#I could write a whole essay on how much I love this show | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

magiclegacy · 2 years

Text

Gravity Falls Season 1 Review

Since the start of the 21st century I’ve noticed there’s an animated show every decade that redefines the landscape of western animation. That may sound like a bold claim, but when you really look at it, there are a couple of stand-out shows. The 2000s saw Avatar: The Last Airbender take home the crown, becoming a hit with audiences and critics with elements that were rarely exhibited in Western children’s animation. It featured well-rounded characters, a serialised narrative, references to East Asian culture and mature themes including war, genocide, totalitarianism, and free choice to name a few. The show remains one of the best-rated series of all time, winning several awards during its runtime and staying in the Top 10 lists of reviewers almost 14 years after its conclusion. And if Avatar claimed the top spot in the 2000s, Gravity Falls won the crown in the 2010s.

It’s hard to believe Gravity Falls is now 10 years old. The show was a significant part of thousands of childhoods, including my own, and remains one of the most beloved animated shows to this day. The show is a brilliant example of multi-generational entertainment with a story, characters, and humour that children and adults can both enjoy without fear of being alienated. It’s the main reason this show remains a modern-day influence in children’s animation and why many still enjoy 10 years after its premiere. I’d go so far as to call Gravity Falls the start of the modern Golden Age of Disney Channel Animation with its influence present in other hit shows Amphibia and The Owl House as well as other shows on different platforms.

To celebrate Gravity Falls’ tenth anniversary, I feel I should share what I, as well as many others enjoy about the show. However, if you know Gravity Falls, you know there is a lot to cover. Even with a finite runtime, the show thrived on its mysteries, conspiracies, and ciphers, creating a sizeable fanbase that tried to match wits with showrunner, Alex Hirsch. If you google “Gravity Falls theory”, then you will be jumping into the deep end of one of the largest online discussions in recent years. So to make this review more manageable, I will only cover Season 1 in this review, and I will discuss Season 2 when it turns 8 on August 1. Gravity Falls is one of the most beloved and interesting shows in recent memory, so I want to make sure it’s given the respect and recognition it deserves. With all that said, let’s take a look at Season 1 of Gravity Falls.

The show has one of the best-written narratives of modern television, taking elements from Hirsch’s own childhood, eighties pop-culture and modern settings. The Pines twins, Dipper (Jason Ritter) and Mabel (Kristen Schaal) spend their summer vacation in the titular, fictional town of Gravity Falls. They live with their con-artist “Grunkle” Stan (Hirsch) who runs a sketchy tourist trap called “The Mystery Shack”, staffed by teenage girl Wendy (Linda Cardellini) and Soos (Hirsch). It’s simple, but it works. Hirsch placed many of his childhood experiences in the show, projecting his memories of growing up onto Dipper and basing the characters of Mabel and Stan around his sister and grandpa. This is a major reason why Gravity Falls is timeless, it invokes childhood and summer nostalgia, living with a distant relative, summer camp, going to the pool or goofing off with friends, there’s something for everyone. Gravity Falls combines this nostalgia with a fantastical element, taking inspiration from eighties and nineties pop-culture, blending fantasy and reality to create a compelling story.

The plot begins when Dipper notices strange things happening around town, but nobody believes him. After wandering though the woods, Dipper discovers a mysterious journal written by an anonymous author with a gold hand with six fingers and the number 3 on the cover. The journal chronicles several entries about paranormal activity and odd goings-on that plague Gravity Falls which Dipper and Mabel use to combat various foes. These include classic monsters like ghosts, sea monsters, and zombies as well as video-game characters, time travellers, and psychics. For most of the season, the show goes very old-school Scooby Doo with a new monster every week, however, what separates Gravity Falls from similar fantasy animation is that there’s typically an unconventional twist that changes the episode, giving a humorous and often profound conclusion that makes us laugh, think, develops the characters, or all of the above. At the same time, there is an overlying serialisation the audience is constantly reminded of when the journals are used: who is the author and what happened to them?

A notable trait animated shows are known for is the “floating timeline” method with a new story every episode. Gravity Falls instead incorporates a serialised narrative where an overarching story takes place together with character-focused subplots. Hirsch has stated that finding character stories was the hardest thing to write about, but necessary to push the show forward. The writers did a great job at keeping focus on the central cast and while Season 1 didn’t have too many episodes that pushed the main narrative, they still served to establish character development. In order to have the emotional scenes create the desired impact, it was important to show them enjoying their summer, learning about themselves and others, and just having a good time. “Land Before Swine” probably didn’t need a conflict between Dipper and Soos, however, this is necessary to have them grow as characters and have them establish a firm relationship that lasts the rest of the show. While not all the episodes had gripping character growth, they still served to establish them as believable characters and make the action and emotional scenes more jarring.

One of the best aspects of the show are the characters. The Pines twins are two of the strongest child protagonists I’ve seen in a Disney cartoon. They have different strengths; different weaknesses and they rely on each other to balance them out. They are a great pair because they go through the same experiences, but they have different ideas as to how to spend summer. Dipper wants to embrace and solve the mysteries of Gravity Falls whereas Mabel just wants a fun time. These clashing goals form an easy source of conflict to drive the story forwards, but it’s not malicious, sometimes Dipper saves Mabel and other times Mabel saves Dipper. It’s a real sibling relationship and you can tell they both love each other with nearly every episode giving them a happy ending. The dynamic between the pair works great, but it’s taken up to eleven when the rest of the Mystery Shack crew is involved.

Grunkle Stan works well as a character and plot device with most of the show’s humour and mystery focusing on him. He always schemes new ways to make money and his often-elaborate plans put him in hilarious situations that provide the more mature humour. Whether he succeeds or fails, Stan is a stand-out character. Another stand-out is the shack’s handyman, Soos, the otherwise comic-relief who joins the twins on most of their adventures. While the twins highlight the child-like side of fantasy, Soos represents the more young-adult part. He’s a fan of video games, anime, and other nerd culture Dipper is too young for. He’s also incredibly loyal to the Pines family, notably Stan, always coming through when it counts. Finally, there’s the part-time cashier, Wendy Corduroy, the teenage tomboy who is always ready to kick ass. As befitting of a teenager, she is rebellious laid-back, and while she doesn’t carry many episodes on her own, her wit and sarcastic attitude help balance out the main cast, and she also provides some of the best action scenes that are rivalled only by Stan.

This is only scratching the surface of this incredible show, and I don’t think I can compress it all into one post. That said, Gravity Falls is a masterwork of modern animation, and its influence and legacy can still be seen in other animated Disney shows. It has intriguing mysteries, fleshed characters, an equal balance of light and dark humour, and expert storytelling for the serialised narrative and single-episode plots. It’s great television, and half the time, you forget you’re watching an animated show, and I’m so grateful to Alex Hirsch for creating something that you can enjoy as a kid, and still enjoy when you’re an adult. I may be in my 20s now, but I don’t think I’ll every stop loving this brilliant show, and I don’t think anyone else will either.

KDSSB ELUWKGDB JUDYLWB IDOOV

#2012 #disney #disney channel #animation #gravity falls #gf #gravity falls ten year anniversary #review #dipper pines #mabel pines #grunkle stan #soos #wendy corduroy #I could write a whole essay on how much I love this show #Happy Birthday Gravity Falls

1 note · View note

musical-chick-13 · 4 days

Text

#the PROBLEM is. some properties I like I cannot even talk about my Criticisms™ because if I do it attracts people whose side I am NOT on #like in the case of a certain british procedural show adopting old mystery novels that went on hiatus a lot. I did not like season 4.#but that is not because The Ship didn't go canon and it CERTAINLY wasn't because I never thought any of the show was good in #the first place. and I don't like The Main Ship of the c-chibs era but it's because the way it was written was VERY much not for me.#it's not because I think the whole era is trash (that ship was really the ONLY part of it I didn't like I loved everything else)#I DO have beef with some of the choices in season 8 of The Gritty Deconstruction Fantasy Show but they sure weren't ANY of the issues #that anyone else had!!! and I don't think it retroactively ruined the whole show actually!!!!!#like it's just so frustrating. especially since sometimes I DO want to break down what I consider to be unfortunate writing choices.#and I DO want to complain sometimes! but so much of the discussion around various properties is taken up by me just.#trying to explain that I'm allowed to like it in the first place and defending why I don't think it's Unconditionally Bad #so I can't ever like. for example. discuss the deaths in 8x03 and my issues with THOSE as character endpoints #or why they killed mary and had her husband act terribly to her for no reason just before she died #or how shitty it was in the last era for me to see ANOTHER character be mentally ill but in the most unobtrusive palatable way possible #(and then also make that really weird comment about a previous love interest??? who WAS unpalatable in many ways--though not like.#canonically mentally ill. even if I and many other people are drawn to that interpretation.)#perHAPS I want to talk about my confusion over the story's handling of j/d for reasons that are not 'I hate these characters' or #'that's pRoBLeMaTiC and you shouldn't ship it because that's pRoBLeMaTiC'#maybe I WILL just make a 4-hour video essay unpacking all my Thoughts™ on that show. because people don't have to watch it!#they could just hit the back button!

2 notes · View notes

theheadlessgroom · 11 months

Text

https://www.tumblr.com/beatingheart-bride/720069705066577920/theheadlessgroom-beatingheart-bride

@beatingheart-bride

“I...I’m so sorry, lass...” Wilhelm winced, his heart suddenly squeezing with a dull pain as he watched her read this particular legend, and see the horror that it held, the horror that had so terrified so many generations of the Paces, the horror that had made Wilhelm himself so apprehensive about her presence...he could see how much it sickened her, looking at the illustration of that leering siren, beautiful and deadly as she dragged her prey down to the depths to be devoured.

(That particular illustration had always frightened Wilhelm when he was a boy-it always felt as if the siren was looking right at him, eyeing him like he was the next course in her meal of human flesh, and he would ask his father to turn the page quickly-an action Randall repeated with Wilhelm when he was very little, even avoiding it outright as he thumbed through the pages, looking for his favorite illustrations.)

“I...I’m so sorry,” he said again, unsure of what else to say, as he lay a warm and gentle hand on her shoulder, his heart crushed to see this look on her face, a newfound sense of guilt hanging over him as he watched her. He knew she wasn’t like that, he knew that now, that she never took pleasure in what she had to do to survive, not like the legends said, but even so, the look in her eyes only made the lingering guilt he’d had over having been so cold and standoffish when they first met grow, as she no doubt understood now just why he’d been that way...

#((i could too! i could write a whole essay on the bond between emily and her in-laws and how important it is!))#((it really is like emily was born to be a pace; and both june and wilhelm recognize it and are very happy to have her in their family))#((and emily is happy to be a part of it! she loves her in-laws just as much as they do her and is very grateful for them))#((their acceptance of her; their kindness towards her; all of it she appreciates and is very touched by!))#((and poor emily is right! she just wanted a nice story; maybe one about a siren like her; falling in love with a man like randall))#((and now she gets stories of sirens being cruel in their eating habits; taking pleasure in the deaths of their victims!))#((it probably reminds her of constance; who i have NO doubt takes a sick joy out of watching her victims die))#((whereas emily is just eating to survive; not out of a desire to be cruel!))#((and wilhelm feels so awful for showing her these stories! he feels so bad!! D:>))#outofhatboxes #beatingheart-bride #V:Part of Your World

5 notes · View notes

benetnvsch · 1 year

Text

:dancing: changed up my discord profile bc I've had it on-and-off as merlin for like,, almost a year now and need some Adventure in my life and mmmm :) happy !

#my latest thing has been just saying the emotion im feeling and its so efficient- just happy :)#look at em #the blorbos from my show #I still love merlon so so much (he's my entire carrd) but I need to spice up my discord experience-#I've used that merlon icon for Over a year now (it's been some characters on and off like kidu for pride month but still DKJHD)#speaking of kidu I need to change my Tumblr layout it is getting old too DKJHD #(also #new face is so Dazai's entrance exam from knkd's perspective coded prove me wrong-)#I wonna edit the -stage play? to it but am too lazy maybe this weekend #"From someone so close #That whole lil bit and then ofc the line that is in my status #AOUGH could write essays abt how it fits #but I want #MAYBAPS I WILL DRAW SOMETHING #but I have so many drawing requests/wips im doing of her specifically DKHDKDJ-#whoops idkdkhs sk shrug idk mmmm #kite's unfiltered brainthoughts

2 notes · View notes

s-insomnia · 1 year

Text

going on a big time rush nostalgia rewatch and i find it so fascinating how they handled addressing actual issues (homesickness, psychosomatic illness, fear of rejection, emotional repression)

like multiple times a character will plainly just. state the problem a character's having (ex: when bob tells logan that logan's relationships never work because he's afraid of rejection; when the therapist in that one ep just straight up says james' tanning spray addiction is because he feels estranged because of the pressures of his career; or when logan says that james' sickness due to him losing "swagger" was psychosomatic), just to have the other character respond by saying "what lol?"

it's so... interesting. because the writers clearly realized their core audience (kids) probably wouldn't understand the point when it's put in more "adult" terms (like kids aren't going to know what the hell "psychosomatic" means, or truly understand what fear of rejection in romantic relationships is), shown by how the point would be re-addressed sometime else in episode in much simpler terms. yet they still did it?

i mean, i don't dislike it. as an almost adult, it gives me a much greater appreciation of the show that i didn't have when i watched the show when i was 8. it's just... something i've really noticed.

#i could write a whole essay on how kids tv shows tackle 'real life problems'#like when in wizards of waverly place #harper says alex fell in love w the version of dean she saw and dated in her dreams #with the obv irl connection being how people can fall in love with the idealized versions of their partners #or how in big time halloween #kendall being a werewolf and trying to hide it from jo bc he's afraid jo won't like him anymore #is possibly an allegory for how nt people feel they have to mask their behaviors to fit in #or or or how in lab rats #spike is literally just a bad attempt at dissociative identity disorder #or maybe im giving the writers wayyyy too much credit #who knows #s-in.ramble #s-in.txt #what did i just write

6 notes · View notes

the-acid-pear · 2 years

Text

Okay i must say Undisputed 3 didn't age as well as its predecessor, which is honestly funny considering that it's not that old (2010), that said, i still fucking loved it, even if they used the fish eye effect on one of the most serious scenes of the movie, completely ruining it.

#luly talks #Yuri's whole relationship with Turbo was just delightful and Dolor was so fucking gender #AND GAGA oh my beloved Gaga i would write an essay on this msn #i KNEW he wasn't gonna give up on Boyka that's his boy!!! from the moment he offered him a new position and got upset when he wanted to die #you could tell he genuinely cared for Boyka #and of course he loves money a lot too but he's a fucking honorable man!!!!!!!!#and i also want his sideburns so bad no joke #like i feel even the small detail of his cholesterol being high and him eating carrots is to show how much he had changed w/o boyka #N THAT ENDIBG OUGHHHHH SCREAMING AND CRYING AND RIPPING OFF MY HAIR!!!!!#gotta point out the ooobvious religious imagery when boyka tied the bloody mop on his knee and it bled too #that was such a beautiful scene #i am disappointed that Dolor's drug addiction was never brought up or anything!! that was disappointing :(#they did wrong what in the last they did right which was having too many characters #there was a lot of lost potential in all these fighters </3 #anyway this movie is just beautiful and yuri boyka is a great character #AND ALSO one last thing i looove that gayness is never joked as a BAD thing in these movies #like first one w Nikolai George just jokes about him not liking the beard but isn't like EUGH IM NOT A FAG I AINT GETTING ON TOP OF YOU WTF #and in this one when turbo got accused of clapping boyka's cheeks he didn't react like the last example either #and if anything the assholes were the others for using that as a valid excuse to beat him up #ITS JUST NICE OKAY 🥺

11 notes · View notes

my-chemical-rot · 2 years

Text

How did I fall asleep while rewatching season 3 episodes 3 and 4 of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. Literally some of my favorite episodes of the show how do I sleep during that

#s3 ep3 is the one where Nathaniel goes to the zoo :-)#I could write a whole essay about how much I love Nathaniel’s character development it’s written so well #Like. When he was introduced I hated him & hoped he wouldn’t be an important character & the show would write him off #And then!! The show actually surprised me! And made me change my mind! And by season 4 he’s one of my favorite characters!#Honestly there’s so much I love about this show #I really love how they handle Rebecca having BPD. I like that they actually say the disorder instead of leaving it ambiguous #like what a lot of other shows generally do about neurodivergence #I like that the show encourages the audience to really understand & sympathize with a character with BPD #& it shows how her actions can & do have negative effects on her loved ones but it doesn’t demonize her about it

4 notes · View notes

ariaste · 9 months

Text

The Magic Trick You Didn’t See: Being An Analysis of Good Omens Season 2

(or: Neil Gaiman, Your Brain is Gorgeous But I Have Cracked Your Sneaky Little Code And Have You Dead To Rights*) (*Maybe)

***

Soooooo I just spent the last 48 hours having a BREATHTAKING GALAXY BRAIN EPIPHANY about Good Omens Season 2 and feverishly writing a fuckin16,000 word essay about the incredible magic trick that @neil-gaiman pulled off.

Yes, it’s long, but I PROMISE your brains will explode. Do you want to know how magic works? Do you want to know what Metatron’s deal is (I’m like 99% sure of this and it’s EXTREMELY FUCKING GOOD)? Do you want to know about the Mystery of the Vanishing Eccles Cakes and the big fat beautiful clue I found in the opening credits? Do you go through the whole inventory of Chekov’s Firearm & Heavy Artillery Discount Warehouse?

Here is the essay, go read it: https://docs.google.com/document/d/193IXS11XN46lziHRb6eUpM17yK0BQkRqke1Wh64A_e0/ When ur done u can tell me I’m an insane crackpot, and u know what, i won’t even be offended

In case you don’t know whether you want to bother reading the whole enormous thing on google docs, I’ve put the first couple sections of it under the cut. JUST TRUST ME OKAY, HEAR ME OUT, THIS IS VERY EXTREMELY COOL, NEIL IS GOOD AT HIS JOB--

Proem

A dark theater. The rustling of the audience: clothes, breathing, whispers of anticipation. The lights come up. A man enters, stage left. He is a magician—a master magician—and he performs for you a magic trick so good and so subtle... that you don’t even notice you’ve seen it.

You know there must have been a trick—after all, you came to the theater to see a trick performed, didn’t you? And he claims to be a magician. So there had to be a trick somewhere. There had to be.

But maybe there wasn’t. Maybe there was just a man on a stage, talking to you, telling you a story with a strangely unsatisfying ending you didn’t quite understand.

I know. This is a weird beginning to an analysis essay. But hear me out, because I have to explain the mechanisms of the stage before I can show you what the trick was, where the trapdoor was hidden, and how Neil Gaiman pulled the whole thing off so gently and elegantly that you didn’t notice a thing. Ready? Here we go.

The Facts As We Know Them

Let us begin by establishing a baseline—some fundamental, logical assumptions that underpin the magic trick. These will seem obvious as soon as I say them, which is precisely the point: They are self-evident, loadbearing foundations for my entire argument, and if I don’t point them out, I’m going to sound like a crackpot conspiracy theorist. (Which! To be fair, I might be. I could easily be wrong about all this—but I don’t think I am.)

Our baseline, loadbearing assumptions that preface my Grand Unified Theory of Season 2:

1. Neil Gaiman is extremely good at his job.

2. Neil Gaiman loves these characters and wants with all his heart to do them justice; likewise, he has a great deal of respect, love, and admiration for Terry Pratchett and is striving VERY HARD to write the show the way Terry would have been happy with.

3. The devil, as they say, is in the details: Neil Gaiman and the entire Good Omens cast/crew are fully capable of doing extremely subtle detail work, as conclusively proven in Season 1 Ep 6, specifically the whole sequence of the body-swap scenes.

With me so far? Great.

The Elephant In The Room

Season 2 was... odd. It was odd, wasn’t it. This isn’t a matter of whether you loved it or hated it—there was just something odd going on.

I spent the entirety of my first viewing very much enjoying myself and being very happy to be back with these characters and this world, but I was also liveblogging to my groupchat as I went, and a theme soon began emerging:

“Neil, what are you doing? Where are you going with this?” “What in god’s name is going on here? I’m so lost lmao.” “What is going on with the music situation?” “WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE NEIL” “zombies, ok, I trust u to pull this all together in the end, Neil, but I still don't know what you're up to” “What is going on LOL” “Incredibly what is going on here” “NEIL! WHAT IS HAPPENING!” “Literally what is happening” “Neil Gaiman why have you constructed a regency au for mystery VIBES reasons” “just????????? lesbians????????? dancing what's HAPPENING. just all the background characters are gay here ok sure sure sure NEIL GAIMAN WHAT IS HAPPENING--” “mmmmmmm neil what u doin”

All these are copied verbatim from my liveblogging, and apparently I am not the only one to have this reaction. And to be clear, I was having a good time! I came out to this theater to see a magic trick, and this Neil Gaiman guy on stage is a master magician—but I didn’t see the trick, even though there must have been a trick.

At first, I wasn’t sure how I felt about the season. I wanted to like it! Indeed, there were many things that I liked about it! But I felt a bit muddled and jumbled up and confused—I felt like there was something I didn’t understand about it, and so I couldn’t yet understand how I felt about it either.

I started chewing on this question in a friend’s DMs: Why is season 2 so fucking odd? What is going on here, Neil? What are you up to? The matter of whether he was up to something was never in question. I knew that he had to be up to something. Writers are always up to something, and as I watched season 2, it was as if I was watching Neil scamper around the room with a mischievous expression as he messed with things here and there and made little tweaks and adjustments to the arrangement of all the Chekov’s guns he’s stockpiling on the mantelpiece.

You see, Season 2 has some very bad writing in it. HANG ON, DON’T ARGUE WITH ME YET! THIS IS NOT A JUDGMENT CALL!! This is the rug that the trick’s secret mechanism is hidden under!!! This is the hidden mirror that makes the trick work!!!!! This is the trapdoor in the stage!

Yes, of course I will explain myself.

Neil Gaiman is a master magician, but I am a pretty damn good magician myself—I’m a professional fantasy author who has published nine books, and I teach workshops for apprentice writers online and at universities—and if there is one thing I have learned about the process of achieving mastery of your craft, it is this:

Regardless of what medium they’re working in, the apprentice artist is concerned primarily with achieving realism via an expansion of their control—control of their brush strokes as they paint a photorealistic eye; control of their deck of cards, the mechanisms of their magic tricks, and where the audience’s attention is being directed; control of all the little factors of voice, plot, character, setting, suspense and surprise that go into writing a good story. However, the master artist has achieved that control—so much so that it often looks effortless to an untrained eye—and sometimes the master artist returns to a messy, amateurish style simply because they have control even over this too.

As an example, consider Picasso and his entire body of work. He begins as an apprentice focused on achieving control, doing portraits of people that look like people—like what we expect a portrait of a person to look like. Then, as he grows in skill and gradually achieves mastery, he pulls away from realism. He develops a style, he experiments with faces that don’t look like any human alive colored in ways that do not appear in nature. He expands his control. His work becomes abstract. Towards the end of his life, he starts experimenting with what’s called “Naive art”, something that a 5 year old could theoretically draw... but you have to achieve mastery before you can do it on purpose and have it look good.

On one hand, Neil Gaiman is extremely good at his job. On the other hand, Season 2 has bad writing in it.

What does that tell us?

Well, we know from our Baseline Assumptions that Neil Gaiman is simply too good of a writer to fuck up through garden-variety clumsiness and lack-of-control the way an apprentice writer would. Additionally, he cannot fuck up by accident in this case because I am positive that the man is scrutinizing his work on Good Omens far too closely to let anything slide—for Crowley and Aziraphale’s sakes, for David and Michael’s sakes, and especially for Terry’s sake. The stakes are sky-high, and he cares too much to write a weird, kind of “bad” season by accident.

Which leaves only one option: He did it on purpose.

(Am I sounding like a crackpot conspiracy theorist? Baby, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet. I’m gonna get SO MUCH MORE CRACKPOT.)

If he did it on purpose, then the natural question to ask is: WHY!?!?!??

It’s a great question. Not “Why?” in terms of why he as an individual person with emotions would decide to do that, mind you. More like, “What purpose does this serve for the structure of the narrative?” There is a story he is intending to tell, and out of all the choices he could have possibly made, for some reason this one was necessary and correct in order to achieve that end goal—so what was that reason?

See? Intentionality. He knows exactly what details he left in, and he did it on purpose. (Editing! It’s important!)

So there has to be a reason. It’s like when a master magician “casually” rubs an itch on his nose—why did he do that? What is he sneakily slipping into his mouth by hiding it under the excuse of this little gesture that does not even register to you as meaningful? (If you haven’t watched enough stage magic to know what I mean, watch this.)

This question is, of course, impossible to simply answer out of thin air without any further evidence. It is a dead end—so we must adjust the question and come at it from a different angle.

The one I settled on when I was chewing on this was: Well, okay, what do I mean when I say “bad writing”? What is it about S2 that makes it feel so goddamn odd?

The Pledge, The Turn, and... The Conspicuous, Expectant Silence

There are three parts to a magic trick: Pledge, Turn, Prestige.

First, the Pledge: You show the audience something ordinary. Second, the Turn: You make that ordinary thing do something extraordinary, like vanish. Third, the Prestige: You bring the ordinary thing back.

To quote the 2006 film The Prestige just after its explanation of the first two parts: “You want to be fooled. But you wouldn’t clap yet, because making something disappear isn’t enough. You have to bring it back.”

You have to bring it back.

When I teach apprentice writers, I call this a “setup-payoff cycle”. Achieving control and dexterity with this tool is crucial, because the setup-payoff cycle is the engine of the story—it’s what makes the story run. You can have a setup-payoff cycle at any scale—I have read ones that were a single sentence long; I’ve read ones that were two books long. Additionally, all jokes, no matter how long they are, are structured on a setup/payoff cycle. These cycles work precisely the same way a magic trick does:

You set up the audience’s expectations. (Optional but generally considered stylish and elegant: You give those expectations a firm jolt to throw the audience off-balance.) You pay off the audience’s expectations in a way they weren’t expecting, while saying “TA DA!!!!” really loud with your arms flung wide.

Audiences really like this. A setup-payoff cycle executed just right makes the audience’s brains light up like Times Square and hammers on their mental “reward” buttons like nothing else. It’s like you’ve personally handed them a cookie and a gold star. They go wild for this.

Here’s an example of a setup-payoff cycle, though it’s not a perfect one—and you’ve probably heard it before, so you’re not going to be throwing chairs and tearing down the theater from sheer glee:

The Setup: Knock knock. Who’s there? Banana. Banana who? The Jolt: (the joke starts over and repeats several times without reaching the payoff (aka the prestige) while the audience grows more and more annoyed and frustrated about the unfulfilled expectations, until finally...) Knock knock. Who’s there? Orange. Orange who? The Payoff: ORANGE YOU GLAD I DIDN’T SAY BANANA?

Good Omens Season 2 feels so fucking odd because the setup-payoff cycles are incomplete—nearly all of them are, and the ones that do close the loop do so in really weird ways which, as a professional author, make me feel kind of, “Bwuh?????? But where’s my cookie? Excuse me??? Sir???? Neil????? My cookie, tho???”

When I realized this, when I finally put my finger on why the whole season was giving me some uncanny valley heebie-jeebies, a chill ran down my spine. (The rest is here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/193IXS11XN46lziHRb6eUpM17yK0BQkRqke1Wh64A_e0/ I’M GOING TO GO STARE INTO THE ABYSS NOW BYE)

#good omens #good omens season 2 #ineffable husbands #neil gaiman

11K notes · View notes

whimsicalcotton · 1 year

Text

midway through vol7 seven now and i am still dying y’all

#i could go on for literal literal hours about how much i love these kids dude #oh my god also penny!!! penny is back!!!! you ahve no idea how elated i am!!!!!!!#i could write a whole goddamnn essay on that fucking adam fight dude. both halves of the gambol shroud!! i'm never going to get over that!!!#i just i just. i am foaming at the mouth over this show dude #don't even get me Started on JNPR. i will also never recover from the training video/statue scenes #nebular.txt

0 notes

comicaurora · 5 months

Note

I've started making my way through the playlist hbomberguy made of actually good video essays by queer creators and spotted a comment of yours on the one about the relationship between Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy, which was fun xD red in the wild!

Anyways, just wanted to appreciate how both you and Blue and you are very good at showing your sources! It's always nice to know that the people you've watched for years have good habits after an event like this, and I hope you guys are among the people that get some new fans after this whole debacle, because your channel definitely qualifies for "good educational videos made by queer people"

I'm glad! Blue's much better about listing his sources and follow-up reading than I am.

To be honest, I loved the video, but my imposter syndrome always flares like crazy when I watch an essay like that. It might be the ADHD or it might just be who I am as a person, but I feel like I've lived my whole life striving to make everything I do the best it can be, and still managing to fuck up and get criticised for things I could've done better if only I never missed anything. It's an actual gut-drop when it turns out a source I used wasn't trustworthy, or when in older videos I only went wiki-deep for some claims and didn't check every source to be 100% sure I wasn't being goat-fish'd. And this being the internet, I can get criticized at any time for things I've gotten wrong years ago, since it's evergreen online and to the new-viewing critic it's as fresh as yesterday. It makes it hard for me to stay proud of my work past the first moment of "oh I would've done that different now". There's a cocktail of complicated, scary feelings around this space, no matter how little I actually have in common with the bad guys of this scenario - it's less about the reality and more about who my imposter syndrome tells me I am. I saw several people saying that the video actually made them feel much better about their own work because it made it clear that accidental plagiarism on that scale is impossible, but if my anxieties listened to reason I would've successfully machete'd them out of my skull years ago. I just hope I never fuck up badly enough to deserve an hbombing of my own.

But my own stress aside, the hbomb essay exposed a level of laxness, laziness and entitlement on the part of these plagiarists that I think is almost incomprehensible to people who actually create for a living or even just the joy of it. How hollow do you have to be to take in someone else's writing and not consider it, digest it, let it reshape your views and then formulate your own interpretation on it, but instead to file off the serial numbers and pretend it's yours, trusting that the person whose thoughts and words you valued enough to steal will never be powerful enough to call you out on it? I go down research rabbit holes because I love the frustration and thrill of putting something together! How joyless it must be to skim the surface and borrow someone else's conclusions!

I've sometimes had people email asking for sources on parts of my interpretation of various myths, possibly in the interest of source-citing for school papers (a nightmare concept in and of itself) and with very few exceptions I usually have to tell them "the only sources were the english translations I used of the primary source where the myth was originally written, like I said in the video, and the part where I said I was conspiracy-boarding has no source other than my own analysis of the given source, which is why I called it conspiracy-boarding" and I was always a little baffled by those emails - half the videos are introduced like "this is The Prose Edda" or "this is in Ovid's Metamorphoses" or "this bit is Hesiod" so what else could they want - but seeing the hbomb of the week made me realize that truly original analysis might not be what most people are expecting from a "thing summarized." They might be expecting a compilation of other people's summaries instead.

#asks #not aurora

458 notes · View notes

sufferingsokkatash · 1 month

Text

THAT famous zukka hug in the atla north and south comic : an essay you did not need, by me.

i was thinking about how, in writing, there should be no accidents or coincidences in how and why something is described, or the detail the writer chooses to use. for example, zuko tapping his hand on his desk would be used to show that he is impatient or anxious about something.

so THEN i decided to apply this to the zukka hug, because why not be delulu about these things idk.

first of all, here are the zukka hug pages for context:

disclaimer: i don’t really know how the fandom feels about the comics. personally i like them, so i will proceed with that bias in mind. also please take this with the humour that is intended, it’s more fun that way.

i go down a sabre tooth moose lion hole below the cut.

this whole scene to me is largely what we all love about atla - humour and good characterisation combined with serious subject matter. king kuei and bosco are the comic relief and oblivious party in the face of quite a complicated issue, as zuko himself acknowledges. this humour then extends to kuei offering zuko the chance to join in on his hug with bosco, which zuko politely refuses. obviously, there is the clear issue of zuko being afraid of being eaten by a bear, but we’ll pretend that ernest hemingway is grading our papers here, okay.

it is a very deliberate writing choice and contrast to have zuko refuse hugs from one person/animal and then immediately and happily accept one from sokka. (see also: sokka running excitedly with a big grin on his face at the bottom of page 17 to greet them, naming zuko first, but remembering that he is a good ambassador to the swt and using their proper titles despite his excitement. more silliness mixed with seriousness. see also, also: HE RAAAAAN!) zuko may be touch averse and not a huggy person, but screw that when it’s sokka who’s offering the hug.

remember there are no accidents in good writing. kuei happily says: hello friends! to which, in both that panel and the next, he is clearly ignored. sokka and zuko are so absorbed in hugging each other that sokka neglects his duties in welcoming them both properly. zuko : 2 swt ambassador role: 0. also ignored is the fact that kuei brought his bear, which would normally be subject to some kind of smartass comment from our boomerang boi, even if he knows he’s obsessed with his pet from the ba sing se episodes.

this could be an actual mistake, but sokka ran towards zuko, who was standing in front of kuei. but in the hug panel, sokka is between them. that means kuei walked all the way around them trying to get their attention, and it still didn’t work. sokka, nor zuko, say a further word to kuei. like exactly how much tunnel vision is there in this, my goddddd.

bosco is protecting kuei and sokka is protecting zuko. could be why they mirrored them and their positions in the hug panel, so not a mistake. a swt person says: protecting foreigners, sokka?! but that is exactly what he does by ignoring the protesters and telling zuko not to worry about them. despite wanting to do his duty to everyone sokka puts zuko first, basically, and doesn’t care about what they all think of him. that’s kind of huge for sokka.

yes, hakoda is injured at this time and yes he’s proud of sokka, but surely as chief he would have gone to meet the earth king and firelord? why did the writers go to so much effort making sure that sokka was there to meet zuko and have them hugging take up a third of an entire page when printing and space in the comics is such a consideration? it is clearly important, y’all.

their faces when they see each other. sokka can’t stop grinning and zuko closes his eyes in relief he’s so happy. enough said.

sokka says: thanks so much for coming! like he doesn’t already know zuko would travel the world just to make him happy or help in what’s important to him. have you forgotten boiling rock, sokka? because that dude you’re wrapped around, acting like he’s been starved of you, sure hasn’t.

this comic is all about nations coming together and traditions being upheld and shared. in other words, marry him sokka. it is in your diplomatic interests to do so.

in utterly insane conclusion:

i am always surprised at how much they made the effort in the writing for this one scene. i don’t see the comics as something that tease ships, they aren’t natla. what i do see is two guys who clearly care about each other, almost to the detriment of their roles and responsibilities, and their relationship was worth the effort taken in the writing and artwork to show that. it is super heckin sweet. does this mean i think zukka is canon or could be? no. maybe did i have fun pretending and overanalyzing every detail? yes.

ps in all seriousness, the answer is that this is about my fav boy and how far he has come in his character growth journey - exhibit a from ‘the avatar returns’ episode:

the end, i am getting blocked and going to jail but it’s okay because zukka is my bosco hug.

#zukka #unhinged ramblings #tash goes feral on nonexistent zukka lore #PLEASE YOUR HONOR #i love sokka so much i want to rip things up when i look at him

291 notes · View notes

herebutnothere · 15 days

Text

For YEARS I had heard about TWD but had convinced myself that there was no way I would like a show about zombies. Too spooky. Too gory. Too much.

So imagine my surprise when I see promo for TOWL and it's marketed as an "epic love story."

... a love story??? Sign me the fuck up, if nothing else just to see how they could pull it off.

So I started slow by watching recaps of the first couple episodes and from reactions, I could tell something was there. So I watched TWD-specific recaps and reactions and basically had a grounded understanding of the world and the people. I was hooked.

Then episode 4 came along and I signed up for AMC+ to watch it live so Danai could get her credit. And y'all.

Y'all.

Y'ALL.

That started it all. I went back and watched the first three episodes of TOWL (after watching E4 an obscene number of times) and then I started TWD.

And B*TCH.

Lori.

I have many thoughts that I'll share in due time (depending on my mood—that's typically how I write things and where my focus goes), but the main one is this:

The scene where Lori incites Rick is biblical.

She is the snake whispering in the garden.

She literally curls herself around him.

She whispers (hisses) in his ear.

She plants the seed of knowledge.

She plants the seed of fear.

She shows him a paradise where his family is safe. Where his family is his...

If only...

Because the paradise Lori tempts him with comes with a cost.

And when Rick pays it, it costs him everything.

His friendship.

His marriage.

His son's view of him.

His group's view of him.

His view of himself.

Because the Rick Grimes we as viewers know him to be wasn't the Rick Grimes he knew himself to be. (A whole 'nother essay can be written on his mental health journey during both TWD and TOWL)

That is, until...

Until...

Until a samurai shows up with baby formula. With strength and tenderness. With protection and grace.

There's much to be said about the true role Lori played in his life pre-, during-, and post- her life and death in the ZA, but this is key:

She was always going to be the downfall of The Brave Man because she weaponized his bravery, care, protection, and love as her own coping mechanism.

And in doing so, she wasn't able to allow—or empower—him to find his own coping mechanism, too.

#the ones who live #the walking dead #twd towl #richonne #lori grimes #rick grimes #do you want me to talk about this more?#i just got here #the walking dead towl #rick grimes towl #michonne

210 notes · View notes

pippin-katz · 7 months

Text

The 5 specific details of Red, White & Royal Blue spicy scenes that make me, a demisexual, feel: 🦋🫣🦋

(not ranked in any order)

I need to write an essay about this because I want to see if I'm not the only ace-spectrum person out there that has this weird- I don't want to say "exception", but that's the only word that comes to mind- when it comes to characters. But that's a topic for another post lmfao

No. 1 - Henry shoving Alex onto the couch:

Could you tell by how I keep bringing it up and using gifs of it in my essays?

Henry being confident suits him, even if we don't get too see it much. I love how Alex's smile drops because of how surprised and shocked he is by the action.

My stomach does a flip whenever I watch this clip lmfao

No. 2 - Alex tilting his head back with these expressions when Henry starts kissing his neck:

Look, I am not immune to an attractive human, being attractive; it's men like Taylor (and Nick) that keep me from being a lesbian lmfao

No. 3 - this:

I don't think I need to say anything; this feels like it should be illegal. The fact that you know when Henry actually starts *clears throat* doing what he's doing, because you can see Alex's eyes roll underneath his eyelids. Like... what the fuck Taylor? Was that really necessary??

No. 4 - Alex pushing against Henry so hard that he ends up lifting him onto the table:

Then he continues to hold his leg and pull him back towards him. It's Alex's only real moment of leading an interaction. He's controlling where they go here; Henry is going/staying where he wants him.

No. 5 - Alex's movements & Henry's facial expressions:

This whole scene was shot/filmed/edited so well. It shows everything without even showing anything. It's also very clearly "making love" rather than "having sex". It's soft and slow, and it's so clear that they truly cherish each other in every way.

All you see is Alex's body rolling, and that's all you need to see. Then you add in Henry's expressions that show how good he feels, but in a genuine-feeling manner.

They didn't need to show anymore than this for the viewer to understand what they're doing. There's no cut to Alex's hips to "show the action" or whatever. Henry's faces aren't unrealistic or pornographic. Neither of them are portraying over-the-top pleasure that feels like it was filmed just for the audience to get their kicks.

It feels genuine, and emotionally intimate as well as physically. It makes my little demisexual heart ache, and butterflies fly around in my stomach lol

Okay that's all! There won't be a part 2 cause there's nothing to put on it, and that's kinda the point of this post lol

#red white and royal blue #rwrb #rwrb movie #rwrb thoughts #alex claremont diaz #taylor zakhar perez #henry hanover stuart fox #nicholas galitzine #firstprince

485 notes · View notes

oh-stars · 2 months

Text

Recognition

Love is showing up when someone doesn’t ask.

a @steddielovemonth prompt | 1257 words | CW: N/A | Rating: G

“What time will you be home?” Eddie asks, perched on the couch like a bird, elbows on his knees and sitting on his heels, toes straining under his weight. He feels like a little gremlin, body needing a way to expel all the energy his boring day off built up while Steve’s been at work.

Steve sighs and adjusts his tie in the mirror by the door. “If all goes well, eight?”

Eddie groans and falls back, limbs flailing. “If they expect you to go to school after hours, they should at least pay you,” he says, face squished into the fabric. It’s miserable being on different schedules. He’s been working at the plant until the construction is done on his shop, which means weird hours and being completely off rhythm with Steve. He barely sees the man!

“Tell me something I don’t know,” Steve huffs as he smooths down his shirt, walking towards him. He carefully bends over to kiss Eddie’s pouting lips, laughing at him. God, Eddie’s so glad this man is his. He’s too precious to let go. “I’d stay if I could,” Steve says softly. “You know I hate going to these things.”

Eddie sighs, giving him a small smile as he touches up the few strands of Steve’s hair that were betrayed by his hairspray. “I know,” he says. “I could always come with you.”

Steve shakes his head, cheeks pink. “Thank you, but you, uh, really don’t want to go to a boring PTA meeting. All they’re going to do is fight over which classroom should get the crayons.”

“I’d go for you, Steve,” Eddie says. He sighs again and pushes Steve away. “Go so you can get back.”

“I love you,” Steve says, stealing another kiss before he finally stands up.

“Love you too,” Eddie says, smashing his face back into the couch. “I’ll be here, rotting away until you return, my sweet knight.”

Steve shakes his head and grabs his wallet and keys off the coffee table. Then he’s gone, with the rumble of the Beemer and the faint sounds of David Bowie announcing his departure.

Eddie lasts a whole three minutes before he’s shooting up off the couch and pacing around the living room as he thinks of something he could do to occupy his time. He’s done about as much housework as he could manage for the day, he doesn’t think he could practice anymore today or write at all with how depleted his creative juices feel, and he knows nothing good comes on TV on Tuesdays in early January.

That’s how he ends up piddling about Steve’s desk. Steve keeps all his papers that need to be graded meticulously organized, with the ones that are fair game for anyone to grade (aka the ones with scoresheets) in the blue folder. On days where Eddie’s brain was too much, when he couldn’t even look at his guitar without feeling pain or pick up his pencil to be creative in any fashion, he needed something to do to get the excess brain energy out. Robin’s much the same way, so Steve started setting aside his pop quizzes and multiple choice tests in the blue folder for either of them to grade if they needed. Otherwise, he’d get to it eventually. It’s mindless enough to calm their brains, they feel good helping Steve, and it helps give Steve more time to focus on the essays and presentations that need more time to be graded. It’s a win win all the way around.

The blue folder isn’t as full as normal, but there are a few worksheets Eddie can take care of for Steve. He reaches for the sticker book and the purple pen (Steve’s signature grading color) in the mug Wayne gave him that’s an apple with a little worm for a handle that he uses as a pencil cup. That’s when he sees the PTA flyer. It’s jam-packed with information and minutes from the last meeting, but in big, bold letters at the bottom of the flyer, Eddie reads:

Join us to honor this year’s Teacher of the Year, Mr. Steve Harrington, eighth grade English.

Eddie puts down the blue folder, the pen, and the flyer. He’s still for exactly one minute before his body goes into flight or fight mode. Within ten minutes, he’s dressed in his nice date clothes and his hair is tamed back into a tight bun, threatening to snap the band.

Time crunch or not, he drives like a bat out of hell. He has plenty of time to get to the school, they live close enough, but he needs to make a few stops first. All in all, he gets there right as the principal is starting the meeting.

He tucks himself in a corner in the back, watching the whole thing patiently. The problem is, he can’t really see Steve. Eddie cranes his neck and bounces on his toes, trying to find a way to make it to one of the seats in the center of the auditorium, closer to the stage.

His opening comes after the chorus does a performance, when the parents at the front scurry their students away before the meeting can continue. First off, rude, but it works in Eddie’s favor. Steve’s award is next and Eddie isn’t missing this.

Eddie slips into the front row as the principal starts shifting gears, whispering to the vice principal as the crowd settles.

She announces Steve to a polite applause, but that’s just not good enough for his Steve.

His palms ache with how hard he’s clapping, just shy of letting out a loud ‘whoop’ – and he’d do it if it wasn’t for the pretty way Steve’s face and ears are pinkening up. Their eyes meet as Eddie beams.

“Hi,” he mouths, trying so hard to not vibrate out of the seat.

Steve’s smile softens as he gives a wave of appreciation to the crowd, eyes darting back to Eddie. As the principal sings Steve’s praise and when she hands over the microphone for Steve to say a few words, Steve’s eyes never leave Eddie’s. It isn’t until a few of his students get up to speak that Steve finally looks toward the speaker, his shy smile turning into one of pride. Eddie knows he could care less about the words themselves (it’ll be later tonight that Steve will have a crisis and finally let the kind words sink in, where he’ll cower into Eddie’s body and panic over how much these kids trust him), but rather seeing how brave his kids are for speaking to a crowd this big and doing it so well.

The award is the last part of the meeting, so after another round of applause, everyone is dismissed. Eddie jumps up to meet Steve at the bottom of the stage.

“You didn’t have to come,” Steve says as he jumps down.

“I wanted to,” Eddie says. “I’m proud of you,” he adds as he bumps their shoulders together.

“I’m just doing my job–”

“Stop,” Eddie says kindly, “you deserve this.” He grabs Steve’s hand and gently tugs him toward the exit. “C’mon, I’m taking you to dinner to celebrate.”

“What about my car?”

“I’ll drive you to work tomorrow.”

Steve’s blush is even stronger up close, but he doesn’t fight Eddie. And it’s an absolute privilege to watch as Steve gets all shy again when Eddie presents him with flowers once they’re at the van, stammering his thanks as Eddie kisses his cheek swiftly.

Ao3 Link

Thank you @lady-lostmind 💜

#ohstars fic #steddie #steddie fic #ohstars posting challenge #steddielovemonth #eddie munson #stranger things #steve harrington

220 notes · View notes

laceymorganwrites · 1 year

Text

Certified babyboy Denji hcs

The sweet:

he always hums when he feels safe

doesn´t have the best singing voice but he loves music to death and is always dancing around somehow

this boy will not stop moving, be that tapping his fingers, feet or swaying his head

does happy dances when he eats good food, sees cute animals or when the sun is out

he is actually a good listener but nobody ever believes him

when he´s with you he tries extra hard to listen to you cause he´s interested in everything you have to say but he gets so distracted thinking about how beautiful you are that he just zones out

always has this goofy grin on his face, so many people called him dumb because of it but he can´t help it

they don´t know what he´s been through and how much it means to him that he can finally live safely

literally obsessed with chocolate and homecooked food

loves to bake once he learns how to

you can read him like a book whenever he´s nervous or shy

has the cutest fucking pout

but he only shows his sad and vulnerable side to people he really trusts with his whole heart (I could write a whole essay about this ngl)

has sweaty hands and is shy to hold yours because of that but is over the moon when you say you don´t mind

overall way too excited about dates

will literally jump in the air and be over the moon over a simple boba date

most people think he´s annoying and dumb because of this, since he just expresses his positive feelings so overtly, especially happiness and excitement

while at the same time he just bottles up negative feelings

will get lost in your eyes and bump into things if you don´t hold his hand at all times

likes to be close to you at all times

is constantly warm, even though he grew up in shitty environments that were super cold

has a bunch of hobbies but it changes weekly

however he´s one of those people who actually sticks with them all cause they´re so fun and he´s sad he can´t do them all as much as he wants to

makes faces at the mirror all the time and sings in the shower

looks like low effort, just out of bed but actually puts a lot of thought into his appearance cause he wants to look good, especially to you, but mostly he just fails

loves tickling you and spinning you around

sharing meals, feeding you, getting fed by you, eating is just much more fun with you around

gives everything a name and nickname

The spicy:

spit. just spit

loves it when you spit in his mouth

generally drools a lot

horny all the time, but it gets annoying a lot too

oversensitive virgin baby

biggest fucking praise kink

pull his hair to make him moan

is embarrassed about being loud in bed but he just can´t hold back, lots of whines especially

loves it when you hold him close, the feelings overwhelm him so much that he just needs this safety

his hands are always shaky

cries when he cums

oral fixation!!!

loves to eat you out but calms down so much when he can suck on your tits

he finds it very intimate when he gets to suck on your fingers

eye contact is super important to him

gets overstimulated on accident, he just can´t help it, feels too good

will call you master

don´t ask why but put him in a cute maid dress and his confidence just boosts, you were thinking he´d be super subby and you could be rougher with him but instead he doms you

is a switch heavily leaning sub and mostly when he doms you it´s very gentle, more of a service top rlly but whenever he´s in dom mood he just wants to worship you

mostly happens when you´ve been away a long time

2K notes · View notes

infernalodie · 11 months

Note

hii, can you make a sam carpenter x fem!reader, where after they all go to college (the group; tara, chad, mindy and reader) sam starts to notice her feelings for tara’s best friend (reader, obviously) maybe with smut and bottom!reader pls? i love your writing btw

𝐄𝐚𝐬𝐲 (𝐏𝐭.𝟏) || 𝐒𝐚𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐡𝐚 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫

"𝘉𝘢𝘣𝘺, 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘮𝘦, 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘮𝘦 𝘎𝘰𝘵 𝘯𝘰 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴, 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘐 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘮𝘦, 𝘵𝘰𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘮𝘦 𝘍𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯' 𝘴𝘰 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘺, 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘺"

Inspo: DaniLeigh - Easy

Pairing: Sam Carpenter x Black!Fem!reader

Summary: Her desire for you was primal and naked...

Warning: Fluff, possessive Sam, smut, praise kink, oral (R receiving), fingering, squirting, corruption kink, sub!reader, dom!Sam Carpenter, and a splash of more fluff.

Part Two

Words: 2881

DNI IF YOU'RE YOUNGER THAN 18!

Samantha didn’t know what to think when she first realize the feelings she had for you. Truthfully, it wasn’t something big as it may be shown in movies or TV. It was subtle. Slipping into her bloodstream and quickening her heart rate whenever your presence was in her vicinity. As if her body knew exactly what she wanted.

It was something small that sparked it.

She only met you after the whole incident with Amber and Richie. When the news came out about Tara being harmed in the spree, you showed up at the hospital unannounced. Pouncing onto the injured girl and promising her that you would protect her at all costs. But that had been the first time Samantha met you.

The first time she talked to you officially besides 4 word sentences was at the airport when you decided to drop everything and join the group in moving to New York. Everyone was passed out waiting for time to pass that would be the announcement for everyone to board the flight. You were seated next to her, listening to music with a gentle hum surfacing from your throat.

And the melody was recognizable to Sam, so she gently nudged you. Making you pull your headset off with a quiet hum, big eyes looking up at her curiously. And her guess on the song was correct; internet crush by Jeremy Zucker. That devolved from music to the purpose it held for the two of you to then personal life. How you left your mother behind who did nothing but drank herself to sleep every night. Hoping a bottle would fill the hole that had been left since your sister died. You both resonated with the shared issues revolving around your guys’ parents. Missing fathers and alcoholic mothers.

From that point on, the remote reaction when you appeared before Sam came from a bubbling euphoric aroma that clouded her thoughts. Abiding by every request and treating you like a queen. Thoughts around you become obscured by her admiration for you. Able to pinpoint the specific things about you that she adored and tell anyone why she loved them so much. Your hands. They were so small and delicate in hers. How you held her hand when you wanted to show her something interesting. Or there were your eyes. Full of innocence compared to Sam’s or Tara’s. How they would twinkle (or it might be Sam’s imagination) whenever you asked a question or looked up at her. Then there was your height which was significantly shorter compared to hers. Coming about 2 inches shorter or so than Tara. But Sam loved the idea of towering over you or even being able to hoist you onto the surface. Feel your small hands hold her face as you made some childish joke.

If she could, she would write an essay about all the things she loved about you and why. But she wasn’t sure there was enough paper in the world for that. So, she would rely on her inner monologue to keep track of all the beautiful qualities surrounding you.

And tonight was no exception. You looked as beautiful as always; skinny jeans with one of her shirts that were baggy on you. Swallowing your frame to a certain extent, but allowing her to make out the curve of your hips. It looked cute. Sam wasn’t afraid to make it known that she was staring either. After all, she’d asked you to stay close since this was a party and there weren’t many people either of you knew in New York.

So, to please her, you did as she asked. Staying within arm’s length and one of her fingers secretly hooked in one of your belt loops. Unbothered by the faint tug once and a while. But you continued chatting with some people and getting to know a bit about the city and some parties that were being planned. But you hadn’t noticed a guy awkwardly make his way over from Chad and a group of guys from his classes. Sam had seen it though and judging by Chad’s teasing smirk, he was tempting her to do something about it.

To show her protectiveness over you.

Everyone in the group knew that Sam had feelings for you, except you. Tara didn’t like the idea simply because she found it gross. Often warning Sam that she would kill her if you two ever hooked up or dated. But Sam wasn’t good with listening to orders. Especially if it revolved around you.

“I don’t think I’ve seen you from around here?” A random boy asked, dragging your attention from a girl you’d been talking to. He was a good foot taller than you. Curly strands and a romanticizing aura about him. He looked like the type that tried to fit in with the cool kids and get laid, but he was too good for that. A classic cliche.

Seeing your confused expression, he placed a hand on his chest with a chuckle. “Sorry, my bad. I’m Ethan. A pleasure to meet you.”

You’d had your run in’s with guys trying to flirt. Yet, you still had the same question pop up in your head; how do I let them down easy? It would take a simple, “Sorry, I’m not really interested,” or an, “I’m already taken. Sorry,” but you felt like it was too harsh. And to be honest, the guy had a creepy look in his eyes. Most times you humoured people and gave them a chance to catch your attention. Try and hold a strong conversation, but when you start to try up talking points that seemed too complex for them, they fell face flat. With this “Ethan”, you weren’t really at the spot to humour whatever he had to say.

“Uh, I’m good, thanks,” you said as politely as possible. Forcing a smile before turning your gaze back to the girl you were talking to before.

Ethan laughed, glancing back at Chad who waved at him encouragingly. Hesitantly reaching toward you and places his hand on your shoulder. “I never caught your name-”

“Is there a problem?” Sam’s arms curled around your waist, gently pulling you to sit in her lap with your arm instinctively wrapping around her shoulders. Managing to save face with a gentle smile playing across your lips, looking up at the boy.

But it felt like years before Ethan responded and you were able to feel Sam’s hands move at a tantalizingly slow pace. Almost teasing you. Once resting on your hips and holding you right on her crotch, they now ran up and down your thighs. Her nails dug into the denim pants and lips kissing the exposed parts of your skin. Shoulders, neck, and ear which she promptly nibbled on.

You weren’t sure if she was just trying to push the motive of you two being an “item”. But it felt amazing.

“She’s your girlfriend?” Ethan asked, pointing at you. At the sight of Sam’s older and predatory demeanour, he couldn’t help but shift uneasily. That and the fact that Sam looked about ready to tear your clothes off at the drop of a hat. Primarily at your simple request, which she hoped would be the case.

Sam paused her kisses along your shoulder and looked up at Ethan through hooded eyes. “What of it? You wanna fuck her?” She asked, catching the boy off guard. Her lips brushed against the shell of your ear, making you exhale shakily as she whispered, “Would you like that, Y/n? Would you want him to fuck you?”

It had to be alcohol. It had to be the catalyst for her saying or acting in such a way. This wasn’t like her ambushing you in the hallway of her apartment. Or her whispered praises in your ear.

“Only you can.”

Hearing that drew a deep hum from Sam’s chest. Her hands rested on the inside of your thighs squeezing gently and causing you to bite your bottom lip. And that seemed like enough for Ethan to get the memo and walk away, trying to hide the faint tent in his pants.

You let out a sigh, smiling faintly. “Thank you so much, Sam.” You began to sit up. “I thought he wouldn’t ever leave me alone-”

Before you could get too far, Sam caught your hand and pulled you gently. Hoping to not crash down into her, you placed your hands along the back of the couch and straddled her. Not intentional, but the look on Sam’s face this close was too good to back away.

Hooded eyes by the copious amounts of alcohol you saw her drink and wet palms from the effect of weed Chad had shared with her. Her hands softly glide to trace the curves of your figure. Intently watching how her hands caught slightly caught the sides of your shirt to reveal your stomach. She tucked her bottom beneath her teeth, finding balance on your hips and gently beginning to rock you.

This was all new to you. You had your first kiss, first make-out session, and first girlfriend. But sex was completely foreign. For someone who got a lot of attention from guys and girls in high school, you never dared indulge yourself in that type of thing. You liked to make up the excuse that you weren’t ready for it whenever Tara questioned you on it. But you were just waiting for the right person. Someone that was going to sweep you off your feet and take your breath away

But since Sam came into your life, you wanted to feel something. The forbidden 4 letter word was always on the tip of your tongue whenever she was around. Whenever her large hands rested on your hips when you reached for something in the cupboard. Or when you were bent over, you caught her staring a little too long at your ass. Because if love wasn’t you staring at the girl from across the room, taken aback by her beautiful features, then you weren’t sure what love was. Being in her presence was like weights being alleviated from your shoulders. Always able to match her energy under the right circumstances. And if felt like tonight, you wanted to set the tone.

Your hands slid from the back of the couch with one hand finding solace on the side of her neck and the other resting on her side, thumb just barely touching her breasts. “What’re you thinking about?” You whispered, voice drowning in the loud music and conversations happening throughout the house. Yet, she seemed to hear you loud and clear. Everything else falls into the background and is forgotten. Only you becoming her thoughts and source of attention.

“Did you mean it?” She whispered, head rolling back to look at your elevated position. “Are you only mine to enjoy?” Her hands slid further down, kneading at your round ass. Your hips followed the movement she had set moments prior.

There was a hazy shroud that fell over the two of you that pushed the extra confidence in you. It could be the own toxic substances clinging to your thoughts, persuading you. But you grounded your hips roughly against the crotch of her jeans. Clamping your lips shut when the friction to your clit sent a lovely shot of bliss through your system.

Leaning your lips down enough for your hot breath to fan her neck. “Match me and maybe that becomes reality.”

Lust clouded Sam’s senses as she pulls away just enough to make out features. Finding no ounce of hesitance or force. Only desire. A senseless and primal feeling that she’d managed to submit for the past few months. And now, it felt like the chains had been unbound allowing her to be free.

Her hands cupped your face, kissing you feverishly. Her hands threading through your hair and pulling you incredibly closer. The two of you pushed against one another, seeking to feel each other's body more extensively than ever before.

You wanted everything that came with Sam.

By the time you, Sam, and the others got back to the apartment, Sam was already pulling you in the direction of her room.

From the moment she had you sprawled out on her bed, practically shivering from the lack of warmth her touch provided you, she wanted all of you. She wanted you to beg. She wanted to absorb every piece of you and have you coming back for more. What she wanted was to claim you for herself. Take the innocence from you and make you into a doll that craved nothing else but her touch.

Maybe she was just drunk off your taste, but it’d been on her mind for quite some time.

“You’re so beautiful, baby,” Sam whispered against the inside of her thighs. Her soaked lips softly grazed your sensitive sable skin that was marked by her teeth and lips. Forcing a whimper from your lips. “You don’t know how soaked I am just from hearing those cute little noises. Fuck, I’ve wanted to hear them for so long.”

Her voice was muddied beneath the past four orgasms she ripped selfishly from you. And now, she was dragging out the fourth. Enjoying herself and tasting every piece of you she could. Safe to say that this being your first time, it was the best anyone could ever ask for.

She didn’t let you do anything either. All she told you was to lie down and enjoy it. Soak up the feeling of her tongue abusing your clit and her tongue pressing past your fluttering entrance that squeezed around nothing. And that’s what you did. You let your legs rest over her shoulders and grip the sheets as you moaned and cried out her name. Thighs occasionally twitching and squeezing Sam’s head. But she never relented. Not when she’s thought about being in this position for months. And being crushed by your thighs was just too pleasing to complain about.

“S-Sam, you f-feel amazing.” You could barely get the incoherent sentence out, but it fueled the fire in the older girl’s stomach. A new reinvigoration struck her heart as she delved deeper. Everything beneath her eyes became smothered in your juices that she drank from like they were a divine potion from the Holy Grail. She wanted every last drop if it made you feel good.

But this action, the faint shake of her head and moan caused the coil in your stomach to tighten. With her tongue slowly exiting you, the emptiness was soon replaced by two fingers. Your eyes rolled back, toes curling as her digits did the same.

There was a sensation. Something familiar, but foreign in how it felt. A build-up. It almost felt like you were peeing? You couldn’t think much about it before the pleasure began to take it course with the build-up quickly releasing. Your legs convulsed as you placed your hands against Sam’s forehead, attempting to push her away as your head snapped back with a cry. “W-Wait- Sam-!” But her hands wrapped around your thighs kept her in place, causing the overstimulation to finally take’s it hold. “Fuck! Holy fuck, Sam!”

Your hips lifted off the bed, a cry following after as Sam pulled away, grinning widely at the sight of you coming undone. And her fingers worked slower than before. Helping you down from the high as your body lay in her with a wet patch surrounding your apex. Through half-lidded eyes, you saw Sam nibbling on her bottom lip, her face drenched and strands of her hair sticking to her forehead. But that was the least of her concerns as she simply stared at your puffy red cunt.

“Sam…” you panted as her fingers slowly stroked the inside crease of your thighs. Dangerously close to where she’d been occupied for the past hour. And when her thumb lightly flicked over your clit, you whined, which she promptly quietened with a soft kiss on your leg.

“It’s ok, baby. We’re done with you for the night.” The open-ended sentence left you dreadful for what she had planned. But when she stripped herself bare, allowing you to see her in her full glory, heat found itself between your legs. She crawled toward you, lips still pulled into a grin as she said. “I’ve always wondered and dreamed of what your fingers would feel like inside of me.”

Taking your hand, she gently pulled it toward her soaked lips, groaning as you stared in shock. “You gonna give me what I want, sweetheart?”

Unfortunately, the two of you had forgotten about the trio left in the apartment when you two disappeared. Leaving them to sit on the couch in awkward silence watching a random movie turned up to full volume to block out the extra noise. But it didn’t help.

Chad, who hugged a pillow to his chest, blew out a breath. “I really did not think that sending Ethan over there would’ve resulted like this.”

And when both Chad and Mindy looked at Tara they found the girl repeatedly tapping her head off the table, muttering, “I want to die. I want to die. I want to die.”

973 notes · View notes