#I think sometimes about the (lack of a) dynamic between these two characters

[thedupshadove]

Horatio and Ophelia are never confirmed as being in a scene together, and do not share so much as a single line of dialogue.

#hamlet #ophelia #horatio #shakespeare #I think sometimes about the (lack of a) dynamic between these two characters #They're probably the two people Hamlet is closest to #He loves them both (yes he *does* love Ophelia even though he is undeniably shitty to her) #They both love him #It's not quite textually a love triangle #but knowing about Shakespeare's real-life queerness makes me more inclined to read the homoerotic subtext in his work as deliberate #Because we never see them on stage together we never see them directly compete #But we also never see them connect. Collaborate. #Commiserate about the maddening madman they love and the hardships they must witness being inflicted upon him. #Or their own troubles--the dutiful daughter always ordered about. The untitled scholar perhaps looked down upon #Think of it like this: Both Horatio and Ophelia try‚ in their ways‚ to save Hamlet #And they both fail #Could the two of them working together have altered the path of fate?

[blossomthepinkbunny]

Vivzepops fetishization of queer men and the lack of Sapphic content in HH and HB

I found it a bit dissapointing that Charlie and Vaggie had very little interactions that could be read as romantic or sexual, especially since they are the supposedly the main couple of Hazbin Hotel and have been together the longest out of most of the couples in HH and HB.

Of course having more casual representation is also fine but the most memorable thing about their relationship was the quickly resolved argument they had when Charlie found out about Vaggies past. I've seen different opinions about how they were handled as a pair.

I understand when someone says that they enjoyed a more relaxed couple with subtle, realistic interactions, interactions that are often overlooked just because both characters are female.

But I can also agree, that they were really not a stand-out couple (wich is weird since Charlie is the main Character) and that it was a bit dissapointing to not see a lot of content for them.

Now the main issue I found with this is that in Vivzepops stories there is a definitive lack of sapphic content. It sometimes seems like women are sexless unless they are with a man. But two men can be sexual and openly affectionate (romantically too). At first I didn't really understand why I felt weird about Chaggie as a couple, so I looked at all the implied/canon ships in Helluva and Hazbin (including past relationships).

Implied/canon couples between a man and a woman:

-Millie and Moxxie

-Blitzø and Verosika

-Stolas and Stella

-Millie and Chaz

-Beelzebub and Vortex

-Sir Pentious and Cherry Bomb

-Adam and Lute

-Lucifer and Lilith

Implied/canon couples between two men:

-Stolas and Blitzø

-Asmodeus and Fizzarolli

-Moxxie and Chaz

-Angel Dust and Husk

-Vox and Valentino

Implied/canon couples between two women:

-Charlie and Vaggie

Now please tell me if I missed any, but these were the ones I could think of.

Honorable mentions include Loona & Vortex, Blitzø & Striker, Blitzø & Chaz and Blitzø & Fizzarolli. But I didn't put these on there because they're either one-sided or don't have enough romantic content.

Now it's very easy to see the difference between representation for queer men in comparison to queer women in these shows. The only relevant (im not counting Background characters) Sapphic relationship there is, is Chaggie. And it's completely underrepresented when compared to the content the man x woman or man x man ships get (not to mention the total absence of gender-queer characters).

One of Millie's and Moxxie's jokes is that they're so in love, that they're almost always cuddling, holding hands, talking sweet or just straight up making out with eachother (I'll talk about Millie a bit later). Sir Pentious had multiple scenes dedicated to him trying to confess to Cherry Bomb or just crushing on her in general.

Stolas' and Blitzø's relationship has become one of the main topics of Helluva Boss and they get a Backstory and explicit aswell as dramatic scenes for them as a couple. The same goes for Asmodeus and Fizzarolli (except that their love isn't as important). Angel Dust and Husk get a song and part of an episode for their relationship to develop.

Here i'd also have to mention that by the list I made Vivzepop's fetish for queer men is very prevalent. Most of the couples between men and women are either past relationships or they get very little attention to them. The only ships that often get special focus, development or explicitly romantic/sexual focus are ships with two men (no matter if their dynamics are even good, healthy etc.).

Now for Millie there are different ways you could talk about her situation with relationships. In general I think that everyone can agree that Millie lacks Character and is a good representation for the neglect of the female characters. Most of her moments revolve around Moxxie in a way and she hasn't had precise characterization so far.

Millie's relationship with Moxxie is sweet and simple and is generally one of the better things about Helluva Boss (if you ignore Millies lack of personality wich really pulls the couple down for me). Now the Episode "Exes and Oohs" shows the mutual Ex of Millie and Moxxie. Chaz dated both of them and as we see in the episode affected both of them very negatively. At the start we literally see Millie freak out and destroy a bunch of stuff, just because she saw Chaz on the street.

Yet Millie's relationship with him is never explored further. All we know is that she dislikes him and that he's a giant asshole. Whereas Moxxie get's a whole Backstory and episode plot about him and Chaz. No focus is given to Millie at all even though Chaz is the ex of BOTH of them.

Another thing that I wanna point out is Millie's possible Bisexuality. Now im not so sure for this point because I couldn't find genuine confirmation on wether Millie is actually confirmed to be Bisexual or if it's just a headcannon. So take this with a grain of salt BUT if Millie is Bisexual then she perfectly shows how little Vivzepop cares about Sapphic representation. What does Moxxie get to confirm him as Bisexual? An ex of the same gender (also multiple explicit flashbacks with him), a whole discussion about his queer identity and a scene where he literally says that he's Bisexual. Moxxie is pretty good Bisexual representation in that regard.

What does Millie get? Nothing. Again I don't know if she's genuinely also Bisexual or if it's ever been confirmed but it'd also be pretty weird if Vivzepop apparently cares so much about queer representation and then doesn't confirm any female characters as actually queer.

I think a lot of people have talked about her blatant fetishization of queer men and I think that that's also mainly why I feel weird by the lack of attention on Vaggie and Charlie as a couple.

I sorta wish I could enjoy a more toned-down and realistic couple in these shows, but when I see that a ship like Vox and Alastor (wich isn't canon nor would it even happen since Alastor is Aroace) is talked about more than the actual main character's relationship I just don't like it.

There's so much more you could say about poor queer representation by Vivzepop (like the fact that she's fine with people ignoring Alastors Aroace identity, and the stereotypes etc) I mainly wanted to talk about the neglect of her female cast in terms of sexuality.

#hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel charlie #hazbin hotel critical #hazbin hotel criticism #hazbin hotel critique #helluva boss #vivzepop critical #vivziepop #helluva boss critique #helluva boss millie #helluva boss critical

[ambeauty]

Thoughts on Sydney, Marcus, and Black Love

Sydney and Marcus form an immediate connection at the beef. He protects her and they create a mentor/mentee dynamic because Sydney has more professional training than him but sees his skillset and value as patisserie. There’s familiarity between them and they stick beside each other when Carmy loses it and they both quit. Sydney easily welcomes him into her home and cooks for him, which is something she does for people she loves. She loves taking care of people in that way.

Sydney advocates for his training and advancement in the work place. She asks about his family. Their banter and conversation is natural. They speak and share the same language. Sydney is at ease with him in a way she is not with most people. But she’s still holding back. She is never vulnerable with him. Not because she doesn’t want to be but because that’s not the type of relationship they have.

She purposefully keeps their relationship superficial. He provides comfort and familiarity in their otherwise chaotic and competitive world. She is his superior but also his peer. There’s a professional veneer that she keeps up with this relationship. And as much as there is a severe lack of two Black people shown in healthy romantic relationships in mainstream tv, this is not that. Their relationship lacks any of the romantic tension that is needed for a friends to lovers arc.

It is not detrimental to the progress of black love on tv for their relationship to remain what it is because it’s necessary for both of their characters to have that camaraderie in such a competitive and toxic career. It is a form of black love. Of course Marcus wants to test the boundaries of his relationship with Sydney because who wouldn’t? Her reaction demonstrates exactly how she feels about him and their relationship. She says herself that it would be weird for them to go on a date. She doesn’t see him in a romantic way. But she still loves and cares about him and their friendship. My suspicions is that she will be his main support system when his mom inevitably passes. How important is it that Sydney receives respect, protection, and adoration from a black man and it is not contingent on her romantic interest in him! This is the beautiful male/female platonic friendship dynamic in the show that everyone is looking for.

And I’m not going to go into details about the difference of Sydney’s relationship with Carmy because that’s been done a million times over. The main idea is that the undefinable nature of their relationships leaves open the opportunity for romance. It’s the way a lot of their scenes are shot and scored and acted. It’s the way they move around each other and the push and pull of their personalities that leave open that question of what are they going to do with all of that underlying tension? Are they Shaq and Kobe? Or are they Jay Z and Beyoncé? (These are terrible examples but you get what I’m saying).

And as terrible as it is to admit, I don’t think race is a factor when it comes to the way the personal relationship of Sydney and Carmy is building. Because these characters could be any race and the dynamic would still remain the same and we’d still feel the same based on the way the story is being told. It’s not real life. It’s fiction. Carmy is never gonna be perfect and doesn’t have to be for a romantic relationship with Sydney to make sense. And vice versa.

Sometimes it’s okay to let societal issues fall away when it comes to fiction. This is a way to escape all of that.

And I know I’m picking and choosing when and where race/gender matters in this show but I think it is too. Professionally it matters. Personally it doesn’t.

#the bear meta #SydMarcus #sydcarmy #black love in media #just trying to put together what it feels like to be in some shipping wars as a BW who loves black love but is not going to force it #sydney adamu #Marcus brooks #carmy berzatto #ship what you want #platonic and messy

[creepy-friday]

Hi!!! I saw your fem! Proxy post and I was wondering if you could write a NSFW scenario/oneshot with a fem! Proxy with Hoodie? It just really got me thinking and the way you write the characters really intrigues me!

If not it's completely ok!!! I don't know if your requests are open or if you write NSFW but if you don't then feel free to ignore this!

The only specific thing I ask is if Y/N was a bit in the sweeter and innocent side when it comes to her personality, since i think the contrast between her human and naive natures contrasts with Hoodie's perveted one is really interesting, that's the only thing really.

I love your writing and hcs and remember that you don't have to write this if you don't want to!!

💗💗💗

Hii!! Thank you so much! I'm glad you enjoyed it! 💞 💞💞

NSFW|Hoodie x Female Proxy|

Warnings: heavy NSFW,hair pulling,orgasm denial,violence,blood and abuse mentions

Two years.It took you two years of working under a faceless creature to finally give in the loneliness almost every creep of the mansion drowned into

It was noticed by Brian who waited patiently for you to say the word that would bring the nights he spent jerking himself off to you to reality

On the occasions you were free to wander around, Brian followed you a couple of times. At first it was just his job,to make sure you aren't plotting to escape and to report to Slenderman if you would be on the run

To be honest he wouldn't have rat you out even if you thought you could escape the forest,but he would've blackmail you into various "services" to keep quiet. He isn't the most innocent after years of having blood on his hands

Missions with you along with Masky and Hoodie were going two ways. It was either Maksy smashing someone's brain across the room while you're distracted or having you knock out someone while the white masked man bitches about it.

It was funny to him,really,altough the hood's expression captures sadness he's finding himself smirking to how much you try to leave a scene with the least amount of blood possible

It was a dirty thought,but he was getting hard of the amount of fear or disgust your face portrayed whenever his teammate did something grotesque

He noticed how you reacted to the cruel things he did as well

Sometimes he wonderes if you would have the same expression if he would put a pistol to your head while pounding into you,or if the sweet girl he thinks you are would enjoy it

Of course he never tried to make a move on you or to harass you like Masky did.He was simply waiting for an opportunity to fuck you,one like today

There were feelings he wasn't aware of,but he never gave them much thought because a relationship between the two of you would be candalous

The dynamic among the proxies would be destroyed,but he wouldn't mind to be honest,the word "shame" is out of his vocabulary after all the time spent here

Today was one of the days you had a breakdown and needed to be out for a while,deep in the forest to the usual spot

"You keep on coming here." he approached you with slow steps,leaning on a tree while pulling his hood upwards.There was clear tension between the two of you from the mission last night

"Oh,yeah.. " you simply responded while rubbing your hands together.

"It was a nice thing." he mentioned from last night,when you soothed Toby who was on the verge of exploding into another violent outburst to Masky's constant bullying towards him.

You gave him a nod while playing with the crushed leaves on the ground

"I know how it was at first,in these woods." Brian stated while taking a few more steps towards you."You don't have to hide there.Confess to me." he demanded."Why you do it?"

You looked at him with a puzzled expression,deep bags under your eyes from the lack of sleep due to the stress from all the worked days

"I don't know." and you told him the truth,but to be honest,at this point you were exhausted.You kept on thinking about your life..before you ended up here.

The loneliness combined with the way of how hot his body felt right next to you made you make the first move to finally give Brian the start he longed for.

You looked up to him and he leaned in.You kissed him and he followed by with a deeper passionate approach while his hands traveled from your waist to your ass and finally to your pants

As you tried to get some air as well as some distance you gently pushed him by the chest. "We shouldn't do this."

"Why not?"

"I...I don't.." it felt guilty to be out with your teammate like this.It felt like a betrayal of some sort for some reason.

"You don't what?" he smirked while closing the distance yet again "you're a virgin? That's alright,I won't bite." Brian whispered while giving wet kisses to the crook of your neck "or maybe you aren't into this kind of stuff?"

His right hand traveled to your clothed sex after giving your ass a rough squeeze.He continued to rub your cunt while his left hand went up your shirt,pulling it upwards with your bra

The way your legs opened up,giving room for his hand to toy with your covered heat and the way his tongue circled your nipple made you moan in response

After giving your puffy nipples a final squeeze he grabbed you by the back of your neck and throwed you face down on the log he was previously sitting on making you yelp in surprise

Hoodie moved his hand from your neck to your hair,grabbing a fistful of it while undoing his pants and pushing your legs apart for more room

"You're not saying anything,huh?Use your voice for a bit',I might do it more often" he whispered as he lowered his body onto you

"I..I don't know what to-" you were interrupted by the cold wind biting at your skin as he pulled your pants to your ankles in a rush

"That's okay.I'll fuck the words out of you." he whispered as he plunged two fingers into your wet hole

He kept on hurrying the pace as you were driven closer and closer to the edge then suddenly went slower

"Please don't stop" you begged for him,your mind long gone into a hazy cloud as he gently lifted your head by the hair

He entered in without much effort as you arched your back followed by his grunts

He continued to slowly trace circles on your clit,patiently waiting for you to ask for more

A few squirms and your body was rocking against his hand,the nonverbal response made the intention clear and he followed suit

The sound of flesh on flesh combined with the muffled moans were enough to make your face red,further hurting your cheek in the rough surface of the log he previously sat on

"Are you disgusted with yourself?" he smirked while continuing to pound into you "of being with someone like me?" getting closer to your face he jerked your head upwards and licked your cheek "maybe you're getting off of that"

Making the pace slower again he hissed "respond."

"N-No!I'm not!"

"Atta girl"

The whole situation driven you drunk with lust as you tightened around him

After a minute of heavy breathing you both regained yourselves from the high.As Brian caressed your hair a wet pop was heard before as he stood up straight to adjust his clothes back on. "You alright?"

"Y-yeah.." you breathed out while hurrying to pull your pants back on,still shaken from the whole experience.

"Want some help with that?" you immediately responded with a quiet "no"  while ignoring any sort of eye contact with him.

"Aight'" Brian smiled to himself as he sat down on the same log,still watching you take deep breaths in and out while leaning on the tree next to him.

The faint sound of a click was heard as he lightened up a cigarette. "Take a break." Brian whispered with a different tone now,the teasing and mischievous one being long gone at this point. "You'll need it for tomorrow."

You finally looked in his direction, eyes fixated on yours as a soft smile appeared on his face

"Maybe you'll get lonely again.I'll be there"

#creepypasta headcanons #creepypasta x reader #creepypasta #headcanons #hoodie #hoodie x reader #marble hornets x reader #y/n #brian thomas x reader #brian thomas #brian x reader

[milkywaygalaxygurl]

Training Wheels - Coriolanus Snow

Hello everyone! First fic I'm posting in years and it's about the.. lovely? Coriolanus Snow! He will be very OOC in this fic because I struggle with writing dark characters so I apologize for that lol but I hope you guys enjoy!

Pairing: OOC!Coriolanus Snow x Female!Reader

Warnings: slight angst?, Coriolanus Snow (yes he deserves a warning even tho he’s nice in this fic lol), everything in BOSAS didn’t happen (sorry not sorry lol), slight hinting towards reader’s mother being mean?, reader gets hurt in a flashback, umm if i missed anything lmk!

Word Count: 1.4k

Inspired by Training Wheels by Melanie Martinez! Reader and Coriolanus have been friends since they were young and have had a “Will they/Won't they?” relationship since they were young teenagers. Everyone knows they’re madly in love with each other and at times it seems they know it too, but nothing ever comes of it. They’ve gone on dates and shared kisses, but have never gone further than that. Reader is tired of the dynamic they’ve built, but Coriolanus wants to continue doing what they’ve been doing for years.

I explode, I explode

Askin' you where you want us to go

This wasn’t the first time you had gotten frustrated with Coriolanus about your relationship, or lack thereof, after he had kissed you. When whatever this was had started you kept your mouth clamped shut about your frustrations, but now that it had been going on for years you couldn’t keep yourself from getting upset with your best friend.

“Where exactly do you plan on this going, Coryo? You kiss me and take me on dates sometimes, but other times I’m just your best friend! We’ve been doing this since we were fifteen!” You are seated on his bed while he paces the room, running his hands through his hair in a frustrated manner. He had very quickly pulled himself away from you the second you had decided to bring up the subject he seems to hate.

“I don’t know, (Y/N). Can’t you just be happy with this?” Coriolanus looks up at you as you scoff, shaking your head.

It's not like I'm askin' to be your wife

I wanna make you mine, but that's hard to say

Is this comin' off in a cheesy way?

“I was fine with it when I was fifteen because at least you were giving me something, but we’re eighteen now! I should be building a relationship with someone, but instead I’m stuck doing this back and forth with you!” You try not to sound harsh, to sound mean, but everything about this whole situation was frustrating you. Coriolanus stays silent, but he stops pacing to stare down at his feet.

“I’m not asking you to marry me, Coryo! I just want to know what you want to do, we can’t keep wasting each other’s time doing this!” You gesture between you two wildly, your hand dropping when he looks up at you. He opens his mouth to speak, but closes it again before a sound comes out.

“I just.. I just want to be yours, Coriolanus. Is that too much to ask? I know this is cheesy and cliche, but..” You trail off, trying to find the words to perfectly describe how you feel. This was the first time you had ever stated that you want to be his, you had always managed to tiptoe around the statement despite making it obvious what you wanted whenever you spoke your frustrations.

I love everything you do

When you call me fuckin' dumb for the stupid shit I do

“I’ve been in love with you since I was fourteen. I think it was longer, but I didn’t realize it until you yelled at me that one time for being stupid and getting myself hurt.” You chuckle, looking down at your hands in your lap.

Nobody had expected you to actually do it when Arachne dared you, but you were young and desperate to prove yourself to your peers. Normally Coriolanus would have been there and put an end to the situation immediately, but he had been caught up talking to a teacher today. As a result, you found yourself climbing up one of the pillars of The Academy building. You were actually doing good, you had managed to find a way to pull yourself up the round pillar and made it about halfway up before you heard Coriolanus’ voice.

“What are you doing, (Y/N)?!” He called up to you, his tone worried and frustrated. It made you jump and lose your grip on the pillar, sending you flying towards the ground. Everyone laughs when you smack the ground, but Coriolanus jumps forward to help you while telling the others to make themselves scarce. Your satchel had cushioned the fall, but that didn’t make it hurt any less. You thankfully had landed in a way that you didn’t hit your head, but your tailbone took the brunt of the landing. Coriolanus knew it hurt from the way tears slid down your cheeks, he hadn’t seen you cry from getting hurt since you guys were eight years old.

“What were you thinking, (Y/N)?! How dumb can you be?!” Coriolanus voice was harsh, but his hands were gentle as he checked your legs and hands for scrapes. When he was sure you didn’t have any life threatening injuries, he sighed in relief and carefully pulled you into his lap.

“It hurts so bad!” You sob, latching on to Coriolanus. He shushes you, rubbing your back and rocking you as if you were a child. He had learned to comfort you when you guys were young, doing his best to emulate the way his mother had comforted him when she was still alive. He had witnessed the way your mother pushed you away every single time you sought comfort and decided he’d do his best to be there whenever you needed it.

“I realized that nobody had ever cared about me like that, you were the only person in my life to immediately come to me when I was hurt. Even when you called me dumb, you were still gentle with me and made sure I was alright. After that, I began to fall in love with all the things you did.” You smile at Coriolanus, looking up from your hands so you could see his face. His expression had softened, his lips upturned in a small smile. He’s quiet for a moment before he speaks softly, moving to sit next to you on the bed.

“I think that was the moment I realized I loved you way more than a friend should.” Your breath catches in your throat at his words, it feels as if your whole body just malfunctioned if you’re being completely honest. He reaches for your hand and you quickly return the favor, entwining your fingers.

“I wanted to keep doing what we’ve been doing because I’m scared if we make it official, there might come a day where it ends and I lose you. I wouldn’t know what to do without you, you’re the only person besides Tigris and Grandma’am who I’ve let know the real me.” His other hand comes up to tuck a loose strand of hair behind your ear, his eyes flitting across your features. You smile softly at him, taking your hand out of his to cup his face.

“You could never lose me, Coryo. I love you too much to not be in your life, even if we do make it official and it happens to end I could never just stop being apart of your life. Which, by the way, I very much doubt we would break up because we’ve loved each other for this long without any problems.” You giggle and Coriolanus chuckles, shaking his head. You run your thumbs across his cheeks, trying to convey all the love you can into that simple gesture. He reaches up to hold one of your wrists, rubbing the back of your hand softly as he closes his eyes to bask in the moment.

After a moment, he takes your hands from his face and holds them tightly in his own. “I’m sorry I’ve made you wait so long for this, but at least I’m asking now.” You both laugh and tears spring to your eyes from excitement. You felt silly crying over this, but you’d always been one to cry whenever you were happy.

“Will you be my girlfriend, (Y/N)?” Coriolanus barely gets the words out before you’re tackling him in a tight hug, causing him to fall back on his bed. You both shake with laughter and Coriolanus wraps his arms around you, kissing the side of your head.

“I take that as a yes?” He chuckles and you pull back, smiling brightly. Coriolanus takes a moment to study your features, a lovesick look in his eyes and a small blush adorning his cheeks. The look on your face mirrors his, your lips split into a wide smile and your eyes so full of love.

“I would love to be your girlfriend, Coryo.” Just as you finish speaking he’s pulling you down into a kiss. The kiss is different than any other kiss you’ve ever shared, all the unspoken love and affection built up over the years spilling into it.

“Finally, you two! I thought I was going to be Grandma’am’s age by the time you two confessed!” Tigris’ voice from the doorway causes you two to separate, all three of you falling into a fit of giggles.

#coriolanus snow #coriolanus x reader #coriolanus x you #coriolanus fanfiction #the ballad of songbirds and snakes #the hunger games the ballad of songbirds & snakes #coriolanus snow x reader #coriolanus snow x you #ballad of songbirds and snakes #coryo snow #coryo snow x reader #the hunger games

[buckttommy]

To me, this episode was the equivalent of Fear O'Phobia. A "buddie moment" would have been nice, but it really wasn't about that. It was about Buck finally - finally - reaching the seat of his trauma and confronting himself about who he is, what his parents' neglect did to him, and where he goes from there. Don't get me wrong, I would have loved to see Eddie at his bedside, or Eddie holding his hand, or at least one genuinely tender moment between the two of them (while Buck was conscious) but, like. I really don't think the lack of that makes the episode bad or disappointing (in my opinion).

We've talked ad nauseam about how Buck is simply not ready for Eddie; that, wherever Eddie is emotionally and mentally, Buck's still got some catching up to do. And he's been working toward it this whole season with taking responsibility for himself, his actions, but this? this was a big step toward that. I still want Buddie canon. I still (mostly) believe in Buddie canon. But we can't hop from Point A to Point B without a couple of important steps along the way. Tonight's episode was one of those steps. So. You know. I love Eddie I love Buddie but I'm okay with that dynamic being sidelined in favor of Buck (and Bobby) explicitly, canonically confirming who/what they are to each other and the respective ways they've helped each other grow/heal.

Even before Season 6 started, we knew (and talked about!) how the theme going into this season was going to be Buck/Bobby + Fathers/Sons. We see that at play now. Sometimes that's going to suck a little, but they only have 40 something minutes to tell a comprehensive story with multiple characters once a week. So lets cut a little slack here.

I don't know. I love Buddie. I do miss them, but man, I loved this episode and how key it was to Buck's overall journey. A 10/10 for me.

#tv: 911 #911: 06 x 11 #911 spoilers #jack.txt

[steddieunderdogfics]

This week’s writer spotlight feature is: MISSBERRYCAKE! They have six fics posted to AO3 in the Stranger Things fandom and five of them posted to the Steddie tag!

Our anonymous nominator recommends the following works by Missberrycake:

When the Sun is High (I'll Meet You in the Woods)

An Act of Grace

If I Loved You Less.

Blackbird

The Wonder

"I'm nominating missberrycake for a spotlight because I've loved a number of her works that I think have been underappreciated. Her pieces can be quite melancholy, but I think are really lovely and always leave me feeling content. She writes dialogue and characters in a very believable and layered way. I first came across her after her most popular fic, though I think she's done some fabulous ones since!" -- anonymous

Below the cut, Missberrycake answered some questions about their writing process and some of their recommended work!

Why do you write Steddie?

Ooh, I have a long and storied past with shipping and, while I've been a Stranger Things fan since the start, I hadn't really picked up any shipping threads until S4. I think Steve and Eddie have a great mix of that jock and loser dynamic and enemies to lovers vibe that works really well - but also the ending to S4 was really ripe for some good angst storytelling. A little reminiscent of Stucky or Reddie.

What’s your favorite trope to READ?

Hm. I'm not sure. I am a sucker for time travel, but I don't think I've red too much of that. Probably slow-burn - I just love being frustrated!

What’s your favorite trope to WRITE?

Well … according to my most used tags on Ao3, it's AUs and Time Travel, and Friends to Lovers shows up there as well, which all sound right. I know that I'm enjoying a book or show or whatever when I think, I need to write and AU of this!

What’s your favorite Steddie fic?

Ahh! That's too hard - I have a lot of bookmarks for fics I love! It’ probably a battle between Lovesick in Loch Nora by red0aktree and standing up the dead by heartofwinterfell. The first is so gah, you know? So romcon. The latter, I love the concept. Even though it's Max-led, Eddie is fabulously done in that fic, for sure.

Is there a trope you’re excited to explore in a future work but haven’t yet?

Not really - ideas tend to swoop in when I'm not actively thinking about it. I have had a niggling little thought about a folklore esque cryptic came back wrong story, something creepy, you know. But we'll see!

What is your writing process like?

Overly organised! I'm a planner, so I need to know what the ending is before I start - I will generally map out acts and scenes and character arcs before I write the first sentence, which I think helps me immensely so that I don't have to do so many edits later.

Do you have any writing quirks?

I'm sure I must do, but I don't know about them. I guess - I'll tend to write all my dialogue in a scene first as a but of a template and then fill in the gaps.

Do you prefer posting when you’ve finished writing or on a schedule?

Oh, when I've finished for sure. The only time I've ever abandoned a fix was when I posted as I was going on a schedule and it really killed the enjoyment of it for me - too much pressure on timing and the lack if ability to go back and fiddle with things.

Which fic are you most proud of?

I'll stick to my Steddie fics, so it would have to be An Act of Grace, for the Bigbang. I adore that fic, honestly, and worked really hard on it. I think it came out almost exactly how I wanted it and I was so excited when posting finally arrived!

How did you get the idea for An Act of Grace?

It was two things, really - firstly I had watched ‘Howards End’ with Joseph Quinn in and fully needed to see Eddie in the similar time period, I could not get it out of my head - the idea of a servant Eddie and aristocratic Steve came to me pretty quickly after that and was too perfect. Also, though, I wanted to do something with a distinctly English vibe to it (I am English!) - I sometimes feel a bit at sea writing USAmerican characters and settings, so something more familiar I though might work better for me.

When writing When the Sun is High (I’ll Meet You In the Woods), what was something you didn’t expect?

For it to be so popular, actually! Particularly as it was being posted. It's my most popular Steddie fic by a country mile and I'm really fond of it - trying to get a version of Steve and Eddie who had a history to work with canon was a fun challenge.

What inspired If I Loved You Less?

Well, its an Emma AU, so Emma! I was watching the most recent film adaption and NEEDED to write it, but I also loved Clueless growing up, so putting a modern twist on it made the most sense to me. The placement of characters in that story was very fun!

What was your favorite part to write from Blackbird?

The tree decorating scene, for sure. I love that part of Christmas myself, so I had a great time adding in little bits and pieces from people I know and traditions they have.

How do/did you feel writing When the Sun is High (I’ll Meet You In the Woods)?

Gosh, it feels like it was so long ago! I was just excited to get something out into fandom, I think, and to become part of the community.

What was the most difficult part of writing The Wonder?

Ooh, probably knowing that it wasn't going to do very well? 😄 I completely love that little fic, so to kind of keep it contained to just Eddie and Wayne - even mostly Wayne - was tricky. Sometimes less is more!

Do you have a favorite scene and/or line from any of your fics?

Hm. In the epilogue of An Act of Grace, Claudia gives a little speech about Steddie. I think I like that a lot for the way it kind of sums everything up so nicely. A bit of a snapshot of them as characters.

Do you have any upcoming projects or fics you’d like to share/promote?

Nope! I've taken a bit of a break from writing at the moment, buy I've been at it for 13 years, so I'm sure I'll be back at it in the future.

Outside of these questions, Is there anything YOU would like to add?

Just to say thank you to whoever submitted my name! It's made my month, probably!

Thank you to our author, Missberrycake, and our anonymous nominator! See more of Missberrycake's works featured on our page throughout the day!

Writer’s Spotlight is every Wednesday! Want to nominate an author? You can nominate them here!

#steddie #steddie fic recs #eddie munson #steve harrington #steve x eddie #stranger things #steddie writers #writer's wednesday #writer's spotlight

[hughjidiot]

Total Drama Island Reboot Season Two: Episodes 2, 3 and 4

Okay wow, was not expecting three new episodes at once. Again I am baffled by both the local and international release schedules. But I'm continuing to watch and enjoy this reboot, here are my rough impressions of all the characters in all three episodes. Spoilers below the cut, obviously.

Chase is out second. Pretty obvious boot with how he behaved in the challenge, but that's just how TDI is sometimes. Glad he went early if I'm being honest since his whole subplot with Emma had run its course and there wasn't much more to get out of Chase. Speaking of which though...

Emma was out fourth, which kind of surprised me. I thought she might get an arc of finally forgetting about Chase and moving on, but then she goes and gets eliminated. Maybe they're saving an Emma arc for if gen 4 gets a third season? Who knows. A little disappointing but not a huge loss.

And between them, Millie is out third. Not surprising if I'm being honest; Millie had a chance to train up to be a stronger player with Priya's help, but neglected to actually study for it. And then in episode 2 when she tries to think creatively to help her team win, her lack of social skills is what did her in when she failed to consider how pissed her team would be for tricking Damien down the most dangerous slide. Her elimination feels like a natural consequence of her own actions and shortcomings instead of the contrived coincidences that Total Drama was guilty of many times in past seasons.

Then there's Damien himself. So far he still hasn't done a whole lot, but he's definitely shown to have become more self-confident with the way he called out Millie and how he was willing to brave that rickety bridge in episode 3. Time will tell if he makes it far.

Zee continues to be hilarious. Not really having much of an impact in terms of plotlines with other characters, but he always gets a laugh out of me. "Not thinking is my specialty!"

Gotta say, I thought Priya would have at least shown a little more of a reaction to her bestie being voted off. Still her plotline with Caleb is interesting. I can picture this leading to drama down the road where she realizes Caleb has just been trying to build an alliance rather than flirt with her. Or who knows, maybe Caleb will develop genuine feelings for her and it becomes a ship. Could go either way.

Speaking of Caleb, he represents the biggest difference between the writing of the reboot and previous seasons. Not once does the show portray him as antagonistic in trying to manipulate Priya into an alliance; he's just trying to form a strong partnership to make it farther in the game. Helps immensely that Caleb isn't actively cruel like Heather and Alejandro; he's genuinely chill despite his determination. Him literally carrying most of his team in episode 3 was awesome, not gonna lie.

Nichelle continues to dominate and be awesome in challenges. However I can't help but notice she's not really trying to get close to anyone, like Caleb is with Priya for example. I have a feeling that could come back to bite her if people vote her off for being a potential threat ala Caleb in season one.

I'm loving Axel so far. She's much better about being a team player but also hasn't lost her edge. I also like how we're getting depth to her, like her love of poetry. And then there's her romance with Ripper which I did not see coming. More on that later.

Holy shit, I was hoping for more of the MK/Julia alliance, but I wasn't expecting this much! I'm loving MK's unorthodox strategy of disguising as an intern to get inside information, it's very unique.

Oh and MKulia might become a thing. "Oh stop it, you'll make me blush!" "If MK's brain drove a cool car, I would totally date it." Watching these episodes I was like Wait are they gonna go there? Oh my god they might actually go there! And if they do, I am here for it!

Wayne and Raj continue to be very wholesome and hilarious! I love the dynamic they bring to Team Skunk Butt, wanting to play fair while Julia and MK cheat. And stuck in the middle...

is Bowie. I'm loving the drama of his character arc: he's still willing to pull the same underhanded tactics he used in season one and is all in on MK's strategy, but now has Wayne and especially Raj are acting as his morality pets. Some are predicting this could lead to a Rajbow break up, but I honestly don't think they'd do that. What I think will happen is Team Skunk Butt loses a challenge despite MKulia cheating again with Bowie's knowledge, Bowie feels terrible, and to make it up he offers to eliminate himself if one of the Hocky Bros is about to be voted off.

Last but not least, Ripper. Gonna be honest, he was my least favorite of gen 4 in season one; I didn't care for his focus on gross-out humor and he survived eliminations over characters I liked more. I didn't expect much from him going into season two so I was blindsided here. Not only is his gross out humor significantly toned down (but still present) but he proved to be quite endearing with his insecurity over his crush on Axel. I was especially stunned in episode four when he actually tried to connect with Axel's interest in poetry and actually wrote a poem for her, something I could never see season 1 Ripper doing. And Axel reciprocating with a kiss despite not seeming interested in him earlier? My haw hit the floor. Before I was hoping he'd be an early boot, but now I find myself actually wanting to see Ripper stick around and see where things go with him as a character and his potential relationship with Axel. I... actually like Ripper now, which is a sentence I never thought I'd say.

A few minor issues aside, I am loving this new season so far. I haven't genuinely enjoyed Total Drama since the original TDI 15 years ago.

#hugh jidiot rambles #total drama island #tdi #tdi 2023 #total drama island reboot #td chase #td emma #td millie #td damien #td zee #td priya #td caleb #td nichelle #td axel #td mk #td julia #mkulia #td wayne #td raj #td bowie #rajbow #td ripper #total drama spoilers

[moaserendipity]

My Top 10 BL's of 2023

I am back with my personal top 10 of 2023. I know I've been super quiet these days but making a top 10 is always fun to do. The #1 has been decided early this past year but for the rest... It was a crazy year for BL but only a few were really top tier...🔥🔥

10. My Personal Weatherman (Taikan Yoho)

One of the Japanese BL's I really enjoyed watching. It was more grown up then the ones I've seen and that was very welcome. I love the dynamics between the main characters a lot. It was a bit of a slow one, with the lack in communication between the two but I forgive that because the chemistry was really good.

09. Wedding Plan

Oh how i looked forward to this one, the second I saw the trailer. I loved the storyline but I thought it was very short, which made them rush through it at times, which was a shame because it was actually really good and I just wanted to see more. I loved the chemistry between Sailom and Namnuea, So I really enjoyed watching them. They are very new if I'm correct but I didn't notice it at all, so hopefully they will get another BL together but a longer one. Also I love the GL in this BL, it was very natural and I in the end hoped they would be the ones that got to marry. Not to forget about the cameo;s of my babies Payu and Rain and of course Prapai and Sky.

08. Moonlight Chicken

This one I've waited for so so long and it was kind of a surprise because I love EarthMix, Like Mix is my man but my attention got taken away from them and got attached to GemFourth who played Li Ming and Heart. I just loved everything about them! I loved how they incorporated Sign language because Heart was deaf and just the overall chemistry between them, was everything. They made me smile so much. Jim and Wen, you know were amazing as well but I sometimes felt frustrated by their interaction. The close moments they had were amazing of course but it was not what I expected from EarthMix but overall this drama was definitely worth the wait!

07. Kiseki: Dear to Me

I absolutely loved this one. I couldn't get enough of it. I am a sucker for the Hate to Love trope and this had exactly that and in a gangster way. Like I loved it. ZeRui and Bangyi were made for each other and you can't tell me otherwise how he went to prison for ZeRui and even got hurt but he still decided to dedicate his bakery to him with his Strawberry cakes, ugh too cute. The second couple made me want even more. The sassiness of Ai Di and the coldness of Chen Yi, they were really something. The way Chen Yi didn't realize that Ai Di loved him until he went to prison or that one hot night made me slap my forehead because nothing was more obvious, so I can not explain how happy I was they finally got together in the end!!

06. My School President

This really was a GemFourth year because this was their first leading BL and boy how they won us over with their cuteness. The OST was also seriously top tier. I think I loved all the songs. This entire Cast was amazing! To think I almost skipped this one...That would've been a mistake for sure, so I'm happy that I decided to give it another try because I fell in love with them and bingewatched it in one go. I can't wait to see the next project from them.!

5. Our Dating Sim

this Korean BL was a welcome one. I loved the office setting of this BL and the fact that the episodes were short as usual, didn't disturb me that much. Their chemistry made up for that! I will never forget how my heart sank when Ki Tae thought Wan had disappeared again, this poor man but I loved how Wan immediately comforted him the second he saw him. I should really rewatch this again.

4. Last Twilight

I know it's still running but I can not leave it out of my top10 for 2023. I am impressed with Jimmy and Sea. These two are everything to me at this moment. Their chemistry is crazy and I am happy they have this BL to show their talents again. I am impatiently waiting every week for the next episode and so far no episode has disappointed me, which is rare tbh.

3. Sing my Crush

Sing my crush was not even on my radar but the second I came across it, I bingewatched it. I am a sucker for music BL's, where the actors can ACTUALLY sing and play instruments.. I loved it so much. from start to finish. I really think this BL was very underrated. I did not hear a lot of people about it but it definitely deserves more!

2. I feel you linger in the Air

Ever since I saw the trailer, I wanted to see this one badly and boy did it not disappoint! I was in awe every episode. I don't think I've ever seen a Thai Bl that was staged in the past. Also this way of time traveling is one I actually like. As long as no bodies get switched I am loving it. Their chemistry was top notch and those intimate scenes. That kiss in the rain, Art I am telling you and that massage scene, HELLO!! I literally forgot to breathe at that point and my face was almost stuck to the screen, crazy!! So yeah this was a true masterpiece!

01. The Eighth Sense

Let's all act surprised by this one...... what can I say? This one touched my intire being. It touched my soul, My heart everything. I cried, laughed and even cursed at 2 people in particular.. This is the biggest masterpiece of 2023 and nothing can change my mind about this. The way I anticipated every week and felt sad when it ended, ugh!! I just want to praise Oh Jun Taek for the way he acted, because if I'm correct this was his first acting job or at least he is very new but he pulled it of perfectly and Ji sub, I am applauding him for the way he portrayed Jae Won. All I need now is a season 2 or an special episode where we see them do the things Jihyun wanted... like just please!! In al seriousness everything was amazing about this one and that's why it's my number 1

I really do think that the Korean BL's won this round. I feel like they are finally stepping up their game. It's still not as Explicit as Thai or Taiwanese but that's not what I am expecting. I don't always have to have NC scenes because without a story, it's not worth a lot. Overal the Bl's were powerful this year and Top tier. Hopefully next year will bring us even better ones!! <3

#my top 10 BL #the eighth sense #i feel you linger in the air #our dating sim #last twilight #sing my crush #my school president #moonlight chicken #my weatherman #kiseki: dear to me #wedding plan #wedding plan the series #jisub x juntaek #jimmysea #gemfourth #earthmix

[thistle-and-thorn]

Dying to know what you thought of the goldfinch. I never read it and am very 👀

thank god you sent this because i was about to make an incredibly long, rambling post about this but now you have prompted this, it feels less unhinged to put it into the form of a solicited answer. @.@

I....have mixed feelings about GF. Like, really mixed feelings. When I was in college, I took a seminar on opera history and we studied the opera, Wozzeck, and my professor described watching it as "an act of endurance." I felt sort of similarly about The Goldfinch. Like I'm glad I read it, and I can't wait to never read it again lmao.

It's a really well-written book--God, I want to write like her--and it is a compelling story with a lot of really great moments, but I found it to be overall less thematically incisive than TSH and, though TSH had some pacing issues, especially towards the end, The Goldfinch felt much, much more uneven. There's a lot of crossover between the two novels--unreliable narrators that are closeted queer men, so much drinking, so much drugs, etc--to the point where I thought a twist would be that they were set in the same universe and that Theo's father was somehow Richard Papen. But TSH felt bolder in a way, more satirically cutting, funnier, wilder, and younger. The Goldfinch is a sadder book, unrelentingly anxious and grief-stricken. And I do think this is sort of the point and I don't criticize it for that. It did make the melodrama of the novel's conclusion feel a little...i don't know...less justified and a little more gimmicky? And anxiety is a monotonous state so I think the GF lacked the emotional texture that made TSH much less....exhausting?

The Goldfinch is DT's ode to Dickens and there a lot of nods to Dickens in both direct references and style (the book is basically like what if uriah heep from david copperfield was psychosexually obsessed with pip from great expectations). There are certainly class dynamics here, episodic adventures, varied characters, and a lot of ruminations on providence but I did keep wondering what about Dickens drew her to tell this particular story which on a surface-level seems to ruminate on the impact of beauty, as opposed to the impact of wealth. In a lot of ways, TSH, with its commentary on class and wealth, even more over-the-top characters, feels like a better fit for Victorian literary structures.

In my wild and quite honestly unfounded speculation, I think the conclusion that I have come to is that it is a really, really personal book. Dickens was an intensely personal writer who used his own experiences, including those with his difficult father and poor upbringing and young infatuations as material, even in sort of unrealistic scenarios. I made a half-joking post about Brett Easton Ellis serving as DT's muse but I think....like...that may be true? I spent a lot of time, while reading this book, googling and reading about BEE and his erratic personality, contradictory and sometimes controversial and nihilistic media statements, and drug addiction. (Something that stood out to me was that BEE said that Patrick Bateman was based on his father, which he later retracted, to say that he felt like he was more like Patrick Bateman and wrote that book from a place of intense depression and isolation and consumption. This third-eying of oneself through the lens of the father is so Theo to me.) It's an examination of a self-destructive person but feels so clearly written from the point of view of someone who loves them--there is a real tenderness in how Theo is rendered that makes me think that it is not directly autobiographical about DT's own life but is the record of someone else who is loved and who is grieved. I have no evidence of this, truly, but this is what I keep thinking.

Some random other thoughts: one thing that @attonitos-gloria and I have talked a lot about is how DT always writes from the point of view of men who desire other men but whose desire is so hidden and buried that it becomes warped and we think that this is fascinating. @.@ The women in both TSH cannot be held as whole people in the eye of the narrator, their wholeness exists but beyond the borders of the male narrators' understanding of them. I also love how DT loves places and loves things. She creates fantasias of real places that feel like they influence the narrative and I think that's really cool.

TL;DR: I thought TSH was better, but GF was more personal and thus more messy. But it won a Pulitzer so literally what do i know.

#anna is this what you wanted #i feel like i'm just screaming outside your door #the goldfinch #donna tartt #the secret history #thistle simulations

[thesweetnessofspring]

You mentioned you had thoughts on how Mr Mellark's play into Peeta feeling unwanted and unneeded, I was wondering if you wanted to share them ?

Because I just never know what to think of him (except that it is kinda funny to me that he is essentially "the Gale" in the parents's love triangle), he seems very kind like Peeta but also incredibly passive in his own family.

and also if you had any other headcanon surrounding the Mellark's family ?

TW: domestic violence, child abuse, physical abuse, verbal abuse, emotional abuse

Right this is going to get long 😂 So, my headcanon about the Mellark family/Mr. Mellark is sort of a mix between a family I have a personal connection to and a few families I've had to call child protection on. One physically and emotionally abusive mother, and one father who is caught up in domestic abuse himself, but would be labelled as failing to protect his children.

First, I'm going to clarify that I think Peeta believes he isn't loveable, which makes him feel unwanted and unneeded, but that is his core childhood wound. (see more about Enneagram Type 2, which is how I read Peeta's character).

There are a few components to Peeta getting treated the way he was. First is that while I do think the Mellark parents started their courtship and marriage believing they were in love, they both lacked the ability to effectively resolve conflict. She's aggressive and he just wants to make peace, which often leads to him placating her rather than standing up for himself. Their fights will often turn into Mrs. Mellark verbally and emotionally abusing her husband (he's bigger than her, so she doesn't physically abuse him, but the verbal and emotional abuse do damage). It doesn't help that they've both struggled to get by financially their whole lives and getting married doesn't solve that problem.

This brings in the boys. They're ecstatic about their first baby boy, but parenthood brings more challenges and there's more strain. Their first has a preference for Mr. Mellark, so when their second baby boy comes, Mrs. Mellark lays her claim on him and he's her golden child who can do no wrong. The stress of running the bakery, being parents to a toddler and baby, and their consistent fighting continues with Mr. Mellark getting the brunt, cruel end of his wife's words and emotional violence.

Despite her reputation, Mrs. Mellark doesn't enjoy this dynamic, she's stuck in patterns from her past. She gets especially unhappy when that hunter comes by to trade squirrels and Mr. Mellark asks after his wife, a girl he used to court. So when Mr. Mellark wants a little girl, Mrs. Mellark agrees to have one more to try for a girl. To try and save the marriage.

And then Peeta comes. Mr. Mellark has a big heart so he loves him anyway and Mrs. Mellark loves him as any parent does, but Peeta isn't the magic solution to her marriage that she wanted. And a couple months after Peeta's born, Mr. Everdeen comes by and boasts about his new little girl. His wife, the one her husband once wanted to marry, had a girl where she had failed. All of this gets redirected to Peeta and he becomes the scapegoat child. While Mrs. Mellark gave her older two corporeal punishment (spankings) she goes harder on Peeta than the other two, especially her golden middle boy. The older two take their mother's lead at times, though their feelings are a little more complicated. Sometimes Peeta's one of the brothers, but when Mother gets in one of her moods, they'll use Peeta as a shield.

Now Mr. Mellark tries to make up for all of this by being Peeta's buddy, giving him all the love his mother doesn't give him. That makes Mrs. Mellark more resentful, who wants her husband to love her like he did when they were courting and first married. And it also confuses Peeta more, because when Mrs. Mellark comes after him whether verbally and/or physically, his father never fights her. He might come in-between and try to calm her down, but if that doesn't work, she'll press on anyway and go after Peeta. His father doesn't even chastise her for what she's done to him. Time after time, Peeta gets the message even from his father that he's not worth protecting, which means he's not loveable. His personality, though, is convinced that if he learns to appease Mrs. Mellark and not anger her, and if he keeps doing helpful things for his father, and make jokes with his brothers, that they'll come to love him and treat him that way. The way he sees that miner's daughter love her little sister and the way he's watched her parents love each other. And he learns how to keep a lid on his mother as he gets older and bigger, but there are still days her anger has nowhere to go but with her hands on him or calling him names.

And still, all his father has is empty words his mother never listens to. Because if Peeta left the family, he wouldn't be missed, because he'd never truly been loved by them.

So yeah. That's how I headcanon Mr. Mellark and the whole Mellark family dynamic affecting Peeta and his subsequent relationship with Katniss.

Thanks for the ask and letting me explain all of this!

#peeta mellark #mellark family #tw child abuse #tw domestic violence #tw emotional abuse #tw verbal abuse #tw physical abuse #thg headcanons #mr. mellark #mrs. mellark #mellark brothers #anon ask

[that-sweet-thief]

just finished binge-watching season 2 of shadow and bone. my thoughts are mostly in disarray but the cringe is real.

this was an off-paced, haphazard fanfiction. it'd be just fine if the writers weren't paid for it but they actually are, so it's just... wow. I'm at best mediocre when writing in english and i reckon even i would do a better job of writing dialogue.

anyway, here's a list of my thoughts on the show, though it's more of a word vomit than a comprehensive series review:

no ivan or fedyor. immediate downvote for that alone. ivan should've survived so we could have a heartbreaking moment between him and fedyor across the two sides of the battlefield. i guess they thought there were too many characters and couples to juggle already. or maybe the actors weren't available, who knows.

costume design took a surprising turn for the worse: for example, nina's and zoya's dresses were eyesores. how anyone could make these two very attractive women look that frumpy i've no idea but they've managed. i liked sankta neyar's costume, sturmhond's coat aaand that's about it.

the settings were more varied, so glad we've seen a little of bhez ju. the introductory map-to-location shots were very helpful for people who haven't read the books, namely my gf who fell asleep halfway through the show. also, if the music had any tracks that weren't already from the first season i'll be incredibly surprised, it's that repetitive.

they've messed up nikolai as a character mainly because the actor misunderstood his assignment, though i don't know what else he could've done with the mess he was given. while he's still sympathetic, lovely and witty, paddy's nikolai thinks of sturmhond as just another disguise, rather than who he really is, to the point of gifting said disguise to mal. that's irreconcilable with my understanding of nikolai, whose real mask is the bastard prince.

tamar & tolya were better realised than expected. along with the exclusion of the soldat sol cult, their zealotry's scrapped which is a big win for them. i enjoyed their scenes, great casting too. though, as an ardent kanej fan, i cannot in good conscience support the blink-and-you'll-miss-it tolya/inej moment. tamar/nadia had maybe a minute of screen time but better than nothing.

sankta neyar was a pleasant surprise, great idea to show how powerful durasts can also be. people often disregard materialki so this was refreshing. what i liked about her is how formal, collected, old-fashioned she both appeared and acted, as if her manners and speech style were leftover from a few centuries ago, kudos to her actor tuyen do.

the crows' arc was... lacking in some way. maybe it's because pekka rollins' attitude towards kaz and his group is very different than how it was established in the books, here he was way too proactive and less secure in his position in ketterdam for some reason; anyway rollins' framing of the crows felt off to me.

the crows' character dynamics are interesting and the saving grace of the show, all kanej and wesper scenes were great. seriously, the tension of kanej & cuteness of wesper nearly destroyed me.

they did helnik dirty, of course, but that was a given.

freddy carter outperformed everyone this season, i really think out of all of them he's given the best performance, sometimes even better than ben barnes and that's practically heresy coming from me, his devoted fan since ages ago when i first saw narnia.

i kinda dig that they brought in a tidemaker (fruszi) who's practically an early version of zoya for the darkling's side but her death felt cheap. i mean, the crows arriving to help out nikolai and his team at the very last second was already eye roll inducing, but then nikolai shoots her in the neck? cheap. also, if she and zoya came to face off that'd be interesting since they share so many similarities. i personally don't think it will but if the series continued along with the darkling's canon resurrection, i wish she'd lived and replaced elizaveta, she certainly seemed devoted enough.

david and genya made me cry. that's all i have to say on them.

baghra... where do i even start with her? baghra's nonchalance, her one-eighty about deciding to help alina find more amplifiers is stark raving bonkers imho. yet at least most of her scenes weren't as bad as they could've been, her proving to mal he was the firebird and her saving genya as well as alina actually came across better than the ultra passive, constantly berating version in the books. her death felt less dramatic but more spiteful, though aleksander's reaction to her death was appropriately heartbreaking. ben & zoe sold it so well, my eyes actually welled up.

speaking of sasha, his death is soooo badly executed, it's impossible not to be pissed off at the way they filmed it. even the books were more sympathetic to his demise and alina herself showed much more empathy for him at the end. it's genuinely disturbing how they framed it, makes alina seem more like a villain than the reluctant hero she used to be. i guess it fits with the surprise ending: how she kinda becomes what she sought to destroy, poetic irony and all, but still...

aleksander's whole arc this season makes him seem more desperate and pathetic and so, less of a tyrant: he doesn't even take control of the country or more than a small group of grisha let alone become tsar, instead the apparat rules over ravka on behalf of the lantsovs till nikolai is coronated. he and his people constantly lose to some clever last minute thwarting by alina's allies. the only thing scary about him is the nichevo'ya, the shadow monsters, which in the books are entirely under his control and that of course makes it all the more terrifying. here though, sick and tired and dying, he's merely desperate and fearful. the lack of wins on aleksandr's part really defeats the purpose of the writers' continuous attempts at making him simply the most terrible, horrifying and supreme villain of gregverse.

nope, can't get over it, aleksander practically died in her arms in the books, here she just looks down at him like she's the villain. i guess she now is. oh and mal's retort to sasha about dying in her arms was somehow a foreshadowing, see, but sasha doesn't get that because he's evil, see? gosh, so patronising.

since they've constantly emphasised this season how it was the fold's and thus sasha's fault that grisha were persecuted (not that this explains the ceaseless mistreatment, endangerment and more often death that grisha face everywhere they go, of course, nor does it explain his backstory) i gathered they'd go for a retcon but i didn't imagine they'd exonerate baghra, the apparat and tie the border wars with shu han and fjerda to the fold's existence entirely. the reason the war broke out in the first place was because those countries' fundamental approach to grisha was to kill them or worse. that is what grisha persecution meant. and now... what, the war is over, just like that? i have no words.

also, the exclusion of the "don't let me be alone" line. now that I think about it, those writers should be fed to nichevo'ya.

alina, alina, alina... sure, she's a self-insert, so her motivations don't make sense anyway, but as sweet as jessie is and how hard she tries, show!alina is now an equally awful mess as book!alina. the two things i liked about her this season were her manipulation attempt through the tether and the ending where she goes a bit darkling. the latter, i really like. i wrote a fragment of a power reversal fic before but never put it up, might just do that now.

i'll admit: it's rather funny how mal dumps alina after losing his amplification because he doesn't feel the same way anymore. he doesn't know if it was him being an amplifier that made them love one another. see how easily he turns away from alina? if i were aleksander, I'd be laughing at her from the grave.

#shadow and bone #shadow and bone spoilers #season 2 shadow and bone #season 2 spoilers #the grisha trilogy #book spoilers #siege and storm spoilers #ruin and rising spoilers #kind of a review #kind of a rant #mostly word vomit #grishaverse #pro darkling #anti baghra #make it make sense #at least the ending is better #aside from the way aleksander dies #anti s&b writers

[morskisir]

i'm really curious why you dislike the comics? /genq /nm

ooooh the dreaded question. i can get really passionate about this (i care too much) so i'm going to be as brief and simple as i can. i'm aware many people enjoy the comics and that's fine. /gen you do you. like i said; i care too much

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: we have no clue how much time or dedication was given to the comics by valve; the poor writing isn't necessarily the fault of the writers and i have no personal beef with them! with that said, old man yells at cloud /ref under read more/keep reading.

the two main gripes i have with the comics are lack of planning and tone problems.

as i already said, the lack of planning- and therefore the poor writing- does not mean the comic team was incompetent (the art is quite good a lot of the time, actually), but this does mean it severely hurts the quality of the comics themselves. it's clear they aren't sure where they're taking this (as evident by whatever the fuck is going on with helen) and what the story is even supposed to mean. the tone goes hand in hand with the poor planning; the comics aren't sure whether they want to be purely comical and action-focused or a DARK comedy; having serious moments and themes in the story.

in the end, the serious moments come off as either manipulative (iykyk. i am not getting angry about this for 40 minutes again) or as if they're being made fun of (cough cough sniper).

they also struggle to really build up those moments, so sometimes it feels as if they just came out of nowhere. it's really jarring.

there's also just. not a lot of conflict between the main cast?? there isn't a lot of pressure put on pauling from the mercs via questioning her actions, etc. (we only slightly get this from spy. but like once) (i get that it's to show how much trust they have in her but, really? not a single thing?) (this could build up to like. a "grand betrayal" sort of thing but yknow. they didnt think about the build up to anything)

this is why i think making it JUST the RED team really hurts the story- they already have set dynamics and don't need to develop or sort through any conflicts they have with one another. medic only has conflict with sniper of all people. MEDIC. who went to join another team which was actively hunting his previous one.

the comics introduce conflict and new dynamics by straight up making up new characters?? as much as i love zhanna- she was primarily put into the story just to be soldier's love interest and have a fun dynamic with him.... i'm so sorry miss.

they could've done that with demo btw?? since demo and soldier are supposed to be friends?? unless actually the team differences DO matter (which the comics do not make clear at all, engie is randomly blue while the rest are red. okay. why? wouldn't you like to know.) so red soldier and red demo dont bounce off of eachother as much as blu soldier and red demo do.

i'm not formatting this at all but remember the poor planning? ahem. sniper timeline. why did you make him barely 30. i will fucking kill you he was always clearly meant to be, look, and sound like an old man. its in his concept art its in how he talks. raghghgh

they keep giving themselves problems by adding new characters cause then the main fucking mercs who people adore get no time for themselves (demo, pyro, scout, engie) they're just kinda......there. it sucks. but it's what we got, i guess. just how canon the comics are is questionable- but i don't care if they are.

it's free real estate i'm doing my own thing!!!!!!!!!!! fuck around find out!!!!! be gay do crime!!!!!!! *gets arrested by valve for tampering with copyrighted material*

anyways, after all that negativity; shoutout to the only stuff i enjoyed from the comics: pauling, heavy, the art. goob byeeeeeeee

#ask #read at your own risk i guess- i do end up typing one trullon words #i can go into more detail but i won't. for the sake of my sanity. and i think many wouldn't like it either #edit: the one-shots are better. they're fun

[gralunaisland]

One thing that grosses me out abt Gruviugh shippers besides like a bunch of other things is that they call a child a "lovechild" like even if it's fictional that's a child, not some object to "prove" their ship. It reeks of "I only care about myself and my enjoyment of this ship and not what it could say about me and my worldview"

The Dark Side of a Gr///vian "Love Child"

Oh man, I dont think I’ve heard about them using that term, but just hearing the term "love child" gives me a cringey feeling. I actually wasn't sure what it meant so I looked it up, and apparently it means "a child conceived through lust (usually a one-night thing). The parents never marry and sometimes never see each other again". In other words, it means "the illegitimate offspring of unmarried parents".

What we must note here is "illegitimate" and "unmarried".

Let me preface this by saying that I don't think people have been thinking that deeply about this, and I'm sure most people who make fanon ship children don't mean any harm.

However, there are some criticisms to be made.

Moving on, now, I have no clue if this is an unpopular opinion, and feel free to disagree with me, but I think kids should be born within wedlock because it statistically tends to be a more stable home (though of course it doesn't guarantee anything). It at least shows that the parents can be in a committed relationship recognized by law, which hopefully means they'll both stick around more since they're legally obligated to.

That's where the illegitimate comes in. A legitimate kid in the eyes of the law means that the child comes from a married couple, and that allows the child to be entitled to child support in case of a divorce and to receive an inheritance. If the couple is not married, that makes the kid illegitimate, and that means the father is not obligated at all to take care of the kid.

All that to say, it's super gross if people call the made-up kids of gr///via "love children" because, if they know what the term means, they're basically saying they just want Gray and juvia to have kids and don't care if the kid's life has the added stability that would come with having married parents. They clearly just want it to be canon that Gray and juvia have had sex.

That would just show that they don't really care if Gray and juvia have a solid foundation for a relationship (though, let's face it, even if they were married, they already lack a solid foundation because of juvia's abuse), which is essential for bringing children into this world and raising them. Whether they mean this or not, this is just another instance of certain Pros promoting unhealthy dynamics for these two, only this time it's almost worse since it includes another human being, a child, as well.

They would rather focus on the "lust" aspect of what a love child entails, which totally throws the kid by the wayside.

That means they only conjured up the kid just because it helps to "validate" gr///via. You put it perfectly, saying that the child's sole reason for existing is to prove the "love" between Gray and juvia, which literally reduces the character to being an object, a plot device, a ship device. The kid becomes a mere product of "doing the nasty" that's "evidence" for a ship and nothing more.

And yes, before anyone goes thinking I'm just saying all this to be a stick in the mud (though I admit I am one x_x) I understand people not caring that much about fanon children of ships, because they're made up and just for fun mostly. I'd say most of it is harmless probably.

However, still, I agree with Anon, that it's icky to throw insensitive terms around, and doing so exposes these fans' intentions of just trying to find even more (uncanonical) avenues to bind Gray and juvia together, as if they didn't already have years of abuse and shoehorning and character assassination doing that job for these two. It's less malicious and more thoughtless of these fans.

All in all, I'm not saying, "don't ever create fanart or fanfics of children from your favorite ships!", I'm just saying let's not reduce them to being ship devices. It would be great if thoughtfulness could be given to them, because I don't think treating children, even fictional ones, flippantly is a great thing to promote.

And y'all all know my stance on fiction affecting reality.

Anyway, thank you so much for your ask and your patience, Anon! Sorry for taking forever and a day to get to it! I hope this post made some semblance of sense, because even I was getting confused. I hadn't thought about the ramifications of a "love child" before.

And sorry to the rest of my readers for being AWOL, having to deal with lots of stressors nowadays, but hopefully it'll get better soon!

Have an amazing day, everyone!

#sigh another confusing post of mine #i am in fact not dead #anti gruvia #anti juvia #askgraluna #anti juvia lockser #anti juvia loxar #fairy tail #defend gray fullbuster #ask #gray fullbuster #anti gray x juvia #anti gray fullbuster x juvia lockser #anti love child

[not-poignant]

!!!

palmarosa and 5, 6, 11 & 12 for the fic ask thingy pls! (If that’s too many questions for one ask then just. Any of those. Ty!)

Re: Palmarosa - okay let's gooooo

5: What part was hardest to write?

So far, the sex scenes (although see below for some of my issues re: behind the scenes researching). They honestly are often the hardest parts to write. But also, Astarion is rather more sex averse than I initially imagined him being, but as I've been writing the more 'concrete' fic, I'm finding he is very sex averse and has a lot of reasons to be, and as a result it's slowed Raphael down. It's not bad, but I already struggle with sex scenes in general just because I want to craft something decent.

6: What makes this fic special or different from all your other fics?

Mmm. Astarion's a vampire and I actually (can't believe I'm admitting this) don't really love writing vampires! Writing creatures who drink blood to live I think is a tentative first for me, lol. Otherwise there's more similarities than differences. Like, the fandom and characters/pairing are different, but a lot of the themes are the same.

I'd say this is the first world I've written in re: fandom that has this much lore to go through, and almost all of it contradictory in some fashion. So I'm having to do more research kind of like through three separate fandoms to find what I want, or to realise I have to invent something new. That side of things is challenging.

11: What do you like best about this fic?

The crunchy dynamic between a not particularly pure-of-heart vampire spawn and a definitely not pure-of-heart devil. I really enjoy their banter. They're both very theatrical and performative. They both like a good show. They both think elements of violence are fun. They're both not particularly concerned with being good people every second of every day.

I get to have Astarion say some really fun lines, and that gets to be relatively in character. I get to have Raphael say some truly unhinged purple prose bullshit, and that's also pretty in character for him! I think I also really enjoy matching the voices as much as possible. I sometimes feel like I can 'hear' them saying their lines, and that feels really good.

12: What do you like least about this fic?

Probably the lack of easy ways to research the dialogue and world etc. I was very spoiled by like... the Dragon Age: Inquisition wiki, and even the Stardew Valley wiki. They have most of the dialogue and written parts there. The BG3 Wiki is kind of terrible for almost everything I need to know and I'm surprised when it can actually help me. It's also not immediately easy to add to, which I've thought of doing in the past (I have a Wiki account, and I have edited/added to them before - but Fextralife is different). And then also, a lot of it is contradictory.

The game writes pretty significant character growth in many different directions which means you can canonically write Astarion as two completely different characters in terms of morality and it still be...canon compliant. And then on top of that, there's just typos and issues - Korilla is 'Korrilla' in almost all the correspondence and texts, and 'Korilla' in the dialogue. So which is it? Do I just get to choose for fun? (I do).

As a result I've read hundreds of raw datamined dialogue files, and that's just laborious, because 90% of that is irrelevant to what I'm doing. In general, there's not a ton to hook into for Raphael, and some of his best lines are actually written down or transcribed.

I don't think anyone will ever truly know how much behind the scenes research I've done for what is ultimately a very Id/ridiculous fic, but I've done a metric fuckton of it. And when people then go 'oh but actually Gale is an X and you got that wrong' I want to claw my own eyes out, because I've spent at least 50 solid hours researching and compiling a fairly information dense Obsidian Vault for worldbuilding, and when I get basic things wrong it makes me want to cry and then immediately quit, lmao.

(In case anyone wants to see what that looks like so far:

--

From this fanfic meme!

#asks and answers #palmarosa #thespectaclesofthor #raphael x astarion #bg3 fic #the hours i've spent researching is like #just... it's impossible to carry it all mentally #or spot it all mentally #i get why the studio made so many mistakes #but they were also getting paid and i am not #and we definitely crossed from 'worldbuilding is fun' #to 'fuck these wikis for not having the information i need' #some 30 hours ago dsalkfjas #it's no one's fault either it's just saklfjsda i do care about at least trying #but i don't think i need to try this hard lmao

[shiningshenanigans]

So, about Loki and Sylvie’s dynamic in Episode 2…

This episode was hard to watch. It’s painful to see these two characters who we know love each other wrestle with such deep-seated issues in their relationship. The gap between expectations and reality for their reunion scene, what we hoped it would be vs. what we got, is pretty glaringly huge. 

It’s interesting to think about how most of the reunion fics people have been writing for the past two years have been variations of the same thing: Loki searching endlessly for Sylvie out in the multiverse, finally finding her and welcoming her back with open arms; Sylvie, tentative and rageful at first, but eventually breaking down in tears and melting into his embrace. We all wanted a big, emotional moment for them, full of kisses and hugs and apologies and “I love you”s. What we got instead was awkward tension and a lack of vulnerability from both parties. 

That sad part is, this is just what happens in human relationships sometimes. Sometimes you can’t resolve everything with one conversation. Sometimes fear, insecurities, pride, or just poorly timed interruptions keep us from mending what’s been broken between us and the people we love. 

But, there’s still a reason that we wanted to see the reunion scene play out this way, à la Hosea and Gomer or the prodigal son returning home after wasting his father's money. We long to see forgiveness and repentance play out in relationships, because that’s what unconditional love looks like. That’s how the conversation should have gone, and would have gone if these weren’t flawed, complex characters that we’re dealing with. Sylvie should be feeling remorse for what she’s done. Loki should be prioritizing Sylvie’s emotional well-being above his own needs. Under the surface, I think that that’s exactly what’s happening. But neither of them are vocalizing it properly, and that’s what’s creating the tension. 

Sylvie, I think, is clearly in the wrong. I say that as the biggest Sylvie stan ever, so hear me out. Her actions and anger towards the TVA have always been completely, 100% justified, but she’s being really short-sighted at the moment. She thinks she can settle down in her own timeline and forget about everything, but sooner or later the consequences of her actions are going to come back to haunt her.  

If you think about it, killing HWR didn’t really do that much to free the timeline. The TVA didn’t even know that HWR existed, and he seemed to be running everything on autopilot. If Sylvie had made it all the way to the citadel by herself, without ever meeting Loki or Mobius, the TVA might very well have just continued to prune branches and hunt her down, with no real knowledge of what happened behind the curtain. 

The real reason the TVA stopped coming after Sylvie is because Mobius and B15 put out an order to stop pruning branches. While Loki and Sylvie were making their way to the citadel, they were down in the TVA changing hearts and minds, transforming it from the inside out. That’s not to diminish what Sylvie did - after all, it was her fighting spirit that inspired the change in the first place. But in a roundabout way, Loki is really the one who set her free from her life on the run. He was the bridge between her and the TVA, the one who brought her story and the all evils of the TVA to the light. It’s really his influence that has made her new life on the timeline possible, but she doesn’t comprehend this yet. She can’t, with all of her unhealed trauma. In her mind, she’s her own hero. She saved herself.

It’s interesting to note that when Loki asks her what she’ll do if HWR shows up again, her answer is, “Kill him”, with that smug little smirk on her face. This has been Sylvie's go-to solution for all her problems ever since we met her. Minute men chasing her down? Kill them. Timekeepers trying to control her destiny? Kill them. Clown interrupts her plan to kill said time keepers? Kill him. Weird man in a purple robe trying to take away everyone’s free will? You guessed it: kill him. What she doesn’t realize, though, is that this mindset makes her no different from the corrupt TVA agents she hates so much. People making choices that lead to chaos and multiversal war? Prune them. In other words, kill them. Loki’s love for Sylvie, and his friendship with Mobius, has taught him that life has value, and now he’s doing everything he can to protect it through the TVA. But this isn’t a lesson that Sylvie has learned yet. She’s only thinking about the value of her own life - not the lives of others. Not really. Not yet.

Also, how happy could she really be in her little 1980s McDonalds world? Yes, she's experiencing stability for the first time in her life, and don't get me wrong, Homegirl totally deserves the chance to rest and live a normal life for a little while. But, at the same time, how many people in her new timeline could ever really, truly understand the life she’s lived? She deserves to have people like Loki, Mobius, B15, Casey and OB in her life: fellow variants who can relate, on some level, to the trauma that she’s been through. She deserves the chance to explore and embrace her Asgardian heritage, her Jotun heritage, even. With Loki in particular, she has the opportunity to be in a relationship where she is fully known in every way possible, seeing as he’s literally a masculine version of herself. She deserves that kind of intimacy in her life, and it won’t be long before that lack of connection starts to leave her lonely again. She may say that she’s not running from anything, but she is. She’s running from herself, from her own story.

Loki’s not off the hook, either. He made some major missteps in the way he approached this conversation. It really should have been his responsibility to lead with love and prioritize Sylvie’s emotions over his own. And while I think he tried to do that… he failed pretty miserably. 

I have a suspicion that he was disappointed, a little hurt, even, when he learned about Sylvie’s new life on the timeline. Afterall, they had kinda made plans to do that together when all was said and done. It probably stung to learn that not only was she ok without him, she was also happy and thriving in her new life. This is honestly the hardest part of learning how to love someone selflessly. You tell yourself that you want what’s best for them, but… can you accept it if “what’s best for them” has nothing to do with whether or not you are an active part of their life?

A lot of Loki’s desperation to find Sylvie in the first episode is fueled by uncertainty–not knowing where she is and wanting to make sure she’s ok. When he learns about her new life, a lot of that urgency goes away. But, he still wants to see her, and he feels like he needs a “reason” for it. So, he hides behind his encounter with her in the elevator as his way in.

What Loki should have done in this moment was be vulnerable with her. He should have asked her how she was. He should have told her the real reason he came: because he loves her and wants to fix things between them (and also protect her from an impending multiversal war, but that’s a conversation for later). He got this so right when he threw himself under her blade at the citadel, holding her gently and assuring her that he knew how she felt. But sincerity and truth-telling, vulnerability, are all still new to him, and while he’s not hiding his feelings anymore, you can tell he’s still struggling to express them.     

He’s too in his own head during their conversation. Her cold attitude and the time limit she’s placed on the talk have left him scrambling for words, so instead, he chooses to put up his own walls rather than chip away at hers. He tells her about what he saw in the future and asks her for information. He starts talking about TVA business and multiversal wars (the absolutely last thing she wants to hear about) and tries to force his viewpoint on her again rather than actually trying to clear the air.  

They both have so far to go to reconcile their relationship, and it's tough to watch. It makes me miss their bond in season 1, their playful banter and the inherent sweetness of their honeymoon phase. Is it possible that they’re drifting apart intentionally, that they won’t end up together in the end? Yeah, sure. Marvel doesn’t really have a great track record for ending romances on a positive note. But I really hope that all the angst is building towards something satisfying in the end. It is, after all, only episode 2. We’ve got the whole rest of the season to go!  

#sylki #loki season 2 #loki series #loki spoilers #geeking out gracefully