#and definitely an addition to the cruelties of life

[idlespright]

Life can be cruel but there is still so much beauty around. Afternoon sunshine at the river, for example. And I love it!

[bonny-kookoo]

Jungkook: Lacrymaria olor(4)

In which Jungkook can sense that you want something from him.

Tags/Warnings: Alien AU, Alien!Jungkook, Human!Reader, Angst, Blood and Violence, Strangers to I don't know?

Additional Chapter Warnings: have you forgotten about this yet because I haven't, dead dove do not eat (murder, cruelty?)

Length: short

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Jungkook is a naturally heavy sleeper.

On his planet, he's the apex predator after all- he's got no natural enemies, nothing could truly hurt him other than one of his own kind. However, you are not- you've adapted as your role of mere prey, constantly waking up from any sound. Currently, there's a flock of bird-like creatures sitting on the windowsill outside, pecking the glass occasionally. Their glowing red eyes spot you awake, curious head tilting from left to right as if to muster you.

It would be fine if it was the size of maybe.. a crow or something. But this thing? It's more the size of a dog.

The worst thing is that the window isn't even closed. Jungkooks leaves it partially open because he can't sleep when it's too warm, and while you never minded in the past, right now with the animal poking it's beak in, you're absolutely terrified.

So you wiggle around, trying to get out of Jungkooks grip- but it's no use. "Jungkook.!" You whine, trying to wake him but he just- doesn't. He simply growls almost under his breath, pulling you even closer.

But what's also coming closer, is the animal.

It's claws click on the wooden floors closer to you, tail being dragged after it as it seems to explore the room first before it targets you in the Temian's arms. Its now that you turn around and bury yourself in Jungkook's arms, trembling from the fear of what's to come.

Until he moves, one hand pushing you behind him while the other holds the strange animal by its throat, rest of the flock outside hurrying away from the sound of its struggle.

There's a strange reflectiveness to Jungkook's eyes, like a cat's, as he holds the animal in a strong grip while slowly getting out of bed. The window is opened, the creature flailing wildly in his fist as he holds it by the neck still, and in horror you watch as Jungkook clenches his jaw for a second before he breaks it and let's the corpse fall the long way down to the ground, where the other 'birds' begin to feed on it.

The window is closed after that, noise silenced as he turns towards you again.

It's moments like these that remind you that he's not someone who sees the act of taking a life as something never to be done, but rather as a way of solving problems, in a way. He's dangerous, definitely- but still, something odd inside you makes you remind yourself that he promised to never hurt you.

That he cares for you, and cares about you.

"Did it hurt you?" He asks in a raspy tone as he crawls back on the bed, now sitting on his knees as he sleepily inspects you for any damage done. You simply shake your head, before you lean into him, arms holding onto his body as best as you can.

Unbeknownst to you, hugging and skinship is something entirely intimate in his culture. It's not taken lightly, it's not done with anybody. In this moment, he thoroughly enjoys thus intimacy with you, chuckling a little when he notices your fear slowly leaving your scent for him. "I forgot they might see you as potential prey. I'll have some safety nets installed on the windows so they can't come in anymore." He gently explains, slowly helping you into a more comfortable position, laying down with you again. "Do you enjoy my company?" He wonders randomly, and you nod.

"You're safe." You say quietly. "You protect me."

"That I do." He nods proudly, eyes closed as he holds you close. "Its good that you're aware of this."

"Its hard not to be." You answer. "I'd be dead without you."

"Probably." He nods. "But I won't let that happen." He quietly promises, opening his eyes again for a second to face you. "I can imagine officially Courting you, you know?" He informs you, and you look at him with wide eyes.

"I- aren't you doing that yet though?" You wonder, a little confused.

"Huh? No, not at all." He says. "Do you not court mates you're interested in on earth?"

"We.. I mean, we go on dates? Like, we go out to eat traditionally, and.. spend time. That's it." You offer, and he scoffs.

"No that's not how it works here." He almost pouts. "How would you know that I'm a worthy partner if I don't prove myself to you?" He questions.

"But I already know that you are..." you start- before noticing what you just implied.

And he suddenly grins, looking at you with the most innocent, sparkling round eyes you've ever seen, before he moves to lean over you, excited eyes falling to your lips before they find your eyes again, silently asking a question you can hear loud and clear.

As you nod, he instantly leans down his head to kiss you, though its neither hungry or hurried. It's as if he's demanding time to wait for now, to stop and give him all the time he wants as he offers such a gentle gesture to you. He himself doesn't truly know why he feels so strongly towards you- in the beginning, it had been nothing more than curiosity to find out what made his past mate leave him for something so frail and selfish like a human being. But somewhere along, the line between simple fun and actual romantic interest had blurred, and right now, as he opens his lips to run his tongue along yours, he knows he's a goner.

But he also does not care, especially not when he parts from you for a second, your hands holding on to his clothes, trying to pull him back in. There's no way he could ever let you leave any longer.

So he keeps you a little closer tonight as he dreams of his plans to prove himself, all while the birds outside still pull apart one of their own.

[why-do-i-like-the-bad-guys]

A point no one ever touches on about Flint:

The fact that he was raised by his grandfather.

Now, maybe it was common back then, but from personal experience; losing your parents at such a young age makes a huge impact on a person.

People argue that “Flint” was created because of the loss of Thomas Hamilton. But I’d like to think it was when he lost his parents. The only difference being, Miranda and Thomas allowed him to come out of the shadows, out of hiding. He had that rage inside him before he lost Thomas, his boss in the Navy said so himself after he beat up a guy in the bar. He had a darkness in him that not even he understood the depths of.

I can definitely relate to that statement and mindset, I think as a kid instead of acting out on his aggression; Flint used books and stories to try and escape his reality, so he wouldn’t be alone with his own thoughts. I do the same with TV shows and stories I write.

But then he found Thomas and Miranda and he didn’t need the books to crawl into, he was accepted by them, welcomed. And as someone who was adopted themselves, it’s extremely hard and sometimes it feels impossible to believe that someone could love you as you are or for who you are. Not only that, I think he found family within them, something sometimes hard for someone who loses their parents.

Flint tried to fit in by becoming an officer, upholding the standards of the law and whatnot, to be like everyone else. But deep inside, I think he felt very out of place and alone. He saw the world as it was, the cruelty within the people, and he ended up showing that to Thomas who was quite oblivious to it. But Flint knew the world was cruel at an early age.

They come from different backgrounds, but together they get to see the world through each other’s eyes, and that is a world that they can see being happy in.

Now, I know a lot of people like to think it’s purely queer rage that drove Flint, but I like to think it was something much deeper than that. Yes, he loved Thomas, inside and out, but I think Thomas was the first person who he didn’t have to pretend with. He was the first person who made him feel as if he wasn’t alone: that he was worthy of being loved. Then he was taken away and James became Flint and took Miranda away with him out of England.

Her ghost even says that first to him, she was a mother, and that’s why he was so ruined over her. He lost his mother again. I think it just shows that his reasons are a lot deeper than just being ostracized for being queer in that time. I think his rage goes beyond that, it goes all the way to his core of who he believes he is because of the loss of his parents. He came up from nothing, his grandfather wasn’t well off, he didn’t have a mother figure, that can be extremely damaging to a child growing up.

And sure, he had his grandfather, but growing up without parents also makes it extremely hard to figure out who you are. And it doesn’t specifically say how he lost his parents, but personally I like to believe that he lost his mother in childbirth, maybe his father died before he was born. It does mention that his father was a carpenter’s mate (worked on a ship) and that James himself had no schooling growing up. Which means, he learned everything himself because his grandfather was a fisherman and probably wasn’t well educated either. So he came from literally nothing and made something of himself, yet I don’t think he was content. I think he kept climbing the ranks, hoping it would give him a sense of meaning or purpose within his life, give him the peace he wanted, fill the hole within that losing his parents left.

An additional to that would be that James McGraw was a personality he put on, much like he did with Flint.

I also think he saw Gates as a father figure, a mentor, someone he trusted and respected more than any one else. So I think when Gates betrayed him, it broke something inside of him and he felt alone again.

He also says that England took his home; and I don’t think he meant the physical place, I think he meant Thomas. But I also think he meant his final security within himself. With Thomas and Miranda he found family, he found love and trust.

When Miranda was murdered it was the absolute last straw for him. It was like his mother dying all over again; except this time she was murdered, and now no one was safe from his vengeance. And people might think he went overboard, but think about it: someone insinuated that she was a slut and he almost beat the man to death. I think it was well within his rage now he burned the entire place down after she was murdered. Hell, those people got off easy.

He also talks about where the name Flint came from. A man that was never seen again. I think he chose it because in his mind, identity was something you could change, something you could toss away when done with. But closer to the end, he realized, he was Flint, Flint was him, and there was no throwing it away and starting over.

He tells Silver that he shouldn’t be afraid that he (Silver) will be his end because I think he already realizes that he’s already his own end. That there is no other way other than to die, in order to get rid of Flint. I think he knew at some point, that Silver would have to kill him and he was oky with it, but as long as the war was won or Silver carried on with the efforts of the war, so Flint would no longer be needed. Or Flint would just off himself when the time came. It was like passing on the torch, only Silver blew it out in front of him.

And for the offing himself part, we all know he would do it because at the end of the first season he tried to drown himself, he gave up hope. So he does have it in him to do that. (Not so fun fact: adoptees are 4x more likely to attempt suicide)

And I think it’s another reason Flint allowed himself to trust Silver in the first place. On some level, he knew that Silver understood what it was to have no solid identity, to have a background that made something inside of you missing. Silver had no problems shifting his position on the ship in order to stay relevant, which is why they made such good partners, because they understood one another in a way that Gates never could. But the thing with Silver was that he couldn’t see the ultimate bigger picture like Flint could, he didn’t have the loss Flint had, the sacrifices that Flint made, all he saw in the end was the destruction, not the new beginning coming out of the ashes.

Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.

[pastelwitchling]

Percy Jackson and the Olympians, episode 4 thoughts.

It occurs to me that there are some people who don't believe you can love something with all your heart and soul... and still critique it. Yet here I am. I can love the Percy Jackson show and still point out the flaws. So if you can't handle any critique of the show, don't read this, or it's all on you if you get pissed off or frustrated. I'm more than happy to discuss if you disagree with anything I'm about to say, but I will not tolerate hate or insults.

Without further ado, here are my thoughts on the latest Percy Jackson episode:

I think the general consensus (HA!) that I saw on IG was that people felt like the episode was too short, and... yeah, it definitely felt like it ended very quickly, and in the middle of a battle too. I understand not wanting it to be a monster per episode, but we've got 8 episodes in total, and much bigger things are about to happen that I think deserve more than one episode a little more than the chimera, to be honest.

I love how much I loved Annabeth in this episode, she was great. I loved Grover, he was great. Percy was phenomenal as always.

I will say that I definitely feel like I understand the show's formula now. A minute or two of some epic imagery, but not doing much with it because we have to have exposition for about 15 to 20 minutes, another minute or two of trio development and conversation, and then jumping right into the action for the rest of the episode.

Y'all can't hear the way I talk, so I get some of this sounds frustrated, but I'm more... clinical about it. To me, we already have the books and the first two movies (should've been five) that, personally, I feel did some of this epic stuff a little better, and so whatever good the show offers now, to me, is just an extra treat.

I loved the little additions, I loved Athena punishing Annabeth because it shows the gods' cruelty even towards their own kids, I loved Percy switching their places, I loved that confrontation, I loved him getting poisoned, that was cool. (I love Percy, I swear, but that was just really cool 😂)

I think the kids playing these characters are perfect, I think the action sequences are awesome, I think the intensity and lines are amazing, I just feel like the pacing and tone of the show is pretty different from the books. To me, the movies just... offered a little more epic-ness in terms of Percy's powers. Movie Percy, to me, really felt like the son of Poseidon because they let him use his powers, and they gave him a connection to water.

I don't really know how I feel about Percy Jackson... being afraid... of water...

I get the idea, I get that it's supposed to be ironic, I really do, but this isn't a book. We don't hear Percy's inner monologue about his comfort around Montauk and the beach there, and water has barely come into play in this show at all. Like there's a surprising lack of it. I get he's Sally Jackson's son, that's the whole thing, but he's a demigod of water and we've barely seen him have any connection to water. Why? Because most of the episode is taken up with EXPOSITION.

Humor me for a second. How much more impactful do you think it would've been if maybe that flashback scene to him as a kid was maybe instead that he was standing in front of the beach at Montauk? Maybe he was looking over the water, watching the waves. Maybe he felt this silent beckoning, moves closer to the water, and Sally Jackson comes running out, screaming for him to get away from the waves. She snatches him up, warns him never to go into the ocean without her again, that he's too young, he's not ready to set off on his own. She'll be talking about his life as a demigod, but he'll imagine she's talking about him drowning or something without her there to look after him. He tells her to breathe, just like he did in the initial flashback, and they share a hug and we see her true distress at almost losing her son to the life of a demigod too soon where he finds out who he is and has to leave for camp, and then Percy wakes up in the train. Suddenly that memory means something completely different to what he remembered. That way, it not only gives him that connection to Montauk, but it also explains him not really being around water much in the time we've seen him, because then we know as the audience that he's been warned away from the water and the life it'll include if he was to venture too far away into it.

Here's the thing. I saw that Rick Riordan really, really cares about making the truest adaptation he can (that's, like, his entire selling point whenever he talks about the show), which is understandable because it's no secret how much he loathed the movies. We know. If you've ever seen any panel or interview, you know how much Rick hates those films. Again, fair, because they're very different from the books. I love them, I think they're tons of fun, but I'm not the author of this series, you know? I don't care about phenomenal adaptations, I care about fun ones. RWRB is very different from the book, and is certainly not without its flaws, but neither is the book itself. They're still both super fun though, so they're still both my favorite romances.

That said, I think it's important to remember that Rick is a writer, not a filmmaker. What works in a book will not always work in a show or movie. The book is in Percy's perspective, so we get a lot of inner monologue on his feelings, thoughts, interests, and what matters most to him. The show rarely lets him talk except to ask a question or throw out a one-liner (that always lands, by the way, Percy is the absolute heart of this show, and the show really becomes phenomenal and fun when he's allowed to speak), forgetting that while Book Percy asked a lot of questions too, we still got his inner monologue to know more about him and his feelings. I think Walker is perfect in conveying a lot of emotion just in his facial expressions, but I do think the show has to give him more to work with because at this point, he's managing the emotional parts all on his own with not much assistance from the script.

I think Rick was so consumed with doing the things the films didn't do that he dismissed the good things the films did. I will reiterate that this isn't necessarily a bad thing. This show is such a treat, we get so many great moments as well as moments that I think could've been done better. Still, that's the way it goes. So for now, I will just enjoy what we get, pick it apart, because that's what I do, and have fun all the same. It's Percy Jackson! It's impossible not to have fun.

[dhr-ao3]

Daffodil

Daffodil https://ift.tt/ZN1ROg8 by Luvkyloreylo The rich golden blooms spread around the child’s home… similar as they had the hospital where she’d been born. Nature seemed to celebrate her presence. Her mother smiled. She herself favored that particular shade. It made her think of sunshine, a warmth. It was a great definition to describe how peering at her daughter made you feel, everyone said so. Words: 280, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English Fandoms: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling Rating: Not Rated Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death Categories: F/M Characters: Hermione Granger, Hermione Granger's Mother, Hermione Granger's Father, Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy, Lucius Malfoy, Narcissa Black Malfoy, Original House-Elf Character(s), Original Female Character(s), Original Male Character(s), Nature - Character, Magic - Character, Ron Weasley, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Aurors - Character, Dark Wizards - Character Relationships: Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy, Hermione Granger & Harry Potter, Harry Potter & Ron Weasley, Lucius Malfoy/Narcissa Black Malfoy Additional Tags: Magic, Nature Magic, POV Hermione Granger, POV Draco Malfoy, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, No Voldemort, Hogwarts, Hogwarts alive, nature alive, Elemental Magic, magic alive, Healing, Flowers, Power Dynamics, Pining Draco Malfoy, Nice Draco Malfoy, Muggle Life, Draco Malfoy in the Muggle World, Supportive Narcissa Black Malfoy, Rings, Blood and Injury, Creation, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Love Confessions, Falling In Love, True Love, Forehead Kisses, Kissing in the Rain, Holding Hands, Slow Romance, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, The Ministry of Magic is Corrupt (Harry Potter), Aurors, Violence, Attempted Kidnapping, Cruelty, Implied/Referenced Torture via AO3 works tagged 'Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy' https://ift.tt/O0CfF9S May 19, 2024 at 06:54PM

[tazindrox]

TAZINDROX CHARACTER INFO

*Art by Zoratrix*

The Basics ––– –

Name: Tazindrox

Nickname(s): Taz

Age: Ancient

Birthday: Unknown

Race: Dracthyr

Gender:  Male

Marital Status: Single

Dracthyr Physical Appearance ––– –

Height: 9′0″

Build: Absolute Unit

Eyes:  Bright glowing yellow w/vertical slits

Distinguishing Marks: Various scarring scattered mostly along his forearms and thighs, and one large scar on the left side of his neck. Silver band wrapped around the base of his most prominent right horn with his name inscribed.

Visage Physical Appearance ––– –

Hair: Bright red that fades into black, slightly wavy

Eyes:  Same as Dracthyr form

Height: 6′6″

Build: Mesomorph/Athletic

Distinguishing Marks: Black scales are minimal, focused mostly on his shoulders and around his eyes; striped along his sides, forearms, and thighs. Scarring that is present on his Dracthyr form does not show on the Visage form. Silver band wrapped around the base of his right horn with his name inscribed.

Tattoos: None yet

Piercings: Both earlobes just once

Likeness: Austin Butler

Personal Information––– –

Profession: Fighting alongside the other Dark Talons for the Dracthyr army.

Hobbies: Still working on figuring that out! He obviously enjoys sparring, and has recently discovered rock climbing and taken to that. He also finds his eyes often drawn to the sky at night and is starting to learn about the various constellations, and just enjoys being outdoors in general. He’s definitely in the experimental phase of his life, where he is trying to find a new purpose other than just fighting. He also LOVES collecting shiny bits of metal and will often times remove nuts and bolts from various objects to add to his collection.

Common Accessories: Keeps a little notebook on him at all times that he can be seen writing in at random.

Languages: Draconic, Orcish, Common

Residence: Currently wherever he’s stationed in the Dragon Isles, he has no permanent home at the moment.

Birthplace: The Forbidden Reach in the Dragon Isles

Religion:  None

Patron Deity:  None

Fears: Being put back into stasis, losing his Visage form (he’s grown oddly attached to it, and it’s just fun to be someone/something different), losing more of his weyrn.

Personality: Friendly and (hopefully) charming when not on the battlefield, maybe a little lost and confused at times - things are all still very new and he’s learning so much every day! He’s very curious and isn’t afraid to ask ‘dumb’ questions, there’s A LOT the Dracthyr need to catch up on. He’s been experimenting with humor, although not having complete control over the intricate facial muscles of his Visage form, his expression may not always match what he’s trying to convey.

Relationships ––– -

Spouse:  None

Children:  None

Parents:  Father - Neltharion, Mother - None

Siblings:  All of his clutch-mates

Pets: None

Sex & Romance ––– -

Sexual Orientation: Bisexual

Preferred Emotional Role: submissive | dominant | switch | unknown

Preferred Sexual Role: submissive | dominant | switch | unknown

Turn ons: Muscles, strength in body and in mind, toothy grins, long hair, shiny jewelry

Turn offs: Weakness, whining, unnecessary cruelty, bad nails/claws

Love Language: Acts of Service

Relationship Tendencies: Unknown, he has never been in a relationship before!

Traits ––– -

* Bold your character’s answer.

Extroverted / In Between / Introverted

Disorganized / In Between / Organized

Close Minded / In Between / Open Minded

Calm / In Between / Anxious

Disagreeable / In Between / Agreeable

Cautious / In Between / Reckless

Patient / In Between /  Impatient

Outspoken / In Between / Reserved

Leader / In Between / Follower

Empathetic / In Between / Apathetic

Optimistic / In Between / Pessimistic

Traditional / In Between / Modern

Hard-working / In Between / Lazy

Cultured / In Between / Uncultured

Loyal / In Between / Disloyal

Faithful / In Between / Unfaithful

Additional information ––– –

Smoking Habit: Never

Drugs: Has yet to try any!

Alcohol: In social settings

RP Hooks ––– –

DRACTHYR: Other Dracthyr are obviously welcome to know him from before, I’m open to pre-established relationships of any kind!

VALDRAKKEN: Currently stationed out of the city, so he stays in a camp with the other Dracthyr in the quieter parts of the city, but can often be found wandering around in the thick of things.

BATTLEFIELD: Likely found following the main storyline of the current events happening in game.

EVENTS: Any events he’s at, you can assume he’s probably either standing around and looking lost, eating all the food, or writing in his little notebook. Feel free to approach at any time!

Looking For ––– –

Friends, lovers, enemies, family. As mentioned above, pre-established relationships with other Dracthyr is welcomed!

I’m open for any type of RP whether it be happy or dark, storyline or slice of lifel ! He is not my main so I won’t be on him all the time, but I love headcanoning and the occasional discord RP for those in-between times.

How to Contact ––– –

OoC: Here on tumblr, my main tumblr I follow from is @turning-through-the-never​, or on Discord at dicenne

IC: Wyrmrest Accord Horde in-game name is Tazindrox. I’ll be bringing him to various events, always feel free to approach me in-game or whisper me and I can approach you!

[bethanythebogwitch]

I'm not too fond of the Forgotten Realms as the default D&D setting for a few reason, but one big thing that really keeps me from liking the setting is the wall of the faithless. In the Forgotten Realms, the souls of the dead go to a place called the Fugue Plane where whoever the current god of death is judges them. Most people are taken by whatever god they worshipped but those who worshipped no gods are instead stuck in the wall of the faithless where they will slowly and agonizingly fade away unless a demon or devil comes and rips the soul out to turn them into a new demon/devil. The god who set this up was an evil one named Myrkul but when he was overthrown by a neutral god named Kelemvor, the wall was kept around.

I see this as absolutely pointless cruelty on the part of the writers and it really hit home when I was playing Baldur's Gate 3 in a conversation with Wyll where he says he doesn't really care about the gods. Wyll is a selfless, kind, and genuinely heroic person who will be condemned to a fate worse than death for not actively worshipping a god. Meanwhile some of the most vile and evil people in the Realms will get a perfectly pleasant afterlife because they worship the right god. And nobody doing the writing seems to think the wall is a bad thing because they came up with a pretty pathetic excuse to keep it once Myrkul was overthrown. Kelemvor took down the wall and immediately everyone across the world stopped worshipping the gods and they almost starved to death until Kelemvor put the wall back up. That's simply an absurd excuse to keep singling out nonbelievers as deserving the worst possible afterlife. Notably, Myrkul was not the first god of death and this didn't happen before he put the wall up in the first place. In addition, other D&D settings don't have this problem either, there's no mass starvation of gods due to non-belief and atheists are simply sent to whichever outer plane most fits their alignment. It really reads like someone, I don't know if it was Ed Greenwood or someone else, hates atheists so much that they needed to punish them in their fantasy world so much they'll create ridiculous excuses to keep doing so even when they no longer have a conveniently evil god to do it.

This kind of belief that atheists are the most evil possible people and deserve the worst fates is real and very common in real life. I will note that the Forgotten Realms uses atheist to mean someone who believes in but doesn't worship any gods while in real life an atheist is anyone who doesn't actively believe that at least one god exists (agnosticism is a form of atheism). The real-life definition of atheism doesn't really work in a world like the Forgotten Realms where gods can grant people magic and the goddess of magic has to die every time a new edition rolls around to explain the changes to magic rules. This does bear a lot of resemblance to the common lie about atheists that we believe in God but refuse to worship him. Someone who had that belief would, by definition, not be an atheist. Atheophobia or hatred of atheists is very common in real life. There are places where you can be jailed or killed for being an atheist. Even in places that aren't that extreme, atheism can make you a social pariah or have many other negative outcomes. Just look at the number of people who think atheists aren't trustworthy, wouldn't vote for one, or don't want their kids dating one. Having this kind of hatred infused in what should be a fun escapist fantasy world drags the while setting down for me and even makes me actively dislike it. It's really not that different from having a fun fantasy world where there's this background detail that all people with the wrong skin tone will go to hell no matter how good of a person they are and this is portrayed as something necessary or even good rather than as an evil for the player characters to overcome. Overthrowing the wall of the faithless would be a great story for player characters if the story of the Forgotten Realms hadn't already made it very clear that atheists are so dangerous and wrong that sending them to a fate worse than death no matter what actions or beliefs they hold is necessary and right. I do not want to play a game in a setting that has that kind of hatred baked into it. And before someone says it, yes, I can headcanon the wall of the faithless out in my home games, but that doesn't work for official Forgotten Realms material like BG3. Wyll is going to the wall in canon (unless he has some conversion later in the plot) and I can't just make believe otherwise unless BG3 is decanonized.

[rileys-battlecats]

U dont gotta post this but im going insane thinking about Birchspeckle in this situation.

She seems sympathetic to Mudpaw which makes me think: She understands at least sort of off-handedly how shitty life is for Mudpaw that drives him to kill. She's watching Owlpounce train him and seeing his character (but hasnt seen a lot yet). So she understands that its likely Mudpaw acted more in a light of reaction instead of thought. especially the smaller issue of Mudpaw being isolated from the clan.

So my thoughts are. Birchspeckle suspects Mudpaw isn't a bad cat. She has reason to see what is happening to him. But she also knows this is a slippery trauma slope were Mudpaw could decide. 'I did this once. I can do it again when I think I need to.' need being subjective here. and being a healer with the ability to just let someone die is concerning. So she's playing this game of "I don't want you in trouble. but I'm worried where will you go from here?" -anyway Birchspeckle, Mudpaw, and Owlpounce make me feel things. I love them

homie i am also going insane over birchspeckle dw

I wrote about this in a previous post a few months back, but my feelings on the situation have changed a bit since then

She's definitely got the idea that mudpaw isn't a bad cat at heart, and more importantly than that, she knows he's still just a kid—a teenager if we're being technical. Apprentices don't just push their mentors off cliffs for no reason. She knows something is up, even if she doesn't have the full picture yet.

Adding on to this, Birchspeckle has also played victim to Micaclan's indifference and unintentional cruelty in their own past, and still experiences it to this day when they drop by the camp to talk with Owlpounce. She knows how it feels to be in mudpaw's position (though they had to deal with losing the camaraderie of her clan instead of never having had it like mudpaw) and she definitely has sympathy for his situation. In addition to this, she has a measure of bitterness toward her clanmates for that treatment, which sort of puts her in an "us vs them" mindset, with her and mudpaw on one side (plus Owlpounce as an honorary teammate) and the rest of micaclan on the other side.

But like you said, they can't afford to not keep an eye on mudpaw. He has killed, and (as far as they know) he has the potential to kill again. She doesn't want to let him know that she empathizes with his situation and actions on the off chance that he'll take that as implicit permission to do it again. So she's kinda stuck with being vaguely empathetic while also being standoffish to keep him in line. Which kinda goes against her nature tbh, cause birchspeckle is the sort of person to be very true to herself and her beliefs, but in this situation she doesn't really know what the correct course of action is.

[pyritesdumpster]

Hi I'm pestering you. I'm pestering you about pyrite.

I'm guessing she's living outside mostly, what's life like for her outside? Does she struggle or does she know the area like the back of her hand? How many locations were open exactly? Were they all Freddy and Goldie variations or were some of them just their own thing? Does pyrite need anything specific that they dont have readily available? Like oil or repairs? How hard do I need to hit Henry's head until it gives in like a watermelon? If pyrite and goldie meet up will the universe end like in fnaf world?

Also i'll make it look like an accident leave my rotten little pathetic sobbing mess of a bear part two ALONE. Heart emoji

First order of business, thank you anon for pestering me i love you very much mwah /p

(This my second time writing this cuz tumblr thought it would fun to close me out of their app mid writing in my first attempt.. definitely not mad about that, not at all)

what's life like for her outside?

At the beginning its was nerve racking, scary & painful, since her brother wasn’t there to comfort and guide like he did when he still alive. In addition while she managed to survive it didn’t mean she was in good shape afterwards, for the first few nights she could only muster enough power to clusmy crawl around. Nowadays she got enough strength in her to more than that but life hasn’t gotten any better, often traveling around with no clear path to indicate where she’s exactly heading , just so she hunker down in some old abandoned building for a couple days, its better to be on the move then be caught by humans. Only going to civilization if needed, probably wearing a baggy sweater and pants she found to blend in.

Does she struggle or does she know the area like the back of her hand?

Depends on where she at, if she been there before then she probably has a good idea where she going. If she hasn’t been there before then yeah she’ll struggle and probably even damage herself a bit while exploring , paper maps and written directions will do her no good, unable to read them with her remaining eye.

How many locations were open exactly?

Around 6 to 14-ish definitely less than 25, enough for Henry to start over and rebrand.

Were they all Freddy and Goldie variations or were some of them just their own thing?

The first one! Just all Freddy’s & Goldie’s, it wasn’t until scraping dad they did most of met and discovered that other versions of them exist sadly that new found discovery would come to end later that same day.Pyrite & her Freddy did find out earlier that their exists other versions of them on the day of the bite, it broadcast all over the news and (un)luckily for them, their home was across from television store which had some on display for them to watch from the windows.

Does pyrite need anything specific that they dont have readily available? Like oil or repairs?

Yes and yes, they tend to steal oil whenever they go into civilization, as for repairs they learn the trade over time using scraps of mental and garbage to rebuild and replace parts of their body.

How hard do I need to hit Henry's head until it gives in like a watermelon?

Uhh idk, look up much a blunt trauma can person take to the head before becoming a mushy pile of flesh and bits. Just gonna add this tidbit here since i feel someone would get my case about Henry cruelty of scraping off all those Goldie’s and Freddy’s, its quite simple actually he just didn’t form a connection with them, so he saw no problem of disposing of them. Nothing more than just objects to him, except for the pair hurricane, Utah those two were spare because he did form connection. It’s like with pets & strays sure you loved your pet animal but if you were to see a stray one out on the streets you wouldn’t give two shits about it.

If pyrite and goldie meet up will the universe end like in fnaf world?

Nope! Goldie would quite fascinated and frankly a bit freaked out that he isn’t the only one(Henry kept everything in the dark, he can be cruel not stupid) Pyrite on the other hand would be quite fascinate on giving goldie a punch to the h—

Also i'll make it look like an accident leave my rotten little pathetic sobbing mess of a bear part two ALONE. Heart emoji

. . .

Just for that im gonna give her more trauma and hardship

[my-breakup-playlist]

He couldn't stand that I'm asexual.

Not the lack of sex-- I had to mark on a calendar every time we had it to prove to him that ours wasn't "a sexless marriage"; Twice a week definitely disqualified us from that, and that rate was rigidly enforced-- but because I didn't find sex to be transcendent and uniquely mythological. Because I found far more intimacy in the conversations shared during long car rides, or while taking walks together, or cooking together. Talking, making memories, sharing small mundane moments.

That offended him.

I tried to explain my experience, I compared sex to things like basketball (an exerting activity that was fun to do together, but that I wasn't always feeling up for) or Chinese food (again: generally enjoyable, but sometimes you're only coming along to #1 China because they're craving General Tso's more than you're craving pizza).

That pissed him off.

He ripped himself to pieces inside over the thought that I wasn't attracted to him-- no fear that I was attracted to anyone else instead, just that my lack of sexual attraction also applied to him.

I did everything in my power to meet his needs, but he saw my lack of attraction as an act of deliberate cruelty against him-- as me constantly dangling some prize over his head and always snatching it out of reach at the last second. My asking him to do other things together-- other activities that might fill my need for intimacy-- in addition to our sex life was declared unreasonable in the extreme, even manipulative.

It didn't matter to him that I was making an effort to meet him where he was, that I was doing everything I could to help him feel wanted and needed and loved in every love language in the book. I couldn't change that one little piece of my brain to experience the world the way he did, and that invalidated all the rest.

[villain-in-love]

Notes on Chainsaw Man self-insert in development

⬩ The Drowning Devil, probably one of the Primal Fears or very close to it.

⬩ I may have been inspired by Morgan Clae's version of "Get In The Water". I've been listening to this snippet non-stop for a few months already.

⬩ Hides the fact that she’s a devil, lives as a human artist and photographer. Her underwater artwork and photography are highly sought after.

⬩ She’s ancient. Like, “still remembers the fall of Rome” ancient. She only died once in her life and she dislikes talking about this fact.

⬩ Calm as still water and very secretive. Always maintains a serene expression no matter what she might think or feel at the moment.

⬩ This is mainly in reference to the fact that most victims of drowning report experiencing the feeling of calmness and tranquillity before finally losing consciousness.

⬩ Don't be misled by her poise and feminine looks, she’s surprisingly harsh and unceremonious with her words. She's not interested in putting in any effort to sound nice or polite, and doesn't mind using profanities when she sees fit.

⬩ Drowning (I will be calling her that for now) is relatively peaceful for a devil, and doesn’t care about the ever-lasting conflict between devils and humans. She has no interest in helping either side.

⬩ In the rare moments when she gets involved in something serious, she demonstrates ruthlessness and cruelty, as well as utter disregard for human life.

⬩ Often disappears for indefinite amount of time when nobody can find or contact her.

⬩ Her favourite pastime is drowning or almost drowning humans for the sake of traumatizing them and feeding on their fear.

⬩ Accidentally became a mother figure to Denji.

⬩ A very awkward, emotionally stunted, and irresponsible mother figure, that is. Still, she loves this disaster kid and actually tries to help him when needed.

⬩ At first she only considered Aki to be her personal toy that is fun to mess with, but then she started gradually catching feelings, even willing to go into a confrontation with Makima to protect him.

⬩ Her relationship with Makima is complicated. Not quite friends, but they might hang out together if they happen to run into each other. Not quite enemies, but they would not hesitate to become ones at any moment.

⬩ When I think of it, they could be great character foils to each other.

⬩ Drowning almost always wears long skirts and dresses, and she dislikes outfits with many layers. You can often see her wearing tank tops with maxi skirts in something that is close to gothic/grunge style.

⬩ Such clothing style, or rather silhouette, reflects the fact that she's not particularly active physically... as well as the fact that even in the world this dangerous she has no actual need for that. Also her clothes are usually something that she would be comfortable wearing under water.

⬩ She has dark greenish-blue eyes, maybe with a gradient. Actually meant to be depicted with no pupils.

⬩ Her hair reaches her ankles, it's mostly straight but starts to get wavy at the ends. Somehow it's always moving even when there’s no wind and she stands completely still.

⬩ I feel like she definitely should be taller than the real me.

⬩ I still can't come up with her human name, but it should be something multinational and sounding like it's unclear whether it's a real name or a nickname. What I can say for sure is that she hears "Rapunzel" in her address a lot.

⬩ Additional music: Shadow Lady by Portwave (slowed) and Follow Me Away by Grayera, Девочка и Море by polnalyubvi (slowed).

Makers used: first one, second one.

[inquisitorius-sin-bin]

Okay so I’ve already squealed about most of what I love about Canto Bites but not only is it my favourite of the three stories, it’s one of my favourite fanfics I’ve ever read, I’m absolutely obsessed with the angst. Like, I’ve read more than my fair share of death scenes, but that one hit HARD and I enjoyed reading it all so much

And I don’t think I need to elaborate on how much I enjoyed the spicy part

BUT question time! It’s like 6am right now so I’ll send more questions once I’ve thought of them but I have to know, Quizzy said that racing fathiers was unlike MXW, so how did they end up there? And how did they fall in with Guiye and Krol?

Eeeeee thank you!!! Honestly I really, really struggle with reading. I absolutely don't have the attention span for it and my mind tends to wander or glaze over paragraphs and I have to focus really hard on it and go back over and over, so I've always thought like, how could I possibly write something good if I can't even read well. Which sucks because like, I love literature! I just hate reading. So, it's just really nice to hear. Thank you.

Especially this work, which I worried about before releasing. It was more small scale, dialogue-heavy than the others. My husband did not enjoy this one as much because he said it felt kind of out of character for the Grand Inquisitor but honestly? I have to push back on that. There's always this razor's edge of cruelty he's about to step over, but he isn't doing so because he also knows this person. We've never seen the Grand Inquisitor react to someone they were friends with before becoming an Inquisitor. Yes he is more amicable, tame, and open, but he's constantly on the verge of flipping that switch too if he needs to. And there is more than one way to bring someone to the dark side, it isn't all torture and physical violence. It can be coercion and manipulation, which he is absolutely doing here. Both are desperately trying to flip the other to their side, but neither is willing to give.

As for your questions: so, I'll be the first to admit I don't know that much about horse racing, BUT, specifically in Star Wars canon, over and over I was finding references to how badly racing fathiers were treated, especially at Canto Bight. MXW is very empathetic towards animals, and would never want to make an animal suffer. Mostly, fathiers are used as work and transportation animals in the galaxy far, far away, especially on backwater planets such as Dantooine where even electricity is rare. MXW likely moved to Dantooine to escape persecution, found work as a rancher breeding fathiers as work animals and doing like, fun local races at fairs there, but then started supplying fathiers to rebels and heard about the Grand Admiral and concocted a larger plot around racing fathiers specifically for revenge. So in a sense, they are starting to blur their morality in the name of their wrath, although they are doing their best to still balance looking after the animals too.

Unlike NAJ, MXW hasn't completely lost themselves to the darkness, which is why their fates are necessarily so different. It really is good to compare NAJ and MXW though. MXW is definitely toeing the line with the dark side- angry, passionate, overly-attached. But their reaction to the Inquisitor is to desperately try to look for their friend, to find the goodness, and be revolted by or even refuse to accept the bad. NAJ's reaction to "do you know what I do to Jedi?" is literally just, *shrug* "doesn't matter, I'm not a Jedi" when yeah, it ABSOLUTELY should matter. NAJ already lost the battle and doesn't even realize it yet. The Grand Inquisitor senses that MXW is maybe starting to play in that space, and wants to exploit that, but doesn't get the chance.

As for Guiye and Krol, I think they are fairly recent additions to MXW's life, met through the rebellion's activities on Dantooine. Dantooine was one of the first places the rebellion actually had a physical base, although even that comes years after this. I still think it would have been an early rallying/meetup point. Guiye is a Twi'lek and Krol is a grizzled old man, but this small crew definitely gets along well. This story takes place pretty early on after the formation of the empire, like ~5-7 years in, in my mind. Which is also why the Grand Inquisitor is all around less experienced than we see him later on.

Thanks for the ask, again I'm so glad you enjoyed it!

[spiderdreamer-blog]

The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)

As observed in the last post, when the Disney Renaissance period "ends" isn't always entirely clear. Even after the high water mark of The Lion King, the animated films were still making money (esp. on the merchandising end) and getting good reviews, just somewhat less effusive ones depending on the film. Perhaps no film during this period was regarded with more curiosity and suspicion than their attempt at adapting Victor Hugo's classic French novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame (though if you want to get technical, that's the title of most adaptations, whereas the original French title is Notre Dame de Paris). The story of Quasimodo is often a dark one, after all, full of themes like religious hypocrisy and discrimination against minorities. Could Disney handle that, critics seemed to ask, or should they even TRY? Well, they ultimately did, and we have the film in front of us to judge. Let's dig in.

(Quick note: the film uses the outdated g-slur to refer to Roma characters throughout. I will not be doing so for sensitivity purposes.)

We open in 15th century Paris, as Clopin (Paul Kandel), leader of the city's Roma begins to narrate a story, "a tale of a man...and a monster." Twenty years ago, Judge Claude Frollo (Tony Jay) murdered a Roma woman when pursuing her for a presumed theft. The cargo turns out to be her son, who Frollo classifies as a monster for his hunchbacked deformities, and he nearly murders him to boot. But the Archdeacon of Notre Dame (David Ogden Stiers) stops him, warning that the "eyes" of Notre Dame, and possibly God Himself, will witness this crime. A shaken Frollo agrees to raise Quasimodo (Tom Hulce), but shuts him away in the bell tower. As the present day opens, Quasimodo yearns to join the outside world, with his gargoyle friends Hugo (Jason Alexander), Victor (Charles Kimbrough), and Laverne (Mary Wickes, in her final film role) as his only companions. But Frollo insists they would never accept him, and Quasimodo nearly seems ready to accept that lonely lot in life, so much has he internalized this abuse. His friends, however, encourage him to sneak out to the yearly Feast of Fools, just for one day. He works up the courage to do so, only to encounter the beautiful Roma Esmeralda (Demi Moore) and be crowned the King of Fools. After the crowd turns on him, Esmeralda comes to his rescue, only to be pursued by Frollo and the goodhearted captain Phoebus (Kevin Kline), who convinces her to take sanctuary in the church. Things quickly become a waiting game as Quasimodo and Esmeralda begin to bond over sharing an outsider status, and he begins to consider a potential life "out there", as Frollo's anger begins to twist into hatred...and lust.

The first thing that has to be said about Hunchback is that it's one of the best-looking films the studio ever made. Like Tarzan after it, CGI techniques were heavily used to give Notre Dame a real sense of place and atmosphere previously though unachievable. You truly FEEL the vastness of the cathedral and Paris, occasionally feeling just a bit of awe in the process, but thankfully directors Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise (Beauty and the Beast, Atlantis: The Lost Empire) never let them overwhelm the characters and their emotions. Some of this hasn't aged gracefully (the CGI crowds are definitely a little ropey when you look close), but the overall effect remains outstanding.

So too does the character animation, which is remarkable in its complexity. Quasimodo alone would be a challenge for most animators, but James Baxter is not most animators, and he gives the hunchback a genuine soulfulness in addition to making that seemingly impossible body move with pencils. Kathy Zielinski, meanwhile, takes what could have felt like a caricature in Frollo and makes him into a real, terrifying person. You feel his pain...and gape in horror at his cruelty. Tony Fucile's Esmeralda is vivacious and vibrant, Russ Edmonds makes Phoebus a little rougher than most handsome Disney leading men even with his good heart, and Mike Surrey grants Clopin an intriguing ambiguity; right up until the end, you're never totally sure what he's after.

The story is just as good as the visuals. I will admit upfront that it probably bites off more than it can chew. There is a LOT to cover here in terms of the intersections of racism, religious hypocrisy, and othering of people deemed "monsters" because of their disabilities. Especially since smarter people than me have pointed out this was NOT wholly Victor Hugo's original intent, but that the story transformed into a parable about discrimination thanks to Hollywood and other adaptations. It's possible that anyone could balk at it, much less the largely-compositionally-white Disney animation studio of the 1990s. Yet it has to be said that a genuine, earnest effort is made here even with some fumbles (which we'll get to later).

A useful comparison point is the previous year's Pocahontas. I can genuinely say I kind of hate that film outside of a few caveats, and one big reason why is that the characters feel so flat in their assigned roles. Nobody surprises or does anything unexpected, there's no nuance in the colors of the wind there, and even the characters you think could have affecting arcs are unbearably stiff. Not so here. Quasimodo is an excellent lead, for starters; even if he's gentler and less outright antisocial than other adaptations or the source material, he's allowed to be flawed in terms of parroting assumptions about Roma planted in him by Frollo and initially feeling entitled to Esmeralda's love because she was kind to him. He rises to heroism instead of having it be assumed. Frollo, too, is more complex than most Disney villains. Not sympathetic, precisely, but you get the sense that he really is just a miserable person at the end of the day, directing that misery outward as the contradictions between his religious piety, his racism, and his lust tear him up inside. Esmeralda is a little sexualized, it's true, and perhaps a little more noble than she might truly be in the situation, but she's a passionate, driven adult with a sense of humor. Which feels rare even now in animated kid's movies. The triangle that develops between her, Quasimodo, and Phoebus is intriguing because we can see it going either way, rather than having Phoebus be an obvious bad egg. I like his arc, too, as the Roma gain a human face and he grows increasingly uncomfortable with his complicity.

The voice cast helps with this considerably, giving stellar performances across the board. Helping is that they have one of the best soundtracks in the Disney canon backing them up, with Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz giving us banger after banger. "The Bells of Notre Dame" stands out especially for getting across a ton of story and character notes as elegantly as the likes of "Belle", "Circle of Life", and "The Family Madrigal." (Credit to Kandel, too, for hitting that insane high D note at the end of both it and the final reprise) Plus, I'm always a sucker for Badass Ominous Latin Chanting, and that's all over this score. We also get TWO "I Want" songs for the price of one, with "Out There" and "God Help The Outcasts" being excellent mission statements for Quasimodo and Esmeralda. "Hellfire" is the most chilling Villain Song in the entire canon, taking us down a road of darkness and flame. And "Topsy Turvy" feels underrated as a comedy song, feeling almost like something you could hear in another Hugo-derived musical, Les Miserables, in the clever rhyming and archaic word usage. (I'm also partial to "The Court of Miracles", which is short, but has a nicely sinister bounce)

In terms OF the actors, Tom Hulce is honestly an interesting choice for Quasimodo given that his best-known performance otherwise is as Mozart in Amadeus. A great film, and great acting, but Mozart is a markedly different character in that he is cheerfully obnoxious even whilst remaining in our sympathies. Here, Hulce finds a wistful quality in his tones, childlike without ever being childish, which is a hard balance to strike. And he knocks "Out There" out of the park, as it were. Tony Jay, meanwhile, gives the performance of his lifetime as Frollo, mining every scrap of loathsome humanity he can without ever losing the reality of the man. His rendition of "Hellfire" always leaves me awestruck. Moore has a distinct, smoky tone that aids Esmeralda spectacularly even if we can question the ethics of casting a white woman as a dark-skinned Roma in retrospect, and Kline matches her well in terms of being funny and down-to-Earth, making us believe in Phoebus' turn.

(Also, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Stiers' cameo at least a little bit. He was a good luck charm for Disney in this period, and he gives the Archdeacon genuine warmth to contrast Frollo's bigotry, a necessary one given how brutal that becomes)

Now there are some fumbles, even if they don't blemish the film overmuch for me. The first is the depiction of the Roma, which can run a little inconsistently. It's laudable that the movie is sympathetic to their plight and doesn't make any mealy-mouthed both-sides statements about it the way Pocahontas tries to run with an ill-defined "hatred" as the Aesop. Frollo is just straight-up racist and that's how we're doing this. But they also get played as comic relief and we don't get much internal dialogue on them outside of Esmeralda and Clopin (though as said, I appreciate that he has purposeful ambiguity in seeming like a gleeful jester one moment, then a tough street boss the next).

The second is the gargoyles, who you may have noticed haven't been mentioned much up to now. That's because I'm of two minds about them. On the one hand, I don't think they're bad characters. The animation on them is as good as the rest of the film, and you could tell the animators had fun figuring out how to move stone figures around. Alexander, Kimbrough, and Wickes all give excellent comedic performances, and especially in the early part of the film, they serve a useful function as keeping the mood light and confidants for Quasimodo. There are much worse Disney sidekicks purely on the merits (fuck you, Gurgi, go to hell). Nor do I object to comic relief on its face. I adore comedy-as-characterization, and Disney sidekicks can often be a useful counterbalance.

What I dispute is the usage here. To me, there's an obvious arc of Quasimodo shedding his comfort levels as he grows up and decides to engage in the outside world. But the gargoyles...keep showing up past a point where it feels necessary. You get the sense the filmmakers were nervous about just HOW dark and adult the rest of the film was, and were hedging their bets. This is best exemplified in their song "A Guy Like You." On its face, it's a funny, catchy number that the actors sing the hell out of. And the dramatic purpose (building Quasimodo's confidence about his romance before learning that Esmeralda has fallen for Phoebus) is solid. But it's just...too much. These guys aren't the Genie or Timon and Pumbaa, and they shouldn't be. Also between them and Esmeralda's pet goat Dhjali, who's also Fine mechanically, and Clopin already being funny in cleverer ways, it begins to feel a smidge crowded.

One quibble I DON'T have is with the ending. This remains the most criticized part of the film, given that the book ends tragically with Frollo, Quasimodo, and Esmeralda all dead, and some variation on this tends to stick for a lot of adaptations (in fact, both Disney's later German and English-language stage adaptations hewed closer to the novel, if not exactly in terms of circumstances). By contrast, here we get an uplifting ending where not only is Frollo the only casualty (and with a bitchin' variation on the Disney Villain Death to boot), Quasimodo is accepted by the citizens of Paris. Unrealistic? Maybe. Does my heart melt every time that little girl comes up to feel Quasimodo's face? Absolutely. Look, I'm not someone who thinks we need to treat minorities/disadvantaged people like glass dolls in narratives. We can have bad things happen to them without it being Le Problematique. But given the history, is it really so terrible to give a hunchback a happy ending on occasion? I think not, and for this version of the story, they absolutely arrive at the correct decision.

The mood around the film was slightly more muted upon its release. It made money, the critical reception was generally positive-even in France!-and some critics like Roger Ebert gave it effusive reviews. But it was usually agreed that Disney had done its usual thing of simplifying a popular narrative for mass consumption the way they did for fairy tales and such. Hard to totally argue against that point, but I would posit that, as said, the story had already mutated into a very different form thanks to various other adaptations. You'd hardly think Les Miserables would be a good crowd-pleasing musical either at first glance. Even if it totally doesn't stick the landing, this remains one of my favorite Disney films because it TRIED, damn it. It's imperfect, but beautiful.

Could say that about our hunchback, couldn't we?

[cookinguptales]

I am so disappointed...

I really loved a lot of the things this season : Nadja personal project with the night club, Laszlo and Colin relationship as dad / son figures, Nandor being nicer to Guillermo, Guillermo having more confidence and getting closer to his family (his coming out moment obviously)

I mean some stuffs were annoying : from the get go I wasn't pleased with the 1 year ellipse... And all the unaddressed bomb they dropped (the taboo about vampire sleeping with slayers, the add on to the dick wish, colin hammering walls and OF COURSE Marwa ugging and kissing Guillermo after the infamous wish)

I, like at lot of people was horrified by what have been happening to Marwa and really hopped that AT LEAST she would be set free by Nandor with one of the additional wishes and that would be a big learning moment / character development for Nandor...

But this episode ? Was horrible. Through and through.

What they did to Marwa was unfathomable. It was not funny. At it developed nothing except make Guillermo suffer in an horrible cruel and unnecessary way.

Yeah Guillermo and Freddie could not last, because of many many reasons. And I think it would have been better (and funnier ) if the reason that it broke off was that Boring Bland Freddie was too freaked out by the madness of the household, or if Guillermo, when having Freddie actually surrounded by the household realised that he actually is boring and was only enticing in London far far from his usual (and chosen) life.

Or like I saw, Freddie realising that Guillermo have been lying and manipulating him and "Do I actually know you ? Or just the character you built for me ?" (He definitely created a character)

You know what would have been better ? Freddie freaking out that Guillermo called Nandor master and making a big scene out of it. Maybe spilling the beans about their sex life (or lack thereof) in front of a tomato red Guillermo and cackling Nandor. There . Way funnier. Way less cruel

The worst is that I am SO SAD that it was that horrible. Like I am mad but sad that I have a reason to be mad because I love the show and the characters so much ...

This is fairly long and I want to answer it thoroughly, so I'll just go point-by-point.

First, before I start, I get it. I'm also feeling just... really bummed out this week. I get that it's really just one episode that I vehemently didn't like, but it does have long-lasting implications for the show and its writing. It kind of retroactively puts a pall over the rest of the season. I'm really sorry to hear how upset you are, but I do get it.

To start with, yes, I also loved a lot of things about this season. I loved Baby Colin opening up the parts of Laszlo and Guillermo that were damaged by their own childhoods. I loved Nadja's glee at getting her vampire club. I loved The Night Market and Go Flip Yourself. I thought the Djinn was such a cool character, even if I didn't love the way the wishes were eventually used. I loved Guillermo getting closer to Nadja and coming out to his family.

But... yeah... There were some writing decisions that worried me from the very beginning, and that one-year gap was the biggest one. It's a lot of time for this show, and it worried me that they didn't immediately start engaging with what happened during it. I kept thinking they'd return to it and give it the thought it needed, but... that didn't happen. And I think we kind of learned through "Freddie" that maybe they didn't really have that much of a plan for what happened during that year. And that sucks to realize.

But I kept thinking everything would be well resolved somehow until the minute the Marwa thing dropped and it was like oh no. Like you, I was really, deeply upset by that storyline. There's a cruelty to it and a casual disregard for the character, and the unfortunate implications are... really, truly unfortunate. (The consent issues, the nightmare fuel of the mindfucking, only allowing a character to pursue their dreams after they get replaced by a white dude who really gets to pursue his dreams, etc.) I don't think those things were intended, but the fact that they never actually thought through the implications of what they were doing is genuinely worrying. It seems like someone in the writing room should've been like "WHOA now."

I, too, think that there were ways to deal with Freddie that would've been funnier and more true to the characterizations and themes they've been alluding to all season. All the things you've said are good ideas that I would've enjoyed more, and it would have made things more character-driven rather than just another creepy magical deus ex machina. I would have loved Freddie realizing that Guillermo was a little freak or Guillermo realizing that normal, boring Freddie couldn't satisfy him. I would have loved it if their very different lives divided them, or if Freddie had encountered some of the more fucked up parts of Guillermo's life. (Not... the way he did.)

I did not love what we got!

So.. in the end, I get it. I think I am also feeling more sad than mad. I kind of feel like I lost something I loved, haha. And I mean... I'm still gonna watch the show. But I know I'm always gonna have to offer caveats when I rec it to people now. I'm never going to have just unfettered joy for the entire show again. And worst of all, I'm never going to be able to just trust that they'll get it right again. And that really does suck. :(

[copperbora]

Meet Purrling Reef, aka the 13.5 gallon Fluval Evo reef aquarium that I forgot to tell you all about before: in today's episode: in which Moby scares the sh-! out of me (he's good at that.)

This is Moby, my baby Amphiprion ocellaris clownfish, who, providing that he survives my relative incompetence may live 15+ years. Clownfish are known for being quite hardy fish and people used to use them to cycle their aquariums which is now recognized by many reef aquarists as mild animal cruelty. (Therefore I cycled Purrling Reef using pure ammonia instead.) Along with my (probably female) yellow watchman goby Clyde, Moby has been in Purrling Reef for about a month now.

Things are going well; ammonia is at 0 ppm, nitrates are usually at 0 ppm, phosphates are usually at .25 ppm, salinity is stable at 1.025, and my PH hovers at a somewhat soft but okay 7-7.5. Having at last gotten through the worst of the summer heat and having finally figured out how to set up my inkbird temperature properly, Purrling Reef's waters stay a comfy 25°C (78°F,) all day and night long.

Things are going well, so naturally Moby opted to scare the crap out of me this morning by acting like he was dying.

WTF MOBY.

Terrified for his life I promptly did a water change and dosed the tank with Seachem Prime (which detoxifies ammonia as well as chemicals like chlorine,) then Seachem Stress Guard (which soothes fish.) My ammonia was at zero but I thought that the Prime was a good idea anyway.

Moby promptly stopped looking like he wanted to be crab food, so I went to work; when I came home he was back to his annoying ol' habit of chilling by the filter outflow.

WHY FISH.

After testing all of my water parameters again and finding that all seems well I turned my attention to my newest addition to my reef: Spook the Halloween Hermit crab. I actually call him Captain Spook because he is rather overwhelmingly the least useless member of my cleanup crew. Usually, since I got him he clams up at my approach, sucking as much of his body as he can into the enormous conch snail shell which he adopted as his mobile home.

Chances are he murdered the original inhabitant of this shell.

Today though Spook decided not to spook at my approach which I have two theiries for:

1. The vast anti-Keplar fortifications that I set out around the aquarium double-sided tape traps are working! Yay! (Keplar must not be scaring my aquarium inhabitants as much anymore.)

2. My water is still screwed up so Spook is feeling weird. Given that I have only been at this for like three months... yeah, I can't ignore this possibility.

It was rather remarkable getting to see his white carapace up close for once. While it reminded me that he is in fact a sea bug, but I refuse to hold this against me due to his janitorial awesomeness and the fact that he is much less anxiety inducing than Moby. (Although I live in fear of him eating one of my two puny dwarf hermit crabs.

I can't wait until I can adopt more livestock; Purrling Reef definitely has a job opening available for an emerald crab! (Captain Spook does not like salad.)

Also, here's

Also, here's Clyde the yellow watchman giby who would like me to mention her job a for a pistol shrimp; in the wild watchman gobies live with these shrimp.

If she gets a pistol shrimp friend maybe she'll coe out of her den more often.

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Michael in the Mainstream - Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

I think it was pretty easy to write off the Shrek franchise in the 2010s. Shrek Forever After was considered pretty underwhelming (even if it has undergone a reevaluation in recent years) and Puss in Boots didn’t really make any waves, and so the franchise languished,  becoming an endless fountain of memes while Dreamworks moved on to producing great stories that ended up eclipsing the Shrek films in the public eye. By the 2020s, it really seemed like Shrek was dead, relegated to two great movies, one good one, a so-so spinoff, and a horrible fever dream with Justin Timberlake.

And then, right the hell out of nowhere, Puss in Boots made his big cinematic return, and not only that, he came back with one of the actual greatest animated films I’ve ever seen, filled with deep themes, strong characters, and great jokes. And it’s not like any of these things are foreign to the Shrek franchise, but in 2022?

The Last Wish is a true return to form for the franchise, and a good sign of the direction that Dreamworks is moving in. The Bad Guys had slick, stylish animation that was a bit atypical for the studio and seemingly a sort of response to Spider-Verse, a “You can do that sick, stylish animation? So can we!” This movie shows that that direction was no fluke; this movie has gorgeous, stylish, fluid animation that revamps the character designs for the modern age and just looks the best the Shrek franchise ever has. The animation also leads to some of the best Dreamworks action scenes this side of Kung Fu Panda, with Puss fighting the giant in the intro and every single duel he has with the Wolf being some of the hypest shit you will ever see.

The side characters and antagonists are also better than ever. Kitty Softpaws returns, and she gets some development for her relationship with Puss, and joining the feline duo is a goofy little dog who is relentlessly cheerful and optimistic, and while this character so easily could have been the most grating thing on earth, he remains one of the sweetest and funniest characters in the film. Hell, he’s honestly the emotional glue of the film, helping give Puss the pushes he needs to develop as a character! Goldilocks and the three bears have here been reimagined as a crime family, with Goldilocks being the adopted daughter of the bears, and they are a funny and loving unconventional family of anti-villains who it’s easy to root for due to being incredibly sympathetic. Florence Pugh really cements herself as being a fun scene-stealing actor in found family films, though this film is definitely leagues better than Black Widow.

Then we have the two best additions to the cast: Big Jack Horner and the Wolf. Big Jack, played by John Mulaney, is one of the single darkest villains in the Shrek franchise, with his callous and wanton disregard for life and his relentless cruelty… But he’s also one of the funniest characters, with his murderous actions being played up for black comedy and his card-carrying sociopathy is just so laughable that he becomes a perfect love to hate villain. The Wolf, on the other hand, is the darkest villain in the franchise. He is a terrifying force of nature, relentlessly pursuing Puss and giving him the fights of his life. He’s the only villain in the franchise who is played completely seriously, with not a hint of humor to him, and there’s a very good reason to that tied with the true nature of his character, which is a great twist I don’t want to spoil.

And all of this would be great on its own, but all of this is wrapped up with darker and heavier themes than you’d likely expect. Puss spends the film trying very hard to outrun his own mortality and use his wish to regain the eight lives he callously threw away due to his monumental ego and disregard for his gift. I remember seeing a lot of early reviews calling this the Logan of the Shrek franchise, and honestly? That’s not too far off. This movie is a hell of a lot more optimistic, but it deals with some really heavy themes and Puss really has to reflect on who he is and what really has value in his life throughout the story, something Goldi also needs to learn and something Jack happily rejects in his lust for power.

This is just an absolutely fantastic and triumphant return for the flagship franchise of Dreamworks, and easily one of the best movies in said franchise. This is up there with Shrek 2 I’d say, if not better (though it’s probably not as good as the “Holding Out for a Hero” sequence, but nothing is anyway). The voice cast is killer, the characters have strong arcs even if some of them are relatively simple, screen time feels very evenly divided between the core players, the animation is amazing, the action is incredible… I never thought I’d say this ever again, but I am seriously looking forward to the future of the Shrek series.

I guess it really is true what they say: It ain’t ogre til it’s ogre.