#okay so I did end up writing something

[arcxnumvitae]

"You called, Your Majesty?" He could garner an idea as to the sudden summons by the emperor. Emperor Huaxiu made it a point to not acknowledge his existence as much as humanly possible when the circumstances allowed it. Only dire straits would cause him to bring the ousted prince before him, and a certain very dire strait had just occurred.

Seated on the throne, the emperor looked as imperious as ever. The stormy expression that had been reported to have settled on his countenance ever since he first heard word of the princess' attack remained, he didn't look to be in the mood for jokes. He snapped his fingers, and a guard positioned nearby drew forward. Zhaohui tensed, memories flashing unbidden in his mind of approaching guards and the agony that followed. But instead of drawing closer, the man simply produced a sword and held it out for inspection. He squinted in confusion at the blade, but the realization struck him at the same moment the emperor spoke.

"The blade that the assassin used. A blade distinctly of Zhongyang make and build."

The emperor was clearly scrutinizing his reaction, so for once Zhaohui let his genuine surprise show clearly on his face. And his surprise was genuine. Now how did an assassin from his homeland get mixed up into this?

"Zhongyang has remaining rebel forces, insurgents, but none so organized nor powerful enough to launch an attack against the imperial princess in the heart of Tengmen..." He mused aloud, drawing closer to the blade as his mind whirled through possibilities. "Now what could have led to that?"

"The only reason I'm not throwing you into the dungeons right now is because I know of the strained relationship between you and your people." Which was a polite way of putting that many considered him traitorous trash and detested him. While none wished for his death solely for the continuation of their divine royal line, he was too divisive a figure to unite the rebel forces of his land under. He knew this well enough since it was a plan he'd considered himself once upon a time.

'The only reason.' Nothing at all about how he'd never hurt the princess. Well, that wouldn't be true either and was also something he'd once considered

"But," the emperor's tone dropped, and his voice grew dangerous, "if it even seems you are connected to this, I will have you executed."

Zhaohui's eyes narrowed, but he simply smiled and bowed. "Of course, Your Majesty. I wouldn't expect anything less."

[aerithisms]

i think my problem with this dw season arc accusing the audience of fanbrain for theorising about ruby is that it both feels deceitful and isn't actually that compelling from a character perspective. the season goes out of its way to build up supernatural mystery around ruby and even invokes susan more heavily than ever before in a way that is deliberately trying to get the audience to make those connections. and then it turns around and says you stupid idiot why would you ever try to connect these dots i have deliberately tried to get you to connect.

building up a mystery only for the character to be ordinary is an impossible girl arc redux only this time accusing the viewer of failing to see the humanity of the companion, whereas the impossible girl arc was turning that accusation on the doctor. 7b didn't really blame the audience for viewing clara as a puzzle and in fact several times spells out the fact that clara is perfectly ordinary before the big reveal to give the audience a chance to catch on. as 7b goes on, instead of laying the mystery on thicker, the audience just gets more and more affirmations that clara is a normal human being (rings of akhaten, journey to the centre of the tardis, hide). i found this approach compelling because it was rooted in character, focusing on the doctor's disconnection from humanity/the gendered dynamic of a man treating a woman as his manic pixie mystery to pull him out of grief. s14's meta approach of accusing the viewer feels both unfair, given it has deliberately led the viewer towards theorising, and personally less compelling to me because it wasn't tied into character in any way.

the thing about rey's parentage in tlj is that the reason rian johnson chose to go for that reveal was that it was the only answer that was interesting. none of the theories - rey is a skywalker, rey is a kenobi, and even the eventually canonical rey is a palpatine - were interesting or satisfying because they brought nothing compelling to the table for the story being told. the only satisfaction to be gained from those answers was a fanbrained "omg rey is important because she's related to that guy from the other movie." on top of that, rey desperately wants her parents to have been important, to give her life and her abandonment some kind of significance. so them being ordinary provided the most compelling trajectory for her character because it was the thing she least wanted to hear. it forced her to do the most introspection and growth, as well as tying into the film's themes about the capacity of ordinary people to be special. it wasn't just a choice made to "gotcha" the viewer, it was rooted in character.

i don't think ruby's mother being ordinary accomplishes the same thing. by invoking susan, s14 is engaging with the most egregious example of the doctor's streak of abandonment, which has potential to be very compelling in relation to ruby (and now also the doctor's) own abandonment issues. theories that ruby might be susan, or be somehow related to susan, or somehow related to the doctor, weren't just fanbrained "omg she's related to that guy i know from the classic series." they were theories genuinely rooted in character and the potential to explore both the doctor and ruby's issues with abandonment. and this is something the show willingly led fans towards by invoking susan so much in the first place. so for the show to turn around and act like they were shallow out of nowhere ideas when they were not shallow and were based on potential character conflicts the show itself deliberately invoked, feels misguided.

as well as that, ruby's mother being ordinary does not require that same growth from ruby as it did for rey because it is exactly what ruby wanted to hear. she never wanted her mother to be important, she just wanted to know who her mother was and have a connection with her. so finding out she was a normal woman who still loves her and wants to be a part of her life is everything she's ever wanted. it doesn't introduce interesting conflict for her the way rey's parents being ordinary did for her, because they were written as different characters with different hangups over their abandonment.

tl;dr i don't necessarily dislike ruby's mother being ordinary as an idea but compared to the things it was inspired by - 7b and star wars - it is not nearly as compelling in terms of how it relates to the characters or themes. and the meta angle, while conceptually interesting, doesn't quite work for me because it feels a little manipulative of the audience.

[anna-scribbles]

h-how do you ever finish any of your work? genuine question because you seem to be productive despite your agreste syndrome and I need to learn your ways. but also how do you ever finish any of your work

unclear. last night i stayed up and finished a report worth 25% of my grade at about 5am, arrived on time for my 9am lecture, and spent about half of it zoned out while thinking about seventeen year old emilie agreste. and i was one of the most active participants in the class discussion

[deoidesign]

.

[paperlovesadness]

I'm not saying anything. I'm not saying anything.

All I'm saying is:

-> 2007 french-countryside-shritless-bike rides-summer happened. (And then lots of making love eyes)

-> (then possibly along with their TLSP times ending they put a stop to not just the gigs... But maybe other ✨developments✨ too 👀)

-> But then? 2015 recording-of-their-second-album and moving-in-next-to-each-other-being-glued-together happened (resulting in even more of the love eyes)

And we got this:

And possibly this:

And then a lot of unknown things happened. (Possibly potential ✨developments✨ being stopped part 2.)

And in 2022 we got this:

That's all I'm saying.

[icewindandboringhorror]

Apparently I can meet my goal of roughly 400,000 words in 6 months if I just somehow write at least 2,200 words a day ghbjh... Almost 2,500 today... huzzah...

[theotherrichardpapen]

But I'm the one who paid for it. I survived but I paid for it.

[allpromarlo]

how long does gege plan to continue this actually

[emdotcom]

*remembers what they did to Vanny* 500 FUCKING PIPEBOMB ATTACK.

[asterdeer]

not to be like “i miss college” even though i do but mostly i think i miss being smart. before depression and life events had chewed up and partially swallowed my brain. just getting to problem solve and think, being Very Into something as the norm. i know being an english major is basically the easiest thing you can be at the undergrad level but i do feel like that was the one and only time in my life where my natural state was actually a pro instead of a con. i graduated with the highest honors and absolutely no one cared but i cared

[theflyingfeeling]

fic talk in the tags 💝

[sexynetra]

What if instead of finishing all my WIPS that I’m hoping to have out by the end of the year I started writing another Drabble about the fallout of a collapsing relationship and infidelity. Hm. What if 🤔 💭 ✍️

[dangerous-advantage]

finally caved and just bought all of the heaven official's blessing books. look out for the myriad of long-ass analysis posts that are sure to follow

[parvuls]

okay wait I'm writing an actual post so I can start handling all these emotions

[red-moon-at-night]

"No. No, stop getting into my head like that…” She blinks a few times, struggling to look Es in the eye. “I'm dreaming. I have to be."

"But what if you're not?"

HELLO EVERYONE... here you go. Koike Yumemi's trial 1 interrogation/voice drama: the fanfiction.

I hope you enjoy! 💜 It was too long to post here >w> like, WAY too long to post here. trust me.

[filmfactors]

TOH FINALE SPOILERS

I think people acting like the bit of ‘some people are just bad and irredeemable!’ in Owl House is such a BOLD NEW TAKE need to watch more shows, or read more books or watch more movies. There’s more out there than She-Ra or Amphibia or Steven Universe, I promise...

I’m not even saying this take was wrong per-say in the finale, I just hoped for much more nuance and intrigue than I got.