#i haven't been subtle with the foreshadowing

[monbons]

WIP Wednesday

Thanks for the tag @rimeswithpurple. Baby Baz and Dev are so cute I want to pinch their little cheeks! (And that little skating outfit is perfect!)

I have no real progress to report on the new WIP. I started a chapter. It is a mess, but first drafts are supposed to be terrible, yes?

Instead, let’s play a game. For those who've kept up with The Eternal Life of Baz Pitch, you can find a snippet of Chapter 7 past Baz under the cut. Can you fill in the blanks correctly?

“Call me by my name or call me nothing at all.” “Your name?” The dark’s eyes are wide and playful. “Why does one even need a name?” “Surely you have one,” Baz scoffs, narrowing his eyes at the dark. “What is it? Lucifer? Hades? Beelzebub?” “You wound me,” the dark feigns heartbreak. “I was certain you’d be more original than your predecessors when you finally addressed me formally.” Baz arches an eyebrow. He’d always suspected he was dealing with some kind of devil, but to have it confirmed? Then again, this might be another of the dark’s games. He is so fond of unsettling him.  “[Redacted],” Baz states plainly, arms crossed.  The dark tilts his head. He waits.  “Your name is [redacted].” Baz repeats.

(Games need prizes but I'm not sure what to offer, so feel free to also make suggestions with your guess...)

Hellos and high fives! @thewholelemon, @raenestee, @roomwithanopenfire, @bookish-bogwitch, @cutestkilla

@valeffelees, @drowninginships, @emeryhall, @iamamythologicalcreature, @hushed-chorus

@beastmonstertitan, @fiend-for-culture, @larkral, @you-remind-me-of-the-babe, @aristocratic-otter

@arthurkko, @best--dress, @brilla-brilla-estrellita, @shrekgogurt, @ic3-que3n

@rbkzz, @ivelovedhimthroughworse, @run-for-chamo-miles, @youarenevertooold, @noblecorgi

@skee3000, @comesitintheclover, @supercutedinosaurs, @thehoneyedhufflepuff, @artsyunderstudy

[queerfables]

The Rules of the Twist

Given the themes of deception and sleight of hand in Good Omens season 2, I think most of us agree it's at least possible there's some kind of twist waiting to be revealed in season 3. We're bouncing around a lot of theories, but I wanted to take a step back and look at the general shape of what we might expect.

The big twist we've seen before in Good Omens is Crowley and Aziraphale's body swap. (Okay, technically it was an appearance swap. But that just doesn't sound as pithy.) Rather than anticipate an exact repeat of this trick, I'm considering the swap as a sort of model. What does it tell us about the rules Neil plays by when he pulls a twist in this story? What clues can we expect, and what can we not count on? Sure, there's no guarantee that a season 2 twist is going to map exactly onto what we've seen in the past, but I think it's a reasonable place to start. Take these as guidelines and take them with a grain of salt, but if you're sorting through all our fascinating Good Omens theories and trying to decide what you think, you might find them helpful.

So then, what are the rules?

Broadly speaking, Neil plays fair with twists. He foreshadows and includes enough hints for the audience to make a reasonable guess at what's going on, or at least to look back after the reveal and go, "oh, of course". But he still keeps some cards close to the chest.

During the body swap, there are two big gaps in the information we're given:

Key events happen off screen The swap happened between scenes, during a time that it was only suggested, not confirmed, that Crowley and Aziraphale would be together. The transition between these scenes also used film and tv conventions to make that passage of time "invisible" - we see Crowley and Aziraphale get on the bus, and then we see them in the morning going about their days separately, and we're conditioned to think nothing important could have happened in between.

Key tools (eg abilities, items, information) haven't been shown before The swap was not something we'd ever seen Crowley and Aziraphale do, and it wasn't something they'd ever talked about either. It fit comfortably into the established world building but it hadn't been specifically signposted as a possibility.

The other big twist that Good Omens pulled was the romance between Gabriel and Beelzebub as the explanation for Gabriel's disappearance from heaven. Both of these information gaps are involved here too. The offscreen event is obviously the meetings between Gabriel and Beelzebub that lead to them falling in love - up until Gabriel's flashback sequence, the only indication they'd ever met each other was a brief conversation at the airbase during Armageddon. The tool that we haven't seen before is Beelzebub's ability to create a fly vessel for Gabriel's memories (protecting him in much the same way that Crowley and Aziraphale protected each other with their body swap, in fact).

These are pretty big gaps, really. And given that Neil knew there'd be years between seasons 2 and 3, I expect he would have leaned pretty heavily into them if he wanted to hide something. So how do we predict a twist if we can't know where it is and haven't seen what it might involve?

Unanswered questions

This is the big one. Looking at where the furniture isn't, you might say.

What's interesting is that the questions that point to a twist aren't usually subtle or ambiguous. For the body swap, the two converging questions were: what did Agnes' last prophecy mean, and how could Crowley and Aziraphale survive their executions? In season two, some of the unanswered questions signposting Gabriel/Beelzebub were: how did Gabriel lose his memory, why was he carrying a box, what was the significance of the song he kept singing, who was he at the Resurrectionist with...

I think guesses about upcoming twists are most convincing when they seek to tie up loose threads from the show. For this reason, I'm a little skeptical of theories proposing the kiss between Crowley and Aziraphale involved some kind of twist. It isn't impossible, I just don't see any unanswered questions there. (Savvy readers may note that I too have speculated about a twist hidden in the kiss. I do find the possibility fun, but it's not a theory I'm seriously committed to). If I was going to really buy into one of these theories, I'd want it to explain one of my big unanswered questions other than "but how could they get into a fight that hurts me so deep in my soul?" That's definitely a question I have, but not technically a mystery.

It's worth noting that in the case of the body swap, we were initially given a false answer to the question "how did they survive their executions?" The angels and demons watching attribute it to Crowley and Aziraphale having "gone native", believing that their natures had fundamentally changed, making them immune to holy water and hellfire. It might be the case, then, that some of the apparently resolved questions this season warrant further investigation. Is there more to the story of Gabriel's disappearance than we know, for example?

2. Unexplained details

If examining an unanswered question is looking at where the furniture isn't, then this is where we take all the pieces of furniture piled up in storage and see if we've got anything that fits. Everything is fair game here: script, acting, music, props, sets, costumes, editing, camera angles, audio effects, visual effects, everything. If it's on the screen or coming through the speakers, it was put there on purpose by multiple teams of highly skilled and attentive creators all working together to create the final product.

I think you could probably do an entire meta on all the little details pointing towards the season 1 body swap, but here are some of the big ones:

"Crowley" sees the restored Bentley, but takes a taxi instead of driving it

"Aziraphale" circles "Crowley" when they order their ice creams, the way Crowley more typically moves around Aziraphale

"Crowley" says "tickety boo", an extraordinarily Aziraphalean phrase

The collar on "Crowley's" jacket is a beige tartan rather than its usual red

There are general differences in the ways David Tennant and Michael Sheen embody the characters throughout the swap

Similarly, Gabriel and Beelzebub's romance has lots of small details pointing to it. The big one that keeps showing up is the connection between Gabriel and flies. He mentions them and interacts with them repeatedly, and although it isn't obvious at first glance, there's a fly in the box that he carries to the bookshop. This all culminates in the reveal that it's the same fly, Beelzebub's gift to him.

Here's the problem, of course: if everything in the show is intentional and crafted with meticulous attention to detail, how do we know what actually matters? This is why I think it's so important to look at the unanswered questions first. There's a joy in seeking out Easter eggs and connecting all the dots, and sometimes you might strike gold this way, but there's also a lot of noise in the signal. It's helpful to know the general shape of what you're looking for, so you'll know when you've found it.

You can reverse engineer this. Start with details that jump out at you and then look for a puzzle they might explain. This works, but it's a little easier to get lost in the weeds, struggling to sort out what's significant and what's a fun reference to another piece of media or a hint to a question that's already been resolved. Going back to the twists we've already seen on this show, the unanswered questions around them were really big and obvious, so I think it's a good idea to ask: if I hadn't noticed this detail, would I have thought this was a mystery that needed solving?

Okay, but what do we do with this?

Well, maybe nothing. These criteria can't confirm or rule out any theories, after all. I'm laying it out like a rubric but it isn't really, I'm just describing a few storytelling patterns we've seen before and making some rough guesses about how they might show up again. If I were really serious about this I'd probably take a look at other examples of Neil's work and see how well my model holds up there, but the truth is I'm not really familiar with enough of his other works to do this. (Confession time: I was always more of a Pratchett fan).

The main reason that I've laid everything out like this is it informs my thinking when I stress test my own theories, and I figured other people might be interested in it. I'm also hoping it will help me to be able to refer back to this when I write meta in the future. For my own purposes, I find a breakdown like this helpful because it gives me a sense of how a writer approaches their story, where they'll tip their hand and where they'll hold things close. It's no guarantee and it wouldn't be any fun if it was, but in a lot of cases we're not aware of our own patterns, so it can be surprisingly illuminating.

[barrenclan]

I reeeeaaally really dig the subtle but apparent difference between dustfeather and asphodels deaths. You’d think the methods would be swapped, dustfeathers was much more brutal and asphodels was quite clean in comparison.

In love. With the foreshadowing stuff that’s been “answered” in this issue, I had such a field day going back and looking for all of the little things!

Foreshadowing for daaaaays. It's been a lot of fun to write all that stuff in, and a challenge to keep track of it as well! But I like it. I haven't worked on a project before that's so thoroughly planned it.

You know, it's funny; that "rotten stench of blood" line is an example of something I was terrified people were totally gonna catch me on. I was like, oh God, they're all gonna KNOW that Rainhaze will kill Asphodelpaw now, I've totally spoiled my twist.

The other funny example of that, where I thought I was being way too obvious, is from this line in Issue 18:

Which was a cheeky little reference to Dustfeather's death. I was soooo scared I had shown my whole plan with it and people were gonna catch me out, but I couldn't resist adding it in.

[makerofmadness]

What's with Balloon Boy and the Daycare Attendant?

The Balloon World arcade machine exists, it's in the DA's room and both characters are involved in it. It's probably one of the most cryptic minigames in the FNAF series as a whole, but while we could ponder what exactly it's supposed to mean (maybe I'll do that for all the security breach minigames eventually), the main question I have is this:

WHY Balloon Boy specifically? Why is the minigame about HIM?

Is there a connection between the two characters? Or was it a completely random decision?

Out of nowhere, thinking about Balloon World, I came to a realization:

The Lights.

Balloon Boy's entire gimmick in FNAF 2 was that if he got into your office, he would disable your flashlight and vent lights (...somehow. I know we all make the jokes about him taking the batteries [and then that FNAF 57: Freddy In Space thing in FNAF World said he just straight-up steals your entire flashlight], but you never see the battery icon disappear or appear empty in FNAF 2 itself when he gets into your office. And the vent lights also stop working, so unless they also operate on batteries, then... does he actually take them from you?).

What's the one rule in the daycare?

Keep the lights on.

His mechanic is the antithesis to what Sun wants and exactly what Moon would want. Balloon Boy doesn't keep the lights on. He prevents you from turning them on at all.

(which also makes me kinda sad there wasn't a Glamrock version of BB. Then again, I don't know how exactly he would've uniquely affected like anything. Regardless I am hoping for the day someone in the fandom makes a glamrock bb who is arch-enemies with sun and gets along well with moon skseijdndndnd-)

It feels kinda obvious and I'm guessing I'm not the only person to think about this, but I have never seen anyone else bring this up. Not on YouTube, not on tumblr, nowhere. Maybe if I go looking for it I'll see, but i'm surprised I haven't bumped into anyone else saying this just naturally. I go into the BB tags a LOT, surely SOMEONE would've said something, right? I don't even see it noted in the trivia on the page for the arcade game on the fnaf wiki.

...but is this supposed to mean anything? Or is it just a cute little reference or callback? it's hard to say, especially with how ambiguous the minigame is.

Though I DID think of ONE thing... (possible minor spoilers for Ruin under the cut):

Saw this pointed out in a youtube video that the BB World screen (with Eclipse, who makes their proper debut in Ruin after effectively being foreshadowed by the minigame in SB's base game) can be seen on the ceiling in the DA's room. Which makes sense, obviously, but also take note of the pirate-themed windows in the hallway leading to it.

...now, which character do most of us tend to associate with Balloon Boy? His "tag-team partner," of sorts?

Foxy. The Pirate.

With this, I found that there's more Foxy-related stuff associated with the daycare area than I had previously realized because I had never made any connections before. I mean, Kids' Cove is directly linked to it for god's sake.

Like. I hope i haven't forgotten to mention anything (I've been writing this post over the course of hours 'Cus I had stuff to do in the middle of it all). My brain's kinda starting to fry. But basically: Was Foxy originally meant to be the Daycare Attendant, in-universe? Was there gonna be a Glamrock Balloon Boy with him, like as his first mate or something??? Were they gonna be connected to Fazbear Theater????? (Uh basically Sun/Moon to my knowledge from confirmation in the books and a lot of more subtle implications in-game mainly involving environmental pieces were originally meant to be in the Fazbear Theater as a stage animatronic but got moved to daycare duty instead and being reprogrammed. Which actually explains a lot about them when you think about it-)

Like. Ok I'm forgetting where I was going with this, I'm sorry, but I guess it's food for thought/adds to the weird connections between DA and BB, I guess. Idk. I can't focus that well right now to keep making new ideas.

felt like sharing my interpretation of the Balloon World minigame itself at least since earlier I did kinda finally get it down concretely:

I kinda developed a theory that Eclipse is Sun/Moon's "safe mode" and that rebooting DA reactivated Eclipse as a result. Like, they're their own AI that was at one point implemented. but then Vanny happened and locked them out thanks to the whole Glitchtrap virus thing (albeit it only seemed to reach Moon, while Sun remains seemingly unaffected. Guessing it's because they're different AIs [finally implied/basically confirmed by their Ruin dialogue). Eclipse has seemingly not been active for some time, or at least never post-pizzaplex closure, given how they're seemingly completely oblivious to the fact that this place is closed with no signs of opening.

So the minigame was foreshadowing Eclipse's existence and implying their "trapped" nature, which also could be seen as paralleling Vanessa's whole "Vanny" situation, especially given how iirc one of the messages related to princess quest can be found near the arcade machine.

[epickiya722]

Okay, hear me out here. So, I'm thinking about this post again and I firmly believe that maybe the claws are a Yuuji thing.

Wait, before you say anything!

Now, not saying this is a big brained moment from me or anything.

It's just I think that claws may be Yuuji's thing and I also would like it to be because it just fits?

I'll explain, just work with me here.

Alright, hands seem to be a big deal in this story.

I don't know if that is an established thing already, I haven't been active in the JJK fandom like that, but just saying there's a lot of hand symbolism going on here.

Sukuna's fingers, hand signs to summon domains and shikigamis, hands are used to use curse techniques most of the time, high-fives happen quite a bit, some of the cast are hand to hand combatants, people be losing their limbs which usually be hands and arms...

With that being said, Yuuji is all about them hands. That is Mr. LEFT RIGHT GOODNIGHT. A lot of his fighting style is hands. On top of that, he even loses his hand and fingers, and again later on with a pinkie.

There's also the fact he swallowed a finger.

Said finger happened to be clawed.

Now I know, I know. "That's Sukuna's finger!"

Yes! And his fingers (as curse objects) have claws/long fingernails.

But what if that is Gege's way of foreshadowing Yuuji's thing being claws?

Looking back through the manga and anime, the only few times Sukuna has long nails is when he's possessing Yuuji (more so in the anime so far, but it's there in the manga, too... also in advertisement and other official art). He doesn't have long nails when he possesses Megumi and even in his original form.

Here's him in his original form and possessing Megumi!

Here's him possessing Yuuji!

That got me thinking outside the story.

Again, what if Sukuna's fingers as cursed objects has long nails as a foreshadowing visual that Yuuji was going to have claws later? What if Gege gave those cursed objects (Sukuna's fingers) long nails as a subtle hint that Yuuji was later going to have an ability that had to with with having claws?

Also! Nicknames! Specifically the "Tiger of the West/Tiger of West Junior High" one.

Tigers have what? Besides, a tail, ears, fangs and stripes? Claws! I find that nickname fitting to the claws thing, honestly.

I also did a quick research on tiger symbolism and found out they represent courage, strength, warding off bad luck and evil spirits.

Courage and strength is definitely Yuuji. Protector from bad luck and evil spirits? Different story. It's ironic given how much he has been through since the start of the story and how much he blames himself for whatever misfortune others go through, but then I thought about it and realized that piece fits him, too.

He is a protector, he wants to protect people. He doesn't like the idea of taking a life without purpose. And he does ward off bad luck and evil spirits which just so happens to be curses. He handles curses and able to withstand Sukuna. Which irritates Sukuna.

With that said!

Yeah, I think the claws are more of Yuuji's thing and I just also like the idea because it just seems to fit him. Yuuji with claws is badass to me. I think he could be a bigger threat of he's actually able to cut into Sukuna just as Sukuna did him before.

EDIT: I also want to add that what if in a future chapter we see Yuuji uses Sukuna's cursed technique, but a variation that suits those claws of his? Sukuna does a lot of cutting moves. Claws do what? Cut! There was that bit back in chapter 12 where Gojo mentions how Yuuji's body will learn Sukuna's cursed technique eventually, right?

[hildred-rex]

LXGF Reread 2023-11-20

To make an analysis post I am currently rereading what is shaping up to be the entirety of LXGF.

This has gotten incredibly long, so I'm burying it under a readmore.

I love the bit of dramatic irony here. I think it's technically spoilers which bit is the dramatic irony, but just trust me, it's great.

The wham shot of Mina's teeth is so good. And coupled with "We have some experience with such matters."...

From this page: The supportive hand on Irene's shoulder. The supportive hand on Irene's shoulder. And Irene really looks haunted in the "An explanation would be welcome" panel. Everything from the angle she's looking to the shadows under her eyes to her interlaced hands. I just want to give her a hug.

Bam. The king. (Isn't looking quite himself, is he?) I remember I shuddered when I first read this page and came to this panel.

The king continues to look very bad on the last panel of this page. (TW scopophobia and disturbing imagery.) And the color. It's so subtle you almost don't notice it the first time, just that something about the page seems slightly off. It's very effective, even at that level. And then when you do notice it... Nothing in this comic is in color. Everything is sepia-toned. That's the way things should be. But the dead King Wilhelm von Ormstein has yellow eyes.

VAN HELSING! And it nails how he talks in the book! (Having tried to write him, it's harder than it looks.) Not to mention the joy in my heart upon continuing my left-to-right scan of the panel and seeing QUINCEY MORRIS!

I've skipped a bunch here because I'm supposed to be focusing on Griffin and haven't even gotten to him yet but Art—

JONNO EYES (not sepia. I repeat: not sepia.)

I forgot how much I loved our introduction to Dorian.

And then we actually meet him (and see Paul Lessingham, the Politician, the Statesman—thank you, alt text!). He's angelic when you focus only on him, but when you look at him in context (in the panel with Basil) he's... less so. Very well done!

Foreshadowing. (When something becomes not technically probably spoilers I have a very laudatory post about all this.) Also floppy Dorian lol

I love this page. Not only do we see Dorian purposely provoke Art (and then see Art react, showing off both of their characterss) we see—and I missed this the first time—some of the dynamic between Dorian and Basil. He jumps in to distract Art, despite being scared himself (and Dorian having earned it).

Awwh Basil looks so excited that someone's treating him kindly...

Dorian's stories from this page are all allusions to other things which have gone onto the "read soon" list.

The last panel of this page is so effective. (Its image description too!)

"boring filler headline" lol (and I enjoy the tags)

DETERMINED MINA PANEL 2! BLUSHING MINA PANEL 6! Also just Mina's outfit in general. (Also just the LXGF outfits in general. I love the little garlic flowers.)

Paranoid Kemp is done so well.

LXGF is very good at having very effective final panels. This one with the glass... It's very well composed (I think that's the word) and does a good job of displaying Irene's discomfort with the glass. (Here.)

It was introduced on the previous page, but here's the first time we get a good look at Jonnovision. My favorite cryptid solicitor.

On the next page there's more cryptidness (the speed), which I didn't notice my first time through. And his eyes are glowing in the first panel... And then the first expletive of the comic! Such a great way to properly introduce Griffin!

I love (in a sad way) how Griffin just caves in when he thinks about the murder. (Here.)

Griffin's whole first scene is incredible. I can't comment on all of it or this post would be several more miles long. Just go read it and imagine me vibrating with excitement and pointing at random bits and screaming.

Character growth for Jack! ...I'm now very sad.

The panel with Jonathan and the angelic smile and the giant knife is great.

I've been annotating over here less because we've gotten to the bit that I'm talking about in my actual post, but rest assured that I love it. Also, the yellow is brighter here. And the eye... I'll count myself lucky if that thing doesn't show up in my dreams tonight.

And the shot of the photo at the end here! The corruption happening to the king slowly coming to affect depictions of him... I love this for spoiler-related reasons.

Griffin's realization is both very well done and unaccountably hilarious to me.

Hel-lo Mr. Holmes!

He respects her change of surname! Better than a lot of adaptations... and the table lmao

He. He what. Also floomp.

Holmes's immediate concern for Mrs. Hudson warms my heart.

HOLMES AROACE COMING OUT SCENE!

Accurate VH voice is back—what the deuce are you two talking about?

his blood is yellow his blood is yellow (well really more like golden)

Also Jack looking panicked in the second panel is so well done.

Almost namedrop! And Griffin being a delight as always.

Hello Jekyll! Great to see you! I enjoy your almost alchemical-looking setup there.

The king is progressing...

Same page; I enjoy Jekyll and Hyde's designs. They have the same hairstyle, very similar noses, and the same style of eye; but they still look different enough that you probably wouldn't believe them if they said they were cousins.

"He is a horror of the un-dead." Line of dialogue, presented without comment.

The drawingsss...

The first panel of this page is absolutely stunning. So is everything else. So much that I wrote an analysis rant of it.

[hikennosabo]

#tristampparty day 6, episode 6: once upon a time in hopeland

THE HALFWAY POINT OF @tristampparty BABY!!! this is another episode i've watched multiple times on its own so... LET'S GOOOOO

and we start right out the gate with

wolfwood vial count: 2

i don't think i need to keep saying that masaya onosaka is the radio dj... he's been a constant...

LOL, LMAO, EVEN

"disposal," though... we know all about the last run, but what else does disposal entail. like what do they do with the. um. the corpse? and the word "disposal"... yeesh...

so they say, even though it's obvious bullshit. but i do wonder. conrad is in charge of july, EoM's base is in july, etc etc... but how many people actually know what's going on? who does "the july government" consist of besides conrad? what about the civilians living in the city? EoM's cover is flimsy at best, they're suspicious as hell, so how deep and how far does the propaganda machine reach that this can just... keep going on?

all this planet has is radio and newspapers, no TV, no internet, and everyone is struggling just to survive... we saw just last ep how EoM had a grip on one village to the point where it was normalized to sacrifice children... just how good are they at controlling information? jeez. roberto and meryl's job as reporters is more important than ever.

we see that part of wolfwood's designated role is to go after deserters and traitors, so that's another way of controlling information, but. he's just one guy. so they probably have more assassins than just him. maybe the rest of the ghg that we haven't seen yet? there's livio, too, but... how long has he been with EoM at this point? the timeline's so unclear on this, i don't know... we know it took "months" between wolfwood being taken by them and his escape attempt + livio(/razlo) joining, but we don't know how long ago that was either... presumably it would also take "months" for the experiments to be done on livio, or maybe even less time? uhhhhh (steam comes out of my ears from thinking too hard)

......i'm less than 3 minutes into the episode. let's continue.

it's cute that they shrug simultaneously. mad at each other but still in sync... :')

no idea why the orphanage would be highlighted on the map except for foreshadowing purposes, but it looks like the steamer stops at... uh... *squints* taradiddlescoast... deucedump?!... orange bazoo... who tf is naming these places?!

:') aha. ahahahahaha. ahahhahahahaha. ah. uah. ue. ueeeeeeaaahhh

we already know that the sandsteamer route passes by the orphanage. so i like that there's a sandsteamer visible in the distance. very nice subtle attention to detail here

i feel like people are always quick to point out that livio and wolfwood being siblings is specific to stampede only but i DON'T care, this is my FAVORITE interpretation of their relationship, i really love it so much and think it enhances the narrative and nicely contrasts the relationship between vash and knives. orange was SO big brained for this and i'm not kidding. they're brothers in the manga too, to me.

the dub line here is "stop, livio! he's not who hurt you!" which just tears me into a million pieces, thanks!

...if i remember correctly... the "great sand ocean" is called as such because things just sink into it, right? (hmm... wonder how many crashed ships sank into the sand ocean...) hence the boat-like vehicles that are used to cross it. as we can see, the bad lads gang uses what look like windsurfers. and yet wheeled vehicles seem to fare just fine...?!

we never see what the test is. huh... i'm reminded of the promised neverland all of a sudden

nicholas gets selected and the bell rings... can i point something out? the bell's presence in scenes... what the bell represents... it has the EoM logo on it. well, so does the building. but notably, we see the bell in the scene with livio and wolfwood on the roof at night and also in the scene of them cuddling which i posted above. they're bonding and they love each other but the eye of michael is quite literally looming over them... and over the orphanage as a whole...

i've already talked about this in my bookclub posts but i want to talk about the orphanage's relationship with EoM again. it's literally run by them... there's NO cover story here, they're CLEARLY suspicious as hell. in the manga, chapel came by himself to pick wolfwood up and the cover story was that they would be repairing churches, right? and everyone genuinely believed he was going off to live a better life. here it's just. a bunch of guys in suits and masks. obviously suspicious. they run the place, so i guess there's no need for a cover story...? but iirc in the manga EoM was also using the orphanage as a "source" for soldiers, right? like i think chapel says something like that, doesn't he? am i misremembering?

i have so many questions. there's no confetti. what does that mean. this is a lot more lowkey than wolfwood's departure in the manga. no cheering, no invitation to come back/saying this is always his home, just... polite waves. and melanie looks... unhappy. how much does she know? how much of a choice does she have here? ...huh. i'm reminded of the promised neverland again.

what does this mean for... y'know. The Scene. like. the confetti is important. the kids loving nicholas so much and cheering while saying goodbye is important. why did orange take those out what are they planning what does it MEAN!!!!

wolfwood is "test subject HL1-06" and i have no idea what that means and we can't determine from this how many kids came before him either.

wolfwood vial count: 3

hi sweetieeeee i love youuuuuu i love youuuuuu

see this gets the gears turning in my head regarding the timeline again. legato says this, and we see some flashforwards (i guess in this context that's what they are) to wolfwood killing people, including the guy from the beginning of this episode and monev from the last episode... (over which legato calls him a loser, lol?! even though that's very much not the reason why wolfwood killed him, and we know it) so how long was wolfwood working for EoM before he was given the job to "babysit" vash?

i already talked about this in one of my bookclub posts but there's the change in livio's motivations, too... he's chasing after wolfwood... as opposed to (razlo) wanting to be needed... what does it mean. man, i really hope orange doesn't do razlo dirty whenever he shows up for real.

THIS CLEARLY ISN'T STRINGS. WHY IS LEGATO'S POWER DIFFERENT IN EVERY VERSION OF TRIGUN I SWEAR TO GOD like it's telekinesis, right?! what does this mean for legato?! and his backstory?! strings are so fitting for him thematically, so i don't know what they could be planning here!!

kouki uchiyama will see a guy with blue hair covering one eye and say "is anyone gonna voice him" and not wait for an answer (and then fight akira ishida over it)

CONRAD I'M GOING TO THROTTLE YOU. WHAT DO YOU THINK YOUR EXPERIMENTS ARE DOING HUH. HUH!!!!

HGORHGHGHG.GHG. AHGHGGG.HGH.

thinking about the previous episode and eating rocks

livio hears wolfwood's name and that's when he opens his eyes and kicks vash off him... i initially thought maybe he just took the opportunity because vash was distracted, but he was distracted by the military guys right before this, so...?!

say that to knives and see what happens. also hello pretty boy you are so pretty i love you i'm blowing you kisses mwah mwah mwah mwah mwah

whenever legato talks about his confusion over fraternal love i can't help but remember nightow's comment about him maybe having a younger sister. which is interesting to think about but has never been relevant for any version of legato ever... buuuut... with orange's attention to detail, hmmm, who knows...

also i'm obsessed with legato driving hands-free and I AM ONCE AGAIN ASKING HOW HIS POWERS WORK IN THIS VERSION.

*wipes brow* let's end it there i wrote too much. i know i'll have a lot to say about the next episode too. they don't stop coming and they don't stop coming and they don't stop coming

[distant--shadow]

I don’t know how to reconcile my love for Imodna and my fear that they’re going to not be end game… which is causing me a fear of purchasing artworks. Do you have any advice?

I’m afraid I’ll do it, hang it, love it and be completely heartbroken and want/need to take it down. OR, they do end up together, I don’t buy the art and then the art won’t be available that long down the line. I have stress and fear..

Sorry if this is dumb

hey there! first off, it ain't dumb. I know I freak out a little bit at the reality of when this campaign will be over, and I was the same with c2, jester was my character of all time and I had been watching live since the first episode aired, it's a lot of time to spend with a character/characters and real understandable to feel that way. it's always bittersweet, but life moves on

and I guess that's it, you have to enjoy what you enjoy whilst you have it. this is a show that's a lot like life, in that your favourite character could easily die one week without much rhyme or reason, no scripted foreshadowed build up. so give yourself to enjoying that thing whilst its here, share that enjoyment with others, and know that in the future there won't be an empty void - there will be something else.

speaking from the point of view of an artist, yeah, of course I think any of us would really appreciate the support, it's rough times, and once again, i can say from experience it's real nice to have that artwork there to see whilst you care about it. enriched environment and all that. and it's hard to say who's enthusiasm will stay, whether the couple is still together in canon or not, or once the show is over. I'm not someone who dabbles in more than one fandom at a time and this is the most I've committed myself to one, personally, but also personally, I'm a slutty aromantic so like whilst I do really care for imodna as a ship and all of that, it's kinda always been Imogen first for me. a whole lot of us were invested in them as a couple before it happened, I'm sure a lot of us would have been invested in it regardless, and we can still love what we were given either way. I love the story of it, I think for me the bump in the road makes it even more interesting, and something we haven't really been given by a CR romance during the campaign before (maybe we had in c1 idk I didn't watch it)

also, getting personal again, I'm also old enough to be of a generation where there wasn't a lot of queer rep. there was a lot of settling for subtle glances and heavy subtext. what we've had already has been so good, I really enjoy it, I love that we're already passed a time of like, well we don't have a lot of queer rep so everything we do has to be all lawful good alligned flowers and smiles and basically rebranded heteronormative fairytale romance but with coming-out grief, it's so far from beauyasha baybeeeee endgame and honestly for me that's perfect. these two have always had great charisma acting together and I love the layers and complexities we get from these two particular characters working out being in a romantic relationship with the burdens they carry, those years they had together before the campaign started and all of that ground we can play with, how they saved eachother...

have fun, try not to stress about being legitimised by others, enjoy your corners of fandom and fic and art and meta and interactions and your own conclusions and attractions and relations. take all the joy you can from the little things in life. make them as big as you want them to be.

[jackwolfes]

thank you for tagging me @sixofsol !! 🥰💖

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 

144 on my public pseud, 85 in my lil anon collection, 3 floating around secretly in another anon collection, and about 10-15 super super old ones that i orphaned from various asunder fandoms over the years. so at least 232, probably closer to 250 (dear god)

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

1,688,252 words of non-orphaned works (dear GOD)

3. What fandoms do you write for?

primarily six of crows/SAB netflix, but recent fandoms that i might write more for soon include: red white and royal blue, percy jackson, winter’s orbit, bbc merlin, the last binding series, & the pulleyverse 

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

hours (whumpy firstprince fic)

you owe me for blowing up my bed (sab verse missing scene)

like putting on a costume (wesper PWP)

gorgeous (wesper PWP)

a choice of two locked doors (wesper arranged marriage)

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

i always try to!! but i’m not the best at it all the time 😅 i make more of an effort to reply to comments that are longer or that draw out particular parts of the fic that the reader liked!

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

i’m a big slut for a bittersweet but hopeful ending rather than angsty ones!! like possibly my ghost jesper fic because the final scene is Quite Literally wylan dying but like, that’s kinda happy given context???

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

i am still personally enamoured with the vibes in the final scene of ACOTLD 🥰 and it makes me very happy! so! that one! 

8. Do you get hate on fics?

uhhh most regularly i just get snarky gobshites trying to be like, clever and smug about shit, which never really works because i generally don’t care? but then also i sometimes get transphobic hate speech so idk 😅

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

i can't answer this non-sarcastically but like YEAH I'm a VERY HORNY WRITER and I feel like it says more about you than me if you haven't been able to guage that 😅 idk I have gotten a lot tamer though by including porn in longer fics compared to the very explicit collection of PWPs I used to write?? 

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

the closest i’ve gotten to crossover is sneaking shadow and bone characters into SOC fics! or like, the most subtle of references and cameos when I need random OCs like Easter eggs 

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

a few times but i’ve always been vindicated by the fact they’ve never been well done? like it's always been word for word plagiraism (and also the ao3 abuse team is very good at taking things down)

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

not that i’m actually aware of! just podfics sometimes which has been nice 😊

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

never finished one but i’ve got 2-3 wips being co-written with my girlfriend atm 😊

14. What’s your all time favourite ship?

i feel like it’s a cop out to say wesper but like,,,, 😅 idk! i like my lil stupid guys!! i like their vibe! 

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I think my problem is that I'm delusional enough to think that I will finish literally all of the WIPs I have started and want to finish even though that's like, 100 fics or something idiotic 😅

16. What are your writing strengths?

Themes and foreshadowing I think!! Like running themes for sure but I've had definitive compliments on my plotting before! I also think I'm pretty good at dialogue, especially arguments, and narrative tension/feelings! 👀

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

i am not very good at cutting my darlings which means things get a bit meandering and diluted sometimes 😅

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

i can get behind it in certain circumstances! personal preference is to translate large chunks of text ie "'[English words],' he said in [language]" but I do write individual words like pet names in other languages 

19. First fandom you wrote for?

fucking hetalia when i was like, 12 🫥 but i have also in past written for: homestuck, haikyuu, yuri on ice, the adventure zone (balance & graduation) and (CONSTANTLY forget this) miraculous ladybug! some of which are better than others ngl 😅

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

well this is like asking me to pick children & is also cruel when i have 230 of them klajdsfsadjfk  UHHH? i mean this is wicked cheating but im really attached to the bridgerton au i haven’t actually finished yet! it’s fully written, but needs editing, and one that i really really like!! in terms of fics i’ve POSTED, i really like “not just girls” (trans egg wylan), “you yearn to feel no hunger” (SAB-verse coda/character study) and a real deep cut, “only imaginary people disappear to peru for ten years” (missing scene from the lost future of pepperharrow)! idk i like a lot of the fics i’ve posted which is a nice position to be in 😅

most folks i know have done this i think but tagging: @kelliealtogether @apricior @doorsclosingslowly & anyone else that sees this & fancies it 😇

[bubblegumsunshine333]

I've been replaying Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 1 and it's so much better than I remember, and it was already probably my favorite game ever. I haven't played in at least 6 years, although I've played KotOR 2 twice in that time, when I usually play each once or twice a year!

Something interesting is that I believe it has the best, most subtle yet present foreshadowing of any piece of media at all. It's so wonderful. There are other great examples (the George Lucas Star Wars movies themselves are fantastic at this), but it's amazing to think about how it stands up to some of the best works of all time, like Apocalypse Now and The Lord of the Rings and Shadow of a Doubt and such.

[hedgebotherer]

Random thoughts about Good Omens 2 that either I haven't seen addressed much or haven't been addressed to death or I just want to address anyway.

- The opening scene with the creation of the nebula was astounding, despite how distracted I was by AngelCrowley's Mr Whippy curls. It really hammered home the themes of the original book and the show as a whole to the point where it reminded me why I see Good Omens as essentially the secular humanist Bible. I feel like Good Omens 2 was more scathing in its criticism of the idea of God's 'ineffable plan'. It pulled no punches and kept punching through the whole Job story line. Religious people may disagree, or agree but more angrily.

- Why Eccles cakes? Don't get me wrong, I like an Eccles cake. They're considered old fashioned, but they're actually nice. I'm one of those weirdos who enjoys dried fruit. But calming? I wonder if the whole thing was a subtle bit of foreshadowing based on the fact that Eccles cakes (along with their dried fruit filled cousins, such as the Chorley cake and the currant slice) are sometimes known as fly pies.

- Aziraphale slightly misquoted the Buddy Holly song Everyday when first asking the record shop owner Maggie about it. I don't know how likely this is, but I wonder if this was a sneaky reference to the fact that the Good Omens novel quite famously got many of the song lyrics it quoted slightly wrong (to the point where avid reference collectors wondered if it was deliberate).

- Everybody and their talking dog spotted the Discworld 'seamstress' reference, but not everybody might be aware that this may have been a real historic euphemism for sex workers.

- Some viewers night also not realise that John Hammiel's 'Who told you I was naked?' is a Biblical reference. 'Who told you that you were naked?' is something God asks Adam in Genesis. I admittedly only know this because of a sketch from A Bit Of Fry And Laurie!

- The idea that a song can be remembered even after the rest of your memory is jumbled might have a bittersweet real world inspiration. Neil Gaiman once recounted his favourite memory of Sir Terry. He said: "The last time I saw him. We had been left on our own and Terry (who had Alzheimer’s) had sort of drifted into his head. He stopped talking. So I started to sing They Might Be Giants’ song Shoehorn With Teeth. And after a few lines, Terry started to sing along.". This song seems to have been 'their' song. You can even find a clip of them singing it together!

- I had no idea ducks love frozen peas. This is important information.

- Speaking of ducks, way back when the credits sequence was first dropped I thought I spotted among the procession of animated characters a duck playing an accordion. But, no, surely if there was such a thing then everybody would be talking about it. Then, in a scene were a man is miraculously evicted from his seat in a bar, he's shown reading a newspaper with a headline about a duck that was taught to play the accordion. Vindication! I want this musical duck to be significant to series 3 somehow.

[nottonyharrison]

I am obviously and always here for the foxiyo content:

What is something you wish more people noticed about your Of Duty series?

Awww, thanks. Sorry I haven't done much recently!

To answer the meme question, I'm not sure. It's been so long since I worked on it, and I will get back to it eventually, but I guess... hmmm. This is probably gonna sound petty and entitled and it actually doesn't hold any sway on my enjoyment of writing, but that it's been on hiatus for a couple of years now and it's been pretty much entirely forgotten about. I haven't ever (to my recollection, anyway) had anyone come into my inbox to talk about it and politely ask if it'll ever be finished, the only person who's actually asked me that is my beta (shoutout to stargateinmybasement who rocks btw!). So I guess the answer is kind of the same as it was for Elth's same question about my latest fic. It would be nice for more people to remember it or discover it at all 💙

I always remember the regular followers being really good at spotting all the weird details and subtle moments of foreshadowing though, so overall I was always chuffed to bits with how much people noticed!

[lilyliveredlittlerichboy]

Harrow brainrot time

I did the thing I wanted to do so now, it is time to start my read through and liveblog of Harrow The Ninth.

But first! It's been a few days since I finished Gideon, so I just wanna round up my main feelings and take-aways from Gideon The Ninth, before I go delving into the sequel.

--

First up, oh my god, what an adorable goof Gideon is. I love her cluelessness. I love her horniness. I love how strong and skilled she is. I love her irreverence, her quips, her emotive narration. I hate and also love how easily she sacrifices herself for Harrow. I loved their relationship sooooooo, so much, so early on. Such interesting characters. So much trauma. My god. Hold me.

The whole "come to the first with your cavalier and become lyctor" thing seemed disconcerting at first, then kind of nice, then suddenly became almost hunger games-type horror. Upon rereading the very first bit, it seems even in the letter, the first summons, it said "Lyctors joined with their cavaliers"; that type of subtle foreshadowing is bound to hit me hard once I actually reread the whole thing, for real, which I will do, probably after I finish Harrow.

(Let me know if you want a liveblog of my reread as well... I'm hoping to find paper copies of the books before starting the reread, also because apparently there are little tidbits and short stories in the paper versions that I haven't found in the archive dot org pdf.)

Ah, what can I say. I really liked the whole book! I loved Dulcinea and her reveal came as a big shock! Ianthe's coldblooded ascension to Lyctorhood didn't come as a massive surprise (hers was a name I'd seen passed around fandom before I even started - so I always suspected there was more behind the bloodless facade in Coronabeth's shadow). I loved Palamedes and Camilla, I hope we learn what happened to Camilla as she was still alive when we last saw her.

As far as the Harrow brainrot is concerned.... ohhhhh my god Harrow. Like, I liked her from the start, as a character (if not really, at first, as a person) - what an interesting foil to set Gideon up with! But then it was revealed what huge trauma she's been carrying around with her since, basically she was born. The pool scene made me go absolutely feral. Oh my godddddd. HARROWWWWWWWW

Needless to say, I can't wait to spend a whole book with her, narratively. It might be too much to hope for, but I really hope she doesn't fare too terribly. The ending just tore me to shreds. Oh Harrow. Oh Gideon. Oh Gideon you stupid little idiot!! You lovable goof!! Why did you have to sacrifice yourself like that!! I mean, I understand why but also WHYYYYYYYYY. you get me, I'm sure.

I'm gonna attach my little ficlet that I wrote, in pain, right after finishing Gideon the Ninth; without any context whatsoever from the sequels. It's a massive projection. This is how I would be, in Harrow's situation, if I were Harrow. Take it with a pinch of salt. I just wrote this to get the hurt out.

Enjoy, and I will commence my reading of Harrow the Ninth very shortly!!

Alternative Epilogue

"No," she said.

The emperor looked at her, unmoving.

"No," Harrowhark said again. "I will not do as you please. I will not return to the Ninth. I will not be your Lyctor or your Saint. I will not. I refuse."

The emperor was still just staring at her, unflinching. “You realise,” he said, “that you have little choice now. You are a Lyctor, whether you like it or not.”

“NO!” she screamed, feeling as though the walls should have shaken with the intensity of emotions she suddenly felt. More than she’d ever felt, she thought, in her entire life.

She didn’t realise she was crying until she was crumpled to the floor like a wet tissue. Crying like she never had before, sobs shaking her morbid little body mercilessly.

“I refuse,” she bit, shaking. “No. No, I will not.”

There was no response.

An eternity seemed to pass where Harrowhark felt nothing but agony. Her body was perfectly healthy, moreso than it should have been, given the trials she’d endured. No, it was her heart, it felt shattered in a million pieces.

And she knew there was only one thing she wanted.

“Give her back,” she sobbed, hands clenching into her dissatisfactory gown. “Give her back, she’s all I have. She’s all I’ve ever had.”

“No power in the universe can return Gideon the Ninth to you now,” the emperor crooned, unaffected. Uncaring.

“You are God,” she spat. “You have all the power in the universe. You’re lying. You’re lying.”

Once again, he just watched her impassively.

“You’re lying,” Harrow said hopelessly, once again succumbing to sobs. “You’re lying. Please. Please give her back. Give her back to me, she’s all I have. Give her back. Give her back.”

She collapsed, if that were even possible, further onto the floor. Rocked by sobs, she curled in on herself, mumbling the same words again and again and again. She couldn’t even feel the gentle pressure of Gideon Nav inside her own mind. She couldn’t feel anything but herself. It was agony.

“Give her back.”

It was impossibly bright and all Harrowhark wanted to do was to hide. She hid, as much as possible, inside her own body. Eyes squeezed shut, head tucked into her armpit. Curled up on the floor in an extremely un-Harrowlike fashion.

But then again, she’d never quite lost everything before. Not like this. Not ever.

“She’s all I have,” Harrow sobbed into her own skin, “give her back.”

It seemed it was hours later that she realised she was alone.

[thenightling]

This is my review, thoughts, and theories from the latest episode of Interview with The vampire. Episode 4 of season 2. I think the showrunner mistakes unnecessary twists as being clever. So here are the twists I anticipate. 1. I suspect Santiago's maker was Nicolas. We keep going back to Santiago's story. By the way, it's trite and very CW that the story of what happened to Santiago's maker, from being "killed" for breaking one of their laws, to finally revealing the law he broke was making a vampire without permission... this is very CW when plot points like that are unnecessarily drawn out. It pulls me out of the story and reminds me that this is TV writing. And yet they had the audacity to pretend it's "Soapy" to reveal that Lestat was involved with the theatre coven? 2. It's pretty clear that the visions of Lestat are NOT hallucinations like the showrunner tried to make us believe in the first episode of season 2. He's obviously astral projecting to Louis. He' been telling Louis things that Louis did not know such as how long Lestat was an actor, and what he had sewn into his suit pocket. 3. Though I really would like the reveal that Armand messed with Louis's memories, I'm starting to wonder if this lazy showrunner and writing team are keeping the soft woobified version of Armand and the one who messed with Louis's memories was Marius to sabotage the interview and protect the vampire race. This would be a major deviation since Marius was amused by Lestat's rock career in the books.

4. It looks like they're going to change why Claudia was condemned, perhaps foreshadowing that her being condemned is because she makes Madeleine into a vampire.

While I'm on the thought did anyone else go "Ah, yes! This was written by a man who knows nothing about womanly anatomy and behavior!" when Madeleine commented with surprise and apparent suspicion about Claudia's breasts still being small two years after they met. That was... weird... She might as well have said "This is unnatural! We've known each other for two years and your titties aren still small to medium sized! Why aren't they Dolly Parton sized yet?!" Claudia is played by a nineteen-year-old. A dress maker would know some people have small breasts. Also they're not THAT small! Just because you say something doesn't make it true. Claudia didn't need to give a war time explanation for her size. I haven't grown since I was thirteen. I'm five foot one and forty-two-years-old. And I didn't get my first period until I was fifteen. So Claudia being apparently sixteen and small chested should NOT be gaining attention from the dress maker. Yet again the show had a ridiculous amount of smoking. Why the Hell was hallucination / astral Lestat smoking? Madeleine talkin about the boy Yahtzee. "He paid with food and cigarettes." I think if this show runner could make the rats smoke he would. By the way, I STRONGLY suspect that Lestat may be in Paris, perhaps being held prisoner. Hmm... Have we actually ever seen the rats in the body disposal thing? That would be stupid though. Anne Rice's vampires, in the novels, don't eat. I know they did here but it would still be stupid that he wouldn't cry out to Louis "Hello! I'm here!" Now I'm imagining some idiotic "He was so starved for blood that he ate the flesh from the corpses, looking for whatever drops might remain." Yeah, they would do that... It also looks like there will be a theatre uprising and Santiago's group will be who condemn Claudia. And Armand truly won't be able to stop it. (I'm guessing the show runner missed the parts in the books and the subtle clues in the movie that Armand was actually behind it. He seems to miss a lot of what's important in the books, like he only read a poorly written wiki entry. Unless all of this is false memories? How would Louis know about the calls Santiago made while he and Claudia were not around? Who told that part?

Finally, why are the theatre vampires upset at Louis for living like a human? I thought that was the entire point of the vampires LEAVING Armand's Satanic coven under the cemetery? They used lines about Lestat for Louis here. Why? Lestat already taught Armand's followers that they can live like humans two centuries earlier. Why recycle the plot?

And why are they still following the Satanic coven rules? Sabbats? The Theatre is supposed to be secular.

[jesperfaheys-defenseattorney]

Congrats Lore!!! :)

I want a 📚 + fantasy for some book recs!

Thank you Tweety!! <3

Oooo okay okay! I'm trying to think of some you haven't read hang on 😂

*puts on glasses and pulls up Goodreads*

Ooo okay so Urban Fantasy:

The Book Jumper is my favorite book ever. It has been my favorite book for five years and I think it will always be my favorite book. The story is just such a good idea, the main character is so chill and she's intelligent and interesting, and the romance is so subtle but so adorable and the ending is so satisfying. There's also this huge plot twist about half way through and an eery/mystery element to it and it's just ✨👌. I love it sm please read it not enough people know it 🙏.

Literally anything Rick Riordan has written ever. My personal favorite series of his is the Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard trilogy even though the Percy Jackson series was like my whole childhood. There's just sm rep in Magnus Chase and the characters are lovely and it's heartwarming but also you're in the edge of the seat. Not to mention it's funny as fuck and he writes for kids. This man still makes me laugh with his PG-13 humor like he's just so good.

High Fantasy:

THE MISTBORN TRILOGY (first Era). It's so good. Like, the world building. The characters. The action. God it is one of the most amazing things I've ever read (I have yet to finish the third book but in my defense my friend's and dad's way of getting me to read it was to spoil everything for me so? Kinda unmotivated but everyone has told me straight through reading it is AMAZING). The author, Brandon Sanderson, actually has a lot of excellent high fantasy series. He's like the master of world building and foreshadowing.

The Witcher (I haven't read it personally but my Dad has a copy of the original in Polish and they're actually not very long)

I don't think you're in the Grishaverse fandom(?) and if you're not then I definitely recommend the Shadow & Bone trilogy!! I'm not going to tell you to not watch the show cause it's like okay but I think they fucked everything up so if you do watch the show read the original trilogy first I beg you.

Adding onto Shadow and Bone the author (Leigh Bardugo) also wrote Six of Crows which is a duology and it's slightly lighter on the fantasy but it's set in the same world and it's sooooo good I love it. The found family alone is worth it but even better? They commit crime together! And all the characters are so individually fascinating like it's difficult for me to have a favorite I have two and then love the other four equally I struggle to have a problem with any of them they're so good and flawed and traumatized I want to hug them.

I know it's not a lot but I have actually been lacking in the reading department so I will get back to it 😅 Honestly the days I read way more were good days. Besides, the more fandoms you're in the more fanfiction you can think about and then never write 🥲💪. I hope these are helpful 🤗

[musical-chick-13]

😅 & 😈 for the fanfic emoji ask game!

😅 What's a story or scene you've created that you're a smidge embarrassed exists?

Oh God. Okay, so. A long time ago. On a separate account that has no connection my current username. I wrote a Glee fic. This is not why I am embarrassed (I had to get my Musical Theatre-Centric Media from somewhere, and this was the only show that was even remotely about performing that existed at the time). I am embarrassed because the fic was Not Good. It's still out there somewhere, and I try not to think about it, lmao. (There are also a couple future stories I have not yet published where I sure made some strange plot and dialogue choices! I wouldn't say I'm embarrassed, but wow, I really sure am going to put these in front of people.)

😈 Has there been a point in a story where you did something just to be playfully mean to your readers?

I...actually had to think really hard about this, because it's much more likely that I'll be playfully mean to the characters. I think the only thing that really qualifies is a fic I haven't put up yet, for Chainsaw Man (which, I apologize, is not related to any piece of media that you follow 😭). There's some intentional, very subtle foreshadowing of plot points that haven't been adapted in the show yet (but happen later on in the source material), and I did include that foreshadowing specifically to be playfully mean to anyone who Knows™ what happens in part 1 of the original text.

Fanfic emoji asks