#when I say this is the cliffnotes version | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

magniloquent-raven · 1 year

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i've seen a lot of AUs messing around with what happened between Billy and Steve at the end of s2, like, what if Billy had seen the demodog, what if they made out instead of beat the shit out of each other, what if Steve hadn't lied about Max, etc. etc.

and i mean, it's not like i've read every harringrove fanfic so maybe this has actually been written before, but it just occurred to me that i've never seen someone explore what might have happened if Billy had just showed up at the Byers' like twenty minutes earlier. before everyone else left.

i just think it would be interesting because Billy has a habit of keeping his attitude mostly in check around adults, and the fact that one of those adults is a cop might keep him even more in check, so the chances of him getting violent would be much lower. but despite him being less likely to lose his shit, there's also NO chance he'd actually listen if he was told to leave without Max. and i doubt Max would be cool with leaving, no matter how angry she knows Billy is getting (maybe in part BECAUSE she knows he's already pissed, the last thing she wants is to get into a car with him right now).

the whole thing would be SO sus, because everyone would be trying to stop him from going inside but he can see Max and her friends peeking through a broken window while the goddamn chief of police tries to run interference without actually telling him anything. he'd be so stubborn about the whole thing. pretending to be polite, but not blinking an eye when Hop starts implying he's going to arrest Billy for trespassing if he doesn't back down, and Joyce has to get involved, being a mom about it, trying to convince Billy that Max is safe and he doesn't have to worry and she can call Susan if that would help.

so when nothing they say to Billy actually makes a difference they start to wonder if they should just send Max home with him, and Mike has started to get snippy with her about it, saying she should just go because if her brother ruins everything it'll be her fault, but Lucas is adamant that letting Max leave with him would be a bad idea.

and somewhere in between all the arguing Billy shoves his way into the house, where there's still a demodog dead on the floor, and Will's art project on the walls, and Will himself, knocked out in the next room. which is all very weird, but Billy's kind of on a mission here. so him and Max get into it. he can't go after Lucas this time, not with a cop twenty feet away. they just argue. loudly. angrily.

until Billy has had enough, he can't keep pretending he isn't on pins and needles, hasn't been keyed up since his confrontation with Neil. and he has to hit something. anything. nearby. he punches a dent in the nearest wall.

and it freaks El out. and something explodes.

which is just one too many weird things for Billy to ignore.

Steve steps in at the same time Hopper does, both of them unsure how Billy is going to react. except he kind of. doesn't. he's freaked out, and confused, and still angry, but he also looks just as unsure as they are.

they don't really explain it to him. not all of it. he glares at everyone in the room while they give him the stilted cliffnotes version and he doesn't seem to believe any of it.

when Joyce and Hopper leave with their respective teams, Billy gets left behind with Steve and the kids. Steve's half sure he's going to grab Max and drive off the second they can't see tail-lights anymore, and given the way Max is bracing herself, she seems to think so too.

he doesn't. he lights up a cigarette and sits on the couch by himself, ignoring everyone's uneasy stares while they sweep up glass and wood splinters.

and i mean from there it would be both harder and easier to get the kids to the tunnels lmao. could go either way but i figure Billy volunteering to drive the children to their death just because Steve was so adamant it was a bad idea would not be entirely out of character for him. and he's still not convinced any of this is real, so maybe he wants to see it for himself. and maybe he's still itching for some action. if there is some crazy shit down there...well, if he's dead he won't have to explain to Neil how bad he fucked up, so there's that.

(and on a related note i kind of love the idea that Billy would be shit at fighting monsters. like they just freak him out and he can't do it. so he goes down there into the tunnels all sure of himself and confident because he knows he can fight but the second they run into trouble he freezes up and Steve has to save his ass. which totally doesn't turn him on at all, shut up)

#stranger things #billy hargrove #harringrove #a raven's writing desk

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myrskytuuli · 9 months

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This particular thought came to me because I remembered how annoyed I was when Lucifer (the TV series) made an off-hand joke about how "Oscar Wilde was straight before he met me" but then I remembered that also in the Good Omens book it is heavily implied that Oscar Wilde and Aziraphale were involved together, which creates the hilarious suggestion that in the Gaiman-verse Oscar Wilde was sleeping around with several celestial all without them knowing about each other.

Which then led me down a rabbit hole of thinking about famous historical figures dealing with getting papparazied and approached by time travellers all the time.

Shakespeare sitting in a bar when an anachronistic strangers approaches, thinking "oh dear god, time to see what half-remembered ramble I'm about to hear of my own play again." While a time traveller is absolutely convinced that they are about to become the inspiration to Romeo and Juliet by giving the cliffnotes as "his own idea" (Romeo and Juliet has been playing in the globe for years at this point) Shakespeare doesn't say anything because he is morbidly interested in hearing how badly someone can misremember and misunderstand a play.

Leonardo Da Vinci selling his 50th "first draft, it's probably not even good enough to make the final version, oh you think I should? Well, why don't you buy this draft for a cheap price then" of Mona Lisa. (the painting was finished years ago).

And of course, Oscar Wilde seeing an anachronistic person looking particularly time-travellerly and siddling up like "You mean two men...in intimate relations...what a novel and completely new idea for me....maybe you should show me....(he's fucked five other time travellers just this week.)

Anyway, I just particularly dislike the trope where a time travelling normie somehow manages to influence and inspire historical famous people.

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08279 · 2 years

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Welcome back! Care to share any dadmight thoughts you’ve had since you’ve been gone?

Hi Blade !!! I hope you're well!! You've opened the flood gates so I'll put a little 'read more' cause it's pretty long lol.

Izuku and All Might just hanging out casually while people around them freak out because omg it's ALL MIGHT

All Might, in the midst of retirement after being a hero for like 40 years, following Izuku's hero fights. Mirroring how little Izuku followed All Might *sob*.

Izuku actually spent part of his childhood in the US and speaks English fluently, but he forget to tell All Might. After a while he just decided not to say anything because he felt it would be too awkward. Present Mic starts noticing odd errors in Izuku's English assignments and figures out that not only does Izuku speak English fluently, but he uses American English and has purposefully been making certain errors to act like he doesn't know English.

All Might messes up his medication (or some other plot stuff) on the day of the Sports Festival and insists that it's far too dangerous for Izuku and won't let anyone touch him. The heroes working the Sports Festival as well as UA teachers go through various hijinks to get Izuku who is reluctant about leaving All Might's grasp. All of this is, of course, captured on camera for all of Japan to gawk at and speculate towards.

Izuku spends his summers (or Japanese equivalent) working in the White House. This popped up after watching The West Wing, one of my favorite TV shows ever.

Toshinori and Inko have fun flirting and thus making Izuku angry. He is a momma's boy after all.

[AU where Izuku is Toshinori's biological son] Izuku (~3) goes on his first errand. All of Tokyo watches with baited breath.

All Might sends out a love-filled happy birthday tweet for Izuku's 16th birthday. Except the world doesn't know who Izuku is. And All Might didn't make it clear what their relationship was in the tweet. Japan erupts with the new of All Might's 16 year old son. Izuku blushes a lot.

Inko and Toshinori are married and Izuku is their son. None of that information is public. It isn't until the parent-teacher conferences that the UA teachers start putting together why Inko and Toshinori are so comfortable around each other. Then they realize how Izuku is involved and everything begins to make sense.

This is more of a full-fledged fic idea, but here's the cliffnotes version:

Inko was a superstar in her young teen years when she was in a Korean girl group. She later became a solo artist and maintained her success, but stepped away from the limelight to have a family.

Once she has Izuku, she takes him to her agency and he's raised around performers. Come to find out, Izuku is a gifted musician and choreographer with otherworldly vocal talent. He becomes a choreographer and songwriter, but Inko is hesitant to let him become a performer despite repeated begging from the agency's CEO.

In the meantime, Izuku trains with kids his age so he can make friends. When Izuku turns fourteen, Inko relents after Izuku begs to be allowed to join a group. (She feels guilty that he won't be able to go to UA in the next year, and wants him to do something he's passionate about) So Izuku trains with a boy group who is essentially BTS except I don't really know that much about BTS so I just kinda glaze over the group members lets move on because

BOOM Izuku is fifteen and BTS debuts in less than a year when he meets All Might and suddenly he has the chance to be a hero and to go to UA. But he's also been envisioning a future with his best friends doing something he's good at and enjoys.

Inko is desperate for Izuku to go towards the safe route of being a performer rather than a hero, but she knows it's a losing battle. Izuku pulls out of the debut but remains a choeographer and songwriter while also occasionally providing instrumentals and background vocals.

One of the main reasons I like this so much is because there isn't really a life-or-death aspect. Izuku gets to choose between two things he loves. It's a win-win :).

ALSO there's a slight alternative to this AU where 1A records their summer break (or whatever is the equivalent in Japan) in a vlog style and Izuku's vlog is about working at the agency with the top performers in Asia.

ANOTHER alternative is where Izuku gets the fic version of BTS and TWICE to perform with 1A at the culture festival :D

This so much longer than I thought it would be. Wow.

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fagmolloy · 24 days

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i just think it'd be cute wrt lrb if lestat and daniel were sitting together in a meeting. lestat's trailer. killing two birds with one stone: blocking out the next docu-episode's content, filling up stories for daniel's companion book he plans on publishing. they're moving now into paris, nicki, the children of darkness. lestat with his shades on, sitting on a stupid oversized bean bag chair while daniel sits cross legged on the couch, taking notes with a pen and notebook. daniel's advised lestat to give him the cliffnotes version, for now—knowing lestat, it wouldn't take much to stretch a five minute story into a 48 minute long episode.

daniel's unable to hide his grimace, gritting his teeth when lestat arrives at meeting armand.

"it would be remiss of me to deny armand's beauty," lestat says, a somewhat distant look on his face. "even through the filth, which one could easily mistake him for a gremlin. i hadn't known then the circumstances through which he had... come to lead the children of darkness. but he," lestat pauses, humming. "hmmm. i noticed him."

daniel shifts uncomfortably on the couch. "riiiight. huh. okay. i was under the impression that you two were—are—like rivals. jaded ex-lovers. frenemies, even."

"he found me first. i could sense his power before he had called out to me one night midst a show. i could sense somehow, in my blood, that this vampire was familiar with my maker." he pauses. "that alone was enough for me to reject him. i'm sure it only infuriated him." he pulls a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket. daniel eyes lestat as he uses the fire gift to light a smoke. he's still slouched on the beanbag. he looks fucking ridiculous.

lestat laughs, a loud barking sound. unkind to the senses. "well, yes. armand and i at the beginning," lestat waves his hand. "enemies. and then lovers. and enemies once again.

"the gremlin began to follow me around paris, trailing my every move. i could sense him on my periphery at nearly all times, even at moments when the sun climbed over the horizon. i knew he was watching me—watching nicky. becoming anxious. only becoming more furious. one night, i became tired of his gaze. i confronted him." his mouth twists. "it was a mistake. one i would come to pay for dearly."

daniel startles as a vision enters his mind. cobblestones and smoky air. the crack of lestat's spine as it hits brick, fear that he hasn't felt since his maker was alive. a figure laying motionless—nicky, he figures. armand picking up nicky effortlessly in his arms, cooing as he walks away. lestat paralyzed, unable to move. forced to remain on the ground, staring at the dirt, wondering if he will mend before the dawn of the sun.

lestat does this sometimes. when something is too painful to be verbalized, recounted, he'll share a memory instead. oh, but not just the visualization of it. daniel gets the sensory input and all.

daniel shudders as he feels the grip on his mind release. "jesus, man. i asked you to stop doing that."

lestat shrugs. "i only gave you a fraction of what i recall. you must learn resiliency, fledgling." he taps his forehead.

daniel shakes his head, stretches his spine out. "so he tortures nicky. you break up the coven. it's an even score at this point."

"who is keeping score, fledgling? there was no use for it, not then. nicky did not recover from his... experience. i turned him, hoping it would bring clarity to his mental anguish. but it made it worse. more volatile." he brings his cigarette to his mouth, sucking in a deep inhale. "his madness became a great barrier between us. i spent nights pleading with him to return to me... to love me as he once did... but i could not penetrate through his trauma, his melancholy, his rage." a twisted smile. "thanks to armand."

daniel tries to recall what armand had told him so many months ago during the interview in dubai. "armand fucks up your only connection in the world at this point, yet you show up at his door for a seduction."

"yes."

"why?"

lestat ashes out his cigarette on the floor. daniel grimaces.

"i had no one else to turn to for advice for nicky's condition. the few vampires from the children of darkness that did not immediately throw themselves into the fire—they were my age, if not younger. they had no more knowledge than i. and armand's power was... immense. i wanted to know that power." he shrugs. "it was a simple seduction. i knew as my fangs entered his wrist and i drew from his ancient blood that he had not been touched for centuries. he was," lestat shifted, "it was as if he was torn in two. the old rituals that had kept him alive refused him the full possession of his body. but i could hear another part of him. quieter, gaining volume, begging to be touched. to be loved." he cleared his throat. "and in turn, he could sense why i had come to him—he knew my selfishness. he said nothing of it. and so, we became lovers."

"you just described nicki a few minutes ago as the love of your life. seems to me you move on quickly."

lestat's eyes flashed for a moment. "nicki was a great love of my life. armand was a lover. i do not contradict myself."

right. daniel writes quickly: establishing pattern w/partners? armand fault? he had to be careful when taking notes. lestat was insatiably curious (read: vain, egoistic, childish) and would often ask to see his notes on days he was feeling polite enough to ask. daniel quickly learned early on in the process that he had to be more subtle with what he kept track of following lestat's violent reaction to "oedipus complex a mile wide" scribbled in the margins following an adventurous recollection of gabrielle.

"and armand became a kind distraction." he smirks now, still looking off into the distance. "showing him the new rituals, it gave me purpose. and in turn, he taught me many things. the theatres de vampires became a great success. we spent many nights together, hands clasped, watching the culmination of our work. there was a memorable time—the night before i left paris, actually..."

daniel squints. "you and armand, in the theatre box. he tells you he loves you and you run. he locks up his heart for 150 years. i'm familiar. it's in the book, if you recall."

"and we fucked," lestat says. "did armand not tell you that? how modest." he's attempting a pout now but failing, his eyes sparkling. "it's integral to the story. i must tell. and do my viewers not get a chance to understand it through my eyes?"

daniel is not naive. what's really happening in this moment is that daniel is being teased/bullied/once again forced to be the victim to whatever sadistic psycho-sexual mind-game vampires get into once they live past a full century. he recalls now armand and louis' attentive gaze in dubai during the early days of the interview: "you have our attention." "yeah?" "yeah."

daniel hasn't quite figured out how to navigate these games, yet. sure, he's writing a companion book to the documentary, and he could use a few chapters of erotica to get the book selling.

but his feelings around armand in particular have become... complex. and lestat knows as much.

the shame and arousal knotted in daniel's gut might as well be a halo around his head. lestat's blinding smile says it all.

_____

the theatre is sold out that night, seats taken in every row and every box. lestat waxes lyrical about the smooth expanse of armand's neck now that his hair had been tied back in a ribbon bow made of silk.

"and that's when he said 'lestat, je t'aime'—" and lestat's mouth quirks sadly, a generally uncharacteristic expression daniel has come to recognize as regret. "i told him i loved him too, but i knew it was a lie. i knew i could not love him and also be his next master. i was above that, he was above that."

"but you weren't above fucking him in a public place with dozen of witnesses, right?" daniel bites, crossing his arms.

"armand was just as invested as i was, daniel. there could not possibly be coercion on my part. not when he was already gagging for it."

___

a few members of the audience from their own booths began to look down on them—some irritated by the distraction, some welcoming the initiation of a second show, likely to be more promising. "one thing you must understand about armand is he will play coy," lestat flicking ashes off of his cigarette, "but he loves to be watched. ah, non—he loves to be devoured and watched."

daniel is clenching his fists under his arms. he's recalling louis taking blood from armand-rashid. daniel doing his best to shuffle through claudia's kill journal—nearly stuttering when rashid's eyes rolled into the back of his head after a particularly loud groan, and suck, from louis. the choked off moans. the blissed out smile.

daniel laughs breathily, a harsh sound. "i'm familiar with armand's brand of exhibitionism."

lestat furrows his brow, and then daniel feels it: lestat prods his mind, inquiring.

"get the fuck out," daniel tries, but it's no use. he knows the memory is found when lestat blinks—a flash of something in his eyes, jealousy?—then, a slow smile.

"ah, i had not known you took special interest, daniel. let me start over from the beginning."

and then rather than the prod from before, he feels the weight of lestat's mind covering him, enveloping him as if it was a blanket. he sees lestat in front of him, but now sees the theatre in front of him, too—

daniel shifts uncomfortably. "what the hell, man. you can't just mind-fuck me every time you get tired of talking."

"relax, daniel," lestat purrs. "just watch."

there's flashes of heat as his—lestat's—cock stirs in his linens. lestat's eyes dial into armand's neck and—yeah, okay, maybe the guy had a point. he feels it as lestat leans in, kisses, bites his way down armand's throat. his chair tips into armand's, nearly sending them to the floor. lestat has to brace an arm against the wall to keep them from tipping over completely.

daniel shifts. "enthusiastic," he mutters.

"always," lestat grins.

armand moans as lestat slides a hand from up his knee to his bulge, where he grinds the heel of his palm. he thrusts up into the pressure, whining. lestat huffs. "what a sweet thing you are."

daniel startles as he hears armand's voice in his head. "fuck me, lestat, please," armand begs, and jesus christ—

daniel getting hard in his jeans. for fuck sake.

lestat coos at him from across the couch. "beautiful, is he not?"

daniel can't respond—not when he's seeing as they're sliding out of their chairs to kneel on the box floor, tug at each other's clothes. he sees armand come up for another kiss and lestat swiftly redirects it to his cheek. "ah, i have a better idea for my mouth," lestat murmurs. a hurt look crossed armand's face before being swiftly tucked away, a slight delay, one that lestat easily pretends to ignore.

daniel doesn't know how it's happening, but the memory is beginning to infect all of his senses; he feels as though he's beginning to merge into lestat, become one. daniel can't help it—his eyes shut. he still sees the vision of lestat pulling down armand's trousers, bringing out his cock—"i don't know if i can watch this," daniel groans. he reaches down and adjusts his dick through his pants, ignoring lestat's chuckle.

"well, there is not much to see at this point, hm? with the exception of a few moments here and there." lestat looking up from the cock in his mouth to gaze up at armand, who is soundlessly groaning and sighing into the open air. feeling nicky at the edges of his mind, watching, the little deviant—pulling off of armand's dick to wet his fingers, reach down and press at armand's hole—a finger pushes in, and armand is so hot and tight—

"jesus fucking christ, lestat," daniel pants. he grips his cock through his jeans harder now, nearly thrusting up into his own palm. he hears lestat shuffle another cigarette out of his pack, a gentle exhale. the smell of smoke.

daniel's helpless as armand climbs into his lap, pulling lestat's cock out of his pants deftly, his thin fingers spit slicked and wrapping around him to tug. in reality, daniel grips the armrest, digging his nails into the leather. tearing into the plush couch stuffing, gripping the wood underneath. he groans at the sudden heat of armand clenching around the tip of his cock, the hot and tight feel of him as he descends slowly down his cock, gasping.

in that moment, he—lestat—grips onto armand's waist, plants his feet on the floor, fucks up into that glorious heat. "ah, yes, you need this, don't you," lestat murmurs in french—how does daniel know what he's saying? armand moans, a high pitched thing, drawing more people to look down at them. daniel doesn't quite catch what they're saying, the edges of lestat's memory blurring, more focused on the ring of sweat haloing armand's crown.

"ah—ahn—hah—les-stat, please," armand whimpers above him, his cock bouncing against his belly, swollen and leaking. "i'm going to come. can i come? may i come?"

lestat drags him down by the neck. "can you come without my hand?"

armand gasps and clenches around him, oh, fuck—daniel's cock throbs painfully and he thrusts his hips into the air mindlessly, not giving a fuck anymore—and then armand's coming, throwing his head back—

daniel barely catches a huff of laughter from lestat across the room before the memory, the environment, it all shifts around him and it's louis looking down on him now. chest bared, teeth glinting in lamplight. the shift startles him and he wants to look around the room, wants to know where he is now, but louis—

"this what you wanted, baby?" louis drawls as he fucks into him slow and—oh fuck, jesus christ, he can feel louis in him—his hole twitches, and christ, the way that louis gives it to him so deep—he hasn't been fucked like this in decades. daniel reaches down and undoes his fly, pulls his cock out, hissing as he thrusts into his palm.

daniel feels more than he sees louis' hand reach up and tighten around his throat. "you're so fucking tight for me, babe," louis groans, and oh, god—

daniel whimpers and comes over his hand, clenching on—louis. clenching on—nothing. fuck. he rides it out slow, unable to resist clinging onto the feeling of cock inside him, even as it fades out to a dull hum of nothingness.

daniel realizes a few moments later that he no longer feels lestat in his mind. his ears perk up and all he hears is the sound of lestat's trailer humming from the generator.

he refuses to open his eyes. overstimulated, for one. two, he's pretty sure lestat's going to kill him now. or something. he's not really sure. he's having a hard time gathering his thoughts.

"oh, daniel," lestat chides. "it's been long for you, hasn't it?"

#anyway im not a writer so someone else needs to take over and write this #i just think . we need to explore this dynamic #james.txt #frightfully putting this in my personal tag. god help us

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bougierthanthou · 7 months

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So I'm rewatching How to Get Away With Murder in and out of order and I've gotten to the end of season 5 and Annalise makes such a grave miscalculation when it comes to handling Bonnie and Nate. Cliffnotes version Nate brutally assaults interim D.A. Miller who is also Bonnie's boyfriend because he believes that he ordered the murder of his father. Upon further investigation via Frank's advanced interrogation technique, it was violence the technique was violence. We discover that Laurel's brother Xavier Castillo and the Governor were the ones that ordered the prison guards to have Nate Sr. killed during his transport out of jail to some mental health facility. So Annalise knowing that Nate beat Miller bloody and Bonnie suffocated him to death when he still had a chance at life decides to have one of the guards lie to both of them and say Miller ordered the hit. I vehemently disagree with this strategy, she's obviously worried about the guilt eating them alive but the gag is THEY NEED IT. No one told them to go kill that man off of circumstantial evidence, and to be fucking frank those bitches NEED ACCOUNTABILITY. Let them feel that guilt so they think twice before doing some dumb shit like that again how much do they plan to put Annalise through? All that resentment bitterness disdain she has to bare from all of their bitch ass faces THIS IS WHAT THEY DESERVE. BONNIE OF ALL PEOPLE SHOULDN'T HAVE DONE THIS ESPECIALLY AFTER WHAT SHE PUT THEM ALL THROUGH WITH REBECCA!!!!!!!

#bougie speaks #how to get away with murder #tv

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re-x · 1 year

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Comments on Never Have I Ever Season 4’s first two episodes:

The sheer absurdity of people getting themselves worked up into a panic over spoilers from the first two episodes of nhie season 4, when most of them haven’t even watched these episodes themselves.

The tags (and my Twitter timeline) are full of people passing judgments (and full-blown catastrophizing) as if they knew exactly what the first 2 episodes were going to be like. Clearly these folks had heard spoilers from someone about them, but at the same time they were clearly missing all the subtleties and nuances because plot points are only the skeleton that makes up a story. They heard the cliffnotes version of the final product, at best.

I have seen these episodes myself, so I can say that those plot points didn’t even come close to encapsulating what really happened. When it comes to Ben (and Devi), so much of the story is in what’s unsaid. These are things that you cannot transmit by just summarizing plot points or dialogs. Instead, you hear them in the actor’s voice, their body language and facial expressions, and the delivery of their lines. A character can say one thing on the script while their face and body language portray conflicting feelings about what they are saying.

The bottom line is as follows:

I was frustrated as heck by what transpired during the first two episodes, but I understood why it had to happen. Ben is insecure and he acknowledges that about himself, but he’s yet to admit that there are far deeper fears that are preventing him from being with Devi. He’s scared shitless of getting hurt again, and given his past traumas, we cannot overstate just how traumatic the events of season 2 were to him. And he hasn’t addressed that fully yet. And so, he was trying his best to look after himself while still do right by everyone (Margot and Devi both), but you could see how hard it was on him and how confused he was by the whole thing. Frustrating af, but I was mightily impressed by Jaren Lewison’s ability to portray Ben’s inner conflict so beautifully within the first two episodes. And without the aid of a 24/7 narrator at that.

I saw a lot of things swirling around the internet that clearly were the product of improperly transmitted second- or even third-hand information. It’s like an awful game of telephone or something, where with each round of transmission, the information gets ever more degraded and further away from the original truth. That is exactly how misinformation spreads. And I see people catastrophizing for no reason as a result.

#never have i ever #nhie spoilers #nhies4 #jaren lewison #ben gross #maitreyi ramakrishnan #devi vishwakumar #benvi #ben x devi

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maideninorange · 3 months

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⭐️ for the To Be series 👀

Anything I want, you say? The To Be (One With the Garden) series of mine they are referring to is...a lot. It's intended to be very open-ended, with a lot of things never being outright stated, and if you read any given fic with a given assumption about Olimar's unfortunate situation, said fic(s) can easily be made more or less horrifying. Add in the fact that neither Olimar nor the Pikmin are always entirely what you'd call a very reliable narrator (no matter how much the former likes to think he is, for the most part), especially as time goes on, and well...things can get tricky, to put it mildly.

As a result, it can be kinda hard to talk about this series, because I don't want people to take my own reading as fact on too many things. It's more fun seeing what kind of interpretations people come to on their own, at least, in my opinion as the author of these four things.

So hm...What to talk about, what to talk about...Do I point out that one bit where I fucked up how much oxygen is in the Earth's atmosphere that's been driving me a little crazy? It's 21% not 70%...Wait! This is probably going to be one of the only times I get to share some language factoids about the Pikminish language I've imagined the characters speaking that I have been writing with in mind! Check what I wrote in Discord convos... remove parts that are kinda spoilery to that huge knife twist in the "back half" I've been planning since the beginning...Place cut for my non-Pikmin followers and here!

Generally speaking, Pikminish outright lacks pronouns. Where pronouns would be in English is generally something most would understand in context. It is generally assumed that plural takes precedent, unless stated to be otherwise (so the word that would most closely resemble "I" and "you" when one must state the topic would most literally translate as "this one" and "that one"). Referring to a third person is referenced through hand gestures like pointing, or through the use of titles (like "Leader", that is ever present). The thing about the Pikmin, you see, is that referring to the group is taken to be the norm due to their odd eusocial structure (For those not familiar with it, eusociality refers to the sort of social structure things like ant nests and bee hives have, although the version in "To Be" is more a cliffnotes version). This is why the default pronoun for the Pikmin is "We" in these fics with "I" being emphasized, due to the fact that they find it unnatural to refers to themselves as individuals. There's, unfortunately, no real way to communicate this in English, but if you are familiar with languages like Japanese, it's kinda like that except Worse.

Adding onto this is the fact that the Pikmin, lacking a social concept of gender, naturally lack a language feature for gender. This is why they refer to Olimar with they/them pronouns, which is something I've mentioned before I think. However, something I haven't mentioned is that I tend to think of Hocotatian as a language with quite a few similarities to Pikminish, one feature of such being that it is similarly context based, although Hocotatian is more just average pronoun avoidant as opposed to outright lacking in pronouns. This is why Olimar never so much as remarks on it when he probably would've otherwise: gender in Hocotatian is typically conveyed through gendered nouns applied to people (think "salesman" or "actress"). As the situation he's found himself in is one in which use of nouns that would be gendered in Hocotatian are few and far between, it's not something he ever really has any opportunity to pick up on, and so it goes unremarked upon. Naturally, English, being a very pronoun heavy language, this kinda makes conveying that specific detail nigh-impossible outside of something like this. Curse you English, you broken broken language.

I like to imagine Pikminish as one of those languages where common words tend to translate to something flowery in another. Not bad for a language where sentences tend to be fast and words are stuffed with as much information as they can be! (Never know when predators might be on the prowl, after all.) This ties into the very musical way I like to imagine them talking, but you already know that, and this thingy is for things I can't convey in fic.

Word order is more than likely SOV in both Pikminish and Hocotatian. (Subject -> Object -> Verb order for those unaware). It's a very common order for words to flow in general out in the real word though, right next to SVO. I just thought this detail was interesting. (English is SVO, so this would've been impossible for me to convey). I like to imagine Pikminish as having pitch accent as well, due to a lack of varied sounds to create various different combinations of words with.

I would've killed to explain any of this in fic, but as you can kinda observe, Olimar is not a language nerd (and therefore would have no reason to take note of any of these things...Though I imagine his notes would've been very extensive if he was lol), and the Pikmin sure as hell aren't. So unfortunately, a lot of this had to go unexplained, even though I was writing these fics with that in mind.

Sorry if this isn't the most interesting director's commentary, but I really wanted to get this bit out there somewhere considering I couldn't write any exposition on it in naturally. But I had fun writing this out, so I hope that counts for something!

#ask and you shall receive #to be (one with the garden)#I tend to write my fics under the assumption that the use of English #is just as a convention #as a writer who can write English #writing for an audience who can predominantly understand English #but the *actual* language of the fic #is not actually English typically #it's Japanese in my Len'en fics #but in my Pikmin fics (not just “To Be”) that requires more thought #and so...language rules #do not ask me about actual words or sounds though #I don't wanna think about those #I'm not creative enough for that lol #I may have left a hint or two to the knife twist I totally don't have planned in this #but good luck finding it #especially if you are not a linguistics nerd #heh heh heh #(but then again language is in and of itself a clue no?)#(after all)#(Olimar's vocal chords tend to give him hell in these fics)#(...What does all this mean?)#(Are these tags in and of themselves a hint?)#(...Maybe)#(But where's the fun in saying as much?)

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south-sea · 1 year

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PLEASE tell me more about your version of Mephiles. What does he like to do as a hobby? How often is Shadow involved in said hobbies? What's their relationship like? Are they friendly?

Even if your thoughts aren't complete you can give me the cliffnotes version please please please please

disclaimer: i am very ill thanks to a medication allergy mishap earlier today, so if this is more ramble-y than usual, i apologize! it has been a rough week health-wise, but for that same reason this couldn't have been better timed. silly guy mephiles is like 1/2 of what my brain is laser focused on rn to get me through it apparently. that said, this definitely got a bit longer than i expected,

that's the catch: they don't currently have hobbies (if you don't count being an eccentric goofball). at least, it's difficult to explore new ones on account of being physically tied to semi-modern shadow.

so i'll start there: their relationship is a tenuous one at best. semi-modern doesn't fully trust them. some part of him expects mephiles to slip back into old ways, or to find out they've just been faking the amnesia the whole time. standard tropey stuff like what happened with Mr. Tinker in IDW. and similarly, mephiles is in fact Not Faking It.

on the flipside, it's hard to tell if mephiles is actually bothered by this trend of distrust everyone seems to show them. outwardly, they just roll with/don't even acknowledge it. inwardly, one might be right to assume they've tethered themself to semi-modern's literal shadow specifically to ensure they have at least one guaranteed person to fall back on. people aren't exactly wrong to be cautious of them, either. they are uncanny and unsettling in every way. and when i said shadow's basically their hostage, i wasn't entirely joking.

but shadow's not stupid. mephiles may not remember being a god, but the entitlement and sense of constant attention is burned into their existence. while their methods are usually harmless and subtle if not just silly, they take what they want. shadow knows this, but he lets it slide because ultimately there's no harm being done, and at least this way, he's able to keep tabs on them more easily.

that said, i'd not say they're unfriendly with each other. shadow tolerates their antics, but not begrudgingly. he just thinks they're odd, and occasionally embarrassing. mephiles meanwhile is just having a grand ol' time, all the time. they don't push their luck with shadow and intentionally annoy him, but they generally do whatever, however they want to. even if on average they can't be farther away than four blocks or so, it's not uncommon for semi-modern to turn a corner and find them hosting a tea party with some stranger surrounded by a bunch of shadowy minions.

tea tends to be a recurring theme with them, if just because i'm pulling from various mephistopheles interpretations as inspiration, with a little bit of mad hatter/sheogorath thrown in for good measure. they're meant to be this wacky goofball on the surface, less because they're ~off their rocker~, and more because they're a timeless god that has no concept of/regard for what mortals consider "normal". underneath it, they're suppressing a desperate need/fear.

they want company. what's a good way to get company? you have one of your shadowy minions shepherd some unwitting soul toward a table you've just made out of thin air and serve them tea and snacks. nevermind that this poor person now probably feels pressured into staying put thanks to all the other minions circled around acting as butlers. sometimes it's a genuine attempt to connect to someone. sometimes they're just lying to themselves. they have company now; they're not letting go of it easily.

even then, they're not aggressive or intentionally threatening. it's spooky as hell, sure, and definitely manipulative, but if the person were to try to leave, mephiles would ultimately let them go if an insistent "stay, stay!" doesn't work. at that point they just return to shadow and sulk.

my absolute favorite thing about them is that more often than not, they really do mean well. their motivations might be terribly selfish, but they're not always aware of those motivations themself, so it's all done innocently. they say or do some truly unsettling things that come off as thinly-veiled threats, but in reality they're just being sincere in a blunt way. (which is not to say they're faultless; the whole "lowkey using shadow/holding him hostage" isn't exactly great and i'm not going to claim it is, even if things turn out alright.)

in any case, the two share a mind link of sorts. whether mephiles is physically in semi-modern's literal shadow, or blocks away, they're able to communicate more or less telepathically. oftentimes if shadow looks like he's spacing out or brooding more than usual, he's literally just talking to mephiles (and occasionally maria). i'd liken mephiles's approach to conversation in this way to a pleasantly annoying friend who texts you memes or random thoughts from out of nowhere.

and so, while shadow views their relationship with cautious neutrality if with a bit of stubbornly-ignored fondness, mephiles is a bit more attached, even if they don't consciously realize it. it's a bit like the very early dynamic between second chance shadow and metal; they're in contact a lot due to circumstance, and that naturally leads to the two warming up to each other over time. (they're not nearly as close, though, and likely never will be.)

should semi-modern be threatened in a way he can't get himself out of alone, mephiles is very likely to pop out of his literal shadow and assist in some way, if not teleport them both out to safety. i'd even go so far as to say they're a bit protective of him. they just don't realize that's the case until something's actively happening to warrant those protective feelings.

i actually intend to cook up a scenario like this to kickstart shadow's acceptance that mephiles is genuinely not malicious anymore, and for mephiles to come to terms with the fact they genuinely care about shadow as more than just "convenient company". and hopefully that will in turn lead to mephiles having a bit more freedom, where they start to branch out with physical copies/extensions of themself to explore different interests and the like.

i mentioned it in an earlier post, but future interests might look something like taking a more genuine approach to tea. even if they themself can't drink it, they can look into making their own unique blend based purely on the science(?) of it. how they approach interacting with people may also develop along with it, making things a lot less spooky and instead just kind of purely eccentric/left field.

they could take up acting, an instrument, generally anything related to the arts. hopefully not anything to do with high-stakes gambling like their namesake was so known for (though iirc theatre was also something associated with him, so i'm trying to strike a balance there, too).

something something, the parallels between shadow and mephiles both starting with a narrow view of the world and slowly exploring and coming to appreciate it on a wider scale

#sea answers #semi-modern au #i had a great time with this thank you anon mwah

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forter-from-meteos · 9 months

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What is this silly meteos stuff

oh! ohohoho

I took a quick peek at your blog because of the thirnova icon, and love the theming you've got, but i didn't see any meteos posts (which is fine) so I'm gonna give the full rundown 👍

lemme just start by dropping a few links: Miraheze Meteos Wiki - Meteos Wikipedia Page - if you want comprehensive, objective stuff

Alright! Now time for the Cliffnotes version of that stuff, plus my own subjective info

Meteos is a game series consisting of Meteos (2005) for the DS, Meteos Wars (2008) for the Xbox Live Arcade (Xbox 360 online store), and some other titles that I'm not knowledgeable on, like the now defunct Meteos Online and Meteos: Disney Magic (which is just funny to me)

The very basic plot is: The planet Meteo is sending out streams of destructive matter called meteos, which is threatening to destroy all the planets in the universe. The various alien civilizations discovered that when the meteos group in a certain way, they change direction, and launch the meteos falling from the sky back out into space. Now they're fighting back against the meteos, and one of the civilizations has created the Metamo Ark, a spaceship made of meteo ore, to sail to Meteo and defeat it. There's some details I'm leaving out, but this isn't an award-winningly deep plot we've got here.

Actual gameplay is essentially just a match-3 game, but with a twist: meteos (matchable blocks) fall from above, and by moving them through the columns, you match them, and they launch upwards. The real kicker is the many different planets with different mechanics. For example, Forte (the home of my namesake) has a playfield 9 columns wide, has relatively low gravity (stacks fall back down slower) low-ish horizontal launch power (matches where the blocks are next to each other instead of above/below) but very high vertical launch power. And now that I'm typing this, I realize that I'm just saying words, so, uh, I'm just gonna drop another link to this playlist of gameplay samples for every planet in the original Meteos DS. The uploader is playing pretty fast, but it should give a basic idea.

Anyways, subjective opinion time. First of all, the gameplay is simple, but it's really good. Second of all, the art and general visual design is just, also really good. This post is already on the bulkier side, so look through the miraheze wiki if you want some images. I just, I just like it a lot, especially the aliens. They're all just color, no shading, just flat shapes, and the lore is bare-bones, but what's there is so nice and creative! It's beauty in simplicity, and it's a perfect little base to build off of!

Ok, but how could I play it? Well, the roms for both Meteos DS and Meteos Wars are easy to find, and the emulators DesMuMe and xenia are too! The company that made Meteos is defunct now (sad), so I don't think supporting the devs is something you can really do here, but if you really wanna play legit (or if your computer can't handle Xbox 360 emulation, like mine) and you have the consoles, then Meteos Wars is still available for purchase from the XBLA, and there's copies of Meteos DS still floating around on online marketplaces.

In summary, Meteos is a simple but good game (series) with very nice visual design, with easily available roms. If you're thinking about playing it, do. Please. /lh

#meteos #ask

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choices-and-voices · 2 years

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Hii can you please explain the real ending of Arthur in the legend? I've heard from it but never really knew the full story :)

~~~ Updated 01/05/2023 after some further reading on my part, because apparently I’m obsessed with Arthurian legend now 😅 ~~~

Hi Anon! No problem, here’s a summary. Disclaimer that I originally made this post using just the Encyclopaedia Britannica, but I now can’t find the articles I originally referenced & I kept coming across contradictions to them in other articles, so I’ve decided to cross-check everything against CliffNotes & sections of original text. If anyone reads this and finds things that still need correcting, please lmk ☺️.

The legend of King Arthur is set in 5th-6th century Britain, although the details of the time & the geography are more fiction than fact. As with all folklore, it developed over hundreds of years through a mostly oral storytelling tradition, so there’s no one version of it. However, most of our modern adaptations are based on a book called Le Morte d’Arthur (The Death of Arthur), written in the 1400s by an English knight named Sir Thomas Malory. Malory basically compiled as many pre-existing stories about Arthur as he could, and also tweaked them to suit his time period. He was the first person to add a lot of the themes of chivalry and brotherhood that are now considered central to the legend. (As a side-note, Malory also went to great lengths to link the legend to his homeland, which can make his descriptions of geography even more confusing. He frequently mentions England and reports that Arthur became King of England by pulling the sword from the stone, when actually, ‘England’ didn’t exist yet in Arthur’s time. Instead, the island of England/Scotland/Wales was divided into many independent kingdoms, like Camelot and Carmelide, and the only way to collectively refer to them was as ‘Britain’. In this post, I’m going to be mirroring Malory’s language, but it’s worth noting that when he says England, it’s more accurate to say Britain, and when he says that Arthur was the King of England, it’s more accurate to say that Arthur was a King of Camelot who began to unify Britain through his influence & may have been destined to eventually rule it all. In fact, Camelot is usually identified as being in modern-day Wales rather than modern-day England. I know that all of this is tangential, but it confused me a lot during my reading & I wanted to help clarify it for other people, so 😊).

Le Morte d’Arthur sets up Arthur & Guinevere’s relationship very differently to Choices. For a start, they get betrothed earlier in the story, before the Knights of the Round Table are established – in fact, the physical Round Table & the first hundred of its knights are an engagement gift from Guinevere’s father. Secondly, they do know each other a little before they get betrothed – they meet a few months prior, while Arthur is helping defend Carmelide from attack – and although Arthur getting married is a political decision driven by his advisors, his choice of Guinevere as his wife is inarguably a personal decision driven by love. According to Malory, Arthur loved Guinevere from first sight & refused to let Merlin suggest any other brides when the time came, instead sending him to Guinevere’s father to ask him for her hand. We never really learn if Guinevere returns Arthur’s feelings, but honestly, the point is kinda moot – and that’s because, in perhaps the most important difference from Choices, Malory’s Arthur walks into the relationship knowing that Guinevere will betray him. When Merlin suggests choosing another bride, he explicitly warns Arthur that Guinevere will fall in love & cheat with a future Knight of the Round Table named Lancelot, and Arthur puts that aside, marries her anyway, and befriends Lancelot anyway.

I could go on such a long rant here about how complicated Merlin’s characterisation is in Le Morte d’Arthur – even more so than in Choices – and about what the symbolism might be of him making that prophecy & of Arthur ignoring it. But there’s tons more background reading that I’d have to do about that, and it’s also not the point of this post. Suffice to say, I think we’re given enough clues that Arthur ignores the prophecy not because he doesn’t believe it, but because he loves Guinevere and later Lancelot so much that he’d ignore anything just to have them by his side. When the two of them do start their affair, it’s stated that Arthur suspects what’s happening but ‘[won’t] hear of it’ from other people, particularly because of how much he loves & trusts Lancelot. It is left up to the reader whether that means that a) Arthur is deliberately overlooking the affair to protect his wife & friend or b) Arthur is burying his head in the sand about the affair happening – most critical sources go with Option A, but I personally think that both are presented as equally plausible. A similar trend continues throughout the book, with Arthur making several ambiguous decisions that Malory never directly explains, instead leaving us to judge him for ourselves. It’s quite a cool literary technique for a character who lives under public scrutiny, and who has had his story told in so many different ways over the years.

Before I move on, it’s also worth noting that Malory’s Arthur is… not quite as saintly as in Choices, so it’s not inconceivable that he’d struggle to handle the affair gracefully. Don’t get me wrong, he’s still incomparably noble & brave, but he’s also a young man under a lot of pressure who’s prone to dichotomous thinking, bursts of impulsivity, and difficulty telling people ‘no’. He himself has a few affairs between meeting Guinevere and marrying her, including one with a woman whom he doesn’t know is his half-sister with whom he conceives a son, Mordred. Like in Choices, Merlin then prophesies that Mordred will be Arthur’s downfall – more specifically, he prophesies that a boy with Mordred’s birthday will be Arthur’s downfall – but unlike in Choices, Arthur actually endorses Merlin’s horrific plan to prevent that. All baby boys with Mordred’s birthday are exiled to sea in a ship, until Fate, in one of its inevitable twists, sinks the ship and has Mordred wash up on shore. He eventually ends up in Camelot as a Knight of the Round Table, where he plays a big role in everything falling apart.

(And before we move on to that, just one more aside: the half-sister with whom Arthur conceives Mordred is not Morgana, although modern adaptations of the story often conflate the two characters. Her name is Morgause, and she also has four other sons – Arthur’s half-nephews – who are Gawain, Gareth, Agravaine, and Gaheris. I mention them not just because of the nod to Choices, but because they’re also very important in what happens next).

The trouble starts when Lancelot & Guinevere get extremely obvious about their affair, to the point where it becomes common knowledge among the Knights of the Round Table. Most of them ignore it, but there are two – Mordred & Agravaine – who insist on formally bringing it to Arthur’s attention, thus obligating him to deal with it. Arthur initially refuses to do anything unless somebody catches Lancelot & Guinevere ‘in the act’, but Mordred & Agravaine then suggest a plan to achieve that – they ask Arthur to spend a night away from the palace in the hope that Guinevere will invite Lancelot to her chambers, where Mordred & Agravaine will lie in wait for him. And this is the point at which Arthur makes his second ambiguous decision. The facts: Arthur agrees to the plan, and even tells Mordred & Agravaine to take more knights on their stakeout as backup, because Lancelot is more than capable of killing them in a rage. The question: Why would Arthur say that? Is he genuinely still unsure about whether an affair is happening, and eager for his wife & friend to be investigated and captured at any cost? Or is he trying to dissuade Mordred & Agravaine with threats about Lancelot’s wrath, while also making sure that there are witnesses to whatever happens so that nothing gets too out of hand? There are a couple of subtleties in Malory’s writing that might imply Option B – for a start, the conversation about the plan goes back & forth for a while, with Arthur giving three separate warnings about Lancelot before Mordred & Agravaine literally tell him to shut up and let them deal with it. So it’s not hard to read some reluctance in Arthur’s voice, and to consider that maybe he’s grasping at straws trying to stop this disaster he’s been backed into. Secondly, Mordred & Agravaine are explicitly said to be very unsubtle about their plan, to the point where Lancelot’s supporters at the Round Table suspect it and try to warn him. So it’s possible that Arthur is counting on Lancelot & Guinevere recognising and avoiding the trap, meaning that the stakeout will come to nothing and the ‘rumours’ of an affair may actually be put to rest. That said, it’s not like Arthur tries to warn Lancelot or Guinevere himself – sure, he can’t be seen to do that in public, but you’d think that he’d be able to catch Guinevere in private at least. Instead, he goes out hunting, Guinevere summons Lancelot to her chambers, and Lancelot goes, ignoring his supporters’ advice. The two of them are together when Mordred & Agravaine’s 14-knight party starts banging on the door, and everything immediately goes to hell. Lancelot & Guinevere know that they’ll be put to death for treason and agree that Lancelot should escape while he can, so he can return and save Guinevere later. Lancelot does make a show of wanting to resolve things peacefully – he says he’ll voluntarily stand trial in the morning if the knights let him walk away – but by now, everyone is raring for blood. Lancelot ends up killing all the knights except Mordred, who runs off wounded, then escapes Camelot with his supporters in tow. He does offer to take Guinevere with him now that her captors are dead, but interestingly, she turns him down – she actually says that he’s done a lot of harm by killing Arthur’s knights, and she doesn’t want him stealing her as well unless Arthur goes through with her death sentence. This is probably the first sign of doubt that we see from Guinevere, and it’s a cool, subtle hint of what’s to come.

Of course, Arthur does go through with Guinevere’s death sentence, and for once Malory actually explains his reasoning. Arthur has founded his entire reign on principles of honour and equality – on the idea that no one, not even a royal, is above morality or the law. Guinevere has committed treason – has even contributed to the deaths of 13 knights – and the punishment for treason is death, so Guinevere must die. What Malory does leave somewhat ambiguous is Arthur’s actual wishes for Guinevere & Lancelot. The facts: when Arthur first hears what’s happened from Mordred, he mainly expresses grief, both because Lancelot has torn the Round Table apart & because he now has no choice except to put Guinevere to death. He doesn’t express any anger until later, when Gawain tries to convince him to spare Guinevere in case her interactions with Lancelot have been misconstrued. At that point, Arthur says that Lancelot will have a ‘shameful death’ if he ever gets captured, and orders his knights to stand guard at Guinevere’s execution in case Lancelot attempts a rescue – even Gawain, who begs to be excused, and Gareth & Gaheris, who agree to be present but refuse to carry weapons. Now, it is possible that Arthur is doing all of this because he genuinely wants Guinevere & Lancelot dead. But there’s also another popular interpretation that actually, it’s all just for show – Arthur knows that Lancelot is going to rescue Guinevere, and by setting up a public execution with sympathetic guards, he’s maximising their chances of a successful escape while also ensuring he can’t be accused of letting them go. Essentially, he’s giving them a clean break away from Camelot, while also still trying to maintain the laws of the kingdom & his integrity as a king.

Of course, even if that is Arthur’s intention, this story is a tragedy & things can’t go according to plan. This time, the complicating factor is that Lancelot goes on a violent rampage while rescuing Guinevere, killing another 24 knights including the unarmed Gareth & Gaheris. When Arthur hears about this, he’s openly devastated, and I think it’s impossible to argue that he doesn’t have at least some anger for Lancelot from that point on. He does make an attempt to prevent further violence, asking his knights to shield Gawain from his brothers’ deaths so that he doesn’t swear a vow of vengeance, but when Gawain goes ahead with the vow Arthur is quick to offer support. He musters an army from across England and lays siege to Joyous Gard, where Lancelot has hunkered down with Guinevere, his original supporters, and an accumulated army of his own. What follows is an all-out civil war, and Arthur’s emotions are quickly torn from anger & righteousness to heartbreak & regret. There’s one particular scene burnt into my brain where he and Lancelot are duelling one-on-one, Lancelot refuses to kill him despite the fact that it would end the war, and Arthur just breaks down in tears, because he doesn’t want to be fighting anymore. Eventually, the Pope gets involved to bring about peace, and decrees that Lancelot & Guinevere be pardoned, that Guinevere be returned to Arthur, and that Lancelot be exiled to France. This leads to a tragic scene where Lancelot delivers Guinevere to Arthur before leaving England forever, and every single character cries except for one: Gawain. He refuses to retract his vow against Lancelot & insists on pursuing him to France with Arthur and his army, leaving England in the care of Mordred. Mordred, of course, has been out for trouble since the beginning, and this is the point at which he truly goes off the rails. He forges a letter saying that Arthur has died, gets himself officially coronated, tries to claim Guinevere as his wife (she refuses, fleeing to London & barricading herself in its Tower), and drums up discontent about Arthur’s past reign until public opinion is on his side. It helps that he also inherits most of Lancelot’s supporters, although a few of them do follow Lancelot to France.

When news of Mordred’s treason reaches Arthur & Gawain in France, they return to England to fight him. However, Gawain is already badly injured from repeatedly duelling Lancelot, who always refused to land the killing blow. On his deathbed, Gawain writes to Lancelot, granting him forgiveness and begging him to come to Arthur’s aid. And Lancelot does come, as fast as he can, but – he’s destined to arrive too late. On his final night alive, Arthur dreams of Gawain, who tells him that Lancelot will arrive in a month & that Arthur will die if he goes into battle before then. The next morning, Arthur meets Mordred on the battlefield to negotiate a month of ceasefire, but then a snake slithers out onto the field and a knight unthinkingly draws his sword to kill it, breaking the peace. Arthur rides into that battle knowing that he won’t come out alive, and watches in despair as all but one of his knights are also slain. Eventually, he sustains his mortal wound while killing Mordred. His only remaining knight, Sir Bedivere, tries to carry him to safety, but instead Arthur asks him to return Excalibur to the Lady of the Lake & to place Arthur in a boat being rowed by her attendants (including Morgana), who take him to their mystical isle of Avalon. In many versions of the legend, Arthur is said to still lie on Avalon under Morgana’s vigil, being healed from his wounds by a magical slumber from which he will eventually wake up immortal – a ‘once and future’ king. In Le Morte d’Arthur, that rumour does circulate, but Malory is ultimately clear about the fact that Arthur dies on Avalon, and is returned to a forest outside Camelot for a quiet burial. His throne is taken over by a distant half-nephew, his Order of the Round Table dies with its knights, and his dream of unity & honour across England dissolves. Guinevere, filled with grief & guilt, retreats from the world to join a convent, where Lancelot eventually finds her after his return. The two of them still love each other, but Guinevere refuses to renew their relationship, and Lancelot ends up joining a monastery himself as a way of honouring her & showing his remorse. When Guinevere gets sick a few years later, she prophesies that Lancelot will come to perform her funeral & to bury her beside Arthur, and sure enough Lancelot sees her death in a dream & rushes to her side. Six weeks later, he also dies of a broken heart, and is buried at Joyous Gard.

Whenever I revisit Le Morte d’Arthur, I’m always surprised by how subtle & complex a text it is, especially considering how long ago it was written. There are no clear heroes or villains; nobody is blameless in bringing about the tragedy, and yet nobody acts in a way we can’t sympathise with; nobody gets a happy ending at the expense of somebody else. But there is a general idea, reinforced over time by simpler adaptations, that Arthur is the member of the love triangle who suffers most. He loses not just his wife & his friend, but also his kingdom, his dream, and his life. Yes, he makes some questionable decisions along the way, but they’re all made for the sake of other people – he’s torn apart trying to simultaneously protect his loved ones, his country, and his ideals, whereas Lancelot & Guinevere precipitated everything by being publicly affectionate without any regard for the consequences. They also both get at least a chance at a future, while Arthur does not, and I think there’s a public sentiment that it’d be nice to see him end up happy for once. I’m personally really glad that Choices gives us that option, and it seems like some other readers feel the same way. Speaking of which, it’s also nice to see other readers interested in the original legend. Thank you so much for the ask 💕

#playchoices #choices: stories you play #guinevere #guinevere choices #asks #asked & answered #fandom essay #fandom essay guinevere #original post

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neptune432 · 10 months

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scott pilgrim takes off spoilers//

Am I the only one with some serious mixed feelings about the show?

(this is kinda rambly and not that thought-out so sorry)

There were definitely a lot of good things about it! the idea of making ramona the real lead of the show and exploring her issues, past relationships, and the rest of the cast more was a good idea. I assumed they'd do more with the characters but I wasn't expecting such a huge change. it's also the most gorgeous show I've ever seen! and that's all great, but I kept having this issue until episode 4 where I just didn't know why I should care about these characters.

The problem with the first episode is that they fucking speedrun the shit out of the setup for the story. we mostly get a brief cliffnotes of the characters, relationships, and the overall situation before matthew patel shows up. this means that a lot of character building and emotional stakes don't get fleshed out in the beginning. the writers mentioned they were telling this story knowing that people knew about the plot already. so it seems like they're assuming everyone watching already knows enough about these characters and why they should care about them, so they don't dwell on it.

but honestly, even as a fan, this bothered me a lot. the lack of detail in the beginning felt like the show hadn't built a proper foundation. this isn't really an issue that ever gets fixed later, either. and I don't want to add in those details myself by reading the comics or watching the movie first. I'm looking at this show as a new experience (which is what the writers wanted) and I wanted to see the story for what it is. I want to know why I should care about *these* versions of the characters. for ex: I don't know why I should care about seeing ramona get back with scott when they only had one date. it was a good date, but their relationship still didn't have enough weight to make me care about seeing them together again.

stuff like this kept bothering me the whole time. by episode 4, I was starting to get into what the show was doing and enjoying myself a lot more. I accepted that this was a more meta retelling of sp than I realized and I needed to supplant the extra details myself. in the end, I thought it was ok but I can't say I liked it as much as the original comics. it's more of an interesting thought experiment than a story I can get fully invested in. kinda wished they could've explored ramona's perspective in a different way, but I appreciate that they did this at all.

#scott pilgrim #scott pilgrim takes off #scott pilgrim takes off spoilers

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mariorsomething · 2 years

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hey can you give me a cliffnotes version of what's happening with TMA? I lost track of the fandom after the podcast ended. Are they making a sequel?

I'm definitely not the right person to give you a rundown on this because I'm not totally up-to-date myself but basically there was a tma arg going around recently posted by the official rusty quill accounts on twitter/patreon/insta with a series of codes hidden in videos and such that, when decoded, say things like "are you still listening" and "statement remains" and "the magnus archives two". and no one's really sure what they mean exactly considering the cryptic nature of it all but they seem to be pointing to some kind of sequel, yeah. afaik we're getting more info on the 30th that'll hopefully tell us what's going on!

#asks #i-gwarth #v sleep deprived rn but i hope that makes sense #im sure there are more comprehensive posts on it elsewhere #tma

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sageadviice · 2 years

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My Story + Manifestations / TLDR

My Story

I will likely post my whole story later but the cliffnotes version is that I struggled with manifestation (Law of attraction + Law of Assumption) for nearly my whole 20's. When I became aware of this world, it was far from mainstream. In fact, you were ridiculed if you thought it was real and it was definitely not something that you could speak openly about. Despite having a good head on my shoulders and living a pretty good life (on paper) I was so insecure, unsure of myself, and internally having a complete quarter life crisis because I wanted so much more than I ever saw possible in my current 3D. I had so many ups + downs on my manifestation journey for a good five years - it was chaotic af. Manifestation is SO EASY but we make it hard because of our beliefs, our past, and so many subconscious factors. I hit the proverbial brick wall so many fucking times but then one day it finally clicked. All the hard work I had been doing was not for nothing though and that, paired with shifts in my self concept allowed me to skyrocket forward. Over the past 8 years I have read it all, researched it all, tried and tested it all. I genuinely want to be a beacon of light for people because I know what it's like to sit in the dark for so long. I got my dream life - every single I wanted (and more), and you can too.

My Manifestations

Ok the above makes it seem like I didn't manifest anything for 8 years but that is seriously not the case. I manifested A LOT, which is what kept me going. But I was playing in the minor leagues, as changing your money mindset, and deep rooted beliefs about yourself and your value (love, success) aren't as easy as we hope. In the last 1.5 years I have started living that vision-board / pinch me sorta life.

Here are some highlights:

✺ Financial Freedom: I have a thriving business that affords me all that I could ever want and more. Plus, I work waaay less and have more time for myself and the people in my life.

✺ My Dream apartment: Some days I still can't believe I live here 🥹. It was on my vision board for the longest time. I have a beautiful penthouse in a prominent city, with a gym, sauna, pool, yoga room, coworking space, rooftop lounge... every amenities you could every want or imagine.

✺ A Thriving Relationship: Spoiler alert: it's my ex. After four years of separation, and a whole lot of personal growth we came back to each other. (We never had drama, just issues with LDR and my shitty self concept + quarter life crisis) He spoils me with luxury gifts and trips, never lets me pay for anything, is so emotionally mature and literally takes care of me in every single way. My heart is fuuulll.

✺ Core friends: I was a loner forever. I'm not socially awkward I just could not for the life of we find friends that I truly connected with, that had my back and were genuine. Now I am blessed with a group of successful, ambitious, hilarious, generous and loving friends that I consider family.

✺ Weight loss: I lost 30 pounds and it was too easy. I didn't even acknowledge that the first 10 pounds actually came off because all I was doing was affirming it - no lifestyle changes.

✺ Ideal lifestyle: I'm so grateful to say that I have the lifestyle I worked towards for so long. I have freedom to work from anywhere, and I often travel for months at a time with my bf. Every single day I wake up and decide what I want to do, i'm not governed by anyone or anything. I do whatever I want and still bring in multiple 6 figures every month. This is my biggest blessing.

The point of me sharing my story is too help someone with their journey from a girl whose literally been through it allll. My dms are open if you have an Q's. ♡

#law of assumption #law of attraction #neville goddard #manifestation #self concept #sageadviice

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hasmephydoneanythingwrong · 2 years

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Interesting two-fold story I’ve got (/ref). It involves a Berserker concept I rejected, and a Berserker concept I thought I’d keep around. That second part is long as fuck, though, so I’m gonna put that under the cut.

So last night, I was toying with the idea of myself as a Servant. I figured a really cool idea to explore would be a Berserker version whose Madness Enhancement makes them think only about Mephistopheles. The Madness Enhancement would force Berserker!me (henceforth referred to as “me,” “I,” “they,” or “Brucersker) to speak only in regards to Mephisto, sort-of switching around second- and third-person.

Example:

What I would like to say: “From what I’ve seen, is it safe to say that Mephistopheles hates you?”

What “I” would actually say: “I’ve seen your interactions… you hate her, right?”

What I really liked about “me” was the badass-sounding summoning line I came up with (content warning for misogyny, suicide, blood, repetition, and mentions of death in the link):

“Servant, Berserker. My incompetent self came for one reason and one reason only. Where. Is. My. Wife?”

I imagined that this would lead Guda on a sort-of goose chase around Chaldea, trying to figure out who Bruce’s “wife” is, with Brucerker merely saying “I’ll know him when I see him.” (I wrote “them” this way for the sake of dramatic tension, but who’s to say this isn’t also a result of Madness Enhancement?

I could probably write a ficlet on that search alone, but here’s the CliffNotes version:

Brucerker: "Where. Is. My. Wife?”

Guda: “I don’t know… But I can help you find her! What is your wife like?”

Brucerker: “...coy, and sly.”

Guda: “Okay… (that’s not enough to go off of…) What if I introduce you to all of my Servants?”

Brucerker: “Yes… Master should start with the one that’s been with them since the beginning.”

Guda takes Brucerker to meet Mash.

Guda: “This is Mash Kyrielight, my first Servant! Class: Shielder.”

Brucerker, as the Madness Enhancement unclouds some of their memories of being a Master: “No… She’s like you, but different… A protector, but much younger…”

Mash, not knowing how Brucerker’s Madness Enhancement works: "’Like you but different…’ hmm…”

Mash, Brucerker, and Guda go to see Berserker Lancelot.

Brucerker, remembering the effort they put into strengthening Lancelot out of pity: “Those golden crystals I gave to make him stronger… I could have given them to you. Was it worth it?”

Lancelot is enraged by this disrespect and tries to attack Brucerker. Luckily, Mash intercepts with her shield.

Guda (to Mash): “Okay, so we know they used to be a Master.” (to Bruce) “What else is your wife like?”

Brucerker: “Kind… so kind… so full of love.”

Guda ponders the information.

A protector like Mash (but not the same age)...

Kind and full of love...

There’s at least one Servant in Chaldea who fits that description who has told Guda of her experience in a previous Holy Grail War.

Factoring in the Madness Enhancement, it’s entirely possible that Brucerker is confusing being “sly and coy” for something else.

Guda decides that it could be Jeanne, with Brucerker mistaking her more laid-back attitude toward being burned at the stake for aloofness.

Guda and Mash take Brucerker to see Jeanne, who is in the cafeteria hanging out with Astolfo.

Guda introduces them to Brucerker (Astolfo is ecstatic to meet someone new and shakes “their” hand without hesitation) and asks if Jeanne is “their” wife.

Brucerker says the line I used as the Madness Enhancement example, and adds that “you hate her because she can’t admit her problems.”

Guda is overcome with realization.

Astolfo: “But who would do that?”

Guda: “Like Mash but different… full of love… hates Jeanne for not admitting her problems!”

Guda: “It’s Meph!”

I really liked Brucerker’s vibes and concept, but I didn’t want to settle on one specific idea for my Mastersona as a Servant. I fluctuate between ideas for that concept too often. Instead, I went onto a Fate/Grand Order server I’m in and suggested a “game” of sorts (now we’re getting to the good stuff).

Content warning under the cut for mentions of death, burning, and incest

I put Brucerker’s summon line in the server, without telling them whose it was, and my friends had to assign a True Name to it. One friend, @/hasspartacusdoneanythingwrong, guessed that it was Pygmalion. I did a few quick Google searches, and I found out that Pygmalion is the sculptor who constructed and fell in love with Galatea.

I think the personality facets I had in mind for Brucerker translate very well to a hypothetical Berserker Pygmalion but can be taken in directions that are quite different. I can see it now…

He’s self-aware enough to know that he’s a Berserker and how Berserkers should act, but he doesn’t know why he’s a Berserker (The answer is love. It’s always love).

He still puts Galatea up on a ridiculously high pedestal (it’s hard to tell how much of this has been exacerbated by Madness Enhancement). Because of this, he is devastated that Galatea is a Berserker as well. “Of course,” he’s not upset for his own sake, but for hers. “Why,” he wonders, “was my beloved put into the class of violence and madness? She should be a Ruler, a Caster, anything would be better than this.” (It should be noted that he only has a rudimentary understanding of the classes) He blames himself for this, and while he’s technically right, he doesn’t get that Galatea is a Berserker due to his love. Rather, he thinks that while building her, he made some kind of mistake, and he treats this nonexistent mistake like his greatest failure, because his beloved deserves only the best.

Me: If I had a nickel for every Servant I came up with who held a gold Servant to such a high standard that they thought that person should be considered a Ruler, I’d have two nickels. Which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it happened twice.

His manner of speech is the same as Brucerker’s, but with Galatea instead of Mephistopheles (I should also clarify that Brucerker and Pygmalion can still refer to those people in third person)

He hangs out with a lot of Servants who have similar levels of devotion for one person or deal with love in a similar way. However, only the devotion factor allows you to understand him (it doesn’t have to be romantic in nature). It’s kind of like Mental Corruption in that regard, so I’m not sure if I’d rather use MC or ME for his kit. MC would make him more unique, though, so if that’s the one that makes more sense, I’m all for it. Anyway, here are some of the Heroic Spirits he likes to hang out with (he always gushes about his wife), as well as Heroic Spirits who can understand him.

Those who he hangs out with (italicized names can understand him): Sigurd, Artemis, Nobukatsu, Brynhildr, Odysseus, Gilles de Rais, Erik, Kama, Galatea (of course), Jeanne d’Arc, Xu Fu, Abigail Williams (Summer), Europa

Pygmalion, Sigurd, Brynhildr, Odysseus, and Xu Fu: the “I fucking love my spouse” club

Artemis, Kama, and Europa: the “mistaken for various Alters of Aphrodite” trio

Pygmalion will follow them around and shower them with gratitude for bringing Galatea to life. Europa gently tries to correct him but is ignored, Artemis smugly accepts the praise, and Kama, well…

Pygmalion and Nobukatsu: the “I am compelled to die for this person” duo

Pygmalion, Brynhildr, Gilles de Rais, Erik: the “our love was considered ‘mad’” gang

Other noteworthy relationships

Salome and Kiyohime: “You hurt your beloved? You decapitate/burn them like the firewood tree? Scorn for Salome/Kiyohime! Scorn for Salome/Kiyohime for a thousand years!”

Erice and Yu Mei-ren: Pygmalion respects them for their devotion, but they avoid him because he’s weird.

Caligula: “Get that incest bullshit out of here.”

Tamamo no Mae: There’s a sense of mutual respect between them.

Cleopatra: “...why would you ask your beloved to change something about him that isn’t even a problem?”

Summer Sessyoin: Disgusted that her devotion, which he considers equal in strength to his own, is toward the idea of a Little Mermaid sequel rather than a person; views it as selfish

Other Servants who can understand him: Rama

He’s been waiting for eons to be summoned at the same time as Galatea (I always got the vibe that Heroic Spirits are self-aware while they’re waiting in the Throne to be summoned), so he has no patience for anything else.

If he and his wife are in Chaldea at the same time, he’ll soon want to escalate things, telling Guda to summon his and Galatea’s kids as well. Try as Guda might to explain that it doesn’t work like that, Pygmalion will keep on trying to pressure them.

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