#and I am extremely unlikely to write it myself

[hexenmond]

A dreamling fic idea

Haven't posted here in forever, and the first thing pouring out of me is a wild writing prompt I came up with today, having spent more than two months devouring dreamling fanfic (which is wild in itself, maybe I'll write about that as well. The devouring I mean).

Most of the idea comes from À Cœur Vaillant by WyvernQuill. It's a fishbowl rescue fic, but the one who does the actual rescuing is a still very young Alex Burgess, who in turn gets saved from his father's ire by Paul McGuire. So that's lovely. (Go read it!)

And in general I like it when people who have done shitty things come around at some point. Like Hob got involved in the slave trade and came to see just how wrong that was. Because we're humans, and we fuck up sometimes, and it can take us a long time to be able to see it – and then what happens? How do we deal with our own shittiness once it has irrevocably happened? Do we try to be better, or shy away from the mess?

So I thought, what if Dream's in the bowl, and Alex shoots Jessamy, and old Roderick dies, and Alex is left with a prisoner he never wanted but is too cowardly to set free (canon so far). And Paul tells him it's wrong, repeatedly, but is a coward himself, so nothing actually changes.

But some time before 1989, Paul McGuire finds it within himself to put his foot down – and there are several interesting things that could make this change of heart happen. Possibly a coincidental chat with a certain immortal about regrets, or just some life event that shakes him awake. And he goes to Alex and says, hey, this is wrong and can't go on. In your heart of hearts, you know that as well as I do. We should free him, even if that means we'll die. We aren't free while he is not free.

And Alex protests and all of course, and tries to talk him out of it again, and panics, and flips his shit – but when Paul is still determined after some days and takes him by the hand to go downstairs, he goes along. Scared to death, but between knowing Paul is right and loving him, he doesn't fight.

So Paul stands before the fishbowl, scared but determined, holding Alex next to him, who is on the verge of collapsing, and he addresses Dream, basically saying something along the lines of "we should have done this straight after the old codger died, and we didn't out of cowardice, but now we're going to set you free, and hope that you have some mercy on us for this". And he breaks the circle and the glass, or whatever it takes.

Now, this might happen just very shortly before Dream's scheduled meeting with Hob, and like I've read in a couple of other fics, Dream might have been agonising over having to miss this appointment. So getting to go after all might just temper his wrath the teensiest bit, if not immediately then maybe at a later point.

I can see this going two ways at this point: he takes great pleasure in trapping Alex in eternal nightmares for killing Jessamy, the guards as well for good measure, but he leaves Paul unscathed for being the driving force behind his release and doing it before June 7th, 1989. And then he storms off to find his tools and sulk and get ready for his not-date.

Or, he does that but Paul has already geared himself up to be incredibly brave that day and so dares to ask what Dream has done to Alex, and Dream says "best of my nightmares around the clock", and Paul takes one deep breath and then begs him to split the nightmares between them both, so that they would share nightmares every night but still be awake together during the day. And Dream says, oh well, your funeral, and makes it so, and then storms off.

In both cases Paul is very miserable (nightmares every night forever is bound to leave you permanently sleep-deprived, or else he has to live with Alex's screams and permasleep). And at some point he might speak to Hob. Again, bundle of possible scenarios:

he'd talked to Hob before (see above) and they have some previous acquaintance;

he just washes up in The New Inn like a commoner and starts drinking, and Hob is a barkeeper with many years of experience;

they might talk while Dream is still picking up his tools and before the appointment, or afterwards.

And at some point Hob makes some connection, depending on this and also how open Dream is after his imprisonment.

Since I personally feel that revenge does not bring lasting satisfaction, let alone joy, I could see Hob helping Dream grieve Jessamy, and also appreciate the understanding he gained while in involuntary timeout. And maybe he relents after some time, maybe because he took a good look at Alex and Paul's nightmares. Or gives them a task to accomplish.

The end? I don't know. Depends on the story you want to tell, who and what it's really about. But I like the premise, is what I wanted to say.

[katblaze]

Cinderella's Castle slight long post!

Something I really admire about Cinderella's Castle is how it executes getting you attached to characters so affectively within it's time restraints. Especially since, unlike w/ Hatchetfield, the audience is unfamiliar with this universe or its inhabitants. Not only that, but the show establishes it's perspective on it's relationships extremely well.

There are a few great examples of this, but one I find particularly fascinating is the fact that the first time around I completely and utterly did not care one bit for the prince kissing Ella's hand. Like, at all. I actually forgot it happened, and was suprised by the fact I didn't remember it while rewatching the second time around. The reason I think I was so shocked by this was because I was absolutely enamored, the first time watching, by the little affections between Tadius and Ella. The prince's kiss meant nothing to me because it meant nothing to the prince, we know it was hollow flattery because of his pre-established character and values. But Tadius looking at Ella like she hung the stars toward the end of the play genuinely made my heart swell.

Similarly, when Ella sat next to the prince, at his command, during the ball, their closeness had no emotional weight. Ella is uptight, straight posture, hands on lap, politely listening to the prince ramble but obviously physically displaying that she is not particularly enjoying it (again, I completely forgot they were so close in this scene the first go round). But when Ella, VIA HER OWN DESIRE, elects to sit right next to Tadius, she is undoubtedly comfortable. She slouches, sits "un-lady like", verbally opens up and speaks her mind to another person (for the first time in the show! the only other examples of her speaking her mind so comfortablely and w/o fear is to a frog and a goddess). Its maybe the most relaxed we see her in the whole musical. And that has immense emotional weight! It immediately stuck with me!

more personal review, less analysis, under cut ->

I was hesitant going into Cinderella's Castle because, knowing myself, I thought I wouldn't be that into it because it wasn't apart of the hatchetfield trilogy. I worried they wouldn't be able to endear me to the characters or plot in the time allotted, especially since I don't have any particular attachment to the Cinderella story. Boy was I so, so wrong and for that I'm very glad. For any of cc's short comings, this is something that cannot be faulted to me. Whether it was the wonderful acting or good character writing that achieved this, I do not know. But I am forever in reverence to the great writers and actors !!! (semi-unrelated but I (and my friend who is known for not crying at shows) genuinely got very emotional when we thought sir hop-a-lot was dead. teared up. fuck you nick & matt lang 🖕 /j /lh)

[aroaceleovaldez]

you're like the first blog i thought about ranting on this to but it drives me up the wall that some people treat any criticism aimed at tsats2 as being anti-ship or avoidable via just "not reading it". i dont think they realize that we're talking about a bigger issue of soulless commercialization and heavy quality downgrade of a franchise, not like. about an indie author publishing a fan book lmao

'i'll read it anyways haters gonna hate' crowd likely largely funding richard's mediocrity is sad.

I think part of it may have to do with a.) a lack of distinction in recent fandom culture between "Fandom" and "Audience" (alongside other recent fandom culture attitudes as well) and b.) so much of Rick's brand is built up exactly on parasocial behavior that a lot of fans get caught up in it. [under cut cause this got long:]

Re: The first, more recent fandom culture tends to treat "Fandom" and "General audience" as wholly equivocal. Because of this, the concepts tend to bleed into each other in a way we haven't quite seen before fandom became mainstream, and as a result we get a kind of Worst Of Both Worlds situation - a bunch of very passionate fans who have no community, create little to no fanworks themselves (only consume), and only engage at a surface level with the source material. Their only "fandom" community hub is the source material and official social media and they don't have a concept of how to exist outside it, unlike folks who are more used to older fandom culture and are self-sufficient. They have the passion and identity of classic fandom, but none of the depth, and so threats to the source material feel like threats to their community as a whole. They also just don't seem to understand that different subsections of the deeper fandom community are engaging with the material on an entirely different level, or they don't understand why they're doing that. They see no need to because they're never actually engaging with the community or source material beyond a surface level. Functionally they don't have a community. And mainstream media is actively encouraging this because it's profitable for them - they're reaping all of the rewards of fandom, minus the fact that because of the lack of actually community and support structures the entire "fandom" will only have a shelf life the same length of the source material. But at the same time this means they don't have to worry about quality or etc, because this extremely passionate side of their audience will just take anything thrown at them and it'll phase out almost immediately. It doesn't need to be good, it just needs to elicit some kind of reaction on social media. Any publicity is good publicity type stuff.

This lack of true community plus the parasocial emphasis the RR company has tends to make these types of fans double-down. Rick and co. are explicitly advertised as being both part of the "community" and integral to it. And when they've built Rick (and co) up as this moral paragon critical to both part of their identity they're very passionate about and what little of a community they have, any attack on him feels like an attack on themself. Particularly when so much of the publicity and marketing surrounding Rick right now is about his alleged activism when a lot of the criticism about him and the series is actively calling that into question with his unaddressed internalized bigotries. Acknowledging that what Rick is saying and promoting himself as versus his writing and actions don't always line up and pointing out the bigotry present in his work forces people to acknowledge and think about performative activism, which can make a lot of people very uncomfortable! It's forcing them to acknowledge "Oh, even if I'm saying all the right words and calling myself an ally, I am not immune to being bigoted if I don't address my internalized biases. My actual behavior matters." and that especially can feel like a personal attack. Especially in today's western landscape of media consumption being viewed as a moral act in itself.

I suspect this is why a lot of the retaliation against criticism of Rick and the franchise right now is "Why can't you just have FUN? You're just trying to hate for views. Don't take it so seriously! It's not that deep!" - they not only have no interest in engaging deeper in the material, but don't understand why others would, and doing so jeopardizes the foundations of what they consider the fandom. They can't fathom anybody legitimately having these criticisms (particularly not anybody who would ACTUALLY consider themself a "fan" - because their perception of "fan" is themself) because they're so resistant to digging deeper into the media/source material or the concept that anyone would for any legitimate reason (because as long as they keep it as "it's not that deep!!! it's just fun! just enjoy it you wet blanket!!!!" and take things at their word, they can feel secure in that performative aspect and not have to unpack it), and acknowledging that those criticisms exist and are valid means they have to acknowledge the franchise is flawed and imperfect, so they presume the claims are entirely superficial and the individual has ulterior motives rather than, yknow, doing what fandom does: diving deeper.

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for bitching about fics I dislike on my blog?

as a foreword, this is kind of a non-issue and no one's ever told me to stop, but I'm curious what other people think of fandom etiquette.

the fandom: a fairly small one. 2.4k fics on ao3 small. I recognize most people posting in its tumblr tag small. if I tell you the name of the source you'd almost definitely be able to find me small.

the source: pornographic, which means everyone involved is or should be an adult. it's BL with a switch MC, but the fandom overwhelmingly prefers bottom MC/top LIs (love interests), to the point where I've had people be astonishingly rude to me because my favorite character is a bottom LI and some of my friends have been outright harassed for the same. I used to not care about sex positions in the slightest, but now when I see bottom MC fanworks I can't help but remember how poorly I was treated.

the fics: wildly and inexplicably popular, even though they are, frankly, poorly written. it's eternal bottom MC turned up to 11, complete with copious amounts of OOCness in order to turn every ship into the worst ye olde yaoi gender roles dynamic you can imagine. it's things like MC, canonically a 23yo plank of a dudeguy, being written as a big titted milf in his 40s (which is made more confusing by the fact that one of the LIs is already a big titted milf). it's also things like the MC being written as disliking sex and having to be coerced into it when one of the most charming things about him is that he's a hilarious sex pest, or writing the LIs sexually harassing the MC when they really would never do that. I've likened it to replacing the characters with OCs that share the same name and my friends have agreed with me. I'm honestly convinced that the author and his readers don't actually like any of the characters if they feel the need to change everyone so thoroughly.

why I might be an asshole: it's assholish to hate on free fanworks, and I've bitched about these fics on my public tumblr blog. the fandom is small enough that there's a non-zero chance of it getting back to the author and a reasonable chance that fans of the fics have seen my bitching. I'm probably projecting the hostility I've received onto someone who's done absolutely nothing to me, and I am absolutely just straight up jealous that their fics get better stats than mine. I may also be being an asshole to myself, because being critical of other people's fics has made my hypercritical of my own.

why I don't think I'm an asshole: I think everyone has the right to be bad at things, but I also think everyone has the right to be a little hater. I don't put the fandom tag on these posts; they stay on my blog and my blog alone, and if later on I feel like I was unfairly vitriolic I'll delete the posts. I only post on tumblr because I'm certain the author in question only uses twitter, which dramatically lowers the odds of him stumbling across my posts. the fics are so popular that it's definitely possible that their fans would see my posts, but I think it's unlikely that they'd bother looking at my blog because 99% of my posts are about one of the bottom LIs. I have never and would never leave comments on the fics themselves, and I generally try to keep the bitchy posts to a minimum; it's far from a constant thing.

tl;dr - I publicly bitch about fics that (in my opinion) are poorly written and extremely OOC, under the assumption that it's unlikely the author would ever see it. AITA?

What are these acronyms?

[ducktracy]

thoughts on Daffy in Wackyland? and the original, for that matter

Daffy in Wackyland thoughts: IIIIIIIIII LLLLOOOOOVVVEEEDDDD ITTTTTTT!!!!! i was gonna drop my Letterboxd review for it here, but Letterboxd evidently wiped the short and re-uploaded it and my review is lost?? lame! but i have some observations from when i watched it for the first time that i'll relay here:

I KNOW THESE ARE KINDA DIFFICULT TO GATHER FROM OOC SCREENSHOTS so the jist is: I LOVE THIS CARTOON. it has a profound, personal significance to me not unlike The Great Piggy Bank Robbery or Daffy Doodles. i'm a fervent lover of stop motion and puppetry, i'm shedding my humbleness and reticence to declare myself Daffy's #1 fan and am more prepared to protect my title (aka: i like the duck), Porky in Wackyland is a short i revere a lot--more on that soon--and i'm very stricken by the decision to do this short in stop motion, considering Bob Clampett's background in puppetry. perfect way to homage him. there are some pitfalls that this short runs into that i allude to above, such as the typical LTC Achilles heel of too much dialogue, but i think it's able to work contextually with Daffy here, as i also mentioned above

the visuals are the main focal point for me, and MY GOD THEY DELIVERED SO MUCH. i'm also realizing i never did get around to drawing fanart for this... soon!!! but the color and vibrance and multi-media!! it's so unspeakably inspiring. i especially love how freeform it feels, it really stands out as its own independent style and i love that. feels very fitting for Daffy, who's a character born out of breaking the mold.

the moment i watched the short i was SO UPSET that i couldn't reach out and touch the Daffy puppet. someone described him as a well loved puppet and it almost made me cry. and then, back in April when my friend was giving me a tour of the WB studio, they had some puppets on display!! i was SO SHOCKED because she had sent me pics of it, but i assumed it was a temporary display--needless to say i ran up to this thing to get pictures from all angles LOL

I REALLY LOVE THIS SHORT. so much more than i can accurately give away right now, and i'm very bummed at my Letterboxd review having gotten wiped because that would be perfect to default back on in showing just how ferociously i love this cartoon. like the Porky and Daffy movie, it's one of those things that quite literally feels catered to Me, Eliza Duck Twacy, specifically, and i am not just saying that to be funny LOL. thank you for the reminder that i need to give this a rewatch! i actually think i have the whole short saved to my phone because i was so desperate to have it on hand

Porky in Wackyland thoughts: LOVE THIS CARTOON! so there was a very brief period in October 2019 where my interest in LT waned and i thought it'd just be a passing fixation--stuff like Chowder and Wander Over Yonder were catching my attention, i was moving on... and then i watched Porky in Wackyland for the first time and. well, i'm answering your ask, ain't i?

this review is a few years old, but you can read my more in-depth analysis and write-up of it here! but it's another cartoon i feel very deeply connected to. it's so unabashedly Clampettian, and as a Bob Clampett fanatic that's of course very important to me. it's filled with so many of his cartoonistic self indulgences that evidently Leon Schlesinger dubbed the cartoon "Bobby's wet dream", which is hilarious--but i adore the newspaper cartooning influence in the character designs and cartooning, the unabashed whimsy of it all, the hot jazz soundtrack. it's very cutting edge for its time and is a short i feel is a bit too easy to take for granted today. it's extremely charming, to the point that all of the attempts to remake it, sans Daffy in Wackyland, really flounder. i'm not a fan of Dough for the Dodo (though the ending is amusingly cynical, as per tradition for Friz Freleng) and i can proudly say that Tin Pan Alley Cats is one of Bob Clampett's worst cartoons, even removed of the racism element which is impossible, and so i'll let you wonder for yourself as to what that means. Daffy in Wackyland succeeds because it's its own thing and understood that it was futile to try and "remake" it more faithfully. this is because the original is something only Clampett could have done, because it is so personally his and attuned to his sensibilities.

the exception to this is this lovely comic blurb from Stephen DeStefano... god i wish he drew the LT characters more because the instances in which he has are some of my favorites ever

this layout also makes me feel some sort of way. i really love this cartoon

[creatingblackcharacters]

what are some things i need to be careful about while writing a hypersexual character that's also Black? (By hypersexual i mean "has a disorder that causes someone to have excessive and unwanted sexual thoughts and desires" not "extremely horny". hypersexual people can be extremely horny but i digress.) i ask this because i myself am hypersexual and want to write a character that has had similar experiences as me (and that character also happens to be Black). i am not Black, though.

So first, I want you to ask yourself- of all your characters, why did you choose to make this character Black? I'm not saying that you cannot do this. But what I am saying is that you might find yourself realizing (if you do the right research) that his experience with hypersexuality and yours are not similar enough for it to be a cathartic experience for you. You have a LOT of history and stereotype to learn and avoid when writing this character. Because it's not impossible, but your ability to convey hypersexuality as him experiencing the disorder- and everything that society would throw at him for it- instead of as "excessively horny", especially in the eyes of an audience that's looking at a Black man... That's gonna make or break your story.

If it were me, and this was my first time writing a character that shared this identity with me, it might be easier the first go round to have the character be your background, because you'll already know what to do and what not to do to convey your message. But if you really want to do this, then yeah I would get to reading about oversexualization of Black men, as well as about Black men with a hypersexual disorder that actually exist and their experiences being invalidated due to those intereecting social stigma.

[nepobabyeurydice-moved]

Am currently obsessed with the idea of annabeth returning to Gotham and becoming a crime boss allied with red hood/like an adviser of sorts to him partly because if she’s the princess of Gotham, she’s running it her way, and partly as revenge against bruce, because if a 7 year old he neglected could kill to survive, he could kill to avenge his son. She’s very strong on the no messing with kids rule for obvious reasons, and she doesn’t see robin as an exception to that because she is not plagued by pit rage. She has a very confusing (to them) relationship to the bats cuz she openly hates Batman, and will taunt him by putting robin in supposed danger, but never actually hurts him and anyone who does hurt him is made to see the error of their ways through somewhat violent means.

She acts mainly as damage control to Jason when it comes to Tim, because he’s her big brother and she’s trying to subtly break the influence of the pit over time. She either stops Jason before titans tower when she learns what he’s planning or goes to confront him there. Then, later, when Damian joins the family, she taunts Bruce about his dead daughter, using details no one else should know, and dramatically reveals herself. (Sadly, I am the only person who can write it the way i want it to be written, and will not ever write it)

Annabeth getting a call from Talia (incredibly alarming to her btw) and seeing Jason doing his vengeance shtick: Maybe I should go back to Gotham and check that he’s okay.

Grover who’s about to set out on his Percy Supervision Mission in Yancy Academy: Please for the love of all the gods be good.

Luke would be fine with letting her go since while he’s a bit weird about her it’s still a sibling-like bond and the idea of 12-year old Annabeth with beefed up Jason standing in front of the world’s worst criminals brings me joy.

Annabeth, walking into Jason’s apartment after six minutes of making sure his neurosis were the same: Damn bitch you live like this? After all my architecture rants too??

Jason: Are you a fucking ghost?

Annabeth: Are you?

Annabeth is very clear about being Annabeth and doing her whole leaving the Wayne name behind forever to Jason who kind of struggles to wrap his head around cute and shy Anna being this terrifyingly smart monstrosity. She makes his plans even more sick and twisted, plays around with the ambiance and the clues and makes sure that it can only be traced back to the Red Hood and not Jason Todd. Which means she tortured Dick psychologically at several points in the middle of other villain fights to see which reactions she can use against Bruce more subtly so that’s fun.

Dick, on his third mental breakdown of the month about Anna: I miss her so much I wish we tried harder to find her!

Annabeth, writing it down from where she’s hiding: Making the cases be increasingly similar to what happened to me has produced results. Find a demigod and recreate case with Bruce to torment his further.

Tim was originally barely a factor to Annabeth because she doesn’t really care for him unlike Jason and Jason’s plans on what to do with him seemed sane enough but after he mentioned that he wanted to get into Titan’s Tower Annabeth arranged for something on the Drake’s end to pull Tim away for a while and convinced Jason to focus on the Joker plan again. Annabeth is extremely against involving anyone who isn’t Bruce, Joker, Alfred and Dick in her plans and only occasionally considers adding Barbara. So when Jason shows clear interest in hurting Tim as a way to get back at Bruce she moves up her whole timeline and has ten different plans running to keep Tim out of the country at first then away from where Jason would be by orchestrating a few YJ fights until Jason tells her to fight Tim herself since he can’t get there in time.

Annabeth: Fight him? By myself?

Jason: Yeah, I believe in you *cuts the call*

Annabeth:…Fuck it, I’ll do a Riddler impression and hope for the best

said impression is completely terrifying and taken out of a saw movie basically and Tim is now wary of ever approaching a truck (which was actually a monster) since it. somehow threw him into a building and shattered three of his ribs. Annabeth continues running interference like this as she tries to keep Jason on task with ‘make Bruce kill the Joker’ scheme.

Eventually she’s called back to Camp after Percy shows up and Annabeth decides she needs someone to keep an eye on Jason and the whole plan thing so she sends Julieta, her godly half-sister, to keep him on track.

Julieta infiltrating Gotham Academy during the last three weeks of classes: This is so stupid.

Jason: I don’t care, tell me his habits and schedule.

Julieta: Do you get off talking to me like that?

Jason:…I’m sorry.

Basically all of TLT happens and Annabeth returns to Gotham immediately after the summer solstice which enrages Luke who speeds up his plans a bit and Percy is saved by the naiads and Annabeth is now double heartbroken and back in a city that encourages her to fester in her rage.

She lets Jason loose on Bruce and the Joker as she kidnapped Tim and uses him to torture Dick and Babs as she uses references to all of Jason’s career as Robin to guide them while taunting that she knows who they are and making another Saw trap. Meanwhile Tim has been given a slice of ambrosia and feels like he’s dying, he’s not but his godly heritage is diluted by four generations so it’s real bad pain.

Annabeth: It’s this or processing my emotions, Timothy, and I’m a Wayne, so down the hatch!

Tim, writhing in agony and shaking as Ares pretends not to notice him for six hours before helping him: Am I on drugs?

Things go down, Jason reveals himself, Bruce in a fit of desperation tries to cut his throat open but Julieta who helped in said Joker kidnapping stabs him thought the arm and Joker who was wisely knocked out by Julieta’s during the jokernapping is rescued by his henchmen while Jason has a mental breakdown and Bruce is dumped in the Batmobile by a truly done Julieta

And that’s all I can think of right now.

Thank you for telling of your idea, it’s actually a lot of fun, and since I was thinking about making a fic dedicated to 13 What-If scenarios in the Annabeth is a Wayne Universe this is definitely going on the list of you want it too.

[ffxivtranslations]

Thoughts Unspoken

My direct translation of Haurchefant's unsent letter from "Thoughts Unspoken". There are some things in the Eng localisation that aren't in the Jpn, so I thought I should retranslate it for completeness. The original localisation is here for comparison: https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/special/2016/short_stories/#sidestory_08

親愛なる友へ

お前は、変わらず元気にしているだろうか？

ドラゴン族による皇都再襲撃の予測……それを受けて、お前やアルフィノ殿が西へ旅立ってから数日が過ぎた。今どこにいるかもわからないお前に、この手紙が届くとも、届けようとも思っていない。つまりは、書き記しただけの独り言だ。

それでも、遠くの空を見ては旅の無事を願う想いを、一度くらいは吐き出さずにいられない。

万が一、これがお前の目に触れるようなことがあったら、まあ、そういうものだと思ってひとつ頼む。

To my dearest friend,

Are you doing well?

A few days ago, after hearing the prediction of the dragons attacking the capital again, you and Alphinaud travelled to the West. I don’t know where you are now, nor do I intend to try to send this letter. In other words, I’m just writing this down for myself.

Nevertheless, I feel compelled to at least once express my feelings of looking to the distant sky and praying for your safe journey.

In the unlikely event that you ever read this, well, please just think of this letter as that.

さて。お前は、イシュガルドに招かれて幸せだっただろうか？

それとも、仕方なく逃げ延びた先で、また誰かの戦いに��き込まれることになり、うんざりしているのだろうか。たとえそうであったとしても、お前は戦い抜いてしまうのだろうと、容易に想像がついて苦笑している。

Now then. Are you happy that you were invited to Ishgard?

Or are you fed up that after you finally made your escape, you once again got embroiled in someone else’s war? Even if that was the case, I’m bitterly smiling while easily imagining that you would still fight to the very end.

私はといえば、お前がイシュガルドに来てくれたことを、心から嬉しく思い、感謝するばかりだ。それは、お前の実に逞しくイイ冒険者ぶりを、近くで見られる機会が増えたという喜びでもあるのだが……何よりも、頼れる友と同じものを目指し、ともに戦えるのだ。心躍らないわけがない！

As for me, I am so very happy from the bottom of my heart and extremely grateful that you came to Ishgard. That is to say, of course I am delighted that my chances to see your really strong splendid adventuring up close have increased, but also… More than anything, to share a goal with my dependable friend and to fight by their side. There’s no way I couldn’t be excited about this!

お前たちが、ウルダハから逃げ延びて、雪の家に転がり込んできた日。「暁」が灯火を消さんとしていたように、私もまた、お前という友を燻らせてはならないと思った。そこで、どうにかお前たちをイシュガルドに招き入れることができないか、フォルタン伯爵に……父に直訴に行ったのだ。

The day that you two escaped from Ul’dah and came to stay at the House of Snow.

I thought that in the same way that I couldn't let the light of the "Dawn" go out, I couldn’t let your flame be dampened either, my friend. So that was when I went and directly appealed to Count Fortemps... my father, if there wasn't a way to invite you into Ishgard.

……白状すると、私は父のことが苦手だ。恨んでいるわけではない。母にしたって、正しい人であったが故に、己の立場に耐えきれなくなり、私を置いて失踪しただけのこと。父は母のことも、私のことも、愛してくれていたと思う。ただ、それを互いに上手く伝えあえず……私は、フォルタン家に仕える騎士としてしか、あの人と話ができずにいたのだ。

… I must confess that I am not good at dealing with my father.

I don’t mean that I hate him. Even with regards to my mother, even though he tried to do right by her, but she was unable to stand her situation and simply just left me with him and disappeared. I do believe that he loved my mother and loves me too. It’s just… neither of us are very good at communicating this to each other… For me, I was unable to talk to him except from the position of being a knight of House Fortemps.

お前のことを頼みにいったとき、当初、父の返事は渋かった。

それまで開拓団への支援などには積極的だった父でも、指名手配中の人物を受け入れるのには、家を預かる者として懸念があったらしい。

諦められずに懇願する私に、父はそこまで固執する理由は何なのかと問うた。私は、お前との思い出を心のままに語った。それは量としては乏しくとも、ひとつひとつが私にとってかけがえのない、驚きと輝きに満ちたものだ。故に、我が友がどのような人であるか、そして私が友を救いたいと願う気持ちを伝えるには、それが一番だと考えた。

思えば、父とあれほど長く話したことはなかったかもしれない。語り切った私をしばし見つめていた父は、ふと目元を緩め、「明日まで考えさせてほしい」と言った。

そしてその翌日、正式に後見人になると、返事を寄越してくださったのだ。

When I went to ask him to help you, at first, his answer was quite harsh.

Even though he had been very positive when it came to supporting the Reclamation Corps, it seemed the idea of harbouring wanted fugitives was quite a worry for the head of the household. In response to my insistent pleading, he asked me why I wasn’t giving up. I simply told him straight from my heart my memories of you and I. Though they may be meagre in number, each one of them is irreplaceable, overflowing with surprise and shining light! I thought therefore, that this was the best way to explain to him just who you, my dear friend, is- and also how much my desire to save you was. Now that I think of it, this was probably the longest conversation I ever had with my father. When I had said all that I could, he suddenly smiled warmly and said “Let me think on this unto the morrow”. Then the next day, he sent word to me that he would officially become your guardian.

以降のことは、お前も知るところだろう。

おかげさまで、私は以前よりも、本家に顔を出すのが少しばかり楽しみになった。

とはいえお前は大概不在で、また七面倒な役目を背負ってどこかへ旅立っていると聞くたび、私はお前を祖国のいさかいに巻き込んでしまっただけなのではないかと思ったりもする。それについては、文句があったら、いつか酌でもしながら聞くとしよう。

The rest, I trust you already know.

Thanks to you, unlike before, I now actually look forward to visiting Fortemps Manor. However, you aren’t there very much, and each time I hear you are off fighting some great trouble, I sometimes think I have done nothing but get you involved in the troubles of my homeland. If you have complaints about that you are welcome to tell me them over a drink sometime.

それでも、友よ。

私は、一片の疑いもなく、信じてしまうのだ。

いかなる困難も、決してお前を挫かせることはできまい。

それは今回の旅だけではなく、この先、お前がどこを目指したとしても変わらない。

ひとりで越えられない壁があったとしても、お前が進もうとする限り、必ず誰かが手を差し伸べるだろう。私が今、そうしたいと願っているようにだ。

そしてその困難の先には、必ず新しい景色が待っている。

それを見つけたときにはきっと、大いに、笑ってほしい。

お前の旅路が、最良のものであるよう……

無事を祈っている。

―― オルシュファン・グレイストーン

Nonetheless, my friend.

I, without a trace of doubt in my heart, trust in you.

No matter what troubles come, they will never dampen your spirits.

Not just on your current journey, but in the future, no matter what you try to do. Even if there is a wall you can’t climb by yourself, as long as you keep trying, there will be someone to lend you a hand. Just as I, right now, am praying to do.

And on the other side of those troubles, certainly there will be a new day waiting for you.

And when you find it, I want you to do so with a huge smile on your face.

I pray that your journey will always be a good one.

Haurchefant Greystone.

[marley-manson]

well i shouldn't have complained about how annoying all the criticism and hate in the yellowjackets tag is because i think i cursed myself lol

I am less than enthusiastic about the season 3 finale unfortunately.

I think the writers turning the hunt from the pilot into a secret faction vs faction battle of wills was meant to be just a neat twist and a way to add more interpersonal conflict, but like, I'm actually here for the story of the fucked up survivalist teenage cannibal cult and how it still impacts and tempts the survivors 25 years later, and what that says about like, the nature of humanity and stuff.

I'm not super into 2.5 people bullying 10ish other people into cannibalism because they're mentally ill/power hungry, while the innocent ones plot against them to save themselves. That is just inherently less thematically rich, and less interesting in terms of complex characterization, and it introduces irreconcilable problems.

Like eg if Natalie is a saint trying to save everyone who sees the cannibalism as completely fucked up and is horrified by Lottie and Shauna... why was she just as into the hunt reprise in the season 2 finale as anyone else?

I get that they're trying to explain some discrepancies (like eg Natalie and Shauna civily interacting as adults I assume) by mentioning trauma fucking with their memories a few times this season, and I'm willing to accept that as a way of smoothing some continuity over even if it is a bit shoddy lol, but like this is a total 180 of thesis statement.

Now to be fair and because I'm an eternal optimist, this only truly kills my interest if the show doubles down on the good guys vs villains angle, and that does seem kind of unlikely to me.

Like for one thing, the show is still very direct about how fucked up the adults all are. Melissa is on the "good guys" side in the teen timeline, and she just killed Van for the sake of stabbing someone in the adult timeline. Tai is back in Dr Jekyl mode and she just ate Van's heart raw lmao. The show has pulled back on Misty's sociopathy a bit, but she was introduced torturing her patients and cavalierly killed a woman in season 1 and I think the show still knows she's fucked up. Also she was very casual about Callie killing Lottie.

Plus it sounds like they're all going to be trying to kill each other next season. Probably with shifting alliances and surprise enemies and allies, rather than strictly Misty and Tai vs Shauna vs Melissa. And like, Tai and Misty seem to be instigating it, which isn't exactly good guy behaviour lol, given Shauna didn't do anything to them.

And as for the teens, the overall framing sucked, but lbr more than three of them were howling for blood during the hunt. Most of them believe in the cult, Akilah killed her own animals to facilitate the hunt because Lottie told her to (I think), they all ate Ben while partying, and they all went along with Lottie's decree of a sacrifice pretty easily. And Misty has been blatantly fucked up in various ways the whole time. Saint Natalie might be a write off unfortunately, but you can't tell me Shauna's the only one into it. (And honestly Natalie could show her own dark side in a conflict with Shauna or something pretty easily.)

Like don't get me wrong, obviously I love Shauna going full villain protag and embracing her inner cannibal, and I'm looking forward to finding out what that's going to look like in the adult timeline. But I'm interested in Shauna as representative of a dark aspect of humanity and maybe the most extreme of them, not so much as a fucked up evil anomaly because she's just a bad person. If it turns out that she's only fooling herself when she says they all actually loved it deep down and that's what they had to repress, and she's the only one who loved it, I'm going to be upset because I was calling "they all loved it and that's what really fucked them up" the basic thesis of the show on my initial watchthrough of the first two seasons, and I was extremely happy about it.

But I've still got plenty of hope that season 4 will continue to be fun. I mean even if the teen timeline continues to annoy me, all the adults left are certifiably fucked up and about to battle royale each other. That should at least be entertaining.

[watermelonlicker]

Hi, so this is random and not about larry but I was browsing through the iwtv tag and saw your old post so I recognized you cause I follow you(so you're the only one I felt safe enough to send this to) but I was just wondering since I haven't watched the show and I want to but I'm just scared that it may not be worth it if there would be other ships besides loustat which is my favorite, and I know there's an upcoming season but I'm not sure if they would have enough scenes from what I've read. What do you think and if you could share any thoughts or suggestions I'd love to hear about that before watching the show.

hi!! well lolll i’ve had a journey with iwtv lemme tell you and if the post you’re referring to is that fucking lestat post i’m already bracing myself to be annoyed by even more notifs when he does some fuck shit in s3 djdjdjdj

anyways so while i do not recommend joining the fandom as it is a cesspool of racism and is very much not fun, i do recommend watching the show bcos it is soooooo fucking good. like it is a gothic masterpiece and is single handedly responsible for the vampire renaissance in my not humble opinion when it comes to that show bcos it is the best thing on television. i am a loustat shipper thru and thru and they dominate s1 so i dont think you have to worry about scenes. s2 not as much bcos the focus is on louis (but he’s my favorite character so i was perfectly fine with that and im biased so idk if lestat is your fave you might struggle) but les is still very much a presence if that makes sense

now for other ships besides loustat unfortunately yes there are many. lestat is a bit of hoe but louis is his constant if that makes sense like he doesn’t love anyone but louis but there are a lot of rival ships in the fandom which makes fandom dynamics annoying as always you know it’s nothing new. louis also has a love interest in s2 which… if you can even call it that. and tw in s1 there is something very abusive lestat does to louis in episode 5 that pretty much rocked the fandom.

now for the upcoming season i have no idea and that’s part of the reason i fully transitioned back to larrying. there’s a lot of weird shit going on bts with this fyc press run sam is on (the actor who plays lestat) who has been placed front and center for promo and jacob (the actor who plays louis) and all of the side cast of color have not been included in press at all which is unlike how it was before (don’t even get me started on the lack of money invested in the show when jacob was still the face vs sam now being the face i have many fucking posts ranting about amc’s racism)

it does seem s3 will be very much the lestat show as it is based on his pov book the vampire lestat (the producers promised louis would still be a main character but idk how much i trust that anymore) like the wave of trumpism in the us and the roll back on diversity going on down there idk how much that will effect loustat in the upcoming season. they have also taken extremely long to write s3 like literally about a year which makes me think rewrites happened.

i will unfortunately be watching to find out bcos that show has me in a chokehold but if you end up not wanting to i feel the first two seasons are a completed story so it will be fine if you stop there. ♥️

[yokowan]

It was early in the autumn last year, just as the leaves were beginning to turn, that I found myself in the company of the most peculiar maid. Or, so I call it, for want of a better word. You see, by my very nature I am extremely disorganised. My clothes cycle between the floor and my person, maybe finding themselves in the wash from time to time if I feel so daring. Papers and writing implements are strewn about every level surface of my residence. Soiled dishes pile high and are not cleaned until I entirely run out or the smell becomes intolerable. My absent and aimless mind has led me to live in a kind of squalor that the most rancid maggots might turn up their noses at.

One weary late night, I readied myself to sleep. As I always do, I picked up the pile of clothes off of my bed and tossed them approximately in the direction of a chair. Imagine my surprise, then, when I looked over and saw the clothes had somehow perfectly folded themselves as they flew through the air and landed in a neatly squared stack. If not for the dreadful hour of night I probably would have stepped in to investigate, perhaps attempting the same a few more times. Instead I laughed at the bizarre coincidence, and collapsed in my bed.

That following mid-afternoon, after I had awoken and persuaded myself out of bed, I lumbered into the kitchen to prepare a cup of coffee. As I approached the counter I stopped and rubbed my eyes. There was already a cup of coffee there, piping hot. Perhaps I sleepwalked? I've always known myself to be a restless sleeper, tossing and muttering through the night, but never have I seen evidence of myself walking about, let alone brewing an entire cup of coffee. Well, I've never been one to refuse a spontaneous gift, even one from an unconscious version of myself, so I picked up the beverage and took a sip.

It's sweet.

Perfectly brewed, just as I like it, but I always take my coffee black. In my waking state I don't even know where my sugar dish is!

I brushed the miscellaneous on papers on my couch to one side and sat down to ponder the event as I drank. Had I, in some trance, managed to go through my entire morning routine and then return to bed with absolutely no recollection of these events, I surely would have at least made my coffee by muscle memory. Somehow not only had I made the drink, but I'd also found the sugar which I most certainly purchased at one point but has never been used since. And all this done without disturbing a single thing in my kitchen! It's so unlike me!

Perhaps it wasn't me. Perhaps some strange and bizarrely covert infiltrator entered my house and helped themselves to my kitchen before being turned away by guilt. Or, perhaps I could have been under the spell of some benevolent coffee-making warlock, or possessed by a spirit, or somehow otherwise under the influence of some magicks beyond my comprehension. Or perhaps, and oh how I laughed when the thought crossed my mind, the coffee just did that on its own! Remembering the spontaneously folded pile of clothes from the preceding night, I considered that maybe the clockwork of the universe aligned just so that the moisture in the air would come to rest in my cup and powdered coffee would fall from my shelf in just the right measure and sugar would appear from God-knows-where and…

What a preposterous idea.

I arose to investigate around the kitchen some more. The dishes on the counter and items in the cabinets were all in precisely the same order, or rather disorder, which they were in the night before. Odd. Absentmindedly, my fingers find themselves brushing against the kettle. It's stone cold. Even more odd. The coffee was hot as if just brewed when I found it, surely the kettle wouldn't have had time to cool down by now. I checked the stove, too, for good measure. Cold as well.

I sighed and stared vacantly as I took the last sips of my coffee. What a perplexing mystery indeed. I set my cup down on the counter. I nearly failed to notice before walking away, but it had just barely caught my attention that the bottom of the cup was entirely clean. I picked it back up and scrutinized it further. Not only was it clean but it was completely dry. As if there had never been any coffee in it at all! Perhaps I had hallucinated the whole ordeal, maybe the beverage in its entirety was illusory? But I could still taste the coffee on my breath! I ran to the closest mirror to look my teeth and indeed the residue of coffee still stained them slightly. No, the coffee could not have been an illusion.

I sat down on the couch with a frustrated "harumph!" What sort of silly games is the universe playing on me. Perhaps this is all a dream? Maybe, but it feels much too real. And besides, it would be a completely useless wager to make; if I'm wrong I'll wake up anyways.

My eyes wandered to the other end of the couch, where I noticed the pile of papers that I'd shoved off to the side. They were organized. Neatly in a stack. The unpaid bills that I'd intentionally shoved to the bottom of the pile some days ago had all found themselves on top, as well.

What sort of treacherous divine mockery is being made of me! Is some bored ancient deity teasing me for my carelessness? Or has the machinery of creation at last taken pity on this dreadful sloven? "What is happening to me!" I cried out in desperation.

As if in response, a stiff draft blew through an open window, lifting an empty bread bag into the air, from where it drifted ever so gently into my wastebasket. I slumped back in my seat. It seems lady luck has made herself a maid.

[pencildragons]

ty for tagging me tessa @clayvedevs !!!!!!!!!

1. Do you make your bed?

NO. making the bed is evil and also too hard

2. Favourite number?

uhhh UHHHH 12 ? 12 is a good number i liked being twelve. 67 is also a good number !!

3. What's your job?

divine prophet of The Bog (extremely unemployed)

4. If you could go back to school, would you?

yes !!!! i lovee school i lovee learning & my hs? extremely chill

5. Can you parallel park?

yes fire emoji fire emoji fire emoji

6. Do you think aliens are real?

I feel like the possibility that there AREN'T aliens is extraordinarily low, even if they haven't evolved yet or would be completely unrecognisable as a form of life to us. the universe is still comparatively so so young so i feel the chances that at some point in the next quadzillion years that the circumstances of earth won't be replicated at least in part is hugely unlikely

7. Can you drive a manual car?

technically? i learnt to drive in a manual ute that is ABSOLUTELY not roadworthy but i did not get a manual licence :( sort of regret that but im sure if i got back in a manual i could do it again. probably

8. Guilty pleasure?

thinking in depth and forever abt my girl in middle earth oc hobbit fic that i havent properly written since like 2021. she means the WORLD to me i could make it sooo good if i just got over the evil puritans in my head telling me it is cringe

9. Tattoos?

soon!!! one day!!!! trust and believe!!!!!!!

10. Favourite colour?

loveeeeee yellow i love yellow so much soo much. unfortunately i am ginger.

11. Favourite type of music?

idk if i have a favourite TYPE of music persay? but ive sort of been bouncing between a mix of folk rock and Silly Power Metal and i will hit up the odd soundtrack also. wait actually this is untrue i am, embarrassingly, really into hyperpop (UNDERSCORES I LOVE YOU)

12. Do you like puzzles?

yeah! they're kind of evil and i am not great at pattern recognition and they hurt my back. but also v satisfying to do

13. Any phobias?

ants i fucking hate ants i HATE them (i stood in a bullant nest when i was 2) + also maybe thalassophobia? idk though that may have also been cured by the time i played 130 hours of subnautica in a week in december

14. Favourite childhood sport?

touch footie!!! i was very good at it lowk and i miss playing it terribly

15. Do you talk to yourself?

LMAO YEAH. when im thinking about writing especially. or doing literally anything. i will talk to myself

16. Tea or coffee?

TEA I LOVE TEA I LOVE TEA SO MUCH. i cannot drink coffee because The Side Effects + caffeine does not seem to have the intended effect on me, so i don't really drink caffeinated tea that much either? i absolutely LOVE rooibos with honey in it though one million out of ten

17. First thing you wanted to be when growing up?

i wanted to be a scientist because i was under the impression that scientists blew things up and that it was exclusively their job to do that. i still want to be a scientist tbh but for different reasons

18. What movies do you adore?

im so normal and regular and fine about the hobbit extended edition trilogy. so normal. no but fr i love unexpected journey i have watched it more than twenty times total and. five times in the last week and a bit LOL

Tagging:

@sithfox @hastalavistabyebye @patchmates @rockcattomato and anyone else who would like to !!!!

[justlemmeadoreyou]

Unfulfilled

Ok so this was something I wrote a month ago, a simple idea that just popped up in my head. I kinda wanted to make this a series, and I still have the whole story, but I didn't think you all would like it, so tell me if you do! xoxo

Word Count: 1.1k

Warnings: fluff, cursing

Pairing: nerd!harry x nerd!reader

YN was stressed.

She had a physics exam tomorrow, and the constant flaunting by Harry wasn’t helping.

“I’ve revised thrice. And I am solving previous years’ papers for like, 2 hours now. I still don’t get this.” He sighed, listing up a plethora of achievements that YN was nowhere near.

“Yeah, yeah. I get it. You’ve finished the syllabus and are way ahead of me. I am far behind and you’re solving questions. Happy?” YN replied, head pounding from the strain in her eyes.

“What? No! Who said I was listing all the things I’ve already done? And that you’re way behind?” He smirked, and she wanted to smack his face.

“Shut up” she finally said to him, and he started to pout.

“Hey, I was just teasing. Do you want me to help you?” he asked, now feeling a bit guilty.

“No, I’ll do it myself. I just feel a bit stressed.” you replied, placing a hand over your head.

“Let’s go for some coffee. I’ll get you a muffin too” he offered, and who were you to refuse free coffee?

“Sure” you smiled, and he dragged both of your chairs out, pushing them back in after you got up. You exited the library and he followed behind.

“You know you don’t have to worry so much. You’ve studied. I know you have.” he smiled reassuringly, and you could feel some of the tension slipping away, looking at his ridiculously cute dimples.

“Thank you. You are the only person who would say that and I would actually believe it.”

You entered the small cafe, ordering two decafs. You drank it on the way, and went back to studying at the library.

You and Harry were academic rivals, for as long as you can recall. Since high school to senior year, and then here you were attending the same grad school.

Here too, you fought like children. The competition was a bit tougher now, though, since you both wanted to get good placements, and keeping constant 9+ cgpa was a tough task.

Nevertheless, you had become friends.

Good friends, actually. You both gave the valedictorian speech together, and you had to spend a lot of time with him for it. It was then that you realized that he was not so bad after all.

He was quite caring. He constantly checked in on those around him, making sure they were okay, and letting them know that he was there for them. Even right now, he would make you drink water, shared his food with you, and gave you a head massage. He took you for coffee, so that you would get up from the depressing library and get some fresh air, before going back and diving back in.

He was quite balanced too. He was extremely good at studies, and managed everything else along with it.

Everything, which was almost annoying.

He went for a run every morning around the uni, and was ridiculously fit. He was tall, and had great hair. He played occasional basketball too, and there was a plethora of girls who attended the game just to watch him get hit in the balls with the basketball.

He would go to parties too, unlike you, who preferred to stay in and burn your eyes out on a new movie on your laptop. He drank beers, and looked better than you in the morning.

He was so perfect.

How did he manage to do that?

>>>

The exam day had arrived. You had been biting your nails since morning, and had to stop before you drew out blood and had trouble writing. He sent you texts throughout the morning, wishing you luck and encouraging you.

“Love, you’ll do well”

“Yeah, but not as well as you. How many times have you revised now?”

“Four. But-It dosen’t matter!”

“Yeah. Right.”

As if a stressed-and-not-even-revised-once head could compare to a i-revised-five-times one.

Turns out, it did.

On the day of the result, you had managed to bite through your skin, and drew out blood. Your roommate, Lizzy, had put band-aids on each finger, and scolded you for doing it. She wanted to tie your hands to the side even, so they won’t reach your vampire teeth.

As the professor was handing out the papers, you felt nervous. Everything you had written in the paper was coming back to you like an attack, and making you think you had done everything wrong.

Meanwhile, Harry was relaxed.

So relaxed.

He had his arms behind his head, and was leaning on to the backrest, looking like he owned the world. You did not anticipate the change in expression when he saw his score.

“What-?” you could hear the surprise in his shreik, and he pouted like a baby when the professor shushed him.

He was looking at the paper like it wasn’t his own, and as if he had been somehow betrayed.

You managed to walk down to his sheet while the rpof was distributing them to the last benches, and quickly grabbed his sheet to see his score.

“95. Are you mad?”

“Just 95”

He groaned and frowned, trying to take your sheet and see the score.

“What did you get?”

“Oh. I didn’t see” you were so engrossed in his score that you hadn’t even taken a glance at your own paper.

You pulled out your sheet, and glanced at the big red circle.

98

Holy shit.

“What the-” you stopped mid-sentence, and your expression now matched Harry’s.

“Fuckin’ hell” he snatched the paper from your hands, and frantically started to go through each question. Every question of yours matched his, except one. It was a 3 marker, and you had gotten it right.

“I solved this in like, 30 seconds. It’s ridiculous-” he held the paper up, reading the question, “-Is it easier to pull, or push?” he put it down, and said “ Pull. Obviously.”

“That’s not true. It actually depends on the situation. Plus, you had to give an example.”

“What did you write?”

“It depends on the situation. If you were to move a lawn mover, pull would be easy. If you were moving an almirah, push would be easy.”

“Shit” he looked sad and confused, and to be honest, you felt bad for him.

“I can’t believe you got more than me.”

“Yeah. Suck on it, Styles’”

“Hey! I helped you!”

“Well, you couldn’t even answer a push n’ pull question. Next time, I’ll help you” you couldn’t stop the big smirk that stayed on your face throughout the class.

And honestly, even Harry couldn’t stop the warm glow spreading across his face from seeing you happy.

(next part)

perfect dividers by @firefly-graphics

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tip me here if you feel generous!!

taglist: @freedomfireflies @gurugirl @thechaoticjoy @styleslover-1994 @gem1712 @ellaorchard @bxbyysstuff @opheliaofficial07 @rafaaoli @tchlamqtsgf @the-mouse27 @indierockgirrl @vrittivsanghavi @walkingintheheartbreaksatellite @drewrry @babyiamperfectforyou @avalentina

let me know if you want to be added or removed!

[creative-caramel-coffee]

TIME FOR AN UPDATE

Ok I think it’s time I did some explaining…

Basically over the past few months I have been posting a lot less as many of you noticed. Now I am not leaving tumblr and probably won’t ever, but I was taking a break. On one hand I’ve had a lot of work for uni and some health issues.

As I’ve mentioned on here before I was recently diagnosed with POTS. In the months following my diagnosis we believed I had started to have non-epileptic seizures. Anywhere from 2-5+ a day sometimes more than 10. It was making it very hard to get work done let alone write fic and there were days I was unable to do anything due to me being extremely tired which isn’t normal for me.

When I first went to the hospital the doctor didn’t know what POTS was and as a result I was sent for test after test only to get no results. After I did some research on it myself after months of no answers. I realised POTS may explain it better than any theory the doctors had.

I also begun getting tics and it took me a while to be comfortable out in public again and in my classes which means I had fallen behind.

Now I’m booked in with my POTS specialist again for an appointment in a few weeks where I will hopefully get some answers.

Whilst it is rare to have seizure-like episodes with POTS it’s not unheard of.

What I guess the main point I have is, until I am able to manage my studies and health again and I have some ways to manage my POTS it’s unlikely I’ll be posting fic in the next few weeks. HOWEVER… I will be back to my writing once uni is done and I feel a bit better. I have only about one assignment left before I have to move out of my apartment and back home. So I’ll have more time then.

The other thing I want you guys to take away from this is that even though doctors know a lot they don’t always know everything and it’s important to do your own research and advocate for yourself because the person who knows what your going through best is yourself.

(Also the doctor was a major asshole who treated me like a child and kept implying I was just trying to get out of uni work)

Take care everyone and I should be back to my usual fics and shenanigans soon. Thank you to everyone who has stuck around despite my absence on here lately.

Again I’m NOT giving up writing I’m just trying to get my life back in order before I come back.

Drink water and take breaks my lovely people

-ccc

[calicomccoy]

I can't be only one, right...?

I wanted to finish the game and then write this post but I gave up. I put in 100 plus hours and just could not go on once I got into act three. Maybe no one will hear my pitiful cry from the void, but I must scream for the sake of my sanity.

I was completely and utterly disappointed by Baldur's Gate 3. 

It had huge maps like an open world game yet I had no desire to explore the settings despite their beauty. It had hours of dialogue as an RPG would and yet I found myself skipping characters' responses. The game mechanic structure was inspired by DnD, a story-telling game dictated by some rules, lucky rolls and the extent of players' imagination, yet I was strong-armed into fighting impossibly stacked battles. A story-telling game dependent on the players’ attachment to their and their teammates' characters and yet this game lacked any kind of narrative consistency or depth of feeling. 

Larian wanted to make an open world RPG, based off of DND mechanics and somehow did the worst version of all three. The studio touts that Baldur’s Gate 3 has 17,000 possible endings and 2 million words, but to what end? What did this game have to say about what happens when people rise to the challenge and become heroes despite their circumstances or fall into the dark and become the monsters they were supposed to fight? What did it suggest might happen when fate deals you a bad hand but in doing so also helps you find true friends or love with the other? Ultimately, nothing. 

BG3 is so large that it ends up being incoherent. No writing or game structure decisions were made to keep the narrative tight and on theme. It urges players to choose a moral alignment, but most decisions, good or bad, seem to end up having little effect in the end. To play the game at all you have to resort to save scumming and that in turn deflates the possible impact of so many plot points of the narrative overall. 

Forcing players to save scum in order to progress through the game is terrible design in general. Statistically speaking the bosses make impossible critical hits again and again. I was playing in the game’s “casual mode” and found myself struggling to get through confrontations with bosses that were at a lower level than my own. If you are reading and thinking oh well you are probably not using tactics or spells well, etc., let’s do a little experiment…

Take your d20 (https://rolladie.net/roll-a-d20-die if you don’t have one in person). In the third act of BG3 I had an AC of 13 as a sorcerer with 100 plus HP. Roll your d20 ten times or more. How many times out of ten would your character have gotten to hit mine successfully? Unless an enemy is extremely lucky it should be unlikely that an enemy could hit my character every turn they get. And even if they do they would have to roll for damage which is only a single d6, d8, d10 or d12 plus a modifier at lower levels depending on your class. Again an enemy would have to have an extremely lucky roll to hit me every turn AND deal significant damage. During an in person DnD session that is just a bad night for my character. In a video game on casual mode that is significantly suspicious. 

So what you might say. You've made and enjoyed the fanart, memes and etc. You got your $61 worth of playtime. So many other people were fine with the game, what is your problem? 

I love video games. They blend so many artforms and tell stories in ways never done before. It is a medium unique to our current century and when historians look back they will view video games as an insight to our culture. 

It frustrates me to no end that Baldur’s Gate 3 is considered the next gold standard. Too many games have done open world and RPGs in a fantasy setting far better for Larian (Swen Vincke) to have made the design and writing choices they did with BG3. There are so many podcasts and shows that have written better stories through the DnD format. I am embarrassed for the medium as an artist and frustrated as a player. Players and the industry deserve better than to have artists, actors, engineers etc. burn themselves out creating maximalist behemoths like this game. A game that is beautiful but basically unplayable, narratively, nihilistic and incoherent. 

[nayucristal]

6 studio ghibli movies for beginners ⋆౨ৎ˚⟡˖ ࣪

hello! ^^ this is my first text-post here so i decided to write about a topic that i am totally obsessed with!! but before we begin, here is a brief introduction:

i think it's important to balance between the more complex and simple Studio Ghibli films so that you can have access to both facets of Ghibli. after all, not all of them are extremely complex and metaphorical, sometimes you can just choose a lighter movie to watch!

what is the difference between studio ghibli's movies and other movies? studio ghibli has the mastery of dealing with everyday and essentially human issues (as well as environmental ones) that we are all familiar with seeing in films.

but what makes it unique is the delicate, engaging and accurate tone of humanity and intimacy that studio ghibli brings to the films, making them all special and capable of generating a unique connection between the viewer and the work.

so let's get start it!

p.s.: everything mentioned here is based on my opinion and preferences! feel free to kindly & respectfully disagree <3

Kiki's Delivery Service (˶˃ ᵕ ˂˶) .ᐟ.ᐟ

one of my favorite studio ghibli movies! i believe it has the most relatable protagonist of all the studio's movies. the film deals with several subjects such as burnout, identity, "what is my talent? what makes me unique?", among others!

the soundtrack is unique, catchy and memorable (sometimes i find myself humming the main theme throughout the day lol)

i think it's a great film for those who are just starting to get to know Studio Ghibli and might fall in love with it!

2. Whisper of the Heart ꒰ᐢ. .ᐢ꒱₊˚⊹

this is usually one of the first Ghibli movies i recommend to someone (also is one of my favourites)! it has a light and human romance; "no magic, no enchanted beings, no spectacular plot, just the appreciation of life"

the film also features a completely relatable protagonist, shizuku, who searches for a sense of identity, albeit in a different context than kiki.

shizuku is a teenager who is about to start high school but still doesn't know very well what the future holds for her and what she plans to do with it. she ends up meeting her great life partner, seiji, who has a great dream and life goal.

3. Howl's Moving Castle ⋆˙⟡ —

one of the classics! you've probably heard of this masterpiece before or come across the soundtrack online.

unlike the last films mentioned, this one has a much more elaborate, deep and even certainly confusing plot as it contains a lot of symbolism (in addition to being an adaptation of a book!).

however, i think it's a great movie to recommend when you're starting to watch studio ghibli because even though it's slightly complex, it's mesmerizing and engaging. in addition, it shows the purest essence of studio ghibli, which is to portray humanity, human insecurities and feelings with the complexity and subjectivity that they have.

i'm absolutely sure you'll fall in love!

4. My Neighbor Totoro ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚

another extremely classic that you've probably heard of! my neighbor totoro will take you back to sweet childhood memories, even if you didn't live in a country house or encounter a mystical forest creature!

this is another story that doesn't have a crazy plot, but it is wrapped in nostalgia, comfort, animation and soundtrack, which makes the experience totally immersive.

my neighbor totoro is without a doubt one of Studio Ghibli's biggest brands, even forming part of the studio's logo and selling several products. it's a film you can't miss!

5. From Up On Poppy Hill ✮⋆˙

maybe this one will generate some disagreement but HEAR ME OUT!!!!!!!!! this was the first Ghibli film i showed my father and he simply fell in love with everything: the animation, the story, the soundtrack, the characters; and all of this made him want to see more of Ghibli!

unlike the other films on the list, this is the only one that was not directed by Hayao Miyazaki but by his son. the film has a curious and incredible story, focusing on one subject: the preservation and veneration of the past so that there may be a future.

the characters are delicate in their essence and each of them tells their own life story and how it built who they are in the present. a great movie for you to watch on a Sunday afternoon!

6. Spirited Away ˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗

did you think i wouldn't talk about it? simply the most emblematic movie from Studio Ghibli and i believe the most popular too!

this is another film full of metaphors and symbolism as well as a fantastic protagonist. it's a super fantasy film but it deals with extremely real themes of our world, based on the adventure of an 8-year-old girl: "the world will not be kind to you at any time, but you will need to find the strength within yourself to grow and face it"

completely addictive and charismatic in its own way i'm sure you'll love this studio ghibli masterpiece!