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licncourt · 2 years

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Is there a specific way to read the vampire chronicles or some books you should skip (I’ve just heard that some aren’t that good but like I’m up for anything)? And what books are focused on Louis and Lestat?

Okay I hope you weren't looking for a short answer to this because there isn't one 😭 Rather than just give my uncontextualized opinion, I'm going to try to explain what makes some (most) of VC so unbelievably terrible in so many people's eyes. There are going to be spoilers for pretty much all the books, but most of it is either incredibly stupid or information that you might want relating to content warnings. I'll list what applies to each book as I go.

I'm assuming you're here from my VC primer post, but if not, I'll link it right here! It gives a bit more detail on my short answer to your main question which is: if you value your sanity, only read the first three. Also a note to read the post I linked at the bottom of it about Anne Rice for context. It will help with understanding the tone this post takes re: the author.

To quickly answer your second question, I am sad to report that Interview with the Vampire is the only book focused on Loustat because after that Anne Rice decided that she hated Louis. Their relationship is on and off in the (very, VERY distant) background until they finally get together permanently towards the end of the series, but it's never the focal point again. She just kept us all on the hook by having one absolutely brain chemistry altering ship moment in a majority of the books (my compilation of those moments here).

Okay, on to specifics:

Interview with the Vampire: a literary classic with incredible character building. I'm assuming we can all agree that IWTV is fantastic and anyone who is reading this because of the show is probably already sold on it. If that's where you're coming from, you might be a bit disappointed by how unsympathetic Lestat can be, but that'll be remedied(ish) later. Lestat is the main character in the series going forward. Enjoy this Louis content because this is pretty much the end of it.

CW: keep in mind that the beginning of the book takes place on a plantation with all that entails; there are some occasional pedophilic and incestuous undertones, but nothing out of place with Gothic horror (it gets so much worse); domestic violence

The Vampire Lestat: this is widely considered to be excellent popular fiction rather than something as elevated as IWTV, but it's a 5-star read according to most fans. Lestat is such a vibrant, exciting character and so much more than the charismatic villain he was in IWTV (the AMC show incorporates a lot of his characterization from this book, as IWTV was originally a stand-alone novel without any real idea of what Lestat would become).

Aside from a (delightful) cameo at the end of the book, Louis is now in Anne Rice Jail and will not be allowed to do anything for the next nine books except be tortured once like a bug for no reason.

CW: a non-consensual turning that is directly analogous to sexual assault; descriptions of child abuse; Lestat, unfortunately, tongue kisses his mom

Queen of the Damned: this is the last book that most fans like. I personally consider it a step down from the first two, but I strongly prefer intimate, character driven stories and QotD is very plotty. It's a fun book, but some cracks start to show in AR's writing that will become a big problem later. Still, it's enjoyable and the ending is very satisfying for the story arc and for the characters. It also contains a fan favorite chapter that follows Daniel, the interviewer, and his insane romance with the vampire Armand.

If you want to be a happy person, turn back now.

CW: non-con blood drinking/vampiric SA; casual racism and pro-imperialism

***CATEGORY 5 EVENT: ANNE RICE FIRES HER EDITOR PERMANENTLY***

The Tale of the Body Thief: this is considered by most fans (obligatory not ALL) to be the worst book in the series simply for how the subject matter is handled. This is the beginning of AR transforming Lestat into something very existentially disturbing without even meaning to. The sympathetic, charming, evil-but-not-really theater kid Lestat is gone without a trace in a way that could be a very insightful look at the aftermath of trauma but is instead deeply insensitive and really upsetting.

Lestat from here on out becomes a hypermasculine caricature that can do no wrong according to the narrative and this has some pretty awful results. There are a few funny moments (like Lestat describing the sensation of peeing for two full pages) and a very cute arc where he adopts a dog, but he also commits two explicit rapes and emotionally abuses/threatens Louis on several occasions with the authorial justification that "men can't help themselves", abuse victims have it coming for setting boundaries, and people who have suffered abuse become abusers. This will be a recurring theme going forward.

Not related to Lestat, but also an Indian man is killed and has his body stolen and inhabited by a white British man in what would be a great metaphor for colonialism if the author thought that was a bad thing.

I am on the last chapter of a 140,000 word fic that I wrote just because I hate TotBT so much and wanted to create a world where it doesn't have to exist. It's one of the most popular VC fics on ao3, and that's not a testament to my writing ability, but rather to how much people hate this book.

CW: graphic SA; domestic violence; insensitivity to the point of racism; the author thinking these things are okay

Memnoch the Devil: not much to say about this. It's AR's ripoff of Dante's Inferno. Lestat meets the devil, goes to hell, drinks the blood of Jesus Christ, loses an eye, vacuum sucks period blood out of a woman's uterus and pad, and then falls into a five year semi-coma on a church floor. Somehow it's still boring. Best I can say is that the Lestat characterization is a bit less heinous than it is in the previous book.

CW: not much here unless you have an issue with period blood guzzling

The Vampire Armand: truly a notorious book in the series, beloved by some, hated by many. There's some good backstory for the character Armand (he first appears in IWTV, likely in season two of the show) and some fun historical fiction, however. Armand begins his story as a twelve year old human child who is rescued from sex slavery by an ancient vampire, Marius (he was namedropped in AMC ep 2).

Over the course of the book, he's physically, mentally, sexually abused by Marius, his teacher and father figure who is, like David, presented as a wise and moral authorit figure. In addition, Armand carries on a sexual relationship with an adult man as a minor. The sex is graphic (it's erotica) and it's really the peak of the pedophilia in VC. Keep in mind that this is coming from an author who publicly defended a child predator and thought that 14 year old kids could consent and should be allowed to have sex with adults.

Of all the later books, this one is the most widely enjoyed because Marius/Armand is a fairly popular ship.

CW: CSA/grooming; statutory rape; explicit adult/minor content; child abuse; cult abuse

Merrick: evil, evil book. AR's giant fuck you to Louis and anyone who likes his character. Lestat is in his devil coma for most of this book, so it's narrated by his newest fledgling and rape victim, David (who I and most others despise. This is the white guy who has an Indian body now). By this point, AR had openly admitted that she didn't like Louis, and she kind of spends this book tormenting and mocking him for no reason.

The titular Merrick (a mixed-race witch drowned in awful racial connotations) mind controls Louis with magic, then forces him to turn her (again, AR has confirmed that this is vampire rape) and be in a relationship. After this, she conjures a "ghost" that may or may not be Louis and Lestat’s dead daughter who tells Louis she always hated him and blamed him for her death. Completely overcome by grief, without Lestat (coma), and having been raped, Louis attempts suicide.

This event and all his mental health issues up to this point are framed by David as being stupid and weak, the sign of a lesser person who should just go and die because they deserve it. It is worth mentioning yet again that David is framed as being in the right and AR had expressed these opinions herself in the past (ie that mental illness is just weakness and you should be able to get over it).

Another fun thing is that Merrick was groomed by David as a child and he spends most of the book wanting her back and also admitting to other acts of pedophilia. So that's fun and great for a character who's supposed to be a voice of reason and moral center.

0/10, despise this book.

CW: sexual assault; grooming; attempted suicide

Blood & Gold: this is Marius' backstory. It is a completely pointless book because we've already heard it twice by this point in the series (and if you read the companion book Pandora, you'll hear it again). The whole thing reads like a Wikipedia page about ancient Rome. Read it if you want I guess.

CW: Marius

Blackwood Farm: this book had...potential? None of that was ever achieved, but I'll at least say that the concept could be worse. Lestat acquires his FIFTH brunette sadboi love interest of the series in this book, so that's kind of funny. Overall though, any positive qualities are overshadowed by weird prose, a really transphobic caricature, and the fact that the main character has shower sex with the ghost of his dead twin brother

CW: transphobia; sibling incest

Blood Canticle: Miss Rice decided to. Get creative with this book. It is a fandom joke. It is the worst prose in existence. It is a literary manic episode. It is truly indescribable. I'm just going to leave this excerpt from ch 1 here and let you imagine an entire book of this

Yes, chapter one is Anne Rice using Lestat as a proxy to berate her readers for not liking Memnoch the Devil. It's also important to me that you know Lestat calls himself "omnisensual" in this book, tries to become a saint, and tells a woman to put some clothes on because men can't control themselves. The word "chuckle" is also written out in the prose in italics like this is ff.net in 2010. The best thing that came of this book is the famous AR Amazon reviews rant (now a beloved VC fandom copypasta). Please read it. It's transcendent.

CW: psychologically devastating prose

Prince Lestat: this is AR's comeback book, published 12 years after Blood Canticle. It's an improvement, but it's still terrible and very, VERY dumb. Lestat has completed his transformation into a macho man male power fantasy for AR and we end with the establishment of a vampire monarchy with Lestat in charge because he slurped and then puked up the brains of the vampire who had the Special Vampire Essence.

Mostly this was an excuse for AR to kill off a bunch of her weird NPCs that she didn't know what to do with. The good news is we get a very cute, official Loustat love confession and for the first time since the first book in the entire series, we get a chapter that's Louis' POV!! It's like 7 pages long but it's the best we're ever going to get.

Other fun thing that happens: Lestat is hooked up to a hormone IV that allows him to fuck (book vampires can't) and the resident scientist vampire steals his cum and creates a petri dish clone of Lestat that is raised in secret for 18 years before being given to Lestat as his son. No, I'm not joking.

CW: uh, brain eating? Insanely unethical human experimentation?

Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis: batshit crazy book. Truly bonkers. There are aliens, Atlantis is real, Lestat has a sentient brain parasite that controls all vampires and talks to him in his mind like the PS5, vampire brain surgery occurs, a choir of child vampires is there, an alien named Derek breastfeeds a disembodied hand until it grows into his clone named Derek Two, and so much more.

The one positive is that after decades of harassment, AR finally lets Louis be a main character again. By this point he has been completely stripped of his personality (I call it the Louis Lobotomy) and exists solely as Lestat's sexy lamp, but whatever. He's there and they're cute together. How they managed to become a healthy, functional couple overnight after two hundred years of drama is never explained.

Lestat makes out with his rapist and talks about how he was asking for it in a particularly nauseating scene, but otherwise it's pretty tame trigger-wise

CW: rape apologia/victim blaming

Blood Communion: we are finally being put out of our misery. The end of the series. This is such a boring book and Lestat’s characterization is completely nonsensical by now. Several main characters are presumed dead for a while and by this point you don't even care. Not even the other characters in the book seem to care. Its only use is to get that sweet sweet Loustat happy ending.

CW: temporary character death

Alright, that was a lot of shit-talking a book series I literally run a fandom blog and write hundreds of thousands of words of fic for, but the truth is, fans are here for the characters as they were originally created. The first three books are wonderful, the first two completely masterful and case studies in how character building should be done. There's a reason they've been read and analyzed and fawned over for forty years. What happened to the series is heartbreaking, but it doesn't negate the impact of how it started.

AR may have started spelling her own characters' names wrong and writing a baffling combination of disgusting hot takes and total absurdity, but she created something special in the beginning and I'll always love it and be grateful for what it once was.

I hope that was helpful!

#i'm sorry i didn't proofread this it's 4am #answered #vc #the vampire chronicles #iwtv #loustat #louis de pointe du lac #lestat de lioncourt #interview with the vampire

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whocalledhimannux · 3 years

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I refuse to accept a straight explanation for this flower. Yasuhara did some heavy flirting and hinting that Takigawa should give it to him, Takigawa called his bluff and made a joke out of it, Yasuhara definitely did not privately swoon a little

#ghost hunt #sorry new followers I do this sometimes #Queen’s thief is the majority of my content #but every once in a while #I hijack this blog for my even-tinier fandom interests #yasuhara osamu #takigawa houshou

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taleweaver-ramblings · 3 years

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2, 11, 19, 41 and 42 for the get to know you asks?

2. what would you name your future kids?

I mean, if I end up adopting/fostering like I'd kinda like to, they'll probably have names already before they become mine. But if I have kids who I get to name, I'd probably give them a normal-ish first name and then a more unusual (read: fantasy-or-obscure-Biblically-based) middle name. So, for example: Meghan Nynaeve, Jordan Zachariah, Brooke Arwen, etc. I would probably try to steer away from first names that I strongly associate with either favorite fictional characters or characters I've written, no matter how much I love them, just because I wouldn't want my kids to feel like they have to live up to their namesakes.

11. are you listening to music right now?

Yep! I'm listening to the new Critical Role Mighty Vibes.

19. have you ever been to New York?

State, yes. City, no. I have, however, been to Boston in the fall!

41. relationship status

Single and reflecting on the fact that I am always least content with that status when I am most lonely. :)

42. favourite book(s)

That's a whole other post right there, darling. But short answer: The Lord of the Rings, Tales of Goldstone Wood, The Stormlight Archive, Mistborn, Howl's Moving Castle, The Queen's Thief, everything by Margaret Rogerson, almost everything by W.R. Gingell, and Randall Munroe's What If?. I think that covers the major bases.

#ask game #get to know you ask #asks answered #accidental spice

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linorangge · 4 years

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Codes | Bangchan College! AU

Chan takes an interest in the generous computer science major and makes it his mission to befriend her. (Content Warning: Mild swearing, suggestive language, TW: VOMIT). Word Count: 1430 | Part 1 | Part 3 | Thank you for the support on the first part ! Chan loves you all :)

Friday night, most of your essays were done, so you decided to go bowling with a few people from your friend group, Jihyo, Rose, Jeongin, Beomgyu. The night was young and you did a bit of a drinking game. A shot was taken for every bowling pin that wasn’t knocked down. This of course excluded Jeongin and Gyu since they were underage, and therefore the group's designated drivers.

Jihyo, Jeongin and Beomgyu were rather very good at bowling, whereas you and Rose’s skills were rather questionable.

The first round, Jihyo missed one pin, and took a shot of vodka. Rose missed four pins and, well, you know how it goes downhill.

“Can this be a practice round?” Rose said as she watched Beomgyu pour the four shots.

“I downed mine, so you should too.” Jihyo said as she sat down, ready to see Rose gradually get slammed.

Rose sighed and picked up the glass. You and Jeongin watched from a distance as you waited for the dispenser to pump out your ball.

Rose downed the shot and picked up the next three quickly. After she downed the fourth, she coughed and gasped.

“Do you need water?” Gyu asked, already handing her bottled water.

Rose took it and chugged.

You and Jeongin looked worriedly at each other before you prepared to play your turn.

Right off the bat, your ball went into the gutter, and the next two times, the same thing happened.

So there was Gyu, laughing as he poured twelve shots of vodka.

You sat at the table, sulking as Jeongin took his turn. You envied his youth because he had no consequences of his missing pins.

“I’m such a lightweight.” you mumbled as you picked up the shot and slowly downed it. Your chest burned and stung as you continued to drink the other shots. You felt woozy at your seventh shot.

Once your twelfth shot was down, you felt the sandwich you ate earlier slowly creeping up your throat as you continued to play.

The shot count after only five rounds varied widely. Your rough start gave you a large disadvantage considering you were stumbling to roll your ball.

Jihyo had taken six shots, Rose 7, and You, 24.

You were complete ass at bowling.

Everyone was surprised you weren’t facedown on the floor, crying into your vomit considering your lack of experience with drinking.

However, there was a mutual, silent agreement among the group.

You needed to go home before you hurt yourself.

“Y/n.”

You sloppily turned to face Jeongin and gave him a lazy grin, “Jeonginnie! You’re sooooooo cute.” you giggled as you pinched his cheek.

“Let’s go home.” Jeongin said as he slapped your hand away and took you by your arm.

“Let me say bye first.” You turned to Gyu and reached across the table and took his face in your hands, “Beomie, my precious, sweet, young angel. You are a prize, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.” you kissed his nose and stumbled over to Jihyo.

You held her hands in yours and kissed them, “You are a literal god, never leave my side.” You kissed Jihyo’s nose as well.

“Rose, you are a queen, never stop following your dreams, beautiful.” You slurred as you blew her a kiss and stumbled back to Jeongin.

“You’re so dramatic, even when you’re drunk.” he grumbled as he wrapped his arm around you in order to steady your balance.

“Silence you young thief.” you said as you shushed him.

“Thief?”

“Yes.”

“I love you Jeongin.” you slurred as you placed kisses on his forehead repeatedly.

Jeongin pushed you away, annoyed not so much because of the skinship, but because you reeked of alcohol.

“C’mon, let's get you inside.” he let you lean against him once again as you stumbled to his dorm. Once you arrived, you were very unaware of your surroundings, including Chan and Jisung who were sitting on the living room floor, watching Jeongin struggle to keep you from falling over.

“Can you quit staring and help?” Jeongin huffed as he gripped your waist.

Jisung got up and gingerly guided you to sit on the couch. Chan watched in shock, seeing his distant crush blackout drunk was not what he expected to see when Jeongin got home.

“What happened?” Chan asked Jeongin as he watched you reach out to pinch Jisung’s cheeks.

“Drinking game while bowling.” the younger boy explained, shrugging and then plopping on the floor next to Chan.

“How many shots?”

“I don’t know like over 20 at least.”

“You don’t know?” Chan groaned and let his head hit the couch cushion.

“Heyyyyyy, you’re that guy.” you slurred as you crawled over away from Jisung and towards Chan.

“You recognize me?” Chan lifted his head and excitedly turned to face you.

“Yeah, you were kinda weird but it’s okay.” You pat his fluffy hair down.

Jeongin chuckled and shook his head.

“I don’t know why but I feel betrayed.” Chan said as he sulked a bit.

“I’m going to the store to buy her some sort of medication for when she wakes up, Jisung you wanna come with?” Jeongin said as he stood up. Jisung obliged and as they headed for the door, Chan stopped them.

“What about y/n?” Chan said gesturing to you.

“Take care of her, maybe you can finally spend some sort of time together.” Jeongin bid him farewell and left.

“What’s your name again?” you asked, tracing his features with your eyes.

“Chan, you can call me Chris, or Bangchan.”

“Hmmmmm okay Chris.” you got off the couch and sat next to him on the floor.

“What’s your major?” you asked him, still taking in his facial features. Your eyes travelled the expanse of his brown eyes, his sharp jawline, his strong nose, the way his eyes crinkled the tiniest bit when he talked. You looked at his perfect, pink lips and reached out to touch them, then immediately stopped yourself. In that moment, you realized how attractive he was. You then reminded yourself that you were drunk, and that you probably won’t remember his face, much less this moment, much less, the entire night.

“Are you okay?” Chris had a worried look on his face. Of course, you had zoned out.

“No,” you stood, and felt that sandwich creeping back up again.

“Oh god, come on I’ll take you to the bathroom.” Chan stood with you and quickly led you to the bathroom.

You kneeled in front of the toilet, awaiting your doom.

“Is it going away?” Chan asked.

You shook your head and dry heaved, nothing coming out.

Chan scurried to hold your hair back.

You once again heaved and let out a small noise. Another heave from you, and then, pieces of your lunch started coming back up,

The smell was gross, but bearable, and at this rate, Chan didn’t care. He would’ve done anything to make you feel better.

Chris rubbed your back, still holding your hair, as you continued to vomit.

When the deed was finally done, Chris flushed and wiped your sweaty forehead for you. He let you splash your face with cold water.

“Put some water in your mouth but don't swallow it.”

You did so and looked at him.

“Don't swallow it.” He repeated.

You gave him a pleading look.

“Don’t.” he gave you a stern look.

You gave in and spit the water out.

“I’ll get you a toothbrush, do you want to shower or anything? I can find some clothes for you to use if you want.”

“Sure,” you said, cringing at how hoarse your voice was, “Thank you Chris.” You said giving him a weak smile.

“Of course.” He smiled back, his eyes crinkling in a cute way.

He left the bathroom, and you sat on the closed toilet seat.

You’d sobered up a bit, and the reality of the situation hit you like a truck.

You hardly knew this guy and he’d held your hair back and took care of you while you threw up. Who even does that? Much less a complete stranger who in reality didn’t have to help you.

He didn’t have to hold your hair back, or get you a toothbrush, or comfort you, or find you clothes to wear after showering.

He didn’t have to, and yet he did.

And the simple fact that he didn’t have to hit you the most because who even does that for someone they hardly knew?

That’s what made you realize, maybe this Chris guy had more depth than you’d thought.

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thebookofkate22 · 3 years

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youtube

Okay let’s clear something up here. I saw a really bad take on Jeremy’s Greatest Showman medley in his tag and we just need to break this down. Basically, this person said that Jeremy stans are salty Hugh and Zac ended up in The Greatest Showman. Fair take. Personally, I haven’t seen any of this (despite following numerous Jeremy stans all over my social media) but you know what fandoms can be like so okay cool that’s not a problem.

One thing I will point out about this though is Hugh was always working on the project anyway... so unsure about that specific point? We all knew that information and Jeremy was always too young for Barnum’s role anyway. He ever acknowledges this in his performance. He did the demos for the songs, and said he thought nothing would come of it because the role wasn’t a fit for him. He only got his hopes up when the role of Phillip was created as this was something he could do.

Anyway in the comments of said post, was someone saying that Jeremy needs to stop going around speaking about “the day I was almost cast in the greatest showman, it’s so pathetic” and the OP and someone else agreed with them. And I’m sitting here like wow they really misunderstood the performance. I can understand that if they’ve never watched Jeremy before maybe they think he’s coming across as arrogant? Him calling himself the "true saviour of movie musicals” is literally just his sense of humour, and it was an obvious joke. He’s actually a very modest person. He’s spoken various different times about not feeling like he’s good enough.

First of all, Jeremy’s medley isn’t him moping around like “this job was mine all along and zac efron stole it what a thief”. His performance is an amusing take on something in his life that was difficult for him to process. It’s perfectly valid to feel sad about a rejection. But Jeremy is a professional actor. He’s no stranger to rejection in this cut-throat industry and he certainly wasn’t slating other actors in expressing these feelings. He’s allowed to tell the story from his perspective. I first saw him perform this medley in London over a year ago and neither me or my friends felt like it was him taking a swipe and Hugh and Zac. It was just an honest, but humerous re-enactment of how his time working on The Greatest Showman went.

Second, one of the things said was that he was bitter about a role he “didn’t even audition for”. SPARE ME, PLEASE. It’s not completely wild for actors to be cast in projects from workshops alone with no audition. I laughed so hard at this comment because Keala Settle (a queen) is literally right there. It doesn’t always happen, but it can happen. Another recent example I can think of from the top of my head is Carrie Hope Fletcher being cast in ALW’s Cinderella. She never auditioned for that, she only did the workshop and then they asked her to do the role. Sometimes the workshop... is the audition.

So it’s valid for him to feel like he stood a chance, and to then be disheartened by the fact he was never truly being considered. If I was in his position I probably would have wanted to be out of that room asap too. Imagine you’ve just done a not-so-great vocal performance because you’re ill and then overhearing that your journey with this project is over? Would you honestly stick around in that situation? I’d be feeling sort of embarrassed and demoralised. I doubt he just slipped out ungratefully without thanking people for the opportunity though as Pasek and Paul are friends of his. Plus, he’s been working in the industry long enough to know coming across as salty isn’t good for your reputation going forward. And he certainly was moping around in the behind-the-scenes video released on YouTube. Despite him feeling like he had given a terrible performance, outwardly he presented himself very enthusiastically like the true professional he is. Remember as well that they asked him to do the read-through and then he had to buy his own plane ticket even though they wanted him there.

Then, they posted a news article linking to a headline that said something about ‘Jeremy losing role to Zac Efron’. Do they think Jeremy personally controls what they write about his performance? I feel like no one should have taken that article seriously the moment it called him ‘Supergirl’s Jeremy Jordan’. We all know he is ‘Tony-nominated Broadway star Jeremy Jordan’ (although the article was correct in saying that Jeremy deserves to be in a major movie musical, let’s be real he’s talented af).

I need to point out (after checking out their blogs) these people are all hardcore Zac/Hugh fans. I feel like they’re just doing anything to make it seem like their fandom is being attacked, which I don’t really understand. It’s a shame they feel like they can’t enjoy this Greatest Showman content, if I’m honest. I’m also here as a huge fan of Zac and Hugh and would definitely not be taking any kind of slander against them... which is why I enjoy Jeremy’s Greatest Showman Medley... because it is NOT slander against them. Plus, if you’re truly a fan of The Greatest Showman then just be grateful Jeremy swooped in and sang all of Hugh’s songs even when he was ill himself for the read-through that got the movie greenlit.

Sorry for the essay. I really hate arguing with people on this damned site but when you’re just scrolling through a tag and see some utter nonsense sometimes you have to respond. Anyway, enjoy the video above of Jeremy being great.

#jeremy jordan #greatest showman

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asmywhimseytakesme · 3 years

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Hey, I've seen all your posting about The Queen's Thief recently, and anyway I'm thinking about checking out the series. Would you be up to telling me if there's any major content warnings (or if they're listed somewhere) for The Thief?

I can’t think of any major content warnings for the Thief.... it’s pretty Middle Grade friendly overall. The second book, the Queen of Attolia, would require more warnings once you get to that point. I’ll post this so my QT mutuals can comment in case I’m forgetting something that needs to be mentioned.

#queens thief #queen's thief #megan whalen turner #what am i forgetting friends?

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throwaninkpot · 4 years

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My reactions to reading RotT. Part 1!

seeing all the books listed before the title page. crying.

to sounis. crying.

I WAS JUST THINKING IN MY REREAD THAT A TABLE OF CONTENTS WOULD BE DOPE.

this would be why he's only just learning to read when we meet him in TaT. bc he has horrific ableist parents and his nurse probably can't read herself, and so she couldn't teach him even if she wanted to.

"I bit him hard on the ball" 😳 "--of his shoulder" 😑

"my father is easygoing" *6 pages later* "one time my father kicked me so hard I had to spend an entire winter in bed" pheris, I'll kill him for you.

good job, gen. take care of the child.

"not everything that is easy for you is easy for the rest of us" holy smokes.

the unified crest!!!! (it reminds me of gen's coat from the official art, but not quite.)

"people love a dancing bear. no one wants to be one."

matching embroidery. awwwwww.

gen, babe, I feel you. I feel you. somedays I would like to be dead if it meant not getting out of bed and seeing people, but I swear to the GODS, gen, don't even joke about being dead. don't you speak that into being.

"if you were dead, we couldn't just leave you alone" they've learned how to deal with him.

he smiles at pheris, and that's the first time he smiles in the books.

"attolia raised an eyebrow, too much a queen to say anything else." I am madly in love.

"at a very minor goddess's altar [...] he closed his eyes and lay still for some time" mystery goddess????????

there's a lot of pheris being distraught by noise and disorder and movement and touch. he liked watching the order of the servants and the bees back at the villa. that's all I'm saying. idk.

gen sees earrings and that Activates Interest, no mask can keep that excitement hidden. heiro is so funny and a good friend.

his family aggressively trying to trick and politick gen into self-care.

they're his family, I just realized. wife and cousins, now that sophos has married helen. sophos was his family in affection before, but now he is legally as well I'm emotions.

"there were eleven, a frustrating number" hmmm. the whole thing with the orange. hmmmm.

"smacking people will not persuade them" idk it worked for gen in KoA.

exchange on pg 71 feels vaguely directed at the fandom.

"as your kind always fall" OKAY, BUT. IS THAT THE FALL OF A THIEF? THE FALL OF A KING'S REIGN? WHAT KIND DOES MOIRA MEAN? IS HE STILL A THIEF?

"men fall in battle [...] they fall ill" SEE, THAT'S PRECISELY WHAT I'M AFRAID OF. H E C K.

"wouldn't it cause confusion having two cleons?" I'm entirely confident that megan whalen turner has never heard the name of jonny sims much less knows who he is and about his infamous naming conventions, but nonetheless, mwt has thrown some major shade at jonny sims.

"verimus pursued the poet lavia, who wrote terrible poetry about celia, one of the queen's attendants" oh?

"why a guard stared at layteres, the second son of baron xortix, and why layteres pretended so poorly not to notice" oh??

costis name drop!!!

"I remember this moment particularly because died clopius died trying to protect the king after the ambush at the roadside tomb" I'm sorry, what?

why do characters keeping writing in-universe fic mocking my boy

Bythesea. By the sea. I'm so angry.

What ambassador hurt Megan that she has to drag their ilk through the mud and fire so

What if Cenna were one of his sisters or a niece

"Costis may still be alive" I'm an idiot, bc of COURSE this takes place during his travels int he mede empire, bc pheris only just got here. but it took until this line for the timeline to click in my head. and for me to realize that irene is pregnant rn. we will see the pregnancy. and....what happens.

"oh, what a lie that was" I see, that is how they say I love you.

I'm so sad. Juridius loved him and used to be his brother. honestly, and you know I don't cuss, but fuck their parents and the household for making a child choose between loving his sibling and being treated well by the rest of his family.

he's singing "the king's wedding night". I can't, I can't. have you no shame, boy.

SOPHOS. XD

gen having a pitcher of water dumped on his head and then just crawling up a wall like a vengeful spider.

my laughter immediately turns to terror. gen, you were JUST given a prophecy that you will die from a fall. be careful!

I keep needing to take breaks bc this is So Much. just the reality of holding this and reading this and turning pages.

"unwanted attention he paid to the women of the court" what is it with sexist ambassadors in these books, huh?

excUSE ME? EXCuse ME? not even nahuserfush was so rude and forward as to call her "irene". please, go kindly impale yourself on gen's hook.

"ugly women do not?" ANSFKSGMDJSHHSV.

KILL.

KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL

oh, I feel physically sick.

they deserve that. they deserve a little rest, and to take over a council room for a nap and cuddles.

he sexually harrasses and assaults the queen, and HE thinks HE deserves an apology for receiving a modicrum of punishment. I hate that I'm not surprised. I've met his type.

how are people still coming to this country and underestimating them????????????

good, dite has him. dite will be a good influence.

pheris and juridius are both children. this is so cruel of erondites.

gen sailing over the fence. no one told me this was going to be a comedy.

oh.

I spoke too soon about the comedy.

genny.

the only person who has called him genny before was megan on her tumblr, so I read that message in megan's voice. it is also very like megan to request earrings.

the dolphin signet ring returns! (briefly.)

megan, how come relius gets to know how old pheris is but we don't? >:[

okay, enough hmm-ing. you know what? pheris has autism. I was kinda wondering even back in tat, and I'm just very happy.

"by then, I knew why the guard Legarus stared with such anger and misery at Baron Xortix's younger son" okay, this in the context of love and being in love. idk if that's just meant to be him being jealous maybe bc the baron's son is dating someone he likes? or? megan said Legarus the Awesomely Beautiful and Gay.

relius where did you go?????? establishing a spy network mayhaps??? with some kick butt spy ladies like heiro and agape???

"one would have thought relius would be done with love and lovers, but I'd seen a veritable parade of them. none of his affairs lasted long, and I'd witnessed several spats when he showed someone the door." s... s. sexy. sexy relius canon. why. why this. dear God, why this.

the art in the middle is BEAUTIFUL. but the two dead birds at the bottom left corner have me worried for symbolic reasons.

#queen's thief #return of the thief #rott #rott spoilers #qt spoilers #this has been a post

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dramarising-replacement · 4 years

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Re: https://dramarising-replacement.tumblr.com/post/617916922335543296/so-ive-had-a-subspecies-since-september-i-noticed

TL;DR: Things are fishier than they seem, and M might actually be more of a thief than SB. At the very least, M 100% falsely accused SB of theft; at the worst, M stole SB’s idea and went on an editing spree to cover their tracks.

I don't have a tumblr so usually commenting on posts here is more trouble than it's worth, but I just have to on this one for some reason. Maybe it's because I think the entire concept of “subspecies” is stupid, maybe it's because thanks to a namedrop I could easily dig everything up... but from what I found the drama OP (M) definitely seems shady. Brace yourselves, my salty friends, for an unnecessarily long deep-dive into stupid drama (because what else are you going to spend quarantine doing?).

First, let's take a look at the timeline.

According to the original post date, the drama OP (M) created their subspecies in Dragon Share on September 13 2019. The thread has moderate activity levels up (~2 week post gaps max) until December 13 2019, when it apparently dies (barring any ghost bumping of course). The next post on the thread is made May 11 2020, when M suddenly becomes active again. M also created a new subspecies thread in Dragon Share on May 9 2020 at 13:05 FR (exact times will become relevant later on); it seems the posts were filled in with edits made within the next couple days, as is standard. Also of note is the fact that many of M’s posts in their original thread have edits made May 9 2020 from 10:39-13:27 FR (this will be key); additionally, a majority of these edits are made on posts that contain the guidelines for the subspecies- not sales, affiliates, pinglists, etc. that would require any sort of update.

The “accused” in this case (SB) created their hatchery thread in Dragons For Sale on December 24 2019. Aside from sales/affiliate posts, no edits to the main hatchery posts were made since December 29 2019 (likely filling in from a structure laid out 5 days prior), except for on March 19 2020, when it looks like they might have converted how they list dragons for sale to be linked to a tab instead of posted/adjusted g:t ratio. In any case, I believe these particular edits do not really play a big role on the overall timeline and drama, same as M's edits on their new thread. For a user that describes themselves as “barely active”, they do a decent job at bumping posts, with ~1 week between bumps except for 2 spans of ~1 month: from Feb-Mar, and after a short bout of bumping, from Mar-Apr.

The drama begins when M makes their post on SB’s hatchery thread May 09 2020 at 10:10 FR, which is edited less than a minute later (maybe a typo correction?). So here’s the timeline all pieced together:

September 13, 2019 – M creates the subspecies

December 13, 2019 – M seemingly goes inactive on their thread

December 24, 2019 – SB creates their hatchery thread

peace, until…

May 09, 2020 @10:10 – M accuses SB of “stealing” their idea on SB’s hatchery thread

May 09, 2020 @10:39 – M edits their subspecies requirement post

May 09, 2020 @13:05 – M creates a new subspecies thread

May 09, 2020 @13:14 – M edits their old subspecies main post

May 09, 2020 @13:21 – M edits a post about ‘Queen’ variant(?) requirements on their old thread (Important)

May 09, 2020 @13:27 – M edits a post showing examples of ‘Queen’ variants on their old thread (Important)

~BONUS~ May 12, 2020 – people start defending M on SB’s hatchery thread. The posts weren’t exactly the nicest, so who knows if they’ll still be around by the time this gets out of the queue

Ok, I know what you’re all thinking- what does all this mean? How is this shady?? For that, we will have to dive a bit more into the content of the posts to put some context to that timeline; but first, let’s take a look at the threads and see if the theft accusation is accurate.

M’s old subspecies thread:

Messy layout/design. Links are left as ugly long URLs, but most importantly… there is no consistency on what the subspecies design is! In the main post, no colors are listed, but the genes are specified to be Slime/Lionfish, Sludge/Bee, and Capsule. In their next post on the subspecies requirements, genes are listed as Slime, Sludge/Bee, Capsule- no Lionfish to be found! Color specifications are kept vague, with only a Honey tert required, though they do also lay out 4 specific named variations using Amber/Amber, Amber/Gold, Lemon/Gold, and Lemon/Lemon. The post with the ‘Queen’ requirements lists genes of Slime/Hex/Capsule, with no colors specified except for the same 4 variants made earlier.

M’s new subspecies thread:

Still a work in progress, but looks to be pretty much identical to the previous thread; the only main change is that banner is replaced with an original (credited!!) logo (good job on that, M). The main post specifies genes of Slime, Sludge/Bee, and Capsule. The color rule examples post contain the subspecies and the ‘Queen’ variant (Slime/Hex/Capsule), and include some additional variants as well- ‘Crystallized’ (Bee sec), ‘Wasp’ (Lionfish prim), Pollenators[sic] (Glimmer tert), and ‘Hornets’ (Pinstripe/Sludge/Glimmer).

So if you’ve been paying attention, M’s ~super special unique subspecies~ has color requirements of “anything honey-like” (while also having 4 specific color combinations) and a combination of random genes in addition to the “official” genes thanks to the addition of “variants” that have nothing to do with the original Slime/Sludge/Capsule premise. The only consistency seems to be Honey tert.

SB’s hatchery thread:

Aside from some hard-to-read colors used, has nice formatting. Lists 6 pairs, which are strictly either Amber/Amber or Grapefruit/Grapefruit, with a small range of matching terts for each pair (not necessarily encompassing Honey). 5 pairs give primarily Slime/Hex (+small gem gene chance), and 1 is Slime/Sludge. As far as terts go, 2 have terts weighted towards Capsule, 1 is Capsule/Runes, 1 is Opal/Glimmer, and 1 is Glimmer. So primarily Slime/Hex/assorted, in an xxy Amber/Grapefruit+assorted.

So to put that all together:

M’s claim of subspecies “theft” would really ONLY pertain to their ‘Queen’ variant, not their main subspecies (only 1 of SB’s pairs has a 50% chance at making M’s subspecies). In addition, the range built into SB’s pairs violate the only seemingly consistent rule of M’s subspecies: a Honey tert. The only argument for “theft” would pertain to the gene combo of Slime/Hex, which appears in 5 of SB’s pairs and M's ‘Queen’ variant (though again, SB’s pairs do not have the right tert color/gene most of the time!).

Now, do you remember that timeline? After accusing SB of “stealing” their idea (presumably for the ‘Queen’ variant), what did M immediately do? They went back to their thread and specifically edited the posts pertaining to the requirements for the subspecies and the ‘Queen’ variant! It’s theoretically even possible that the ‘Queen’ variant didn’t even formally exist when SB made their hatchery- all the dragons mentioned/posted in M’s thread are the standard Slime/Sludge/Capsule subspecies, and 3 of the registered dragons of the ‘Queen’ variant were bred in January (well after SB started their hatchery), with 1 other dragon acquired from untraceable sellers at some point (likely around the same time as it is the parent of the other 3). You might even say that perhaps M “stole” the idea for the ‘Queen’ from SB… M also posted the proof themselves in the OP that they use shady edits to change the narrative in their favor- SB specifically mentions this in the screenshots after calling out M for removing their link, who then backs it up by claiming they were “project” dragons; yet M placed them in the “Completed breeders” tab, which was hastily edited to now include “Breeders that need gene alterations”, a shady move that SB commented on and M decided to post proof of for some reason lol.

So if this is true, and M accused SB of stealing their idea, then raced to edit their posts to create a narrative to justify their claims… why would they do it? My theory is simple: an honest mistake combined with jealousy. There are only 12 registered dragons listed on both the old and new subspecies threads, half of which are owned by M. On the other hand, SB’s hatchery lists 22 dragons sold, only 1 of which is exalted. Now I don’t know anything about hatcheries, but I think that is a decent amount for just under 5 months of sales, especially when taking into account the periods of seeming inactivity. I think that M either went on hiatus or forgot/gave up on the subspecies back in December, before SB created their hatchery. SB then created their hatchery, using similar (but definitely not the same!) ideas. Time passed, and one day when browsing the sale forum M comes across SB’s thread. Seeing SB’s hatchery have the popularity they never had, combined with poor memory of the details of their subspecies after such a long time had passed, M comments mistakenly accusing SB of theft. However, not long after they find their old thread, and realize that SB isn’t at all copying their Slime/Sludge/Capsule xxy Amber-ish/Honey, and rush to make the edits needed to tidy up their claims. In the process, they quickly realize it’d be best to just start a new thread altogether, as the current thread was a mess and had no more reserved space past the ‘Queen’ variant (which may have been reserved/lore space before M covered their tracks). Far less sinisterly, perhaps M continued their subspecies idea after abandoning the thread, and after accusing SB they realized that they never actually officially updated their subspecies.

But who’s to say? There might not be a smoking gun one way or the other, but there’s enough circumstantial evidence to say M doesn’t look as innocent as they sound. As far as SB’s response, it was definitely out of line and way too harsh. But you’ve also gotta admit you’d be pretty peeved if you had been peacefully minding your own business for months and suddenly someone comes in out of the blue, wrongfully accuses you of being a thief, demands you give them credit for all your hard work, then proceeds to buy your dragons to make them part of their “rightful” hatchery, erasing any mention of you as just another slap in the face. From looking at the dragons they’ve sold, SB doesn’t really seem to care what happens to them- genes have been changed, links have been removed, no drama that I can see. It really seems like they are reacting more to M’s shadiness over the whole deal than anything else. That said, nobody likes being namecalled, so SB’s parting remark wasn’t right even if they were wrongly accused of theft.

#Drama #Flight Rising #Genes #Long post #Shady #Petty #Forums #User #submission

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buriedbybooks · 3 years

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Fic Writer Interview

Tagged by @ober-affen-geil (thanks, friend!)

Okay, I know this is for fanfic writers, but I also do fan art, so some of these are going to have answers for both of my forms of distraction.

Name(s): buriedbybooks

Fandom(s): Writing: Leverage and Warehouse 13 (so far). Art: my main fandoms at the moment are Leverage, The Untamed, and The Queen’s Thief.

Where you post: I post all of my fics on AO3 (here), usually with links on Tumblr; my art also ends up on Tumblr.

Most Popular One Shot (by kudos) This year: Writing, my most popular one shot (by Kudos) is The Last Loner Job (Leverage). This fic is a character study of how and why Eliot would try to go off on his own again (post canon; answer: blame Vance), and why this was the last time he tried it. Art, my most popular piece (by notes) is a watercolor of Cloud Recess (The Untamed).

Most Popular Multi-Chapter (by kudos) Overall: Writing, my most popular multi-chapter (for which I count anything that I number my sections) is Five (more) times Eliot said “Dammit, Hardison!” and one he didn’t need to (Leverage). I had a blast writing this one—I love the variety of shades in the way Eliot says “Dammit, Hardison” and decided to explore them. I also am a sucker for soft, and this gave me that opportunity for the Leverage OT3. Art, my most popular set of pieces (by notes) were the Illuminated letters for Hitter, Hacker, Grifter, Thief (Leverage). This was a series that stuck in my brain for a while—I wanted to revisit some of the traditional illumination techniques that I’d learned (calligraphy is a side gig-hobby for me) but use it in fan art. So I decided to use the characters from Leverage as part of the letters.

This year: Same as above; I’m new to being active in fandoms online, so all of this is actually since the beginning of the pandemic.

Favorite story you’ve written so far: This question... Not easy. I will have to say The Black Book, because this is where it all started. The Black Book was written on the premise that Nate and Sophie bet on the relationship(s) between the other three main characters in Leverage (Eliot, Parker, and Hardison, our beloved OT3). It was a really fun writing exercise for me, because I literally went back and watched the entire show and took notes on all of the interactions: who was present for them, who saw them, who heard them, who was on comms. Then I wove these little scenes in between the scenes of the show. It really helped me get to know the characters and feel more comfortable writing them.

Fic you were nervous to post: Ooof. Um. Well, I’ll mention two here. The first one, The Black Book, because it was the first piece of fan-fiction that I had ever written, and also the first piece I have ever published. The second was Tradition, because I wanted to treat the content with the care and respect that it needed—faith and belief are incredibly personal.

How do you choose your titles?: Spitballing! I usually come up with two or three titles and then send them to content control and see what they think suits best. Sometimes we’ll go back and forth. I don’t title my art pieces.

Do you outline?: Sometimes. Usually it is just the major plot points (point a and point b) and then I sit and stare at my document until I figure it out. Unfortunately, I almost always write linearly, so when I get stuck… I really get stuck.

Complete: So far this year: 12 fan fictions; 34 fan art pieces

In-Progress: Another Leverage-Warehouse 13 crossover piece where Eliot runs into the Count of Saint Germain again (first incident is in Living Well). Is this where I also mention the one that I wrote months ago and haven’t published?

Coming soon/not yet started: Maybe two or three other vague ideas kicking around that may coalesce into something? Maybe.

Prompts?: Yes! I love it when people send me concepts to mess around with. Most of my fics have come from wonderful ‘what if’ statements that were tossed my way. Then I sit there with it, take it apart, rotate it around, and see if it is something I can work with. If it isn’t something that speaks to me, or I think I am the wrong person to handle it, I will tell you. Tradition came from a friend asking “What if Hardison really were Jewish?” I think they thought they’d get a scene or a couple of lines… Parker had other ideas.

Upcoming work you’re most excited about: I’m currently revisiting the insanity that occurs whenever Bennett Sutton, the Count of Saint Germain walks into the room. The man will NOT shut up.

Tagging: @parrishsrubberplant

#Personal #Tag! I'm it!

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actualbird · 4 years

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nobody asked but i think hanso, brynn, and xandra from neopets’ comic “the faeries’ ruin” are queer | a 1.8k presentation i am presenting to my friends at an online party on the 19th, but you guys get early access because for some godforsaken reason, you like this content from me

Good evening class.

Last last time I attacked your dashboards with a long post, I discussed Neopets that would benefit from therapy. I’m sticking with my Neopets shtick but in a funkier Pride flavor. In this post, I will be discussing why the three main characters of Neopets’ “The Faeries Ruin” are queer.

So what is “The Faeries Ruin?”

“The Faeries Ruin” was a Neopets plot that ran through January of 2011. Plots can affect the website's appearance, services, and gameplay, and this plot was most notable because it turned all the Faeries of Neopia to stone.

Quick crash course on Neopets lore, for those of you who don’t know anything about it: Neopets are the main population of the planet of Neopia, but they share the world with other creatures as well. One of these creatures are Faeries, magical beings who can be benevolent or malevolent. Majority of them are good, and can be visited to receive gifts, abilities, new appearances, better stats, etc. Faeries are the most powerful creatures on Neopia. With the Faeries of Neopia turned to stone, all Faerie run services, from games to shops, were suspended because. Well. It’s hard to run a business when you’re stone.

“The Faeries Ruin” had an accompanying quest to play through, items to collect, puzzles to solve, and most important to our discussion, is the accompanying comic to read.

“The Faeries Ruin” comic is 17 chapters plus an epilogue. You can read the synopsis on the slide, and the story follows Hanso, a thief, Brynn, a guard, and Xandra, a scholar, who are all investigating the curse put on the Faeries.

A lot happens in the comic. Really, a LOT, so I don’t have time to summarize it for you. If you’re curious, you can read the plot here, and I’ll explain plot stuff as it becomes relevant to our discussion, but what’s really important are the characters.

These three in particular, Hanso, Brynn, and Xandra, are who I will be focusing on from the queer perspective.

But because I aim to be inclusive, before we dive into calling Neopets characters queer, we need a quick crash course in ‘queer’ definitions.

This is just so that we’re all on the same page. (Also so that I can use the readings I got from the queer theory class I was in last semester.)

Alex Pilcher in the Introduction of “A Queer Little History of Art” gives the word “queer” three definitions. First is the simplest, the word “queer” can act as an umbrella term for anybody who is not straight or cisgendered. The second definition is “queer” as an identity in itself. Instead or in addition to using sexuality or gender labels, one can opt to identify as queer and that does away with any hierarchies or too small definitions that may bother other people. I, for example, am bisexual, asexual, and nonbinary. However, that’s kind of a mouthful, and sometimes I don’t want to explain every facet of my identity. So sometimes I just tell people I’m queer, and fuck them if that’s confusing, it feels good for me. The third definition of “queer” is what I will be referring to quite a lot of times in this discussion, “queer” as a deviation from the norm. This is a callback to the word’s more archaic use, meaning odd or strange. What is “queer” then is what goes beyond or resists against society’s expectations.

Queer Theory is a huuuuuuuge academic genre, and this is just the tip of the iceberg. But we’re on a schedule here, so let’s queer some goddamn Neopets.

First, we have Hanso.

His Neopets species is an Ixi and he is a young rogue/thief. He knows Brynn because he’s a very shitty thief and he constantly gets captured by her. His personality is self centered and egocentric, but deep down, he has a heart of gold, even if his morals are a little skewed.

Also I think he’s bisexual. Why?

As a rogue/thief, he is outcasted by society, a type of queering from the norm. He is only accepted by those like him, which symbolically is parallel to how queer people often find other queer people to be with. Aside from Brynn, nobody trusts him. They think him to be a liar and a cheat, and this, I think, is parallel to the unsavory trope of the “untrustworthy bisexual.” Much the same way bisexuals are often told to “pick a side”, Hanso has both a desire for good and a desire for mischief, a duality that confuses other Neopets, and makes them wary of him.

Hanso is bisexual. And he isn’t sorry about it.

Next up we have one of my early childhood crushes. Brynn.

Brynn is a Kougra, a feline like Neopets species. She is a guard/soldier from the land of Brightvale. She knows Hanso because she keeps catching him, he’s a terrible thief. Her personality is one dominated by courage and a duty to Neopia’s safety.

And I think she’s also bisexual, but more interesting to me her queer expression of masculinity.

Jack Halberstam, a transgender man, wrote a book called “Female Masculinities” prior to his transition (I mention this because I know a lot of you may be wondering why a man gets any say about women’s issues, but I think this is a special case and that his views are still valid.) Halberstam, in his book, posits the concept of masculinity divorced from maleness. What this means, in simplest terms, is that masculinity is not something inherently male, just predominantly male. A female masculinity is thus outside of the norm, and a unique and queer expression of gender.

Concepts related to masculinity are things like power and rebellion. Strength, force, will, that kind of stuff. When we remove these things from maleness and allow femaleness to have these concepts, one of the results is tomboyism. The phenomenon of tomboyism is when a girl, usually young, exhibits masculine qualities. The thing about tomboyism is that it is reluctantly permitted during childhood but less expected as one grows older, the assumption being that a woman will submit to the societal expectations of what a woman is “supposed to be.”

I cannot find any canon sources to say that sexism is a huge problem in Neopia, but gender roles are still present. While we don’t see Brynn’s childhood in “The Faeries Ruin”, it doesn’t take much to imagine that her peers would be surprised with her choice to join the Brightvale Guard, a traditionally male pursuit. And yet she does it. She works hard and becomes such a good soldier that she aids King Altador himself during the story, that King Altador trusts and respects her opinions. Brynn rebels against society’s standards and asserts her own power.

Her personality exudes masculinity as well. Throughout “The Faeries Ruin” she is often dominant over the course of investigation, taking initiative, sometimes omitting truths for the greater good, and generally holding her judgement in high regard.

Her choices, especially in regards to her relationship with Hanso, is also something of note. Brynn is the one doing the catching and Hanso is the one being caught, an interesting subversion of expected gender roles. I will admit now that I have been withholding some information. Hanso, later in the plot of “The Faeries Ruin”, admits that he wanted to get caught by her as often as possible so that he would have an excuse to see her. Brynn did not know this, but I see it as a Hanso recognizing Brynn’s power and masculinity. I see it as a very romantic submission of Hanso to Brynn.

So Brynn is bi, because I say so. And she expresses masculinity in a unique, queer, and female way.

Now, before we move onto the last character, Xandra, I need to talk to you guys about Brynn and Hanso’s relationship. I think it is very good, it was one of my first OTPs, and here’s three reasons why it’s a good ship.

Reason 1: They’re both queer, so like, it’s better than the usual M/F couple. Bi people have more genders they’re attracted to, so the person they do end up choosing had to be better than literally everybody else. We can rest assured both of them are good eggs that are compatible with each other.

Reason 2: Their relationship over the course of “The Faeries Ruin” is that of the “enemies to friends to lovers” trope. Which, HELLO? GOOD SHIT? SIGN ME THE FUCK UP? THE HOSTILITY SLOWLY GIVING WAY TO RESPECT? THE RESPECT TURNING INTO ADMIRATION? Your honor, it’s delicious.

Reason 3: This reason is an NSFW concept, so if you don’t wanna see that, just Ctrl+F to the phrase “This brings us to our last character, Xandra” to skip it. We good? Everybody continuing to read wants to see this? Okay.

BRYNN TOTALLY PEGS HANSO. Like, I don’t have any sources, but by this point in the presentation, I hope I’ve established myself as an expert authority, and I hope you just believe me. She has the sword, in this relationship. Both literally and metaphorically. She pegs him and her strap is huge.

This brings us to our last character, Xandra.

Xandra is a Xweetok and also a magic scholar. She studied under Fyora, the Faerie Queen, and helps Hanso and Brynn with their investigation of the faeries’ petrification. She’s a lesbian because I say so, but uhhhhhh…

She’s also evil. Towards the end of “The Faeries’ Ruin” it was revealed that Xandra was the one who petrified the faeries all along. So yeah, she’s evil, buuuuuuut she’s super queer about it. How? Well, the answer lies in her motives.

The reason why she petrified the faeries was because she wanted to start a new Neopia without them. She believed that the faeries were hoarding power instead of using it to truly help Neopians. She actively wanted to destroy not just the faeries, but a symbol of power and control that arguably rules the world she lives in. She criticizes against that which controls the social expectations, and this criticism and questioning benefits the marginalized, the queered from the norm. Her intention was to create a kind of utopia free from a governing body that holds all the power. That’s pretty damn queer.

Honestly, I’m a little pissed she was branded as evil for this, but it was revealed that when the faeries were petrified, their good magic was gone and left Neopia vulnerable to evil magic shadows and Xandra didn’t really care. So uh, she had good and radical queer motives, but she went a little bonkers with power. I still love her though.

So, Xandra is pretty awesome, I hope she gets therapy then attends a Pride protest. She would totally be there reminding everybody that Pride started with riots. Also she loves women.

Thank you all.

(Read my other off the shits analysis essays at actualbird.tumblr.com/tagged/nobody-asked-but! If you have a request or suggestion for an off the shits analysis essay I can write, send me an ask!)

#nobody asked but #yeah. yeah this is what i do for fun

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pvrrhadve · 4 years

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tell me more about the lumatere chronicles!! how many books are there? what order should i read them in? thanks!!! im inch rested....

alright okay let's go!!! (sorry this is gonna be long lmao)

there's 3 books: finnikin of the rock, froi of the exiles and quintana of charyn, best read in that order (fotr is self-contained and wraps up nicely by the end but you need to read it before the next 2 books (which are back to back continuous and quite long btw)).

the plot of the first book follows two young lumaterans, finnikin and evanjalin (love of my life and the real star of the show tbh; she's the kind of character who's specifically designed for people who love frustrating, intense and feral female characters (quintana from bk 2 and 3 also caters to this demographic)), who have been exiles for 10 years due to tragic circumstances and a heavy-duty curse that trapped half of their people inside lumatere and the other half out and are trying to find a way back inside. the next 2 books focus on reconstruction and healing. the main themes throughout the series are identity, forgiveness, redemption and the importance of family and belonging.

ok uhh there's a few important content warnings for this series which are 1) it's quite dark and sad. it doesn't end sadly and there's no real major character deaths, but the series' main focus is on the aftermath of some very horrible things. (!!! actually thinking about it now, this is a huge thing it has in common with the queen's thief, in that it frontloads the tragedy and begins at rock bottom so that the rest of it is spent moving in a generally upwards direction, though like i said earlier these books are significantly darker than qt.)

2) while no characters are sexually assaulted on page or during the current story apart from one briefly and only barely described attempted rape (Edit: i forgot this but there is another on page sa in book 2, it's brief and narratively kinda viewed from a distance but it's there), it's mentioned/alluded to as having happened to several characters in the past, though it's never used as a huge character development thing/defining moment like you see in Some Other Fantasy Media), nor is it presented as some Necessary Gritty Fantasy World Evil that you're supposed to be desensitized to.

3) i remember reading finnikin of the rock for the first time maybe 5 or 6 years ago and being a little put off by this (i didn't get around to finishing the series until this year), and i know a lot of other people who read fotr didn't continue with froi of the exiles because of this, but froi (the main character of bk 2 obviously and one of the mains in bk 3) is the attempted rapist from book 1. imo it's handled very well and never glossed over or dismissed and he honestly becomes one of my absolute favourite characters in a series full of characters i adore (also the first half of fote reads like a 300 page treatise on consent fjdjdhfh??) but that's something to be aware of and while i do love his character arc i understand that it can be a dealbreaker for some people.

anyway i love these books so much. i love the characters (all the female characters make me go jenny slate voice crazy and i really do love froi) and the relationships between them and the way the female characters take care of each other and the themes and how complex and rich they are and all the unexpected routes the story takes and how good the ending is (when i tell you i cried,).

also if you'd like to listen to the audiobooks the first 2 are available here and the 3rd one is here (i know 6 hour chunks of audio are difficult to work with but that's say lavvy baby 😔 also, edit: i think the 3rd one was taken down)

#i was on a massive marchetta kick a few months ago and read almost all of her books and they're all so good it makes me crazy #also obsessed with how she uses those themes of identity and forgiveness and family in all of them #the lumatere chronicles #ask #anon

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high-fructose-lesbianism · 4 years

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A Subjective Ranking of all 18 Books in the Vampire Chronicles Extended Universe

18. Blood Canticle (2003)

It took me the longest to read Blood Canticle of any of the books because I couldn’t read more than about 25 pages at a time before the urge to throw the book out the nearest window got too strong. The story is bad, the characters are the worst they’ve ever been and the writing style is full-on terrible. Blood Canticle is one of the worst books I’ve read full stop.

17. Taltos (1994)

I hated the Mayfair Witches trilogy. While Taltos was at least the shortest of the three, it was a terrible conclusion to the trilogy. The Taltos are one of Anne Rice’s worst ideas. Each of the books delves more into their mythology and it gets worst the more it’s explored.

16. Blackwood Farm (2002)

A major issue I have with Anne Rice is she insists on telling these extremely lengthy backstories of characters we’ve just met who I almost never give a shit about. That’s the entirety of Blackwood Farm. It’s the backstory of a character I just met and don’t care about whatsoever. Blackwood Farm evokes the classic Anne Rice style of bad where it switches between just being insane and being fucking boring at the drop of a hat. I skimmed most of the book because it was so boring. But then I’d tune in to some insanely weird shit about intersex vampires or ghost twins giving handjobs or whatever was happening and yeah, my attention would of course be held by such insanity. But invariably, the book would drift back into describing wildly uninteresting events with too much detail and I’d tune out again.

15. The Witching Hour (1990)

The Witching Hour has a three paragraph summary on Wikipedia. It is an accurate summation of the events of the book. So then why is this fucking book 968 pages? That’s my main grievance with The Witching Hour; it’s way too fucking long. It’s the least insane of the Mayfair Witches trilogy but also by far the least interesting.

14. Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis (2016)

These fucking bird aliens who inhabited Atlantis are just the Taltos 2.0. There’s a lot of insanity and also boring backstory in this one. I skimmed the backstory of the Atlantean bird aliens and don’t feel like I missed anything. What saves this book from ranking lower is I’m a slut for the main VC characters interacting and this one did have such a thing, plus some good Louis/Lestat moments which is my other big priority with the series. Simultaneous highlight and lowlight of this book is when that one dude looses a hand but it gains sentience, breast feeds off him or something and then becomes his perfect clone. Fucking insanity.

13. Lasher (1993)

Lasher is the best of the Mayfair trilogy because there are genuine moments of horror in this horror novel. On the downside, the Taltos are as always, insane. Also, another signature of Anne Rice’s is sexy and sexualized teenage characters which there is a lot of in this book in the form of 13 year old Mona Mayfair, her affair with Michael Curry and the many scenes where this is excused, justified or even somewhat celebrated. That disturbed me and not in the way I want a horror novel to disturb me.

12. Memnoch the Devil (1995)

In terms of writing style, Memnoch is a lot better than many of the books that will rank higher than it. But this is a subjective ranking and I didn’t give a shit about Anne Rice working through her weird, religious baggage in a series that I’m reading to hear about the exploits of sexy, bisexual vampires. The majority of this book is again, a long backstory from a character we just met and I don’t care about. In this case it’s literally Satan which is a good start but Anne Rice sure has a way of taking too long describing everything which leaves me extremely bored by the narrative.

11. Blood Paradise (2018)

Blood Paradise should be lower in this list. It’s objectively extremely poor. Blood Paradise is basically the inverse of Memnoch; I really liked the story but hated the writing style. This one only ranks so high because it is a story that focuses on the lead vampire characters who are my priority. And yeah, I liked the outline for the story. It’s character-based, no major new characters interrupt the narrative and no insane additions to canon are added. Too bad the writing style feels extremely half-assed. Where usually I’m critical of Anne Rice taking way too long to say anything and focusing on unimportant details, this one is the opposite. It feels extremely rushed. A lot of major, emotional scenes that occur between characters are only a few sentences or paragraphs long. But still, at least this one gave me story content that I could just expand upon in my head instead of insane additions to canon that I’d prefer to ignore.

10. Merrick (2000)

Merrick actually might have my favourite ending to any of the VC novels. I loved Lestat resurrecting Louis from his suicide attempt and then that descends into Lestat, Louis, David and Merrick living in what seems to be perfectly happy polyamory. I totally dug that. But of course, the majority of the book is a backstory of Merrick, a character I just met and don’t care about. Also, we get a bit of David backstory which I seem to remember being him mostly creeping on some young boy who was in expedition with him. Not ideal.

9. Vittorio, the Vampire (1999)

Vittorio is a fairly effective historical horror. Anne Rice did a lot of research and it shows. That’s not exactly my interest but she did well with it. There’s also some really horrific moment where Vittorio meets a clan of vampires in an old castle who do keep humans like cattle and eat babies and stuff. The major downsides is just that this is a character who we’ve never met before and never see again. Also the fact that Vittorio is 16 and is absolutely sexualized. I’ve really grown tired of Anne Rice’s constant belief that’s in almost all of her writing that teenagers are sexy and it’s totally fine to fuck them. It makes me uncomfortable to say the least.

8. Pandora (1998)

This one’s just pretty good. I’ve no major complaints but no specific bits of it I want to champion either. Again, a lot of historical research is done which is not interesting to me but well done. Also nice to have at least one book with a female vampire protagonist.

7. Prince Lestat (2014)

Prince Lestat is not objectively better than the last two books. I rank it this high mostly out of relief. For ages, Blood Canticle was the last book in The Vampire Chronicles. So, when Prince Lestat was released, it was impossible to see this as anything other than a huge upgrade. And of course, I liked that this book returned to focusing on the lead characters of Lestat, Louis, Marius, Daniel etc. It’s still a baffling idea to have Lestat be the vampire head of state or whatever though. But oh man, that Louis/Lestat moment near the end of the book made me feel a whole lotta feelings.

6. Blood and Gold (2001)

This one is another excuse for Anne Rice to do a lot of historical research. And you know what? Better she spends her energies doing that instead of creating weird, tall supernatural beings with specific quirks that are impossible to take seriously. I like the framing of this one because it’s sort of the inverse of usual. Thorne, a new character is introduced but instead of him telling Marius his story, it’s established character Marius who tells Thorne his story. And he does this the first day they met after Thorne’s awakened after several hundred years and they’ve taken a bath together. That’s just good story structure right there. The most memorable part of this story for me is keeping a vague tally of all the people Marius fell in love with throughout the course of the story. In one 100-page stretch, Marius falls in love five separate times. This grew tiresome but I also just thought it was funny.

5. The Vampire Armand (1998)

I’m the most morally against The Vampire Armand. It’s basically the peak of Anne Rice’s love of sexualizing teens. That’s sort of the whole book. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that around the time of its publication, Anne Rice got back into religion. I think she looked over what she wrote and was like yeah okay, maybe I do need Jesus. But I dunno, I remember really liking it. It was well-written and Armand is one of my favourite characters. I think Anne Rice did actually hit the right mixture of the story being sexy, horrific and rather tragic. Also, that bit at the end where Armand eats a drug dealer’s face and heart in front of some new, human friends is one of my favourite scenes.

4. The Tale of the Body Thief (1992)

There’s a lot of good and a lot of bad in Tale of the Body Thief. I love the body swap aspect and this one has some of the best interactions between characters. On the downside, there absolutely is a 2-page description of Lestat taking a piss, he absolutely commits a rape and him turning David into a vampire was #problematic. But even there, the Lestat and David scene is really well-written and works because Lestat is an absolute piece of shit. Tale of the Body Thief is for better and worse, Lestat at his most Lestat. Still didn’t need to hear about him taking a piss in that much detail, though.

3. Queen of the Damned (1988)

Akasha is the only good villain in any of the Vampire Chronicles books. Plus, Queen of the Damned brought all the characters we’d met in the previous two books together and I was absolutely all about that. At this point in the series, I actually did care about the majority of main characters and their interactions were absolutely spectacular. Only downside is again, we get a lengthy backstory of Akasha that I absolutely skimmed.

2. Interview with the Vampire (1976)

Yeah, it’s only number 2. Because while this book is better written and the start of this whole damn phenomenon, Louis is far from my favourite narrator. Dude’s too morose and shit. Still, the writing style is exquisite and it introduced great characters. As the series went on, Anne Rice clearly ran out of ideas but because this one is the first book, that’s not the case. There’s a lot of ideas here and they aren’t even fucking insane.

1. The Vampire Lestat (1985)

I’m really only into this series because of how much I love Lestat as a character. I read Interview and thought I was done with the series. Interview was fine but I didn’t think I cared about the sequels. However, six months later when I decided to read The Vampire Lestat, I knew within the first two pages that this was going to be a problem for me. This is exactly my brand of bullshit. It’s just Lestat being a sexy and shitty person who makes out with everyone and overreacts to everything. I love him. And in the third act when it’s revealed he’s been in love with Louis all along and then Louis shows up in the present day and they reunite???? Oh my god. 16 year-old me nearly exploded. The Vampire Lestat is really the sole reason The Vampire Chronicles happened to me as hard as it did. I love this book and its ridiculous narrator/protagonist.

#the vampire chronicles #vampire chronicles #vc #tvc #the mayfair witches #lives of the mayfair witches #anne rice #new tales of the vampire #generally homosexual

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treatian · 3 years

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The Chronicles of the Dark One: Breaking the Curse

Chapter 6: Girl of Ash

The hardest thing about all of this was locking up the shop and going home each night. Such a simple thing to anyone still living on their loop, but for someone who still had their memories, for him in particular, each night it was a struggle to get into his car and drive back to his home, instead of bolting for the town line. He wanted to go. He'd wanted to drive out there and cross the line every night since he got his memories back. Some nights he even thought he would finally break down and do it. But he fought that temptation. Over and over again, always the same routine, his stomach always in knots by the time he pulled up to his house…it was nearly unbearable.

He was the Dark One. His instinct was to test the Curse, to see if maybe it had weakened enough to make a single exception and let him through the border to go and find Baelfire. Fortunately, his brains always managed to overrule that instinct. His instinct was to test the Curse, but his mind reminded him that there was no need. He knew this Curse. He'd spent so much of his life focusing on it that he probably knew more about it than the woman who had foolishly cast it for him. He knew that while there were small signs of weakness in it now that the Savior had arrived, the weakness he needed was too big to be considered small. Which meant he was still trapped here. He could drive out there, try and cross the town line, but he knew he'd fail. He'd have car trouble, or an accident, or get some important call last minute to summon him back. Silly as something like that seemed, even though he had his memories, he was confident that the Curse would keep him here. Just like it seemed to be keeping Emma Swan here.

She'd been in town now for nearly two weeks. Aside from the original series of events she'd brought with her-his memories, time moving, David's awakening-things had been rather dull for the last few weeks. Emma had moved in with none other than her mother not long ago, and they were still working on settling in. The poor girl had slept in her car long enough after being kicked out of Granny's. He was happy to see that she'd chosen to move in with Mary Margaret. He was sure something would come of that someday, but for now, it just seemed to be two women, who appeared to be the same age, living as roommates. Other than the fact that she had no idea who she was really living with, it seemed to be a good arrangement. But of course, Mary Margaret wasn't the only one who was having difficulty remembering things.

He didn't need Dove to get an update on David Nolan, just a trip to Granny's. The whole damn town knew about him and talked about it constantly. He'd woken up, but he had no memories. Nothing. The town talked on and on about how his wife went to his bedside every day at visiting hours with stacks, heaps of pictures in an effort to jog his memory. So far, nothing. It was amnesia, the doctors claimed. He wasn't so sure. His theory was that it was a part of the Curse Regina hadn't planned for. She'd meant for him to spend his entire life in that coma, frozen in time, and therefore hadn't thought to give him memories. But now that he was awake and walking around, he certainly didn't have memories of before and no life to speak of here. He couldn't think of a worse fate. But fortunately, the doctors and Mary Margaret had befriended him and were providing him support. He cared little for any of it other than Mary Margaret being there for him.

It could be good. It could be excellent. He wasn't willing to say it was part of the Curse breaking, but he certainly believed it could help the Curse break. After all, the last time David and Mary Margaret had been together in Storybrooke, their love had woken each other up. If it had worked then, it could work again. And who knew what two more people, two adults, his own grandparents, supporting Henry, could do for the good of breaking the Curse. It was potentially a life-changing development, but one that was in its infancy. Only time would tell if it went anywhere.

There had been a few more minor incidents between Emma and Regina, as it could be expected, but nothing major or catastrophic. Archie and Mary Margaret were helping Emma to find safe times to meet with Henry, but he was nearly certain that Regina knew anyway. For a town that contained an entire realm, plus a few others from distant realms, it was the epitome of a small town. If he knew that Emma and Henry were spending time together without needing to be told by Dove, he assumed Regina knew. Why she was still allowing it, that was the real question?

But a question to solved later, not until after the Curse broke, and she regretted that decision. It would happen, he assured himself. The day would come, sometime soon, when the Curse wasn't just weakened but broken, and then he'd get back to his Baelfire. How…he wasn't entirely sure, but he'd get to him. In the Enchanted Forest, he'd measured his time left in decades, then years, then months, now there was the possibility that he was down to days. He just had to remember that.

And so he did, as he pocketed his gun at the end of the day, grabbed his car keys, checked for any other messages from Dove, then walked out to the front of the shop. Resigned to go home, he flipped the sign to "closed," turned off the lights, left the shop, and-

Paused.

As he turned to lock the door, he thought he might have heard something. Something around back? A scuffle?

He smirked a little as he turned his attention back to the door and locked it. It wouldn't be the first time a couple of raccoons got into a fight in that back alley. That was probably all he was hearing.

Until he got halfway down the street to his car and heard the sound of glass breaking. Not glass bottles toppling over or hitting a trash can. It was the sound of a window shattering. Irritated enough from the day, he sighed as he turned around, part of him already expecting the sight that met him. Someone had just closed the side door to his shop after entering. The small rectangular window by the handle had been broken. A break-in. Though he had false memories of them happening when he was a younger man, he knew that he'd never once had one of those in all his time here in Storybrooke. Everyone was too afraid of him to attempt such a silly thing.

He was tired and irritated, and so he removed his phone from his pocket, content to call 911 and sit in his car until the police handled it and he pressed so many charges it made the thief's head spin. But fucking 911! All he got was an answering service at the station, a recorded voice that told him to stay on the line for emergencies. A ridiculous notion. One would think if he was calling 911, it was a fucking emergency! Unless, of course, the Evil Queen was having a literal fucking emergency of her own, and the sheriff was too busy to do his damn job.

He'd been irritated before; now, he was downright angry. He left a curt message for the sheriff to get to his shop when he was not otherwise engaged and checked the gun in his pocket before hobbling around to the back door. He checked the windows as he went. There was a shadow moving around inside but no sounds that he could hear. It was one person. A rather large individual to be such a skilled cat burglar. Fortunately for him, he knew every inch of his shop, every place the floors creaked, everywhere the door squeaked.

Gun out, he let himself in quietly through the back door. His eyes swept over the familiar space finding every appropriate shadow. No motion whatsoever. He ventured further into the store, careful with every cane and footfall. At the threshold to the showroom, he glanced around. More familiar shadows, but one small motion that didn't belong. He smirked as he took in the sight before him. It wasn't a large burglar, just a pregnant woman, one who was so absorbed in his safe she didn't appear to even notice he was there. Ashley Boyd, formerly known as Ella, famously known as Cinderella. He pocketed the gun, finding no real threat as he watched her eye his property. His heart hitched when he remembered that he'd stored the dagger in that safe, but then calmed again when he realized that the safe also contained the contract she'd signed to give her baby away for adoption. An adoption that was never finalized, something Mr. Gold had always put off in the Curse. Coincidence…he doubted it. Just as he doubted that the girl breaking into his store now wasn't a coincidence. Someone was off their loop, and given the possibilities, this was the best situation of them all.

"A precious debt from a woman of ash will find the boy of fire…"

He'd spent so much time in the Enchanted Forest focusing on the Seer's prophecy he could practically hear it now. His heart skipped a beat at the thought of it. Wasn't this an interesting and yet highly anticipated turn of events?

"Ashley. What are you doing?" he questioned, startling the girl so that she jumped to face him.

He expected her to cower. She hadn't been much of anything back home, a little slip of a thing so in need of her Prince to save her. It would have been in her character for the girl to beg, maybe even plead and explain her presence. But he'd forgotten that no one here was who they'd been before. And instead, she only grit her teeth together the closer he got.

"Changing my life!" she shouted.

He watched her arm move up as if to slap him, but the blow never came. Instead, his eyes exploded in pain as she sprayed something into them that burned. He stumbled backward into his shelves, screaming as he tried to get it out. But he'd dropped his cane, and pain roared to life in his shattered ankle. He heard items tumble around him as he tried to catch his weight, but his leg gave out instead. Over the pain in his eyes, there was the sensation of tumbling forward and then-

#Rumbelle #Rumple #Rumpelstiltskin #Dark One #Mr. Gold #Regina Mills #Evil Queen #Emma Swan #Snowing #mary margaret blanchard #David Nolan #Snow White #Prince Charming #Cinderella #ouat #ouat fanfiction #fanfic

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littlesailorinthesun · 4 years

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plot twists: why the main chapters of love nikki suffer

When content is released one bit at a time, sacrifices must be made to keep the reader interested. Sadly, this interferes with the overall plot arc of the story, and the main chapters - one of the most accessible ways to experience the lore - fall victim to that with every chapter. While writing some of my other essays, I realized a lot of failings in the story can be traced back to this phenomenon.

Think about your favorite stage of the main chapters. Not your favorite chapter, but - which stage is the most exciting? Which stage tells you the most about your favorite character? Chances are, you probably chose one at the end of a chapter.

AKA: A stage where all the plot happens.

But I’m actually here to point out that these concentrated stages where a ton of shit goes down are not good for the story. When you stick a scene packed with excitement at the end of every chapter, things move and change far too quickly, and you’re stuck reeling at the end, wondering what the hell just happened?

If you’re a little rusty on the main story, here’s a recap:

Chapter 3: Oh my god! Lisa was the phantom thief all along! (except she wasn’t)

Chapter 5: Oh no! Something bad just happened for literally no reason and the Iron Rose might be up to something! (except maybe it wasn’t them)

Chapter 6: Oh my god! Fu Su was the Ancient Pavilion Designer’s disciple and the Designer himself is dead! (except maybe he’s actually not)

Chapter 7: Oh no! We just recycled the entire plot from the first half of Chapter 5 and decided to just reuse it without really developing the characters but basically Bai Jinjin is still in trouble! (except it doesn’t matter because she goes back to return to her father later of her own volition)

Chapter 8: Oh my god! The Mayor isn’t evil after all and actually she was working with Lunar and Lunar’s mom and Lunar wasn’t actually kidnapped!

Chapter 11: Oh no! There’s a rebellion going on and something might have happened to Nanari! (except actually if theories are correct, she was probably fine the whole time since she continued to act as the Lord and idk what even happened here)

Chapter 12: Oh my god! Nikki is the chosen one and she needs to find this thing called the Miracle Scroll! (except she doesn’t really because they just fucking ditched the whole plot)

Chapter 13: Oh my god! Ransa, who did a bunch of evil things, is part of the Iron Rose, the organization that does all these evil things! (except Ransa is wiped clear of all these sins later and made into an ally with no apologies or excuses)

Chapter 14: Oh no! Lunar is in trouble!

Chapter 15: Oh no! Nidhogg killed Lunar! Oh my god! There’s a Blood Curse!?!?

Chapter 16: Oh no! Kimi’s father is in trouble and things are dangerous! (except he wasn’t in trouble)

Chapter 17: Oh my god! Reid kissed Kimi to hide her face! (except actually he’s evil and was probably doing it to distract her) Oh no! The White Blossom was stolen by Sofia! (except it’s okay because she’s on our side)

Chapter 18: Oh my god! Shade is Flynn! Oh no! Reid is evil! Oh no! Charles died! (except it doesn’t matter because nobody really cares after this)

Chapter 19: Oh no! Nidhogg just tried to kill Nikki!

V2 Chapter 1: Oh no! Queen Elle caught Nikki!

V2 Chapter 2: Oh my god! Ace is Elle’s sister and Nikki is gonna reform the Iron Rose!

V2 Chapter 3: Oh no! Cesare just bit Chloris and sent him into a coma!

Okay, not passing judgement, good or bad, on these as a whole. Some of them I really like and I think the moments are good! I also think they’ve gotten a lot better at spacing out the action and building up to it in the newer chapters.

But look. Not only did they put in all these plot twists and exciting moments, they essentially went back on a ton of them, retconning the meaning and some of the emotional impact of the twists, often off-screen from the main chapters. It’s like they put things in just to shock the readers, and change it later when it’s convenient. I think some of them are still good, sometimes because they deliver the wrong message at the time you read it.

However, when you put it all together, the story becomes really, really messy.

It helps that they divide things up into arcs, but sometimes it’s still not enough. The White Blossom arc is the worst about this because trying to keep track of each character’s motivation and knowledge at every given point in time is really difficult. Everyone is just running around double-crossing each other and lying and disguising and -

a lot of it ends up just being infodumped at the end of the chapter, with a nice serving of plot twists just to confuse you even more.

My second point, beyond this entire concept of the awkward, forced pacing being difficult to take in, is that the progression and development of the characters is directly affected. There’s this thing called the Sliding Scale of Plot vs Characters. It’s a lot harder to put subtle character development into a part of the story that is forced to stuff a lot of plot into one short set of scenes to keep the reader interested before the next chapter comes out.

In a way, Nikki’s dreamweaver compensates for that! I think many of us were probably disappointed when we first read it, because it’s a plot recap. But it’s actually the exact opposite of that: It’s the character side of the sliding scale rather than the plot. It’s looking through this messy-ass plot with a fresh lens, to see exactly how Nikki changed and developed through it. So if you haven’t thought of it like that, I do suggest you go read it with that in mind.

Anyways, this is why I’m actually glad they have started to put a lot of story progression into hell events.

The event lore is much easier to take in, and they can literally present it in any way they want. A narrative, written story that’s not interspersed with pointless dialogue and Momo begging for grilled fish? Done. A Dreamweaver-like set of stages? Sure. A weird ass puzzle game? Why not. The suits themselves? Nothing wrong with that!

What’s more: it doesn’t always have to have a plot twist. The stories of the story suits, while being really good reads, don’t necessarily have an action-packed scene at the end unless it’s actually important. And when there is a scene like that, such as in Brave New World, they can actually take their sweet time building up to it while developing the characters.

Love Nikki is a character-driven story, but the main chapters are basically forced to be a plot-driven story. They have to tell the majority of those chapters through Nikki’s perspective, so the focus on individual characters goes away, and that’s why they move to Dreamweaver and suit narratives to give the really interesting stuff.

#love nikki #love nikki lore

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ahistoricalramblings · 3 years

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Coding is Hard

November 8, 2020

I’m sorry for this in advance if you know literally anything about coding.

I know I said that this week I would talk photography… but I’m not going to. I swear, it’ll come next week AND the week after that. Today I wanted to talk about coding. To be specific, I’ll be talking about coding in HTML, something I would’ve guessed would be pretty easy. It’s not. Like at all. Like this is so difficult.

Some context, perhaps? For HIS9808, we have a final independent project in which we explore some form of digital history and report back about our experiences. Because I hate myself, I chose to code.

I decided to try and make an interactive website for William Morris pieces. For the project, I’m only doing Strawberry Thief but, if I can manage to make it work, I might add some more over time.

William Morris, Strawberry Thief source

So the basic idea that I pulled from my brain with literally no understanding of how coding works is this: the viewer clicks on a certain part of the image or some button along the side and the piece animates and a window pops up on the side and displays some information about the piece or Morris. Did that make sense?

My small non-coding brain figured this would be difficult but not impossible. I have now spent probably 25 hours working on just the coding. And I have almost nothing to show for it. Almost nothing because I do have new some knowledge and a navigation bar.

An aside: I’m animating the image to move when the user clicks and that has actually brought me much joy. Unlike the coding, all the problems that arise are solvable with the brain I currently have. I would put some of the animations into this post but I want them to be saved for when they are in the actual website.

The first thing I did was watch about ten YouTube videos. Then I called my brother. My brother is the smartest person I know (and I can say that because I know for a fact, he won’t read this). He went to Queen’s for Apple Math engineering and he now works coding (in python, I think) for a contracting company. So, I called him for a little tutorial if you will. He’s never coded in html so it was basically him showing me the program I should use (visual studio code) and how to use GitHub to store the code I’ve written incase anything goes terribly wrong and I want to restore to an earlier version. But it definitely helped me understand how to go about coding (which is to say: you google just about everything).

Here’s what I’ve learned so far (beyond that I should’ve respected computer science majors more in undergrad): websites are actually made up of three different coding languages—HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, you need to create a folder where your images, video, and other external content are sourced from (believe it or not, this took me a whole day to understand), and that coding is hard (given, I know).

Let’s talk about the three languages first. So, from what I’ve understood from the seemingly hundreds of YouTube videos I’ve watched, html is the structure—the words, the format; css is the style—the colour, the positioning; and JavaScript is the interactivity—the movement when you click. At first, I was trying to do all three languages in one coding file (which is possible) but that created a monster file in which I could find not a thing, so I’ve separated them. Now I have a bunch of different test files, most of which do one of the things I want (display the image, have a sidebar, play an animation when clicked, etc) and none do more than one thing.

A side note about the image issue. Basically, when you code all your code is stored in a file folder on your computer and everything you source in a line like <img src=”_________”> needs to be in the file folder. This is so basic that nobody online thought to mention it. You can imagine how stupid (but also deeply frustrated) I felt when I realized this.

I don’t want to put all my eggs in one basket, as they say. So I’m also looking around at different programs designed to make augmented reality and other alternatives. But I am really hoping that the html will come through. Because I’m coding from scratch, I get a lot more control over the entire project and in an ideal world, that would mean it should have an all around better outcome. But alas, I will search out the other options for science.

This is all to say: coding is way harder than I thought it would be. I get it—this project is supposed to be an experimentation of what digital public history can look like and trust me, I have been experimenting. But the perfectionist in me would really like this project to be nice at the end of this as well as be a learning experience. So I will continue to spend absurd amounts of time trying to learn coding.

I’m going to end this off my plugging last week’s post on genocide and word choice because I am very passionate about it. I swear, next week we talk all things photography.

Until then, stay savvy.

#digital public history #history #HIS9808

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