#poe 2 had romance options

[fa-dubu]

hot take: poe 1 was >>> poe 2.

i did enjoy the sailing, but lesbireal: poe 1 had the better story.

[roswellsmokingwoman]

(Aziraphale x Crowley) Headlights - Chapter 2

Read Here

Good Omens Human AU with a divorced Crowley and Aziraphale finding love again and getting back together. Glasgow, October 2011

Evermore is a white dove woven into a title. It began with a few words typed, a blinking black cursor against a bright electronic page. Months ago, Aziraphale had read Edgar Allan Poe to him, with the lilt of his voice, in his characteristic sotto voce for sweetness only he could add to a tale so morbid. It made Crowley’s ears curl inward as they cuddled together on the couch, sharing a single tartan blanket. If Poe should write about loss, then Crowley would write of its opposite. It was a fleeting idea borne on one night.

He never expected it would become his fourth novel. That he should be writing another novel–that his agent keeps calling him asking when he’ll finish his next book–is a wonder at all. 

“I can’t believe the stunt at the bookshop worked,” Crowley says in disbelief. He says it aloud from time to time and thinks it more often than that. 

“I was going to be yours, one way or another,” Aziraphale teases. The comment had never been about their eventual romance, but he likes to think it is. “Your success was less likely,” he continues. 

Crowley tosses a crumpled page at him with a smile, missing Aziraphale on purpose. Book sales ticked up weeks before Aziraphale showed Crowley any interest beyond friendship, and even three months into knowing each other, Crowley sincerely thought it might be years before Aziraphale might be honest with himself. “I thought it was going to be the other way around.” 

Aziraphale never saw an incomplete work from Crowley. Incomplete meaning a work not yet fully edited and bound by a cover ready to be placed on a display table among the new releases. He’s protective of his drafts, paranoid that they’re meant for the garbage. And he’s not convinced they’ll ever be seen by other eyes until he sees them in the window of a bookstore. Even then, he’s dubious that his novel had been published at all. 

So, Aziraphale never expects Crowley to show him whatever he's working on. He never attempts to peer over Crowley’s shoulder and steal a sentence or two. It’s better this way–he’d sing high praise and Crowley would tell him he’s lying or that he has to say it’s good because love makes you a liar. Crowley is full of thousands of curious phrases, part of some rebel philosophy stuck in the cogs of his brain. Each one charms Aziraphale. 

It’s why he knows that Crowley’s first drafts must be full of sentences like Love makes you a liar. Which he inevitably reworks and then deletes. But only Aziraphale knows, in some capacity, he must have written it down at some point. For that, Aziraphale must be Crowley’s biggest and best fan. So, in every way, he’s better than an editor. 

“Would you take a look for me?” Crowley asks with a stack of papers a mile high between his thin arms. 

“What?” Aziraphale nearly chokes on his hot chocolate. 

“I finished writing,” Crowley says nonchalantly as if he’s asked Aziraphale to edit every single work he’s written since 2005. It’s old hat, no surprise.

Aziraphale finds no irony in it that he’s more than thrilled that Crowley’s asked him to look at his book. It’s nearly better than the first time they kissed–but only because Crowley gave him his lips and heart so freely. 

Wordlessly, Aziraphale sets his cup of hot chocolate down. He planned to do this later, but sometime soon. A romantic dinner had been an option or after a stroll through the Glasgow Botanic Gardens. No moment could surpass this one; it’s degrees of magnitude above any engineered romance. Crowley asking him to look at a draft–it’s akin to a proposal. This is better than being Crowley’s number-one fan. This is Crowley asking Aziraphale to be his number one human on this Earth. 

“Could you put that on the desk?” Aziraphale asks, motioning to the stack of papers Crowley is struggling to hold. 

Aziraphale pulls out a ring from his coat pocket, hiding it in the palm of his hand. A quizzical expression passes over Crowley’s face, but he does as Aziraphale tells him to do. Aziraphale kneels down on one knee, the way a man does for a woman in all those movies straight men look to for inspiration. Crowley always balked at those. Proposals are overrated. He once told Aziraphale, and then later opened an unpublished novella with that line. 

Crowley’s a hypocrite.

[onewhoturns]

A-Z Challenge GAME 4

A game is done. B game is short. C is getting voted on now, but I also have far too many options for this one.

(Seriously, this started with 9 options) (...I'm just a very indecisive person okay. ><)

As always, more info about the game options below the cut, including blurbs, tags, and trailers. DOTO I played once and will eventually play again, whether as part of this challenge or not, it's just a matter of getting around to it.

1. Dark Nights With Poe and Munro (2020)

"Guide local radio hosts Poe and Munro through six TV-like episodes of supernatural strangeness and sizzling on-screen chemistry. From the creators of The Infectious Madness of Doctor Dekker and The Shapeshifting Detective." Steam tags: choose your own adventure, fmv, detective, interactive fiction, multiple endings, point & click, dark comedy, horror, romance

2. Dead Synchronicity: Tomorrow Comes Today (2015)

"A dying reality, a universe that’s fading away. A merciless world thatgets sick and vanishes. No past, no present, no future; only the impending moment of “dead synchronicity” ahead. Will you be able to stop it?Because, otherwise… what will you do when Time dissolves itself?" Steam tags: adventure, point & click, indie, post-apocalyptic, story rich, atmospheric, mystery, horror

3. Detention (2017)

"Detention is an atmospheric horror game set in 1960s Taiwan under martial law. Incorporated religious elements based in Taiwanese/Chinese culture and mythology, the game provided players with unique graphics and gaming experience." Steam tags: horror, indie, psychological horror, atmospheric, puzzle, story rich, adventure, drama, dark, point & click

4. DIVINATION (2019)

""What if you're born into this world without your permission?" DIVINATION is a very short visual novel where you act as a fortune teller in a futuristic world. Talk and listen to people's stories, then foresee their future using the runes they had drawn." Steam tags: visual novel, cyberpunk, short, philosophical, experimental, point & click, noir, text-based, story rich, choices matter, sci-fi

5. Dry Drowning (2019)

"Dry Drowning is a psychological investigative visual novel set in a futuristic dystopian city. Follow the story of Mordred Foley, unscrupulous private detective haunted by his dark past, and look into a series of macabre serial killings inspired by Greek mythology." Steam tags: futuristic, adventure, visual novel, mystery, sci-fi, noir, horror, investigation, psychological, thriller, puzzle

6. Dishonored: Death of the Outsider (2017) (I have 17/30 achievements after 30hrs of play, hltb estimates an average 17hrs completionist so obviously I play slow lmao)

"Be a badass supernatural assassin and take on the role of notorious Billie Lurk as she reunites with her mentor Daud in order to pull off the greatest assassination ever conceived. Building upon Dishonored® 2’s signature gameplay and art style, Death of the Outsider features all the series hallmarks, including brutal combat systems, unique level design, and immersive storytelling that responds to your every choice." Steam tags: stealth, action, first-person, female protagonist, assassin, steampunk, atmospheric, story rich

[ofcharactersandplayers]

Writer Questions

The Basics

1.     Do you listen to music when you write? Usually. Sometimes I don't but most of the time I do.

2.     Are you a pantser or plotter? A little bit of both lol.

3.     Computer or pen and paper? I use an app on my phone to do a lot of my stuff but there's nothing like handwriting a particularly moving scene.

4.     Have you ever been published, or do you want to be published? Being published would be neat. It's not my ultimate goal.

5.     How much writing do you get done on an average day? About a page. It's fairly sporadic.

6.     Single or multiple POV? Single.

7.     Standalone or series? Series.

8.     Oldest WIP - post-apocalypse digimon story

9.     Current WIP - see above as well as various smaller oneshots lol

10.  Do you set yourself deadlines? Never!

The Specifics

11.  Books and/or authors who influenced you the most: Jay Bonansinga

12.  Describe your perfect writing space: outside in autumn

13.  Describe your writing process from idea to polished: for school/work it’s just kinda one and done lol. personal projects just never seem to get fully done.

14.  How do you deal with self-doubts? Self-doubts in writing generally don’t affect me because I don’t really write with the purpose of sharing with other people. I write for myself. Who cares if it’s bad or dumb or not well-written? It’s for me.

15.  How do you deal with writer’s block? Turn to another project.

16.  How many drafts do you need until you’re satisfied with a project? Forever.

17.  What writing habits or rituals do you have? Not sure I really have any. When I first started writing it was only by hand, with a black pen, and in cursive. Over time that grew to be blue pen/cursive, back to black pen/cursive, then in pencil/print, then black pen/print. Now it’s whatever is on hand.

18.  If you could collaborate with anyone, who would it be, and what would you write about? Prb @jumper-zuzu

19.  How do you keep yourself motivated? If one thing isn’t working out try something else. I’m writing a personal world. I control how things go.

20.  How many WIPs and story ideas do you have? Countless.

The Favourites

21.  Who is/are your favourite character(s) to write?: Folks with dangerous backstories, folks that eventually HAVE to ask for help after exhausting all other options.

22.  Who is/are your favourite pairing(s) to write?: Chicago PD fanfic, Adam Ruzek and OC Phoebe Driscoll.

23.  Favourite author: In no particular order - CS Lewis, JRR Tolkien, Philppa Gregory, Stephen King, Edgar Allen Poe, Ted Dekker, Andrew Klavan

24.  Favourite genre to write and read: action/adventure, sci-fi, fantasy, heroism

25.  Favourite part of writing: the bolt of inspiration that makes an entire scene come together.

26.  Favourite writing program: PureWriter (samsung app)

27.  Favourite line/scene: “You don’t know what I have, but I WILL tell you, despair is definitely not on the list.”

28.  Favourite side character: Calumon (no I refuse to explain)

29.  Favourite villain: Lucemon

30.  Favourite idea you haven’t started on yet: I had a concept where a child in the care of an OC was tragically lost and it spurred OC to a line of anti-heroism.

The Dark

31.  Least favourite part of writing: the spans of time where nothing seems to be happening

32.  Most difficult character to write: romantic interactions (no seriously I’ve never dated so I have no idea how to write romance situations)

33.  Have you ever killed a main character?: Not yet. Side characters and enemies, but not a main yet.

34.  What was the hardest scene you ever had to write?: I’m still trying to figure out a first date situation in a Chicago PD fic.

35.  What scene/story are you least looking forward to writing?: killing an MC.

The Fun

36.  Last sentence you wrote: “You know I’m taking all that as a ‘no’ to my question, right?”

37.  First sentence of your current WIP: The sounds of the house collapsing behind her barely reached her over the sound of the storm.

38.  Weirdest story idea you’ve ever had: post-apocalypse digimon

39.  Weirdest character concept you’ve ever had: cousins-turned-sisters, opposite in every single way.

40.  Share some backstory for one of your characters: Phoebe lives with her uncle on a ranch in America. Her sister disappeared in a bad thunderstorm while sophomores in high school and 2 years later Phoebe still battles with the guilt of believing she was to blame for the disappearance. Her uncle, fearful for the blatant social withdrawal of his adopted daughter, signs them up for a foreign exchange program.

The Rest of It

41.  Any advice for new/beginning/young writers?: Do it for you. Above all, do it for yourself.

42.  How do you feel about love triangles?: Useful in certain situations but I find them to be far too used.

43.  What do you do if/when characters don’t follow the outline?: Follow the characters. Better yet let the characters write the outline.

44.  How much research do you do?: A lot. I do whatever I can to make sure I’m writing believable situations that actually work as they should. I don’t like to use a lot of “It’s fiction! It works because I say so!”

45.  How much world building do you do?: a LOT lol. I can go for HOURS.

46.  Do you reread your own stories?: All the time.

47.  Best way to procrastinate: Listen to music and stare at a blank page.

48.  What’s the most self-insert character/scene you’ve ever written?: When I first started writing (6th grade) I LITERALLY REWROTE episode 1 of Digimon Frontier to replace Kouji. Hey, everybody starts somewhere.

49.  Which character would you most want to be friends with, if they were real?: Takuya Kanbara, prb. Dude is just out there and I’m a lot like that. Kouji would have his hands full trying to keep us wrangled.

50.  Any last words?: Writing is an outlet. Writing is limitless. Writing is yours.

[cocoabubbelle]

In honor of

May the 4th,

Here are my top favorite ships of Star Wars, from the least favorite to the top favorite:

Kylo Ren/Ben x Rey Skywalker/Palpatine

Why I like them:

Honestly, this isn’t my FAVORITE ship, since I’m not a huge fan of the enemies-to-lovers trope, nor am I a fan of bad boys x good girls. Also, the whole soulmate thing was a bit forced in last minute. HOWEVER, I like a lot of the fan art of this couple, as well as the what they could have had if things were different. I blame a lot of the fandom’s headcanons 😆 . I saw the potential in their back and forth banter in The Last Jedi, and enjoyed when Ben finally came to his senses and fought for the good side with Rey in Rise of Skywalker.

Jyn x Cassian

Why I like them:

Honestly, I thought it was hilarious that one of the reviews for the movie claimed that this was the best film with a female lead because there was ‘no romance between the heroine and the hero,” because when I watched it, the shipper in me thought “well, yeah, because they all died before anything could happen 😜”. This is another ship I saw with potential because how much Jyn and Cassian influenced each other for the better, despite their rocky start. They went from almost biting each other’s heads off, to reluctantly trusting each other, to having each other’s back, to finding comfort in each other as their time ran out.

Carth Onasi x Fem!Revan

Why I like this couple:

The first computer Star Wars game I played was Knights of the Old Republic, and thanks to that I went down a hole in the Star Wars Universe. Normally, I’m not a fan of Person A getting together with Person B who was partially responsible for the murder of your spouse and almost-murder-but-still-wound-up-messed-up-beyond-redemption-because-of-trauma child. However, the storytelling of KOTOR and the character arc that Carth undergoes via his interactions with Fem!Revan as well as her own development (based on the player’s choices) wonderfully portrays the power of redemption, earning trust, and forgiveness that it makes sense for this couple to end up together. This is why I pretend Carth’s cameo in KOTOR 2 didn’t happen, because the confirmation that Fem!Revan left to undo the harm she caused but was never able to reunite with Carth (who spends the rest of his life waiting for her and never knowing her eventual fate) is too sad.

Exile x Mical/The Disciple

Why I like them:

The choice was either the sweet nice guy with an English accent, or the Han Solo-Copy. No offense to Atton, but when I had to pick between him or Mical, I preferred Mical. He’s a gentleman, a scholar, and shows nothing but support for the Exile even though he didn’t have that great of an opinion on the Jedi at first.

Visas Marr x Male!Exile

Why I like them:

This couple admittedly has similar dynamics and even dialogue options as Fem!Exile x Mical, but with the splash of a more traumatic background for Visas and an even deeper understanding and connection. I like Visas as a character, as she is a sith only because she was basically tortured into being one, not because she’s a bad person. She loved the Exile from afar because of their similar situations of being broken away from the Force, and (if you play a kindhearted Exile) fell for him further because of his kindness. The Exile (again, should the player make the proper decisions) also doesn’t hold Visas’s past nor her connection to the main Sith Lord against her and treats her like how a normal person should be treated: with respect.

Rey x Poe Dameron

Why I like them:

Yes, they bicker a lot, but their first meetings in the films and the novels were really cute. Also, they’re both really talented pilots who get along great with machines, and with great taste in friends (Hi Finn!).

Han Solo x Leia Organa Skywalker

Why I like them:

The only slap-slap-kiss couple that has rights. THE Star Wars couple. Ne’er do well Rogue with a Hidden heart of Gold x Haughty Princess who loves her people and learns to loosen up? Only these two can pull it off so well.

Finn x Rey

I 👏🏻 LOVE 👏🏿 THESE 👏🏻 TWO 👏🏿!!!!

I loved them as soon as they appeared on screen together. Finn can be a coward, but he’s still such a sweetheart and a good guy who’ll keep doing whatever is right. Rey is prickly and hard of trusting, but when she becomes friends with someone it’s really adorable how she gets incredibly loyal and attached to them. While Poe befriended and gave Finn a reason to leave the First Order, Rey gave him the courage and confidence to fight them. While Han Solo gave Rey a paternal mentor figure who she looked up to, Finn was the one who respected her for her strength while helping her realize it was okay for her to open up and be vulnerable. That and their interactions are always adorable and heartwarming. Whatever ship you’re on or building, and whatever your opinions may be on the sequel trilogy, I think it is obvious that Finn and Rey’s relationship with each other was so necessary to each other throughout their entire stories.

[kelvintimeline]

2 years on, and i still cannot believe the Star Wars sequel had two great and plausible pairings in either FinnRey or FinnPoe and instead they chose the shittiest 3rd option possible of giving Finn two different underdeveloped love interests, making Poe straight for no reason, and pairing Rey with Kylo in one of the most poorly executed film romances ever conceived. like i figured FinnPoe had no chance of happening but FinnRey seemed to be set up in the first movie then they just. ignore it the whole rest of the trilogy? how did they screw up SO badly

The way I had to think real hard for who was Finn's second love interest because I just Did Not retain anything from TROS

Anyways... the power of racism and homophobia within Disney and Lucasfilm is unmatched <3 May they all burn to the ground

[stylishanachronism]

Classic Aedyran and/or Dyrwoodan love story archetypes (and which gods they do and/or REALLY REALLY DO NOT invoke or involve)?

This went extremely sideways and also has no internally consistent organization, but that’s why it’s a series of bullet points and not an essay.

So Aedyrans are pretty obviously into three things: duty, tragedy, and Drama. Like on the surface it’s all austere dutiful piousness but go like, an inch below that and the dramatics just start pouring out.

-I’m not saying Aloth isn’t like, legit anxious about the very real trouble he’s about to be or currently in, I’m just saying a solid chunk of that is rooted in a culture that takes ancestor worship to really weird places, among other things, and literally none of it is as big a problem as literally anybody is making it out to be.

—the appearance of not even wrongdoing but just.... not enough virtue signaling is *just as bad* as actual wrongdoing. (They blackmail that one kid with his mom’s probably-fictional indiscretions? To the point where it kills him even.) Like ‘I saw Goody Proctor vent’ is actually the name of the game here.(1)

That being said, and given soap operas have not been invented, we’ve probably got three major schools of art:

-high brow morality plays in which either our poor ill fated couple, torn apart by (unscrupulous relatives? That hussy down the street? A wild misunderstanding involving a stolen baby who was swapped for another stolen baby? Somebody’s being tempted away from true love here, to whatever end) fate, dutifully come back to each other and are deliriously respectably happy together, or fall into despair and die over their bad choices. Think extra-overwrought Victorian ‘modernists’(which I heartily don’t recommend.), crossed with the soapiest tellanovellas you can imagine (which if you’re into that style of drama, I do)

-fantasy Shakespeare, where all the dick jokes are so old nobody recognizes them any more, possibly with a moral stapled to the end

-eyebrow raising, too much for today’s delicate stomachs, fucking wild shit presented as ‘educational’, with worse shit underground(2), because the veneer is more important than the reality of the thing.

But the major tropes you’re going to see like.... overall, not just in theater, are probably more community based? Like, you fall in love with your neighbor’s kid, she falls in love with you, so you both go to your mothers and they’ll determine whether it’s a good match or not, you technically don’t really get a say in the matter.(3) There’s also probably a lot of superstition involved? Like, if the omens are bad you’re not getting married, but if they’re just okay you may have to wait six months.

-also there’s a lot of hideously complex contract work over who’s marrying into what, among other things.

—divorce isn’t an option! Better hope your relatives pick wisely!

—- more accurately divorce is even more hideously complex and expensive, so unless your spouse is actively trying to kill you it’s probably not worth it, and even then you’d probably have serious second thoughts.

In terms of like, the Ideal Romantic Partner (not necessarily romantic partner, but given you’ve got to be married if you want to(socially acceptably) have sex or have kids, because Aedyrans are wild), you’re probably looking at someone dutiful, who will put their own comfort second to keeping their word, cultured but not smug about it, efficient but thorough, graceful and always perfectly composed no matter what happens, soft spoken without being servile, and the whole package should come across as effortless.

We’re attempting to ignore all the work I’ve done re: shitty Protestants, so we’ve canonically got nobody actually in charge of marriage anywhere, so probably you’re praying to Woedica (to keep your contract) and Hylea (if you need this marriage to be fruitful), and maybe even Ondra (to ensure everybody remains faithful, because Aedyrans are Dramatic, and the fucking moon bedroom is a thing)

As for the Dyrwodans:

Less repression + more inversion ceremonies mean they’re way less dramatic in general, but obviously that means they’re still Really Dramatic, given they’re into swearing eternal feuds over literally nothing every other day. They place a much stronger importance on soul lineages than blood lineages, but whether you take that into consideration re: romance probably depends on what current feuds your family and/or community is currently embroiled in, and how serious they are. And if you have the cash/local cipher to get said lineage traced.

-Theater tropes are going to tend towards the comedic (think 27 dresses, or some other friendshippy romcom) and bawdy, and also fantasy Shakespeare, now with added dick jokes, because the existing ones are still too old to be recognizable, and probably some of the less overwrought Aedyran and Vailian plays, maybe. Also the whole theater plot, because that is a thing, even if they’ve had to bury it both deeper and shallower than Aedyr.

As a general thing, marriage is still mostly a practical thing, and while your families are definitely involved, they’ve generally got much less of a say in it. Outside of high society weddings, which are obviously more alliances than anything else, there’s generally not a contract so to speak; because children belong to their mothers, and nobody much cares where she got them unless she’s already married, when and if she does get married, it’s socially expected that her new spouse will join her household, and splitting up a household is so socially unacceptable murder is a neater, less fraught solution than divorce(4).

Your Ideal Romantic Partner (who probably is romantic, unless you need an extra pair of hands all the time that badly) is clever without being supercilious, with an easy disposition and a good sense of humor, willing to take life as it comes, but also to defend what they’ve got to their last breath, generous and community minded, but still independent enough not to need looking after, forthright but not unkind, and you should be able to tell how hard they work for whatever it is they want.

As for gods: pre everything, you’re probably looking to Abydon, to build your disparate members into a household, and Eothas, to make that household into a home. Post everything, it’s just Abydon, maybe Magran to ask that whatever trials you face make you stronger together. I don’t know, there isn’t a really good option there re: canon.

1: the Readcerans somehow take this even further but in an even weirder direction, this shit is wild, babes, but we’re not talking about them today

2: I’ve got a specific horrible irl example in mind but we’ll go with the theater quest in PoE, turned up to 11, because that lot hasn’t had nearly as much time to get established as Aedyran equivalents have.

3: congrats this is why Aloth is so hard to romance I guess. Nobody has approached his mother about him/he hasn’t asked his mother to approach anyone. Also I have extensive thoughts on the vagaries of social class re: marriage, so like, who exactly does the approaching is probably equally complex!

4: look I didn’t put that quest in there, what the fuck else am I intended to think? ....I mean Obsidian definitely definitely didn’t expect me to come up with polyamory gone wrong but like I’m not reaching when I say that’s the conclusion I came to. Hooray for weddings?

[jadeile-writes]

Fanfic Progress Update 92

Merry last bits of November, people! Let’s prepare to get attacked by Christmas if you haven’t already been XD In the meanwhile, here’s an update. Stay tuned for a spoilery glimpse into the next chapter of Adventure Gone Mini at the end of the post.

Current WIPs:

Adventure gone Mini

Fandom: Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild / The Minish Cap

Summary: Sidon is given his very own Sheikah Slate, the first replica Purah has managed to make, and sets out to travel with Link with the intention of registering warp points for convenient travel in the future. However, when a malfunction shrinks them down to the size of bugs, and they meet little people called the Minish, they have to change their plans from “fun adventuring” to “getting out of this mess”. Not that those two have to exclude one another. Link/Sidon.

Progress: Chapter 45 is the current latest chapter and was posted on 11th of November. Chapter 46 is still half done, with only a little bit of progress since last week. My head wasn’t in the game at all during my writing hour. So. I think I’ll postpone the publishing, which makes the new scheduled posting date 9th of December.

I post a new chapter every three weeks on Wednesdays, except when I don’t manage to. These updates always include a sneak-peek for the next chapter, slowly getting longer over the three weeks waiting period.

—–

Experiment in Romance

Fandom: Hazbin Hotel

Summary (temporary): Husk’s afterlife takes an odd turn when a drunk Alastor knocks on his door and has no intention of going to his own room for the night. It only gets weirder from there, leaving Husk with a most unexpected arrangement with the Radio Demon. Either it’ll be the best decision in his afterlife, or he’s simply out to break his own damn heart dealing with the fickle asshole. Radiohusk.

Progress: Chapter 1 is ready. Chapter 2 is still about ¾ths done. No progress this week. I’ve been preparing an event in the Radiohusk server and it’s eaten basically all my spare time. Not that this fic has been progressing much anyway, sigh. Still not giving up tho.

—–

Hah! Our afterlife is the most hilarious bushwa, dearest

Fandom: Hazbin Hotel

Summary: This is not a stand-alone story! This is a oneshot/drabble collection in the universe as “Shit, the Radio Demon is a part of my afterlife”. Read the main story before bothering with this one.

I decided to give my readers a chance to throw Radiohusk prompts at me, and had the Afterlife-verse as an option to set the stories in. Everyone liked that, so this fic is now a thing. Enjoy the extra mischief from these two dorks!

Progress: Chapter 28 is the current latest chapter and was posted on 27th of November. Chapter 29 hasn’t been started yet, as I’ve been preparing an event in the Radiohusk server and it’s eaten basically all my spare time. However, I should have more writing time next week, so I’m still scheduling the chapter for 4th of December. There will be a sneak-peek on Thursday if I get it done in time.

I have 10 prompts left. Note to new people who might be looking at this: I’m not currently taking more prompts.

This fic receives a new chapter every Friday, except when it doesn’t.

—–

Other WIPs I’m not currently working on but intend to get back to someday:

PoE Drabbles (Pillars of Eternity)

DC Drabbles (Justice League)

Diaphanous Relations (Forgotten Realms, R.A. Salvatore’s books)

—–

That’s it for the WIPs! Here’s the promised sneak-peek into Adventure gone Mini (Note: the text may end up slightly different in the fic itself due to more editing happening before publishing). Enjoy!

Mini

Link paid approximately zero attention to the rest of the pictures on the walls, making a beeline to the treasure chests resting in the midpoint of the platform, which seemed to circle right back to the beginning along the opposite wall. At least that meant their choice of which stairs to take had been more or less irrelevant and they could just complete the circle and go back down instead of going back to the beginning and climbing up another set of stairs. Less exciting, but better time-wise. "Oh, that's a good find!" Sidon's voice said behind him, and then his footsteps followed after Link. Hah, he was more interested in treasure than the pictures as well, it seemed. There were four chests total, each a different colour: orange, yellow, gray, and green. The orange chest had a padlock on it, the others looked unlocked.

—–

That’s it this time. See you next Saturday!

Links:

My AO3   My FFnet   My Ko-fi   Radiohusk Discord Group invitation

[secretsfromwholecloth]

...goodness, I’ve acquired a few new readers lately, haven’t I. Well. A couple of the main tourist attractions around here:

Forbears, short for Forbears of what will be, is a behemoth of a fic series about the origins of the Jedi Order that I spent several years helping plan and edit for @bloodilymerry (actually making the words go is deep sorcery beyond my ken, so the actual writing was left to her). It began life as a fix-it of the Dawn of the Jedi comic, then it...got away from us a little. Come read, we’ve got murderbabies.

I know a bunch of you got here via RPG fandoms and may or may not have noticed my habit of documenting my playthroughs in some detail, both to tell the nice people on the Internet what I think of it all and to have something to read back over later and smile at the memories. There’s a second Dragon Age run and probably a sixth Pillars of Eternity run coming sooner or later, but for now, I’ve got:

Dragon Age run #1, December 2019-January 2020: Warden Alix Cousland (rogue/Alistair romance/queen), Taran Hawke (warrior/snarky/Merrill romance), Inquisitor Linniva Trevelyan (mage/Blackwall romance, pardoned and took him back/disbanded)

ETA: DA run #2, March-April 2020: Warden Daiwen Mahariel (warrior/Zevran romance), Pavey Hawke (mage/aggressive/Anders romance), Inquisitor Avasis Adaar (rogue/Dorian romance/kept the Inquisition going)

ETA: DA run #3, August-October 2020: Warden Isaura Amell (mage/Alistair romance/left him a Warden), Gabran Hawke (rogue/diplomatic/Isabela romance), Inquisitor Anchoret Lavellan (warrior/Cullen romance/disbanded)

Pillars of Eternity run #1, September-November 2018: Clelia mes Rèi (Old Vailian moon godlike cipher/Galawain/Huana/Tekēhu)

PoE run #2, December 2018: Oriol Gori (Deadfire ocean folk Darcozzi Paladin/Hylea/Furrante’s Príncipi/Xoti)

PoE run #3, March 2019: Aegen Mar (Living Lander wood elf ranger/Berath/Castol’s VTC/Aloth)

PoE run #4, May 2019: Sikkerneq (Rauataian boreal dwarf chanter/Galawain/RDC/Maia)

PoE run #5, November-December 2019: Eiheune Manoi (Ixamitec coastal aumaua priest of Wael/Wael/Huana/Serafen)

NB: I did something a little different with Eiheune; her playthrough is primarily documented in a Twitter threadzilla rather than the usual daily Tumblr writeups. Turns out I’m even more verbose on the site with a strict character limit, who knew?

Yeah, the other thing about Twitter is all the writers are on there. Had a little brush with celebrity for a moment. :)

ETA: PoE run #6, April-May 2020: Anlaf (Aedyre fire godlike rogue/Hylea/solo/no romance)

I’m really bad about tagging anything else, so you’ll have to let me know if there’s something you want me to tag for consistently.

I’m 100% OK with being unfollowed or blocked at any time, for any reason. You curate your own experience on here, I’m not the boss of you.

I try to be personable, but I’m a weird little ball of anger in real life, and sometimes the seams start to show. Sorry.

ETA: Remember, I’m closer to 40 than 30, and my target audience is people my own age. Exercise discretion.

Anyway. Welcome to the readership. Let’s be friends.

ETA: Pinning this, now that it's an option, rather than keep re-upping it every time I pick up some more followers.

[ninasfireescape]

The ‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’ review no one asked for

I wanted to enjoy it. I really did.

I was one of the people who didn’t dislike The Last Jedi. Sure, I didn’t love it. When I watched it, I thought it was too long and had made certain characters choices I wasn’t too happy with, but overall it was enjoyable and left me feeling satisfied. It was not as good as The Force Awakens however and hearing JJ Abrams was returning, I thought he might be able to restore the final episode to its former glory.

That indeed seemed like the case for the first hour. The gang were back together, it was quick-paced, I had an emotional investment in what was going on (and it seemed like they were taking the Finnrey route I wanted them too). I couldn’t exactly follow every plot specific but does that really matter in Star Wars when it’s so exciting? The bit on Star Killer base was genuinely inspired, I was laughing away at once again what terrible shots the stormtroopers were and at Hux being the spy. Every scene with Lando in was gold.

It was just after they got to the water planet that things started to go wrong. I’m not sure quite what it was exactly that made it so disappointing from this point onwards. Perhaps the gang splitting up or the rather horrifically done Leia death scene. I know they didn’t really have much choice with what footage they had but having watched each member of the original trio died, this death was devoid of emotion and predictable. And she died to make Kylo Ren hesitate for one moment. What a waste!

Then the pointless force ghosts! Seeing Luke was nice but it felt like he was just there to add clunky explanation since the plot made so little sense at this point. And when Han appeared, I actually laughed. It was so inconsistent with the tone of the film and he appeared all while Kylo Ren was standing in the middle of a stormy sea that he could fall into at any moment, right in the most climactic section of the film, just to have a conversation with the son who killed him! It was the most outrageous example of a fan service cameo that just didn’t assimilate with the rest of the film.

I don’t actually have a problem with Rey Palpatine. If anything, I thought it was really cool she was a Palpatine. I really didn’t want her to be a Skywalker because I felt it would be predictable and repetitive. Her being a Palpatine also sends the message to young viewers that blood relations don’t make a family which I think is very important for children to hear. Honestly, the only problem I have with it is that it means some poor lady had sex with Palpatine. I agree that it was a ridiculous retcon of The Last Jedi but then I didn’t like the reveal about her parents in TLJ anyway because of how it was executed. Another thing that bothers me about it is the utter lack of information we get about Villanelle Rey’s mother. Already we don’t know much about her father other than that he’s Palpatine’s son but with her mother, we get nothing. With Rey having wondered about who her parents were for so long, surely it would make sense for her to want to know more about her mother and maybe even take her surname in place of ‘Palpatine’. I also firmly believe Rey’s mother should have been played by Hayley Atwell because she looks so much like Daisy Ridley. And while Jodie Comer is an amazing actress, I think 1. She deserves a bigger role in the Star Wars franchise and 2. Her casting as Rey’s mother exemplifies Hollywood’s fear of casting older actresses as mothers. A twenty six year old as a mother!?

About Zurii, I always appreciate new female characters in Star Wars and I thought she had a great design. However, it is blatantly clear what her purpose in the film was. It was to stop people calling Poe gay, inserting a female character for one scene (she barely spoke in her other scenes so I’m not counting those) with no backstory of her own, just to prove he is attracted to women. Well, first of all, he can be bi, secondly, that’s not going to stop people shipping Finnpoe at all. I didn’t clock until afterwards when I saw people talking about it online, but it was super problematic to make Poe a former drug dealer. Sure, the only Latino character in this trilogy. Also, it in general complicates the little we know about Poe’s backstory so far.

With Rose, all our worst fears were confirmed. She just wasn’t there. She appeared in a couple of scenes and had some lines but you’d think she was no more than another miscellaneous rebel, no more significant a role than Billie Lourd’s character. Did they really give into the white fanboy pressure? How could they erase Rose when she was such a good character? She was tough and fought strongly for her beliefs, but she was also compassionate, sensitive. Now, I never particularly shipped Finn and Rose in TLJ. I thought it seemed a bit of a rushed romance and Finn didn’t seem that invested in the kiss they shared. However, you can’t just pretend they didn’t kiss in the last film. They interacted a few times but there was no sense of any bond between them. Where there relationship stood was unclear. Were they now a couple or had they had an offscreen conversation where they decided they were better off as friends? Who knows?

And now onto the worst part of the film: Kylo Ren and more specifically that kiss. Gross. Okay, to be clear, I wasn’t entirely opposed to a redemption arc for Kylo Ren. Sure, it would be predictable, but it’s not like Kylo Ren’s crimes are any worse than those of Darth Vader and he was still capable of redemption. I liked Kylo Ren as a villain. He perfectly depicted that type of whiny, entitled white man who we see so commonly in real life, but again, he could have achieved some redemption if it were implemented correctly. What we got in the film was not this. He was still committing genocide at the start and carried out one good deed which was saving the woman he had a crush on. For this one good act, he was entirely forgiven and somehow all of the genocide wasn’t his fault. And he got rewarded with the woman! If anything, I’d call that act selfish since he only wanted to save the woman he liked. Adam Driver did the best he could with it but everything about it was awful. And it was out of character for Rey to kiss him and forgive him. She stabbed him little more than half an hour earlier! At the end of the last film, she slammed a door in his face. It makes no sense to me how she could suddenly be so invested in him becoming a better person. There’s also the fact that wasn’t included in the films that Rey and Kylo Ren are related (aunt and nephew to be exact). I wasn’t aware this was Game of Thrones! And according to Wookiepedia, Rey was 18 at the start of the films and is now 20 whereas Kylo Ren is now 30. A ten year age different would be fine if Rey were older but at this point, the age gap is uncomfortable and very borderline.

If they’re going to make the claim that it wasn’t actually Kylo Ren who was doing the evil deeds but some dark force corrupting him, they should have explained how the mechanism works. At least in the prequels, we got some sense of Anakin slowly being corrupted. To me, it reads like in some horror films when the abusive characters are found to have been possessed by demons or something. It trivializes abuse which is something very real, acting instead as if no abusers can actually be responsible for their actions and it is the cause of some supernatural force instead. I suppose the kiss doesn’t have to mean anything. After all, Leia and Luke kissed in the original trilogy and Finn and Rose kissed and apparently that meant nothing.

I firmly believe the series intended a Finn and Rey romance. Lest we forget The Force Awakens, Finn awkwardly asking Rey if she had a boyfriend. That was clear coding for him having a crush on her. In that film, the two developed such a strong bond, and they have so much more chemistry than Rey and Kylo Ren ever had. All the scenes with Rey and Finn (and Poe) were full of light and emotion. The scene at the end where the three of them hugged was honestly the high point of the film. Now, when I left the cinema, what was plaguing my mind the most was that throughout the film, Finn had a secret he wanted to tell Rey. It was first suggested when they thought they were going to die in the quicksand. “Wait, Rey, I never told you!” It had to be that he loved her. What else could it be? Supposedly, it was that he was force sensitive. I don’t believe that for one second. If he needed to tell her that, why couldn’t Poe be included? And why did he never get the chance to tell her? It was a build-up I got invested in with no payoff. It must have been that he loved her. So, if that was the case, that leaves us with two options. Either there was a Finnrey subplot that got cut but they forgot to cut these scenes out (or simply couldn’t be bothered to), or they thought it would be funny to have the black supposed male lead chasing after the white female lead who didn’t love him back because she was instead in love with the genocidal white villain. I ship Finnrey so much and find the second option so horrific but I wouldn’t put it past the writers. Finn played such a significant role in the first half of the film, as he should since he’s meant to be the male lead in the series, but after that, he was dangerously underutilized. At least the ending where no one ends up with each other is compliant with my headcanon that Rey, Finn and Poe (and I don’t mind Rose being in the mix too) all end up married to each other and adopt a bunch of porgs.

And lastly, the lesbian scene. Pathetic. We don’t know the character names and I can’t even find out who the actresses were that played them. Okay, they kissed which is a pretty big deal (even though kisses apparently mean nothing in Star Wars) and it’s certainly a step forward from the Avengers: Endgame ‘’’’representation’’’’, but it’s still rather useless considering the big deal JJ Abrams made about how there would be representation.

[lairofsentinel]

Pathfinder: Kingmaker opinions: [Spoilers ahead] At least, spoilers until the point before reaching Pitax. A place you can’t never go in because bugs. Yay.

Meh, the Lore and the main concept of the game is not my cup of tea. “Becoming king/queen and destined to rule lands”, meh, too overused in games... it’s something soooo colonialist to my taste now. I prefer to be part of rebel groups and punks (which are also overused, but what’s not at this moment in the videogame industry?). But well, the narrative was nice, and I was not so bored with the game after the first chapter (the first chapter was horribly slow and you need to endure boredom at deadly doses). 

The resource management got my nerves. So I got some mods to cheat it, because it’s super annoying to lose a loooot of quests and missions just because you are spending time with one of your advisors.  And everything takes so many days to be solved, that you forget completely. And you spend more time in front of a fucking table than playing the RPG. 

That Amiri, omg. She is like Cassandra Pentaghast but completely savage without fucking Andraste and churches and Makers. She’s wildly perfect.... except, she is non-romanceable for my Baroness. Of COURSE!. Never let me get my perfect lesbian couple in any fucking game!. Why games keep doing this to me?, first Aveline, then Cassandra, now Amiri. Let me romance a fucking butch!. Anyway, I took another try with my Baron. I was looking at Tristian, and of course, the cutest softest cuchicuchi priest in the game is straight. He is not even human! for fuck’s sake, why he needs to be hetero? He is willingly to fuck a lesser creature than himself, what would he care about the gender?. It’s the same nonsense that in Mass Effect. Tired, I check the only 2 possible gay options.... and BOTH are bisexuals in a relationship with each other. Which is horrible. Like... seriously? I need to destroy their relationship to have my gay content? Or I have to end up in a polyamory relationship which is not my cup of tea?. [though, I have to praise, this is the first game I play where polyamory is actually a decent option (probably a better option than any gay option) but only with these 2 characters]. In fact, it’s not my cup of tea, but... the hell, probably I will head into it. 

When you check the studio’s explanation of this situation (why they did not offered gay options), they say that they did it in this way because “they didn't have time”. And sure, we can’t have more content because **time**... but it’s always gay/bi content which is cut off. I never fucking heard once “no, look, we could not make more hetero chars because we lacked of resources”.  No. Gayness is just a DLC, always.

It’s funny because, man, they didn't have time to finish the last chapter either, lol!. I’m fucking stuck in Pitax. There were a terrible amount of bugs that prevent you to follow the main quest. So I’m there, unable to play because I always get my kingdom destroyed thanks to the bugs.

Also, the whole design, the style of narrative, the interactions... everything tastes to me to Pillars of Eternity. There are a lot of spell icons that are from PoE. I was surprised. They had no time to even redesign the icons?. Wow. why this game was released then? After chapter 4 it’s a pain in the ass with the amount of bugs. You can’t continue the main quest, nor the companion quests. It breaks the narrative so horribly. 

Regongar is so traumatized. I was not expecting to like him. Even though he is Evil neutral, and I don’t like any kind of “evil” alignment usually, this char gets you. His mind is so fucked up due to the tortures, and still yet, more or less, he tries to be kind of... a decent person. Considering circumstances, of course. 

Octavia was meh. Maybe too coquettish to my style, but I can’t see her background because Pitax is bugged as fuck and I can’t follow her quest, so, I don’t know what’s her true background.  However, the way she and Regongar interact is so cute. And thinking about it, how they could not be that way?, they kept their sanity through years of slavery and torture thanks to their mutual support. Encouraging them to break is really evil. Making Regongar a bit less fucked up with his “my Octavia” thingie would be better.  But I don’t know where that goes. Thanks horrible bugs.

Now, the char that completely got me without even realising about it was Jubilost. Like... the asshole was an annoyance, and make you infuriate most of the time with his attitude of being high in a horse, and now I totally like him to the point to wish a romance with this asshole. Because he is an asshole, that has a lot of material to show off and being a “proper” educated asshole, but at the same time, he is an asshole to himself. He doesn’t go easy when it comes to criticize himself. He sticks so much to the truth that applies it even against him. I totally love those ruthless chars that give a shit about their own emotions in pos of the truth. Jubilost got my complete attention now. Besides, he is a brilliant economist. The kingdom is so fuckign efficient with him. I want to romance this asshole gnome.

[just-breathe-fight-cf]

Review Of Upcoming Movie: FIVE FEET APART (2019)

     Movie: Five Feet Apart is a romantic drama about two cystic fibrosis patients who meet at a hospital and fall in love. However, due to hospital rules, they must always keep six feet between them. 

     Book Synopsis: Will and Stella are 17 years old, and they are falling in love. The flirting in the hallways, the slipping away from adult supervision, the tension of every shared moment building toward something unknown but impossibly exciting. Complicating matters, their romance must exist within the boundaries of their lives as cystic fibrosis patients in the same hospital, where strict rules dictate that they must stay five feet apart at all times.

     Will is part of an experimental drug treatment but spends his days giving Nurse Barb and Dr. Noor Hamid the slip. Stella’s best friend Poe works to keep her spirits high while she waits on a matching organ donor. She passes the time with an obsessive adherence to her prescription regimen and by creating videos about her friends and their lives for her YouTube channel. As the connection between Will and Stella intensifies, so does their willingness to defy the rules that govern every moment of their lives. Teenage attraction gets complicated when touching is not an option, but the pair quickly learns that the possibilities are endless, even if it means staying out of reach. Living on borrowed time means making every moment count, and as the challenges mount, Will and Stella will discover a strength within themselves and each other that transcends the distance between them.

      The movie, slated to release next spring, will also be adapted into a Young Adult novel coming in November (2019).

     Release Date: 22 March 2019 (USA) 

________________________________________________________________

I am looking forward to seeing this movie, as a patient with CF...

     The six-foot rule comes from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation’s Infection Prevention and Control Guideline for Cystic Fibrosis which recommends patients and CF Clinics to ‘Separate all people with CF from others with CF, regardless of their respiratory tract culture results, at least 6 feet (2 meters) in all settings, to reduce the risk of droplet transmission of CF pathogens.’

     I have had the 6′ rule applied to me so many times: From CFF meetings to inpatient hospitalization, to meeting other CF patients. When I was in school, I went undiagnosed with CF and befriended a CF patient as we had so much in common compared to other peers. When I worked in the hospital, I befriended a young lady who help guide me to getting diagnosed and even then...we were forced to keep our distance.

     As a CFer, I don’t appreciate Hollywood romanticizing this condition. I have known a few CF patients who have dated other CF patients and lived a happy life for a few years until their condition claimed their lives. I am concerned that Hollywood might portray cystic fibrosis patients as rebellious, thoughtless or unable to develop relationships...this is all wrong! Most CF adults are quite responsible and highly educated about their disease and seem to either live life to its fullest and those who just want to give up. I myself and seen as one who lives life to the fullest...but stubborn!

     Considering that this movie is classified as a romance has my concern as there is really nothing ‘romantic’ about having cystic fibrosis in the last few months of life. However, there is something ‘compassionate’ about forming relations with other CF patients as the issues, pain and complications of this rare disease are not easily understood by healthy people. For myself, I find that forming relationships with those with some version of CF and/or their family certainly helps you cope and accept the conditions of the disease. It is hard to explain, but like an unspoken connection that helps you continue the fight and strengthen the spirit.

________________________________________________________________

Hope For This Film...

     First, there are very few films about cystic fibrosis that are even good! A few television programs tried to script a CF story like ER and Red Band Society; but either failed to express the condition as it is; or completely seemed ‘unrealistic’. If ‘Five Feet Apart’ is done well, it could become a great advocacy film about ‘living’ with cystic fibrosis as a individual and not a patient.

     Some research into the director, Justin Baldoni, provides some hope for the film as he is the producer of the documentary ‘My Last Days’ that featured  Claire Wineland’s advocacy for cystic fibrosis. Claire actually worked with lead actors Haley and Cole in perfecting their CF coughs and Claire’s style and hospital room decorating which will feature in the film. This gave Mr. Baldoni an insight to what CF looks like in the hospital and outside of the hospital. While neither Richardson or Sprouse have CF, Sprouse told Teen Vogue that it’s important that the portrayal be as authentic as possible.

[just-book-addict-things]

Soul Seeker by Kaylin McFarren: Book Review

Image Source: Google Images 

Today I will be reviewing the book 'Soul Seeker' by Kaylin McFarren which is a horror thriller/ romance/ Fantasy novel and also the first book of the Gehenna series.

I got the chance to read this book as a reviewer for the Online Book Club where I have submitted an official book review for the same and the link is given below, do check it out. But, here I will be providing a very informal review which might turn into a rant because I have many, many complaints against the book. So let us start with the first impressions.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Honestly speaking, the only reason I did read the book was that I was asked to and I probably wouldn't have picked it at a book store on one of my many book-buying expeditions. If I were to give a reason for why I chose this book out of all the other options, it has to be because of the synopsis of the story. The concept, of course, was very unique and that was probably the reason why I got excited to read the book. Also, there is a beautiful poem before the book starts, and I mean come on, no one can resist a book with a poem. Now, I would love to tell you guys the entire story. But since no one likes spoilers, I will be providing a quick summary of the book in the next section.

QUICK SUMMARY

The book is divided into two parts: Part 1 and Part 2. Now, the issue here is that both the parts have completely different contexts, so I think it would be wise if I provide a summary for both of them separately.

The first part of the story describes the sad life of Benjamin Poe, a firefighter living in the small town of Lochton, Illinois. Now, Poe did not really get along with his family, because apparently his son Gabriel was a complete sadist and he had done some pretty terrible stuff that he used to get away with. Poe, of course, did not want his son to be found guilty of anything, but he was still sceptical considering that Gabriel may have been involved in his own sister Riley's death. Poe's wife did not want to believe that her son could do anything like that, so every time he made an attempt to investigate and find out the truth, things just blew up. Talking about blowing up, the actual story starts with a fire in their College Inn. The fire was reported by Gabriel, who then fled from the scene before the authorities even arrived. And when he came home, he started behaving 'differently', if that's the right word. So, Poe became suspicious and he tried to ask him what happened. And, I mean, you can guess how that went, right? But wait, this gets more exciting. There is a Demon on the loose, Hell's best 'Soul Seeker', the reaper of all corrupted soul, Crighton Daemonium (Pretentious much!!). Now, I may not like his name, but I loved his character (only in the first part). Crighton is after Gabriel's soul and he decides, why not have fun while we're working. He starts playing these mind games with Poe, threatening and confusing him, relishing the pain that he is causing. Now, Poe has only one choice, he must fight this demon with all that he has to protect his family. Interesting right? Well, guess what, as soon as this part ends the story just takes a sharp turn to Fifty Shades.

So, I don't even want to talk about the second part, but I guess I will give you all a short and sweet summary. Crighton is now an angst-ridden bad boy who has this innate goodness hidden inside him, which can only be revealed after he finds his true love, who is, *Drum rolls Please* Ariel, the purest angel in all of heaven. She is beautiful and naive and innocent and gullible and blah blah blah blah, just your perfect Damsel-in-Distress. They have this whole forbidden romance trope, and I actually do like forbidden romances, but this one was just annoying. There are a lot of other things happening as well, but they weren't really that important. Anyways, let's move on to the next section.

MY THOUGHTS

So, here we have this amazing plotline, the concept is unique and it is executed to perfection. And suddenly it just turns to a complete mess. In the first part of the story, we have these two beautifully written characters, Poe and Crighton, clashing with each other in a fight where no one knows who is wrong and who is right. And you are rooting for both of them, which just leaves you so devastated because there is no way both of them can win and the thrill, the adrenaline of it all is just such a wonderful experience. Poe's struggle with the guilt and shame that he feels because of the ongoing situation in his family, along with his determination to save them from a vicious demon hellbent on destroying his entire world, is just so interesting. Crighton's character has so much depth, a morally ambiguous demon whose job is to collect the souls of the corrupted and take them to hell. He may be scary and sadistic, but he is not exactly wrong, especially considering that he does save a lot of good people from terrible fates.

And then what? Suddenly Crighton is a Christian Grey/Edward Cullen hybrid (No offence to anyone who likes them). It just doesn't make any sense. How did this morally grey, genius demon turn into the stereotypical Mr. ' I-hate-myself-but-I-love-this-girl-who-will-save-my-soul'? And don't even get me started on Ariel. Now, does it make any sense that this guardian angel, who protects humans from all evil in the world, just decides one day that she is going to give up everything for this abusive, sadistic demon who maybe, kind of likes her, and she's going to just 'Swish and Flick' him into being good? Sure Jan!

You know, the problem here is that people are so into redemption arcs, they just decide to ignore the beauty of a morally grey character. And redemption arcs are nice and all, but they aren't always required. Crighton isn't actually doing anything wrong, so he doesn't really need 'Redemption' per se. He isn't out there killing people without rhyme or reason. The only reason he goes after people is if they are bad, and there are others who have suffered because of them. I mean, does Batman need redemption? No, right! And even if morally grey characters aren't good people, they definitely are great characters. Aren't we all tired of reading the same cliche characters again and again?

Tell me in the comments if you think people need to stop sleeping on morally grey characters. I have added the links to the Amazon website for the book, in case you want to check it out. Please like and follow my blog for more book reviews and recommendations. Currently, I'm reading this amazing book called 'Faye and the Ether' by Nicole Bailey which I will be reviewing for my next week's blog. Till then, Bbye!

[esbylion]

So I saw The Last Jedi, and it was pretty great, but there’s one scene in particular that I’ve been thinking about since, and not in a good way

I think at some point during the writing/filming process Poe and Rose basically had their roles in this scene switched around (and if you’ve seen the movie you probably already have an idea of where I’m goin with this). I also think, though this would be more speculative, that this was done to avoid putting gay content in the movie.

Pretty major spoilers for large chunks of The Last Jedi under the cut please be careful mobile people. Also it was like 2 AM by the time the movie got to here so I might not be remembering it 100%. I should really watch it again before writing this but maybe if I get it in text I can shut the fuck up for a bit

So there’s a bit in the movie where the Resistance is holed up inside a base protected by a massive door (that massive door is also the only way out), and the First Order is bringing out a weapon that can laser through it. Poe leads a team out to take it on that includes Finn and Rose, and they all roll out in their little saltspeeders. They start taking losses, and Poe realizes that it’s not worth losing as many lives as are being lost. He orders the team to break off and retreat, but the weapon is already firing up. Finn decides to drive straight into the weapon and destroy it. At the last second, though, he’s interrupted by another speeder crashing into his own, which is revealed to be Rose. He asks her why, and she says something like “this is how we’ll save the galaxy. Love” and then kisses him.

Meanwhile, the First Order’s weapon fires, blasting a hole through the door. Poe is back inside having gone in through a trench with what’s left of his team. Everyone’s concerned, but eventually (I’m pretty sure it was Poe) notices that all the little crystal fox things that were in the base with them have run off, meaning that there is another way out of the base. Other stuff happens that isn’t super relevant to what I’m getting at, but it’s very close to the end of the movie, so both of these actions constitute those characters effectively reaching the ends of their arcs in this movie. The trouble I have is that Poe and Rose’s actions finish each other’s arcs, not their own.

So, let’s go into some detail in what those arcs are. (Again I’ve only seen the movie once, so I might not be 100% on this) Poe as a talented but reckless pilot who immediately puts himself in danger against orders to try and strike out against the First Order. The attack is successful, but at the avoidable cost of several lives. Leia admonishes him, and we as an audience are shown the unsustainability of Poe’s particular brand of heroism. His cavalier attitude is established as a character flaw, and the movie’s overall theme of hating enemies and loving friends not being the same thing is established in Poe as something he needs to learn.

Later, the First Order manages to chase them down and starts gradually bombarding their ships, which manage to stay just out of range of their fighters, but not enough to avoid having their shields and fuel whittled down. During the initial attack, Leia is hospitalized, so Vice Admiral Holdo, takes over command of the Resistance, and acts as a foil to Poe. She starts a plan that seems likely to fail given our (Poe’s, as he’s the viewpoint character for these parts of the movie) information of the scene, and criticizes him for things that he’s proud of, and things that have endeared him to us by this point in the franchise. 

Poe, disliking Holdo and the notion of retreating, enacts his own plan to again strike at the First Order, sending Finn and Rose off to find help, then enacts a mutiny. This mutiny is ultimately stopped by Leia herself, and it’s revealed that Holdo’s plan was more sound than we knew, since the Resistance has a secret, defensible base that they plan to retreat to with cloaked ships. The focus of the retreat was to keep the Resistance members alive; gradually jettisoning their ships, and leaving them in a position where fighting back would be challenging, but at the very least, staying alive. Shortly afterwards the First Order starts firing on the transport ships carrying the Resistance, and Holdo sacrifices herself and the Resistance cruiser to stop them. This has an impact on Poe, as he comes to understand that his desire to strike at the First Order was blinding him to the possibility of other options, and the consequences of that were even more, preventable deaths.

Poe’s arc is essentially about him learning that to resist oppression is about more than just striking at the oppressor, that you also have to protect and care about the people close to you. His attitude at the start of the movie results in several deaths, and builds to the failed mutiny that puts him in direct opposition to the rest of the Resistance. It’s only after the ships are decloaked and Holdo’s sacrifice that he comes to realize that his priorities are not in order.

Rose, for her part, loses her sister at the beginning of the movie to Poe’s carelessness. When we first see her, she’s awestruck upon meeting Finn, only to become immediately disillusioned at the fact that he seems to be deserting the Resistance. The very beginning of the story is spent, for her, coming to terms with the failings of the people she’s had held up to her as heroes. Not a huge amount of time is spent on this (much like Rose’s development in general), but she gets a chance to become a hero when Poe and Finn enlist her help to go on a mission to track down a codebreaker who can get them aboard Snoke’s dreadnought.

They go to the casino planet, which Finn is not familiar with, and Rose reveals her disgust for the arms dealers and slavers that finance the city. Though this is when the movie is at it’s prequeliest, we also get to see Rose’s compassion and concern for those who can’t help themselves, specifically the animals used for racing and the kids forced into work. She, with the help of Finn, taps into that heroism that she’s been idolizing in order to act on her compassion by rescuing the kids, and the trapped animals, setting them free and striking back at their oppressors.

Rose’s arc is about her empathy for the struggles of others, and having the capacity to act on that empathy in a decisive, heroic manner. In that sense, she is the heart of the story, embodying the compassion that is encouraged in every other character. However, (maybe because she’s (unjustifiably) considered a side character) I feel like Rose doesn’t get the same learning experience that Poe / Finn / Rey / Luke do. This may be because, in (hypothetically) exchanging her role with Poe’s during the scene I’m talking about, her character development was cut short.

Rose’s role in the scene, where she crashes into Finn’s speeder to save his life, then kisses him, is not out of character, necessarily. The issues I have aren’t enough to suggest she shouldn’t be there, and that’s not what I’m trying to do;

It’s odd to me that she’s only shown to be a mechanic before this point in the movie, and is taking part in a speeder-based attack run, but there’s no reason she can’t also be a pilot

She’s just sort of added into the scene with little lead-in, but again, the movie’s already really fuckin long, I can’t blame them for skipping a scene or two like that

The relationship that Finn and Rose have been building doesn’t seem to me like one that would already be at the kissing stage, considering that they’ve known each other for like, a day, and have been pretty busy in that time, but realistically you could say the same about Finn and Poe and I sure wouldn’t be complaining about them kissing

My issues with Poe’s role are similar. As much as he’s already had a chance to mature out of his recklessness, demonstrated by calling for a retreat when the speeder mission is taking heavy losses, for him to so quickly adopt the leadership role that Leia/Holdo have been filling seems abrupt, though by no means impossible. In both cases, it’s not that the way things play out makes no sense, it’s just that there’s a few inconsistencies and issues, it’s not quite as clean.

But, by way of an exercise, let’s take the two roles, leave them structurally exactly the same, and swap the two characters. The speeder strike plays out identically, but at the moment where we reveal who saved Finn, it’s Poe instead, and Rose retreats back to the base’s interior, ultimately saving the Resistance.

Poe’s arc now concludes in much the same way, with him acting on his new understanding of the necessity of love as a tool to fight oppression. However, instead of doing so with something that just isn’t unreasonable, he does so in a way that is completely true to his character; crashing his speeder into another in a reckless, last-second charge to save someone he loves. He demonstrates the restraint he’s learned just as much by ordering the retreat, but without diminishing the passion and fire that he’s known for. Having Poe tell Finn that ‘love is how we’ll save the galaxy’ holds more weight, as it’s now Poe stating the lesson that sums up his arc through the movie.

Then there’s the obvious fact that adding LGBT rep to Star Wars would be huge, especially when it’s two of the main characters. Being bold enough to have Finn and Poe kiss at the movie’s climax would be very much in line with the core message of inspiration and hope for people dealing with oppression. I don’t think the rest of the film necessarily supports their romance as a definite conclusion, but Finn and Poe have enough scenes together that I don’t think adding the groundwork for their romance would be difficult. I think a lot of gay people, myself included, would have been absolutely thrilled to see that happen.

I also think that having Rose as the character who leads the Resistance to safety after the base’s door is destroyed makes her character arc complete in a way that it wasn’t during The Last Jedi as it stands. Rose, as I’ve mentioned, embodies the compassion and concern for others that the movie promotes heavily, and it’s this compassion that leads the Resistance to safety; by noticing the lack of crystal fox things, which have far less of an ability to fight back and defend themselves from the First Order, the Resistance comes to realize that there might be another way out of the base after all. Who better to drive that realization than Rose? Her empathy for animals was already established on the casino planet, making it more in character than it was for Poe.

More importantly than it suiting her character, though, is the fact that it completes her arc, especially as it relates to the overall story. By having Rose use the compassion that she brings to the film in order to save the Resistance, she sends a clear message that’s currently missing from the film. Not only is compassion for the oppressed a necessary component in heroism, but that compassion in itself can be heroic. Rose has the opportunity to realize that the characteristics of the people she idolizes (Finn, Poe, et al.) aren’t the only characteristics that are worthy of respect, and that she already embodies the qualities necessary to be a hero. 

In the movie as it is currently, she doesn’t really get that opportunity. I feel like having her as the character that saves Finn does nothing for her, since her concern for the safety and well-being of others, Finn included, is already well-established by this point in the movie. It doesn’t demonstrate that her character has learned anything, or conclude her arc in a satisfying manner. Having her as Finn’s savior seems to mostly be for Finn’s sake, and for this scene to be the last we see of her in the movie seems like a less than ideal usage of the character. If she’s put in Poe’s place in the scene, though, she gets to grow and learn just as much as with the rest of the cast.

The reason I phrase this as a theory about the two characters having been swapped during writing/filming is that it seems extremely unlikely, to me, that a movie that is otherwise very good at ensuring its characters grow and change would falter with just two of the principal cast in this way, at the same point in the movie, especially in a manner that coincidentally would have the two characters doing things that would complete each other’s character arc. I think it’s much more plausible that Finn and Rose were swapped at some point, and even though people are starting to catch on to what I’ve said about Rose being put in a role better suited to Poe, I don’t think people are talking about the flipside of that enough. Which is a shame, because Kelly Marie Tran’s performance is fantastic - I think her character is a big part of the movie’s themes and morality, and I’d love to see more of her.

Though this is even more speculative, if I had to give a reason for why this hypothetical swap would have taken place, I would definitely say it’s due to the fact that it would be a gay onscreen kiss between two leads in a Star Wars movie. I think Rian Johnson has been receptive to - if cagey about - the notion of Finn and Poe being romantically involved. For there to be a situation where Rose and Poe were swapped, the scene would have had to be written with Finn and Poe kissing in the first place, and I think that’s something Johnson, as the sole credited writer for The Last Jedi, could conceivably write. I would then suggest that, if that’s the case, then either Johnson changed his mind / someone involved in production at Disney or LucasFilm vetoed it, too late in production for the rewrite to address the structural issues introduced by swapping the characters around, leading to the structure of the film as it is now.

I’m not much of the shipping type, and aside from obviously being hugely in favor of more LGBT content in mainstream cinema, I feel like in terms of the movie, both in itself and with The Force Awakens as context, Finn’s relationships to both Rose and Poe have, at the very least the same potential for romance. I’m not sure why Rose would get precedence over Poe, especially since it doesn’t serve the story or the development of any of the characters involved.

To add to all this, the structure of the scene makes the crash and what follows a brief moment of tension and mystery, making us unsure of who’s saved Finn. This is obviously impossible without acknowledging the possibility that it could be Poe, and I’m not sure how someone could acknowledge that, then fail to come to the conclusion that Poe would be the better choice, without an objection that wasn’t based on the story. It doesn’t affect things much either way, but the main quote from Rian Johnson on the topic of Finn and Poe being romantically involved is “In The Last Jedi, no, there wasn’t an opportunity for [LGBT+ representation]…” (from this Mashable article.) This doesn’t make a lot of sense, since it seems like there was an opportunity to have Finn and Rose be romantically involved in a scene that is specifically structured to acknowledge Finn and Poe’s romance as a possibility.

Ultimately I don’t have any distinct proof that this is what happened either way, and I think if we were to find out that the swap I’ve described happened that Disney/whoever is responsible would catch a lot of flak for it. I think it’s a shame that we came so close to having major LGBT representation in a series as iconic as Star Wars, only to have a well-developed platonic relationship awkwardly shunted into a romantic one in a way that just kinda falls flat right at the climax of the movie. The movie’s great, and Rose is a lovely character, but I think she deserves better than being denied the conclusion of her character arc for the sake of what seems to most likely be making sure homophobes are comfortable, just because she happened to be the nearest woman at the time. Maybe Rian Johnson can come through for us with a Director’s Cut that fixes this, or something

TL;DR - In the battle on the salt planet, Poe should’ve been the one who saved Finn, because his character arc was about learning that love is just as important as hating the oppressed (the line literally delivered by Rose), and Rose should’ve been the one who used her compassion for the defenseless to save the Resistance while realizing the power and importance of that compassion, and herself. It seems like the movie was originally written this way, because I don’t think it’s likely that both characters perfectly completing each others’ character arc is an accident. The most obvious motivation for doing so would be to not have gay romance in the movie.

[daisyachain]

me 1: so. Rose Tico

me 2: a character with an unglamorous, unflashy job who finally gets recognized as the backbone of the resistance. people who fix problems, keep the ranks in order, and stay alive

me 3: her scenes with the creatures and the stable kids were adorable. the bit with the ring was my favourite

me 2: some of her dialogue was a bit clunky

me 3: cool to see that finn’s famous, but what was with that kiss at the end?

me 4: speaking of which, it’s kind of unsatisfying to see how everything progressed this movie. in tfa the key dynamics were between finn-rey and finn-poe, with an option on the OT trio, han-kylo, leia-poe, leia-rey; in tlj, it’s rey-luke, rey-kylo, poe-holdo, and finn-rose with poe-leia being the only one that carries over between the two movies. I mean, kudos for having new characters and new relationships, but there’s such a stark cutoff that even finn and poe - who have some interaction - feel like they’ve been imported from a different movie from tfa. with the exception of poe-leia, we don’t build on the relationships established in tfa - we switch gears and start from zero again

me 1: gimme a moment

me 3: speaking of which, you heard the rumour that poe originally went along on the mission with finn? wouldn’t that have been cool

me 2: yeah, but rose is such an important character to have exist in a series with no other prominent non-white women, so regardless of how it came about I’m glad she exists. Not to mention her plotline was still enjoyable, and she had great moments (the ring, saving finn, the speech about saving). Also, finn and poe could have had plenty more intense interaction with their plotline - it’s not that the plot pushed them apart, it’s that the people writing it weren’t interested enough in building and changing their relationship through

me 1: but what was up with that kiss, anyway?

me 3: dunno. kinda felt like they wanted to joss finn/rey to make room for more rey/kylo. pair the spares, kind of thing

me 2: I don’t know. It wasn’t one of those big gum-chewing ~romance~ kisses, so maybe it was more to show how much people care about finn? Because they do

me 3: yep on the latter bit

me 1: agreed. So finn-rey and finn-poe kind of got shafted in favour of finn-rose, but rose is cute and an important character, so we’re glad we had her

me 3: finn-poe kiss would have been better

mes 1 and 2, in unison: like that would ever happen in a disney production, dumbass

[jadeile-writes]

Fanfic Progress Update 90

Hello, dear readers~ It’s Saturday again, so time to see how little I’ve managed to accomplish this week! Stay tuned for a spoilery glimpse into the next chapter of Adventure Gone Mini at the end of the post.

Current WIPs:

Adventure gone Mini

Fandom: Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild / The Minish Cap

Summary: Sidon is given his very own Sheikah Slate, the first replica Purah has managed to make, and sets out to travel with Link with the intention of registering warp points for convenient travel in the future. However, when a malfunction shrinks them down to the size of bugs, and they meet little people called the Minish, they have to change their plans from “fun adventuring” to “getting out of this mess”. Not that those two have to exclude one another. Link/Sidon.

Progress: Chapter 45 is the current latest chapter and was posted on 11th of November. Chapter 46 has been started, and the scheduled posting date is 2nd of December.

I post a new chapter every three weeks on Wednesdays, except when I don’t manage to. These updates always include a sneak-peek for the next chapter, slowly getting longer over the three weeks waiting period.

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Experiment in Romance

Fandom: Hazbin Hotel

Summary (temporary): Husk’s afterlife takes an odd turn when a drunk Alastor knocks on his door and has no intention of going to his own room for the night. It only gets weirder from there, leaving Husk with a most unexpected arrangement with the Radio Demon. Either it’ll be the best decision in his afterlife, or he’s simply out to break his own damn heart dealing with the fickle asshole. Radiohusk.

Progress: Chapter 1 is ready. Chapter 2 is still about ¾ths done. No progress this week. I’m considering NaNoWriMo-ing this sucker to give myself some pressure to get this done sometime (tho with the goal of just writing like a maniac, no particular word count in mind). So far, I’m failing like a champ!

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Hah! Our afterlife is the most hilarious bushwa, dearest

Fandom: Hazbin Hotel

Summary: This is not a stand-alone story! This is a oneshot/drabble collection in the universe as “Shit, the Radio Demon is a part of my afterlife”. Read the main story before bothering with this one.

I decided to give my readers a chance to throw Radiohusk prompts at me, and had the Afterlife-verse as an option to set the stories in. Everyone liked that, so this fic is now a thing. Enjoy the extra mischief from these two dorks!

Progress: Chapter 26 is the current latest chapter and was posted on 28th of August. Good news! Chapter 27 has been started! Bad news... I’ve written literally just one paragraph. But um... at least I have a solid idea and the doc is not empty now, so yay, progress!

I have 12 prompts left.

This fic receives a new chapter every Friday, except when it doesn’t.

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Other WIPs I’m not currently working on but intend to get back to someday:

PoE Drabbles (Pillars of Eternity)

DC Drabbles (Justice League)

Diaphanous Relations (Forgotten Realms, R.A. Salvatore’s books)

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That’s it for the WIPs! Here’s the promised sneak-peek into Adventure gone Mini (Note: the text may end up slightly different in the fic itself due to more editing happening before publishing). Enjoy!

Mini

Link paid approximately zero attention to the rest of the pictures on the walls, making a beeline to the treasure chests resting in the midpoint of the platform, which seemed to circle right back to the beginning along the opposite wall. At least that meant their choice of which stairs to take had been more or less irrelevant and they could just complete the circle and go back down instead of going back to the beginning and climbing up another set of stairs. Less exciting, but better time-wise.

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That’s it this time. See you next Saturday!

Links:

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