#it's just...

[urban-hermitism]

cw: mentions of blood and death below the cut, very mild 3.2 spoilers

i can't imagine the way dan heng's heart must have dropped after mem told him about the trial.

it was bad enough, having to drag the trailblazer's body from the crushed train car, them bleeding profusely, barely breathing. they stopped breathing at some point even. and then he's pushing through the black that's probably curling at the edges of his vision, desperately trying to staunch the flow of blood. its been mere minutes since they started out on this new journey and everything has gone to shit. they have no way of contacting the express and here they are with the trailblazer possibly... he grits his teeth and presses on until he can't anymore. he blacks out.

and then he wakes up and there the trailblazer is standing over him, still covered in blood, but it's... dry. their eyes widen and they stumble back, but then they're helping him up, and their skin feels nothing like the clammy chill that he learnt accompanied their bloodloss. and maybe, he thinks, things are okay, even if the blood that soaks them says otherwise.

and things really do seem okay. they meet the chrysos heirs and the trailblazer forges ahead with their characteristic irreverence, and everything is right in the world. or at least as right as it can get when you're exploring an unexplored world, and employing anthropological methods while also trying to save said world. nothing is ever boring when the trailblazer is involved.

so things go swimmingly, though dan heng has to get used to the fact that there's no cold water around. (one day the bath in their room does turn cold and dan heng sinks into it in relief. he doesn't see how the trailblazer looks at him fondly, infinitely pleased that their scheming worked.) he fights and asks questions and records and fights some more. he hates the amount of time the trailblazer spend out of his sight, going to places he doesn't know anything about, sighing in relief each time they come back intact.

though when agalea suggests that the trailblazer should become the vessel for oronyx's coreflame, he worries.

it's one thing for people of the world to do dangerous, esoteric things. it's another to get an outlander to do things specific to the world. it's a disruption of the ecosystem, an unknown in many aspects. it cannot go well.

but it's the best option, and none of the heirs seem particularly worried. the trailblazer is as determined as ever, though the way they pace their room before sleeping, and later the anxiety in their eyes as they enter the vortex of genesis betrays the worry they feel about the ordeal.

when the trailblazer turns back, dan heng's brow furrows as they tell them to wait for their return. they open their mouth to say something else, but close it, seemingly thinking better of their words. dan heng wonders, wanting to hear it.

time passes and dan heng worries, and then...

and then a flash of light and the trailblazer appears, collapsing on the floor (is it a floor? can you call a swirling void of water the floor?) unconscious, mem hovering above worriedly. mem scrabbles something out so hastily that dan heng isn't sure he's hearing right, but all the same he scoops the trailblazer up in his arms and rushes back to their room so that they can rest safely.

and dan heng waits. waits for mem to finish explaining what the hell went down in the trial. waits for the trailblazer to wake again and stop looking so dead.

dead...

fuck.

[redo-rewind-if]

Well back everyone!! I hope you've had a good week! Here's a (short) progress report for you! ♪(´▽｀)

Next Update (Chapter 5):

Detailed Outline: 100%

Opening Scene: 25%

Quite Literally Everything Else: 0%

Since I've only just started writing Chapter 5, today's report is a tad more vague than usual. I promise I'll have a more detailed description of the chapter's events next week!

But for now... this'll have to do. On the plus side, as part of the chapter outline I try to note down any variables I might need and for once I think I actually got them all. Yay! Hopefully that means I don't wind up going on a scavenger hunt through previous chapters for some specific variable I forgot I needed...

[loop-lover-central]

Is it bad I'm already making the 1000 follower Loop pin up ahead of schedule.

Not for any other reason.

[miowess]

Tears in my Togachako eyes...😭😭😭

[choco4miruku]

I would like to thank every person that loves Aran. Every person who does fanart of him, who writes about him, who include him in content where he is originally meant to be in. Because, so many other people just... Erase him, kinda. It makes me wanna go crazy ! Why would you do that he is such an amazing character 😭.

Some weeks ago I went to a convention. Then I stopped at a stand of an artist and I was just ready to drop on the floor and cry because there was Aran. She drew Aran. So I tried to act normal and failed and I just like half shouted : "It's Aran!" to my sister who was with me. And then, the artist just said : "Yeah I drew all the national team", very casually. But I know that I saw so many drawings of the national team and he just wasn't there. I was this close to just straight up cry while thanking her for her work.

[bookofmirth]

On every character sarah writes having the same personality: why does every main girl have to be this big planner who has multiple plans on backup and never tells people, only to surprise everyone when everything goes right at the end with no prior explanation... idk if I'm putting this right, but it just made me very... annoyed

Like yeah, that worked great with Aelin, sure, but for me it just doesn't fit with Bryce? Especially on how she was just thrown at this and suddenly figured out she was The Chosen One(tm). It really bugged me, idk

Fair warning, this post rips Bryce a new asshole - not as a person, but as a character that sjm created. So I'm putting it under the cut.

Just to start, in context I said that all the hofas characters ended up having the same personality - though you can make a case for her reusing a lot of the same descriptions and such for all of them. ANYWAY...

To me, the issue is not just that Bryce keeps doing things behind the scenes that we never get any hint of, it's a bigger issue that we never get a hint that she even gives a shit.

With Aelin, at least we already knew what she was working towards and why. We already knew what she cared about and how far she was willing to go to get it. Aelin caring about Terrasen and her court and saving the people she loved was never in question. Her trauma from finding her parents dead, her fear at losing the rest of the people she loved, the weight of responsibility that she felt, we knew all of those things pretty much from the get-go. Her tendency to shut people out could be considered a flaw because she didn't trust other people to help her. We don't know about Terrasen right away, and tbh I don't remember what history we get instead and so I need to reread, but I can point to very specific values, goals, and motivations that make Aelin act the way that she does.

But Bryce - the central problem with her as a character is that Bryce doesn't care about anything, and sjm never figured out what she cares about, either.

Characters need to have central things that they care about, that drive them, motivations, things that they fear and things they would go to great lengths to protect. They need flaws, and clear relationships to the world around them. I could make a list of those things for a lot of her characters. Not all, but most.

With Bryce, I have NO IDEA what those things are. That makes it so that when she randomly find Emile, it just seems like she did it to come across like a nice person. She doesn't care about what humans are experiencing, she shits on Vanir/fae all the time, she treats Hunt pretty poorly, she isn't close to Juniper or Fury (see: their near disappearance from hofas), Danika kept so many secrets from her that I seriously doubt the depth of their relationship. Bryce was working in that library museum thing for Jesiba (I'm already erasing the series from my memory oh my god) and going out and partying and that was all well and good, but... was she going to do those things when she's 200, too? I'm not even saying that she needs to like, go get married or whatever, but she literally has no goals in life!

SJM saying that Bryce is the fun, cute party girl who also has a deep, intellectual side, a pretty woman who can also kick ass, okay, but she needs a reason to kick ass. SJM completely forgot to include the second half of that equation, which is ironic since that was a big point of her character - to prove that women can be feminine and strong, wear high heels and be smart. She failed miserably in my opinion, if that really was the goal of Bryce's character.

When Aelin is snarky to people, I know why. When Bryce is a bitch, it comes out of nowhere and is often turned on people who actually deserve her time and attention and empathy (e.g. Sathia). Aelin is an asshole to that one dude whose name starts with a D because he's a man who is underestimating her and wants to refuse to let her lead because he assumes she will be bad at it. When Bryce is an asshole to Sathia, WHY. I mean really, I wanted to throw my book across the fucking page!!!! Because that's a perfect example of how, if Bryce was guided by a set of values (feminism, I guess?) then she would have responded very differently to Sathia, who has experienced literally the exact same thing Bryce has (being betrothed to someone against her will). Instead, Bryce throws that line back in her face about "well I never let that stop me" as if what Sathia has experienced is her own fault for... not trying enough??? PLEASE. ARE YOU SERIOUS RIGHT NOW.

The whole "girlboss" thing needs.... something driving it. You can't just bulldoze people and call it being empowered. And I think that sjm has really, really simplified gender and sexuality in CC to the point that that's really the only distinction that matters. That's maybe another issue. I just have a lot of thoughts about these things lol.

Anyway. This is what happens when you write a character built on aesthetic and #girlpower, rather than making them a complete person with fears and values and joys and goals and motivations and flaws.

Okay one more point, this is NOT beyond sjm's capabilities. She obviously is much better at writing characters than this. I just think that sometimes, something suffers when you try new things. In CC, sjm was giving actual world building and magic systems a go. And the characters, really, REALLY fucking suffered for it.

[helloaft0n]

It's been months, right?

Hi I'm back after like two months lol

I'll keep posting, Daisuke was my inspiration for some reason

:)

[rawstfish]

I think about Domino and Syd scissoring and fucking a lot. Domino has a husband, but he can like... watch and get cucked

[geraiodli]

I've seen somewhere that snakes can't see stars, and well...

Kind of a bonus ig

[yellowcry]

Is it normal that I somehow relate to a woman who had lost her husband right after giving birth to triplets and then got isolated from the entire world?

[briannysey]

Man having to text friends and family members checking in to see if they're safe is uhhhhhhhh.

The thing about climate events and disaster response and mass shootings and a government more invested in selling off parts of itself to the highest bidder than taking care of its people is that you will see these disasters coming a decade away. You'll know they're coming, and all the peace in the world that you make with doom doesn't keep your heart out of your throat while you wait back for check-ins from loved ones.

[leather-studded-emerson]

Kind of last resort but... Things have uhm. Come up. I'm moving to working nights and ONLY for a few months this Spring, but I got a morning shift coming up this week and well... There's just a few -nurses and patients- I'm trying to keep away from for a while. I'm not willing to go into details I just can't work with he- them with everything happening to me right now.

[wanderingmind867]

I want to like Infinity Inc and the All-Star Squadron. I want to, so very badly. But I don't like them. And I can't like them. Infinity Inc gets too complicated after the Crisis on Infinite Earths, and the All-Star Squadron is a waste of what could have been a Justice Society revival book! I don't want a book about the C-List Heroes of the 40s replacing the Justice Society, those characters could've had their own damn team!

A team of Johnny Quick, Liberty Belle, Shining Knight, etc, could've been very cool, but not when it's just ww2 geopolitics and JSA replacements instead of fun adventures with these heroes. We could've had something great! I know Roy Thomas can write great! I loved some of his Avengers stuff! But The All-Star Squadron… it's not good. I want a better revival of the JSA using old heavy narration and long dialogue. I want better than the boring war drama that we got!

And Infinity Inc…it's a brilliant concept, marred by confusion and more boredom. The Infinity Inc team never got much interaction with the JSA (I don't think), they lost Power Girl and Huntress after 12 issues (because of the horrible Crisis on Infinite Earths), it's a mess and it needs to be rewritten. Rewritten immediately. Otherwise I'll never get to know the joys of these characters. And trust me, the characters seem great. They're all great concepts. It's just…too confusing and broken for me to be able to accept it. It's all a travesty. A travesty of the highest proportions.

[idontknowmyownmind]

Do you ever felt dissapointed when the fanfiction writers you followed posted a new story of different fandoms than what you followed them for?

I meant, I know that he/she has other fandoms he/she followed and write for.

I KNOW this fact, clearly, especially when I can see the list of them (like in Ao3) in their profile.

It's just, I felt kinda dissapointed when I got a notification of them posting a new story, expecting it from the fandom I expected, but I got it wrong.

Especially when I really really like their writing.