#I am invested in this arc immensely!

[syncopatedid]

The way Suguru keeps poking at his forehead just before he turned to the dark side is significant far as religious themes in jjk go, as it's where the "third eye" (associated with spiritual enlightenment and religious visions) is usually depicted to be. His "third eye" was awakened and he was finally able to see the truth and light at the end of his tunnel, a way out of his endless struggle. And having attained that enlightenment, leaves mankind to burn while he seeks to get closer to god by becoming one himself.

#jujutsu kaisen #jjk s2 #Suguru Geto #everybody's watching #*thinks too much about cartoon plots* #It is no coincidence that the girls are shown with three eyes between them methinks! #I love the detail of how the longer he stares at the girls the more he prods that spot as if something's stuck there that needs to come out #Symbolism! Symbolism everywhere! #I could go on about how Suguru sees Satoru as a god so you could say he's literally seeking to *become closer* to Satoru aka god #But we'll be here all night and the tags are getting long #I am invested in this arc immensely! #But in the end Haibara is still just a cameo #We are enlightened but at what cost

[cartierre]

BRUTAL OUT HERE | op81

SOCIAL MEDIA!AU oscar piastri x fem!singer!reader (fc: olivia rodrigo)

side note: the way i used to dislike oscar and now i'm so immensely proud of what he's achieved is crazy. what a character arc of me.

♡ liked by conangray, oscarpiastri, sabrinacarpenter and 238,495 others

yourusername i am beyond the moon happy and proud to announce that my debut album is out now in store and on all music platforms! having worked on this for so long, it feels like seeing my little child grow up 🫶🏻 my team and i invested a lot of time and effort into this and i'm insanely excited for you to experience it. let me hear your thoughts and opinion on this! 💜

view all 7,293 comments

user1 JUST LISTENED TO IT AND I AM NOT OKAY

user2 the way this captures the spirit of being a teenage girl so well ⤷ user3 she literally took my feelings and put it into words it's incredible

conangray i'm so proud of my babygirl comment liked by yourusername ⤷ yourusername ah stop! you helped me so much in the process, huge huge thank you for supporting me 🫶🏻😭 ⤷ user4 i love y/n's and conan's friendship so so much!

oscarpiastri 💜🖤 ⤷ user5 OSCAR?

♡ liked by conangray, landonorris, oscarpiastri and 201,394 others

tagged: conangray

yourusername the last few weeks have been absolutely crazy! i've recieved so much love and positive feedback for 'SOUR' ... i can't even describe how loved and appreciated i feel. i love you guys so much!

view all 6,283 comments

user6 you deserve this so much!! your music makes me feel so many emotions, it's incredible

user7 can't believe how far you've come! been listening to your solos for so long and now you have a whole album aaahh ⤷ user8 remember when she used to upload covers on youtube?

oscarpiastri insanely proud! comment liked by yourusername

user9 oscar is being a bit suspicious these days i don't trust him ⤷ user10 lando is also liking sooo something is brewing in the paddock for sure

♡ liked by conangray, madisonbeer, oscarpiastri and 302,183 others

yourusername my first performance here in melbourne (my hometown) felt so fucking special i'm in tears from how amazing you guys were! my official tour dates are coming soon!

view all 8,283 comments

user11 is it true that you and oscar are childhood friends ⤷ user12 what if they're dating ⤷ user13 what if sour is actually about him?

conangray ahhh i'm so proud of my bestie! comment liked by yourusername ⤷ yourusername couldn't have done it without your pep talk

user14 someone said sour is about oscar and y/n's former relationship? ⤷ user15 is this confirmed?

oscarpiastri what an amazing show 💜 comment liked by yourusername

♡ liked by landonorris, oscarpiastri, sabrinacarpenter and 328,283 others

tagged: oscarpiastri, landonorris

yourusername cat's out of the bag thanks to this dingus

view all 8,094 comments

user16 no because it's kinda sweet they revealed their relationship during oscar's homerace (even if it was accidental) ⤷ user17 and her having had her first concert a week ago in melbourne as well (which he attended) like since when is melbourne so romantic like that

oscarpiastri i already told you i'm really really sorry ⤷ yourusername save your apology and gimme a kiss

landonorris great so now i see your annoying asses in real life AND on social media ⤷ yourusername haters gonna hate

user18 but... i wanna know who the album is about then ⤷ user19 real like babes let us knoooowwww

user20 i love childhood friends to lovers aaahh comment liked by yourusername

#oscar piastri #oscar piastri imagine #oscar piastri imagines #oscar piastri x you #oscar piastri x reader #oscar piastri x y/n #oscar piastri fanfic #oscar piastri fluff #f1 imagine #f1 imagines #f1 x reader #f1 x you #f1 x y/n #f1 fluff #f1 fanfiction #f1 smau #f1 instagram au #f1 social media au

[utilitycaster]

You have such a way of articulating things I’ve been vaguely feeling into intelligent coherent statements. Would you care to elaborate on the way that how Laudna+Imogen “went canon” was a curse?

Hey anon,

Thank you! So this is the thing: obviously I tend towards a fairly critical and snarky demeanor, but like, the best way to put it is in the context of the impending Nein show. I, and most of the people I chat with who are also not feeling Imogen and Laudna's relationship, are not of the "if that PURPLE FLOATY HOMEWRECKER SKANK SHOWS UP I will EXPLODE and SCREAM and DIE" or "fjorester divorce" or pretending Yasha doesn't exist persuasion re: this relationship (or for that matter the WELL if Percy dies after 70 years of marriage to Vex and then she's with Keyleth for the rest of her life WE WIN type of person either). Like, honestly, there was a post advocating for a breakup, but I think it included within it an argument that they reunite after some time apart, and that's kind of the mood. I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed. There's no ship war to be had. I don't dislike the ship because of competition or some fundamental dislike of the characters, and I honestly would like to be able to like it, and the path for it to not suck would have been immensely simple. That path even still exists, though with every week it grows narrow and less smooth and far more awkward, but I think it will require a pretty serious out of game conversation that as far as I know hasn't happen, and I am not holding my breath given the lack of movement.

That's why it's a curse: the generic form of this curse would be "may your ship become canon prematurely, with with only one person really invested, and that person not actually prepared for it or expecting it, and may it have virtually no moments and exist in a very plot-heavy work where it is almost certainly going to be largely out of focus, after the groundwork when things were quieter was never laid, and may it be so close to being good but consistently miss the opportunities for that to happen."

Just to recap the issues, stripping away all the past snark:

It's never really felt like these were two people who had been best friends for two years. They've always felt like friends of circumstance - like people you meet the first week of college and kind of go around with so as not to be alone, or the only other person your age on your street. Because they were both extremely lonely they clung to each other...but they really don't actually connect with each other much in conversation other than just kind of blandly repeating how much they mean to each other and never showing it. They have no real boundaries or limits with each other, likely because of that fear of being alone, but they aren't exploring that in a Heavenly Creatures or Thoroughbreds kind of way either. There's virtually no sense of history - no inside jokes, no shared experiences prior to Zhudanna except for one throwaway line that, like many of their interactions, fell flat. Like...I don't actually think that it's bad to aim for a platonic female friendship and end up with an F/F ship but like. Beau and Jester had a great platonic female friendship that happened to also include Beau's brief crush. Imogen and Laudna didn't even sell me on them being friends, let alone lovers. They have always felt like oddly clingy roommates. Their respective interactions with quite literally every other PC - few of which I find romantic and many of which I find explicitly not romantic - all feel like they have more depth. Orym is explicitly not attracted to either of them and they've both had more meaningful and honest moments with him. Pun unintended but they both felt infinitely more alive during the party split when they couldn't just go to their dull gray comfort zone of each others' meaningless repetitive affirmations.

Zooming into that lack of boundaries and conflict, there's no arc. Once characters get together often the conflict resolves, but there needs to be a build to that point, and we simply don't have that. The two points where this could have happened were: the gnarlrock fight, had it actually played out, could have led to a deepening of the relationship and some honestly and character development but due to what I am again interpreting as fear of losing the other to the point of never addressing any of these points of friction, it just resumed the status quo. Similarly, as I mentioned, Laura flat out said she went in expecting to be rejected. I think that story would have won me over. I think that if Laudna had rejected her, and Imogen had to grapple with that (and, by extension, Laudna's justified anger and trauma from the Team Issylra didn't disappear into thin air) and they spend some time actually figuring out who they are as individuals and Laudna lets herself be more than a validation machine who pushes her emotions down, and then eventually they come back around to each other? I'd be unbelievably on board. And you can go back, to my posts and others, in which we were pretty harsh on the fanon cottage cheese (yes, I am going to try to make this happen) version but said "I trust Laura and Marisha to do this in a way that is interesting" and then they straight-up didn't.

Obviously this has the potential to change - I even think the next episode is finally a case of maybe bringing all the Delilah stuff to a much needed head which in turn might introduce something into the relationship - but man it's been a whole lot of nothing since they kissed. I think Laura's initiated every single conversation, as mentioned Laudna can't even reciprocate 5 minutes of dancing on a ghost pirate ship without wandering off, and they didn't even bother to take watch together.

Something I keep going back to, and which ties into the above, is Brennan Lee Mulligan's whole discussion of how important character creation is to story. The thing is, these characters were created as close friends. Why does this feel so lacking? Like...why do Kima and Allura, two NPCs, feel like they have more weight? Why did the platonic relationship of Molly and Yasha, for which Ashley wasn't even present, feel like it actually was a friendship of 8 months? Sam and Liam came up with an entire system of grifts! Why is literally the only detail we have from the time between leaving Gelvaan and the time arriving in Jrusar is that at some point Imogen and Laudna saw someone with nipple tassles, and that came up once, like 60 episodes ago? Why are people so frequently sold on say, Loquatius/Laerryn, which had less than 24 hours of gameplay over a single night in-game? Why does every single Circle of Needle and Thread member relationship feel more real? Why were Aabria and Travis able to convincingly play ex-lovers in a handful of episodes despite Aabria deliberately surprising him? Like...I am not saying preparation wasn't done, because it very well might have been, but it's not coming through at all and plenty of other people have managed to get across an existing friendship or relationship in a fraction of the time, within the same campaign, so it's not that the plot is moving too fast for it. And again, if prep wasn't done, or if it's not coming across, that's really fixable, but it hasn't been fixed. I think of the 4SD episode where, five or six episodes later, Marisha and Laura still hadn't talked about the relationship and it's like...yeah. We can tell. Literally a two hour trip to a cafe would fix this but god I don't think there's been one.

Anyway, obviously this was an incredibly popular ship, but it's honestly slowed down noticeably since going canon because...it's not that great, and there's not much content in canon. I think a big appeal of the ship was the anticipation and the fanon and now that it's canon...I suspect a lot of people are quietly realizing that actually yeah this is kind of all it is, at least for now, and something is going to have to happen to bring about a change.

And I hope so too - I joke about being a hater, and I am very much a critic...but this really is the realization of that post about being more of a dismayer than a hater. Laura's past two ships are probably my favorites, and Beauyasha is high up there, and even as Vaxleth isn't really up my alley it's sweet and it makes sense and has a lot of great moments. It really would not take a lot of work to make this ship good or at least okay and not...nothingness, but it does take some, and I haven't seen it.

#answered #Anonymous #cr tag #long post

[solokabuto]

So what are your Fate yuri rarepairs?

Thank you so much for asking!!! I treat fate women like immensely complicate barbie dolls i can roll around in my mind until they slot together in ways that make the deeply ill recovering catholic lesbian in me squeal so you may or may not notice some general themes, I’ll be including hcs and fic ideas in here because my brainrot is terrible rn so have fun with this:

Dobrynya Nikitich x Morgan Le Fay

Now this is largely due to the fact that i noticed similarities in them (white haired mothers that are more than they seem and definitely not who they seem with fucked up daughters that have pink hair and pent up rage) and admittedly I’m not in Tungsuka sanctuary so I don’t have a vantage point on Dobrynya’s personality like at all outside of adorable fanart but they seem like they’d be cute. They’re one of those couples that would largely only exist in au’s where Dobrynya runs the daycare that Morgan drops Baobhan at or something. And the entire story is just Baobhan being terrorized while Dobrynya and Morgan make out in the background.

Okita Souji x Nitocris

That moment when you (living vessel for your brother’s vengeance who immediately committed suicide upon fulfilling your goal due to perceiving the cold embrace of death as warmer than the cruel clutches of your fellow man) come across another girl (a hollow mockery of a human being born and bred to slaughter without a care who relates better to broken bones, sinew, and blood than she does to living beings and can kill her friends at a simple order)and link up (have intense homoerotic discussions about death dying and purpose) over tea and wine (cups of literal blood) and fuck nasty (memento memori style)

Olga Marie Animusphere x Ereshkigal

If you haven’t read Afterlife by nd7878 and you have any form of attachment to Olga or Ereshkigal or see the similarities between the two please read it, it’s amazing and I love it so much it fulfills my Olga Marie cravings very well. Anyways i think these two are cute, like super cute like insanely cute and I’d like to imagine Olga would bring out the more forward and irritable side of Ereshkigal and the two would clash in a way that’s still friendly. I dunno she’d make eresh more lively and make Olga feel more loved. I really love afterlife, please read it.

Jeanne D’ Arc x Barghest

I just think the idea of a woman who already sees herself as an offering, offering herself up to a worthy warrior who desperately wishes to stop destroying things she loves to be incredibly interesting. Especially because in my mind Jeanne would probably have little issue with letting Barghest eat her regularly as long as she recovers decently enough. They’re interesting i have fic ideas for them i think Jeanne would enjoy being devoured gruesomely. The knowledge of having a set place for your body to go rather than being burned and desecrated just to be tossed into the river and washed away. I am far too invested in Jeanne D’ Arc. A part of me thinks she would enjoy having something resembling a proper corpse since she was torched to ash and thrown into a river rather than properly being laid to rest. I have vivid images of their entire routine can you tell u have been plagued by yuri visions for far too long?

Baobhan Sith x Galatea

You know how popular girls in hs always have that one girl that isn’t popular or important or really much of anything to a majority of the student body that they don’t play about? Yeah that’s Galatea to her. They hit it off over sculpting because Baobhan has a general affinity for art that includes her love of fashion and eventually they become friends which is incredibly strange to Baobhan because she is deeply unused to being cared for and loved by anyone that isn’t her mother and even then the way she goes about it is very much not like her mother (it’s okay Morgan you tried sweetie). I just think it would be nice to see Galatea slowly help Baobhan build a healthy relationship with love, loving and being loved. They’d be cute. I also think Galatea would find having her blood sucked to be an interesting experience considering she probably finds the fact she has blood to be quite novel.

Merlin (Prototype) x Morgan Le Fay

With benefits. I don’t know what to call their relationship so they’re just with benefits. Morgan would just vent out her frustration on her while Merlin just takes it because why the hell not, being half-succubus has its perks. Additionally, she’d rely on Merlin to have a few moments of complete thoughtlessness and freedom from the stress and general fuckery of Faerie Britain by just allowing herself to fall for the effects of her beauty. Honestly it’s more so method of relaxation for Morgan then a genuine relationship but I think it’s interesting. They probably have insane conversations about the world that usually end in Morgan forcing her to shut up because she says something she doesn’t want to hear but isn’t untrue. Occasionally in moments of weakness Merlin will ask Morgan if she wants her to take her away to Avalon and leave this place for the faeries she hates so much, and Morgan will always refuse dispute herself.

#there are more #many more #by my brain is currently knee deep in Jeanne/Barghest bloody yuri so I can’t think of them #I hope you enjoyed these as much as I enjoy being plagued by visions of them #fgo #fate grand order #baobhan sith #barghest #morgan le fay #dobrynya nikitich #jeanne d'arc #okita souji #nitocris #galatea #um are there more #olga marie animusphere #omg I’m so sorry for forgetting you pookie #I have delivered the Yuri #merlin (prototype)

[glade-constellation]

I've seen your takes in eclipse, and as a new TSAMS fan I honestly agree, man's a cornered dog that everyone's been trying to put down ever since they learned of his existence. That said, do you know about any fic recs that actually explore the points you're making? I would appreciate if you share some! Or just tell me about an ao3 tag I could visit!

Sorry this took me a moment to get to! I’m terrible at not bookmarking things so I had to dig through the TSAMS tag. This list isn’t in any particular order. Not all of these dig deep into Eclipse’s character but, if they don’t, they’re still good Eclipse-centric fics that I recommend giving a read.

For a general tag to check out, usually “Eclipse Redemption”, “Redemption Arc”, or even “Fix-It Fic” will get you something. There’s not really one definite tag for it sadly, and stories that aren’t redemption arcs don’t typically go deep into Eclipse as a character.

As for fic recommendations, I’ll put the list under the cut :

Rising Eclipse (Sun and Moon AU)

by BrightStar2000

After Sun's minor spell mistake, Eclipse finds himself alive, and not exactly well. He can't move without causing himself immense pain. He has nothing, but time, and Eclipse finds himself reflecting on his actions, and actively regretting them. What will begin as a revenge mission, becomes his chance at redeeming himself.

First in a series! I do recommend the whole series if this one interests you. This takes place after Eclipse’s first death, and goes into a lot of the guilt Eclipse V1 was shown to have. Mostly from Eclipse’s POV.

Sunk Cost Fallacy

by thedemonsurfer

"the phenomenon whereby a person is reluctant to abandon a strategy or course of action because they have invested heavily in it, even when it is clear that abandonment would be more beneficial"

Or–

Eclipse has put too much effort into getting the star to give it up now. Even if it kills him.

Honestly recommend anything by Demon. All of their stories do an amazing job at digging into Eclipse and why he is the way he is. This particular one takes place after Eclipse V2 gets the Star, and shows how the Star affects him both mentally and physically.

Forgotten But Not Gone

by Smol40

Eclipse did...something. Why can't Sun and Moon remember?

Another Eclipse V2 where Eclipse has the Star. His loneliness and guilt gets to him, and he decided to try and wipe everyone’s memories to make his own family. (I would pay close attention to the tags on this one, especially the “Bittersweet Ending” one.)

Ghost in the Machine

by Snorp_Lord

Emails start coming through on Moon's computer with helpful information, but no name on them. Each email gives him more questions.

The sender turns out to be the last person he expects.

Short but good. Takes place when Eclipse V2 is working with Killcode and is trapped in the computer system. Moon and Eclipse actually get to talk about a few things.

Karma’s Bitter, But So Am I

by SinisterShepard

He lost. Eclipse actually lost. Banished to a forest with no one to help his quickly degrading state, Eclipse has to decide between his dignity or death.

And, once the pain sets in, he quickly realizes how much he's willing to lose for the promise of another day. Even if that day involves pushing Lunar even further away than before.

Amidst all this, he still manages to say the wrong thing, which...may end up costing his life all over again, judging by that look in Blood Moon's eyes.

~

Set after "The Death of Eclipse"

This will have 5 parts, and is a sort of redemption arc for Eclipse. That isn't obvious in the first chapter though.

One of the things I love about this series is how Eclipse still keeps his asshole-ish personality after his redemption. It’s one of the fanfics that I feel still keeps him pretty in character to canon after he’s supposed to be better.

Canaries in a Cage

by 22FluffyTheSpider123

Life in the terrarium while far from convenient, was somewhat getting a little easier. Even if most days left Sun with little to do and bored out of his mind. But he was still alive at least, which was certainly something given the name and overall existence of his captor.

Perilous situation that forces Sun and Eclipse to actually communicate and work together? Amazing.

Charade

by thedemonsurfer

Even false comfort is welcomed when you have nothing else.

(Is it really fake or are you just in denial?)

---

Sun and Eclipse share a moment of mutual comfort despite agreeing that they hate one another.

Another Demon recommendation. Another good fanfic that goes over Sun and Eclipse’s relationship.

Kill Code, You Are the Father

by I_See_Four

An Alternate Dimension where KC tries to build his family and connect with his sons. Due to miscommunications and general Kill Code shenanigans, it's a rocky road but attempts were made. Lunar gets caught right in the middle.

Just when things are looking up, old conflicts and threats of alternative dimensional possibilities come back to haunt them.

Diverges from the Sun and Moon show lore roughly around "Bloodmoon and Killcode TEAM UP?!".

This is not Eclipse-centric, but does do a very good job at dealing with both his and Lunar’s trauma. Honestly, just an overall good fix-it fic for TSAMS.

#Glade Gossip #🌟 Ten Talks #tsams #sams #the sun and moon show #sun and moon show #tsams eclipse

[troius]

Sorry but I think you are seriously underplaying Ichigo´s and Byakuya´s bond.

Maybe they didnt interact much but its the quality of the interactions that matter. Ichigo shocked Byakuyas entire world view, he saved his sister and hes immensely grateful for that. Since then he became Ichigos silent ally, always supporting him in his own way, like when he abused a loophole to let Rukia and Renji go back to help Ichigo rescue Orihime. Or when fighting Yammy he indirectly told Ichigo he trusted him to deal with Aizen.

Saying Ichigo would be happy not having to speak with Byakuya again is just wrong. In this arc we saw Ichigo have dreams about Rukia, Renji AND Byakuya. He got so fucking pissed when it looked like the quincys killed Byakuya.

Byakuya could beat Tsukishima because he valued his bond with Ichigo over the bond Tsukishima userped.

Im not saying your version with Rukia doesnt have more value, but what we got with Byakuya doesnt lack value.

I don't think I am? Here is a summary of Byakuya and Ichigo's canonical interactions, up to this point in the story:

Byakuya abducts Ichigo's close friend and mentor and nearly kills him in the process, insulting him the whole time.

They briefly confront each other in Soul Society jail before Yoruichi stunts on them both and drags Ichigo away.

Ichigo rescues Rukia, provoking a civil war among the Soul Reapers, and Byakuya decides that killing the guy who saved his sister's life is a bigger priority then fighting any of the many traitors running around. Ichigo finds this immensely stupid and isn't shy about letting Byakuya know.

Ichigo and Orihime jumped into his hospital windowsill to ask Renji where Rukia was that one time. Notably, they didn't ask him, even though he's her brother...

He did help Renji and Rukia get to Hueco Mundo, but in the moment it seemed like he was doing anything but. And considering he didn't come until later, it's pretty clear he did it as a favor to Rukia and Renji, not Ichigo.

Finally, he does tell Ichigo to go fight Aizen, but in a weird way that is less "I trust you" and more a combination of "I don't need your help", and "saving Karakura is your job". The actual motive, as Unohana later explains, is just "you're the only one who's not under hypnosis".

So they've spoken six times. Three of those times Byakuya was trying to stab Ichigo with his sword. And in their interactions since, he's never said anything to Ichigo that another captain wouldn't have said in that same position.

Now, does Ichigo care about Byakuya? Sure! He understands that Byakuya is very important to Rukia and Renji, and wishes him well for their sake. But he's got no personal investment in the man himself.

And it's the same for Byakuya. Byakuya doesn't beat Tsukishima because of his strong personal affection for Ichigo, he beats him because Byakuya, at one point, was going to execute his own sister, and Ichigo stopped him eliminating the one avenue he had to start building personal relationships and making himself whole again.

Tsukishima, with his power, spent way more time with Byakuya than Ichigo did, considering he knew all of Byakuya's sword and kido techniques. But Byakuya didn't care, because the principle that Ichigo conveyed to him in Soul Society is worth more to Byakuya then his relationship with a man (he thinks) saved his life. He doesn't kill Tsukishima because he's closer to Ichigo, he kills Tsukishima because he trusts Ichigo's sense of right and wrong, and values those principles more than he values his own life, including the personal relationships within it. So if Ichigo is fighting Tsukishima, he must be the enemy.

Which is very flattering to Ichigo! But it's not really a sign of friendship, as much as moral admiration.

#bleach #ask troius #reasonable opinions can differ! #but literally every Byakuya-Ichigo interaction is based on how one of them feels about Rukia #anyhow I don't know if our larger analysis is even that different #but I stand by Ichigo not needing to ever speak to Byakuya again #it's not like he's ever been happy to see him in the manga thus far #and I'm sure Byakuya feels the same way

[bracketsoffear]

John Hunger propaganda: I need you to watch this video before you vote so you can understand just how immensely Vast John and The Hunger's entire motivation is--https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFsZ3jDljMg

John: To have friendship, Merle, it requires you to… [sighs] love someone, and be invested in your shared happiness, and these things, Merle, friendship and love and happiness, they’re all so… small. In the grand scheme of things, Merle, they last a second. And I just don’t…

John: I think there was probably a time where I had joy, where I experienced fleeting happiness or anger or fear… But god, it’s just been so long Merle, I… I used to spend my days considering the nature of time and existence, maybe that brought me joy once, but… Unlike everybody else who ever thought about those questions, who ever pondered the meaning of it all, I— and you may find this hard to believe, but— I solved it, Merle. I saw the fullness of time. I pondered eternity and was the first person and only person to successfully visualize its treacherous arc.

John: You’re a man of the cloth, Merle, certainly you’ve wondered too about what awaits our consciousness after death or [...] What am I saying? I’ve given you a first-hand experience a few times in this very room. Perhaps for some people who think about it, there’s nothing but infinite oblivion, the eternal erasure of your consciousness. Or for some it’s eternal life and their god’s glorious kingdom, or eternal cycling through all the inhabitants of their world. Any of these options, Merle, any of them are just… erasure, or contentment or revival, any of them are fine as abstract concepts. But eternally, Merle, eternally? You can’t possibly conceive of the length of eternity, Merle. I have. It’s maddening and hopeless, but it’s this burden we’re all saddled with from the moment of our creation. It’s a finish line that, by its definition, will never arrive. It stretches forever and ever, it’s too ambivalent to even taunt those trapped behind it. It is the cruel price of existence, Merle, and it is too horrible to bear once you’ve seen it. Existence, Merle, life, Merle, is… horrible. To exist, to live is horrible.

Merle: I don’t think I wanna hang out with you anymore, John. I think I’m gonna take off. And you can continue wallowing in your sadness and your oblivion and seeing nothing but the negative, and I’m gonna go on my way. And I’ll tell you what, if we ever meet each other somewhere in infinity… you can apologize to me and tell me you were wrong.

John: I’m sorry you feel that way. You’re the first person who I’ve sort of talked about this to who hasn’t listened. There were… Everyone listened, Merle, I’m not being hyperbolic, every person in the world was swayed. I don’t know why you’re different. But everyone else listened, everything, everyone across our whole plane of existence. Our shared vexation with life covered the world like a blanket, and soon every bird in the sky and every tree in every forest and every blade of grass and grain of sand shared our fury. And it wasn’t long before it changed us.

John: We changed our entire plane into something new altogether. A single being fueled by… discontentment, searching for something bigger than this existence regardless of the cost.

John: You call us The Hunger. That’s not entirely inaccurate, because… We are hungry. But it would be more accurate to simply call us Dissatisfaction. But soon…

John: You will call us Ascendant.

video

#asks #character propaganda #vast poll

[greenerteacups]

do you promise to finish lip heart? I’m no book 3 and getting increasingly worried that I’m getting so invested.

This is a sort of weird thing to ask an author, isn't it? Like, what would a "promise" even mean in this context? Obviously I care a great deal for this story, and don't want to see it abandoned. It's a huge undertaking that I've devoted months of my life to. I even finish each book in advance of publication, so that in the event that I do have to stop writing, the story will conclude on a natural beat. If I stopped working right now, and never added another word, Lionheart would still run through the end of Goblet of Fire, and conclude on an appropriate note. I don't do that for my own sake — what would I get out of it? — but for readers, because I know how much it sucks to get stuck waiting on a cliffhanger. I want to be able to tell them: "I am committed to at least making sure that you get resolutions to all immediately active plot threads and character arcs, even if I can't guarantee the big ones." I was a reader of fanfic long before I was a writer. I'm trying to take care of you, I am.

Here's the thing, though: I'll go out on a limb and bet that most abandoned works on AO3 were not started with the intention of abandoning them. In some cases, the author got sick, or got fired, or something happened to their family, or — and this might be where we disagree — got tired of writing it, and did something else, and that is a valid and healthy choice. The author is a person before they're a content creator, and fanfic isn't a paid gig; if you're not having fun, you're doing it wrong. Also, from the reader's perspective, nobody should want authors working on fics that don't inspire them anymore. You do not want your story being finished by an author who doesn't love it.

So, no, I don't promise. I can't. If something happens to me, or to my family, or I get laid off, or any other thing that takes priority in my real life, I am not going to put myself in a position where I have to break my word. Lionheart will be running as long as I have the time, energy, and passion to write it, or until it's finished. That's not a guarantee; like all WIPs, it's a risk. If you want to take that risk on me, then I appreciate your trust immensely, and I promise to do everything I can to deserve it. But I'm not going to promise 600,000 more words of fanfic up-front.

#greenteacup asks

[decepti-thots]

☕️ cygate

It works fine for me within canon, but for various reasons, it's not something I get super emotionally invested in and I rarely care about it outside of canon material.

Some of that is that it's just not super to my taste in terms of what I personally get out of romances in fiction- I am almost always less interested in the getting-together part than I am in the stuff that happens after they enter a relationship. And cygate is a very classical 'this is a slow burn story about Falling In Love' narrative, which is fine, but of less interest to me than, say, CD/RW.

Some of it is that generally I am less interested in Tailgate than Cyclonus? I tend to prefer canon pairings, at least, where I have an equal investment in both characters' interiority. But while Tailgate is fun, I don't have a lot of care about what he's feeling at any given time in the comic, tbh! So I'm always way more invested in Cyclonus caring about Tailgate than vice versa, unfortunately.

Finally, there is a degree which is more down to like. Technical execution. The climactic point of their arc is one of the muddiest parts of the whole series, IMO. It's at the point where LL's pacing starts to really go haywire, it's entwined with a lot of the comic's weakest fanwankery lore nonsense with all the stuff about how Tailgate escapes death, it has that whole IMO way too cheap fakeout death in the first place... it always leaves me a little bit eye-rolly. There's stuff I like less in the comic, but very little of it is quite as... protracted as the Cyclonus/Tailgate stuff that I think fumbles it a bit.

Still, all the above is focusing on the negatives. I do enjoy them. Roberts is actually really good at writing slow burn romance in a way that has forward propulsion in the serialised format, which is HARD. And their arc in Remain in Light is actually one of my favourites in the comic; the final moment, with Tailgate on his deathbed, is extraordinarily well earned given how compressed their part in that arc actually is, and immensely good catharsis. They're an endearing couple in canon. But I focus very little on them when not re-reading parts of the comic I like which include them.

#ask meme

[hamliet]

How To Write Badly 101: The Season

Or, I review The Dragon Prince season 4, at the urging of a friend who is much more invested than I am. If you do not want to read immense salt and criticism, this is your warning.

My expectations for were extremely low and somehow the show managed to dig a tunnel beneath and go lower than I thought possible. Disclaimer: I've never been hugely invested, so I'm mostly amused about this game of how low can you go?

Claudia continues to be the only actual character of substance, while Once Characters Rayla and Soren slowly lose their potential. Never a Character Callum continues to be a lamp passed around the plot who gets things just for being a lamp.

A lamp character is a character who could be replaced by a lamp and there'd be minimal to no change on the actual story. It's pretty bad when your main protagonist is a lamp. What makes him even worse than, say, Alina in Grishaverse, is that Callum is treated like he's a special lamp when there's canonically zilch special about him. At least Alina is like, literally light and no one is like her. Callum is just an IKEA piece. He's a mage but cool, what does that cost him?

The time gap supposedly had major events happen off screen--especially romantically. Except... none of it is really explained, and thus it falls flat. Rayla and Callum broke up because there's never been tension between them and they offer each other nothing at all in a ship, which becomes apparent especially when they're together. Breaking them up is a way to at least manufacture tension. If you can call that tension, because their breakup added nothing at all to their character arcs.

Not that Callum's ever had an arc. But honestly, like, you need to show conflict. You need to have Callum saying that it triggers his fear of losing people, show him distressed more than just moping. Show him distressed by his actions, or present passivity as a flaw, but Callum has never had an actual flaw introduced so there's no place for this plotpoint to build besides "let's create tension for shippers."

Rayla... I like her. I want to like her even more, but her leaving is never explained. She seeks Claudia for... reasons? Presumably her parents? But y'know, you need to actually show consequences for leaving, and explain why she decided to come back more than just "the dragon queen was coming!" Was she lonely? What provoked her to come back? What are you trying to tell us? (Nothing. They don't have a story.)

Rayla's choice towards the end of the season was utterly ridiculous. The coins needed to be mentioned, like, way earlier in the season to remind us rather than just coming out of nowhere. Her grief needed to be explored, and her running away was like... an opportunity there, but it wasn't explored, so her choice to trade Terry for the coins had no resonance at the end. There were no consequences, no results, no impact of that choice. It was just empty. Like the show.

Terry... hoo boy. I want to like Terry. I kind of do despite how much of an obvious "morality pet" he is in the plot. His relationship with Claudia is very sweet, but again, it comes from nowhere. We have no exploration of what this means to them, no idea of what drew Terry and Claudia together, no idea of the basis of their emotional bond. You can't build a compelling ship without that.

Lastly, Terry's rebuke of Claudia towards the end was... bizarre, and nonsensical writing-wise. Like. The end of the last season showed a body. Claudia clearly killed people to bring her father back. So why is Terry horrified by Claudia taunting Rayla with fake coins about her parents, especially when it's to save his life? Terry also has previously killed someone who was about to kill Claudia. Make it make sense.

Soren... baby. You absolutely cannot cut the reunion between him and Viren. And yet! They did! I'm sorry but???? You absolutely can't skip that? For either Soren or Viren's arcs? Unless you're dropping both arcs, which it sure looks like you're doing.

Also, the plot. Nothing. Happened. The entire season. We need to free Aaravos in 30 days! At the end of the season, he still ain't free, and I'm begging him to appear because dear dragons someone needs to shake up this world.

Oh, okay, sometimes threats needed to happen. I wouldn't really call it plot, but there were occasional moments of pretend peril. The dragon went nuts in the end and almost killed them for... reasons I guess? I'm sorry but I don't understand why and the why doesn't matter in the end; it was the peril that was important because stakes! Except there aren't any.

Rule 1 of writing: anytime you have "and then" instead of "because" or "but" linking events/plot points, you're f*cked. It's boring.

Also, the sun elf subplot... was awful. Janai had no arc, and the story didn't parallel or link with the A plot. Her romance with Amaya is cute but again, the bond between them is not explored this season--it's told. Show us moments where they only have each other, moments where duty and love both tug at the heart!

The actual story itself was like an attempt to copy Black Panther, with the brother challenging the heir, but make it pointless because boring is clearly the vision they're aiming for. Because the Sun Elf Queen just wins because she's good, and people are good. Which is not itself a bad theme, but the point is that this whole plotline went nowhere and changed nothing for the story as a whole. It's dumb. Listen I am all for optimism in stories, especially those catered towards kids, but make it matter! Otherwise it's just boring!

And sure, maybe these things will matter towards the endgame? Maybe? But it should matter this season as well, and considering how poorly the show has done making everything matter so far, well, I am not holding my breath.

#hamliet reviews #the dragon prince season 4

[haleigh-sloth]

While I understand the criticism towards villain stans who go harder on the kids which I think is almost like taking their frustrations of the lack of development from the pros being reflected at the ua children since they are supposed to be better and I do not condone it in any way obviously I think we should be talking about the framing of the narrative mostly

Like leaving the current events even during the hawks vs twice fight dabi tells tokoyami that his mentor killed somebody which they know is wrong as heroes are there to save as repeatedly told by fatgum to kirishima, tokoyami despite that says "your hands aren't dirty. Everyone believes in you. You did the RIGHT thing" which raises brows because if villains killing people is frowned upon rightfully so then how are heroes who are there to protect taking lives because of potential harm they could do (literally why nagant was introduced) labeled as the "good" thing. A life is a life. Heroes, villains and civilians should be held on the same ground yet the lov are continuously called "madmen and evil" for doing the things the hero commission and even the pros themselves have been doing and yet get praised for it? I think that's the issue

I don't blame tokoyami as he is a kid but I won't lie and say I don't raise my brows at hori because ever since hawks was burnt his arc has suffered immensely and has no proper direction not inner thoughts (I know you don't like talking about hawks so I'm just saying it as a part of my thoughts)

Hope you don't take it the wrong way my 1 braincell is very invested in social commentary and I hate how hori has been glamorized for his biased presentation of both handling this aspect and the heteromorph society one. Tomura was incredibly cute tho so there is that in the recent chapter

I’m not taking anything the wrong way, however I don’t know what to say.

It’s not that I don’t agree. I said it myself—it’s frustrating. I pointed out several incidents where the answers the manga gives us to a problem does not exactly follow up on the social aspects the manga itself is also presenting. It’s just a thing that is happening and I’m at the point where my expectations are low because clearly it’s not a priority.

Yeah, I really don’t want to talk or think about Hawks. His writing is the biggest example and talking about it, along with Tokoyami and his reaction to the situation over and over and over again is like beating a dead horse. We all know it’s a god awful handling of that entire situation and complaining and critiquing it repeatedly, stating the obvious multiple times, is not gonna change it. So I am done doing that.

I don’t disagree with what you’re saying but I’m out of things to say. Yes, it’s a flaw in this manga, it has been for a long time. There are lots of things with the MC that should have been done way way back, but weren’t. It is what it is. No, pointing it out over and over again isn’t gonna fix it. We’re gonna get what we get, satisfying or not.

Statements I don’t agree with are that the kids are not trying with the villains. Ochacko being hesitant is fine. Shouto not understanding wtf it is Touya is actually hurt about is fine. Midoriya not knowing shit about shit with Shigaraki is fine. All of that is fine for the time being because…we haven’t gotten to the next steps yet. I mean jeez, some comments are comments toward things that just HAVEN’T HAPPENED YET.

On the other note, I feel for the people who are invested in the social commentary. I agree they’re not getting the satisfaction they probably want. I am invested to some extent in some things (Hawks and Twice—still don’t really wanna talk about it tho), but I’m more interested in the characters’ personal issues at this point. I’m more satisfied with what I’m getting that way.

#bnha #boku no hero academia #anonymous #bnha asks

[risingshards]

Hello! This is your friendly inquiry to answer this ask with whatever you'd like to talk about right now! Whether that be a story you're working on, something you're excited or worried about, or just something random you happen to know.

All the love,

~ toribookworm ❤️

I got some stuff I wanna talk about so thank you very much for this!! 💖 IN PARTICULAR I HAVE THOUGHTS following up this post I have things to say about my like...Philosophy of Fluff™ writing. This may contain spoilers kinda for overall tone and goals for Rising Shards but I don't think I'll get anything too detailed there. (ramble incoming)

For Rising Shards, I spent a lot of time studying my favorite stories going in, and while I have a lot for fantasy/action/etc., for this I will focus on the romance side. For me I don't see RS as too subversive to the genre, just more in tribute/heavily inspired by the yuri romances I like rather than tradpub stuff.

If I'm subverting tradpub or the tradpub romance genres, it's pretty much all unintended because I hit a wall with Rising Shards and tradpub (there were a lot of things I didn't vibe with for the tradpub system, but the invasive personal "tell us all your personal LGBT secrets so we may market you through them before we even consider your work" made me real uncomfy). Also influential: working for a publisher, seeing what in the publishing system would not mix with what I wanted from Rising Shards, and then layoff from said publisher really made me like "is struggling for an 80k manuscript with forced drama and straining to get lit agents' attention right for Rising Shards?" Fortunately realized RS would be perfect for a web novel and have been rolling that way since.

So for like fluff philosophy! Following up me being more inspired by yuri manga and light novels than western tradpub romance, I also am like. Immensely sensitive and get way too empathetic in stories. So I write stuff to make me feel better. The concept of the iyashikei genre I vibe with so strongly, and I wish I had learned more about it wayyy before I did. TVTropes definition of iyashikei:

Iyashikei (癒し系) is Japanese for "healing", a term used for anime and manga created with the specific purpose of having a healing or soothing effect on the audience. Works of this kind often involve alternative realities with little to no conflict, emphasizing nature, the mundane and the little delights in life.

In my work there's definite iyashikei inspiration in addition to the yuri. Rising Shards isn't fully iyashikei, I still have action-y arcs in there, but I think my absolute best stuff in there is the healing slice of life stuff. So for me I feel like it's less subverting and showing what for to tradpub romances and the like and more just putting my heart and soul out there, the writing of which lines up with different subset of genres than what (from I found) traditional publishers are looking for. Also with a webnovel I can get really gay with it and no one can stop me muahahahha 🏳️‍⚧️

FLUFF WISE for Rising Shards I really like stuff that's healing. I like when characters have had a bad time in the past that they recover from with supportive partners, where the parties involve heal from their past traumas together. I'm less into the "ups and downs of a couple that breaks up and gets back together", like in a sitcom when that main ship breaks up I care significantly less about them even when they get back together. And I'm very empathetic and get very emotionally invested in stories, so calming stories that are hopeful and happy and peaceful help me maintain mental peace.

One of my thoughts for Rising Shards is to have some real stable couples that the story is less about like "ARE THEY REALLY RIGHT FOR EACH OTHER WILL THEY CHEAT SPLIT UP AND EVENTUALLY GET BACK TOGETHER" but rather couples dealing with all the stuff above, growing together and being peaceful and helping with that aforementioned me stability, and I hope I can help readers with that too.

With my web novel I have like a gajillion characters, so at some point I do think some of the side romances will be more tumultuous, but my philosophy is the main stable couples have to stay stable, and that the hurt will always be equal to or less than the healing that follows. I don't wanna make people really stressed, like lure them in with soft fluff romance then pull the rug on them with intense heartrending drama. I want the drama sure but I want it bearable. I see that post going around about like "I need my romances to be toxic to enjoy them" and I'm the opposite. I've dealt with enough toxic romances in my life that I wanna heal from them, not remind myself of past pain unless it's in a way that helps me take steps forward.

Also a closing thought; a vitally important part of my fluffy romance writing relating to the above yuri inspiration: like 99% gay stuff gimme lemsbebians gorls pretety

SO TO SUMMARIZE:

-I feel like my fluffy romance is less intentionally subversive and more me taking inspiration from my favorite stories mixed with the kind of writing I like best

-I have heavy yuri and iyashikei influence on my fluff

-I really like fluffy romance that's healing, I like characters overcoming their pasts together, building new families and finding themselves and helping each other be the best they can be

-I like having stable couples in my stories as pillars even if there are other relationships in the stories that aren't as stable

-I'm very easily emotionally rattled and empathetic with characters and stories so I like the peace that calm stories bring

-woman kimses pretty woman good

#writeblr #fluffy romance writing #wlw writing #lgbt writing #soft writing #chiral writes #rising shards #long post #chiral rambles about writing

[navree]

The show failed to make care about Helaena or her children and i doubt if the general audience know her name. B&C will hit hard just because how gruesome it will be (if the writers didn't changed it) but i am afraid there will be no emotional impact.

I agree that the show's somewhat failed to develop Helaena, especially when compared to her brothers, and there's a lot of reasons for that (a desire to get diversity points by making her neurodivergent without actually wanting to put in too much effort in how to sensitively write a character they've coded as autistic in a world where people barely understand autism is a thing, the tendency that exists where male characters are prioritized for development and characterization over female characters, the disordered writers' room that season one clearly had). But I don't think that precludes any kind of investment in Blood and Cheese. There's likely going to be an emotional impact just because:

a) it's a child being murdered, and two other children being terrorized, that's going to hit people's emotions no matter what because it's just sad

b) people do know Helaena and she's been in, at least, enough shots for people to at least understand who she is and how she fits into the family and one of those scenes at least was p cute (the toast scene) and watching her suffer will be hard especially if Phia plays it right

c) like you said, B&C is gruesome, and that'll likely leave people with some emotions given not just the murder but the psychological torture and

d) there's going to be an emotional impact not just for Helaena, but also for other characters.

For one, Blood and Cheese also involves Alicent, and specifically Alicent being brutalized (not only is she used to lure and has to subsequently watch what happens to her daughter and grandchildren, but she is also physically attacked, since they apprehended, bound, and gagged her and that's not happening without a fight), and Alicent is a very popular character in spite of what Twitter says and we've been following her since the pilot.

For two, a lot of the Blood and Cheese aftermath in the show is going to focus on Aemond. It is very specifically Aemond's actions at Storm's End that lead to Blood and Cheese, and the show has made it so that it was a complete accident, an unintended consequence Aemond not only failed to foresee but also actively tried to prevent. The second to last shot of the show thus far is a focus on Aemond's face and his dawning horror and regret at what he's done. And then, because of Aemond's mistake, his sister and his mother and his brother and his niece and his nephews are all going to suffer in one of the worst actions GRRM has ever written about. Aemond, who the writers now know is a fan favorite thanks to Ewan's portrayal, is going to be getting a lot of focus, and his own periphery grief and his immense guilt and his feelings of responsibility over what happened (and if the writers are smart and follow this blog to read my theories, the way this affects his relationship with Aegon and his subsequent actions in the war) are likely going to be an immense part of his character arc for that scene. I mean, there's a reason why when I wrote my own Blood and Cheese fic, half of it was from Aemond's perspective, a huge part of the emotional impact is going to come from Aemond's reaction and his subsequent coming to terms with the fact that he made a mistake and is directly responsible for irreparable harm coming to the people he loves most as a result.

They do need to develop Helaena a lot more than they have, and I fervently hope there's at least a single episode of the calm before the storm (I'd hope they make 2x01 all about the immediate aftermath and Blood and Cheese is a 2x02 focused thing). But she is recognizable and liked enough on her own for it to have some impact, and even then, it's also going to impact characters that a lot more people are heavily more emotionally invested in, enough that it'll still pack a punch (also given that he's a bit more of a nichely enjoyed character I didn't mention Aegon, but he's got his lil fanbase and watching him grieve over what's happened to his family is also going to be emotional for people who like him even if they don't much care for Helaena).

#personal #answered #anonymous #helaena is underdeveloped yes but she is in fact a character #and a lot of people do like her enough for b&c to have an impact on the audience #and honestly for me one of the biggest gut punches is in fact going to be how it impacts helaena #cuz phia's played her in a way where it's going to break my heart to watch her go through this #she needs to be developed more but she's there and she exists and people enjoy her #and even the ones who don't probably at least like olivia or ewan as actors enough to care about how this affects THEIR characters

[richincolor]

Book Review: The Davenports

Title: The Davenports

Author: Krystal Marquis 

Genres:  Historical Fiction

Pages: 384 

Publisher: Dial Books

Review Copy: ARC by publisher

Availability: Available Jan. 31

Summary: The Davenports are one of the few Black families of immense wealth and status in a changing United States, their fortune made through the entrepreneurship of William Davenport, a formerly enslaved man who founded the Davenport Carriage Company years ago. Now it's 1910, and the Davenports live surrounded by servants, crystal chandeliers, and endless parties, finding their way and finding love—even where they’re not supposed to.

There is Olivia, the beautiful elder Davenport daughter, ready to do her duty by getting married . . . until she meets the charismatic civil rights leader Washington DeWight and sparks fly. The younger daughter, Helen, is more interested in fixing cars than falling in love—unless it’s with her sister’s suitor. Amy-Rose, the childhood friend turned maid to the Davenport sisters, dreams of opening her own business—and marrying the one man she could never be with, Olivia and Helen’s brother, John. But Olivia’s best friend, Ruby, also has her sights set on John Davenport, though she can’t seem to keep his interest . . . until family pressure has her scheming to win his heart, just as someone else wins hers.

Inspired by the real-life story of the Patterson family, The Davenports is the tale of four determined and passionate young Black women discovering the courage to steer their own path in life—and love. 

Review: I have to start with the obvious….LOOK AT THAT COVER! It is absolutely gorgeous. I saw this at a table at NCTE, the last book and I practically swooned. Then I grabbed it, hugging it to my chest because I was so excited to see a historical romance (because you just know) that featured Black Love. And I am not exaggerating here. I am still so in love with this cover. I couldn’t wait to read the book as I was also intrigued by its’ premise especially knowing that it was inspired by a real life wealthy Black family. I was also interested in the premise of the story being for four points of view of young women on the cusp of adulthood. And the novel delivered, in the usual and most unexpected ways. 

The events in the Davenports are set during the spring and summer ball season and follows the four young women was they navigate establishing their own identities while trying to meet their parent’s expectations. Olivia is “the good daughter” who is in her second season and whose parents expect an engagement by the end of the summer. Olivia’s beliefs are challenged when she meets Washington DeWight who exposes her to the injustices Blacks were facing in 1910 - injustices that her parents worked to shield her from. With each interaction with Washington, Olivia realizes she likes being an activist and struggles with a desire to break out on her own but still please her parents. At the same time, her attraction to Washington grows and they have an interesting courtship, but to me it somewhat felt one sided at times so I didn’t get invested much in their relationship. I was really enjoying Olivia’s social awakening much more. Her younger sister Helen was so much fun to read. Helen is very mechanically minded who loves fixing cars and has ideas for her father’s company, unfortunately because her father had antiquated notions, she knew he would never listen to her ideas. I liked that her brother John supported her and turned to her for her opinions, but the sad fact was that he often has to pass off her ideas as his own to their father. My heart broke for her because Helen was such a 2000ish woman stuck in 1910. Being the youngest Helen was also a rebel and I so loved her antics. Much like Helen, Amy-Rose was a bit of a rebel as well, but she had a touch more freedom. When she was a child Amy-Rose’s mother was hired on as a maid and when her mother passed the Davenport family decided to hire Amy-Rose and now she’s in a unique position of being employed by her “friends”. I use quotation marks because there wasn’t much friendly interaction between the trio outside of when Amy-Rose was helping dress Olivia and Helen. This depiction made me wonder how close the girls really were when they were children because I couldn’t see it on the page. What I did see and loved about Amy-Rose was that she was tenacious with her dream and even though she was in love with John, she still always put herself first. She was definitely one of my favorite characters in the entire novel. The character I liked the least was Ruby because while I understood she was in a precarious position with her parents, she seemed to react to the events in the novel, rather than make her own decisions. Her father was running for mayor of Chicago and like a good daughter, she was willing to do anything to help her parents out, which is admirable, however she consistently sacrificed her agency many times in the book. Of the four, Ruby is the one character who didn’t seem to grow throughout the novel.

Having four different perspectives throughout a novel can be a challenge but I feel like Marquis pulled it off very well. Each of the chapters were told from one of the 4 POV’s and all felt very like distinct individuals. The story moved along well and I got caught up reading when I should have gone to bed, which is the mark of a good book. I enjoyed the detail to history in the book and really loved the callouts to specific landmarks in Chicago. It was clear that Marquis did her proper research for The Davenports and this dedication is what makes this a great read. 

#book review #weneeddiversebooks #historical ficiton #black history month

[myezblog]

about the did boc save the best for the last, honestly, i'd love if that was the case but seeing how boc treats characters other than kinn and porsche (and especially vegas and pete compared to KP), i'm not holding my breath. up until now, other characters (notably vegas but pete and others as well) have simply existed to advance KP's storyline. they are just pawns with not agency of their own.

boc definitely wildly underestimated how popular VP is and especially how sensitive their storyline is. like, they've already taken a few traits from VP's relationship and pushed them to kinn and porsche (the whole no kissing thing from vegas to kinn and the way vegas lowkey wants porsche to be the one to kill him), meaning they either don't understand shit about the relationship between VP or they're just way too biased towards KP (or both). underestimating the popularity of VP is especially funny because apparently it's okay to use them for marketing but not follow through that marketing. like i know boc is new to the scene and kpts is their first series but come on now, even an idiot knows you just don't go using characters and ships to promote a series and then act surprised when people get invested in said characters. but then again, boc also promoted kpts as some sort of gritty mafia series, yet it's literally like any other bl romcom, with the exception that the setting is mafia world instead of university or whatever, so the marketing was definitely a miss, rather than hit.

we're 5 episodes from the end and i doubt boc would actually give us VP-centric episode(s), which makes me think that they're going to rush their arc and just give us a few snippets here and there of the actual storyline and leave majority of it off-screen. the only way this sort of storytelling would've been at least somewhat acceptable is if they started the arc earlier, but even then it would've taken careful plotting to make the arc and VP's feelings believable for the non-novel readers. but with only 5 episodes left, at least one of which is entirely dedicated to the final showdown between the main and minor families, there's just not enough time. and because i love to be pessimistic, i'm thinking the "finale" will start at ep13 so that they can leave some time for some lovey-dovey KP in ep 14 because god forbid we haven't seen them fucking enough already... which means the VP arc actually only takes 2 or 3 episodes which is just bullshit and something i'll never forgive boc.

sorry about this essay, i totally strayed from the original point but i'm just kinda pissed off about the way boc treats VP so yeah. short answer: they def didn't expect that VP would be so popular and they royally fucked up.

Thanks!!

Your thoughts are exactly in line with mine. I am convinced too that it is really going to be ep 11-12, bits of 10 and bits of 13. None of it is going to be VP heavy, because there is enough Porsche drama to be covered as well, and kimporschay drama...

Also, i think i blame Pond for this majorly...not BOC per se. he is the scriptwriter and director.

And totally, it is about plot development, not about screen time. This was a good plot with immense character growth..but all down the drain.

Lastly, as Bible said "Spaceship".. we are sure gonna go on supersonic speed.. and well crumbs crumbs everywhere, with not an morsel to eat

#kinn porsche #kinnporsche #kinnporche the series #kinn x porsche #vegaspete #vegas x pete #kinnporshe the series

[sprout-fics]

takedown made my heart ACHE. the team dynamic, the way doubt haunts fix's every move, the way ghost was the only one who didn't have doubts (even price had some hesitation - not that that means the team doesn't trust her, they're just concerned). there's some aspects of the story that I think are gonna be addressed by the team sooner or later, like the way they see but don't acknowledge fix's battle with self-doubt or the things that fix confuses for doubt/disappointment. I don't wanna spam you with my theories and analyses so I'm just gonna end it here with a thanks for working so hard on this chapter!! saw that you were sick a couple days ago and STILL managed to write a flawless chapter - major props to you!

Anon this message just made my entire day.

I am so SO glad you enjoyed Takedown. I have been working on this fic for WEEKS and to see it finally come to fruition is immensely satisfying. Your words mean so much to me ❤️

That being said, PLEASE spam me with theories and analyses. Nothing would make me happier than seeing someone so invested in Fix than to send me detailed asks about her.

Fix is so incredibly precious to me. I made her on a whim but she's developed into such an amazing person. In some ways she's like me- a perfectionist, hiding self-doubt and pushing it down until it cracks inside. It's cathartic in some ways to write her, and to see the team support her like they do. They're concerned, but not in a way that expresses doubt. More like they see Fix and how she struggles with herself, and can't help but be worried for her.

Fix and Ghost's story is separated into 3 arcs as I have it planned. The first focuses entirely on Fix, on her own character development and how she manages to fit into the team and overcome her demons at the same time. This isn't far from a smooth process, as Fix ends up making a huge mistake that gets her briefly suspended and it sends her spiraling. That's the chapter where she ends up stateside with Laswell, and is forced to confront both her own demons and ghosts from her past (which have been hinted at in Snowblind)

The second arc is all about Fix and Ghost, the intricate dance they do around each other after establishing trust. They go through some shit together but it eventually ends with them being in a solid relationship. No spoilers yet.

and then the third arc roughly follows the plot of MW2, though it in the end has a slightly different ending than the original plot. :3c

Goddddd I could talk all day about Fix, thank you so much for the ask!

#fic: shadow and bone #asks