#which.. I suppose fits the writing itself more than why it was written. but that's alright.

[void-kissed]

maeror viventi

Following the relinquishing of the Geo Archon’s Gnosis per the terms of his ultimate contract, Signora and Alectra are set to return to Snezhnaya in order to present their acquisition to the Tsaritsa. However, Alectra is unwilling to leave without checking on someone she had somehow grown attached to in Liyue - namely, of all people, the archon himself.  Takes place shortly after the third objective of The Fond Farewell. (1389 words) This piece focuses on my familial selfship with Zhongli. Content warning for discussion of death and grief.

A piece written to commemorate this date, and make concrete the solace brought to me by this character on this day, both last year and this year. This piece of writing is of great significance to me because of what it represents, but I still wanted to share it after having written it out, if that's alright.

Comments on and reblogs of my work are always okay, and appreciated, but they are never required.

(Tag list and document transcript under the readmore:)

Tag list: @sol-rbs | @dragonsmooch | @sunlight-ships | @bugsband | @z0raprince | @detective-with-one-arm | @deepsea-loves | @thatslikesometaldude (If you would like to be on the tag list, please see this post)

Document transcript:

The silver light of the moon shone down over the harbour, reflecting a dozen times in the lazily-lapping waves of the ocean. In the city of commerce itself, however, the lights that glowed were golden, softly shining outside buildings to illuminate the work of the evening. The night was somewhat livelier than usual, owing to the aftermath of the recent troubles afflicting Liyue that still needed to be fully sorted out, and the imminent Rite of Parting that was on the horizon and in many people’s thoughts. However, there were always serene spaces of quiet to be found if you knew where to look, even at times like these.

On one of the paved paths that wound up towards Yujing Terrace, a lone man was staring out over the sea and the city, arms crossed and resting on the barrier.

“Ah, so this is where you went, Mr. Zhongli.”

The voice caused the man to turn his head, looking down at the young woman standing before him. She normally gave off a threatening aura despite her small stature, with her once-corrupting sword in her hand and the blood-red feathers adorning her shoulders and the butterfly-wing mask that covered the left side of her face in ornate gold details - but on this quiet harbourside evening, she appeared decidedly subdued despite all this. Pearlescent teal-green eyes stared up towards his amber ones with an expression that was altogether both soft and sharp; he couldn’t help but feel that she was trying to hold something back.

“Miss Alectra?” he asked her, turning his body to address her with his eyebrows raised in mild surprise. “I must say, I would have expected you to have been on your way out of Liyue already.”

“There are still a few preparations that need to be made before the ship can set sail. And, even if there aren’t- they will wait for me.” she explained.

He smiled, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Most courteous of your fellows.” Then he stopped. “In that case, then.. what brings you here, to have sought me out at this moment?”

She trailed off and looked away somewhat, as if she felt her reason was too trivial. Saying it out loud did not alleviate this feeling, either.

“I just.. wanted to make sure you were alright.” she finally admitted.

“Oh?” 

“It’s just-“ She repeated herself, and then stopped, regaining some of her usual even composure to continue with. “For an archon to give up their Gnosis is.. almost inconceivable to most onlookers. After all, as the oldest of the Seven, you have borne its weight for thousands of years. Regardless of what you are, to lose anything that had been so integral would surely be felt by anyone with such an item.”

At her words, the man now known as Zhongli paused - his previous light demeanour had shifted into something more contemplative as he considered her words. Thankfully, both he and Alectra were confident that no other individual was in their vicinity, and so despite the open space, they could both speak freely of their identities; both had known neither was an ordinary human since their first few encounters, after all.

“..You are correct that it was not a decision I made lightly.” he said finally. “However, having witnessed all that has befallen Liyue in recent days.. I am confident that both the Qixing and the adepti will adroitly continue to carry the nation into its new age, in their own individual ways.”

“That.. isn’t what I was concerned for.” Alectra responded, carefully studying his expression. “Although, it is good that you can have faith in this nation’s future. What I meant was - on a personal level - how will you fare in yourself?”

“Ah, so that’s what you were trying to say.” he said with a nod. “Well, I can certainly tell you that things have felt adequate for me thus far. Although it may only have been a short while, I don’t feel as though there’s anything worrying occurring.”

“That’s a relief.” Her words came quickly and loudly, and she visibly seemed to have some tension dissolve from her at his statement. “You.. deserve to get to see what happens next, even if you’ve taken yourself out of the equation. You should get to live your life the way that you want to now.”

“Why, that’s most kind of you to say, my dear.” he replied, understanding the kindness in her words despite the words themselves perhaps not sounding too affectionate. A smile had crept its way onto his face by now, holding both tiredness and gratitude.

She smiled in thanks in return. “I mean it. Besides, if I may touch on this..”

A short silence fell, but she sensed that he was content for her to continue; when she did so, her voice was quiet once again.

“You’re twelve times older than I am, and I am already six times older than what most humans reach. I.. can only imagine the number of friends you must have lost in the time that you have spent here, although I don’t suppose that that alone makes the experience any easier each time. And yet.. well, it must be somewhat surreal for you, to see your city mourning you while you still walk through it freely.”

Then, as she turned her body away to lean over the balcony as he had been doing, he heard another admission that was even quieter still. 

“..It’s an awful feeling, being mourned.”

There was a long silence, but then a hand came down onto her shoulder, firmly yet gently.

“If mourning is the expression of one’s grief.. Surely, it would not be wrong to say that such grief is an expression of the love held for those who have passed on. Though no part of this world can truly last for all of time.. This.. is the reason we must treasure the time spent with those that we care for. Even after many years have run their course, it is normal for the feelings to retain the same intensity as they had when the event first occurred. So, for as sad as it may be.. There is nothing wrong with expresssing that sadness, whenever it should happen to rise."

Something in her softened, like a feather melting into snow - and that single feather’s fall was enough to cause a rush of bursting tears from behind the crumbling dam she had tried to maintain since before she had even approached him on this lonely evening.

For all-too-bitter words exchanged between a brother weak from battle and a sister sharp with worry..

For the blameless lives so often torn apart and thrown aside, like pieces on a game board, at the whims of the divine..

For even that original pain, not of death, but of sorrow and anguish screamed through the flames as the nightingale sang to never leave her feeling this way ever again..

Despite how many years it had been, she had never before let herself mourn her own death, and that grief was now swallowing her whole.

Everything was wailing.

And yet, despite it all, he stayed there, as steadfast as stone. In fact, he did more than be some mere unmoving statue - he brought her forwards into a hug, placing his left hand on top of her head.

“This- isn’t right,” she tried to say through her tears, turning her head so that her mask would not dig into his suit as she returned the hold. “I came out here to offer you some solace, not the other way around-“

“That doesn’t mean I cannot be here for you, young nightingale.”

Despite what status he had held as a deity, despite whatever care he may have held or never had for the humans and the smaller little creatures of his own nation - let alone any other ones - the fact remained unchanged that Zhongli was someone Alectra had come to view as something like a father figure, even through the relatively short time they had spent together. 

..She held her tongue before the words admitting such could leave it, but the sentiment carried across to him nevertheless.

His eyes glittered as he grieved, and hers flooded as she mourned, and they spent what felt even to them like an eternity holding each other.

[1960z]

it’s interesting to me how the politics of writing romance (in general I suppose but rn I’m specifically talking about sci-fi/genre fiction) can often get in the way of writing good romance

I saw this post a couple days ago talking about why k/s as a romance feels more satisfying to a lot of people than a lot of the actual queer rep on star trek — how because they weren’t written with romance in mind, they were allowed to develop a dynamic of genuine camaraderie, mutual respect and chemistry.

and the thing is, I don’t even think this is unique to how queer relationships are written, or at the very least there is a non-queer version.

like I have a huge soft spot for kira/odo, but you can obviously tell when the writers decided to start explicitly writing for them as a romantic couple rather than simply two people who had chemistry together. and the moment they were being written as a romantic couple they were immediately forced into this very cishet model of what relationships are supposed to look like. there are some good moments I feel (pining!odo will always be a highlight for me) but that in itself— the fact they chose to focus so heavily on odo’s perspective is very telling.

the arc leading up to the two being canonically a couple is very focused on odo needing to “win” kira, with kira becoming an object of desire in odo’s arc rather than another fully rounded character with agency in the romance. which is very jarring because 1) again, before the romance arc was set in stone their dynamic was not written this way and 2) outside of this plot, kira is very well rounded and has a shit ton of agency.

it also doesn’t help that there is a lot of room for queerness to be explored within their relationship and especially odo’s character when it comes to gender, an opportunity which they just never take, not explicitly anyway. and having such fertile ground to explore those themes and then simply not and in fact doing the opposite, forcing them into a dynamic the characters are ill-fitted to, missing the point of their core appeal as a couple in the first place it’s… frustrating.

and I just wonder how many great dynamics and storylines we miss out on due to this heteronormative view of romance and what different types of relationships are “supposed” to look like.

[walrus150915]

You know why Nimona characters are so great? Because sometimes they're just unbearable and it's on purpose!

For example, in this scene

I wanted to slap Ballister in the face. And he's my favorite character! Like dude just made me roll my eyes and go "SHUT UPPPPP" UGH just😞😞😞 it makes so much sense for him to be like this and still I think "Babygirl you could do so much better why are you like that"

Or Ambrosius! Take a look

I genuinely cringed at this scene (not bc it's cringe but bc Ambrosius is written to be cringe) because WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT????? Again, great scene due to it beating the "friendship is lesser than romantic relationship" myth because it's not. Friendship is as important, if not more. And in this moment? Friendship is way more important to Bal

So yeah. Ambrosius takes an L in this scene

I don't have any scenes where I'd hate Nimona because I like her in every scene of hers (plus cmon guys it's NIMONAAAA), and I don't include characters we're clearly supposed to dislike

But yeah. Even the Queen about whom I wrote like 3 fics has her slips

She's putting responsibility on a literal child to be a token representative of the lower class in the system which wasn't made for him and his needs as a commoner. Instead of changing the system itself. Because it wouldn't fit nobility's interests. I love Valerin but homegirl is a neoliberal and it showsssss😭

So yeah. Nimona's writing is great because it isn't afraid to show its positive characters' bad sides. They make mistakes, they say wrong things. And that's what makes them so good!

[cologona]

Reminder that Lost Days was published 4-5 years after Batman annual 25 and should be considered the ‘more canon’ of the two stories. Yes they largely corroborate one another but they notably differ in how they frame the subject of 'romance' between Jason and Talia.

In the annual it’s typical Hollywood fare. Talia kissing Jason is mixed in with everything else and it's simply expected for the reader to understand that her doing so is not only okay, it makes Jason more impressive by virtue of being desired by a desirable woman. It is just assumed that Talia and Jason, being attractive opposite sex characters, ought to hook up.

In Lost Days the two are obviously very important to one another but there is no inkling of any romantic or sexual dynamic until they sleep together at the very end of the story (which is why it’s so jarring). When it happens, it’s at the same time that Jason is experiencing yet another tragic twist of fate: despite previously having done everything to prevent him from going after Bruce and encouraging his empathy in what ways she could, at the critical moment when Jason is finally possibly ready to move forward, Talia is no longer the same person. She points him right back towards punishing Bruce and the subject of his death, becoming yet another caregiver/authority figure to fail him. Although their relationship is not so clearly defined, she is also arguably another maternal figure Jason loses.

I understand the desire to read the text as-is regardless of author intention but I think it should be acknowledged when the text is... talking to itself.

Reading Talia as a straightforward manipulator throws out the rest of how she's written in favor of some cheap fingers to point at her, and worse yet it's an absolutely boring snooze of a story. Am I saying that it's easier to accept Jason and Talia having sex than their kiss? Yes absolutely. At least the sex fits into the overarching tragedy. I won't call either great writing because this is clearly a case of the writer failing to kill their darling but at least there's meat on that bone. (Maybe the reason why we don't see Talia and Jason together again is because Talia regrets it. Maybe Jason doesn't regret it and doesn't fully understand why she would. Maybe it feels like rejection to him. Maybe that presumed rejection was a factor in his mental breakdown after UTRH. See? Meat. Where am I supposed to go with cardboard-cutout evil Talia?)

[chrisevansonly]

Lavender Moonlight

Pairing: Harry Styles x Female Reader

Summary: Soft moonlight, fresh lavender scented blankets right from the dryer and your favourite person in the world, there is nowhere else you'd rather be

Warnings: non, just fluffy goodness, tbh this is straight up a comfort fic tbh

A/N: my first full harry fic, tbh I had fun writing this, I haven't written for him before at least in a while, and I decided why not start now even if this is horrible, yes I hate my own writing lmao

Word Count: 775

There was nothing better than the slight smell of lavender that spilled through the stitching of your comforter, you knew those dryer sheets would come in handy when you bought them. The moon had started to cast a gentle light through your curtains which filled the room with a sense of added comfort, the only thing missing was your boyfriend. Harry had another week and a few days off before he’d be heading back to California to play a few more shows. You felt like you’d just gotten him back after tour, but you loved watching him perform, supporting him was something you would always do no matter what. The shows you got to attend were just an added bonus. 

You heard the door shut downstairs followed by the click of the lock, seemingly back from his mission to get snacks for your movie night. It was Harry’s turn to pick, and you weren’t sure what he had in mind tonight

“Baby? Did you fall asleep again?”

You let out a laugh remembering the one and only time you accidentally fell asleep while he was downstairs searching for popcorn 

“That was one time and one time only mister!”

Harry appeared at the door to your shared room a smile on his face as he laughed quietly 

“Doesn’t mean it wouldn’t happen again darling’

“Well, here I am very much awake and ready for snacks”

You watched as he changed into a pair of sweatpants and tossed his hoodie in the laundry hamper, throwing the tote bag filled with different candy, chocolate, and anything else you could imagine, right beside your head 

“Hey now don’t concuss your loving girlfriend!”

Harry walked over leaning down and pressing his lips to yours, his hands holding your face 

“Hmm suppose that wouldn’t be very good, would it?”

Shaking your head no you couldn’t help but admire him, taking a moment to memorize his face and all his features knowing you’d be going without it for a little while again. He got into bed beside you and moved the bag of snacks so he could tuck you into his side, he smelt slightly of his aftershave which when mixed with the subtle lavender from your blankets, was enough to have you falling asleep 

“H?”

He hummed hearing your sleepy voice cut through his scrolling on Netflix 

“I love you”

He moved a little beside you before placing a kiss on your forehead 

“I love you more dove”

“I’m going to miss you when you leave”

Opening your eyes again you looked up at him, a smile on his face as he stared at you with this sense of adoration, you’d never experienced with anyone before you’d met Harry. There was this sense of comfort the two of you provided each other, sometimes without even knowing it, you two fit like puzzle pieces, that’s what his mom would always say to you. You spent a lot of time with Anne, even more when Harry was gone, whether it was visits to local markets, days spent baking together, even just spending time drinking tea or wine and chatting about everything and anything happening in your lives

“Hey…where’d you go baby...?”

“Just thinking about how lucky I am to have you and your family in my life, classic late night sappy stuff”

Harry chuckled

“I love your late-night sappy stuff, and I know we’re just as lucky to have you in our lives too”

You’d noticed he’d selected Little Women to watch, and you just shook your head knowing it was your favourite movie, deep down Harry loved making you happy, and it totally wasn’t because the movie itself had started to grow on him 

“You know it’s supposed to be your pick tonight my love”

“Yeah, but you love this movie, and I love you so we’re watching it”

He hummed appreciatively when you leaned up to kiss him, pouring every ounce of love into the kiss, when you pulled back you ran your fingers through his curls softly 

“Who’s being sappy now…?”

He laughed and the room soon sounded with yours as well, and in this moment, there was absolutely nowhere you’d rather be, something about being cuddled up under layers of warmth with the man you wanted to spend the rest of your life with gave a whole new meaning to the term love of your life. Because here, in this moment, and in this time, you wished to experience life with Harry in every single lifetime and every single decade, you were his just as he was yours, and there was nothing either of you would change about that. 

[korekiyo-defence-squad]

I guess it makes sense.

Part of my "lore" for Kiyo has Sister being the only one to calm him down during fits of mania/splitting, causing him to idealize her and become obsessed with her (arguably a better reading of the "calm yourself" lines than hand-waving it away as a manipulation tactic). Perhaps he even developed feelings for her at some point, due to being the only major female figure in his life, which may have been reciprocated and/or exploited by his sister. But, ultimately, Kiyo's lore is so vague that any interperetation of the events leading up to his enrollment in the Killing Game could work.

I'm a bit less of a "Kiyo-as-Rape-Survivor" truther than I was when I discovered Kiyo's sister on the Hate Sink wiki (which I ultimately undid by making a Base-Breaking Character page for him by pointing out that this fan theory was, in fact, a fan theory), but I do still think it's a valid reading, especially considering V3 rarely properly delves into its characters. The issue is, it's rarely used well, completely undermines Kiyo's in-game characterization and just makes him a boring, overly-sympathetic woobie instead of pure, Gothic horror lost in a world of wacky comedy.

Yeah, I agree! Given Tsumugi's penchant for drama I would not put it past her to write some real fucked up shit into his backstory. His Love Hotel event pretty much confirms that he's not just aware of BDSM sex, he's practiced at it, and I really don't think the fact that his execution featured shibari with the classic red rope was a coincidence. But the circumstances behind which he learned that stuff are left ambiguous - did he pick it up from experiences with cultural groups? When he talks about having a 'spiritual experience' which awakened Sister's tulpa, was that his first experience with intense sensation or did it trigger her appearance because she was involved with previous experiences? I think there are many signs that point to him having had a fair amount of pretty intense sexual experiences in the past, and given that he's only supposed to be 18 or so in-game that in of itself is pretty damning, but whether or not he was a willing participant is left ambiguous.

I like to HC him and Sister as codependent mostly because I like stories about characters who need each other to an unhealthy degree, but other readings I think can be just as interesting if done right.

But yeah, you're right in that a lot of the time those kinds of headcanons are used as an excuse to absolve him of guilt and make him a character he isn't, which... is not to my taste, as I've made clear. Besides, I think it's more interesting to have a character whose trauma makes them angry or hypersexual or just plain weird and still acknowledges their victimhood than it is to have a character acknowledge their trauma and then immediately become a calm and placid survivor who meekly and appropriately works through their issues. It's a difficult line to walk, what with a lot of media stereotyping mentally ill or abused individuals as straight up crazy villains, but I don't think it's a sign of great writing or great understanding to 180-pivot to the opposite extreme, either.

Kiyo-as-written would likely react extremely poorly if told his Sister wasn't good for him or abused him, whether or not it was true. I think he has an unhealthy relationship with sex insofar as his own boundaries have been crossed and therefore he doesn't understand why crossing those boundaries is wrong; he's very pushy with Shuichi in the Love Hotel, to the point of maybe being accused of assault, and he seems unashamed to admit that his relationship with his sister was more Cersei and Jaime than Jon and Arya. He hasn’t reacted to his past experiences with revilement and fear, he's embraced them to a degree most people would conclude is not good for anyone. And that... kind of breaks a lot of people's perceptions of how SA survivors "should be", which I guess is why he's so frequently changed in fanworks to be more palatable to the kind of fans who are uncomfortable with SA depictions of any sort other than 'terrible offscreen thing that happens to a poor innocent victim who is subsequently a crying wreck that needs consoling back to health'.

So when I say 'I like fucked up kiyo more than woobie victim kiyo' there's a lot more to it than that, but that's just my shorthand way of saying I think stripping fucked up shit out of a fucked up story to please your own moral compass is... kind of stupid tbh

[coralpolyp]

The Complete Works Vol 1: Finding the Flow

Wide version of the book cover I threw together in Procreate for this fic at the time - there's another version which is arranged to fit a Wattpad cover

Welcome to The Complete Works! This is a two-part archival project I'm doing, where I gather together every piece of unreleased Splatoon writing I've ever done that does not pertain to an ongoing project, and put it all up publicly on AO3, alongside my own personal reflection on it, both over there and over here - what worked, what didn't, why I didn't finish it, and how it influenced what came after it. And I mean everything - full multi-chapter sequences, half-written chapters, plot outlines, one-sentence headcanons, and French revision, it's all here.

Finding the Flow

Started: 9th October 2022 (Earliest dated work in private)/20th December 2022 (First chapter posted to AO3)

Abandoned: 14th February 2023 (Last AO3 update)/29th June 2023 (Final attempt to work on it in private)

The fic itself: AO3

Unused content/Complete Works: AO3

It feels like it's been much longer than it actually has been, but this is the first piece of fanfiction I ever wrote - and the first one I ever gave up on too! I had original writing experience outside of school prior to this, but it was my first time working in a fandom, and my first time posting anything online.

This one was supposed to be a prequel/origin story with Marina as the protagonist, beginning at the end of Splatoon and ending with the beginning of Splatoon 2. I got the urge to start this not long after having watched the absolutely phenomenal Takotsubo Heartbeat, and also having just finished Better Call Saul. It goes without saying that I was in love with the ethos that both stories shared - that of taking intriguing but underdeveloped characters from an existing story, and building an unexpected and compelling backstory for them, which sheds new light on the source material without ever retconning or contradicting it - you never would have imagined that these characters had suffered so much when looking at the source material, because not even the people who created it imagined that - but once you see it it makes too much sense to look away.

Finding the Flow was a flawed, if noble, attempt at picking up what Takotsubo Heartbeat was putting down, and exploring Marina's life as an illegal refugee just trying to have a music career. Maybe I would have succeeded if I finished this one, but when I look back on what I wrote I find it rather hard to read, it's just not very good.

I had a very hard time writing the opening to this one, given how tricky the tone was to nail down - lesbian fluff, xenophobia, break ups, and killing someone don't usually need to occupy the same story, but here we are. I had this one fully plotted, and to this day I can somewhat applaud myself for the overall flow of it when I look back - there was some quite bold and satisfying payoffs, such as the police station scene, the breakup, and the big fight, but even at the time I was acutely aware of the sheer lack of meaningful character arcs outside of Marina herself. I feel like this was before I actually enjoyed writing, and it was more fun to daydream about it in lessons than it was to actually write it. It took me a long time to realise that being an "idea guy" isn't good enough - anyone can do that, the people that get remembered are the people who put in the work to make it real themselves - which still isn't quite as applicable to myself as I'd like it to be.

Once the daydreaming ended, and I burned myself out on caring about Off the Hook, this fic was as good as dead. One of the few subplots this fic actually had ended up being expanded into its own thing, All My Favourite Songs, which I also never finished! I feel like I still occasionally pic plot ideas from this thing's corpse whenever I'm going near similar subject material, and in my head I still treat most of what I had planned for Marina as canonical - not that that matters because she's only had one speaking role in my work since then.

What happens in it:

Marina narrowly escapes from Octo Valley, getting wounded in the process. She journeys aimlessly, (as did I as an author) in search of where the Inklings live, infatuated with the Squid Sisters and their song. To keep herself company (and asa bandaid solution to the fact that there is not a single other character for like 8 chapters), she makes the Squid Sisters her imaginary friends, albeit with their personalities completely wrong as she has never heard them speak before - it is then revealed in a flashback that this tendency towards imaginary friends and other such childlike behaviour is a result of military recruitment at an early age, and premature repression of such tendencies.

She spots the Inkopolis skyline from atop Mount Nantai, but has to hide when an Inkling Girl (Pearl) climbs up, screams a whole bunch, and then leaves.

Marina is fascinated, and regrets not confronting her. She decides to camp out near the observation deck until the girl returns, during which time she records the Ebb and Flow demo on a beat-up keyboard - the only thing she took with her, revealed to have been a gift from her Sergeant - a woman fiercely loyal to the regime, albeit with a more sympathetic and supportive approach to leadership, which brings with it a misguided and self-righteous sense of knowing what's best for everyone, better than they know themselves.

The Octarian forces catch up to Marina, and a firefight breaks out at dusk. She fends them off and retreats down the mountain, accidentally bumping into Pearl again - literally.

What would have happened next:

(This is abridged, the full version is here)

Feeling guilty about her usual abrasive tendencies, Pearl takes the paranoid and distressed person with weird hair speaking a different language home with her to try and help her out, not knowing what Octarians are. Marina plays her the Ebb and Flow tape, and they form a band.

Later, when her Inklish is much better and they're working on their debut album, Marina sees a wanted poster of her own likeness in downtown Inkopolis, put up by someone who is apparently wary of the "Octarian menace". Knowing she is now being hunted down by both her former allies and the people of Inkopolis she is trying to assimilate with causes her a great deal of distress, which Pearl notices, but never gets an adequate or truthful explanation for. She processes her emotions through writing more personal songs and going for long walks at dusk.

During their debut gig in a small lounge, Marina impulsively sings in Octarian on the last song, which gives her a deeper connection to the lyrics and makes her performance incredibly moving. From then on she always sings in Octarian.

The next morning, Marina is arrested, and has a humiliating experience at the police station at the hands of Octarian-hating police officers. The man pressing charges interrogates her personally, and identifies himself as the author of the wanted poster and an audience member of the gig - Craig Cuttlefish. The interrogation is interrupted by his grand-daughter Marie barging in and urging him to drop the case, saying that he's taking his NSS duties way too far. He does so upon learning that Marina likes the Inkantation. Marie sponsors Marina's residency in Inkadia, and they are both given a mountain of paperwork to do.

Marie and Callie take Marina out of for coffee, and offer to kickstart Off the Hook's career - pushing for them to be signed to the same record label as them, recommending them to their producer, Shy-Ho-Shy, and letting them open for their next concert, where they perform their debut single Ebb and Flow, which is released the same day.

While preparing for said concert, Marina discovers a homeless community of Octarian refugees one night - they had followed in Marina's footsteps, but received no support from Inkling Society on arrival. Marina realises that she has nothing to give them, despite her life of luxury, as all of it actually belongs to Pearl - they warn her that she is no better off than them, but she does not understand. When she gets home, Pearl and Marina begin dating. As the relationship goes on, Pearl becomes more uneasy with Marina's inability to tell her who she is and where she comes from.

The relationship is not made public until their second concert. Pearl tries to kiss Marina on the lips on stage, without her prior consent to the stunt, which angers her greatly.

Later, Pearl discovers Marina's paperwork, which includes mention of her having been arrested at one point. Marina still fails to explain anything, and they agree to break up, with the band going on hiatus and Marina leaving the house with nowhere to go.

She returns to the homeless community, which she discovers has been completely wiped out by her former sergeant, who is disgusted by her betrayal of the Octarian regime. Penniless and alone in a individualist society which doesn't want her and has little to no welfare provisions, she almost accepts, but ultimately refuses, doing battle with the sergeant and killing her when left no other choice.

Marina goes on to live a meagre life in hiding, DJing under a pseudonym, producing for Harmony, and crashing at Marie's apartment every night, sleeping in a room that used to belong to Callie, who has now gone missing.

Dissatisfied with her creative output without Marina, and aware of the ggrowing legend around the band's sudden disappearance, Pearl tracks Marina down and Off the Hook is reformed. Together they complete and release their debut album, and are hired to host Inkopolis News.

For more, read Finding the Flow or The Complete Works

[khorai]

Same Anon as before. Do you have any unpopular opinions about certain characters?

A lot even but i will only talk about my opinions regarding the characters from the Naruto manga that I appreciate - if I expand, we'll be here tomorrow - .

Firstly, let's start with Sakura.

I don't understand why some—actually, many—of her own fans say she is poorly written.

She isn't...?

Sakura has issues concerning her character, but it has NOTHING to do with bad writing but more about her role in the story and how she was used. As for her character itself, she-is-not-poorly-written.

Honestly, I hate this claim because it gives the impression that her character is bad when that's not the case at all.

Coming from the antis, it's not surprising —they can't even understand the character of their own favorite, so understanding Sakura's character would be a miracle— but from her "stan"?

Just...no.

She is not poorly written, and that's my final word on it. I'm more than tired of hearing this nonsense. Yes, the narrative failed her many times— like many other characters, for that matter —but it's not the "bad writing" of her character to blame, but rather Kishimoto's inability to focus on characters other than Sasuke and Naruto.

Another unpopular opinion about her is that I HATE fanon versions of Sakura (and when I say fanon, I also mean popular headcanons about her circulating in the fandom).

It may sound extreme, but you'll quickly understand why:

Initially, it was actually the opposite. I loved it because I enjoyed seeing the different iterations of her that fans could create. It was always refreshing to read other versions of Sakura in fanfic—that admittedly had little to do with the original—growing and experiencing incredible things. I liked that.

And then things got worse.

For some reason, many of her fans —and antis as well— started confusing her canon version and her fanon version (some takes on her are so OC that I sometimes wonder if we're talking about the same person), while others began to claim that she should have had techniques like mokuton in the canon.

... What do they think Sakura is?

Naruto and Sasuke?

If they want their headcanon to be somewhat plausible in the context of canon, at least give her something that aligns with his philosophy of hard work.

Mokuton, from what I know, only manifests through the Senju lineage. If she had it in the canon, she would have to be descended from a Senju —naturally or artificially, it doesn't matter— and honestly... I disagree.

That's not Sakura.

This girl is a titan of her own making, partly thanks to her courage and hard work, and then thanks to Tsunade and Shizune -bless these ladies-

I would never want her to have power-ups like Naruto; it would negate everything she has done since the beginning of the manga, and that's just a big no.

I can understand her fans being upset about her treatment by Kishimoto —I am too, a lot— but that doesn't mean we should change her character to fit a shoddy female version of her male counterparts; that's just rude.

It wouldn't even be the same person anymore.

My last unpopular opinion about her (I have many more, but I'll just stop here) is that she deserved better.

... I classify this as an unpopular opinion because what I mean by that is not: "she deserved better than Sasuke" or "she deserved to be with Naruto" or AGAIN "she should have gotten over Sasuke" or some other thing like "she should have had some super powerful ability."

No, what I mean is that Sakura deserved her own arc.

An arc in which she wouldn't have to carry the weight of the shinobi world's guilt on her shoulders as usual - if Konoha is messed up, it's not her fault-

An arc in which we could see her actually experience her other skills, have other epic battles, build other relationships, break free from the grip of Team 7 in general.

She's supposed to be the heroine of the manga, but Kishimoto treated her like a supporting character with way too much screen time.

Damn, we don't even know what her home life is like.

We don't even really see her parents in the manga, and why is that?

Because she doesn't have an overly tragic background to make Hades pale?

Because she doesn't have balls?

Compared to her teammates, she doesn't matter, is that it?

The only thing we see her do again and again is blame herself for things beyond her control.

Like...why?!

Kishimoto made her some kind of martyr of pain, and it infuriates me every time I think about it.

The worst part is that many of her own fans sweep this under the rug and prefer to argue about who "deserves her."

Sasuke here, Naruto there... is she a piece of meat?

It's almost taboo to talk about the real problems surrounding her character in this fandom without someone mentioning how "Sasuke doesn't deserve her, and Naruto is much better" or how "Sakura is obsessed with Sasuke's dick."

...

Lol.

Next, Sasuke.

Sasuke deserved better...

and

Sasuke was wrong...

are notions that should more often go hand in hand.

His redemption journey was a good idea because, no matter what his most zealous fans say about it, Sasuke needed that journey.

Konoha hurt him, and it's easy to become an apologist for his character given all the crap he went through, mainly because of the incompetent authorities of this crappy village, but... that doesn't change the fact that he is not without blame and that he also did messed up things.

However... I don't like the resolution of his character arc.

Once again, Kishimoto reminded us in the cruelest way possible that Naruto is a classic Shounen, and the protagonist must always be right.

To the detriment of Sasuke.

Attention, I'm not saying that Naruto's view was wrong and Sasuke's was right because that's far from the case.

What annoyed me is the way the author handled it.

It seemed like Sasuke was almost wrong to think the way he did, when given his situation, his reaction was actually expected and normal. I really don't like how he put Naruto's opinions on a pedestal at the end of manga.

He gave Sasuke a completely independent story that didn't revolve around Naruto's sphere of influence -quite rare even today in the Shounen era- .

He endowed him with his own will.

Literally more than Naruto, it was Sasuke who led the dance in the manga, and why in the end?

So that everything would go in the direction of the protagonist?

And that, without even serious questioning of the Konoha system?

What was the point of Naruto knowing the truth about the Uchiha massacre then?

So yes, I don't like what Kishimoto did to Sasuke's character in the end; I find it unfair to him.

I classify this as an unpopular opinion because, even though I'm not a fan of the resolution of his character arc, that doesn't mean I'm "pro-revolution" or that I think Sasuke did nothing wrong, because he did.

This brings me to my second unpopular opinion about this character:

Sasuke is not a revolutionary.

He is not the character built to challenge the system that some of his fans think he is.

Like… since when did Sasuke become someone who could change Konoha's system in the first place?

That was never his goal; the only thing that led him to make that infamous statement was anger and betrayal he felt towards Konoha. It was his obsession with revenge that led to this thought, and nothing else.

Moreover, excuse me, but his plan was crappy.

Eliminate all Kage, okay.

Take the lead of all the villages, okay.

Launch a revolution and change the system...

As if the other shinobi of the alliance would just stare at him and do nothing -_-

His idea was doomed to fail from the start.

I'm theorizing a bit here, but basically, here's the deal:

Does he really think he can eliminate the entire Shinobi alliance? (because that's what he would have had to do to achieve his goal)

With what help?

That of Team Taka?

Lol.

Yes, Sasuke is powerful, but even he couldn't have pulled off this feat without becoming ridiculously overpowered (even more than at the end of the manga).

The only thing this plan would have brought if executed would have been to alienate all Shinobi nations against him (well, he already did it, but it would have been even worse).

And if, by some miracle, his plan had worked - if he had succeeded in his revolution - it would have just caused decades and decades of war between rebel factions - because there would be if we still follow the logic of the manga - wanting to return to the old times, others wanting power for themselves, and others simply refusing to let power go to an Uchiha (let's not forget the reputation of this clan).

Moreover, to change a system hundreds of years old in a world governed by the law of the strongest, it takes much more than violence and a strong desire for revenge.

He would need many brains at his disposal: tacticians, politicians, doctors, advisers...

In short, he would need allies he could trust and who would not betray him.

Unless he wants to be a bully, which honestly seems more likely to me.

He would need the help of countless geniuses in each field for this revolution to be successful, and from what the manga tells us, all these people are in the alliance.

... Who would want to work for him willingly after all he would have done?

And even if there are people willing to do so, it will always be with the fear of possible betrayal.

If even Madara and Hashirama - alias shinobi gods in their time - needed strong allies to create Konoha and make it a prosperous nation...

(even though it went to hell afterward, but still)

What will Sasuke do with a partially destroyed nation that he will have to rebuild with his own hands?

And let's not even talk about the fact that he was consumed by revenge and half-crazy when he talked about this revolution.

I still can't believe there are people who take these words seriously.

I really wonder what kind of revolution they expected with Sasuke in that state of mind?

If it had happened, it would have led to two possible situations:

The death of the last surviving Uchiha or an even more gruesome massacre than the one that wiped out his clan.

Although, considering those who support this pseudo-revolution among his fanbase, the latter option would have suited them just fine.

Another reason that honestly makes me think this thing is stupid is that it doesn't align with the manga's vision.

Kishimoto, despite the few innovative takes he has made several times regarding the plot and some characters, remains a staunch traditionalist. Sasuke would never have become a villain, and he would never have been killed either; that would go against Naruto's dream.

He would also never have become a "revolutionary" challenging the system.

It's not his role; he's not the protagonist.

The character of Sasuke - like all the others, in fact - exists within the limits of the plot; we cannot go beyond and make his character something it was never supposed to be.

Although, for me, it's a good thing that he isn't because his plan was just as bad as Naruto's flawed idealistic vision.

I still think that if Kishimoto had made them talk normally for once, without them having to almost kill each other, if he had made them come to a compromise that would have combined their two ideas, it wouldn't have been as half-baked in the end.

To choose between the plague and cholera, he should have just paired them together -_-

But no, he had to choose nardo's protagonist vision.

Another opinion about Sasuke is his relationship with Naruto, which I find... shaky? overestimated? poorly written?

They share a strong bond, that's an undeniable truth, and you'd have to be pretty stupid to deny that.

It's the main bond in the manga, after all.

But in terms of friendship... I have doubts.

For me, the only reason I believe Sasuke and Naruto are friends is that Kishimoto said so.

We hardly see it in the manga.

Their relationship literally built on years of objectification, selfishness, disdain, rivalry, misunderstanding, resentment, and a huge savior complex.

Naruto made Sasuke his priority not out of genuine concern but because he wanted to prove he was worthy of being Hokage, and for that, Sasuke had to come back at all costs.

That's not friendship; it's selfishness and objectification.

Oh, I don't doubt that he cared, but the problem is that the manga doesn't really show us that.

Moreover, this idea that "Naruto understands Sasuke" is, for me, a bunch of nonsense.

Maybe he does so at a superficial level because of their slightly similar experiences, but if we go deeper?

Naruto doesn't really understand him, and it showed particularly when he learned the truth about the Uchiha massacre.

For Sasuke, it's more complicated.

He has a lot of mitigating circumstances that actually explain his behavior (Itachi being alive, the curse of hatred).

But in general, he played the role of an antagonist for most of Shippuden, and the fact that his character arc didn't revolve around Naruto made him some kind of insensitive jerk to everyone - at least on the surface - .

If Sasuke wanted to take revenge on the world, Naruto wanted to save him.

And neither of them was willing to give in on that.

I'm not going to judge Naruto for not caring about Sasuke's goals after Itachi's death. Who in their right mind would support such a plan?

It was supporting a one-way ticket to self-destruction.

And I'm not going to judge Sasuke for the numerous attempts to kill Naruto because that would be unfair.

However, what I judge is how Kishimoto made their communication impossible.

When they start talking seriously, it always has to end with one of them almost dying at the last moment.

Even Vegeta and Goku had more civilized discussions than these two, and that says something.

I like their relationship, but I sometimes find it hard to label them as friends, let alone best friends.

There's a lot of things that haven't been well-managed in there.

Third opinion:

Sasuke is not evil.

He is not the cold, emotionless individual that more than half of this God-forsaken fandom wants him to be.

I never thought I'd classify this as an unpopular opinion, but considering the nonsense I've seen about him, I had to do it. According to this fandom, both among his stans and antis, Sasuke is abusive, sexist, possessive, indifferent, unfaithful, easily manipulable, selfish, a lousy father, and the list goes on.

Of course, he is none of that, but it's always amusing to see people forcing their fantasies onto his character. This guy has always marched to the beat of his own drum; he has no more official truth about him other than this, and that really irritates a lot of people.

Now, onto his big brother:

Itachi... is not a good person (I still can't believe I have to say this).

He is not even a martyr from my perspective.

I really dislike how his character is glorified in certain parts of the fandom. But at the same time, I don't like how he's demonized among the antis.

Itachi is not an angel, but he is not a demon either.

He's selfish and an unparalleled manipulator, but that doesn't make him evil. He can also be gentle, warm, and incredibly loving - though he has a peculiar way of showing it- .

He's a character with a messed-up mentality, and I love him for that. I hate seeing his character being destroyed by people trying to fit him into boxes he doesn't truly belong to; it annoys me.

In the end, Itachi is a tragic character who found himself forced to make horrible choices. His life was just immensely... torturous.

I love him, but given all the mess he caused, his death was both expected and deserved.

He was tired, disillusioned, sick, and with a list of Uchiha deaths as long as Tobirama's (not to mention what he did to his brother). So no, the idea that he shouldn't have died is truly ridiculous.

Please, let this tormented man find peace in his death.

I'll stop here because at this point, these are not even unpopular opinions but downright diatribes.

[thelovesickbakery]

Your answer was far more than I expected, thank you very much. Not only you have a fairly wide variety of interests, but fittingly, you are actually a baker.

Since we have some common interests I would like to be more specific this time, if that's alright with you. Do you like history in general? Do you have a preference for a certain place or period? What kind of music do you usually listen to?

So you both read and write... That explains why your posts feel so properly written and are so nice to read. What literary genres do you like?

While I have more questions, I will reserve them for a further ocassion not to tire you out.

Again, have a good one, Dear Baker.

-🍃

Oh, it seems the wind has brought such a precious leaf to my door again. What a sweet delight, for I was most expecting you. I suppose one could say my own curiosity has been provoked, amidst our circumstances.

It's a relief to know my answer served its purpose, that's all I could hope for. However, I must say, and assure, that there's nothing to be thankful for, as it was a pleasure of mine to indulge in those writings and questions of yours. Yes, it has transformed into something of a hobby relatively recently (no more than a year ago now, would be a personal guess). I would adore to make a good baker out of myself, but all things considered, I still have much to learn.

I suppose it could be said that I embrace a taste for history in general, since my own desire for knowledge and unraveling takes on the most different of tones. Even so, one is allowed preferences and disinterests. I will restrain myself and avoid a chatter which will, most certainly, construct tangents in its lines, by taking a simpler approach to my response. As one would imagine fitting, I walk through obsessions, so difficulty presents itself when searching to express a preference which would not be everchanging. More recently, I've been somewhat more fixated on Japanese history, thinking mainly about the Sengoku period. Before this, I was rather deep into the time of the French Revolution. Concerning music, I'm afraid it's a mess in every sense. Usually, I find myself listening to playlists that my friends recommend to me, which are either a chaotic mix of a variety of music genres or bearers of extremely specific titles for an equally extremely specific selection of songs. If I had to say, I believe that what I listen to tends towards melancholy, more often than not. Still, I've had Alec Benjamin's If I Killed Someone For You on repeat for a day or two now.

Well, I am most grateful for the kindness of those words. It’s not common for me to get too attached to literary genres; as long as the synopsis seems interesting, it's good enough for me. Still, looking at my books now and thinking about it, I don't think I have many romantic stories in my collection; in comparison, many are thrillers and/or mysteries.

I'll be looking forward to it.

Now, thinking about satisfying this curiosity of mine… Would you be a doll and tell me about that which sparks interest within you? It's only natural that I would also search for an answer concerning the things you like—if I may, of course.

May this day/night deliver wonderful experiences and feelings to this heart of yours.

[waterparksdrama]

ok track by track review of Intellectual Property. GO!

as you wish anon. be warned this is literally like one of maybe 4 times i've listened to this album in full again

st*rfucker - a bit too saccharine on first listen but it has better replay value as time goes on. the beginning of the shoehorned jesus lyrics and the continuation of limo imagery to represent fame which is actually fitting admittedly bc just like a limo that is supposed to represent glamour and celebrity living, they are just as widespread and accessible as him and aren't really that glamorous at all. also this is me saying again wow he complains a lot about fame for someone who isn't really that famous. i still hate the cutoff at the end bc. cmon man. 7/10

real super dark - ok i did like the gilbert gottfried inspired melody i think that's fun actually. the song lyrics? uhhhhhh. just more complaining. if you have listened to any of the albums since fandom you are not missing much there other than the otto serial killer jokes he has inserted here? which is a choice i guess. instrumental is great tho. i feel incredibly stupid listening to a lot of the other parts of the song tho. 7/10

funeral grey - god i can't bear listening to this one on my own i'm sorry. live it's fine, but the studio recording i would rather kill myself than listen to again. IT'S SO ANNOYING. the terrible overenunciated vocals. awsten's attempt at humor by writing these wattpad fic lyrics that make me cringe to my core because i know there's a part of him being genuine. the one direction ripoff hook because he managed to get one of 1d's actual songwriters to help write the track. the only saving grace is the ending but at that point it's too late for any redemption. 2/10

brainwashed - ironically this was written with the 1d guy again and. i'm actually fine with this one LOL. it's simple and lowkey so it's considerably less annoying than funeral grey. considering awsten said the lyrics on this album were hypersexual, but it's 2023 so this is fairly tame, it just makes me wonder how much he has repressed in his psyche. 6/10

2 best friends - ok now we're back to simple annoying. if you tune out the lyrics enough, it sounds like disney channel filler music. but it's actually about ~~sExxxx~~ hahahahaha everything about this album so far is like reading fanfics clearly written by middle schoolers. awsten's sad about his situationship so he goes out with his 2 best friends to forget but it doesn't work :( but he could just fuck his friends bc it wouldn't hurt to try at this point. hey what if this was what the song was actually about that because in travis' insane songfic he made jawn and awsten hook up during this chapter #neverforget #riptravisficeventhoughmebitchingontumblrmadehimkillit 4/10

end of the water (feel) - hearing awsten try to hit those high notes reminded me of people saying brendon straining on his high notes on the last panic tour was like hearing a dog that needed to be shot out back for its own good. this is very obviously a charlie puth ripoff to the t because not only does he hit high notes that no man should ever reach, but i'm pretty sure the verse instrumentals rip off "light switch" by charlie. anyways more of "ughhhhh i'm not getting a text backkkkkk" that makes me want to throw awsten's phone into the pacific. i still don't know why kurtis conner is here and how this is supposed to relate to any of this at all. also actually now that i'm crossing checking the genius pages for these, the descriptions for these songs make them sound much better than they actually are lol. 3/10

self-sabotage - this one is mid on it's own but funny because i remember the amount of twitter discourse this song has spawned. "awsten's being toxic and misogynistic" did we not listen to some of the songs off fandom "awsten has bpd" what if he just sucks sometimes. the memories of this are more memorable than the song itself. 5/10

ritual - remember when i found out the soundbyte at the beginning was from an aids psa. good times. fine song other than the shoehorned soundbyte. the entire song is just a repetition of the verses and chorus like a ~~ritual~~ spooky! i like the flair vincente void adds with his screams i feel like this feature makes more sense because it's a song about protecting yourself from the doctrines of religion that harmed you when you were growing up and apparently vincente has known awsten since he was 13???? only thing i hate is the corpse ripoff ending so much so that i have a personal version where i edited that out. 8/10

fuck about it - BORINGGGGGG OH MY GODD. if you've heard one blackbear feature, congrats you've heard them all because they all sound the same and blackbear adds no energy whatsoever. he made a bayside instrumental sound boring you really can't underestimate him. anyways back to the song itself; the situationship has dissolved into pure sex and disinterest and annoyance outside of that and with the way awsten sounds like he plans having hate sex, i don't think he's ever had hate sex before. there's the ending synth i think is fun and that's the only reason this gets a point at all. 1/10

closer - it's a sweet song but um. haven't we heard this in a way before? *cough cough 21 questions* i think this is the closest (lol) parx comes to at a return to pre-fandom form, but when i listen to the chords too much i'm just like "did he lowkey rip off that one smashing pumpkins song". anyways it's just about needing to be closer to someone or ending the relationship completely. simple but effective but not nearly as effective as 21 questions for me sorry. 7/10

a night out on earth - ok i had physical tickets to the last tour bc i won them on idobi so i was like "THIS SONG BETTER BE AT LEAST DECENT BC I STILL HANG UP THE TICKET WITH THIS NAME" and it was at the least. it's like. a good waterparks song, but i feel like i've heard it already? my mind goes back to see you in the future but for these i can't tell who's ripping off who more lol. yeah i feel like other than some interesting production here and there it's a rehash of shit we already heard before. shoehorned religious lyric. fake ass band guys. "i turn my agony into songs and people only like when i'm hurt". "i've been dead since 2016" (part two). "i'm evil now. idgaf. wat ever."

and then i think the part that makes me go awwww but also confuses me is the im a natural blue radio interview snippet? like why does this all tie in together now. geoff's not even here bro how is this the only release where otto's the only one namedropped when awsten hasn't even named dropped him until last album. 80% the album is about some random relationship how is this supposed to tie into all of these.

idk i feel like i've just had this on my mind when when of my mutuals made their own analysis on awsten's mindsets towards life and said how he uses fear as motivation but his perfectionism keeps him from using failure as an editor and how this song was the peak example of this; the rehash of the same ideas over and over because despite his stubbornness, despite "ultimately -not- giving in to the perception that you’re worth ‘Demonizing'", he never confronts the problem for real, just compartmentalizes the problem away and doesn't truly overcome the root of his problems. that's what i feel like manifests in this album for me to be put off by it at its core. nothing ever changes, he just finds a new situation to complain at. maybe that's also why his fans never change even as new ones come though. maybe that's why we also stay stagnant in this with him.

again i get it, he's a public figure; if he did dive too deep into this and didn't choose to generalize the lyrics for his own sake, he would probably end up incriminating himself way too much and have a hard time performing some of these songs. but i can't help but wonder. if he's truly getting over a mental obstacle like that, or keeps himself so set on the future that he ignores the problems he never solved. like he always does. like he always seems to be doomed to. anyways, 7/10 song.

all in all, it's an album that tries to reach a concept of coming to terms with your sexuality and religious trauma all entwined in fame but in reality it's mostly just about a sucky situationship and awsten complaining again while putting in random religious references sometimes and the beginning and ending are about fame. my hot takes are: tennis imagery = gay sex, there's not enough of a distinction between "soulsucker" and awsten to make "album lore" when the overarching concept of parx's discography is "awsten's life sucks", and darth vader is luke's father. - iz

[nobodieshero-main]

kinda an intense question but for new and old followers would you give a basic rundown of What Nobodies Hero Is? id love to have smthn to reblog bc im terrible at describing things myself i just start going ‼️‼️‼️ NOBODIES HERO ‼️‼️‼️

this was harder than it had any right to be and idek if this is any good but it's what i've got. bon appetite.

anyway Nobodies Hero is a fantasy series i've been working on for years, centered around a quest for a dragon and the clusterfuck of destinies-gone-wrong.

the story begins when the quest is already in full swing, when an adventuring party (Atlas, a noble who spent his life seeking adventure; Cecily, his partner in crime + Ahria, a sword-master and faithful wife) arrive in a town that shouldn't exist. (arlet, the only civilisation at the end of the world, my beloved)

we're introduced through the eyes of the towns librarian, an acerbic man with a complicated past (Keika) who the party hires to act as their guide. after he's only slightly guilted into it.

they need an impossible man from an impossible town to get them to an impossible destination. The Mahina Woods are an ancient and terribly magic stretch of woodland staining the bottom of every map of the continent; it's a place no one has ever returned from. It's also the only place that might have anything to say about dragons-- a creature long extinct.

Keika's job is to get them in and out of the woods without any of them dying. He succeeds! That is where his story is supposed to end.

Unfortunately (for more than just him), it is only the beginning; and he finds himself dragged through all manner of ordeals and trials as he struggles to keep up with his new companions while battling his own grief and increasing loss-of-self. (and dealing with falling in love for the first time. loser.)

Nobodies Hero explores a lot of things regarding identity and stories with fixed endings; but my favourite thing about this series is the way it plays with it's own story <3 there are two paths: what was supposed to happen (as written in the stars), and what ends up happening because of one little change to the narrative (the story that i am writing).

NH looks at a story with a fixed ending and decides to see what happens when you switch the unimportant bits around. What if the sister dies instead of the brother? A lamb reared for slaughter is left to wander loose, a scholar is handed a sword too heavy for his hands, an adventurer locks himself behind a desk, a friend becomes a traitor.

The story, unchanging, says that a sibling, a dragon, and a king will die. These are facts no matter what else changes. but I love how everything else has to twist itself into knots to make it happen. (the mordred and ahuru connection still makes me insane)

The world of NH is set within an unnamed continent split into 4 countries: Omos, in the north; Miednic, in the west; Nevmones, in the south; and Kauae in the east. Each has their own histories and relationships with one another, their own customs and cultural norms (poppies as a symbol of death in nevmones you will always be famous) BUT i couldn't fit all of it into the main parts of the story which is why i also created the side quests!! aka: stories that let me play with my world-building without impacting the main series <3

(i don't count the splintering as a side quest seeing as it has A Significant Impact On The Main Series, Actually.)

anyway yeah it has spooky dragon myths and a two-faced ruler, there's a queen who's rumoured to eat babies to remain eternally youthful, love curse shenanigans, found family, magic, humour and romance. like all my writing it explores every kind of love there is: family, friends, romance, the love you hold for your favourite type of bread, for your pets, for your favourite seasons or the way sunlight dances over the scales of a fish.

it seems dramatic, and at times the story is pretty heavy, especially the deeper you get into it but there is always always warmth and kindness and moments that offer a soft landing. a place to rest. i love these characters and this world too much to deny them that.

OH ALSO the gods aren't separate from their domains (eg. the goddess of mountains is quite literally the mountains), magic is called stardust bc it comes from Vietua (the night sky) and magic-wielders are called casters (atlas, cecily + keika are all casters) the terms for shapeshifters (werewolves, selkies etc) and halflings (harpies, centaurs etc) can depend on where you are on the continent, same thing with the undead; other magical creatures that dont fit in those categories are usually called tani or just referred to specifically (RUAHOI MY BELOVEDS)

um. i hope this is helpful. 🙏🙏

[aemiron-main]

Why Scripts Aren’t Objective Truth (And What Are Scripts Supposed To Do/What's The Purpose Of A Script?)

So, while the ST scripts are absolutely valuable tools for analysis, and I am not, by any means, saying we should discard them entirely (I use them in lots of my analysis), it does floor me how many people (including film students which floors me even more) believe that scripts are meant to tell you objective truths about the show’s plot.

Like. The whole point of scripts is to communicate what you want the audience to believe/the impression you want them to get- scripts are a plan/roadmap for movie and TV production.

So, if you want the audience to fully believe that a character did something (even if they didn’t), you’re going to write your script as if they did it. If you want the audience to fully believe that an actually-completely-innocent man murdered an animal in a fit of sadistic curiosity, you’re going to write your script as if he reveled in the act and did all of it on purpose. Again, even if he is completely innocent, because you want your viewer to 100% believe that he is guilty (and this changes if you only want them to partially believe he’s guilty/have doubts about his guilt etc etc).

The purpose of a script is to provide a roadmap to the production team (including actors) so that they can give a specific impression to the audience.

The purpose of a script is not to give an objective, 100% true, objective viewpoint of what actually happened/the full objective context of every scene. Scripts are MEANT to give a “biased”portrayal of events/give a specific impression, because what we’re seeing on screen is also a biased portrayal of events.

The script isnt meant to tell you the objective truth of what’s going on- it’s meant to tell ST production the impression that they need to give/what they need to convey.

Like, let’s talk about that infamous Massacre at Hawkins Lab script snippet re: Henry and the rabbit.

So, I talked here and here about why I don’t think Henry killed that rabbit, but how on earth can I possibly believe that Henry didn’t kill or intentionally torture that rabbit when it’s written right there, in the script, that he was torturing it and was fascinated by its suffering?

Well, it’s partially because I know that the ST writers want the audience, on a surface level, to fully believe that Henry is guilty. They want the audience to believe that Henry was torturing that rabbit for his own fascination, and that he killed it. I know that scripts work as a roadmap for production & for what the writers want the audience to believe on the surface.

And it’s also because I also know that when we look at the show itself, not just the script and the other pieces of evidence that are present in the show, such as:-

A.) The fact that not only do we not see the rabbit die onscreen, but its body is also shown in two different places (it’s shown in front of the house in the Creel Family Trailer, and is shown over at the slide in the Dear Billy episode), and NEITHER of those places are where Henry supposedly killed it, as he supposedly killed it around the side of the house.

B.) Henry’s facial expression, as James has talked about, looks far more upset than fascinated. Raphael Luce has also talked about working with the Duffers and being very specific about his facial expressions because Young Henry has no speaking lines, so expressions are something extra important to pay attention to for Young Henry.

C.) The fact that the rabbit’s foot was caught in the snare and that the shots of the rabbit parallel Hopper breaking his own foot to escape his chains in Russia- Henry was likely breaking the rabbit’s foot to free it.

D.) The fact that the rabbit’s dead body HAS A BROKEN LEG, the EXACT leg that was caught in the snare.

D.) The fact that Victor was trying to hunt a wildcat- and snaring live rabbits is an EXTREMELY common way to lure wildcats to kill them.

E.) This piece of evidence isn’t present in the show, but I’m including it because it’s non-script evidence- the stray cats mentioned in the leaked TFS auditions, and how they’re likely what killed the rabbit after Henry broke its leg to free it.

-we can see that it’s extremely unlikely that Henry was actually torturing and killing that rabbit out of fascination/torturing and killing it at all.

These pieces of evidence aren’t things that are present in the script- but they are present in the show. Which is why it’s so important not to rely on the script as being some sort of objective truth/why it’s important not to just solely rely on the script, because the script is not the final product, and instead, it’s main focus is to serve as a roadmap for the main impression that the writers want the audience to have (and on the surface, they want the audience to believe that Henry did it, so that they can later reveal that he did not.)

So, to summarize, I’m able to easily believe that Henry didn’t kill or revel in the torture of that rabbit, despite what the script says, because I a.) know that the script acts as roadmap for what the writers want the audience to believe on a surface level, b.) I know that there’s extra scenes/details/evidence in the show itself that “contradict” the script/that contradict that surface level impression/that demonstrate that Henry was trying to help the rabbit and c.) I know that Stranger Things puts a heavy focus on looking at what you’re being shown instead of just blindly listening to what you’re being told.

The idea of the script serving as a roadmap for the surface level/main impression they want to give the audience (rather than laying out the objective truth about the plot) is also demonstrated with how they presented Henward as “The Friendly Orderly” in that very same Massacre at Hawkins Lab script. If the script was meant to be an objective truth, they would have called him One or Henry or Edward. But they don’t. Because it’s not time for that reveal yet & they want to give the impression that he’s just The Friendly Orderly.

Quit wanting to be told everything and start looking at what you’re being shown. The script is not the final product/main piece of media that’s being analyzed here- the show is. And the show itself is NOT going to tell you everything either.

Hell, Dustin said it himself:

So many people watching and analyzing ST want to be TOLD everything so badly- and yet, even when they're told that the show won't tell them everything, and that they need to look at what they're being shown and look behind the curtain, they still don't listen and end up relying on things like the scripts to tell them a supposed objective truth.

This isn't me mocking people for not noticing things/not always seeing everything- I miss stuff all the time. This is me being slightly frustrated that people continue to rely on the scripts as some sort of objective gospel & think that "well, the script said that Henry was fascinated and torturing the rabbit," is an effective rebuttal to my analysis of the rabbit scene, and frustration with people thinking that what we're told in the script somehow supersedes what we're being shown in the show.

[jennyandvastraflint]

I'm not quite sure which ones I have sent you already, so feel free to skip any <3

14. Are there any tropes you would only read if written by a trusted friend or writer?

26. Would you rather write a fic that had no dialogue or one that was only dialogue?

29. What songs would be (or are) on a playlist for Butterfly Queen? Explain your choices if you want!

38. Did any of your fics get surprisingly popular (whatever that means to you)? Which ones? Why do you think they were so successful?

Thank yoooouuu! Okay, trying this for the second time now, seeing as my laptop decided to shut all my windows and delete my answers...

14. Are there any tropes you would only read if written by a trusted friend or writer?

Kid fics, I think. I'm not generally a fan of them because they just don't suit the vast majority of my ships, and they need to be done a particular way for me to enjoy them. I'm not generally very interested in children XD So there's that.

And smut. I've read a few, some better and more memorable than others, and the ones I enjoyed pretty much always carried a lot of emotional weight. Smut just plain bores me a lot of times because I have no connection to any desire to have sex.

26. Would you rather write a fic that had no dialogue or one that was only dialogue?

Definitely no dialogue because I love rambling, exploring characters' inner workings, and examining them very closely. Technically my Anura drabble is a fic with no dialogue, and Songs of Love and Death has quite a few chapters with hardly any dialogue at all because they were very introspective.

(as a side note for the only dialogue one, I have written plays and short audio scripts which are technically only dialogue. I'm just gonna link them here: Sontaran Composition, Amnesia, and Captured in Space)

29. What songs would be (or are) on a playlist for Butterfly Queen?

This is a hard one seeing as the fic is quite fluffy and positive and all my music goes in pretty much the opposite direction (look I just love either yearning or dramatic shit XD), but I will try to leave you at least a few songs...

Something something memory of her past, butterflies as a reminder, Jenny singing Vastra to sleep, or perhaps the memory of her mother(s) telling her to sleep in her head? Honestly the possibilities are endless, and the entrancing music and singing itself is just so magical to me.

This one's also fairly early on in the fic, as it's quite weighty and emotional. Also the song is Jenny/Vastra coded as FUCK. I'm going insane over it daily <3

Absolutely the wrong time period as this is medieval, but I love how bouncy it is and the spring vibes it has, and I think that fits quite well, despite the period obviously being a different one.

Some more instrumental that fits Vastra as a whole quite well, I think.

And something very positive and sweet! Honestly? This fits quite well XD Just gliding on through Looking down on the view from up here

And from up here The world is all yours Each mountain and meadow and mere

And from up here Life's duties and chores Are barely worth shedding a tear

And all of the sky lies before us Straight up to the far stratosphere So head for the blue and let's take in the view from up here

It's just me and you looking down on the view from up here Lyrics

38. Did any of your fics get surprisingly popular (whatever that means to you)? Which ones? Why do you think they were so successful?

I mean, this kinda goes for every single fandom outside of my little niche because there's actually a wider audience for them out there. I will say tho, the constant popularity of my KyaLin stuff (relative for me) made me reluctant to write them because that's kinda not anywhere near my main thing... I'm taking my two The Dragon Prince fics with the most kudos out of that because I think that was a spam attack (I also got like a dozen spam comments on each of them...)

I suppose one that did come as a surprise was my Lilith Clawthorne coming out fic? I had never written The Owl House before that (and quite frankly barely afterwards), and it was quite interesting!

But focusing on my Doctor Who ones which are my main thing, I'm surprised that both Pacing (a Thasmin fic with a heavy focus on autistic 13) and Emerald Scales (Colours Soulmate AU) got over 80 kudos. And You're not useless, never, to me... is also a surprise because reading it back, damn that was EARLY writing and could so do with a rewrite XD

Also, Burning Love (Jennah/Anise from Guild Wars 2) got a whooping NINE kudos, which is quite frankly so surprising considering there are seven fics about them and two of them are mine? Every single kudo/comment on my Guild Wars fics is a win for me honestly, it's by far the smallest fandom (in terms of interest in the canon characters) I write for.

I suppose most of the stuff outside Doctor Who is popular because I'm not filling a niche with an audience of 20 people at BEST. My Thasmin and Osgate stuff tends to be well-received as well, but I've just chosen a niche for me with a very small audience... XD

Thank you so much for the ask, and I hope you are happy with these answers :3

[somethingshifted]

(cut the post since it was getting long)

@blobbypancacc

while i don't know of all of damon's inspirations, you could say doing different genres and finding up-and-coming young artists to collaborate with is experimentation itself even if the genres/styles are repeated, gorillaz's "a solar collaboration" was only just in 2018. cracker island is pop which you usually don't associate with experimentation but it was intentionally made as an exploration into Pop with a capital P, not b/c he's now forever writing music in this style. i think judging experimentation is a subjective thing to me 🤷‍♂️ i simply do not know enough about music creation or how to even delineate genres to answer clearly, aside from disagreeing with "it's not like S/T or Demon Days so its not experimental" which is some opinion i come across when trying to see what people felt about more current albums. i thought humanz was experimental! and it's very much inspired by the time it was written. same with song machine.

i don't know if they'll ever be interested in having a stronger hand in the character writing, but i kind of gave up on wishing for that. preserving the style of info dropping via interviews is great, but i complained about the writing choices enough on this blog. there's some interviews from here and here where you can see the reasoning behind gorillaz which was 1. controlled fictional celebrities 2. parodying and 3. freedom of collaboration. the social commentary comes with them being fictional. you can write 2D protesting for denuclearization and he's protected by being fictional, who said it 2D or the writers? his writers of course, same with the whack shit murdoc would say or tacking on NOI stuff to russel without thought or research, that's the writers responsibility. lately when the writing focuses hard on drama & history that is completely fictional, social commentary is dropped. maybe murdoc being a cult figure was supposed to mean something other than marketing, and parody new age cults preying on vulnerable people or celeb worship. their setting of hollywood barely gets referenced. cornwell is fantastic but there's not enough to work with when the end goal is "please the fans". so that's why it's looping back to "murdoc is mean to 2D but they have a history" and then... not much else in terms of depth

to wrap up the negativity, i understand why they aren't as involved with the writing, either now or back then in varying degrees. jamie was famously overworked the back end of 2010s with song machine and to expect control over all written word is out of the question, plus they're more independently funded since 2019 so this means more creative control but also more responsibility. damon writes music and to make it fit with gorillaz lore was never his priority

like yes they should care more but. d&j never wrote for the social media shit back in facebook chat days and they sure as hell won't start now (and i hope they don't) this seperation makes it easier for me to look at the (!!high budget 3D animated!!) tiktoks and go "Damn. anyways i'm gonna go listen to Tarantula"

[reginarubie]

The first time I read asoiaf -I'll be honest- I felt weird. Then I read your metas and realized why I felt this way, it was my love-horror sense tingling 😭

reading D@ny chapters in agot -or any of Bran- gives this feeling of watching Ari Aster movies or The Witch, like they are making deals with devil 😭😂

Ciao nonny,

Asoiaf is very complex, and some of the horrors of it are not so clear to a first reader; there are multiple layers to it. Most of my metas have been caused by people sending an ask and causing a light bulb to light in my mind (see the dark!Dany and blood sacrificing Dany metas)

Or simply I made the connection out of the blue (like my Lucifer means Lightbringer metas).

And to be quite honest with you, even those could not have seen the light of the day without my amazing mutuals to whom I have privately whined and run a first rough draft through.

I mean, @sansaissteel has been of tremendous help especially with the realization that, all in all, Rhaego is what the valyrian would've called a chimera and that it happened after a blood sacrifice, like it happened in old Valyria.

In the same way @fromtheboundlesssea has been instrumental for the new (still yet to come, I've just started to scratch at its surface) biblical meta.

And more often than not the whole thing is spurned by some convo (like the latest biblical/secular meta about the figure of the Virgin Mary, the Mother and the mothers of asoiaf) for which we can thank @esther-dot and @minitafan.

And most of my metas have been born that way. From some comment someone made, or the light bulb going off in my mind out of the blue, and from the amazing conversations we can engage in, in this corner of the fandom.

And I couldn't agree more, the AGOT chapters of both Dany and Bran are like already foreshadowing the line they are walking on, and that they either will cross or remain on the right side of. We always comment on how Dany and Jon are foils, and Dany and Sansa are written to become moral rivals, and Arya is supposed to outgrow her childish awe at the dragons to see the horror they actually bring in the world (after the whole point of her growing fiercely more hating of how fire is used during warcraft); but the real antitheses and foils are actually Dany an Bran.

Horror follows them almost more closely than others, and certainly more closely than others they toy with it. Imo Bran is foreshadowed to sacrifice his abilities (and thus his possibilities to not feel like a cripple) for the good of everyone, which is the choice I think Dany will fail to make in the end; as we see Bran growing ever so restless but realizing that something is afoot and having the advantage of having been raised by Ned Stark; Dany is just a slow descent.

Horror is a great part of asoiaf and so layered I think not even Martin has done everything on purpose; some of it might have happened by chance and actually fit the plot. As I myself write stories and fan fictions I have noticed my brain at times plants the seeds of plot-twists I haven't even started to plan, before I realize I want to write them and then suddenly start to fit as if I had planned it beforehand.

Both Dany and Bran are actually engaging with “devils”.

The dragon for Dany and the three eyed raven for Bran... and come to think of it:

both creatures are symbolically connected between them and to the number three (three dragons, the dragon must have three heads; and the three eyes of the raven in Bran' dream and the three eyed raven); both connected to the color black (which would beg on a meta in itself) and red (might actually had another layer to the red decoded series of meta).

And.....I am stopping there before this gets out of hand, but trust me on this nonny, I will return to this matter, because you just opened the lid of a Pandora box and my hands are already itching to write it, but it needs research and a more throughout writing method. But I will address this matter because damn what you haven't just exposed in my mind.

Thank you, as always for dropping by. Sending all my love; I hope you have a wonderful day/afternoon/night, whatever depending on where you live!

Do drop by again, I'm always happy to hear from you all and you all are extremely instrumental in the insanity that is my writing-metas-method!, I'm always ready to be unleashed on the fandom with brand new ideas and metas sparked by all of your genial comments and asks!

*demonic mumbling*

Forever itching to write new metas,

~G.

[astronautbatman]

human target #1-6 thoughts

okay this is not getting read by anyone and this came out like 2 years ago but i really wanted to get some thoughts down.

first of all! the JLI timeline in this is somewhat confusing. ted and booster seem like theyre in their in the forties/maybe fifties for ted which seems about right, but tora and guy seem like theyre in their twenties/mid thirties at the latest? the age range isnt an issue by itself bc obviously the characters couldnt have all been the same age in JLI. but the way they talk about their days on the team together, it sounds like it happened a good few years ago so is the implication that tora was in her teens when this was happening? so then why does she look pretty much the same in the photos/flashbacks while ted especially looks a lot younger? and also they do mention her and fire being on multiple other superhero teams before they join the JLI like in the original run so how old was she supposed to be then ???

i feel like this issue is mostly because they wanted tora to be like this younger more innocent (or is she) woman to christopher guests middle-aged cynical man which is obviously a staple pairing in noir writing. but like … aside from the kindof weirdness that dynamic always brings, in this case it also confuses the story a bit. and it’s definitely a departure from the orignal JLI where her and bea are probably late twenties at the youngest when they join the JLI.

which brings me to one of the fundamental issues ive seen people have with this: tora’s character. she doesn’t really fit the femme fatale character but tom king keeps trying to force her into that role for the sake of the crime noir genre he’s going for and it just isn't working for me. more than (almost) anyone else she reads like a very different character than the one established in justice league international. instead of being generally quite open and honest, its implied shes trying to manipulate christopher guest with her feminine wiles (?) or something. which just seems like an odd fit for her character.

the only characterisation that i found more egregious was guy gardner (rip). it genuinely does feel like tom king had heard secondhand abt guys character, decided he was a bad guy (no pun intended) and wrote him to be that in this story. calling tora a bitch repeatedly, basically stalking her and christopher guest, overall just acting abusively towards her. i hate it! who let tom king near this man! never in my life have i seen such character assassination before. i never want to see the words ‘my little girl’ written on a page again.

i also did not really care for the way tom king wrote ted. his character in this can be simplified to just eccentric™️ businessman who talks too much. and is also the blue beetle. its not awful but i feel like it really misses what makes ted a fun character to read. like if you’re going to have so much text on each panel covering up greg smallwoods beautiful art then at least have him make a few jokes? i was also gonna talk about booster gold in this but its gotten wayyy too long so i’ll just say he feels like a bit of a caricature and he is saved only by greg smallwood’s ability to draw facial expressions.

saying all this, i actually have been enjoying this story. i dont understand why tom king didnt just make up a new superhero team à la watchmen and have the story been about them instead of using pre-existing characters whose personalities dont fit the genre. as a fan of raymond chandler’s books i actually think tom kings done a good job of blending the more serious noir influences with the superhero setting whilst still maintaining a consistent tone throughout. and the pacing is really good! it somehow manages to feel like a slow burn whilst having a lot happen over a few days. so its annoying that this story feels a little wasted on the justice league characters and vice versa.

anyways

i’m still kind of torn on this story and if i like it or not. i’m probably going to keep reading bc i’m invested now so if i do i might make a second post for issues #7-12. and greg smallwood’s art deserves its own post with examples so i might do that too when i’m finished with this.