#another reason she didn't survive book 1

[izartn]

So about the Katherine and Will thing.

Anyways I for one, liked much more his whole thing with Katherine when it came to light she was his pseudo-sis/full sister and he manipulated her for revenge. Like also for his mother who made him promise to protect her and Elizabeth but he didn't have to seduce Kate. That was him being attracted to her and also getting to give the middle finger to Simon. Also ruthless in going for the fastest way to get Katherine and Elizabeth to his side. I totally wasn't expecting Will going for that angle but wow.

I also loved it didn't fuck him or anything, her probably being his sister, bc he has so much bigger problems going on. The fact that Katherine essentially killed herself trying to kill him in vain being one of those, alongside the whole being Sarcean Reborn thing.

lts just soo funny, bc all those traditional YA who are like, Sebastián from Shadowhunters you know? The villain who is obssesed with the female protag is also like her brother or something, and its proof that the chara is terrible, but they had a chance once, but ugh incest and they need to die, etc etc.

Only here is our protag, Will, who has so much going on, the brief detour for heterosexuality town bc Lady and him were a thing in a past life and "mother lookalike also tried to murder me" trauma is more interesting in what it says of him than the fact Katherine was kinda his sister.

Poor Katherine had to die bc this isn't a classic YA story with her as the heroine in distress with the dashing villain who tempts her. This is Will story and we only need her little sister, who is a more interesting adversary as a 10 year old seeing through his bullshit that Kate could be.

[reiniesainyo]

IN BETWEEN. charlie bushnell x reader – 03

03 | ENCHANTED previous | next | masterfile

SYNPOSIS. when a girl's co-star is good to her and now she wants it more than everything in between. (smau)

A/N. i'm going through a rough / stressful period and i find this series and writing it very therapeutic so here we are! this chapter takes place around episode 7 release, i'm not really inclined to write about the filming in between for some reason (unless you'd be interested)

liked by walker.scobell, thelnarchives, and 262,287 others rickriordan With the release of the new PJO series on Disney+, I'm happy to announce that to celebrate I've partnered with some of your favorite authors and close friends of mine to present to you all a new look into the lives of our favorite demigods!

WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A HALF-BLOOD will go online for free this February 20, 2024!

Click the link in bio for more info! PS: A sneak peak from our writers on the other slides

thelnarchive ... WHAT THE??? i have to manifest a chapter for my girl, manifesting a chapter or more please or even just one mention ↳ iamcharliebushnell YOU DIDN'T KNOW EITHER?????

user1 HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT????

user2 1) more stories about characters and 2) WRITTEN BY OTHER AUTHORS???? WHO COULD BE IN THIS PROJECT ↳ user3 i'm manifesting a story about tahlia and jason as kids oh my god

iamcharliebushnell imagine releasing a whole anthology to celebrate? that's the best author right there

user4 ohhh we're eating so good

walker.scobell another book and there's still not enough percy jackson in this world keep it coming i love your work ↳ aryansimhadri Imo too much percy maybe some more grover ↳ leahsavajeffries wrong there should be more annabeth

dior.n.goodjohn the gc going wild with this news

🃏 @CHILDOFHECATE what are your guys guesses for the stories in what it means to be a half-blood??? 🗨 32 comments 🔁 150 retweets ❤️ 456 likes

user1 a jason and tahlia story about them as kids, just a delve into their childhood

user2 more stuff on luke and rina, as individuals and as a couples- like i totally see a luke perspective on some situations or a conversation they had being in the book ↳ CHILDOFHECATE honestly i think it'd be so cool if they went like contemporary and also gave us maybe a poem or transcript / screenplay of a conversation between luke and rina

user3 stories about annabeth, tahlia, and luke's time before camp maybe fighting monsters together or just trying to survive ↳ user4 watch me cry over this one

user5 i just see a lot of delving into the lives of the original trio and also like the original supporting characters to like tahlia, luke, rina, even rachel

user6 grover's childhood! i really wanna see that or some parts of the story from his perspective

user7 Angst.

liked by iamcharliebushnell, aryansimhadri, and 320,372 others thelnarchives celebrating with the half-bloods

iamcharliebushnell when you're so excited over new lore you go and have dinner to talk about it ↳ thelnarchives this means so much to us

user1 YN IN THE SECOND SLIDE OH SHE'S GOREGOUS

user2 her face card never declines ↳ user3 it even has like benefits and a perfect credit score

dior.n.goodjohn fans first cast second ↳ thelnarchives this show has more more dressed up than my wedding

user4 this cast is so cute it's crazy

walker.scobell the 3rd pic >>> ↳ iamcharliebushnell oh so true ↳ i.am.andrew.alvarez a banger photo ↳ thelnarchives phone hijackers.

user5 the little black dress is doing so good for her, if i saw her in public i would've fainted ↳ user6 i can't believe i live in the same city as this girl like we breathe the same air???

leahsavajeffries i'm sat for the release, we're sat ↳ thelnarchives this is MY superbowl

aryansimhadri i feel excluded out of the 3rd photo ↳ thelnarchives that's okay because you're one of the girls ↳ iamcharliebushnell wait that's not fair

user7 aryan being part of the girls is so real and charlie wanting in is so cute

[charon-cries]

we're lucky Lestat de Lioncourt doesn't have tumblr, the drama he'd get into on here would be wild

#is this anything #he'd probably get cancelled instantly #also side note for future reference #i'm making this post before season 3 #so if anything in this is incompatible with amc canon #that's because i'm working off of seasons 1 + 2 and the books #okay ty have a nice day

32 notes

🎧 audiofilled Follow

ANOTHER of my mutuals went missing after buying a backstage pass to a vampire lestat concert. she didn't post pictures, nothing, and she's been radio silent since her last post (which was about how she was about to go backstage...) and i really think we should be taking this more seriously. so.

reasons why i think "lestat de lioncourt" may be running a cult or something:

Keep reading

🐺 the-vampire-lestat

Absolutely ridiculous. I am very open about what I am, you do not need to resort to senseless conspiracy theories to figure out where your little friend went.

🎧 audiofilled Follow

are you incapable of dropping the vampire bit for ONE moment? people are going MISSING and you're still doing your corny roleplay bit?

#discourse #TVL disappearances #callout

362 notes

📚 daniel-molloy

It's day number seventy-three of surviving this God forsaken website solely to keep tabs on Lestat's social media presence, and I'm still trying to decipher the lingo you people use here. What the Hell does, "I'm bald," even mean?

#the vampire lestat

137 notes

🪽 arun-rising

Did anyone else notice Lestat only posts during the night, in whichever timezone he's in while on tour? True commitment to the bit. Or the bite, I suppose.

🩸 carmillized

weren't you posting about how much you despise his music just yesterday???

🪽 arun-rising

I don't know what you're talking about. I never did that.

🩸 carmillized

You are correct. I believe you without question. I do not even know why I said that in the first place. I do not recall you posting about Lestat de Lioncourt before this.

#sorry OP i was out of line #now that i'm thinking about it though #this post is making me wonder if lestat could be a real vampire #i hadn't seriously considered it until this very moment #something came over me... #wonder why

40 notes

🐺 the-vampire-lestat

New song.

Listen, if you dare.

📷 disintegrated-wonder

Lestat, I thought we were over this...?

#louis talks

893 notes

🧷 baby-jenks

Wouldn't it be wild if we all just spontaneously combusted? Haha. Glad that will never happen

#fang gang #vampblr #random thought #it's unlikely

4 notes

👴🏻 marius-official Follow

How does this website work...?

🦇 fang-fan

delete your blog

#rank vibes on this man

1,425 notes

🐾 interview-wolf-the-werewolf Follow

Sponsored with Blaze 🔥

Check out my new book. It's a biography, about me, written by an award-winning journalist, chronicling my life as a werewolf. It's 100% factual and real, a real breath of fresh air in a world filled with fiction attempting to pass itself off as reality.

#iwtw #my posts #my book #me #werewolf #wolf #awoo #please i need to feed my litter of twelve #this book is all i have

5,762 notes

🩸 carmillized

hey all! i know that my mutual, audiofilled, is a little bit divisive in the music fandom rn, but i'm getting a little worried. i haven't heard from him since he made that post speculating about where TVL fans have been disappearing to. please send me an ask or a dm if you've heard from him!

#talk tag #getting a little worried #he's probably okay though

47 notes

🐺 the-vampire-lestat

Just had a lovely dinner. It's nice when your food is in tune with you, yes? Makes the blood sit well in the veins.

🦇 fang-fan

ur so funny

#edit: sorry for posting while audiofilled is missing #i didn't hear about it until just now

1,409 notes

🩸 carmillized

okay i just can't get over how he talks about himself. i don't know if it's just him being "in character" or if this is just how the guy acts irl, but he's so self-aggrandizing that i've been questioning it

no nuance/bald/other, you have to decide on the spot right now what you believe

📚 daniel-molloy

He's lying.

👩‍💻 talamascized-witch

I don't believe him for a second.

#archive #poll #lestat de lioncourt

[physalian]

Take A Risk and Don’t Write a Chosen One

This trope stands the test of time for some very good reasons: Audience wish-fulfillment as they live vicariously through the hero, automatic plot-induced agency for your protagonist, and automatic legitimate reasons for your protagonist to join the whirlwind adventure of the day.

I like chosen ones. We all have our favorite famous chosen ones and I’m not here to say the concept of a chosen one is bad at all.

However.

Those “automatic” windfalls that come pre-packaged with the trope can lead to the author taking shortcuts, or not thinking they have to put in more effort to write a compelling character, because they’re the “chosen one,” what more do you need?

Not writing your protagonist as commanded by the powers that be to participate in the plot forces you to get creative with why they’re here, what they want, and how they entrench themselves in the story. And most importantly, if the gods haven’t chosen them to act, they must now choose themselves to act.

—

I have never read Harry Potter and after its author-who-shan’t-be-named flushed her reputation down the toilet, I never will. I’ve seen the movies, they’re ok. I have no nostalgia-driven love for this franchise, and most of that comes from watching Harry be an incredibly boring protagonist.

Book readers correct me, but Harry is the poster child of “only exists so the audience can live vicariously” with generic heroic traits and nonexistent or at least unimportant side quirks and distinguishing hobbies, interests, or personality tics. He’s “brave” and “courageous” and “determined”... as most child protagonists of children’s books should be. He has zero flaws that come back to bite him in the ass. He acts the way he’s supposed to, not the way he should want to, as an independent being.

He’s the least interesting character in this entire cast, and I can’t stand Movie Ron. Ron, Hermione, Neville, or Draco would have made much more compelling protagonists and so much of this relies on the “Harry is important because the plot demands it” crutch.

Why is he the chosen one? Because his birthday happened at the right time of year? What is the story trying to say about the dichotomy between him and Voldemort? What about his personality, his wizard-societal stances on the many faux pas in this series, or the choices he makes, that makes him the chosen one? Why should I care?

You know who’s a great chosen one? Percy Jackson. Why? Because he understands the screwed up world he lives in on page 1. Being a demigod isn’t everything he ever dreamed and despite what Disney + wants you to believe, he’s got a crap bio dad who’s as disappointing in book one as Percy expects him to be.

He’s not even the chosen one by the end of the original series, and what a fantastic twist that was.

An infamously self-chosen protagonist has her own iconic hero quote: "I volunteer as tribute". Katniss is a nobody. She's not the evil president's daughter, she's not the child of a famously martyred revolutionary, she's just a girl who refuses to bow down to the reaping, refuses to let her sister get slaughtered, and volunteers for a death match that historically sees anyone living to survive another year cowering in relief. Yeah, she has some convenient skills in her archery and survival knowledge, but those matter because her district is starving, she learned through necessity.

Every second of her story, Katniss is fighting for her right to exist, and she only becomes a "chosen one" dragged around by the powers that be when she becomes marketable to the grand scheming of the actual revolutionaries, when, before, she didn't care about politics, she just wanted to save her sister. She matters because she chose compassion in a world where survival demands only serving yourself.

—

It’s so, so easy to start planning your book and make your cool fantasy world and figure out how your protagonist fits into it. So easy to say “well they’re the long-lost princess and the only heir to the throne” or “this magic amulet from her great great aunt is the key to saving the world” or “she’s the villain’s secret love child and the only one who can stop him because blood magic” or “this vague prophecy picked this little desert slave boy to bring balance to the Force”.

None of these stories are at fault for writing chosen ones.

But push yourself to let go of that crutch and come up with other reasons for why your hero is the hero. Usually this character has been isekai'd into magical-fantasy-land or magical-hidden-fantasy-urban-underbelly and you can still write that character.

Refusing to make them the chosen one demands one thing first and foremost: How is this outsider going to fight for their place to exist here? What do they bring to the table with their hobbies or interests or unique skillset that happens to be mighty applicable and useful in this new world? What is it about their personality that draws these strangers in? What do they want from this new world, and what are they willing to do to get it?

This choice demands you give your hero agency (though whether you give into those demands is up to you).

More importantly: I think it gives your audience agency, as they still live vicariously through their hero. Sure, lots of kids have lost their parents and live in horrid conditions like a cupboard under the stairs, but none of us will ever be “chosen” by omniscient wizard prophets. Harry would have immediately been a more compelling protagonist to me if he’d stumbled upon magical shenaniganry and fought for his place as some forgotten nobody mudblood.

Harry would have shown us his courage, instead of the story insisting he has it, we promise, just don’t think too hard about it.

Stop giving me characters who accept their destiny because God said so. Give me characters who fight tooth and nail for a destiny they discover on their own and I’ll root for them to succeed even more than someone compelled by force. Not everyone can be a chosen one, but everyone *can* choose themselves and decide to act.

—

With that said, I have an announcement! I have a new book in the works bereft of a prophecy-ordained hero. It’s time I put all my sagely writing wisdom to the test in a shiny published paperback myself. If you’ve learned anything from my blog in your writing journey, please subscribe for updates on the upcoming novel!

[mrfleshwizard]

The reason why I don't sympathise with the Morningstars is because of Adam and Eve and their children. I really hate that Adam and Eve, especially Eve, are blamed for the downfall of humanity. I hate that they are both villainized in the show while Lilith and Lucifer are portrayed as "misunderstood dreamers." The possibility of Adam not returning in the future is just tragic for me because his character was waisted in being a dougebag, when in reality he is, or was, a living proof that L&L are responsible for all the evil that was spread around the world.😢

"The History of Hell" book from episode 1 is not a trustworthy source of information because Adam and Eve are, like I said before, villainized, while Lucifer and Lilith are the tragic lovers. I think the book was written by Lilith because she is portrayed as a beloved ruler who is empowering the sinners, and Lucifer is doing nothing because he "got his dreams crushed"😭 (boo hoo 😒).

Adam and Eve were banished from Eden, and they had to wonder around the world without any guidance. They had to deal with wild animals (who were the humans' friends in the garden and now they have to kill them for food and clothes), poisoned plants, cold and hot weather, make their own tools and maybe other things I can't think of right now. Every day was a struggle and battle for survival. They had to learn everything on their own. Including taking care of babies and being the first parents. I repeat, THE FIRST PARENTS!!!! I mean, can you imagine what must've been like for Adam and Eve when they had Cain, their firstborn? I can't even imagine 😢💔 And they had to not only take care of themselves, they had to care for a baby that couldn't do anything on his own. Later, they had more children that they took care of and had to teach how to survive. Then Cain kills Abel, and with that, Adam and Eve lose both their sons. All this is the humans' punishment for eating the forbidden fruit.

And what's Lucifer and Lilith's punishment for tricking Adam and Eve? They got A WHOLE A$$ KINGDOM!!!!! AND NOT ONLY LUCIFER KEEPS HIS POWER TO CREATE ANYTHING HE WANTS, BUT ALSO LILITH GOT SOME POWERS AS WELL!!!!! HOW IS THAT FAIR?!?!? And they have servants to do their bidding. And I bet they didn't have any difficulties giving birth and raising Charlie, probably because they had nurses and nanny at their disposal. 😡🤬😡🤬

Honestly, it's no wonder Adam ended in Heaven. He earned his place there because he worked for it, while L&L had everything at their disposal, and that's why they are in Hell.

And that's why Adam is my favourite character in the Hellaverse (alongside Sir Pentious and Mammon). He has every right to hate Lucifer and to dismiss Charlie's idea (I think it can bring more harm than good, but that's another topic).

My fella, did you wake up and decide to speak in the words of pure knowledge? Becouse this is my roman empire. This messege is just a chef kiss. Just perfect.

I don't know if Eve would be a villain but probably would be. I guess she would loved Lucifer and be jealous of Lilith😒 or blamed them for fall of humanity (rightfully so) and the show would say "you choose eat the apple" becouse L&L cannot be hold accountable ever! Becouse if they would the hellverse would explode.

Misunderstood dreamers my ass. They deserve the fall and they should get harder punishment for fucking up do badly.

I personally hope that Adam won't return for his character sake. The Viv would force him to agree with Charlie and forgive L&L. (Also Viv would fuck up his character badly knowing her.)

Their whole book is bullshit. It's black and white that "everything at once" music video has more colour than this shit. They tRaGiC lOvE is predatory as fuck. (but I already talk about this in my other post.)

I think that first part (about the Eden) was written by Lucifer when the second part (about the hell) was by Lilith.

Eve and Adam were punished HARDER than L&L when they were VICTIMS in that situation. Eve had to give birth ALONE. Poor woman didn't know what was going on! Nor Adam! That must be traumatic.

Once I read reddit post that they probably killed their first children which is likely true becouse they didn't know WHAT TO DO. Imagine how scared they must be when one of their children teeth fall out or they had first period. Which it make it's even worse. Nor Eve or Adam had CHILDHOOD OR PARENTS.

I remember when I was watching a gacha reaction (yes I'm a gacha kid) where Lucifer dared to say "what heaven would do when my daughter gives birth. They didn't help Eve. Poor woman didn't know what was going on." Like bitch. It was your fault. You also weren't there were Eve give birth. Plus, Charlie is PRINCESS OF HELL. She would hundred of the best doctors around her. Eve had none. He said that shit NEXT TO ADAM.

Cain and Abel weren't the only children they lost probably. (There was a woman called "'Anāq bint Adam, who was firstborn of Adam and Eve and was first witch. She was killed by a God, but I'm not talking only about her.)

A lot of people think that Cain is Lucifer's offspring (I refuse to say "kid" becouse I bet Lucifer was deadbeat dad) which again it makes Lucifer look even worse.

Also I Heard that Lucifer and Lilith were the reason that Cain killed Abel, but I don't know, there are only theories (ARE GAME THEORIES)

And than L&L are crying how they were badly punish uwu😭🥺💔 They were cursed with a kingdom and power!😞 How they could bear that!😣 It's so sad I think I will cry!😢

You have right that Adam own to be in heaven. Dude actually suffer and work unlike Lucifer who didn't need to do shit in his pathetic life what should be ended soon.

My favorite character is also Adam! I probably would like Eve too if she would be in the show as a villain.

For the last I need add a tw for SA.

I hate the fact that first female rapist, a possibly a pedophile who also possibly slept with her own son is potrait as a victim when one of her SA victim is a villain who supposed to be misogynistic (which he isn't.)

[elaemae]

[W: I'm sleep-deprived, writing this.]

So I was tryin to find a way to read Tcf's chapter 257 of book 2 but then I started to drift across platforms trying to get even a lick of the chapter when I came across the novel updates page of TCF.

So as a bored person who can't find the chapter she's lookin for, I decided to scroll through the page when I reached the reviews section.

Safe to say, I'm between offended for Cale and amused as hell.

How is he a pushover?

The reason Cale survived until now is meddling in the business of others, bro💀 He should've just let ppl die, ig

Also, Cale is the type of person whose thoughts contradict his actions, he says he hates cats, then proceeds to adopt two of em and make another one into a king.

It's literally his characterization at this point.

That he's such an unreliable asf narrator to the point that even his own readers wanna smack him in the head.

Not to mention, Cale is not "reincarnated" he's a transmigrator it was never alluded to that he died and got there, y'all this is too funny I don't think this reviewer got very far in the novel xD

But then I thought; 'What would Cale think of this?'

And just envisioned the dude reading the review, probly being offended he's in a novel, totally agreeing he ain't unique or special in any way, and then complaining in his head that he didn't want the problems, the problems wanted him💀

What I really got vaguely annoyed about tho is the last snippet.

Rating something as 1 star when even you feel that it's 3 stars just to try to bring down its "undeserving" high rating? What is dis pettiness bro

TCF helped me get through the pandemic and I'm gonna defend this novel with m life.

Also, just a bonus one.

The review itself is aight but the "There's no real goal that the MC tries to accomplish" part??? Help—😂

Even some readers don't see Cale's dream of a Slacker life as true, poor dude. ( ಡ⁠ ͜⁠ ⁠ʖ⁠ ⁠ಡ)

[galaxythreads]

unhinged, unconnected thoughts about the Hunger Games 1-3:

Katniss is one of The best female characters I have ever read in my life

Peeta is the definition of sad, wet paper man

I AM SO GRATEFUL THERE WERE CONSQUENCES From the games!! Like Katniss has permanent hearing damage. PEETA lost his LEG

Katniss' severe PTSD was so harsh and brutal and so so so good

Haymitch was such a little guy and I adored him for that. What I really liked about his character was that like -- he survived the Hunger Games. This was not a good thing. He was devastated by the fact that his family was killed and the only way he coped with that was by drinking. There was no getting better. There was no magic fix. It didn't just go away. Then he had to train and prepare 20 kids to go fight in the Games just like he did, knowing that he was sending them all out to die or survive like he did, and I have to imagine that toward the end, Haymitch probably hoped they died. It was easier than living

The Capitol was absolutely horrifying

The PTSD from the Games was vivid and it was so nice to see that this horrible bad thing that happened to the characters didn't just go away because they were in another book. Like it impacted their choices forever

Katniss and Peeta about to take the berries reminded me of Romeo and Juliet and I think that was probably on purpose. Neither can live without the other.

KATNISS IS FREAKING SIXTEEN AND ACTS LIKE SHE'S SIXTEEN

Katniss runs off and screams and cries and breaks down and fails and makes selfish decisions and selfless decisions and like she is SUCH A GOOD CHARACTER. Like I Honestly didn't think there would be a female character that competed with Joan Watson for #1 female for me, but Katniss is like. She's up there.

Gale was overall meh to me. He was There, but the emotional impact he had on Katniss was overall... yeah. just dots.

I'm really glad that Katniss was able to heal enough after 15 years from the Games to have kids. She wanted kids, and the mothering instinct is there, but she didn't want to bring them into a world where they wouldn't be safe. But Katniss having kids means that she does feel safe.

"you love me. Fake or real?" "real"

"sweetheart"

I literally did not realize the Hunger Games was science fiction until I got like halfway through the second one and was like oh yeah, yeah this is science fiction.

I CANNOT BELIEVE THAT THEY SENT THEM BACK TO THE GAMES IN BOOK 2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH

like all I'd heard about the Hunger Games was book 1, so everything after that to me was just ?????? and I was SO MAD but it made so much sense from the Capitol's perspective and I so wanted to strangle Snow.

District 13 overall annoyed me tbh, but I did get where they were coming from.

Everything in this series is so heavy. Like you feel the weight of the entire world just seeping down on you and it's actually kind of nice. I feel like the Hunger Games decided yeah, this is a dark, gloomy kinda world and then kept that tone. Books that keep the tone are SO RARE and i adore them.

PEETA PEETA PEETA

BREAD BOY

AMNEISA

PRIM DYING LIKE ???????????????????????? so good. So good. Like the whole reason Katniss went into the Games was to save her and like. She died anyway. Tragedy my beloved.

Katniss being so bad at speeches was absolutely hilarious. She is very much a speak from the heart kinda person and I'm glad that was never "fixed"

I love how a running theme in the series was that they have to document everything. There are video cameras everywhere, recording, always recording, and if they aren't it didn't happen. But Katniss is screaming IT HAPPENED IT HAPPENED anyway. Like with Rue's death.

I love that Peeta is so protective of Katniss, but would wholey hold her bow while she punched someone in the face. Like he's protective of her while respecting her strengths.

this series is dark, but I am going to reread this 4000000 times.

[necronatural]

Limbus Company theory

Okay, I have absolutely no idea if anyone's noted this yet. Did anyone pick up that the Sinners are held down by a Sin, represented in their EGO, and their Canto are about their struggles against another sin entirely. The branch creates a space for 'penance'. When Rodya entered the field of effect of the branch, Baba Yaga went crazy, freezing the entire mine. There's clearly some paralleling at work here.

So let's go through.

Gregor, Canto 1: Sloth V Gluttony (survival); note that this expedition failed, and we later explore Sloth with Yi Sang

Rodion, Canto 2: Pride V Gloom; note that Rodya refused to actualize

Sinclair, Canto 3: Gluttony (Greed) V Lust

Yi Sang, Canto 4: Sloth V Gluttony (greed); Dante's resonance begins

Ishmael, Canto 5: Gloom V Envy; Dante's resonance progresses

When we look at the dominant sins of the remainder...

Heathcliff, Canto 6: Envy...

Don Quixote, Canto 7: Lust…

Hong Lu, Canto 8: Gloom…

Ryoshu, Canto 9: Wrath…

Meursault, Canto 10: Pride…

Outis, Canto 11: Pride…

Faust, Canto 12: Pride…

Dante, Canto ?: ????

Sins not confronted yet: Sloth, Pride, Wrath

Sinner sins left to explore: Envy, Wrath, Lust (If we're talking strictly what progressed Dante's clock, Gluttony & Pride)

Assuming Dante's doomsday clock setting is moving in 5 minute intervals, Dante currently has 2 positions left on their clock; 5 minutes to midnight and midnight itself. It's made almost explicit that their resonance with sinners is the tool with which they resonate with the branches. By obtaining each sin, they're building to some sort of complete whole.

Predictions based on this theory; Pride being so back-heavy probably means we're going to scramble for branches with Hermann. It gives the impression that for whatever reason Pride is necessary, which is interesting.

My own theory: Rodya says she'll settle in the cold [Gloom] for a little longer, and Sonya says she doesn't have the mark. I'd say this might mean Rodya hasn't sufficiently resonated. Sonya may have tried to bait her in hopes of getting better results in this regard.

This may mean ...

The last few Cantos will be a losing streak (LOL)

Someone who hasn't cleansed themselves of their opposing sin/formed the mark of cain will get the branch; I'd imagine this person shares sins with Dante, Vergilius, or Charon, who I believe are probably Envy, Wrath, and Lust respectively (OOP @ WHO WE'RE MISSING ⬆️)

In that respect Vergilius V Sloth, Charon V Pride, Dante V Wrath. I even think the wrath Dante is opposed to could be Vergilius

Very notable there's only 3 sins missing; it could be possible we already have Dante's branch; they were very obviously part of the group of Cain Marked, and again, their clock started at 25-to-midnight and just kind of sat there for a little while. It's also possible it didn't move until Yi Sang because their sin was Gluttony (ambiguous manifestation)? If Hermann also represents Lust ..... Think about it

Rodya's refusal of the call of Cain might become plot-relevant, just as our failure to observe what happened to Gregor on the myth arc timeline of 3 years ago and relationship with the Big Bad makes it obvious he's going to be a core character in the future. We can tell based on those who have the mark of Cain that he just doesn't have the chops, so mayhaps their mutual exclusion will be a surprise tool that will help us later.

And of course, my theories for the sins that weigh down our remaining Sinners: Heathcliff V Sloth, Don Quixote V Wrath, and Ryoshu V Pride. I predict all the Prides share Rodya's opposing force, which is Gloom; we see this in the books these characters are based on, with Meursault's despair of being sentenced to death being overcome by his Pride, Outis putting herself through grueling trials for the sake of returning to her family, and Faust beginning with suicidal depression leading to her pride creating(summoning) Mephistopheles.

I think it would be pretty funny if Dante was Gretchen's evil baby. Or that Gretchen might have been their previous self, manipulated into giving birth to Dante (extremely vulnerable and exploitable state), which they will be disgusted by and put to death. How many representations of the Divine Feminine in classic literature can Dante represent any% speedrun

[therealvinelle]

What do you think would happen if Edward and Bella were on the titanic when it was sinking? How would Edward try to save her?

...

It so happens I am very interested in the RMS Titanic.

(A note before we start: the sinking of the RMS Titanic was one of the deadliest maritime disasters in history, and I often find the discourse around it tasteless. I hope I don't come across as crass making a Bella and Edward on the Titanic post.)

There is a problem with your question

You ask about Edward taking a trip with Bella.

Edward would get them first class tickets, there is no timeline in which Edward gets Bella anything but first class tickets. This man spends the first three books dry sobbing because she won't let him buy her a car and in the fourth book he snaps and just does it, and it's the most stupid expensive car he could find. And then when she's a vampire a few months later he gets her a Ferrari.

Bella will be a first class passenger, and a woman. And this is where your question puts an end to the adventure before it begins, because Bella would absolutely survive Titanic even if Edward's not there.

Of the 144 first class women on board the Titanic, 4 of them died. Of these 4, we know what happened to three of them: Ida Straus chose to die with her husband, giving her seat in the lifeboat and coat to the maid, Edith Evans from what I can gather was too scared to get in the boat, Bess Allison abandoned her seat to run to the other side of the Titanic as she believed her husband was there, and the boat sailed off without her, and Ann Eliza Isham is unknown with the only theory an "unsubstantiated rumor" she wouldn't leave her dog behind.

In other words, three of the first class women who died had the lifeboats were there and waiting for them but for various reasons they didn't get in. Presumably, this applied to Isham as well.

Bella is extremely clumsy and prone to making terrible decisions, but this is one where even she would be hard pressed.

The various ways Bella may try to avoid getting into the lifeboat

"I must give my seat to another!" Won't work. When the evacuation started, it was ineffective and not being taken seriously by all passengers (there are accounts of people declining seats because they would rather stay on the warm and comfortable Titanic than get into a dingy on the freezing Atlantic), which meant none of the first lifeboats to be lowered were completely filled. They were designed to hold 65 passengers, lifeboats 1 and 2 had 12 and 18 people in them, respectively (full table here(note: I understand it shows only who was still alive in each boat when they were found, not how many originally got in). (Yes, RMS Titanic had a severe lifeboat shortage, even if they'd filled all the boats to capacity there would only have been enough for a third of the ship's capacity, or 53% of the people on board that night, but this was aggregated by a lack of crew training, procedure, and passengers not understanding the severity of the situation.) Edward, being a vampire able to hear the ship being shredded, on fire, taking in uncontainable amounts of water and the crew discussing it, and also being very paranoid where Bella's safety is concerned, will appreciate the severity of the situation and put her in the damn boat.

"I refuse to get in the boat, Edward, which means you have to bite or I'll die!" Easily refuted by pointing out he can help save people if he doesn't have to worry about her, as well as by the fact that venom in your system won't save you from drowning which is what Bella will do if she doesn't get in the boat. Sitting on Edward as he paddles around the Atlantic won't work either, she'd freeze to death long before the venom could work its wonders (it was -2 degrees celsius in the water that night. It's been argued most of the victims that night died within minutes of shock from the cold temperature. There are cases of people who were rescued from the water into lifeboats, or who were exposed to the water from Collapsibles B and A, who froze to death). Bella sulks, but she gets in the boat.

Once Bella is in the boat, she's staying in it.

Edward... I can only hope he makes himself useful, but all I can see him able to help with is Collapsible A (where the canvas sides weren't pulled up properly, making it partially submerged) and Collapsible B (overturned, survivors were clinging to the keel). He could fix one of the boats, then take the survivors clinging to the other in it, but that is a best case scenario where the man is able to be pragmatic and quick-thinking. I don't trust him to be anything of the sort, rather I think he'd be too worried about Bella to be anywhere else.

This is the man who convinced himself she needed him to guard her while she slept.

He spends the night swimming under her boat, making sure it doesn't somehow sink, get struck by a new iceberg, capsize, or hit by a meteor.

[jonquilyst]

Day 28 - Liana Morris and Paulina Callaway

Total Drama Sims: Season 2 is officially coming to a close! Let's give a round of applause for both of our finalists!

THANK YOU @bloomingkyras and @cowplant-ate-my-sim for volunteering your lovely sims to Total Drama Sims! I loved them both so very much and I'm so happy they ended up being the finalists! Let's talk about their amazing performances for a bit:

Although Paulina didn't win, I think she has the most interesting TDS run out of all 28 contestants I've had, and that's all thanks to the team swap! If that elimination was just a standard elimination, she would have been in 10th place and an early-out, but the exact opposite happened! She stayed in the game, made it to the merge, and survived for its ENTIRETY! Want to know another cool Paulina fact? She is the highest-ranking member of the Illustrious Star-Shines, despite having originally been part of the Renowned Big-Names! Point being: Paulina's run was FANTASTIC and I hope you think so too!

Liana's biggest reason for making it so far in the game was pointed out by Hans: she took a "befriend-everybody" approach, similar to Lilium from last season, and because of that, nobody had a reason to vote her out; she was friends with everybody! She never even needed immunity in the merge to save herself (she never won a challenge in the merge). The only time she was almost eliminated was just before the merge, when the Renowned Big-Names were down to only 3 people, but aside from that one incident, she was never close to being voted out any other time! The fact that she was friends with almost everybody also allowed her to get additional votes in the finale and therefore win the entire competition in the end!

It's time to celebrate Liana for her well-deserved victory and the completion of another great season of TDS before everyone returns home!

Everyone partied until the stars came out! Liana takes one last glance at the Del Sol Valley night sky before she and everyone else departs for home.

THANK YOU to everyone who submitted their sims for Total Drama Sims: Season 2 💖 I'm so happy I did this for a second time and I really hope you enjoyed season 2 just as much as season 1!

If any of you are interested in sharing what your sim does after TDS2, feel free to share it with me! I would love to know what your sims’ afterthoughts are and how their experience impacted them.

Well, another great season in the books! Until next time! I’m your host jonquilyst, and this has been Total Drama Sims: Season 2!

Official Leaderboard:

14th: Brody Sherman by @aniraklova

13th: Tristan Bachman by @micrathene-w

12th: Ashlee Schaefer by @shmoodlet

11th: Neal Ward by @nakasumi-sims

10th: Willabelle Lowes by @invisiblequeen

Tied for 8th: Hans Somme by @ethicaltreatmentofcowplants & Toni Stroud by @simsinfinitylt

7th: Coffee Bean by @riverofjazzsims

6th: Enzo Espinoza by @seyvia

5th: Takashi Abbottsford by @stargazer-sims

4th: Flo Harper by @akitasimblr

3rd: Drew Pinto by @witheringscreations

2nd: Paulina Callaway by @cowplant-ate-my-sim

1st: Liana Morris by @bloomingkyras

View this spreadsheet for a more detailed leaderboard that includes challenge wins and when someone almost got eliminated!

[katnissdoesnotfollowback]

How do you think Peeta could join the Careers at 74th Hunger Games?

What did he do? Duel with another career? Killing another tributes on the Cornucopia?

Do you think before The Rule Change (2 victors from the same district), Peeta already determined to help Katniss becoming the winner? Thoughts?

Thank you :)

@curiousnonny

*clears throat and smacks a binder on the podium*

I have thoughts @curiousnonnyblog. Even if this one has also been sitting in my inbox for freaking ever.

Then the boy from 4. I didn't expect that one, usually all the Careers make it through the first day. - The Hunger Games, chapter 11

I just get a glimpse of Peeta, lit by a torch, heading back to the girl by the fire. His face is swollen with bruises. There's a bloody bandage on one arm, and from the sound of his gait, he's limping somewhat. I remember him shaking his head, telling me not to go into the fight for the supplies, when all along, all along he'd planned to throw himself into the thick of things. Just the opposite of what Haymitch had told him to do. - The Hunger Games, chapter 12

And finally:

"Let him tag along. What's the harm? And he's handy with that knife. Is he? That's news. What a lot of interesting things I'm learning about my friend Peeta today. - The Hunger Games, chapter 12

Okay. Hear me out. when Katniss first sees Peeta after the mayhem of the blood bath is over, he's injured. He's clearly been in a fight. And the Careers provide further evidence for that by saying that he's "handy with that knife," which is information Katniss didn't have about him. She never saw him wield a knife during training because Haymitch told them not to show off their greatest strengths in training, and Peeta didn't even consider her wrestling experience as useful in terms of hand to hand combat until Katniss pointed it out.

So here's my theory. When Peeta asks Haymitch to train separate from Katniss, it's because he knows he's going to try to team up with the Careers, for a couple of reasons. 1) Peeta has zero hunting and wilderness survival skills. Teaming up with the Careers is his best chance, other than teaming up with Katniss herself, at not starving. But also 2) The Careers are the most obvious threat the Katniss's survival in the Games. So teaming up with them allows him to keep tabs on them, to "mislead them about [Katniss]," which she comments on him doing without giving details when they're watching the recap of the Games. It also gives him the chance to help her out or buy her time in certain situations, as with the tracker jacker tree. He gets them to stop actively threatening her, which buys her time to come up with a solution.

I'll come back to Peeta's teaming up with the Careers as a survival strategy for Katniss in a minute. But first... how did he join the Careers?

I think that was something set up in advance between Haymitch and the mentors of the Career Districts. However, while the Careers know he got a training score of 8, in book world, they have no idea why. They're going to want proof that he's somehow useful, beyond getting their hands on Katniss, who they'd see as their biggest competition along with Thresh. So how to prove he can hang with the Careers? One of them attacks Peeta during the blood bath.

And Peeta's already admitted that while he doesn't want to kill anyone, he would if it came down to it. So I think the boy from 4 drew the short straw, so to speak, and had to test the upstart from 12 wanting to be in their pack. And Peeta won that fight, explaining why he's injured, how he wound up in the Career pack, and also how they know that he's good with a knife.

Careers in the arena are only going to see two reasons to call someone "handy with that knife." I doubt Peeta killed an animal for food because honestly he's too beat up for me to believe that interpretation, and also it's too early in the Games for the Careers to need food. They have all the Cornucopia supplies still. So at that point being "handy with a knife" means they saw Peeta fight with it and win.

Why wouldn't Katniss tell us this? Because she wouldn't have deemed it important. It probably looked exactly like self defense, not going down without a fight on film. Maybe Peeta wasn't even expecting it, although I doubt Haymitch left him unprepared to face a challenge like that. The point is, Katniss would view him killing the boy from 4 as a moot point in terms of how she views him as a person, how she sees his character. She's far more concerned with how he reacts to accidentally poisoning Foxface because that wasn't self defense. She wasn't yet a threat to either Peeta or Katniss.

Which brings me to Katniss's comment about Peeta running into the bloodbath being the exact opposite of what Haymitch told him to do. Yeah, that is what he tells them both to do on the night of the interviews. But who's to say he didn't pull Peeta aside after that and give him a different set of advice? Whose to say that Haymitch hadn't already prepped Peeta during their private training sessions for getting caught in the bloodbath or jumped by the Careers right after?

As for your last question, I think Peeta decided to fight for one of 12's tributes to survive from the moment he asked Haymitch to train separately. Perhaps even before that. I've talked about it before HERE and also HERE but the gist is that Peeta wanted his death to mean something, and since he didn't think he could win the Games, he wanted whoever did win the Games to help the people he cared about back home in 12, which would be Katniss. And there is something to be said about how subversive that is, in and of itself. It's not new to the Games for the Tributes to show compassion for each other, as we see with Haymitch and Maysilee, and with several of the tributes in Ballads, but it is extremely rare for a tribute to willingly sacrifice themselves for another. I think Peeta was prepared to die for Katniss to win, in part because not only would her win benefit their district and everyone he cares about, but he's also aware from book 1 that her family needs her to survive while his will be just fine without him. He's trying to do the most good with his death, and I think that the rule change when they allow 2 victors is actually when Peeta allows himself to hope for his own survival too. Up to that point, I think he was preparing himself to die.

[alj4890]

Searching

(Tobias Carrick x F!MC) in a Choices Open Heart One Shot

Rewriting Book 1's Chapter Four: Dolores

A/N Honestly, this chapter bothered me on so many levels. As someone who has gone through two high risk pregnancies and been to the emergency room more times than I'd like to think about, my obgyn (or one from the group) was the one to always treat me as soon as the E.R. doctors found out I was pregnant. So to have an intern and Ethan treat Dolores and allow HER, the patient, to make life threatening decisions on postponing the surgery just *hits head on wall repeatedly*. So, even if I hate to continue this line of treatment to a fictional pregnant woman (and since this is a rewrite I'm definitely changing the canon ending for my own sake!), here's how I would think this chapter would have gone with what we see from Tobias in Book 3. He was never one to hesitate in making decisions, which was shown in the chapter with the man having seizures. For the Ethan stans (which I love him too!) I never understood PB's reasoning to let him, this brilliant doctor, allow Dolores to talk him into postponing emergency treatment. I don't think with what we know of him that he would have waited either.

Masterlist

****************

It'd been hard to tell an old friend that she and her child were in danger. After Chris ran the tests, he saw immediately what the next necessary steps were. Tobias sent for the oncall obgyn to get their opinion. They next prepared Dr. Tanaka's surgical team for what needed to be done. Both NICU and the obstetrician were scrubbing up to assist in surgery.

"Tobias, no!" Dolores cried out as she was wheeled from the E.R. to surgery. "Please, give me more time."

"We don't have time." He squeezed her hand as he walked beside the gurney. "It isn't safe for you or the baby to wait another second."

Tears streamed down her cheeks. "What will happen to my baby?"

"He'll have the best care in NICU." He promised her. "And you'll be able to watch over him while he's there."

She sniffled as more tears fell. As much as she trusted him, hearing the news that her baby would be born so early scared her more than anything. Thoughts of if she did something wrong flooded through her mind. Those thoughts gave way to the plans she'd made to give her son the best of everything in life and that included the right beginning.

She still didn't have his nursery ready. Her sister was coming into town the following week to help her pick out a crib. She'd bought nothing, save for a little frog. Once she saw the soft blanketed stuffed animal, she knew it was perfect for her own little tadpole.

"I wish I had his little frog. He needs his first toy. I planned on giving it to him when he was born." She mumbled.

Dolores felt ridiculous. Here she was thinking of a stupid toy when her world was turned upside down. In that panic filled moment, she would give anything to not have lost it in the fire.

Tobias let go of her hand once they took her into surgery. He stood there outside the automatic doors with a heart heavy with worry. He knew the chances of their survival were slightly better for her than if the fire had never happened. He couldn't imagine her alone in her apartment when a seizure struck.

"Dr. Carrick?"

He turned towards Chris. He'd completely forgotten about basically taking her patient away and not giving her a chance to treat Dolores.

"Sorry about taking the decision from you, Valentine." He apologized. "But--"

"No, you did the right thing." Chris interrupted.

"It was the only decision that could be made." He added, hoping she really understood. "As much as Dolores fought against it, this was the only way to give them both a chance at survival."

"I know." She mumbled, arms folding across her torso as if chilled. "And I know how difficult it has to be to tell someone something like that, especially if you're close to them. Honestly, it's hard to stand there and tell a patient I don't know that it doesn't look good."

He nodded, his lips firming in a grim line. He knew it was difficult for some doctors to state the truth. He was one of the lucky ones who could separate his feelings in that moment and tell someone their illness was terminal or that their chances were not as great as one would hope.

No one doubted he cared as he treated his patients. People soon realized that the reason he could so easily tell someone they were dying was because he was the kind who would want a doctor to tell him the absolute, non-sugarcoated, truth if he had a terminal condition. He knew the only way a person could cope was if they had all the facts.

Rubbing the back of his neck, he slumped against the wall.

"I think this is worse than giving a patient bad news." He told her. "Waiting to see what happens with a necessary treatment makes the job, at least for me, harder."

Chris leaned beside him. She quietly studied his dejected demeanor and felt a longing to comfort him. It wasn't the usual feelings when she saw a friend or patient sad. Something about Tobias made her want to be the only one he would turn to in times like this.

Nudging him with her elbow, she tried to keep his spirits up.

"You did everything you could to give this a chance to work." She reminded him. "There's a great team in there fighting for both Dolores and her baby because of you and your quick diagnosis."

Tobias snorted softly. Her fervent words were spoken with such conviction that it made him wonder just what she felt for him. Was it simple admiration or possibly something more heartfelt?

"Careful, Rookie. That sounds dangerously close to hero worship."

Her laughter was a stark contrast to the eerily quiet hallway. It brought a smile to his face as he listened to the joyful sound. Something about the way Chris laughed made him want to join in. It didn't matter if he was able to cause it or if he happened to overhear it. He simply wanted to be near her and enjoy the infectious feelings that came over him whenever he knew she was happy.

With a smile lingering, she quipped back, "I admire you a great deal, Dr. Carrick, but hero worship might be pushing it."

"I'll get there one day." He teased.

Still smiling she shook her head. After a few moments of companionable silence, a yawn slipped out.

"What time does your shift end?" Tobias asked.

"About two hours ago." She replied.

"Go home." He ordered. "Me and everyone else here will need you well rested for whatever we have to face tomorrow."

"I want to stay and see how Dolores is." She argued. "I know you took over her case, but I--"

He reached out and gently squeezed her hand, cutting off her argument.

"You still need some sleep, Chris." He tugged her closer, making her heart skip about, then turned her towards an oncall room. "I'll wake you when we know something."

She hesitated. The last thing she wanted was to leave him alone to face whatever was to happen. She knew there was a chance, one too horrible to contemplate, that Dolores and her baby might not survive. The thought alone broke her heart. She couldn't let him deal with the outcome without someone there to comfort him.

She knew if it was reversed, she'd want him by her side.

"I don't think I could fall asleep." Chris checked the time. "Why don't we get out of here?"

His eyebrow lifted while a flirty smile popped up. "Me and you?"

"Easy there." She teased. "As fun as that would be, I thought we could go look for Dolores's frog."

He glanced once again at the surgical doors. She could see both his wanting to leave and his need to stick around until the end warring within him.

"I think it would make this a little easier on her if we could find it. If we can't, maybe there's a store nearby where we can find a replacement." Chris added.

Tobias studied her for a few seconds in silence. He'd suspected she had a tender heart from the first time he'd seen her with a patient. He was pleased, especially in this particular situation, to see that he was right.

"Let me get my car keys." He jogged off towards the locker room.

***************

"So?" Chris began once they left. "How long have you known Dolores?"

"Ten years." Tobias replied. "She was my first patient fresh out of medical school."

"Have you kept in touch?"

"We have, though not as much as we did when we first met." He grinned over the memories. "She and her sister had me and my old roommate over for dinner a lot that first year. Then we'd meet up occasionally. Now we mostly exchange Christmas cards and talk through texts."

"Did you two date?"

Chris couldn't believe her own nerve for asking that.

"No." He replied, chuckling at the notion. "Dolores and her sister have certain tastes in significant others and I didn't line up with what they were looking for."

"Why not?" Chris persisted.

Tobias cut his eyes at her. "Is that disbelief I hear in your voice that someone didn't find me attractive?"

She began to laugh while shrugging her shoulders. "I mean, partly. Mostly I'm curious as to why you didn't line up with their own desires."

"I don't exactly have a reputation for long term relationships." He admitted.

"So I've heard." Chris teased. "In fact, second dates seem to be a rarity in tales of your exploits."

He pulled over near Dolores's office, threw the gear shift into park, and turned towards the woman next to him.

"Does that bother you? Those tales you've heard?"

Chris met his curious gaze and slowly shook her head.

"Not at all."

A flirty smile flashed his way, making his own pop up.

"In fact," she opened her door, "your history reminds me a little of my own."

Tobias unbuckled and hurried after her.

"So you're a heartbreaker?" He asked.

"There might be a few men who would call me that." She glanced at him over her shoulder. "Nowhere near enough to give your reputation a run for its money."

He chuckled as they began to search around the recently burned building.

"Maybe I should be scared." He teased. "I never would have thought you were a love them and leave them kind of person."

"You shouldn't be scared." Chris abruptly stopped to make him bump into her.

The moment his hands landed on her waist to steady them both, she swiftly turned around to face him and draped her arms over his shoulders.

His breath caught when she moved closer to him, head tilting as if she was getting ready for a kiss.

"The ones I left never complained about the loving part." She whispered close to his mouth. "Just imagine how much better it is when I stick around."

Stepping away before he could make a move, she motioned him towards a storm drain.

"Looks like this is where most of the water is going. Maybe the toy got swept down there."

Tobias shook himself out of his shock of having her that close. Once her words registered, he found himself ready to put her to the test. They'd been dancing around the issue for weeks now. With how he felt and how often she flirted with him, he knew without a doubt they were going to happen.

She just had to go and remind him of why they were out here.

One day, he thought, I'll have that perfect moment alone with her and we'll finally begin.

Knowing that standing near a half burnt building wasn't the atmosphere he would want for that to happen, he flattened himself on the pavement.

"It's too dark to see anything down there." He grumbled.

Chris handed him her phone to use as a flashlight.

"I see it." He pushed up off the ground once he realized he couldn't easily get through the opening. "I think I might get stuck if I reach for it."

Chris eyed how his damp shirt molded over his muscles. Her hands ached to see just how they'd feel beneath her palms. She'd caught him a time or two changing in the locker room. It'd taken all of her self control not to ogle him.

He caught her staring. A flash of heat went through him over the way she was checking him out. He couldn't stop his smug smirk from forming.

"I need your mind in that gutter, Valentine."

Chris snorted on her laugh as she forced her eyes off of him to analyze the best way to rescue the toy.

"You think you could use all those muscles I see to not only hold me but also keep me from tumbling down that hole?"

"I can do a lot more than hold you." He winked at her.

"I intend on giving you a chance to prove that one day." She quipped back.

Without complaint, she got down on the wet pavement and scooted towards the drain. Tobias held onto one of her arms while she reached for the toy.

"I can't quite reach it." Chris looked up at him. "Hold my waist so I can scoot further in."

Tobias wrapped his arms around her, smirking when he felt her momentarily stiffen against his body pressed against her lower half.

"You okay?" He couldn't resist asking.

His voice, deeper than usual, made her want to sink against him and see what would happen next.

"More than okay." She looked back at him over her shoulder. "Don't let go."

"I always knew you'd say that to me."

Chris laughed as she reached for the toy.

"If you get stuck down there, Chris," Tobias joked, "I'm leaving you the moment a clown pops up."

"I'm pulling you in with me once I see he has a balloon." She giggled when he playfully pretended he was going to let her go.

She reached a little further and finally managed to snag the edge of the frog's blanket with the tips of her fingers.

"I've got it!"

Tobias pulled her out.

Chris grimaced over the dirty street water coating the front of her scrubs.

"Don't worry." Tobias reached up to wipe a muddy smudge off her cheek. "You're still cute."

"As long as you think so." She smiled over his hand lingering against her damp skin.

"I do." He grinned. "Now let's see what all the fuss was about."

The two examined the dirty little frog.

"Think he's salvageable?" Chris asked.

"We'll see once he's cleaned up." Tobias responded. "If not, I know where the spare key is to the gift shop. I'm sure there's some kind of frog thing in there."

As they walked back to his car, she nudged him with her elbow.

"We make a pretty good team."

Tobias opened the passenger door for her.

"You're just now realizing this?" He teased.

She paused in getting in, folding her arms along the top of the door so she could lean closer to him.

"I suspected we would." Her eyes drifted over his handsome face when he leaned even closer. "Now I'm certain of it."

"Good." He nodded towards her seat. "Let's get you, me, and this pitiful frog cleaned up."

***************

A few hours later, the pair wheeled an exhausted Dolores towards NICU. She was hugging the sterilized frog close to her chest while fighting back tears.

"One of the doctors told me that the first night is the most crucial." She mumbled. "I don't know what I'll do if he..."

Her words were cut off by a gut wrenching sob.

Chris reached down to hug the frightened woman.

"He's a fighter." She whispered. "And having you there will make him fight all the more."

Dolores squeezed her tight while trying to calm down. "Okay. I can do this."

Tobias pushed her wheelchair into the nursery.

"Oh!" Dolores exclaimed when she saw her baby for the first time.

With tears falling she reached out and gently touched her son's hand, laughing some when he gripped her finger.

"My little tadpole." She said while stroking his cheek with her other hand. "I'm so happy to finally meet you."

Tobias placed his hand on her shoulder. "We'll give you two a chance to talk."

Dolores nodded, never taking her eyes off her baby.

Chris wiped at her own tears once they stepped outside.

"Sorry." She sniffed while searching for a tissue. "I know I should be more stoic."

Without saying a word, Tobias draped his arm around her.

She turned towards him to press her face against his shoulder while her body shook with muffled sobs.

He gently rubbed her back.

"It's okay to feel things as a doctor, Chris." He reminded her.

"Not according to one of my professors." She blubbered. "I just know how much harder this could be if we'd lost one or even both of them."

"Yes, it could have ended badly." He hugged her close. "Tonight though, we got a win. We won't always, but for tonight we'll rest in knowing we beat the odds once more."

[anakin-vaders]

The role of Fashion in The Hunger Games saga a brief analysis.

Ok now with the hunger games renaissance we need to discuss the role Cinna plays in the whole series, and the role of fashion in the hunger games. I read this series when I was 11-12 years old, I grew to become a very, very queer fashion designer (I work for drag queens), I didn't think I truly understood how much THG series impacted me until very recently when I saw/read the whole series again. Like yes, Suzanne Collins makes the Capitol this shallow society, putting a real effort in making their citizens be superficial only caring about their looks, looking super extravangant and absolutely disconnected from the suffering of the districts. While their looks are vibrant, large, shimmery, and totally over the top (showcasing their opulence) the way they dress on the districts (specially 12 and 13) is minimalist, modest, the colors are washed, old. Their each other's antithesis. And of course Katniss expects only that from the people of the Capitol (classic Us vs. Them), and when Cinna, whom I think is very queer coded, comes in, and treats her like a human being, she starts to let her walls down, to let herself be guided trough this horrible thing she's got to endure. In the books when Cinna and his team are pampering her, she doesn't see herself as a symbol, she never really wanted to be one, she feels really dehumanized. Her only motivation upon this point is surviving and get back to Prim on her home, she still thinks everything on the Capitol in stupid and unnecessary. It's only when Cinna puts them in this very intricate and thought out looks inspired by their district industry (coal mining) that I think Katniss starts to understand the power of fashion, the power of symbols.

And later in her interview with Caesar we have the infamous red dress that catches fire and that lefts the audience gagged (if any of y'all have been to a drag show you know how amazing a good reveal is). This moment is so important because now fashion doesn't become something merely functional, or oppressive. Fashion is empowering, this moment is Katniss getting confidence in herself, asserting herself over her circumstances thanks to Cinna, thanks to fashion. It's also very brilliant because this is also catered to the Capitol, to the viewers and consumers of the games. One of the first things Haymitch tells Katniss is to make herself desirable, and this totally makes sense, the Capitol now roots for her, relate to her, so that later she can get sponsors and SURVIVE.

On Catching Fire we have another iconic fashion moment, fire is a very present theme for Katniss. She is of course the spark for the rebellion, and when she understood it, the message not only becomes clearer, it becomes a protest against the games, against the Capitol. The way she and Peeta are almost regal their second time on the games, shows how much she's understood the power of fashion, the power of the message it can send. They look like a piece of coal refusing to cool, refusing to stop burning. And this was all Cinna's mind.

And my absolute favorite. The wedding dress, such and iconic moment and dare I say, a pivotal moment for the rebellion. In the books Katniss and Peeta are doomed to keep their fake relationship for PR reasons, so they get engaged, and make their whole wedding (bear in mind they're both 17 ish here) a reality show-esque moment for the Capitol. Even after they've won, they still have to entertain them, a winner can never rest. The districts are never winners. So when Snow decides to make his personal quest that of making Katniss miserable, thus making his All Star version of the games, knowing district 12 only has 1 female winner...oh if that isn't some evil shit. On top of that, he is the one who request she wears her wedding dress to the interview, the dress that symbolizes all she never wanted (get married, have kids, loose her agency, being controlled by the Capitol). Snow does this hopping Katniss feels ALL THAT, and Cinna being the genius designer he fucking is, turns a 180 on it and gets the wedding dress as a façade, he uses the dress as a symbol of the tragic lovers that never got to wed, the wedding the Capitol never got to see because of the games. And it works. It fucking works.

And then, the dress burns up revealing a beautiful black dress with wings, a mockingjay, she literally becomes the rebellion, she embodies the rebellion and all that comes with it. The power of fashion in the middle of an uprising, and how much it strikes the Capitol because it's said in their language. All of these moments were essential in the history because the people on the districts already knew about the injustices, about the hardships of their conditions. But the consumers didn't. And Cinna, trough Katniss made them see that, he took everything that made the Capitol shallow and gave actual meaning to it. And without of all of it, who knows if the rebellion would've gestated as fast.

TL;DR: the hunger games saga made me a fashion designer, and fashion is really important in the story, dare I say it's a really clever use of fashion and Cinna is a FUCKING genius.

[thenightling]

Willy Wonka misconceptions

As Charlie and the Chocolate Factory / Willy Wonka has become weirdly popular lately because of the successful prequel film and most recently that really botched / rip-off Wonka event in Glasgow Scotland, it felt like a good time for this post.

Here are a list of popular misconceptions about the book and films.

1. Much of the Internet thinks of Wonka as a "Serial killer of children." I pointed out that at the end of the 2006 film and novel you see the children alive, though altered. And in the 1971 film that version of Wonka says that they will all be fine, but a little wiser. Someone tried to argue with me that he was just trying to placate Charlie. Really!? Since when did that Wonka ever lie to make people feel better?

Based on his previous behavior we have no reason to believe Wonka would lie just to make Charlie feel better. It's just a dark, edgy, annoying headcanon to pretend Wonka killed those other kids when every version tells you they survived.

____________________________

2. Grandpa Joe was not "Faking it" or "being lazy." It seems ironic to me that so many rant and even get genuinely angry about the character Grandpa Joe. It is especially odd to me when the rage is in regard to the depiction in the 1971 film, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate factory.

The reason it is odd to me is because in the 1971 film Grandpa Joe very clearly was suffering through severe depression, possibly a long bipolar depression phase.

The depression is clear in his "I've got a golden Ticket" song.

"I never thought my life could be Anything but catastrophe"

"I never had a chance to shine Never a happy song to sing"

It seems weird to me that today people shame characters like Cinderella for not being assertive and empowered when she's a live-long abuse victim. And then you have the people against Disney's The Little Mermaid who say she gave up who and what she is for a man but ignore that she had a song number from before she ever saw Eric, where she expressed body dysphoria and made clear she wanted to be human even then.

And you have a large part of the Internet shaming Grampa Joe for being "lazy" and "faking being sick' while he's literally telling us that he he's been in a severe depression.

It's almost like watching a generation that supposedly respects mental illness and understands depression in ways previous generations didn't... suddenly having a justification to shame someone for having all the symptoms of clinical depression.

Hell, even the song "I've got a Golden Ticket" kind of indicates Grandpa Joe is entering a manic phase. If Grandpa Joe's illness is psychological why do we treat it as not-real? I get so annoyed at how many people mock the character or act like he's a con artist exploiting Charlie.

________________________

3. The Oompa Loompas were not slaves.

It's true that the earliest depictions of the Oompa Loompas were little African people (before the novel was revised) but in all versions he tells the kids that he pays them in coca-beans. That might sound like he pays them in fallen acorns he found in his garden but it's made clear that to Oompa Loompas, in their society, coca-beans are worth more than gold.

Try to imagine you got a job working for aliens who offer to pay you in large bars of gold if you just help him make some gold jewelry. But because gold isn't worth THAT much to these aliens they think you're a pathetic slave, even though Lofty (the Oompa Loompa from the new Wonka movie) probably now has a palace on Loompa Land that he uses as a summer house.

Interesting bit of trivia: Charlie was originally going to be black.

___________________________

4. Wonka (2023) is NOT a remake. A lot of people mistakenly think this is yet another remake. No. It's a musical prequel to the Gene Wilder Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory movie from 1971. ________________________

5. Lots of fans have "figured out" that the shoe shine boy Wonka sees early in Wonka is Charlie. One small problem with that. This is twenty-something Willy Wonka. Wonka was supposed to be pushing fifty or sixty when he went looking for an heir. The timeline wouldn't work. The director has confirmed that for this reason the shoe shine boy is NOT Charlie Bucket.

And there you go. A list of popular Wonka misconceptions debunked.

[rjalker]

[ID: a long 6-panel MS Paint comic, titled, "I read Charles Howard Hinton's An Episode of Flatland (dot dot dot) so you don't have to! (It's bad!)".

Panel 1 is labeled, "not even pretending to be to scale", and shows a circle in the center labeled "Astria", with the edge covered in stick figures who have both arms on one side of their body, either facing the west for females, or east for males, with a mars or venus symbol over each head to show who is what. The west side of Astria has a darker rim labeled, "Black Sea", and the east has one labeled "White Sea".

On the side of the panel is a cirlce mostly offscreen labeled, "Ardaea, another planet in their star system".

In the lower corner a larger circle labeled, "sun that either doesn't have a name or I forgot it. I have a headache I'm not putting in any more effort to find out if the sun has a name".

Panel 2 shows two sets of people represented by right triangles, with males facing east and females facing west again, with their back to eachother. First we have Unæans, who are light skinned. They are represented by white triangles. Then there are Scythians, who are dark skinned, represented by triangles filled in with black with a crayon texture. Smaller text reads for them, "used to oppress the Unæans because the author's racist".

Text reads, "Astrians are not literally triangles but are represented by them to show how they face only one direction. Despite only having one single eye each, the original illustrator drew them with two, one on each side. Because he didn't read the book I guess. I don't blame him. Unless it was the author, in which case…Man, seriously?".

Panel 3 shows a 2D stick figure looking to the west and saying, "Blank space!". A yellow splat in the middle of the screen reads in all caps, "Wrong!", then shows the stick figure being viewed from another angle so they, and their dialogue box, appear as nothing but a straight line against a light blue background, with a section of white on their Left labeled, "the alongside being - aka their name for any dimension beyond the perception of a lower-dimensional being".

Panel 4 reads in all caps large text at the top, "but what is the plot?!?!", then reads:

"The plot is that every 15 years winters get really cold and bad. But this time it's gonna be the end of the world. Because Ardaea is apparently gonna crash into Astria entirely. And is gonna plunge their planet into Death Winter. A rich guy named Cartwright starts building underground shelters packed with supplies to try and help people survive.

His brother is a guy named High Farmer and he believes in the 3rd Dimension and claims to be able to use it somehow to make himself float and all this crap which he literally never demonstrates.

Hugh teams up with a soldier named Harold Wall to try and convince people that the Third Dimension will somehow magically save them all. And you might be thinking, 'Oh! Because they're gonna ask for help from 3D beings, right?' Wrong.

No the plan is to literally create a dictatorship and force everyoen to pray that Ardaea doesn't crash into them.

And then this works. For some reason.

Despite none of Hugh Farmer's claims about being able to use T 3 D to fly ever being demonstrated. And then they're all talking about being able to use T 3 D to grow…extra eyes? And all this crap??? It's not reasonable.

And while all this is very much not going on, there's a crappy romance between Laura Cartwright, the daughter of the rich guy who was building shelters, and Harold Wall, the now-Dictator. She's the one who introduced him to Hugh Farmer, her uncle.

It's implied many times that they're soulmates. They miscommunicate a lot and also Harold is an asshole anyways.

Also early in the book there was a lady named Mrs. Castle who was implied to be a 3D being or at least friends with one. We were told we'd get this explained soon. Then she was never mentioned again.

But then the author was going on about 2D beings having 3D souls so that's. Apparently what he meant. He was a really bad writer."

Panel 5 is black with white text, reading:

"It was so boring and convoluted it was literally making me fall asleep.

So the moral of the story is set up a dictatorship to make people pray the world doesn't end and it simply won't. Because your soul is a tiny 4D thing piloting the mecha of your giant 3D body. also if you think about it really hard you can probably grow yourself an extra eye or something. Somehow. For some reason.

It's bad. 0/10 do not recommend."

Panel 6 is white with black text again, reading, "also literally every scene in the book after the Introduction is just physically impossible for these people to be doing with the rules he told us into the introduction. it's atrocious."

End ID.]

fortunately, it's public domain, so it's free to read, and you can rewrite it to not be absolutely terrible and mind-numbing and sell your version. the version we deserve.

[abbysimsfun]

Sims In Bloom: Generation 2 Pt. 13 (A Landgraab Curse?!)

For an uncle she didn't know she had until she was in her teens, Heather's Uncle Karl had become one of her favourite people. He'd been there the day she first met Malcolm in the park, and she could trust him with her insecurities about love and relationships.

"It was so uncomfortable, Uncle Karl! She was awful! And he can be so much like her!" she complained, shoveling a spoonful of yogurt into her mouth between breaths. "And she looked so excited at the prospect of selling my clinic!"

Karl and his husband Mortimer listened, waiting for a chance to interrupt. Finally, she took a drink of orange juice long enough to get a word in. "If he doesn't make you happy, you don't have to stay with him," Karl said.

"He doesn't make me unhappy," she argued. "And it's his mother I really can't stand."

Karl and Mortimer shared a wistful glance. "His father doesn't sound so bad," Karl offered charitably as he stood. Heather groaned. "Sorry, sweetie, I've got to run to work. Mortimer doesn't need to leave just yet, so don't feel like you need to rush through your breakfast."

He embraced his niece quickly before he threw on a tie, kissed Mortimer, and raced out the door. Mortimer smiled, fiddling absently with a brick of clay while he considered Heather's night with the Landgraabs. "Can I tell you a story?" he asked.

Mortimer, the writer, a lover of stories, would never think of telling his husband's niece what to do with her life, but Heather was all too eager to hear what he had to say. "Is it a good story?"

"That'll depend on your perspective," he admitted. "My great-grandmother, Lady Ravendancer, died in an attempt at magic gone wrong. Before she died, she passed down a story of a Landgraab ancestor, Lord Demetrius Landegraab, and his bitter feud with a pirate queen named Clarissa Darktide. Demetrius and Clarissa clashed over shipping in the Simlandia Sea, and their hatred grew with each passing season."

Heather listened intently as Mortimer recalled his great-grandmother's tale. "Clarissa had a daughter, Misty, and Demetrius had a son, Dacian. These two didn't care about their parents' constant feuding and fell in love, but they kept their relationship from their antagonistic parents. Lord Demetrius had Clarissa banned from half the ports in Simlandia, and Clarissa had enough. She couldn't compete with Demetrius' growing empire, so she sought out a pod of mermaids who placed a curse on Demetrius and his descendants."

"But the pirate queen didn't know her daughter was dating the lord's son!"

Mortimer nodded. "Misty was pregnant when the mermaids laid the curse, and as long as Demetrius and Clarissa's descendants have survived, as the story goes, so has their cursed fate."

Heather smiled. "It is a good story, but I don't believe in curses." As she said it, Malcolm’s own words at the Romance Festival – that his name was a blessing and a curse – flashed through her mind. "No...it can't be true." She forced a laugh.

"My great-grandmother was a lover of tall tales," admitted Mortimer. "But you should still be careful with the Landgraabs. My family has nothing to do with them today, but our histories are littered with conflict."

"Sounds like an even longer story might be in order for another time," said Heather with a grin.

"I could write a book! The only reason I don't is the Landgraabs would sue until Bella and the kids lost the house. Your life is your business, but your uncle would never forgive me if I didn't at least warn you they can be trouble, with or without a curse. The Goth x imprint and its board refuses to do business with the Landgraabs for a lot of reasons."

Heather wished she could say the same about her clinic, but she shook off the story and returned home. ->

<- Previous Chapter | Gen 2 Start | Gen 1 Summary | Gen 1 Start

NOTE: My Landgraab family tree plays on Sims lore and tries to connect known canon Landgraabs. Demetrius and Clarissa and their children are supposed to be from The Sims Medieval but to simplify the tree for this playthrough they're colonial era pirates and nobles.

NOTE 2: Quick recap on Karl and Mortimer. I gave Neal (Heather's dad) a long-lost brother late in Gen 1 who had been a random townie tossed into the world by the game and given the last name Nesbitt. Felt like fate, had to use him. When I put Karl onto a residential lot and checked his stats he was friends with Mortimer and they had a romance bar. So I invited Mortimer over, had them flirt, and suddenly the notification pops up that they're soulmates (thank you @janesimsten's Soulmates mod!)

So I played out Mortimer having an affair, telling and leaving his wife and remarrying Karl at their penthouse in the city, but Bella was never all that bothered by the divorce and they're still great friends. His kids are also cool with it (Cassandra, Alexander, and a third son Bella had when the older two were teens named Dexter) but he doesn't get to see them very often since they're in Brindleton Bay and he's in San Myshuno.