#i actually have a storyline on the backburner

[iturbide]

Kay, but if Gangrel hates Chrom's dad so much, why he in such a hurry to be just like him? Chrom's dad be like 'hmm i believe i shall kill all those people for being plegian and i shall call it a crusade.' And then years later after everyone who could rightly be held accountable is dead and all that's left are victims, Gangrel's like 'hmm i believe i shall kill all those people for being ylissian and call it justice.'

Frankly, I don't think Gangrel has the level of self-awareness to recognize that he's become what he hated.

Because that's the thing, isn't it? There's a joke of sorts in a lot of media, where a character will be doing something and suddenly stop, saying "I've become my parent" or something along those lines, because they realized that their behavior replicated something from another person. And that same character may have sworn they would never become their parent, only to have it dawn on them that they've done that anyway. They needed a revelation of sorts to become self-aware of the behavior they were replicating.

Gangrel doesn't have that self-awareness. Gangrel is fueled by hatred for the country that nearly destroyed his own, and since it's been fifteen years and Ylisse seems content to just hide that stain on their history under the rug, somebody's got to bring justice to the situation. And with the power that comes with kingship in his hands, coupled with the backing of Validar's cult, Gangrel decides he's going to be that somebody. He doesn't stop to think that "hey, maybe I'm replicating the same crimes perpetrated by someone I despise," he barrels right ahead and takes out his pent-up rage on them once he has the means to do so, because it feels good to give Ylisse what he feels it deserves after they tried to wipe out Plegia.

And I do understand how he'd come to that. Because it's heavily implied that nobody from the Ylissean side ever came forward to say "hey, what happened under the last Exalt was really fucked up." I'm not even talking about reparations -- Ylisse didn't accept any accountability for that attempted genocide: Emmeryn ended the war...and then that was it. She focused on internal politics, trying to restore the Halidom after the toll that the crusade took on her own lands, and left that open wound to fester across the border. The victims from Plegia never got any justice. They were left with a war-torn country, struggling to rebuild in conditions already hostile to habitation, with no assurance that this wouldn't happen again. I think that their conversation in Chapter 5 of Awakening is pretty telling in that regard (emphasis mine):

Gangrel: Surely you have not forgotten what the last exalt did to my people? Your father named us heathens! His "crusade" across Plegia butchered countless of my subjects and my kin! Emmeryn: ...I have never denied Ylisse's past wrongdoings. But I have sworn to never repeat those mistakes. Ours is now a realm of peace.

She admits she hasn't denied Ylisse's past. But she says nothing about Ylisse accepting responsibility for those wrongdoings. Gangrel has spent the better part of two decades letting his hatred of Ylisse keep him warm: he's clung to that above all other things. And that focus has made it impossible for him to see that he's become exactly like the man that ruined his life all those years ago.

[andreal831]

Do you like Rebekah and Hayley's friendship?

I like Rebekah and Hayley's friendship but I do think the fandom overhypes it sometimes because of Phoebe and Claire's friendship.

I think the writers intended for Hayley and Rebekah to be super close, like sisters but when Claire decided to leave the show it fell flat. I have no evidence but I've always believed that they came up with the idea of Freya's storyline simply because Claire Holt decided she couldn't continue as a regular on the show. They needed a sister to even out all the men. So I think the closeness we see from Freya and Hayley in the later seasons was originally meant for Rebekah and Hayley. But with how the show played out, Freya and Hayley or Hayley and Cami end up having closer friendships than Rebekah and Hayley do.

I wish Claire would have stayed, but I also kind of like that she got to be free of everything for a lot of the show. However, because of this, Rebekah and Hayley are more of long distance friends rather than sisters.

We don't even get to see Rebekah's reaction to finding out Hayley's dead. They have minimal reactions after the first half of season 1 and as far as we know don't keep in contact nearly at all while Rebekah is gone. For instance, when Rebekah comes back in season 3, she isn't even aware that Hayley was no longer living in the compound. She was daggered months after Hayley moved out and we saw in the beginning of season 3 that she was keeping in touch with Freya, but not Hayley when Hayley's curse is broken.

The writers constantly did a terrible job developing off screen friendships. And even the ones we get, they always put on the backburner for the romantic relationships. The writers need to learn the importance of platonic relationships.

I love both the characters and I do enjoy their friendship, but I wish it would have been more. They probably don't even rank in my top five friendships on the show simply because we see so little of them actually being friends.

Thanks for the ask!

[acourtofthought]

Girl, your blog convinced me to continue reading ACOATR! I’m honestly laughing my ass off about the whole shipping war shit because it’s so oBvIoUs who are the next 2 pairings. Crying, screaming, throwing up and convincing themselves E/riel was planned since MAF like these two didn’t start paying attention to each other in FAS because they needed a rebound. And after that bonus chapter, no less! Phew. The mate language between Azriel and Gwyn was not subtle at all. And they’re not even friends yet.

My man Lucien was NOT given a bunch of big storylines just to be kept as a sexy comedic relief. Reading posts about how 3 brothers + 3 sisters was always the plan and how irrelevant Gwyn and Lucien are and I can smell the frustration. Big mad, gritting their teeth and wiping away tears. They’re so awkward and cringy around each other, you gotta work really hard to convince yourself they have real tension and potential.

This is the highest compliment , thank you! 😍😍😍

To me, it makes sense that Lucien is on the backburner right now. Even Elain to some extent.

If these are two characters who aren't meant to be majorly involved in the NC and it's politics in the future.....then why would they be majorly involved in the NC right now? Their absence is telling but not because they've suddenly stopped being important. They simply have no real place in Nesta and Cassian's book since Nessian are two characters who are NC through and through.

SJM has often mentioned that she's excited to explore other courts outside the NC (even places outside Prythian) in the spin-off series and I think Elucien's story is going to give us exactly that.

She wasn't ready for it before but that doesn't mean she's not ready for it now.

And yeah, I'm not sure how the thought of a females happiness sparking something in your chest then later having it glow (a thing of secret lovely beauty) could be looked at as anything but coding for a romantic future between two characters. Endgame or not, that's definitely something. It's definitely something that Gwyn was a bit flirtatious towards Az (so the arguments that she's not interested in men because of her SA sound like someone trying to hold her back from taking those first steps that she herself feels comfortable with), it's something that Az found her charming, that he watched her with admiration, that he believed in her ability to make it through the Rite,

I really don't understand how it's said Elain possibly calling Az's scars beautiful (when she could have actually been talking about his Sipons) is romantic coding but those scenes between Gwynriel are not. You can still want E/riel to be endgame if that's your jam but it's strange if the Gwyn and Az moments didn't have them worried just a little.

[14dayswithyou]

▋GAME DEVELOPMENT ASKS !

✦゜ANSWERED: To avoid flooding the dash with all of these asks, I'm just gonna compile them into one big "masterpost" ^w^

By pressing 'keep reading' you confirm that you are 18 or older.

Anonymous asked: I was just wondering cuz I've noticed on some of the questions you've answered you've talked about having so much info but can't because of spoilers, and obviously you're still making the game. My question is do you have the full sotry written up and now what's left is coding, art, etc etc or is the story still in the progress of being written as well? If you feel comfortable sharing your process and all ofc, don't feel pressed if tou don't! 💕

Yeah! ^^ I've actually had the storyline fully planned out since 2017, but I'm updating and re-writing everything in the 2022 version because the original seemed kinda cringe and didn't feel consistent enough. I've only had Day 1 fully written since 2017, and everything beyond that just a general outline/dot-points of what I want to happen in each of the days. As for the progress: I still need to write the coding and dialogue, draw the backgrounds, update the sprites, CGs, and UI, and a ton of other behind-the-scenes things that probably aren't worth mentioning. ^^;

Anonymous asked: Saw you answer the ask anon sent about how development is going but was wondering if you have a general outline for the whole story (like the ‘normal’ route, ‘good’ route, etc) or if it’s certain scenes you have written and the rest is written as you work on it all? I’m just very interested in how you work on the storyline so I’m sorry if this makes you uncomfortable for any reason or you just don’t want to answer

Like the answer above, I have everything figured out (all the choices, branches/paths, endings, etc.), but they're mainly just general outlines/dot-points that I need to iron out, rather than a fleshed-out script that I can work with. I usually just tackle parts of the dialogue one scene at a time (usually by mindlessly typing out words and editing it afterwards) before moving to another scene and repeating the process. Eventually you'll end up with a semi-coherent script that you can throw into a text editor to check for spelling and then slap into the game!

Anonymous asked: You should translate it into korean too if you can!

For sure! I'm still looking into hiring translators once I set up a funding system for the game though, so I might put this on the backburner for a while ^^; Fan-translations are more than welcome though (only for the demo), and if people are interested, y'all can get in contact with me and I can send you the script!!

@marina-and-the-memes asked: is there any update on Day 2/how far in development it is LMAO and can we get close ups of the characters eyes bc my phone quality is ass NDJDJDJDJ

Like 80% of it is done! I still need to update all of the old CG art and UI, as well as write/proofread the missing scenes from the script. Everything else is completed though! And as for the eye close ups; you might have to download the images off the 14dwy itch.io page since I'm on mobile rn (and I don't have any images on hand) ^^; But feel free to send in your ask again and I'll upload the images from my computer instead!! (or wait for me to update this section lol)

Anonymous asked: Will there be life after the official game ending Few vn games have this setting, maybe you can consider. Thank you for creating Ren，Love you guys

Like game continuity? I don't think there will be any since the storyline is pretty linear and will eventually have closure once the game ends, so there wouldn't be much content to go through once the game ends ^^; I can look into adding future DLCs though!

Anonymous asked: Sooooo….can we end up with other characters instead of Ren or is our renren our endgame?? I’m sorry if this has been asked before. Pls ignore if it is. Also, I really appreciate how you take the time to answer the asks. No wonder the fans adore you😭💕. Kisses and hugs for you😚💜

Renren will be the main romance and focus for the game, but depending on the choices you make and the bonds you form with the other characters, you'll have the chance to get an ending with them instead! I won't be a fully fleshed out route or anything though.

Anonymous asked: How's development going? Have you made any progress on the game? I really like hearing about this kind of stuff

Answered above! The only reason it's taking me so long is because I'm a full time university student, and writers/artist block is Very Real ;v; I sometimes get burnt out and don't feel like writing, and I'd rather not force myself to work on the script if I'm not in the right mindset, if that makes sense?? ;v;

Anonymous asked: I don’t know if it’s been asked yet or not but will the game have different routes and/or endings? “I can fix him” ending VS “I can make him worse” ending FIGHT

Yes! Right now I have 4 main endings planned for the game, and they will all depend on the choices you make, Ren's affection for you, and his sanity meter (which will be implemented in a future update!).

Anonymous asked: i love love loved the game! im craving more! but im not sure what to look up exactly? what genre of game is this? the whole obsessive lover type haha is there a name? ALSO! where should i go to look for when the complete game comes out?

I'm not actually quite sure what genre to call it ^^; I labelled the game as a horror/romance visual novel, so you could try that? I feel like "yandere visual novel" would yield more results though since the yandere term is more common. I'm also following a ton of insanely talented game devs on twitter who create similar yandere VNs, so feel free to check them out!

[vinjaryou]

💕 Thank you for sharing those writing questions with me, my dude. They're very good. Also, I have a few here for you in return! 1. Share a song that makes you think of [fic title] 5. What’s a fic idea you’ve had that you will never write? 18. What’s one of your favorite lines you’ve written in a fic?

you're welcome! I have quite a few memes in my drafts that I need to post/answer, eep, lol (and I might have reblogged your latest one too, XD)

a list of fanfic writer asks

1: share a song that makes you think of...

Did you have a specific one in mind you wanted to ask about? For this one though, I'll go with a more recent piece - both Godsmack's Under Your Scars and Seal's Kiss From a Rose both get me thinking about kintsugi. To get a little more specific, the former when Reilena notices the peek of one of Vincent's scars that he's tried to hide, and then when he gives her permission to undo his shirt and bare some of them to her, and the latter is when the piece turns more tender and sweet heat, the quiet end of the song going with Vincent's silent 'thank you' as they fall asleep in each other's arms.

5: what's a fic idea you've had that you will never write?

That is a very good one, because I'll generally jot down any idea I have, it just depends on whether or not it ever GOES anywhere, so I can't really say I'd NEVER write it, lol. I have notes for a werewolf AU - literally just a single scene - and then a random Tekken/FFVII scene that I still kinda want to put to paper just because I really like it (and it hammers in that Vincent Valentine would make more sense in the Tekkenverse than Akuma ever would, yes I am still very salty about him being randomly stuck in the Mishima storyline no I will not get over it, lol).

I have a bad tendency to put fics on indefinite hiatus more than just not write them - I have 3 multichaps that have been abandoned for different reasons, but I still have the notebooks and writing for them if I ever wanted to pick them back up (and I still know how one of them ends, even though I never wrote the actual ending, lol).

That said, I have a couple AUs with a former RP partner that I've put on a permanent backburner because they bring up pretty iffy memories. So I think we'll go with that. I'll never write (more) for those; the notes and scenarios that have been written will just stay in their folder for now.

18: what's one of your favorite lines that you've written in a fic?

'If it is a sin to love another, then may I be forever damned.' Wrote it in an unfinished Ancient Egypt Yuugiou canon/oc fic literal decades ago, and it still sticks with me to this day. Will I ever manage to work it into another fic? Hopefully, because I feel that it could work with Vincent and Reilena, too.

For a couple more recent ones...

“You deserve to live, to love and be loved, Vincent. You have atoned enough.” - Lucrecia Crescent, to sleep, and dream of the sweet

---

“Can’t, or won’t?” Bluntly asked as he held an ashtray out, waiting for Vincent to drop the spent cigarette butt inside. Setting the plastic tray back on a nearby table, Cid leaned against the wall beside his friend, his own cigarette still stuck between his lips. “Maybe I don’t know yer entire life story – you keep that shit locked up tight, and it ain’t my place to ask just now – but what I do know is that we don’t have a lotta time left, and if you don’t do anythin’ now, it’s gonna be one more thing to add to yer list of regrets before our final showdown.” - Cid Highwind, if i had asked you out that night

(taking liberties with that last one, because I just really like how bluntly Cid tells Vincent to go say something dammit, XD)

[satans-codpiece]

Listen man, your writings feel like early comings of Christmas, I gotta do something in return, however small. Still shy af hence anon ask but hey, better than nothing ;-D

Oooooh, NOICE, looking forward to that prequel, whenever (or if?) it comes out 👀 (also my dumbass forgot to mention last time, Ram being flustered about his own dick in EY was adorable I can't-) YEEEES OH MY GOD EXACTLY- More or less everything he's had to endure all boils down to his specific model, so no wonder he was afraid of accidents... now though? Not like he has much else to loose, 99.9% of R-7000s are already gone and his own reputation is beyond repair anyway so what does the opinion of other people matter? He CAN still hurt reader which sucks by itself but he's willing to put up with his fear and I just, I'm done dude who designed this fucking character-

LMAO I defaulted to hanahaki as I assumed the whole unrequited-but-actually-requited-love thing with maybe a dash of a near death experience is an easy gateway for all the piv you could possibly want... Never mind me then, sounds like you had other plans XD And speaking of.... what do the good people of Tumblr have to do to motivate you to finish those last 4 paragraphs and hand it over? 👀 Don't care it ain't smutty I have a Need. Want another questionable anon link to horny Ram art for the motivation or something? wink wink...

PFFFFFFT Yes please, the more employees openly thirsting after Ramattra the higher the chances of new lore??? Maybe???? PLEASE??? WHEN IS THE NEW SET OF PVE MISSIONS COMING OUT I NEED MORE- ... Okay why are these asks so long, AAAAAAaaaaa- I'm sorry for being distracting >.<

fdsf re: Ramattra's dick, I mean!!! Imagine how absurd it is, you kidnap your ex and in HOPES that they'll love you again you BUILD a sex toy for them??? He's so embarrassed about his own neediness honestly.

Yes exactly! When he was bearing the weight of being a peace-advocating member of the Shambali, accidentally hurting anyone would've been such a nightmare for him. It only matters now in that he doesn't want to hurt you, the repercussions on which Reader has pretty outright stated are none since they understand that accidents happen.

Hahaha, honestly I think the reason I didn't finish it was because someone had proposed the original EY prompt in my askbox and that kind of set off a chain of events that meant EVERYTHING got tabled until EY was finished.

BUT I MEAN OH NOOOOO how could I ever continue working on Ramattra fics without the appropriate horny art???? whatever will I do????? *languishes at my keyboard*

GOD I KNOWWWW I hate so, so much that they've backburnered their actual storyline stuff :( Like, I got into OW because of the cool universe and characters, not because it's a FPS or has active esports, you know? So I've been waiting on story stuff for years and then they just had to go and make the BBEG so fucking hot and then only put out THREE FUCKING MISSIONS FKJDGJDKLSG

Supposedly I know the original timeline said new missions would be out "in 2024" so. hey. brightside, yknow?

And you're not distracting at all!!! I'm a terrible writer who thrives only on external motivation so shit like this keeps me active LMAO

[umbracirrus]

HEHEHE A, K, Q, AND S for the ask game please!!

Thank you!!! 😊

A: How did you come up with the title to [insert fic]?

I think that I'll answer this for my two posted fics about Elyse hehe.

The Perfect Storm - the plot in very simple terms is 'poor Elyse aand Balgruuf keep having all sorts of stuff getting stirred up, and they are going to come out of it in one of two ways: worn down and ruined, or stronger than ever having withstood the storm'. In hindsight that would've been an awesome description with a little tweaking of the wording.

Seeking the Sun - I liked the weather motif which I have established with The Perfect Storm, and had not long been listening to the Fire Emblem Three Houses soundtrack. The main theme started playing, and the lyrics 'I look to you like a red rose seeking the sun no matter where it goes' kind of just stuck with me. It also fits quite nicely with the general plot, in that Elyse has just moved to Skyrim to find a new happiness in her life after the losses of her parents.

K: What’s the angstiest idea you’ve ever come up with?

Ohhh that is absolutely the post-Oblivion main quest story which I have kind of on the backburner that I started writing a few months back based around one of my Heroes of Kvatch, Aelia.

In short, she and Martin fall for each other, they promise to get married once the Oblivion crisis is over, and then he goes and sacrifices himself. She's overcome with grief, refuses to leave Cloud Haven Temple... then makes an unfortunate discovery that Martin wouldn't have been the last of the Septim line, because she was pregnant with his child. And that leads to a long, spiralling path into the madness which results in her ending up as Sheogorath.

Q: Do you have any discarded scenes/storylines/projects?

Hmmm, I do have a storyline which I'm not certain if I have discarded yet, but had been toying around with the idea of...

An arranged marriage between the Thieves Guild guildmaster Dragonborn, and Hemming Black-Briar, which comes about as a form of... insurance to keep the guild firmly in Maven's hands once the guild starts trying to distance itself from her manipulations. It gets forced into place by Hemming hiring people to sabotage the guild, and then placing the idea into Maven's head so that he could 'have' the Dragonborn, though the Dragonborn was actually in a relationship with one of Brynjolf or Karliah when it comes to pass.

I did have a plot point written down in the first outlines for The Perfect Storm which has since been discarded in favour of something else, and funnily enough, it also has to do with Riften. Elyse and Balgruuf were originally going to get married in secret at the Temple of Mara if anything to give Elyse greater securities that could only really be afforded to Jarls and their families, as well as to give her some breathing room from everything going on... but it ended up very badly timed, as Ulfric just so happened to be visiting Riften on official Stormcloak business with Jarl Laila. I've since remembered that Season Unending was a Thing, and Riften is now in Imperial hands in the fic so I scrapped that idea in favour of another.

S: Any fandom tropes you can’t resist?

I certainly have a few. There was only one bed is definitely one of them, as is pretend relationships that become real ones. As is enemies to lovers, there's all sorts of flavours to that! I mean, Elyse's parents theoretically are an enemies to lovers couple, in that Ingja perceived Edwyn as an enemy, her being a resident of Winterhold and him being a member of the College and her blaming him and the College for Winterhold falling apart.

I also love some AUs, specifically ones which have just a slight twist to what is typical. For example, a few weeks back in September/October, I was very into the concept of 'what if Balgruuf was a vampire' AU. Still not finished that. Maybe for next halloween... I also like the thought of 'what if they weren't Dragonborn/didn't find out that they were Dragonborn' AUs for my Dragonborn characters.

[magicstormfrostfire]

Silver is my favorite character, and Sonic is my comfort character. Sonilver is like the coziest ship to me, and yet i never actually write full-on Sonilver. I hsve a tendancy to dance around it (like the misunderstanding between them in Equinox) or make it Sonadowilver. I should commit to a Sonilver fanfic someday.

I have a host club idea ive been sitting on for ages that has a Sonilver idea, but ive never done anything with it mostly because it has a lot of branching storylines. But also because i wouldnt know what to do with Shadow. Exes, maybe? I dunno.

The host club thing is SUPER complicated. Like i have a ton of ideas. Im putting it on the backburner for now just because theres so much in it that i have ideas for tee hee

[hurricanek8art]

So! Update on my SWTOR woes! I figure putting it in the main tag makes it so everyone that helped me sees it. Thank you everyone for your advice! I was so nervous about asking and you guys are so cool!

I'm planning on just doing Voss and Corellia for now to keep from burning out! This is like attempt three at me making a Jedi Knight because I wanted her to be my Outlander and then I'd freeze up and panic because I wanted it to be "perfect" but y'know what? Perfect's overrated anyway, this is supposed to be fun! I'll keep the other planetary storylines on the backburner in case I need to level up any further, but since I hit level 50 before I was out of chapter one and I thiiiink I hit 54 last night finishing Maelstrom Prison, I don't think I need to worry about my level being too low for a while. 🤣🤣🤣

(side note—thank you so much @greyias I GOT THE STUPID WHATSHISFACE COLONEL GUY WITH THE EYEBEAMS FINALLY 🤣 I do not know why I didn't think of using those crates as a shield before, I am so dumb :P)

You guys were so helpful and nice and I don't know what else to say I'm so bad at this 🥴🤣 but thank you! All of this actually helped me work up the courage to maaaaaaybe share my stuff? At least screenshots and backstory rambles because I have to share it somehow. I can only yammer my brother's ear off about it for so long, and he's the only other person I know IRL that's as into all this as me, so y'know. 🤣 I might make a masterpost to introduce everyone but I gotta gather up all my screenshots first and I'm kinda meh about getting good ones, so :P we'll see. And condense about two and a half/three-ish years of my brain hurtling backstories at me faster than I can write when I'm supposed to be writing other stuff into readable paragraphs. Uh... yeah, maybe don't expect it too soon. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 I'm queuing this for tomorrow because I only got the chance to actually sit down and write this at midnight here, it's been crazy. Thank you again, everyone! I'm so bad at social stuff I don't know what else to say but thanks!

I don't know how to end this, so uh... Here! Unnecessarily adding all my Republic side characters in because I love them and I constantly want to infodump when it's not the time or place! 🤣

Aja Verdona, my Jedi Knight; Reilly Hawkins, my Smuggler; Ataraxia Kestis, my Consular (and my smuggler's twin sister); and Ijaaka Ordo, my Trooper. They have permanently rewired parts of my brain and I love them all dearly even though I accidentally play favorites with Aja. 🥴

[bklynmusicnerd]

As soon as we meet the Sprina first time milestone, they better get the same amount of sex scenes as Jex. Don’t have them do it once, and then don’t until the end of the year. I still can’t believe we had to wait like a month in a half for them to have a 2nd kiss.

I guess I just don't view Joss and Dex as a standard to match in any way, and I never will. Do I want Trina and Spencer to grow into a sexually healthy and regularly intimate pairing? Of course I do! Will I be waiting for an era where all they do is have sex and exposit about other characters' more interesting storylines? Nope, sounds terrible, I will always want better for them.

Trina and Spencer are interacting like a couple to me. I just want to get back to the story arcs that are actually about them and their growth. I get the frustration with the pacing but I honestly just want more of Trina and Spencer just being together. I feel like that's what's lacking right now. The intimacy will come along with the opportunity. But I am keeping in mind that they are coming off an adventure they were in the center of for a minute so maybe this is their backburner era right now?

Cause at the present, they're giving them way too much prop duty at a very bizarre time to do it, in the aftermath of their first adventure together. It's a mindblowingly terrible storytelling decision. But I'd much rather Trina and Spencer as a couple follow a younger version of the Valentin/Anna formula than the Joss/Dex one. I do think Trina and Spencer will gradually heat up again. If only because Portia needs something to be legitimately pissed about lol.

[gatoplanet]

What would be your ideal storyline for klaus in s4?

ahhhh this is a good question - i don’t wanna get too invested in any one prediction and disappoint myself, and also s3 was vastly better than any of the possibilities i had floating around in my head lmao BUT!! even if i don’t have a lot of specific events in mind, i know what emotional beats i’d like his story to hit, if that makes sense? like, from how i’ve read klaus’s arc so far, what would feel like the most cohesive ending to me

in my mind tua as a whole is about overcoming maladaptive coping mechanisms and reclaiming agency, but also it’s got bants and superpowers to keep it from just being agonizingly depressing all the time. every sibling has a different way of dealing with their shared trauma, and imo klaus is very much the avoidant one - he dulls the world, distracts himself, occasionally fucks off to the jungle for ten months and falls in love, Just Klaus Things. idk how much of this is in the text and how much is just me rotating it in my brain for three years, but i see klaus’s original dave side quest as a) a necessary grounding element for what is otherwise a difficult character to run a thread through, and b) whatever the opposite of a stress test is?? not that being in vietnam wasn’t stressful, obviously it was a nightmare, but it was a self-contained nightmare with no connection to the main plot or to klaus’s history. there was more than enough going on to completely consume klaus for the time he was there. he got to exist separately from his usual self for a while, as well as the circumstances that cultivated that version of him, and i think of dave as a symbol of that, i guess. good narrative shorthand for ‘klaus went off by himself and got to do some growing, and then it got taken away and he’s back where he started with extra bonus sadness’

klaus getting sober to contact dave’s ghost and making long-term plans to help dave in the 60s are both him trying to reclaim part of the peace that he found and lost. but because he’s back in the environment that shaped him (aka the main plotline lmao) it’s not working. which is a big part of why i didn’t mind the lack of dave in s3 - klaus has to find a way to bring his peace into his actual life, and to do that, he has to face his life instead of avoiding it. he spends the season looking for his mother, learning about his powers, trying to bring his family together to get things done - all much more active things than we’ve seen from him in the past, and very believable ways for him to start to take the reins a little bit, i think!! except he’s not actually taking the reins, reggie still has the reins and is letting klaus pretend to hold them like a toy steering wheel in a grownup car. klaus isn’t confronting the source of the trauma, he’s confronting the symptoms. and then reggie turns on him, and it’s a testament to how much klaus’s character has already changed over the series that luther was able to talk him out of reverting back to full avoidance mode again

so klaus, god, what. backburnered his problems for 30 years, completely skipped out on his problems for ten months, liked what he found there, got dragged back unwillingly, and tried to face his problems for the first time only to have that backfire spectacularly thanks to the same person who gave him the problems in the first place. he’s somewhere unfamiliar without his power, which was both the source of a lot of his trauma and the thing that let him avoid further trauma (ie losing ben forever) for as long as he did. absolutely insane character situation. i’m chewing on my bluetooth keyboard. when robert said he wants to see klaus lose it a little without his powers, this is the shit that flashed before my eyes - yes, it would technically make his day-to-day life easier to not worry about ghosts all the time, but also his power was his failsafe!! the thing that caused him so much pain, that he’s been running from his whole life, is also literally what kept him alive in the first place!! it took his childhood and gave him his brother back!!!! and now it’s gone, both the bad and the good that came from it, and all that’s left are some gnarly addictions and the vague memory of being happy for a while. literally don’t look at me. fuck

all of that being said, to me a satisfying end for klaus would be some sign that he’s at least on the path towards reconciling his self-contained escapist happiness with his actual non-escapist life. i think his relationship with sparrow ben is gonna be a big part of that, since og ben was arguably the ‘good’ part of klaus’s powers-centric bad coping strategy, or at least the part that he was occasionally getting something positive from. i do also want to see him get his powers back, because i feel like ‘the trauma is solved by making the source of the trauma go away’ is not that great of a bow to tie on a series about the lingering effects of trauma lmao. i think there’s also space for dave in s4 to reprise his role as ‘symbol of the time klaus was happy but only because he Won At Avoidance’ - that could either mean klaus getting meaningful closure for the relationship, or bringing dave into his future in a healthy way as shorthand for him finally metabolizing the growth he did in ten-month jungle emotional rehab and incorporating it into his life

that is so many paragraphs i’m sorry. that’s a fucking essay. tumblr is gonna readmore me whether i like it or not

[onewomancitadel]

Wait wait wait. Wait. The 'when characters are doomed from the start 😍' meme but it's Julie Mao in The Expanse and she kind of actually really isn't, against all the odds. So THAT'S why I love that storyline so much beyond the magical transcendental metaphysical compassion, with a bonus transgressive happy ending (in a very strange way).

Again I'm still annoyed I had that idea of a murder mystery romance (because murder mysteries and romances share so much in common structurally) and then realised someone else already did it and did it with the themes I already like of magic in between everything. Though it is situated in a broader context, that's part of what I like so much about it, whereas what I'd write would be just one story on its own.

That's my third original work idea on the backburner, anyway. I still love the idea of taking that absolutely inevitable tragic storyline and then managing to turn it on its head, when tragedy is usually the time I'm very comfortable with despair.

But the key for such a romance is you've got to have a character like Miller who is disillusioned but in some way still cares and gives a fuck against all odds - and the against all odds is the important part (the tragedy averted is against all odds). That's the classic romance magic there and what I specifically search for in enemies-to-lovers as it is (which isn't Julie/Miller, but is why I like ETL and explains the crossover).

[redstone-sun]

just to give y’all some idea of all the shit i have on the backburner while i struggle to finish the 87 page 54k aubreyad/sunless sea crossover, this is all just stuff i have actual progress on w actual writing

-rises the moon w sara(vampire/fantastical creature au) -hex’s fun zee vacation more like grian and mumbo’s TORMENTOUS NIGHTMARE(more flau hex) -tango portal au(MEGA ANGST) -SHORT flau pearl fic based on the snow child storyline but she doesn’t go east -(maybe) (someday) 17776 au

i’m sure i’m forgetting something that sara will remind me of and that’s not even counting personal projects

[pop-punklouis]

here to talk about stranger things

i'm a sucker for cinematography and some shots were really well done. specifically the one where the kids are biking and it takes you to the upside down where the adults are biking too!

i'm so glad they're focusing on eleven's traumas because phew she has been through a lot. my mind's absolutely blown because of the parallels between how manipulative dr brenner is as a guardian figure vs how joyce (and hopper) emit this kindness and consent. i've talked about it a bit here.

i'm so mad because they did will SO dirty like my poor boy didn't go through so much shit for him to be brushed aside like that, especially when he's like head canonically queer.

also absolutely hate how one dimensional they've made jonathan.

also, eleven deserves someone better than mike. free her from him pls.

i really don't want the nancy/steve thing to happen again. if anything, in honour of pride month let nancy/robin be a thing instead

also wtf is up with suzie's family oh my god??

as always, steve gets 💋💋 one of the best character developments i've seen tbh

in relation to you talking about how will+jonathon+mike got so little screen time, i feel like the new characters, like the baseball captain dude the one who was dating chrissy got more screen time than the trio 😂

anyways this got long im sorry 🙈

SONIIII please hello. yes! there are always certain scenes when a new ST season drops that cause me drool with how much I love its cinematography. I was kinda let down by the CGI this season though. It was *yawn* how much of it they used instead of utilizing the hybrid of physical/digital effects. Like some scenes had great CGI while just five minutes later it is horrid. so weird to me because it takes me out of the immersion rip

i do like how they actually gave eleven a proper backstory! i found those scenes to be more interesting this season as the pacing felt off to me, and it dragged a bit in parts. so getting a more developed background was refreshing for her. and oooo i haven't had time to properly analyze parallels, but that was a great catch regarding the difference between Brenner and Joyce/Hop as guardian figures to El 👀

they've continuously pushed Will to the backburner since season 3 and I'm! sick of! it! i want to see more of him and he deserves better tbh (much better than mike but i digress lmao) pretty homophobic if you ask me 🔪😵‍💫

did jonathan even.... exist this season. he was so unmemorable it is hard to tell. what even was the point of will+mike+jonathan's C plot besides the duffer brothers having absolutely nothing going for their storyline so just. didn't really do anything with it lmao and YEAH?? honestly fuck mike he annoys me. both el and will deserve better 💅🏼

the hamfisted nancy/steve rekindling drives me NUTS. it is such lazy writing and is only building to steve getting his hopes up and having them crushed again when jonathan tumbles back into the actual plot and "gets the girl" again its so boring and expected. please give steve something else to focus on. give him MORE than being the mopey ex boyfriend. let him be happy please. nancy/robin??? i'd LOVE to see it actually 💕

Suzie's family is mormon!! that like. explains practically everything about that household's dynamics lol they just amplified the Mormon stereotype but its hilarious djrjrktk

steve continues to be one of the only characters to carry this show on his back for another season like thank you king as always 🌹💋

(and don’t be sorry!! i could ramble about stranger things all day 🫣)

[irishrosescottishlass]

No spoilers for Thor: Love and Thunder but clearly one half of Tumblr loved it and the other half hated it and honestly, that tracks when it comes to Marvel films and the internet.

I think, based on what I'm seeing, is that so many people on social media are holding their breath for the moment Marvel actually fully acknowledges characters that are not heterosexual and gives them a worthy storyline but we see time and time again that it just... isn't going to happen. There are so many characters and relationships that could have and should have been expounded on but they got pushed to the backburner because ultimately, Disney controls Marvel and we have seen their track record. I'm not going to tell people how to feel about the film; it clearly stirred some emotions for some people but ultimately, the film was meant to be a comedy, one that I enjoyed without using too much of my higher thinking because for some movies, that's all they are. Especially Marvel films, which always and forever will divide the internet and fans. I thought most characters had fun storylines; it was enjoyable but for me, that's it. I've stopped expecting much out of these films so to be entertained was more than I thought I would get out of it.

In short, it was fun and cute and I enjoyed it.

[fayoftheforest]

Do you like sot or tfbw better? Gameplay/story wise or whatever criteria you have? :D

Oh hello lovely anon!! Thank you for your message :)

I've watched Jacksepticeye's play throughs of both games but I myself have only played TFBW so far. In terms of gameplay I definitely prefer TFBW. I really enjoyed the gameplay mechanics!! It was one of those rare types of games where I wasn't actively avoiding the random encounters but I was actually seeking them out because they were just so much fun!! I can't comment first hand on the gameplay of SOT but I've heard it can get pretty repetitive at times so I think tfbw is definitely the victor on that front :D

In terms of story, I thought TFBW was pretty okay! It didn't blow me away or anything, but it was silly and goofy and certainly true to south park's surrealism. I can't remember much of SOT's storyline because it's been a little while since I watched the LP but I think it was probably about the same level? However TFBW wins by a margin because of the Creek content >:]

In terms of the general au concept I love both of them verrry much. You know I’m a hoe for historical fiction so the ye olde fantasy style of SOT is very lovely!! But I also love the gritty superhero take of TFBW. I’m actualy 45k into a superhero au inspired by the game! It’s on the backburner at the moment whilst I work on my zombie Crenny fic but I will return to it eventually ^-^

So I guess all in all TFBW comes out on top! But I have lots of love in my heart for both of them <3 Thank you so much for your message!!