#the contradictory details and dates and things

[monayen]

Hope ur having a good day/night ^-^ would love to see Nyon dating head cannons, you wrote him so sweet in ur last fic!! I feel like he’d lowkey be a yandere

Dating headcannons | Nyon

➷ paring - Nyon x Gn!Reader [Randal's Friends / Ranfren]

➷cws - hes ur weed smoking girlfriend, kinda creepy behavior, pillow humping, oral

a/n - if you have been apart of the monayen nation for a while now then you know how long ive been putting this off. sorry again my dear love nyon, you do not deserve this,, okay enough roleplay but seriously sorry for the wait on this. sebastian is next for dating hcs

Incredibly reserved at first, you’d almost think he didn't really like you

Wouldn't hold your hand or look at you for longer than a couple seconds before turning beat red and walking away

He’s so used to being beneath someone in the pecking order that he kind of just… defaults to letting you take the lead. Probably functions best that way.

Expect to be the one to initiate most romantic things at first

Despite that, he doesn't like to take things slow. A bit contradictory… but he’ll genuinely get his feelings hurt if you give him too much space

So make him hold your hand and spend time with you. It's for the best

Does get more comfortable with time. Luther likes to say you cracked his shell :-)

You’re one of the only people he can fully relax around. You're able to bring him a kind of peace he never really knew he could have

He doesn’t outwardly seek affection, but he soaks it up when you give it. If you play with his hair, rub his back, or just hold onto him, he’ll turn into puddy in your hands. If you stop, he’ll look at you with the absolute saddest eyes until you continue

Listener boyfriend! Listener boyfriend! Could sit for hoursss and just listen to you

You might think that he isn’t, since he isn't the best for input, but he really is. He's shocked you with remembering little details that you’ve mentioned in passing ages ago

Even if you aren't a big talker, he’ll still listen. Nyon likes to lay his head on chest and listen to your breathing, your heartbeat, your inner workings

You're his favorite person (besides Master), so his entire existence centers around you in a way that’s both endearing and a little obsessively creepy

Not in a dangerous way — Nyon wouldn’t dream of hurting you, but in a way where you can tell that you mean everything and too much to him

Again, not very good at saying it outright, but it’s in the way he lingers near you, the way his long fingers wrap around your wrists, and the way he's constantly is staring at you every time you're around

You might wake up in the middle of the night to find him just sitting there, watching you sleep, completely silent

You’ve caught him doing this multiple times, even if you both fell asleep together. He’ll wake up way earlier than you just to see the way you stir and breathe.

More than willing to give up space in his (and Nyen’s) room just to have you around. The space is cramped, the air always smells faintly like smoke and vinegar but Nyon helps you get comfortable

The mattress is a tight fit for two people — three, if Nyen decides to come sit at the edge and wordlessly intimidate

But Nyon doesn’t mind, he wants to be cramped if it means being close to you. Legs tangled together, his face buried in your shoulder, breathing in your scent

HUGE pillow humper too 

Full on biting the sheets and rolling his hips, eyes shut tight as he fucks into the soft cotton, pretending it’s your skin he’s dragging himself against. Bonus points if it smells like you 

The kind of guy who would 100% steal your hairbrush and run his tongue along the bristles. Or hide away a neatly folded tissue you once used. He can get off to almost anything, as long as it reminds him of you

Nyon used to get painfully embarrassed whenever things got even remotely romantic in front of Nyen

One time, you kissed his cheek and Nyen muttered something mean under his breath. Nyon went scarlet, pulling back to stand in a corner as if he did something wrong

He cares less now because Luther has expressed that likes the relationship, and Nyen won't do anything to go against that. Nyon also finds a tiny bit of smug joy in having a partner to show off, not that he’d ever admit it.

Not very good at planning dates

The first few times he does try to take you out, it doesn’t even feel like one. He’ll invite you to go “look at this spot on the wall” or ask if you “want to come with him to the pharmacy.” 

Content enough to just be close to you, even if it's just sitting on a bench outside the gas station

If they do get planned properly, the movies are enjoyable! Would prefer to watch them at home with you, but doesn't mind to splurge on overpriced tickets and too-buttery popcorn for you 

He also likes to go on walks with you. His favorites are the cemetery and a hidden path behind the Ivory house. Likes the quietness of them, and not to be edgy… but a corpse or two around means spirits get to witness the absolute romance that is him staring at the ground while you hold his hand

Would prefer a partner who smokes weed since he's a frequent user. Absolutely willing to share his stash and waste hours laying about high with you

It's alright if you don't but you definitely have to be okay with him doing it. Might try to convince you to smoke every so often, but isn't super annoying about it 

50/50 chance of his behavior when he's stoned. Either somehow more nonverbal or a lot more open. Maybe it depends on the strain? Who knows

The latter is more likely if you both are high, and more open leads to more horny. He can get surprisingly a bit witty and daring when he's under the influence

Nyon’s voice gets a bit lower and smoother, his red, lidded eyes have their pupils blown out, and you can make out the ghost of a smile when he curls up closer to you, erection pressed against your side

Absolute fucking MUNCH. Doesn't even have to be high (as we all know) for him to get down between your legs. You might have to tear him away once he gets going

Who knew someone so quiet could whimper and whine so much?

His face gets so red and sweaty that you worry he might pass out, but don't worry, this guy can last a longgg time. At his absolute loudest when he's balls deep in you ;-)

The kind to bury his face in your shoulder, hips stuttering, breath hot against your skin as he whispers “please” over and over like a prayer

And again, while he would prefer a more dominant partner to take the lead, he doesn’t have much of an issue if you guys were more equal in the sense. Just probably doesn't have the heart to be demanding and controlling over anyone, let alone someone he loves

Tech savvy, so he’s managed to fill the family computer’s storage with things about you

Saved bookmarks about things you like, pirates of your favorite movies, an album filled with pictures of you, even had you pick out the screen saver 

Unintentionally romantic with things like that, maybe he doesn't realize when he's being off putting or creepy… but he's always thinking about you, and that's pretty sweet <3

[hwnglx]

dating enhypen hyung line pro's & con's

based on tarot. i don't know these idols personally. energies are always changing. everything i state is for entertainment purposes only, alleged and NOT straight fact. pls take it with a grain of salt!

heeseung

pro's

will make you the brightest star of his life -> i can just see his life circling around pleasing you

your existence will just matter to you a lot

he's an extremely perfectionistic guy so he'll rarely feel satisfied and therefore put consistent effort into making sure he's being the best boyfriend he can be for you

he literally wouldn't live up to his own expectations towards himself and disappoint himself if he found himself being unfaithful or doing you wrong

wants to make his partners feel secure when they're with him, like he's their comfort person and safe space

sees his lovers as someone he can learn from -> wants to grow, improve and transform into his best self through dating his partners, as well as also become a source of support and help for them himself

almost like bonding through their wounds, perhaps even sharing similar past experiences so they can offer a sense of mending and healing to each other

i really don't see much of an ego here, in fact he's almost too overly modest and humble

heeseung is the type of boyfriend will dim his own light if it means you will shine, honestly

i thought of a line from stray kids' song “i am you” where changbin says “i can become darkness if it means you will become brighter” (fun fact they're both virgo venus')

has a very calming and soothing type of energy and presence in his romantic relationships

i just keep seeing him sit there with his soft gaze strictly focused on his partner's eyes all the time, gently stroking their hand and quietly humming “mhm”s while attentively listening to them talk and take in every word

very interested and curious in getting to know his partners in a detailed and thorough manner

will probably remember most things about you too, even the more trivial and simple things like.. the perfume you wore on the day you met, just things you probably wouldn't expect for him to remember

con's

his perfectionism, unrealistic standards and amplified romanticism can easily set himself up for disappointment, not only towards himself but also in regards to his lovers and his relationships

he tends to have this idealized view of love and approach his romantic connections with such high expectations that things not living up to that (which often is inevitable since relationships can't be perfect all the time) can quickly dishearten him

i also see him being contradictory in a way where he does want to grow and learn through the connection but at the same time, he can struggle with criticism and negativity

might not want to hear out your advice at times because to heeseung, it can feel like you rubbing his mistakes into his face, which he doesn't enjoy and can get afraid of

he's just really worried about messing things up

can get obsessive and overly invested in the relationship

i just see him being this lover who can suffocate his partners to a degree because he's so eager to make sure they're content and please them all the time

he reminds me of this guy i dated who had similar placements and he kept being so immensely alert and attentive to all my needs that it just felt.. overly smothering at some point (i know some people might like this though, depends on your character)

no lie, heeseung's and jungkook's energies are strikingly similar in a few ways. the idealization of romance, overthinking, immensely high standards causing quicker disappointment, issues with handling criticism due to their perfectionistic tendencies. they could relate on some levels.

heeseung seems like a good guy; i truly see his energy as one of the best in enhypen. though this could be subjective. his intentions read as pure, and coming from a selfless place.

jay

pro's

has this pleasant energy to him where being with jay feels very comfortable, cozy, warm and relaxing

a boyfriend who loves spending the more quiet and intimate times together with his partner

will love displaying this source of calm and rest for them

i see him really enjoying to cuddle under the sheets, in front of the fireplace, with lit candles, wine, soothing music, softly holding you in his arm

a very sensual and indulgent lover too, he just loves making his partners feel good in every sense of the word and wants to heighten their enjoyment

physical touch & quality time are his likely love languages

quite good at figuring out your personal boundaries and remaining respectful and mindful of not crossing them

he's the type to hold himself back in the beginning stages and stay polite but once he's got a good understanding of how deep he can push your buttons, he'll love to initiate some playful debates and arguments

dating jay can feel like you're dating your best friend

he brings a lot of happiness and laughter into the lives of his significant others

a lot of playful bickering and fun times

i just saw this scene of him strolling through the furniture store with his lover and them fighting over which colour plates they should buy for their new house lmao

another insight i constantly get for him without fail; this man genuinely loves the idea of marriage

though i don't see him being ready for it at all at this point in time, jay does enjoy the thought of a more traditional relationship and domestic life

extremely protective over his lover and their relationship

will always defend you and your name fiercely

or e.g. protectively get you to walk on the other side of him, if there's a busy road next to you

quite territorial too, jay wants his lovers to himself and is ready to fight and glare off anyone trying to access them

just heard “nothing's gonna hurt you baby, as long as you'll be with me, you'll be just fine” (song by cas)

con's

mainly focused on himself; including his own dreams, desires and wishes, especially in terms of his career, his work and his money -> i don't see him having much room for anyone else right now

might feel like letting another person into his life in a more serious and committed manner could cause an unwanted interference rather than an enrichment

i truly don't see him enjoying the thought of compromosing or being restricted by anyone right now

tbh, the energy is pretty selfish, and more surface-level here.. i currently don't see jay getting into relationships for true love, but moreso for what they can do for him

and also for what the relationship looks like; on the outside, as well as on paper

very practically minded in that sense, i am not getting an actual emotional attachment to his partners for him

definitely has his workaholic tendencies; might put himself and his career above the relationship with his significant others if he doesn't see the two aligning well

i also see jay easily getting caught up in materialism and putting too much value on superficial things like money, possessions, status, etc.

he can get a little stingy if he feels unappreciated, or the connection is too onesided (like he's constantly the one buying the gifts, preparing everything and his partner doesn't bother to do their part)

immensely stubborn and “my way or the highway”

can be quite rigid and inflexible, as well as reluctant to give in, or adapt and adjust himself to anyone

tbh, the energy was interestingly different compared to what i got from him before. though obviously, people and their preferences, habits, etc. change all the time through various experiences. which is the case especially for enhypen, since they're so young and still in the midst of maturing and developing. this non-committal “i'll do whatever i want” energy strikes me as more of a stage or phase for jay as of right now. might change within a few months, who knows.

jake

pro's

immensely flirty, romantic and charming boyfriend

naturally brings a lot of butterflies and excitement into the lives of his partners in that way

i just see him being a hugely smooth talker, making his partners blush by flattering them all the time

almost in this love-bombing way, where some people might (playfully) tell him to shut up at some point while blushing embarrassedly and he'd love that sight

comes alive in romance; loves everything it entails

being in a harmonious relationship is something he desires a lot, so there's this grateful and proud feeling of “you're literally making my dreams come true”

would maybe even tell you you're his dream

emphasis on him being immensely sweet and loving with his words, there's definitely a poetic side to him too

will not only find his home in you, but become your home (offer you a sense of warmth, familiarity and belonging)

very calming and soothing listener

everytime i read for him, spirit tells me there's something about his voice and the way he looks at you, that just has the potential to calm you down immensely

jake is someone who can go through a lot of inner turmoil himself, so he can often find himself wanting to comfort the people he's close to, especially his lovers

a lover who's very.. “don't keep it all in, talk to me, i will listen, and i will try my best to help”

he just genuinely wants to make you feel cared about

also very witty and funny though, i see him provoking and poking his lovers a lot just to get a reaction out of them

a lot of sarcasm mixed into his teasing and humor in a way that just riles you up; jake will love seeing you annoyed and find it very amusing

i do see him trying to make it up to his partners too though, like giving them a kiss and apologizing (he's a very playful push and pull type of boyfriend)

con's

likely to not be very reliable, he can often be more talk than action, and not always stick to what he preaches

can be very moody, unpredictable and overly sensitive

does want a relationship that goes deeper (i can sense jake literally craving it since he can feel empty very often) but can opt to run away as soon as he feels like it does, especially because the intimacy can scare him off

vulnerability can make him uncomfortable -> to jake, it can feel like someone has insight into his true soul and sees him for everything that he is, including the flaws and blemishes he himself deems as unlovable

easily sees his wounds, pain and insecurities as something people would judge him for, which is why he rarely allows people in that closely

just.. really desires validation, a stroke of his ego and admiration and can quickly be under the impression that his more “raw” self isn't worthy of that

i heard the lana del rey song “will you still love me, when i'm no longer young and beautiful? will you still love me, when i got nothing but my aching soul?” (again.. wow, i remember getting it for my ideal type reading too)

i see jake's insecurities and unstable self-esteem making him a person who feels offended and hurt more quickly, which can lead to him becoming sharp, offensive and cutting with his words as a defence mechanism

i heard “hurt people hurt people”

can easily feel mistrustful which can lead to forceful and controlling behavior -> can experience issues allowing you your freedom out of fear of you moving on

jake kept giving me this feeling of “i want to find a person who can make me feel like i'm at home” i just kept hearing the word “home” continuously.

random note, i also thought of australia and his mother a lot, she comes up in almost every reading for him

for the pro's, the knight of cups fell out together with the four of wands, and the way it fell gave me the image of jake (knight of cups -> scorpio sun) seeking for this feeling of belonging and arriving home (four of wands) like he finally found the person who gives him the warmth he's searching for.

two of the following cards were the star and the nine of cups which gave me.. “thank you for making my hopes and wishes become reality, thank you for staying with me.” the reading was quite moving, tbh. i didn't expect that.

apparently, he is a scorpio stellium with an aries moon in the eight house, so.. phew. yeah. makes sense. jake is a bunch of intensity and emotions wrapped into one human, literally. he feels and senses everything three times as deeply as others.

his sun does fall into his fourth house too though, which explains how closely he ties himself to his family, and the meaning of home. he really craves a safe space.

sunghoon

pro's

trustworthy, committed and loyal boyfriend (probably number one in enhypen right now) -> he just won't find much interest in other people once he's with his lover

sunghoon is picky anyway, so once he's with someone, he firmly stands behind his decision and won't be the type to just allow his impulses to ruin anything

an insight i get again and again; he likes the idea of a connection that blossoms slowly but substantially

isn't the type to rush or jump from lover to lover but moreso approaches his relationships in a mindful manner

will spend a good amount of time getting to know you thoroughly, i see him studying people quite carefully

if he decides to date you, it's because he sees you as the person for him -> not the type to put on a show or play deceitful games with his partners, he's a serious lover

puts genuine effort into making sure the relationship is based on a stable foundation of trust (very important factor for him!) and mutual feelings

meaning, he'll make sure you know you can trust him but also find ways to truly figure out whether he can trust you

the type of boyfriend who wants to grow together with his partner, go through various different cycles together and continuously deepen the connection as time goes on

i do see sunghoon believing in fate and destiny, he can be quite intuitive in that sense

i heard “tell me all your secrets” and “tell me something you've never told anyone else”

sunghoon will want to be the one special person who's allowed to know you in and out, better than anyone else

wants to enjoy this subconscious, profound and unique connection with you in that way, like no one understands you the way he does and vice versa

i especially see him wanting to be the one to know about e.g. your struggles, you might not tell everyone about

like he's your person, the one you'd trust with your life

keeps the relationship very private

i just see being in a relationship with sunghoon as this experience where, being with him can feel like you're the only two people on the world; it's very intimate

he will quite literally be tunnel-visioned on you whenever you're together and naturally make you focus on him too

though i do see him enjoying experiencing different things together with his lover, this silent but powerful connection and communication is likely to still be present, even when you're amongst a crowd

like this.. one moment of eye contact between the two of you, can already tell the other person what they're thinking and feeling, type of dynamic

con's

can have the habit of naturally holding himself back a lot and therefore store a lot of his worries inside

this man can overthink and overanalyze much more than you'd think, but many of his partners might not even figure that out since he's very good at disguising it

i keep feeling so chilly inside while reading for sunghoon, it's almost like.. once he gets to this place of overwhelming and inner stress, he often turns cold

tends to rationalize his more “negative” emotions since they can get confusing and too much for him otherwise

but he also doesn't enjoy confronting his lovers with them at all, out of fear of causing disharmony, or laying himself bare in this vulnerable or “weak” state

genuinely doesn't want to burden people, especially his significant others, with his own inner conflicts but can also have issues processing and finding healthy outlets

so he's likely to, either distract himself by focusing on his own desires and endeavors away from his significant others (like his career and work), or generally withdraw and isolate himself from them in order to somehow cope

i also see him potentially struggling to empathize and understand other people's standpoints at times

sunghoon does tend to look back at himself and reflect on his own behavior a lot, so he can get caught up in this feeling of “no but i did everything right, everything is fine, i don't understand why you'd be this way”

it's this frustration of sincerely wanting to understand you, but just not always being able to, which can result in him turning distant, stiff and detached emotionally

i also see some potential judgemental and overly picky tendencies in terms of superficial things, like appearance

maknae line coming very soon! stay tuned <3

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Hey there!

I have something I haven't worked on in almost a year and I hadn't written the chapters in order. As a result, I'm left with plot holes.

Do you have any tips on getting back to work after a long time and how to deal with plot holes?

Love your work, by the way :)

Writing Notes: Plot Holes

Plot Holes - inconsistencies or gaps in the storyline or character development.

They are formed when a narrative stops following its own logic.

Viewers and readers only have the details you’ve provided to immerse themselves in a believable world.

If you present a narrative without thinking through the implications of each plot point, you may create an unsatisfying and incomplete story, which can lose your audience quickly.

Types of Plot Holes

Plot holes betray your audience’s trust and can lower the quality of literature, film, or television shows. Examples of plot holes include:

Factual errors: Factual errors—like incorrect dates or wrong information—can lose your audience (especially in historical fiction). For example, if you’re writing a romance set during the Civil War and your hero escapes in a jet, that would be a factual error that would create a logical plothole for the audience.

Impossible events: Any occurrence that defies laws of physics or science is an impossible event—like a character who becomes a professional dancer overnight to win a big competition, or a person who can hold their breath underwater for 20 minutes to escape a monster. Impossible events remind audiences of real life logic, which can distract and remove them from the story. Of course, as the author, you can build a world where impossible things do occur and seem logical.

Illogical plot developments: Events that upset the flow of logic can create huge plot holes. If you’ve built a world without magic, a character cannot suddenly be capable of magic to get themselves out of a jam. An all-powerful bad guy bent on world destruction won’t suddenly have a change of heart or point of view for no apparent reason. Audiences want the narrative you’re weaving to track with the details you’ve provided. They want to know that they are emotionally investing in a story that is going to make sense and pay off.

Contradictions: Introducing a rule and then breaking it for convenience later on is an example of a contradictory plot problem and produces inconsistencies within your writing. For example, if you establish in the beginning of a book that characters cannot come back from the dead, but then you suddenly have a deceased character return for story purposes, that creates a big plot hole. Contradicting your own rules destabilizes your narrative, depriving audiences of the grounded sense of information that they need to immerse themselves fully.

Unresolved storylines: Even your subplots should have their own story arcs—too many loose ends can make a story feel incomplete. Leaving loose ends can also lower the stakes of your story, since there are no real consequences to anything that happens outside the main plot. For example, a character who is introduced with a storyline that conveniently influences the plot or protagonist but is forgotten about later would be an unresolved storyline.

Tips for Fixing Plot Holes

When you reach the end of the film or book you’re writing and suddenly discover major plot holes, it can take a lot of hard work to write yourself out of a jam. One of the easiest ways to fix plot holes you come across is to identify potential ones early on in your writing process (like during the outline or first draft) and prevent them from occurring in the first place.

However, it can be nearly impossible to anticipate every avenue for your narrative, and sometimes your story needs tweaking. Your job as a writer is to do as much as you can in order to tell the most complete, understandable story for your audience.

Here are some tips for doing just that:

Think things through. Spend time worldbuilding in order to give your story structure and somewhere real to live. Establish the rules and boundaries of your imaginary world and how everything exists within it. Figure out the power dynamics, setting, backstory of your narrative. Think about how you want your story to develop, the cause and effect of each plot point, and where you want your main character arcs to go. Keep track of those details as you write to keep your world consistent.

Research your topic. If you’re writing a book about a hospital, you should be aware of all the common medical terms and how to use them. If you’re writing a movie about airplane pilots, you should know everything you can about being and becoming one. Common advice is to “write what you know,” but you can expand on what you know by doing the proper research. Research from reputable sources is the best way to avoid factual errors and can save you the headache of having to rewrite with new or different information later.

Provide setup. By establishing certain guidelines for your universe, you, in turn, establish them for yourself as a writer. When an easy solution to an impossible problem comes out of nowhere, it’s considered an example of “deus ex machina,” and is generally frowned upon by critics and audiences. Provide proper setup of your world by describing earlier events and characters—enough information to foreshadow an occurrence later (so that it doesn’t seem unwarranted) but not so much you drown your readers or viewers in exposition.

Pay off the information you set up. As the creator, you must find the balance between giving your audience too much information and giving them little enough so they’re intrigued for more. You’re also responsible for making your readers or viewers understand why certain elements of a story are important. This is one of the purposes of the Chekhov’s gun plot device: If you’ve written a scene where a particular element or object is introduced at the beginning, that element or object needs to be used by the end of the story. Otherwise, your readers may feel like they’ve wasted their time or like the writer forgot about their own details. Introduce things and provide enough information so that it pays off in a satisfying way by the end of your story.

Take a break. If you find yourself drowning in illogical plot points, walk away from your writing. Sometimes, an author can be too close to their writing project in order to see it objectively. Revisiting your writing later with fresh eyes may offer you a different perspective or new strategy that could possibly help solve any issues you’ve come across.

How to Get Back Into Writing

When you first return to writing after a long hiatus, you should have a plan for building up your writing practice and getting creative juices flowing the way they once did. Here are some tips to get you back to the craft you love:

Read a lot. Nothing can jumpstart a return to writing quite like some inspiration. It doesn’t matter what you choose to read, but you may find more relatable inspiration in contemporary authors like Stephen King and Dan Brown than in classics from a past era.

Make a schedule to establish writing habits. Any published author will tell you that the secret to becoming a better writer is getting into a routine. In order to establish a writing groove, most authors write at the same time every day. Some aim for a specific word count or page count, while others simply write for a fixed amount of time. If you have a day job to balance, you can schedule your own writing session at any time of day. The key is to keep writing at the same time over a prolonged period.

Assign yourself creative writing exercises. If you want to build up your writing muscle after a long time away, you simply need practice. Creative writing prompts can be a great way to kickstart a writing practice.

Start a journal or digital document for story ideas. Nothing derails a return to writing quite like writer’s block. But you can stave this off by keeping a running list of novel, short story, and even nonfiction book ideas. The process will depend on how you work best. Maybe you prefer to jot down broad ideas, or perhaps you’re the type to sketch out ideas in great detail before you start the actual writing process. Either is fine; the main goal is to not find yourself staring at a blank page and unable to think of an idea.

Get ideas from real life. Your actual life is full of sources for writing projects. Base your main character on a family member or your best friend and use their real-life changes to guide your story’s character development. Use details about your hometown to build the world of your fictional story. Or, if you don’t want to invoke any person or place that’s too connected to you personally, take it upon yourself to do some people watching. Sit in cafes or libraries and see who comes in. You never know who might provide you with that spark of inspiration.

Comb through old writing projects. Revisit the works of your younger self and see if there’s an old work-in-progress that might be worth revisiting. Perhaps fresh eyes will give you a thousand ideas as to how to develop what’s currently on the page, or perhaps you’ll remember why you abandoned the project in the first place and turn your attention to a new book project instead.

Get ideas in unorthodox ways. If you’re still short on ideas, try random idea generation to get yourself going. For instance, pick up a great book you admire and start the first draft of your novel with the same first word. Or start your draft with a totally random word and then write a first line that puts that word in context. Try freewriting without an outline—but perhaps only as an exercise since it’s really hard to freewrite an entire book without meandering. Don’t be too precious about the story you make up. If it’s your first time back in several years, no one is expecting you to write a Pulitzer Prize winner.

Brush up your creative work as a content writer. Content writing tends to fall into two categories: marketing (particularly branding-based writing for the Internet) and technical writing that explains how to do something. Compared to fiction writing, there are a lot more paid jobs for content writers. If you can get one of these jobs, you can brush up on the mechanics of your writing—from grammar to syntax to clear explanations—and later apply that to your creative work. You can also rebuild your writing skills by blogging or just keeping a private diary.

Write for writing’s sake. The sobering reality is that most story ideas will not be published, much less end up on a bestseller list. So rather than invest a lot of time triangulating your writing for commercial appeal, be true to yourself. Write about what excites you, give it a strong point of view, and invest in the art of writing fiction for no other reason than that you love it.

Sources: 1 2 ⚜ More: Notes & References ⚜ Writing Resources PDFs

Plot Holes & Other Structural Issues

Structural Edit ⚜ Book Editing Checklist

Thanks so much for your kind words! Glad to hear you're getting back into writing. Hope these notes and tips help :)

[irkimatsu]

3k, longest thing I've written in a long time! This is in a weird place where it's not specifically stated to be Husk, but it's also not not about Husk. It's about an older bartender who lives above the bar he works for, at any rate. A regular client keeps complaining to him about shitty dates, she hits on him until he agrees to show her how a real man does it, hot sex ensues. This is written strictly as dialogue from Husk the male partner, inspired by a NSFW audio Reddit I listen to stuff from sometimes. I kinda wanna post it there, see if anyone wants to read it? But it'd feel weird if someone who sounds nothing like Husk took it, but it feels even weirder to admit that this was written in Husk's voice...

Also if someone who sounds too much like Husk took it and I listened to it I might explode. There's also that.

I may edit it in either direction - either make it even less clear who the inspiration is, even add contradictory details just so I can say ha haha no this isn't about cartoons of course not, or just say fuck it and add details to clarify that yes, I want to fuck the furry bartender from Hazbin Hotel.

Oral both ways, then sex in doggystyle. Listener has breasts and a vagina and is referred to with female pronouns and words like "woman" and "girl". Husk is pervy but affectionate. A bit of emphasis on the age/experience gap - listener is legal but still young enough to be the speaker's daughter, and he admits to finding the gap kind of fucking hot. "Daddy" gets used. 18+!

...oh! Hey! Didn’t think you’d be dropping by tonight.

(laughs) Of course I’m always happy to see ya. Can I make your usual?

Extra strong, huh? All right.

(mixes and pours drink, sets it on the bar top)

Didn’t you have a date tonight? Guess it didn’t go so well if you’re drinking like this. Did you wanna talk about it?

…mmm-hmm… (disbelieving) …really? Right there in the fucking parking lot? Did he at least buy you dinner first?

…Jesus Christ, he couldn’t even be patient enough to eat before demanding blowjobs off you? Where do you find these assholes?

(reassuring) Hey, hey, I’m not blaming you. It’s just, I swear it’s every week that you’re coming in here bitching about some guy or another. Is this town really that full of scumbags?

You know what I think? I think you need to find guys with more dating experience. Guys who actually know how to treat a girl right. Guys who don’t just assume that a date automatically entitles them to sex, like some fuckin’ participation award or something.

…yeah, a real man. Not these boys you keep picking up.

…huh? …yeah, I have experience, but- oh. Oh, no, no no no. I’m twice your age, doll. I’m sure you could find someone with experience who isn’t old enough to be your father.

(disbelieving laugh) …that drink cannot possibly be hitting you this hard this quick, so what the hell is making you say stuff like that? Why would you date me?

Okay, maybe I was a catch once. Used to hang out in clubs, picking up women, men, other, I ain’t ever been picky… but that was ages ago. I’m all washed up. You could do way better, trust me. I don’t have the charm I used to.

"Better with age"? You flatter me, baby, but you don’t have to. I know my peak is long behind me. I stopped trying to pick up partners years ago.

(scoffs) What are you talking about, “pent up”? Yeah, I’ve still got needs, but-

Ohhh no no no, baby, you are not tempting me like this, I ain’t no cradle robber-

(hesitates) …of course ya look good… ain’t the first time I’ve noticed that. Your body, and that smile… you should be able to hook up with anyone you want. And yet you’re here trying to flirt with some old bartender?

(still disbelieving) …you seriously want to see what I’ve got. You mean it? You’re not gonna regret sleeping with some old man when you think about it later?

…if you insist. It’s a slow night, so I can shut the bar down a little early. Just let me get cleaned up here, then I’ll take you upstairs…

—

All right, here we are. We’re not too far from your place, right? Wouldn’t take too long if you wanna call it quits and take a taxi home?

(firm) Say you don’t wanna go all you want, I’m still leaving you the option.

So... how did you wanna start this? Do you need to be warmed up? I could put on some music, pour some wine-

(defensive) No, I’m not stalling, I’m just making sure-

(short laugh) Okay, okay, I get it! We’ll just get into things! Go on, sit on the bed, I’ll sit with you. Let me get a good look at you…

(in awe) …god, you’re so pretty… fuck, those eyes of yours…

You seem nervous… you okay?

(small chuckle) It’s kinda cute, actually. It’s making me want to… kiss you… (kiss, soft "mmm")

No, no, baby, don’t start getting undressed yet, I’m in no hurry. Let’s savor this, okay? Let me hold you close… and keep kissing you…

(kissing sounds throughout) I don’t get why all your dates are always in such a rush… I get why they want you, of course, but why wouldn’t they want to enjoy your company first? Why wouldn’t they want to kiss you… and hold you… mmm, that’s it, snuggle up to me… fuck, you’re so warm…

Can I touch you? I wanna run my hand down your cheek, your neck… oh, your skin feels so nice...

What about your chest? If it's okay, I’ll start over your shirt…

Ohhh, these are nice, I can tell already... so fuckin’ soft… heh, that noise you just made was so cute… come on, keep kissing me… (more kissing sounds) I’ll rub them gently, squeeze just a little… fuck, I’m getting excited already…

Heh… yeah, yeah, so I’m obviously going through a dry spell. You get used to your own hand for so long, you forget how nice it is to be with somebody.

No! No, this isn’t just me bringing home the first half-decent option I get! It’s more like… it’s been so long, I want my first partner in a while to be someone who’s really worth it, you know?

Here, give me your hand. I want you to touch me, too… stroke my knee, up my thigh… go slow, go as far as you want… yes, that’s it…

(moans) Oh, god, didn’t think you’d- fuck… (chuckle) it’s pretty obvious that you’re getting to me, huh?

Of course you can leave your hand there. Rub it, squeeze it, just be gentle… (moans) ohhh fuck… do… do you like what you feel so far? Mmm… good…

Yeah, I’ll admit it… I’ve- I’ve gotten this excited over you before… but I couldn’t- ah… not with someone… so much younger…

...yeah, you’re an adult, you can make your own decisions... but I didn’t want to be a creep-

(cut off by a kiss) Mmm! Ah… fuck, you’re a good kisser… mmm…

Can I see a little more of you? No, no, leave your hand where it is, fuck, please don’t move it… I'll take care of it. First I'll lift up your shirt…

Mmm, such a pretty bra… shame that poor bastard isn’t the one who gets to see it tonight. Maybe if he treated you right, he could have earned it…

Don’t worry, baby, I’ll make sure I deserve this. Let me hold them, and kiss them… I’ll worship your tits like they deserve… (softly kissing listener's breasts)

Can I push up your bra? Touch them directly? Good… oh, fuck, they’re so soft… so soft against my fingers… (continues kissing breasts) mmm… and my lips… ohhh, yes, keep touching me while I kiss you…

Fuck, your nipples are so hard… so pretty… can I kiss them, too? (more kissing) A little kiss… a little lick… mmm…

(briefly suckles breast)

(chuckles) Ohhh, you like having them sucked, huh? You can’t hide it when you moan like that, baby. Of course I’ll do it again… suckling one, squeezing the other... I won’t neglect you, don’t worry… (suckling) mmm…

(releases breast from mouth, takes a deep breath) Fuck, I need more of you... go on, let’s get this shirt and bra off you… now lay back on the bed…

Mmm, such a pretty thing laying in my bed… a sight I haven’t seen in such a long time…

Let me kiss you more… (kissing) your breasts… your stomach… (chuckles) Ohhh, you’re ticklish, huh? Then I’ll keep kissing you here… mmm, that giggle is so cute…

Can I take these off you? Just your pants first. Like I said, I wanna savor this… wanna see how pretty you are in just your panties…

Ohhh, fuck, that’s so sexy… can I kiss you here, right above the waistband? (kissing) Mmm, and a little lower… I love the tease, only a pretty piece of fabric keeping me from what I want… (deep inhale) fuck, you smell so good… (kiss) and even through these you taste so good… do you like getting eaten out, baby?

…you’re shitting me. Not even once? Are you not interested, or…

None of them? What do you mean, gross? No offense, doll, but I hate your dumbass boyfriends even more with every thing you say about them. ‘Eating pussy is gross’, what the fuck are they even talking about…

(sigh) No, people shouldn’t have to do stuff in bed they don’t want, but… your pleasure matters too. Did they do anything to help you cum?

(He needs a second to process what he's hearing.) …Jesus Christ. Okay. Let me get these panties off you so I can show you what a real man does for a lady. Then I’ll get in close so I can appreciate you like you deserve… (kiss) ah... so, so fucking good… mmm… I’m barely kissing your lips and you’re already getting my mouth soaked… I’ll start you off slow, sliding my tongue between your lips… (licks) ohhh, so sweet… I love knowing you’re dripping like this because of me… do other guys ever get you this wet?

Heh… guess I’m just special…

(keeps licking and kissing) Mmm… yeah, I’ll go faster… press harder… hah… yeah, baby, tug my hair like that, I’ll get as close as you need… haaaah…

Your clit’s so swollen… can I touch it? Just a little lick... oh fuck what a gasp, please keep making that noise… I’ll lick you, I’ll suck you, anything to keep you moaning like that… (eating noises)

Here, get your legs over my shoulders... now squeeze those thighs around me, I want you smothering me with that pretty cunt while I dig my nails into them… (eating and moaning, getting more intense as his partner orgasms)

Haaaah! Fuck, fuck, fuck!

Fuck, baby, what a mess… (small laugh) It’s all over my face…

Ohhh, no, baby, this is the opposite of a problem. I love the evidence that I did right by you. So hot and wet, and so fucking sweet… fuck, I’ll be licking my mouth and thinking about your taste for a long time after this…

Did it feel good for you, too? …heh, had a feeling… can’t remember the last time I heard someone scream like that. Fuck, you’re still shaking... do you need a break?

Of course. Do you want me to lay with you? Hold you?

(shuffling on the bed into a cuddling position)

…can I kiss you? Even though I just…?

(kiss) Mmm… heh, is it just me or are you even more eager to kiss me now…?

…hm? Oh, no, you don’t gotta-

Yeah, I like blowjobs, but- no, you don’t owe me or anything, I ate you out because I wanted to, not because-

…you really do like going down? Hm… well, all right, if you insist… just let me kiss those soft lips one more time… (kiss) let me imagine how soft they’ll feel against my cock… mmm…

All right, help me out of my clothes… and go ahead, touch me wherever you want while you do it. (kissing and shuffling of clothes) Mmm… fuck, I can’t stop kissing you… let me hold you close, feel your skin on mine… oh, you’re so warm, so soft… hug me tighter…

Mmm! Hah… you like my ass, baby? Go ahead, give it another squeeze- mmm-!

(breathing heavier) …okay… okay, I don’t know how much longer I can stand waiting. Let me just get comfortable against the headboard… you get comfy, too…

(smug) You like what you see? …is it really that impressive? I’m sure you’ve slept with somebody as big as I am…

You really don’t think you have? You try so hard to flatter me, doll…

Start slow, okay? Stroke it slowly… squeeze it a little, like that… (moans) Yes, that’s good… already so much fucking better than my own hand…

Heh… you look so cute kissing the head like that… come on, look up at me, let me see your eyes while you kiss me… so fuckin’ pretty…

Do you like it when I stroke your head like this? Don’t worry, I won’t push. Go at your own pace.

(moans) Yes, suck the head, just like that… keep using your tongue, keep using your tongue… ah- god, right there- fuck-

(heavy breathing) C-can you- go a little deeper? I want- more-

(moaning as listener sucks him off)

Ah- oh, god, that fucking tongue- yes, yes, yes-

(getting increasingly desperate) Suck me like that- please, deeper-

Can I- tug your hair a little- do you like that- fuck you’re so good-

B-babe… babe, you don’t have to force- fuck- fuck that’s deep- fuck-

Oh, fuck, you’re a goddamn natural… …have you ever… done deepthroat before… I wanna- I wanna feel-

(listener gags as she deepthroats speaker)

Fuck! Fuck your mouth is so wet- oh god that sound is fucking hot- swallow me, baby, please, let me feel your throat-

Oh, god, I can’t stop- my hips- I wanna- I wanna fuck you- fuck-

(speaker is bucking up into listener's mouth, listener isn't slowing down)

I’m sorry, I can’t stop, I’m sorry, I can’t- it’s too good- keep gagging like that, yes-

Oh god I’m gonna cum, make me cum, make me cum-

AH! FUCK! FUCK!

(nearly breathless) Oh… oh my god… fuck, I can’t breathe… fuck, fuck, fuck…

Babe… do you… always suck dick like that…?

Fuck… you suck a guy off… like that… and he doesn’t give you everything you want in return? Fuckin’... ungrateful…

Haaah… oh, god, I can barely move… come up here, I wanna hold you some more… and kiss you… (kiss) mmm…

Of course I don’t mind kissing you after you went down on me. It’s… (kiss) mmm… actually kind of hot… heh, I can tell what a mess I made of your throat… mmm…

…should I get you a tissue to spit in, or-

(both amused and aroused) …ohhhh. Oh, you nasty girl, swallowing it all like that… I’m liking you more by the minute. And I already liked you a lot before I brought you up here… mmm, kiss me again… and touch me… your hand is so soft against me, I wanna feel it anywhere you wanna touch me…

Ah- heh… going right for my dick again, huh?

Yeah, it’s getting hard again. Just thinking about what you just did to me is gonna turn me on for weeks, I can tell already…

Mmm, stroke me, baby… feel it getting harder in your hand, feel it throbbing… fuck, it feels even better now that you’ve gotten it so wet with your mouth…

Fuck, yes, I want more of you. Did you wanna… suck me off again, or…

…what I want… I wanna fuck you. God, I want you even more now than I did when I first brought you to bed. I don’t care anymore if I’m a dirty old man, I want you… come here, kiss me again…

(kissing throughout dialogue) Mmm… I wanna- fuck, I can’t stop kissing you- I wanna… I wanna fuck you hard… and fast… I wanna feel how tight you are… wanna feel you clench- wanna feel you cum- please, baby, I can’t remember the last time I needed someone this fucking bad… please, oh, please…

Any position I want, huh? Then can I see you on your hands and knees? Turn around, give me a good look… ohhhh… oh, fuck…

Fuck, what a nice ass… if I start squeezing it I might never be able to get my hands off it.

Of course I’ve stared at it before. With a body like yours, how am I not supposed to stare? I don’t like being a creep, but I am a man, and I can’t resist a nice ass…

You knew? Heh. Thanks for not slapping me, then.

(speaker is groping listener's ass) Mmm, it’s even softer than I imagined…

...yeah, I’ve fantasized about you before. Imagined kissing you, and touching you… imagined fucking you… just like this…

(hesitantly) Hey... I know you’re so much younger than me, but… can I say that it actually… turns me on? This whole thing… taking a younger woman into my bed, showing her something the boys her age could never give her…

I wondered if those guys you hooked up with every week were taking care of you. Now that I know that they weren’t, I need to make up for it… I need this… I need you… and I want you to need me, too…

God, your pussy’s still soaked… I need another taste of it… (kisses listener between her legs) mmm… oh, god, you’re shivering from the slightest kiss. Mmm… (kissing and licking) So pretty…

I don’t wanna hold back anymore, and you look like you don’t, either. Let me just grab a condom, and-

…no condom? But I want you to be safe. I know I don’t have anything, but that doesn’t mean you have to believe me-

…if you’re sure. ...you know, getting to feel your bare skin on mine, nothing in my way… I don’t wanna be selfish, but I love the idea of getting to feel every soft inch of you… so if that’s how you want it too, then…

I’ll go slow, baby, especially since you don’t think you’ve taken anyone this big before. Let me take your soft hips in my hands, gently rub my cock between your legs… oh, god, I love your heat…

Yes… yes, I’ll fuck you… I wanna fuck you too, baby, I want it as bad as you do… oh, god, you’re so hot, begging for me like that…

(slowly sinks in to listener) Ah! Oh fuck oh fuck… just the head and I’m already shaking… it’s been… way… too… long…

I’ll push in… slowly… oh, god, you’re soaked, and so open, it’s going in so easy…

Haaah… you like… being stretched like this? Oh god… oh god you’re tight… I’ll take it slow… get you used to me… oh, fuck, yes…

(has been slowly pushing in, is now bottomed out) Oh, I love feeling your ass pressed against my waist like that… press back against me while I grind against you… yes…

(starts thrusting, slowly at first, and moaning)

I wanna go faster… harder… wanna hear you begging for it… yes, yes… I’ll fuck you as hard as you want, baby, just beg… beg for me with that pretty voice… oh god…

(gradually speeding up, moaning and gasping)

I don’t think- I could stop- if I tried- fuck you’re so hot inside- beg me, beg me, beg me to fuck you-

(thrusting abruptly stops, the only sound is the speaker breathing heavily)

…haaah… wh… what the- did you just…

I thought I heard you call me… “daddy”...

…I never really thought about it, to be honest… it usually just sounds cheesy in pornos… but, um… could you- say it again…?

Mmm… mmm, yes, beg for daddy… beg daddy to fuck you… beg daddy to fuck your tight, young pussy… oh my god that's fucking good…

(thrusting again, quickly picking up speed)

You- you like it? You like being- my baby? Like being- daddy’s sweet girl? Fuck- fuck you’re clenching- haaah, you love it, I can tell-

Yeah, daddy’ll fuck you hard- daddy wants to hear you screaming for him- take me, baby, take me-

You like it rough like that? You like me digging my nails into your hips while I fuck you?

You’re gonna be so sore in the morning- bruised and scratched- and you’re going to love it, aren’t you, baby, gonna love knowing you’re mine-

Oh my god- cum all over me, cum on my cock, just like that-

(becoming increasingly desperate/feral again) No I won’t stop- I can’t stop- you’re so tight, baby, so hot-

You’re mine now- they can’t please you- not like I can- you’re mine, you’re mine-

I’m cumming, baby- gonna make you- mine-

(crying out in such intense pleasure)

HAAAAH! Fuck! FUCK!

(barely able to breathe) Ohhhh… oh god oh god… oh fuck… oh fuck…

Fuck, baby, I can… barely… stay upright… let’s… just lie down… right here…

(speaker collapses onto the bed, with listener cuddling up to him shortly after)

I love cuddling after sex, especially when it's that intense… oh, god, I don’t wanna let you go… my heart is hammering… can you feel it…?

I had… a lot of fun. I forgot how much… I missed stuff like this. Did you… have fun too?

Good. I’m… glad. My first time after so long… I’m glad it was with you, and not just some stranger. I always like it when you stop by the bar. I love our conversations. Love making you smile…

You make me feel… special, you know? Even before this… but especially now…

Would you wanna… do this again sometime…?

We don’t have to be monogamous or anything. Not like I’m proposing marriage. I just… I really like you. I wanna try this out some more… see where it goes…

(kiss) Mmm… you kiss me so sweetly, even after I was just so rough with you…

Heh… okay. Let’s just take this… one day at a time. See where it goes. I’m… I’m looking forward to it.

…did you wanna get going? Get showered off while I call you a cab?

No, I’m not throwing you out! But if you don’t want to spend the night in some old guy’s bed I’d understand-

…of course you can stay, if that’s what you want. If you stay… can we keep cuddling?

Heh… good… come on, let’s move up to the pillows, get you comfortable…

(shuffling as both reposition)

is everything all right? Not too cold? Good. Come here, let me hold you… let me keep you warm…

…hey… what sorts of things have you tried in bed before? Do you like anal? Or bondage…?

(intrigued) Hmmm… then I could teach you, if you want. Like you said, I’ve got experience. There’s a lot of fun stuff I could teach you… would you like that? An older man teaching you how to be dirty for him? Mmm, that’s what I like to hear. I’m looking forward to next time already…

(kiss)

I’ll see you in the morning, baby…

[intuitive-revelations]

Semi-live/retrospective analysis of The Robot Revolution!

As usual, a combination of my live thoughts watching the episode, vs those rewatching, but put roughly in order of the episode. This is REALLY long (taking me several hours to write!) so will have to go below a read more.

While I get a lot of plot analysis, I also go very character-focused in this one, because there's a lot to work with.

I'm curious how old Belinda is meant to be in the 17 years ago intro? That's a pretty long time gap. For what it's worth, Varada Sethu is 32, so if Belinda is the same age, then she would be 15, maybe turning 16? I won't judge two much on the actors' appearances, of course, but both her and Al do seem older than that (especially with the "Are you married?" question and the proposal. It almost makes me wonder if she is meant to be that young and, considering his character, Al is meant to be older. Of course, Belinda could still be a bit older than her actress, but it's interesting.

"I know girls aren't good at maths, but that's a long way." The immediate rancid vibes, holy shit. Very "girl math". The wrapping paper comment too. I'm surprised this all actually comes back later, as Alan could easily just been a disposable bit character.

I kinda picked it up straight away... Bel seems to have some self-esteem issues, right? Possibly from something in her past? "This is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me" is an interesting thing to say about a present that she didn't seem to think that much of. And yet, we can see she does keep it all this time, even displaying it framed on her wall, which is crazy considering how this relationship ends. Even at this point, she doesn't exactly seem in to him really - she kinda forces herself into that awkward as hell kiss. More on the self-esteem thing later.

The certificate dates this scene to at least 5th April 2008. The wiki's gone ahead and said this is Belinda's birthday, though I'm not certain - I assume Alan didn't manage to get the star registered and certificate framed on the day, unless it was a REALLY last minute present.

Would have been funny if Belinda's star immediately disappeared due to the reality bomb (though technically that was in 2009 due to Rose's year late return in Series 1 - not that RTD or other writers tend to remember that). Ironically, that seems to line up with the date of her and Alan's breakup.

For what it's worth, I had a go at looking at the astronomical details. If Alan is right, the star is around 4,000,000,000,000,000 miles away. This converts to about 680 ly. I tried looking up the coordinates though and found nothing. In fact, as far as I can tell it seems to be quite contradictory, as far as the visibility rise and set times relate to stars around those coordinates. I also don't believe it matches to the view of the Milky Way we see in the episode.

The significance of the star so early in the episode almost made me thought we were going to link to Joy to the World for a second! Especially being so weirdly bright, though I realise that's just a matter of on-screen physics.

One thing I will say - an episode plot based entirely around those bullshit "Name a Star" gifts is absolutely excellent.

Immediately jumping to a hospital at the beginning of the episode feels so Smith and Jones, but there's clearly a world of difference between Belinda and Martha. It's also not the Royal Hope again, after it's appearance last episode. It seems to be called "Able Free Hospital", maybe based on the Royal Free Hospital?

More Doctor kilts!

For a nurse character, I find it interesting that there's an emphasis more on Belinda's technical knowledge, rather than being particularly caring. In fact she seems a little cold and sarcastic, though she is friendlier with the older patient we see her treating. It's a nice twist on the archetype.

The Doctor knocking out power in a hospital is surprisingly dark (pun unintended). At least we see from background lights after the reception goes dark that backup generators seem to be working.

Interesting looking at Belinda's room. As mentioned, she kept the Star certificate framed over her bed, despite everything. Also next to some of the Sun and Moon. We also see what seems to be a qualification on her wall, plus what I think might be a COVID-era children's drawing of a rainbow, which is pretty cute? There's another we see later in the kitchen, right after the cat is killed. There's also a photo of someone in-between.

Also been trying to make out what's on her desk, but it's tricky. Is that a picture of Belinda in traditional dress, or maybe her mum? I've also tried to get a look at the book title, but can't make it out.

Another art piece looks like a field of sunflowers below the Moon? It's hard to tell in the dark. Belinda's also wearing a sunflower pyjama top. There's clearly a bit of a theme going on here. If the sunflower theme holds, her yellow dress in the next time teaser could link in too.

Actually, her jumper in the intro has a cut resembling flower petals too. Hmm...

Belinda mentions her mum and dad as she's taken away, so we know they're in the picture at least.

Mrs Flood appearing to say farewell to another companion beginning their journey is crazy! Very Missy coded, in seemingly leading both Belinda and Ruby right to him, which with the stalker-y vibes 15 accidentally gives off is pretty creepy. Breaking the fourth wall right here too?!

More on this later, but Belinda accidentally causing the events of the episode due to timeline weirdness is interesting. Along with the Amy's Pregnancy / Impossible Girl arc critque that we get later, it feels very Moffat for an RTD episode.

MBC-1 is weirdly Skaro coded? Between it's architecture, flying saucers, redness etc. The vapourisation effects feel quite extermination-like too, though the freezing is weird - almost making the vfx feel kinda lazy (which isn't to say they are, just a strange design choice). The robots even call out "Vapourise", "Destroy"! On the other hand, everything with the AI Generator weirdly evokes bits of other enemies like the Cybermen and the Master (conversion, "you will obey me"). There was actually a brief second I thought the welding was going to actually result in a Cyberised Belinda.

Actually, the whole setting feels SO Classic Who it's kinda insane. Not just with these elements, but the emphasis on the robots (being called directly such) and their interaction with the locals.

The numbered names is interesting. I wonder if it's pulled from our planet naming schemes mixed with Belinda's name (though that wouldn't link directly to the ceritificate), or just a computer disambiguation thing. A world run by computers also goes well with the plain clothes worn.

The cute polishing bot may be a bit of a cliche, but I love it all the same. Not to mention the Doctor and Belinda's kindness to it, the prior even kissing it as he shuts it down.

The twists of a) the robots ruling over the people, and b) Belinda being kidnapped for a wedding are both neat.

The AI Generator is such a stupid name and design - though I kinda like the Hitchhiker-y ness of the latter. The artificialness of it makes sense with the later reveal. The "AI Generator" thing feels like an undercooked attempt to throw some buzzwords into the episode, which is a shame. I wish we had a twist that actually involved it working similar to a large language model - like if instead of the 9th word thing, it was defeated by hiding image data in its feeds so it couldn't analyse them properly. Or if the images of it we saw were literally fake - made up because that's what an LLM thought an evil computer mastermind should look like. I do like the way the close-up shot here hides the "AL" though.

The Doctor giving the history exposition as a story is another tick for the "Doctor is accidentally warping reality via stories" theory - I'll give it credit.

The robots' relationship with the natives is interesting. Combined with their design, they almost feel like an evolution of the robots from Smile, complete with emoji-esque faces. This definitely isn't Gliese 581d though, so there's unlikely to be a connection there.

The ninth word thing is a little arbitrary, but I'll take it. It's not any odder than things like the emphasis on breathing as a lifesign in Deep Breath. It was probably a pretty fun writing exercise for RTD! Only thing I wish is that it was less a weakness in the robot design, and more just a careful way to secretly communicate, such that the dialogue made sense even with the extra words. I do wonder if there's some secrets there. I may be doing a lot of analysis here, but I'm not going to start looking at every ninth word.

A little surprised that everyone in the throne room was a rebel. Obviously they're mostly red-shirts, so it doesn't really matter, but would have been more realistic if there was at least one sycophant in there.

Sasha's death was really weak. I do like it whenever we get the implication that the Doctor's gone through something offscreen and we're left to infer what's happened in the meaning time, but saying she wants to come onboard the TARDIS (immediate red flag given we know she's not showing up later in the series) and getting vaporised right after is ridiculous.

Again, Belinda immediately stepping up as a nurse, despite species/differences making it difficult, is a hell of a character-establishing moment. I reckon it's not just a matter of compassion, but also her feeling she has to prove her worth, after what Manny said.

Also her criticising the Doctor for "happy watching", given what happens later.

Conversely, she immediately seems to soften a bit when he steps a way to start working. Him cooly saying that the Doctor and the Nurse make a "good team" also gets a smile. It's honestly quite brilliant to have a character who's a little repulsed by this Doctor's more confident and charming front, and seems to get on a little better with him when he's a bit quieter and more serious. Also says a lot about her.

Actually discussing the biological differences in this week's near-humans was great! Also appreciate 1) making sure to specify that the x-ray blankets are radiation free (I've just been tutoring someone on medical physics, so of course that immediately came to mind), 2) the line about not thinking about which bodies are better. Obviously an important thing to note in real life, but also a question I find interesting to think about in terms of interspecies interactions.

The exposition on the Doctor's two hearts was interesting. It's fits into the scene fine - it makes sense for the Doctor to bring it up after just discussing biological differences between species, and as it makes sense as another thing to bring up as we enter the second season of "New-New-Who". I'm pretty sure this is the first time we're actually gotten to hear the Doctor's heartbeat, right? But, after the Master teasing last year, I struggle to see the 4 beats as anything but a teaser for the future.

Also kinda interesting to hear, just given I've previously wondered if the 4 beat thing is constant, or if the hearts can have different phases. At the very least, Fifteen's hearts right now perfectly match up to the Master's drumbeat. Though I do think I heard a little drift in one of the beats on the last repeat, so who knows.

Patient Name: Unknown Sex: Unknown Age: Indeterminable Blood Type: N/A Diag: Two Hearts! Status: Excellent

Love the details on the Doctor's scan! For some reason, my eyes skipped from Name: Unknown to Diag: Two Hearts! and Status: Excellent, and I found the latter so funny I didn't even register the Sex reading. I wonder how much of the lack of detail comes from the blanket being used for an unregistered patient of a different species and how much it is just reflecting the Doctor's own nature? At the very least, the blood thing makes sense, since we know Time Lord blood is different enough that it can barely be considered such.

"I was told about you, by someone. It's kind of a long story, and I've got to be careful about timelines. But he told me your name, like you would be important." I'm so curious about this? Careful about timelines seems to imply it's someone from the future, or at least a time-traveller, who could intersect with Belinda's life. Plus it's a "he", so we're noting talking about Mrs Flood, for example. It kinda feels like the sort of thing where we'll get a pre-finale flashing back to a story set before this series.

Again on the self-esteem thing, while it is a reasonable response otherwise, Belinda insisting she's not important seems notable on a character level.

A time fracture? Obviously not the escape room one... but interesting. Seems we're got yet another bit of space-time weirdness to add to my list.

On the shot of the screen with the time fracture, I accidentally paused it in such a way the split looked just like the cracks in time and almost lost my mind. Pressing play again and seeing it flicker into other shapes put me back in my place though.

Ok, so Belinda's home time is 24th May 2025. Noted.

"Timey-wimey?" "Yup." "Am I six?" lol

"'Cause I have waited for you for a long time, Belinda. And yet..." The "and yet" makes it seem like he's not just referring to the six months here...

Again, Belinda immediately objecting to the Doctor having been following her. It doesn't help that he doesn't even try to explain it away - after all, he's just admitted that he was looking for her, not just tracking the robots or something.

The "schwup" flashback showing Belinda looping on saying "six-six-six-sixteen years" feels very deliberate. Remember how Sutekh hinted at a link with the Beast last series?

"You're as bad as the robots." Look, I'm as critical of monarchies as the next guy, but calm down! She literally just got here. I can sort of excuse this because because of Belinda's impact on the planet's history and culture, which I'm sure that Manny's partially referring to, but it's still a bit silly.

Actually, on the note of the people's interactions with Belinda - I do feel there was a little bit of a wasted opportunity to have a character who truly believed in her right to rule? Would have really emphasised the effects on the culture - after all, you'd think they'd worship her as a God-Queen! Without such a person, it feels more like the robots just randomly went nuts.

Again, Belinda rejecting the Doctor's defence of her is interesting. On one hand, it projects this sort of self-sufficiency. On the other, she's clearly already picked up on some (in fairness, well-deserved) bad vibes from the Doctor, and may be trying to block any "white knighting" from him. On yet a third hand, it does kinda show that Manny's blaming is already getting to her.

The Doctor immediately defending Manny's outburst too, probably isn't helping him get into her good graces. It's kind of fascinating that for all his confidence, Fifteen doesn't seem to be that great on picking up these things.

"At least someone's glad to see me." "Worth the wait." Again, that sad smile is really hinting at something here. Despite effectively referencing his stalking her again, this is enough to get a crack of sympathy out of Belinda.

On my earlier point of Belinda keeping the certificate on the wall, it's interesting that she emphasises it "didn't mean anything".

Her sort of excitement at suggesting an explosion resulting from a time travel paradox may be another rare peek at Belinda behind the mask? Part of me thinks she might have a bit of a space/time/sci-fi interest, but her overall reaction to everything suggests it may not be that significant and I'm reading a bit too much into this. We'll see I guess.

Blinovitch limitation effect mention (if not by name)! Watching live, I'm assuming this is setting up the conclusion, where the "boom" will serve as a weapon, right? (EDIT: this bit was written while watching - and boy was I right!).

Kinda want to nitpick the "same atoms" thing, given we know the effect applies to people too, who would logically "Ship of Theseus"-lose most of their atoms, but I get that we're not about to get a 7-hour lecture from the Doctor on the nature of biodata. Plus now I think about it, maybe the very small amount that do remain probabilistically are enough to trigger the effects we're seen (and explaining why we don't tend to see people explode as a result of such interactions).

"Are you some sort of 'time detective'?" "Ha, no." *Gasp* Honoré Lechasseur mention? Ok, he's the time "hunter", but still a detective.

Again on Belinda's personality. We immediately see her ready to quietly make the sacrifice play, the moment she sees that everyone's at risk. In quite a reckless way too, bringing the robots directly to the base.

Oh my god the polish robot has little brake lights.

Another softer look comes from Belinda after the Doctor tries to sacrifice himself instead of her.

"Because my name is Miss Belinda Chandra. It's about time I owned it." "You can drop the miss. I never liked it anyway." Family guilt, relationship issues, or trans vibes. Take your pick.

I was a bit led astray for a second by "Are you married?". For a second, I really thought the solution was going to come from Belinda lying that she was, and the Generator insisting on monogamy and annuling the betrothal.

Alan as the generator is crazy. While he's clearly somewhat distinct from it, trying to reachout via the 9 word count, it's notable that the AI Generator is still clearly grown from his own personality, with it's possessiveness etc. yet here he is bragging and grinning like a supervillain. I'm not sure if it entirely works. Alan is a sexist, incel, control freak who saw a world beyond his own as an opportunity to experience despotic power as if it was a "game", yet we still get this twist of sympathy for him that doesn't even hold. And then we still get his final fate - more in a sec.

Again depending on Belinda and Alan's ages, which are a little unclear, the proposal cutaway has the potential to be even worse than it already seems...

Alan's controlling nature again feels like something that have had a bit more significance in earlier drafts, but does feel a little weak now. It's a cool twist to explicitly show just how bad he really was, but might have meant a bit more if we got more of an exploration of the planet's culture, and his control over it.

This is never said in the episode, but I wonder if the AI Generator's name comes from it literally being built out of a power generator? It kinda seems like it, right? The bulkiness, the electricity bolts around it... Even the ticker seems less like a clock (note it doesn't complete it's ninth increment, leading to the jump) and more of a modified powermeter or something.

"You were born to travel" this is an interesting line that doesn't really fit with the rest of what Alan says. Again could be hinting at Belinda's backstory, or if there really is something special with her, maybe something to do with her "design"? Almost like Sam Jones vibes, though obviously that doesn't really mesh with the rest of her (instead fits much closer with Ruby, as we discussed last series).

"You will obey me" Mentioned this earlier, but worth emphasising. On one hand, this does mainly show Alan's controlling vibe, and how he expected Belinda to be subserviant if they married. But at the same time, RTD knew what he was doing, sticking this in as a distinct line. Let's keep count going forwards: Maestro playing four beats, Master Vainglorious, the Doctor's heartbeat, and now this.

Alan's fate is nuts. Physics-wise, it's like Margaret in Boom Town being reverted into an egg, but this time without the opportunity of a fresh start. Again a weird result, after giving Alan a tinge of sympathy, but can't say it's not an effective message given everything else.

BLINOVITCH! BLINOVITCH! BLINOVITCH!

I love the time disruption imagery. Kinda surprised it didn't lead to something a bit more drastic, like the AI Generator being wiped from history alltogether (with the diploma being destroyed) but what can you do? I also thought for a sec that Belinda was going actually be splintered Clara style, with that being what led to Mundy, but that doesn't seem to be the case. This could still be the event that leads to that spatial genetic multiplicity, as with Gwyneth, Gwen and the rift?

I assume this is an older Belinda here? I assume the old dour man we see is meant to be an older Alan too, now erased from history.

Also hey, remember what I literally just posted about today, regarding the blue-green-red colour coding of the past, known future, and unknown future in The Infinity Doctors and the RTD1 time vortex...?

Just kidding, it clearly doesn't have the same significance, since the colour coding doesn't really make sense. Still took me out for a second. I wrote that before watching the episode.

On the other hand, the Doctor did say something about timelines being out of sync didn't he...? /s

It's interesting the Doctor ends up absorbing much of the resulting artron energy, seemingly with no ill effects other than a pain in the back. Usually artron energy can be pretty dangerous in this regard, especially given its connection to the regenerative cycle. On the other hand, the way he describes going through Belinda's life, and this...

This feels significant, no? Why did they go to the effort of filming thise, for a single quick cutaway after all the timey-wimeyness? It kinda feels like the Doctor just got splintered through Belinda's life, rather than the other way round like with Clara?

Kinda makes me wonder if Belinda's going to start seeing him in memories / family photos etc. and it's going to further drive that "stalker paranoia" she's gotten from him. While she gives a little semi-happy chuckle at being called amazing, she still doesn't exactly react with mutual joy at hearing about their new temporal connection. There's even a little bit of a sinister beat in the music, though it might just be the robots' footsteps in the background? I'd be keen to see the surround sound channels and see if it's mixed in with the music or speech and fx.

I saw @spoonietimelordy point out Belinda also knew the TARDIS's name, despite not seemingly hearing on screen. It stuck out a little to me too, but I thought I must have just forgotten a line. I guess not? I wonder if this just a bit of excusable off-screen dialogue, as result of the Blinovitch interaction, or something even deeper?

"Yas Queen!" lol, again.

I love how hammy the robot is in declaring they'll make reperations and returning the TARDIS.

With Belinda's reaction in the TARDIS, I do think it's a little odd/interesting that she's so desperate to get home for her next shift, showing that even in this situation, she's ready to prioritise her pretty gloomy homelife. On the other hand, her reluctance to stay with the Doctor is, as mentioned above, an absolutely brilliant start to a character and the relationship between them, coming with a very Classic Who story arc.

As everyone and their mother has mentioned, Belinda's reaction is so, so very much playing with the typical mystery girl tropes we see not just in Doctor Who in general (after all, we did just have everything going on with Ruby), but especially in Moffat's era.

That's not a slam by the way - anyone who knows this blog knows I love Moffat's stories - his era actually being my favourite, not that I dislike any of the others either. But every now and then, we absolutely need the writers to be ready to critique and deconstruct eachother's storytelling. That's how the show grows after all.

Moffat took great umbrage with Donna's fate and how the Doctor went against her will in blocking her memories, and made that clear throughout 12's era. It's only fair RTD return the favour in deconstructing the Doctor's (especially 11's) willingness to violate his friends' privacy to solve a mystery. :)

(Not a knock on 11 either. He was literally the Doctor who got me to really turn into a full-fledged fan after being more distant as a watcher through RTD's era and I still love him dearly. Series 6 and 7, despite their well-debated flaws, actually remain some of my favourite Doctor Who.)

The Doctor's willing to scan anything with the sonic screwdriver, often too much for the storytelling, so actually seriously acknowledging that the Doctor just scanned Belinda's genetics without asking is perfect. And the Doctor, called out on it, does apologise, though Belinda doesn't really seem to accept. This is actually why it kinda feels like just as much a parallel with Amy's series 6 mystery as it does with Clara's, with Eleven being so desperate to ensure Amy's safety, he completely puts aside her own agency.

And Fifteen doesn't even have the same excuse in this case, gleefully telling Belinda about their link, seemingly with no worry of any sources of danger. IMHO, there's almost even a hint of Thirteen there, with the Doctor even now still projecting positivity outwards over more sensible and/or honest behavour, despite supposedly being "better" after Fourteen's retirement.

I also just love seeing one of Fifteen's most lovable traits, his flirtiness and joy compared to other incarnations, being closely examined. It gives subdued Midnight vibes honestly, being torn apart just as much as Ten's know-it-all confidence backfired with the other passengers.

Now: the big mystery. Right off the bat, let's acknowledge that the TARDIS's failed travel used some of the exact same sounds as the groaning we heard with Sutekh last season. It could just be a reused way to show the TARDIS's strain (we hear the Cloister Bell too), but maybe it does hint that there's a little more to it, like I theorised in that big post before the finale last the series.

The way the block comes at the worse possible time, after the Doctor just promised he will take Belinda straight home as she asked, is kinda hilarious, and it only deepens her potential mistrust of him. At the current rate, I am curious if we will see it damage even further over the series?

If we accept the theory that there's some level of reality warping going on in the series's storylines, possibly triggered by the Doctor, then part of me wonders if this could even be a level of accidental wish fulfillment on his part? He doesn't want to be alone, so invented another mystery to solve. When the subject of that mystery rejected him, he subconsciously introduces a barrier to their return, forcing them to stick together.

I say accidental, as the Doctor actually having some sort of deliberate impact would be pretty boldly dark and out of character. Admittedly, a part of me would kinda love to read an "AU Dark!Doctor" fic where he's actually lying about being unable to return Belinda home. (As I said, pretty out of character, but I suppose not unprecedented. After all, didn't the pre-character-development First Doctor effectively do just that in The Daleks?)

The TARDIS bouncing off of a specific time on Earth obviously evokes The Angels Take Manhatten. Is the reasoning similar? Obviously it could malicious, as with the TARDIS originally being deflected, but it could also be a direct effect of a massive paradox. I suspect a bit of both, with the latter looking particularly likely given the events of the episode, but we'll see.

It also, on the other hand, makes me thing of a few other things. For example, something similar also happened in The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith, with the Trickster blocking the TARDIS from materialising (and the Trickster, of course, is a significant temporal villain in his own right - more than capable of being behind whatever paradox or otherwise has caused the fissure and block). He's also explicitly linked to the Pantheon of Discord (literally introduced in the same SJA episode!), and was namedropped last series. RTD clearly likes him as a villain too, given his roles not just in SJA, including the planned series finale before Elisabeth Sladen's passing, but also of his brigade in Turn Left and Torchwood: Miracle Day.

Then we get his shot:

First off, no there's no way Earth's just been exploded or something. One: we're 340 light years away (based on that earlier calculation I did). Two: there's no way all these bits, containing world wonders and ephemera from Belinda's home just happened to all be scattered here, closely together (and if it does, I'll be genuinely kinda mad at the laziness of the direction / writing in communicating such a disaster, by filling our screen with all this).

This 100% implies temporal shenanigans - not just with Belinda, but with the landmarks too. After all, what has a greater effect on Earth's history than symbols known the world over?! (The London taxi is a bit of a stretch though - maybe it's just here for the ride with Belinda's stuff).

The single most notable bit here though? Definitely that certificate. Note it's still got its tear, yet is back in its frame. It's somehow been returned, despite the Doctor and Belinda still holding onto it's present version. It's also unlikely to be from much further in the timeline, given it's alongside a calendar from 24 May 2025.

(Speaking of which, guess when the first part of the finale is airing?)

The Doctor and Belinda looking out of the TARDIS does kinda evoke The Stolen Earth. Also, and I know it's old hat to link things back to Lawrence Miles's ideas, but it kinda could be "Book of the World"-y too.

As for everything suddenly appearing, it's almost like the TARDIS was trying to pull itself to Earth's place in the Web of Time by tugging on all these important historical nodes, but has somehow managed to pull them to it, rather than the other way round.

The final detail I'll comment on is that among the stars, you can see a very odd flickering sparkling in a few places, but especially in the top right of shot. I'm not sure if this just meant to be a weird star twinkle that wasn't balanced properly in the shot, or something else. There is some dust scattered in the background of the scene so maybe that's causing it as it blocks the light source in the shot? It's still pretty weird though.

Overall thoughts

This episode's kinda all over the place (/pos). There's a lot of really good bits, but also plenty that leaves me wondering what RTD was thinking.

On one hand, it feels like it tried to cram a lot of random buzzwords in reflecting modern topics ("Girl Math", AI Generator, "Incels") and not all of them really hit the mark. I think the misogyny and possessiveness of Al was actually pretty hard hitting, as it wasn't something I expected to come back up in the episode. On the other hand, we didn't really get much on the AI / robot revolution that was meaningful (a shame, as a "robot revolution" episode has long been a big story idea I've wanted to see written, partially as a fix-it for Kerblam, plus a sort of arc-welding finale to the various anti-capitalist far-future stories we're gotten in past series). The setting, background characters, and villain were all a little bit wasted IMHO, though far from bad. As mentioned, I particularly appreciated the Classic Who vibes of the setting and conflict, which felt quite unique for New Who, in it's own way.

Character writing is wonderful. There's already so much to say about Belinda. Provided the fandom doesn't start targetting her negatively, I think she has the potential to be a top companion, just from her current relationship with the Doctor alone, let alone some of the other hints at her life and personality. We also get this deconstruction not just of Fifteen's buoyant, flirty attitude, but of similar arcs in previous series, with some sharp but fair critique of the Doctor's actions in Series 6 and 7 in particular.

The arc going forward is also looking to be very interesting, not just on this character level, but also with regard to whoever the Doctor spoke to, Mrs. Flood, and whatever's going on with this barrier around Earth. Plus we've got some even more hints for the future, including anther couple of potential Master teases. With the ongoing mystery, my only worry is that RTD may fail to really answer our questions again, opting for another estoteric "nothing" twist like last series (even though Series 7's mystery box kind-of did something similar in the first place). The fact that Ruby's back in a later episode, and he says there's more to that story, gives me a bit more hope though.

[tora-the-cat]

💚: What does everyone else get wrong about your favorite character(s)?

oh. oh we could be here for DAYS. okay. I'll do the first five characters that come to mind, and ONE thing for each character I'm thinking about lol

Sakura- because who else would I start with? I think the biggest pet-peeve I have with general characterization of her is she's just. too normal. Whether you're writing her as a lovesick teenager or a terrifying baby badass, so many people tend to overlook that she does NOT have typical responses to situations. She has moodswings. She's impulse. Her empathy is abysmally low. her capacity for self confidence should be studied. she's an annoying know-it-all. her priorities are FUCKED. The problem is that she THINKS she's the most normal person in any given room, and too many viewers have fallen for her act. she felt accountability for 5 seconds and proceeded to poison all of her friends to try and go kill sasuke without stopping to ask herself if that's even something she's emotionally capable of trying (it isn't).

Minato- honestly, my main complain about him is similar in principle- people ALSO write him as a Normal Cool Guy, because that's how he presents and thinks of himself. He's the Ideal Shinobi, almost perfect, almost a messiah, given how people- in and out of universe- talk about him. But the thing is...he is the Ideal Shinobi. And, by nature of that, there is something deeply wrong with him. He killed an entire army's worth of people in a day and is remembered as a peace-maker. Kishimoto thinks this is normal, so the narrative thinks Minato is a good guy, so he's remembered fondly in the story and most of the fandom. Kishimoto is wrong. Minato was suited for the life and glory of an S-Rank shinobi in the sort of way we only see otherwise presented in heartless nuke-nin for the rest of the show.

Sasuke- Everything that Sasuke has ever, ever done has been for love. He doesn't move a muscle without thinking about the people he loves. His heart doesn't beat unless it can do so for someone else. People miss this because of his obsession with revenge or whatever, but he was doing that out of love for his clan. for his family. for, even, his brother, who he somehow devestatingly loved even before he knew Itachi wasn't to blame. Itachi set his entire world on fire when he was seven and then put him in a torture hallucination replaying it for days, and Sasuke still loved him. After everything he heard Danzo did, he still gave that bastard the chance to plea his case before killing him. Sasuke doesn't have a single cruel bone in his body.

Hinata- Hinata is a fighter. She loves, and she watches, and she's never met a fight she won't pick given half a chance. She put herself between her father's wrath and her sister. She fought Neji because Naruto was cheering on the sidelines. She only managed to confess her love when she jumped in to an impossible fight against Pein for Naruto. I don't think she ever wins a fight in Naruto (which is bullshit), but that's never hindered her undying fighting spirit.

Obito- Obito's tricky cause his characterization is contradictory and murky by nature so it's hard to argue the details of it, but you will never get me on board with a canon interpretation of him that isn't literally chronically dissociated for his entire adult life. I don't think he knows his name. I don't think he's looked in a mirror in years. I don't think he can tell you the date. I don't think he's felt anything but conviction since he held Rin's body in his arms.

IM STOPPING THERE. I CAN DO THIS FOREVER BUT I'M STOPPING THERE.

[girl4music]

The idea or take that romance isn’t as important as friendship when friendship can evolve into romance is an odd one for me and I think it’s because I don’t think romance can be a romance without a deep friendship.

I’m partial to the “love is friendship on fire” adage and fictional ships or couple romances or love stories that begin from friendship. I favour friends-to-lovers and slow burn platonic-to-romantic relationships in art/entertainment because the depth of the connection is not only depicted but also drawn out and developed.

You get the whole journey so there’s never any rush to get to one development to another. There’s no time-skipping. And there’s no push for something more to happen because what you see happening is part of why you want it to be something more. You appreciate all of it. Even the negatives like the fights and conflicts because that also helps to evolve the relationship into higher degrees of love and devotion than ever before if you’re able to get the whole journey of what you want.

And I think this is why I am fundamentally bored with romantic WLW ships of today in TV art/entertainment.

Because you don’t get the whole journey of the ship.

You don’t really get a love story.

You barely get a pamphlet. 😒

But shows like ‘Xena: Warrior Princess’ and ‘Wynonna Earp’ give you WLW ships where you get everything in the ships because the journey is the whole point to it.

And for me - that feels significantly more romantic than something that’s explicitly made to be romantic.

I’ve come to realize that that’s probably because they both begin as friends and that that never changes. All that happens is the friendship evolves into romance. And I feel like a lot of TV show WLW ships get it very wrong when they change the friendship side of things. That’s if it even starts as a friendship first. I am often surprised by how many WLW ships I’ve seen in TV art/entertainment that do not. That immediately go into romance. That’s usually just because those shows are just too damn short and linear and they have no time to show you the journey. Thank fuck for fanfic then because in fanfic you can rewrite the beginnings and endings and also explore all the detail in the middle.

What can I say? TV show storytelling just isn’t a good medium for WLW representation not because they don’t want to give you the whole journey… but because they’re prevented from being able to do so.

And I’ve had enough now. I’ve had enough of being made a side storyline or liner notes in a straight person’s show or being killed off or cancelled or tragically broken up and separated when it’s not.

I either want to be a main narrative or not there at all.

I don’t want to have to settle for a half-way state and position of existence just because I’m not male and not straight. I don’t want to have to just make do and I think anybody that believes that they should seriously need to watch something more “dated” where the censorship might be rampant throughout, but… least you still get to see the whole damn journey of what is. Least there is development for those characters and even a conclusion and closure to their relationships…

Least you actually get to see yourself be … someone.

And none of it has absolutely anything to do with your sexuality or gender identity in the way where you have to feel like you’re apologizing for it or sacrificing for it… but rather… this is what is happening and it’s fine.

People really think it’s contradictory that why I love Xena and Gabrielle so much is because their sexuality or the nature of their relationship is never made an issue. They see that as an erasure of who they are.

When no, that’s not it at all.

It’s just not all they are.

It’s not all they do.

There’s so much more about them that’s detailed instead over that and it still never takes away from it.

And that’s what you want. That’s the kind of format to a love story you want to be watching or reading about because it’s normal, it’s natural and it’s just how it is.

They’re lead female characters with many main narratives across the span of 6 whole ass seasons.

And oh yeah, they just happen to be queer and in love.

The journey of the relationship as a friendship is always put first and made the focus with Xena and Gabrielle but it’s always up to you what else they are. It’s just for me - the friendship is what IS so romantic. I can’t really separate one from the other because to me… the reason why they’re the greatest love story that I’ve ever seen in TV of all-time is because they begin as friends and they never neglect this aspect.

[themattress]

The Evolution of Yu-Gi-Oh! Villainy

Thinking back on this post from @ultraericthered, It's interesting to note that Kazuki Takahashi developed in how he wrote villains as the Yu-Gi-Oh! manga progressed.

Let's look at how he initially wrote villains, shall we?

They're all the same type of one-dimensional, psychotic, horrible person. It gets old fast.

We then get a pair of two-parters with a slight step up.

Kaiba and Hirutani respectively are still one-dimensional, psychotic, horrible people, but they actually feel dangerous. Yami Yugi has been owning every other shmuck with relative ease; he honestly came off as more frightening than they did! Kaiba and Hirutani, meanwhile, show a more calculating and intelligent side to them that allows them to pose a genuine threat.

Then there's Takahashi's first attempt at a "Big Bad": Shadi.

And Takahashi himself has admitted that he sucked. He tried so hard to make him mysterious that he just ended up being confusing and bland, with no charisma or even an identifiable motive for antagonizing Yugi and his friends. Takahashi himself hadn't actually thought of any concrete plans for Shadi or the story's lore beyond vague details at this point, so much of how Shadi is presented here and the things he does end up feeling contradictory to how the narrative develops later. So after this failure, Takahashi went back to making one-note assholes before bringing back one of the best of them and elevating him to Big Bad status.

Now with the first name of Seto, Kaiba worked beautifully as a Big Bad since he had a clear motivation, established history with the protagonist, and we already knew he was a threat, with the new additions of just how rich and skilled at games he is plus a backstory explaining why he is the way he is cementing him as the series' best villain to date without question.

However, he was still lacking a key element: charisma.

"What?", you may be saying, "The Hell do you mean; Kaiba's super charismatic!"

Kaiba post-Mind Crush is super charismatic, yes. He's even charismatic in the 1998 Toei anime adaptation, where he has green hair and is more of a classy, scheming supervillain.

But originally?

He can pretend to be charismatic, particularly when he's playing for a crowd, but otherwise Kaiba is still the same charmless thug as before, and the actions he takes in this arc reach truly vile territory. Again, he's a wonderfully effective villain, but it's not because you love to hate him - you just hate him and want to see him brought down. You don't enjoy his villainy.

Once again, the arc is followed up by a few more one-off forgettable baddies, although at the end of that run we get Hirutani making a return appearance, now with a ratty sidekick named Nezumi who I feel like more could have been done with. And after that, he finally debuted.

Yami Bakura, while a step down from Kaiba in DEATH-T in terms of scale (feeling more akin to Kaiba in his debut two-parter instead), was when Takahashi finally managed to crack the charisma code. Yes, he's a psychotic asshole, but he carries himself with such conviction, schemes and plays games in such a meticulous way, and has such a sense of theatrical flamboyance and gallows humor that it's impossible not to be entertained by his twisted Dungeon Master antics. And unlike Shadi, he is mysterious the right way; you can tell there's a lot more to him that you don't know yet, but the arc foreshadows much of it impeccably, and as he goes on to be the main overarching antagonist of the whole series it's great to see him only become more dangerous until he successfully pays off all of his long-term planning.

And then...

Maximiilion J. Pegasus (Pegasus J. Crawford in the Japanese version) is the apotheosis of Takahashi learning to write villains. Like Shadi, he has crucial and mysterious ties to the overarching narrative, but like Yami Bakura it's done correctly. Like Kaiba, he's a large-scale corporate rich guy whom Yugi and his friends must fight through a dangerous game tournament to reach after he does something bad to Grandpa Moto, all while he monitors everything from his stronghold, and at the very end fully reveals a tragic backstory that explains but does not excuse him. Like Yami Bakura, he is insanely charismatic and you enjoy watching him even when he's doing the most dastardly things. And to take things a step further, he is directly connected to all of those prior Big Bads: he got his Millennium Eye from Shadi personally, he is colluding with Kaiba Corp which only became possible because Yami Yugi defeated and Mind Crushed Kaiba in DEATH-T, and he ends up killed by Yami Bakura!

I won't be talking about Mr. Clown, because ultimately he's just a decoy while Yami Bakura, under the guise of being an ally now, makes crucial progress in his big overarching evil plan.

Then we get the disappointment that is Marik Ishtar.

No, not that Marik Ishtar! He's actually great! A slight step down from Pegasus but a major step up from Mr. Clown, Marik is a different sort of villain: a distant, shadowy evil mastermind behind a criminal organization engaged in a conspiracy across Domino City. Marik is threatening, charismatic, and interesting: increasingly so as we learn his backstory, discover his blood ties to Ishizu, and see him enter a deliciously sinister alliance with Yami Bakura.

But then...

Not only does Yami Marik come out of nowhere, but his character can be summed up here:

Now, these kinds of crazy, evil-for-evil's-sake, "I wanna destroy everything" villains can be done well. But I'm sorry, I just don't think Takahashi knew how to do so. Yami Marik is boring. He's not remotely charming or engaging in his vile villainy, he is overpowered to an irritating degree, and he only serves to further complicate and elongate what was already a very complicated and elongated story arc. It feels like Takahashi was going to carry Marik all the way through but then gave him such a dark and sad backstory that he felt sorry for him and wanted to redeem him, but couldn't think of a viable way without inventing this even eviler alternate personality to serve as a scapegoat. So I am absolutely not a fan of Yami Marik....

...in the original manga.

Yes, for all that the Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters anime adaptation screws up, it can sometimes fluke into improving on the source material, and Yami Marik is one of the biggest examples. Animation and voice-acting single-handedly change him from a boring villain to a wonderfully entertaining one; devouring the scenery and coming off more feral monster than serial killer.

Finally, we have Zorc Necrophades and Akhenaden.

Zorc is the standard Final Boss villain who has been built up to for a long time, and he serves that role very well. But Akhenaden is where the real interest lies. He's essentially Takahashi writing a Shakespearean tragic villain: a complex man both loathsome and pitiable, whose understandable desires and conflicting emotions lead him down a dark path that ends with him losing his humanity and becoming a hollow vessel for Zorc's soul, fueled only by hatred. Additionally, he has deep connections to all prior Big Bads and to Yami Yugi himself. He is worthy of Ultimate Villain status (which the Duel Monsters anime sadly took away from him).

My ranking of the manga's Big Bads: Shadi < Mr. Clown < Yami Marik < Marik < Kaiba < Zorc/Akhenaden < Bakura < Pegasus (would've been Kaiba < Marik if not for Yami Marik).

[sgiandubh]

Hi there. I enjoyed your post about Sam’s brand and it got me thinking. I feel like he’s stuck between trying to do what other people tell him he should to “make it” and trying to do it himself. Other people: you’re hot, show it off, do action movies, date blonde floozies. Himself: I want to be a good person and a decent actor, but what if I’m not? Guess I should work a lot, build a non-acting brand just in case I get fired, but try not to pay too many people to market it, I can do that myself; the liquor has the added benefit of getting his name out there and hopefully giving him another income stream if acting goes to shit. Where this all becomes problematic is that he’s not the person others tell him to be, so he comes off as fake, inconsistent, disingenuous, contradictory. I worry though that he can’t break away from these “advisors” because of whatever hole he and caitriona have themselves in with Starz and their bosses. We may not all agree on what happened in 2016 or why, but it’s obvious something did. The difference between them both since then is stark. The light has dimmed. They’ve aged exponentially. They’re guarded. They’re not the effervescent dynamos they started out as. She looks pissed all the time, like she’ll trot Tony out if necessary, but she won’t look like she enjoys it. She’ll go to awards ceremonies, but she won’t look as gorgeous as she easily could. She won’t be their ingenue. I don’t know, I think they’re stuck and are limited in what they can actually do for themselves, as much as they might like to. I can only hope there is an end in sight for them and they can persevere until then!

PS, I watched She Said last night. Highly recommend for anyone who doesn’t think a network executive could or would force their tent pole stars to deny a relationship.

Dear She Said Anon,

I liked your submission so much, I have read it three times in a row (and damn the late hour!). I have very few things to add to your excellent assessment of what I think is a very complicated situation. The proverbial Scottish parsimony could explain the choice of a minimally budgeted, all hands on deck sales and advertising approach. But we are quickly passing this stage and he should seriously think of hiring true professionals, if he really wants to make a financial lifebelt out of SS.

Yes. There's a price to be paid for all the games they are being served to play (and yes, something terrible happened in January 2016, of which we will probably never have the full details). Both of them are now striving to show us they can (scantily, painfully) exist without the magical Other. She, with that colorless, wrist-grabbing, fist-clenching literally dumb person (strictly meaning that we never hear him). He, with that (forgive me, Father, for I am about to sin) questionable, loud and tacky Oriental consigliere (it is high time I should write that paper on the Persia I know and love, lest you or other Anon think I am racist, or something). You can't figure out more opposite add-ons to Those Two, both serving, I believe, the same purpose: to deflect, at all costs, any attention given to the real state of play.

I haven't watched She Said yet and I welcome and thank you for the suggestion. On a lighter note, I trade for it Call My Agent (I have already mentioned this very, very witty French series, dealing with the life in a Parisian talent agency) - it shouldn't be a problem to find it on Netflix.

Good night, Anon. This one below is me thanking you for your trouble and time writing this wonderful post. Just look at Mitsuko Uchida's genuine Joy while playing Beethoven - same energy as Two People We Know, back in 2014, right?

[fulltragedywerewolf]

tf2 ships as songs

ok so. this is tf2 ships as songs. like. the vibes of them. or also the lyrics. like. what i think the tf2 ships sound like. this is very self explanatory.

i wont do all of them because theres a lot of them and i dont have that many songs to match them so sorry if your favorite rarepair isnt here ill try to do them later or something ok maybe not like later later but at some point maybe ill do then ok so here we go

Sniper/Spy: "Gallery Piece" - of Montreal

The song talks about wanting multiple, contradictory things at the same time. Wanting to hurt and heal, uplift and upset, admire and destroy; all things provoked by simply witnessing. It also has this very temporal aspect, almost dated. Like it only exists due to specific circumstances, frail variables. Any other "gallery piece" won't create the same impulses. It's all very circumstantial.

Spy/Spy: "No Children" - The Mountain Goats

Doomed. It's been happening for a while, and it's long due it's expiration date (ha). However, none of them will move or accept that it's over. Both are so dense and stubborn with their pride that they prefer to sink together rather than admit defeat. Obnoxiously, together is the last thing they want to be. And they have no children lmao.

Engie/Soldier: "Are we still friends?" - Tyler, The Creator

I like how the song is both calm, thorough and constant and jumpy, on edge, aimless. It's the calm before and after the storm, and the eye of the hurricane. It's a permanent question that goes unanswered, or answered many times, yet inconclusive. That what their relationship feels to me: sharp-detailed and blurry, with a constant reassurance that it's real.

Engie/Pyro: "Feminine Effects" - of Montreal

Reminds me of a lullaby. In some aspect, their dinamic has a sense of childness, but not in an infantilization way: in a comfort way. They cancel each other's manics, leaving a sated state between them, much like this song. They contrastedly lull. And when the songs says something about being "a teenager when you took me from my mama's bed", let's say it's figurative in their case :)

Medic/Sniper: "Sails, Hermaphroditic" - of Montreal

I like to think of the lyrics as a joke between them, about how they're both too eccentric to be edgelessly compatible and would be easier if any of them were more rational. The music also feels to me like a description of them, fun and erratic.

Demo/Soldier: "Banana Man" - Tally Hall

Any talk between them. Can be from silly and joyful to deep and darkheartened. Anyhow, a good time. They're both outlandish, an alcoholic and a patriotic screaming eagle, and combined they give absolute tomfoolery. Gargantuan gibberish. Gigantic rapscallioness. And they might drag you with them.

Heavy/Medic: "1812 Overture" - Tchaikovsky

A classic. Everyone knows it. It's the tale of how the french troups were reaching Moscow (i think), and when it boiled down to the end, the russians bombarded the city, leaving the famished enemy unvictorious. The told story of triumph, even when outnumbered. It's also a little cliché, but still, it stands out.

Pyro/Soldier: "Firework" - Katy Perry

Hear me out. I know the song is overplayed, but the theme though. Just being yourself. No strings attached. Exploding like a firework. Fire? Rockets? Hello? No more questions, your honor. To me, they're being extremely true to each other with each other, to a point that's concerning. Like the shot of a rocket that explodes into thounsands of colorful sparks. Someone might get their eyes burnt.

Engie/Scout: "Cars" - The Honeysticks

It's the boistering and egotism with the pride and proudness. It's showing off you're the best and being content with what you got, not wanting more. They're also very keen on cars. Scout for being a showoff, Engie for being obsessed with machines. And exactly that: they're letting everyone know that they're joyous, one way or another.

[gallifreyinstituteforlearning]

in gallifreyan, whichever scripts, how do they write coordinates, be it time or displacement? Or planet relative calendar dates.

How do Time Lords write coordinates?

There's a bit of contradictory information and things that don’t make much sense when it comes to space-time coordinates and Gallifreyans, but here’s an answer I hope will sate your curiosity, with plenty of background:

🔑Key Parts of the Coordinate System

Spatial Coordinates: These specify locations in three-dimensional space relative to Galactic Zero Centre (Gallifrey’s Eye of Harmony, basically, or at least somewhere near it). They usually consist of Vector and Quadrant particles.

Temporal Coordinate: This indicates time, relative to Gallifrey’s present (whatever that’s supposed to mean! I would probably assume that while Gallifrey went walkies, the Doctor's TARDIS either used temporal coordinates relative to Event One (the creation of the universe), or otherwise fixed it at a certain Gallifreyan date. There are also specialised TARDIS instruments which can be calibrated help skip the temporal coordinate stuff and make the input relative to the planet).

Universal Coordinate: This designates the specific universe required.

Epsilon Coordinates: Calculated paths through the Space-Time Vortex, usually handled by a TARDIS automatically.

Flight Data: Details about departure and destination points.

🚀Space-Time Coordinates Format

Space-time coordinates consist of fifteen digits. Using these two combined below will get you to the right star system:

Vector (2 digits): Indicates the broad direction.

Quadrant (2 digits): Specifies the quadrant within the galaxy.

Using these two below in addition will get you a more precise location, and a time:

Exact Spatial Location (7 digits): Detailed coordinates within the quadrant.

Temporal Location (4 digits): Relative to Gallifrey’s present (you'll obviously need to be longer to be more precise).

🌍Example

Let's have a crack with Earth’s galactic coordinates. We know the Earth’s Galactic Coordinates are 5804 4684884:

Vector: 58, Quadrant: 04 (solely on these you’ll reach Mutter’s Spiral)

Exact Spatial Location: 4684884 (add this and you’ll reach Earth)

Temporal Location: 9182 (+9182 time units from Gallifrey’s present)

The Flight Data Monitor will simplify this. Assuming a journey from Earth to fictional Zargon 3, your TARDIS monitor will display something like this:

Departure Planet: Sol 3 (Earth) [Dimension 01] Location: London, England Local Dateline: 2024 Earth Year, 10th Era of Gallifrey Destination Planet: Zargon 3 [Dimension 04] Location: Zargon City, Zargonville Local Dateline: 156 Zargon Year, 11th Era of Gallifrey

Complete Coordinates:

01 5804 4684884 9182 -> 04 0316 0316500 3050

🏛️Integration with Landmark Worlds

Additionally, a TARDIS’s Galactic Positioning System can be fine-tuned using the relative locations of several Landmark Worlds. These landmark worlds include Gallifrey, Dagusa, Caresh, Erekan, Gau-Usu, and Cern. This way, the TARDIS can get more precise navigation by periodically materialising in space to recalibrate bearings as it's flying.

🔢Epsilon Coordinates

Then there are Epsilon Coordinates. These serve as a roadmap through the Space-Time Vortex, and need to be calculated before a flight. A Time Lord could do it mentally if they wanted, but the TARDIS usually automatically calculates these – it’s hugely complex maths, even for a Time Lord.

🖊️Writing the Coordinates

This really depends on the script you'd prefer to use, you can use modern Gallifreyan, which is probably the most lore-friendly, or Sherman's, or circular, or just bog standard Latin script numbers.

For GIL's Sollifreyan conlang shorthand script, you can use the 0-9 base with hyphens in-between, where the spaces would go.

Related:

💬|🗣️🤬Do Time Lords have their own curse words?: Taking you through all the bad words/phrases of Gallifrey.

💬|🗣️✍️How do Time Lords write dimensional coordinates?: How dimensional coordinates get written and work in TARDISes.

📺|🗣️⏲️The Timing of a Time Lord

Phew, hope that helped! 😃

Any orange text is educated guesswork or theoretical. More content ... →📫Got a question? | 📚Complete list of Q+A and factoids →📢Announcements |🩻Biology |🗨️Language |🕰️Throwbacks |🤓Facts → Features:⭐Guest Posts | 🍜Chomp Chomp with Myishu →🫀Gallifreyan Anatomy and Physiology Guide (pending) →⚕️Gallifreyan Emergency Medicine Guides →📝Source list (WIP) →📜Masterpost If you're finding your happy place in this part of the internet, feel free to buy a coffee to help keep our exhausted human conscious. She works full-time in medicine and is so very tired 😴

[otakusheep15]

Obey Me Flufftober Day 3

Prompt: Sightseeing

Pairing: Leviathan x reader (gender neutral)

Word count: 914

A/n: It's time for my best boy Levi!! When I initially got this prompt for him, I found it funny since it seems so contradictory, but I still think it's cute. I did a poll on whether MC is showing Levi around the human world or if Levi is showing MC around the Devildom, and Levi in the human world won!

Levi had always been fascinated by the human world. Not in the same way Belphie was, however. While Belphie liked the people, Levi liked the things people created. The human world was full of anime, manga, and games that the Devildom could never create, and these all fascinated him indeed. While he'd been to the human world several times in his life, it had never been for fun. Usually, it was for some form of business, so he rarely had time to explore.

That's why he was so excited when you offered to go sightseeing in the human world with him. While he would never go sightseeing on his own, going with you sounded like a dream come true.

After much deliberation, you decided on going to your hometown. It's a small town with not a lot to do, but Levi was surprisingly insistent on this location. At first, you were confused on why he didn't want to go somewhere more interesting, but he explained that he wanted to see your home. In his mind, it's only fair since you've seen so much of his home and yet he's hardly seen any of yours.

So, it was settled. You would take him to your small town for some sightseeing. It was exciting for him, but completely nerve-wracking for you. Your town is so boring in comparison to the Devildom, and the last thing you wanted to do was bore him. However, Levi was quick to reassure you that he wanted to see your hometown more than anything, and it would not bore him at all.

On the day of your departure, your anxieties still haven't fully left your mind. However, you were willing to push them aside for now in the hopes that they would go away.

When you arrived home, Levi was immediately wanting to look around your house. It was just the two of you, so you allowed him the chance to look as he pleased. The house wasn't big, but it was home, and it did ease your nerves when you saw his positive reaction. Once he was done looking around and pointing out any little detail he could, you decided to start showing him around the rest of your town.

There were a couple of restaurants that were decent enough but nothing fancy, a library that, much to Levi's excitement, did hold some manga, a few regular stores, a movie theater, and a few other places to hangout. However, you decided to take Levi to your favorite spot in the whole town.

Well, technically, it wasn't fully in the town. On the outskirts, there was this beautiful sunflower field that you thought would be perfect for a little picnic date. It was quiet, and not many people came out here, so you knew Levi would enjoy it. You walked him around the field for a bit, explaining that you'd been exploring it since you were little, and it's a very special spot for you. Levi was touched that you'd let him into your space, and he told you as much. The picnic was relaxing and fun, and it was decided that you'd visit the library once you finished.

The library was Levi's dream. There were a surprising amount of books considering the building itself wasn't that big, but that didn't bother him in the slightest. He was quick to move away from your side in favor for exploring the shelves, and you laughed at how cute he could be. Eventually, he found the manga section, and you knew you weren't getting him back anytime soon. Seeing him so excited about such a simple manga section in a library is easily the most adorable thing you've ever witnessed, and you thought it a good idea to leave him be while be browsed. In the meantime, you explored your own favorite sections while you waited for him, but you didn't actually pick out any books since you knew you'd only be there for a day.

Eventually, Levi was done looking, though it almost seemed like he wished to stay for longer. As a final activity, you agreed to go see a movie. Levi was fairly interested in human world movies, so you thought this was a good opportunity to show him a new release. It was fun being able to see a human world movie in a human world theater with your demon boyfriend. Honestly, it wasn't all that different from seeing a movie in the Devildom, but it was still nice to think about.

Being here with Levi, showing him around your hometown, letting him in to your space, was a huge deal for you. By the end of the day, you couldn't even remember why you felt any doubts about bringing him here. Sure, you could have easily brought him to some big city with all the stores and restaurants you could ask for, but this was special. This was intimate and personal, and it made both you and Levi so unbelievably happy. You had let him see a new side of you today, and he was so grateful that you willingly let him in like this. He made sure to tell you as much when you returned to the Devildom. It was a sweet way to end your date, having him be so open about his feelings like this. Regardless of what your past self may have thought, present you considered this to have been the perfect sightseeing date.

[tsukkilody]

clautsukki superman! au where Tsukki as superman very much needs media training.

After the very few short reports and interviews that he's done, mostly because reporters had caught him on the spot, there's been one thing settled, Superman doesn't know how to deal with the media, he's brief, doesn't like giving much detail, always seems in a rush and especially doesn't like when reporters overstep, coming up with sarcastic remarks that, in a way, oppose to his noble actions.

This hasn't been overlooked by any media channel, taking the opportunity to profit from these slips that occur from time to time with fishy headliners.

As a journalist herself, Clau hasn't missed these articles either, reading over them, feeding the intriguing curiosity she feels for this contradictory complex hero.

She talks to Tsukki about it, how ironic it is that this mysterious man who seems committed to a good cause can showcase himself in that light sometimes. He panics internally, he's been aware, and it's only made him even more hostile to the media even as a reporter himself, but he can't help it, there's too many moron coworkers that can get away with mediocre shit just because it's flashy gossip.

As much as he doesn't want to, he's gotta admit that they might be right juuust sometimes. He's always been this way, he can't deny that, but the mix of exhaustion from his frenetic life and stupid reporters (as he refers to them) are the perfect recipe for a deadly cocktail of sass when they get borderline disrespectful. It's also right that the double life is getting to him, the plan was to maintain himself as closed to the media as possible but it was inevitable, people will want to know about the strong flying man that saves people. He thought he'd have it under control when his tongue got sharp but it's harder than it seems.

Tsukki tries to refute those articles with his own, defending the caped hero by focusing on criticizing the way other reporters just work with sensationalism. Let's say...It doesn't as much visibility.

⋆｡ ﾟ☁︎｡⋆ ｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡ ⋆｡ ﾟ☁︎ ﾟ ｡⋆ !

Once dating, as soon as Clau discovers Kei's secret she tries to provide him with that said media training so there's never headliners like

"Is Superman a Jerk? Saves the day but snaps at reporter"

"Man of steel, Mouth of sass"

ever again...at least in her daily planet section.

⋆｡ ﾟ☁︎｡⋆ ｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡ ⋆｡ ﾟ☁︎ ﾟ ｡⋆ !

She can't erase the footprint but it's determined to show people the reality, two things can be true at once. Yes, he can get extra cocky. But reporters can also push his buttons to get some type of negative reaction. Ideally Tsukki would like the Superman name to be completely clean, but he can't turn back time, so he just puts his trust in his girl, as promised, she delivers.

That's when Clau releases the most detailed interview with Superman to date, where, for the first time, the superhero opens to the people.

Bosses surely don't understand how she's gotten so close to the mystery man, but she's archived something no one has, better give her a raise.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎. . .

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎"Superman is an alien, but human after all"

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ —Clau

[anghraine]

katarinanavane replied to this post:

Ok tell me more about this Cesare Borgia thing

I did not expect to be asked about this one, but I'm always happy to! There's contradictory information on whether Cesare was born in 1475 or 1476. For whatever reason, almost everything I see chooses to go with 1475 when picking just one. I'm away from the house that actually has my books (I know there's an account of Alexander VI remarking that Cesare was four years older than Lucrezia to the month, but don't have the exact quote on hand right now). In any case, my favorite Borja historian is Miquel Batllori (RIP), who wrote:

Gracias a numerosos documentos y al epígrafe del sepulcro de Vannozza Catanei, sabemos que ésta fue la madre de César, de Joan, de Lucrecia y de Jofré de Borja. Vannozza estaba casada con Domenico di Arignano cuando, en abril de 1476, nació César Borja...

Quick translation:

"Thanks to numerous documents and the epigraph on the sepulcher of Vannozza Catanei, we know that she was the mother of César [Cesare], of Joan [Juan], of Lucrecia [Lucrezia] and of Jofré [Gioffre] de Borja [Borgia]. "Vanozza was married to Domenico di Arignano when, in April of 1476, César Borja was born..."

It's not certain, I guess, but my brain is so locked into the April 1476 birthdate that it's always jarring for me to see the 1475 one! And the various interviews for the show referred to Cesare as so young in S1 that the later date has always been my headcanon for the show, too (even though the potential dates are only months apart). This poll was for headcanons I can't prove but feel irrationally strongly about, so a sketchy historical detail I've imported into my headcanons for a definitely not historically accurate TV drama seemed apropos.

[this-daydream-is-dangerous-13]

May 20th - date of significance? Yes.

Harry released Harry’s House on May 20, 2022. After waiting many months to release Fine Line on Blondie’s 30th birthday, and after writing the bulk of this album in mid 2020, we can assume he chose this date for a reason. Here’s my proposed reason why.

But first - this requires acknowledging that the official, public Haylor origin story of 2012 is incomplete. Yes, they met in late March, eventually took a break, and picked up again in the fall. But based on Harry’s random flights, their mutual habit of vanishing simultaneously (no photos, fan or otherwise) and the lyrical information they’ve disclosed over the years - there is way more to the story.

Let’s call May, June, and very July of that year the Cruel Summer of 2012.

A bunch of stuff likely seemed to have happened in early May (that’ll be a future post about how the Sweeran origin story is also contradictory). But here we are, mid May.

Taylor is living in LA and mostly in the studio. There’s a stretch mid-month where she seems to disappear. Recall - this is the summer where she rents the house in Hyannis Port for many months.

On May 20th, 5 boys and their crew are spotted at the airport in London, flying to Boston Logan to embark on a couple months touring/doing promo in North America. Take a look at young H:

He is CARRYING ON an acoustic guitar, which he can barely play, rather than sending it ahead with all their other instruments and luggage.

The band lands in Boston; 4 guys head to the Mohegan Sun in CT (where they will play a concert soon) and are photographed by fans. And this guy? Vanishes.

Recall the secret message for Everything Has Changed, which Taylor brought to Ed almost totally done for recording on May 27, 2012:

This song, if you’ll recall, talks of a green-eyed smiling man whose eyes “look like coming home”.

Red was finalized at the very beginning of June; Taylor met the Kennedy grandsons on July 4th weekend. The timing does not work, especially since it was recorded in late May (with pap photos of Taylor and Ed outside the Santa Monica studio that day).

But MORE that that, something else occurs that day. It’s described in a 2014 song by Alex and Sierra written by Harry, and outlined in greater detail by Taylor on folklore. It’s a day described in august:

And…ah…perhaps this was also the date for some of the other events described in august?

And lest you think the whole thing wasn’t significant to Harry…by May 27 or 28, the boy gets his second tattoo. It’s a small capital A on the inside of his left elbow, seen for the first time here:

In an interview given by the boys in early July, Harry is asked about the tattoo (which had been drawn by Zayn, our OG Haylor). I cannot link directly to the interview - search for One Direction Granada TV interview on YT. And at 2:30, Harry is asked the significance of the tattoo.

Harry: oh, it’s for my….ah…ah..it’s for me mum.

Boys: laugh heartily at him

Louis: No it’s not! No, it’s not! It’s for a mystery blond!!

Reader, recall that Blondie publishes all of her songs as Taylor A. Swift.

Ten years later, on May 20, 2022, Harry’s House is released.

And on May 20, 2023, during a rain show at Boston’s Gillette stadium, Taylor Swift tells the crowd “I’ve never been so happy in my life in all aspects of my life…my life finally feels like it makes sense.” And that she will play them “this song, which brings me a lot of happy memories”: Question…?

ETA: Want to know what his next two tattoos are? He has them in this late June photo

- the word “Hi” (“all I know is we said hello, and your eyes looks like coming home)

- the (misquoted) lyrics from Temper Trap’s Sweet Disposition, which happen to be the line which follows *the secret message for Treacherous*. Which he starts kissing while singing love songs starting the day after he gets the tattoo.

[eurydicees]

10 for the wip amnesty game since that title hits extra hard these days!!!!!!! (send help)

(also sending love, you've got this ♡)

[wip amnesty ask game details] 

thanks for asking!!! totally feel you about the title hitting extra hard these days; i'm sending love and support to you<3333

this is the second ask abt this fic (“be still my foolish heart don't ruin this on me or whatever hozier said”) so maybe i really should finish it lol. first answer is here!

the thing i’ve been struggling the Most with this fic is trying to reconcile the pieces of musical canon, book canon, and my own headcanons all into one cohesive story that MAKES SENSE. god. it needs to make sense. and i am having so many problems with that. i’m picking and choosing what i like of each canon but some of them are so contradictory that it’s a little impossible. 

the fic is nonlinear because it’s all glinda and nor having story time, not these lives happening in real time. i think that’s also maybe part of what’s making my life so hard. maybe i should’ve just done flashbacks. sigh. whatever. below the cut is vaguely the chronological timeline that i’ve figured out so far. would love to hear thoughts on if this, like, adds up at all LOL. 

PRE-STORY

fiyero is committed by his parents to an arranged marriage to sarima (they’re the same age though) 

boq and elphaba meet and are friends as children in munchkinland 

thropp family moves to quadling country as missionaries 

SHIZ ERA

gliyero musicalverse romance; gelphie rivals to lovers; fiyeraba friends to lovers—eventually gliyeraba start dating (with sarima’s knowledge and approval) 

elphaba and glinda meet the wizard in their sophomore year

after meeting the wizard, elphaba “goes underground” to join the rebellion against the wizard while glinda returns to shiz

gliyero break up when they graduate; glinda moves to emerald city to work for morrible and fiyero returns to the vinkus to be chieftain of the arjiki tribe 

INTERMISSION YEARS/EMERALD CITY

eight years after graduation—fiyero and sarima already have the three children (nor is six, manek is seven, irji is eight) 

fiyero travels to emerald city for business reasons 

glinda is currently working as a political/public figure in emerald city with morrible/the wizard

elphaba is working for the rebellion, has completely disappeared 

they reunite at the church—from there, it’s basically the EC chapters from the book but also ft. glinda 

they have 1-2 little happy years :) 

fiyero is assassinated as a warning to elphaba

fiyero’s death happens in the abandoned hayloft just outside of the city walls that they’ve been meeting in; elphaba comes to meet him and finds him bleeding out and the wizard’s guards waiting for her; she is able to escape and cast the spell as in NGD 

glinda comes back to the hayloft to find only fiyero’s blood and signs of a struggle; morrible is the one to tell her that fiyero has been killed and elphaba is on the run 

glinda’s role in their lives is suspected but there’s not enough evidence to prosecute her for it, especially not with how beloved she is by the people in EC 

IN THE VINKUS 

after fiyero’s death and going on the run, elphaba ends up in the vinkus with fiyero’s family

she’s half mad at this point, delirious and completely dysfunctional, but her final breaking point hasn’t come yet

she also doesn’t know yet that her spell on fiyero worked 

coupla days later ish, nessa dies—morrible causes her death as an attempt to trap elphaba, as in musical; glinda suggests it as a way to mask her own secret involvement with fiyeraba 

elphaba leaves the vinkus to go to her, not caring that it might be a trap; she’s past caring about her own wellbeing 

WICKED ACT 2/WIZARD OF OZ PLOT 

glinda gives dorothy nessa’s ruby slippers, sends dorothy to the wizard 

elphaba is able to get out of there before the guards come because glinda warns her about the trap and tells her SHE still cares about elphaba’s wellbeing

elphaba flies back to the vinkus only to find the the wizard’s army has kidnapped nor and killed the rest of fiyero’s family (THIS is what her final breaking point to “becoming wicked” is) 

fiyero (as the scarecrow) is meanwhile traveling to the vinkus with dorothy 

elphaba fakes her death; runs off into the sunset with fiyero

POST-CANON/SOAW NOR 

nor has meanwhile been imprisoned—she’s moved between various places but eventually ends up in southstairs 

she spends four years in emerald city under the rule of the emperor (who replaces the wizard after glinda establishes a new political state or smth) in various states of imprisonment or child slavery (until she is twelve)

she then spends a year in southstairs (until she is thirteen) as punishment for trying to resist, before managing to escape

she then spends four years homeless on the streets of emerald city, until she goes begging for food at glinda’s EC home and glinda takes her in to work for her in gillikin 

and NOW the fic can start. fuck. this project is ridiculous.