#bc so much of it is just. ‘why is the book suspending disbelief’ ‘why is the book using literary tropes’ etc etc

[padfootastic]

Say it with me: Sirius hates Death Eaters, but not Slytherins. Informing the trio that Snape hung out with a gang of Death Eaters was informing the trio that their teacher at one point was totally chill with murdering blood purists and called them friends (you know, totally relevant info with Voldemort on the rise, one person in the trio being the Boy-Who-Lived, a Muggleborn in the group, and the other member being relayed to a family well-known as blood-traitors. It’s rather important for them to know who believes in blood purity and who doesn’t, esp in light of everything occurring in GOF), and explained how he knew them as they were in the same house. And, whether one likes it or not, Slytherin house has the highest number of blood purists that we see, that’s simply canon. We can debate about why this is the case all day long, but the facts remain that Slytherin house has a slew of baby bigots and adult bigots as alumni.

(Also, some people are really weird about insults to the Hogwarts Houses. It is fiction, you will never be in them and while you might have traits of one house, normal people have traits of every house)

ha one of the things i find funniest is when people got mad at j*r for being mean to the slyths as if there’s some overarching moral code that says authors can’t do that lol like,,,,i love those lil fuckers (in all generations, across characterisations and magical alignments) but you HAVE to admit the nature & nurture is sus in that one.

also +1 to everything ur saying about sirius. u know i love ur arguments, anon.

[ganondoodle]

(idk if anyone wants to keep hearing my opinions on totk book stuff but-)

apparently it says that rauru DID have kids, multiple even, which yeah... is kinda necessary for zelda to even be connected to them so much so that sonia can SENSE a blood connection (which, even with all the excuses with magic, is just a little too far for me to suspend my disbelief bc its over, OVER, ten thousand years worth of generations that seperate her from them that one lil touch of the hand can sense that (feels more like an attempt to make you care about them or .. see them as zeldas "better" parents just bc they exchange a few nice words, i never got the feeling they were 'better' parents and its also kinda disrespectful to her actual parents, like sure rhoam wasnt the best but i wouldnt call rauru better just bc he was polite)- i could see maybe the light power of hylia or sth but since its the coolest dude that ever lived rauru now that had it which still doesnt make sense and makes me unreasonably annoyed and she can sense BOTH of their powers in her? nah) the fact theres NOTHING about them in the game itself is just so ... no way they planned any of this

i dont think theres anything they can do or say that wont make be believe they either

are making it up alla 'fix it in post' mentality trying to hastily explain stuff the game never bothers to do to try and appease fans or let it appear as if they thought about it at all

something went really REALLY wrong during development, which kinda seems likely given how the game turned out (im sorry i cannot let go, its not just the writing, the game design too and how little was changed in the map while being so damn expensive, i dont know how people dont feel scammed q_q)

given that they (allegedly) spent the last entire year of development on polish (where??? where????? huh??? like it would make it more understandable (EXCEPT for the price) if there was alot of trouble, which was also bc it got delayed and ... turned out like this, but they dont want to say it, especially given their reputation, with that quote i have heard way too many times 'a delayed game blah blah') i just??

are they just gonna go and do it like they did with kashiwa (kass)? "they uuuh where flying around the whole time ony cool sonau tech maschines, you just dont see or hear from them ooooorrr they were uuuuh out of the country at the time" (sending invitations to other continents to join their glorious kingdom ;) )

(bet they are also gonna say they did all the stuff like ... moving the shrines around (lol?) and lifting the islands up into the sky- which is still weird bc ... didnt they also say they were living in the sky before coming to the surface?? so where?? did they park all their islands on the surface and the mystery kids had the keys so they had to repark them back into the sky after they returned off camera?? xD also why are the islands so different as an environment if they where from the surface? like even the STONE up there is different- and if they were first in the sky then on the surface and the nback in the sky .. why is there not a single yellow tree or grass in the past- you cant really argue that it changed bc they were up there so long bc .. nothing else changed, the suddendly and totally always there sonau buildings are largely in prime condition, only some slightly moldy, and what we see of the glorious past looks barely any different from the present, aside from like ... some standard trees shuffled, no castle yet and that glowy uwu filter DESPITE that stupidly long time frame between it)

[mutsky]

finally indulging in love sea special episode

-ohh their gay ass printed house pattern im in love

-they live in the lagoon omg

-woah woah woah slow down there

-the person on twt who said mut is more "i will die for you" than "i will kill for you" is wrong bc hes threatening palm with violence if tongrak so much as sneezes

-vi rak worstieisms

-theyre so sickeningly in love

-sometimes a baby girl is a 31 year old grown man

-i honestly thought he was gonna say take me to bed

-the underwater scene is so gorgiana

-ok son of posiedon

-why are vimook so sweet

-you know out of everything they couldve taken the girls diving

-going to suspend disbelief and think he didnt smell the eggs cooking in the house

-chanyas body is so perfect shes distracting man

-aya is so cute

-this is what vimook shouldve been all season long now im mad

-the sun is obviously set how would his skin burn

-this happened to my buddy huaien too

-in this scene in the book mut is groping rak under the table

-ok there was some of that

-mind you mook is a secretary to a bl writer ... girl please clue in

-i love the way mook just melts into the kiss

-rak is not a camper lets be real

-absolutely no way anyone enjoys canada

-shut up vimook cuddling is too cute

-he can only sleep in his silly silk

it was perfect it was tooth rottingly cute

[buckevantommy]

How can a bunch of teenagers tie up a tank like Lou ?? (Outer banks)

Is there any lead that their group will be in season 4??

it does not track nonny.

i know we're supposed to be rooting for the teens and not the badguys, but i would've liked to see ryan (lou) and his mercenary bud break free and for there to be a bit more back and forth before the teens ultimately got away. but this show doesn't give too much thought to those kinds of scenes, unfortunately.

the more i've watched of season 3 the more it frustrates me how they just bend the characters to the plot - it comes off fake af and inorganic, just forcing situations that don't feel believable - let me suspend some disbelief in this fun adventure mystery ffs! and as much as i've praised the production quality of this show, i must say again that the script leaves much to be desired - like having a bunch of lanky disorganised teens somehow manage to subdue a beefy af deadly mercenary (while dozens of other mercenaries wait outside), and the trite af dialogue. they also miss numerous opportunities to do something more with the "action" scenes so they don't come off as teen-fantasy instead of reality, but they're clearly counting on a younger audience so they fudge scenarios to suit them.

also: apparently it's not based on a book?? i thought it was, bc it plays out very much like a YA series in many ways including the character focus and plot developments. the fact that it wasn't based on a book (but instead "adventure novels" in general?) is insane to me bc that means they could've tweaked various elements to elevate the plot. i would've liked to see more scenes with the badguys (they felt the most real, oddly enough). i would've liked to see more of everyday life around the island (we're trapped in a bubble with these teens and it's suffocating). and i honestly struggle to understand how they got 3 seasons with no queer characters in their SIX main teen characters plus numerous adult side characters?? and honestly i would've preferred a stronger rating in general - more blood and violence and swearing, but also more screentime for the badguys, less manufactured teen drama, and more cultural depth to the whole "treasure hunting" thing bc everyone is just after the money which doesn't sit well to say the least (give me one fucking character trying to get this historical find secured for the people instead of greedy foreigners, yknow?).

btw: i just finished the finale, and aside from charles esten continuing to be a force of fucking nature in every scene he's in this season, the highlight for me was the standoff in the jungle where ryan confronts the group (granted i'm mostly watching for lou, but still: he fucking delivered whereas the rest of the cast -bar charles- was meh). lou was amazing this entire season (except for that accent: it needs to be canned or improved, maybe ditch it for a different brit region, but i encourage the aussie/south african sound he had during his first few eps, but then it morphed). the culmination of the treasure hunt was boring af too, severely lacking, way too simple but also poorly explained with elements that made no sense, it felt rushed and surface-level and just eye-rolly lazy and uninspired.

(just adding this: the most engaging relationship dynamics this season was the main couple and their respective fathers)

season 4 has finished filming. idk why bc the treasure plot (el dorado) was wrapped up, but apparently there's a different treasure? i didn't watch the first 2 seasons so maybe they dealt more with that.

edit: oh, blackbeard's treasure is the new quest, cool. not making me miss ofmd or anything.....

[terezis]

i wish you would write a fic where about an idea you have that you’ve been meaning to start but haven’t gotten around to yet ✨

ok normally i'm not a fan of canon divergent aus where the the plot more or less follows canon, but suspend your disbelief w me: "harrow nova" au where harrow sacrifices herself for gideon during the fight with cytherea, forcing gideon to become a lyctor.

gideon, who in every timeline is predisposed to running away, compartmentalizes from the eighthfold word like harrow did in canon, causing gideon to forget her; therefore her eye color does not change. (the "running away" is metaphorical in this au) 

so gideon, newly the first, shows up on the emperor's flagship with her mother's red hair and her father's gold eyes and her cavalier's freshly preserved soul in the back of her brain. also, ianthe is there.

surely no problems will come of this!!!

anyways i think it would be an interesting combination of john trying very hard to keep the old lyctors away from the new ones for as long as possible + the tower princes kiriona gaia and ianthe naberius, speedrun edition.

would be set primarily on the erebos instead of the mithraeum, bc again, john is trying to buy time. for one thing he needs to figure out what the hell is going on, is this a fluke, a coincidence, how was gideon born, etc... then once he puts those puzzle pieces together, he needs to figure out which of friends betrayed him and what he wants to do about it.

is he angry enough at the betrayal to kill bc of it? does he want to play the long game, since there are still rbs out there and he needs all hands on deck to take care of them???

for me the way i see it, john didn't kill mercymorn until she went after him first. canonically he was willing to give augustine a second chance. so i think in this au he'd convince himself that he could get them to come around… but all the better if he never has to: say, if gideon's eyes weren't gold, then he would have waaay more time to workshop his plans.

in short: he tries MUCH harder to get gideon to eat harrow in this au.

since i don't think the tomb has been opened in this au, bc why would it have been, the rb would be a little slower to arrive (varun is chasing alecto.) so i think the primary "antagonist" of the "book" becomes blood of eden, who recently killed 18k+ cohort soldiers.

would be vvv tasty considering gideon looks just like their dead commander, and also corona is working for them, which ianthe isn't going to love!!!

and all the while john is making static noises into the phone whenever mercymorn calls, he's playing dad with his new daughter like he tried to do with harrow only this time that's actually his kid,

and actually you know what i think wake's haunting gideon like she did w harrow in this au. this is me pushing my other hc into the story again: in canon wake haunted gideon her whole childhood, until gideon picked up her sword and wake's revenant possessed it instead. if gideon's a necromancer in this au, she never touched that sword, so her mother's been with her this whole time. here's how the caanan house subplot can still win

anyways good au. would love to write it someday

[castle-dominion]

c1x1 flowers for your grave

Apparently the petals were silk. Frame rate could use some help. Sexy murder tho.

I didn't realize Gina was introduced so early!

I feel bad for the normal detective from the initial pilot that they replaced in the series/extended pilot with ryan, probs be he looks cuter. Unless my man lived in NY whereas SD (KR) lived in LA.

I've watched the commentary version of this & wowie there is a lot that makes sense the second time around

Wow what a sexy pilot episode. HOLY CRAP WHERE IS RYAN'S CLOTHING I CAN SEE HIS ENTIRE TORSO /hyp.

LP: Even bought her flowers. Who says romance is dead? KB: I do. Every Saturday night.

Espt in the first episode talking abt just doing his work, getting paid, & going home. The first episode really is trying to set characters right off the bat even tho I feel like they didn't get their groove until e4 (which is why I'm watching these backwards).

Don't you guys read? Doesn't mean they specifically read Castle books.

Castle puppydog face uwu, also wow stubble man. Must be a huge rebound for NF after his last show. Martha & Alexis getting their characters set XD. lmao Gray-dar! She sounds so young! I love alexis! (But at least where I live it is legal for a guardian or a guardian's partner to give their kid alcohol in the safety of their own home.)

New york, LA, NY, LA

RC: When I was your age... (he stops himself) I can’t tell that story. It's wildly inappropriate. Which, oddly, is my point. Don’t you want to have wildly inappropriate stories that you can’t tell your children?

CASTLE Just once, I’d like someone to come up to me and say something new. BECKETT (O.S.) Mr. Castle? [Castle turns around and pulls out a pen.] CASTLE Where would you like it? [Beckett approaches and holds up her badge.] BECKETT Detective Kate Beckett. NYPD. We need to ask you a few questions about a murder that took place earlier tonight. [Alexis takes the pen while she hangs around his shoulder.] ALEXIS That’s new. (https://scriptline.livejournal.com/16926.html)

Again, the intro is so much bigger than it is in the future.

Says here that you stole a police horse? And you were nude at the time?

Castle is kinda gross sometimes. I am glad I saw him in later seasons bc now seeing the start I know I would Hate Him. I kind of do. Beckett is so strong & castle is such a boy.

Ooh music. I noticed good music earlier too.

RC: C’est apres minuit dans un school night. Don’t you turn into a pumpkin or something? Wow language alexis!

the physicality is so cute & sweet.

[Beckett comes in carrying a box full of Richard Castle books.] RYAN o.o ... What are those? BECKETT Castle's greatest hits. You're going to familiarize yourselves with all of his murder scenes so we don't miss any. ESPOSITO Got any on tape? (laughs) A point for the espt adhd hc, not as strong as my adhd ryan hc. But hey castle does readings, I'm sure he could record one of those... he's a famous author he surely has audiobooks, tho I always like it when the author narrates their own book.

KR: "From the library of Katherine Beckett." KB: Do you have a problem with reading Ryan? didn't u already use this like JE: Yo, check it, girl. You're totally a fan! KB: Right. Of the genre. Girl u'r a homicide detective u rly want to read more crime after work? KR: Right. The-the genre. That's why you're blushing. KB: What are you, twelve? & then actually she gets ryan into these books which I think was a great touch even tho it is never explicitly spoken about. Ryan looks somewhat normal today, not like a weird college student. It def seems like ryan is not just the new guy on the show but espt also looks closer to beckett & ryan seems like the new guy here, even tho as confirmed somewhere in s2 they had already been partners for three years or smth.

Rly weird to see the two precinct sets. Are they canonically considered the same location & we are supposed to suspend our disbelief?

Nope : )

Castle sherlock holmsing here & then gets too close to home. & beckett's face just falling ever so slowly, I love it. That was good.

Maybe the guy was just a fanartist.

Man the livejournal transcript has some info but sadly the captions have more & I just can't hear it that well. Castle is chatting with espt at his desk & I can't tell who is saying what, esp when that fellow walks across the screen, covering their lips. I think it went smth like this: (conversation happening before the scene switches) (RC probably asks smth like: so have you ever shot anybody?) (JE: ...) Shot anybody? RC: Did you ever shoot anyone? JE: Yeah KB: *interrupts with stuff abt the case* Like bro idk how that convo actually went but typically u don't ask someone if they ever shot anyone. idk if it was cop talk or if castle just learned this man is ex-military or what. I also just enjoy learning abt the characters & I wouldn't mind having seen more convo.

Big cheese...? Also ew there are like.. protocols. JE: Man’s got the Mayor on speed dial. The rich really are different. KB: You want him? He’s yours. (that's gay) JE: A control freak like you with something you can’t control? No, no. That’s going to be more fun than Shark Week. These two with their banter. Love it.

Bro you DO come to a complete stop & do proper taxes. you might do a rolling stop at a stop sign or pay for parsley instead of cilantro.

Lanie is a fan <3 *extending hand* Lanie Parish. Medical Examiner. I love your books. Y’know, you have a real gift with the details of death.

Then u don't know me very well.

Why is she wearing a vest but not rysposito?

NY, LA, NY, LA, I def recommend watching the commentary version. Man got a shrine.

Ew ableism. You are really frightening the fellow there. My brother had to (verbally) kick a nurse's ass when she kept touching a patient without consent. He's a "lowly porter" tho so yk how things go. Nurse was too obsessed with doing what SHE thought was right (soothingly touching the patient) instead of respecting the patient's boundaries & explaining what was going on.

KB: This isn’t one of your books, Castle. Out here, we find a guy standing over a body with a gun, he’s usually the guy who did it. Not foreshadowing...

Love the writer poker. Presents it like he's writing a story.

She just runs after him all angry. He becomes sweet. He WAS sweet. Even though he used the opportunity. The music <3

I like how apples is a reoccuring word.

Martha <3 "I've had LOTS of father figures" lmao

Still, espt is the one talking with beckett.

I love how rick & alexis are chatting & then Martha is just there. MR: That makes about as much sense as Mouse Trap. I did that play eight times a week for a year. I still have no idea what it's about.

I love how the show still managed to have beckett & castle finishing each other's sentences even tho they r not even in the same room.

AC: by a lot MR: Mine too

I love seeing the scenes that they used in the intro for s1. I don't think s4 has an intro tho & I kind of miss it.

RC: This is not what it looks like. This-- I-- Okay, this is exactly what it looks like. But I can explain.

I suddenly remember how this ends. Oof poor guy, children was such a habit & now he has to say child.

Want a hot dog? I want a hot dog. (Beckett grabs his nose) Ow apples apples apples! He couldn't have lost weight to look sick thin becks. Maybe he WAS workout thin & then he's all depressed bc his daughter was just murdered & now he LOOKS sick thin, but that's a stretch.

Good on her for this lie/train of thought. Does he KNOW when all three were murdered? I mean they were probs in the paper, that's how he "found out" her case kid "killed" her.

Why did he specifically fly out on those days? I think being out of town /specifically/ those days is sus.

RC: Oh Markway! Tell him I say hello.

I love the way that castle talks versus beckett. Lol writing on castle's back

Boy just puts it in the shredder like that?

Yay the non-ryan cop & the scaffolding, now it looks like a city. Beckett talking to him like a toddler. She just cuffed him XD. You know, I'm glad I have a cuff key. You're actually more likely to be accidentally cuffed in some sort of sex cult than accidentally cuffed by a cop. I also have an elevator key which is useful. Too bad I actually lost my keyring. Rick is so cool & sexy & valid. Why would he take off his shoe tho? The audio commentary: "I have never seen toes that small on a man over six foot." The poor filming, they had to clean up the paper every time. & make sure they were no rocks or needles for poor NF (RC).

tbh I understand this guy. Sibling is the pretty one, the loved one, the smart one. That WAS cool castle! Even the weird little sound effect.

I forgot that castle know guns, at least a bit. Probs research for his prev books. I'm remembering that episode, probably 5-8 somewhere, when beckett taught him to shoot a gun but he already knew & then won a bet. Ye. He knew the safety was on too.

Hoowee she is so self confident & hot.

nice skull lamp

tough BUT savvy?

Little eyebrow cock at the end. The start of everything!

[nyctarian]

trying to read a book that is extremely hyped and then realizing it actually sucks shit is always annoying

[loverofallthingssmart]

update on portrait of a thief eesha beloved ik this was written by an asian person and they have every right 2 talk abt the asian experience of ur parents wanting u to be doctors and shit but i am on like the fourth chapter of them explaining how their parents had Expectations and wanted them to be Successful and i am So Bored . they're all so ??? flat feeling dkjfnj idk about this one boys but i restate it is the fourth chapter i will report back if i start liking it again. but like what's the MOTIVATION FOR THIS . like i know in a broader aspect yes but then like i don't see why these ppl care so much they would just rob chinese artifacts fr a museum. it's not drawing me to caring abt them they are literally just some dudes. eesha save me from this horrific characterization

HELP bestie i read + watched some reviews about this book (bc one of the booktubers i watch during her reading wrap up discussed this book)) and i think it’s EXTREMELY character based so you might not have a good time with it and you have to suspend your disbelief because there's no way they would have gotten away with this heist because it's more focused on their feelings and APPARENTLY their voices all sound the same so 😩😩😩

[wistfulrat]

Good evening! Do you know any good enemies with benefits drarry fics? Thank you

hi anon! Y E S i love the enemies with bennys trope especially when it’s not just pure hate sex but like...reluctant confidant who im gonna engage purely out of spite?? frenemies to lovers if u will. they’re both getting something (sex, verbal sparring partner, emotional punching bag, wound healer) from the other while still having major unresolved feelings of resentment until the inevitable breaking point where they must Adress Things. anyway here’s a short list :)

Harry Potter Gives a Shit by @talithan - 58k, M

“Where are you headed?” “No place special,” Draco fumbled, and flushed further. But then: “I can change that,” said Harry Potter.

a remorseful draco who develops feelings after hooking up with an extremely messy and shitty harry who is dealing with his anger, hurt, abandonment issues, general trauma, etc. in the most selfish and reckless way possible. harry’s truly the Worst in this. his family (ginny, granger, weasleys) are written really well bc they 1) unconditionally love him but 2) are extremely done with his shit. on the other hand, draco will take what he can get bc he wants to be loved, cares a lot about harry, and knows he’s being mistreated but can’t bring himself to leave. they’re angsty fuck buddies for a while until inevitably, harry starts to fall in love with the draco everyone else has already accepted as a friend. u will read this and need to take several naps after but it’s worth it. mostly because it’s refreshing to read a version of harry that isn’t heroic or morally rigid but very sad and says things like “you make me want to let you take care of me” ....p a i n

Kiss The Joy (Until the Sunrise) by @icmezzo - 37k, M

The Room of Requirement was severely damaged in the war, but not so much that it could not provide for one lost student and another young hero—especially when they needed each other most of all.

it’s set immediately after the battle. they both want to hide but they’re met with the one person who will absolutely not let them rest. they hate each other. there’s hexing and shouting and sneering. but their resentment doesn’t stop them from benefiting from the other’s presence. the sentient room somehow provides an escape but also an opportunity for absolution. they talk even though they’ve nothing kind to say at first. they tend each other’s wounds even though they haven’t quite quenched their mutual bloodlust. it’s sleep-deprived, nightmare-haunted, hungry, lonely boys who grow to see that the other has what they need.

Strangeness and Charm by @drarrytrash - 45k, M

One November night during his eighth year at Hogwarts, Draco ends up in the forbidden forest. That’s how it starts.

or: If two boys fall in love in a magical forest, does it still make a sound?

one of my all time favorite fics in general (and feels complementary to Kiss The Joy). it’s the surreality of insomnia, a sentient mysterious forest, a chance to talk about things plainly in the twilight zone where they can pretend they don’t hate each other in real life. it’s an atmospheric dream of a fic that’s asking two very angry boys to suspend their disbelief and consider: what would it be like if you weren’t awful to each other? (also them reading twenty thousand leagues under the sea, a book where jules verne writes about the ocean as if she were sentient, the embodiment of love and emotion?? as the forbidden forest herself orchestrates harry and draco’s love story?? shutUP intertextuality) — anyway i would die for this fic it’s perfect

IDK My BFF Hermione? by @letteredlettered - 19k, E

"Because you're common too, aren't you." Malfoy seemed insistent; it was not a question. "You're just as disgusting and vulgar as I am."

"Yes."

"We were never any different, were we."

"No," Harry said, and kissed him.

—Draco's a hot mess. Harry's lovin' it (hell yes).—

all the war kids were robbed of their childhoods so this is their delayed rebellious phase (bc revolting against the government, although metal af, doesn’t count). ur gonna try and tell harry that he Shouldn’t lust after draco’s eyeliner? hmm good luck bitch. it’s lots and lots of steamy hate sex and general recklessness but also humanizing conversations about the longing to be good, free, desirable, wanted, forgiven, respected, seen but not hypervisible, left alone but not lonely. what begins as “im using u for pleasure bc i was denied this since birth” becomes “u make me feel like im not wrong for wanting things that make me happy” —because why write pure smut when u can write weepy philosophical smut😌

[marinetteplztakeabreak]

chloe in my adrininogami roommates au

under the cut bc its a little long (1500 words of notes about chloe in this au)

ADRININOGAMI ROOMATES AU RECAP: its not really an au its just a timejump, Adrien Nino and Kagami are all like 18-19 and roommates, hawkmoth is still out there and lb and cn still dont know each others’ identities, Nino and Kagami know each others’ secret identities but don’t know Adrien’s and he doesn’t know theirs, Nino is at university while Adrien and Kagami are just taking a gap year and working minimum wage jobs and honestly they are all thriving and bffs

Chloe is a music major

At the same university as Nino

i have very little knowledge of the universities of Paris so this is going to be partially based on the American system, im sorry but youre going to have to suspend your disbelief real quick

so the university has a rule where first year students have to live on campus in the dorms

Nino escaped this rule because he is a goshdarn music nerd and quest for knowlege cannot be stopped

There wasn’t even an AP Music Theory class at his high school when he started there but he was like “whats up guys i have self-confidence now and i think it would be pretty nifty if we had this class” and then talked to teachers and convinced a bunch of his friends to sign up for it so now its a class

And thats the only AP Music class and he still wanted to learn,,, so he just,,, started taking online college courses,,, in music theory,,, for fun,,,, the absolute nerd <3

he will ramble excitedly about music history to anyone who will listen and you cant even be upset bc he is so energetic about this

All of this is to say that, by the time he graduated high school, he had already completed a bunch of college classes, so he got to enter university as a sophomore, which is how he is living off campus with adrien and kagami

Chloe, however, is a freshman, so shes gotta live on campus in the freshman dorms and have a roommate

her roommate, by the way, is Juleka

Chloe has calmed down significantly by this time and sucks a lot less. She and Juleka are not friends by any account, but basically, when they were signing up for roommates, they were both like “whelp this is better than rooming with a total stranger, i wont talk to you or bother you if you dont talk to me”

chloe and juleka have not actually spoken to each other since school started,, they pretty much stay out of the dorm room unless they are sleeping and then they stay on their side of the room and do not make eye contact and dont touch each others stuff

and chloe is totally fine with this

just kidding, hahaha, she is sad and lonely and wants to make friends but is terrible at it,,, her models for friendship include Adrien who she knows she messed up with completely and the best thing she can do now for their relationship is avoid him so she doesnt mess it up more,, and Sabrina, who is also refusing to speak to her now and basically taught chloe that the way to do friendship is to like? do their homework or something??

(juleka is vibing and living her best life btw, shes just also an introvert and only goes to the dorm when she is tired and needs to refresh and also chloe is the one acting like they shouldnt talk)

SO,,, chloe is a music major bc she thinks its pretty nifty and fun and also because she is trying to avoid anything to do with her parents,,, she has reached the point where like “be a dissapointment to my parents” is like,, her life goal,,, which is kinda a “good for her” situation and kinda a “holy heck plz get her some therapy situation”

wow we’ve got a bunch of backstory but we are finally to the point of this post

Chloe has several classes with Nino and she keeps accidentally flocking to him because she already knows him from high school and he has such good vibes

Nino is kind of just trying to avoid her,, he doesnt HATE her,, but,, it is chloe,, yknow

but then they get paired up for a group project and the group meets at nino’s apartment, and adrien is not in the building whenever chloe is there, on purpose,, they will be friends again eventually but their friendship is taking a little bit of a break and adrien is still learning how to have boundaries so he’s just doing what’s best for his mental health

chloe is totally fine with this and doesnt miss him at all

just kidding she is lying

BUT

you know who IS just chilling in the apartment while chloe is there

kagami

who is now like 19 and having some actual self confidence and happiness and who is chilling in her apartment with nino, one of her best friends

and chloe gets through the first group meetup at nino’s house and doesn’t spent any time just staring at kagami who’s chilling reading books in the corner (yes she does)

chloe is actually trying her hardest to be nice to the group members and make friends and prove that she can be a good person and a hard worker but she has very little social skills or work ethics skills and is having complicated emotions about adrien and hasnt even realized it yet but she is falling HARD for kagami,

all that is to say that chloe is a little bit distracted from the group project

but anyway they meet up again and this time chloe has done a ton of research and prep beforehand bc she doesnt want 2 be caught offguard made to look like a fool again and everyone is like what the heck, since when does she study things?

and anyway the project goes pretty great

but then

chloe has a goshdarn crying breakdown

because she is experiencing too many emotions all at once

the combination of just,,, university coursework is stressful and living without servants for the very first time in her life and parental issues and not having friends and also literally everything is just aaaa

so she starts crying in her dorm while doing homework while juleka is there but she literally forgets that juleka is there bc juleka is kind of a cryptid

and juleka just kinda stares at her for a minute and then is like “u good”

and chloe tries to pretend shes not startled and is like “haha yeah its fine”

and juleka is like “have u considered getting a tutor”

and chloe, who is stupid, is like “hmm i should ask nino to tutor me but only at his place and only when kagami is home and i should make sure that i look super cute and i need to study beforehand so that i look cool and smart in front of kagami,, i mean,, for no reason at all i just think this is a good idea”

she talks to nino and nino is like “ok i guess i can help tutor you but u have to actually make an effort and also stick to a schedule so youre not there when adriens there bc we are respecting his boundaries and also you need to-”

and chloe is like “great perfect done”

and then she actually does everything nino says

so basically

she ends up passing all of her classes and making friends

literally just because she is too stupid to actually try to talk to kagami

they literally do not have any conversations other than like “hey, whats up?” “nothing much lol” for like,,, an entire year

also chloe does not admit to herself that she has a crush on kagami for that entire time either

meanwhile adrien and nino and kagami are all a little confused bc chloe keeps flirting at nino??? and adrien is like “im pretty sure she likes girls but idk???” and nino keeps being like “hey chloe what’s up, i just got back from hanging out with my amazing girlfriend alya who i am very in love with,, and who is my girlfriend,, who i am dating”

and chloe has literally no idea why he is doing this but continues to flirt at him and subconciously hope that kagami will catch some of her flirting vibes and falls in love with her

so basically

they are all stupid

BUT Chloe and Nino do become actual friends and chloe actually respects him for the amazing wonderful smart talented kind person that he is and he helps her make some new friends and they get to the point where they are a super great study group and she’ll listen to all his homework assignments and proofread some of them when its like finals cramming time and they are supporting each other and their friendship is good

[charliemcarthy]

hello!! so ive been following u for a while now (since 2014 or earlier i think? i have vague memories of danny phantom merfic) and ur the only person i follow who posts about nancy drew so i Have to ask bc my curiosity keeps piquing over the years. i love puzzle/detective games, where do u think i should start if i wanted to get into the nancy drew games? :]

80 Hello! What a juicy ask to answer over my morning coffee >)

I have answered a couple asks/posts over the years about starting the games:

This one as well as this ask can be quick places to start <3

I also highly recommend this post made by Nancy-Drew-Designs that I just rebagled. I love the way they've organized the games into this chart, it's very reliable, even when taking int account that each game's difficulty can be suggestive. It might be easier to use this when you've got a few games below your belt, though! None of the above posts contain spoilers <3 (None of the below do either!)

This gets VERY long and rambly here, and I don't even mention all the games >>; Sorry!

So TBH my tastes/suggestions haven't changed much in the 4 years since I was asked which games were the 'best.' I will still stick by Ghost of Thorton Hall, Shadow at the Water's Edge, Final Scene. I will also toss Ghost Dogs of Moon Lake, The Haunted Carousel, or Message in a Haunted Mansion into the ring. ...Charlie loves spooky stuff, can you tell XD DOG, CAR, and MHM are all older games, and despite their age they have stood up to time pretty well.

MHM is a shorter game but riddled with spooks and creeps around every corner. There's a particular scare on the foyer staircase that chills me to this day. Play this in the dark with headphones on!

DOG was baby Charlie's first game and so it will always be one of my reccs. It's got ghost puppos, spooky woods, cemeteries, and talks of old gangsters in the roaring 20's! What's not to love!

CAR is another shortish game, with somewhat simple puzzles. I love theme parks too, I grew up with my folks working the town carnival. There's something about an empty theme park that soothes/relaxes me, but I think it's liminal space for a lotta people. I also like it's secondary plot/message about grieving and loss, and it's one of my most replayed games simply for the gentleness of it. The music is just haunting, too~

The nice thing about ND games is there is, literally, something for everyone! And they, most of them anyway, maintain their theme's integrity or showcase good, honest research to whatever their niche subject is. Some games you have to suspend disbelief more than others, for example Secret of the Scarlet Hand is NOT osha safe, and that's all I'll say about that. (But omg, is it a cool as fuck game, and they did their due diligence with Mayan culture, even made baby!Charlie stop and question why it was okay for museums to just...take from other cultures even in the name of learning and preservation. Like, good for them, my mom loved that sm.)

If you love orcas or the ocean, or perhaps have fond memories of East Coast livin', you'd enjoy Danger on Deception Island, or maybe you'd like to head to the tropics, in which case, Creature of Kapu Cave might be a fun one.

The Legend of the Crystal Skull has lots of perils and unease, and since it's rooted in New Orleans that's no surprise.

If you like horses, or old western romances, perhaps the Secret at Shadow Ranch will tempt you first!

You also can't go wrong with The Secret of the Old Clock, which is a cute lil rewind and lovingly recreates the first Nancy Drew book while still keeping itself fresh and unique. Plus hey, mini golf!

And if you were an Ancient Egypt kid, like so many of us were, then Secret of the Lost Tomb will be right up your alley~

And of course, if you want to literally start from the ground up, simply check the wiki, and you can play them in order <3 (Though I will suggest playing the Remastered Secrets Can Kill in place of game 1. XD It's a lil more fleshed out, more polished etc.)

The newer games, in my opinion, are sort of where things start to...fall apart. I have played The Silent Spy, Labyrinth of Lies and didn't like them. I played Sea of Darkness and did enjoy it but...well, let's put put this way:

I've played those newer games past GTH once. More out of desperation and loyalty for the old studio, frankly. They are not high on my list of recommendations, but perhaps you will play them and find something more to love than I did, Anon.

I've replayed most of the above recommendations since 2002, almost ad nausea, all different levels. Some of my best memories are playing them over with my friends, watching the game new through their eyes. I've converted a few who snubbed point and clicks into ND addicts, having had them tell me, "well these games are different. Even the campy, old ones--they just are."

Now, quickly, difficulty can be relative. I personally think some of the 'harder' games are easier and vice versa, but the games thankfully all come with Amateur and Master Sleuth modes.

There really isn't a wrong answer, to be honest. (Except Midnight in Salem. Please don't start with that one.)

Certainly go with your gut, and dig into titles that pique your interest beyond the ones I've mentioned. And of course, come back and tell me what you think!

[autisticcassandracain]

The only one I can really think of is Batman: Prodigal. Granted, Dixon wrote most of it and Alan Grant seemed to care about making the story cohesive so it was more put together than most crossovers. But even Prodigal went on waaay too long because they really had to squeeze 3 months’ worth of issues out of 4 separate books. Like I thought things might be wrapping up around when they defeated Two Face and it just??? kept going??? for five more issues??? I can’t think of any good reason why such a small-scale story should be so long. I haven’t read No Man’s Land yet and I’ve heard mixed reviews but you’ve made me more optimistic, so thank you for that

I haven't read Batman: Prodigal and I'm probably not going to for a while bc I've been really burnt out on Dixon (like you CANNOT escape the guy he seems to have written every batbook in the late 90s-early 2000s let me REST) so I can't agree or disagree with you there but that does seem to be a bit of a common problem with crossover events tbh. a lot of the time the pacing is one of the worst parts of them.

and No Man's Land definitely has its issues; I read the trade paperback so I wouldn't have to hunt down every single individual issue and it's been a while since I've read the latter half of it (bc it's so LONG jesus christ) but even the first half has problems. the thing is that it's so long that it's got several 'arcs' and mini-stories within it, so even when some stories are like, drenched in ableism or copaganda or relying on this weird idea No Man's Land has that all the people would completely loose all common sense/revert to some pre-modern knowledge state (idk how to explain it otherwise it's weird) or something, others may be better. You also need to be willing to have quite a bit of suspension of disbelief about the whole situation because it really doesn't make any kind of logical sense. So that all said I think mixed reviews make sense, your enjoyment on the event is very much based in whether you can suspend your disbelief and find enough mini-arcs you enjoy.

That said I was really impressed with their ability to make this premise work at all, on literally any level, because by all rights and logic it REALLY shouldn't have. It did have some ideas and views that I don't really agree with (one that comes to mind was that one time Superman visited and tried to help but was rebuffed bc ~the people weren't ready~, which was dumb as fuck and an obvious attempt to try and explain why other heroes weren't helping that royally backfired and really broke my immersion), but it also had some ideas and moments that I thought were really good (Poison Ivy helping kids and eventually helping to supply fresh produce, the way the internal economy of Gotham City ended up developing during No Man's Land, Cass's introduction, the way they interpreted Barbara's/Oracle's roll in a city with very limited technology and broken infrastructure, etc.)

I think having low expectations going in helped, but I also think there was some genuine effort put into worldbuilding this effectively post-apocalyptic version of Gotham City, which helped it all feel a lot more cohesive to me than most crossover events I've read; it felt like someone set up the rules for No Man's Land Gotham and everyone, even the arcs/issues that I think were shit, played within those rules. (Obviously idk what the writing process was actually like but that's what it felt like to me.) I completely understand why some people don't like it, but I still think what they managed to accomplish was impressive when frankly the idea should've crashed and burned before it even started. I think that's the reason the good moments stick in my mind more than the bad. In my opinion it's worth a read if ur at all interested, just to form your own opinions on it.

[yessoupy]

the @imetyouonljpodcast episode this week gave me lots of thoughts and feelings about star wars. more like, reminded me of all my thoughts and feelings around my first fandom. thus, I decided to write my own journey into and throughout star wars fandom, and what it means to me. buckle up, this story spans decades.

my very first memory of anything star wars-related is a yoda puppet that my grandmother had. it had to be from the original run of the movies, because I was maybe 4 in my first memory of it, and i was born in '86. my sisters and I loved it, and one of our cousins was deathly scared of it so we'd chase him around the house with it.

my second memory of star wars was going to the movie store with my dad and sisters and seeing our favorite yoda on the cover of a VHS. "yoda yoda yoda! daddy, it's yoda!!! can we get it?" we were holding up the display cover for return of the jedi. dad said no, we couldn't get that one yet because we had to watch them in order. so we rented a new hope and all I remember was falling asleep while artoo and threepio were trundling across the tatooine desert sands. at five I guess I was too young.

in early 1997 the special editions of the original trilogy were aired in theaters and I was in 4th grade. dad took us to see one of them (I think empire, at some point we'd finally finished a new hope). at school that grading period I sat next to a boy named mark and he noticed I was drawing little x-wing silhouettes on my paper. "you like star wars too?" he asked. when I said yes, he declared that because of my name, he was going to call me skywalker. that's the name on the back of my high school letter jacket.

in fall of 1998 I started the 6th grade and I came home from school one day to a hardbound book my mom had checked out for me from the library. heir to the empire by timothy zahn. mom pointed out where it said on the cover it was a trilogy, and I could get the other books when I finished this one. she hadn't found the young jedi knights series for me. she'd checked out a GROWN-UP star wars book.

in spring of 1999 the phantom menace came out and my parents' friend took me to see it on opening day because neither of them were free and I HAD to go that day. later on that year she took me to a star wars exhibit at the museum of fine arts. that was also the first time I saw a monet and a renoir. the exhibit had costumes (real costumes!!!) from the original trilogy and the newest prequel. I bought a book about the myth of star wars in the museum gift shop.

I read every expanded universe book our local library had, which was a lot. I had a lot to catch up on, too, since heir to the empire had been published in 1992. you never saw me at school without a star wars book. I read while walking in the hallways, even. in 6th grade I read during lunch, since I was in varsity orchestra with 7th and 8th graders and was terribly shy. they'd tell me I should socialize at lunch, not read my books, but... I wanted to read. I had a lot to learn. I have a lot to know.

I was in 7th grade when I read vector prime, the first in the new series. my first class of the day was science, and the boy I had a crush on was in that class. we had DEAR time at the beginning of that class - drop everything and read. not a hardship for me. that day, I read the part of the book where chewbacca was killed. I looked up, astonished. heartbroken. I locked eyes with the boy I liked. he nodded at the book and I showed him the cover. he nodded sympathetically. "they killed chewie," I whispered. he said "I know."

I wrote original characters in star wars fan fiction when I was about 13. I had an internet friend named rachel who lived in brisbane. then there was dave and 'roswell' who gave me ideas for my story. I loved being able to talk about the wide world of star wars with other people. we used aol instant messenger and email. my username in those days had 'skywalker' in it. I am pretty sure we met in an aol chatroom. I didn't find much of use on the official star wars site and I have probably visited it fewer than 10 times since 1999.

I read those books all through middle and high school. they were my christmas presents and my birthday presents. I moved into our family beach house after college. it sounds really nice but I didn't have running water because it was the summer after Ike hit. I would go to the used book store on 23rd street and buy a stack of star wars books and read them while I waiting for calls to interview for a teaching position. weekends I'd go into town to stay at a friend's house and help her with wedding stuff. I'd shower there, too. that's where my new stash of star wars books started, with me catching up on the legacy of the force series I hadn't read in college and then finishing up through the fate of the jedi as those came out. I felt that I had grown up with these characters. I remembered when kyp was just an orphan han rescued, when jacen and jaina were five years old, when corran horn had no wife, no kids, and was just finding out who his family was. I had capital o opinions about what color lightsaber i would have and why (silver; bc corran), I knew the geography of the galaxy and where everyone was from and my favorite planet was dathomir because women ruled it. I knew all of these characters' histories and motivations and the difficult decisions they'd made and had to live with. I loved them.

i never ventured into the online fandom space for star wars, even after I'd found other online fandom spaces, because I didn't feel like there was anything anyone could add to it for me. I was satisfied with all I'd gotten. sure, favorite characters had been killed (after chewie, the one who stung most was Mara, luke's wife), but people die. and in such a long-running series spanning so many years and trillions of miles of space... you come to expect it.

people would ask me ALL THE TIME when the sequels were coming out and I said never. then, disney bought star wars. initially I was excited (tears of joy happy) to have sequels confirmed. my mind raced, imagining a trilogy centered on the events surrounding jacen's descent to the dark side. the original actors would be the right age for that. who could play jacen?

then, the announcement came that the canon was now 'legends' and they wouldn't be taking any of it into account when writing the sequels BUT that didn't mean we wouldn't see old canon favorites. they announced adam driver as the villain and I thought "jacen." I held onto the idea that this knowledge I had, these years of knowing these stories, would still be worth something. that I'd be able to add new information to my mental bookshelves and maps. that my universe would expand further.

the force awakens was a bitter disappointment. I was upset from the crawl, leia's title making it clear to me that she wasn't chief of state, she wasn't the mother to three children, han wasn't her husband, and all of her history I'd grown to love really was gone. what I saw was the older version of a woman I'd met when she was 18 and hadn't seen her since her early twenties. I didn't know her.

I didn't know the galaxy, either. starting with the new jedi order series, a map of the galaxy was included in the front of each book with the planets named so you knew where everything was happening. the new galaxy was bare. it was small and knowable. while the hosnian prime system was destroyed in the movie, I'd never known it, and all the planets I DID know were similarly blasted out of memory. where was dathomir and its fierce warrior witches? if their planets were gone so were their people.

as the movie trudged on, a retelling of a new hope, I kept thinking, "at least let his name be jacen." I hung my hopes on this sith character being han and leia's son and sharing that name of the boy I'd known and the man who'd grown up to turn to the dark side. at that first shout of 'BEN!' I was angry. Ben?? that was the name of LUKE'S son! that was MARA'S child! Ben??? with three letters jacen solo and ben skywalker were also dead to the galaxy.

I know, I know. I should get over it. I AM thankful for poe dameron. the x-wing books were always my favorite. poe was familiar to me the way other new characters weren't. he was part of the new republic navy. I knew what that was. he flew an x-wing. I knew what that was.l and what company manufactured them. he was from yavin IV, I knew where that was and what it looked like. finn was a stormtrooper, yes, but the empire had not stolen children to be raised as stormtroopers. they were recruited like any other position. his story wasn't real to me, it wasn't something I could easily accept. and the idea that the new republic just LET the first order rise? leia's new republic would NEVER. but leia wasn't chief of state in this universe. leia hadn't had that power.

I read a lot of articles about the force awakens and the reactions to it, and never saw myself in any of them. the star wars fanboys whom I'd never known were painted as being angry because their fan knowledge was useless and "boo-hoo poor widdle fanboys" they would be mocked, rightfully. but that's why I was angry, ultimately. everyone I knew and loved was dead. worse, they'd never existed. "what do you think will happen?" some unsuspecting coworker would ask. I'd shrug, but inside I was yelling "who the fuck knows! my favorite characters don't exist anymore. nothing I know as this person you know as SKYWALKER means anything anymore."

it only got worse from there. One day I spent four hours figuring out how far the casino planet was from the drifting ships in the last jedi and doing math to figure out how long it would REALLY take to get there, using old canon star wars physics. I couldn't suspend my disbelief during that movie. everything was wrong. (the other space physics quibble I had was from TFA when poe is using comms while in hyperspace, and dropping out on a command and not... when nav told him to?? you'd fly right through a star!! were they HOVERING in hyperspace? none of it made sense.) I knew too much and too little to enjoy it.

TROS was a narrative mess already retconning new canon and I decided that I would only keep what I liked about the new canon (poe and his family) and pretend the old canon is all there is. one day I'll write the story of poe being part of the storied rogue squadron being sent by leia's new republic to put down the fascist upstarts at the edge of the unknown regions. one day.

one more quick story -- i met my college friend’s three kids for the first time when the oldest was 6. i’d sent a toy lightsaber as a gift when he was born, because i believe every child should get their first lightsaber from a skywalker, and his father had shown him the movies when he turned 4. when i walked into the house i said hello and he said, “i have some questions about star wars.”

we sat on the couch with the tfa visual dictionary, a book he’d gotten out of the library. every question he had was an excellent question, and i couldn’t answer any of them. “why does his lightsaber look like that? and why does he have the extra blades?” 

“well, kiddo, let’s see what it says here about how lightsabers are made. i used to know all about it, but they changed everything on me.”

---

what i love about star wars since disney bought it:

poe dameron, cassian andor (and all of rogue one, i got over the fact that the movie wouldn’t be about rogue squadron it was PERFECT), solo (a fucking DELIGHT), the mandalorian, and i’m sure the cassian andor live action will be amazing and i’ll love it. 

[valeriec80]

Don’t get attached to this.

My kid went to school for the first time with a full school day where I’m not spending an hour of my shuttling him back and forth, so I have this extra time, and I have decided that I need to put it back into my writing business in some way besides writing moar books (cause, you know, between my pen names I already write between 16-18 novels a year, and that’s probably, um, good). So, I remembered that before I had a child I used to enjoy blogging, so here we go. Weekly blogs. If you write them, people will come. 

Will this continue? 

Uh... I mean, I don’t know. But come back next Friday and see, I guess?

I thought I’d write about two books that I’ve read recently that I really effing liked, and that I think you should go and read RIGHT NOW. They are both in KU, and both indie, as far as I know. I’m really excited about that because, being an indie author, I want to like indie authors, but I tend to get into trad books more easily.

I think it’s the comparitis factor. It’s harder to sink into indie books, because it’s all, “Should I write something like this?” or “I wrote something like this, I wonder why mine didn’t take off like this” or whatever. I hate it, and it’s got to be a really special book to turn the voice off. 

So, without further ado, the first book is A Lady of Rooksgrave Manor, (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08S7JMPDN/) the Victorian monster erotica RH I didn’t know I wanted. I was utterly flabbergasted to see this in the Top 100 of the Amazon store, because... What is this amazing thing? There are enough other weird women like me who want this? 

Later, I found out it was on tiktok or something. I am not on tiktok, as you can ascertain from that sentence. If you’re another indie author, you also get that weird guilty stomach flutter whenever someone says tiktok, because you know it’s that new social media thing you’re supposed to be doing and the fact you’re not is the reason for everything wrong with your career. I’m like, “Oh, tiktok is a thing? I’m going to start a tumblr, because it’s 2010, yes?” Shrug. Hi tumblr! 

So, Rooksgrave is the best thing ever. There’s kind of a plot. I wish there wasn’t, to be real. I just skimmed it and went from monster sex scene to monster sex scene. She gets to f*** Mr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (well, a monster like that, anyway), a vampire, a sphinx with a hooked penis, a man made entirely of marble, an invisible man, and... that might be it. There were other monsters mentioned, and there’s apparently a sequel about another girl, and I’m here for it! I also was meh-ish on the love story where they all end up happily together, but this is because I have so much time suspending my disbelief for that. It’s the entire reason I can’t get into RH.

What I really want, and maybe someone knows about this, is a book that’s RH but where it’s like five guys fighting to the death to f*** you? They all hate each other and they’re very sexily punching each other all the time. Lots of sweaty glistening muscles and bloody noses ... like Fight Club? I keep thinking about writing it, but I’m pretty sure it won’t sell. I also don’t know how I would end it? 

Moving on. Book two is To Bleed a Crystal Bloom (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B092CDLZMF/). Holy strawberries, Batman, this book is all the things. So, I saw the cover a couple times and then I clicked to the blurb, and I think all it took was the word ‘toxic’ plus confirming it was actually epic fantasy and not some paranormal, contemporary thing (GAH! Hate that. Over that. No more of those! But don’t listen to me, bc I’m reading dystopian right now, which I’m also over, so I’m a liar, liar, pants-on-fire.) 

So, basically it says it’s Rapunzel, but it is NOT. The only thing in common is that she lives in a tower, but she’s there because she wants to be, because she has deep fears about the outside world. And the guy there has been raising her since she was like a girl, which is just the right amount of disturbing, and he also drinks her blood every night, and we never find out why. (It’s the first book in the series)

Also, at one point she goes into heat (!!) like it’s werewolf porn, which I was also very much here for. Bring on the coital tie! And I think it might be RH, too, because it seemed like all the guys kinda wanted to do her, but there was some territorial stuff going on, so it did not hit my disbelief suspendy triggers too much. (I also... OMG... territorial... take my money, book!) 

Oh, but there’s no sex, not really. A couple explicit scenes but nothing actually happens, and I also currently ship her with the guy who comes to take her from the tower who is not her toxic-daddy-figure-vampire-emotionally-unavailable-love-interest who I am pretty sure is endgame.

Anyway, it was everything.

I ADORE it.

It’s everything I ever wanted from a dark fantasy romance and more. Where is book two, woman? Hurry up!

Okay, well, that was a lot. I’m done writing now, I think. Maybe see you next Friday? We’ll see, eh?

[bloody-wonder]

Hi! I might be wrong about this so I'm sorry if I am but I think I remember a while ago on an ask about captive prince, I think you said something along the lines of the development of the main characters growing to love each other felt rushed? Or unrealistic or there was unsolved issues or something? Anyway, u said after that that u would rlly wanna read an enemies to lovers story where the ppl in the ship have done rlly horrible things to each other but yet the relationship can develop and it can be healthy and feel realistic. (I'm paraphrasing here sorry) ANYWAY, the real question I have is- is there a limit to the horrible things they could do? Like, is there a point where u think no matter how good the writing there is just no way of coming back from that and it being okay?

i don’t know?

i can’t say for sure until i read it bc that’s exactly the point - i want the author to convince me that this relationship could work. and i think many fictional relationships where people have hurt each other previously could work bc people change and forgiveness exists - but i believe in order for that to feel plausible and authentic the author should not rely on any romance tropes at all. bc many of those are problematic in itself and when you apply them to an “unconventional” relationship it only makes it worse.

which i believe is exactly the problem with capri - it’s a very compelling relationship story that’s trapped within the confines of the romance genre. and it’s a problem idk how to fix bc it being an enemies to lovers romance and relying on so many familiar tropes is exactly why so many people like it. you read it and you want laurent and damen to resolve their issues and get together, plausibility be damned, bc that’s what the story structure wants you to want in order to satisfy your expectations in the end. except i didn’t really feel satisfied and for a long time i thought that was bc cs pacat failed to convince me with how their relationship progressed in the second half of book three (bc it does feel very gradual and organic until everything makes a u-turn when jokaste appears). but recently i’ve realized that it’s only partly her fault bc she was just writing a romance and a romance has to have a happy ending with heroes ending up together unambiguously - otherwise it’s just another kind of story with a romance subplot. so in the end, unless you are willing to suspend your disbelief entirely, the way laurent and damen end up together with all their conflicts seemingly resolved, all their trauma “healed by Love” doesn’t feel authentic at all - especially in damen’s case.

that being said, when i look back on all the “problematic” ships i’ve ever liked i can see that with most of them i just had this vague desire for the characters to get together but i never thought about how their relationship would work after that and certainly not about whether it would be “healthy”. this is just not something i’m interested in in fiction. i wish everyone a nice boring healthy (whatever that means) relationship irl but as for fiction i like drama. (andreil is once again very much an exception bc nora is an aroace genius who said “fuck romance tropes”). i like insurmountable conflicts and intense, sometimes even toxic relationships. i like characters hurting each other, trying to forgive and failing and trying once again. i like forgiveness as a theme in general bc that’s something i struggle with irl and so i’m interested in deconstructing the christian dogma of forgiveness being the answer to everything and in exploring whether some realtionships could work without the characters forgiving each other. i like when love and hatred are presented as two sides of the same coin and when the character has an existential crisis about having fallen in love with the only wrong person. 

usually î want to experience this fictional Drama much more than i want the reassurance that the characters will have a healthy loving relationship in post-canon bc they are fictional, they are here to entertain me and that’s what i happen to find entertaining. when i ship characters that have hurt each other very badly i’m not necessarily looking for whatever scenario would be the “healthiest” - i’m looking for the one that would satisfy me personally the most.

[earths-roots-grow-up]

Headcanon: XIX century entertainment! Because our Hetalia bois were alive for a long time and took part in all of this. Fact: People in the XIX century - I'm talking mostly about the upper class and the rich - had different ways of entertaining themselves than we do now. Some things they did were similar, sure, like books, theater,, opera, museums - but other forms of entertainment are almost completely extinct today. One popular pastime was creating living dioramas. Those would happen during big parties but also events that were specifically created to make the diorama - famous paintings would be re-created by people who dressed up and posed. So it was almost like a film set with costumes, appropriate decorations and backgrounds! It was quite a hit and this form of entertainment is sadly extinct now.

[screencap from Freud]

Headcanon: 

Prussia: He did not like them and would rather not take part in them, but he was excellent at modeling for them due to his discipline and physical endurance. He found dioramas to be a boring, over-hyped form of entertainment - he could not get what was THE POINT as the diorama took a lot of preparation and time to make, they would last for a moment and ended. How does that make sense? But he was often urged to take part as a model bc he stood still so well and could do hard poses for a long time. He agreed but only when he got some kind of prominent role in the ‘painting’, that was the only way to make him do it: appease his ego. If everybody is looking at him and admiring, then it’s okay! Russia: He loved those things! He found them to be incredibly aesthetically pleasing, a beautiful art form and entertaining: a living painting! He himself was excellent at planning them and would host dioramas of very difficult, luxurious paintings that took tons of expensive elements. He was never shy of doing the most bombastic, over-the-top things and throwing tons of money at it. Living paintings were one of the examples of him doing just that.

He also enjoyed being a model even though he was not good at standing still as Prussia. He would ask and beg Prussia to take part in his dioramas and Prussia generally agreed to make him happy but found them to be a giant waste of money. But it’s not his money so what the hell :D   Other Nations, that were into the living paintings and would throw lots of cash at them, were France and Austria for an example. They would compete with each other on who had the biggest, most impressive ones. It escalated to the point of them using multiple animals, even big ones such as horses or renderers, in their life paintings! At some point Russia even used camels. You really can’t out-crazy him.

Fact: Another pastime was taking part in spiritual sessions (or séances). Many people believed in them, others treated them like we do horror movies or creepypastas today: they did not believe it, but found them entertaining anyway, so they would suspend their disbelief and take part in them.

Headcanon: Prussia: He did not believe in them at all. He was a proponent of the enlightenment philosophy and found all those things to be completely fake and tacky as hell. But at the same time, because of his very logical, proof-based way of thinking, he is and always was low-key freaked out by things that are supernatural. Today he enjoys watching horror movies because they really do work on him and those seanses did a very similar thing for him. So he would go to watch them and challenge himself but never believed in them. He did find them slightly disturbing (which was why he went). Russia: He was (is) much more into the romanticism philosophy and did low-key believe in the senses. He was never obsessed with them, but he was fascinated by them and never found them disturbing. He would gladly take part in them or host them, and talk to the long-dead Romanovs and other famous historical figures. Prussia found this to be naïve but it was also pretty normal during those times, so it was no big deal.