kyletogaz · 1 day ago
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I'm gonna just come out with this first and say that I am actually black, unlike some of the anons who come on here, but I genuinely want to believe auspicious is trying and will improve in the future.
There is a big common difference in language in other countries than in the US. There are words they use that are offensive here but aren't there, and it's not always an excuse. I'm not saying she can't educate herself, but she even said she really did not know which I'd like to believe instead of holding a shade over her head.
We are cultures apart from countless people all over the world, and there's bound to be some mistakes here and there. Is it common for us as poc people to experience situations like this? Yes, most definitely, but that doesn't mean every single white person is doing/saying things out of malicious intent.
Her writing was done terribly wrong, the entire situation looked horrendous, but it felt like instead of educating her like we should do, you took how fed up you were and placed it all on top of her. We don't have much representation in this world. There aren't many black writers or black characters out there for us and were often treated wrong, and it's tiring. That shouldn't mean we take that frustration out on her.
It just seemed like really bully behavior to say most of her writing is shit instead of reaching out and saying how she could change and do better. Maybe I'm an optimist who tries to always see the good in people, but this entire situation could've been handled better.
honestly telling me that you’re black (and on anon at that) does not move me when you’re sitting up here trying to tell me that i should go out of my way and educate people about racism and anti-blackness when i definitely don’t have to do that. if they have access to tumblr, then they have access to the internet. i am not anyone’s mule and definitely don’t have to anything i don’t wanna do just because you say so. if you’re so concerned about educating her & the masses then YOU do it.
“there is a big common difference in language in other countries than in the US.” mind you the n word exists in every language but alright!!!
also the “not all white people” line doesn’t work on me so you can dead that.
i’ll take my frustrations out on whoever the hell i want to especially when she was warned twice on anon about the characterization and her use of a slur (which is the only thing y’all keep focusing on, instead of focusing on the stereotypical way she wrote a black male character). she was also talked to in private. and instead of apologizing and taking the fic down, she tried to edit it and repost it. she only wrote that lil essay (still no apology) and deleted the fic after she saw ppl discussing the issue.
“it just seemed like really bully behavior to say most of her writing is shit” mind you this is what i said. so don’t come into my inbox putting words in my mouth.
i also find it funny how some of y’all have been clicking that “ask anonymously” button and are trying to tell us that we’re overreacting. you better think again the next time you come into my inbox talking out the side of your neck. this was me being nice.
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nordiccowgirl · 2 months ago
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A small thing from the Sonic trailer that I love is how Shadow fights. This is something that I've REALLY started focusing on since Sonic Prime, so I'm going to try to talk about it like I'm not just losing my mind lol.
I noticed in Sonic Prime that they put effort into making Shadow and Sonic look different while fighting. It honestly took until I wrote this whole essay that I never published about Shadow's air shoes and how he clearly uses them to boost his strength - hence why his most well known fighting move in the roundhouse kick. With the air shoes behind it and his natural, unnatural strength, the roundhouse kick would/should KO basically every standard enemy he would come across.
Shadow is a very physical fighter in Sonic Prime.
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Yeah, Sonic uses force when destroying robots and things, too, but he clearly relies on his speed and spindash more to propel him through enemies rather than just obliterate them. I noticed this a lot in Sonic Prime and I LOVED it.
I love this move to differentiate them more - I don't think they've really done that in the games since Shadow the Hedgehog (2006) tbh and it was definitely a bummer to get through the Shadow levels in Sonic Forces and basically feel like it was just a Shadow skin over a Sonic level. I really hope that Generations has some Shadow combat abilities and not JUST the Doom Powers lol.
Which leads me to the Sonic 3 Trailer, as all things do today.
Shadow's scenes are very physical in the Sonic 3 trailer. The very first thing he does is bust out of the containment unit (alas I couldn't find a gif of it lol).
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And then he goes into the roundhouse kicks (thank you Shadow 2005) and, as I stated above, those kicks pack a PUNCH.
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Those soldiers are FLYING across the room lol.
Then there's everything from the First Encounter, starting with snapping Knuckles' wrist like kindling and ending with him rocketing Sonic into the ground in a chokehold.
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Again - using his shoes to his advantage in fighting. I love to see it!!
Shadow moves fast and brutally and it takes a lot for Sonic to deal with him. Even in Sonic Prime, when they're not trying to kill each other, fighting Shadow in S1 before the Shatter took all of Sonic's attention. Once Shadow focuses on destroying Sonic in the movie, I expect a LOT of super intense fight scenes like the one we saw in the trailer.
Even Shadows movement in the movie is more physical. Sonic always makes running look effortless:
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While Shadow looks like he's putting strength behind his skating:
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They did this in Prime, too:
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I really hope that we get to see even more of this distinction between the two and if the rumors of more spinoffs are true, I would love to see something like Sonic Prime where they get to work together using their differences, like how they've really pushed the differences between Sonic and Knuckles.
I'm deeply in love with the Paramount Sonic Team and I honestly haven't felt like they've missed (yes, I even loved the Knuckles show). I'm so happy to see all of these parallels in the trailer and I can't WAIT to see how it all comes together in the movie!
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aanoia · 1 year ago
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No
James Potter x reader
Summary; James won't give up until he gets a yes
Warnings; James is lowkey and pushover and I'm pretty sure asking someone to go out over and over again is harassment so that too
Words; idk man
Pt. 2
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“No.” I said sternly, returning to my book.
“Come on, Y/n, please. One date, then you can be done with me forever.” James pleaded, an easy smirk resting on his face.
“James, I’d rather be done with you right now.” I persisted.
“But you can’t. So, a date?”
“You know this is harassment right?”
“I am very aware. Does tomorrow sound good?”
I scoffed and shook my head, “No.”
He smiled proudly and began walking away, “Tomorrow it is. Meet me in the common rooms at 10, baby.”
I rolled my eyes as Remus laughed quietly beside me as he listened to the interaction.
“Are you gonna go?” He asked quietly.
“Nope.” I sighed and went back to reading.
“I don’t believe you, like at all.” Sirius deadpanned as he sat on the couch in the common room, his fingers gently threading through Remus’s hair who had his head on his lap as he quietly read his book.
“I’m serious, Sirius.” James said, waiting patiently for his date.
“No, I’m Sirius, James.” The boy responded.
James rolled his eyes as the clock rang out, signaling the new hour. It was officially ten. James stood up excitedly, knowing Y/n was always perfectly on time, never early and never late, with the exception of class where she seemed to get there before the dismissal bell even rang. He waited patiently, however the girl never came.
“Oh, Prongs, I knew you were lying.” Sirius said.
“No, she’s coming. She must just be late.”
“She’s never late.”
James ignored him and continued watching the stairs from the Girl’ dormitory. Thirty minutes passed before James sat down with a sigh.
“I’m sorry, James. She probably forg-” Peter paused as he looked up, expecting to see a sulking James, instead, the boy had a smirk on his face, already planning the next way he was going to ask the girl out. It was going to be big this time.
Y/n sat quietly in the Great Hall, working on a potions essay as her friends laughed around her. The mail owls swooped in but Y/n ignored them, not expecting anything. She jumped slightly in surprise when a piece of folded up parchment was dropped in front of her.
“I thought you weren’t expecting anything, Y/n.” Her friend said and Y/n cautiously held the paper in her hands.
“I wasn’t.” She told them and gently opened the paper.
‘Look up.’ It wrote and she furrowed her brows before doing as told. The moment she looked, flower petals of all kinds dropped around her like an endless rain. A small gasp left her lips as she felt her clothes change and she looked down to see herself in a beautiful white, flowy dress. Petals began sewing themselves into the dress, creating pink and red flowers. Her hair had been taken out of its usual ponytail and had been let down and slightly curled as the raining petals weaved themselves into a flower crown around her head. Loud music began playing as students burst into the Great Hall with instruments, causing her to jump slightly. She looked down the table as she heard the Marauders hollering at her with large smiles on their faces.
James stood on the table in a slightly tattered tux, probably from his dad. He held a large sign in his hands. Once Y/n saw what was written she stood up angrily and walked to the end of the table, the petals following her as her dress swished violently behind her.
“Y/n!” James said excitedly and jumped off the table. She didn’t say anything, instead she roughly grabbed his arm and dragged him out of the Great Hall. She led him outside, where the sun was setting.
“What is wrong with you?” Y/n questioned, raising her voice slightly as anger flowed through her veins. “I’ve said no a million times! Why can’t you just take no for an answer and leave me alone! I am so sick and tired of this, James!”
James smiled softly at her. It was different from his usual smirk, this was sweet and adoring.
“You’re beautiful.” He whispered and the girl was slightly taken aback, having never received that compliment from anyone other than her parents and close friends. Never from a boy. “And I will always, always ask you out. Until you say yes, I always will.”
Y/n let an angry sigh from her nose, “I’ll never say yes.” She told him.
“I don’t believe in never.” James said.
“I don’t believe in always.” Y/n countered.
“Well, opposites attract.”
“Never.” She raised her brows.
“Always.” He finished, smirking
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jennyfromthebes · 1 month ago
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What other live alt lyrics do you like! I like the switch in pronouns for "you speak in smoke signals and I answer in code" even though its such a small thing
Ohhh that's such a good one. I am, similarly, really fond of negations and ifs to whens (as mentioned in my post lol) and tense changes. Some favorites right now, in no particular order:
Water Tower - "small hopes are seen to not be small ones" is always one of my very favorite alt lyrics. The negation changes the entire thing and it's so so good. this is a frequent line change, not always but at least half the time!
From The Nebraska Plant - "searching in the snow for someone in the distance" and "let the scavengers proclaim what its bones are worth". The change to someone makes the whole song more impactful, and "what its bones are worth" vs "how much it was worth" is something I forever have thoughts and feelings about. What its remains still are worth vs what it on the whole used to be worth...I could write an essay just about this one line change.
Only One Way - basically every live performance of this one has different lines (one time he joked "I hope someone is taping the night I finally get all the verses right", and to my knowledge it still hasn't happened), which I absolutely love, but a specific one I wrote down (from 2024-04-12) is "you're gonna learn to listen for the thunder / you're never gonna hear it in time". what a hell of a line oh my god.
No Children - "I hope you blink before I blink at you", which to my knowledge the only recording of that alt line is 2014-06-15, but that's been a favorite of mine for almost a year, and then at the Cleveland show in July he did that line again!
Alpha In Tauris - I know this line from 2014-04-20 but I know it's been done more than once; "yes I'm the model of composure out there / and I'm not even sorry later on!" With the original line being "but you oughta see me shaking later on", it's just a really really good contradiction/unreliable narrator moment and I love it.
I know there's more that I love but I haven't been listening to tapes as much lately so I'm blanking on more of the common alt lines. Thank you for asking this though!! I will come back and add more when I think of them!!!
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arinbelle · 4 months ago
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So I saw a Nesta anti say they want a normal civil convo on why we like Nesta because they just don’t see it. I can respect someone trying to see a different POV so I wrote an extremely long essay on it and I think since my tags aren’t working I wanted to share this. For context, person said that Nesta is abusive and they have provided textual evidence. They also said Nesta excuses her actions because of her mental health. So they wanted to see what we see different because that is all they see. I thought I’d share this ridiculously long exposition I wrote out, since this is the most writing I’ve done in months.
Addition: I saw this creator say they understand why Nesta lashes out and acts so harmfully but their issues is the stans who excuse her actions. I do see Nesta stans who ignore some of the “bad” things she’s done but that’s really not the majority. Also if your issue is the fandom and not the character itself, idk if you’re really an anti. I hate Rhys stans, I’m not really anti Rhys. I dislike some of his actions but I more so hate his fans. It’s not the same thing.
My reply:
I think there's a lot to unpack here but I'll try my best to explain. I've seen your posts before where you bring evidence of Nesta's abuse on Feyre. And I'll give it to you. Yes. That is abuse. It's verbal abuse, it's mental or emotional abuse, and yes it's wrong. All of it is actually textbook, and yes, lots of Nesta stans like to say it's not because they are siblings but yes, unfortunately, abuse is abuse. (Addition: no one is saying verbal or mental abuse isn’t as impactful or dangerous as physical. It is. Studies have shown verbal abuse can at times register as physical pain and abuse to victims. And yes, Nesta was abusive to Feyre growing up. But my key word is WAS).
That being said, I have never thought Nesta gives her mental health as an excuse for her actions or words. If anything, she is completely closed off about what her own upbringing and traumas were like until we were well into acosf. If you can move on from the first few chapters of acotar, you can see that deep down Nesta loves Feyre and even her father.
It is Nesta who goes after Feyre and tries to get across the wall. It is Nesta who tells Feyre it is okay to go back to her life with Tamlin- and she tells her, don't come back, not in "we hate you" way, but in a, you've taken care of us, you've shouldered this burden, and I'm telling you it's okay and letting you go. It is Nesta and Elain who are turned Fae against their will, and you know, it is unfortunately Feyre's fault. Was that the goal? No. But you can understand some bitterness on Nesta's part. Even so, with all the trauma she went through in the Cauldron, she sees the importance of speaking to the High Lords about what is coming with Hybern and she does. She has a sense of morality and inner self, and she doesn't want to act like a coward even though she admits to everyone she is afraid. It is Nesta who helps in the war anyway that she can with the healers and the scrying, even though her entire life has just been upended and again, this is so scary to her. Everything about this new life is scary to her but she is trying.
Then her father dies and what little progress she had sort of reverses significantly and quickly. I will argue that Nesta has not at all been abusive to anyone past Feyre's childhood and the few first chapters of Acotar. Being mean to people who invade your personal space (Mor, Cassian) every once in a while is not abusive. It's just being a bitch. And honestly, everyone in acotar for the most part has had their bitchy moments.
She never excuses her actions and words. In fact, she KNOWS what she's doing. She's well aware of the hurt she's caused in the past and what her regrets are with her family and it tears her up inside, which is why she so rarely addresses it to herself and definitely not to others.
Why we love her? I think she's so different from all the other characters in acotar because she is so jagged. Because she admits that she's broken and sad and lost and she refuses to make it nice for everyone else's sake. That doesn't mean she keeps punishing people around her even though I've seen many antis say she does. Nesta moves away from Feyre and the IC when she's spiraling and the only times we get references of her being mean is when she's forced to meet them and play nice. Think of it this way- your dad is dead, you're grieving, you haven't had the 500 years plus of experience to navigate this in a healthy way, and people are constantly in your face either trying to get you to play nice or judging you foe it. Many antis love Rhys's quote on how Elain is nice or how Mor is so nice even though she's been through so much. But the reality is this, hurt people are HURT. They are not happy. It's not a realistic expectation for a person going through a major depressive episode to put on a facade to make everyone else feel good about themselves. It's not even in any selfish way, their mind is literally incapable of doing it because they are stuck in grief or numbness.
I think a lot of her stans, myself included love her because we see ourselves in her. Saying the wrong thing and then regretting it afterwards. Being stuck in our own minds and constantly being sad and anxious about everything and having nowhere to turn. Keep in mind that when Feyre was depressed, Rhys constantly tried to help. When Nesta was depressed, Feyre even admits rather than stepping in and doing something about it, she let it go on because she thought it would be fine. Everyone did. Cassian did that, Elain did that, even Amren somewhat. And maybe it would have been but we see it wasn't. I'm not going to argue about how wrong the entire "rehab" bit was, because that's not the point here.
In acosf we see Nesta deal with her inner demons. She reflects on her mother, who we can tell was somewhat emotionally abusive and definitely manipulative. Her grandmother was physically and verbally abusive. We hear her self doubt and we hear her tell Cassian she regrets what she did growing up in that cabin, she regrets how she treated Feyre, and she has no idea how to make it better. It is so much self hatred and it has morphed into something that forces her to lash out on people when they even slightly push. It's not healthy, but again, it's not abusive. Another issue is that besides Feyre and Cassian and Azriel, everyone else around her is NOT helping the situation. You can have your favs too but the fact is, Rhys constantly provokes and goads her. He has a grudge against Nesta and he has in writing admitted that he holds her to a higher standard than Elain. Mor tells her she wants to throw her into the Hewn City, a place known for brutalizing and abusing women. Amren calls her pathetic and a waste of space. This is a woman who is extremely depressed and on the verge of suicidal. None of these taunts and behaviors is kind and it probably does even more damage but we never hear anyone talk about that unless we bring it up in Nesta's defense.
I think there is another thing to account for. Feyre wants Nesta in her life. It is very different if Feyre said, you know what, I resent everything you did to me and I don't want you in my life. And I'll admit it, Feyre would be valid to do that. But she doesn't! That's a key fact. Feyre wants Nesta in her life, she wants this relationship intact. And by doing so, that means accepting that there will be days when Nesta will not be her best self, when she will lash out and say mean things in retaliation. It would be a very different story if Feyre went no contact. But it's not. And to be so hateful towards Nesta never really made sense to me since Feyre herself is her biggest advocate.
It is FEYRE, who stands by her sister when anyone tears her down. It is Feyre who tells Rhys off everytime he makes a snide comment and that's often. It is Feyre who explains to Cassian that she knows how much Nesta cares and how difficult it is for her to show her true feelings (this is Feyre giving not an excuse but an explanation for Nesta's behavior, something Nesta doesn't bother to do.) Feyre defends Nesta more than Nesta does for herself, because Nesta never does. I'd argue that Feyre loves Nesta more than Nesta loves herself. And even by the end of acosf it's not clear if Nesta has a good and healthy self love for herself but she most definitely loves Feyre very much.
One random thing that I see antis love to run with- Nesta didn't teach Feyre how to read. Nesta didn't know. She says that to Feyre, she's very surprised to learn this, and it's in writing. Now Feyre does say she didn't think Nesta would teach her, which also hurts but also surprises Nesta. Because she says no, we would have taught you why didn't you tell us. Because Nesta has not seen the damage she has done to Feyre with her words until they have these moments and talks. To Nesta, she was lashing out because she was so angry at their father for not doing more to keep them alive. And to be clear it did fall more on their father than any of the children. But I do believe that had Nesta realized how truly hurtful and damaging her words were to Feyre, she would have stopped. Each time Feyre admits something that affects her about Nesta's actions, Nesta mulls it over and is shocked. It shows compassion and objectivity towards herself. She sees an error in her ways and she tries her best to correct it.
Now onto the controversial reveal on Feyre's pregnancy. First things first, Rhys has no excuse to lie the way he did. None. And in our modern world, that is indeed considered spousal abuse. Now as to why Nesta said it- yeah, she does it for the wrong reasons. We hear it in her POV. She is so angry at Amren, she is so angry at everyone for lying to her and sitting around discussing her and then saying that she needs to be the respectful one. But, and this is so important, the minute she says it she instantly regrets it. She KNOWS she's fucked up. She hates that Feyre is crying and hurt and it's because of her. A truly abusive sister who's as cruel and heartless as everyone makes her out to be would have relished in the hurt she caused. But she doesn't. She just hates herself even more for what happened. And the fact that Rhys's threat doesn't even upset her, the fact that she is just so done and ready to die on that hike should tell you this is not someone who enjoys hurting anyone. Everything is aimed at hurting herself.
Antis like to say that Nesta saving Feyre and Nyx was the bare minimum. And sure. Yes. It is. But that's not the point. The point of that entire scene and end is that Nesta took from the Cauldron in anger and hate and vengeance for what was done to her. She stole it as a big fuck you to the Cauldron and everything else that forced her to turn Fae. And she fears that power and never touches it, never wants to actually use it, because she hates it. And yet, when Feyre is dying, Nesta is willing to do anything. She will use the power she fears to try and save her and most importantly, she willingly gives it back and says she will give it all back as long as Feyre is safe. The very thing she took out of anger and retribution, she will let that go. She will let it all go as long as she can keep Feyre alive. Is that not love? Is it not growth and healing?
I think one of the issues with SJM as a writer is sometimes she shows instead of telling. You need to do a lot of reading between the lines sometimes to understand her characters. Nesta especially because she is very much so an actions over words person and shes so rarely upfront with how she's feeling. And not just Nesta, we see this issue with Cassian too. Because they both do things to represent and signify love and honor and sacrifice yet their words can be jagged and mean and give off a different impression.
Just to reiterate, there's never been a time that Nesta has actively used her poor mental health to excuse and justify her words or actions. In fact, more often than not we hear more about how angry and hateful she is towards herself and how much she regrets her past. A true villain would offer excuses and justify what they've done. The most we ever get with Nesta is an explanation regarding her upbringing and trauma, and to clear it up, an explanation is not an excuse. Nesta never excuses her actions. When she's being honest with herself and her feelings she admits her errors, she admits to her shame, and she says she wants to do better and be better.
Another thing I think is important to remember is that SJM herself sees Nesta as a strong impactful character. She herself said in an interview, no, you aren't supposed to hate Nesta and she's quite surprised people do because after she re-evaluated her own writing during acotar, she realized Nesta is not the villain in this story. She's a hurt girl who's been through some horrible things and her life experiences have then impacted how she acts and reacts. SJM said sees herself in Nesta. She has denounced Tamlin as an abuser many times and would never put forward a main character with this much impact on the plot of this book and the Crescent City series if she thought otherwise.
This was super long but I'm happy you've tried to see it from another POV. I won't be getting into arguments with people who DM me or message unkindly on this post simply because I don't care. Acosf came out years ago and I'm no longer in the mood to engage with anyone who won't try and keep things civil in a conversation about fictional characters.
Have a good day!
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my-castles-crumbling · 6 months ago
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cas review of ttpd?
Ah yes! I am finally ready!
Cas's Review of TTPD that Two (2) People Asked For (so now you all get a fucking essay)
Literally, this is growing to be one of my favorite albums. Like...I appreciate Taylor most for her lyrics and I wrote down seven pages of them in my notebook of lyrics that fucking killed me. I feel like it's a more mature version of folklore, which is exactly what I was hoping for.
I really liked the promo for this album- the lyrics being spread, the phases of grief, the entire thing was so well-done. And the double album drop left me literally screaming.
I feel like the order of the songs on the album is also super well thought out. It really tells a story and I could feel her going through the phases, especially in the first half of the album.
I thought it was cool that she definitely took some risks in the album, but most of them landed 1000%. So many of the cool things done with the lyrics, melody, and tempo were amazing and kept me interested.
I'm gonna start by listing the more specific things I didn't like because there's only three:
In the song "Fresh Out The Slammer" during the outro, the change in beat was very jarring. I LOVED the rest of the song and it just ruined it for me
Florida!!! was...a choice. I get it. The concept of going away somewhere after a breakup to get over it is great. But Florida? Like...c'mon. Also "fuck me up Florida" made me cringe.
The line in "I Hate It Here" about racists...god, I have two minds about it. I don't think there was winning with that one, and I think people are going to tear her apart for it without taking it in context. Like when you take it in the bigger picture of the song, it makes sense. But when you take it in just the few lines...it feels a bit like it's trivializing the fact that literal slavery existed during that time? So yeah. I go back and forth...
And now a song ranking and my feelings about some of the songs:
Guilty As Sin? - This song has been in my head ever since I heard it. It's perfect, it's everything.
I Can Do It With a Broken Heart - This is giving DBATC (favorite taylor song) vibes and I am so in love. It destroyed me.
Who's Afraid of Little Old Me? - This is an ANTHEM. This will be screamed in the shower. This is so powerful.
But Daddy I Love Him - This was just so nostalgic. Like it gave Fearless Taylor and I loved it so much. Also the jumpscare fucking SHOOK me.
So Long, London - This was like a companion to You're Losing Me and god, it was amazingly hurtful.
loml - I just love slow, sad Taylor. and the twist at the end? ugh
I Hate It Here - Questionable line aside, this song was 15/10 relatable as a fanfic reader/writer
imgonnagetyouback - I feel like this will be a single.
The Prophecy - ouch
The Alchemy - Awww, so cute!
I Look In People's Windows
I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)
The Albatross
The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived - god she CAME for this man.
The Black Dog
Down Bad - I also feel like this will be a single
Fresh Out the Slammer
How Did It End?
My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys
TTPD
Cassandra - hahahaha whoops, we're coming for Kim again?
thanK you aIMee - and again? that line about her mom was AMAZING
So High School - adorable
Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus
Fortnight - she and Post Malone work so well together
The Bolter
The Manuscript
Peter
Robin
Clara Bow
Florida!!
What do you all think?
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jellybeanium124 · 2 months ago
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woke up and the "DON'T POINT OUT MY TYPOS IT'S UNSOLICITED CRITIQUE YOU'RE AN ASSHOLE IF YOU DO THIS!!" people found my "mentioning typos in comments okay?" poll. and it's fascinating to me how, to me at least, these people's comments seem pretty entitled and rude, and also act like they're the majority opinion when the poll is currently 70-30 split the other way. like ok a decent chunk of people agree with you, but the clear majority does not! and maybe that's just how I'm reading their responses, and the fact that I'm in the 70% who thinks it's fine, but to me there is a clear tone difference in the responses of people who said no and people who said yes. there's like, a level of humility and openness to collaboration in the responses of the people who said yes, and there's this staunch pridefulness to the answers of people who said no.
and like, I think that makes sense, really, when you think about it. saying yes requires 1 ounce of humility. it's basically saying "I'm not perfect, and I will make typos." it also requires genuine care for their work. they want their fic to be good and they recognize they might not make it as good as they could be on their own.
considering a typo unsolicited crit is something that requires such a big ego imo! one person said "If it's posted, it's because I am done working on fixing it" and another compared getting a comment about a typo between positive things to getting shit in a sandwich. multiple people said it would be like receiving a hand-made gift and immediately finding something to criticize. multiple people said it's like pretending to be their english teacher, which you're not. another person said "#leaving critique in a comment even if you loved it is going WOW i read this thing you wrote and decided to share and all i noticed was#that you misspelled this word and thats all that matters really!"
let me break this down one at a time.
I'm done with the fic: so if you caught the typo while rereading your fic you wouldn't edit it away? maybe you don't reread your own fics but like for the sake of argument if you did and you found a typo you wouldn't edit it because you're done with the fic?
being told about a typo is like being handed shit to eat? isn't that a bit dramatic? I even said in the poll that it was a polite comment, just to be totally clear about what I mean. idk how a polite comment could be telling you to eat shit.
well, unless a fic is literally gifted to me, it's not a hand-made gift for me. I don't see fics as hand-made gifts for my followers. like yes, on the one hand, I am making you entertainment for free, and I expect readers to understand that and understand how that makes it different than a published novel, but I don't write for my readers (in general), I write because it's what I want to see in the world. second, a hand-made gift is you're handing over is something that it's too late to fix. inherent in the premise of my poll is the fact that the fic is something hosted online, not printed in a zine, and therefore is editable and fixable. if you make your friend a scarf and fuck up one of the stitches, that's just gonna be how it is for all time, and your friend totally would be an asshole for immediately pointing that out. but fics online don't have to have typos forever. the commenter is trying to help you so you don't have a typo in there forever. other people pointed this out in the tags of my poll. one person mentioned being a comics writer and being glad that people caught typos before their comics went to print. ao3 is forever man. that's what an archive is for.
you are conferring a maliciousness onto english teachers that fascinates me. now, yes, some teachers can be malicious, but in general, they are not. english teachers didn't criticize your essays in school because they wanted to upset you (again, barring unique circumstances where your english teacher really was an asshole out to get you, idk your specific past), they were criticizing to help you become a better writer. now, yes, it is an english teacher's job to criticize the essays you handed in, and none of us random readers have the job of pointing out typos to you, but we're theoretically doing it for the same reason. to help. we just want to help your fic be the best it can.
the last comment really gets to the root of the problem, I think. that people who feel this way feel personally attacked by something as small as "hey you wrote helo instead of hello" or something. the people who feel this way take this stuff very seriously, and, like, idk man, I think maybe you should work on that? I've gotten actual mean comments on fics (and maybe they have too, again I don't know everything about your life). comments about how izzy is out of character or the moral I wrote is terrible and I'm probably being abused if I think this way or ed is a complete entitled asshole in this fic and expects izzy to apologize to him??? (if you know me and the our flag fandom you know that's not what happened) or "wow I hate the ship you wrote, but you did a good job with it though!" I've gotten others I've forgotten about because I deleted them because they were mean enough to make me cry. I'm a sensitive person, all things considered. if a mutual unfollows me and then shows up in my notes with the green "following" badge instead of the purple "mutual" badge I will feel like a piece of shit who must've done something really wrong and they hate me now when like... that's probably not the case. but my ego isn't as sensitive as all that that I can't handle a stranger telling me I made a typo.
these aren't all the arguments people made against politely pointing out typos. some people felt like the comment being there publicly forever is the bigger problem, and would be okay with a friend dm'ing them about it. but even that is like... why is the comment shameful? why is it a problem that it's there forever? why are you concerned that someone might read it and judge you for normal human error?
anyways yeah that's the post. I made a new one bc I'm not trying to pick a fight with anyone. I didn't mean to be mean in this post either. like if you don't want people pointing out typos to you that's fine. I just think it's kind of silly that you're demanding that the majority opinion should be the one who has to say "typo comments are ok" in the beginning notes, instead of you, the minority opinion, having to say "typo comments are not okay" in the beginning notes. because the majority is okay with polite typo comments.
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imwall-e · 8 months ago
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W&TWS || Doubts
Summary : He is a super-soldier of more than 100 year old, struggling to find a place in this new world. She is a young student of 23, struggling with life. But they know they can find comfort and help in each other.
Pairing : Bucky Barnes x Reader
Warnings : a bit of angst and anxiety, also fluff and always Bucky being the best
A/N : I am back to writing this fanfiction. It is more a journal to me, but it feels good to write like that and to share the story of Bucky and Willow. I hope you love it !
Series Masterlist
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May 10th 2021
The exams had started the week of her birthday. Willow had barely revised, but was still doing her best to answer the questions and write good essays. She had a feeling, however, that it wouldn't be enough, but she was at peace with that. After all, this degree no longer suited her. All she had to do was make a decision: try her luck at the catch-up exams (because yes, she would definitely have to go), or give up altogether.
Strangely enough, her reflections led her to William. They had only been dating a few months, and she had taken just as long to get over what he had done to her. The wound still hadn't completely healed. A new question came to mind: was it a good idea to start a relationship with Bucky?
True, they had only exchanged a kiss, but perhaps everything was still moving too fast? Perhaps she needed to take her time? She wrote down all her anxieties on the paper she'd used for drafts, and promised herself she'd tell Bucky about them the next time they called.
He had gone back to New York a few weeks earlier, and it was difficult for them to communicate. She knew that a long-distance relationship wouldn't work in the long term. Especially in two different time zones.
She didn't want to get too attached like in her previous relationships. But Bucky seemed so kind. So thoughtful. However, bad times in the past forced her to be wary of many things, and many people. Even Bucky.
The teacher supervising the exam indicated that there was still an hour to go before the end of the exam. She glanced at her paper: barely four pages... She sighed, gathered her things, handed in her paper and went home.
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The journey seemed long. Longer than usual. When she arrived, she was greeted only by her dog Dino. Her mother must still be at work. She took the opportunity to relax a little: take Dino for a walk, have something to eat, continue reading a book. Around 6pm, she took a shower and fell asleep a few minutes after getting into bed.
May 11th 2021
When she woke up, it was past midnight. The house was quiet. Her bedroom door was closed, probably by her mother who had preferred to let her sleep in. She reached for her phone and was blinded for several seconds by the brightness.
A few notifications from her group of friends told her that she wasn't the only one who had failed the exam. Dysariel's plan was holding up, which surprised none of them, after all he always got the best marks.
However, it was two other notifications that caught his attention. They were from Bucky:
Bucky Bear At 10.30pm: Hello Sunflower, I hope your day went well and that you managed to pass your mid-term. Give me your availability for tomorrow, I want to call you for your birthday. At 00:00: If my clock in New York is telling the right time for you, it's time for me to wish you a very happy birthday, my Sunflower. I haven't heard from you, so I assume you've fallen asleep. Thinking of you. PS: I also have a surprise for you that should arrive later today.   Sunflower At 00:15: Thank you, Bucky Bear! I'll be available from midday. I don't have any exams in the afternoon. Do I get a hint about my surprise? I'm thinking of you too. Bucky Bear  At 12:16am: Sorry, but if I tell you, it won't be a surprise! I've got to go to one last meeting. Go back to sleep, you need your rest. I can't wait to see you again.
His messages made her smile. He hadn't forgotten her birthday. He was going to surprise her. She had to concentrate on the positives. She wished she could go back to sleep now, but she knew she wouldn't be able to. So she grabbed her computer, plugged in her headphones and started watching videos. 
She was woken up by her seven o'clock alarm, just two hours after going back to sleep. She nearly fell asleep on the train journey to university. 
This morning she had an English grammar exam from nine to noon. However, she already knew that she would get out early because it was the subject she had mastered the most. Two or three exercises were more complicated and she could guess that she wouldn't get all the points. The most important thing was that she would at least pass the subject.
Zephyr, Dysariel, Axel and Ophélia went out more or less at the same time as her. They stayed another hour to eat together at one of the local fast-food restaurants. They talked about everything and anything. And Bucky.
"So," asked Dysariel, "how are things going with your handsome soldier?"
"Fine," replied Willow, blushing. I'm just a bit scared..."
"Of what?"
"That it's going too fast. Besides, the age difference is great, I mean he's over a century old."
They laughed together and all advised her the same thing: they were sure that what was between her and Bucky was special, but she had to take her time and think about her well-being.
Then came the time to go home. Zephyr went first, his parents being stricter about his going-out times. Then it was Ophélia's turn, as she had almost two hours by train to get home. Dysariel had things to do and wanted to revise for the hardest exam on Thursday: US history. Axel and Willow were the last to leave.
They had barely taken a few steps out of the main building when Axel remarked to Willow, "Look who's here." Indeed, Bucky was coming towards them, in a superb black suit. "I've got a train to catch and I think you deserve some time with him. Happy birthday again and see you on Thursday!" Before Willow could reply, Axel had already crossed the pedestrian crossing. When she turned her head towards Bucky, he was standing next to her, a bouquet of sunflowers in his hands.
"Happy birthday, Willow. I hope you don't mind that I came unannounced, I definitely wanted to surprise you." He looked tired but happy to see her again. As for her, she couldn't say a word because she was so surprised. She could only throw herself into his arms.
He held her close. Her long blonde hair smelt of monoi, the scent they both associated with summer. Bucky could already see himself taking her on holiday to the beach, or to New York to meet the people he considered to be his family.
Together they got into the car. "I was thinking we could go for lunch somewhere?" Bucky suggested.
"We've already eaten with the others. Maybe tonight?"
"Yes, of course. Say, I've booked a hotel room for the week, at the park where we spent our first date. We can also spend the day there tomorrow. Are you interested?
"Why not."
Bucky noticed that Willow didn't seem as cheerful as usual. He gently stopped the car at the side of the road, and turned to her, "Is everything all right?" Worry showed on his face and Willow couldn't help crying. There was the stress of the exams, the happiness of seeing Bucky again, the fears that were interfering with her thoughts.
So she told him about all the doubts she had about their relationship. She apologised several times. Bucky took her face in his hands: "Willow, look at me. It's all right, I'm not angry with you. Unless you never want to see me again, we'll take our time. We'll go at your pace. I promise you that. Now, I just want to know if we spend the afternoon and tomorrow together, or if I drop you off at your place?"
"I think I'm scared because of what happened with my old boyfriends."
"Willow, you don't have to tell me about it. Only do it if you want to or if you're ready."
"I am."
"Then we'll talk about it, but let me take you out for dessert. I know when you get really anxious and it calms down, you get hungry right after."
The fact that he remembered little details like this warmed her heart, and a big smile lit up her face. Bucky started the car again, one hand resting on Willow's thigh. Willow put her hand on his. She was already feeling a little lighter.
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I hope you love this chapter, I'm writing the next one ! Do not hesitate to like, comment and reblog if you feel comfortable to do so !
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sillysnaildraws · 2 months ago
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(Well that one post certainly got my attention..)
So... mcsm ask! Do you have a favorite dynamic between two characters(or more) in the game?
Also, I love your art! It's so pretty and sparkly
Mwah ha ha! My genius plan worked! >:3
Thank you for the compliment!
Favourite dynamics? Ooh, you know I'm gonna ramble! I might end up talking about all my favourite ships and friendships!
First up, gotta talk about the friendship between Lukas and Radar, like oh my god. It's so cute and supportive. Like, nervous wreck and one who keeps him calm and rational? Yes, love it. Also, that scene in the background where he is teaching Radar how to fight is so adorable! Such a wholesome friendship, I'm dying.
Now, one of my favourite ships that I don't really see much of unfortunately, Admin Shipping (Fred x Romeo x Xara). Like, in the best circumstances, it is so cute! I kinda see it as Caregiver/Soft x Gremlin x Serious Girlboss. Though Xara and Romeo are bit mentally fucked up, especially with the backstories I give them which I have wrote an AO3 fic about, and the two bounce off each others moods, both positive and negative which can lead to arguments between them, Fred is always there to calm them down. I feel like Xara and Romeo are really bad with saying "I'm sorry", while on the other hand Fred apologises too much, Romeo and Xara found a different way to show apology: cuddling! When the two are in a bad mood, they don't really wanna be touched so cuddling each other after an argument is their way of saying "I'm sorry, we're good now." Ogh, I could talk about them all day but I need to move on to the next dynamic before I get too silly and write a whole essay on them.
Right, ok. Another friendship I like is Xara and Jesse. It might sound a bit weird but hear me out, think of it as like doing all the best interactions with her. Jesse helps her to trust again, after being betrayed by one of the people she loved and I love that. Especially with how they would take care of her. Xara would probably try and help Jesse and their friends when the spiders show up but Jesse would just give her the bed and tell her "Go to bed right now. You've done enough, ok?" I feel like this would catch her off guard because she's not used to people caring for her. Though it also would work vise versa, with Xara protecting Jesse from monsters throughout their time together. I could also see Jesse helping her rebuild the Oasis post season two!
Ooh, I also like the dynamic between Petra and Jack! In my head, it screams Father Daughter relationship! The way Petra looks up to Jack is so adorable, like just seeing hop around in excitement upon meeting him, ogh my heart! And the way Jack takes care of her too, alongside not wanting to disappoint her when he felt scared being in the place that killed his other friends.
God, I love the block characters!
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variousqueerthings · 1 year ago
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wrote a big long text about people saying things about fix being a woman and passepartout being black in the dtennant around the world in 80 days as "forced diversity" or "straightening out a previously gay-if-you-squint white dude ship from the original text" or "inherently less interesting than the original dynamics" as... well, yes racist and misogynist, but differently racist and misogynist to people who throw around "woke" as a derogatory, and more racist and misogynist as in someone would gasp and be offended at the accusation and it's just personal taste, but mainly it's not understanding how a lack of actual curiosity and analysis in why choices are done makes you (perhaps accidentally) have low-or-highkey biased opinions especially when it comes to race, but also often often when it comes to women.
because why is your lack of curiosity manifesting like this, for these two specifically? and does that happen often enough for it to be a pattern? does it just happen to be that white men are more interesting in texts for some reason over and over again?
and how it reminds me of the way lucy liu was treated when she was cast as watson (forced diversity, "straightening" the watson-holmes ship, nothing interesting could possibly happen here, it's just my personal opinion).
anyway I have not posted that big long text, because it was quite big and long and honestly at this point people oughta pay me for my essays or at least tell me to log off tumblr sometimes. I'm right though.
the thing of course is that fix in the new iteration is partially inspired by nellie bly -- the first person to actually circumnavigate the globe post-reading-the-book (in 72 days no-less), and that passepartout gets to have an insiders opinion on what it means to be a non-privileged person moving through a series of british colonies + america in the late 19th century. it's... you know. it's a good choice. it's actively interacting with the text. it's an adaptation. that's what adaptations do.
I think btw that "forced diversity" has long been the more acceptable way of saying "woke" in a derogatory way. both of them give the speaker the apparent right to not investigate or have curiosity about the text, but the first has got that air of a disclaimer about it, which you're not really expected to poke at. a certain veneer of respectable opinion
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poppypickle · 6 months ago
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Half-Finished Fic Fest
Back with more old fic. I think I wrote this around 2012, probably as a fill for this prompt during a Gossip Girl promptathon:
No, no, I think it's more like a ghost That's been following us both Something vague that we're not seeing Something more like a feeling
I think I never posted because I felt like others had already done post-canon Dair reunions more justice. But begone, self-doubt!
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There's a dream in my brain that just won't go away Dan/Blair  1162 words
Blair tells herself she's happy. Because happy is what happens when your dreams come true, right? When you get everything you ever wanted? Yes, of course she is happy.
She does not think about what ifs — does not imagine any other path but the one she has chosen. No Frost-ian ruminations about roads less traveled for her (no poetry whatsoever, in fact). Because what would be the point? She has finally (finally) won Chuck's heart, and Blair is blissfully, perfectly happy thankyouverymuch.
It's just… Maybe she expected the happiness to feel a little bit different. To be less heavy.
But it does not do to dwell, so Blair clutches the sparkling diamond ring around her neck until it leaves angry red imprints on her palm, and reminds herself that she is very, very happy.
***
Dan tells himself he's over her. He dabbles in revenge for a little while, writing nasty tell-all essays about everyone in his life and hoping they will fill the aching hole inside of him where her pithy insults about his hair used to be. He lets it all drain out of him like a thick, infected puss until he wakes up one morning and discovers there's nothing left but a nasty scar. And suddenly, he is sad instead of angry.
So Dan throws himself into new pursuits — he re-enrolls at NYU, gets another internship, dates as many tall blondes and redheads as his schedule allows. He rents a new apartment and does his best not to feel sentimental when he finds three of her DVDs and a pot of La Mer face cream tucked away in the bedside table he's cleaning out.
Tossing everything into the garbage with a purposefully casual flick, Dan thinks of Blair only in the abstract. They were together until they weren't. It was wonderful until it wasn't. Until she decided it wasn't.
Whatever, he's over it.
***
It's five years later when they see each other again, at a Saturday Film Forum matinee, of all places. Blair hears herself calling out his name before she can stop herself, and when Dan turns around he looks so perfectly like himself (messy hair, a knowing half smile pulling at his lips) that it nearly takes her breath away.
It takes four long strides for him to reach her, and just like that Dan Humphrey is standing in front of her again, two steaming cups of coffee clasped in his hands. For a split second, Blair imagines that they are 22 again and that one of those cups is for her. She flicks the thought away with a sharp intake of breath.
"Blair," Dan says finally, and it comes out far gentler than she expects. "Are you here to see Rebecca?"
"Of course," she says, fidgeting idly with the edges of her skirt. She forces her fingers to still against her thighs. "It's a classic."
"Hitchcock's best, some might say."
"Some might say. Not me."
Dan smiles in spite of himself. "North by Northwest is still your favorite I assume?"
Blair cocks her head to the side. "And you preferred –"
"Vertigo," he nods.
She smirks in spite of herself. "You always did have a weakness for blondes."
"A long time ago," he acknowledges.
"How have you been?" she asks, and it seems like such a silly thing to say that she finds a blush creeping up her cheeks. But Dan just tilts his head to the side and smiles.
"I'm good," he says simply. "How are you? How's work? Chuck?"
"Work is wonderful, busier than ever," Blair smiles. “And Chuck is…Somewhere in Europe right now, I think. It didn't work out."
Dan's eyes crinkle. "I'm sorry. I didn't know."
She shrugs it off with a wave of her hand. "It's fine."
They hold each other’s gaze for a moment before Dan murmurs, “I only ever wanted you to be happy, you know…”
It’s such a Dan Humphrey thing to say. A shade too earnest. A little wounded. Perfectly sincere.
Blair feels a lump rise in her throat. She opens her mouth to reply, but just then a petite woman with an auburn bob slides up next to Dan with two matching striped bags of popcorn in her hands.
“The line was so long. I hope all the good seats aren’t taken.”
Dan seems to startle ever-so-slightly before remembering himself and sliding his eyes away from Blair to smile down at the other woman. He fumbles with the coffee cups in his hands, passing one to her as he takes one of the bags of popcorn in between his long fingers. 
"Blair, this is Tess. Tess, Blair. Blair and I…went to high school and college together."
Blair’s eyebrows lift before she can stop them, but she quickly schools her face into something more neutral. “Nice to meet you.”
"Are you seeing the movie?” Tess asks, her smile wide and bright. “I'm a Hitchcock virgin."
Blair purses her lips, an insult on the tip of her tongue before she catches Dan's knowing smirk and stops herself. "Well you'll love Rebecca. It's the only one of his movies that ever won Best Picture.”
"That's what Dan was saying."
"Go grab us some seats and I’ll be right in,” Dan says, and Blair tries not to notice the way he puts his hand against the small of Tess’ back before she walks away.
“Girlfriend?” Blair asks after a moment, when it’s just the two of them again.
“Not yet.” Then, “It’s new.”
“But it could be something?” she presses, unable to stop herself.
“Lots of things could be something,” Dan says vaguely, scuffing the toe of his shoe against the floor. Then he lifts his chin to look her right in the eyes. “If you get the timing right.”
They stare at each other for a few long moments before Blair finally says, “It was good to see you.”
Dan looks like he wants to say something else, but then he seems to think better of it. “Yeah, you too,” he says, then turns toward the theater doors.
Blair rocks back and forth on her kitten heels, staring at Dan’s back as he walks away. When he opens the doors and starts to disappear inside, she hears Joan Fontaine utter that haunting first line.
Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.
Blair sucks in a sharp breath and turns away from the theater. She’s not in the mood for a movie after all. 
***
Four hours and two glasses of wine later, Blair texts him, her fingers trembling over her phone. Maybe he doesn’t even have the same number.
Funny thing, I wasn’t happy.
Dan’s reply comes almost immediately.
Funny thing, I thought I was over you.
Blair bites the inside of her cheek, her heart racing as her fingers hover over the phone keyboard. Then:
Maybe we could get the timing right this time.
Maybe we could.
Want to get coffee tomorrow, Waldorf?
I thought you’d never ask, Humphrey.
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aimzicr · 1 year ago
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Okay I saw Last Voyage of the Demeter! I have thoughts. As someone who spent three years essaying about Dracula, as a fan and student of literature-to-film adaptations/transformations, and just as a reader and listener of Daily Dracula and Re: Dracula, I have thoughts. Mild spoilers below the cut, but nothing that would ruin the experience completely if you haven't seen/can't see it.
But please be aware: Dracula DOES go about in his Lizard Fashion™.
I wasn't expecting a one-to-one transformation of the Demeter's Log to make it on screen. After all, the story of men being silently hunted until all are dead makes for a great dread-inducing setpiece for Stoker's novel, but not so much for a standalone film. I did enjoy seeing how the story took the 'based on' as far as they could before they started stretching it.
I did have a quiet laugh as the first title-card almost seemed to suggest this was REAL and TRUE EVENTS for a second. Way to get me engaged and reference the epistolary nature of the original novel.
But yes, the story does get turned into a bit of a Last Girl Horror Movie, because they see and know there's something wrong and they're actively fighting against it, even as they get picked off one by one. An interesting take, a pretty damn good method of turning a bleak setpiece into a proper standalone story.
Dot points to follow, before I forget:
The opening with the wagons moving through the countryside was breathtakingly beautiful
(I couldn't help but think 'oh they're wearing the same hats my good friend Jonathan Harker wrote about')
The captain's log being read aloud, word for word, in quieter moments was very very good. (And, of course, by this point I know it word-for-word, so picking up on the small tweaks was quite a delight).
I enjoyed hearing the familiar names as we're introduced to the crew.
The captain's decision to retire and pass the ship on does make me reconsider the mate's stoic nature in the story as a man dedicated to his duty, rather than just an antisocial asshole. Always nice to consider things from a new angle.
Chekov's Black Dog (kind of a missed opportunity to not show Dracula using a mockery of Huck to escape, but this wasn't a one-to-one transformation of texts as I said; also no reference to a black dog being an omen of death? Missed opportunity.)
Dracula being the only one on the ship being allowed to eat meat, just a glimpse of his hypocrisy and tyranny
(Though I'm not a huge fan of modern vampires being depicted as messy eaters, Netflix's Castlevania etc: just DRINK THE BLOOD stop biting people and letting them BLEED EVERYWHERE, did your mother not teach you dining etiquette???)
"Can this disease be passed to people?" "No. Not without a bite" very cute.
The initial reveal of the face in the spyglass FUCK that was terrifying.
Considering inwardly 'why he look like that? We know he was an aristocrat when he left his castle -- wait, hang on, is this what happens when vampires get seasick? When they cross running water? They stop wearing clothes and go feral?' before I turned off my brain and stopped thinking about Seasick Naked Count Dracula
They really did need to add this new character, because the audience and the crew both needed the context and information. Otherwise, how could the crew fight back? RIP to canon, I guess, (but look at it this way: once Mina starts putting all the letters together, she gives Hellsing and the others the necessary information to kill Dracula, so... not too much of a reach?)
But Dracula, sir, bringing along a snack for the road and it ISN'T our friend Jonathan Harker?
The subtle reveal-and-conceal in the early parts of the voyage of Dracula's face and form was well done and genuinely terrifying. Just the parts where you look away for just a second and he's gone? Fuck.
"No, please! D:" "No, please~ :3"
HE'S GOING ABOUT IN HIS LIZARD FASHION AGAIN. THAT BOY AIN'T RIGHT.
Knock Knock. Who's there? Not your friend, that's for sure. (Dracula stealing this is Fucked Up, in the best way. He takes EVERYTHING from you! :) )
Vampirism as possession is an excellent way to recontextualise its parasitic history/links
Where's that tumblr post about how you can tell what a good horror film is? 'This movie's great, a kid DIES in it!'
Seeing the cloth move a second before the captain says 'I saw him move' but doubting myself. I didn't see that, right? It was just the wind. Right?
Oh. It wasn't the wind.
Men of Strength overpowered, Men of Faith made to doubt, Men of Reason rattled by answers that make no sense, and the Innocent hunted down. Dracula as a force of Pure Terror that tests one's character (and then eats, because he's a boyar and he dines on the cattle of his choosing)
Did he just slam this guy down so hard his BRAIN popped out of his skull, holy shit
'In my country, there's no-one else for him to feed on' what, do people go stale after a few bites? Dracula's a picky eater?
'He's rationing' puts the journey into even greater context. A chilling sentence in the film and in the broader understanding of the Demeter's place in the novel.
a Cool Plan to Survive The Monster is very action-movie, but I knew it wouldn't work (sorry, sometimes the spoilers/pre-knowledge ruin things)
'This is my home.' Augh. 'I'll do it.' AUGH.
The slow creeping fog rising up (like hands? like an embrace?) in the final hours was CHEF'S KISS. Beautiful effect
(Also loved the effect of the wind from His Wings displacing the fog, too. Even if you don't see him, you can see where he's been)
"What's going on?" "He knows." Oh. Well. Fuck.
The Last Voyage of the Demeter isn't told from the Captain's perspective, so much of the man's nobility and sacrifice in the name of duty is lost (even to the point that his iconic death pose is capital-m Mocked by The Dracula (almost like the old BAsTard was like 'I know you've read Stoker's book but I'm here to fuck with you, dear audience'). The Captain isn't the Final Girl in this horror movie, but they do give him a proper end as far as the film goes, even if he does get a lot more rattled and shaken than his log might suggest
There's also a sense of blurred intertextuality in vampire lore here, because they drew heavily on the Hammer Films/Buffy The Vampire Slayer context of 'vampires burning in sunlight'. Not truly Stoker's Dracula...
... then again, Dracula has a very particular Design, and is credited in the crawl as 'Dracula/Nosferatu'. He was for sure Count Orlock, rather than Dracula.
Knock Knock. I'm here watching you :3
That brief touch from Dracula as he leaves the bar was - fuck, it was a split second to make a poor man flinch, but in that brief touch was the playful terror of a tyrant: I own you, I don't fear you, you can't stop me, I control you. Nothing you said to me on the Demeter had any effect on me and you are just meat. Ta ta, darling~
The movie ending with a new survivor, the potential for a new vampire hunter, was very good. Instead of the Log of the Demeter ending in bleak despair and all hands lost, instead we have a man galvanised and ready to fight against evil, even if he has to do it alone.
Music kicked ass. Very raw, very primal, very Gothic Victoriana
Lots of fun! It felt a little like they were setting up for an Extended Dracula Universe (I hope I'm misinterpreting) but I did like how Getting To Live after a traumatic experience leads to 'Fuck this guy, he's not getting away with this in the future'. Like I said before, we wanted the monster back so we could kill it, so I appreciate that's the vibe they went with for LVotD. A little bleak? Sure. But the fact that people are willing to keep fighting, even in the direst circumstances with the odds against them? That's what we need. That's what it's all about.
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bios-hzrd · 10 months ago
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I wrote this script for a video essay, but I'm worried that it sucks and frankly I have other shit to work on, so I'm gonna dump it here and maybe come back to it later if anybody thinks its actually worth being made into a video.
Flow, Speed’s Complement
Flow is your ability to play the game at an uninterrupted pace. If you touch an enemy, do you get back up and keep running, warp to the last checkpoint, or do you die, watch a small death cutscene, and get warped to the last checkpoint. This will be a breakdown/analysis thingamabob of points where the game intentionally breaks the flow for various reasons.
I’ve split flow breaks into two major types: extrinsic and intrinsic. It’s important to note that flow breaks are not something to hunt down and exterminate in the goal of making the perfect speed game. They are useful tools, but if you aren’t careful they get incredibly frustrating
Extrinsic flow breaks usually come into action when the player slips. They’re factors outside of the core gameplay loop that serve as punishments for failure such as getting knocked back when you get hit and dying when that happens too many times. 
They usually punish the player by wrenching control away and sending them back a bit. Sending the player back is usually considered a necessary evil, as while it does feel bad through cutting into the player's progression and harming the flow, it forces the player to redo and practice a section to prove their mastery which will make the game more fun in the long run. Most games design themselves around the player beating the level once, and as such want to make sure the player has done it properly by the end.
I find it pertinent to note however that other games like to design themselves around beating the game again to prove your mastery. Pizza Tower and Ultrakill come to mind. Both of these games have a ranking system, and are clearly designed around the player returning to their levels once they have beaten the game to get the best rank. As such PIzza Tower and Ultrakill are more lenient with allowing the player to stumble their way through a level. Pizza Tower even makes the player immortal for most of the game. This goes a long way to making these games both exhilarating unbroken thrill rides for the people who play through it once, and tough as nails tests of personal mastery for those who go back for a second round. The first run maximizes flow, while the second ramps up the challenge.
Getting back on topic, taking control away from the player on the other hand, is something that should generally be cut out as much as possible. In ye olden days, you die, and you have to wait for an entire animation to play, then you get warped back to the last checkpoint. That kind of waiting builds up and gets on the players nerves. Ultrakill pulls up this screen when you die. The great thing is, that the second it appears you can press the shoot button, you know, that thing your finger is already on, to immediately load state back to the last checkpoint. It’s fast, snappy, and intuitive. No waiting, no menuing, just get back in the game. If the player not being able to play isn’t a mechanic of your game, make them able to play as fast as you can.
Getting knocked back was originally used because games wanted to give enemies a sense of collision, discourage damage boosting, and clearly signify to the player that they’ve gotten hit, but you’ll want to consider if that’s something your game actually needs. For example, how lenient is your health system? Cuphead gives the player three hits per level, and that number only goes down. The player is already avoiding damage at all costs and knockback is unnecessary. In Pizza Tower you regularly break the sound barrier, knockback is an obvious signifier that the player has gotten hit, and a significant enough punishment on its own in a game about going fast that the game gives the player infinite HP. You’ll have to apply your own judgment.
You want to put consideration on what conditions trigger your extrinsic flow breaks. Putting some slack on the line allows the player to not be perfect, and still have an experience that flows well. Health, checkpoints, and lives are very common leniency systems that allow the player to screw up a few times before they get sent back. Personally, I love to play games that maximize flow to let you play fast and loose. Crash into shit, get up, and keep running. Precision platformers are not my jam. As such when health is implemented into games, I’ve usually preferred it when it is viewed as a resource to be managed, not an ever looming axe pendulum telling you to cut the pace and be careful.
Meta Knightmare has a fun example. The game is a rerun of the main campaign, except now you’re in speedrun mode. The games put a timer on your head and you need to bolt to the finish. When you kill enemies, you get MP or meta points. When you need to heal, you have two choices. You can either deviate from the main path a bit to grab a health pickup, still moving at the same speed but dropping your time, or burn some Meta Points, saving time but losing a resource that could be used on other stuff. It integrates itself into the systems in a fun and unique way.
I mentioned lives too though. They’re essentially a cap on the number of times you’re allowed to be sent back to the checkpoint before the game boots you out of the level to try again. As a mechanic they allow the player a few deaths, create tension when they’re low, and force the player to redo things they haven't mastered. Lives are most associated with the traditional Mario system, which I’m not especially fond of. Allowing the player to just stockpile the things over the course of the game gives a lot of inconsistency to when the player will be punished for repeated mistakes. At the final boss players could either have a thousand lives or two. The player can either stumble their way through tripping on every step, or smash their head into the wall until it breaks. I like Splatoons system much more, where the player is given 3 lives per level. It gives the lives system some proper consistency and lets its strengths shine.
Intrinsic flow breaks are mostly addressed in the speed games that I’m so fond of. The main idea in these games is keep going, keep going, never stop, and intrinsic flow breaks exist to give the player something to minimize through their gameplay.
For a simple example, In Gravity Circuit enemies are everywhere, and kinda gotta kill anyone in front of you. To do that you can either punch them a few times, or you can throw a dead guy at them. Punches slow you down, as you have to sorta stand there as they die, sometimes dancing around their attacks. The basic idea is that after a few fistings the enemy gets exhausted and you can pick them up and fucking yeet at the next guy, then pick that guy up and do it all over again. Throwing opponents is seamless and gives the game a nice flow.
You try to keep the chuck train rolling to avoid that intrinsic flow break of beating a man to death with your bare hands as much as you can. You have to sometimes, but do it as little as possible.
Now for the subtleties, I’ve found two factors you want to avoid: Stops and Slows. Stops are interrupts that make you physically stop in place. Gravity Circuits punches are a stop, so is Peppinos shotgun in Pizza Tower. It can be brief or a bit drawn out. Point is it kills your momentum. Slows are when you have to slow down, either you physically move slower, or you take a route that gets you to the place you want to be slower. For example earlier when I mentioned Meta Knight taking a slight detour to grab food, that was a slow. 
You press a button to throw a bomb, hold it and you charge up a bomb blast. This blast launches you forwards into the air, and you move faster. You can use a double jump to remain in the air, but once you land you’ll slow down to normal speed again. Interestingly, when you throw a bomb in the air, if you try to charge another blast, you’ll brake and lose all horizontal momentum, then fall to the ground. Midair bombs are a stop, landing and starting the blast charge on the ground is a slow. It’s preferable to land than brake. However your decision making is decided by your need to land. If you try to charge a blast in midair, you will land before you have a charge. You need to find safe spots, which drives your choices. You blast forwards, and you need to recognize whether you want to keep flying and let yourself land where you will,  or stop and take the immediate safe ground. Take the risky slow or the safe stop. All of this to avoid the extrinsic flow break of getting hit. These actually tie together quite nicely, as you can charge up a bomb blast while getting knocked back. You still don’t want to get hit, but if you do you can smoothly re-enter the game's flow state.
There's no defined way that it should be done. Games just come up with their own ways to implement them into their gameplay loop, by making the game about trying to optimize their usage. In Downwell you rack up combos by jumping on the heads of enemies. To do this you can press shift to fall more slowly, but you slow down by shooting bullets out of your boots, and the more you shoot unnecessarily, the more likely you kill the enemies and prevent yourself from landing on them.
Further, downwell has a multiplier mechanic called Gem High, where any gems you collect from bouncing on enemies are multiplied for a limited time, so you need to bounce on as many enemies as you can, as fast as you can. Timers work well with getting the player to cut down on slows.
Pizza Towers Gustavo and Brick brings in a very intriguing example of letting the player cancel a move that has an intrinsic flow break at the end of it by using level gimmicks. The double jump has the player crash into the ground, which stuns them for a bit, but there are these mushroom trampolines that cancel the animation.
Once again I don’t really have any clear cut standards to explain, just fascinating examples to potentially take inspiration from. Flow breaks are a very engaging element that help the player appreciate the flow state even more. Extrinsic ones exist to strongarm the player into playing the game properly, while intrinsic ones give games with a constant flow an interesting mechanic to play around. If there's any unmentioned games that you feel play around with or challenge these principles feel free to share.
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halfmoth-halfman · 1 year ago
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I want to start off by saying I’m so happy you’re back! Hope your brain got the rest it needed before it reigns terror on us. Last chapter was fantastic! There’s too much for me to write down and analyze so i’m just doing my fav moments (i’m still writing a damn essay on this series after it’s done). Btw I wrote this in my notes at 4 am so very mush brained incoherent.
I loved seeing Canary’s quick wit make it’s appearance again when she stood up to Adler, he gave her tools but no instruction manual just said “figure it out” and him blaming her for his failure just shows he’s only her donor, not her father in my book,I can just imagine her mom whooping his ass after he died, “you did what to my baby!?”. Her biting back was like the first step to justice for herself because she’s coming back stronger than ever, she’s healing. Yes queen, use that tongue of steel (one of my mom’s saying, “we don’t have silver tongues, we have tongues of steel bc we spark when we speak and slice when we need to”).
Canary is finally finding her fighting spirit again and I can’t wait for her to rain some brimstone on her enemies, or just be comfortable in herself and know she regained her autonomy. Finally Price in jail made me laugh because all I could see was Canary in the “I lived bitch” meme.
As always you’re one of my favorite authors and will forever have me running to your blog when I get your alerts- 🔥
i'm happy you're happy, but you're like the third person to say they're happy i'm back and i??? never left??? did i get shadowbanned for criticizing staff LMAO
anon pls know i already love the asks you send me and i will cry if you write an essay on this series
canary def got her wit and quick comebacks from adler, it was kind of a necessity given how he raised her and what he was raising her to be. you're so right, he gave her the tools but never told her what to do with them. he expected her to be smart enough to know how to use them, but she didn't have the same life experiences he did so of course she wouldn't do things exactly how he wanted. and i think his blame for her stems from a disappointment and anger toward himself because deep down i think he knows the responsibility of her failures fall back on him. and canary's at the point now where she's not afraid to tell him that.
i can say that canary's mom will only be mentioned once or twice more, so this isn't really a spoiler. adler is very much the way he is/was with canary because of her mother's death. had she lived, this would've been a very, very different story because i think of adler and his wife's relationship much like price and canary's (though maybe a bit more possessive on adler's end). adler would've (and did) move mountains and burn down empires for his wife. she was his entire life, and he would've left everything behind and started living a mob free life if she asked him to. i headcanon that if she lived, canary's mother would've wanted adler to step down and settle somewhere peaceful and quiet and away from the blood and chaos. and i think adler would've done it in a heartbeat.
her mother would've been much more hands on and open with canary, but adler would've been like those dads that don't talk much and are kind of awkward with their kids but still love them very much. he'd still run his gang, but from afar with not as much input and leaving the big decisions to someone he trusted. canary would've grown up with a much more solid family dynamic, growing into a confident and proud woman, and (in my own little headcanon) would've met price at a gala hosted by one of her adler's friends and they'd have a series of casual flings before getting serious and eventually married.
canary's finally decided enough is enough and she's so ready to get her revenge and begin to heal from everything she's gone through and i love that for her honestly.
asdlaksdlkj i just imagine like gaz playing into canary's not-death just like-
gaz: this year, i lost my dear, sweet canary
canary: quit telling everyone i'm dead! >:(
gaz: sometimes, i can still hear her voice
or he'd just send a blurry bigfoot-style picture of her to price with a text that's like "manor's haunted"
thank you so much babes, please know i always appreciate your asks and i hope you have a wonderful day!! 💜
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royallygray · 5 months ago
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Psst Royal
Do you wanna rant about anymore soul horizon lore? I would like to hear about soul horizon lore if you wanna ramble :D
Also would you like to read the essay I wrote about llkau Pearl's psychological truama and manipulation from her mother?
yes I am always down to rant about soul horizon lore. also YES I WANT PEARLS PSYCHOLOGICAL TRAUMA HEHEHEHEHEHEH
Anyways hello. I am normal sized again wow.
Okay so personally--FUCK I HAVE A MEGA STUPID ASSIGNMENT IM GONNA NEED TO DEAL WITH THAT IN SOME AMOUNT OF TIME--i have recently been obsessed with soul horizon divorcée quartet.
THEYRE. SO FUCKING SPECIAL TO ME. BECAUSE THEYRE LOSERS
OMG OMG I NEED TO EXPLAIN THE EEP
WE DONT CARE ABOUT THE EEP WE CARE ABOUT SCOTT AND CLEO AND PEARL AND MARTYN
Scott and Cleo are canonically married. why did I do this, you may ask? tax benefits. and they were living with each other anyways. and also idk how marriage licenses work but it makes the pay a whole lot like even-er because Scott's a doctor and Cleo's a teacher
Well they're a college professor. idk how much more college professors get paid and I am too lazy to google it
hold on actually
ok so according to the first results: 96k to 300k per year which makes the second result so fucking sad like. the second result is 30k-97k a year. like. rip
compared to high school teachers: 45k-100k per year. Jesus Christ. and then the second result is 38k-46k.
rip teachers honestly
AYY SCOTT IS LOADED. I THINK. I DON'T KNOW HOW MUCH SHIT COSTS I HAVE NO LIFE EXPERIENCE I AM A BLOB FLOATING IN THE WIND DESPERATELY CLINGING TO LIFE
330k-630k. Yahoo. scott has it good. he's a surgeon because... I said so. he's like a surgeon but also a doctor. I think. mostly a surgeon tho but I am going to call him a doctor for the rest of this because in my mind he wears the coats. like a lab person. with cyan hair
SO. WHERE DO WE ACTUALLY BEGIN WITH THE LORE.
Well. It starts in elementary school. I... don't actually have lore for Cleo and Scott for this part but I do for Pearl and Martyn! So Pearl and Martyn are the same age, and they went to Evolution Elementary and Middle. They're in the same building. People just call it Evo
Also Jimmy barely made it through that school bc the year after he graduated it got shut down bc it was hosting cult activities. hmmm. weird
All the Evo gang went to Evo Elementary. shocker. And Lizzie.
And then they graduated, and they went to Hermit High Academy. Which I love. All the Hermits are there, except for Joel and Skizz (THEY WEREN'T HERMITS WHEN THIS STARTED AND ID ALREADY DONE THIS BACKSTORY), Cleo (she was at EEP), Gem, and Scar.
Also EEP stands for Empires Education Program. I love the EEP. All Empires people went there.
The two significant years-
hold on hold on hold on. okay. so.
Year order. we need this
also my sibling once told me that I text like someone with ADHD and I cannot help but feel like that's relevant here.
hello it is now a completely different day and place (I'm at the kitchen table and it is midnight)
(It has been thirty minutes I'm in my bed again and I am going to fall asleep. I need to take my meds. I have now taken my meds. now if I wanted to I could just fall asleep. I'm gonna keep talking here.)
In the Empires Education Program (which is referred to by people who want to mock it and also the attendees of it as the eep. Others say Empires or E E P (separated letters)) there are two years of people attending that we care about.
Everyone that was in Empires or SOS, minus False, Pearl, Jimmy, and Gem is part of the EEP.
The secondary year we care about (the grade below) has Oli, Owen, Mog, Eloise, and a few others unnamed (prolly from Witchcraft) because I refuse to make this class smaller than Magic School Bus's.
Everyone (minus Pearl, Jimmy, and Gem) in Empires S1 is in the first year of EEP. The second year has everyone else (minus False) that was in Empires S2 and SOS.
The primary year we care about (the most plot relevant people are here) has Scott, Cleo, Lizzie, Joel, Shelby, Katherine, fWhip, Pix, Sausage, and Joey. You might notice that Cleo is in here, and they are not part of this group. Cleo is in here because I said so. Also I needed a place for her to be besties with Scott. And Cleo would be a great addition to this crew, just saying.
... genuinely it is a completely different day and I am in a separate building and I have no idea what my ultimatum here was
Anyways. Martyn is a vigilante, Pearl's a villain, Scott's a doctor, and Cleo's a professor.
The funny thing that I'm absolutely in love with is how they semi get along. but mostly don't.
see. Scott and Pearl had that whole scene where Pearl literally ran out of magic and started ripping it out of Scott's soul. Magic is part of your soul, so it comes from a similar place as your soulbond.
And so Scott and Pearl have a well justified rivalry. And also after they broke the soulbond -- OH I JUST REMEMBERED THE REALLY FUNNY SHIT -- they both became Worthy, Scott significantly earlier than Pearl.
I still gotta explain the Worthy thing dammit
Anyways the really funny shit is that normally, when you reject your soulbond, you essentially function exactly the same as a person without a soulbond except you've got a weird tattoo, and you will die at the same moment that they do.
EXCEPT the divorce quartet are part of the Eighteen (which irl are just the life series members), and this means that the rejection doesn't work. It works at first, and Pearl and Scott have silent minds for the first time ever, and then they hear the slight whisper of the other one's voice and just. they're suffering.
It's funny as fuck, imo, because I'm the sadist author that makes the characters suffer. hehe
essentially, the telepathy hurts more after they rejected it than before. And also they also have the normal consequence of "if the one dies, then the other one dies too" which normal soulmates don't have.
But because of the rejection not working, the four of them realized that they're Winners. And they all figure out that they're Winners because Pearl believes that Mortality mythology (aka life series canon events) is real.
And Martyn was like "hah Pearl you're crazy"
and Pearl straight up goes "Jimmy's the Canary"
and the three of them stare at Pearl
because EVERYONE has heard the legend of the canary. It doesn't fucking matter who you are.
And Cleo's straight up like "holy shit"
And Scott knew the entire time bc he shares a brain with Pearl except he semi didn't believe it but he knew that Pearl believed it
But now they figure out that Scott is the Stars (2nd winner), Pearl is the Moon (3rd winner), Martyn is Mars/water/The Tower (4th winner), and Cleo is Pluto/fire/Death (6th winner).
And then perhaps Grian just walks out of the house and is like what're y'all talking about.
And then Pearl just stares at him. because she remembers what his soulmark is.
It's the sun and the earth. which is the missing duo of winners.
and Pearl is like. Grian. You're a winner.
and Grian's like "wtf are you on"
"like of mortality mythology"
"wat"
Scott: so is he the sun or the earth
Pearl: probably the sun. have you seen that face
Grian: wtf
Martyn: welcome to divorce club, Grian
Pearl: Martyn stfu
Martyn: yeah I'm scared of you so I will actually do that
Also Martyn and Pearl are besties
also I gotta write the scene where they divorce bc it's actually rly cute. not like Scott&Pearl and Martyn&Cleo but like. Scott and Martyn are cute. And Pearl and Cleo are cute. And Cleo and Scott<3 and Martyn and Pearl are like besties. so.
yeah
they. them. they're the perfect combination of like. a lot of shit. because all of them are morally gray.
hey that's almost my name
My name is actually a play on the phrase "morally gray", fun fact
Since Pearl is literally a villain. Martyn is a more hero aligned vigilante. Scott and Cleo, while being civilians, do actively help Pearl by giving her potions and shit since she and Martyn can go to the Nether to get the ingredients, and Scott and Cleo have a permit to brew potions.
Like. Scott and Cleo are like passive and will not get outed in the grand scheme, but technically they break the law daily. And I love them so much for that. Like. They know WAYYY too much to be civilians. Not even JOEL knows as much, and he's the motherfucking husband of Riptide, who is the sister of Scarlet AND Sparrow. AND the Canary.
Anyways. Um. If you want to ask any clarifying questions, I would be more than happy to answer those.
This was rly incoherent and I'm sorry abt that but y'know :D
THANK YOU PERI @periwinklepaint FOR THE ASK :D :D
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cboffshore · 9 months ago
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Since I saw you reblogging an ask post...
I was reading one of your fics on ao3 (I forgot which one :,) ) and in one of the notes you mentioned that there were certain Skybound angst tropes that you weren't quite fond of. So what are those tropes if you do mind me asking?
Hey there! Starting off with a SPICY one, that's fun. I've probably got that note on all of my Skybound stuff in some way, shape, or form, because aside from being my personal preferences, these tropes I don't like run DEEP in the fandom. This is going to get long, so under the cut we go! (Cw/tw for mentions of SA and related topics.)
There are three main tropes in Skybound fic that I dislike, but they appear so often and in so many forms that it's impossible to name them all, so they're split into three main categories for ease here. Ordered from least to most irritating:
Probably the least annoying on this list: violence and gore. This is the most understandable one that shows up - after all, this is a fighting show, and of course we've got that whole eyepatch scene to reckon with - but it's still a little annoying. I can usually work past it unless it's take 62837272727 of someone gouging out Jay's eye or a souped up Scrap n Tap scene with nothing added but more blood and gratuitous violence. Doesn't matter how creative it is, that's usually enough to make me close out unless the fic has something cooler to offer. It gets boring fast, okay? Like, I completely get it most times, but it's been done to death. Not always a total deal breaker, though. I've used shades of it in my own work, so I can't condemn it entirely.
A lethal pairing I like to call Sopping Wet Cat Jay and Therapy Dog Nya- usually comorbid, very rarely independent. This also usually presents in post-Skybound reveal/healing style fics. Sopping Wet Cat Jay is when all Jay (when presented with Skybound memories or reminders) is capable of is being absolutely, well, sopping wet and pathetic about it. Lots of crying and wailing and nightmares. Therapy Dog Nya is the traditional response to this, where Nya forgets her own trauma entirely to be a huggable object and supplier of gentle reassurance that nothing that happens to Jay was his fault. Again, I completely understand why people write these, but I feel very strongly that they're a disservice to BOTH characters. Jay flew the Keep (ETA: originally wrote Jeep lmao) straight into the Temple and threatened to turn Nadakhan into French toast! Nya DIED after spending all season trying to advocate for herself and her independence! Did we even watch the same show? Sure doesn't feel like it when I see this trope. Absolutely, yes, trauma presents weirdly down the line - but this as the default response always seems weird to me. And it shows up so, so often. Worse still is when a fic might try to give Nya a little agency and nod at her trauma, only to spin on its heel the moment the author decides Jay needs to start sobbing about mops or something. (I'm probably coming off bitter here, but let's be real: this has been happening for seven years. I'm tired.)
This one is an absolute deal breaker: gratuitous sexual assault and/or capital R offenses. Doesn't matter who it happens to, honestly, but the absolute worst is when it happens to Jay (perpetrated by Nadakhan) and when the author acts like it's canon and writes as if it's a given. I actually have already written an entire two part essay on this - part one is here, with a link to part two at the end. Some of my stances in part two have shifted slightly (for instance, I've recently blocked both case study authors because every time I see someone endorsing their work, I want to deep fry my thumbs), but for the most part, this essay conveys my feelings on, nuances of, and rough history of this trend WAY better than I can here. And if you thought #2 came off kinda bitter, well. This essay is battery acid, but I mean every word. An opinion I didn't fully examine in the essay is that I also feel it's a disservice to Nadakhan's character - he's FASCINATING, so to see him reduced to a r*pist just makes me mad. Go after him for his CANON crimes, please. Stop making stuff up!!
Anyway - thanks for the ask! If you read the essay and have any questions, please let me know.
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