#and it's an interesting variation on their character dynamic to me

[falling-hand-in-unlovable-hand]

i just realized, did i ever mention my au where the order are siblings on here? cuz i think about it so much

[antisociallilbrat]

Okay so let's say for argument's sake Byler happens, or some variation of it does. We have yet to see Mike really 'question' his sexuality and I've seen theories on why this is but to put it plain in *my* opinion, he's very far in the closet and is doing what is 'expected' of him by dating girls. First thing out of the way: I am a Bi Mike truther, I will not argue about this- everyone is entitled to their own hcs.

So I've seen people say they want a scene with Will coming out to Joyce and yes I want that too but if they make Byler happen I want- no I need a scene with Mike and Karen.

Mike coming home- maybe after El has broken up with him for good- and having all these swirling feelings over the whole thing. Then when you throw Will into the mix Mike's kind of unsure of everything and he's frustrated and! He's mad about it but he doesn't have anyone to direct his anger at because it's not really anyone's fault but dammit! He's mad because he doesn't know how he's supposed to feel right now! Or what he does next!

Karen sees him stalking up to his room and can immediately sense something is wrong and when Mike yells at her that 'he's fine' and trying to lock her out I want her to get mad too. Mad that her kids can't see that she loves them. Mad at herself for never showing it right. Mad that she's got herself stuck in a shitty marriage. So she doesn't let Mike lock her out this time, she throws his door open and demands he talks to her because she loves him and nothing is ever going to change that. She will be here for him if he lets her.

And then Mike breaks. He tries to explain his feelings but he's not good at that but Karen knows, she understands her son is hurting. Look she may not say the right things and she may not completely understand what she knows Mike is trying to say, but she doesn't want to see him in pain anymore. She loves him too much.

This scene would be so beneficial in helping mend the Wheeler family, especially the disconnect between Mike and Karen. She was the one Mike ran to to hug when he thought Will was dead and I would think the whole Will thing wouldn't take her off guard, even if she doesn't get what 'gay' entials.

I think this conversation would absolutely wreck me as viewer and put me on the floor sobbing, thank you.

[my-thoughts-and-junk]

hate it in yandere horror games when even the romantic path has flavor text like "he's so fucking creepy and i hate him but also he's so handsome" like no you're godmodding im hanging up

[laurashapiro-noreally]

Looking for something to read?

Oh look, it's another recs post! This time I'm featuring two stories per author. These are writers I always make time for, whose work stands out as unusually hot, clever, funny, or smart -- sometimes all of the above.

I'm gonna start you out strong with two by @werpiper: After Hours takes Aziraphale and Crowley to the baths after their oyster supper, and all sorts of interesting pleasures are there for our angel to sample. Piper's Crowley is one of my favorites: always evaluating the situation, not quite aware of what his own heart is doing but feeling it anyway.

Fitting In is a new story, still a WIP, but I am utterly tantalized by Muriel's first taste of love -- and tea. This is already rich in detail, soft and fragrant, and I can hardly wait for the action to get going in earnest. The pairing seems surprising but when you think about it for ten seconds of course it makes sense. Sex workers help the curious, the awkward, and the inexperienced every day, bless them.

If you enjoy these, check out @werpiper's back catalog -- they have done a ton of ineffables-through-the-ages, and their series Miracles and Heresy is worth many delightful hours of your time.

I love what @copperplatebeech has been doing lately:

He's Not My Friend is a T-rated story that explores Aziraphale's constant refusal to acknowledge his relationship with Crowley, and Crowley's mirror of that, and how things glacially shift over time. It is subtle and yet specific, it will make you ache and smile.

All Of The Above, also T-rated, is a warm and fuzzy alternative to that, a hilarious celebration of true friendship that made me laugh out loud and still got me right in the feels.

@copperplatebeech can do everything, from quiet, gentle, and romantic to devastating plotty AUs to extraordinarily horny established relationship to absolutely ridiculous humor. Do dive in if you haven't already.

Next up, @cumaeansibyl, master of kink:

better living through technology manages to shove everything I want in a dirty story into less than three thousand words: uptight Aziraphale reduced to sodden wreck, Crowley gleefully showing him what he's been missing, character-driven erotics, and exceptionally funny dialogue.

indulgentiam peccatorum nostrorum is somehow all that and more, turning the "I was wrong" dance into a kink (something I can't get enough of, recs welcome). This one is post-Bastille so it is extra-juicy. Mind the tags!

@cumaeansibyl has a gift for established relationship one-shots, which readers of mine will know are my entire jam. They also have a mind-meltingly hot inverse!omens AU that features different variations of angelic/demonic Crowleys and Aziraphales for our ineffables to play with.

A new-to-me author, Calico, has me hanging by a thread with their Ineffable Romans series. If you want to remember that your ineffables aren't human, that they are inordinately clever but very stupid, that the feelings they have for each other are truly beyond what anyone alive has ever felt, Calico may be the writer for you. This stuff is deep. Also hot af.

Sub Rosa reads like a nasty shag at Petronius', but there's so much more going on here. It is Extremely Queer, driven by power dynamics, and Crowley is fully demonic here and absolutely in control...or is he?

The Intemperance of Liber Pater continues on this theme, with dialogue-driven smut that reads less like a seduction than an inevitability. There's another story in this series, unfinished, and I can't wait to see what happens next.

Last but not least: two short pieces by @ineffabildaddy. I stumbled on their stories just this week and I absolutely love their approach, which I've not seen done quite this way before.

take me as your wife has a tight first-person perspective as Crowley meets Aziraphale for a meal and imagines (or is it his imagination?) that Aziraphale is suggesting Certain Things about how they might occupy themselves later. Indeed, is he suggesting even more? Something about their relationship? Or is it all in Crowley's head?

Only in Dreams is kind of a companion piece, from Aziraphale's point of view -- though hundreds of years later. This one's set after the events of S2 and although just as romantic as take me as your wife, it also offers an ineffable take on the ol' glory hole concept. Just in case you thought I was getting soft. 😏

@ineffabildaddy has a whole series of poems and ficlets like these and I can't wait to explore them all.

[brother-emperors]

cassius and trebonius are interesting because there's about three or four different variations on how their dynamic falls into place that exist in my mind, and all are equally compelling to me. like, does cassius approach him first? or is it trebonius that seeks him out. maybe cicero is the one who initiates the first meeting! I could make full comics about each of them if only there was time.

this one, however, is much more balanced in that they don't really seek each other out for conspiracy, but conspiracy creeps in on it's own. brutus is a character here, theoretically. like, I thought about him when I was writing this, and cicero is here for two panels.

also, it's funny to me if they both stay up late complaining about caesar for six hours straight because caesar fucked them over on the political ladder in comparable ways, but also (in reference to (Plutarch, Brutus 8)):

cassius, 4am: and he took my fucking lions, man. trebonius, immediately: do you want me to kill him for you

it's like. aughghhhhh. weeping. wailing. can we talk about how trebonius is identified in association with cassius here.

Rome and Parthia: Empires at War, Gareth C. Sampson

and in turn, it is cassius who will act as retribution personified in the matter of trebonius' death

Philippi and Perusia, Ronald Syme

ko-fi⭐ bsky ⭐ pixiv ⭐ pillowfort ⭐ cohost ⭐ cara.app

[starrysharks]

okkkk i watched the first episode of hazbin hotel and i think it has a lot of missed potential. there are actually quite a few goods - the animation for the most part is nice, the voice acting is great (especially keith david as the cat thing), and the songs are alright. the show brings up interesting concepts but the main problem is that it doesn't really execute them in an interesting way, mainly due to the way the characters are written.

every character - with the exception of alastor, charlie and nifty - has a generally "vulgar" personality, ranging from that being a primary trait to basically the entire character (based on the 1st episode alone). they're all written in a similar way, which means that character interactions are very basic funnyman/straightman endeavors with little variation - angel dust says something dumb and vaggie chatises him, or angel dust says something sexual and husk chatises him. that formula basically extends to most if not all of their interactions so far, so the dynamics between characters are similar and frankly uninteresting. angel dust especially (i really don't like him sorry) is so far just a vessel for sexual jokes, and we don't really get anything from his character other than "he's horny", which isn't really good for your first episode imo. the language the characters use is also similar so there's little humorous contrast. there aren't really "jokes" with setup and payoff - just characters saying and doing out of pocket things.

the worst example of this is with the angels, particularly adam. i think that the angel with him (lute i think?) would actually serve his purpose in the story better based on her character - somewhat regal, orderly, but most importantly uses a completely different language to the devils. this sort of contrast would've been way more interesting imo - have the angels be holier-than-thou (quite literally), talk charlie down, make her feel less than or even like a "sinner" - which would be cool because as far as i can tell charlie tries her best to be as good as possible! that would be a unique way to bring out her angry side but instead adam just acts like any other devil, even worse than them, and maybe that's on purpose but i don't think it's very cool...... it would be fun to play off the watcher's preconceived notions and ideas on angels and devils after establishing how charlie deviates from the norm, maybe even having the angels be like "wow you lashing out proves devils are all evil", but now i'm rambling...

other than that, i think the story introduces its main plot points too early. give the concept some time to breathe and establish itself before dropping the bombshell that the extermination is to be 6 months early, damn,,, but i'd have to watch every episode to give an opinion on how they handle that, which i likely won't do. i have some small nitpicks, like the weird lack of buildup to most songs and the kind of weird pacing, but in short, based on the first episode, it's just a compilation of missed opportunities and edgy swear-humor offset by some genuinely interesting and good ideas. this isn't a review of the entire series, by the way - just a "initial thoughts" thing. if you really are interested in the concept, i'd say give it a chance, but please be aware of the creator's actions before you support it monetarily. (i watched the first episode through other means as i genuinely dislike the creator due to her bigotry, of which others have described more eloquently than me - it's very easy to find "call-outs" and critiques of her actions). 4/10, where is verblase :/

[elvendorx]

The Remus and Sirius height discourse has become so loaded. Today I saw a post claiming that viewing Sirius as taller than Remus means that one supports jkr? (What?)

Canonically, Sirius is taller than Remus. That's just a fact. And I understand that some people don't care about canon, and that's cool!! But even if you don't give a flying fig about canon, that does not make the view that Remus is taller than Sirius any more valid than the reverse, and you can't go around telling other people that they are wrong, or worse, bad people for not agreeing with a version of the character that exists in your head?

Look I get that it would be annoying to have people inject an "ahem actually..." on posts that are clearly based on headcanons. I get that. But that is the natural consequence of taking the names/tags of characters from popular fandoms and using them for your own OCs, and the fact that these fans jump to "they must be horrible people!" as opposed to "they might be confused about my relationship with canon" is... something.

As someone who is neurodivergent, I find that the fandom that claims to love diversity has very little tolerance for people who don't understand the unwritten rules about when canon is and isn't allowed to be used as a reference point. (Somehow, we still hate Snape because canon, but all other canon is garbage?) Sorry for the rant, I'm just tired and confused.

don't be sorry at all, i think this kind of thing needs to be talked about because at its worst, this rhetoric is an attempt at emotional manipulation and censorship. nobody is ever going to 100% agree even with the exact same words on a page - this is the entire literary criticism field, most of the time variation in readings are a good thing but this isn't even a "reading", because it has no bearing on the characters, they just are or aren't a certain height, so it becomes a tool for personal agendas - "if you think sirius was tall, you're a fascist". even though those two facts are not connected, because sirius' height is never anything more than a physical description of him. and it's glaringly obvious that the people who fixate on this aren't interested in sirius as a character, just as a vehicle for their own fantasies/validation.

this is the problem that comes from people trying to put dynamics & personalities that they want to see onto characters who don't fit those moulds. the height thing doesn't actually matter, it doesn't change anything in the narrative, but it summarises the attitude towards canon which for me summarises critical reading & reading comprehension as a whole within hp fandom. i don't think canon is perfect and i don't think it's sacred but i don't understand why you would engage with something that you have to twist out of recognition in order to enjoy it.

part of the fun of fandom, for me, is finding the limits and boundaries while maintaining recognition. at the very least, even if you change everything else, character has to be consistent. you have to recognise who you're working with otherwise what are you doing here? other authors are writing and have written exactly what you want, so why do you need this character with a history and motivations and a distinctive personality to be the ideal version of you/the partner you want (because lbr, that's it!). i'm not saying that people can't use their imaginations and bend things, i do it, and people can do that by bending characters out of recognition if they want. i don't get any enjoyment out of that or see the point in it but i'm not going to try and stop people. it's the flagrant dismissal of logic and evidence that i think is a more dangerous stance when applied more widely.

it's ALWAYS the people who want remus to be taller and sirius to be tiny who have 10 million personal reasons why they need it to be that way around despite it being clear that sirius is specifically tall, and remus is of such average and nondescript height that it's never mentioned. it's nobody else's responsibility to validate anyone's projections onto a fictional character, and your personal reasons for wanting a character to behave in a way that they wouldn't isn't anybody's responsibility. i don't think these kind of people see the irony in how they're trying to force their view on everyone else even though there's direct contradiction to it, yet are claiming that people who go with that feature from the text are violent fanaticists or something.

when you question why it makes such a difference to the "big strong remus and baby boi sirius" people, it comes down to "it's cuter" or "it allows me to simplify m/m relationships into tough and cute and use physical attributes as symbols rather than thinking complexly about personality traits and dynamics." the height thing is basically one step away from top/bottom discourse and just because someone identifies as queer or relates to a character doesn't make it unproblematic. if you need to see a character who represents your specific circumstances, find one or make an original one, imo. it's not an entire fandom's job to validate individuals and it's manipulative to suggest that someone else seeing a character according to the way that character is explicitly described is an act of hatred or violence or something.

apologies if this turned into a rant of its own - i don't CARE that sirius is tall but the attitude towards minor, basic facts is wild to me. it makes no difference to me but idk why you would take being taller than snape away from sirius bc he clearly enjoys being able to tower over him. if i did want to argue that sirius' height makes a difference in the text, i'd say that sirius is tall because padfoot is also a large creature and there seems to be some kind of reflection of the human in animagus forms, whereas the whole werewolf thing is something inflicted externally rather than something that comes from within the person so remus' human height isn't reflected by his lycanthropy. but that's a whole other question i would have to research more.

[ghouljams]

im particularly in love with the way you write Soap and Moon in all their variations; the dynamic they have just absolutely makes me foam at the mouth. I'm chewing on the bars of my enclosure for the arranged marriage thing with soap- the slow burn build of trust like teaching a stray cat you're not going to hurt them just MMMMMM

I love Soap and Moon so muuuuuch. The slow build of trust, but also! the "I knew I loved you from the first moment I laid eyes on you, and I knew too that I would wait as long as it took for you to love me back" that Soap has for Moon. The "I chose you, and I'm going to keep choosing you no matter what you do" that Moon keeps butting against.

Soap is such a fantastic character, he's so competent and friendly, his self assurance is one of his best qualities. He knows what he likes and he isn't shy about it. In contrast I view Moon as someone who's always felt the need to hide her interests, or has been open with them in a very "fuck you I don't need your approval" way. She's full of walls and defenses, she's not sure of herself in the same way. Idk it's just very.... there's a scene in Nausicaa(one of my favorite Ghibli movies) where a little creature bites the MC's finger and growls, and she sort of waits without threat or reaction until it realizes she isn't going to hurt it, then it licks the wound apologetically. And that's Soap and Moon, she lashes out and he lets her, shows her he isn't going to hurt her and she realizes she's safe enough to cuddle close and apologize.

They're so fantastic to write for I just adore them. The regency au is just so fucking fun for me. Soap really said I'm going to love you and you're going to like it.

[ouroborosorder]

Arknights VFX question: Any highlights or personal favourites as far as the "Stick a whole background/huge jpeg in there behind the character" category of skills goes?

Oh I like this question. This made me consider things I've never looked at before, so thank you for that. I had to do research.

So, there's not a lot of ops like this, and shockingly, I don't have many positive things to say about them. BUT I did find a few interesting highlights I think are worth discussing.

First off, I will leave Eine Variation out of this, as I have made my thoughts on that Thing very clear.

But, my favorite skin in the game actually does indeed have the Background.Jpeg - Specter's As One!

Aaaand it's easily the worst part of my favorite skin. Don't get me wrong, i think it's probably one of the better executions of the idea, since it's like, a skybox, it matches the pallette, matches the artstyle of the skin, it's almost perfect. I wish it was a LITTLE less static, maybe have some distortion ripples across it like waves to keep the stars moving, or maybe have them twinkle a bit or something. But it's fine. But a good effect isn't everything.

Effects relies heavily on the principles of animation, too. Appeal, weight, color, and most importantly of all - timing. Having a proper lead in can make a bad effect good, and having a bad lead-in can make a good effect fucking terrible. And having no lead-in at all will absolutely fuck your effect and make it super clear that you took a jpeg from the skin art and superimposed it behind your operator.

Here. Look at the picture above. Now, I am going to tab back literally just one single frame in the animation and...

oh ...there's no fade in at all. It just literally appears in a single frame. It draws way more attention to itself than it needs to just by virtue of literally popping in. It's SUPER obvious that it's just Skybox.jpeg. If it faded in with some sort of noise mask (which takes literally less than 2 minutes to make,) it would be so so so much better. Again, this is my favorite skin in the game, and I already think S3 is quite beautiful, so this is nitpicking, but this skybox always bugged me a lot.

Now to say a sentence no one has ever said - going up a step in quality from Specter to Hoederer!

I can't fully get this one in a still image and I'm too tired to record a video / gif so just go with this, alright?

This one is ALMOST GOOD. ALMOST. IT'S SO FUCKING CLOSE. The texture is being distorted by a wavelike noise that is giving it the rippling effect of fire, which is the standard thing to do for making a stylized fire. The problem is that... The texture itself doesn't fucking move? It's just being UV distorted, just a bit of offset to the material and I just AUGH.

It's so so so obvious that it's just a static jpeg of fire that's being waved around like a flag to get it to contort into being fire. This wouldn't bother me if the actual fire texture didn't have implications of movement in the little waves and fades and stuff. I hate it it's so irritating it's so CLOSE. But also, animating an entire fire flipbook would have taken a lot more time, and I can 100% guarantee you the VFX artist is also unhappy with this one. Their A team was probably on Arturia or something. Speak of the devil -

I've had a few people ask how I feel about Arturia's S3 after I expressed my hatred for Eine Variation, and I am here to say - this unambiguously fucking rules, for a few reasons.

First and least importantly, THE MONSTER MOVES. The monster itself has slight movement, you can notice its arms wiggle a little and mouth open and close. This is a small thing that goes a LONG way to make it feel way more dynamic and alive. It's also being distorted by a noise like Hoederer is, which is quite nice as a touch, really helps to make that limited movement feel way more significant than it is.

Second, is that the texture is monochromatic, but in a different way than Arturia is. The grays are colder, harsh blue-grays to contrast Arturia herself, who is a very warm gray. This makes it so that it adds a really nice background that looks like part of her, while also standing out and allowing her to stand out against it. It's a really smart use of monochrome to create visual interest using just different subtle shades of gray.

But that bluish hue also serves to compliment the only color in the effect - the blue light from the cello. Your eyes are naturally drawn to brighter glowing things, which is also the only colored spot on the effect - the cello from which her Arts emerge. As a result, the Beastie.jpg fades out of your attention, becoming monochromatic noise, which, due to being just kinda chaotic and aesthetically dissonant, you interpret more as abstract Shape than anything else. That abstract shape then makes a cone which leads you down into Arturia's center, which is her cello, which is where her Arts are coming from.

This is basically to say - These are very emblematic of what I think makes good effects textures in general. They work best when they're not alone. When these backgrounds are part of a larger whole that's all coming together to make an effect, rather than being the centerpiece of the whole thing. When I notice the background, it's a problem, in my eyes. Maybe people disagree. They keep putting them in skins, and a lot of people thought the Eine Variation goat was cool as hell, so clearly I'm in the wrong here, but hey. Who gives a shit.

I'm sure there's way more examples of this, (actually I know there are,) but I'm extremely tired and need to go the fuck to sleep. If there's any particular backgrounds ya'll want me to take a look at, lemme know and I'll get back to you when I've woken from my dread slumber.

[kiragecko]

Hey, guys! Want to vote on the best 6th-10th Century script (writing system) that I, Gecko, personally like?

Of course you do! Writing systems are SO COOL!

And here's a bit about each of the contenders:

Arabic (Naskh Script)

Derived from the Aramaic Script, which grew out of Phoenician, Arabic has a variety of forms. The Naskh script is the one I find the most beautiful, with it's extreme variation on character length and height. I also love the use of multiples colours for Ḥarakāt (vowel marks and other diacritics). Add in the elegant curves and solid lines, and Naskh Script becomes one of the most stylish scripts around.

Latin (Insular Script)

Derived from Greek, the Latin alphabet is usually a competent and pleasant mix of lines and curves, uprights and descenders. Insular script plays with these qualities, and the result is electric! many of the uprights (t, d, f) are gone. New descenders are added (r, s, f). Horizontal lines take a new prominence. Line weight is increased, and the curves become more angular. Something old to us becomes new again.

Chinese (Semi-Cursive Script)

There are many ways to write Hanzi (Chinese characters), and Semi-Cursive Script manages to combine the best qualities of most of them! The expressive curves and flow of a cursive script. The solid shapes and readability of Regular Script. One of the joys of Hanzi is the visual interest of so many unique characters; which share components, but use them differently. Semi-Cursive keeps much of that interest, while also providing a dynamic energy and movement.

Sogdian (Cursive Script)

Derived from the Syriac script, which grew out of the Aramaic Script, the Sogdian Alphabet was developed by traders who met most of the major cultures of the Old World, and let all of those cultures affect their language and writing. Sogdian can be written write to left, like most Aramaic scripts, but also top to bottom, like the Chinese Scripts of their main trade partner. Curvy cursive lines, and characters of wildly varying length, give this script a interesting sense of flow.

Hebrew (Ktav Ashuri Script with Palestinian Vocalization)

Another offshoot of the (Imperial) Aramaic Script, the Hebrew Alphabet has a really interesting, heavy, square, solid feel. In contrast, Palestinian Voicing (an extinct form of writing vowels where all of them were above the consonants) is really light, stacked on top their vowels in little floaty towers. It's a cool combination!

Maya (Classical Maya Script)

The most famous script of the Americas, Maya has one of the most unique reading orders of any script. Characters are written in blocks, which are then read in a zigzag (right, and then down-left) pattern. Full of heads (both animal and human), torches, seeds, and other half-identifiable shapes, Maya texts are works of art, and the more you study them, the more beautiful they become.

Nubian (Old Nubian Script)

Derived from Greek with additional letters from Coptic (Egyptian) and Meroitic (a previous Nubian culture). Lines above letters are used to skip parts of words deemed unnecessary. The mixture of rectangles and triangles, heavy and light line weights - it reminds me of telegrams, or early typewriter text. I love it!

Khmer (Angkorian Khmer Script)

Derived from the Pallava Script, which derived from the Brahmi Script, Khmer is probably my favourite script to write. The curves feel so good! The spirals so pleasing! You write consonant clusters by writing little letters below the main one! A joy to create, and a joy to look at.

Japanese (Cursive Script)

See these wiggles? They're Chinese characters. Elegant, looking like poetry no matter what they're saying, Cursive Japanese is art. It's also ridiculous. 3 different characters, each with multiple strokes, indicated by wiggling the brush as you draw a line! Most cursive scripts are like this, but the contrast between the square solidness of Regular Script and the flow of Cursive is one of the more extreme. What a delight!

Sanskrit (Siddham Script)

I had SO MANY options for Sanskrit (Brahmi) Scripts, you guys. SO MANY! But in north-west India, during the period I study, this version of Siddham is the prettiest. Look at the curves! Those aren't just decorative, each curvy line that goes above or below the text is a vowel. Consonant clusters are shown by combining the characters together in one spot. The lines at the top haven't yet started connecting, like they do in modern Devanagari, but there's already a sense of it's existence. Such a cool script!

[anneangel]

Anyway, I love how Tolkien suggests that he is just translating material he found in an old red box.

There and Back Again (memoirs of Bilbo) – Brought to us as the title "The Hobbit". •It's fun to think that The Hobbit is lighter and more dynamic because Bilbo told these stories to the children of the Shire (well, he told part of it, although not everything he wrote, because he hadn't finished yet). Soon the narrative takes on a more childish tone. I like to think that Bilbo had happyness telling this to the little ones, at the same time that it was a way of honoring that journey, without turning it into a painful story for Bilbo.

The Downfall of the Lord of the Rings and The Return of The King (memoirs of Frodo, supplemented by the accounts of their friends and the knowledge of the Wise, about the War of The Ring) — Brought to us as the title "The Lord of The Rings". •While Lord of The Rings is much more detailed and complex because it aims to be a historical account from the point of view, mainly, of Frodo.

Translations from the Elvish (with extracts of Elvish tradition from the Elder Days, translated by Bilbo in Rivendell from Elvish to Westron) — Brought to us as the title "The Silmarillion". •And The Silmarillion has the neutral tone of a compendium, which tells us what we need to know in a compiled form. I found it fun to read it while imagining Bilbo telling me reading something he wrote. And here the tone is not childish like The Hobbit because he was already in Rivendell and the objective for compiling was purely academic.

And all others posthumous books after The Silmarillion we can imagine as third-party studies of other drafts not used by in "the work found and translated by Tolkien". I like the idea of Legendarium, with a body of legendary and mythical stories that complement each other and, depending on the source of the drafts used (posthumous books or letters), may contradict each other. I find it interesting because real legends and myths have more than one version and variation over time and over the places where it spread, with variations depending on who tells it. That's why I don't care if the adaptations are different from the books, because can have fun and be entertained as if it were another version of the myth/legend.

The only reason I wish Tolkien would turn all of this into "narrated" plots instead of "told" ones is because he's an excellent author and I really wanted to see how he would turn a lot of what he just "told" into long narratives with dialogues. Can you imagine much of what was only "told" in The Hobbit, Lord of The Rings and The Silmarillion as full plot narratives? Because in these books there are several excerpts of things that are just "told" instead of "narrated part by part with time, characters and full dialogues"… But still, I love what he did. I love this fantasy. Anyway, Tolkien is an excellent storyteller❤️

[prince-kallisto]

I know you are very big proponent of the Crowley = Levan theory, but are there any other theories you majorly support?

Hello anon! That’s a fun question! 👀🐦‍⬛

Hm,,,I’d say I’m a major supporter of the time loop theories in general- the time loop theory has A LOT of variation to it depending on each person’s theories, and I’m a big fan of them overall! An adjacent theory to that would be some sort of “resetting” or “rewrite” of the story of Twisted Wonderland, a similar flavor to the time loop theory.

I’d say that I also love the concept that Ramshackle Dorm is tied to the Chernabog, a character who seems to represent the raw concept of evil. It helps that several references have been made to him already in game, especially in the Halloween events!

Haha, I have a soft spot for the “Sebek and Trey are cousins” theory/headcanon. I don’t know, I just think the similarities between them and their family is really funny to me, and I love seeing the parallels drawn between their card art and their overall dynamic!

I’m definitely a big fan of the “Meleanor in the mirror” theory, although I also do like variations of the theory like Levan being in the mirror instead 👀 SOMEONE is in there, I just know it! 🤣

I also feel strongly about Grim functioning as some sort of “storage” for the blot crystals for some greater means- perhaps tied to the Dark Mirror

Hmm…these are the theories that first pop into my head, but I know there’s far more I didn’t cover. The next well known theory I can think of is the “Ace traitor theory,” and it’s one Im fairly neutral to! I definitely don’t see Ace as some sort of “big bad,” but if he was involved in something, there’s certainly someone else above him pulling the strings I feel like- he has a lack of control in whatever situation he’s in🤔 It is interesting how his Unique Magic will be the last to be revealed! Best for last? \(//∇//)\

Thanks for your ask! 💖🐦‍⬛ It always amazes me of just how many theories are involved with this game- there’s so many mysteries hidden from us!

[olderthannetfic]

I feel like there's not enough discussion in fandom writing communities about the important skill of being able to put yourself in someone else's shoes. like 60% of fic would be improved drastically if these people sat for maybe 5 minutes and seriously thought about the mindset and worldview of the characters they're writing. You can't write interesting relationships or dynamics or much at all if you can't see things from more than one point of view.

This might be why "therapy speak" is such a common thing in fics. They don't put much thought into things as small as verbal quirks or vocab, even though if you've ever spoken to a single other person you would know that they don't talk the same way or use all of the same words you do for the same things.

I'm starved for actual character conflict that is not as clear cut as "A is correct and B is obviously wrong, and they will apologize and reconcile in the next 2 chapters." Characters disagreeing because of fundamental differences in their worldviews, characters disagreeing because there's rarely a right answer only opinions of people who think they're right, characters beating the shit out of each other or pretending to forgive each other or not knowing what to say or saying things they don't mean or rejecting kindness or shutting down, because people process emotions in different ways. Give me that good human experience shit. Please stop making characters variations of the same fucking person.

This turned into a rant 😭

--

You have to actually be able to write to do any of that.

[mitziholder]

do you feel as negatively about lesbians writing F/F fanfic as you do about the state of fanfic / how women engage with fanfic overall?

that is a fair question. fujos and (het) self-inserters are an easy target because they’re the majority of fic writers, and since most of everything is bad, there is naturally going to be a lot of really really bad man-centric fic. it’s easy to complain about them because of that. I’m sure there is also a lot of really terribly written f/f content too, very little of which touches on anything I’m actually interested in reading about. do I believe it’s literally impossible to write anything of value if you’re using other people’s characters? no, that would be absurd. but I’ll quote myself from an older, deleted blog:

“I just find it weird how fanfic, generally speaking, has homogenized to the point that in nearly every single fandom for every single book, movie, show, every genre and every medium, all have basically the same stories with the same plots and tropes no matter where you look. if you check every fandom it will be heavily weighted toward m/m, slash, yaoi, whatever the term is nowadays… and for the most part, even if explicit fic is a minority within the fandom itself, the most popular fic will always be porn or long fic that includes porn.”

“…it seems to always, in my experience, utilize a terribly pedestrian narrative style. combine that with shared tropes and source materials and the majority of fanfic has you reading the same things over and over with little variation other than maybe a different perspective. I can count on one hand the number of fics that have impressed me with experimentation! the vast majority are just… blah. blah blah. these two characters have sex. these two characters pine for each other for a really long time and then have sex.”

those posts were written a few years ago, but they’re still true. and the reasons for that are fairly simple: fanfic is, by its very nature, derivative, and the barrier to entry (publishing) is extremely low, making it easy for children + less skilled writers to throw their hats in. in addition, there is a strong, decades-old taboo against “unsolicited concrit” which is expressed as “don’t like, don’t read.”

when you put all of these things together, what you get is a community that is A) very repetitive and B) very averse to challenging itself. that is not the recipe for genuine and raw artistic expression. it’s mass-produced unedited shit from people chasing the high of their favorite tropes. they are not interested in improving.

you have people who will admit to reading nothing but fanfic! and the people who read nothing but fanfic will go on to write more fanfic, at which point the cycle of degradation is unavoidable, because all they want is more of what fanfic offers: predictable, clearly labeled content made according to a formula that has been perfected for the broadest appeal + max kudos.

fanfic readers love tropes. they live for tropes. their “plotting” (lol), their dialogue, their characters and character dynamics are saturated with tropes. that’s why YA literature is starting to market itself on the basis of tropes - they sell! little soundbites. easy money. because fanfic readers are generally not interested in anything that might surprise them. they don’t like risk. that’s why they’re reading the same shit about the same characters over and over and over again. and these tropes, which are picked from and regurgitated into fic after fic after fic, become further and further removed from any genuine expression of human emotion. they become abstract. nonsensical. for the most part, fetish fodder. and if that is the only thing you’re reading……. It’s literally over🙁

because most fanfic is about sex or romance, and because most fanfic is written by women, and because most women are heterosexual, f/f content is considerably rarer than the alternatives. writing about women does marginally broaden the scope of what fanfic is interested in/capable of exploring, but it doesn’t solve the main, underlying problem of what fanfic is and how people (mostly women) engage with it.

are there some good lesbian fanfics out there? probably! but that isn’t the norm. is it the end of the world if you read fanfic? no! but also read real books and write something original please.

[twig-tea]

BL/QL Ask game : The Ugly, the Bad and the Worst

Thank you for the game, @clara-maybe-ontheroad! And thanks for tagging me @clara-maybe-ontheroad and @lurkingshan! I started out by saying to myself that I'm going to do my best to ignore my urges and just answer the first thing that comes to me rather than treating this like a quiz. And then I went into a fugue and worked on this for >5 hours. WHOOPS.

Original version here for anyone else who wants to play!

Also quick warning, this is asking about the worsts, so TW for mentions of horrific plot points below.

Worst soundtrack / weirdest song choice in a BL

Ohhhhh man, ok so the first thought that came to mind was Never Let Me Go, which mostly had fantastic background music, and that's maybe why when it didn't hit it stood out so badly (sorry to my man Pond, not all BL actors should be singers! And having his OST play over their kiss in Part 7 4/4 was just mean). For the record I love this show (actually maybe it should go in one of the below categories because so many tumblr folks dislike it) but this was rough.

Most cringe-inducing line (cute)

These don't tend to stick with me...there are so many, and I am allergic to sincerity so everything earnest is various levels of cringe to me. So with that in mind, basically everything Gavreel ever said in Gameboys counts.

Most cringe-inducing line (actually bad)

Anytime someone said "Once I start I won't be able to stop" or some variation.

Most stupid decision made by a character

Jun Ho deciding to die rather than bite Min Hyun in Kissable Lips. Min Hyun was offering. it would have made Jun Ho human. He could have had his friends around to make sure he didn't go too far and kill him. Instead he decides to fade away in his arms like a dick. WHY.

Special mention to NuengDiao going back to his hotel where his murderous uncle is waiting with no plan other than to walk in wearing a suit and a cocky expression in Never Let Me Go.

[@bengiyo and @wen-kexing-apologist are correct about Teh giving up his spot to Oh Aew in I Told Sunset About You as the actual correct answer, btw]

Worst plot line

Every penultimate episode crises resulting in the leads splitting up so that they can reunite in the finale that are not earned and significantly detract from my enjoyment of a series [this list is not comprehensive]: 2Gether, Minato's Laundromat S2, Enchanté, Love Class, Plus & Minus.

The most problematic show you've watched

I've seen literally all of them so this feels like an unfair question lol there are layers of problematic; like, is it even worth considering all of the problems with A Round Trip to Love, or The Shortest Distance is Round, or What the Duck s2? I wrote out summaries for these and then decided no thanks. If anyone wants to know they can DM me.

In terms of series that are problematic but not often considered problematic, I'm calling out Love Area the series. It hits two of my pet peeves: shitty treatment of a poor character by an oblivious rich love interest that directly affects their sources of income, and an ableist subplot. I think it also has an unearned separation in the penultimate episode but honestly I remember thinking they should stay split up so maybe it was earned.

A show people love but you find bad

Vice Versa. Sorry to all who love that show. I wanted to like it; the colouring and cinematography are beautiful and the alternate universe was neat worldbuilding. But the plot makes me so, so angry.

Ditto Cutie Pie the series. I just can't enjoy it.

A show people find bad but you will defend

Honestly there are several, but the one that is most disliked that I will ride hardest for is probably Secret Crush On You (which I argued ended with one of the most healthy relationships in a BL here LMAO). I get why people find this show hard to watch, the cringe is real. But the gender expression! The found family! The "he's a weirdo and that's why I love him" dynamic! The mutual lusting! The body dysphoria! The fact that both start by playing into BL tropes and it's only by throwing those out that they can actually have a meaningful relationship! The way both characters have real growth! And like yes Toh is a fanboy stalker but that is problematized in the show! It gave us the growth from fanboy to faen that Be Mine Superstar didn't. I have a lot of emotions about this show.

ALSO because I cannot stop, I will forever to my dying breath defend Color Rush. I don't care what you say about dead fish kisses I can't hear you over the incredibly powerful metaphor about the queer experience!

A show that is just objectively bad but you enjoyed it

Bahahhaha. Um. So many, my friends. OH I'm going to take this chance to shout out the lesser-known webseries Discipline Z: Vampire (Korean, YouTube, 2020). It's ostensibly a sequel to Discipline, but the only thing they share is a single character so you don't need to watch it to understand what's happening in Discipline Z (they are entirely different shows in every way; Discipline is more youth slice of life with a queer story as part of the ensemble). Listen, I'm talking about this show in this category for a reason; it's about a vampire who falls for a street dancer, whose motley crew of hacker friends help rescue the vampire from an evil corporation that wants to experiment on him to understand his immortality. It is BAD.

But. BUT! I love it. Everyone is so pretty. There is a cute hacker girlie. There is scifi nonsense to explain immortality. There is a good kiss. There are characters willing to sacrifice to do the right thing. I am a simple woman. [Fair warning to my happy ending only pals: this ending is ambiguous at best; there was supposed to be a follow-up epilogue for the couple, but it never got filmed.]

Bonus, En of Love was absolutely trash and it has a very special place in my heart. It's not good (like, at all), but it's great.

A bad show that you kept watching because you were intrigued/fascinated

Let's go with Physical Therapy the series. At some point I just kept watching like a car wreck to see how bad it could get. Also shout-out to Dinosaur Love, which was...similarly bewildering.

A bad show that you kept watching because you were horny

@lurkingshan already stole my first answer for this, but oh man I stay a Why R U apologist for the Fighter/Tutor chemistry. I actually think somewhere in there is a really interesting show, if the pandemic hadn't made it impossible for them to film the ending that they wanted to, but based on the Korean version and the parts that we were told had to be cut, maybe it would have actually made it worse. But just to get on my soapbox for half a sec, Tutor was in debt, working himself to exhaustion, and Fighter (after he got over himself) protected him at his one job, joined him to help him meet his sales targets at another, hired him for a third, paid off his debt collector to take the pressure off, and then took him on vacation to help him relax--twice. I have issues with depictions of poverty in BL but at least my man secured the bag while also pursuing love or whatever. Also he whispers "get inside me" while they're making out, sorry, Tutor will forever be a fave of mine.

Since that's taken, I'm going to use this as an excuse to shout out the hotness of My Day the Series. It was predominantly not great but the heat moments....

A bad show that you kept watching because of that one character

I'm giving this to Noey Watplu from I Will Knock You. I was obsessed with him. I want his confidence so badly. I love how he's essentially a dork in cosplay but gets away with it because of his rizz. Truly iconic. This man decided he was being seduced and said "bet". I really enjoyed this show because of him and him alone.

A bad show that you would still recommend

I'm going to put Ghost Host Ghost House here. It's "bad" in the sense that it had low production values (like, really bad, so bad the time of day changes at random because they lost the light while filming). But the romance was cute, the story around the romance was interesting, the worldbuilding around the merit credits was fascinating, the side mystery was so heartbreaking, the various characters actually had a lot of difficult emotions to portray, and overall I think this show is underrated.

I also already have and will again recommend YYY as a fun and fascinating watch to anyone who asks about it, @waitmyturtles is correct on that call.

The character that ruined a show the most

There are several annoying sides in BL, but I'm giving this to the side hets in My Oxygen. A fujoshi who records people without their consent for online clout is bad. A doctor using his role as a doctor to get closer to his patient is really bad. Pretending to be interested in his friend because the girl he likes is a fujoshi is worse; then using her brother as his friend's stand-in when his friend won't put up with it anymore is the WORST.

Most awful character that you hated

I mean, Lhong in TharnType takes it for not only arranging the gang rape of Tar, but being forgiven for it in the series. Neung in Tonhon Chonlatee comes a close second for attempting to rape Chonlatee and then claiming the moral high ground against his homophobic "friend". Tony in History 5: Love in the Future doesn't get enough hate for trying to murder someone just because he was his love rival. Namning in La Cuisine had her love rival bullied, beaten and who knows what she was going to do with that gun. Also shoutout to @wen-kexing-apologist's answer of Korn, in KinnPorsche, he was so insidiously evil, it was so well done.

Most awful character that you loved

I'm going with "awful" as not necessarily (just) morally bad but that people didn't like: Jaime from Win Jaime's Heart. Objectively he's a fuckboi of the worst calibre. He agrees to go on a webshow in which he dates Heart so that he can seduce the creator of the show Winston. And Jaime is so charming that I don't care about his bi wrongs (partially, to be fair, because the premise is ridiculous so it's hard to take too seriously).

Special mention (because it's not a series) to Wine in Red Wine in the Dark Night. I love a murder twink (speaking of, things are looking really good for me to stay in love with Ai Di from Kiseki if it keeps on this track).

If we're interpreting "awful" as characters that other people don't like, it'll probably go to Toh from Secret Crush on You or Gus in Diary of Tootsies. They're flawed, they're femme, they're fantastic.

A character that wasn't awful but that you just don't like

Can in Love By Chance and the sequels. Tinn is an asshole and knows it; Can is an asshole but is also self-righteous, but in all honesty his biggest flaw for me is that he's not competent and I have little patience for that.

A hero that should have been a villain

Tempted to give this to Ko from Love Poison for essentially trying to love spell date rape his love interest--this is only not that bad because magic isn't real so of course it doesn't do anything.

Possibly Athit (Boun's character) from Even Sun? I put a question mark there because this was so convoluted and hard to follow I'm not even 100% sure I remember it right, but from what I remember, this was not a romantic story at all.

Taking a totally different approach to the question, Joke from Hidden Agenda should have been a secret villain (in the sense that he should have been scheming and sociopathic but hiding it, ineffectually, from Zo) in order to make the series make sense, but apparently I can't have nice things.

And finally, special mention to Phu in The Promise for being the villain for so many of us already.

A morally bad character you're into

Zhu Zi Shu, canon war criminal and child murderer from Word of Honor. He thought he was doing bad things for good reasons (protecting the people he loves), realized he was just doing bad things and the people he loves were all dead anyway, and crafted a convoluted plot to get out of the secret society rules that he created to prevent anyone from leaving. And then he wanders aimless until he meets Wen Ke Xing and becomes as loyal to this equally morally dubious man as he was to his secret society. I love him (and them) so much.

Same type of deal, different scale of crime: Akk from The Eclipse. I have a soft spot for this trope.

A morally bad character you're not into and you wish people would stop being into

Xue Yang from The Untamed. Also a mass murderer, but doing it just for the vibes/to avenge his finger, so he gets zero love from me. People woobify him just because he's sassy it's...rough.

The show that disappointed you the most

From hype to execution? So Much in Love / Ni Yam Ruk. I slogged through such awful subs TWICE (because they claimed they redid them, but they are still terrible) to try to give this show a chance, because the premise sounded right up my alley. I still think there's a show in there that I would have liked, but it is literally unwatchable.

Most disappointed from what the show seemed like it was doing at the start to what it delivered in full is a tie between The Shipper and Step By Step.

The Worst Show of Them All Because of Your Own Reasons

That's My Candy. I've only ever dropped/not finished I think 3 or so shows? And this was the most painful and the one I am least likely to ever finish. The pairing was overplayed, the comedy was heavy handed, and the plot was absolutely cringe inducing. It was literally torture trying to watch this.

If you made it this far, thank you for reading!

Tagging @visualtaehyun @nothingsbetterthancoffee @lurkingteapot @snidgetwrites @formayhem @slayerkitty @respectthepetty @ginnymoonbeam no pressure as always! And if you play and I didn't tag you but you're reading this, tag me anyway! I love reading everyone's answers.

[platoniccereal]

Curious, what's your main reason for liking scaraether/aescara?

*brain worming intensifies.* hiii anon thanks for asking!

there are so many reasons. first of all, i appreciate what they have in canon. even timeline wise i don't think there has been anyone for aether as an enemy this long, starting with mondstadt and ending at sumeru. i love good enemies to lovers, and in canon they both had a chance to see each other grow and change while not being that present in each other's lives due to their rare run ins. they mind their own business and at the same time meet under the fate's guidance itself. there's something very tasty for me, for some reason.

consequently and secondly, they end up being so important in each other's lives, especially aether for scaramouche. scaramouche had a chance to see aether get weaker as in, get attached to the world aether is supposed to be *trapped* in, to its people. aether is the one to bring scaramouche to his knees from his godhood. at the same time aether is the one to see all of scaramouche's/the wanderer's past *several* times (the memory from haypasia + the academic texts in two variations + nahida's gift of memory + nahida's fairy tale) and yet fight scaramouche on account of his shitty plans and deeds, but not his nature. i wrote it once, haypasia saw scaramouche's past and he immediately admitted divine affection to her - and aether has done the same.

the third point is that i adore them as characters themselves and, hence i adore their possible dynamic even more. i love them being immortal for each other, but being able to teach each other different aspects of it: the wanderer teaches aether about being left behind by the one crucially important to him, aether teaches him how to accept the fleeting nature of mortal life and yet *appreciate and love it*. i like thinking that even though aether was the one to bring scaramouche down and pry away divinity from his hands, aether also can be the one to worship the wanderer, to love him unconditionally, to be that the one and only follower. it's a nice parallel.

i love the possibility of them being a little (or not little) unhinged for each other, because i believe no immortal remains on hinges. and i believe they can give each other so many aspects of relationships, going from their hate and violence to absolute adoration, to acceptance and still being very violent, but in a loving way. but i derail further and further into my headcanons. although the fact of how many dynamics and different shades they can accommodate make me so interested in them.

so. yeah. love scaraether, everyone. and thank you for your question again, anon!