#I would need to write half an essay to explain why

[liashinigami]

A thing I have seen coming since the first Korean BL series (that was actually called a BL, bc my god is there a divide in the Korean filmmaking scene between queer films and BL...people get heated) was announced, was that this would open the gate to more LGBT rep in regular KDramas. The Korean market will go with the trend of time, and the success of BL has shown producers, that it is a valuable variation of the already working formula.

After the immense success of the Semantic Error adaptation from last year, more and more shows, which went into production after SE aired, have been including expicitely queer characters (Love in Contract (tvN), Extraordinary Attourney Woo (ENA/Netflix), Under the Queen's Umbrella (tvN)...and those are just the most recent ones I can think off without looking stuff up).

While there have certainly been a few gay characters in shows over the past ten years or so, only few have had bigger roles, and fewer have had their sexuality been known from the beginning. Only two years ago every single queer side character with the smallest amount of relevance to the plot seemed like a novelty and suddenly we have so many at the same time!

With this new wave in 2022 most of those characters might still be young gay men, but the fact that they are allowed to expicitely exist on Korean TV (even having same-sex relationships which do not end in tragedy!) while still not being reduced to their gayness alone is a huge step for KDramas! Recently I feel like every second new Kdrama I hear about has gay characters in small or large roles and it feels great. And all of this was really only possible because BL has proven to be a profitable variant of the usual Korean storytelling format that is KDramas and thus given the industry that last push it needed to start portraying queerness as a part of the everyday.

Having observed the slow acceptance over the past ten years made me slowly tired, but then witnessing the new boom got me excited again to watch new dramas and follow the changes this new delevopment will bring with it!

#midnight thoughts #not really midnight #but whatever #Just over the past few weeks every drama I have started suddenly had queer people in it #and that delighted me every single time #it feels like this could have a good influence on the perception of queer people in korea #especially the way the portrayals work right now #I would need to write half an essay to explain why #maybe I'll do that at some point #but yeh #these were the thoughts lol

[callsign-rogueone]

study season

fourth wing characters (Aaric, Bodhi, Brennan, Dain, Garrick, Imogen, Liam, Mira, Rhiannon, Ridoc, Sawyer, Sloane, Violet, and Xaden) x reader the ways our faves help you study for exams. words: ~900 🏷: no book spoilers, no triggers. gender neutral. and I included the girls this time!! some of these can be read as platonic and others mention kisses / cuddles, implying you’re a couple. idk, I just work here. I’m really liking this format lately, and it’s (fairly) quick and easy so you can expect more of these in the future while I procrastinate all the girlfriendverse chapters and smut I have to write lol

First, the more studious of the bunch:

Brennan is all-in, no hesitation, pulling up a chair next to you and learning this with you for moral support, but also for fun (can you believe this guy?) though you suppose it’s easier to enjoy this if it doesn’t count for a grade. Either way, he’s a very nice study partner, and he encourages you to take breaks every hour / chapter / etc. Brings snacks, too.

Violet somehow already knows all of the material, and explains it better than the textbook or the professor. Walks things back if you don’t get it and gets into the why and how, which so many teachers skip over, even though it helps explain the what (pet peeve of mine showing here lol). 

Aaric’s study skills are unmatched -- years of the best private tutors money can buy really paid off. Teaches you new strategies that you’ve never heard of in your life, and when you ask, he admits a bit shyly that he came up with it himself, but it works, and you get it done in half the time you would have before. (work smarter, not harder, baby)

Rhiannon gives you the pep talk of your life (we all need a Rhiannon in our lives) and convinces you that you’ve got this. Packs you a little snack for the day of your exam with a little note reminding you that you know this, just breathe and think. 

Xaden sees you struggling and forces you to take a break. During said break, he’s reading the book himself and figuring out what exactly has you so stressed and exhausted. Breaks down the tasks into smaller, more manageable steps and guides you through it -- “find three reasons why XYZ happened.” done with that? “Now make them into paragraphs.” etc etc, and an hour later, you have a passable essay. 

Dain is taking this more seriously than you are, and his discipline is like no other; you’re not stopping until the work is done, or until midnight, whichever comes first (because sleep is important for the brain, or whatever. Definitely not just because he misses you and wants to cuddle). 

Garrick may have no idea what you’re talking about, but he suffers through it with you, offering to let you explain things to him, because teaching is a good way to test if you understand something. Though you get what you pay for -- he’s a total smartass about it, asking questions about the littlest details even if they’re common knowledge -- he’s gotta be thorough, right? 

Ridoc may be the class clown type, but he’s smarter than a lot of people think. He comes up with a bunch of jokes that actually help you remember things. Somehow manages to relate the most complex topic in your book to a sandwich, and it actually works. He’s incredibly smug about this for the rest of the week, especially when you get the highest score in the class (he’ll take payment in kisses, thank you.)

Bodhi makes flashcards with you, quizzing you and giving you a kiss if you get it right (this definitely is not a distraction, and things definitely don’t escalate from here, nope.) He’s also really good at proofreading essays, and gives excellent feedback regarding the structure and the order of the information.

Liam sits there with you all the while, completely silent, working on one of his wood carvings at the other end of the table, but you know he’s there and he’s watching -- and that provides a healthy amount of peer pressure and keeps you on task. He’s an incredibly observant person, and he can see the stress building; he knows when to intervene and suggest that you take a break.

Sloane is the best person to commiserate with. She doesn’t want to be doing this either, but she’s also incredibly stubborn, and she doesn’t give up; after a healthy amount of complaining, she’s forcing you both to keep trying until it works / until it’s done, and then you’re treating yourselves to something for getting it over with, because you deserve it.

Sawyer is gentle and supportive, having a heart-to-heart conversation with you and reminding you that yes, this is important, but the world will not stop turning if you fail one exam. He knows how it feels to be compared to his peers, especially in how long it takes you to accomplish something (poor bb) and doesn’t want you stressing yourself out about that, either. 

Imogen is the opposite, all tough love, giving you gentle but firm reminders: “you didn’t make it this far just to give up,”, “I know you can do this, so do it,” but she balances it out with tender affirmation when you’re done. She’ll even let you skip out on training for the day since you’ve been studying so hard (and she takes training seriously, so this is more of a reward than it seems). 

Mira’s default approach is similar to Imogen’s, but she can see that you’re reaching your limit and dials it back, being more gentle with you and doing whatever you need -- encouragement? someone to just sit there? help / explanation / etc? she’s got you covered. herds you into bed at a reasonable hour so you’ll be well rested for the classes and exams.

And all of them are incredibly proud of you for working so hard and getting good grades 🤍

#fourth wing x reader #brennan sorrengail x reader #bodhi durran x reader #garrick tavis x reader #liam mairi x reader #dain aetos x reader #ridoc gamlyn x reader #sawyer henrick x reader #xaden riorson x reader #imogen cardulo x reader #aaric graycastle x reader #violet sorrengail x reader #rhiannon matthias x reader #sloane mairi x reader #sawyer henrick #bodhi durran #liam mairi #dain aetos #aaric graycastle #ridoc gamlyn #xaden riorson #brennan sorrengail #garrick tavis #sloane mairi #rhiannon matthias #violet sorrengail #mira sorrengail #imogen cardulo #fourth wing #mine

[vickyyoon]

Professor!hyunjin

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Genre: smut

Paring : professor!hyunjin x fem!reader

C/w: smut, unprotected sex, breeding kink, reader is a student, fingering, kind of exhibitionism, nipple play, mentions of getting reader pregnant etc.

Synopsis : after failing his subject, your mother puts you up for extra private sessions with your professor which goes right and wrong...

It's a bit long 😅....

Anyways (pt-2) <- is here

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Professor hyunjin, he was your litterature teacher and everything that fell out of his mouth was purely majestic, he was the best looking professor out of the whole university maybe even in the world.

Not even younger boys could come close to look this great as him, words aren't enough to describe how beautiful he was, he was literally sculpted by the gods in shorter terms.

His voice was soothing, his eyes held pure emotions, his plump pink lips were soft, his hair was was softer, his nose was perfect, his veins often bulged out of his sculpted arms, his fingers were long and tainted and his body was indescribable.

Everyday when he took your classes and assessment you would spend half of it staring at him, every girl did, who wouldn't but you knew there was no chance to stand out and catch his attention.

You were not that good in his subjects either, it was the day your mum came to see your result and found out you almost failed such an easy subject.

It was just literature , what was so distracting? What was so hard? Little did she know it was your professor himself.

One day she called you and informed you that she personally called your professor to give your private extra lessons. Your heart dropped.

---------------------------------------------------

There you were all dressed up waiting at his office with perfume wrapping your body,.he said he would be free at his office around 8:00pm.

The office was sound proof unlike other offices and it smelled like it was newly installed, the windows were dark tainted and covered with blinds, his floor was a grey funny carpet over the wooden tiled floor, his desk was neat. Almost like he was waiting fir you to arrive.

The door creeked open and your professor came inside, he was wearing his black shirt tucked in his waist hight pants, it wrapped around his body, especially at the waist making it look so small

" Y/n right? From my class, so what's bothering you during my lessons? I thought I clearly explained everything in detail, everyone seems to get a pass."

You were clearly embarrassed, you couldn't tell him what was really the problem, never!

" you don't know? Ok then, why don't you write me a simple minimum 100 word paragraph on yourself under 25 minutes? It's not that hard."

You were sure you could do that but when he sat I front of you, you got distracted again, you were thinking of glancing at him and wasted half of your time, in the end you wrote a paragraph about yourself with just around 45 words with rigged sentences.

" seems like you're really getting distracted, you're English seems to be perfect, how can you fail this? I guess I have to step up my game, stand up and write me another essay about your favorite subject, minimum 100 words again but under 35 minutes."

.

Now you were bending over with a pen and and a piece of paper, brainstorming about your favorite subject when maybe, just maybe you thought you caught him staring at your cleavage on the tight black dress you wore specially for today.

" we're you planning to go out?"

" I was until I remembered mom set me up for this and I had to run here."

You just couldn't get the thought of him fucking you dumb over his desk out of your head. You ended up writing 56 words under 35 minutes.

" not much improvement, I need to think of something that'll finally steer you right, I think I'm the problem, why don't I stand behind you and observe you from there while you write me another 100 word paragraph on how you're feeling about being here. This time you can waste however long you want but you must complete it. "

" H-how I'm feeling?"

He nodded as he stood up to go behind you. Whatever he just said was too oddly specific, it kind of scared you now but. Atleast he wasn't gonna be in front of you.

.

While you were writing away, he stared at your arched back, how you were bending over standing over his desk to write the paragraph, the shortness of the dress almost flashed him with your underwear, he was trying hard to get a peak. His intentions weren't any different.

A few moments later you could feel warmth on your thighs, he was extremely close to you, he was even leaning on you, pushing your hair over your shoulder to see what progress you were making.

Then you felt his hand gently lifting the hem of your dress, it didn't take you too long to understand what he was trying to do. He leaned in more his cheek was right next to yours, the contact of his skin on yours send shivers down your spine.

Yet still you didn't budge, acting like you were too focused to notice what he was doing but you were soaking wet down there, his hand traveled up your thigh to your ass, gently squeezing it before pulling your panty down.

You looked at him concerned, " get back to writing, write about what you're going to feel now. I know you want it badly." he whispered against your ear

His fingers gathered your slick and he stuck two digits up your cunt and you clenched around them. You gasped, your hand was shaking with the pen on on your hand as you struggled to write or think about anything other than him.

He pumped his fingers in and out slowly, making sure to find your good spots and having you tremble under his touch.

" will you let me fuck you dumb in this little dress?" his breath brushed against your cheeks as your turned red. You only nodded desparately.

You could hear the sound of his belt falling into the floor, along with his boxers and jeans, you peeped back to look at it.

Gosh it was gorgeous, it was huge and the tip was flush pink leaking precum.

He asked you to spit in his hand and used it as lubricant, he placed himself between your legs, slowly entering.

" you won't get to cum until you properly end that paragraph I told you to write. And if it's great, maybe I'll even fuck my cum in you." he made a deal with you as you frantically write away until he started to penetrate.

He was shaking you, ruining the balance of your pen and paper, you couldn't think anymore other than the thought of how good it felt having him inside.

" you thought It was gonna be easy? Pfft. Let's see if you can even get past 20 words now."

Soft and low grunts escaped past his lips, and you couldn't help but clech every thrust because he hits that spot too well. This was so hard for you to even focus, you were moments away from cumming.

" w-what if I cum without a warning? I've never done this. "

" you'll have to because you don't wanna face the consequences."

Shit he sounded like he meant every word he said, he does give out the cruealest punishments how we're you gonna pass.

" then Pl-please go slow."

" Do you think slowing down will help you? It's just gonna be more worse."

You only realized what he said when he slowed down the agonizing pace was burning your walls, it was even harder for you to focus and you can't even ask for more.

You wrote about what just happened right now you what you plan to do to end this session, heck you even wrote about why you get so distracted and how much you fantasized having him inside. It was like a dream come true for you.

After finishing he checks it out, it felt like the best platonic confession he's ever read, he loved it.

" Princess, you just wrote the best paragraph I've ever read, do you know what that means?"

" y-you get to fuck your cum in me and let me cum too."

He made you sit in his desk spreading your legs your moping cunt begging to be filled up again, since he was pretty tall and the desk was short the edge was around his mid thighs, it wasn't too hard for him to push through

" did I tell you how good you feel? I've been waiting for ir this day for months, got my sound proof walls prepared for this."

That statement shocked you, it was quiet weird as well.

' F-for me? Not anyone else?"you asked as he pushed himself back in with ease,

" Who else? Don't you see the way I always try to sum up your grades, you're my favorite student even if you almost failed, I gave you so many passes, don't you see how much I want you? How much I do for you without you asking for it."

Slowly he thrusted again, you never thought he had feelings for you, you thought he was just too horny at this time of the night and did this just to please his needs. It was very disturbing but at this point you were flustered, your fucked out face turning even redder if possible, staring at his sweat covered face.

" Why don't you take this off so I can see those pretty little tits of yours?" you still had the dress on, he lifted the dress off of you and threw it on the floor.

He then unclipped your bra, latching his lips around your hard nipple while kneading the other, the sensitivity made you whimper as he sucked on them.

" Maybe I'll fuck a baby into you and you'll lactate when I try these out again." he had no mercy on you, shamelessly melting your brain with words you never thought he would ever say, even in your deepest fantasies.

As he kept thrusting his lips marked your chest and neck, if anyone saw you, they would definitely call you a big slut.

" gosh you feel much better than I thought," he groaned against your skin. At this point you couldn't help but moan put loud, thank god he installed those sound proof walls or else the entire department could hear the sinful sound leaving your mouth as he fucked you.

" see, you can actually write a paragraph, it took you only 25 minutes to end that with 110 words. Maybe I should do this more often."

You had to close that paragraph. Or else you wouldnt last any longer. There you were cumming so hard on your professor's dick, you've never came this hard, not even those young ripped jocks in your class could coax this orgasm out of you. You almost knocked yourself out.

And seconds later he came crashing so hard, it was leaking out of your hole while he was still inside, there was no way you didn't get pregnant after that.

" see this what good girls get, if you keep being this good I'll give you whatever you want."

.

You washed up in his office bathroom when you notice one of your inner garment was missing, mainly your underwear, you leave the bathroom to find it peeking out of his pant's pocket, you smiled to yourself

He was as freaky just as how much handsome he was.

You left his office without saying anything about the underwear, he could keep it as a souvenir to remember what he did tonight.

12:56 am

#Kpop #Hyunjin #Hwang hyunjin #Hyunjin smut #Kpop smut #Straykids #Skz #skz hyunjin #straykids hyunjin #Smut

[correctproseka]

An essay on autistic Mafuyu

Coming from a very autistic person.

Mafuyu has a bunch of autism symptoms, but a lot of them can also be explained by other reasons, such as her upbring and trauma, but not all of them, so I'm going to start speaking about the explainable by other things traits and move up to "boy you're tism". (Notw that the trauma explanation can also have a pre-disposition to happen due to tism)

In the biggest "can be explained by her trauma" category, we actually have the biggest reason people headcanon her as autistic. Her Alexithymia. Which is just a fancy word for "can't recognize her own feelings". No i did not have to copy paste that name to not write it wrong. Yes, many autistic people are bad at recognizing their own feelings, me included. But we also have to note that Mafuyu absolutely hid away those feelings for a mask and because they were needs not being met, a "good girl" like her doesnt get sad or angry right? Thats what made her push down those feelings so much she just ended up.. numb. Its extremely common in depression as well as autism which made me personally not realize i was depressed until someone made me put it into words, it was similar to my normal.

Theres also her.. exquisite vocabulary, Mafuyu uses lots of fancy terms sometimes, which is very stereotypical white boy autism. But also, she was pushed books down her throat by her mom since she was a child, she was expected to be this "fancy" and "smart-sounding". So she is.

Observant. Mafuyu doesn't talk a lot, she observes. She can recognize things on others sometimes, but mostly about the environment, which can be an autism noticing a bird singing 5 blocks away or a trauma "i need to notice this or i get fucked" reaction.

Mafuyu as mentioned, tends to listen more than speak, I am personally not this kind of autism, but it exists, Mafuyu is quiet, listening and only speaking when she feels her input is needed. This can be simply a mixture of autism and trauma. She doesn't feel the need to speak, so she doesn't, why would she waste her energy like that? Smh.. but also her good girl mask is supposed to be a good listener, not much of a yapper.

Now we are starting to move onto the things she does that are less explained by trauma and more explained by tism. Which is my favorite part to analyze.

Parallel play: Mafuyu seeks comfort with being with niigo and working alongside them, she doesn't even need to be talking, as seen by the kitty event where she kept just listening to them on earphones, she just wants to be near her people and gets calmed down by being with them.

Bluntness. As an autistic person i am extremely blunt in wrong situations, and can easily not recognize its the wrong situation. Per example Mafuyu's "why dont you imagine you're gonna get killed if you dont do it in half an hour" or all the times she points something out to Ena and gets a scream back because it was the wrong time? Mafuyu says what she thinks and when out of the mask she really. Really. Lacks a filter, because she doesn't know when or what she's supposed to speak or not

She.. kind of needs people to say the obvious? Sometimes she doesnt realize whats going on, why she's reacting in a way, so and so. One of the reasons Mizuki had to tell her it's ok to run away. Mafuyu never considered it. It wasn't obvious for her like it would be for a lot of people, she's kind of very oblivious in emotional matters like that, and needs someone (coughs usually Mizuki) to explain something to her

There's probably more but im doing this in like 15 minutes.

Plus, all in all, she makes autistic people like me really relate to her, even if they can be mostly explained by trauma doesnt mean she doesn't show those signs or that they're only because of that, even the mask she uses is a known neurodivergent thing.

#project sekai #proseka #prosekai #colorful stage #pjsekai #puroseka #asahina mafuyu

[kanejbr3kker]

Okay I need to vent. This morning I saw this on my fyp:

(btw I'm choosing not to reblog the original post and instead just post screenshots because this is definitely a rant and since the creator and I clearly have different opinions, so I decided it's just better to leave them out of this)

Anyways, I saw this and I got pissed. Very very pissed. And so I spent 2 and a half hours writing a whole three page essay explaining everything wrong with this.

So here it is. (:

First of all, the Darkling does every single thing listed here for Nikolai, excluding cutting people’s fingers off, but he does commit mass murder, which I personally consider to be worse than cutting off someone’s fingers. 

Anyways, let’s first just address Nikolai’s reasons for doing each of these things and then the Darkling’s reasons for doing the same things.

Cutting the fingers off a man: Nikolai was a teenager who wanted to help his incredibly war torn country. He felt helpless, and even once he became a privateer, a lot of people still disrespected him because of his age, so he proved his ruthlessness by injuring one person, so he could help save his entire country. 

Usurping the throne: First of all, Nikolai was second in line to the throne, and after Vasily died, he would’ve been first. Also, the current king was an ignorant rapist who let the rest of the country go to waste to fuel his own luxuries. Nikolai wanted to rescue his country from war and a ruler that was doing nothing to stop hundreds of people (many of them kids) from dying in unnecessary battles.

Lying to Alina/hiding information from her: All Nikolai did was hide his identity from Alina to get her safely away from the Darkling who had just kidnapped her for the second time in less than a year. Kissed her without her consent: Okay, let’s just preface this by saying Malina was what got me hyperfixated on the Grishaverse, so seeing Nikolai kiss Alina did upset me, but he did it spread hope to the Ravkan villagers. They were also already spreading around a fake engagement, so while it was wrong, it wasn’t like he was trying to manipulate her. Nikolai was just trying to make their marriage more believable. (I’d also like to address a scene later in the book where Alina actually wants Nikolai to kiss her, and he says no, knowing that she just wants a distraction and isn’t really in love with him).

And now for why the Darkling did all the same things. 

Trying to usurp the throne: The Darkling hates the king, but not because he’s a terrible person, but because he’s ignorant and the Darkling knows he could be using the Fold to expand Ravka’s power. The Darkling usurps the throne so he can try and take over the country, not because he wants to save it.

Lying to Alina/hiding information from her: Unlike Nikolai, he wasn’t trying to protect her. The Darkling lied to Alina so she would believe that 1) he was in love with her and 2) he wanted to save Ravka. We know this isn’t true. When Nikolai lies, he does it to protect Alina, but when the Darkling lies he does it to manipulate her.

Kissed Alina without her consent: The Darkling tried to convince Alina he was in love with her so she would be easier to manipulate. Alina even says she doesn’t know how he feels about her, and that she doesn’t believe he loves her, but that she wants to be wanted by him. 

And now for everything else the Darkling does:

Mass murder: He destroyed an entire town just to prove a point. 

“Gifting” Genya to the Lantsovs, and then allowing her to be continually raped by them

for years. More than anything else, I feel like this proves just how terrible he is.

Killing his own mother: No explanation needed, that’s just awful.

Threatening to kill Mal to make sure Alina stays in line. He enslaved Alina. He put an unremovable collar around her neck that forced her to do whatever he wanted, and then promised to kill her boyfriend just in case that wasn’t enough.

Using kids as bargaining chips. Using grown people is bad enough, but kids. Sure, they’re Grisha, but they aren’t strong enough to fight back, especially after seeing their captor kill Ana Kuya, who helped care for them while they were in hiding. (Also just felt like adding that Nina was one of the students who he used as a bargaining chip. That’s honestly pretty unimportant, but if you needed another reason to hate him.)

Killing Alina’s mother figure: Again, he did this just to prove a point. He wanted to show Alina that he could hurt the people she cared about, and that was his only incentive.

So that the first 75% of my rant, but I also made the mistake of looking at the comments on that post and added a whole extra page responding to those.

Saying that the same thing can be applied to Kaz is so fucking disrespectful. Kaz is a traumatized teen. Is he violent? Yes. But he only hurts people who have hurt him, his friends, or other innocent people. Oomen nearly killed Inej, as well as the other crows, so Kaz hurt him because he cared about his friends and was mad that they were almost killed. When the Darkling kills people, it’s out of greed for power and the fact that he knows it’ll get a rise out of Alina.

And then this. Kaz calls Inej an investment because he values her. She said four words to him and chose to pay off her indenture. She ended up being not only an incredible spy, but an incredible friend as well. Kaz didn’t need to pay off her indenture, but he did because despite everything terrible that he does, he’s still a genuinely good person, and didn’t want to see a woman being exploited the way she was. An investment is something you value, which is why Kaz calls her one.

Also, Kaz makes a big point of Inej not belonging to anyone. He didn’t force her to get the Dregs tattoo, because he didn’t “want to be the one to mark her again.” He recognized that she was an independent person, and by not making her have the tattoo, he was giving her the freedom to leave Ketterdam when her indenture was paid off. Also, when Inej tells Kaz she wants to leave Ketterdam, he literally buys her a boat so she can leave. That’s not how you treat your property.

And as for the Darkling, he used Alina’s power to start a civil war. What he does is beyond redemption. The Darkling exploits and manipulates women. He abuses and assaults them to reach his own goals, most of which involve destroying the rest of the world so that Ravka stays in power. Comparing him to two kids who just do what they have to to survive is so disrespectful, and clearly you misunderstood the messages of the books if you think that Kaz and Nikolai are the same as the Darkling.

So that's my little anti-Darkling rant. I've already tortured my frienda with this, so if they didn't think I was insane before, they do now lol.

#anti darkling #darkling slander #grishaverse #shadow and bone #six of crows #king of scars #save shadow and bone

[genericpuff]

Rachel "Retcon" Smythe Strikes Again!

Okay, so I've been seeing pictures of Volume 4 of Lore Olympus floating around, and people are ALREADY FINDING RETCONS.

Most notably so far, some added panels in the Hades and Apollo confrontation that happens outside Artemis' house (when Persephone steals Apollo's lyre) in Episode 81.

This is the original scene, for anyone who needs a refresher:

Aaaand here are the panels that were added.

(all pictures of Volume 4 are courtesy @iwannagutyou on IG!!! thank you for giving me permission to use these! <3)

First of all, the art. It's so noticeably bad. You can tell Rachel has completely lost her ability to draw these characters in the S1 style, I'm fairly certain she took the panel of Hades from the old version and just copy pasted it to try and get around it (look at the posing) but it's incredibly obvious looking at that third panel that LO is not and can never be what it was back in 2017-2019. Those first two panels seem like they were copy pasted from the previous ones, which is just sad if those are the lengths she has to go to to come even close to replicating the older style.

Now, this just might be due to camera translation, it could very well look better IRL, but the colors just look so incredibly desaturated and the lines blurred out, to the point that people are doing double takes over whether or not panels have been directly changed - they haven't been, they've just been so sucked dry of their colors that they look off enough to cast suspicion.

If anything it's a harsh reminder that LO has kinda always had art problems, especially with its lazy humor and stupid meme faces.

Of course, to be fair, color loss can happen in print, but seeing how slapped together these books tend to be, I wouldn't be surprised if they just didn't put in the effort to convert the page art to CMYK or at least tinker with the saturation in editing some more to ensure it would come out more vibrant in print.

Now. Excuse me while I go on a bit of a crackpot rant here. Newbie puff pals beware, because this is gonna get dicey and you're about to learn where my tinfoil-hat rep comes from but I just have to talk about it.

Back to the added Apollo panels, where Persephone asks Hades not to hurt him and he looks nervous before she says "I just want him to leave".

Maybe it's just me, but it's a little weird that THESE are the panels they decided they needed to add. It's weird that she's asking Hades not to hurt Apollo when she's about to break into his car and steal his lyre just a few moments later. It's weird that the implication seems to be that she's referring to Hades' act of violence towards Tori... but Persephone doesn't know that's happened yet. So this feels like an unnecessary retcon that's doing more harm than good.

But I feel like the timing of this is kinda messed up as well, as this book released just days after the release of the last FP episode in which Apollo has his 'side' of the assault story told through his perspective, which is often considered a HUGE no-no in writing assault stories because it often comes with the implication that it's asking for empathy from the audience. We already know Apollo is delusional, we already know he thinks him and Persephone are meant to be despite her constant rejection of him, we didn't need a flashback from his own warped perspective explaining that very thing, the only purpose to do such a thing this late in the game would be to try and get the audience to 'connect' with him (it's giving S3 Bryce from 13 Reasons Why vibes). Now we have this scene of Persephone asking Hades not to hurt him (despite the structure of the episode being literally fine before, this change wasn't needed) getting snuck into the physical book release just a couple days after the newest FP tried to present Apollo in an empathetic light (and let me tell you, that's a whole essay and a half that I'll be getting into eventually).

Shit, if I wanted to get REAL Pepe Sylvia with it, I might say that hypothetically, the whole point of the random Leuce abuse episode - despite Persephone having no way of knowing what she attempted as Hades hadn't told her and she wasn't there to see it and we weren't shown her overhearing them in any way - and the following episode that was mostly padding of Hades and Persephone having sex - no consequences or follow-up whatsoever to the Leuce scene - was just to pad out the episode release schedule and buy time until the book came out so that Rachel could release that Apollo POV episode right before the book came out and revealed those new added scenes of Persephone asking Hades not to hurt Apollo, in what could be a sly artificial attempt at minimizing the SA plot so Rachel can finally just brush aside the one major plot point she regretted writing the most. After all, it wouldn't be the first time Rachel's controlled the pace of her comic to release certain moments at certain times that line up with IRL events.

But, y'know. I'm gonna quit on that thought while I'm ahead because it's probably making my credibility meter drop into the red. My ADHD has been real bad lately and it's really starting to show LMAO All ima say is that IDK who Rachel thinks she's fooling here, this kind of shit is stupid easy to fact check when the digital version of the comic is available online to read.

To end on a much funnier and lighter note, remember how Rachel tried to retcon the Demeter/Hera/Hestia relationship by changing the line "I miss my sisters" to "I miss my friends"? Well, there was one panel that had been missed in the webtoons version that still refers to them as sisters. You can still find this unedited line in Episode 78.

And uh. They forgot to fix it again for the book.

It's permanent now. That's permanent marker. It would have cost them nothing to find this in the webtoon version and fix it before it got sent to the book editors. Now it's gonna cost them thousands because the book editors didn't bother (or know) to check.

There's also this... weird shit going on with the speech bubbles. Like, they're REALLY FUCKING OVERDOING IT with the speech bubble outlines. I don't know who made this choice but it was a bad one. Gross. Don't do that. It looks so cheap.

But let's be real, at this point I feel like the book editors are just outright sabotaging Rachel because who the fuck calls themselves a professional when they do this shit-

Oh, and there's no bonus episode, just sketches. Which is fine. But it makes me chuckle to think that Rachel just didn't have time in her already razor-thin buffer to draw up a new episode to pass off as "cut content".

#i'm fired for that whole conspiracy bit aren't i #can you blame me when the wedding was lined up with valentine's day and dio's birth was lined up with mother's day #i swear to christ rachel does this on purpose it's so unhinged #just write a story #it doesn't make your comic 'deep' to line it up with real world dates that aren't gonna matter in 3 weeks anyways when they go up for free #it's just so unnecessary and pointless to do #lore olympus critical #lo critical #antiloreolympus #anti lore olympus

[bambamramfan]

Scott Alexander just de-paywalled this piece, and I agreed enough with its perspectives and understanding of fantasy narratives that I wanted to make sure other people saw it.

But I disagreed enough that I wanted to spend a lot of time describing what it misses.

First off, he says "Each part of the fantasy universe has a load-bearing psychological function." Psychological, as a word, goes too far and is misleading here. Scott is entirely correct to look at these elements in functional terms: what do elves, and magic swords, and ancient civilizations DO to the narrative? And we find more enjoyable and memetic stories benefit from these functions, so we end up seeing them over and over again. But it's not a psychological need. It's not about the inner-workings of our mind, it's about the structure of stories that lets them flow well. It would be like saying that the fact that airlines list too-low ticket prices and recover it with hidden fees has a psychological basis, when it's more proximately caused by a broken market system.

For instance, one common fantasy trope Scott didn't mention, but is completely obvious, is the "disposable, unredeemable race or nation." Many fantasy stories have a large army that is either evil-in-essence, or immediately threatening, such that we have no moral qualm about seeing the heroes kill as many of them as possible. Why? Because it makes it a fun "tactical" game of how many soldiers can the "good guys" kill. That's a fun story! It's not because psychologically we want to dehumanize our enemies. It's because Gimli and Legolas's race for who can kill more orcs is a simple and narratively entertaining device.

Scott talked about Unsong in relation to this essay, and I really wonder if his reaction to that was "why Unsong doesn't do these things" or "Unsong leaned into these." Because well, Unsong has many of these tropes. The laptop with a talmudic AI on it is a macguffin. The angels are an ancient civilization. Etc.

Scott undersells just how rich the function of the ancient civilization is. He's correct that the ancients are a way to imbue the magic sword/whatever with non-reproducible power, but it's deeper than that. Many stories and ideologies are "prelapsarian" which means they describe an Edenic time "before the Fall" where everything was right and harmonious. Somehow they got corrupted and we now live in a fallen world where evil runs free. Our heroes, at least in part, want to return to that purity (even if in some aspects it is impossible.) That's what the ancient civilization is really: Eden.

I am stymied by the race question: why do fantasy stories keep going back to elves and dwarves, and sometimes halflings or goblins or dragons, but with extremely little diversity in the type of being we could share a world with. What necessary function do these specific races serve? There are several HALF descriptions that explain a little of this, but don't go the full way: 1. The most thoughtful fantasy authors see these humanoid races as standins for groups in human society, and think you should just write human-only fantasy to wrestle with those questions properly. 2. The people who are most interested in writing genuinely alien intelligences, just write science fiction. 3. Elves and Dwarves DO serve specific functions. Even though every different story has a twist on their elves and dwarves, they do all share some sort of class-identity. In short, Elves are french aristocrats, and Dwarves are semetic scottish. Elves are the groups higher on the class ladder, who are more beautiful, longer-lived, quieter, taller, and more tranquil and quieter (also more tragic.) Dwarves are the groups lower on the class ladder, who are rougher and more practical, more scientific or at least technologically-focused, and whose lives are more easily spent by the narrative. Most fantasy societies are gonna have a "higher class" and a "lower class" standin, and they might as well be Elves and Dwarves anyway. 4. Tolkien did not invent Elves, or Dwarves, or Halflings, or Dragons. But all of these are very old in mythology, and fantasy is much more interested in telling twists on 1000-year old stories, than it is about adding wholly new elements (if only because of what sells.)

[celaenaeiln]

what do you think are the Batfam’s enneagram types? Specifically Bruce, Dick, Jason, Cass, Tim, Damian, Barbara and Steph, And anyone else you think important (l think Dick is mostly a type 2 and 1. Haven’t looked into the others yet) I’m asking because I think knowing a character’s personality type (OC or not) can help you write them in character, and I know a personality test probably isn’t going to fit them 100% just like real people but it could be a great guide

Ennegram Chart source

Bruce

Bruce is a 5 no doubt.

I feel like this is pretty self-explanatory. The description is a checklist of his personality traits.

Dick

Dick is 1, 2, and 3.

I would say 3 is his overarching personality, 1 is a secondary/support of the main one - 3 - and 2 is the other half of his personality. The thing about Dick is that he feels an almost pathological need to keep succeeding, keep doing better, and break every limit. It's not for anyone else, it's for himself because he doesn't feel like himself if he's not perfect. All of 1, 2, and 3's traits

Jason

Jason is an 8.

Ever since his Robin days, Jason has always been more on the willful side. As in, I want to do my own thing. Deal with it. And after coming back as Red Hood he wasn't initially self-confident but he's grown into it. No one can influence him to do anything and he's ready to throw hands if someone pushes too much.

Tim

Tim is a 5 or 6.

Smart, genius boy detective obviously (he's no isolated tho) so that explains 5 but Tim leans more towards 6. He's loyal to the cause and he's very responsible. But he's also a huge cute dork who's always on the look out for something that is off and he's always worried and thinking about what's wrong and what could go wrong. He's mainly a 6 with a little bit of 5 added in (perceptive, innovative, sometimes secretive).

Cass

Cass is a 5.

Cass and Bruce are identical. The way they think and act, Cass is a like a Batman 2.0 but better.

Steph

Steph is a 4.

DC really wants her to be a 7-

But I wrote a whole essay on why she's not a 7, but a 4 instead. She's not self-absorbed in the "I only love myself" way, she more of a "How can I constantly improve myself" type. When something bad happens her mind can get really down in the dumps about it but she tries her best to be positive - she's not withdrawn but expressive, dramatic, and temperamental definitely.

Damian

Dami is 3 or 8.

The achiever was instilled in him by his mother to constantly work to be the best at whatever he tries and now it's just a part of his personality. He's very self-conscious. 8 because like Jason, he does what he wants when he wants. No one can tell him what to do (unless it's Dick but gosh Bruce really tried).

Duke

Duke is 9.

Duke is extremely strong-willed but he does it in a nice way. He works towards heroism and every action he takes, it's aimed at helping people. He has a very strong sense of right and wrong and nothing will stop him from doing what is right. That being said, he gets along with everyone and is very easy going and caring, it's just that he won't compromise his morals for it. He's very loving in like a familial way.

Barbara

Barbara is an 8.

Dominant. She has a strong need to be in control at all times and know everything and when something gets in the way of that control, she gets very angry and persistent. She's confident in her abilities and makes decisions in which no one can influence her. She knows what she wants and she will get it whatever may come.

#bruce wayne #batman #dick grayson #nightwing #jason todd #red hood #tim drake #red robin #damian wayne #robin #stephanie brown #spoiler #cassandra cain #batgirl #duke thomas #the signal #barbara gordon #oracle #batfamily #enneagram #cl anon asks #cl asks #thanks for the ask!

[sharky857]

"Why yall like Hassian so much?"

The title is a half-quote of a question dropped on Palia Discord, and of course my hands started itching.

Not because the question ticked me off.

It's because that simple question alone set my brain on "I will be brief" mode. And the "will be brief" mode is always, without fail, this one:

WIthout further ado, here's my widdle essay, copy-pasted from the notepad file as it was intended to be shared on that server at some point (so if there's any weird self-censoring like "strong dislike", you already know why).

This is gonna be very much spoiler-y in a lot of points, so if you haven't reached max friendship + romance and/or don't like spoilers in general, pls skip this ramble.

That being said…

Having reached max friendship and also romance with Hassian, I see his being overall "cold" (or "sour", as someone else in game would define it) as some kind of psychological defense/self-preservation mechanism.

When you reach enough friendship with him, he will openly confess/admit that it's not like he doesn't like humans, but he is wary of them. He admits to be like that towards anything new/unknown, and humans are, in fact new/unknown to him. He even has a random dialogue where he actually thank you for giving him a chance to know humans better through your (friendship) bonding.

According to other dialogues, Hassian is also seen playing cards with Auni at the inn, and quite often too, apparently. This is met with mixed reactions from a few of the other locals: Reth makes jokes about it, saying that he always thought that Hassian would come at the inn only to see how other people could disappoint him (or something on that line), Nai'o is straight up worried that Hassian could be a bad influence or something on his little brother, and Sifuu has a more indirect line about it, saying that Hassian has a liking/soft spot for animals and children (which gives her a glimmer of hope that her sone, one day, might settle down and start a family). This is a first clue that Hassian is actually a gentle soul.

In regard of Reth's aforementioned remark, I have this feeling that this might have something to do with the way Chapaa are generally viewed by the locals. Everyone sees them as cute & cuddly & fluffy animals (you even have Tish straight up cooing about them, in one of the Maji market-related dialogues), despite how Chapaa have come to be in the valley and the consequences. Hassian will tell you that the Chapaa are not a natice species, but have been introduced at some point by Kenli, with the intentions of breeding them as pets. But the Chapaa at some other point escaped into the wild, where their population started to grow uncontrollably; the fact that they lacked (and still lack, apparently) natural predators means that Chapaa are now an invasive species that need some sort of "pest control" system. But apparently Kenli has been refusing to take any action of sort in this sense because "but Chapaa cute :(" reasons, while every other villager seems to have a similar line of thought about those critters, leading Hassian to take matters into his hunter-hands. This would explain why Hassian seems to look at everyone in disappointment when he drops by the inn.

Another clue that Hassian is more than meets the eye lies in a random dialogue of Auni, when you reach enough friendship with either that child and/or Hassian; our mail boy will kind of break confidentiality with you and tell you that Hassian always gets romance novels delivered from the library all the times. He also says that they are "very mushy stuff", which confirms that Hassian may be actually quite a sensitive person. This trait of Hassian is also confirmed by other things/dialogues. For starters, he writes poetry (or at least he has tried to, at some point), and you can even see some of those writing by yourself in his grove, upon finding a book with torn pages (he didn't rip them btw, it was some Chapaa's fault). At the beginning of that side quest, Hassian will try to deny the book is his, despite... ye know... his name is right there. And at the end of the quest he will asks you not to mention that book to anyone, because he has "a reputation to uphold".

You can also get some more clues upon finding an abandoned letter in one of the camps in Bahari (somewhere in the northern half, more precisely). That letter will also reveal that Hassian and Tamala had a short-lived affair (that letter is also the ultimate reason why I "strongly dislike" Tamala's guts with a passion, for the records).

Tamala and Hassian's story could be also the reason why Hassian is now even more prone to not let his feelings on. According to what I could grasp about this ordeal, one day Tamala spotted Hassian "snooping around" her house (he was just minding his own business, hunting and also selling some stuff). It is unclear which one aprroached the other first, all we know is that Tamala bought a Sernuk rug from him, then asked him to enter her boudoir (aka: her bedroom), unofficially to ask for his opinion on where it could've been placed. Officially… completely unrelated things happened. Tamala never says what, exactly, but the way she tells that bit leaves very little to one's (naughty-naughty) imagination. And apparently, Hassian instantly fell head over heel for Tamala, but it looks like Tamala never made her intentions clear from the very beginning; the whole time, Hassian probably thought that her intentions were serious, while Tamala was in only for "some fun". It is also implied that Tamala herself may ahve pretty much treated him like her personal "toy boy", while Hassian kept on misinterpreting all that as her way of courting a suitor back, to the point that he presented her his own pin; if you romanced anyone in this game, you know what a big and important step this is considered. This is apparently when Tamala finally decided to dump Hassian; her random dialogues say that she broke with him when he tried to talk about a marriage, while Hassian's dialogue (at the end of his max romance quest) seems to add some more details to that, saying something like "I thought you would've come back to throw my pin in my face". Now: think about what a pin signifies, keep in mind what big deal these pins are, now imagine someone straight up throwing said pin back to the sender's face while telling them to pretty much F off and never come back. That ought to cause some damage on an emotional level. Even Sifuu herself, at some point, confesses with you that she was worried that you would "pull a Tamala" on Hassian (not to mention: Sifuu is still also all set on wanting to kick Tamala's rear, after all these years), but she is also glad that, with you, she had been wrong.

As cherry on top, Hassian might have unprocessed childhood trauma, which might lead him to constantly keep his feelings in check (and being awkward when trying to disclose them) as well. At some point we get to know that he had two moms: Sifuu and Taylin. Hassian was clearly more attached to Taylin than Sifuu, and even after all this time the loss of "momma" still stings real bad to him. When Sifuu made him proof-read her own autobiography, Hassian simply flipped because of what he sees as complete lies on how "mother" and "momma" first met, considering that altered story as an insult to Taylin's memory (whereas Sifuu was only trying to spice things up for artistic reasons). Some time after that thing with the book, when Sifuu asks for his help to clear Taylin's belongings, Hassian do agree that they both needed to finally move on and and also tried to help his mother, but soon he found out he couldn't bring himself to do it.

The loss of Taylin could mean that Hassian is now subconsciously "afraid" to love someone as much as he loved "momma", probably fearing to suffer that same pain all over again. And the ordeal with Tamala might have left him extra wary of disclosing his feelings as well, which would all bring us to his aloof and seemingly cold demeanour in game.

#palia #palia game #palia open beta #sharky's random thoughts #everyone non-Hassian is like ''omg he is SO RUDE 😤'' #and I've been here going from ''huh so you're the tsundere type. Gotchu. 👍'' to ''OMFG YOU POOR BROKEN THING😭😭'' #SIDE NOTE: I keep desperately editing this post #but for some godforsaken reason the ''keep reading'' break doesn't work in Tumblr tags??? #but the post HAS THE BREAK if I view it from my own blog????? #TUMBLR WHY DHAJKSDHJKASDHK

[chazzielynx]

Assigning Sleep Token Songs to Redacted Characters.

Hashtag is this too niche, lmao.

Characters in this post: Brachium, Geordi, Vincent, Avior, James, Blake, Hush, Regulus, Anton, Sam, Milo

Note: I am mainly using their latest album. All of these are just my opinions.

TW: Vincent's one briefly mentions self harm. Also Sleep Token is the opposite of angst free so read with caution.

Brachium - Chokehold (this bitch is getting angrier and angrier and I am heeere for it. "We act out of our holy duty to be constantly awake" GRAA)

Geordi - Granite (now I'm not here to hate on Cutie. But this song screams Geordi to Cutie. But specifically "so keep an eye on the road or we will both be here forever"?!?! Crying, sobbing)

Gavin - DYWTYLM (Early Gavin in particular. I feel like he truly thought they were only fond of his sexual favors in the beginning. So this is him questioning everything "it's getting harder to be myself" yeah. Yeeeeah)

Avior - Take Me Back To Eden (there are so many lines I could use here like fr. But I'd say this is mostly his anger about being stuck in that hellscape "I don't know what's got its teeth in me but I'm about to bite back in anger" I have his "what mindless force of nature" speech memorised at this point lmao)

Vincent - Are you really okay? (Now this might be projecting, but I feel like Lovely struggled more with all of what they went through than we might know. And Vincent so desperate to help but doesn't know how "cutting deeper than the scars could run" why do I do this to myself)

Porter - The Summoning (we only really know his sassy and his sexual side so far. This song screams dom-masochist. "You've got my body, flesh and bone, the sky above, the earth below"...need I say more)

Blake - Vore (this whole song screams hehe get it cause it's a heavy screaming song anyway seer wanting to devote his life to change their lover's fate: "there is always sth in the way I wanna have you to myself for once" Change my mind.)

James - Aqua Regia (now this is purely based off of vibes GIVE ME MY HUSBAND BACK ahem but I feel like this man would use fancy science words to explain his love. Also "running to your heart when you're thinking of" AHH)

Hush - Rain (this man needed one hug from Doc and he felt better. LIKE SIR "touch me again, I feel my shadow dissolving" whole song feels like him)

Ivan - Ascensionism (I feel like I could write an essay on how this describes Sadism Hold Ivan. But to demonstrate: "half algorithm, half deity" = Vega, "blood stains on the collar means just don't ask" = Baby, "you want someone to be your reflection" = Ivan)

Regulus - The Apparition (now, this is a little bit of a shot in the dark because except for last year's Halloween audio, I haven't listened to his playlist yet. But based on vibes, this seems to match. Don't come for me)

Anton - Euclid (little bit of a stretch mayhaps but this could be Anton away from his partner "call me when you get the chance, I can feel the walls around me closing in" and a lot more angsty lines)

Bonus Songs (because I love them)

Sam - Blood Sport (specifically this is Darlin in the beginning of their relationship, feeling like they're just dragging Sam into their bloody trauma "Even if [...] the heavens just won't open up for me, would you invite me in again?" Hmm)

Milo - Drag Me Under Again (now technically this is such an Avior song, like hello. But this feisty werewolf is in awe with his partner to this day. And he may not call himself a poet but this mf literally said "you feel like forever in my arms" HELLO SIR. So the admiration in this song fits)

#i definitely have a problem #redactedaudio #redacted asmr #redacted audio #redacted #redactedverse #sleep token

[suspendingtime]

20 Questions for Fic Writers!

I've been tagged by @stars-of-kyber and @andthebubbles. 😁 So although I feel barely qualified, I guess I best do this...

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

7. 🤗

I started about 2 months ago, so... and yes, they're all Kanthony. Initially just started as a way of contributing to Anthony Week 2023, and I didn't even expect that I'd actually do all 7 days.

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

13,370.

Currently ranging at 661 to 3,779 per fic. Rookie numbers!

3. What fandoms do you write for?

So far, just my beloved Bridgerton.

But there have been a couple other shows that have tempted me...

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Astride  - 166

Nursery  - 118

Hunt - 105

Yours - 94

Temptation - 88

Having published a handful with various ratings, it's quite interesting to see the kudos, bookmarks (private vs public), and subs ratios! Much to think about.

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Yes.

Why... I sort of have a need? Idk, when I see a comment it's hard to just leave it hanging there and not to reply. Like irl if someone looked at something I made and verbally commented on it... and I just stared back blankly not saying anything. 😐 This is how it feels to me on the receiving end at least haha. And my replies saying various forms of 'Thank you!' is probably quite repetitive, but hey ho.

Plus comments give you that lil hit of dopamine; from both povs as a writer or reader. Being on the reader side for most of my Ao3 activities I tend to comment on most of fics I read, I can't help it - I must tell you what I loved about it and why, and there's a pleasure in reciprocating that back too. Look, now I've written half an essay on the subject, gaaah. (I've not been on Ao3 as much as I'd like to recently, and because I opened it to scoop out the stats for some of the questions above I can now see that I have some unreads... and the need is happening.)

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Hmmm *thinking really hard*, I don't think any of them have an ending that is all that angsty. If I had to choose, maybe Temptation?

The pattern I've shown so far in my posted works is that it's gonna be 90% fluff. Though that is liable to change. 😆

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Probably Nursery?

I'm not sure, cause they've all ended on a pretty optimistic note so far. But that one has Kate and Anthony with a few of their kids, so it's the furthest on the Kanthony HEA timeline.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not yet...

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Ummm 👀 I may have dabbled in some smut.

What kind... hm, the kind where both people are panting for each other, and end up caving because they literally can't hold their horniness in anymore (this totally explains why I went feral for Bridgerton S2, ha). Another pattern I seem to have is making Anthony a submissive man puddle.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

Not yet, but I do have some crack ideas I may explore.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of, I very much doubt it.

How often does this happen to people?

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No. I'd certainly be all for it if anyone ever wanted to translate any works of mine. 😊

If I was proficient enough to write in other languages, then I would probably try publishing the different versions from the get go.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Kinda?

Nothing formal, but there was a lengthy comment thread on Reddit some months ago where myself and another user went back and forth re-writing the script for that stormy library scene 😅 (not so much re-writing what was already there, bar the last few lines, more of a continuation in a universe where Kate hadn't fled).

14. What’s your all-time favourite ship?

Must I even answer this? Kanthony, c'mon now.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

There's only 1 work that I have, where I've actually started a chapter 2. And I have all the faith that I will finish it. ✍️🤓

Other potential WIPs, that are currently just posted as one shots, only exist in my head... who knows if they will see the light of day.

16. What are your writing strengths?

This question feels illegal to be asked.

I have no idea, I'm very new to this whole writing thing. At least in terms of fiction, so I'm not sure what I'd consider my strengths to be. I feel like I need some more practice before I can get a real sense of this?

I would say that dialogue usually comes very quickly to me, and it's having to fill in the bits around it that takes more brain muscles. So that might indicate something.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Everything apart from the answer to the question above.

But really I think it's remembering that there is a world outside of the main couple happening, and trying to describe the details there. Also other general 'setting the scene' stuff like clothing, weather etc etc. I usually just want to jump straight in with some random dialogue.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

On writing it... no thoughts; not done it yet!

If I needed to for some unknown fic reason in the future, I'm sure I'll be apologising profusely in the author notes for trusting Google translate and probably butchering whatever language it is.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Still just the one so far, Bridgerton. 😌

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

Hunt 🥺🥹 I was a lot of feels, and just very indulgent tbh.

I also really enjoyed my shortest one, Obedient, which was in 2nd person (hadn't done that before). The writing of that one was just really fun and I idky but I've reread it quite a bit!

__________________________________________________

I'm woefully looking at my Ao3 bookmarks (which has grown exponentially since joining Tumblr), full of things that I've not got round to reading yet. So I'm tagging partly based on stuff hanging out on top of that pile: @islemeadow, @ladykettlechips, @hydriotaphia, @eleanor-bradstreet, and the smut aunties @colettebronte & @fayes-fics 😋 (if y'all wanna do it, ofc. I tried to find those who hadn't been tagged/done it yet, sorry if you've actually already done this and I've just not found it).

#20 questions for fic writers #tag game #fanfic writing #fan fiction

[happytaffeta]

Not going to reblog the post because I respect and agree with the op and I don't wanna write a fucking essay about my feelings on their post, but I finally stumbled across a photo of the calf and I haven't had a great afternoon, and i haven't had a great week. So uh. Here's your warning: Animal husbandry is important to me. I grew up in a rural area and I, and every kid I knew, and all my neighbors, kept various animals and a lot of them were livestock. I never kept cattle but I knew kids who did. I am going to be sad and angry below the cut, and I'm putting it below a cut because it's gonna be a bit long and maybe not super articulate, and definitely not always as kind as I maybe could be. I don't expect to change the minds of people who think that what's happening to that poor thing is okay. But I need to get some thoughts out.

I kept rabbits, goats, chickens. Mom had(still has) horses. we had cats and dogs and occasionally would capture reptiles and amphibians, look at them for a bit in a secure container, and then release them in a safer location where they wouldn't get hit by a tire or spotted as easily by the dog, or my kid brother(gentle, but young, so both clumsy and curious) or the rowdy neighbor boys(less gentle, just as young). You breed livestock, even on a small, 4-H kid, backyard scale, you end up on a first name basis with death. Wildlife happens. Sometimes there's a nasty outbreak of something and it hits half your flock. Sometimes there's stress from a hot summer day or general social group aggression. There are ways to avoid a lot of things but when you're a first time keeper of a given animal type trying to start a little show flock, or a nice little herd for your project book, no matter how much you read up first, there are things you learn by running up against the reaper. Some eggs never hatch. Some kids are stillborn. A first time mother gives birth on the wire instead of in the nest box. Now and then there's an invisible but fatal physical defect that kills a critter later. My first doe kid died a week and a half after I brought her home, heart defect. No one knew. She was weaned and everything, cause I didn't bring her home until after she was full time eating solid food.

This calf is not going to be okay, ever. This is a blue eyed white foal kind of situation, except those are pretty avoidable for the most part. You cannot save these babies, and trying only adds more pain to an inevitably early death. Trying makes you into the monster, it makes you be the one causing pain. This is an infant who is never going to be able to understand why the world consists of suffering, and there is no way for us to explain it, and there is no way to make it stop that is not death. This isn't a life to save. This is not someone who can consent to life-extending medical intervention. This is a creature who needs as gentle and quick a farewell as we have the power to give. Please don't do things like this. Please don't make us into monsters. Please, let the suffering baby beasties go.

[andichoseyou]

THE ERAS TOUR ASK GAME!

💗Miss Americana And The Heartbreak Prince: it's been a long time coming... what was your opinion on the Lover album when it first came out, and what are your opinions on it now?

💗Cruel Summer: fever dream high... can you remember the best or worst summer of your life? if yes, can you explain why it was the best/worst?

💗The Man: i'm so sick of running as fast as i can... can you name some songs, movies, poems, etc that make you feel powerful? like you could do anything?

💗You Need To Calm Down: we've all got crowns... name 5 female artists (besides Taylor!) that you love!

💗Lover: can i go where you go... what are, in your opinion, the most romantic songs of all time?

💗The Archer: you could stay... at the end of the day, who do you choose? who is your person? your other half?

💗THE LOVER ERA: if you could add one Lover song to the setlist, which one would it be?

🌟Fearless: i don't know how it gets better than this... what was something that you were afraid to do, but did anyway? how did doing that make you feel?

🌟You Belong With Me: been here all along... what are your go-to karaoke songs?

🌟Love Story: we were both young when i first saw you... what were your favorite books/fairytales when you were younger?

🌟THE FEARLESS ERA: if you could add one Fearless song to the setlist, which one would it be?

🍂'Tis The Damn Season: it always leads to you and my hometown... what is your favorite spot in the town you grew up in? was it a restaurant? your childhood friend's house? the school you went to? someplace else?

🍂Willow: i come back stronger than a 90s trend... favorite 90s song?

🍂Marjorie: you're alive in my head... if you could have dinner with one person, dead or alive, who would it be?

🍂Champagne Problems: i dropped your hand while dancing... what was the last movie/show that made you cry?

🍂Tolerate It: tell me i've got it wrong somehow... rank every taylor swift track 5!

🍂THE EVERMORE ERA: if you could add one Evermore song to the setlist, which one would it be?

♟️...Ready For It?: in the middle of the night... what is the last dream that you can remember? what was it about?

♟️Delicate: isn't it?... what is your favorite taylor swift "question" lyric? (ex: "can i go where you go?" or "remember when you hit the brakes too soon?")

♟️Don't Blame Me: oh lord save me... all time favorite live taylor performance?

♟️Look What You Made Me Do: the old taylor can't come to the phone... what are your top 5 favorite taylor swift music videos?

♟️THE REPUTATION ERA: if you could add one Reputation song to the setlist, which one would it be?

💟Enchanted: this night is sparkling... favorite dress that taylor has worn? it can be on stage, on the red carpet, or just out and about... but it must be a dress!

💟Long Live: we will be remembered... what is your favorite Taylor related memory?

💟THE SPEAK NOW ERA: if you could add one Speak Now song to the setlist, which one would it be?

🧣22: it feels like one of those nights... when is your birthday? how old are you turning? what is something you want to do for it? do you have any birthday traditions?

🧣We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together: like, ever... best way to get over a break up? (romantic or platonic)

🧣I Knew You Were Trouble: so shame on me now... name 5 songs to scream-sing in the car with the windows down

🧣All Too Well (Ten Minute Version): i know it's long gone... what song(s) by taylor would you want a ten minute version of?

🧣THE RED ERA: if you could add one Red song to the setlist, which one would it be?

☕️The 1: i guess you never know... do you prefer The 1 or Invisible String?

☕️Betty: i know i miss you... what taylor swift song do you feel like she wrote just for you? a song that you relate to so much that it feels like she got inside your brain?

☕️The Last Great American Dynasty: 50 years is a long time... if you could write an essay/book/song/etc about any historical figure, who would you choose and why?

☕️August: you were never mine... favorite month of the year? why is it your favorite?

☕️Illicit Affairs: don't call me kid, don't call me baby... top 3 favorite taylor swift bridges?

☕️My Tears Ricochet: why are you at the wake... what are your go-to songs for when you need a good cry? (doesn't just have to be taylor songs!)

☕️Cardigan: i knew you... what is your favorite piece of clothing that you own?

☕️THE FOLKLORE ERA: if you could add one Folklore song to the setlist, which one would it be?

🦋Style: take me home... if you could ask taylor to cover one song, which song would you choose?

🦋Blank Space: if the high was worth the pain... what was the first taylor song you ever heard?

🦋Shake It Off: it's gonna be alright... list ten things that make you happy!!!

🦋Wildest Dreams: i bet these memories follow you around... would you consider yourself an optimist or a pessimist?

🦋Bad Blood: blood runs cold... all time favorite taylor collab? who do you want to see her collab with next?

🦋THE 1989 ERA: if you could add one 1989 song to the setlist, which one would it be?

🍀Surprise Songs: what are your two dream surprise songs that you want to see live?

🌌Lavender Haze: i just need this love spiral... what is the funniest/stupidest rumor about taylor swift that you have seen/heard?

🌌Anti-Hero: too big to hang out... are you a sexy baby or a monster on the hill?

🌌Midnight Rain: all of me changed... do you prefer sunshine or the rain?

🌌Vigilante Shit: don't get sad, get even... post your favorite taylor pictures from the eras tour!!

🌌Bejeweled: a diamond's gotta shine... out of the 4 music videos from midnights that we have, which one is your favorite? which one is your least favorite?

🌌Mastermind: none of it was accidental... what is your favorite "big word" that taylor has used in a song? (ex: Machiavellian, incandescent)

🌌Karma: sweet like honey... karma is cat for taylor, but what is karma to you?

🌌THE MIDNIGHTS ERA: if you could add one Midnights song to the setlist, which one would it be?

#guys this took a long time omg #reblog if u want some fun asks!!! #ask game #taylor swift #the eras tour #eras tour #midnights #folklore #1989 album #reputation #speak now #red (taylor’s version) #fearless (taylor's version) #evermore album #lover album #long post

[danisbrainrot]

capitol!academy!reader (shes 18 and is a coryo friend) teaching gf!tigris to read and write because she never had the opportunity due to having to take care of coriolanus and grandmother

tigris snow x reader

also, she and coriolanus aren't really friends, it's more of a symbiotic relationship. i hope you don't mind.

you were desperately poor. your family had been this way ever since the war. crassus snow had persuaded your father to invest everything in district 13, that when it was bombed to nothing, your whole life collapsed before your eyes. now, your family had to take up any and all kinds of jobs to make a little money.

you had always been incredibly smart. in fact, you and coriolanus were often academic rivals, trying to out score each other in exams and essays. it made sense that you'd be able to help tutor the dumber—but much richer—students at the academy in the grades below.

one day, coriolanus was walking past you explaining the themes of an old fictional book from before the war that surprisingly stuck on the curriculum—something about mice and men.

you started packing up, collecting payment from the younger student, before you locked eyes with coriolanus. you stood in shock—no one in the grade was supposed to know that you were poor. he swiftly approached you, promising not to rat you out if you helped his cousin. you asked why he couldn't do it himself, but he evaded the question. you sighed, but agreed—you couldn't just say no. what if he told everyone about your family's. . . situation?

that's how you found yourself outside his apartment, standing on the pavement of the corso, gripping onto your book bag tightly. you knew they lived on the penthouse, which meant climbing several hundred stairs; you discovered the elevator was broken upon entry. groaning, you began the long climb to the top, wondering how coriolanus did this everyday.

you pounded on the door, catching your breath once you finally reached the top. tigris eagerly opened the door, pulling you in for a tight hug and thanking you profusely for coming.

the first thing you noticed was how barren the grand apartment was. there were only a few necessary pieces of furniture, paint was peeling off the wall and the carpet looked like half of it was ripped up years ago. you realised that the snow's were as poor as you were.

"coryo's at sejanus' house right now, and my grandma'am is asleep so it's just us right now, I hope you're okay with that," she explains, leading you to her room and where her desk was. it was significantly smaller than all the other rooms she'd seen throughout the apartment, half of it still damaged from the war. she sat on her bed, gesturing for you to sit at the desk.

"that's fine. coriolanus told me you were struggling with your reading and writing?" you ask, taking your book bag off and setting your stationary on the desk.

she bit her lip sheepishly, looking at the ground and nodding. "besides the basics and a few things he's taught me, I'm almost illiterate. I had to drop out of the academy to get a full time job, but even then I was terrible at literature," she replies, rubbing her arm up and down.

you freeze, looking at her for a moment too long before shaking her head, "well, I guess that just means we'll be spending a lot of time together," you state, sitting down next to her. you didn't really know where to start, considering all the other people you tutored were usually at a 10th grade reading level, but you quickly found out that tigris wasn't being modest; almost illiterate was an accurate claim.

pulling out an old literature skills book, you place a pen down in front of her and open it to the twentieth page. "do all the activities you can," you say, beckoning her over and standing up. she filled in a few blank spaces, corrected one spelling mistake and bit her lip, before finally placing the pen down. you sigh, knowing that there was a lot of work that would need to be done.

over the next week, tigris' literacy gradually improved. you meticulously poured over past notes you'd taken, encouraging her to learn however she felt comfortable. you stuck to a slow, but effective pace.

you had found out that the reason coriolanus refused to teach tigris was because his temper was far too short and he valued her too much. this didn't completely surprise you—remembering the countless group projects where he'd snap at arachne or festus when they couldn't understand something.

when tigris could finally complete ten pages all by herself, you deemed it a cause of celebration and bought a small cake. it had cost you the same as one tutoring lesson, but it was all worth it when you presented it to her. her eyes nearly bulged out of her head; she subconsciously kissed you on the cheek.

she blushes once she realised what she did, before taking a bite out of the cake and closed her eyes in bliss. "I can't believe you bought me a cake for something so simple," she mumbles, avoiding your gaze.

you snorted, shaking your head in disbelief, "are you kidding me? it's a huge improvement. besides, it's nothing," you lie. your family really needed the money, but the way tigris' face lit up, you couldn't help but know you made the right choice.

"what are you going to do if I finish the whole book?" she asks teasingly, taking another bite of the cake before offering it to you.

you refuse it, before thinking about her question for a minute. "hmm, I think I'd have to kiss you," you joke, winking at her.

the blood rushed to her cheeks, as she turned a dark shade of scarlet. she had grown to really like you over the past week, forming a slight crush on you—the suggestion didn't sound like a bad idea to her. but she knew you were joking, by the way you started laughing straight afterwards.

when you left that evening, she made it her mission to complete the 150 page activity book before your next tutor session. you had a group assignment you had to do with lysistrata so it wouldn't be for another week, giving tigris ample time to get it done.

one day at the academy, you were in the library studying with lyssie and hilarius when coriolanus pulls you aside. he thanks you in private for helping his cousin, and mentions how she was so inspired that she'd managed to finish the entire book. your eyes widen, shock evident on your face for two reasons. one, the book was long and the many pages were extremely difficult. two, did that mean tigris really wanted that kiss?

you and coriolanus walk to his apartment that very afternoon. as he opened the door, tigris ran into the room, flapping the book in your face excitedly. you laugh at her enthusiasm, pulling her into a hug and congratulating her. she grabs your hand, leading you to her room and out of coriolanus's view.

"I guess this means I'm getting that kiss, huh?" she asked shyly. you could tell it was meant to come out teasingly, but tigris was genuinely flustered.

you smiled softly at her, leaning and caressing her cheek with your thumb. "you're smarter than you give yourself credit for," you praise, watching as tigris' cheeks turn pinker. finally, you delicately press your lips against hers and pull her in closer to you.

she sighs into the kiss, wrapping her arms around your shoulders and smiling at the soft way your lips felt. she wanted to stay in this blissful moment forever; you felt similarly.

once you pull away, she pouts momentarily—missing the way your lips felt on hers. "you know, I have another exercise book at home. I could get it for you, and then once you finish that I could kiss you like that again," you tease.

she shook her head, "I think I wanna kiss you like that all the time. not as a reward," she replies, pressing her forehead against yours. you couldn't help but agree, leaning in to kiss her again.

#tigris x reader #tigris snow #wlw #blurb #thg series #tbosas #fluff #thg #fanfic #the hunger games #the ballad of songbirds and snakes #coriolanus snow #danisasks #dani's fics <3

[atanx]

Hello and welcome to my meltdown about Subnautica's timeline!

Okay; for context: I'm writing a fic in which Ryley Robinson, my blorbiest of blorbos, hitch-hikes a ride with Robin to escape Alterra (Robin doesn't know this). And I, in ignorance, set this to take place five years after their departure from 4546B.

And then I looked on the wiki and found out that apparently Below Zero is set two years after Subnautica??? I went like 'huh, guess I'm canon-divergencing harder than I thought' and went to construct my timeline in-between the games in detail like any normal person writing gay subnautica fanfiction, and WHAT I DISCOVERED WILL SHOCK YOU!!!

(Disclaimer: the two years figure is from the Wiki and I couldn't find a source for it. So either someone invented it or the devs didn't pay attention to their own lore.)

In this essay I will explain why it is impossible that Below Zero takes place two years after the end of Subnautica!

The Aurora was at 4546B to install a phasegate in that part of space, something that would have been a really big deal because it would have made a far-away part of the universe accessible. They weren't able to, because of giant gun.

The Aurora will travel from spacedock on the edge of Alterra space, making hundreds of consecutive phasegate jumps through nine different trans-gov authorities, and arrive on the far side of the Ariadne Arm in three months' time. From there the command crew will pilot the ship beyond the final phasegate, arriving in the next solar system approximately 18 months later.

~ Databank entry: “Alterra Launches the Aurora”

So in total, the Aurora took 21 months, almost two years, to arrive at 4546B. And Alterra sent the rocket because they could only meet Ryley halfway. Let's say that 'halfway' is halfway from the last phasegate. So logically, since the Aurora launched from the edge of Alterra space, Alterra's rescue ships would also need to make those hundreds of phasegate jumps, which took the Aurora three months. I'm going to assume that the rescue ships are smaller than the Aurora and thus possibly faster, taking 2 months for the jumps.

Then, with a faster ship, they would maybe only need 14 months where the Aurora took 18. Half of that makes 7 months, for a total of 9 months at the earliest when they could meet up with Ryley. Since the Neptune would also need about 7 months to get to the halfway-point (yes, this means Ryley had to spend 7 months cooped up in that small-ass rocket. Best have brought enough rations when leaving 4546B!), this assumes that Ryley only took two months to cure themselves and build the rocket. If they took any longer, you'd have to add that time on top of everything.

So at 9 months, Ryley meets the rescue ships. I'm going to say that the post-credit cutscene was PDA-generated bs and Ryley was very much allowed to come aboard although they owe Alterra 'a trillion credits'. Since I doubt Alterra would send high-ranking personnel into the ass of space where a kilometre-long capital ship, top technology, got fucking obliterated, Ryley only gets interrogated 9 months later, when they have been brought back to Alterra space.

We're at 18 months now.

Now, let's say Alterra goes like 'Huh, interesting planet and cured plague, shut-off gun! Let's investigate!'. The journey back to 4546B takes at least 16 more months if the ship is fast as fuck, so I'm going to push that up to 18 months since a ship loaded with materials and scientific equipment would need to be larger and thus slower. Since the non-realised construction of the phasegate was a multi-trillion credit investment (source: same databank entry as cited above), I'm going to propose that Alterra doesn't care about a small, far-away planet enough to risk bankrupting themselves for another phasegate, no matter how mineral-rich it is on the surface. They're interested in studying any remnants of Kharaa and also claiming the planet symbolically by staying there for an extended period of time and 'setting up base'.

We are at a total of 36 months. Which is three years. Three years and Alterra has just barely arrived at 4546B again.

How did the game arrive at two years??? Even if Ryley were questioned the second they step foot on the rescue ship, and Alterra immediately launches the crew that'll be stationed in Sector Zero, that makes 9+18 months, which is 27! More than two years and the crew has just arrived!

And then the story of Below Zero is also too complex to have taken place in a matter of days, so I would give it at least a few months, maybe like 4, which makes 31. And then Robin will have to undertake that same long journey, although she might not have to start all the way back in Alterra space, but it would take her 5 months at least!! And that's three years again!

The timeline doesn't even add up if a phasegate is constructed. Because let's say that along with the rescue ships, a ship capable of carrying all the materials and equipment necessary of phasegate construction is sent off. It would need to be of a similar calibre to the Aurora and would also take like 21 months to arrive at 4546B. From the same databank entry I've already mentioned like twice, we know that construction (for the Aurora), would take 6 months. So it would take this new ship at least that long, too, for a total of... 27 months! More than two years! Again! And this is also the earliest possible point that the research crew can arrive. So in the end, if we give the events of the story a couple of months, we are at 31 months again, and a couple of months for Robin to arrive, three years!

Now, there is one concern I want to address: the Sunbeam. "If it would take the rescue ships 16 months to arrive at 4546B, how come the Sunbeam arrives pretty early in a playthrough?", you might ask.

And fret not, for I have come up with a solution! We know that the closest phasegate from 4546B is 18 months by Aurora away. However, this says nothing about space-stations without phasegates. Quinn says that they're from a small trans-gov in Andromeda. Now, we don't know where Andromeda is located and what its relation to the Ariadne Arm, which 4546B is situated in, is, but since it's a trans-gov we do know that they own and operate at least one phasegate. It would make sense for that to be the closest, 18 months away from the Ariadne Arm. However, the Sunbeam could have been in the area delivering cargo to a space station without a phasegate.

The Ariadne Arm itself, is supposedly uninhabited, seeing as the databank entry claims the construction of the phasegate will expand inhabited space, but this could be an exaggeration or 4546B might simply not be too far into the uninhabited Ariadne Arm. Or both!

In conclusion, while it is possible to invent a plausbile explanation for the presence of the Sunbeam, there is no plausible explanation for Below Zero being able to take place just two years after Ryley's escape (that I could come up with). The only thing I can think of is that maybe the Mongolians or some other trans-gov built a spacegate in the vicinity, eliminating the 6 months construction time in the phasegate calculation, but this is somewhat of a stretch, since the earliest with that is 25 months. Now this figure would look quite good, but it doesn't account for the fact that the Mongolians wouldn't have built a phasegate right in front of 4546B, because if they had, they would have claimed the planet, and as we can see through the Alterra domination of it, they didn't. So there is inevitably some travel time which adds up to those 25 months. Not to mention that with relatively high likelihood, the new phasegate wouldn't be accessible through the last phasegate before 4546B, since everything we have seen implies that phasegates form tunnels, with two making a pair and having sole access to each other.

In the end, I think my figure of 5 years, 60 months, is much more realistic. It gives ample time for research proceedings and relationship development within the research crew, as we have seen exists. With this calculation, it takes Robin maybe (since she is traveling on a small, lightweight and fast ship) 14 months to get to 4546B, and from Lil asking her kids to send her art, we know that a form of fast-ish digital communication probably exists (although messages are probably inspected and need approval before send-off, meaning the reason we only get Sam's messages on entry to 4546B might be that some simply weren't sent), so she could have left immediately after learning of Sam's death. It taking this much time also explains how calm she is in the game: she's had a lot of time to process.

That brings us up to 50 months, leaving a 10 month window for any research crew bonding. This actually looks rather tight considering Alterra shipped an investigator to 4546B, but said investigator might have left shortly before Robin arrived, so that gives a larger time frame for her.

Thanks for coming to my TED talk! :D

#subnautica #below zero #that moment when all you wanna do is construct a timeline to explain your increasing canon-divergence #and suddenly you realise canon doesn't make sense #did i overthink this? probably! but eh! #i made this entire rant into a post because i realised that this is kind of too long for an author's note if i ever publish the fic #so this is a thing to like link to like 'hey! if u wanna know the behind the scenes here it is!' #atanx.txt #also if im missing anything feel free to tell me and correct me and such! i havent put too much effort into researching this so its possibl #:P

[noperopesaredope]

Persephone Retelling Idea

So I was watching a video essay on Lore Olympus and its flaws, and there was a part where the video creator talked about how, in Persephone retellings, Demeter is always villainized whilst Hades is glorified. I thought about this for a bit, and realized two things:

1) The most likely reason we want Persephone and Hades’ relationship to be mutually loving is because we hate the idea of a girl being kidnapped and forced into an unwanted marriage for the rest of eternity whilst her loving mother watches on helplessly. That’s why we make up versions where Persephone isn’t suffering: because it’s horrifying otherwise.

2) It would be so much more interesting to see a retelling of the myth that portrays Demeter and Persephone’s relationship as healthy and loving, then exploring their shared grief over being forcibly separated from each other 6 months a year. That would be fascinating to me, and focus on the love and loss between a mother and daughter. It could be bittersweet and beautiful.

That’s when I ended up writing this comment (then putting it in a Google Doc for later):

I have an idea for a Persephone Myth retelling that I think would be pretty fun without really villainizing anyone (besides maybe Zeus because I hate him? But he's like, not even really in it, so there's that). It mainly focuses on Persephone and Demeter, and is slightly based on my relationship with my mom as I've started getting ready for college (particularly as an autistic young adult who needs supports to function). It also later takes the idea of the Dread Queen Persephone as she girlbosses her way into a true goddess. 

Basically, Persephone is a young adult goddess (still hundreds of years old) who has a great relationship with her mother, but is still trying to figure herself out, and slightly wants to leave the nest. She isn't quite sure how to be independent in the big wide world, and she's a bit nervous. So for now, she likes to spend her time talking with her nymph friends about life and stuff. 

Meanwhile, in the underworld, Thanatos is...busy...with a situation, so Hades is forced to temporarily take over the role of death, a job he is very reluctant to do. Why doesn't some other underworld person take care of it? Because shut up. So, Hades takes the list of people he needs to take down (to the undERWORLD THAT IS!!! *Airhorn noises*) and just kinda comes out of the earth, snatches people out of their bodies, and dips, taking them along with him. Unfortunately, one of the Fates "misspelled" a name, so instead of taking Persebhone (or maybe Kora, because Persephone’s name might be Kore for the first half), he accidently ends up taking Persephone, not realizing who she is since he really needs to get out more often. 

So Persephone finds herself in the underworld after Hades abruptly dropped her off there and went to his palace. She goes to the trial place where souls are typically tried, and the judges are surprised when they realize that she is an immortal god. They assume she got lost or something trying to visit Hades, so they send her over to his palace. She sits in the waiting room for a bit, where they are serving out underworld pomegranates as refreshments. Persephone doesn't know about the rules of the underworld, so she eats one. Dun dun dun. Then she has a meeting with Hades, who is confused until she starts explaining that she really isn't supposed to be here and why. He understandably panics at this, aware that Demeter will definitely kill him. 

Meanwhile, Demeter is having a panic attack, because she doesn't know where her daughter is. The other gods are trying to comfort her, but nothing is working, and in this arc of the story, during the parts where we see what's happening in the overworld, we will explore themes of mental health, depression, and what it is like to have a missing child. The other gods will also be having a sort of mystery thing where they try to find the missing goddess. 

Meanwhile AGAIN, Hades is trying to figure out how to contact the other gods to sort things out, but the exit to the underworld is blocked or something (basically, no one can leave rn), and he can't communicate with the other gods. They are kinda trapped rn. So he tries his best to keep Persephone calm and comfortable because NOTHING IS WRONG AT ALL- (he does break the truth to her once he realizes it really will be a few months until he can contact the others, but at first he will pretend that things are mostly fine) 

Persephone herself is feeling very overwhelmed in this crazy new place, and is more than a little stressed out. But as time goes by, Persephone finds that she really likes it in the underworld, and can find some type of beauty in it. She also discovers new parts of herself with each person she meets. But this first arc mainly explores her trying to find a place in the world without that type of support that Demeter gave her, and wondering how her growing desire to stay in the underworld will affect her relationship with her mother. 

Eventually, we get a beautiful reunion between the two, but tragically discover that Persephone eating the pomegranate seeds have permanently tied her to the underworld. So then they need to figure things out about how to live independently from each other as Persephone starts living in the underworld officially and growing into a potentially badass Dread Queen of the Underworld, Demeter tries to cope with Empty Nest Syndrome (I actually love the idea of exploring a character in her changing situation), and Hades tries to get used to living with another person and also secretly attempts to handle his new guilt complex over accidentally trapping Persephone in the Underworld.

I have a lot more ideas, but that's the basic premise.

Hades and Persephone's dynamic will be so much fun. It isn't quite romantic so much as it is besties or something (I'm gonna make them slightly close in age, since Demeter is the 2nd oldest out of the siblings, and Hades is the 4th. Zeus was also pretty young when he freed his siblings. So Hades would be a bit young around the time Persephone is born. Not super young, but young enough to seem more like an older brother or something). They are so socially awkward that they end up becoming basically friends. Since Persephone basically lives here now, Hades wants to at least make her feel comfortable and welcome, so he hangs out with her sometimes, and eventually even invites her to start helping him out with underworld stuff. They just work together well and get along pretty great in all honesty.

Persephone and Demeter's relationship would be the main focus of the story, as well as Persephone's coming-of-age. Demeter, as I mentioned above, is a mother who is dealing with grief from her child going missing, and later deals with the pieces of trauma that come with that (which she will refuse to acknowledge at first), then dealing with Empty Nest Syndrome as she has a bit of a personal crisis over that, possibly even a bit of a mid life crisis. Then she needs to deal with the realization of how happy Persephone is as she becomes an independent adult. I love the idea of working with this woman as she goes through this nonsense. She’s dealing with a lot. I love this version of her that I have in my head.

Persephone is also conflicted and unsure of herself as she begins to develop mild independence anxiety during the first arc, and her own little identity crisis during the arc after she and Demeter (temporarily) reunite.

Basically, young adult leaves for college for the first time as she and her mom both have mental breakdowns, while the young adult's cool new roommate and accidental kidnapper tries to learn social skills in the background. It's fun (and low-key funny in certain ways).

That's my idea. Yeah.

Hopefully healthier than Lore Olympus.

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So, I may or may not make a small webcomic using this idea. The art style will likely be simple because not only is said art style still in the works with no fully fleshed out, overcomplicated character designs, but I want it to be relatively easy to work on and write with ease. May make this, may not. Hopefully it could be fun though, since I love Greek Mythology, and I find retellings of it to be fascinating and fun. Tell me what ya’ll think of this concept, and if it sounds interesting.

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