#and i don't think the writers think of their treaty in that way which is... frustrating in and of itself

[stromblessed]

Even if Marcus having a daughter did turn out to be the red flag in season 1 that showed where season 2 was headed socially and politically, that plot point didn't need to be mutually exclusive with a season 2 plot that was nuanced and interesting re: Piltover vs. Zaun.

Marcus had multiple opportunities in season 1 to stop what he was doing with Silco and actually prioritize his daughter (and his life with her) - or just stop Silco himself, if Marcus had been willing to die or go to prison - but his personal biases and the opportunity for personal gain kept winning out over and over, leading to his death. Which was tragic - even if many of us didn't feel that bad for him - yet inevitable. I never got the sense that Marcus in season 1 was indicating a "both sides are the same" or "we should all just work together" type of plot, but rather, "Here is what the privileged are willing to do - and not do - to maintain the status quo."

In watching season 1, between Marcus having a daughter, Jayce being easily led and reaching too far with his power, and Caitlyn's naivete, I thought that the Piltover plot was taking us to a place where these more privileged characters see opportunities to do better wrt the undercity, but because of ignorance, personal gain, personal biases, or personal injury and trauma, they actively choose to perpetuate the sociopolitical divide and find ways to justify these choices for themselves, regardless of any opportunities they may have to learn, grow, and do better specifically with regards to the undercity. Which helps shed light on why irl power structures seem so rigid and unchanging despite everything. This doesn't mean that the Piltover characters needed to die or anything, but I do think it would've been more interesting if the tragedy element was kept ("fate worse than death" types of tragic endings are more interesting anyway imo), the Piltover/Zaun conflict wasn't "solved" in the end, and the impact of Piltover's apathy and violence wasn't brushed aside. Particularly if there had been a real undercity uprising plotline.

[theladyofbloodshed]

https://www.tumblr.com/theladyofbloodshed/773948820583333888/of-all-the-things-feyre-did-and-was-never-held?source=share

I think that at some point we just have to accept that not everything can be twisted into making the character that we don't like into a horrible person. And this is just one of those times.

This particular take of yours is very obviously born of your own bias and dislike for Feyre not to mention, astonishingly hypocritical considering you call Jurian seducing an innocent woman who loved him and gave him all the information about his enemy just to then kill her in one of the cruelest ways possible all because she was a Fae, him "sacrificing himself" for his people. Like... Make it make sense. If Jurian can cut his lover into little pieces while slowly torturing her, despite her doing everything he wanted then why can't Feyre kill a wolf that a) she wasn't entirely sure was actually a living creature like humans and fae b) was clearly a threat to her own family and all the humans living in nearby villages considering how entire human populations got reduced into bloody ribbons just weeks ago before her hunt?

Trying to paint Andras into this poor innocent, unsuspecting target of the very evil Feyre just doesn't work because not only is he a completely non-character, with nothing to make the audience feel emotionally invested in him, and who exists to serve as a mere plot device to move the story forward, but he's also a supernatural being whose race has oppressed humans for centuries and is still continuing to do so by crossing into their lands (that violate the treaty they'd signed) and Andras was doing exactly that. He enters human lands willingly, with the sole purpose of terrifying humans enough that one of them kills him just so his high lord can take her away to his lands and then make her solve their problem. A problem that was literally just a result of Fae being so racists that they use the word human as a slur to insult each other. If I were to see Andras as a proper character I would think him (and even Tamlin), horribly selfish for preying on human fear and hatred that was completely understandable and born out of the centuries of oppression humans were subjected to by the Fae.

Feyre has made many bad decisions. Many. Remember when she set the Lady of Autumn on fire during an emotional outburst a meeting where there were meant to be sanctions against any violence, but sweet baby high lady never faced any consequences? Or when she stole from Tarquin after pretending to be his friend and flirting? Or when she locked her sister up in a house?

Jurian (a mortal) killed a fae who was ENSLAVING his people and slaughtering them lmao and he gets a lot of heat for that decision from the characters with all of them believing he was insane, including Mor who once considered him a friend. It is entirely different to the situation with Andras, but also Jurian did suffer for that, for 500 years.

Andras is a tragic character because he was doomed from the start. He willingly went to die for the high lord that he loved to try and break the curse on his people. He isn’t fleshed out properly or touched on again really by Tamlin and Lucien because SJM isn’t a good writer. The untapped potential to have a family waiting for their son to return home was wasted. There could have been a mother in the spring court who had no body to bury because he was skinned who could have crossed paths with Feyre and provided amazing drama and yet nope.

Feyre killed him in cold blood which was what the curse required – but she did know he was a faerie. She acknowledges that his size is too large so suspects he is a faerie.

Andras lets her shoot him in the eye then again with an ash arrow. He doesn’t run. He stands there and lets it happen because he knows she will be the mortal to save them. To me, that is tragic and Feyre never acknowledging his death or feeling remorseful either shows SJM is not a good writer OR Feyre has no empathy. It’s swept under the rug so sweet baby Feyre remains innocent.

Nowhere does it say the faerie killed in cold blood must also be skinned for fur. Me saying that Feyre killing him was bad isn’t me trying to twist a narrative.

Feyre is not remorseful about it at all and if sjm wanted to write a nuanced character then she’d at least have Feyre reflect on Andras or the faeries she killed utm with regret.

I'm sorry but you can't claim the spring court fae are racist and terrorising mortals when Tamlin has lost the bulk of his sentries to deaths at the hands by mortals and the only one who was terrorising a mortal in book one was Rhys to his own damn mate lmao

and at the end of the day

it's not real

i can dislike feyre

[shadowedpetals]

Hi, I just wanted to ask what are your possible head-canons for the upcoming book. What plot-lines will be explored and if the book will begin in spring and end at winter since that seems to be a popular speculation.Do you think Elain Archeron can have the potential to be the most powerful sister since the extent of her powers are unknown. Do you think there can be any hints at an upcoming TOG crossover as well.Can’t wait to hear your thoughts.

Hello! Firstly, I apologize for my late response! But your question is amazing! So, basically, we know that Elain will be able to master her seer powers, and based on Feysand's bonus chapter, another side of her as a person and character will emerge--which I’m looking forward to the most, because Elain has been downplayed, made fun of, and called lazy and boring for a long time. getting her pov will put an end to this.

I can't see Elain in the spring court--she might visit it briefly, of course. Who knows? But ACOSF was more focused on Mor’s visits to Vallahan and the importance of the treaty to be signed, so I lean more toward the Winter Court/Vallahan. With Nuala and Cerridwen as company--and of course, Azriel. 🤭

I don’t have many personal headcanons. It's one of the reasons I don’t read fanfictions (surely, I support my Elriel writers with all my heart ❤️ but I don't read fanfics in general), cause I feel like headcanons can be so good that I fear they’ll raise the standards for the actual book, so I try to protect my poor heart from getting disappointed.

Yet, I would die to see Elain and Azriel waltzing together at a ball, being freed of all the restrictions that keep them from each other. Elain visiting Azriel’s mother in Rosehall, him telling her about his past, being vulnerable with her in a way he’s never been with anyone else. And I think , just like Azriel wasn’t keeping tabs on lucien out of respect for Elain’s privacy--Elain also never asked anyone about Azriel’s scarred hands, knowing that when the right time comes, he’ll trust her with all his secrets.

El*ucien’s bond will be explored--and will be broken. (Not before Elain rejects the bond)

SJM wrote Feyre and Rhysand to be the most powerful beings in the night court, so I guess Elain will be more powerful than Nesta, but not more powerful than Feyre. Especially if Feyre and Rhys are going to become High King and Queen of Prythian.

I haven’t read TOG--only started the first book--but I’m planning on doing so after finishing Onyx Storm (which is taking me so much time, as it’s so boring). 🥱

[zahri-melitor]

I feel like I want to contain my Absolute Power feelings separately at the second as I'm reading the tie-ins in bursts, particularly the ones that aren't on my usual reading schedule, so here's what I want to say since my last update on them, after the first month of the event (I've only talked about the lead ins so far):

Absolute Power #1: The Wall turns off everyone's powers, which is bad, and manufactures a bunch of deepfake footage of various heroes doing killing, leading to riots that attack heroes in the streets. Clark gets shot. This leads to everyone going undercover or getting kidnapped and imprisoned by Amazo robots.

Lois being extremely mad that the Daily Planet got hijacked to also stream and publish this 'heroes are terrible' content is my highlight of the issue.

Ollie makes the world's most unconvincing play that he's a double agent who has betrayed the heroes and is now on Waller's side because she's 'on the right side of history' about the dangers of superheroes (he's not even trying to sound like this heel face turn is related to his values in the speech).

Absolute Power: Origins #1: people have had more coherent thoughts on this than me (Ink. Androxys,), but in terms of pivoting Amanda's story from the 1987 version of these events to what Waller's been doing for the last 20 years or so? This is handled with as much tact as possible in the reframe, while unfortunately heavily seeding the road to hell with major manipulations rather than good intentions. It's a necessary change, but I still don't think it's providing enough depth and justification for the in-your-face comically evil figure they're using Waller as right now.

Green Lantern #13: what this title should obviously be: Hal getting mad that Ollie switched sides on them. What this title is: Hal getting punched by Shark a lot while Waller questions him. There's some sort of Green Lantern resistance running here based presumably on the current arc in the title but I honestly haven't been reading Green Lantern and I can't work out how all this ties in. Kyle IS glowing like a rainbow though while looking messed up, which is very pretty. The JSA also get their asses kicked pretty hard and half of them get captured and the other half run off into hiding.

Superman #16: Clark is in surgery with Mr Terrific and Dr Midnight as you do if you need healthcare in the hero community. There's a resistance base running out of the Fortress of Solitude which has largely what looks like most of the Titans and the current Birds of Prey present, plus a few extras.

Wonder Woman #11: Justice League Dark gets hauled out of retirement as a concept for this book. Their magic gets disrupted, which various characters react to in different ways, when an Amazo turns up. Tom King's handle on half these characters seems tenuous to me; Nimue in particular seems a cypher. Bobo loses the power of speech.

Absolute Power: Task Force VII #1: so these titles are genuinely fun as they've been spread between writers and are checking in with various sections of the universe over how characters are reacting. This one is largely Shazam based: Billy, Mary and Black Adam get captured when the Amazos try to invade the Rock of Eternity, disrupting Mister Dinosaur's filing! Tonally, it's pretty on point for the characters, which I enjoyed. Steve Trevor finds out that he's supposed to be reporting to Sarge Steel, something that could never ever go wrong, given how much those two despise each other.

Absolute Power: Task Force VII #2: Doom Patrol and Aquaman team up! This was fun. What a shame neither of them have titles at present. Waller hilariously thinks the Amazo she sent to Atlantis made a treaty, rather than just beat people up. (He beat them up. It's Atlantis. What did you think was going to happen?). Basically everyone here got away and headed for the Fortress. Sarge Steel tries to frame Steve Trevor as a mole, in the most obvious move of all time (especially given Steve was obviously going to be acting like a mole).

Absolute Power: Task Force VII #3: The JSA issue! An Amazo gets infected with free will because something something absorbing Alan Scott's powers something something Starheart. Alan convinces the Amazo to let the rest of the JSA go free by going along with it to discuss what free will involves. The Oblivion Bar appears for like two pages. Also in the Steve Trevor plot, he escapes and starts sneaking around Waller's base undercover as you do to work out what's going on.

More generally; I have to say the event is doing pretty well at dipping into different parts of DC and checking in with the wider cast. That's actually something that DC's been decent about for recent events to my eye; fewer 'just a speck in a crowd' moments and more 'people without current titles actually get some focus' time. It's making the various teams of DC seem more extensive than the published titles they're appearing in right now.

[horizon-verizon]

Genuine question, but why do fans on both sides treat who was the wife and mother of Aegon III's children as a "victory"?

If I understand the dance fans (I am almost tempted to say "scholars" because the way and the fanaticism with which some argue I really think they deserve it) have argued that victory consists in having their blood on the throne. So it has been an argument made by TB that with Aegon III sitting as King Rhaenyra and her side are the victors.

Now TG seems to start from this same argument saying that Alicent (somehow) is ancestor of the Hightowers and Tyrells for AsoIaF (she is not) or that Jaehaera SHOULD be Aegon's queen and mother of his children, either because they think that they deserve it as a reward for the victim or because they believe that it is narratively more satisfactory to unite both claims as if it were a parallel to The War of the Roses and not of Anarchy.

I've also seen TB posts talking about how Vaemond Velaryon should feel good from the grave because his granddaughter was queen or TB telling the TG to shut up because his blood still achieved a good status.

My problems with these arguments are:

A. I think no one won the war, that it was a loss for House Targaryen as a whole from which they never recovered. However, I think the narrative pushes us to see Rhaenyra as the right side given the Alicent bloodline being extinct and the stark difference in deaths on both sides.

B. If you're going to use the argument of perpetuity of blood on the throne... Aegon ends up being a dead end and his descendants end up being generation after generation of would-be usurpers.

Actually the descendants of Viserys II and Larra Those who end up sitting, holding and now fighting to regain the throne.

Who Aegon III's queen was matters because: a. It's part of the worldbuilding and consistently that woman was named Danaena Velaryon B. Jaehaera's death is part of the story and the themes that Martin is trying to tell.

Having Jaehaera stay as his queen ruins those two points, but I don't understand how it's a win one way or the other which of the two is the mother of his children with the argument that TG and TB are making.Sometimes I think they don't know that it is Viserys' children who will eventually perpetuate the Targaryen lineage*...

*In that aspect I recognize that Daemon Darkfire He is a descendant of both Aegon III and Viserys II, however he is not officially a Targaryen and never sat on the throne.

Anon, you're just basically repeating why Rhaenyra/the blacks are the ones who end up HAVING THE MOST PRESERVED, thus "winning". It was a pyrrhic victory, in that it was "a win that comes at such a high cost that it resembles a defeat" (google search). why are you making as if your points abt Aegon being a "dead end" and Viserys II (who was RHAENYRA'S SON STILL AND WHO COULD HAVE DIED OR NEVER RETURN TO WESTEROS IF AEGON AND JAEHAERA DIDN'T BECOME ""DEAD ENDS") is some new information and doesn't matter as to how Rhaenyra "wins"? Of course it does and no you are not the one to think of these things.

A)

The point of someone "winning" the Dance was to seat either Rhaenyra or Aegon as the ruler, sure. Though Rhaenyra ruled for a few months, Aegon also only ruled for a few months even though he ultimately killed her. If we took that aspect as the end-all-be-all, neither won. but it isn't the end-all-be-all, because the point of having children/heirs is to reaffirm your own rule and make sure it is you who "lives on"; fighting for the throne is next to meaningless without being assured that your heirs become the next rulers, as we saw when Stephen of Blois (Aegon's real life inspiration in the English war Anarchy) was recorded to feel some type of way when Matilda's reps and the writers' of a treaty that made him king also said that his children would not be his heir. Instead it would be Empress Matilda's son who would be Stephen's heir. Matilda still got soemthing out of that, even if she herself could't rule AND it basically made Stepehen's work futile if he can't even pass on the throne to those he wanted to rule and "continue" his lineage. Thereby, it's obvious that to these people, this ALWAYS mattered.

Here is an example from the text to show how important that was to them/Westerosi nobles (F&B -- "The Sad Short Reign of Aegon II"):

Again, it is not just about who gets to sit the throne, but also, who got to propagate the Targ lineage...bc in a feudal system, who gets to propogate the lineage is the one with the conventional "glory" because, literally, it is your line who goes on to do anything and anything at all, which includes infamous and positively famous things. Which couldn't occur without you (here Aegon or Rhaenyra) existing and passing on surviving heirs. This is just how it works, anon, for this society. Rhaenyra and Aegon both were fighting for themselves AND their heirs to rule/pass down more heirs.

This all began with people in the fandom debating whether or not this story is as "neutral" and balanced in its critique of patriarchal violence, which should have never been the case because it's clear that the greens were the more punished villains AND antagonists no matter how you slice it. They lost the most.

And fans who deny such either never read the books (which can include the main ones and AWoIaF), are lying about it, are sexist, or just very stupid. could be all of the above, whether they read them or not.

B)

Sometimes I think they don't know that it is Viserys' children who will eventually perpetuate the Targaryen lineage*... *In that aspect I recognize that Daemon Darkfire He is a descendant of both Aegon III and Viserys II, however he is not officially a Targaryen and never sat on the throne.

I understand that some fans who aren't TB or TG think that such identifiers mean that both teams equally don't know what's really happening in the orig text from the mere "audacity" to declare themselves as either TB and TG juvenilely. Because they somehow think the Dance wasn't that much about misogyny...even the events before the Dance somehow wasn't about how stupid and destructive misogyny is for the "health" and balance of the entire world, much less Westeros. They have taken Condal at face value or wnat to validate Hotd, or don't understand what colonization vs conquest is or hate Dany and/or don't want her to be azor ahai/the prince that wa promised. Or to admit/see F&B is written to contextualize queenship, leadership, and therefore Daenerys Stormborn's arc, narrative role, and characterization. Which has beena thing for years.

However, they are wrong. As they always have been.

What exactly do you even mean by "Viserys' children...perpetuate the Targaryen lineage"? And? Aegon and Rhaenyra both are his kids and the Dance was about who would get to sit the throne AND be which of these two will be lineage-propogater. It was by itself and by definition something that was supposed to go to ONE of these two....why you trying to make as if someone has said it wasn't a child of Viserys who would and/or got to do this? Are you trying to confuse people on purpose?

Finally, it's Daemon BLACKFYRE, and no one said that the Blackfyres were the ones to rule? He's pointed out bc people said the none of Daenaera xAegon's kids live on or propogate any sort of lineage of current, relevant storyline/"glory"/historical deeds and events....when this is blantantly false because both Elaena and Daena mother still-living scions form house Plumm or the Blackfyres.

Without Jaehaera or Aegon II being involved bloodwise/lineage-wise.

Go back and re-read. Let go of your claim to superior "neutrality", when the fandom has never been fait in its assessments of characters and the writing and the arcs. It's never been objective in this fandom and never will be; there are headcanons and fanons upon fanons about Dany going Mad for god' sake! People believing Brothel queens happened.

ASoIaF may not be didactic, but it does have ideas that sit in moral contemplation and has moral arguments. It's just that, like most fantasy fiction, it's not spelled out for you; it's shown, not told.

[goldeneyedgirl]

@sonyawix 2/3 I think

YES, he does a little drawing of her once they've met properly. It's just a little outline sketch on a scrap of paper, but Alice considers it precious.

So what's happening with the Cullens... well.

The thing is in Anathema, Jasper has not been with the Cullens long. He spent decades just being Depressed in the Woods. He didn't get away from Maria til the mid-40s, and he didn't meet the Cullens until the early 60s.

And no, he hasn't seen Peter or Charlotte since the night that they fled. Which is why things with Peter are iffy at best. The last time he saw his very best friend, Jasper was going to kill him and his girlfriend. They probably hate him if they aren't dead.

He assumes that they are dead. Which doesn't help the depression.

So this version of Jasper isn't that housebroken. Forks is going to be his first time in high school ever. He's what Esme calls 'a lost soul'. The fact he now chooses to watch movies with them, play card games, and hunt as a family is a huge step forward, since he used to hide in the attic for weeks on end when he first joined them. No one is sure if he's attached to them, or if they're simply a life-raft he's clinging to.

Which means the way that Jasper approached Alice at the meeting was basically the Worst Case Scenario the Cullens could think of. None of the Cullens really know what to make of Alice before that moment, but all of a sudden Jasper isn't hunched in the background trying to forgettable. And that ever-present air of tension they can all feel has suddenly relaxed. Esme is watching him smile at this girl, and she's got this hope that maybe Jasper's not as broken as Carlise worries he is.

So of course, they get home, and Rosalie is going to lose her goddamn mind because Jasper nearly fucked up her favourite of their homes. He nearly ruined everything because he couldn't control himself. Edward's pacing and going over all the thoughts the group had, and Jasper is just miserable that he fucked up. Everyone is far more worried about the Treaty than anything else.

So it takes a couple of nights before anyone realizes that Jasper is sneaking out, and it's up to Edward and Emmett to confront him because they don't want to make it a Big Deal by telling Carlisle and Esme, and Rosalie is too upset to have a rational conversation with him - especially since Jasper tends to shut down entirely in front of angry, yelling women.

That's when the cloistering sort of starts. And it's less of a study and more of a book cave at this point.

You've got me outlining and plotting out this fic in the middle of hideous writer's block, so I'm pretty excited as well ;)

[handfuloftime]

Part 3, Chapters 11 & 12

I love that Ike's reaction to being put in charge of an army is "Ugh, not again."

And also how much Sanaki teases him. I adore her.

Here's Daein to ruin everything.

I am curious as to whether anyone wondered how the Black Knight had managed to end up with two priceless Beignon national treasures.

Folding the Crimeans into the Greil mercenaries really only results in one change in the lineup, since I don't have either Lucia or Geoffrey yet--I'm swapping Shinon out for Astrid. Which I know is a choice, but Shinon's personality is so grating that it makes me less fond of him as a unit. (Not that Astrid's RD personality is particularly appealing, either, but I blame the writers for that one.)

The current party: Ike, Ranulf, Soren, Titania, Nephenee, Heather, Rhys, Mist, Haar, Reyson, and now Astrid. Plus Oscar and/or Boyd when there's room.

Lovely to have Tanith back on the team, though. And with Sigrun, too. My lesbian knights.

I've already got Ike and Ranulf to a B support, excellent. Just in time for them to be split up for the entirety of Part 4.

Oh boy, the bridge chapter.

Tibarn's line about having to tie Reyson to a bed. No comment.

And him complaining about how Rafiel is the only one in the family who acts like a heron is supposed to act. I love them.

I took Wildheart off of Ranulf and he's back to normal, phew.

Astrid is fine but her main issue at the moment is that she's slow.

So nice to have Ragnell again.

I have not consciously been training Haar, but he hits like a truck and his only real weakness is his terrible Res (sounds familiar). Maybe I should think about bringing him to the endgame after all.

Poor Micaiah :(

Fascinated that Lekain shows up and immediately goes off on a tangent about the virtues of warp staves vs. warp powder, while both Pelleas and the imperial envoy are like, "Huh?"

Okay, I know Pelleas's unquestioning trust in Izuka is meant to be a character flaw, but did he really have no questions whatsoever about having to sign a treaty in blood?

The blood pact is just such a clumsy plot device in general. Surely there was another way to have Ike and Micaiah end up on opposite sides of a conflict without forcing all of the Daein characters to act as stupidly as possible.

Right as all of the Greil mercenaries & friends are on the verge of their second promotions (Titania and Haar are there already, Sigrun and Shinon are level 20 and I think Geoffrey is too?, Nephenee and Ike are 19, Tanith is 18), the Dawn Brigade is hitting their first promotions (Nolan in Ch 6, Edward and Jill in Ch 12, and Leonardo is level 20). 3-13 is going to be so bad.

Ch 12 is rough. I feel bad for everyone involved.

Though I deeply sympathize with Ike and Ranulf thinking that Micaiah has lost her mind. The plot demands that everyone in Daein act idiotically and refuse to explain themselves, and it's frustrating to watch.

Possibly because she starts out with the Dawn Brigade, I guess I tend to overlook how Micaiah is the beloved keystone of the Daein army, but there's an interesting parallel with Zelgius there...

Convenient that the Daein army managed to wipe out most of the remains of the Beignon Central Army and the Crimean Royal Knights offscreen.

And I forgot that since this is my first playthrough on this system, I won't be able to save Pelleas. Ooof.

I'd forgotten that this was the chapter where Zelgius rescues Sephiran. Chewing on the drywall.

Sephiran immediately asking whether Sanaki is safe... 😭

And Sephiran is now up to five (5) lines of dialogue in the game. Lol.

[rezcowgirl]

I am not trying to be heart-tender and nostalgic.

But the universe seems to want me to ache, so I will. Don't really have a choice, do I?

I somehow lost my fucking treaty card, which made my parents gasp in horror when I broke the news to them. Because the stupid card is famous for being difficult to replace. Like, 60 business days to process or something and it will probably get "lost" a few times along the way. I don't know if this is still the case, but last time I needed to get it is was This Whole Thing.

At the time, INAC made me swear an oath that I had lost my previous, precious card in order replace it with the "secure certificate of Indian status". Well, bitch, I found my old one, so I was illegally harbouring two status cards. Whatever. The secure one is gonzo, have no idea, but I found the baby-faced laminated one. Iconic ndn shit.

After I tore apart our apartment and grumbled about it for a few weeks, it suddenly hit me where my old card might be (this one never expires, unlike the new ones).

I remembered a relatively small box I have stashed in a drawer. It's like 1 foot in length and 4 inches in height, but it is stuffed to capacity-and-then-some with approximately a decade's worth of letters from my teenage years.

I think at my peak, I had 6 regular penpals along with a frequent trickle of random letters and mixtapes from random internet friends.

It was a trip to swim through it. There is no way I could read them all in one night, so I just shuffled through and read bit of random ones here and there.

Most of the letters made me think "I don't know the person they're writing to". I feel like that version of me is long gone, and quite frankly: thank fuck, because I was not so healthy and not so nice.

But still, there were people there for it who loved me through it! Or at least tolerated me through it. I barely tolerated myself.

I might not know who they are anymore, and they don't know me, either. But when I was that weird fat queer ndn that was buttoned up tight in 30 degree weather because of my ever growing collection of self-inflicted wounds and thinking that I would never ever feel happy, a letter came from somewhere else in the world like beacon to drag myself back to the light, for just a bit.

I once got a letter where the return address was "Mr Squiggles" and my mom yelled "WHO THE HELL IS MR. SQUIGGLES AND WHY IS HE WRITING TO YOU? (It's the envelope just above my status card. Which was indeed in the box, by the way. Hallelujah. INAC glasses here.I.come.) I cackled when I came across it. Mr. Squiggles was a 16 year old girl also from the prairies.

I remember a lot of the people, some are still my friends! But it's a weird ache to see initials of people I don't remember at all. I have first names, but there are so many full names missing. But also, that's ok. There are people I have loved that I will never speak to again. And there are so many more people I will love soon. It's ok.

I wish these ghosts of people could somehow know that some rando person has letters from two decades ago that she'll probably carry around until she dies. They are very precious to me, even if a bit, um, 'cringe' and I don't know know what they're talking about in half of them anymore.

Does this count as holding cards close to my chest?

Anyway - thank you letter writers for helping me build my heart.

Oh, and if you're still with me - bigger, biggest thank you. I still have every letter you sent me.

Special shout out to this completely unhinged typewriter letter from @ayecaptain

[lightdancer1]

This is a man who has written plenty of books which I have read and has written only two good ones:

Max Hastings is a prolific writer, who covers many topics and I have read them on many because he has one merit that a lot of professional and popular writers alike don't. Simple prose where even if he's wrong and his takes are wrong-headed he's a good read. In this case, as with his history of the outbreak of the First World War, he steps outside a more familiar Cold War-era comfort zone describing major wars after 1945 to discuss the war that almost was.

He raises an extremely good and important point that the USA owed far more than it will ever credit to the blinkered hubris and idiocies of Comrade Nikita Sergeiivich, who happily tried to hoodwink the world into thinking he could set up a nuclear arsenal on Cuba to 'throw a hedgehog in Uncle Sam's pants.' In the rest of the world, including crucially Castro's Cuba, there was a view of a much larger and more capable Soviet arsenal and means of delivering it than actually existed.

Given these circumstances and the autocratic culture of the USSR even in the Khrushchev Thaw, the reality was that instead of a well-planned gamble to singe Uncle Sam's beard it was a completely reckless act of idiocy that almost set the world on fire, planned in a slapdash fashion and done in a kind of secrecy that let the USA score one of its ultimate cheapest wins after a set of days that would have made good work for the manufacturers of cigarettes and alcohol and ulcer cures.

He equally bluntly notes that the US largely had itself to blame that Castro first rose to power, second was eager to let his country set the world on fire in a way that horrified Nikita Sergeiivich when it dawned on him that his great prank was literally likely to start a global nuclear exchange of 5,000 US nukes vs 300 Soviet nukes (yes, those are the actual totals in 1962). American arrogance in Cuba was the primary cause of the crisis, and a wiser Soviet approach could have led to their not only having a large garrison in Cuba, which stayed, but repaying the US for all the nuclear missile sites all around the USSR in kind.

An open, blunt treaty might have prevented the crisis and led to the US realizing how the rest of the world lived and was accordingly more than a little unsympathetic to the idea of the world being set on fire because the US put up with a version of what they also put up with. Instead secrecy, arrogance, and having literally no plan for the US discovering the missiles or for the grand prank to misfire led to one of the most frightening crises of the Cold War, one that humanity very narrowly survived.

In truth, too, the Cuban Crisis was the one that's most famous because it was the closest the world ever came to a US First Strike. The Able Archer Crisis of 1983 (the Stanislav Petrov incident) was the one where the world was closest to the *Soviet* first strike and the one time Moscow might have actually done it.

10/10.

[lady-sci-fi]

I think it's kind of unrealistic expectations, both from the real-world practicalities and the in-universe character perspectives. Especially in sci-fi shows like Star Trek.

Episodes have time limits. They're going to focus on telling you what's relevant to that specific story. The entire show isn't about one planet. If there's a Klingon story every 20 episodes on average, that's not much time to get into the nitty-gritty of anything that's not directly relevant to what's going on.

I don't expect the group of show writers to get that deep into it privately, either. Let's take Worf liking Klingon Opera as example. The writing process was probably just "We want Worf to listen to Klingon music in this scene. What genre might he like? The Klingon version of opera? Yeah, let's go with that, and also say its a big genre."

By saying Worf listens to Klingon opera, that means there's a whole music entertainment part of their cultures, which we don't see. I don't expect them to go "So maybe Klingons from this region like opera, ones from this region like country, ones from over here like this other genre..." What is relevant is that Worf likes opera. Just as Riker likes jazz. It's a fun character trait. They probably don't have the time to write an entire encyclopedia about Klingon (and all the other races) multiple cultures. Especially since those details aren't going to show up. They'll give you the broad strokes you need to understand the basics.

Why would we the audience see much of possible multiple Klingon cultures? We follow a Starfleet crew. The Enterprise-D is going to be called to Qonos because an important person, probably a politician or soldier, is threatening the peace treaty or they need a specific thing from an important person. When they go there, they're in one city section and interacting with like 5 individuals. There could be a jungle city 2000 miles away where the civilians dress differently, have different dialect, whatever. That doesn't matter to this story.

And yeah, most times we see Klingons (and others), it's their military or politicians, because that makes the most sense for Starfleet crews to encounter and deal with. That doesn't mean other stuff doesn't exist, its just not relevant to the story. The shows also aren't afraid to show other things on occasion, if they think it's an interesting idea.

Bajor probably gets the best chance to be more developed as culture(s), because the Starfleet crew's job is to stay near it and deal with it on a constant basis. And again, most of the time, we and the crew sees their military, and politics and religious leaders.

But even with that extra opportunity to flesh Bajor out more, it still runs into time and relevance issues. They don't go into every possible detail of their religion. They give us what's needed to understand the story. Does mostly everyone on the planet follow the religion the same way, or are there multiple mainstream groups with the same core Prophets beliefs who practice differently? Both ideas are equally interesting to think about. And how do the off-planet refugees (Ro Laren) practice it?

If the writers say "Picard went on vacation to France on Earth", on the scale of "French stereotypes to I live in France," most of the Trek audience probably has some concept of France and how it differs from other places.

But if the writers say "Kira went on vacation to the Rokantha Province on Bajor", what does Rokantha mean? They'll give a few facts like "this region is known for farming" and whatever is needed to understand any story relevancy. But not much to give a real sense of culture different to what they've already shown. They'd have to stop the story to give a 15-minute lecture on why Rokantha's culture might be different from Janitza's culture which is different from this other province...

There could also be interesting in-universe reasons why there's one mainstream culture of the planet.

Finally, I think Star Trek kind of does this both ways. The aliens will often say "Humans are X/ have X trait" They're assigning Humans over-generalized traits, probably mostly based on their interactions with Humans in Starfleet and politicians. I wouldn't expect an average Klingon to know or see all the Human cultures.

My absolute least favorite trope in sci-fi is the planetary monoculture.

Vulcans come from Vulcan, Thanagarians from Thanagar, Martians from Mars. Kryptonians speak Kryptonian and are science people while Klingons speak Klingon and love to fight. The entire population of Cybertron either picked sides or left.

Meanwhile, we are Humans from Earth with thousands of languages, religions, cultures, ethnicities...

I hate it in fantasy, too. You mean there are no dipshit elves that walk with a limp because they tripped on a rock? If all fairies are tricksters, who's doing the accounting? Jreph the daytime troll who wears sunscreen.

[piracytheorist]

surprised that no one asked about Fiona and Handler :'D

I'm assuming about the character ask meme from a few days ago :D

Fiona

First impression: We have this term in my language that would translate to "ice column", and it's used to describe a person who is cold and shows absolutely no expressions. Well, that was what I thought when I properly saw Fiona, especially when she went to the Forgers' house and Yor opened the door to well, that face.

Impression now: Look I ain't excusing her but there's something deep and sad about her wanting Twilight to see the real her but hiding that self behind that unbreakable poker face. I want her a million miles away from Yor but I also want her to find the comfort to be herself and not drag others down.

Favorite moment: This is hard to answer because I don't enjoy her as a character, I enjoy the dynamic she brings to the story. For that matter, my favourite moment that she was a part of was when she confirmed to the audience that Twilight's smile hides a part of truth behind it. But I'm not sure I can say I have a moment I like that's about her. But I am open to it for the future.

Idea for a story: I want her and Twilight to come to a very angsty clash. For her to try and ruin his marriage to Yor and him realizing that she has feelings for him. Which would lead him into thinking he failed her as a mentor, because he failed to see that she'd grown feelings for him and because he failed to correct her when she took his "hide your feelings" advice so much to heart that she ended up never showing feelings like ever. Idk where it would go from there. Perhaps he would ask Handler to assign her another assignment in another town to put some distance between them and it would actually be sad because they feel they've failed each other. And even though you wouldn't root for their relationship to be romantic it's sad because they were so accidentally so toxic for each other, even though they had the same goals and actually wanted the best for each other.

Unpopular opinion: There's more to her under her "notice me senpai" front and I'll patiently wait for Endo to prove me right.

Favorite relationship: Uhhhhh

Favorite headcanon: Idk nothing comes to mind

Handler

First impression: Who is that now what's she about will she be there just for briefings and such uhhhh give me SOMETHING

Impression now: I want her entire backstory and a spin-off just for her and how she went from a grieving mother into a handler for an entire spy agency.

Favorite moment: Her "you don't know shit about war" speech. I've even wrote a meta about it. I remember at that point I wanted to see more of her and OH BOY DID THAT SCENE DELIVER.

Idea for a story: It kinda is becoming a story thanks to @spencerisdead taking my ramblings and putting them to fic, but it's about Twilight getting captured and tortured, and Yor being determined to save him. But because peace treaties are on the verge of being secured, and Sylvia knows any drama involving spies breaking out of the SSS's clutches will only make things worse, she decides to call the SSS on Yor in order to force her to leave and let things be until peace is secured. Lotsa angst and feelings of betrayal both from Yor and Loid (once he makes it out) but I think very on par with how Sylvia works. She would feel lots of guilt for it, but she'd know (and so would Loid) that she would do it over and over again if it meant peace would be restored.

Unpopular opinion: Yeah unpopular alright cause I think it would take far more for her to allow Twilight to just up and leave and go live a peaceful life (and Twilight, too). I've read a few fics where she just... lets it happen, and though that's in no way a jab to the choices of the fic writers... I don't think canon Sylvia would just go like "Oh okay you love them go live a peaceful life with them I guess", she would drag his ass back to HQ and smack him for some good measure. Again, it's okay to happen in fic, fic is supposed to be transformative. But at the worst possible scenario, I think she would at most take Twilight off the field and have him do office work or something for WISE. If anything, because it feels like she knows he wouldn't choose to abandon this position that easily.

Favorite relationship: With Twilight, platonic, like a found brother/sister relationship or something. I cannot wait for more details on how they got to know each other (no spoilers for the manga though please!)

Favorite headcanon: She seems to be quite a positive thinker. Or maybe she forces herself to be? Like I remember in two separate occasions (right after the Doggy Crisis arc, and when Zacharis' secret ended up not being a danger to peace) that she went like "All that matters is that peace is safe". So I think after all the tragedies she went through (and still goes, in a manner, since she constantly has to watch spies from her agency get caught and killed) she's forced herself to have a more positive outlook and focus on the good outcomes.

[runemyth0]

Hi! A few questions for the writer ask game (not sure if you’ve answered these already, so I put four, you don’t need to answer them all)

📗 Do you want to write something outside of fanfiction? If so, what about?

📚 Is there a fanfic or fanfic writer you recommend?

🕶️ What helps you focus when you write?

🧪 Do you research for your fics?

Fanfic Writer Ask Game

📗 Do you want to write something outside of fanfiction? If so, what about?

Yes! I've actually been planning a number of original stories for a few years. There's two main ones which are...

Commoners Die In One Hit: My take on an isekai story where a class of high schoolers and their teacher are transported to a fantasy world. They have to work together to survive in this hostile world.

I actually based this concept off of me being bored and rolling stats for a bunch of Dungeon Crawl Classics characters. The first part of the story is structured like a DCC funnel, where a bunch of characters go in and only a handful of characters come out.

Guilded Cage: Five assassins, each belonging to a major guild, are sent to a dinner to uphold an ancient treaty between the guilds preventing them from going to war. Unfortunately, the guilds all sent their worst members, because it turns out that one of the attendees has to die to uphold the treaty.

It'll probably be a while till I start on either of these (and the names might change along the way) since I've still got fanfiction I want to write first.

📚 Is there a fanfic or fanfic writer you recommend?

You know, I was just thinking I needed to update my fanfic rec list. Honestly, there's way too many I want to recommend, so I'll just pick my top three four.

A Witch in Wartwood (and it's sequel) by Discet (@discet)

This fic! Oh man... This is the fic that got me back into writing! It got me hooked on swap AUs! It is the fic of all time.

The Oracle Bakery by freakxwannaxbe (@freakystrashdump)

I never thought I'd be enjoying an OC fic this much, yet here I am recommending it. Most notable for me for having the best Belos characterization I've read. Also, I really like the worldbuilding of Oracle magic, which doesn't have a huge amount of focus in canon.

Moonshadow by A_E_redacted (@a-e-redacted)

Canon divergence ahoy! A fun story about the Collector getting adopted by Eda. I just like the Collector.

Tag Team AU (@toh-tagteam-au) by YogurtHoops

A comic, not a fanfic, but still one of the most fun swap AUs I've read. I mean, I enjoyed it enough to write a fanfic based on it, so... I really like it.

And what the heck, I'll recommend Fighting the Stars by FruitDragon as well.

🕶️ What helps you focus when you write?

Music! I've got a whole bunch of playlists that I put on in the background while I write. I have one playlist full of the Yuru Camp soundtrack that never fails to put me in the zone for writing really angsty scenes.

I also make sure to keep myself hydrated and fed with snacks (my fav is frozen raspberries).

🧪 Do you research for your fics?

Of course! Whenever I'm writing, I'll usually have the relevant fan wiki open in another tab for quick reference. And if anything comes up that might require specialized knowledge, I'll do my best to search it out.

I mostly work with fics that don't require too much research, but it does come up from time to time.

[protagonistheavy]

Just watched the war episode of Ben 10 Alien Fours and I can't decide if this is the best episode or the worst episode so far. But I can tell you it's my favorite purely because it's the episode to get me to react the most.

Tall order for the Ben 10 writers: a whole episode about war, its different effects and qualities, and Ben's effort to bring a universal peace. Going in, I was absolutely skeptical of whether or not they could uhh be responsible enough for a topic so real. I already had a mature perspective into the series, critical of things like the Plumbers being "space cops" and what that morally says about the series. I don't get too caught up on it, I get that it's not trying to get moralistic about these things... but it inadvertently does of course.

Anyway yeah Ben 10 tries to approach the issue semi-seriously but overall mostly as a joke. There are literal red guys vs blue guys led by generals that are exactly the same. There's a lot of on-the-nose subjects addressed: war causes famine and stress onto the citizens, weapon manufacturers and traders have an incentive to want wars to go on and play for both sides, the wealthy elites and war leaders reap benefits while everyone else suffers and they know this and thus mutually agree to never-ending war, etc. But also there's wacky shenanigans that hinder the seriousness of all those qualities: offering to shake with the wrong hand is an insult, soldiers are willing to literally sit down and listen to someone lecture them about war, both sides are arguing over whether a statue was red or blue, etc.

So if I try to take this episode too seriously, it's a real wtf episode. Because ultimately it leads to Ben having made things worse, with the original alien girl that messaged him specifically saying that she's working twice as hard in the factory and hates Ben even more than war. It's so vicious. The moral here basically DOES insist that war IS some sort of sick human ("human") nature that's inevitable and that efforts to make peace only make things worse. A VERY bleak message.

But as a comedy, this episode is so fucking funny for being that messed up. My absolute favorite part of this is that Ben's method of direct action, where after he realizes just talking to the two generals will do nothing, he gets gradually more aggressive... At one point, the little alien girl says "I believe in you Ben 10, I think you can do anything :) uwu" and Ben smiles and then transforms into HUMUNGOSAUR and INTIMIDATES the two generals into stopping their argument. Later he gets desperate enough to outright KIDNAP both generals, throw them in a cave, and threatens to harm them if they don't come back out with a peace treaty. I love this approach!! Finally a super hero with some sense and I'm not even kidding. It's just so funny to see it be done and without anything said against Ben for acting this way -- yeah, it doesnt work for long, but only because the generals manage to get away. Ben was FULLY COMMITTED to the cave strat, which meant he would have been torturing military leaders. WE STAN.

Another hilarious aspect is Kevin's b-plot, where he takes over a literal underground weapon trading ring, wherein he steals guns from both sides, paints them the other color, and sells them to the other side. Which begs the question, why doesn't he simply steal the weapons and sell them back? This is funny to think about because at one point they realize they can just paint everything white. (SYMBOLISM??????) So you can see the hilarity in this, right? Kevin lands on a planet specifically to end the war, and his bad boy attitude is so bad that he actively PUSHES for the war to continue so that he can make an easy profit. That is so fucked up and so Kevin. Can you believe this guy is a Plumber aka a space cop? Yes! Yes I can. He's the son of a cop too so it really is just in his blood, huh.

And what a great beginning to an episode. Literally just Kevin and Gwen drinking smoothies at night. Ben walks up and says he's been looking for them all morning -- even though it's night, like every scene in this show is set. He says he needs them for a mission to end a world's war. Gwen says she has other plans, Kevin just says "nah." It feels like somehow even they knew that the plot ahead was gonna be a waste of time.

[kimyoonmiauthor]

So I got the rest of the book and there are a few things I have to note: They cut a lot of the criticisms of other writers down and only quoted some letters, but not the full context of the letters. This makes it harder to discern his position.

Since this is publish 2022, there might have been outright censoring.

That said, from what they did include, he did talk evenly to women and men and criticized both evenly.

Since it's curated from other works, it's much harder to get into the nitty gritty with this book.

My favorite quote, though, is probably about Jane Austen.

But from what is stated which you can't "make up" He leans heavily on technique more than he does structure. He talks, for instance in his Christian section about how he doesn't start with a moral, he starts with a story first.

He also talks about how he sees an image, and doesn't see the complete story. In modern terms, this would firmly put him in the "Discovery Writer" category, I think. And Discovery writers, while interested in structure, don't tend to set it out and stick to it.

He'd be polar opposite of his contemporary, Tolkien, who was known to spend lots of time going over the thing again and again. (They were friends).

I like to joke often that Tolkien was like Darwin to C.S. Lewis's Alfred Wallace. Or that Tolkien is like Lady Murasaki to Lewis's Shonagon. (You get the idea) Tolkien is the Tesla to Lewis's Edison. My favorite rivalry I have to admit is Monet and Picasso--the one they never really talk about in art history shows, but that's a total sidebar.

Anyway, I think this isn't the correct book to borrow to get a complete treaties on Lewis (Use the image for that), but it's clear he's not the person I need to give me the final clues. This was interesting to read, if not for the quotes.

Honestly, I wouldn't have pinned Lewis as a Discovery writer type. He must have edited the hell heck out of manuscripts or had better editors than most. (I kinda thought he might have milestoned a bit, but that might be because other writers in his group were more plot-types, which goes to show being around writers who write other ways might be beneficial?) However, it kinda does fit the whole dynamic between Tolkien and Lewis even more. They were kinda frenemies where they reportedly had falling outs.

His literary criticism is quite succinct, though. (Not always right in my opinion, even when I don't like the author, but it is succinct)

Meh I'll have to move on. TT Where are you my missing author? Where are you in history?

I'm looking for "High Stakes" "Stakes" and that Antigone diagram that haunted me forever. You are in the 1980's-1990's, I know it.

CS Lewis's writing book "On Writing (and Writers): A Miscellany of Advice and Opinions"

I confess I have to wait for the book to come to me since my library is slow...

But apparently, writers can't shut up about their craft. lol (This is a joke only writers will know).

CS Lewis, as a writer, beyond being known for The Lion Witch and the Wardrobe and being the extroverted half of Tolkien (which is a writing history joke...) the Shonagon to Tolkien's Murasaki, if you will... was also particularly well known for writing a TON on theology and generally on writing.

Before I opened the sample to the book, I thought he would be one of those hardlined structuralists. Ya know. This formula, ABCD==hardwon success, and if you don't apply this formula, you're a LOSER. And if you didn't win, well, you applied the formula wrong.

But his writing reads more in the other camp, which surprised me since he was writing in the 1950's. He doesn't harp on conflict or a formula. He harps on... *gasp* Technique. I know.

He does have a bit about chasing after novelty being a bad thing, which is anti-modernist very quietly and inline with Lajos Egri, but with more authority because he does know where it comes from by the 1950's and Freud has happened.

The Paradox of Originality No man who values originality will ever be original. But try to tell the truth as you see it, try to do any bit of work as well as it can be done for the work's sake, and what men call originality will come unsought. "Membership," The Weight of Glory

His main principles are laid out: Plain simple language, be direct as possible, and put clarity first.

He also pushes against the 19th century romantics by stating,

Poetry often communicates emotions not directly, but by creating imaginatively the grounds for those emotions. It therefore communicates something more than emotion; only by means of that something more does it communicate emotion at all.

He harps quite a bit on stop telling us what to feel and make the reader feel it. Rather than a tell and show dichotomy, it's a "Direct description by metaphor and simile, by secretly evoking powerful associations, by offering the right stimuli to our nerves (in the right degree and the right order)... Let me taste for myself, and you'll have no need to tell me how I should react to the flavor." (p 15)

He does have a habit (so far) of mentioning only male authors, which is a terrible habit of all white male authors writing writing manuals of this sort and giving out advice (Jim Cobbett, David Hume) particularly from this time period, but he is at least egalitarian in thinking that girls and women could be authors too and writing equally the same sort of advice to little boys as he did to little girls. So he didn't change the tone or the type of advice given nor dash their dreams.

And yes, I do know there are bits of controversy over how he wrote the women in his Narnia story/girls. I'm not taking away from that and sometimes his horribleness elsewhere, but for writing in the 1950's, some credit should be given that he did not think men and women were unequal in writing books to a personal truth.

Is it sad that I'm glimmeringly hopeful that when I get the rest of the book that he won't end up flipping to an unrelenting cad like Freytag which was then ignored? But there it is, I'm kinda, a tad bit hopeful this turns out to be the case.

I might have to wait for the section on Christian writing and see what he says. TT

[ectora]

REVIEW 313

took me some time to actually get into that review lmao But i really loved the episode. I know some people will probably have complains about it, but as someone who absolutely loves Abigael, I really liked it. And honestly the fact that abigael was finally included in the main story is not even the reason why. I loved the pacing, it actually felt like Charmed. The stakes, the construction, the format, it was all on point. It was genuinely their best episode alongside 307 (two episodes related to the tomb lmao) and one of their best in the show imo.

I've put it in "hidden" cause it ended up being so long I did not expect that im sorry 😭

SCREEN TIME

Maggie: 29m20s

Macy: 27m36s

Mel: 25m39s

Abigael: 20m17s

Jordan: 10m32s

Harry: 47s

Not gonna lie, I did not miss Harry this episode. Maybe it's just cause I don't like the way they have been writing both him and Macy this season, way too focused on the relationship, but his story does not really interest me. And I enjoy watching Macy interact with other characters a lot more. I think we could have had a little bit more of Jordan as well.

What I liked

where do i even start. I genuinely enjoyed so many things in this episode.

As said earlier, I really enjoyed the structure of the episode, to me it finally really felt like charmed. The way the episode was done was beautiful and I LOVED the trial in a general manner. They're terrible lawyers, but still loved it lmao

Ok hear me out, the fact they had abigael and macy say what the fan had been saying but reversing the roles was actually sent me lmao

I really enjoyed that they balanced the rights and wrongs of abigael. I'm part of the people who think that overall, most of what she did was not that deep tbh, but the episode allowed to have nuances and hold her accountable for things she did while also recognising that she did good things.

Abigael finally interacting with the sisters. To me, that's the sign of good characters tbh, how they can interact with different other leads/mains and such relationships being interesting. Abimel, i'll talk about it a bit later cause i have lots to say. But AbiMacy ? I absolutely always love their scenes, one of the reasons being that I genuinely think they're the two best actresses in the show and you can really feel it when they're on screen. They have easy chemistry and whatever they are doing, they just work. They also had one of the best potential of the show in terms of dynamic and I will never forgive the writers for ruining this, especially because it's in part because of a man. Anyway, their scenes were amazing to watch and I need more. I was especially happy because let's be honest, if Macy has valid reasons to dislike Abigael, they often miss-portrayed that in the show and it often came across as being mostly based on the whole love triangle between Macy Abi and Harry. But this time it really was not and Macy was quite fair, even reaching the conclusion Abi doesn't belong in there - she does not- and I liked that they actually were fair on Macy's dislike and distrust. Then there was AbiMaggie. Honestly, it's not a relationship i expected to enjoy that much but oh god i love them. I loved them in episode 207 and I still do. They just have such a funny dynamic, I can't even explain it correctly but it just work. They're throwing remarks at each other sure but it's almost in a sweet funny way. Abigael calling Maggie 'Legally Brunette" was so funny and cute at the same time.

Talking about Maggie, I really liked her this episode. I love how she reacts in situations where they need a cold head. She takes the lead, she does what needs to be done and she reaches the goal. I really enjoy seeing her taking that role a little bit more. Especially because to me Maggie was always the one with the most nuanced view on the world which I really appreciate. I loved her speech at the end and she grew so much since season 1, she's really so great. The more we advance in the show, the more she shines.

I really liked what happened at the end with the sisters recognising that they are themselves not perfect and are even chaotic. I have a point about being chaotic for later but anyway. Yes the sisters are not perfect. Honestly, they have done questionable things in the past themselves and often are the cataclysm of new things happening. I think it just makes them more interesting and better characters. Black and white can only get so long. Nuanced, imperfect, that's where the complexity lies and what is more interesting imo.

The perfecti really are good characters. I mean their logic was completely f*cked, but they are so entertaining to watch, it's actually great. I like also that they continued that idea that logic without emotion is dangerous. But in some ways tbh, the Perfecti are not even logical. They want to think they are, but their own logic is flawed and like Macy said, completely lacks context.

Finally the power of three and FINALLY, the plot goes forward. Maybe that's another reason I really enjoyed the episode, the fact that it actually had a good flow, it felt like one constructed episode and it actually advanced the story which cannot be said about a lot of the episodes. So I'm happy that happened.

And finally Abimel. I mean, no one can be surprised Abigael has feelings for Mel tbh, girl has not been subtle about it lmao But that declaration was actually cute and their scene at the bar ?? paralleling the one in season 2, it was so sweet. I just love them tbh, and I really think they could have been the ship a lot of us were waiting for in the sapphic community especially.

Abigael's past. Like I loved learning more about her past and her mom. Obviously her traumatic past does not exempt her from her own actions but I do believe it give strong grounds for redemption. it also gives us a lot of insights in her character. Her mom was an absolute monster and what she did to her was terrible. There is no surprise in Abigael's absolute lack of self worth and her unhealthy coping mechanism. Like her mom basically spent her life telling her she was deficient and then punished her for something she had no control on whatsoever. She punished Abigael for her own action and her own liaison with a demon. She probably projected her anger about that relationship on the child that came out of it and it's absolutely horrifying. Like no wonder Abigael is not fond of witches and went into the demon side tbh. Like that's not surprising at all. It also explains why she was so against the idea of witch = good that the sisters keep perpetuating because that's simply not what she experienced. Again, it does not excuse everything she did but I do believe it helps understand the character better and that ultimately, it gives space for a redemption. And again, kuddo to both poppy and the actress who played her mom. First that was great casting and it was really well played.

Remarks

To be honest, I don't really have things I genuinely disliked so I'm more gonna do like a section where i could criticise some of the aspect which to me did not necessarily made sense but were often still funny, and who knows maybe done on purpose. It's gonna be a mix of a little bit of everything.

One of the first thing I was kinda confused on was their use of the term chaos. Because, well, chaos doesn't equate evil. But that's the angle they started taking at the beginning which to me was confusing. It didn't make the episode bad, but the more I think about it, the more I'm like the defence they were going with had nothing to do with the charges 😭 Like, the sisters tried to prove that basically Abigael was a good person. But the charges were that she was chaotic. and by the end of the episode we did reach that kind of point where they said everyone was chaotic and everything - which i liked - but also didn't really match the angle they took the entire episode. Because, I personally never saw Abi as evil. But she is 100% chaotic like that girl is the definition of chaotic and I love her for it. But her doing good or bad is not necessarily what makes her chaotic. Good deeds can be as chaotic as bad ones. For example, Abi binding her own power could be considered as good by some people (it's not really but you see what I mean) but by doing so, she would lose the title of overlord and therefore end the treaty. In that case the war would start and that would definitely be chaotic. If she was to stay overlord however, and control the demon world, which can be seen as bad i guess, she is keeping the war from happening and stopping attacks toward witches and innocents, which is the contrary of chaotic. So yeah, the angle they took did not actually make that much sense cause the two are not the same.

Not gonna lie, bringing Godrik up was so weird to me cause like he tried to kill her first and they all know it, yet she was the one said to try to murder him and I was like ? did we all forgot what happened ? 😭

Some of the things brought by the perfecti - such as her killing those humans or demons - seemed weird because like, the sisters did the same in the past 😭 But also that's part of the whole lack of context aspect I guess.

No they really used Francesca as a witness out of all the people in the world like the woman is a whole child abuser who asked help to the elders, which have been established as like, not good people lmao I know it was part of the whole the perfecti are very selective on the information they actually take into account and they use the information as well as twist them to fir their own narrative but still it came across as weird because that woman was the definition of evil. But that's also what ticked the sisters so well.

Why did they not call Harry to testify was also kinda like ... weird. I mean at the same time I can't really complain but still, it was a bit odd. Also the fact they never thought about showing what was abigael actually doing with Jordan lmao I mean it wouldn't go along with the plot but still.

Ok, that take is subject to controversy and I know it but anyway : to me, Abi stealing Macy's power was ... not that deep. Don't get me wrong, the story was bad. The execution was even worse. In the show itself tho, objectively, as an act, it was not that bad. It actually made a lot of sense for Abigael to take it for herself. Macy wanted to get rid of her demon powers, no one was forcing her. And Abigael actually asked her multiples times if she was sure. Macy definitely had her reasons to do so. But at the end of the day, Abi picking them up when they were gonna disappear in thin air is really not that bad. It's logical. Don't get me wrong I'm glad Macy is getting them back, but I also think there has been a lot of mix up between the actual act of stealing the powers and the way it was done/optics ( I still don't understand how anyone wrote that scene and was like, yeah kneeling is a good idea ??? Like what's wrong with you 😭). But like ultimately, the act itself is not bad. questionable ? sure. Evil ? really not. Like let's be honest here. Abigael never hid who she was (past ep3 obviously). She did not pretend to be an angel, nor that she was a good samaritan. At the end of day, the sisters knew who she was and how she worked. They came to her knowing this. At some point, there is a need to acknowledge that, she was no angel, but they knew that and still went to her. She said it herself, she is used to fight for herself, and she'll sting to protect herself first - which i personally don't really hold again a character. If you go in bed with a scorpion, you can't ignore the fact there is a chance you're gonna get stung. Plus, when Abigael "stung" she also actually still gave them what they wanted/needed. I personally never saw self interest negating a good action. I don't really care if she gets something out of helping. Like at the end of the day, why wouldn't she take them ? In some ways however I do understand why Macy would be mad, she asked for help and she didn't realise Abigael stole them and she doesn't like abigael in the first place so why would she be ok with Abi taking them. That's valid too. But objectively, it was more a she was offended and mad that Abi herself had them more than a it's a terrible thing to do kinda feeling. So like it's a bit of a weird situation because Macy being annoyed and mad is valid but at the same time, it's really not that bad in itself. But overall that story should have never existed in the first place. And certainly not happen like this.

Abimel. I loved it but I also have issues with it. Mostly based on the fact we learned Poppy was leaving the show. And not gonna lie, I cant stop myself from feeling like it was almost a bit .. baity if I dare say. They had basically admitting having feelings for Mel and low key hoping it could lead somewhere when honestly, if she's leaving, they did not need to make it romantic. Because honestly, watching this episode not knowing she would leave ? You'd definitely could think it's happening, especially with all the other hints in the past. They could have made it like more about how Mel was the one giving her a real benefit of the doubt and they had a connexion and she wanted to be worthy of that. It would not be romantic. Especially cause she admitted caring about all sisters so it would have worked. Again, don't get me wrong, I want the most Abimel i can get lmao but also it feels a little weird. It's complicated. 😭

Jordan is definitely coming back, I just wonder what are going to be the circumstances. I completely understand why my boy needed a break. Like their time in the tomb was long. We don't exactly know how time works there but remember, in episode 7 when the sisters were stuck, the normal time was like what ? hours ? while in the tomb it was days for Maggie. So there it was days in normal time so in the tomb ? could potentially feel like weeks, months even. So yeah, give him a break and some time to breath. I know they're dragging this whole Joggie thing but because of Covid i also understand and will let it go. I really like them tho.

Abi has some alcohol problems I feel like should maybe be talked about. Like she uses it as an escape, as a way to numb her feelings. There is a reason it was used to symbolise her submitting herself to the tomb. And her first reaction after leaving the tomb was drinking. When she feels unhinged or vulnerable ? She drinks ? When she lost the title of overlord ? She drank. Alcohol is her escape which is a bit worrying.

Not about the episode but I think it needs to be brought up. I've seen people trying to say they brought up the abuse storyline for abigael out of nowhere and like. Listen I completely understand not trying to give more thoughts to a character you dislike, that's fair enough. But saying that storyline is out of nowhere is just a lie. The only new elements we had here were the details of the abuse she went through. They showed the clip again in the episode, where Abigael talks to Mel about her mom. She rejected her, she made her felt, deficient, wrong. All that is emotional abuse. She said her mom tried to fix her which can easily be thought about physical abuse. Like none of these things were new. To be honest, not a single thing they clarified/established for abigael this episode does not follow up with what was in the show in the past. Her feelings for Mel were honestly rather obvious at this point. Her not wanting TCO to get hurt ? There is literally a scene where Godrik tells her it's her head or the sisters and she never really even thought about throwing the sisters under the bus. She even asked who knew and it's easy to think it's because if no one knew she could put it under the rug. Again, it's fair enough for people to dislike her to not try to put more thoughts into her motivations or scenes in a general manner, but then you can't really say things are out of the blue.

And most importantly, I'm sorry, I don't care if you dislike the character, but if you dismiss the abuse just because of the dislike, that's a problem. What a character goes through in her past does not, in any way, have to change your opinion about them. Whatsoever. However when it comes to issues like child abuse, the bare minimum would be to be respectful of the subject and not say "she deserved it", "should have done more" or just say you don't care cause that changes nothing. Again, it doesn't have to change anyone's opinion at all and it does not excuse behaviours, but man, minimal respect is not that hard.

Highlights

This episode genuinely had such funny moments, i loved it.

« Is this a hard time to admit I failed debate in high school ? » and « could the defendant keep her commentary to herself » competing with each other for the funniest part of the episode. The delivery was perfect on both part. And Abi and Macy interactions are always so good and them bantering more or less seriously all the time is sending me. Macy was just so annoyed with her, i loved it.

« Need something legally brunettes » I said it already but I loved that little scene between AbiMaggie and that line particularly.

Abigael went from saying "I could care less about any of you" to "because I deeply care about her" followed by a whole ass declaration AND admitting she does actually care about all of them. My girl got absolutely played and it was genuinely so funny. Like Abigael was so freaking smug about testifying against herself and she got played so hard, she was SO annoyed it was actually hilarious.

"Every battle I fought, I fought alone" like excuse me while I'll go cry in a corner. Again, Poppy has been absolutely killing her role this season.

"Your arguments are illogical" the perfecti have such audacity like girl have you heard yourself ? 😭 no one is being less logical than you right now.

Lmao when Macy said Abigael belonged into the tomb, Mel was not agreeing 😭 And Maggie was having none of the drama either she just wanted out.

The sisters realising they had to be Abi's character witnesses lmao it was hilarious pleas idc.

Theories

With Poppy Drayton leaving, there are two theories I kinda have. Obviously Abigael is either gonna die or leave. Ngl, I can feel the dying one coming more but well, that brings the two theories.

Abigael would sacrifice herself. Which I don't like but honestly let's be honest, there are 95% chances of that happening. I could see her sacrifice herself for Mel or for the sisters in general. But that's where my abimel issues are coming. I love abimel. I want the most abimel i can have until the end. But Abigael admitting have feelings for Mel just in the purpose of having her sacrifice herself for her and to be 'worth it' ? that's not only a byg trope, it's also lazy.

If she just leave, which wouldn't really make sense to be honest cause why would she just leave, would she give up the title of overlord (why even) or would they bound her powers (i would hate that) ? but anyway, if that's the case, I could actually see her learn Waverly is not actually the one rejecting her. Waverly could very possibly not be the one who communicated with Jordan and the sisters. No one ever saw her, the letters are only signed by her name. It's a bit sus tbh, so nothing stops it from being Francesca actually impersonating her daughter to keep her away from Abigael.

I want to know more about the perfecti. We know they killed charmed ones before, and it doesn't seem like charmed ones existed when they were created ? Maybe the charmed ones were created after they went into the tomb ? I still am not sure about them going into the tomb by themselves tbh. But also they don't seem to be evil in the sense they want power or whatever, more in the fact like they consider themselves perfect and that if someone stands in their way, they'll just get rid of them.

[theoriginalladya]

16 What’s the most ridiculous thing you’ve done to put off actually writing? 17 How are you procrastinating today? (I would ask for 15 theoretically but that's Personal so really you don't have to at all!) - If you wanna. :)

from this prompt list

Thanks for asking!!!! (and I don’t mind for #15!)

~~~

15. We all project onto our characters. Where has your personality or life choices leaked onto the page the most?

Short answer:  SHEPSHEP.  

Long answer:  most of my characters display different aspects of my personality or life choices.  I’ll stick with Mass Effect for this since I have so many Shepards - really, there’s a spreadsheet.  Last I looked, it was up to 85.  

So, let me give you a few specific examples:

Serafina Shepard - loves music, used to play guitar (or maybe it was bass? I’d have to go dig it up) with her twin sister (drums) and father (guitar/bass depending on what she played)  back on Mindoir.  She loved to dance, sing, anything involving music.  Later in life, it’s still something she enjoys, but she hides it from the rest of the galaxy.  Especially the dancing.  As she puts it, it’s one way to ‘boost crew morale’.

ShepShep - oh god, what HAVEN’T I projected onto these characters?  LOL  Early on, John and Jane display some of the better moments from my marriage; later on, after they divorce, Jane in particular experiences some of the same things that I’ve gone though.  There’s one moment in the ME2 story where she asks Jack to ‘be mad for me’.  That comes from a direct realization I had a few years ago:  I didn’t have to be ‘mad’ at my ex or waste energy being mad at him all the time because my family and friends were already doing that for me.  Instead, I could focus on the things I needed to, which included working with the Ex in raising our son.  

And the list goes on.  Not everything about these characters is something I experienced, of course, but there is a good deal that is.  What’s the old saying?  Write what you know.  I’m in my fifth decade now; I like to think I know quite a bit that helps to make my characters come across like real people.

16. What’s the most ridiculous thing you’ve done to put off actually writing?

Oh, goodness let’s see ...  Honestly, I’m not the type to purposely put off writing, not anymore.  I had a period of about ten years, from when I graduated high school until I moved to the city where I live today, where I had the absolute WORST case of writer’s block.  It was understandable as for almost 7 of those years I was in college/grad school and my focus was on my education, and the other three I was a new high school teacher.  Life was BUSY!  But in all honesty, I really missed writing.  I’d done quite a bit of it when I was in high school, attending any events the school held where writers came in, and I enjoyed it!  

So, fast forward to moving here.  I was working at a bookstore (unable to find a teaching job) and needed some way to kill time and I pulled out my laptop and sat staring at a blank page in MSWord until ideas started to flow.  It took a long while before they did, and I had to listen to a LOT of music to stimulate the muses, but I started to write.  OMG it was BAD! lol  Still, it opened the doors - no, scratch that:  it opened the fucking FLOODGATES my muses had been hiding behind.  I started to write again, and with each piece I wrote, I got better, and then I found fanfiction (I was writing original stuff at the time) and oh man, a sandbox in which I could play where I didn’t have to create the world?!  

I learned pretty darned quick after that if I wanted to KEEP them flowing, I should always have a pen and notebook handy (I do!) no matter where I am.  Also, if I tried to stop them, that’s bad news.  So, I just keep on writing, even if it’s just to get the idea out of my head and down on paper.  Think of it as a sort of ... peace treaty between myself and the muses.

17. How are you procrastinating today?

Today?  Hmm, playing one of my games on my computer, crocheting, knitting, humming to myself, running out to grab lunch earlier from McD’s for me and kiddo, talking with the bff over Skype, playing with the cats, and I’m considering going to play Caleb Shepard’s NG+ for ME3 for a bit.  (and despite all that I’m at 904 words for the day so far, though in past my daily average was somewhere up around 3-5K per day?)   Keep in mind, this is all while ‘working’ from home, too (today was a very slow day, workwise).