#i do not like some of the story decisions

[pynkfairyheart]

hiii so I saw you said request were open! i really LOVE your writing so yk yk i had to ask but can you do like a story where ony does a being mean to my girlfriend prank but y/n is a reallll crybaby!! BYEE

pairings: onyankopon x sensitive!reader

warnings: smut 18+, ony is a lil mean, reader cries a lil bit

a/n: so sorry it took me this long, life has been....lifing.

What goes around comes around

Actions have consequences, you knew this and yet you still decided to go with your plan.

Setting up your phone you smiled into the camera and started your intro.

“Hi, lovelies. Today we’re gonna do a get ready with me, while I tell you three reasons it's okay to cheat on your boyfriend.” 

Taking a quick glance in the mirror of your vanity, you could see the wheels working overtime in the handsome head that belonged to your boyfriend.

The decision on whether to be calm or tweak out playing tug of war on his brain. 

Settling on the thought that he misheard you he decided to go the calm route.

“Whatchu say, baby?” Deep voice contrasting against the soft tone of Jhene Aiko in the quiet room.

“Hmm?” You feigned innocence as you met his eyes in the mirror.

“I asked, ‘What did you say?’ ” His straightening posture and tone transition to demanding letting you know his patience was thinning by the second.

You were positive this would end with you folded in half, crying from overstimulation as he continuously ripped orgasm after orgasm from you. The thought only excited you and fueled your response. 

With a shrug of your shoulders you hummed a quick ‘I don't know’ and went back to your task.

“The fuck you mean youn know?” He chuckled in disbelief, hand running over his freshly maintained waves before coming down to rub the lower half of his face.

Opting to ignore him, you continued along with your routine, silently. 

“So you just gon ignore me?” Heavy thuds bouncing off the walls as he made his way to stand behind you.

The light pressure applied to your neck, as he tilted your head back having your thighs clench.

Oh, how you wanted to ditch the plan and jump his bones. Brown eyes glaring down into yours, as he tightened his grip. 

Feeling a little risky you decided to do the one thing Ony hates most. Roll your eyes.

“Mmm, aight” He nodded his head. Zero fucks given to the content you were creating as he lifted you from your chair and bent you over.

Never once slowing his assault even after you managed to tell him it was a prank through your moans and cries. 

The new information only encouraging him to go faster as your arousal trickled onto the wood floors while he required you to tell the camera why it wasn't okay to cheat on your boyfriend as he fucked you dumb. 

Usually, your consequences consisted of the audacity being fucked out of you whenever you did something to piss Ony off, but this time he decided to play a prank of his own.

Waiting a week to execute his plan, he chose to carry it out the day you came back from your girl's weekend. 

“You didn't hear me or get my texts?” A small pout forming on your glossy lips as you sat next to him, despite him taking up more than half of the bed. 

“Baby, I'm home” You sang as you wandered around the house looking for him.

Only to find him laid out on the bed as he watched an episode of Judge Mathis.

“I did” Eyes trained on the TV.

“Did something happen?” You gripped his jaw, forcing him to finally look at you.

“Nah, I just don’t feel good.” He removed your hand from his face and moved to the opposite side of the bed. 

“You need me to make you some soup?” Pout returning to your lips as he flinched away when you tried to check his temperature. 

“I’m good. You could leave me alone though.” 

You considered yourself to be very understanding when it came to relationships. Whether it was with family, a coworker, or a client, but more than anything when it came to your relationship with Ony. You understood he needed time to himself just as you did, but the way he said it was just… mean.

The stinging sensation of your eyes was becoming unbearable as the tears pooled in the inner corners of your eyes.

“Oh” Voice cracking despite swallowing the lump that lingered in your throat.

Your tone raised alarms in the man. His own heart gained a pace that matched yours as he saw the tears that began to spill from your eyes. 

“Wait, I'm sorry, ma. I was just playing. C'mere” Hand reaching out to hold you, only to pause when you flinched away from him.

“Mama, it was just a prank. I'm sorry, baby” Panic rising at the influx of tears flowing from your eyes. 

Seeing you cry from any negative emotion always pained him, but knowing he was the reason for the tears falling from your pouty face made him feel as if he failed in life.

“What do you mean it's a prank Onyankopon?” You huffed, the palm of your hand wet as you wiped away your tears. 

“I was just joking. You know how you did that video last week? I was doing something similar. I didn't mean to hurt you, mama. Please believe me” He pleaded.

Maybe it was the immense amount of love you had for him or that it'd be wrong to not forgive him when he put up with all your antics, but you couldn't stay mad at him for too long.

“You really need to work on your pranks. They're terrible” Pink satin pillow softly hitting him along the side of his head. 

“I know, I'm sorry, c'mere” He smiled, happy you were no longer crying and motioned for you to straddle him.

Caring less about the fact you were wearing a dress you crawled over to him, getting comfortable on his lap as you traced the small tattoo of your name behind his ear,

“You know you're gonna have to make it up to me right?”

“Mhm” He mindlessly hummed, eyes trained on your lips before he could no longer resist.

Low groan escaping his chest as he pulls you closer, tongue tracing your bottom lip before diving into your mouth.

“Ony” You whimpered as his lips moved down to your neck, peppering gentle kisses along your skin before sucking on the areas that made you weak. Your body craving for some sort of friction as you ground your hips down onto his.

“I know, mama” He murmured. His fingers sliding up your dress before slipping past the waistband of your panties, digits immediately coming into contact with the slick that was pooling in between your chubby thighs.

“Lil ma already soaked for me” He groaned against your warm skin. A small bruise forming where he was previously sucking. 

“Ony, stop teasing” You whined as he slowly rubbed your clit, the pads of his fingers barely grazing the bud.

With a slight smirk on his lips his fingers gravitated to your entrance, slowly rubbing at the pulsing hole before his fingers worked their way into your walls.

Fingers knuckles deep as he curled them against the soft spongy flesh against your walls. 

“Need you inside now” You pouted, craving something more than the two digits plunging in and out of you.

“Yeah?” He mumbled as he pulled out his fingers. Placing the pads on your tongue as you sucked your arousal off his digits, just as you would do his cock.

Watching you with lust filled eyes he removed his fingers from your mouth, and wrapped a hand around your neck before pulling you in for a nasty kiss. His tongue exploring the path down your throat while you rocked against the growing bulge in his pants.

Pulling away to fumble with the waistband of his pants he pulled down his sweats just enough to release his throbbing cock. Standing tall with his viens prominent and tip leaking a small amount of precum.

“Ride your dick, ma” He pulled your panties to the side rubbing his tip along the slick folds of your puffy pussy, before lining up with your entrance and helping you sink down onto him. Hiss escaping him as your warm walls engulfed him.

“Ony s'so big" You whined in his ear. Allowing him to lift you up and down his cock at a deliciously slow pace, your walls contracting around him at every movement.

“Doing so good fa me.” Two toned lip stuck in between his pearly white teeth as he bucked his hips up to meet your thrust, tip grazing against your cervix.

“Fuck. Faster, daddy, please” You gasped, head resting in his neck as he did all of the work.

Listening to your plea, he picked up his pace, thrusting deeper into you. The sound of your pooling arousal, slapping flesh, and your mixed moans filling the room, atmosphere becoming nastier by the second. 

“I love you so fucking much” His arms wrapping tightly around your waist as you tried to run when he increased his pace.

“Say it back, ma” He grunted. Palm landing on the flesh of your ass.

Tired off your running, his hands gripped your hips and he pulled you off him, flipping you over onto your back before ramming back into you.

“Ohh, shit, Onyyy” You cried, knees near your ears as he pushed your legs back.

"Say it or I'm stopping" He threatened. Eyes focused on your sopping pussy sucking him in, sticky ring of arousal dripping from the base of his cock.

“I- mhmph love you too Ony, so much” Bed creaking under the speed and force of his thrust.

Releasing your legs he leaned down, lips immediately on yours in a sloppy kiss. 

“I'm so close, pa" A mixture of moans and whimpers escaped your agape mouth, nails digging into his back with every thrust.

“Mhm, I know, baby. Let go for me” He grunted, reaching between your bodies to rub his thumb against your clit.

A series of curses left your mouth as you creamed around him. Walls contracting so tightly that he had no other choice but to cum.

“Fuuuck” He groaned, hips stilling inside you as he flooded your walls.

“I'm sorry for making you sad, baby. I love you so much, I'll never do anything to hurt you again” He whispered into your neck.

“I know Ony, I forgive you"

Pulling out he kissed you once more before laying flat in front of you, your thighs on each side of his head.

"Lemme show you how sorry I am, yeah?"

[pivsketch]

Salamander Salazar is an acrobatic high flyer "evil mastermind thief guy" and Bandit Bandit is his henchman/bodyguard/muscle. They were mischievous heels that would always be causing trouble, but just like any quality comical villain bad guy, Salazar's hubris would usually get him in over his head and be his downfall.

Here's them doing a tag team move™:

Anyway these are all several years before the events of the story. Salazar is Taggart's tag partner that had to leave midway through the tournament! He's also his childhood friend/mentor too.

under the cut is more lore/backstory stuff:

Salamander Salazar is the older neighborhood kid that got Taggart into wrestling when Taggart was just a lil kid. Salazar taught him how to (pro) wrestle over the years and after Taggart turned 18, Sal mysteriously started having a new sidekick/henchman he'd do tag team matches with.

Winning the TAGCEN tournament gets you qualified for the "big prestigious semi-invitational continental tag team tournament" where all the best tag teams compete to see who is The Absolute Best. Salazar's biggest claim to fame was the one time he stole the TAGCEN tournament first place medals from the true champions* and used them to enter into the invitational. The resulting shenanigans were fun enough that it led to the rules being changed to make the TAGCEN qualification entirely based on physically possessing those winning medals lol. (TAGCEN is partially ran by someone who loves chaos, after all.)

It made things pretty wild and chaotic for a few years after, but people stopped taking advantage of this over the years and nowadays its a mostly forgotten edge-case type rule. Also btw Sal (and Bandit²) got their asses absolutely trounced in the invitational tournament. If they couldn't win a qualifier, of course they wouldn't be able to survive in the big leagues!!

Bandit Bandit's tenure only lasted 3 short years for whatever reason (concidentally, this was around the same time regular good guy solo wrestler Taggart left wrestling to help out at his parents' bakery, hmm) and Salazar forged onwards on his own. Over the years his mischievous ambitions have mellowed out and he became one of those sarcastic good guy antihero types.

In modern times, Salazar reentered the TAGCEN tournament with a better tag team partner: Taggart, his childhood friend/protege that had recently returned to wrestling. His goal was to win the TAGCEN tourney outright and then go on to win the big invitational, redeeming himself for that failed run several years prior. They were absolutely killing it, but then Salazar got a really good offer from a major overseas promotion he couldn't turn down, and had to leave midway through the TAGCEN tournament. Alas! Salazar's tag team story is left unrealized!

Taggart still gets to wrestle in the remaining round robin matches at least. But, cmon, it's not like anything interesting is going to happen with that, right...? hee hee 🙂

* the winning tag team ended up with a injury right before the invitational and could not compete, and this was way more fun of an alternative than just having an empty slot!

[spirkbitch]

Best episode of tos?

(i’m sorry these don’t give enough options)

[personasintro]

have you watched any wattpad story movie adaptations like after or culpa mia? and would you like mutual help to be turned into one too? love your work xx

I have watched it! I went to see After in the cinema years ago when it first came out. Actually, I’ve read it way before the movie was in the picture haha, I was a part of 1d fandom, so I don’t think there was anyone who hasn’t read it at that time lol

No, I don’t think I’d like to turn it into a movie 😳 it wouldn’t do any justice to what we all imagine in our minds. I think that’s the beauty of stories and books. We all have our own visual version in our minds + I wouldn’t wanna put even more attention to the book. I understand why some writers do it, whether it’s a financial decision or whatever it might be, I fully support it. I don’t mind other fics being turned into movies. I just can’t imagine it doing it with my own 🫣

Thank you 🩷

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for possibly being a dick to my friends?

I (15, genderfluid) have had a group of friends since I was 12-13 (all about my age, mostly F but varying degrees of gender). We'd have the occasional drama, mostly started by my now-ex friend (let's call her A) (15F), but everything was pretty okay.

That was until about February, when my friend, B (15F) broke up with A. B told me that A had been saying some nasty things about me behind my back (that I'm sensitive, ugly, annoying, etc). I was hurt, because I thought A was a good friend prior to learning this. I confronted A about it (I didn't tell her that B told me), and our relationship got a bit rocky from there. I ended up blocking A for my own mental health.

Quick context break, from what I can piece together, A would call me sensitive because I would protest her and others joking about suicide.

Things started getting hairy when our mutual friend C (15M) told everyone that he didn't think I was sensitive, and that the casual joking about suicide had caused him a lot of problems. A then immediately did a 180 and tried to end the drama between us by getting B to send me messages she wanted me to hear. However, despite apparently wanting to end the drama, she did not apologize to me, and instead said, "I'm not sorry, because in my eyes you are sensitive," amongst other things.

Around this time, my then-partner, D (14NB) broke up with me, citing they weren't in the right mental state for a relationship. A week later, they started dating B.

I was feeling really hurt and lied to at this point, and I kind of cut off D until C got me and them into a group chat to talk through our problems. We made a bit of progress and talked through our feelings. I was two hours ahead of them at the time, though, so it was past midnight for me.

A slightly important part of this story is that I have a tendency to write self-indulgent poetry about my feelings. This includes one about the red flags I noticed in me and D's relationship, but ignored. To wrap up the conversation and get to sleep, I sent that poem to C and D instead of a proper explanation of some of the stuff I was mad at D about. (In retrospect, this was a very stupid idea. But I was desperate for sleep, so?)

A couple days later, C explained to me that the drama between me and A had kind of messed him up, and that for his own mental health, he would go no-contact with me for a while to work on himself (which is fine, that's respectable).

Afterwards, B seemingly got mad at me for the whole poem thing, so I asked her about it. We had what I felt like was a mature conversation, and wrapped up most of the problems she had with it (mostly that it looked like I had compared D to an unsavory public figure, which I explained was not my intention). I also sent an apology to D for insulting them and causing any problems with that poem. They said it was fine, and that they weren't that offended.

Today (just barely, in fact), B blocked me, stating that I talk too much shit and cause a lot of problems.

Tldr;

Why I might be TA: There's a very real possibility that I do talk too much shit without realizing it, especially because, in the past, I've been known to not realize when people are uncomfortable with my actions unless they directly tell me.

Why I might not be TA: I feel like, for my situation, and knowing only what I knew at the time, I made justified decisions.

[darklydeliciousdesires]

Claire!! I ran to your inbox the second I saw your post about drabbles being open!! :D

Would be willing to write something for Tommy Shelby using this prompt: “Don’t play games with me, sweetheart. You won’t like it when I play them back.” ?? Take the story in whatever direction you desire….I just know it’ll be amazing!

Thanks so much if you choose to! A

A little short for my darling K? Of course <3 I hope you like the direction I went in with this!

Words - 1,139

Warnings - None

“You don’t need to lie to me. You hate him, don’t you? I see it, kitty cat. That face of yours when you’re on his arm? It ain’t the face of a broad who's happy to be there.”  

He was right, too. Although you had to wonder how many times others had witnessed your carefully placed facade slip. Then again, you hadn’t been stepping out all too long with Tommy Shelby. You didn’t intend on doing so either. 

Tommy didn’t remember you from school. He had no recollection over how he’d made you feel about yourself as a little girl, the name calling, the teasing, the shoving you around. “Boys will be boys, my sweet”, your father had always said. Your mother had taken a much less blasé approach.  

“Darling girl of mine, boys will not be boys. Boys will be however we let them behave. If that little shit continues to act like this, wallop him one.” 

While you appreciated her stance, you never did give him the aforementioned walloping. Until now, in your decision to make him pay for being your playground tormentor, your bully. Some might call it immature of you not to be able to move on from it, but truly, Tommy Shelby has done more to hurt you than any other. 

It didn’t stop in the playground. 

The growth of The Shelby Company Ltd, with its wings spreading like an albatross across the coal-black suburbs of Birmingham led to your father being put out of work, your brother being recruited and then executed as a Peaky Blinder and your family losing everything. Tommy was so lost within the vast vortex of his own ego that he didn’t even recognise you, by neither sight nor name when you approached him one evening in The Garrison, your charm amped up, your plan set into action. 

You would make him fall in love with you, you would toy with his heartstrings and then, finally, you would rip them to pieces. Just like he did to your life. Just like he always had.  

Your plan? It worked. Effortlessly.  

Every time he called to court you, you would exit the door of your lodgings looking pristine, ready to be wined and dined, your place upon the arm of the city’s most prolific gangster a spot coveted by many. It never did fail to make bitter fire lick your insides, though, while other women burned with envious ire. Your revulsion ran deep, but you had to confess; at least he was pretty to look at. At least he was a talented and sensual lover.  

You never allowed him in too much, though, and it was the cleverness, the assertive aloofness of your nature that had the poor fool coming back for more every time.  

“Why don’t you ever stay with me, sweetheart?” he asks you on one such night, as you pull yourself back into your clothes. 

Looking away from the garter clasp you’re about to affix to your stocking, you see it there in his eyes. Pleading. Longing. The desire to spend the entire night curled around you in a warm, loving embrace.

“I like my own bed.” 

He tuts, reaching for his cigarette. “You always say that. Don't even let me stop over there with you either.” 

“I like my own bed alone.” 

“And what when we’re married, eh?” he questions, exhaling a thick plume of smoke into the dark of the room. “Will you let me share a bed with you then, or are we to be like an old-fashioned Victorian couple, same bedroom, single beds?” His eyes glint at you, shifting to sit up a little. “That’s a bit puritan for a girl who likes being fucked as dirty as you, love.” 

The urge to punch that smug, pretty face of his. Buttoning your blouse, you reach for your coat and pull it on, picking up your bag and then leaning to press a kiss upon his lips. “I’ll say goodnight now, Tommy. Let you go to sleep and dream of me.”  

He isn’t used to not getting his own way, and lord, how it shows. He reaches for your wrist, grasping you in a hard clutch, your mind flashing back to the playground. He’d do this while kicking your shins and mocking you. “Don’t play games with me, sweetheart. You won’t like it when I play them back.” 

You smirk, and the devil’s fire flashes through his eyes. “Is that a threat, darling?” 

“It’s a bloody promise, love, and you know it is. Might have to tie you to this bed next time, stop you from escaping on me.” He smiles then, something boyish in him as he tilts his head, pulling you down into a soft kiss. “I love you, even if you are a bloody temptress.” 

“Love you, too. Goodnight.” 

Leaving the bedroom, you saunter down the stairs and into the lounge, going into his jacket pocket and removing the keys to the building he runs his legitimate business from, Out of your purse, you remove the soft ball of clay you’ve stashed away wrapped in paper, flattening it with your palm before pressing each key into it.

With those imprints taken, you visit the local foundry the following day, asking for a set of keys to be made to those exact impressions. 

“Ahh, nice, easy little job this, bab,” the foreman informs you, removing his cap to scratch his balding head as he takes the lump of now dried clay. “Have ‘em ready for ya by close.”  

After returning later that evening, you have within your grasp the tools you require to facilitate the final piece of your plan, the last little detail being delivered to you by a third party, one who after arriving from New York saw quite clearly how much use you could be to him, getting close enough to ruin Tommy Shelby and all he held dear.  

Walking through the bar of The Grand Hotel, you slide into a seat beside the handsome Italian waiting for you, placing the keys into his hand. 

“You did good, doll,” he drawls, eyeing you appreciatively. “Here.” Reaching into his pocket, he pulls out a roll of bills, handing them to you with a wink before taking your hand and kissing it. “If you’re ever in New York in the future, please, don’t think twice about looking me up.” 

Of course, Luca Changretta could have simply broken into the building he required access to, but Tommy is a shrewd operator. He would notice even the most carefully picked lock, and the plan was always for him not to see it coming. When The Shelby Company Ltd explodes into a ball of fire, both Tommy and Arthur within it, you know he never saw it coming.  

After all, he never truly saw you.  

[thecuriousquest]

Hello! Can you please make a part two for "Don’t Close Your Eyes" ?

It was pretty well written in my own opinion and I was feeling I was being pulled into the story while reading it so I hope you would make a part two where maybe reader gets sick to the point she has to be in hospital due to Gojo not doing something with her oversensitivity or perhaps she runs away from home and tries to find uncle Nanami because he is the one actually letting her cover her eyes?

Don’t Close Your Eyes Part Two

Platonic!Yandere Father Satoru Gojo x Fem!Reader (Teen Daughter)

Warnings: NSFW (platonic - suicidal thoughts and self-harm), run away, vomiting

Note: This is the last part I’m doing for the Don’t Close Your Eyes series.

Master List

Part One

Ask Box is temporarily closed while I catch up on Requests. Please, be patient. Love you all. 🖤🤘

—————————————————————————

Gojo stays by your bedside for hours. This is a particularly hard day for you. You couldn’t even make it to the trashcan sitting beside him on the floor. Sometimes, the tasks of a father are gross, and cleaning your vomit off of the bedsheets is just a job he has to do. He doesn’t complain, however, and he doesn’t rub it in your face either. Thankfully. He has some common sense right now.

But he finds himself in need of sleep, and he finds it a particularly deep sleep after staying up and watching over you for the past two nights. He thinks it will be okay to doze off. He thinks you’ll wake him up if you need something. But something drags Satoru deep under into a serene sleep that clings to him like a soothing blanket of darkness.

He jolts awake, not even knowing the time, because he doesn’t feel your presence anymore.

“Angel? Angel?!” He begins to panic.

Where the hell could you have gone off to?

He checks all over the estate, even going as far as to check every inch of shelter. He surveys the backyard next, even removing the bindings over his eyes so he can scan the area even further.

No luck. None.

The sound of his ringtone catches him off guard. He pulls his phone from his pocket and sees “Suit” is calling him.

Answering the phone is less than pleasant but full of information. Nanami says that you showed up at his house, barefoot and exhausted, looking ready to collapse. He says that you locked yourself in the bathroom, vomiting relentlessly, refusing to even open the door so he can be in there with you for comfort.

“It’s your own fault, you know. She wouldn’t be as sick as a fresh sailor if you would just do what’s best for her.”

The phone call ends by Nanami’s decision, and Gojo is left with the one-two-three beep before everything goes quiet.

Satoru stands there, an eerie silence filling the void around him as he sticks his phone back in his pocket. He looks up at the sky, just hoping that his baby is okay.

———

The white haired sorcerer raps on Kento’s door, and it only takes a moment or two for the blond to descend the stairs and answer the knock. He greets Satoru with a grim expression before inviting the man in.

“She’s upstairs. I don’t even know how she dragged herself up there.”

Nanami leads Gojo to the bathroom. The door is locked, and they can hear sounds of hacking and dry heaving.

“Kid must’ve thrown everything up…” Satoru says. He takes a moment before knocking on the door. “Angel, it’s Daddy.”

“G-go away!”

“I’m not leaving, honey. Daddy’s here. I’m going to take you home and take care of you. Okay? Just open the door.”

But you can’t. You just can’t bring yourself to do it. You don’t want to go home with him. You don’t want to go back to bed, back to throwing up with him by your side.

You spot the razor blades on the counter. You didn’t even see them in your foggy haze when you first entered the bathroom. You’ve never been prone to these types of thoughts before. Not once. But that was then, that was before. Now, you’re trapped in a place where you feel like you can’t even breathe. You’re constantly attached to your bed or a trashcan, and things just aren’t getting any better. Daddy said you’d grow out of it, grow out of your sensitivity. But that’s not true. You’ve been like this ever since you were small.

You just need a break. You just need it to end. You didn’t ask for the Six Eyes. You never wanted this, the pain that comes with it.

In a rash decision, you grab the razor off of the counter and bloody your fingers trying to pry the blades out of the cartridge. Scratches and cuts line the pads and tips, even near your nail beds, and you hiss as it all finally comes undone.

Sinking down to the floor in between the toilet and the tub, you hold the razor blade, thin and metallic, in your hand.

You hear Kento sigh before the door handle breaks off. The barrier opens, revealing your dad and Uncle Nanami. Tears spring to your eyes as you hold the blade to your wrist while keeping your eyes directly concentrated on your father.

Your words were meant to come out fierce and bold, but they sound like a hoarse whisper. “I can’t take it anymore, Daddy. I’ll do it…I swear to God, I’ll do it.”

“Angel.” His tone is stern, his brows furrowed as he steps into the bathroom.

You dig the blade into your flesh, threateningly. Droplets of crimson bubbling up to the surface. Nanami’s hand flies out in a flash, grasping Satoru’s arm, keeping him from going any further.

“Angel, honey…put that damn blade down. Right now.” And Kento can feel him shaking with anxiety.

They both watch you, both eyes looking down on you. Nanami doesn’t know what to say, and Gojo wants to say everything.

“You can’t make me live the rest of my life in pain, Daddy! Even Uncle Nanami doesn’t force me to!” There it is. The lion-like tone you wished for earlier that you couldn’t manage to find. “It hurts, and you don’t even care!”

The blond sighs and moves his hand from Satoru’s arm to his shoulder.

“Think hard about your next move, Gojo.”

It feels like the weight of the world is on the strongest sorcerer’s shoulders at this moment. His little angel star has been in so much pain, and his mistakes are crashing down on him like a comet. Deep breaths are all he can take, are all he can hear as he arrives to his descision. Satoru removes his glasses and holds them out to you.

“Can I come over to you and help you put these on, angel?”

It’s the first time that he has ever tried to do anything to legitimately help you with the pain. The rivers in your eyes spill over, cascading down your cheeks like waterfalls. Nodding your head, you drop the gray blade onto the floor.

Gojo walks over to you, kneels beside you on the floor. He takes his glasses and puts them on your face. He is saddened to no longer see your red-rimmed, celestial blue eyes, but he smiles at you because he can visibly see the exhaustion and weariness leave your features.

You can’t see with how dark the sunglasses are, but it’s perfect. You can still sense where everything is. Reaching out for him, you pull your father closely and wrap a hand around the back of his neck as you sob gratefully.

“Thank you, Daddy…”

“No problem, angel. These will do for the time being until we can get you your own. Okay?”

“Okay, Daddy. My head doesn’t hurt anymore.”

“I know. Come on. Let’s get you home. Go say goodbye to Uncle Nanami.”

You obey immediately, happily. You walk over to your Uncle Nanami and give him a big hug before going home with your father. For the first time in your life, you are finally free to close your eyes.

[aphrmoosun]

What can we expect from the upcoming apes movies??

The success of the new Planet of the Apes movie is obvious, it far exceeds what was expected at the box office and the critics are very positive. The only thing missing is the official confirmation of the fifth installment of the saga but seeing the numbers it has done, we should trust that we are going to have apes for a while.

So we can create our own ideas of what we think will come in the future of the saga.

Noa's first film in the saga opens up endless possibilities, we can also follow the clues given during the Caesar triology. And it is obvious that the new saga is not only inspired by the original saga from the 70s but also presents stories and ideas that were made known to us in those films. It was Cornelius himself who told us the story about Caesar who at that time called Aldo. So it is unreasonable for us to expect that, as happened in the Caesar films, the main ideas that were implemented in the films of the 70s will continue.

In the films of the 2010s we were already introduced to the idea of astronauts and although I think that the second film would be too hasty to present them, I do think that they could appear at the end of this film or in a kind of post-credits for the third film of Noah. Travels in the time? World's End? Humans destroying the planet? These are arguments that I still see as feasible in the movies. If the casting team is looking for an actor to be human in the next film, it gives me to understand that he could be the villain of the second film. And not Mae as many theorize.

It is true that she was the first human that is introduced to us in the new story and that her ideals direct her to be an antagonist. I don't doubt that that could be the case, but that Mae is a gray character is clear from the final scene of the movie. At one point Mae is going to lose her way and will surely find herself against Noa, but she is a character who screams to redeem herself. Noa and Mae are going to work together in the future, as an ape and a human.

Noa and Mae are clearly the same. They follow the same path: Noa does not know what the Echos are until Raka tells him about them. And Mae? She probably hasn't met an ape before either. Ignorance is mostly what separates us from ideals. And they both take the same path of getting to know each other. But just because they understood that, doesn't mean that everyone does. We already saw Proximus Caesar in the first film, who represents an ideal contrary to what Caesar represented. And very likely in the next movie we will see the humans in the bunkers who can take two arguments. The war against the apes or the search for a cure or becoming immune to the ape virus.

That's why we can theorize about the second movie. It has already been made clear to us that Noa and Mae are the protagonists of this story, and so far we have seen a lot of Noa and very little of Mae. If we come to any conclusion with the end of the movie, it is that Noa wants to follow Caesar's ideal and the one that Raka taught him when he hands the necklace to Mae. Because Raka gives him the necklace so that Noa remembers in the worst moments what was important. And now it's time for Mae to understand it too. I know that the next movie will be difficult for her and that she will also have to make difficult decisions, and that is the reason why Noa gives her the necklace.

I would especially like to mention Tim Burton's film from the 2000s. It is the film with the worst reviews in the saga and yet I see a lot of similarity between that film and the new one from 2024. I don't think they dare as much as in that film or that have some creative freedom to do some of the things they did in that one. And I'm talking about the romance within the movie. In the 2024 movie it is not very important and presents us with relationships that go beyond that interest but the relationship between Ari and Leo in that movie has been highly criticized by the general public and that could affect any attempt at a human/ape relationship that they would like to experience. So I don't see intermediate points, either they give us a story of enemies to lovers between Noa and Mae or I don't think it is very important for the story, because if they end up putting Noa and Soona together (which I doubt) it will not be important in the plot.

I don't want to make it longer so at another time I will develop it because I think they have thrown the stone into the river of a possible relationship between Noa and Mae hoping to see the public's reaction and because I think it would be a good idea to continue developing it.

To summarize, I think that the next movie will introduce us to a human villain and it will be the first time that Noa has to face one.

Human culture and how they have been living until now is also important and the reason why Mae lives isolated and away from humans. If she is immune but can still infect humans, no one will want to get close to her unless she is immune too. How does Noa and Mae's story continue to develop? Noa's clan taking a more leading role and getting to know Anaya and Soona more deeply. etc

I'm excited to see how it continues.

[physalian]

A Guide to Productive Filler

I was going to write this post about the wonders of fanfic and how it does not do the “forced miscommunication for cheap drama” trope, and it did not stay that post for long.

I’m sure it’s out there, but it’s not saturated in the most popular fics and I think I know why: Fanfic exists in contrast to the established canon, and the canon has forced miscommunication, thus fanfic looks at the perpetual failure of those plotlines and ignores it.

Nobody likes this trope, yet it keeps happening. In TV, at least in the old days when we had full seasons with appropriate and satisfying filler episodes and actual good stories and such (you know, before Disney +) TV shows were contracted to fill a minimum number of episodes and didn’t always have enough content to fill it, especially CW shows.

Enter filler episodes, which, when productive, still entertained the audience with off-beat side quests or gave more screen time to beloved side characters or explored more of the world and the lore. Filler plots meant that you could casually check in on your favorite show once a week, or miss an episode, and not feel completely lost because the plot wasn’t super tight and lean. Some of my favorite episodes of all my favorite TV shows are filler plots and just because they’re “filler,” as in, not a plot-heavy element to advance the narrative, doesn’t mean they were lacking in story.

That was good writing.

Bad filler elements were sh*t like forced miscommunication for cheap drama and it still exists even in the “mini series” that are really just long movies extended to keep people from canceling their subscriptions. TV shows may have one or two head writers, but they’re still written by committee and producers and production companies trying to milk as much from a profitable product as possible, which means they couldn’t write an efficient, epic romance that ended too quickly. They had to faff about for a few seasons before delivering to keep butts on couches tuning in to generate sweet, sweet ad revenue.

Forced miscommunication in TV shows have always made sense in that light. Yeah it’s a product of bad writing, but I can’t point at the head writer or even the staff writer alone and criticize their writing ability because it likely wasn’t their decision.

Forced miscommunication in books, however—that I have no excuse for. Books aren’t written by committee. In this case, I really can just blame the author for their bad choices, which, in turn, maybe came from their favorite TV shows and how they executed similar plot lines.

Fanfic does not do this, usually. It’s not written by committee and has no quota to fulfill to beef up the narrative with extra chapters.

—

So. You want your story to be longer, fanfic or otherwise, but you’re struggling because your plot is too thin and you don’t know where to go from here.

First, a disclaimer: Novellas exist and can be as short as they need to be.

“If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter,” means that  just because it’s long doesn’t mean every word serves a purpose. With enough time, the writer can trim down their thoughts for conciseness and clarity, and say the same thing with better impact with less beating around the bush.

So just because it’s short doesn’t make it bad, just because it’s long doesn’t make it good. It’s about what you do with the words you’ve written.

However, if it really is a thin story lacking substance and oomph, here’s some suggestions that are not sh*t like “forced miscommunication”. These are not meant for generalized application and should be considered heavily before implementing, because any one of them can change your book for the worse by adding in unnecessary detail that distracts from the main story.

1. Consider multiple narrators

Now. I just read a rather bad book that could have lost about ⅔ of its story for a variety of reasons and told the same story in a fraction of the page count. One of those issues was giving the villain several POVs that ruined the suspense and the tension because the reader became privy to their grand plan long before the protagonist and instead of having all our questions dying to be answered with the protagonist, we were waiting around for them to stop fooling around and figure it out already.

With that said, if you have a character of second importance to the protagonist whose perspective would benefit and enrich the story, consider giving them POVs to explore either when the protagonist couldn’t be present, or in contrast to the main narrator’s thoughts on the story and conflict.

I’ve never written anything without multiple POVs and still get carried away sometimes just trying to fill in all the missing time that didn’t add enough to the story to make it worth it. I have deleted POVs from ENNS that were better left up to audience interpretation then all laid out on the table.

This technique very much necessitates restraint, but giving your foil character, your deuteragonist, even your villain some narration “screen time” might help you beef up your word count and tell more than just one biased side of the same story. Fanfic tends to be very efficient with this because, again, one writer working for free tends to want to be efficient and not give pages upon pages of useless prose.

2. Side-quests and character studies

My all time favorite filler episode of any TV show is LOST’s “The Constant”. It focuses entirely on the side character Desmond. He’s an unwilling time-traveler and throughout season 4, struggles to control his temporal displacement and risks dying if he can’t find a “constant” to anchor him to the correct timeline.

This episode is often praised as one of, if not the show’s finest hour. Desmond spends most of the runtime flipping erratically between the past and the present as his romantic relationship spirals for other plot reasons. He ends up making his “constant” his fraught relationship and is able to revert to the past with knowledge of the future to get his then-ex girlfriend’s new phone number so he can call her at an exact date in the future to prove he won’t have given up on them. When Des finally makes that call 8 years later, it’s so emotional, so full of catharsis, so exciting to see him finally reach her after struggling since we met him.

And it has absolutely nothing to do with the plot at large, only Desmond’s arc. It explores some of the world’s lore but doesn’t answer any of the main plot questions or progress any other major character, and Des is the only time traveler so all the risk surrounding time travel is only for him. Critically, it still adheres to the themes of the show and fulfills much of the promises of this character’s role in it.

The show’s worst episode, “Stranger in a Strange Land,” is also filler about protagonist Jack’s tattoos. He makes a relationship with a woman nobody cares about and spends the entirety of the episode’s flashbacks, which is most of the episode’s runtime, dicking around in Thailand. With this quasi-wise woman’s tattoo techniques. Nobody cares what they mean, they didn’t connect with the themes of the show, didn’t tell us anything substantial about Jack or the world, lore, or story, and just felt like a massive waste of time.

If you’re going to write side quests, be more like “The Constant” and less like “Stranger in a Strange Land”. 

3. “Slice of Life” moments

A repeat of referencing this scene and this movie but I don’t care: “Doc Racing” from Cars is just one example. Adding in scenes like these won’t give you tens of thousands of words, but maybe you only need a couple hundred to feel satisfied.

Slice of life moments slow the pacing down, so place them wisely, and just let your characters be people in their world. Small things, human things. In Cars, it’s an old man letting himself enjoy life again when he thinks nobody’s watching. I have a scene in my sci-fi WIP series where two brothers, plagued by their family’s social status, take a drive and pick up greasy drive-thru food to park on a mountain overlook and just watch the city while licking salt off their fingers. I think Across the Spiderverse is about 20 minutes too long, but that scene of Miles and Gwen upside down on the roof before the plot ramps up is another quiet, human moment.

It could be a character who needs a break from the breakneck speed of the plot and the stress to listen to music, walk away from the project and enjoy the sun, anything. Do try to not get overly pretentious trying to make it super metaphorical and poetic, let the audience do it for you. These quiet scenes could end up being the audience’s favorite.

—

If you’re trying to make your book longer, don’t be like Bilbo Baggins, okay? Don’t let your characters be spread thin, like butter scraped over too much bread. Add, don’t stretch. If the romance is on track to come together sooner, let it, or figure out a more meaningful way to delay it than throwing in a dumb argument that won’t mean anything in 20 pages anyway.

This wasn’t an exhaustive list, just what I think could be the most effective with the widest applications across genres.

[vivincent-100mg]

I enjoyed reading and watching jjk but after Shibuya arc it kinda fell of for me. I don't keep up with it anymore, sometimes my friend will tell me a summarize version of the recent arc, character development, and also some panels. The only thing that I can say is wtf was gege thinking??? I get that sukuna is strong and is considered a god of some sort but this is getting to out of hand. Like what do you mean "ah yes, a technique that I haven't use since the Heian era". It's also getting repetitive. A character gets a power bost → said character fight sukuna → then dies. There's also Gojos family and Rikas back stories that are not shown like ever! Not only that but gege is bad at writing female characters and utilizing them, don't get me wrong I love the jjk girls and women (except for mei mei) but they are not utilized enough. Like Shoko for example, she's a great character but we never get to see her do anything, and we really never get to see her story, how she feels about all of this. Yes, there is a couple of panels that has Shoko inner dialog but it's so mistranslated and so missunderstod. And it's not only Shoko that's underutilized, the Kyoto high girls are as well especially momo. I know that she's not a main character but at least give her something that makes her interesting. The most realistic part of the story is that the Kamo family doesn't participate in the battle, I was kinda disappointed that we can't see Noritoshi fight along side Choso and Yuuji. I think it would be a really great pairing but it's not going to happen, again the Kamo family's decision is relatable, majority of us would probably leave to. I'm just kinda disappointed that he doesn't have a significant role in this arc. Theres a lot of thing that i want to get of my mind about jjk and some other anime that I have watch. Even though there's somethings that I didn't like about jjk I still enjoyed it nonetheless

[pinktacotragedy]

Okay I'm ranting a lot about Bridgerton right now, but no one I know watches and I've got so many thoughts to get out.

Honestly i'm not tooo mad about polin not having happily married scenes because i think that's going to come in future seasons. Like this was their season to focus on drama and here on out we'll see them as a team, much like they have done with Kanthony. That doesn't mean i've loved ALL the decisions they made this season. I'm forever going to be bitter we didn't get the book love confession.

However, I do not understand the direction they are going with Whistledown. It makes more sense to me that either Penelope gave it up or they'd made some kind of deal with the Queen that meant that Penelope could continue to write under Whistledown but the ton didn't know it was her. I don't understand how they're going to make it work now that everybody knows its her? Most of the appeal of LW to the ton is the anonymity of it. Imagine her talking shit now? Girl you're a Bridgerton AND a Featherington, focus on your own drama.

Also I really don't like what they've done with Cressida. I don't love a bully redemption arc by any means, but Cressida had very real problems in part 2 and the way they were dismissive of that did not sit right with me. Especially since they seemed to be making a point about a woman's place in society and how much you have to give up through marriage. I just think it falls flat when we're supposed to.. what? laugh at Cressida but root for Pen? If they were so hell bent on giving us a Cressida redemption arc this season then it shouldn't of come at the expense of other characters. It would of paid off better if Eloise and/or Pen had worked with her to find a solution that fitted everybody. They really didn't learn from the Marina storyline. I also don't really understand why Eloise was so scared of Cressida? If she threatened her or had something over her then fair enough, but she didn't? She just pointed out Eloise's flaws which is literally what Pen did last season.

It is so funny for me to be saying any of this since i literally said earlier that I think Bridgerton has well written characters... I don't think I stand by that anymore.

I love Benedict as a character but I am praying next season is his so they can stop giving him these pointless storylines. That's the one story i'm most okay with not being book accurate because I want to fight book Benedict.

I'm still going to do a rewatch eventually and I may feel differently about a few things after that, but yeah still loved a lot of the season. These are just my main complaints.

[incorrectmahabharatquotes]

r/AmITheAsshole: Mahabharat Edition

AITA for taking revenge for my friend's murder?

Act like you're the reddit comments, go!

Bonus cookies for guessing everyone's identities correctly.

-Mod S

[Image Description: A dark mode reddit screenshot that reads-

"Hi everyone, long time lurker first time poster. I wanted some clarity on a horrible dilemma I find myself in since due to circumstances I will describe (my friends being murdered) I am unable to ask them for guidance.

I(M54) had 2 close friends since I was quite young. My father taught one of them(let's call him S) and the other was his friend(Let's call him R). We enjoyed a lot when we were young but S got caught up in an inheritance battle which kind of put a strain on our relationship. S wasn't aware of the existence of his cousins, so them coming to his place was kinda a surprise. With more kids, his grandfather decided to get a good private martial arts tutor apart from the one their family had already employed for general teaching. Here's where my father and I come into the story. My father favoured a cousin of S'(let's call him D) and he was my father's favourite student. Meanwhile, S had a similar skillset to D's brother(Let's call him V), and they became really bitter rivals. We then met R at an archery contest that my father had organized. D refused to compete with R because he wasn't of the same birth so S decided to give R his own estate and they became really, like, *really*, close after that, if you get what I mean. Now S's uncle and father wanted him to get the inheritance and spoiled him a lot. Finally the estate ended up getting split between S and his oldest cousin, Y. S' maternal uncle, G, was not satisfied with this outcome, and so we all planned a game where Y would be forced to bet the estate. Y lost the game, which led to the cousins having to leave and exile themselves for 13 years(one of the conditions of the game). At the end of the thirteen years S and R tried to trip them up but their grandfather, who had always sided with the cousins didn't let us do that.

D's boyfriend then tried to trick us into giving the cousins their estate back but S wasn't having it. What happened later was nothing short of a bloodbath where P, my father, and many others were killed. I am honestly feeling the angriest about my father who was unfairly disarmed by D's BIL and beheaded in cold blood. I feel sad about his death even though he never really approved how close I was with R and S. but he was still on our side since he was employed by P. He has voiced his disapproval many times when R was in our bed and didn't let him make any decisions regarding this conflict. It was only when my father died that R could step into a leading role. Finally after like 16 long days R was unfairly murdered by D and his boyfriend H while V broke the rules of the wrestling game and murdered S on H's instructions. This made me really mad as my two best friends were gone. With their family's tutor, K and another commander, (H's cousin.) I went to their camp in the middle of the night and set fire to it. I wanted to kill Y, V, D, and their brothers but instead killed their sons(S' nephews) in their sleep. I also gave blunt force trauma to their BIL and idk if he's alive or not.

H called me a heartless monster who killed his nephews in their sleep and took away an implant I had on my forehead(it's supposed to be for my brain) and also gave me a deadly disease. I asked him if he was entirely fair in how my father, R, and S were killed. He said it was the result of their past actions but I don't really see it.

So, people of reddit, AITA for taking revenge for my friends' murders?"]

[f0point5]

I just saw the funniest take on Twitter and it still has me flabbergasted. So apparently because Oscar didn’t get DRS from Lando, he lost out on a podium in Canada and should be looking at other teams. The team are trying to sabotage him by always giving Lando the faster strategy (even though he got the preferential ones in Jeddah and Monaco).

Also because he didn’t post his post-race tweet until yesterday that it’s clear he’s deeply unhappy with the team. Someone did a really good thread on the McLaren strategy and if they made the right call but it’s full of ‘Piastri’ fans saying they sabotaged his race.

Anyways, some fans made Instagram stories and tweets and tagged Mark Webber to try get him out of his contract at McLaren. I’m so curious at where they think he could go? Ferrari and Redbull have their lineups secured, plus Mark Webber is hardly going to encourage him to go to Redbull. Mercedes have decided to go all in on Antonelli and Aston have their line up secured too. Do they want him to go back to Alpine? To join Stake and suffer?

I understand it’s frustrating when the driver you like and want to do well doesn’t get the result you wanted for them. McLaren clearly want him, they wouldn’t have signed him until 2026 if that wasn’t the case, he’s doing a good job with them. He and Lando are working well together, they seem to get on well and are working to get McLaren up there and fighting every week. It just feels like some of these people don’t watch the races or understand why certain decisions are made.

Sorry for the rant 😭

He should be looking at…BITCH WHAT?

Look where? Please tell me because that McLaren is a rocket ship where else is he going to find one?? Red bull and their broken car, next to Max Verstappen? He’ll have a lot more to moan about over there than not getting dragged along by Lando, that’s for sure. Ferrari, who have Lewis Hamilton and Il Predestinatio not mention have just got their own academy driver a seat? And that’s not even touching on the questionable strategy. Merc, who have all but given the seat to Antonelli? Anywhere else is looking backwards and a waste of his talent.

So where can he go?

And why should he go? Because Lando let him fall out of DRS range? If he wanted the DRS that badly he needed to stay in range of the guy driving the same car. Sorry to say it but they’re having this discussion like Oscar was only a passenger and not the person who ultimately controls his pace. You want to stay ahead of George? Be faster. I’m sure Oscar doesn’t want to rely on Lando for the outcome of his race. Why do people who call themselves fans of Oscar think he should be counting on anything but his own ability? Ludicrous.

McLaren have to think about getting the largest amount of points with two cars. Oscar has to think about Oscar. Lando has to think about Lando. The balance of these three agendas is what makes F1 fun to watch. If everyone is playing the team game all the time what would we be watching?

People are on some next shit istg

[im-overstimulated-and-im-sad]

WIP Wednesday

Starting this off today - 💝

This is from the next chapter of my TK and Sophie fic -

2011 -

“Why are you nervous?” Sophie asked. “This isn’t someone you’re trying to date. Like, isn’t this person coming over a girl?”

“Yes, she is a girl”. TK nodded. “A girl who agreed to help me when she didn’t have to, so I don’t fail the first test of summer school that has an actual grade. Please don’t say anything weird to her when she gets here”.

Sophie nodded. “So, you don’t want me to tell her that you still have all your baby teeth in a jar in your room because the thought of the tooth fairy coming in to your room for your teeth terrified you?”

Instead of answering, TK turned to glare at their mother, who had just come back out into the living room. “Why would you ever tell her that?”

“I’m sorry, catch me up here,” Gwyn said.

“TK’s baby teeth, love,” Enzo called from the kitchen.

“Oh”. Gwyn nodded. “TK that’s nothing to be embarrassed by. It’s cute. You know, I have told that story to so many—”

“Mom!” TK exclaimed, hiding his face in his forearms.

“I have not told that story to anybody,” Gwyn amended. “Sweets, please take a breath”. TK just groaned and shook his head. He turned and looked at the box his sister was rifling through.

“What are those?” TK asked.

“Your Bubbe made the ill-advised decision to give your sister a box of photos she never organized or put in albums,” his mother answered, “Which, I don’t even know how she ended up with some of these. Half of them are from when I was in law school”.

“Well, lookee here,” Sophie mused. “I’m saving this for the next time you tell me I need longer shorts”.

“Sophie, I am twenty-two years old in that picture,” Gwyn said, looking over her shoulder. “When you’re twenty-two, I’m not going to comment on what you wear”.

“That’s bullshit,” Sophie said quietly. Not quietly enough, as she still got a strong rebuke of “Sophie Strand. Language”.

“Oh, look at this one,” Sophie held up a picture of Gwyn in a full-length sparkly gown.

“That was from when I was in law school,” Gwyn said as she passed the picture to TK.

“You look like a princess,” Sophie told her. “Princess Thumb Ring”.

TK inspected the picture. “She’s right! Mom, why do you have two thumb rings on?!”

“Because I have two thumbs, young man,” she replied, taking the picture back. “And it was the 90’s. They were in style”.

“There is no way that’s true,” TK muttered quietly. His sister nodded in agreement.

No pressure tagging - I tag @anewkindofme @nancys-braids @heartstringsduet @carlos-in-glasses

@actualalligator @lemonlyman-dotcom @chicgeekgirl89 @literateowl

@honeybee-taskforce @welcometololaland @bonheur-cafe @meditating-honey-badger

@chaotictarlos @goodways @liminalmemories21 @cold-blooded-jelly-doughnut

@captain-gillian @thisbuildinghasfeelings @paperstorm @carlos-tk

@herefortarlos @kiankiwi @firstprince-history-huh @reyestrandd

@lochnesswriter @the-flaming-nightmare @fallout-mars

@eclectic-sassycoweyes @alrightbuckaroo @snowviolettwhite

@terramous @ladytessa74 @lightningboltreader @jesuisici33

@doublel27 @freneticfloetry @basilsunrise @rmd-writes

@mikibwrites @safeaswrites @theghostofashton @thebumblecee

@birdclowns @sugdenlovesdingle @celeritas2997

@mooshkat @tailoredshirt @kiankiwi and anyone else who wants to do it - open tag 🫶

[cursedvida]

How did Noa use to perceive humans/echoes before meeting Mae? He calls them pests, but do you think he thinks of them as just another type of animal or a potential threat to their existence? There is a small scene where Noa's dad gets concerned that echoes are near the village, and it makes me wonder if humans were to be considered as simple "pests" why the need to scare them away? Why Noa was forbidden to go across that tunnel? Do you think Noa was kind of sheltered in the subject? What did the dad and the elders know? Too bad this is not touched again in the story.

I sincerely believe that Noa knows nothing about humans before meeting Mae. And I think that he, along with the rest of the population of his village, has never received any more information about them than that they are savages. Perhaps their information is that despite seeming weak and "dumb," they can become aggressive and even dangerous (much like how we humans view many animals), and it's best to stay away from them or be cautious if you encounter one. I also don't think he thought much about them, just as we don't have a well-formed idea about bears, for example. You know that if you see a bear, you need to run and that it's an animal that can be aggressive, but it's not something that occupies your mind too much. For me, that must have been Noa's opinion to some extent.

On the other hand, I also believe that the elders know much more than they let on. And this is not strange; after all, even governments have intelligence services with information that is not available to the general public and that deals with conflicts that could potentially affect that uninformed majority. Perhaps in Noa's village, the elders who reach a significant position and make decisions about the clan's future have been passing down certain "secrets" about humans and their dangers over generations, something only accessible to a few. Probably Noa's father, having an important position, knew about it too. What exactly do they know? I couldn't say; I don't think they know everything, or maybe they have a distorted version, but I do believe they are aware that humans can pose a more serious threat than what is perceived at first glance. Maybe that's why they have strict rules about going beyond certain limits; somehow, the idea that they are safe from all external dangers in that isolated place must have been passed down through generations, and going beyond the limits could ruin everything. In fact, it's evident that Noa knows nothing about the world at the beginning of the movie; he has literally lived in a bubble all his life.

[bookbitchx]

Hello hello here's a lil rant about SJMs writing of Rhys and it driving me crazy :) (CC3 spoilers, ACOTAR spoilers, minor TOG spoilers)

I agree with your post that questions whether or not SJM was being purposeful when she created the dynamics of the IC and their allies. I personally think in order to determine if SJM is doing this purposefully its important to take all her books into account (especially with the crossover in CC3 😭 And because SJM's only finished series currently is TOG, most of my comparisons will involve that series)

I suspect that the IC's emotional journeys are still very far from over. Especially Rhys and Feyre since they have been arguing off page (which is understandable given it wasnt their POVs) and SJM purposefully included Ember Quinlan defending Nesta in the bonus chapter. Now each of these characters have VERY strong personalities, but Ember in particular comparing rhys to someone who abused her is EXTREMELY important for us as readers to note for future books. And i really hope that its because SJM is finally gonna let him be held accountable for being an ass towards his mate's sister and for meddling so much in their relationship.

Rhysand in particular out of all of the IC has probably the most potential for a good redemption arc. Hes traumatized by his families deaths and UTM in canon and it would be safe to assume his childhood in Windhaven wasn't exactly pleasant. So giving us the Archeron POVs to unpack these centuries old characters is bound to get messy due to their own lack of experience, (but it makes for good fan interaction, i see you sjm).

Rhys definitely has better intentions than the Highlords before him did, but he still has some iffy behavior that stems from needing to have control over his surroundings likely due to traumatic events where he felt powerless to save those he cares for. But that doesn't excuse the fact that he has (accidentally) hurt more people while trying to keep control. He withheld life saving info from his mate bc he didnt want her to worry, he threatened and chased Nesta from the city because she shared the info he was hiding, he stole the book from Tarquin despite the fact that he likely would have helped rhys anyway, he locked his IC in Velaris to protect them (when Amren could've solo'd anyone in UTM 🤫). All of which to me sounds like could be control issues.

Now for who I think is the closest character we have to really compare to Rhys, the MC of TOG also struggled with control issues throughout the series. And her own trauma also mirrors Rhys' to an extent, especially her family life and the fact she was also stuck without fresh air while she was in Endovier. She made bad choices throughout her story, ones that affected the people she loved directly. But when her arc concluded, she was able to make healthier decisions for herself and loved ones despite that.

If SJM truly loves rhys as much as she claims, I don't think she wouldn't give him an opportunity to heal like the one she gave to Aelin. Especially after she hinted in CC3 that things are NOT always all fine and dandy in Feysand's relationship, Feyre herself said she was furious with the IC in acosf, and the two of them have yet to discuss how Rhys' actions utm affected her.

Realistically, I don't the highest hopes for Rhys' character arc unfortunately, but a girl can dream of a better ACOTAR 😂 I wanna believe that it'll be a great series when it concludes but im hesitant in putting my faith into SJM tbh 😔 Anyway, I hope you have a wonderful rest of ur day/ night and im so excited to hear your thoughts!

Heyy

I hope you're having a good day/night too!

You definitely make some good points.

I can kind of see similarities between Rhysand and Aelin, but at the same time, I don't.

Aelin, for all her faults and mistakes, had at least tried to do the right thing, no matter how misguided it was. She was selfish and reckless and ended up hurting people close to her, but she owned up to it. She was also young. She was, what like 19-20? Not an excuse, but a factor.

Rhysand, on the other hand... God, where do I even start?

It's weird because ACOTAR is so different from TOG in terms of writing, and I'm just talking about first person/third person POVs.

I honestly believe that SJM tried to make the series black and white. Tamlin Bad, Rhysand good. Eris bad, Mor good. Nesta bad, Feyre good... and accidentally ended up with a controversial mess.

I mean good for her. Publicity is publicity no matter if it's positive or negative (here we are talking about it), but yeah.

Rhysand was supposed to be this morally grey character, but she ended up making him a self praising, self-proclaimed king of feminism, most powerful High Lord with nothing to back it up.

○ He gives Feyre 'choices' only when the outcome is in his favor.

○ He claims he's all for women's freedom to choose whatever they want... yet he lets those Illyrian camps keep women as glorified slaves and praises the leaders for giving them 2 hours of training.

○ He's 'the most powerful High Lord' yet he can't control the HC, and the camp leaders barely respond to him.

○ He, Feyre, and the IC feel entitled to information that affects the whole of Prythian... for what I don't know.

○ I'm not even going to get into the acts he commits against his 'family' bc I would be here for a while.

○ He encouraged his mate to take her petty revenge on Tamlin, destroying his entire court in the process, innocent lives and homes, not to mention making Prythian more vulnerable to Hybern.

○ He got mad at Nesta for giving the mask to Bryce... isn't that what he did with the book? Except he stole it and destroyed Summer Court property while Nesta controls the mask.

You're right about his control issues, though, as was seen with Nesta every time she didn't listen to him. I can see how that would relate to the lack of control he felt UTM, but...

Did 50 years UTM getting SA affect him? Obviously. I don't disregard the trauma he went through, but I also don't turn a blind eye to the things he did UTM.

He assaulted his mate with no excuse. He could've easily left her in that cell instead of making her wear a napkin and get drunk against her will. Amarantha didn't even care when he paraded her around and only got mad when she saw them kissing.

The children of the Winter Court that were killed, I don't know why it was brushed off with no consequences because who else would have done it? Daematis are extremely rare, and somehow, there was another one powerful trapped under the mountain, but he doesn't know who? Another Daemati who was working for Amarantha and didn't call out Rhysand on the Claire Beddor lie?

God, this turned into a rant, I know, and I'm sorry, lol.

I personally don't see a redemption arc satisfying enough happening or at all really. I read somewhere that Rhysand was created after SJM's husband Josh... yk where I'm going with this.

Anyway, if you sat through this, thanks!