#there's more to unpack here but i'm not an expert and I don't know if I'm ready to engage in something like this without knowing more first | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

makeitmingi · 1 year ago

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The Cat and Dog Game [Chapter 2]

Genre: Romance, Fluff, Comedy

Pairing: Yunho x Reader (y/n)

Characters: Chef!Reader, RestaurantOwner!Yunho, MaitreD!Hongjoong, Waiter!Yeosang, Waiter!San, Waiter!Mingi, SousChef!Seonghwa, SousChef!Wooyoung, PrepChef!Jongho

Summary: Yunho's dream was to open and run his own restaurant. But he doesn't know anything when it comes to cooking. Until you came along and accepted the job, bringing with you a small crew. How will the black cat tame the energetic golden retriever?

Word count: 3.3K

"Nice to be acquainted with you. My name is Yunho... No, no. It's nice to meet you. Call me Yunho!... That's so awkward... Thank you for making the time. My name is Mr Jeong Yunho." Yunho planted a fake grin. He let out a groan as he processed his own words, falling onto his steering wheel.

*TAP TAP*

"Yunho... Are you okay?" Hongjoong stood outside, a questioning look on his face. Yunho sat up, blinking as he stared at the oldest of the group.

"Hey, hyung. I'm fine." Yunho said, getting out of the car. He grabbed his bag and coffee mug before locking the vehicle.

"Wow. You've... dressed up." Hongjoong scanned the outfit that Yunho had put on.

"I have to look like the owner of a restaurant right? I picked a colour that exudes confidence! Is it too much?" Yunho's eyes widened in fear as he paused in his tracks.

"You're fine, Yunho. Chill. You look nice. Don't worry." Hongjoong patted the taller on the shoulder. Yunho unlocked the door to the place.

"Thanks for being here, hyung." Yunho smiled gratefully, putting his bag behind the counter and placing his coffee mug on one of the booth seats. Hongjoong nodded with a hum. Mingi would kill him if he had left Yunho alone.

"Are you nervous?" Hongjoong asked.

"Not nervous about meeting new people. More nervous about it not working out. What are we going to do if things don't work out? I'll be without a kitchen crew!" Yunho panicked.

"Okay, breathe. Yunho, everything will be fine. I'm sure things will work out. If they don't, we'll find a way." Hongjoong assured.

"You're right. Be positive!" Yunho fist pumped and smiled. Hongjoong gave an encouraging nod.

"So what should I do until they come? Clean the kitchen? Prepare some drinks? Order food?" Yunho asked, rubbing his palms against the side of his dress pants.

"There's no need to do or prepare anything. The kitchen is practically empty with barely any equipment and no one has been there so there's no need to clean now. They probably have their own food and drinks, they're a group of chefs. Just collect yourself, take a deep breath. You're just having a talk." Hongjoong chuckled.

"I'm gonna make a pitcher of some drink before they come. That's the only thing I know I won't mess up." Yunho said.

"Okay but they're not coming yet so occupy your mind with something else." Hongjoong waved him off. In the end, Yunho went to unpack some other stuff.

"Thanks for helping me get such nice plates at a good price, hyung." Yunho looked at the packaged plates fondly.

"No worries. I guess it's good that I did a lot of co-curricular activities, huh?" Hongjoong laughed.

"You're a lot better at this than me..." Yunho spoke, slightly sullen, leaning his hands on on the edges of the cardboard box. Hongjoong turned around, looking at his friend.

"What? That's not true..."

"Isn't it? You have the connections to find a kitchen crew. The only person I was able to find ghosted me. You were the one that knew where to get all these cool plates and stuff for the restaurant. I didn't even know where to get white coffee cups!" Yunho said.

"Yunho. This is your first time doing this. No one is expecting you to know everything or be an expert restaurateur. It is a learning process for all of us." Hongjoong comforted.

"Sure, I knew where to get pretty plates. But you managed all the contracting the design yourself." He continued.

"Still..." Yunho's lips curled in doubt.

"Really, no one else has as much energy as you to do so much on your own. It's the golden retriever energy only you have." He laughed. Yunho pouted at his teasing.

"Thanks, hyung." Yunho said. When the time drew closer to the meeting, Yunho prepared a pitcher of a mixed drink.

"I don't have much ingredients..." Yunho rubbed the back of his neck.

"What are you going to put in it then?" Hongjoong peered over the counter curiously. Yunho sighed, turning to the small bar fridge and what he had on the shelf. Luckily he had stocked some items already so it wasn't entirely empty.

"Black currant syrup, club soda, lime and mint. That's a drink I can make with what I have." He said, putting everything on the counter. He poured each component into the pitcher.

"Does it taste okay?" He poured a bit for Hongjoong to try.

"That's actually good." Hongjoong nodded in approval. Yunho let out a sigh of relief and went to get some clean glasses.

*DING*

Yunho's head shot up like a meerkat on alert when he heard the bell by the door jingle. He felt his heart racing but he willed himself to not parkour over the counter.

"Seonghwa." Hongjoong made the first move, giving Yunho about 5 seconds to recover.

"Yunho, come here." Hongjoong hissed but maintained a friendly smile. Yunho realised that he must have zoned out when they exchanged pleasantries and it was now his turn. He cleared his throat and went over to your group. You eyed him cautiously as he smiled brightly, almost too bright in your opinion.

"Hi! I'm Jung Yunho!" He said, wincing inwardly when he realised that he probably sounded too animated. His eyes fell on you, the only girl amongst the group.

"I'm (y/n). Nice to meet you." You weren't emotionless, more stoic. There was a cool aloofness about you.

"Likewise. Thank you for meeting us on such short notice." Yunho shook your hand.

"Weren't we the ones who requested the meeting?" You asked with a slightly raised eyebrow. The male beside you stifled a laugh while Seonghwa cleared his throat, nudging the male.

"Wooyoung, one of the sous." The laughing male introduced with a fake smile but made no effort to shake Yunho's hand.

"Jongho. Prep chef." The last male introduced.

"So that makes (y/n) here, our head chef. She doesn't like titles so she never introduces herself with them." Seonghwa placed his hands on your shoulders, moving you to the front of the group. You turned to shoot him a dirty look.

"P-Please! Let's sit down! Help yourself to some refreshments." Yunho gestured, realising you were all still standing around. You sat together at one of the tables.

Yunho and Hongjoong on one side while Seonghwa, you, Wooyoung and Jongho sat opposite them.

"Did you make this?" Jongho asked, taking a sip of the drink.

"Yes, it's all I had in stock so far! So it may not be the best." You watched as Yunho's shoulders deflated slightly, almost reminding you of a sad puppy.

"It's good. Like the muddling of mint and lime." Wooyoung said. He handed you a glass to take a sip.

"So, I saw from Seonghwa's LinkedIn that you guys participate in a lot of pop ups and professional kitchens?" Hongjoong asked.

"Oh, that's way outdated. Here. This is the full list of the places we have worked as a team." Seonghwa took some papers out and slid them over to Yunho and Hongjoong. They flipped through it together. The subsequent look of awe that Yunho gave all of you made the corners of your lips curl up slightly.

"I guess we want to know more about your restaurant here. Seonghwa shared some things but it would be good if you could reiterate. What's expected of us?" You spoke.

"Well, this place will be a cafe in the morning. Then at night, I would like to have it as a restaurant." Yunho cleared his throat.

"What cuisine?" Jongho followed up.

"There's no set cuisine. I want customers to be able to experience all types of dishes, whatever is in the market. Like an omakase? But of course, we don't need michelin dishes." He explained shyly.

"I see. That sounds interesting, I can get behind an omakase concept. Well, Mr Jung-"

"Please call me Yunho." He blurted.

"Right, Yunho... The main concern right now is that, we know the... situation that you are currently in, in that there will only be 4 of us in the kitchen. My team and I are concern over the workload. Cafe stuff in the morning then dinner at night." You informed.

"I completely understand. What do you propose is the best solution?" Yunho asked. Hongjoong turned to look at Yunho, why was he asking you this when he was the owner?

"You're asking me? Can you share how many cakes and pastries you are planning to have? Or dinner dishes?"

"Well, a variety would be good. 3 baked items and 3 cakes? I have not thought about quantities of dinner dishes." Yunho confessed.

Hongjoong wanted a facepalm, Yunho was being way too honest now. But he couldn't outwardly react and make Yunho doubt himself. All he could do was sit there and watch this unfold.

"What about barista duties?" Wooyoung asked.

"My friends and I will take turns. They'll be the wait staff at night." Hongjoong said.

"They've also volunteered to help in the kitchen if and when necessary!" Yunho added, nodding with a grin.

"I think I understand a bit more." You said, eyes shifting to Seonghwa. Seonghwa met your gaze, giving a subtle nod.

"Can we see the kitchen?" Seonghwa requested. Yunho nodded, almost too excitedly. He stood up and jogged over to where the kitchen is, turning the lights on for the 4 of you to walk around. The kitchen was big, the counters, fume hood, ovens and fridges were definitely new.

"There's no much here right now except for the basics but if you all decide to work here, I'll put in an order for more equipment that you will need." Yunho said.

"It's a big space. And the walk in is decent." Wooyoung told you. You nodded your head.

"Is it okay if I confer with my team in here for a while?" You turned to Yunho, who blinked in surprise.

"Y-Yes! Of course! Take all the time you need." Yunho smiled and left with Hongjoong. Just as you were going to speak, the door opened slightly and Yunho left the pitcher of drink in there for you.

"He's a weird one." Wooyoung noted.

"Coming from you?" Jongho raised an eyebrow, making Wooyoung roll his eyes. You leaned against the counter.

"He's definitely... chipper. An interesting character. But does he not remind you of an overgrown puppy though?" You chuckled. The 3 boys looked at you, you have never had such a laugh or 'positive' reaction when meeting someone for the first time.

"I mean, sure?" Even Seonghwa, who has known you the longest, didn't know how to react. He thought you would be annoyed by Yunho's... clumsiness?

"That aside, thoughts on this?" You asked them. You were never one to be the first to share, more a listener than speaker.

"The idea of omakase is definitely fun. We always appreciate having creative liberty." Jongho said.

"And the owner seems... nice enough. I don't know if he just doesn't know, is desperate or kind. Letting us choose what equipment we need right from the get go?" Wooyoung scoffed.

"Maybe a little bit of all 3, Woo." You shrugged.

"I'm still thinking about the workload." Seonghwa said, refilling his glass with more of the drink Yunho made and taking a sip.

"The only work around I see from it... It's going to change our sleeping schedules for sure." You voiced out, making all of them look at you. You didn't have a sleeping schedule to begin with, which was why Seonghwa was always worried and he had to make sure that you even got some sleep at night.

"Before Hwa goes off on me not even having a sleep schedule to begin with, you know I mean more for you guys than myself." You held a hand up.

"You don't sleep so of course you don't have a sleeping schedule." Seonghwa scoffed.

"I do sleep, Hwa. I'm not a vampire." You glared.

"Anyway, do share what you had in mind." Wooyoung encouraged.

"We come in before dinner to start the prep. Get through dinner service then before we leave, prep batter and dough for the pastries. Those always need resting and refridgeration anyway." You started.

"Then we come back in the morning before opening and bake off the pastries. Once those are done, we do the 3 cakes, it shouldn't take us long. After that, we'll leave to rest for the day before coming back to prep for dinner." You finished.

"Hang on, before we say anything about what (y/n) just suggested, I just realised, we haven't asked about opening hours and day offs." Jongho raised his hand.

"That's true. Let's have some suggestions for the owner regarding that before we enquire." You crossed your arms.

"What sort of suggestions?"

"Any." You shrugged.

"I would suggest, Thursdays close to prepare for the weekend rush and Mondays close to rest from the weekend rush. If he doesn't want two days of closure, Sunday half day. We'll do brunch."

"That's not a bad idea." You thought about it before nodding.

"We passed a church on the way so Sunday is good to have brunch. And since Monday is work and school day, not many people will be out looking for dinner spots. If not, do a half day Monday. People are tired from Monday blues, they won't go out for dinner after work. But they will stop by for coffee and a muffin before work." He said.

"Wow, I don't think I've ever heard Wooyoung hyung speak with so much sense before." Jongho snorted, making Wooyoung slap his shoulder. But when Jongho squared up, he ducked.

"Seonghwa hyung! Help!" Wooyoung hid behind the oldest.

"This is why no one can take us seriously." You rubbed your temples, shaking your head.

"Ah, don't say that! If you didn't love us, you would have kicked us out AGES ago." Wooyoung grinned, hugging your arm. You rolled your eyes with a sigh.

"Well, that aside, what do you guys think? About working here." You asked as Wooyoung continued to cling to you.

"Not as shady as I thought it would be." He said.

"I don't mind it... I guess. It's hard to know what to expect when even the owner doesn't seem to know what to expect." Jongho spoke. Seonghwa nodded slowly, agreeing with what Jongho said.

"What about you, (y/n)?" Seonghwa asked back, knowing you would ask him first.

"I say we give it a shot. This is definitely not like our usual professional kitchens, we'll probably be sourcing suppliers and produce vendors on our own but it's a challenge. It'll be like our own start up kitchen." You said honestly.

"Then we'll try it. I think we should propose a trial period for both the owner and us then we confer again." Seonghwa suggested. The rest of you nodded.

"Yeah, I think the owner is already scared of my precious girl here." Wooyoung pinched your cheek.

"I barely said anything."

"Exactly." Seonghwa laughed. After that, you exited the kitchen. You saw Yunho wiping the counter relentlessly, as if there was a stain that wouldn't go off. You tilted your head, letting out a small laugh.

"Psst." Hongjoong smacked Yunho's head when he saw you walking out. Yunho straightened up and tossed the cloth aside.

"Please." Yunho nervously gestured for you all to resume your seats from earlier.

"A few things were discussed during our talk. We would like to ask about off days here? What will be the opening and closing hours of the place." Jongho asked.

"Not that I have not thought about it but I was actually wanting to discuss that with all of you. To find out what timing works best for your crew since it is going to be long shifts. But regular hours will be 8am to 2pm then we break and come back at any time to prepare for dinner. First dinner service is 6pm?" Yunho spoke.

"That's fair. Wooyoung?" You turned to the male on your right.

"I proposed Thursdays off to prepare for the weekend. Then either a half day on Sunday or Monday." Wooyoung leaned forward.

"Reason?" Hongjoong asked.

"Sunday, we were thinking of doing a brunch menu. With the next day being a working day, hardly anyone will be out for dinner on Sunday." Wooyoung reasoned.

"And after a gruelling Monday, no one will want to stay out for dinner. It'll be a break from the weekend rush as well." He continued.

"I agree to closing on Thursdays. As for Sunday or Monday... I think a brunch menu on Sunday is a good idea. Between the two, the reasons both make sense. But I'm leaning towards a half day on Monday." Yunho said.

"So the schedule we are thinking of working with is; dinner service. Then we prepare pastry batter and/or dough for the night. Come in early, bake those off and the cakes." You informed.

"We should be done by the morning and we'll leave to rest before returning for dinner service prep." Seonghwa finished.

"That sounds good." Yunho turned to Hongjoong for confirmation. The smaller nodded.

"If you could draw up a contract for a temporary period of work, for both your side and our team to test the waters, it would be greatly appreciated." You spoke.

"Y-Yes! I mean, sure." Yunho smiled, coughing as he realised how overly enthusiastic he sounded.

"We look forward to working with you." The 4 of you stood up, shaking hands with Hongjoong and Yunho.

"Us too. Thank you." Hongjoong and Yunho bowed gratefully. Seonghwa eyed you and the way you were subtly studying Yunho, you were curious about the tall, overgrown puppy.

"So we'll see you in 2 days? I'll have the contract drawn up by tomorrow." Yunho's eyes sparkled, unable to hide his excitement. You nodded and grabbed your things. After exchanging numbers, Seonghwa's hand came to rest on your lower back as he guided all of you out of the restaurant.

As you walked out, you caught a glimpse of Yunho. He was laughing animatedly, jumping up and down with his arms around Hongjoong while Hongjoong seemed uncomfortable with the hug, trying to push Yunho away.

"Thank you, hyung!" He yelled, fist pumping. You couldn't help but snort out a small laugh.

"Well, boys. Looks like we've got our work cut out for us." You said.

"Shall we go to (y/n)'s for drinks?" Jongho asked. You nodded with a shrug, the boys were always over at your place to eat and drink. They'd rather get drunk at your house than in public.

"I don't think I've ever seen you so amused by an individual you've just met. Are you actually charmed by him?" Seonghwa asked you.

"No, I'm not." You denied.

"Liar." Seonghwa coughed. You shot him a look while he looked away innocently. You rolled your eyes, walking with him at the back as Wooyoung and Jongho walked in front of you, the both of them engrossed in their own conversation.

"He's just... different. I mean, Woo is energetic but he's a whole new level. He's so... positive." You shrugged.

"Well, my darling, not everyone is as broody and scary as you are. Some people actually enjoy their life." Seonghwa laughed, lacing fingers with you.

"I do enjoy my life. And I'm not broody." You frowned.

"Sure..."

"Hey, you're equally as scary as me. You made the kids at the playground cry when we were little. You're lucky I even wanted to be your friend." You scoffed, swinging your interlocked hands.

"I only made them cry because they were bullying you. They didn't let you have a turn on the swing." He defended.

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puckpocketed · 11 months ago

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caps fan here!

as follower of pld (the few, the proud, the courageous!), i was wondering if you had any thoughts about how he might fit in with our team, assuming he's going to be 1C with Ovi on the left and one of Wilson or Mangiapane on the right, and basically taking the former Kuznetsov/Backstrom spot on the halfwall on PP1. my thinking is that he can easily return to being a 60 point player just by the increase in ice time alone this coming season, and maybe even flirt with 70 if he has a triggerman like big O on his wing.

as someone who knows a hell of a lot more about PLD than i do, is that just wishful thinking because i'm a caps fan? what do you think?

The PLD Post, Part 2: mask-OFF

Hii!! (we are SO brave and SO correct). i am so sorry this took ages to answer, i was trying to decide how serious to be. I will admit, I was hesitant about going mask-off and hitting up the microstats and revealing that i do seriously think he can be better than he was bc that shit is kinda lame ESPECIALLY when defending a clear failhorse. but at this point any rep i have as someone with good opinions must be gone considering how many media scapegoats i've attached myself to (i got a fucking. c.gauthier ask the other day aslkjdkljas) so. mask is coming off. we've hit somewhere between well-considered manifesto and vibe check so . um. enjoy!!

I remain optimistic going from everything I've heard and from what you're saying here! But, big big asterisk. He absolutely needs to take ownership of his lack of engagement. when he speaks in media availability I believe him when he says he wants to change. The will to change is there, idk if it’s possible that any player would be satisfied with their performance being the way his was. There’s a lot that needs to be unpacked about his lack of production, the Character Issues, and what his role might look like going forward. You and any other Caps fan who reads this will have to tell me if the fit is right. Hockey talk below the cut lol!!

So before I start I have to say I know dick all about the Caps except:

You're dragging that old man (Ovechkin) to Gretzky's lawn (record) to set it on fire (break it before he retires)

Everyone is pining away for your very very injured 1C who is also Ovechkin's boybestfriend/perfect set-up guy/work wife

There's. intricate pre-game rituals?

So I'm not sure I can speak to how he will fit with your (our? i AM picking the Caps up fr given every acquisition/draft pick they've made) team with any depth or specificity. also i don't think i'd call myself a PLD expert. like. i just got here !! I haven't been following him since he was drafted or anything!! I have, however, consumed TOO MANY Kings games this past season and I can give you a broad look at what actually happened with them and why I think it didn't work out. I will not be making any overtures about being unbiased. My biases WILL slip through because I think Dubois is a sweetheart and I find the mental exercise of defending him fun <3 I’ll give you stats and observations and I will build a story that runs counter to what the prevailing media narratives say. While I stand by my opinions, they're also just one of many available interpretations of what happened.

character concerns

Everyone will be bringing it up at the first speed bump of the season, the first bad game he has. Please be prepared to have a crisis of faith and also be deeply disappointed in him. god knows I am, like, all the time <3 But... I always want to dig deeper when it comes to dominant narratives, because in following multiple teams I’ve become acutely aware of just how miserably Bad media can be at reporting on teams that aren’t their own.

I hear “Locker room cancer” accusations bandied about and I’ve yet to see anyone produce a primary source for this — podcasters, journalists, even people on nhl broadcasts will throw these words around so casually, assuming they’re correct because everyone knows the story. Some confounding factors in the character narratives arise when you scratch the surface. People who've worked with him speak well enough of him. Todd McLellan called him “misunderstood”, and had nothing bad to say about his character.

Matt Roy, who also just got picked up by the Caps, has recently said he’s a great teammate. MORE proof if you want to hear it directly, Roy went on Dropping The Gloves and had this to say about Dubois (transcript by me):

[on what actually happened] Honestly, I don’t know. I mean if you asked him he would say he had a down year. But it’s nothing like — I feel like the media paints this picture of him, and to me it couldn’t be further from the truth, you know. He’s a great teammate, he’s a great locker room guy, he gets along with everybody. So, in terms of all that I don’t know where the media is getting all this stuff. If I hated the guy I probably wouldn’t have come to Washington. He’s one of my friends on the team and I really think he’s going to have a bounce back year. I think he’s really going to be good for the team.

Matt Roy signed with the Caps of his own free will as an RD, a contested free agent in a sparse market, knowing Dubois was already here. He could’ve gone to plenty of different places. Why the hell would Roy sign here long-term, clearly wanting to play and win, if Dubois was as disliked as some pundits would have us believe??? Credible reports (and not just speculation) point to PLD’s other teammates liking him!!

And here’s some propaganda; I direct you to this extremely sweet video where he gets asked about assisting on Akil Thomas' first NHL goal (and a bunch of other first NHL goals). He is so, so genuinely happy for Akil, who battled through injuries that set back his development for years. Just LOOK at his smile!! He can’t hold it back. (Others have said this but it looks like a little v. Like :> !!!! HELLO !!)

How does all of this happen when, supposedly, he’s a low-character asshole and a “locker room cancer”? It doesn’t line up for me.

On the other hand, I have seen Dubois cruise. He really can’t seem to bounce back from a poor start, and if you were just looking from the outside in, the scoresheet this year reflects this. The critique is fair; I’ve turned this over in my head enough times. there are less physically gifted, less skilled players, who are working so hard to stay in this league, and Dubois’ poor showing does feel somewhat like, idk, something I’d be mad about usually.

Here comes the “but”. Call this next bit the narrative section, because I’m showing my ass here: I think Dubois gets a lot of scrutiny because of his infamous Shift, which went a specific kind of viral, under the exact right conditions, and it has just. defined his career. And okay… I am not denying that the shift happened, but plenty of guys in this league have taken shifts off. come on. the season is long and they're only human. I’m not excusing it either! It was bad and he deserved his benching. Ideally, he one day becomes a player who always puts effort in. Working hard is one of my favourite traits in any player, and usually this would be enough for me to dismiss him as not worth being invested in.

and yet…. the reactions to his floundering performance feel so much like they’re about expectations as seen through the lens of The Shift. They’re calibrated differently because he went 3rd overall, and he's got this big body, the speed, the skill — it's the fact that he's got the tools and seemingly squanders them. All of this is amplified by the contract he's sitting on and his run of short-term stays on teams. Does he get this much scrutiny if he went in the 2nd or 3rd round? Does he catch this much heat for his low energy performance if that one shift clip hadn’t done all that damage? We’ll never know obviously but . I do wonder.

Final word on the character stuff is that we don’t know what truly went on in those locker rooms and i don't want to give more air time to baseless speculation. What we can examine is the hockey. The hockey tells the truth <3

the 23-24 la kings

Assuming the plan is to give PLD a look at 1/2C while he’s on the Caps, I think he’s a complementary type of player. The way he is right now, I don't think he can drive his own line or pull people up. He works with the calibre of lineys he's got and will produce the expected outcome. That sounds so obvious, but what I’m saying is I don’t think he’s capable of miracles like the best playmakers in the league, he's not about to make your guys look 15 years younger. In this vein, I look at his many first NHL goal assists as a symptom of what kind of linemates he was being paired with all season, and how unstable the situation was. His drop in point production IS more complicated than "he's just a piece of shit". From this article, the best summary I've seen of the Situation PLD was in:

LA acquired a player who had been a top-six center (and at times, winger) his entire career playing with established NHL talent. Yet after investing multiple assets to acquire Dubois and sign him to a significant contract, the team decided to put him in a third-line role where his most common linemate was a first-year NHL player who wasn’t expected to be on the roster in Alex Laferriere. Those two had a revolving door of wingers throughout the season. Moreover, Dubois’ most common on-ice teammates after Laferriere at 5-on-5 this season were Matt Roy and Andreas Englund. Gee, I wonder why he didn’t produce?

Context about Roy and Englund: Roy is a quiet but capable d-man who is defensively geared with a bit of offensive upside (j'adore. does things the right way and is very responsible and good. will throw hits but doesn't chase them or headhunt. I think playing away from the Kings’ more passive system will unlock more of his offensive potential. Matt Roy you will be SO good for the Caps I truly believe mwah mwah); and Englund is a leg weight/goon who, going by every single stat I can pull out, makes his d-partners Worse (with affection <3). Point here is neither of them being on the ice was particularly conducive to a lot of scoring chances.

As I said in my previous post, I think Dubois absolutely needs finishers. At some point there was hype around his shot but I didn't see much of that at all on lak? Eye test says: he was unwilling to shoot, and when he did shoot it felt like there was low/no commitment, no power behind it. Comments on his shooting called him “too deferential” at different turns. That’s just an insulting way to say a guy likes to pass and I truly think it circles back to the expectations thing. Would there be anything wrong with him not being much of a shooter this past season if he was another player? (Can't we just say he passed a lot this season without bringing value judgement into it? leave my failhorse ALONE!!!! like must a man score goals ,can't he be very very sweet and happy for the rookies he assisted ? wailing about it forever.)

More fun stats from that same article:

#1 on lak for passes that led to high-danger scoring chances, and scoring chances in general <- again, not a miracle worker. did not have finishers who could capitalise on these chances. its so fucked up what they did to my failwife

one of the best on lak in actually carrying the puck into the o-zone. (another reason i quite liked watching him!! transition forwards my BELOVED) everything I've ever observed about him off the cuff holds true here: he draws penalties this way, because he's fast and when he's locked in he is pretty good for controlled zone entries <3

Dubois had a career high in even-strength assists per 60, this is all in spite of his weird linemate situation and his reduced TOI and the power play mess (more on this later). he might have been deferring, but I truly think the lack of stability + good finishers, and ice time held him back from being more productive.

jim hiller

Building off that last point: even worse on the stability front, which I did allude to in the initial PLD Post, was what happened when Jim Hiller took over. You must understand one of the first clues that we were working with a different animal of a head coach is he was NOT afraid to line shuffle, and shortly after he found short-term success with that, they started running 11 forwards and 7 defensemen (you can see where it started precisely if you scroll back in lak lb because you'll find ME yelling about it LMAO). This shortened forward bench resulted in mid-game line shuffling, as in it was uncertain as to who they would be playing with from shift to shift. Hiller is on record saying he thinks it was beneficial, per this article:

It’s all about getting his deep forward corps engaged in the game. That’s sometimes difficult if you’re running four full lines and there are penalty kill or power play opportunities that alter the flow of the lines. Especially for the group of forwards who don’t kill penalties – think Kevin Fiala, Viktor Arvidsson, Quinton Byfield, Pierre-Luc Dubois – it’s an opportunity to get them extra shifts and engage in the game. “Some of our other players who don’t penalty kill, you know they can lose the flow of the game, so they enjoy it more I know,” Hiller said of having 11 forwards in action. “We’ve talked about it a lot. We really just think for our team, the way it is right now, that gives us an advantage getting those players more ice time.”

(and ok sorry to go off about my gripes with how the kings are run but .They were doing this into playoffs. This article was written during playoffs. god. CARL GRUNDSTROM, WHO HAS NEVER NOT PLAYED HARD, PLAYED 25 SECONDS IN GAME 2. all this while they were trying to get people 'engaged'. Idk. Maybe it did work for some players. I wasn’t behind that bench. But sitting one of your most energetic and committed forwards during a series in which you’re trying to come back from being down several games was a CHOICE!!!! also like what if you didn't double-shift QB. what then. And we all know how that series ended. lak coaching/management i am beating you with a pillowcase stuffed with bricks . <3)

Much was made of the Hiller takeover. I liked it at the time. In his first couple of media availabilities post-TM, Hiller emphasised bringing back "fun" to the game for many of the players who were slumping — and a reportedly tense locker room during the big skid that lost McLellan his job. It was all very Ted Lasso of him. Hiller also introduced a new way to rate Dubois for his performance every night, separate from the scoresheet. I made jokes about PLD's very special star-chart, everyone who knew about it was making jokes about it. This merit system was tailored towards communicating with Dubois what he did and didn't do well, and while no one ever went into depth about it we do know a few things:

It measured things outside of +/-, goals and assists, and was likely a score out of 5 per metric.

One of the metrics was about hits/physicality, another one was likely ‘compete’ levels.

He alluded to being measured on penalties drawn?? Or something??

Anyway it sort of … worked?? The change in Dubois was pretty immediate, the moment he was given some clear direction to work in. He played some of his BEST games of the year in the wake of this change. He got involved physically, he was not losing steam, he was drawing tons of penalties because he’s huge and fast and has good hands and IF he puts his mind to it he can truly be a transition monster.

CUE THE LINE SHUFFLING… imo, much of the progress made seemed to be lost, and the rest is history.

NOT saying Dubois is free of fault here. Needing that extra motivation to get physically involved is kinda wild, and I understand why for some people it’s a bridge too far. EYE am here for the laffs though and it's really funny that the communication came in the form of super special individualised performance evaluations/a glorified sticker chart. This is why he’s my temperamental desert flower. Wilting violet. Soggy kitten. <3 and for the record I truly don’t think I’d care if he put up 40 points per szn for the rest of his career. I don’t care because he’s a sweetie and the Bit i do when defending him is too funny. I don’t think I’d care if everyone was right about him — I just don’t actually think they are.

the power play problem

So okay, as per part 1 (my last email <3) we know Dubois thrives net front. It’s where he scored a bunch of his goals on the Jets. Every stat and the eye test supports this. So how come Lak had him stationed on the half wall doing jackshit, if he was on the power play at all?? I will admit I drove myself half crazy studying power play structures and watching LA Kings games back before coming up with a garbled, half-formed idea about how LA runs their PP. I was going to attempt to explain it here — had to do with Kevin Fiala and Dubois being lefties and how that's just an awkward passing sitch — but it turns out more than one person has had this thought and MAN I love being validated by actual hockey people. I fully thought i was making shit up in my head for a good week or two, and was seriously considering scrapping this portion . but it’s SO important for contextualising the production drop, so here goes !!

As early as September 2023 there was a story published about PLD’s role on PP1 — a place where he certainly should’ve belonged as a top-6 guy with plenty of ppg’s under his belt. From this article, which explains the issue very very neatly, and much more eloquently than I could ever hope to:

The addition of Pierre-Luc Dubois was a big one this summer; at first glance, he should be a great addition to the power play. But when digging deeper, the Kings might struggle to fit him onto the top unit. Dubois played mostly as the net front player for the Winnipeg Jets last season, the role Gabriel Vilardi often played for the Kings last season. So, it’s an easy one-to-one switch in that spot, right? Not necessarily. Dubois has all the talents to be an effective net-front player. He has the size and strength to battle in front, with the skill to effectively pop down low and create chances. However, his handedness is a big problem for this role. The Kings run their power play primarily on the left side with Kevin Fiala — Anze Kopitar when Fiala is hurt — which necessitates a right shot down low. When a right shot player pops out on the left side, there’s an easy passing angle for the half-wall player and more options for the player down low. Quick passing is key for a successful power and a left-shot can’t move the puck quick enough down low. They would have to either move too far into the corner or take the extra second to step out from and open up their body to create an effective passing angle. Time that would slow the power play down too much and allow the opposition penalty kill to get back into position. There’s also minimal shot threat from a lefty down low. We saw both Vilardi and Viktor Arvidsson frequently take the pass down low and quickly turn it into a shooting opportunity, something a left shot wouldn’t be able to do.

It then goes on to suggest 2 solutions that aren’t appealing at all:

Flip the power play entirely to accommodate Dubois net front. Not great as they dont have the players for that, and if they tried it they’d be hamstringing Adrian Kempe’s one-timer.

PLD on the bumper position. This one’s hard to swallow because that displaces Kopitar to PP2, there’s his position as captain and the optics of moving him off his spot.

In this article it is once again suggested that LA MUST flip their power play and figure out how to get PLD net front. In this article they point out how useless he was playing on the wall down the stretch, and how the only reason he seemed to be able to produce something was because he’d taken Kopitar’s spot in his absence. This article calls to attention Dubois’ worlds performance, where team Canada utilised him net front.

Big picture, the Fit

Do we see the problem here yet? It’s not the flat narrative I was sold by the national media, random assholes on twitter, and podcasters who don’t actually watch Kings matches!!!! Do we see how weird and messy and complicated it is, beyond “hey he’s just a sack of shit who isn’t trying hard enough”. Rob Blake himself has come out and admitted that they didn’t put Dubois in a position to succeed. And absolutely there was effort required on his end — a different player might have sucked it up and adapted to circumstances, a different player might never have needed that extra bit of communication, a straight up better player might have dragged his less skilled lineys up to a higher level. But the problem has always been two-fold: LA was trying to coach and manage a completely different player to the one they had in front of them and expecting good results; and Dubois was unable to keep competing with all he had in the face of that. I think both parties are at fault here. And I think, given the chance and the right circumstances, Dubois can hit 60 points again.

Okay, circling back to the big question of Fit. Will he be able to work with Ovechkin? Hard to think he could fail with one of hockey’s best goal scorers on his wing, if he does get a look at 1C. People who know the Caps better than I do, does this sound workable? Is Dubois going to be too difficult of a nut to crack for your coach? Your locker room?

And, of course, the power play issue. Maybe Dubois learns to be better on the half wall! Idk!! Maybe it was a matter of coaching and he thrives in Washington running your PP1 from there. For my money… I like him better playing net front or bumper. Do the Caps have the bodies to accommodate this? I did ask someone familiar with the Caps PP to explain it to me so I could try and figure this out but ouuuugh. My head is spinning. Someone smarter than me please jump in. I am TIRED . We don’t know what it will look like, what they’re planning to do with Dubois on the power play. You guys probably have a better idea about what’s possible than I do <3

Conclusion?

PLD is fast, big, a passing threat and a formidable net front presence when he’s given the opportunity and playing his A-game. As far as I can tell, his B-game is garbage </3 His poor performance is more complicated than people think and I’m pretty sure only the LA Kings beat reporters + the 12 kings fans on twitter know this. Most of them still dislike PLD anyway bc his low motor. I don’t blame them, I’m just more inclined to be forgiving because I love redemption arcs and I think he’s a good person. i would love to be wrong about his low-effort B-game LMAO but im trying to be realistic here. I want him to fit in and be embraced by the Caps so bad <3 Your coach sounds like he wants to help PLD succeed and is up for the challenge. The vibes from my friends who follow the Caps are always good, I’ve read through various tags and it sounds like a place that will take him in whether he likes it or not. I might be stupid but I believe in him !!! and I’ve laid out all the hockey bullshit for you to the best of my ability. Given all of this… do you think he’ll do well?

#the.. the pld manifesto... good gravy... i did it..#just above 4k words. not even bad #sorry i couldn't maintain the any kind of consistent serious tone LMAO its too fucking funny and i think enjoying him as a player #comes with a requisite level of silliness that one must maintain for the sake of . sanity <3 #i dont think i have enough knowledge of the caps #to say anything about your side of the equation. so. ball in your court caps girlies (gender neutral)#also sorry this took so long i was honestly agonising over the power play thing bc i thought i was hallucinating #and i wanted to source everything to the best of my ability since i was bringing real stats and hockey analysis into it #im sorry this might not be the clear answer u were looking for </3 #pierre luc dubois #washington capitals #caps lb #asks #user lonewolflink #primers #<- does this count. LMAO #my writing #<- this definitely has to count #la kings #los angeles kings #lak lb

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sunny-honeytears · 9 months ago

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So I wrote this down and forgot to do it as a reblog but I'm too lazy to insert every picture again, so here is my experience with the og vienna cast recording on spotify👍 (only act1 because you'll see how much I wrote just about that)

disclaimer(ish)? I wrote every opinion while, or immediately after listening to a song, so a lot of the times I go back and correct myself, or change my opinion, but hey atleast it's authentic. Also I compare it a lot to the hungarian recording because I heard that dozens of times and that's what I am used to.

Enjoy I guess, this is a long one!

Overture: Great 10/10 i love it in every language, has a bit different vibe than the hungarian version with more bass, I like both👍

He ho he: I actually *really* enjoyed that! Alfred has a nice voice that reminds me of Héger Tibor who is my favourite Alfred so thats great 10/9 only because I prefer the edge the hungarian version has to it its just a teeny tiny bit more sharp imo, and for me nothing tops the mic peaking scream Alfred lets out there. But overall amazing so far!

Knoblauch: Fhuuuu lot to unpack here for me. I'm definitely getting used to the german, which I don't here a lot of in a daily basis becasue hehe Hungary, but I'm trying to not view it as strange therefore bad, it has a lot of great moments but I'm used to the flow of hungarian. Now, I really don't know how to feel about professor right now. If you have seen my page, I *LOVE* hungarian professor, but so far.. I don't love this version. Alfred is still cute tho, but I miss his dumb little laugh when he says the line about Magdas breasts, somehow that made me like him even more. Also, Chagal. I have a mixed but mostly positive relationship with him in the hungarian, he has a very fun way of singing changing his range all the time, but so far he irritates me sorry😅 But yeah 10/7, Knoblauch 👍

Bitte meine Herren: LOVE ALFRED, starting to like professor👍This is a kind of a nothing number because it's mostly dialouge but yeah very solid 10/8

Eine schöne Tochter: Man I really don't like Chagal😭 Just the way he sings triggers something deep ick in me. Funnily enough the hungarian version is one of my favourite songs so just for that 10/5

Ein Mädchen, : ALFRED ❗❗ IN MY BED❗❗NOW❗❗ I love his voice😭😭. Sarah is also really great, professor and chagal are...ehhh..there. Rebecca *chef kiss* And the chorus whaaaaaaa 10/10 👍👍

Gott ist tot: I....i actually prefer Egyházi Géza sorry. I knew going in that I'm going to be very biased for Egyházi Géza because well...yes. But while I didn't dislike the song, I actually liked it, nothing tops his performance for me. The hungarian version is more...what is the right word.. soft? Flowy? Really hard to explain because I'm not an expert but to me german is a harsher sounding language than hungarian and because they are both from different language families, it's hard for me to relate to something so different. This doesnt mean the german version is bad❗❗I love the chorus part it's very eerie, maybe even more than the hungarian but I still prefer that over this. Regardless 10/8👍

Alles ist hell: Love love love the start 😭 Koukol I...don't like so far but for me he really peaks in act2 so all I'll say is please don't wheeze into my ears 10/8 for the wheezing

Warheit: Yeah uh...I don't like professor. It's a very delicate matter because essentially he sings the same way as hungarian professor but **something** is missing that makes him lovable in my eyes. Also just singing "logic" is weird for me, and for that I actually prefer the hungarian lyrics which is "Ténytől tényig, ez visz az igazságig- From fact to fact this leads to the truth" but thats really not something I can complain about. I love when the others starts singing too, it really elavates the whole number to a 10/8 jegercsik csaba hit that high note better imo

Du bist wirklich sehr nett: I prefer Héger Tibor here. Somehow he captured that exact tone of being terrified but also infatuated with Sarah (and my actual flirting skills) for me nothing beats his "goodnight" at the start. Sarah is great and I really enjoy her so far so this is a strong 10/9 for me 💪

Einladung zum Ball:

We both know what im about to say

Guys I actually prefer Egyházi Gé-🔫🔫

Amuuuugy..I like this. German fits here well and you know what this is 10/10❗❗

Draussen ist Freheit: Why is three songs mixed together here?? Okay so I'm just gonna mirror translate the hungarian names here and write my opinion in that order💪

Life awaits us outside: Alfred im still not seeing you in my bed/j 10/10 you know what? I might prefer this to the hungarian version (but just might)

Red boots: the start is way rougher in hungarian, and that i prefer, but the instrumental part is just as mindblowingly beautiful to me in both versions so I already give it 10/10 just for that👍 Also I'm easing up to Krolock, it might have been the Gott ist tot song that I didn't enjoy because this is beautiful! Still prefer hungarian but at this point are you even surprised I just really like the hungarian version

Prayer: Beautiful 10/10 without question. I love Alfred joining in, I heard it louder in the hungarian version, here I don't know if he even joins in but he probably does so I love that here too👍👍 Also in this i really enjoyed Krolock and Sarah

Wuscha Buscha: Once again in hungarian its two different songs so-

The chase of Sarah: Alfred more energy ❗ more passion❗ more energy❗ Rebecca gets it. Rebecca gets it so much. Even Chagal weirdly. 10/8

Wuscha Buscha: professor stop singing WHO SAID THAT??? I love the bit when Alfred and professor geek out together and *that* part, that part was good. But other than that professor-

Rebecca I LOVE YOU and I hope she had a very happy life after her whole family dies <3 overall 10/8

Tot zu sein ist komisch: Now I actually don't really care for this song in hungarian so I was pleseantly surprised here. Now this is a song german suits better imo so just for that it gets a 10/10 because I finally fully enjoy the song. But its also multiple songs soooo

The chase of Chagal: I want to know what professor and Alfred say. Does professor give an F to Alfred for messing up the ribs? Do they joke around? I need to know. Alfred you are doing amazing I love you sweetie <3 10/9

By the way is it ever explained why Alfred never hits on 3? Is he just afraid or is there like another reason? Anyways back to rating

Durch die Wildnis zum Schloss: very solid 10/10 💪💪 I'll never forget when I saw it in live and heard the door open behind us, so I turned around and we stared at eachother with the guy in vampire costume like this 👁👄👁 then he did some slutty dance moves infront of us and exited and for that I respect him

Vor dem Schloss: Krolock loves yapping and is definitely not a vampire guyssss hes just emoo..This Krolock is growing on me slowly but surely but still egyházi géza grrr..

I miss the loud BOO Krolock does but we can't have it all, professors voice still gives me the ick, I like the singing but not the plain dialouge, HOWEVER

Herbert Herbert Herbert Herbert Herbert

At first Herbert was the reason I came to the fandom so just him appearing deserves a 10/10

Koukol's "bleh" deserves a bonus point its to precious

Krolocks flirting with Alfred is very beautiful very powerful so this song is a 10/10 with the added +1 of the bleh. If we dont count Herbert and Koukol, its a 9/10💪

Act 2 review is coming soon guys please don't kill me 👍

#tanz der vampire #count von krolock #herbert von krolock #tdv #vámpírok bálja #tanz der vampire alfred #graf von krolock #review #musicals #rating

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scrumptiousstuffs · 8 months ago

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i may be on the other hand but i would find fascinating if kantbison and fadelstyle didnt end up together, we are so not used to it that sounds absurd but with the story we now on (we now nothing but what was shown on the trailer) would make so much sense if everything just colapses. imagine they killing each other? peak cinema i might say, would be so iconic, so out of everything.

i think these thai series are afraid of trying new things, i still remember how angry ppl was with OF (still this day and i don’t understand those who don’t like this show.) i think bc of that we don’t have diverse shows, just more sily ones. ppl can’t get a deep character, can’t understand their actions and what motivates them. it sucks actually, ppl want easy things, fluffy ones, they don’t like to think anymore. we all love to say how not me is incredible and what is so good about this one? it don’t do the ordinary! dk where i wanna get with this thought, just started thinking about one ask you answred about someone being mad bc (in their mind) fk is always doing the same, when is not even close! they are going outside the box and that is what is good about them.

Ok. Wow a lot to unpack here. I decide to answer these 2 asks together, cause they are kinda of similar?. Also, a complete 360 degrees from a recent ask that dislikes sad ending and wishing FK/JD a happy ending in THK 😬.

You both mentioned loving Only Friends and it's messy storyline. Like both of you, I love how Jojo/Ninew (and our fabulous actors/ actresses) portray them. We all know a Ray/Mew/Ton /Top/Nick etc. in real life (or shades of them!) and I think what makes the story compelling is people can relate to these characters (be it one aspect or more).

And yes, I remember very well how divisive the audience became with OF. I think part of it relates to the expectations of what they want for each character (and well, we can never please everyone!) - some watchers thinks OF was slut-shaming Ton while others got upset because TonNick were not an item. Others were dissatisfied with the way Mew/Ray handled their friendship with Ton. They were also grumbles on how the only reason SandRay + MewTop got together were because the actors are branded CPs.

To me, these viewers forget the characters are actually not very nice people. They are immature adults in their early 20s making terrible choices while navigating friendships & relationships. None of them are sweet angels (including Sand, as much as I love our boy). In fact, I think all of them are hypocritical at some level.

Personally, I think people who were dissatisfied with the particular ending (for a character) falls into 2 categories: They identified/ invested the most with a character in that show and feels personally attack or because they cannot fathom why a character acts the way they did. (Mew forgiving Top but not Ton? - viewers labeled Mew as sanctimonious bastard. Well, I think people forget that Mew never cared Ton was sleeping around before. He only started to care when the latter slept with his boyfriend. And why won't he forgive Top? Yes, he cheated but we all know someone in real-life (or heard from someone) who takes back their cheating partner. Whether or not it's advisable is beside the point. They are just portraying something can happen realistically. Similarly, why is Nick not allowed to dump Ton when they are on different wave length on what define their relationship? But people again interpret it as Nick slut-shaming Ton). And don't get me started on what people say about Ray.

And as for Thai BL (and GL) in general, I'm not going to call myself an expert. However, I get the impression the contents we have now are way better (and varied) then it used to! There is a genre for everyone out there! So, watch what you want - GMMTV tends to stick to light-hearted shows cause they mainly cater for the younger audiences but they are slowly branching out. Also, companies outside of GMMTV are flexing their creativity muscles (some that comes to mind include The Signs - fantasy; Manner of Death - crime/mystery; PitBabe - A/B/O; I feel you linger in the air - melodrama/time travel; the upcoming Goddess Bless You From Death - horror)

In terms of THK - I do not think we will have KantBison & StyleFadel all dying cause it's sold as rom-com (although it will certainly be a huge shock factor if KB and SF both died in a dramatic shootout. But what will I know, the recently finished 4minutes Thai BL had their second leads dying in each other arms).

I'm also not sure if THK is going to be as messy as OF (cause I think in terms of relationships, this will be straightforward - we probably won't have the boys swapping partners, that's for sure!). However, I'm sure we will get the backstory of how the brothers are adopted, their relationship with their adopted mom/handler and older brother (Pepper!!). And perhaps how Kant shifted gear from a criminal to a tattooist.

Whatever the journey will be with THK - I have faith FK and JD will bring their A-game and acting skills to the table. At the very least, we can be assured the soundtracks and cinematography will be on point. I mentioned on a previous ask I like happy endings for my leads, but I certainly won't mind seeing them suffer before that. So, I'm ready to go on a roller coaster journey as we have Kant/Style seducing our assassins while struggling morally to accept they love someone who kills for a living. Or the crushing agony when Fadel/Bison finds out about the betrayal.

#asked and answered #I'm sorry this is so long. Someday I will be able to summarise my thoughts better than writing a long rambling essay #but not today it seems #only friends the series #the heart killers #first kanaphan #khaotung thanawat #firstkhaotung #firstkhao

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removetheoil · 3 months ago

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the beths and origami angel twisting the knife just a little bit

i specify that i'm processing a relationship here rather than a break-up because this doesn't really feel like a break-up in the same sense. yes, we broke up, but i'm more reflecting on what led us to this point, and what the future looks like. there was no big fight, no crazy scandal. it just became unhealthy. we spent years together, happy, but eventually all the little things culminated into a need to split up. we still love each other very much, so it hurts even more than i could imagine. so, here is my musical rotation as of late.

expert in a dying field, the beths: the beths were very important to us. we both went to live shows, we both have shirts, many of their songs we would listen to together. those songs filled my heart with love and longing. they are probably my favorite band. so many of their songs are so lyrically relatable, and elizabeth stokes (lead singer and songwriter for the beths) is an incredible storyteller. and in this song, she tells our story. the whole metaphor of a relationship as a room, and how you can close a door but that doesn't make the room go away. that's what it feels like to split up but still be in love. towards the end of our relationship, i was getting the feeling that i knew it was over, i knew things were coming to a close. but, that didn't erase the years we spent together. there is still a room there, even though that door is now shut. and the title of the song is also applicable here--i am now an expert in a dead field. i still know them in and out, i can recite every detail of their life, i can still feel their hands on mine. they were the missing puzzle piece in my life, we fit together perfectly. all that love, learned over time, was beautiful. in the words of elizabeth stokes, "you can't let go, you can't stop, can't rewind".

best left, the beths: listen, the beths have a lot of relatable songs. i like this one because it reflects the internal battle i'm fighting currently. my head and heart are fighting each other. my head knows that i need to move on, leave it all to rot, but my heart wants to hold. on and keep picking the scar. the lyrics: "picking the scar/i know it's the wrong call/it won't bring the relief/i know that i long for". also, this song is just separately so beautiful. the bridge also relates to how i've been feeling lately, not sleeping, the days falling past me, everything in my life feeling so out of place.

out of sight, the beths: there is so much to unpack in this track. i want to dissect it line by line. "and light reflects the thread/you might want to sever/hope not forever"--this is just real as fuck, i'm still holding onto a thread of hope which they likely want to sever, but i don't want it to be forever. even if we lose each other now, i want a future. as friends, as partners again, whatever we choose. i just want them in my life. "though i know way down that i/am out of mind/when out of sight/i keep a flame burning inside/if you need to bum a light". these lines also speak to the long distance in our relationship. out of sight, out of mind, right? i wish it worked that way, because then maybe i wouldn't be so sad about it. but, i will always carry something for them, at least that's how it feels now. i almost feel pathetic in a way, because i will always have this flame burning inside me if they decide they want me again. it's ridiculous, since i'm the one that broke up with them. compounding on that sentiment, "if your world collapses/i'll be down in the rubble/i'll build you another/i'll wait out the summer". waiting out the summer seems like what i'll be doing these coming months. we said we would talk again, when we're both ready. i hope i won't be waiting around for them stupidly. but i know myself, i probably will.

tom holland oates, origami angel: it's the chorus of this song that mostly gets to me. it's pretty self explanatory, so i'll just leave it here: "so then i text my friends close my eyes and count to ten just wait for you to leave again then i'll pretend i'm better on my own and even though that's such a goddamn lie i think it might be worth a try something to keep you off my mind from time to time"

self destruct, origami angel: the lyrics basically just spell out a break-up clearly in a way that twists the knife for me. The line "i know that i want to be by your side/but it's so hard when we're not in the same state of mind" perfectly expresses how i feel at the moment. i want to be together so badly, i yearn to be connected. but, deep down, i understand that we can't right now. we aren't in the right place, mentally, for that. no comment on this one, just real as fuck: "now i sit in silence wishing that i could hear you say my name". I also really relate to this: "these days i'm afraid of everything, i'm afraid that everything may never change" because at the moment the pain seems like it will last forever, and i can't stop thinking about them. i fear that i'll never be able to let go, that i'll always keep yearning and holding out hope for something that will never come.

gg, origami angel: this last track is a lot more hopeful than the others, which i like. and, it's pretty on-point in terms of how i feel about them. "i'm incapable of change/you are in a constant state of flux" is incredibly accurate--i find myself to stuck to routine and concepts and identity so much of the time, and they are someone that is so fluid in their personhood. i did feel like i hindered that during the relationship. i tried, i tried to let go of my rigidity. but trying isn't always enough. this line destroys me: "you will learn to grow yourself new eyes/ones that do not recognize who i used to be to you" i don't even know what to say about this one other than that it's so scary and heartbreaking to think about being unrecognizable to each other. and, another line that feels targeted towards the hope i'm clinging onto: " i will be the parachute to guide you safely to the water". i want to always be there for them, regardless of the status of our relationship. but, that isn't realistic. if you ever go through a break-up and want to be emotionally destroyed by a song, listen to the end of this one. "and it may not be the you I'm used to, but some things remain the same/like your hair, your touch, your smile, your voice, your eyes/the way you say goodbye" JUST KILL ME ALREADY JUST DO IT WTF??

anyways. first post in the books. i hope things go up from here. i'm so sick of hurting all the time.

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literaticat · 1 year ago

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On the NYT best seller list for children's series, the first Harry Potter and Percy Jackson books are perennial. At least they have been for the past couple of years I've been checking! Each with more than 700 weeks on the list and at the writing of my question they're at #4 and #2 respectively.

Is it just my imagination, or are there few if any perennial middle grade book series starring female protagonists?? Add to that POC and nonbinary perennial series..

Omg this sucks..

I am going to tell you something you aren't going to like. Please know that this is not ME saying this, OK, this is like, literally a hundred years worth of "in the know" people -- including librarians, educators, publishing experts, yada yada! -- I DON'T EVEN BELIEVE THAT THIS IS TRUE but this is "The Thing Expert People Always Say" ok you canNOT get mad at me. Here goes:

"Boys won't read books about girls - Girls will read books about anything."

This is basically a MANTRA for people, I've heard this for as long as I've been in the book world, which is like, 30+ years, and I'm sure they've been saying it for many many generations before that. It's just accepted wisdom.

This is why, for example, school reading lists have traditionally skewed so heavily "boy" (I well remember the pain of slogging through Red Badge of Courage, Hemingway, and on and on. PUKE.)

This is why the "formula" for a successful MG book series has been seen to be a boy-and-girl pair, or a group of friends of different types, heavily featuring a boy.

Again -- is this TRUE? Well, kinda, but also, it's a self-fulfilling prophecy. Parents TELL their boy children when they are little that "such-and-such is too girly" or "put that down, that's for girls" -- I hear them at the bookstore saying this shit ALL THE TIME, voices absolutely DRIPPING with disdain. Little wonder then that, by the time they are middle graders, the boys don't want to be seen reading something "girl coded."

MEANWHILE, the girls might well prefer to read books about, well, GIRLS*** rather than gross dudes doing war or whatever -- but since they often aren't given the opportunity to do so at school, and they also want to read whatever the big popular series are, they do end up reading all the "Boy Stuff" AS WELL AS "the girly stuff". (Typical that the girls have to do twice as much just to keep up, grrrr). Again, self-fulfilling prophecy.

SIGH.

I don't know how to resolve this, except to eliminate hundreds of years worth of ingrained societal misogyny and raise the next generation of boys to embrace Girl Stuff?

So. Yeah. It's not your imagination at all -- that's why you do see this "formula" in Big Fantasy Series. IF there is a fantasy series that is mega-huge-huge bestseller that ISN't starring a boy, it will probably be starring a group of kids that include boys heavily, OR, it'll be about animals (WARRIORS, WINGS OF FIRE.)

The recent exceptions I can think of: The KEEPER OF THE LOST CITIES series has a girl star and is popular with all kids -- however she is pictured with at least one boy of equal stature on every cover. So I guess this counts as "a group of kids that includes boys heavily."

The AMARI series has a Black girl star and has been popular with all kids -- but since there are only two of them out so far, it remains to be seen if that can have the kind of sticky Perennial Quality these other series have. (And you'll also note that, while book one had Amari front and center with no other kids, it had "brothers" in the title -- and the second and third cover have boys in the background, sooo... they gotta worm boys in there somehow lol.)

*** (Human girl-centric books tend to be realistic rather than action / fantasy. (Again,we can unpack why that is, girls are encouraged to talk about real things / emotions / friendship / whatever? IDK) MG series that fall into this Perennially Popular category would be: Babysitters Club (was HUGE huge back in the day, and is HUGE again in GN format) -- Sweet Valley -- (same, was HUGE back in the day, is re-surging in popularity in GN format). Nancy Drew? (Obvs was from the early-mid 1900s but still was a world-changing "girl starring series" and I could see a reboot blowing up again.) And arguably the Raina GN, not really a "series" in the traditional sense but kind of packaged like a series, and VERY popular and perennial, I'd say!

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roaldseth · 2 years ago

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6-8 for the tri strat ask game! :)

6. Favorite Chapter?

This question was answered in the previous ask, however I'm going to use this opportunity to talk about the Falkes battle (Chapter 7 Utility) because it qualifies for point 2, "which chapter I keep returning to again and again." Though I don't have any particularly strong feelings towards this chapter on a base level, however there is stuff to unpack underneath it and much potential here in my silly little brain, all of which in what this marks for the Wolfforts.

Regardless of path, Falkes's fall marks the beginning of the greater clan's fall, possibly its "end" depending on how you want to look at it. And this point or foreshadowing or whatever, Falkes is vocal about it. Utility side, he addresses Erador like what the fuck man? He had fought with Benedict and Erador, and this kind of direct confrontation between these two parties, I'm----I'm chomping at the bit. I want more of this charged tension. I want to look at it, be provoked. I want Benedict especially to get called the fuck out as the steward, as Symon's representative prior to Serenoa's lordship. It is so thematically chef's kiss.

From my experience, I know Falkes gets a lot of flack for "being stupid," "not a good lord," and "being too loyal [to the crown]," and I disagree mostly with that because that comes from a modern perspective and also Symon exists up to the north. Yes, Landroi, don't burn your fields if you don't have to, Serenoa also says that, but even then I can at least understand why he does that. It's not relevant somewhat relevant, but Silvio's approach in general is also a topic that I also can understand because he also gets flack for caution and cowardice, but his father was Gorde. We know one thing about Gorde, he was the advisor, and I think we see bits of him though Silvio, but Silvio also was raised in a different time under different circumstances so that's why it's only bits.

TL;DR I have a lot of feeling for Landroi. This is a sizable chunk of the feelings, but there's still more. There is the flip-side, Chapter 7 Morality and its Chapter 8, but I said I'd talk about the Utility side specifically, so it ends here. Also Julio as a Falkes angst lives in my mind ready to strike at any moment.

7. Favorite Battle?

This is being judged largely in terms more mechanically--map, units, etc--instead of the ramifications on story. That being said: I have little clue. The naval battle, Chapter 14 Morality, sticks out the most. Fueled by my feelings about Norzelia's river warships, it was an interesting, unexpected choice, and for that, it's kinda neat. I really liked the detail that they made the signature metal plating of Aesfrosti warships conductible. I struggle to recall if there are other maps with metal, except the mine. We also don't really get ship maps for obvious reasons, the closest thing is probably the Wolffort harbor map.

Close runner up for maps is Twins Gate though. I won't elaborate. That one's strictly vibes only.

8. Favorite Ending?

I regret to inform I am a Liberty End fan. Though anything to make Benedict Pascal "happy" is the surface level reason why I like Liberty End, but the subterranean level is how much he shoots himself in the foot with his stubborn blindness. No longer to make Benedict Pascal happy. Anything to make him go through more bullshit, especially if it's his own fault.

But not only does he shoot himself in the foot, but he also puts that last nail in the coffin and then buried Wolffort in it. Landroi is dead (head Falkes representative), Silvio is dead (head Telliore representative), Serenoa (Wolffort's head) is put on the throne--and for the sake of not trying to stammer out an alternative explanation--is then Glenbrook-ified. Sure, he retains Wolffort in name, and this probably drastically changes things for future generations of the royal line down the road, I don't have my local history expert at the moment, but anyway there's abandonment in morality, ethics, land (subjective Serenoa still technically owns it), heritage, and such. It's the Liberty end, Morality is forsaken to achieve it, and the triangle topples. Worse case, you also let Benedict Pascal do what he wants, and the land that was entrusted to the clan also underwent some damage. Don't worry captain we'll buff out those scratches.

HOWEVER, all in all, regardless of this, this is all still done while achieving at least face value of Benny Boy's catchphrase goal--for the future of House Wolffort--because the House in title is still raise to imperial household, but it's at such a steep cost to what it means to be a Wolffort. That meaning of No Matter the Cost is so delicate and fine in the Liberty End. Poetic cinema.

And with that I think at this point I am tying too many red strings between dots, so I will end there. But, if provoked I could run deeper.

#'Benedict Pascal is my favorite character'#I say before immediately kicking him in the nuts and dragging him through the dirt #Thank you for the ask #Triangle Strategy #Ask Game #every ending in triangle strategy causes me distress to think about #but I put Liberty End under my Wolffort lensed microscope #and go ooooo~ facinating

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adrianasunderworld · 2 years ago

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More Isabelle in the Magical Girl au

The Maidens Library is where the Spell book of Winifred Sanderson is. Elena has long been a studier of witchcraft and dark magic, and one of her areas of expertise is the Sanderson Coven. She wants the book for herself to further her magic. Through her connections and extensive research, Elena has known for years one of the previous Maidens (the Maidens being another area of research for her) had taken the book and stored it in the library to keep it out of the hands of evil. Elena wasn't sure she would ever see that book until she saw that mystical gem hanging from her daughters wrist.

Isabelle became fixated on the book. She stared at it in the glass case, tapping it gently, coaxing it to open its singular eye for her. Something about it called to the girl. Maybe it was pride thinking she could handle using it, maybe it was some demonic call, maybe after her current heartbreak she wanted some distraction, she wasn't sure, but Isabelle against her better judgement took it out of its case. So long as it never left the library it should be fine to study. After all, nothing could go in or out so long she allowed it. But the book after all, had a mind of its own and had slipped itself into her bag one day before she left. Isabelle was shocked to see it as she unpacked it from the bag. She debated telling her mom, after all she was an expert. But something in the back of her mind told her to keep it secret. So Isabelle kept the Sanderson book to herself and studied it, practiced her witchcraft.

On Halloween night, Elena has Isabelle go with her to perform a ritual. They were witches, this wasn't the first time, so Isabelle did not think much of it. Elena drew the circle in the dirt and placed an assortment of seemingly random candles and instructed her daughter to light them. Isabelle did as she was told. Halfway through her task, one flame turned black once lit. A sound like thunder echoed through the forest and there they stood. Three women in old fashioned clothing, cackling that they were back.

Isabelle felt her stomach drop. She had heard the story about the Sandersons and Winifreds last spell all her life and she had let it come to pass.

"Mom, stand back!" Isabelle was about to transform when she realized her bracelet was gone. "Huh?"That's when she saw it dangling from Elena hand. "Mom, give that back!"

"This is far too dangerous for someone so inexperienced. Don't worry, it's safe with me."

"Winnie..." The black haired sister said. "I smell a child." All three looked at Isabelle in the circle and lunged for her. She backed away quickly outside it as the Sandersons entered it. Only for them to scream.

"Oh infernal forces," Elena said. "Bind them for I am Master now."

"A clever trick," Winifred said as she was clearly fuming, "But a foolish one. You-"

"Silence." Elena commanded. And some invisible force made her quiet. Isabelle stood there in horror as her mother grinned. "Save your breath Winifred Sanderson. I know all your tricks. And I'm in control now. You can't have that one.".

"Mom, what's going on?"

Elena finally looked at her daughter, "I'm going to become the greatest witch, that's what. We're going to lead the strongest coven that ever existed."

"But- my bracelet! You're not meant to have it. I'm the chosen maide, not you. You can't just take-!"

"I can and I have. Oh don't look at me like that. You're far too inexperienced and weak to fully comprehend what you have here. Maybe one day you can have it back when you're older."

"No!" Isabelle ran and tried to snatch it away from her mother's grasp only for a gust of wind to push her away and into the dirt on her butt.

"Now I only need to find the book-" Elena noticed Winifred eyeing Isabelles bag on the ground. "Call for it."

The magic holding Winifred mouth shut set her free and with no other choice than to obey, she did. "Book! Come to me."

Isabelle watched in horror as the bag lifted off the ground and fell into the dirt as the spell book flew out of it and floated towards Winifred. She tried in vain to get up, but her mother's magic forced her to stay seated. Elena grabbed it in the air before it could reach it's true owner. She flipped through it with a grin.

"Well well. Seems you've been holding out on me. And you insist we aren't alike at all."

"We aren't! I was only-"

"Studying it?" Elena interrupted. "This book has been safely hidden away for centuries until you took it out."

" I just wanted to learn. To get better."

"And how is that any different from how I started?" Elena replied. "You want to act holier than thou, but youre no better than I am or them" she gestures to the Sandersons who were still huddled together in the circle watching this whole exchange. Isabelle glared at her mother, who did not seem bothered. "You can sit there and be mad at me all you want. But when I establish this coven, and you can have all the knowledge and power you want, you'll thank me. You may not see it now, but this is better for both us."

Isabelle could hear the sound of footsteps and yelling. She recognized the sound of Drew and Seiths voices calling for her. But she was still frozen in place, unable to run to them. She couldn't find it in herself to yell for them.

"Ah, good timing." Elena said as she looked to where they broke through the trees. "Sandersons. My daughter is off limits. But those two are fair game. Have at it."

Drew and Seith are @mangacupcake

@writing-heiress @marrondrawsalot @the-weirdos-mind

#twisted wonderland #twst oc #miss yuu #twst yuu #twst magical girl au #Isabelle rosa #elena cruz #seith Zigvolt #drusilla #others ocs #the sanderson sisters

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goosegirl94 · 1 year ago

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Myslyvets Return to Nevermore

Chapter 3 Give a Dog a Bone

Enid was angrey. Byeond angrey. She was furius. She finally did it! She wolfed out and that still wasn't enough! She thought her mom would welcome her back home with open arms after she fainly wolfed out and teacher her how to be a werewolf. That was far from what Esther was going to do. When Enid got home for the semester break, it was like nothing had changed. It had actually gotten worse. Her own family, her own pack didn't know what to do with her. Her brothers gave her the cold shoulder instead of bullying her. Her dad was never in the same room as her. Her mom, her mom, was an einteraly different person. Enid was used to her mom being too much but now, it was on a whole other level. Esther brought hell apon Enid. "But - but mum I- I wolfed out! I thought you would be happy!"

Esther growled at her pup. "Happy? Happy?! You honestly think that I would be happy that my only duaghter would wolf out on a blood moon?! Really, Enid?! You just had to go and turn during a blood moon?!"

"But mum thats not fair! It's not like I planed on wolfing out on a blood moon. It just happened that way! I'm glad I did though! It gave me what I needed to help my friend!" Oh crap did she really say that last part out loud?

Esther walked closer to Enid and tightened her fists. "Enid, do you know what happens to blood moon wolves? Why am I even asking? I'm sure you don't." There was a pause. Enid examined her mom and realised she had never seen her this agnrey. There were many times when her mom would let her frustration on Enid not wolfing out be shown and noticed at home, but this was nothing like Enid had seen before. "Blood moon wolves are very, very powerfull Enid. To powerfull. Most packs will banish a blood wolf to make sure it never hurts the pack."

Enids eyes widen and tears streamed down her face. Enids fear of dying as a lone wolf become more real. She was frozen. She didn't know what to do, what to say. "Lucly for you, your father hasn't decided what to do with you yet. For now you are to stay in your room until we come up with something. You will use the kitchen after the family- the pack has. The same role applies to the shower. Do I make myself clear?" Enid nodded and said yes. Esther then pointed to Enids room and Enid walked up there with her head down. She couldn' breath hidding her cries. Little did Enid know that her soon to be new teacher was an expert on blood moon wolves.

Appon her return to Nevermore, Enid marched into her doorm room and unpacked. In her furry Enid didn't even noice that Ainsley was in her room standing on Wednesdays side of the room. Ainsley didn't say or do anything. She poiltley waited for Enids senses to kick in and when she was hlafway through one of her suite cases, they did. Enid shot up, nose twitching picking up Aisnleys unfarmiler scent. "Who are you? What the hell are you doing in my room?"

Aisnley raised an eye brow. "Hmm, is that all youv'e got kid? I'm surprised I'm not pinned down on the floor right now. Your reflexes are much slower than I thought they would -"

"Look if you are trying to piss me off it's working!" Enid stated with her claws out.

"My apologizes my name is Aisnley Myslyvets and I am a new teacher here at Nevermore as well as the new head of security. It's nice to meet you".

Enid blinked looking at Aisnleys hand. "I am SO SORRY! I was really upset and I- I'm sorry I'm Enid. How did you know that I would be in this doorm room?"

"As head of security I have read every student's files as well as all the student's files that was involved with the Crackstone insident. I should tell you Enid, I am a legeacy monster hunter. I hope this doesn't cause any-"

"Do you know anything about blood moon wolves?!"

Ainsley blinked, surprised at the random outburst question. "Um... yes I do. What little there is to know about them but yes I do".

"Then- could you teach me about them? I'm a blood moon wolf and when I went back home... I- my dad won't even look me anymore. I'm not welcomed in my own pack anymore. Please help me." Enid dashed to Asnley and hugged her who hugged her back tighter. "Oh, Enid. When would you like to start?"

For the next few days before he new semester started Ainsley spent a lot of her time with Enid teaching her all there was to know about blood moon wolves and their abillities. Aisnley was able to teach Enid more than what was in books as Aisnley used to be with a blood moon wolf. One day Enid noticed Ainsleys scars were simillar to her own and that they were claw marks. She didn't know how Aisnley got them but she could tell they had to have come from some kind of beast. Enid didn't do a god job of hidding the fact the would stare at the scars so it wasn't hard for Aisnley to notice her. "You know you can ask me about my scars if you want to Enid."

Enids eyes widden, was she that obvious? "O-Oh um... how did you get those scars?"

"They are all from my girlfriend. The ones on my jaw was from when I tried to doudge but I wasn't fast enough. Same with the one over my eye. My girlfiend wolfed out but it wasn't during a full moon. I'm not sure what came over that day but when she turned there was no human in her. She was all animal. I tried to get her to turn back to human but she never responded when I called her name. I still haven't figured out how she tured when it wasn't a full moon. She didn't even turn under an emotional reaction."

"What happned? To your girlfriend I mean?"

Ainsley turned and leaned agenst her desk. "She um... I killed her in self deffence. She was on top of me, had me pinned down and was going to kill me. So, in self deffence I stabbed her with my silver dagger."

Enids hands were covering her mouth She had never heard of a random wolf out like that before.

"After I stabbed her she turned back, smilling at me as she died by the silver poisen. I always kept a silver dagger on me just in case. I told her I would never have to use it but..."

Enid didn't know what to say.

"Don't worry Enid, that's a situation you don't have to worry about as a blood mon wolf. What happened to my Lauren was not a blood moon wolf thing. I don't even think it was a werewolf thing. However as a bood moon wolf you have more strength, stamina, and endurance than an avreage werewolf. You also have more control over yourself after you wolf out. You will also, when you're human, show more of your wolf side."

Enid tillted her head. Now were moving on back to blood moon stuff?

"When your emotions become prominit your wolf features will show. For example, when you get angry, your fur will grow through your arms, legs, back, and torso. Your calws will come out, your fangs will grow out and so will your tail. If you get excited your tail will show, your claws show, and your wolf ears will come out. You know, that kind of stuff."

"Wait are you saying that radom wolf parts are just gonna pop up everytime I get excited about something?"

"Ermm... Yeah that's one way of putting it. I suppose..."

"So like, nya?" Enid asks liffing her fist up like a paw.

Aisnley didn't know what to say to that.

#wednesday #wednesday netflix #wednesday fanfic #wednesdayoc #enid sinclair

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feisaru · 2 years ago

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Oooooo may I ask about 🫂 and 🎭 headcanons for Fei please?!

And if you're still up for more, than 👗 and 🧸 headcanons for Saru please and thank you! uwu///

Thank you so much for the ask! Sorry this took so long, I had to think about it

🫂: a hc about friendship

WHOA buckle up this one's a tad bit personal. Him and Saru have been in a "friendship" until they were around 20 years old. Maybe they updated the label to "BEST friends" once, but that was the peak of it (still was a huge step for Saru) (and this made me remember a really bad shitpost scenario ft. my OC). That's when Saru went "haha if it weren't for him, I would be dead by now, might as well just-" and pulled his head out of his ass (this means "stopped being a coward" for those who don't know) and really said "I love you" for the first time without beating about the bush (The reason Fei didn't feel the need to confess before Saru is a topic for another time but here's a hint: it was not because he was afraid of rejection). The thing is, by that point they had been kissing (and everything else basically) in high frequency for a few years already. Most things you'd think are a couple thing, they probably had done already. Their Something, as I like to call it bc that's how Saru started thinking about it one day as well, just had no real label beyond friends (which to Saru is already a special thing, anyway). And they didn't even really feel the need to label it. It was beyond categorization. Their special Something. I'm relatively new to this label in particular, but I guess this goes in the direction of the QPR domain (label that's v dear to me also). Yeah so turning their weird little beautiful Something into an official relationship was in and of itself just a matter of formalities. Quite literally almost nothing changed after they became official partners. But they sure do enjoy telling each other they love each other from that point on. (This makes me wanna reread the other times I've talked about this... damn)

Okay all jokes aside, the real hc was, Zanark and Fei actually get on pretty well. Fei gets on with a lot of people, sure, but Zanark is not so into being friends with everyone and he likes Fei a lot. He thinks Fei is amazing for still being the way he is, for not caving in and letting all that happened weigh him down forever although life has evidently dealt him a bad hand. But he also thinks Fei should most definitely not be shouldering all the burden by himself. I and a friend of mine agreed that it would have been nice if Fei had gotten to structure his thoughts in a more personal talk with someone before the final match. You know, unpacked a bit about Everything that was racing through his head, stated his motivations to someone, made up his mind on some stuff. More explicitly and in more depth and length than canon allowed him to. And even tho Zanark is no expert at comforting, we both thought that Zanark would have liked to check up on him. And Fei would have not had such a hard time explaining some things to him because they are from the same time etc etc. So we roleplayed something that you can imagine as a scene that happened off-screen. It was very very nice I loved that

🎭: a hc about what they lie about

Hard one. Fei doesn't lie a lot. He really sucks at that, as Saru mentioned once. He downplays things or avoids talking about certain topics altogether instead. So even if that's technically cheating, I'll tell you about that instead. He has a tendency to downplay his own feelings and needs. He wants to look after everything and everyone as much as he can and he forgets that he deserves breaks and somebody looking after him too.

👗: a hc about their clothing style

HHHH lotta thoughts on this one actually. But I'mma control myself. Saru is half This Guy Has No Fashion Sense, half Extra. He only knows how to dress when he really wants to. He's gender non-conforming about it. The harder you tell him he shouldn't wear this or that, the harder he wears it. Because he runs on spite. He will wear it because he can, fuck your whole life heteronormativity. He has overly specific kinds of clothes that he feels good in. He loves wearing heels because he is like the dog on the counter that likes feeling Tall.

Okay, so I don't get carried away any more, here's sth more specific: in his generally tad bit less bold first 3-5 years post-CS, he always found himself returning to oversized hoodies and pullovers. There was a rather simple black one that he wore often.

🧸: a hc about their childhood

Hah this one's hard... because these are the thoughts I really only speak about once in a blue moon, even privately with the people closer to me. Let me try and find something that won't feel so exposing (for lack of a better word) in my head.

Once again a beta hc that may change in the future: I like to think that similarly to Fei's rabbit, he once owned a monkey plush. Basically from birth on. I have not yet made up my mind about what exactly happened to it, but whichever was its fate, it wasn't good. Saru quickly grew to be not very fond of it because of who he got it from and what it stood for, to lightly put it. The plush has experienced his beginner attempts at externalizing his inner pain.

Ask game from which this is from

#yea i felt sappy up there dont touch me sniff #and locket #i wanna thank you for always being so kind #it really gets to me🫶🦔#feisaru receives asks #ask game #princesslocket #ask #the only thing that initially came to my mind for the last one was something im not ready to discuss yet actually thats why this took #hella long #inazuma eleven #feisaru

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dzthenerd490 · 9 months ago

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Alright I just watched your Online Horror Attempt, now I am no expert of analog horror, however after watching a bunch (thanks to your AU) I think I'm well verse to the formula so here are thoughts.

Alright now my first critique is the voice. Now I understand that you can't hire voice actors but I had a hard time distinguishing of "who's who" in this video but over i think had.

The Black ooze Virus, now I will admit the images that were described were scary and kinda over the top, like the little girl just exploding and guy barfing until he deflated. Like is describing that kinda imagery really neccassary, it kinda feels like edge. I don't like the fact that the people infected were just bleeding black ooze and then instantly just fine when they got to the hospital so they just left like no check up or nothing,. Like if I had black ooze coming out of my nose, to only feel better as soon as I got there I am still staying at the hospital and getting x-ray there is something in my body.

So we learn later that the black ooze is alive and monsters are coming out and it looks like there is a different enemy type so that's interesting. The first monster that was described was interesting to me cause it just a bunch a hands and arms I think it was best out of the three that were described cause it wasn't even doing anything violent just wandering around like it was baby or something. The tall smiling monster made my eyes roll cause no offense, but the whole smiling monster has been done to death on analog horror genre. Now the bug monsters were also interesting, but what made me confuse was the fact that they dragged an entire family out of their home just to eat them. Like why didn't it just eat them when they were home? What was the purpose of dragging them out?

Now onto the Twist. I will admit I should've seen that coming however my problem that it was out of nowhere, like yeah some black ooze fell on him so there was that hint but I think there should have been more clues that the person talking to the US military wasn't human. Also that was kinda dumb of the imposter to just announce that he is a monster. Like yes it is terrifying that the imposter knows that there are humans alive to eat, but the dumbass doesn't even know where the human is. I feel like there was more lines of "Please tell me where you are I need to get safety." Or "Please tell me where you are, I ran out of food, and I'm getting hungry." But that's just me

Now overall I give this a 6/10, it wasn't perfect but it also was not the worse. It has potential. Just wish there was visuals though.

Okay a lot to unpack here but that's the burden of being a creator so let's get too it.

Your critique on my voice - Yeah honestly fair I hated that part too, I was trying to use filters to make myself sound like different people but I am limited on options with the app I'm using and in order to get more I have to pay for a monthly subscription and fuck that. I mean sure it would make things easier but right now I'm trying to save money on essentials so that's an unfortunate no. As such, nothing much I can about it for now, but I'll try to think of something in the meantime.

Your critique on the Black Ooze - ... Yeah I know, I kinda wanted to be scary but honestly looking back I feel like I was dangerously close to being another UrbanSpooks which really hurts but the truth often does. You were SORTA right about the hospital thing too. I mean I tried to make it that the doctors reviewed EVERYTHING and found nothing wrong. But looking back I really could have made that part clearer with better detail, but I didn't. I'll be sure to keep this in mind when working on future videos.

Your critique on the monsters - I don't agree with the smiling monster part because the sole purpose of that was that to add variation to the monsters to add elements of the unknown and unpredictable. BUT if I did fail at that too then I apologize and will try to do better form here on out. Though you are right about the cockroaches there really was no reason for them to drag people out. I just added that because I wanted more description of horror. But again, you were right, I went overboard on that part.

Your critique on the twist - Hm... I'm honestly not sure if I agree because the fact that there weren't enough clues of it going there was the point. It was supposed to come out of nowhere, also the reason it didn't ask questions about where the military was is that the Black Ooze is all consuming and supposed to spread EVERYWHERE it only slowed down because it thought there was nothing left but now that it does it doesn't matter which direction it goes because eventually everything will be eaten. But to be fair that will be explained in later episodes so yeah really not your fault you didn't know that, so your critique is technically valid.

Thank you for your review! Seriously critiques help more than you know! I really appreciate your notes and wish more people would do what you just did. Also, this technically isn't an analog horror, but I don't have a reason to hate anyone for calling it that so it's whatever, I guess.

#DZtheNerd #Ask #Ask Response #Response

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star-anise · 3 years ago

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You just posted like ten different things about potatoes in the span of maybe five minutes, and I gotta know your take on "The Martian".

Like, the (fictional) man alone on a planet literally only survives because of potatoes shrink-wrapped in plastic for a Thanksgiving meal. If they weren't slated to be on Mars for Thanksgiving, he would have died.

And Andy Weir (author of the original novel) did such a good job with the science of every other element to the story, I honest-to-god believe that potatoes could actually manage to grow in Martian soil (even if that's not been proven for certain afaik).

Which means..... could potatoes terraform Mars into sustaining life??? Are potatoes the key to the universe???

Haha sorry for going so hard on them! Those were mostly all posts from 2020 when gardening and fantasy worldbuilding were lockdown fixations for me. One of them blew up recently so I wanted to give The People more of the content it seemed they were looking for. I don't actually know a lot about potatoes. I just think they're neat.

I do not want to take apart the concept of "colonizing Mars" as some kind of woke gotcha. I want to take your question seriously and charitably. However, I just am the kind of person who's like "Hmm, 'colonize', we should really stop and unpack that word," so let's do that, without forgetting the potato element.

(What "I don't know a lot" means: Potatoes were a crop my family grew several acres of for a few years on our farm before we switched our focus to sheep. I am about 50% as reliable as a horticultural brochure on various potato diseases and growing condition issues. I have listened to two University lectures and read perhaps four historical journal articles beginning-to-end on how the Columbian Exchange affected early-modern Europe, that and half as much again on medieval and early modern European farming practices and population changes, and perhaps three science/history articles specifically on the domestication and proliferation of the potato. I am a white Canadian who actively seeks out information and training in Indigenous history and culture in the Americas, but that's probably still only equal to like, two Native Studies classes in university. I know more than the average person on this topic, but I am also not an expert compared to people who have devoted serious time to learning about this.)

But I have some intuitions in a couple of ways:

The Martian is probably being wildly over-optimistic about its potatoes. They would probably have been irradiated into sterility before being vacuum-packed, and I don't think you can split and propagate them that quickly or successfully. However, potatoes can definitely grow in all kinds of conditions (including under my sink).

They might not be the world's healthiest or happiest potatoes, tho. Soil quality definitely affects the end product. Presumably Watney, being a botanist studying Mars' soil composition, knew how much he had to ameliorate his soil with latrine compost (which would definitely have needed a LOT of processing, since human waste is generally not good for plants, but maybe he used chemicals to speed that up?) to get good soil. However, we would probably need to add a LOT of shit to Mars' soil (and air, and water) for it to host plant life.

Mark Watney makes a joke about having "colonized Mars" because "colony" is Latin for "farm" and he farmed on Mars so haha, funny joke! And we talk about colonies on Mars partly because that's what science fiction did, and a lot of science fiction has been into that colonialism aesthetic. But colonialism and empires actually aren't great, not just because they necessitate huge amounts of racism, oppression, and genocide—I know, you asked me a fun question about potatoes and did not sign up for this, I'm not here to drag you, hear me out—but because they're also really sucky models for agriculture and successful societies generally.

My British ancestors tried to be colonial farmers in a place that is sometimes colder than Mars (Canada's Treaty Six), and let me tell you: IT SUCKED. Most of the crops and herbs and vegetables and flowers that settlers here brought from home and are used to? DON'T FUCKEM GROW. For the Canadian prairies to become conventional farmland, farmers and scientists had to scramble to find, or produce, cold-hardy varieties of everything from wheat to roses. A lot of flowers and plants that are unkillable invasive zombie perennials in other climates don't survive our winters no matter hard we try. The trees and flowers that hold cultural or sentimental attachments for us often don't grow here. The climate is so harsh and population is spread so thin that we cannot do the 100 mile diet and eat foods we're familiar with, and can hardly even manage the 1000 mile diet. (Not that I try, but, my family did once look into it)

A huge number of colonial homesteads, where the pioneers go out on their little covered wagon and build little houses on the prairie? Failed miserably and got bought up by land speculators. My own family came out to Alberta in the 1880s and moved around from land assignment to land assignment, like, six times before settling at their current place in the early 1900s.

Meanwhile: POTATOES

Potatoes are less than ten thousand years old! I am not any kind of expert on archaeology, please nobody throw things, but humans showed up in the Andes (think: high, cold mountains) of South America roughly 9,000 years ago. There are hundreds of wild potato varieties, but they generally produce fairly tiny tubers. It took active work of Indigenous Andean people around 8,000 years ago around Lake Titicaca to cultivate specific strains of potato, doing oldschool genetic modification to make them bigger, more delicious, and hardier. From that cultivation effort around a single species of wild potatoes, they produced thousands of cultivated potato varieties.

Ancient Andean farmers and botanists also played a big part in cultivating quinoa from wild amaranth, as well as producing modern food crops you probably haven't heard of, like oca, olluco, mashua, and yacon, and also coca, which may get a bad rap because it's what cocaine and coca-cola are made from but you cannot deny it's got kick.

Basically, Indigenous people of the Americas (South, Central, and North) went all in on botany and plant cultivation. Plants that we take for granted now have mostly been developed by Indigenous people in the past few thousand years: Tobacco, sunflowers, marigolds, tomatoes, pumpkins, rubber, vanilla, cocoa, sweetcorn, maize, and most kinds of pepper except peppercorn. These things were not found; they were made, by careful cultivation of the world as it was.

This gives us a vision of the future. Colonization, and industrial agriculture, both lean us towards the vision of a totally uniform end product, with the same potato varieties grown on each farm because we have made every farm the same. Instead we could embrace biodiversity and focus on privileging local knowledge and considering the interactions of environment, plants, microbiota, and people. We could create potatoes that were happy on Mars. We could create Mars that is happy to have us. We could create a society that can accept what Mars has to offer.

A lot of why we dream about colonizing Mars is the idea that the Earth itself is dying, that we are killing it, and we need to abandon this farmstead and seek out a new frontier. I acknowledge that shit is bad, but I don't agree with that framing. I am increasingly persuaded that there is a third path between ecological destruction and mass exodus, and I think we need to reject European colonial mentality that creates the forced choice. I find far more use in privileging the knowledge of people who live on and with land than their landlords and rulers, and I especially find value in Indigenous knowledge of land management practices and food production.

I am absolutely not saying that Indigenous people were or are wonderful magical ~spiritual beings~ who frolicked in an Edenic paradise that only knew death and disease once white people showed up. This isn't noble savage bullshit, nor am I invoking people who existed once but whom I have never met. I am saying that I have Indigenous neighbours, colleagues, relatives, and elected representatives. I have learned about mental health, leatherworking, botany, and ecology from Metis and First Nations elders and knowledge-keepers. And like. They have good and useful shit to say.

This is about culture, not race. It is not that their biological DNA means that they know more than me about how to get food from this landscape. It's about cultural history and what we learn from our heritages. What have our cultures privileged? Like, Europe has historically been super into things like metallurgy, domesticating livestock, and creating dairy products. If I want to smelt iron or choose animals to make cheese from, European society would have a lot of useful information for me! And what Indigenous cultures in the Americas have historically focused on instead of cows and copper* include 1) getting REAL familiar with your local flora and figuring out how to make sure you have lots of the herbs and grains and roots and berries you need, and 2) how to make a human society where people can live and have good lives, but do not damage the environment enough to impair the ability of future generations to have the same sort of life.

*Several indigenous American cultures did practice various forms of metallurgy. It's just one of those proportional things, about what societies really go for

Conclusion

I think we could use the processes that formed the potato to find and foster forms of life that could survive on Mars. It would involve learning to think that botany is a sexy science, and understanding just how rich and complicated the environment is. To oxygenate the atmosphere, we'd have to get super enthusiastic about algae and lichen and wetlands. We would have to learn to care deeply about the microorganisms living in the soil, and whether the potatoes are happy.

We'd have to create an economy that counts oxygen and carbon dioxide production on its balance sheets. To learn how to wait for forests to grow back after a fire, instead of giving up in despair because the seedlings aren't trees yet. To do the work now and be hopeful even though we might not see the payoffs for decades, or our victories might only be witnessed by future generations.

So yes, I think we could totally plant potatoes on Mars

But I also think that if we ever got there, we'd have turned into the kind of people who could also save Earth in the first place.

Which makes it a good enough goal in my opinion.

#staranise original #agriculture #potatoes my beloved

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thepersona · 3 years ago

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Extraordinary Attorney Woo: Thoughts on episodes 11-12 (spoilers!)

Check out my midseason review here!

Lots to unpack this week.

First, let's talk about romance. Most dramas with a major romantic storyline have a defining moment (kiss) near the midpoint of the series, and a 'Now what?' phase that tends to mess with the plot towards the finale.

And the 'mess' can manifest in different ways, and it's not a bad thing when handled thoughtfully. The most common I can think of:

The writers give the couple something to disagree on / misunderstand because the honeymoon phase only lasts so long on and off screen.

The writers separate the couple because of a third party (family, love triangle, other).

The writers give the couple something to fix that may not have anything to do with their relationship to give the lovey-dovey stuff a break.

The couple gets boring because the relationship is put on the backburner and the writers are flipping a coin whether to set up a wedding or a breakup. (This is the worst.)

This week's episodes have shown signs of the first three. Don't get me wrong, conflict is necessary in any story, otherwise it wouldn't be interesting and succumb to the fourth point. What I love about the romantic storyline in EAW is that it blends well into Young-woo's overarching struggle to be just another person making her way in the world. It makes so much sense that her inexperience and unintended insensitivity would frustrate Jun-ho, seeing how much effort he puts in to be the best possible boyfriend to her.

Gwang-ho's reaction to seeing them kiss, first comical then slightly dramatic (masterful acting from Jeon Bae-soo btw, you just see the words Taesan and Boston pop in his head through his eyes). His decision regarding Tae Su-mi's offer is still up in the air and we don't really know which way he will lean towards once he officially meets Jun-ho.

I'm waiting to see how this unfolds now that trash boy Kwon Min-woo knows, and the preview for the next episode where it seems more people (Jun-ho's family?) are telling him to find someone else.

Now let's talk about the cases / themes.

I must say I wasn't the biggest fan of the lottery jackpot splitting-turned-divorce case of ep 11 (which really said men ain't sh*t except for the men in Young-woo's life minus KMW). I mean, people fight over money all the time so we are bound to see a money-splitting case more than once, but it was a little weak(?) compared to let's say the three brothers' case. The ruling just felt so unrealistic (though I'm not an expert to say it's impossible) and even a bit rushed just so they can show how the husband did a 180 because of the money.

Then there was the issue of attorney-client privilege. I'm sure if it came down to it, there would be a big issue about Young-woo and Jun-ho visiting the gimbap shop if the husband ever decided to sue. But then he died so that was that.

Overall, I felt that while it wasn't a case for Young-woo to showcase her talent and that's ok, the case was a bit too on-the-nose in driving the theme of how men (yes, it's getting a bit misandrist, I know and that's a problem, too) can drastically change in a relationship and that they are not what they seem (poor Su-yeon deserved a better storyline this week).

I think the biggest misstep in ep 11 was choosing to feature another relationship case. We just came from the massive r*pe case from episode 10 so it is inevitable that the audience would automatically look for and speculate looming similarities between the case and the relationship between the leads. Perhaps to minimize ridiculous suspicions towards Jun-ho, they chose to add Su-yeon's storyline to show that anyone, no matter how well-adapted, could fall victim to betrayal and deceit.

The other theme was about Young-woo's inflexibility with the law, which could have been more central in ep 11 but the writer chose another route. This was mostly used to add funny moments in the episode but it didn't have a very sound resolution because the truck did all the work. And let's talk about that truck for a moment. While I'm happy to see the husband's demise given how abusive he became, the accident in itself was so rushed-deus-ex-machina that I was scratching my head when it happened. It cut the looming divorce case so abruptly. It also gave us a chance to see Jun-ho in hug chair mode and more amazing acting from Park Eun-bin and Kang Tae-oh. However, it cuts directly to him walking her home, saying cute things about the hug chair, and another kiss in full light this time.

My problem isn't with the romance, but the lack of transition between the truck accident and the next scene. Maybe the exchange between Tae Su-mi and Kwon Min-woo could have come right after the accident, then have the romantic scene so it ends on the shot of Young-woo's dad catching them. I'm nitpicking at this point but it definitely contributed to how disjointed the episode felt overall.

Episode 12 had the better case and storytelling. I loved seeing Lee Bong-ryun play the activist Attorney Ryu and the return of Judge Ryu from ep 6. I liked the wrongful termination case and how sexist it could be. The outcome wasn't in favor of the underdog, but it felt more grounded in what actually happens due to legal loopholes that favor big companies.

The character of Attorney Ryu was very enjoyable to watch. Loud, but likeable. On the manipulative side, but knew well enough not to throw Young-woo under the trashy bus driven by Kwon Min-woo. She also has a strong sense of morality, but is willing to play with the gray areas of the law. We may never know how she really got the HR manager's notebook and that's ok. See, this is the kind of good characterization I've been missing since ep 9. And well portrayed at that.

Poor Jung Myung-seok went through a lot in this ep. I certainly hope he isn't fatally ill. Stabbing fugitive aside, it was a bit surprising (but also not surprising) to hear him rant about his interpretation of what attorneys do. It was a strange feeling, I felt a bit disappointed in him as Young-woo's mentor but I agreed with him to an extent. It was a practical take on his job as a corporate lawyer.

Along with the legal opinion statement that Hanbada drafted for the company, this certainly puts Young-woo on the crossroads between the expectations of the law firm and the type of lawyer she wants to be by challenging her understanding of right and wrong. A wonderful link to episode 5 (sunflower vs. letter on the wall) as I thought they had forgotten about that for a moment.

It seems we'll have a Jeju-do episode next week so maybe they'll stumble upon a case there about whales. I do hope they'll expedite the secret-child drama and give Su-yeon something substantial next week. At least let her meet Geurami who already calls her an angel!

That's it. Thank you for coming to my TED talk. See you next Whoa Whoa Wednesday.

#extraordinary attorney woo #woo young woo #park eun bin #kdrama review #kdrama #lee jun ho #kang tae oh #eaw episode 12 #eaw episode 11 #eaw spoilers #spoiler alert

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