases. If mass shooters were biased towards women, we would see a decline in the percentage of female victims in randomized acts of murder.

In Canada during 2012, 15% of homicides were related to illegal professions [9] such as the drug trade, this number appears to be consistent in most other Western nations. Men make up the vast majority of involvement these illicit professions, including in the drug trade. While this doesn't explain away the whole disparity, it would explain why the the number of male homicide victims has been slowly declining alongside the rate of violent crime over the past two decades [10]. I suspect that the rest of the disparity has to do with the fact that men are more likely to take risks due to various factors. This is not me trying to victim-blame, I'm merely trying to describe demographic trends. The reason why men make up the majority of homicides is most likely the same reason why men make up 94% of shark attacks victims [11] and 81% of people who are struck by lighting [12]. In case you weren't already aware, sharks and lightening aren't misandrist.

3. Industrial deaths and accidents are 93% men and 7% women — Once again, out of all eight links given, none of them mention industrial deaths and accidents. However, men still make up the vast majority of workplace deaths [13]. There is not much that I can say in regards to this particular point other than the fact that it is partially an example of traditional gender roles at play, something that feminists have long sought to abolish.

4. Suicide victims are 80% men, 20% women — This is one of the few numbers presented that has a credible source [14], and it isn't one that I will question. Instead, I will argue that presenting it in this context ignores a larger picture. While men are more likely to commit suicide, the vast majority of attempted suicides occur among women [15]. This is commonly known as the gender paradox of suicidal behaviour. The reasons for this are partially due to the fact that men are more likely to use methods with higher rates of lethality. For instance, in 2005 the primary cause of death for American men who committed suicide was firearms (58%) while the primary cause of death for American women who committed suicide was poisoning (39%) [16]. This is not due to sexism of any kind, it's merely that suicidal men are more likely to be successful.

5. Winners of custody are 84% women, 16% men — While this is true, the reasons are not primarily due to bias in the family court system. In 51% of child custody cases, the decision is made by the parents with legal advice, in 29% of cases it was made by the parents without any third-part involvement, in 11% of cases the decision is made during mediation, 5% of time it's after a custody evaluation and only 4% of the time will the case actually go to trial [17]. All this tells us is that divorced fathers, on average, care less about child custody when compared to divorced mothers.

CITATIONS [1] http://archive.is/zOWJ6 [2] https://www.dmdc.osd.mil/dcas/pages/report_oef_deaths.xhtml [3] https://www.prio.org/Global/upload/CSCW/Data/Monitoring%20trends%20in%20global%20combat%20EJP.pdf [4] http://file.prio.no/Publication_files/Prio/Armed%20Conflict%20Deaths%20Disaggregated%20by%20Gender.pdf [5] https://ncfm.org/2011/04/issues/criminal-sentencing/ [6] http://people.terry.uga.edu/mustard/sentencing.pdf [7] https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2011/crime-in-the-u.s.-2011/tables/expanded-homicide-data-table-6 [8] http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_55d3806ce4b07addcb44542a [9] http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/85-002-x/2013001/article/11882-eng.htm#a1 [10] http://www.heuni.fi/material/attachments/heuni/projects/wd2vDSKcZ/Homicide_and_Gender.pdf [11] http://www.goshark.co.za/1/all/all/all [12] http://www.lightningsafety.noaa.gov/resources/RecentLightningDeaths.pdf [13] https://www.statista.com/statistics/187078/occupational-injury-death-rate-in-the-us-by-gender-since-1995/ [14] https://www.merckmanuals.com/professional/psychiatric-disorders/suicidal-behavior-and-self-injury/suicidal-behavior [15] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/8205283/ [16] http://www.suicide.org/suicide-statistics.html [17] http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/1617115

[taeguboi]

@taeguboi’s favourite V and J-Hope ships! HCs

Request: ‘ what are you 3 favourite v and jhpoe ships and could you hc them? :)’ 

Okay I’m not sure if you mean like 3 ships each or collectively, but since one of my all time faves is VHope anyways, I’m gonna do 5! (2 of each and then VHope) Also this was really hard to choose because I ship everything!

The HCs are supposed to be fictional [well, you know, they’re headcanons,] but I guess there’s an element of truth to them [behaviour and whatnot], hence why I created the imagines

*******V SHIPS*******

VMin

One of the true brotps of the band imo alongside yoonseok. I love 95 line boyfriends

By day, Jimin is the koala

but by night, it’s definitely V

he has to use Jimin as a human teddy bear

Always holding hands

and waists

kissy faces

A secret handshake

fancy dress

Jimin-hyung is pretty

Let’s dress him up in all the gucci

sorry I just love that my boy has expensive tastes

Uncontrollable laughter

“Taehyung-ssi, stop!”

Okay Tae, that’s enough, we get that Jimin’s ticklish

Jimin just tickle him back

tickle fights

that end up being raspberry fights

if that’s a thing

then kiss fights

They share a room but every night is a slumber party

guys let Hobi sleep hahaha

Taegi

After VMin and VHope, all the remaining V ships are equally cute to me, so I went with Sugs because I’m weak af atm... and oh, here’s something I did a while back [[’Attention’ -- Taegi Smut]]

Yoongi hyung is so cool

Hardworking Tae to impress him

to impress Sugs

Sometimes Tae drives him nuts

3:42am: Tae crawling into Yoongi’s bed

because he’s come up with a sick rap

It just has to earn him a part in the next Cypher

“Tae, can’t that’ve waited til the morning?”

Lol, of course not

It can never wait, any situation like this

Every little bit of news Tae has is exciting to tell 

because it’s Yoongi he’s telling it to

Tae rapping quietly in Yoongi’s ear 

while he spoons him from behind

Yoongi acts like it’s the most irritating thing

but really, he falls sound asleep with Tae’s voice

It looks quite one sided on the surface

but Yoongs really does adore this maknae

No one can figure out this dark and mysterious rapper

but Tae can;

he understands Yoongi on a while different level

*******J-HOPE SHIPS*******

2seok

This ship never fails to brighten up my day. They’re such smiley balls of sunshine that somehow heals my wounds more than any plaster ever could -- also, I love sunshine ships and I feel like Jin is a hidden ball of sunshine despite V, J-Hope and Jimin being regarded as the sunshine line

SMILES

Dorky laughs

Jin’s dad jokes make Hobi smile

Hobi picks up this knack for the puns

So many inside jokes

They have that one pun 

it eases the tension in ANY situation

“Hey! Seok you!”

“What the Seok?!”

Everyone groans whilst they’re sat in the corner 

pissing themselves laughing

Feeding each other

C O R N Y

Jin and his easter egg hearts

“Jinnie, did you put this under my pillow?”

(He’s holding up a piece of red tissue paper cut into a heart)

“Oh my God...” 

(Hobi being breathtaken whilst Jin is away

because he just found another heart in his jacket pocket)

Hobi and his body hearts

“SEOKJINNIE!!!” 

Basicially does his own version of Twice’s “Signal” choreo

“Jjirit! Jjirit! Jjirit! Jjirit!”

Hugs hugs hugs

Hobi’s shattered from dance practice

He just plonks himself on top of Jin

Jin just holds him as Hobi takes a nap

*chu*

Pouty selcas to each other

Both are the definition of “Get a guy who can do you both”

So handsome

but can pull the meme-iest faces

Flying kisses

Back hugs just because

yes this hc is longer than the others the world needs more 2seok

So much support for each other

“Hobi has become even more handsome recently”

“Our eldest hyung has really progressed with his dancing skills”

Jin may be the visual

but he secretly thinks Hobi is just as handsome as himself

Too pure for this world to comprehend

JiHope

🎶 Sunshine, lollipops and rainbows, everything that's wonderful is what I feel when we're together 🎶

Lest we forget how much Hobi loves Chim

He just wants to look after the younger

“He’s still a bby he just needs hugs”

Hobi: *stares at Jimin all day with heart eyes*

and he can’t resist just crawling an arm round Jimin’s waist

has to really resist dat ass esp on camera

but of course it isn’t one sided

Jimin looks up to Hobi hyung

“Woah so handsome”

loves the attention Hobi gives him too

Late night dance practices

they love duetting together

an offensive duo

body rolls

actually more offensive in public than behind closed doors with dancing

but also squealing laughs to cancel the sin out

Beaming off each other’s energy

“JIMINIE!!!”

“HOBI!!!”

*******!!VHOPE!!*******

“V and J-Hope. V-Hope. The best combination”

Ruffling each other’s hair like

“Awh my baby bwi is so cute!!!”

“I love Hobi-hyung!”

yes, it’s cheese

Hobi sends air kisses

V pretends he doesn’t want it

but... well, you know

Supportive about the skills one another have that they aren’t in ‘lines’ for

“Please listen when Hoseok hyung sings on this track”

“V is very hard working... I think we can be anticipating some rapping on a track any time soon”

but not cypher lmao Sugs won’t let it happen

Unconditional love

Tae buys Hobi so many things 

and Hobi feels so bad so he has to buy something of equal value

But Tae already knows how much his sunshine partner loves him

and he was the one feeling bad all along because he was worried his love wasn’t showing

“Right, this has been stupid; let’s go grab a meal tonight. I’ll pay”

“No! I’ll pay!”

Tae always admiring his hyung’s face

Squishing his cheeks

Gently tugging his ears

Bopping his nose

“Visual Hobi-hyung everybody!”

He loves to cup Hobi’s face

his hands cover most of his face though

but Tae finds it adorable that there’s a moment in which Hobi is smol

Very playful couple

Taehyung is an actual puppy

Hobi just likes to climb onto Tae

Quite a pervy couple for each other

“Woah Hobi!” *looks down Hobi’s shirt*

“Oh, Taehyungie...” *being suggestive af*

Hobi copying Tae’s whimsical nature

Meme dances

Jamming out to songs

Sharing headphones

Arcade dates

Video game nights

Movie nights

Hobi getting shook at sudden moments in either of those

so Tae koala hugs onto him for comfort

Then again, Hobi is a human pillow to Tae?

Hobi? His bed? He doesn’t see the difference

“Right, we should probably sleep separately on this warm night”

*30 minutes later*

Tae climbs into Hobi’s bed

Sexy bed heads

Hobi sneaking out early morning to work

He thinks he didn’t wake Tae up but

Tae follows him to the studio a few hours later

having thought about him over breakfast and in the shower and......

He quietly stands at the open door in awe

Admiring his hyung’s hard work

appreciating the music he is currently making

He really is Hobi’s biggest fan

What I couldn’t find: VHope fan art T-T [I wanted fan art for everything bc everyone is so talented oml just look at those previous gifs]

What I did find: many of my favourite VHope moments, so...

PREPARE for VHope spam!!!

I should probably do this to show some courtesy for people on the feeds right now just incase... There’s more below; you know what to do

we saw that Tae  ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

I’ve just had to scroll back up to mention they’re pervs for each other... how could I forget tbh tho

This was the most adorable thing tho

You mean you want him, Hope

What cha dooooin’ Hobi

I have a particular Elvis Presley song in my head now haha

Ending on some ol’ school pre-debut VHope 

and I am out!

[wickedbananas]

How to Use Instagram Like a Beauty Brand

Posted by zeehj

Does your brand’s activity on its social accounts impact its search rankings? Maybe. Maybe not. But does it matter anyway?

I shouldn’t have to convince you that investing in a social media for your company is worth it; even in light of Facebook’s recent data breach, we are so reliant upon our social profiles for real human interaction that leaving them is not a real option. In fact, the below statistics from Pew Research Center’s 2018 Social Media Use Survey indicate that we’re not going to give up our social media profiles any time soon.

Humans are social creatures. It makes sense that we love being on social networking sites. We crave interaction with fellow humans. We’re also highly likely to trust the recommendations of our friends and family (Nielsen) and those recommendations often influence our purchasing decisions. We ask our loved ones for advice on where to put our dollars in myriad ways, all at different price points:

What coffee shop do you like to go to?

Which mascara is that?

What are you reading right now?

Where’d you get that tie?

What neighborhoods are you looking to move to?

What schools are you looking to send Anna to?

Yes, those same searches occur online. They also frequently occur in tandem with testimonials from the people in our lives (depending on how thorough we want or need to be).

So if you have a thing that you want to sell to a group of people and you’re still not pursuing a social strategy, I don’t understand what you’re doing. Yes, it’s 2018 and I still find myself trying to persuade clients to proactively use (the right) social networks to promote their brand.

For the sake of this piece, we’re going to focus on organic usage (read: free, not paid advertising) of Instagram. Why just Instagram? 35% of US adults say they use Instagram as of 2018, up from 28% in 2016. This was the greatest growth across top social networking sites reported by Pew Research Center. Additionally, its 35% usage puts it at the third most popular social networking platform, behind only Facebook and YouTube.

Other good news? It may be easier for brands’ posts to appear in users’ Instagram feeds than on their Facebook feeds: Facebook still wants to prioritize your family, friends and groups, while The New York Times reports that Instagram is updating its algorithm to favor newer posts rather than limit the accounts in your feed.

So should every brand have an Instagram? Maybe? But notice I’ve been primarily using the word “brand,” not “company” or “business.” That’s deliberate. Companies (only) provide customers with a service or sell a product. Brands provide customers (followers) with an identity. (If you want to dive further into this, I highly recommend this presentation by former Distiller Hannah Smith.)

The best companies are brands: they’ve got identities with which consumers align themselves. We become loyal to them. We may even use the brands we purchase from and follow as self identifiers to other people (“I’m a Joe & the Juice kind of guy, but not Starbucks,” “I never use MAC, only NARS,” “Me, shop at Banana Republic?! I only go to Everlane!”). Not every company should be on Instagram — it doesn’t make much sense for B2Bs to invest time and energy into building their company’s presence on Instagram.

Instagram is not for your consulting firm. And probably not for your SaaS company, either (but prove me wrong)!

It’s for celebrities. It’s to show off your enviable trip. It’s for fashion blogs. Sneakerheads. Memes. Art. Beauty brands. It’s really great for beauty brands. Why? Instagram is obviously great for sharing pretty photos — and if you’re a beauty company, well, it’s a no-brainer that you should have an active account. And it also has incredible built-in features to organically promote your posts, engage customers, and sell products with actual links to those products on your photos.

So, if you’re going to use Instagram, do it right. If you want to do it right, do it like a beauty brand.

First things first: Why do beauty companies’ IG posts look better?

Glossier

Onomie

Milk

Let’s get the obvious out of the way: each account features beautiful models, pretty sceneries, and cosmetics in clean packaging. That said, it’s not just the subject of the IG photos that matters: each of these IG accounts’ photos have been curated and edited together, so that their photos look cohesive when you view them in IG’s grid format. How do they do that? Let’s look at three posts from these accounts.

Glossier

Onomie

Milk

It’s hard (for me) to pick apart precisely why these photos are aesthetically pleasing — and it doesn’t help that I’m neither a photographer, nor a designer. That said, here is my rudimentary, non-designer take on why these photos look great together:

#1: Their subjects are beautiful (duh)

#2: There are limited primary focal points, and tons of negative space (though the medicine cabinet and floral arrangement photos are arguably “busy”)

#3: Their hues are complementary (pinky-pearlescent-pastels, anyone?)

There’s a lot of pink. And white. And pastels. And more pink. And then, occasionally, pops of color (think: a new violet lipstick shade).

Color schemes remain consistent across Onomie’s, Milk’s, and Glossier’s photos — these beauty brands don’t suddenly change their color palettes from one photo to the next. In fact, they are most likely implementing the same Instagram filters for each photo, or at least editing the color balances so that the photos complement each other. They are deliberately catering to Instagram’s 3x3 grid photo format (or 3x4, or 3x5, depending on your screen size). While many users do see IG posts in their “feeds” when they open the app, users are still motivated to look at IG accounts’ for a number of reasons: IG profiles are the only place where you can add hyperlinks on Instagram, and is also where accounts can pin stories for users to revisit.

But how on earth do they do it? They may have professional photographers, or graphic designers they can beg to normalize their color balances across photos. However, I don’t think that most companies necessarily need this mastery in-house in order to have an Instagram profile that looks good to mere mortals.

What I can assure you is that they plan, plan, plan out their posts in advance. In order to do this effectively, of course, you need the right tools. Here’s your starter pack of IG apps:

VSCO

Freemium phone app

Enables you to edit photos like a master — VSCO goes way beyond a small set of filters

Has its own community and image feed within the app, separate from IG

VSCO can’t post directly to IG (yet), but you can easily download any edited photo

Planoly

Freemium desktop tool and phone app

Can visualize your photos in a grid format with your other IG photos

Built-in analytics

Can schedule and post directly to IG, with captions and hashtags

Unum

Free

Offers some photo editing tools

Can drag and drop photos to plan out how they will appear alongside your other uploads, in grid format

Can post to IG, but no scheduling features

This may sound like a lot of work, and for non-designers in particular it’s pretty challenging. That said, the fruits of your labor can be used again and again. In fact, that’s precisely what these beauty brands do on IG: if they’re featuring a product (again, hello lipstick shades), they show off that product’s different colors, on different skintones. Basically, rinse and repeat with your IG photos: this repetition is great for those with sparse content calendars, and still looks great.

Okay, but they’re not popular just because of their looks, right? Why are beauty brands on IG so damn popular?

Yes, looks matter. IG is a visual platform. Sorry not sorry. And yes, we’re talking about beauty brands that have budgets to advertise their accounts and products on IG, which also contributes to their popularity. However, that’s not the whole story.

They use hashtags and photo tags.

Hashtags

Just like on Twitter (and Facebook, to a degree), hashtags are a natural way to boost exposure and get “discovered.” That’s largely because IG users can also follow hashtags, in the same manner as following a handle. And, just like on Twitter, it matters which hashtags you use. IG also allows users to add up to 30 hashtags per post — and yes, this can look spammy, but if you’re using IG like a beauty brand, you’ll separate your caption from your hashtags with periods-used-as-line-breaks or as a separate comment after you post.

So, where should you begin hunting for hashtags? Unfortunately, the Cambridge Analytica debacle has extended to Facebook’s other properties, including Instagram. It seems like one direct response to this is to limit the number of API calls we can make of IG. This means awesome services like websta.me can’t serve up the same amount of information around hashtags as they once did.

That said, Tagboard is one option for content and social media marketers to use. I like to use it to suss out hashtag intent (in answering whether this the right hashtag to use for this post). *Readers: if you’ve got tools you love to find hashtags on IG, add them in the comments below for us, please!

Otherwise, your best bet (as far as I know) is to search for hashtags directly in Instagram’s Discover area, under Tags. There, you can see how many times those hashtags have been used (what’s popular?) and then click through to see what photos have been tagged.

Photo tags

Beauty brands also take advantage of photo tagging on their posts when they can: if they are featuring a celebrity (like the magnificent Tracee Ellis Ross), they can tag her IG directly onto this post. Not only does this let Tracee (or, more likely, her social media manager) know, but depending on her settings this photo now shows up under her tagged photos on her profile — for her fans to discover.

Similarly, if you’re a business selling products and you’ve been approved for shopping on IG, you can also tag your products in your photos so that users can click through directly to their product pages. This is a no-brainer. Just do it.

They talk to their followers.

We already know that it’s best practice to engage and respond to followers on social media (within reason), and IG is no different. Onomie, Milk and Glossier all have downright spirited conversations in their photos’ comments sections by prompt fellow ‘grammers to participate in a few ways. They:

Host contests for product giveaways, which is an easy way to grow their followers on Instagram while also attracting new, potential customers.

Ask their followers questions (“which are your faves?”) or simply prompt them to react to a photo (using emojis in the comments).

Share company and product news with their followers, and also answer questions their followers pose in response to that news.

They add stories.

IG’s “Stories” feature is another great tool that Onomie, Milk, and Glossier all use. They’re like IG posts, but ephemeral (they only last 24 hours) and do not live in your main feed: users can access these stories from the top of their IG feeds, and from the account’s main icon. In some cases — especially brands selling products — these accounts may choose to “pin” evergreen stories to their IG profiles, so that users can access them beyond the 24-hour lifespan.

Stories are an excellent way to gather additional insights from followers (outside of comments) because you can run polls (with clickable elements) to collect simple data (“Should our next product help alleviate dry or oily skin?”). What’s more is that, depending on users’ notification preferences, stories automatically push notifications to followers’ phone screens. This means that even if a user is not using the app, they will be notified of new, temporary content.

If your brand (or your client) isn’t taking advantage of IG’s great marketing tools, it’s time to stop waiting and get ‘gramming. Especially if your target audiences are using the platform, there is no reason not to test out all the ways it allows you to engage its community.

Share your favorite IG tools, tips, and accounts below, so that other Moz readers can get inspired. And if you’re passionate about marketing, come join our team, and help me convince more awesome brands to take over Instagram. (JK. Kinda.)

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[infolearn]

How to Use Instagram Like a Beauty Brand

Does your brand’s activity on its social accounts impact its search rankings? Maybe. Maybe not. But does it matter anyway? I shouldn’t have to convince you that investing in a social media for your company is worth it; even in light of Facebook’s recent data breach, we are so reliant upon our social profiles for real human interaction that leaving them is not a real option. In fact, the below statistics from Pew Research Center’s 2018 Social Media Use Survey indicate that we’re not going to give up our social media profiles any time soon.

Humans are social creatures. It makes sense that we love being on social networking sites. We crave interaction with fellow humans. We’re also highly likely to trust the recommendations of our friends and family (Nielsen) and those recommendations often influence our purchasing decisions. We ask our loved ones for advice on where to put our dollars in myriad ways, all at different price points: What coffee shop do you like to go to? Which mascara is that? What are you reading right now? Where’d you get that tie? What neighborhoods are you looking to move to? What schools are you looking to send Anna to? Yes, those same searches occur online. They also frequently occur in tandem with testimonials from the people in our lives (depending on how thorough we want or need to be). So if you have a thing that you want to sell to a group of people and you’re still not pursuing a social strategy, I don’t understand what you’re doing. Yes, it’s 2018 and I still find myself trying to persuade clients to proactively use (the right) social networks to promote their brand. For the sake of this piece, we’re going to focus on organic usage (read: free, not paid advertising) of Instagram. Why just Instagram? 35% of US adults say they use Instagram as of 2018, up from 28% in 2016. This was the greatest growth across top social networking sites reported by Pew Research Center. Additionally, its 35% usage puts it at the third most popular social networking platform, behind only Facebook and YouTube. Other good news? It may be easier for brands’ posts to appear in users’ Instagram feeds than on their Facebook feeds: Facebook still wants to prioritize your family, friends and groups, while��The New York Times reports that Instagram is updating its algorithm to favor newer posts rather than limit the accounts in your feed. So should every brand have an Instagram? Maybe? But notice I’ve been primarily using the word “brand,” not “company” or “business.” That’s deliberate. Companies (only) provide customers with a service or sell a product. Brands provide customers (followers) with an identity. (If you want to dive further into this, I highly recommend this presentation by former Distiller Hannah Smith.) The best companies are brands: they’ve got identities with which consumers align themselves. We become loyal to them. We may even use the brands we purchase from and follow as self identifiers to other people (“I’m a Joe & the Juice kind of guy, but not Starbucks,” “I never use MAC, only NARS,” “Me, shop at Banana Republic?! I only go to Everlane!”). Not every company should be on Instagram — it doesn’t make much sense for B2Bs to invest time and energy into building their company’s presence on Instagram. Instagram is not for your consulting firm. And probably not for your SaaS company, either (but prove me wrong)! It’s for celebrities. It’s to show off your enviable trip. It’s for fashion blogs. Sneakerheads. Memes. Art. Beauty brands. It’s really great for beauty brands. Why? Instagram is obviously great for sharing pretty photos — and if you’re a beauty company, well, it’s a no-brainer that you should have an active account. And it also has incredible built-in features to organically promote your posts, engage customers, and sell products with actual links to those products on your photos. So, if you’re going to use Instagram, do it right. If you want to do it right, do it like a beauty brand.

First things first: Why do beauty companies’ IG posts look better?

Glossier

Onomie

Milk Let’s get the obvious out of the way: each account features beautiful models, pretty sceneries, and cosmetics in clean packaging. That said, it’s not just the subject of the IG photos that matters: each of these IG accounts’ photos have been curated and edited together, so that their photos look cohesive when you view them in IG’s grid format. How do they do that? Let’s look at three posts from these accounts.

Glossier

Onomie

Milk It’s hard (for me) to pick apart precisely why these photos are aesthetically pleasing — and it doesn’t help that I’m neither a photographer, nor a designer. That said, here is my rudimentary, non-designer take on why these photos look great together: #1: Their subjects are beautiful (duh) #2: There are limited primary focal points, and tons of negative space (though the medicine cabinet and floral arrangement photos are arguably “busy”) #3: Their hues are complementary (pinky-pearlescent-pastels, anyone?) There’s a lot of pink. And white. And pastels. And more pink. And then, occasionally, pops of color (think: a new violet lipstick shade). Color schemes remain consistent across Onomie’s, Milk’s, and Glossier’s photos — these beauty brands don’t suddenly change their color palettes from one photo to the next. In fact, they are most likely implementing the same Instagram filters for each photo, or at least editing the color balances so that the photos complement each other. They are deliberately catering to Instagram’s 3x3 grid photo format (or 3x4, or 3x5, depending on your screen size). While many users do see IG posts in their “feeds” when they open the app, users are still motivated to look at IG accounts’ for a number of reasons: IG profiles are the only place where you can add hyperlinks on Instagram, and is also where accounts can pin stories for users to revisit. But how on earth do they do it? They may have professional photographers, or graphic designers they can beg to normalize their color balances across photos. However, I don’t think that most companies necessarily need this mastery in-house in order to have an Instagram profile that looks good to mere mortals. What I can assure you is that they plan, plan, plan out their posts in advance. In order to do this effectively, of course, you need the right tools. Here’s your starter pack of IG apps: VSCO Freemium phone app Enables you to edit photos like a master — VSCO goes way beyond a small set of filters Has its own community and image feed within the app, separate from IG VSCO can’t post directly to IG (yet), but you can easily download any edited photo Planoly Freemium desktop tool and phone app Can visualize your photos in a grid format with your other IG photos Built-in analytics Can schedule and post directly to IG, with captions and hashtags Unum Free Offers some photo editing tools Can drag and drop photos to plan out how they will appear alongside your other uploads, in grid format Can post to IG, but no scheduling features This may sound like a lot of work, and for non-designers in particular it’s pretty challenging. That said, the fruits of your labor can be used again and again. In fact, that’s precisely what these beauty brands do on IG: if they’re featuring a product (again, hello lipstick shades), they show off that product’s different colors, on different skintones. Basically, rinse and repeat with your IG photos: this repetition is great for those with sparse content calendars, and still looks great.

Okay, but they’re not popular just because of their looks, right? Why are beauty brands on IG so damn popular?

Yes, looks matter. IG is a visual platform. Sorry not sorry. And yes, we’re talking about beauty brands that have budgets to advertise their accounts and products on IG, which also contributes to their popularity. However, that’s not the whole story. They use hashtags and photo tags. Hashtags Just like on Twitter (and Facebook, to a degree), hashtags are a natural way to boost exposure and get “discovered.” That’s largely because IG users can also follow hashtags, in the same manner as following a handle. And, just like on Twitter, it matters which hashtags you use. IG also allows users to add up to 30 hashtags per post — and yes, this can look spammy, but if you’re using IG like a beauty brand, you’ll separate your caption from your hashtags with periods-used-as-line-breaks or as a separate comment after you post.

So, where should you begin hunting for hashtags? Unfortunately, the Cambridge Analytica debacle has extended to Facebook’s other properties, including Instagram. It seems like one direct response to this is to limit the number of API calls we can make of IG. This means awesome services like websta.me can’t serve up the same amount of information around hashtags as they once did. That said, Tagboard is one option for content and social media marketers to use. I like to use it to suss out hashtag intent (in answering whether this the right hashtag to use for this post). *Readers: if you’ve got tools you love to find hashtags on IG, add them in the comments below for us, please! Otherwise, your best bet (as far as I know) is to search for hashtags directly in Instagram’s Discover area, under Tags. There, you can see how many times those hashtags have been used (what’s popular?) and then click through to see what photos have been tagged.

Photo tags Beauty brands also take advantage of photo tagging on their posts when they can: if they are featuring a celebrity (like the magnificent Tracee Ellis Ross), they can tag her IG directly onto this post. Not only does this let Tracee (or, more likely, her social media manager) know, but depending on her settings this photo now shows up under her tagged photos on her profile — for her fans to discover. Similarly, if you’re a business selling products and you’ve been approved for shopping on IG, you can also tag your products in your photos so that users can click through directly to their product pages. This is a no-brainer. Just do it.

They talk to their followers. We already know that it’s best practice to engage and respond to followers on social media (within reason), and IG is no different. Onomie, Milk and Glossier all have downright spirited conversations in their photos’ comments sections by prompt fellow ‘grammers to participate in a few ways. They: Host contests for product giveaways, which is an easy way to grow their followers on Instagram while also attracting new, potential customers. Ask their followers questions (“which are your faves?”) or simply prompt them to react to a photo (using emojis in the comments). Share company and product news with their followers, and also answer questions their followers pose in response to that news.

They add stories. IG’s “Stories” feature is another great tool that Onomie, Milk, and Glossier all use. They’re like IG posts, but ephemeral (they only last 24 hours) and do not live in your main feed: users can access these stories from the top of their IG feeds, and from the account’s main icon. In some cases — especially brands selling products — these accounts may choose to “pin” evergreen stories to their IG profiles, so that users can access them beyond the 24-hour lifespan.

Stories are an excellent way to gather additional insights from followers (outside of comments) because you can run polls (with clickable elements) to collect simple data (“Should our next product help alleviate dry or oily skin?”). What’s more is that, depending on users’ notification preferences, stories automatically push notifications to followers’ phone screens. This means that even if a user is not using the app, they will be notified of new, temporary content. If your brand (or your client) isn’t taking advantage of IG’s great marketing tools, it’s time to stop waiting and get ‘gramming. Especially if your target audiences are using the platform, there is no reason not to test out all the ways it allows you to engage its community. Share your favorite IG tools, tips, and accounts below, so that other Moz readers can get inspired. And if you’re passionate about marketing, come join our team, and help me convince more awesome brands to take over Instagram. (JK. Kinda.)   Read the full article