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vacantgodling · 4 months

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unique writing asks: 1, 5, 7 (for any and as many WIP/s as you want), and 30

thank you valen <3 i hope you're doing good!

1. What themes would you like to write about that you feel don’t get explored very often?

tbh its less about what doesn't get explored often and more like, the way that a lot of people do it doesn't do it for me so i gotta make it my fucking self. a lot of it does center around representation for men especially and most importantly queer and poc men. mlm relationships that aren't just teenagers, that aren't just completely happy and non problematic, that have MASCULINE men and positive visions of masculinity. nonbinary masc leaning characters, men over 30 that are complex and have rich inner lives and rich emotions especially with other men.

also black fantasy that isn't "black first" -- i really don't know how to explain it but as a black person i am MAD tired that every fantasy that a black person is in always tends to come with some caveat about being black or showcases black struggle, or they're a minority. i want fantasy that is a majority black cast and has nothing to do with them being black. i want fantasy where every character is an individual and their skin tone has nothing to do with the story. i want queer people who's stories who deadass have nothing to do with being queer they just ARE. i'm tired of having to lead everything with my identity and not being able to be just a GUY and i feel strongly about that in my works too. like yes, all my works are queer and poc and nd centered. but them overcoming these things or having challenges with these things isn't always the point, ESPECIALLY not with race like i am SO FUCKING TIRED of my race being a factor in fantasy man like i'm exhausted.

5. Would you rather write a happy ending that soothes the soul or a tragic ending that hurts the heart?

happy endings. i refuse to write sad endings. AT MOST i will write bittersweet endings, but i just dislike writing endings that are tragic. tragedies can be super good but i just don't like things to be super dour and i don't like things that steal away my hope. i want there to be some sort of hope there, even if it was hard won and hurts a little.

30. What is some of the best writing advice you’ve read or received? Why does it work for you?

honestly the best advice i ever learned or got was to write things that make YOU happy and to worry about the themes and shit later. the thing is: everyone has morals or things they believe in or shit that is important to them; trying to force them out and into a story is the easiest way to stifle whatever creativity that you have about the idea or the characters etc. if you're trying to FORCE yourself to create a message instead of letting one form naturally, then it just gets rough as shit. and at least for me, i've found that when i write what i want to write and focus on the shit that i enjoy, messages and themes come out on their own anyway.

7. Favorite description in your wip? (If asked more than once, respond with a new piece each time)

prepare for a lot and so i'm putting it under a cut lmao: sorry in advance for this overload but prose is probably the thing i'm proudest of generally speaking

CAGE

His first study of Hanzo wasn’t entirely fair to the man; clouded by anger, and distrust, and not to be dramatic, but definitely a bit of apprehension, but perhaps this was the first time Cassidy was truly seeing Hanzo. He’d thought the elder Shimada’s nose was like the jut of a mountain cliff; but was there anything more majestic than seeing the peak of a mountain obscured by clouds at the crest of dawn? His eyebrows were severe, but why did Cassidy only just now notice that they feathered at their ends like the wings of tiny birds? Hanzo looked like Genji in Blackwatch; when he snarled, when he let his expression fall flat, and lifeless. But here, and now, with a soft linen towel draped about his shoulders, his dragon tattoo near iridescent in the cresting evening, his hair once again down and fanning his shoulders, and gazing up at the expansive blanket of the stars with a quiet and meditative eye, Hanzo looked practically seraphic.

COME TO BED (one of my 3 buddy daddies fics)

“We can’t do this unless you take it off too.” And as with everything, Rei ceded. It was a painful show of trust; Kazuki could see it in how he hesitated but his hands kept moving, kept unzipping his tracksuit, tossed it; shrugged out of his tank top revealing a chest Kazuki had seen many times before riddled in scars. But it was different now; to touch it, to taste it, to feel Rei shudder beneath his ministrations, to watch him gasp and tilt his head back. Kazuki wasn’t sure what was more intoxicating: his skin, his reactions, or the trust they suddenly built here. They couldn’t go back after all of this, and like with Miri they wouldn’t. They’d fight, they’d fuck up, but Kazuki was beyond the point of not putting a name to this thing between them and Rei must’ve felt the same because he was here. He was here, here, here. Kazuki thought it and kissed it like a mantra to Rei’s collar, Rei’s stomach, Rei’s thighs.

WILDFLOWERS IN THE PAVEMENT (one of my 3 buddy daddies fics, warning for nsfw)

Better. His eyes seemed to say. That Rei looked better like this; domestic and falling apart in the safety of his arms, bangs sticking to his forehead from sweat and love. Rei felt better like this. Suwa Rei was becoming some distant thing to him—some cloak he donned before slipping out into the night, some second skin that was becoming too small to crawl in. This Rei, who let Kazuki strip his cock raw until he was over sensitive and panting, wrapping his legs even tighter around Kazuki’s back. This Rei, who met Kazuki’s wine dark eyes with a plea, a promise, with love, with need.

“K-Kazuki.”

“I’ve got you.” Kazuki said and it was enough, it was enough.

PARAMOUR -- dude there's gonna be a lot i went loco on the paramour prose

Hyacinthus glanced over his shoulder, only slightly; not enough to draw attention to it. The voice that rang in his ear was but a passing whisper, smokey like an open fire, and sent that same warmth chasing through Hyacinthus’s gut. In his peripheral, he caught sight of a plain black crow mask. In the dim electric light of the room, it glimmered with embedded black gems, only just so to give it the illusion of motion. It was a half mask like his own; the slow smile that came to the person’s face when they realized Hyacinthus was looking was far too telling.

Pretty dead leaves of fire and gold had begun to coat the cobblestoned streets of Halifax when Hyacinthus received another one of Aloe’s letters.

He didn’t take Hyacinthus’s hand, merely started off through the suffocating mass leaving Hyacinthus no choice but to follow. Hands and bodies pressed close from all sides—writhing and grasping, seeking to touch, to steal, to feel—to take anything they could get their hands on. Hyacinthus squared his shoulders broader and began to push. Whether his shoulders or the severity of his expression told them to move a small channel around him slowly began to take shape. That was the difference between himself and his wiley butler, who weaved and bobbed in and out of the crowd with ease. Whenever there was an opening, like water, Amon slipped through—fluid and malleable. Hyacinthus however, shaped any opening to his own size. Water in a vase, as was water to a mountain. They pushed and shaped each other, in ways uncomfortable to dwell on.

Moonlight washed the courtyard in pale blues and serene milk whites. Below this floating palace, the lights were harsh and gold. He could almost taste the stiffness of the air; choked with mirth and alcohol and the fervor of the night. The packed rooms of The Nimbus, the claustrophobic walls of winding back alleys, the grunts and groans of passion and pain; all of the world’s earthly pleasures, finite and pale delights compared to this quiet.

Entranced wasn’t the right word. It wasn’t strong enough. Transfixed. Illuminated. Anchored. Their lips had yet to touch, yet the only thought in Amon’s mind was the pleasures of the divine; lips and tongue and tastes of the gods. Hyacinthus was before him, yet he wasn’t close enough. He wanted to be one in the same skin. To follow the thread of intimacy until he forgot who he was supposed to pretend to be. For a drop of mercy he would kill for it; beg for it. A soft indulgency that could never be his but how Hyacinthus’s gentle caress of his cheek made him yearn.

Narcissus’s world was like glass. Delicate, intricate, finely blown and shaped, to a perfect sphere she could cradle within her hands.

THE GRAVES WE DUG

His thoughts wandered, as they tended to these days. Dark, hooded eyes roved over the small bits of scenery presented to him. Drunkards lavished themselves over poker and pool tables; brims of their hats tilted high in jubilation or low in deception. Graves’s own gambler was tipped low down; to keep the bright, fly addled, naked bulbs above from creating blind spots in his sensitive vision. He was a creature of the darkness and this saloon was too bright; too close to a normalcy long foreign to his mind.

He drained his bitter dram, then set his glass to the side. The girl who refilled it was prattling on about something he wasn’t hearing. He let his eyes slip closed.

Then, he was standing on the balcony of The Rome.

#i don't think i worded that first question well but i can't tell you how annoyed i am #i love being black but i'm tired of everything having to do with me being black #why can't i just ??? be in scifi or fantasy or romance and not have my race be a point of contention or something constantly mentioned #im tired #about renjamin #ren writing #ask games 2024

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basuralindo · 10 months

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I'll be predictable and ask you to ramble about Jamil for the character ask. ;)

lmao I appreciate you

Oooookay, so, head's up: I'm obsessed with Jamil for relatability reasons and imma try really hard not to overshare too much on the tragic backstory but it's gonna happen a little anyway and also I'm on the (hopefully) tail end of a manic episode so I'm ...chatty, to put it lightly. Sorry. There's a tldr

What I love about them: Short answer: representation! ...Long answer: SO many layers of representation! Surface level, I'm mixed, but my looks heavily pull the middle eastern, aaand growing up during the bush era, I didn't get to see a lot of characters that looked like me unless they were being murdered, and even if they lived they didn't get enough of a personality to be relatable, so Jamil is refreshing (also same color aesthetic +eye makeup and hair charms while still getting to be a guy. I've never gotten that combo in a character before!). Beyond that, an honestly disconcerting level of childhood trauma themes in common, leading to an alarmingly similar and very specific set of issues and, uhh, "personality quirks". And while I didn't have any real constant threat of assassination to build that kind of paranoia around, I'm bipolar and always had paranoid delusions, which were fed by my mom's unchecked paranoid delusions that there was always potential murderers lurking everywhere. And yeah I get to see characters somewhat like that now and then, but this is the first time I've seen one who then has to go to school in the 21st century and try to act normal and not draw attention to himself or say anything that might reflect badly on his abusers. So that wasn't what I expected out of a goofy sounding gacha game that I downloaded as a joke, but I'm glad I found it. Also just, getting to see a character that looks like me and acts like me (pre 10 years of therapy and growing the fuck up) and has almost exactly all the flaws I've learned to be ashamed of and hate about myself be humanized like that, not destined to die tragically, and loved and accepted by fandom, has been genuinely healing. So tldr, I can project on him endlessly, but still get to step back and enjoy him as a character, especially all the room for complexity his situation offers in fics.

What I hate about them: Wellllll, also relatability. As cathartic as he is, sometimes it's like watching an ugly mirror of my teenaged angst, and his bullshit makes me cringe at myself.

Favorite Moment/Quote: It's really hard to choose, but I really like his vignette appearances involving Floyd. Floyd has a way of goading him into engaging with his passions in a more honest way (like getting him to demonstrate breakdancing, or in the robes vignette when Floyd started a dance party at his dorm and he just gave up and joined in for fun). It's the closest he gets to having fun with his classmates and I love that. Another favorite moment would be in the halloween event where he just starts maniacally terrorizing the ghosts and stealing their shit. Peak bastard moment, and I appreciate the "I'm not trapped in here with you, you're trapped in here with me" attitude.

What I would like to see more focus on: I wanna see him form more real friendships with people. Just gimme some growth where he starts letting more people in and chooses to spend time with people because he personally enjoys their company, not just cause they get dumped on him. Like his thing with Azul in canon cracks me up, but imagine if he actually accepted any of the help or kindness. I just, often think about the fact that after every overblot, the character wakes up to people caring and accepting them and offering some level of support/community, and they can accept more love than they thought they'd find. But after Jamil's, the people there trying to support him are the ones he sees as enemies, and he just pushes them away and ends up even more alone than he started. I wanna see him grow less isolated.

What I would like to see less focus on: I guess less of the way Everything centers around Kalim? Like obviously it's a huge part of his character and I wouldn't want it gone completely, it's his main conflict specifically because it takes up every waking moment of his life, but again I wanna see growth. It'd be cool of that became gradually less of a factor and his scenes started focusing more on moments of autonomy I guess?

Favorite pairing with: I'm sure everyone following me already knows it's the whole octatrio lol. I like them either as a polycule or individual relationships though, I think there's a lot to explore in all of their one-on-one dynamics with him, and I wish there was more fan content of Jamil with either or both of the tweels. If I had to put them in order of obsession though it'd probably be Jamil/Azul very narrowly before Jamil/Floyd, and then Jamil/Jade last only because Floyd and Azul are better foils for his personality and hangups, while he and Jade alone would be more likely to enable the worst in each other. That said, I still think the four together balance each other out the best

Favorite friendship: Ehhhh it's a tossup between Ruggie, Idia, and Cater for me? I mean all three have very minor building blocks set up but tbh I just like the characters and wanna see them hang out together. I feel like Ruggie would be able to really see him as Just A Guy separate of his situation and employers, like he's got enough of his own problems to not be shocked by Jamil's, and neither have moral issues with the other's behaviors, so they could be candid with each other without feeling othered or pitied or judged, and I'd love to see more of that. Cater seems like the type to notice that he's not okay and try to pull him into normal life activities, like give him a break from his work to just be a person, even if he doesn't quite Get It (also Fake Bitch solidarity). And Jamil and Idia are just So Fucking Weird??? I would kill to watch them hang out

NOTP: I'm conflicted... There's a lot of ships I have no interest in, the only one I really have Feelings about is Kalim. On one hand, there's interesting drama potential. On the other, that just pulls them both so much deeper into the problems they're both tryna change. Jamil's never been able to have choices or desires or say no to Kalim in any aspect of their lives, how would they be able to not have that carry over into any attempt at a romance? I think that could make for an interesting story if anyone was willing to tackle it in depth, but it bothers me otherwise.

Favorite headcanon: Uhhhhh shit I have so many. A tiny one that makes me laugh a lot is him being just, the most ungraceful sleeper imaginable. Like facedown, sideways, hair everywhere, drooling on the pillow, buried under three more pillows. A Mess. Like not naturally a morning person at all, but forced to be anyway, so he catches up by passing tf out at any given opportunity (like visiting his bfs and falling asleep while cuddling). I also like the idea of his family being descended from Jafar, post becoming a genie, and the Vipers are part djinn. (I'm choosing to support this theory with the fact that he's the only one who physically changed form during overblot. Azul notwithstanding because he just reverted to his natural state). I know this isn't remotely canon, but I think it's neat.

#ask meme #jamil babble

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hollyslittlelibrary · 2 years

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Since I have read all of Alice Oseman’s books/graphic novels/novellas, I thought I’d do a little ranking of them all.

(Please note that this is in no way meant to insult Alice or her work. I love all of these books and these rankings are simply my opinion).

If any mistakes have been made (spelling, plotlines, main themes, etc.), please let me know and I’ll correct it/then as soon as possible.

Books:

1) Radio Silence - the whole plot just interested me so much. The way the story told us a lot more about Aled without making him the main character was so incredible to me. I love how Alice brought representation to the demisexual community without alienating everyone involved - it was such a beautiful thing to see. I could honestly read this again and again without getting bored - I love it.

2) I Was Born For This - I love how this books had not only a trans main character, but a Muslim one as well. It brought representation to two different types of people in the best way possible. While it did make me cry a couple times, I loved every second I spent reading it.

3) Solitaire - Tori is (and always will be) one of my favourite Heartstopper characters, and writing a book revolves around her was such a power move on Alice’s part. I love the whole concept of trusting someone only to find out they’ve been doing something horrific. I could also go on forever about how much I love Michael Holden but we can save that rant for another day.

4) Loveless - don’t get me wrong, I love the book endlessly, but I have to admit that the whole storyline didn’t peak my interest until about a third of the way through. Books about life at university never really interested me that much. I know Radio Silence is also quite big on the topic of university, but it wasn’t it’s main premise. However, after a little while, I did start to really enjoy the book and also how Alice once again have representation to a lesser known community. I honestly think this is the first book I’ve read with an asexual main character and, while that fact saddens me a drastic amount, it makes me so happy to see some good, accurate representation.

Graphic Novels:

1) Heartstopper Volume 3 - the Paris trip is not only the most adorable thing I’ve ever witnessed (while also being very sad due to the issues of Nick’s dad and Charlie’s anorexia coming to light), but it is also relatable to a lot of British teens. A lot of schools in the UK take trips to Paris and a lot of the things that happened in Volume 3 actually happen in real life. The parties, the games of spin the bottle, the whole “one student sneaks in alcohol and gets too carried away, making themselves sick”. All of it is just so accurate and makes me so happy, for some reason.

2) Heartstopper Volume 1 - I love the way it shows both a queer teen love story, and the whole process of a teenager figuring themselves out and realising that who they are is nothing to be ashamed of. The way Nick and Charlie met so randomly (Charlie didn’t even want to be near Nick in the beginning) but went on to become best friends, and then boyfriends makes me feel so warm and bubbly. It’s honestly such a beautiful story.

3) Heartstopper Volume 4 - this whole book broke my heart into millions of tiny pieces. Seeing Charlie go through so much was such a horrible experience for everyone but, at the end of the day, it is so, so important for EDs to be talked about nowadays. They are so common in both men and women, and are especially common in teenagers. I love the way Alice didn’t sugarcoat anything. She showed a real, raw outlook on eating disorders and it’s been so influential, it’s incredible to see.

4) Heartstopper Volume 2 - honestly, the only thing I can remember from volume 2, is the cinema fight and the fact that Nick has his beautiful coming out scene at the end of it. That scene made me so happy and also made me realise that there are people in the world that will be there for you, even if you don’t know it yet. However, if you asked me to give you the whole plot line, I wouldn’t be able to give you anything more than “Harry was being a dick to Charlie at the cinema, Nick punched him, took Charlie on a date and then came out to his mum”. Still amazing though, nothing will stop it from being an incredible read.

Novellas:

1) Nick and Charlie - I love the way it shows a raw, authentic teenage relationship. While it did make me cry at one point, it made me laugh a lot. For example, the way Nick spoke about the pillow fort scenario like we wouldn’t believe him is one of my all time favourite book moments. It’s like the characters are actually talking to you and no-one else, which I found really interesting.

2) This Winter - I love how it took place between Heartstopper Volume 4 and Solitaire, almost like a prequel to foreshadowing events. I love how it tells the story from Tori, Charlie and Oliver’s POVs because it shows that Charlie’s ED affected everyone in his family. I also love how it shows the Spring’s grandparents being against the LGBTQ+ community. Now, that sounds like a really terrible sentence, but hear me out. It’s so important for everyone to read this to realise that there will always be people who don’t like others for something they can’t control. It shows that sometimes you have to keep something hidden from others, just so the life you’ve spent with them doesn’t turn to shit. It’s also so important for young queer people to realise that, while there will be a few people who don’t accept them for who the are, the amount of people who do accept them will always outweigh those who don’t. It’s such an important topic nowadays and it was honestly shown so amazingly.

Final Ranking (with no explanations as you’ve already seen them - I’m sure you’ll be pleased to see that haha):

1) Heartstopper Volume 3

2) Radio Silence

3) Nick and Charlie

4) I Was Born For This

5) Heartstopper Volume 1

6) Heartstopper Volume 4

7) Solitaire

8) This Winter

9) Heartstopper Volume 3

10) Loveless

Ok, I have to admit, this was very fun to make. If you read the whole thing, congratulations. You, like myself, have a way too much time on your hands, haha.

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dienamights · 3 years

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Ellipsism | K.Bakugou

Ellipsism: A sadness that you’ll never be able to know how history will turn out.

» Pairing: Katsuki Bakugou x Fem!Reader.

» Word count: 1.9K

» Genre: Angst

» Summary: In a world where everyone is born with a unique tattoo on their ankle, and every time they fall in love with someone, their tattoo appears somewhere else on the body of the person they love. You come to the realization that it might not be as simple as that, and all your childhood dreams would come and bite you in the ass.

» Warning(s): ANGST, mentions of self-harm.

» Author’s notes: Listen, I don’t particularly like angst, but I love the way it hurts, y’know? Not sure if I want this to have a happy ending or not (in a second part) and honestly I’m leaning towards the latter, I love pain and I have no idea what would happen. Also, peep the “tattoo” in the header its relevant to the story ahaha

Thank you everyone for the support and love, it means the world to me that people enjoyed my Kacchan representation! Lemme give you smooches.

Big smooches to @tteokdoroki and @sightoru for making me feel good about hurting them🤧❤️

» Masterlist | Requests

The sun had awakened and was promptly emerging through the hazy sky. The cloudy layer created a gloomy blanket from the sun. You jolted awake, your neck aching from your sleeping position and you twisted your head side to side to relieve some of the pain, before reaching for your phone and holding the bright screen to your face to check the time. Alas, the screen was turned off without registering the time nor how long were you asleep for.

You lifted your eyes to see the grey out the window in front of you. With that fog, the trees and buildings never ended, they floated upwards, seemingly as endless as beanstalks. Reaching your head back, it met the wooden counter. You were in the kitchen, fell asleep on the floor and slumped against the counters, the empty bottle laying across from you a reminder of the event that transpired the previous night - maybe morning? You didn't really know.

You lazily extended your legs in front of you, eyeing your sock-clad feet and the tattoo that peaked from the clothing. Blooming lilacs that danced and branched out, the stem wrapping around your ankle oh so loosely, almost teasingly. Lilacs that represented happiness and tranquility, which you have never felt more far from.

Remembering the old days, the better days, you with your poofy dress, so blindingly pink it demanded everyone's attention, giggling with your friends that adorned similar attire to yours, showing each other the tattoos that hugged your ankles, in endless shapes and sizes, dreaming about who the lucky person you’ll share your tattoo with would be, who was lucky enough to capture your heart and claim it as their own, and offering theirs in return.

Bedtime stories were your favorite quality time with your mother, where you’d both forget about the story cradled in her hands and you’d spend your night tracing the few tattoos that scattered across her arms. Asking her how could she love so many people and have them love her in return before loving her husband - your father - the only person she was meant to be with, only to wait with bated breath for an answer you already heard so many times you probably memorized it by now. You’d be entranced at the way her eyes always softened, a light gleaming in them as she would explain to you, again and again, with no sign of ever getting bored, how she have never and would never regret the people she loved, because in some twisted way of the universe, it led her to the father of her beautiful child, that snuggled her in her princess bed.

Alas, asking her how you came to the world received a totally different reaction, and you refrained from asking her that again until later on in life.

Whenever your grandma visited, you’d run to hug her old and withered body, apologizing when she would howl about her aching back and dragging her to sit with the excuse to help her rest, but you both knew you wanted to hear stories, your teenage self was so ready to fall in love, so excited to have a piece of someone you adored with all your heart decorating your skin, inking it in the most beautiful forms of promise.

She always made her past lovers sound like prince charmings right out of a novel, the kind of guys with the power and confidence that seemed perfect in every way. The kind of guys schoolgirls woke up and went to school for in the morning. The kind of guys that hit women of all ages right between the eyes every time they were seen and stirred up their fantasies.

And by God, did you not realize that your grandmother wasn't spewing bullshit after all these years, because there he was, a storm in each step he took, fire in his knuckles erupting and seething with fierceness. He was an explosion of bare, raw, real mystery. A soft caress of the wind, warm sand, and pure silence. He was colors and textures and shapes and designs, all combined together in an artistic canvas that thrived for attention but wouldn't stoop to admitting it.

You remembered the day your lilacs embellished his shoulder, shyly peeking through his hero suit, claiming everyone’s attention on their petals as they swayed on his skin, the attention of the media as the shoulder of the hero, Dynamight, was showcased on social media, people envying whoever was able to capture the exploding hero’s heart.

As if he wasn’t capable of love, they didn't see what you saw, they will never have the privilege, because when he dropped the façade of the hero, he’d come home to you, knock on your apartment door and you’d flee to open it to him to lay your eyes on him, a tired laugh, sore muscles, a teasing glint in crimson eyes, golden hair tasseled after a sleepless night. He was secure embraces oozing with warmth. He was toughness and hardness, perfectly mixed in with trust and care.

It was at that day it happened, in the middle of the living room while the newsman was talking nonsense about the hero, the warmth wrapped around your wrist, gripping it like a vice with no intention of letting go; yes it burned, you remembered the sting, it just paled in comparison to the warmth in your chest, the warmth of the tears escaping your eyes as you held your wrist close to your chest, happily whispering about how this was what love felt like. You also recalled that it was at that exact moment the hero, your hero, walked into your apartment, dropping everything and running the small distance to your hunched body to grab at your wrist to inspect the damage he thought was done to it.

Only for his eyes to meet that one wretched inking he loathed all his life, the - meaningless doodles, he’d call them - that blemished his skin, he remembered the remarks, how no one would be able to share that blotch of his with him because who could ever love him? Who could ever endure him, with all of that ego and all of that anger? And as time passed, he believed it, he believed them, that he wasn’t worthy to be loved, that he was only meant to save, not be saved as well, not even from himself.

But there you were, there you fucking were, crying and laughing and struggling to breath as you repeated the words you’ve been dying to confess,

“I love you, Katsuki.”

Suddenly, that speckle that was always hidden under his socks brought him happiness, brought him love, and damn did he deserve it, because he fought for it, he endured hell for it, and there you were, wrapped around his arm and repeating those three words against his lips between heated kisses.

He was pleasure and lust. Rough groans and mutual needs. A burning touch. Your name hanging by his lips, breathless kisses and hair-tugging and hot flesh against hot flesh.

He was an illusion you thought it'll never materialize, and yet here he was.

Here he was, all highs and lows, smiles and frowns, softness and roughness, carefulness and danger. Here he was, a tiny spark of thunder, sparkling with passion, loyalty and dedication, protection, satisfaction, confidence and love.

Here he was…

Where was he?

The inking you used to spend hours admiring now haunts you, the design that used to whirl and twirl across your wrist as you hummed while tracing it now felt like shackles, squeezing so tight against you as you tried to break free. The black almost shrouded by the coats of metallic red that spilled from your attempts of escape. The dark crimson that matches his eyes, the eyes you know you won't forget, you know you don't want to forget, no matter how you’ll feel better if you do.

The girl staring right at you through the distorted reflection created by the dishwasher judged you, all mangled and blurry, yet the tear stains and numb eyes are hard to ignore, easily cutting through the deformed reflection.

You and the girl in front of you envied your friend, the aromantic that was never interested to fall in love, only possessing their own tattoo that graced their ankle, with no one else's accompanying it, sure it looked lonely on some days, but who were you to judge?

You remembered what they always told you, that it wasn't always the fairy tales your family fed you. They told you about their mother, who had an affair and fell in love, spending almost a year hiding the tattoo of her fling from her husband before being caught, they told you how their father was broken beyond repair, he who also was so drunk on the idea of falling in love and being loved in return, just like you were for all those years. They told you of the heart break that you might have to face when your partner’s inking is embedded into you, but not the other way around, how you had to decide whether to wait for your own personal design to mark its location onto them or leave, always being haunted by the part of them that you can't get rid of, no matter what you do.

They never told you about this kind of heartbreak though, the one where you’re both so in love, so happy, destined to be together forever, because what could possibly go wrong?

You never got the answer to that, you remembered asking him as he dragged his suitcase out of the apartment, the tears cascading down his face never answered you as he apologized again and again, mumbled how you deserved to be loved by someone that wasn’t him, babbled about him not deserving you. About how he won’t ever love someone besides you when he caught your eye scanning whatever was visible of his arms, in fear of finding out a piece of someone that wasn't yourself.

You finally got up, legs numb and steps wobbly from sitting on the floor for so long, you eyed the door, still unlocked after his leave a couple of hours ago - maybe more it's still unclear - no urge of yours strong enough to get you up to lock it again. You moved slowly, as if the shuffle of your feet is causing you pain, and in a way, it did, because you know when you reach the living room couch, there won't be the warm arms that engulfed you, because what else did you have other than the warmth you surrounded yourself with when you told him to hold you close to him?

That's right, nothing.

As you laid down on the couch and allowed yourself to be suffocated by the scent of caramel, you cursed at all the fantasies and dreams that clouded your mind day and night, you frowned and scrunched your nose at the scent that used to mean love and warmth, but now only burnt your nose and teared up your eyes.

A constant reminder, just like the defaced wrist you brought closer to inspect and hissing when the cold air bit at it. You recalled the lilacs and swore at them, the same lilacs that symbolized love and passion, but looking more withered and torn the more you looked at them.

Good, guess they know how I feel.

Borrowers (taglist):

if you want to be tagged with for any of my fics let me know ♡

#tw: self harm #this shit hurted #i know theres like one sentence of dialog in here #speed past that #I WANTED EMOTIONS #AND PAIN #katsuki angst #katsuki x you #katsuki x reader #katsuki bakugou angst #katsuki bakugou x you #katsuki bakugou x reader #bakugou angst #bakugou x you #bakugou x reader #nami writes

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a-salty-alto · 3 years

Note

As your url implies, pass me the table salt (your opinions on Dear Evan Hansen)

Truly a time to live up to my url

but like first of all, I really enjoy the original show, or at least the soundtrack (never got to actually see it myself because it didn’t come through our neck of the woods rip) so that’s where I’m coming from.

But like I get where people who don’t like it are coming from because Evan is very much the antagonist of his story and the ending mostly absolves him, but tbh I think the rest of the supporting cast and the songs devoid of context are really good.

(Maybe that’s bad for a musical but eh, j’aime que j’aime)

UNFORTUANTELY the filmmakers seem to think the audience relates to EVAN SPECIFICALLY and by all indications are doubling down on coddling his character and smoothing him over. THAT’S why he’s the only character who’s original Broadway actor is returning because the people working on this think that Evan, the white boy who lied and then doubled down for clout and also to get the girl because anXiEtY is like the peak representation of depressed kids

Even though like. EVERYONE IN THIS SHOW IS DEPRESSED. ITS THE POINT

I haven’t even seen the movie. I’m basing this on prerelease interviews and dialogue changed in the songs, fyi

Also! They changed it so not only have they removed the song where before Evan is revealed to have lied his mom and two friends call him out for acting like a selfish jerk, THEY ALSO made a the white friend Indian and gay, so like they’ve changed it so Evan who is again, a sad white boy, was helped and then pushed aside two POC and then REMOVED THE PART WHERE HE GOT CALLED OUT FOR IT? And they specifically said songs that weren’t “real” enough were removed too which is. A Bad Look.

Or removed the song about it which is telling in a musical because that implies that moment gets less focus, even though the creators said they wanted to expand on certain characters

ALSO THAT SONG (GOOD FOR YOU) IS THE BEST ONE IN THE FUCKING SHOW FIGHT ME

I’m just, they could have expanded on the stage show to give us a story about how being hurt does not absolve you from hurting others and just because you hurt someone else doesn’t mean you can’t be hurt your self

Evan could be an Anti-Hero! This could be a tragic fall from Grace!

Instead they are DOUBLING DOWN on the inspiration porn aspects so Ben Platt can get that EGOT

(Granted: award shows are meaningless and do not reflect the actual quality or impact of a film so honestly? Give him the EGOT I wanna see the film snobs lose it)

Actually fun story: one time while we were listening to Dear Evan Hansen my dad said he could imagine Ben Platt being in the tour or in a film version as the dad character which would make so much more sense than having him try and be a teenager

The creators in one breath were really like “oh this is such a powerful and relatable story” and in the next were like “ONLY Ben Platt” can bring this character to life like fam do you not SEE THE HYPOCRISY THERE

Look I know it’s cause his dad is a producer and they can’t admit to nepotism but like I SEE YOU

Also the filmmakers just seem embarrassed that this is a musical like they’re straight up calling it a “drama with songs” instead of a musical which I am so fucking tired of MUSICALS ARE POPULAR BECAUSE THE PEOPLE ARE SINGING. ACCEPT IT ALREADY

That’s probably not everything but that’s what I’ve got

#Evan is the main character of this show in the same way thanos is the main character in infinity war #anti DEH #I GUESS??#a salty alto is salty #like I get the vibe that a lot of reviews are by people who don’t like the stage show so here #thoughts from someone who does enjoy it

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angelhummel · 3 years

Note

ok this is something that's been on my mind for awhile but i really love that klaine has so many grand romantic gestures and that's kind of their thing

like i'm a queer teenager living in a really progressive city (i'd like to say) and i recognize that i'm in a more fortunate situation than many others, but even then there's people at my school that make casual homophobic remarks, my parents and many other families in the area are really conservative/traditional, bullying is always a thing, etc. basically even in the most progressive areas you can think of, things aren't all sunshine and rainbows

so to see kurt/blaine do these grand spectacles for each other and essentially say "i'm a man in love with another man, and i'm gonna shout it out for the whole world to hear because i don't care what you think, that's the love of my life" in ohio of all places on a show that originally aired over a decade ago, it means a lot even in 2021 when representation has gotten better and things have improved overall, like glee is very much a product of its time but i think klaine still offers better representation than many other series that aired after it

i'm not trying to claim they're the peak of queer representation, but i'm just frustrated that people disregard glee because we have "better" representation now when a) glee helped build up to the point we are now b) there's a wide range in quality when it comes to queer rep today (especially when you factor in what country that rep comes from) and c) i personally still see value in it despite its flaws

this became a lot longer than it was supposed to be lol but i love your blog and i hope you have a good day!!

Hey I'm always up to reading and responding to long ass asks but especially a positive one! That's what I need lately

And honestly?? I know I'm biased but I think Klaine is pretty perfect. I mean like obviously I wish we got some diversity amongst the gay characters bc there were so many white boys. And yeah it's really cool that we had like a dozen gay guys on the show but it didn't have to be like looking at a snow drift lol

But as far as story goes? And a story on a high school drama show at that?? I couldn't ask for anything more. Maybe a little less nonsense towards the end but besides that I really love Klaine's story. And nothing I've seen since has touched me like Klaine did, and still does. Like yeah we complain about the little things here and there but over all... They were really something special. And honestly written with the most thought and care of any character on the show, for the most part

But yes!! The first thing you said. The big grand romantic gestures. I wrote a whole essay about it bc I love it so much lol. Especially the marching band serenade and the proposal! It's just so amazing to see two characters go from being so scared of what people thought, and scared to be themselves and love who they love, to unapologetically professing their love with these grand gestures and kiss one another and even propose in front of like a hundred people... It's so awesome and it makes me so happy

#glee #klaine #kurt hummel #blaine anderson #asks #answered #my thoughts #anonymous

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song-of-oots · 3 years

Text

Fuchsia Groan: my (un)exceptional fave

A while ago a friend of mine was asking for people to name their favourite examples of strong female characters, and my mind immediately leapt to Gormenghast’s Fuchsia Groan because it always does whenever the words “favourite” and “female character” come up in the same sentence. In fact scratch that, if I had to pick only one character to be my official favourite (female or otherwise) it would probably be Fuchsia. There are not sufficient words in the English language to accurately describe how much I love this character.

The issue was that I’m not sure Fuchsia Groan can accurately be described as “strong”, and until my friend asked the question, it hadn’t even occurred to me to analyse her in those terms…

Actually this isn’t completely true; Mervyn Peake does describe Fuchsia as strong in terms of her physical strength on multiple occasions. But in terms of her mental strength things are less clear cut. She’s certainly not a total pushover, and anyone would probably find it tough-going to cope with the neglect, tragedy and misuse she suffers through. In fact, this is something Mervyn Peake mentions himself – whilst also pointing out that Fuchsia is not the most resilient of people:

“There were many causes [to her depression], any one of which might have been alone sufficient to undermine the will of tougher natures than Fuchsia’s.”

Anyway, this has gotten me thinking about Fuchsia’s other traits and my reasons for loving her, going through a typical sort of list of reasons people often give for holding up a character as someone to admire:

So, is Fuchsia particularly talented?

No.

Is she clever, witty?

She’s definitely not completely stupid, and her insights occasionally take other characters by surprise, but she’s not really that smart either.

Does she have any significant achievements? Overcome great adversity?

Not really, no.

Is she kind?

Yes. Fuchsia is a very loving person and sometimes displays an incredible sensitivity and compassion for others. But… she can also be self-absorbed, highly strung, and does occasionally lash out at other people (especially in her younger years).

So why do I love Fuchsia so much?

Well, I’ll start be reiterating that I don’t really have the vocabulary to adequately put it into words, but I will try to get the gist across. So:

“What Fuchsia wanted from a picture was something unexpected. It was as though she enjoyed the artist telling her something quite fresh and new. Something she had never thought of before.”

This statement summarises not only Fuchsia but also the way I feel about her (and for that matter the Gormenghast novels in general). Fuchsia is something I’ve never really seen before. On the surface, she fits the model of the somewhat spoiled but neglected princess, and yet at the same time she cannot be so neatly pigeon-holed. It’s not just that her situation and the themes of the story make things more complex (though that is a factor); Fuchsia herself is so unique and vividly detailed that she manages to be more than her archetype. She feels like a real person and, like all real people, she is not so easy to label.

Fuchsia is also delightfully strange in a way that feels very authentic to her and the setting in general (which is particularly refreshing because it can all too often feel as though female characters are only allowed to be strange in a kooky, sexy way - yet Fuchsia defies this trend).

She’s a Lady, but she’s not ladylike. She’s messy. She slouches, mooches, stomps and stands in awkward positions. Her drawing technique is “vicious” and “uncompromising”. She chews grass. She removes her shoes “without untying the laces by treading on the heels and then working her foot loose”. She’s multi-faceted and psychologically complex. Intense and self-absorbed, sometimes irrational and ruled by her emotions more than is wise, but also capable of insight and good sense that takes others by surprise. She is extremely loving and affectionate, and yet so tragically lonely. Simultaneously very feminine and also not. Her character development from immature teenager to adult woman is both subtle and believable. She has integrity and decency – she doesn’t need to be super clever or articulate to know how to care for others or stand up for herself.

Fuchsia is honest. She knows her own flaws, but you never catch her trying to put on airs or make herself out to be anything other than what she is. She always expresses her feelings honestly.

She’s not sexualised at all. I don’t mean by this that she has no sexuality – though that’s something Peake only vaguely touches on – but I don’t really feel like I’m looking at a character who was written to pander to the male gaze (though her creator is male, I get the vibe he views her more as a beloved daughter than a sexual object).

Finally, I find her highly relatable. I am different to Fuchsia in many ways, but we do have several things in common that I have never seen so vividly expressed in any other character. This was incredibly important to me when I was a teenager struggling through the worst period of depression I ever experienced – because she was someone who I could relate to and love in a way I was incapable of loving myself. Her ability to be herself meant a lot to me as someone struggling with my own identity and sense of inadequacy. It didn’t cure my depression, but it helped me survive it.

What am I trying to say with all this?

I love Fuchsia on multiple levels. I love her as a person and also as a character and a remarkable piece of writing. I mention some of the mundane details Peake uses to flesh out her character firstly because I enjoy them, but also because it’s part of the point. Her story amazes me because it treats a female character and her psychological and emotional life with an intense amount of interest regardless of any special talents or achievements she happens to exhibit. She doesn’t fit the model of a modern heroine but neither does she need to – she’s still worth spending time with and caring about.* To me the most important things about Fuchsia are how different and interesting and relatable she is – and how real she feels.

* To be honest, this is part of the point of the Gormenghast novels in general. The story is meant to illustrate the damage that society – and in particular rigid social structures and customs – can do to individuals with its callous indifference to genuine human need. Fuchsia is one of many examples of this throughout the novels. These characters don’t need to be exceptionally heroic in order to matter – they just need to exist as believable people. And despite how strange they all are, they often do manage to be fundamentally relatable.

Why am I talking about female characters in particular here?

The focus on “strong” female characters and the critique against that is pretty widely acknowledged. Growing up, I definitely noticed the lack of female characters in popular media and the ensuing pressure this then places on the ones that do exist to be positive representations of womankind – someone girls can look up to. It’s very understandable that we want to see more examples of admirable female protagonists, given that women were traditionally left to play support roles and tired stereotypes. The problem is that the appetite for more proactive female heroines can sometimes lead to characters who are role models first and realistic human beings second (characters who I mentally refer to as Tick-All-The-Boxes Heroines). It’s not a problem with “strong” proactive heroines per se, but rather lack of variation and genuine psychological depth (not to mention a sometimes too-narrow concept of what it even means to be strong).

Male characters tend not to have this particular problem because they are much better represented across the whole range of roles within a story. You get your fair share of boring worn out archetypes. You get characters who are meant to represent a positive version of heroic masculinity (and now that I come to think of it, having a very narrow and unvarying presentation of what positive masculinity looks like is its own separate problem, but outside the scope of this particular ramble). We don’t usually spend time obsessing over whether a piece of fiction has enough examples of “strong” male characters though, because we’re generally so used to seeing it that we automatically move on into analysing the work and the characters on other terms. And because there are often more male characters than female, they don’t all bear the burden of having to be a positive representative of all men everywhere. They exist to fulfill their roles, and often exhibit more variety, nuance and psychological depth. They are also often allowed to be weird, flawed and unattractive in ways that women usually aren’t (which is a damn shame because I’ve spent my whole life feeling like a weird outsider and yet this perspective is so often told primarily through a male lens).

Tl:dr; Fuchsia Groan is a character who feels like an answer to so many of those frustrations that I felt growing up without even truly understanding why. A large part of why I love her is simply because of how much I relate to her on a personal level. I admire her emotional honesty and her loving nature… But there’s also a part of me that was just so relieved to find a female character who exists outside of the usual formulae we seem to cram women into. She is unique, weird and wonderful (but non-sexualised). Psychologically nuanced and vividly written. She isn’t exceptionally heroic or talented or a high achiever – but she does feel like a real person.

Female characters don’t need to tick all the right boxes in order to be interesting or worth our time any more than the male ones do.

#fuchsia groan #gormenghast #mervyn peake #female characters #mental health #depression #long

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tigerkirby215 · 3 years

Text

5e Rell, the Iron Maiden build (League of Legends)

(Artwork made for Riot Games.)

I SHOULD BE MAKING AKALI RIGHT NOW :))))))

I did a coinflip with Rell: it was either her or Akali and she ended up winning. I’m honestly super hyped for Rell which is odd because I don’t really play tank supports. I find Leona and Nautilus boring as sin, though I do enjoy Galio and Maokai on occasion. I guess I’ve just been playing in top lane a lot more and I want a big bulky tank who I can dive into teamfights with as a support.

Also the memes for this champ are freaking golden.

But Rell presents a very unique kit that has a lot of potential in D&D. Basically I get to make a character other than Nunu & Willump who rides a mount and I get to stick everything I can remotely justify as being Ferromancy onto this character.

GOALS

Run ‘em all down - Rell is the third champ to have a mount. Aren’t horses just the best?

We fight together - Your outside may be cold but connecting to people is how you move on from trauma... or use that trauma for a massive stun in a teamfight.

I’ll bust you down to scrap! - Rell’s quirk is Ferromancy, the magic of manipulating metal, most specifically through magnetism. Fucking magnets; how do they work?

RACE

Rell is a human... but we can’t always go for Variant Human, so let’s spice it up a bit! She may not have divine blood but I’m sure someone at the academy had healing magic. So since she’s a support with eyes aglow with energy why not go for an Aasimar? More specifically a Scourge Aasimar. Your Charisma increases by 2 and your Constitution increases by 1.

Your glyphs give you a big mix of magic from your friends back at the academy: Darkvision for darkvision, Celestial Resistance for resistance to necrotic and radiant damage, Light Bearer for the Light cantrip, and Healing Hands for a bit of healing magic. Your Scourge subrace also gives you Radiant Consumption at level 3, which I’ll cover when you get there.

If you’re set on playing a human: A Variant Human (+1 CON, +1 STR) with either the Mounted Combatant feat or Heavy Armor Master feat would make sense. There are other feats to consider but these would be the most in-character for Rell.

ABILITITY SCORES

15; STRENGTH - Iron stands eternal, and iron is heavy.

14; CHARISMA - You may be a grouchy teenager, and you may also be incredibly awkward when hitting on people, but Charisma is considered as “inner strength” in 5e. You’ve certainly got plenty of that!

13; CONSTITUTION - You are a tank after all, and with the +1 from our race that equals a 14 for a nice boost to HP.

12; DEXTERITY - As heavy as iron is you were trained for peak physical condition. DEX is tied to many things, notably Initiative which is very important for a frontliner.

10; INTELLIGENCE - You went to an academy, but it was a Noxian war academy. Still it’s possible that you got some history lessons.

8; WISDOM - You’re a hothead in both the metaphorical and literal sense. You think asking questions is on the mind of a teenager who’s angry with the world?

BACKGROUND

There’s a lot of backgrounds that would fit Rell, though unfortunately nothing edgy enough like “Test Subject Turned Human Superweapon.” But considering your lifestyle of roaming the Noxian countryside Outlander is probably pretty accurate. You get proficiency in Athletics and Survival and while you’d normally get a Musical Instrument I’d actually suggest you grab Smith’s Tools instead because... yeah duh. You can also learn a Language of your choice so pick whatever you think would constitute Noxian.

Your Wanderer background feature will make sure you survive and thrive on the Noxian countryside. You always remember the general layout of the land, and you can find food and fresh water for yourself and up to five other people each day. And you can even rip some iron out of the earth to make them bowls and cups to eat and drink with!

(Concept art by Riot Games)

THE BUILD

LEVEL 1 - PALADIN 1

Starting off as a Paladin because even if proficiency in Wisdom saves is weird we need the Heavy Armor proficiency because... yeah duh. Speaking of proficiencies take Intimidation because you’re a murder-hungry metalmancer, and I dunno Medicine would make sense since you’re a support and all.

You also get Divine Sense, as the magic in your veins helps you detect celestials, fiends, or undead. And because you’re a support you can use Shattering Strike to heal thanks to Lay on Hands. I could explain both these abilities in detail, but I’m also an angry teenager who’s sick of explaining abilities with insanely long descriptions that you can read for yourself.

LEVEL 2 - PALADIN 2

Second level Paladins get their Fighting Style, and of course for a tank support Defense would be best for more AC. You also get some Ferromancy Spellcasting. (Well technically Divine spellcasting but don’t tell anyone that.) You can prepare a number of Paladin spells equal to your Charisma modifier plus half your Paladin level:

To sharpen your lace (or more realistically pike) a little more Divine Favor will make every blow hurt just a little bit more.

Heroism will help in times of strife to let your anger take over any fear.

To manipulate armor to block some more blows Shield of Faith will increase the target’s AC for a time.

To stun with Attract and Repel Thunderous Smite will do damage and knock enemies prone, making them easier to hit and forcing them to spend time getting up.

But of course you can just as easily ignore all of that in favor of Divine Smite, channeling all your magic and hatred into a burst of Radiant damage on your weapon attacks. Particularly effective against undead!

On Rell’s weapon: I’d suggest a Pike over a Lance because a d12 isn’t worth Disadvantage in melee range, even if you will eventually be performing mounted combat. Feel free to have a lance as backup for when you do start riding a horse.

LEVEL 3 - PALADIN 3

At third level you can choose your Sacred Oath, and I know how much you hate Noxus but Oath of the Crown actually has some pretty good abilities for our purposes. Yup of all the champions to break out the Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide for it’s Rell.

You get two Channel Divinity options: Champion Challenge makes enemies unable to move more than 30 feet away from you for a Magnetic Overload, and Turn the Tide will heal everyone of your choice for a d6 plus your Charisma (if they’re below half health) for some Redemption saves.

But both of these Channel Divinities are admittedly situational, so if your DM allows Tasha’s rulings then Harness Divine Power will also let you recover a first level spell slot. Speaking of spells as a Crown Paladin you get Command to twist your enemy’s armor to your whim, and Compelled Duel for a single-target Concentration version of Champion Challenge.

And as a Scourge Aasimar you get now get Radiant Consumption. As an action you can unleash the magic within you, glowing violently and doing Radiant damage equal to half your level to everyone around you. Additionally, once on each of your turns you can deal extra radiant damage when you damage an enemy with an attack or a spell. The extra radiant damage equals your level. You can only go all out just once per long rest, so if your ever wonder why anime protagonists keep their ultimate attack until the end of the fight: it burns you so much you can only use it once.

LEVEL 4 - PALADIN 4

4th level means another Ability Score Improvement but instead we’re going to be taking a Feat. You’re probably thinking we’re going for Mounted Combatant, right?

WRONG! We’re taking Heavy Armor Master, because you can literally control your armor to make it stronger! Your Strength increases by 1 and any damage you take from non-magic weapons is reduced by 3!

You can also prepare another spell, but we’ll wait for...

(Concept art by Riot Games)

LEVEL 5 - PALADIN 5

5th level time for Extra Attack. Two attacks in a turn to pretend you’re the ADC!

Also time for HONSE! Find Steed lets you summon a Warhorse, and others but a Warhorse is probably the most accurate representation of your mount. The steed is considered a celestial, fey, or fiend (your choice), and its intelligence is set to 6. It can also understand one language you can speak, which is good because you can speak to it telepathically.

You can make any spell that only targets you also target your steed, and when it drops to 0 hit points, it disappears, leaving behind no physical form. You can dismiss your steed at any time as an action, causing it to disappear. In either case, casting this spell again summons the same steed, restored to its hit point maximum.

And thanks to your subclass you also learn Warding Bond to bond with an ally, and Zone of Truth to get the Black Rose to admit to what they did. Technically speaking you can’t put a ring on your horse, but as a DM I’d probably allow you to make a 50 gp platinum horse shoe to give the honse a Warding Bond.

LEVEL 6 - PALADIN 6

6th level Paladins get Aura of Protection. You and everyone within 10 feet of you gets a bonus to saving throws equal to your Charisma modifier, because iron stands eternal and so does teenage angst.

You can also prepare another spell like Aid to steel your party’s resolve for any danger. Metal pun unintended.

LEVEL 7 - PALADIN 7

Here’s why we aren’t taking Mounted Combatant. 7th level Crown Paladins get Divine Allegiance, allowing you to use your reaction to take damage for a creature within 5 feet of you. They take no damage, but the damage you take can’t be reduced or prevented in any way.

Sure a 5 foot aura is just objectively worse than the Redemption Paladin’s 10 foot Aura of the Guardian that does literally the exact same thing (pro tip: ask your DM to just increase the range of the aura), but you know what’s always within 5 feet of you? Your horse. So feel free to take hits for your trusty mount. And if an ally is nearby you should probably tank for them too.

LEVEL 8 - PALADIN 8

8th level means an Ability Score Improvement. We’re still riding around in big bulky armor so more Strength to carry that armor would be nice.

You can also prepare another spell like Lesser Restoration for some Tenacity.

(Concept art by Riot Games)

LEVEL 9 - BARD 1

How’s this for a surprise? Multiclassing into Bard gives you proficiency in one skill, and one musical instrument. Take Animal Handling because you literally summon a horse for yourself, and a Noxian War Drum.

Bards get Bardic Inspiration: d6s equal to your Charisma modifier to help support your allies. They can add the d6 to an ability check, attack roll, or saving throw they make. Buff up their armor, or weaken the enemy’s armor!

But of course as a Bard you get more Spellcasting! Check page whatever-it-is for how multiclassing works. You get two cantrips from the Bard list: Mage Hand will let you magnetize an object closer to you, and Vicious Mockery will let you yell angrily at the enemy not to hurt your friends.

You can also learn 4 spells from the Bard list: you are a support so you can take Cure Wounds for some Summoner: Heal. Disguise Self will help you if Noxian police are looking for you. And both Earth Tremor and Thunderwave will help you manipulate the metal beneath your enemies’ feet and sunder the ground beneath them.

LEVEL 10 - BARD 2

You have a little bit of everything in your glyphs which means Jack of All Trades will always be able to help you. You can also recuperate after a long night on the Noxian countryside thanks to Song of Rest.

You can also learn another spell but we will wait for...

LEVEL 11 - BARD 3

Third level Bards can choose their Bardic College and you did go to the academy to become a weapon after all. College of Valor Bards are instruments of war with Combat Inspiration, letting allies use their Bardic Inspiration to hurt more with their swords or defend themselves better with their armor. “Fight like you mean it. Die for something that matters!” You do also get some skill proficiencies but... you already had them.

You do get Expertise in two skills however! Intimidation comes naturally to a living weapon, and even though it’s technically not a living animal in LoL you still need Animal Handling for your mount from Find Steed.

And finally you can learn spells. If you want the honest truth the only reason we took Bard levels is for Heat Metal, the obligatory Ferromancy spell. But you can also grab Hold Person to lock a foe’s armor in place.

LEVEL 12 - BARD 4

4th level means an Ability Score Improvement, and since we’re now investing in the spellcasting side of things I’d recommend some Charisma to make that better. Remember that more Charisma does mean more Paladin spells, so be sure to hop back there to prepare more.

Because I’m not going to tell you what to prepare, as we need to concentrate on your new cantrip! You are the ferromancer, so Mending is kinda obligatory. You can also learn another spell but again we shall wait for...

LEVEL 13 - BARD 5

5th level Bards get Font of Inspiration, letting their Bardic Inspiration come back on a Short Rest. Which is good, because your Bardic Inspiration increases to a d8!

You can also learn third level spells now which means we can finally take Mass Healing Word to further our support role, and Hypnotic Pattern for a massive team-wide stun.

(Artwork by @Cookie3v3 on Twitter)

LEVEL 14 - SORCERER 1

You were born with magic after all, so I’d have to go into Sorcerer at some point. It’s just that the other levels were more important, and this kinda ends up being more for flavor than anything. Regardless you get your subclass at level 1 as a Sorcerer and hey I actually get to use the Clockwork Soul for a Ferromancer. You can Restore Balance at level 1, denying Advantage or Disadvantage and turn it into a straight roll.

Oh and hey: more Spellcasting! But this time with a side of Clockwork Magic for Abjuration or Transmutation spells. Since both the spells you’d normally get a little iffy I’d suggest replacing them with both Absorb Elements and Shield for some Magic Resistance and Armor.

You also get four cantrips and two leveled spells. Fire Bolt lets you fling a piece of molten metal at the enemy, because you may as well have a ranged weapon. For some basic metal sundering from the ground Mold Earth will let you manipulate small pockets of iron in the soil. Message will let you coordinate with your teammates without yelling everything in /all. And because you’ve got a ridiculous amount of cantrips you may as well grab Prestidigitation for basic magic manipulation.

For your leveled spells Magic Missile will let you fling metal with the utmost precision, and Burning Hands for burning metal addressed to “whom it may concern.”

LEVEL 15 - SORCERER 2

Second level Sorcerers get a Font of Magic. You get 2 Sorcery Points that can be converted into spell slots... for now. So basically you get another first level spell slot!

LEVEL 16 - SORCERER 3

3rd level Sorcerers get their Metamagic. These are features that use your Sorcery points to augment your spells: to make sure that no one lives to hide the tale of the academy Heightened Spell will give an enemy disadvantage on their first saving throw against one of your spells. Alternatively if you want to both stab and smash Quickened Spell will let you cast a spell as a Bonus Action, to really maximize your APM.

You also get more Clockwork Magic, but since you already have both Aid and Lesser Restoration I’d instead suggest taking Levitate for some reverse-magnetism, and a little spell from Elemental Evil called Maximilian’s Earthen Grasp.

If your opponent doesn’t know how magnets work then Blur can really mess with their ability to hit you. And you know I haven’t taken Flash yet so... Misty Step!

LEVEL 17 - SORCERER 4

Fourth level Sorcerers get an Ability Score Improvement and well we did invest in 3 different spellcasters, so increasing that spellcasting with more Charisma would probably be smart. Remember that more Charisma means more Paladin spells! As well as a stronger Paladin aura and more Bardic Inspiration.

You also get another spell known and honestly there are a lot of great ones at second level of Sorcerer but Shatter is the best for ripping through metal. You also get another cantrip because I guess Sorcerers don’t have enough cantrips: if you get surrounded you can sunder the ground as if swords were bursting around you... in a Sword Burst... yeah...

(Artwork made for Riot Games)

LEVEL 18 - SORCERER 5

5th level Sorcerers get third level spells and I’d hate to admit it but both Dispel Magic and Protection from Energy from Clockwork Magic do make sense for Rell.

But you know what we don’t have enough of? Ground-based attacks. So take Erupting Earth, because your magic is Ferromancy. Not Fireballs or Haste, both of which would probably honestly be stronger. Honestly feel free to drop some of your early Sorcerer spells, because you’ve got more than enough spell slots for the big stuff.

LEVEL 19 - SORCERER 6

6th level Clockwork Soul Sorcerers get the feature we kinda went into this subclass for: Bastion of Law. As an action, you can spend 1 to 5 sorcery points to create a magical ward around yourself or another creature within 30 feet.

The warded creature gets a number of d8s equal to the number of sorcery points spent to create it. When the warded creature takes damage, it can expend any number of those dice to roll them and reduce the damage taken by the total rolled on those dice. This is going to be one of your main supportive features... atop of all your other “main supportive features.”

Oh and you’d get more spells but I kinda want...

LEVEL 20 - SORCERER 7

7th level Sorcerers can learn 4th spells like Sickening Radiance for some good old-fashioned war crimes, and Fire Shield which was added to the Sorcerer spell list thanks to Tasha’s! Clockwork Magic also lets you weaponize your horse with Summon Construct, but I’d suggest grabbing Banishment as your other spell to lock the weak away like they did to the Null.

FINAL BUILD

PROS

Fighting together? Guess it's not too bad - You’ve got plenty of good assists. Bardic Inspiration and Bastion of Law shields, and a big pile of spells to help the team.

Nothing gets in; no one gets out - Turns out that manipulating metal means very little can get at you. Strong AC, very good range with Reach to play keep-away in melee and a horse to run around, and of course Aura of Protection to turn your weakest save into a +5! And decent HP to boot!

This is who I am now - It wasn’t my intention when making the character but... turns out Jack of All Trades does in fact make you a jack of all trades. Decent skill checks all around and a crazy good Intimidation check means that while you maybe won’t be the first choice you’ll always be up for the task.

CONS

“Excellence is measured in sacrifice”... or whatever - Three way multiclassing gives you a lot, but not a whole lot of it. Your spell slots go all the way up to 8th level but your best spells max out at 4th level. Smites exist and you can always melt down your spell slots, but perhaps it would’ve been smarter to lessen the number of classes and get more value out of what you have.

That's... that's cool... I'm cool... - Ever heard of the concept known as “choice paralysis?” With so many spells to choose on top of subclass features that take your actions it can be hard to pick what’s right in every scenario. Woes of playing support, where you need to think of everything at once. Can’t just run in and stab.

The helpless fight; the hardened live - Jack of All Trades is good for skill checks... not for combat. You can fight, heal, and sling spells decently but don’t really stand out in any particular area. You’ve got a hundred different tools to deal with the rabble but when your friends go All Out you’ll likely be stuck getting assists.

But you’ve got all a girl could ever ask for: a cute pony and enough armor to survive a ballistic missile. You were built to be a weapon and a damn good weapon you are: as sharp as you are sturdy, and as versatile as you are resourceful. Who cares if you’re a little rough around the edges? You’re sixteen! You’ve got your whole life ahead of you! Minus the lingering trauma of being tortured by your own mother... Eh. Who doesn’t have a tragic backstory nowadays?

(Artwork by @dreadstardraws on Twitter.)

#dnd #dnd 5e #dnd build #dnd guide #League of Legends #League of Legends Rell #Rell #ferromancy #dnd paladin #dnd bard #dnd sorcerer #fuck #Noxus #bisexual #iron stands eternal

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laiqart · 4 years

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The Untamed vs MDZS Anime: Which is better?

Going to japan now. Currently in the plane. The in flight tv is broken. So... ive been watching mdzs on youtube!

Hot damn the animation is beautiful. Every frame is a work of art. How the hell. Its so beautiful. I mean they use 3D a lot for the backgrounds and boats but its still gorgeous and not too jarring. The lighting is so realistic, scenery too. All the fighting choreography is beautiful. The way the swords swing in the air looks so fluid, and when swords clash its in flashes of light the color of their sword. Such a tasteful yet stylistic choice. Everyone's, esp wwx, hair is so flowy, so detailed every strand sways in the wind. The waves reflect light and move smoothly. How the hell did they do that. How. I was thinking of doing those screencap redraw thingy with the scene when wwx whacks lwj's boat. (they also emphasised how far lwj's boat was sinking into the water, which makes it more convincing how wwx can deduce that theres something underneath vs the live action where lwj's boat looked normal..) it was damn beautiful. The thing is, the point of these redraws is that the animation looks simple, so the redraw would enhance the scene. But for mdzs, everything is already in peak quality, redrawing it will only look worse. Its like writing fanfiction of books. The original writing is so damn beautiful, fan fiction ends up being such a stark difference that the reader cant help but compare the 2.

Drama, as everyone says, shows better facial expressions due to the live actors, so emotions hit harder. But anime def LOOKs way better in all action scenes. Angles that follow the characters are used to emphasise scale between enemy and chracters, and all the movements feel so dynamic, and i love how when they use talisman spell thingies they got a circle of light in an intricate pattern thats super beautiful. In the drama, its just a piece of paper.

However, i prefer drama's lwj. Maybe cos wyb looks so young, its more believable when he freaks out over the adult book that wwx gives him in the library scene. In the anime, he looks 20+-30+. Its a bit hard to believe that he'd be worried over that. Idk theres a kind of innocence and naivety that leads to the stubborn refusal to express emotion that young lwj is plagued with that we have in the untamed (was this intentional on wyb's part or is it because the teenage lwj wig made his eyes look floaty, so he seems more like a teenager and naive, less experienced as a cultivator vs lwj 13 years later? Dk but it works!). In the anime, he looks like an adult thats calm and level headed already from the get-go. Idk maybe i just havent watched enough (only seen up til the water demons in caiyi town). In both anime and drama, everyone and i mean EVERYONE besides the fricking babies looks the same 13/16 years later. It doesn't feel like time has passed at all. I wish they would have maybe a change in costume, or hairstyle in the anime. The drama at least changes their costumes a little and neatens the hairstyle of jiang cheng and lwj to indicate maturity.

Btw i love that in the anime for the water demons section they had wwx and jc casually chatting (though its a blatant cornetto ad which is fricking weird. How can there be frozen treats back in those days), then wwx beautifully catapulting himself onto a boat and rowing away showing the unique and romantic af mode of transport in caiyi town, then smoothly transitioning to the lan bros on the bridge right above them with lwj asking why lxc decided to bring them along. Its just tying together so many scenes, quickening the plot along and yet doing it so naturally and seamlessly compared with the novel and drama.

Though i like that the drama involved wn and wq and have wwx save wn, and makes way more sense why wn would want to risk his life to help wwx recover his parents fricking corpse illegally right under the nose of wen chao and wen zhuliu.

The anime removed the entire mystery plot of a yan and the fairy goddess statue and thats honestly the best best best choice to make. In the drama, it was one of the worse sections ever cos i didnt understand who all these random ass characters were (it was one of the first mysteries in the drama) and yet it didnt go into detail like they did in the novel, so not only did i not know what was going on, i also didnt give a single shit about the characters. When i saw that they completely did away with the random passer bys who screwed around with the fairy statue, i was thoroughly impressed.

I liked that the drama let nhs have his own trouble making moments tho, like having him sneak a live bird into class. It makes it more convincing that wwx would be friends with him because they both have a mischievous side that they can both appreciate in each other. In the anime, nhs just looks like a loser nerd thats weak in swordplay and does wwx's homework for him, without a will of his own. It doesnt make sense why wwx would keep him around. Then again, maybe itll make the reveal that nhs is a conniving mastermind more impactful for the anime, oh well only time will tell.

I liked that lxc and lwj look similar in the anime. Its more convincing when people call them the twin jades of the lan clan. In the drama, they hardly looked like brothers. Lxc looks more like lwj's mentor or teacher rather than an older brother. In the anime, they look more siblingy.

I miss drama wen ning. I rmb when he looked so fierce and terrifying in his first appearance. I was legit intimidated. Oh how hes changed! Hes so fluffy now. In the anime hes equally menacing. His fight scene with the statue goddess was so beautiful. Doesnt it take a long time to animate the chains moving so fluidly yet dynamically yet somehow looks like it can disintegrate rock in an instant? The lighting on it too, how it reflected the fire of the forest around them. Have i mentioned how beautiful having that fight scene at night was? It was dark and ominous looking, yet the fire cast an epic looking light over the scene with warm orange glows. And the animators had that fiery light reflected in anything they could find: eyes, chains, swords.

Ooh but jiang cheng's whip looked prettier in the drama than in the anime, which is kind of weird given they were both cgi-ed. Somehow the lighting of the whip in the drama was brighter, looked more like real lightning vs the whip in the anime looking a little dull, like they colored it then added a gray filter. This is kinda bizarre given the laughably bad effects of the effects for everything else in the drama. Visuals for non human things is not the drama's strong suit, so it makes u wonder what happened for the anime whip. Maybe in the dark, the lightning would have to look hella bright and reflect on the surroundings (tedious to color) more so than in the day, hence why it looked worse in anime vs drama. Oh well.

As for lan sizhui, its weird that his voice is so deep in the anime (and audio drama!). Ive always seen him as a kiddo thanks to the live action, so hearing him sound mature is kinda off-putting. He sounds like a leader, and gives off lwj vibes vs in the live action where he gives a goody two shoes studious nerd vibe, whos just trying his best. Maybe this is better, he feels way more like a lwj-raised child(serious and business-like) which makes more sense. Live action lsz feels like a wwx(optimistic and intelligent) AND lwj(well-behaved and sensible)-raised child. Anime lsz looks like hes got his shit together. Jinling is fairly similar in both, maybe less prideful in the anime (in live action theres the scene where im pretty sure he indirectly kills one of his men by wishing for the fairy goddess statue to come to life. That was a hella asshole move. This was omitted in the anime.) Jingyi in the anime somehow looks snarkier. Maybe cos he straight up duels with jinling and kicks him down a dark cave. Ive been wondering why all the tumblr posts depict ljy as this sassy ass short tempered kid when he was quite tame (though sassy by lan standards) in the live action. Now i know.

The costumes for the drama is better, more detailed though thats expected i guess. I just love that they have little white gusu lan clan uniforms that wwx jc and friendos are required to wear. Its so cute and such a cool detail. In anime, theyre all in their usual garb, and they just look like random people who decided to turn up at lan qirens class. In the drama, it looks more like a school that they have to attend for half a year and it feels characteristic that gusu lan clan would require their students to have a uniform, given their incredibly strict regime type. It also serves to separate the happy carefree school days from all the other tragic af events in wwx's life. His costume starts out white showing innocence and purity of his naiive teenage years who had yet to experience hardship and still feels invincible as a youth. After school, he wears dark blue, as he goes on an adventure with lanzhan and experience how important the yin iron is (gives up the joking light hearted nature as a teenager by realizing the gravity of situation if the wen clan gets their hands on it) and maybe that hes not truly part of the jiang clan who wears purple. Then his costume eventually becomes black as he experiences his first life and death situation that he isnt sure he can handle. That child like assurance that "oh the seniors will let me off" or "im sure jiang fengmian will come to my rescue" gets demolished when he undergoes cruel indoctrination at the wen clans. This visual development may be a bit on the nose, but personally i love subtle representations.

Overall, the anime does do a better of job of explaining the world's mechanics, which is quite important. The drama is quite faithful to the book, at times even more so than the anime, so it irks me that this is the one thing they decide to skim on. The god damn premise, the first thing the audience needs: why the hell is wwx alive again and what is mo xuanyu doing?? I guess the drama thought that it explains itself but it doesnt really. It was really confusing. The anime, though somehow faster than the drama, still has the time to properly explain mxy. A technique ive noticed is that they do exposition during the fight scenes, which is so ingenius. Its visually appealing, as always, so its not boring, the viewers gets to understand whats going on AND it gives the sense that the characters are so skilled that they carry causal conversations while fighting supposedly weak enemies like zombies and water ghosts, which is accurate seeing how wwx and lwj and friends are supposed to be one of the most powerful cultivators.

TL;DR both are good lol

#the untamed #mo dao zu shi #wei wuxian #lan zhan #lan jingyi #lan xichen #lan wangji #jiang cheng #nie huaisang #lan sizhui #wei ying #jin ling #analysis #rant #thoughts #grandmaster of demonic cultivation #mo xuanyu

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tothedarkdarkseas · 4 years

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What's the difference (in the bedroom) between a God-Complex Stu and a Way-Too-Much-In-His-Head Stu?

It’s roughly 4AM in my timezone, so happy birthday Stu! Behind a cut for sexual conversation, but it’s not really explicit. (Er, well, I guess it is explicit but not titillating.)

For all my big talk on here about ego-tripping Stu, I don’t really write him that way in the actual sex scenes! I think it comes across more in the surrounding scenes, whereas being in bed with Murdoc... it sends Stu down a different path mentally. Fully recognize that it’s incredibly tacky to reference my own stories, I’m sorry about that, but I guess the last scene in Ampersands is starting to hint at a God Complex Stu-- if you consider literally asking Murdoc to call him a God “hinting”-- whereas the scenes in any other explicit story (and quite frankly much of that same scene) fall squarely under In His Head Stu. He’s able to act on desire but he’s not really at ease with it, and the wake of it is where the neuroses really peak. I’m just incredibly fond of Murdoc and Stu disallowing these moments from being all that sexy or intimate; what keeps my interest level up is definitely the fallout after.

Anyway, that’s not really the question! I think God Complex Stu would be more readily present in his encounters with women, where he’s got more confidence, walks away with greater benefits, and isn’t self-aware enough to notice his shortcomings (including shortly cumming.) As a teenager he was too inexperienced but has more genuine thoughts about every girl he had maths with being the hottest girl he’d seen, but having luck in your youth is still a far cry from being “good.” Even a more down-to-earth Stu is likely still discourteous as he’s popular and laddish; “God Complex” might be a strong word for it, but he’s absolutely feeding the beast by getting around and earning ire from other boys. By the time we’re in phases 1 and 2, the ego’s fully realized. He assumes he’s a good lover because he’s well-endowed, he does less and less to cater to his partners because he’s famous and they’ll be happy regardless, and he’s as fond of his own image in bed as he is the image of a beautiful woman. His behavior is honestly a lot more sleazy and common the more he becomes convinced he’s something above that.

Stu’s sexual encounters with Murdoc (and a few with Paula) are a better representation of being too in his head. Theoretically any experience with a man would have shades of this, but I still reckon it’d be worse with Murdoc considering their history. In “better” moments he acts on instinct with Murdoc and that gets the ball rolling, but I really rather fancy the idea that he loses steam partway through and it results in more... incompatible sexual behavior, I guess? Something like Midnight Coward (sidebar but thank you to some new followers who came over from Beck recommending it, and I’m sorry it’s not very good) is based on that thought-- Stu loses the arrogant bliss of his lacking self-awareness and instead becomes hyper self-aware, and the “self” he’s aware of is not the “self” he recognizes as Stuart. It may sound silly at best and homophobic at worst (and that’s not incorrect), but it’s difficult to reconcile an “animalistic” sexual response with equally innate, animalistic rejection of Murdoc as a person, let alone Murdoc as a sexual prospect. I don’t necessarily think this always results in being unable to perform sexually, but I do think a portion of the time it puts them off things like full penetration. He’s much more in-his-head out of his head afterwards, where their standard pillow talk is more like Stu having a lil panic attack, hysterically berating Murdoc though his tears, and/or going mildly catatonic after the outburst.

#nsft #it's his birfday! time to dunk #Anonymous #headcanon posts

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purplesurveys · 4 years

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786

Do you hate it when people rate their surveys "R" but none of the questions are R-rated? Not really. It’s been a while since I took note of whatever rating a survey has and I don’t really analyze a survey if it has any R questions. Do you ever actively seek out R rated surveys 'cause you think they're fun? Only super early on as a teenager because accomplishing an rated R survey back then made me feel cool HAHAHAHA. Like I said though, I stopped caring through the years as I got older and got to experience typical grownup stuff. Have you ever taken the tests on sites like "OK Cupid" or similar? I’ve never even been on that website, so I dunno others like it. When was the last time you went out for a coffee/cup of tea? Sigh...March 2nd. I went to a nearby Starbucks to work on a business article and to extensively update a tracker that I was keeping for a class. Then because I still had work to do, but was feeling increasingly bad for overstaying at that Starbucks, I drove all the way to Gabie to stay at another coffee shop to continue working, at Coffee Bean this time. We had Yabu for dinner after and I had no clue it was gonna be my last coffee and Yabu date for a while. :/ Do you remember what TV shows you liked as a kid? (If you watched it) Yeah but all the surveys ask this damn question eugh so I don’t feel like directly answering this. I liked a ton of Nickelodeon and Disney shows, but I was super picky when it came to Cartoon Network because I vibed with mostly none of their shows.

Does stress ever affect you physically? If yes, how? It doesn’t really, actually. It hits me in other ways because I’d usually get cranky and will often cry when my stress peaks. I don’t get sick or lose weight or gain it or anything like that, and usually a one-time emotional release will help me deal with the stress. Who (in your opinion) deserves a medal and why? Frontliners do. Throw in better pay for them as well. Who was in power in your country the year you were born? Estrada. Not a very good president either. Though to be fair all of our presidents have been bad save for one; Estrada was just the worst of them all. In your opinion were they a good president/prime minister/leader? Just answered that question. Is gambling throughout your presidency good? Missing crucial meetings because you drank the whole night before and you’re hungover? Not entertaining courtesy calls with global politicians/ambassadors because you just didn’t feel like it? Yep, didn’t think so. Do you own a coffee table? If yes, what is it made out of? Yes, my grandpa made it for my mom. It’s made out of wood but my mom painted it black so that it fit more with the ambiance she was going for. When did you last eat a parsnip? I don’t even know what that is haha, so I guess never. I tried looking for a Filipino translation but turns out we don’t even have a word for it, which just means it’s not a part of our culture at all. Is it just me or is TV seriously "dumbing down"? Not at all? If anything more and more creators have been using the presence and influence of TV to show representation and give important messages. Just look at Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Do you ever watch films and rip them apart for their innacuracies? Not really. I watch films to enjoy them, buuuut I wouldn’t shy away from hearing someone else point out mistakes, especially from historical movies. It’s always good to store some more trivia in your head haha. Do you prefer your partners to be taller or shorter than you? I’m already quite short so I’d prefer them to be taller. Can you smell anything? Not right now. Did you have a money box as a kid? What shape was it if you did? No. I had packed recess and lunch and I was seldom given money, so there wasn’t any reason for me to start saving anyway. When was the last time your stomach rumbled? Not sure. It hasn’t done that a lot these days because we have food all day long, so the last time was probably when I was still going to school. There are days that I had classes for like 5 hours straight, so getting food was impossible unless I stepped out of the classroom for a few minutes to grab a bite – which I didn’t like doing because I never wanted to miss out on any notes hahaha nerrrrrd. Are your nails long? It’s getting there, but they’re not distractingly long. Have you ever bitten a person for fun? Lol. Yeah, just my girlfriend when I’m feeling playful.

What's your favourite tree? I don’t have one. What do you currently need to buy? A new charger for my phone. Mine finally gave up a few weeks ago and fortunately my sister has an old iPhone charger that I’ve since borrowed for the time being. The charger she has is from Miniso though and honestly I’d feel much better with an original Apple charger haha. Has kids TV ever frightened you? Nah. I got spooked easily as a kid so I generally avoided cartoons that were already known to be dark, like Courage the Cowardly Dog. Do you have any potted plants in your house? Yeah, several. My mom likes having plants around. Do you like solitude? I’ll need it sometimes, especially after a hectic or a big social event, so it feels really nice when I have it. I don’t always like to be alone though, and I mostly crave it when I need recharging. Is there any religion which intrigues you above all others? Buddhism. We never delved deeper than learning the founders and basic laws of other religions (considering I’m from Catholic school), and after hearing about the major religions, it was Buddhism that fascinated me the most. Do you use the PC to "chat" often? I had YM as a kid, if that’s what you mean. I chatted with friends on there all day long. Are you much of a gamer? I am not at all a gamer. I know it's a common question, but, why do you take surveys? It’s a way of getting in touch with myself and to release stress if I have to. It also serves as a distraction whenever there’s so much going on in my life. Do you like meeting or talking to new people via the world wide web? I don’t particularly enjoy it in that I seek it out. It’s just nice when it happens naturally. Do you often wear belts? Never. When did you last say a nursery rhyme? A very long time ago would be a safe guess. Did you like climbing trees as a kid? No. Most trees here are crawling with fire ants or just insects in general, so I couldn’t climb them even if I wanted to. Do you still secretly like climbing trees, given the chance to do so? Ha Do you find it flattering or "cheesy" when strangers wink at you? Disgusting. I’d take a photo of them and make sure to blast them online. Do you ever shop online? Super rarely.

#survey #surveys

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salvatoreschool · 5 years

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5 Reasons You Should Be Watching Legacies

October is, just objectively, the best month of the year. Exhibit A: Golden autumn leaves. Exhibit B: All things apple. Exhibit C: This gif. Exhibit D: Witches. Like, it’s just science.

Around these parts, though, the best best thing about October is, of course, the television. Yes, I’m talking spooky, kooky Halloween specials—love a good Halloween special—but also I’m talking fall premieres. Specifically, I’m talking The CW’s fall premieres, which have been landing in mid-October (later than most other broadcast networks) since at least the first season of Arrow.

This fall, the teen-skewing network’s biggest draws are, arguably, the series debuts of Batwoman (October 6th) and Nancy Drew (October 9th), and the final season bows of Arrow (October 15th) and Supernatural (October 10th). But while I’m professionally interested in seeing how all those premieres play out, the CW joint I’m most personally invested in getting back on my screen (also October 10th!) is Julie Plec’s supernatural boarding school double-spin-off teen drama series, Legacies.

Friends—you should be watching Legacies. I know there’s a lot of television out there, but really and truly, if you like television that likes being television (more on that in a minute), Legacies is absolutely worth tuning in to. Why? Well, let me just count the reasons:

1. You don’t have to do any television homework to join the fun.

Yes, TECHNICALLY Legacies is a hybrid spin-off of two different long-running Julie Plec series, The Vampire Diaries (eight seasons) and The Originals (five), and sure, technically it was in those series that the mythology driving the character arcs/motivations of Legacies’ most central leads, Hope Mikaelson (Danielle Rose Russell) and Alaric Saltzman (Matthew Davis), was developed. After spending a cumulative thirteen seasons not just telling stories on television, but telling stories on television from this specific world, Plec’s ability to set efficient narrative groundwork under fast-moving vampire feet is nothing if not masterful. Genuinely, aside from a few single-episode cameos of side characters from Hope and Alaric’s TVD/Originals past, the only thing you need to watch to make sense of Legacies is this official promo for the first season:

youtube

…and honestly, most of that soliloquy, plus much more, is folded into the cold open of the series premiere, “This is the Part Where You Run,” which uses new lead Landon Kirby (Aria Shahghasemi) as audience avatar as he gets introduced to this particular supernatural world for the first time.

2. Two words: Julie. Plec.

That said, if you are familiar with Legacies’ double, er, legacy, you’ll get a kick out of how precisely Plec has taken her signature whip-fast storytelling and fitted it to a breezier, more “teen” setting, and how deftly she manages to weave in both key characters and core emotional beats from both her previous series.

The most obvious example of all of this is Matthew Davis’ Alaric Saltzman, who became such a fan favorite during his time as vengeful-vampire-hunter-turned-loyal-teen-vampire guardian-turned-rogue-vampire’s-best-friend on The Vampire Diaries that not only did Plec resurrect him from the (very truly) dead to keep Damon Salvatore (Ian Somerhalder) on the straight and narrow, but she then brought him on as co-lead of this series to do the same for every supernatural teen in the contiguous United States. Now, as both father to a pair of Gemini twin witches (Kaylee Bryant and Jenny Boyd) and mentor/father-figure to Hope, the teen witch-vampire-werewolf tribrid with a hero complex, Alaric gets to flex all the emotional muscles TVD fans know and love. Plus, as the Salvatore School’s headmaster, he also gets to take charge of the dramatic supernatural research and heroic (and/or chaotic) supernatural missions that are key to a Plec series’ fast-paced success. Beyond all of that, though, in positioning him as the central human adult foil to a whole pile of supernatural teen protagonists, Plec has also found a way to let him be funny, bringing a uniquely fun dynamic to the fast-moving monster drama of the TVD universe that hasn’t always gotten such pride of place.

In other words: Julie Plec, still running wild supernatural stories turned up way past 11.

3. Three words: Supernatural. Boarding. School.

One more time, in case that didn’t sink it: Supernatural. Boarding. School.

I really shouldn’t have to elaborate on this, but Legacies is set at the Salvatore Boarding School for the Young and Gifted, which is the school for young witches, werewolves, vampires, and Hope that was funded by Hope’s (dead) dad and is located at/on the Salvatore family’s Virginia estate, just outside Mystic Falls. All the moody opulence of Damon and Stefan’s TVD homebase, all the zingy, angsty tropes of great Teen TV.

More than just being a fun setting, though, the Salvatore School gives Legacies a chance to sprawl out and complicate the consequences of being a teenager consigned to eternity as part of the supernatural world. These consequences are still very real and very serious in Legacies, but while The Vampire Diaries mined dramatic tension from supernatural teens (or at least vampires who looked superficially like teens) living in dangerous proximity to human teens, its kid sibling series looks inside for its tension. The teens at the story’s core need, first and foremost, to find a way to come to terms with their own inhumanity, and what it means to be good as they define it. And honestly, after so many years of TVD stories focused on the former, spending time with a bunch of super compelling, super different supernatural kids working through the latter is just a treat.

4. A diverse cast and diverse stories

This leads directly into a key update to the TVD legacy: With such a sprawling cast of teen characters brought to the Salvatore School from all walks of life and corners of the country, Legacies gets to improve on one of the original series’ greatest weaknesses: A lack of diversity. While both Alaric and the three central female characters of Legacies—all carried over from the previous series—are still white, the characters that round out the rest of the new series’ core cast are not. On the adult side, Alaric is joined by faculty members Dorian Williams (Demetrius Bridges) and Emma Tig (Karen David), while on the teen side, Hope, Josie and Lizzie are joined by softie vampire MG (Quincy Fouse), activist vampire Kaleb (Chris Lee), reluctant alpha werewolf Rafael (Peyton “Alex” Smith), ex-alpha werewolf Jed (Ben Levin), bad girl with Penelope (Lulu Antariksa), and the audience avatar/mystery box supernatural mentioned above, Landon Kirby (Aria Shahghasemi). Nor is racial diversity the only benchmark hit with this large cast. In terms of queer representation, Josie is bi, with Penelope her ex/possible future girlfriend; in terms of class representation, Rafael and Landon are foster brothers who both have dark histories with the system.

Importantly, none of these measures of diversity are included just for show. Each character’s identity and background are as key to who they are within the heightened emotional context of the boarding school as their individual supernatural abilities. Kaleb’s experience as a young black man (and vampire) is markedly different from MG’s, which is markedly different from Dorian’s (who, to be fair, is also not a vampire). Josie and Penelope’s relationship is informed by their strengths (and weaknesses) as witches, and further informs how they each approach solving problems both social and magical. Landon and Rafael’s history, as thrown away kids whose only shelter was each other, drives every decision they make. That diverse identities should inform characters in these ways isn’t a surprise; that Legacies is embracing them all now after so many seasons of its parent series falling short is, if not surprising, then at least worth taking note of.

5. Finally: Legacies totally knows it’s a TV show.

This seems self-evident, but as pop culture critic Grace Robertson so sharply observed earlier this year in her essay “Let TV Be TV” (like, literally; the heading above is a direct quote), the best trick Legacies pulls isn’t even a trick. It’s just being good at being entertaining, episodic television.

In an era where a TV show can be anything from thirteen thirty-minute episodes (pick literally any prestige comedy) to dozens upon dozens of bite-sized Facebook posts (SKAM Austin) to an 18-hour art film (Twin Peaks: The Return), defining just what counts as television is practically a professional sport. Well, it’s a sport Legacies isn’t interested in playing. With both its new-to-the-TVD-verse Monster of the Week mode of storytelling and the Salvatore School as its comfortable, “fixed point” setting, Plec is even better at framing episodic stories than she was in her already rollicking previous series. In a television landscape so full of cinematic innovation, the freedom this old school “status quo” television model gives Legacies is, as Robertson notes, a huge relief.

So, yes: Legacies knows it’s a TV show, and it knows it’s a fun one. With the short first season currently streaming on Netflix, there is literally no better time to jump on the Legacies bandwagon than now. And I know it’s one I can’t wait to have back in my weekly rotation. All hail October.

Legacies Season Two premieres Thursday, October 10th on The CW.

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7bm2st7kae · 4 years

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writtings Cae 1) It is widely understood that on March 8 we honor women's velour, as a way of expressing thanks to each and every woman in one's life. Yet, is an International Women's Day (IWD) really needed? By the way, we do not ignore how long women have struggled for their freedoms, and how many occasions they have been abused, harassed or put down. In reality, women often fall prey to several accidents and equality is far from being achieved. Despite of this, the date was established to put together women from all cultural and ethnic backgrounds around all borders to recognize and continue working for unity, fairness, prosperity and progress in their several decades’ struggle. There is definitely clear evidence today which suggests the incidence of domestic violence against women and children. Racial representation is thus not a gender concern but a social and economic necessity. We will always fight for it, not only on this day but on a regular basis. Women deserve to be noticed and encouraged from across the globe. And, no matter what gender you associate with, or what role you hold, we also ought to dedicate ourselves to fair justice. Unfortunately, there are many attitudes that hinder women's equality, people who claim that we as individuals can not make any change in today's culture and some may also suggest that there is no gender disparity all over. 2) Nowadays we are willing to see anything we want, thanks to the Net. In addition, it has led us to come up with tv shows of truth or skills, which have definitely enhanced their success over the decades. Yet, because of the excitement it offers, is there something else to watch reality shows than television? TV shows draw all sorts of viewers and we can view them at what ever time of location we want, due to social media. What more, TV shows were created for the intention of attracting the audiences. Programs such as "The Ellen show" more widely known as "The Late Night Show," welcoming popular celebrities to chat about their recent news and ended up playing some type of game. And they're just directed at fun. However, there are many TV shows including "The Voice" or "The X Factor" where contestants have to face/reach certain prompts. In fact, jurors are often too picky, resulting in the participants reacting negatively. What most parents believe is that children who go there to join are revealed, and this may potentially be detrimental to them. As well as getting subjected to negative factors, not just social media. I honestly feel that, irrespective of their programming, tv shows will definitely have a detrimental effect, either on their audiences or on their participants (such as the ridicule and criticism hey often experienced). Additionally, others can also be detrimental to children and teenagers because they can mimic such behaviors or aggressive behavior. 3) Traffic jam is now one of the biggest urban issues owing to the congestion it creates, the disruptions during the peak hours, among others, the road rages. To address this problem, municipalities ought to come up with many methods of rising traffic and preventing the usage of private vehicles in the city center. But how do they possibly? Therefore, most citizens agree that fees will be levied on vehicle owners and businesses, whether commuting through peak hours or parking. The government should then enhance the standard of public transit and allow everyone to utilize it for the revenue collected. Although it is possible that this may definitely be done, tax levies may place undue strain on citizens who have no travel. While taxes do not impact people with a strong economy, it does not affect people with a poor income. On the other side, cities should also undertake an outreach program, raise consciousness about how often traffic delays impact the community and how effective public transit is. Along with this, the initiative may consist of social network advertising, newspapers or radio shows that are low-cost approaches relative to improvements in public transit upgrades. A campaign like this is low key successful, though, since it relies on people changing their behaviors. In my view, the most successful solution will be to introduce taxes in the town at those hours. So far as an urgent remedy is concerned, levying taxes will insure revenue to increase the Efficiency and health of public transit, with residents seeking to stop having their vehicles in the area. 4) Recently I watched “Die Hard,” which came out in July, 1988, is basically two one-hour TV shows, or two one-hour episodes of a police drama, all of which are realized with a specific directorial flair. The first hour is the story of John McClane shouting out a band of terrorists who take over Nakatomi Tower and keep the workers of the Nakatomi Corporation hostage of offices in its thirtieth floor. The police arrive in the second hour, accompanied by the F.B.I., and McClane tries to kill the terrorists with the help of the powers of order. McClane's solitary fight has a spare, elemental force that ludicrously disperses when the police arrive. I should have worked out the film for at most another fifteen or twenty minutes; instead, it drags on for another hour, to achieve full apocalyptic fire and emotional resolution. To John and Holly, whose marriage had been disrupted by her acceptance of a great job in Los Angeles, the film provides emotional redemption. Thus John remained out of a sense of police duty in New York. This also provides another character's emotional resolution, Al Powell, an L.A. Police officer who had been McClane's key contact for most of the ordeal, via walkie-talkie, with the outside world, a cop in a desk job, on his own request, since his rookie year, when he shot a thirteen-year-old whose toy gun he mistook for a real one. On the other side, "Die Hard" strikingly rejects the cinematographic stereotype of aggressive black villains. The film features three big African-American characters, Al is a comic limo, Argyle's driver, and Theo, the tech whiz of the terrorist band. And the film reflects another ethnic anxiety. The film is based on the Nakatomi Company, led by a Japanese-American man called Joseph Takagi, an symbol of the concern that Japanese high-tech corporations were trying to control the American economy at that time. I highly recommend this film and if you're into action movies, you'll like it. The main character faces very tough challenges throughout the entire film, and still finds a way to overcome them in a specific and violent way. Much like the special effects, there are plenty of plot twists and cliffhangers that will give you chills.

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maren-reads-books · 5 years

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Ghosts of the Shadow Market by Cassandra Clare, Sarah Rees Brennan, Maureen Johnson, Kelly Link and Robin Wasserman

The Shadow Market is a place that has been around for centuries. An odd community where faeries, warlocks, werewolves, shadowhunters and the like have come to trade secrets and goods, information and magic. Over its many years, in multiple cities, it has had a visitor who keeps coming back for one reason or another. Brother Zachariah, James Carstairs, Jem, or however you know him, has been attending various Shadow Markets for the majority of his existence. Follow Jem’s journeys through the Shadow Markets of the past and present as he meets friends and family, fights evil and finds love in this wonderful collection of stories bound to entrance you.

–SPOILERS–

Okay, let me just say that overall this book was a blessing and I couldn’t have anticipated (and trust me I was greedily awaiting this book) a better collection of stories. I think the best way to go about a book such as this one is to go story by story, give each one’s pros and cons, however imbalanced the two may be (many pros, not so many cons). So without further ado, in order (with some slight overlaps), is my review for Ghosts of the Shadow Market.

Cast Long Shadows: Let me just say that Matthew Fairchild is a blessing of a boy, James honestly could not have asked for a better parabatai, I just love my fashionable little drama queen. First off I love that he likes to have a good time and get into mischief (reminds me of Will), I also loved the way he greeted Jem when he saw him in the Shadow Market. His personality is infectious and I really hope we get to see more of him in the future especially with how the story left off. I felt so awful that that old lady tricked him, he was totally manipulated and he thought it was his fault and it made him so upset and then you find out centuries later that that awful woman knew what she was doing? And I was so worried for Charlotte but it was so nice to see her and Henry despite the circumstances. I love Charlotte so much she’s such an amazing person, she has endured so much as was so looked down upon but remained strong in the face of adversity, with the support of her wonderful family of course. But this story really made me feel for Matthew, I was so sad I just wanted to reach in and hug him. And when James tried to comfort him in the best way he could, it was so sweet, I really love them.

Every Exquisite Thing: Okay, first things first, the art in this book was spectacular and I just can’t even describe it, the picture of Anna was so beautiful. And the story, ugh, I loved it so much! Probably in my top three out of this book, for a couple of reasons. One: Anna is so amazing and I love her so much, her personality, the way she interacts with others, she’s just so sure of herself, just an all around beautiful human being. Two: She’s a major piece of (accurate) queer representation during a time period when being queer wasn’t super acceptable, especially for women. She was just so confident and accepting of herself and her sexuality, it’s inspiring. Three: Her parents are literally so cool. Her mother and father were so supportive and accepting! I loved the part where they were arguing over the color of the suit and not the fact that they got a suit for their daughter in the first place. It’s such a great message and it just made my heart absolutely melt. Yes, this story was sad at some parts, I mean she finally had her first love and then this girl told her they couldn’t be together because she was obligated to marry a man? Gross but accurate. I just really can’t get over how much I loved this story. I hope to see so much more of Anna in future pieces, she’s such an amazingly mysterious character. I also see where Alec gets it from *wink wink*

Learn About Loss: Yay, now we’re in America. And we get to hang out with Jem, not that he’s not already in every story in this book. Also yay, a new character, nice to meet you Iron Sister Emilia. Right off the bat I was super intrigued, it is not the usual spot for Jem to be, it’s unusual company and Shadow Markets shouldn’t exist in the middle of nowhere, neither should a full-fledged, free carnival during the sloughs of the Great Depression. But here we are, two immortal beings trying to figure out this madness. I don’t have a whole lot to say about this story except for its ending. Emilia is probably one of my new favorite people after what she did for Jem. Even though she didn’t want to make that deal with that demon she did it so that Jem and Will could go back to how things used to be before Will moved on from this world to the next and Jem stayed stuck in time having to live through the death of his parabatai. Also, the scene at the end where Will and Jem are together and they’re trying to figure out what’s happening and the first thing Jem thinks of is food, that’s a mood, to be honest. I also love that he suggested duck dumplings, and Will’s response was pure gold. I love the Herondale hatred towards ducks, it’s so random and probably one of my favorite quirky details in these books.

A Deeper Love: I love Tessa Gray. I love Tessa Gray! I honestly can’t express to you how much I love her but I’ll try. This story made me sad, probably the most out of any of these. Not only because it was taking place in such an awful time period, WWII is no joke. It was also sad because you just feel the way the grief was weighing on her. She loved Will so much, I can’t even imagine the pain. But Tessa had an amazing support system that she could turn to, it’s great to see the beginning of what will become a life long friendship. Then you add in Jem on his super secret mission, and he gets all messed up and I’m like *dead*, so he goes to Tessa because he can’t die without seeing her one last time and then she ends up saving his life in-between trying not to get blown up or set on fire. What a badass woman. Their relationship is so amazing, it has transcended time and it’s just really cool getting to see that background of their life together especially later in this book. It’s just super amazing to see that kind of love blossom over a century.

The Wicked Ones: This story had me messed up. It was so weird seeing Celine as a teenager when all we really know about her is that she’s Jace’s mom and that she was Stephen’s second wife after Valentine made him divorce Amatis. Also, the age difference is a bit much if you ask me. But it was interesting getting to learn more about her past especially since it’s something Jace ponders so often. It was also interesting getting to see the dynamics of the circle and how Valentine really got what he wanted, how he started this whole debacle. The way he manipulated Celine and took advantage of her childhood abuse was just revolting. It was so sad to see that she was willing to give up everything just to get Stephen to love her back even if it wasn’t real. It was so awful to read this and know everything that happens because of this, it was almost painful but it was so intriguing.

Son of the Dawn: Baby Jace do do do do. I was so happy I got to witness the moment of Jace’s beginnings in New York. We all kind of know the story, his “dad” died to he went to live with the Lightwoods and they took him in because Michael was Robert’s parabatai. Speaking of parabatai, it hit me hard when Jace, even though I know he changes his mind, said towards the end that parabatai are a weakness. It was so sad to see just how broken he was knowing that he’s happy now. This looking into the past stuff can be really upsetting. But it was intriguing to see all these characters that I know and love at the beginning of their stories. I loved that we got to see the beginning of Alec and Raphael’s “I distinctly remember you being twelve” thing, also I loved getting to see into little Izzy’s mind and what she was thinking when this strange boy arrived. It was so weird seeing Maryse and Robert, knowing what happens to them in the future and how much they evolve. But it was also nice knowing that all of these characters have so much development in the other books, it warmed my heart.

The Land I Lost: This story was by far my favorite story. I just love Malec so much I just can’t even begin to describe how incredibly happy they make me. I love Max, he’s such a cute little guy, wants to be just like Alec which I think is adorable (rolled his sweater in cat litter, ha! classic). Magnus and Alec are such good parents, it just melts my little heart! And then Alec has to leave and Max gets upset which is funny, he’s such a cute kid I seriously can’t get over it. I also think it’s funny that all he wants is a brother or a sister (and a dinosaur). I love love love Alec’s relationship with Lily, they’re the best of buds. On the topic of Lily Chen, her obsession with Jem is so funny, her nicknames for him are pure gold, peak comedy. I also love Elliot, despite his being a fairly minor character he always seems to pop up and he’s just a great source of comic relief (It’s hilarious that he likes Robert, I can’t get over it). But I was so incredibly appalled when they got to institute in Buenos Aires, that guy was a complete asshole. I can’t believe that he addressed Lily that way, she’s a blessing, he had no right. And then they go to the Shadow Market and it’s filled with children. That’s probably the saddest thing, all of the books talk about how much the Endarkened affected the Shadowhunters and how it now affects the Fey but nobody really talks about the other downworlders and how it’s affecting them and the Downworld as a whole. That’s one thing I love about Alec so much, he really cares for all people, he wants to change the world for the better. He’s such a great person. And then he meets Rafe. Ugh what a sweet, introverted, sassy little boy. I fell in love with him the moment he appeared on the page. It was so sad that the institute had been so corrupted that they wouldn’t even help a child of their own kind, although in this case I'm kind of glad that they didn’t. It was great that the Queen of the Shadow Market was the werewolf that Alec saved on the Orient Express, that was one of my favorite scenes in The Red Scrolls of Magic (go read it if you haven’t yet!) It was great getting to see Alec take charge of everything, he really is a hero to those people, he’s gonna do so many great things, I can’t wait to see what happens next. I loved that Rafe immediately liked Magnus too, even if it was just through pictures. It’s also great that Alec was sent those pictures in the first place, that is such a parent thing to do. The fact that Rafe was practically adopted by Alec the first time he laid eyes on the kid was such a great show of Alec’s character and how much he’s developed since the beginning of the series. And it was so amazing that Magnus was like duh, of course, we’re keeping him, are you stupid? I just love them so much. Okay, this review is getting long so I’m gonna stop ranting about my favorite fam for now.

Through Blood, Through Fire: I had mixed feelings about this story. At first, I was like yay! Jem and Tessa are happy and they’re trying to find the lost Herondale (Kit, my baby boy), but then Rosemary gets killed when she calls for help and I was so sad, I knew that Johnny Rook died since that was in the Dark Artifices but then to know that Rosemary was so close to them and all she wanted to do was find them and be with them but she knew she couldn’t because she didn’t want her son to be in danger, ugh, a true tragedy. I felt so bad for Jem too, he cared so much for her and wanted to protect her so badly and he felt so guilty when she died, it was so upsetting. But I’m so glad that they got to Kit in time, he’s such a great character I want to read about him all the time. But that problem Tessa had with the transformation was so scary, I was so worried for her. I can’t imagine having to live through that for what must’ve seemed like a lifetime. But then she found out she was pregnant because of it and they were so happy, although I can’t imagine what Tessa must feel knowing that she will outlive her *second* true love and their child, she went through it once already, I can’t imagine twice. But I’m looking on the happy side! I have to or else I would start crying. So yeah, mixed feelings…

The Lost World: Yay! Ty, my son, my boy. I love him so much. And Livvy, although I’m still pissed that she died, and obviously so is she, but I’m glad she’s around. I have mixed feelings about Ty going to the Scholomance. It was a dream that he had, one that he wanted to share with Livvy and he kind of is but not really. I’m also upset that he’s writing to everyone except for Kit and that is not okay, at all. You can’t just separate yourself from your problems Ty! (I’m looking at you too Kit, run away to another country just because you're in love. What an overly dramatic thing to do, I wonder where he gets it from?) But I liked this story for a couple of reasons, One: it was Livvy POV! I was so worried we wouldn’t get to see her again. I also love that Ty adopted that lynx, like what a mad lad he is, I love him. It was also super interesting to learn about Livvy’s ghostliness along with her and Ty, it was very intriguing. I also was so happy that she got to see Kit, and that she scared him. (He deserves it for running away from his feelings). It must get lonely when only three people can see you. I also can’t imagine what that must’ve felt like for Livvy when she started causing all that scary stuff, and when she went too far from Ty I was already worried. Also, Zara. Just imagining her say even one word makes me so angry. I hate her with my entire being, but then Livvy was called back so we didn’t have to deal with Zara anymore which made me happy. I was so incredibly concerned when she was thinking about replacing Jem and Tessa’s baby. As much as I love Livvy, I would protect that baby with my life. But overall this was just an intriguing little story and I hope we get to see Kit, Ty, and Livvy get the gang back together in the future.

Forever Fallen: AAAAAHHHHH! This story gave me whiplash! I’m serious! One moment I’m like yes! Jessa had their baby and I want to give her the world and Jem is such a good dad, not only to Mina but also to Kit, they’re such a perfect little family (also Jem has a castle? Badass.) And then it’s like “Hey I’m Thule Jace, aka Janus. I want to kill everyone except for Clary because I love her in every universe” and I’m like “hold up, what?!” I was so incredibly worried when Max found Janus, I thought he was going to kill little Max and my heart was so afraid for my little blueberry boy. I was also really upset that Janus killed that werewolf girl and faerie boy, it was so sad and unnecessary. And then we were back to Kit and Jem and Tessa and little baby Mina being the perfectness that they are. Jem is such an incredible dad, I love that he said that waking up in the middle of the night and caring for Mina was a privilege like what a mans. And then Kit was there because he didn’t want her to wake up Jem and Tessa, like!!! He’s such a good big brother and Mina knows it. Then Jem referred to Kit as his son and I almost cried because it was just so adorably beautiful I could barely handle it. Then we’re back to NYC where Janus is being a creep and following people around. And then he saw Clary in that alley I was so afraid for her, I thought he might kill her, I don’t know why since he still loves her, but he’s creepy, bad vibes dude. This story just had my emotions all over the place. But I’m going to try and focus on one of the most wonderful families in the world instead of evil Jace.

Okay, guys! That’s it, I’m sorry this review was so long but, what’s a girl to do when she really loves a book? I sincerely hope that everyone who is a fan of Cassandra’s books will read this collection because it’s truly amazing.

-maren

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