#and misses all the opportunities to engage in fandom when there was no end in sight and there was always the new to look to - no definitive

[ao3commentoftheday]

managing creative envy

Just like in other areas of our lives, it's easy to be jealous of others when we create in fandom spaces and post online - the online aspect of fandom just offers more opportunities for it. Hits, kudos, comments, reblogs. Whatever unit of measurement you look at, there's always some number out there ready to tell you who's "better" and who's "worse" at whatever creative endeavor you engage in.

Except that none of those numbers actually gauge skill or quality.

When we're jealous of those numbers, what we actually wish we had isn't bigger numbers, it's attention. Reassurance. Excitement. Community. Whether the number is 5 or 5000, that's what it represents. We want those things and that other person has more of them, and so we end up jealous.

To manage that jealousy, we need to understand what we need and then find ways to get it. It might not come from posting on AO3, but maybe it comes from a local writer's group. Maybe there's someone in your life that you wish cared a little more about your "silly stories" and took you more seriously when you spoke about writing. Maybe what's missing isn't related to writing at all and it's more about having someone who cares about you and thinks you're important.

But numbers are just one thing to be jealous of. Perhaps the envy is instead because of another person's abilities. They come up with such interest plots! They have such fun ideas! They always have the perfect words, the singing phrases. For them it's easy, and for me it's just impossible!

Whether it's easy for them or not isn't what's making us envious, though. It's not about them and their abilities at all. It's about feeling like our own skills are lacking. The envy comes in because that person has what we want and don't yet have.

If we want to get past this type of envy, we need to refocus our energy away from being sad or angry or hopeless because another person is able to do something. Focus instead on celebrating the things we already do well. Take the time to notice improvements. Identify specific things we want to do better, and figure out how to learn. Remember, asking for help is always an option - and it might even lead to that feeling of community that might be lacking too.

Emotions are information that we need to take the time to interpret. Take the time to reflect on what's causing it. Find the thing that's missing from your experience and then figure out how to fill the gap.

#thinky thoughts #I haven't quite got all my thoughts together on this one yet #but I want to put this out there #and see what experiences other folks have had #try to fill in the gaps in my own understanding

[kindheart525]

unpopular opinions on the fim show?

I’m not entirely sure how many of these opinions are unpopular in the fandom as a whole, but they seem kind of uncommon compared to what shows up in my feed so here goes

Pinkie’s family is not abusive or toxic. I know they are portrayed as extremely old-fashioned and strict in their lifestyle, based on what is probably a surface-level understanding of Amish communities. This makes it easy to compare them to similar communities irl who engage in practices like shunning. But the Pies’ behavior in the show and especially Pinkie’s attitude towards them seems to make clear that they have not shunned or abused her despite her “leaving the community.” In other words, I think there are key differences between the Pies and some of the real-life people they were meant to emulate, so it’s inaccurate to say that abusive Pie headcanons have any real basis in the show. I wrote more on this opinion here.

Zephyr Breeze is not nearly as likely to be a deadbeat dad as some might think. He was shown to be on the road to being more responsible by the end of his own debut episode, so I highly doubt he’d be the same pony he was at the beginning of the episode by the time he would become a father. Not that I don’t think he could be at least a little bit irresponsible as a dad; I just don’t think he’d leave his child or not love them. I wrote more on this opinion here.

Amending Fences was a missed opportunity for a very important friendship lesson, one that the show never dared to touch. Which is that sometimes people are incompatible and sometimes your old friends won’t forgive you. Instead, Moondancer was written in an extremely exaggerated way (her whole life was ruined by one rejection??) yet this wasn’t regarded as an overreaction at all. It was weirdly handled at best. I wrote more on this opinion here.

Rarity gets a bad rap from the fandom. I don’t know if it’s her mediocre taste in stallions or if there’s something about her ultra-feminine nature that some people don’t care for, but I think her maturity and intelligence are severely underrated. Of course she can be a drama queen, but so can Twilight and Pinkie and pretty much every other member of the main cast. Rarity had a breakdown over getting a fashion piece critiqued, but Twilight blew up at her friends over having a late paper; the two scenarios really aren’t that different.

Just because Rarity has multiple crushes on mediocre stallions (Blueblood, Trenderhoof) doesn’t mean that she would sleep around or have a tumultuous love life. Haven’t most people had celebrity crushes? Multiple celebrity crushes, in fact, and also multiple crushes and relationships involving people they actually know before finding “the one”? I’m sure a lot of people have also been disappointed to find out the celebrity they fancied is actually a terrible person, like Rarity has. It’s part of the human experience for many, and Rarity’s TWO moments of poor judgment are not a reflection of her whole character or even her full palate of romantic taste.

Along with being a drama queen, Rarity can have moments where she’s materialistic and selfish, like the time she convinced Spike to give her his fire ruby. That was not a good moment for her. But on a bigger picture, materialistic and selfish is not her usual state. She is literally the element of generosity!!! She made Gala dresses for all of her friends FOR FREE! She has also shown herself to be a leader among her friends, at times taking charge and coming up with plans in Twilight’s absence much like Applejack does sometimes. One example is Castle Sweet Castle; the whole premise of the episode was Rarity’s idea! To help Twilight feel more at home! It’s clear that her generous spirit informs her actions through most of the show, unlike Rainbow Dash who’s only truly loyal when the plot needs her to be.

Yes Rarity is flawed, but all her friends are too. Her flaws are not objectively worse than the others. In fact, Rarity was literally under mind control once and still regarded Spike as a genuine friend, while Rainbow Dash sold one of her best friends into indentured servitude completely sober (among a long list of other things). Twilight yelled at her friends that she didn’t need them, also with an unaltered mind. Rarity has had her own hurtful blowups ofc but hers aren’t any worse than the others. Give her more credit y’all.

Speaking of Rainbow Dash, I’ve seen a number of opinion posts about how she and Applejack should switch their elements (so RD is honesty and AJ is loyalty), but as I started rewatching the show myself I’ve come to disagree. Rainbow Dash may be honest, but her brand of honesty is extremely rude. There’s no integrity behind it, not like AJ’s honesty. Rainbow Dash in general is extremely rude. There are a lot of points where I’ve wondered if she even likes her friends. There was also that Secrets and Pies episode which establishes that Rainbow Dash has lied prolifically to Pinkie over something that meant a lot to the latter, so RD really isn’t that honest either. I do agree that AJ would deserve the element of loyalty if she didn’t already have honesty. But you know who else is loyal? Spike. The elements of harmony would honestly make more sense if RD were just removed from the group entirely and Spike replaced her as loyalty /hj

I promise I don’t actually want to remove Rainbow Dash from the show, I just really wish she was written better. That’s what fan fiction is for I guess 😂

I have mixed feelings about AppleDash as a ship. I really like the fandom portrayals of it which is why I reblog quite a bit of AppleDash art, but canon alone doesn’t seem to show the good side of their dynamic very much. All they do is argue. Applejack is normally mature and levelheaded, but around Rainbow Dash she’s much less so. Dash really brings out the worst in her sometimes. It’s much different from the loving bickering that people write for them in fan works, which I think is a better spin on the dynamic. If I went off their canon interactions alone, I could see them being exes or on-and-off lovers at most, not a stable, long-term married couple.

This would only be unpopular in very specific circles, but I think it’s pretty stereotypical to insist that Rainbow Dash and Applejack are lesbians primarily based on their tomboy interests and the former’s rainbow mane. It’s one thing to headcanon them as such just because you want to, and that’s perfectly fine! I write Applejack as a lesbian too. It’s another to insist that it’s canon based on xyz evidence from the show or think it’s wrong for anyone to ship them with stallions. Even if you consider AppleDash canon, one or both of them could be bi or pan for all we know. Canon tells us very little about their sexualities so there’s a lot of room for different headcanons. I wrote more on this opinion here.

(More specific to the next gen community) Just because Fluttershy is good with animals does not automatically mean she would be a good mother. There was a whole episode (Stare Master) about how she couldn’t handle babysitting even though she thought her animal caretaking skills made her qualified. Obviously she was shown to be much better with kids later in the show (becoming very popular among the School of Friendship students), but again that’s teaching, not parenting. This isn’t to say that I think Fluttershy would definitely be a bad mom, just that her being good with animals is not a solid reason for her being a good mom.

I definitely have more opinions about the show, characters, and fandom of mlp, but I don’t think many of them are so unpopular. Like for example:

I don’t think the Apples would be queerphobic just because they value tradition and are coded as Southern US Americans. The word “tradition” doesn’t automatically equate to conservative politics, and even if it did, these ponies have been shown to learn new things all the time. But all the trans Big Mac positivity I’ve been seeing tells me that a lot of people agree with that sentiment.

I don’t think most of the popular/generic ships of the fandom (like FlutterCord, FlashLight, and SoarinDash) are necessarily bad or devoid of positive chemistry, they’re just way too often written in extremely boring and generic ways. But I’ve also seen such ships written in unique and interesting ways so I think there a lot of people who also understand that sometimes all they need is a more creative approach.

Episodes like Over A Barrel, Bridle Gossip, and She’s All Yak (among others) were horribly handled and should not have been written. I don’t even consider them canon. I don’t know about the larger fandom, but most of the next gen community that I interact with feels the same way.

I think Starlight’s backstory was stupid and contrived, but it seems like the whole fandom thinks so too. We’re all rewriting it lmao

#AskKind #KindsThoughts #pinkie pie #pie family #zephyr breeze #moondancer #rarity #rainbow dash #applejack #appledash #fluttershy #my little pony #mlp fim #mlp g4 #asks open #send asks #send me asks #ask me stuff #ask me things #ask me anything

[grey-gazania]

20 questions for fic writers

Yoinked from the lovely @sallysavestheday and @melestasflight!

1. How many works do you have on Ao3? 65, though one is a compilation of unrelated short pieces.

2. What’s your total Ao3 word count? 199,601

3. What fandoms do you write for? Mostly Tolkien, though I have a few older bits and bobs from other fandoms hanging around.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos? In terms of kudos, my various Kidnap Fam stories are overwhelmingly my most popular:

A Stitch in Time (Elrond's life as seen by a quilt)

And They Looked Up and Saw a Star (Early-days Kidnap Fam WIP)

Root and All (Kidnap Fam feat. Maedhros, Elrond, and botany)

Speak No Evil (Kidnap Fam feat. Orkish lessons)

Little Drop of Poison (Kidnap Fam feat. injured Maedhros and healer Elrond)

5. Do you respond to comments? I try to respond to them all, but sometimes my responses are very late, especially if the comment comes when I'm having a depressive episode or a chronic illness flare-up.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Leaving aside unfinished multichaps that will have angsty endings but haven't gotten there yet, it's probably either The Hearts of the Eldar (the Third Kinslaying and all that it entails) or Pain Unbearable (Maedhros' death).

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Probably Half Past Ten in the Rose Garden (Caranthir/Caranthir's Wife engagement rom-com). Still debating whether I should add another chapter or wrap it where it is.

8. Do you get hate on fics? Only ever on fics featuring Fingon's wife. Some people get real heated about those.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? I don't, nor do I read it. It's very much Not My Thing. I think the closest I've come is The Bed We Share (Fingon/Fingon's Wife, Fingon/Maedhros), which does have a sex scene, but it's not particularly detailed.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? No, though I do enjoy reading them on occasion. I'm going to take this opportunity to recommend Evidence by Camwyn on FF.N, which is the single most delightful crossover I've ever read. (Silmarillion/Discworld)

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Yes! A kind reader translated Root and All into Russian, where it seems to have been moderately well-received, at least from what I can tell using Google Translate.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? Nope. I suppose I'd be willing to give it a shot, but I do have Very Strong characterization opinions that might make it difficult.

14. What’s your all time favorite ship? Maedhros/Fingon! Though Elrond/Celebrian and Caranthir/Caranthir's Wife are close seconds, and Glorfindel/Erestor and Legolas/Gimli are very old and longstanding favorites as well.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? Things ain't lookin' good for The Longest Journey I Have Known (Fingon's wife and Celebrian travel to Valinor). I am Extremely Stuck.

16. What are your writing strengths? Worldbuilding, character dynamics, and description.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? PLOT. God, I am so bad at come up with interesting plots. Also probably pacing, I need to improve in that respect.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? I do it rarely -- in fact I think Maps might be the only Silmarillion story where I've done it. I included a Quenya translation of part of a Yiddish folk song, and in that case I had help from the Lizard Council, and particularly from the esteemed and dearly missed Darth Fingon, who looked over my translation and corrected a few errors.

19. First fandom you wrote for? Star Wars, back in, uh, 1999, I think? I've been doing this for a good 25 years.

20. Favourite fic you’ve written? Girl, that's like asking a mother to choose her favorite child! But if I absolutely must pick, it's probably The Flight of Birds, which features Elrond, newly arrived on Balar, dealing with his conflicted feelings about his mother.

Tagging @thelordofgifs, @vidumavi, @cuarthol, @swanhild, @leucisticpuffin, @emyn-arnens, @polutrope, @welcomingdisaster, @zealouswerewolfcollector, @that-angry-noldo, @thescrapwitch, @spiritofwhitefire, @swanmaids, @hhimring, @elfscribe, and anyone else who wants to share -- @ me and say I tagged you!

#dash games #fic recs

[itsclydebitches]

Tonight I came across a post (that won't hit my blog until July because I queued it) about how it's unfortunate that "fun" has supposedly become a requirement of video games, given that this severely limits how they can function as works of art. We don't limit other mediums by insisting that they only produce positive emotions and experiences in the recipient, so why would video games be any different just because they're (more) interactive?

This post isn't actually about video games, but rather how that argument got me thinking about RWBY and the recent resurgence of this "Why are you still here if you hate the show?" question. Now, setting aside the acknowledgment that 99.9% of people asking that are merely trolling behind their faux-concern—they have no actual interest in hearing a RWDE poster's reasons for sticking around, they simply want a way to say, "Get out" with plausible deniability—but if we treat this question seriously, I think that post on video games may offer some insight. I have numerous reasons for keeping active in the RWBY/RWDE fandom (initial love of the show, intellectual exercises, the community we've made, etc.) but there is also some level of investment in what would traditionally be framed as non-positive emotions. RWBY can make me feel very frustrated... similar to how playing Pathalogic makes me frustrated. Many of its plot-lines make me angry... the same way numerous video games' discriminatory writing can make me angry. RWBY's community, at times, feels like an insult-laden battlefield... but I've been doing PvP in WoW since it came out, so that's familiar too.

There are so many times when I've enjoyed engaging with a piece of media even when I really didn't enjoy it. Perhaps a better way of putting it would be that I found something worthwhile in the experience, even if I couldn't label that as "fun" or "happiness" or "satisfaction." Sometimes sitting with negative emotions is a good thing. Yes, you can take that too far just like you can take any behavior to an extreme, which is where the continual demands to "watch another show" highlight those posters' willful ignorance. We're already watching other shows. Reading other books. Playing other games. Engaging with a huge, diverse variety of art. Those who gain their own enjoyment from targeting strangers online (and isn't that a significant aspect to all this) want to make it sound like RWDE posters haven't touched a single piece of art other than RWBY in ten years and if they just found something they enjoyed without reservations then they'd drop RWBY like a hot potato. But I'm already watching numerous shows that I love unconditionally and have nothing substantial to critique; shows that have me internally kicking my feet and twirling my hair because they're just sooooooo good. I have that! RWBY is a different experience. It scratches a very specific itch of "I once adored this thing and now it's disappointing, but I want to see it through to its end and unpacking the ways in which it fails is a fascinating, cathartic mental exercise." I can't get that from anything else—not right now, anyway—so why would I want to give up this unique experience to fill my time solely with art that only makes me feel Generically Good? Art I have little to say about because it already feels #perfect to my mind? Sure, I could analyze a show's positives and sing its praises (which I often do), but at a certain point you run of out ways to say, "I like it." There's a reason why transformative fandom is built around the gaps in media: missing scenes, plot holes, retcons, failures, missed opportunities, horrible disappointments. Transformation comes more easily when you're already inclined to change the canon in the first place.

Idk, I feel like there's also an element of purity culture here where there's this push to make people think they must only engage with art that aligns precisely with their moral stance, produces only positive emotions, and invites nothing but praise. If the art makes you feel bad in any way than it is bad and you have a duty to remove yourself from it post-haste just ignore that we wanted you gone the whole time. Frankly, I think we humans can handle a bit more complexity than that? Obviously, as said, you wouldn't want to make Art You're Upset With the be-all and end-all of your media engagement, and this certainly isn't a call for anyone to engage with triggers unless they're inclined to do so, but a story you're primarily here to critique, or—yes—even a bit of hate watching can be "fun" in a non-traditionally fun away. Just because the art hasn't made you grin and pump your fist in triumphant doesn't mean it's not worth interacting with as art.

#rwde #rwby #mymetas

[fantastic-nonsense]

one of the things so many people miss is that the Ravka-Fjerda war is a terrible parallel to Nazi Germany and the Holocaust because it's a fundamental misinterpretation of the Grisha's role in the conflict

The Holocaust was a genocide perpetuated against innocents; there was nothing except blind hatred and political opportunism spurring that persecution. But the Fjerdan obsession with persecuting Grisha, while partially out of blind hatred and prejudice, is also at least partially happening because they're in an active war against a country that uses Grisha as soldiers...soldiers who are uniquely destructive, use that destructive capability to kill Fjerdans, and are canonically praised for doing so. Soldiers who are recruited to come to the Little Palace from all over the world based on the premise that they will be safe...as long as they fight for Ravka in the Second Army. Remember that Ravka largely doesn't care about the Grisha's wellbeing either until after the civil war is over and the Triumvirate is in power; their interest in 'protecting' Grisha lay in their ability to use them as soldiers in their ongoing wars against Fjerda and Shu Han.

You CANNOT do a one-to-one comparison to something like the Holocaust when the whole point of the Ravka-Fjerdan conflict is that there's massive suffering and war crimes being perpetuated on both sides. Nina and Matthias's chapters hammer home the point that they both have very good reason to be terrified of each other due to the situation they've been forced into, but that the hatred and prejudice they were both raised with is wrong. We mostly focus on the persecution of the Grisha becasue we're already primed to identify and sympathize with them, but there's several instances where we're explicitly shown that there's more to this war (which is principally a territory/border dispute) than just a senseless genocide.

The bit where Nina realizes that Zoya, her mentor, is to Matthias what Jarl Brum is to her. Nina forcing Matthias's heart to speed up on the Ferolind for no reason other than to scare him. Learning that the whole reason Matthias ended up as a druskelle in the first place was because his village was burnt to the ground and his family (including his "baby sister") were murdered by Inferni soldiers. Nina effectively murdering a couple hundred druskelle while on parem at the Djerholm harbor. "We are all someone's monster." And so many more.

Matthias is not a Nazi (the druskelle are much more analogous to a fundamentalist religious cult than anything else, especially when you consider the specific indoctrination Matthias was subject to). Leigh Bardugo (a Jewish woman born in Israel with direct family members who died in the Holocaust) has firmly stated that she "would never write a Nazi-Jewish romance," and we as a fandom need to be extremely careful when drawing real-world parallels to fictional conflcits. Nina and Matthias are both soldiers caught up in a centuries-old war, not an oppressor engaging in mindless ethnic persecution against a helpless victim. Matthias has a lot further to go than Nina to unpack and grow out of those mutual prejudices, but they're very clearly present in both characters.

Yes, there are parallels between the Grisha experience and the Jewish experience, and we should talk about that! It's an interesting discussion to have. But Leigh has explicitly cautioned people not to say "this is a mirror to a real-life conflict" because she purposefully built into her world that in some respects, many Grisha (especially Ravkan Grisha) have power and privilege and are actively utilizing it. It's dangerous to try and say something like "the Fjerdans are Nazis and the Grisha are Jewish people" when discussing that conflict because it can unintentionally perpetuate the idea that the Jewish people deserved what happened to them, which is something we obviously should categorically avoid even implying in our discussions.

#six of crows #soc meta #matthias helvar #nina zenik #helnik #tw: holocaust #tw: genocide #long post #the Ravka-Fjerda situation is honestly much more analogous to how Fullmetal Alchemist utilizes state alchemists in their border wars tbh #not all Grisha are Ravkan or Second Army but the ones who are are frankly terrifying

[drovers1girl-blog]

With the end of Outlander after season 8, the new series spinoff, Blood of My Blood, a series about Jamie Fraser's parents, will follow. Even though Sam Heughan has stated that it may well surpass the Outlander series, I have huge doubts that is the case. Many fans of the Outlander series, including myself, have already stated that when Outlander is over, we're stepping away, just like Sam and the rest of the cast are stepping away to pursue other things, which is what they obviously want to do. Is this a bad thing? At this point, no it isn't. If they've lost interest in the series and characters they've played for 8 seasons, it's time to move on to other things.

The initial announcement of season 8 being the last season brought about many diverse opinions and emotions from the fans. Some, as usual, who thought themselves to be of a higher station than the rest of the fandom blocked fans that were upset, myself being one of those blocked. The fact is, no, they aren't and never will be at a higher station than any other fan. It would be in their best interest to come to that reality, which I doubt that they will. These "higher station" fans have lived in a constant state of fantasy since whenever it was they discovered Outlander.

In a world where there is so much turmoil, Outlander has given all of the fans an escape from the world and all of its problems for at least an hour every week. The fictional world of one Diana Gabaldon is a true work of art. It brought joy, sadness, history, romance and a whisp of science fiction (time travel) in the books and TV series. The characters were cast perfectly, first with Sam Heughan as Jamie Fraser, and then the long tedious search for Claire (Beauchamp, Randall) Fraser, Caitriona Balfe. The rest of the cast from season 1-7 were simultaneously perfectly chosen.

While I, as a fan, am saddened by the looming end of what I believe to be the most perfect TV series of my long (age withstanding) life, I am grateful to have borne witness to something that, in my opinion, will never be forgotten or be placed on a shelf,never to be heard of again.

The actors will move on to other things they haven't had the opportunity to engage in before, due to the long filming schedules of each season of Outlander. I, personally, wish them all well. I will miss my weekly "fix" of respite from the real world. But as Jamie Fraser told Claire, "Nothing's lost, Only changed". Will I continue to follow their individual continued projects after Outlander? Most likely. Will it be with the same enthusiasm as with Outlander? Well....all I can say is that I don't know at this point.

While all of the actors placed their stamp on the characters they played...one stands out above the rest.....Sam Heughan (Jamie Fraser). He has given his all for this character. He embodied Jamie Fraser totally and unequivocally. Like Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, no one will ever take Sam Heughan 's place as James Alexander Malcolm MacKenzie Fraser.

[mimikoolover]

https://www.tumblr.com/mimikoolover/747038596806148096/lets-be-real-the-travel-show-is-a-ruse-they?source=share

They're free to do what they want idt they need an excuse to spend their time together even if it means going outside the country before MS.

V and hobi literally went to Hawaii with their families when all the members went to US after covid like vhope were the Only pair that went to Hawaii and others stayed for work while jinkook came back to sk. No one questioned them so no one will question the jikook too. The World is not a shipping bubble who move like shippers and start questioning as far as hangouts like every normal person do. These "omgg they're definitely dating" with m/m or f/f idols only happens in the fandom that too shipping fandom but the world is bigger than that. No media is gonna question why two bandmates that are friends are going out or having vacations especially if the two are known close friends. Idk why you guys always think about this hiding and all these things.

Jungkook himself said that the company suddenly made a move over something jikook agreed to do on years ago. And all this content is mostly for fans to keep engaged till they come back. Y'all saw they did friendification with taehyung, they're doing that travel show with jikook. Not saying jikook won't enjoy it of course it's actually a good opportunity for them to be relax before MS. But the important reason behind it not as shippers think it is. Cause jungkook himself said so that the company arranged it and not like jikook themselves asked for it suddenly.

it's one thing doing it but if they wanted to share it as well the travel show was the way to do it cause it's not like jungkook could drop another GCF in tokyo with a gay ass song in the bg just before they're enlisting in the military where it's literally illegal to be gay.

idk who "you guys are" but you can fuck off with grouping me into any group. no one said jikook would be hiding anything or that the media would be all over it if they travelled together. undoubtedly the two of them cannot just go travelling anywhere on their own so staff would have went with them anyway like they did back in 2017 and they were nowhere near as famous. I'm sure you didn't miss the insane attention it got when the two of them went to the airport together and even in the USA jungkook was asked about jimin being in NYC too.

jungkook didn't divulge a lot of information actually on how the travel show ended up being, he just said he and jimin talked about doing one ages ago and then the company set it up 'suddenly' but he did not go into detail of what happened and how it was all arranged so your guess is as good as mine. so it could actually be that jikook went to them and said we want to travel knowing staff would have to be there anyway so bighit was like ok we will set that shit up for you. you will film it too so you don't drop another gay ass vlog on us and instead we'll make it a show for the fans. that's as valid as whatever you think happened and we'll never know unless they tell us in the show itself or after🤷‍♀️

you can think (what you want but also) that the company went to them and was like y'all will be travelling, here's a gopro go film it. but then you gotta wonder why they asked jikook to do it and not any other pairing when taekook as a ship and money making entity is 1000 times more popular than jikook🤔

#jikook #*staff went to tokyo with jikook in 2017 as per beyond the story (book) not tkker bs

[thefirstknife]

If going by the Destiny 2 content creator reactions and their fans of Lightfall then the greatest enemy to all is the concept of a Cliffhanger.

There people wouldn't be able to handle any non bing able media. If they had to watch Breaking Bad, any mystery story or what have you before Netflix i imagine they'd throw a fit

Yeah, I'm feeling the same. I genuinely don't know what people expected from a penultimate expansion. Talked about it before in regards to how the marketing for Lightfall may have been a little weird and how people ended up feeling misled by it, which is a fair complaint to have. But if we go further than that, I still don't know why people expected "all answers immediately" from an expansion that's clearly not the final one. We knew right away that this is not the ending.

This is a good opportunity to talk a bit more about some extra stuff which will be below, because I'm choosing mercy for people on mobile:

Another thing that gets me as well is that this is simply how Destiny always does the story. Like, it's a live service game and has been for 10 years. Campaigns are on a frequent hit-or-miss scale and aren't really all that expansive on their own anyway; a 3 hour campaign is NOT and never has been the totality of Destiny's story. As a matter of fact, like 90% of Destiny's story is told in written format with lore and side quests and other stories, not in campaigns. Campaigns are generally just the initial setpieces that shift the narrative in a certain direction with a singular event, but the majority of the story happens as consequences of that, over the course of years.

There's been so much stuff that we've been waiting for years to be explained. I always figured this as something that the Destiny community loves and expects. I got here only in D2 and only got into lore properly in Shadowkeep, so everything I knew by reading about Destiny's past story and community reception was that the mystery and the players coming together to figure things out was one of the main draws of the game. That's how I perceived the game, its lore and its community when I joined. As something where we work together to pore through texts to understand where things are and where they are going.

Actually, recently one of the biggest complaints going from Beyond Light and onwards was that Destiny has lost its mystery component. It's been a frequent and overwhelming critique of the story and seasons. How seasons are here to just quickly sum everything up in neat and presentable infodumps given to us by characters and lore tabs that tell us everything directly without any need for deeper engagement. This obviously isn't even fully true (Beyond Light's deepest mystery remained undetected and misunderstood by the majority of the playerbase and still is to this day (that would be Savathun replacing Osiris)), but overall yeah, certain things were absolutely streamlined in comparison with how lore was done before.

Like, no contest: frequent seasonal story drops that give us dozens of lore books, item lore, quest lore, dialogues and so on over the year that are easy to acquire and are readable in the game, as well as stories that happen weekly and are more engaging than just playing a 2 hour campaign every six months or every year have all done A LOT for the lore to be more approachable and less "mysterious." I put that in quotes because people frequently also misinterpret what "mysterious" means or at least aren't talking about the same concept. I've noticed that there's quite a bit of backlash for stories being resolved and character arcs being finished. To a lot of people, that's the removal of "mystery." In a sense, a lot of people want an endless story that never resolves but that gives just enough easily consumable fandom-related details that aren't really progressing the story in a meaningful direction.

But yeah. To end this tangent here, people have been complaining a lot about the lack of mysteries and wonder in Destiny. Which is just weird to me because that's just how stories work. At some point, the story will start resolving the mysteries. And yet, then came Lightfall which brought completely new mysteries and some of the most fascinating ones I've ever experienced in the entire Destiny setting and people just kinda... Didn't care. I attribute a lot of this to people just not recognising that they're no longer into the story all that much. They no longer want to engage with a mystery, they just want to see the conclusion. They don't have the energy or the interest to pore through the texts anymore or engage with the fandom or, indeed, wait for information to be revealed, especially if this isn't the type of stuff they like.

For example, there's a lot of fans of the type of gothic horror mystery about the Hive and Lightfall simply does not fit that aesthetic. And mind you, Destiny is famous for genre switching all the time so this is something that should be expected. But Lightfall's futuristic high concept scifi story that's about virtual realities, mind uploading, human experimentation with nanotechnology, bizarre alien entities that play with the concepts of consciousness and the nature of reality, and so on is something that a lot of people have no interest in. And as much as I want to say "skill issue," it's a matter of taste. It's completely normal to me that there's people who aren't into this. However, a lot of those people just refused to engage and then proceeded to say that the story is objectively bad, "worst expansion ever" and so on. Absolutely insane to me. Like, genuinely baby behaviour in my mind. The "upset because we're not about me" type. Meanwhile I've seen a plethora of people who have quietly, almost ashamed, admitted that they like this stuff more than Witch Queen. No one should be ashamed or afraid to say that.

And most of all, there was disappointment that a "new mystery" was started "too late" when things were "supposed to be explained." And first of all, things ARE being explained. Again, this is a live service game. It's updating over the course of the year. We've received so many explanations and threads to follow and read about and engage with while we wait. That's the whole point; keep the content coming over time. Second, for people who claim that "Lightfall's campaign wasn't complete," yes it was. The Lightfall campaign was to save Neomuna and stop the Witness from destroying the Veil. We did both of those, except the Witness deceived us (as it is known to do) and it never wanted to destroy the Veil in the first place; it wanted us to get there with a Ghost. And it ends with us falling for that deception (out of necessity of course: our hands were kinda forced. Brilliant deception in that regard) and losing to the Witness as it hijacks our Ghost and opens the portal (but we do end up saving Neomuna and have the Veil at our disposal now to start researching it). This is known as a plot twist: a big "oh shit" moment in the climax of the story where we realise we've been duped and we've done exactly what the villain wanted all along.

Which leads me to the third point, perfectly summarised by your ask and by a single word: it's a cliffhanger. Lightfall is the penultimate expansion in a ten years long story. It's a cliffhanger before the end. It's supposed to keep us wondering what the fuck happened and how are we going to solve this until TFS drops. It's supposed to question our place in the universe, our understanding of it, the nature of everything we've learned so far, the extent to which we were right and wrong about the Light and Darkness, as we prepare for the finale of the saga. I genuinely don't know which answers people were expecting to be delivered in a 3 hour campaign that would immediately tell you everything you need to know and then you'd put the game down for a year OR you would keep playing and seasonal stories would just be meaningless side stories that don't progress the plot (yet ANOTHER complaint about seasons that's been going on for a very long time and an unsolvable problem: people want seasons to be meaningful stories that progress the plot but also not meaningful enough so that they can be freely skipped without missing important story bits. These are contradictory statements. Both cannot be true).

And of course, it's completely normal if this just didn't work for people. It's an important distinction to make here; "I understand what it tried to do, but it didn't work well for me" is a completely different statement from "this was a bad story and the worst expansion ever." I've never seen this distinction being made as pretty much everyone only ever spoke about it in the latter terms. How the state of the story is awful and "dangerous," how the writers "dropped the ball," how things are horrifically bad and nonsensical and so on. In worst cases, it was straight up "Bungie should fire these writers." There's also a lot of people who claim wholeheartedly that they've understood the story, but then can't tell you what the theme was or they start going on about how Nimbus was a bad character who "wasn't even sad for Rohan," which immediately tells me they haven't finished the story. So I'm afraid I don't believe those specific types when they say that they understood it, but didn't like it.

Most of all, this was a REALLY long-winded way to say that this ask basically says it as concisely as possible: Lightfall is a cliffhanger before the end. It's SO important to consume more than one media and learn some media literacy. This isn't even remotely a long wait as far as cliffhangers go in general. We need people to stop expecting the media to get churned out mindlessly in quick succession for instant gratification. Hell, some would absolutely classify Destiny as being churned out quickly. And meanwhile we have players here losing their minds and crying and throwing things because they have to wait 3 months for a new season. Absolutely bizarre to me. Try waiting for a book series to continue for longer than ten years.

#destiny 2 #lightfall #ask #long post #if you click read more

[phaerlax]

2024 fandom goals

I meant to post this around New Year's but I was consumed by the Secret Santa fic I was trying to finish (which might speak to my need for more organization lol but anyway...)

2023 was a year of fandom reawakening for me. I started it with a singular NU: Carnival fic to my name, which I had posted in late 2022 after years without making any fanworks. I ended the year with 30 NU:C fics and two original works. Not too shabby! I'm also still feeling pretty inspired and happy to be engaging with the community; fanworks and fan projects have given me a needed creative outlet as I wallow in the morass of academia.

This year I wanna...

Post at least one fanfic per month. I love those 'my year in art' things and I wanna do it with fics. For 2023 I missed January.

Finish my longfics. I'm so bad at non-oneshot content... but I look at how many subscribers Familiar Feast and Presents came early have, and I feel an intense need to deliver. I'm also really interested in what comes next for those stories. I just... eugh... shiny new things instead... but I will!

Participate in NU:C events. Particularly the lineup by NuCarni Events. I'm interested in the Blade week, the Morvay week, the mid-year exchange (god help me), the Aster week, and the Advent Calendar. I might also do the Daster week, the Dante week and maaaybe the kuyaei week, depending.

Organize NU:C events. The 2023 GaruKaru week was a great success, I should do it again. I also want to use that fanpage to put together other fandom events that are wolfboy-centric. Priority #1 is a kuyaru week...

Housekeep my fics. I should update the start and end notes so they're less about that moment in time. I should also make some changes to the Blade/Rei and the Aster/Huey in light of new canon information. Clunky as AO3 may be when it comes to this.

Write more original work. Fanfic cannot accommodate all of the depraved visions with which I am cursed... though I am very driven by comments and kudos and, as such, fanfic will always be my priority. What little engagement I get on these has been so nice, though.

Overcome all fear of cancellation. Not that I have a lot of it, but still, I did worry a lot at first. This fandom has been fantastic about adhering to Don't Like Don't Read, though. I'm emboldened to post some more horrible things under my problematic pseud and trust people to curate what they engage with.

Collab with other creatives. I've never done it before, but it sounds fun, if a little daunting. There are a couple opportunities on the horizon, we'll see!~

Pair Garu and Karu with every other character. I already managed to make it so that fics with all of those pairings exist on Ao3 (check them out in this sheet), but many of those fics were not written by me. As a funky long-term goal I want to personally have at least one fic that is specifically written for each possible wolfboy pairing... and I've already written at least one fic with each character (even Edmond!), I think I can do it.

Guess I'll look back on this in December.

#nu carnival #nu carnival fanfic

[mage-parivir]

Hello! Congrats on your Book 1 release! I only follow CoG/HG via the CoG mailing list so I hadn't heard of AMR before a few days ago, but seems you've got quite a devoted fandom already :) I checked out the book 2 demo and was just wondering, is all of book 2 going to be Arcadian stuff only with nothing involving Param or its characters? Or is that forthcoming in the finished book 2, or else there's some already in there and I just missed it? I've been RPing as a hardline Param loyalist who takes every opportunity to remind the Arcadians he's enslaved and resentful and just wants to either leave or die, so up to the end of Yotai my character wasn't really able to engage much with the plot or the cast, lol.

Apologies, Book 2 is essentially about Arcadia :( There will definitely be quite a bit of airtime dedicated to the Parami cast, and the so-called 'reunion' will happen in Book 2--regardless, the story's focus will remain on the Arcadian cast and cause for the remainder of the book.

That being said, you can meet Saine in the currently-published demo, though under less than ideal circumstances. For anyone who doesn't yet know how to trigger this scene - simply turn in early during the Yotai festival (that is, do not watch fireworks with anyone) and head up to the inn's roof when the option is presented!

#ask #a mage reborn

[sleepingdeath-light]

timekeeper cookie smut hcs ; 18+

requested by ; anonymous (03/07/23)

fandom(s) ; cookie run

fandom masterlist(s) ; hub | specific

character(s) ; timekeeper cookie

outline ; “Can you do smut/fluff hcs for timekeeper?(I am over 18)”

warning(s) ; sexually explicit content, switch!timekeeper, sadomasochism, public/semi-public sex, sexting, degradation, referenced period sex

minors and ageless blogs will be blocked

timekeeper is a chaos switch — the sort of person who will battle for dominance and tease and mock no matter which role they end up taking, which makes them a mixture of ‘mean dom’ and ‘bratty sub’

they just generally strive to keep things exciting and engaging in the bedroom so they quite like keeping you on your toes — and they’d appreciate you doing the same

they’re a big fan of pain play of all sorts — be that spanking/impact play, knife play, biting, temperature play or anything else along those lines — or, in other words, they’re sadomasochistic

they much prefer fast, rough and spontaneous sex over slow, gentle and planned sex — but, of course, they can appreciate some sort of routine and intimacy on occasion and if it suits your preference then they’ll indulge you

they’re not always a selfish lover, after all, and they do want you to enjoy the act as much as they do

when they’re in a submissive mood they love being put in their place: blindfold them, bend them over your knee, fill their holes with toys and spank them until their voice is shot — make them shut up and deny them until they’re red in the face (the rougher the better)

they couldn’t care less about getting caught in the act and enjoy the excitement brought on by risks like that — so they’re just as happy to fuck in the middle of town square in the 1600s as they are to make love in your bed at home

uses a lot of degradation and praise in bed whether they’re domming or subbing — like they’ll comment on how aroused you are, how you sound and how you look, but they’ll also goad you into being more active and feign ignorance until you tell them exactly what you want them to do

when it comes to oral sex they much prefer to give and receive at the same time as it’s much more efficient, fun and makes sure that you’re both able to get off at the same time — though they also enjoy being able to make a complete mess of themselves and if you at the same time

if you end up moving around a lot when they’re going down on you and cover their face with your cum then they’ll just grin at you and clean themselves up — maybe even dragging you into a kiss so that you’re able to taste yourself (which is something that they enjoy as well)

they have an extensive collection of toys that they’ve gathered (read: stolen) from all across the timeline as well as many that they made themselves to suit your bodies — so needless to say you won’t be short on opportunities to experiment

if they’re locked into a specific time with you and you both have mobile phones then they’re the type to send you random nudes whilst you’re out and about — with their most frequented sorts being photos of their bare chest and a zoomed in picture of their fingers pumping into themselves with a caption about missing you or asking when you’ll be home (as if they don’t already know the answer)

if you’re able to menstruate then they won’t be put off by it and would probably quite enjoy experimenting with different ways to help minimise your pain with sex — they’d also probably be up for going down on you as blood doesn’t really bother them anymore

#sleepingdeath #gender neutral reader #minors dni #minors fuck off #minors dont touch #smut #smut hcs #cookie run smut #cro smut #timekeeper cookie smut #timekeeper cookie x reader #cro x reader #cookie run x reader

[alexandriteobscuraarchive]

You and @guardianofyesod (upcoming pun completely intended and correct btw) are literal shining stars in the tcol community on the whole and for your amazing writing. And while you might not believe this coming from an anon but I've read all of your stuff (your Kariom is phenomenal and that's just the beginning of what I could say) and you deserve all of the recognition from the fandom and that absolutely includes @lingrimmart. Both of you do. The fandom is made better by your love and content.

((That....that truly truly truly means the world to me to hear you say that and I mean it. Honestly, I don't think I'm capable of properly expressing how deeply grateful I am but I'll try. You made me legitimately cry at work you absolute villain lol.

The sheer amount of effort that @guardianofyesod and I have put into into tcol---from understanding and theorizing about the lore, talking about the characters (and I mean literally everyone, not just our chosen muses, but we do talk about them the most), working on how we want to write them both separately and together, the intricate details that could easily be missed that we want others to notice and appreciate (honestly I could give you a veritable essay on JUST the character work we've done---especially in regards to my partner's work and sheer, undeniable love put towards Roui), etc, etc, is something that I legitimately cannot do with anyone else. They match my efforts and enthusiasm in a way that I'm incapable of doubting for even a second and that's something that's always on full display whether we're having an hours long ooc discussion or writing ic content on our blogs.

And I know---I'm really do know---that such dedication is a lot for people. It's a lot to keep up and a lot for the people just reading or interacting with our stuff to deal with but that's where the love comes in. If we didn't feel so strongly about this game; literally everything about it but especially the characters, it'd be hard but it's honestly the easiest thing in the world? The devs made it easy and so did my wonderful writing partner. The dedication and love is incredibly clear on both sides (but from us as fandom creators and from the actual creators themselves) and it's impossible not to react to that. I, personally, haven't been this excited or inspired by a game in the longest time and if I didn't act on that passion I knew I'd regret it. The drive that we have towards bringing these characters and the tcol world to life on our blogs and with our writing is legit a fraction of what it deserves on the whole and I can only fuckin hope that I succeed at it on my end of things. I can tell you that, even with my own personal doubts, I'm always trying to showcase 110% of how this has all effected me, especially in regards to portraying Kariom. I know @guardianofyesod succeeds at it because I've gotten to witness it firsthand and even be involved which feels like an honor at this point, that's how much it all means to me if that puts it into further perspective.

I know that I'm rambling on (and to an excess too, lol) but I didn't want to just thank you, you know? I'm not kidding when I say that you made me emotional (in a good way, don't worry!) and I just.....had to match your heartfelt enthusiasm with my own. The tcol fandom in particular, no matter how small it is, no matter if @guardianofyesod and I are the only people on the rp side of things, is incredibly special to me. As I said I haven't been this happy or inspired in an incredibly long time and that's thanks to the kindness of people like you, the devs (especially Lins, the opportunity of talking to them alone much less them following me + engaging with my content and talking to me about it and stuff in general still....floors me tbh and that's putting it incredibly lightly! Thank you so much!!!) and @guardianofyesod and I know merely saying thanks doesn't cover it, I know I need a better, stronger word for such a feeling, so I'll thank you all by continuing with...this. All of this. I'll always try to emulate and showcase that love and dedication because I wouldn't be able to write any of this stuff, no matter the character (but we all know who my two faves are lol) without you guys.))

#;;ask response: ooc #guardianofyesod #lingrimmart #tagging you guys in case you want to reblog or comment! plus idk if @s work in asks??? this site is so unreliable ffff #long post #;;ooc: mun keepsakes and gifts #Sometimes I don't feel worthy of it ( even with my efforts) but I know that something like this is incredibly rare; #feeling this strongly is important so I'm going to keep trying my best to express the love I have both ic and ooc; #I typed all this on mobile so I'm sorry if it's messy; I just.... couldn't wait to reply

[ethereousdelirious]

Sicktember 2022: Day 14

Prompt: "I might be a teeny tiny bit sick, but it's fine"

Fandom: The G.reat G.atsby

Wordcount: 1,284

Summary: J.ay stresses himself into an illness the day he's supposed to have tea with Da.isy.

Comments: Somebody asked for this prompt with N.ick but @clear-preformance sent me a GOLDEN prompt with G.atsby, so I ended up going with that. If you notice any slips into first person, please look past them 😅😅 That's my secret to getting into Fitzgerald voice and sometimes I miss words when I swap it to third person

CW: None

Gatsby looked like a wraith among the varicolored flowers imposing upon Nick's living room, his face a beacon of white in a sea of pinks and yellows. The rain had scarcely had a chance to touch him on the short trek from his car to the doorstep, but still he shivered like he'd been soaked to the bone. Nick tried not to stare at him, fearing his expression would betray some of the pity he couldn't help feeling, but the constant motion of Jay's shuddering fluttered in Nick's peripheral vision and engaged some nervous, animal part of his brain. In fact, Gatsby's nerves seemed to be contagious, for when a barking sneeze bent him nearly double at the waist, Nick jumped and clutched his chest like a housewife confronted by a sudden mouse.

"Jay!" he said, forgetting any well-wishes in his astonishment. "You're ill!" In truth, he hadn't believed such a thing could happen. Gatsby, cool and untouchable in his pressed suits, seemed so far above such petty inconveniences as all that.

Nick bent to touch his forehead and Jay waved him away with a billowing handkerchief he'd produced from somewhere about his person. "Perhaps a bit," he admitted, sniffling, "but it's quite alright, I assure you."

"A bit!" Nick repeated incredulously. For he saw it now: no nervous tremors wracked Jay's frame, but the persistent chill of a fever that tricked brain and body alike into believing that the minor inconvenience of a warm summer rain was as brutal and serious as a sleet-storm.

He colored, or perhaps his cheeks had been that pink since his arrival and Nick had only just noticed. "It's fine," he said with conviction, and sneezed again. Rather than wait for Jay to resurface and gain another opportunity to shoo him away, Nick pressed his palm to the back of Jay's neck. He jumped and shot Nick a reproachful look, though thankfully did not seem put off by the over-familiarity.

The over-warmth of his skin jumped up to meet Nick's hand, though admittedly, he did not have much experience in nursing. "I think I ought to take your temperature," he said, casting his mind back. He was sure he had seen an old mercury thermometer about, though he had not yet had cause to use it.

Absent of permission, his fingers found their way to Gatsby's neck and felt for a pulse. He found the vein and the gentle, rapid throb. He refrained from checking it against his watch, however, fearful of what Jay might do following a reminder of Daisy's imminent presence.

Jay shivered, displacing Nick's fingers, and drew his arms around himself. "If you must," he said with dignity.

Nick poured him a glass of scotch and, by some miracle, found the thermometer sitting innocuously by his razor as though it had always been there, and the Finn conspicuously absent.

Jay had crossed his legs in Nick's absence, and drawn himself so far back in the armchair he stood a real chance of disappearing among the flowers. Pushing aside a blossom-laden branch with his arm, Nick nearly slipped the thermometer into his mouth before realizing what an overstep that would be. He handed it to Jay instead, and turned his face away to hide the flush that warmed his cheeks.

"I really am fine," Jay assured him before slipping the thermometer under his tongue.

"Thank you for humoring me," Nick said, taking a page out of his book.

They sat in silence after that, Jay rendered mute by the thermometer in his mouth, and Nick unable to find a topic upon which he might chatter to fill the space.

The knock on the door startled them both, though Jay managed to contain his reaction to a widening of the eyes that was nonetheless as expressive than Nick's whispered oath.

"Don't move," Nick told him, and spread a throw blanket over his lap on his way out.

After seeing off Daisy's chauffeur, Nick escorted her to the door but paused on the step, his back jammed hard against the knob to keep them both out of the persistent drip off the awning. She smiled at him, seemingly delighted by the strange behavior. "Well, shall we go in through the window?"

"Sorry," he said awkwardly, "it's just that my neighbor dropped by unexpectedly and he seems to have caught a chill."

"Oh?" she said coolly.

"I just didn't want to take you off-guard."

She threw her head back and laughed melodiously, exposing a flash of white teeth. "Oh, Nicky, any friend of yours is a friend of mine."

He swallowed down his reply and opened the door for her. Once inside he said loudly, for Jay's benefit, "Yes, I'd told him to come over sometime this week so we could get better acquainted. I should have mentioned that I'd have company today."

Daisy laughed again and touched his arm. "How he frets! I'm sure we'll have a lovely time."

She took his arm and Nick led her into the sitting room, relaxing a little when he saw that Jay was still there, thermometer fixed under his tongue. He'd gone glassy-eyed in Nick's absence and took a moment too long to react to the re-entry. His eyes darted to Nick, then to Daisy's, and his expression took on such a shape of longing that Nick's own heart wrenched.

"Oh!" said Daisy, not moving. "It's you!" Then she rushed over and knelt beside him, already pulling off her long gloves. "No, don't get up. Poor dear." She pressed a bare hand to his forehead and smoothed his hair back.

Nick stood with his back against the mantle, hands clasped between his body and the wall. Gatsby was no longer his charge, but he couldn't bring himself to step away. So he stood, the paralyzed voyeur, and watched Daisy flit around Jay like a dark, elegant butterfly, murmuring to him all the while. The melody of her voice was so enchanting that he hardly registered the words until the meaning touched down in gentle retrospect and he blushed to have overheard something so sweet.

"It's alright, my dear," she cooed, her long white fingers moving over his face and body. "How funny; I can't believe you're here. Like this. You planned it all, didn't you, you clever thing? I've missed you, you know. How lovely, how lovely."

Nick couldn't help but wince when Jay waved her off and sneezed, but she only laughed and blessed him."What a brute!"

"Do excuse me," Gatsby said, and the clarity of his voice was somewhat marred by congestion. "I may have overexerted myself these past few days."

"A big, strong man like you." Daisy shot Nick a look and grinned in girlish delight at this novelty. "Don't you think he ought to lie down?"

"I suppose," Nick said, considering the logistics of this. "I'll need to change my linens—"

"Heavens no, old sport," Gatsby cut him off.

"The sofa?" Daisy said diplomatically.

Nick swept a few throw pillows aside and watched Daisy hover about Gatsby's side while he transferred himself to the sofa. Spying the thermometer on the end table, Nick looked sharply at Jay, who was occupied, allowing Daisy to strip off his suit jacket and loosen his tie.

"Do you have a fever?" Nick asked.

"It's bad," Daisy said with faux-solemnity. For a moment, Nick was fooled and his heart sank, but then she smiled and cupped the back of Jay's neck with her hand.

"101," he said, "but I'm really alright."

Nick turned away so Daisy could kiss his forehead and murmur in his ear.

Embarrassed now, Nick muttered some excuse and slipped off to the kitchen to wait it out.

#ethereous writes #sicktember 2022

[mrsbsmooth]

BRO life has been so damn (aggravating) crazy this past month, anyway tell me your thoughts about 'ex in the villa' before i update the app and go play it 🥺🥺❤🙏

Hi beautiful! It's not a full season like S1/2/3 were. It's a mini-season which gives us a different scenario to play. If you play it with this in mind... it's actually not bad, so far at least.

Side Characters:

💎Alfie's a sweetheart, and I think it's actually nice that he's a little unsure. @amalasofmonterisso did a great post about this, but the more 'unsure' he is, the more I like him. It makes him seem like a real person, with real doubts about his feelings. I'm looking forward to seeing where things go with him.

💎Kat is a walking tantrum, and I love her for it. She's got some of the best one-liners, and is quite upfront about what she wants, so I'm interested to see if they boot her early or not.

💎Dana is a LI, and is pretty clearly on MC's side early on, and I like how she seems like she's a little more chill. I hope they give her a bit more depth though, especially if you're not on her route. I don't want her to fade in to the background like Najuma if you're not romancing her. She's also quite honest and seems like she'll be a good friend if you're not pursuing her. Angie vibes.

💎Suresh is.... eh. I'm not vibing with his writing yet, mostly because he doesn't seem to be very good at arguing for someone who's supposedly a corporate lawyer. Although, I'm not a lawyer, and that could just be my perception of him haha. I'll be going into this a bit more if/when I write a fic for him. However, I love his story arc and I'm looking forward to it.

💩Eddie is... also present? Even in the spoilers up to Episode 13, I haven't seen much in way of a personality for him yet. We'll see.

MC Design:

💎The outfits are cute compared to the ones we got at the start of S4, especially the sleepwear.

💎There are a lot more character design options, including more hairstyles and a bigger body type.

💩This might just be me, but I cannot for the life of me make my MC look the way I want her to. I miss the characters from S2/S3, where it was almost impossible for her to not look cute as fuuuuuck.

💩There are a distinct lack of features for non-white players. I've heard a lot of concerns about the eyes, noses, and hair, and I hope they rectify them. Hopefully we get more customisation options in future updates.

💩 We have almost zero choice over our backstory. We don't even get to decide our own secret! We don't get to decide our own ex, either, so WLW players... yeah, no.

Gameplay:

💎Drama central. I'm currently icing Suresh out - playing it cool and turning him down at every opportunity, but there are options for both a 'fuck you' playthrough and a ' please fuck me' playthrough, which will be cool.

💎With all the characters, they started off very sunshiney and shallow, and then started showing negative traits. I love this. I love my characters to have a little complexity. I hope they continue this and make the characters really deep!

💩It's really hard to earn gems.

💩There's a long, interactive ad after every episode and it's really annoying.

💩They recently moved from three episodes each week to having mostly two

💩 They're ending episodes MID-CONVERSATION to simulate drama. Which I hate.

Overall

As a standalone game? 5/10? 6/10 if I'm being really generous?

Compared to earlier seasons? I don't know... a 3/10? It's really not the same game.

If it wasn't for the fandom/community, I would've given up already. I'm personally not that engaged by any of the LI's so far, but I'm sure that will change. God, look what happened to me when they introduced Bruno omg.

But I love the community and I'm looking forward to reading the fics that come out about the season. So I'd encourage you to play it anyway, even if it's just so you can do fix-its with us :)

Thank you for the ask!

#litg s5 #litg eitv

[wanderingwomanwondering]

Buddie 509 & 518 - Connecting Dots?

Past is Prologue (509) was honestly such a gift. Like. 509 is an even wilder ride after watching (517 &) 518. The whole concept of past is prologue is that the present echoes the past and the future does too by extension. But growth is still possible, hence it’s prologue but not necessarily the whole story. There were so many amazing beats from that ep that hit harder now that the season is over.

Gabi & Chloe - In 509 Chloe met Gabi while administering Gabi’s driving test. Gabi was doing a terrible job driving but it fit with the metaphor because her life was changing in big ways and was confusing to navigate. She saw some signs and missed others. She was trying to find herself and a better road than the one she’d left after breaking up with her previous girlfriend. Chloe gave direction and advice the whole way. She was also kind and supportive of Gabi despite the bumpy ride. 

Buck and Eddie are parallel to Gabi and Chloe in a host of ways, no matter who we associate with whom in the Buddie-Chlobi equation (yeah I said Chlobi pls don’t hate me lol). Both Buck and Eddie have been having a bumpy ride this season as the driver in their own life and the passenger in the other’s life. Each has given the other support as well as advice along the way. Each has missed the signs and taken wrong turns, and neither ran away when the going got tough! Through it all Buddie have grown closer and the potential for something romantic between them has gotten louder and louder. Even when Buddie were more distant than usual, they were still in each others’ lives which gave them the opportunity to find their way back to one another in a deeper way! We spent all of s5b watching all of the above happen and it was glorious!

Eddie & the Ticking Time Bomb - We also got the oil well bursting out of the road in 509. Oil is a rich resource but it can also be dangerous if improperly handled. Cue 517. Who do we know that works with oil and has improperly handled it? Ramon!!! He was a petroleum engineer ffs and he managed to squeeze financial security out of it but it cost Eddie dearly, as we learned in 517. We saw that his road was made exponentially harder on several fronts (509) because of his efforts to not be like his father. He ended up completely shutting down parts of himself and/or never fully recognizing, accepting, and exploring other parts so that he could stay in control and travel the hard repressive road that he thought was his only option (517). Eddie had essentially filled the oil well with trash and paved over it. Then it burst out and flooded the streets (509). The capped oil well was a ticking time bomb and so was Eddie’s buried, trash-capped, paved-over heart. He quit the 118 in 510 and then had his build up toward full-on breakdown from 511-513.

Toni & Clive - Their epic long-lost/long-awaited love was a major narrative vehicle for 509. What I always found fascinating was Eddie’s clear and intense interest in how it ends. On the surface it was just the telenovela drama of it all but it seemed a little deeper for Eddie. He had a certainty and hopefulness about their love that leapt out throughout his whole conversation with Buck and Hen. On Buck’s part, he was worried about opening up old and painful wounds. Given the shooting and hostage situation on Buck and Eddie’s back at the time, I took that to be a clear narrative moment linking Buddie and Toni/Clive just like most of the rest of the fandom. By the end of the ep Toni and Clive do find their way to each other. I think Buck and Eddie will do the same. I’m looking at you, season 6!

Gabi/Chloe, Henren, & Eddie’s Sexuality - The show could have stopped there, but no. In 509 it was clear that Clive and Toni were meant for each other and then in 518 Toni and Clive announced their engagement but instead of Toni and Clive getting married in the ep, Henren renewed their vows after receiving Toni’s apology, full support and loving presence/officiation at the event. The vow renewal in 518 was a narrative slide-of-hand transferring the emotional catharsis from the het couple to a lesbian couple and in so doing healing the past, reaffirming the present, and paving the way for the future. In my brain, that’s a queer future for Buddie!

The vow renewal also felt like a continuation of Gabi and Chloe’s story since it was clear in 509 that they did in fact form a romantic relationship. The three things linking Gabi/Chloe to Henren in my head is the fact that 1) 509 had a lot of low-key Eddie content foreshadowing his breakdown and the underlying role of his father in that breakdown, 2) the whole season had a lot of high-key Eddie healing arc and Buddie content, and 3) during the vow renewal, we see another scene where Eddie is talking about therapy. He obviously has more to work through and it’s scary stuff, which Chris picked up on. I believe that the next round of mental health/healing work Eddie has to do on-screen is sexuality related. Having the Eddie mental health foreshadowing in 509 be linked to a queer couple from a call AND having the Eddie mental health foreshadowing in 518 be linked to a queer couple?! Can’t be a co-inky-dink!!

#buddie #911 meta #911 season 5 #911 5x09

[tuiyla]

this is kind of random, but poking around on the glee subreddit recently, I saw quite a few names from people I recognize from tumblr. And I'm just kind of curious what the final straw was for you finally giving up on that place? I think for me, it was their Pollyanna-ish need to sugarcoat how ugly things became bts. I mean, those people will still lose their minds if it's suggested it wasn't "scheduling conflicts" that kept Dianna out of the The Quarterback or that Lea/Naya weren't besties.

Oh kind of random is my jam. I've talked briefly about leaving the sub before but I guess this is my opportunity to fully ponder. Tell all! *NOT* clickbait: why I left the sub! Lmao

I wanna reflect on your final straw first because I find it interesting. It's not something I ever paid much attention to but you're apt with the Pollyanna-ish need. On the one hand, I get it when people are fed up with discussions around BTS drama and the lives of real people that we'll never get to know the intricacies of and the full truth. On the other, such is the nature of forums that popular topics will get rehashed and people will have differing opinions. My problem was with the users who'd be so quick to dismiss everything and it was like they wanted to shut all discussions down. Idk if it's still the case now, but if you were on the sub last year you know what I'm talking about. And it's like, dude, just block the thread of something you don't have to engage. Buuut I also get what it's like when you look at every second post and thread and feel like blocking them. The sub becomes not such a great place to be at that point.

So, interesting point, but my final straw was a little different. If I had to pinpoint one exact thing then, well, I guess I could but it feeds into larger problems so I'll explain those too. One thing that broke the camel’s back? IIRC, I took a bit of a break at the end of last year and when I checked the sub again I saw what was not the first but not even the third or fifth post that basically boiled down to “Santana deserved to eb outed/Finn wasn’t THAT wrong” or something of the sort. I cannot emphasize enough that I firmly believe this is the single worst Glee take to have and I genuinely have no interest in talking to anyone who holds that view. At best they’re incredibly ignorant. And I got tired, you know? And this is where I started to see this was part of a larger problem, because like I said this was far from the first time I had to see that with my own two eyes. That is the nature of a forum and I used to appreciate that, the discussion, the engagement. But it’s different from a platform like tumblr where you can curate your own experience.

The joke goes, fandom is you and the five people you haven’t yet blocked. And though that’s obvious hyperbole, the older I get the more I vibe with it. I got tired of so many users on the sub and started blocking more and more. Not for sharing opinions, no, but for their behaviours and style. It got incredibly repetitive, which, makes sense for a fandom that’s so old and inactive. But I feel like there’s so much to explore when it comes to Glee and fewer and fewer of those convoc were happening on there. That’s a big thing, no actual convos anymore. Just those elimination games, oh god. And not to be a hypocrite because I myself conducted one but that was what made me realize how they’re no substitute for things I actually enjoy about fandom. It wasn’t a great experience organizing the Solos Showdown, tbh, and that came down to users. Not to shit on all of the sub because there were and am sure are wonderful peeps on there. I miss quite a few of them. But on a platform like Reddit, on a forum, you have to deal with it all and I just didn’t want to anymore.

Another thing is that I had been wanting to take a break from the sub for a long while before I actually did but I felt stuck with it if I wanted to be part of the Glee fandom. There was a period of time I really, really enjoyed on there but it was relatively brief and after that I just stuck around because, for some reason that is now beyond me, I thought Gleek tumblr was all but dead. It’s the great luck of things that just as I finally started withdrawing from the sub because the overall bad vibes were too much that I magically found Glee tumblr. I had been following a handful of people but, seemingly all of a sudden, in December 2021 it was like something clicked. I still don’t know why to this day but I just, started getting asked about Glee. And started a wonderful opportunity to be able to talk about Glee in a different way with different people and start putting thoughts together more cohesively. I also got back into giffing (hugely thanks to @sohoseance‘s Paintbox project, shoutout 💖) which is so unique to tumblr and was another reason to become more active on here.

Once I was active with Glee things on tumblr, it was over for the sub. Why stay on there and constantly roll my eyes when I can just chill here, curate my fandom experience, hang with the two dozen or so people I know won’t have outrageous and blood-boiling things to say? Opinions can differ and I have much love for mutuals with different faves but they won’t be regurgitating the same old shit. I’ve always been a tumblr fandom girlie ant the sub just feels like a detour I briefly took in 2021. Now, don’t get me wrong, I am grateful for a lot of things. The sub basically saved my sanity in 2021 and there were wonderful users on there, some of whom I now call friends. I did my singing statistics series on there, which I for some reason still hesitate to migrate onto tumblr. I liked the forum aspect of reddit for a brief while there and I liked some discussions. But it’s ultimately a different platform and one that I don’t think is sustainable for how fandoms, for me personally.

I’m sure the answer is in there somewhere, but TL;DR the final straw was realizing that I’d always have to deal with shit on the sub and the good wasn’t outweighing the bad anymore, not nearly. And because I found a community on here, I no longer felt like the sub was my only option for fandom needs.

#glee subreddit #been a while since someone asked me about the sub! #i don't mind it's just curious #anon #nonglee asks #glee fandom